Finally Friday Reads: History Repeats

Good Day Sky Dancers!

I finished Rachel Maddow’s Ultra on Wednesday. I’m not exactly going to spoil the ending for you but let me say this, truth, justice, and the American way did not work on the American NAZIs in the end. Most of the bad guys returned to their little corner of the country and continued.  Only a few were held to account, mainly by the ordinary Americans who knew them and held them accountable for their Pro-NAZI sentiments and actions.  Then President Truman actually covered up the findings from the NAZI records on their program to subvert America’s stand on the war.  A DOJ prosecutor was fired and later leaked what he had discovered there in a book no one reads and appears hard to find.  If you want to be surprised by who was motivated by the American First Committee, look here.

You should listen to the podcast too, but at least review this radio interview on Meet the Press in 1946 with fired Federal Prosecutor O. John Rogge.  He went public on everything he knew about how involved many US politicians and cultural figures were actually part of a bigger NAZI plot to make America neutral, at the very minimum, to the Hitler regime.

I intend to read his book as soon as I can get it into my kindle or in my mailbox.  The Official German Report: Nazi Penetration, 1924-1942 has everything that Truman did not want you to read. (by O. John. ROGGE | Jan 1, 1961).  Only the Father Coughlin story showed up in my American History classes.  The rest needs to be known.  Around 26 US senators and representatives had NAZI sympathies or actual participation in NAZI Germany’s plan for America.

Several news stories are germane today to that same fascist, Nazi, Anti-Semitic movement we have seen Trump lead since he took an escalator in Trump Tower that would lead him to the White House.  First, the selling of Twitter to Elon Musk has become a purge of people with “Antifa” sentiments or sympathies. You can visit there today and see the number of folks, including Canadian cartoonist Rob Denbleyker whose little stick figures were a common fixture on the site.

While the NAZIs, Anti-Semites, Racists, and all of the worst of the ists have been freed from banishment.  Bans on other content providers are now rampant.  Here’s a brief discussion of this at Newsweek. “Activists Accuse Elon Musk of Banning ‘Anti-Fascist Accounts’ on Twitter.”

In the latest complaints from Twitter users under Elon Musk‘s leadership, the CEO is being accused of banning “anti-fascist accounts” while previously suspended conservative users are being reinstated.

Steven Monacelli, an independent journalist, reported on Tuesday that the group Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club (EFJBGC)—a leftist group based in Texas that volunteers as armed protection for LGBTQ events—had been suspended after breaking Twitter’s content rules.

According to a screenshot posted by Monacelli, the group was suspended for violating the platform’s rules “against hateful conduct,” citing two recent tweets from the club.

On Wednesday, clinical instructor at Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic Alejandra Caraballo reported that Chad Loder, an outspoken anti-fascist from Los Angeles, California, had also been suspended. Loder had reportedly been keeping track of anti-fascists who had recently been banned from the platform, according to a screenshot posted by Micah Lee, a writer at The Intercept.

Monacelli posted that he had reached out to Loder to ask if he had received a “suspension report” from Twitter explaining why his account had been banned. Loder reportedly said he had yet to receive one.

This is from The Washington Post. “‘Opening the gates of hell’: Musk says he will revive banned accounts. The Twitter chief says he will reinstate accounts suspended for threats, harassment, and misinformation beginning next week.”  The doors from the hell realms are opened.  The wisdom beings are banned.  Sounds like a perfect NAZI program to me.  #BlackTwitter has already headed to Mastadon.

Meanwhile, this is happening everywhere in America, including Seattle/Tahoma’s SeaTac airport.  This guy loves Hitler, hates people of the Jewish Faith, and spews your basic NAZI diatribes.

After over a week of deadly mass shootings, the last thing anyone expects is these fanatical open displays of Nazi sentiments.  But, hey, let me see you one random NAZI in the airport plus one in charge of Twitter banning anyone that sounds slightly to the left of Hitler and raise you one Exiled Ex-President.  Same as it ever was. From Axios, “Trump talks with white nationalist Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago dinner.”

Former President Trump dined and conversed with white nationalist Nick Fuentes and rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Tuesday night, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Why it matters: Trump’s direct engagement with a man labeled a “white supremacist” by the Justice Department, one week after declaring his 2024 candidacy, is likely to draw renewed outrage over the former president’s embrace of extremists.

• Fuentes, who frequently promotes racist and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, had been spotted with Ye at Mar-a-Lago, but reports erroneously suggested he did not have dinner with the former president.

What they’re saying: “Kanye West very much wanted to visit Mar-a-Lago. Our dinner meeting was intended to be Kanye and me only, but he arrived with a guest whom I had never met and knew nothing about,” Trump said in a statement.

• Fuentes did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Driving the news: Ye, whose Twitter account was recently restored after being restricted for anti-Semitic comments, posted a video on Thursday night titled “Mar-a-Lago debrief.”

• Ye claims in the video that Trump was “really impressed” with Fuentes because “unlike so many of the lawyers and so many people that he was left with on his 2020 campaign, he’s actually a loyalist.”
• A source familiar with the conversation told Axios Trump took a phone call during the dinner, and his demeanor toward Ye seemed to change when he got off the call. Trump made some nasty comments about Ye’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, and told the rapper to pass them on.
• Ye, who has lost major sponsorships over his anti-Semitism and recent far-right associations, has said he wants to run for president in 2024. The rapper claims Trump started “screaming” at him at the dinner and told him he would lose — “most perturbed” by Ye asking Trump to be his running mate.

