I know we are facing enormous threats–to the planet and to democracy, to identify just the two that most concern those of us who are actually paying attention. Racism and other forms of tribalism aren’t far behind. But the severity of those challenges shouldn’t be an excuse for ignoring misogyny, especially since much of it emanates from the panicked denialism at the root of all the other problems we face.
And that brings me to Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, who may or may not believe the bilge he spewed to receptive Republicans at a recent “conservative” gathering.
According to The Guardian,Hawley claimed that women’s efforts to gain equality and combat toxic masculinity have led men to consume more pornography and play more video games.
Speaking at the National Conservatism Conference in Orlando, Florida, Hawley addressed the issue of “manhood”, which he said was under attack, and called for men to return to traditional masculine roles.
The Donald Trump supporter who notoriously raised a fist in support of a mob outside the US Capitol on 6 January appeared to echo talking points made by the likes of the Proud Boys, a far-right group that opposes feminism and believes men are under attack from liberal elites.
The rest of Hawley’s speech was evidently a paean to “masculine virtues,” which he asserted are a foundation of everything from family life to political liberty. He identified “assertiveness” and “independence” as two of those “manly virtues.” (I can’t help noting that. when I was young, men who were “assertive” were praised and encouraged, while women who were assertive were disparaged as unfeminine, “aggressive” and “castrating.”)
As a report on the speech in the Intelligencer put it,
If women possess any virtues beyond childbearing in Hawley’s estimation, it’s impossible to tell. In his speech, women are assigned no quality but their identities as birthing parents.
Everything I’ve read about Hawley screams insincerity and ambition; he’s the son of a banker and a product of Stanford and Yale. If his analytical skills were as limited as his rhetoric suggests, he would never have made it through those institutions.
If Hawley was simply another QAnon-believing GOP cult member, I wouldn’t bother to post about this diatribe. But he has clearly decided that his path to glory lies with the Trump cult–and he has aimed his dishonest rhetoric at the angry and frightened people (mostly, but certainly not entirely, male) who make up that cult.
It is a truism to say that people are disoriented by change. We call phrases “truisms” because they are basically true–because they communicate a largely accurate observation.
Over the past few decades, the changed nature of the workplace and advances in medical science have combined to enable the advancement of women that so horrifies Hawley’s audience. Physical strength has declined in importance, birth control has allowed women to plan their reproduction. The skills needed by today’s economies are equally distributed between men and women, rendering the formerly massive privileges of maleness increasingly irrelevant.
I suppose it shouldn’t surprise us that this state of affairs has shocked and dismayed the men who had very little going for them other than their gender. It hasn’t posed a problem for most of the accomplished and self-confident men I know–quite the contrary. There is much to be said for marriages and partnerships of equals. But we now inhabit a society where–haltingly and in the face of angry blowback–men are coming to realize that women are equal and independent human beings– not submissive “vessels” provided for their sexual and breeding needs.
The audience for Hawley’s pitch are the so-called “Proud Boys” and Incels and their like, males unable and/or unwilling to adjust to a world where the women they encounter are fully-realized human beings who must be treated as such– a world where their gender alone is insufficient to make them King of the Hill.
If the hysterical rejection of female equality was the only problem with the world-views of Hawley’s constituency, it would be bad enough, but the sad, angry and resentful people who are receptive to this drivel are also the people who believe in White Christian Supremacy and the Big Lie, who are sure that climate change is a hoax and COVID–if it is real–can be cured by horse dewormer.
Next to climate change, they are far and away the greatest threat we face.
All very true.
Back in the old days, we’d say these men had “mommy issues.” I believe Freud would say that deep down they wanted to have sex with their mother and repressed the guilt they felt.
One of the primary solutions is awareness or wokeness, but my experience is these neanderthals have very little chance of that happening. It basically defines every guy I went to high school with that hasn’t changed a bit since they were 19.
I’ve read somewhere about emotional IQs are also an issue.
Nonetheless, the world’s problems will not get solved by these creatures occupying our planet – to the contrary. They’ll destroy everything around them and wonder what happened.
