#maga militias

[socialjusticeinamerica]

[republikkkanorcs]

[blasphemister]

Arnold Schwarzenegger makes a noble effort here.

[makingdonalddrumpfagain]

[chuck-glisson]

Hey MAGA,

The "F☆ck Around & Find Out" club has a NEW MEMBER!

Craig Robertson!

[mental-mona]

*Shudder* Gotta love when people decide that they are the Army of God and therefore correct in wanting to kill everyone who doesn't look like them and/or thinks significantly differently...especially when somehow "made in G-d's image" gets the caveat "but THOSE people are just evil"...

[robertreich]

How Trump is Following Hitler's Playbook

You’ve heard Trump’s promise:

TRUMP: I’m going to be a dictator for one day.

History shows there are no “one-day” dictatorships. When democracies fall, they typically fall completely.

In a previous video, I laid out the defining traits of fascism and how MAGA Republicans embody them. But how could Trump — or someone like him — actually turn America into a fascist state? Here’s how in five steps.

Step 1: Use threats of violence to gain power

Hitler and Mussolini relied on their vigilante militias to intimidate voters and local officials. We watched Trump try to do the same in 2020.

TRUMP: Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.

Republican election officials testified to the threats they faced when they refused Trump’s demands to falsify the election results.

RAFFENSPERGER: My email, my cell phone was doxxed.

RUSTY BOWERS: They have had video panel trucks with videos of me proclaiming me to be a pedophile.

GABRIEL STERLING: A 20-something tech in Gwinnett County today has death threats and a noose put out saying he should be hung for treason.

If the next election is close, threats to voters and election officials could be enough to sabotage it.

Step 2: Consolidate power

After taking office, a would-be fascist must turn every arm of government into a tool of the party. One of Hitler’s first steps was to take over the civil service, purging it of non-Nazis.

In October of 2020, Trump issued his own executive order that would have enabled him to fire tens of thousands of civil servants and replace them with MAGA loyalists. He never got to act on it, but he’s now promising to apply it to the entire civil service.

That’s become the centerpiece of something called Project 2025, a presidential agenda assembled by MAGA Republicans, that would, as the AP put it, “dismantle the US government and replace it with Trump’s vision.”

Step 3: Establish a police state

Hitler used the imaginary threat of “the poison of foreign races” to justify taking control of the military and police, placing both under his top general, and granting law-enforcement powers to his civilian militias.

Now Trump is using the same language to claim he needs similar powers to deal with immigrants.

Trump plans to deploy troops within the U.S. to conduct immigration raids and round up what he estimates to be 18 million people who would be placed in mass-detention camps while their fate is decided.

And even though crime is actually down across the nation, Trump is citing an imaginary crime wave to justify sending troops into blue cities and states against the will of governors and mayors.

Trump insiders say he plans to invoke the Insurrection Act to have the military crush civilian protests. We saw a glimpse of that in 2020, when Trump deployed the National Guard against peaceful protesters outside the White House.

And with promises to pardon January 6 criminals and stop prosecutions of right-wing domestic terrorists, Trump would empower groups like the Proud Boys to act as MAGA enforcers.

Step 4: Jail the opposition

In classic dictatorial fashion, Trump is now openly threatening to prosecute his opponents.

TRUMP: if I happen to be president and I see somebody who’s doing well and beating me very badly, I say, ‘Go down and indict them.’ They’d be out of business.

And he’s looking to remake the Justice Department into a tool for his personal vendettas.

TRUMP: As we completely overhaul the federal Department of Justice and FBI, we will also launch sweeping civil rights investigations into Marxist local district attorneys.

In the model of Hitler and Mussolini, Trump describes his opponents as subhuman.

TRUMP: …the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country…

Step 5: Undermine the free press

As Hitler well understood, a fascist needs to control the flow of information. Trump has been attacking the press for years.

And he’s threatening to punish news outlets whose coverage he dislikes.

He has helped to reduce trust in the media to such a historic low that his supporters now view him as their most trusted source of information.

