I suggest posting it here and/or emailing it to Ruth ahead of time, incase you don't get the chance to ask it on the Zoomers. I for one am intrigued 👀 =]
It’s a pretty obvious Q to ask, if you think about it:
What are the chances a former X or Facebook employee will write a tell-all within the next two years outlining how the algorithms -really- work? (I’m putting it at a nine out of ten).
If -anything- can shatter the X/Facebook influence in our culture, it’s that.
We compared Trump's attacks on minorities, vilifying the LGBTQ, threats of violence and deportation against those of Hitler. Check this interactive chart "Who’s Trump Demonizing Next? Check the Fascist Project 2025 Playbook."
Gay guy and centrist Harris voter here. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Regardless who says it, it is correct that men should not be competing against women in sports. Or, to tease it out a bit, it is unfair for males who identify as females, especially those who have undergone puberty, to compete against females in female-only events.
It is unfair for girls or women who have trained and competed in their sport to have their victory snatched from them by someone with a male's physiological advantage, as was the case with Will "Lia" Thomas. It is a blow to girls' and women's self esteem, but that's only part of it. College admissions and college scholarships are at stake.
Also, in some sports, it simply isn't safe for male bodies to be in motion in proximity to female bodies in athletic events as males' greater mass and strength may injure them.
Last but certainly not least, it is impossible for a person to change sex. Trans women are only men who identify as women and therefore ineligible to be in women-only spaces.
Frankly, progressives are doing a very good job of vilifying sex realists who have well-founded questions and critiques of gender identity ideology and its social manifestations. In that regard, they are very much like MAGA in their radical intolerance of opposing points of view, embrace of bad information and refusal to engage in dialogue.
Furthermore, "LGBTQ" is a political fiction that forces allyship where none exists. Lesbians, gay men and bisexuals have little or no common cause with queer or trans people. The mistake was remaining silent about it for so long. Our story is the fight for individual civil rights and equal treatment under the law in the long tradition of the fight for women's suffrage and black civil rights. We owe nothing to Queer theory or critical theory and its progeny.
The real enemy of sexual minorities is religion or, more specifically, Protestant and Catholic clerics and activists who wish to codify their intolerant sectarian beliefs and impose them on all Americans, gay and straight. That has been their goal since long before Trump emerged on the scene.
Their agenda includes ending marriage equality and creating a religious apartheid under which the faithful would have the legal right to discriminate against gay people in just about every possible sphere of life that matters.
Ollie, remember what Ruth says? Ask, "why are they doing what they are doing? What is their outcome and motive?". In my state, Ohio they are making laws to ban transgender athletes from playing on girls HS sports teams. Yet there are only 5 transgender in the whole state playing on girls sports teams. The real question is why are they making such a big issue over 5 kids? You would think it is hundreds or thousands. Why are they creating an issue when none exists? Does this seem odd to you? While we are all busy arguing whether or not trans should play on girls sports teams, "what are they up to right under our noses?". I refuse to be a pawn in their chess game. They are playing us all for fools! People need to start asking the right questions. Your point that biological boys are typically stronger and this could be unfair is a valid point. However, it is a moot point b/c the GOP manufacturered an issue when one did not exist. So, we should bring attention to this.
You and other members of the Lucid community might be interested in an article that Anne Applebaum has published this morning, with her usual thoroughness and incisive sense of history, on The Atlantic website: "Trump Is Speaking Like Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini / The former president has brought dehumanizing language into American presidential politics."
"Several generations of American politicians have assumed that American voters, most of whom learned to pledge allegiance to the flag in school, grew up with the rule of law, and have never experienced occupation or invasion, would be resistant to this kind of language and imagery," she writes. "Trump is gambling—knowingly and cynically—that we are not."
I was waiting to hear your thoughts on this! I’d appreciate anything more you might say about the significance of “spectacle” in the making of an autocrat. I watched the clips of this recent episode and felt uneasy because it had overtones of a religious service at some points the music, the swaying, the hands raised and I just … 😬.
