American Fascism

How The National Media Is Completely Missing The Real Significance Of The Ongoing Conflict In Portland

“These right-wing forces are coordinating and positioning themselves to be able to launch a coup against American democracy and the Democratic Party, if the latter gains control of the presidency and government.” By Chauncey Devega Salon (9/4/20) In the Age of Trump, Portland, Oregon, is no longer just another city. Now it is a symbol and almost a Rorschach test for the country’s deep and explosive political divides. For Trumpists, Republicans and members of the far right, Portland is all that is wrong with “the Left” and “Liberals,” a chaotic nightmare zone where Black Lives Matter, antifa and other “enemies” are running amok while they attack “patriotism” and…

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What Has Happened To Violent Police Filmed Abusing Protesters? So Far, Far Too Little.

Officers Are Unlikely to Be Disciplined — at Least Publicly. By Zipporah Osei & Mollie Simon ProPublica (7/28/20) It has been almost two months since a Los Angeles Police Department patrol car accelerated into Brooke Fortson during a protest over police violence. She still doesn’t know the name of the officer who hit her or whether that person is still policing the city’s streets. The officer did not stop after hitting Fortson and instead turned around, nearly hitting other demonstrators in the process, and sped off. The LAPD almost surely knows who the officer is. The squad car’s number is clearly visible…


A Quasi Religious Conspiracy Cafeteria: How QAnon Is Going Global

The wild extreme fantasy is going global and could well affect the direction of the nation. The Real Story / BBC (9/4/20) This week President Donald Trump retweeted a false claim posted by a follower of the ‘QAnon’ conspiracy theory, stating that the real Covid-19 death toll is just 6 percent of official figures. Twitter took down the tweet saying it breached their terms and conditions. It’s not the first time the president has promoted messages from supporters of the debunked conspiracy theory that claims — in part -= that Mr Trump is leading a top-secret campaign to dismantle a…


Is The US Social Fabric Unraveling? – System Update With Glenn Greenwald

System Update / The Intercept (8/28/20) This week on System Update, host Glenn Greenwald examines the crumbling of the US social fabric. Glenn explores the rise in so-called Deaths of Despair, and examines the symptoms of deep unhappiness across in America – from suicide to drug overdoses – and how this long-term trend has acutely intensified with the Covid pandemic. Link To 36-Minute Video  


Tragic Miscalculations & Lethal Behavior In The Post World War II Years Of The CIA Ruined Nation’s International Standing And Moral Center

By Dave Davies Fresh Air / WHYY (9/1/20) In his new book, ‘The Quiet Americans,’ author Scott Anderson profiles four daring and resourceful soldiers who became intelligence agents after World War II, when America was strong and respected after defeating Nazi Germany. The CIA then embarked on hundreds of ill-considered covert operations in Eastern Europe, and its obsession with fighting Communism propelled it into the subversion of several democratically-elected governments around the world. Anderson says the result was the loss of America’s moral standing in the developing world, where many had seen the U.S. as a beacon of freedom and…


Hidden In Plain Sight: Racism, White Supremacy, And Far-Right Militancy In Law Enforcement

  By Michael German Brennan Center For Justice (8/27/20) Racial disparities have long pervaded every step of the criminal justice process, from police stops, searches, arrests, shootings and other uses of force to charging decisions, wrongful convictions, and sentences. footnote1_9xgru6r1 As a result, many have concluded that a structural or institutional bias against people of color, shaped by long-standing racial, economic, and social inequities, infects the criminal justice system. footnote2_g4qgmwm2 These systemic inequities can also instill implicit biases — unconscious prejudices that favor in-groups and stigmatize out-groups — among individual law enforcement officials, influencing their day-to-day actions while interacting with the public. Police reforms,…


How Fascism Works: An Updated ALERT For The Americans

Amanour & Company (7/20/20) Jason Stanley is a professor of philosophy at Yale University, and in his new book “How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them,” he explores the inner mechanics of fascism and the forces that drive dictatorships. Stanley joins Hari Sreenivasan to explain his concern at signs of fascism on the rise in the U.S. Link To 17-Minute Video  


