BobDylan

Nice to see you again on the forums, Lindy. I missed you. V., you totally nailed it, they should be doing those ads now, but you're so right, that instead they'll wait to the next season and do the same stale left vs. right talking points, and stick to the same identity politics and culture war 💩, instead of running on lefty economic populism. Because first off, they don't stand for economic populism from the left, and haven't stood for it since the 80s, and secondly, they won't do that because it would offend their corporate donors. So they'll stick with the same bashing the Repubs on culture war stuff and ID politics, and with that, maybe even still find a way to lose races that should be easy to win. Beginning with Clinton in the 90s, the Dem Party traded unions and the working class for corporate and Wall Street cash, and we've all been paying the price ever since.. I look for more of the same tired, " We don't stand for anything economically, but at least we're not Repubs, and we differ from them on the culture war stuff", but the problem is, the working class and most voters, really don't care about the culture war stuff and ID politics, compared to economics. So even if the Repubs lie to them about economic policy and what they will deliver on it, most people will still vote for Repubs, if the Repubs at least play to their anger and grievances, while the Dems simply ignore those things, as if class war doesn't exist..

I can, understand that is, because they only are willing to fight dirty against progressives, not against Repubs. Why? Because their only real purpose, as a fake or controlled opposition party, is to protect the status quo for the rich and corporations, which is not only about defeating progressive candidates, but also colluding with the Repubs to serve the rich and corporations. BTW, progressive is just a modern term for socialist, used by progressives to avoid the stigma associated with socialism.. Specifically to your point, V., running those ads would offend the donors that fund both major parties, so you'll never see the DNC or corporate Dems ever running honest, brutal ads like that against Repubs..

You're welcome, V.. I'm hoping glennlab will also spread the word to the remaining Agnostic members he is still in contact with, as they too would be good and interesting members here, when it comes to community involvement and contributions to the forums..

I invited glennlab to here, as we are both refugees from Agnostic.com, a similar site to this one, only targeted for non religious, non believer folks. We met up on there years ago, when it was still active and had thousands of members. We both hope this new site has a better run and future than Agnostic did.. Like Agnostic, this site depends on word of mouth, not paid ads elsewhere, which is why the other site never developed local dating options, but it did become a very big online community, of forum discussions and specialized interest groups.. Time will tell if this site will ever reach critical mass in members, enough to offer local dating options for most of its US members..

I've been thinking the same thing about Maxwell, that she has to know that she has many people, not just THE LYIN' KING, that would love to have her whacked, if she becomes too much of a threat of informing on them, and so she too would have some sort of protection plan in place, to have stuff released to the public, if anything bad happened to her, such as an "accident" or "suicide"....

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 think I've heard of this guy and this program before, good luck to him, he's going to need it with them. It really is no different than people leaving a cult and getting deprogrammed, or leaving evangelical religion for either no religion or something less extreme. In all those cases, it is a huge emotional crisis for them, and the complete loss of a former identity, as well as their whole tribal circle. Few people have the guts and strength to handle all that, so few people ever leave those kind of groups. More often, they only leave the group after being already rejected by their group or even banished from it. I personally want nothing to do with anyone in MAGA, and even after they leave MAGA, until, like any addict in a 12-step program, they have done the necessary self reflection, admission of their wrongs, made their amends, etc. and reclaimed themselves. Until then, they deserve no acceptance in society, as far as I'm concerned, and certainly none from me. And even then, they need to prove again that they can be trusted, before we should forgive them for their past sins..

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..