What group are we talking about?
Cmon now, let’s say it with our chest instead of beating around the bush
In the City of Lewiston it would be very true, no matter how you define the term. The last 20 or so years have seen an unchanged total population but many, many new residents who only moved to Lewiston because of government incentives and other “free money” obtained through grants and non-profits. This has resulted in the demand for just about everything remaining the same or increasing but the number of people who can supply the services any town needs just aren’t there.
White flight is one word for it, but in Lewiston’s case it is people of all kinds, including our talented kids from successful immigrant families, pursuing opportunities elsewhere rather than deal with the local dysfunction, which of course yields fewer opportunities for them to pursue.
Many of our long-time teachers left the profession or changed districts much earlier than they ever planned. Most of our school staff (and professional class in general) does not live in Lewiston city limits. This was not true at all when I moved here.
It wasn’t a booming town ever, but it was a functioning, peaceful and stable town that was a perfectly good spot to raise children. I never worried about my kid being out at night when he was 10 years old. Someone was murdered last month about 1000 feet from our old apartment, just through the woods he used to play in.
I would advise any parent of any level of means to do everything possible to keep their child out of Lewiston Public Schools in 2024, even though my kid graduated from there six short years ago and had an outstanding experience, especially with the special education program getting him caught up in early elementary school. Now he’s a pro fisherman working charters and doing straight commercial fishing on a couple of big-name tuna boats. The school was starting to become dysfunctional by the time he got into high school, but everything has been out-of-hand since covid and it just keeps getting worse.
Many Maine policies work in conjunction at all levels of government to incentivize destructive behavior and, in the case of Lewiston, concentrate needy people of all kinds. There is a lot of greed that’s being fed by that level of need, resulting in a perverse commoditization of needy people experiencing everything you can imagine from addiction to general feelings of mental anguish that are perfectly billable because of policies like Maine Care.
I’m curious what the next census reports, as by all indications we are being flooded with quite a few “New Mainers”. The housing pressure is immense right now. The place next to mine was just rented out and the owner had fifty applicants to choose from within a few days of being listed.
Many people who left moved outside the city limits to neighboring communities and many have left Maine altogether. Due to our demographic make-up, many have simply died, replaced by an ever-expanding population of needy people who choose to take advantage of our local policies. This includes out-of-state criminals, of whom we have MANY, who make the completely rational decision to pursue their trade in Maine, where the consequences are much lower than other places if caught.
We also experienced a recent influx of out-of-staters fleeing COVID policies and buying up the rental/vacation properties, so a lot of long-time Mainers have cashed out of the state entirely.
The cat sometimes gets let out the bag accidentally, and the true scale of responsibility the Democrats have hoodwinked everyone into becomes clear. A Westbrook official recently slipped up on the news and admitted that something like 90 percent of their assistance fund recipients were “New Mainers”. That certainly passes the eyes and ears test.
First wave Somalians have been here long enough to become actual adult Mainers, which means you were born in Maine and grew up here. Many of them, especially the ones who have worked hard to assimilate and participate productively in society, are just as upset as anyone else who remembers living in a functioning Lewiston not long ago.
We are living with all of the consequences of implementing modern Democrat policies across the board. Democrats haven’t always held every office in Maine for the last 20 years, but they have consistently enacted all of their policy priorities, especially in Lewiston, Portland and other population centers. Only gun policy remains relatively unscathed, as Maine has a particularly pesky constitution for that one.
In the case of immigration and how Lewiston, Maine, of all places, became a pipeline for immigration is a long story that goes back a few years before I moved here. It actually was a good spot for a few hundred immigrants to settle in a few years before I got here. Many came by way of Atlanta, which was a place they didn’t feel was ideal.
Lead paint issues aside, which is a whole other very local topic, it was a fairly sensible move that didn’t come without controversy, but the city was generally poised to help everyone assimilate. Local resources were soon showing clear signs of being stretched, and the mayor wrote an open letter urging the broader Somalian community to stop sending people to Lewiston.
