[JadeNB]

> Someone told me in a bar on K Street the thing Vladimir Putin fears most is being hung from a gas station like Mussolinu, and I suspect that goes for all totalitarians.

> What scares me is I've met people like that at home in the USA.

I'm trying to give this a charitable reading, but I'm puzzled by it.

First, I'm pretty sure that Mussolini was shot, not hanged, but obviously that doesn't change the main sentiment.

Second, I don't think I'm particularly likely to be hanged, and not much more likely than the average USian to be shot, but both those outcomes do frighten me if I think about them. So, when you say "What scares me is I've met people like that at home in the USA", do you mean people who are scared of being shot or hanged, or people who think that their likely end is being shot or hanged? Or something else?

Since you're getting a lot of reasoned replies I assume your meaning is clear to others, but I'm really having trouble figuring it out.