Jenn Budd used to work for the US Border Patrol and has written about her experiences and why she left. She says that, “USBP is unfortunately still the most immoral and corrupt agency in the federal system”. Her descriptions of what she observed and endured are horrifying and the rot starts right from the beginning of the training program and goes all the way to the top.
Like any other law enforcement agency, the USBP likes to promote the image of honor and integrity. The only problem is that they have none of that. They are instead an agency systemically full of corruption, abuse, hypocrisy, racism and sexism. While it’s true that there are a “few bad apples” in every agency, the USBP is in reality the opposite; there are instead a “few good apples.”
…100% of female Border Patrol agents were sexually harassed during my time as an agent. I never ever met a female agent that was not targeted by the male agents. That was the climate, the culture of the agency…. Women were not to be trusted and did not belong. That was the message the instructors conveyed to male trainees.
Women in the patrol were labeled as four types according to the instructor: those that marry other agents, dykes, bitches or “f*ck bags.” The last was a term used by male agents for female agents that they passed around for sexual purposes.
…Talk to any federal law enforcement agent aside from Border Patrol agents, and they will tell you that USBP is by far the most corrupt. This is in part due to the the minimal hiring standards which have become more and more lenient as administrations have tried to increase the numbers. Unlike other agencies, Patrol agents are not required to have a high school degree or even job experience. A valid driver’s license and passing grade on a drug test and criminal background check is it.
She adds that “The attention Trump gives them only bolsters their aggression.”
Although what she recounts is pretty bad, Budd says that she has not fully revealed full depths of the horrors she witnessed and experienced and may do so in a book later.
I recently heard a pastor answer the question “if god is all knowing, why does he allow the devil to exist knowing we will be tempted and suffer.” His answer to the person was “why do you have kids knowing they’re are going to die one day.”
So in other words, the devil is god’s kid whom he wants to have a good time, even though it doesn’t last for ever?
To add to kai’s point, the pastor’s response presupposes that dying is the worst thing that can happen to anyone, so bad that living a full life does not compensate for it. Of course, that is not true. There are many “fates worse than death” which is why that saying exists in the first place, People who have been in extreme situations (such as being tortured or in the grips of painful illnesses or under severe psychological stress) have longed for death as a release. It does make sense to be fearful of death as the worst thing that can happen if you believe in hell and see death as the gateway to an eternity of torment.
But the real point is that life can and should be full of joyful moments, and children can be an important part of that. The fact that it has to end sometime does not take that away. It would be like refusing to take part in any event where one knows one will have a good time because you know that the event will end at some point.
p.s. I am not sure why this discussion is taking place in a post that has nothing to do with it, but no matter.
If one assumes a moral debt to future nonexistent people, things get complicated: since life is a positive benefit we should create as many lives as possible so everyone gets to experience it. I don’t think pro-lifers contextualize it that way, but that is basically their point.
Apparently Joey Burns got it right:
No fear, no harm was meant
The smuggler joked,
And down they went
The devil’s highway,
Disguised as a cloud of dust and smoke.
Narcos and feds
Are all intertwined
“You can leave your valuables here
With me” he smiled.