{"id":25103,"date":"2025-07-03T17:21:57","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T00:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/?p=25103"},"modified":"2025-07-22T13:29:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T20:29:15","slug":"how-it-works-how-they-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2025\/07\/03\/how-it-works-how-they-work\/","title":{"rendered":"How It Works. How They Work."},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>How it works: Republican megadonors get megacontracts to run ICE concentration camps;<\/li>\n<li>How they work:\n<ul>\n<li>Republicans are even less pluralistic than they&#8217;ve ever been;<\/li>\n<li>Robert Reich on the familiar reasons authoritarians suppress education, and what &#8220;conservative ideas&#8221; might possibly be;<\/li>\n<li>Short items about prison costs, Christians who want to execute gays, and the White House invoking Satan.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div align=\"center\">&#8211; &#8211; &#8211;<\/div>\n<p>See how this works? (As usual, follow the money.)<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/gypped-660x330.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>JMG, 3 Jul 2025<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2025\/07\/republican-megadonors-to-get-tens-of-millions-in-federal-contracts-to-run-floridas-concentration-camp\/\">Republican Megadonors To Get Tens Of Millions In Federal Contracts To Run Florida\u2019s Concentration Camp<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>From <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/alligator-alcatraz-republican-donors-hurricanes-936556033be361d96bdb5d38b24c81d7\">Associated Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In a matter of days, an isolated training airport in the Everglades where endangered Florida panthers roam became a sprawling immigration detention center christened \u201cAlligator Alcatraz,\u201d modeled after the state\u2019s frequent responses to hurricanes and built in part by companies whose owners have donated generously to Republicans.<\/p>\n<p>Some GOP donors whose companies helped build and will assist in running the facility are being given seven-figure sums.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\\\\<\/p>\n<p>This piece begs the question, when were Republicans ever *for* inclusion? Conservatives, almost by definition, are insular and tribalistic. See above item.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-apps\/imrs.php?src=https:\/\/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/X5O4734LU45YUTPYA5324G7CVA_size-normalized.jpg&amp;w=1440&amp;impolicy=high_res\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Washington Post, Philip Bump, 3 Jul 2025<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2025\/07\/03\/republican-shift-against-pluralism\/\">The Republican shift against American pluralism<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;From race to same-sex marriage, Republican voters are turning against inclusion.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>There is a common aesthetic in elementary schools, one centered on rainbows and stars. The world is grueling and cruel, but we generally let that reality sink in only once kids get a bit older. Until then, our presentation is optimistic, cheery and equal.<\/p>\n<p>You can understand, then, why sixth-grade teacher Sarah Inama would have been surprised to learn that a banner hanging in her classroom was triggering an outcry. Showing a range of heart-holding hands, each in a different hue, the banner read, \u201cEveryone is welcome here.\u201d It\u2019s an anodyne sentiment, at worst, but also a celebration of multiracial community. And for that reason \u2014 and explicitly that reason, as a school official <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/2nFQjwzOb4g?si=CHTezFCt4It16DrH&amp;t=1100\">explained in an interview in March<\/a> \u2014 the banner was determined to be unacceptable.<\/p>\n<p>Saying that \u201ceveryone is welcome\u201d has become a political statement in the way that \u201cscience is real\u201d has become one. Not because these statement themselves are political or even particularly controversial. No, they are now tainted with politics because they reject the right\u2019s rejections of both objectivity and pluralism.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>With charts of trends.<\/p>\n<p>\\\\<\/p>\n<p>This has been said before, recently. But it&#8217;s worth repeating.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!8Iwa!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dd247fd-7396-4a49-9ee9-5e232390d3ab_800x533.webp\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Robert Reich, 3 Jul 2025<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/robertreich.substack.com\/p\/why-they-hate-higher-education\">Why They Hate Education<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;What Trump, Vance, Stefanik, and Viktor Orban have in common&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Noting appeals from the right for universities to include &#8220;conservative ideas.&#8221; Reich responds:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Yet what, exactly, constitutes a \u201cconservative idea?\u201d That dictatorship is preferable to democracy? That white Christian nationalism is better than tolerance and openness? That social Darwinism is superior to human decency?<\/p>\n<p>The claim that higher education must be more open to such \u201cconservative ideas\u201d is dangerous drivel.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So what is the reason? A familiar idea.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Because the greatest obstacle to dictatorship is an educated populace. Ignorance is the handmaiden of tyranny.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why slave owners prohibited enslaved people from learning to read, fascists burn books, and tyrants close universities.<\/p>\n<p>In their quest to destroy democracy, Trump, Vance, and their cronies are intent on shutting the American mind.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\\\\\\<\/p>\n<p>Short items from my favorite aggregate site.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/BrendanCarr-660x330.png\" width=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>JMG, 3 Jul 2025<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2025\/07\/fcc-drops-rule-on-capping-cost-of-prison-phone-calls-after-private-prison-groups-bestow-trump-with-millions\/\">FCC Drops Rule On Capping Cost Of Prison Phone Calls After Private Prison Groups Bestow Trump With Millions<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This aligns with the first post above, of course. And it recalls Cory Doctorow&#8217;s book THE BEZZLE, which was in part about how the privatization of prisons has driven up costs for anyone from outside trying to contact prisoners.<\/p>\n<p>And this is why you don&#8217;t want to privatize government services. Everything would cost more.<\/p>\n<p>\\<\/p>\n<p>If this is an outlier, why don&#8217;t other &#8220;Christian&#8221; churches condemn this guy? Or would that simply not make the news?<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/StephenFalce-660x330.jpg\" width=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>JMG, 3 Jul 2025<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2025\/07\/indiana-church-calls-for-executing-all-lgbtq-people\/\">Indiana Church Calls For \u201cExecuting\u201d All LGBTQ People<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\\<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m mind-boggled that such people still exist. The enlightenment project has failed.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/KarolineLeavitt2025crisp-660x330-1.jpg\" width=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>JMG, 3 Jul 2025<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2025\/07\/wh-satan-tried-to-break-up-trumps-call-to-pastors\/\">WH: Satan \u201cTried To Break Up\u201d Trump\u2019s Call To Pastors<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The country is being run by superstitious children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How it works: Republican megadonors get megacontracts to run ICE concentration camps; How they work: Republicans are even less pluralistic than they&#8217;ve ever been; Robert Reich on the familiar reasons authoritarians suppress education, and what &#8220;conservative ideas&#8221; might possibly be; &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2025\/07\/03\/how-it-works-how-they-work\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservatives","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25103"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25285,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25103\/revisions\/25285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}