“F*ck off you liberal scumbag!” writes a reader who shall remain nameless. “You support corruption, crime and tyranny. What a human being you are.”

Since readers began unsubscribing because we’ve used foul language, we can’t help but notice how often the ‘F’ word gets thrown about in political discourse.

The rapper Snoop Dogg has been making his way around X (formerly known as Twitter) with a rap laden with F-bombs, ostensibly giving voters multiple reasons not to vote for Donald Trump again, should there be a rematch between Trump and Biden.

Not two scrolls away on my twitter feed is a video of a crowd shouting “‘F_’ Joe Biden,” at a recent speech the president gave supporting the UAW strikes.

We’ve always admired the versatility of the king of all English swear words.

No doubt you’ve seen the meme going around the internet for the past decade or so featuring the ‘F’ word in every form of speech. The word is useful; it can be used as a subject, verb, noun, adjective, and adverb.

But today, the word finds itself used frequently as a hammer meant to shut down discourse of any kind.

Even by those like our unnamed reader above who don’t bother taking the time to read the Missive. That invective came in the form of a singular sentence response to our letter entitled: My Fellow Liberal.

The inbox has continued to pile up this past week.

Today, we thought we’d share what amounts to a dialog between readers. Mostly because we haven’t written anything new in a couple days because we’ve been working with our small team on a project we call The Great American Shell Game.

We’ve filmed a fair share of the mini-documentary and are now in what’s called post-production—the phase where we hope to make the project good enough to share with you. Whether it will be or not, remains to be seen.

The timing is right for a project like The Shell Game.

The newscycle is again dominated by the “looming threat” of a government shutdown. “Oooooh,” scary, once again.

Maybe it’s time for the legacy media to familiarize themselves with our most emotional and effective blaspheme… as in “Hey Congress, why don’t you wake the [bleep] up?”

Fat chance of Savannah Guthrie ever mouthing those words on NBC’s Today Show, yeah?

Fat chance, too, on Congress ever waking up.

Given the plethora of responses in our inbox, we gather most readers are fed up with the ritual PR song and dance of Congress pretending to serve the constituents they were elected to represent.

The government funding debate is actually a useful tool for crisis managers on Capitol Hill. We view it in the context of a shell game. Watch one hand giveth, while the other hand taketh away.

Watch the left hand: The “far-right” wing of the Republican party gets painted as villains because they’re threatening the livelihood of military service men, air traffic controllers and anyone else who lives government paycheck to government paycheck.

Ignore the right hand: The emergency spending bill for assistance to Ukraine is exempt from the government shutdown. Meaning, among other things, 57,000 Ukrainian first responders will still get their paychecks funded by the US government.

The indictment of Senator Menendez from New Jersey on charges of taking bribes from three of his state’s reputable businessmen and the government of Egypt is also grabbing headlines, as we speak.

A short search on the internet reveals there are 12 indictments of sitting Congressmen and women right now. That news barely registers for most people. Ask anyone the difference between a national deficit and the national debt, you’ll get a blank stare in response.

“Stupid is,” writes Richard from Idaho, “as stupid does.”

“After reading your Missive today,” writes Eric H, referring back to the missive that kicked off this current deluge of responses, “I had to go back and reread Mr. Kunstler’s piece. I found it neither offensive or skewed. Yes, the president was indeed skewered, but only by the facts that be, and certainly not unjustly.” Mr. H continues:

I suppose everyone gets up in arms when their narratives are not supported. But, we are always better off hearing thoughtful writings whether they support your island view or not. Besides war and regulated speech, two former bastions the “Left” was [opposed to] when I was growing up, they have not only done a complete 180, but have become as rigid in the notion that you must support their narrative. It truly is stunning to me the transformation.

Further, it was good to hear more of Mr. Kunstler’s background, as it appears that he too has found himself farther to the Right, not because of his views; but because of how far the left has moved to the left, as Elon so expertly elucidates.

This is by no means a new phenomenon. Ronald Reagan is known to have said: “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party, the party left me.”

“Anytime I see a label,” writes Rob R as if in response to Eric H, “I stop reading those lies. Kunstler is okay. It’s nice to see some Democrats can partially recover. Now, if only some Republicans could.”

“Surely by now you know that labels—any and all labels—are a prelude to prejudice,” writes Girard P, “You are X; all X believe A; therefore you believe A. Regardless of the logical fallacies.”

“In these Orwellian times,” B Gordon warns about falling for political labels at all. “Truth is ‘partisan’ and folks get very angry at the mirror holder. Political discourse is no longer possible. And, those who rule like it that way.”

“We are expected to endure, nay welcome,” William says as we make our way around the auditorium, “unbalanced, fact-less screeds from the left, but from the right is expected ‘facts’ and ‘balanced’ discourse. The government is so corrupt, the politicians so venal, the system so hopelessly broken that the country has no hope of survival. These ‘leaders’ obviously have no idea of the destruction they are soon to unleash.”

“It is increasingly apparent,” another unnamed respondent writes, “people from both sides of the political spectrum find it difficult to deal with the hard truth that for decades, both parties have taken turns financially sodomizing the middle class in order to enrich themselves and their already wealthy benefactors.” Our reader continues:

If that sounds familiar, it is because it was stated a little more eloquently by Donald Trump is his acceptance speech a couple years ago:

For too long, a small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government, while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered, but the jobs left and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories. Their triumphs have not been your triumphs, and while they celebrated in our nation’s capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land. That all changes, starting right here and right now, because this moment is your moment — it belongs to you. It belongs to everyone gathered here today, and everyone watching, all across America. This is your day. This is your celebration, and this, the United States of America, is your country.

That’s why both parties hate the man and are doing everything they can to make sure he never gets near the controls again.

“Conservatives have been used to having every one of their political beliefs ridiculed, and scrutinized,” Dana H contributes, “That’s actually led to my personal expansion of thought, and appreciation of divergent views. And…a deep loathing for almost all of our ‘leaders’…what a batch of cowards.

“Liberals are not used to that scrutiny, and self-doubt at all. All this time, they just knew they were right, and those evil ‘cons’ were going to destroy the Country.

“Now, the Liberal discovers that many of their views are as (in reality) reversed as the image they see when shaving every day, and it feels like crap. It’s far easier to have a tantrum, than to focus inward and exclaim “man was I wrong”.

“You’re the evil one Addison, for stating the obvious. Get used to it.”

Umm, thanks…?

Addison Wiggin,
The Daily Missive

P.S. “I appreciate your thoughts,” Dana says signing off with an encouraging note, “and good work!”

“Keep up the good work,” agrees the above-mentioned Girard, too, “we all need to read alternative viewpoints. That’s why I listen to NPR in the morning drive to work, even if it is cringeworthy.”