Basic Bugs Bunny problem where Bugs is being completely obnoxious to Yosemite Sam, but is wearing a pair of glasses. Bugs then taunts Sam with 'You wouldn't hit a man with glasses would you'
The Alinskyites go from one subject to another (trans-refugees-student loans etc) creating mayhem and resentment. They have succeeded in irritating the entire country and keeping people agitated with one another. It does nothing for fixing problems or day to day management of issues, but that was never the point to begin with.
I recall reading 'Rules for Radicals' maybe 30 years ago. Came away with, ok, you can drive everyone bananas by following this book. But what is the point? Alinsky had no idea about what to do when he created enough mayhem to get into power.
I have thumbed through his other books. They are no different.
Thus when his disciples David Axelrod, Fr. Pfleger, and to an extent Barack Obama get what they want *power*, they have no idea what to do, and they just make matters worse.
Excellent article. Add to this the poverty / homelessness / drug addiction mitigation industry and you see that leftists are capitalists after all - sickening
Great point on them being capitalists......for their own causes. Someone might question what sort of "utility" is generated. The answer is political power, and lots of it. From political power they get to mine profits using tax dollars and patronage. It's no different than the feudal system in the middle ages. We get to fight their wars, they get our labor and claims on property.
The situation is sad - that is the most concise word for me. We have an upcoming generation that sees major corporations making egregious errors and passing the loss off to society thru crony bailouts and they are told that is what "capitalism" represents - all to advance a political agenda. At the same time, the same people who propagate the lie while benefiting from it, then engage in what you just described. It is like being gang raped and having to be thankful for the one that didn't slap you.
This is all exactly right, except it goes much deeper and is much more alarming than a mere cash grab. The OBiden Regime, like the Nazi’s, are in the process of setting up a totalitarian police state. This is not hyperbole. It is reality. Of the many strategies to implement this is to sexualize children and turn them against their parents as informants. Read these and weep:
This is Maoist in nature. Red Guard. They're taking the worst of history and putting their own smiley face on it to get the masses to demand. Also see And Not A Shot Was Fired.
PS - those links. Wow. Only just started reading, but wow.
Good Lord! I knew the money in the transgenderism business was huge, but never ran the numbers. Thanks for doing the lifting Jeffrey.
I'm sickened by the entire transgender industry. These are evil people exploiting those with mental illnesses.
Didn't obamacare facilitate, or require insurance companies to pay for transgender body mutilation? (they call it transgender care, but that's an oxymoron. But there's you can't use the word "care" when you're writing/talking about lopping off body parts.)
I live near Philly, obviously. Which means I have many neighbors who work in the Pharma industry. Over the last 4 years I have looked at them in silent but increasing horror, first at their approach to COVID and most recently at the Trans sainthood attempt. I always knew that people had an amazing ability to rationalize any behavior if the end result is in their best interest but I knew that fact only as an abstract. Now I see it on a personal level with people that I know. I also know that were I to attempt a dialog I would immediately branded with the smear du jour.
In reality there is very little difference between them and the silent majority of Nazi sympathizers in WWII Germany who saw nothing wrong with the final solution supported at arm's length. The true horror is the accuracy in Arendt's description of the banality of evil. It lives next door. It mows the lawn. It clears its driveway of snow and says hello when it walks its dog. If there is a devil he is very good at what he does.
Jeffrey, you raise the obvious motivator and put it into fundamental terms. Thank you. This is one area where the wallet is getting people to motivate others hearts and minds.
Well reasoned, Jeff. So when do the trial lawyer vultures swoop in for their cut? Presumably after the insurance companies get committed so there are some deep pockets around.
