Many people want to destroy everything rather than share it

I've blogged a bit about U.S. fascism (2024, 2019)

Christina Greer says this now ("Black Americans Are Not Surprised", New York Times, April 7):

"...this moment, the one that was explicitly promised by Project 2025 and Donald Trump when he was a candidate, looks a lot like what my grandmother experienced every day for much of her life. It is frightening and disappointing but not surprising if one knows anything about the Black experience in America. And not the sanitized just-so version of the Black experience in which America skips from slavery, Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass to civil rights, Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks and somehow ends with a postracial America and Barack Obama."

Some people are eager "to burn this country to the ground before they share it with those deemed other and unworthy," and this threatens everyone. Everyone has to reckon with this. Otherwise we won't survive, let alone learn and move forward.

"I find myself reminding those who are surprised by this moment that my still very spry mother attended legally mandated segregated schools her entire life. The past has somehow turned into prologue, and the head-scratching of many tells me there is a fundamental lack of understanding of this country and what Americans are capable of."

Black women warned everyone:

"People like Stacey Abrams, Vice President Kamala Harris and Representative Maxine Waters walked all of us through the political, social and economic ramifications of a second Trump term. Higher Heights for America mobilized for candidates across the country to help energize and educate the electorate."

Greer's books:

Black ethnics: race, immigration, and the pursuit of the American dream is at the Brooklyn Public Library.

Mahmoud v. Taylor (SCOTUS case): Whether parents can opt out kids from LGBTQ stories

"Mahmoud v. Taylor is a pending United States Supreme Court case about parents who wish to opt their children out of LGBTQ-themed storybooks in public schools." (Wikipedia)

"In a country where Muslims and LGBTQI+ students alike are being targeted simply for being who they are, it is more important than ever that our taxpayer-funded public schools are learning environments that are safe and respectful of all students no matter who they are or what they believe. But right now, a few Maryland parents, with the backing of the federal government under Trump, are asking the Supreme Court to give them the power to shield their children from any acknowledgment of LGBTQI+ existence in public school.

That’s why A4TE filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Mahmoud v Taylor on Wednesday [April 9] on behalf of eight organizations including Queer Crescent, Al-Wāsi’ Collective, Atlanta Unity Mosque, Queer Muslims of Boston (QMOB), and other groups with LGBTQI+ Muslims among their members in support of Montgomery County Public Schools’ decision to include LGBTQI+-inclusive storybooks in elementary language arts classes. In it, we share a vision of real religious liberty—one that supports and includes trans and queer children and families.

— Gabriel Arkles, A4TE Co-Interim Legal Director, A4TE email, April 11, 2025

But wait. Only 43 families opted out? "Where have all the opt-outs gone?"

Consequences

"On April 30th, [2026,] the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, led by anti-trans activist and Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, launched investigations into 36 Illinois public school districts over LGBTQ+ and transgender issues. The investigations target whether transgender students are allowed to use bathrooms and play sports, and whether students learn that LGBTQ+ people exist in their education and curriculum. Dhillon cited Mahmoud v. Taylor, a narrow Supreme Court ruling about religious opt-outs from storybooks that says nothing about banning LGBTQ+ content from schools, as well as a novel interpretation of Title IX that claims the law requires discrimination against transgender students. The investigations carry the implicit threat of federal funding losses and other punitive action. Notably, the Trump administration has tried this same playbook with school districts across the country and has failed repeatedly: school districts in Virginia, Denver, Chicago, and New York City all refused to comply with similar demands, and a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the administration's restrictions on behalf of a 16-state coalition." ("DOJ Launches Anti-Trans Investigations Into 36 Illinois School Districts Over Bathrooms And Books," Erin in the Morning, May 4, 2026)

Georgia HB 177: Family judges could include pets in protective orders from abuse

A proposed law in Georgia:

"Fear of losing the pets kept Heatherland in the relationship longer than they otherwise would have stayed, they said. But the General Assembly recently approved legislation that could have made it easier for Heatherland and others to leave abusive partners.

If Gov. Brian Kemp signs House Bill 177, people who’ve experienced domestic violence could ask judges to include family pets in temporary protective orders. The bill passed both chambers with overwhelming support.

House Public and Community Health Chairwoman Sharon Cooper, a Marietta Republican, said she sponsored the bill because it has become more common for abusers to threaten the pets as a way to keep victims from leaving. Abusers know how important pets have become, she said.

