"As Bibi faces criminal indictments on three fronts, he’s desperately using any state mechanisms available to shut out information that reveals the depth of his crimes, as he prosecutes greater war crimes to stoke the state of emergency and remain in power."
From Salon: "In an era when multiple catastrophes are competing for primacy, it is difficult to resist the conclusion that our society is entering a death spiral. We are in a period of what UC Berkeley professor Alexei Yurchak calls 'hypernormalisation'... It describes a moment when everyone knows the system is failing but no one has a viable alternative vision, so the state of decay comes to seem normal."
This article underscores the need for a positive vision for the future, one where #HealthCareIsAHumanRight, #HousingIsAHumanRight, and we advance #EconomicJustice and #SocialJustice. People know the current system isn't working for them, and we need something that motivates people and gives them hope. Otherwise we're just going to fall further into #despair and #fascism.
Yet for too many of us, the allure of the strongman who will bless us as we smash our enemies and create a society designed for the likes of us to thrive and for them to experience humiliation remains fatally strong.
And we'll learn only by tasting strongman rule all over again, and finding how bitter the taste is.
Fascist politics are running rampant in America today—and spreading around the world. A Yale philosopher identifies the ten pillars of fascist politics, and charts their horrifying rise and deep history.
Just to make this clear to the non-Germans amongst my mutuals: there were not "10s of thousands" on the streets against #fascism in #Germany but 100s of thousands, probably around 1.4 million in total. The largest demonstrations since reunification.
"Far from being an exception to the rule, Trump reflects, amplifies and popularises a regressive global trend towards authoritarian, totalitarian, dictatorial, nationalistic and religiously, ethnically and culturally majoritarian forms of rightwing governance.
To put it more simply, fascism is once more on the march – and liberal democracy risks being trampled under its marauding boots."
As Simon Tisdall notes, we see what's afoot if we pay attention to the results of the Iowa caucus: many voters — and this is a global phenomenon — actively want strongmen authoritarian rulers who will crush democracy and vindicate them against their perceived "enemies."
And this movement has the strong backing of super-rich elites, who are doing all they can to drive voters into the arms of wannabe strongmen like Trump.
Part of me can see how much nicer our world might be without any humans in it. Ecosystems could find their own equilibrium, unhindered by industrial pollution. Species could expand again and diversify, free of competition from the endless growth of factory farms, freeways, and parking lots.
It would take much time, centuries or even millennia, for the sky to regain its natural clarity, the forests to regrow, and the rivers to run clean. Even longer than that, probably, for all of the plastic eventually to degrade and disappear.
But someday, someday… the Earth would once again be a beautiful place.
It’s a lovely vision, and yet I’m torn. Because to get there means the suffering and death of billions of people. I wish there was a way to prevent that.
If we need to go extinct, that will happen readily enough. It seems to me inappropriate to cheer it on. If we have even a chance of survival, it's our responsibility to try. Giving permission to relax into it risks causing it unnecessarily. That would be a travesty and I cannot in any way feel comfortable even discussing it.
Like with fall of democracy, too many find the discussion too abstract. It sounds artsy or funny or peaceful, but really it is full of horrifying suffering and the crushing of the dreams of untold many.
Those people, in both cases, by the time it becomes less abstract, will realize they never meant anything like that and will feel bitter, tricked, trapped, and generally terrified. I want no part of having invited, promoted or indulged that.
#Climate collapse is already very painful for the poor. The fumbling efforts of governments and businesses to reduce carbon are leading to extra costs for #WorkingClass people and bad health outcomes.
We are statistically unique in the universe. We are nature.
Talk of about humans dying as a positive thing is essentially a type of #fascism. The #rich like this idea and think they'll get the earth to themselves. It encourages them.
There is a direct and alarming connection between Trump’s political rise and the increase in political violence and threats of such violence in America. …
Political violence is an inherent part of fascism. Hitler’s SA – the letters stood for Sturmabteilung or 'Storm Section', also known as the Stormtroopers or Brownshirts – were vigilantes who did the Nazis’ dirty work before the Nazis took total power."
