"You know what freedom is? It’s standing in line for so long in the cold that you can’t feel your fingers because your vote is worth something no matter how many Republicans tell you it’s not. It’s speaking out when you’re 93-years-old because you’re not selling your home no matter what big developers do to force you.
"Freedom means if they didn’t have a warrant or probable cause when they found it, they have to throw it out because we all play under the same rules. It means a poor Black kid in Swansea, SC deserves the same quality education as a rich white one in Scarsdale, NY. It means we count on each other, we serve each other, and we govern ourselves.
"It means I don’t have to listen to you and you don’t have to listen to me, but we both have a right to speak."
Several countries with centre-left-leaning govts in Europe have seen the rise of far right parties.
"Germany’s far-right AfD notched up another first Sunday when its candidate was elected as full-time town mayor, in a further boost for the anti-immigration party.
Alternative for Germany (AfD) has surged to record highs in opinion polls, and the latest result comes just a week after they won their first district election."
"It is time for people with a moral conscience to wield every ounce of #influence and #power they have towards #justice and to force this nation to be true to what it said on paper.""
"Bishop William Barber, decrying recent decisions by #farright Supreme Court justices and the complicity of political leaders who have "watched our #democracy being slowly chipped away.""
Reactions played out over the holiday weekend. Pete Buttigieg jumped in smartly, as he often does: “I just don’t understand the mentality of somebody who gets up in the morning, thinking that he’s going to prove his worth by competing over who can make life hardest for a hard-hit community, that is already so vulnerable in America.”
1st half is pretty garden variety gay-bashing and trans-bashing
& 2nd half shifts to pushing “He Man Ron DeSantis,” a would-be alpha of post-Trump Republican politics
part of increasingly common far-right / incel-adjacent adoration of redemptive violence
Surrogacy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrogacy) is illegal in Italy, punishable by up to 2 years in prison and fines of up to €1 million ($1.5 million CDN).
...
Musk limited most users to viewing 600 tweets/day - restrictions he described as an attempt to prevent unauthorized scraping of potentially valuable data from Twitter
Finnish interior minister resigns, after even the president agreed that having a minister who advocates nazi symbolisms among other direct connections with white supremacists is ”awkward” for Finland’s reputation abroad.
"Look around Europe right now - north, south, east and west - and you see far-right parties of different flavours - nostalgic nationalist, populist nationalist, ultra conservative with neo-fascist roots and more - enjoying a notable resurgence.
"Old taboos dating back to Europe's devastating 20th Century war against the Nazis and fascist Italy ... are gradually being eroded."
Across #Europe, governments are shifting right. In some places, #farright leaders are taking power. In others, more traditional center-right parties are allying with the right-wing fringes once considered untouchable.
What We Know About 'Microchip,' the FBI’s Far-Right Judas
8 years after he repeatedly hijacked Twitter’s algorithm to hustle disinformation in service of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, the pseudonymous radical-right poster known as “Microchip” emerged as a key source for the FBI
...part of the online “alt-right” coalition that helped boost Donald Trump to the presidency in 2016
"Now, however, there’s a new extermination campaign stalking this country that would definitely include me among its targets: the right-wing Republican crusade against “sexual predators” and “groomers,” by which they mean LGBTQI+ people. "
German Jews express shock as far-right AfD party wins breakthrough vote
>A far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) candidate won a vote on Sunday to become a district leader in Europe's biggest economy for the first time, a breakthrough for the party which has hit record highs in national polls.
"Iowa meteorologist resigns after death threats over climate crisis coverage - Chris Gloninger says he developed post-traumatic stress disorder and will resign from job after 18 years at Des Moines’s KCCI ... He added: “After a death threat stemming from my climate coverage last year and resulting PTSD, in addition to family issues, I’ve decide to begin this journey now”.
Last July, Gloninger, who has spent 18-years of his career covering climate change as well as the weather and became KCCI’s chief meteorologist in 2021, shared a series of disturbing emails he received regarding his coverage."
The article continues with the text of several emails Gloninger received. I have not included them here because of their disturbing content.
Social Media Has Collapsed Good Debate
Joe Rogan’s podcast is an awful venue for serious disagreement. But the alternatives aren’t much better
Vaccine scientist Peter Hotez criticized the influential podcaster Joe Rogan for hosting Robert F. Kennedy Jr., lamenting the fact that a podcast with millions of listeners platformed a notorious spreader of vaccine misinformation. ...
"Unfriending" America: The Christian right is coming for the enemies of God — like you and me
Rising far-right Christian movement linked to GOP calls for "kingdom revolution" led by an "army of believers"
The New Apostolic Reformation aims to take over government at all levels, and also to erode institutional Christianity, destroying all doctrines and denominations it sees as obstacles to the Kingdom of God.
Far-right parties on the rise across Europe (www.bbc.com)
Success in Germany and Greece boosts hard-right parties; now they are eyeing Spanish elections.