Labor Power: Theses on Humanity   http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2021/12/theses-on-humanity.html

Theses on Humanity By Charles Brown Objective reality exists (Lenin); this is the definition of materialism . Humans uniquely of all animals think of objective reality in words or symbolic signs ( see semiotics) .

So, human practice , activity , action behavior is in the form of the anthropological concept of culture or symbolic sign / word ruled behavior ( see anthropologists Leslie A. White and Marshall Sahlins ; Charles Brown definition of culture and language ).

This Cultural behavior is the Hegelian unity of the universal / practice contradiction. For Hegel, the proof of the pudding recipe is in the eating , the proof ( or disproof ) of the recipe theory is in the taste of the eating ; or as Marx has it , the proof of the truth of theory is in practice ( human practice is cultural activity).

Marx’s Theses on Feuerbach is Marx’s dialectical critique of materialism, activist materialism ( see CB essay “ Activist Materialism “). It boils down to a Hegelian critique of all previous materialism: humans practice thinkingly ( in words or symbolic signs), uniting the universal , which is in their language or words, and practice . And the truth or falsity of that thinking is proven in that practice. Reproductive practice is the primary or direct determinant of selves , human thinking subjects ; productive activity is the secondary or indirect determinant


( see CB “For Women’s Liberation “ http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2014/07/for-womens-liberation-comradely.html)

The origin of language and culture was in childcare or reproductive labor circa 2.5 million years ago with Homo habilis, beginning of the Stone Age or toolmaking based on imagination or a “blueprint” like an architect ( See Marx in Capital on unique characteristic of human labor) . We know this because the Stone tools are made in styles or with thinking in symbolic signs / words . I hypothesize that the invention of words ( using something to represent something it is not ; arbitrary relation between sign and thing signified) was mothers inventing names for children for more efficient childcare. This is a materialist hypothesis because it is in the material practice of reproduction .

Necessity is the mother of invention is a folk aphorism statement of the materialism philosophical principle. The Ancestor Veneration of Stone Age peoples , Hegel’s universal or Idea religions’ supernatural/ immortal gods /God, Natural ( non-supernatural) Soul are all Culture and Language ( collective consciousness) or knowledge passed from _dead_ generations to living generations. This gives those dead generations a certain ( but not literal ) immortality. ( with religions gods are literally and fictionally attributed immortality) . Passing knowledge down through generations is a unique human capacity made possible because of the displacement capacity that symbolic signs give to human communication. ( see https://owlcation.com/stem/The-difference-between-animal-and-human-communication on displacement; displacement is the ability to communicate regarding that which is not concrete, not immediately available to the senses , not in the present, but in the past , future or physically far away) . Thereby knowledge accumulates over the generations as in the scientist Isaac Newton’s saying that he stood on the shoulders of giants ( Newton is venerating his ancestors). Newton is able to share the experiences of dead generations. No other species can do this . Phylogenetic logic or Darwin’s Tree of Life Logic is a dialectical logic. In evolution Ancestral Genus characteristics are preserved , and new species characteristics naturally selected overcome ancestral characteristics. Evolution is a dialectical process , not surprisingly-smiles In human evolution, Antoinette Blackwell’s critique of Darwin is that it is the “survival of the nicest”

( http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2021/09/survival-of-nice-and-fertile.html) - cooperation and balance between humans , not savage rivalry and competition, is selected for; especially cooperation and balance between females and males because heterosexual mating , not success in the struggle for existence, is the most powerful determinant of fitness ; fitness is success in passing on genotypes to future generations. This success is only indirectly determined by success in the struggle existence; it is directly determined in reproduction, including child rearing . Furthermore, for humans , their original success in the struggle for existence through the 2.5 million years of the Stone Age is cooperative, not individual; it is from each according to ability for the group , to each according to need . So individual fighting ability effectiveness is shared with the group (not used against other humans in “competition and savage rivalry “, Blackwell’s words) . It is Individual _courting_ ability that is selected for; therefore larger and smarter brains are selected for by courting success from Homo habilis through Homo sapiens; not so much by individual success in the struggle for existence. Language and culture give humans a LaMarckian-Like adaptive mechanism: the adaptation is caused by the adaptive problem that it solves ; it does not arise randomly relative to the problem it solves as with Darwinian selection where genetic mutations arise randomly relative to the adaptive problems that they solve .

( http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2021/05/culturally-inherited-adaptations-give.html) Why is written history a history of class struggles? Why is the principle of historical materialism true ? See my essay “Materialism, Necessity and Freedom : Rehearsal of The Fundamentals of Marxism“ “ http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2021/12/materialism-necessity-and-freedom.html cb at 8:22 AM Sent from my iPhone

NONE OF KARL MARX'S IDEAS ARE WRONG ; ALL OF THEM ARE CORRECT .

Anti-Mats. Perceived by whom? If you mean by Mats-compatibles, then his response presents such a set of monstrous lies and accusations that Goebbels is turning over in his grave out of jealousy. But if you meant the inhabitants of the Novorossiya liberated by the valiant armies of Donbas and Russia, then the answer was done in the recent referendum there - almost all 8 (eight) million citizens of that territories unanimously voted for secession from Ukraine and joining the Russian Federation away from Nazis murderers whose atrocities Mats ascribes to Russians. Think! According to Mats, it turns out that the miners of Donetsk and the chemists of Lysychansk rape their own mothers, sisters, and daughters!! “[S]eptember 27 was the last day of voting in a referendum for the entry of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions into the Russian Federation. Voting was carried out not only in these territories, but also at polling stations throughout Russia, including in the Kamchatka Territory. Recall that the voting lasted five days. On the first four days, voting was carried out mainly by the exit method, and on the last day all polling stations were opened. In Kamchatka, on September 27, such a polling station worked in Yelizovo. The voting lists included about 500 residents of the DPR, LPR, Kherson region and Zaporozhye, who in different years, starting in 2014, were forced to leave these territories in order to save their lives. Voting was an endless stream. People told what led them to a referendum for joining the Russian Federation. Victoria Oleinikova from Starobelsk, Luhansk region, came to Kamchatka in 2014 with her husband. However, only one came to the polling station. As it turned out, by this time the husband had already voted in his homeland, in the Luhansk region. “ My husband had such a strong desire to vote for the entry of the Luhansk People’s Republic into Russia that he immediately went to his hometown after the announcement of the referendum, without waiting for the news that we would have such an opportunity in Russia,” Victoria said. . She recalls the events in Donbass with tears. He says that many acquaintances came under shelling, were in hospitals, some are no longer alive. Therefore, the decision to vote for her is a hope for a brighter future without the roar of shells. And after peace is restored in their homeland thanks to a referendum, she and her husband will return home. Tatyana Med came to relatives from the Donetsk People's Republic. “ When hostilities began, we decided to move to Russia. There was no talk of going somewhere deep into Ukraine. When we arrived in Ilovaisk on business in 2015, we saw a picture that cannot be expressed in words. Without tears, you can’t look at what the city has become after the start of the war. That is why the referendum is a holiday for all of us. People waited and hoped that the DPR would become part of the Russian Federation and hostilities would finally stop on the territory of the republic ,” said Tatyana Med. A resident of the DPR took part in the referendum because she wants the hostilities in Donbas to end as soon as possible. Tatyana Lyakh from Donetsk was among the first to vote in favor of joining Russia. After the events of 2014, she sent children to Kamchatka, then came herself. “A shell hit our house, and I decided to send the children to Kamchatka. From time to time I am at home, because the motherland is the motherland. It is very difficult to talk about what is happening there, especially about the Alley of Little Angels - murdered children. Therefore, in the referendum, I voted for peace, for the tears to stop, for this Alley not to replenish, and only together with Russia can we achieve this , ”Tatiana is sure. A resident of Lugansk Larisa Martyshkova arrived in Kamchatka in 2014. Barely holding back tears, she spoke about what led her to vote. “ The government was overthrown in Ukraine, fighting began near Lugansk, it was very scary, and my mother and I decided to take such a responsible step - to come to Kamchatka, which I do not regret at all. We have relatives and friends there. The events that took place in the Lugansk region for 8 years affected everyone, everyone is worried and worried, they are afraid for their lives. God forbid anyone survive these events. I am very glad that the residents of Donbass have decided to hold a referendum and I hope that these territories will finally be annexed to Russia. I am very glad that this happened, I hope that everything will be fine and I wish all people a peaceful sky above their heads, ” said Larisa Martyshkova. Irina Sukharevskaya from Lugansk came to Kamchatka in 2014. A family with two children, one of whom was 8 months old, fled the Donbass to escape the hostilities. “Already in Kamchatka, children, having heard the rumble of an airplane, hid under the bed, they were very scared. Today is a very joyful event for us, which we have been waiting for since 2014. This is the holiday we've been waiting for. For us, the referendum means protection, confidence in the future of our children and, most importantly, the world around, ” said Irina Sukharevskaya. She also said that every year they go to their homeland, where their parents stayed, as a family. These days they also voted for the accession of Donbass to the Russian Federation. After the entry of the Donetsk, Lugansk people's republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions into Russia, the Sukharevsky family plans to stay in Kamchatka. Here, the eldest daughter is studying at a pedagogical college as a physical education teacher, and her son is at school. “Today we are doing great. We are calm for the children. We ourselves are also working and I hope that soon peace will reign in the Donbass, which we have been waiting for so many years, ” Irina added. Denis Davydov from Donetsk has been living in Kamchatka since 2014. I arrived immediately after the start of hostilities in the Donbass to visit a relative and decided to stay on the peninsula. On September 27, he cast his vote for the annexation of Donbass to the Russian Federation. Denis has been in Kamchatka for eight years. Here he raised a family. This year, his daughter went to the first grade in a Kamchatka school. “ It is very pleasant to watch when your child goes to first grade dressed up, and it is sad and painful to know how at the same time children in Donbass are sitting at home or hiding in basements. My own nieces did not go to school this year, kindergartens are also closed , ”says Denis. He came to the referendum to express his opinion about Russia as a guarantor of the protection of the citizens of the LDNR. At home, he left his mother and relatives, whom Denis had not seen since 2014, and after Donbass became part of Russia, he will finally go home to see them. “ We call each other almost every day, and I always hear the rolling thunder of grenades and mortars on the phone. Mom always says that people there are used to it, because a person is so arranged - he adapts to everything. But it's very scary. And the news that a referendum will be held gave us hope that all these shootings and killings of civilians will stop in these republics and regions. After all, you can die at any second: go out for bread or water, with which there are shortages in the Donbass, and never come back ,” said Denis Davydov. It is hard for Denis to watch the news, where they show the city streets, native from childhood, where people are now dying. “ When we look at this, tears come not only from women, but also from men. Therefore, I am glad and happy that a vote is taking place for the entry of the LDNR into the Russian Federation. People will finally begin to live in a democratic state in which laws and legal norms are honored and observed. I came to the voting point to express my opinion: I recognize the state that protects the citizens of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics - the Russian Federation and categorically do not accept what those who rule in Ukraine are doing , ”added Denis. [Quotation end] Поиск по тегу "камчатка" Всероссийский единый день оказания бесплатной юридической помощи, приуроченный к Дню пожилых людей пройдёт на Камчатке 30 сентября под эгидой Ассоциации юристов России, во взаимодействии с Уполномоченным по правам человека https://kam-kray.ru/tags/content-news/%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BC%D1%87%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%BA%D0%B0

