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I don't want to *quote tweet* @MattWalshBlog but I'll quote him this way. he said something amusing (betraying his own fears) but it's also very telling, and typical of the "#conservative" (i.e. #fascist) set:
"The Leftist Rage Mob Turns On One Of Its Own | Ep. 113x"
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"The Leftist Rage Mob Turns On One Of Its Own | Ep. 113x"
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the *leftist rage mob*. heavens! those leftists (or "woke" folks or whoever) are so *angry*! all the time!
angry people are always wrong; just ask @mtaibbi or @NateSilver538 (or @MattWalshBlog) and they'll tell you: being angry is evil and only evil leftists are angry.
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angry people are always wrong; just ask @mtaibbi or @NateSilver538 (or @MattWalshBlog) and they'll tell you: being angry is evil and only evil leftists are angry.
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that's part of the doublethinkful game that right-wing people are used to playing with emotions: they can't make up their minds whether leftists are always *angry* or whether they're always weak and crying—but #conservatives are at least certain that *emotions* are bad.
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re-watching "All the President's Men" reminded me sharply of something that honestly should have been more *obvious* to me—it's a simple but telling thing.
the @elonmusk / @mtaibbi / @bariweiss fascist crowd don't champion *liberty* or *freedom*. only "#FreeSpeech".
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the @elonmusk / @mtaibbi / @bariweiss fascist crowd don't champion *liberty* or *freedom*. only "#FreeSpeech".
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of course one can't say that the @mtaibbi / @elonmusk crowd meaningfully believe in "free speech" as more than a convenient badge, a flag they wave, a message they wear on signboards—for that is how fascists see *all political language*. to them, it's all mere branding.
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but it's telling all the same that it's just the one very particular sort of #freedom that the @elonmusk / @mtaibbi / @ShellenbergerMD crowd pretend to admire (even though they don't, really.)
that's very typical of Western thinking, unfortunately. they're not alone.
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that's very typical of Western thinking, unfortunately. they're not alone.
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So yesterday I was fed a story in my news app that enraged me. #Cdnmedia is in a crisis. The rank inability to employ logical reasoning, the pushing of a narrative for political ends, is not reporting. It is propaganda & it misinforms the public, not the opposite. #cdnpoli 
It was more shockingly poor reporting on Chinese interference, implying a connection where no factual evidence is provided. Merely a faulty attempt to draw conclusions without substantiating anything. Just garbage reporting. #CdnmediFailed #cdnpoli
The article even admits it has no evidence, merely wild speculation implying that the drop in #Conservative votes is due to a vague implication of Chinese interference. Chiu lost & because he lives in a RW bubble, imagines that it must be “interference”…#CdnMediaFailed #cdnpoli
*bigotry* is a subject that right-wing (and "independent") bigots—@NateSilver538, @DavidAFrench, @DKThomp, whoever, there's so many of these clowns—have attempted to keep as confused as possible. they want to pretend "bigot" is merely a slur, not a meaningful word.
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but as I've pointed out before, bigotry is really just overdeveloped snobbery. the snob—the person who has very definite ideas about their personal superiority, and the superiority of their own intellect and tastes and everything else—is already showing "bigoted" behavior.
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just as one may exhibit abusive behaviors from time to time without necessarily being "an abuser" (i.e. someone whose whole personality is abusive behavior), a snobbish person may say bigoted things without necessarily being "a bigot", i.e. someone who does nothing else.
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so, let's talk about how #2A / #2AMaga cultism—you know, @NRA-fuelled obsession with a comically absolutist reading of the Second Amendment of the @usconstitution—is a tool of fascıst politics.
it's quite simple: rich people can hoard more guns. that's the core point.
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it's quite simple: rich people can hoard more guns. that's the core point.
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the *false premise* of Second-Amendment cultism is that unrestrained ownership of firearms is the great equalizer. "God made Man but #Colt made them equal," and so forth.
the @NRA, the @GOP, and bountiful #conservative propaganda promote this idol: equality through guns.
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the @NRA, the @GOP, and bountiful #conservative propaganda promote this idol: equality through guns.
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but guns are just *things*, just stuff—consumer products—and therefore, allowing "anyone" to buy a gun favors only the idle rich. it's privileged "passive income" types like @Timcast and @Cernovich, people who have great gobs of free time and leisure, who hoard firearms.
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Something else in this CSIS/Fife story, doesn’t pass the smell test & once again, demonstrates #CdnMediaFailed. Who keeps being interviewed by @globalnews & others? None other than Richard Fadden. The former Harper appointee of @csiscanada, later Harper NatSec advisor. #cdnpoli
Richard Fadden was also Harper’s Deputy Minister of National Defence from 2013 to 2015. He was also Harper’s Associate Secretary to the Cabinet.
