I once had a conversation with my mother, who lives in another country. At that time, that country was governed by a far-right mini-Emperor-Orange, and I was bashing the guy, while she was defending him. When I said that the guy resembled Emperor Orange, she agreed and said that she even liked Emperor Orange. I told her, and I was being sincere, that if she ever repeated that in front of me, that would be the end for us. She was scared to the point that she took it back and promised to "think it better", which of course I did not expect her to do.
Our implicit agreement is as such. We talk, we have a relationship. If the subject of those people ever come up, in particular Emperor Orange, I will bash the heck out of him, of her, or anyone involved. Of course I accept being bashed as well for anything else. She has however not approached the subject since then.
@philip_cardella@WarnerCrocker I do a full skin check every 6 months at the doctor. I stay away from the sun or go fully sleeved/covered. I had several bits removed throughout the years, so far all benign. The goal really is to catch early.
@WarnerCrocker I believe at this point TFG is setting up an excuse not be there, i.e. to blame Democrats for him not participating. Democrats are trying to annoy and irritate him before the debate so that he behaves more like himself.
In any case, if he is not there, he loses no votes. If he is there, he loses no votes. He will not be judged or evaluated by any standard. There is no standard for him, only for us normal people.
The more TFG misbehaves, the sicker, the more incorrect and inappropriate, the better he does with his support base.
It is somewhat difficult to understand for us because we are normal people. It is not the world in which we live, or in which we want to live. TFG's support base, however, wants to live in a world wherein the disabled must be mocked; the women, disrespected and relegated to the kitchen; the immigrant, sent back to their countries; the critical or non-supporter or non-sycophant, threatened; the media who says the truth, called fake and un-accredited.
@BinarySorcerer@no1lion99@ryanhoulihan I did, some 30 years ago. What changed? It was a period in which no rockets were flying around and names were different, but perhaps that was about it.
@psychictides@no1lion99@ryanhoulihan As in being Jewish up to a certain age and then changing one's path? Actually, better not to use "one", because it seems this construct is grossly misunderstood here. I wonder whether I had written "people may ask", or "Gertrude would ask", it would have entered minds in a complete different way. At least, when I hear people telling "people say that...", I do not hear an immediate debate attempting to lay the statement to the person saying it, and the whole side information is completely lost in the subsequent shouting match.
And "one may ask whether the people from Gaza..." becomes "I hereby state that the people from Gaza *DOES ALLOW* Hamas to rule." You are. No, you are. No, you are. No, you are. No, you. You. You are. This is getting smarter by the minute.
@no1lion99@ryanhoulihan I said "one may ask", not "I". You realize it is one question that comes up. I am more realistic: whether palestinians want it or not, there is little they can do.
@no1lion99@ryanhoulihan Right. Hamas knew all that, this is precisely the reason they attacked. They knew Israel would react as they always do, with extreme aggression, and would be immediately condemned by the international community. This is how it functions there since always. And Israel is very well versed into playing the victim and amplifying when they are in fact the victim. I was raised Jewish, this is a skill learned very early.
@no1lion99@ryanhoulihan The reality here is that, if Israel does nothing, nothing changes in Gaza and Hamas. If Israel does what they are doing, which is razing Gaza to the ground and everyone with it, it also changes nothing with Gaza and Hamas.
@no1lion99@ryanhoulihan True. One may ask why the 90% in Gaza allow the Hamas to rule, but in truth what is it they can do? Exterminate everything and still there will be a few terrorists left, and that is enough to restart everything. Like cockroaches.