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robertreich · 29 days

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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.

#youtube #videos #fascism #Donald Trump #election #video #politics

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action · 2 years

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The Midterms: Voting & The Disability Community

Join @whenweallvote, the American Association of People with Disabilities’ REV UP Voting Campaign, and The Whole Person to ask questions about the upcoming midterm elections, how you can register to vote, and all you need to know about Election Day.

September 12-16, 2022 is Disability Voting Rights Week, a time for advocates and communities to build the power of the disability vote through voter registration, voter education, community engagement, and more! The disability community is one of the largest voting blocs in the country, with over 38 million eligible voters with disabilities in 2020. The community also faces access barriers at the ballot box: only 17.7 million voters of the 38 million eligible voted in 2020. This September 16th, get your questions answered about the intersection of voting and the disability community and how to make voting more accessible to disabled folks.

What are you waiting for, Tumblr? Ask them a question, and head over here to see their answers. 🗳️Don't forget to get registered to vote (HERE)🗳️!

MEET THE PANEL

Priestley M. Johnson (She/Her), Director of Strategic Community Partnerships, When We All Vote

Priestley M. Johnson the Director of Strategic Community Partnerships and is responsible for When We All Vote’s partnership program that delivers voter registration tools and resources to hundreds of partners across the nation. Ms. Johnson is a passionate advocate and avid relationship builder dedicated to using her skill set of strategic partnerships, project management, business development, and event planning. With previous experience in the Obama White House and the International Women’s Forum, Priestley is passionate about advocating for more resources for those in need and building capacity through fundraising. A proud Howard alumna, Johnson is committed to moving the needle.

Lilian Aluri (She/Her), REV UP Voting Campaign Coordinator

Lilian Aluri started off interning at AAPD in the summer of 2020, as a NYU VOTE 2020 Fellow, getting out the disability vote in the 2020 elections. Lilian then began a contract with AAPD and has since been working together with the REV UP team to continue to build the power of the disability vote, research voting accessibility issues, and also support AAPD’s broader advocacy. In her current role as the REV UP Voting Campaign Coordinator, Lilian supports the national REV UP network, facilitating trainings and webinars, convening the advisory committee, organizing national voting initiatives and collaborating with REV UP organizers to advance the power of the disability vote. Lilian also manages AAPD’s blog and a weekly email digest highlighting disability in the news.

As the older sister of a young man with Down syndrome and as someone with some mental health disabilities, Lilian values her role at AAPD as a chance to help create a more inclusive and just society in which all people with disabilities can thrive.

Kendra A. Burgess (She/Her), Public Policy Coordinator, The Whole Person

Kendra A. Burgess joined The Whole Person in 2019 as Public Policy Coordinator, where she currently advocates for issues impacting people with disabilities at the city, state, and federal levels of government in Kansas and Missouri.

Prior to this role, Kendra served as a congressional staffer for the Honorable U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill for several years, where she handled a portfolio of federal issues, including labor, healthcare, and housing. Additionally, she lends her voice to elevate issues impacting people with disabilities by writing opinion articles for regional news outlets, educating the public through press interviews, and collaborating with community partners to offer Diversity Equity and Inclusion Programming. Learning to thrive through her own invisibly disabilities, Kendra is a volunteer women’s health advocate by serving as the Kansas/Missouri Representative for the Worldwide EndoMarch, an organization seeking to advocate for those living with Endometriosis.

#midterm #take action #signal boost #midterm elections #disability voting rights week #disability rights #issue time #voter rights #voter registration #wwav x aapd x twp x tumblr

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odinsblog · 1 year

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Back in 2001, Senate Bill 1 passed the Texas state legislature and banned Harris County - that's Houston - from keeping polls open late into the night, or overnight, so that shift workers could vote, while expanding early voting in rural counties. It lets the state throw away absentee ballots that don't come in with the voters drivers license number attached, without telling people that their vote hasn't been counted. It makes it a felony for any state employee to mail out an unsolicited absentee ballot. It requires election officials to do monthly purges of voting rolls, without notifying voters that they'll no longer be able to vote.

It provides new legal protections for so-called, non-partisan poll watchers.

They're actually recruiting Proud Boys down in Texas to be poll watchers, and it makes it a one year in prison offense if you try to stop them or confront them.

And it maintains the state's lack of convenient online voter registration, making it the most difficult state in the union to vote in. That was two years ago to set up Greg Abbott's election victory in the election of 2022.

Now they're coming back with a brand new piece of legislation that would allow the Republican Secretary of State to throw out all the votes in any county with over 2.7 million people, if the secretary of state believes there are any “irregularities” in the count. Now interestingly enough, the county that has Dallas has 2.6 million people and it votes Republican. The county that has Houston, which votes Democratic, has 2.7 million people. It has over 2.6 million, so in the law they made it only apply to any county with over 2.6 million people.

This is just one small piece of a much larger effort.

As the Texas Civil Rights Project noted, in just the first four years after five corrupt Republicans on the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013, Texas Republicans closed 1173 polling places in mostly Black and Hispanic counties that had previously been protected by the Voting Rights Act, but none of that was enough for them.

As the Houston Chronicle noted two days ago, the effort is now to be able to throw out election results in Houston, and then say, “now the state has to have a new election that has to be paid for by the county,” or “now the county has to have a new election that has to be paid for by the county.”

And of course they want to do this because they know that special elections have very low turnout, and low turnout always favors Republicans, because the people who can most easily vote are the people who are salaried, upper middle class — white people mostly, and people who are retired. You know the aging Republicans in Texas, and you know it's pretty straightforward stuff.

Out of the 254 counties in Texas, only Harris County, only Houston was selected for this. And this is, you know, a county now that is led by people of color, as the Harris County attorney pointed out.

