These are frightening times in America, when the GOP has no problem with its own members that were elected with false resumes who would then in turn move to censure an honest member of the opposition party ... It may be time to ask ourselves if identifying as a Republican is a mental health condition worthy of listing in the DSM-5-TR?
These are frightening times in America, when the GOP has no problem with its own members that were elected with false resumes who would then in turn move to censure an honest member of the opposition party ... It may be time to ask ourselves if identifying as a Republican is a mental health condition worthy of listing in the DSM-5-TR?
Leonard Leo has been a major force in turning the country’s judiciary right. Now he has an even bigger plan and that is to transform American culture. Who is this man?
'Who is conservative activist Leonard Leo? A friend of Clarence Thomas.'
From an article by in The Washington Post, Timothy Bella reports, ‘In the more than 30 years since he became friends with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo — who once described himself to The Washington Post as “a leader of the conservative legal movement” — has used his influence to help bring a right-leaning majority to the Supreme Court.’
‘Leo’s relationship with Thomas is under scrutiny after Leo arranged for Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the Supreme Court justice’s wife, to be paid tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work just over a decade ago, specifying that her name be left off billing records, according to documents reviewed by The Post.
'Who is Leonard Leo?'
'Leo was born in November 1965 on Long Island and raised in an Italian American family of Catholics. His father died of cancer when he was in preschool, according to a 2017 profile in the New Yorker. After his mother remarried when Leo was 5, the family moved to central New Jersey. His nickname in high school was “Moneybags kid,” and a yearbook photo shows him holding a handful of cash, The Post reported in a 2019 profile.'
‘Leo attended Cornell University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1986 before landing an internship with Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah). He returned to Cornell Law School and got a law degree in 1989.’
'He has credited his father, who emigrated from Italy and went from being a tailor to a vice president at Brooks Brothers, as a major influence in his political life.
“He understood America as being a land of opportunity, understood the value of capitalism, the value of hard work, personal responsibility,” Leo said to the New Yorker. “My grandparents were deeply religious people, they were daily Mass attendees. So I got all of that.”
'What made Leo ‘a leader of the conservative legal movement’?
'For nearly three decades, Leo has helped and led campaigns in support of the Supreme Court nominations of all the conservative judges now on the high court — John G. Roberts Jr., Samuel A. Alito, Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.'
'He also has had the ears of the most recent Republican presidents.'
'At a 2017 speech, Kris Mauren of the right-leaning think tank Acton Institute, introduced Leo as having “a significant leadership role in the selection and successful confirmation of a third of the currently sitting justices on the Supreme Court” after Gorsuch was confirmed earlier in the year, according to the Examiner. The introduction made Leo grin, but he insisted there was more work to do.'
'In 2018, Thomas jokingly said Leo had helped reshape the nation’s court, becoming “the Number Three most powerful person in the world.”
'But perhaps the most important piece of Leo’s rise is his fundraising ability. Between 2014 and 2017, Leo helped conservative nonprofits raise $250 million from mostly undisclosed donors — such funds are sometimes known as “dark money” — according to a Post analysis in 2019. The money was used in part to support conservative policies and judges, through advertising and funding for groups whose executives appeared as television pundits.'
'He left the Federalist Society in 2020 to start a new group, CRC Advisors, but kept his seat on the society’s board of directors. Last year, Leo and CRC Advisors scored a $1.6 billion donation from Barre Seid, an electronics manufacturing mogul, that was among the largest contributions ever made to a political nonprofit, according to the New York Times. The donation was possible thanks to an introduction from the Federalist Society, whose tax status forbids political activism, Politico reported.' (WAPO) For complete article see gifted link below.
'Leonard Leo used Federalist Society contact to obtain $1.6B donation (excerpts)
‘In Politico, HEIDI PRZYBYLA wrote, 'The society’s close ties to Leo’s network raise questions about its nonpartisan, non-political status.'
'Leonard Leo, who helped to choose judicial nominees for former President Donald Trump, obtained a historic $1.6 billion gift for his conservative legal network via an introduction through the Federalist Society, whose tax status forbids political activism.'
'Leo first met Barre Seid, the now 91-year-old manufacturing magnate turned donor, through an introduction arranged by Eugene Meyer, the longtime director of the Federalist Society. At the time, Leo was the society’s executive vice president, and he is currently its co-chair. Meyer envisioned Seid as a contributor to the society, according to a person familiar with the introduction. Instead, Leo cultivated Seid as a funder of his own dark money network. The result was a $1.6 billion gift announced last year — which is believed to be the largest political donation ever.'
