Today, President Biden signed nine bipartisan bills designed to improve veterans’ health care and to honor those who have served in our nation’s military.
As Richard Hofstadter observed in "the Pseudo- Conservative Revolt" back in December 1954:
Unlike most of the liberal dissent of the past, the new dissent not only has no respect for non-conformism, but is based upon a relentless demand for conformity. It can most accurately be called pseudo-conservative — I borrow the term from the study of The Authoritarian Personality published five years ago by Theodore W. Adorno and his associates — because its exponents, although they believe themselves to be conservatives and usually employ the rhetoric of conservatism, show signs of a serious and restless dissatisfaction with American life, traditions and institutions. They have little in common with the temperate and compromising spirit of true conservatism in the classical sense of the word, and they are far from pleased with the dominant practical conservatism of the moment as it is represented by the Eisenhower Administration. Their political reactions express rather a profound if largely unconscious hatred of our society and its ways — a hatred which one would hesitate to impute to them if one did not have suggestive clinical evidence.
From clinical interviews and thematic apperception tests, Adorno and his co-workers found that their pseudo-conservative subjects, although given to a form of political expression that combines a curious mixture of largely conservative with occasional radical notions, succeed in concealing from themselves impulsive tendencies that, if released in action, would be very far from conservative. The pseudo-conservative, Adorno writes, shows “conventionality and authoritarian submissiveness” in his conscious thinking and “violence, anarchic impulses, and chaotic destructiveness in the unconscious sphere. . . . The pseudo conservative is a man who, in the name of upholding traditional American values and institutions and defending them against more or less fictitious dangers, consciously or unconsciously aims at their abolition.”
And that man is as dangerous as he is intimidating and horrifying, TC! We should be on the alert for bone-chilling violence around this country.
As Heather has highlighted:
“The Department of Homeland Security today issued a new bulletin in the National Terrorism Advisory System, stating that the U.S. ‘remains in a heightened threat environment.’ It noted that ‘[t]he continued proliferation of false or misleading narratives regarding current events could reinforce existing personal grievances or ideologies, and in combination with other factors, could inspire individuals to mobilize to violence.’ Stories that the government is unwilling or unable to secure the southern border and the upcoming Supreme Court decision about abortion rights might lead to violence, it said.
Also, it noted: ‘As the United States enters mid-term election season this year, we assess that calls for violence by domestic violent extremists directed at democratic institutions, political candidates, party offices, election events, and election workers will likely increase.’”
I read an article this week on what is going on in Idaho and unfortunately, can't remember where I saw it. Lots of wing nuts moving there and the sane trying to decide if they should stay. There has been a move here in some counties in Oregon to join up with Idaho. Also there was in yesterday's Oregonian an excellent article on the milieu in south Texas. I am also sure there are some people here in Salem who would happily shoot me for being on the left side of the political spectrum...I have seen a few black flags, always in lower income neighborhoods. Had a round on Facebook with two members of the patriarchy about gun laws. They are now blocked. I do fear that we are going to see lots of increased violence.
Yes! “…[B]lack flags always in lower income neighborhoods.” And Republicans plus senators Manchin and Sinema are making certain that “socialism,” that is helping to restore the middle class hollowed out by Republicans (think corporate and SCOTUS), doesn’t happen. The dispossessed are furious, as well they should be. And as Republicans and SCOTUS destroy voting, they are applying the coup de grâce to this democracy
A home in our area (not low income) was flying a black they have recently replaced it with an Ultra MAGA flag. My blood boils each time I drive by that house.
I was also unaware of the significance of the black flag. I will keep my eyes open from now on. It's good to know where your neighbors stand on the issue. But still...REALLY?
From article in Daily Telegraph….”Neiwert observed that “‘No quarter shall be given’ is the black flag’s traditional message — and in the context of the building drumbeat of right-wing ‘civil war’ talk, a deeply ominous one. People flying them are essentially signaling that they’re prepared to kill their liberal neighbors.”
This is one explanation. I’ve also seen that it signifies a counterpart to Black Lives Matter. I was disappointed that our dog groomer and husband started flying this flag. She was great with my dog(s), but bye bye groomer.
I have not seen the counterpoint explanation. I am reading black flags as gun nuts live here and we are willing to kill any liberal we find. I haven't seen any in my neighborhood, but our street is torn up and we can only go one way to go places. I saw a few in Salem proper. We leave outside the city limits in a county enclave.
To me, the black flags signify Pirates, the black flags with a white skull and crossbones on it. Pirates were out to plunder. When they encountered a ship at sea, they had to decide if the other ship was plunder or peril. If they decided to plunder, they would raise the black flag ("the Jolly Roger")on their ship and head straight toward the other ship to battle.
Michele, Don't know that I found the article you referred to but thought you might be interested in the following info about why folks have been moving to Idaho.
'Over the past year, Idaho has gained 53,151 new residents for a growth rate of 2.9%. The biggest driver for growth was people moving to Idaho from other states. Census data shows 48,876 of Idaho's newest residents came from another state. Idaho's population now sits at an estimated 1.9 million people.' Dec 22, 2021 (google)
'The main reason people say they live in Idaho is family and quality of life, but for some, it’s politics.'
'That’s according to Boise State University’s 2022 Idaho Public Policy Survey. The survey of 1,000 Idaho residents found 5.4% of respondents said political climate was the main reason they were in the state, ahead of factors like cost of living, school or taxes.'
'It might not seem like much (about 45% said “family”), but political climate was the fifth most common response. “People are identifying the political culture of Idaho as attractive,” said Jaclyn Kettler, a political science associate professor at Boise State.'
'Republicans hold every statewide office and supermajorities in the state legislature, and former President Donald Trump won Idaho in 2020 by nearly 64%. The state is such a conservative beacon in the region that a group of rural, conservatives Oregonians are trying to join.'
“Historically, it was my understanding not that many people were moving to another state for political reasons, this is something that we’re starting to see people say,” Kettler said.'
'Idahoans are more politically active than the average American. The Boise State survey found 22% donated money to a political cause or party in the past year, eight points higher than the national level, 32% contacted a public official in the past year, nine points higher than the national level.' (DesertNews)
No this is not the article, but it certainly talks about some of the same trends. The one I read interviewed several people who had been threatened one way or another or were having second thoughts about living in such a right wing state and described some the groups and pols. Thank you for this cite.
He is one of many far-right activists who have flocked to Idaho in recent years, where a large and growing radical MAGA faction in the state’s Republican Party has openly allied itself with extremists to a shocking extent, even for the Trump era. This faction is accruing more and more power in Boise, the state capital: Imagine a statehouse full of Marjorie Taylor Greenes and Steve Kings. At the local level, they have seized seats on school boards and county commissions at a fast clip
That is really scary. I have in-laws in Idaho and I usually drive through the state on my way to Montana in the summer. It used to feel like a good, safe place to be, but this is pretty terrifying.
There's a ultra Libertarian group that started in NH about 10 years ago called the Free State Project. They have been allying w/the Republican majority in the Legislature. Jason Osborne, the founder of FSP, is currently the leader in the House. The group got so far as to put forth a bill to secede from the state of NH. Fortunately, the bill was massively voted down 323 to 3. Recently a member of the group managed to cut the public education budget in a small town by 50% by staying after most of the people @ a town meeting had left. Once the people understood what had been done, another town meeting was held and the cuts were overturned. Here's an article written by a Progressive group about the FSP. https://freestateprojectwatch.org/
I am a ceramic artist and sell a little work on Etsy. Last year I had a customer from Idaho who I got to know a little bit. She told me that "There didn't seem to be a Democrat left in Idaho and that she was afraid for her grandchildren." I contacted her again recently and she said, "So many people are moving to Idaho from out of state with their guns..." This is bone-chilling indeed.
It does look like they are more and more leaning toward an anarchic mess. Weird rules and laws that don’t appear to have much to offer in cooperation or benefits with and for all of the stakeholders. The pseudo folks. Falsifiers. Pretentious fakers.
I recently had a "conversation" on my Facebook page (briefly, I'd asked teacher friends to weigh in on arming teachers in the classroom.) Among my teacher friends, there was an overwhelming "oh, hell no" response, although there were a couple who indicated that in a high school or front office setting of a non-elementary school they would be willing to be armed. There was some counterpoint, usually from my community friends (not teachers) that offered up some almost reasonable conversation. Then there were two retired cop friends, who jumped in with both feet. The line you quote above "Their political reactions express rather a profound if largely unconscious hatred of our society and its ways..." seems to fit them like a glove. Well that, and an incredible foundation of white male privilege and display of some pretty deep mansplaining.
The NYT has a timeline for what happened in the years during the ban on assault weapons and the years afterwards. The Washington post also has an article on a reassessment of the assault weapons ban where people have rethought the idea that it didn't do much. It did.
Incredible connection. I was a soldier trained in the American South then a History Student in the Eisenhauer era and in both roles I encountered a growing tension from racism along with strong urges to conformity. It was also the time of the “grey flannel suit,” when strict conformity affected success.
In college and society I sensed the growing numbers of black people didn’t mean greater integration to institutions but emphasized their separation amongst the white population.
I think the SCOTUS Brown decision of 1954 also propelled a hidden racism in America that was part of the fuel for Conservative radicalism.
I agree, Art. I moved with my parents to the south when I was eight. Even in the 4th grade I was introduced to the "South will rise again," group think. Not only racism, but misogyny. I could not apply for a paper route because of being female. In high school girls could not join the future physician's club for the same reason.
The racism was obvious in the South that nurtured a strenuous Jim Crow discipline that permitted no breaks.
But in Buffalo, New York’s UB (Hofstadter’s Alma Matter) the adjacent community was getting mixed and a small group of black students attended school in isolation.
I joined a Veterans Group and was surprised a separate black veterans group was developed but never learned if it was self induced or forced.
Still, much of the negative reaction I got in that time for my consternation at the separateness was very strong.
I suspect it’s similar to Arms Control with most people all for it until they have the opportunity to impose it. Like equality it’s praised but not adopted.
Racism has always been alive and well in the north. I never even saw a black person until I got to high school among my schoolmates. At that time they were found only south of the railroad tracks in Elkhart and nowhere else in Elkhart County. They could not stay overnight in Goshen, the county seat that was and probably is full of good "Christians".
I grew up in Massachusetts, pretty much the same experience. Interesting, the recent HBO show "Lovecraft Country" centered my particular region as a place full of "sundown towns" - there was a brief sequence in the first episode where they showed a map, and practically pointed to my street, in a tiny little town east of Worcester.
The tacit arming of Brown Shirts as Homeland Security warns of increased violence towards Democratic Institutions and individuals by domestic terrorists, as fomented by fear mongering lies from the RED
Should be sent to every 'media' outlet in the US, along with this Thomas Merton quote, In 1968, Thomas Merton remarked, 'The abuse of language really blocks thinking and is a substitute for it." It may well be that they are all 'entertainment' masquerading as 'news' and using language which masquerades as 'meaning.'
Thank you for your history lesson. How widely can this quotation be published? I have seen the Great Unraveling, but did not see it as beginning so early. The Southern Strategy of Nixon cemented it then. Afterwards it was too late.
Interesting sidelight: the lowest 25% SAT scorers in 1952 were getting education degrees to teach in public schools. Twenty(?) years later the Koch network attacked public colleges and universities, installing pro-business presidents. An international scholar (Medieval Literature, 15 languages, internationalist) told all of us in his classes that he had graduated from Harvard “while it was still a university—the year before the business school opened.”
That bit about SAT scores really hits. In 1965 when I went to Colorado State College, "the nation's number two teacher training institution" (their words), I worked in the PR office and once saw a survey that really chilled me: for 90% of the students surveyed, CSC wasn't in their top three of schools they wanted to go to - it was the school that accepted them (by 1965, entrance requirements had risen from "high school graduate" to "high school graduation with a C average"). Back then, there was a well-known statement, "You can always be a teacher," if you couldn't do anything else, you could do that. When I finally took an "educational psychology" class (using the prof's book, with test questions being "fill in the blank" from the book - you were supposed to do rote memorization - and this guy had a national reputation as being good) and saw what they were making teachers out of and how they did it, all my questions about why I hated 12 years of public school were answered. Back then, if there were 2 teachers you could remember in 12 years, that was good - the good teachers were flukes, and when I reconnected with the one good one I had, I found he was mostly in trouble with the school administration for the way he did things. Sadly, I don't think education has moved further, though there may be more committed teachers - the system is still bad. "Rote memorization for the test" is NOT education!
I guess I was lucky as I had several remarkable wonderful people as teachers who helped me to be the person that I am. I can name a good number of them still and counted several as friends through the years. The not so good teachers were often hired as coaches and often taught social studies in the high school. In junior high the social studies teacher was an excellent teacher who never hid the fact that he lived with Wally. Naive times and we had no idea. One of my teacher's husband taught in Goshen (racially biased county seat that I mentioned in another post. His students loved him, but he was always in trouble with the administration and I am sure he was a lot smarter than all of them put together. When I worked at a high school, I was once again lucky that I had some fine colleagues. Once again bad teachers were usually hired as coaches. I should say here that this does not apply to all of them, but often to the basketball and football coach. Then we got a principal who liked to stir the pot and the place was so full of tension that you could cut it with a knife. I don't know how things are now, but the principal is a former teacher (I think English) who was a fine teacher. I can also say that teachers make a difference to many, many kids and they may take some time to show it, but I still get messages from ex-students that make me happy as do many of my ex-colleagues. Part of the problem now in terms of testing is the standardized tests. Teachers hate it.
I would love a convo about testing. It’s not really testing that teachers hate. It’s the test itself. If not a standardized test, then many times a test is designed to produce a curve…winners snd losers. Ridiculous. A good test is always diagnostic regarding a student’s strengths and weaknesses and purposed to drive instruction, not rate schools as an “A school” or a lower rung which does nothing except help
promote real estate or indicate”not a good area to live—-poor schools”.
Salud Michele. I loved so many things you said about students and teachers.
Salud, Christine. Lots of teachers do not like the constant standardized tests because they are busy teaching to the test and foregoing the things that teachers love about education. We do have a teacher friend in a very Latinx district north of us (he speaks fluent Spanish and his wife, also a teacher there, is from Ecuador), who has found a way to teach a class that bypasses that and I am sure his students thrive. He is also the world's greatest punner and can do it in Spanish as well. Today a recently retired teacher friend of mine posted something that she had to take (along with every other teacher in the district if I read what she said correctly) a multiple choice test which included a question on I Love Lucy. This after 30 years in the field. What was the point of that? Her feeling was that it was a money maker for the test makers. Yes, it's the test itself imposed from above so many times. I once taught a government class where I offered a class with the option of no quizzes, no tests, and no textbooks except a few for reference. I said they could choose that or the other option, but that they should not think they were getting out of work. We spent a great deal of time in the library and in discussion in the classroom. I told them it was a required course for them (if they wanted to graduate) and it was required course for me to teach and we might as well make the best of it. We had to give finals, but I gave them a chance to choose options on what would be on the final for each of them..most offered by me, but if they could come up with something that met my approval, that was good too. Each option had a certain number of points. Interestingly enough some of them hedged their bets and chose options that totaled over 100 points. In the two or three years, I taught this class, I had only one student fail, and he failed it twice. I should note here that the final test requirement was BS lauded by those teachers who wanted to give crap tests which could be graded by their student assistant while they plunked their behinds in the teacher's room (we actually had one by then) and discussed sports, etc. I felt sorry for teachers of choir, art, etc. Then the kids could get out of the final if they had perfect attendance which was designed to help our amount of money from the state. Yes, we had kits in the classroom to clean up vomit. I didn't buy this either, but by then I was regarded a total rebel.
That is not what rote memorization is for. The higher critical thing skills, the how and why, are approached successfully with a strong rote base of what, when, who. These are the facts accessed quickly when developing the how and why of a given problem or situation.
For instance, knowing your multiplication facts quickly and using them to focus on a more intricate solution is how we problem solve. Learn facts, apply facts.
Unfortunately, rote learning becomes exclusively the mechanical tool to keep “lesser minds” or so they think, busy.
I loved doing rote learning with children. One can incorporate all learning styles to acquire automaticity with facts. Once automaticity is there (think decoding print quickly and not struggling to “read” the words), then comprehension follows with questioning and reasoning techniques.
I started school in 1953. One room, 8 grades, max 20 pupils. Other than being bullied, it was great. Once I finished my work, I listening on the next class. Was reading way beyond my grade level. I can name all my teachers from Grades 1 to 12. A couple stand out. From them, I got an education and am grateful.
Thank you for a good idea. Please become one of those who drop by That's Another Fine Mess (if you don't already) and you will see a post on this in the next day or so.
Well written, TC. Chills me to the bone, but it's good info for understanding the intensity of hatred and destructive personalities of some highly volatile Americans. Yikes!
Way past time to call Rupert’s Fox what they are. The purveyor of our destruction. Fox is licensed as “entertainment,” yet they have “News” plastered all over their slimy operation. Flipping channels yesterday, I heard someone on Nicole Wallace’s show ask the seminal question - paraphrase - if they are entertainment, why do they have a seat at WH briefings, why are they treated as a legitimate news entity? It is a scam perpetuated on us all by Ronnie’s crew of thugs, deliberate and designed to destroy. No more “the most trusted man in America” type news reporting, just more Goebbels style blather. It has been a slow-growing cancer that is about to deal a fatal blow, with the acquiescence of most of the MSM.
As to the gun issue, republicans rule the fools. What will republicans accept? Why is that the question? I ask over and over…They worship anything but sanity these days. Even McConaughey’s impassioned plea does not suggest prohibiting the weapons of mass murder. Make no mistake, there are plenty of deranged 21+ disaffected out there. We all know that. Some care, some have proved that they don’t. They are vermin…
"What will republicans accept? Why is that the question?"
A very large fraction of America, including the three gentleman I had dinner with last night at a local bar, fully support/fully believe the far right, Fox News interpretations.
Usually, we all avoid any conversation about politics because we know that 1/4 of the total get together is not Republican (me).
But, last night one of the guys brought up McConaughy and guns. I, not having been inside all day, had not heard or even known about his speech. But, I guessed it might be for something reasonable. At any rate, these three guys are pretty nice folks 1:1 and in a bar and none of them "carry" (guns around all the time).
But, they were using language like: "soon it is going to be like Venezuela here". Which, is language DIRECTLY from Fox News and Newsmax. You would think these guys have no brain since what has happened in Venezuela has not even slight similarity here since it is the REPUBLICANS who have tried to become dictators, not the democrats.
So, I briefly tried to explain that Venezuela's Maduro is most similar to America's Trump. Jeri, these three guys went nuts as if I had accused Jesus of faking his resurrection. Simply making a reasonable comparison set them off. Instead, ALL THREE of them "believe" that BIDEN is like Maduro, about to put in place a dictatorship.
All three of these grown men are bright, well spoken, educated, (engineers), respectful to their wives and kids and decent people.
But, FOX NEWS has brainwashed them completely. I mean, completely.
So, "why is the question "what Republicans will accept"?
Because FOX NEWS has converted more than half of America into radicals who believe lies about Biden and the Democrats and these people are AFRAID that Democrats will do what TRUMP tried to do.
Except, the reason they believe that is because of lies from a Russian funded misinformation platform: FOX NEWS.
FOX NEWS should be being treated, by all branches of our military and our intelligence services as a foreign agent in America. We should be, as a country, working to disable Fox from broadcast capability over the next 24 hours.
But, we won't. And, it might be too late. Like I say, 3/4 of the gathering last night was fully ensconced in FOX lies. Only I was sitting there amazed at the BS these guys believed.
Engineers who can think through complex electronic stuff Jeri. Cannot think their way past Fox lies.
I am not sure why I am immune and have always known Fox was BS. I really cannot say why I am different, but, it is not HCR. I thought that FOX was BS when Dr. Richardson was still preparing history lessons for classes I never heard of.
But, America is in danger Jeri, and Fox is the ENEMY.
An otherwise nice man, but avid trump/Faux News cultist, told us a few days ago that under Biden “we live in a tyranny.” When we expressed our belief that the citizenry should not own military-strength weapons, he replied: “when we have the next civil war, you’ll be glad to be friends with someone who owns an AR-15.”
Rose, we attended a funeral on Saturday. While gathering at the gravesite, I overhead a conversation by a group of people who said basically the same thing. FOX Entertainment has drilled into their heads, "the next Civil War and you better know someone with an AR-15" mantra. These people were the top end of the local volunteer fire department. So many questions I would have asked them had we not been at a funeral.
I do know people who own AR-15s (and yes, that is a plural). I also know that those people will view me as the enemy. Much as their "rhetoric" indicates otherwise, I am who they identify as an enemy.
Since we are liberal/progressive, we would be viewed as the enemy by many in our neighborhood and I am sure there are plenty of assault weapons. The right wing guy across the street now has a drone and if he flies it into our yard, he will at least get the one finger salute although I would like to pull a Kathy Bates in Harry on him. He won't speak to us because we told him to lessen his noise and called the county several times. Large unmuffled engines going full blast, so that we couldn't even hear the TV with the sound up. His wife, thankfully, got him to stop because the noise bothered her too. She is a progressive Democrat, so they are an interesting couple.
Yes. Given the friend who's funeral it was, he would have been incredibly disappointed in those people. Granted it was prior to the funeral when people were gathering ......still.
I truly wonder if the people touting civil war understand what a civil war in America would look like. It would resemble Syria where the government called in the army to quell the uprising. If Trump or another trumpish president gains office in 2025 and if there are uprisings, Trump wouldn't hesitate to call in air strikes to subdue uprisings. Local militias would carry on much as the brown shirts did in 1930s Germany, slaughtering the opposition. God only knows whom the militias would deem as the opposition, Democrats, immigrants, Blacks? The thought of a civil war scares me to death.
Well, Rose, you know where to go to get an AR-15. He is a fool to tell you.
What he really means is he does not know what civil war is. Because, telling people he has a weapons armory means he is the first dead man at the outbreak.