Absolutely right about the “religious” connection, Sherri. I’ve attended 100s of evangelical religious services where a strong focus, (in addition to the sermon and unison recitation of “holy” words) is on a “worship” band. I watched the entire Oct 14 Oak PA rally …the crowd was in their element, but had their “god” in person, rather than being represented by a preacher or musicians. They were getting the same group vibe they get at church. It looks boring … but for them, it’s a rare opportunity to be “safe” among “friends”
He has taught his followers to hate the left so much that they will do battle for him, to punish his enemies. This is known as narcissistic triangulation. It stems from fascist social Darwinism.
If he becomes POTUS the twisted love of the Second Amendment will quickly be reinterpreted by SCROTUS or just ignored because, you are correct, tRump cannot have a well armed population. (PS: Typing this while watching Professor Ben-Ghiat on DWH! 👍)
The GOP has been captured by fraudsters & power by any means authoritarians. The projection & propaganda never stops.
Trump, Vance & their election denying sycophants can’t handle the truth threatening fact checkers, whistleblowers, truth tellers & “the enemy within" with retribution via criminalization & “the military". https://wapo.st/3XXgHPthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaL0eCSFHGU
I assume we don't really need his medical records to confirm what we see with our eyes and hear with our ears, so who needs it are his faithful acolytes, and they would not accept it. I just remember that Hitler's doctor was a total quack as far as it came to treating his depression. He might have killed Hitler as much as anyone else. I mean, was Hitler bipolar? He had his mania, but he spent a lot of time in totally dysfunctional depressions hiding out from everyone. With Trump, he has a different sort of psychosis, one that does not have him hiding out.
I am interested in any discussion of the Billionaire tech bros take over of our nation and trying to take over the world, because this is White Supremacy of a different sort, but still the same. I can see Trump turning on Elon Musk in the right circumstance. Once he has a hold of the government he does not need Elon's money, and he can just take it, or his assets. These people do not seem to care that capitalism flourishes under democracy, and otherwise, not much of anything except secret rebellion flourishes.
I have some additional thoughts. First, I was playing at a local English Language quiz bowl with my husband the other night, in Germany. Sharing a space because it was super packed, were two Italian student couples. The women and one of the men were working on their thesis in Aerospace engineering, at a private company, the other man was visiting with them. They were gregarious and fun, and bright, and enthusiastically talking with each other in Italian and with us in English. You would not know they lived in a country with a repressive government. It did not seem to effect them. They could study in any EU country, and they are seemingly able to do what they want. I was wondering whether life would be like current Italy or other EU countries that have voted in authoritarian governments, with Hungary being one of the most extreme right now, or more like Russia? Or, something we have not yet experienced?
Secondly, I am looking at what Trump is more and more openly representing, and the way that Kamala Harris is standing up to him. I have decided that she is the bravest woman in America, and a Superhero. I would like to see Hollywood make a film about her as a superhero to counter Trump's The Apprentice, which will probably provide his followers with further reasons to admire him in his Bad guy persona, with Bad standing for Good, while the rest of the audience will not learn anything about him that they have not already figured out.
Hitler was thought to be a sadistic, Machiavellian psychopath. His actions pretty much support that. I don't believe there has been a fascist leader with a conscience. Psychopaths/sociopaths don't have one.
Most notable to me, Ruth, about this essay was how you ended the introduction, reminding us that we are community and we will be together every week subsequent to the election. That is very comforting to me.
And his supporters are basking in the glow of fascism, not knowing what it is that they support. Sure, they know that he's belligerent and divisive but when confronted about his political stance, they deny it's fascism. They don't want to admit that they've been taken. It's easier to deny that it's fascism that they are bolstering. He has created a new reality for his people to exist; one in which fact and fiction no longer exist; only emotion and cult solidarity.
