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Hi Thom,

The authoritarian personality, as a psychological condition, is testable and verifiable. John Dean and Professor Robert Altemeyer have written two books about this personality affliction. In their first book, they stated that this personality is attracted to and present all, most exclusively, in the Republican Party. Thus they introduced the phrase "right-wing authoritarian" (RWA). I say it also includes Libertarians. In their second book, these afflicted voters are shown, in a 2019 survey, as the key supporters and lackeys of DJT. That survey also shows his supporters are highly prejudice.

The RWA affliction has specific traits. They believe in an imaginary social hierarchy with God at the top, followed by white, wealthy, monogamous, heterosexual, wealthy men, then everyone else. A black, unwed, mother is probably at the lowest level in their hierarchy. This leads to a strong belief in INEQUALITY and explains the high prejudice scores in John Dean's survey.

This personality also believes in using severe physical punishment to maintain their imagined social hierarchy which produces severe economic, social, racial, and environmental INEQUALITIES. This punishment starts early in life, around 18 months. It is bounded on the shallow end by severe abuse of family member to teach them their abusive beliefs and they extend it to bombing nations of non-whites for resources they need to fund their takeover of our government.

https://the-wawg-blog.org/can-there-really-be-fascist-people-in-a-democracy-john-dean-exposes-the-authoritarians-that-are-leading-us-that-way/

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Presidents come and go, but the Pentagon is forever and too blame for not planning to evacuate women and children.If they need money just take the spending for the Pentagon crab and lobster spending of 4,600,000. This can pay to support Afghan women and children by providine security as they rebuild. The Gop had the audacity to bring to the House floor a crisis they created as an excuse not to support a bill to stop voter supression.

Not once did they mention the insurrectionist because they're complicit.

Attached below is the money to rebuild America and Afghanistan.....

Congresswoman Barbara Lee Introduces Legislation to Cut $350 Billion from Pentagon Budget

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-13) recently introduced legislation detailing up to $350 billion in cuts to the Defense budget. Congresswoman Lee released the following statement:

“As we continue to fight a pandemic and economic crisis that has pushed millions into poverty, it’s clearer than ever that a bloated defense budget does not meet our national security needs. Instead of wasting billions of dollars on forever wars around the globe, we should be investing in housing, education, food assistance, clean water for our communities, as well as work to strengthen our diplomatic ties.

“Over the past two decades, the United States has designated approximately $6.4 trillion toward military operations. For this year alone, the Pentagon’s budget totaled $740.5 billion, which proved to be ineffective in addressing the true national security threats we face today, including an unprecedented public health crisis and economic crisis.

“Analysis shows that we can significantly reduce our defense spending without sacrificing our national security or reducing the support for our service members. As Co-chair of the Defense Spending Reduction Caucus, I’m leading this effort to redefine our nation’s priorities and work toward a more peaceful and prosperous world.”

This legislation's proposals include:

· Cutting private service contracting by 15% to save $26 billion

· Eliminating Space Force to save $15.2 billion

· Cutting unnecessary, obsolete, and excessive weapons systems to save $57.9 billion

For the full text of the legislation, click here.

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I think that Trump insiders in the Pentagon closed the Bagram Air Force base on their own as revenge in this pullout. It was extremely secure and had everything that they needed for this withdrawal.

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At first the radical religious right hijacked the Republicans, then along came the Tea Party, and now Trump with militias and white supremacists. Proof positive that whatever can go wrong will go wrong for this party.

I get the Taliban comparison when I think about the above mentioned factions that are all now an integral part of the Republican voting block. Your average, decent, good old fashioned fiscal conservative is lost in this morass of authoritarian deplorables. Ya, I went there, and I am not exactly a fan of Hillary.

Many people here and in Afghanistan seem to think this is the old Taliban. Maybe they are the 2.0 version just like the young people in Kabul are different from the ones in 2001. It is going to be interesting and some of the resistance has begun. Do the Taliban want a place in the world or do they just want their own little world? That would also be a good question for anyone from the radical right in America.

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The child in me daydreams of an official effort - on par with the secrecy and scope of the Manhattan Project - in which there is a massive takedown of trump, his financiers, lieutenants, foot soldiers, as well as the general criminal following he has scraped from the rectum of society. It would have to happen over the course of 1 - 3 days maximum to be successful. Shock and Awe, to borrow a phrase from the war-criminal stock.

This of course is a fiction, a fairytale - in fact it is part of how things came to be this way; the idea that someone or something is going to save us.

We, each and every one of us, must do our part to create the world we wish to inhabit. Democracy takes work, and a lot of it.

Have we been misled? Yes. Have we been abused? Yes. Have promises been broken? Absolutely. None of that matters now. Every single day is the day we change the world - or let someone else change it for us.

The carrots being dangled by the American Taliban are of no more substance than my daydream - but the sticks they wield are very, very real.

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