BobDylan

Call me cynical, but some people are just plain selfish and wicked, so that even if we had a socialist utopia, like I would prefer we have, there would still be a need for laws, cops and government, esp. government.... The opposite of my desired utopia, is some sort of post apocalyptic world, like the Walking Dead, universe, where everything is chaos and everything is about the strongest and most ruthless having all the power and being completely free to prey on the weaker people who are still left.. I would frankly rather be dead, than going on and trying to survive and suffer in such a world..

The right wing co-worker is a 🍆, who thinks like an idiot, but you already knew that... Most of us never need welfare programs and many of us never live long enough to collect Social Security, but both programs are necessary, because they make for a more humane and secure society, which benefits us all. But you can never get a conservative to accept that, because they are all about selfishness, immaturity, and greed...

I'll split the difference with you, mac. I ended up owning a home, a condo apt., most I ever wanted. But never wanted to be a parent and so I ended up childfree.. Even as a childfree adult, I have always supported having good and safe schools for everyone's kids, simply because they all deserve it and in the end it benefits all of us, including those without kids, by promoting higher property values and producing better citizens...

Whether Repubs and conservatives still have a soul or not, may be debateable. What seems to be indisputeable tho, is that they have zero empathy for anyone different from them, who is not a member of their tribe, while on the other hand, liberals will gladly extend all the same rights and privileges to them that we have, because we believe in equal rights and fair treatment for all. Their base attitude is that only white people who share their religion, politics, and sexual orientation/identity, deserve the same rights and privileges as them.. In other words, they lack a spirit of generosity and fairness that we have.. And they also don't really believe in democracy for all, but in a hierachical system where their group has all or most of the power, permanently...

I'm pretty confident that all of the members here are real people, even if we likely will never meet any of them in person...

I mostly already knew this, but it sure explains a lot about why the corporate media here is such 💩 coverage of politics and government. I learned long ago, that if you want accurate and honest coverage of our politics and govt., you need to seek out foreign media, like The Guardian in the UK or Al-Jazeera English, etc...

Right up there with the bull💩 lie that Trickle Down economics actually works for the lower classes..

I agree scary, as I too hate ghosting, but in the case of someone who is obviously conservative or a Trumper, and thus incompatible, then it's obvious in that case, that the person either didn't read your profile, or if they did, they just want to engage or match with you to send you trolling messages. So in either case, an exception is justified as far as ghosting them, because you have already set an appropriate boundary, which has been ignored, and nothing good will come from it, as you say, by engaging with them..

Even if this change could realistically happen, I have zero trust that the Dems would fight for it...

I have heard the same sort of thing from women on dating sites, who have very clearly stated their being very liberal and their desire to reject any men who are conservatives or Trumpers, and yet there are always men who will either message them on the other sites or match with them on Bumble, all so they can send trolling messages to those women. If these people are truly secure in their political beliefs, you don't have the need to seek out and troll others who have done nothing but put themselves out on a dating site, while being open and honest about who they are politically. I have never felt the need to troll people I encounter on dating sites, because I'm secure in who I am, and don't need to engage or connect with the politically incompatible, to insult or lecture them on how wrong they are, etc.. I guess having some class in how you conduct yourself, is more common among the left than the right, not surprisingly...

The Dem pols in DC can be as mealy-mouthed, and weak as they like regarding the crimes of THE LYIN' KING and his cronies, but I'm not going to be any less disgusted, outraged and angry about it. If only we had leaders with as much guts and integrity as those they claim to represent and claim as their supporters... talking about the Dems. And yet people continue to ask me or wonder why so many people on the left and the middle, hate and don't respect the Dem Party and their excuse for pols in DC? The problem with the party is not messaging, it's the lack of character and courage of the leaders and pols in DC, as well as their policies..

My prediction is, never.. We Americans never prosecute or punish our military for war crimes,, not since the Vietnam War, and even then, Nixon pardoned the one who did get prosecuted and convicted, William Calley...

Let me try a guess. Because he was white and not easy to demoninze or paint as a foreign terrorist, even tho he was a drug distributor, same as the Venezualan boats are supposed to be?

You nailed it, man. To the pols and business folks, it's just that, simply business, as the mobsters used to say, nothing personal, and nothing is more important , valuable or sacred , to them, than simple business. And with the help of the corporate media, the public does, most of them, see it as a conspiracy theory, instead of the honest reality of how things work. [additional comments moved to more appropriate thread]

I respect your view, but still disagree. I'm not interested in being involved in anyone's deprogramming, just not patient and tolerant enough to do it. Call me insensitive, if you like, for that stance.. Also, since V3 is the admin. and only person here that would be doing the moderation of the site, I wonder if he is willing and wanting to do all that extra work, that would undoubtedly come with letting right wingers in here. But it's his site, so in the end, it's really all up to him...

Funny how we never see any pols connecting the dots like this, not even Bernie Sanders, much less the corporate media.. As Gen. Smedley Butler said long ago, " War is a racket "

Call me cynical, but after seeing the whole Iraq War debacle, based on a lie about them making or having a nuclear weapon, I see the common denominator between the two countries, oil, which both administrations wanted to gain control of and profit from. So yes, besides this, I also agree that THE LYIN' KING is doing his anti Venezuala campaign to be seen as a wartime prez, rally his base and maybe others around him, and stay out of prison. But for the people around him, who are also evil grifters, the motivation is obviously regime change in Venezuala and getting control of their oil.. That country is also no military threat whatsover, and no match for the US, so also a helpless target.. As for THE LYIN' KING being able to stop the next elections with a war against Venezuala, that is one thing that I think even our SC would not support, and our people would also not stand for it, so it would be civil war for sure if that happens, no elections, for whatever reason he uses.. The title of this post is also ironic, considering that for some time now, there's been a popular alternative rock band, called The War On Drugs.....