I think Trump is not truly a con man: He has come to believe the con; a real con man wouldn’t. Indeed, not unlike Jim Jones, he deems himself godlike. As did, I imagine, the young German chancellor, Il Duce, Uncle Joe.
And I agree that Trump does not fit into the classic definition of fascist … and I wonder about “dictator” too. It just seems to me that he doesn’t care, or even understand, political theory; he just wants to be obeyed. And paid. And worshipped?
The definition of a dictator an individual who forms a government where they make decisions without effective constitutional limitations. What has Trump always said he wants to do away with the constitution of the United States. He will have his henchmen install projectn2025 as the frame work of running this country. Trump is telling the truth when he says he will be a dictator just like his buddies Putin, Jong, and Orban.
Wow! Great line up of guest speakers! I'm particularly looking forward to the guest from the ACLU =] All of the guest speakers are folks I have been a fan of, or a follower of, for years. I'm totally STOKED, as we say in California =] 💙💙💙🌊🌊🌊🏄🏄♂️🌅
And you have described the precise problems I have with him.
Is it too soon to submit a question for Kara? I have a good one I don’t she she’s been asked very often!
I suggest posting it here and/or emailing it to Ruth ahead of time, incase you don't get the chance to ask it on the Zoomers. I for one am intrigued 👀 =]
It’s a pretty obvious Q to ask, if you think about it:
What are the chances a former X or Facebook employee will write a tell-all within the next two years outlining how the algorithms -really- work? (I’m putting it at a nine out of ten).
If -anything- can shatter the X/Facebook influence in our culture, it’s that.
We compared Trump's attacks on minorities, vilifying the LGBTQ, threats of violence and deportation against those of Hitler. Check this interactive chart "Who’s Trump Demonizing Next? Check the Fascist Project 2025 Playbook."
https://thedemlabs.org/2024/10/14/trump-demonizes-immigrants-minorities-fascist-project-2025-playbook/
Especially noteworthy are the words of - Pastor Niemoller poem (adapted) who spoke out against the Nazis at the time.
First they came for the Transgender and I did not speak out, because I was not Transgender.
Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew
Then they came for the Muslims and I did not speak out, because I was not a Muslim
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me...
Gay guy and centrist Harris voter here. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Regardless who says it, it is correct that men should not be competing against women in sports. Or, to tease it out a bit, it is unfair for males who identify as females, especially those who have undergone puberty, to compete against females in female-only events.
It is unfair for girls or women who have trained and competed in their sport to have their victory snatched from them by someone with a male's physiological advantage, as was the case with Will "Lia" Thomas. It is a blow to girls' and women's self esteem, but that's only part of it. College admissions and college scholarships are at stake.
Also, in some sports, it simply isn't safe for male bodies to be in motion in proximity to female bodies in athletic events as males' greater mass and strength may injure them.
Last but certainly not least, it is impossible for a person to change sex. Trans women are only men who identify as women and therefore ineligible to be in women-only spaces.
Frankly, progressives are doing a very good job of vilifying sex realists who have well-founded questions and critiques of gender identity ideology and its social manifestations. In that regard, they are very much like MAGA in their radical intolerance of opposing points of view, embrace of bad information and refusal to engage in dialogue.
Furthermore, "LGBTQ" is a political fiction that forces allyship where none exists. Lesbians, gay men and bisexuals have little or no common cause with queer or trans people. The mistake was remaining silent about it for so long. Our story is the fight for individual civil rights and equal treatment under the law in the long tradition of the fight for women's suffrage and black civil rights. We owe nothing to Queer theory or critical theory and its progeny.
The real enemy of sexual minorities is religion or, more specifically, Protestant and Catholic clerics and activists who wish to codify their intolerant sectarian beliefs and impose them on all Americans, gay and straight. That has been their goal since long before Trump emerged on the scene.