'The unusual arrangement in which Leo met his top donor through the prestigious Federalist Society — which describes itself as a nonpartisan educational organization — suggests closer ties between the society and Leo’s activist network than previously known. Leo has used the dark money network to donate millions of dollars to the society and to pay at least $1.54 million to one Federalist Society employee and $775,000 to an entity run by another, according to federal disclosure forms.'
'Interviews with people familiar with the internal workings of the Federalist Society, including two board members, paint a picture of a symbiotic relationship in which Leo uses his connection to the vast network of scholars in the society to earn credibility with donors, who then contribute to dark money operations that engage in the kind of partisanship the society officially eschews.'
'Leo’s political activism and his use of donor money to enhance his own wealth have prompted increasing tensions between him and his fellow co-chair, Northwestern University Law Professor Steven Calabresi, and Meyer, who has been executive director or president for more than 30 years, according to three people familiar with the society. But they said Leo’s ties to the conservative donor base fans fears that a rift would leave the society struggling for funds, while members also worry that any breach in the facade of the conservative legal movement would only empower the liberals that all sides disdain.'
'Leo appears to be planning to use Seid’s money to create a new ecosystem of conservative activism that he’s likening to a Federalist Society for cultural institutions from schools to boardrooms. That he and a small circle of his friends appear to be getting wealthy in the process is all the more in contrast with many of the society’s largely academic members who’ve spent 40 years building the group’s pedigree as the nation’s premier debating society, which is above the political fray.'
'Leo’s dual roles have served to attract one key backer — Trump. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump promised that his nominees would “all [be] picked by the Federalist Society.” Yet, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation, the list of Supreme Court nominees that Trump drew from in creating a conservative supermajority was devised by Leo alone. Neither the organization’s top brass nor its board directors had any official role in crafting it.'
'It is another example of how Leo’s association with the society helped Leo build his brand with donors and politicians.'
'The rise of Leo’s dark money groups has coincided with an increase in his personal wealth and an expansion of his lavish lifestyle, beginning in 2016, when Trump came into office, as POLITICO reported previously.'
'During this period, Leo’s network also facilitated millions of dollars in combined payments to at least two co-workers at the Federalist Society, both of whom have since joined him at his private company, CRC Advisors. An entity listing Maria Marshall, previously director of operations at the society, as its sole officer received $775,000 over three years from the Leo-connected Rule of Law Trust, while Jonathan Bunch, now president at CRC Advisors, received $1.54 million from the same nonprofit, which lists Leo as its principal officer, according to federal disclosure forms.' (Politico) See link to article below.
'The Right’s Obsession With Wokeness Is a Sign of Weakness' (excerpt)
In Michelle Goldberg’s Opinion in The New York Times, she writes, ‘Leonard Leo, a leader of the right-wing Federalist Society, an extraordinarily effective legal organization, is broadening his ambitions. Leo is hoping to transform American culture the way he transformed the judiciary. In the words of an investigative report produced by ProPublica and Documented, he aims to build a sort of “Federalist Society for everything,” devoted to helping reactionaries consolidate power in realms like Wall Street, Silicon Valley, journalism, Hollywood and academia.’
“I spent close to 30 years, if not more, helping to build the conservative legal movement,” Leo said in a video for the organization at the heart of his strategy, the Teneo Network. “And at some point or another, I just said to myself, ‘If this can work for law, why can’t it work for lots of other areas of American culture and American life where things are really messed up right now?’” That includes “wokeism in the corporate environment, in the educational environment,” biased media and “entertainment that is really corrupting our youth.” (NYTimes) For complete Opinion, sorry no gift option is available.
You did it again. Excellent comment about one of our leading fascists. This statement is a declaration of war on democracy, inclusion, diversity and the Constitution itself.
"If this can work for law, why can’t it work for lots of other areas of American culture and American life where things are really messed up right now?"
If that sentence and $1.2 billion doesn't scare the Hell out of us, nothing will.
The issue that angers me the most is his belief that HIS religious views are somehow to be spread across the nation like butter on toast. Leonard Leo is a very dangerous monster. I wonder if his Italian heritage has a DNA connection with Mussolini.
