"The vast majority of Americans just want peace." Well, perhaps most Americans want peace, but I don't think is is a "vast majority." The MAGA (Confederacy rebranded) does not want peace; all its noise and its media outlets are focused on war drum beating, using metaphors of conflict. Everything from their rhetoric that liberals are trying to force them to be gay, get abortions, and destroy Christianity, to their Christmas cards showing their families armed with assault-style weapons, to their AR-15 pins. One "pastor" (no training, background checks or honesty required) came out recently and said men are losing their testosterone because of birth control pills in the water supply, signaling their next goal of continuing to strip rights from women and their families by banning birth control. They've been pretty open about this goal.
They don't want peace; they want war, which is why they've armed themselves to the teeth.
And watch what happens. The MAGA cannot win a war of battles. But they can win a guerrilla war by allowing people to carry weapons and entice fear. As I said, then watch what happens. Really strict gun control against any but those they need to have them to keep others from using them against the new Authority. If you want the gun issue solved, you've got two choices--a president who ignores the court and enforces gun registration and limits weaponry, or vote MAGA.
Look, the only hope for the extreme "right" is to be "unpopular" enough and create so much controversy that they win from the instability that is created. I don't think for one minute they believe they are doing the popular thing. Isn't morality really about conforming people to obey observances they may not wish to observe? And isn't all immorality trying to force people to observe moral observances. There are an awful lot of immoral actions. Almost all are done in the name of morality. We can go in circles on this issue, if there is immorality. the opposite is morality. But there is something to be said of the Jewish creation myth. Let's skip God, for now, and say something like 14 billion years ago something happened and what happened was good. Well maybe it wasn't, but if it wasn't we wouldn't be having this discussion. Call it creation, or chance, but what occurred is what occurred and let's say that's it good because it is what it is---existence of matter in this universe. It's good because it continues to exist. That's goodness. Around 3-5 hundred thousand years ago hominids evolved as part of that goodness. Then 7-10 thousand years ago somebody bit into the knowledge of good and evil and learned you control people by telling them my way is good and everything else is bad, you throw God in and condemn people to hell, or you just control them and give them a life of hell.
The Jewish myth tells us that the opposite of good is the choice or knowledge of good and evil. Heretofore, everything was good because it was what was---now you have to choose whether to obey and be good or disobey and be bad. And that is morality, and morality is not what is good; i.e. morality is the opposite of what actually is, what was created, or whatever term you choose, morality is the imposition upon what is actual existence into a sphere of obedience to the good or the condemnation of not complying. You can't argue against anyone's morality because that is non-compliant and bad. You can say all morality is bad, or the opposite of actual existence., no matter the definition of good or bad, the definition that there is anything that could be bad only exists because of the definition.
Thank you! Finally a diagnosis for so many of us, feeling overwhelmed, often helpless and depressed, even though we may be active voters, activists and working for Democracy. Weathering. Started for me when TFG, trump was elected and escalated daily until what felt like a culmination on January 6. That day, while watching the Televised political show, next door to my attached condominium, a beat-up pickup drove up with a Trump flag, confederate flag and a string noose hanging from the tail end. The driver stayed for months. Polite and cleancut. In our community only American flags are allowed to be displayed on the building. No rule about what is displayed from a vehicle. I won’t describe the next months, but even after he moved on, the terror and angst had become permanent residents. I’m active socially and politically, especially in Children’s and women’s Rights, but this daily assault has moved in. Permanently? I hope not. Weathering is real. And I already would never wear my star of david necklace identification as a Jewish person, in our downtown mainstreet, in my Northern California small town. I’m not paranoid, but I am cautious.
If American flags only, are permitted in your condo, (condo..A Frank Luntz code for apartment), the problem is your owner (I assume that you are a renter, not an owner, if an owner then an HOA) I would find someplace else to live, and read the rules and regulations carefully before you move in.
I lived in a leased condo for about 6 months, took over someone elses lease, then discovered I could not put up a satellite dish (the corporate owner had a deal with Comcast)
The dish could not stick out from the side of the building, but fortunately my unit was placed such, that from my little porch (inset) I had a clear view of the satellites used,so I made my own mast and stuck my dish antenna on it. Someone reported me, probably the Comcast installer,so I had the manager come up and check,voila my dish was completely inside the exterior of the building.
My wife went to college in Santa Rosa, and is well acquainted with northern California.
Marijuana growers and old hippies and paradoxically Trump humpers and right wing
I think your headline as it relates to the body of your article is not entirely accurate. While the Republican campaign against health care access for transgender youth is appalling and I'm sure exhausting for their parents, the general lack of access to health care and the downward spiral of the health care system since the ACA was implemented is exhausting my patients (and me) to no end. I am exhausted by the division fomented by a media, including you Thom, that preaches to its choir in order to maintain viewership and revenue rather than encouraging the non-partisan, unbiased critical thinking that is necessary to unite people to overcome a political system that is killing us on both sides of the aisle. The Democrats are doing awful things to immigrants and furthering the militarization of our country and the world with a nationalistic fervor that is justified by a petrifying fear of Putin and China, while the former has invaded one sovereign nation, that latter none and we have invaded, bombed and subverted democracy in at least 20 over the past 30 years. So yes, I am exhausted by the impetus to prop up imperialist corporatist leaders whose terrible judgment has been proven time and time again, as if I am supposed to be working for Joe Biden instead of vice versa. Democrats have failed to protect us time and time again (see Obama's lies about passing legislation to codify Roe V Wade and his failure to do so when he had a supermajority) and yet all liberals can do is blame Republicans with your help and to no avail. Exhausting indeed.
I agree with your description of the Democratic party, it seems to have been Kabuki theater, a performance for public consumption, while behind the scenes they are on their knees, just like the Republican party, fellating the big donors, who throw change at beggars.
Obama failed his base, especially his people of color base, afraid of being attacked as racist, he could not even chastise a cop that illegally detained Prof Louis Henry Gates, Jr.
And the worse thing about his administration, was that with a Democratic majority, he blocked out advocates of Single payer health insurance, even Bernie, from discussions, and held an 24/7 open house at the White House for instance company execs and lobbyists.
When all that was necessary was a short one sentence bill to change the Medicare enabling act, to "eligibility starts at birth", but that would have pissed off the donors.
By the way The Biden administration had a chance to preserve choice for women,it could have passed legislation, during that narrow window when the Democrats had control of the Capitol,
The Interregnum between Nov 9 and the swearing in of the new congress. They used it to pass
the Respect of marriage act, that protected gay marriage, but not a bill to protect the womans right to choose.
Why would that be, i ask rhetorically? It is because gay marriage had become universally accepted and was not a hot potato. Whereas abortion was, and they were afraid that if they came down on the side of a woman's choice, they would be crushed or taking away abortion as an issue would play in their favor in the 2024 election. Female sovereignty is a great campaign issue.
Fear as a fund raising tactic, and a vote garnering issue is the name of the game.
Republicans have proven that it works, they have a whole TV network with tens, maybe hundreds of millions of viewers who are experts at tweaking the amygdala, that is where the money and votes lie.. in the amydala. People told time and again to fear (fear everything), willingly empty their wallets in support of those that tell them that have the cure and will kill the source of their fear. Create a problem, then offer to solve it.
Democrats need to study the Republican playbook, including Frank Luntz
I have noticed Biden is pushing gay rights and immigration also. He is working to divide the nation like Trump did. The only thing that makes sense to me is that they're both on the same team and playing everyone else for suckers. That is why I have little faith Biden and most of the dams will save America from dictatorship.
Thank you! Finally a diagnosis for so many of us, feeling overwhelmed, often helpless and depressed, even though we may be active voters, activists and working for Democracy. Weathering. Started for me when TFG, trump was elected and escalated daily until what felt like a culmination on January 6. That day, while watching the Televised political show, next door to my attached condominium, a beat-up pickup drove up with a Trump flag, confederate flag and a string noose hanging from the tail end. The driver stayed for months. Polite and cleancut. In our community only American flags are allowed to be displayed on the building. No rule about what is displayed from a vehicle. I won’t describe the next months, but even after he moved on, the terror and angst had become permanent residents. I’m active socially and politically, especially in Children’s and women’s Rights, but this daily assault has moved in. Permanently? I hope not. Weathering is real. And I already would never wear my star of david necklace identification as a Jewish person, in our downtown mainstreet, in my Northern California small town. I’m not paranoid, but I am cautious. Add all that to the Pandemic and its isolation and controversy and we have the perfect storm.
