Yes, Virginia, trans rights are human rights

The Easter Resurrection: Not of Christ, but of Common Decency

Dear Editor: I am 42 years old, and some people say you should remain silent when family members casually dehumanize entire groups of people. These same people probably think chocolate bunnies are an appropriate substitute for standing up for basic human dignity.

I recently had a conversation with someone—let's call her "Virginia," because nothing says "protecting the identity of transphobes" like using the name of an entire commonwealth—who expressed views about transgender people that would make Tucker Carlson blush with professional jealousy.

After ending our call with the diplomacy of someone evacuating a building that smells like gas, I received a series of texts that could generously be described as "I'm doubling down!" First came the classic non-apology ("I'm sorry YOU don't believe I should FEEL this way"), followed by a YouTube video about a transgender swimmer. The video was deeply unserious, offering nothing more than subjective anecdotes, misrepresentation of institutional policies, slippery slopes, straw men, false equivalences, confirmation bias, intentional misgendering, and overgeneralizations.

In short, it was an interview with a bigot who wants to be seen as a victim and not a perpetrator. The crescendo was a cherry-picked news story about a rape case where—surprise!—pronouns were somehow framed as the real villain.

Today is Easter Sunday. It is a holiday celebrating a guy who was literally known for hanging out with society's outcasts and telling self-righteous people to stop being such massive jerks—a position deemed so extreme that the state politely replied by torturing him to death in public.

So, Virginia, this isn't a debate. I'm not "just asking questions" or "having a dialogue" about whether some humans deserve basic dignity and legal protection. I'm writing this to explain why you're wrong—not just factually wrong (though hoo boy, are you ever), but wrong in the deeper, "this-is-not-who-you-were-raised-to-be" sense of the word.

Consider this my Easter gift to you: an opportunity for resurrection. Not of the 2,000-year-old preacher kind, but of your basic human empathy. After all, if there's one thing Easter teaches us, it's that profound transformation is possible—even from those we've given up for dead.

The Drag Queen Paradox

There was a story on the news last night showing life imitating an old children's riddle. It seems that a truck got stuck at the entrance to the Holland Tunnel. Too high for the clearance. Well, for hours, the experts tried to find some way to unwedge the vehicle, but to no avail. Finally, a ten-year-old girl in a passing car suggested simply letting the air out of the truck's tires, thus lowering it to the clearance level, which they did. And it worked.

— Working Girl (1988)

Remember that time in elementary school when your teacher asked a riddle that stumped all the adults but seemed blindingly obvious to the kids?

That's exactly what we're dealing with when it comes to anti-trans arguments. The argument goes something like this: "I have no problem with a man wearing a dress, but I don't think that they should be doing it around kids! I heard that some schools are even letting these drag queens visit schools! They're reading stories to children and indoctrinating them with gender ideology!"

Easter Bunny costume worn at a public event.

A deviant radical rabbit impersonator spreading their bunny ideology, allegedly.
source: https://bellevuecollection.com/easterbunny/

Here's the paradox at the heart of Virginia's position (and those of the countless talking heads who've monetized this particular flavor of outrage): If gender truly is fixed, biological, and immutable, then dressing up in drag is simply theater—a harmless performance, no different from wearing any other costume. It can't "change" or "influence" a child's gender identity any more than dressing as the Easter Bunny can turn a child into a rabbit.

This is not a light point. The biological essentialists love to clutch their pearls, and claim that their bigotry is rooted in concern—"Think of the children!"—and will gleefully refer to transwomen as "men wearing dresses." By this logic, we've already established that drag (and by extension, social transition) is just a presentation of fabric and makeup. The person underneath remains unchanged because, remember, gender is supposedly immutable!

But if drag is somehow "dangerous" or influential to children's gender identities, then gender must actually be fluid, socially constructed and influenced by culture, environment, or role models. This would mean gender isn't strictly binary or biologically fixed—and if gender is malleable, there's no basis for discriminating against people whose identities differ from traditional norms. To suggest that merely witnessing drag performances could somehow alter a child's gender identity is to admit that gender isn't fixed after all. Oops!

So which is it? Is gender an unchangeable biological reality, in which case drag is just harmless dress-up? Or is gender so fragile and impressionable that it can be altered by exposure to someone wearing sequins and reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"? Because it literally cannot be both.

The truth is that neither position justifies bigotry. If gender is fluid, then we should respect transgender identities as valid, part of the human continuum of gender and sexuality. If gender is fixed, then a trans person's existence is not a threat to anyone else's gender identity. Either way, the only logical conclusion is respect and acceptance.

This isn't advanced calculus. It's not even long division. It's the kind of basic reasoning any third-grader could follow. And that's what makes it so maddening—the failure isn't one of intellectual capacity, but of willful blindness. Because the point was never logical consistency. The point was always to find a socially acceptable veneer for plain old prejudice.

The Time-Wasting Machine: Why "Debating" Human Rights Is A Trap

A man walks into a pawn shop and asks, "How much for this gold chain?" The pawnbroker, seasoned and skeptical, takes the chain and performs his usual test—scratching it with a file. As expected, it's fake.

The next day, the same man walks in and presents another supposed gold chain. Still skeptical, the pawnbroker applies acid to this chain, and finds that it is also a fake. Day after day, the same person brings in gold chains. Each time, the pawnbroker tests them, and each time, they turn out to be counterfeit.

Eventually, THE PAWNBROKER stops testing altogether, dismissing every chain as fake without a second glance. It's a waste of time, and the pawnbroker has better things to do.

—The Parable of The Pawnbroker

Virginia, those garbage YouTube videos you sent me are counterfeit gold chains. And frankly, I've run out of acid. The fact is that you've had plenty of time to sincerely research this topic in earnest, to listen to queer and transgender voices, and learn with empathy and an open mind. You've chosen instead to pick low-hanging fruit from low-effort propagandists on the dregs of the internet. Dismissing expertise doesn't make you a rebel, it makes you a fool.

As YouTuber Thought Slime (aka Mildred) brilliantly explains in their video "Fascists Will Waste Your Time," debates with bigots aren't actually debates at all. They're time-theft operations. While you're out there living your life (working, caring for loved ones, enjoying hobbies, and (presumably) having sex) the professional bigot has nothing better to do than argue endlessly about whether certain humans deserve basic dignity.

Their strategy isn't to win these arguments. It's to have them in the first place. To keep the question perpetually open. To make it seem like human rights are up for reasonable discussion between well-meaning adults instead of what they actually are: non-negotiable table stakes for participating in civilization.

And, I'm paraphrasing Mildred here, ask yourself this: If I came to your house for Easter dinner and spent the entire meal loudly questioning whether your best friend Amanda deserves basic human rights—"I'm just saying, what if Amanda shouldn't be allowed to use public bathrooms? I'm just asking questions!"—how long would I remain at your table? Ten seconds? Maybe fifteen if you needed time to put down your fork?