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Journalist Kurt Anderson: “Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking Of America”

Amanpour & Company / PBS (8/12/20) As the pandemic lays bare social, legal, racial and financial injustice in America, it is vital to examine how the system got its start. Kurt Andersen is a best-selling author and journalist whose latest book examines the origins of America’s hyper-capitalism. He speaks with Walter Isaacson about the genesis and propagation of the system — and the need to take a step back. Link To 17+-Minute Video  


Historian Rick Perlstein On The RNC & Trump’s Lies & Dangerous Propaganda Driving Many To Violence

“picture of the world that bears no resemblance to reality” Democracy Now! (8/28/20) President Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican Party’s nomination on Thursday before a crowd of about 1,500 on the South Lawn of the White House. In defiance of social distancing guidelines, attendees sat shoulder-to-shoulder with few people wearing masks. Trump spoke as the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus neared 180,000 — by far the highest total in the world — and repeatedly defended his administration’s handling of the pandemic. Trump warned of chaos and violence if Joe Biden becomes president, but made no reference to the…


Anthropologist Wade Davis: The Unraveling Of America

COVID-19 didn’t lay America low; it simply revealed what had long been forsaken. By Wade Davis Rolling Stone (8/6/20) Never in our lives have we experienced such a global phenomenon. For the first time in the history of the world, all of humanity, informed by the unprecedented reach of digital technology, has come together, focused on the same existential threat, consumed by the same fears and uncertainties, eagerly anticipating the same, as yet unrealized, promises of medical science. In a single season, civilization has been brought low by a microscopic parasite 10,000 times smaller than a grain of salt. COVID-19 attacks our physical…


To See The Politics Clearly: Think & Talk Vertically, Not Horizontally

Thinking vertically not only has the potential to unite those who are currently divided but also empower those who are presently conquered.” “As old labels indicate, we’ve all been conditioned to think about politics horizontally, from right to left. This way of thinking needlessly divides us by magnifying our differences and glossing over our commonalities. Turn the political spectrum on its head, and think top to bottom instead of left to right, and a magical thing can happen. Picture a man and a woman. He’s white. She’s black, He’s a farmworker, she’s a childcare provider. Both are struggling to make…


Kenosha Militia Violence Is A Dire Development Not To Be Ignored

Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, of Antioch, Illinois on the streets of Kenosha (Twitter). The trend of police and right wing fascist cooperation is as troubling as it is obvious and does nothing — absolutely nothing — to enhance the limping legitimacy of law enforcement. By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (8/27/20) (Note: This column was updated 3:10 p.m., 8/27/20.) Memorial Day saw the video documented murder of Black citizen George Floyd in Minneapolis by white police officer Derek Chauvin, which initiated protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement around the globe. Just shy of…


Attack Of The Tomato Killers: The Police State’s War On Weed & Backyard Vegetable Gardeners

Botched SWAT team raids have resulted in the loss of countless lives, including children and the elderly. Usually, however, the first to be shot are the family dogs. By John Whitehead The Rutherford Institute (8/25/20) “They came again this morning at about 8:00 o’clock. A large cargo-type helicopter flew low over the cabin, shaking it on its very foundations. It shook all of us inside, too. I feel frightened … I see how helpless and tormented I am becoming with disgust and disillusionment with the government which has turned this beautiful country into a police state … I feel like I…


“Hatemonger”: Author Jean Guerrero On Stephen Miller, Trump’s White Nationalist Immigration Henchman

Democracy Now (8/26/20) A new book on Stephen Miller, the architect of the Trump administration’s unprecedented attack on immigrant communities and the immigration system, describes the White House adviser as a dangerous man bringing white nationalist ideology to the highest levels of government. “This is what shapes the immigration policy,” says Jean Guerrero, author of “Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda.” Miller, descended from Jewish immigrants, has been obsessed with fighting multiculturalism since his teenage years and has steadily climbed the right-wing political ladder to become one of Donald Trump’s most trusted associates. He is credited…


LAWLESS: The Supposed ‘Less-Lethal’ Weapons Police Use Against Citizens Blind, Maim and Kill. Victims Say Enough Is Enough.

