The republinazis just want to bring back slavery in whatever form they can, and forcing Medicaid recipients to work in the fields is only the beginning.
I work because I can't sit still and am self employed and enjoy what I do. However I would rather spend all my time sinning as it's a hell of a lot more fun!
I loved the water hoses a group beat ICE back with. But yeah, we're going to have firefights imminently. We've already had violence at least one border facility. I don't want that to happen, but it is the natural trajectory.
To comprehend the horrific extent to which this is true -- and to know the true Evil that assails us -- it is vital to read "Hitler's American Model: the United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law" (James Q. Whitman, Princeton University Press: 2017). It is readily available through BookFinder (which google), prices starting at $10.75 postage included.
Good information. Thank you. I am glad you brought up the Agricultural Secretary’s comments. When they are trying to force Americans in to the fields who are ill and elderly we will see the MAGA crowd rethink this.
I hope some horror will get through to the MAGA cult, but it will most likely be when they lose their assistance and are being carted into the fields that they’ll shriek, “But this isn’t what I voted for! I meant for this to happen to Those People I don’t like! Not to me!”
Good info from Andra indeed, but ruinously wrong conclusion by Ms. Foote. The MAGATs (Make America Great Again Trumpites) will (not) rethink their deadly enslavement of Medicaid and food-stamp recipients; the regime's long-term intent is genocide, a New Holocaust -- extermination of impoverished and disabled people as a part of building a white Christian master race. And the regime's underlying socioeconomic purpose is establishing plausibly deniable means of terrorizing us by the imposition of runaway Pinochet-intensity "economic-shock-therapy" inflation.
I think many Americans want to hope something will break this fever for their fellow citizens. Since many MAGAs are on Medicaid (even if they don't know it because it isn't called Medicaid in their states), I believe many of them are in for a rude lesson. I seriously doubt many will blame their own choices and decisions for their suffering, but I guess we'll see. Because many of them are going to suffer.
I feel like this regime is the worst of Hitler, Pinochet, Putin, and many other villains rolled into one hideous entity. I am still gobsmacked that people would choose to wear t-shirts touting a concentration camp. Whenever I've thought I was being too hard on the couple of people left with whom I cut ties, I remind myself that they voted for concentration camps and are finding ways to tell themselves that's not what this is. Which is its own form of evil.
Loren, I think we are both right. Some MAGA will reconsider some of their choices based on self interest. I want to believe that there will be a few that will actually reexamine their relationship with the MAGA cult.
That said, I do agree with your assessment of the endgame. Every thing I see the Trump administration doing, with their enablers in Congress and the Courts, point to a deliberate destruction of our economy for the benefit of a few.
They want mothers at home bearing and raising children, unless those mothers need welfare. Then those lazy women need to find honest work outside the home and stop being social parasites. Of course the problem of finding affordable childcare is an individual concern. The result is that women bear both the curse of Adam and the curse of Eve.
Some of this actually makes good sense. The rich don't work a day in their lives. They think they do, but what they do is not work. Maybe that's who the target of this argument is, which could be (re)interpreted as a call for social responsibility. It won't be, of course, but there's a difference between doing what needs to be done to try to give everyone some security and comfort - which does involve work, by someone - and working because you think rest and free time are bad.
The reason Christian Nationalism is such a force is because it is so very suited to the rich using as a weapon against everyone else.
There's a school of thought that the Catholic church can be a force for good, when the focus is on social welfare, and it's why some want to paint actions of the current and the most recent popes as progressive. Of course I don't buy it because the church does as much to perseverate misogyny as anyone ever has. But if you accept the giant blind spot to over half the population, I think that's how I would interpret these phrases from the Catholic teaching.
I think the sole focus of any church should be social welfare without strings, because that is what Jesus did. He never - not once - required people to meet a list of behaviors or jump through hoops for his help. He never - not once - went back to anyone he healed or ministered to - even after telling them to go and sin no more - to see if they actually listened. He never - not once - asked anything of any person who came to him.
I don't think churches should be pontificating about morality. I don't think they should be focused on "saving" or "converting" people. I think a Christian church's focus, whether Catholic or Protestant, should be ministering to the world as Jesus did. Period.
But that gives them no power or control, so you know, BOO HISS on that.