Majority of Americans to Leonard Leo: "The really messed up area of American life is people like you who are effectively IMPOSING your values on the rest of us. We, the majority think you are invading our lives with your religious views. That's not American. That's totalitarian."
Bill, Leo Leonard's ambition and skill are notable. In order to have a sense of his reach, I hope subscribers read the full comment to learn about his fundraising abilities. While not a fan of the Catholic Church, I wouldn't lay Leo's danger to democracy at the foot of the Church or his Italian roots, while they were building blocks. It is sensible to be wary of scapegoating __Jews, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians..., we know where that leads. Putin, Trump...Leo and others, now and in the past___ what is the alchemy that makes the monster? They are not the same, but what, perhaps, do they have in common?
Fern, thank you as always for your deeply researched and detailed commentary. I suspect that the real threat to our democracy as well as to our entire planet lies not in his religious views but in the sources of the money which gives him his power. SO MANY, the majority I suspect, of his largest donors derive their money from industries and organizations which continue to actively despoil earth's resources and climate. THAT is what I fear from the likes of Leonard Leo!
I DO NOT lay the responsibility for Leonard Leo's influence at the feet of Italians or Catholics. I love Italians and I have had a Catholic wife. Please don't misinterpret me.
What is outrageous, unacceptable and dangerous is ANYONE imposing their religious views on others. And that is exactly what this Extreme Court is doing. I refer to Mussolini because he was an early promoter of present day fascism. Leo having an Italian heritage is simply a fact - not a condemnation.
Bill, my intention was not to blame you for scapegoating, you did no such thing, instead it was to point to a general inclination to pin a person's outsized ambition on race, religion, ethnic group, etc.
Bill, after thinking some more about our exchange, it occurred to me that your line, 'I wonder if his Italian heritage has a DNA connection with Mussolini.' may have triggered my scapegoating alert. In addition, your, 'Italian heritage - is a simple fact' rang another bell. 'Italian heritage' can be connected to how many well known good and bad Italians? Why go that route? I am reminded of that song 'dem bones', in an amusing way.
Fern, thank you for distinguishing the "building blocks" from the.main structure. Leo's public "religion"
is, in my view, a politically partisan distortion of the faith tradition which may have been part of his formative years. But he is aping the stance and bankrolling those U.S. Bishops who have chosen to politicize and weaponize church sacraments and scripture in their alignment with other right leaning, anti-woke political, cultural and faith groups. When this happens "religion" becomes one more handy label in a culture war. It loses its connection to the transcendent sacred. The practice of faith, thankfully, is a fuller spectrum than the point on which Leonard Leo or some U.S. Bishops are standing. So, the "religious beliefs" Leo is trying to force down others throats may be more
" Leo-beliefs" than "faith beliefs". There are many Catholics, I am one, who practice a less culturized, less partisan coopted faith.... on a part of the spectrum far from Leo.
Carol, your words are the first to be read this early morning. I have some understanding in my heart of what you are sharing with us. Your being and faith are one. Thank you for bringing us to this understanding.
Good morning and thank you, Fern. The distortions of religion are present within the " institutions" of religion as well as without. I call out the distortions from within. My faith finds its ground despite the human failures and systemic issues. It is not an easy place to be. I thank you for seeing that.
Leo-Leo is da’ man! The Koch bros amongst others provide the $$$$ and Leo-Leo spreads the money around!
Capitalism he says! Well capitalism is suppose to rely on competitors to balance the ‘free market’! Ha! The mega billionaires buy up their competitors or ruin them!
A devout Catholic? Somewhere in the Bible is a story about ‘passing through the eye of a needle’! Leo-Leo must believe that he can take his ill obtained wealth with him, but he may find that the alleged pearly gates are locked!
Leo’s political activism and his use of donor money to enhance his own wealth have prompted increasing tensions between him and his fellow co-chair, Northwestern University Law Professor Steven Calabresi, and Meyer, who has been executive director or president for more than 30 years, according to three people familiar with the society. But they said Leo’s ties to the conservative donor base fans fears that a rift would leave the society struggling for funds, while members also worry that any breach in the facade of the conservative legal movement would only empower the liberals that all sides disdain.'
That says it all. Money and power rule this Syndicate.