The only way to deal with an abuser is to cut them out of your life. I think it's becoming clear we need to decentralize the government and go back to a city-state system where cities govern themselves. 80% of the population lives in cities and the 100 most populous cities are largely Democrat. I'm sure of the ones that aren't will have a more balanced political outcome. It will be the rural areas where this nonsense will be sequestered. And even then it will be too toxic for women to want to stay and raise families.
The city state system was the rationale behind secession. It is the idea that states are sovereign entities, and that we are bound together by commerce only, and that was the whole idea behind the first try at government, the Articles of Confederate, which failed, and necessitated a constitutional convention, which gave us our.s
The city state system has been the wet dream of fascists, like anti aborts, and anti gun control, "leave it to the states to decide" and in Dobbs SCOTUS agreed.
That was 250 years ago when the vast majority of people lived on farms. How would fascists have control over populations that are majority liberal today?
Here is the real political map of the US, the darker the red, the darker the blue the greater the concentration of voters of that persuasion, you might also notice that much of red spaces are empty meaning a scant population and what is there are Republican and they and their comrades in other areas control the state.
I agree in principle, but how. By what mechanism. Cities are what is called municipal corporations, that is a non profit corporation. Corporations are created by the states.
It is the states that grant a person or group of persons (including cities) the right to incorporate, via what is called a charter.
If a city council and mayor authorized and signed an act of secession, what would the state government do? Send in the National Guard? The State Police?
If they did nothing, then the city would find itself in a situation like Hong Kong, except Hong Kong was a British protectorate.
There are a number of independent cities, that lie within the city boundaries of another city,in America. Impact Texas is surrounded by Abilene Texas. When I was stationed there Abilenelene was a dry town,but Impact was wet, and the only business in Impact was selling alcohol, And on occasion the Abilene cops would arrest you coming out of impact (to filll the city's coffers)
Manakin Town inside of Richamond, VA is another example, actually part of the Manakin Sabot community. It's origins go back to a Patent granted the Huguenots in 1700, a measure enacted by the George III to rid himself of the pesky Huguenots who had skills and commercial connections that the London merchants and guilds did. They complained of unfair competition, so George's answer was to appease them by offering them land in Virginia, but only a handful accepted.
There are others, but one thing they all have in common is that they have to abide by the laws of the state. So the idea of an independent city, with the right to abortion or other federal laws is impossible, given our Constitution that recognizes the sovereignty of the state.
The underlying reason for federal laws is the commerce clause and Roe was decided on the basis of the due process clause. This SCOTUS essentially declared that the due process did not provide protection, thus was wrongly decided.
Seven of the nine justices agreed that the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment — which says that no state shall “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” — implies a right to privacy, The current course disagreed.
Im not a lawyer or anything so I'm not going to make any claim to have the answers. But something has to be done to hedge this encroaching fascism. The supreme court has already demonstrated it is illegitimate and people can just decide to ignore its rulings. I'd imagine it's the same as any state. A state only exists if people make a collective agreement to recognize it as one. States are just an arbitrary social construct. If enough people agree within a city, they can become independent and secede. Create alliances with other city-states to fund the military and roads and such. There are city-states around the world: Liechtenstein, Singapore, formerly Hong Kong as you mentioned. It's doable. It's just getting people to do it. Commerce just has to be restructured to legitimize them.
Aren't you paying attention to politics. They have already done just that.
A liberal city surrounded by a fascists.
Sorry Laura yours is an unrealistic dream. Fascists already have control over populations that are majority liberal today, and those populations are cities, large cities, Like Austin, TX, Seattle, WA(basically King, Snohomish and the portion of counties on the I-5 corridor.
New York is a red state, but NYC keeps it blue. Pennsylvnia is a red state, except that Philadelphia and Pittsburgh keep it blue, Pittsburgh on the west, Phillie on the east and all the rest is Pennsyltucky.
And by the way, the voting power lies in rural America, which is the majority of America. Farming is no longer a family enterprise, although there are still family farmers, but Prudential Life Insurance is the biggest farmer in America, and owns property that starts on the Gulf and Rio Grande, all the way to Minnesota.
They start early spring, tilling and planting, then when the rented equipment is finished in the north, the drivers are convoyed to the south again and fire up the rented combines and reapers and start all over again.
Yet the tradition of rural America is the same as it was in the revolution, it is religious, conservative, they are the majority of Fox News, OANN , NewsMax and Sinclair viewers and listeners, and they go to church at least once, if not twice a week, and are told what to think by their pastors, priests and the local media.
This is what the rich white rePUGliCONs want...CHAOS. The maggots who support these 💩’s think hey if these white guys can do it, I can do! Since media is owned by rich white rePUGliCONs who are mentally ill, they don’t care about America!
The Republican representtive of my new gerrymandered state District 69 is Jody Barrett who got in trouble with his racist, misogynistic party boys in TN State House. They accuse him of making them look bad by voting not to kick out the white woman of the TN3. "She didn't do anything wrong.' he told them. But, then, neither did the 2 young black representatives he voted to remove from his club. Them boys was uppity, ya' know. Gloria couldn't be uppity if she worked at it. She's just a compassionate, tough 60 year old white woman who gives her all to serve the people in her district-- Just as the 2 black representatives work to serve the people in their districts. OK, all 3 offended the decorum of the TN House, but that House decorum offends me very much. That decorum is killing our kids. Is killing us all. I think it is time for Tennesseans to fire these representatives who are more concerned for decorum than responsibly serving their constituents.
Well, sure. What do we do. We ask ourselves, and we tell ourselves. This is terrible. We are exhausted.
Thom, today's report is spot on alright.
But asking what do we do? That is the hard nut, is it not?
I think. We are all exhausted from hearing the same heartaches by degrees eay in, day out, week in, week out, and on and on. With no future that seems to tell us, what do we do.
We need strength. We need strategy. We need resolve that points us, bends toward justice, but with clarity, not despair.
Here is one idea. How can we win and help to repair those broken souls who are now so full of this poison that so many have become our enemies?
We must infiltrate. We must be willing to do things that run against our own peaceful natures.
At some point I fear that this will not even be possible.
But clearly whatever we should be doing, we are not getting very far.
Another Tucker will pop up soon enough. And we'll have another target to point at. But with only blanks in our guns.
One phrase I say, "Get out from under the bed!!!" You have to show your face.
Have you heard about...
This poor transgender woman Montana legislator. She is exiled from the chamber to represent her constituents. Seated outside in the hall, listening. And a group of old lady Republicans have actually chosen to take all of the chairs so she can have no place to even sit.
What should we do?
What can we do?
Sick, sick, sick. poisoned by falsehearted righteousness..
Remember Bruce Cockburn's song in the 1980s, about the Nicaraguans?
"If I had a rocket launcher." New lyrics are needed to that powerful "for the people" song.
It is not the blowhards on right wing hate radio, it is "comedians" like Bill Maher and Chapelle.
I surrounded comedieans with"air quotes" because comedians punch up,not down, and Maher and Chapelle punch down, and that is the style of fascist comedians.
Maher describes himself as a libertarian, but as my wife says, her first husband was a libertarian, is that a libertarian is a Republican who smokes weed, and wants to eliminate taxes.
Libertarians are not progressive, the movement was founded by the Koch Brothers and David Koch ran for President in1984
Every Friday show of Bill Maher finds him having a guest or panelists on that support his transphobia, he claims that he isn't but he is obsessed with trans women (not men) maybe because he is "friends" with Ann Coulter who some say was born Alan.
He is also obsessed with masks and vaccines, as he is overly obsessed with something he calls woke, or cancel culture.
His obsession with masking, even if it is prophylactic and voluntary (as in myself, a 84 year old with a compromised immune system (cancer treatments), and"cancel culture" are motivated because both have resulted in a monetary loss, and probably more important, a loss in an opportunity to receive the adulation he so desperately needs.
When one guest pointed out that he doesn't complain about the cancel culture of the south and Desantis, his response was "it doesn't affect me"
His take down of Trump is nothing more than infighting between narcissists.
“And if enough of us turn out at the polls in 18 months, we may be able to pull it off.”
