Kansas State Rep arrested for...

[Norman Alexander]

I suspect if a left-winger ever got to the same stage of crazy that this guy has, they would have already been committed to an upstate facility under observation. That, or they would be in jail. Right wingers would see to that.

 

[shemp]

As much as I enjoy dunking on Republican politicians who get themselves into idiotic situations...this sounds more like genuine mental illness. Or possibly a physical one-- a brain tumor in the right place can remove inhibitions.

So can drugs or alcohol, which seems more likely.

 

[Hlafordlaes]

... I am seriously thinking of moving out of the country. Have been for awhile. This kind of stuff shows me how deeply entrenched in the system these people are. It IS better elsewhere right?

Not by much, not for long. Spanish "mockracy" retained Franco's "justice" system intact. Here, detainees are carefully taken to jail all nice and legal like... where they can then be freely beaten while handcuffed, no cameras! Ditto France, Italy, etc, etc, etc. The police in much of the West are closet fascists, only slightly better than the open fascists working as US police.

Most White people today quake in their boots before a big bad world of their very own making, and are demanding "security" at any cost, so anywhere in the West is iffy. Iceland is possibly the best choice among familiar places, though like the rest of the West, it assuredly would drop trou on "values" the very nanosecond any "threat" were perceived, real or imaginary. Especially imaginary; those are the nastiest, as Republicans can attest.

Otherwise, Ghana seems to be on the up and up.

 

[mgidm86]

Not by much, not for long. Spanish "mockracy" retained Franco's "justice" system intact. Here, detainees are carefully taken to jail all nice and legal like... where they can then be freely beaten while handcuffed, no cameras! Ditto France, Italy, etc, etc, etc. The police in much of the West are closet fascists, only slightly better than the open fascists working as US police.

Most White people today quake in their boots before a big bad world of their very own making, and are demanding "security" at any cost, so anywhere in the West is iffy. Iceland is possibly the best choice among familiar places, though like the rest of the West, it assuredly would drop trou on "values" the very nanosecond any "threat" were perceived, real or imaginary. Especially imaginary; those are the nastiest, as Republicans can attest.

Otherwise, Ghana seems to be on the up and up.

Ya every place has it's issues. We aren't exactly at the top of the Happiest Countries lists though.

 

[Carrot Flower King]

Is there evidence he is actually mentally ill?

Quite.

I just love all the armchair/computer screen diagnosis which goes on sometimes, when, oddly, the reality is that doing the actual assessment to gather the information needed to come to a formulation or diagnosis can be pretty complex and doesn't just happen in a split second...My life would have been much easier if we could just look at someone for a few seconds and say, "Yup, they are/have [whatever]!"

And many of the "behaviours" some folk reckon are signs of "madness" really aren't, what with "normal" folk displaying them even more...

 

[Dabop]

Samsel is obviously having a mental health crisis of his own. He's posted a very long rambling and incoherent FB message today. It begins with

"I am truly sorry that this has caused confusion and pain, especially in my native hometown. But this is not about me. It never has been. If it were up to me, I'd be sitting on a beach in Australia or exploring the jungles in Africa. Maybe the beach in San Diego, or Portland or Madison remain on my bucket list of places to travel. Of course, I'm pretty blue collar, so Melvern Lake or a Royals game is more my style."

and proceeds to all kinds of unrelated topics including the incident in the classroom.

https://www.facebook.com/MarkSamsel...d=650140028766996&comment_tracking={"tn":"R"}

Um- from Australia....
HELL NO!!!!
The average republican is considered an extremist here, let alone a fundy christian nutcase like him....
(actually he has zero chance of getting into Australia now anyway- he has a criminal record- and his 'character' (yes here in Oz that can still count against you getting a visa) would mean he has zero, zip, zilch chance of getting in...)
Thankfully...

 

[W.D.Clinger]

Just asking questions...

Is there evidence he is actually mentally ill?

Have you asked xjx388 whether we're allowed to answer that?

I suspect if a left-winger ever got to the same stage of crazy that this guy has, they would have already been committed to an upstate facility under observation. That, or they would be in jail. Right wingers would see to that.

Is upstate Kansas an actual thing?

 

[ponderingturtle]

If this guy is genuinely mentally unbalanced and has been spouting this drivel for some time, it speaks volumes about the people who elected him to a position of power as a representative. Either they are spectacularly stupid themselves, or they all did it for a sick LOL, or they actually agree with the rantings of this lunatic.

He has the right letter in front of his name so what more do they need to vote for him?

 

[ponderingturtle]

What has happened to the GOP Is tragic.
The sane people are being driven out, and the crazies taking over.
It's sad, because I think you need a sane ,fiscal conservative party to put a break on the progressives.

But you really need to go back to the criminal Nixon or Eisenhower to find a sane fiscal conservative republican president. Ok Maybe Bush I with his raising taxes to balance the budget against his campaign promises.

 

[The Don]

What has happened to the GOP Is tragic.
The sane people are being driven out, and the crazies taking over.
It's sad, because I think you need a sane ,fiscal conservative party to put a break on the progressives. Problem is that the GOP is no longer about limited government but white greivence.

Given that the last president to have a budget surplus was Bill Clinton and that the party suggesting that taxes need to increase to help fund government expenditure* and address the deficit and debt is the Democratic Party, maybe that party is the Democratic Party and they keep a tight enough control over their progressive wing ?

* - Both Republicans and Democrats want to at least maintain, if not increase, government expenditure. They do however differ significantly on spending priorities.

 

[Norman Alexander]

Is upstate Kansas an actual thing?

Figuratively speaking, of course.

 

[Craig4]

Totally wierd and bizarre.
"I don;t think we are in Kansas anymore, Toto".

