BobDylan

Any other country would have already removed him, or not even elected him to begin with, because they had a functioning democracy, unlike us. We haven't had one for a couple decades now. Which is what led to him being elected in the first place. He is a symptom, not the disease...

Democratic socialism is the only way out of this trap..

Seems like everyone in the power circles of DC these days, and in the past few decades, are probably all in the Epstein files, because they are all part of the same class, the Epstein class.. Where political party connections or affiliations don't matter, because all of them are in the same big club, the wealthy elite..

Nah, Repubs are allergic to the truth...

Like it says on then new hat I bought from Etsy, " Keep Immigrants Deport Racists"....

One thing I believe as pretty likely, is that future wars will be fought more with drones and robot soldiers, than with cannon fodder flesh and blood soldiers on the ground. As to replacing human soldiers with robots, I'm not sure if that's an improvement or not. It will look a lot more like the Terminator movies, with a real Skynet... Your post is on the mark tho, V., in that psych ops will be an increasingly big part of wars...

The Repubs have been out to eliminate public broadcasting for decades, finally got their wish... Gotta keep those peasants ignorant, and keep all media in the private sector, where it can be just as easily controlled and censored, in fact more so here in America, than by the government...

Like they said back in the Watergate scandal era, and still just as always true, "Always follow the money.".......

The Repub Party these days, not just THE LYIN' KING, are utterly shameless, and they also usually suffer no consequences for their behavior, so of course as long as that continues, the general public will also mostly choose to go in that same direction, as far as behavior. The same applies to the ultra rich and corporations, also shameless, and rarely suffering consequences for their behavior and actions. More shaming and more equal justice and fair equal treatment under the law, is the only way any of this changes. Even elections will not change the behavior of the Repubs in politics, I fear, as they have decided they can always just cheat their way to winning elections, no matter what the voters want, if elections are even held in the future... My fear of either civil war or permanent dictatorship, without any real future elections, gets worse every day... It's starting to look like civil war may be our only way out of this, but I know our side is never going to agree to wage one against the right wingers.. The other way to overthrow them is general strikes, but those also are never going to happen, because too many working age Americans have their healthcare tied to their jobs, and are living paycheck to paycheck, so boycotts against the worst corporations are probably our best bet for fighting back against our corrupt govt.. Attack their financial backers, and put the pressure on them that way...

Yeah, it's now official and indisputeable, our national govt. is now a rogue nation.... Untrustworthy and hated by most of the world. THE LYIN' KING has now gotten his wish, to be our version of Putin, his idol..

Trust me, scary, you will love retirement, not only with the free time it will bring, but more greatly the freedom to say exactly what you think, for the most part with most people. If you're financially secure and comfortable, all you need to enjoy it is your health, a decent social circle, and several interests, which for people like us is easy, as we are already fairly independent and intellectually curious, so we naturally find ways to fill our time after retiring, even if we have to do it mostly without companionship. That last thing is really the only thing I'm lacking in my life, so it follows that my interest in the dating game is more serious than most women my age, who are already mostly fulfilled emotionally and socially with their adult kids and grandkids, neither of which I have.. If being vegan is a line in the sand for being partnered, I can and will respect that in the dating game, tho I've rarely run across it in my local dating pool, living in Iowa which is a farming state with almost everybody being a carnivore and lots of meatpacking plants and livestock operations, etc.. But if it isn't a line in the sand for a woman, I'm fine with compromising and each of us providing and eating whatever we want. Obviously that wouldn't work with a female version of mac, lol... But I do have my own lines in the sand on politics and religion, regarding dating, as I won't waste my time or a woman's, with dating a Libertarian, conservative, or Trumper. Same with someone whose religion and beliefs are fundamentalist, conservative, or very strongly religious, as it just wouldn't work.. And I do feel your pain about co-workers, as my last job before retirement, was chock full of co workers that were conservative Christians and Repubs... They also were very bigoted towards queer folk and not very smart or educated. It was a lot of tongue biting on my part..

I am a carnivore, but I too try to just go with the flow and let others eat what they want. All I ask or need is a compromise where we go out to eat somewhere that has one thing on the menu I want and like. As for eating at home, I don't expect anyone to cook for me, and I don't cook, so we can each eat what we like, even if I have to bring my own food. It doesn't have to be a conflict or difference like smokers and non smokers, where that is something that does affect the other person's health, if the smoker smokes in the same room as them. And for me, dating a daily smoker is a dealbreaker in dating, as I don't enjoy kissing someone who's mouth smells like an ashtray, lol.. Altho I've heard from singer Natalie Merchant, a musician and vegetarian, that she said kissing a meat eater felt equally gross to her. So I guess for some, eating and smoking habits can be equal dealbreakers in dating, depending on how extreme either person is in their preferences..

I can only speak for myself, V., but on my FB page, where I share with my friends, as well as when I communicate with my siblings, who are my only family still left, I say whatever I want to, and if it makes any of them uncomfortable, too bad... They've long ago gotten used to it from me, lol....