KARA DANSY - FIGHTING THE NEW MISOGYNY

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f232ea74d8342386a7ebc52/t/5f39a19bd67d3172af78c053/1597612445241/Kara-Dansky-New-Misogyny.pdf


ning. As Lierre said, my name is Kara Dansky, and I serve on the board of the Women’s Liberation Front. I am an attorney with a background in women’s rights, criminal justice, and civil rights. It’s wonderful to be in Seattle. I used to live here, and it’s great to be back. Go Seahawks, go Beast Mode, we had a good run this season.


I am here to talk about gender identity in the law, and I will do that. But first, I would like to make a brief statement. I am extremely angry.

I suspect that many of us are extremely angry. We on this panel are all capable of speaking on the topic of “gender identity” in a measured way, because we are accustomed to doing so. I put air quotes on “gender identity” just then, so when I use the phrase gender identity throughout the rest of this talk, please imagine air quotes around the phrase, because gender identity isn’t real, in any material, real-world sense. We on this panel have all been called to speak about gender identity, in the media, on social media, and in our regular lives, with regular people. And so, we have found that we have no choice but to speak on this topic, and we so we do, in a polite manner, as we, as women, are required to do.

To be clear, I do not think that any of us actually want to be talking about gender identity at all. In addition to her feminist work, Lierre has spent her entire adult life and career fighting for the planet and its inhabitants. I suspect that Meghan would probably rather speak out against the violence of pornography and prostitution, and that Saba would prefer to spend her time ending the violence of racism. I would very much like to be fighting for reproductive sovereignty for women, including abortion on demand and without apology. All of us have spent our lives fighting for justice, in one way or another. And yet now we all find ourselves in the following situation: We have to talk about the violence, misogyny, and homophobia of gender identity because we have no choice but to do so. But, then, men forcing women to do things that we do not want to do is hardly novel.

I am angry that the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence can report the following statistics regarding domestic violence in the United States: • 1 in 4 women experience severe intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner sexual violence, and/or intimate partner stalking with impacts such as injury, fearfulness, post-traumatic stress disorder, and death.

• One in 7 women have been seriously injured by an intimate partner.

• One in 10 women have been raped by an intimate partner. • One in 4 women have been victims of severe physical violence, for example, beating, burning, or strangling, by an intimate partner.

These are averages, and the situation is far worse for black women than for white women. Lesbians are routinely harassed, attacked, and beaten for the sin of being female homosexuals, and today, lesbians are being told that they are hateful bigots because they refuse to acknowledge the lie of the “female penis.”

To be clear, when we read, or hear, or speak the statistics I read above, every single person knows exactly what is meant by the word “women.” Literally no one is confused by this. The man who forced his penis inside of my vagina when I was 19 years old did not ask me for my “preferred pronouns” before doing so. Literally every person hearing these words, knows exactly what I am talking about.

And yet, we have been told that we are not permitted to fight for women and girls, as women and girls. The mob awaits us. So now I will talk about gender identity and the law. And I will do so dispassionately, as women are obligated to do, notwithstanding this simmering rage. I will be speaking primarily about U.S. law and its origins, because that is what I am most familiar with.

Let’s start with some history. The Magna Carta, promulgated in 1215, is generally considered to be the original source of U.S. law. It is well known that its primary purpose was to grant political and religious rights to male aristocrats, and to grant some rights to lesser but still property-owning men and their male heirs. It is less well known that under the Magna Carta, a widow was permitted to inherit her husband’s estate and to remain in his house for 40 days after his death before being evicted. Widows, however, were not permitted to remarry without first receiving the permission of a baron. The Magna Carta also provided that a man could not be punished for killing another man, if the murder complaint was made by a woman, unless the murder victim was the woman’s husband. These are the sole references to women in the Magna Carta’s entire 63 provisions, all of which went to great lengths to emphasize the rights of men. In 1606, King James of England signed the first Virginia Charter, establishing the colony of Virginia. The Charter granted all colonial governing authority, and all of the property that it stole from indigenous Americans, to 8 white English men all of the rights that residents of England and its other colonies had. For women, of course, this

. Later, King James would appoint a man, Lord Delaware, to serve as colonial Governor. The King granted the residents of the colony meant zero rights.

The Charters establishing the other 12 American colonies were similar to the Virginia Charter, in that they granted all governing authority and all stolen property rights to white men.

In 1776, of course, Congress famously declared that all men are created equal, and in 1789, the U.S. got its Constitution, which gave individual states the authority to determine voting rights.

Not a single state at that time granted women the right to vote.

We don’t have to limit this historical discussion to voting rights, as important as they are.

We could also talk about how, for example how:

• • • A 17th century law in Massachusetts provided that women could be executed for luring men into marriage by wearing high-heeled shoes;

Women were granted the right to practice law in federal court in 1879, but most states still prohibited women from practicing law in their state courts;

And, of course, abortion was outlawed in most of the U.S. throughout most of U.S. history.

This is just a tiny list of times throughout history when U.S. law has explicitly discriminated against women. And, let’s be perfectly clear: All of the men, making all of those laws, over all of that time, knew exactly what the word woman means.

There have been some tremendous gains, of course. We have Roe v. Wade to protect abortion rights (for now). Thanks in part to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in 1971, the Supreme Court decided that women are people under the law. We are allowed to have our own bank accounts and credit cards. We are even allowed to have law degrees. These are good and hard-fought developments, and feminists should be proud of the work that we have done and the gains that we have made to protect women in the law.

Gender identity is destroying all of it. Everything. Everything that women have fought for is being annihilated by gender identity.

I will now talk about how gender identity is annihilating women at the federal level in the U.S. If anyone has questions about how gender identity is being enshrined into law at the U.S. state level, we can do that in the Q&A.

The question of what the word sex means is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, in a case called Harris v. EEOC, which involves a man named Aimee Stephens, who is demanding legal recognition to be female.

If the Supreme Court decides that Stephens is literally a woman, then women will be obliterated as a category worthy of civil rights protection in the United States and centuries worth of work will be undone. It’s as simple as that. WoLF has filed a brief in the case, arguing that sex-stereotyping in employment constitutes unlawful sex discrimination and opposing employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. We expect to hear this spring or summer whether the Supreme Court thinks that women are allowed to exist in the law.

The question of what the word sex means is also before the United States Congress. The so- called Equality Act has been before Congress for several years, but this year, the U.S. House of Representatives took the unprecedented step of voting to pass it. The Equality Act, like a bad ruling in the Stephens case, would obliterate women and girls as a discrete legal category for civil rights protection.

Congress is also considering a bill called the Fairness For All Act as an alternative to the Equality Act. The Fairness for All Act is terrible. Like the Equality Act, it would replace the legal category of sex with gender identity, but crucially, it would also exempt religious institutions. What this would mean, in practice, is that religious institutions would be able to maintain sex-segregated spaces, but public institutions such as public schools would not. It essentially encourages the idea that religious women and girls are entitled to sex-segregated spaces, but other women and girls are not. The Fairness for All Act would also give religious institutions a legal excuse to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, which we adamantly oppose.

The upshot of all of this is that it is simply not possible to both protect and women and girls and protect gender identity in the law. Federal law can protect women and girls in order to make up for centuries of unfairness and injustice, or it can protect a self-declared and undefined “identity.” It cannot do both.

