Steadfast fidelity and commitment to one's belief or causes can be respected even if one doesn't agree with that belief or cause. As a people we could learn something from each about viciously protecting and pursuing what we believe and hold dear.

My two bits.

Who said, "Vengeance is a dish best served cold?"If people could remain rational, there would be a heluva lot less "stirring up." I'm a dreamer.

EXACTLY!

Putin is a thug and a villain. But, past politicians have put us in a position where we have no choice but to deal with him. However, all the "colluding" accusations are just so much smoke without any fire.Compared to any one of Clinton's offenses pales in comparison.

You are completely right. For example, Roosevelt knew 11 months in advance about the Japanese plans to bomb Hawaii. He could have prevented it, but he wanted to get a reluctant USA involved in WW2 in order to help his pal Churchill. If you look at it in a strictly objective manner, there was not a single war in the 20th century where our participation was for the benefit of ourselves. So...how smart are we?

I cannot speak for Muslims or Mormons, but as to Jews I know them to be as fair as anyone when they are judging other Jews in a court of law. There are even s few Supreme Court justices. I certainly can see a certain degree of patronage when people of close racial, or religious backgrounds are involved in controversy.

Don't hate them, deal with them. By the way, the military and hatred stand apart from everything else. In order to kill a certain amount of hatred has to be present. It is fostered when a compatriot is killed, sometimes before your eyes. You'd have to be a pretty cold fish to shoot at someone without a modicum of hatred, or else be psychotic.

Go Packers... you can tell their leadership keeps their mouths shut.

My wife and I pretty much only watch Netflix these days, I'm actually turning off the Dish service in August when the contract is up and just subscribe to FoxBusiness News and a few others with the new Internet cord-cutting services. That will work much better with our RV travels anyway.

You shouldn't feel any guilt for supporting China's regime in order to survive in business.There are certain immutable facts in economics, one of which I term the down hill proposal. In almost every case money flows downhill. The only exception is when someone can afford to lose the money involved. That means, given equal quality, you must buy at the best price you can in order to sell at the best price you can.Now in my case, I was unable to compete price-wise, so I offered great service instead. It narrowed my market, and caused me to carry more profitable peripherals but we managed to survive for 20 years until the business I was in became untenable. While I didn't do business with China, I, unfortunately, was compelled to do business with scoundrels anyhow. When I closed the business, I was fortunate to have other opportunities available to me, and as it turned out, that particular segment of the business that I was in disappeared altogether with the advent of digital technology.

That's why I don't have a tv. (I had 4 of them when I gave it up.) I admit the pathetic quality and statist propaganda bias of almost all entertainment does weigh on that as well. I lost interest in watching sports about the same time (~25 years ago) that I lost interest in tv, too. Just can't see sweaty behemoths and brainless hormonal freaks running around as entertainment, and when they speak it's almost as bad as politicians.

I don't actually recall a time in my life when I was simply not interested in what anyone in a vast group of people had to say. They are completely unhinged, no longer rooted in reality, and its shocking they still get airtime with their nutty-conspiracy stuff.

Between healthcare healthcare healthcare, Russians Russians Russians, and Putin Putin Putin, I just want to throw up (after clicking off the television).

The Dems today are infinitely worse than the Dems in 1860.

Me too, can't agree more. I still have a few issues I can't get rid of. I still can not stand John Kerry and his accomplice Jane Fonda. That will never go away. And I just have to believe the politicians just have rotting brains that they got from overexposure (antonym of Term Limits) to DC water and air.

Excellent article. It diagnoses American elections, the candidates usually serving the most hate in their rhetoric wins. Tells you what the public is choosing.
When I was inducted into the Marine Corps in 1968 I was aware that the Viet Nam war had been going on for several years. Several cousins had already served there. I had heard many quarrels for supporting or not supporting it. I expected that part of my training would be to let us know exactly what was going on there and what we expected to accomplish. One day as part of the basic training they took us in for classes on why we should kill the people we were expected to. The class consisted of arguments such as; They don't love their mothers the way we do. They don't take care of their children well, etc. I expected at least some patriotic bromides but was subjected to;
when we are given orders we obey no matter what. If we don't there will be chaos on the battle field and we won't accomplish our objectives.
I spoke with a navy pilot who had been in on the first bombing run caused by the Gulf of Tonkin incident. He stated that those on the ship were aware that nothing had happened to justify sending planes on a bombing mission but they were servicemen and expected to obey orders. I wondered what would have happened if all those who knew there was no 'cause' refused, would the war have started? Later the Pentagon Papers proved that the Gulf of Tonkin Incident was invented to promote the hate to get people to war. Reminds me of a parody of a recruiting poster back then; "Join the Navy and see the world. Meet different people and cultures. Kill Them!
I don't know that there has ever been a war that was not started by conniving, lying leaders to accomplish a goal of controlling their own people as much as plundering others if they think it is possible. I suggested a method for fighting war to my commanding officer once. Take the leaders of the nations who want to go to war and send them to an island. Arm them and let them fight the war. When there is only one leader left send in a combat team and kill him. Install new leaders and ask if they have any problems!