And Republican Secretaries of State across the nation were vigorously purging people from the polls. Over 17 million, more than 10% of America's active voters were purged off voting rolls in just the two years leading up to the 2018 elections, according to NBC News.

In North Carolina, now this again after the Voting Rights Act was gutted by five Republicans on the Supreme Court, in North Carolina 158 polling places were permanently closed in the 40 counties with the largest African-American populations leading up. This was just before the 2016 election, the Donald Trump election. This led to a 16% decline in African-American early voting in that state.

An MIT study found that nationwide, Hispanic voters wait 150% longer than white people do in line.

Black voters wait 200% longer in line.

In Indiana when then Governor Mike Pence passed a rigorous new Voter ID law, it produced an 11.5% drop in African-American voting in Indiana. This is why we didn't get President Al Gore or President Hillary Clinton. We would have gotten both of them if it wasn't for voter suppression.

Down in Florida, Jeb Bush knocked 90,000 African-Americans off the voting rolls so that his brother could win by 537 votes. Or we would have had President Al Gore, if it had been illegal for Jeb Bush to throw those people off the voting rolls.

And the same thing in 2016: an 11.5% drop in African-American voting just in Indiana, because of a law that Mike Pence passed.

Well, it was happening all over the country. By 2016, the Republican Party had really fine-tuned this voter suppression machine.

The New York Times reports in 2017 that just in Wisconsin, this is in the 2016 election, about 17,000 registered votes were turned away from the polls because of a new Voter ID law from Scott Walker.

In 2018, Greg Palace sued a number of Republican Secretaries of State and got his hands on purge lists that included 90,000 people in largely Democratic parts of Nevada, and 769,000 people in Colorado.

Keep in mind this is when Colorado was run by Republicans. 340,000 people in Georgia, and 469,000 people purged in Indiana.

In the dissent, in the Huston v. Randolph case, this was the case in 2018, where five Republicans on the Supreme Court said, “Yeah, it's fine. You can keep purging people from voting rolls.”

This was the Ohio Secretary of State, Stephen Breyer pointed out in his dissent, and I quote, “the record shows that in 2012, Ohio identified 1.5 million registered voters, nearly 20% of its 8 million registered voters as ineligible to remain on the voting rolls because they changed their residences,” and he points out that's 20% of the state's voters - who were kicked off for moving, when on any average year, about 4% of Americans move. How do these numbers come in while they just, you know, hey, Brown people, Black people, college towns, let's just purge them.

Calling the findings disturbing, the Brennan Center said, almost 4 million more names were purged in the rolls between 2014 and 2016. This led up to the Trump election.

Then between 2006 and 2008, this growth in the number of removed voters represented an increase of 33%, far outstripping growth of both total registered voters, 18%, and total population 6%.

This has been their strategy for years and years and years, to throw people off the voting rolls. Now on top of that, they're waging their culture wars, but the culture wars are not all that popular among most Americans.

—Republicans cry “Voter Fraud!” while enacting massive Voter Suppression laws

#politics #mike pence #republicans #voter suppression #greg abbott #republican dirty tricks #voter roll purges #white supremacy #gop shenanigans #jeb bush #voter intimidation

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thefactsofthematter · 5 months

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fic title: till the horses come home

i mean. this is giving post-canon jack went to santa fe vibes in the realest way.

i think in this world, he leaves when he’s about 20 - he’s been scraping by with his illustrator job, making ends meet, but he just needs to know what’s out there. he can’t take the city anymore.

(it definitely has nothing to do with the fact that davey, whom he’s been in an unspoken more-than-friends-but-won’t-say-i-love-you situationship with for years, is moving upstate to go to college on some prestigious scholarship he was selected for. no way.)

so jack goes, and he likes it, and they keep in touch at first, and the years steadily go on, and they sort of stop writing. he goes from a ranch hand to owning a little plot of his own, never quite settles down with anyone, but maybe takes in orphans in his own type of lodging house where they can work on the farm for fair and decent pay.

meanwhile, davey is becoming this incredibly powerful lawyer, known for defending immigrants and the working class in some very high-profile cases. in 1911, he runs for city council, and it’s big news! he’s only 29, he’s got progressive views, he’s jewish and an immigrant… and voters love him. he wins his seat, and pisses off conservatives around the country in the process.

so jack reads a newspaper article one day about this idiot politician up in new york who’s pushing for crazy things like child labour regulation and laws around worker’s compensation — and he just sort of blinks at it, because he’s ninety-nine percent sure councilman jacobs is his davey, out there doing all the things he said he was going to do someday.

and it strikes him how badly he wanted to be there for it— wanted to see davey come home after a long day with his fire still lit, going on and on about all the ways the world could be better and we have the power for change jackie, i know we do, we just need to get people to listen; wanted to be there to campaign for davey, making posters and getting the newsies on board and telling everyone who’ll listen to vote for dave jacobs; wanted to take him home after finding out he’d won his seat and kiss the living daylights out of him.

so he leaves some of the older boys in his lodging house in charge of the farm, books a train ticket, and sends a telegram to davey’s office: COMING TO VISIT . SEE YOU SOON . JACK .

and then something something, he’s back in new york and tracks davey down and tells him how proud he is and they kiss about it or something

he goes back to santa fe, sells his farm in shares to some of the kids he once helped out so they can keep running it, and then moves back to nyc for good because home is where the man who has his heart is <3

#im too lazy to finish it nicely but you get the gist #in reference to the title yes jack is the horse. he’s a cowboy babey yeehaw #jack kelly #davey jacobs

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mittenwonders · 2 months

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I’ve been suffering bad depression since mid November. I have a history of it, it’s been on and off throughout the years and usually seasonal affective disorder will try to get to me. However this has been awful and the first rough patch in years. I was put on an antidepressant right away but it’s been getting worse lately. A few days ago, I started a new antidepressant after talking to my doctor and I almost felt worse.

