BobDylan

I personally am thinking of buying a handgun and learning to shoot, not to defend or protect others, but for self defense I fear I will need in the coming year. I fear that it won't be long before anti Trumpers like me will be prohibited from buying guns, and will need them against the authorities, or even MAGA private gangs hunting us in public. But having said that, I don't intend to ever bring it to a protest, despite my 2nd Amendment right to do so, and despite all the many examples of right wing groups bringing rifles and handguns to past political protests, as a way of bullying and intimidating their opponents. Even tho I know that in the future there will be a very real possibility of the cops or the military deciding to open fire on whole groups of protestors with live, lethal ammo, in the meantime, before we get to that point, I'm not going to show up at a protest armed, since I know that during my whole lifetime, that there has been a double standard on which side is allowed to carry firearms at public protests without being shot at by the authorities, ie right wing groups, and left wing groups that have been shot at, with the excuse that they were armed, even when they weren't.. The lefty groups have never gotten fair or equal treatment on this issue by the cops and military, and they never will. So I will accept that reality and not give them the excuse, as we saw with Mr. Pretti, who I feel they were going to kill anyway, but finding the gun on him was their excuse and later justification created for the whole episode of grabbing him, beating him, and then executing him, even tho they didn't know he was armed until they were already beating him on the ground.. 6 on 1, pussies... As for your motto on your comments, mac, of dying on one's feet, I'll just say I would rather be judged by 12, than carried by 6. A phrase I borrow from the old time 2A supporters, who are now proving their hypocrisy in spades.... Don't get me wrong, mac, I am very much in favor of having much greater gun control in America, always have been. But in the present situation, where the feds are acting totally lawless, selectively violent based on completely whether you're part of the in-group or the out-group, I will choose to exercise my rights to self defense until such time as our system is reformed enough that we are no longer threatened by this current fascism, if you're not part of MAGA. Until then, the time for reforming our gun control laws needs to wait...

I agree with recharging your brain and the need for it. And I do practice the solitude and quiet thing, as a way to calm down and recharge. But I've never really gotten into meditation, since it bores me and makes me sleepy. So instead, I just read and listen to music while I do it, as that seems to do the trick for me, same as meditation does for most folks. Whatever works for the individual, is all that matters... As for the Nov. 11th exchange between you and mac, I concur that he's a cool guy, even tho he would probably never admit to it or accept the compliment, lol... He's a loveable curmudgeon, same as me, I suppose... I can just hear him retorting back, " I don't have to take that from you!...."....

Thanks V., I'm far from perfect, but I do try... It's in all of our interests for this site to succeed, whether it's as an online forum community, a dating site, or both... I wish I had more and better suggestions for the site, but I think I've already given all the ones I can think of...

You're welcome, V., and I will try to abide by your suggestions here.. And I also appreciate the tolerance and patience you have shown so far, as moderator of this site. I only wish reddit and FB, for example, were also so... These days, my fav source of commentary and news, besides Commondreams.org, is Substack, not only for the many commenters, but also the seeming lack of moderation, which still seems to result in respectful and intelligent comment threads accompanying the posts. Whodu thought it, that maybe people can respectfully participate in social discussion, without the usual FB or reddit flaming and childish insults, etc.? Or it could be that the MAGA idiots just stay away from there, realizing they are just way too outnumbered and outgunned intellectually on Substack...

Exactly. How much longer are we supposed to wait? We're already in practically full fascism, so we have nothing to lose at this point, same as most people were during the Great Depression, when most Americans had nothing to lose, economically, by voting for a democratic socialist, FDR, who was a Democrat. And you know what else? That also was the greatest, most successful time for union organizing in our country's history, because workers finally realized they had nothing to lose by joining unions, since they otherwise were already being treated as slaves working for poverty wages, and often in dangerous jobs that were fatal or at least ruining their long term health. Terrible times are exactly when to take political risks and swing for the fences, because that seems to be the only times that Americans wake up and realize that they have nothing to gain or even hold onto, by supporting the status quo... And the Dem Party has more than proven, since the 1990s, that they aren't to be trusted with our civil liberties, endless wars of choice, or our side of the class war, as they constantly are Repub lite on everything but identity politics and culture war stuff. When it comes to power, and who it's used for and who it's used against, they have not been on our side, only that of the rich and corporations. And that's never going to change... The last progressive candidate we've had for prez, from the Dems, was McGovern in 1972. Since then, the polling consistently shows that the public is way ahead of the major parties on the issues, as far as wanting progressive policies, but the Dems always go back to pointing out that 1972 landslide loss to Nixon, as proof that a progressive can't win that office. It's dishonest and terribly outdated and self-serving, when you look at the polling on issues, that is separated from party labels. And that's because the voters don't trust the Dems to actually fight for progressive policies, and rightly so. So that's why the support for progressive policies is so much higher among the public than their political support for Dems..

