The direction of society lately

[takashi]

We solve these problems one at a time, right? Like this one, all it takes is one or two more Republican senators to simply say that this candidate is unqualified. Next, please.

They don’t have to embellish that as “woefully” unqualified or that the nomination was absurd, or an insult to the office or the people who serve. Just simply acknowledge that The Emperor’s New Clothes aren’t up to snuff.



That’s not a lot to ask, is it?

I have some bad news for you.

[vertical_doug]

I am more concerned of all the executive orders. The EO to end birthright citizenship is unusually awful. It doesn't really register with many Americans because they never thought about their right to citizenship. My issue is the text which characterizes citizenship as a 'privilege and a priceless gift', not a right. A privilege can be taken away, a right is much harder to take.

They highlight Dred Scot in the EO, but that's less of an issue and the more relevant case is US v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) which has more to do with the Chinese Exclusion Acts. (It sometimes feel like we are not that far away from a Latin America exclusion act)

I have friends who were here as graduated students and had a baby. The baby is a citizen. But with the new EO, the baby is not a citizen because the text excludes babies born to people here lawfully on student or work visas. Every foreign national I know who had a child while in America is so proud their baby is an American.

[kdawg]

I am more concerned of all the executive orders. The EO to end birthright citizenship is unusually awful. It doesn't really register with many Americans because they never thought about their right to citizenship. My issue is the text which characterizes citizenship as a 'privilege and a priceless gift', not a right. A privilege can be taken away, a right is much harder to take.

They highlight Dred Scot in the EO, but that's less of an issue and the more relevant case is US v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) which has more to do with the Chinese Exclusion Acts. (It sometimes feel like we are not that far away from a Latin America exclusion act)

I have friends who were here as graduated students and had a baby. The baby is a citizen. But with the new EO, the baby is not a citizen because the text excludes babies born to people here lawfully on student or work visas. Every foreign national I know who had a child while in America is so proud their baby is an American.

With that one specifically hopefully he has reached too far - because you can't over-rule the constitution (even the amendments) by EO surely? I think that's what the judge said who was at least trying to block it.

A lot of this stuff is really petty too - just flipping good things that have been done over the years just because he can. It's been like 5 days and I'm pretty sick of him already - and I'm just an observer with only a little skin in the game with family in the US.

[Too Tall]

Doug I share concern with you, we are both equally seeking answers and that goes for the rest of you. We just can't put our fingers on where the inevitable action(s) to counter these ill winds. I'd like to use strong language to illustrate my extreme disgust BUT it is more productive to stick to workings not waste my time on four letter words.

I'm getting some good notes from various substacks. Please share.

https://contrarian.substack.com/ - a little light on substance, still good.
https://www.profgalloway.com/ - Scott Galloway - brilliant
https://substack.com/@anntelnaes - Ann Telnaes - because the heck with WaPo
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/ - Heather Cox Richardson - Absolute must for her focus on historical relevance to just in time news.
https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/ Simon Roseberg - Uhh you need to read it at least once

....more

[j44ke]

The approach is classic. Start with the powerless and move up. Point to people who do not have citizenship and say we should not allow them to become citizens because their presence here is a crime, which means they are criminals and criminals (or their children) cannot become citizens. Then it moves on to people who are here legally but not citizens. Then it moves on to people who are here legally and are citizens but have violated the law. Then create a system of regulations that govern citizens' status as citizens in good standing with law-like penalties. People who have violated those regulations must then keep themselves in good standing in order to avoid jeopardizing their citizenship. The regulations then become a bureaucracy of enforcement and penalties that can be modified and shaped to satisfy the government's goals for a particular area or with a particular segment of the community - areas with high value resources or ethnicities that have been deemed a threat. Tax penalties where inability to pay creates targeted legal jeopardy that is effectively inescapable is one method that has been used.

Reichsfluchtsteuer

Judenvermögensabgabe

All in the name of the common good.

[suspectdevice]

Does Vermont still have that civil defense plan to blow up all the bridges into the state in case of invasion?

[vertical_doug]

With that one specifically hopefully he has reached too far - because you can't over-rule the constitution (even the amendments) by EO surely? I think that's what the judge said who was at least trying to block it.

A lot of this stuff is really petty too - just flipping good things that have been done over the years just because he can. It's been like 5 days and I'm pretty sick of him already - and I'm just an observer with only a little skin in the game with family in the US.

