BobDylan

I hear you, mac. Offline and IRL, I'm not physically aggressive at all. But in person, if someone is not armed and there are plenty of witnesses, I will not back down from a verbal argument with someone who is 🍆>🐱ing with me and being an 🧻hole to me. Because if they decide to escalate it to a physical fight in front of plenty of witnesses, and are unarmed, I am going to let them take the first shot, and then fight back with everything I have, in self defense. And if I lose, I lose, but I will also press charges against them and go after them all I can to sue them for my injuries.. And so far, nobody has been willing to back up their mouth with that sort of physical aggression towards me, because after they've mouthed off enough to me for a couple minutes, I simply tell them I'm done putting up with their mouth, and if they aren't going to hit me, then I'm walking away, knowing I've won the verbal argument already.. In other words, I share your motto, of dying on my feet, before I will live on my knees, or bend my knee to bullies or assholes..

Much as I agree with the rest of your comment, mac, I wouldn't recommend inciting road rage with an obvious MAGA type, like your asteriked comment suggests, unless you have a firearm in your vehicle, and are prepared to use it in a shootout with said MAGA motorist. Because nowadays you just have to assume that everyone out on the roads and streets is armed and willing and ready to use said firearms in a road rage conflict..

The argument has always been something like, "If we (the pols and authorities), don't stand up for the people and defend freedom and the rule of law, Constitution, etc., then the people will come at us with pitchforks, etc.. " Well, the pols in both parties no longer fear or respect us peasants, so I really don't see any other alternatives for us, than our pitchforks and guns, figureatively, if boycotts and strikes don't work, since they sure as hell don't care about protests, at least as long as those protests are not directly outside their homes, 24/7. Money and physical force against them and their donors, are the only things that they are scared of having used against them... Both parties are sold out to the pretty much the same donors of the donor class...

I agree mac. You can't put any kind of cheating past the Repubs and their six traitors on the SC. And if they use fed troops and ICE goons to intimidate voters in blue states, as well as suppressing mail in ballots and purging voter rolls, etc.., they won't even need to declare martial law and cancel the elections. We can take nothing for granted in the new year.. I really do think it will come to civil war, from our side, not just theirs, if we are ever going to get rid of the THE LYIN' KING regime. And as far as offensive violence, any violence from our side is already defensive, not offensive, as the murder in Minnesota made it clear that THE LYIN' KING has already declared an offensive war against our side. It's just that most people on our side haven't woke up to that fact yet... As for V.'s convo with Lindy, I agree that the Dem Party is not providing any real leaders or guidance to our side, as far as direct action thru strikes, boycotts, and blackouts, and without those things, instead of just one day protests, nothing will change. Those three economic actions I mentioned above, are what actually works, because it puts pressure on the corporations that fund both the Dems and Repubs, and so it indirectly does put pressure on the pols of both parties. In that system, the 💩 flows downhill, as they say, from the donors to the pols....

I can't speak for you, but I can for myself, and I am part of the left, ineffectual, marginalized, and tiny as it is in the US. But don't ever confuse the left with the Dem Party, as the Dem Party hates the left and it's the corrupt Dem Party that sold out undoc immigrants during THE LYIN' KING's first term, not the left. It's an important distinction.. And I think we can both agree that the Dem Party paved the way for THE LYIN' KING's two terms, by shafting Bernie and instead both election cycles running corporate centrist candidates, whose main selling point was them not being THE LYIN' KING, rather than campaign platforms that actually addressed the grievances and problems of ordinary Americans.. You might even say, that the Dem Party campaigns like they don't really care about winning elections, only about defeating progressives and enjoying their continued perks and privileges as the minority party in DC... Opposing the Repubs only on culture war issues just isn't cutting it anymore, not with most voters..