Exactly. If the default leaders of our side, the opposition to THE LYIN' KING, are not willing to fight and challenge the election results, there's really not much we can do about it. I saw how this whole thing began, with the 2000 election, and Gore not willing to fight that stolen election, and knew right then, that it would eventually lead to another election being stolen from our side.. And after this one, there will be more from the Repubs... I have zero doubt that Musk electronically manipulated the presidential election results of every swing state last time..

Right on, scary! A woman after my own heart. I feel exactly the same about wishy washyness. As the congressman said, "It's time to choose a 🍆>🐱ing side!".... And I take dating too seriously, or at least long term relationships, that I won't date someone I don't respect, or who doesn't respect me, as well.. Also, feel free to say more on this topic, glad I brought up something you were passionate about... BTW, I used to message or show interest in women's profiles that listed Moderate as their political affiliation or label, but I stopped doing that, once I saw that the vast majority of them were just using that as a cover for actually being a Trumper or conservative. I too hate dishonesty in dating profiles, dating behavior, and the dating game in general. But obviously most people feel differently, since dishonesty is so rampant in the dating game these days. Still I remain an idealist on that point, probably because my father was a career judge, so honesty is my top value, when it comes to character...

Well said, V., and I'm also way too old to be doing flings, lol, and I didn't even do them when I was a young man. Guess I was just too shy or uptight then. But since these women are paying $35 a ticket for this event, I would like to think that about all of them are after more than a fling, since they were all age 55-70, and were more likely looking for something real and long term, if possible. But I could well be wrong, since the way it turned out, I think that looks, same as on the dating sites, was the main factor for most of them, same as with the men, in who they chose to match with after the event ended. I like to think I was pretty open-minded and not overly focused on looks, in who I chose to match with, since I selected to match with 13 of the 21 women who attended, but ended up with only one mutual match. But I heard, from another guy who was there, as well as the organizer. that it's pretty common for men at those events to only end up with one or two mutual matches, and sometimes no mutual matches. So it could have been worse, but it still felt like a real gut punch, to be honest, tho not that much different than my rejection rate on the dating sites, of how many replies I got out of the first messages I sent to women, about a 10-15% response rate.. I also think that compatibility on religion, or lack of it, is also becoming almost as important as politics these days in dating, at least for relationships that are supposed to be long term and not superficial or casual. etc.. And I think the same honesty and openness should apply with that, in both profiles and early messaging or sharing with a prospective partner..

Last month I went to a local speed dating event, and had an interesting experience with it, particularly regarding politics. I chatted with 21 different women during the series of 4 min. rounds, and because having compatible political views is important to me in who I choose to date, as well as also having compatible values in other areas, including religion and lack of religion in them and me, I asked each woman to say where they feel they fit in the political spectrum, from conservative to liberal, etc. Surprisingly, at least to me, 7 of the 21, a full third of them, refused to answer this simple,, basic ?, saying either that they "weren't political", "don't discuss politics with anyone", to saying " I only discuss politics with those close to me,,,,, (adult children, closest friends, etc.). I respectfully honored their refusals and didn't try to argue with or criticize them for their stance, even tho I suspect that all of them were either closet Trumpers or conservatives, and felt defensive or embarrassed by how their side is acting these days or the backlash against them, etc. But I did immediately write each of them off, as far as compatibility or any further interest in getting to know more about them, since they had already failed one of my few dealbreakers on a woman's personality, character, values, etc.. I have also run into much of this same thing with the dating sites like Match, Bumble, etc., where the women don't openly say they refuse to discuss politics, but instead, they simply leave out any indication of their political views or political affiliation, also sometimes they use evasive or dishonest language to describe their political traits, such as saying they're apolitical, when they later inevitably turn out to be Trumpers or conservatives, once you connect with them and begin trading messages. Or they use vague, misleading labels like Independent, or Moderate, when they also later turn out to be conservative or a Trumper.

I'm old, but I still have a brain., and have learned how the world really works, sadly enough. But I still never learned to be greedy or selfish, so I remain a proud socialist. If others choose differently, that's their right, but it doesn't mean I have to like them or agree with them.. I guess that's why I've seldom been friends with any Repubs, and would also never date one of them, almost never voted for any of them either..

I agree with Connie and Tumbleweed, these are not normal times and I really don't see any cooperation and compromise as possible or coming with MAGA. You simply can't do that with fascists or a cult, not until they have been deprogrammed or their cult has died out. The Nazis were not going to back down, they could only be defeated militarily, same with the South during the Civil War, after which they never really gave up their racist cause...

Well said, capitalism is anything but a fair and victimless system. In fact, it has millions of victims, who usually end up blaming themselves, rather than the system, for their suffering..

Yes, macphysto, I've encountered many admitted non voters over the years, and their answers always boil down to saying voting doesn't really matter, because it either doesn't change anything or that the major parties are too much the same, for it to make any difference. I still vote, even if every general election vote for statewide or federal elections always turns out to be a vote for the lesser evil, or even a vote that won't matter, since I live in a red state, where voting blue is itself a wasted vote most of the time in statewide or fed elections. But I always vote in the primaries, because that is where my vote usually matters the most and where I can actually vote for my hopes, and for someone I actually support, rather than just a lesser evil..