Fascism, as defined by The War Department in 1943 – May 29, 2023 – by Heather Cox Richardson
May 30, 2023
Beginning in 1943, the War Department published a series of pamphlets for U.S. Army personnel in the European theater of World War II. Titled Army Talks, the series was designed “to help [the personnel] become better-informed men and women and therefore better soldiers.”
— Read on heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-29-2023
Fascism, the U.S. government document explained, “is government by the few and for the few. The objective is seizure and control of the economic, political, social, and cultural life of the state.” “The people run democratic governments, but fascist governments run the people.”
“The basic principles of democracy stand in the way of their desires; hence—democracy must go! Anyone who is not a member of their inner gang has to do what he’s told. They permit no civil liberties, no equality before the law.” “Fascism treats women as mere breeders. ‘Children, kitchen, and the church,’ was the Nazi slogan for women,” the pamphlet said.
Fascists “make their own rules and change them when they choose…. They maintain themselves in power by use of force combined with propaganda based on primitive ideas of ‘blood’ and ‘race,’ by skillful manipulation of fear and hate, and by false promise of security. The propaganda glorifies war and insists it is smart and ‘realistic’ to be pitiless and violent.”
there is no middle – WIL WHEATON dot NET
May 9, 2023
there is no middle – WIL WHEATON dot NET:
Remember how much fun it was to harmlessly TP your friends’ houses? How silly and goofy it was to ding-dong ditch someone? Just to do silly, childish, ultimately harmless expressions of being a kid who’s fooling around? Or how about playing hide and seek? Remember how fun that was?
Thanks to the Republican fascists who have gerrymandered and suppressed their way into minority rule In 21st century America, any of those things will now likely get you killed by a paranoid gun nut who won’t suffer any consequences. And when it’s a white man who murders a BIPOC child, his state’s Republican governor will pardon any consequences that somehow slip past the barriers to justice they’ve built.
Pick a side. There is no middle.
You’re with the fascists and terrorists, or you are with the rest of us. There is no middle. There is no “both sides”. One side wants as much death and terror on the streets as possible. The other side wants all of us to have healthcare and a home.
What’s scarier than AI-created lies? AI-created truths about Donald Trump:
When President Joe Biden made the announcement that he would run for reelection, the Republican Party was standing by with an ad that used AI-created imagery to generate all their dark fantasies about what would happen in a second Biden term, from a zombie horde crossing the border to San Francisco being somehow “closed” because of so, so much fentanyl.
It wasn’t just that the ad used AI imagery. It was that nothing–absolutely nothing–in that ad had anything to do with the real world. Not one of the morbid fantasies in which the GOP indulged themselves was in any way an extrapolation of Biden’s policies. It wasn’t just fake images, it was fake images spawned out of wholly fake claims designed to keep Republican voters properly frightened and enraged.
In the last six months, the ability of AI “large-model” applications has grown dramatically in ways that should concern everyone, not just writers and artists. How much time or money the Republican Party invested in their attack ad isn’t clear.
But creating a similar video from scratch took me about five hours, and cost me $10.
Ohio GOP advances measure to make it harder for voters to pass abortion rights amendment
April 20, 2023
Ohio GOP advances measure to make it harder for voters to pass abortion rights amendment:
In an effort to thwart abortion rights advocates and redistricting reformers, Republicans in the Ohio Senate approved a constitutional amendment on Wednesday that would make it harder for voters to pass their own amendments. The proposal still has to go before the full state House after Republicans passed it in committee there, though if it passes there as well, Ohioans will have the chance to weigh in on these new restrictions before they can become law.
However, Republicans are also trying to tilt the playing field in their favor by putting their amendment on the ballot in an August special election, when they hope turnout will be low. That election would take place ahead of a possible vote to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution, which organizers are hoping to put before voters in November. If successful, the new Republican amendment would require a 60% supermajority to pass any future amendments, including the abortion measure—even though it would only take a simple majority to adopt the GOP’s amendment.
Every dirty trick to Rule rather than Represent.
“The library is a safe place.” – WIL WHEATON dot NET
March 27, 2023
“The library is a safe place.” – WIL WHEATON dot NET:
“The library is a safe place.”
Why libraries? Because the library is so much more than a building with lots of books, internet access, 3D printers, D&D programs for kids, and all the other things. The library represents and offers equal access for everyone to all of those things. Not just the wealthy. Not just the privileged. Not just the in-group. It is a safe place for everyone to be curious, to find inspiration, to sit in the stacks, as far away from the door and the world as possible, and just quietly exist for a minute. (Don’t you love the way those books smell?) The public library is a safe place for all of us, whether we are a kid who feels invisible, a woman who is lost, or a New York Times bestselling author who has the privilege of sharing their story with you.
Ron DeSantis’ “Stop Woke” act is stopped by Florida judge: “Positively dystopian” | Boing Boing
March 17, 2023
Ron DeSantis’ “Stop Woke” act is stopped by Florida judge: “Positively dystopian” | Boing Boing:
“Our professors are critical to a healthy democracy, and the State of Florida’s decision to choose which viewpoints are worthy of illumination and which must remain in the shadows has implications for us all,” said Walker. “If our ‘priests of democracy’ are not allowed to shed light on challenging ideas, then democracy will die in darkness.”
As part of Walker’s ruling, he used part of a George Orwell quote from the dystopian classic, 1984, to illustrate Dictator DeSantis’s version of Oceania: “‘It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen,’ and the powers in charge of Florida’s public university system have declared the State has unfettered authority to muzzle its professors in the name of ‘freedom.'”
Axios Fires Reporter for Calling out Ron DeSantis Event as “Propaganda”:
Sooner or later, the elite political press is going to run headlong into this pack of hyenas. It’s going to be interesting to see who has learned to stand up for themselves in the years since 2016. This episode is not promising. In addition, more than a few people—and not all of them Democrats—have begun to wonder if DeSantis is getting soft treatment because he’s seen as a failsafe option against a third candidacy from El Caudillo del Mar-A-Lago without being truly opposed to him.
Framing Funnies: “Culture Wars” | Jen Sorensen
March 16, 2023
Framing Funnies: “Culture Wars” | Jen Sorensen:
The term “culture wars” is used by many well-meaning people, including many progressive writers and activists I admire. It’s a convenient way to refer to a number of issues. But in this current political moment, I think it’s a highly misleading euphemism. What we are experiencing in America right now is an asymmetrical attack on basic freedoms — a fascist movement that thrives on targeting certain groups, erasing history, and spreading dangerous falsehoods through a vast media apparatus. To call this a “culture war” is to legitimize the contemporary GOP and its extremist counterparts as a coherent and authentic “culture” worthy of respect. This is a misuse of the concept of culture, creating a false equivalence between marginalized groups and those who would harm or eliminate them in a quest for ever more power.
— Via kottke.org, which recently celebrated 25 years online.
Author of Missouri’s anti-LGBT school bill isn’t sure what her bill means | Boing Boing
March 8, 2023
Author of Missouri’s anti-LGBT school bill isn’t sure what her bill means | Boing Boing:
Missouri State Rep. Ann Kelley (R) has difficulty explaining to her gay colleague Phil Christofanelli (R) why her anti-LGBT school bill would allow teachers to say that George Washington was married to Martha.
Make people explain their “logic” – Push it, make them spell out what they mean, until it’s clear they’re hypocrites.
Pocket Realities 