[William A. Baurle]

This post has been edited by Conversations With William, Inc.

[Andrew Mandelbaum]

What Roger said. I am not pretending to accomplish anything. I just hate the schmuck and all the schmucklings who make him possible. I am at ease with this hatred. It keeps me warm. I am at peace with my word choice. I think that is all I can muster on this topic.

[William A. Baurle]

You win, Andrew.

[Michael Cantor]

What Roger and Andrew said. Roger's list of adjectives is particularly important, because - as he indicates - it isn't just a list of put-downs. It's heartfelt. And accurate. And, unfortunately, Trump has brought this country to a point where being pleasant and thoughtful and repressing your hatred doesn't work. He is an ignorant, greedy, corrupt, and evil man - and a disgrace to America - and the more often we say it, and the louder we say it, and the more people who say it, the better our chances of fighting back.

[William A. Baurle]

Michael, and the rest,

You make a good point. As I keep repeating, I don't support the man, didn't vote for him, and have gone out of my way, in fact, to criticize him, in several posts. But maybe y'all missed it?

What my point is, is simple: it's all well and good to be indignant and call the man whatever names may or may not apply to him, but that doesn't do a thing to improve civil discourse and will only make worse what is already a world-wide shit-slinging contest.

Dave Rubin, if I may drop his name here, since my thread went nowhere (as I knew would happen), is a good example of a contemporary liberal who is good at explaining not only what's wrong with the radical "regressive" left, but why shouting and screaming and blaming and name-calling doesn't do a damn thing to make anything better.

The video I linked to in my thread starts with seven minutes of Rubin discussing exactly what I'm trying to discuss here: that we need level-headed thinking, reasoned speech, and careful analysis of issues, with open minds, to fix the mess we're in, not more shit-slinging and screaming and yelling and smashing things.

Edited in: Hey, if you don't like Horowitz, fuck 'im. Turn it off once he starts talking, but at least watch the first seven minutes?

[Michael Cantor]

Donald Trump is not interested in "civil discourse", except as a sign of weakness in others. We've tried "level-headed thinking, reasoned speech, and careful analysis of issues, with open minds, to fix the mess we're in" and it hasn't worked. Do you see those people at the Republican town meetings, screaming at their representatives to make them realize we won't accept cutbacks in health care or tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans - it's unfortunate, but that's what it takes. And hopefully we will win over enough of the representatives to make a difference - but it's going to be done by raising voices and pushing back frequently and strongly, not by reason. And while we will hopefully be loud enough and strong enough to win over (and cooperate with) enough Republicans, Trump is a cancer on the Presidency (I assume that sounds familiar), there is no way to trust or work with him, and all we can do is isolate and somehow destroy him and his shrinking cadre of loyalists. Keeping up the Russian investigation, demanding his taxes daily, and doing whatever we can do to inflame his ego, humiliate him, and force him into stupider and stupider public displays are not normal approaches - but they're what works with this POS.

[William A. Baurle]

Originally Posted by Michael Cantor

Donald Trump is not interested in "civil discourse", except as a sign of weakness in others. We've tried "level-headed thinking, reasoned speech, and careful analysis of issues, with open minds, to fix the mess we're in" and it hasn't worked. Do you see those people at the Republican town meetings, screaming at their representatives to make them realize we won't accept cutbacks in health care or tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans - it's unfortunate, but that's what it takes. And hopefully we will win over enough of the representatives to make a difference - but it's going to be done by raising voices and pushing back frequently and strongly, not by reason. And while we will hopefully be loud enough and strong enough to win over (and cooperate with) enough Republicans, Trump is a cancer on the Presidency (I assume that sounds familiar), there is no way to trust or work with him, and all we can do is isolate and somehow destroy him and his shrinking cadre of loyalists. Keeping up the Russian investigation, demanding his taxes daily, and doing whatever we can do to inflame his ego, humiliate him, and force him into stupider and stupider public displays are not normal approaches - but they're what works with this POS.

[emphasis mine]

[William A. Baurle]

Did anyone listen to the first seven minutes of the Dave Rubin video I linked to in my thread here in GD?

It won't hurt you, promise.

Michael, I've got nothing against organized protests, as I've repeatedly said. Protesting is a GOOD thing. And sometimes people have to scream and yell. I get it. But if you throw Reason out the window, you got nuthin'.

***

...and...now... [for something completely different]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwY98217hFE

[Jim Moonan]

"Corruption is far better than communism". - Horowitz

OMG no!!!

“Corruption is the gangrene of a people”. Pope Francis

Yes.


“In economics, in business and in politics, what counts first and foremost is the human person and the environment in which he or she lives,” Pope Francis

[John Isbell]

How nice to have the Holy Father visit our Donald Trump thread!
The two are a study in contrast.