Fascism watch thread/news and discussions

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How Death Threats Get Republicans to Fall in Line Behind Trump
by Zack Beauchamp
January 2, 2024

Introduction:

(Vox) In early 2021, Richer was an Arizona Republican official who regularly attended local party events. At the time, he was the newly elected county recorder of Maricopa County. The job was a new level of prominence — he was now the most important election supervisory official in the state’s largest county — but going to Arizona Republican events was routine: the kind of thing that Richer, like any state politician, had done hundreds of times before.

But at one event, the crowd heckled and harassed him. When he tried to leave, they dragged him back in, yanking on his arms and shoulders, to berate him about the allegedly stolen 2020 election. He started to worry: Would his own people, fellow Republican Party members, seriously hurt him?

There was a clear reason for the madness. Many of the Republican faithful had recently decided that Maricopa County had been the epicenter of “the steal,” Joe Biden’s theft of Arizona from Donald Trump — and the entire presidential election with it. This wasn’t true, obviously. Richer tried to tell them it wasn’t true, hoping his long track record in the state Republican party would give him some credibility.

It did not. What happened instead reveals a pattern that is quietly reshaping American politics: Across the board and around the country, data reveals that threats against public officials have risen to unprecedented numbers — to the point where 83 percent of Americans are now concerned about risks of political violence in their country. The threats are coming from across the political spectrum, but the most important ones in this regard emanate from the MAGA faithful.

Trump’s most fanatical followers have created a situation where challenging him carries not only political risks but also personal ones. Elected officials who dare defy the former president face serious threats to their well-being and to that of their families — raising the cost of taking an already difficult stand.

Read more here: https://www.vox.com/23899688/2024-elec ... s-trump

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Texas abortion bill proposes death penalty for women, physicians
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politi ... ns-n993171

Texas lawmakers are considering a bill that would ban abortion in the state and charge women who have abortions with homicide, which can carry the death penalty in the state.

Rep. Tony Tinderholt, a Republican, introduced the “Abolition of Abortion in Texas Act,” or House Bill 896, in January to "protect the rights of an unborn child" but it was granted its first committee hearing on Monday and Tuesday.

Nearly 500 people testified, with 54 people testifying against the bill, according to The Washington Post.

“A living human child, from the moment of fertilization on fusion of a human spermatozoon with a human ovum, is entitled to the same rights, powers, and privileges as are secured or granted by the laws of this state to any other human child," the text of the bill reads.

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Mississippi quits child food program amid Republican 'welfare state' attack

Source: The Guardian

Sat 13 Jan 2024 07.00 EST

Mississippi is withdrawing from a federal program to feed children during their summer break from school, the governor there announced, characterizing the decision as a way to reject “attempts to expand the welfare state”. Governor Tate Reeves, a Republican, declined to participate in the federal program that would give electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards to low-income families to supplement food costs when academic classes are out of session, Mississippi Today reported.

Eligible families would have received $40 a month, or a total of $120 to account for the break between school terms. However, Mississippi’s welfare agency undercut Reeves’s reasoning, saying the state does not have the capacity to administer the program. “Both [the Mississippi department of education] and [its department of human services] lack the resources, including workforce capacity and funding, to support a summer EBT program,” a spokesperson for the state human services department, Mark Jones, said.

Reeves’s latest comments ignited fierce backlash. Nikole Hannah-Jones, a scholar and creator of the 1619 Project, criticized Reeves’s decision as “cruelty”. “The cruelty of being the poorest state in America and choosing – choosing – to turn down federal aid for poor children to eat,” Hannah-Jones said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Keith Boykin, author and co-founder of the National Black Justice Coalition, said funds earmarked for welfare in Mississippi have previously gone to superfluous objectives, including the construction of a sports stadium. “Mississippi gave millions of dollars of welfare funds to former NFL quarterback Brett Favre to build a volleyball facility for his daughter’s school, but they won’t take federal funds to feed hungry children. Because helping poor kids is the kind of welfare that Republicans hate,” Boykin said on X.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... fare-state

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German Reporters Just Unveiled a Far-Right Deportation “Masterplan”
by Ali Breland
January 12, 2024

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) Over the past few years, the far-right has made strides across the world. In Europe alone, Italy has elected a member of the country’s neo-fascist party as head of state, far-right parties have had impressive showings in Finnish and Swedish elections, French President Emmanuel Macron has only won office after tight races with far-right candidates, and far-right parties have long held significant power in Hungary and Poland.

In Germany, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland has also enjoyed a growing base of support and power. On Wednesday, German investigative reporters published a bombshell report indicating how they intend to use it.

The German publication Correctiv detailed a secret resort meeting in which AfD politicians sat down with right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis to discuss a strategy for mass deportations, including of naturalized German citizens, should the party come to power—a “masterplan,” according to an invitation reviewed by both Correctiv and the Guardian.

Attendees included Roland Hartwig, a former AfD member of parliament who serves as a personal aide to the party’s co-chair; one current AfD member of the Bundestag; two lower-level AfD politicians; Hans Christian Limmer, part owner of a German burger chain; and two members of the mainline conservative Christian Democratic Union party.

Martin Sellner, a far-right Austrian extremist, spoke at the meeting. Sellner founded the Identitarian Movement of Austria, which is a part of a pan-European far-right movement of the same name. Sellner has also been associated with Generation Identity, a similar European far-right group whose French faction has carried out attacks on Arab women. He’s established himself as a figure on the European far-right by building a significant social media following, though he has since been banned from many mainstream platforms. He remains active on Telegram and alternative social media sites with limited reach.

Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... -afd-cdu/

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Cincinnati Right to Life leader, on the 10-year-old girl who was raped should carry pregnancy to term.

To quote Kyle Reese: Listen, and understand! That Terminator is out there! It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop... ever, until you are dead!



During a hearing by the Ohio House’s Constitutional Resolutions Committee on Tuesday, Laura Strietmann, the executive director of Cincinnati Right to Life organization, argued that raped 10-year-olds are capable and should carry their attacker’s children to term.

https://heartlandsignal.com/2023/04/19/ ... s-to-term/

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[firestar464]

Cincinnati Right to Life leader, on the 10-year-old girl who was raped should carry pregnancy to term.

To quote Kyle Reese: Listen, and understand! That Terminator is out there! It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop... ever, until you are dead!



During a hearing by the Ohio House’s Constitutional Resolutions Committee on Tuesday, Laura Strietmann, the executive director of Cincinnati Right to Life organization, argued that raped 10-year-olds are capable and should carry their attacker’s children to term.

https://heartlandsignal.com/2023/04/19/ ... s-to-term/

Worth noting that this is old news now

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[firestar464]

This is why we need more than one party so that one party like this doesn't threaten democracy

Hopefully, if Trump is somehow kept at bay this time around, this will be a wake-up call for the nation to fix its voting system.

[wjfox]

[Powers]

Wait wtf AfD is really close to winning the election?

[firestar464]

No but they're close to becoming a kingmaker

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'It's cruel': Tennessee bill would make assisting a minor to get an abortion a felony

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Abortion is already illegal in Tennessee, but a lawmaker wants to take that a step further.

"As a Christ follower, my number one issue is life. It always has been, it always will be," said Rep. Jason Zachary, a Republican from Knox County.

He has a new bill that would make it a crime for an adult to assist a minor to go out of state to get an abortion, unless that adult is the mother's parent or guardian. Rep. Zachary says he wrote the bill after he was contacted by legal guardians of a pregnant child who ran into this exact issue.

"Their minor child that they were in guardianship of, had been taken by an adult to West Tennessee to facilitate an abortion. The minor called them from West Tennessee to let them know what’s going on," he explained. "So I’m literally on the phone with crying parents, crying guardians saying, what can we do, what can we do?"

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/its-c ... n-a-felony

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Texas troopers told to push children into Rio Grande, deny water to migrants, records say

Officers working for Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security initiative have been ordered to push small children and nursing babies back into the Rio Grande, and have been told not to give water to asylum seekers even in extreme heat, according to an email from a Department of Public Safety trooper who described the actions as “inhumane.”

The July 3 account, reviewed by Hearst Newspapers, discloses several previously unreported incidents the trooper witnessed in Eagle Pass, where the state of Texas has strung miles of razor wire and deployed a wall of buoys in the Rio Grande.

According to the email, a pregnant woman having a miscarriage was found late last month caught in the wire, doubled over in pain. A four-year-old girl passed out from heat exhaustion after she tried to go through it and was pushed back by Texas National Guard soldiers. A teenager broke his leg trying to navigate the water around the wire and had to be carried by his father.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politi ... 205076.php

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Pa. Repub State Rep introduces bill to ban cellphones in schools

CARLISLE, Pa. — Checking our cell phones is a regular occurrence for many people, but school leaders are telling lawmakers it’s becoming a distraction for students.

“They’re playing solitaire on it, they’re playing games on it, and they’re using social media," said Rep. Barbara Gleim (R-Cumberland County) "But they’re not actually using it for school.”


That's why State Representative Barbara Gleim is looking to cut down on cell phone distractions by introducing a bill that would ban them from the classroom. She believes the bill will help improve student’s mental health and academic performance.

“We got to get back to the basics where kids are coming in and getting down to business learning math, science, and reading without being distracted by a cell phone," said Rep. Gleim.

The bill would mandate students put their cell phones in a safe location, such as their locker, for the duration of the school day, except for their lunch period. The bill also gives exemptions to ESL and special needs students.

https://www.fox43.com/article/news/loca ... 2424be9217

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https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/p ... 234962755/

Let Trump Be Dictator for a Day, 74 Percent of Republicans Say
New poll reveals Republicans are authoritarian curious, while Americans are starkly divided on Trump’s 2020 guilt
February 7, 2024

...

A startling 39 percent of Americans, including 74 percent of Republicans, think it’s a decent idea for Donald Trump to act as a dictator for a day to begin his prospective second term, according to a University of Massachusetts Amherst survey released Wednesday.

In a series of comments, beginning last December, Trump has said he plans to be a dictator, but only on “day one” of a second term. The point of seeking authoritarian power, he’s said, is to “build the wall” and “drill, drill, drill.”

The UMass Amherst poll posed the following questions to 1,064 respondents: “Donald Trump recently said that if elected, he would be a dictator only on the first day of his second term.” It then asked, “Do you think that this is a good or bad idea for the country?”

Only 44 percent of adults completely rebelled at the notion of giving the former president — who is currently facing 91 felony charges — dictatorial authority, calling it “definitely bad” for America. Another 16 percent judged that it was “probably bad.” Those most opposed include women (67 percent), African Americans (82 percent), and 2020 Biden supporters (91 percent).

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