We all resisted the urge, why couldn't you?

 

[Norman Alexander]

He has the right letter in front of his name so what more do they need to vote for him?

So my option 1.

 

[RecoveringYuppy]

Quite.

I just love all the armchair/computer screen diagnosis which goes on sometimes, when, oddly, the reality is that doing the actual assessment to gather the information needed to come to a formulation or diagnosis can be pretty complex and doesn't just happen in a split second...My life would have been much easier if we could just look at someone for a few seconds and say, "Yup, they are/have [whatever]!"

And many of the "behaviours" some folk reckon are signs of "madness" really aren't, what with "normal" folk displaying them even more...

Yep. Except for the actual kicking, there is nothing that this guy said or did that wouldn't be agreed to by at least half of Kansans. And it's all routine stuff in sermons in a lot of Kansas churches. And the kicking? That's bad of course but it doesn't make you crazy. Lot's of people commit battery that aren't actually mentally ill.

 

[RecoveringYuppy]

Um- from Australia....
HELL NO!!!!
The average republican is considered an extremist here, let alone a fundy christian nutcase like him....

There's a lot of resistance/reluctance to believing just how many fundy's there are in the US but the numbers are pretty clear. The "average" Republican is a fundy Christian. And it's not just the average, the Republican party is currently dominated by white fundy's.

 

[Stacyhs]

Quite.

I just love all the armchair/computer screen diagnosis which goes on sometimes, when, oddly, the reality is that doing the actual assessment to gather the information needed to come to a formulation or diagnosis can be pretty complex and doesn't just happen in a split second...My life would have been much easier if we could just look at someone for a few seconds and say, "Yup, they are/have [whatever]!"

And many of the "behaviours" some folk reckon are signs of "madness" really aren't, what with "normal" folk displaying them even more...

No one is "diagnosing" anyone here. What I do see are posts saying that Samsel is exhibiting signs of a "mental health crisis" which is not a diagnosis. That would a specific type of mental health illness which would require, as you say, an actual assessment. It does not require only a professional to recognize that a person is having a "mental health crisis" any more than it requires only a doctor to recognize a broken leg when a femur is visibly sticking out of the skin.

Yep. Except for the actual kicking, there is nothing that this guy said or did that wouldn't be agreed to by at least half of Kansans. And it's all routine stuff in sermons in a lot of Kansas churches. And the kicking? That's bad of course but it doesn't make you crazy. Lot's of people commit battery that aren't actually mentally ill.

Being "crazy" is not the same thing as having a mental health crisis nor is being "mentally ill".

According to this article "What does a mental health crisis look like?" one of the signs can be:

Showing impulsive or reckless behavior, being aggressive

This is exactly what Samsel did in that classroom along with using incredibly poor judgment in his choice of topic and words. It's far beyond what a teacher/someone used to working with children would know is acceptable behavior. As a former teacher myself, I know this. It wouldn't matter what his personal beliefs are, so speak and behave in that way would be a firing matter.

 

[RecoveringYuppy]

No one is "diagnosing" anyone here.

Hard to tell from the wording some are using. You said it was obvious he was having a mental health crisis, someone else said he was literally insane.

According to this article "What does a mental health crisis look like?" one of the signs can be:

Great. He's got one of the signs. So do a lot of people that aren't in a real mental health crisis.

And the real point, not to be minimized or completely missed, by dismissing him as insane, even if he is, is that everything short of the kicking was very normal for a considerable number of Kansans. He could be a preacher if the state Rep thing doesn't work out. Or advance to the Republican Presidential nomination.

 

[Stacyhs]

Reading the article there are only a couple of questions that come to mind.

He said that the kids, or a lot of them, were in on it. They knew what was going on.

So, the question was was this:

1) Incredibly pure judgement, an elaborate prank where things that shouldn't have happened, happened, in an attempt to proves some sort of point that is not exactly clear at the moment

or

2) A complete psychotic breakdown.


What was described in the article was totally, freakin', nuts. It wasn't "Republican" or "Christian" or any sort of ideological things. It was just insane, literally.

Hard to tell from the wording some are using. You said it was obvious he was having a mental health crisis, someone else said he was literally insane.

No, he said what happened was insane, not that Samsel is insane. Clearly, Samsel is not literally insane. People throw around the word "literally" all the time without using it correctly. Reminds me of the old sketch from MadTV where every other word was "literally".

Great. He's got one of the signs. So do a lot of people that aren't in a real mental health crisis.

And the real point, not to be minimized or completely missed, by dismissing him as insane, even if he is, is that everything short of the kicking was . He could be a preacher if the state Rep thing doesn't work out. Or advance to the Republican Presidential nomination.

But those people aren't doing all the things that Samsel is doing, are they? They aren't going into schools and talking to the kids about masturbation and how it feels good in the inappropriate way that he did, are they? It's not the subject matter themselves or his beliefs that were the problems: it's the way in which he comported himself and his bringing up those subjects to the students at all at that time that showed complete lack of judgment. This isn't an isolated incident of unbalanced behavior for him.

You seem determined to paint Samsel as representative of what is "very normal for a considerable number of Kansans" precisely because his behavior is so outrageous and outside what is considered normal. By allowing that he is having a mental health crisis, you would be somehow conceding that a considerable number of Kansans would not possibly behave in such a despicable manner and that is the real point.

 

[dudalb]

This thread has become a waste of time. Whether or not the guy in mentally ill in a clinical sense, he has shown he is does mot belong in a classroom.which is the main point.

 

[Stacyhs]

This thread has become a waste of time. Whether or not the guy in mentally ill in a clinical sense, he has shown he is does mot belong in a classroom.which is the main point.

That and he does not belong in a legislative body voting on laws that affect an entire state.