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The Trump Shutdown Ends In Disaster For Republicans (Even If Democrats Cave)

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The Opinionated Ogre is a Stay-at-Home parent first, foul-mouthed hater of fascist Republicans second. He’s been making the most horrible people in the country miserable for 15 years and the hate he feels for American Nazis is eternal and without limits. He plans to stop torturing right-wing trash the day the last fascist dies. So, you know, never. Please help support this potty-mouthed newsletter for just $5/month or $50/year (Almost 17% less!)

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As we enter Week Three of the Trump Shutdown, the damage Republicans are inflicting on the country is escalating, and it’s reasonable to ask how this ends. Do they have a plan? Is there a way out for the regime that results in a victory?

Ummmmm…no.

This was a stupid fight to pick, and no matter how it ends, even if Democrats eventually fold (which they REALLY should not), Republicans are going to lose. That’s what happens when you start a war without a plan or any idea what your exit strategy is. The regime was so focused on “owning the libs,” they didn’t consider anything else.

The public is still blaming Republicans more than Democrats. Is it overwhelmingly favoring Democrats? No. But it doesn’t need to. The fact that Republicans aren’t easily winning the messaging battle is a very bad sign for them. The party out of power always loses these fights, and quickly. But the argument is so lopsided towards Democrats, the natural advantage Republicans should be enjoying is gone.

That means the longer this goes on and the more damage the economy suffers, the more the public will sour on the regime. They’ll demand compromise, which is the one thing the regime will not do. Remember, compromise is weakness…

And that brings us to a week or so from now. November 1st, open enrollment for healthcare starts. Shortly before that, tens of millions of people will learn what next year’s prices will be without the expiring government subsidies. These would be the subsidies Democrats are fighting to have restored. The same subsidies Republicans told Democrats to “go fuck yourself” over.

What do you suppose will happen when tens of millions of people discover their healthcare is going to go up by several hundred dollars because Republicans refuse to renew the subsidies? And then connect the dots to the shutdown?

My guess is that social media will be flooded with furious posts, and public polling will shift rather sharply against the regime.

And that’s putting aside all of the economic damage the shutdown is wreaking on the wider economy. Hundreds of thousands of families are missing paychecks. National parks are closing. Contracts are on hold. Construction is slowing down (in addition to the slowdown already in progress)

On top of all of that, the assholes running the country are gleefully (and illegally) using the shutdown to fire government workers. DOGE taking an axe to the government was deeply unpopular. Doing it again and blaming the shutdown won’t work. We’ve all lived through several shutdowns, and no one was ever fired. Treating the public like they’re fucking morons who can’t remember what happened a few years ago is insulting and will simply piss people off.

It doesn’t help that immediately after firing 4,100 people, hundreds had to be rehired. Nothing says “We’re winning!” like rank incompetence and fanatical stupidity.

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And, finally, we come to the Epstein Files, one of the main reasons we’ll be in this shutdown for as long as possible. The press does not want to frame it this way, but they’re going to have to talk about it eventually: The Adelita Grijalva problem.

Grijalva crushed her opponent on Sept. 23. At first, Mike Johnson said he had to wait for the official paperwork to be filed, which everyone knew was a lie. Johnsin had previously sworn in both Republicans AND Democrats before the official state paperwork was filed.

Then Johnson said he couldn’t swear Grijalva in until the House was back in session. But that’s also a lie. He could swear her in at any time, regardless of the House being in full session or not.

It’s obvious that Johnson is delaying so his party of terrorists has more time to pressure the handful of Republicans ready to force the Epstein files into the open. But it’s been several weeks now, and Johnson hasn’t been able to beg, bribe, or bully them into submission. Very sad.

So what’s the plan here? Keep the government closed forever? That’s sure to play well with the public. Reopen the House but refuse to seat Grijalva? Maybe, but the courts will have something to say about that. Seat Grijalva after a lengthy delay and then illegally ignore the discharge petition? The courts will have something to say about that, as well.

Johnson may consider every day delayed a victory, but it’s not. The longer he blocks the vote, the more complicit House Republicans look in protecting pedophiles.

