Bleeding Heart

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

As we know, this little assembly that gathers here semi-regularly, we’re all heartless.

Just listen to the left any day — and dear Lord, all day on Sunday. Don’t they have a life? — and you’ll find our positions come from the fact that we are, all of us, absolutely uncaring of what happens to whosoever the current “downtrodden” group that’s always “most affected” by whatever happens.

To wit, we don’t want government to pay for everyone’s health care. (I’m told women and children most affected.) We don’t want open borders and importing the poor and crazy of the sh*tholes of the world onto our land. We don’t think we should accommodate the “homeless” by letting them camp, sh*t and feraly attack people in public. Instead we’d like to see city regulations on vagrancy — from 1910 — sternly enforced, vigorous encouragement to get treatment for addiction, very vigorous mental health initiatives and let private charity pick up the rest. We think anyone stealing, murdering or raping should be punished to the heaviest extent of the law. Oh, yeah, and barring assistance on some very specific disasters, we don’t think we should be sending pallets of US taxpayer cash to “poorer” or “more needy” countries.

Therefore, we clearly don’t care about women, children, the elderly, immigrants, people of other colors (in my case not caring about people of other colors, depending on how you squint means not caring for white people,) the “unhoused”, we despise people suffering from “substance abuse”, we don’t understand the pressures society puts on criminals, and we want foreigners to die screaming.

I might be missing one or two groups we’re supposed to hate, in there. Oh, yeah, because we generally don’t want sex-f*ckery be it transitioning or indoctrination into all sorts of kink and fetishes done to people under the age of reason we’re also sexist, homophobic, transphobic, kinkophobic (I made that up) and repressive prudes.

In fact, the honest to G-d truth is that we’re bleeding hearts, each and everyone of us. We’re just bleeding hearts that think, instead of jumping from whatever propaganda image of kiddies with big tearful eyes is being shoved in our faces that moment.

Before I start this, I want to make one thing VERY clear: Although some functions, like the confinement of the irredeemably insane or intractably criminal MIGHT have to be done by the government and although things liek border enforcement BELONG to the government — government IS force, after all — in general, grosso modo, I prefer solutions that don’t involve the government. And if we have to involve the government, I prefer it be small, local and extremely well aware that its victims citizens know where government officials live, making torches is not that hard and any garden center has pitchforks aplenty.

There is a reason for this beyond my being — DUH — governmentophobic. You see, the further from you the government is, and the larger its apparatus is, the more it has to relie on bureaucracy for whom each citizen becomes a number on a colum.

And that kind of thing — ALWAYS — ends up with considering humans for their practical, material value. Let’s face it, a lot of us, (including me) when it comes to value to a distant, tax-farming government, are only suited to be fertilizer. And it always ends up in that. Always. The kind of shenanigans the Germans got up to in second world war ALWAYS happen in a government that’s too big and out of control, regardless of its alleged philosophy.

Being a bleeding heart, I oppose big government and all its works, and its false glamor, and its empty promises. Remember that as you read the following, since for some functions we still do need government, and I bitterly have to assent to that. For instance the defense of our borders is specified in the constitution. And just because we were assaulted with weaponized human waves it doesn’t mean it wasn’t an invasion and a novel weapon to deploy against a country which is stronger than all of them combined.

So, in order, I oppose so called “universal health care” on the government dime. You’d think after the horrors we’ve seen from Europe and Canada — ranging from children being denied treatment and their parents prevented from seeking treatment abroad, to euthanasia of the poor and depressed — you’d think this would be self-obvious.

Yes, medical treatment is very expensive, a lot of people go into debt to save their lives, etc. etc. etc. But giving it over to the government is ALWAYS the wrong way. It is at its most basic stopping belonging to yourself and belonging to the government. He who pays the piper calls the shots, which is what we’ve seen over and over again.

No, I don’t have infinite money for health care, or even as much money as Elon Musk, but I should be able to choose the options I can have, and how much I’m willing to sacrifice for it.

My bet, because each person’s health matters most to each person, is that overall returning choice — real choice — to the people, getting government money and government insanity out of health care would save lives. And I’m a bleeding heart. I want to minimize suffering. I want more people to be healthy.

