More questions...
Can a number be a form of violence?
Can food be a form of violence?
Can an idea be a form of violence?
Can a book be a form of violence?
Can a statute be a form of violence?
Can a picture be a form of violence?
Camp a car be a form of violence?
Can a gun be a form of violence?

If you answered yes on all of the above,
Is there anything they can never be a form of violence?

I do equate verbal threats of violence as violence. Just my take on it. Threaten my kids and I'll break your jaw before you finish the sentence. Other than threatening what really matters to a man, however, words aren't violence.

One man's take...

I’ve been told time and time again that I should not judge people. Looking at my Apple Watch and tapping Microsoft translate, it seems the gentleman is saying, “Allah is the gr...
Ummmph!
Ahhhhhhhhh...
(Plunk!)

And let's say the person who is coming at you is waving a knife and is yelling "Allahu Akbar". That would justify taking out your .357 and putting him down for good.

Whatever happened to "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me?" That's what my parents told me when I got bullied on the grade-school playground back around 1968 or so. And, I never shot anyone because of it.

it feels like picking up an EEL. Its slippery and slides through your hand whenever you try to grab it.

Perhaps he should be. But then, a guy might have a better chance of pulling stuff in Chicago or New York.

The effects of the Grand Solar Minimum (cosmic radiation upon the brain) and a whole lot of compartmentalized bull crap in their heads...

This happened a few months ago, he was headed North and has not been seen since. He was a traveling bum with a big mouth and nothing to back it up, if he`s not already back in jail - or dead, my guess is he soon will be.

That’s known as bigotry. It can be hard to have a civil debate with a true bigot.

Ironically, I’m finding that may of these underpridged groups know that their group, their ideas and their ways are SUPERIOR.
AND RESPECT IS DEMANDED, OR ELSE!

Oh, man, is this guy still walking around? They'd better put some security guards in the schools, and maybe arm a few teachers, before Florida has another Parkland.

I have been wondering for a long time what the appeal of socialism really is. When implemented, it historically has failed miserably, yet it has popular support.

Is socialism hard wired into a human's psyche somehow ? Maybe its the desire for power and control that makes it so appealing- particularly for the ones IN power.

I find it useless to discuss philosophy with leftists. No matter what the discussion produces, they simply ignore everything except their posiion.

Ain't it the truth!

And what is wrong with people now, that they think it is right to criminalize emotions, rather than actions?

Oh, I forgot...the UCMJ prohibits "provoking speech and gestures" from anyone subject the the Code (any member in the Service) to anyone else subject to the Code (any other member of the Service). This means that the highest Admiral cannot address the lowest, most incompetent Recruit as "motherf****r" without subjecting himself to be liable to legal action. And quite properly, as people do not enter the military service to be unconscionably abused. However, nitpicking about every little, inadvertent pronoun resulting from a legitimate free-speech expression of opinion would be ridiculous.

Well, if the words are information to the Nazis where Jews are hiding; or, if they are a threat, like,
"I'm going to bash your skull in and beat the s*** out of you," that can be a form of violence entitling the
recipient to physical retaliation. And for libel and slander (if proved), then, yes. Short of something in those categories, forget it.

I have been watching the evolution of "attitudes" for years now. The attitude of being catered to, of not being disagreed with or judged, of expecting others to know the tiniest nuance of what might offend, and of demanding special treatment without having to reciprocate, has spread like a virus. Some are more equal than others, by dint of belonging to some group that needs to assert itself because it sees itself as underprivileged..

More and more groups keep splintering into subgroups. How long is the row of initials just for the gender crowd? How many races, ethnicities, hybrids need to be tracked? How many minority characteristics need to be designated for special treatment? How many medical conditions, ages, educational levels, disabilities, "spectrums" have to get special consideration?

It’s something of a game to watch these splinter groups form alliances, coalitions, collusions to increase their power (in unity there is strength, e pluribus unum), forming strange bedfellows against a common enemy du jour and realigning with other groups when the weather changes, like a bad divorce.

Then there is the artificial leveling of "playing fields" to chisel down the more fortunate (or able) to the lowest common denominator. And woe if some attain greater success or wealth. If only 1% of the population is rich, they constitute a very small minority yet earn the maximum condemnation. Envy runs this agenda.

How can we drive home the principle that the smallest minority is the individual? How large a group of individualists will it take to make that point stick?

So many political philosophies end up at consume less and produce less than we're able and desire for some abstract goal. I discovered Ayn Rand six years ago, and I took away almost exactly the opposite of these comments.

Collectivists getting the majority - It seems like during my lifetime I've seen collectivism retreat. I see it as a trend that has been going for centuries. The rejection of collectivism is fueled by industrial and IT tools that make value creation less dependent on scarce resources. It's fueled by reason and Enlightenment values.

"Obama went a little too far" - He was part of a long-term trend of the presidency getting too much power. He was a good president, but not a saint or devil that made structural changes. The problem of executive power continues after he's gone.

"The result was Trump and the current populist movement" - I see President Trump being elected president as the result of weak opponents, a fluke of electoral math, and technology that rewards lurid clickbait and provides a forum for deplorables who would never have had their letters to the editor published. It remains to be seen if he will be a fluke or the first in a line of clownish presidents.

"We have 3 years to enjoy some slowdown in the march to socialism" - Despite the long-term trend away from collectivism, I'm concerned there will be a socialist backlash in my lifetime. It is no more or less likely during the next three years because President Trump is no more or less socialist than President Obama.

The positive of this is I do not believe there will be any renewed march toward socialism based on who's president. It's just a problem I expect to crop up all the time because unfortunately socialism is superficially appealing and is part of the world's religions.

I find it fascinating how people can look at the same world and see such different places. I find it sad that so often people who see the world differently from me (e.g. Naomi Klein, Wendell Berry) arrive, via completely different roads, at the conclusion that people need to produce and consume less.

I am aiming for 10% reduction in expenses for a starter. Usually there is 10% fat in any budget, starting with getting rid of directv and satellite radio

Solver, you got a plus 1 for "Hate speech is in the ears of the listener"--been saying that for years, along with: "Assholes come in all colors", so one should be able to separate ass-holiness from ethnicity.-

Right on, term. Sounds like you're "going Galt".

...and over 90% believe there is an afterlife...so what...

I think we have gotten past the tipping point in this country. The collectivists are getting in the majority. Obama went a little too far, and created a bit of a backlash against collectivism and blacks actually.

The result was Trump and the current populist movement. But, the collectivists are working in the background to never let that happen again. We have 3 years to enjoy some slowdown in the march to socialism, but I am thinking that in 2020 (and maybe even in 2018) we will see renewed march to socialism in earnest.

All I can say is that I dont intend to be so stupid in the future as to produce wealth, only to have it to go the leftists. Better to cut back on expenses and reduce the need to actually make money. Reduced expenses means lower sales tax payments, and reducing the need for income means lower income taxes.

Tellers do that? I thought that would be the job of security.