We all know kids can say the darndest things

So the FBI appears to have not followed up adequately on a tip. It's so easy on the surface to pass judgment re. this. Paul Ryan complains about a "knee-jerk" reaction to a shooting incident, in terms of people calling for gun control. It's just as easy to be knee-jerk in terms of responding to the FBI's alleged negligence.
The Internet age has created issues that will take time to deal with. We hear about this all the time, how the law has to catch up to the Internet. Remember those stories about kids who faced years in prison because of stumbling onto some inappropriate porn website? Since then it appears porn has consolidated onto one or two sites where any kid or adult can get his jollies, and presumably those sites have appropriate controls. They had better, or they'll be wiped out.
Porn no longer lurks in many dark corners of the 'Net, or maybe it does and it just isn't needed. So the main sites are left alone as they should be. Men who have these irresistible needs can go there, accomplish their business and carry on. In the process they'll likely become "de-sensitized" and they'll feel less of a need, perhaps no need at all, to consume such stuff. No more need for boys to hide their Playboy magazine and live in fear of their mom finding it (like what happened to the Tom Cruise character in "Born on the Fourth of July"). Today they go online, get de-sensitized, have the stigma of "porn" wiped out in their minds, and carry on with the idea that "it's no big deal" (porn). They are more mentally healthy as a result, IMHO.
Compare that to the days associated with the boomers' youth when guys might have a National Geographic hidden with their Playboy, so to look at women's breasts from places like New Guinea. I prefer the current system. Moms of that era: Why were you so hard on us? We just innocently responded to the way God made us.
We now have the problem associated with the Internet, of kids being able to share quite impulsively all their thoughts and reactions to their environment. So a kid impulsively puts something online that might be construed as a "threat." Do you realize how prevalent this might be? If a threat is not direct in expressing something sinister to be done - I'm sure the gray area situations are ubiquitous -  what action is necessitated? You can talk to the kid, fine. But what if he goes off the deep end and does something terrible? People in law enforcement are going to fear the repercussions from society. So, there is the omnipresent danger of government doing what it so often does: cause unintended consequences of government vigilance.
Remember the child molestation "crackdown" of the early 1980s? You can see TV documentaries today about all the innocent people who got railroaded, having their lives ruined. At present I see the exact same potential for abuse and overzealousness with the crackdown on elder abuse. These phenomena follow the same pattern: it starts with the media doing stories about egregious cases. The government feels it has to do something. Thus we can get the unintended consequences of government probing into gray area situations with overzealousness.
The issues related to aging Americans are very complicated. It is a time bomb of an issue because medical science is dramatically extending lifespans. The trend is happening to an extent where there are more and more people unable to properly care for themselves. What to do re. all of them? Our society insists on electing Republicans these days at a time when it appears the social safety net is needed more than ever. And Republicans promote austerity. Not only that, the forces of automation and globalization are wiping out the traditional "job" in America.
None other than conservative sociologist Charles Murray trumpets this, and says we'll inevitably need "universal basic income" (UBI) in America. Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer talks like single payer health care is inevitable in America. If it's inevitable then let's start preparing now, but Republican politicians tend to throw up resistance, those people who seem to insist we can keep living in a Norman Rockwell America. Krauthammer projected seven years until single payer, and I heard that comment about a year ago. It won't just be Bernie Sanders promoting it, it will be a consensus of America.
And yet we tend to elect GOPers who want to slash Medicaid and other parts of the safety net. Of course, those Republicans now appear to have gotten lots of support from Russia. Turns out that the whole "Hillary for Prison" campaign was thanks to the Russians. I saw those bumper stickers on the back of pickups at DeToy's Restaurant here in Morris in the morning. So, it appears I rub shoulders there with Russian fellow travelers. I in contrast am going to advocate for America.
In the age of the Internet and "social media," what are we to do with all the kids who might type silly rebellious or combative threats onto their online devices? If it isn't enough to just talk to them, what are we to do with them? Segregate them off, in effect incarcerating them, even though they committed no act? Maybe the Appleton prison could be opened again. Maybe the best thing to do is just not have kids. Too risky.
Maybe kids over the age of 15 should just be allowed to stay at home. They can be given assignments to do online just to ensure they properly develop their reading, writing and arithmetic. Going to a building like school where they'll likely have all kinds of conflict with peers or teachers, seems questionable for many of them. I'd likely be a better person today if I had been allowed to stay at home away from various schisms. Another alternative is to make school more pleasant and pressure-free. Let the kids relax more. They'll have a hard time going out in society and finding a "job" anyway, in this age of automation and globalization. Those forces are going to increase the pressure we all feel just to get by.
Meanwhile our elders are going to be forced in increasing numbers into assisted living and nursing homes. And who's going to pay for all this? In the meantime, we not only need gun control, we need aggressive gun control.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com