Their agenda includes ending marriage equality and creating a religious apartheid under which the faithful would have the legal right to discriminate against gay people in just about every possible sphere of life that matters.
https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2021/04/30/ohio-republicans-push-bill-to-ban-5-transgender-athletes-from-womens-sports/
Ollie, remember what Ruth says? Ask, "why are they doing what they are doing? What is their outcome and motive?". In my state, Ohio they are making laws to ban transgender athletes from playing on girls HS sports teams. Yet there are only 5 transgender in the whole state playing on girls sports teams. The real question is why are they making such a big issue over 5 kids? You would think it is hundreds or thousands. Why are they creating an issue when none exists? Does this seem odd to you? While we are all busy arguing whether or not trans should play on girls sports teams, "what are they up to right under our noses?". I refuse to be a pawn in their chess game. They are playing us all for fools! People need to start asking the right questions. Your point that biological boys are typically stronger and this could be unfair is a valid point. However, it is a moot point b/c the GOP manufacturered an issue when one did not exist. So, we should bring attention to this.
You and other members of the Lucid community might be interested in an article that Anne Applebaum has published this morning, with her usual thoroughness and incisive sense of history, on The Atlantic website: "Trump Is Speaking Like Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini / The former president has brought dehumanizing language into American presidential politics."
"Several generations of American politicians have assumed that American voters, most of whom learned to pledge allegiance to the flag in school, grew up with the rule of law, and have never experienced occupation or invasion, would be resistant to this kind of language and imagery," she writes. "Trump is gambling—knowingly and cynically—that we are not."
I was waiting to hear your thoughts on this! I’d appreciate anything more you might say about the significance of “spectacle” in the making of an autocrat. I watched the clips of this recent episode and felt uneasy because it had overtones of a religious service at some points the music, the swaying, the hands raised and I just … 😬.
Absolutely right about the “religious” connection, Sherri. I’ve attended 100s of evangelical religious services where a strong focus, (in addition to the sermon and unison recitation of “holy” words) is on a “worship” band. I watched the entire Oct 14 Oak PA rally …the crowd was in their element, but had their “god” in person, rather than being represented by a preacher or musicians. They were getting the same group vibe they get at church. It looks boring … but for them, it’s a rare opportunity to be “safe” among “friends”
Agree, mind-numbing.
yes!
If he is elected Donald will soon find ways to slowly disarm the populace. Dictators can’t safely operate where people can rise up against them.
He has taught his followers to hate the left so much that they will do battle for him, to punish his enemies. This is known as narcissistic triangulation. It stems from fascist social Darwinism.
If he becomes POTUS the twisted love of the Second Amendment will quickly be reinterpreted by SCROTUS or just ignored because, you are correct, tRump cannot have a well armed population. (PS: Typing this while watching Professor Ben-Ghiat on DWH! 👍)
Thank you Ruth for all your communication venues to get the educated word out.
Trump says Harris’ hay fever is "a very messy & dangerous situation”, but won't release his medical records. Not to worry about his dementia, incontinence, & depravity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji2Z1B2MdMw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meuuDsdw6nA
"Do not just sit back & hope." Get fired up & #VoteBlue. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkf0_Ku-vgA
The GOP has been captured by fraudsters & power by any means authoritarians. The projection & propaganda never stops.
Trump, Vance & their election denying sycophants can’t handle the truth threatening fact checkers, whistleblowers, truth tellers & “the enemy within" with retribution via criminalization & “the military". https://wapo.st/3XXgHPt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaL0eCSFHGU
I assume we don't really need his medical records to confirm what we see with our eyes and hear with our ears, so who needs it are his faithful acolytes, and they would not accept it. I just remember that Hitler's doctor was a total quack as far as it came to treating his depression. He might have killed Hitler as much as anyone else. I mean, was Hitler bipolar? He had his mania, but he spent a lot of time in totally dysfunctional depressions hiding out from everyone. With Trump, he has a different sort of psychosis, one that does not have him hiding out.