“No regard for public safety.” By Donovan Slack & Dennis Wagner of USA TODAY and Jay Hancock, KHN and Kevin McCoy, USA TODAY Kaiser Health News (7/24/20) There’s a gap in Scott Olsen’s memory for the night of Oct. 25, 2011. The Iraq War vet remembers leaving his tech job in the San Francisco Bay Area and taking a BART train to join an Occupy Oakland protest against economic and social inequality. He remembers standing near protesters who faced off with Oakland police officers bristling with riot gear. He remembers being carried away by other protesters. But not the moment when a “bean…


Alex Jones Tells His Listeners To Get Ready To Die In Fight Against New World Order

Jones recommended that people start taking down names and making a list “like Santa Claus” and to “just think about the future.” By Jared Holt Right Wing Watch (8/3/20) Right-wing conspiracy monger Alex Jones said last ​Wednesday that his years-old warnings about a ​globalist “New World Order​” takeover of ​the United States were coming true, so his listeners should try to overcome their fear of death and be ready to “kill as many of them as quickly as possible”—in a “defensive” way, he ​added. Issuing his latest conspiracy theory from behind an Infowars news desk display​ing military style rifles​, Jones told listeners of “The Alex Jones Show” that his outlet had “confirmed” that “Maoists” in major…


QAnon: A Look Inside The Online Conspiracy Rippling Through The American Right

By Stefano Kotsonis & Anthony Brook On Point / WBUR (8/4/20) Conspiracy theories have always woven their way through American history. But with the internet, and the emergence of QAnon, they’ve run wild.   Guests: Adrienne LaFrance, executive editor of The Atlantic. (@AdrienneLaF) Joseph Uscinski, professor of political science at the University of Miami. Co-author of “American Conspiracy Theories” and editor of “Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them.” (@JoeUscinski) Jane Lytvynenko, senior reporter covering disinformation for Buzzfeed News. (@JaneLytv) From The Reading List: The Atlantic: “The Prophecies of Q” — “The origins of QAnon are recent, but even so, separating myth from…


Why Beguiling Conspiracy Theories Exist

CrowdScience / BBC (8/3/20) Listener Avalon from Australia wants to know why people use conspiracy theories to explain shocking events. Are we more likely to believe conspiracy theories in times of adversity? What purpose do conspiracy theories serve in society? Marnie Chesterton speaks to the scientists to explain their popularity, even in the face of seemingly irrefutable evidence. Link To 39-Minute Audio ***** Neuroscientist Explains Why Christian Evangelicals Are Wired To Believe Trump’s Gaslighting Lies By Bobby Azarian Raw Story (8/3/20) President Donald Trump lies so often that it is no longer shocking when it happens, no matter how blatant or…


Shake Down, Strangle, Extort: We Either Take On The Tech Mob Now Or Perish

Jeff Bezos’ wealth apparently grew by $11 million while he sat before Congress mumbling at his desk.  By Laura Flanders Common Dreams (8/1/20) Six months into a global pandemic, the US economy just took its most grievous hit on record, while Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook only added wealth. In just three months, April through June, so many workers were furloughed, laid off or forced to work and school from home, that the economy shriveled by 32.9% or almost a third. While the US was tanking, Amazon’s share price rose by half, and Facebook’s growth rate approached 60%. If we think inequality was…


Supersized Fear: Nation Witnessing Record-Breaking Gun Sales

  By Edward Helmore The Guardian (7/31/20) Fears over the Covid-19 pandemic, a perception of rising crime and worries over civil unrest and political instability in the wake of anti-racism protests have sparked Americans to buy firearms at a record pace – with about 40% being first-time buyers, according to one leading gun rights group. Pro- and anti- gun rights groups are also detailing how the stereotype of an older, white conservative-leaning male with a hoard of weaponry is being challenged by rising numbers of first-time buyers that represent sales to women, buyers from Black and other communities of color,…


Police Report Minneapolis ‘Umbrella Man’ Was A White Supremacist Biker Gang Member Trying To Incite Rioting After Floyd Murder

