I was as shocked as anyone when several alleged terrorists were picked up today near where I live in New Jersey. Neighbors and family describe these people as "very nice," "they played with our kids," and "no one would have guessed."

A NJ nurse was recently convicted of drugging then shooting her husband to death, then dismembering his body. Despite overwhelming circumstantial evidence, she has a number of people who think she could never have done such a thing, because she is "so very sweet-looking," and many of her former patients at the fertility clinic liked her.

Across the river in Philadelphia, the latest murder tally is 1+ PER DAY. (The "outed" bad people here say they'll be glad when stricter gun control is instituted, so the houses & stores they rob will be "safer." Apparently bad people get their weapons from quite an underground network.)

Am I a crazy boomer to have little faith these days in the notion that most people are inherently good? Are we shopping side by side with more nice-people-poseurs? Say it isn't so!

josie i done work in a difficult field, well you don't get the best examples of the best of peoples behaviour.....

but i still belive most people are good or decent enough, if not angels lol. even the worst of peps have good points and parts to them too...

but i still warie of people once bitten, nieve maybee but lifes easier this way, well life inside my head lol. i refuse to be scared to death and risk dying of worrie more than violentlie ....

its not tatoees and shaved heads over heer thats the real scarries (but sometimes they are) its jo avrage with a familie, gess violences aint predijiced as to who deals it out...

I like Gavin DeBecker. Always have. He makes good points about being security conscious in today's world.

Although my husband does not approve of all the cameras now in use when we are in the public eye, I'm all for cameras cameras everywhere. At least if something should happen, videotape is irrefutable evidence for later use.

Cell phones are a big plus these days

Josie, I am with you. I don't care where the cameras are. Well, I'm not crazy about the ones at the traffic lights. But I love the ones in garages, especially since the shooting death in our local mall garage.

If you have nothing to hide, then why should you care? I'm for cameras as well! And I think if I had a criminal mind, a camera would definitely make me think twice about taking a risk.

Smile you banditos ... you're on camera!

Dear boomers,
In recent years I discovered sweet, soft-spoken, so-called Christians can be the devil in disguise. People I'd known for years, proved to be the opposite of what I thought they were. On the other hand, there are some really, honest, wonderful folks in this ole world, as well. You never know.
Grandma said, "You never know anybody, until you live with them." So, I guess there aren't very many people we actually known. But keep the faith. I believe God is still in control. But the devil is in there pitching!
Ciao for now,
b. rose

Josie's question, "What does violence look like, nowadays?" It's incognito! You can't recognize it. It comes in all shapes and forms. It can fool you. It lies. It charms. So be very, very aware. And trust very few.
Ciao for now,
b. rose

I live in a suburb of Baltimore City. We frequent the city for fun. My husband also has a practice in the city so even though we don't live there, we are most interested in keeping it safe.

We have approximately 650,000 people living in the city and already this year we've had 139 murders already. I heard that it's about 13 times worse than NYC. Isn't that pathetic? I attribute it to the drug culture.

I agree. I think incognito is a perfect word.