So let’s pull this all together. The men in power for thousands of years enacted countless laws with the deliberate intention of keeping women out of power and out of civil society, purely on the basis of sex. And now, at the altar of “gender identity,” we are expected to simply pretend that sex does not exist. No. I want to make one final point. Lawmakers who take an interest in this topic often say that they want to “ban transgender athletes from women’s sports,” or that they want to “ban unnecessary medical procedures for transgender children.” These efforts are often well- intentioned but misguided. If there are any lawmakers out there listening, please note: there simply is no such thing as “transgender.” Gender is a caste system designed to keep women in our place, and must be abolished, not enshrined in the law. Women are female and men are male. It’s not complicated.

In conclusion: Women are being fired from their jobs for saying the kinds of things that we are saying here today. At least two members of WoLF have been fired from progressive non-profit organizations for having the audacity to stand up for women and girls. Another has lost an important source of contract-based income. Yet another member has been erased from her position in her doctoral department. This IS the new misogyny – it’s the same as the old misogyny, but with a post-modern twist. Finally, to paraphrase something that radical feminists often say on the topic of gender: only men could oppress women for thousands of years, and then turn around, put on a dress, and claim to be the most marginalized group in society. Women have had it. We are angry, and we are not taking it anymore. Women will never stop fighting. No matter what you wear, no matter what you claim to be, women will never stop fighting. We know who we are.

Turning to the state level, there are many ways in which gender has crept its way into law and policy. Here, I will focus on two.

First, laws regarding the housing of prisoners.

In the state of California, the state of “being transgender” is considered a medical diagnosis, and any inmate given this diagnosis is assigned to one of 13 out of California’s 33 prisons. As of 2015, California inmates can receive taxpayer-funded genital surgeries. So while up-to-date data is not available, it is likely that at least some male inmates who have received genital surgeries are housed in women’s institutions in California, putting vulnerable women at risk.

In 2019, a bill was introduced that would have allowed any inmate to demand to be housed in an institution designed for the opposite sex, which would have put women at even greater risk. WoLF was able to send someone to testify against the bill, and, luckily, the bill eventually died in the state Assembly. But it will be back. I am telling you all of this because of the case of Karen White. As many of you will recall, Karen White is a UK man who “identifies as a woman” solely on the basis of self-identification. He is also a convicted pedophile and entered the UK prison system on charges of grievous bodily harm, burglary, multiple rapes and other sexual offences against women. In 2018 he was transferred to a women’s prison, where he proceeded to sexually assault two female inmates.

To be clear, WoLF’s position is that no man should ever be housed in a women’s prison, regardless of whether he has had his penis removed. But allowing men to be housed in women’s prisons solely on the basis of self-identification is so extraordinarily dangerous for women that it should not even be considered, and the members of the California Senate who voted to do it should be ashamed of themselves. The situation is the same across the U.S.

The Massachusetts Correctional Institute at Framingham is a women’s prison in Massachusetts – it is exclusively for women. But in August of 2018, a man named Michelle Kosilek asked a federal district court to order that he be transferred to MCI-Framingham. In 1990, Kosilek had been convicted of murdering his wife, Cheryl. When the police found Cheryl’s body in the back seat of her car, her shirt had been pulled up, her pants had been pulled down, and she had been nearly decapitated. The next day, Michelle, then Robert, confessed to the murder.

Often, when feminists talk about Karen White, or Michelle Kosilek, we are told that should not base our views of an entire population on the bad acts of one or two men. Fair enough. But that argument misses the point completely. Saying “not all trans” is exactly the same as saying “not all men.” Putting men in women’s prisons puts vulnerable women at risk, plain and simple. I have spoken personally with two women in a Texas prison who had been required to share a cell with a man. These women were terrified.

The other aspect of state law that I want to mention briefly is identification documents such as driver’s licenses and birth certificates. Each state has its own set of laws for determining what information to include on such identification documents. Increasingly, states are examining proposals to allow anyone to either “identify as the opposite sex,” or to tick a “third option.” Some people might think that this is not a big deal – why concern yourself if someone wants to identify themselves in a certain way? But it matters, for several reasons. First, government issued identification does not exist for the purpose of validating people’s sense of themselves. It's literally for identifying individuals. This identification must function on the basis of an objective criterion, not on feelings. Second, as most of us in this room already know, and as we have been discussing here today, all of “gender identity” harms women and girls. If anyone is interested, we can get into more detail during the Q&A about the specifics of why allowing opposite-sex identification and “third option” identification is dangerous.

Canadian man wearing fetish gear to teach at high school A male teacher has been wearing giant prosthetic breasts, women's clothes and long wigs to teach shop class in a Canadian high school. The local school board has defended the teacher's right to 'gender expression'. Meghan Murphy writes about the situation in Feminist Current. Victim of male violence unable to claim special protections A domestic violence victim in Spain was told that because her abuser was now pretending to be a woman, she could not claim the special protections available to women who experience male violence. Canadian nurse subjected to show trial for pro-women views Canadian nurse Amy Hamm is being subjected to a disciplinary for her support for women's sex-based rights. Follow @goinglikeelsie for case updates.

Canadian man wearing fetish gear to teach at high school A male teacher has been wearing giant prosthetic breasts, women's clothes and long wigs to teach shop class in a Canadian high school. The local school board has defended the teacher's right to 'gender expression'. Meghan Murphy writes about the situation in Feminist Current.

Victim of male violence unable to claim special protections A domestic violence victim in Spain was told that because her abuser was now pretending to be a woman, she could not claim the special protections available to women who experience male violence.

Canadian nurse subjected to show trial for pro-women views Canadian nurse Amy Hamm is being subjected to a disciplinary for her support for women's sex-based rights. Follow @goinglikeelsie for case updates.

WDI newsletter WDI news WDI USA Convention on Reigniting the Women's Liberation Movement - We're going to win

https://www.womensdeclaration.com/en/resources/wdi-newsletter/28-september-2022/

WDI newsletter WDI news WDI USA Convention on Reigniting the Women's Liberation Movement - We're going to win

Listen to Kara Dansky's concluding remarks from the WDI USA convention.

https://karadansky.substack.com/p/wdi-usa-convention-on-reigniting

'We have a lot of work to do, and a lot of determined women here who I’m sure will step up to the plate. And finally, we’re going to win.'

FiLiA - 22-24 October, Cardiff WDI will be holding a stall at FiLiA this year. Please come and say hello! Tickets are available here.

Saturday 1 October:

Amparo Domingo, Spain, Spain is on fire Nancy Haigh, USA, The Erasure of Women’s Space Isabella Marques, Brazil, campaign to ask female candidates their definition of women Louise Somerville, UK, Bad Policy Watch Bristol

Register here.

Radical Feminist Perspectives(RFP) takes place on Sundays at 10.00 UK time.

Sunday 2 October: The Great Cosmic Mother of All by Monica Sjöö and Barbara More discussed by Jill Raymond and Batya Weinbaum

Register here. Campaigns CIAMS petition against organised cross border reproductive exploitation Please support CIAMS petitionagainst the Hague Conference draft protocol and the Verona Principles.

CPS consultation on rape by deception The UK's Crown Prosecution Service is consulting the public about deception in rape and sexual assault cases. Its information page is full of ideological language and inaccuracies. Please respond if you can.

Please support Confluencia Movimiento Feminista's manifesto

The campaign to collect signatures in support of Confluencia's manifesto against the 'Ley Trans' that will bring in sex self-identification in Spain continues. The manifesto is available in Spanish, Italian, French and English with links to add your signature.

Sex-based rights around the world Hijab protests in Iran State officials in Iran have reportedthat dozens of people have died in protests after Mahsa Amini died in custody, having been detained by 'morality' police. Canadian man wearing fetish gear to teach at high school

A male teacher has been wearing giant prosthetic breasts, women's clothes and long wigs to teach shop class in a Canadian high school. The local school board has defended the teacher's right to 'gender expression'. Meghan Murphy writes about the situation in Feminist Current.

Victim of male violence unable to claim special protections

A domestic violence victim in Spain was told that because her abuser was now pretending to be a woman, she could not claim the special protections available to women who experience male violence. Canadian nurse subjected to show trial for pro-women views

Canadian nurse Amy Hamm is being subjected to a disciplinary for her support for women's sex-based rights. Follow @goinglikeelsie for case updates. Pro-choice demo takes place in Malta Several hundred people took part in a pro-choice demonstration in Valletta, Malta's capital city, last weekend. The US woman recently denied an abortion after suffering an incomplete miscarriage while on holiday in Malta is suing the country for human rights breaches.

Man jailed for abuse and murder of daughter A man who pretends to be a woman has been jailed for the murder of his 7-year-old daughter.

Police accuse women of 'hate' for referring to paedophile as male Sussex Police in the UK have accused women, who called paedophile John Robert Dixon a man, of 'hate crimes'. Dixon was recently sentenced to 12 years in prison for the sexual abuse of seven children. Despite not possessing a GRC he will be sent to a women's prison.

Misogynists hamper women's events in the UK The Lesbian Strength March due to take place a few days ago in Leeds, was cancelled on the day after police said they could not guarantee the marchers' safety. The planned rally was able to take place. On 18 September, Standing for Women organised a speakers' corner event in Brighton at which gender activists threatened violence and hurled abuse at women, including one activist who screamed at a baby.

Resources The Detransition Diaries New film from Jennifer Lahl recounts the stories of three young women who thought their problems would be solved by 'transition'.

Forced castrations of minors on the rise Read the latest on gender identity ideology in India from Vaishnavi Sundar. Events

Nordic Model Now - Students for Sale conference, 15 October Tickets and programme available here.

