Fascism, Autocracy, Oligarchy Clearinghouse

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

Patrick is vaccinated if I recall, so he's going to be fine. That and he can get pretty much anything he wants for treatment.

Although I haven't had a chance to read it in it's entirety, it seemed to me like the Texas Baptist Bible Belt and Catholic groups were willing to partner in order to get things done and would then (IMO) have to face each other in the Championship battle for the title. Having a theocracy gives the elite ruling class the return to the more blatant birthright type of rule for power (Thy Will Be Done) and the deserving vs undeserving fiats for binding some and not others to whatever largesse or punishments are doled out. It is the underclass lot in life to suffer and toil for the powerful w/o complaint for the masses shall receive their reward in heaven when they die. Nothing about love in this type of government, all about a Puritanical zeal to punish the 'unworthy.'

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

On 1/4/2022 at 12:20 PM, pyrohornIII said:

to set up a Church of England style theocracy is simply too ludicrous to be taken seriously.

Singled out this phrase. You would think, but to disregard it would be unwise. I read your friend's document. She/he writes it well. Glad the sources were listed as I've got some material to read more.

The America First umbrella encompasses several groups ranging from the extreme hardcore white supremacists to the more 'genteel' form of nationalism that doesn't like to be quite so outspoken about 'those kinds of things.' Some are very religious, others not so much, but are going to go along to get or maintain power and wealth. Since MTG's little caucus was abandoned, I've noticed some of the other groups that weren't quite so obvious have rebranded a little but their platforms are very very similar to each other and many of the themes in the PDF are there. So definitely, the undercurrent of dominionism is flowing quite rapidly but few are seeing it.

[pyrohornIII 4817]

Dominionism is Q with God's seal of approval.  

[TurkeyChew 383]

All good points, but topically speaking; the Catholic Church’s reign of terror/greatness (depending on your stance) is over now that they are on the bad side of pet owners/lovers. You can harass and deride and insult and condescend about social issues and gays and even abuse children, but when you mess with people who call their pets “fur babies”, you’ve sealed your own fate.

Nobody mobilizes like the psychos who take pet ownership and personification too far.

Edited January 8, 2022 by TurkeyChew

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

In the context with which he was speaking, I thought *his opinion was in line with his teachings. I can see why some would disagree. I've noticed that some American Catholics are not in favor of his views and others are. In the American but I suppose technically also global tradition, that leads to a schism sometimes. A line of begats flowing from one type of religion i.e. Catholicism begat Lutheranism begat various forms and synods, and other Protestant religions have similar breakaways as well.

I have issue with dominionism in government. I will not worship government before my God, but I will not put another man's God at the seat of American government-- for who is that man to tell me to worship the same way he does and when and how.

Edited January 8, 2022 by Mrs Whiggins
*Pope Francis

[Longhorn_Fan68 33881]

1 hour ago, TurkeyChew said:

All good points, but topically speaking; the Catholic Church’s reign of terror/greatness (depending on your stance) is over now that they are on the bad side of pet owners/lovers. You can harass and deride and insult and condescend about social issues and gays and even abuse children, but when you mess with people who call their pets “fur babies”, you’ve sealed your own fate.

Nobody mobilizes like the psychos who take pet ownership and personification too far.

Sup Donkey!

[TurkeyChew 383]

2 minutes ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

Sup Donkey!

Hi LF. Pretty cool that your neg harassment is now no longer allowed per immac, so maybe I can stick around for a while the next time you are so embarrassed for being not very smart when it comes to business knowledge.

Anyhow, how was your Christmas and New Years? Hope you and yours were able to avoid Omicron— seems like everyone got it, eh?

[Longhorn_Fan68 33881]

 

[Longhorn_Fan68 33881]

wow

 

[Fudge Nuggets 19209]

Those dipshits couldn’t handle the al qaeda monkey bars training.

[Foosters 17858]

Redding, CA:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-02-04/extremists-take-over-shasta-county-northern-california-next

Quote

But the recent recall election in Shasta County that pitted a Republican ex-police chief against a far-right faction backed by a local militia is different. It’s a wake-up call ahead of the 2022 midterms that elections can go very wrong, even in liberal California.

 

Quote

Meetings turned into carnivals, not the fun kind, with speakers threatening violence, and someone got the idea to recall three supervisors who were deemed too liberal and scientific in their approach to the pandemic.

The Cottonwood militia, an armed group of men who describe themselves as civic leaders and helpers of local law enforcement (though law enforcement has said they are not affiliated), threw their might into the effort. A film producer, best known for religious music videos, decided to make a glossy documentary full of slow-motion horseback riding about it, hopeful a successful recall would provide a blueprint for other communities to do the same.

 

Quote

The money put the recall in overdrive, with ads bombarding voters on radio and television. Doni Chamberlain, a local journalist, said regular Shasta residents were pulled into the rhetoric, and became “dupid.” That’s a mash-up of duped and stupid.

“It’s that thing,” said Chamberlain. “If you say something long enough and often enough, people will believe it.”