I understand. I have always tried to fight the good fight, refusing to settle for corporate Dems as leaders, whenever possible, and protesting against our country's constant move to the right since the 1970s, but to no avail. We lefties of conscience are just too outnumbered, outspent, and muted in the mass media... And also, our side has never had any lasting, viable political representation, and I'm including Bernie, since he never had the guts to start a viable third party when he was still young enough to do it, and had the name recognition and popularity to make it happen. But instead he played it safe and stayed in his comfortable role as the congressional gadfly, because he was also too afraid of being labelled as someone who caused the election of THE LYIN' KING, the way Nader was wrongly blamed for W. being appointed by the SC..

I agree with the bulk of your comment, mac, but to be fair, I think V. is using the word "we" more in a collective sense, of Americans in general, than specifically about himself or anybody else on this site or on our side of the current fight. Of course, he has the right to speak up for himself on that to clarify, or explain his intent with his comment..

I have zero doubt that many ICE goons are members of Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and pardoned J6rs, which is why they don't want their identities known and won't show their faces..

And the video from the woman in the pink coat, who was filming across the street from the donut shop that the first video was filmed from, shows even clearer, how the ICE goons grabbed him for no reason, jumped on top of him as a group and were beating him up, before the first shot was fired. It was an execution, straight up, with them shooting him after the beating was going on, just for sadistic pleasure, and then scattering like rats once the shots were all fired, because they realized they had committed a crime and were afraid of getting caught or shot by someone who saw it. Together, the two videos totally blow out of the water the whole bull💩 ICE cover story that was immediately put out to blame the victim and defend ICE. And I bet the ICE goon in the gray coat will never be investigated by DHS for his role in the shooting. They will deny his involvement and his taking the gun from the victim and running away with it, etc... He will be treated like some phantom..

Looks like the civil war is finally here, after most of us saw it coming for several years now, and esp. after THE LYIN' KING got back in power and started sending ICE to blue cities to terrorize and hurt people. As R.E.M. used to sing, " Welcome To The Occupation".. The Dems have sold us out, and were complicit in bringing us to this point, and they wouldn't even unite to shut off funding to DHS and ICE, even after Renee Good's murder and the continued ICE occupation of blue cities. They will not save us, and only revolt by the blue states, with their Dem governors being willing to send their Nat. Guard troops to fight ICE and THE LYIN' KING, along with the people rising up with their own guns, is going to stop the fascist regime. We should have had a blue state secession many years ago, and now we will have to have civil war, blue states against THE LYIN' KING and his red states, to stop this fascist clampdown. Won't be much longer, until even MS Now starts self censoring and not covering the civil war honestly and accurately. Will soon be like Putin's Russia, if we don't have a blue state revolt fighting back.. I dare THE LYIN' KING to keep sending ICE to Maine, since they have tons of armed citizens, who are independents or even lefty, that will not hesitate to shoot at ICE, if they try occupying their state and beating people up... As for the active duty military, they are going to back THE LYIN' KING, not fight for us. Only the blue state Nat. Guard troops might fight for our side. Our best bet is the citizens of blue states using their own guns and protecting themselves... Short of that or THE LYIN' KING dying of natural causes, I think we are cooked, as far as remaining a free country...

Exactly! Sustained disruption of the machine, businesses, work strikes, boycotting, schools being shut down, all of that needs to happen at the same time and be sustained, not one day protests once a month. The more of it that disrupts the economic machine, the more effective it is..

Agreed, it's esp. futile to do those sorts of protests, when you're fighting fascists who have no conscience and, at least nowadays, a public that also has lost most or all of their conscience, compassion, empathy for others, and even their humanity. The protests of the 60s were probably more effective than they would be now, because back then, the public had more of a conscience, more capacity for outrage, more engagement in politics and hope for positive change. Nowadays, way too many people see politics as simply entertainment or background noise that really doesn't matter to them anymore.. In the 60s, most mass media was family-owned, more local and independent, as well as balanced between left and right, so the reporting was more fair and balanced. Also, the leaders were more people with consciences, who more often acted in good faith in dealing with conflicts and problems. Those days are long gone... Nowadays, the right makes heroes out of people who hurt others, like Kyle Rittenhouse, while the left mainly creates martyrs, out of people like Renee Good, who get killed or hurt. So guess which side most of the public sees as strong and worthy of admiration, rather than seen as weak and masochistic? Comes back to what you said about Patton, most people will go with admiring the person who kills their enemies, than who sacrifices for some abstract principle...