FEMINIST MANIFESTO: IN SUPPORT OF THE FEMINIST AGENDA, AGAINST TRANS LAWS.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScqyM8cTENeoUfQpI14HoA6_s6Bw1k4U_HaSahpFWVNz1ulNg/viewform .

26 J | FEMINIST MANIFESTO: IN SUPPORT OF THE FEMINIST AGENDA, AGAINST TRANS LAWS. ORIGINAL VERSION HERE: https://forms.gle/YBhh7qg3ChQVaQSQA The Organising Committee of #26J, coordinated by Confluencia Movimiento Feminista (CMF), calls on the feminist movement, human rights associations and civil society to join the "Feminist Manifesto: In favour of the feminist agenda, against trans laws*", as well as to attend the territorial rallies that will take place on Saturday, 26 June, at 12:00 noon, in different parts of Spain, where the Manifesto will be read out publicly.

(*In Spain, the proposal for self-ID is commonly referred to as “The Trans Law”, even though it wouldn’t apply to any given group of people, but to the whole of the Spanish population: 47 million people. Other proposals related to “gender identity” included in this "trans" tag contain the enhancement of “hate crimes” and “hate speech” that could curtail our fundamental right to freedom of speech and freedom of opinion. We feminists are fighting for our sex-based rights and to keep a sex-based definition of “woman”).

In this regard, the main purpose of this document is to collect signatures of adherence to the aforementioned Manifesto for its submission to the Spanish Parliament. For this reason, for identification purposes, the Spanish National Identity Document (DNI) is requested in the case of Spanish citizens, and the Foreigner's Identification Number (NIE) or Passport Number (NP), for those who are living in Spain but are not Spanish citizens. However, in the event of not being willing or able to provide such data -which in no case will be made public- for whatever reason, the signature of this Manifesto is still necessary and valid in order to be able to quantify the support for the urgent demands it contains.

The on-site mobilisations will begin on 26 June 2021 and will continue until we achieve our objectives, which is why the collection of signatures will continue until the Manifesto is submitted to the Spanish Parliament.

FEMINIST MANIFESTO 26 JUNE 2021

IN SUPPORT OF THE FEMINIST AGENDA, AGAINST TRANS LAWS

The regression in the protection of our rights as women is unfortunately an undeniable reality now. The offensive of the alliance between patriarchy and neoliberal capitalism against women in general, and against the feminist movement in particular, is reaching a criminal situation both in our country and in the rest of the world, subverting all our demands and penetrating our entire legal system.

Our analysis is clear: those who claimed to be our allies and call themselves "the most feminist government in history" are transforming our laws against the feminist agenda that we have fought for over the last 300 years. With the complicit inaction of the head of government, the Ministry for Equality has ignored and scorned the feminist movement, promoting anti-women legislation. Furthermore, regardless of political persuasion, regional parliaments are being used as back doors to transform all the laws under their jurisdiction, increasing lack of legal protection and consolidating a regression in terms of violence, sexual and reproductive rights and material and symbolic discrimination against women in all spheres, as well as the most basic rights of children and adolescents.

This has led the feminist movement to take to the streets today to demand from both central and regional governments:

FULL FULFILLMENT OF THE FEMINIST AGENDA AND THE PARALYSATION AND REPEAL OF THE "TRANS LAWS"

Yes, in plural, "trans laws", because this includes all legislation that replaces the legal category of "sex" with "gender identity". This is to be expanded by the so-called Trans Law, LGTBI Law and Zerolo Law, on the verge of being introduced in Parliament, which would criminalise people who, in the exercise of their fundamental right to freedom of expression, defend the use of the words woman, mother or vulva, or "make a mistake" in their use of pronouns, imposing fines of up to 150,000 euros. Freedom of expression has already been curtailed in other places, such as Scotland, where a fortnight ago we witnessed the arrest and trial of Marion Millar for simply posting a suffragette ribbon on Twitter. Of suffragette women.

In this spirit, we demand the repeal of all or part of the laws that threaten women's and children's rights, as well as fundamental rights and public freedoms, such as the recently enacted Rhodes Law (on the protection of children against violence) and some provisions of the Celáa Law (on education), which generate confusion regarding the obligation to educate in EQUALITY, without distorting its meaning in terms of "diversity", as it is already happening.

In addition, we demand the repeal of the regional trans regulations comprising, among others, 15 "gender self-determination" laws, 14 educational protocols and 15 health protocols, which are allowing, even without any national law that recognises the right to self-determination of sex, the implementation of sexist educational policies, the violation of women's sex-based rights (by allowing access of men to our spaces and perverting statistics) and the indiscriminate hormone treatment of children. And this despite the fact that nearby countries (such as the United Kingdom, Sweden and Finland) that did pass these laws are now backtracking and banning the use of puberty blockers because of their irreversible and harmful side effects.

Finally, we denounce the use of trans legislation to allow rapists and murderers to access women's prisons; we are outraged and indignant at this. Today we cannot fail to mention here the murder of Vanesa Santana in Fuerteventura, whose rapist and murderer, Jonathan Robaina, declared himself to be a woman on the first day of his trial (just three days after the unanimous approval of the Trans Law in the Canarian Parliament), which, were it not for the team of forensic experts who, contravening the regional regulations on the affirmation of "gender identity", denied the existence of gender dysphoria, would have resulted, once again, in the transfer of a rapist and murderer of women to a women's prison under the protection of Instruction 7/2006 and Trans Law 3/2007, with the consequent endangering of the physical integrity of the female inmates. Something that the Ministry for Equality and the rest of the Government denied ad nauseam that it was permitted under the trans laws, "#ThisWouldNotHappen" they said, but it did happen.

IN THIS SCENARIO, IN THE FACE OF THE OFFENSIVE DIRECTED FROM THE INSTITUTIONS AGAINST THE RIGHTS OF ONE HALF OF THE POPULATION AND THE EVASIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT, THIS #26J, THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT WILL ONCE AGAIN FILL THE STREETS WITH DIGNITY TO PUBLICLY DEMAND:

→ THE MODIFICATION AND EXTENSION OF THE LAW ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN WITH ALL SUPPOSITIONS, PROTOCOLS, MEASURES AND ADEQUATE FUNDING TO FIGHT EFFECTIVELY #AgainstMaleTerrorism. #NotOneMore #NotOneLess #WeWantOurselvesAlive #AgainstMaleViolence #AgainstVicariousViolence

→ THE PASSING OF A LAW FOR THE ABOLITION OF PROSTITUTION THAT BANS ALL SEXUAL ACCESS TO WOMEN FOR A PRICE: A LAW WORTHY OF A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY AND NOT A SIMULACRUM OF PERSECUTION OF SEXUAL EXPLOITATION LIKE THE LAW ON TRAFFICKING THAT WILL SOON BE DEBATED IN OUR PARLIAMENT. #AbolitionistLawNow #AgainstTheProstitutionalSystem #ProstitutionAbolition #PornographyAbolition #ProstitutionIsSlavery #NeitherSexNorWork #RapeIsNotFiction

→ THE REPEAL OF THE INSTRUCTION OF THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE THAT ALLOWS IN SPAIN THE REGISTRATION OF BABIES BORN OUT OF THE REPRODUCTIVE EXPLOITATION OF IMPOVERISHED WOMEN FROM OTHER COUNTRIES. #STOPWombsForRent #STOPBabyTrafficking #STOPOvumTrafficking #WeAreNotVessels #NoToReproductiveExploitation

→ AND THE END OF THE PROCESSING OF "TRANS" LAWS THAT ERASE WOMEN AND DESTROY OUR RIGHTS, THOSE OF CHILDREN, HOMOSEXUAL PEOPLE AND PEOPLE SUFFERING FROM GENDER DYSPHORIA, AS WELL AS THE REPEAL OF ALL ARTICLES THAT INTRODUCE THE QUEER AGENDA IN OUR LEGAL SYSTEM. #NoTransLaw #NoGenderSelfID #SexIsNotGender #TransLawIsMisogyny #WomanIsNotAFeeling #NoToHormoneTherapyandMutilationofChildren #DontTouchChildren #StopCriminalFashions

Demands to which we cannot fail to add the DENUNCIATION OF THE COVENANT OF SILENCE WHICH PREVENTS THE CRITICAL VOICES OF FEMINISTS AND MULTITUDE OF EXPERT VOICES FROM BEING HEARD IN THE PUBLIC MEDIA, IN THE FACE OF AN OFFENSIVE THAT DESTROYS OUR RIGHTS, AND THE COLLUSION OF THE MEDIA WITH THE QUEER AGENDA PROPAGANDA, FINANCED BY THE PHARMACEUTICAL AND ECONOMIC LOBBIES OF BIG INTERNATIONAL CORPORATIONS.

Women, comrades, sisters, feminism is in motion and history has shown us that struggle is effective and essential. We have recently had the opportunity to see this again when we learned of the ruling of the Employment Appeal Tribunal in favour of Maya Forstater, a year and a half after she was fired from the Centre for Global Development in the UK, for tweeting and writing about the implications of self-determination of sex for women's rights.

THIS #26J

THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT IS ONCE AGAIN RAISING ITS CENTURY-OLD VOICE TO PROCLAIM THAT:

#WeWontBeSilenced #WeWontBeErased #TheyShallNotPass BECAUSE TOGETHER WE ARE INVINCIBLE AND WE WILL NOT STOP UNTIL WE ACHIEVE FREEDOM:

LONG LIVE THE WOMEN'S STRUGGLE! LONG LIVE THE FEMINIST STRUGGLE!

