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Oh FFS. You do an extremely tense segment literally calling out Vermont Republicans for their cowardice and demanding they do better, only to get accused of **PRO-REPUBLICAN** partisanship? This is SUCH Cluster B bullshit. This is borderline-parent-watching-you-do-the-chores-until-she-finds-something-to-scream-about levels of bullshit.

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founding

Love this...just as long as you call out the Crusades too, Josh.

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Mar 9, 2023Liked by Josh Slocum

I have a master’s degree in Education, which - as you once correctly and hilariously said - is like having a degree in bologna. But I did study theories of human moral development that seem pertinent here.

If children mature normally, they pass through 4 (or 6, depending on whether you’re into Piaget or Kohlberg) of stages of moral development. If something disrupts this process, or the right things don’t happen to move it along, some people get stuck. They fail to develop the autonomous, evaluative moral structure of an adult

A person who gets morally...well, cryogenically frozen in early or middle childhood is not only selfish and demanding, he or she believes in the absolute sanctity of rules set by an authority figure. This kind of person - and they are everywhere now - retains a child’s obsession with “fairness” and the self-righteous, sadistic thrill of “I’m telling!”

Easy pickings for a socio-political cult that rewards its members for...well, never growing up. For all of this.

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“Why am I getting punished and Billy isn’t?! We were BOTH bad today! I set the house on fire and burned it to the ground, but Billy maybe ate an extra Oreo before that, I think!”

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The Roman emperor Elagabalus reputedly offered a large reward to anyone that could transform him into a woman. Transexuals have been around for a very long time. It’s true that no one can change their sex but if some people can improve their sense of wellbeing by socially functioning as a member of another sex, then all things being equal, I think they have every right to do so. If this is the path a person feels they need to take then the sooner they take it the more successful it is likely to be.

That’s why I have supported transexual rights and have even signed petitions to protect the rights of minors to receive “gender affirming” care.

I would never vote for Trump. I’m a busy person and there’s a lot going on in my life and in the world. I look for shortcuts that indicate the truth and cut to matters of essential importance. With someone like me, you need to lead with your strongest card.

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Trump: “Obama wasn’t born in Hawaii.”

Me: “Really?!! That’s absolutely ridiculous, Obama was indeed born in Hawaii and the evidence for it is clear and convincing. Is that your strongest card? Good, I have no need to listen to anything else you say and you certainly won’t get my vote.”

See how quick, easy, and sensible that approach is.

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Now this:

Josh: “Parents with personality disorders are influencing their children to have extreme medical interventions that result in irreversible harm. Our society is in a pandemic of Cluster B.”

Me: “Well, now, to be honest, I have seen things in the past that have made me very uncomfortable about all this. There are some very disturbed people that use their children in just this way for their own sick gratification. I know that’s true from personal observation along with what I’ve seen over the years in the media. You know, that’s a pretty damn strong card Josh is leading with here. I don’t want to be on the wrong side with this issue.”

For me money is tight. I had to cancel a subscription to justify the $10 a month but, I feel better about myself for doing it though obviously it isn’t much.

Keep leading with the strongest card(s), don’t get sidetracked with nonsense, and you may be surprised with who you win over.

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I shouldn’t have written “he or she.” This is a vastly female phenomenon.

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Mar 10, 2023·edited Mar 10, 2023Liked by Josh Slocum

I have been noticing a clear trend in my town FB discussions. It was always there, but I am just seeing it.

Some very liberal people (yes, typically women) state that such and such problem is unacceptable, and they frame the problem. If someone interjects to say that maybe....

- This isn't the degree of problem the original person thinks it is

- Others may respectfully disagree with this definition of the problem

- There is another perspective to take on this problem

...they are immediately shot down. They are told that their tone is is demanding or impolite, and they are provided with "educational" materials which will illustrate that this meddling person is wrong. If said meddling person dares to respond again with reasonable alternate statements, they just double down on the exact same behavior, demanding different results.

