Category: internets

Things that happen online.

Categories
internets web design

moved site again, updated some things

So i spent a year on Nixihost. They were cheap, but their technical support was hell. I kept getting the same guy and he was kind of an unhelpful dick. Plus they don’t support Cloudflare for some dumbass reason? Wtf? Thankfully, Cloudflare themselves have made things a bit easier anyway, so when i moved to Namecrane it went a lot smoother. They’re dirt cheap. I need dirt cheap. Things are tight. For reasons.

Anyway, i also decided to update the home page, since my list of self-links was growing as i adopt less toxic social media channels like Mastodon and Bluesky and i wanted to include all the places where i currently have a presence to any degree. So now the links appear in columns: 1 for pocket-sized screens, 2 for bigger small screens, and 3 for everything larger than that. I used the quick-and-dirty approach of using column-count: 2 rather than using flexbox, which limits directionality, but is quicker and easier and doesn’t require any real thinking to speak of.

I also changed the way links are styled. This was because i was experimenting with NeoCities and liked the way the links turned out.

a {
text-decoration: none;
border-bottom: 2px solid;
}
a:link, a:visited {
border-image:
linear-gradient(
to right,
#d60270,
#9b4f96,
#0038a8
) 1;
}
a:hover, a:focus, a:active {
border-image:
linear-gradient(
to right,
#5bcffb,
#f5abb9,
#fff,
#f5abb9,
#5bcffb
) 1;
}

This way, links by default (currently) have a gradient like the bisexual pride flag colors, while in a hover state it changes to a transgender flag color scheme. I also used :not to de-target other types of links like the site logo, etc.

Lastly, i updated the microblog feed to use both Mastodon and Bluesky, since that other site went to absolute shit. (Fuck billionaires and their fascist, bigoted ideologies.)

Categories
creative internets web design

random background colors experiment

random bg php/css experiment screenshot

A while back i made a random background color generator. What was cool about that was it took a random color (actually, three) and determined whether it was generally visually dark or light, then used that determination to color the text accordingly light or dark gray for contrast.

So today, after not really working with PHP (or much code at all) for several years, i decided to revisit my experiment. Instead of either light or dark gray, i wanted to take the random colors i generated and lighten or darken them up, so they’re the same hue, just darker or lighter depending on the value of the generated color. The contrast is a lot more subtle, however. Maybe next i’ll see if i can add a contrast switcher to it.

Here’s that experiment.

Here’s the source code in either pretty HTML or plain text format.

Categories
current events internets life

bridge burning and social media

"user no longer exists"

The other day, Twitter suspended my account temporarily because of a post i made where i was mean to President Donald J. Trump, who is a member of a protected class: bigots. I appealed the suspension and lost, so i’m appealing again. They won’t unblock my account unless i delete the tweet, which i am unwilling to do.

twitter screenshot of my suspension notification including offending text

In a weird rage, i threw my phone against the door. Lately, any little thing has been setting me off. i don’t even remember what this time involved, but i’ve vowed to stop taking my prescriptions and just drop them all off at a drug drop-off. I also called the mental health clinic i go to and canceled an upcoming appointment. They asked why, so i told them i’m sick of being fucked up and nothing was working so i didn’t want to even try anymore. They responded by asking if i wanted to close my case so i said yes. I quickly hung up once she confirmed.

Honestly, i was a little weirded out that they didn’t try to help somebody obviously having a mental health crisis.

Anyway, at some point i finally got the nerve to look at my phone, and sure enough i saw bad screen damage in the corner, so i threw it into the garbage, logged into my mobile account, and deactivated my phone.

Then i deactivated my Facebook account. Previously, i had begun the process of deleting all my posts, comments, likes, and photos, and it was still ongoing, so it doesn’t really matter that it’s all gone now.

Oh, i almost forgot: i figured out how to delete my Instagram too, so i went ahead and did that.

At some point i heard a notification sound coming from the garbage so i fished out my phone and took the SIM and flash storage out. Out of curiosity, i peeled off the tempered glass screen protector. Apparently it did a great job, because i really whacked that thing against a metal door from about 15 feet away and the screen was actually undamaged.

So i guess all i’m saying here is that i’m having a crisis and burning every fucking bridge i can burn.

Almost cut my hair

Almost sharpened a knife

Told my wife to go ahead and call the cops because even though i knew i couldn’t hurt another living thing, i figured it would probably have been a good idea anyway. She didn’t.

Anyway, i’m still on Diaspora and Mastodon.

And the universe won’t survive Heat Death, so not a single bit of any of this even matters in the slightest.

Categories
internets

Facebook violates my standards

So today i woke up and got this message from Facebook saying that one of my shares, from September 2017, violated their “community standards.”

So i went and found the original tweet and re-shared it a few times because fuck Facebook, that’s why. Here it is:

See that part where the sexy shit is cropped out, toward the bottom? That’s it. That’s literally all there is. So a guy without a shirt, and rebellious talk against His Reviled Reptilian-ness Ted Cruz.

And so Facebook reviewed it. And reviewed it again. And again. And again. And every single motherfucking time, they said NO:

But, see, here’s the thing: Facebook’s reviews of content is the most inconsistent thing in the world. To wit:

So what can we infer from this? It seems as though they’re okay with [dumbass biker-porn] female nudity, self-harm (seriously, that video was of a guy cutting the shit out of himself), and people trying to sell shitty pills (for context, the guy had obviously stolen the drugs – shitty “diet” pills – from the dollar store where he worked). But if there’s an inference of sex or porn – or just speech going against a universally loathed Republican? – then they will bring the hammer straight the fuck down.

Categories
reddit

Trump, the Magnitsky Act, and Bill Browder

This is part of an ongoing series highlighting some of the best political commentary from Reddit. Content skews to the left, because — as they say — facts are inherently liberal. All credit for this content goes to the original author. For more great content like this, check out the Reddit category or tag.