I don’t want us to keep our borders open to the suffering multitudes of the world, because — honestly — there’s nothing for them to do here, other than draw welfare. Oh, lawns and such, sure, but they’re not actually NEEDED for that. They’re taking that work away from local teens that the government for… reasons… decided no longer should be allowed to work.

But what I meant is there is not the kind of work they can do that will lift them out of their wretched condition, allow them to integrate fully and be able to be as productive as our citizens are or can be. Look, the beginning of the twentieth century gave a lot of people a lot of wrong ideas. The wretched multitudes of Europe didn’t need to be skilled or even speak English to do line work in factories. And that work was, back then, valuable enough to allow them to rise and integrate.

Now it’s no such thing. The people we need are highly specialized and far fewer than we’re raining H1Bs on (that’s a weird scam to maximize profits and control over workers, and though a subset of this nonsense, is its own post, eventually.)

What they do is create a vast indigestible group dependent on welfare and (because illegal) various illegal scams and schemes for simple survival. Which is bad for the whole country.

BUT it goes well beyond that. The open border is demonstrably bad for the people coming in. Not taking in account that most women, girls, and a not inconsiderable amount of boys get raped on the way here, a lot of them are basically imported as slave labor.

That link is just one instance. There are countless others, even though no one is looking into. And yes, I know that’s from Canada, but it’s the same here. People arrive to the US in debt for their “fare” to be smuggled in, and have to work in indentured labor to pay it back. And even though the work they can do isn’t particularly valuable, you can still turn a profit if you treat them like slaves. Various criminal organizations DO. (Anyone remembers the kids rounded up working on POT FARMS in California?) And that’s if you’re lucky. For women and children the great danger is sexual slavery. If you think that the open borders didn’t start a river of that, you are dreaming.

It’s bitterly funny that the people who obsess about past slavery are creating the conditions for slavery in this country at this time. “Undocumented” — what a ridiculous word, as though they’d forgotten their drivers license in the other purse — people are people ripe for the taking, exploiting, abusing and worse by bad elements in society. They’re not officially here. No one knows where they are. They have no ties. Read up on serial killers. This is what their dream victims are made of. It’s what every bad guy’s dream victims are made of.

The administration of the Bidentia created more slavery and oppressive conditions than any time since that small disagreement between North and South.

I’m a bleeding heart. I don’t think people should be enslaved, exploited, raped, tortured and ill treated. I say close the borders and keep close track of everyone who comes in.

This by the way doesn’t take in account what the foolishness did to other countries, the countries of origin, many of whom lost all their young people. Who also came here for what turns out to be a lesser future.

Send them home. It’s the bleeding heart thing to do. In their culture, where they belong, they’ll have a better chance to thrive. Yes, some of those places are hellholes, but who should change that other than their young and dynamic population? Yes, I know it’s not guaranteed, but at least they’d have a chance.

As for the homeless, a friend pointed out yesterday the horrors of life for them. Just utter danger and hunger and disease and all the problems of raw, barbaric humanity.

We treat diseased dogs and cats better. Look, as much as I want to respect people’s civil liberties, etc, the problem we have right now is not one of “homelessness”. Or worse “unhoused.” You could give each and every one of those people a house tomorrow, and 90% of them would be back on the street in the same condition within the month if not the week.

In fact we do a deep deservice to the other 10% — some of my friends have been THAT for a time — who are genuinely homeless due to spectacular bad luck or a combination of toxic relationship/unemployment. Those people in fact can be helped and should/could be helped often by private charities, if it weren’t for the fact they get lost in the sea of the rest: the mentally ill, the drug addicted, and the inexplicable. (People who don’t seem to have any of the higher functions at all, and whether they were born that way or rendered themselves that way function at the level of animals.) THOSE people cannot be helped by throwing money at it, giving them a house or giving them a hand up.

Some percentage probably can be helped simply by refusing to let them camp in cities, letting them defecate in public, allowing them petty theft and threatening of the general population. Breaking the inertia might cause some of them to look for drug rehab programs, or such. While I do believe you should be able to put in your body whatever you want, this is predicated on — so long as you don’t force others to endure the consequences of your behavior. (For instance, prohibition was a disaster, but no one is suggesting DUI is fine.)

