They don’t use words to convey meaning or to express thought. Their words are chaff that they emit as one of many tactics to get what they want. So there’s no reason to reason with them. It’s not a debate, it’s a power grab.

OK, you carry on attempting to deal with fascism using sweet reason and compliance in advance. Let us know how that goes.

Regarding the Troubles, it was a low-level civil war with the military involved with very limited rules of engagement. The UK military essentially served a police function, though it was institutionally biased in favor of the Unionists. There was no bombing, no artillery fire, none of that (though there were targeted assassinations, largely done by the UVF based on intel fed to them by the UK military). The UK establishment’s goal was to contain the problem, not to eliminate it. The Good Friday accord came after a generation-long stalemate. So that’s probably not a meaningful model of what might happen in the US.

And people-power revolutions have occurred in many countries in the world, often without much violence (except for some perpetrated by the authoritarian states against their citizens, and even those tend to be limited). Many have succeeded. On the other hand, there have also been popular movements that have failed (for example, most of the Arab Spring revolutions). Even so, there is no reason to assume that resistance would inevitably lead to a Civil War 2.0 scenario. That would be a worst case; and considering that the pro-dictatorship faction is at most 40% of the population, and largely from the most economically irrelevant parts of the country, the most they could reasonably achieve would be unstable minority rule.

Or trad media is doing what it always does, minimizing progressive turnout and exaggerating right-wing numbers.

It’ll be disappointed when it gets here.

This is a tough one for me: I’m opposed to femicide, but I only wish the absolute worst on influencers.

My last employer had a policy of giving paid leave for National Guard duty. Up to two weeks. After that, maybe you can supplement your income by stealing wallets off some protestors.

I’m not scared of them but I utterly despise those sanctimonious, hypocritical, racist sons of bitches.

Defending our freedom to get beaten and tear-gassed.

Trump is illiterate and what passes for US history with him is another marketing spiel to provide an excuse for his corrupt dealings and lust for power.

Because they’ve signed treaties with Israel making that very clear.

They give lip service to Arab solidarity, but they actually fear it.

If they get pulled in and actually commit, Israel would be wiped off the map.

They’re on the same side, so why would they do that? Anyway, the military power of the Gulf statelets, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia is barely sufficient to sustain their genocide against the dirt-poor Houthis, let alone to attack a hard target like Israel. Tehy spend far more money spying on and repressing their own people.

They should be drawn in, they’ve been colluding with Israel to destroy Iran for at least a decade.

The Gulf states are controlled by Sunnis who are fanatically bigoted against Shi’a Muslims and other minority sects, and persecute those groups mercilessly. Iran is the center of Shi’a power.

Also, the Gulfies and the Israelis have a common interest in preventing democracy from being established in Arab countries. The Israelis know that despots are easier to buy off. The Gulfies despise groups with democratic aspirations since they oppose reactionary theocracy and corruption.

Not quite the same as massacring starving people who can’t fight back, is it?

I mean, fuck the mullahs, but how often has Iran invaded any other country in the past century? I believe that number is zero. Compare that to Israel’s assaults on its neighbors and the massive civilian casualties that those assaults caused.

And who was the idiot who abrogated the US nuclear non-proliferation treaty with Iran? Oh yeah, it was Trump in his first term.

So he’s too stupid to know about the royal “we.”

That figures.

Suicide is always an option.

When the pendulum swings and Johnson is facing the people’s justice, remember this.

How is it possible to disrespect a dog-killer?

Hint: it’s not necessary and never will be.

One interpretation is that he was commissioned to write a bland moral guide for a young prince, but got all satirical and close to the bone.