Transcript
Speaker: Welcome. First of all, welcome. This is Unsolicited Perspectives. I'm your host, Bruce Anthony, here to lead the conversation in important events and topics that are shaping today's society. Join the conversation and follow us wherever you get your audio podcasts.
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Speaker: On today's episode, we're going be talking in tariffs, crime, and a man that's just absolutely fed up with his sister-in-law. But that's enough of the intro.
Speaker: Let's get to the show.
Speaker: So I hope you're ready. I hope you're ready. Because if you've been buying Shein stuff, I told y'all in a couple of last but podcast episodes ago that I bought some clothes from Shein. My sister talks about it all the time. I bought some stuff from Timu.
Speaker: I mean, you know, it's hit or miss. But all that stuff that you think, all those cheap, cheap discounts, even the stuff that you get off of Amazon that's from China, The price of the brick, to quote Marlowe Stanfield from The Wire, is about to go up because these tariffs that the current administration are going to impose on China,
Speaker: Mexico and Canada are about to make our goods go up. I was agitated yesterday because a friend of mine texted me and said, hey, you know that tequila that you like? i was like, hell yeah, I know that tequila like that I like.
Speaker: They said, it's about to go up because of these tariffs. And I'm like, damn it. And you don't know how much that we import and consume in this country. that are are going to be affected by these tariffs. So let's specifically talk about the tariffs that are placed on China.
Speaker: Okay. And how it's going to affect my clothes shopping for the spring. Cause I got to buy a new wardrobe and she in is the spot. So if I can't go through she in, what am I supposed to do? Fashion Nova.
Speaker: I mean, yeah, like fashion over too, but she ain't got them better prices. I got to go where the brick is cheaper. All right. So the USPS, All right. That's the United States Postal Service halted inbound China and Hong Kong packages due to new tariffs and the elimination of de minimis exemptions.
Speaker: Now, I'm only going to say that one time. I'm just going to say it from here on out. The exemptions is de minimis. OK, that's what it's called. It's a de minimis exemption.
Speaker: And what is a de minimis exemption? Now, I did say I was going to go say it one time and I just said it three times. But what what it is, is it's allowed duty free entry for packages under eight hundred dollars.
Speaker: It's removal aim to enforce tariffs, but risk disrupting cross border trade. Now, what does that mean? So every time that you order from Shein and Timu, if you spend in over eight hundred dollars, i don't know what you buy. Are you buying everything?
Speaker: Are you buying all the things? Because there is no reason to be spending over $800 on Shein and Timu in one purchase because things is just so cheap. But if anything is $800 or less, it's duty free, which means it goes through customs relatively easily because that's what this exemption is, the de minimis exemption. See, I said it multiple times and I didn't mess up.
Speaker: So with these tariffs, this exemption is going to be over with. That's how our products from Shein and Timu, and I'm just specifically naming them. There's loads of other companies that send over products that are fall under this exemption.
Speaker: I'm just pointing out these two because, you know, I've talked about it before and these are, you know, kind of the most popular to me. But now, It's going to be tougher for these packages to get through, which is going to stall you receiving your package packages. And what's ultimately going to happen is these tariffs are going to get passed on us because that's how tariffs work, ladies and gentlemen, are going passed on to us.
Speaker: So these great savings that we're getting from Timu and Xi'an or whatever that you get from Amazon that but that's that's sent from China or Hong Kong, the price of the brick, like i said, is about to go up.
Speaker: And now the administration is saying that they're putting these tariffs into place, not just in Canada and Mexico, but also China and Hong Kong. Okay. Because they want to stop the the flow of drugs, specifically fentanyl.
Speaker: And everybody keeps focusing on fentanyl. Fentanyl is dangerous, but you know, I mean, all of a sudden stopping the flow of drugs into America is a really big issue. And that's because the fentanyl is affecting certain communities that, uh,
Speaker: Typically, cocaine and heroin didn't affect. And now it's kind of a big deal. Also, fentanyl is potent. People be dying over fentanyl. People die of all drugs, but people really, really be dying over fentanyl.
Speaker: So they want to stop the flow of drugs into this country. Now, I'm going to take a quick aside and just put my own unsolicited perspective, which isn't unsolicited because y'all are listening to the show. So it's solicited.
Speaker: Everybody has looked on the war on drugs wrong. So I remember I was doing a fitness class. It was bootcamp. And when I was teaching classes or training or everything, I talk.
Speaker: I talk a lot. It's the reason why I can do this podcast. I talk by myself for an hour. I talk to take ah the clients or the participants in the class's mind off of what they're actually doing.
Speaker: So I'm engaging in conversation, cracking jokes, very much doing the podcast, right? Like I was doing a podcast before doing a podcast in these classes. And one time, it had to be in 2009, 10 maybe, I brought up, they should just legalize drugs. And the whole class, now you have to remember, the class is made up of Washington, D.C.
Speaker: people, Washington, D.C. people have a stick up their ass. ah They think that they're alpha, but it's a lot of A-type personalities, very, very stick up their butt type people.