Yet somehow when the target of this rhetorical harassment is an entire marginalized group of Amandas, we're all expected to entertain these arguments ad nauseam. We're labeled "extreme" if we don't patiently explain, for the eleventy millionth time, why transgender people deserve legal recognition, fair access to public spaces, housing, healthcare, and the basic courtesy of being addressed by their correct names. I call bullshit.

It's an exhaustion tactic. In today's saturated outrage media environment, nobody has time to research and formulate thoughtful responses to every half-baked theory pushed by rage-merchants on Facebook. We're drowning in information, and the anti-trans crowd knows it. They don't need to convince you with valid arguments—they just need to overwhelm you with so many bad ones that you throw up your hands and say, "I don't know what to believe anymore."

Description: a Nazi loser doing Nazi loser shit.
source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN1oBfg0fwI

This strategy is particularly effective on people who feel economically or socially vulnerable. When you're worried about paying medical bills or keeping your job, it's oddly comforting to believe there's a simple enemy responsible for your struggles. The billionaire class certainly isn't going to volunteer for that role, so they make sure the spotlight stays firmly fixed on marginalized groups who make convenient scapegoats.

The fascist doesn't debate to discover truth. Truth is irrelevant. They debate to normalize the idea that some people's humanity is questionable in the first place. Every minute you spend arguing whether trans people are "real" is a minute where you've implicitly accepted that this is something reasonable people can disagree about.

It isn't.

So the next time someone tries to drag you into one of these "debates," remember the pawnbroker. Remember that you can simply say, "Shut up, you're being an asshole." It's not closed-minded—it's time management. It's recognizing that some positions aren't worthy of debate, some gold chains are obviously fake, and some YouTube videos are just thinly-veiled hate wrapped in a trench coat of pseudo-intellectualism.

Simply put: A fascist will always have endless bad faith arguments, but reasonable people are not obligated to entertain every shitty thing a Nazi has to say.

Pass the Easter ham, please.

History Doesn't Repeat, But It Sure Does Rhyme

“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words.

The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert.

If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”

―Jean-Paul Sartre

There's a reason the words "Never Again" still echo through Jewish communities worldwide. History has taught us that atrocities don't begin with violence—they begin with words. With dehumanization. With the quiet acceptance that some people's dignity is up for debate.

Before we dive into this section, let me acknowledge something: comparing anything to Nazi Germany risks hyperbole. The totalitarian machinery of the Third Reich was uniquely horrific. But understanding how that machinery was built—brick by rhetorical brick—isn't alarmist; it's essential pattern recognition.

Loser Nazi assholes destroying books taken from the library of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld
Source: https://daily.jstor.org/90-years-on-the-destruction-of-the-institute-of-sexual-science/

Many people don't realize that when Nazi forces came to power in 1933, one of their earliest targets wasn't Jewish people, it was the transgender and homosexual community in Berlin. At the time, Berlin was home to the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute for Sexual Science), founded by Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld—a pioneering research center that conducted groundbreaking studies on human sexuality, including some of the earliest work supporting transgender individuals. On May 6, 1933, just months after Hitler became Chancellor, Nazis raided this institute. Days later, they burned its library of over 20,000 books and research materials in a public bonfire, destroying decades of irreplaceable knowledge about gender and sexuality. This wasn't a random act of violence—it was a methodical erasure of knowledge that contradicted their ideology.

As historian W. Jake Newsome documents, Nazi officials like Wilhelm Frick declared that "unnatural fornication between men must be prosecuted with all severity as this vice will lead to the downfall of the German people" [Pink Triangle Legacies Project]. Sound familiar? The rhetoric of "protecting children" and "saving civilization" has always been the cover for targeting marginalized groups.

The pattern is distressingly predictable:

  1. First comes the dehumanizing language: labeling a group as "degenerate," "unnatural," or a "threat" to society.

  2. Then come legal restrictions: laws that push the targeted group out of public life.

  3. Finally comes violence—sometimes state-sanctioned, sometimes merely state-tolerated.

After the initial book burnings, the Nazi regime dramatically expanded persecution under Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code, which criminalized homosexuality. Between 1933 and 1945, approximately 100,000 men were arrested for homosexuality, with roughly 50,000 officially sentenced. Of these, between 5,000 and 15,000 were sent to concentration camps, where they were forced to wear the infamous pink triangle. Many were subjected to torture, medical experimentation, and execution. Survivor testimonies, like that of Josef Kohout (who wrote under the name Heinz Heger), detail unimaginable cruelty—beatings, rape, and public humiliation specifically targeting gay prisoners.

This persecution wasn't just the work of fanatics at the top. It required the quiet complicity of ordinary citizens—people who might have personally known someone gay or transgender but who chose to look away, to accept the new normal, to believe that maybe there was something to what the authorities were saying about "those people."

I can hear you now, Virginia: "But that was Nazi Germany! That's not what's happening here!" And you're right—we aren't living in a totalitarian dictatorship... yet. But that's precisely why these early warning signs are so important to recognize.

In Florida alone, the past few years have witnessed a staggering acceleration of anti-transgender legislation. In May 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a package of bills that banned gender-affirming care for minors, restricted it for adults, prohibited transgender people from using bathrooms matching their gender identity in government buildings, and created new restrictions on drag performances. As DeSantis himself put it, "We are going to remain a refuge of sanity and a citadel of normalcy" [BBC]—implying, of course, that transgender identities are neither sane nor normal.

In 2024, HB 1639 (dubbed the "Trans Erasure Bill") passed committee in the Florida House, aiming to ban transgender Floridians from accessing accurate driver's licenses and IDs. As Equality Florida noted, the bill exists "for the purpose of bullying transgender Floridians out of public life entirely" [Equality Florida]. These aren't isolated actions—they're part of a coordinated nationwide campaign. The year 2025 is already on track to break records for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, with over 120 bills filed across the country before the year even began [Truthout].

When a transgender Floridian named Amy Lundberg sought gender-affirming surgery, she discovered that the University of Miami had stopped providing these services altogether—not officially because of the legislation, but because "the state's holding back funding for any institution that does anything" supportive of transgender people [NBC Miami]. This isn't about protecting children; it's about erasing an entire community from public life.

Like in 1930s Germany, the persecution isn't being carried out by monsters. It's being enabled by ordinary people—people like you, Virginia—who may not harbor deep hatred in their hearts but who have been convinced that there's something dangerous about transgender existence. People who wouldn't personally harm anyone but who vote for politicians promising to "restore normalcy" by excluding those who don't fit narrow definitions of gender. People who might say, "I have no problem with them, but..." and then proceed to explain why basic human dignity should come with conditions attached.

"Nice people made the best Nazis. My mom grew up next to them. They got along, refused to make waves, looked the other way when things got ugly and focused on happier things than "politics."

They were lovely people who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged away. You know who weren't nice people? Resisters."

― Naomi Shulman

The lesson of history isn't that we're doomed to repeat it. The lesson is that we have a choice. We can recognize these patterns early, speak out against dehumanization in all its forms, and refuse to be complicit in the gradual erasure of our neighbors' humanity. Or we can look away until the machinery of hate has gained too much momentum to stop—when non-violent resistance is no longer a viable option and we must throw ourselves against the gears until they seize.