Others, and no one knows how many are simply a danger to themselves and others, but mostly themselves.

I hate to suggest madhouses for various reasons, but mostly because it curtails human self determination. However, there is no constitutional right to stand on the corner pissing yourself and yelling at foot traffic. Further, by doing so you are violating the rights of the people going about their lawful occasions, notably those of merchants and food vendors doing a productive job. I think it’s time to admit that throwing the mentally ill to the “community” was more throwing them AT the community with a trebuchet and it didn’t end well for anyone.

It’s time to stop throwing money at it and start looking after the people who can’t look after themselves. And yes, if we allow it and create the legal framework, a lot of this will be done by private charity. The remainder is a legitimate function of various levels of government. A lot of the mentally ill, notably a percentage of schizophrenics can be productive and relatively happy if they’re kept on medication. Unfortunately that requires a level of quasi-imprisonment to make sure the meds are taken on time, because the condition itself precludes them taking them regularly.

I’m a bleeding heart. I don’t want people rotting in street corners while still alive and dying of the most bizarre crap no one in the 21st century should die of. It’s time to bring back rehabilitation, madhouses and anti-vagrancy laws.

This incidentally also allows the poor (it’s almost always the poor) to live and work in city centers without being in fear for their property and lives.

As for criminals, I think they need to be severely enough punished to stop doing it. By criminals in this case — did I mention our penal code needs a severe pruning — I mean those who commit crimes against others. Theft, destruction of property, assault, rape, murder: all of these need to be punished swiftly and decisively. Heck, i think we should bring back public flogging and public hanging.

Some people are more prone to criminality than others. No, you’ll never prevent all of those people from doing evil. But a fear of public and horrible punishment will stop a lot of people from taking that path who would otherwise have taken it.

That not only spares those who would have been their victims, but it spares those people themselves from what is now an unproductive, unhappy and generally disordered life, in and out of jail or prison.

I’m a bleeding heart. I think it’s time to punish crime and protect the innocent.

As for sending money to all those disadvantages places as a matter of course, there is arguably a point that doing so has kept those places from developing their own industry, their own agriculture, or much of anything. We’ve made them resentful pensioners of the first world.

On top of which, look, most of those lands aren’t poor because they lack wealth but because they’re Kakistocracies and those in power steal everything.

If you send more over, you’re just giving money to the worst. And some of the worst might even be honest enough to take the money you sent them to put on an LGBTQ opera for the poor (of Bolivia!) and actually only embezzle half of it and put on the opera. Will no one think of the suffering of the public, not to mention the actors?

I’m a bleeding heart. I think we should let the working people of America keep as much as possible of their own money. And the kakistocracies abroad should be deprived of a teat to suck. Minimize unhappiness in the world.

And this is just scratching the surface of ways in which I’m a bleeding heart, so disturbed by the suffering of people that I think we need to remove every vestige of Marxism from our societies and– appropriate for the season– let the people go.

Because I’m a bleeding heart.

55 thoughts on “Bleeding Heart”

  2. Very well said Sarah! The people who claim to be the “caring” ones have done far more harm than good and the government is the worst possible choice for solving so many of these problems. The government has certain, specified purposes and diverting it so many things that are not part of its reason for existing can only go badly.

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  3. Just before the last Presidential election, some Liberal Women got official looking letters thanking them for “signing up” to house illegal immigrant families. [Very Big Twisted Grin]

    Obviously, some jokesters were having “fun with them” but I think it was a Good Idea.

    If somebody supports Illegal Immigration, then they should be willing to personally pay to house said Illegals.

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    1. And no they don’t get the state’s National Guard to remove the illegals when they’re “inconvenient”.

      (Martha’s Vineyard, I’m looking at you)

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  4. I have the heart of a 30-year-old (and she has mine).

    Or, I have the heart of a young adult. I sold the other parts for cash.

    Or, I have the heart of a (insert here). I keep it in a jar on my desk.

