Seattle now has its first warlord. Congrats!

so how long until The Nation Of Spaz implodes? Will Anc come swooping in to rally them to victory if they get discouraged? Stay tuned!

Before or after Fox admits doctoring photos to make it look worse?

Kids do get braces, I had them.

What we don't offer without some form of payment are bleaching, dental reconstruction surgery, polishes, etc and what not to get a Hollywood smile. By all means you can pay for those things much like anywhere else, but generally people aren't as interested.

It's also what the British did.

You know, I do suspect with @Marso that he is simply yet to realise that an honest application of his values, the ones he actually believes in at core, would have him supporting the protesters.

Good luck getting that to happen. I've been saying the same thing for more than a decade.

I honestly don't get it.

This is exactly, I mean exactly, what the start of the American Revolution would have looked like at the time, but those who most revere it and the historical figures associated with it are the first to condemn now.

I'm not defending looting or violence, but if you have resistance to armed authority this is what it looks like every single time.

I can only speculate that the Revolution is so safely entrenched in history and popular culture that it no longer feels like the terrifying and chaotic period it actually was. It's the stuff of speeches, statues, saluting flags and singing the anthem, but at the time it was people throwing things, shooting each other, bleeding in the street, looting, pillaging, raping and all of the other loveliness we've seen a thousand times before and since all around the world.

That's not a moral judgement, just a sad truth of the world we live in.

It's not even just the Revolutionary War. People who ... as late 10 years ago, NASCAR enthusiasts especially, but most rednecks had their own hate on for police. Hell, NASCAR itself was created due to moonshiners outrunning cops. But when black people have the audacity to protest, they bring up General Lee and THE General Lee (Dukes of Hazard) as icons of police loving, law abiding, upstanding citizens. It really boggles the mind when you sit back and think about it.

Oh I see - I don't know anyone who has had bleaching or anything else for strictly aesthetic reason - I don't think it's all that common.

Could it be that people have different life experiences than you?

It's the difference between patriotism and nationalism. A patriot loves their country, with the understanding that things could be better and they work to self improve. A nationalist loves their country, and you better love it too, or else.
People like @Marso are militant nationalists.

Yes because burning down businesses and looting is exactly the same thing as dumping tea in a harbor.

A reminder of something similar that happened not too long ago.



That's what the Bundy folks were wanting when they occupied the bird sanctuary, BTW.

¡Viva la Revolución!

Moving the family to Chaz, are ya?

It's cool if you bleach your teeth mike, I'm not judging! Hopefully you don't bleach anything else, but I'm not one to judge your lifestyle choices either!

Na, it’s my trailer but I have a prior engagement tonight. My brother and an Army buddy have moved in.

uh...ok...thanks...I guess... *backs slowly out of room*

well, the national guard isn't working out as expected..

Even as a non American I'm aware there was massive amounts of crime and anarchy associated with the Revolution.

that's likely why you're aware. It isn't just that 'merkins don't know world history, most barely know their own beyond sound bites and reader's digest condensations.

and really, how is breaking into warehouses and destroying the contents (in protest of lack of represetnation, no less) all that different from breaking into a big box store and stealing them (by the disenfranchised)?

Different, but not by much when you put it that way.

true... I mean, people in 2020 have much bigger issues than a tariff to pay for services already received.

That's actually a way of looking at things I hadn't considered, in many ways the impetus for rebellion is greater now than it was then. People are asking for more than political representation, or an abstract concept of liberty, they are asking for lives free of fear.

I'm tagging @Federal Farmer in here, not out of spite but in the hope this might resonate. History has a habit of becoming romanticised and by extension sanitised, but you can't avoid that people fought far more violently, created far more anarchy, chaos and death, for arguably lesser reasons and became heroes in retrospect.

The reason is actually the problem. It's people like Federal Farmer and Marso that support authoritarian (might makes right) structure and cling to archaic religious beliefs. Nothing can change as long as people like them continue to elect politicians that would kneel on their neck and they would believe it's ok because it hurts someone else way worse.

whoa whoa....point of order spot! People are asking for lives free of fear? People choose to be afraid, and people choose their fears. And some people won't listen to facts that can quell their fears, but they refuse to listen or believe because the biggest fear of all is giving up their narrative. Before everyone dogpiles me what I said applies to EVERYONE ON THE PLANET to one degree or another.

Hmmm.....are Federal Farmer and Marso clinging to archaic religious beliefs? I honestly don't remember them as seeming overly religious. What say you Federal Farmer and Marso?

Don't be stupid. I should have put you in that sentence as well.

People do not choose to live in fear. Some fears are irrational but the fear of being unjustly killed or harmed by the police clearly is not one of them.

Depends on how you define religion.

Faith in a higher power outside of human agency would qualify, such as "natural rights".