As federal judge Robert Hinkle wrote when permanently blocking Florida's anti-transgender healthcare law in June 2024: "Transgender opponents are of course free to hold their beliefs. But they are not free to discriminate against transgender individuals just for being transgender. In time, discrimination against transgender individuals will diminish, just as racism and misogyny have diminished" [LA Times].

History may not repeat exactly, but it rhymes. And right now, Florida's laws are rhyming with some very dark chapters of our past. The question isn't whether you'll end up on the right side of history—it's whether you'll get there before more damage is done.

Let's be crystal clear about something that right-wing politicians and professional idiots love to obscure: there is no actual scientific debate about the validity or necessity of gender-affirming care. Every major medical organization in the United States supports gender-affirming care as medically necessary and often life-saving. This includes:

  • The American Medical Association, which has explicitly stated that "gender-affirming care is medically necessary" and "has been linked to dramatically reduced rates of suicide attempts" AMA, 2023

  • The American Academy of Pediatrics, representing over 67,000 pediatricians

  • The American Psychological Association

  • The American Psychiatric Association

  • The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

  • The Endocrine Society

  • The World Professional Association for Transgender Health

  • The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

  • The American College of Physicians

Collectively, these organizations represent more than 1.3 million doctors across the United States [HRC, 2025]. The medical consensus is overwhelming. This isn't a "both sides" issue where reasonable people can disagree—it's a case where politicians are overriding the recommendations of literally every relevant medical expert simply because it's politically convenient.

What's At Stake: This Isn't Academic

“If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”

― Lyndon B. Johnson

The culture wars over transgender rights aren't just Twitter arguments—they have devastating real-world consequences. People's lives, literally, hang in the balance.

A 2024 study published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Human Behaviour found that anti-transgender laws directly caused increases in suicide attempts among transgender and nonbinary youth by as much as 72% —not just correlation, but causation, established by tracking over 61,000 trans and nonbinary youth across five years [Trevor Project, 2024].

The CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that approximately 26% of transgender students attempted suicide in the past year, compared to just 5% of cisgender male students [CDC, 2023]. These aren't just statistics—they're children, siblings, and friends driven to the brink by a society that treats them as political talking points instead of human beings.

And it's not just the heightened suicide risk. Anti-transgender laws create cascading social and economic harms that ripple throughout communities—often the same communities that right-wing politicians claim to champion. Here's where it gets deeply ironic: the very people who rail against transgender rights are often hurting themselves in the process.

Consider the case of Trevor, featured in Jonathan Metzl's award-winning book "Dying of Whiteness." Trevor was a conservative white man in rural Tennessee with severe liver failure who needed medical care. Because Tennessee repeatedly blocked Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, he couldn't access the lifesaving care he needed. When asked if he supported Obamacare, Trevor told researchers: "Ain't no way I would ever support Obamacare or sign up for it. I would rather die." [Boston Review]. His reason? He didn't want his tax dollars "paying for Mexicans or welfare queens."

This is the tragic irony that Metzl documents extensively: conservative white Americans often support policies that literally shorten their own lives. In Tennessee, resistance to the Affordable Care Act meant that white Americans who would have really benefited from healthcare reform were "loath to support Medicaid expansion" because they didn't want minorities to benefit [Boston University]. Metzl's research found that this opposition to expanded healthcare "cost every single white resident of the state 14.1 days of life." [Metzl].

The same dynamic plays out in the fight over transgender rights. By supporting politicians who demonize trans people, many rural Americans are backing leaders who are simultaneously gutting their healthcare, defunding their schools, and dismantling economic protections that would benefit them directly.

Rural communities and hospitals in states that refused to expand Medicaid have suffered disproportionately. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, expansion was associated with "a large reduction in hospital closures" [KFF]. When rural hospitals close, entire communities lose access to healthcare—not just transgender people.

Meanwhile, transgender people face extraordinary economic challenges. According to the Williams Institute, transgender people are four times more likely than the general population to be living below the poverty line, with more than 25 percent reporting an annual household income of less than $20,000 [Center for American Progress]. In states that expanded Medicaid under the ACA, the uninsurance rate among low- and middle-income LGBT communities dropped by 10 percentage points, compared to only 6 points in non-expansion states. This translates to real lives saved.

When politicians block healthcare access to score political points against transgender people, they're not just hurting the transgender community—they're hurting everyone who needs affordable healthcare, especially in rural areas. When they cut education funding while raging about "gender ideology," they're not just making schools less welcoming for transgender students—they're depriving all children of quality education.

Consider current statistics: According to the Human Rights Campaign, as of August 2024, 39.4% of transgender youth (about 118,300 teenagers) live in the 26 states that have passed bans on gender-affirming care [HRC]. These bans don't just affect transgender teens—they often include provisions that restrict public funds for healthcare across the board, limit what doctors can discuss with any patient, and interfere with the doctor-patient relationship for everyone.

Virginia, you might think the culture war over transgender rights doesn't affect you personally. But the politicians using transgender people as scapegoats are the same ones implementing policies that hurt your community, your healthcare, your schools, and your family's future. This isn't a coincidence—it's a deliberate strategy to distract you from the real sources of economic insecurity.

The medical evidence is overwhelming: gender-affirming care saves lives. A 2022 study in the journal JAMA Network Open found that gender-affirming care was associated with 73% lower odds of suicidality among transgender youth [JAMA Network Open]. When politicians override medical consensus, they're playing politics with people's lives—including the lives of their own constituents.

The fact is, the states with the most aggressive anti-transgender laws also have some of the nation's worst health outcomes, highest poverty rates, and most underfunded social services. This isn't helping anyone—it's hurting everyone except the politicians who ride the wave of manufactured outrage to power.

So the next time someone tells you that transgender people are the reason your community is struggling, remember: the real threat isn't the transgender teenager trying to live authentically or the drag queen reading stories at the library. The real threat is the cynical politician using them as distractions while picking your pocket and dismantling your healthcare.

Transphobia isn't just morally wrong—it's a scam by the wealthy that none of us can afford.

Beyond "Tolerance": The Problem With Being A Christian Bigot

I've tried to appeal to your compassion by showing the devastating harm caused by these laws. I've tried to appeal to your self-interest by showing how politicians use transphobia to undermine policies that would benefit your community directly. Now, let me appeal to your sense of religious values.

As we mark Easter Sunday, it's worth remembering what Jesus actually taught. He didn't tell us to protect "traditional gender roles." He didn't tell us to enforce conformity in others. He told us to love our neighbors as ourselves. He surrounded himself with society's outcasts—people who violated every social norm of his time. The Jesus of the Gospels would be sitting with transgender youth today, not calling for their erasure from society.

In fact, our modern concept of "tolerance" falls far short of what Jesus actually taught. "Tolerance" suggests putting up with something unpleasant—like tolerating a toothache or tolerating a boring dinner guest. Jesus called for love, not tolerance. And love doesn't say "I'll put up with your existence as long as you stay out of my sight." Love says "I see you fully as you are, and I cherish what I see."