*DATA PROCESSING*:

In accordance with Organic Law 3/2018, of 5 December, on the Protection of Personal Data and the Guarantee of Digital Rights and Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council, the signatory authorises Confluencia Movimiento Feminista (CMF) to process the personal data provided through this form, of which only the name and surname(s) may be made public IF EXPRESS CONSENT HAS BEEN GIVEN TO THAT EFFECT. This data will be included in a file, under the responsibility of Confluencia Movimiento Feminista, called "26 J: FEMINIST MANIFESTO: Signatures", for the purpose of tallying the signatures adhered to the "Feminist Manifesto: In favour of the feminist agenda, against trans laws", reproduced above and published on the website movimientofeminista.org, as well as the disaggregated analysis of the data collected and the submission of the data referring to name, surname and Spanish National Identity Document (DNI) or similar to the Spanish Parliament, for which they will be incorporated into another file, under the responsibility of the CMF, called "Signatures for the Parliament". Once the latter have been submitted, both the original file and the document addressed to the Cortes Generales will be eliminated within a period that will not extend beyond three (3) months. The only data kept in a separate file, under the responsibility of the CMF, called "Subscriptions", will be the name, surname, e-mail address, sex, nationality and country of residence IN CASE OF HAVING REQUESTED TO BE NOTIFIED OF RELEVANT INFORMATION ON THE ACTIVITY OF CMF. In relation to this subscription, the rights of access, rectification, opposition and suppression may be exercised at any time, either through the e-mail address coordinacion@movimientofeminista.org or through the option provided for this purpose in all communications sent.

(not shared) Switch account * Required Email address * Your answer Full name * Your answer Sex * Female Male Are you of legal age? * Yes No Are you signing individually or as a representative of an organisation? * Individually Organization Both If you are signing on behalf of an organisation, please indicate which one. Your answer Country of residence * Your answer Nationality * Your answer

“Please, I need some birth control in case I get raped,” patients tell Dr. Judith Simms-Cendan, a pediatric-adolescent gynecologist in Miami, where state law does not provide exceptions for rape or incest after 15 weeks.

The June ruling appears to be accelerating a trend of increased birth control use among teens, including long-acting reversible forms. Sixteen-year-old Adismarys Abreu had been discussing a long-lasting birth control implant with her mother for about a year as a potential solution to increasing menstrual pain. Then Roe v. Wade was overturned, and Abreu joined the throng of teens rushing to their doctors as states began to ban or severely limit abortion. “I’m definitely not ready to be pregnant,” said Abreu, who had Nexplanon — a reversible, matchstick-sized contraceptive — implanted in her arm in August. Her home state of Florida bans most abortions after 15 weeks, and not having that option is “such a scary thought,” she said. The U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling appears to be accelerating a trend of increased birth control use among teens, including long-acting reversible forms like intrauterine devices and implants. (Photo: AdobeStock) The U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling appears to be accelerating a trend of increased birth control use among teens, including long-acting reversible forms like intrauterine devices and implants. (Photo: AdobeStock) More Experts say the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling appears to be accelerating a trend of increased birth control use among teens, including long-acting reversible forms like intrauterine devices and implants. Appointments have surged and Planned Parenthood has been flooded with questions as doctors report demand even among teens who aren’t sexually active. Some patients are especially fearful because the new abortion laws in several states don’t include exceptions for sexual assault. “Please, I need some birth control in case I get raped,” patients tell Dr. Judith Simms-Cendan, a pediatric-adolescent gynecologist in Miami, where state law does not provide exceptions for rape or incest after 15 weeks. Simms-Cendan, the president-elect of the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, said parents who might have been hesitant in the past now want to discuss birth control. “It’s a sea change of, ‘I don’t have room to play. We have got to get my child on something,’” she said. Teens already were shifting to more effective long-acting forms of birth control, which have similar or even lower failure rates than sterilization, said Laura Lindberg, a professor at Rutgers University’s School of Public Health in New Jersey. Her research found the number of 15- to 19-year-olds using those methods rose to 15% during the period 2015 to 2019, up from 3% during the 2006 to 2010 period. No national data is available for the months since Roe was overturned, said Lindberg, who previously worked for nearly two decades at the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. But she said “major ripple effects” have to be expected from the loss of abortion access and noted that it wouldn’t be the first time politics have led to a shift in birth control usage. In the weeks after former President Donald Trump’s election, as women raised concerns online that the Affordable Care Act would be repealed, demand for long-acting birth control rose by nearly 22% across all age groups, according to a 2019 research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine. In Ohio, where a judge this month blocked a ban on virtually all abortions, patients — both male and female — now listen with rapt attention to the contraception talk that Dr. Peggy Stager has long made a part of routine appointments at her pediatric practice in Cleveland. Stager said her practice’s dedicated spots for insertion of the Nexplanon implant are consistently filled, and requests for contraceptive refills have increased 30% to 40% since Roe was overturned. Recently, she talked to a college-bound student who wasn’t sexually active but decided to get an IUD anyway. “She was real clear: ‘I want to have a great four years without any worry,’” recalled Stager, who is the chair of the section on adolescent health at the American Academy of Pediatrics. “And that’s a change.” In Missouri, among the first states in the country with a trigger law in effect to ban abortions at any point in pregnancy, Dr. David Eisenberg also has seen a similar sense of urgency from college-bound teens to choose the most effective option. “Fear is an amazing motivator,” said Eisenberg, an associate professor at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, who performs abortions in neighboring Illinois. “They understand the consequence of a contraceptive failure might mean they become a parent because they might not be able to access an abortion.” Interest is also high at the contraception clinic that Dr. Elise Berlan oversees in Columbus, Ohio. Before the Supreme Court’s decision, the clinic booked appointments for new patients within a week or two. Now, they are booking several months out for first appointments, said Berlan, an adolescent medicine specialist who sees mothers and daughters in tears in her exam room. She said the demand is so high they are adding a provider. On the day the Supreme Court ruled against Roe, twice as many birth control questions as normal poured into Roo, Planned Parenthood’s online chatbot aimed at teens. Online birth control appointments also skyrocketed that day — up 150% from a typical day, with an even-larger 375% surge for IUD-seekers, said Julia Bennett, director of digital education and learning strategy for Planned Parenthood Federation of America. By mid-July, several weeks after the ruling, birth control appointments remained up about 20%, although the data isn’t broken down by age group. The growing interest exists even in states like North Carolina, where abortion remains legal but the Legislature is conservative. Dr. Kavita Arora, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Chapel Hill, said she saw maybe one teen a month before the ruling. Now, she said, she sees them at each clinic session. “They’re aware that this is an incredibly fluid situation, and what is allowed at one moment may not be allowed a week or a month later,” said Arora, the chair of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ Committee on Ethics. That uncertain future is part of what motivated Abreu, the Florida teen, whose implant will prevent pregnancy for up to five years. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with the laws in that time period,” said Abreu, who was using a short-acting form of birth control before switching. “Having this already in my arm, it makes me feel so much safer.” Her mother, Maribys Lorenzo, said in Spanish that she, too, is a little more at peace knowing her daughter cannot get pregnant and said she would recommend the implant because it does not require her daughter to remember to take a contraceptive pill. She said she is not worried, any more or less, that her daughter will become sexually active because of the implant. But if it happens, she will be protected, Lorenzo said. “I don’t think that’s fair to me or my family to not have abortion as an option,” said her daughter, Abreu.

Blood on the hands of capitalist ideology

The ideology of capitalism and white supremacy murdered more than any ideology in history . Marx’s ideology has been fighting and killing capitalist ideologists and their murdering masses . You have more blood on your hands than Karl Marx ; and the blood on Karl Marx’s hands is in self-defense against you and your ideology Capitalism carried out the genocidal usurpation of the Western Hemisphere, killing and starving millions of Indigenous Peoples . Capitalism murdered 10’s of millions in WWI. The Nazi capitalists murdered 27 million Soviets and millions of others in WWII. Capitalism murdered 2 million in the war on Korea and 2 million in the war on Vietnam and 100s thousands in the War on Iraq Capitalism carried out the Bloody Legislation Against the Expropriated, from the End of the 15th Century. Forcing Down of Wages by Acts of Parliament

Women leaders meet in Texas, plan October offensive for abortion rights September 19, 2022 12:13 PM CDT BY PLEIADES TALUKDER AND KURT STILLER Share Email Women leaders meet in Texas, plan October offensive for abortion rights A session at the main stage of the Women's Convention in Houston in August. | @WomensMarch via Twitter HOUSTON—“We are in Texas because this is the frontline of the struggle.” That’s the message Rachel O’Leary Carmona, the Executive Director of the Women’s March, had for a gathering of nearly 500 women in Houston determined to stop the right-wing’s assault on abortion rights. And come Oct. 7, they’ll be leading marches nationwide as part of a “Fall of Reckoning” to save reproductive freedom in the November elections. The Women’s Convention, held in Houston Aug. 12-14, brought together activists to organize for the long fight to save reproductive freedom and develop plans to confront ongoing sexual and economic exploitation. Attendees were urged on by prominent female speakers, from Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, to feminist writer and activist Roxane Gay. Among the convention’s key proposals for action: national marches in both Washington, D.C., and in cities across the country around abortion rights on the weekend of Oct. 7 to 9. Breakout sessions covered topics such as the #metoo movement in schools, running for local office, and implementing feminist economics. The overturning of Roe v. Wade was the main focus of discussion, but there was a renewed focus on challenging a patriarchal capitalist economy obsessed with owning and controlling female bodies.

