I commented recently, somewhere else, that "the internet was a mistake and we need to nuke it from orbit just to be sure it's destroyed." I don't really believe that about THE INTERNET, but I do believe it about social media, with it's rage scrolling and weaponization of mental health disorders, and the driving of engagement by any means necessary, mostly with hate and disgust.
You are onto a lot of very good points, and I find myself in solid agreement. The thing is, this vanguard of the Maoist moment we are in is being driven by The Very Online and The Institutions. The Very Online make up, as a percentage of the population in general, fewer than those who believe in a flat earth or that birds aren't real. The Institutions, that's a different problem. They should be the backstop to all this, and they aren't. We see how they are so quickly destroying all the guardrails in society with out asking why, and they end up taking their cues from The Very Online. We have the terminally stupid leading the willfully ignorant in a downward Overton spiral of malignant narcissism and carelessness.
I see two ways this ends: one peaceful, the other not so much. But end it will, because things that can not continue won't.
The peaceful solution says "look, we got two parts of this country that just can not get along and we need to split up." But you saw the absolute outrage when a National Divorce was mentioned a bit ago. It didn't help the messenger, MTG, was the absolute worse. But the left shot that down immediately because they really, really, REALLY want to rule us. They aim to rule us, and they will not settle for less.
That leaves Plan B. Many of us who will just take it and take it and take it... right up till we refuses to take it anymore. Trust me, lefties, you don't want that smoke when the moment comes.
I believe a tipping point is coming. I don't know what it will be or when, but when it comes it will be an absolute game changer.
I tell people whom I work with that "everything's great till it's not." That's what's going on now. The Corporate D/R Uniparty (presented by Pfizer) sees everyting as OK. Their vocal supporters, their base, and The Media thinks things are going in the right direction. They don't see the problems that people at the street level see. They will be shocked when things get turned upside down. But I thinkt that's what we need.
"The Institutions, that's a different problem. They should be the backstop to all this, and they aren't."
Absolutely spot-on!
"We have the terminally stupid leading the willfully ignorant in a downward Overton spiral of malignant narcissism and carelessness."
Damn straight - sadly...
"The peaceful solution says 'look, we got two parts of this country that just can not get along and we need to split up.' But you saw the absolute outrage when a National Divorce was mentioned a bit ago...But the left shot that down immediately because they really, really, REALLY want to rule us. They aim to rule us, and they will not settle for less."
How is it that so few seem to see this? As a note of absolutely no consequence, I like MTG if for no other reason, the fact that she breathes the same air as everyone else seems to trigger leftists, and makes them apoplectic.
"Trust me, lefties, you don't want that smoke when the moment comes."
"The Very Online make up, as a percentage of the population in general, fewer than those who believe in a flat earth or that birds aren't real."
I also think this and wonder why they hold such sway.
"The Institutions, that's a different problem."
Oh.
"We have the terminally stupid leading the willfully ignorant in a downward Overton spiral of malignant narcissism and carelessness."
This I have stolen. I may or may not tell others that you wrote it when I repost it later.
"It didn't help the messenger, MTG, was the absolute worse."
I have a hypothesis about this: I think that somewhere, deep down, she's also part of this mess of Deepish State. It reminds me of when Lindsay Graham was spouting off about how we needed a federal statute making abortion illegal in every way as Dobbs and The Leak were in the news.
When did Graham ever care about such an issue? He didn't. No - he Doesn't. But he was the least likely to be labelled Staunch Conservative so his expressing this opinion made it so that people would say out loud. "Meh - Graham? That f*g - whatever." and "OMGZ - Handmaid's Tale!" It stoked the ideological fire, not accidentally I think.
MTG might actually believe in a Two State Solution but, more than that, those that would wish to stoke more division would encourage her. She's not so bright and loves to talk crap so, sure, encourage her to go public and you get "MTG? The Jewish Space Alien Chick? Hahahaha!" and simultaneously "OMGZ - They're trying to destroy the country!"
Uniparty. It's all a ruse to write laws that move money through their trough. Those $3M Beach Houses in Delaware don't pay for themselves!
Due to some past click on my phone I might be inadvertently stalking Lillia’s comments. Sorry Lillia (and don’t worry I’m not weird) but damn, you and here are a series of kindred spirits.
Don’t know if searching is possible on substack but you would see I deeply don’t want to give disrespect to individuals who are grown up and want to be lgbtq. But.. you would also see I am not into the woke hive mind.