It is extremely important to be careful in your choice of language when you write on this topic. As Forbes noted in his comment, it is not possible for cosmetic surgery and hormone therapy to change a person's biological sex. At best, cosmetic surgery can create a crude facsimile of male or female genitalia, and hormone therapy can create secondary sex characteristics, such as facial hair and a deeper voice for women who 'identify' as men. It may seem pedantic and nit picky, and I assume you know it is impossible to change one's sex, but by writing as if you accept the premise of transactivists who chant 'transwomen are women,' you have already lost the argument. If men can change their sex from male to female as your choice of language implies, then what is the legal basis for barring men who identify as women (whether or not they have had bottom surgery) from women's restrooms, locker rooms and other 'safe spaces' for women?
Also, it is not necessarily the case that cosmetic surgeries for changing one's physical sex characteristics are a matter of 'one and done.' Even simple plastic surgeries, for example following the removal of skin cancer, typically require one or more 'revisions,' and bottom surgery for men is far more complicated than the typical cosmetic surgery, as you might well imagine (though it is probably best not to think about it).
I agree with you that the financial incentives for medical practitioners (chiefly surgeons and endocrinologists) and the drug companies are an important factor driving the transgender 'mania.' The same can be said for the US medical establishment more generally; as someone whom Tucker Carlson recently interviewed argued, there is no profit for drug companies in keeping people healthy. Nevertheless, I think your cash flow analysis is a failed attempt to use reason and logic to understand and rationalize a phenomenon that is fundamentally irrational and far more sinister than you give it credit for.
-->"Of course, there are plenty of other costs involved with changing your **sex** from one to another." (Asterisks are mine.)
I'm curious--this is not the only place where you referred to sex rather than gender. No one can change their sex. Was this inadvertent? Or do you believe hormones and cosmetic surgery effect a change in sex as determined by DNA?
One thing that sort of fascinates me is the difference between M>F and. F>M. It seems that most M>F retain their testicles and penis. I believe Jenner is an exception. Stop taking the drugs and they go back to being males. I wonder how many will stay being female over the long term.
With F>M they usually want to have "top" surgery requiring removal of the breasts, then "bottom surgery" requiring removal of the uterus and sometimes the womb very early. Not a Dr but I would think removing the first is, while not simple, less of a risk then the latter due to blood loss, tissue loss, etc. I wonder if the requirements to be considered a female demanded the removal of penis and testes how many of the prominent advocates would do it? The Penn swimmer supposedly paraded around in the girls locker room with equipment intact. I've seen pictures of others which show they still have a penis. Some seem proudly displaying it even covered. They want to identify as a woman but keep everything that screams MALE.
On abortion: Personally I'd take a cue from the Bible and divide the baby in half. A nine month pregnancy is 36 weeks. Half is 18. The current emphasis tends to be on when life begins. Maybe a better definition would be when life ends. Usually the medical decision is based on Brain Death. You have a serious stroke and the decision on pulling the plug is around definition of death of brain activity. See here: https://flo.health/pregnancy/pregnancy-health/fetal-development/fetal-brain-developmen
In abortion earlier is better.
There will never be a consensus. The most important thing to each side isn't that they win, it's that the other side loses. One side wants abortion during birth or even after birth. The other side wants zero abortion anytime. Probably 99.9% don't agree with either but both sides know "they" are right and won't give up. Live with it.
Like so many other things in politics, just follow the money and you'll get your answer.
I had not thought of transgenderism issues from this point of view until reading this and you're spot on -it is all about the Benjamins. It is a huge industry that is getting deep pockets persuading mainstream media to hop on the bandwagon.
Our views are nearly identical on the issue with the only exception I would make being that insurance should cover expenses if there are life-threatening hormonal imbalances or certain physical medical conditions which are life threatening, which is a very small percentage, but again, is a loophole which would undoubtedly be abused.
It's an Alinsky long-game.
Basic Bugs Bunny problem where Bugs is being completely obnoxious to Yosemite Sam, but is wearing a pair of glasses. Bugs then taunts Sam with 'You wouldn't hit a man with glasses would you'
The Alinskyites go from one subject to another (trans-refugees-student loans etc) creating mayhem and resentment. They have succeeded in irritating the entire country and keeping people agitated with one another. It does nothing for fixing problems or day to day management of issues, but that was never the point to begin with.