This resulted in a minor media uproar, including a Rolling Stone article and much-celebrated documentary called The Letter. This criticism all began with the premise that anyone raising such concerns must be - you guessed it - a RACIST MONSTER. Two decades later, our resources are obviously strained and the peace and prosperity of the city, which was a golden gift granted to everyone who lived here, was completely squandered to get Democrats elected.
It worked incredibly well, politically speaking. Any concern about Maine Democrat policies have been consistently and effectively swept aside by calling their political opponents racist. That dam is beginning to break a little bit, as there’s really nobody they can point the fingers at anymore. They’re totally in charge at all levels of government here, and the situation just keeps deteriorating.
It isn’t what I was expecting to happen to the town when I moved here. Lewiston is in an awesome location close to some of the best things the state has to offer. All that’s holding it back is the dysfunction we’ve cultivated and now entrenched through policy priorities.
To be fair, this isn’t always the easiest thing to identify. Can you tell an immediate difference between a tan white person, a Mexican, or a light skinned black person? If they’re wearing a mask/hood/hat, and you only catch a glimpse of them during a stressful, chaotic moment, I don’t think most people would always be 100% accurate.
Before you go on another rant, I’m sure in many places, they are avoiding painting certain demographics in a negative light, even if certain individuals are actually the ones responsible for a crime. I agree that’s ridiculous at a time when a crime has been committed.
As a 20-year-old, well-behaved, sober college kid, I was pulled over, ordered out of my car at gunpoint, handcuffed, and questioned while sitting on the curb in front of my neighbors because someone who saw a crime occur (drunk driver crashed into a telephone pole, then took off running) had no identify information other than what they thought might’ve been the race of the perpetrator (Native).
Neither I, nor my cousin and his girlfriend who were also in the car looked anything like the guy who did it, and we were pulled over before we’d even actually pulled away from the curb on our way to the grocery store.
In that instance, I could think of several identifiers that would’ve been more helpful than possible race - hair, clothing, height and build, direction headed, the fact that he was now on foot, signs of drunkenness, etc.
I’ve actually been a fan of RFK Jr. for over 20 years. He used to have show called Ring of Fire on the Democrats’ short-lived attempt at producing commercially viable talk radio, Air America. He’s a really smart guy with a good moral compass.
I think he’d make a terrible president, but he makes a good RFK Jr.
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Either you failed to see my general point or simply chose to come up with “what if’s” or focus on negligible details like a very tan white dude, etc.
But I meant that if you saw [for example] a guy wearing a blue t-shirt and jeans, but he had huge dreadlocks and he was clearly black, wouldn’t you think that posting that identifying information would help people to better identify him? And yes, if someone was asian, that would help the public focus on that and not worry about black people or Hispanic people. Yes, I am very aware that sometimes you really cannot tell someone’s race/ethnicity. But I would suspect in most cases, if you stated any and all identifying features of a suspect, that it would better help the public keep an eye out OR at least rule out certain people on the basis that they did NOT fit the description.
Stating that the subject was a 6’5 white male with a man-bun would help to easily rule out most other people, as would also stating that the suspect had for instance tattoos all over their forehead. All I’m saying is, the more information, the better. When I see these local police alerts telling me to be on the lookout for a man last seen wearing a black jacket and sweatpants, you know, that really doesn’t do me a lick of good. People can very easily and quickly change their clothes, but much harder to sometimes hide tattoos or if you do happen to be black, all the sudden make your skin tone much lighter and vice versa, if the subject is white, he’s gonna have a hard time hiding that unless he maybe gets a super dark spray tan lol.