Even if Democrats caved tomorrow and ended the shutdown, Johnson will still have to protect Trump, and Republicans still lose. They do not have a plan. They never had a plan. They just scream and stomp their feet and lie and lie and lie and hope everyone stops paying attention. It’s worked before, hasn’t it?

Not this time. The fascists have stepped into a minefield of their own making with no way out. They didn’t have to go to the mat for a pedophile. But they did. They could have easily given Democrats what they asked for and taken the win on all of the other damage they’ve inflicted on the country with their sadistic budget. But they didn’t. No one is forcing the regime to spit in the public’s face during the shutdown, daring anyone to hold them accountable. But they’re doing it anyway.

When it all blows up in their face and the regime screams in outrage, I will personally give a shiny nickel to the first reporter who asks, “Did you actually think this was going to work out for you? Are you fucking stupid or drunk?”

I hope you feel better informed about the world and ready to kick fascists in the teeth to protect it. This newsletter exists because of you, so please consider becoming a supporting subscriber today for only $5 a month or just $50 a year (a 17% discount!). Thank you for everything!

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Fascism hates organized protests. They fear the public. They fear US. Make fascists afraid again by joining Indivisible or 50501 and show them whose fucking country this is on Saturday, October 18th, for No Kings Day across the nation!!

The Blue Wave has begun, and the fascist fucks are scared. There are 20 days until it hits Virginia and Pennsylvania. If I were a billionaire fascist loser, I’d think REALLY hard about getting out of the way.

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DGA51
13 hours ago
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Central Pennsyltucky
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Trump Using Small Grants to Force Deportation Compliance

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A Small Illinois Newspaper Breaks a National Story About Killing Local Government Autonomy and DEI.


Citizen Journalism Alert! At the end of this article, you’ll find out how you can help us investigate this latest power grab at federal control and adherence to Trump policies.


The power-mad Trump administration has begun planting language in federal grant contracts that would give it control over how local governments deal with immigration raids, block public services that may benefit those Trump wants to deport, and ban policies promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

A small daily newspaper in Urbana, a town of 38,000 two hours outside of Chicago that is rich with academics and scientists , broke the news on Wednesday.

Accepting the Trump administration grant would mean the City of Urbana must close ‘any program that benefits illegal immigrants or incentivizes illegal immigration.’

Deep in a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)  grant to the Urbana Fire Department is language requiring that the Illinois city cooperate with ICE as a condition of accepting $69,000.

Among grant conditions which have nothing to do with firefighting:

  • No restrictions on sharing  information about any  individual’s citizenship or immigration status.
  • Complying with prohibitions on encouraging illegal immigration and “harboring, concealing or shielding from detection illegal aliens.”
  • Honoring requests for cooperation.
  • Not publicizing “the existence of an immigration-enforcement operation.”

In addition, accepting the Trump administration grant would mean the City of Urbana must close “any program that benefits illegal immigrants or incentivizes illegal immigration.”  This provision could make the city government vulnerable to a Trump administration lawsuit over any program, say free admission to a city-sponsored concert or youth sports programs, if a single undocumented person participated.

Anti-DEI clause

The city would also have to agree not to “operate any programs that advance or promote DEI, DEIA, or discriminatory equity ideology in violation of Federal anti-discrimination laws.”

This bowing to the Trump administration would be in return for a sum equal to less than a tenth of one percent of the city’s $125 million annual budget.

Accepting the grant terms would mean selling out the principles articulated by several Urbana alderpersons—and for a lot less, relatively, than Judas Iscariot’s 30 pieces of silver. (Alderperson is Illinois-speak for city council member.)

Is this contract provision giving up local autonomy unique to Urbana? Unlikely.

Reporter Jana Wiersema has concisely told a story about this grant that should prompt deep dives by other news organizations. And digging out the facts will be easy in this case. That’s where you can help, as we explain below.

Revealing Documents

Many grant contracts are available online. For paper-only contracts, just stop by City Hall, county offices, and other local government agencies. You could also ask your city council or other representative to email you documents.