Screenshot By Libor Jany Star Tribune (7/28/20) A masked man who was seen in a viral video smashing the windows of a south Minneapolis auto parts store during the George Floyd protests, earning him the moniker “Umbrella Man,” is suspected to be a member of the Hell’s Angels biker gang seeking to incite racial tension in a demonstration that until then had been peaceful, police said. A Minneapolis police arson investigator said the man’s actions at the AutoZone on East Lake Street set off a chain reaction that led to days of looting and rioting. The building was later burned to the…


National Guard Whistleblower Says Feds Used Excessive Force On Peaceful Protesters

“An unprovoked escalation”  By Dan Friedman Mother Jones (7/27/20) A senior National Guard officer will tell Congress that the US Park Police engaged in “an unprovoked escalation and excessive use of force” when the agency forcefully cleared peaceful protesters from in front of the White House ahead of President Donald Trump’s infamous June 1 photo op at a nearby church. “At no time did I feel threatened by the protestors or assess them to be violent,” Adam DeMarco—a major in the Washington, DC, Guard, who was present during the operation to clear Lafayette Square—says in written testimony prepared for a House Natural Resources Committee hearing…


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For Protesters To Getting Out Of Jail Requires Relinquishing Personal Constitutional Rights

  “Defendant Shall Not Attend Protests.” By Dara Lind ProPublica (7/28/20) Federal authorities are using a new tactic in their battle against protesters in Portland, Oregon: arrest them on offenses as minor as “failing to obey” an order to get off a sidewalk on federal property — and then tell them they can’t protest anymore as a condition for release from jail. Legal experts describe the move as a blatant violation of the constitutional right to free assembly, but at least 12 protesters arrested in recent weeks have been specifically barred from attending protests or demonstrations as they await trials…


Firsthand Account Of Medic Injured By Federal Goons In Portland

Despite all the violence and injuries and pain, people aren’t scared. We believe that we will win, and there is solace in that certainty. By Nate Cohen Facebook Post (7/27/20) Hey all, So update from the Portland front. Before I go any further I want to say that I’m gonna be ok and it was close but I am luckily not critically injured. And Black Lives Matter. Feel free to share this post. A little after 1 AM last night the feds decided to try and push Portland out of the park across from the courthouse (which has been the…


Our Fascist State: Turning The War On Terror Inward On Ourselves

This isn’t about Donald Trump. This is about America, baby. This is what we do. By Hamilton Nolan The Guardian (7/24/20) A strange and necessary ingredient of America’s descent towards fascism is that it will have little impact on the majority of people. As militarized federal agents are deployed into major cities to snatch protesters and charge them with harsh federal crimes for daring to deface the ruling party’s monuments, most Americans will continue living their normal lives with no discernible changes, at least for the time being. People wake up and eat breakfast and spend their days doing mundane tasks in…


QAnon And On And On

QAnon graffiti found along Main Street of the tiny Mississippi River village of Ferryville, Wisconsin.   Trending / BBC (7/26/20) It’s bursting into the mainstream – a bizarre conspiracy theory that casts US President Donald Trump as its hero. QAnon claims that the president is secretly fighting a cabal of high-placed paedophiles in Hollywood and the so-called “deep state”. But why has it had an apparent surge in popularity during the global pandemic? Since it first emerged in an anonymous post on an online message board in 2017, QAnon has developed into a movement which is now making inroads into…


A Bipartisan Group Secretly Gathered To Game Out A Contested Trump-Biden Election. It Wasn’t Pretty Or Promising

“He doesn’t have to win the election. He just has to create a plausible narrative that he didn’t lose.” By Jess Bidgood Boston Globe (7/25/20) WASHINGTON — On the second Friday in June, a group of political operatives, former government and military officials, and academics quietly convened online for what became a disturbing exercise in the fragility of American democracy. The group, which included Democrats and Republicans, gathered to game out possible results of the November election, grappling with questions that seem less far-fetched by the day: What if President Trump refuses to concede a loss, as he publicly hinted recently…