Speaker: And they were yelling and screaming, like, how could you say that and blah, blah, blah. And I simply said, hey, look, if you decriminalize and make legal drugs, I'm You can start to help the people who are using the drugs because people that are using the drugs are using the drugs for a reason.
Speaker: Sometimes, hey, I really like this feeling. A lot of times it's I'm trying to escape from something. There's a lot of mental health issues that's associated with the use of drugs, with it any really with any addiction.
Speaker: Right. Alcohol. Eating, video games, TV, porn. There's a mental health factor that's affecting this, that's causing this addiction. So I would say, look, let's just legalize drugs.
Speaker: That way we can control drugs, make them so that they're not so dangerous where people are ODing, and then give opportunity through social programs that help the people that want to get help.
Speaker: been saying this for years the idea that you're going to stop the flow of drugs into this country is ridiculous you're never going to stop drugs they've been trying since i've been alive and i've been alive for 44 years i went through the whole dare program they have been trying they have never been able to stop drugs and even when they think that they've stopped jobs when they shut down a cartel and they thought it was done with pablo escapade and the cali cartel came out then they shut down the cali cartel the north cali cartel came out And then they started they shut down North Cali cartel and then cartels popped up in Mexico. You had the Juarez cartel. Then you had the Sinaloa cartel.
Speaker: You know, you get people going to get these drugs. They're going to get the drugs. We've done a made a great step and decriminalize in drugs, but we need to make another step. Just legalize them, legalize them. And if we're manufacturing the drug.
Speaker: We can make it less potent. Well, I mean, theoretically you could, because have y'all ever listened to all the side effects, all these medications that people could take for various things?
Speaker: And it's like, I got, i'm taking this because I got, you know, heart palpitations. Why am I getting anal linkage? Why is this medication going cause me to be impotent?
Speaker: Why is this medication going cause me to grow to grow a third leg and lose an eyeball? Like, I don't know what's up with these side effects. So theoretically, if we were the ones that were producing the drugs, we could make it less potent. We could at least cut down on overdoses.
Speaker: That should be the way that we do things. Instead, this current administration is deciding that they're going to put tariffs on not only Canada and Mexico, but also China and Hong Kong.
Speaker: And because of that, because of these tariffs, The price of the brick is going to go up. Everything that we import that we use on a daily basis. And ladies and gentlemen, just go into your cabinets and look at containers and look at casings of whatever it is that you're using on a regular basis and see where it's made from.
Speaker: It's there. A lot of stuff that you're getting is from Mexico and China and some stuff from Canada as well. So we're all going to be affected and it's not going to stop the the flow of drugs.
Speaker: OK, it's not going to do it. And so, yeah, this is what this administration is is doing. And China is fighting back. China is saying, look, this is a WTO violation, World Trade Organization.
Speaker: This is a World Trade Organization violation that you can't do this. This is argues against the terrorist breach date, the WTO o rules, which is harming mutual interest, which is going to be causing they if the U.S. continues to do this this, is going to cause a trade war, which is going to upset allies. Because, I mean, that's kind of what we're doing right now. We're just upsetting allies.
Speaker: Right. And cause like some real. geopolitical issues because we can't handle our problems. And that's really what it comes down to, right?
Speaker: We can't handle our problems. It's like the parent that has a bad-ass kid and sends that bad-ass kid to school, okay? And at school, that kid is bad.
Speaker: So the school calls the parent and the parent says, well, what are you doing to correct his behavior? and and and and and No, no, no, no, no. It's not the school's responsibility to correct the behavior.
Speaker: You knew he was bad when you sent him to the school. You correct the behavior. It's your responsibility. It's your child. We are America's citizens. These are our problems.
Speaker: We're only consuming what we want to consume. Nobody is forcing anything on us. I used to love it when they were when we were in the D.A.R.E. program. And it used to be like the drug dealer was coming to the school, pushing drugs on kids.
Speaker: Hey, look, I grew up in the communities that drugs were being pushed. I've gone, walked down the street and seen a drug corner and people open air drug markets.
Speaker: um I've been there. Nobody is pushing drugs on you. Nobody is saying, hey man, you want to try some of this crack cocaine? You don't have to push drugs on people.
Speaker: Drugs sells themselves. I hate the idea that people call drug dealers salesmen. They're not salesmen. They're not salesmen. They're providers. That's all they do. They don't have to sell.
Speaker: All they got to let you know is, hey, I got some crack cocaine. I don't know why. I'm fixated on crack cocaine. I just like saying crack cocaine. But like there's never been a dude selling weed just being like, hey, man, have you ever tried weed? You should try You would like it.
Speaker: No, that that's never happened. These are myths. And only people that a those type that say those things are true have never been in in those type of environments, have never even been approached to to offer drugs.
Speaker: What drug dealers will do is say, hey, I got that if you want it. But they're not going they not going to the playgrounds and and pushing it to kids. That was never the case. This is an American issue.