Thanks to digital technology, searching grant contracts is easy: Control F for keywords such as immigration, DEI, inclusion, and other terms that trigger Trump and his minister of hate, Stephen Miller. Digital sleuthing would quickly reveal the types of levers the Trump administration seeks to use over local governments and their agencies through grants like this one to the Urbana Fire Department.

Urbana alderpersons have, for the moment, tabled acceptance of the grant. One of them seems hopeful that the grant terms can be renegotiated to remove the command-and-control language the Trump Administration wrote into the contract.

Fat chance. Grants are optional. Grants typically are offered in the way companies provide you similar “contracts of adhesion,” meaning they are one-sided with nonnegotiable terms. Think of the contract you sign when renting a car – take it or leave it.

But how often does a grant contract get the scrutiny that a local official applied to this grant from Washington?

Our prominent national news organizations should follow up on this.

You can do something to get the news out, DCReport readers. Email and call your local news organizations and urge them to investigate conditions on Trump administration grants to your local governments.  Send them the link to this DCReport column. PLUS, read the Action Box below to find out how YOU can use your local lens to help us expose a much bigger national story.

TAKE ACTION: CITIZEN JOURNALISM

You Can Help Keep Democracy Transparent.

This is where you come In. We rely on readers like you to keep watch.

If you find a grant — from FEMA or any federal agency — that requires cooperation with immigration enforcement, limits DEI, or ties local funds to Trump administration priorities, let us know. This story began with one sharp-eyed local reporter who was alerted to he fine print. Now we’re asking you to do the same.

If your community receives, or expects, a federal grant — from FEMA, HUD, Justice, or any other agency — look at the terms. Do they mention cooperation with ICE, bans on DEI, or limits on public communication?

If so, tell us. Send what you find to tips@DCReport.org, including attaching any documentation that you find. Your local discovery could expose a national strategy of control.

Photo at top: Collage from Africa Images (puppet master), aliftyaku from Solvers (cash), and Andika Setiawan from Dikas Studio


“FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IS NOT JUST IMPORTANT TO DEMOCRACY, IT IS DEMOCRACY.” – Walter Cronkite. CLICK HERE to donate in support of our free and independent voice.

The post Trump Using Small Grants to Force Deportation Compliance appeared first on DCReport.org.

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DGA51
3 days ago
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Hiding the unrelated requirements deep in the verbiage.
Central Pennsyltucky
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Silicon Valley Bends the Knee

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David Cay Johnston Provides Another Reality Check!

DAVID’S VIDEO COMMENTARY IS BELOW. David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and DCReport co-founder, highlights a powerful new column by former DCReport contributor, Max Taves, in the San Jose Mercury News. Read Max’s piece HERE.

Taves reveals that leading tech CEOs — from Intel to Meta — are staying silent out of fear of Donald Trump’s retaliation. He also exposes a buried clause in a recent federal “investment” in Intel that could allow Trump to act as an owner, dictating what the company can and cannot do.

This unprecedented intertwining of government control and private enterprise mirrors authoritarian systems abroad — and it’s unfolding in the U.S.

Read the column (outside the paywall), reflect on what this means for innovation, free markets, and democracy, and help spread awareness.


“FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IS NOT JUST IMPORTANT TO DEMOCRACY, IT IS DEMOCRACY.” – Walter Cronkite. CLICK HERE to donate in support of our free and independent voice.

The post Silicon Valley Bends the Knee appeared first on DCReport.org.

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DGA51
4 days ago
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This unprecedented intertwining of government control and private enterprise mirrors authoritarian systems abroad — and it’s unfolding in the U.S.
Central Pennsyltucky
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Fuck Your Whiny White Victimhood

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So many tears for your hurt feelings!

These are dark times but I will continue to tell the stories you need to hear in a clear (and usually profane) voice. If I entertain/anger/inform you, preferably all three, please consider becoming a supporting subscriber today for only $5 a month or just $50 a year (a 17% discount!).

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Once upon a time, the right was filled with big, strong, manly tough guys. They hated the left because we were so weak and complained about everything. We were always bitching and moaning and whining.