* * *

If HB 177 becomes law, it would create a space on the form to allow those petitioning for a temporary protective order to indicate they would like to include a pet. HB 177 would then allow a judge to determine plans for a pet when deciding to grant a temporary protective order. Judges would not be required to include a pet in their order."

— "Georgia judges could include family pets in domestic violence restraining orders under new bill: Victims sometimes stay in abusive relationships to remain with a beloved pet, advocates say." Maya T. Prabhu, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 9, 2025

Learn about your options if you're seeking child custody with a concern about domestic abuse in Georgia.

Arkansas already allows a judge to give an abuser's pet to someone who seeks an order of protection.

Jesse Watters: Using a computer turns a man into a woman

So, you see, women who work in offices emit estrogen like a pheromone, and it's contagious to men, and they can catch it and turn into women.

But, you also see, people who take hormones for gender-affirming reasons do not succeed in affirming their gender if they're trans. Cross-sex only works if you're a man "sitting behind a screen all day" and suffering the undesired effects. It doesn't work if you want it to work and try to make it work.

This Fox News Host Just Dropped Another Mind-Boggling Take On Masculinity And It's Getting Weird: The Fox News host seems to have gender issues when he’s talking about gender issues. Ron Dicker, BuzzFeed, April 8, 2025

He's staying in the news: Jesse Watters Defends Birther Conspiracy Theory: 'We Didn't Want To Kill Barack Obama': The Fox News host argued Wednesday that conservatives have more empathy than leftists and cited a racist theory against his former president as an example. Marco Margaritoff, HuffPost, Apr 10, 2025

On November 24, 2025, Watters said on Fox News’ “The Five” panel: "I’m glad that the U.S. military is now investigating this guy Kelly because this is what we expect from Donald Trump 2.0. You can’t have the deep state interfering with a duly elected presidency and get away with it. You gotta draw the line in the sand, and you have to make examples out of people."

Jesse Watters is straight up lying to his audience about the Epstein emails and hoping his viewers too dull and/or indoctrinated to notice

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) November 13, 2025 at 8:25 PM

"[Jesse] Watters went on to suggest Epstein, a longtime associated of President Donald Trump, was “mostly just a fixer” — “a guy who advises, he helps people with their problems.”

He added: “Sometimes those problems are ‘you need a girl,’ and if you need it, he’s got it.”

Co-host Greg Gutfeld then referred to Epstein as “a sex rabbi.”

— Greg Gutfeld's Crass New Title For Jeffrey Epstein Is Condemned Online: An exchange on "The Five" was slammed as "sick" and "tasteless." Lee Moran, HuffPost, Feb 16, 2026

Watters said California governor Gavin Newsom is like a "kind of like a woman trapped in a man’s body" for having feminine mannerisms.
Jesse Watters: Gavin Newsom Is A 'Woman Trapped In A Man's Body': The Fox News host suggested the California governor wouldn't be the best pick for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination due to his supposed feminine qualities. Anthony Orrico, HuffPost, Mar 30, 2026

Here he's using absurdly violent language to talk about Kamala Harris.

Speaking of which

there is a cohort of men who resent the responsibilities and obligations of adulthood — of the fact that you owe things to other people. it is a fundamentally childish impulse that they have reconfigured as the height of masculinity, and i think it informs the parasocial attraction to platner.

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— jamelle (@jamellebouie.net) July 7, 2026 at 3:53 PM

Watters: You think it’s ok to slash a ding-a-ling off El-Sayed: Do you really want to have this conversation? Are you circumcised? Watters: Yeah El-Sayed: Then you probably want to move on.

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— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) August 24, 2026 at 7:53 PM

The tariffs are sanctions, but you still have to pay for them

Arthur Delaney reports for HuffPost:

“They didn’t actually calculate tariff rates + non-tariff barriers, as they say they did,” Surowiecki wrote. “Instead, for every country, they just took our trade deficit with that country and divided it by the country’s exports to us.”

In other words, the supposedly reciprocal tariffs, which are supposed to combat arbitrary foreign barriers to U.S. goods, are themselves based on an arbitrary formula.

White House Used 'Embarrassing' Formula To Come Up With Tariffs: Economists mocked the Trump administration's methods for calculating taxes on imports from abroad. Arthur Delaney, HuffPost, Apr 3, 2025

These tariffs are meant as sanctions.

