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BevoAbyss

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  1. jimmyjazz: This is a friendly reply. Thanks for your post. I thought I recalled reading (many years ago) in a JFK assassination book that the Dallas Morning News printed the "Wanted for Treason" ad. I no longer have the book, so I decided to check my memory and look it up. It seems the variety of historical sources I checked are not in agreement on the flyers/ads. Some say the Dallas Morning News ran the "Wanted for Treason" (which apparently also was a flyer); see the attached Getty image. Other sources say the Dallas Morning News ran the "Welcome Mr. Kennedy" ad, which was also a flyer. Apparently, even the CIA noted that a newspaper ran an anti-Kennedy ad an they were investigating it in the wake of the assassination. So, like everything else to do with the JFK assassination, there are conflicting sources. Kinda like the internet! Note the reference to Anti-Christians in Point 6.
  2. Don't be fooled. The super-elite in Dallas have been resistant to social progress all along. In the shadow of those glistening skyscrapers, in the shadow of those neoclassical monstrosities that make up Highland/University Park, in the shadow of the Cowboys' famed football stadiums, there has long been the specter of sublimated fascism. For decades. The most notorious example: On November 22, 1963, the Dallas Morning News saw no problem with printing a political ad with the headline "Wanted for Treason," with mugshot-like photos of JFK. Theres's a reason Dallas was known as the "City of Hate." Took seven years to even build a Kennedy Memorial. Of course, after the JFK assassination, the city of Dallas loosened up a bit. But, for the Dallas Fascist/Christian elite, the longstanding enemies were commies, atheists, and anyone or anything too "liberal." Always in some conspiratorial plot to take their Bibles, money, guns, and white supremacy. Gotta trust the billionaires and preachers, they know best. Ain't nothing gonna interfere with God-fearing Texans making money (capitalism) and praising the Lord (religious freedom). Nothing.
  3. I have. Extensively while at UT. You are correct in one sense. The Nazis seized power suddenly and violently. However, the slippery slope in Germany started well before the Nazis came to power. —There were decades of the widespread embrace of Aryan Superiority/Master Race myths proselytized by philosopher Houston Stewart Chamberlain. He authored the highly influential book: The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century (1899). This is just one example, there were others whose names escape me thirty years later. Some of Nietzsche's were also appropriated or misappropriated, depending on one's view. Chamberlain and his disciples later influenced Alfred Rosenberg and other Nazi thinkers. The rabid Nazi racism and anti-Semitism had been building for decades, across the culture in Germany, from philosophy to Wagner to sports to cinema (Leni Riefenstahl). — Also prominent in the era before the Nazi takeover was the rise of anti-science, anti-evolution, anti-Darwin, "Blood and Soil," Social Darwinism, and all kinds of BS science (eugenics) and pseudoscience, along with Aryan pseudo-archaeology (later inspiring Raiders of the Lost Ark). Three-to-four decades of the slippery slope of myth, racism, and idiocy (etc.) paved the way for the sudden Nazi takeover. — When it came for the takeover, the Nazis got support from the industrialists, police, and various security forces who supported Hitler. Then the military obeyed. Slippery Slope America. — The idea of a chosen people in Germany (the Aryan myth) destined to rule is not unlike the current attitude of the Christian fascists/theocrats in America who believe they are ordained to rule by the Bible. Building for decades, since Reagan and Falwell merged religion and Republicans. They own the Supreme Court for decades and much of the Federal Courts. — Anti-science and pseudoscience are all over American culture (Left and Right)—creationism, dinos and humans co-existing, paranormalism, climate denial, astrology, faith-healing, anti-vaxxers, celebs selling miracle cures, all kinds of New Age nonsense, the cult of self-help, belief in conspiracy theories, from Q to Apollo fake moon landings to Ancient Aliens. The list is endless. The entire Ancient Aliens ideology is a a bunch of pseudo-archaeology/chosen people believed by tens of millions in America. — The Leftist intelligentsia turned away from science and atheism in the 1980s and 1990s, advocating relativism (all beliefs are equal) and the notion that science is based in capitalism and has no objective claims to empirical or universe truth. Re the Sokal hoax scandal. MAGA-GQP just one-upped them. I recall this debate clearly happening at UT among some students and faculty. — Add on social media disinformation, mass shootings, ultraviolence (as I have explained in several posts), the attacks on legal precedent by theocrat judges, attacks on women, people of color, LGBTQIA+ and the Trump regime's enabling of mass death via Covid—you can see the intellectual collapse of America is in full force. The sudden violent seizure of power in America? What else was January 6? Nothing less than a violent insurrection. Since none of the ringleaders has been prosecuted, expect it to happen again. People like to think the police and military will remain neutral. I would not count on it. They are no less immune the cultural forces and intellectual collapse then anyone else. — Add on the fact that religion/Christianity gets a free pass, no matter the fascism and obvious theocracy, and big trouble lies ahead. Both sides are now claiming the need to reject the rule of law. Corporations and billionaire oligarchs are waiting it out in the wings.... — In my view, the slippery slope is mostly behind us. The question before us is: — Does America survive the seizure of power coming from MAGA-GQP, with stolen elections via voter suppression, belief in biblical prophecies and conspiracy theories, all backed by millions of AR-15s and perhaps support from police or military. TLDR. The parallels between America and Germany are there. Very clear. Right before our eyes. American democracy is ... on the ledge!