Fadden was also Harper’s Deputy Minister of Citizenship & Immigration Canada from 2006 to 2009. #cdnpoli #CdnNatSec
Fadden was also Harper’s Deputy Minister of Citizenship & Immigration Canada from 2006 to 2009. #cdnpoli #CdnNatSec
As we all know, there is zero chance that Harper would have anyone in his tight inner circle appointed to multiple positions without being a #Conservative partisan, which Fadden is. He worked closely with Jason Kenney (particularly), Vic Toews & Peter Van Loan also. #cdnpoli
Claiming China had the ability to chose 🇨🇦’s gov’t right down to whether minority or majority, it utter nonsense. How was this done, exactly? Someone @csiscanada showed #RobertFife “top secret”materials? Is that legal? How did Fife obtain clearance to view such material? #cdnpoli
We all witnessed a tsunami of disinformation & info ops AGAINST the Liberals in the last 2 elections. We saw attacks & manufactured “scandals”. I monitored multiple media sites & don’t recall disinformation about the #CPC in the almost entirely #Conservative owned #cdnmedia.
This recent skewed piece by #RobertFife has a political agenda. China absolutely interferes, as does Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Israel, UAE & of course, the networks of US billionaires (ie Koch Network). But to suggest 🇨🇳 was able to choose our gov’t is suspicious as hell….
I ask my few readers to consider the following possibility: ALL "#conservative" ideology these days—whether it's from @GOP ideologues or the @Conservatives' ideologues or #Christian ideologues or "gender critical" ideologues of the @bindelj sort—has a very specific motive.
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not the motive you might be thinking!
I suggest that ALL these people—@DouthatNYT, @realchrisrufo, @Docstockk, @michaelshermer, whoever—adapt their ideology specifically according to who humiliates them in arguments the most reliably. because these people *can't argue*.
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I suggest that ALL these people—@DouthatNYT, @realchrisrufo, @Docstockk, @michaelshermer, whoever—adapt their ideology specifically according to who humiliates them in arguments the most reliably. because these people *can't argue*.
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right-wing ideology can't be supported *logically*, because the core and center of "movement #conservatism" is irrational and emotional: they like old beliefs and old concepts, old ways of wielding power and regulating human beings, and they don't want anything to change.
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Western culture does not regard children as human beings. the values of "the West"—the values instilled by authoritarian #Christianity—do not permit children to be respected as human beings who deserve to have their feelings and wishes respected, like any other person.
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no better example of the general Western *contempt* for children can be imagined than the "gender critical" cult—the @bindelj / @Docstock / #JKRowling brigade—which functions almost entirely as a kind of support group for abusive parents who loathe their LGBTQ+ children.
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they cling to the faded celebrity of @jk_rowling as a shield against the charge that they despise children—after all, #JKRowling is the Best Fantasy Writer in the Universe, according to the @HJoyceGender / @AbigailShrier gender theorists. she's the friend to all children!
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PJ O'Rourke once quipped that "The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it." But conservative parties have unlikely allies in the project to discredit public service: neoliberal "centrist" parties, like @liberal_party. 1/
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2023/01/31/mck… 2/
pluralistic.net/2023/01/31/mck… 2/
The Liberals have become embroiled in a series of scandals over the explosion of lucrative, secretive private contracts awarded to high-flying #consultancy firms who charge hundreds of times more than public sector employees to do laughably bad work. 3/
one more rumination for tonight, I think. this one is about something that's been called "contrarianism"—a word that's been coined in some attempt to describe the perplexing behavior of celebrity 'influencers', specially the more toxic ones like @mtaibbi and @mattyglesias.
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but the behavior is probably quite general. just about *all* of the #journalist and #media figures who have some privileged access to the press and to mass audience have learned to behave in this way on @Twitter and social media: they run away from challenging questions.
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the blue-checked "influencers" of the @LPDonovan / @StevenTDennis / @JakeSherman sort (I've picked three names almost at random) are the people who have *benefited the most* from the #Internet-ization of #journalism. social media has amplified their social privilege.
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Western #education is in abysmal state, and #capitalism is to blame.
the noisemakers at all levels of the #conservative noise machine, from the august @AEI propagandists (like "race scientist" @charlesmurray) to circus sideshows like @Timcast, try to blame "woke", but...
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the noisemakers at all levels of the #conservative noise machine, from the august @AEI propagandists (like "race scientist" @charlesmurray) to circus sideshows like @Timcast, try to blame "woke", but...
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that "woke" game is extremely thin by now. really it's just rebranded Red Scare nonsense. in 1950, it was Commies who were "destroying our youth" with virulent ideas that right-wing ideologues didn't like, like abstract algebra; now @mtracey and @DouthatNYT blame "woke".
