Vera Mont

Cos they wanted him in power, silly! And then took over primary role with its own form of imperialism. It's still short-sighted, Look at the mess they...

What's romantic about helplessness? Really? It's okay for a big global power to overthrow the democratically elected and set up a horrible shah, for c...

So, it must happen internally. But what if an outside, much bigger power - say the USA or some imperialist nation - interferes? Or actually invades? O...

Sadly, either civil war or fascist-style dictatorship... unless... either the military step in, and I can't see where that goes, or climatic disasters...

I think this one has been been unjustly neglected. Maybe some readers find it difficult to rate?

That's a problem for me, since a) I don't believe the States are united anymore, or should be; I don't see any way to reverse the process at this stag...

It's not experimentation. The far right is in lock-step. I'm using my notion of democracy, freedom of speech, equality and individual liberty as a gui...

Because he's blocked out the memory - as people often do with childhood trauma. Yup. Because he is the regular police now, and they rarely suspect one...

In social services, that usually means low overhead - like fewer salaries, no union, shorter staff training, cheaper safety precautions, food quality,...

Does to the government officials taking the kickbacks and campaign contributions. Exactly!! Profit for outsourced services comes out of the budget whi...

Sorry! 1990. And wonderful Art Deco architecture (my fourth love). She's terrific on background and atmosphere, but she does sometimes cheat on the pl...

Nobody wants to read all my past lives. But my first finished novel was, appropriately enough, a murder story. I fell in with Margery Allingham and Do...

My current bedtime viewing is Prime Brit Box - they have both of my favourites : Waking the Dead and Silent Witness . For the realistic depiction of f...

No. I'm pretty sure Lawrence did. He did all of them. Just powder. From a glove. The kid is has no police record. Anyway, she's clean. They all are: L...

*sigh!*

This may be true or not, depending on the leadership, organization, executive decisions and employee satisfaction. I've known corporate departments (c...

All 12 shootings were done by children? All at Christmas? No hysterical confessions? And no weapon at any of the scenes? What are the odds? No, I thin...

Who is to do do this "working with"? And how would it possible without an economic upswing in that country?

The problem I see with that is how differently states have been doing so in various government responsibilities. Some have been less democratic and le...

Sure. How does that take root in oppressed, economically and socially exploited populations?

and a spookily familiar sequence of events

Especially if it's corrupted and systematically undermined. then weakened by a global economic depression and crushing debts from a previous war and t...

My sentiment exactly.

Uh-huh. I believe you. I sure didn't get any of that from the story itself. The sad part is, whether they're one or several, I just can't care what ha...

Well, okay. Still makes no sense. The Lord part I can see, but what wrong wishes could lead to those other outcomes? And what's the girl with her indi...

Didn't exactly hate it. It just seemed pointless, as I could not really care about any of these useless people. I had a similar experience with Salman...

Only because he hasn't quite recalled the gun yet. That's what he gave Nick in return for the figurine, so that Nick could get rid of the evidence aga...

I didn't like that story at all - not even as a movie, in spite of excellent acting - but I'd still have to give the book points for writing style. 3....

I've been on several workshop type forums. I enjoy telling other people how to improve their work, but I don't take advice particularly well myself. I...

The violence seems, in the majority of cases, to have originated with the rulership. The protests began peacefully - as they often do - and the oppres...

Naw. She had zero interest in any intellectual pursuit or much of anything we did, and didn't make an effort to pretend otherwise. We simply didn't ha...

I offered our grown daughter first reading of a novel manuscript. She shrugged and said, "When it's published." That was thirty years ago and I'm not ...

Haven't heard of in Ontario, either, though we have Ojibwe acquaintances and plenty and plenty of snow. Guess either the game belongs to some other na...

https://twitter.com/BillMarchel/status/1611724672982474752 I have heard that the only antidote to its venom is a stiff chug of Aquavit. My brother-in-...

Ever been bitten by the Minnesota Snow Snake?

Terrifying prospect!

Yes, but only after your prompting and reluctantly, since I had given a low rating. Normally, I comment on everything I am able to rate at 3 and above...

Looking forward to it! If you can see a way out of refraining from both things I don't want to be guilty of: dishonesty and trashing somebody's work, ...

You might lose a lot of votes, if people don't want to arouse personal animosity. OK. From now on, I will neither rate nor comment on anything I disli...

No, but as it came so early in the story, it was a definite mind-snag that hampered one's reading.

Coast Guard.

I didn't deny the existence of antisemitism. I do maintain that labelling every remark on the subject antisemitic is ridiculous.

Facts, logic and history ain't gonna prevail against blind partisanship.

Yes. Lots of people did. They were generally shut down by pro-Israeli western governments and media. Are you sure? They don't look all that hostile to...

Which are "those terms"? Whether anyone is entitled to an independent opinion is very much here and also there. Freedom of speech is supposed to be fu...

Maybe we just didn't 'get' it. The way I see it: I accepted the terms when I entered and I'm not going to start griping about them now.

It's fine the way it is. High and low scores are quite evenly distributed.

It seems hardly worth the extra work, just to become authoritarian and arbitrary! The tenor of one's times may be inescapable, but we can resist accel...

If this is true, all he did was change the label on his good works. It's the same god, the same basic belief, with slightly different by-laws.

What? It sounds pretty bad to me. Especially when applied to someone who has never harmed, berated or done anything mean to a person who identifies as...