    But, yep. Render unto Ceasar’s what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s. Charity is only charity if it’s _personal_. If _I_ choose to give someone money, that’s my risk, and my reward (that I’ve helped someone in need). If someone lends me a helping hand, that’s their personal choice, and mine to pay it back (if and when possible) according to the precepts I was raised in.

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  6. If you give some people a house, you will find within a week that it’s chest deep in trash all the way through. (Where did it come from? And so fast?)

    Others will leave the floor a mix of dog poop and fused kibble several inches deep, and never inform you that they’ve had some plumbing issues that made everything worse.

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    1. I’ve seen that more than once. Some people bring disgusting to unbelievable levels. As a member of the volunteer fire department I have been involved with burning down a couple houses after they were home to a some of those types. And still marvel at the work another person did to rescue and restore a house after another such tenant (they really wanted to save that house, I would have burned it down too).

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  7. If you give some people a house, you will find within a week that it’s chest deep in trash all the way through. (Where did it come from? And so fast?)

    Others will leave the floor a mix of dog poop and fused kibble several inches deep, and never inform you that they’ve had some plumbing issues that made everything worse.

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  8. I remember reading a phrase; “The Tyranny of the Homeless” and I just loved it immediately. We are held hostage by the craziest, filthiest, least productive members of our society because we refuse to police their bad behavior. I’m constantly hearing complaints about American public spaces being ruined by “hostile architecture” and how that just proves we’re just oh so heartless and mean. We wouldn’t have to install spikes and armrests on benches if we took vagrancy and mental illness seriously. We can’t do anything about the problem because all that rational solutions make stupid liberals feel bad, meanwhile anyone else who uses and depends on public spaces and services like transportation, libraries etc just have to endure their smell and bad behavior and just hope we dont get stabbed. I’m fucking sick of it.

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  9. H-1Bs are non-criminal indentured servitude. The visa is held by the employer and they can yoink it at any time. The visaholder is not free to switch jobs. If they leave, they go home (supposedly). It’s almost a dictionary definition. That’s one reason I’ve been such a vehement opponent of the damn things for 25 years now. Not only is it incredibly unfair to American workers, honestly, it’s not fair to the immigrant either.

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    2. My understanding is that someone with an H1-B has a limited window on leaving their job to switch to another job where the new employer will do the necessary paperwork and oversight.

      But the reality is that if you don’t already have such a job lined up when you leave your old job, you’re not likely to get a new one in time.

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      1. I have heard the window is only a week. I might have heard wrong, of course. But it’s definitely short enough that you have to have the new job lined up before informing your old employer that you’re leaving. Which is kind of hard when you’re working long hours already: even managing to have an interview without your old employer finding out and firing you (thereby making it illegal for you to stay in the country) is very difficult. Result, most H-1B visa holders are stuck in their current job and can’t switch, so their employers can exploit them, usually with little to no consequence.

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          1. Techno-serfdom, rather. If it got as bad as slavery then most of them would quit and go home. But my quibble is with your terminology, not your broader point.

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        1. “H1-B farm” is the traditional term.

          The cut is standard for any company that places employees. That’s whether or not the employee in question is a citizen. Most such employees are shocked when they first discover how much the company they are placed at is paying versus how much the employee actually gets.

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  10. “That link is just one instance. There are countless others, even though no one is looking into. And yes, I know that’s from Canada, but it’s the same here.”

    I find it so interesting that Canada, held up so often as morally superior, seems so mired in all manner of vileness such as this. And “suiciding” the inconvenient in the guise of “mercy”. And reflexive “anti-racist” hoaxes. And…

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  11. In the years when I was driving trucks over the road I occasionally saw evidence of slavery-like conditions at places I would pick up or deliver a load. It was never something I could be absolutely sure about, but certain companies seemed to have security that was aimed at controlling the employees. Most companies limit access for drivers and don’t let you just roam free through their facilities, but some places felt different. Some places felt like they had something to hide about their employees. There were lots of places where most of the employees spoke no English and I was sure many were illegals, but the kinds of places that creeped me out were something else.

    I think there is not only the sort of quasi slavery where conditions are difficult with long hours, low pay, and cramped quarters. I think there are places where “employees” are held captive and prevented from any outside contact. I was never in a position to investigate such places and would not want the job of doing so, but sometimes I got a glimpse of a dark underbelly that I really didn’t want to know about.