You may be right. I did wonder if he had any idea of what a tyranny is like; certainly, if were living in one, he would not be free to criticize the administration—nor to brag about the armament he owns…
I think Fox News has normalized this concept of "civil war" so that people who have no experience or not much experience hunting or shooting something live with a gun think "Civil War" will not be the very ugly, horrifying, gory thing that it will be.
The good news is: My own observation is that those most attracted to the "Civil War" ideology are also the most out of shape people I know.
So, a 100 yard run will be tough on them. They will last about half a day in a real war.
Yes and no. Unfortunately enough of them were in good enough shape to storm the Capitol on January 6 and do real damage. The crowd brain had taken over and I believe they really would have hung Pence or Pelosi or Schiff that day.
I've been perplexed by the media softening with the 'mock' gallows reporting. How do those in the media know what was symbolic? It was a gallows, poorly built, perhaps, but certainly would have been tested had the mob put hands on Pence or Pelosi.
Mike S: While I, unfortunately, understand the Civil War analogies (& to preface my point, I must say that it is “very ugly, horrifying”)--& though this comment is not addressed (except here) only to you--but I know, from experience, that calling people “out” by derogatory names is just never helpful (except re playing to the crowd). I have a big issue w derogatory names in general: they never further any conversation in a positive fashion, imo.
And your observations that those reposing CW ideology are mostly “out of shape” is not helpful & not accurate. You must not be exposed to the same so-called-2nd amendment militias that I have, unfortunately (or perhaps you’re fortunate?)
Way too many former military & police & first responders belong to these militias, imagining themselves as 21st C Jehoshaphats, who worship at the temple of the gym (& nothing wrong w being a gym rat--that’s NOT what I’m saying).
Just my observation, BUT I very much dislike body shaming--or any derogatory shaming, regardless of its intent or to whom it’s directed. That’s what I believe.
Yes. What worries me Is that people who never owned a gun, didn’t grow up with weapons or hunting or worrying about self defense will arm themselves and their families in the belief that they need to protect themselves for the first time ever. As long as military weapons are available no one is safe. Or weapons on the open market. About 20 years ago, my hairdresser’s twelve year old son committed suicide. The family had a hunting rifle in their travel trailer and separate ammunition in a cupboard. The boy was diagnosed as ADD and had trouble at school. The teachers often isolated him as discipline. And he was in trouble again. Report cards were being mailed and he knew he would disappoint his parents. Imagine if there no guns in his home. He found the gun and ammunition and the family history will always be heartbreaking. I grew up with no guns in my home and never have had guns. Thinking about the danger and knowing about the gun accidents and numbers of child gun deaths should be enough to make us all consider who is being protected.
I never imagined 30, 40, or even 10 years ago we would be having these kinds of conversations. Irenie it appears we may have already gone over the cliff into some kind of pre-Civil War situation. And getting hotter every day.
Barbara, I think we’re reading the future and it’s a future many Americans, even Democrats, think we can save. I wish I could be so optimistic for our children, our grandchildren, the future. J6 is a harbinger of the next few years, unless we can turn the tide for repubs and SCOTUS to care for the future and the laws more than their loyalty to TFG and his minions. Women’s reproductive choices and equality, racial equality, much more stringent gun laws and regulations. And critically, Climate Change. Long list. Just my opinion.
Sick. Especially because he speaks for too many citizens who believe we have to be prepared. It’s unbelievable that military weapons were ever available to the general public. Or not unbelievable. More like unconscionable.
This really got me in the gut. I actually have pains in my stomach with this reality. How horrifying a thought! Years ago I never paid attention to what my friends thought of things like this. And now, they so openly talk about it that I wonder how I never knew. I think it's just that my mind has never thought about guns and I would never want to HAVE TO own one. I hope it never comes to that.
of course, you will be the enemy and will have no real friends who have ar15s. they just can't get the simplest things straight. awhile ago i was talking to a guy who said that biden had shut down 'that pipeline.' i said no, he hadn't shut down any pipeline. sure he did, he said. i said that he had stopped the extension of the pipeline from omaha to new orleans, but that there were thousands of miles of that canadian pipeline still open. well, we should be energy independent, he said. then why do you want a canadian pipeline in the us in the first place, i said. and the price of gas is sky high, he said, and now he's releasing all of that strategic reserve, like a traitor, he said. well, that's to lower the price of oil, i said. it might keep gas prices down. we shouldn't be buying oil from other countries, he said, spending all that money. american oil, i said, isn't any cheaper. you'd pay the same price, i said, and besides we want other countries to have the income from oil. trade promotes peace. somehow these people think they understand real life. they don't have a clue. the best way to talk to them is to talk the way they do. don't attack, counter-attack. don't try to be persuasive. show the same offhanded contempt for their thinking that they show to you. and above all don't qualify your statements. that takes too long. just make them. the current crop of gun people are not part of any real gun culture. they are the self defense crowd that deep down wants to kill the perp, not defend themselves. they are afraid of a slave rebellion. it all started with huey newton and bobby seales and the black panther party for self defense. when i guy who is convinced that white voters are being replaced by non-white voters drives 200 miles to kill black people in buffalo, people who have been here since 1619, before the irish, before the italians, before the jews and scandinavians, and people show sympathy for the shooter, well what can you say? you say, hey they were here before we were, like the mexicans in texas. we are the replacements. but there won't be a civil war like the last one. at that time, there were 17,000 active troops in the us army when the war started and two armies fought each other and both grew larger and larger. this time it will be the us military against a paramilitary and its peashooters. the joint chiefs know who they are, and they know where they live and can't wait to try out their new toys.
I had a similar conversation with my ex-husband. I could tell immediately where he was getting his info from. I tried to counter what he was saying but I should have known better. If he doesn't get his way, he resorts to violence...thus my ex.
An otherwise nice man is not a trumper or fan of fox news. The fact that sane people are trying to find good in them has given them so much power. But then I don't have friends who own AR-15s and would probably be on the receiving end.
I’ve know my friend for over two decades. He is like family! But the reality is that this last visit I saw him in a light I had never witnessed before. It was scary, even eerie…
I’m sorry that this has happened to an old friend but when an 11 year old survivor talks about their experience to a house committee and republican politicians make it clear that they will allow no gun control then I can’t help but blame every person who votes for republicans thereby enabling nothing to done. I will never understand how they can be good or nice. How can a first world country not do anything after this? Because republicans have a heart of pure evil.
I would like to agree with you, as that would make my life so much easier, but this person is not even a registered Republican. And I was talking to his wife yesterday and she swears he doesn’t watch Fox News! This is what scares me about the people supporting trump and AR-15s in civilian hands: the more I know, the less I understand…
Thank you. Hopefully, the US Government is able to see a foreign agent in our midst and is taking steps to neutralize. But, I have my doubts after 20 years of BS emanating from Fox.
Mike, are you OK with copying and pasting your comments on other newsletter sites? I'm thinking The Dispatch and maybe the Bulwark as well as Robert Hubbell's Newsletter if you haven't already gone there. It's not the wide dissemination it deserves but it's a start.
The shouted query “are you grandstanding?” at the presser said a lot. A movie star rich enough to buy himself some nice peace and quiet in luxury yet who chooses to use his celebrity to open himself to invective and death threats is spun as “self-serving” and “attention-seeking” in order to deflect from his message of common-sense gun ownership reform and common ground.
He can afford the extra security for himself, his wife, and their children, but he willingly placed himself -and them- in the way of real harm, not just a bit of invective from the perpetually disgruntled do-nothings who populate chatty corners of the internet.
(And if that rings any bells, I’ve had a bit of poorly-phrased invective sent inboxward from people in this tiny group who object to my discussing a run for office in this forum😂…as if blisters, no time to read, and having to converse with shitwits on the street who don’t know women only got the right to vote a century ago but won’t sign a petition themselves because they “aren’t political” [articulated in that nasal sorority twang] is anyone’s idea of a good time?!? Bitches, if I wanted attention I’d fabricate a wardrobe malfunction at my next standup 5mins, not run for office in safely D NYC..)
Because in the current USA, having a sometime actor advocate for the most anemic change gets exponentially more attention than the earnest politician, or the fleeting 15seconds of fame granted a victim (who, once their exclusives are up, are put back on the shelf of us regular Joes and not given the mic again).
The Rs leveraged that with brutal intelligence with Reagan, and the conservative think tanks and hate radio flourished under his genial, doddering reign. The Ds need to get methodical about GOTV and draft some feelgood personality to front for us…but who among those who have made good is willing to suffer the abuse it would entail?
Jane Fonda stood tall. We stood for her in Vietnam. Those of us embroiled in the machinations of the war, not those who weren’t there but purport to know all about it vicariously, supported her support of us. To this day thank you for your humanity against all cost. And we need people who don’t fall down like Laura Thomas.
I played informal intramural ice hockey for fun. The well-behaved bleats here aren’t gnat level, but thanks! Getting shoved out of buildings by guys twice my size in NYC calling me a “fucking cunt” only gives me good material for standup, although another bout with Covid might not be a blast and they seem to love screaming in my face (smelly breath simply bonus). Democracy in action!😂😂❤️❤️🇺🇸❤️❤️😂😂
What in the world? I think it fabulous that you are running for office. I have to wait until 2024 to run again for School Board since it is now district instead of at large seats. 🙄
Everyone benefits from running for office or volunteering in election process or participating in someone else’s campaign.
Critical thinking skills, some people learned them, some didn't. IQ does not seem to have much to do with it. The only exception I have to your comment is that "half" of us are brainwashed by Faux (Bad) News. It is less than half. About 7M less. To look at a problem and see only obstacles is to only look at part of the picture. We have assets, too.
Throughout all of this Trumpian mess, the most hopeful thing I've seen is a hand painted sign one of my neighbors put up (he is a damned good car mechanic) saying "Black Lifes Matter". He also has a couple of "Go Away" signs and a silhouette sign of an AR-15. The guy is clearly nuanced. Many of us are.
That is very interesting. I had spent a lot of time in Venezuela in the early 2000's and also used to say that we might become like Venezuela if we were not careful. But I meant that if a leader like Trump kept at it, we would- if we lived under a cult of personality, with a leader who did not promote businesses to function normally, replaced skilled people in the administration with cronies, polarized the dialog, we could end up like Venezuela. It was only when I said this to an old friend who like your friends for some reason follows Fox news and so on, that I realized I had inadvertently landed on a right wing talking point. It made no sense to me, any more than what I had said made sense to her. She had been barraging me for years with political rhetoric, before giving up in the Trump era. She thought I might be "open-minded" enough to get it, to understand her point of view, which she viewed as truth. I probably was open-minded enough to try, anyway; in that she was right. I still try. On Monday I had brunch with a group of my son's friends, who were from urban areas, very left-leaning, and in general open-minded thinking people. We were discussing the virtues and deficits of slogans- how the slogans people carry such as BLM can cut down dialog possibilities, keep us from finding common ground. The urban young people, it turns out, know no one who disagrees with them on any of these matters. They live in a bubble. For them, it makes no difference to know that far from them, people who don't know them assume that because of one or two signals, their entire world is being characterized as having a certain flavor, their beliefs a certain roster of characteristics- just as I assume that the people who live on the opposite side of the river with the All Lives Matter sign in red, white and black have a certain set of beliefs and characteristics. One of the group of friends is working towards dialog- he has the opportunity and wish to keep trying to find common ground, and get beyond the labels. It's very difficult work. I keep thinking it's worth doing, worth listening to those who have other ideas and beliefs.
Studies show that it reinforces our own beliefs to be exposed to different ones. They say that has been shown to be true. But you know what? They also say the opposite, that we can learn new ways of looking at things if given new information. I'm hopeful that that thing that they say, is truer than the former thing they say.
Yes. When a young man who was being groomed to lead the KKK eventually, went away to college and learned from his very kind college mates, once learning about his upbringing and future, helped him to slowly see other viewpoints. He evolved in his thinking and he left the KKK. Exposure to other ideas is very, very healthy for everyone.
There are on the left, people who are almost innocuous compared to Fox listeners, have similar problems seeing reality. On that I highly recommend a book by the black American Studies Columbia professor John McWhorter, Woke Racism: How a New Religion has Betrayed Black America.
FOX “NEWS” is a foreign agent, literally. Incorporated in October 1986, the network currently has 18 owned-and-operated stations, and current affiliation agreements with 227 other television stations. That’s just TV stations. The empire includes print and radio media as well.
In the ensuing years it has actively divided our nation with attacks on our institutions and outright lies. Chuck Todd put up graphics showing how many counties supported Clinton (1117) in 1996 and the subsequent drop in each election. By 2020 Biden only won 194 counties.
Fox has actively and deliberately used propaganda to divide our nation against itself. Murdock, as a foreign national, could never run for president. Instead he bought up airways and began an audacious campaign to turn America against itself. If this isn’t the work of a foreign agent, I don’t know what is.
Total agreement from me...Fox News is an agent of Russian-funded sedition and insurrection and it will not only encourage and enable the destruction of this country, but cheer it on as it happens.
Those are not “nice” people. They may have the trappings of civilized society, but, sorry: Trumpanzees are NOT nice people. They are Brown shirt fascists bullies by their own choosing.
Mike, I see this in my former law enforcement colleagues. They. Believe. The. Lies. It must feed something deep in their souls, because they have lost their humanity. Your description here of your dinner is stunning.
Mike, with respect to the rest of your otherwise excellent comment, Fox has not converted more than half of America to believe the lies. Please remember that Republicans are the minority party - the numbers vary from poll to poll but around 28 percent of registered voters. The number of registered Democrats is higher - in some places, dramatically so.
As for engineers, my ex-husband has a Masters in Planetary Science and worked for NASA, then Honeywell. A registered Dem. My late husband had a Masters in Industrial education - shop teacher and registered Dem. I live in a cul de sac with 9 houses. Four residents are engineers - 2 mechanical, 1 chemical and 1 optical engineer; 3 Dems, one independent. We also have two lawyers and a doctor here. Only one household watches Fox. All this by way of saying that your experience is way different than mine. If you want have a beer and talk politics here, you would definitely get a different response to your statement. Argument, yes. But only in the degree to which current Republicans have damaged our Republic.
No question that Fox Entertainment is dangerous. And I wish there were easier answers for how to silence their lies or at least regulate them in some reasonable fashion. But my degrees are in journalism. Free speech in a foundational freedom as you well know. Proving that Fox is dangerous and should be silenced is damn near impossible. Countering the BS is also an arduous task.
My only answer personally is to counter the BS when i hear it and work to get out the vote. There are more of us than there are of them!
The biggest thing on my mind these days is the online conversation I have been having with a friend who grew up and lives in the south. I have posted a digest of her comments in these Comments twice, but my timing was off and few responded. The value to me is her honesty. She is a good person. She tries to do what is right. As far as I know she does not watch FOX or any other news show. She has a large extended family, and they are all close. One is a preacher. I have just sent her another list of questions. I will post the digest of her comments (strung together for easy posting, but essentially unchanged from her words) at the end here.
My greatest, greatest, greatest, GREATEST concern is that we are not listening to each other as individuals. One on one. With respect, understanding that the other is a valuable human being just as we are, and they are trying to make the best life for themselves and their families, just as we are, and that when they get hysterical, it is because they are challenged, as we do too. Can we ask questions and listen to what a person is saying behind the yelling? Nobody forces anyone to watch FOX. So why do they? I think the answers to our divisions are in understanding the psychology. I'm not at all saying we should give up the fight for democracy! I'm saying we need to understand why others disagree, really deep down why, and that requires that we not judge but listen until we understand. Start with one person, as I have.
Her words:
"First let me say that I believe in God the Father, God the son Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit. Because of my religious beliefs, I see things in that light. I am very saddened by the deaths of the children and teachers, but I know that they have gone to a better place than this earth. I grieve with the parents and families because they are the ones left here to mourn. That's the hard part.
"I don't think gun control has anything to do with what is happening in this world. Kids are not being taught what is right and wrong. The family unit is broken and there are too many one-parent households. Children are not taught to respect any kind of authority at all. This did not start recently. We need better counseling and hopefully recognize mental problem in children sooner. The problems in this world didn't start now. It's been a progression for many years. It doesn't matter who the president is when it comes to this issue.
"I believe things started going badly when we took prayer out of school, when the kids stopped saying the pledge of allegiance in school and being taught to honor our flag and believe in our laws and country. People don't know the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day. I cringe when I see a Facebook post that says Happy Memorial Day because Memorial Day is the day we honor and remember the dead, those who died in battle. Veterans Day is for those who served, and Armed Forces Day is for those currently serving. When I was going to school, we went outside each morning and raised the flag and said the Pledge of Allegiance.
"I voted for Donald Trump every time. I don't talk politics with people because it's become such a hot topic. All my family voted for Mr. Trump. It was all the crud I was seeing on the news that made me stop watching the news. I have not watched the news since, except for BBC news, and I will sometimes read the local news. This didn't start recently either. (She talks about when 60 Minutes did a story in her community in the 1970s.) When the episode aired, they had twisted so many things giving their own negative spin on things. They had cut and pasted different parts together to make a different story. I have not watched 60 minutes since that day, and that was in the late 70's.
"(She uses my name here) you need to stop watching so much news and turn your attention to helping others, making afghans for neonatal units or nursing homes or going to the library to read books to children.
"I firmly believe what people have been posting, that guns don't kill people, people kill people. If a person owns a gun they need to have it locked up, like in a gun safe, or put away safely where children cannot get it.
"I seriously doubt we need assault weapons, but once the government starts telling us which gun we can have, I think we’re in trouble. There will come a time when we will need guns for our safety and food. Everyone in my family has guns. I remember growing up when I went to school the boys had gun racks in the back of their pickup trucks and it was perfectly okay. They would hunt on the way home from school. Growing up there were many times that mama would take the shotgun after she got off from work and go out into the field and kill a rabbit or whatever she could see so that we had food for dinner that night. The reason I think people need to be preparing for harder times is because of what we are going through now. The grocery stores are having a hard time keeping some foods in stock. There are so many positions for employment everywhere, and people don't want to work. When my Daddy was in the third grade, he worked in a gravel pit carrying gravel in a bucket for 50 cents a week.
"I believe that children need more attention and a better home life and that we should concentrate on that instead of gun control. My top answer is get the children in church."
What a painful combination: sincerity, seriously good intentions and Pavlovian conditioning, making use of ingrained beliefs -- good beliefs -- to undermine what those very beliefs truly stand for and to inculcate new, off-the-shelf ideas that displace them, as a cuckoo's egg will empty the nest of all its original occupants...
I appreciate what you're doing here. I have had that conversation (almost verbatim) with folks. I cannot rebut the Christian rhetoric that defines me as a sinner and therefore only valuable in my redemption if I abandon who I am. (Yes, I have had this conversation. "You're a good person, except for that gay thing." Direct quote.) Pray tell, how do I get around that? I cannot establish common ground with anyone who tells me who I am is an anathema.
Easy for me to say, I know, but let it go. Not important. You know who you are. Go to a movie together. Find some laughs. You may have an impact, and if you don't, nothing is lost. And you'll become a better person for the effort. But again, I know, easy to say.
Thanks so much for going to the trouble to post this. You're right, it won't get seen as much as it should. What you say reflects a lot of what is so heartbreaking about this strange divisive atmosphere we live in now and maybe always have. I spent a bit of time recently in Louisiana and Arkansas, and met so many sincere people trying to live right, who were Christian, who brought their beliefs into all matters. It seemed inadvisable to ask about their politics, so I did not bring it up- the circumstances that brought me there were anyway not conducive to getting into that sort of thing.
Being from a place is a thing. We grow up surrounded by an atmosphere, a culture, that creates our reality. I'm now from the Northeast, though I was born in Missouri to artists from NYC. Part of me yearns to believe in the same values that those I attended first grade with had- those beliefs that made them into the good people they are. Is it possible that those folks, who may admire a man like Trump, have no idea who he is?
So what is it that makes people racially prejudiced? It's fear and self interest, right? It's lack of exposure to others. I love those folks I met in the south because I met them. I don't care about their politics, on that level, but I'd fight them verbally with vigor if I had a chance. I wouldn't challenge their belief in Christ or their way of life. In a way I am sorry I won't have that chance. Keep talking to your friend. ,and once again, thanks for posting.
"who brought their beliefs into all matters..." I think this is the problem. Assuming your beliefs are the only true beliefs, turning away from reality in order to nurture those beliefs and denying even the lives of children in the cause of your beliefs is the core of the problem. If people want to embrace an Evangelical Christianity I respect their choice. They have been given that choice because they live in a Democracy. The pickle is their insistence in denying the healthy separation of Church and State. Trying to fit their beliefs into the complex make up of this Country and it's Laws is causing much pain and harm.
Thank you! I will keep talking to her. I don't know what makes people racially prejudiced. My mother's family was from Georgia, and they astonished me by their racial prejudice, as much as I loved them. My grandmother wrote poetry, and some of it was racist. The family that still lives there was not offended, but I was. I don't know about our differences, but I know we need to keep the lines of communication open.
Your friend uses two common dysfunctional tactics.
First, rationalization, the feigned helplessness and dismissal as “gods will” or the dead now reside with a religious deity. Terrorists use this same language! This dismisses real time and far reaching trauma to the living. Religious belief has NO place in determining broader law.
The second common response is blame. Blame parents, teachers, the failure of enforcement. Here we avoid the clear role of firearms. WTF? I find this so small minded. Blame the victims and everything else?
What I find contradictory in the GOP verbiage is conveying a need for more arms, added school security, and then COMPLAIN about increased taxes. Has this HUGE financial burden for “freedom” to have unregulated guns been assessed? No.
I add to this the current rant against a half century of regulated abortion rights, risking more babies being raised in unprepared, unsafe, negligent environments. The GOP votes down all assistance to address this.
Yes, I have listened and I am tired of the shallow vision of Chumpster followers. They defy intelligent logic and then call it “elitist”. They are Koolaid drinkers of the Jim Jones ilk. They poison not only their cult, but this entire democracy.
Feel free to share my response with your good friend.