However, today something changed and it was the first time in months I’ve had energy and motivation to do things.

Dropped off my voter ballot

Went grocery shopping

Dusted

Changed my sheets

Did 2 weeks of laundry I put off

Finally threw away my dead plants I killed forgetting to water them months ago

Changed my air filter

Finally ordered a shadow box memorial for my dog I have had sitting in my cart for 8 months

Took a long ass shower

Made tea

All without a nap and now I’m just laying in bed watching a Disney movie until I fall asleep. I know it doesn’t seem like much but I’m so damn proud of myself! This is the most I’ve been able to do in months!! I’m hoping work this week goes smoother but one day at a time. Always remember to reflect and celebrate your achievements no matter how small they might seem! 🥳

#depression sucks #progress is progress #mental health #mental heath support #depression awareness #celebrate your wins

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silverhallow · 1 year

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Okay but how about Starstruck AU + Kate, Violet, Daphne & Co. at home reviewing red carpet fashion. I can see Kate commenting #13 from the fluffy prompts once Benophie comes on screen 😂

Prompt: “I think I know what that smile means.”

Words: 477

Warnings: a little bit of swearing.

Kate always loved awards season and the fashion galas, she Daphne, Sophie and Violet usually met up and had a few glasses of wine as they watched the red carpets but this time most of the family had come to watch as Benedict was there at the Oscars, with his new wife… Sophie.

They had made their red carpet debut a few months earlier at the Oscars and they’d married not long after that. 20 years of being friends, 10 years of denial and stupidity and they finally had their happily every after.

Tonight they were making their red carpet debut as a married couple. Benedict having told the world they married on social media. They were at the Emmy’s tonight.

Lucy had dressed Sophie in the deepest green, making her eyes and her rings, her blonde hair down and flowing and Benedict had matching green on as they made their way down.

Kate was making comments on everyone’s dresses and was desperate to see her best friend.

“They won’t be long they’re going to be all over with Benedict tipped to win big and his announcement on social media there is no way they’d be able to sneak in” Alice, Sophie’s adopted mother said as she took her wine from Violet

“I wonder what they’re wearing” Daphne said

“Sophie said green… or mentioned green” Francesca said

“Oh green will look fantastic on her!” Michael said “that silver at the globes was incredible! I mean it’ll be hard to top that”

It was at that moment Sophie made her way down, the green a line dress, low cut with a slit up the front making her look radiant and glowing, with Benedict a few steps behind her looking proud as fuck and unable to believe his eyes and luck and Kate and Mike wolfwhistled, which resulted in Phillip hitting Mike as Kate laughed “well I think I know what that smile means.”

“Kate…” Phillip groaned “must we that’s my sister…”

Alice and Violet chuckled “I thought that was why Sophie moved out so quickly”

Phillip groaned again and buried his face in his hands and Eloise settled in next to him and handed him a drink.

It was a few hours later when Benedict had won Best Director and he was standing up, shaking as he thanked the family, the voters, his bosses and his stars and then Sophie and adding “it’s the second best thing that’s happened all day as I’ve learned my wife is pregnant!”

Which resulted in several smashed glasses in the Bridgerton house, gasps, shrieks and Sophie on screen white as a sheet as it was only like 8 weeks…

And Mike cackled “well we know it definitely why they were both smiling”

Phillip was too shocked to slap his friend this time and Alice and Violet had burst into tears and Kate was just blinking “holy fuck they don’t hang about”

#ash’s 1k follower celebration #bridgerton #ask ash #starstruck au #sophie beckett #benedict bridgerton #Kate sharma #Phillip crane #Michael Stirling

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kittymaine · 7 months

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Pinned Down

Summary: Bruce is trapped under falling debris while trying to save people from a collapsing bridge, and Dick tries desperately to save him.

Whumptober day five fill. Prompts: debris, pinned down, "it's broken".

The collapse of the northern canal bridge connecting Tricorner with the Bowery wasn't the result of a bomb being placed or a villainous plan from a costumed lunatic. It was just simple corruption colliding with an unfortunate case of an overworked personal assistant operating on less than two hours of sleep in the last forty-eight hours. Laura Chance was taking a shortcut beneath the bridge when she nodded off behind the wheel and hit a support column going full speed. She likely died immediately upon impact. That same support column had been marked as cracked and unstable for the last five years of safety inspections. In fact, all five of the support beams on that side of the canal had been marked as unsafe in the last inspection, but the time it would take to close the bridge and repair the damage would have been costly to the city and unpopular with voters and the next mayoral election was coming up shortly. Not to mention that there was no longer any money to be spent on infrastructure, since most of that money had been embezzled away by the current mayor and his lackeys.

The bridge collapsed at the height of rush hour traffic, dumping cars full of commuters into the fast moving water of the canal and pushing them steadily toward the bay and open ocean. It happened in broad daylight and only a few hours after Bruce and Dick had retired for the night, but he couldn't imagine not rushing to assist the first responders already on the scene.

He had tried to convince Dick to stay at home or better yet go to school, but there was little chance of making such a determined fifteen-year-old do anything he didn't want to do.

By the time Bruce was trapped under a collapsed pylon on a leaning part of asphalt he was wishing desperately that he had tried harder to keep Dick home.

"Hold on, this will do it!" Dick shouted as he ran back with a twisted piece of rebar in his hands. Bruce winced at every footfall Dick's green boots made on the warped and cracked road. He was trapped very close to where the road fell away to the rushing water below. Helicopters and churned through the air and above him and boats milled in the water below him, but first responders were focusing on rescuing people in the water or trapped in their cars on the still collapsing bridge. Though he was sure that some news helicopter would get a shot of the fearsome Bat trapped under debris, and it would be splashed across every national news channel as an example of why vigilantes were more trouble than help. He would count himself lucky if he and Dick lived through this to see the smear campaign.

