Olga is exactly correct. If you look into what these tech oligarchs want as part of their designed “Network State” construct for society, mass surveillance is very much a part of that. It also aligns with Russell Vought’s saying “the next American Revolution will be bloodless… If the left allows it.” That’s somewhat of a paraphrase but the sentiment is very real.
But the “Dark Enlightenment” philosophy that is driving much of what we see happening behind Trump includes ideas forwarded by Curtis Yarvin that include social credit and surveillance. They believe they can control the actions of individuals and instill fealty to their regime if they keep watch of everything we do. This includes every social interaction, every family interaction, every time we step into a vehicle. There will be no escape. And per Yarvin’s design, people can be arrested for sharing ideas about crime or protest before any crime is ever committed.
Speech and dissent will become an arrestable offense.
Yarvin is also the father of the RAGE program, which very much aligns with DOGE and gutting the federal government on a systemic level by firing tens of thousands of employees.
You were absolutely going down the right rabbit holes. I recommend the works of Dave Troy, Gil Duran, and Jonathan Taplin, who have held their eye on the tech oligarchs and their plans for many years.
With Gov. Reynolds announcing she is not running for re-election, Iowa politics is more interesting. I argue that Grassley will resign; under Iowa law, the Gov. appoints his replacement.
I have worked with Grassley and his staff for over 40 years. Yes, he has changed. I give him credit for in person town halls, something that other members of our federal delegation, much younger, even safer districts (like my Cong. Randy Feensra, don't do.
Below I copy part of my post, “Remember Hitler” (Heads up, the post is twelve pages).
The post compares Trump’s behavior with Hitler’s behavior through the lens of Hannah Arendt’s seminal study, “The Origins of Totalitarianism”, original copyright 1948.
Trump is not Hitler reincarnate, but he knows how Hitler got his power, and he has it in him to start WWIII. Trump is clearly transfixed by Hitler. It may not seem like it, but Trump is in his pre-power existence, like Hitler in 1933.
Propaganda characterized by monstrous lies should not be generalized, not everything Trump says is a lie. “Hitler was completely sincere and brutally unequivocal in the definition of the movement’s true aims, but they were simply not acknowledged by a public unprepared for such consistency.” This marks a flashing neon difference between Hitler and Trump, the former forthright about true aims, the latter hides true aims.
The ultimate goal of “Real power is fear”, Trump’s words. Hitler would agree, he found it “more useful than direct threats and crimes against individuals, to use indirect, veiled, and menacing hints against all who will not heed him”. Once again, there is no daylight between Hitler and Trump.
The chief qualification of a mass leader has become unending infallibility; he can never admit an error. When was the last time you heard Trump admit an error? (Facetious question).
In 2026, Trump will be an octogenarian, so time is not his friend. The People must non-violently protest.
It seems that you are expecting the "legacy" media to act as advocates. That is not what they are supposed to do. Wnen Fox does it, many on the opposite end of the spectrum go ballistic. CNN has been providing many articles describing the various judicial wranglings and university issues. They also provide commentaries negative to tRump's positions but aside from that, it is the responsibility of readers to form their own conclusions without being hand-held by journalists.
To coin a common phrase- different strokes for different folks. Different things are going to work for different people in every situation. Immigration is one of my major concerns and what Trump is doing to them disturbs me greatly. I live in the southwest and immigrants are a part of the fabric of our lives, legal and illegal. They work in our chile fields. They do work that supports the tourist industry in the city I live in. Like any group of people there are going to be some criminals but the vast majority of them are law abiding hard working people. They are usually the least likely to commit crimes for fear of deportation. You wouldn’t find many people in my city that want to see them deported. We’ve been a place where people went back and forth from my state and Mexico since long before we were a state. We also speak Spanish and English here and we aren’t going to stop doing that for Trump. The impalpable reality is Trump and his supporters hate all immigrants that aren’t white and for all the talk they do about come here legally and we welcome you is a lie. Unlike the first Trump go round when we had faces to see to turn Americans hearts we have none now other than Garcia’s. We have them flown away at night in secret so no one can see them. It weighs on our hearts daily where I live and I wish that was true elsewhere.
I see your point but we’re in a crisis right now and Trump is trying to shut the media up. I rarely watch CNN anymore because I only care about the resistance at this juncture. I can’t fill my mind with panel discussions that include republicans that are nothing but apologists for Trump. Given the crisis we are facing I think CNN should decide what side they are going to be on. We all have our favorites of course. For me I literally need Rachel Maddow nightly. It’s very similar to how I felt about Dr Reiner or Sanja and Anderson Cooper’s weekly discussions during Covid. They comforted me, informed me, and gave me the strength to carry on. That’s how I feel about Rachel. She informs her viewers in a style no one else can. I expect the media to step up and tell the truth. They are under attack too and are likely concerned about their bottom line but I don’t care. They must do their job just as these pathetic lawmakers should be doing theirs.
Here's something to think about as you ponder the injustices of those Red states who are attacking democracy:
Three states have defeated Proof-of-citizenship laws when registering to vote; MT, UT, MS. Eighteen have already enacted such horrendous, anti-immigrant laws; among them, NJ, NY, OR, WA, joining FL, TX, OK, SD, ID.
As Pogo once said (possibly before your time), "We have met the enemy, and they are us!
I guess we're just from different generations. I didn't need anyone to make me feel good or give me strength during Covid, and I certainly don't need anyone peeking out from under their sky umbrella telling me to watch out for falling pieces.
