Weekly Groundings are published every Friday to highlight the most interesting news, links, and writing I investigated during the past week. They are designed to ground your thinking in the midst of media overload and contribute to Handful of Earth’s broader framework. Please subscribe if you’d like to receive these posts directly in your inbox.
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“What Happened to the Trump ‘Resistance’?”
The Financial Times reports on the “muted response Trump’s return to the White House has elicited from the American left. Where his first inauguration triggered outrage, uproar and a wave of resistance, now there is barely a whimper. Trump’s opponents appear cowed into submission, stunned by the sheer speed and scale of his actions since re-entering government. The ‘shock and awe’ of his first executive orders—revamping immigration policy, gutting renewables, abolishing birthright citizenship, pardoning the January 6 2021 rioters and ending diversity, equity and inclusion programmes—have left them dazed, unsure what to focus on first.”
Radical shifts in public opinion on a number of issues (especially immigration) have also complicated the Democratic resistance strategy. The following graph included in the article is particularly striking:
“Bragg and Liberty: What's In A Name”
addresses the controversy surrounding the renaming of Fort Bragg as Fort Liberty at : “A lot of folks are hoping that with the new administration, there will be mandates to undo recent name changes of places originally named for people associated with the Confederate Army. While the name changes were indeed an aggressive disruption of culture on the part of a political movement, no one in my circle would dare name anything for a Confederate general today. There are just too many unnecessary costs and being a proud southerner doesn’t make one a proud ‘confederate.’ Plus, some of these namesakes may have been relevant in their community at the time, but many were not quite as extraordinary as we once thought.”Owens traces the history of the Bragg family, with an emphasis on Braxton Bragg, the Confederate general after whom the Fort was named. She describes how Braxton and his close relatives “went along with the the social class with which they sought entry or upward mobility. We’ve seen this ourselves in recent years and one day we’ll ask, who of today’s leaders sacrifice personal gain to lead common people ultimately in the right direction. Bragg and Confederate leaders didn’t represent rural NC [North Carolina]; they were mostly representing the Democratic politicians and elites who benefited from slaves, ports, and a war that tore our country into two. The Civil War had family fighting family, if not physically at least symbolically like in this case of Edward Bragg, a Union General and his cousin, Braxton Bragg, a Confederate General. The attempted secession wasn’t good for the country and was devastating economically for the rural South.”
“Israeli Army Raids Home of Freed Hamas Member Amid Tensions Over Hostage Deal”
The New York Times reports on the Israeli military’s disruption of hostage exchanges agreed upon as a part of the tenuous ceasefire deal. In addition to assaulting the family of a freed Palestinian prisoner in Jerusalem, the IDF also assaulted a New York Times journalist conducting interviews at the family’s home and verbally abused another: “One soldier immediately used the muzzle of his loaded rifle to strike Aaron Boxerman, a Times reporter who happened to be standing close to the yard entrance. Before Mr. Boxerman had a chance to identify himself, the soldier hit him in the rib cage, leaving a large bruise. A second Times reporter, Natan Odenheimer, then identified himself as a journalist, video recorded by The Times shows. The same soldier told Mr. Odenheimer that he didn’t care, using an expletive to underscore his point. The soldier then pointed his loaded rifle at Mr. Odenheimer again, the video shows.”
The article continues: “For years, Israeli security services have discouraged and often broken up family events celebrating the release of Palestinian militants, saying that the gatherings provoke unrest, lionize terrorists and inspire support for violence. Critics say the interventions increase Palestinian antipathy for Israel, prolonging a cycle of violence.”
Israel’s open disregard for freedom of assembly (even in private homes) and the physical assault of a presumably Jewish New York Times journalist and verbal abuse of yet another is more evidence of just how out of control the Zionist project has become. Everyone—not just Palestinians—is put in danger by the increasingly brazen terror campaigns carried out by the Jewish State.
“Battlefield Drones and the Accelerating Autonomous Arms Race in Ukraine”
Samuel Bendett and David Kirichenko report on roboticization of drone warfare in Ukraine for the Modern War Institute. Ukraine has marketed itself as a “war lab for the future,” courting foreign arms companies eager to test their weapons in a real-world war zone.
Bendett and Kirichenko write: “Ukraine’s battlefield experience reflects a shift toward unmanned systems that augment or attempt to replace human operators in the most dangerous missions, and against an enemy willing to send more and more manpower into large-scale frontal assaults. After so many autonomous and robotic systems were fielded over the past three years by Kyiv’s forces, Ukrainian officials started to describe their country as a ‘war lab for the future’—highlighting for allies and partners that, because these technologies will have a significant impact on warfare going forward, the ongoing combat in Ukraine offers the best environment for continuous testing, evaluation, and refinement of such systems. Many companies across Europe and the United States have tested their drones and other systems in Ukraine. At this point in the conflict, these companies are striving to gain ‘battle-tested in Ukraine’ credentials for their products.”
