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..

On 1/14/2026 at 2:23 PM, V.3 said:

transcript of live conversation

LINDY: i believe international law needs to come into play. NATO should take action

to be continued...

LINDY: we've tried everything else. maybe it's time for physical action

V3: what is everything we tried?

protesting, boycotting. laws.

regarding protests/boycotts, minimally. two NO KINGS days is the tip of the iceberg compared to what is required to get it done. do you remember the civil rights movement?

sort of. i wasn't paying attention as a child

there were ongoing masses in the streets. You don't get things done by skipping the protest part and moving right to the pitchfork stage. Even when you do get to the pitchfork stage the change will not happen here because we physically defeat the dictator's forces. sadly, it will happen when citizens have had enough of soldiers killing citizens and there's no more support for the dictator. We're watching it happen in Iran, and those people are used to religious dictators in power. Americans will not tolerate it for long.

regarding laws, yes most are in place. they need to be enforced. example: we passed the Epstein bill, but we didn't enforce it. we need a campaign to force our politicians to enforce it

(sigh) who is going to enforce these laws? the Supreme Court and Congress is his

that's the biggest mistake we make. they're ALL ours! It's a matter of demanding what is ours
for example, we all seem to have this reverence for the the idiots on the Supreme Court instead of giving them a mass-ive dose of our mind on the steps of their court

you know what's going to happen. he'd call in the troops

fine. the people can yell at the troops

and if someone gets pushed you're not going to push back?

no

you're going to let them beat you up?

yes. you'll get beaten up worse if you resist

you've got no Brooklyn in you whatsoever

correct. i was raised in Queens. but i grew-up in the West

(hyperventilating) how can you talk about the people, when there is a solid lock of maga supporters that, apparently, support their team, right or wrong

don't forget that their team is mostly one man. but yes, our friends and neighbors are the key to the whole thing. and the news that they watch. dealing effectively with both of those elements needs a full thread of its own. (sigh)

i keep hearing Renee saying "i'm not mad at you" before she was slaughtered

the details of that homicide have not escaped the vast majority of the public. It will become part of the regime's undoing

let's leave it at that. i have to go out

yes, go blow the stink off of yourself

21 hours ago, macphysto said:

Cap'n, you keep using "should" in your rebuttal, which, for me , makes your argument academic. Step outside your ivory tower and put on some sunglasses because the light that you are going toward is blinding you to How the World Really Is.

What people should do is very different from what people do, will do, or want to do. People should eat a "balanced diet" of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, proteins, and chocolate chip cookies . . . okay, maybe not that last one. But do they?

People should drive with their hands at "ten and two," not "gun it" at a yellow light, and keep one car length for every 10 mph behind the car in front of them*. But do they?

People should "do unto others." But do they?

you realize that you are saying i "shouldn't" say what people "should or shouldn't do." It's a theme you keep circling back to, unnecessarily. We decided people "should" drive within the speed limit, and we enforce it. We say people should eat right, but don't enforce it, because we "shouldn't," so we don't. But we "should" continue to inform people what they "should" be eating for their physical and mental health.

our whole society rightly evolves by telling each other what we SHOULD do. And i will continue to do exactly that. It will include me telling me what i should do, as well as you, voters and politicians.

imo, you should focus your sharp mind on each new issue confronting us without wrestling with semantics shaped by, perhaps, past experiences. but it's just a suggestion. not a law. you're free to be you (the key, in my often expressed opinion, is separating from ego to connect with the real you, apart from your experiential programming)

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...

To piggyback on what BobDylan said about not inciting road rage with a MAGA cult follower, let's remember that the white house is prosecuting anyone who does not agree with their agenda. Renee Good, who was murdered execution-style, is being called a domestic terrorist, and even her wife is being investigated. ICE agents are allowed to literally commit violence against citizens and then those assaulted and injured citizens are being charged.

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..

On 1/16/2026 at 11:49 AM, V.3 said:

you realize that you are saying i "shouldn't" say what people "should or shouldn't do."

What a fanciful way to interpret what I wrote.

On 1/16/2026 at 11:49 AM, V.3 said:

. . . It will include me telling me what i should do, as well as you, voters and politicians.

Woo doggies! Well, I, for one, am keenly interested in knowing how that modus vivendi works out for you, Cap'n. Has it actually been successful?

On 1/16/2026 at 11:49 AM, V.3 said:

". . . the key, in my often expressed opinion, is separating from ego to connect with the real you, apart from your experiential programming . . ."

I tried separating from my ego once. I stopped because I live in a community property state and NO WAY was I letting my ego take half of everything I own! So right now ours is an "open relationship." We're free to see other people and other egos. The situation is not ideal. But, it works for us.

Moving Right Along

All this discussion about protest methods got me wondering What Would I Do If I Met The Prez? Were I to follow your playbook, Cap'n, I think that I would stomp my feet, huff and puff, wag my finger at him, and give him a piece of my mind (but only a small piece because, as Mae West said, too much of a good thing can be wonderful).

If That Had No Effect . . .

I'd muss up his hair, give him sooch a pinch . . . or better still a hit (ooOOooh, sooch a shot, sooch a zetz I'd give him!). Then I'd give him a melvin. I mean a really good one.