Stop sexually harassing women!

Stop using racial slurs!

Stop gaybashing!

Stop forcing kids to say Christian prayers when they’re not Christian!

UGH! The constant victimhood! Why couldn’t we just pull ourselves up by our bootstraps in a country designed to hand everything to white men and protect them at all costs? You don’t hear THEM complaining!!!

Except, these days, of course, you do. That’s ALL you fucking hear. Women are dying in hospital parking lots. Unarmed Black men are (still) being gunned down by racist cops. Hate crimes against Jews and Muslims continue to spike. There are literal concentration camps opening and calls to put 65 million Latinos, both immigrants and citizens, in them.

But to hear tell, white Americans are the most oppressed and marginalized group to ever walk the face of the fucking planet. Why, they can’t even get a coffee without being tormented!

I came across this cartoon after reposted a video talking about what utter nonsense it is, and yet instructive.

If you didn’t take the couple of minutes to watch that, the premise is simple: The cartoon is instructive not because it never happened, but because it never would. The idea that any place that sells coffee wouldn’t have plain black coffee is ludicrous. But this is not based on reality. It’s based on feelings and vibes, which explains everything about where we are right now as a country.

It “feels” true and it feeds into the victimization complex that is the core motivation of the right. But it’s more than what the video gets into here.

You see, older white men (and younger white men as well) look around and see a country that promised them everything on a silver platter. All they had to do was show up and “work hard,” aka, put in the minimum amount of effort, and life would be a cakewalk. They’d have a job (money), a wife (sex), a home (stuff), the American dream!

And for a long time, that wasn’t entirely untrue. Being a white man in America meant playing life on the easiest setting. You weren’t guaranteed success, but you had very few obstacles in your path, certainly compared to women and minorities.

And yet, things are so bad now that even being a white man doesn’t really count for much. Republicans have broken the economy so severely that it’s all but impossible to get ahead, or just get by, even on the easy setting. If being a white man doesn’t help, how is that fair?!

Worse, women have spent the last 50 years putting in the work so they no longer require a man to support them. If they don’t NEED a man, then men have to put the work in to get a girlfriend/partner/wife and that’s haaaaaard. Where is the American dream they were promised?!

They just want a coffee. Black!

Let me tell you, I went poking around for that cartoon, and it’s quite the recurring theme:

Good fucking lord. How do white men get anything done with that cross nailed to their backs? I weep for their suffering.

But this is the foundation of everything for the right. The rush to embrace fascism and white nationalism is about restoring white men to their “rightful” place in the order of things. They’re so fucking angry about everything all the time because if we’re living our lives and not putting them on a pedestal, they feel attacked.

Pargin (the guy in the video you didn’t watch. Tsk) suggests that seeing all of these other choices makes the right feel small. Heaven fucking forbid.

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On the one hand, I understand the urge to have what you like be in the majority. The music you like. The movies you watch. The food you eat. It’s comforting, I suppose, to have that affirmation.

On the other hand, I wouldn’t really know. I grew up reading comics, watching anime, and playing Dungeons & Dragons and video games at a time when people claimed they were demonic. They weren’t popular; they were shunned and ostracized.

Don’t feel bad. Even as a little ogreling, I didn’t really care about other people’s opinions. I liked what I liked, and if you didn’t, why would I care? Your lack of taste was a you problem. Opinionated I was, although I kept it to myself until I got older.1

Of course, these days, the stuff I like is so mainstream I’m practically a hipster. “Oh you like anime? I was watching it 45 years ago. D&D? I was playing back in the 70s. Back in MY day, video games were monochrome!” It amuses me greatly that the nerds won and the Boomers who despised my hobbies are bitter and angry about being left behind.

But what does that even mean? To be left behind? And why is it important? I’m the only person I know in real life who loves the movie Xanadu. Even the girls were appalled by how trashy it is (which, of course, is why it’s so awesome2). No one in my family eats cream of wheat.3 I’m the only one who loves turn-based strategy games. None of this means I should enjoy them any less or deride anyone else for not liking them.

To the mind of a right-winger, though, having a minority opinion is no different than being oppressed and attacked. It’s intolerable. It’s why they call themselves “independent thinkers” and then engage in the most rigid form of groupthink imaginable. No dissent is allowed.

The right’s childish fear of not being the center of attention or the pinnacle of culture is pathetic. If white men (and women) would get the fuck over themselves, everyone, including them, would be a lot happier. But that would mean accepting they’re not special and they just are not capable of doing that. If they can’t be more special than everyone else, then they have to drag everyone down so they can stay on top, even if that means living in the mud.

It would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic and deadly.

I’ve said this before, and I will continue to say it: One of the most important ways we get out of this mess is to stop coddling white men (and women, but really, mostly men). Is life tough? Yeah. Welcome to the reality everyone else has had to live with for the last…forever. The sooner they learn that even their oppression doesn’t make them special, the sooner they’ll learn to do something constructive with their anger instead of burning everything to the ground.

White men have been telling everyone else to grow up and stop playing the victim card. It’s time for them to take their own advice because, frankly, we’re all tired of the nonstop fucking whining.

I hope you feel better informed about the world and ready to kick fascists in the teeth to protect it. This newsletter exists because of you, so please consider becoming a supporting subscriber today for only $5 a month or just $50 a year (a 17% discount!). Thank you for everything!

☠️This Subscription Kills Fascists☠️

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Fascism hates organized protests. They fear the public. They fear US. Make fascists afraid again by joining Indivisible or 50501 and show them whose fucking country this is!

The Blue Wave has begun and the fascist fucks are scared. There are 24 days until it hits Virginia and Pennsylvania. If I were a billionaire fascist loser, I’d think REALLY hard about getting out of the way.

1

Now, you can’t shut me up. But that’s what you love about me, right?

2

If you do not love Xanadu, you’re wrong. I will fight you on this.

3

Cream of wheat is superior to grits. I will also fight you on this.

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DGA51
4 days ago
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Central Pennsyltucky
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A Top MAGA Fascist Is In Full "Flee The Country" Panic Mode

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The Opinionated Ogre is 100% reader-supported. Please help me continue to inform/amuse/outrage you by becoming a supporting subscriber today for only $5 a month or just $50 a year (a 17% discount!)! If not, it’s all good. Welcome to the Ogre Nation anyway!

🔥Burn Fascism To The Ground!🔥

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I know things seem bleak. The regime is murdering fishermen in the Caribbean. Masked thugs are shooting protesters in Chicago and Portland, trying to kick off a riot. Stephen Miller is in front of every camera, lying about non-existent widespread violence so Trump will declare martial law. Republicans refuse to reopen the government so they won’t have to give back millions of Americans their healthcare or talk about the Epstein files.

And that’s just this week!

But as dark and terrible as this all seems, there’s a constant undercurrent to all of this, and it’s one I keep pointing out: The regime is weak, failing, and everyone IN the regime knows it.

The latest bit of evidence is quite the doozy. posted a note about it and, honestly, I didn’t believe it.1 But it’s true, Curtis Yarvin is talking about fleeing the country.

In a blog post published this weekend on his Substack Gray Mirror, San Francisco-based Yarvin wrote: “Because the vengeance meted out after its failure will dwarf the vengeance after 2020 — because the successes of the second revolution are so much greater than the first — I feel that I personally have to start thinking realistically about how to flee the country. Everyone else in a similar position should have a 2029 plan as well.”

Now, the majority of you (all of you?) are saying to yourself, “Who the fuck is Curtis Yarvin and why the fuck do I care if he flees the country?” And that’s a fair question. In a sane world, you would have never heard the name Curtis Yarvin in your entire life. But here we are, in this world. Sorry.

Curtis Yarvin really is no one. He’s a shitty writer and an even shittier philosopher. But he stumbled into a very lucrative career telling billionaires exactly what they wanted to hear: All of your greed and narcissism is actually good and you are the hero of the story. Everyone opposing you in the name of the common good is a bad person and you are morally justified in crushing them.

If this sounds vaguely familiar, it should. Yarvin is just a scifi rehashed version of Ayn Rand, the Patient Zero of libertarianism. She also told rich people that greed is good and all forms of government are bad because it keeps the rich from living their fullest lives, dedicated only to themselves.

Here’s more on Yarvin:

Yarvin rose to prominence for his essays written under the pen name Mencius Moldbug, which helped launch the “Dark Enlightenment” movement. In a 2008 manifesto, Yarvin proposed “the liquidation of democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law,” followed by the transfer of power to a CEO-in-chief like Steve Jobs or Marc Andreessen. This CEO/king could transform the government into a “a heavily-armed, ultra-profitable corporation” that could “Retire All Government Employees” (RAGE), kill the press, and incarcerate “decivilized populations.” (If this sounds familiar, maybe you just watched “Alien: Earth.”)

Yarvin dresses up fascism in pretty words to make the fascists feel good about themselves. No one wants to look in the mirror and see the bad guy, so they needed someone to spin them a fairy tale of their heroism. That’s what Yarvin gave them, and they rewarded him mightily for his work. Mind you, his writing is crap and his arguments are…well, “weak” doesn’t really capture the essence of the lazy thinking involved. But the billionaires didn’t NEED high intellect and deep thinking. They needed a fig leaf, and that’s what Yarvin delivered.

So that’s who Curtis Yarvin is. He’s not stupid. Delusional, maybe. A piece of shit, absolutely. But not stupid.

Yarvin is looking around at the same landscape you and I are looking at, and he does not see the “Triumph of the Will.” He sees a collapsing regime. He sees the Fourth Reich failing before it even begins. He sees a backlash so severe that fleeing the country is a reasonable response.

Which is something I’ve been saying for some time now.

Did you know the Opinionated Ogre has a weekly podcast? It’s true! New episodes every Thursday! Catch the latest episode here:

Listen to the Ogre say it every week!

I know a lot of people have been brushing this off. We won’t have elections. They’ll arrest all the Democrats. Even if they lose, no one will go to jail. Democrats will just let them go. Etc. Etc.

I get it. Doomcasting is easy and comfortable. Hope and anger are harder to sustain. I can’t speak to boundless hope, but I am an endless font of rage that will burn until the end of time. Healthy? Not really. But useful in times like these.

When I look at what Republicans have done, I do not see politics as usual. I do not see your typical government overreach. I do not see normal corruption and incompetence.

I see evil so unforgivable, so beyond the pale, so depraved and sadistic that Yarvin is correct: The backlash will be extreme.

We are going to come for them. The Nazis in the White House. The masked Brown Shirts in ICE. The propagandists in the media. The fascist billionaires polluting our politics. None of them will be safe from the trials. Trump can pardon whoever he wants. California will come for them. Oregon will come for them. Illinois will come for them. Every state they attack will be waiting for the regime to fall, and they will all come for their pound of flesh.

And the ones who fail to pay Trump the requisite bribe to get a pardon before he dies or flees the country himself? The DoJ won’t stay broken forever. The next Attorney General will not be a useless Merrick Garland. They will be someone with teeth, and then the right will long for the days when we didn’t charge political opponents for crimes.2 Too bad Trump destroyed that norm and fucked the entire criminal organization known as the Republican Party.

So, yes, Yarvin is panicking because he can see where this is all heading as clearly as I can. The regime may still win. It’s not a slam dunk that the fascists are doomed. But they’re in a lot of trouble, and the leaders of the movement are deranged imbeciles trapped in a propaganda bubble of their own making. Our greatest ally is their own stupidity. We just have to keep fighting and help them destroy themselves.

And once the regime falls, and it will, we have to destroy them and salt the earth. There can be no “moving forward for the good of the nation.” No “reaching out to heal the divide.” No reconciliation. There must be justice and vengeance. The two are not incompatible. We have to smash American fascism so thoroughly, it will take them another 80 years to rise again.

Curtis Yarvin had a dream of destroying American democracy, killing 2/3 of the population, and enslaving the rest. I have a dream that Curtis Yarvin should spend the rest of his life in a prison cell or on the run, looking over his shoulder and praying a Nazi hunter hasn’t found him.

