Russia

Here is an example of the damage which can result from actions based on delusions.

Sanctions may threaten dollar hegemony

It appears that reality may be revisiting some of our elites. This is a positive.

The link is to a brilliant piece published in The New Criterion in June 1991. It is a book review, but much more. After reading this, one will clearly see that modern "wokeism" is nothing more than Marxism with new makeup. It get's to the fundamentals of what lies behind this corrupt, inhuman belief system. There are numerous wonderful and insightful quotes which , would alone, make the piece worth reading. Below is my favorite.

regarding the psychology of religion and gnosticism. Besançon observes that the religious man knows that he believes, whereas the gnostic believes that he knows. This last is, of course, what Marxism-Leninism is all about. Despite the convoluted jargon dispensed to conceal its provenance, Marxism-Leninism remains an unlovely offspring of the illicit love affair between pseudo-religion and pseudo-science: it is gnosticism for the modern age.

As I warned some in 1991-1992, regardless the fall of the Soviet Union, we would not be rid of the Marxists. They would never go away, because there are always scoundrels who believe they are better than everyone else and wish to impose their unattainable Utopia on the rest of us. It matters not if they fail, murdering millions in the process. It was just a mistake. They can always try again to perfect their dreams. All that is required is time and blood.

Fundamentals of Soviet Civilization

It's a challenge to try to condense what is, in effect, itself a summary.

But certainly there is the belief on the Left that human nature is completely plastic. It is indeed plastic, but not completely. In fact, the most important aspect of human nature (as well as our biological nature) is that it is fixed. And to the extent that it is plastic, this is hard-wired and built in. That fixed aspect (the mechanisms) specifically allow for the plasticity.

This is what Darwinist don’t understand and even the Intelligent Design people overlook. Yes, species are able to incrementally change to some extent. But here's the real magic: This ability to change is built-in and takes an enormously complex fixed set of circumstances to allow for this limited range of mutability.

So we are a result of both. And those looking to make a religion of just one aspect of it (a la the "transgender" fad) can do so. But it comes with a cost. And as we see in that great video of the 5th grade teacher on Dr. Phil, that cost is denying the fixed elements.

It's interesting that Stalinism and Marxism are, in fact, heavily religious entities, if in a different way. It is the raising of "knowing" to an idol. It's not (love how the article put it) not the rejection of god, as in disbelief. It is an attempted demonstration that man is more powerful than god.

Obviously the crux of the matter is that Communism empowers the psychopaths. And there is always a certain percentage of the population that is psychopathic or has strong psychopathic tendencies. "The ends justifies the means" is how they act and that particular slogan gets tacked on at the end as an observation of this fact. This is about raw power guided by some kind of anti-religious humanistic impulse that has absolutely no moral checks on power or even facts.

In this system (as in our own at the present), lying becomes commonplace and facts are not respected as such. This is why Dennis Prager says that "Truth is not a Left wing value." Because it's not. In short, reality and truth are rejected to try to create a completely ego-centered world known generally as "Utopia."

The parallels between the Stalinist system and the one the predominates in America are striking.

Yes, exactly. Nature vs. nurture is an old debate. And as far as I'm concerned, it's been settled: It's both.

The interesting thing (which Leftism and Stalinism prove) is that even if human nature isn't infinity malleable, it's malleable enough that threats can work wonders in regards to changing people's behaviors.

The magic of totalitarianism is (as others have written) the ability to get people to deny their own minds. You do it with the threat of force or penalties of some kind. Soon, people are self-censoring themselves. The act of pretending what you believe becomes habitual and thus they may become truly confused about what they believe or come to believe the dogma at some point. But what they do know for sure is that it is best for them to conform in the short term. And then the short term becomes the long term.

It seems pretty obvious that there are only two sexes. And yet look at how so many people, who obviously know different, can be induced to deny their own minds and experience. Yes, some do it for money or power. But it becomes a real force when the rank-and-file become induced to lie to themselves.

Libertarians are useless because they don't believe (or say they don't believe) in coercion to form a society. This is also why the conservative movement is weak. But if you don't lay down the rules, someone else will. And this is precisely what is happening.

What the hell is going on here? Social Security and USAID funding the corrupt Ukrainian government.  And this is in addition to, amongst other things, the Ukrainians selling weapons in the Middle East.  Read to the end of the piece.

Where are US funds going in the Ukraine?

I will agree with Putin on that point. But using it as a justification to kill innocent Ukrainians doesn't make him any less of a monster.