Berry, your mention of dysfunctional tactics is interesting. I don't think she is trying to rationalize the deaths by saying it is God's will. She is being absolutely sincere. This is what she believes. About your second tactic, blame, my friend does place the blame for gun misuse on adults - parents and others - who raise irresponsible children. Again, though, she really believes this. Can you see that? We may disagree with her, but she is not trying to manipulate. She might change her mind if she had more facts and wanted to consider them, but I don't fault her for that, for that is true of us as well. She is being sincere.
My response does not imply your friend is intentionally manipulating. These are established "cultural devices" embraced by too many. Forms of denial and gaslighting that have been timeless and ubiquitous over history. The young terrorists who flew into the WTT on 9/11 fully believed they were acting in accordance to their religious faith, too.
Oops, sorry if I got you wrong. I looked up "dysfunctional tactics" because I wasn't sure what that meant, exactly, and what I found on quick perusal seemed to indicate that a person was intentionally misleading. I can see how this could be unconscious because of the culture that person grew up in, and I think that is probably the case with my friend. But she wouldn't recognize that. To tell her would be to say I know better than she does, which I don't want to do. So I have a question for you: how do we know that we ourselves are not misled?
To those who have asked, I did ask some further questions of my friend today. Here they are with her answers:
> 1. Do you or any of your family watch FOX news? I assume you don't, but I'm wondering if you know if any of your family does. Answer: some family but (my daughter) watched local stations from Jackson, and they show global news.
>
> 2. As of your feelings now, would you vote for Donald Trump in 2024? Answer: No
>
> 3. Do you think our current government, a democracy, should become more authoritative? By that I mean that one person is at the top and controls most of the decisions in the country. Answer: Absolutely not. OK we are not a democracy anyway. We are a republic. Google that with democratic principles. We are a republic with democratic principles.
>
> 4. Do you think the federal government wields too much power? Answer: We need the federal government, but we also need to have the states regulate their own government and be able to make decisions for their state without too much government interference.
>
> 5. Do you think the federal government should provide help to those in need through social programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, etc.? Answer: I do believe in helping and I also believe in Medicare and Medicaid, but I think the states should do more to help their needy. On the other hand, when government gives away so much money, as happened during Covid, some people don’t want to work. They would rather get government money. Everywhere we go here businesses have “Help Wanted” signs in the windows.
>
> 6. Do you think the government should promote religion? Answer: No but they shouldn’t try removing it either. Our country has become insensitive to the needs of Christians.
>
> 7. Do you think Roe v. Wade should be overturned? Answer: Absolutely not. But I also believe that it should not be used as birth control. There are many ways to prevent getting pregnant, so abortion should be the very last choice. I would hate to see Roe v. Wade overturned. I would really hate to see people go back to kitchen table and back street abortions. That makes me sad.
Your friend is wise, as are you, and I hope your friendship continues to grow in appreciation for each other. Bravo to you for reaching out to her.... to all of us.
Thank you, Becky. You impress me a good friend and wonderful model to us. Your questions covered what interests most Americans. I appreciate your friend. She is thoughtful and cares about the needs of others. Becky, along with all your strengths, you are a natural born teacher.
Becky: I read this when you first posted it, though I didn’t comment. But having many relatives from Louisiana as well as several people I still call “friend,” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard all of the things your friend wrote to you. And, yes, it does no good to negate anyone’s religious views.
I have no idea what your religious beliefs are, but as a Xtian agnostic (raised baptist), the only tact I’ve found to be at all helpful is to share my own beliefs on biblical interpretations. And she’s not on solid ground, there. (I had an evangelical preacher as an uncle, & he never missed a pulpit chance to talk against racism.) But I doubt it would help--your friend is piling up what she considers “good deeds” & waiting for the rapture.
And I must add that while she says she watches very little news, she must be on social media in some form if she agrees with “what people have been posting;” sure sounds like a news source, to me.
Yes, she is on social media. We have not seen each other for about 5 years now, as I returned to my home in Vermont after 16 years in the south caring for my parents. But we have stayed in close touch. She has a family she loves to distraction. She is the 10th of 10 children in her family of origin. She and I are currently involved together in a project we hope will raise 3K for a library in my area.
Becky, you are lucky to be able to have this conversation with your friend. Unfortunately it's not like that with everyone. I have tried but get tired of being yelled at and not being allowed to voice my opinion (as if it doesn't matter). I too feel that if we could just understand where each other's views are coming from. maybe we could have mutual respect. From my experience, it's not always possible.
I know that, Jeanne. That is why this seems like a bit of communication that is really important. This gal and I have been friends for a long time, beginning when she volunteered through Hospice to help me with my mother. She is an amazing person. It is hard for me to believe there are such differences between us. She has not had the educational advantages I have had, which is a shame.
Becky, Your comment is a tremendously helpful illustration of thinking on the part of some Americans who support Trump. I hope that you will continue to enlighten us in this way. I am curious to know what you wrote in response to your friend and whether she replies. Can you share your dialogue? The respect you show and how you manifest it, may be another valuable teaching lesson for us. Thank you.
"But, FOX NEWS has brainwashed them completely. I mean, completely." Mike, these folks brainwashed by FOX are not victims. They chose to watch and listen and read the FOX lies because it was scintillating, smacked of the good old days, or they simply felt like it. If you or I had wandered over to a FOX News segment we would have been horrified or at least confused and doubting.
Barbara, are we not all tempted to listen to someone who attracts us into his or her circle by plying us with messages that appeal to our prejudices? The devil's no fool... And it's all too easy to tell more fairytales to kids that never grew up and never had a thought that was truly their own.
Hmmm. Yes and no. An awful lot of people would (and have) turned away from evil. We all have our prejudices. It's human nature. It is the kind of prejudices that land us in the lair of evil and make us susceptible to those spouting evil that gets us into trouble. I am not using the word "evil" lightly here.
There is a man where I work who is a racist. If he sits at your table at lunch you will quickly find that out. One day he tried it with me and I let him have it. Later someone told me I was the only person who had ever stood up to his racism. Ever since then he avoids me like crazy. I enjoy that fact and always make sure I glare at him and shake my head if he is even across a room from me.
"Prejudices are so to speak the mechanical instincts of men: through their prejudices they do without any effort many things they would find too difficult to think through to the point of resolving to do them." LICHTENBERG
Yes, they have their political uses, keeping vast tracts of Middle America as clean of thought as Roundup keeps crops clean of rival forms of life...
And yes, we all do have them, we usually call them "beliefs", they're like bad breath, bad posture or bad habits... Nothing to be proud of, just something adults need to become aware of, however painful that may be for those living in an unkind, aggressive social environment. I try. But there are days like today when deep anger at the antics of vicious hypocrites in high places gets the better of me.
I don't think that anger is a product of prejudice but I do think that, like prejudices, it is best kept under control... But on such days I do dream of bulletproof pillories... Those would need cleaning with a fire hose every half hour...
Substack didn’t allow me to like your comment, Peter. Such wise advice, though: anger leads nowhere. Of late, it has become very difficult to hold anger in check. The irrational retorts of “conservatives” to what should ne commonsensical, preventive regulations are simply disgusting!
Mike, I find your 25%group immunity to Fox BS interesting. These guys are by your account 1:1 nice folk, intelligent. What are their thoughts about “replacement theory”. My guess is that is why you were, and continue to be, immune to Fox BS. You don’t strike me as a guy hijacked by fear of ‘the Other”. Just wondering your thoughts.
I have a theory about Americans being afraid of "the Other" and is not meant as a criticism. It has changed a bit since I got here in the 60's, but an awful lot of Americans have never left the US (except perhaps in the military) and many don't own passports making some people insular.
My experience is that I was privileged to spend time with my family growing up in India and in Africa. "The Other" became my parents' friends and were at the house often. I knew at an early age that we were all alike under our skin colour and my brother and I had to treat everyone with respect, it didn't occur to us not to, because of our parents example.
You have to be carefully trained to hate others. What we are experiencing today is terrorism, intentionally manipulated, vulnerable or racist people who want power and to maintain the white caste system. Authoritarian tactics are being used to sow division and fear.
If you are in NYC check out Tracy Letts' play, The Minutes. Set in a city council meeting, it begins as a watching paint dry event like most council meetings are, though Austin Pendleton is hilarious throughout. The story shifts to the dark side, with these innocuous council members showing their true colors, right out of today's headlines. Chilling. Thought-provoking.
My family of origin spent a year in Paris, 1965-66. I was 12. At home, I'd always been interested in foreigners, who I'd occasionally see in Harvard Square. I would approach them, ask them where they were from, and a little about themselves.
I noticed that year in Paris, that Parisians never approached me, and in fact, were hostile to Americans. I realize now that Paris was flooded with Americans, who often didn't behave all that well towards Parisians.
There's a book I highly recommend: Back of the Hiring Line: A 200-Year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth ($9 on Amazon). It reads well despite being a scholarly survey, among other things, of the relevant academic economic literature.
Basically, for 200 years, businesses have been importing foreigners, originally to replace black workers, now to replace any American, or even less recent immigrant workers. New immigrants are easily exploitable, and so this behavior enables reducing wages. As some black poultry workers who had left their jobs told the author, the pay now was so low that their replacements were having to sleep in cars or many to a room.
The book gives the lie to the notion that there are jobs American workers won't do. But there are levels of pay that workers who have had houses to themselves won't accept, and shouldn't accept.
Keeping people constantly afraid is the stock-in-trade of all authoritarian regimes. And what could be scarier than being afraid to send your child to school?
It is vile beyond the most hellish imagining, it is demons at work. Congressmen, governors on mission from who knows what depth of the Inferno.
Spreaders of a debased materialism -- nothing to do with Marx, with Democritus, with Lucretius -- one that reduces human beings to cattle (called "consumers"), to cannon fodder (called "patriots") a disease that is doing its damnedest to bring all political regimes everywhere, Russian, American, Chinese, Indian, to the same lower-than-lowest common denominator.
Given the vast speed and ever-increasing acceleration of change in our world, people are anxious and vulnerable. So they have been targeted by certain major financial interests and their chosen instruments, for whom you rightly use the term “vector”.
Now, I don’t think labels like “cultism” are going to get anyone very far in describing, let alone countering the wildfire spread of a mass psychosis deliberately set off in just the same way as industrialists and financiers (with some real cause at the time to fear Communist forces) financed Hitler, whose uncanny ability to give voice to the vilest stirrings in Germans’ collective unconscious made possible the greatest, most murderous outbreak of mass madness that the world has yet seen.
Yes. In just the same way. This time, their Goebbels is Murdoch, whose adventures in mass manipulation do not, however, seem to be grounded in any ideology other than whatever destruction he can profitably get away with.
Now, however, the situation is potentially far more dangerous than in 1933 because America’s material power is immeasurably greater than that of Nazi Germany. Thus, there is no need for an obvious embodiment of evil like the Fuehrer, a fool in the White House can do harm on a scale that no conqueror in history could ever have imagined. By crimes of omission alone, such a one could destroy most life on Earth.
Yes, and even in the US the change has been huge. Imagine yourself an American worker. There's a new book, Back of the Hiring Line: A 200-Year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth, by Roy Beck. The backbone of the book is academic economic history (296 footnotes) but the author also draws from black periodicals, statements of black leaders, and gov't commissions on immigration reform, all of which recommended substantial reductions in immigration and strict enforcement of immigration laws.
From 1990-2020 the US added 40 million immigrants, the population of twice New York State. Biden wants to double those numbers.
Those numbers have turned many small towns into largely Spanish speaking, they've led to reduced wages and job loss among not just black, but white American workers, and currently even many immigrant workers, which is undoubtedly why Trump increased his share of the Hispanic vote in 2020.
As the author states repeatedly, these numbers aren't immigrants' fault, and people should not blame immigrants. They are Congress' fault. And I can tell you, much as I love most of my senators' and my congresswoman's policies, their immigration policies are terrible, and they are clueless on this issue (I've spoken with all of them, and with Warren and Katherine Clark numerous (brief) times).
As you said, people don't like change, and Americans have gotten a flood of it. (Press 1 for English and 2 for Spanish.)
But it goes back to the first New England settlements. Those who came “for religious freedom” were paranoid from being persecuted in England. The Founding Fathers were, on the whole, educated men—but their paranoia against the power/persecution by monarchy they were keenly aware of permeates the Articles of Confederation and Constitution. Why they repeatedly refused Washington a draft and were against a standing army.
After Cromwell's Commonwealth -- especially after the division of the country into Regions, each under the command of a major-general, a regime coming as close to that of the Ayatollahs, even the Taliban, as any that Britain has ever seen -- the military (unlike the Navy) came into disrepute for a long time and Kings, denied a standing army, raised guards regiments... The Catholic James II's attempts to build up a large standing army, including many Catholic officers led to disaffection and, in time, to his downfall.
To make matters worse, Hanoverian troops were sent to America, part of a growing -- and long-lasting -- pattern of using foreign mercenaries, developed with great success against the French in India during the Seven Years War...
When my friends first showed me Manila in the 1970s, we came to a quarter where everyone looked like Indians and I asked about this. I was told that these are Filipinos like everyone else, but that they're descended from a regiment of 600 sepoys whom the British left behind when they abandoned the city after an 18-month occupation in 1762-'64...
Citizen60, it is a bit more complex than that. The puritans and a few others came for religious freedom. There were not many of them, and for the most part got along reasonably well with the indigenous people, with some notable exceptions.
But after them came the "companies" of people sponsored by investors seeking a return on their investment, who were not particularly religious, and to the degree they espoused religion, used it to justify their greed and sense of entitlement.
There were many of them, and settlements spread rapidly, as did exploitation of resources. Families were large with fewer lost babies, so more land needed, thus rapid expansion to west occurred, cities (small by our standards) sprouted up and became centers of commerce. The behavior of the founders came from a different fear than the fear of the first puritan settlers. It grew out of the greed and desire to expand territory more than fear of persecution from the British monarchy. The tax thing? Ha, taxation without representation? The Colonists were actually paying less tax than their counterparts in Britain, who were paying for the wars to protect the colonists from the consequences of their own land greed.
The British government had treaties with Indigenous Nations that the settlers from Europe would not go past the Appalachian Mts, and tried to enforce it. That is the real reason for the drive to separate. The settlers ignored the treaties and extended forcefully into lands guaranteed protected.
The litany of complaints against Geo III were the justification, he being the figurehead of the British government. But extending settlement into lands to the west was the real reason. This is the short version. The rest is just as interesting.
Yes, I know. It’s both simple and multifaceted. Why the later 13 colonies chose to declare independence is not what I was referring to in my comment. I was focused on the paranoia and fear from the earliest New England settlers. But The Founding Fathers’ biographies and Federalist Papers make clear their fear of tyranny and of the populace.
I think it is the old, white-privileged male patriarchy that we are having to confront, finally. Trump just tapped into it (and was paid a lot of money to do so, he is purely transactional about life).
Heather's very credible reason for why the Republican Congress won't vote for gun laws is because their mission is to take any and all power away from the Federal Government. You'll find her words in the last 10 minutes or so of her FB chat yesterday. https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/videos/1168841863968581
I agree with all but you very last line. They are horrible, miserable, dangerous people. Calling them vermin is the same ugly propaganda they use to dehumanizing anyone they target. Call them out, for sure! But let's not use their dehumanizing techniques.
Very good, but on your narrow point, I suspect that CBS, NBC and ABC are also licensed as entertainment, and that that’s the way the statute is written.
A week or so ago, at a gathering in recognition of National Wear Orange Day, a community resident and Stop Handgun Violence co-Founder concluded a riveting call for action by bellowing, “Those spineless members of Congress think you should have a license to hunt duck and deer, and when you hunt duck you are limited to 3 rounds, when you hunt deer, you are limited to 5 rounds, to protect the duck and deer populations. But when you want to hunt babies in an elementary school, have at it. No license, no limit on the number of rounds. If that isn’t the epitome of insane public policy, I don’t know what is.”
I post this remark because I am astonished I haven’t heard some version of it from inside the beltway.
All reasonable hunters are saying some version of what you have quoted here about hunting laws. Our NY DEC is very serious about limits to game hunting because, in the past, game has been hunted to extinction in some cases and near extinction in other cases.
Most hunters, though not all, adhere to these rules knowing that is the only way to preserve hunting for the future.
So, reasonable hunters are definitely in favor of reasonable gun laws.
Mike, Thanks for your reply. Having lived in Vermont in my 20s, I’m well aware of the restrictions on hunting and their justification. My problem is with inside-the-beltway Republicans.
Excellent, as a former hunter I’d say you are right on the mark, I was (not always) able to bring home game with the limitations on how I was armed, it is insane to be allowed to carry a 30 round magazine, the only thing that is useful to hunt is humans.
I absolutely agree with you, Barbara. You weren't writing about hunters, you were writing about right-wingers in the Congress (and gun lobby) who abuse hunters intelligence by pretending to "protect" their right to hunt, when what they are really protecting is their need to manipulate the American public into thinking they are somehow at risk unless they have a gun that renders meat useless. I am astonished that even has to be pointed out, because what you posted was, as you said, pitch perfect.
Annie, Your comment reflects a complete understanding of the speaker’s intent. Still, I believe Dick Montagne’s analogy, relating the restrictions on hunters with the need for restrictions on the general population, is an apt comparison.
I think you mean that some hunters might support rules that preserve wildlife while simultaneously supporting rules that result in the death of little kids at school.
Honestly, that is really not the case.
Most hunters obey the LAW. LAW that is policed by the DEC.
IF the US put in place LAW that restricted gun ownership, then, policed it, most people would obey the law.
So, it is not philosophical that hunters follow the law. It is just an enforced law.
Our law abiding northern Michigan hunters (for the most part) are also philosophical about natural conservation and respect for the deer and ducks, while totally opposed to assault weapons and hollow bullets (the latter of which are banned in the military) in civilian hands.
They claim to be pro-life, hence their support for abolishing abortion rights. However, when it comes to gun control, they are willing to protect the lives of deer and ducks, but not the lives of children.
Rose, Please note that Mike S., who is part of this thread, clarifies that just as DEC restricts and polices hunters, who mostly comply, were the US to restrict and police gun ownership, most people would comply.
Scream it from the rooftops, such slaughter of wildlife would likely spur more outrage. Maybe Matthew Mc would go a step further and call for the ban on assault weapons.
@Pensa_VT, Like you, I believe Matthew Mc saw no point in invoking legislation that was not under discussion. I also believe he was determined to do all he could to get every piece of legislation under discussion passed.
I graduated from high school in a town in west Texas in May 1966. A classmate and I were headed to University of Texas in Austin, and we got a place together right across the street from the campus. He moved in the last week of July, and didn’t quit my summer job until the middle of August. “On August 1, 1966, after stabbing his mother and his wife to death the previous night, Charles Whitman, a Marine veteran, took [4] rifles [including a sniper’s rifle and a semi-automatic shotgun] and other weapons [and heaps of ammo] to the observation deck atop the Main Building [clock] tower at the University of Texas at Austin, and then opened fire indiscriminately on people on the surrounding campus and streets. Over the next 96 minutes he shot and killed 14 people, including an unborn child, and injured 31 other people. The incident ended when two policemen and a civilian reached Whitman and shot him dead. At the time, the attack was the deadliest mass shooting by a lone gunman in U.S. history.” (See,“University of Texas tower shooting”, Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Texas_tower_shooting.) It’s a terrifying read.
My roomy got caught in the cross fire, but stayed put, crouched behind a parked vehicle, while
bullets flew above and around him. A hell of a way to start college. Many of the Texan college students and staff got their deer rifles and other weapons and trained them on the top of the tower, or the clock, or whatever. The Clock Tower was peppered with bullet holes. And, it did not engender any action to restrict arms; indeed, on the 50th Anniversary of the slaughter, Texas allowed students to brings guns onto university campuses and, in some cases, into classrooms and dorms. (See, “The loaded legacy of the UT Tower shooting”, Washington Post, July 31, 2016.)
In 1989, and I moved from Guam with my wife and kids to Sydney, and, around 1994, we all went down to Tasmania for a bit of chill, including a visit to the old Port Arthur Penal Colony ruins. It is a wonderfully bucolic place. But, “on Sunday 28 April 1996 a security guard, Ian Kingston, stood in the doorway of the Broad Arrow cafe at the historic site of Port Arthur in southern Tasmania. He stared at the body of a man lying on the floor, then looked up into the barrel of a semi-automatic rifle. He dived back out the door as Martin Bryant pulled the trigger. Bryant killed 12 people in 15 seconds. Bryant moved towards the gift shop in the next 75 seconds, killing another eight people.
“In little over half an hour the death toll would be 35, with 23 wounded. It became the worst single-person mass shooting in Australia’s history.... The gun was an AR-15 rifle with a 30-shot magazine. Bryant exchanged it for a semi-automatic .308 FN rifle he had stowed in the boot of his car. Both were then legal in Tasmania, which, with Queensland, had the loosest gun regulation in Australia and felt the tightest grip of the gun lobby. “Twelve days after the Port Arthur massacre, the [newly elected] Australian prime minister, John Howard, announced a sweeping package of gun reforms....
"Howard proposed each state and territory should ... enforce a firearm licensing and registration system requiring people to have a “genuine reason” for having a firearm, such as ... being a farmer. “Personal protection” would not count as a genuine reason. All states would also ban automatic and semi-automatic long guns. Howard also introduced a national gun buyback scheme for all weapons that did not comply, which ended up melting down more than 650,000 firearms at a cost of $350m. He produced polling at the meeting that showed the ideas behind the reforms had up to 90% support. If the states did not fall into line, he ... warned, they would hold a referendum and seize power for firearm registration from the states. They fell into line....” (See, “It took one massacre: how Australia embraced gun control after Port Arthur”, 14 Mar 2016 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/15/it-took-one-massacre-how-australia-made-gun-control-happen-after-port-arthur.)
But, there is a critical other part to this success. The victory is not all political. The way was paved
by some dedicated people, critical among them, Rebecca Peters. “In 1996, while Australians
grappled with the horror that unfolded [at Port Arthur], Rebecca Peters was at the epicentre of
pushing for tougher gun laws”, as she recalled in an interview in April 2021. “As Australians confronted the shock of Port Arthur, the Coalition for Gun Control was primed and ready for the fight to toughen gun laws. To a large extent, this was because of Peters’s first project on volunteering with the organisation five years previously: she assessed its resources and priorities. Savvy, strategic, tireless and determined, Peters’s influence was transformative.