Why is the infamous Trump Tower meeting between top Trump Campaign officials and Russian operatives in the summer of 2016 so important? First we must understand The Magnitsky Act & Bill Browder.

Bill Browder is the reason the Magnitsky Act was enacted.[1] Sanctions against Russian Oligarchs allied with President Vladimir Putin were enacted specifically to put pressure on Putin’s authoritative style of governance.[2] Putin cares about these sanctions because they hurt the relationships he’s cultivated with corrupt, powerful officials in the country.[3] The Magnitsky Act was discussed at the now infamous Trump Tower Meeting.[4] Russia banned Americans from adopting Russian children in retaliation against the sanctions.

I recommend watching Bill Browder’s Senate Congressional testimony. He paints an incredible picture of how the Russian government operates and provides a motive for the Russians to work with the Trump campaign.[5]

If you would like the read the Magnitsky Act legislation;

H.R.6156 – Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012[6]

S.284 – Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act of 2015/2016[7]

June 9, 2016 – A month before candidate Trump publicly asked for help from a foreign adversary, his surrogates met with Russian operatives at the now infamous Trump Tower meeting. They discussed the Magnistky Act. One operative was working under the direction of the Russian Deputy Attorney General who died in the helicopter accident. The other operative has ties to Russian intelligence and has been accused of orchestrating hacking campaigns.

One of the Russian operatives, Natalia Veselnitskaya, is an outspoken opponent of the Magnitsky Act.[8] Trump Jr. admitted to discussing adoptions, which means they discussed Russian sanctions. While the Kremlin has vehemently denied Veselnitskaya working for the Russian government, Swiss authorities allege that she was involved in an attempt to enlist a foreign country’s law enforcement agent as a double-agent to work for the Russians.[9] She did this on behalf of Russian Deputy Attorney General Saak Albertovich Karapetyan. Moreover, in 2017 at the G20 summit Putin and Trump discussed adoptions and the Magnitsky Act.[10] The other Russian operative present at the infamous Trump Tower meeting, Rinat Akhmetshin, has ties to Russian intelligence and has a history of being embroiled in court cases related to hacking campaigns.[11]

July 27, 2016 Candidate Trump looked directly at the camera and publicly asked Russia for their help to find Hillary Clinton’s missing emails, the Russian military intelligence (GRU) hacked the Clinton campaign thereafter.

During a campaign rally in Florida on July 27, 2016, President Trump called on Russia to help him find Hillary Clinton’s missing 30,000 emails.[12] Special Counsel Mueller’s indictment against 12 Russian Intelligence Officers found that on July 27, 2016 Russian hackers known as Guccifer 2.0 hacked the Clinton campaign.[13]

DoJ Indictment of 12 Russian Intelligence Officers Pg. 7 – 8

The Conspirators spearphished individuals affiliated with the Clinton Campaign throughout the summer of 2016. For example, on or about July 27, 2016, the Conspirators attempted after hours to spearphish for the first time email accounts at a domain hosted by a thirdparty provider and used by Clinton’s personal office. At or around the same time, they also targeted seventy-six email addresses at the domain for the Clinton Campaign.

August 22, 2017 Glenn Simpson testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee that the Trump campaign accepted regular intelligence from the Kremlin during the 2016 campaign.

The Senate Judiciary committee testimony of Fusion GPS CEO Glenn Simpson claims that that the Trump campaign received foreign intelligence aid during the 2016 campaign.[14]

Pg. 154 – 155 Senate Judiciary Committee Testimony

A. I mean, one of the key lines here in the second paragraph says “However, he and his inner circle have accepted a regular flow of intelligence from the Kremlin, including on his democratic and other political rivals.” So the issue with the Trump Tower meeting, as 1 I understand it, is that the Trump people were eager to accept intelligence from a foreign government about their political rivals and that is, you know, I would say, a form of interference. If you’re getting help from a foreign government and your help is intelligence, then the foreign government’s interfering. I mean, you know, I think that also — of course, in retrospect we now know this was pretty right on target in terms on what it says. So anyway —

Q. In reference to you think that particular sentence?

A. I mean, it clearly refers to, you know, them being interested in and willing to — it depicts them as accepting information. What we have seen to date with the disclosures this year is they were at a minimum super interested in getting information.

Q. And when you’re referencing the “disclosures this year,” could you just be specific about that.

A. The Trump Tower meeting.

Q. So with reference to the June 9th Trump Tower meeting?

A. Yes. Yes.

In the summer of 2017 President Trump discussed adoptions with Vladimir Putin during a second, undisclosed meeting between the two leaders at the Group of 20 Summit. Adoptions is a euphemism for Russian sanctions.^[15]

Trump told the Times it was “interesting” that the topic of adoptions came up in the Putin conversation.

“I actually talked about Russian adoption with him [Putin],” he said, “Which is interesting because it was a part of the conversation that Don had in that meeting.”

Multiple news outlets reported Tuesday that Trump and Putin spoke in July at the end of a couples dinner in the main room of the G-20 summit, where dinner was held following their two-hour bilateral meeting earlier that day.