Dick shoved the piece of rebar under the large piece of concrete trapping Bruce's legs against the asphalt road and then hesitated before picking up a big piece of concrete to use as a pivot point for the lever he was building. Bruce would have been proud of his engineering under pressure if his leg hadn't started to go worryingly numb. It felt better than the radiating pain of a few minutes ago, but he knew that numbness was a worrying sign in a crush injury.

The lever constructed, Dick threw his strength against the piece of rebar, but its twisted shape meant that it spun out of his hands until he could situate it in such a way that worked with it's bent shape rather than against it. Behind Dick's booted foot, a little more of the asphalt broke away from the road and felt down into the water with a loud splash. People started shouting in warning from the boats below.

"Robin," Bruce gritted out, trying desperately to keep his voice calm despite the way his heart sped up at the sound. He tried to use breathing exercises to slow it back down, but for the first time in a long time they weren't working.

"I've almost got it," Dick gritted out, his tan arms straining against the steel bar. Bruce wasn't sure if that meant he had heard the crumbling behind him, or if he was too focused on helping Bruce escape to notice anything.

The concrete wasn't budging, and the numbness had spread from what was almost surely a cracked femur up to his hip. Dick was extremely strong for his age, but he was still fifteen, and the concrete debris pinning him to the bridge had to be over 500 lbs of weight.

"Dick," Bruce whispered.

It broke protocol that he had drummed into Dick probably a million times, that he should never use real names in the field. But, he needed to get through to him somehow. He was trapped, but there was no reason that Dick needed to put himself in danger any further. Either the first responders would get to him or they wouldn't.

"No," Dick bit out aggressively. With a frustrated growl, he threw his whole body on the end of the rebar. He grunted, the air whooshing out his mouth as he clearly winded himself, but miraculously the concrete moved.

Bruce desperately scrambled backward, dragging himself closer to the edge but not caring, so long as he got free of the concrete. As he crawled backward, his gloved hand slipped over the side of the asphalt and for one terrified moment he was tipping backward, falling down toward the cold churning water below.

"B!" Dick shouted, letting go of the rebar and leaping toward Bruce. He caught him just in time to stop him from slipping over the side, but unfortunately he grabbed the leg that was definitely broken to stop him from falling.

Bruce shouted a hoarse animal scream, a reaction that was so fast and visceral he had no chance of choking it back. It felt like Dick had popped his leg off his body like a barbie doll's. It felt like his whole body was only pain, and he was barely holding onto consciousness by a thread.

He lost time for a few seconds and when he finally came back Dick was leaning over him, his mouth twisted in that particular way that only happened when he was desperately holding back tears. He was talking, his mouth forming words, but Bruce's ears were still muffled, pain still crashing over him in waves.

At least, he wasn't screaming anymore.

"Leg. Broken," he choked out when he was able to catch his breath.

Something in Dick's face crumbled, and he let his head collapse down onto Bruce's armored shoulder.

They had to get off the bridge and to Leslie. She would surely lecture him for hours, but she would set the break and put him in a cast and give him the good painkillers. And, he could go home with Dick, and they could watch sweet family friendly movies to fend off the bad thoughts. And Dick would sit way too close and be far to solicitous for a surly fifteen-year-old boy.

But, for now, they could lay there on that broken bridge and just breathe and know that they were both okay.

#whumptober2023 #pinned down #debris #“it's broken”#fanfiction #batman #bruce wayne #robin #dick grayson #broken bones #trapped #serious injury #kittywrites #no.5 #dcu comics

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spiderhey · 11 months

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DAMI MONG ALAM!: The Prevalence of Disinformation Through Anti-Intellectualism.

Everyone agrees that knowledge is power. Even so, why are there so many people proud of being stupid? Or simply put: Why does the Philippines seem to have a culture of anti-intellectualism and normalizing it? Filipinos are known for having such a great sense of humor, if you are Filipino or have lived in the Philippines for some time, you might have enjoyed some of the Filipino sense of humor about many things, especially about turning serious situations into meaningless jokes.

Anti-intellectualism is the dislike of intellectual pursuits and critical thinking. Academic self-efficacy is the belief in one's ability to complete academic tasks. As predicted, anti-intellectual students with low academic confidence were less likely to see those who share knowledge as arrogant. Smart shaming, also known as anti-intellectualism, is the act of making fun of someone who is smarter than others. To think about it, it's mind-boggling. Aren't we meant to encourage people to improve their IQ rather than humiliate them? How can you be criticized for studying a bit harder, providing a little more information, reading more thoroughly, or stating your thoughts a little louder?

According to Broughton (2022), social media is the primary source of news for the majority of voters, providing a chance for anti-democratic forces to use the space and spread mis- and disinformation. Anti-democratic actors have flooded social media with misleading narratives about candidates, distorting democratic discussion and misinforming voters. The integrity of information, as well as democratic norms and processes, are jeopardized in the Philippine elections. As more people obtain information through digital channels, bad actors will have an easier time spreading misinformation and manipulating stories. For the sixth year in a row, the Philippines continues to top the world in social media usage. The average Filipino now spends four hours per day on social media, representing a considerable rise over prior years. Facebook is the leading news source for 44% of adult Filipinos.

Philippines civil society organizations (CSOs) are turning to digital platforms to protect democratic ideals against growing mis/disinformation threats ahead of May 9, 2022, elections. Social media is a primary news source for voters and an easy target for anti-democratic forces. Misleading actors use social media to distort democratic debates and deceive voters. IRI supports CSOs in countering digital manipulation campaigns through disinformation training and subawards for information integrity (Broughton, 2022). Fake news gave birth to new trolls promoting and defending unverified news/articles. Alternatively, the increasing number of trolls may have led to new fake news outlets in social media. They complement each other and, in the Philippines, defending what's right often results in the response, "Eh di ikaw na." "Having the right information makes you an intellectual, which is seen as being superior by trolls." In retaliation, they'll expose you for boasting your intellect, implying that you don't belong to their society (Manaig, 2017). Education in our country is mainly viewed as a means to acquire skills that will lead to financial success in a capitalist society. The masses or the citizens do not consider critical thinking as a trait of an educated person. They do it due to crab mentality, and that undermining your intellect as an answer due to the fact that they can't beat you in terms of intelligence. It's petty and inflates their ego. Nonetheless, this kind of mindset should be put to its end.