Voter suppression by way of gerrymandering targets Black women and the many women single-heads-of-household in lower income areas and violates Amendment XV, Black suffrage, and Amendment XIX, Women’s suffrage. Both amendments end with the statement “Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” John Lewis’ voter rights bill has been stalled out by Republicans since it was written. Has politics taken the lead over the practice of misogyny from religions whose beliefs are based on keeping women “in their place”?
Are those Republicans in the House voting against all things Democratic because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is next in line for the presidency…after our nation’s first Black woman Vice President Kamala Harris. Must be scary times for such as Hawley, et al. Their masculine egos are shrinking and testosterone is fueling their brains against any and all women with any level of power in government…or in the corporate world.
Josh Hawley, like so many pseudo-intellectual males is scared to death of strong women. Forget their resume’s. These guys have more than just mommy issues. They are fundamentally living the lie they invented for themselves as they doubt their own masculinity. The more they rant about “male values”, the more insecure they are in their own. One shouldn’t have to tout their gender identity unless they weren’t sure about it themselves.
I’m guessing Mr. Hawley’s closet is deep and dark. Of course, the church he was raised in probably had women walking 5 paces behind and voting as their husbands told them to. I saw this very phenomenon in Texas. Missouri, except for great women like Claire McCaskill, is very much like Texas. How else could a pencil-neck fool like Hawley have defeated her.
I just republished his article about climate change in Muncie Voice and had to share because it’s so pertinent to today’s topic – Anatol Lieven writes:
“Rather, it stems from deeply embedded cultures, traditions, and interests within the U.S. establishment as a whole. America today is suffering from an acute case of “residual elites” — elites that came into being in one historical context and to meet one set of historical challenges, and are by nature unfit to deal with a new historical era and a new set of national tasks.”
https://muncievoice.com/25381/climate-chaos-the-global-threat-multiplier-of-our-time/
Those good old days that people like Hawley want a return to were the days when women couldn’t get credit on their own and girls were told that they had a choice of careers, so long as they chose to be a secretary or to teach or to become a nurse. Women were expected to stay home and be quiet. It was hard for many of them to do after working shifts at the local factories and actually having money. Once you know what you can do it’s particularly abusive to be told you’re not suited to do it.
Hawley’s wife is an associate law professor. If she agrees with his attitude toward women, she has no business teaching law.
A frail demented man is the president and laughing stock of the world, but HAWLEY is a great threat ?????? 😂😂😂😂
This article should be titled
Frightened Little Liberals.
Americans are not as stupid as you think . Liberals have so overplayed their hand and now their lies are finally starting to catch up with them. Winsome Sears is your new worst enemy.
The GOP has been and still is the “The Party of Fear”. The Trumpet broadcasted this far and wide, taking it to new levels. The Trumpet knew a a fellow con-man when he saw them, so he surrounded himself with Bible Thumper’s and of course Pastor Pence provided the “Cover” so to speak. McConnell became useful in his own perverted way.
Saw an interesting segment on TV concerning job creation under Bush the Elder, Clinton, Bush the Younger, Obama, The Trumpet and Biden. Far and away job creation was greater under Democratic Presidents rather than Republicans. For some reason or another The Democrats are not messaging this contrast between the parties loud and strong. I get the picture that Presidents do not suddenly “Create Jobs” out of the mist.
Some how in the convoluted world of White Vigilantes in Georgia they could stalk, hunt down and execute a Black Man jogging and try to justify it.
Becky,
I doubt you could carry Joe Biden’s briefcase. And it case you missed it – which you clearly did as you sat with arms around Tucker Carlson’s rants – President Biden is undoing the screw-ups left from the orange hairball. Who knew there were so many?
Nobody said Americans were stupid. But there are stupid people who keep voting against their own best interests, coddle proven criminals, slaver over a con man’s lies and otherwise behave as if the lobotomy went way too far.
Actually, liberals – as even you try to define them – are more courageous than any Republican who continues to back up to their bribes and paychecks from their corporate bosses. THAT is abject cowardice writ large. Try reading something worthwhile: “Racing to the Brink: The End Game for Race and Capitalism”. You would, of course, be in danger of actually learning something.
