Let me begin by apologising for the clumsy construct of my earlier supplementary piece today on the murder of Alex Pretti. I wrote it on my phone at 5 am, after being unable to sleep. I wanted to capture how I felt in that moment rather than wait until I was caffeinated and sitting at my laptop. On the upside, it definitely proves I’m not an AI bot. I have since tidied things up and can only offer my apologies for my heart leading my head.
The dust can never be allowed to settle on the murder of Alex Pretti. His name should live on as an indictment of the year America became a fascist state. I don’t use the term in any performative political sense, but as a tragic statement of fact. There have been many inflexion points that have brought us to this moment, but yesterday, the cruel intent of this regime was put on display for the whole world to see. There will be no justice for Alex Pretti until this regime is defeated and banished to the political wilderness. These masked thugs all need to be held accountable for their crimes; of that there is no doubt. They, too, should know the fear of being hunted by armed law enforcement.
The war of words will be relentless over the coming days, and rest assured that Trump will see this as an opportunity to further ramp up the pressure on blue states, in his attempt to set the country on fire. He’s simply in search of an excuse not to hold free and fair elections in November. The intent is to take the country to the edge of revolution to justify declaring elections unsafe. We know for a fact that work is being done behind the scenes to cast doubt on election integrity in advance of the midterms. Trump has already hinted that he doesn’t understand the need for midterm elections. I fear that, as with elections in the likes of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the US will require an army of International election monitors to certify the results. Of course, Trump will deny entry to any such monitors, so that will sadly not be an option.
This all-out assault on freedoms and democracy is deeply reminiscent of Nazi Germany. What began as a claim to arrest criminals with no right to be in the US has turned into a roundup of anyone refusing to capitulate to the will of the regime. This has gone way beyond culture wars into a war of political ideology. An ideology enforced by a federal militia, the likes of which only exist in banana republics and authoritarian states. I’m sorry to say that the US is no longer a country that operates within the rule of international law. Sickeningly, it doesn’t stop there; domestic law has now been commandeered and weaponised to eradicate dissent.
The regime is on an all-out assault on the electoral process. Pam Bondi sent a letter to Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, a copy of which I have shared here. I’ve extracted the key demands from the letter below:
Share all of Minnesota’s records on Medicaid and Food and Nutrition Service programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program data, with the federal government. Allowing the federal government to efficiently investigate fraud will save Minnesota taxpayers’ money and ensure that Minnesota’s welfare funds are being used to help those in need, not enrich fraudsters.
If that were not bad enough:
Allow the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice to access voter rolls to confirm that Minnesota’s voter registration practices comply with federal law as authorized by the Civil Rights Act of 1960. Fulfilling this common sense request will better guarantee free and fair elections and boost confidence in the rule of law.
The most obvious question that arises is ‘What happened to states' rights?’ Republicans have long been advocates that the federal government has no place in state elections, yet here we are. They are now desperate to get their hands on electoral roll data that they have no legal right to request. They are shamelessly using the Civil Rights Act of 1960 as a cover to obtain the data.
Minnesota is being used to war game the next steps in their attempt to make towns and cities in blue states the next stop on their political revenge tour, forcing communities to live in fear of a government seeking their compliance in advance. This is about dictating the level of fear Americans will be forced to endure depending on who they vote for. Nothing short of subjugation will do. You can also add to that the administration’s calls to defund sanctuary states. Earlier in the month trump said:
“Starting February 1, we are not making any payments to sanctuary cities or states having sanctuary cities because they do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens,”
You can read more about this in a piece by Richard Luscombe in The Guardian from January 14th.
America is now a political Colosseum where democracy is being fed to the lions for the entertainment of white Christian nationalists. Curtis Yarvin’s ascent of ‘dark enlightenment’ has arrived, and their Red Caesar has been planted on the throne of the new imperial America. We are fast approaching the litmus test for the US military, because the next move in Trump’s imperial chess game will, I believe, be to test the true loyalty of the US military. I have to tell you that while I have long been confident that they would not fire on US citizens, I now think we are in a game of Russian Roulette, and I say this with a very heavy heart.
When the history books are written, Minneapolis will mark the starting point of either the true fall of democracy or the inflexion point that led to the defeat of tyranny in America. In this moment, Americans get to choose which path to follow, and as things stand, I fear the future will rely on the flip of a coin unless America wakes up and collectively confronts the threat. A halt could be put on this madness. All it would take is for Republican lawmakers to vote to halt funding for DHS and redefine the rules of immigration enforcement to follow the Constitution and respect human rights.
The definition of fascism according to the Oxford Dictionary is:
An extreme right-wing political system or attitude that is in favour of strong central government, aggressively promoting your own country or race above others, and that does not allow any opposition.