The article continues: “US defense tech company Anduril recently started selling its new autonomous drones after successful tests carried out in Ukraine in October 2024. Ukrainian and Western drone manufacturers have started partnering more closely both on drones and on certain types of AI development. The US military is seeking to speed up the deployment of cheap autonomous systems through its Replicator program, and is also working closely with the private sector to test systems and technologies in Ukraine that can then be potentially used in future conflicts.”
Disturbingly, the authors conclude their report on an upbeat note, unable to contain their excitement about the possibilities for technological development enabled by endless war: “With Russia determined to fight until Ukraine is conquered, and Ukraine resolute in defending its freedom, the technological arms race in this war continues to accelerate. Each month in this protracted war brings new technological developments and achievements, with the innovation cycle continuously driven forward by new technologies that are either copied or countered by the adversary, sparking a fresh round of innovation to achieve the next breakthrough.”
“Your Tesla is Killing the Planet”
At
, offers a devastating critique of the electric vehicle industry and its self-styled environmentalist boosters: “Cars don’t magically come into being, the fruit of the Elon tree. They’re made of minerals mined from the Earth by fossil fuel powered machines, shipped around the world, smelted at high temperatures, and assembled in factories. In this sense, EVs are no different from internal combustion engine cars. When we quantify the numbers, creating the average EV releases more carbon emissions that creating the average gasoline car. This difference is quickly wiped out, since EVs don’t release emissions during driving. But it doesn’t change the fact that both are highly polluting and rely on destructive mining and exploitative international supply chains.”Wilbert continues: “Some people misinterpret my critiques of green technology as meaning that these technologies are more harmful than fossil fuels. This is a misreading of my work. The danger of electric vehicles and ‘green energy’ is more insidious than a direct comparison implies. And this is why I'm so strident in my opposition to green energy, green technology, and EVs: because these technologies are being used as excuses to not fight fossil fuels. They’re the vape of the cigarette addict, the beer of the hard-liquor alcoholic. They differ neither in form nor in substance, and they’re being used as a way to maintain the status quo rather than engage in true transformation, as the moment demands.”
He concludes with powerful remarks on the automobile: “But here’s the thing: cars are not necessary for human life, joy, or flourishing. They are luxury goods, and the mobility they bring does not justify killing people for them. There are 8.1 billion people in the world today, and roughly 1.47 billion cars. That’s about four cars for every 23 people, which means less than 17% of people on earth own a car (the number is actually less, since that doesn’t include people who own multiple)…A few generations ago, nobody had cars. If someone had told us then that accepting cars into our lives would mean condemning millions of people to death in the future, would we have accepted this technology? I’m guessing not. I think we’d have done as the great thinker Lewis Mumford proposed: ‘Forget the damned motor car and build the cities for lovers and friends. Restore human legs as a means of travel.’”
“Is the Tradwife Just a Kink?”
offers some fascinating reflections on the “tradwife” phenomenon in her column at Unherd: “There’s a reason that the tradwife’s appeal has endured—it has, let’s remember, been a trend for a decade or more. It’s partly because the media adores the whiff of oppression that clings to her…She is also an ideal foil for feminism—beautiful, natural and meek, she is everything conservative men love, and everything radfems hate: perfectly poised for virality. And that’s because her role as a lifestyle guru means that her actual values—though generally Mormon, conservative and modest—are mysterious and therefore intriguing. Her fans are not looking for direct precepts; being told that abortion is wrong, or that premarital sex makes you worthless, would not be appealing. Instead, they want to cosplay a nebulously traditional woman by baking rye bread in a long dress.”She continues: “The stage is set, as we enter 2025, for tradwife to become an ‘empowering’ new forum….She could pivot away from pornified wenchery into a positive, collective movement…Though we feminists might scoff, there are things—hardiness, self-sufficiency, skill — to be learned from these women. And if we take a look at those much-mocked stay-at-home-mums who are riding the nu-Norman Rockwell wave, many of them are so successful they are out-earning their ‘provider’ husbands.”
Sowerby concludes: “It’s the internet, then, and its tendency to sexualise anything on contact which means that…trad aesthetics are now at a crossroads between hardy, homespun femininity and the epitome of the sex object. To my fellow feminists, though, I’d propose that there’s nothing wrong with the former; as the new year arrives, the tradwife may, as in the conservative women’s movements that came before her, find herself in a position of great political sway. Let women embroider, for god’s sake, and dote on their hirsute husbands if they want to…but the tradwife might well use her mettle, and increasing milky sway, to take a seat at the meticulously laid table in 2025. We should take her seriously. A feminism on the skids is one which clings to snobbery about ribbons and pinafores, and sneers at domesticity. Underestimate this happy housewife at your peril.”
What grounded your thinking this week? Feel free to share in the comments.
Thanks for the shout out, Vincent. Always enjoy reading your posts, there's something thought-provoking every week.
"now there is barely a whimper."
Here is why.
https://worldyturnings.com/2025/01/12/the-uniparty-won/