  1. Washington Post – The Magnitsky Act, explained
  2. The Atlantic – Why Does the Kremlin Care So Much About the Magnitsky Act?
  3. Politico – The Putin Obsession That Led to Trump Jr.’s Meeting
  4. New York Times – Talking Points Brought to Trump Tower Meeting Were Shared With Kremlin
  5. CSPAN – Browder Senate Judiciary Testimony
  6. H.R.6156 – Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012
  7. S.284 – Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act
  8. New York Times – Trump Team Met With Lawyer Linked to Kremlin During Campaign
  9. Committee to Investigate Russia – Veselnitskaya Linked to Russian Government in Swiss Case
  10. BBC – Why did Putin talk to Trump about ‘adoption’?
  11. New York Times – Lobbyist at Trump Campaign Meeting Has a Web of Russian Connections
  12. New York Times – Donald Trump Calls on Russia to Find Hillary Clinton’s Missing Emails, July 28, 2016
  13. U.S. Department of Justice indictment of 12 Russian Intelligence Officers
  14. Senate Judiciary Committee – Glenn Simpson Fusion GPS CEO Testimony
  15. Washington Examiner – Trump says he spoke with Putin about ‘adoptions’ during second, undisclosed meeting at G-20 Summit
Categories
reddit

Donald Trump: Dictator

This is part of an ongoing series highlighting some of the best political commentary from Reddit. Content skews to the left, because — as they say — facts are inherently liberal. All credit for this content goes to the original author. For more great content like this, check out the Reddit category or tag.

“He’s totally not, like, a dictator, believe me folks!”

Donald Trump…

Updates for the week ending February 25th, 2017:

Categories
reddit

The Real Conspiracy

This is part of an ongoing series highlighting some of the best political commentary from Reddit. Content skews to the left, because — as they say — facts are inherently liberal. All credit for this content goes to the original author. For more great content like this, check out the Reddit category or tag.

The Koch/Republican network is taking over state legislatures, closing voting stations in minority areas and purging voters and extreme gerrymandering of districts and disenfranchising voters and imposing onerous Voter ID laws written by Koch front ALEC and changing the rules of governance to make their control permanent and legal. All of this is being carried out by state legislatures the Kochs have funded and directed their network to campaign for who introduce legislation written by Koch front ALEC.

Then they begin passing legislation, written by ALEC, benefiting the Kochs, industrial and environmental deregulation, and tax cuts which coupled with supermajority laws is the cause of the drop in rural healthcare and education funding, stacking the judiciary, and gerrymandering Congress.

Now they’re doing the same thing nationally. Trumps Vice President, cabinet members, and many administration positions are staffed with Koch cronies, more are taking on jobs in various regulatory agencies. And stacking the federal judiciary.

While the Koch network continues apace lobbying for ‘right to work’ laws, opposing Public Transit ballots, and spending 400 million on this years midterms.

They’re not done by a long shot. The Kochs want a Constitutional Convention. They have three items on the agenda for it already:

  • Repealing the income tax and estate tax.
  • A balanced budget amendment – ensuring all Federal regulatory agencies, the SEC and FDA and EPA and FEC and so on, Department of Education, Social Security and Medicare, and everything else the right have had a bee in their bonnet about since the 1930s is dismantled and shut down or privatised.
  • Repealing the 17th Amendment – the right to vote for Senators. It will revert to state appointment. 32 Republican states, that’s 64 Republican Senators. Just three shy of a 2/3 majority. In addition to taking over states and gerrymandering Congress and stacking federal courts.

What else would they wanted added at the convention? With the control they will wield the sky is the limit, I think the “locks and bolts” against popular organising, reversing the changes, the democratic process and enshrining above all else the rights of the propertarian class that James McGill Buchanan, the key inspiration of the Kochs, advised the Pinochet regime on installing in Chiles constitution give a good idea.

In any other country you’d call this a soft coup.

How do you stop this?

You can’t vote them out, the gerrymandering and disenfranchisement ensure their minority has a majority of power.

You fight this in the court and either they’ve stacked them or the judges rule in your favour and they just try again and replace the judges for the next round. If it goes to the federal courts (that they stacked remember) either they rule in their favour or its litigated for so long the courts declare its too late to change.

And what a surprise, Michigan AG Bill Schutte opposed to the ballot initiative to create an independent body to draw districts, and is running for Governor, is another Koch Brothers crony.

Where is the Democratic Party while this goes on? Their biggest concern is avoiding scary words and creating the… BoomerCorps.

So what the hell do you do?

So here’s a genuine question (from a liberal Canadian baffled by American politics): Why? Aren’t the Koch brothers a couple of incredibly wealthy and very old men? I don’t understand why they care so much. They won’t be around much longer and they have more money than they could possibly spend. Why do they want to pay less taxes when it will in no way affect their lifestyle? Why do they care who is in power?

I also don’t understand why the Republicans’ response upon realizing that they are unelectable in an ethically run democracy opt for unethical (verging on illegal) tactics to essentially rig elections in their favour rather than just changing their message so that more people will vote for them. Wouldn’t a fairly won election take far less effort and cost significantly less? Are there Republicans who want to do things ethically or is that simply not a part of being Republican? What about fiscal conservatives who want lower taxes/less spending without all the crazy?

Imnotsureimright

They are extreme ideologues. Its not enough for them to have a 100 billion dollars. They believe they are right and they know best. That taxation is wrong, that public education is wrong, that public transportation is wrong, that climate change is not happening, and doing anything about these things is contrary to the free market.

There might also be a darker motivation.

The Koch Brothers father Fred Koch was a Nazi war profiteer. When he concluded business in Germany in 1938 building oil and aviation fuel refineries for the Luftwaffe he wrote in his diary that he thought only Germany, Italy, and Japan were on the right path. He brought back with him a Nanny who was a member of the Nazi Party to help raise his boys correctly.

In the 1950s he co-founded the John Birch Society. The Birchers believed that School Integration and the Civil Rights Movement were Communist Plots.

Charles Koch worked for the Birchers as a young man, he later worked with Robert LaFevre in founding the Freedom School and Ramparts College. Both had Holocaust Deniers and Neo-Confederates on their faculty.

He later founded Reason Magazine. In its early years it featured Holocaust Deniers and Neo-Confederates as merely historical revisionists challenging the stuffy orthodoxy of academias ivory tower.