If you look at the stereotypical feminine, you get soft, gentle, sensitive, caring, connected (because all of the previous lead to connection. What do these “stereotypes” do for you? The connect you, which informs you about what is going on in your community, city, state, nation, and the world. If you are informed you have the knowledge to act in appropriate and successful ways. Lao Tsu in the Tao te Ching says the great leader stays to the yin (feminine) remains quiet, lies low like water watches and listens carefully and when he acts the poeple say “we did this ourselves” (definitely paraphrased). When you let the feminine lead the masculine you act from knowledge and understanding. When the masuline acts without the feminine it acts with little knowledge and understanding. Masculine is not what men are, and feminine are not what womeon are. Femininity brings the world into our selves to change our understanding. Masculine, used optimally, acts from the knowledge and understanding gained from the feminine. Two quick examples. There is an old saw that behind every successful man their stands a woman [informing him through her feminine]. And then there is the Donna Reed show from the 1950s and 60s. the basic plot is that Donna recognizes that there is a problem and informs her husband Alex. Her husband either dismisses the problem or fails utterly to understand it. Donna goes around and talks with people, open and caring which makes them feel free to tell her what they know. she continues this effort for much of the show until she understands exactly what is going on. But she doesn’t fix it. Instead she goes to Alex and asks him questions to lead him to understand the problem so that he can go fix it. The show is Donna as the emodiment of the feminine and Alex as the embodiment of the masculine. But we can all use both, and to be a whole person we need to able to do so. Men who cannnot or will not use the feminine to connect are only have a person. Women who use the feminine to understand but the won’t act on it are the other half of a whole person. Thankfully both women and men are more and more claiming both, even though they don’t really understand that they define their relationship with their world.
Republicans have “discovered” that the path to wealth and power runs through advertising and programming consumers and voters to give them both their wealth and votes. Pervasive social/entertainment media have weaponized propaganda (advertising) to that degree.
Their latest means of employing that weapon is the theme of stirring up culture war between those living in rural, underdeveloped, stuck in the past communities with few prospects for a future in the modern world and democrats.
To give the party credit, their strategy is really to unwind the American Revolution which took the country from European aristocracy following the spread of enlightenment and give it to the average family as self-government and freedom for everyone. Now the tool is to defeat self-government by attacking enlightened politics to take the country back to the aristocracy who fund the propaganda.
If my family weren’t American I might say the strategy is creative business planning.
Women are great. Many are single parents. But,they’re not a $trong enough “lobby” to warrant the attention and efforts by the Democratic Party for them to have access to real and genuine healthcare. Only crappy insurance.
Vernon,
Your hubris is nauseating! By your comments, I almost thought you were Josh Hawley 😉.
I’m a self made woman with a profitable farm just enjoying life in rural America waiting around for 2022 – Let’s go Brandon!
…. And you’re an old guy in FL writing books giving advice to women on how to learn something ???
Did you hear Republicans now outnumber Dems in FL – better head to CA my friend… oh, but wait – CA is going to fall into the ocean due to the existential threat of climate change and their state taxes are 13% – boo! I guess only the ultra rich liberals get to live there.
Life sure is challenging – Have a peaceful day!
For the record, Todd, Freud was a nut job whose theories haven’t held up over time.
The last few days I spent a lot of arguing via Twitter with a longtime friend of mine about politics. He was/is a conservative like me. I tried to explain that we conservatives need to be worried about the very real possibility that the American experiment and our democratic institutions are hanging by the thread. The fact is that there are many in my Republican Party who are no longer committed to American democracy and have embraced autocracy. He responded that he’s more worried about BLM and socialism. I wanted to slam my head against the wall in exasperation.
I could understand if this were 2019 and the threat posed to the nation by Trump’s autocratic tendencies and willingness to subvert the Constitution and democratic principles might not have been apparent to some. But on January 6, 2021, President Trump stoked a violent insurrection which a mob violently stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop the counting of electoral votes. The mob attacked police officers, resulting in the death of several people. They were even hunting down VP Mike Pence with the intent to hang him. Since that date, we have learned about the extensive behind the scenes maneuvering of Trump and his minions to pull off a coup to stay in power. The only thing that stopped them were good local, state and national Republicans who refused to go along with the attempt to steal the election.