There’s some group of people who can be cool, compassionate, but also real.
Like all your pieces, there is so much in here, so I'll just pick the one thing that's been on my mind lately.
Authoritarianism is pretty much impossible for liberals (true liberals) and libertarians, but I think what you refer to as "authoritarianism" I think of as a principled set of "hard noes," particularly to the blurring of nuance. The "left" deliberately obliterates nuance. For example, I have no problem with "trans" people. Dude wants to wear a dress and refer to himself with the female pronouns, it's nothing to me. Dylan Mulvaney wants to make bank being a full-time misogynist transvestite on TikTok, irritating, but nothing I'm willing to set legal precedent to eradicate.
But then there are the "hard nos." As a "hard no," we will maintain the distinction between a woman and a transwoman. Transwomen can do none of the following (because they have the bodies, however cosmetically altered, of men): compete in women's sports, enter women's spaces before having bottom surgery (you don't remove the penis, you don't go into the women's locker room or the women's prison), and be referred to as "women" in legal and statistical documents (they are either identified as "men" or "transwomen). A further hard no is medically altering children's bodies. You want to dress your son as a girl, fine, but you won't be giving him boobs or puberty blockers or cutting off body parts. Such life altering cosmetic surgery is something he gets to decide when he's older, not you.
Another hard no is giving cover to doctors and psychiatrists who rather than treat mental health issues default to "you're trans and we'll make you feel better by really screwing up your body." If you're going to affect a vulnerable person's life like that, you're going to take professional, legal, and financial responsibility.
And a final hard no is considering it a "hate crime" to mis-gender or make fun of "transwomen." While there are some "transwomen" who are fine, the Dylan Mulvaneys of the "trans" world have earned every bit of vitriol and ridicule that come their ways.
Even for liberals and libertarians, one person's rights end where the next person's rights begin. A "transwoman's" right to continue "her/his" cosmetic fiction does not trump the right of women to compete solely against other women nor to have phallic-free spaces. I know this is called "transphobia" on the "left," but that is where we need to stand firm. It's not transphobia. We are fine with trans people. What we are not fine with is sacrificing the rights of billions of women so a few transwomen have a "right" to be validated beyond what is reasonable.
So you call it authoritarianism, but I just call it a "hard no" in the balancing of rights.
And I'm sorry I got here so late. I try to watch for your pieces and I was even thinking to myself, "He should have written something by now. I hope he's okay."
"The 'left' deliberately obliterates nuance. For example, I have no problem with 'trans' people. Dude wants to wear a dress and refer to himself with the female pronouns, it's nothing to me. Dylan Mulvaney wants to make bank being a full-time misogynist transvestite on TikTok, irritating, but nothing I'm willing to set legal precedent to eradicate."
YES!! For me, it's the same as being homosexual – what you do privately is your business – hell, if that's your orientation (likely by choice, but I'll allow for the possibility it is not) in public, that's still your business, I have no problem with that. However, if I am forced to care about it one way or the other because one who is so, feels entitled to preferential treatment, or I'm forced to celebrate it, and am prevented from expressing my lack of support (not denying anyone their orientation or expression of such), then we have a problem. Want a Pride parade? If you're willing to fund it, and do all required to safeguard the public square, be my guest, as long as you permit Straight folks the same (and, as long as their organization is willing to do the same).
In Chicago, when State Street, E Wacker Drive, and in some cases Michigan Avenue were closed on a Saturday for the Pride, Puerto Rican Day, some Polish holiday, or Mexican Independence Day parades, they caused traffic jams and other urban mobility headaches. I always thought that they could have them in Soldier Field, and promenade around the track that encircled the field. Make it free of admission so that anyone who wanted could attend. Of course, that would mean that none of them were being rubbed in the faces of those who couldn't care less, but that would mean that being able to have the parade wasn't the point.
The same was true on the South Side when MLK, Jr. Drive was closed down for the Bud Billiken Day Parade – that artery being shut down messed up all the other traffic south of Cermak Road (22nd Streeet, oka Chinatown). Ironically, that was the only day when there was no violent crime committed the Douglas, Bronzeville, and Prairie Shores 'hoods.
