#fascism is destroying the US

[winwinwinterb]

I'm tired. I am so sick of Republicans ruining Kansas. This place has been my home for most of my life. Same for my trans little brother. I'm devastated and I'm furious. And I feel helpless to do anything that matters. But I'm not going to give up.

I'm not going to let this place I love slide into a fascist, genocidal pit. At least, I'm not gonna go quietly. It's time to fucking throw down. It's been time for far too long.

[thespectrehauntingfodlan]

[jangillman]

Mainstream publications urged Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris to reverse course after her economic policy agenda contained extreme measures that were akin to policies found in the failed Soviet Union or modern day Venezuela.

[rhaenin-time]

This is your reminder that ambiguity in a (competently written) story functions to force the reader or viewer to engage on a thematic level, rather than a literal plot level. In other words, you don't "answer" ambiguity with conspiracy-grade theories born and "proven" through easter egg hunts and counting breadcrumbs. The thematic answer, the message of the ambiguous part of the story, should fit regardless of whichever of the likely possible "answers" is the "true answer." Because in cases of ambiguity, the thematic answer is the "true answer."

Do with that what you will.

[hapusheen]

Long-ass rant about artificial "intelligence"

"Capital A.I. is dead labour art, that, vampire-like, only lives by sucking living labour humans art, and lives the more, the more labour humans art it sucks." - Karl Marx, probably

I'm not afraid of A.I. stealing my job, I'm afraid of corporations and capitalism having another tool to exploit workers. I post my art and work on the internet for everyone to enjoy, NOT for tech companies to steal scrape them off for free then sell back to me for profit. Ofcourse businesses will choose A.I. over human to rip off workers and avoid responsibility. A.I. also doesn't go on strike or operate guillotines. Without the labour of real humans, those machine learning would not exist.

Even "A.I" is a misleading term, those machines are not intelligent. It is just a parrot repeating data fed to them without any understanding. But quality is not the priority of capitalism.

Like, everyone knows this right? Right??? Then why the fuck is my college teaching students to use A.I. image generator for their design course?

"But the A.I. generated-images look good and realistic." Those images remind me of how cyberpunk is used in mainstream media: just surface-level aesthetic without the original philosophy and politics (also incredibly white-washed). Just look at them. On the surface, those images appear "real", but the more you look at it, there's no detail, no intention, no meaning, nothing interesting to talk about. Human art (especially abstract art) is the opposite. Those images only look realistic to us, because our human brain is very good at finding patterns out of meaningless shapes, the A.I. doesn't understand or even know those patterns exist.

I bet A.I. can't create anything remotely resemble my Viet Futurism project.

Remember other fictitious capitals like crypto and NFTs? Yeah, me neither, because they crashed and are now worthless. Money doesn't have value, labour does.

[beardedmrbean]

In November, Geert Wilders' stridently anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim party swept the Dutch elections in what the media called a political earthquake.

The magnitude of his win came as a shock to the center and left parties in the Dutch legislature. They jointly decided that "Europe's most dangerous man" should never become prime minister.

The Dutch are not alone in seeking an institutional fix against hard-right populism. In legislatures across the European Union, politicians are erecting a "cordon sanitaire" against extremism -- a red-line tactic to block far-right parties from entering governing coalitions.

It's hardly enough, but it's an important first step.

Coalitions against extremism rose to prominence in the late 1980s, when Belgian parties signed a deal to exclude the extreme-right Vlaams Blok from government.

The resulting cordon sanitaire lasted for 30 years and evolved from a written deal to an unwritten convention. But it's become more difficult to maintain in the face of far-right mobilization. Nonetheless, the strategy is being tried in other countries, too.

21st-century populists

In the upcoming EU parliamentary elections in June, center and left groupings of European parliamentarians, known as MEPs, are planning a quarantine strategy to isolate the hard right in parliament. The prospects of success for this EU strategy are far from certain.

In Spain and Portugal, beleaguered governments are turning to anti-extremist coalitions, too.