The resounding victory in Kansas for abortion rights was a cause for celebration. Activists there mobilized voters and were able to protect reproductive rights in that state. Republicans are now panicking because they realize that any time the abortion question is put up to a vote, people are choosing abortion/pro-choice rights almost every time. Participants discussed the many ways to stop the GOP’s relentless attacks. For instance, there is already a strong divergence of living and health care standards between Republican-governed red states and Democratic-governed blue states. It’s expected that GOP-ruled states that ultimately ban abortion entirely will see a further rise in female deaths and suffering and an overall decline of health for everyone. Documenting that information is important. Statistics concerning deaths and complications from pregnancy that occur because of enforced motherhood will play a major part in swaying public opinion away from anti-abortion positions. Right-wingers no doubt will step in and make it difficult, if not illegal, for hospitals, nurses, and doctors to report or keep this type of data. So outside agencies need to step up. With the overthrow of Roe v. Wade, the right has found a 21st century version of an old idea for controlling women: enforced pregnancy. Economic exploitation under capitalism thrives on women being locked into the position of compulsory motherhood. Women who are desperate for jobs that can pay for the costs of raising children or those searching for reliable, affordable daycare are much more susceptible to dropping out of activism and supporting the status quo in a desperate bid just to get by. Another travesty brought up at the conference is that so many restaurant servers, mostly women, still do not make a minimum wage because their tips are assumed to be, and taxed, as part of their salary. There is a racist history to this practice. After Emancipation, restaurants hiring Black women didn’t want to pay them wages; they essentially wanted to keep them as slaves. So, they created jobs where they received no or very small wages, and only worked for tips. This, like so much else in modern society, comes from the combination of racial and gender discrimination, aspects of the country’s obsessive capitalist accumulation. One of the most inspiring breakout sessions was “Vote/Run/Lead.” It was designed to give women a practical plan to run for local offices. The session started out with the speaker asking how many women in the audience were thinking of running for local office in the next year. In a wonderful moment of solidarity, almost 40 women stood up. Another exceptional session, “Building a Feminist Economy,” outlined the crisis capitalism is creating with regard to the “care economy.” Kaitlyn Henderson, a senior research advisor at Oxfam, gave startling statistics: “Our studies show that 52 million people in the United States make less than $15 an hour. And 40% of all women make less than $15 an hour. The numbers get worse when you look at women of color: 50% make less than $15 an hour.” The numbers clearly illustrate the intensive exploitation women face right now, especially women of color and trans women. Too many omen are trapped in a neoliberal rat maze in which they receive low pay while also playing the role of mother or the “caregiver” of the family, where they absorb the emotional needs of their husband, children, and/or parents—and all without compensation. The stereotyped view of women as “natural” caregivers leaves them in a position where their mental or emotional needs are tossed aside, as too many men do not consider women as needing emotional support. Some positive points were mentioned in this session. Amy Hanauer, Executive Director of the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, remarked that “the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act, while inadequate in many ways, is at least a start.” The bill is supposed to crack down on major companies that do not pay taxes. Also, the size of the IRS is being expanded so it has the ability to go after major tax evaders like Apple and Amazon. It also addresses our deteriorating planet: $369 billion has been set aside to fight climate change, the biggest investment the federal government has ever made for the environment. Each day featured notable speakers in the women’s movement, people like Houston Hoochie’s co-chair/president Nia Jones and Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s Executive Director Kelly Robinson. The running theme through everything, explicit or implied, was the realization that capitalism and patriarchy are viciously entwined, and fighting for a better future requires the destruction of both. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, spoke fiercely for women to stand up and become “ungovernable.” She spoke before introducing the keynote speaker, writer Roxane Gay. One major idea Gay discussed was that “the promised land of feminism is not imitating white male power.” Replacing white male capitalists with white female capitalists gets women nowhere. Women must work to destroy white male patriarchy and exploitation, as simply changing the faces at the top will have less impact on society.

US Supreme Court has been consistently anti-working class through almost its entire history; the Warren Court was a pro-working class anomaly .

WASHINGTON —Young voters in nine swing states with tight Senate races strongly back workers’ rights, and especially the Protect The Right To Organize (PRO) Act, says a new Hart Research poll, commissioned by the Communications Workers. As a matter of fact, support for the PRO Act, organized labor’s #1 legislative priority, is so lopsided among the young voters, those 18-39, that opposition is almost non-existent. The numbers: 85% support—including 47% strong support–8% opposition. Among all voters, the PRO Act leads 69%-20%. Union favorability leads among all voters 63%-37%, slightly less than in the recent Gallup Poll, done at about the same time. But among young voters, unions win 80%-20% in Hart’s online poll. Hart did not disclose its margin of error. Its pollsters surveyed 1,803 voters, with an oversample of 822 “young” voters. A group of fired Starbucks employees celebrate the result of a vote to unionize one of the coffee company’s locations on June 7, 2022, in Memphis, Tenn. Starbucks reinstated the ‘Memphis Seven’ who were fired in February after leading an effort to organize their store. The seven are part of a new pro-union youth majority in the country. | Adrian Sainz / AP The Hart Poll also argues that once all voters are exposed to contrasting party positions on worker and economic issues, they swing from a slight Republican lean on handling the economy overall to a nine-point Democratic lead in generic political matchups. CWA said the numbers “suggest candidates could increase participation among young voters by embracing the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act and focusing on lifting workers’ wages. Support for the PRO Act cuts across party lines even in the tightest toss-up races in the country.” Senate Republican filibuster threats killed the PRO Act in this Congress. “Now more than ever, young workers see unions as their best shot at higher wages and better working conditions, but until we pass the Protect The Right To Organize Act, they are up against employers who are retaliating with impunity,” said CWA Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens, a News Guild member and one of the nation’s younger top union leaders. “If young workers are going to turn out and vote for Democrats, they need evidence beyond just words of support that candidates are on their side. A Senate vote to pass the Protecting The Right To Organize Act will prove that Democrats mean what they say when it comes to workers’ rights,” she added after reviewing the survey’s findings. Other findings from the survey, Higher Wages And Workers Rights: A Winning 2022 Democratic Message, include but are not limited to: Pro-union candidates hold a 61%-39% lead among all voters and a 77%-23% lead among the young voters. Strong support/opposition to unions is 27%-16% among all voters and 37%-6% among young voters. Unions also led among all demographic subgroups. The smallest lead was 12 percentage points among whites, just above a 19 point lead among non-college voters. The largest lead was among Blacks: 62 points. Swing state voters are a soft spot for the PRO Act. Democrats overall would vote for a pro-PRO Act Democrat 86%-5% over an anti-PRO Act Republican, while 63% of Republicans back their partisan, with 10% crossing to the Democratic side. Swing state voters go Democratic 39%-26%. Others are undecided, including 35% in swing states. Voters in general and young voters in particular are hostile to overwhelming corporate clout. Almost two-thirds (64%) of all voters told pollsters that “companies generally have too much power today compared with workers,” as did 79% of young voters. Only 7% of each group said workers have too much power. And while 29% of all voters saw a fair balance between companies and workers, only 14% of young voters did. The pollsters reported 84% of all voters, and 78% in swing states, would support “candidates who Improve wages and salaries for workers, so they keep up with the cost of living” as well as candidates who “improve health and retirement benefits for working people.” The rest are opposed. A majority (55%) strongly support candidates, above, who raise wages, and 49% would strongly back candidates who improve benefits. Strengthening worker health and safety protections drew 78% support (47% strong). Stronger bans on retaliation against workers gained 75% support (50% strong). Other issues lagged those four. The entire poll is at https://cwa-union.org/news/worker-power-update-47