If That Had No Effect . . .

I'd have no choice but to go FULL V.3 on him. I'd point my finger at him, think bad thoughts, and wish him into The Cornfield.

"You're a bad man! You're a very bad man!"

On 1/16/2026 at 10:51 AM, V.3 said:

LINDY: you've got no Brooklyn in you whatsoever

It's this type of dialectical retort that keeps me coming back to nBP.

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..

Since we're on the subject of imagining exciting DJT beatdowns, I'd personally love to see The Prez go toe-to-toe, mano a womano with Marjorie Taylor Greene in an MMA octagon.

Have you seen the guns on this gal?

Just the mere thought of DJT being bodyslammed and choked out by MTG arouses me. Strictly entre nous, I wouldn't mind some of that action myself -- a figment that I cover in my forthcoming book Sick, Erotic Fantasies About Strong GOP Dominatrices.

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...

Apropos to our discussion about protest: Civil Disobedience, debated on the January 18, 2026 broadcast of Philoso?hy Talk.

"Thoreau, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King all engaged in civil disobedience, and are widely admired for doing so. But how can democratic society function if each person’s conscience has to be satisfied for a law to be obeyed? When is civil disobedience justified? When is it required? How does the concept fit with the great ethical and political philosophies?"

"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part. You can't even passively take part. And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus -- and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!" -- Activist Mario Savio

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..

Food for Thought

" ’Liberal’ is a dirty word here [University of California, Berkeley]. Liberalism is a trap. It’s the impotence of having principles that make you opposed to something and other principles that keep you from doing anything about it." -- Activist Jack Weinberg

". . . Since [the New Radicals] take the position of demanding only what society claims to be giving in the first place, they tend to be contemptuous of gradualism or of compromise in negotiations. 'We ask for what we should get, not for what we could get,' [Suzanne] Goldberg says. Their techniques are often extra-legal, and they save their ultimate contempt for people who express agreement with their goals but not with their methods. ' "Liberal" is a dirty word here," Weinberg told me. 'Liberalism is a trap. It's the impotence of having principles that make you opposed to something and other principles that keep you from doing anything about it.' New Radicals ordinarily have little faith that anything can be accomplished by the 'Liberal Establishment.' . . . The one organization whose style seems to be almost universally respected among the New Radicals is S.N.C.C.*; its project in Mississippi is admired for its moral tone, for its patient organizing of impoverished Negroes, for its activism, and for its frequent refusal to accept the advice of liberals." -- Letter from Berkeley by Calvin Trillin, The New Yorker, March 13, 1965

* Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

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..

Quote

"Thoreau, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King all engaged in civil disobedience, and are widely admired for doing so. But how can democratic society function if each person’s conscience has to be satisfied for a law to be obeyed? When is civil disobedience justified? When is it required?

it's a good question. And that's why violence is a bad idea. If protest is questionable, violence to force your ideas is obviously worse. But the question is the answer.

protest is not about forcing your will on others, it should be about forcing society to QUESTION it's behavior. To examine it. The devil is in the details, and those details need to be exposed.

unfortunately, sometimes, society doesn't care. people are selfish and the power mongers are manipulative. so you keep trying. Slavery, anti-civil rights, women's rights and gay rights were all examples of irrational, bad behavior but we only stuck each other with bayonet's over one of them because it crossed a threshold of inhumanity.

"V.3
. . . It will include me telling me what i should do, as well as you, voters and politicians.

On 1/17/2026 at 3:58 PM, macphysto said:

Well, I, for one, am keenly interested in knowing how that modus vivendi works out for you, Cap'n. Has it actually been successful?

no.

well, actually, it does work pretty well on myself

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...

My problem with nonviolent protest is that it seems, to me, to be masochistic and self-sacrificing. Mario Savio metaphorically urged his audience to "put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus." Me, I would have incited listeners to "stop the machine by putting the bodies of the machine owners upon the gears, levers, and all the apparatus."

I don't get protesters who try to fight the system or change the status quo by going on hunger strikes or immolating themselves. WT . . .?! How is killing yourself going to persuade The Powers That Be to See the Light, change their ways, and do The Right Thing? If I'm fighting a Kamikaze pilot or an Islamic martyr willing to give his life because his reward for doing so will be 72 virgins, I'd be inclined to say, "Thank you for helping!" and wonder "Which side are you on, Skippy?"

I'm with "Old Blood and Guts" (George S. Patton): make the other b-a-s-t-a-r-d (y'know, the enemy) die!

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...

This is the kind of nonviolent protest that I think is effective and that I can totally get behind.

Minnesotans strike to protest ICE surge in state: ‘No work, no school, no shopping

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..

i don't like the name game, but don't you think President Grump would have been fitting and effective messaging?

Nah, Repubs are allergic to the truth...

i didn't watch the SOTU speech. nothing new to see
but i did torture myself by watching the Dem rebuttal
awful, as usual

one mention of Epstein files, only a few mentions of other scandals and corruptions
once again playing it like politics business as usual
with a conservative democrat at the mic
economy, safety, blah blah blah

the public would overwhelmingly be with us if we were more openly against him
they passed on Kamala because she had no b⚽lls
figuratively and literally