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    2. No “think” necessary. Such places occasionally get discovered and raided by a mixed team of BP (it would be ICE nowadays), FBI, and local law enforcement. The “employees” are allowed to stay in the US until the trial is over so that they can testify against their former “employer”.

      I used to know a guy who worked for BP, and had been involved in some of those raids. He never talked about them.

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  12. Because the Good Samaritan left the poor robbing victim by the side of the road and went out and petitioned Rome for a Victim’s Advocacy Department to be funded by a half shekel tax on the sales of sacrificial animals to pilgrims going to the temple. Right?

    I mean no one would expect someone to personally bind up a victim’s wounds, put said victim on their own donkey, take the victim to an inn, give the innkeeper money from their own purse, and promise to repay any extra expenses incurred when next they came that way. That’s just crazy.

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  13. It is rather telling that when I pay cash up front for medical services, the quoted price drops by 20-70%. The difference goes to paying the people who do the paperwork for insurance and the Feds (but I repeat myself), and covering the difference between Fed reimbursement rates and actual cost (which determines what insurance companies will also reimburse providers for.) Only once was there a problem with “I’ll be paying myself,” and that was because the person with the chart of real vs. insurance billing costs was at lunch, and had locked his desk so the others couldn’t get to the chart. I left earnest money, and they repaid me what was left over after doctor and lab fees.

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    1. That billed but unpaid by insurance or the co-pay, is on the books as uncollectable and a write-off. All people (not animal, pets/livestock, unfortunately) medical. We asked.

      What we found interesting is from hubby’s hip replacements. 2012 the first one, company/union insurance, $5000 co-pay; paid before (actually as) he went into surgery. Second one was 2015, quoted and paid $5000 co-pay, same timing. But, technically “retiree insurance”. Same union insurance as before. Both were put on the credit card. Credit card paid by the time the insurance payments came in. 2015? We got $5000 refund, to the payment method. FWIW, that credit paid the next two months of the credit card bill.

      His 2024 prostate surgery? We’ve seen the surgeons, and labs, billing. Not a thing from the hospital. The same insurance company, just Medicare Blue Advantage not through the union. (By the time I qualified, switching saved us $4000/year, net. That was 4 years ago. Didn’t get cheaper.)

      My eyes? 2026 cataract surgeries? I’ve paid the first $425. Another $425 billing coming. Have no clue what the upcoming aortic valve replacement surgery is going to cost. Consult for the surgery was just scheduled. SVAR recommended (age and family history, both sides … Do not want to do this again in 10 years. Does mean Warfarin and ongoing lab tests. OTOH the blood pressure meds also require ongoing lab tests. Oh. Joy.)

      Heard someone joke “Welcome to the Golden Years. Need Gold to survive.”

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      1. psoriasisI just got my Medigap statement for the BiPAP machine, but CMS hasn’t sent their statement. I’m looking forward to it, because I want to compare the payouts to what the private vendor (used to use before insurance covered it) charges for the same stuff.

        I’ve already seen the nominal list prices, and those are breathtakingly high compared to the old vendor. The trick will be to see what actually gets paid.

        FWIW, for those in the Pac NW (ish–check their maps*) looking for a DME outfit that doesn’t give you heartburn, migrane, and the heartbreak of psoriasis**, Norco (the welding supply outfit) seems to be a good one. I’ve heard enough about the two nationals (Linde and Apria) to stay away. Norco’s not perfect, but Good Enough.

        {*} Not California, though one site in Nevada and sites in Montana & Idaho.

        {**} :) Damned if I can recall what ad that came from…

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    2. My dental insurance is directly with the dentist’s office and so much easier than the government rigmarole.

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      1. So is ours these days. Insurance cost is discounted pre-pay annual X-rays, and two cleanings. 20% discount on any work that needs to be done. Plus paid in cash discount (i.e. don’t use credit or debit card). Our dentist isn’t in the medicare advantage system. We’ve been patients of that clinic before the current *outgoing dentist bought the clinic we were going to; 1988 (ish).

        (*) “New” dentist is his son.