I wish there was a 'Love' "button" to select, because I would have! Agreed, in effect, I prefer the "hard nos" in lieu of authoritarianism. I would extend it to the concept of, hate crimes. Crime is crime - hate, thought, are qualifiers that are not only unnecessary, but dangerous as they perpetuate false victimhood. Also, all ARE equal under the law, it's just that some want certain others to be treated differently, unfairly.
"And I'm sorry I got here so late. I try to watch for your pieces and I was even thinking to myself, 'He should have written something by now. I hope he's okay.'"
That is sweet! I'm finding I really need to be prompted on a subject, and then to build my case, doing research – even then, I delete probably half of what I originally "wrote." I'm working on a piece on the Entitled Mentality, hopefully can post it early next week.
I think I have many things in response but I'll start here.
This all reminds me of something Mrs. Pi said (exasperatedly replied might better characterize it) just yesterday on the ride in.
We'd just heard the story about the shuttering of SVB and The Prez was planning a conference later in the morning. I was angry about the fact - not yet in evidence, mind you, but a fact nonetheless - all of the depositors were going to get all their money back. "Blah blah 'too big to fail' blah 'collapse of the banking industry' blah 'all ESG/DEI investments that no one wants so won't pay for - no wonder they lost their shirt!' blah..." I am certain that it was more loquacious than that but I had my Talking Politics Face on and, well, she said something pretty prescient:
"SEE - this is what I hate. I'm stuck between The Politicians and People Like You."
It stung again just to type it.
I'm basically a Keyboard Warrior. And perhaps a few instances of Turd in the Punch Bowl at Family/Friend Gatherings. And, in fact, it's when I've tried to take it off-screen that I find so much resistance even amongst my mostly well off - frankly, pretty upper middle class - circle that people can lay down the thunder.
Granted, I live in MD, where we have the same 2:1 Dem:Repub ratios as CA. Despite my apparent numbering amongst the 1 in 7 voters who identify as "No Lean" it's pretty clear that there's a Dem vs Everybody Not A Dem here, especially along the I-95/DC/Baltimore corridor. And we just elected the Very Electable Wes Moore (D-Non-profit) who, barely 10 weeks into his term has proposed increasing Minimum Wage to $15/hr this fall - Yo, small biz owner: Heads up! - and is effectively campaigning to make all Non-Government Schools anathema.
We control the vertical. We control the horizontal.
It's not about Democrat vs. Republican, Liberal vs. Conservative, Gay vs Straight, POC vs PnotOC, Educated at an Institution of Finer Learning and Stuff vs Hard Knocks U... It's simply about Those Who Yearn to Be Free vs. Those Who Wish To Control Every Single Thing We, the Little People Do.
And I Yearn to Be Free. To that end, I am considering the musings of that great philosopher of the 20th Century, Mike Tyson: "Everyone has a plan til they get punched in the mouth."
I think you're saying that it's time for people like me to get in the ring and take a few punches. I think you're right.
Sorry. I started out thinking this was going to be a couple of lines and I'd circle back later for more commenting but this is the whole theme of your article. I didn't know I was going to post a wall of text.
"It's not about Democrat vs. Republican, Liberal vs. Conservative, Gay vs Straight, POC vs PnotOC, Educated at an Institution of Finer Learning and Stuff vs Hard Knocks U... It's simply about Those Who Yearn to Be Free vs. Those Who Wish To Control Every Single Thing We, the Little People Do."
THIS to the infinty power (I know how to express that in an equation, but not in a reply box).
It IS the FREE v RULERS.
I too, yearn to be free, to just be left the hell alone.
"Private ownership of property is higher on the agenda than most realize."
This does scare me. Libertarias hold that personal property is an extension of the person.
I don't think it's slippery slope thinking to see them coming for gas stoves and think they'll eventually find the thing that leads them to me for dissenting.
I commented recently, somewhere else, that "the internet was a mistake and we need to nuke it from orbit just to be sure it's destroyed." I don't really believe that about THE INTERNET, but I do believe it about social media, with it's rage scrolling and weaponization of mental health disorders, and the driving of engagement by any means necessary, mostly with hate and disgust.
(There was an article that dropped today on The Free Press about adolescent mental health that I think is prescient. https://www.thefp.com/p/why-the-mental-health-of-liberal But I digress)
You are onto a lot of very good points, and I find myself in solid agreement. The thing is, this vanguard of the Maoist moment we are in is being driven by The Very Online and The Institutions. The Very Online make up, as a percentage of the population in general, fewer than those who believe in a flat earth or that birds aren't real. The Institutions, that's a different problem. They should be the backstop to all this, and they aren't. We see how they are so quickly destroying all the guardrails in society with out asking why, and they end up taking their cues from The Very Online. We have the terminally stupid leading the willfully ignorant in a downward Overton spiral of malignant narcissism and carelessness.