Wow! Thanks for posting this info here. We all need to know who we are dealing with/against in so many areas now. He definitely was the tie between SInger and Alito in the trip to Alaska. Our fish are big here but we can catch one of those on the river for free or off the beach just by being a resident. Personally, I don't like king salmon; prefer reds.
Two pieces come to my mind to explain the present day MAGA Republicans, who are, in my view, a re-emergence of the 1920's Ku Klux Klan: 1) "The Anger Games, Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?" [ google it] and Timothy Egan's "A Fever in the Heartland." White theocratic racism. Remember Charlottesville in 2017 and the marchers shouting "Jews will not replace us?" That's Klan talk.
Richard, your reading list looks exactly like the one on my Kindle. These books come from different perspectives but all come to the same frightening conclusions. This white theocratic patriarchal racism has to be pulled out by the root. While the next generation thankfully rejects their ideas, the MAGAs have fallen back on authoritarians to force compliance.
Clearly, more important to them than individual liberties, freedom of thought and expression, is the exclusion of all non-white, non-Protestant folks from the political process. Another book in my arsenal: The Christ Conspiracy by Acharya S.
I believe there are existing diagnoses among the so-called “Axis 2” personality disorders that would fit the bill, such as passive dependent personality and paranoid personality. Certainly, all the characteristics of a cult would apply.
Agree. Republicans voters seem to show a pattern worthy of several forms of mental illness. Complete lack of self awareness and delusional thinking. Perhaps there is a more nuanced way of saying “basket of deplorable(s). At first I gave them the benefit of the doubt (unemployment, poor education, etc). But since their leaders have shown their “true colors”. I have given up. They are now the front line of Fascist propaganda. VOTE BLUE!
Roy, Jim, Maureen and Nancy, I suspect we needn't refer to any DSM of psychiatric diagnoses but rather to many people's need to identify with a cause which is both powerful as well as self-serving. The grand irony lies in the fact that right-wing cause rarely serves the majority of people who vote for it out of their need for identity. That they vote for it suggests even ore strongly that they aren't really thinking but rather identifying with accumulated feelings of displacement, outrage and unfair treatment they feel powerless to change.
These are frightening times in America, when the GOP has no problem with its own members that were elected with false resumes who would then in turn move to censure an honest member of the opposition party ... It may be time to ask ourselves if identifying as a Republican is a mental health condition worthy of listing in the DSM-5-TR?
Leonard Leo has been a major force in turning the country’s judiciary right. Now he has an even bigger plan and that is to transform American culture. Who is this man?
'Who is conservative activist Leonard Leo? A friend of Clarence Thomas.'
From an article by in The Washington Post, Timothy Bella reports, ‘In the more than 30 years since he became friends with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo — who once described himself to The Washington Post as “a leader of the conservative legal movement” — has used his influence to help bring a right-leaning majority to the Supreme Court.’
‘Leo’s relationship with Thomas is under scrutiny after Leo arranged for Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the Supreme Court justice’s wife, to be paid tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work just over a decade ago, specifying that her name be left off billing records, according to documents reviewed by The Post.
'Who is Leonard Leo?'
'Leo was born in November 1965 on Long Island and raised in an Italian American family of Catholics. His father died of cancer when he was in preschool, according to a 2017 profile in the New Yorker. After his mother remarried when Leo was 5, the family moved to central New Jersey. His nickname in high school was “Moneybags kid,” and a yearbook photo shows him holding a handful of cash, The Post reported in a 2019 profile.'
‘Leo attended Cornell University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1986 before landing an internship with Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah). He returned to Cornell Law School and got a law degree in 1989.’
'He has credited his father, who emigrated from Italy and went from being a tailor to a vice president at Brooks Brothers, as a major influence in his political life.
“He understood America as being a land of opportunity, understood the value of capitalism, the value of hard work, personal responsibility,” Leo said to the New Yorker. “My grandparents were deeply religious people, they were daily Mass attendees. So I got all of that.”
'What made Leo ‘a leader of the conservative legal movement’?
'For nearly three decades, Leo has helped and led campaigns in support of the Supreme Court nominations of all the conservative judges now on the high court — John G. Roberts Jr., Samuel A. Alito, Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.'
'He also has had the ears of the most recent Republican presidents.'
'At a 2017 speech, Kris Mauren of the right-leaning think tank Acton Institute, introduced Leo as having “a significant leadership role in the selection and successful confirmation of a third of the currently sitting justices on the Supreme Court” after Gorsuch was confirmed earlier in the year, according to the Examiner. The introduction made Leo grin, but he insisted there was more work to do.'