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  14. The Liberals don’t want the problems fixed, they just don’t want to see them. The whole talking Americans of African descent and First Americans off packaging did nothing for their lives, but now the liberal women don’t have to see them anymore and feel guilty. Instead of helping those groups themselves, they let government steal wholesale to put those things where the liberal women can’t see them. It’s never about fixing a problem, it’s about hiding them in a way the Liberal can steal more money. That’s the real reason they hate the Orange man, he doesn’t hide problems he fixes them and makes all the Liberals look like the disgusting pieces of human filth they are. Burning in hell is too good for them, IMHO.

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  15. “…sending pallets of US taxpayer cash to “poorer” or “more needy” countries…”

    Interestingly, this has been documented to actually damage seniors. Well, one specific Senior, that Autopen guy, who did not get the laundered kickback to his campaign fund as the money ended up not going to those Ukrainians for that “project”, at least per recently released intercepts.

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  16. You know what one weird trick has been proven to work, oddly enough by empirical fact here in the formerly gold state, to reduce crime? Three Strikes laws. The fact is the folks that do the majority of the major crime are not novices, having been through teh system and served multiple sentences. If they get locked up on the third felony, the major crime rate drops. If you release those exact people because there’s a bad cold going around, the major crime rate goes up.

    Weird! Weird.

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  18. My dad tried to help a homeless couple. He started by giving them a safe place to pitch their tent on his 40 acres.

    My dad even built them a shed to cover the tent

    Then we started calling all the charitable organizations in town to see what help we could get them. We hit every food bank and church organization and got them on some waiting lists and in less than a week we got them an apartment they could live in rent free, all utilities paid for life. Only rule, they had to take a periodic drug test and stay clean.

    we got him a job with a lawn mowing group.

    After a few days he stopped showing up for work. Said he didn’t have transportation. Another guy in the group offered to pick him up everyday. He said he didn’t want to be beholden to anyone.

    They were back on the street within a month.

    I just don’t think they were capable of functioning in regular society. Some people just aren’t. They had adapted to the un-housed lifestyle and it worked for them.

    I also know another guy who was homeless for 3 years while making 250k a year as a computer programmer. He had a nice van with a bunk and basically lived in walmart parking lots and had a gym membership. he worked remote, spending most of his time in the public library or a coffee shop. After 3 years he bought a nice house free and clear and he and his wife now have a 6 month old girl. That was a lifestyle choice that worked for him and let him save huge amounts of money. He still has the van, but the bunk is gone, he just keeps it in case he needs to haul something.

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    1. See, while I know that is technically and legally “homeless”, that’s on the level of choosing to camp out while saving up for a place to own. Having the gym membership got him the showers and bathrooms (especially if it was a 24-hour place), so the only thing he didn’t have was a fixed address to sleep at. Well, and a kitchen. Kitchens are nice.

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    2. There are homeless, with every negative connotation you can attach. Then there are those who embrace the van/RV life, all levels, many reasons. The latter are not homeless.

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  19. The mentally ill who cannot cope outside of institutions are no different from people whose minds have been lost to Alzheimer’s, at least in that they are not fit to go about freely. If I allowed an elderly relative whose mind was lost to dementia to wander the streets ad lib, I’d be up on charges of elder abuse. But we let the mentally ill roam, sleep in the streets and suffer, and anybody who wants to institutionalize them is howled down as a Great Big Meanie.

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    1. “an elderly relative whose mind was lost to dementia“

      –

      OMG! Worse: Mom and others of the local Shriner and Masonic family, and me by association, is going through this with a friend. The friend is aware she, is having memory problems. It is getting bad. With all the associated problems this generates (including financial mail abuse. No matter how much anyone tells her to NOT respond to the mail, not email, solicitations, she still does). She does have family (not sure about her having her own children, there is a step-son, otherwise siblings …) But the family is NOT local (Lives in Canada. Friend is a naturalized American from Canada.) She does have a gentleman. They are not married. No one local has any legal rights to step in. Technically no legal rights beyond informing her family (which has been done. But if they don’t do anything …) Any interference is considered “elderly abuse”. Never mind that, with a few exceptions, those trying to find a solution, are older than she is. Some by a few years, others by a decade or more (seriously, she’s 80, her companion is 98).

