I assumed everything politicians do so publicly is always part of the popularity contest

Personally, I don't feel people are open minded and considerate enough to have productive conversations around politics. There seems to be a neglect of acknowledgment around the forces or preference and perspective in these matters.

One love

If people want to shut down political discussion here, that's fine with me (I suppose), although I don't know how you do that. It's 2022, and everything is politics - especially matters involving possible scheduling changes to illegal drugs. How exactly do you propose to extract the politics from that, when drugs are what we're here for?

I understand that it is often (and maybe most often) me who is derailing these kinds of threads. All I can say is that I stand by everything I said above, and everything I've said in other political threads. I'm not going to refrain when I see bad information, conspiracy nonsense and outright lies posted under the guise of "I'm not political, but...", and I'm not going to shy away from fascistic statements. When I see them, I am going to respond. Every single time.

Case in point:

This is someone who repeatedly lobbied throughout the height of the pandemic for people to avoid vaccines and instead treat themselves with hydroxychloroquine. That is political. It’s an unequivocal political statement intended to telegraph party loyalty. It is fucking moronic, it was highly dangerous, and he did it a lot - so from the standpoint of personal respect and any obligation I might otherwise feel to treat him with civility, that ship has already sailed.

Now, he claims to be above the fray by saying that both sides are the same (which, for reasons I mentioned above is completely goddamn ludicrous), while at the same time asking why Hunter Biden isn't in jail because it is publicly known that he used to smoke crack. Imagine that. This disingenuous bad actor masquerading as non-political comes to an illegal drug forum to suggest that the president's son (who is not in politics) should be jailed because he has committed past drug felonies. At the DMT-Nexus. Let that sink in for a minute. He espoused these authoritarian views at the DMT-Nexus, where I can only assume every single person who reads them are themselves long time drug felons.

So yeah, it's uproariously funny to me (actually, it's not funny at all) how he presents this view that both sides are exactly the same, yet in the same breath is driven to spout off with a bunch of stupid, toxic bullshit straight from the MAGA playbook. And no one even seems to grasp the obvious irony of all this, because you're all so committed to tiptoeing around and maintaining civility with assbags.

In the name of full transparency, this is exactly where I'm coming from. Ban all political discussion if you'd like. Or ban me. I won't squawk about it. But if you don't, understand that when I see dog whistles, disingenuous posts and harmful misinformation being posted, I AM going to say something - and it's never going to be nice. Because bad faith actors don't deserve my respect, and I sure as hell won't ever go out of my way to pretend that they do, or that their point of view is somehow a valid one.

I give no oxygen to political lies. I can't. I won't. Not interested.

I’ll just answer your question before moving on. No, I’m not satisfied with the two party system (or the electoral college, or corporate donors, or no term limits in congress, or lifetime judicial appointments, or the filibuster, or dark money, or much of anything else in American politics…). I regard it all as utterly broken and our empire on the verge of collapse.

And no, Joe Biden was not my choice of candidate. He is, however, the one I got - and the alternative was (and remains) unthinkable. You see, I identify as a Democrat not because I want to be part of any particular club, but because the modern Republican Party is a White Supremacist, Christofascist death cult, and to live in this country is to have a choice between one of two binary options.

You can deny my arguments all you like (not you, necessarily), but facts are facts (and as the other side is so quick to point out) they don’t give a fuck about your feelings. The two parties could not be more different. That’s just reality. And it’s undeniable if you’re paying any kind of attention at all and are operating in a semblance of good faith.

So, you can stick your head in the sand like a fucking ostrich (again, not speaking to you, MAGMA17) and wear your apathy on your sleeve like it’s some kind of fucked up virtue to abstain from the process (except maybe when weed is on the ballot), or you can get off your ass and check the box that’s less likely to result in the death of democracy and the oppression of women, immigrants and U.S. people of color, etc.

The choice to me is a clear one, and I’m confident that once the dust settles on this particular moment in time, history will back my shit up.

I very much agree, on the contrary.

I really appreciate your passion for politics.

Tolstoy: "To live with honor you have to yearn, get upset, fight, make mistakes, start over and throw it all away, and start again and fight and lose eternally. Calm is a cowardice of the soul".

Hells yes, comrade. These are my feelings entirely.

Yeah, there is a part of me that thinks that we would be better off not entering political discussions. All nice and safe in our own little corner, just talking about drugs an stuff. But i can't see how it is possible. Especially since the last 6 years or so.

"Politics (from Greek: Πολιτικά, politiká, 'affairs of the cities') is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status."

^^^^^That means that we cannot escape the subject coming up every now and then.
Lets just discuss, argue, get annoyed with each other and get over it when things get bit too personal in the insult department.

Probably true in my case. My cynicism knows no bounds when it comes to politics. I should try to be more neutral. It's not easy.

It wasn't directed at anyone in particular. It is a reflection of my perspective on how political discussions tend to progress and the natures they take on, here and otherwise. It really just becomes an example of tribalism in the end.

One love

But, see I don’t think that neutrality, passivity, and civility with liars, fools and oppressors is anything at all to aspire to. To the contrary, I find it shameful. Much like Tolstoy, my friend, MAGMA17 and a number of other people here, I consider this the worst kind of cowardice.

