Bro Gary Hawkins 8: F is for Felony and No Longer Funny

[Coy Koi]

3 minutes ago, Lisafer said:

That makes me really sad. People who could actually have a positive impact after being incarcerated are being denied the use of those skills. 

Exactly. Providing inmates with training and experience, even with very little pay, could be considered a good thing for them if it gives them opportunities in the future. Exploiting their labor and then barring them from using that very experience to their advantage is unconscionable. And fighting wildfires seems like especially grueling and dangerous work. I don't know exactly what the inmates are doing, but it can't be pleasant.

[Evangeline]

@Ex 2x2 and @Baconandapples I've never heard of this denomination and I'm intrigued. I'd love to hear about what it was like. 

[Nikedagain?]

20 hours ago, Coy Koi said:

I was just thinking more about Bro Gary's old posts, specifically this one:

along with what we now know of Gary's past. And I have a little poem for him, as follows:

Weens are red,

Smart people vote blue,

Don't talk about criminals, Bro,

Like that ain't you.

I was there when the statue came down. The neo-confeds are still riled up. I'd love for Bro to mosey on up here and offer some support....

[smittykins]

1 hour ago, Coy Koi said:

Exactly. Providing inmates with training and experience, even with very little pay, could be considered a good thing for them if it gives them opportunities in the future. Exploiting their labor and then barring them from using that very experience to their advantage is unconscionable. And fighting wildfires seems like especially grueling and dangerous work. I don't know exactly what the inmates are doing, but it can't be pleasant.

And then, when they struggle after they're released, it's "Well, you should have thought about that before you chose to break the law."

[Coy Koi]

1 minute ago, smittykins said:

And then, when they struggle after they're released, it's "Well, you should have thought about that before you chose to break the law."

"Oh, but you have a couple weeks to get a job or it's back to prison for you" is often the case too, for those released on community supervision. In college I toured a work-release center and we spoke to residents and staff there. They said that most do manage to find jobs as required, but it was almost always minimum-wage, unskilled work (washing dishes at IHOP was the example that comes to mind, because apparently they were willing to hire felons for that and there was an IHOP within walking distance of the work-release center).

That's fine, and any job is a good place to start. But washing dishes at IHOP won't provide you with a living wage, and if you have the skills to do something like firefighting, you should be given a shot.

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

13 hours ago, smittykins said:

And then, when they struggle after they're released, it's "Well, you should have thought about that before you chose to break the law."

There was a story on my local news channel with a man who had served his prison term. He was describing how difficult a time he was having finding a place to rent. He wasn't even complaining that landlords wouldn't rent to him, but that landlords and property managers wouldn't just say up front that they wouldn't rent to him. So he kept filling out application after application, and paid a background check fee with each one, only to be told that they wouldn't rent to a felon. He said that he had paid hundreds of dollars in a fruitless search for a place to rent. It sounded awful. 

[church_of_dog]

15 hours ago, Coy Koi said:

Exactly. Providing inmates with training and experience, even with very little pay, could be considered a good thing for them if it gives them opportunities in the future. Exploiting their labor and then barring them from using that very experience to their advantage is unconscionable. And fighting wildfires seems like especially grueling and dangerous work. I don't know exactly what the inmates are doing, but it can't be pleasant.

They do the same physical work of wildland firefighting as regular wildland firefighters do.  Lots of hiking and use of hand tools and chain saws, all day long and in a dangerous situation.

The thing about them being unable to use their experiences to get similar jobs on the outside (assuming true; I trust those saying so on this thread but don't have personal knowledge about it) is especially stupid considering that only low-security inmates are permitted to go on the fire crews in the first place.  

[Alisamer]

It's very difficult for most people coming out of prison to find work. I have an acquaintance who was in for a few years (largely resulting from addiction and untreated mental health issues), and he had to have a place to live lined up before they'd let him out, and had to find a job within a certain amount of time. He wanted to join the military which would have been a good choice for him, but they have enough people now to be very picky, and wouldn't take him. He ended up finding a construction job through a friend of a friend, but it was dicey there at first. He's been clean for over a year now, I think, and doing fairly well. But it was very difficult at first, finding a job that would take him, and that would let him have the time to go to the frequent parole check-ins, keeping up with the NA meetings, going to therapy, etc. 

[Black Aliss]

On 11/6/2018 at 12:11 PM, Coy Koi said:

Oh, and I forgot to say that my 18-year-old just voted for the first time. She was so cute about researching everything so she would know how to vote. I am so proud of her. Unfortunately, Goodspaceguy wasn't running for anything this time around, so she couldn't vote against him this time around (seriously, that's the LEGAL name of a guy who is constantly running for various offices here. Google it.)

I miss Goodspaceguy (and the other perennial candidate for anything, Richard Pope). Maybe Dino Rossi will replace them as the Harold Stassen of the Northwest, always running, always losing.

[Black Aliss]

On 11/8/2018 at 12:23 AM, KnittingOwl said:

Oh, Goodspaceguy! Reading his blurbs in the election guide is always interesting. I was kind of surprised he wasn’t running for anything this time around. 

I think he was in the primary race for something or other. 

[Don'tlikekoolaid]

Bro Gary, still red and still embarrassing himself.  

Spoiler

 

[Alisamer]

Well, he spelled his name right this time. Made an error in every sentence other than that, though.

You'd think that using "want" correctly in the second sentence would make him realize that it was incorrect in the other two, but...

Hey, Bro Gary - It's "won't". and the only thing that "won't work" is YOU.