They’re Not Tariffs, They’re Sanctions: Stop trying to place coherence on a policy that’s really just a mob boss breaking legs and asking for protection money. David Dayen | The American Prospect | April 3, 2025

Trump’s Tariffs Give Him a New Way to Dole Out Reward and Punishment: The president’s latest power grab will devastate America’s economy—and its democracy. Pama Levy| Mother Jones | April 3, 2025

NEW: There's no reason to act like Trump is pursuing a trade policy or an industrial revitalization strategy. These are just sanctions, imposed to intimidate countries and companies into submission like they're universities or law firms. They're what a mob boss would do. prospect.org/economy/2025...

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— David Dayen (@ddayen.bsky.social) April 3, 2025 at 11:00 AM

But they're still taxes because you still have to pay for them.

We all share the same Earth, so when you sanction others, you sanction yourself.

Nothing makes sense:

I'm sorry, but isn't this just the Cultural Revolution 2.0? Why on earth would fired aid workers and NIH medical researchers go to work on assembly lines for worse salaries in jobs they don't know how to do? Why are they getting their economic policy from Mao?

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— Patrick Meyers (@pmeyers7.bsky.social) April 7, 2025 at 11:23 AM

"A significant number of Trump’s appointees come from finance, not manufacturing or technology. They didn’t make their money providing real services; they made it by buying during the dips and plundering every last crevice of American life. The last major recession, in 2008, was devastating for ordinary Americans and the petty bourgeoisie. For billionaires, it was the greatest wealth accumulation opportunity in thirty years. This time, there won’t be a moderate Democratic president in charge to check their worst impulses. This time, they’ll be fully in control, free to buy up as much of the economy as they want, a feeding frenzy without end.

This is why the billionaire class went all in on Trump. They know his proposed economic policies will lead to another recession. In fact, they’re banking on it."

— Anthony Reimer. Elon Musk's DOGE Is Following A Familiar — And Horrifying — Playbook. Bad Faith Times. April 9, 2025.

Martin Edic, quoting Politico Playbook:

“Part of the problem … is that there’s little sign of movement so far on the dozens of trade deals Trump promised to sign to alleviate the impact of his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs. It’s now been 11 days since White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told us it was perfectly possible to sign 90 different trade deals during the 90-day reciprocal tariff pause — and so far, there has not been a single one.”
~ from Politico Playbook, April, 22, 2025

Today, JD Vance is in India, primarily to make a deal on tariffs, a deal the Trump administration desperately needs to show progress on their Liberation Day plan to extort trade deals from any country that will bite. But so far only India is taking the bait and even that is not a given.

Remember, only a few weeks ago Trump claimed the phones were ringing off the hook with countries and business interests ‘begging’ for deals, yet we have not seen a single one. What we have seen is scary as hell.

— Martin Edic, The Witness Chronicles, 4/22/25: No deals, and the weeping of DefSec Hegseth. Apr 22, 2025

Trump Claims He’s Personally Made 200 Trade Deals Even Though Zero Have Been Announced, Sara Boboltz, HuffPost, Apr 25, 2025

Trump promised 200 deals by now. He’s gotten 3, and 1 more is getting very close, Phil Mattingly and David Goldman, CNN, July 9, 2025

Truly bonkers that it's not a bigger deal that Trump straight up lied about Xi calling him. And it wasn't a misunderstanding. Look at the transcript! He's just straight up lying about top-level diplomatic efforts affecting every corner of our economy and millions of people's jobs.

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— D Lavoie (@djlavoie.bsky.social) April 27, 2025 at 3:07 PM

In total, the US has now lost roughly 175k blue-collar jobs since the peak in February 2025 www.apricitas.io/p/america-is...

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— Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 (@josephpolitano.bsky.social) January 9, 2026 at 8:58 AM

'Indefensible': Trump Budget Law Subsidizes Private Jet Owners While Taking Healthcare From Millions: A provision of the budget law that President Donald Trump signed last week will leave taxpayers to "pick up the tab for the private jet industry and billionaire high flyers."
— Jake Johnson, Common Dreams, Jul 7, 2025

Consumer prices increased in December 2025.

