BobDylan

I agree. Dissing the progressives didn't cause them to vote for THE LYIN' KING, but it did tamp down enthusiasm for Kamala. When, if ever, will the Dem Party's leadership decide to run candidates and support policies that actually inspire voters to want to vote for them, or actually earn their votes, instead of just continually running on the premise of voting for the lesser evil, or simply running on how bad the other party is? As Dylan said so many years ago, ironicly, The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind....

Totally agree mac, great post. And thanks for including the link to the essay by Trent. I read it and shared it to my FB page.. And I really like how Trent not only exposes the spinelessness of the congressional Dems towards THE LYIN' KING, but also their longtime collusion and agreement with the Repub Party for so long, behind the scenes on foreign policy, war, economic policy, civil liberties, even climate change. All areas where the diffs between the party are not really on policy, but on the pace of executing them, as well as the tactics and strategies for implementing them, not on whether the policies are right, moral, or fair, in the first place..

Reading stuff like this about Musk's DOGE staffers, kind of makes me feel glad that Big Balls got the 💩 beat out of him in DC....

No 💩, but we've had this since before THE LYIN' KING even ran the first time..

Let's hope they're smarter than the Southerners and Midwesterners, who always blindly support Repubs and the rich. I think they are smarter, but they still haven't caught on to how even their Dem leaders in the state keep selling them out on ever passing single payer healthcare..

All great songs, and so eclectic. As usual, mac, your taste is impeccable... And the Cocker song is the first one of his I ever heard that didn't have him rasping all the way thru it, showing he could actually sing with a clear tone in his voice..

Replying to both mac and V.3, I agree with all that's been said. Call me a cynic or a pessimist, but I knew even before THE LYIN' KING came on the scene, that many people were assholes, in essence, as far as bigotry, sadism, bullies, etc.., so I wasn't that surprised that he got elected twice and has been so popular with so many. Which is why I have always not liked most people, just my friends, and mostly just tried to tolerate and shun all the assholes that are out there. They will always be there, and few if any of them, will ever change and become truly nice, generous, and honest caring people. So don't have illusions that our country is going to drastically change, even after THE LYIN' KING is gone. All that will happen, is that his followers will slink back into the shadows, retaining all their prejudices, grievances, etc., and quietly wait for the next chance to grab power thru another demagogue. And after seeing how successful THE LYIN' KING was doing that, have no doubt there will be another Repub candidate that will come along, hopefully after I'm dead, that will mine the same veins as THE LYIN' KING did in the population...

I will rejoice if the canine society gets some payback on her, lol... Since I like to believe in karma and I always support poetic justice... Keep up the twisted humor, mac...

I think that dog, like many dogs, was a better judge of character than a lot of humans are...

A woman I used to date had an ex-husband that she shared custody of a dog with (don't ask, it was complicated, lol...), and the dog would bite him sometimes. She used to joke how the dog should bite him harder...

Sounds very interesting, and I agree with all the points you mentioned and quoted. Women are conditioned and socialized to accept having less power and control in the group and societal scheme of things, and both men and women pay for sex, in a somewhat complicated, transactional way, where each one is providing things for the other person. It may be thru money, acts of physical tasks, mental work, emotional work, etc., such as fixing things, preparing food, cleaning, etc..

My all-time fav cult film...

I agree with both of those, and election reform should include Ranked Choice voting, which would eliminate the two party stranglehold, but the major parties would never allow it..

In general elections, I never vote in a way that risks losing to the Repubs, and I also never encourage fellow progressives to vote third party, if they live in a state where doing so is going to make a diff in the results, as far as whether the Dem candidate loses to a Repub. It's called strategic voting or voting lesser evil, whichever you choose to label it, in general elections. It doesn't take much effort to keep up on the polling and know when the race between a Dem and a Repub is going to be close or not, and thus whether or not it's safe to vote third party in such a race... And if other voters choose to ignore that, not keep up on how close a race they are voting in is projected to be, or choose to vote third party in a general election, regardless of how it may affect the result between a Dem and a Repub, that's on them, not me, and I won't be shamed about it by anybody, esp. Dem Party loyalists who may refuse to recognize or admit any faults in their party's leaders or candidates... and to be clear, I'm not saying that anybody in this discussion is guilty of that, but I do get sick of that in general, on internet forums and social media..

