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A quick question if I may...
What has happened in your life that has made you so angry, unhappy and full of hate?
Every time I see one of your posts I'm reminded of Thoreau's quote: "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."
I wish you the best and hope things improve for you.

Here is an article you may find helpful:

"Helping Others Boosts Happiness"
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/social-ins...

A quick question if I may...
What has happened in your life that has made you so angry, unhappy and full of hate?
Every time I see one of your posts I'm reminded of Thoreau's quote: "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."
I wish you the best and hope things improve for you.

**** Ahhhh person #125 calling me out - personally.

I am not angry. Unhappy. Full of hate. Happily married 200+ years. 2 kids - one with special needs but doing well. The other an honors student doing her solo song tonight (picked a song from Back to the Future...my girl!). Vacation in a few weeks, retired in my 40's, enjoyed my Dunkin Boston Cream and coffee this morning. Parents are abroad vacationing. So, no. I don't have a monopoly on being happy, but I'm ok.

Thoreau's quote is a great one. True story - Ross Perot read that in Reader's Digest in a barber shop ---and it pushed him into going on his own into a business.

Bottom line: On TMF when I brought up cultural problems, and said they'd lead to hell in *every* category of life, people attacked me very personally. I told them - the punishment is gonna be bad.

Now, I'm just pointing out where I was right on ---and loving it all. It's an inconvenient Truth that I was somewhat right. Even more - the Left doesn't want to compromise - or even admit when things could've should've' been done better. (I've done that many times).

If things "improve" for me, it would be weight loss and better health. Other than that - I'm sort of ok ;)

Your Constitution your bullshit institutions, your way of life ----however----is being squeezed and I hope it happens harder and more, though I think it won't get that bad ----yet. These things take time.

Enjoy everything please - domestic and foreign policy wise :)

If you ever wanna just talk politics let me know.

if you want to just talk about ME, fine, just know I will always, always reply with current events. Look around - that's me!

I am reminded of this quote attributed to Oscar Wilde.

Some people bring happiness wherever they go, and others whenever they leave.

“ your way of life ----however----is being squeezed and I hope it happens harder and more, though I think it won't get that bad ----yet. These things take time.”

Yikes. If that ain’t hate I don’t know what is!

“…there’s a strong undercurrent of raw animosity in our politics. Republicans and Democrats have very negative views of each other, and many Republicans (sadly!) want their opponents to suffer.”

— David French

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/opinion/trump-a...

"your way of life ----however----is being squeezed and I hope it happens harder and more, though I think it won't get that bad ----yet. These things take time.” ~Sheeple

My friend, I'm a wealthy white guy, everything Trump does he does for me. It's the poor red state folks who are getting screwed, and the screwing will continue while I get more tax cuts.
Anyway, all the best, I hope your life improves.

Cool. An honest interaction without much vitriol or cryptic references.

You don't have to answer, but I have some follow-ups.

On TMF when I brought up cultural problems, and said they'd lead to hell in *every* category of life, people attacked me very personally. I told them - the punishment is gonna be bad.

OK. I've done that, too. Just as a "for example", I saw that the nomination of the Felon in 2016 was going to be bad. And I wrote about why on TMF. Unfortunately, I was correct. And his victory in November is just an add-on to my being right way back in 2016. In fact, I underestimated the badness.

Even more - the Left doesn't want to compromise - or even admit when things could've should've' been done better. (I've done that many times).

This part puzzles me. The Left compromises, and compromises, and compromises, while the intransigent Right digs their heels in and says "no" to everything. Was it Gingrich who started that? I forget now. They weren't always that way. When I was a Republican, both sides screamed at each other, but they would hammer out bipartisan agreements that neither was happy with, but both could live with. Now, they vote as a bloc on almost everything. They negotiated with Dems on the ACA, only to vote as a bloc "no" after making the Dems give up so much. Or the border bill last year...it expanded Executive power and added funding for judges and detention centers, both of which Reps wanted, but they still voted "no". No compromise for them (which the border bill mostly wasn't...it gave them lots of sticks, and didn't even give DREAMERs anything). And when the Right has control, they don't even consult (much less compromise) the Left.

So how do you figure the Left doesn't compromise? I will agree that there is a segment of Dems that are purity fanatics (e.g. when Sanders didn't win, they didn't show up for the general). But most of them are not.

You certainly can't lay the blame on the Left for what's happening now. The Dems aren't imposing tariffs in allies, threatening not to honor treaties, threatening to invade allied territory, trying to eviscerate watchdogs from CDC to FDA to consumer protection agencies. That's all the MAGA-heads.

...I will always, always reply with current events. Look around - that's me!