The election was held Tuesday, and while some ballots are still out, it is almost certain Moty will be recalled, leaving Shasta County likely to have leadership that is beholden to the militia and their far-right compatriots. For months, militia members have been clear about what that looks like.

“We have to make politicians scared again,” Carlos Zapata, a bar owner and militia member, told my colleague Hailey Branson-Potts, as the militia was heating up its tactics. “If politicians do not fear the people they govern, that relationship is broken.”

It isn’t just politicians who are cowed. Regular citizens are, too. People came up to Moty and said they supported him, “but they didn’t want to have their name out there because they are afraid,” he said.

 

Quote

The official in charge of elections was recently “served” with papers accusing her of treason, and threatening a death sentence. Nathan Pinkney, a recall opponent who created a fictional social media character named Buford White to mock Zapata, was attacked by Zapata and two friends, in an altercation where a witness said the N-word was used. Zapata was found guilty of disturbing the peace by fighting and sentenced to community service, probation and an anger management class.

 

Quote

Moty, who spent three decades in law enforcement including six as chief of the Redding Police Department, has been threatened, accused of being a pedophile, of taking bribes, of colluding with voting machine maker Dominion Voting Systems to defraud the election, being against the 2nd Amendment (a big insult in these parts) and more, he told me Wednesday.

His wife, Tracy, whose family has lived in Redding for four generations, was so stressed, talking about the recall campaign made her cry, and she decided to go sit in her car rather than relive the details in an interview. The couple are thinking about moving, because Redding has changed in ways that don’t feel right to them. Tracy said she doesn’t feel safe.

 

[F250 28802]

Not sure where this fits but since it has a Handmaid's Tale theme I will drop it in here.

The pastor is some kind of Red Pill Jesus.

 

 

[Brisketexan 105178]

Not sure where this fits but since it has a Handmaid's Tale theme I will drop it in here.
The pastor is some kind of Red Pill Jesus.
 
 

The Handmaids Tale is not a cautionary book to the GQP, it’s a delightful fantasy to which they masturbate furiously.

[956 Worldwide 34737]

Parliamentary elections in Hungary today, the opposition has coalesced around a coalition to beat Orban.  They are still pushing a rock uphill thanks to constitutional changes, media control, and other tricks designed to keep Orban in power. Still, a glimmer of hope and new urgency given that Orban is Putin’s man on the inside. 

[TwiceHorn 31512]

6 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Parliamentary elections in Hungary today, the opposition has coalesced around a coalition to beat Orban.  They are still pushing a rock uphill thanks to constitutional changes, media control, and other tricks designed to keep Orban in power. Still, a glimmer of hope and new urgency given that Orban is Putin’s man on the inside. 

Question for you.  As I have mentioned on several occasions, FIL is Hungarian and fled during the Revolution.

Long before the whole "nationalist/populist" movement, he would ruminate endlessly on the historical carving up of Hungary and related topics like low birth rate, all related to the "national identity" of Hungary and its diminution.

Given that most of central and eastern Europe has been a territorial hockey puck for centuries, is that kind of nationalism and historical grievance-nurturing fairly common?  Are they more "susceptible" to this kind of thing?

[956 Worldwide 34737]

2 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Question for you.  As I have mentioned on several occasions, FIL is Hungarian and fled during the Revolution.

Long before the whole "nationalist/populist" movement, he would ruminate endlessly on the historical carving up of Hungary and related topics like low birth rate, all related to the "national identity" of Hungary and its diminution.

Given that most of central and eastern Europe has been a territorial hockey puck for centuries, is that kind of nationalism and historical grievance-nurturing fairly common?  Are they more "susceptible" to this kind of thing?

Take me with a grain of salt, I’ve worked all around Hungary and the region but not in Hungary and I don’t speak Hungarian (I believe the language is an elaborate prank).

I do think that due to Hungarians’ unique identity in a sea of mostly Slavs and Germans, their experience as a great power, and their extensive dismantling after World War I with ethnic communities left behind— yes, they are a bit more susceptible to populism and grievance politics.  The loss of lands that they see are “theirs” with no compensation elsewhere (like Poland) is something they especially grumble about. 
 

Hungary sees itself as a victim of both World Wars. 

[Brisketexan 105178]

Take me with a grain of salt, I’ve worked all around Hungary and the region but not in Hungary and I don’t speak Hungarian (I believe the language is an elaborate prank).
I do think that due to Hungarians’ unique identity in a sea of mostly Slavs and Germans, their experience as a great power, and their extensive dismantling after World War I with ethnic communities left behind— yes, they are a bit more susceptible to populism and grievance politics.  The loss of lands that they see are “theirs” with no compensation elsewhere (like Poland) is something they especially grumble about. 
 
Hungary sees itself as a victim of both World Wars. 

….and I don’t hold out much hope in them unseating the Orban movement. They’re too all-in on Putinish nationalism. It can’t be overcome. At least not yet.

[TwiceHorn 31512]

46 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Take me with a grain of salt, I’ve worked all around Hungary and the region but not in Hungary and I don’t speak Hungarian (I believe the language is an elaborate prank).

I do think that due to Hungarians’ unique identity in a sea of mostly Slavs and Germans, their experience as a great power, and their extensive dismantling after World War I with ethnic communities left behind— yes, they are a bit more susceptible to populism and grievance politics.  The loss of lands that they see are “theirs” with no compensation elsewhere (like Poland) is something they especially grumble about. 
 

Hungary sees itself as a victim of both World Wars. 

I was asking about the more general case as that applies to a greater or larger extent to a lot of central and eastern Europe.  But, the Hungary-specific answer is worthwhile.

FIL has a lot of "personal experiences," notably fleeing Soviet communism as well as watching Hungary fall from socialism to communism, that kind of underlie his Trumpiness and are slightly more legitimate than the American "white male grievance" culture, but there's plenty of that, too.

[956 Worldwide 34737]

43 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I was asking about the more general case as that applies to a greater or larger extent to a lot of central and eastern Europe.  But, the Hungary-specific answer is worthwhile.

FIL has a lot of "personal experiences," notably fleeing Soviet communism as well as watching Hungary fall from socialism to communism, that kind of underlie his Trumpiness and are slightly more legitimate than the American "white male grievance" culture, but there's plenty of that, too.

I don’t know that I would say that they’re more susceptible as a whole.  When you start living here you really begin to get the nuances.  I do think that overall the countries are more conservative but it manifests itself differently.  The Poles and Hungarians are more nationalist but the Poles have the anchor of the church and a deeply ingrained distaste for Russia to temper them agains the worst excesses.  Their religion is much more of a motivator when it comes to conservatism as well as their desire to be a serious European player.  Their conservatism and populism is more authentic, too— Fidesz in Hungary is simply a political cover for corruption. The Czechs will never be rabid nationalists, their populism manifests as just general discontent and support for government interventions in the market.  Slovaks get weird and their nationalists end up hitching a rope to “Slavism” or just reactionary conservatism. 
 

In general the Poles and Hungarians are more susceptible to flights of lingering imperial pouting because they once had empires. The Czechs and Slovaks are happy to have countries. 
 

One thing that does make an impact is the proliferation of political parties that have a real chance at parliament and the personality driven nature of them.  This is a sign of an immature democracy or Donald Trump.  The Czechs have a five party coalition.  There is no real need for the five “non-populist” parties— Civic Democracy, Christian Democratic Union, Top 09, Pirates, and Mayors and Independents to all exist.  Two or three center-right/center-left/liberal parties would do.  In Slovakia, you have center-right Ordinary People, For the People, Freedom and Solidarity, all in parliament and government and barely any ideological difference. Just temperament and personality.  Then you have Christian Democrats (center-right), Progressive Slovakia (liberal) and Together (liberal/center-left) all barely under the threshold.  They need to again, combine into at most three parties.  All the personality driven fracturing means that the 11 -13 percent of hardcore far-right populist voters have an outsized voice. 

Edited April 3, 2022 by 956 Worldwide

[Willfully Horn 8040]

Closer to home;

The arsonist who torched an Austin synagogue (Beth Israel,) should have received medical care for his mental issues years ago, a judge has said. I guess it shouldn't surprise anyone that his pops is a physician and an official with the VA, irony being dead and all. (Makes me wonder if mental help would straighten out all neo-Nazis and alt-right loons). At any rate, this neo-nazi fuckstick was allowed to accrue weapons, despite a doctor’s warning in 2016. Sounds like his folks need mental treatment, too.

https://www.alternet.org/2022/04/franklin-barrett-sechriest-red-flags/?utm_campaign=RebelMouse&share_id=6986080&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=AlterNet

 

 

[Willfully Horn 8040]

New SK essay today.

“Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it.”
– Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
 

https://www.stonekettle.com/2022/04/when-fascism-comes-to-america.html?m=1

[Captainant 27689]

56 minutes ago, Willfully Horn said:

Closer to home;

The arsonist who torched an Austin synagogue (Beth Israel,) should have received medical care for his mental issues years ago, a judge has said. I guess it shouldn't surprise anyone that his pops is a physician and an official with the VA, irony being dead and all. (Makes me wonder if mental help would straighten out all neo-Nazis and alt-right loons). At any rate, this neo-nazi fuckstick was allowed to accrue weapons, despite a doctor’s warning in 2016. Sounds like his folks need mental treatment, too.

https://www.alternet.org/2022/04/franklin-barrett-sechriest-red-flags/?utm_campaign=RebelMouse&share_id=6986080&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=AlterNet

 

 

Aw c'mon you just want to CANCEL this proud patriotic American! We can't have consequences for speech or actions, that would violate his rights!

[Biff Tannen 45695]

2 hours ago, Willfully Horn said:

New SK essay today.

“Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it.”
– Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
 

https://www.stonekettle.com/2022/04/when-fascism-comes-to-america.html?m=1

Certainly nothing like we are seeing today.  No-siree-bob.

[Longhorn_Fan68 33881]

so which one wins out here? always punch nazis or never hit a woman?

 

[956 Worldwide 34737]

On 4/3/2022 at 5:35 PM, Brisketexan said:

….and I don’t hold out much hope in them unseating the Orban movement. They’re too all-in on Putinish nationalism. It can’t be overcome. At least not yet.

Orban won, biglier than the polls predicted. Thanks to his gerrymandering and the vagaries of parliamentary voting, Fidesz got about 53 percent of the vote yet also secured a Constitutional majority (2/3) of seats in parliament.  The rigging in this election was all beforehand and indirect— gerrymandering as well as the takeover of virtually all relevant media by Orban allies that shut the opposition out. I expect Hungary to slide into fully “not free” in this four year term and for the country to become Fortress Beijing/Moscow in Europe.  The sole bright side is that even the Poles are sick of him. The V4 may fall apart.

Why this matters: Conservative “thought” leaders in the U.S. have become enamored with Orban and see him as a model. Many receive funding. Tucker has been there and CPAC will be there this spring. The current playbook- Soros, Davos, Gender, “Peace”, etc. was beta-tested in Hungary before we started seeing it. 

[DigglerontheHoof 21207]

44 minutes ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

so which one wins out here? always punch nazis or never hit a woman?

 

You absolutely sure that’s a woman?

[TwiceHorn 31512]

On 4/3/2022 at 11:29 AM, 956 Worldwide said:

I don’t know that I would say that they’re more susceptible as a whole.  When you start living here you really begin to get the nuances.  I do think that overall the countries are more conservative but it manifests itself differently.  The Poles and Hungarians are more nationalist but the Poles have the anchor of the church and a deeply ingrained distaste for Russia to temper them agains the worst excesses.  Their religion is much more of a motivator when it comes to conservatism as well as their desire to be a serious European player.  Their conservatism and populism is more authentic, too— Fidesz in Hungary is simply a political cover for corruption. The Czechs will never be rabid nationalists, their populism manifests as just general discontent and support for government interventions in the market.  Slovaks get weird and their nationalists end up hitching a rope to “Slavism” or just reactionary conservatism. 
 

In general the Poles and Hungarians are more susceptible to flights of lingering imperial pouting because they once had empires. The Czechs and Slovaks are happy to have countries. 
 

One thing that does make an impact is the proliferation of political parties that have a real chance at parliament and the personality driven nature of them.  This is a sign of an immature democracy or Donald Trump.  The Czechs have a five party coalition.  There is no real need for the five “non-populist” parties— Civic Democracy, Christian Democratic Union, Top 09, Pirates, and Mayors and Independents to all exist.  Two or three center-right/center-left/liberal parties would do.  In Slovakia, you have center-right Ordinary People, For the People, Freedom and Solidarity, all in parliament and government and barely any ideological difference. Just temperament and personality.  Then you have Christian Democrats (center-right), Progressive Slovakia (liberal) and Together (liberal/center-left) all barely under the threshold.  They need to again, combine into at most three parties.  All the personality driven fracturing means that the 11 -13 percent of hardcore far-right populist voters have an outsized voice. 

Sometimes a parliamentary system looks really good.  Other times, as outlned above, not so good.  Interesting thought experiment for the US.

[Brisketexan 105178]

2 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Orban won, biglier than the polls predicted. Thanks to his gerrymandering and the vagaries of parliamentary voting, Fidesz got about 53 percent of the vote yet also secured a Constitutional majority (2/3) of seats in parliament.  The rigging in this election was all beforehand and indirect— gerrymandering as well as the takeover of virtually all relevant media by Orban allies that shut the opposition out. I expect Hungary to slide into fully “not free” in this four year term and for the country to become Fortress Beijing/Moscow in Europe.  The sole bright side is that even the Poles are sick of him. The V4 may fall apart.

Why this matters: Conservative “thought” leaders in the U.S. have become enamored with Orban and see him as a model. Many receive funding. Tucker has been there and CPAC will be there this spring. The current playbook- Soros, Davos, Gender, “Peace”, etc. was beta-tested in Hungary before we started seeing it. 

All of this was as predictable as the aggy rollercoaster of disappointment.

The American "conservative" movement is, today, a fascist authoritarian movement.  Anyone who argues otherwise is gaslighting.

[bolverk 29695]

I figure this is the place to put this. Last week, apparently Sweden held parliamentary elections and their far-right party garnered one out of every five votes, placing them in the role of kingmaker for choosing a coalition government.

While the below is an opinion piece, it does reveal many of the same characteristic behaviors of our own and other countries' far-right parties: disingenuous winks and nods to fascists of the past and ties to Putin's Kremlin. It also goes to show that no one has figured out an effective way to deal with these assholes.

 

Sweden Is Becoming Unbearable

STOCKHOLM — “Helg seger.”

Those two words, spoken by Rebecka Fallenkvist, a 27-year-old media figure and politician from the Sweden Democrats, the far-right party that took 20 percent in Sweden’s general election last week, sent shivers down spines throughout the country. It’s not the phrase, which is odd and means “weekend victory.” It’s the sound: one letter away from “Hell seger,” the Swedish translation of the Nazi salute “Sieg Heil,” and the war cry of Swedish Nazis for decades.

Ms. Fallenkvist was quick to disavow any Nazi associations. She meant to declare the weekend a victorious one, she said, but the words came out in the wrong order. Perhaps that’s true. But the statement would be entirely in keeping with the party Ms. Fallenkvist represents which, after a steady rise, is now likely to play a major role in the next government.

For Sweden, a country that trades on being a bastion of social democracy, tolerance and fairness, it’s a shock. But perhaps it shouldn’t be. Steadily rising for the past decade, the Swedish far right has profited from the country’s growing inequalities, fostering an obsession with crime and an antipathy to migrants. Its advance marks the end of Swedish exceptionalism, the idea that the country stood out both morally and materially.

There’s no doubt about the party’s Nazi origins. The Sweden Democrats was created in 1988 out of a neo-Nazi group called B.S.S., or Keep Sweden Swedish, and of the party’s 30 founding fathers, 18 had Nazi affiliations, according to a historian and former party member, Tony Gustaffson. Some of the founding fathers had even served in Hitler’s Waffen SS.

Step by step the party changed its image — in 1995 uniforms were forbidden — but the core ideology remained: Immigrants should be persuaded to go home, Swedish culture should be protected and neither Jews nor the Indigenous Sami people were to be considered “real Swedes.” Not even the soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic secured the party’s approval, although he was born in the country and is the national team’s record goal scorer. The stances of the current leadership, which has sought to sanitize the party’s reputation, are equally worrying.

Take Linus Bylund, the party’s chief of staff in the Swedish Parliament. In an interview in 2020, he declared that journalists for the national public service radio and television ought to be “punished” if their reporting was biased. Such people, he stated previously, would be “enemies of the nation.” Proximity to power hasn’t softened his views. The day after the recent election, a reporter asked him what he now looked forward to. “Journalist-rugby,” he replied.

Jimmie Akesson, the party’s leader, also surprised a television audience in mid-February when he refused to choose between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin. It’s of a piece with the party’s accommodating stance on Russia: The Swedish Parliament was so concerned about a journalist who used to work in the party’s office and had contact with Russian intelligence that it denied the journalist accreditation. Add in a cohort of representatives more prosecuted for crimes than any other, organized troll campaigns against opponents and even attempts to undermine faith in the electoral system, and you have the image of a deeply unsavory party.

Even so, the Sweden Democrats’ rise is an impressive right-wing success story. The party entered the Parliament in 2010 with just over 5 percent of the vote — but, under the leadership of Mr. Akesson, it built an efficient, nationwide organization. It more than doubled its share of the vote in 2014 and, after Sweden admitted over 160,000 Syrian refugees, grew even more in the 2018 election. But it’s in this vote that Sweden Democrats secured a sought-after breakthrough with a stunning 20.6 percent of the votes, surpassing the conservative Moderaterna, which had been Sweden’s second-biggest party for over 40 years. Now only the Social Democratic Party, Sweden’s historic party of government, has more support.

This monumental rise is thanks to the dramatic changes in Swedish life over the past three decades. Once one of the most economically equal countries in the world, Sweden has seen the privatization of hospitals, schools and care homes, leading to a notable rise in inequality and a sense of profound loss. The idea of Sweden as a land of equal opportunity, safe from the plagues of extreme left or extreme right, is gone. This obscure collective feeling was waiting for a political response — and the Sweden Democrats have been the most successful in providing it. It was better in the good old days, they say, and people believe them. Back to red cottages and apple trees, to law and order, to women being women and men being men.

For opening this door, the major parties have themselves to blame. Bit by bit, the traditional parties have adopted the point of view and rhetoric on crime and immigrations of the Sweden Democrats Party — but this strategy hasn’t won back any votes. On the contrary, it seems to have helped the far right. In a little more than 12 years, Sweden Democrats has managed to compete with the Social Democrats for working-class voters, with Moderaterna for the support of entrepreneurs and with the Centre Party among the rural population.

The media is culpable, too. In an attempt to protect traditional Swedish democratic values, the mainstream media has often shunned and canceled Sweden Democrats officials and supporters, especially in the party’s early years. But now it seems that this response actually might have had the opposite effect. Individuals leaning toward the Sweden Democrats for various reasons have felt stigmatized: Some haven’t been invited to family gatherings, and in a few cases have even lost their jobs. This has not only fed the party’s self-image as a martyr, but also nurtured even more loyalty among its supporters.

One could argue that the traditional parties have had their part in creating the perfect storm. The Social Democratic party has named the Sweden Democrats their main enemy in the election campaign, making other alternatives almost invisible in the public debate. Us or them, was the strategy. Many, predominantly male Swedes, chose the Sweden Democrats. As for a conservative party like Moderaterna, they have seen their voters abandon them for Sweden Democrats and so Moderaterna reacted by emphasizing the similarities between the two parties until it reached a point where it became hard to distinguish any differences at all.

The result is now plain to see. The Social Democrats, though the largest party, are unable to form a government. Instead, a conservative bloc, led by Ulf Kristersson from Moderaterna, will attempt to take office — as long as it has the support of the Sweden Democrats. Effectively a kingmaker, the party is now one of the most successful far-right parties in Europe since World War II.

It’s a terrifying truth. But we must bear in mind that the majority of the country’s population is not among the Sweden Democrats’ ranks. These people want solutions to real problems — such as a worrying spike in gang and drug-related shootings in several cities — without recourse to ethnic blame games and the vilification of “un-Swedish” culture. As a liberal democrat I will never approve of a party that celebrates its success with references to Hitler’s Nazi ideology, no matter the claim that only by sheer coincidence was the exclamation “Helg Seger” just one letter apart from a Nazi war cry.

[Brisketexan 105178]

^^^

Yep....pretty bad shit.  And it's textbook: a right-wing authoritarian/authoritarian party manipulates the system to take an outsized share of power, even though it's actually openly supported by a minority (20% in Sweden....in the US, 40%).  Once they have power, they will take steps to pull up the ladder behind them so that they never have to surrender power (see: Orban in Hungary). Then, they fundamentally alter the nation, including abandoning (and demonizing) the objective Rule of Law in favor of Rule of What I, the Authoritarian Say.

Lather, rinse, repeat....and eventually, when the regime reaches peak power, be imprisoned/killed if you dare disagree.

This book has already been written time and time again.  These are just reboots, as awful as the originals.

[bolverk 29695]

10 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

^^^

Yep....pretty bad shit.  And it's textbook: a right-wing authoritarian/authoritarian party manipulates the system to take an outsized share of power, even though it's actually openly supported by a minority (20% in Sweden....in the US, 40%).  Once they have power, they will take steps to pull up the ladder behind them so that they never have to surrender power (see: Orban in Hungary). Then, they fundamentally alter the nation, including abandoning (and demonizing) the objective Rule of Law in favor of Rule of What I, the Authoritarian Say.

Lather, rinse, repeat....and eventually, when the regime reaches peak power, be imprisoned/killed if you dare disagree.

This book has already been written time and time again.  These are just reboots, as awful as the originals.

Yep. If you're not already watching the new Ken Burns series on PBS, you should. They go a good bit into Hitler's rise to power in the first episode, and it's the same playbook.

https://www.pbs.org/show/us-and-holocaust/

[Captainant 27689]

4 hours ago, bolverk said:

Yep. If you're not already watching the new Ken Burns series on PBS, you should. They go a good bit into Hitler's rise to power in the first episode, and it's the same playbook.

https://www.pbs.org/show/us-and-holocaust/

You should listen to all of the "Behind the Insurrections" from the BastardsPod folks - they recorded them in the weeks after Jan6 and really fucking line up where it's the same rhetoric and talking points across pretty much every fascist powergrab

[bolverk 29695]

Italy's next up to bat.

Same shit on repeat: xenophobia, [[[global conspiracy]]] of financiers, past praise for Putin, & an interest in Bannon's effort to build an international network.

 

Giorgia Meloni May Lead Italy, and Europe Is Worried
The hard-right leader has excoriated the European Union in the past, and she regularly blasts illegal immigration and George Soros. But she is closer than ever to becoming prime minister.

CAGLIARI, Sardinia — Giorgia Meloni, the hard-right leader of a party descended from post-Fascist roots and the favorite to become Italy’s next prime minister after elections this month, is known for her rhetorical crescendos, thundering timbre and ferocious speeches slamming gay-rights lobbies, European bureaucrats and illegal migrants.

But she was suddenly soft-spoken when asked on a recent evening if she agreed, all caveats aside, with the historical consensus that the Fascist leader Benito Mussolini — whom she admired in her youth as a “good politician” — had been evil and bad for Italy.

“Yeah,” she said, almost inaudibly, between sips of an Aperol Spritz and drags on a thin cigarette during an interview in Sardinia, where she had completed another high-decibel political rally.

That simple syllable spoke volumes about Ms. Meloni’s campaign to reassure a global audience as she appears poised to become the first politician with a post-Fascist lineage to run Italy since the end of World War II.

Such a feat seemed unimaginable not so long ago, and to pull it off, Ms. Meloni — who would also make history as the first woman to lead Italy — is balancing on a high-stakes wire, persuading her hard-right base of “patriots” that she hasn’t changed, while seeking to convince international skeptics that she’s no extremist, that the past is past, not prologue, and that Italy’s mostly moderate voters trust her, so they should, too.

On Sept. 25, Italians will vote in national elections for the first time since 2018. In those years, three governments of wildly different political complexions came and went, the last a broad national unity government led by Mario Draghi, a technocrat who was the personification of pro-European stability.

Spoiler

Ms. Meloni led the only major party, the Brothers of Italy, to stay outside that unity government, allowing her to vacuum up the opposition vote. Her support in polls steadily expanded from 4 percent in 2018 to 25 percent in a country where even moderate voters have grown numb to Fascist-Communist name calling, but remain enthusiastic about new, and potentially providential, leaders.

Ms. Meloni said her skyrocketing popularity did not mean the country had “moved to the extremes,” but that it had simply grown more comfortable with her and confident in her viability, even as she has tried to reposition herself closer to the European mainstream.

Ms. Meloni, whose campaign slogan is “Ready,” has become a staunch supporter of NATO and Ukraine, and says she backs the European Union and the euro.

Global markets and the European establishment remain wary. “I fear the social and moral agenda of the right wing,” Frans Timmermans, the European Commission’s vice president, said recently about the threat Ms. Meloni’s coalition posed to E.U. values. As recently as last month, she called for a naval blockade against migrants. She has depicted the European Union as an accomplice to “the project of ethnic replacement of Europe’s citizens desired by the great capitals and international speculators.”

She has in the past characterized the euro as the “wrong currency” and gushed with support for Viktor Orban of Hungary, Marine Le Pen of France and the illiberal democracies in Eastern Europe. She excoriated “Brussels bureaucrats” and “emissaries” of George Soros, a favorite boogeyman of the nationalist right and conspiracy theorists depicting a world run by Jewish internationalist financiers.

There remains concern that, once in power, Ms. Meloni would toss off her pro-European sheep’s wool and reveal her nationalist fangs — reverting to protectionism, caving in to her Putin-adoring coalition partners, rolling back gay rights and eroding liberal E.U. norms.

International investors and global leaders are wrong to be “afraid,” said Ms. Meloni, who is as affable and easygoing in private as she is vitriolic in public. Even in the midst of a heated campaign, she refused to take the bait from a desperate leader of the divided Italian left, who sounded “the alarm for Italian democracy.”

“They’ll accuse me of being a Fascist my whole life,” Ms. Meloni said. “But I don’t care because in any case the Italians don’t believe anymore in this garbage.”

She is delivering rations of red meat to her base (mass immigration is “an instrument in the hands of big great powers” to weaken workers, she growled in Cagliari) and is trying to mend fractures with the other right-wing leaders she is running with in a coalition.

Her chief ally, Matteo Salvini, became the darling of the hard right in 2018 when he pivoted his once-secessionist northern-based League party into a nationalist force. But Ms. Meloni said those hard-right voters “came back home, because I am of that culture, so no one can do it better than I can.”

Even so,  Mr. Salvini is already creating problems for Ms. Meloni by urging a reconsideration of sanctions against Russia.

Ms. Meloni acknowledged that her other coalition partner, Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister who famously named a bed after President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, had put her “in difficulty as a woman” during his Bunga Bunga sex scandals with young women, when she was herself a young woman in his government.

Neither of her partners, she suspects, wants a woman in charge.

“I would like to say, ‘No, it’s not a problem that I’m a woman,’” Ms. Meloni said. “But I’m no more sure about that.”

But when it comes to being a woman in politics, Ms. Meloni has leaned in. Her veneer of Roman-accented authenticity and her escalating and incensed style have become a part of the Italian political, and pop, landscape.

In 2019, her hard-line defense of the traditional family, and against L.G.B.T.Q. marriage and adoption — while herself being an unwed mother — prompted D.J.s to mockingly put one of her furious refrains, “I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am Christian,” to a beat. It went viral. Ms. Meloni used it as a calling card. She titled her best-selling book “I am Giorgia.”

Ms. Meloni grew up without her father, who when she was a toddler set sail for the Canary Islands, where she learned Spanish on summer visits. After a fire that she and her older sister accidentally started, her mother, who at one point wrote romance novels to make ends meet, moved the family into the working class and left-leaning Garbatella neighborhood of Rome.

Ms. Meloni was overweight and introverted, but as a 15-year-old fan of fantasy books (and Michael Jackson, from whom she said she learned her good English) found what she has called a second family in the hard-right Youth Front of the post-Fascist Italian Social Movement.

She considered herself a soldier in Rome’s perpetual, often violent and sometimes fatal ideological wars between Communist and post-Fascist extremists, where everything from soccer games to high schools was politicized. Her party leader went to Israel to renounce the crimes of Fascism at the same time as she was rising quickly, later becoming the republic’s youngest-ever minister.

But as populism swept Italy in the last decade, Ms. Meloni adopted harsher tones and created the hard right’s latest iteration, the Brothers of Italy. She said she resented its members’ being depicted as “nostalgic imbeciles,” because she had worked hard to purge Fascists and build a new history.

Like Mr. Salvini, she turned her social media accounts into populist pasta on the wall as she desperately sought traction. In the town of Vinci she accused the French of trying to claim Leonardo da Vinci as one of their own. She went to a grappa distillery to call the president then of the E.U., Jean-Claude Juncker, a drunk.  She warned about an “empire” of “invaders” consisting of President Emmanuel Macron of France, Angela Merkel of Germany, Mr. Soros and Wall Street.

At her annual political conference in 2018, she hosted Stephen K. Bannon and said that she supported his effort “to build a network that goes beyond the European borders,” and that “I look with interest at the phenomenon of Donald Trump” and at the “phenomenon of Putin in Russia.” She added, “And so the bigger the network gets, the happier I am.”