I see two ways this ends: one peaceful, the other not so much. But end it will, because things that can not continue won't.
The peaceful solution says "look, we got two parts of this country that just can not get along and we need to split up." But you saw the absolute outrage when a National Divorce was mentioned a bit ago. It didn't help the messenger, MTG, was the absolute worse. But the left shot that down immediately because they really, really, REALLY want to rule us. They aim to rule us, and they will not settle for less.
That leaves Plan B. Many of us who will just take it and take it and take it... right up till we refuses to take it anymore. Trust me, lefties, you don't want that smoke when the moment comes.
I believe a tipping point is coming. I don't know what it will be or when, but when it comes it will be an absolute game changer.
I tell people whom I work with that "everything's great till it's not." That's what's going on now. The Corporate D/R Uniparty (presented by Pfizer) sees everyting as OK. Their vocal supporters, their base, and The Media thinks things are going in the right direction. They don't see the problems that people at the street level see. They will be shocked when things get turned upside down. But I thinkt that's what we need.
Thanks for letting me rant on this ...
"The Institutions, that's a different problem. They should be the backstop to all this, and they aren't."
Absolutely spot-on!
"We have the terminally stupid leading the willfully ignorant in a downward Overton spiral of malignant narcissism and carelessness."
Damn straight - sadly...
"The peaceful solution says 'look, we got two parts of this country that just can not get along and we need to split up.' But you saw the absolute outrage when a National Divorce was mentioned a bit ago...But the left shot that down immediately because they really, really, REALLY want to rule us. They aim to rule us, and they will not settle for less."
How is it that so few seem to see this? As a note of absolutely no consequence, I like MTG if for no other reason, the fact that she breathes the same air as everyone else seems to trigger leftists, and makes them apoplectic.
"Trust me, lefties, you don't want that smoke when the moment comes."
Love that!
"The Very Online make up, as a percentage of the population in general, fewer than those who believe in a flat earth or that birds aren't real."
I also think this and wonder why they hold such sway.
"The Institutions, that's a different problem."
Oh.
"We have the terminally stupid leading the willfully ignorant in a downward Overton spiral of malignant narcissism and carelessness."
This I have stolen. I may or may not tell others that you wrote it when I repost it later.
"It didn't help the messenger, MTG, was the absolute worse."
I have a hypothesis about this: I think that somewhere, deep down, she's also part of this mess of Deepish State. It reminds me of when Lindsay Graham was spouting off about how we needed a federal statute making abortion illegal in every way as Dobbs and The Leak were in the news.
When did Graham ever care about such an issue? He didn't. No - he Doesn't. But he was the least likely to be labelled Staunch Conservative so his expressing this opinion made it so that people would say out loud. "Meh - Graham? That f*g - whatever." and "OMGZ - Handmaid's Tale!" It stoked the ideological fire, not accidentally I think.
MTG might actually believe in a Two State Solution but, more than that, those that would wish to stoke more division would encourage her. She's not so bright and loves to talk crap so, sure, encourage her to go public and you get "MTG? The Jewish Space Alien Chick? Hahahaha!" and simultaneously "OMGZ - They're trying to destroy the country!"
Uniparty. It's all a ruse to write laws that move money through their trough. Those $3M Beach Houses in Delaware don't pay for themselves!
Due to some past click on my phone I might be inadvertently stalking Lillia’s comments. Sorry Lillia (and don’t worry I’m not weird) but damn, you and here are a series of kindred spirits.
Don’t know if searching is possible on substack but you would see I deeply don’t want to give disrespect to individuals who are grown up and want to be lgbtq. But.. you would also see I am not into the woke hive mind.
There’s some group of people who can be cool, compassionate, but also real.
I think being collective would have value.
I don’t know which substack that is.
Like all your pieces, there is so much in here, so I'll just pick the one thing that's been on my mind lately.