Whose dream do YOU prefer?

I hope you feel better informed about the world and ready to kick fascists in the teeth to protect it. This newsletter exists because of you, so please consider becoming a supporting subscriber today for only $5 a month or just $50 a year (a 17% discount!). Thank you for everything!

☠️This Subscription Kills Fascists☠️

Prefer a one-time tip? We got you!

Fascism hates organized protests. They fear the public. They fear US. Make fascists afraid again by joining Indivisible or 50501 and show them whose fucking country this is!

The Blue Wave has begun and the fascist fucks are scared. There are 25 days until it hits Virginia and Pennsylvania. If I were a billionaire fascist loser, I’d think REALLY hard about getting out of the way.

1

Not that I suspected Melissa was lying but, daaaaaammmmnnnn….

2

REAL crimes, not the made-up ones Trump keeps throwing at the people he hates.

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DGA51
5 days ago
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Yarvin is just a scifi rehashed version of Ayn Rand, the Patient Zero of libertarianism. 
Central Pennsyltucky
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Delighted to be proved wrong

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A European justice minister who does have principles!

The EU “chat control” proposal I wrote about the other day has been scuppered by Germany’s justice ministry saying forcefully that it will never support this particular form of mass surveillance. Here’s what their minister, Dr. Stefanie Hubig, had to say:

“Chat control without cause must be taboo in a state governed by the rule of law. Private communication must never be under general suspicion. The state must also not force messengers to scan messages en masse for suspicious content before sending them. Germany will not agree to such proposals at EU level. We must also make progress at EU level in the fight against child pornography. That’s what I’m committed to. But even the worst crimes do not justify the surrender of basic civil rights. This has been insisted on for months in the votes of the federal government. And that’s how it will stay.”

Brief context; at the beginning of this week it was rumoured that Germany was wavering on its opposition to pre-emptive and permanent scanning of everyone’s phones. Purportedly, the European Commission DG HOME proposal was ‘just’ to identify child sexual abuse materials, but as anyone (ok yours truly) who’s been fighting surveillance for close to three decades can tell you, blanket surveillance starts with a justification of ‘serious crime’, and quickly becomes used for trivial issues and against all perceived enemies of those in power. So, when organisations including Signal raised the alarm, lots of people swung into action, again, to let the German justice ministry know that this would not go quietly for them. The statement above is Dr Hubig saying they never wobbled at all. I’m pretty certain they did, but who knows, maybe someone in her office sent up the bat signal so people in the movement I’m part of to go to the barricades on this issue one last time. It’s certainly a play I’ve seen before.

I’ve been doing this for close to 30 years (thought tbf had v. little involvement in this particular campaign). The stakes have never been higher. Even many ‘normies’ now get how these powers will be abused and that this time it might not just be against others. It could happen to them. It hits different, as they say, when you’re staring down the barrel of a government run by AfD or the Front National.

But creating coalitions again and again to fight off stupid, dangerous nonsense is hard. Civil society and real movement politics, as so many of CT’s enduring readers know, is hard fucking work. I’m glad that we do it and that we have deep knowledge and experience of it, but I’m also exhausted. Again and again I find myself wondering, if we didn’t have to expend most our energies saying ‘No’ to this stupid, ghastly shit, and saying ‘No’ to the stupid, ghastly shit of the tech oligarchs, what might we have built instead? How productively and joyfully could we be spending our lives? Actually growing good things? Showing what can and must be done for us to live decent lives for our own purposes and in service of others, and not repeatedly campaigning so that a few less lives will be wrecked?

Don’t get me wrong. Plenty of us – indeed, growing numbers – are working on the alternatives. But if feels like we lost twenty years just trying to get tech policy and tech firms to kill fewer people, to be just a bit less egregious, and that is time we’ll never get back. Time we needed to be building and growing the technology infrastructure and human networks, capabilities and structures of feeling we so desperately need for what comes next.

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DGA51
5 days ago
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Civil society and real movement politics, as so many of CT’s enduring readers know, is hard fucking work.
Central Pennsyltucky
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