“In her early career as a journalist and radio producer, she had a strong social justice bent. Being
constantly confronted by nonsensical political decision making ... she asked herself how she could
take part in and better shape those decision-making conversations. Her answer was, become a
lawyer. So, she studied law while also working in the media .... During her first year at law school,
in 1991, there was a mass shooting in the inner west Sydney suburb of Strathfield. Seven people
were murdered. The furious community response to the Strathfield massacre made Peters curious
about the New South Wales gun laws. The laws she found were, at best, vague and patchy. ... Peters decided to write an article alerting people to the dire state of gun laws. It didn’t find its audience, but the process did put her in contact with Australia’s small gun control movement.
"At the time, the under-resourced volunteers dotted around the country couldn’t have realised that this new arrival would become the driving force of the law changes they’d wanted for so long. Once established, those uniform laws needed to ban all semi-automatic rifles, shotguns and assault weapons. The guns that were allowed had to be registered by their owners. And those owners, be they farmers, hunters, collectors or sportspeople, had to provide proof of their reasons to have a gun.
“Peters could speak knowledgably to the media about the gun laws because she was writing her
law thesis on the New South Wales gun laws after Strathfield. Terrigal demonstrated one of the
laws’ greatest failings. In the beach town of Terrigal, about 95 kms north of Sydney, a man went ona shooting spree, killing six people. The murderer, Malcolm Baker was known to police as a violent man who owned guns. After Baker had a domestic dispute, the police raided his home to
pre-emptively confiscate his guns. The problem was, the NSW gun laws at the time didn’t require
that guns be registered....
“In the years after the Central Coast massacre, Peters and her colleagues at the Coalition for Gun
Control, laid out a game plan for the next mass shooting. So when Port Arthur occurred, the activity in that University room might have been frantic (engaging the media and politicians, producing pamphlets, managing the waves of people offering to help, and organising a massive rally to take place in Sydney) but it wasn’t chaotic. As part of Peters' review of the organisation’s strategies, she put together a shopping list of essential tasks: all Gun Coalition communications were made media-ready and easy for journalists to use. Any organisation that might have an interest in gun control – banking and police unions, medical associations, churches, women’s groups, charities – were contacted. At the time of Port Arthur, 350 of them were ready to react with a clear and unified voice demanding change.
“Then there was the tricky part: the specifics of the changes they were asking for. The list had to be short so the media could easily report it and politicians could more easily say yes to it. First and foremost: uniform gun laws across the country. But the Federal government could only regulate gun importation. Each State had its own laws around the purchase and use of guns. Luckily, most State governments at the time were of John Howard’s Liberal[*] party, so his election victory gave him great powers of persuasion, and to his eternal credit, he used them. [* It is only a large 'L' party. Its philosophy is not small ‘l’ liberal -- it is classical conservatism, which baffles many newcomers to Australia.)
“As Australia was deciding what to do after Port Arthur, many of the discussions were informed by well thought out documents and ideas from the Coalition of Gun Control. The group had already looked at every state’s gun laws, saw what worked and didn’t work, and fashioned a proposal for broadly acceptable national standards. This meant governments didn’t start from a place of ignorance. They had in front of them, an array of documents addressing all the main issues including the findings of the numerous, previous gun law enquiries whose recommendations had mostly been ignored. ... It prevented yet another dead-end enquiry being called.
“The closed-door backdrop to all this was intense, disproportionate pressure from the small but
powerful pro-gun lobby. But the grief and anger of the nation was so loud that the public good, in this case, won out. On May 10, 1996, just 12 days after the Port Arthur outrage, Australia's state
Thank you for that - but the political situation is so different and dispersed in 'Merica - yes 'Merica desperately needs the energy of a Rebecca Peters (and supporting organisations).
Fox and Tucker Carlson were co-conspirators for the insurrection. If they thought the former president and his cabal were innocent, they would be falling all over themselves to cover the hearings.
Awake because of a tornado warning that went off like a claxon on my phone about an hour ago so caught this as it posted. HCR, you need to go to bed earlier! I wish you had stopped at the bills signing. But I know you can’t. I predict nothing will be done. About guns, about the fascist takeover of the USA, about the mobster in chief wannabes who are using TFG as their Kevlar. They know how stupid and venal he is and they exploit it because the real scary guys are the pig-men who are in Congress, in governors’ mansions, head school boards, run state legislatures. And I just insulted pigs.
One practical proposal: a bill in the House requiring state Governors to visit classrooms and other sites where mass shootings have taken place and witness the carnage.
I would like to add to senators to that, and that their children need to attend these schools as well. As a show of support they should be asked and required to send their children to school alongside any children whose school has been the school where there has been a mass shooting. If we include that, then our friend Ted Cruz should be sending Caroline aged 13 and Catherine aged 11. Therefore Catherine should be the age to join children of Robb Elementary school and Caroline should be able to join the students at Crossroads High School, unless she is still in eighth grade. That would be the show of support I would expect from Cruz to show that he truly believes in the gun legislation he supports, that his own children should be as vulnerable as he is making them. I suspect that his own children go to private schools with a different sort of security. The kind where they have counselors to keep track of children who are feeling emotionally upset and those children are getting help or sent to outside counselors or special programs so that they are not in a position to want to go shoot up an elementary school. All in all, that is the evidence based prevention for these sorts of children, which ties into the red flag laws.
Response to Linda Mitchell, KCMO above: "Awake because of a tornado warning that went off like a claxon on my phone about an hour ago ..." I like to track weather systems with these maps ... here are some more, if you want to dig deeper:
IMO, for as long as Leigh has been doing it, and given the quality of content, I think the number of viewers is astonishingly low. It really puzzles me why she has so few subscribers at this point. I can relate to every video she does, apparently many can't. It once again makes me feel like I'm out of touch with reality in the U.S.
This country is a sea of profound apathy, at least on the political left. Of course, it doesn't help that the leaders of the Democratic Party display no sense of urgency. They need a Leigh McGowan to run the DNC.
This is the one! Every person needs to forward it to everyone they know as well as ALL media. Because if the fire isn't lit under every Democrat or Independent, no one will be ¨coming for them¨ and we will be SOL.
Why is that important? I understand that in this age #s of followers is big for influencers, but personally, I believe in quality over quantity. Especially when the quantity these days are under nourished intellectually. Every day I have a minimum of 10 people wanting to join one of my social medias. Always men. Usually with American flags in the bg. I respectfully decline.
These are both so powerful that I shared them both to my Facebook page yesterday, but fear it accomplishes nothing beyond me feeling that I am “doing something”. I have very few “friends”, and have even lost some due to my political views in a very red part of Michigan. I guess I retain hope that maybe one of my friends will agree/share, then maybe one of their friends will do the same.
I feel both helpless and hopeless on a daily basis; truly not a nice place to be dwelling.
I know. Me too. Far too often. And I'm not even in Michigan. Used to visit there with friends from time to time. Could not see why they stayed. I know they wanted out. I'm in VT, and though not so isolated, frustrated by how things are done in my county, too little, too late. So I've turned to other venues for getting things done. In the meantime, some younger people are stepping into place and I think in 24 they will be on the ball. The state looks good, though, except our famous gov turned back into a Republican, meaning obstacle. He'll probably win, because people think he was responsible for VT doing so well during Covid. It wasn't him: it was us, the people, and some of the people around him who actually made decisions.
What’s many do not know is that her short 2-4 minute rants from her kitchen as she pops out of the refrigerator generate a lot of views. Of greater substance are her podcasts. I’ve listed links before. Many cannot do the 60 minutes of length, but if you can, her pods are delicious.
I beg to differ. I have gone along with this idea of a male ego trip about what it takes to be a cowboy hero long enough.
But with the continuous cowarduss of Republicans to take no action to protect ordinary citizens and their children, it seems obvious that they have have NO ideology and just reject the idea of federal regulations because they are afraid. They must be under some threat. Maybe it's a threat of exposure or violence against themselves. Whatever it is, they dare not support any work done by the Democrats. Who bought these senators? Who owns them? I want the names of their rapacious owners and the names of the businesses that support them all. We have to point fingers at them in public and expose them. They are socially retarded and should not influence anything other than dogs.
They know that they are more than a minority party. They are a dead in the water party. Lindsey said it publicly with the hysteria of a high school girl. They know that if they lose the house, the senate, the presidency, it will be eons before they can come back. They no longer have a platform and are forced to bend a knee to the Christian whacks, the gun whacks, the #rupmlettes. Pointing fingers only increases their success with their breed of bad. Rather, there needs to be positive media about all that Biden is doing and all that normal Americans can receive by staying on the path of Democracy. No hysterics. Strong, well created media that can possibly make it through the blinders and yelling.
Sorry, I understand and concur - but that's how dogs get poorly trained and subsequently hurt dogs and people. By being owned and abused by frightened aggressive people. Just here to defend dogs :)
As you noted "House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Representatives Jim Jordan (R-OH), Jim Banks (R-IN) and Elise Stefanik (R-NY) will lead the way in arguing that the committee is illegitimate and out of touch." These Trump water carriers will live in infamy. And I wonder, exactly how "out of touch" can an insurrection be? If it had succeeded, we'd be reliving the Reichstag almost 90 year later - with the further taint of kleptocracy. The insurrection deniers are the true enemies of the people.
The assault we are under as a country is no longer a threat it is real bare threads attacks. All the coordinating tactics the Republican Party is demanding of its devoted base have been in place for a very long time. It’s is the @GOP’s ‘Stealth Strategy’ . Our greatest weapon to fight back is Truth. Everyone of us knows it and we must use it. We must demand it and we must throw all our faith behind it. We are under attack and the GOP tells us how they operate within their ranks and it’s tactical measures. In the Art of War this provides us, their perceived enemy, the advantage. Now we must return this assault with our weapons of truth. It is our greatest super power. Start leaving post it truth bombs at the gas pumps the supermarket shelves on public garbage receptacles anywhere Americans consume. Start by leaving facts on the number of votes republicans cast to obstruct bills that work in our economic interests, bringing down gas prices or pharmaceutical costs, or veterans benefits, or gun violence legislations, or any bill already discussed here on this platform that Republicans voted against. Point out it’s not Biden creating their pain it is the Republican Party prolonging their Suffering. Leave the truth post it where it can be seen by anyone. We do not need heavy armor when we have the truth and we have the army of warriors willing to uphold it for the sake and well being of others and family to live in a democracy. Just like Ike said.
Sorry for my rant but action is now duly needed. Write a few Post It today with the roll call numbers and leave it at the Gas Pump on Gas Price Gouging HR7688 Yay 217/Nay 207 All Republicans VOTED AGAINST IT . Make them own the truth of their actions
What these political prostitutes—sorry to insult the older profession—do daily, hourly, is not even grandstanding from the sewers, it’s grandstanding from the depths of Hell.
TC speaks of “a relentless demand for conformity”.
Correct, yet it would be even more accurate to speak of these Putin-parroting totalitarians’ project as… institutionalized paranoia.
Urgent: stretchers, straitjackets and consignment to well-padded cells.
Panel 0n January 6 Commission - with Ben Jealous, Jamie Raskin, Elie Mystal, Kristen Doerer, Peter Montgomery and Marcus Batchelor - discussing a new series of videos giving a primer on the radical right-wing forces behind 1/6, as well as answering participants’ questions.
TAKE ACTION - How you can protect our democracy
Below you’ll find different activist tools to help you in the fight for the preservation of the peaceful transfer of power. Each tool has been designed to make it as easy as possible to let your local elected officials know how important this issue is to you and to help get a local resolution passed.
Thank you. Also, everyone needs to get involved with - I can't remember which of you had posted this https://actionnetwork.org/forms/turnout-the-troublemakers , but it is so important. I've just joined the Democrats Spain group and am going to explore creating this here. There is a Democrats Abroad and this group is what put Biden over the top.
Thank you too, Gailee - truth be told, I can't begin to keep up with all these resources, or take action - let alone keep up with emails or chores of daily living - I archive them for future reference and post them here for those of you who are able to follow through - one small thing I can do!!
In the same boat. At my age and in my current circumstance, there is so little I can personally do. I did when I could, now I donate when I can and watch the ugliest man alive wreak havoc all around. I want to have hope for my young grands.
Thank you very much for finding and sharing. So much is happening so quickly that it is overwhelming; your info gives some ideas and ways to implement today. My scattershot method of a phone call or two here, an email or three there, a Facebook sharing isn’t enough. I’m truly terrified of the upcoming months. We’re in our eighties and never even conceived that our society could so easily be brought to edge of destruction. I will add I am marching Saturday in Santa Ana with contingent from my Episcopal church for gun control. We’ve been at every March and public gathering since Trump arrived on the scene. Most of us are women 70’s-90’s!
A man from Buffalo whose mother was murdered in the recent grocer store massacre testified before Congress this week. He pleaded for action to counter violent white supremacy. The Republican response was to list a handful of times that black people killed whites. They effectively told this grieving son that his mother’s life was nothing to them, that what really matters is white victimhood and the need for white men to reassert dominance and power by all means available. These Republicans reject federal power precisely because it can be used to restrain white patriarchal violence.
I can’t believe the ridicules come backs they answer with.People from all walks of life kill people. I have never been made aware of a African American going to a predominantly White American grocery store at 2:30 on a Saturday and shooting up the place ? I hazard to say it appears to me that what I see, they are shooting each other more and more.
As far as I can tell, in most cases of murder people are killed by people who know them. In a substantially segregated society like ours, it follows that most murder victims are killed by a murderer of the same racial and ethnic identity. The most visible exceptions are the repeated killing of dark skinned people by white police or vigilantes.
I’m curios to know if any of the School shootings have been private Schools ? Not that I’m sick vindictive person. But more about if there hasn’t been what are they doing different than the Public Schools ? The Churches have been a variety of Faiths.
As far as I know, the K-12 school shootings have all been public schools. Some of that, I am sorry to say, is likely because the cultural pattern being followed - young man with specific heavy weapons murdering children - has public school as its target. That just so happens to coincide with the radical right desire to destroy public schools, which more often is acted out by moving funds to private schools and/or banning books.
Could be. As for the book banning, that was such a joke . K-3 rd grade ? One of my fav. jokes is little Billy goes to Dad and ask’s “ Where did I come from ?”. Dad thinking oh boy time for the Birds and the Bees talk. So dad sits him down and pretty much informs Billy of all the details on how we get born. About an hour has passed Billy’s bored and fidgety. So dad ends with “ Do you understand now Billy, do you have any questions you want to ask me ? Billy reply’s “ Not really, and I still don’t know where I came from . My friend Joey is from New York. Where did I come from ? “ DeSantis is doing things to make Ppl think he’s a Bad to the Bones MAGA guy !
Margaret Mead wrote: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” The word THOUGHTFUL excludes the raving cult of liars and seditionists unmoved by the evidence which they regularly ignored through 2 impeachment trials, the horrifying mass murders by assault weapons, the Jan6 riot, and now the mountain of evidence of the planned fascist takeover of the government. We have to stop living in fear of these brainwashed bullies and bring back common sense and respect. I thought we would have had massive turnouts of voters in the primaries, but that has not happened.
This is not a surprise. What gets me in the gut is that we already KNOW this, and even apply it sometimes. Yet as a society we have not yet done a simple critical first step, which is to limit access to the most likely means used to carry the threats out, giving time to identify and address the underlying problem.
Knowing that these factors play a role means nothing without a massive program nation-wide to identify people at risk of this behavior. It would take years and lots of money (and training) to establish even the most basic aspects - and we still would miss a good many of them, because they are not in schools, or they are not visible to the professionals, or sometimes not visible at all.
As Richard Hofstadter observed in "the Pseudo- Conservative Revolt" back in December 1954:
Unlike most of the liberal dissent of the past, the new dissent not only has no respect for non-conformism, but is based upon a relentless demand for conformity. It can most accurately be called pseudo-conservative — I borrow the term from the study of The Authoritarian Personality published five years ago by Theodore W. Adorno and his associates — because its exponents, although they believe themselves to be conservatives and usually employ the rhetoric of conservatism, show signs of a serious and restless dissatisfaction with American life, traditions and institutions. They have little in common with the temperate and compromising spirit of true conservatism in the classical sense of the word, and they are far from pleased with the dominant practical conservatism of the moment as it is represented by the Eisenhower Administration. Their political reactions express rather a profound if largely unconscious hatred of our society and its ways — a hatred which one would hesitate to impute to them if one did not have suggestive clinical evidence.
From clinical interviews and thematic apperception tests, Adorno and his co-workers found that their pseudo-conservative subjects, although given to a form of political expression that combines a curious mixture of largely conservative with occasional radical notions, succeed in concealing from themselves impulsive tendencies that, if released in action, would be very far from conservative. The pseudo-conservative, Adorno writes, shows “conventionality and authoritarian submissiveness” in his conscious thinking and “violence, anarchic impulses, and chaotic destructiveness in the unconscious sphere. . . . The pseudo conservative is a man who, in the name of upholding traditional American values and institutions and defending them against more or less fictitious dangers, consciously or unconsciously aims at their abolition.”
And that man is as dangerous as he is intimidating and horrifying, TC! We should be on the alert for bone-chilling violence around this country.
As Heather has highlighted:
“The Department of Homeland Security today issued a new bulletin in the National Terrorism Advisory System, stating that the U.S. ‘remains in a heightened threat environment.’ It noted that ‘[t]he continued proliferation of false or misleading narratives regarding current events could reinforce existing personal grievances or ideologies, and in combination with other factors, could inspire individuals to mobilize to violence.’ Stories that the government is unwilling or unable to secure the southern border and the upcoming Supreme Court decision about abortion rights might lead to violence, it said.
Also, it noted: ‘As the United States enters mid-term election season this year, we assess that calls for violence by domestic violent extremists directed at democratic institutions, political candidates, party offices, election events, and election workers will likely increase.’”
Yes, patriarchy is not going to go quietly, I fear.
I read an article this week on what is going on in Idaho and unfortunately, can't remember where I saw it. Lots of wing nuts moving there and the sane trying to decide if they should stay. There has been a move here in some counties in Oregon to join up with Idaho. Also there was in yesterday's Oregonian an excellent article on the milieu in south Texas. I am also sure there are some people here in Salem who would happily shoot me for being on the left side of the political spectrum...I have seen a few black flags, always in lower income neighborhoods. Had a round on Facebook with two members of the patriarchy about gun laws. They are now blocked. I do fear that we are going to see lots of increased violence.
Yes! “…[B]lack flags always in lower income neighborhoods.” And Republicans plus senators Manchin and Sinema are making certain that “socialism,” that is helping to restore the middle class hollowed out by Republicans (think corporate and SCOTUS), doesn’t happen. The dispossessed are furious, as well they should be. And as Republicans and SCOTUS destroy voting, they are applying the coup de grâce to this democracy
A home in our area (not low income) was flying a black they have recently replaced it with an Ultra MAGA flag. My blood boils each time I drive by that house.
There may be black flags in south Salem or West Salem, but we are seldom in those places.
What do black flags signify? I have not heard of this.
I was also unaware of the significance of the black flag. I will keep my eyes open from now on. It's good to know where your neighbors stand on the issue. But still...REALLY?
From article in Daily Telegraph….”Neiwert observed that “‘No quarter shall be given’ is the black flag’s traditional message — and in the context of the building drumbeat of right-wing ‘civil war’ talk, a deeply ominous one. People flying them are essentially signaling that they’re prepared to kill their liberal neighbors.”
Here is link to article. https://www.thetelegraph.com/insider/article/Black-flags-fly-across-America-16555426.php
I could not Like this comment/explanation. We live in frightening times.
This is one explanation. I’ve also seen that it signifies a counterpart to Black Lives Matter. I was disappointed that our dog groomer and husband started flying this flag. She was great with my dog(s), but bye bye groomer.
https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/story/opinion/2021/10/27/mychalejko-why-your-neighbor-flying-all-black-american-flag/8565341002/
I have not seen the counterpoint explanation. I am reading black flags as gun nuts live here and we are willing to kill any liberal we find. I haven't seen any in my neighborhood, but our street is torn up and we can only go one way to go places. I saw a few in Salem proper. We leave outside the city limits in a county enclave.
See Christine's explanation because that is exactly what black flags mean.
To me, the black flags signify Pirates, the black flags with a white skull and crossbones on it. Pirates were out to plunder. When they encountered a ship at sea, they had to decide if the other ship was plunder or peril. If they decided to plunder, they would raise the black flag ("the Jolly Roger")on their ship and head straight toward the other ship to battle.
The number of guns and ammo being stored away over the years in places like Idaho and parts of Oregon, etc. is staggering.
Michele, Don't know that I found the article you referred to but thought you might be interested in the following info about why folks have been moving to Idaho.
'Over the past year, Idaho has gained 53,151 new residents for a growth rate of 2.9%. The biggest driver for growth was people moving to Idaho from other states. Census data shows 48,876 of Idaho's newest residents came from another state. Idaho's population now sits at an estimated 1.9 million people.' Dec 22, 2021 (google)
'The main reason people say they live in Idaho is family and quality of life, but for some, it’s politics.'
'That’s according to Boise State University’s 2022 Idaho Public Policy Survey. The survey of 1,000 Idaho residents found 5.4% of respondents said political climate was the main reason they were in the state, ahead of factors like cost of living, school or taxes.'
'It might not seem like much (about 45% said “family”), but political climate was the fifth most common response. “People are identifying the political culture of Idaho as attractive,” said Jaclyn Kettler, a political science associate professor at Boise State.'
'Republicans hold every statewide office and supermajorities in the state legislature, and former President Donald Trump won Idaho in 2020 by nearly 64%. The state is such a conservative beacon in the region that a group of rural, conservatives Oregonians are trying to join.'
“Historically, it was my understanding not that many people were moving to another state for political reasons, this is something that we’re starting to see people say,” Kettler said.'