Current events are solely the Right. The Left has no power to speak of. All the chaos you see is from the Right, and all the pain this nation will feel is on them. Not sure how you can spin this to blame the Left. (Genuine question)

"My friend, I'm a wealthy white guy, everything Trump does he does for me."

Good. The truly wealthy don't call themselves that --- no further comment from me on that one ;)


"It's the poor red state folks who are getting screwed,"

I AGREE - and have said at much


'and the screwing will continue while I get more tax cuts."

Don't accept them. And send back any tax advantages you got that a poor person can't afford to participate in. So send back any taxes you saved via IRA or 401K. And send back the appreciation on stocks purchased under those portfolios and simply refuse to accept the Bush and Trump Tax cuts - so send the Bush tax cuts back too. C'mon, don't be a chickenhawk.


"Anyway, all the best, I hope your life improves."

An arrogant White Male, perhaps. I've already explained that life is good. But you don't acknowledge it and you peddle Alternative Facts. Sure you aren't a wealthy white female with a fatass lawyer ex husband named Conway? If so hubba hubba KellyAnne.

BUT, your little constitution, your bill of rights, your national debt, your institutions that will break-even at best, if they don't get touched first......well, those are things YOU -- have to accept :)

I'd say I hope that improves -- but it won't. Does that have more importance to you than lying about my life?

And, it's deserved.

Thanks for being a champion for poor red state white people. I hope they appreciate that you are their Mother Theresa, and not a typical White Liberal..... ahem, :)

Club 401K rides again! - case in point here.

OnePoorGuy you've not been mean to me, so I do not want ti disrespect you.

You've asked good questions.

But those questions are for someone that gives a shit.

I'm on record since 2005 saying that I want all of these bad things to happen. If it's all the Right's fault and none of it is the Left's fault - cool.

I'm just loving the headlines every single day.

my only regret is lack of action by Putin OR the Religion of Peace in Europe. That is *one* regret I admit to having in todays politics. Nothing else.

BTW some of your points, I agree with. SOME of the MAGA stuff - I honestly can't stand and normally I'd list why I think "Make America Great Again" is actually more in the Biden platform than the Trump platform today. I've had a long history of seperating from my ideology or party. Multiple times over many years. BTW on TMF - yours truly said oi no uncertain terms: ACA is a big and imperfect step in the right direction. And I praised Obama for it, and Rahm Emanuel, his Chief of Staff who did his job well. I've actually written to both my Senators on ACA - got a reply from D's office, Noithing from the R guy,

As far as current events - Right Left, whomever it is - I only regret that they've not done more. And I wish there was a way they'd target Liberals - not the middle and poor like they are doing.



BUT, the Left's angst over seeing their little institutions, governmental norms and laws be stretched? It's really really lovely.

Since you're a thinking person please contemplate: How is it that you lose elections - when you OPENLY want to make it easier and better for people - and the WINNERS *openly* talk about taking shit away from them?

If you ever answer that - without conceit and sarcasm -- and then put that into action - it would not only be landslide time, but governing mandate time - with some bipartisanship included.

Since you're a thinking person please contemplate: How is it that you lose elections - when you OPENLY want to make it easier and better for people - and the WINNERS *openly* talk about taking shit away from them?

If you ever answer that - without conceit and sarcasm -- and then put that into action - it would not only be landslide time, but governing mandate time - with some bipartisanship included.

I never did poly-sci, but I gather that it's mostly about culture and bigotry. A lot of people, even on the Left, are uncomfortable with the embrace of gender issues (Obama was, and was on record prior to 2008 being against gay marriage). So when the far-left show no such reservations, they aren't just making the Right say "eww". People are uncomfortable with a more open culture, or one that they don't recognize.

And then bigotry...I had to look up the quote to get it right: If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. (LBJ) This, I think, is at the heart of the anti-DEI frenzy. We're NOT doing that (making the lowest white man feel better...), and we're seeing the backlash. Working class folks that normally would be in the Dem's corner are choosing to side with the party that is screwing them because the party that ISN'T screwing them also isn't screwing minorities (black, gay, trans, whatever). I don't get that psychology, but they're more interested in denigrating those groups than benefiting themselves.

It's likely more complex than that, but that's my take-away from events over the last decade or so. And, no, I don't have a solution to that, so can't guide them to a landslide.

As an aside, I try not to be mean to anyone. That doesn't foster conversation. I don't even rec posts that are direct attacks on people (though I will rec posts that attack their ideas). It may feel good to blast someone, but it's not productive.

Not sure how you can spin this to blame the Left. (Genuine question)

Easy to explain:

It’s our fault that millions of people voted for trump who really didn’t want to vote for him. It’s our fault because we were mean to these voters and called them stupid.