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      1. [Sad Smile]

        Thankfully, when Mom’s dementia was starting to hit her hard, I was living with her so I could head off the idiot fraudsters.

        Mind you, Mom wasn’t really understanding what the fraudsters were wanting her to do so she let me handle them.

        It was hard dealing with Mom but at least I could protect her from those sort of problems.

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      2. And now the scammers have added AI to the mix.

        https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2026/04/02/stay-frosty-folks-i-just-almost-got-ai-scammed-by-my-own-voice-n2200917

        But here’s where it differed from the usual encounter: he played audio on his phone. And it was ME, saying, “Yes, I’m free in the afternoons, we can do it then.”

        Now, I’m not Johnny B. Gullible, but I’d be lying if I claimed I didn’t have an “oh s***” moment. Did I make an appointment and instantly forget about it? Was I losing my mind? Was this the first sign of dementia?

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        1. There are reasons I answer unknown numbers with at flat “Who is it.” followed by “Identify yourself”.

          If they want to fake me saying yes to whatever scam they’re peddling, they’re going to have to work for it.

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  20. Being a bleeding heart, I oppose big government and all its works,

    Of course – you were Baptized:


    Celebrant: Do you reject Satan?

    Parents and Godparents: I do.

    Celebrant: And all his works?

    Parents and Godparents: I do.

    To give an example of how I am Odd, in the 2024 cancer thing, my wife developed a blood clot, and we really needed some medical imaging. A little bit of calling around, and we got right in – Peace Health couldn’t do it for a week.

    After a couple cycles out of my sight, I got a note from Medicare that they would not pay for the imaging.

    Well, I thought, they were there for us, seems like it would be nice if they were still around for other people. So, I called the provider, and got their billing person, and tried to pay the bill. She said nope, can’t take it, it’s a write-off.

    I’m still unhappy about that. Wouldn’t have been all that much money.

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  21. I’ve come to the sad conclusion that some people don’t want to be saved.

    And I mean in a physical sense, not a religious one.

    You have the guy with mental illness who is mostly okay if he takes his medications-and doesn’t, because he likes his brain when he’s off them. Or prefers to get drunk rather than take them.

    The homeless person that has the system dialed down. Knows where to get a bed if it’s cold or wet, food when they’re hungry, free clinic and new clothes when it’s time for those, and otherwise…they can live their life how they want and nobody can tell them to stop. Of course, every dime they get begging goes to booze and/or drugs. Often to treat a mental illness that could be easily handled by medications-but would require them to be “managed” by someone.

    Tenants that get told over and over again to not pour grease down the pipes. Maintenance comes by and screams as the tenants because it’s the sixth time this month that they’ve poured grease down the pipes and they have to fix them. The tenants? Don’t care because they aren’t paying for it and they’re on a housing voucher and it’s cheaper to fix things than to go through the process to kick them out.

    (And you wonder why it’s hard to get maintenance people these days, between this and the shit wages that most large apartment management companies pay. They even slow-bill contractors because it looks better on the balance statement.)

    Honestly, I know this is why I don’t try to help people anymore. I don’t know if I’m actually helping someone or enabling bad behavior and I’ve gotten tired of being an enabler.

    I do know that at some point, these people have to be made to live within society’s rules or kept away from it.

    They’re a banal kind of evil. Not violent or destructive, just…corrosive to everything else.

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  23. I remember that old saw about “If you’re not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you’re not a conservative at forty, you have no brain.” Well, I suppose I never had a heart by that logic. Still, I used to have a slightly more libertarian streak. The last fifteen years of politics have demolished that streak as I realized the left will never, ever leave me alone.

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  25. I wish I had a nickel for every time I have been called “callous” because, despite my Gen X cynicism, I believe in the individual (in most cases) to take personal responsibility and make a difference for themselves. I think the cynicism definitely comes into play with the disappointment in my fellow man being unwilling, and preferring the hand out, rather than the hand up.

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  26. Pingback: Instapundit » Blog Archive » A DIFFERENT KIND OF:  Bleeding Heart.

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