They long for the days when the Catholic Church owned and controlled everyone and everything. The thing is, the rest of the world will keep advancing and will eventually be able to overpower a theofascist regime by their more advanced technology. China and the EU come to mind. In today's world, stagnation is suicide.
They are desperately trying to export this to Europe and Latin America. And as I've said, they'll have a Thirty Years'-type war over which version of Christian Nationalism - Catholic/Protestant/Dominionist - will rule everyone. Which will make a country like China shit themselves with glee.
Yup. What's kind of amazing to me is how the gospels survived the way they did, given how much of the message is subversive. I mean I'm one who takes out divine considerations when looking at how this has evolved, so I find it at least somewhat surprising that something which can be used as quite a bit progressive and liberal has managed to stick around. Now quite obviously those with power and wealth have found very successful ways to fuck up the message and preach almost the exact opposite, but still.
P.S. I always thought the 'go and sin no more' at the end of the stories was kind of added on; it doesn't feel as organic as the rest. Maybe it could/would/should be reworded as go and let your heart be light and free, that would feel more consistent to me. Ha! I'm rewriting scripture :)
This comes from the story in John of the adulterous women, which many Bible scholars believe was an add-on. The whole story, not just the "go and sin no more" comment.
It's not lost on me (and I've said this before) that these Christian Nationalists would kill Jesus all over again. They hate and despise every single thing he stood for.
I would ask if they believe Monsignor Fazio’s work as a human trafficker and systemic abuser of minors counts as the “dignity of work” in his position…..second-in-command at Opus Dei.
They DO NOT WANT anyone to be talking about any of this. They are aggressively fighting every attempt to hold abusers of minors accountable, up to and including trying to treat the confessional like an attorney's office that deserves attorney-client privilege. I was glad to see Shannon write about him. That whole thing needs so much more coverage than it's getting, but Opus Dei will use every ounce of their power to make sure the story dies.
Gareth Gore (whose book you're probably reading) has a Substack on the same subject. And of course, you've probably met Shannon Vavich, who I had on ages ago. I should reach out to her and do that again.
Our 🇬🇧 PM posted on Instagram about work being a virtue - or words to that effect. I argued that work is good when it is meaningful and fulfilling for the working person. But our inherent value is not based on how productive we are, or how many hours we spend at work, or by the size of our paycheck. We are valuable because we are human beings (not human doings) and we love and are loved in return. No, I don’t work in paid employment. I volunteer for my church (I am Christian but not one of the ones who has erased Christ, the parable of the sheep and the goats is one of my guiding principles), I help my family and friends where and when I can, and take any opportunity I can to help people feel seen and heard. My hands are rarely idle and, to be honest, I’m not sure I have the time to go to work, though I definitely don’t have the ability (long covid, AuADHD, anorexia and recurrent depressive disorder). But my family still love me. My friends don’t judge. Sadly, it does seem that the Labour government are following the Trump playbook 🥺
Ugh. I'm sorry to hear that. I've never been much of a Starmer fan but I hoped he'd be an improvement on what came before.
This is a good lesson on why people in the UK get something from this work. Christian Nationalism has a strong UK presence, as you know. And these seemingly benign talking points about work are straight from Christian Nationalism. The more British people who know that, the more they can push back against it.
Here's to you continuing to do your very meaningful work. (I love the human beings, not human doings comment. Always have.)
I feel like they're worried about their right flank ? but I defer to UK readers. You'd think with over 400 seats in parliament one could be a little less cautious 🤷
Absolutely, Zach. They have a strong enough mandate to raise taxes on higher earners and those with wealth/assets over £10m but they won’t. Instead we get cuts to disability benefits which got watered down after a backbench revolt meaning people will still lose money but the government won’t save any and now they tell us that because they couldn’t cut disability benefits they now can’t afford to lift the two-child benefit cap. Way to make us feel better about ourselves, as if we didn’t feel bad enough. It’s all nonsense, of course. The myth of government finances being like a credit card or household finances is just that - a myth.
And, yes, Christian Nationalism is infecting us too. Quite subtly for now, but the number of women being investigated for miscarriages and use of abortion pills has skyrocketed in recent years. It’s very disturbing.