Speaker: It's an American citizen issue. America should fix the issue. But instead, we're trying to push the blame on somebody else. It's China's fault. It's Canada's fault. It's Mexico's fault for not closing the borders and allowing this in, as opposed to it being the American citizens' fault, who are actually the ones using the drugs,
Speaker: Why don't we, I don't know, really try to put a lot of money into social programs to help these people get off drugs? If you help people get off drugs, you'll have less people consuming drugs.
Speaker: And then the the people that are supplying the drugs to America will be like, hey. America look like he's a dried up market. Let's go somewhere else. Because that's what happens with drug dealing. If they go to a spot and the spot is dry, they don't keep selling drugs there.
Speaker: They try to go to a spot where the spot is hot, where people is just falling over themselves to get the drugs. So, If you help solve the social ills of America, you'll reduce drug consumption. Will you eradicate it? No, that's ridiculous.
Speaker: They've tried eradicating smoking. And i I know the numbers are down. Less people are smoking through through each generation, right? Boomers, y'all act like smoking was it.
Speaker: Like a lot of boomers were smoking. Gen X, too. Millennials, we started getting a little different. We was like, yo, man, your breath stinks. I get up out my face with that smoke breath, man. don't dig that. Hey, man, don't like the way my mouth feels the next morning.
Speaker: Yo, smoking gives you cavities. I don't want my teeth to fall out. I spend a lot of money. Well, my parents spent a lot of money on these braces. You know I don't want my teeth to fall out. Plus, being snaggletooth ain't cool.
Speaker: I don't want that in my life. So I don't want to smoke. Right. And I don't know if Gen Z is is actually smoking. They're vaping. A lot of these kids are vaping, but that's because it's got little fruity flavors.
Speaker: You know, look, if you put some cereal in my face and it is regular old Cheerios and then you got Fruity Pebbles right next to it, I'm going to go for the Fruity Pebbles.
Speaker: So, of course, the kids are vaping because it's got all those fruity flavors. But that still is not as bad as that. You know, there's some arguments, but still not as bad as that nicotine that's coming out of that cigarette.
Speaker: So people are smoking less and less. My point is. Generations move down and people start to do things less and less because the stigma surrounding them is is not as cool as it was in previous generations.
Speaker: Everybody smokes weed because now, you know, we're finding out that the weed and marijuana has really good mental health factors. But we kind of always knew that and physical factors are helping you improve your health.
Speaker: Weed isn't really a problem. Cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, fentanyl. Okay. But the people that are using these things, they need help.
Speaker: They need real help. There are mental health issues that are going on with it. Also, you know what else you get when you legalize, when you decriminalize and then legalize the cellar drugs? Less violence.
Speaker: Because drug dealers aren't fighting over territory. I mean, we've seen this before. know i get on my soapbox because I'm a historian and I've seen these things before.
Speaker: The story repeats itself over and over and over and over again. You know how I know this? Because you know how I know that I'm right? Because we've seen this before. When did we see this? During Prohibition.
Speaker: We saw it during Prohibition. We tried to outlaw the sale of alcohol. That didn't stop people from drinking. It just gave rise to a criminal organization known as the mafia.
Speaker: That's how the mafia, the mafia, the organized crime existed, but that's how the mafia made its money. Every, every mobster has said that, look, if it wasn't for prohibition, we wouldn't have been where we were in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 90s.
Speaker: Like it would not have happened. That jumpstarted criminal organizations. So what are we? and And there was a lot of violence. There was a tremendous amount of violence.
Speaker: What happens when you legalize liquor again? Ain't no more violence. If it is, it's just violence because people getting drunk, like the old normal violence of people, you know, just drinking and being drunk, but not people shooting over territory, trying to get the the the warehouse to produce their bathtub alcohol or their beer.
Speaker: You eliminate crimes. not eliminate, but you eliminate the violent aspect of this crime by legalizing drugs.
Speaker: Yes, this conversation was about tariffs because I want my She-Anne stuff, okay? But it's also about what why these tariffs are being put in place.
Speaker: These tariffs are being and put in place stop to stop the flow of fentanyl into this country. And in order to stop the flow of fentanyl into this country, Why doesn't the current administration focus on fixing the issue of the people that are using fentanyl as opposed to making my clothes become more expensive?
Speaker: Speaking of crime. If you watch the news, if you hear the current administration, crime is a big deal. it's crime all over the place. Man, if you if if you listen to the news in the current administration, it's like the purge outside, right? Like everybody's out there getting it.
Speaker: And there is a rise in certain areas But there isn't. So what are we talking about here? Because how is there a decrease in crime rates, but an increase in public perception that crime is higher?
Speaker: Well, let's first get into the statistics of it all. The official data, the FBI reports, and oh, by the way, when we talk about the FBI, there's a certain segment of the population that distrust the FBI now.
Speaker: Which is funny because another segment of the population has been telling you for decades that the FBI has been crooked going all the way back to Hoover and some of his illegal dealings. It's a lot of people assassinated in the sixties.
Speaker: They were only trying to uplift people. You celebrate Martin Luther King now, but at the time, He was labeled a socialist, criminist, commie, bad guy, criminal.
