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[TX-Beau]

So you don't believe it either. Got it.

That's a needlessly dismissive response. What I believe is that the problem is not that we are somehow Germany in 1935 - in 1935 we were Germany in 1935, living in an apartheid state with legally sanctioned political violence, widespread disenfranchisement, and a political culture of exclusion and discrimination, or that politicians aren't exploiting the fear and hatred of the horde. The problem is the horde. They have always been there and it is our repeated failure to deal with the reasons they are the horde that they flare up over and over again.

We aren't seeing anything new; we are repeating the same old cycle.

 

[rareboy]

I know you don't believe it, but this not just performance theatre. Even if this specific bill isn't successful in becoming law, they have now successfully planted and cultivated in their supporters minds, the concept that it is acceptable and desirable to refuse medical service to people whom they reject and despise. None of these crap bills are simple one-off attempts just to see what sticks today. It's far deeper, more nefarious and dangerous, and much larger in scope. The bill won't stick on this wall, but the idea for it will stick in people's minds; and that's the point of it. They're laying the groundwork for future support and consent of these kinds of actions, as well as weakening resistance to them, in the time to come. Instill the idea in people's minds, wear down opposition, convince people little-by-little that all this shit is OK to do, and build support for it. It's not about implementing the action now, it's about putting the idea in their followers minds and convincing them to support and condone the action later, when they do have power to implement it.

It's the same as that analogy about putting a frog in cool water and turning up the heat. If you put the frog in hot water, they resist and jump out. If you put the frog in cool water and gradually turn up the heat, they don't notice and let it happen until they're boiled to death. This is what republicans are doing. Little by little, we let them get away with one more thing, until we're all in camps wondering what happened.

It is what the Nazis did. Propagandize hate and build public support for it to minimize opposition. Later, impose small restrictions that escalate little-by-little in intensity and severity. Justify the restrictions with lies, fear, hate, and power, so people don't fight back. When there is no opposition left, open the gas chambers and ovens.

Just because what republicans are doing does not look exactly like 1930s Germany on the exact same time scale, does not mean it is not the same fascist thing!
And republicans damn well know it.

This isn't the first time this type of legislation has been tried.

And in the past, the US has had many instances of medical personnel or adjunct staff refusing to provide care that is not consistent with their own faith or beliefs. You can't for instance, likely force anyone to perform or participate in an elective abortion.

And during the AIDS crisis, hundreds of stories were told of Doctors and nurses refusing to care for homosexuals with AIDS. Talk about propagandizing hate. It was only when the straights found out they could get it and that their kids could get it too that the narrative shifted.

As I said, this may be a case of throwing something at the wall with the intent of it getting to the SC. But it won't get there very fast.

There is nothing new here. And that is why it is just performance at this point. It is all abut 2024.

 

[cityboy-stl]

It is not about the individual legislation. It's about the pattern being set overall, is the point I'm making.

It must be impossible to understand.

GOODBYE YOU ALL.

 

[rareboy]

We certainly understand your concerns about the apparent similarities between 1930's Germany and parts of the US.

The US is made up of states that have and will continue to split between those in the south and mid-west trying to impose draconian and hateful laws. Certainly in the case of the southern states it is a tradition that goes back to slavery.

And while Texas or Florida are determined to demonstrate to the far right wing older voters that they are as conservative and fundamentalist as possible, there are many other states where these kind of attempts would be unthinkable and not even attempted.

It won't give you any comfort, but in fact NAZI Germany looked to the Jim Crow laws and the Us eugenics movements to craft their own racist laws in the 30's.

In the 30's there were literally NAZI and fascist rallies in America.

These are certainly dark days. And democracy in the US hangs by a thread, thanks to oligarchs and wannabe dictators.

But one of the biggest tests of democracy was Jan 6, 2021. And America met that challenge. And can continue to meet it.

The next test was 2022 and the far right was punished. So the rhetoric has just gotten ramped up on the wedge issues that will appeal to the religious conservatives.

Now the big test of 2024 is in front of everyone. DeSantis and Abbott and their henchmen will be trying to outdo one another in legislation that will scare and enrage their voters, knowing that that winning is the end game. And so far, DeSantis is failing and flailing about. At this point, he looks unelectable to the White House. Unlikeable, uncharismatic and without any kind of big message. God, guns and Gays are back on the menu because the GQP literally has nothing else. In 6 months, it will be about the borders again. And the deficit and the debt. The fact is. trans bashing just isn't going to be sustainable as a central platform plank.

We have seen so much of this before.

And it all bears watching, because the SC can do damage. But then it is up to the legislative and executive branches to do their job.

 

[fabulouslyghetto]

We certainly understand your concerns about the apparent similarities between 1930's Germany and parts of the US.

The US is made up of states that have and will continue to split between those in the south and mid-west trying to impose draconian and hateful laws. Certainly in the case of the southern states it is a tradition that goes back to slavery.

