ソ-ラ-バ-ド-のおん: Solarbird Makes Noises

I am copying and pasting this post - with permission - because the original post was locked, and they requested that I share it in this format. I know OP personally, and have for some time.

Read all of it - and particularly note the instructions in the last paragraph. My long history of doing that has saved me, several times.

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This is going to be a rather personal post from me, but given the number of people I've seen on Facebook expressing extreme anxiety regarding Brett Kavanaugh and his supporters and apologists, I think it's necessary as many of you have been raised in environments that were completely alien to mine.

This post isn't really intended to provide comfort or solutions. It's simply intended to explain how things really are given that I'm a former extreme right-wing conservative. I was raised by an individual who was not once, but twice, clinically diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), which is exactly what afflicts Donald Trump (and presumably quite a few of his most ardent supporters). And her partner was basically a sycophant who mirrors many of Trump's enablers.

I've seen many posts where people ask if Trump and his supporters really enjoy the suffering of others. The simple answer is yes. But it goes deeper than that. Trump supporters enjoy your outrage. They feed off your outrage and it gives them energy and strength to reach for even greater extremes. When you ask Trump supporters how they can support such evil, heinous policies, they delight in your assumption of their inherent goodness. They're openly laughing at you when you do this. Simply put, they're emotional vampires, and trying to relate to these individuals on the same level as decent human beings is completely playing into their hands. They don't respect this kind of interaction. They think less of you for it. And they regard you as potential prey, even if they don't see an immediate opportunity to victimize you. I know how upsetting and bleak this may sound to someone reading this right now but as I noted above, I'm not making this post to comfort you. I'm posting this to simply tell you how it is, as I was one of these kinds of people a very long time ago. My entire career has been based on telling people how things are, and often they don't like the messenger, regardless of their belief system.

Having lived and survived in an environment dominated by NPD individuals in both personal and professional settings, there are several takeaways I would advise you to keep in mind. First, make it very clear to an NPD that you're not going to play on their level. They'll say things to upset you. Their way of interacting with you, their way of manipulating you, is totally dependent on that. Don't be emotional with them. Make it clear that you know that they're liars, that they're cheats. Be calm and stay in control as you tell them that. And add that because that they lack empathy, you regard them as inanimate objects. I invite you to use that very term with them, because I have. And more often than not, they laughed and immediately disengaged with me and sought another victim. Or they would lose control of the situation when they realized I was onto them.

Secondly, if the opportunity arises, make sure that these NPD individuals experience immediate, measurable consequences as a direct result of their attempt to victimize you. Make clear to their sycophants and apologists that you won't forget where they stood in the situation and that you won't ever forget. I personally engaged in this kind of, for lack of a better term, warfare over a period of decades with members of my own family, as well as my political opponents in my state. So be prepared for a very long battle. Many of these individuals think they can wait you out. Make sure you include this in your calculus. When you reengage with them, be punctual, avoid hesitation.

After this is all over, these individuals will try to reengage you again. They'll pretend that none of this had transpired. They'll gaslight you and try to convince you that you don't remember history as it actually happened. Save the receipts. I personally know of several individuals who I used to regard as friends who have already taken to scrubbing their social media histories so that no one will ever know that they enthusiastically supported Donald Trump and the darkest, most evil of his dehumanizing policies. Take screen shots. Save them for posterity. And when the time is right, make sure they know that you haven't forgotten and be clear that you will ensure others also will never forget. Always remember, this is to the grave. So be strong. Be resolute. You will be surprised over time how many new friends you will make along the way.

Watching Trump supporters go about cheering concentration camps for children and attacking people who protest them for - supposedly - not protesting loudly enough during Obama just makes me go, like...

...if your reaction to bestial depravity is to cheer it because you want to think people you dislike didn't protest loudly enough at lower levels of abuse? You aren't even looking for an excuse. You're just a centreless void, a contemptible sucking ethical and moral vacuum pretending to be a person, eating away at the very idea of civilisation itself.

I don't care what your fucking political enemies did or did not say about it. If you're supporting atrocities? YOU ARE FUCKING SUPPORTING ATROCITIES. I don't fucking care why. YOU ARE SUPPORTING ATROCITIES.

The Nashville Statement - a new declaration from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, a fundamentalist/evangelical working group - is about making anti-LGBT activism a core part of faith. It's explicitly about making anti-LGBT animus a required belief in order to be what they consider Christian.

Article 10 - excuse me, they want to sound all Roman on the website, so "Article X" - is key:

WE AFFIRM that it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness.

WE DENY that the approval of homosexual immorality or transgenderism is a matter of moral indifference about which otherwise faithful Christians should agree to disagree.

Now, fundamentalism/evangelism is not like Catholicism, of course, where the Pope says a thing and off y'go. This statement is more like an influential imam issuing a fatwa. It's not legally binding. But it's important to remember that fundamentalism as we know it started with a not-dissimilar declaration of tenants a little over a century ago, and I think it's pretty clear that they had that document in mind.

So - this matters. Not for the week or month or year, but for the longer term. Let's go over the key points.

First, it's about asserting that being queer is being in active opposition to God.