'Idahoans are more politically active than the average American. The Boise State survey found 22% donated money to a political cause or party in the past year, eight points higher than the national level, 32% contacted a public official in the past year, nine points higher than the national level.' (DesertNews)
https://www.deseret.com/2022/1/29/22901470/are-people-moving-to-idaho-for-the-politics-governor-brad-little-republican-party
No this is not the article, but it certainly talks about some of the same trends. The one I read interviewed several people who had been threatened one way or another or were having second thoughts about living in such a right wing state and described some the groups and pols. Thank you for this cite.
Is this the article you are referring to? https://www.huffpost.com/entry/far-right-idaho_n_628277e2e4b0c84db7282bd6?29e
Yes, thanks for posting the cite.
White nationalist Vincent James Foxx -
He is one of many far-right activists who have flocked to Idaho in recent years, where a large and growing radical MAGA faction in the state’s Republican Party has openly allied itself with extremists to a shocking extent, even for the Trump era. This faction is accruing more and more power in Boise, the state capital: Imagine a statehouse full of Marjorie Taylor Greenes and Steve Kings. At the local level, they have seized seats on school boards and county commissions at a fast clip
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/far-right-idaho_n_628277e2e4b0c84db7282bd6
That is really scary. I have in-laws in Idaho and I usually drive through the state on my way to Montana in the summer. It used to feel like a good, safe place to be, but this is pretty terrifying.
There's a ultra Libertarian group that started in NH about 10 years ago called the Free State Project. They have been allying w/the Republican majority in the Legislature. Jason Osborne, the founder of FSP, is currently the leader in the House. The group got so far as to put forth a bill to secede from the state of NH. Fortunately, the bill was massively voted down 323 to 3. Recently a member of the group managed to cut the public education budget in a small town by 50% by staying after most of the people @ a town meeting had left. Once the people understood what had been done, another town meeting was held and the cuts were overturned. Here's an article written by a Progressive group about the FSP. https://freestateprojectwatch.org/
I am a ceramic artist and sell a little work on Etsy. Last year I had a customer from Idaho who I got to know a little bit. She told me that "There didn't seem to be a Democrat left in Idaho and that she was afraid for her grandchildren." I contacted her again recently and she said, "So many people are moving to Idaho from out of state with their guns..." This is bone-chilling indeed.
I have a friend who lives in Moscow and I may send her a note before Christmas to see what she says. She and her husband are both liberal.
It does look like they are more and more leaning toward an anarchic mess. Weird rules and laws that don’t appear to have much to offer in cooperation or benefits with and for all of the stakeholders. The pseudo folks. Falsifiers. Pretentious fakers.
I recently had a "conversation" on my Facebook page (briefly, I'd asked teacher friends to weigh in on arming teachers in the classroom.) Among my teacher friends, there was an overwhelming "oh, hell no" response, although there were a couple who indicated that in a high school or front office setting of a non-elementary school they would be willing to be armed. There was some counterpoint, usually from my community friends (not teachers) that offered up some almost reasonable conversation. Then there were two retired cop friends, who jumped in with both feet. The line you quote above "Their political reactions express rather a profound if largely unconscious hatred of our society and its ways..." seems to fit them like a glove. Well that, and an incredible foundation of white male privilege and display of some pretty deep mansplaining.
The NYT has a timeline for what happened in the years during the ban on assault weapons and the years afterwards. The Washington post also has an article on a reassessment of the assault weapons ban where people have rethought the idea that it didn't do much. It did.
Incredible connection. I was a soldier trained in the American South then a History Student in the Eisenhauer era and in both roles I encountered a growing tension from racism along with strong urges to conformity. It was also the time of the “grey flannel suit,” when strict conformity affected success.
In college and society I sensed the growing numbers of black people didn’t mean greater integration to institutions but emphasized their separation amongst the white population.
I think the SCOTUS Brown decision of 1954 also propelled a hidden racism in America that was part of the fuel for Conservative radicalism.
I agree, Art. I moved with my parents to the south when I was eight. Even in the 4th grade I was introduced to the "South will rise again," group think. Not only racism, but misogyny. I could not apply for a paper route because of being female. In high school girls could not join the future physician's club for the same reason.
That is so sad. I do not want that South to rise again. We can do better than that. It won't be easy.
I think racism was more open then - today as bad as it is doesn't really hold a candle.
The racism was obvious in the South that nurtured a strenuous Jim Crow discipline that permitted no breaks.
But in Buffalo, New York’s UB (Hofstadter’s Alma Matter) the adjacent community was getting mixed and a small group of black students attended school in isolation.
I joined a Veterans Group and was surprised a separate black veterans group was developed but never learned if it was self induced or forced.
Still, much of the negative reaction I got in that time for my consternation at the separateness was very strong.
I suspect it’s similar to Arms Control with most people all for it until they have the opportunity to impose it. Like equality it’s praised but not adopted.
Racism has always been alive and well in the north. I never even saw a black person until I got to high school among my schoolmates. At that time they were found only south of the railroad tracks in Elkhart and nowhere else in Elkhart County. They could not stay overnight in Goshen, the county seat that was and probably is full of good "Christians".
I grew up in Massachusetts, pretty much the same experience. Interesting, the recent HBO show "Lovecraft Country" centered my particular region as a place full of "sundown towns" - there was a brief sequence in the first episode where they showed a map, and practically pointed to my street, in a tiny little town east of Worcester.
Yeah, that separation like that was pretty strong through VVAW back in the day.
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Call them what they are…
Brown Shirts may apply.
The tacit arming of Brown Shirts as Homeland Security warns of increased violence towards Democratic Institutions and individuals by domestic terrorists, as fomented by fear mongering lies from the RED
We’ve seen this movie before
Yes.
My thoughts exactly. All the techniques of intimidation going strong in Idaho for example.
Should be sent to every 'media' outlet in the US, along with this Thomas Merton quote, In 1968, Thomas Merton remarked, 'The abuse of language really blocks thinking and is a substitute for it." It may well be that they are all 'entertainment' masquerading as 'news' and using language which masquerades as 'meaning.'
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very enlightening, TC. Thank you. I think 'anarchists' is also an applicable word.
I know many anarchists. This is NOT them.
Thank you for your history lesson. How widely can this quotation be published? I have seen the Great Unraveling, but did not see it as beginning so early. The Southern Strategy of Nixon cemented it then. Afterwards it was too late.
Interesting sidelight: the lowest 25% SAT scorers in 1952 were getting education degrees to teach in public schools. Twenty(?) years later the Koch network attacked public colleges and universities, installing pro-business presidents. An international scholar (Medieval Literature, 15 languages, internationalist) told all of us in his classes that he had graduated from Harvard “while it was still a university—the year before the business school opened.”
That bit about SAT scores really hits. In 1965 when I went to Colorado State College, "the nation's number two teacher training institution" (their words), I worked in the PR office and once saw a survey that really chilled me: for 90% of the students surveyed, CSC wasn't in their top three of schools they wanted to go to - it was the school that accepted them (by 1965, entrance requirements had risen from "high school graduate" to "high school graduation with a C average"). Back then, there was a well-known statement, "You can always be a teacher," if you couldn't do anything else, you could do that. When I finally took an "educational psychology" class (using the prof's book, with test questions being "fill in the blank" from the book - you were supposed to do rote memorization - and this guy had a national reputation as being good) and saw what they were making teachers out of and how they did it, all my questions about why I hated 12 years of public school were answered. Back then, if there were 2 teachers you could remember in 12 years, that was good - the good teachers were flukes, and when I reconnected with the one good one I had, I found he was mostly in trouble with the school administration for the way he did things. Sadly, I don't think education has moved further, though there may be more committed teachers - the system is still bad. "Rote memorization for the test" is NOT education!
/rant. :-)
I guess I was lucky as I had several remarkable wonderful people as teachers who helped me to be the person that I am. I can name a good number of them still and counted several as friends through the years. The not so good teachers were often hired as coaches and often taught social studies in the high school. In junior high the social studies teacher was an excellent teacher who never hid the fact that he lived with Wally. Naive times and we had no idea. One of my teacher's husband taught in Goshen (racially biased county seat that I mentioned in another post. His students loved him, but he was always in trouble with the administration and I am sure he was a lot smarter than all of them put together. When I worked at a high school, I was once again lucky that I had some fine colleagues. Once again bad teachers were usually hired as coaches. I should say here that this does not apply to all of them, but often to the basketball and football coach. Then we got a principal who liked to stir the pot and the place was so full of tension that you could cut it with a knife. I don't know how things are now, but the principal is a former teacher (I think English) who was a fine teacher. I can also say that teachers make a difference to many, many kids and they may take some time to show it, but I still get messages from ex-students that make me happy as do many of my ex-colleagues. Part of the problem now in terms of testing is the standardized tests. Teachers hate it.
I would love a convo about testing. It’s not really testing that teachers hate. It’s the test itself. If not a standardized test, then many times a test is designed to produce a curve…winners snd losers. Ridiculous. A good test is always diagnostic regarding a student’s strengths and weaknesses and purposed to drive instruction, not rate schools as an “A school” or a lower rung which does nothing except help
promote real estate or indicate”not a good area to live—-poor schools”.
Salud Michele. I loved so many things you said about students and teachers.
Salud, Christine. Lots of teachers do not like the constant standardized tests because they are busy teaching to the test and foregoing the things that teachers love about education. We do have a teacher friend in a very Latinx district north of us (he speaks fluent Spanish and his wife, also a teacher there, is from Ecuador), who has found a way to teach a class that bypasses that and I am sure his students thrive. He is also the world's greatest punner and can do it in Spanish as well. Today a recently retired teacher friend of mine posted something that she had to take (along with every other teacher in the district if I read what she said correctly) a multiple choice test which included a question on I Love Lucy. This after 30 years in the field. What was the point of that? Her feeling was that it was a money maker for the test makers. Yes, it's the test itself imposed from above so many times. I once taught a government class where I offered a class with the option of no quizzes, no tests, and no textbooks except a few for reference. I said they could choose that or the other option, but that they should not think they were getting out of work. We spent a great deal of time in the library and in discussion in the classroom. I told them it was a required course for them (if they wanted to graduate) and it was required course for me to teach and we might as well make the best of it. We had to give finals, but I gave them a chance to choose options on what would be on the final for each of them..most offered by me, but if they could come up with something that met my approval, that was good too. Each option had a certain number of points. Interestingly enough some of them hedged their bets and chose options that totaled over 100 points. In the two or three years, I taught this class, I had only one student fail, and he failed it twice. I should note here that the final test requirement was BS lauded by those teachers who wanted to give crap tests which could be graded by their student assistant while they plunked their behinds in the teacher's room (we actually had one by then) and discussed sports, etc. I felt sorry for teachers of choir, art, etc. Then the kids could get out of the final if they had perfect attendance which was designed to help our amount of money from the state. Yes, we had kits in the classroom to clean up vomit. I didn't buy this either, but by then I was regarded a total rebel.
That is not what rote memorization is for. The higher critical thing skills, the how and why, are approached successfully with a strong rote base of what, when, who. These are the facts accessed quickly when developing the how and why of a given problem or situation.
For instance, knowing your multiplication facts quickly and using them to focus on a more intricate solution is how we problem solve. Learn facts, apply facts.
Unfortunately, rote learning becomes exclusively the mechanical tool to keep “lesser minds” or so they think, busy.
I loved doing rote learning with children. One can incorporate all learning styles to acquire automaticity with facts. Once automaticity is there (think decoding print quickly and not struggling to “read” the words), then comprehension follows with questioning and reasoning techniques.
Never settle for less.
Exactly right (again)!
I started school in 1953. One room, 8 grades, max 20 pupils. Other than being bullied, it was great. Once I finished my work, I listening on the next class. Was reading way beyond my grade level. I can name all my teachers from Grades 1 to 12. A couple stand out. From them, I got an education and am grateful.
Yeah, but that's Canada, the Civilized Sector of North America. :-)
In some ways perhaps.
I wrote a long comment and am trying to post it. Will try again later.
It would be helpful if you woruld refect on this a bit for thsoe who dont remember Hofsteder and how signficant he was.
Thank you for a good idea. Please become one of those who drop by That's Another Fine Mess (if you don't already) and you will see a post on this in the next day or so.
A great idea from a Karen!! :-)
The last sentence is revelatory — and chilling.
Well written, TC. Chills me to the bone, but it's good info for understanding the intensity of hatred and destructive personalities of some highly volatile Americans. Yikes!
Thank you TCinLA. With a few terminology updates, this fits my own clinical experience.
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Way past time to call Rupert’s Fox what they are. The purveyor of our destruction. Fox is licensed as “entertainment,” yet they have “News” plastered all over their slimy operation. Flipping channels yesterday, I heard someone on Nicole Wallace’s show ask the seminal question - paraphrase - if they are entertainment, why do they have a seat at WH briefings, why are they treated as a legitimate news entity? It is a scam perpetuated on us all by Ronnie’s crew of thugs, deliberate and designed to destroy. No more “the most trusted man in America” type news reporting, just more Goebbels style blather. It has been a slow-growing cancer that is about to deal a fatal blow, with the acquiescence of most of the MSM.
As to the gun issue, republicans rule the fools. What will republicans accept? Why is that the question? I ask over and over…They worship anything but sanity these days. Even McConaughey’s impassioned plea does not suggest prohibiting the weapons of mass murder. Make no mistake, there are plenty of deranged 21+ disaffected out there. We all know that. Some care, some have proved that they don’t. They are vermin…
Jeri,
"What will republicans accept? Why is that the question?"
A very large fraction of America, including the three gentleman I had dinner with last night at a local bar, fully support/fully believe the far right, Fox News interpretations.
Usually, we all avoid any conversation about politics because we know that 1/4 of the total get together is not Republican (me).
But, last night one of the guys brought up McConaughy and guns. I, not having been inside all day, had not heard or even known about his speech. But, I guessed it might be for something reasonable. At any rate, these three guys are pretty nice folks 1:1 and in a bar and none of them "carry" (guns around all the time).
But, they were using language like: "soon it is going to be like Venezuela here". Which, is language DIRECTLY from Fox News and Newsmax. You would think these guys have no brain since what has happened in Venezuela has not even slight similarity here since it is the REPUBLICANS who have tried to become dictators, not the democrats.
So, I briefly tried to explain that Venezuela's Maduro is most similar to America's Trump. Jeri, these three guys went nuts as if I had accused Jesus of faking his resurrection. Simply making a reasonable comparison set them off. Instead, ALL THREE of them "believe" that BIDEN is like Maduro, about to put in place a dictatorship.
All three of these grown men are bright, well spoken, educated, (engineers), respectful to their wives and kids and decent people.
But, FOX NEWS has brainwashed them completely. I mean, completely.
So, "why is the question "what Republicans will accept"?
Because FOX NEWS has converted more than half of America into radicals who believe lies about Biden and the Democrats and these people are AFRAID that Democrats will do what TRUMP tried to do.
Except, the reason they believe that is because of lies from a Russian funded misinformation platform: FOX NEWS.
FOX NEWS should be being treated, by all branches of our military and our intelligence services as a foreign agent in America. We should be, as a country, working to disable Fox from broadcast capability over the next 24 hours.
But, we won't. And, it might be too late. Like I say, 3/4 of the gathering last night was fully ensconced in FOX lies. Only I was sitting there amazed at the BS these guys believed.
Engineers who can think through complex electronic stuff Jeri. Cannot think their way past Fox lies.
I am not sure why I am immune and have always known Fox was BS. I really cannot say why I am different, but, it is not HCR. I thought that FOX was BS when Dr. Richardson was still preparing history lessons for classes I never heard of.
But, America is in danger Jeri, and Fox is the ENEMY.
This merits a far wider readership than it is going to get here in Substack.
Check out HCR'S Facebook following
HCR is awesome on FB; unfortunately many people have dropped FB and social media, so they miss out.
I'm just saying that she maintains a strong following:) every contact helps!
An otherwise nice man, but avid trump/Faux News cultist, told us a few days ago that under Biden “we live in a tyranny.” When we expressed our belief that the citizenry should not own military-strength weapons, he replied: “when we have the next civil war, you’ll be glad to be friends with someone who owns an AR-15.”
We were left speechless…
I can't bring myself to hit the "Like" button. Too horrifying...
I agree!
Rose, we attended a funeral on Saturday. While gathering at the gravesite, I overhead a conversation by a group of people who said basically the same thing. FOX Entertainment has drilled into their heads, "the next Civil War and you better know someone with an AR-15" mantra. These people were the top end of the local volunteer fire department. So many questions I would have asked them had we not been at a funeral.
I do know people who own AR-15s (and yes, that is a plural). I also know that those people will view me as the enemy. Much as their "rhetoric" indicates otherwise, I am who they identify as an enemy.
Ally, I feel we are 1 newscast away from FOX or _ucker Carlson from being the hunted.
Since we are liberal/progressive, we would be viewed as the enemy by many in our neighborhood and I am sure there are plenty of assault weapons. The right wing guy across the street now has a drone and if he flies it into our yard, he will at least get the one finger salute although I would like to pull a Kathy Bates in Harry on him. He won't speak to us because we told him to lessen his noise and called the county several times. Large unmuffled engines going full blast, so that we couldn't even hear the TV with the sound up. His wife, thankfully, got him to stop because the noise bothered her too. She is a progressive Democrat, so they are an interesting couple.
Making me question, who thinks I am the enemy? Hard to even imagine...
😔😥😠😡
👀
My take on this is if people are speaking of such things at a funeral then this mindset has really saturated the core of our society.
Yes. Given the friend who's funeral it was, he would have been incredibly disappointed in those people. Granted it was prior to the funeral when people were gathering ......still.
I am sincerely sorry.
I truly wonder if the people touting civil war understand what a civil war in America would look like. It would resemble Syria where the government called in the army to quell the uprising. If Trump or another trumpish president gains office in 2025 and if there are uprisings, Trump wouldn't hesitate to call in air strikes to subdue uprisings. Local militias would carry on much as the brown shirts did in 1930s Germany, slaughtering the opposition. God only knows whom the militias would deem as the opposition, Democrats, immigrants, Blacks? The thought of a civil war scares me to death.
I completely agree. I firmly believe they are living a becareful what you wish for mentality.
Oh, Linda! That must have been horrible: a double loss!
Rose, Howard was a very dear friend of ours and it was a hard loss for us.
Knowing him as well as we did, I know the conversation from the other people would have ended quickly as he never would have tolerated such nonsense.
Well, Rose, you know where to go to get an AR-15. He is a fool to tell you.
What he really means is he does not know what civil war is. Because, telling people he has a weapons armory means he is the first dead man at the outbreak.
You may be right. I did wonder if he had any idea of what a tyranny is like; certainly, if were living in one, he would not be free to criticize the administration—nor to brag about the armament he owns…
He seems to think that only people like him are armed. He will be really surprised when someone shoots back.
Good point.
We are under an armed attack now. What would a civil war look like to these people? Serious question not rhetoric.
I think Fox News has normalized this concept of "civil war" so that people who have no experience or not much experience hunting or shooting something live with a gun think "Civil War" will not be the very ugly, horrifying, gory thing that it will be.
The good news is: My own observation is that those most attracted to the "Civil War" ideology are also the most out of shape people I know.
So, a 100 yard run will be tough on them. They will last about half a day in a real war.
Yes and no. Unfortunately enough of them were in good enough shape to storm the Capitol on January 6 and do real damage. The crowd brain had taken over and I believe they really would have hung Pence or Pelosi or Schiff that day.
I've been perplexed by the media softening with the 'mock' gallows reporting. How do those in the media know what was symbolic? It was a gallows, poorly built, perhaps, but certainly would have been tested had the mob put hands on Pence or Pelosi.
Mike S: While I, unfortunately, understand the Civil War analogies (& to preface my point, I must say that it is “very ugly, horrifying”)--& though this comment is not addressed (except here) only to you--but I know, from experience, that calling people “out” by derogatory names is just never helpful (except re playing to the crowd). I have a big issue w derogatory names in general: they never further any conversation in a positive fashion, imo.
And your observations that those reposing CW ideology are mostly “out of shape” is not helpful & not accurate. You must not be exposed to the same so-called-2nd amendment militias that I have, unfortunately (or perhaps you’re fortunate?)
Way too many former military & police & first responders belong to these militias, imagining themselves as 21st C Jehoshaphats, who worship at the temple of the gym (& nothing wrong w being a gym rat--that’s NOT what I’m saying).
Just my observation, BUT I very much dislike body shaming--or any derogatory shaming, regardless of its intent or to whom it’s directed. That’s what I believe.
Yes. What worries me Is that people who never owned a gun, didn’t grow up with weapons or hunting or worrying about self defense will arm themselves and their families in the belief that they need to protect themselves for the first time ever. As long as military weapons are available no one is safe. Or weapons on the open market. About 20 years ago, my hairdresser’s twelve year old son committed suicide. The family had a hunting rifle in their travel trailer and separate ammunition in a cupboard. The boy was diagnosed as ADD and had trouble at school. The teachers often isolated him as discipline. And he was in trouble again. Report cards were being mailed and he knew he would disappoint his parents. Imagine if there no guns in his home. He found the gun and ammunition and the family history will always be heartbreaking. I grew up with no guns in my home and never have had guns. Thinking about the danger and knowing about the gun accidents and numbers of child gun deaths should be enough to make us all consider who is being protected.
I never imagined 30, 40, or even 10 years ago we would be having these kinds of conversations. Irenie it appears we may have already gone over the cliff into some kind of pre-Civil War situation. And getting hotter every day.
Barbara, I think we’re reading the future and it’s a future many Americans, even Democrats, think we can save. I wish I could be so optimistic for our children, our grandchildren, the future. J6 is a harbinger of the next few years, unless we can turn the tide for repubs and SCOTUS to care for the future and the laws more than their loyalty to TFG and his minions. Women’s reproductive choices and equality, racial equality, much more stringent gun laws and regulations. And critically, Climate Change. Long list. Just my opinion.
Sick. Especially because he speaks for too many citizens who believe we have to be prepared. It’s unbelievable that military weapons were ever available to the general public. Or not unbelievable. More like unconscionable.
THAT is our reality. And once Civil War II is ignited we will be like children sitting in a school, armed friends or not.
