3 January 2024

Which Way America? It Is Up To Us!

Trump Big Brother

[Photo: Trump Stop the Steal Jan 6, 2021 by WSWS]

By Rowan Wolf

Welcome to 2024 and the beginning of the next stage of the struggle for the future of our nation and the world. The U.S. is rapidly sliding down the slope into fascism. Trump, and the coordinators of his next presidency, are not being shy about their plans. Trump makes it clear with his rants at rallies, and his accomplices are quite open about what America will look like with another Trump presidency – a dictatorship with a crony government, the DoJ restructured to rout out anyone Trump deems threatening, the construction of concentration camps for those deemed anti-American / anti-Trump (Democrats, people of color, LGBTQ, etc) and the expulsion or execution of non-white immigrants. The Constitution will be thrown out, massive bans on books and rewriting of curriculum, a total ban on abortion, and the removal of licenses for any media that does not support Trump and the MAGA agenda. The Republican party has already given their power to Trump and most refuse to speak against him or this plan at recrafting the government.

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4 November 2023

Normalizing Violence In the Age of Authoritarian Politics

[Graphic: Confirmation Bias, Bennett via José Luis Ferreira]

By: Henry A. Giroux
Source: The Spectator

Editor's Note
The old saying goes “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” While in certain contexts this may be true, when those words, the thoughts they express, and the actions they may legitimate, pass over a “red line” individually or collectively, then they may do more than break bones. While in the U.S. “hate speech” is largely protected as free speech, when it is tied to hate crime it may help prove intent. On a social level, hate speech can have far broader effects, especially when it is repeatedly spotlighted, or used by highly influential people and groups.

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Category: Autocracy, Democracy, Henry A. Giroux, Language, Politics, Trump | Comments Off on Normalizing Violence In the Age of Authoritarian Politics
23 April 2023

Today is Earth Day and Perhaps We Should Take It Seriously

California - Future Hellscape, cartoon

[Photo: Adam Zyglis, The Buffalo News, NY]

By Rowan Wolf

I watched a youth march marking Earth Day in Portland on last night’s news. Out of many great signs, the one that captured my attention was “You can’t recycle wasted time.” If there was a truism that deserves memorializing, it is that one in my opinion. I was at the first Earth Day celebration in 1970 and I celebrated in Kansas City, Mo. I was hopeful at that point. We knew there were problems, and we knew the dangers of the chemical revolution and fossil fuels. Yes, there was lots of long-term damage, but we could face the facts and take effective action. What we didn’t anticipate was the billions of dollars that would go into a propaganda war to convince Americans that what we already knew was some “Commie plot”. Lots of names for those trying to save the Earth have followed.

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6 February 2023

Are We on the Verge of Civil War II?

[Photo: Graves of 411 unknown Civil War soldiers Gettysburg National Cemetary (John from CT),]

By Robert C. Koehler
Source:  CommonWonders

Editor's Note
This is a question that keeps returning, but there is little discussion of the true horror and chaos such a war would bring. Such a war would not be so neat as North vs South, and even then there was the horror of “brother fighting brother.” There is no guarantee that the police and military would be on one side and MAGA rebels on the other.

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Category: Politics, Pull Right - Fascism, Robert C. Koehler, Social (In)Justice, White Nationalism | Comments Off on Are We on the Verge of Civil War II?