This analysis of the meeting is from Politico. “Donald Trump dined with white nationalist, Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. The president hosted Fuentes and Kanye West at Mar-a-Lago. He said it was “quick and uneventful.” “

In a post to his social media site, Trump confirmed the gathering.

“This past week, Kanye West called me to have dinner at Mar-a-Lago,” he wrote. “Shortly thereafter, he unexpectedly showed up with three of his friends, whom I knew nothing about. We had dinner on Tuesday evening with many members present on the back patio. The dinner was quick and uneventful. They then left for the airport.”

However eventful, the dinner reflects a remarkable moment in an extremely early 2024 campaign cycle: the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination breaking bread with a man who frequently posts racist content and Holocaust revisionism, brought there by a rapper who is launching his own presidential campaign under the shadow of his own antisemitic remarks.

“If it was any other party, breaking bread with Nick Fuentes would be instantly disqualifying for Trump,” said Democratic National Committee spokesperson Ammar Moussa. “The most extreme views have found a home in today’s MAGA Republican party.”

It underscores how few guardrails currently exist within the former president’s political operation, with few aides there to screen guests or advise against and manage such gatherings.

Reading Poison: Science and Story in Nazi Children’s Propaganda

And in this country, women struggle to regain full citizen status.  Reproductive Freedom is on the ballot and on the gratitude list. While men air their NAZI grievances, women want their rights back. This is written by Nikiya Natale at The Nation. “We’re Thankful for Our Abortions. Many people who have abortions celebrate their experience. Here’s why my colleagues and I at We Testify are thankful.”

This holiday is founded on the unforgivable genocide of Native Americans, and my commitment to justice for all people makes it difficult for me to celebrate things I am thankful for. And the harsh reality is that the utter disregard for all Indigenous people in the 1800s fuels the same systems of white supremacy that dehumanize all of us today. Black lives are taken by the police and the prison-industrial complex, any sense of LGBTQ+ peace and tranquility has been obliterated by gun violence and hate, and, ultimately, the small promise of abortion access guaranteed by Roe v. Wade was stripped away by an illegitimate Supreme Court.

When I look at the state of this nation, the anger piles up, and my gratitude is depleted.

And yet, gratitude is what I am searching for in this moment. I am grateful to spend the long weekend with my young son, who is here because I was able to plan a pregnancy when I was ready to parent. I am grateful to have accessed my abortions in Texas while it was still legal in the state, and that my multiple abortion experiences now guide my work.

When I express this gratitude for my abortions, sometimes, I and other abortion storytellers at We Testify, which is an organization dedicated to the leadership and representation of people who have abortions, are met with questions and chiding from family members or loved ones who believe that we shouldn’t “celebrate” or be “thankful” for our abortions. “I’m pro-choice, but it’s nothing to celebrate,” they say.

But I am thankful for both of my abortions. I am thankful that I didn’t want to be a parent then, so I didn’t have to be a parent then. The blessing to plan a pregnancy and have a child when I wanted to have a child is something I have immense gratitude for. I really am thankful for it, particularly in this political climate and moment.

When the Nazis Courted the KKK

The BBC reports that France wants to establish this right in its Constitution.

France’s National Assembly has backed a bid to enshrine the right to abortion in the constitution, prompted largely by increased restrictions elsewhere.

Lawmakers voted by a large majority to include a clause guaranteeing “the effectiveness and equal access to the right to end pregnancy voluntarily”.

Left-wing MP Mathilde Panot, who is behind the change, said it was to protect against the “backsliding” seen in the US and Poland.

But the bill will face a tough passage.

Last month the upper house, the Senate, rejected a similar proposal and is thought unlikely to back the new amendment. Right-wing parties – which dominate the Senate – argue that abortion rights are not under threat in France.

A change of constitution would also have to go to a referendum, although opinion polls suggest more than 80% of French voters are behind it.

Ms Panot’s amendment went through after securing the support of MPs in Emmanuel Macron’s ruling Renaissance party, but a reference to the right to contraception was scrapped.

Macron MP Aurore Bergé had been due to present her own abortion amendment next week but withdrew it, telling MPs how her mother had endured an abortion without anaesthetic before it was legalised in 1974.

“The question of access to abortion and of protecting it isn’t a whim; it shouldn’t be politicised; it’s not a matter of party politics,” she said.

Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti also backed changing the constitution and praised the “historic” vote.

Last February, the French parliament voted to extend the legal timeframe for abortion from 12 to 14 weeks, similar to neighbouring Spain. It is lower than other European countries, including Sweden, the Netherlands, England, Wales and Scotland.

Ms Panot dedicated Thursday’s vote to women in the US, Poland and Hungary. Her push to change constitution was triggered by a vote in the US Supreme Court to end the national guarantee to abortion access, overturning the landmark Roe v Wade ruling in 1973.

Thirteen US states have since begun enforcing abortion bans, while voters in states including California backed proposals this month to enshrine the right to abortion in their constitution.

The struggle continues,

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?