Rachel #Maddow on Bradley W. Hart's superb "Star-Spangled Fascism" podcast:
"The harder thing for us to sort of sit with, as Americans, is that there have been fascistic tendencies, fascistic movements in America ... for longer than we like to admit."
I have always been interested in how Hitler came to power. Then #Trump happened. Like the German guy, Trump failed the first time, but the trend was clear: Republicans followed him in mass.
Now, Republican politicians have made the next step.
#Democracy is formed by its separation of powers. Politicians make laws, and an independent judiciary enforces them.
House Speaker Johnson and others passed that line this week, feeling entitled to intervene in a criminal case.
There is this misconception about #democracy being an event where you go to elections every so-and-so years to determine who rules the country.
What democracy is actually about is that we all are in charge. We all are the ones that run this country. Every one of us can decide to participate in running it.
Only for the parts where decisions need to be made we need some kind of process, and we decided to use parliaments, governments and elections to handle that. [1/2]
Should police officers be deployed in schools for safety?
Are the children safe?
Some U.S. school districts that removed police officers in the wake of George Floyd’s death in 2020 are rethinking what safety experts called a “knee-jerk reaction” as fights and incidents with guns that endanger students spark concern.
Rs are broadcasting their sinister plans. MSM isn't sounding the alarm:
Evidence is everywhere: the right is planning to end representative govt if it fails to legitimately return #TFG to the WH -clear a few months after #J6 that the RW propaganda apparatus was laying the groundwork to try again in 2024. #FoxNews & #MAGAMedia spent the weeks after the 2020 election fabricating & amplifying election fraud lies... to institutionalize TFG's #TheBigLie.
🇺🇦Ukrainian heroes often remain anonymous, but their impact reverberates through the fabric of a nation. During my humanitarian volunteer trips to #Ukraine, I saw ordinary people doing extraordinary things. In the heart of adversity, amidst conflict and uncertainty, the people of Ukraine stand tall. Their unwavering commitment to normalcy, even in the face of immense challenges, is nothing short of remarkable.
Poll stories are easy to do. Lay out the numbers, find a poli-sci professor to comment on them, and you’re done. But when that’s the substance of a #news outlet’s #political coverage, who’s up and who’s down like it’s all a big wacky game, the impact of politicians’ decisions get reduced to their effect on the numbers.
@Athenae digs into how election-year media builds entire news cycles around a glut of polls that misinform us.
The Georgian parliament approved a divisive "foreign influence" bill that sparked weeks of mass protests.
@dw reports: "Critics have called it a threat to domestic freedoms and the country's aspirations to join the European Union. They have also drawn comparisons with comparable rules introduced in Russia in recent years."
#McBride Was sentenced today. Six years, or two years if he gets out on parole.
McBride was not allowed a lot of his evidence in court, preventing any possibility of him winning the case.
David McBride photocopied over 200 proofs of the #Australian [#Australia ] military committing, and hiding, war crimes in Afghanistan.
After McBride released his proof to the #ABCaustralia the AFP raided the journalists. Jailing journalists is a dangerous precedent that the government has toyed with for decades, but never committed to (see #WitnessK ). Jailing McBride is possibly the most damaging thing to Australian #democracy the government has enacted in decades. It was possible to pardon him, like they did with Witness K.
Fuck the judge that sentenced him, fuck the prosecution, and fuck the government ministers for not speaking out on this, even the ones that couldn't do anything about it.
It is established fact that Australian soldiers in Afghanistan committed war crimes. Today, the man whose courageous act of whistleblowing brought these crimes to light has been sentenced to almost 6 years in gaol.
This is a dark day in Australian history. Democracy needs people to stand up when they see wrongdoing being committed by powerful people. We should be thanking and celebrating David McBride, not imprisoning him.
United for Democracy, a coalition of progressive groups & labor unions, is gearing up to launch a $10M persuasion & base activation campaign centered on “the MAGA SC.” The coalition will spend $1M on ads in AZ & PA +DC. The campaign will also involve canvassing & events. The coalition counts 140 member orgs., incl. major labor unions, reproductive rights advocates, ENVIR groups, & liberal think tanks.
Facing Russian Advance, a Top Ukrainian General Paints a Bleak Picture
#Ukraine’s forces are stretched thin & have minimal reserves to draw on, the chief of #military#intelligence said, in addition to shortages of #weapons.
#Ukraine’s military is confronting a “critical” situation in the country’s northeast, facing troop shortages as it tries to repel a Russian offensive that has been advancing for several days, a top Ukrainian general said on Monday.
Russian troops surged across the border last week to open a new line of attack near #Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city after #Kyiv, capturing at least 9 settlements & villages & forcing thousands of #civilians to flee.
There's a new political economy turn in participatory-deliberative #democracy & democratic innovation, re-centring dimensions crucial to the transformative potential of these fields.
Public Participation
The Aarhus Convention and its Protocol on PRTRs empower people with the rights to access information, participate in decision-making in environmental matters and to seek justice. They are the only legally binding global instruments on environmental democracy.
>> https://unece.org/environmental-policy-1/public-participation
"Affect and the Rise of Right-Wing Populism: Pedagogies for the Renewal of Democratic Education, suggests ideas about affective pedagogies for educators to use (along with recognizing the risks involved) to renew democratic education"
This book has lots of interesting ideas that are helping me refine my thinking of political change, moral panic, citizenship in a democracy, and empathy or compassion as a political emotion (souring into pity).
Gonna think about how to translate this to plainer English...