I am interested in any discussion of the Billionaire tech bros take over of our nation and trying to take over the world, because this is White Supremacy of a different sort, but still the same. I can see Trump turning on Elon Musk in the right circumstance. Once he has a hold of the government he does not need Elon's money, and he can just take it, or his assets. These people do not seem to care that capitalism flourishes under democracy, and otherwise, not much of anything except secret rebellion flourishes.
I have some additional thoughts. First, I was playing at a local English Language quiz bowl with my husband the other night, in Germany. Sharing a space because it was super packed, were two Italian student couples. The women and one of the men were working on their thesis in Aerospace engineering, at a private company, the other man was visiting with them. They were gregarious and fun, and bright, and enthusiastically talking with each other in Italian and with us in English. You would not know they lived in a country with a repressive government. It did not seem to effect them. They could study in any EU country, and they are seemingly able to do what they want. I was wondering whether life would be like current Italy or other EU countries that have voted in authoritarian governments, with Hungary being one of the most extreme right now, or more like Russia? Or, something we have not yet experienced?
Secondly, I am looking at what Trump is more and more openly representing, and the way that Kamala Harris is standing up to him. I have decided that she is the bravest woman in America, and a Superhero. I would like to see Hollywood make a film about her as a superhero to counter Trump's The Apprentice, which will probably provide his followers with further reasons to admire him in his Bad guy persona, with Bad standing for Good, while the rest of the audience will not learn anything about him that they have not already figured out.
Hitler was thought to be a sadistic, Machiavellian psychopath. His actions pretty much support that. I don't believe there has been a fascist leader with a conscience. Psychopaths/sociopaths don't have one.
'bird, apple, boy, tree' -- the IQ test
Precise, spot on article!
Yes, Trump’s gone full throttle Fascist! No doubt! His episode dancing to the music was just insane!
When a sociopath (ASPD) becomes a national hero, we are in deep sh*t.
Hard to comprehend we’re where we are!
From reading your "Strongmen," it would seem that he fits this description perfectly.
Most notable to me, Ruth, about this essay was how you ended the introduction, reminding us that we are community and we will be together every week subsequent to the election. That is very comforting to me.
And his supporters are basking in the glow of fascism, not knowing what it is that they support. Sure, they know that he's belligerent and divisive but when confronted about his political stance, they deny it's fascism. They don't want to admit that they've been taken. It's easier to deny that it's fascism that they are bolstering. He has created a new reality for his people to exist; one in which fact and fiction no longer exist; only emotion and cult solidarity.
Sherrilyn Ifill, one of my favorites! Can’t wait. 🕊
Same =] I am excited! And enjoying looking forward to something =]
Yes, Sherrilyn Ifill is impressive as hell. I can't wait either!
I think Trump is not truly a con man: He has come to believe the con; a real con man wouldn’t. Indeed, not unlike Jim Jones, he deems himself godlike. As did, I imagine, the young German chancellor, Il Duce, Uncle Joe.
And I agree that Trump does not fit into the classic definition of fascist … and I wonder about “dictator” too. It just seems to me that he doesn’t care, or even understand, political theory; he just wants to be obeyed. And paid. And worshipped?
The definition of a dictator an individual who forms a government where they make decisions without effective constitutional limitations. What has Trump always said he wants to do away with the constitution of the United States. He will have his henchmen install projectn2025 as the frame work of running this country. Trump is telling the truth when he says he will be a dictator just like his buddies Putin, Jong, and Orban.
Wow! Great line up of guest speakers! I'm particularly looking forward to the guest from the ACLU =] All of the guest speakers are folks I have been a fan of, or a follower of, for years. I'm totally STOKED, as we say in California =] 💙💙💙🌊🌊🌊🏄🏄♂️🌅
In short, Trump is no mastermind—he is too easily led by real masterminds. Rather he is an eight year old Birthday Boy at an extravagant party.
Agree, and ,,like a boy attending a classmate's birthday party and opening/ taking all the presents as his own. The kid out of control.