thanks for the tip on Cheat Codes - about to listen. and Zadie S yes! if you haven't read White Teeth, you are in for a delight.

And, yes, i think it is odd to call the far right "conservative." And the calls for civility of conversation across differences are silly in this case. Many people need to be reasoned with. Some need to just be defeated.

This is something i learned when i was an anti-war organizer in the army during the US war in Vietnam. You know, an invading army that is winning is a terrible thing to see: raping and killing wantonly. But one that is suffering defeat, as the US military was, is suddenly more reflective, suddenly humbled and rethinking all that chest-beating. I hate to say it, but losing humanized those G.I.'s, made them better people. And organizing anti-war sentiment became pretty easy as the soldiers recognized what a heartless maw their commanders were sending them into.

I don't mean that we should become the "Viet Cong" - but there is nothing wrong with saying clearly, "this must be defeated." They are still a small minority but of course so violent that they scare the bejesus out of us. But their future looks grim and brief. At least that is the hope.