He's counting on some mental gymnastics from Alito and Thomas in 'new' originalist thinking.

[72gmc]

He’s counting on Supreme Court backing even if the majority has no way, gymnastic or otherwise, to rationalize its decision.

Heather’s newsletters are clearly illuminating the parallels between the buildup to power in WW2 Germany and 2025 United States.

[Too Tall]

Heh is New origionalist kinda like alternative facts? Kelly Ann came up with that one, ugg. I want to riff on "heritage american" with some tee shirts...yah know pictures of Native Americans. Humor is best served cold.

Let's swat this around. Suppose what is left of the DEM election funds, let's include the entire gamut for this, are used to stand up non-political local news outlets? I am talking about low dollar news print, local radio spots, local podcasts etc. Report hyper-local news and events, don't forget to help sell used tractors, chicks and onion starts.

Newspapers are dead or fleeing, not to mention they are mostly lousy at what they are doing because they have to sell advertising.

It would be just fine that everyone knows where the money comes from to do this and I bet it does not matter if the editors do their jobs right. Report local matters, sell tractors, suggest open forums, talk about the freakin' weather.

[takashi]

He’s counting on Supreme Court backing even if the majority has no way, gymnastic or otherwise, to rationalize its decision.

Heather’s newsletters are clearly illuminating the parallels between the buildup to power in WW2 Germany and 2025 United States.

VBM_JFKjpg.jpg

The seeds were planted here long ago.

[thollandpe]

Report hyper-local news and events, don't forget to help sell used tractors, chicks and onion starts…
Report local matters, sell tractors, suggest open forums, talk about the freakin' weather.

Reminds me of cowboy poet Baxter Black. “I can fix your cow.”

https://www.npr.org/2003/12/31/15777...n-fix-your-cow

Three minutes is worth a listen. Sorry I can’t find a transcript.

[Walter Sobchak]

Party on, Garth.

IMG_4165.jpeg

[htwoopup]

“ BREAKING: The US Navy has relieved Commander Sarah M. Quemada, the commanding officer of Naval Information Warfare Training Group Norfolk, due to “a loss of confidence in her ability to command."

On November 7, a mere two days post-election, the commanding officer of the West Coast version of this office, [female] Cmdr. Cayanne McFarlane was ousted from her leadership role due to a ``loss of confidence in her ability to command” from the Naval Information Warfare Training Group in San Diego

To clarify for civilians, this phrase is a catch-all to allow personnel changes without any real valid “reason.”

So we are going to ignore that the WOMEN in command of the bi-coastal offices of the Naval Information Warfare Training Group have BOTH been relieved of command… and replaced with men?

Add to that the abrupt firing of the first female Commandant of the Coast Guard, Adm. Linda Fagan, on Jan. 21, 2025, and we clearly see a pattern of purging female military leaders throughout all branches, and particularly those in ‘sensitive’ positions in control of intel.”

These boy babies are destroying the military because they are actually not strong men.

[suspectdevice]

We are deep into the hyper-normalization period of fascist decline, where every day the flood of new outrages are too great to process. This is deliberate.

As a student of history, it is very, very clear how great the present darkness is, and how feckless America is to stop it.

[bigbill]

“ BREAKING: The US Navy has relieved Commander Sarah M. Quemada, the commanding officer of Naval Information Warfare Training Group Norfolk, due to “a loss of confidence in her ability to command."

On November 7, a mere two days post-election, the commanding officer of the West Coast version of this office, [female] Cmdr. Cayanne McFarlane was ousted from her leadership role due to a ``loss of confidence in her ability to command” from the Naval Information Warfare Training Group in San Diego

To clarify for civilians, this phrase is a catch-all to allow personnel changes without any real valid “reason.”

So we are going to ignore that the WOMEN in command of the bi-coastal offices of the Naval Information Warfare Training Group have BOTH been relieved of command… and replaced with men?

Add to that the abrupt firing of the first female Commandant of the Coast Guard, Adm. Linda Fagan, on Jan. 21, 2025, and we clearly see a pattern of purging female military leaders throughout all branches, and particularly those in ‘sensitive’ positions in control of intel.”

These boy babies are destroying the military because they are actually not strong men.