Since Trump lost his coup attempt, he’s worked hard to get rid of those good, honest Republicans who stood in his way. Most of them are now gone or are on their way out the door. They’ve been replaced by Republicans who have no commitment to American democracy or free and fair elections. The guardrails protecting American democracy are being systematically removed.
We are facing the very real end of the American experiment in democratic self-rule. There are no more important issues than ensuring the survival of our Republic.
Becky,
LET’s GO BECKY!
I am glad that Becky reads Sheila’s blog, but Vernon was baited by the name calling and insults and while Becky’s comments had no real substance, they did get a rise from Vernon and just like social media, that reaction feeds Becky’s dopamine rush. Be aware of that Vernon.
A few years ago in our 100+ year old boy only scout troop, the committee voted to start a second girls troop. With my 40+ year tenure with the troop we had had few female volunteers, and they were always in committee positions. The adult leadership of the troop had always been males. In a way we were lucky in that we have almost always had a lot of male support. I had heard a few comments over the years that we need strong male role models, etc. Well when we voted to charter a girls troop, there were two adult males leaders made it clear that this was unacceptable. One changed troops and took his son with him, and the other allowed is son to continue, but dropped out of active part of the troop. I have lost track of the guy that switched troops because it turns out he had strong right wing tendencies and he unfriended me on Facebook, but that was not too long after he got divorced. Maybe there was a pattern here?
Hate and fear can be stoked in many ways. Add misogyny to he list. Assuming it is sincere and not just political show for Hawley, I suspect there are a lot more Hawleys in then world than you would like to know.
The Democratic Party should be ashamed.
Jul: Build Back Better™
Aug: Build Back Somewhat Better™
Sept: Build Back Better But Hey Let’s Not Get Carried Away™
Oct: Build Back Better, So Long As We Check With Corporate America First™
Nov: Build Back The 1%, Then They Can Decide Who Gets To Live Better Or Die™
Paul Ogden, please, please, please raise your voice loud and clear…a voice of reason within the Republican Party.
Thanks for everyone’s inputs. Yes, I rose to Becky’s bait. Why? Because I’m sick to death of misinformed people who wallow in their own ignorance. I live in Colorado, not Florida. That’s what I mean. I lived in California once, and saw how Reagan and the Republicans destroyed the state’s economy.
I’m done pushing back against people who insist on showing hate without providing scintilla of methods by which governance is better under their agenda. Let them stay the way they are; there’s no change on the horizon. Only liberals who read understand progress and that progress is the way humans evolved socially.
Porn and video games are magat dog whistles from decades past. If a magat ever took the high road, it would be a first. They wallow in slime because they are most comfortable there and they realize their constituents don’t want facts, they want dog whistles. drumpflov’s dogs.
Americans are not as stupid as you think
Those on the right are far worse than stoopid!
In a age of divisive rhetoric, I vow to practice silence. This is just one of my spiritual vows. I’m saddened to see us lowering ourselves to ugly rhetoric.
Becky my grandfathers were farmers. One was republican and one was a democrat. They lived in Union county which has only 2 small towns. My father was a democrat and my mother was a republican. I hope that you, as a farmer, have not been harmed by the tariffs placed on China. I hope that you, like my grandfathers, know that if you do not take care of the land, it will not take care of you. I do not doubt that you are a strong woman. Farming is very hard work. Many people believe that only men are farmers. But that’s not true. I know that many who join the military come from rural areas of our country. I have never forgotten where I came from. Even so, the conservatives in my family do not talk the way you do about our current president. You might want to think about how the suffragettes, also strong women, endured hardship, went on hunger strikes while in jail so that you would have the right to vote. I will bet that some of them were farm women. I admire your strength, but not your speech nor the speech of others on this blog that divides us. I know that we can all agree that united we stand and divided we fall. I also know that Russia, Iran, N. Korea, and China would love to see us fall. We need speech that unites us, Becky, so that we do not fall. I would bet that you agree that those nations would love to see us fall!!