1. Fight the ideology, not the individuals. It only gives them martyrdom and supports anti-intellectualism. Don't justify their view - facts cannot be denied. Your truth cannot be personalized.

2. It's about attitude, not wealth or education. Some are getting defensive about college degrees and their perceived significance. The issue is not education but the rejection of intelligence.

They should realize that a country's growth is intrinsically related to its people. Intelligent minds imply a people's ongoing growth and progress (Dela Cruz, 2018).

REMEMBER, IGNORANCE IS NOT AN EXCUSE FOR BEING IGNORANT!

#STOPSMARTSHAMING #STOPSPREADINGFAKENEWS

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 6 months

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Gary Markstein, Creators Syndicate

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

November 9, 2023 (Thursday)

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

NOV 10, 2023

The Republican-dominated House of Representatives remains unable to agree even to a way forward toward funding the United States government. This is a five-alarm fire.

The continuing resolution for funding the government Congress passed in September when then–House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) couldn’t pass appropriations bills runs out on November 17. If something is not done, and done quickly, the U.S. will face a shutdown over Thanksgiving. This will not only affect family gatherings and the holiday, it will hit Black Friday—which, as the busiest shopping day of the year, is what keeps a number of businesses afloat.

The problem with funding the government is the same problem that infects much else in the country today: far-right Republicans insist that their position is the only acceptable one. Even though the majority of the country opposes their view, they refuse to compromise. They want to gut the government that regulates business, provides a basic social safety net, promotes infrastructure, and protects civil rights.

To impose their will on the majority, they don’t have to understand issues, build coalitions, or figure out compromises. All they have to do is steadfastly vote no. If they can prevent the government from accomplishing anything, they will have achieved their goal.

Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) perfectly illustrated how much easier it is to destroy than to build today as he objected to the promotion of military leaders, one at a time. Democrats tried to bring up each promotion of career military personnel, many of whom have served this country for decades, by introducing them by name; Tuberville had only to say “I object” to prevent the Senate from taking up those promotions.

That refusal to budge from an extreme position weakens our military. It also weakens our democracy, as was apparent today in Michigan as Republican lawmakers joined an antiabortion group in suing to overturn a 2022 amendment to the state constitution protecting abortion rights. Voters approved that amendment with 57% of the vote in a process established by the state constitution, but the plaintiffs want to stop it from taking effect, claiming that by creating a new right, it disfranchises them and prevents the legislature from making laws. They could launch their own ballot initiative to replace the amendment they don’t like, but as that seems unlikely to pass, they are instead trying to block the measure the voters have said they want.

The decision of Ohio’s voters to protect abortion rights on Tuesday has prompted a similar disdain for democracy there. The vote for that state constitutional amendment was not close—56.6% to 43.4%—but Republican legislators immediately said they would work to find ways to stop the amendment from taking effect.

North Dakota state representative Brandon Prichard was much more explicit. Opposed to the measure, he wrote, “Direct democracy should not exist…. It would be an act of courage to ignore the results of the election….” According to James Bickerton of Newsweek, Prichard has previously called for Republican-dominated states to “put into code that Jesus Christ is King and dedicate their state to Him.”

Now that refusal to compromise threatens the U.S. government itself. It has been apparent that the Republicans were unable to agree on a funding plan even among themselves. On Tuesday, as Nicole Lafond of Talking Points Memo pointed out, House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said Americans should just trust the Republicans. He told reporters: “I’m not going to tell you when we will bring [appropriations bills] to the floor, but it will be in time, how about that? Trust us: We’re working through the process in a way that I think that people will be proud of…. [M]any options…are on the table and we’ll be revealing what our plan is in short order.”

Today, although the House managed to vote on a series of extremist bills designed to signal to their base—lowering the salaries of government officials they dislike to $1 a year—the House Republicans had to pull the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill after extremists loaded it with antiabortion language so they could not get the votes to pass it even through the Republican side of the aisle; earlier they had to pull the bill to fund Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and related agencies.

“We’re still dealing with the same divisions we always have had,” a House Republican told Sahil Kapur, Scott Wong, and Julie Tsirkin of NBC News. “We’re ungovernable.”

And then, after pulling the bill, Speaker Johnson adjourned the House until Monday. As Representative Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) put it this afternoon: “We are just 8 days away from a devastating government shutdown—and instead of working in a bipartisan way to keep the government open, Speaker Johnson sent Congress home early for the weekend. This is completely unacceptable.”

Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA) wrote: “The training wheels fell off for [Republican] leadership this week. They tried to pass two appropriations bills. They failed twice. The government shuts down in 8 days and [the House Republican Party] HAS NO PLAN. Instead, we voted on stupid stuff today like reducing the salary of [the] W[hite] H[ouse] Press Secretary to $1.”

The problem remains what it has been since the Republican Party took control of the House in 2021: far-right extremists refuse to agree to any budget that doesn’t slash government funding of popular programs, while less extremist Republicans recognize that such cuts would gut the government and horrify all but the most extreme voters. In any case, measures loaded with extremist wish lists will not pass the Senate; this is why appropriations bills are traditionally kept clean.

Former House speaker Kevin McCarthy hammered out just such an agreement with the administration in May 2023 for funding, but the extremists refuse to honor it. For their part, Democrats are holding firm on that agreement. House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) told NBC News correspondent Julie Tsirkin that “[a] clean continuing resolution at the fiscal year 2023 levels is the only way forward… We're asking for the status quo to keep the government open.”