Like I said, I know it's been going on all along. But now that I can really see it, it's surreal.

Just for fun, I'll let you know that today's explosion was about the need for coyotes to have more rights...on an Island.

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It is my opinion that the influence of these women -- I hesitate to call them liberal -- has contributed to the decline of our society more than any other single cause in the last thirty years. I am halfway done with a piece no one will ever read on this very topic. The suppression of masculinity has encouraged dominance of the feminine style, which at scale is more neurotic and covert. This is not the Good everyone thinks it is. Feminine isn't better. Masculine isn't a Bad. The parents bringing children to lewd drag shows? Ninety percent mothers. I would bet a month's pay that ninety percent of parents who brag about having "trans" kids are mothers. People who watch The View. Where are the dads? If they're around they are treated like idiots, accused of "mansplaining" or worse if they dare disagree. We have handed cluster B the wheel. It's outrageous.

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Mar 10, 2023·edited Mar 10, 2023Liked by Josh Slocum

I'm not even going to pretend to understand that kind of "But, but - both sides!" nonsense. In my country BOTH major political parties have apparently been bought out by big pharma and/or Troon Cultists. There are two renegade women in the slightly more conservative party who are standing against it and defending the rights of women and children. That's it.

I'm so sick of encountering this particular religious belief in those who seem otherwise ostensibly rational. How difficult is it to discern that "trans" is a recent, corporatised and synthetic construct unlike sexual orientation? There are no children "born trans". Can nobody even remember that this wasn't a thing ten years ago°°?!? I don't think that so many people can possibly be so evil as to WANT proto gay and lesbian children chemically and surgically castrated. They sure as hell can be stupid enough to fall for a corporate scam, though. Apparently.

°°Well, it was scarcely a thing. Granted, Susie Green from the UK had already taken her son to Thailand to be castrated on his 16th birthday, and she wasn't the first to pursue paediatric transition for an effeminate son. It was still only the behaviour of the Cluster B outlier.

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Well said, Josh! We conservatives are fighting tooth and nail in Texas to get some legislation passed to prohibit gender “affirming” care, AKA child abuse of the most egregious kind. Unfortunately, the transgender industrial complex is going full bore in Texas and are big donors to the governor, Lt. governor and speaker of the house, as well as a representative or two. We keep working for it though, and will not give up.

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BTW there is a book on the transgender industrial complex, named just that. It is hard to read but it is fully sourced and basically it says “Follow the money.”

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Mar 11, 2023Liked by Josh Slocum

I have hypothydroidism, so in an effort to learn more about the disorder and hormonal imbalances more generally, I've been digging into some of the research and trying to learn more. Unfortunately this space is dominated by highly educated, neurotic liberal women and so finding evidence-based treatment options and sound reasoning has been like looking for a needle in a haystack.

One of the top endocrinologists in this domain was on Huberman's podcast recently to discuss this topic. When asked why women are more likely to complain of physical issues or have higher levels of cortisol, this Harvard educated woman responded "patriarchy" and "white privilege". I kid you not. Huberman gently pushed back (far too gently, IMO) in the way that only a fellow liberal would.

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Mar 13, 2023Liked by Josh Slocum

I've been thinking about what you said, Josh, about how so many sayings are really just Cluster B diversion tactics. "Don't judge a book by its cover", that's one of the worst.

Another is "There are two sides to every story". There *might* be, but it's not a given.

What Republicans do *doesn't matter*. It's a classic appeal to hypocrisy – your point, "it's bad to surgically mutilate a child's genitals," is no less (or more) valid just because you choose not to criticize the "other side". In this case, there is no "other side".

But really, on a fundamental, Cluster B level, this is an attack on your individuality, your autonomy, and your right to make decisions for yourself.

No one is entitled to your time. No one is entitled to dictate what you do (or do not) focus on. No one is entitled to mind control you. Anyone who wants to criticize Republicans is free to do it – and get lots of yummy social credit in return.

You do you, Jane. You do you.

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