Speaker: That's what they go back and look at the news reports and newspapers. i That's what they labeled a mass. OK, so it's funny now that people are starting to say the FBI is crooked.
Speaker: When it affects you, however, The FBI as an organization is not crooked completely. Deals with whoever the director is. It's about to get crooked with this new director.
Speaker: But anyway, so there were some official data from FBI reports showing decline in crime rates. Yet the public perception often contradicts this. For example, 77% of Americans in a 2023 Gallup poll believe crime was worsening despite statistics indicating otherwise. And there's been a historical trend in in this.
Speaker: In 23 of the 27 Gallup surveys since 1993, more than 60% of the U.S. adults claimed crime rose nationally, even during periods of steady decline.
Speaker: So what is the reason for this disconnect? Well, there's FBI um lag in data, right? So data released in 2015 is it typically received until 2016. So it's you're not getting the data real time.
Speaker: But more importantly, the most important thing is media influence. Sensationalized coverage of violent crimes despite property crimes being more common, right?
Speaker: Property crimes are more common than violent crimes. Statistically, it's not even close, okay? So let's just put that in perspective, okay?
Speaker: So despite all of this, your local news typically amplifies fear. And then may mean world syndrome, right?
Speaker: Heavy media consumptors, falsers believe that the world is more dangerous than it actually is. And then political rhetoric, right? Campaigns of policymakers often highlight crime to sway public opinion, regardless of actual trends.
Speaker: We just saw this. We see, look, I just spoke about the stopping of flow of fentanyl into this country.
Speaker: They are saying that the the leading of fentanyl coming into this country is leading to violence and crime. And people that use drugs, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: They be committing crimes. All right. they They do.
Speaker: People that are drunk, they be committing crimes. Anytime that you are using a substance that is... causing you not to think clearly. Your inhibitions go down. You might do something reckless that you might not normally would do.
Speaker: This is true. And then you talk about immigration and what are they saying about it? You know, and for some strange reason, the current president still thinks that people are getting are coming into this country from a sane asylums.
Speaker: Like, that's not the case, okay? There was a time where Fidel Castro emptied out the insane asylums and the prison prisons, put them on a boat, and then they came into this country.
Speaker: Right. And then in 19, late 1970s, 1980s, and especially in Miami, Florida, you saw an increase in crime because, yes, Castro did do that.
Speaker: OK, but that's not happening right now. But what does it do? It causes fear. Half the time, people can't point to me many cases where there have been migrants that have had to cause major violence. And when there is a case, when there is a case, they highlight the hell out of it like it all of a sudden is an epidemic when you got one case to prove your point.
Speaker: Cessationalism. Because fear sells. If they scare you, To the point, you'll give up your civil liberties because you'll do whatever it takes to be safe.
Speaker: You'll live under police occupation to be safe. You'll do whatever it takes to be safe. And the people in power know that.
Speaker: The people in power know fear sells. Fear, especially fear of the other. How often do we hear these arguments against drag queen drag queens or people of the LGBTQ plus community as if they're harming kids?
Speaker: Why? Why is it that we don't hear this about? I don't know. or Preachers, people in the church that have harmed kids for generations.
Speaker: There have been police officers that have harmed kids. lawyers, doctors, all these different people that are harming kids at a much, much, much higher rate than anybody in the LGBTQ plus community.
Speaker: Right? Like it's not a thing, but... They need you to fear that. And when you fear that, you'll say, well, those people are different. They're not human. I don't have to look at them as human. So they shouldn't have the rights that normal human beings like I have because they're not like me.
Speaker: Based off of fear. So this idea that crime is going up and therefore you must put certain people in office because they're law and order.
Speaker: is the reason why this perception is that crime is going up. It's not actually the truth. The root causes of this growing emphasis of things that are happening as far as them putting pressure and saying that crime is going up is so they can make stricter laws.
Speaker: And they are because public pressure pushes for these people to make stricter laws. Because the assumption is crime is going up when it isn't.
Speaker: It's sensationalism by the media and it's lying politicians. But despite failing crime rates, states like Florida enact harsher penalties. Crime is by undocumented immigrants.
Speaker: They're going up the penalties, not the actual crimes. not the actual committing of the crimes. The penalty, harsher penalties are going up.
Speaker: And it's all due to high profile incidents. Let there be a carjacking or a retail theft. Let it let it let an immigrant do something like that.
Speaker: All of a sudden, we need to put harsher penalties. We saw this in the 1994 crime bill. talking about legalizing drugs. So in 1994 crime bill, me and my sister have talked about that. I'm just going to give people out there who didn't listen to that episode of quick refresh, right?
Speaker: Crack cocaine hit the streets and it was a terror. Crack cocaine was a legitimate terror. There was an increase in violence in the areas that crack cocaine was being distributed and used.
Speaker: It scared the hell out of people because you saw well-to-do people turn into zombies within a week or two weeks, right? Like crack hit, you got addicted.
