Steely_D wrote:
See topic.

 R_P wrote:
Why give this guy any more airtime? 

‘There Can Be No Mercy’: America First Leaders Put the Movement’s Fascism on Full Display

Last Friday, Nick Fuentes, the racist, misogynistic, America-hating, Christian fascist founder of the white nationalist America First movement, did a livestream in which he responded to Trump’s statement that he might soon be arrested. Fuentes used the program to fault Trump for not being sufficiently “brutal” during his term in office, declaring that if Trump gets back into office, he must refuse to leave.

“I’ll never forget when Trump was asked during the transition, ‘Are you really going to arrest Hillary Clinton?’ and he was like, ‘No, I don’t think I need to do that,'” Fuentes said. “You should have. You should have dragged Obama by his nappy hair—no, I’m kidding—but you should have dragged Obama by his basketball jersey through the courts. You should have dragged Hillary Clinton and the Podestas. It should have been Pizzagate on trial. It should have been ‘Fast and Furious,’ and . It should have been all those things playing out in court.”

“It should have been Hillary Clinton and Obama in an orange jumpsuit and a paddy wagon. That’s what it should have been,” Fuentes continued. “It should have been brutal and unforgiving and unrelenting and intense and unstoppable. That’s what it should have been. Deportations, depriving people of the vote, building a wall, disregarding the courts, disregarding Congress, arresting the opposition; it should have been that.”

“We’ve got to be willing to do what it takes,” Fuentes declared. “This is a man’s game. And that’s the lesson. Trump’s got to get back in—Trump or Ye—whoever, but they got to get back in, and this time, they can’t leave, OK? We’ve got to make America great again and not leave until it’s done.”

 Steely_D wrote:

Oh no no no, Steely, don't go there. You picked that up. MY point was that its easy to pontificate from a position of having none of this craziness directly affect you. You being a straight, white man is NOT an object of enmity! I just wanted you to put yourself in the shoes of those that ARE affected by these laws. Do not misunderstand, I appreciate your viewpoint, on many levels, it was NEVER my intent to make you feel put down. You are assuming too much into me. I'm just pointing out the selectivity of which groups are suffering under these extremists. Please don't take offense; I've grown a great deal of respect for you.  
However, I won't restrict sharing my viewpoint along with others. How we interpret each others' posts is often indicative of our own buttons, moi included.

I'm here in the same spirit you are.

 lily34 wrote:

 Isabeau wrote:
You know, a BIG reason that liberals can’t get things done, and that they’re easy pickings for the GOP, is that they’ve apparently never heard the adage “don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.” Don’t make adversaries of your allies for little differences. Take the win and fight the real enemy together. 

I think it’s painfully obvious that I’m not really a philosophical antagonist of yours, but you keep personally attacking me JUST BECAUSE IM A STRAIGHT WHITE MALE. This is just as bad as what you accuse the “other side” of doing. Sheesh.  And, I’m so smug I’m not gonna bother having this discussion anymore with you since you keep picking fights. 

 rgio wrote:

I think you are making my point, about messaging vs. actual governing. 

 Steely_D wrote:
Excellent points. However, I must add that religious belief has been hijacked predominately by one side into a twisted morality that is legislating Medical care over personal choice. 
One side is allowing people to choose, the other is insisting IT sets Moral Law.  In the history of the world, attempting to legislate morality never turns out well. Alls well as long as your group isn't threatened, isn't it? Gay? Black? Female? You are none of these things Steely. Your above it all' smugness appears to dilute what one side is doing. 

Anecdotal persecution of old white men is not the same as legislation. These crazies are passing LAWS against people based upon 'supernatural evidence.'

 black321 wrote:
So how do you explain Biden's last few moves?  Drilling in Alaska?  Detentions on the southern border?  Not getting in the way of DC legislative changes from Congress?  He's a DINO at this point.  Run amuck with power.  Losing his F*^#ing marbles!  

Or

He's governing as he sees best for America...not a party or its lunatic fringe.   

The WingNutZ (in keeping with the thread) will complain about anything for the moment.   Gas prices, inflation, Ukraine war, leaving Afghanistan, infrastructure, hazardous train derailment response, bank failures... all on Joe's watch... while ignoring the catastrophic decisions made by his predecessor that made pretty much everything listed much worse.  

I don't love Biden as a President, and seriously wish there was another option, but at this point, ole Joe seems about as good as it's going to get for a while.

 islander wrote:

As do the dems with we want to fix the environment and we care about labor/the poor.
To both sides it was messaging, while the reality was somewhere closer to the center.
Interesting that only now the extremists on both sides are following through.

 islander wrote:
Must be ANTIFA!

 Steely_D wrote:

i like this.

 islander wrote: 
as if you actually care what I think.  yeah, uh huh.

 kurtster wrote:

So who do you 'guess' is doing these things?  for what purpose? 

 Steely_D wrote:

The republicans since ~ Reagan have gotten a lot of traction with "the government is the problem / government can not do anything good / the government should be tiny or non-existent".  So when they get in positions of power it looks bad if they do things with government. It fits their message if they make things not work. 

 kurtster wrote:

The hard part in these “discussions” is that both sides are unwilling - usually - to cede to the idea that their side has extremism. Hence my hope that somewhere in some smoky bar (or pho restaurant) there’s a cadre of moderate Republicans and Democrats talking reasonably with each other about how to take back their jobs so they can get something done without discussions of drag shows or reparations. 
Like I was saying, I think politicians have some real-world obligations that they’re dodging in order to talk about folderol - which is much easier for them.

 Steely_D wrote: 
My only point was that both sides have their crazies, which seems to be lost in here.

I do completely agree with your point 2.

 kurtster wrote:
Correct. The rightwingnutz - who are “pro-life” - kill people. Such cognitive dissonance.

A Brief History of Deadly Attacks on Abortion Providers

And, again, two points:
1) politicians have a job to help our nation with food, shelter, medical care access but
2) politicians don’t have the knowledge base or standing to legislate what proper health care involves.

 Steely_D wrote: 
and places that provide care for pregnant women are vandalized or worse, being set on fire.

Who would do such things ?  Not rightwingnutz is my guess.

 Steely_D wrote: