October 2018 Archives

"We have come to it at last," writes Truthout editor William Rivers Pitt. "The moment too many have been whistling past in the ill-placed hope that everything would fix itself has arrived. The Achilles heel of democracy -- the use of the democratic process to install a government bent on dismantling democracy -- has been pierced with deliberation and intent. It is everywhere now, and all of us are involved.

"It is laying deep roots," he continues. "We must listen beyond the whispered fascism of today to the shouted fascism of tomorrow." Which some observers expect to be unleashed at the conclusion of midterm elections. A cornered Donald Trump after a midterm defeat could do some very dangerous things, fast, suspects New York Magazine columnist Ed Kilgore. But even if Republicans retain control of the House, Trump will return to business as usual, at the helm of a fascist program of white supremacy, misogyny, and xenophobia.

"You know what I am? I am a nationalist, okay?" declared Donald Trump at a Houston rally, October 22. And a 'proud' nationalist at that. We are about to have a national conversation about the word nationalist writes NPR correspondent Ron Elving. "He is spotlighting the word as he presses for his wall on the southern border and provokes fears of foreign invasion by villainizing the caravan of migrants making its way across Mexico." Trumps use of the term should raise warning flags: "It becomes an attitudinal pretext for a more aggressive foreign policy."

Trump understands the voter appeal of national pride and the defense of American interests, adds Elving.

"Trump's 'Make America Great Again' is a 21st century fascist program of Manifest Destiny - 'America First' - wrapped in the flag and Mike Pence's Bible taken literally," reads the RefuseFascism.org flier announcing protests on Wednesday November 7 -- the day after the midterms -- and Saturday November 10, to demand and demonstrate our determination that the Trump/Pence Regime Must Go! In the Name of Humanity, We REFUSE to Accept a Fascist America. Join us:

Rally to Stop the Nightmare
Wednesday November 7, 5:30 pm
San Francisco Civic Center

and

Protest to Bring This to a Halt
Saturday November 10, 1:00 pm
San Francisco Embarcadero Plaza,
across from the Ferry Building

We Must Be In the Streets Until Trump/Pence are gone. Help wake and mobilize the one force that can stop a fascist America -- millions of people in the streets saying NO! to the Trump/Pence Regime.

We Pledge that we will not stand aside while there is still a chance to stop a regime that imperils humanity and the earth itself. Join us. Let's stand together with conviction and courage, overcoming fear and uncertainty, to struggle with all we've got to demand: The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go.

To endorse, volunteer, donate, and/or partner in this effort, go to RefuseFascism.org.  

OCTOBER 4 UPDATE: As the sham of FBI "investigation" of sexual assault became abundantly clear today, wishful thinking that government spying institutions can serve a higher purpose came undone. Only persistent, determined protest in the streets will stop the consolidation of a reactionary Supreme Court in service to Christian fundamentalists intent on restructuring society to fascist purpose: subjugation of women, ethnic ceansing, and military aggression against people of the world. Republican Party leaders are ramming their plan forward with a final Senate vote as early as Saturday.

Emergency protest: STOP Kavanaugh Now!
Friday October 5, 5:30pm
Powell & Market Street, San Francisco

This Nightmare Must End:
The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go!
In the Name of Humanity,
We REFUSE to Accept a Fascist America! 

Senator Jeff Flake's intervention in last week's Kavanaugh hearings interrupted endorsement of the candidate by misogynist Republicans on the Judiciary Committee -- and moved a floor vote forward. Celebration of anticipated rejection of the nomination is premature at best. Even Flake suspects that after all the hoopla around televised questioning of the judge's accuser, the aftermath of FBI investigation will leave us "in exactly the same place."

If this week's investigation finds no "smoking gun," does that legitimize confirmation of the accused perpetrator? Because prior to professor Christine Blasey Ford's disclosure of sexual assault, the ideology -- and actions -- of President George W. Bush's appointee to the U.S. Court of Appeal, Washington circuit, profoundly disqualifies Brett Kavanaugh to adjudicate impartial justice.  

"There are larger structural effects of a system whose most powerful stewards can impose their hateful assumptions across all the institutions that matter -- immigration policy, employment rules, pay standards," argues Rutgers Law School professor David Dante Troutt. "These institutions are the embodiment of larger ideas like access, control and equality; ideas we Americans like to lecture the world about."

The assertions of opponents to Donald Trump's nominee to the Court are many and varied; a merely cursory investigation of the Yale Law School alumnus' history reveals a propensity to violence against women, victims of misdirected anger, and a shameless defense of selective immunity:

Even among Trump's short list of reactionary candidates to nominate to the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh stood out as holding absolutely extreme positions in favor of presidential power and against presidential accountability. In particular, Kavanaugh has publicly argued repeatedly that presidents should not be subject at all to investigations like the Mueller investigation. For the past year, the Mueller investigation has been the only governmental process aimed at determining the role the Trump campaign may have played in conspiring with Putin's attempt to distort and determine the results of the 2016 presidential elections. Only the Mueller investigation can make possible holding Trump accountable for his numerous efforts to obstruct justice and turn the FBI, the Justice Dept. as a whole, and the nation's intelligence agencies into his own personal state police. Given that there are already four judges on the Court ready to uphold a very expansive view of presidential power, Kavanaugh's confirmation would create a long-term majority prepared to uphold the emergence of a reactionary, authoritarian presidential dictatorship over the next period of American history, beginning with an imminent set of decisions pertaining to the Mueller investigation. --  BAMN (By Any Means Necessary)

But the people who really sustain misogyny and white supremacy are the "quiet endorsers," continues Troutt. "The other reason misogyny and white supremacy lead similar lives is that both rely on 'good people doing nothing.'" That's why people of conscience, in the interests of humanity, have a responsibility to drive the Trump/Pence regime from power through non-violent protests that grow every day until our demand is met.

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