Speaker: It was over for you, okay? And so you had these zombie lands going around and and and there was high crime in these zombie areas. So in order to try and end this, they made harsher penalties for drug dealers.
Speaker: which only led to a boom in the prison population and not a decrease of drug users, not a decrease of violence, just harsher penalties.
Speaker: So these harsher penalties from sensationalism from news are not doing anything. It's not stopping real crime. Not fake sensationalized crime, but real crime. And don't get me wrong, a carjacking is a real crime.
Speaker: But if the local news decides to show you two carjackings and completely ignore the fact that John Smith and Mary Smith just killed each other and their kids, because we need to work on carjackings, but because those carjackings were done by people that were here illegally.
Speaker: You see where things could be distorted? As I said earlier, property crime is higher than violent crimes.
Speaker: Some states are stiffening retail theft charges, recriminalizing drugs, and limiting bail, rolling back progressive reforms, all due to the perception that crime is higher.
Speaker: Do you remember when I said people will do anything to feel safe, that they'll even live in a police state, in an occupied police state, just in order to feel safe?
Speaker: They'll give up their own civil liberties in order to feel safe. And theoretically, when you're in real danger, that kind of makes sense. Right.
Speaker: If a country declared war in the U.S. and was actually trying to come to this land and fight on the U.S. soil, which we haven't had a war on U.S. soil in 175 years, 180 years when the Civil War ended.
Speaker: Right. So we haven't had we had Pearl Harbor. but that was an attack. It wasn't actually, ah the war was not fought on U.S. soil. And then we had 9-11, but once again, that was an attack. It wasn't a war fought on U.S. soil.
Speaker: But let's just say country declared world ah war on against the U.S. and wanted to fight on U.S. soil. Well, that's a little different.
Speaker: In order to feel safe, you will allow yourself to be in a occupied police state because we're literally at war. That's when you're literally, when you're truly at war, not a fictitious war of sensationalized high crime rates, which are lies, led by media and politicians in order to gain control, create harsher penalties that you think won't affect you.
Speaker: Until they do. Either directly or somebody close to you. And then you cry the blues. Why is the penalty so stiff? Because you believed at a certain point in time that the crime rates were so high that we needed to have those penalties to deter a crime.
Speaker: Let me give you ah little, you know, update on criminals. I've known a few in my lifetime. um Some of them ah are still in jail.
Speaker: Some of them got out, you know, but but more the the general premise of a criminal mind is just about the same.
Speaker: As they're committing the crime, they're not thinking about doing the time. They either know, hey, one day I'm going to get caught and that is what it is, or they're not thinking about it.
Speaker: The thought of harsher penalties does not cross a criminal's mind as they are doing the act. So harsher penalties, and this isn't just me talking.
Speaker: There have been numerous studies that prove what I'm about to say to be fact, not opinion, to be fact. Harsher penalties do not deter crime.
Speaker: does It doesn't. Just like creating tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, that's not going to stop the flow of drugs. These things that have been sensationalized don't actually fix the problem.
Speaker: It's a Band-Aid on a bullet wound.
Speaker: When's the last time you put a Band-Aid on a bullet wound? I mean, you don't, you know, I'm like, you know, get that bad boy stitched up, get some staples, this was, you know, some stitches or something like that. After you've had surgery, you don't put bandaid on a bullet, but that's what we're trying to do.
Speaker: It doesn't work. And moreover, y'all out here, not everybody, not everybody, but a large portion of you are out here fearing the unknown.
Speaker: To quote Allie Boy from The Sopranos, you can't go into the unknown not knowing. That's the stupidest thing that I think I've ever heard. OK, and the reason why I say that stupid is because you got to go into the unknown to understand the unknown.
Speaker: A lot of people are out here saying that the border is a mess. Never been down there to the border. have not been down there to the border. The only way they know what's going on at the border is what the news is reporting.
Speaker: Unless you actually live there, but those people who are not near the border don't have a clue, but you hear them talking about it, the border is a mess. God, people are so stupid. Really are.
Speaker: Really are. You take your information from the information that you want to get it from. That's the key point there. You take information from and from from places that you want to get it from.
Speaker: confirmation bias that backs up what you believe. That's what confirmation bias is, right? So you believe a certain thing. So you'll go search out sources that back up what you believe.
Speaker: Confirmation bias. lot of people do it. Look, I've got friends that try to argue with me in debates and things like that. OK, and they will go look up something and be like, here, see, see, this is what was talking about.
Speaker: I'm where did you get that? Where did you get that? Like, what's your source? Joe Swo on Twitter? That's your source? That's who you believe? ah Because I got all these other people over here that are documented, that are official, saying that what you're saying is not the truth.
Speaker: I don't know if the border is a mess or not. I haven't been to the border. I do not believe that the border is as messy as it is, as they say on Fox News. But I also don't believe the border is as pristine as they say on MSNBC.
Speaker: The truth is always somewhere in between. The fact of the matter is, are there criminals coming across the border? Sure. Of course. The truth is,
Speaker: The majority of people coming across the border are not criminals, but you want to focus on the people that are small population confirmation bias.