They want to MAWA. Make America White Again. Intimidate, threaten, arrest , deport and otherwise screw all the brown skins. Then we'll work on the black skins. And now we've got the police/ICE. NAT Guard troops to do it with. Hah! Take THAT, Amerikka!
That is why we absolutely HAVE to take back the House (which can start impeachment) and the Senate (which could convict and remove him/and him.) and do it BY the Sept 23 Special Elections in AZ-07,TX-18, VA-11, FL-01 and 06. Oh, the marvelous number of things a Dem majority could do!!
For me, Millinocket is emblematic of the failure of our political system to address the profound social changes wrought by an evolving economy whether that be off-shoring or digitization. The capital followed the economy. Social policy did too, leaving once prosperous middle class American communities dead in the water as prosperity sailed over the horizon. Nobody cared. The Ds offered job training. For what? The Rs have become MAGA, feeding off the grievances left in the wake. All of that was fertile ground for the culture wars and religious exploitation. So, here we are, about a millimeter from losing democracy. Nobody cared then and nobody cares now. The aggrieved just haven't figured that out yet.
And Americans are getting ready to learn all kinds of things about civics and capitalism in the hardest way possible. I think it will make towns like Millinocket look like showplaces.
I certainly hope we still have a small chance at saving ourselves. I would remind myself that hope is not a strategy. With the D's bankrupt, geriatric and self-centered leadership proving themselves incapable of motivating resistance, my fear is that you're correct. You voted with your feet. That's warning enough.
Anything can fall suddenly. Even what they’re building. But I don’t see any real organized resistance right now that could do that. It certainly won’t come from the Democratic Party.
I don’t know what it’s like on the ground there, but others have said it’s still a whole bunch of “out of sight, out of mind” and “you’re crazy; that won’t happen” and so forth. If frogs are determined to jump into the pot to be slowly boiled alive, I don’t know how to help them. I personally think millions of Americans should have been protesting in the streets since Dobbs, but Covid ground a lot of people down to the nub.
Voting with one’s feet is a really difficult choice. Yes, when I flew out for the final time, I felt like a mountain rolled off me. That place is THAT heavy. But it isn’t easy to start over, learn a new language, navigate new customs, and make friends. I treat it like a healthy adventure for someone my age that might keep me younger, but it can be very lonely and bewildering.
I hope a group will rise up to lead us out of this, but right now I have no idea who they’d be.
They’ve already had to rush a concentration camp detainee to the hospital because conditions are so poor. Wonder how long they’ll deem life-saving expenses necessary.
In 2014 I had the privilege of hiking from Georgia to Maine on the Appalachian Trail. The northern terminus of the AT is just north of the town of Millinocket, Maine. It was once the wealthiest town in Maine by far, home of two gigantic paper mills supplying newspring by the trainload to the rotary presses of America.
The dignity of work failed this town as the internet destroyed the newspaper industry. MAGA is now deeply rooted here. The blog I posted at the time offers some insight. Working harder did not preserve the prosperity of this once thriving town.
This post was written as I waited in town for weather to clear. The next day I summitted Mt. Katahdin in Baxter State Park to complete my 2,200 mile hike.
You also posted on my dad’s birthday. And yes, this town suffered the ultimate indignity at the hands of “progress.” No amount of work would have mattered.
The republinazis just want to bring back slavery in whatever form they can, and forcing Medicaid recipients to work in the fields is only the beginning.
I work because I can't sit still and am self employed and enjoy what I do. However I would rather spend all my time sinning as it's a hell of a lot more fun!
These ICE raids are literally drawn from the slave roundups of the 1800s. That is the template they’re using.
MAGA voted to have their lives micromanaged and surveilled every second of every day. They still have no clue what’s coming for them.
I'm still waiting for the first ICE/resister group firefight. I can't believe one or more haven't happened already.
I loved the water hoses a group beat ICE back with. But yeah, we're going to have firefights imminently. We've already had violence at least one border facility. I don't want that to happen, but it is the natural trajectory.
It's what they want too :(
To comprehend the horrific extent to which this is true -- and to know the true Evil that assails us -- it is vital to read "Hitler's American Model: the United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law" (James Q. Whitman, Princeton University Press: 2017). It is readily available through BookFinder (which google), prices starting at $10.75 postage included.
Good information. Thank you. I am glad you brought up the Agricultural Secretary’s comments. When they are trying to force Americans in to the fields who are ill and elderly we will see the MAGA crowd rethink this.
