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Fascism Watch for 2 April 2023
Apr. 2nd, 2023 02:17 pmLegal advisory groups in Washington State are telling health care providers – particularly abortion-related health-care providers – not to travel to Idaho, stating that the legal risk of prosecution is too high for safety. It’s not a governmental travel advisory, but it’s where we are nonetheless.
The Nebraska legislature faces additional full-stop filibustering from a State Senator whose son is trans. “‘My son is trans,’ said state Sen. Megan Hunt (D), vowing to filibuster every bill the legislature takes up until a trans medical ban proposed by a Republican is withdrawn. ‘And this bill, colleagues, is such an affront to me personally and would violate my rights to parent my child in Nebraska.'” Also quoteworthy: “No one in the world holds a grudge like me, and no one in the world cares less about being petty than me.” She joins State Senator Michaela Cavanaugh in a vow to stop all business until the anti-trans bills are withdrawn.
Twitter has been downranking news about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine since Musk took over, according to analysis of one particular group of Twitter users. This makes perfect sense in context of his repeated support for and boosting of Putinist propaganda.
Semi-realatedly, Lawfare Blog co-founder Benjamin Wittes has been suspended from Twitter and won’t be going back. He fully expected this, and spent April 1st masquerading as the Russian Embassy in America, deciding to see when and how Twitter would remove his old-style actual-verification bluecheck in the face of the April 1 deadline to start paying for not-actual-verification, and this was how.
The San Francisco government have also told Musk to go fuck himself.
From the Electronic Frontier Foundation: Rather than focusing on only some companies, Congress should pass legislation that makes Americans’ data safe no matter what platform it’s on—TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, or anywhere else that’s profiting from our private information. That’s an action item, so you can go do something about it.
You should also be watching your state legislatures, as Louisiana and Utah’s state legislatures are also taking axes at online speech. If you haven’t noticed how much of this year’s hate-wave has been at the state level, are you even reading these updates?
As reported earlier, American anti-abortion far-right groups are stepping up anti-abortion activity in the UK, swinging around in the full-fash circle of shit-stirring strategy they always use. They want to bring the style of politics they’ve used in the US to the UK, so expect even more lying than in Brexit and a lot more violence. Something very similar is happening in Ireland, with coordinated astroturfing popping up against trans people. Meanwhile, the BBC interview gay refugees fleeing from Uganda following the success of American fundamentalist groups in creating a local movement to pass a death penalty for homosexuality.
This is what they really want, and they’ll make all of us illegal again if they can.
In contrast, The Independent publishes an opinion article lambasting the so-called LGB Alliance and the trans-exclusionary Lesbian Project, neither of whom have any interest in anything other than attacking trans people, and in a rare case of religious support, a group of nuns published a letter supporting trans people, implicitly in rebuke to several statements from US Catholic leadership against trans health care and rights.
Fascism, like the Republican Party of my lifetime, is also always about looting. This article is substantially about the post-election fundraising fraud Trump ran, to the tune of $250 million dollars. Meanwhile, the New York Times is publishing rhetorical bullshit justifying Trumpist reaction to being prosecuted for literally anything after leaving office, showing again that their core value above all else is that straight rich white men are never held responsible for anything.
I remind everyone that Republicans are not actually different, even if they wear nice sweater vests. I am, of course, specifically thinking of that Softer Side of Sears fascist that Virginia elected Governor, Glenn Youngkin, who has leapt to the defence of 45, joining the virtually-all-inclusive ranks of “Ex-presidents above the law” Republicans.
Two stories on one of many Texas bans on books regarding LGBT people and Black history, this one in Llano County: KVUE and CNN. KVUE has a lot more local context, CNN has a bit more on the legal ruling, so they aren’t completely redundant, and it’s a bit of good news to end on this fine Sunday afternoon.
Remember: last time they launched this war, we beat ’em. This time, their position is much weaker, and they’re much older. All we have to do is fight like we mean it.
We did it before, and we can do it again.
Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.