This really got me in the gut. I actually have pains in my stomach with this reality. How horrifying a thought! Years ago I never paid attention to what my friends thought of things like this. And now, they so openly talk about it that I wonder how I never knew. I think it's just that my mind has never thought about guns and I would never want to HAVE TO own one. I hope it never comes to that.
of course, you will be the enemy and will have no real friends who have ar15s. they just can't get the simplest things straight. awhile ago i was talking to a guy who said that biden had shut down 'that pipeline.' i said no, he hadn't shut down any pipeline. sure he did, he said. i said that he had stopped the extension of the pipeline from omaha to new orleans, but that there were thousands of miles of that canadian pipeline still open. well, we should be energy independent, he said. then why do you want a canadian pipeline in the us in the first place, i said. and the price of gas is sky high, he said, and now he's releasing all of that strategic reserve, like a traitor, he said. well, that's to lower the price of oil, i said. it might keep gas prices down. we shouldn't be buying oil from other countries, he said, spending all that money. american oil, i said, isn't any cheaper. you'd pay the same price, i said, and besides we want other countries to have the income from oil. trade promotes peace. somehow these people think they understand real life. they don't have a clue. the best way to talk to them is to talk the way they do. don't attack, counter-attack. don't try to be persuasive. show the same offhanded contempt for their thinking that they show to you. and above all don't qualify your statements. that takes too long. just make them. the current crop of gun people are not part of any real gun culture. they are the self defense crowd that deep down wants to kill the perp, not defend themselves. they are afraid of a slave rebellion. it all started with huey newton and bobby seales and the black panther party for self defense. when i guy who is convinced that white voters are being replaced by non-white voters drives 200 miles to kill black people in buffalo, people who have been here since 1619, before the irish, before the italians, before the jews and scandinavians, and people show sympathy for the shooter, well what can you say? you say, hey they were here before we were, like the mexicans in texas. we are the replacements. but there won't be a civil war like the last one. at that time, there were 17,000 active troops in the us army when the war started and two armies fought each other and both grew larger and larger. this time it will be the us military against a paramilitary and its peashooters. the joint chiefs know who they are, and they know where they live and can't wait to try out their new toys.
I had a similar conversation with my ex-husband. I could tell immediately where he was getting his info from. I tried to counter what he was saying but I should have known better. If he doesn't get his way, he resorts to violence...thus my ex.
Good thing you no longer are with him, Jeanne! Better alone than in bad company.
An otherwise nice man is not a trumper or fan of fox news. The fact that sane people are trying to find good in them has given them so much power. But then I don't have friends who own AR-15s and would probably be on the receiving end.
I’ve know my friend for over two decades. He is like family! But the reality is that this last visit I saw him in a light I had never witnessed before. It was scary, even eerie…
I’m sorry that this has happened to an old friend but when an 11 year old survivor talks about their experience to a house committee and republican politicians make it clear that they will allow no gun control then I can’t help but blame every person who votes for republicans thereby enabling nothing to done. I will never understand how they can be good or nice. How can a first world country not do anything after this? Because republicans have a heart of pure evil.
I would like to agree with you, as that would make my life so much easier, but this person is not even a registered Republican. And I was talking to his wife yesterday and she swears he doesn’t watch Fox News! This is what scares me about the people supporting trump and AR-15s in civilian hands: the more I know, the less I understand…
Tyranny? Really? Have they been mass hypnotized?
My sister says/believes the same exact thing.
Thanks for this message.
I support free speech- civil, truth-filled speech.
Fox is neither. A dangerous foreign agent. I agree with Peter Burnett, your response should be heard beyond this Substack community, Mike S.
Thank you. Hopefully, the US Government is able to see a foreign agent in our midst and is taking steps to neutralize. But, I have my doubts after 20 years of BS emanating from Fox.
Mike, are you OK with copying and pasting your comments on other newsletter sites? I'm thinking The Dispatch and maybe the Bulwark as well as Robert Hubbell's Newsletter if you haven't already gone there. It's not the wide dissemination it deserves but it's a start.
Call it by its name: propaganda
Fox et al Murdoch should be deported.
Yes Murdoch's Reagan-sponsored citizenship should be revoked and he should be shipped back to Australia from whence he came.
Preferably to Nauru, where Australia dumps unwanted migrants...
The shouted query “are you grandstanding?” at the presser said a lot. A movie star rich enough to buy himself some nice peace and quiet in luxury yet who chooses to use his celebrity to open himself to invective and death threats is spun as “self-serving” and “attention-seeking” in order to deflect from his message of common-sense gun ownership reform and common ground.
He can afford the extra security for himself, his wife, and their children, but he willingly placed himself -and them- in the way of real harm, not just a bit of invective from the perpetually disgruntled do-nothings who populate chatty corners of the internet.
(And if that rings any bells, I’ve had a bit of poorly-phrased invective sent inboxward from people in this tiny group who object to my discussing a run for office in this forum😂…as if blisters, no time to read, and having to converse with shitwits on the street who don’t know women only got the right to vote a century ago but won’t sign a petition themselves because they “aren’t political” [articulated in that nasal sorority twang] is anyone’s idea of a good time?!? Bitches, if I wanted attention I’d fabricate a wardrobe malfunction at my next standup 5mins, not run for office in safely D NYC..)
Because in the current USA, having a sometime actor advocate for the most anemic change gets exponentially more attention than the earnest politician, or the fleeting 15seconds of fame granted a victim (who, once their exclusives are up, are put back on the shelf of us regular Joes and not given the mic again).
The Rs leveraged that with brutal intelligence with Reagan, and the conservative think tanks and hate radio flourished under his genial, doddering reign. The Ds need to get methodical about GOTV and draft some feelgood personality to front for us…but who among those who have made good is willing to suffer the abuse it would entail?
I'm sorry you've gotten invective here. I admire your running for office and hope you'll announce victory here after election day.
Jane Fonda stood tall. We stood for her in Vietnam. Those of us embroiled in the machinations of the war, not those who weren’t there but purport to know all about it vicariously, supported her support of us. To this day thank you for your humanity against all cost. And we need people who don’t fall down like Laura Thomas.
Somehow, I am not surprised that you've gotten some blowback, even here. I am sorry.
I played informal intramural ice hockey for fun. The well-behaved bleats here aren’t gnat level, but thanks! Getting shoved out of buildings by guys twice my size in NYC calling me a “fucking cunt” only gives me good material for standup, although another bout with Covid might not be a blast and they seem to love screaming in my face (smelly breath simply bonus). Democracy in action!😂😂❤️❤️🇺🇸❤️❤️😂😂
👍🏼
What in the world? I think it fabulous that you are running for office. I have to wait until 2024 to run again for School Board since it is now district instead of at large seats. 🙄
Everyone benefits from running for office or volunteering in election process or participating in someone else’s campaign.
I know you will not let naysayers deter you.
UNITA!
Critical thinking skills, some people learned them, some didn't. IQ does not seem to have much to do with it. The only exception I have to your comment is that "half" of us are brainwashed by Faux (Bad) News. It is less than half. About 7M less. To look at a problem and see only obstacles is to only look at part of the picture. We have assets, too.
Throughout all of this Trumpian mess, the most hopeful thing I've seen is a hand painted sign one of my neighbors put up (he is a damned good car mechanic) saying "Black Lifes Matter". He also has a couple of "Go Away" signs and a silhouette sign of an AR-15. The guy is clearly nuanced. Many of us are.
That is very interesting. I had spent a lot of time in Venezuela in the early 2000's and also used to say that we might become like Venezuela if we were not careful. But I meant that if a leader like Trump kept at it, we would- if we lived under a cult of personality, with a leader who did not promote businesses to function normally, replaced skilled people in the administration with cronies, polarized the dialog, we could end up like Venezuela. It was only when I said this to an old friend who like your friends for some reason follows Fox news and so on, that I realized I had inadvertently landed on a right wing talking point. It made no sense to me, any more than what I had said made sense to her. She had been barraging me for years with political rhetoric, before giving up in the Trump era. She thought I might be "open-minded" enough to get it, to understand her point of view, which she viewed as truth. I probably was open-minded enough to try, anyway; in that she was right. I still try. On Monday I had brunch with a group of my son's friends, who were from urban areas, very left-leaning, and in general open-minded thinking people. We were discussing the virtues and deficits of slogans- how the slogans people carry such as BLM can cut down dialog possibilities, keep us from finding common ground. The urban young people, it turns out, know no one who disagrees with them on any of these matters. They live in a bubble. For them, it makes no difference to know that far from them, people who don't know them assume that because of one or two signals, their entire world is being characterized as having a certain flavor, their beliefs a certain roster of characteristics- just as I assume that the people who live on the opposite side of the river with the All Lives Matter sign in red, white and black have a certain set of beliefs and characteristics. One of the group of friends is working towards dialog- he has the opportunity and wish to keep trying to find common ground, and get beyond the labels. It's very difficult work. I keep thinking it's worth doing, worth listening to those who have other ideas and beliefs.
Studies show that it reinforces our own beliefs to be exposed to different ones. They say that has been shown to be true. But you know what? They also say the opposite, that we can learn new ways of looking at things if given new information. I'm hopeful that that thing that they say, is truer than the former thing they say.
Yes. When a young man who was being groomed to lead the KKK eventually, went away to college and learned from his very kind college mates, once learning about his upbringing and future, helped him to slowly see other viewpoints. He evolved in his thinking and he left the KKK. Exposure to other ideas is very, very healthy for everyone.
There are on the left, people who are almost innocuous compared to Fox listeners, have similar problems seeing reality. On that I highly recommend a book by the black American Studies Columbia professor John McWhorter, Woke Racism: How a New Religion has Betrayed Black America.
I do read his columns in the NYT, will check out the book, thank you!
You're welcome!
FOX “NEWS” is a foreign agent, literally. Incorporated in October 1986, the network currently has 18 owned-and-operated stations, and current affiliation agreements with 227 other television stations. That’s just TV stations. The empire includes print and radio media as well.
In the ensuing years it has actively divided our nation with attacks on our institutions and outright lies. Chuck Todd put up graphics showing how many counties supported Clinton (1117) in 1996 and the subsequent drop in each election. By 2020 Biden only won 194 counties.
Fox has actively and deliberately used propaganda to divide our nation against itself. Murdock, as a foreign national, could never run for president. Instead he bought up airways and began an audacious campaign to turn America against itself. If this isn’t the work of a foreign agent, I don’t know what is.
We need some good investigative reporting to expose this.
Why Australia and the UK imposed restraints on the Murdoch’s media. So they came to the US
Total agreement from me...Fox News is an agent of Russian-funded sedition and insurrection and it will not only encourage and enable the destruction of this country, but cheer it on as it happens.
Those are not “nice” people. They may have the trappings of civilized society, but, sorry: Trumpanzees are NOT nice people. They are Brown shirt fascists bullies by their own choosing.
Mike, I see this in my former law enforcement colleagues. They. Believe. The. Lies. It must feed something deep in their souls, because they have lost their humanity. Your description here of your dinner is stunning.
Mike, with respect to the rest of your otherwise excellent comment, Fox has not converted more than half of America to believe the lies. Please remember that Republicans are the minority party - the numbers vary from poll to poll but around 28 percent of registered voters. The number of registered Democrats is higher - in some places, dramatically so.
As for engineers, my ex-husband has a Masters in Planetary Science and worked for NASA, then Honeywell. A registered Dem. My late husband had a Masters in Industrial education - shop teacher and registered Dem. I live in a cul de sac with 9 houses. Four residents are engineers - 2 mechanical, 1 chemical and 1 optical engineer; 3 Dems, one independent. We also have two lawyers and a doctor here. Only one household watches Fox. All this by way of saying that your experience is way different than mine. If you want have a beer and talk politics here, you would definitely get a different response to your statement. Argument, yes. But only in the degree to which current Republicans have damaged our Republic.
No question that Fox Entertainment is dangerous. And I wish there were easier answers for how to silence their lies or at least regulate them in some reasonable fashion. But my degrees are in journalism. Free speech in a foundational freedom as you well know. Proving that Fox is dangerous and should be silenced is damn near impossible. Countering the BS is also an arduous task.
My only answer personally is to counter the BS when i hear it and work to get out the vote. There are more of us than there are of them!
The biggest thing on my mind these days is the online conversation I have been having with a friend who grew up and lives in the south. I have posted a digest of her comments in these Comments twice, but my timing was off and few responded. The value to me is her honesty. She is a good person. She tries to do what is right. As far as I know she does not watch FOX or any other news show. She has a large extended family, and they are all close. One is a preacher. I have just sent her another list of questions. I will post the digest of her comments (strung together for easy posting, but essentially unchanged from her words) at the end here.
My greatest, greatest, greatest, GREATEST concern is that we are not listening to each other as individuals. One on one. With respect, understanding that the other is a valuable human being just as we are, and they are trying to make the best life for themselves and their families, just as we are, and that when they get hysterical, it is because they are challenged, as we do too. Can we ask questions and listen to what a person is saying behind the yelling? Nobody forces anyone to watch FOX. So why do they? I think the answers to our divisions are in understanding the psychology. I'm not at all saying we should give up the fight for democracy! I'm saying we need to understand why others disagree, really deep down why, and that requires that we not judge but listen until we understand. Start with one person, as I have.
Her words:
"First let me say that I believe in God the Father, God the son Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit. Because of my religious beliefs, I see things in that light. I am very saddened by the deaths of the children and teachers, but I know that they have gone to a better place than this earth. I grieve with the parents and families because they are the ones left here to mourn. That's the hard part.
"I don't think gun control has anything to do with what is happening in this world. Kids are not being taught what is right and wrong. The family unit is broken and there are too many one-parent households. Children are not taught to respect any kind of authority at all. This did not start recently. We need better counseling and hopefully recognize mental problem in children sooner. The problems in this world didn't start now. It's been a progression for many years. It doesn't matter who the president is when it comes to this issue.
"I believe things started going badly when we took prayer out of school, when the kids stopped saying the pledge of allegiance in school and being taught to honor our flag and believe in our laws and country. People don't know the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day. I cringe when I see a Facebook post that says Happy Memorial Day because Memorial Day is the day we honor and remember the dead, those who died in battle. Veterans Day is for those who served, and Armed Forces Day is for those currently serving. When I was going to school, we went outside each morning and raised the flag and said the Pledge of Allegiance.
"I voted for Donald Trump every time. I don't talk politics with people because it's become such a hot topic. All my family voted for Mr. Trump. It was all the crud I was seeing on the news that made me stop watching the news. I have not watched the news since, except for BBC news, and I will sometimes read the local news. This didn't start recently either. (She talks about when 60 Minutes did a story in her community in the 1970s.) When the episode aired, they had twisted so many things giving their own negative spin on things. They had cut and pasted different parts together to make a different story. I have not watched 60 minutes since that day, and that was in the late 70's.
"(She uses my name here) you need to stop watching so much news and turn your attention to helping others, making afghans for neonatal units or nursing homes or going to the library to read books to children.
"I firmly believe what people have been posting, that guns don't kill people, people kill people. If a person owns a gun they need to have it locked up, like in a gun safe, or put away safely where children cannot get it.
"I seriously doubt we need assault weapons, but once the government starts telling us which gun we can have, I think we’re in trouble. There will come a time when we will need guns for our safety and food. Everyone in my family has guns. I remember growing up when I went to school the boys had gun racks in the back of their pickup trucks and it was perfectly okay. They would hunt on the way home from school. Growing up there were many times that mama would take the shotgun after she got off from work and go out into the field and kill a rabbit or whatever she could see so that we had food for dinner that night. The reason I think people need to be preparing for harder times is because of what we are going through now. The grocery stores are having a hard time keeping some foods in stock. There are so many positions for employment everywhere, and people don't want to work. When my Daddy was in the third grade, he worked in a gravel pit carrying gravel in a bucket for 50 cents a week.
"I believe that children need more attention and a better home life and that we should concentrate on that instead of gun control. My top answer is get the children in church."
What a painful combination: sincerity, seriously good intentions and Pavlovian conditioning, making use of ingrained beliefs -- good beliefs -- to undermine what those very beliefs truly stand for and to inculcate new, off-the-shelf ideas that displace them, as a cuckoo's egg will empty the nest of all its original occupants...
I wonder...
I appreciate what you're doing here. I have had that conversation (almost verbatim) with folks. I cannot rebut the Christian rhetoric that defines me as a sinner and therefore only valuable in my redemption if I abandon who I am. (Yes, I have had this conversation. "You're a good person, except for that gay thing." Direct quote.) Pray tell, how do I get around that? I cannot establish common ground with anyone who tells me who I am is an anathema.
Easy for me to say, I know, but let it go. Not important. You know who you are. Go to a movie together. Find some laughs. You may have an impact, and if you don't, nothing is lost. And you'll become a better person for the effort. But again, I know, easy to say.
Thanks so much for going to the trouble to post this. You're right, it won't get seen as much as it should. What you say reflects a lot of what is so heartbreaking about this strange divisive atmosphere we live in now and maybe always have. I spent a bit of time recently in Louisiana and Arkansas, and met so many sincere people trying to live right, who were Christian, who brought their beliefs into all matters. It seemed inadvisable to ask about their politics, so I did not bring it up- the circumstances that brought me there were anyway not conducive to getting into that sort of thing.
Being from a place is a thing. We grow up surrounded by an atmosphere, a culture, that creates our reality. I'm now from the Northeast, though I was born in Missouri to artists from NYC. Part of me yearns to believe in the same values that those I attended first grade with had- those beliefs that made them into the good people they are. Is it possible that those folks, who may admire a man like Trump, have no idea who he is?
So what is it that makes people racially prejudiced? It's fear and self interest, right? It's lack of exposure to others. I love those folks I met in the south because I met them. I don't care about their politics, on that level, but I'd fight them verbally with vigor if I had a chance. I wouldn't challenge their belief in Christ or their way of life. In a way I am sorry I won't have that chance. Keep talking to your friend. ,and once again, thanks for posting.
"who brought their beliefs into all matters..." I think this is the problem. Assuming your beliefs are the only true beliefs, turning away from reality in order to nurture those beliefs and denying even the lives of children in the cause of your beliefs is the core of the problem. If people want to embrace an Evangelical Christianity I respect their choice. They have been given that choice because they live in a Democracy. The pickle is their insistence in denying the healthy separation of Church and State. Trying to fit their beliefs into the complex make up of this Country and it's Laws is causing much pain and harm.
Thank you! I will keep talking to her. I don't know what makes people racially prejudiced. My mother's family was from Georgia, and they astonished me by their racial prejudice, as much as I loved them. My grandmother wrote poetry, and some of it was racist. The family that still lives there was not offended, but I was. I don't know about our differences, but I know we need to keep the lines of communication open.
Your friend uses two common dysfunctional tactics.
First, rationalization, the feigned helplessness and dismissal as “gods will” or the dead now reside with a religious deity. Terrorists use this same language! This dismisses real time and far reaching trauma to the living. Religious belief has NO place in determining broader law.
The second common response is blame. Blame parents, teachers, the failure of enforcement. Here we avoid the clear role of firearms. WTF? I find this so small minded. Blame the victims and everything else?
What I find contradictory in the GOP verbiage is conveying a need for more arms, added school security, and then COMPLAIN about increased taxes. Has this HUGE financial burden for “freedom” to have unregulated guns been assessed? No.
I add to this the current rant against a half century of regulated abortion rights, risking more babies being raised in unprepared, unsafe, negligent environments. The GOP votes down all assistance to address this.
Yes, I have listened and I am tired of the shallow vision of Chumpster followers. They defy intelligent logic and then call it “elitist”. They are Koolaid drinkers of the Jim Jones ilk. They poison not only their cult, but this entire democracy.
Feel free to share my response with your good friend.
Berry, your mention of dysfunctional tactics is interesting. I don't think she is trying to rationalize the deaths by saying it is God's will. She is being absolutely sincere. This is what she believes. About your second tactic, blame, my friend does place the blame for gun misuse on adults - parents and others - who raise irresponsible children. Again, though, she really believes this. Can you see that? We may disagree with her, but she is not trying to manipulate. She might change her mind if she had more facts and wanted to consider them, but I don't fault her for that, for that is true of us as well. She is being sincere.
My response does not imply your friend is intentionally manipulating. These are established "cultural devices" embraced by too many. Forms of denial and gaslighting that have been timeless and ubiquitous over history. The young terrorists who flew into the WTT on 9/11 fully believed they were acting in accordance to their religious faith, too.
Oops, sorry if I got you wrong. I looked up "dysfunctional tactics" because I wasn't sure what that meant, exactly, and what I found on quick perusal seemed to indicate that a person was intentionally misleading. I can see how this could be unconscious because of the culture that person grew up in, and I think that is probably the case with my friend. But she wouldn't recognize that. To tell her would be to say I know better than she does, which I don't want to do. So I have a question for you: how do we know that we ourselves are not misled?
Thank you all so very, very much for reading me, hearing me, and for your replies. It means so much to me. Thank you. Thank you.
To those who have asked, I did ask some further questions of my friend today. Here they are with her answers:
> 1. Do you or any of your family watch FOX news? I assume you don't, but I'm wondering if you know if any of your family does. Answer: some family but (my daughter) watched local stations from Jackson, and they show global news.
>
> 2. As of your feelings now, would you vote for Donald Trump in 2024? Answer: No
>
> 3. Do you think our current government, a democracy, should become more authoritative? By that I mean that one person is at the top and controls most of the decisions in the country. Answer: Absolutely not. OK we are not a democracy anyway. We are a republic. Google that with democratic principles. We are a republic with democratic principles.
>
> 4. Do you think the federal government wields too much power? Answer: We need the federal government, but we also need to have the states regulate their own government and be able to make decisions for their state without too much government interference.
>
> 5. Do you think the federal government should provide help to those in need through social programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, etc.? Answer: I do believe in helping and I also believe in Medicare and Medicaid, but I think the states should do more to help their needy. On the other hand, when government gives away so much money, as happened during Covid, some people don’t want to work. They would rather get government money. Everywhere we go here businesses have “Help Wanted” signs in the windows.