But, when does hoping against hope and indulging in obsessive optimism become self-sabotage? Does buying a little time substitute for taking meaningful action, or does it mean giving fascism more time to spread and grow its roots and branches?
Knowledge is power; but only if it is consciously and purposefully acknowledged and only if put to use in taking power from those who have illegitimate power and authority or from those who use their power and authority illegitimately. It is not enough to merely know that Kevin McCarthy, MTG, Gym Jordan, Mitch McConnell, and the other hate and fear mongers are power hungry, delusional, corrupt, and anti-American. They will practice their corrosive politics and propagandizing until they are stopped by activists and advocates for the people who are aware of the danger they pose and who take effective action to dethrone them.
However, voters in barely adequate numbers who are informed can temporarily put a crimp in the style of such miscreants and send them home from Congress. If they are just puppets, they will be replaced by others like them and the problems they bring will come back again and again.
There must be dramatic, comprehensive, and holistic systemic change from the bottom up if democracy is to be preserved and enhanced. Changing the names or associations of malefactors and corrupt leaders will not suffice. The changes that are necessary for meaningful progress must happen among the people, who after all were responsible for giving unwarranted power and influence to those who could not be trusted.
The unpleasant questions must be asked relative to how the people have been misled or improperly educated for making our democracy function adequately, and the unpopular answers must not be dodged because they might offend certain people or because they may challenge certain universal false beliefs and illusions. The buck actually stops with ‘we the people’ and not with the place-fillers.
The moment of truth has arrived. The time for excuses, diversions, mythology, and polite evasions has long since passed. Our schools have not lived up to their promises and reputation. Our citizens are not being given the most fundamental opportunities to learn citizenship, the most basic skills for discretion and “critical thinking”, or the proper grounding and experience in what living in a free and fair society necessarily entails. The result has been a generations-long slide towards authoritarianism, plutocracy, oligarchy, and theocracy. Now, we are witnessing naked fascism.
I was born an optimist. I have remained an inveterate optimist for 80 years. But the silly kind of Polly Anna encouragement that educators foist on students to try to motivate them to take up fights which they shied away from when they had their chance to work to rectify a deplorable situation will not cut it. I am very reluctant to borrow cheer from someone who is so deluded about our failing school paradigm that he actually gives it a rating of AAA+. In what universe? Where is the solid empirical evidence documenting that fact? It’s all smoke and mirrors and failing to recognize that is just our first collective mistake.
According to Plato, all men desire good. I would change that to, "All people in their right mind desire good". It is pretty obvious that the mega crowd do not desire boredom. They have a need to keep being distracted from truth and reality. Most shallow thinkers watch a lot of sports, or they fight with their relatives or spouses or so-called friends constantly, just as long as they are distracted they are happier. We need to distract them, I suggest we buy them some toys and treat them like toddlers. Toys in the form of motorcycles, race cars, or anything else that distracts their shallow minds. After all humans were born on Earth to have fun not to torture each other. The government needs to provide fun for these sadists. Even if it means bringing back the Roman Colosseums. The mega mind cannot connect the dots properly. It appears when children get exposed to phony or fake religion it cripples them for life.
Agree, with one exception. All religions are based on man created myths.It is the best Social control tool ever invented, no need for a paid police force, or an army, rather its believers willingly become fodder for Jihads and wars of aggression.
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Attributed to Voltaire, but uncertain as there are several variants.
Fundamentalists all seem to have a blood lust for atrocity - at least historically. I know there are "good" people in churches....unwittingly giving cover to the bad ones. The history of the church is pretty clearly violent and brutal. This isn't about a belief or non-belief in God. It's about inventing a system of patriarchal rule and attributing it to "God."
I have a pocket voltaire. Words are alphabetized, I will look it up, but damn he is right.
The thing about good Christians and Muslims are the same case I have about "good cops"
If cops tolerate bad cops, by saying nothing because of the blue line, then silence is consent and there are no good cops.
And you are right about it not being a belief in god, but it's not inventing the patriarchy it is maintaining, rebuilding and enforcing the patriarchy.
I can't think of a belief system aside from Wiccans, that isn't patriarchal.
The need for males to dominate women is as old as mankind itself, doesn't' make it right, it makes it archaic, outdated, outmoded, because the species has advanced beyond the point,
where a physically strong male is needed to protect the family and tribe.
IMO it is also psychosexual, weak males, wannabe's, have to posture, parade around like peacocks, or banty roosters, clucking and make noise to prove to others, especially females, that they are dominant and thus the females submissive, otherwise they can't erect and copulate and thus reproduce.
Again we should have moved beyond that, as there are millions of examples of men who aren't like that, but those that are intellectual and emotional midgets can't, partly because of brainwashing by father, friends, church and media. Hollywood has been a great source of fostering an artificial image of manhood, the likes of John Wayne playing a tough hero, but never served in the military, alongside other actors who have, is an example.
Octavian, who named himself Gaius Augustus Caesar, was a brutal cad, he issued a decree called the Pater Familia, it actually could have been extracted from Leviticus. It made the husband the tyrant of a family with life and death authority over wife and children, meaning he could kill them for disobedience or unfaithfulness.
That edict passed into the Cult of Rome, which became the Catholic church, and from there to Protestantism, in large part because of the son of Gerard Cohen who changed his name to Cauvin and his religion to Catholic so he could find work in 16th Century France. Gerard got a position as secretary to a Bishop, and then embezzled the Bishops money, was discovered and excommunicated.
Excommunication meant that your property was forfeit by the Church and your person legally killed by anyone. So Gerard fled to Switzerland with his son Jean Cauvin, who took notice of what is called the reformation, and created his own religion based on Orthodox Judaism, with a twist to Christianity, called Calvinism. Like Orthodox Judaism there is a belief in pre destination, that a good Jew (or Christian, especially among Presbyterians) are born as elect or damned, and you can discern the ones favored by their god, by their wealth and status. A poor Jew is doomed like the Fiddler on the Roof, the only way to prove you are not favored by god, for Jews and Christians is by becoming wealthy, Thus the Prosperity Doctrine, which convinces rubes to give up their hard earned money, and future retirement, so some slick ass dude can buy Rolex watches, wear Brioni Suits and fly around in a private airplane.
Same stupid people that idolize Trump as their patriarchal savior.
There is even a more deadly verzion called Dominionism, or Christian Reconstruction, founded
R J Rushdoony and Ted Cruz's father Rafael. It uses Genesis as justification that man, not women, shall rule over the earth, and that their god will save them from annihilation .
They wish to make America and Canada a theocracy, it is interdenominational.. Catholics and Protestants belong. They want to create a society based on Mosaic laws (613 of them in Leviticus and Deuteronomy) , except for those they find inconvenient like eating shell fish or wearing clothing of mixed fabric., they would execute rebellious teenagers, gays and adulterers and less than faithful Christians, and there preferred method is stoing, because stones are free (very libertarian) https://www.sullivan-county.com/nf0/fundienazis/royal_race.htm if you google it, the Chalcedon Foundation (Dominionists) are well aware that that site exposes them so they have created a plethora of websites to cover up and obfuscate, as well as evangelize, their religion. I had to google Royal Race of the Redeemed Sullivan County, to find this site, because just googling Royal Race of the Redeemed, all I came up with is b.s. and apologetics. Same tactic as used by Scientology so that tells you something.
And...thanks for the info. Some I knew, but not in the detail you've provided. These people are mentally ill and very dangerous. So-called "liberal Christians" will rarely hold them accountable or call them out, which is why I blame them as well.
I knew what they were from the age of six, when a Sunday School teacher told me that heathens who had never even heard of Jesus were all going to hell because they didn't believe in him. She then proceeded to tell me I must save all my pennies to give to missionaries who would go tell them about Jesus and save them. I walked away from her suddenly realizing it was all a line of crap. Some people never pass the age of six in their intellectual development.
Your parents must be Southern Baptists, because my uncle who was Southern Baptist Preacher and a racist, homophobic, misogynistic adultering asshole (forced me to be baptized at 17 because the church elders were scandalized by my behavior and the fact that I was not "born again", he also said that Jesus drank grape juice, when their Bible clearly said he turned water into wine. Which by the way was the trick of the Greek god of Wine, Dionysos, (actually means son of God, the Latin word for god, Dios, is their rendition of Zeus. So the Jewish apostles spread through the Roman World spreading a religion based on Dionysos ( Bacchus).