Speaker: And that's what's that's what's fueling this idea that crime rates are going up. We're being lied to by politicians and we're being force fed sensationalism by the media.
Speaker: And in turn, they're creating harsher penalties that don't stop anything. Because there is crime. There's going to always be crime. I'm not saying don't try to deter a crime. You got to try and, you know, deter a crime.
Speaker: The way you do it is the same thing that I said in the first segment when you're combating the flow of fentanyl that's going on in this country. Social programs. How so?
Speaker: Here's how so. Public support. for preventative innovations can help deter crime. Growing emphasis on mental health and substance abuse treatment is leading to a reduction of crime.
Speaker: Studies show that low-income men with mental health issues faced higher incarceration rates after losing healthcare care access. Listen to that. I had to sit up in my chair a little bit.
Speaker: Low income men with mental health issues face higher incarceration of rates after losing healthcare access.
Speaker: Causation. If you take away somebody's healthcare, when they're trying to address their mental health issues and their mental health issues are no longer being addressed because you took away their healthcare,
Speaker: Yeah, they might go go commit some crimes.
Speaker: Yeah, that might happen. Here's another kicker. Here's the one that's going really kick y'all in nose, right? For every $1 invested in Medicaid. So you got Medicare and Medicaid. Medicaid is for poor folks. Poor folks.
Speaker: um Goodness gracious. Poor folks. Medicare is for older folks. You could be on Medicaid as well if you're older and poor, but but Medicaid is typically for poor folks.
Speaker: So for every $1 invested in Medicaid, society, U.S. society recoups $2 in benefits through reduced costs from fewer violent property and drug-related crimes.
Speaker: I don't think y'all are hearing me. So let me repeat that again. For every $1 invested in the Medicaid society, the U.S. society recoups $2 in benefits to reduce costs from fewer violent property and drug related crimes. let me Let me make it simple for you guys.
Speaker: It's kind of like If you take care of your body and you eat right, you can live a little bit longer and you'll save money on.
Speaker: Health care benefits later on because you've taken care of yourself. Maybe you might not have that stroke or a heart attack. So you spend money now on, let's say, you know, eating right.
Speaker: on a gym or a personal trainer, you're spending money now. It's going save you money in the long run. So for every dollar that we spend on Medicaid, we're getting $2. We're recouping $2. That's a hell of a deal.
Speaker: And on top of that, is you there's a reduction in crime, the very thing that you're afraid of.
Speaker: The very thing that you're afraid of.
Speaker: Or so you think. Because as I stated earlier, it's perception. really The reality is crime rates are down.
Speaker: Your perception is that crime is up. And even if that was the case. It seems like the answer. And answer is always invest in helping people get help.
Speaker: That reduces all of this stuff. I don't know. Think about it. I know I'm not wrong. You know I'm not wrong. And you just got to want to admit it to yourself. But some people want to lay in that and be fearful.
Speaker: You can, but you're fearing something that doesn't truly exist.
Speaker: Okay. So in this last segment, went on Reddit, my favorite thing, and I found an interesting, am I overreacting?
Speaker: And this is about a man that's had it with his sister-in-law. So I'm going just play this for you guys, let you listen to it, and then going talk about it.
Speaker: It's a doozy, so strap in. But this has caused major riff in our family, and I need to know if I'm crazy. Recently, we had a very tragic death in the family. During this time, all of the family gathered nearby and stayed collectively in an Airbnb.
Speaker: On the first day of arrival, my sister-in-law Samantha mentioned how religious she had become and she was really looking forward to praying over the grieving widow and asked if I knew if they were religious.
Speaker: I told her from everything I know they are not religious, so they may not appreciate that. I told her we are not religious either and I wouldn't appreciate someone unsolicited praying over me, especially less than 48 hours after my spouse tragically passed and I told her maybe just praying in private for them was best for now.
Speaker: After spending five to six days at this Airbnb, my 12-year-old son Ethan opened up to me and his dad about something he said made him very uncomfortable.
Speaker: He told us that one night after we'd just arrived, my sister-in-law Samantha came down to the living room where he was staying that week on the couch. He had been up going to the bathroom, so maybe she heard him up and came down to check?
Speaker: Either way, she proceeded to sit on the couch and ask him if he wanted to talk. He mentioned he was sad about his aunt passing, and she asked if she could pray over him. She then proceeded to go get her Bible and read to him from it.
Speaker: Keep in mind, my child said this all happened around 2 a.m. She proceeded to tell him Jesus would fill the emptiness in his heart, that Jesus didn't want his aunt to die, and that was the work of the devil.
Speaker: She told him they could pray together or talk privately anytime he wanted, and they should make a code word so she knows to pull him aside. She told him to just say, i want a cupcake, and that could be their secret code word, and they could pray or talk anytime.
Speaker: She told my son she knows his parents are really busy right now and may not have time to talk to him, but she will always have time for him, and he will always be special to her. My child doesn't have a cell phone but does have an iPad with iMessage that we monitor closely.
