kcar wrote: 
I'm pretty sure the other one  is neck and neck. It's just too hard for some folks of that persuasion to admit; plus the other is such an easy distraction. Sound plausible?

 bokey wrote: 
b,  You did a pretty good job of summing it up.  

v,  Its getting hard to defend Trump to be sure.  I ain't living and breathing this stuff, posting 24 / 7.  Unless Johnson gets over 15% and on the stage, there's little else to do.  ABC, that's all I got, especially when we see the parade of the establishment on the left and right lining up behind her.  If nothing else, Trump has forced everyone to lay their cards on the table and we now see who supports who.  That should be more frightening than a Trump presidency.



 

 bokey wrote: 
Bokey, it was fine to hold that opinion when Trump was considered "unorthodox" during the primaries. The anti-establishment/maverick act played well back then. However; when that act morphed into a state of prolonged lunacy and instability with no end in sight... your statement (at best) can't be anything but this at this point:   

Donald Trump MUST not be POTUS.
Hillary SHOULD not be POTUS.

To say anything else is ignoring the obvious... which is... that he's unfit for the position. He continues to reinforce that opinion in his words and deeds. If this sideshow was happening with any other Republican nominee they would have been driven out of town long ago. Trump has managed to set the bar and expectations so low that there doesn't appear to be a bottom anymore.

Trump is a far scarier proposition that Clinton. That is crystal clear. If you don't believe that then you're just fooling yourself.  

 bokey wrote: 
Haven't you guys done something kind of similar before?

 bokey wrote: 
The military staging a coup and removing a civilian government? That will never happen in the US as it looks right now. You'd have to have some sort of end-times situation for people to even consider that. My hunch is that things rarely improve with a military junta in any country. 

One of our two major parties is pretty dysfunctional right now. We also have too much money in our election system. That allows the super-rich and large corporations to block change based on popular will, to lock in their political power and to prevent attempts to address income inequality. However, as a country we're not in the same state of distress as we were during the Great Depression. I know Bill Clinton's slogan of "There's nothing wrong with America that cannot be fixed by what is right with America" sounds pollyannish, but it's true. 

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
My view as to what needs to be done is terrifying even to me and I don't want to go down that slimy,slippery slope.It would involve the military.Historically that is the beginning of the end of decency for a long time until a society can right itself.

  As to  what is wrong? Our political system is so horribly dysfunctional it needs to be removed and replaced.With what? I dunno.Let the military run things and clean up the mess and then we'll decide.

 meower wrote: 
Interesting. They put a small notch in all cats ears here when neutering but you wouldn't see that at a distance. 

 meower wrote: 
Awww...Love her meow/snarl/bark...

Yeah, ear-tipping makes sense for instantly identifying fixed cats among strays. I wonder if it affects cats' hearing or freaks them out ("WTF happened to my ear?!?").  

 kcar wrote:

 
I was going to go into a whole explanation, but this is better:

http://www.alleycat.org/Eartip

 

basically, she was feral and taken in to be fixed and tipped with the rest of her colony, but the vets felt that she was too little to be released (afraid that she would die) so she was made available for adoption, and we got her.

 

 meower wrote: 
me too, he's my favourite 

 meower wrote: 
meower, I've been wondering for weeks and just have to ask: what happened to your avatar kitty's left ear? 

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:

 
I love Michael Leunig

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
There's gold in them there hills...

 oldviolin wrote: 
very good place to start. I'm kind of partial to dogs and ducks as well.

 

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 

Ah ha! A seeker of more than the superficial...

From the perspective of the shackled world it emerged from and as a living breathing font of freedom and liberty toward a vaccuum; pride and vanity rules it's heart, vengeance and selfishness rules it's progress, pain and enmity rules it's past,  the means justifying it's ends rules its future...

An ironic shift to be sure. A proverbial Möbius strip constructed of a flesh and bone Occam's Razor. Human beings. Sheep with hot buttered souls. Spiritual wickedness. Shortsighted depravity. Round and round. I, Me, Mine...

To fix? Simple. Turn our back on all forms of fear and hatred of our fellow man, regardless of circumstance. It is all illusory and custom designed to force acceptance of powerlessness and control. It is all a lie.
Let what is within rule what is without. The children's song; red and yellow, black and white, we are precious in his sight...

I know. people are looking for political and/or ideological solutions. Many still will be looking when the look of horror is long frozen on their faces...

The first thing I would do is de-politicize schools and school funding. Then I would let the children be the teachers.

 bokey wrote: 
as a foreigner far away that makes me curious (and no, I'm genuinely curious, not wanting to stir up a shit storm):

what is wrong with the US in your view and what needs to be fixed?

 VV wrote: 
I can't speak for Kurt or anyone else,but there is a school of thought that there is absolutely nothing that could possibly be worse that to continue the course of self destruction that America has taken the last 8 years.
 While Trump is obviously a colossal douchbag asswipe,the thought of continuing on the destructive path of national self loathing and hatred that has been set down recently is totally unacceptable.
Here is the bottom line IMO-

Donald Trump SHOULD not be POTUS.
Hillary MUST not be POTUS.

Even Chris Christie is backing away from Drumph.

kurtster I admire your loyalty to your candidate to a point but when that loyalty (as viewed against Trump's accelerating self-inflicted implosion) starts to look like blind loyalty... isn't it time to cut bait? Continuing to support that buffoon through sh*t storm after sh*t storm begins to call your own credibility into question.

If not "cutting bait" entirely... maybe "going dark" is a better idea? At least until he is finally able to pull himself together (not that I think that is even possible given his track record). 

 Red_Dragon wrote: 
He's also got his surrogates out now suggesting the election will be 'rigged' and that there will be violence unless he is elected. This is completely reprehensible. Our history and policy of ballots not bullets *regardless* of the outcome is paramount.  This is the reason that EVERYONE should be denouncing this total trainwreck of a candidate. That there are not more Republicans publicly denouncing them is astounding to me. This guy represents the worst in our nation. If you stand with him, you are part of the problem.