Nice topic.  I consider myself Buddhist, in part for cultural reasons, and not just because I relate to Buddhist ideas about the nature of reality.

I am also an atheist - and one of the beauties of Zen Buddhism is that it is a spiritual path and philosophy that does not require what I consider to be superstitious beliefs in "god", or a desire for reward in some afterlife.

Buddhism is also inherently friendlier to sexual minorities - unlike the monotheisms, which are the origin of some of the most homophobic ideologies in history.

I sympathize because I'm getting older too and I know I have to adjust to fewer sexual possibilities. The older I get, the more attracted I become to middle-aged and mature men, and the less interested I am in younger men. That process will continue.

So I find that my transition hasn't been too hard. I feel like I was pretty lucky in my younger years so I can't say that I "missed out".

Part of me actually feels relieved that the sexual pressure is receding. I don't feel the same need to impress other people or to "score".

I don't know what the world will be like after this pandemic, but up until this year, in any large city in the West or East Asia, there was no shortage of saunas where older guys have sex with one another and with younger "admirers".  It's just a question of being realistic about our standards.

Bahrain is an interesting place … I visited a few years ago. It feels different from other Gulf countries but I can't explain exactly why.

Welcome President Biden and Vice President Harris !

As America finally heads back down a road of decency, let's review some of the great things the Trumpkin achieved for his cult worshippers:

Under his watch, Republicans lost the House of Representatives in 2018, lost the White House in 2020, then lost the Senate in 2021. They are now completely in the wilderness (so much winning!).

The US now ranks #7 in Corona cases per capita. At least 400,000 Americans have died from Covid (guess the pandemic didn't just "go away").

Two months ago, the US trade deficit with China reached an all-time high (so much for the trade war).

The US economy shrank roughly 2 percent in 2020, while in China it expanded 2 percent (and roughly 5 percent in US dollar terms).

Most pathetic of all, Trump will go down in history as a failed coup leader, who incited violence against members of his own government while making America's democratic pretensions a laughingstock all over the world.

Chinga tu maga, ADIOS PENDEJO !

More drivel, in MAGA-jihad fashion.

An anecdote here, an accusation there, in an attempt to create "facts on the ground" by sheer mind-numbing repetition.

Once more: has ANY court in the land validated ANY of claims of fraud in the 2020 election ?

Hence the need to reach back into the archives fo "evidence" that will discredit an entire political system, namely democracy itself.

This would all be laughable were it not for the fact that a whole political party has gone off the deep end.

Has Trump won a single court case in the last five weeks -

even one, in ANY state where the election results have been challenged ?

(Including court cases presided over conservative, Republican judges !)

But I forget - these failures can only be further evidence of a deep-state cabal at work.

That's the beauty of the conspiracy theories - the more you lose, the more you win.

This is the kind of "science" that doesn't reflect well on better scientific minds.

Socially predominant mores shift over generations. The leading IQs of the 1950s would have found it quite easy to be homophobic, and probably were.

"Just because liberals can't defend their positions on anything, so they don't come here, doesn't mean this forum section is only for pro-Trumpers"

• "On anything" ? LOL.  Liberals did pretty well on November 3rd, at least on the national level.

I refer to white nationalism because that is what Trumpism boils down to - it's the early 21st century equivalent of the Confederacy, politely repackaged as "populism".

In America, white nationalism is the last refuge of a shrinking demographic that lags in most indicators of well being: more likely to be rural, less educated, lacking access to health care and infrastructure, and left behind by the greater economic prosperity of the coastal regions.

And yet at the same time, feeling most entitled to a position of dominance solely on the basis of skin color and ancestry.

Let's be clear - Trump lost in particular because WHITE SUBURBANITES rejected him. They want no part in the race war that the GOP so desperately needs to save itself.

(1)

"They'll loiter around the public toilets or parks, molest anything in decent shape, gather at the oldies sauna to gossip. I avoided this sauna before but recently I felt comfortable there. Sex there felt so casual like comfort food, nobody is better than anybody else."

• Very well put. I wish I'd thought of that. It really is "comfort food" - and sometimes that's all you need. The posturing and pretense are gone. Just guys enjoying some laid back intimacy. The kind of you thing you don't really appreciate when you're younger and everything is a competition.

(2)

"I was satisfied but also worried that vanilla sex became so meh that I needed more hardcore sex. Is that desperation or I just need stronger stimulation to compensate for my waning sexual needs that I didn't want to let go ?"

• I too am much more interested in hardcore and fetish sex now than I used to be. Like you said, I need "stronger stimulation".  But I don't think it has to do with compensation for aging. I think of it as graduating to more sophisticated possibilities. Of course I can still enjoy simple intimacy in a sauna or a toilet, but in my imagination I go alot further. The main reason I don't act on my deepest fantasies is because I remember AIDS in the 1980s and 1990s. There's a part of me that instinctively chooses self-preservation.

I'm almost through season 2.  This series is incredible. Normally I dislike anything to do with comic book superheroes.

But this is a truly different concept - it is black comedy as dark and cynical as anything I can remember. And I like that

It is also deeply engaged in contemporary American politics - sometimes overtly, at other times with great subtlety.

The "villains" of the story are eventually outed as Nazi racists and xenophobes  - who hold rallies blatantly similar to Trumpworld and MAGA.

Can't say I disagree with that !

Excellent topic. I too would like to read thoughts on this.

I have never been a moderator and would not want to be one - it seems like a thankless job.

I withdrew from social media forums for a long time because I couldn't stomach the vitriol anymore. (Not that I was always a model of civil discourse, either.)

Not sure why I'm here - I never even noticed until a few days ago that this site had a forum section. Maybe I was hoping it would be more laid back than Reddit…

I once had a discussion with a moderator that I will never forget - he was uncommonly articulate, patient, and humane. He gave me insight into why speech sometimes does have to be policed to preserve any possibility of discussion moving forward. As a result, I tread more carefully, and feel less "entitled" to say whatever the F I want under the guise of "free speech".

So I would congratulate any moderator who goes the extra distance to communicate, rather than letting the axe drop in a manner that can seem biased or simply arbitrary.

The very wording of this post raises an interesting point.

Why would anyone feel inclined to WORSHIP Biden - or any other president for that matter ?

In my personal view,  much support for Trump is in fact a PERSONALITY CULT - where worship is indeed an appropriate description.

(Notice I said "much" support, but not all. There are Trump supporters who are more balanced, less emotional, and generally civil.)

A person who worships Trump may assume that Biden supporters have a similar desire for authoritarian leadership.

I assure you we do not - it was partly to get AWAY from the uncritical reverence of populist strongmen that so many voters rejected Trump this year.

I'm intrigued.

In the specific context of late 2020, what makes a person a "Communist" ?

Does that include anyone in America who accepted the $1200 stimulus check ?

Or anyone who thinks government (at any level) should help people weather the economic destruction of the pandemic ?