So in effect, liberals are responsible for Trump and deserve every bad thing they get as a result.

(I shit you not; that’s the core of his argument)

It’s our fault because we were mean to these voters and called them stupid.

That is partially true. You don't want to insult the voters. While HRC was correct, talking about a "basket of deplorables" was not good politics.

Best to stick with issues that actually matter to voters. Don't get esoteric, don't resort to ad-hom. Which I'm pretty sure Kamala did. I'm pretty sure the propaganda (mostly false) did the rest.**



**It wasn't false that there had been inflation, but it was false that the inflation continued, and it was also false that the Felon could do anything about it (i.e. deflation of egg prices, for example, to pre-Biden levels).

“…there’s a strong undercurrent of raw animosity in our politics. Republicans and Democrats have very negative views of each other, and many Republicans (sadly!) want their opponents to suffer.”
****

I dont have a negative view of Democrats. I voted for a Democrat in 2020.

Haughty Bubble Dwelling White liberals? I just call them what they are and illustrate what they are.


Hate? It's you people dedicating threads to me personally - and me happily replying, and pointing out that the pickle you are in ---well before Trump - is more important - and - fun :)


White Liberals keep poor black families trapped in shit schools? Now there's the hate merchant business in action.

Anytime you like just ask (if you can get beyond personal stuff) for a list of Democrats I like and why I like them. I'll have it in 5 minutes.

OnePoorGuy you are on the right track.....

If I wanted good for the country, I'd want you on the committee for sure - the committee of partisans, who in the end would move forward.

Whoever started this latest attack on me:

I love seeing "EchotaBaaaaa" in the spotlight :) nice ring to it.

It's ode to one of the LEft's Grand Dragons on TMF.

A quick question if I may...
What has happened in your life that has made you so angry, unhappy and full of hate?

My reply here doesn’t apply to this post but more of a heuristic for the already great culture as a whole, as follows: Question ideas, but not the individual.

Even if one is sure someone else is understood, a good rule of thumb is to avoid getting personal.

The message board can feel close to a coffee table, but is functionally even more like a large crowd in which a midrophone is passed around with one on the stage at a time, and each person speaks without time limit, without poltical censorship as if everywhere outside of Shrewd’m today, and without being interrupted, and many listening. A someone out of date also, in that there is no poltical censoring.

If that model is true, one in that actual situation would often gravitate away from zooming in on the personal, and show a lot of goodwill to everyone.

One’s own model of how the world works can be a lot more indoctrinated and unrealistic than one thinks.

And despite no overt censorship, there is still a risk of censoring others unwittingly, and it happens because of the following..

By being personal, it causes others with opposing views to shut down and not challenge your ideas. Being personal can create subtle censorship pressure. This is a culturally degredative to Shrewd’m - and to oneself as the best thing we can hope for is valid refutation of our own mental models, interpretations of information or believed facts. This refutation causes learning.

Question ideas, but not the individual.

- Manlobbi

The boss is right on.

If we're going to do the personal attacks in subject lines --- and someone takes the time to do it over and over every day----things would be different.

I did not, and now, will not respond in kind.

My friend, I'm a wealthy white guy, everything Trump does he does for me. It's the poor red state folks who are getting screwed, and the screwing will continue while I get more tax cuts.

This is what is so sad, in a perverse sort of way. While they are so pent up with their spittle and animus, they can’t see that everything that’s being done will only hurt themselves - and not you and me (the rich white wealthy guys). But they’re happy because they think somehow “I’m sticking to them!”

It’s like the guy who goes home and drowns himself in alcoholic stupor every night and blames everyone else for why he can’t get ahead. Totally self destructive behavior, and near impossible to get him to stop.

I have clicked on "Ignore this thread" at least 2 times yet I keep seeing post in it. Is something broken? Am I doing something wrong?

This only seems to happen when I use the keyboard to go to the next post.

I had Big Balls hack your device so you had to read this thread.

This is what is so sad, in a perverse sort of way. While they are so pent up with their spittle and animus, they can’t see that everything that’s being done will only hurt themselves - and not you and me (the rich white wealthy guys). But they’re happy because they think somehow “I’m sticking to them!”
****
Even sadder is the best and brightest among us....


Refusing to try and understand why that happens, and refusing to change course and in the process, enjoying Trump the Sequel.


Enjoy! Well played and well deserved :)

Manlobbi: My reply here doesn’t apply to this post but more of a heuristic for the already great culture as a whole ... Question ideas, but not the individual.

To maintain this great culture, perhaps you could find a solution to the Wilton/Echota/Jedi multivariant dopples situation. Every time I frowny face one, another pops up.