From Article XIII: "WE DENY that the grace of God in Christ sanctions self-conceptions that are at odds with God’s revealed will."

Secondly, it's about removing neutrality - you cannot agree to disagree and still be Christian.

They're declaring that hatred of LGBT people and opposition to the rights of LGBT people is core and key to their faith - that people who disagree with this statement, who are neutral or pro-LGBT rights, are not Christians. At all.

Third, it's about making opposition to the existence of us queers a multi-generational activity.

As they've been losing ground in younger generations, they've been struggling to find a way to continue the fight against us. This is where they've gone - making it part of the religion itself. It is a blueprint showing how they intend to renew their fight against our existence.

Finally, it's about making civil rights a zero-sum game, in explicit, foundational, and existential terms.

They are declaring that laws recognising us, recognising our relationships, recognising who we are, are direct affronts to and attacks on God, and on their religion, and on their right to be Christians. To allow civil rights for queers is to deny them their faith. (See Article XI - they're using the word "speak" there, but they talk with laws, when they can.) This isn't really new? But now it's formalised. It has moved from inchoate politics to cornerstone of faith, and that has weight.

By making anti-queer activism core and critical to their Christianity, they're saying that recognising us is a direct attack on their existence as Christians. They're making our existence antithetical to themselves. They're deciding that this is an existential fight - for them.

This statement is a forthright and deliberate statement of eternal opposition to the existence of me and mine.

This statement is a declaration of total war.

The news. Sorry.

Trump-Russia:
Kelly defends plan for Russia back channel as a 'good thing'
Sec. John Kelly: Intelligence Leaks Are ‘Darn Close To Treason’
Trump expresses 'total confidence' in Kushner
Dems Call for Jared Kushner to Lose Security Clearance
Jared Kushner’s Role Is Tested as Russia Case Grows
Trump's obsession over Russia probe deepens
Trump campaign likely didn’t save documents: report
Russia scandal ices government lawyer hiring

Taking apart the modern world order:
A few people make this argument: once Trump is gone & replaced by a mainstream figure (Hatch or Warren, say) norms will return. Nope.
Scoop: Trump tells confidants U.S. will quit Paris climate deal
Angela Merkel says Germany can no longer rely on Donald Trump's America: 'We Europeans must take our destiny into our own hands'

Neofascism, neo-Naziism, breakdown of civil society:
Portland Republican says party should use militia groups after racial attack
Texas Republican Called ICE on SB 4 Protesters, Threatened to Shoot Colleague
White Nationalist Who Shoved a Black Protester Blames Trump
Neo-Nazis Announce Nationwide Anti-Muslim March Just Days After Horrific Hate Crime
A U.S. citizen says her rights were violated after she was detained by immigration authorities in San Bernardino
Man arrested for machete stabbing, hate crime following standoff

Trump's friends:
Duterte jokes that his soldiers can rape women under martial law in the Philippines

Other:
How I Got Fox News To Tell The Truth About ‘Violent Lesbian Gangs’

( It's May 30th, 2017; this is the news. )

Well, if we didn't know already, this is the crux of the matter.

If meaningful, _critical_ actions are not taken _now_, the GOP will take no action, at all, ever.

We _have to_ assume that Mr. Trump could order tanks into the streets and the Republican Party would be fine with it. We _have to_ assume he could shoot people down in cold blood and they'd go along. We have to assume there will be no help from the ruling party. _None_.

The institutions that could act meaningfully have failed, because, in the end, is is not the institutions, but the people who occupy them. And the occupants are looters, criminals, and traitors who have one, single goal: the strip-mining of all value available, to themselves, or the masters they serve.

This doesn't mean we can't resist, because we can. But it means the two-year war will not be short-circuited, and must be fought heavily at the state level. The Republicans will do _everything_ in their power to suppress votes, to gerrymander beyond anything we've seen even so far, and steal the next election, by hook or by crook. _If you want there to be elections in the future_, you _have to_ oust Republicans, en masse, in 2018. I don't care about how big a sellout your local Democrat is - stow it. You want to primary some people from the left, go for it, but when the primary is over, _get the fuck in line_, because this is existential to the _goddamn republic_.

News follows.

Trump, Russia, and Treason:

• Trump Revealed Highly Classified Intelligence to Russia, in Break With Ally, Officials Say
• ‘Far worse than what has already been reported’: Trump’s Russian disclosures so serious Senate had to be alerted
• Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation
• Republicans Demand More Detail on Trump’s Meeting With Russians
• Source: There is "whole lot of interfering" in Russia investigation
• Trump on Comey 'tapes': 'I can't talk about that'
• Authoritarians thrive on ritual humiliation.
• I have lived through nearly 4,500 weeks in my life, and I have never seen a week like the one we just had.
• Clapper: Putin did it to demean Clinton and help elect Trump
• Trump/Comey: What's this week's political firestorm actually about?
• Here’s Why There Won’t Be An Independent Investigation Into Russia Anytime Soon
• ‘He Doesn’t Give a Crap Who He Fires’
• Donald Trump's tax law firm has 'deep' ties to Russia
• Trump must be impeached. Here’s why.