This regime is unquestionably aligned with the definition of a fascist state. For context from the Oxford Reference:
The term Fascism was first used of the totalitarian right-wing nationalist regime of Mussolini in Italy (1922–43), and the regimes of the Nazis in Germany and Franco in Spain were also Fascist. Fascism tends to include a belief in the supremacy of one national or ethnic group, a contempt for democracy, an insistence on obedience to a powerful leader, and a strong demagogic approach.
The name comes from Italian fascismo, from fascio ‘bundle, political group’, from Latin fascis ‘rod’.
In Europe, we have a lived experience of fascism from Mussolini, to Hitler, to Franco. In December 1941, the US entered the war against fascism alongside the British and other allies. In the years that followed, 407,000 Americans made the ultimate sacrifice; of these, around 12,000 were civilians. They gave their lives to save the world from fascism. Eighty years later, a convicted criminal extortionist in the White House is attempting to install a fascist government in the land so many never returned to.
The fallen lay in carefully tended graves in European war cemeteries, cared for by a generation for whom Allied forces gave them back their freedom. The obvious question I have for European leaders in this moment is, why are they hosting the military of a now fascist regime? The values the American government stands for are no longer those of Europe. Indeed, the new Strategic National Defence Report sets this out clearly in black and white.
These are testing times, of that there is no doubt. The question is whether Republican lawmakers are prepared to put a stop to this assault on American communities and the values so many fought and died for. We will certainly find out in the week ahead whether they are prepared to continue funding this madness.
Make 1984 fiction again! - A great protest poster I've seen...
How to Stop His Royal Heinous
The Peaceful Solution-Parts 1-3
How much do you want to stop His Royal Heinous and the fascist takeover of the country?
Enough that you’re willing to make a small sacrifice? Like altering your spending habits for a month or two or three? That could be all it would take to get the attention of the oligarchs (formerly known as The Robber Barons in the first Gilded Age, also The Fat Cats, The Greedy Bastards).
A brief demonstration of We, the People’s, power of the purse could persuade them to quit supporting HRH and the politicians who enable him.
We quit spending, except on essentials, businesses lose money, stock market goes down, Greedy Bastards pay attention to our demands.
Greedy Bastards own most of the politicians of both major parties. GBs start losing money, then they tell the politicians to change course and do what We, the People want.
We are running out of peaceful options. The legislature and Supreme Court are controlled by HRH. He controls the executive branch, including the Military, Justice Department, FBI, ICE, the IRS. He controls all levers of power.
We, the people, still have the power of the purse. No one can control our spending, or lack of spending. When all else fails we can go on a spending strike until the business community stops supporting HRH and the politicians who enable him.
Economic warfare is the only thing the oligarchs, the business community will understand and act on. Call it a Surreptitious General Strike. Stop spending money except on essentials. Quit feeding the corporate beast that supports HRH.
Stop participating. Nearly 70% of the U.S. economy is driven by consumer spending. All of us. Hobble the economy and the stock market. Mahatma Gandhi drove the British from India by peaceful civil disobedience and boycotts. We can stop the fascist takeover in the same way.
We can keep rehashing past and present atrocities until our access to the internet is taken away by the regime, or we can DO something!
Now is the time for this Peaceful Solution.
The Peaceful Solution-Part 2
Why a Spending Strike is the Best Option:
TINA: There Is No Alternative. There is no peaceful alternative.
Plan A
Plan A consists of phoning/writing your legislators, and street demonstrations, neither of which have worked nor give any sign of working. His Royal Heinous controls the majority party in the legislature and they are doing his bidding. As for street demonstrations:
From Professor Erica Chenoweth:
…”they often subject their participants to a higher risk of repression or communal violence from opponents. So movements that are capable of having the capacity to shift to methods of dispersion, like stay-at-homes or strikes or forms of economic noncooperation, tend to be much more effective because they have the capability of maneuver when the state begins to ramp up violence against them.”
Soft Secession :
Federal funds make up 35% of California’s state budget, with $173 billion in federal grants awarded in Fiscal Year 2021 alone, making up a significant portion of state and local budgets for programs like health, education, and infrastructure.
Are they really going to anger HRH to the extent that he cuts off their federal funding?
Soft secession? Only to the point when HRH feels threatened.
He will move in with all his resources and stop it.
It’s another distraction to the resistance in that it keeps us from organizing and uniting around what must be done and what will work. It’s another example of hoping for an easy fix, one that will not take any sacrifice.
In addition, soft secession is divisive, pitting blue states against red states, playing into the narrative of HRH, who wants to start a civil war. MAGA not only wants to “own the libs”, they’d like to kill as many as possible, to eliminate the opposition.
