Monday, July 29, 2019

Fascism rising: This IS exactly what it looks like



It's been a minute.  Maybe it's time to start writing again.  Shit ain't gettin' any better.

Here is something written by a friend of mine:


Let's do some quick math, friends:

- Antifa is not an organization; nobody belongs to it, there are no membership rolls. So you cannot prove you do not belong to it.

- If you have shown up to a protest, if you have been in a picture showing you were near a protest, if you have, like me, offered first aid at a political demonstration or shown up as clergy support or carried a sign or made a Facebook post or LIKED a post saying you're against fascism, you could be accused of being a "member of Antifa," and you can't prove it's not true.

- If this measure to declare "Antifa" "domestic terrorists" passes, that means you and I can be arrested and prosecuted as "domestic terrorists." No, really, you too. Which is funny, cause the fascists are the ones killing people and driving cars into crowds. Or lynching people or shooting up churches and I could go on for days.

Let me be clear here I love the idea of ANTIFA because ALL of the NAZI scum need to just go away forever. Freedom of speech is not a shield you can use when you are calling for the deaths of whole segments of society. The problem I have is the assholes who claim to be Antifa who go after people they don't like and muddy the waters, like when they wholesale attack the police. Yes, there are some seriously disturbed officers out there that need to be held accountable, but I have never been one to say fuck the police. I know some amazing police officers and I am related to a number of them and they are some of the best people I know. Another interesting fact is that there are and have been people posing as Antifa who perpetrate actions that besmirch the movement's activities and goals.

- We passed a bunch of laws and rulings back in 2002 or so declaring that accused terrorists don't get due process, and can be held indefinitely without trial, tortured, and so on.
(Patriot Act I and II)

- The Trump administration also just declared that they're opening up the death penalty for federal crimes, like terrorism, for the first time in years. (https://www.latimes.com/…/justice-department-executions-inm…/justice-department-executions-inm…)

- We have a whole bunch of new for-profit detention camps for holding people in indefinitely without trial, where people are dying right now from nightmarish conditions.(https://www.nbcnews.com/…/24-immigrants-have-died-ice-custo…/24-immigrants-have-died-ice-custo…)

- ICE is running around right now, without badges or uniforms or warrants, disappearing people--including US citizens--and locking them up, and fully half their agents belong to a Facebook group where they shared racist jokes, bragged about the violence they'd done to the subhuman animals they're locking up, and talked about how they wanted to assault and rape political figures they don't like.

- This is a license to lock up and execute political dissenters and community organizers without due process and the pieces have all been put in place to use it.

- We are running out of time to stop this train.

This is one of the better articles I've read on the real risks ANTIFA hold for our democracy: 
Newsweek: BAN ANTIFA? I'VE MET GOLDEN RETRIEVERS WHO SCARED ME MORE
https://www.newsweek.com/ban-antifa-cruz-cassidy-golden-retrievers-1451271

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