>
> 6. Do you think the government should promote religion? Answer: No but they shouldn’t try removing it either. Our country has become insensitive to the needs of Christians.
>
> 7. Do you think Roe v. Wade should be overturned? Answer: Absolutely not. But I also believe that it should not be used as birth control. There are many ways to prevent getting pregnant, so abortion should be the very last choice. I would hate to see Roe v. Wade overturned. I would really hate to see people go back to kitchen table and back street abortions. That makes me sad.
Your friend is wise, as are you, and I hope your friendship continues to grow in appreciation for each other. Bravo to you for reaching out to her.... to all of us.
Thank you, Becky. You impress me a good friend and wonderful model to us. Your questions covered what interests most Americans. I appreciate your friend. She is thoughtful and cares about the needs of others. Becky, along with all your strengths, you are a natural born teacher.
Wow, Fern, thanks! I wish I were as good as you say!
The WOW is for you, Becky. May I also add that your modesty is another aspect of your character, friendship and teaching. With appreciation.
Becky: I read this when you first posted it, though I didn’t comment. But having many relatives from Louisiana as well as several people I still call “friend,” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard all of the things your friend wrote to you. And, yes, it does no good to negate anyone’s religious views.
I have no idea what your religious beliefs are, but as a Xtian agnostic (raised baptist), the only tact I’ve found to be at all helpful is to share my own beliefs on biblical interpretations. And she’s not on solid ground, there. (I had an evangelical preacher as an uncle, & he never missed a pulpit chance to talk against racism.) But I doubt it would help--your friend is piling up what she considers “good deeds” & waiting for the rapture.
And I must add that while she says she watches very little news, she must be on social media in some form if she agrees with “what people have been posting;” sure sounds like a news source, to me.
Yes, she is on social media. We have not seen each other for about 5 years now, as I returned to my home in Vermont after 16 years in the south caring for my parents. But we have stayed in close touch. She has a family she loves to distraction. She is the 10th of 10 children in her family of origin. She and I are currently involved together in a project we hope will raise 3K for a library in my area.
Becky, you are lucky to be able to have this conversation with your friend. Unfortunately it's not like that with everyone. I have tried but get tired of being yelled at and not being allowed to voice my opinion (as if it doesn't matter). I too feel that if we could just understand where each other's views are coming from. maybe we could have mutual respect. From my experience, it's not always possible.
I know that, Jeanne. That is why this seems like a bit of communication that is really important. This gal and I have been friends for a long time, beginning when she volunteered through Hospice to help me with my mother. She is an amazing person. It is hard for me to believe there are such differences between us. She has not had the educational advantages I have had, which is a shame.
Becky, Your comment is a tremendously helpful illustration of thinking on the part of some Americans who support Trump. I hope that you will continue to enlighten us in this way. I am curious to know what you wrote in response to your friend and whether she replies. Can you share your dialogue? The respect you show and how you manifest it, may be another valuable teaching lesson for us. Thank you.
Thank you for your kind words, Fern. We are all doing our best.
"But, FOX NEWS has brainwashed them completely. I mean, completely." Mike, these folks brainwashed by FOX are not victims. They chose to watch and listen and read the FOX lies because it was scintillating, smacked of the good old days, or they simply felt like it. If you or I had wandered over to a FOX News segment we would have been horrified or at least confused and doubting.
Barbara, are we not all tempted to listen to someone who attracts us into his or her circle by plying us with messages that appeal to our prejudices? The devil's no fool... And it's all too easy to tell more fairytales to kids that never grew up and never had a thought that was truly their own.
Hmmm. Yes and no. An awful lot of people would (and have) turned away from evil. We all have our prejudices. It's human nature. It is the kind of prejudices that land us in the lair of evil and make us susceptible to those spouting evil that gets us into trouble. I am not using the word "evil" lightly here.
There is a man where I work who is a racist. If he sits at your table at lunch you will quickly find that out. One day he tried it with me and I let him have it. Later someone told me I was the only person who had ever stood up to his racism. Ever since then he avoids me like crazy. I enjoy that fact and always make sure I glare at him and shake my head if he is even across a room from me.
"Prejudices are so to speak the mechanical instincts of men: through their prejudices they do without any effort many things they would find too difficult to think through to the point of resolving to do them." LICHTENBERG
Yes, they have their political uses, keeping vast tracts of Middle America as clean of thought as Roundup keeps crops clean of rival forms of life...
And yes, we all do have them, we usually call them "beliefs", they're like bad breath, bad posture or bad habits... Nothing to be proud of, just something adults need to become aware of, however painful that may be for those living in an unkind, aggressive social environment. I try. But there are days like today when deep anger at the antics of vicious hypocrites in high places gets the better of me.
I don't think that anger is a product of prejudice but I do think that, like prejudices, it is best kept under control... But on such days I do dream of bulletproof pillories... Those would need cleaning with a fire hose every half hour...
Substack didn’t allow me to like your comment, Peter. Such wise advice, though: anger leads nowhere. Of late, it has become very difficult to hold anger in check. The irrational retorts of “conservatives” to what should ne commonsensical, preventive regulations are simply disgusting!
Mike, I find your 25%group immunity to Fox BS interesting. These guys are by your account 1:1 nice folk, intelligent. What are their thoughts about “replacement theory”. My guess is that is why you were, and continue to be, immune to Fox BS. You don’t strike me as a guy hijacked by fear of ‘the Other”. Just wondering your thoughts.
I have a theory about Americans being afraid of "the Other" and is not meant as a criticism. It has changed a bit since I got here in the 60's, but an awful lot of Americans have never left the US (except perhaps in the military) and many don't own passports making some people insular.
My experience is that I was privileged to spend time with my family growing up in India and in Africa. "The Other" became my parents' friends and were at the house often. I knew at an early age that we were all alike under our skin colour and my brother and I had to treat everyone with respect, it didn't occur to us not to, because of our parents example.
You have to be carefully trained to hate others. What we are experiencing today is terrorism, intentionally manipulated, vulnerable or racist people who want power and to maintain the white caste system. Authoritarian tactics are being used to sow division and fear.
"You've got to be carefully taught". As true now as it was in 1950.
No you don't, necessarily, although some may well be. See my comment which, as I write this, is two above yours.
“Teach your children” (well)
Our parents model our behaviors and beliefs
Teaching acceptance is a conscious effort
Teaching bigotry is subtle but powerful
We are decades away from Generational Change
Yet, start now. “Teach your children well”
… You, who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so, become yourself
Because the past is just a goodbye
… Teach your children well
Their father's hell did slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they pick's the one you'll know by
… Don't you ever ask them, "Why?"
If they told you, you would cry
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you
… And you (Can you hear?) of tender years (And do you care?)
Can't know the fears (And can you see?)
That your elders grew by (We must be free)
And so, please help (To teach your children)
Them with your youth (What you believe in)
They seek the truth (Make a world)
Before they can die (That we can live in)
… And teach your parents well
Their children's hell will slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they pick's the one you'll know by
… Don't you ever ask them, "Why?
If they told you, you will cry
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you
Songwriter: Graham Nash
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vnYKRacKQc
👌🏼
If you are in NYC check out Tracy Letts' play, The Minutes. Set in a city council meeting, it begins as a watching paint dry event like most council meetings are, though Austin Pendleton is hilarious throughout. The story shifts to the dark side, with these innocuous council members showing their true colors, right out of today's headlines. Chilling. Thought-provoking.
See my comment which is now directly above yours, but by the time you read this may be a few above yours, for a different explanation.
My family of origin spent a year in Paris, 1965-66. I was 12. At home, I'd always been interested in foreigners, who I'd occasionally see in Harvard Square. I would approach them, ask them where they were from, and a little about themselves.
I noticed that year in Paris, that Parisians never approached me, and in fact, were hostile to Americans. I realize now that Paris was flooded with Americans, who often didn't behave all that well towards Parisians.
There's a book I highly recommend: Back of the Hiring Line: A 200-Year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth ($9 on Amazon). It reads well despite being a scholarly survey, among other things, of the relevant academic economic literature.
Basically, for 200 years, businesses have been importing foreigners, originally to replace black workers, now to replace any American, or even less recent immigrant workers. New immigrants are easily exploitable, and so this behavior enables reducing wages. As some black poultry workers who had left their jobs told the author, the pay now was so low that their replacements were having to sleep in cars or many to a room.
The book gives the lie to the notion that there are jobs American workers won't do. But there are levels of pay that workers who have had houses to themselves won't accept, and shouldn't accept.
So scary!
Keeping people constantly afraid is the stock-in-trade of all authoritarian regimes. And what could be scarier than being afraid to send your child to school?
There.
You have said it all, Talia.
I called this INSTITUTIONALIZED PARANOIA.
It is vile beyond the most hellish imagining, it is demons at work. Congressmen, governors on mission from who knows what depth of the Inferno.
Spreaders of a debased materialism -- nothing to do with Marx, with Democritus, with Lucretius -- one that reduces human beings to cattle (called "consumers"), to cannon fodder (called "patriots") a disease that is doing its damnedest to bring all political regimes everywhere, Russian, American, Chinese, Indian, to the same lower-than-lowest common denominator.
Well said, Peter! The disease is cultism, and the vector is trump.
Given the vast speed and ever-increasing acceleration of change in our world, people are anxious and vulnerable. So they have been targeted by certain major financial interests and their chosen instruments, for whom you rightly use the term “vector”.
Now, I don’t think labels like “cultism” are going to get anyone very far in describing, let alone countering the wildfire spread of a mass psychosis deliberately set off in just the same way as industrialists and financiers (with some real cause at the time to fear Communist forces) financed Hitler, whose uncanny ability to give voice to the vilest stirrings in Germans’ collective unconscious made possible the greatest, most murderous outbreak of mass madness that the world has yet seen.
Yes. In just the same way. This time, their Goebbels is Murdoch, whose adventures in mass manipulation do not, however, seem to be grounded in any ideology other than whatever destruction he can profitably get away with.
Now, however, the situation is potentially far more dangerous than in 1933 because America’s material power is immeasurably greater than that of Nazi Germany. Thus, there is no need for an obvious embodiment of evil like the Fuehrer, a fool in the White House can do harm on a scale that no conqueror in history could ever have imagined. By crimes of omission alone, such a one could destroy most life on Earth.
Yes, and even in the US the change has been huge. Imagine yourself an American worker. There's a new book, Back of the Hiring Line: A 200-Year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth, by Roy Beck. The backbone of the book is academic economic history (296 footnotes) but the author also draws from black periodicals, statements of black leaders, and gov't commissions on immigration reform, all of which recommended substantial reductions in immigration and strict enforcement of immigration laws.
From 1990-2020 the US added 40 million immigrants, the population of twice New York State. Biden wants to double those numbers.
Those numbers have turned many small towns into largely Spanish speaking, they've led to reduced wages and job loss among not just black, but white American workers, and currently even many immigrant workers, which is undoubtedly why Trump increased his share of the Hispanic vote in 2020.
As the author states repeatedly, these numbers aren't immigrants' fault, and people should not blame immigrants. They are Congress' fault. And I can tell you, much as I love most of my senators' and my congresswoman's policies, their immigration policies are terrible, and they are clueless on this issue (I've spoken with all of them, and with Warren and Katherine Clark numerous (brief) times).
As you said, people don't like change, and Americans have gotten a flood of it. (Press 1 for English and 2 for Spanish.)
Well said.
Thank you, Ally, but given the threat both to mankind today and to posterity, I'd be far happier to be mistaken.
But it goes back to the first New England settlements. Those who came “for religious freedom” were paranoid from being persecuted in England. The Founding Fathers were, on the whole, educated men—but their paranoia against the power/persecution by monarchy they were keenly aware of permeates the Articles of Confederation and Constitution. Why they repeatedly refused Washington a draft and were against a standing army.
After Cromwell's Commonwealth -- especially after the division of the country into Regions, each under the command of a major-general, a regime coming as close to that of the Ayatollahs, even the Taliban, as any that Britain has ever seen -- the military (unlike the Navy) came into disrepute for a long time and Kings, denied a standing army, raised guards regiments... The Catholic James II's attempts to build up a large standing army, including many Catholic officers led to disaffection and, in time, to his downfall.
To make matters worse, Hanoverian troops were sent to America, part of a growing -- and long-lasting -- pattern of using foreign mercenaries, developed with great success against the French in India during the Seven Years War...
When my friends first showed me Manila in the 1970s, we came to a quarter where everyone looked like Indians and I asked about this. I was told that these are Filipinos like everyone else, but that they're descended from a regiment of 600 sepoys whom the British left behind when they abandoned the city after an 18-month occupation in 1762-'64...
Pardon the digression...
I love history, so appreciated
Citizen60, it is a bit more complex than that. The puritans and a few others came for religious freedom. There were not many of them, and for the most part got along reasonably well with the indigenous people, with some notable exceptions.
But after them came the "companies" of people sponsored by investors seeking a return on their investment, who were not particularly religious, and to the degree they espoused religion, used it to justify their greed and sense of entitlement.
There were many of them, and settlements spread rapidly, as did exploitation of resources. Families were large with fewer lost babies, so more land needed, thus rapid expansion to west occurred, cities (small by our standards) sprouted up and became centers of commerce. The behavior of the founders came from a different fear than the fear of the first puritan settlers. It grew out of the greed and desire to expand territory more than fear of persecution from the British monarchy. The tax thing? Ha, taxation without representation? The Colonists were actually paying less tax than their counterparts in Britain, who were paying for the wars to protect the colonists from the consequences of their own land greed.
The British government had treaties with Indigenous Nations that the settlers from Europe would not go past the Appalachian Mts, and tried to enforce it. That is the real reason for the drive to separate. The settlers ignored the treaties and extended forcefully into lands guaranteed protected.
The litany of complaints against Geo III were the justification, he being the figurehead of the British government. But extending settlement into lands to the west was the real reason. This is the short version. The rest is just as interesting.
Yes, I know. It’s both simple and multifaceted. Why the later 13 colonies chose to declare independence is not what I was referring to in my comment. I was focused on the paranoia and fear from the earliest New England settlers. But The Founding Fathers’ biographies and Federalist Papers make clear their fear of tyranny and of the populace.
I think it is the old, white-privileged male patriarchy that we are having to confront, finally. Trump just tapped into it (and was paid a lot of money to do so, he is purely transactional about life).
The vector is FOX. The infection is FOX.
John Birchers & Rush Limbaugh and several like him on radio across the US found an audience for their hate.
Or go shopping. Or go to worship. Or go to the movies. Or go to a concert. Or go to a nightclub. Or peacefully protest.
The republicans are willing to sacrifice the lives of children and others for money. Their devotion is to money!
And skin color and power over.
👌🏼
No, it is the deluders in Congress and in State Houses that are worse than verminous. Go for the head, not the feet.
The deluders are vector parasites…
Heather's very credible reason for why the Republican Congress won't vote for gun laws is because their mission is to take any and all power away from the Federal Government. You'll find her words in the last 10 minutes or so of her FB chat yesterday. https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/videos/1168841863968581
Important correction: "their mission is to take any and all power away from (a Democratic led) Federal Government."
It remains to be seen (IMO) if it's true that they want to govern at all; just want the power of their offices.
Thanks for posting this. I l have been off of FB for a while and miss her chats.
I'm only on FB to listen to her chats, and if I catch Politics Girl while I'm there.
Aren’t they on YouTube also?
I just checked and the last one is from April 19.
I agree with all but you very last line. They are horrible, miserable, dangerous people. Calling them vermin is the same ugly propaganda they use to dehumanizing anyone they target. Call them out, for sure! But let's not use their dehumanizing techniques.
Very good, but on your narrow point, I suspect that CBS, NBC and ABC are also licensed as entertainment, and that that’s the way the statute is written.
The aren’t cable TV, and such etc to the few laws about what content can go out on free TV. Cable is private, and wholly unregulated
Oh. Hmm.
Australia and the UK restricted Rupert Murdoch’s unsavory “investigations” and lies, so Roger Ailes invited him to FOX.
A week or so ago, at a gathering in recognition of National Wear Orange Day, a community resident and Stop Handgun Violence co-Founder concluded a riveting call for action by bellowing, “Those spineless members of Congress think you should have a license to hunt duck and deer, and when you hunt duck you are limited to 3 rounds, when you hunt deer, you are limited to 5 rounds, to protect the duck and deer populations. But when you want to hunt babies in an elementary school, have at it. No license, no limit on the number of rounds. If that isn’t the epitome of insane public policy, I don’t know what is.”
I post this remark because I am astonished I haven’t heard some version of it from inside the beltway.
Barbara Jo,
All reasonable hunters are saying some version of what you have quoted here about hunting laws. Our NY DEC is very serious about limits to game hunting because, in the past, game has been hunted to extinction in some cases and near extinction in other cases.
Most hunters, though not all, adhere to these rules knowing that is the only way to preserve hunting for the future.
So, reasonable hunters are definitely in favor of reasonable gun laws.
I am a reasonable hunter in favor of reasonable gun laws
Mike, Thanks for your reply. Having lived in Vermont in my 20s, I’m well aware of the restrictions on hunting and their justification. My problem is with inside-the-beltway Republicans.
Thanks, Mike. Now if only we can get some way to keep humans from being "hunted to extinction."
Hunter s are also supposed to be licensed in many, if not most, states
Excellent, as a former hunter I’d say you are right on the mark, I was (not always) able to bring home game with the limitations on how I was armed, it is insane to be allowed to carry a 30 round magazine, the only thing that is useful to hunt is humans.
Dick, I appreciate your reply, but do wish to amplify that I posted the statement because I believed it was pitch perfect. Remember, I was quoting.
I absolutely agree with you, Barbara. You weren't writing about hunters, you were writing about right-wingers in the Congress (and gun lobby) who abuse hunters intelligence by pretending to "protect" their right to hunt, when what they are really protecting is their need to manipulate the American public into thinking they are somehow at risk unless they have a gun that renders meat useless. I am astonished that even has to be pointed out, because what you posted was, as you said, pitch perfect.
Annie, Your comment reflects a complete understanding of the speaker’s intent. Still, I believe Dick Montagne’s analogy, relating the restrictions on hunters with the need for restrictions on the general population, is an apt comparison.
I don't at all disagree with that. I was agreeing with you that the quote you posted was right on the mark.
Pro- deer and duck life, huh…
I think you mean that some hunters might support rules that preserve wildlife while simultaneously supporting rules that result in the death of little kids at school.
Honestly, that is really not the case.
Most hunters obey the LAW. LAW that is policed by the DEC.
IF the US put in place LAW that restricted gun ownership, then, policed it, most people would obey the law.
So, it is not philosophical that hunters follow the law. It is just an enforced law.
Our law abiding northern Michigan hunters (for the most part) are also philosophical about natural conservation and respect for the deer and ducks, while totally opposed to assault weapons and hollow bullets (the latter of which are banned in the military) in civilian hands.
It's my understanding that game that is killed by assault weapons aren't fit to eat? If so, what's the point other than "for the fun of it?"
Yes, destroys the meat.
Rose, I don’t know how to respond because I can’t decipher your point.
They claim to be pro-life, hence their support for abolishing abortion rights. However, when it comes to gun control, they are willing to protect the lives of deer and ducks, but not the lives of children.
Clear to me from the git go
Rose, Please note that Mike S., who is part of this thread, clarifies that just as DEC restricts and polices hunters, who mostly comply, were the US to restrict and police gun ownership, most people would comply.
His point may well be “not all gun owners are against reasonable regulations “well Regulated” is very clearly part of the language
Scream it from the rooftops, such slaughter of wildlife would likely spur more outrage. Maybe Matthew Mc would go a step further and call for the ban on assault weapons.
Jeri, My understanding is that Matthew Mc was intentional about only addressing restrictions that were under discussion.
And maybe, in that way he did not turn off the republicans? I wondered that myself. He was trying to be diplomatic, I believe.
@Pensa_VT, Like you, I believe Matthew Mc saw no point in invoking legislation that was not under discussion. I also believe he was determined to do all he could to get every piece of legislation under discussion passed.
I graduated from high school in a town in west Texas in May 1966. A classmate and I were headed to University of Texas in Austin, and we got a place together right across the street from the campus. He moved in the last week of July, and didn’t quit my summer job until the middle of August. “On August 1, 1966, after stabbing his mother and his wife to death the previous night, Charles Whitman, a Marine veteran, took [4] rifles [including a sniper’s rifle and a semi-automatic shotgun] and other weapons [and heaps of ammo] to the observation deck atop the Main Building [clock] tower at the University of Texas at Austin, and then opened fire indiscriminately on people on the surrounding campus and streets. Over the next 96 minutes he shot and killed 14 people, including an unborn child, and injured 31 other people. The incident ended when two policemen and a civilian reached Whitman and shot him dead. At the time, the attack was the deadliest mass shooting by a lone gunman in U.S. history.” (See,“University of Texas tower shooting”, Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Texas_tower_shooting.) It’s a terrifying read.
My roomy got caught in the cross fire, but stayed put, crouched behind a parked vehicle, while
bullets flew above and around him. A hell of a way to start college. Many of the Texan college students and staff got their deer rifles and other weapons and trained them on the top of the tower, or the clock, or whatever. The Clock Tower was peppered with bullet holes. And, it did not engender any action to restrict arms; indeed, on the 50th Anniversary of the slaughter, Texas allowed students to brings guns onto university campuses and, in some cases, into classrooms and dorms. (See, “The loaded legacy of the UT Tower shooting”, Washington Post, July 31, 2016.)
In 1989, and I moved from Guam with my wife and kids to Sydney, and, around 1994, we all went down to Tasmania for a bit of chill, including a visit to the old Port Arthur Penal Colony ruins. It is a wonderfully bucolic place. But, “on Sunday 28 April 1996 a security guard, Ian Kingston, stood in the doorway of the Broad Arrow cafe at the historic site of Port Arthur in southern Tasmania. He stared at the body of a man lying on the floor, then looked up into the barrel of a semi-automatic rifle. He dived back out the door as Martin Bryant pulled the trigger. Bryant killed 12 people in 15 seconds. Bryant moved towards the gift shop in the next 75 seconds, killing another eight people.