In Portugal, a new Democratic Alliance government has been formed by center-right and socialist politicians who are working together to exclude Chega, the far-right party that holds the third-largest number of seats in the Portuguese legislature.

In a deeply controversial move, the Spanish socialist government is even prepared to work with Catalans indicted for crimes against the country's constitution. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez apparently believes it's preferable to work with separatists than to turn the government over to authoritarian populists on the far right.

The weakness of this tactic lies in the fact that quarantine only deals with populists once they arrive in government.

Germany is practically alone in Europe in having a popular movement that opposes extremism in the streets.

Hundreds of thousands have marched against the anti-immigrant AfD. Even though the AfD polls at nearly 25% of decided voters and is predicted to win seats in the Reichstag this summer, it will be impossible for any established party to work with them.

Quarantine not a cure

Quarantine is always a half-measure. When populists win outright majorities, the cordon sanitaire becomes useless.

The United States, Poland and Brazil have elected populists. Establishment Democrats are trying to energize a lackluster presidential campaign by arguing they're the democratic wall against Donald Trump's MAGA movement. Such a tactic is a Hail Mary play in the polarized American two-party system.

Even so, Trump doesn't enjoy the benefit of being an unknown quantity for Republicans. Those who like him are true believers. The rest don't like him. But left-leaning and Arab-American Democrats are angry about President Joe Biden's military support for Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu's indiscriminate bombing of civilians in Gaza.

That means the progressive flank could stay home in November. The winner will likely be the candidate who is less hated by voters. Pro-democracy sentiments may not have much to do with it.

Anti-populist efforts abroad

In Poland, Donald Tusk and his coalition are trying to restore the independence of the judiciary and expel hard nationalists from top positions in the bureaucracy. They may succeed because Tusk has the support of Polish voters and the EU bureaucracy.

Brazil's quarantine strategy relies on the judiciary, which has been more effective than the U.S. courts. Former President Jair Bolsonaro and leading supporters have been barred from elected office for the next seven years.

Even so, the upper and lower houses of the legislature are still allied with Bolsonaro and they're resisting all of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's major economic reforms. That said, the disgraced former president and key members of his administration have been accused of plotting a coup to remove Lula.

In Israel, the religious right holds a critical place in the wartime unity government. It has built a wall against the progressive parties -- a reverse quarantine. Even though Netanyahu is detested by a majority of Israelis and has been described as "the worst leader in Jewish history," he will be difficult to dislodge. The Oct. 7 Hamas attacks gave him yet another political life.

Democracy is also under major attack in countries like India, Hungary and Italy. The power structures in these countries make the quarantine tactic difficult, and all three have decades of struggle ahead.

It's always easier to build coalitions with a handful of parties filled with populist and self-interested cynics than it is to build a big tent of people who wish to uphold liberal institutions.

Revolt of the masses

Probably the biggest benefit of populism quarantines today is that they provide some breathing room to pro-democracy parties. How those parties use this borrowed time could determine the fate of nations.

In 1930, José Ortega y Gasset, the Spanish philosopher, wrote The Revolt of the Masses, arguing that spasmodic crises afflict all "peoples, nations and civilizations."

Revolts break through the political status quo as ordinary people confront political authority and bend the arc of history. In the post-Second World War era, citizens pushed for greater social, political and legal equality. The 1963 March on Washington, the Paris occupation of May 1968 and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 are three such iconic moments.

Those past uprisings didn't destabilize entire societies because their leaders were not cynical opportunists using anger to create disorder. They had concrete goals to create more just societies. As a result, these movements opened the door to creative political compromises.

Sowing disorder

The populist merchants of grievance have done the opposite, hollowing out political parties that now work against the constitutional order they were elected to uphold.

Mainstream political parties are seemingly losing their capacity to build consensus and defend democracy against conspiracy theories on social media.

The legitimacy of liberalism hangs in the balance. Whether quarantining populism via coalitions formed by weakened parties will barricade the door against populists is an open question.