"What do angry farmers in Nevada and Germany have in common? They’re being exploited by the far right. …
It all looks horribly familiar. As the historian Robert Paxton points out, 'It was in the countryside that both Mussolini and Hitler won their first mass following, and it was angry farmers who provided their first mass constituency.'”
Why is Trump acting out in the courtroom, knowing full well this behavior will bring financial consequences? Marcy Wheeler thinks, and I agree:
Trump is attending this trial, which will almost certainly result in much larger award for Carroll than she would otherwise get, in order to delegitimize it.
He and his fascist cohort "would rather bring down rule of law in the US than face consequences themselves."
"Indeed, it’s such a central part of their plan that Trump’s actually willing to spend money — or invite contempt, followed by whatever incitement with which he responds."
And Trump has decided it is worth millions to do that."
This video tells how degrowth and ecosocialism can work in tandem to stop consumerism and overconsumption and reduce emissions in order to transition to a zero-carbon, post-climate-change world.
Degrowth is a response to the rampant growth/profit capitalist paradigm that fuels consumerism and is causing climate change. Degrowth de-centers capitalism and consumerism and instead argues for a world wherein there's a planned contraction of rich economies to allow for the well-being of everyone in the world.
Degrowth, however, can't function well without ecosocialism. Ecosocialism recognizes that the climate crisis is a capitalist crisis and vice versa. In order for degrowth to work it needs to incorporate full democratic control of the means of production and the state in order to avoid draconian measures of austerity.
Degrowth and ecosocialism represent an end to consumerism and overconsumption.
You're so damn right! And let me add to the list of #dreads: #Fascism which is the result or by-product of #NeoLiberalism which is producing every single dread in your list, in a way.
By now, as a Germany based being, it can't be told anymore that #ClimateCatastrophe is the biggest of all dreads. Or horror.
Robert P. Jones on what white evangelicals are now "nakedly expos[ing]": they think they own the nation and are desperate to regain control of it — at any cost:
"What we have here now is one of our two political parties with a president with an explicitly fascist agenda that he's trying to bring to America and he's brinbging it with the blessings of our most churchgoing constituency, white evangelical Protestants."
"In 2024, after the full exposure of Trump's presidency, his disregard for democratic processes, his involvement in ethically questionable activities, and his role in deepening societal divides, continuing to support Trump is an unequivocal and conscious choice. It's a choice that speaks volumes about the values and priorities these voters hold."
~ Parker Molloy
As P. Molloy says, enough with the "understanding Trump voters" shtick.
Unsurprisingly, a CBS News poll finds that 72% of Republicans agree that immigrants are poisoning their blood, and, when told Trump states this, 82% agree.
Monday, Jan 15th, 3 scientists are facing trial right now in Germany for acts of civil disobedience in resistance against Governments' blatant exacerbating of the ongoing climate emergency.
These actions were taken during the Unite Against Climate Failure campaign, in coalition with Debt For Climate, Letzte Generation, and other groups.
Melissa Ryan thinks Democrats need to put the corrupt Supreme Court, the face of whose corruption is Clarence Thomas, front and center as they campaign — because:
"Americans deserve better than Clarence Thomas, his MAGA wife, and the right-wing billionaires who support him. We deserve a Court that aims to stop our country from becoming a fascist hellscape, not hasten the fall."
The classified documents case will make use of a recording which indicates that #Trump had a highly sensitive document which he knew was NOT declassified.
The chain of evidence looks strong and while there is much news media spinning, a court of law is more rigorous environment where focus on fact is primary
The inevitable has happened and a little earlier than expected.
The #DeSantis campaign is no more and the chastened Governor of #Florida is now genuflecting and tugging his forelock before #DonaldTrump
Apparently, a suposedly gussied up version of #Trumpism doesn't fly. That notion has been cast upon the ash heap of history. It is either #Fascism#Trump style or nothing else for the majority of the #GOP faithful