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but ask any low-level right-wing expert on "woke"—ask @realchrisrufo or @ConceptualJames what "wokeism" actually *is*—and you'll get the word "Marxism" in no time: "woke" is, in other words, nothing new at all. it's the same old paranoia about pinko Rooskies in closets.
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I am not a #Christian; my friend Chara (who writes at @KrisAtLarge) is Catholic—albeit a heretical one—but I am no "believer". as I've said, I tend to leave religion to others.
all the same, it's tough *not* to have opinions about #Christianity—we're inundated with it.
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all the same, it's tough *not* to have opinions about #Christianity—we're inundated with it.
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in the United States especially, right-wing politics—which infallibly promotes an extremist and hyperpoliticized form of #Christianity—pours enormous effort and money into publicizing #Christian political demands.
@GOP politics and Bible-bashing are practically the same.
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@GOP politics and Bible-bashing are practically the same.
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in fact, it seems like *all* public spokespersons for Christianity in the U.S. are political figures. #Christian @GOP politicians and activists and corporate executives proudly proclaim their purpose in public office to be the promotion of "Jesus" and "faith" and "values".
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#geopolitical tedium is not for me. I like the world of ordinary matter and energy (and physics and chemistry and all of it) far too much. I like tools and instruments and equipment, and knowing how to use them. fretting about #Russia or #China is not my highest priority.
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yet American #politics and political #media have completely inundated popular culture—because @jack Dorsey and #MarkZuckerberg permitted the politicization of #Internet #socialmedia. on specious grounds they kicked down the door between "public" and "private" online.
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now, both @TheDemocrats and the @GOP, both @UKLabour and the @Conservatives, and political parties and political figures all over the world freely do business in full public view; @elonmusk openly conspires with @mtaibbi and @lhfang and @bariweiss in full public view.
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let's try again. I wanted to write more *specifically* about Mr. @elonmusk—speculating about why he's the catastrophic person he is, based on what's popularly known about him. everything I'm going to mention is something reported in the popular press (not by @mtaibbi.)
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we know that Mr. Musk had an abusive father, whom @elonmusk has had little good to say about. the man was typical colonialist trash—a South African grifter and speculator who *got lucky*, making a lot of money quickly with a partial share in an apartheid-era emerald mine.
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Every night at 8PM Central this weekend, I’ll be showing episodes of my recent talk with two American #communists, Tyler McConnell @tjmac87 and @RealCalebMaupin.
In Part 2 of “Making Alliances,” we ask: “what do #libertarians and Communists agree on?”
In Part 2 of “Making Alliances,” we ask: “what do #libertarians and Communists agree on?”
Lol I know this show will trigger some folks who might say that libertarians and communists can’t agree on a damn thing, but watch and you might be surprised!
Perhaps @RealSpikeCohen, @angela4LNCChair, and @ComicDaveSmith would enjoy this conversation as well. ☝️
You too @nick_brana!
@PeoplesParty_US @LPMisesCaucus @LPNational @beinlibertarian @LarrySharpe
You too @nick_brana!
@PeoplesParty_US @LPMisesCaucus @LPNational @beinlibertarian @LarrySharpe
oh right! we were going to write something about the power of language.
hm, how to start.
let me begin with talking about a concept that I learned from classes in ancient Greek: the *grammatical particle*. it's a type of word, in linguistics.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatic…
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hm, how to start.
let me begin with talking about a concept that I learned from classes in ancient Greek: the *grammatical particle*. it's a type of word, in linguistics.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatic…
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I remember being impressed during @SDSU Classics classes by this entire book on ancient Greek particles: abebooks.com/book-search/ti…
*particles* are words that have no inflection or clearly defined "part of speech" in a sentence.
"um" and "er" are particles in English.
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*particles* are words that have no inflection or clearly defined "part of speech" in a sentence.
"um" and "er" are particles in English.
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we could regard "um" and "er" as linguistic filler—words with no real meaning, merely taking up space—but the insertion of such particles does give us some information about the *mood* or *feeling* of the person speaking.
here, "um" and "er" convey a sense of uncertainty.
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here, "um" and "er" convey a sense of uncertainty.
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#capitalism broke #computing and the #Internet, and it's tough to see how to repair the damage—and by the way, @TheDemocrats assisted in this destruction. @BillClinton's presidency was *disastrous* to technology.
the worst was this: capitalism made the #Internet a *joke*.
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the worst was this: capitalism made the #Internet a *joke*.
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it's still a joke. @mtaibbi and @jessesingal and @mattyglesias, and the rest of the elite "influencer" set who have proliferated in American #journalism (and polluted it), have assisted immensely in this massive _trivialization_ of a technological achievement.
