Friday Open Thread

8 thoughts on “Friday Open Thread”

1. "That white person you see calling himself a liberal is the most dangerous thing in the western hemisphere"

   Malcolm X

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   1. “…. The white conservatives aren’t friends of the Negro either, but they at least don’t try to hide it. They are like wolves; they show their teeth in a snarl that keeps the Negro always aware of where he stands with them.” – Malcom X

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   2. Hitler was far right, but do go on, Qaren

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   3. A more nuanced view from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., writing his Letter From Birmingham Jail:

      I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who  constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

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   4. At its core, prejudice is prejudice, a fact-finding mission without the facts and the search and the mission.

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2. Three Horsemen of the Trump Apocalypse. David Kurtz at TPM

   On the last full workday before Donald Trump’s second inauguration on Monday, I wanted to return to our earlier discussion of the three horsemen of the Trump II apocalypse: retribution, corruption, and destruction.

   As the pace of the Trump II chaos has quickened in recent days, it’s been harder to keep track of of it all, let alone make sense of it. We can wave our hands at the general chaos, but if our understanding starts to slip, we can’t triage and prioritize the various threats and transgressions. It helps to remember that the chaos isn’t the point in and of itself but is in service of the three driving motives that animate the MAGA id.

   Trump’s lizard brain seeks retribution for slights real and imagined, with near perfect overlap between wounds to his ego and threats to his power. He perceives them in virtually the same way, and therein lies so much of the danger of the Trump cult. The melding of the personal and the public, of personality and power, and of loyalty to an individual and duty to the common good.

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3. What the hell is wrong with Peterson?

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4. I'm still considering coping mechanisms for the next 4 years, but I have settled on this one: attaching "last,"  "final," "ultimate," and "terminal" to each official act Trump will never perform again. For instance, on Monday Trump will take his "final" oath of office. That evening, he will attend his "last" inaugural ball. 

   Tiny reminders of his impermanence feel comforting.

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