Who Is The Most Dangerous Fascist? Trump Isn’t The Only Fascist To Wory About

By Glen Ford Black Agenda Report (7/23/20) Most American leftists are incoherent on the term fascism, and Democrats have utterly destroyed the word’s meaning. “In their cartoon politics, fascist simply means “Trump.” After seizing an initial beachhead around federal buildings in Portland, Oregon, Donald Trump is threatening to send his Homeland Security über alles storm troopers into cities around the country that he says  are “run by very liberal Democrats…by the radical left.” Next on the list is Chicago, where 150 federal agents are set to be deployed in coming days. Homeland Security agents have already been sent to Seattle and Washington DC,…


Extensive Database Of Domestic Terrorism Shows Attacks By Far-Right Extremists Have Become More Lethal Since Trump Became President.

 Just four terror incidents from 2017 through 2019 involved left-wing extremists, or 4%. By David Neiwert Reveal / Center For Investigative Journalism (7/9/20) Patrick Crusius is the quintessential Trump-era terror suspect: a White man, radicalized online, enmeshed in White nationalist ideology, directly inspired by preceding acts of terror and fueled by the angry belief that White men like himself are being “replaced” by brown-skinned immigrants. “America is full of hypocrites who will blast my actions as the sole result of racism and hatred of other countries,” he wrote in his four-page manifesto, posted on 8chan just before he allegedly murdered 23…


Firsthand Account Of University Professor Shot In The Head By Fascist Govt Goons In Portland

Professor Maureen Healy is the chair of the history department at Lewis & Clark College in Portland. She was shot in the head by federal agents on Monday night and is recovering from the injury and the concussion, but shared a statement of her experience, and gave permission to share. ***** Statement by Maureen Healy, July 22, 2020 For Immediate Release Since June, I have been attending peaceful protests in Portland neighborhoods in support of Black Lives Matter. I have gone with family and friends. I am a 52-year-old mother. I am a history professor. I went downtown yesterday to express…


Police Budgets Are Ballooning As Social Programs That Reduce Crime Crumble

By Indigo Oliver In These Times (7/22/20) Faced with mass teacher layoffs, deep cuts to education and social services, and a looming eviction crisis, police budgets across the nation remain absurdly high and have been largely insulated from Covid-induced belt-tightening. Worse yet, a number cities have opted to increase police budgets, claiming the funds are needed to pay for reforms. This is despite the fact that racial justice protesters across the country are clearly calling for the defunding of police—a demand that stems from abolitionist principles. Budget cuts are seen as part of a process of dismantling prisons and policing…


‘Get ready!” — Will Trump’s Storm Troopers Succeed In Provoking Riots & Gutting Liberties In Your City?

Stained & Faded Glory In Trump’s Tawdry Shrinking Amerika. “This is what authoritarians do. To seize political power, they don’t bring us together—they tear us apart.” By Thom Hartmann Common Dreams (7/21/20) The Republican Trump administration has gone full authoritarian. Portland is a test, but only a test. Donald Trump signaled his election strategy a few days ago when he talked about ending legislation passed back in the 1960s to support fair housing that he said had sent “people” out into “the suburbs.” Essentially, what he was saying was, “White people in the suburbs, I’m doing what I can to keep your neighborhood…


Just The Beginning: Trump Unleashes Secret Police In Portland

“We’re quickly entering secret police territory now.” [Editor’s Note: As bad as this first stage is, writer Jeet Herr details how things can become even worse, very quickly. Link to original article and pass on to your contacts. Congressional dems are raising concerns. Let us hope there will be tough hearings. Perhaps they need to block some funding. Will Biden speak out? If not, that is significant. He has already said he would not support taking qualified immunity away from police, which is a huge cause of police abuse. — Mark L. Taylor] By Jeet Herr The Nation (7/17/20) Donald Trump’s war on…


Chris Hedges: America Faces A Historic Choice — “ugly corporate tyranny” Or Revolution