Well V., one thing's for sure, you win the prize for being the most idealistic of all of us here. I hope your aims come true in the future. Happy NY....

Thanks for the backing. I feel your pain about the obnoxious hiking group member, tho I've been guilty of that sometimes myself, letting my passion for an issue overcome my interest in reading the room and letting others enjoy their wish to attend to something more appealing to them. As for people who relish in getting on your case and personally judging and attacking you for simply not living up to their own ridiculously strict standards for how everyone should live or behave, my personal pet peeve is the PC speech code warriors I encounter at times, who obviously only care about their PC speech codes, rather than economic justice or any other progressive policies. Those people love to swoop in and bash anyone they catch saying anything politically incorrect, because it makes them feel morally superior, to the point where it no longer matters if the speaker is saying the obvious truth, because their speech doesn't fit strict PC code, so they feel free to disregard any truth or honesty to the point or content shared by the politically incorrect speaker. Call me crazy, but the truth should still count for something, rather than PC speech codes being the sole substitute or virtue in place of it. It feels annoying and alienating, when they care more about their speech codes, than about the motives or intent of the speaker who accidentally violates their speech codes.. As for your lifestyle, it sounds to me like you are doing the best anyone could for your means, same as most of us, in living an honest and humane life, so you deserve for people to get off your back..

I am a lifelong carnivore, tho in my older age I purposely eat a lot less red meat, and a lot more fish than I used to eat. I see the issue of vegans and vegetarians trying to change carnivores as something that is very unlikely to work, on any great or near term scale, so while I applaud their personal changes and choices, that have improved their own health and lessened their environmental footprint and helped them feel increased integrity and moral pureness, this needs to be more of a back burner issue in the political and culture wars these days. Because it's really going to alienate the working class and poor Americans who we need as allies. I see this as having or becoming the same sort of wedge issue as abortion has long been, only in this case, lower class Americans are likely to see it as higher educated, more privileged members of the elite telling them how to live their personal lives, in this case, telling them what is acceptable to eat or not. And one thing I've learned is that most Americans hate people who see them as their betters, telling them what to do. Every time, they only end up feeling resentful and wanting to lash back at those members of the supposed better class. Which is a big part of why we got THE LYIN' KING. So I advise against adding fuel to the fire of the class war, as far as alienating those who are or should be our class allies, in the war against the rich and corporations, who are everyone's real enemies in it. I know some lefties will see this as selfish on my part, but I think it's simply being pragmatic..

Funny and amazing, how that MAGA cognitive dissonance and mental gymnastics work..

I can believe the validity of the stat, but at the same time I can also understand how the % of even men my age, who are single, is probably way lower than it was decades ago. Things have changed greatly in the landscape of the dating game, since the previous century. Women have also greatly changed in their attitudes and behavior towards men in the dating game. I would also be interested in the specifics of what circumstances are being studied in the research that was cited. Are they talking about young men cold approaching women in public, or does the stat cover also circumstances such as online dating or asking a woman out on a date where they are both already in proximity or contact, such as sharing a workplace or attending the same school, etc. ? I can tell you that nowadays almost no men do cold approaches anymore to women, at any age, in public with strangers, unless it's a bar environment or a dance club. Because outside of those situations the inhibitions are too great for the men and also the assumption is that most women want to be left alone and not hit on by stranger men at these other public situations. I recently saw an amusing and thought provoking comment on reddit, that said that if women run across a man they find attractive and interesting, in a romantic way, they should " put on their big girl pants and go talk to him, adopting the spirit of their grandmother or great grandmother, who would drop a handkerchief to get the man's attention. Like they did back then, when the sexes would go thru their accepted, elaborate rituals of courting and dating etiquette". Of course, I can tell you from experience, that almost no women will ever follow that advice, because they both know from talking to men who tell them that rarely do cold approaches work for men, at least the average looking ones, and also that they have no intention of experiencing the rejection and embarrassment that men encounter with doing cold approaches. And yet, I challenge anyone to prove me wrong that almost all men would at least be flattered and respond positively and appropriately to being cold approached by women, after recovering from the initial shock, even if they were not reciprocally interested in dating the woman.. One thing is certain, a society in which a large % of young men are asexual and socially isolated or alienated from women, is not a good thing for said society, same as the whole incel culture these days. It only corrodes our society..

I think we all know the answer is the latter one, that not only would the Watergate story, nor the Pentagon Papers being published, ever happen. And even if they did, the Repub Party would never agree to impeach a president of their own party, as they were ready to do to Nixon, before he resigned in disgrace. Bottom line is, things have changed greatly since the 1970s, and mostly for the worse, when it comes to power and accountability for the rich and powerful.. Another thing, in the 1970s, most of the large newspapers were family-owned, and much more ethical and accountable to their readers, compared to now..

You nailed the essence of it, mac. We are all human, but not all of us are humane....

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...