  4. Sure. It's called the Bible, the sacred scrolls. The Bible overrules all science, all medical expertise, all legal precedent, all FDA rulings, all women's reproductive rights in America. It is as simple at that. Trying to analyze the 67-page ruling is self-gaslighting. The first footnote in the ruling cites an anti-abortion book, followed by 66 pages of smoke screen pretending to be rigorous legal analysis. The Trump-appointed judge is not a conservative, but rather a fascist theocrat. There, that's the legal mechanics. Seriously, that's it.
  5. In a sane secular legal world, you are 100% correct. But, we left that world a long time ago. We're in medieval madness. In the emerging American theocracy, the Bible has standing above all the sciences and medical expertise. Genesis 1:1 is the evidence-free foundation for all this insanity. Kacsmaryk is another Trump-appointed theocrat. The 67-page ruling is just an attempt to gaslight everyone into believing the ruling was grounded in rigorous science and legal scholarship. The first footnote in the opinion is to Embryo: A Defense of Human Life, the usual Christian anti-abortion nonsense masked as high-minded morality grounded in unscientific bullshit (clump of cells = "unborn human"), authored by two theocrats masking as high-browed legal profs from Princeton and Univ of South Carolina. Same with Alito citing medieval scholars overturning Roe. With the counter ruling in Washington, the abortion pill issue will get to the Supreme Court, where Barrett will author the 6-3 majority opinion. Medical science and women's reproductive rights must obey the sacred scrolls. That's the entire foundational argument. The rest is a smokescreen for theocracy. From the Bible to the Ivy League to Amarillo to the Supreme Court to all across America. Kacsmaryk issuing the ruling on so-called Good Friday is just the cherry on the top.
  6. The assault on women's rights and the worship of gun rights are deeply related. That's because in a theocracy, words and concepts not only lose their meaning, they become the complete opposite. With facts, evidence, and science under assault, the opposite meanings are operative precisely as the original meaning is still believed. Orwell called it doublethink. Example 1: First Amendment — The right to religious "freedom" protected in the First Amendment now means the right to violently impose and inflict religion upon others. Reproductive health rights are forcibly denied to women, thus religious "freedom" is weaponized to unleash medical violence upon women's bodies. Religious freedom imposes medical violence. Freedom is violence. Example 2. Second Amendment — The right to bear arms is protected, but that right is deployed as way to impose murder and mass shootings. Thus, the "right" to bear arms becomes a tool to unleash violence. To defend gun rights in the face of growing gun violence means only one thing. Gun rights supersede the right of others to live, to not die by gun violence. Rights are violence. Conclusion/Deduction The bodily autonomy of women and school children are giving way to religious "freedom" and gun "rights." Both freedoms/rights are weaponized against the bodies of women and children, precisely in the name of religious freedom and gun rights. With the regard to the First and Second Amendments, the Bill of Rights is becoming the Bill of Violence. That's what happens in a fascist theocracy. TLDR. Religious freedom and gun rights equal the right to impose violence. Orwell was right. Freedom is violence. Ultraviolence.