The government budget isn’t the only casualty of the Republican chaos. The farm bill, which funds agricultural programs and food programs, must be renewed every five years. The measure authorized in 2018 expires this year, but extremists are eager to slash funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, formerly known as food stamps, endangering the passage of a measure farmers strongly support.

And today the Defense Department pleaded with Congress to pass the supplemental budget request President Biden made in August to fund Ukraine’s military needs in its war against Russian aggression.

The Republican Party’s problem continues to be America’s problem, and it is getting bigger by the day.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#incompetent GOP #government shutdown #Dept of Defense #anti-democratic GOP #corrupt GOP #national security #Letters From an American #heather Cox Richardson

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skendong · 10 months

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Labour Party Landslide 2024?

Tears for Fears

Oh, Labour, champions of the working class, Tangled in a web of compromise, alas! A pound shop Tory tribute act, Selling your soul again and that’s fact.

Corbyn. Left-wing pride you deputized. You banished and callously cast him aside. Director of Prosecution’s certified tone, If members don’t like it, be gone he drones.

Cold truth is, in the run-up to an election, Britain needs a change for we are stuck. In a two-party system, Rishi or Sir Keir? A weird intersection and the options suck.

Who votes Conservative? We know what the Whigs are all about. Working class hearts gave Boris trust – The Red Wall tumbling down was a must.

They look for their own and detest the poor. Billions wiped off Covid-19 fraud? But earn an extra penny on universal credit, And the spies catch you? It’s Gordon Bennett!

Shadow Cabinet MP’s in flux. For the sake of power speaking doublespeak. Gone is the promise of change and renewal. All Tory faces. No.10 the coveted jewel.

For in May ’97, a triumph was declared, 179-seat majority. Tony Blair’s entry and glee filled the air, But 30 years on, The Iraq War his legacy.

Straightaway he tried to secure an exemption, Hours after meeting Mr. Bernie Ecclestone. Advertising tobacco ban on Formula 1 relief, A rising stench activists couldn’t believe.

Growing his fortune and millions amassed – Tarnished Labour to the core and now outcast. Property portfolio stained in bloody stealth. On his legacy the poor lay a Lilium wreath.

Remember Baron Peter Mandelson’s disdain, Rothschild yacht vacations, living in the fast lane? Desire for fame and the company of elite, Indiscreet lifestyles and morals on a heap.

Under their stewardship wealth became a theme, Ministers pursue paths lucrative in extreme. Chancellor Gordon Brown stern in his reign? A lot of people lost while bankers duly gained.

A light-handed touch on financial regulation, Who’s friends with who? The same old superstition. Labour will struggle to break free from its cast, Blair-Brown years and the black shadow past.

Their antics leaked proud support across society, No longer can they shout we’re The People’s Party. Leadership need not equate to propel poverty’s role, Skepticism towards the rich an inevitable toll.

Now Crucial by-elections will very soon unroll, A chance to reveal strategy, policies to be told. Yet clarity eludes, and the narrative still unclear, Rishi starts fight back, exploiting Keir’s fears.

But voices of the Red Wall speak ever so dim, Levelled up towns still remain quite grim. National debt, distrust, cynicism within, Labour and economy are words that never twin.

Inflation’s high digits and the economy is weak, Labour Party schtum fearing Conservative critique. In their tepid wariness, hope is what they seek, Reserving forked tongues and navigating sleek.

“Hard choices,” we’ll do “what’s possible,” Delivered in a monotone and eyes so dull. The crowning is near, he says what is feasible. A single wrong word could wreck his home run.

But the Party’s stance lacks inspiration, Claw back voters but where’s the foundation? Whole party concept questioned and ignored. “Economic growth!” is the shout from the floor.

The threat of a whip and unspoken holds sway, Cuts still favored; investment in disarray. Left and right of shoulder they cannot forge, Purging the left leaves Corbynism in a gorge.

Oh, Labour Party, what has become of thee! Devoid of authenticity, tribute act we see. Will compromise lead to your victory’s gleam, Or shatter your soul, party lost in the dream?

Leadership’s response may claim it’s too soon, Policies undisclosed yet to fully bloom. The narrative formed as Ramadan’s new moon, Stalwarts pray for Churchill to be exhumed.

Tactics like Highland’s mineral water: clear. No manifesto is needed here! After crooked Tories, we’ve a right to know, ray for better days and desire real growth.

Will you pay for public sector pay rise demands? Will the water companies be nationalized? Will child benefits, school meals be exempt and stand? Will taxes rise to care for the elder generation?

What about your stance on skunk weed? The stoners getting stoned but still not free. In every neighborhood drift clouds of marijuana, Aura that wafts ruins lives of your neighbors?

In the 1950s, Butskellism took hold. A blend of two chancellors and principles bold. Butler for Tories, and Gaitskell for Labour, Had to compromise in the post-war era.

Differences existed yet a common cause, Mixed economy, a welfare state, put the people first! Full employment was cherished of course, Utopia approached on a pure white horse.

But the tide shifted, cloaks and daggers sway, Stagflation and Thatcher kicked Butskellism out of play. Edward Heath and Harold Wilson grappling for ease – Waned Utopia’s patience and left without delay.

Whispered through the grapevine, Reevuntism. Archaic words, reborn, transformed. Philosophizing in a bond that discerns, As Keir leads Labour into another schism.

We heard this -ism has a centrist hue, Labour and Tories even closer than before! Post-Brexit vision, divisions slew, Shift to the center, consensus to explore.

So Scottish democracy vowed to be denied, Cuts and privatization in a different guise. Limited trade friction, a united brand. Striving together but Keir will be crowned.

The election calls for change resound, Distance and progress and solutions profound. Cost of living burden grows bloated by the day, The poor yearn the coming of a true sage.

