But couldn't the "tangible thing of value" in this case be

that seat in Congress? Seems to me that is a tangible thing of COLOSSAL value.

He's got a pen like a guided missile.

I would not count out the bitter and jealous part. Not at all.

Don’t forget the dynamic in operation here, that you can see in many families. The older and younger siblings. The younger one stuck in the position of watching the older one in line to inherit the BIG prize, who also seems to have been blessed with a shitload of “extras”: more handsome, smarter, more charming, more photogenic (hugely important in their line of work), he found his mate first so HE got the rights to “THAT ring”, and the status and rank and all that. And the “all that” part with all the perks and visuals and trappings and tradition and history, all breaking the older brother’s way just because, by happenstance, he happened to be born first.
There’s the fact that they both grew up with that, from their first bottles of baby formula. And the younger having to face that his birthrite, in that system, will never give him equality with his brother or any of those historic privileges on the world stage, unless something happens to his older brother AND his older brother’s children who ALL stand in his way to the throne.

And, worse, the younger brother wound up marrying a shrewd, calculating schemer who, as soon as she met him, saw a potential path for herself to becoming a real-life Queen.

It’s as old a story as Cain and Abel.

Just some observations, and my opinion, of course.

I'd expect him to try to game the system any way he could figure it.

Or cheat in some other way. Or obstruct in a play for time. Delay, delay, and delay some more, and wear ‘em out so they finally get frustrated and give up. Or run out of money to fight with and get frustrated and give up. Or agree to a settlement to satisfy his ego and his greed in hopes he’ll be satisfied and go away (to find his next “mark”).

That’s been his pattern over a very long lifetime. A successful con man’s lifetime. He’s very adept as a con man, and rather fiendishly calculating.

But NOTHING lasts forever.

That's an OUTSTANDING quote. I used in in one of the first Call to Action emails

I wound up overseeing.

Yes. Sometimes you have to take sides.

Just kinda breaks your heart.

I'm glad, and hopeful, for Lilo's reunion - that it'll be permanent. Bless those McKamey Animal Center folks!

I wonder what would happen if some wealthy Dems or Dem group were to purchase

a BIG ad buy on Pox Noise. Unavoidably big. Splattering all over every daypart. Unescapable. Unignorable. And so big and splashy that they can't help but watch. Maybe have Spielberg or some very prominent film director mastermind it. And sneak the message in, in ways that Republicans find acceptable. Until the ad finishes and they suddenly "wake up" and realize they've been nodding along appreciatively to OUR messaging instead of the GOP's. Start with a pithy Abraham Lincoln quote and attribution that reminds - um, hey kids, HE was a Republican. But he talked, messaged, led, and cared like a DEMOCRAT.

I long to trouble and disquiet and destabilize the enemy. Render them all mixed up about what they stand for and who to vote for. ROCK their world and shake up their comfort zone. . Encourage and provoke them into thinking "Oh shit - I can't believe I wanna vote for a Democrat..."

These are terrific.

Sad. And frustrating. And infuriating. But still terrific.

But only the kind you can't take to the bank.

Sweeties!