I hope some horror will get through to the MAGA cult, but it will most likely be when they lose their assistance and are being carted into the fields that they’ll shriek, “But this isn’t what I voted for! I meant for this to happen to Those People I don’t like! Not to me!”
Only when it them and their families forced to work in the summer heat picking vegetables. By then, it will be far too late.
Yep.
Good info from Andra indeed, but ruinously wrong conclusion by Ms. Foote. The MAGATs (Make America Great Again Trumpites) will (not) rethink their deadly enslavement of Medicaid and food-stamp recipients; the regime's long-term intent is genocide, a New Holocaust -- extermination of impoverished and disabled people as a part of building a white Christian master race. And the regime's underlying socioeconomic purpose is establishing plausibly deniable means of terrorizing us by the imposition of runaway Pinochet-intensity "economic-shock-therapy" inflation.
I think many Americans want to hope something will break this fever for their fellow citizens. Since many MAGAs are on Medicaid (even if they don't know it because it isn't called Medicaid in their states), I believe many of them are in for a rude lesson. I seriously doubt many will blame their own choices and decisions for their suffering, but I guess we'll see. Because many of them are going to suffer.
I feel like this regime is the worst of Hitler, Pinochet, Putin, and many other villains rolled into one hideous entity. I am still gobsmacked that people would choose to wear t-shirts touting a concentration camp. Whenever I've thought I was being too hard on the couple of people left with whom I cut ties, I remind myself that they voted for concentration camps and are finding ways to tell themselves that's not what this is. Which is its own form of evil.
In other words the American version of Aktion T-4.
Loren, I think we are both right. Some MAGA will reconsider some of their choices based on self interest. I want to believe that there will be a few that will actually reexamine their relationship with the MAGA cult.
That said, I do agree with your assessment of the endgame. Every thing I see the Trump administration doing, with their enablers in Congress and the Courts, point to a deliberate destruction of our economy for the benefit of a few.
They want mothers at home bearing and raising children, unless those mothers need welfare. Then those lazy women need to find honest work outside the home and stop being social parasites. Of course the problem of finding affordable childcare is an individual concern. The result is that women bear both the curse of Adam and the curse of Eve.
I wrote about this last year. I will find the link and drop it here but don’t want to lose my train of thought.
Bottom line is Christian Nationalists believe:
Women need to be married to men.
They need to have as many children as god gives them without the benefit of contraception.
They need to be totally dependent on these men for everything and unable to divorce them for any reason, including abuse.
Basically, women are chattel and birthing vessels.
Then they won’t need to work because they will be following God’s plan.
THIS IS WHAT THEY WANT TO FORCE ON EVERY AMERICAN.
Here’s the link: https://open.substack.com/pub/andrawatkins/p/christian-nationalism-men-work-women?r=1ohjc1&utm_medium=ios
Some of this actually makes good sense. The rich don't work a day in their lives. They think they do, but what they do is not work. Maybe that's who the target of this argument is, which could be (re)interpreted as a call for social responsibility. It won't be, of course, but there's a difference between doing what needs to be done to try to give everyone some security and comfort - which does involve work, by someone - and working because you think rest and free time are bad.
The reason Christian Nationalism is such a force is because it is so very suited to the rich using as a weapon against everyone else.
Yes. Exactly. I think your observation about social responsibility is apt and should be used to push back against this.
There's a school of thought that the Catholic church can be a force for good, when the focus is on social welfare, and it's why some want to paint actions of the current and the most recent popes as progressive. Of course I don't buy it because the church does as much to perseverate misogyny as anyone ever has. But if you accept the giant blind spot to over half the population, I think that's how I would interpret these phrases from the Catholic teaching.
I think the sole focus of any church should be social welfare without strings, because that is what Jesus did. He never - not once - required people to meet a list of behaviors or jump through hoops for his help. He never - not once - went back to anyone he healed or ministered to - even after telling them to go and sin no more - to see if they actually listened. He never - not once - asked anything of any person who came to him.
I don't think churches should be pontificating about morality. I don't think they should be focused on "saving" or "converting" people. I think a Christian church's focus, whether Catholic or Protestant, should be ministering to the world as Jesus did. Period.