  7. Friends, this thread is utterly horrifying. My longtime girlfriend, sitting next to me, is enraged and disgusted, too. WTF, I am letting it rip. The abortion/pregancy horror stories are the product of anti-science madness spawned by the sacred scrolls (Bible). Sheer idiocy, sheer lunacy, yet an all too real theocracy is taking root in Texas and other states across America. I am freaking sick and tired of the apologists for religion and Christianity in this country. If that includes people on Surly, so be it. You're part of the problem, all you f*ckers who voted for Bush and Trump and cheer the asinine move to the SEC sewer. Bush and Trump have stacked the court with theocrats. Yeah, your infantile unseen Sky Daddy is protected by the First Amendment, but the US Constitution now apparently does not protect the bodies of real flesh and blood women? That is morally depraved. Anyone who is defending religion/Christianity — in any way — is enabling the horror of this thread. Enabling a patriarchal, misogynist theocracy, with the daily goal inflicting pain, humiliation, and degradation upon women. Morally depraved. Religion has always be a tool for violent colonization, conquest, and conversion. Always. Peace comes after conquest. Never before. Thus, medical violence is being unleashed on women across America. The goal is theological conquest and patriarchal domination, backed by some bogus "morality." MAGA-GQP are systematically building a violent, bloody theocracy across America — all based on some evidence-free myths and BS fables from 2000 years ago, uttered and written for a preliterate, premodern, pre-scientific society. It's no wonder doctors and nurses are saying they've had enough. Why work in a state that values religious idiocy over scientific insight and medical expertise. If you think Democrats are gonna put a stop to this, think again. Too much religion, too much Catholicism and Christianity among the Dems, especially the olds. Things are going to get much worse for women in America. And many other groups too. It's coming.
  8. Let's be very clear. The 2nd Amendment is no longer about protecting gun rights. It is about furthering social violence. That is its essential function now. The MAGA-GQP goal is not a "free" America. That's pure propaganda. Rather, the MAGA-GQP goal is a violent America, an angry militarized society, armed to the teeth, living in terror and existential dread. All day, every day. It's called ultraviolence (from A Clockwork Orange). "Ultraviolence" is terrorism as a daily cultural environment. It's the senseless, excessive, malevolent, and utterly unjustified violence that terrorizes a neighborhood, a city, a nation. Could be beatings, knifings, assaults, road rage, car-jackings, and so on. But, it most dramatically involves guns, which make possible mass shootings. One day it is a school, then a movie theater, gas station, place of worship. Or perhaps places for public shopping and eating: a grocery store, fast food joint, or Walmart. All subject to random bloody mass shootings. Ultraviolent societies are far more likely to submit to fascists and religious fanatics. That is exactly what is happening among MAGA-GQP. Ultraviolence. That's what's going down. That's the purpose of the 2nd Amendment.
  9. Obama is correct. And here's another way to phrase it: What happened in Tennessee is the latest example of a broader rise of fascism against democracy. Silencing those who disagree is a sign of fascist strength, not weakness, and it is an attack on progress.
  10. Let's not forget that Thomas was a Bush 1 nominee. The same Bush who said: "I will not apologize for America. I don't care what the facts are." He said this on the 1988 campaign tour and was elected in a landslide. No surprise, the same Bush whose son who authorized an invasion of Iraq based on no facts. Like father, like son. It is no surprise that MAGA-GQP are anti-facts, anti-science, etc. The Bushes (along with Reagan) laid the foundation decades ago.
  11. But at least they ain't all them PAC-10 librul socialist cities on the Left Coast—like LA, San Francisco, Seattle, all scenic cities with Hollywood, Disneyland (for those with kids), world class art museums, Big Sur, epic national parks, mountains, beaches with real waves, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. Hell, LA and San Francisco are true global cosmopolitan metropolises, despite their well-known flaws/issues. With Hollywood and Silicon Valley, LA and the San Francisco area literally changed the world on Planet Earth (I know, for better and worse). No reason for UT to align with anything out there — "What starts here changes the world." So, yeah, let's head on down to the Deep South.
  12. And just think. The great University of Texas at Austin is aligning with this fascist BS across the board, joining the SEC confederate conference. Anyone who thinks the UT to SEC move is all about football/sports money is utterly naive. The gaslighting is working, apparently near 100%. It fits perfect with Texas politics run by MAGA-GQP. This was a (anti-woke?) cultural and ideological alignment mandated at the highest levels. BOR, BMDs, Abbott, etc. (above Hartzell and Del Conte). The move does not happen without Abbott, BOR, BMDs being 100% on-board. How can we proud alums of UT not see this as a regressive move for our university? Mind blowing.