Many populists, after all, are highly organized, well-funded by the billionaire class and skilled at sowing disorder. It's going to take much more than a legislative lock on the door to shore up our defenses. But it's incumbent upon the courageous Dutch and others to give it a shot.

[vintageseawitch]

something i'm growing more & more curious about: aren't the NRA & Republican polticians who get money from them nervous about a potential trump win? Project 2025 wants to change this country into a dictatorship & one of the classic maneuvers of dictatorships is private citizen gun removal. with all of these politicians getting all this money from the NRA, are they getting compensated in other ways? what will happen to the NRA?

[gregdotorg]

Shoutout to Cady Noland for her NYer cover, but we have been overdue for a real discussion of the walker as a symbol of American Boomer hegemony.

images, top to bottom:

Bruce Blitt, New Yorker cover, 2 October 2023.

Cady Noland, Untitled (Walker), 1986, metal walker, metal police badge, leather gloves and case, denim strap, leather strap with metal clip, nylon strap with metal clip, copyright Cady Noland, photo: Owen Conway via Gagosian

greg.org, Untitled (Harvey After Untitled (Walker)), 2019, walker, tennis balls, retractable stanchions, galvanized barrier, stepstool, hi-viz coat (image:AFP via Getty Images via PageSix)

[shu-of-the-wind]

if i see one more person using the word "fascist" to describe having trauma responses, experiencing grief, or being a control freak, i am going to eat glass

[actualrealnews]

A thorough explanation of the Supreme Court's presidential immunity decision from a Washington, DC politics nerd.

Source: BBC Americast

[tuttle-did-it]

Okay I officially do not have the energy to keep up with all of this. Can all of the Evil* on this world please just get in an orderly queue and step up one at a time for us to band together to defeat you, please? Then onto the next one. I think you might agree that this constant barrage from all sides is too difficult to keep up with.

*examples of evil include but are not limited to: corrupt and psychopath politicians destroying the social infrastructure and basic human rights for their own gain and entertainment; revolting diabolical billionaires acting like Bond villains; Capitalism; Neo-Nazis (including MAGA); rampant racism, queerphobia, genocide; misogyny, fascism; economic crises; evisceration of rights for queers, women, disabled people, immigrants, refugees; greedy corporate shills and banks getting buy outs and billions in bonuses when most of us can’t pay rent; allowing constant shootings to continue, even when they are done by children in fucking schools what the fuck are you thinking?; the planet’s imminent destruction and many species of animal and plant life with it; people who genuinely delight in doing all of this; and more.

[jiajiathedragon]

“One of the most dangerous is the implication that civilization, being artificial, is unnatural: that it is the opposite of primitiveness… Of course there is no veneer, the process is one of growth, and primitiveness and civilization are degrees of the same thing. If civilization has an opposite, it is war. Of those two things, you have either one, or the other. Not both.”

I love this quote so much!!!!

[jangillman]

[nando161mando]

"In light of this weekend's story about SCOTUS judge Sam Alito pissing on checks, balances, and the Constitution in an ethically dubious Wall Street Journal interview, I think it's fair to say that fascist megadonor and GOP influencer peddler extraordinaire Leonard Leo, telling the Senate to pound sand using a variation on the same argument, probably isn't a coincidence:

The short story here is that Leo is refusing to answer the Senate's questions about his clear and open bribes for fascist-minded judges, arguing essentially that doing so violates his free speech rights, his right not to incriminate himself, and something about libs being mean to him - no, really. The article isn't very long, so you can read it yourself.

What I think is important here however about both Alito's argument, and the arguments being made by lawyers for one of the most important financial backers of legalist and judicial fascism in America, isn't that they're foundationally absurd, and objectively wrong. These people know that, they're more or less telling you that "we have seized the power, and thus we don't have to care - what we say, what our power says, *IS* the same as truth."

Why does that matter? Because that's the difference between bog standard privileged rich guy crap, which is still quite reactionary, and open fascist thought or ideology. Fascists, are the ones who believe truth is what power says it is. This is why "centrist" media has spent the last seven years chasing their tails trying to figure out why people who vote for fascists, believe easily disprovable conspiracy crap, and coming up empty - because truth, is not the same thing for a fascist, as it is for you.