These are “the good times,” says Hedges, compared to what may lie ahead. But there’s real hope in the streets. [Editors Note: Want to understand the context of what is happening? Journalist Chris Hedges lays it out the bipartisan failure unspooling before us . — Mark L. Taylor] By Chauncey Devega Salon ( 7/16/20) Time is broken in Donald Trump’s America. Minutes feel like hours, hours feel like days. Weeks are months, and months are years. And there is an overwhelming sense of time warped by dread as the country careens towards a dangerous climax on Election Day — whatever the outcome. Disorientation is…


MASKS OFF: How The Brothers Who Ginned Up The Reopen Protests Have Built A Volatile Far-Right Online Network

  They have their finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the conservative grassroots. By Mara Hvistendahl The Intercept (7/17/20) THE EMAILS PLAYED to fear. “Entire police departments are being overwhelmed by mobs of criminals bent on violence, robbery, arson, and more,” read one sent in June, as demonstrations against police brutality rocked the country. “Minnesotans have seen our peaceful streets turn violent overnight with riotous mobs,” read another, sent not long after the burning of Minneapolis’s Third Precinct. “Radical leftists … are looting in our streets, lighting buildings on fire, terrifying citizens, and murdering cops,” intoned a third. Antifa is…


November 3rd May Be Just The Beginning: Many Predict Trump Supporters Will Rise Up If He Doesn’t Win

  By Andrew Feinberg The Independent (7/8/20) As both national and state-level polling reveal growing support for Joe Biden’s bid to make Donald Trump a one-term president, Trump and his allies have begun framing the stakes of November’s election in increasingly apocalyptic terms — and rejecting the idea that a Democrat could legitimately win. “They will engage in violence, they will engage in trying to stop the machinery of government from even working. I can see them in states and even in DC, not even participating — walking out. A lot of it will depend on what Trump does, because I still think…


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ICE Offers New ‘Citizen’s Academy’ In Basics Of Fascism

“And yesterday [7/10] we learned that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning to offer a six-day “citizens academy” course to train people in what ICE does, including the arrest of immigrants. “You have been identified as a valued member of the community who may have interest in participating in the inaugural class of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Chicago Citizens Academy,” read a letter from ICE Chicago Field Office Director Robert Guadian. The program will “serve as a pilot for nationwide implementation,” it said. The course will include training in “defensive tactics, firearms…


On Contact: Chicken Hawk Patriotism & Dissent With Anti-War Combat Veteran Danny Sjursen

By Chis Hedges On Contact (7/4/20) On the show this week, Chris Hedges discusses the nature of patriotism with West Point graduate and US Army combat veteran, Danny Sjursen. Sjursen’s newest book “Patriotic Dissent: America In The Age Of Endless War” will be published September 8, 2020. Link To 28-Minute Video (Commoner Call photo by Mark L. Taylor, 2020. Open source and free for non-derivative use with link to www.thecommonercall.org ) ***** Undercover Patriots: Trump, Tulsa & The Rise of Military Dissent By Danny Sjursen TomDispatch (7/9/20) It was June 20th and we antiwar vets had traveled all the way to Tulsa,…


The Opportunity The Far-Right Revolution Was Waiting For Has Now Arrived

“For white nationalists, this is a crisis as well as an opportunity.” By Murtaza Hussain The Intercept (7/11/20) AT THIS POINT, it’s become a staple of dark humor to observe that 2020 has been the year in which the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse seemingly decided to descend on the United States. Yet even before our fears of war, pestilence, and economic collapse began taking physical form, one could already observe morbid symptoms spreading within the extremities of our body politic. The strongest sign of a looming social illness has been the rebirth and spread of extremist ideologies — beliefs not…


The All-American Origins Of Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ And Nazi Genocide

  By Jorge Majfud Common Dreams (7/5/20) “If you are a blond, you belong to the best people in the world, but it’s all over with you! Your forebears committed the fatal mistake of intermingling with inferior brunettes, and as a result the great qualities of the blond race, which gave the world the highest type of culture, have been sadly undermined and the predominant traits of the brunettes are asserting themselves more and more until their complete triumph is foreshadowed, especially in the United States.” Thus begins an October 22, 1916, New York Times feature article based on the newly…