But that gives them no power or control, so you know, BOO HISS on that.
They long for the days when the Catholic Church owned and controlled everyone and everything. The thing is, the rest of the world will keep advancing and will eventually be able to overpower a theofascist regime by their more advanced technology. China and the EU come to mind. In today's world, stagnation is suicide.
They are desperately trying to export this to Europe and Latin America. And as I've said, they'll have a Thirty Years'-type war over which version of Christian Nationalism - Catholic/Protestant/Dominionist - will rule everyone. Which will make a country like China shit themselves with glee.
'shit themselves with glee' - that's good. That's why you're a bestselling author! :)
Yup. What's kind of amazing to me is how the gospels survived the way they did, given how much of the message is subversive. I mean I'm one who takes out divine considerations when looking at how this has evolved, so I find it at least somewhat surprising that something which can be used as quite a bit progressive and liberal has managed to stick around. Now quite obviously those with power and wealth have found very successful ways to fuck up the message and preach almost the exact opposite, but still.
P.S. I always thought the 'go and sin no more' at the end of the stories was kind of added on; it doesn't feel as organic as the rest. Maybe it could/would/should be reworded as go and let your heart be light and free, that would feel more consistent to me. Ha! I'm rewriting scripture :)
This comes from the story in John of the adulterous women, which many Bible scholars believe was an add-on. The whole story, not just the "go and sin no more" comment.
It's not lost on me (and I've said this before) that these Christian Nationalists would kill Jesus all over again. They hate and despise every single thing he stood for.
Yes. 'They worship angry vengeful Old Testament God' is one of your very best sayings.
They're ultra Calvinists in new clothing.
I would ask if they believe Monsignor Fazio’s work as a human trafficker and systemic abuser of minors counts as the “dignity of work” in his position…..second-in-command at Opus Dei.
https://open.substack.com/pub/shannonvavich/p/monday-june-7-2025-2nd-in-command?r=fqsxl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=post%20viewer
They DO NOT WANT anyone to be talking about any of this. They are aggressively fighting every attempt to hold abusers of minors accountable, up to and including trying to treat the confessional like an attorney's office that deserves attorney-client privilege. I was glad to see Shannon write about him. That whole thing needs so much more coverage than it's getting, but Opus Dei will use every ounce of their power to make sure the story dies.
I am now reading a book on Opus Dei. I am appalled, and I have only read about 100 pages.
Gareth Gore (whose book you're probably reading) has a Substack on the same subject. And of course, you've probably met Shannon Vavich, who I had on ages ago. I should reach out to her and do that again.
Our 🇬🇧 PM posted on Instagram about work being a virtue - or words to that effect. I argued that work is good when it is meaningful and fulfilling for the working person. But our inherent value is not based on how productive we are, or how many hours we spend at work, or by the size of our paycheck. We are valuable because we are human beings (not human doings) and we love and are loved in return. No, I don’t work in paid employment. I volunteer for my church (I am Christian but not one of the ones who has erased Christ, the parable of the sheep and the goats is one of my guiding principles), I help my family and friends where and when I can, and take any opportunity I can to help people feel seen and heard. My hands are rarely idle and, to be honest, I’m not sure I have the time to go to work, though I definitely don’t have the ability (long covid, AuADHD, anorexia and recurrent depressive disorder). But my family still love me. My friends don’t judge. Sadly, it does seem that the Labour government are following the Trump playbook 🥺
Ugh. I'm sorry to hear that. I've never been much of a Starmer fan but I hoped he'd be an improvement on what came before.
This is a good lesson on why people in the UK get something from this work. Christian Nationalism has a strong UK presence, as you know. And these seemingly benign talking points about work are straight from Christian Nationalism. The more British people who know that, the more they can push back against it.
Here's to you continuing to do your very meaningful work. (I love the human beings, not human doings comment. Always have.)
I feel like they're worried about their right flank ? but I defer to UK readers. You'd think with over 400 seats in parliament one could be a little less cautious 🤷
Absolutely, Zach. They have a strong enough mandate to raise taxes on higher earners and those with wealth/assets over £10m but they won’t. Instead we get cuts to disability benefits which got watered down after a backbench revolt meaning people will still lose money but the government won’t save any and now they tell us that because they couldn’t cut disability benefits they now can’t afford to lift the two-child benefit cap. Way to make us feel better about ourselves, as if we didn’t feel bad enough. It’s all nonsense, of course. The myth of government finances being like a credit card or household finances is just that - a myth.