To maintain this great culture, perhaps you could find a solution to the Wilton/Echota/Jedi multivariant dopples situation. Every time I frowny face one, another pops up.
****
OK, but is attacking posters by name in subject line ok?

If so, let's do it all over the forum.

Even encourage militant posters from Middle-East-Political boards to join here - -


Just click ignore one more time. Don't be lazy

Just click ignore one more time. Don't be lazy

Occasionally, Jedi gives good advice. And occasionally, I take it.

Just click the frowny face. Takes less time than it does to block a spam call. Of course, the spam caller changes his number with greater frequency than Jedi changes his screen name, so you’ll only have to block him (on average) every couple of weeks.

I have him blocked for months at a time, but sometimes I unblock him for a couple of weeks at a time because I get curious…..

Is he still on his Pat Buchanan inspired reduction of all current problems to the issue of “culture”?

Is he still picturing himself dancing in the flames as civilization burns around him?

Does he still refer to everyone who disagrees with him as “you people”?


Does he still savor the pain “you people” may be feeling?


Does he still tell everyone that it’s all unfolding as he predicted?

Does he still paint the picture of himself as a shaker of worlds and an instrument of vengeance?


In short, does he still act like he’s the Wizard of Oz behind his curtain, twirling his wheels, pushing his levers and amplifying his voice so that all in the realm fall down and shake uncontrollably?

Be like Dorothy. Click the frowny face when you’ve had enough.

Who knows? Perhaps one day he’ll realize (and remain grounded in the realization) that he’s just a guy like the rest of us- and that’s ok.

Yep. Dope, LM and BHM may think Trump is God, Fox is the Bible, and all who contradict them are crazy or lying, but at least they convey opinions. Jedi is my only pbox inhabitant because his cryptic gibberish posing as genius is just that.

OK, but is attacking posters by name in subject line ok?

Their name-calling (nazis, terrorists, racists, transphobe, whatever) tactics aren’t working (we can absorb more abuse than they can dish out)…so now they’re playing the victim.

Would be laughable, but that’s what we’ve dealt with for 20+ years - just more Calvinball.

I always coach people in difficult situations to stick with the facts, ignore personal and/or emotional attacks, and drive straight in towards your goal. Works every time on boards and in real life. All it requires is conviction and a willingness to embrace being right over being popular. Give me the choice of right over popular and I make it 1000 times out of 1000.

So it is in political discussions. We’re right, they’re wrong, and they can’t accept that after the mass delusions from 2008-2022 that reality is taking over again.

from someone whose mind I live in - that can quote me: LOL

I have him blocked for months at a time, but sometimes I unblock him for a couple of weeks at a time because I get curious…..

"Is he still on his Pat Buchanan inspired reduction of all current problems to the issue of “culture”?"

YES - but many of them, not all. Talk Radio Robots like you can't do nuance - it's all or nothing - you are wrong.
*********************

"Is he still picturing himself dancing in the flames as civilization burns around him?"

YES, I am dancing - and even you -- - even you - can see the flames - it's called punishment like I promise ;):):)(
*********

"Does he still refer to everyone who disagrees with him as “you people”"

Yes, but only to aggravate the Gutless Wonder
*************************


"Does he still savor the pain “you people” may be feeling?"

NO because Club 401K isn't yet feeling it. Because secretly you don't give a shit about the Constitutional, Liberty, etc - you want to shred them too---but for your own ends. I've said victory comes when you people need UN Peacekeepers when you vote - we're not there - yet
****************************


"Does he still tell everyone that it’s all unfolding as he predicted?"

It isn't bragging if it's true. You offer no stances or independent though. Stick to regurgitating your NPR or Substack :)
*********

"Does he still paint the picture of himself as a shaker of worlds and an instrument of vengeance? "

Exaggeration. I only try to incite certain people - especially in Europe - on a small tiny mostly harmless scale. Wish I could do more but I'm not brave nor hardworking enough.

AND, everything is still headed downwards :):) It was that way before Trump, it is now too - and it might even get better :)

As promised, real events continue to be response to your closed mindedness, your extremism, and your personal attacks.

:) Ukraine WILL give some land to Putin btw....and that's the least of your problems. Isn't that cool?

Yep. Dope, LM and BHM may think Trump is God, Fox is the Bible, and all who contradict them are crazy or lying, but at least they convey opinions. Jedi is my only pbox inhabitant because his cryptic gibberish posing as genius is just that.
**

Wrong. You can't confront things I say - like most of the Sheeple.

I've given a litany of opinions - some partisan, some totally the opposite.

But that's ok. I dedicate one Ukraine subdivision that will soon be Putin's - to you :)

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