You got it right. My mother was Southern Baptist, my stepfather, a lapsed Catholic who converted at my mother's insistence. Neither of them were church goers, except very rarely. I went regularly, sang in the choir and often was at church several times a week. It was the only place I was allowed to go as a teen. I only saw my stepfather go one time - when he was baptized. Christian rituals are derivative from pagan rites and rituals. The Catholics integrated a lot of these rituals into Christianity to bring pagans into the fold. Christmas was never the birth time of Jesus (if He ever existed in the material world); estimates by historians say He was likely born in late summer. But the winter solstice is ~Dec 21, a huge pagan holiday. I'm not pagan, but I like holidays, so my family celebrates on the solstice. Easter was originally Ēostre and the Spring Equinox, another pagan holiday. There are others - almost all of them, actually.
I've read and I do believe that the Christian contribution to humanity's moral progress has been the concept of confession and forgiveness. Protestants prefer to skip the confession part and I suspect the Catholic Church has the right of it - confessing ones shortcomings to another helps put one's own behaviors at the forefront. In earlier times, once God or the Gods were peeved at you, that was it. Game over. The idea of being born again gives people a chance to move on from mistakes they truly regret and do better. Evangelical/Modern Christianity seems to desire the "I'm forgiven, so I'll just move on" part, without ever considering the "do-better" part. They've reduced the potential for transcendence to a series of "thou shalt nots," which, surprise!, are mostly applied to things other people do that they don't personally like. I'm not Christian; if I were, I'd lean towards Catholicism, despite its bloody and brutal history. At least there's some history and consistency there, as well as some beautiful rituals. For example, while they are anti-choice, they are also anti-death penalty (now, anyway, not in the past) - consistency. Protestantism contains a mess of extremism and outright nutty ideas. Pastors adhere to no common canon and often make things up as they go along. While Catholics do beat their children, Protestantism turns beating children into an art form with the whole "spare the rod, spoil the child" business. Cults all over the USA are victimizing children, legally, as we converse here. I've seen and experienced real brutality from this mindset. When I confronted my mother about the violence visited upon me and my siblings (violence never used by her own parents), her only response was "I did the best I could and Jesus forgives me," never bothering to ask for forgiveness from the those she harmed or to even acknowledging that harm. I'm likely biased, but that, to me, is the essence of Evangelicalism. There is precious little self-awareness or self-reflection involved.
The true religion is the "TRUTH", whatever it is. We can all believe whatever we want to believe, but if it is not true it is worthless. Liars are allergic to the truth, so they create phony religions to placate themselves with. IMHO, Buddhism is more of a philosophy, I consider that the closest to the truth. God is good, phony religions are evil, which is pretty much all of them.
Belief in God is a choice. It really doesn't have anything to do with day-to-day life. Religion. in the main, has little to do with this choice. It's a system of control and grift. That's all it's ever been from the earliest days when priests told people they had to sacrifice their children or the sun wouldn't rise the next day.
The believers and the non-believers should all agree that God is good. If there is no God like the atheist believe, it won't matter anyway. Just getting the Trump cult members to acknowledge God is good, would be a giant step. Quite frankly I'm agnostic or a none, and only care about what can be proven. We need to all unite against evil, which is liars and lies, that is probably why I dislike the GOP so much, honesty doesn't matter to them, that makes them evil not neutral.
Earlier today, I listened to your audio-book on privacy, "The Hidden History of Big Brother". I have a slightly different take on privacy, which I believe is relevant to your column today. I don't think "privacy" is by nature a phenomenon of human culture, people lived and worked together in common (hunter-gatherers), and even afterwards in smaller villages when settling. There was little need for privacy, in fact it could be detrimental to the community's survival if individuals withdrew "privately". But even after communities began to grow into kingdoms and the individuals involved in doing work, slaves, peasants, servants were never granted privacy, only the lords or lieutenants, etc. The idea of privacy is essentially attached to property, and until recent post-20th century culture was it ever entrusted to the non-elite. But as you point out, that grant was always attached to govt, and business trying to "spy" on those who they now might have granted certain rights of privacy too. My point being I don't think privacy should be necessary, but is necessary for all the reasons you point out in your book. People need "privacy" for protection from those who tread into their public lives.
When I grew up homosexuality of any kind was forced into dark corners of privacy because they could not openly be public. I don't think I even conceived that there were any other ways of expressing intimacy, I had never heard of it. Some of my classmates didn't even "know how babies are made" until they made one because it was so repressed that a lot of us really didn't exactly make the connection. We knew we had desires but sex was so private we never really learned exactly what our passions meant or the consequences, but we were told the consequences were bad--we would go the bad place. In the 60's,as I was maturing, everything began to change and we could be public. Women could only challenge bosses who attempted to seduce and gays could be "proud". The return to the public sphere gave people feelings of dignity, dignity of individuals could challenge those who might try to control their behavior or demand their submission. It gave rise to a threat, or a perceived threat, to those who might believe they were entitled to all of the dignity, and all of the authority. At first, when workers' rights began becoming suppressed, people could still publicly proclaim certain rights of dignity, choosing an abortion or not; attending a gay pride march.
Now I'm not overly concerned about "maga followers" because, as you pointed out, they are being algorithmically programmed to follow. What does concern me though, is the megaphones that are in the hands of those who are leading the charge away from "democracy". Because you only have to look at history to know that the majority cannot prevent a coterie of oligarchs successfully overthrowing a government. I'm quite sure in the first civilized grain governments there was no majority consensus that they wanted to be enslaved and provide food for the leaders. And I fear that what everyone is misunderstanding from the "left" is that the majority will vote to stop the erosion of liberties. If there is enough chaos created by the minority, the majority will vote to end the chaos, and ironically, history has repeatedly shown, ends up being blamed not by the creators of those who create it, but on those who don't end it. Therein becomes my problem. How do you then end the chaos without exercising authoritarianism against the chaos? Authoritarians thrive by making people need to retreat to being private, as you illustrate with your story about your trip to Singapore.
It is playing into the hands of those who are attempting to shut people out of the public sphere by complaining about taking away the rights of privacy. To accept others we must embrace them publicly, and shut us up, out of fear against being exposed.If I fear someone will steal my money, my identity, my thoughts, or whatever, then I must retreat back to my private self and rescind from my public participation. Privacy becomes necessary only when our openly public identities become threatened.
Safety and security in America has never been---we are simply delusional. I could go on and on about the pretty stories we tell compared to the reality, but I won't bore you or myself.
Society has come a long way concerning the LGBTQ+ issues, and we are much farther along with racial equality. Will we ever get it right? Never, because the religious and hateful will always be with us. At least we are at the stage where we can call them out. It's really easy because they are loud and proud of their MAGA attitudes.
So that's what we do too. We need to be loud and proud about these issues and those folks in our families and lives. We let the right-wing and religious zealots know who we stand by. We pass the necessary laws and vote for the people that will make and enforce them. We take care of each other and work on everyone's mental health together.
Yes! Hitler used FEAR-mongering to cover up his own sick predilections. The Southern White man used FEAR-mongering to cover up their own sick predilections; how many times did a Southern white mob Lynch a young black man for allegedly raping a young white girl? Who raped her? The White guy! Best defense is an offense. Fast forward to DeSantis and his crew; DeSantis taught at a wealthy private high school in Rome, GA where he partied with underage students, none of whom would tell The NY Times their stories (as adults) for fear of repercussions. DeSantis directly supervised Navy personnel who... yup, shoved garden hoses into rectums of detainees, anally raping them, and pouring Ensure into their rectums under the excuse of 'rectal feeding'. Just the chip of the tip of the iceberg on the sexual abuse and perversion perpetrated on detainees at Guantanamo. DeSantis hates Disney (he got married there!) and hates Queer people, Black and Brown people.... And DeSantis is just one of many - Jordon, MTG (chick as issues), Trump and all his Epstein Cabal buddies, Thomas, Alito.... Best defense is an offense.
Another spot-on essay, Thom. Thank you.
