I only wish I didnât
Holy shitâŚ
But but, I thought universities were spawning labs for cultural Marxism!!
Yes, which is why the right has so many well-funded sock-puppet âstudent groupsâ tripping over each other on campus.
Freeze Peach, Trojan Speakers, Islamophobia, anti-LGBTQ⌠That matches so many outside groups funded by old rich white male racists.
Oh wait, the racists say that theyâre not racist!
Yep. Not to mention that even âpublicâ state-funded unis are increasingly financed and run like businesses (with, for example, students increasingly referred to as customers).
Which makes it easier to far right groups to buy their way in, with a large grant or funding a chair or institute, without any of those moral choices involved.
Oh dearâŚ
Apparently the caravan of Trumpers were shooting paintballs and pepper spray out of their vehicle as they drove through downtown.
Edit to add:
The dead man was wearing a hat with the logo of the far-right âPatriot Prayerâ group. Iâm not going to take any joy or comfort in his passing, but this deadly conflict was not just predictable, it was 100% inevitable and obviously the goal of the caravan people. Now things are only going to get worse.
Over the last week or two I have been getting a really nasty feeling about all this. Not saying he wonât do something else, but I think the riots have handed Trump his Reichstag fire.
The incidents that led up to them were out of his hands, but from a month or so forward, the goal is to antagonize and provoke violence from now until the election. They saw the antifa fear people had, and now they will capitalize on it. They want blood in the streets.
If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would have serious questions about the Kyle Rittenhouse situation. The fact is though, they donât have to inject an actor to do something into this situation. They just have to nudge their people to go armed into protests. What happens is almost inevitable.
This is a serious problem for the Biden campaign. If this goes on until November, I am not optimistic.
I really hate " 
"ing that, but it is way too true. Beau covered this today in a terrifying comparison to The Troubles in Ireland. God, I hope we are not headed that way, but we are a long way from November, it will get more intense over that time, and I suspect even more so afterward, especially if he loses or the elections are cancelled or the results disregarded. What we have left to our children is truly shameful, and we need to fix it. Now.
The disease of far-right idiocy continues to metastasise:
Damn, I would have thought the Qanon contagion had enough USian specifics to remain relatively contained. Has it mutated in Germany, or is it still Democratic cannibal child sex trafficking secret Martian slave camp idiocy?
I may be just ground down to total pessimism, but I donât think thereâs a leader who can bring us together, because the two sides cannot coexist. On the one side we have people who simply do not want to coexist with people of other cultures, races, and religions, and on the other we have people who are so sick of this shit that peace without Justice is ceasing to be an option.
I see no way for the two sides to coexist. The latter side should not have to coexist with the former. The former isnât going away.
Itâs more sympathetic expression, as Qanon is co-morbid with Covidiocy and fascist sentiment. Itâs part of the international death cult thatâs gained ground in recent years, but itâs especially disheartening to see it in Germany.
Itâs a tool, and as a tool it will be useful everywhere. So long as they can make people afraid and angry, they can use that to push people farther right. I have seen people call it an American problem, but, all they have to do is simply replace American names with Middle-to-Left figures from their own nation.
Relying on the emergence of a leader whoâll bring us together is never a good strategy. What we need are leaders who respect the institutions of liberal democracy and ones who place the interests of human persons over corporate ones â taken together, thatâs enough to create enough shared investment in the national project. If Il Douche gets a second term we get neither and an end to liberal democracy, if Biden wins we get half and (perhaps) a four-year reprieve.
Qanon in particular is a specifically American narrative, although I have no doubt that itâs in the process of morphing into an international one with a cast of heroic right-wing populist leaders (Biff, de Pfeffel, Orban, Modi, Bolsonaro, etc., etc.) secretly joining forces to combat a bunch of rootless cosmopolitan liberal paedophile sex traffickers led by Soros.
Agreed. Additionally, replacing one cult of personality for another, even if itâs a âgoodâ cult, just sets up repeating this cycle. We need to repair the mechanism and root out the racism/sexism/omniphobia from our country. Not easy, but necessary.
When almost half the voting public wants Trump for a second term, I am not sure what that means for Democracy. What do you do if half the country thinks suspending Democracy is worth it to deny the other half a voice?
I mean, we canât suspend Democracy to stop people from suspending Democracy, can we? What if there are truly enough of these people to win, and hold power? I grow more and more fearful that might be true.
Thereâs a mighty big difference between that and half of the eligible voters in the country. 47% of the 2016 vote translates to 20-ish% of eligible voters or less. I object to over-stating his support, because it makes it sound like heâs more reasonable; that he has more people behind him than he does.
He doesnât. And at least half of the people ho voted for him in 2016 voted for Team R, not Turmp specifically. So his true supporters are a minority of a minority. Itâs important to keep that in mind so that we know it is not just possible but highly likely that we can prevail. We need to work together an not get discouraged. And overstating the number and power of the MAGAts works against the cause of equality and justice.