Targeted boycotts:
Why targeted boycotts are ineffective:
Boycotts often fail because they require massive, sustained participation to create meaningful financial pressure, lack clear alternatives for consumers, generate insufficient negative media attention, and are easily weathered by companies waiting for the protest to fade. Additionally, the complex nature of modern capitalism and the proliferation of corporate conglomerates can make it difficult for boycotters to effectively target and impact a company's bottom line or reputation, especially when companies have multiple revenue streams, like real estate, that aren't affected by consumer boycotts.
In 2020, Goya Foods praised President Donald Trump on social media, which caused those in opposition to Trump to boycott their products. Trump loyalists simultaneously initated a counter-boycott, where consumers bought mass quantities of their products, in response. The boycott caused Goya profits to increase dramatically because Trump supporters started an opposing campaign.
The midterm election:
Will it be free and fair? It won’t be. Will it occur at all? HRH has already said that if we’re at war there’ll be no election. Guess what? If it’s looking bad for him, we’ll be at war to stop the election. The election is important to him because having the majority in the legislature gives the fascist regime the look of legitimacy.
People are putting too much faith in what the midterms will do. They may have a beneficial psychologic effect but in reality the outcome will have little or no practical effect, unless the Dems can get 2/3 majority in the house and senate, which they won’t. They will not be able to undo anything HRH has done or pass new legislation because of his veto power.
The Courts:
While some lower courts have ruled against HRH, slowing his takeover, the rulings have been fast tracked to the Supreme Court. It has almost universally ruled in HRH’s favor. SCOTUS members Roberts and Barrett may have an epiphany and save the country from civil war, but it’s doubtful. It’s going to be up to us to stop this.
Time is running out for a Peaceful Solution. Please Spread the Word!, far, wide, and quickly, before the fascists takedown our means of communication.
The Peaceful Solution-Part 3
How to accomplish a Spending Strike
“It’s the economy, stupid” as James Carville famously told Bill Clinton. It was then, and still is, in politics. The reelection of His Royal Heinous is largely attributed to the misperceived state of the economy. That’s what must be attacked, not individual corporations. The overall economy must suffer before the Greedy Bastards will pay attention.
HRH will not destroy the economy on his own (TACO). He will find a way to prop it up (like lower interest rates) because the economy and stock market are his report card and key to keeping power. The key to keeping power, as it is in Russia, China, Hungary, Turkey. They give the people a somewhat decent standard of living, and in exchange, the people have no political power. Only the autocrat has that. Unlimited.
Our best chance of success lies in obtaining high profile, national leadership and spokespersons. Fragmented, unknown groups leading the charge might work but would take much longer, and time is of the essence. Since the Disney boycott there have been more “bigger” names taking up the cause.
There will have to be a great amount of grassroot support before a national “leader” will take up the cause. Most of our supposed leaders are really followers of movements. They’ll get out front after it’s shown to have popular support. So, we recruit more foot soldiers, like ourselves, and spread the word on various Substacks and other social media platforms.
After mustering much grassroots support we can then approach some Substack writers who have many subscribers and appeal to them to take up the cause and spread the word. Writers like Robert Reich, who has over a million subscribers , and Heather Cox Richardson, who has over 2.5 million subscribers. There are several Substack writers with large followings who have been promoting this concept, such as Truth Matters, Marie Newman, Danielle Moodie, Mark Mansour, and Everybody’s Mama. Truth Matters leads with 84,000+ subscribers. Their Substacks are great places to Spread the Word and to reinforce what they are saying.
This will be a tough sell. Americans are addicted to buying. We are brainwashed from the cradle by advertising, popular culture, and peer pressure, to consume. If you want to be happy and fulfilled, you must have this or that product. To overcome this, our fellow citizens must be convinced that this is the only viable peaceful solution to stop and reverse the fascist takeover. And it is.
But, if a single dollar doubles every day for 30 days, it reaches a total of over $536 million ($536,870,912) at the end of the 30th day.
So, a single voice that doubles everyday would become 536 million voices after 30 days.
Defeating the fascists in WWII did not happen without sacrifice from the citizens of the Allied countries. We will have to sacrifice to stop and reverse the fascist takeover of our country. We can sacrifice a little now or a much greater amount later. What kind of world will our children and grandchildren live in if we allow this to continue?
Spending Strike, Spending Freeze, Spending Suspension, Spending Pause, Economic Disengagement, Economic Warfare, Stop Spending!, even Boycott. Choose your favorite but Do It, and Spread the Word!, far, wide, and quickly, before the fascists takedown our means of communication.