Thanks mac, you said it all, way better than I would, in replying to V.'s comment. We are in fascism already here in the US, even if the corporate media and the Dem Party won't use the F-word. Renee Good's murder officially sealed it, along with the coverup that began immediately afterwards and the clear picture that Jonathan Ross is going to completely get away with it, along with THE LYIN' KING and Noem.. And none of the progress of the sixties, such as civil rights, ending the Vietnam War, or the passing of the Great Society programs like Medicaid and Medicare, as well as the anti poverty programs, would have happened if we had only had MLK and peaceful protestors, etc.. Without the Panthers, the SDS and the Weathermen, waging radical civil war against the feds, the powers that be would never have made those concessions that I listed above, to the masses here. The sad thing is, as mac pointed out, that radicals of both types of movements, peaceful and violent, end up usually being either murdered, imprisoned or exiled by the state, rather than being rewarded, honored, or allowed to actually gain or hold power in the government.. So I stand by my point, we need more radicals like the Black Panthers, not less, and as long as they aren't committing violence against innocent people, who are not acting corruptly against the rights of the people, like shooting peaceful protestors or committing racist violence against minorities, I am fine with them fighting back for us.. Because the cops and the Dems sure as hell aren't going to fight for us or protect us against these fascists. The irony is that saying these kind of obvious truths would get me banned on reddit, a supposedly left-leaning site, yet owned by a right wing billionaire oligarch, so no surprise that reddit ends up being no more tolerant or open-minded about political dissension than Facebook. I hope that this site does better by us than those two have so far, under THE LYIN' KING rule... And as far as the Dem Party, what needs fixed is not their messaging, but their policies, esp. on economics, foreign policy, and civil liberties, where they are mainly Repub lite, as well as their actions, esp. when they are in power in DC. Like not delivering on much of their campaign promises. THE LYIN' KING and the Repubs can get away with doing that, because no one outside of their cult ever believes them anyway on their promises, but the Dems will always be held to a higher standard. Time to accept that and start earning the trust and loyalty of the voters, instead of running completely on how bad THE LYIN' KING is and "at least we aren't the Repubs"... All the Repub and MAGA voters care about, is THE LYIN' KING hurting and hating on the same people they hate, not him delivering on his campaign promises. Until he starts actually hurting them, they won't ever wake up or turn on him, much less start caring about the people they hate being hurt..

Funny how the comedians tell the most truth these days of anybody, when it comes to the controversial stuff..

It is closed and clearly murder, unless of course you're part of MAGA, then you must deny your own eyes, make excuses for the murderer, and blame the victim... Anyone that sides with the shooter, is telling you everything you need to know about their character and values, and you should shun them like the devil... These people would have been making excuses for and supporting the Nazis in Germany, and cheering on the Gestapo back then, same way they support our modern American version of them..

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...

That and the new video that came out today, where he shoots her dead and then mutters "🍆>🐱ing bitch", gives away his whole murderous attitude, rather than him reacting in fear or feeling traumatized, etc.. The hard fact is, he was holding his cell phone in one hand and his gun in the other, and he was lowering his phone in one hand as he was reaching for his gun, before shooting her. What all that tells me is, he made his decision a couple seconds before she began moving her car, that he was going to shoot her dead and also record it on his phone, because she had butt hurt his pride by not meekly submitting quickly enough to his bullying authority, and the other woman on the street, who told him to "go have some lunch, big boy", had lipped off to him about his bull💩, bullying behavior, so he had to get even and teach her a lesson, in front of others and make an example of someone, all to restore his macho pride. He should be convicted of at least second degree murder and rot in prison, but he never will..

I agree that we need something like the Panthers these days, as it would scare the 💩 out of MAGA and ICE. Only this time, hopefully the feds, cops, and FBI wouldn't be able to massacre and crush them.. and these days, the "radical left" and any "leftist threat" is simply more MAGA lies, propaganda, and figments of their imagination, at best. But mostly the first two of the three... The right has revolutionaries, who have succeeded thru a political coup. The left needs revolutionaries too now, tho our side is unlikely to ever win thru electoral politics, because money is way too powerful in that arena these days, compared to the 1960s...

I think you're right. As Malcom X said long ago, " America respects violence, it was founded on violence. I think it's the only thing it respects". Whether you agree with that or not, it's clear that violence, or at least physical force, is the only thing that fascists like THE LYIN' KING and his supporters and cronies respect... And yes, I remember that couple, and it made me think it's not a bad idea for peaceful protestors to have a couple of armed guards or security people at their protests, at least if there are no cops on duty around them to be able to protect them against nuts like that couple..