Remember the story of the Good Samaritan? When Jesus was asked "Who is my neighbor?" he didn't respond with "Only the people who look and act like you." He told a story about a despised foreigner showing mercy to someone from a group that hated him. The point was radical: your "neighbor" isn't defined by similarity—it's defined by shared humanity.

Florida's policies don't reflect these values. They don't reflect compassion or mercy. They don't even reflect basic American principles of equal protection under the law. What they reflect is fear—the same fear that has driven persecution throughout history.

So Virginia, I'm asking you to ask yourself: What would Jesus do? Would he support laws that drive children to suicide? Would he support erasing people from public life? Or would he sit with the marginalized, heal the wounded, and rebuke those who use religion as a cover for cruelty?

The Easter story isn't just about resurrection. It's about transformation. It's about the possibility of radical change. It's about seeing the world anew.

We all have biases. We all inherit prejudices. But we don't have to be defined by them. We can choose to grow. We can choose to learn. We can choose to see people—all people—as fully human, deserving of dignity, respect, and love.

That's my Easter prayer for you, Virginia. Not just tolerance, but transformation. Not just reluctant acceptance, but genuine celebration of the beautiful diversity of human experience.

The resurrection we need isn't of some ancient religious figure. It's the resurrection of our collective humanity. It's time to roll away the stone of prejudice and step into the light of compassion.

Yes, Virginia, trans rights are human rights. And that's not up for debate.

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Late last year I began experimenting with "Vibe Coding" using Claude and MCP (Model Context Protocol) Tools, I've explored this new frontier of human-computer collaboration, where the most critical skill hasn't been mastering syntax or memorizing APIs, but communicating clearly and logically in an ongoing dialog with an LLM.

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Jimmy Carter

One of the strangest things about adulthood is noticing how many prominent and influential people are fading away. I’m an “elder millennial,” so the first U.S. president I remember was Ronald Reagan.. When he passed, I felt conflicted. I generally thought poorly of his administration, but I also felt sad. It was like a little piece of my childhood died with him.

Jimmy Carter was before my time, and I always knew him as a “former president.” What stood out—so very, very admirably—was his unwavering dedication to serving others after leaving office. All my life, Jimmy Carter was out there: looking for ways to help vulnerable people, promoting peace, and building homes for those in need.

That he once held the title of President of the United States of America seemed almost secondary, an interesting line on a résumé. For months now, we knew Carter was in hospice care and that his life would soon be coming to an end.

Now that he’s gone, I find myself admiring him even more. He passed peacefully, having accomplished more than most could ever imagine. And in his passing, there seems to be broad consensus that he was the best former president of our lifetime.

I’m also sad because the world was better with him in it. People like Jimmy Carter are extraordinarily rare. I can’t imagine any former president following their political career with such generosity, humanity, or humility.

A Bicycle for the Mind

Amid the chaos of a world in crisis, I’ve found hope in an unexpected place: coding. With tools like Claude.ai and MCP, I’ve been building a web app to help food pantries serve their communities better—automating inventory, breaking language barriers, and streamlining processes. This isn’t just about code; it’s about turning anxiety into action, using technology to create something meaningful. If you’ve ever wondered how AI can amplify human effort, this is a story for you.

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Tackling the challenges for our learners

Bridging knowledge gaps.

Working with a team of three other designers, we began to see points of divergence for our goals. Amanda’s focus on online activism and leveraging new technologies was compelling, but she was driven to do this work independently. Nandini and Michelle were also interested in the digital realm, but were not sure about the framing for citizenship.

One of the key challenges for addressing citizenship in the 21st century is the fundamental misunderstanding by the public of how we interact with these new technologies. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. have removed the traditional political boundaries and geographic limitations of culture and ideas.

This is our stake-holder map, there are many like it, but this one is ours.

This is our stake-holder map, there are many like it, but this one is ours.

The advantage of this style of mapping is that we do not need to work from the current state toward feasible solutions. While the appearance may be linear, we actually developed our ideas for bridging the gaps by first looking forward, to a preferred state. Herbert A. Simon succinctly described the field of design as “changing existing circumstances into preferred ones,” which is exactly what we are plotting with this map. We then can backcast from the preferred state, and identify patterns and opportunities for intervention.

This tool is simple as it is effective. For weeks we had been looking at how technology was affecting citizens’ perception of reality (bots, trolls, hackers, fake news, hoaxes, disinformation campaigns, post-truth, etc.) but we had not adequately considered how bidirectional that perception was. In late 2013, a hacktivist documentary titled, TPB AFK (The Pirate Bay, Away From Keyboard) was released. This film chronicled the political and social aspects of digital sharing, and the rise of Sweden’s “Pirate Party.” Having won seats in parliament in 2009, The Pirate Party of Sweden was a recognized political group. Since then, other nations (e.g., Germany and Iceland) have also elected members from this movement.

The philosophy of the Pirate Party is best understood from their belief that “the internet is real.” They do not make the distinction between interactions “IRL” (In Real Life) and “online.” Instead, they use the term “AFK” (Away From Keyboard) to describe that state. In American politics, we can see the disruption all around us from this misunderstanding. People have been tricked into believing that their online activities are somehow contained, safely behind a prophylactic digital barrier. It’s “on the internet” and therefore not real. Except that it is. Imagine the mayhem that would exist if people believed that their personal vehicles and the roads on which they travelled were somehow a totally self-contained reality, separate from everything else.

Our goal therefor is not to leverage technology to help citizens become more engaged IRL, or AFK, but to help them understand that they are still citizens, even (and especially) when occupying digital spaces.

Decoding a learning experience: a case study of factitious

One major area of concern going into the 2020 election is the role of social media in spreading disinformation. While I firmly believe that social media companies (e.g., Facebook and Twitter) need to take a more proactive role in combating fake news (and other propaganda), users and community stakeholders can also help to fight against the tide. One helpful tool is an online game, factitious.

The rules are simple: players are presented with a headline, text, and images — is it real or fake? The correct answer will be rewarded with points, while incorrect answers will provide helpful tips for how to spot a fake. Why is this game important? One of the hard-learned lessons from the 2016 election year was that people often share a news story without ever vetting the contents. Even worse, many Facebook users were willing to share a news story without ever having read the article.

What works: the game is simple, informative, entertaining, and free to the public. What could be better: the game is low stakes, and while that certainly encourages players to give it a try, it doesn’t have any replay value, or real incentives for competition. This could be improved.

Related links:

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2018/05/09/how-misinformation-spreads-on-social-media-and-what-to-do-about-it/

https://www.brookings.edu/research/how-to-combat-fake-news-and-disinformation/

https://www.cits.ucsb.edu/fake-news/protecting-ourselves-teach

https://www.poynter.org/ifcn/anti-misinformation-actions/

Citizenship and technology: questions and hypotheses

This week we continued to explore citizenship from the lens of learning experience design (LxD). This issue is complex, affecting countless individuals, institutions, systems, and more. It was helpful to visualize the issue with a team (we continued a second day of whiteboard sketching, with post-its for card sorting. Ultimately, this helped us to identify the categories of “Five Ws” (Who, What, When, Where, Why) and How.