Olga is exactly correct. If you look into what these tech oligarchs want as part of their designed “Network State” construct for society, mass surveillance is very much a part of that. It also aligns with Russell Vought’s saying “the next American Revolution will be bloodless… If the left allows it.” That’s somewhat of a paraphrase but the sentiment is very real.
But the “Dark Enlightenment” philosophy that is driving much of what we see happening behind Trump includes ideas forwarded by Curtis Yarvin that include social credit and surveillance. They believe they can control the actions of individuals and instill fealty to their regime if they keep watch of everything we do. This includes every social interaction, every family interaction, every time we step into a vehicle. There will be no escape. And per Yarvin’s design, people can be arrested for sharing ideas about crime or protest before any crime is ever committed.
Speech and dissent will become an arrestable offense.
Yarvin is also the father of the RAGE program, which very much aligns with DOGE and gutting the federal government on a systemic level by firing tens of thousands of employees.
You were absolutely going down the right rabbit holes. I recommend the works of Dave Troy, Gil Duran, and Jonathan Taplin, who have held their eye on the tech oligarchs and their plans for many years.
Great podcast, ladies!
Ernst, not Grassley, is up in 2026.
With Gov. Reynolds announcing she is not running for re-election, Iowa politics is more interesting. I argue that Grassley will resign; under Iowa law, the Gov. appoints his replacement.
I have worked with Grassley and his staff for over 40 years. Yes, he has changed. I give him credit for in person town halls, something that other members of our federal delegation, much younger, even safer districts (like my Cong. Randy Feensra, don't do.
Below I copy part of my post, “Remember Hitler” (Heads up, the post is twelve pages).
The post compares Trump’s behavior with Hitler’s behavior through the lens of Hannah Arendt’s seminal study, “The Origins of Totalitarianism”, original copyright 1948.
Trump is not Hitler reincarnate, but he knows how Hitler got his power, and he has it in him to start WWIII. Trump is clearly transfixed by Hitler. It may not seem like it, but Trump is in his pre-power existence, like Hitler in 1933.
Propaganda characterized by monstrous lies should not be generalized, not everything Trump says is a lie. “Hitler was completely sincere and brutally unequivocal in the definition of the movement’s true aims, but they were simply not acknowledged by a public unprepared for such consistency.” This marks a flashing neon difference between Hitler and Trump, the former forthright about true aims, the latter hides true aims.
The ultimate goal of “Real power is fear”, Trump’s words. Hitler would agree, he found it “more useful than direct threats and crimes against individuals, to use indirect, veiled, and menacing hints against all who will not heed him”. Once again, there is no daylight between Hitler and Trump.
The chief qualification of a mass leader has become unending infallibility; he can never admit an error. When was the last time you heard Trump admit an error? (Facetious question).
In 2026, Trump will be an octogenarian, so time is not his friend. The People must non-violently protest.
It seems that you are expecting the "legacy" media to act as advocates. That is not what they are supposed to do. Wnen Fox does it, many on the opposite end of the spectrum go ballistic. CNN has been providing many articles describing the various judicial wranglings and university issues. They also provide commentaries negative to tRump's positions but aside from that, it is the responsibility of readers to form their own conclusions without being hand-held by journalists.
To coin a common phrase- different strokes for different folks. Different things are going to work for different people in every situation. Immigration is one of my major concerns and what Trump is doing to them disturbs me greatly. I live in the southwest and immigrants are a part of the fabric of our lives, legal and illegal. They work in our chile fields. They do work that supports the tourist industry in the city I live in. Like any group of people there are going to be some criminals but the vast majority of them are law abiding hard working people. They are usually the least likely to commit crimes for fear of deportation. You wouldn’t find many people in my city that want to see them deported. We’ve been a place where people went back and forth from my state and Mexico since long before we were a state. We also speak Spanish and English here and we aren’t going to stop doing that for Trump. The impalpable reality is Trump and his supporters hate all immigrants that aren’t white and for all the talk they do about come here legally and we welcome you is a lie. Unlike the first Trump go round when we had faces to see to turn Americans hearts we have none now other than Garcia’s. We have them flown away at night in secret so no one can see them. It weighs on our hearts daily where I live and I wish that was true elsewhere.
I see your point but we’re in a crisis right now and Trump is trying to shut the media up. I rarely watch CNN anymore because I only care about the resistance at this juncture. I can’t fill my mind with panel discussions that include republicans that are nothing but apologists for Trump. Given the crisis we are facing I think CNN should decide what side they are going to be on. We all have our favorites of course. For me I literally need Rachel Maddow nightly. It’s very similar to how I felt about Dr Reiner or Sanja and Anderson Cooper’s weekly discussions during Covid. They comforted me, informed me, and gave me the strength to carry on. That’s how I feel about Rachel. She informs her viewers in a style no one else can. I expect the media to step up and tell the truth. They are under attack too and are likely concerned about their bottom line but I don’t care. They must do their job just as these pathetic lawmakers should be doing theirs.
Here's something to think about as you ponder the injustices of those Red states who are attacking democracy:
Three states have defeated Proof-of-citizenship laws when registering to vote; MT, UT, MS. Eighteen have already enacted such horrendous, anti-immigrant laws; among them, NJ, NY, OR, WA, joining FL, TX, OK, SD, ID.
As Pogo once said (possibly before your time), "We have met the enemy, and they are us!
I guess we're just from different generations. I didn't need anyone to make me feel good or give me strength during Covid, and I certainly don't need anyone peeking out from under their sky umbrella telling me to watch out for falling pieces.