End benefit sanctions, fair housing in sight. Cut child poverty and shine a beacon of light. Increase top earners’ income and FT companies’ share, End punitive charges at home for social care.

(Please speak up, Sir Keir). (Please speak up, Sir Keir).

Oh, Labour, champions of the working class, Now tangled in a web of compromise, alas! A pound shop Tory tribute act? Or a hung Parliament and a Liberal pact?

#uk politics #poetryiwrite #free verse

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beardedmrbean · 1 year

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Economic expert and political novice Jakov Milatovic won Montenegro's presidential runoff election Sunday, defeating the pro-Western incumbent who has been in power for more than three decades, the candidates and polls said.

Milatovic, who is backed by Montenegro's governing majority, won around 60% of the vote Sunday while President Milo Djukanovic won around 40%, according to predictions released by the usually reliable Center for Monitoring and Research and based on voting samples.

In a victory speech, Milatovic described the moment as “historic" for Montenegro and promised to help lead the small NATO member nation into the European Union during his five-year term in office.

“Tonight is the night that we waited for the past 30 years,” said Milatovic, blasting Djukanovic as the “last dictator in Europe.”

“We want to deal with issues that are of vital importance: the rule of law, economy and European integration,” said Milatovic. “We are leaving the past behind and making a decisive step into the future. This is a historic day for us."

Djukanovic conceded defeat and congratulated Milatovic on his victory. He said he was proud of the results he achieved during such a long period in power.

“Montenegro has chosen and I respect that choice,” said Djukanovic. "Elections are sometimes won — we won for a very long time — sometimes you lose. I wish [for] the new president that he be worthy of the trust he received.”

The state election authorities Sunday evening said turnout was at nearly 70%.

Analysts said that the results could shift slightly as the vote count progresses but that the gap between the two is too wide for a major change.

“This result is an indicator that the final result won't be substantially different,” said analyst Ana Nenezic.

Milatovic’s victory is believed to reflect voter fatigue with Djukanovic, who has served multiple times as both president and prime minister in the past decades, and disillusionment with established politicians. Milatovic, 36, first entered politics in 2020 after earning his education in Britain and the United States.

Djukanovic is credited with leading his country to independence from Serbia in 2006 and defying Russia to steer Montenegro into NATO in 2017. But critics say Djukanovic and his Democratic Party of Socialists, or DPS, have let crime and corruption engulf society.

The DPS was ousted from power in a 2020 parliamentary vote, but Djukanovic has remained in office until the end of his five-year mandate. His defeat Sunday means that both he and his party will be in opposition for the first time since late 1980s.

Milatovic's supporters took to the streets of Montenegrin cities as the outcome became clear, setting off fireworks and honking horns as they drove around the streets. Hundreds gathered outside the main church in Podgorica, the capital, reflecting ruling coalition's close ties with the Serbian Orthodox Church and Serbia.

The Serbian Orthodox Church played an important role in the protest movement that eventually resulted in the DPS' removal from power in 2020. Many Montenegrins identify themselves as Serbs and support improving relations with Serbia.

Sunday’s runoff was scheduled after none of the contenders won a majority in the first round of voting two weeks ago. Some 540,000 people were eligible to vote. Montenegro has a population of 620,000 and borders Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo and the Adriatic Sea.

The outcome of Sunday’s election is likely to influence an early parliamentary election set for June 11. That vote was scheduled because of a months-long government deadlock that stalled Montenegro’s pending European Union membership and alarmed the West as war rages in Ukraine.

Milatovic’s Europe Now movement could find itself in a position to dominate the next government after the June election. Milatovic’s presidential candidacy won the backing of a shaky ruling coalition — which Europe Now is not a part of — that includes parties in favor of closer ties with neighboring Serbia and Russia.

Milatovic has denied Djukanovic’s accusations that the ruling coalition is pushing Montenegro back under Serbia’s influence.

Europe Now emerged after the first government that resulted from the 2020 parliamentary election collapsed. As the economy minister in that government, Milatovic gained popularity by increasing salaries, but critics say this was done at the cost of Montenegro's badly depleted health system.

#nunyas news

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mariacallous · 1 year

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In the next few weeks or months, US president Joe Biden is expected to announce that he will run for re-election in 2024. As his masterful State of the Union speech on 7 February showed, the second year of his presidency was markedly successful. It all adds up to a serious possibility that he will go down in history as a, or even the, pre-eminent global figure of the 2020s.

So it is easy to forget that Biden is, in many respects, a product of a different US. He was first elected to the US Senate in 1972, closer in time to the end of the Second World War than to 9/11 – let alone the present day. The majority of his career played out during the Cold War and immediate post-Cold War era, the period between the end of the Vietnam War and the start of the Afghanistan War, during which Europe was the primary focus of US foreign policy most of the time.

In 1979, for example, he met with the Soviet foreign minister, Andrei Gromyko, in Moscow to discuss the Salt II arms control treaty. In the 1990s he was an early voice for intervention in Bosnia and Kosovo (which he later described as one of his “proudest moments in public life”). In 1997 Biden championed Nato expansion while co-chair of the Senate’s Nato Observer Group. As a proud Irish-American, he lobbied Bill Clinton’s administration to invest major efforts in the Northern Ireland peace process.

Biden carried the Atlanticist instincts from the pre-9/11 era into the one that succeeded it. He helped keep the western Balkans on the US agenda at a time when it was dominated by the Middle East and Afghanistan. As Barack Obama’s vice-president he often served as the European anchor of an administration otherwise determined to “pivot” to Asia. It was Biden who led on relations with Ukraine during the 2014 Maidan revolution and the initial Russian invasion that same year.