Who: voters (including potential voters). In 2016, voter turnout was at a 20–year low. Nearly half of voting-age Americans did not cast a ballot in 2016. It could be easy — even tempting — to look at this group and condemn their inaction. After all, Hillary Clinton received nearly 3 million more votes than Donald Trump, but lost the electoral college due to roughly 100,000 votes spread between three so-called “swing states.” If we ever are to have a health democracy, we need more people to vote, and they need to vote consisently. There are no “off years” for civic duties.

What can be done to increase voter turnout? This varies from one state to the next, so this question cannot be addressed at a national level, unless we first address the specifics of each state. Since the focus of this class is not public policy, we should instead look at voters and what resources would help them to understand the election process. There are many competing ideas, and it is likely that not just one policy or change to our elections will do the trick. Ultimately, we need voters to understand the necessary steps in the process, from registration to the act of casting a ballot.

When? Now.

It is not particularly helpful to only look at voters during our election years — every year, all year is what we need. Voting is only one small piece of civic responsibility. Volunteering in your community, military service, writing and calling your representatives, participating in demonstrations, jury duty, and even paying your taxes are major areas of concern, and these activities happen every day (if not to you, then to someone you know) in the United States.

Where can we reach eligible voters? One of the challenges with an always-online culture is that attention itself has become a commodity. There is serious competition for clicks and participation. This constant battle for your attention leaves only razor-thin margins for the less exciting, less sexy areas of real life. Combating distraction presents a real challenge.

Why is voting turnout is low? This question is more difficult to answer. Voter suppression tactics, gerrymandering, apathy, and public misperceptions and attitudes about democracy are major factors.

How can we change that? Before we can answer that question, we must first understand what factors determine a person’s level of political engagement. This should be a serious area of focus for further research.

Further Reading:

Voter turnout (https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/11/politics/popular-vote-turnout-2016/index.html)

Swing state voter margin (https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/swing-state-margins/)

Voter suppression (https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/10/voter-suppression-wisconsin-election-2016/)

Gerrymandering(https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/27/us/what-is-gerrymandering.html)

Topics of interest: challenges in exploring the design of learning experiences

After the results of the 2016 election, many Americans (including a candidate who received nearly 3 million more votes than Donald Trump) wanted to know: what happened? What has unfolded since then has been an endless firehose of scandals, breaches of public trust, attacks against journalists, amplification of white nationalism, and a polarization of politics unlike anything seen in recent decades or even generations. For many, this question has been more about whether we are reliving 1968 or 1934. Depending on what happens in this year’s election, we may have an answer to that dreaded question.

I believe that recent events and how we interpret them are dangerously subjected to a “fragmentalization” of narrative: this happened, and that happened, because (?). It is in our nature to seek out patterns — we depend on them to make sense of our reality — but just like Rorschach tests, cloud formations, tea leaf and palms readings, what we *think* we see is often much more subjective than we are willing to admit. These truthy relationship between separate parts can easily deceive us, and make it harder to see firmer (but much less pleasant) truths. The facts remain the same, even if our interpretation of them varies wildly.

This is why I am choosing to engage in two important topics this semester: technology and citizenship (i.e., civic engagement). I believe that in our ever-increasingly digital world, that it makes no sense to separate these two topics. They are deeply interlinked, (from our political discourse online, Tweets by the President and his feverish supporters, the sharing of stories on social media, cybersecurity, data breaches, electronic voting, online privacy, and so much more) technology influences politics, just as politics influences technology. What we do to one, through innovation or policy, will affect the other. In other words: to understand 21st century politics is to understand the fifth dimension — cyberspace.

Here are some specific questions worth exploring: how can we combat disinformation, fake news, state-sponsored propaganda, bots, and trolls? If we are living in a post-truth era of hopelessly tribal politics, how do we exit from it? Is that even possible? Voter turnout in general elections has been flat (around 55%) since the 1970s, how can we get more eligible voters to engage in their civic duties? How can we promote a more confident and informed public? I have some ideas about all of this, but will wait until class tomorrow where we can discuss. I hope to get some good feedback.

Why putting on the brakes is not enough

Pittsburgh Public.jpeg

Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, knows his platform allows for bad craziness to spread like cancer, but fuck it! He’s still getting rich. Who cares if his platform amplified the worst voices in this country, and did so at the shared expense of everyone else? Right? Anyone who still works for Twitter should seriously reconsider what they are doing with their lives. Imagine getting paid to provide Nazis a global megaphone. How do you sleep at night, @Jack?

Thoughts on Ruined by Design, by Mike Monteiro:


I’ve finished reading Mike Monteiro’s book, Ruined By Design, and his message is clear: “as designers, we need to think of ourselves as gatekeepers.” This means we must refuse to put harmful designs (in any form) into the world. He uses the analogy of the Hippocratic Oath, and a doctor’s pledge to “first, do no harm,” and argues for designers to adopt a code of ethics.

I can hardly disagree with the notion that designers, like many other professions, ought to operate under a set of values. But is this enough? No. It is not enough to *not* do unethical design. It’s a good start, but it is not enough. For every harmful act, for every data breach, for every easily preventable hack, for every racist and hateful Tweet, for every man-made environmental catastrophe, and for every preventable tragedy brought upon us in the name of “innovative technology” and “disruption,” there is another mile we all travel on this dark highway. Refusing to do something harmful is a neutral act, and ought to be perceived as part of a neutral position. If you are someone who remains “neutral” on climate change, staggering wealth inequality, or the very real threats of fascism and white nationalism, then you’re not really part of the solution - you’re just a speed bump.

We need to reverse this, and Mike Monteiro is passionately calling for us to start by putting on the brakes. It’s not enough, but it is an essential first step. What we desperately need is positive change. We are going down this road at the speed of internal, infernal combustion. We are going faster than hot chrome and sweaty sex. Running in the red.

Almost everyone (aside from a handful of oligarchs and their Fox News sycophants) agrees that we should (at the very least) slow down. And if you suggest we stop, do you know how you will be labeled? You will be called a “far-left radical.” As if wanting every hard working family in this country to live with some basic level of dignity is a communist plot! As if wanting Twitter and the rest of Silicon Valley to actually be held responsible for what they put out into the world is “too liberal” or “too PC.” Well, call me liberal, but I cannot see the value in letting racist assholes have a platform to make terroristic threats against hospitals. Seriously: Fuck you, Jack Dorsey.

Why are these matters controversial at all? Maybe it is because the only thing more grotesque than this horrify status quo is: ourselves. We have been ignoring hard truths for such a long time that we often fail to see how far off we have wandered. It’s after midnight. The road is dark. The engine is running in the red. Why? From wealth inequality, to endless wars, to climate change, we live in a world where crisis is the status quo. Why?

(?)

What the author correctly identified is that this is because it is designed that way. We can’t fix this by simply refusing to go further down this road; we need to actively work against the designs that lead to ruin. We need to take the wheel. And if we crash, we need to pile up the debris and preserve only that which functions as a warning sign: to tell future generations not to go down that same path ever again. I’ll let Mike have the last word on this.

