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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 8h

I'm forcing myself through, it is insufferable. This idiot is gliding over, like, at least three or four Thirty Years Wars like it's nothing.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 8h

...how? how can there be worse?

You know, perhaps I don't want to know.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 8h

FWIW, my money would be on the racists when the knives come out, but I really, *really* hope we can get these fools out of power before they get to the point of knifing each other (because by then they'll have knifed everyone else).

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 8h

To the point, the cities were winning their power struggles with the rural hinterlands in societies where a super-majority of the population was rural.

80% of Americans live in city. Fully a quarter live in the 10 largest metro areas.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 8h

In that same category is 'have rural Texas occupy urban Illinois' - cities and their rural hinterlands have been at odds many times in history and, uh, the cities usually win. The closest they get to losing is, 'the king can rule the countryside, but our city is a self-governing autonomous commune.'

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 8h

But this crew - the theocratic authoritarians, technocratic ones, racist ones - they're all shockingly historically illiterate.

For one, they seem to all assume they won't be the ones up against a wall, like this guy and Peter Thiel are just going to be chill during the Night of Dull Knives.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 8h

When at this point actually stopping same-sex marriage, drag queen story hours (in private places), pride parades (that abide by the first amendment) would require a *lot* of government force, a lot of violence, a lot of killing and a massive state security apparatus of the sort they have in China.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 8h

So the absolute insane stupidity of this is the idea that he could set up a theocratic state and also get a 'significantly smaller government.'

The folks on the authoritarian right do really seem to be believe there is a secret government liberalizer ray they can just switch off to change society.

Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 11h

Ross Douthat treats this guy like they're having some deep conversation about the relationship of Christianity and the government, but the dude is a garden-variety dull, shallow, hateful, worthless bigot with nothing interesting to say, just endless riffs on "God hates everything/everyone I do."

Douthat: So that’s the first purpose of your political project, for America to stop making God angry.

Wilson: Yes. And most people think that when they are confronted with that project, they think that we want to get our tentacles into everything and start controlling everything. I actually think we need limited government. The government should be significantly smaller than it is, and we need to curtail a lot of the busybodyness that we have. That’s why I would call myself a theocratic libertarian. There is a true libertarian element in this, and yet, the transcendent grounding for what we’re talking about means that we acknowledge the authority of God.

We have racked up quite a body count of awful crimes, and I believe the only way out is for us to repent and turn to Christ. This would be things like no more Pride parades, no more drag queen story hours, no more abortion on demand, no more legalized same-sex unions — all of that, done. That’s the repentance part.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 10h

Precisely.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 10h

And also...ain't no law against wearing clothing not coded for your gender. It's not disruptive. And the folks who dress that way aren't making a big deal about it. They're just going to class.

I've known women who wore men's pants simply because they liked functional pockets, like, who cares?

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 10h

So admittedly, compared to, say, 10-15 years ago, you do see a higher frequency of male-presenting students wearing female-coded clothing. But 'higher frequency' is not 'high frequency' and of course, walking around campus you are passing by hundreds of students every day; we're talking sub-1%.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 10h

Never had a trans student disrupt my class in even the smallest way. Had plenty of very-gender-conforming Overly-Assertive-Main-Character students be disruptive - monopolizing discussion, talking out of turn, that sort of thing.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 10h

I've had trans, queer or otherwise gender-non-conforming (that term feels not great, but I don't have another one to hand) students, of course and it 110% doesn't matter. It's not disruptive (unless you pitch a fit about it, which - don't?) and they're just perfectly normal students.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 10h

You do see the occasional student on campus trying out their own style in a gender-non-conforming sort of way and..1) who cares? They're not dressed inappropriately, they're not disruptive and 2) they're learning in a place of learning, which is good.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 10h

I cannot stress enough, no one on a college campus looks like that and 95+% of students wear entirely typical, gender-conforming clothing. And the other 5% (it's not really that many) are perfectly fine, but seriously these guys are making up someone to be angry at.

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 11h

Kid Rock: Do you know what is stupid… these chicks running around on campuses with blue hair, five nose rings.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 13h

...yeah, Steve, what *did* happen the last few times that the federal government had to intervene in 'sleepy Southern towns?' I'm sure they were thrilled, right?

I imagine he knows all of this, but in his maliciousness is hoping his audience doesn't think too hard about it.

The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 14h

His slip of the tongue reveals who’s really in charge. trib.al/mIvP0yE

“Illinois governor says we’re provoking actions that are unlawful,” Miller said on CNN. “If I put federal law enforcement and National Guard into a nice sleepy Southern town, is anyone gonna riot?”

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 15h

Yeah, I did the same thing you did - was momentarily confused and then went to check paypal to make sure no charge was actually made.

But I'm sure if I clicked a link or something in that scam email it would have done something horrible.

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Reposted by "Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux

Popehat Agitates And Irritates @kenwhite.bsky.social · 20h

On the 18th we need to be vigilant for increased violence and provocation by both law enforcement and counter-protestors, both of which will be used to try to justify more violence and authoritarianism.

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Reposted by "Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux

Sarah Posner @sarahposner.bsky.social · 17h

I found the war on Christianity

Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 19h

Federal agents aren’t trying to keep the peace. They want violence to escalate so that Trump can declare martial law.

They shot a reverend in the head with pepper balls while he was praying in front of an ICE facility. If that doesn’t tell you where we are as a country, nothing will.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 16h

Yeah, I've seen that scam too.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 16h

And I suspect a good deal with the folks who are saying, 'well, maybe sending the guard is fine' are doing so on the assumption that, you know, it lowers crime and calms unrest rather than that it serves as the catalyst for increased unrest.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 16h

Yeah, I just think, on balance, that's not enough to hold the country by force of arms if the rest of the country refuses to be held, which is sort of the point I'm trying to make here.

A lot of red state folks are not up for Civil War II - no way to get those polls otherwise.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 19h

May I suggest that your local facebook chat may not be broadly representative of the national mood?

The issue polls quite badly nationwide and the polling seems to be getting worse over time.

Reuters Ipsos polling data on National guard deployments, showing how unpopular they are.

Quinnipiac Poll data from Aug. 27, on Nat. Guard deployments to DC.

NPR-Ipsos polling data on law enforcement and national guard deployments.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 1d

I think these protests are important - authoritarianism thrives on the perception of its inevitability, the perception of consensus and putting lots of angry people in view being angry at the state of our republic is important because it cracks that perception of inevitability.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 1d

Worth a friendly reminder that the next set of nation-wide No Kings protests are set for October 18th.

There's probably one in your area.

I am not generally a crowds or protests sort of person, but there's one in my town and I'll be at it on the 18th.

www.nokings.org

No Kings

As the president escalates his authoritarian power grab, the NO KINGS non-violent movement continues to rise stronger. We are united once again to remind the world: America has No Kings and the power ...

www.nokings.org

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