"The vast majority of Americans just want peace." Well, perhaps most Americans want peace, but I don't think is is a "vast majority." The MAGA (Confederacy rebranded) does not want peace; all its noise and its media outlets are focused on war drum beating, using metaphors of conflict. Everything from their rhetoric that liberals are trying to force them to be gay, get abortions, and destroy Christianity, to their Christmas cards showing their families armed with assault-style weapons, to their AR-15 pins. One "pastor" (no training, background checks or honesty required) came out recently and said men are losing their testosterone because of birth control pills in the water supply, signaling their next goal of continuing to strip rights from women and their families by banning birth control. They've been pretty open about this goal.
They don't want peace; they want war, which is why they've armed themselves to the teeth.
And watch what happens. The MAGA cannot win a war of battles. But they can win a guerrilla war by allowing people to carry weapons and entice fear. As I said, then watch what happens. Really strict gun control against any but those they need to have them to keep others from using them against the new Authority. If you want the gun issue solved, you've got two choices--a president who ignores the court and enforces gun registration and limits weaponry, or vote MAGA.
Look, the only hope for the extreme "right" is to be "unpopular" enough and create so much controversy that they win from the instability that is created. I don't think for one minute they believe they are doing the popular thing. Isn't morality really about conforming people to obey observances they may not wish to observe? And isn't all immorality trying to force people to observe moral observances. There are an awful lot of immoral actions. Almost all are done in the name of morality. We can go in circles on this issue, if there is immorality. the opposite is morality. But there is something to be said of the Jewish creation myth. Let's skip God, for now, and say something like 14 billion years ago something happened and what happened was good. Well maybe it wasn't, but if it wasn't we wouldn't be having this discussion. Call it creation, or chance, but what occurred is what occurred and let's say that's it good because it is what it is---existence of matter in this universe. It's good because it continues to exist. That's goodness. Around 3-5 hundred thousand years ago hominids evolved as part of that goodness. Then 7-10 thousand years ago somebody bit into the knowledge of good and evil and learned you control people by telling them my way is good and everything else is bad, you throw God in and condemn people to hell, or you just control them and give them a life of hell.
The Jewish myth tells us that the opposite of good is the choice or knowledge of good and evil. Heretofore, everything was good because it was what was---now you have to choose whether to obey and be good or disobey and be bad. And that is morality, and morality is not what is good; i.e. morality is the opposite of what actually is, what was created, or whatever term you choose, morality is the imposition upon what is actual existence into a sphere of obedience to the good or the condemnation of not complying. You can't argue against anyone's morality because that is non-compliant and bad. You can say all morality is bad, or the opposite of actual existence., no matter the definition of good or bad, the definition that there is anything that could be bad only exists because of the definition.
Thank you! Finally a diagnosis for so many of us, feeling overwhelmed, often helpless and depressed, even though we may be active voters, activists and working for Democracy. Weathering. Started for me when TFG, trump was elected and escalated daily until what felt like a culmination on January 6. That day, while watching the Televised political show, next door to my attached condominium, a beat-up pickup drove up with a Trump flag, confederate flag and a string noose hanging from the tail end. The driver stayed for months. Polite and cleancut. In our community only American flags are allowed to be displayed on the building. No rule about what is displayed from a vehicle. I won’t describe the next months, but even after he moved on, the terror and angst had become permanent residents. I’m active socially and politically, especially in Children’s and women’s Rights, but this daily assault has moved in. Permanently? I hope not. Weathering is real. And I already would never wear my star of david necklace identification as a Jewish person, in our downtown mainstreet, in my Northern California small town. I’m not paranoid, but I am cautious.
I would have set that flag on fire 😂
If American flags only, are permitted in your condo, (condo..A Frank Luntz code for apartment), the problem is your owner (I assume that you are a renter, not an owner, if an owner then an HOA) I would find someplace else to live, and read the rules and regulations carefully before you move in.
I lived in a leased condo for about 6 months, took over someone elses lease, then discovered I could not put up a satellite dish (the corporate owner had a deal with Comcast)
The dish could not stick out from the side of the building, but fortunately my unit was placed such, that from my little porch (inset) I had a clear view of the satellites used,so I made my own mast and stuck my dish antenna on it. Someone reported me, probably the Comcast installer,so I had the manager come up and check,voila my dish was completely inside the exterior of the building.
My wife went to college in Santa Rosa, and is well acquainted with northern California.
Marijuana growers and old hippies and paradoxically Trump humpers and right wing
extremists. Translated. Libertarians, translated Republicans.
I think your headline as it relates to the body of your article is not entirely accurate. While the Republican campaign against health care access for transgender youth is appalling and I'm sure exhausting for their parents, the general lack of access to health care and the downward spiral of the health care system since the ACA was implemented is exhausting my patients (and me) to no end. I am exhausted by the division fomented by a media, including you Thom, that preaches to its choir in order to maintain viewership and revenue rather than encouraging the non-partisan, unbiased critical thinking that is necessary to unite people to overcome a political system that is killing us on both sides of the aisle. The Democrats are doing awful things to immigrants and furthering the militarization of our country and the world with a nationalistic fervor that is justified by a petrifying fear of Putin and China, while the former has invaded one sovereign nation, that latter none and we have invaded, bombed and subverted democracy in at least 20 over the past 30 years. So yes, I am exhausted by the impetus to prop up imperialist corporatist leaders whose terrible judgment has been proven time and time again, as if I am supposed to be working for Joe Biden instead of vice versa. Democrats have failed to protect us time and time again (see Obama's lies about passing legislation to codify Roe V Wade and his failure to do so when he had a supermajority) and yet all liberals can do is blame Republicans with your help and to no avail. Exhausting indeed.
I agree with your description of the Democratic party, it seems to have been Kabuki theater, a performance for public consumption, while behind the scenes they are on their knees, just like the Republican party, fellating the big donors, who throw change at beggars.
Obama failed his base, especially his people of color base, afraid of being attacked as racist, he could not even chastise a cop that illegally detained Prof Louis Henry Gates, Jr.
And the worse thing about his administration, was that with a Democratic majority, he blocked out advocates of Single payer health insurance, even Bernie, from discussions, and held an 24/7 open house at the White House for instance company execs and lobbyists.
When all that was necessary was a short one sentence bill to change the Medicare enabling act, to "eligibility starts at birth", but that would have pissed off the donors.
By the way The Biden administration had a chance to preserve choice for women,it could have passed legislation, during that narrow window when the Democrats had control of the Capitol,
The Interregnum between Nov 9 and the swearing in of the new congress. They used it to pass
the Respect of marriage act, that protected gay marriage, but not a bill to protect the womans right to choose.
Why would that be, i ask rhetorically? It is because gay marriage had become universally accepted and was not a hot potato. Whereas abortion was, and they were afraid that if they came down on the side of a woman's choice, they would be crushed or taking away abortion as an issue would play in their favor in the 2024 election. Female sovereignty is a great campaign issue.
Fear as a fund raising tactic, and a vote garnering issue is the name of the game.
Republicans have proven that it works, they have a whole TV network with tens, maybe hundreds of millions of viewers who are experts at tweaking the amygdala, that is where the money and votes lie.. in the amydala. People told time and again to fear (fear everything), willingly empty their wallets in support of those that tell them that have the cure and will kill the source of their fear. Create a problem, then offer to solve it.
Democrats need to study the Republican playbook, including Frank Luntz
I have noticed Biden is pushing gay rights and immigration also. He is working to divide the nation like Trump did. The only thing that makes sense to me is that they're both on the same team and playing everyone else for suckers. That is why I have little faith Biden and most of the dams will save America from dictatorship.
Thank you! Finally a diagnosis for so many of us, feeling overwhelmed, often helpless and depressed, even though we may be active voters, activists and working for Democracy. Weathering. Started for me when TFG, trump was elected and escalated daily until what felt like a culmination on January 6. That day, while watching the Televised political show, next door to my attached condominium, a beat-up pickup drove up with a Trump flag, confederate flag and a string noose hanging from the tail end. The driver stayed for months. Polite and cleancut. In our community only American flags are allowed to be displayed on the building. No rule about what is displayed from a vehicle. I won’t describe the next months, but even after he moved on, the terror and angst had become permanent residents. I’m active socially and politically, especially in Children’s and women’s Rights, but this daily assault has moved in. Permanently? I hope not. Weathering is real. And I already would never wear my star of david necklace identification as a Jewish person, in our downtown mainstreet, in my Northern California small town. I’m not paranoid, but I am cautious. Add all that to the Pandemic and its isolation and controversy and we have the perfect storm.
