We Need To Put the Mafia in Charge

Reporter to congressman: The country is going to hell in a handbasket. What are you going to do?

Congressman to reporter: Invest in handbaskets.

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The world we live in today appears to be spinning out of control. Those in the past who thought their times were bad didn’t know how bad bad can be. The old saying about Going to Hell in a Handbasket appears to be coming to fruition.

Actually I am pecking this Foolishness out while sitting in that proverbial handbasket itself. Don’t get too smug about my predicament. I can see you from where I sit and you are not that far away and you appear to be drifting in my direction.

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I wish the people who invent words had not invented the word, “indiscriminate”. There was a time when bad people would be very specific about who they tried to kill. Now we see, over and over, examples of people not caring who their victims are. This all may be Nike’s fault. We are surrounded by a world full of people who ... Just Do It.

We all have read case after case of Gang Members shooting at whoever happens to be over there. They shoot into crowds of people trying to hit one specific person in the crowd. The problem is there is no academy that trains these criminals on how to shoot straight. Actually they don’t seem to care whether they shoot straight or not. They kill or injure other people and later that day they brag to their fellow gang members, “I almost got him!”

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Examples of Going to Hell in a Handbasket...

Ø Some people a few races ago threw tacks into the pathway of the oncoming riders in the Tour De France.

Ø Some people have put needles into airline food.

Ø Some people have put rocks onto train tracks and caused trains to derail.

Ø Some people have been setting fires in and out of populated areas.

Ø Some people have blown themselves up in public markets.

Ø Some people have blown themselves up at wedding receptions.

Ø Some people have blown themselves up on busses.

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When it comes to the Mafia it was different...

I once read a book about the Mafia that contained a story about a murder that, compared to today’s standards, was something to be admired. This happened in the 1930s...

Ø It was decided that a certain person needed to be killed.

Ø Two hit men rented an apartment across the street from where their intended victim lived.

Ø For weeks they watched the comings and goings of said intended victim.

Ø They were trying to determine the best time to rub the intended victim out when there was no chance that unintended people would be harmed.

They Got Their Man ... they got only their man.

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They were not indiscriminate. There is something to be admired about their precision. We don’t give medals for such things but, compared to today’s indiscriminate mayhem, at the very least an Attaboy Youse Guys might have been in order.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: Did you say you wanted to know where Going to Hell in a Handbasket came from?... The origin of the phrase ‘hell in a handbasket’ can be found in the practice of capturing the heads of guillotine victims in a basket, with the presumption being that these criminals would be going straight to hell for their crimes.