Jung would describe men like Hawley as puerile. This means that Hawley has not yet grown up. It has been proven repeatedly that when women join the work force like Becky who farms, the economy of that nation grows much better than those economies in which women are oppressed, not allowed a good education, not allowed to be entrepeneurs.
I, myself, have a radical belief. I believe that women were created for the glory of God(goddess), not the glory of men. And like men, we are glorious indeed. Some of us have strong arms like Rosie the Riveter. Becky must have strong arms if she is farming. May our Creator bless us one and all and help us love one another in the midst of our polarizing disagreements. And yes Becky, I will pray for you. I would ask that you pray for me as well.
I was fortunate to be part of a family of four males and one female, my mother, who ran the show. I learned early on that women make good leaders (in contradistinction to the Norman Rockwell and other models that are finally and mercifully waning). It helps that sophisticated machinery and electronics have removed bodily strength from the market test of their worth, and with even yet more sophisticated AI in the fore, their value in a capitalist marketplace thus released from the requirement of bodily strength will (if we release them from current costs of unaffordable childcare via legislation currently pending) bring even more equity into competition with men for jobs in our evolving Information rather than Industrial workplace.
So how does this (and other) changes in the guard fit in with the Hawleys of this world, who along with the Cruzes and others epitomize the new Republican requirement that the party’s candidates must graduate from Ivy League schools and turn right (if they haven’t already)? It is sickening to see such candidates succeed with their blather to frothing right wingers when they know they are spewing lies and blather for votes; and especially disgusting when such as Hawley takes women for a target in addition to voting no to any congressional help in leveling the playing field as a senator.
Hawley went too far on 1/6 with his fist in the air in inciting those who would occupy our capitol, overthrow our government, and destroy our democracy. There is no First Amendment defense to such “speech,” especially by one such as himself who is in the government and has a special responsibility to resist all such attempts to overthrow our government and destroy our democracy. He should be indicted, and if found guilty, imprisoned.
His status as a senator confers no insulation from being charged with a crime if the evidence and applicable law call for it. After all, Benedict Arnold was a good friend of Washington and a general in the Continental Army when he sold out to the British, and narrowly avoided the noose with his escape to England. Pipsqueaks like Hawley (think Cruz) need have no fear of the noose but only a few years in Leavenworth, a fitting public response to their perfidies. I like to think grand juries are meeting in secret to decide whether to indict such miscreants, but it may be that such as Hawley will escape being charged in the name of prosecutorial discretion. I’m waiting.
Becky seems to meet every negative description of what her name implies while she reaps manipulated news from right leaning sites that sympathize with millionaires – since millionaires are the only ones paying California taxes at the rate Becky suggests. Unsure Becky is the type who will ever comprehend civil dialogue but I do question how she plans to escape age, sexism and why a self-made woman – which suggests she’s faced hardships in a male dominated profession – would feel the need to defend highly educated rich from birth elected officials who stroke the most basic elements of a male ego – for power and financial benefit – when suggesting that men are better than women.
Very interesting thread today Sheila ! I’ve been really busy lately but that has not stopped me from checking on your articles . I always enjoy your perspective. What I’ve noticed is there is a serious lack of respect concerning a certain segment of the male population. Unfortunately politicians of the dubious sort, picked up the Baton of disrespect. The speed at which this attitude has proliferated, picked up exponentially after a certain individual claimed respect was another word for politically correct. Another word for respect is honor, and, you definitely do not see honor portrayed in any sort of political or religious sense towards ones fellow man. Politicians playing to the dogma of political, racial, religious or gender-related superiority are societal and or
religious eunuchs. As Christians, we are supposed to show honor and respect to those in positions of authority. Even if we feel the individual is corrupt. We are told that the secular authorities will deal with corruption that is affecting an honest stewardship in which the corrupt one is supposed to hold sway over. unfortunately, I think we are witnessing the dismantling of society, and , that dismantling is going to bring about great angst because so many have slept with their eyes open.
