Good to see the Taliban branching out.
Banzai
13936
The GOP does seem to meet the requirements of a domestic terrorist organization:
Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.
Someone should get the FBI involved in this.
Thrag
13937
Someone get that man a bottle of whiskey and a tape recorder.
Even the Taliban allows abortion up to like 15 or 20 weeks. We have the hardcore zealots here.
ShivaX
13939
Democracy: the real totalitarianism.
Were these loonies around pre-Trump, or did the media just ignore them?
Trump showed that they can let their freak flag fly without consequence. Prior to that they had a modicum of subtlety, usually. āQuiet parts loudā and all that.
KevinC
13942
Pair this will the legislation moving through GOP-controlled state houses and itās pretty clear what theyāre going to do. And I donāt think the country/voters are going to stop them.
I feel like in the span of my lifetime (born in '78), the country peaked in the 90ās and itās all downhill from there. Things just seem to be progressing from bad to worse and itās accelerating. Climate change is going to multiply that as my remaining decades (if Iām so lucky) roll by.
Itās depressing, honestly. I donāt know what to do about it. I have so many friends and family that I used to be able to disagree with, but weād at least be in the same reality. We had differences in policy, thatās all. We were Americans, we just disagreed on what was best for America, how much we should tax or how much we should spend on the military vs. social spending, etc. Iām not on speaking terms with many of those same people anymore.
Gay rights, Trump, Black Lives Matter, COVIDā¦ I donāt think those things just showed a light on who they always were. There are several instances where these people have fundamentally changed. My father, my sister, my (former) good friend since middle school. I donāt recognize who these people have become. I know we all grow and change, but in several of these instances itās just such a fundamental change in politics/personality I feel like theyāve been possessed or brainwashed.
Itās easy to focus on Trump, but heās as much symptom as cause. Whatās really happened is that weāve had a war on institutions for the last three decades. Various parties have decided that gridlock or deliberate obstruction to the function of government is good politics that will earn them votes. Which it probably did in the short term. But in the long term itās just eroded trust in our governmental institutions and lead to a āthis garbage doesnāt work, letās try something elseā mentality. Thatās how you get voters to enthusiastically support authoritarians.
This thread represents peak doom scrolling but nonetheless is I think an accurate analysis of where weāre at and where weāre heading. Honestly for people of means with families leaving this country seems to be the only rational choice. Itās going to take generations to unfuck what SCOTUS and the theocratic proto fascists have done.(Writer is a āsenior analyst at a think tankā according to her twitter bio)
ShivaX
13945
They never got past city council or state office most of the time, but Steve King got elected back in 2003.
So theyāve been around for going on 20 years.
KevinC
13946
Thanks. It certainly didnāt cheer me up (not that I thought it was intended to) but I think she lays it out pretty well. Unfortunately.
Banzai
13947
I anticipate having to stop treating patients in Texas soon, as the legal risks of being a physician will move past where I am comfortable. I have actively been thinking about where to go, but my wife is an optimist and my kids are in good schools, so thereās a lot of inertia to stay put despite the risks. I think itās going to take some significant lawsuits to convince her of those risks once fetal rights become law in Texas. We have one election to change things, and I donāt think weāre going to get there this fall.
Grand Rapids is really nice. Though we still need to change that awful anti-abortion clap-back law.
Yeah, I donāt think Beto stands much of a chance (or any Dem for statewide office for that matter.) I imagine youāre not alone in not wanting to practice after fetal personhood legislation is passed; maybe you can escape to New Mexico or Nevada (blue sunbelt states that are not CA.)
Beto had the balls to actually say yes Iām coming for your guns. I love him for that but I think it may have killed him politicallyā¦
ShivaX
13953
Probably not a great idea in Texas of all places.
We donāt seem to have a thread for just white Evangelical stuff. I thought this was a good article in the Atlantic about the mixing of politics and religion:
Brown wasnāt faced with just Obama-centric conspiracy theories. People were beginning to confront him with questions and concerns he couldnāt comprehend. Once, when he visited Washington, D.C., for a pastorsā conference, he returned home to learn that people in the church had been entertaining a rumor started by one of its members. Having read blog posts about a FEMA program that recruited clergy to help calm communities after natural disasters, this man believed that Brown had gone to D.C. for covert trainingāand that he and other pastors were preparing to help the government enforce martial law.
However effective Brown might be at soothing his congregants for 45 minutes on a Sunday morning, āRush [Limbaugh] had them for three hours a day, five days a week, and Fox News had them every single night.ā Brown kept reminding his people that scriptureās most cited command is āFear not.ā But he couldnāt break through.