If we want positive search results, we should do positive things. If we want to reassure the users of our products that they can trust us, we should do positive things. There’s a reason I wrote these last three chapters in this order. Community breeds standards; standards breed accountability; accountability breeds trust; licensure validates that trust. It’s a journey. It may be a long journey, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth taking.

Do positive things.

Monteiro, Mike. Ruined by Design: How Designers Destroyed the World, and What We Can Do to Fix It (p. 206). Mule Books.

Trump Gave a Speech Today, Oh boy.

Thank you very much, Tony. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you very much.👏👏 (Applause.)

✊✊

AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!

👏👏

Thank you very much. You know, I’ve been here before. (Laughter.) You do know that. Before the big day on November 8th, I was here. I want to thank 👋Mark Meadows and all of the folks that have really made this possible. And, Tony, tremendous guy.

We have some incredible people that we love and that we’re involved with. So we all know that. And I’m being followed by Mr. Bennett — you know that, right? And I’ve been watching him say nice things about me before I knew him. Those are the ones I like 👋👈— (laughter) — where they speak well of you before you know them. Right?🤚

But I really want to thank everybody, and, Tony, for your extraordinary leadership of this organization. And I want to thank, also, Lawana, for your dedication to the faith community and to our nation. Work so hard.

It’s great to be back here with so many friends at the 2017 Values Voter Summit, and we know what that means. (Applause.) We know what that means. America is a nation of believers, and together we are strengthened and sustained by the power of prayer. True.

As we gather for this tremendous event, our hearts remain 🤚sad and 👋heavy for the victims of the horrific mass murder last week in Las Vegas. It was an act of pure evil.

👌👋But in the wake of such horror, we also witnessed ✋👋the 👌true ✋character👋 of our nation. 👌A mother ☝laid ✋on 👋top of ✋her ✋daughter ✋to shield ☝her ✋from gunfire. 👋A husband ✋died 👋to 👋protect ✋his 👋beloved wife. ✋Strangers 👋rescued strangers, police offices— ✋🤚and ✋🤚you ✋🤚saw that, ✋🤚all of those incredible police officers, how brave they were, how great they were 👋running into fire. (Applause.) 🤚And first responders, 👋they rushed right into danger. 🤚

Americans defied evil and hatred with courage and love.

The men and women who risked their lives to save their fellow citizens gave proof to the words of this scripture: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (Applause)

All of America is praying for the 🤚wounded and the grieving, and we will 👌be with them today 👌and 👌we will 👌be with ✋them 👋forever. (Applause.) ✋Just want to finish by saying that — to the 🤚— really, and we understand it was so horrific to watch and so terrible — but to 🤚those who lost the ones they love: We know that we 👌cannot ✋erase your pain, 👌but we promise 👌to never, 👌ever ✋leave 👋your side. 👌We are one 👌nation, 👋and we 👌all hurt together, ✋we hope together, 👌and we heal together. (Applause.)

We also stand with the millions of people who have suffered from the massive fires, which are right now raging in California, and the catastrophic hurricanes along the Gulf Coast, in 🤚Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands. And I will tell you, I left Texas, and I left Florida, and I left Louisiana, and I went to Puerto Rico, and I met with the president [governor] of the Virgin Islands.

These are people that are incredible people. They’ve suffered gravely, and we’ll be there. We’re going to be there. We have, really — it’s not even a question of a choice. We don’t even want a choice. We’re going to be there as Americans, and we love those people and what they’ve gone through. And they’re all healing, and their states and territories are healing, and they’re healing rapidly.

🤚In the wake of the terrible tragedies of the past several weeks, 🤚the American people have responded with goodness 🤚and generosity, and bravery. You’ve seen it. The 🤚heroism of everyday citizens reminds us that the 🤚true strength 🤚of our nation is found in the hearts and souls of our people.👌

When 👌America ✋is unified, 👌no force on 👌Earth 👌can break ✋us apart. 👋

GUY IN AUDIENCE: “That’s right!”(Applause.) 

✋👋We love our families. ✋We love our neighbors. 👋We love our country. 🤚Everyone 🤚here today 🤚is brought together by the 🤚same shared and timeless values. 👌We cherish 👌the sacred 👌dignity 👌of 👌every 🤚human life. (Applause.)

✋We believe ✋in strong ☝families 👋and safe 👋communities. 👌We honor the✋ dignity of work. 👋(Applause.) We defend our Constitution. 👌We protect 👌religious 👌liberty.✋ (Applause.) ✋We 👋treasure our freedom. 👌We are proud of our history🤚. We support🤚 the rule of law👋 and the incredible 👋men and women 👋of law enforcement. (Applause.) ✋We celebrate our heroes, 👋and we salute every American who wears the uniform. (Applause.)

👌👌We 👌👌respect ✋🤚our ✋🤚great ✋🤚American flag. ✋🤚

(Applause.) 👍Thank you. 👈Thank you. Thank you.👈👍

✋🤚And we stand united behind the customs, beliefs and traditions that define who we are as a nation and as a people.

👌✋George ✋🤚Washington said that ✋🤚“religion and ✋🤚morality are indispensable” ✋🤚to 👌👌America’s happ-un-, none - and [unintelligible] ✋🤚really, ✋🤚prosperity ✋🤚and totally to its success. 👌It is 👌our 👌faith 👌and 👌our 👌values ✋that inspires us to 👌give with charity, 👋to 🤛act with courage, 👋and 👌to sacrifice for👋 what we know is right.

👌The American🤚 Founders 🤚invoked our Creator 🤚four times in the 🤚Declaration of Independence — 🤚four times. (Applause.) 

GUY IN AUDIENCE: “Yes!”

✋How 👋times ✋🤚have 🙏changed. ☝️☝But ✋🤚you know what✋🤚, now they’re 👈👉changing👇👇 back 👉👈again. 👆👆Just remember that. (Applause.)

👉

Benjamin Franklin✋🤚 reminded his colleagues at the 👌Constitutional ✋Convention to begin 👌by bowing 👌their heads ✋️in prayer.

👌Religious ✋liberty is 👋enshrined 👌in the very 👌first ✋amendment 👋of the Bill of Rights. 👌And ✋we all pledge 👋allegiance 👌👌✋🤚to — very, ✋🤚very ✋🤚beautifully — “✋🤚one nation under God.✋🤚” (Applause.)

👌This ✋is✋ America’s heritage, 👋a country that never 👌forgets that 🤚we are all — 👋all, every one of us 👋— made by the same God in Heaven. (Applause.)

✋When I came to speak 👋with you last year, I made you a promise. Well, one of the promises I made you was that I’d come back. ✋🤚See? ✋(Applause.) ✋🤚And I don’t even need your vote this year, right? That’s even nicer. (Laughter.)