'In 2018, Thomas jokingly said Leo had helped reshape the nation’s court, becoming “the Number Three most powerful person in the world.”
'But perhaps the most important piece of Leo’s rise is his fundraising ability. Between 2014 and 2017, Leo helped conservative nonprofits raise $250 million from mostly undisclosed donors — such funds are sometimes known as “dark money” — according to a Post analysis in 2019. The money was used in part to support conservative policies and judges, through advertising and funding for groups whose executives appeared as television pundits.'
'He left the Federalist Society in 2020 to start a new group, CRC Advisors, but kept his seat on the society’s board of directors. Last year, Leo and CRC Advisors scored a $1.6 billion donation from Barre Seid, an electronics manufacturing mogul, that was among the largest contributions ever made to a political nonprofit, according to the New York Times. The donation was possible thanks to an introduction from the Federalist Society, whose tax status forbids political activism, Politico reported.' (WAPO) For complete article see gifted link below.
https://wapo.st/3CEBPQq
'Leonard Leo used Federalist Society contact to obtain $1.6B donation (excerpts)
‘In Politico, HEIDI PRZYBYLA wrote, 'The society’s close ties to Leo’s network raise questions about its nonpartisan, non-political status.'
'Leonard Leo, who helped to choose judicial nominees for former President Donald Trump, obtained a historic $1.6 billion gift for his conservative legal network via an introduction through the Federalist Society, whose tax status forbids political activism.'
'Leo first met Barre Seid, the now 91-year-old manufacturing magnate turned donor, through an introduction arranged by Eugene Meyer, the longtime director of the Federalist Society. At the time, Leo was the society’s executive vice president, and he is currently its co-chair. Meyer envisioned Seid as a contributor to the society, according to a person familiar with the introduction. Instead, Leo cultivated Seid as a funder of his own dark money network. The result was a $1.6 billion gift announced last year — which is believed to be the largest political donation ever.'
'The unusual arrangement in which Leo met his top donor through the prestigious Federalist Society — which describes itself as a nonpartisan educational organization — suggests closer ties between the society and Leo’s activist network than previously known. Leo has used the dark money network to donate millions of dollars to the society and to pay at least $1.54 million to one Federalist Society employee and $775,000 to an entity run by another, according to federal disclosure forms.'
'Interviews with people familiar with the internal workings of the Federalist Society, including two board members, paint a picture of a symbiotic relationship in which Leo uses his connection to the vast network of scholars in the society to earn credibility with donors, who then contribute to dark money operations that engage in the kind of partisanship the society officially eschews.'
'Leo’s political activism and his use of donor money to enhance his own wealth have prompted increasing tensions between him and his fellow co-chair, Northwestern University Law Professor Steven Calabresi, and Meyer, who has been executive director or president for more than 30 years, according to three people familiar with the society. But they said Leo’s ties to the conservative donor base fans fears that a rift would leave the society struggling for funds, while members also worry that any breach in the facade of the conservative legal movement would only empower the liberals that all sides disdain.'
'Leo appears to be planning to use Seid’s money to create a new ecosystem of conservative activism that he’s likening to a Federalist Society for cultural institutions from schools to boardrooms. That he and a small circle of his friends appear to be getting wealthy in the process is all the more in contrast with many of the society’s largely academic members who’ve spent 40 years building the group’s pedigree as the nation’s premier debating society, which is above the political fray.'
'Leo’s dual roles have served to attract one key backer — Trump. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump promised that his nominees would “all [be] picked by the Federalist Society.” Yet, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation, the list of Supreme Court nominees that Trump drew from in creating a conservative supermajority was devised by Leo alone. Neither the organization’s top brass nor its board directors had any official role in crafting it.'
'It is another example of how Leo’s association with the society helped Leo build his brand with donors and politicians.'
'The rise of Leo’s dark money groups has coincided with an increase in his personal wealth and an expansion of his lavish lifestyle, beginning in 2016, when Trump came into office, as POLITICO reported previously.'