I think the two largest parts of why we are where we are now in America, are that about a third of Americans have simply given up on democracy and politics, and checked out of it completely. They've lost hope in our government ever doing anything that will materially improve their lives by regulating corporate greed and power, as well as any sort of wealth redistribution that will reduce inequality. So they are simply living day to day, trying to survive. The second part of it, is the consolidation of mass media and social media, to where almost all of it is owned and run by right wing oligarchs, who have an overwhelmingly outsized voice, compared to centrist or progressive media, so at least 40% of Americans are constantly bombarded with right wing propaganda thru these sources, while those people never hear any factual, honest reporting on the issues, much less any progressive viewpoints. This process has been going on for decades, beginning in the 1980s with Reagan and the end of the Fairness Doctrine, followed by all the media mergers in the decades after that. Meanwhile, the rest of the corporate media, that isn't outright right wing, such as MSNBC, provides its own echo chamber for those on the Dem side, giving us alternating news of false hope and comfort, about how THE LYIN' KING's policies are hurting his poll numbers, along with doom news about his latest actions. In both echo chambers, people are not seeing the same stories as the other side, and so THE LYIN' KING's base will always remain from 34-39%. As long as his base sees everything that happens thru the framing of an invasion by brown people, that are hurting their culture, lifestyle and living standards, nothing else will matter to his base.. Even the economic pain he is causing them, will not matter to his base, because they're consuming media that says the immigrants are to blame for his base's poverty, declining income, affordability struggles, etc.. anything but THE LYIN' KING's trade policies or his cuts to social programs. Even the cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, will be seen by his base as being caused by immigrants getting free health care they don't deserve, even tho that is all lies and propaganda...

So true! Liberals are fine with capitalism and maintaining the status quo of the economic and social hierarchy, so they can keep their privileged place in it. That's why they are all for environmental reform, identity politics and culture war stuff for queer folks, POC, civil liberties, and even an end to endless wars of choice, because none of that usually costs them anything personally, as far as their standard of living or personal comfort. I'll take a radical any day over the typical American liberal, as the latter group is what has paved the way for and given us THE LYIN' KING, twice, instead of Bernie, for example... Liberals are performative in their politics, radicals are serious and wanting to actually change things and be willing to personally sacrifice and risk themselves to make it happen..

I remember watching Mario's speech being covered on TV, when I was a child... There comes a time when you have to realize the people in power have no conscience and are not operating in good faith, and are not going to change their ways. So the only choice left is to fight the machine or submit.. If you look up Mario's history after that speech, he paid a large price for his activism later on, harassment and survelliance from the feds, etc..

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...

I must admit that I still hate both of them, despite some of MTG's recent stands, and I too would love to see a cage match between her and THE LYIN' KING, would remind me of the Two Tribes music video from Frankie Goes To Hollywood, back in the 80s, which had imitators of Reagan and Chernenko boxing in a ring.. You're a funny guy, mac. I like your style, even if I am a irredeemable carnivore, lol...

If only we all had the superpowers of Anthony Fremont, the child monster from the TWZ episode you referenced.... Personally, I was watching the White House meeting with Zelensky and THE LYIN' KING, where THE LYIN' KING and Vance bushwhacked him, and just hoping that Zelensky would lose it and lunge across at THE LYIN' KING and clock him really good, for all of us who hate him, since unlike anyone else, he would have gotten away with it without being shot dead on the spot by the Secret Service..

Yup, under the present regime, esp. if you live in a red state, like I do, you must assume that the local cops and authorities will not protect you or seek justice for you if you are hurt by ICE or even MAGA bullies operating on their own. Your only protection is if you are armed, and careful to only exercise your gun rights in self defense. And on that note, always remember it's better to be judged by 12 (as in a jury), than carried by 6 (as in pallbearers). Because the good news is, all around the country, juries are ruling in favor of our side in trials against us by the system for defending ourselves against or protesting ICE. The key is making it to a jury trial, and getting the jury to nullify against the cops and prosecutors. It's going to keep happening a lot, at least for as long as the system allows jury trials for people defending themselves.. Won't be surprised if the cops just start executing people on the spot, for using guns to defend themselves. ICE has already shown they are willing to cross that line, even against unarmed citizens.. You nailed it, scary, we are already in an unofficial civil war, so far being waged by only one side, THE LYIN' KING's.. Him invoking the Insurrection Act, which I'm sure he will do, then declaring martial law and cancelling elections, will finally make it official... Of course, even if you do get a walk from a jury trial, you would need to leave town and find somewhere to lay low, because the cops would then stalk you and try to nail you for something later, if not execute you in secret if you gave them the opportunity.. In other words, you would have to go into hiding and run, same as the 1960s radicals that were fugitives, had to go on the run or live in exile in some other country.. Even escaping to a blue state would be no certainty of staying safe..

In the end, a society is made up of shared agreements and arrangements between very large groups of individuals, based on a variety of negotiations and coercions, all of which involve complex situations and arrangements where power is often very imbalanced between the parties who are making or enforcing the rules, and those who are actually being affected by or being told to comply with said rules. Messy, to say the least...

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..