Speaker: She asked for his iPad and proceeded to put her phone number in it and send herself a text so she would have his contact information so they could talk. She texted herself, Ethan, nephew, Cupcake.
Speaker: She told him she wanted to call him Cupcake too. My middle school age boy. Keep in mind we do not live in the same state as sister-in-law and she's had minimal interaction with my child before this.
Speaker: At this point, I was shocked. It took almost an hour for Ethan to fully admit, divulge all of these details. He said he deleted that text she sent herself from his iPad because he was uncomfortable and knew only his parents could add new contacts.
Speaker: We went into the iPad deleted messages and were able to recover it, just like he said at 2 a.m. He said she proceeded to call him Cupcake the rest of the stay and hugged and kissed him on the head that night and several times after.
Speaker: I was feeling so disgusted. Not only that, someone would go behind our back to push their religious beliefs on my child. The same day I reiterated to them that we are not religious, but the code word, texting, private convos,
Speaker: It all felt so slimy and not right. We immediately confronted Samantha about the situation and she didn't deny any of it. She said she had pure intentions and left it at that.
Speaker: I was sick to my stomach. The whole family was supposed to come to our house for a meal and we told her we weren't comfortable having her in our home, especially because our child was now uncomfortable even being near her.
Speaker: to the point he debated not even attending the funeral because he didn't want to have to see her. Her husband has defended her and said if we continue to treat her like this, we will be effectively ruining any relationship with them.
Speaker: But I feel like they should be more concerned with her behavior than I feel is borderline predatory. I don't know. Am I overreacting? All right. Thanks, Alex, for reading that.
Speaker: want to thank. yeah I got. Look, I get tired of reading the y'all sometimes. So I had Alex read. What what is my opinion on this? OK, I got several different opinions.
Speaker: We want to talk about protecting the kids. Right. So let's talk about that first. How do we protect the kids? I think it's inappropriate. For the sister in law, Samantha, to be reaching out to the kid.
Speaker: To push her religious views on him. When the father and the uncle have already said, we're not really that religious and, you know, it's it's cool and all you can do your thing, but we're not really that religious.
Speaker: She was wrong in that. How do I feel about people pushing their religion on other people? Now, there are some people that say that it is their duty in their religion to spread the word.
Speaker: And I'm conflicted on that because I'm somebody who is very spiritual, not super religious, but very spiritual.
Speaker: I don't ever push my beliefs on anybody else. You guys listen and watch the show. If you've been here since the beginning, this is like episode 208 or 209. I don't know. We're getting up there.
Speaker: Okay. I very rarely talk about religion. It's just, it's not my place to talk about religion. and And I'm going to give my opinions and ideas about a variety of topics, but what I will never do, i never do this.
Speaker: I never say, think like me. I always ask, would you like to think? That's it. Would you like to take things into consideration? And so I think that's how people should really use religion as well.
Speaker: If somebody I get approached because I live in Washington, DC by people in the Mormon church all the time, they're, they're all over here. Cause one of the big churches is here in Washington, DC.
Speaker: And that's their, there that's their mission is to get people to, to, to join their church. Now, Because long time ago, they didn't want no black people in their church. But but now, you know, some things have changed in LDS. So some, you know, things have changed.
Speaker: um And I politely tell them, no, thank you. And most of the time, most of the time they say, OK, well, thank you. Or I'll say I don't go to church, which is true.
Speaker: I don't go to church, but I grew up in the church. didn't go. I didn't spend a lifetime in church. But like I said, I'm spiritual, not super religious. Then you have some people that just, well, you should go, should come on, come to church.
Speaker: I know I had a kickboxing instructor who was Mormon that that that worked with us. You know, I'm her boss. And she was like, you want to go to church with me? And I said, no, I don't want to go to church with you.
Speaker: And, you know, I've often said, well, I don't like the history of the LDS. And also, you know, I feel like, you know, what y'all believe is kind of problematic. But all religion is kind of problematic, right? It's it's about faith.
Speaker: And so I'm like, no, you know, no, thank you. and And she kept asking. i was like, hey, look, you don't seem to understand. You're actually causing discomfort in the company.
Speaker: I'm going to have to ask you to stop trying to push your religion on everybody else. And after that, she said, you know, OK, I understand. But to go behind the parents back.
Speaker: to push their religion. If she went to the child and she said, hey, you know, I'm your aunt. I want you to feel comfortable around me. know your parents are really busy. If there ever any time that you want to talk, just talk.
Speaker: Here's my phone number. You can contact me anytime. That would have been okay. Give the child the phone number. Don't go into the iPad and text yourself so you had the child's phone number and then give this young man who's 12. He's about to hit puberty. He got some public hairs on him.
Speaker: If y'all don't get that joke, that's just a, you know, mic ups joke. No, I think it was mic ups. Anyway, it's a joke. Public hairs, public hairs. Okay. ah This is this a young man. You don't call no young man cupcake.
Speaker: You don't. So, yes, he's not overreacting for being upset. To bar her from the house, I actually agree with because if you explain to her, hey, look, we don't like what you just did.