When he took office as president in 2021 he phoned Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson before speaking to any leaders in the Indo-Pacific, despite the latter being a stated priority of his administration. He appointed Antony Blinken, a Europe expert, as his secretary of state and Mark Gitenstein, a close confidant since the 1970s, ambassador to the EU. Biden’s first foreign trip as president took him to Europe, and Macron received the honour of being invited to make the first state visit to Washington of Biden’s presidency. The US’s dominant role in supporting Ukraine should be seen as part of that same pattern.

The Ukraine war has also supplied ample evidence of Europeans getting comfortable with this restoration of a familiar relationship, after the traumas of the Trump presidency. They looked to the Americans to lead on military aid to Kyiv and even, in the case of German chancellor Olaf Scholz, insisted that the administration send US battle tanks as a condition of Berlin providing its own Leopard 2 tanks or allowing other Europeans to do so. When the Munich Security Conference gathers between 17 and 19 February, and when Biden travels to Europe this month, we will see more of the president acting as a munificent Uncle Sam, putting a protective arm around an old continent that is broadly satisfied with that arrangement.

All too satisfied, in fact. Biden’s transatlantic instincts constitute less the restoration of old certainties than the last hurrah of a past era. The president turned 80 in November. Younger generations of US leaders see the world differently. The most obvious example is the new isolationist streak in the Republican Party: a majority of GOP voters now oppose further support for Ukraine. But even among more orthodox Republicans there is a marked “prioritiser” tendency that believes in disengaging from Europe to concentrate on Asia. As Elbridge Colby, a former senior defence official, has put it: “The United States does not have the capacity to fight both… an exceptionally stressing war with China and another significant conflict, such as in Europe against Russia.”

Even among Democrats, the post-Biden age (whether it dawns in 2025 or 2029) will mark a shift in perspectives. Centrists such as the California governor Gavin Newsom or the vice-president Kamala Harris may share Biden’s values, but they lack his formative experience of senior office during the Cold War and its aftermath, the instincts forged in that era, and his strong emotional connection to Europe.

Meanwhile, a still-younger generation of Democrats looks to standard-bearers such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ro Khanna – progressives who put less emphasis on Nato and more on topics like climate change, trade, migration and the Global South. Influential in these circles is the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and associated intellectuals, including the historian Stephen Wertheim, author of appeals such as: “Sorry, Liberals. But You Really Shouldn’t Love Nato.”

A more far-sighted Europe – including both the EU and the UK – might have used the impetus of Russia’s war to prepare for the post-Biden world. Yet overall, Europe has implicitly interpreted the leadership provided by Biden’s administration as the new normal; proof that vigorous attempts to build European structures capable of taking over responsibility for the continent’s security from the US are now unnecessary. Talk of “European sovereignty” can often be empty, and cooperation between major powers routinely falls victim to political differences. It is a comfortable delusion to nurture: Atlanticist Bidenism forever! Comfortable, that is, until it eventually collides with reality. At that point Europe’s position could become very uncomfortable indeed.

#I don't know how much I fully agree with this #but I also think it makes some good points

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90363462 · 1 year

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MSNBC’s Abrupt Cancellation of ‘The Cross Connection’ Is A Blow To Black Voters And Democracy

Removing Cross from the airwaves effectively denies Black strategists and organizers a platform to discuss the issues and concerns of Black voters ahead of the midterm elections.

Source: Leigh Vogel / Getty

Just days before the 2022 midterm election and cable news giant reportedly cut ties with popular weekend host Tiffany Cross. MSNBC’s cancellation of the “Cross Connection” is reminiscent of how the cable giant snatched the airwaves away from another veteran journalist. The current host and managing editor of WNYC’s “The Takeaway,” Professor Melissa Harris-Perry, was previously dismissed from MSNBC in a very ugly manner.

Harris-Perry tweeted she had no insight into what happened but had very high praise for Cross.

“One thing is certain–@TiffanyDCross will always have my support and solidarity. Proud of what she’s accomplished. Excited to see what she’ll do next,” Tweeted Harris-Perry.

#WheresTiffany trended early Saturday afternoon on Twitter. Using the hashtag, Alicia Garza tweeted that she was scheduled to be on “The Cross Connection” to discuss polling of Black voters.

Removing Cross from the airwaves effectively denies Black strategists and organizers a platform to discuss the issues and concerns of Black voters ahead of the midterm elections. Cross called the abrupt termination of her show “disheartening” after alleged calls for reckoning with race in media after the 2020 uprisings.

“Now is not the retreat to politics or journalism as usual,” Cross said in a statement. “It is my hope that the last two years at MSNBC have been disruptive and transformative, changing how politics are discussed and making policy more digestible.”

She also called attention to the increase in political violence and the danger of speaking the truth and challenging the open resurgence of white supremacy. Many on Twitter pointed out the timing of the show’s end, given Cross was recently targeted by Fox host Tucker Carlson. Iconic civil rights attorney Sherrilyn Ifill noted that MSNBC’s action further emboldened Carlson.

Elie Mystal, justice correspondent at The Nation and a frequent contributor to “The Cross Connection,” called out the high price of “telling the truth about white people to white people.”

“Tiffany was special because she proactively centered her work and her voice in nonwhite audiences,” Mystal tweeted. It’s not that she didn’t care what white people thought. It’s that she refused to bend her voice around those forces. She was willing to pay the price to uplift nonwhite voices.

A clear example of the “Cross Connection” commitment to uplifting news and commentary that centered non-white communities can be seen in a recent interview with Tax Professor Dorothy Brown, highlighting the crisis of corporate price gouging amid record inflation.

Cross recently joined Jemele Hill in sharing a message with Black Voters Matter supporters about Democracy being on the ballot and the importance of engaging in the upcoming election.

But MSNBC’s abrupt cancellation of “The Cross Connection” also highlights the importance of a robust Black media committed to engaging with the issues impacting our communities. Building an apparatus committed to news and uplifting powerful stories challenges the status quo and provides a pathway forward for change.