And I’m sorry you got pulled over and had to deal with what sounds like a stupid, overreactive cop, that sucks. Although I have to say, if I had a dollar for every time I heard from one of my teammates (back when I played football in college and I was around black people almost all the time) tell a story that involved a cop who stopped and searched them, pulled them over and harassed them, wrestled them to the ground to harass them, etc than I’d be a very rich individual. I lived with these dudes, hung out and went out with them, basically was around them constantly and nothing like that ever occurred. Lol, and no, I know what you’re thinking and they didn’t NOT get harassed because they had me, a white man, with them. Many of them had even grown up in very nice middle class suburbs with which I was familiar and they didn’t go out walking at night or driving around. I sometimes wondered, whenever I heard these beautifully elaborate tales of “Cletus the peckerwood cop” harassing someone, if telling these stories back and forth was some sort of bonding thing, kind of a “yeah, I feel you man, the same damn thing happened to me dawg. I too be getting harassed by them sorry ass cops”. But who knows, maybe I’m completely wrong and almost every single black person out there is getting pulled over and questioned and harassed by peckerwood cops, that it’s not a matter of if it will happen but just when will it happen?..but I kinda doubt that, especially in 2024 when every police department is on edge that someone will film them doing something not by the book or accuse them of violating someone’s civil rights.
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I specifically said that choosing to avoid naming the race of criminals to avoid making certain demographics feel bad was wrong and unhelpful. I understood what your point was.
Yep. Never said it wouldn’t.
I completely agree. That’s why, for example, in my case, things like what the person was wearing, their hair, their size and build, where they were going, how they were acting, etc. all would’ve been good identifying features.
Because if a dude in long sleeves, pants, and a mask/hood/hat runs by me and shoots a gun, in the heat of the moment in my panic, I can’t clearly see his skin color or if he has a man bun or dreadlocks. But there are other helpful things to give law enforcement to aid in their search.
That’s all I was saying. Race isn’t always immediately clear, and isn’t always the most helpful. How much does it help to say we’re looking for a black guy in Atlanta? Or a white guy in Fargo?
I’ll repeat: not stating race to avoid hurting feelings is bad.
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@jshaving That sounds just as bad as when I had to spend a night in jail, where the government of Indiana required an examination of my butthole. After spending tons of time and thousands of dollars, the government dropped their ridiculous accusations about me.
25 years ago, a Pulaski County Sherriff believed he found a controlled substance in my 1983 Cadillac Seville, which was a beautiful powder blue sedan with white leather interior, a white vinyl top and a continental kit. Near mint. What they accused me of possessing is completely legal and fully sanctioned by the State of Maine in 2024.
All things considered, I’m thinking about moving back to the place where I had to put up with a pointless inspection of my anus. I may still disagree with their belief that marijuana possession is a crime and that people caught with it need a flashlight up the keister, but I agree with their idea that you shouldn’t be allowed to shoot up at the park a lot more.
Maybe the cop who detained you did go a little overboard. I don’t know all of the details and it’s likely they could have done something better. But let’s not lose sight of the other important part. They were investigating a crime, which doesn’t happen with most crimes in Lewiston anymore. Now, if you had gone on to be brought up on flimsy charges, roughed up, etc, that’s a different story, but it doesn’t sound like you did.
That’s one of the fundamental things a city like Lewiston has to grapple with now. If we get tougher on crime, there will be more stories just like yours. They won’t always sound great when they’re told.
The cops can make sure there aren’t any like it at all, and in some ways they have to even right now. That’s even worse compared to having more stories like yours than we do now. At least here in Lewiston, it is. We have had only one specific policy proposal from anyone on our current city council, which is the predictable one of rescinding Maine’s constitutional carry.
Locally, everyone connected to tax or grant money has an unspoken understanding of what you can and cannot say, which is why the absence of those details is notable. We are getting a lot of words like the ones below from the event’s sponsors and local political leadership. This is nothing new, as we’ve had similar “workshops” before.
“Maine Immigrant & Refugee Services is actively working with other organizations to provide awareness, education, and support to our youth and their parents in an effort to reduce gun violence in our community.”
What any of that actually means or how it might translate into a return to a peaceful town is anybody’s guess. Our local Democrat leadership is willing to try anything to combat the violence as long as it isn’t changing their policies.
If bearded white guys in Vibram toe shoes with no tattoos at all were committing a rash of crimes and escaping in smooth-driving, stylish and comfortable retiree sedans blocks away from me, I’d be totally fine and completely cooperative with any cop of any skin color who profiled me for questioning.