✋But ☝I pledged 👌that, ✋in a Trump administration, 👌our nation’s ✋religious 👋heritage 👋would be cherished, 👋protected, ✋and defended 👌like you have never 👌seen 👆before. ☝That’s what’s happening. ☝👌That’s what’s happening. ☝👌You see it every day. ☝You’re reading it.👌

✋So this morning ✋I am honored and thrilled ✋to return as the first sitting President to address 🤚this incredible gathering of friends — so many friends. (Applause.) So many friends. And I’ll ask👉 Tony and all 👉our people ✋that do such a great job 👋in putting this event together ✋— can I take next year off or not? (Laughter.) Or do I have to be back? I don’t know.

AUDIENCE: No!

THE PRESIDENT: 👈He’s saying — they’re saying no. Lawana is saying no. That’s means no. (Laughter.)

☝So I’m here to thank 👌you for your ✋support 👋and to 👌share with you ✋how we are delivering 👋on that promise, ✋defending 👌our shared values✋, and 👌in so doing, ✋how we are ✋renewing the 👋America we love.

✋In the last 10 months, 👌we have followed through ✋on one promise 👌after ✋another. (Applause.) ✋I didn’t have a schedule, but if I did have a schedule, I would say we are substantially ahead of schedule. (Applause.)

Some of those promises are to support and defend the Constitution. I appointed and confirmed a Supreme Court Justice in the mold of the late, great Justice Antonin Scalia, the newest member of the Supreme Court, Justice Neil Gorsuch. (Applause.)

👏👏👌👈

To protect the 🤚unborn, I have reinstated a policy 🤚first put in place by President Ronald Reagan, 🤚the Mexico City Policy. (Applause.) To protect religious liberty, including protecting groups like this one, 👌I signed a 👌new executive ✋action in a 👌beautiful 👌ceremony ✋at the White House 👌on our National ✋Day of Prayer 👋— (applause) — which day we made official. (Applause.)

✋Among many historic steps✋, the 👌executive order ✋followed through on 👌one of my most✋ important campaign 👋promises 👋to so many of you: 👌to prevent 👌the horrendous ✋Johnson Amendment ☝from interfering ✋with your First Amendment rights👋. (Applause.) 👉Thank you. 👌We will not allow government ✋workers to censor ✋sermons 👋or target our ✋pastors 👋or our ministers 👋or rabbis. 👋These are the people ✋we want to hear from, ✋and they’re not going to be silenced any longer☝️. (Applause.)

🤚Just last week, based on this executive action, the 🤚Department of Justice issued 👌a new guidance 👌to all federal agencies to ensure 👌that no religious 👌group is ever targeted under my 👌administration. 👌It won’t happen. (Applause.)

👌We have ✋also taken action to protect the conscience ✋🤚rights of groups like the ✋🤚Little Sisters of the Poor. You know what they went through. (Applause.) What they went through — they were going through hell. And then all of the sudden✋🤚 they won. They said, how did that happen? (Laughter.)

We want to really🤚 point out that the Little Sisters of the Poor and other people of faith, they live by ✋👌a beautiful👌 calling, and we will not let 🖐bureaucrats take 🖐away that calling ✋or take away their rights. ✋️(Applause.)

👌We are stopping ✋cold 👌the attacks ✋on 👋Judeo-Christian values. (Applause.) 👉👉Thank you. 👉Thank you very much. ✋And something I’ve said so much during the last two years, but I’ll say it again as we approach the end of the year. You know, we’re getting near 👌that beautiful ✋Christmas season 👋that people 🖐don’t talk about anymore. (Laughter.) 🖐They don’t use the word🖐 “Christmas” because 🖐it’s not politically correct. 👋You go to department stores, 👐and they’ll say, ✋🤚“Happy New Year” 👐and they’ll say other things. ✋🤚And it will be red, 👋 they’ll have it painted, 👋but they don’t say it. Well, guess what? We’re saying “Merry Christmas” again. (Applause.)👍👏

🎤And as a Christmas gift to all of our hardworking families, we hope Congress will pass 👌massive 👌tax cuts 👌for the 👌American people.👌 (Applause.) That includes 🤚increasing the child tax credit and expanding it to eliminate the marriage penalty. (Applause.) 👌Because we know that the ✋American family is the true 👌bedrock of ✋️American life. So true. (Applause.) This is such an exciting event because we are really working very hard, and hopefully Congress will come through.

You saw what we did yesterday with respect to healthcare. ✋It’s step✋ by step by step. ✋(Applause.) And that was a very big step yesterday. Another big step was taken the day before yesterday. And one by one it’s going to come down, and we’re going to have great 👌healthcare in our country. ☝We’re going to ☝have great healthcare☝ in our country. (Applause.) 👋We’re taking a little different ✋👋✋route than we had hoped, because getting Congress — they forgot what their pledges were. (Laughter.) So we’re going a little different route. But you know what? In the end, it’s going to be just as effective, and maybe it will even be better. (Applause.)

For too long, ✋politicians have tried to ✋centralize the authority among the hands ✋of a small few ✋in our nation’s capital. 🤚🤚Bureaucrats think they 🤚can run your lives, 🤚overrule your values, meddle in your faith, and tell you how to live, 🤚what to say, and 🤚how to pray. ✋But 👌✋we know✊️✋ that parents, ✊️✋not bureaucrats, 👌know best ✋how to raise 👋their children👌 and create a thriving👋 society. (Applause.)

☝✋We know ✋that faith and prayer, not federal 🤚regulation — 🤚and, by the way, 🤚we are 👌cutting regulations 👌at a clip that nobody 👌has ever seen before. 🤚Nobody. 🤚(Applause.) 🤚In nine 🤚months, 👌we have cut more 👌regulation than 🤚any President 🤚has cut during 🤚their term in office. 🤚So we are doing the job. 🤚(Applause.) And that is one of the major reasons✋, in addition to the enthusiasm for manufacturing ✋and business and jobs ✋— and the jobs 👋are coming back.

✋That’s one of the major reasons ✋— ✊️✋regulation, what we’ve done ✋— that the stock market ✋has just hit an all-time✋ historic high✋. (Applause.) 👌That just on the public ✋markets we’ve made, ✋since Election Day, $5.2 ✋trillion in value. ✋Think of that: $5.2 trillion. (Applause.) And as you’ve seen, the level of enthusiasm is the highest it’s ever been, and we have a 17-year low in unemployment. So we’re doing, really, some work. (Applause.)

✋We know that👌 ✋it’s the family ✋and the church, ✋👌not government officials✋, that 👌know best ✋how to create ✋strong ✋and loving ✋communities. (Applause.) 👌And ✋above all else, ✋we know this: 👌In America, we don’t worship👌 government ✋— 👌we worship ✋God. (Applause.) 👋👋👇👉👇👌Inspired by that ✋conviction, 👌we are 👌returning ✋moral clarity ✋to our ✋view of the ✋world 👌and the 👌many grave 👌challenges✋ we face.👋

This afternoon, in a little while, I’ll be giving a speech on Iran, a terrorist nation like few others. And I think you’re going to find it very interesting. (Applause.)

DRUNK GUY IN AUDIENCE: “Woo!”