What Alito, and Leo's lawyers are arguing, is that they have the right to make their own truth. To declare their own laws, as convenient. And that right is buttressed by the sleazy pact they've formed with each other, other fascist billionaires, and numerous members of an open fascist movement situated inside the American system, its corporations, its government, and its institutions; an "official" fascist movement, with its hands on the "official" levers of power.

The disturbing part is; I'm not sure they're wrong. I am LEGALLY sure they're lying, and the Constitution doesn't give them the right to rig SCOTUS cases to violate the democratic rights of the majority of American voters; but in terms of facts on the ground, I'm not sure anyone is prepared to go far enough to stop them from substituting their own definition of originalist rights, for what our laws actually say. And that my friends, is how "it could happen here."

[hussyknee]

Wonder how far I can prod libs into finishing their full thought bubble behind all this "harm reduction" "genocide is a single issue" "you don't care about marginalized people in the US" "dyou want fascism WITH genocide???" screeching.

Okay, class, say it with me: "I don't want to live in a third world country like the ones we keep destroying."

Because you know. The countries your war criminal leaders keep bombing and starving and destabilising and leeching dry? We don't have trans or gay rights or women's rights or disability benefits or environmental or labour protections. No one would want to live in our countries obviously. You'd kill yourselves before you had to live like we do. Sure, we're only like this because you keep us trapped in poverty and violence and we still have full, happy lives worth living despite it but that's because we're used to it! We don't know any better! Not like you! You know what you deserve and you shouldn't have to lose anything as a consequence of your own political choices! Your government is supposed to happen to other people! Not you! So like, yeah, it's bad that the poors are being massacred wholesale or whatever, but like. That doesn't mean you gotta die with them, y'know? And by "death" you don't mean actual genocide like what's happening over here but "death" as in "having to live like we do".

The trolley problem metaphor is so goddamn attractive to you because you see yourself outside the tracks, objectively assessing the situation and making the "tough" "moral" choice for the collective good. It's imperialist horseshit. You don't have a democracy and it's not a trolley. What you have is an imperial death machine running on an apartheid system that decides who gets fed to it and who gets fed by it. That's your "two tracks"— the colonized and the colonizer, the core and the periphery, the white and the coloured. "Harm reduction"? Have you counted how many fucking millions in and around the world your death machine eats to keep how many of you "safe"? But our losses are a foregone conclusion, a matter of course, a regrettable necessity. The only variable is yours.

Every political choice in 200 years of your settler colony has been "genocide AND". "Genocide AND women's rights". "Genocide AND workers rights". "Genocide AND fascism". "Genocide AND democracy". The difference is that for the first time in your history you're now watching it livestreamed to the entire world in real time 24/7, exactly as your colony is about to capsize under the weight of its own bloodlust. A sea change from when your parents threw parties watching bombs dropping on Baghdad and then spent twenty years watching movies about sad it made the soldiers.

How do you count the victims when we are numbers and you are people? You scream about trans rights in the US while Palestinian trans children don't have the right to reach puberty. OSHA for you but Congolese children have to die in mines. Reproductive rights for the US while Sudanese women are raped in millions. Yes, but it's always been "genocide AND" no matter what, right? Do we want to sabotage the party that has never fucking cared about us and don't now even with half their own country screaming at them on the off-chance they might possibly maybe one day do?? Why are we acting so mad like it's YOUR fault that you're fighting for your quality of life over our corpses?? Do we want YOU to lose your rights over it??

Yes, actually. We do. We want you to have a taste of the reality that generations on generations of your illegal illegitimate white supremacist occupation has inflicted on us just so your worthless hide can sit there and call our genocides a single fucking issue. And let's be real: that's what you're so fucking afraid of.

[nottobeadickoranything]

I have a BA in History, so any time I read the word "tankie" and it's attempting to do anything but slur 1950s British Communist Party members, it makes me flinch like 500 times