“We Need to Destroy the Republican Party”: A Conservative Luminary Calls for a Clean Start In which Max Boot says the GOP is racist, the Iraq War was wrong, and Trumpism is a cancer. David Corn DAVID CORN Washington, DC, Bureau Chief Bio | Follow Oliver Munday In his new book, The Corrosion of Conservatism: Why I Left the Right, Max Boot goes further than the handful of other prominent Republicans who have stood against Donald Trump and reconsiders the conservative movement writ large. He sat down to discuss his epiphany with Washington bureau chief David Corn for the Mother Jones Podcast. This is an edited and condensed transcript of that conversation. Unable to load episode Not Available Not Available 00:00 / 00:00 Privacy Policy David Corn: You were a golden boy of conservative punditry. You joined the Wall Street Journal editorial page in 1994 at 24. You were the op-ed editor four years later. You became a contributing editor to the Weekly Standard and a blogger for Commentary. You were in neocon heaven—a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, an adviser to John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012. You were one of the major voices in favor of the Iraq War. And in your forthcoming book, you write with great introspection and humility, “I can finally acknowledge the obvious: It was all a big mistake. Saddam Hussein was heinous, but Iraq was better off under his tyrannical rule than the chaos that followed. I regret advocating the invasion and feel guilty about all the lives lost.” I mean, Max, this is almost, maybe it is, an apology. What brought you to that point? Max Boot: Well, it’s basically that I could not deny reality indefinitely. Anybody looking around Iraq today can see it is not the democratic paradise that George Bush and Dick Cheney and others promised in 2003. I’m certainly not the only one who has confessed their errors here. John McCain did before his death. But many right-wingers have stuck to their guns rather stubbornly. And I think the only way you’re going to improve US foreign policy and set a sound course for the future is if you’re willing to look back at what went wrong before. One of the lessons I draw from the Iraq War is be pretty darn careful about launching preventative conflicts. And that’s not a lesson that everybody has learned. For example, John Bolton, before he became national security adviser, was arguing in favor of preventative military action against both Iran and North Korea, which I think is crazy. I certainly got a big one wrong in the case of Iraq. “A general danger of punditry is that there’s very little incentive to change your position or admit error.” DC: Well, let me pick at the scab a little. What do you think the original sin was? MB: There were two assumptions. One was that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and I think that was an honest error, although I do think policy­makers in the Bush administration were not willing enough to engage with contrary points of view. But from that honest mistake, very dubious conclusions were drawn. I was certainly one of those who imagined because Saddam was such an evil dictator that we could vastly improve life for people in Iraq and throughout the Middle East by toppling him. In hindsight, containment was a much better option. Underlying my assertion was a naive and hubristic faith in American power. I fled the Soviet Union as a child. And some of that naive faith was based on the experience of Eastern Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union, where we saw these democracies develop. Of course, if we had waited a little bit longer, we would have seen how fragile even those democracies are today in places like Hungary and Poland. But in 2003, a lot of people, including me, had this naive faith that democracy was the wave of the future, and that the United States was at the vanguard, and that we could do good for humanity, and good for America’s strategic interests, by getting rid of Saddam Hussein. And obviously those assumptions have not been borne out. DC: Why do you think it’s so hard for people now to concede they got it wrong? MB: Well, a general danger of punditry is that there’s very little incentive to change your position or admit error. If you reverse your position, the people who backed you before will be unhappy, but a lot of the people who now agree with you will still pillory you. I’ve gotten that on Twitter; I’m called a war criminal and told that I’m being opportunistic in renouncing the Iraq War. And so these people on the left are basically saying, “Too late. You can’t renounce your beliefs.” There’s very little incentive, from a political economy standpoint, for people to reverse field. And a lot of disincentives. You see that now with Trump, who claimed the handling of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, where 3,000 Americans died, was a tremendous success. And he’s rewarded for that by his followers. I mean, the Trump theory is that if you admit error then you’re showing weakness and you’re going to get destroyed politically. You can argue that could be correct, as a matter of politics. Obviously, as a matter of intellectual honesty and accuracy, it’s an appalling standard by which to hold yourself. DC: You’ve been moved to reconsider much more than just Iraq. You wrote, “I am now convinced that coded racial appeals—those dog whistles—had at least as much, if not more, to do with the electoral success of the modern Repub­lican Party than all of the domestic and foreign policy proposals crafted by well-­intentioned analysts like me. This is what liberals have been saying for decades while accusing the Republican Party of racism. I never believed them. Now I do.” When did Boot become woke? “I think a lot of my fellow conservatives are in denial about the state of modern America.” MB: I’m ashamed to admit that it took the emergence of Donald Trump. I was in my conservative bunker, and I thought this was a gross libel against the Republican Party to claim that we were catering to racism, or that it was a libel on America to claim that America was a pervasively racist society. And then Trump came along and I realized, “Wait a second. There is a much larger constituency for racism and xenophobia than I had realized.” And it made me think, “Oh, my goodness. This is why a lot of people were voting Republican.” It wasn’t because they loved supply-side economics. It wasn’t because they supported NATO. It was because they were looking for a candidate who would champion the interests of white people. And Donald Trump did that more unabashedly and more unapologetically than previous Republican candidates had done. That was a wake-up call. And then of course I saw other examples of racism coming to the fore in ways that were undeniable, like all these videotapes of police officers killing and abusing African Americans. The evidence is right there, on the tape. You can’t deny it. African Americans have been saying for years that they have been the victims of racist police, but I tended to believe the police officers. Same with the #MeToo movement, which made me realize, “Hey, feminists have a point when they talk about the abuses of patriarchal society and the suffering that women endure in America.” To be clear, I’m not buying into some kind of anti-American worldview. We have made real progress, but I think we have a long way to go. I think a lot of my fellow conservatives are in denial about the state of modern America. DC: To me, this part of your book is fascinating. Because the Iraq War, it’s a policy mistake. But race is really one of the fundamental debates and divides we have. And it’s been an article of faith, on the conservative side, that they have been libeled on this front. We see a hue and cry anytime Republicans are confronted with this issue. Why this inability to see at least a portion of this? MB: I can talk about my own blindness. I thought, “I’m not racist. And I’m a Republican. So it seems like a gross libel to accuse Republicans and conservatives of being racist if I personally am not racist.” And what I’ve realized is there are a lot of racists that the Republican Party is appealing to. There’s also been a disconnect between what Republicans do in office and what they do on the campaign trail. Because going back to 1964, when the parties basically switched positions on civil rights, Republicans have been appealing for white votes with coded racial appeals. Whether it was Nixon’s Southern strategy, or in 1980 Ronald Reagan kicking off his general election campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi, or the Willie Horton ad from George H.W. Bush. You can point to all these examples. But when you look at the actual Republican presidents and leaders, I think they were actually decent people who weren’t delivering on this white-power agenda that a lot of their supporters might have been led to think they would deliver on. And so you had a disconnect between the Republican Party on the campaign trail and the Republican Party in power. Trump exploited that, because he has no compunctions about doing in office the kind of things that previous Republican standard-bearers only hinted at on the campaign trail. And he is tapping into frustration in ranks with what they see as being RINOs, as Republicans in Name Only. What I think they mean by that is candidates who did not deliver on the kind of racist, xenophobic, white-power agenda that a lot of Republicans would actually like to see. Before Donald Trump, the Republican Party was a majority conservative party with a white nationalist fringe. Now it’s a white nationalist party with a conservative fringe. “What we’ve seen consistently since Trump came into office is there is no separation: The Republican Party is now the Trump party.” DC: You saw people lining up behind Trump when he got the nomination. It seems to have prompted a crisis of faith within you. MB: Yes, it has. I wrote in 2016 that Donald Trump was a character test. And sadly, almost the entire Republican Party has failed. I am appalled to see people who I think are essentially decent, like Paul Ryan or George W. Bush, still campaigning for Republican candidates. They somehow disassociate ordinary Republicans from Donald Trump. But what we’ve seen consistently since Trump came into office is there is no separation. The Republican Party is now the Trump party. As John Boehner said, the real Republican Party is off taking a nap somewhere. This is the Trump party. They’ve basically made a Faustian bargain, where they say, “Give us judges and tax cuts and we’ll look the other way, at your racism, your xenophobia, your insanity, your attacks on our allies.” They’ve basically sold out for the judges and for the tax cuts. And for me it’s an appalling bargain. DC: Is there any difference now between conservatism and Trumpism? MB: There is a small group of “Never Trump” conservatives. But it is a small group, and I’ve actually been surprised that there are not more of us. There’s enough of us for a dinner party, not a political party. I wish there were more. Within the grassroots, a lot of people really love the Trump message, the racism, the xenophobia, the nonstop insults against liberals. That’s actually what they like most about him. And in Washington, there are a lot of cynical people who say, “Well, Trump has the support of 84 percent of Republicans, so we can’t get on his bad side.” These people that I used to admire have sold out their principles. Nobody’s more shocked and surprised than I am. This is a movement to which I dedicated my whole life. And now I realize, what the hell was that about? Who were these people? They’re not who I thought they were. DC: But what does it mean for you, personally, to be untethered in this way? MB: It makes me realize how much of American politics is tribal and how little of it has to do with principles or ideas. The reason why so many people are Republicans is because they hate Democrats; the actual substance of what Republicans stand for almost doesn’t matter. And that’s been a shocking realization. I re­registered as an independent the day after the election and no longer think of myself as a member of that community. On a personal level, it’s been a difficult experience because much of my identity was tied up in the conservative movement. And it’s hard for me to talk to a lot of my friends—the gap between us is so wide. But I’ve also realized the extent to which I had tailored my public statements to what the movement would find acceptable. I didn’t say anything I didn’t believe in, but there was a lot of stuff that I just didn’t comment on. I think it’s crazy that Republicans are opposed to all gun control when we have such a rampant problem with gun violence. But I just never tackled it. Or when Republicans deny climate change, which is a scientific fact, I didn’t deal with it. I just stayed in my lane, foreign policy and national security policy, and ignored the craziness all around me. I went with the tribe. I took the path of least resistance, and now it’s making me realize, no, I’ve got to think for myself, and that’s something very few people do, because being part of one of these political tribes, as much as anything, is a substitute for thought. So it’s been both chastening and liberating to escape from that stifling orthodoxy. DC: In the book, you write, “Only if the GOP as currently constituted is burned to the ground will there be any chance to build a reasonable center-right political party out of the ashes.” So your position now, Max, is burn, baby, burn. It sounds like the old Marxists. I’ve always believed in America and the goodness and greatness of America—that’s really been my greatest faith, and that faith has been battered. MB: I respect some of my friends trying to work on reforming the Republican Party, but at least for the time being, I think it’s a lost cause. So my hope is that the Republican Party will suffer massive and repeated drubbings at the ballot box. That’s why I urge everybody to vote straight-ticket Democratic even though I have a lot of disagreements with Democrats. I’m not a Democrat; I’m an independent. But for the health of our republic, I think we need to destroy the Republican Party. We need congressional oversight of Donald Trump, which you’re never going to get out of Republicans. I think you need to punish the Republicans for taking these appalling positions, abusing minorities, championing white nationalism, isolationism, protectionism. The only way to wean them from that is to punish them electorally. DC: As a man without party, a man without ideology, with maybe fewer friends than you used to have, are you feeling hopeful or more in a despairing sort of mindset? MB: I am a lot less optimistic or, if you like, Pollyannaish about the future of America than I used to be. I was this immigrant kid who came here in 1976 from the Soviet Union, and I’ve always believed in America and the goodness and greatness of America, and that’s really been my greatest faith. And that faith has been battered. This is a country that could elect Donald Trump. People like me kind of arrogantly assumed it can’t happen here, that there’s something in the water in America that renders us immune from this kind of threat to our democracy. And lo and behold, we’re not immune. We could easily go the way of countries that are backsliding from their democracy. I don’t think that’s inevitable, and I think the checks and balances in our system are stronger than in other countries. I’ve been cheered to see the way the press has taken on Trump. I’ve been cheered to see what the Democrats have done even as a minority in Congress, and the courts, and also the federal bureaucracy—even some of Trump’s own appointees. If Trump could get away with it, I’m sure he would love to emulate Putin and impose a dictatorship of his own. But, mercifully, we’ve had over 200 years of democratic tradition, and we do have pretty strong institutions. But we’re not as different from the rest of the world as I had previously thought, and so I’m no longer as optimistic about America. And I am pretty pessimistic about the survival of the American-led world order that we created in 1945. I mean, if you’re an American ally, why would you ever trust America again? DC: I suppose all our moods will be severely impacted by what happens on Election Day. MB: Absolutely. If Republicans hold on to the House and Senate, Donald Trump will see that as a green light to do the worst. Within a couple of days, he’s going to fire Sessions, Rosenstein, Mueller. He’s going to pardon Manafort and everybody else. It’s going to be a catastrophe without precedent for American democracy. He may still do that even if Democrats win, but if Democrats can take control of at least one house, there’s going to be some pushback, there’s going to be some subpoenas, there’s going to be some investigation, and basically the American people will be sending a cry and saying, “No, we will not put up with this. We will not allow you to undermine and even destroy our democracy. We’re going to stand up for the principles of 1776.” Every election people say there’s a lot at stake, but this time I really think that’s true.