“They have succeeded in irritating the entire country and keeping people agitated with one another.”
That’s the feature not the bug; pissed off people are easier to section up & keep divided. That’s exactly what the wannabe “overlords” want.
I recall reading 'Rules for Radicals' maybe 30 years ago. Came away with, ok, you can drive everyone bananas by following this book. But what is the point? Alinsky had no idea about what to do when he created enough mayhem to get into power.
I have thumbed through his other books. They are no different.
Thus when his disciples David Axelrod, Fr. Pfleger, and to an extent Barack Obama get what they want *power*, they have no idea what to do, and they just make matters worse.
https://www.campusreform.org/article/scroll-trans-activist-attacks-students-life-/24885 transactivists attack pro-life supporters
Excellent article. Add to this the poverty / homelessness / drug addiction mitigation industry and you see that leftists are capitalists after all - sickening
Great point on them being capitalists......for their own causes. Someone might question what sort of "utility" is generated. The answer is political power, and lots of it. From political power they get to mine profits using tax dollars and patronage. It's no different than the feudal system in the middle ages. We get to fight their wars, they get our labor and claims on property.
The situation is sad - that is the most concise word for me. We have an upcoming generation that sees major corporations making egregious errors and passing the loss off to society thru crony bailouts and they are told that is what "capitalism" represents - all to advance a political agenda. At the same time, the same people who propagate the lie while benefiting from it, then engage in what you just described. It is like being gang raped and having to be thankful for the one that didn't slap you.
Spot on. Fascists hiding as humanitarians.
This is all exactly right, except it goes much deeper and is much more alarming than a mere cash grab. The OBiden Regime, like the Nazi’s, are in the process of setting up a totalitarian police state. This is not hyperbole. It is reality. Of the many strategies to implement this is to sexualize children and turn them against their parents as informants. Read these and weep:
https://chrisbray.substack.com/p/you-bore-me-a-judas
https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/02/dhs-is-training-teachers-to-develop-student-disinformation-informers-i-know-i-took-the-training/
This is Maoist in nature. Red Guard. They're taking the worst of history and putting their own smiley face on it to get the masses to demand. Also see And Not A Shot Was Fired.
PS - those links. Wow. Only just started reading, but wow.
Good Lord! I knew the money in the transgenderism business was huge, but never ran the numbers. Thanks for doing the lifting Jeffrey.
I'm sickened by the entire transgender industry. These are evil people exploiting those with mental illnesses.
Didn't obamacare facilitate, or require insurance companies to pay for transgender body mutilation? (they call it transgender care, but that's an oxymoron. But there's you can't use the word "care" when you're writing/talking about lopping off body parts.)
I live near Philly, obviously. Which means I have many neighbors who work in the Pharma industry. Over the last 4 years I have looked at them in silent but increasing horror, first at their approach to COVID and most recently at the Trans sainthood attempt. I always knew that people had an amazing ability to rationalize any behavior if the end result is in their best interest but I knew that fact only as an abstract. Now I see it on a personal level with people that I know. I also know that were I to attempt a dialog I would immediately branded with the smear du jour.
In reality there is very little difference between them and the silent majority of Nazi sympathizers in WWII Germany who saw nothing wrong with the final solution supported at arm's length. The true horror is the accuracy in Arendt's description of the banality of evil. It lives next door. It mows the lawn. It clears its driveway of snow and says hello when it walks its dog. If there is a devil he is very good at what he does.
Jeffrey, you raise the obvious motivator and put it into fundamental terms. Thank you. This is one area where the wallet is getting people to motivate others hearts and minds.
In Illinois, does Medicaid pay for transgender surgery? What about private insurance companies?
don't know. I am sure Pritzker favors it. He is some of the big money behind the movement
Well reasoned, Jeff. So when do the trial lawyer vultures swoop in for their cut? Presumably after the insurance companies get committed so there are some deep pockets around.