[Black Aliss]

On 11/6/2018 at 10:51 PM, WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? said:

Well, at least Goodspaceguy sounds like a better candidate than the perennial candidate who changed his name to Pro-Life. (Both links are Wikipedia. Sorry, but I don't have time to look for a better source.) I bet Bro Gary would luv to vote for a man named Pro-Life.

Is he the Idahoan who a decade or so ago ran against and lost to the Rethuglican candidate whose name, at least, always makes me smile: Butch Otter.

Spoiler

 

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

1 minute ago, Black Aliss said:

Is he the Idahoan who a decade or so ago ran against and lost to the Rethuglican candidate whose name, at least, always makes me smile: Butch Otter.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Yep. Good ol' Butch is retiring soon, thank Rufus. Aside from his name, I've never respected him, ever since his DUI arrest when he was still just a state legislator. He tried every lame idea he could think of to excuse his crime. "I couldn't walk a straight line because I was wearing cowboy boots." But, you had a high blood alcohol content? "I didn't know that the chewing tobacco my friend gave me was laced with whiskey."  (Insert massive eyeroll here.) Can we have some good candidates, please?

[Yogi]

Just leaving this here. 

[Alisamer]

I guess it's easy to read through the whole bible if you:

1) don't work

2) skim, because you can't read or pronounce most of the old King-James style words anyway (like those long lists of names)

3) don't really have any clue what 95% of it means, anyway

and 

4) are really just looking to highlight a few words here and there that support your own beliefs, ignoring anything that contradicts you

[church_of_dog]

58 minutes ago, WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? said:

Yep. Good ol' Butch is retiring soon, thank Rufus. Aside from his name, I've never respected him, ever since his DUI arrest when he was still just a state legislator. He tried every lame idea he could think of to excuse his crime. "I couldn't walk a straight line because I was wearing cowboy boots." But, you had a high blood alcohol content? "I didn't know that the chewing tobacco my friend gave me was laced with whiskey."  (Insert massive eyeroll here.) Can we have some good candidates, please?

The name Otter sounds downright normal compared to Crapo! 

[FullOfGravy]

Her "wrongful" husband?  Nice Freudian slip there, Becks.

 

[Georgiana]

1 minute ago, FullOfGravy said:

Her "wrongful" husband?  Nice Freudian slip there, Becks.

 

I was just about to say!

That being said "wrongful(ly) encouraging" is EXACTLY how I would describe Bro Gary

[Mar]

1 hour ago, Alisamer said:

I guess it's easy to read through the whole bible if you:

1) don't work

2) skim, because you can't read or pronounce most of the old King-James style words anyway (like those long lists of names)

3) don't really have any clue what 95% of it means, anyway

and 

4) are really just looking to highlight a few words here and there that support your own beliefs, ignoring anything that contradicts you

And what’s the point anyway of reading through the Bible very quickly? Just to brag about it? If they really wanted to learn something (I know, lol) or deepen their faith they would take their time focusing on just a small part at a time, get background information, compare different translations and spend some time thinking about what that verse/chapter/book is trying to say.

But it‘s Bro Gary and Sis Becky we‘re talking about... they would probably think this is the craziest idea ever. 

[Lisafer]

On 11/16/2018 at 9:38 AM, Alisamer said:

It's very difficult for most people coming out of prison to find work. I have an acquaintance who was in for a few years (largely resulting from addiction and untreated mental health issues), and he had to have a place to live lined up before they'd let him out, and had to find a job within a certain amount of time. He wanted to join the military which would have been a good choice for him, but they have enough people now to be very picky, and wouldn't take him. He ended up finding a construction job through a friend of a friend, but it was dicey there at first. He's been clean for over a year now, I think, and doing fairly well. But it was very difficult at first, finding a job that would take him, and that would let him have the time to go to the frequent parole check-ins, keeping up with the NA meetings, going to therapy, etc. 

It's such a tricky issue, too--where I live, most of the jobs are in tourism, and I can't blame employers for not hiring people with certain convictions (if somebody went to jail for theft or addiction problems, you don't necessarily want them having keycard access to hotel rooms, as in housekeeping/maintenance/front desk type work). People with convictions often end up working back of house at restaurants, but it's definitely more difficult to find a job. Also, it's far too easy to go back into active addiction here--there's plenty of illegal drug access for some reason. 

[Koala]

Could someone translate this for me?  I literally have zero clues what the fuck he's trying to say.

[FullOfGravy]

2 minutes ago, Koala said:

Could someone translate this for me?  I literally have zero clues what the fuck he's trying to say.

I think he's bemoaning the fact that things which were seen as sins in the past are accepted now?  And he's noticed this in churches as he's traveled around on the Magical Griftery Tour?

Oh, dear God, am I starting to understand Weenese?

[Alisamer]

1 hour ago, Koala said:

Could someone translate this for me?  I literally have zero clues what the fuck he's trying to say.

I'll take a crack at it:

"ok folks I've been trying to grift a lot from lots of churches, but some of them don't want to let me spread my awfulness  aren't right with God, and don't think the same things are sin that I think are sins. How do you know? I talked to a church today with women deacons, and saw one with a woman pastor just the other day!"

my guess is he accidentally ended up in a church that was conservative but not fundie enough for him, and didn't hate the same stuff he did. Maybe they weren't Trumphumpers, or didn't require women to stay silent, or suggested he actually work for a living. 

[Don'tlikekoolaid]

Message for Bro from us sinners 

Spoiler