"Most of the taxes President Donald Trump imposed on imported goods last year are illegal, the Supreme Court ruled [on Feb 20, 2026]...Corporations that imported items paid the tariffs, but likely recouped a portion of the cost by charging higher prices for their products. Businesses with records of their import and tax payments will have documentation to pursue a refund. But it’s hard to see how consumers, who were nickel-and-dimed on individual purchases, could get their money back."

— Arthur Delaney, Supreme Court Leaves No Clear Way For Consumers To Get Tariff Refunds: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said consumers, not big corporations, should get refunds. HuffPost, Feb 20, 2026

Feels like another (likely missed...) messaging opportunity for Dems... The administration is literally laughing about how they won't give back the $175 billion they illegally stole from you.

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— Mike Masnick (@masnick.com) February 20, 2026 at 7:31 PM

Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Tim Scott want to enact a $200 billion tax cut on capital gains without congressional approval, claiming it will help “everyday Americans.” Baloney. This overwhelmingly benefits the richest Americans — just like their big, ugly bill did.

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— Robert Reich (@rbreich.bsky.social) March 4, 2026 at 2:01 PM

This isn't real! I know what I know! (like, Invasion of the Body Snatchers)

An anecdote:

"Mr. C, an elegant retired art dealer, was hospitalized overnight with a small stroke. The next morning, he felt well and was discharged. Within moments of returning home, he phoned my office in a panic. He was certain that his favorite antique desk had been replaced by a cheap Levitz reproduction. * * * "Yes, I admit that it is physically impossible that the desk has been replaced. But it has. You have to take my word for it. I know real when I see real, and this desk isn't real." He ran his hand along the grain, repeatedly fingering a couple of prominent wormholes. "It's funny," he said with a puzzled expression. "These are exact replicas of the holes in my desk. But they don't feel the least bit familiar. No," he announced emphatically, "someone must have replaced it." He then delivered the cognitive checkmate: "After all, I know what I know."
— Robert A. Burton. On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2008. pp. 16-17.

This anecdote reminded me of this story:

What We Fear From the ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’. In 1954, it was a novel. Now it’s a handful of films. Still scary? (4 min read) Tucker Lieberman, The Shadow, Feb 2, 2021

They always planned Trump's installation. Our power lies in organizing.

"2023 was one of the worst years of my life. I had anticipatory grief for my father, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer that spring (this is mentioned briefly in the book, so I can mention it here, I suppose). I had anticipatory grief for my homeland, because officials do not let a seditionist run, unpunished, for president, unless the plan is reinstallation."
— "Someday, This Will Only Be a Memory" On my new book, and cold and warm comforts. Sarah Kendzior, Apr 1, 2025

Trump always plans to win before the die is cast. He plans to win arguments before going to court.

The fake presidency is all about revenge..... 'Message was clear': DC insider slams Trump plan to 'win before anyone sets foot in court' www.rawstory.com/message-was-...

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— skippyoz (@skippyoz.bsky.social) March 22, 2025 at 5:43 PM

Perhaps it goes without saying, but he doesn't care about you. Donald Trump Tells Reporters To 'Fly Safely,' Then Drops An Unsettling Confession: “You know why I say that?" the president asked journalists aboard Air Force One. Lee Moran, HuffPost, Sep 19, 2025. Trump added: “You know why I say that? Because I’m on the flight. Otherwise I wouldn’t care.”

"I can sum up the Trump/Musk/Vance theory of power in five words: "We have power; you don't." Alternative version in six words: "we can do anything we want." They seem to believe that nothing is really connected to anything else and nothing should be. This is why they're hacking away at the US government and international alliances and good relationships with everything and everyone from the European Union to Canada and Mexico to a whole lot of the American people. They think they can go it alone.

* * *

These isolationists confuse coercion with power and cooperation with weakness, when in truth it is more or less the other way around. Coercion and violence are what you resort to when you have failed at convincing and allying and negotiating. Meanwhile our power lies in cooperation and connection, those of us who are still striving toward a more perfect union. We now must do it by opposing and obstructing the attempt to shatter and corrupt that union. We have power, and our power arises when we connect, when we join organizations like Indivisible (whose very name proclaims this truth), when we come together as civil society, when we act together to protect the vulnerable, to defend what we love."

— Rebecca Solnit, "No One Knows How This Will End (But I Do Not Think It Will End Well for Them)," Meditations in an Emergency, 16 Feb 2025

Solnit recommends these books: