Some political context from The Dictator’s Toolkit:

Independent judges are a nightmare for would-be dictators. They have the immense power to overturn the abusive actions of creeping authoritarian regimes by acquitting dissidents of bogus charges, holding regime officials accountable, or upholding free and fair elections.

Because of judges’ essential checking power, authoritarian regimes across the globe regularly attack them. At times, they do this very overtly, like, for instance, arbitrarily sacking thousands and arresting hundreds of judges, as in the case of Turkey after the failed 2016 coup attempt. Yet, more often than not, creeping authoritarian regimes use measures disguised as legitimate or reasonable that intimidate and harass judges or otherwise obstruct their work.

These disguised judicial attacks are particularly popular among “hybrid authoritarian” regimes. These are regimes that democracy and freedom indexes like V-Dem, the Economist, and Freedom House recognize have some elements of authoritarianism but are not fully authoritarian yet — largely because the elections that got them into or maintained in office were “competitive” enough that classifying them as authoritarian was inadequate. Thus, these hybrid authoritarian regimes, such as Hungary, Bolivia, Kenya, or India, benefit from the disguise of this “democratic” legitimacy.

That’s just people with a bit of picante. Goes well with fava beans and a nice Chianti, I hear.

It directly led to the creation of the Conservation Corps which Roosevelt used to offer jobs to all of the affected veterans, and pulled the country out of the Depression. It was also a big reason Hoover’s presidency was defeated.

In essence, it made America strong enough to weather WWII and decisively end it when the other Allies were tapped out. That’s a change worth fighting for.

deleted by creator

It’s a fucking travesty what this country, and particularly this administration, has done to veterans.

But it’s damn good to see them waking up out of the Fox News bubble and starting to fight back.

Why? Because it was when the veterans began to fight back against Hoover, that the real impetus behind the Conservation Corps and the subsequent New Deal started, and real progressive change began in America.

Here’s your daily dose of Historical Context, the Bonus Army of 1932:

The Bonus Army was a group of 43,000 demonstrators – 17,000 veterans of U.S. involvement in World War I, their families, and affiliated groups – who gathered in Washington, D.C., in mid-1932 to demand early cash redemption of their service bonus certificates. Organizers called the demonstrators the Bonus Expeditionary Force (B.E.F.), to echo the name of World War I’s American Expeditionary Forces, while the media referred to them as the “Bonus Army” or “Bonus Marchers”. The demonstrators were led by Walter W. Waters, a former sergeant.

Many of the war veterans had been out of work since the beginning of the Great Depression. The World War Adjusted Compensation Act of 1924 had awarded them bonuses in the form of certificates they could not redeem until 1945. Each certificate, issued to a qualified veteran soldier, bore a face value equal to the soldier’s promised payment with compound interest. The principal demand of the Bonus Army was the immediate cash payment of their certificates.

On July 28, 1932, U.S. Attorney General William D. Mitchell ordered the veterans removed from all government property. Washington police met with resistance, shot at the protestors, and two veterans were wounded and later died. President Herbert Hoover then ordered the U.S. Army to clear the marchers’ campsite. Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur commanded a contingent of infantry and cavalry, supported by six tanks. The Bonus Army marchers with their wives and children were driven out, and their shelters and belongings burned.

A second, smaller Bonus March in 1933 at the start of the Roosevelt administration was defused in May with an offer of jobs with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) at Fort Hunt, Virginia, which most of the group accepted. Those who chose not to work for the CCC by the May 22 deadline were given transportation home. In 1936, Congress overrode President Roosevelt’s veto and paid the veterans their bonus nine years early.

When veterans get mad and organize, real change can happen. They’re the political group that has the most potential to affect real revolutionary change - they’ve received the military training, they know how to organize, and if need be, they know how to defend themselves.

Get mad. Get angry. Get on the streets and join us to take this country back. Stop letting the GOP fuck you.

Minor note: this is repost of my previous comment on another thread just because I think it’s appropriate here, and I believe that the best way to beat the Nazi / oligarch / GOP playbook is to understand what beat it before. Plus it’s a pain to type it all out again.

Pretty much this:

Trump revoking legal status for 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans

It’s like watching a blind monkey try to write with an eraser its own shit.

FTFY

So, who’s gonna tell Lutnick that voter turnout for those age 65 and above is 75%+?

And it’s not like old folks like to complain about things just for the fuck of it, right?

Lutnick and Trump are going to discover why they call Social Security the third rail of American politics.

My pleasure!