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Nice reference to Jim there at the end, thanks.
Can't go wrong with Jim Morrison.
The only way to deal with an abuser is to cut them out of your life. I think it's becoming clear we need to decentralize the government and go back to a city-state system where cities govern themselves. 80% of the population lives in cities and the 100 most populous cities are largely Democrat. I'm sure of the ones that aren't will have a more balanced political outcome. It will be the rural areas where this nonsense will be sequestered. And even then it will be too toxic for women to want to stay and raise families.
The city state system was the rationale behind secession. It is the idea that states are sovereign entities, and that we are bound together by commerce only, and that was the whole idea behind the first try at government, the Articles of Confederate, which failed, and necessitated a constitutional convention, which gave us our.s
The city state system has been the wet dream of fascists, like anti aborts, and anti gun control, "leave it to the states to decide" and in Dobbs SCOTUS agreed.
So not a good idea.
That was 250 years ago when the vast majority of people lived on farms. How would fascists have control over populations that are majority liberal today?
Here is the real political map of the US, the darker the red, the darker the blue the greater the concentration of voters of that persuasion, you might also notice that much of red spaces are empty meaning a scant population and what is there are Republican and they and their comrades in other areas control the state.
https://www.wired.com/story/is-us-leaning-red-or-blue-election-maps/
Yes I realize that. Which is all the more reason why cities should govern themselves.
I agree in principle, but how. By what mechanism. Cities are what is called municipal corporations, that is a non profit corporation. Corporations are created by the states.
It is the states that grant a person or group of persons (including cities) the right to incorporate, via what is called a charter.
If a city council and mayor authorized and signed an act of secession, what would the state government do? Send in the National Guard? The State Police?
If they did nothing, then the city would find itself in a situation like Hong Kong, except Hong Kong was a British protectorate.
There are a number of independent cities, that lie within the city boundaries of another city,in America. Impact Texas is surrounded by Abilene Texas. When I was stationed there Abilenelene was a dry town,but Impact was wet, and the only business in Impact was selling alcohol, And on occasion the Abilene cops would arrest you coming out of impact (to filll the city's coffers)
Manakin Town inside of Richamond, VA is another example, actually part of the Manakin Sabot community. It's origins go back to a Patent granted the Huguenots in 1700, a measure enacted by the George III to rid himself of the pesky Huguenots who had skills and commercial connections that the London merchants and guilds did. They complained of unfair competition, so George's answer was to appease them by offering them land in Virginia, but only a handful accepted.
There are others, but one thing they all have in common is that they have to abide by the laws of the state. So the idea of an independent city, with the right to abortion or other federal laws is impossible, given our Constitution that recognizes the sovereignty of the state.
The underlying reason for federal laws is the commerce clause and Roe was decided on the basis of the due process clause. This SCOTUS essentially declared that the due process did not provide protection, thus was wrongly decided.
Seven of the nine justices agreed that the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment — which says that no state shall “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” — implies a right to privacy, The current course disagreed.
Im not a lawyer or anything so I'm not going to make any claim to have the answers. But something has to be done to hedge this encroaching fascism. The supreme court has already demonstrated it is illegitimate and people can just decide to ignore its rulings. I'd imagine it's the same as any state. A state only exists if people make a collective agreement to recognize it as one. States are just an arbitrary social construct. If enough people agree within a city, they can become independent and secede. Create alliances with other city-states to fund the military and roads and such. There are city-states around the world: Liechtenstein, Singapore, formerly Hong Kong as you mentioned. It's doable. It's just getting people to do it. Commerce just has to be restructured to legitimize them.
Aren't you paying attention to politics. They have already done just that.
A liberal city surrounded by a fascists.
Sorry Laura yours is an unrealistic dream. Fascists already have control over populations that are majority liberal today, and those populations are cities, large cities, Like Austin, TX, Seattle, WA(basically King, Snohomish and the portion of counties on the I-5 corridor.
New York is a red state, but NYC keeps it blue. Pennsylvnia is a red state, except that Philadelphia and Pittsburgh keep it blue, Pittsburgh on the west, Phillie on the east and all the rest is Pennsyltucky.
And by the way, the voting power lies in rural America, which is the majority of America. Farming is no longer a family enterprise, although there are still family farmers, but Prudential Life Insurance is the biggest farmer in America, and owns property that starts on the Gulf and Rio Grande, all the way to Minnesota.
They start early spring, tilling and planting, then when the rented equipment is finished in the north, the drivers are convoyed to the south again and fire up the rented combines and reapers and start all over again.
Yet the tradition of rural America is the same as it was in the revolution, it is religious, conservative, they are the majority of Fox News, OANN , NewsMax and Sinclair viewers and listeners, and they go to church at least once, if not twice a week, and are told what to think by their pastors, priests and the local media.
You're just making my point. Cities should govern themselves instead of having states impose authority over them.
This is what the rich white rePUGliCONs want...CHAOS. The maggots who support these 💩’s think hey if these white guys can do it, I can do! Since media is owned by rich white rePUGliCONs who are mentally ill, they don’t care about America!
The Republican representtive of my new gerrymandered state District 69 is Jody Barrett who got in trouble with his racist, misogynistic party boys in TN State House. They accuse him of making them look bad by voting not to kick out the white woman of the TN3. "She didn't do anything wrong.' he told them. But, then, neither did the 2 young black representatives he voted to remove from his club. Them boys was uppity, ya' know. Gloria couldn't be uppity if she worked at it. She's just a compassionate, tough 60 year old white woman who gives her all to serve the people in her district-- Just as the 2 black representatives work to serve the people in their districts. OK, all 3 offended the decorum of the TN House, but that House decorum offends me very much. That decorum is killing our kids. Is killing us all. I think it is time for Tennesseans to fire these representatives who are more concerned for decorum than responsibly serving their constituents.
Well, sure. What do we do. We ask ourselves, and we tell ourselves. This is terrible. We are exhausted.
Thom, today's report is spot on alright.
But asking what do we do? That is the hard nut, is it not?
I think. We are all exhausted from hearing the same heartaches by degrees eay in, day out, week in, week out, and on and on. With no future that seems to tell us, what do we do.
We need strength. We need strategy. We need resolve that points us, bends toward justice, but with clarity, not despair.
Here is one idea. How can we win and help to repair those broken souls who are now so full of this poison that so many have become our enemies?
We must infiltrate. We must be willing to do things that run against our own peaceful natures.
At some point I fear that this will not even be possible.
But clearly whatever we should be doing, we are not getting very far.
Another Tucker will pop up soon enough. And we'll have another target to point at. But with only blanks in our guns.
One phrase I say, "Get out from under the bed!!!" You have to show your face.
Have you heard about...
This poor transgender woman Montana legislator. She is exiled from the chamber to represent her constituents. Seated outside in the hall, listening. And a group of old lady Republicans have actually chosen to take all of the chairs so she can have no place to even sit.
What should we do?
What can we do?
Sick, sick, sick. poisoned by falsehearted righteousness..
Remember Bruce Cockburn's song in the 1980s, about the Nicaraguans?
"If I had a rocket launcher." New lyrics are needed to that powerful "for the people" song.
It is not the blowhards on right wing hate radio, it is "comedians" like Bill Maher and Chapelle.
I surrounded comedieans with"air quotes" because comedians punch up,not down, and Maher and Chapelle punch down, and that is the style of fascist comedians.
Maher describes himself as a libertarian, but as my wife says, her first husband was a libertarian, is that a libertarian is a Republican who smokes weed, and wants to eliminate taxes.
Libertarians are not progressive, the movement was founded by the Koch Brothers and David Koch ran for President in1984
Every Friday show of Bill Maher finds him having a guest or panelists on that support his transphobia, he claims that he isn't but he is obsessed with trans women (not men) maybe because he is "friends" with Ann Coulter who some say was born Alan.
He is also obsessed with masks and vaccines, as he is overly obsessed with something he calls woke, or cancel culture.
His obsession with masking, even if it is prophylactic and voluntary (as in myself, a 84 year old with a compromised immune system (cancer treatments), and"cancel culture" are motivated because both have resulted in a monetary loss, and probably more important, a loss in an opportunity to receive the adulation he so desperately needs.
When one guest pointed out that he doesn't complain about the cancel culture of the south and Desantis, his response was "it doesn't affect me"
His take down of Trump is nothing more than infighting between narcissists.