And while Texas or Florida are determined to demonstrate to the far right wing older voters that they are as conservative and fundamentalist as possible, there are many other states where these kind of attempts would be unthinkable and not even attempted.

It won't give you any comfort, but in fact NAZI Germany looked to the Jim Crow laws and the Us eugenics movements to craft their own racist laws in the 30's.

In the 30's there were literally NAZI and fascist rallies in America.

These are certainly dark days. And democracy in the US hangs by a thread, thanks to oligarchs and wannabe dictators.

But one of the biggest tests of democracy was Jan 6, 2021. And America met that challenge. And can continue to meet it.

The next test was 2022 and the far right was punished. So the rhetoric has just gotten ramped up on the wedge issues that will appeal to the religious conservatives.

Now the big test of 2024 is in front of everyone. DeSantis and Abbott and their henchmen will be trying to outdo one another in legislation that will scare and enrage their voters, knowing that that winning is the end game. And so far, DeSantis is failing and flailing about. At this point, he looks unelectable to the White House. Unlikeable, uncharismatic and without any kind of big message. God, guns and Gays are back on the menu because the GQP literally has nothing else. In 6 months, it will be about the borders again. And the deficit and the debt. The fact is. trans bashing just isn't going to be sustainable as a central platform plank.

We have seen so much of this before.

And it all bears watching, because the SC can do damage. But then it is up to the legislative and executive branches to do their job.

And BINGO was his name-o. This is where the fright comes in.

 

[KaraBulut]

We certainly understand your concerns about the apparent similarities between 1930's Germany and parts of the US.

The US is made up of states that have and will continue to split between those in the south and mid-west trying to impose draconian and hateful laws. Certainly in the case of the southern states it is a tradition that goes back to slavery.

I agree.

Every time the far right or far left over-reaches, it triggers a backlash.

This stuff is on a pendulum. We came out of a more liberal period in the late 60s and 70s but even that was a backlash to right wing conservatism of the 1950s.

What is different now is the amount of money flowing into the political system, the lack of impartiality in parts of the media and the rapidity that social media can turbocharge everything.

Both of the two major parties have little motivation to do anything about these things because both parties want the money and the media manipulation. However, only one of the two parties has decided that they want to short-circuit democracy because they see a more liberal wave developing in younger voters. The reason they are pushing so hard on all this crazy shit is because they keep losing elections and they won't move to the center to recover the voters they have lost in the past decade.

What worries me more than anything is that neither side seems to have a plan for fixing the problems. What we're getting is a lot of virtue signalling but not a plan to fix the Courts, get some of these inept, putrid lawmakers fired from office and to reform the electoral system to make elections competitive again.

 

[fabulouslyghetto]

I agree.

Every time the far right or far left over-reaches, it triggers a backlash.

This stuff is on a pendulum. We came out of a more liberal period in the late 60s and 70s but even that was a backlash to right wing conservatism of the 1950s.

What is different now is the amount of money flowing into the political system, the lack of impartiality in parts of the media and the rapidity that social media can turbocharge everything.

Both of the two major parties have little motivation to do anything about these things because both parties want the money and the media manipulation. However, only one of the two parties has decided that they want to short-circuit democracy because they see a more liberal wave developing in younger voters. The reason they are pushing so hard on all this crazy shit is because they keep losing elections and they won't move to the center to recover the voters they have lost in the past decade.

What worries me more than anything is that neither side seems to have a plan for fixing the problems. What we're getting is a lot of virtue signalling but not a plan to fix the Courts, get some of these inept, putrid lawmakers fired from office and to reform the electoral system to make elections competitive again.

Career dems don't care what happens cuz they get paid either way.

 

[TX-Beau]

Career dems don't care what happens cuz they get paid either way.

This kind of statement is part of the problem. If one doesn't like one's representation work to change it. "Career Dems" are all over the place and a great many of the care very much. The right would have you in particular drown in apathy and despair and do nothing but lament. Are you going to let them manipulate you?

Black people have been at the forefront of the fight for equality since the beginning, are we who are on the side of freedom going to give up and excuse ourselves with glib excuses and false comparisons?

Weare ALL INDIVIDUALLY responsible to fix the problem, and if one is not donating time, energy, cash, and whatever else that's affordable the problem never ends and no one will be free.

 

[KaraBulut]

 

[KaraBulut]

 

[Alistair]

 

[KaraBulut]

 

[KaraBulut]

 

[johaninsc]

 

[TX-Beau]

How many straight guys have drunk the beer then ...strayed...

Perhaps the trogs are finally noticing.

 

[johaninsc]

How many straight guys have drunk the beer then ...strayed...

back in my running days it was my experience that a nice cold bottle of Absolut from the freezer often did the trick.

 

[johaninsc]

 

[fabulouslyghetto]

 

[KaraBulut]

 

[johaninsc]