There have been almost a dozen firings a year in the past 5-6 years. It looks like roughly a 6:1 male:female ratio. If you have some source that shows a pattern of purging women out of leadership positions, I'd be interested in reading it. I've heard of the coast guard admiral but haven't read up on it. The Coast Guard is part of the DHS, not DOD and Noem was just voted in yesterday. Firings are usually related to sexual harassment, DUI, fraternization, toxic command environment following an investigation, running your ship aground, hitting another ship, getting hit by another ship, external command inspections, or some other personal conduct. I doubt there's a vendetta against women in command. The CNO is female, the Superintendent of the Naval Academy is female, the submarine community has its first female executive officer which means there will be a commanding officer within 3 years. We've already had a female nuke carrier commanding officer, and I'm sure there are several more in the pipeline.

The Navy doesn't release details or reasons until the investigation is complete. It's not about hiding info from the public, it's about protecting the accused and perhaps the whistleblowers that initiated the process. I served on 8 ships in my career, I saw several commanders fired, usually for misconduct. For female commanders, I was in a strike group with Holly Graf when she was the captain of the Churchill. If you want to see examples of what gets a commanding officer fired, this is a good read. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holly_Graf When Graf was commanding the Churchill, a Strike Group chaplain, a Rabbi, was sent to her ship to observe and returned with "fire her, don't let her ever command a ship again."

[htwoopup]

Bill, in this case it does seem to be hiding from the public. At the same time, the Navy ordered that there be no official or private social media use by any Navy operative or service member except for “about protecting our Southern Border”.

[htwoopup]

On phone so can’t figure out editing. Plus these two were in charge of intelligence services which as every Western service has shown have been better led and have better work product from women officers since at least the 1920’s. Plus, when you say 6:1 how does that rate to the ratio of total population of Navy?

[bigbill]

On phone so can’t figure out editing. Plus these two were in charge of intelligence services which as every Western service has shown have been better led and have better work product from women officers since at least the 1920’s. Plus, when you say 6:1 how does that rate to the ratio of total population of Navy?

The total population of commanding officers? Less than one in ten commissioned officers go on to become commanding officers. Even fewer women for the same reasons that impact women in the civilian sector, taking time off to have a family even if they don't become stay at home moms. Naval officers compete for fitness reports, taking hard jobs, and getting selected for programs that advance their careers. If you take a group of junior officers, you'll see 2 or 3 females out of a group of 10. If they all do the same division officer tour first, but one of the women determines that after that tour would be a good time to have a family. The other nine officers go on to some kind of important and career enhancing billet regardless of their gender. The female officer who took the time for a family and some kind of less career enhancing job is behind her peer group when it comes to selecting for department head. To be an executive officer, you have to have a good department head tour. The female officers who don't follow the career rewarding path will be ranked behind their peers for selection.

I don't know the ROTC numbers, but I know the number of females selected for the Naval Academy is based on the percentage of applications that were female. My son's class was 28% female. He was a battalion commander his senior year (class of 2022) and was relieved by a female in the next year group. OT, but the female midshipman (class of 2023) was the daughter of my best friend in the Navy.

Women led Intel and other non-combat jobs because they weren't allowed in combat until the mid 90s. I was out of submarines before women were introduced, but I served with many enlisted and commissioned females and sailors are sailors. I was in engineering and it was a meritocracy, how you did your job mattered most.

[bigbill]

Bill, in this case it does seem to be hiding from the public. At the same time, the Navy ordered that there be no official or private social media use by any Navy operative or service member except for “about protecting our Southern Border”.

The public doesn't have a right to know what the military is doing. Transparency is a good thing, but not in a tactical environment. Congress can question the military and demand answers, but any information that goes public should go through a public affairs officer. The military uses social media but through official channels. Petty officer or Ensign Timmy shouldn't be posting anything official.

[thollandpe]

For female commanders, I was in a strike group with Holly Graf when she was the captain of the Churchill. If you want to see examples of what gets a commanding officer fired, this is a good read. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holly_Graf When Graf was commanding the Churchill, a Strike Group chaplain, a Rabbi, was sent to her ship to observe and returned with "fire her, don't let her ever command a ship again."

The Time magazine article was something. I knew her from 4th grade through high school, we grew up in the same neighborhood. I’ve seen her once since that happened, but did not get a chance to talk.

PS Bill, three top-level military women relieved of command in a week. The same week a known misogynist was sworn in as commander-in-chief, and the now-confirmed Secdef is on record saying that standards were lowered to include women in combat, and that commanders were given quotas. Coincidence is a tough sell at this moment.