“The vast majority of Americans just want peace.”
“And if enough of us turn out at the polls in 18 months, we may be able to pull it off.”
But, when does hoping against hope and indulging in obsessive optimism become self-sabotage? Does buying a little time substitute for taking meaningful action, or does it mean giving fascism more time to spread and grow its roots and branches?
Knowledge is power; but only if it is consciously and purposefully acknowledged and only if put to use in taking power from those who have illegitimate power and authority or from those who use their power and authority illegitimately. It is not enough to merely know that Kevin McCarthy, MTG, Gym Jordan, Mitch McConnell, and the other hate and fear mongers are power hungry, delusional, corrupt, and anti-American. They will practice their corrosive politics and propagandizing until they are stopped by activists and advocates for the people who are aware of the danger they pose and who take effective action to dethrone them.
However, voters in barely adequate numbers who are informed can temporarily put a crimp in the style of such miscreants and send them home from Congress. If they are just puppets, they will be replaced by others like them and the problems they bring will come back again and again.
There must be dramatic, comprehensive, and holistic systemic change from the bottom up if democracy is to be preserved and enhanced. Changing the names or associations of malefactors and corrupt leaders will not suffice. The changes that are necessary for meaningful progress must happen among the people, who after all were responsible for giving unwarranted power and influence to those who could not be trusted.
The unpleasant questions must be asked relative to how the people have been misled or improperly educated for making our democracy function adequately, and the unpopular answers must not be dodged because they might offend certain people or because they may challenge certain universal false beliefs and illusions. The buck actually stops with ‘we the people’ and not with the place-fillers.
The moment of truth has arrived. The time for excuses, diversions, mythology, and polite evasions has long since passed. Our schools have not lived up to their promises and reputation. Our citizens are not being given the most fundamental opportunities to learn citizenship, the most basic skills for discretion and “critical thinking”, or the proper grounding and experience in what living in a free and fair society necessarily entails. The result has been a generations-long slide towards authoritarianism, plutocracy, oligarchy, and theocracy. Now, we are witnessing naked fascism.
I was born an optimist. I have remained an inveterate optimist for 80 years. But the silly kind of Polly Anna encouragement that educators foist on students to try to motivate them to take up fights which they shied away from when they had their chance to work to rectify a deplorable situation will not cut it. I am very reluctant to borrow cheer from someone who is so deluded about our failing school paradigm that he actually gives it a rating of AAA+. In what universe? Where is the solid empirical evidence documenting that fact? It’s all smoke and mirrors and failing to recognize that is just our first collective mistake.
According to Plato, all men desire good. I would change that to, "All people in their right mind desire good". It is pretty obvious that the mega crowd do not desire boredom. They have a need to keep being distracted from truth and reality. Most shallow thinkers watch a lot of sports, or they fight with their relatives or spouses or so-called friends constantly, just as long as they are distracted they are happier. We need to distract them, I suggest we buy them some toys and treat them like toddlers. Toys in the form of motorcycles, race cars, or anything else that distracts their shallow minds. After all humans were born on Earth to have fun not to torture each other. The government needs to provide fun for these sadists. Even if it means bringing back the Roman Colosseums. The mega mind cannot connect the dots properly. It appears when children get exposed to phony or fake religion it cripples them for life.
Agree, with one exception. All religions are based on man created myths.It is the best Social control tool ever invented, no need for a paid police force, or an army, rather its believers willingly become fodder for Jihads and wars of aggression.
Suggest read if you can find a copy
https://www.amazon.com/Word-controlled-humans-brief-history/dp/091475212X
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Attributed to Voltaire, but uncertain as there are several variants.
Fundamentalists all seem to have a blood lust for atrocity - at least historically. I know there are "good" people in churches....unwittingly giving cover to the bad ones. The history of the church is pretty clearly violent and brutal. This isn't about a belief or non-belief in God. It's about inventing a system of patriarchal rule and attributing it to "God."
I have a pocket voltaire. Words are alphabetized, I will look it up, but damn he is right.
The thing about good Christians and Muslims are the same case I have about "good cops"
If cops tolerate bad cops, by saying nothing because of the blue line, then silence is consent and there are no good cops.
And you are right about it not being a belief in god, but it's not inventing the patriarchy it is maintaining, rebuilding and enforcing the patriarchy.
I can't think of a belief system aside from Wiccans, that isn't patriarchal.
The need for males to dominate women is as old as mankind itself, doesn't' make it right, it makes it archaic, outdated, outmoded, because the species has advanced beyond the point,
where a physically strong male is needed to protect the family and tribe.
IMO it is also psychosexual, weak males, wannabe's, have to posture, parade around like peacocks, or banty roosters, clucking and make noise to prove to others, especially females, that they are dominant and thus the females submissive, otherwise they can't erect and copulate and thus reproduce.
Again we should have moved beyond that, as there are millions of examples of men who aren't like that, but those that are intellectual and emotional midgets can't, partly because of brainwashing by father, friends, church and media. Hollywood has been a great source of fostering an artificial image of manhood, the likes of John Wayne playing a tough hero, but never served in the military, alongside other actors who have, is an example.
Octavian, who named himself Gaius Augustus Caesar, was a brutal cad, he issued a decree called the Pater Familia, it actually could have been extracted from Leviticus. It made the husband the tyrant of a family with life and death authority over wife and children, meaning he could kill them for disobedience or unfaithfulness.
That edict passed into the Cult of Rome, which became the Catholic church, and from there to Protestantism, in large part because of the son of Gerard Cohen who changed his name to Cauvin and his religion to Catholic so he could find work in 16th Century France. Gerard got a position as secretary to a Bishop, and then embezzled the Bishops money, was discovered and excommunicated.
Excommunication meant that your property was forfeit by the Church and your person legally killed by anyone. So Gerard fled to Switzerland with his son Jean Cauvin, who took notice of what is called the reformation, and created his own religion based on Orthodox Judaism, with a twist to Christianity, called Calvinism. Like Orthodox Judaism there is a belief in pre destination, that a good Jew (or Christian, especially among Presbyterians) are born as elect or damned, and you can discern the ones favored by their god, by their wealth and status. A poor Jew is doomed like the Fiddler on the Roof, the only way to prove you are not favored by god, for Jews and Christians is by becoming wealthy, Thus the Prosperity Doctrine, which convinces rubes to give up their hard earned money, and future retirement, so some slick ass dude can buy Rolex watches, wear Brioni Suits and fly around in a private airplane.
Same stupid people that idolize Trump as their patriarchal savior.
There is even a more deadly verzion called Dominionism, or Christian Reconstruction, founded
R J Rushdoony and Ted Cruz's father Rafael. It uses Genesis as justification that man, not women, shall rule over the earth, and that their god will save them from annihilation .
They wish to make America and Canada a theocracy, it is interdenominational.. Catholics and Protestants belong. They want to create a society based on Mosaic laws (613 of them in Leviticus and Deuteronomy) , except for those they find inconvenient like eating shell fish or wearing clothing of mixed fabric., they would execute rebellious teenagers, gays and adulterers and less than faithful Christians, and there preferred method is stoing, because stones are free (very libertarian) https://www.sullivan-county.com/nf0/fundienazis/royal_race.htm if you google it, the Chalcedon Foundation (Dominionists) are well aware that that site exposes them so they have created a plethora of websites to cover up and obfuscate, as well as evangelize, their religion. I had to google Royal Race of the Redeemed Sullivan County, to find this site, because just googling Royal Race of the Redeemed, all I came up with is b.s. and apologetics. Same tactic as used by Scientology so that tells you something.
And...thanks for the info. Some I knew, but not in the detail you've provided. These people are mentally ill and very dangerous. So-called "liberal Christians" will rarely hold them accountable or call them out, which is why I blame them as well.
I knew what they were from the age of six, when a Sunday School teacher told me that heathens who had never even heard of Jesus were all going to hell because they didn't believe in him. She then proceeded to tell me I must save all my pennies to give to missionaries who would go tell them about Jesus and save them. I walked away from her suddenly realizing it was all a line of crap. Some people never pass the age of six in their intellectual development.
