POWER AND CONTROL
How do you describe your relationship with your government?
I have made it no secret that I was in a bad marriage at one time in my life. After getting out, I went through a lot of counseling. At some point or another, when you go through abuse counseling, you will be handed this. The Power and Control Wheel. If you go through counseling long enough, you will end up seeing it several times.
During my journey in this movement, I keep thinking about this wheel. It is meant to outline the abuse and control within a relationship. However, don't we all have a relationship with our government in some form or another?
I want you to read through this and think about your relationship with the government. Do all of these not apply?
USING INTIMIDATION
Making someone afraid by using looks, actions, gestures
Smashing things
Destroying their property
Abusing pets
Displaying weapons
USING EMOTIONAL ABUSE
Putting someone down
Making them feel bad about themselves
Name calling
Playing mind games
Humiliation
Speaking at a fundraiser in New York City on Friday, Hillary Clinton said half of Donald Trump’s supporters belong in a “basket of deplorables” characterized by “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic” views.
“You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right?” Clinton said. “The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic—you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.”
Time: Read Hillary Clinton’s ‘Basket of Deplorables’ Remarks About Donald Trump Supporters
USING ISOLATION
Controlling what they do
Who they talk to
What they read
Limiting their outside involvement
Where they go
Using jealousy to justify actions
Members of the U.S. military who haven't been vaccinated against COVID-19 are starting to face the consequences. Military officials announced this week that, after months of warnings, they have begun disciplinary actions — including discharge.
The Air Force was the first of the branches to announce dismissals, saying Tuesday it had discharged 27 people who refused to get the vaccine. On Thursday, the Marines said it had discharged 103 troops. The Army has reprimanded 2,700 soldiers and said it will begin discharge proceedings in the new year. And the Navy this week told commanders to start "administrative separations" for "vaccine refusers."
NPR: U.S. military moves to discharge service members who refuse to get vaccinated
MINIMIZING, DENYING, AND BLAMING
Making light of the abuse and not taking concerns seriously
Saying the abuse didn't happen
Shifting responsibility
Laying blame
President Joe Biden accused former President Donald Trump and his supporters of promoting an extreme ideology that threatens democracy in rare prime-time remarks Thursday as he stepped up attacks on conservatives ahead of the midterm elections.
“Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic,” Biden said in the speech from the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia.
He accused so-called “MAGA Republicans,” a reference to Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan, of refusing to recognize free and fair elections, increasingly talking about violence in response to actions they don’t like, and of being determined to thwart "the will of the people."
NBC News: Biden attacks Trump, MAGA Republicans as a threat to democracy in blistering speech
USING CHILDREN
Making a person feel guilty about the children
Using children to relay messages
Using visitation for harassment
Threatening to take children away
In a push to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to take their case, an Anderson couple who lost custody of their transgender teen are arguing that without intervention more parents around the country could be stripped of parental rights because of their religious beliefs.
"If this can happen in Indiana, it can happen anywhere. Tearing a child away from loving parents because of their religious beliefs, which are shared by millions of Americans, is an outrage to the law, parental rights, and basic human decency," Lori Windham, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, said in a statement Thursday.
The Washington, D.C.-based law firm that specializes in religious freedom cases is representing Mary and Jeremy Cox in their appeal of an Indiana court ruling that upheld a decision by the Department of Child Services to remove their child.
The case touches on some of the most controversial and divisive social issues in Indiana, where conservative lawmakers have passed legislation targeting transgender rights, and LGBTQ+ advocates have turned to the courts for help. The issue of parental rights has also gained political momentum, particularly among Republicans over the last few years, focusing on issues such as vaccination requirements, school curricula and gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
MSN: 'It can happen anywhere.' Indiana parents lost custody of trans teen, ask SCOTUS for help
USING DOMINANCE
Treating someone like a servant
Making all the big decisions
Acting like the "Boss of the Castle"
Being the one to define all roles
Could the primary system – a feature of presidential politics for more than 50 years – be weakened by the Democrats’ choice to elevate Vice President Kamala Harris to the top of the ticket without a competitive nominating process? That may seem unthinkable to voters who have grown up with a democratic primary system, but party nominating contests have, in the past, similarly cut voters out of the process.
Primaries have an inconsistent history in the U.S., as I learned in my research on political parties. When party leaders have seen it as being in their interest to give voters more influence in the primary process, they have done so. When they believed that less-democratic methods could lead to a better chance of victory in the general election, they have done that, too.
You may not know that when you vote in a presidential primary, you aren’t technically voting for the candidate, but for delegates pledged to vote for that candidate at the party’s national convention. Even when a candidate gets enough of these delegates to win, their candidacy becomes official only when the delegates vote at the convention.
This year, something unusual is happening, because almost all of the delegates who were elected in the primaries to vote for Joe Biden are instead voting for Harris – despite the fact that she was not on any primary ballot.
USING ECONOMIC ABUSE
Preventing someone from working
Making them ask for money
Giving them an allowance
Taking their money
No access to family income
Republican attorneys general from 19 states have accused JPMorgan Chase of closing accounts and discriminating against customers due to their political or religious beliefs, a report says.
In a letter sent to JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Republicans representing 19 states said the bank had canceled major organizations' checking accounts and had asked screening questions focused on religion and politics before reinstating them.
The attorneys general said JPMorgan "abruptly closed" the checking account of the National Committee for Religious Freedom (NCRF), a non-profit, before a letter informing it about the decision had been delivered.
The complaint said that an employee at the bank eventually told the group that JPMorgan would restore the NCRF's account if it provided a list of its donors, a list of the political candidates it intended to support, and details of the criteria used to determine its support and endorsements.
USING COERCION AND THREATS
Making and/or carrying out threats to do something to hurt them
Threatening to leave them, to commit suicide, to report them to welfare
Making them drop charges
Making them do illegal things
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris once threatened to use databases of gun owners to send police to their homes to confiscate firearms.
Ms. Harris described her gun control stance in August 2019 at a Democratic presidential primary forum that took place shortly after two deadly mass shootings in California and Texas.
She said she was “prepared to take executive action” to implement comprehensive background checks, crack down on gun dealers and ban the import of so-called assault weapons.
Ms. Harris said she knew how to enforce tough gun laws because as California attorney general she allowed police to “knock on the doors of people” on a state list of prohibited gun owners and people deemed a danger to themselves and others.
“We sent law enforcement out to take those guns because we have to deal with this on all levels.”
Oh Elizabeth, I too experienced what you have experienced; yet, as a male. And I see more clearly, as if I didn't previously, regarding our government. I say seeing it more clearly because I never considered the government as being narcissistic. What you wrote does indeed cover all the points. And yes, I received the wheel as well. I am basically to mostly recovered from the decades of abuse, as well as protecting my girls as best as possible. Yet, what's going on has my sense acutely aware of a myriad of situations; being former maritime, logistics, navy intel, computer high functioning eclectic guy. Nonetheless, praying for you & all of US at this times in tribulation.
What a thoughtful essay!