By the 1980s he teamed up with James McGill Buchanan. A free market economist considered so extreme people aren’t introduced to him until they’ve read and adhering to Ayn Rand. Together they turned George Mason University into what it is today to produce economists and policy makers that would extol their shared beliefs and carry them out in academia, industry, and government. Many graduates find positions in Koch Industries or the Koch network or sponsored into positions at other colleges.

Buchanan got his start in Virginia in the 1950s in the fight against School Integration, he conceived of Charter Schools as a means of forming an opposition that would be stripped of racist jargon. He was an advisor to the Pinochet regime, helping them construct a Constitution that would be stuffed with “locks and bolts” against democracy and popular participation ensuring an elite minority would be serviced alone.

Now remember the Kochs are ardently opposed to public education, believe in privatisation and charter schools as an alternative, and their actions with state legislatures are instituting the exact same kind of “locks and bolts”.

The Kochs fund the American Enterprise Institute, David sits on its board of directors. Charles Murray the author of the Bell Curve is one of its fellows.

Also teaching at GMU is economist Garrett Jones. His work draws upon that of white supremacist and eugenicist Richard Lynn, and his work has been favourably reviewed by VDARE. Jones has delivered lectures arguing less democracy in the US would lead to better governance.

The Kochs ‘prisoner outreach’ program is overseen by Florida Atlantic University professor Marshall DeRosa, a member of the League of the South.

Assistant Professor Jonathan Anomaly at the Department of Political Economy and Moral Science at the University of Arizona, which has received 1.8 million from the Kochs and 2.6 million from their associates, published an article Public Goods and Education. In it Anomaly discussed the value of exploring links between genetics and IQ of different racial groups, and the value of eugenics. He has also written about the need to replace public education.

They provide funding to Young America’s Foundation that funds those lecture tours featuring Murray, David Horowitz, Ann Coulter, Ted Nugent, Robert Spencer, Milo Yiannopoulos. Ben Shapiro is a new addition. Its board member James B. Taylor is the former president of the National Policy Institute, now run by altright icon Richard Spencer.

Rebel Media in Canada was founded by Ezra Levant – who has previously worked for the Fraser Institute the Kochs main Canadian think tank and before that did his internship at the Charles G. Koch Foundation. Rebel Media is hive of altright activism.

Jordan Peterson started at Rebel Media, and often promotes Koch linked groups.

Stefan Molyneux has associated with Jones, Murray, and the League of the South.

So when you start to really dig into them you find a lot of connections to racism, from the Birchers in the 1950s to ‘racial realists’ and the altright today. All with a consistent narrative that ‘they’ are undermining ‘our’ society.

Which might then lead one to question why it is so many of the policies they advocate for target, marginalise, and limit the rights of minorities.

They won’t be around much longer

I saw an interview with Rupert Murdoch years ago where he spoke about his desire to live to 100. He works out every day with a physical trainer, has his meals catered by a nutritionist, and both are overseen by a doctor. I don’t doubt many others in his class and with his wealth feel the same way.

I also don’t understand why the Republicans’ response upon realizing that they are unelectable in an ethically run democracy opt for unethical

They’re not going to admit their policy ideas are wrong. So the cynical will go for the money, and the true believers will concoct the elaborate fantasies about how liberals and Democrats are funded by George Soros to bus in illegal immigrants.

They work for rich and powerful people who demand their policies be adopted and feel extremely entitled and don’t take no for an answer.

(Sorry for the lack of links, this is a condensation of two other pieces I wrote over on /r/KochWatch and they both have copious citations)

Categories
reddit

The Trump-enabling Mindset

This is part of an ongoing series highlighting some of the best political commentary from Reddit. Content skews to the left, because — as they say — facts are inherently liberal. All credit for this content goes to the original author. For more great content like this, check out the Reddit category or tag.

It’s easier to digest the Trump enabling conservative mindset when you consider why it is they are so susceptible to the principles of authoritarianism. Why is adherence to the king important to them? Why do they relish in the behavior of petulance and infantilism? Why all the rabble-rousing? Why do conservatives find these toxic virtues appealing? Why are they insecure and emotionally volatile? Why are they intellectually dishonest and why do they engage a topic in bad faith? What are they so afraid of?

Aside from the very obvious observable reputation and behavior of a lifelong scumbag and pathological liar in Donald Trump, allow me to do my best explaining what conservative authoritarianism looks like in the head-space of conservative America. I personally feel that Trumpism has transcended whatever is left of conservatism into something far more dangerous and radical, but for now we will refer to them as conservatives, even though fiscal conservatives or what’s left of them voted for Hillary. Regardless, these right-wing concepts and feelings transcend democratic partisanship given the principles of authoritarianism as they relate to what is true and when truth is diametrically opposed to one’s beliefs.

As it can be understood, the foundation of social and cultural ‘fear’ is rooted in hate and modern conservatives typically take a ‘Good versus Evil’ approach towards that which runs counter to their identity. They often express their beliefs and values exclusively in absolutes and superlatives for this reason, not unlike the linguistic congruence of Trump himself, who literally cannot speak at length about a complex subject and navigate the discourse successfully enough to promote his beliefs and express his points, making him unqualified to comment on matters social, cultural, economic, and political.

A symptom of this ‘fear’ is a susceptibility to disinformation and propaganda, in which conservatives will immediately come to defense of money-grubbing, fear-mongering oligarchs from the GOP, the right-wing media, and their corporate ‘investors’, who have worked in tandem to systematically undermine the overall well-being of humanity for personal profit. As we have seen time and time again, trickle-down is still widely accepted despite evidence to the contrary. The GOP is essentially a conduit for fostering a…political ‘Stockholm Syndrome’. These are the same morally bankrupt vulgarians that brought us anti-intellectualism as a virtue and radical identitarianism (see Richard Spencer and Fox News) and are currently moving us towards an ‘illiberal democracy’ akin to the economic and social corruption of Putin’s Russia.