“In little over half an hour the death toll would be 35, with 23 wounded. It became the worst single-person mass shooting in Australia’s history.... The gun was an AR-15 rifle with a 30-shot magazine. Bryant exchanged it for a semi-automatic .308 FN rifle he had stowed in the boot of his car. Both were then legal in Tasmania, which, with Queensland, had the loosest gun regulation in Australia and felt the tightest grip of the gun lobby. “Twelve days after the Port Arthur massacre, the [newly elected] Australian prime minister, John Howard, announced a sweeping package of gun reforms....
"Howard proposed each state and territory should ... enforce a firearm licensing and registration system requiring people to have a “genuine reason” for having a firearm, such as ... being a farmer. “Personal protection” would not count as a genuine reason. All states would also ban automatic and semi-automatic long guns. Howard also introduced a national gun buyback scheme for all weapons that did not comply, which ended up melting down more than 650,000 firearms at a cost of $350m. He produced polling at the meeting that showed the ideas behind the reforms had up to 90% support. If the states did not fall into line, he ... warned, they would hold a referendum and seize power for firearm registration from the states. They fell into line....” (See, “It took one massacre: how Australia embraced gun control after Port Arthur”, 14 Mar 2016 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/15/it-took-one-massacre-how-australia-made-gun-control-happen-after-port-arthur.)
But, there is a critical other part to this success. The victory is not all political. The way was paved
by some dedicated people, critical among them, Rebecca Peters. “In 1996, while Australians
grappled with the horror that unfolded [at Port Arthur], Rebecca Peters was at the epicentre of
pushing for tougher gun laws”, as she recalled in an interview in April 2021. “As Australians confronted the shock of Port Arthur, the Coalition for Gun Control was primed and ready for the fight to toughen gun laws. To a large extent, this was because of Peters’s first project on volunteering with the organisation five years previously: she assessed its resources and priorities. Savvy, strategic, tireless and determined, Peters’s influence was transformative.
“In her early career as a journalist and radio producer, she had a strong social justice bent. Being
constantly confronted by nonsensical political decision making ... she asked herself how she could
take part in and better shape those decision-making conversations. Her answer was, become a
lawyer. So, she studied law while also working in the media .... During her first year at law school,
in 1991, there was a mass shooting in the inner west Sydney suburb of Strathfield. Seven people
were murdered. The furious community response to the Strathfield massacre made Peters curious
about the New South Wales gun laws. The laws she found were, at best, vague and patchy. ... Peters decided to write an article alerting people to the dire state of gun laws. It didn’t find its audience, but the process did put her in contact with Australia’s small gun control movement.
"At the time, the under-resourced volunteers dotted around the country couldn’t have realised that this new arrival would become the driving force of the law changes they’d wanted for so long. Once established, those uniform laws needed to ban all semi-automatic rifles, shotguns and assault weapons. The guns that were allowed had to be registered by their owners. And those owners, be they farmers, hunters, collectors or sportspeople, had to provide proof of their reasons to have a gun.
“Peters could speak knowledgably to the media about the gun laws because she was writing her
law thesis on the New South Wales gun laws after Strathfield. Terrigal demonstrated one of the
laws’ greatest failings. In the beach town of Terrigal, about 95 kms north of Sydney, a man went ona shooting spree, killing six people. The murderer, Malcolm Baker was known to police as a violent man who owned guns. After Baker had a domestic dispute, the police raided his home to
pre-emptively confiscate his guns. The problem was, the NSW gun laws at the time didn’t require
that guns be registered....
“In the years after the Central Coast massacre, Peters and her colleagues at the Coalition for Gun
Control, laid out a game plan for the next mass shooting. So when Port Arthur occurred, the activity in that University room might have been frantic (engaging the media and politicians, producing pamphlets, managing the waves of people offering to help, and organising a massive rally to take place in Sydney) but it wasn’t chaotic. As part of Peters' review of the organisation’s strategies, she put together a shopping list of essential tasks: all Gun Coalition communications were made media-ready and easy for journalists to use. Any organisation that might have an interest in gun control – banking and police unions, medical associations, churches, women’s groups, charities – were contacted. At the time of Port Arthur, 350 of them were ready to react with a clear and unified voice demanding change.
“Then there was the tricky part: the specifics of the changes they were asking for. The list had to be short so the media could easily report it and politicians could more easily say yes to it. First and foremost: uniform gun laws across the country. But the Federal government could only regulate gun importation. Each State had its own laws around the purchase and use of guns. Luckily, most State governments at the time were of John Howard’s Liberal[*] party, so his election victory gave him great powers of persuasion, and to his eternal credit, he used them. [* It is only a large 'L' party. Its philosophy is not small ‘l’ liberal -- it is classical conservatism, which baffles many newcomers to Australia.)
“As Australia was deciding what to do after Port Arthur, many of the discussions were informed by well thought out documents and ideas from the Coalition of Gun Control. The group had already looked at every state’s gun laws, saw what worked and didn’t work, and fashioned a proposal for broadly acceptable national standards. This meant governments didn’t start from a place of ignorance. They had in front of them, an array of documents addressing all the main issues including the findings of the numerous, previous gun law enquiries whose recommendations had mostly been ignored. ... It prevented yet another dead-end enquiry being called.
“The closed-door backdrop to all this was intense, disproportionate pressure from the small but
powerful pro-gun lobby. But the grief and anger of the nation was so loud that the public good, in this case, won out. On May 10, 1996, just 12 days after the Port Arthur outrage, Australia's state
and federal governments agreed to make their gun laws uniform. (See, “Port Arthur and the battle for tougher gun laws”, 8 April 2021, University of Sydney News & Opinion, https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2021/04/08/port-arthur-and-the-battle-for-tougher-gun-laws.html)
Also see, “Other Countries Had Mass Shootings. Then They Changed Their Gun Laws”, May 25,
2022, New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/25/world/europe/gun-laws-australia-britain.html.
Surely there is a Rebecca Peters in America somewhere. I suspect she's already friends with Heather.
Thank you for that - but the political situation is so different and dispersed in 'Merica - yes 'Merica desperately needs the energy of a Rebecca Peters (and supporting organisations).
We have them. Many many of them. So that's not the problem.
Amy Goodman?
Politics Girl?
Amazing personal account. Thank you!
UNITA.
And a great many who passed that law were voted out of office in the next election. That’s the real reason Republicans will do nothing.
Fox and Tucker Carlson were co-conspirators for the insurrection. If they thought the former president and his cabal were innocent, they would be falling all over themselves to cover the hearings.
Well said. And now that you say it, it seems so simple and obvious. Thank you.
I expressed to a friend my idea that they are all probably lawyering up
Their incompetent lawyers, part of the cabal, will have to lawyer up, too. I wonder who will want to take on that task.
Hannity surely is. He was in the thick of it. Even on the day of.
The one who was grandstanding was the pseudo-reporter from Newsmax.
Yet another Republican projection.
Puke, another phony news org.
"puke" I like it.
Awake because of a tornado warning that went off like a claxon on my phone about an hour ago so caught this as it posted. HCR, you need to go to bed earlier! I wish you had stopped at the bills signing. But I know you can’t. I predict nothing will be done. About guns, about the fascist takeover of the USA, about the mobster in chief wannabes who are using TFG as their Kevlar. They know how stupid and venal he is and they exploit it because the real scary guys are the pig-men who are in Congress, in governors’ mansions, head school boards, run state legislatures. And I just insulted pigs.
One practical proposal: a bill in the House requiring state Governors to visit classrooms and other sites where mass shootings have taken place and witness the carnage.
I would like to add to senators to that, and that their children need to attend these schools as well. As a show of support they should be asked and required to send their children to school alongside any children whose school has been the school where there has been a mass shooting. If we include that, then our friend Ted Cruz should be sending Caroline aged 13 and Catherine aged 11. Therefore Catherine should be the age to join children of Robb Elementary school and Caroline should be able to join the students at Crossroads High School, unless she is still in eighth grade. That would be the show of support I would expect from Cruz to show that he truly believes in the gun legislation he supports, that his own children should be as vulnerable as he is making them. I suspect that his own children go to private schools with a different sort of security. The kind where they have counselors to keep track of children who are feeling emotionally upset and those children are getting help or sent to outside counselors or special programs so that they are not in a position to want to go shoot up an elementary school. All in all, that is the evidence based prevention for these sorts of children, which ties into the red flag laws.
Near real time water vapor satellite loops:
https://tropic.ssec.wisc.edu/real-time/mosaic/movies/moswwvx_loop.html
https://tropic.ssec.wisc.edu/real-time/mosaic/movies/mosewvx_loop.html
Very nice. I don't get the connection but I dig meteorology.
Response to Linda Mitchell, KCMO above: "Awake because of a tornado warning that went off like a claxon on my phone about an hour ago ..." I like to track weather systems with these maps ... here are some more, if you want to dig deeper:
https://tahomahome.weebly.com/weatherweaver.html
Mathew McConaughey On Gun Reform: 'We Are In A Window Of Opportunity'
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=v6EQ0d3r6Rk
*******
Politics Girl, Leigh McGowan - "We’re done.”
https://youtu.be/yMwCixv1D6g
Spot on, as usual. Do many people follow her?
I do!
Me, too. She's great!
If they don't, they ought to - we need more voices like hers!!
I do
I subscribe to the Politics Girl channel, and I often comment. I also try to link her vids in places like the Washington Post comments.
I do! What I like about her is she can deliver in short sentences, just like the R's do!
"Do many people follow her?"
At this moment, this particular video has 3,800 views, 728 likes, and 142 Comments. I don't know. Is that "many"?
The TikTok version has 435K views, 87K likes & 3936 comments.
Who knew? I sure didn't. Thanks!
IMO, for as long as Leigh has been doing it, and given the quality of content, I think the number of viewers is astonishingly low. It really puzzles me why she has so few subscribers at this point. I can relate to every video she does, apparently many can't. It once again makes me feel like I'm out of touch with reality in the U.S.
This country is a sea of profound apathy, at least on the political left. Of course, it doesn't help that the leaders of the Democratic Party display no sense of urgency. They need a Leigh McGowan to run the DNC.
Here is one of my favorites from Leigh: https://youtu.be/Nd4xJJ5pQqo
This is the one! Every person needs to forward it to everyone they know as well as ALL media. Because if the fire isn't lit under every Democrat or Independent, no one will be ¨coming for them¨ and we will be SOL.
Why is that important? I understand that in this age #s of followers is big for influencers, but personally, I believe in quality over quantity. Especially when the quantity these days are under nourished intellectually. Every day I have a minimum of 10 people wanting to join one of my social medias. Always men. Usually with American flags in the bg. I respectfully decline.
I do
These are both so powerful that I shared them both to my Facebook page yesterday, but fear it accomplishes nothing beyond me feeling that I am “doing something”. I have very few “friends”, and have even lost some due to my political views in a very red part of Michigan. I guess I retain hope that maybe one of my friends will agree/share, then maybe one of their friends will do the same.
I feel both helpless and hopeless on a daily basis; truly not a nice place to be dwelling.
I know. Me too. Far too often. And I'm not even in Michigan. Used to visit there with friends from time to time. Could not see why they stayed. I know they wanted out. I'm in VT, and though not so isolated, frustrated by how things are done in my county, too little, too late. So I've turned to other venues for getting things done. In the meantime, some younger people are stepping into place and I think in 24 they will be on the ball. The state looks good, though, except our famous gov turned back into a Republican, meaning obstacle. He'll probably win, because people think he was responsible for VT doing so well during Covid. It wasn't him: it was us, the people, and some of the people around him who actually made decisions.
I can relate, Cathy - at least you do what you can - that has to matter ....
What’s many do not know is that her short 2-4 minute rants from her kitchen as she pops out of the refrigerator generate a lot of views. Of greater substance are her podcasts. I’ve listed links before. Many cannot do the 60 minutes of length, but if you can, her pods are delicious.
Here’s one. Just posted within past day.
https://youtu.be/jMoaklwqic0
“Who is Democracy For?”
Gold! Thanks.
Very welcome.
I watch many of her podcasts. She is amazing.
Totally.
One of the children killed was named Eliana. I have a granddaughter named Eliana. We must get this legislatiin passed NOW. Then ban assault rifles.
Thank You Kathleen. I love this Political Girl post. She sums up everything very forcefully.
Unanswerable.
Unless you are a killer, a would-be killer or a backer of killers.
I beg to differ. I have gone along with this idea of a male ego trip about what it takes to be a cowboy hero long enough.
But with the continuous cowarduss of Republicans to take no action to protect ordinary citizens and their children, it seems obvious that they have have NO ideology and just reject the idea of federal regulations because they are afraid. They must be under some threat. Maybe it's a threat of exposure or violence against themselves. Whatever it is, they dare not support any work done by the Democrats. Who bought these senators? Who owns them? I want the names of their rapacious owners and the names of the businesses that support them all. We have to point fingers at them in public and expose them. They are socially retarded and should not influence anything other than dogs.
They know that they are more than a minority party. They are a dead in the water party. Lindsey said it publicly with the hysteria of a high school girl. They know that if they lose the house, the senate, the presidency, it will be eons before they can come back. They no longer have a platform and are forced to bend a knee to the Christian whacks, the gun whacks, the #rupmlettes. Pointing fingers only increases their success with their breed of bad. Rather, there needs to be positive media about all that Biden is doing and all that normal Americans can receive by staying on the path of Democracy. No hysterics. Strong, well created media that can possibly make it through the blinders and yelling.
Gailee I am waiting on strong, well created media from our side.
We need to push them. Write to them. Call them out. Waiting gets you nothing.
I wonder if they realize how scary their dominance in positions of power can be - and the threat it poses to just governance ....
White, male domination does not care about these kinds of questions.
I believe they do. Their goal is dominance.
Sorry, I understand and concur - but that's how dogs get poorly trained and subsequently hurt dogs and people. By being owned and abused by frightened aggressive people. Just here to defend dogs :)
How about you substitute goldfish for dogs?
... even dogs deserve better ...
Dogs would have a good influence on them.
We know who they are….
As you noted "House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Representatives Jim Jordan (R-OH), Jim Banks (R-IN) and Elise Stefanik (R-NY) will lead the way in arguing that the committee is illegitimate and out of touch." These Trump water carriers will live in infamy. And I wonder, exactly how "out of touch" can an insurrection be? If it had succeeded, we'd be reliving the Reichstag almost 90 year later - with the further taint of kleptocracy. The insurrection deniers are the true enemies of the people.
May they conduct their rebuttals behind a locked prison cell.
Well...they need access to their FOX friends
The assault we are under as a country is no longer a threat it is real bare threads attacks. All the coordinating tactics the Republican Party is demanding of its devoted base have been in place for a very long time. It’s is the @GOP’s ‘Stealth Strategy’ . Our greatest weapon to fight back is Truth. Everyone of us knows it and we must use it. We must demand it and we must throw all our faith behind it. We are under attack and the GOP tells us how they operate within their ranks and it’s tactical measures. In the Art of War this provides us, their perceived enemy, the advantage. Now we must return this assault with our weapons of truth. It is our greatest super power. Start leaving post it truth bombs at the gas pumps the supermarket shelves on public garbage receptacles anywhere Americans consume. Start by leaving facts on the number of votes republicans cast to obstruct bills that work in our economic interests, bringing down gas prices or pharmaceutical costs, or veterans benefits, or gun violence legislations, or any bill already discussed here on this platform that Republicans voted against. Point out it’s not Biden creating their pain it is the Republican Party prolonging their Suffering. Leave the truth post it where it can be seen by anyone. We do not need heavy armor when we have the truth and we have the army of warriors willing to uphold it for the sake and well being of others and family to live in a democracy. Just like Ike said.
Sorry for my rant but action is now duly needed. Write a few Post It today with the roll call numbers and leave it at the Gas Pump on Gas Price Gouging HR7688 Yay 217/Nay 207 All Republicans VOTED AGAINST IT . Make them own the truth of their actions
Strategy not “stealth” anymore
Facts don’t sway the Republicans in Washington or many red statehouses. They may centrist and “fed up” Republicans
Grandstanding?
What these political prostitutes—sorry to insult the older profession—do daily, hourly, is not even grandstanding from the sewers, it’s grandstanding from the depths of Hell.
TC speaks of “a relentless demand for conformity”.
Correct, yet it would be even more accurate to speak of these Putin-parroting totalitarians’ project as… institutionalized paranoia.
Urgent: stretchers, straitjackets and consignment to well-padded cells.
All too good for them.
JUNE 7, 2022 - People For The American Way - replay:
What to Expect from the January 6th Hearings
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qSGIBpTfOo0&feature=emb_imp_woyt
Panel 0n January 6 Commission - with Ben Jealous, Jamie Raskin, Elie Mystal, Kristen Doerer, Peter Montgomery and Marcus Batchelor - discussing a new series of videos giving a primer on the radical right-wing forces behind 1/6, as well as answering participants’ questions.
TAKE ACTION - How you can protect our democracy
Below you’ll find different activist tools to help you in the fight for the preservation of the peaceful transfer of power. Each tool has been designed to make it as easy as possible to let your local elected officials know how important this issue is to you and to help get a local resolution passed.
https://www.rightwinginsurrection.org/action-center/take-action-activists
Thank you. Also, everyone needs to get involved with - I can't remember which of you had posted this https://actionnetwork.org/forms/turnout-the-troublemakers , but it is so important. I've just joined the Democrats Spain group and am going to explore creating this here. There is a Democrats Abroad and this group is what put Biden over the top.
Yes, Get Out the Overseas Vote, very very important in every election
Thank you too, Gailee - truth be told, I can't begin to keep up with all these resources, or take action - let alone keep up with emails or chores of daily living - I archive them for future reference and post them here for those of you who are able to follow through - one small thing I can do!!
In the same boat. At my age and in my current circumstance, there is so little I can personally do. I did when I could, now I donate when I can and watch the ugliest man alive wreak havoc all around. I want to have hope for my young grands.
I hear you Jeri ... look for the power behind the throne ....
Watch Rachel Maddow Highlights: June 6
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r-7DQAvpFFk
As always, thanks for actionable links Kathleen.
Thank you too Mike, your insight always is appreciated!!
Proud Boys Face Prison Time For Sedition | Stephen Colbert Will Go LIVE After Jan 6 Hearing
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oZdCvKXyAI4
Thank you very much for finding and sharing. So much is happening so quickly that it is overwhelming; your info gives some ideas and ways to implement today. My scattershot method of a phone call or two here, an email or three there, a Facebook sharing isn’t enough. I’m truly terrified of the upcoming months. We’re in our eighties and never even conceived that our society could so easily be brought to edge of destruction. I will add I am marching Saturday in Santa Ana with contingent from my Episcopal church for gun control. We’ve been at every March and public gathering since Trump arrived on the scene. Most of us are women 70’s-90’s!
A man from Buffalo whose mother was murdered in the recent grocer store massacre testified before Congress this week. He pleaded for action to counter violent white supremacy. The Republican response was to list a handful of times that black people killed whites. They effectively told this grieving son that his mother’s life was nothing to them, that what really matters is white victimhood and the need for white men to reassert dominance and power by all means available. These Republicans reject federal power precisely because it can be used to restrain white patriarchal violence.
I can’t believe the ridicules come backs they answer with.People from all walks of life kill people. I have never been made aware of a African American going to a predominantly White American grocery store at 2:30 on a Saturday and shooting up the place ? I hazard to say it appears to me that what I see, they are shooting each other more and more.
As far as I can tell, in most cases of murder people are killed by people who know them. In a substantially segregated society like ours, it follows that most murder victims are killed by a murderer of the same racial and ethnic identity. The most visible exceptions are the repeated killing of dark skinned people by white police or vigilantes.
I’m curios to know if any of the School shootings have been private Schools ? Not that I’m sick vindictive person. But more about if there hasn’t been what are they doing different than the Public Schools ? The Churches have been a variety of Faiths.
As far as I know, the K-12 school shootings have all been public schools. Some of that, I am sorry to say, is likely because the cultural pattern being followed - young man with specific heavy weapons murdering children - has public school as its target. That just so happens to coincide with the radical right desire to destroy public schools, which more often is acted out by moving funds to private schools and/or banning books.
Could be. As for the book banning, that was such a joke . K-3 rd grade ? One of my fav. jokes is little Billy goes to Dad and ask’s “ Where did I come from ?”. Dad thinking oh boy time for the Birds and the Bees talk. So dad sits him down and pretty much informs Billy of all the details on how we get born. About an hour has passed Billy’s bored and fidgety. So dad ends with “ Do you understand now Billy, do you have any questions you want to ask me ? Billy reply’s “ Not really, and I still don’t know where I came from . My friend Joey is from New York. Where did I come from ? “ DeSantis is doing things to make Ppl think he’s a Bad to the Bones MAGA guy !
Margaret Mead wrote: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” The word THOUGHTFUL excludes the raving cult of liars and seditionists unmoved by the evidence which they regularly ignored through 2 impeachment trials, the horrifying mass murders by assault weapons, the Jan6 riot, and now the mountain of evidence of the planned fascist takeover of the government. We have to stop living in fear of these brainwashed bullies and bring back common sense and respect. I thought we would have had massive turnouts of voters in the primaries, but that has not happened.
Two Professors Found What Creates a Mass Shooter. Will Politicians Pay Attention?
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/05/27/stopping-mass-shooters-q-a-00035762
On Long Island
https://www.longislandpress.com/2022/06/03/15-year-old-is-sixth-teen-to-threaten-a-long-island-school-in-one-week-cops-say/?utm_source=spotim&utm_medium=spotim_recirculation&spot_im_redirect_source=pitc
This is not a surprise. What gets me in the gut is that we already KNOW this, and even apply it sometimes. Yet as a society we have not yet done a simple critical first step, which is to limit access to the most likely means used to carry the threats out, giving time to identify and address the underlying problem.
Knowing that these factors play a role means nothing without a massive program nation-wide to identify people at risk of this behavior. It would take years and lots of money (and training) to establish even the most basic aspects - and we still would miss a good many of them, because they are not in schools, or they are not visible to the professionals, or sometimes not visible at all.