And, yes, Christian Nationalism is infecting us too. Quite subtly for now, but the number of women being investigated for miscarriages and use of abortion pills has skyrocketed in recent years. It’s very disturbing.
I’ll try to spread the word Andra.
They want to MAWA. Make America White Again. Intimidate, threaten, arrest , deport and otherwise screw all the brown skins. Then we'll work on the black skins. And now we've got the police/ICE. NAT Guard troops to do it with. Hah! Take THAT, Amerikka!
And those who don’t agree with us, whatever their skin color. It’s a massive group of human beings.
That is why we absolutely HAVE to take back the House (which can start impeachment) and the Senate (which could convict and remove him/and him.) and do it BY the Sept 23 Special Elections in AZ-07,TX-18, VA-11, FL-01 and 06. Oh, the marvelous number of things a Dem majority could do!!
For me, Millinocket is emblematic of the failure of our political system to address the profound social changes wrought by an evolving economy whether that be off-shoring or digitization. The capital followed the economy. Social policy did too, leaving once prosperous middle class American communities dead in the water as prosperity sailed over the horizon. Nobody cared. The Ds offered job training. For what? The Rs have become MAGA, feeding off the grievances left in the wake. All of that was fertile ground for the culture wars and religious exploitation. So, here we are, about a millimeter from losing democracy. Nobody cared then and nobody cares now. The aggrieved just haven't figured that out yet.
Democracy is already lost.
And Americans are getting ready to learn all kinds of things about civics and capitalism in the hardest way possible. I think it will make towns like Millinocket look like showplaces.
I certainly hope we still have a small chance at saving ourselves. I would remind myself that hope is not a strategy. With the D's bankrupt, geriatric and self-centered leadership proving themselves incapable of motivating resistance, my fear is that you're correct. You voted with your feet. That's warning enough.
Anything can fall suddenly. Even what they’re building. But I don’t see any real organized resistance right now that could do that. It certainly won’t come from the Democratic Party.
I don’t know what it’s like on the ground there, but others have said it’s still a whole bunch of “out of sight, out of mind” and “you’re crazy; that won’t happen” and so forth. If frogs are determined to jump into the pot to be slowly boiled alive, I don’t know how to help them. I personally think millions of Americans should have been protesting in the streets since Dobbs, but Covid ground a lot of people down to the nub.
Voting with one’s feet is a really difficult choice. Yes, when I flew out for the final time, I felt like a mountain rolled off me. That place is THAT heavy. But it isn’t easy to start over, learn a new language, navigate new customs, and make friends. I treat it like a healthy adventure for someone my age that might keep me younger, but it can be very lonely and bewildering.
I hope a group will rise up to lead us out of this, but right now I have no idea who they’d be.
Oh, brother! Anybody remember Arbeit Macht Frei? Maybe they can put "Dignity in Work" over the gates at the Alligator Auschwitz--er, Alcatraz.
They’ve already had to rush a concentration camp detainee to the hospital because conditions are so poor. Wonder how long they’ll deem life-saving expenses necessary.
That is indeed frightening to contemplate.
In 2014 I had the privilege of hiking from Georgia to Maine on the Appalachian Trail. The northern terminus of the AT is just north of the town of Millinocket, Maine. It was once the wealthiest town in Maine by far, home of two gigantic paper mills supplying newspring by the trainload to the rotary presses of America.
The dignity of work failed this town as the internet destroyed the newspaper industry. MAGA is now deeply rooted here. The blog I posted at the time offers some insight. Working harder did not preserve the prosperity of this once thriving town.
This post was written as I waited in town for weather to clear. The next day I summitted Mt. Katahdin in Baxter State Park to complete my 2,200 mile hike.
https://jfetig.com/2014/08/05/go-for-launch/
I’m commenting before reading your link, but I find it serendipitous that we completed our long treks (yours longer than mine) the same year.
You also posted on my dad’s birthday. And yes, this town suffered the ultimate indignity at the hands of “progress.” No amount of work would have mattered.
Thank you so much for your intelligence and interpretation. You are priceless!❤️