The studies listed below help illustrate the manner in which the brain is susceptible to demagoguery and the principles of authoritarianism. As demonstrated, conservative youths develop more grey matter (‘shorter’ or preferred neural pathways/behaviors) around their amygdalas (fear processing center of the brain), whereas liberal youths develop more grey matter around the Anterior cingulate cortex (the reasoning center of the brain ). Accordingly, the ACC includes: the anterior region, which is involved in executive function, the dorsal region, which is involved in cognitive processes, and the ventral region, which is involved in emotional regulation. Fear in this capacity is often void of nuanced restraint and clarity and is the manner in which conservatives feel discomfort and insecurity in dissonance arousing situations. They’re in a way, wired to be ‘snowflakes’, in that fear and discomfort around a subject act as a defense mechanism that overrides objective truth in order to feel safe about one’s reputation, beliefs, and values. This while hiding behind the veil of politics to feel justified in their hatred of social and economic change through the bias of their community, the GOP itself, and conservative propaganda in the media. You routinely see this effect in religious groups and the like. Simply put, they’re fear-driven beings with symptoms of low social mobility (cultural capital).

There is fact, and there is cognitive dissonance. the latter of which is an emotional landscape where truth is relative and lowbrow conspiracy theory runs rampant. Gaslighting and projection are a staple here and falsehoods feel vindicating when they run counter to perceived liberal agendas or entities, which allows lies to perpetuate and grow. Not out of policy, but out of malice. A place of self-aggrandization where conservative constituents reside and by which the GOP has them hook, line, and sinker. As has been routinely observed, a frightening number of these people will not hesitate to vote for a bona fide dictator, a literal Nazi, child predator, or rapist. One needn’t look hard to see that these people ravenously support a quality of man they’d never, ever allow to be left alone with their wives or children. It is as if the content of one’s character doesn’t matter anymore as long as Republicans are ‘winning.’ Winning feels good, so winning is the moral high ground. A place where the reputation of a man’s character is worthless and self-reflection is impossible. Authoritarianism is very much alive in modern America and there is no shortage of narcissistic supply.

Furthermore, they all went out and voted for a malcontent snake-oil salesman who lives in a golden tower with his name written on it in caps lock. An abusive, spray-tanned, affluent egomaniac in a baggy suit with no redeeming qualities as a man, husband, father, and leader. The kind of adult you can’t bring around because you’re too ashamed and too worried about his behavior. Donald J. Trump is a person so fraught with hypocrisy and scandal that reasonable people are questioning whether he has a histrionic personality disorder or degenerative brain disease without a hint of hyperbole.

We now have a literal President who refuses to read long-form text and hasn’t finished a novel in five decades. A man so untethered from reality that he feels he has earned his right to be a criminal and that fondling women is genuinely appropriate. Not only will he do the crime, but he will brag about it publicly while simultaneously denying it and then turn around and gaslight whoever points out the behavior. Regardless of what you believe, or whether you think a narcissist can do good through bad in a vacuum, this is what conservative authoritarianism looks like and how it functions in the collective psyches of conservative America. Anybody who supports Donald Trump at this juncture is a certifiable dumbass or worse, a nihilistic troll. Conservativism has almost fully transitioned unto unbridled authoritarianism, and that’s not hyperbole. Things have gotten so bad that hyperbole is dead.

Brett ‘The Lech’ ‘Pudding Pops’ Kavanaugh was the nail in the coffin for me and most other reasonable people justified left or right of center. Trump supporters are enemies of maximizing the overall human well-being of their communities and they represent the single greatest threat to the advancement of mankind in the modern day GOP, which is quite literally a criminal enterprise where nefarious malcontents and malevolent frauds are thier own judge and juries. Gaslight, Obstruct Project and a third of Americans buy into the bullshit hook, line, and sinker. No wonder Donald Trump represents the classic American snake-oil con from the olden days, hocking wide-eyed mystical elixirs and promises of fortune to the desperate and gullible. These people have drivers licenses and internet connections now. Conspiracy theory is a daily part of thier routine when it comes to what they believe. Steve Bannon understood this, which I’m just now seeing you mentioned yourself. And Trump was merely the best rabble-rouser and most vindictive prick on offer. He’s a loner with no genuine friendships or relationships of substance and it took him the better part of his adult life and his dad dying to find people who could actually tolerate him as a useful idiot. He was too off-putting for liberal elites in New York, so he found unsavory hacks and criminals to jerk his ego off instead. Remember child rapist John Casablancas? Trump remembers. Between walking through the dressing rooms of naked 15 year-old girls and publicly and routinely sexualizing his own daughter, Donald Trump sure does have a lot of close relationships with child molesters and rapists. Putin was definitely onto something and it’s called The Foundation of Geopolitics. Scary times.

I’m not a liberal. You guys need to realize that those who oppose Trump are largely justified left and right of center. I myself am right of center.

Categories
reddit

The Paradox of Tolerance

This is part of an ongoing series highlighting some of the best political commentary from Reddit. Content skews to the left, because — as they say — facts are inherently liberal. All credit for this content goes to the original author. For more great content like this, check out the Reddit category or tag.

My copypasta anytime someone babies Nazis/doesn’t understand why ‘they go low, we go high’ is self-defeating:

But Antifa works.

Richard Spencer said his fear of being punched in the mouth (by an anti fascist) again keeps him from spreading his fascist bullshit in public. Even Milo said Antifa protests were causing him to lose massive amounts of money and public appearances.

This liberal and centrist ‘muh civility’ shit has, historically, made it easier for fascism to gain traction. Like it is today, in many countries.