1st Peter 3: 14, 15 reads , but even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are happy. However, I do not fear what they fear, nor be disturbed. But sanctify the Christ as Lord in your hearts, always ready to make a defense before everyone who demands of you a reason for the hope you have, but doing so with a mild temper and deep respect.
So as you can see or, have seen, although they claim piety , they proved themselves liars and false to it .
‘Because the sentence against a bad work has not been executed speedily, that is why the heart of the sons of men has become fully set in them to do bad, Ecclesiastes 8:11
So, the laxity of those in authority, those who are supposed to be minding the store so to speak, just encourages more disrespect. Disrespect in public manners , disrespect in others property , disrespect in others opinions. The corruption of those in authority allows individuals to find it easy to act more and more callous about standards of public Behavior. We might be shocked at this sort of behavior but, how many of us break laws ourselves? Traffic laws, littering laws, rowdiness, vandalism, civil disobedience, our civility to others, our fellow man and neighbors rights, and of course privacy . This was noted in the New York Times editorial years ago! But still, obviously no one took note of this public warning.
“Many will be stumbled and will betray one another and will hate one another and many false prophets will arise and mislead many; and because of the increasing of lawlessness the love of the greater number will cool off.” Matthew 24:11- 13 .
we can see this every single day, it only takes a complicit authority to to give those of a particular mind set a permission slip to abuse their fellow man or neighbor.
Proverbs 11:27 reads , “the one who diligently seeks to do good seeks favor, but the one searching for bad that is what will surely come upon him.”
Where I live, it was always fairly quiet! There may be was one or two murders in a year, but most years there were none . now there’s well over a dozen, and coming out of the supermarket the other day, someone sprayed a car with a machine gun , fortunately they missed the person by some miraculous reason, as the amount of lead pumped into that car should have killed him .
I speak about this because it’s like the frog in the pot ! He never jumps out even though the heat is turned up slowly thereby becoming boiled . it’s the same with the insanity that’s going on everyday, it’s getting worse and worse and worse, and people are becoming used to it . When it reaches that saturation point , Society will end up collapsing and Anarchy will take Root. We are long past the point of no return, the snowball is careening down the side of the mountain to destruction, as it has concerning every major world power. The only difference here, is, this is global not local !
In early Biblical times, the term ‘hooks in their jaws’ was used to signify unrestrained self control, and self aggrandizement by those running towards their own self-destruction!
It really is an appropriate term, because those who are supposed to take the lead, are busy sniping , arguing, not open to any agreement, disparaging, insulting, putting their egos and self-glorification before any concern for the least of us, and basically undercutting their own authority. It’s sad to see, but it has happened before, and will happen again. Except this time might be the final time.
Paul – I am not a conservative but wish we had conservatives like you with whom to argue the issues rather than whether your party is to be headed by a dictator, a party we call Republican but which does not as we knew it now exist under Trumpian tutelege. It is headed back to the Whigdom roots from which it arose in 1854 on the issue of slavery, and I am not sure that racism is not one of the major issues yet giving rise to today’s discord within the Republican Party, a party that has no guiding principles nor even a platform, and one that seems headed toward its self-destructing end with a mishmash of those who vote for candidates with an R beside their names and many who perhaps unknowlingly are voting for fascism large due to the Nielsen-hungry diatribes emanating from Fox Gnus and other such propaganda outlets.
I think the Republican Party (if it is one and one that can accomodate a Liz and a Trump simultaneously without imploding) should, like its predecessor Whigs, come up with a new party that discusses issues rather than existence – and don’t give up hope, Paul, since after all, a Whig named Lincoln was elected president as a Republican only six years later in 1860 after the Whig-Republican divorce. If I had lived then, I would have been a Republican since Democrats of that day were right wing pro slavery types, all before the parties have since exchanged positions and explains why today I am a Democrat of the FDR school.