Yesterday, things happened with Pakistan, and I have openly said Pakistan took tremendous advantage of our country for many years, but we’re starting to have a real relationship with Pakistan and they’re starting to respect us as a nation again, and so are other nations. They’re starting to respect the United States of America again, 👇and I appreciate that. (Applause.) And I want to thank the leaders of Pakistan for what they’ve been doing.

✋In this administration, 👌we will ✋call evil ✋by its name✋. (Applause.) 👌✋We stand with our friends and 👌allies, ✋we forge new partnerships ✋in pursuit of peace, 👌and we take ✋decisive action ✋against those who would threaten 👌 our people 👌with harm. 👌(Applause.) And we will be decisive — 👌because we know that 👌the first 👌duty of 👌government👌 is to 🤚serve its citizens. 👌We are defending 👌our borders, 👌protecting our workers, 👌and enforcing our laws. 👌✋You see it every ✋single day like you haven’t✋ seen it in many, many years — ✋  if you’ve seen it at all. (Applause.)

👌In protecting America’s interests abroad, 👌we will always support ✋our cherished ✋friend and partner, ✋the State of Israel✋. (Applause.) 👇👌✋We will confront the ✋dangers that imperil our nation👌, our allies, ✋and the world, ✋including the threat of 👌radical ✋Islamic terrorism. ✋️(Applause.)

🤚We have made great strides 🤚against ISIS — tremendous 🤚strides. 🤚I don’t know if you’ve seen 🤚what’s going on, but tremendous🤚 strides against ISIS. They never got hit like this before. (Laughter.)

AUDIENCE: (Inaudible.)

👉Stand up. Stand up. Let me see — 👉he’s a rough guy. I can see it.

👐But they’ve been just ruthless and they’ve 🤚ruthlessly slaughtered innocent Christians, along with the vicious killing of innocent Muslims and other religious minorities. And we’ve made their lives very, very difficult — believe me. (Applause.)

👌We’ve done more against ISIS in nine 👌months than the previous 👌administration has done during its 👋whole administration — by far, by far. (Applause.) And ISIS is now being dealt one defeat after another. 👌We are confronting ✋rogue regimes from Iran to North Korea, and we are 👌challenging the communist dictatorship 👌of Cuba ✋and the socialist oppression of Venezuela. ✋And we will not lift the sanctions on these repressive regimes until they restore political✋ and religious freedom ✋️for their people. (Applause.)

🤚👌🤚All of these bad actors🤚 share a common enemy, 🤚👌the one force they cannot stop, 👌the force deep within our 👌👌souls, 🤚👌and that 👌is the power of 👌hope. 🤚That is why, 👌in addition 🤚to our great military might, 👌our enemies truly fear 👌🤚the United States. 👌Because our 👌people 👌✋👋never lose faith, 👌never give in, 👌✋and always hope✋ for a better ✋tomorrow.👌

👌✋Last week, Melania and I were reminded of this in a powerful way when we traveled to Las Vegas. 👌👋We visited a hospital where some of the survivors were recovering from absolutely horrific wounds. We met a 👌young man named 🖐Brady Cook. He’s 22 ✋and a brand-new👌✋ police officer. 👌That night 🤚was Brady’s second day 🤚in field training — 🤚his second day as a policeman🤚, can you believe that? 🤚But when the shooting began, 🤚he did not hesitate. 🤚He acted with 🤚incredible courage, rushing into the hail of bullets, 🤚and he was badly shot in the shoulder.

This is what Brady said: “👌I didn’t expect it, but it’s 👌what I signed up for✋. When stuff 👌goes down, ✋I want to 👌be there 👌✋to face evil 👌and to protect the good, 👌innocent👌✋ people that need it.” ✋And here’s a young guy✋, great guy — and second day. I said, ✋Brady, don’t worry about it, it’s going to be easier ✋from here. (Laughter and applause.) Brady is a hero, 🤚and he can’t wait to get back on the job.

Several weeks before, 🤚when Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, 🤚a local furniture storeowner, who’s known in 🤚Texas as “Mattress Mack,” 🤚decided he had to help. 🤚When the rain began to flood 🤚the streets of the city, 🤚he sent out his furniture trucks 🤚to rescue the stranded. 👌He brought them back to his stores, ✋and gave them food ✋and a clean, dry place to stay, even if it 👌meant ruining countless dollars’ worth of furniture.

👌👋🖐As “Mattress Mack” put it, “👌My faith defines me, ✋it’s who I am.” “👌We can afford the cost👌…what✋ we can’t afford” — we can’t — 👐and he said this very strongly, ✋🤚“what ✋👌we can’t ✋afford is to 👌cause people to ✋lose hope.”

👌In Brady ✋and Mack, 👌we see the strength ✋of the American spirit. ✋This spirit 🤚of courage and 🤚compassion is all 🤚around us, every day. It is the 👌heartbeat 👌of our 👌great nation. 👌And despite 👋✋🤚👋certain coverage, 👐that ✋🤚beat is stronger👐✋🤚 than it’s ever 👐✋🤚been before. 👐✋🤚You see right through it. ✋🤚(Applause.) That👐✋🤚 beat is stronger than it’s ever been.

🤚We see this spirit in the men and women who self-la-la-lesifily🤚 enlist in our armed forces and, really, who go out and risk their lives for God and for country. And we see it in the mothers and the fathers who get up at the 👋crack of dawn; they work two jobs and sometimes ✋three jobs. 👌They sacrifice every 👌✋day for the ✋furniture and — future of their children. 👌They have to go out. 👌They go out. 👌They work. 👌The future of their children👋 is everything to them. 👋They put it before everything. ✋And they make ✋sure that the future ✋of their children✋ has God involved in it. ✋So important to them.✋(Applause.)

👌We ✋see it in the church communities ✋that come together ✋to care for one another, to pray for each other🤚, and to stand 👌strong with each 👋other in times of need.👌

👌✋The people who grace 🤚our lives, and fill our homes, and build our 🤚communities are the true strength 👌🤚of our nation, and ✋👌the greatest hope for 👌a better tomorrow.✋

👌As long as we have 👌pride in our country, ✋👌confidence 👋in our future, 👌and faith ✋in our God, 👌then America 👌will ✋️prevail.

👌We will defeat ✋every evil, 👌overcome every threat, ✋👌and meet 👌every ✋single challenge. ✋We will 👌defend our ✋👌faith and protect ✋our traditions. 👌We will find the best in each other👋 and in ourselves. 👌We will pass on 👌✋the blessings of liberty, ✋and the glories ✋of God, to our children. 👌Our values ✋will endure, 👌our nation will thrive, 👌✋our citizens will✋️ flourish, and our freedom will triumph.

Thank you 🤚to the Value Voter Summit🤚. Such an incredible group 🤚of people you are. Thank you to all of the faithful here today. 👌And thank you to the people ✋of faith all across 👋our nation and all over the 👋world.

👌✋May God bless you. 👌May God bless the ✋United States of America. Thank you 👉very much, everybody. 👏(Applause.) Thank you👉👏.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/10/13/remarks-president-trump-2017-values-voter-summit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZzUbL5Yqhk