“Nice people made the best Nazis. My mom grew up next to them. They got along, refused to make waves, looked the other way when things got ugly and focused on happier things than ‘politics.’ They were lovely people who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged away.

You know who weren’t nice people? Resisters.”

Naomi Shulman

Do you believe that MLK, who was a Socialist and pretty damn anti fascist himself, and his nonviolence principles would have been as successful had he not had the Nation of Islam behind him, ready to use ‘any means necessary’?

And that despite their adherence to the philosophy of Non violence, Mississippi blacks understood too well the implications of not being armed to defend their lives and property. As far as they were concerned, not striking back while participating in a public protest was quite different from not defending one’s home, church, or community center from imminent attack.

The same went for the Black Panthers (before the government had their leaders assassinated) You know where they got the Black Panther name? Black Panthers only attack when they are cornered. You might not have known or realized these things because the state has whitewashed MLK’s message into oblivion and the state and would-be authoritarians distort the ideas of NV to their advantage.

Also worth noting, the principle of non violence only work if your oppressors see you as human; Neo-Nazis, White Nationalists and Supremacists see minorities as vermin in need of extermination. They will use your civility against you in a heartbeat. They do not engage in any thing resembling ‘good faith’.

But liberals love that ‘they go low, we go high’ shit (which is fine when you are dealing with any one but Nazis) Usually, centrists and liberals jump on any chance they get to virtue signal about how accepting and open they are, no matter how hateful someone is, and speaking out against ‘extremists on both sides’, oblivious to the fact that they are just useful idiots; oblivious to the reality that behind socialists and commies, liberals will get the bullet next once fascism reigns supreme.

It is quite improbable that you will be the one to reach the misled Nazi to uncover his hidden heart of gold while you sing Kumbaya and share Kombucha tea at the drum circle after a long day of teaching black youths how to write haikus or some shit. They are counting on you maintaining that ridiculous belief so that they can soon step on, or over, you.

There is a reason for the saying, “Scratch a liberal and a Fascist bleeds.” Stop protecting fascists. Antifa is doing an important public service.

I suggest you familiarize yourself with Alt-Right tactics.

Also, [The Paradox of Tolerance] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance) described by Karl Popper in 1945, states that if a society is tolerant without limit, their ability to be tolerant will eventually be seized or destroyed by the intolerant. Popper came to the seemingly paradoxical conclusion that in order to maintain a tolerant society, the society must be intolerant of intolerance.

If someone is wearing an SS armband or patch, or has Nazi tattoos, it’s your right as an American to punch them in the fucking mouth. Just like your grandpa did.

Just their mere presence, in public, with those hateful symbols on their bodies, literally means that they have no problem wiping out huge swaths of your fellow humans. Make those fuckers afraid to do so. Their mere existence strikes unimaginable fear into any minority present. Make racists afraid again.

As much as it sucks, violence got women the vote. Violence got the colonies out of King George’s grasp. The Stamp Act riots worked. As did the Boston Tea Party, The Pennsylvania Mutiny,The Dorr Rebellion, The Detroit Riots, Stonewall, Kent State, Mount Pleasant, and the LA Riots. Unimaginable violence and destruction even stopped fascism…for a little while. Why feel bad for some POS Nazis that want you dead?

All of us in the Western world should be anti fascist, and if violence is something that suppresses their gain on public hearts and minds, and keeps their ideas from creeping further into public conscious, so be it.

Historically, we have tried other means of dealing with them. But Nazis don’t respond to rhetoric. They do not respond to chastising or guilt tripping. Simply arguing with them is pointless because, besides it not working damn near 10 times out of 10, they will change the meaning of words, move goal posts, and use other bad faith tactics to make you the one defending not killing massive amounts of minorities, as if that is an idea that needs defending.

And if there happens to be a disenfranchised, out of place and angsty person looking for simple answers, you are just giving Nazis a platform to use their nasty tricks and spread their hateful rhetoric, adding more to their ranks. It’s not perfect, but it is proven, Nazis respond to violence, and that response is going the fuck away back to their little hateful bubbles where they belong.

As long as you’re not a fascist you have no reason to worry.

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The Party of Patriotism

This is part of an ongoing series highlighting some of the best political commentary from Reddit. Content skews to the left, because — as they say — facts are inherently liberal. All credit for this content goes to the original author. For more great content like this, check out the Reddit category or tag.

On the Senate floor Wednesday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he had accurately predicted earlier that Democrats would say that the “supplemental background investigation for which my friends had clamored would suddenly become insufficient.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-03/fbi-said-to-lack-white-house-approval-to-talk-to-kavanaugh-ford

This is such a consistent move by Republicans, and it is so fucking slimey.

The Democrats were fighting so that the FBI could do a proper investigation to uncover some facts surrounding the case. Republicans fought it tooth and nail, until Flake forced their hand.

Now that they’re stuck with an FBI investigation they never wanted, the White House and Senate Republicans restrained the investigation. But in order to get ahead of the game, they preemptively discredited the Democrats justifiable concerns by saying “Oh, you Democrats will just say that the investigation is insufficient” while they took actions to ensure the investigation would be insufficient.

They do this shit over, and over, and over again. They do this preemptive partisan bullshit where they poison the political landscape, and attack their political opponents using the very problems they just created.

But when people call them on it, it just ends up looking like petty partisan bickering that is mirrored on both sides. People who don’t really pay attention will see both sides as the same, and that always provides cover to the worst actors. When Democrats say that Republicans don’t have respect for American servicemembers, it looks like Democrats are just stealing Republican talking points.

Its gross. Republicans always prop themselves up as the Party of Patriotism. Not only does it do harm by being grossly untrue, it poisons the ground for anyone who is actually Patriotic but isn’t a raging hypocrite. If someone calls themselves a Patriot on facebook, is it more likely that they have studied and care deeply about the Constitution, or that they have a Confederate flag hanging from the back of their pickup? What reasonable person wants to call themselves a Patriot, when hyper-partisans have effectively created a monopoly on the concept of Patriotism?