Authoritarianism is pretty much impossible for liberals (true liberals) and libertarians, but I think what you refer to as "authoritarianism" I think of as a principled set of "hard noes," particularly to the blurring of nuance. The "left" deliberately obliterates nuance. For example, I have no problem with "trans" people. Dude wants to wear a dress and refer to himself with the female pronouns, it's nothing to me. Dylan Mulvaney wants to make bank being a full-time misogynist transvestite on TikTok, irritating, but nothing I'm willing to set legal precedent to eradicate.
But then there are the "hard nos." As a "hard no," we will maintain the distinction between a woman and a transwoman. Transwomen can do none of the following (because they have the bodies, however cosmetically altered, of men): compete in women's sports, enter women's spaces before having bottom surgery (you don't remove the penis, you don't go into the women's locker room or the women's prison), and be referred to as "women" in legal and statistical documents (they are either identified as "men" or "transwomen). A further hard no is medically altering children's bodies. You want to dress your son as a girl, fine, but you won't be giving him boobs or puberty blockers or cutting off body parts. Such life altering cosmetic surgery is something he gets to decide when he's older, not you.
Another hard no is giving cover to doctors and psychiatrists who rather than treat mental health issues default to "you're trans and we'll make you feel better by really screwing up your body." If you're going to affect a vulnerable person's life like that, you're going to take professional, legal, and financial responsibility.
And a final hard no is considering it a "hate crime" to mis-gender or make fun of "transwomen." While there are some "transwomen" who are fine, the Dylan Mulvaneys of the "trans" world have earned every bit of vitriol and ridicule that come their ways.
Even for liberals and libertarians, one person's rights end where the next person's rights begin. A "transwoman's" right to continue "her/his" cosmetic fiction does not trump the right of women to compete solely against other women nor to have phallic-free spaces. I know this is called "transphobia" on the "left," but that is where we need to stand firm. It's not transphobia. We are fine with trans people. What we are not fine with is sacrificing the rights of billions of women so a few transwomen have a "right" to be validated beyond what is reasonable.
So you call it authoritarianism, but I just call it a "hard no" in the balancing of rights.
And I'm sorry I got here so late. I try to watch for your pieces and I was even thinking to myself, "He should have written something by now. I hope he's okay."
"The 'left' deliberately obliterates nuance. For example, I have no problem with 'trans' people. Dude wants to wear a dress and refer to himself with the female pronouns, it's nothing to me. Dylan Mulvaney wants to make bank being a full-time misogynist transvestite on TikTok, irritating, but nothing I'm willing to set legal precedent to eradicate."
YES!! For me, it's the same as being homosexual – what you do privately is your business – hell, if that's your orientation (likely by choice, but I'll allow for the possibility it is not) in public, that's still your business, I have no problem with that. However, if I am forced to care about it one way or the other because one who is so, feels entitled to preferential treatment, or I'm forced to celebrate it, and am prevented from expressing my lack of support (not denying anyone their orientation or expression of such), then we have a problem. Want a Pride parade? If you're willing to fund it, and do all required to safeguard the public square, be my guest, as long as you permit Straight folks the same (and, as long as their organization is willing to do the same).
In Chicago, when State Street, E Wacker Drive, and in some cases Michigan Avenue were closed on a Saturday for the Pride, Puerto Rican Day, some Polish holiday, or Mexican Independence Day parades, they caused traffic jams and other urban mobility headaches. I always thought that they could have them in Soldier Field, and promenade around the track that encircled the field. Make it free of admission so that anyone who wanted could attend. Of course, that would mean that none of them were being rubbed in the faces of those who couldn't care less, but that would mean that being able to have the parade wasn't the point.
The same was true on the South Side when MLK, Jr. Drive was closed down for the Bud Billiken Day Parade – that artery being shut down messed up all the other traffic south of Cermak Road (22nd Streeet, oka Chinatown). Ironically, that was the only day when there was no violent crime committed the Douglas, Bronzeville, and Prairie Shores 'hoods.
I wish there was a 'Love' "button" to select, because I would have! Agreed, in effect, I prefer the "hard nos" in lieu of authoritarianism. I would extend it to the concept of, hate crimes. Crime is crime - hate, thought, are qualifiers that are not only unnecessary, but dangerous as they perpetuate false victimhood. Also, all ARE equal under the law, it's just that some want certain others to be treated differently, unfairly.
"And I'm sorry I got here so late. I try to watch for your pieces and I was even thinking to myself, 'He should have written something by now. I hope he's okay.'"
