solarbird | Fascism Watch for 28 November 2023: Catch-up Part 3, the It All Blurs Together edition

First, let’s get to the latest and the meatiest of the matter:

Historian begs Americans not to downplay Trump’s threats to use the military against them

It’s about Trump’s plans to use the Insurrection Act to turn the military against American citizens. That ties in, as always, with Republicans working to end a quiet coalition that fought foreign propaganda – particularly Russian fascist propaganda and disinformation, which they are more than happy to exploit.

That down, let’s also talk about this, and not just the bill and not just the state, but about the “Fundamentalist Supremacy” it encapsulates:

Florida Republican House Bill 599 would ban any action against most kinds of anti-LGBTQ harassment at work, making unlawful any “adverse action” against anything done by an employee or contractor which reflects “deeply held religious or biology-based beliefs, including a belief in traditional or Biblical views of sexuality and marriage, or the employee’s or contractor’s disagreement with gender ideology.” The bill goes into great depth about misgendering being a super-protected right, but also lets employees and contractors ignore or defame same-sex marriage (explicitly, above) or, for that matter, same-sex relationships at all.

It also applies to nonprofits and any form of on-the-job training, and is a license to harass and abuse all LGBT people.

I’ve been telling you for years, they never intended to stop with the trans people. They haven’t.

They’ll start with making harassing and abusing us into a right. That’s the above. And next?

Remember that Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said the Supreme Court could “revisit” the cases striking down state laws against LGBT people’s functional existence – not even just marriage – as recently as 2022, after Roe v. Wade got overturned, explicitly talking about Clarence Thomas’s call to revisit – and overturn – those decisions. He hasn’t walked away from this at all, and won’t, because he believes that ‘Depraved’ America Deserves God’s Wrath.

It’s always been about making all of us illegal again.

They will make all of us illegal again if they can. One step at a time.

As for the rest of the backlog, well – we’ll sort it into categories. Naturally, they bleed together, but there has to be some sort of organisation so I’m going with “best fit.” Really, every three or four of these could turn into an essay of their own.

DISINFORMATION:

THIS IS AMAZING: Virginia Attorney General Warns Right-Wing Group To Stop Sending False Info to Voters. “Oooh,” I know what you’re thinking, “it must be REALLY bad to make a Republican move against a voter suppression campaign,” and that’s what I thought too until I read it and it turns out they were sending false information to get more people to vote, not fewer. And suddenly, it all makes sense again, even if they were trying to raise turnout amongst Republicans.
Meta has allowed anti-LGBTQ+ group Gays Against Groomers to freely spread misinformation & hate
A Doctored Biden Video Is a Test Case for Facebook’s Deepfake Policies
Israel-Hamas war has X and its users swimming in sea of disinformation
Michael Benz, a former Trump State Department official and conservative crusader against online censorship, appears to have a secret history as an alt-right persona, posting conspiracy theories, racist bullshit, and buddying around with white nationalists.
Amazon’s Alexa has been claiming the 2020 election was stolen
MTG Duped by Fake Anti-LGBTQ Demonstration: Staged rage-bait content is becoming a staple for influencers looking to farm engagement. Lawmakers are falling for it
TORIES AGAINST REALITY: Top science journal faced secret attacks from Covid conspiracy theory group

ANTI-LGBTQ THAT DOESN’T FIT WELL ANYWHERE ELSE:

ANTI-SEMITISM AND ANTI-PALESTINIAN ACTIONS:

The Harvard Law Review Refused to Run This Piece About Genocide in Gaza.
Antisemitism Is Infecting My College Campus — And So Many Others.
Tucker Carlson: Pro-Israel Ivy League Donors Funded ‘White Genocide’
Florida Republican calls for Palestinian genocide
Verified Hate Speech Accounts Are Pivoting to Palestine for Clout and Cash
The Green Party’s 2008 presidential candidate is working with David Duke and other fascists promoting anti-Jewish conspiracy theories and anti-Jewish hate.

FASCIST ORGANISING:

Chapters of an emerging white nationalist network from across the United States participated in a joint combat sports event in the Los Angeles area this August, according to open source evidence geolocated by Bellingcat.
Stephen Miller’s “America First Legal” is more dangerous than you think: Miller is a clown. But his organization is racking up wins advancing a deeply reactionary agenda.

REPUBLICANS AGAINST THE REPUBLIC (that isn’t Florida and Texas, they get their own sections):

RIGHTIST VIOLENCE:

Extremists keep trying to trigger mass blackouts
MAGA Republicans are normalizing violent threats
QAnon Believer Who Threatened Congresswoman Thought He Was Saving the World: Michael David Fox of New Mexico thought the congresswoman was secretly transgender and threatened to shoot her.
Security Video Shows Queer Arizona State Professor Being Assaulted [by Turning Point USA members] Over Drag Queen Story Hour (More coverage here)

REPUBLICAN FLORIDA and DeSANTIS:

REPUBLICAN TEXAS:

Texas student suspended over his loc hairstyle days after state’s Crown Act takes effect
A Black high school student in Texas who served an in-school suspension over his hairstyle received the same punishment again when he arrived Monday wearing his hair in twisted dreadlocks tied on top of his head, his mother said.
Texan Suing Ex’s BFFs Over Abortion Allegedly Promised to Drop Lawsuit for Sex: According to a new court filing, he also allegedly threatened to release intimate videos of his ex-wife unless she did his laundry
Texas judge defends decision not to marry same-sex couples at Supreme Court
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sues Yelp over listing anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy centres” as what they are, rather than letting them pretend to be abortion services providers; it’s all about supporting disinformation as a practice
Groypers in the GOP: Nick Fuentes super fan “Optics Respecter” appears to work in Texas Republican politics, specifically as head of “Texans for Strong Borders.”
Texas Legislature Votes to Seize Immigration Authority from Feds, a case intended to go to the Republican-controlled Supreme Court.
McCarthyism Rides Again at Texas Universities
Texas teacher fired after assigning an illustrated Anne Frank book
As an immigrant rights and criminal justice reform advocate for 20 years, I have become somewhat steeled to systematic injustices. But what I witnessed on a recent trip to Eagle Pass to document Operation Lone Star shook me like nothing in recent memory.

DON’T GIVE ME THIS SHIT, ARGENTINA:

Argentina’s new leader is a snake-oil salesman with extreme views on abortion, gay rights and more. I fear for my country

WHAT STAGE OF CAPITALISM IS THIS?

Is retail theft really rising? “Hey, we know that these stores were planned closures, and you can’t actually use shoplifting as a narrative cover for this.”
Charter Schools Can’t Claim to Be Public Anymore: A recently-passed bill in North Carolina allows the charter industry to screen students and charge tuition, just like a private school.

COPS:

and finally

THE HATE MACHINE AT WORK:

Wow. There. Caught up. Well, mostly. KOSA is getting its own post next, since those are three links that need one, particularly since it’s an action item.

Good luck out there. Good hunting.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.