Welcome to the camp, as The Who said in Tommy, Corey, and thanks for participating in the forums. I'm glad to see another lefty like me, esp. someone younger like you.

Indeed. It was not only arrogant and cruel, but downright Orwellian, as in commanding you to ignore your own eyes and ears, as well as any basic humanity or decency....

Very honest and rational on your part, Rob... Also quite humble...

Very insightful and deep analysis. I agree, and never looked at it that cynically myself. Of course, with the power people in the right wing movement, you can never be too cynical about them... They seem to only value money and power, nothing else, esp. their religion they love to use as an instrument for control and shielding them from criticism... It makes a great false front for the Repub Party, THE LYIN' KING, and the Christian Nationalists...

Good point. On the one hand, conservatives may be happier, because they are more ignorant than liberals, but on the other hand, those conservatives who are not ignorant, have to put in a lot of work and energy in dealing with the large amount of cognitive dissonance they regularly are carrying and encountering, assuming they keep themselves informed on what's factually and really happening in the world, instead of just consuming Fox News and Repub Party propaganda...

No Rob, I haven't. But I have read some of the writings of Smedley Butler, the retired general who exposed the racket of war, and how he was a hitman for corporate America and the military industrial complex, against the Third World countries the US preyed on. I suppose the book you mentioned it similar to that. I also have noticed the hypocrisy, irony, and outright lying of the THE LYIN' KING regime about saving Iran with democracy, as well as intervening there to protect the rights of the protestors there, while THE LYIN' KING destroys democracy here and supports his ICE goons executing peaceful protestors here. It's all so thick and palpable you can cut it with a knife... Of course, anybody nuking any other country these days, is going to harm everyone on the planet, with the toxic environmental effects and the radiation poisoning happening globally over time from it, much less the chain reaction it would set off of other countries with nukes using theirs or retaliating with nukes, if they have them at all..

I would hate it if this site became FB lite... I do agree with your assessment of why the site is so dead, as far as participation and total membership numbers. It's because the vast majority of people who visit the site, are looking for local dating options from the LHC, and once they see that it's not the case for them, or anybody on here so far, they almost always just leave, rather than stay and try to participate in the forums here and become part of an online community. In fact, I bet that most people only even join as members, because it's needed to be able to complete a dating profile for the LHC and/or become able to view dating profiles of other members. If that hurdle wasn't required, I bet we'd see way fewer site visitors even bothering to become members, once they'd visited and browsed the site.

Aw shucks, now you're really embarrassing me, mac. It's rare that a man makes me blush, it's almost always women, who are able to do that easily to me, lol.... Good thing I'm a man so secure in my masculinity, that I can wear pink, lol, tho I do that rarely....

I like the way you think here on this, Rob, and even more how well you said it.. I have zero desire to engage with right wingers or MAGA on this site... I used to spar with them on reddit, until I got banned from there, and that was enough to last me a lifetime...

I must admit mac, you are a deeper thinker than me, and have a keener insight to the whole picture on this dilemma....

And that is exactly the strategy and argument the Dem Party uses to first use and then ignore their progressive voters each election cycle. Give us your unearned votes, your volunteering, and even some campaign cash, so that after the election, we can duly ignore you and your desired policy requests, until the next election comes around. And you wonder why a third of eligible voters have simply tuned out and checked out of politics in America, becoming our largest voting bloc, the non voters.... I'm not saying I'm like them, as I always vote each time, even if it's only against someone or for a lesser evil candidate, but in a presidential election, when I know I'm living in a non swing state, and my vote will not affect the outcome, I will gladly vote for a third party candidate, even if it's just going to be a protest vote or a vote to help that party achieve party status for the next election cycle, as the Greens have done a few times in my state, by getting the threshold % of the vote.