Your parents must be Southern Baptists, because my uncle who was Southern Baptist Preacher and a racist, homophobic, misogynistic adultering asshole (forced me to be baptized at 17 because the church elders were scandalized by my behavior and the fact that I was not "born again", he also said that Jesus drank grape juice, when their Bible clearly said he turned water into wine. Which by the way was the trick of the Greek god of Wine, Dionysos, (actually means son of God, the Latin word for god, Dios, is their rendition of Zeus. So the Jewish apostles spread through the Roman World spreading a religion based on Dionysos ( Bacchus).
You got it right. My mother was Southern Baptist, my stepfather, a lapsed Catholic who converted at my mother's insistence. Neither of them were church goers, except very rarely. I went regularly, sang in the choir and often was at church several times a week. It was the only place I was allowed to go as a teen. I only saw my stepfather go one time - when he was baptized. Christian rituals are derivative from pagan rites and rituals. The Catholics integrated a lot of these rituals into Christianity to bring pagans into the fold. Christmas was never the birth time of Jesus (if He ever existed in the material world); estimates by historians say He was likely born in late summer. But the winter solstice is ~Dec 21, a huge pagan holiday. I'm not pagan, but I like holidays, so my family celebrates on the solstice. Easter was originally Ēostre and the Spring Equinox, another pagan holiday. There are others - almost all of them, actually.
I've read and I do believe that the Christian contribution to humanity's moral progress has been the concept of confession and forgiveness. Protestants prefer to skip the confession part and I suspect the Catholic Church has the right of it - confessing ones shortcomings to another helps put one's own behaviors at the forefront. In earlier times, once God or the Gods were peeved at you, that was it. Game over. The idea of being born again gives people a chance to move on from mistakes they truly regret and do better. Evangelical/Modern Christianity seems to desire the "I'm forgiven, so I'll just move on" part, without ever considering the "do-better" part. They've reduced the potential for transcendence to a series of "thou shalt nots," which, surprise!, are mostly applied to things other people do that they don't personally like. I'm not Christian; if I were, I'd lean towards Catholicism, despite its bloody and brutal history. At least there's some history and consistency there, as well as some beautiful rituals. For example, while they are anti-choice, they are also anti-death penalty (now, anyway, not in the past) - consistency. Protestantism contains a mess of extremism and outright nutty ideas. Pastors adhere to no common canon and often make things up as they go along. While Catholics do beat their children, Protestantism turns beating children into an art form with the whole "spare the rod, spoil the child" business. Cults all over the USA are victimizing children, legally, as we converse here. I've seen and experienced real brutality from this mindset. When I confronted my mother about the violence visited upon me and my siblings (violence never used by her own parents), her only response was "I did the best I could and Jesus forgives me," never bothering to ask for forgiveness from the those she harmed or to even acknowledging that harm. I'm likely biased, but that, to me, is the essence of Evangelicalism. There is precious little self-awareness or self-reflection involved.
The true religion is the "TRUTH", whatever it is. We can all believe whatever we want to believe, but if it is not true it is worthless. Liars are allergic to the truth, so they create phony religions to placate themselves with. IMHO, Buddhism is more of a philosophy, I consider that the closest to the truth. God is good, phony religions are evil, which is pretty much all of them.
Belief in God is a choice. It really doesn't have anything to do with day-to-day life. Religion. in the main, has little to do with this choice. It's a system of control and grift. That's all it's ever been from the earliest days when priests told people they had to sacrifice their children or the sun wouldn't rise the next day.
The believers and the non-believers should all agree that God is good. If there is no God like the atheist believe, it won't matter anyway. Just getting the Trump cult members to acknowledge God is good, would be a giant step. Quite frankly I'm agnostic or a none, and only care about what can be proven. We need to all unite against evil, which is liars and lies, that is probably why I dislike the GOP so much, honesty doesn't matter to them, that makes them evil not neutral.
Earlier today, I listened to your audio-book on privacy, "The Hidden History of Big Brother". I have a slightly different take on privacy, which I believe is relevant to your column today. I don't think "privacy" is by nature a phenomenon of human culture, people lived and worked together in common (hunter-gatherers), and even afterwards in smaller villages when settling. There was little need for privacy, in fact it could be detrimental to the community's survival if individuals withdrew "privately". But even after communities began to grow into kingdoms and the individuals involved in doing work, slaves, peasants, servants were never granted privacy, only the lords or lieutenants, etc. The idea of privacy is essentially attached to property, and until recent post-20th century culture was it ever entrusted to the non-elite. But as you point out, that grant was always attached to govt, and business trying to "spy" on those who they now might have granted certain rights of privacy too. My point being I don't think privacy should be necessary, but is necessary for all the reasons you point out in your book. People need "privacy" for protection from those who tread into their public lives.
When I grew up homosexuality of any kind was forced into dark corners of privacy because they could not openly be public. I don't think I even conceived that there were any other ways of expressing intimacy, I had never heard of it. Some of my classmates didn't even "know how babies are made" until they made one because it was so repressed that a lot of us really didn't exactly make the connection. We knew we had desires but sex was so private we never really learned exactly what our passions meant or the consequences, but we were told the consequences were bad--we would go the bad place. In the 60's,as I was maturing, everything began to change and we could be public. Women could only challenge bosses who attempted to seduce and gays could be "proud". The return to the public sphere gave people feelings of dignity, dignity of individuals could challenge those who might try to control their behavior or demand their submission. It gave rise to a threat, or a perceived threat, to those who might believe they were entitled to all of the dignity, and all of the authority. At first, when workers' rights began becoming suppressed, people could still publicly proclaim certain rights of dignity, choosing an abortion or not; attending a gay pride march.
Now I'm not overly concerned about "maga followers" because, as you pointed out, they are being algorithmically programmed to follow. What does concern me though, is the megaphones that are in the hands of those who are leading the charge away from "democracy". Because you only have to look at history to know that the majority cannot prevent a coterie of oligarchs successfully overthrowing a government. I'm quite sure in the first civilized grain governments there was no majority consensus that they wanted to be enslaved and provide food for the leaders. And I fear that what everyone is misunderstanding from the "left" is that the majority will vote to stop the erosion of liberties. If there is enough chaos created by the minority, the majority will vote to end the chaos, and ironically, history has repeatedly shown, ends up being blamed not by the creators of those who create it, but on those who don't end it. Therein becomes my problem. How do you then end the chaos without exercising authoritarianism against the chaos? Authoritarians thrive by making people need to retreat to being private, as you illustrate with your story about your trip to Singapore.
It is playing into the hands of those who are attempting to shut people out of the public sphere by complaining about taking away the rights of privacy. To accept others we must embrace them publicly, and shut us up, out of fear against being exposed.If I fear someone will steal my money, my identity, my thoughts, or whatever, then I must retreat back to my private self and rescind from my public participation. Privacy becomes necessary only when our openly public identities become threatened.
Safety and security in America has never been---we are simply delusional. I could go on and on about the pretty stories we tell compared to the reality, but I won't bore you or myself.
Society has come a long way concerning the LGBTQ+ issues, and we are much farther along with racial equality. Will we ever get it right? Never, because the religious and hateful will always be with us. At least we are at the stage where we can call them out. It's really easy because they are loud and proud of their MAGA attitudes.
So that's what we do too. We need to be loud and proud about these issues and those folks in our families and lives. We let the right-wing and religious zealots know who we stand by. We pass the necessary laws and vote for the people that will make and enforce them. We take care of each other and work on everyone's mental health together.
Yes! Hitler used FEAR-mongering to cover up his own sick predilections. The Southern White man used FEAR-mongering to cover up their own sick predilections; how many times did a Southern white mob Lynch a young black man for allegedly raping a young white girl? Who raped her? The White guy! Best defense is an offense. Fast forward to DeSantis and his crew; DeSantis taught at a wealthy private high school in Rome, GA where he partied with underage students, none of whom would tell The NY Times their stories (as adults) for fear of repercussions. DeSantis directly supervised Navy personnel who... yup, shoved garden hoses into rectums of detainees, anally raping them, and pouring Ensure into their rectums under the excuse of 'rectal feeding'. Just the chip of the tip of the iceberg on the sexual abuse and perversion perpetrated on detainees at Guantanamo. DeSantis hates Disney (he got married there!) and hates Queer people, Black and Brown people.... And DeSantis is just one of many - Jordon, MTG (chick as issues), Trump and all his Epstein Cabal buddies, Thomas, Alito.... Best defense is an offense.