  13. Holland was ground zero for science in Europe, giving birth to the telescope and microscope—perhaps the two most radical technologies ever invented. Kicked off the sheer revolution of our understanding of life and the universe, per Galileo, Leeuwenhoek, etc. Bottom line, 99% of them "freedom loving" Christians did not want any competition for the sacred scrolls and their interpretation of them. So they fled to America to impose their religion ... on everyone and anyone that got in their way. Just ask the Native Americans. Genocide. All in the name of "religious freedom." Pure propaganda. The reality is most were fleeing the Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution (among other issues). MAGA-GQP still are fleeing science and enlightenment, as are the creationists/fundamentalists in America and around the world. The genius wisdom of a few founders (Deists and those wise to centuries of religious bloodshed) made sure the First Amendment said "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." Prior to the "free exercise thereof." Freedom from religion is atop the Bill of Rights, freedom of religion comes second. But the Christian myths and propaganda are still ruling forces in America.
  14. Nice ride. Hope the prom was fun! My dad bought a brand new Delta 88 (20 feet of American steel) with a massive trunk in 1974. Just to drive the family from Texas to Disneyland and to see relatives in LA. And then to SF, Sequoia Nat'l Park, Vegas, Grand Canyon, Meteor Crater, and Petrified Forest Nat'l Park and back home. That was our most epic family vacation.* (Our D88 was a hard top version of the car below.) *Parents divorced 5 years later and the nuclear family suburban utopia was over ...
  15. I have not lived in Texas in over 25 years, but I seriously doubt the big city flagship newspapers are calling it what is — fascism or theocracy. Same with the local TV stations. They always offer brainless, toothless "both sides" perspective that only empowers the fascists/theocrats. The Texas Tribune enables this as much as the Dallas Morning News or other mainstream news outlets, with their supposedly "objective" (both sides) perspective that is ultimately Orwellian in its subtle doublethink. Of course, this is happening in the mainstream news media all across America. The terms "conservative" ... "far-right" ... "extremist" ... are no longer accurate. Those were terms used in the Reagan era in the 1980s. Forty years later, MAGA and the GQP are far far beyond what Reagan jump-started. Even the term "Christian nationalism" sets off very few alarm bells for most people. There is no way to stop or slow down MAGA-GQP until it is properly identified and addressed. Even then, it might be too late or not enough. Of course, Beto and the Democrats are too weak and brainwashed to call it what it is. "Can't risk offending anyone's religious beliefs..." Religion's free pass will be the downfall of Texas/America. At least as a secular democracy. Margaret Atwood saw it coming with A Handmaid's Tale.
  16. You already know what is "wrong." We all do, at least those not in denial. It's called a fascist theocracy. Run by MAGA-GQP. The goal in Texas (and America) is to colonize, conquer, and convert—with legalized violence and malevolence toward the non-converted and a list of "enemies" and "others" not favored in their sacred scrolls. The goal is to rule with pain and humiliation, the Christian playbook for 2000 years, along with endless grifting. Peace and charity come after conquest/conversion. Not before. Pain, then peace. Then some more pain ... just for good measure. The goal is for MAGA-GQP to stand astride the vanquished and conquered, with Texas flags flying, AR-15s and crosses held high, all as they gaze upon their carnage and into the sky, thinking their unseen Sky Daddy is nodding in approval and their rapture is imminent. ----------- Meanwhile, NASA and the James Webb Space Telescope peer across 100 billion light years and no Sky Daddy is anywhere to be seen. Hell, this Sky Daddy is too lazy to even photobomb one image of a distant galaxy.