I would add a fourth demand to your list of three, V. And that is for ICE to finally be reined in, with them having to follow the same laws as other law enforcement officers, including no more being masked, badgeless and without names and numbers on their uniforms. And also no more sending ICE to only blue states and blue cities, all designed to target and create violence in those places. ICE should be returned to its former practices, before THE LYIN' KING got into power again. That should be an iron demand.. If they won't agree to that, then the Dems and any Repubs in congress who still have a conscience, should cut all funding to ICE and DHS immediately...

I share your anger, despair and frustration, Amanda. I really don't know what else to say. Thanks for your comment..

I really wish that were true, but the rest of the world knows THE LYIN' KING is nuts, and so are some of his inner circle, while our country is a superpower with nukes, so I seriously doubt any other country will save us from him. Best chance is either him dying of natural causes, or the very unlikely chance of another country successfully whacking him thru assassination... Iran would be my best guess for that, and THE LYIN' KING's admin. is surely keeping an eye out for that...

Exactly, it's completely bull💩 and frustrating, when one side has to practice complete restraint, while the other is able to be completely lawless and restrained in its cruelty and brutality. They want civil war and are already waging it, on their side. Meanwhile, the Dems offer no real unified leadership with any actions that would ever be effective against the regime and its oligarch backers. Instead they wring their hands, lecture about morality, and make empty gestures.. And then wonder why most of the public has no real respect for them nor sees them as any real opposition party that can or will fight the Repubs and THE LYIN' KING.. The Dems just tell people to trust them, wait for the midterms, and have faith that the midterms will happen and be run fairly. Well, most people have given up hope on any of that happening or even being effective in stopping THE LYIN' KING and the Repubs. They want to hear about organized boycotts against his oligarch backers, and organized, targeted actions that will actually scare or force Repubs into abandoning THE LYIN' KING, and bring some relief sooner, rather than later, from the domestic terrorism of ICE, such as refusing to fund DHS, same with funding the Venezuala takeover... More Americans are going to start arming themselves, on our side, and preparing themselves to shoot it and defend themselves against ICE, rather than wait on our system causing ICE to back off and stop terrorizing people. Because we all know the cops are not going to protect us against them, or they would have started taking our side and standing up for us months ago... And for that, I blame our blue state governors for not drawing a line months ago and ordering the arrest of ICE goons that started going masked, badgeless and without names or numbers on their uniforms. This would have stopped or deterred this long ago, but those governors didn't want to risk that being seen as a provocation of civil war. Well, when even white citizens are no longer safe from being murdered by ICE, even if they are unarmed and not a threat, then what do we have left to lose or protect by not having our cops stand up to these 🍆s? Somebody explain that to me....

"Hard to believe he is alive", esp. after he walked all the way down to her car and back, after he murdered her, and then was whisked away, not to any hospital, but to prevent him from being identified, questioned, or arrested by local cops. And of course, we will never get any medical reports about him made public, all because the feds will claim it's to "protect his privacy".... He will get away scot free from this, the same way Chauvin thought he would with murdering George Floyd...

I agree with anyone who says that shaming will still work a lot of the time, even these days, but only on ordinary people who do not possess great wealth or power. But those who have one or both of those things, are now immune from feeling shame or really suffering much from being publicly shamed. I did some thinking about our present dilemma, and one other strategy did come to mind, related to this. And that would be large, ongoing public protests directly outside the homes of the shameless public officials and pols, putting the heat on them and their neighbors for their corrupt policies and actions. But that tactic is much more risky than targeted boycotts, because most of them will have security details, either privately hired, or publicly funded, as well as usually having the local cops on their side. So the protestors risk being arrested, jailed, or even shot for their involvement. And unlike the civil rights and anti war movement during Vietnam, the courts are much more right wing and supportive of cracking down on protestors, unless they are right wing protestors. So the only hope with that tactic, would be supplying lawyers, free of charge, for any protestor arrested, and then going for jury nullification after seeking a jury trial for each protestor. Lots of risk all around for the protest movement...

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..

I respect your stand of favoring animals over humans in the Darwinian scheme of things. I don't bet or gamble on things, but if I did, my money too, would be on the animal over the human, in any bare knuckles brawl...

As for prioritizing life forms, I always root for the higher life form in the process of evolution, thus favoring cockroaches over homo sapiens of the THE LYIN' KING and Stephen Miller variety...

No thanks, mac, I'll pass on the boiling water, lol... I've already engaged in enough masochism so far in the dating game, that I don't need to add the boiling water...

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..