I wish progressives would work to take back the concept of Patriotism. They’re the ones that are working to make the country they love a better place.

r/NewPatriotism

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“hardly a menace to society”

Comment
byu/Jons312 from discussion
inpolitics

This is part of an ongoing series highlighting some of the best political commentary from Reddit. Content skews to the left, because — as they say — facts are inherently liberal. All credit for this content goes to the original author. For more great content like this, check out the Reddit category or tag.

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A Small Amount of Blatant Corruption

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byu/viva_la_vinyl from discussion
inpolitics

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Paul Manafort: Paragon of Decency

This is part of an ongoing series highlighting some of the best political commentary from Reddit. Content skews to the left, because — as they say — facts are inherently liberal. All credit for this content goes to the original author. For more great content like this, check out the Reddit category or tag.

…in addition to the war crimes, Manafort is an abusive sex addict who taped his brain-injured wife being gangbanged by black guys.

No, that’s not an exaggeration. That’s literally what his own daughters said. This stuff has been known for months. Any decent president (or even just any sane human being) would avoid this guy like the plague. Yet Trump thinks this is a good guy who should get a pardon. Trump is a sicko. “I feel very badly for Paul Manafort” says Trump yesterday.

She is a shell of a person … It’s abusive what he’s done to her … he has beaten her into this subservient woman … she is being killed inside … this is abuse, I asked her what does he make her do and she said group sex and its basically rape

Manafort’s own daughters talking about his treatment of their mother.

“dad is so adamant about keeping mom on antidepressants … mom got lured into this after her accident when she was weak … ive caught him several times … he is fucked up jess. he acts out sexually when big things happen in his life and he is in total denial … she says she is going to tell him no group sex and if he is willing to let that go she is willing to move forward … he isnt” more lovely family time drama from the Manaforts …

“wonderful family” says Trump yesterday.

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reddit

The Narcissistic Personality Disorder of Trump

This is part of an ongoing series highlighting some of the best political commentary from Reddit. Content skews to the left, because — as they say — facts are inherently liberal. All credit for this content goes to the original author. For more great content like this, check out the Reddit category or tag.

I seen a few people joking or seriously expressing that Trump has “multiple” personality disorders. As a clinician, I would dispute the idea of being diagnosed with more than one personality disorder, though it can exist. It is just messy and, I feel, an unneeded exercise here.

He would perhaps qualify for multiple but I would probably myself settle on one as being severe and then list symptoms being demonstrated.

Diagnosing is honestly a way to label and it gets glorified. Symptoms matter. Diagnosis is a container. Still, it helps to label so let’s take a look.

Trump displays many of the following:

  • Disregard for right and wrong
  • Persistent lying or deceit to exploit others
  • Being callous, cynical and disrespectful of others
  • Using charm or wit to manipulate others for personal gain or personal pleasure
  • Arrogance, a sense of superiority and being extremely opinionated
  • Recurring problems with the law, including criminal behavior
  • Repeatedly violating the rights of others through intimidation and dishonesty
  • Impulsiveness or failure to plan ahead
  • Hostility, significant irritability, agitation, aggression or violence
  • Lack of empathy for others and lack of remorse about harming others
  • Unnecessary risk-taking or dangerous behavior with no regard for the safety of self or others
  • Poor or abusive relationships
  • Failure to consider the negative consequences of behavior or learn from them
  • Being consistently irresponsible and repeatedly failing to fulfill work or financial obligations

And all of that meets criteria for AntiSocial Personality Disorder

He also has these:

  • Have an exaggerated sense of self-importance
  • Have a sense of entitlement and require constant, excessive admiration
  • Expect to be recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant it
  • Exaggerate achievements and talents
  • Be preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate
  • Believe they are superior and can only associate with equally special people
  • Monopolize conversations and belittle or look down on people they perceive as inferior
  • Expect special favors and unquestioning compliance with their expectations
  • Take advantage of others to get what they want
  • Have an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others
  • Be envious of others and believe others envy them
  • Behave in an arrogant or haughty manner, coming across as conceited, boastful and pretentious
  • Insist on having the best of everything — for instance, the best car or office

That is Narcissistic Personality Disorder

I would probably refer to him as an individual experiencing a cluster B personality disorder but that he is most within the narcissistic range. It is the driver of his behaviors in that he is more narcissistic than antisocial. I don’t see borderline or histrionic as much here.

Of course, this is all quick and dirty and a true evaluation would look at more than what he displays outwardly. He has, however, a lot of information out in the public domain. Look at how he refers to himself. Look at how he displays his persona. Look at his relationships. Much of what a clinician would use is present.

Look at these snippets from DSM 5 to see how someone diagnosing would pull one way or the other:

The essential feature of antisocial personality disorder is a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood. This pattern has also been referred to as psychopathy, sociopathy, or dyssocial personality disorder. Because deceit and manipulation are central features of antisocial personality disorder, it may be especially helpful to integrate information acquired from systematic clinical assessment with information collected from collateral sources.

And

Other personality disorders may be confused with antisocial personality disorder because they have certain features in common. It is therefore important to distinguish among these disorders based on differences in their characteristic features. However, if an individual has personality features that meet criteria for one or more personality disorders in addition to antisocial personality disorder, all can be diagnosed. Individuals with antisocial personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder share a tendency to be tough-minded, glib, superficial, exploitative, and lack empathy. However, narcissistic personality disorder does not include characteristics of impulsivity, aggression, and deceit. In addition, individuals with antisocial personality disorder may not be as needy of the admiration and envy of others, and persons with narcissistic personality disorder usually lack the history of conduct disorder in childhood or criminal behavior in adulthood.