I am in favor of a two-party system, but we Democrats need opponents who stand for something on the issues of the day beyond delusional chants in support of power grabs. That is not to say I will support future conservative stands on substantive issues, but both parties should favor honest stands on honest debates, unlike today, where my party is feverishly working on the issues of the day while our opponents have fallen prey to claims of electoral cheating sans evidence, FEC violations with foreign interference and foreign money, fraudits, and have even resorted to the crimes of preventing a constitutionally prescribed electoral count with a mob sent to the capitol for such purpose etc. The polity deserves better; like honest debate on honest issues.
Too much Nelsonian knowledge among the cognoscenti. Don’t worry Becky,The Democratic Party is on its way to becoming as extinct as the Whigs.
Hey,Ho! The infrastructure bill was just blocked by the “moderate” Democrats (now called “conservative”), who said that they needed to know the cost so that it wouldn’t lead to a budget deficit.
So the “party of the Donor Class” (which they euphemism as “party of the underdogs”) is now having to confront the fact that the DNC has pushed conservative candidates in every primary against the “left,” meaning pro-labor, pro-consumer, pro-environment candidate.
The outright hatred of candidates who support the policies that most voters want will really kill the Democrats for the foreseeable future.
But their strategy suggests what the Progressive caucus should do from now on to save itself. When any National Defense bill comes up, they should emulate the “conservative” tactic and insist on reviewing the budget to see that it won’t increase the national debt. I understand that something like $6 trillion (could this really be the number) is unaccounted for by the Pentagon. Insist on seeing it. Stretch the inquiry out until the bill is killed.
This will work until the Republicans gain control. And unlike the Democrats, they’re now the MMT party: They can cut taxes, raise military spending and do whatever they want without concern for the budget deficit, because they’ll say “We can simply print the money. We don’t have to borrow. If you don’t believe us, ask Stephanie Kelton.”
By that time, the Democrats will be long gone, of course.
My goal would be to get Josh Hawley and J. D. Vance in the same room. Then as Shakespeare’s Mercutio observed in Romeo and Juliet, “Nay, an there were two such, we should have none shortly,for one would kill the other.”
The apparently sad, and scared, men that Hawley, and Trump, have focused on are right to feel threatened by the cultural changes that they have witnessed. The centuries old perspective that a man is only as strong, and valuable, as his last episode of bullying another man, or a woman, or, perhaps wrestled a dinosaur to the ground, is rapidly becoming outmoded. So, if that’s what provides their sense of identity, and they eschew anything more sophisticated, because “Real Men don;’t do that,” fear and anxiety is all there is for them to reap. In response, they feel their backs to the wall, are easy prey for demagogues, and “gun up,” or whatever, to protect, or defend their fading “glory.”
It can be no mistake that the “Proud Boys” group took that name. I can only make a maybe educated guess at the motivation behind that, but my guess is that they are emotionally locked in a place of “BOY”hood, and that they are proud of it. It reminds me, now, of Clarence Thomas’ long ago having PROUDly sworn that “I ain’t evolving!”
Howdy, Tough Woman Farmer Becky!
Howdy, Golden Rule!
Now we have trolls. Let’s see who feeds them.
Ormond, I don’t need fed – I grow my own food and know the difference between fact and fiction! 😂
Vernon – one last thing. I’m skiing ⛷ Beaver Creek in March – bringing some of my farm dollars to your state – cause I like to spread the wealth around.
Cheers everyone – you’ve made for a enlightening day.
Becky my grandfather fed 2 families down the road during the Great Depression. It’s great you grow your own food. I don’t have that gift. What I do is spread the wealth by giving to a food bank and donate to those who feed the hungry. I’m wondering if you have ever been able to share your food with others. I’m guessing you have.
YES! Go Becky…and keep going! Vernon will show you the door! Don’t let it hit you in the hinder parts. You must be a plant. A potted plant, to be precise.
Vernon, now to get us liberals to act and not just talk. I am guilty
Anne Johnson, thank you
John Sorg, I saw your disturbing video!
As for going down rabbit holes after trolls, some of us (me) refuse to allow vicious lies and fabrications to go unchallenged. If you repeat truth often enough people will start believing in truth again. I make no excuses for what I am.