It is extremely important to be careful in your choice of language when you write on this topic. As Forbes noted in his comment, it is not possible for cosmetic surgery and hormone therapy to change a person's biological sex. At best, cosmetic surgery can create a crude facsimile of male or female genitalia, and hormone therapy can create secondary sex characteristics, such as facial hair and a deeper voice for women who 'identify' as men. It may seem pedantic and nit picky, and I assume you know it is impossible to change one's sex, but by writing as if you accept the premise of transactivists who chant 'transwomen are women,' you have already lost the argument. If men can change their sex from male to female as your choice of language implies, then what is the legal basis for barring men who identify as women (whether or not they have had bottom surgery) from women's restrooms, locker rooms and other 'safe spaces' for women?
Also, it is not necessarily the case that cosmetic surgeries for changing one's physical sex characteristics are a matter of 'one and done.' Even simple plastic surgeries, for example following the removal of skin cancer, typically require one or more 'revisions,' and bottom surgery for men is far more complicated than the typical cosmetic surgery, as you might well imagine (though it is probably best not to think about it).
I agree with you that the financial incentives for medical practitioners (chiefly surgeons and endocrinologists) and the drug companies are an important factor driving the transgender 'mania.' The same can be said for the US medical establishment more generally; as someone whom Tucker Carlson recently interviewed argued, there is no profit for drug companies in keeping people healthy. Nevertheless, I think your cash flow analysis is a failed attempt to use reason and logic to understand and rationalize a phenomenon that is fundamentally irrational and far more sinister than you give it credit for.
-->"Of course, there are plenty of other costs involved with changing your **sex** from one to another." (Asterisks are mine.)
I'm curious--this is not the only place where you referred to sex rather than gender. No one can change their sex. Was this inadvertent? Or do you believe hormones and cosmetic surgery effect a change in sex as determined by DNA?
One thing that sort of fascinates me is the difference between M>F and. F>M. It seems that most M>F retain their testicles and penis. I believe Jenner is an exception. Stop taking the drugs and they go back to being males. I wonder how many will stay being female over the long term.
With F>M they usually want to have "top" surgery requiring removal of the breasts, then "bottom surgery" requiring removal of the uterus and sometimes the womb very early. Not a Dr but I would think removing the first is, while not simple, less of a risk then the latter due to blood loss, tissue loss, etc. I wonder if the requirements to be considered a female demanded the removal of penis and testes how many of the prominent advocates would do it? The Penn swimmer supposedly paraded around in the girls locker room with equipment intact. I've seen pictures of others which show they still have a penis. Some seem proudly displaying it even covered. They want to identify as a woman but keep everything that screams MALE.
On abortion: Personally I'd take a cue from the Bible and divide the baby in half. A nine month pregnancy is 36 weeks. Half is 18. The current emphasis tends to be on when life begins. Maybe a better definition would be when life ends. Usually the medical decision is based on Brain Death. You have a serious stroke and the decision on pulling the plug is around definition of death of brain activity. See here: https://flo.health/pregnancy/pregnancy-health/fetal-development/fetal-brain-developmen
In abortion earlier is better.
There will never be a consensus. The most important thing to each side isn't that they win, it's that the other side loses. One side wants abortion during birth or even after birth. The other side wants zero abortion anytime. Probably 99.9% don't agree with either but both sides know "they" are right and won't give up. Live with it.
Oh, and for all the abortion deniers on the born alive stuff, here is Gavin Newsome in his own words https://x.com/Breaking911/status/1761926623748575737?s=20 So, yes, you can kill a human after it is out of the womb.
That's a great assessment.
Like so many other things in politics, just follow the money and you'll get your answer.
I had not thought of transgenderism issues from this point of view until reading this and you're spot on -it is all about the Benjamins. It is a huge industry that is getting deep pockets persuading mainstream media to hop on the bandwagon.
Our views are nearly identical on the issue with the only exception I would make being that insurance should cover expenses if there are life-threatening hormonal imbalances or certain physical medical conditions which are life threatening, which is a very small percentage, but again, is a loophole which would undoubtedly be abused.