I think key here is that Trump is more needy of attention and while perhaps committing crimes it was done in order to boost his personal brand and make him greater. The need for money and fame were drivers.

Now for narcissistic personality disorder…

The essential feature of narcissistic personality disorder is a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy that begins by early adulthood and is present in a variety of contexts.

Individuals with this disorder have a grandiose sense of self-importance (Criterion 1). They routinely overestimate their abilities and inflate their accomplishments, often appearing boastful and pretentious. They may blithely assume that others attribute the same value to their efforts and may be surprised when the praise they expect and feel they deserve is not forthcoming. Often implicit in the inflated judgments of their own accomplishments is an underestimation (devaluation) of the contributions of others. Individuals with narcissistic personality disorder are often preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love (Criterion 2). They may ruminate about “long overdue” admiration and privilege and compare themselves favorably with famous or privileged people.

Individuals with narcissistic personality disorder believe that they are superior, special, or unique and expect others to recognize them as such (Criterion 3). They may feel that they can only be understood by, and should only associate with, other people who are special or of high status and may attribute “unique,” “perfect,” or “gifted” qualities to those with whom they associate. Individuals with this disorder believe that their needs are special and beyond the ken of ordinary people. Their own self-esteem is enhanced (i.e., “mirrored”) by the idealized value that they assign to those with whom they associate. They are likely to insist on having only the “top” person (doctor, lawyer, hairdresser, instructor) or being affiliated with the “best” institutions but may devalue the credentials of those who disappoint them.

Tell me if that isn’t Trump…

Now, consider his constant attacks on enemies and then read this. Think of Obama and McCain…

Vulnerability in self-esteem makes individuals with narcissistic personality disorder very sensitive to “injury” from criticism or defeat. Although they may not show it outwardly, criticism may haunt these individuals and may leave them feeling humiliated, degraded, hollow, and empty. They may react with disdain, rage, or defiant counterattack.

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reddit

The Conservative Thirst for Power

This is part of an ongoing series highlighting some of the best political commentary from Reddit. Content skews to the left, because — as they say — facts are inherently liberal. All credit for this content goes to the original author. For more great content like this, check out the Reddit category or tag.

Conservatives don’t want freedom. They want power. Freedom for those at the top is power over everyone else. Freedom for those at the bottom is a threat to power at the top.

“Freedom” for the GOP means taking out the government’s ability to balance out the needs of the many against the needs of the few. Who cares if clean air regulations save literally thousands of lives? They cost shareholders money. Privatize the gains from polluting, but shove the cost onto the public.

In this case, regulation means putting the thumb on the scale to ensure that Facebook and Google become vehicles for conservative propaganda. It’s never been about freedom. It’s always been about power and control.

“States rights” = the freedom to oppress black people. It was about protecting slavery and then Jim Crow. “States rights” advocate Scalia still argued for the government’s right to regulate marijuana. “States rights” has always been about protecting the power of old white conservatives. It was never a real ideology. It was always about power over others.

“The right to bear arms” = the right for white people to bear arms. Ronald Reagan and the Republican-controlled legislature in California repealed open-carry? Why? Because the Black Panthers carried openly. “Stand your ground” often doesn’t apply to black people.

The TEA Party was created by Big Tobacco. The entire “get government off our backs” movement was funded by major corporations fighting deregulation. The TEA Party, which supposedly cared about the federal deficit, has gone entirely silent as Donald Trump blows up the deficit. It existed entirely to hamstring The Democratic Party’s ability to control federal spending. They didn’t want “freedom” from government healthcare. They wanted “freedom” for one of “their” guys to decide the budget, to work it so they get enormous subsidies in the form of unpaid tax cuts.

“Tough on crime” = “tough on poverty”. Crimes associated with having none, such as property crimes, are responded to with the full force of the police state. SWAT teams are called out 50,000 times a year, often to serve warrants. Property crime account for $14 billion in losses each year. Wage theft accounts for $50 billion. Meanwhile, the agencies in charge of enforcing wage theft, protecting consumers, and policing corporations are gutted.

It’s never been about freedom. It’s always been about power. Power to tell women what to do with their bodies. Power for Christians to tell others how to worship. Power for wealthy businesses to pollute, cheat, and steal with impunity. Power to do whatever you want to black people–structural racism allows for poor whites to still have absolute power over others, so that they can buy into a system that has no constraints on power for those with money. The modern GOP is a fucking sham. It’s about giving the powerful more power, and it spends literally billions of dollars a year to try and convince people otherwise, because it’s a fundamentally untenable moral position. It’s cancer.

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The Party of Cynical Nihilism

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byu/meatduck12 from discussion
inesist

This is part of an ongoing series highlighting some of the best political commentary from Reddit. Content skews to the left, because — as they say — facts are inherently liberal. All credit for this content goes to the original author. For more great content like this, check out the Reddit category or tag.

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It’s Not Cheating, It’s Just Being “Smart”!

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byu/Barack_Odrama90 from discussion
inpolitics

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The Party of Piety

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byu/SauthEfrican from discussion
inworldnews

This is part of an ongoing series highlighting some of the best political commentary from Reddit. Content skews to the left, because — as they say — facts are inherently liberal. All credit for this content goes to the original author. For more great content like this, check out the Reddit category or tag.

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“Obama Accomplished NOTHING”

Well, except for…

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by from discussion
indemocrats

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The Complexity and Fragility of Earth’s Ecology

This is part of an ongoing series highlighting some of the best political commentary from Reddit. Content skews to the left, because — as they say — facts are inherently liberal. All credit for this content goes to the original author. For more great content like this, check out the Reddit category or tag.

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byu/eaglemaxie from discussion
inworldnews