I wouldnt want to live there at all. It bothers me to buy things from there actually, although I have to in order to remain competitive, because I am supporting a regime which will eventually want to take over the west

The being dependent on the government part is very scary. It means Medicaid will be the predominant way for medical care in the future, and the regular insurance companies will disappear and medical care will become worse and worse. Mayo Clinic is turning away government insurance patients now as the government cuts in payments gets more and more severe

I agree. As Americans, we have a rare moment of watching the Olympics -on TV - in Russia, they seemed to be very soulful people. I love their music, dance, and determined athletics. They showed well attended beautiful churches. Why are Russians the only group the Democrats push for no contact? This is not right.

I don't mean to be dense, but should I infer an unspoken message?
That perhaps that we shouldn't be so alarmed about Putin?
That perhaps it's not so bad to be a little warmer towards him?

Am I reading that right?

"Hate" is one of those words that the Ministry of Language has done a great job of changing the meaning of. Kids use it all the time. Everybody "hates" all kinds of things if you listen to people talk. If I "hate" somebody, their ass is grass...

Because they use capitalism as a tool in order to take advantage its immense wealth production, we tend to forget that China is a communist country, with no input, in reality, by its citizens.While it uses capitalism in order to prosper, China will eliminate any contrariness in a heart beat.

I think the political & media class's angst runs deeper than purely being anti-Trump. The Bush kids are basically a couple of do-nothings, and the Clinton kid is pretty much an NBC-hanger-on with a $600k salary for 3 minutes of work a year. She would be unemployed without that, and by all accounts, she beats her wimpy-looking husband just like Hillary probably wails on Bill.

They "want" and "need" Trump to look like the family failures that most of them are, but he's not - he's had some "marriages" but his kids all seem to have their shit together.

Here's what they are scared to death of - a Trump political dynasty, and the first female president being Ivanka Trump some day, not the Hillary Clinton they wanted.

Look at how they have attacked Donald Jr. over a stupid email in the midst of the campaign and a 20 minute meeting with someone he thought would talk about reviving the Russian foreign adoption program. Suddenly that is the "smoking gun" they have been hunting for.

The double-standard is, Donald Jr. can't respond to an email from a Russian-born attorney residing in the US or whatever, but Hillary can approve vast uranium mining rights to Russian oligarchs while her husband is pulling down millions in speaking fees from Moscow companies. It's amazing. They (the dems) wonder why we're pretty much headed toward another civil war with those assholes (remember -they were the Southern political class..) and no matter how many days of 24 hour wall-to-wall coverage CNN can muster over a stupid email and 20 minutes to potential opposition research - they can't believe that the American voter thinks even less of them.

We're stuck... they have 50% of the country relying on a government welfare or social security paycheck to pay their bills and put food on the table with, we'll never completely be able to get rid of them, no matter how much damage they continue to do to the vitality and reputation of the United States.

I agree bout the zero input into the government, which isnt far from what we in the USA have with our government actually. The people here spoke by electing Trump, and look where he is getting with all the blowback from the establishment.

democrats are socialists, and china is basically socialist with a dictator party. I am sure that democrats are in the thick of it when it comes to government benefits from china

Hating someone means they OWN you.

Excellent essay Robert! What about the people who hate the haters? I'm almost in the that category all I hear on the news about the Dimms with their hatred of the President. Even this morning watching the hearing for the new FBI Director, the constant entrapment they try to weave by restating the same question over and over again.
Then the whole deal with the Russians and the Trump campaign the Leftist Media and the Dimms bellowing for Trump family heads is reaching a crescendo. I start thinking they might need a dose of their own violence.