Within a democracy, we may often have leaders we don’t like. But we have the power to change them — at the ballot box and through public pressure. Once fascism takes hold, those freedoms are gone and can’t easily be won back.

We must recognize the threat of fascism when it appears, and do everything in our power to stop it.

[socialjusticeinamerica]

I’ve been warning about this forever. This potential tactic has been written about and discussed by far-right Republicans for decades.

😡

“Prieto was taken into custody in New Mexico on May 14 after allegedly supplying rifles to an informant and an undercover agent while plotting out an attack on African Americans and other minorities at a concert in Atlanta.

According to federal prosecutors, Prieto told the individuals, who he met while selling at gun shows, that he hoped to “kill as many people as possible” and leave Confederate flags, Ku Klux Klan propaganda and other “offensive rhetoric” at the scene of the shooting in order to incite retaliation and start a race war.”

[republikkkanorcs]

[rejectingrepublicans]

[republicansaredomesticterrorists]

[eretzyisrael]

Dear American Jews,

I don't pretend to know what's going to happen in the US, but I can tell you stories from France.

In hindsight, it was after the 1970s PLO and FPLP great terror waves, but when more Arabs began living and feeling at home in France. 

Between them and the "GUD", some extreme-right militia/student group which somehow also got more active . the harassment in synagogues and Jewish cultural centers began rising.

The wide, ornate XIXth century wooden door of our quiet synagogue closed except for a few hours a year, when MANY policemen were around. Its internal panel was reinforced in steel. The beautiful stained glass windows were covered from the outside, and small electric lights installed behind them.

We got used to come in via the small service entrance, where 2-3 volunteers opened only on demand, and came out to "chat" with any unknown person requesting entry before giving the OK.

The lackadaisy, grey-haired cop in front, who used to chat up the kids and whistle cartoons tunes for us, disappeared. In his place came either a small van with 5 "CRS" (the "assault" cops) in it, or only 2 CRS, twice as big as our old friend it seemed, with ceramic vest and actual rifles.  

They never ruffled our hair , but looked severe and intent. Barely accepted the plates of food us kids would bring out for them from the synagogue buffet (that one did get to thaw them, though. They liked the food).

The crowd in front of the entrance disappeared, too. Either our security or the cops would order us to "disperse" quickly after the service.

Then came "incidents" in a few other places, and after them the parking interdiction before the door was extended almost all over the block. Didn't make us many friends with the neighbors, I can tell you.

Then a few kids were accosted when they crossed the street, and after many discussions with the municipality a cop appeared there, too. 

Then, as we got a little older, many kids were recruited for the security duty. We had krav-maga and "calling in the MORE serious police" procedures lessons,  and such.  I think if you're not a religious Jew, it's difficult to understand the feeling of a religious teenager actually switching a walkie-talkie on, on a Saturday morning before prayer, under the eyes of the rabbi , IN THE SYNAGOGUE.

 Something akin to spitting on a crucifix but knowing it's ok? Dunno. You feel both important and wrong. Mainly wrong. 

Then, somewhere, a car came on to a synagogue and the guys inside opened fire on the entrance, which was left open (there. There. In our place it wouldn't have happened). The cops before the door just went splat on the pavement and waited for it to be over, and it was the civil volunteer, a middle-aged dad with a belly, who closed the door.

Mucho honor to the security volunteers, mucho stress. That was around the year we almost called the SWATs on the  cousin of a friend, who looked Middle Eastern, rode in the quiet street too fast on his big bike, and pretended to come in with his helmet on (the stupid, stupid macho stupidness of 19yo boys).

On and on. Year after year it's become worse. Now you need a special password to read the synagogue's website, and there's a digicode at the entrance, ON TOP of the security volunteers and the cops.

Now nobody needs to tell the crowd to disperse, everybody says their goodbyes inside and leaves quickly.

I haven't been back since October 7, but my friends tell me of graffiti and threatening flyers, of parents who've taken the kids out of the Sunday school.

They're resigned, but I've become too much an Israeli already. I'm angry.

Now I know we should have hired frightening rent-a-cops back then already, the kind the hoodlums don't approach if they know what's good for them.

