Heavy. Dig it. Makes me think of my college-aged, college-attending godson who’s a total Trumper thanks at least to his mom, my sister. Add maybe, his U.S. history teacher father, the irony of which I cannot reconcile. I weep. 😢
Thanks, J. A. Dude... It is extremely painful to realize more fully, day by day, the danger that is upon us. But, it has not yet taken over. There are, I believe more people in this nation who realize that hate gets you nowhere in the long run. We need to get a lot of the 89 million who didn't vote - even though they were eligible to - in the last Presidential election. The handwriting on the wall says that now is the time for all basically sane individuals to come to the aid of our people, our nation, our world - before it really is too late. This November we must stop the steal by the blatantly murderous, treasonous, extreme right-wing idiots. STAND UP! DON'T GIVE-UP! STAND UP FOR OUR RIGHTS!
I am an army brat. I was in Germany when the Berlin Wall went up, and came back to Ft. Benning not understanding what “whites only” meant…only knowing that kids I had gone to school with were not safe off base. I remember my parents and grandparents disparaging MLK and what he was doing. Why does it feel like we have so much further to go?
Phenomenal piece! The GOP, if it ever was that, is centering and building on hate, tools crafted from every form of racism, antisemitism, ageism, heterosexism, classism, and more. While establishment media throws softballs, independent journalists refuse to be silenced and cannot be cajoled into subservience.
XPLISSET XVOA is an excellent example of one person using their knowledge, skill, and experience to helping readers see more of what is being delivered by softballs in dense fog. XVOA commits to regular (daily and weekly) deep dive reporting that leaves me reaching for more. Please support this person’s work in whatever way your wallet can manage. Remember when we would choose to subscribe to the paper or the magazine whenever we could? But then some years, we could only afford to pick up a single edition and devour every page? These days, we subscribe differently or pay for an edition by clicking, but we do it for the same reason. The publication feeds our yearning for information and connection. Our money feeds the publication so it can keep delivering. Same thing. New times.
I don't know why civil defense sirens aren't blaring.
Oh yeah, I DO know why. Because the GOP ("Genocidal Oppression Party") would rather have violent ethnic cleansing if it will line their pockets and provide them with personal financial and political security.
My father would have been a twumper. He'd rail against MLK with his favorite pejoratives. My youngest brother must have caught the bug for he is a 2024 twump voter that says Obama was too arrogant.
I don't understand it but I hope he now understands that voting against DEI, trans-persons and immigrants is not the same as voting for something like healthcare, protections from rapacious industry lobbyists or merely voting for representatives that reflect moral values, not performative criminals and pedophiles posturing for clicks to "excite the base."
Sorry. I can’t even finish reading. I was a child during the civil rights movement. I remember the violence perpetuated by white extremists. (Only in those days, the Movement was called extremism.) I remember George Lincoln Rockwell coming to speak against school integration at a local PTA meeting, and I think it was there that my father truly experienced the hate and the venom, up close and personal, that the Nazis represented. The community I lived in was made up of mostly WWII veterans, and they were not at all receptive to Nazis after having served in a bloody world war to defeat Nazis, so George didn’t go far locally. The father of one of my lifelong friends was a soldier that helped liberate Auschwitz, and the memory of that was seared into his brain. They call that PTSD now. In my naivety, I assumed the strong attitudes about Nazism were shared by everyone; both locally and throughout the country. Of course, not everyone learns or experiences the same history the same way. That was made apparent to me when Kennedy was assassinated, and it became apparent to me when Trump started gaining in popularity, and many places in between. Most white people I knew kept their heads down, even if they acknowledged the hateful truth - it wasn’t high on the radar because it didn’t impact them personally. Well here it is, creeping up the back stairs.