Here’s some additional context of this same political tactic and dynamic occurring in Iraq - the 1979 Ba’ath Party Purge:

The 1979 Ba’ath Party Purge (Arabic: تطهير حزب البعث), also called the Comrades Massacre (Arabic: مجزرة الرفاق), was a public purge of the Iraqi Ba’ath Party orchestrated on 22 July 1979 by then-president Saddam Hussein six days after his arrival to the presidency of the Iraqi Republic on 16 July 1979.

Six days after the resignation of President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and Hussein’s accession to President of the Iraqi Republic, Regional Secretary of the party, and Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council on July 16, 1979, he organized a Ba’ath conference on July 22 in Al-Khuld Hall in Baghdad to carry out a campaign of arrests and executions that included Ba’athist comrades, who were accused of taking part in a pro-Syrian plot to overthrow Saddam.

The list included most of the comrades who opposed Saddam Hussein’s rise to power after Al-Bakr, and among these was the former president’s secretary, Muhyi Abdul-Hussein Mashhadi. Names of people were announced and they were taken outside the hall and into custody; 21 of them were later executed. Ba’athist propaganda at the time showed that they were convicted of conspiracy and high treason to the party. Iraq subsequently cut off diplomatic relations with its fellow Ba’athist regime in Syria, accusing Hafez al-Assad of organizing the plot.

Actual footage

i was actually somewhat worried this sort of thing was going to happen at the last State of the Union, and was somewhat relieved when Al Green made it out unscathed (props to the king for speaking truth to power).

The main reason I post this example is to prove that hey, it’s not just Nazis, or Germany, or now sadly the US. Even though this administration is running the Nazi playbook, it’s important to note that this sort of thing happens all over the world, in many countries. What we haven’t seen since WWII is the dictatorships unifying and actively working to overthrow democratic governments.

We’re all at war with this cabal, these tactics and these policies - not because we want to be, but because they want to actively enslave, exploit, and exterminate us. The US is just the latest casualty.

Historical context - Germany, March 5, 1933:

On March 5, 1933, the government held an election for control of the Reichstag. The Nazis won 288 seats (43.9% of the vote).

The Communists won 81 seats (12.3%), even though their representatives were unable to claim those seats—if they appeared in public, they faced immediate arrest. Other opposition parties also won significant numbers of seats. The Social Democrats captured 119 seats (18.3%), and the Catholic Center Party won 73 seats (11.2%). Together, the Communist, Social Democratic, and Catholic Center Parties won nearly as many seats as the Nazis. But their members distrusted one another almost as much as they feared the Nazis.

As a result, these parties were unable to mount a unified opposition to the Nazi Party.

Still under Nazi control, the Reichstag passed a new law on March 21, 1933, that made it a crime to speak out against the new government or criticize its leaders. Known as the Malicious Practices Act, the law made even the smallest expression of dissent a crime. Those who were accused of “gossiping” or “making fun” of government officials could be arrested and sent to prison or a concentration camp.

Then, on March 24, 1933, the Reichstag passed what became known as the Enabling Act by a vote of 141 to 94. It “enabled” the chancellor of Germany to punish anyone he considered an “enemy of the state.” The act allowed “laws passed by the government” to override the constitution. Only the 94 Social Democrats voted against the law. Most of the other deputies who opposed it were in hiding, in prison, or in exile.

That same day, Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler, then police commissioner for the city of Munich, held a news conference to announce the opening of the first concentration camp near Dachau, Germany. According to Himmler, the camp would have the capacity to hold 5,000 people, including Communist Party members and Social Democrats “who threaten the security of the state.” Himmler continued, according to a newspaper report:

Throughout the spring and early summer of 1933, the Nazis used the new laws to frighten and intimidate Germans. By May, they forced all trade labor unions to dissolve. Instead, workers could only belong to a Nazi-approved union called the German Labor Front.

Posted this before, but seems apropos to mention it here as well.

They’ve already started. 48 people disappeared from New Mexico last week.

I seriously doubt due process was involved.

Should have booked him on terrorism charges as well, but life in prison is a good start.

Or, as has been my experience:

“Every time an engineer designs something that’s foolproof, it’s destined to prove him a fool in the end.”

Janet Jackson has entered the chat…

Also, I will pay good money for someone to remake the above with Mounties in full uniform. And by good, I mean at least $5.

Nah, that’s nobody…

Holy shit - the plot thickens…

Does this mean that no one is the Meme Master?

Do you want plague chickens? Because this how you get plague chickens.

You found the Easter Egg.

I hearby dub thee, @[email protected]…