Libertarian Fascism

CB: Note : Not just "conspiracy theory" : RIGHTWING conspiracy theories are the dangerous lies. Some "conspiracy theories " as in the JFK, MLK, RFK assassination rightwing government theories ARE TRUE ! Daily Kos Tragedy in small Michigan town once again demonstrates how lethal conspiracy theories can be Sep 12, 2022 7:03pm EDT by David Neiwert, Daily Kos Staff 448 626 For decades, people have thought of conspiracy theories as harmless amusements. But the past six years have demonstrated their extraordinary toxicity: They are incredibly dangerous to democracy, primarily because they destroy the shared reality necessary for it to function. By untethering people from reality, conspiracy theories poison relationships on every level, from national to local to the family itself. As a recent incident in Michigan demonstrates, their ability to tear families apart is especially devastating. In the town of Walled Lake, a 53-year-old man named Igor Lanis became so wrapped up in QAnon and other Trumpist conspiracy theories—particularly the former president’s claims to have won the 2020 election—that he finally erupted at his family because they failed to fall down the rabbit holes with him, went on a rampage with a handgun and a shotgun, and gunned them down before being shot by police on his front lawn. Top Articles Michigan's first blind Supreme Court justice, with Richard Bernstein (transcript)Right-wing smear artists baldly lie about Idaho public schools teaching ‘porn literacy’ to childrenRepublicans’ abortion problem keeps getting bigger, drives support for Democrats CLICK TO READ Ukraine update: Images from Izyum show why Russia must be defeated as quickly as possibleJacksonians have been concerned for decades over access to clean waterThis $5 million initiative is mobilizing Latinas in the southwest to vote around climate change Republicans’ abortion problemkeeps getting bigger, drives support for Democrats Republicans’ abortion problem keeps getting bigger, drives support for Democrats Sign This Petition Sign the petition: Facebook must stop giving preferential treatment to hateful, conspiracy-based right-wing media Not in US? By signing this petition with email you will receive periodic updates on offers and activism opportunities from Daily Kos. You may unsubscribe at any time. Daily Kos Privacy policy: here. Daily Kos Terms and conditions: here. His wife, 56-year-old Tina Lanis, was killed, as was the family dog; both were shot multiple times. His 25-year-old daughter, Rachel, was also shot but managed to survive her wounds and call police. She was too distraught to give them the address, but police were already on the scene, having been summoned by neighbors. Lanis then walked out the front door of the home and began shooting at police, who returned fire, killing him. His younger daughter, 21-year-old Rebecca Lanis, was staying overnight with friends and survived the massacre. On Reddit Sunday, only hours after the killings, she posted her account. “My Qdad snapped and killed my family this morning,” she wrote on the QAnon Casualties subreddit. She wrote that “growing up, my parents were extremely loving and happy people. I always had a special bond with both my parents.” However, she wrote, that all began to change after the 2020 presidential election. “In 2020 after Trump lost, my dad started going down the Q rabbit hole,” she wrote. “He kept reading conspiracy theories about the stolen election, Trump, vaccines, etc. It kept getting worse and he verbally snapped at us a few times. Nothing physical though. He never got physical with anybody.” Rebecca Lanis told Will Sommer of The Daily Beast that her father’s mental health worsened the further he succumbed to the conspiracist alternative universe. She said he tried to force family members to watch videos on a variety of theories—vaccines as social control, 5G cell towers as the cause of COVID, tales of a secret cabal of lizard people running the world. He was particularly focused on election-denialist theories. Lanis explained in a later Reddit thread that her father’s behavior and personality had completely changed. “He would spend all day and night reading stuff on his phone and laptop and would get really pissy over the smallest things. His carefree and fun persona was gone. He started talking about 5G and EMFs being bad, and modern medicine being a sham,” she said. “It's like he got possessed by a demon.” She told Sommer that family members had tried to persuade her father to return to reality, but arguing with him was “pointless.” Indeed, it may have spurred him to violence. At around 4 AM Sunday morning, after her parents had argued over his beliefs, Rebecca Lanis wrote that her father “decided to take our guns and shoot her, my dog, and my sister. My mother succumbed to her wounds and my sister is in the hospital right now.” The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office received a “chilling” 911 call shortly afterward from Rachel Lanis, who told them her father had shot her and killed her mother. Responding officers first spoke with neighbors who had also reported gunfire. As they were doing so, they heard a gunshot from the Lanis’ house next door, and began moving toward it when Igor Lanis emerged from the front door, armed with shotgun. He reportedly fired at them and they fired back, killing him. It was the first time any Walled Lake police officer had ever shot anyone, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. “I think there was danger to anybody,” Bouchard said. “He had his keys with him so who knows where he was headed. ...This is terribly sad on so many levels." Officers found Rachel Lanis attempting to crawl out the front door; she had suffered what Bouchard described as “super traumatic injuries” to her back and legs. After emergency surgery at a local hospital, she was updated from critical to stable condition. Rebecca Lanis told Reddit readers that “there's a possibility she won't be able to move her legs again.” Rebecca Lanis explained in a later Reddit thread that her family was religious but that “Q turned my dad away from our religion. I believe that God has a plan for me and I will not be the next casualty to this actually demonic Q cult.” This incident is only the latest of a long litany of murderous violence inspired by QAnon conspiracy theories, and all too often—as in the case of the California man whose QAnon-fueled beliefs in “lizard people” led him to murder his two young children—family members are often the first people in their line of fire. The Jan. 6 insurrection demonstrated that, on a meta level, QAnon conspiracism can be a serious national security threat. As Amarnath Amarasingam and Marc-André Argentino explained in a study for the CTC Sentinel, “QAnon is arguably no longer simply a fringe conspiracy theory but an ideology that has demonstrated its capacity to radicalize to violence individuals at an alarming speed.” And it can spread like wildfire among authoritarian personalities, leading to both political and interpersonal violence. A December 2020 Ipsos poll taken shortly before the insurrection found that even before the attack on the Capitol, one-third of respondents falsely believed that voter fraud helped President Joe Biden win the election. Ipsos pollster Chris Jackson told National Public Radio that poll results such as these showed that an increasing number of people were losing touch with a "baseline reality." "Increasingly, people are willing to say and believe stuff that fits in with their view of how the world should be, even if it doesn't have any basis in reality or fact," Jackson said. "What this poll really illustrates to me is how willing people are to believe things that are ludicrous because it fits in with a worldview that they want to believe." Political scientist Michael Barkun explains in his book Culture of Conspiracy that conspiracists love what he calls “stigmatized knowledge,” sources that are obscure or even looked down upon. In fact, the more obscure the source is, the more true believers want to trust it. As Donovan Schaefer observes at The Conversation, this kind of appeal is how The Joe Rogan Experience podcast operates on the daily. Rogan regularly invites “scientists” who present themselves as “lone voices” oppressed by the Establishment because they’ve been repudiated by their colleagues onto his program. Somehow, these figures are presented as more credible than the people who debunk them. The conspiracist mindset is so obsessed with this kind of selective skepticism—with views that support their predisposed beliefs winning out—that scientists or other authorities may concur 98% of the time, but conspiracy theorists believe the other 2% are really on to something. The result is that they see themselves as “critical thinkers” who have outsmarted everyone else, who they dismiss as hapless “sheeple.” Eventually, they come to see those “sheeple” as active participants in the conspiracy, fully dehumanized. "It's really so shocking but it really can happen to anybody," Rebecca Lanis told The Detroit News. "Right-wing extremism is not funny, and people need to watch their relatives and if they have guns, they need to hide them or report them or something because this is out of control."