'During this period, Leo’s network also facilitated millions of dollars in combined payments to at least two co-workers at the Federalist Society, both of whom have since joined him at his private company, CRC Advisors. An entity listing Maria Marshall, previously director of operations at the society, as its sole officer received $775,000 over three years from the Leo-connected Rule of Law Trust, while Jonathan Bunch, now president at CRC Advisors, received $1.54 million from the same nonprofit, which lists Leo as its principal officer, according to federal disclosure forms.' (Politico) See link to article below.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/02/leonard-leo-federalist-society-00094761
'The Right’s Obsession With Wokeness Is a Sign of Weakness' (excerpt)
In Michelle Goldberg’s Opinion in The New York Times, she writes, ‘Leonard Leo, a leader of the right-wing Federalist Society, an extraordinarily effective legal organization, is broadening his ambitions. Leo is hoping to transform American culture the way he transformed the judiciary. In the words of an investigative report produced by ProPublica and Documented, he aims to build a sort of “Federalist Society for everything,” devoted to helping reactionaries consolidate power in realms like Wall Street, Silicon Valley, journalism, Hollywood and academia.’
“I spent close to 30 years, if not more, helping to build the conservative legal movement,” Leo said in a video for the organization at the heart of his strategy, the Teneo Network. “And at some point or another, I just said to myself, ‘If this can work for law, why can’t it work for lots of other areas of American culture and American life where things are really messed up right now?’” That includes “wokeism in the corporate environment, in the educational environment,” biased media and “entertainment that is really corrupting our youth.” (NYTimes) For complete Opinion, sorry no gift option is available.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/10/opinion/republican-woke-focus.html
Fern,
You did it again. Excellent comment about one of our leading fascists. This statement is a declaration of war on democracy, inclusion, diversity and the Constitution itself.
"If this can work for law, why can’t it work for lots of other areas of American culture and American life where things are really messed up right now?"
If that sentence and $1.2 billion doesn't scare the Hell out of us, nothing will.
The issue that angers me the most is his belief that HIS religious views are somehow to be spread across the nation like butter on toast. Leonard Leo is a very dangerous monster. I wonder if his Italian heritage has a DNA connection with Mussolini.
Majority of Americans to Leonard Leo: "The really messed up area of American life is people like you who are effectively IMPOSING your values on the rest of us. We, the majority think you are invading our lives with your religious views. That's not American. That's totalitarian."
Bill, Leo Leonard's ambition and skill are notable. In order to have a sense of his reach, I hope subscribers read the full comment to learn about his fundraising abilities. While not a fan of the Catholic Church, I wouldn't lay Leo's danger to democracy at the foot of the Church or his Italian roots, while they were building blocks. It is sensible to be wary of scapegoating __Jews, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians..., we know where that leads. Putin, Trump...Leo and others, now and in the past___ what is the alchemy that makes the monster? They are not the same, but what, perhaps, do they have in common?
Fern, thank you as always for your deeply researched and detailed commentary. I suspect that the real threat to our democracy as well as to our entire planet lies not in his religious views but in the sources of the money which gives him his power. SO MANY, the majority I suspect, of his largest donors derive their money from industries and organizations which continue to actively despoil earth's resources and climate. THAT is what I fear from the likes of Leonard Leo!
I DO NOT lay the responsibility for Leonard Leo's influence at the feet of Italians or Catholics. I love Italians and I have had a Catholic wife. Please don't misinterpret me.
What is outrageous, unacceptable and dangerous is ANYONE imposing their religious views on others. And that is exactly what this Extreme Court is doing. I refer to Mussolini because he was an early promoter of present day fascism. Leo having an Italian heritage is simply a fact - not a condemnation.
Bill, my intention was not to blame you for scapegoating, you did no such thing, instead it was to point to a general inclination to pin a person's outsized ambition on race, religion, ethnic group, etc.
Bill, after thinking some more about our exchange, it occurred to me that your line, 'I wonder if his Italian heritage has a DNA connection with Mussolini.' may have triggered my scapegoating alert. In addition, your, 'Italian heritage - is a simple fact' rang another bell. 'Italian heritage' can be connected to how many well known good and bad Italians? Why go that route? I am reminded of that song 'dem bones', in an amusing way.
Giant inflated egos and a shit ton of money!