But on the threshold of running Italy, Ms. Meloni has pivoted. After years of fawning over Ms. Le Pen, she is suddenly distancing herself. (“I haven’t got relations with her,” she said.) Same for Mr. Orban. (“I didn’t agree with some positions he had about Ukrainian war.”) She now calls Mr. Putin an anti-Western aggressor and said she would “totally” continue to send offensive arms to Ukraine.

But critics say she revealed her true self during a recent speech at a conference supporting Spain’s hard-right Vox party. “There is no possible mediation. Yes to the natural family. No to the L.G.B.T. lobbies,” she bellowed in Spanish. “No to the violence of Islam, yes to safer borders, no to mass immigration, yes to work for our people. No to major international finance.”

“The tone, that was very wrong,” she said in the interview. “But it happens to me when I’m very tired,” she said, adding that her passionate delivery “becomes hysteric.”

There are things she won’t give up on, including the tricolor flame she inherited as her party symbol. Many historians say it evokes the flickers over the tomb of Mussolini.

The flame, she has said, has “nothing to do with fascism but is a recognition of the journey made by the democratic right in our Republican history.”

“Don’t extinguish the flame, Giorgia,” a supporter shouted as Ms. Meloni commanded the stage in Cagliari, where she reserved her sharpest invective for leftist attacks that she said tried to depict her as “a monster.”

 

[Willfully Horn 8040]

Oh, brother, somebody’s gonna kiss the donkey.

 

 

[Longhorn_Fan68 33881]

*crosses Italy off of list of places to visit

lol, first reply

 

[Willfully Horn 8040]

Italy’s decision is just fucking nuts. Maybe they, too, banned the damnable lessons of history from their schools. Or, maybe NATO and the US forced them into a corner. At least, I’ve read on Surly that can happen. /s

[hookem2010 2624]

At least Bolsonaro may lose in Brazil? For some reason, realizing much of the world is nearly as dumb/racist/greedy as us is not particularly reassuring.

[bolverk 29695]

17 minutes ago, hookem2010 said:

At least Bolsonaro may lose in Brazil? For some reason, realizing much of the world is nearly as dumb/racist/greedy as us is not particularly reassuring.

He may lose the vote, but he's following TFG's script by already declaring the election rigged. And, unfortunately, he may have the military, or at least factions of it, on his side.

If you've got 20 minutes:

 

[Neonmoon 38129]

19 hours ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

*crosses Italy off of list of places to visit

lol, first reply

 

Same here. Italy just crossed off the travel list. 

 

[Willfully Horn 8040]

The fascist playbook seeks to hold on to power through any available means. So, while Italy has built a reputation for short lived ruling parties, that reputation will he put to the test. 
 

It looks like Brazil is entering the finding out phase.

[hookem2010 2624]

53 minutes ago, bolverk said:

He may lose the vote, but he's following TFG's script by already declaring the election rigged. And, unfortunately, he may have the military, or at least factions of it, on his side.

If you've got 20 minutes:

 

Ugh, I'll bookmark that for a day when I already feel angry and hopeless.

[Willfully Horn 8040]

On 1/8/2022 at 3:01 PM, TurkeyChew said:

All good points, but topically speaking; the Catholic Church’s reign of terror/greatness (depending on your stance) is over now that they are on the bad side of pet owners/lovers. You can harass and deride and insult and condescend about social issues and gays and even abuse children, but when you mess with people who call their pets “fur babies”, you’ve sealed your own fate.

Nobody mobilizes like the psychos who take pet ownership and personification too far.

Welcome back, I guess?

I am reminded of the role pets play in CS Lewis’ “The Great Divorce,” as he flailing attempts to derail the influence of Blake’s “the Marriage of Heaven and Hell.” A harbinger of US  Catholic’s pet reverence?

Given the love pets return to their humans, calling those folks psycho is over the top, though. But, I get your point.

The psychos are sanguine about the human effect on our planet.

 

[Biff Tannen 45695]

[Longhorn_Fan68 33881]

6 minutes ago, Willfully Horn said:

Welcome back, I guess?

I am reminded of the role pets play in CS Lewis’ “The Great Divorce,” as he flailing attempts to derail the influence of Blake’s “the Marriage of Heaven and Hell.” A harbinger of US  Catholic’s pet reverence?

Given the love pets return to their humans, calling those folks psycho is over the top, though. But, I get your point.

The psychos are sanguine about the human effect on our planet.

 

pretty sure you're talking to air

[Willfully Horn 8040]

3 minutes ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

pretty sure you're talking to air

Well, I’m old, so not yelling at clouds is a positive.

[Hank Scorpio 17729]

Lots of misogynists on this thread criticizing the first female leader of Italy. I’m with her!

 

 

 

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11669]

5 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Lots of misogynists on this thread criticizing the first female leader of Italy. I’m with her!

 

 

 

Shades of one of my favorite tweets:

 

 

 

[tx 3 putt 77234]

 

[Willfully Horn 8040]

On 9/26/2022 at 4:52 PM, Hank Scorpio said:

Lots of misogynists on this thread criticizing the first female leader of Italy. I’m with her!

 

 

 

Calling a sow a pig is not misogyny. Negged.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Willfully Horn

[Neonmoon 38129]

Same as it ever was