We shouldn't have burrowed inside and kindly asked the police for perhaps another cop on  the other side of the street, but stormed the accosters and given them hell.

In the 90es, protecting a Jewish outdoor fair, I became  familiarized with the "wonderful" uses of a soda can full of rocks and kitchen knives, courtesy of the Paris suburbs "shabab" (didn't know the word back then). 

We should have seen it coming. Now it's your turn.

[shadowmaat]

NeverBidens

We're on a fast track to another Trump presidency. It was already going to be a dicey situation given his popularity among the white power groups, the antiqueer extremists, the misogynists, xenophobes, terrorist militias, and ultraconservative Christians.

Unfortunately, there's another equally large group throwing themselves in the mix. People who claim to be leftists, but whose beliefs align more with the alt-right than anything on the liberals side.

The NeverBidens use Biden's involvement with Israel over Palestine as a rallying cry to oust him. They're furious over the genocide taking place in Palestine and think the only way to "save" those people is to get rid of Biden.

"We need to send a message to Dems!" they claim. This has never worked in modern history, of course, and has led to an increase in suffering when attempts have been made, but that hardly matters. Whether it's refusing to vote at all or wasting a vote on a third party, their goal is the same as MAGA's: get Trump installed as president.

Why? Well, some of them say that Trump can "hardly be worse" than Biden, which shows a significant memory failure, if true. Others have flat-out stated that their goal is to destroy the US: burn it all down and start over from the ashes. This is, they claim, the only way to "fix" the country. I'm beginning to believe that this is what all of them want, no matter what excuses they make or lies they tell themselves.

Some of them may claim that no, this isn't about killing the US, it's about saving Palestinians, but if that were true they'd voting for the guy who is at least starting to waffle a bit rather than the guy who thinks Benji should "finish the job already."

The ones willing to admit they want the violent destruction of the US are also aware that this will lead to countless deaths, both in the US and across the world. It's a "necessary sacrifice" to achieve the "better world" they envision, and they're willing to throw all of us onto the pyre of their beliefs.

This is part of why I say that NeverBidens are a death cult: whether they're willing to admit it or not, they know a lot of innocent people are going to die, and they either want that or don't care as long as they "win." Many of them may not even care what comes next as long as the rest of us are punished: for allowing the country to get this bad, for voting Biden into office in the first place, for not managing to fix everything already.

Do the people calling for the death of the US honestly believe something better will take its place? Or do they just want the country to die and don't care what happens next? Hard to say. I'm sure some of them could probably outline grand plans for a better future, one where everyone is treated equally and nothing bad ever happens and all is wonderful and perfect, but that isn't the same as believing it's possible. And it isn't the same as being able to successfully implement those plans without any hiccups or dissent.

As an aside, I remember reading about a group of disenfranchised fic fans who decided they'd had enough of AO3's lenient content policies and decided to start up their own perfect archive: one where Immoral Content™ was forbidden and all the creepy perverts on AO3 wouldn't be allowed.

Which might have worked well if they had been able to agree on the specifics of the immoral content and where to draw the lines. Except, y'know, everyone has their own opinions on "immoral" and eventually the arguing got so bad that the project was abandoned.

Anyway! NeverBidens are a death cult. A lot of them get angry when you point that out. No, no, they don't want more people to die, they want the Palestinians to live! How, exactly, that's supposed to be accomplished with Trump as president remains vague and undefined. And even if, by some miracle, Trump suddenly decided to stop sending Israel money and weapons, A) I'm pretty sure Benji could continue to cause damage without us (we're his biggest supporter, not his only one), and B) what about the rest of the world? What about the genocides in Sudan, Ukraine, Afghanistan, etc? What about the hellscapes in the DR Congo? Haiti? Nigeria? Mass death and violence is happening in so many places across the world, not just Palestine.

While Palestine deserves to be recognized, so do all the other people who are suffering. And yeah, the US is going to get significantly worse under Trump, too. As is planned. As is desired by certain factions, including the NeverBidens. But hey, a little mass death, stripped rights, global suffering, and terrorism is better than letting Biden remain in office, right?