Speaker: It's one thing to say, hey, I'm here if you ever need to talk. It's another thing to be praying over him, nicknaming him Cupcake, you know,
Speaker: saying it all weekend, two o'clock in the morning, sending text messages. That's weird. And I don't like to call things weird often, but when it comes to kids, I'll say it.
Speaker: That's weird. And we done told you, we're not really that religious. Stop trying to push your religion on us. No, you can't come into my house no more. And then her husband being like, it's going cause a problem. It's going cause a problem because you didn't tell your wife to respect our house.
Speaker: That's what we're talking about. Respect boundaries. She's not respecting boundaries. The boundary is don't push your religion on our child.
Speaker: And don't be calling them cupcake. Now, The dude also said, you know, is it grooming? and I don't know. Right. Like, I don't know.
Speaker: That's.
Speaker: Look, maybe. Maybe. And I want to say, no, she just trying to spread the word. But also. It's a lot of grooming in the church. So maybe.
Speaker: Just maybe. I don't know. I will say, regardless. Completely out of line. And the fact that there she's not respecting the wishes of the parent trying to raise their child.
Speaker: That's ish that's clear enough case in and of itself to be like, you're not allowed in my home no more. And actually, don't rock with you because I told you I don't like this and you're ignoring it.
Speaker: You're going to do whatever the hell you want to do, despite my objections to it. OK, then guess what? You ain't welcome in my home no more. You can't come through.
Speaker: So thank you, Alex, for reading that. And no, I don't think this dude is overreacting. I think he is reacting appropriately. I support him. And I'm glad that y'all went through and deleted all them text messages and deleted the phone number. You should block her.
Speaker: You should block her from the iPad. Matter of fact, you should go into her phone, snatch her phone out of her hand and then delete Little man's number, iPad number about her phone.
Speaker: Crazy lady. See, this is the reason why people look. Hey, said I was going to say something. I'm say it. I'm not going say it because sometimes, you know, I say things and I take it out of wrong context. But sometimes, you know, I'm saying this the reason why people don't want to go to church.
Speaker: Not not all the time. There's a lot of good churches out there where people don't push their views. But hey, look, let me give you our prime example let me give you a prime example. prime example. A reason why I don't go to church. The priest that buried me is my homie.
Speaker: Was my homie. haven't talked to him since the pandemic. I probably should reach out to him. Is my homie. When I got divorced, I was going to him for counseling to help me through my divorce. ah We became very, very close, almost to the point where I was like, I can't come to you for counseling anymore because we're friends now.
Speaker: And now feels weird. So I need to go to somebody else for counseling because I don't want to talk to somebody that I actually know. I want to give advice from a stranger.
Speaker: I feel more comfortable talking to a stranger. But ah also, used make me go to church. He used to guilt me into going to church. And I was like, you know I don't like going to church.
Speaker: I was like, very spiritual. I love the Lord. I don't like going to church. Why are you making me go to church? I don't like it.
Speaker: My dad used to make me go to church. That's the reason why it like going to church, because I was forced. If it was my choice, maybe I would have gone to choice but since ah church. But since I was forced all my life, don't want to go to church no more. Plus, it's law. It's law.
Speaker: You know, but somebody mentioned it to me that, you know, I can watch church on TV when it comes to my own home. And I said, I forgot about that. So I might start doing that.
Speaker: But if I do do that, I'm not going to come on here making... trying to make y'all believe what I believe. You can believe whatever you want to believe.
Speaker: It is your journey in life. Nobody else can tell you what's right and wrong. They can suggest to you. They can give their perspective.
Speaker: They can tell you what's right or wrong. Most of the time, you know, when your heart was right or wrong and you know what's moral and what's not moral. So that's just my two cents.
Speaker: So you're not overreacting. You're acting appropriately. Matter of fact, you might be underreacting because I would have whooped her husband's ass.
Speaker: ah for defending her and not being like, look, she's wrong here for disrespecting our home. Well, the Airbnb and our boundaries with my nephew and their son.
Speaker: She's in the wrong. Y'all got to go. And if that means it jeopardizes our relationship, so what? Because sometimes you got to cut people off. I do it almost every day. I cut people off because I don't care.
Speaker: You ain't got to be in my life. It's a privilege for me to be in your life and it's a privilege for you to be in my life. Privilege, not a right. You can get the hell out. And that's what I would tell a homeboy and her.
Speaker: Y'all can get the hell out. And that's what I feel about it. And on that note, ladies and gentlemen, thank you, thank you, thank you for all the support that you've been giving us. All of the streams for the audio, just absolutely amazing.
Speaker: Want to thank you for that. We want to thank you for listening. We want to thank you for watching. And until next time, as always, I'll holler.
Speaker: That was a hell of a show. Thank you for rocking with us here on Unsolicited Perspectives with Bruce Anthony. Now, before you go, don't forget to follow, subscribe, like, comment, and share our podcast wherever you're listening or watching it to it. Pass it along to your friends. If you enjoy it, that means the people that you rock will will enjoy it also.
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