I respect you, endlessness, but I will never share your views about this, and I’m not about to change. To live in a (purportedly) free society is to have a responsibility to speak up. Dangerous ideas take root and grow when they’re given air to metastasize.

What I’m saying is that I’d rather just not be here at all than have to kowtow to right wing toadies. I’ve been pretty consistent about this throughout the past 6-7 years, as I have with the concept of no political discourse allowed being silly and unrealistic.

But if the place is more peaceful without me around and appeasement is your priority, I’ll leave.

Otherwise, I’ll carry on.

The oblivion of the left in Europe is precisely due to the lack of social struggle of those who feel represented by those ideas. Activism is something that has always been the force of the left, while now it has become a characteristic of the "social right" that in fact take the votes of the people of the suburbs, the ordinary people who hope for a change. Previously, that change was represented by the left.
Therefore, it is not only neutrality that does not do much good for society, but also not acting and just talking.

In any case, I am an honest person first, and I am not one who is fighting for his own ideas, so...I can be called a coward too

Don't go anywhere!

I think he meant this broadly, in the sense of when actual whats and whys of political views and leanings come up, not in curtailing and addressing dangerous instances of misinformation and propaganda spreading, which should be eliminated.

One love

To the mods and Nexus members:

I appreciate that there are troll watchdogs here at the Nexus. But I do not allow anyone to lie about me or put words in my mouth, I would imagine Cipher is much the same as me in that respect. Personal insults I can take, and I can give. It is the lowest form of communication, but I get it. But lies I cannot and will not allow.

I never suggested that Hunter should be arrested for his drug use. I asked a question, why has Hunter never been arrested for clear drug use that the rest of us would be arrested and charged for even though incriminating photos and video evidence is available everywhere. Why? Why is the law different for some and not the rest of us? It is still a fair and valid question. Watchdog knows that, yet twists my words into something else. I have always been for the full legalization/decriminalization of ALL drugs. A quick look back at my posts in the past should make this abundantly clear.

Watchdog keeps insinuating that I am right-wing. I am not and never have been. But I am so completely disgusted with the current group of criminals running the Democrat Party that I cannot support a single one of them.

Watchdog keeps insinuating that I somehow gave bad medical advice about Ivermectin and/or hydroxychloroquine or HCQ. Both untrue. HCQ is FDA approved, has been safely used globally on humans for decades. Many quinine based medications are taken daily by people all over the world. But HCQ is only useful for a virus treatment when you combine it with Zinc. Zinc is the hero and what does all the heavy lifting by preventing the virus from replicating inside the human cell. Without being able to replicate itself inside the human cell, the virus cannot spread throughout the body. But Zinc will not penetrate into and inside the human cell structure by itself without an ionophore like HCQ or other quinine-based medications to open the door and push the Zinc into the human cell where it can disrupt the virus replication. Quinine acts as a Zinc ionophore, meaning it binds to Zinc and pushes it into the human cell. That is all accurate scientific data that you can research for yourself. This is how the OTC cold and flu (virus) medication named 'Zicam' works, it pushes Zinc into the human cell where it blocks the cold/flu virus from replicating.

Watchdogs are great for some purposes, others not so much. Guarding yards, houses and valuables against criminals is a great use for a watchdog. So is guarding against trolls on an open forum like this. But putting a watchdog in charge of guarding tiny children, tiny animals or open bags of dogfood or raw meat and you are just asking horrible things to happen. Giving Watchdog carte blanche powers to lie about other Nexus members or to unilaterally ban, block or disrupt member accounts without the approval or review or other mods or members is probably not a good idea.

I have contributed to many threads here, including several how to extract Cannabis actives and how to turn Cannabis extracts into various medicines threads. And yet I fear that I might be banned here for speaking the truth as I see it by a highly partisan and angry mod who twists my words and claims I wrote or suggested things I never wrote. Who is the troll here? Can mods be trolls? Can mods be bullies? Who moderated the mods?

So maybe throw the Watchdog a nice juicy T-bone and tell him job well done, but to chill out a bit and stop lying about or twisting the words of other Nexus members and their posts. Let members speak for themselves. I am not yet ready to vote Watchdog off of Nexus island.

To Bill Cipher specifically:

Thank you for your service to the Nexus Bill Cipher. You provide a job that I do not have the time or effort or inclination to do myself for the Nexus. So thank you for your contributions of both time and effort to making the Nexus run properly. I could not imagine having to read through every post, or having to reprimand someone when they post something against the rules. You have my sincere appreciation for all of that and more. But do not ever lie about me again.


Peace and Love to all, including and especially Bill Cipher. May we all get through these trying and troubling political times whole and in good health and spirit.


Mitakue Oyasin (Lakota words meaning We are ALL related and interconnected)

This is why we can't have nice things.

Whatever the sinister underlying motivations behind this action may be, this is unquestionably a big step forward for drug policy reform in the United States. As a forum expressly focused on entheogenic liberty, can't we just celebrate this one as a win without bringing our personal agendas into it and perpetuating further division around the one subject where we are ostensibly on the same page with one another?

It probably is worth discussing the finer the points of the political motivations behind this move... just not here. There are many larger and more influential platforms where this discussion is both welcome and ongoing. In short, if what you have to say is so important, have the courage to say it on Twitter.