Heavy. Dig it. Makes me think of my college-aged, college-attending godson who’s a total Trumper thanks at least to his mom, my sister. Add maybe, his U.S. history teacher father, the irony of which I cannot reconcile. I weep. 😢
Thanks, J. A. Dude... It is extremely painful to realize more fully, day by day, the danger that is upon us. But, it has not yet taken over. There are, I believe more people in this nation who realize that hate gets you nowhere in the long run. We need to get a lot of the 89 million who didn't vote - even though they were eligible to - in the last Presidential election. The handwriting on the wall says that now is the time for all basically sane individuals to come to the aid of our people, our nation, our world - before it really is too late. This November we must stop the steal by the blatantly murderous, treasonous, extreme right-wing idiots. STAND UP! DON'T GIVE-UP! STAND UP FOR OUR RIGHTS!
Eloquently stated, Frank.
I am an army brat. I was in Germany when the Berlin Wall went up, and came back to Ft. Benning not understanding what “whites only” meant…only knowing that kids I had gone to school with were not safe off base. I remember my parents and grandparents disparaging MLK and what he was doing. Why does it feel like we have so much further to go?
Phenomenal piece! The GOP, if it ever was that, is centering and building on hate, tools crafted from every form of racism, antisemitism, ageism, heterosexism, classism, and more. While establishment media throws softballs, independent journalists refuse to be silenced and cannot be cajoled into subservience.
XPLISSET XVOA is an excellent example of one person using their knowledge, skill, and experience to helping readers see more of what is being delivered by softballs in dense fog. XVOA commits to regular (daily and weekly) deep dive reporting that leaves me reaching for more. Please support this person’s work in whatever way your wallet can manage. Remember when we would choose to subscribe to the paper or the magazine whenever we could? But then some years, we could only afford to pick up a single edition and devour every page? These days, we subscribe differently or pay for an edition by clicking, but we do it for the same reason. The publication feeds our yearning for information and connection. Our money feeds the publication so it can keep delivering. Same thing. New times.
I don't know why civil defense sirens aren't blaring.
Oh yeah, I DO know why. Because the GOP ("Genocidal Oppression Party") would rather have violent ethnic cleansing if it will line their pockets and provide them with personal financial and political security.
See you Saturday in the streets!
What an absolutely information filled essay! Thank you for all your research put into this, I’m starting my second reading!
My father would have been a twumper. He'd rail against MLK with his favorite pejoratives. My youngest brother must have caught the bug for he is a 2024 twump voter that says Obama was too arrogant.
I don't understand it but I hope he now understands that voting against DEI, trans-persons and immigrants is not the same as voting for something like healthcare, protections from rapacious industry lobbyists or merely voting for representatives that reflect moral values, not performative criminals and pedophiles posturing for clicks to "excite the base."
Sorry. I can’t even finish reading. I was a child during the civil rights movement. I remember the violence perpetuated by white extremists. (Only in those days, the Movement was called extremism.) I remember George Lincoln Rockwell coming to speak against school integration at a local PTA meeting, and I think it was there that my father truly experienced the hate and the venom, up close and personal, that the Nazis represented. The community I lived in was made up of mostly WWII veterans, and they were not at all receptive to Nazis after having served in a bloody world war to defeat Nazis, so George didn’t go far locally. The father of one of my lifelong friends was a soldier that helped liberate Auschwitz, and the memory of that was seared into his brain. They call that PTSD now. In my naivety, I assumed the strong attitudes about Nazism were shared by everyone; both locally and throughout the country. Of course, not everyone learns or experiences the same history the same way. That was made apparent to me when Kennedy was assassinated, and it became apparent to me when Trump started gaining in popularity, and many places in between. Most white people I knew kept their heads down, even if they acknowledged the hateful truth - it wasn’t high on the radar because it didn’t impact them personally. Well here it is, creeping up the back stairs.
And this just in: Florida state universities are continuing the dis-education of undergrad students:
https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/03/26/sociology-no-longer-a-general-education-course-at-florida-universities/?emci=a0b6b765-1929-f111-9a48-000d3a14b640&emdi=86e7d250-cf29-f111-9a48-000d3a14b640&ceid=374613