So here are the Germans, members of NATO, which exists today ONLY to thwart the ambitions of Russia , and Germany will be obtaining on the order of 50% of all their natural gas from Russia.
Terrific.
As long as they do not have to buy it (liquefied, of course) from the USA, that’s all that matters.
Despite Germany’s annual defense spending of about 50 Billion euros – all of which is spent to protect themselves from which nation? Ecuador? Bolivia? Iceland? Luxembourg? Gambia? Belize ? Ireland? …….oh, that’s right RUSSIA !!
Who would have thunk it?

And really now, if Russia once again reasserts is sovereignty over Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia – which would take about 15 minutes when you think about it – does anybody believe NATO will move in a significant way to force them out?
I don’t .
And certainly Germany will not.
All of Europe sat on their respective anuses while genocide was occurring in a falling apart Yugoslavia.

(As an aside; the falling apart of Yugoslavia is a good example of “multi-multiculturalism” at work. And you can’t even blame the evil capitalism for its demise).

The Germans (and all of Europe, really) hated Trump because he saw how stupid our policies were and how they favored our “friends.” He tried to modify them to be more equitable.
The Germans and Euros in general could not abide this.
So now they have Joke Bite-me Bidet to deal with.
The Germans and the world are laughing non-stop at their luck, and Russia and China cannot believe their luck.
They must think it’s some sort of ploy or trick, because no nation on earth would appoint a leader – with a senile finger on the nuke button – as ridiculous or inept as a Joke Bidet.
Honestly, if Vlad the Impaler Putin was the president, he could not do worse than Joke Bidet, in F’ing over the American citizenry.

Instead, we find that there must be a lot of hidden recalcitrance in the ranks of the Demo Troll Masses: not doing as the master and dispenser of their daily bread, commands.

That is the place and population with which to start then. How dare they! Bought and paid for, shipped and received, and stamped with the padrone’s brand, who are they to say “No”?

Round them up Joe. You have their names. They are members of your own party and its machine.

As the Lord says to Satan on doomsday, regarding those goats he has command be gone from Him : “They are yours (Joe). Do with THEM as you will. “

That is certainly less than ideal. But I don’t actually see it as a big problem, if two other things are the case (and as far as I can tell so far, they are the case): (1) they reduce the rate of infection in the vaccinated compare to the unvaccinated (2) they reduce the severity of the infection so that the person who is both vaccinated and infected has a subclinical case in terms of symptoms or has quite mild symptoms.

If there is such a thing as “perpuating” or whatever it was I wrote, it was not what I meant.

The serious problem I see with vaccine mandates, besides individual risk evaluation, is that authorities are ignoring natural immunity. There’s no evidence that people who’ve had the virus and recovered need a vaccine. Its use among the already-immune means that we now have limited data on immune resistance.

So, let’s review. You say that at some period or periods during your life, those in your circle have accused you of ” arguing like a lawyer” and being guilty of the acts of reasoning and logical analysis. This is if I understood you correctly, nothing new and very mich predated even your law degree. It was many of those you knew from day to day living who maintained this.

You have mentioned that 30 years ago in grad school, alarmed, you pointed out the dire consequences for the rule of law and constitutional governance for a particular trajectory upon with your masters of social work associates ( I think it was) had set. And that they heard you out with an air of polite if not sublime indifference not even bothering to respond or rebut.

You have mentioned that in your grammar school days children were drilled in civics and on the importance of Liberty and personal civic responsibility and that heritage of rights which were theirs to keep or lose; but that they got none of that, so you believed, at home. And after all, “Who did normally, or should?” was the standard operating assumption.

Your progressive minded grandmother friends, you say, are mentally occupied for the most part with doting on their grandkids and enjoying themselves; without ever really thinking too deeply about where their choices at the ballot box are driving us all; trusting to the same class affirming news sources they have always defaulted to, along with their feelings.

So, what are the personal responsibilities in a constitutional polity constructed to ensure a regime of Liberty and personal freedom, of such people? Are they meeting them?

In what sense are they deserving of receiving the benefits of such a life lived in a clearing they expend no effort whatsoever in perptuating?

Are they even ” constitutionally” ( no pun intended) fitted by nature for such a life? In what sense do they deserve the freedoms they are so indifferent to maintaining?

Frankly, I don’t think they do much value freedom for themselves if they have comfort and emotional tickles in compensation, nor do they like it much when others have it.

1. What are the personal responsibilities of these individuals insofar as it comes to being informed and thinking critically …whether they are spoon fed it or not.

2. Is it possible that they are not really fit to be free and don’t want to be, as Sarah Conley suggests?

I think you can see the answer for yourself in the words that loom largest in their minds: ” inclusivity”, “acceptance”, ” affirmation”, “community”, “feelings”.

If I was in error in describing them as effen peasants to the core, as basically clever grazing animals, concerned only with the languid enjoyment of their bodily functions and with not a higher consideration in their heads as Aristotle had asserted, I don’t think I could be shown to be in error by much.