Fern, thank you for distinguishing the "building blocks" from the.main structure. Leo's public "religion"
is, in my view, a politically partisan distortion of the faith tradition which may have been part of his formative years. But he is aping the stance and bankrolling those U.S. Bishops who have chosen to politicize and weaponize church sacraments and scripture in their alignment with other right leaning, anti-woke political, cultural and faith groups. When this happens "religion" becomes one more handy label in a culture war. It loses its connection to the transcendent sacred. The practice of faith, thankfully, is a fuller spectrum than the point on which Leonard Leo or some U.S. Bishops are standing. So, the "religious beliefs" Leo is trying to force down others throats may be more
" Leo-beliefs" than "faith beliefs". There are many Catholics, I am one, who practice a less culturized, less partisan coopted faith.... on a part of the spectrum far from Leo.
Carol, your words are the first to be read this early morning. I have some understanding in my heart of what you are sharing with us. Your being and faith are one. Thank you for bringing us to this understanding.
Good morning and thank you, Fern. The distortions of religion are present within the " institutions" of religion as well as without. I call out the distortions from within. My faith finds its ground despite the human failures and systemic issues. It is not an easy place to be. I thank you for seeing that.
Leo-Leo is da’ man! The Koch bros amongst others provide the $$$$ and Leo-Leo spreads the money around!
Capitalism he says! Well capitalism is suppose to rely on competitors to balance the ‘free market’! Ha! The mega billionaires buy up their competitors or ruin them!
A devout Catholic? Somewhere in the Bible is a story about ‘passing through the eye of a needle’! Leo-Leo must believe that he can take his ill obtained wealth with him, but he may find that the alleged pearly gates are locked!
He needs to be investigated
Scary, very scary!
Leo’s political activism and his use of donor money to enhance his own wealth have prompted increasing tensions between him and his fellow co-chair, Northwestern University Law Professor Steven Calabresi, and Meyer, who has been executive director or president for more than 30 years, according to three people familiar with the society. But they said Leo’s ties to the conservative donor base fans fears that a rift would leave the society struggling for funds, while members also worry that any breach in the facade of the conservative legal movement would only empower the liberals that all sides disdain.'
That says it all. Money and power rule this Syndicate.
Wow! Thanks for posting this info here. We all need to know who we are dealing with/against in so many areas now. He definitely was the tie between SInger and Alito in the trip to Alaska. Our fish are big here but we can catch one of those on the river for free or off the beach just by being a resident. Personally, I don't like king salmon; prefer reds.
Two pieces come to my mind to explain the present day MAGA Republicans, who are, in my view, a re-emergence of the 1920's Ku Klux Klan: 1) "The Anger Games, Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?" [ google it] and Timothy Egan's "A Fever in the Heartland." White theocratic racism. Remember Charlottesville in 2017 and the marchers shouting "Jews will not replace us?" That's Klan talk.
Richard, your reading list looks exactly like the one on my Kindle. These books come from different perspectives but all come to the same frightening conclusions. This white theocratic patriarchal racism has to be pulled out by the root. While the next generation thankfully rejects their ideas, the MAGAs have fallen back on authoritarians to force compliance.
Clearly, more important to them than individual liberties, freedom of thought and expression, is the exclusion of all non-white, non-Protestant folks from the political process. Another book in my arsenal: The Christ Conspiracy by Acharya S.
I believe there are existing diagnoses among the so-called “Axis 2” personality disorders that would fit the bill, such as passive dependent personality and paranoid personality. Certainly, all the characteristics of a cult would apply.
Roy, that time may have been passed some time ago!!!
Agree. Republicans voters seem to show a pattern worthy of several forms of mental illness. Complete lack of self awareness and delusional thinking. Perhaps there is a more nuanced way of saying “basket of deplorable(s). At first I gave them the benefit of the doubt (unemployment, poor education, etc). But since their leaders have shown their “true colors”. I have given up. They are now the front line of Fascist propaganda. VOTE BLUE!
It is already there, Roy: listed right beneath “narcissism” and “pathological double standards”…
There are already a few relevant diagnoses: sociopath, narcissistic personality disorder, oppositional disorder....
Roy, asked and answered
Roy, Jim, Maureen and Nancy, I suspect we needn't refer to any DSM of psychiatric diagnoses but rather to many people's need to identify with a cause which is both powerful as well as self-serving. The grand irony lies in the fact that right-wing cause rarely serves the majority of people who vote for it out of their need for identity. That they vote for it suggests even ore strongly that they aren't really thinking but rather identifying with accumulated feelings of displacement, outrage and unfair treatment they feel powerless to change.