Trump, Authoritarianism (and neofascism), and Corruption:

• Trump Is Trying to Control the FBI. It’s Time to Freak Out.
• The Law Can’t Stop Trump. Only Impeachment Can.
• Americans are witnessing a slow-motion coup
• Telling Trump Fans He’s Betraying Them Won’t Work
• Card handed out at #RPW2017 by @wisgop US Senate hopeful John Schiess.

Good luck out there.

( It's May 17th, 2017; this is the news. )

I've been collecting material for a news post, but you need to know that House Speaker Paul Ryan has already rejected calls for an independent investigation. In a time of great threat to constitution, country, and even representative government itself, it is good to see the worms declaring their allegiance.

Every Republican needs to know: act, or you're implicated too. Every Democrat needs to know a special prosecutor is the minimum immediate necessity, and impeachment is the agenda.

Here is a phone script to call for a special prosecutor. Do it TODAY. Get OTHER PEOPLE to do it today.

Go.

FBI head Comey fired by Trump. That's all this one is. I'll do a second post with other things, things which are also important.

Watch carefully today for other obscenities, lost in the Comey storm. They have a history of dropping incredibly abusive orders under the cover of other abusive order media storms. It's part of how they work.

The thing you have to realise, and make everybody else realise, is that this is part of the continuing power grab. This is consolidation of personal rule. This is the reason for the "deconstruction of the administrative state" - because it concentrates power, replaces legal rule with personal rule, and leaves fewer witnesses.

And it's an attempt to stop the Russia investigation. Trump had administration people out Tuesday night pushing that on Fox News et al (link to video below) saying that it was time for the Russia investigation to end, even as CNN was breaking the story that the grand jury had issued subpoenas.

In short, you have to assume at this point that the worst cases are all true.

A protest is being organised in DC at 12 Noon Eastern Time. It's at the White House, north side, Lafayette Park. Here is the Facebook event.

Articles are below the cut. Good luck out there.

( It's May 10th, 2017; this is the Comey firing news )

The big news is already well known, so I'm skipping it. The key item here is, "Every Republican who voted for this abomination must be held accountable." The backlash starts today.

If you're wondering "Why Trump's Executive Order on Religious Liberty Left Many Conservatives Dissatisfied," this article brushes up against it, but the real summary is that it does fuck and all, and they know it. A few of the bigger suckups are trying to make something out of it, but there's literally nothing there. Thankfully. But a prior executive order did do some damage, specifically to pregnant women, transgendered people, and a few others, and that's discussed in "The Terrifying Part of the ACA Repeal That’s Already Affecting Trans and Pregnant People."

This isn't 1957: "A Principal Is Accused of Being a Communist, Rattling a Brooklyn School." For - you got it - anti-racism activities. Nice, huh? Also, "A Code Pink Protester Laughs Over a Trump Nominee and Is Convicted." There are two links in that story, one to the Huffington Post talking to anonymous members of the jury. They didn't want to convict her, but felt they had no choice; somebody needs some lessons in jury nullification. That shit goes both ways.

And finally, "Reporter says Fox News fired her for using harassment hotline." It's a new lawsuit. There can't be enough.

Good luck out there.

( It's May 5th, 2017; this is the news )

And here we go. Fascism watch: "UK was given details of alleged contacts between Trump campaign and Moscow," reported The Guardian on Friday. Basically, the dossier was handed over the UK intelligence agencies for vetting and additional research. "Donald Trump Is Now Threatening Both Koreas," since one war, two wars, maybe three wars, all not enough.

On the good side, it looks like we might have Gorka on the way out: "White House Weighs Kicking Out Sebastian Gorka," followed yesterday by "Sebastian Gorka leaving White House as soon as 'this summer'." I guess being a literal neonazi isn't quite okay yet - though it is good enough for media, with "Why Neo-Nazis Are Kvelling Over Tucker Carlson."

A rightist would-be terrorist attack in Kentucky: "‘You are safe,’ Transylvania [University] attacker says to Republican student in coffee shop." Believe it or not, I have experience with this school, and they are Not a liberal institution; if they're to liberal for this guy, we have to assume he's a literal fascist of some sort. There were literal overt fascists here, too: "Trump holds a 100-day rally on friendly turf, snubbing the White House Correspondents' Dinner" but I lost the link.

This is important: "Canada fought the war on science. Here’s how scientists won." I watched this fight, it was long and hard but a lot of data was saved.

In cultural warfare, "Gay-Conversion Therapy Ban Survives as Supreme Court Rejects Appeal" is good news. "These Gay Republicans Mocked Transgender Women At A Forum In New York City" is exactly what you'd expect out of that sort of "we only don't hate queers because we're gay and so we only don't hate gay white guys" you'd expect out of Gay Republicans. Meanwhile, "Trump Appoints HHS Spokesperson with Ugly Trail of Anti-Trans Comments," and they're really bad.

Finally, in racism: "Trump revives 'Pocahontas' insult of Elizabeth Warren" - his base loves the race-baiting. "ICE data shows half of immigrants arrested in raids had traffic convictions or no record" is just demonstration of yet another lie.

Good luck out there.

( It's May 1st, 2017; this is the news )