  17. Why the veiled insults What the Buck? I am glad you can see Trump for what he is, a blatant fascist and enabler of theocracy (among many other things). As for me, you don't know a damn thing. I have faced "witty" comments like yours for decades in cities/states where I lived. Same old story: I am alarmist, too paranoid, etc. I am new on this site, yet I have spoken/written/published (in print) on these topics at times over the past 3-4 decades. I post here while taking a break from other formal projects.... and for the peerless Surly humor! And as a proud UT alum disgusted by Bush-Perry-Abbott-Trump-MAGA Texas. Buck: I've been warning friends and others (liberals, libertarians, and conservatives I knew) about the threat of theocracy since Reagan/Religious Right in the 1980s, while I was at UT. Every freaking conservative/libertarian I knew at UT was in 100,000% denial. Every last one! "Free markets and religious freedom, that's America, dude!" That was the mantra. And I warned about the fascist tendencies of Perot (the proto-Trump) and his "United We Stand," then Bush 2 and "Tea Party" theocracy/fascism, and now Trump and MAGA. Always met with good ole American Exceptionalism and denialism about threat of religious rule and the ongoing intellectual collapse across a huge swath of America. No matter the facts or elegance of my assertion, it was too paranoid, too cynical, too anti-American, I was told. And, yet here we are.... yes, the "Pod People" you mentioned are coming. Waving flags, bearing crosses, carrying AR-15s, driving SUVs or F-150s! Adios, Buck. With all due respect, this will my last comment to you on this. I no longer argue/debate/attempt to persuade anyone of anything—all pointless, as I have learned over the decades. I just put out ideas/concepts and let people do what they want with them. Surly seems like a good place for that!
  18. I appreciate your comment. I too esteem Art. But, my brush is not broader than most. "Art" is not just what we like in a gallery or the classics in a museum. History is filled with all kinds of art—good, bad, beautiful, ugly, sacred, and profane. Paintings, sculpture, music, dance, architecture, and even graffiti and others. Sadly, there are tons of politically-inspired works celebrating tyrants and despotic regimes. Books have been written about art of the Third Reich (and art of the Soviet Union). No one is saying Nazi art is great, but it has been studied to understand how it expressed the Nazi ideology. McNaughton's Trump-inspired paintings are fascist-style art and should serve as a warning to us all.
  19. Look, I don't want to argue with you. It is pointless. But please quit putting words in my post that are not there. I never said the McNaughton's art was good. I never said it should not be mocked and laughed it. So no one is getting carried away. But, there are millions in America in denial of what is going down. As for western art/aesthetic history, I know it quite well. Poor quality or aesthetic kitsch does not change the fact that McNaughton is creating fascist-style art for Fascist America.
  20. We can mock and laugh at the Trump paintings. But these paintings are fascist art, circa the 21st century and our Hollywood hyper-mediated era. These paintings are, in philosophic and artistic principle, no different than the many paintings of Hitler (lionized, militarized, warrior, God-like) that emerged in Nazi Germany. McNaughton's Trump paintings are art for Fascist America.
  21. Obviously, there were fascists in the USA, as shown in the 1939 Madison Square Garden photos up thread. That good ole American Exceptionalism and assumption that fascism "can't happen here" is naive and mistaken. Fascism is already happening here on a huge scale, along with theocracy. The question is: can these be stopped before democracy is finished?
  22. Not the overwhelming majority for Trump. Okay. But are the results good news? After 4 years of complete Trump-Pence idiocy and Covid denial, more than a third of of the military still supported a fascist leader and fascist/theocratic ideology. Seems like a reason to be extremely alarmed. When you say it "aint your grandpappy's military anymore," you are correct. The grandpas (and my two oldest uncles) were busy defeating the fascists, who were in Germany and Italy. Not in the White House.
  23. Re: Reed O'Connor ruling. Theocracy masked as rigorous scrutiny of the law. No surprise, appointed by Bush 2, the evangelical prez who paved the way for fascism/theocracy. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/30/texas-judge-obamacare-00089641
  24. It's incredibly naive to think the police forces in the USA are not overwhelmingly MAGA-GQP. Same with the rank-and-file military and likely many of the top generals/admirals. MAGA-GQP fascism did not begin with Trump or Fox News. Been building for 40+ years. It began with Ronnie Raygun, his astrology-loving wife, and the army of warrior Bible thumpers! And the police and military top brass loved that Ronnie Raygun, ready to zap the commies and pinko liberals from atop his horse in California.
  25. About that New Yorker article 1. Re: the secularists wanting a Christian nation. Never underestimate the power of "doublethink" and believing that two oppositional and contradictory thoughts are both true. 2. There's always a bunch of academics splitting hairs in the guise of "rigorous scholarship." They can divide Christians into sub-groups all they want, but the unimpeachable empirical fact is that 70+ million people voted for Trump. Which means that 70 million voters are down with fascism and theocracy, regardless of which Christian group they are in.
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