Always remember to ask, “Compared to what?”
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Weekend home(s). Show the proper level of adulation.
I agree.
Depends on the person, and I would substitute “vision”, possibly, for “feelings”.
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There are an astonishing number of immaculate lake properties near me that sometimes don’t get used for an entire season at a time. Some people have other, better places to be most of the time.
Yeah that can definitely get a little murky, because good policies also had visionaries behind them who could see a path to improvement that didn’t exist before they dreamt it up.
I guess the problem with visionaries in 2024 that the prevailing visions are hallucinatory rainbow-colored paths to dysfunction and broad impoverishment.
Mid 20s me would love to party with RFK Jr, but damn, the guy was selling his endorsement to the highest bidder. Seemingly no scruples.
Do you ever follow the links in those articles and read where the information is coming from?
I couldn’t access the WaPo article because of the paywall, but the guardian article stated “according to multiple reports”. Not knowing what’s in the article, I suspect it is like most of the other WaPo and NYT articles I’ve read over the last few years where something gets made up or heavily embellished, someone reports on it, and then a whole bunch of other people report on the reporting.
That’s why they will publish stories that go, “Sources familiar with Donald Trump’s thinking say he’s going to…” I’ll believe what I read in the WaPo when the crap they put forward is confirmed elsewhere.
RFK Jr. is acting entirely consistent with RFK Jr., even if he did reach out to the Harris campaign about the possibility of a cabinet position. He could still influence government in a positive way from that position.
Out of anyone who’s been a political fixture in my lifetime, RFK Jr. is pretty high on the integrity scale in my estimation. He’s the same guy he was 20 years go.
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All the time. This was widely reported that he was reaching out to both campaigns to see what he could get for his endorsement. Pretty standard for this to occur during primaries when everyone has realistically similar views and policy goals, but it’s not a great look when you do it with 2 largely differing candidates. RFK might have have had integrity, but he traded it for the promise of a cabinet position. He was privately disparaging Trump as late as the RNC, let alone this beauty of a tweet that didn’t age well in about a years time.
Regardless of whether or not the WaPo went to its typical lengths to mislead people, it is still a “so what?” moment for me.
As to your tweet, what has aged poorly about it? Its one year later and he’s still not on the Trump ticket. Endorsing Trump in light of the Democrats’ increasingly shameful behavior in the last year is again, entirely consistent with RFK Jr.'s behavior.
It would seem as though you’re trying to paint RFK Jr. as an opportunistic cynic because the DNC smear machine is kicking into gear after CNN literally cut off his speech. I suppose one could reach such a conclusion if you ignore every word he’s ever spoken and every action he’s ever taken, instead believing the likes of our establishment media.
I find it hilarious when leftists point out the fact that someone disagrees with a person they still endorse as if accepting disagreement is a negative quality for a person to exhibit.
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Spot on.
Simpletons don’t understand that an individual of reason is supposed to change their opinions given additional facts or different circumstances. That’s called keeping an open mind -oh, the horror!
Innate character, however, stays the same -once a lying sack of shit, always a lying sack of shit. DUI, military service, IVF, coach instead of assistant coach, etc.
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According to leftists, If you aren’t lock step in line with the party, you’re not in the party.
They’re so sure of themselves (haha) that there is No Room for dissent or disagreement.
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You don’t see any irony in that statement, huh?
I don’t. Enlighten me.
Bear in mind, you’re talking to a previously very near center democrat that is now generally considered right/far right/ethno-nationalist/grand poohbah of the apocalypse.
The GOP has turned fully into the party of trump. If you don’t kiss the ring, you’re out. Dissent against trump means you will be primaried, and have death threats. Not for policy disagreements, mind you, but for daring to disagree with dear leader trump. The 2020 GOP platform was “whatever Trump says”, they didn’t even bother to put a list together.
And don’t kid yourself. No one thinks your the grand poobah of anything. You post a lot on an obscure bodybuilding subforum. That’s all.