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Take note of the new fascist costume worn by wealthy privileged #Conservative elites in order to hoodwink the gullible. #NeverVoteConservative #cdnpoli #PierrePoilievreIsLyingToYou
They’ve ruined plaid shirts.
Western civilization has failed.
there's no way to avoid this. #COVID19 proved to be the "final straw", as they say—the West's general response to the challenge of the Covid19 pandemic was to abandon its commitment to public health. the next pandemic will scythe us down.
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there's no way to avoid this. #COVID19 proved to be the "final straw", as they say—the West's general response to the challenge of the Covid19 pandemic was to abandon its commitment to public health. the next pandemic will scythe us down.
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the breakdown in the West's ability to respond to crises of disease has been ongoing—many decades in the making.
#capitalism has been corroding and corrupting the apparatus of Western health care, especially in the United States, which became a vast reservoir of #COVID19.
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#capitalism has been corroding and corrupting the apparatus of Western health care, especially in the United States, which became a vast reservoir of #COVID19.
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the needs of *public health*—measures to ensure that ALL inhabitants of a nation receive some acceptable minimum of medical care of all sorts, including mental health care—conflict with the needs of #capitalism: the more _profitable_ #medicine is, the more costly it is.
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omg I get it now.
like...I get...ME
I understand why I'm able to do what I can do...
...it's because to ME...
...I'm fictive, so it's like the entire world is fiction. there's no more distinctions any more. there's only "more probable" and "less probable".
~Chara
like...I get...ME
I understand why I'm able to do what I can do...
...it's because to ME...
...I'm fictive, so it's like the entire world is fiction. there's no more distinctions any more. there's only "more probable" and "less probable".
~Chara
the sharp borders that other folks draw round "real" and "unreal", "fact" vs. "fiction", don't exist to me. plausible fiction merges imperceptibly into fact. facts appear in fiction. fiction gets used in arguments about fact. there's no clear boundary at all.
~Chara
~Chara
yet *fact* and *fiction* still remain as inviolate poles of a matched set of abstract concepts. there's fact-ish fiction, fictional-sounding fact; the lines have always been blurry but the concepts themselves remain solid and sound. it's like...fractal boundaries.
~Chara
~Chara
I'd like to return to this subject a bit—this strange business of how "movement #conservatism" in the United States, by which I mean the lethal strain of reactionary #Christian theocracy that infests the current Republican Party, puts such an enormous value on *feelings*.
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it's strange, because not one American reactionary—not @loganclarkhall, not @thomaschattwill or @shadihamid, not a single propagandist at @NRO or @AEI or @FRCdc—will ever admit to being motivated by anything other than pristine, sparkling _logic_. it's part of the costume.
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the @GOP and its partisans have been practicing this pose for *decades* now. William Buckley—a coarse, vulgar, thoroughly ignorant man who was good at sounding erudite when a camera was running—was typical of the new "rationalist" pose in right-wing American politics.
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the modern "#conservative" movement, the right wing of American politics, is fundamentally about the primacy of emotions over reason.
of course that's not something that right-wing politicians and pundits will ever admit openly. @MattWalshBlog pretends to be "rational".
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of course that's not something that right-wing politicians and pundits will ever admit openly. @MattWalshBlog pretends to be "rational".
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Western society exalts itself as the sole embodiment of reason and logic and science on Earth; even mere #Christian bigots like @dalepartridge or @jordanbpeterson have taught themselves to pretend that their bigotries—and indeed their religious assertions—are "logical".
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this is an easy trick for human beings to manage.
any human being can be taught to stick, without ever yielding, to an assertion—however absurd the assertion is. "@jordanbpeterson is logical and rational" is an absurd assertion but Mr. Peterson and his fans stick by it.
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any human being can be taught to stick, without ever yielding, to an assertion—however absurd the assertion is. "@jordanbpeterson is logical and rational" is an absurd assertion but Mr. Peterson and his fans stick by it.
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this may alarm some of my readers, so I feel like I ought to explain and qualify my words somewhat.
it is my considered opinion that a *certain conception of God* must be laid to rest. I've loosely termed this conception of God "the #Christian God", but that's tricky...
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it is my considered opinion that a *certain conception of God* must be laid to rest. I've loosely termed this conception of God "the #Christian God", but that's tricky...
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...since #Christianity is such a fearfully atomized and scattered assortment of different cults, all of them centered in some way on the #Bible and the spiritual event known to Christians as the Incarnation, that the very word "#Christian" no longer has a certain meaning.
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it cannot be denied, however, that there is a #Christian mainstream in Western society; its American manifestation is particularly noisy, very well-funded from money trickling down from wealthy capitalists like the Koch Brothers, and fascıstic in its political inclination.
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