That is sweet! I'm finding I really need to be prompted on a subject, and then to build my case, doing research – even then, I delete probably half of what I originally "wrote." I'm working on a piece on the Entitled Mentality, hopefully can post it early next week.
I'll be looking for it!
I think I have many things in response but I'll start here.
This all reminds me of something Mrs. Pi said (exasperatedly replied might better characterize it) just yesterday on the ride in.
We'd just heard the story about the shuttering of SVB and The Prez was planning a conference later in the morning. I was angry about the fact - not yet in evidence, mind you, but a fact nonetheless - all of the depositors were going to get all their money back. "Blah blah 'too big to fail' blah 'collapse of the banking industry' blah 'all ESG/DEI investments that no one wants so won't pay for - no wonder they lost their shirt!' blah..." I am certain that it was more loquacious than that but I had my Talking Politics Face on and, well, she said something pretty prescient:
"SEE - this is what I hate. I'm stuck between The Politicians and People Like You."
It stung again just to type it.
I'm basically a Keyboard Warrior. And perhaps a few instances of Turd in the Punch Bowl at Family/Friend Gatherings. And, in fact, it's when I've tried to take it off-screen that I find so much resistance even amongst my mostly well off - frankly, pretty upper middle class - circle that people can lay down the thunder.
Granted, I live in MD, where we have the same 2:1 Dem:Repub ratios as CA. Despite my apparent numbering amongst the 1 in 7 voters who identify as "No Lean" it's pretty clear that there's a Dem vs Everybody Not A Dem here, especially along the I-95/DC/Baltimore corridor. And we just elected the Very Electable Wes Moore (D-Non-profit) who, barely 10 weeks into his term has proposed increasing Minimum Wage to $15/hr this fall - Yo, small biz owner: Heads up! - and is effectively campaigning to make all Non-Government Schools anathema.
We control the vertical. We control the horizontal.
It's not about Democrat vs. Republican, Liberal vs. Conservative, Gay vs Straight, POC vs PnotOC, Educated at an Institution of Finer Learning and Stuff vs Hard Knocks U... It's simply about Those Who Yearn to Be Free vs. Those Who Wish To Control Every Single Thing We, the Little People Do.
And I Yearn to Be Free. To that end, I am considering the musings of that great philosopher of the 20th Century, Mike Tyson: "Everyone has a plan til they get punched in the mouth."
I think you're saying that it's time for people like me to get in the ring and take a few punches. I think you're right.
Sorry. I started out thinking this was going to be a couple of lines and I'd circle back later for more commenting but this is the whole theme of your article. I didn't know I was going to post a wall of text.
"It's not about Democrat vs. Republican, Liberal vs. Conservative, Gay vs Straight, POC vs PnotOC, Educated at an Institution of Finer Learning and Stuff vs Hard Knocks U... It's simply about Those Who Yearn to Be Free vs. Those Who Wish To Control Every Single Thing We, the Little People Do."
THIS to the infinty power (I know how to express that in an equation, but not in a reply box).
It IS the FREE v RULERS.
I too, yearn to be free, to just be left the hell alone.
"THIS to the infinty power (I know how to express that in an equation, but not in a reply box)."
I fully expected that you would know how and appreciate that you endeavor to Pique My Geek. *tips fedora in generally Not-Texas direction*
Speaking of which - Happy Holidays! On this day we celebrate the most irrational of numbers, Pi. *genuflects*
Plus some guy named *checks notes* Albert Einstein was born this day. He made a fortune in Physics.
"I too, yearn to be free, to just be left the hell alone."
"Get the hell out of my way!"
- John Galt
"...Albert Einstein was born this day. He made a fortune in Physics."
...gotta love Al Czervik!!
"Hey baby, you must've been something before electricity."
"In comments made in response to a post on, “And So It Goes,” "
Hey - I know the woman who runs that site!
She's very cool.
"Private ownership of property is higher on the agenda than most realize."
This does scare me. Libertarias hold that personal property is an extension of the person.
I don't think it's slippery slope thinking to see them coming for gas stoves and think they'll eventually find the thing that leads them to me for dissenting.
Uniparty delenda est!
Still reading. There's a lot here!
Thank you! Sorry about that - apparently, short form is a challenge, for me...
Do not apologize. It's all engaging, and it's pretty heady, so it's hard to blast right through. And your links have led me astray a few times.
Plus these people keep asking me to do things. They're paying me so I have to do some things.