Trump's True Colors

They say that you can tell a person's true colors by the people that surround them. Take Trump's former Border Czar Bovino guess where he just showed up?

Trump’s ex-border chief speaks alongside neo-Nazis at pro-fascism summit

He also praised a Nazi leader before the summit.

LGBTQ Nation

Daniel Villarreal (he/him)

June 1, 2026

Gregory Bovino — the now-former tactical commander-at-large for U.S. Border Patrol official who oversaw the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaigns in U.S. cities before Trump removed him last January — spoke alongside fascists and neo-Nazi at a “remigration” summit in Figueira da Foz, Portugal last weekend.

The summit’s lead organizer, Afonso Gonçalves, once said, “Weimar conditions require Weimar solutions,” a reference to the rise of Nazi Germany under Hitler’s Third Reich, the independent journalistic outlet The Redoubt reported. Gonçalves also founded the far-right, anti-Muslim group Reconquista, the outlet added.

The outlet noted that other speakers at the summit included “a Belgian fascist convicted of Holocaust denial, the founder of a Swiss neo-Nazi group called “Junge Tat,” and Martin Sellner, an Austrian extremist who promotes “great replacement theory,” a debunked white nationalist conspiracy theory that a cabal of rich Jewish people wants to “replace” white Americans and Westerners with non-white immigrants and people of color (especially Black people and Muslims) to fundamentally change the racial makeup and political culture of different nations.

Trump keeps great company if you are a fascist! The left leaning Mother Jones wrote;

How Greg Bovino Proved Too Openly Fascistic for Trump

And what it means—or doesn’t—that border czar Tom Homan is taking over.

Noah Lanard

January 27, 2026

Greg Bovino, the Border Patrol “commander-at-large” who terrorized people across America in his Nazi-like trench coat, is being put out to pasture by President Donald Trump. The cause was Bovino’s stupidity, not his cruelty.

After his Border Patrol agents disarmed and killed Alex Pretti in broad daylight on Saturday, Bovino shamelessly slandered the 37-year-old nurse only to have his lies immediately and irrefutably exposed by numerous videos of the killing.

[...]

He did this all with gleeful menace. His signature look was an authoritarian haircut paired with a winter trench coat reminiscent of Hitler’s Germany. As a writer for the German publication Der Spiegel put it, Bovino “stands out from this thuggish mob, just as an elegant SS officer stands out from the rowdy SA mob. The dashing undercut is also spot on; all that’s missing for the perfect cosplay is a monocle.” As noted by the Guardian, a second German outlet wrote that Bovino looked like “he had taken a photo of [assassinated Nazi paramilitary leader] Ernst Röhm to the barber.” 

But now he shows up at pro-fascist event! The Daily Beast wrote;

Ousted Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino has gone from angling for his job back to launching a full-scale attack on the Trump administration.

Bovino, the one-time face of Donald Trump’s brutal deportation operation that culminated in the deaths of two U.S. citizens at the hands of federal agents, condemned the president and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles for what he described as a move to “water down mass deportations.”

On Sunday, Bovino shared a video of himself speaking at the Remigration Summit in the coastal city of Porto, Portugal, where far-right Europeans gathered to promote the mass expulsion of immigrants and minority groups from their countries. Ahead of the event, Bovino spoke to a far-right news outlet and said he was now in “battle” not with immigrants but with “timid politicians” afraid to target them on a mass scale, singling out Trump’s “inner circle.”

What does this say about Trump's inner circle... they are all far right fascists!

We Made It To The FBI Terrorist List!

Weaponizing the FBI! Tell me what terrorist acts have trans people done?

Trump counterterrorism strategy targets ‘violent left-wing extremists’ with ‘transgender ideology’

The strategy focusing on left-wing groups reverses the Biden-era concentration on right-wing extremism.

Politico

By Diana Nerozzi

05/06/2026

“Violent left-wing extremists” and “extremist transgender ideology” are among the most concerning threats facing the country, according to the Trump administration counterterrorism strategy released Wednesday.

The strategy, the first released in President Donald Trump’s second term, underscores how Trump’s priorities differ from predecessors, listing “violent left-wing extremists” as one of its top three focuses, alongside “narcoterrorists” and “Islamist terrorists.”

[...]

“We see a threat, we will respond to it, and we will crush it, whether it is the cartels, the jihadists, or violent left-wing extremists like antifa and like the transgender killers, the non-binary, the left-wing radicals who killed my friend Charlie Kirk, we will take them on, head on,” senior director for counterterrorism Sebastian Gorka told reporters on a call Wednesday.

Whoa "Transgender Killers!"

Psycho Killer

Qu'est-ce que c'est?

Fa-fa-fa-fa, fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa, better

Run, run, run, run, run, run, run away, oh-oh-oh

Psycho Killer

Qu'est-ce que c'est?

Fa-fa-fa-fa, fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa, better

Run, run, run, run, run, run, run away, oh, oh, oh, oh

Ay-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya, ooh

Psycho Killer Talking Heads

Tell me, how many terrorists have been "trans"? Four or five? How many terrorists have been "cis"? How many were right-wing terrorists... hundreds?

Besides the obvious attempt to make a whole community suspect, I see it as a form of political marginalization. This comes on the heels of Trump calling for Democrats to cut back on their rhetoric.

The far-left Mother Jones wrote,

Wednesday’s document, masterminded by White House “counterterrorism czar” Sebastian Gorka, does not mention far-right violence at all. It identifies “Violent Left-Wing Extremists, including Anarchists and Anti-Fascists” as a security threat of equal severity to “Legacy Islamist Terrorists” and “Narcoterrorists and Transnational Gangs.” The administration will now apparently “prioritize the rapid identification and neutralization of violent secular political groups whose ideology is anti-American, radically pro-transgender, and anarchist.”

In a bizarre but familiar turn, the document also blames transgender people for the shooting of Charlie Kirk. “Americans have witnessed the politically motivated killings of Christians and conservatives committed by violent left-wing extremists, including the assassination of Charlie Kirk by a radical who espoused extreme transgender ideologies.”

This is scary! They are weaponizing the government against us; it is a dangerous form of political scapegoating that uses valuable government resources to persecute us!

But the document reads less like a plan than a list of targets. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), the House Committee on Homeland Security’s ranking Democrat, noted in a press release that the document left out the far right—the group most likely to commit violent acts against civilians on US soil—“despite years of data proving that right-wing extremism has presented the most persistent and deadly threats to Americans for decades.”

I also want to point out that last week, the feds went after the Southern Poverty Law Center charging them with allegations that the organization defrauded its donors by secretly funneling money to the very extremist groups it claimed to be fighting.

This follows threats made by Brendan Carr, the head of the Federal Communications Commission, to yank the licenses for ABC network stations over the TV show The View

History is repeating itself... Hungary, Belarus, Russia, and going back to the 1930s and early 1940s!

We saw it when they passed Paragraph 175, a law that criminalized "unnatural indecency" between men, and we see it now in the governments of Russia and Belarus, and until recently in Hungary. They scapegoat a minority and control the press, and now we are seeing it here!

Do You Know Who He Is?

Birds of a feather fly together!

Like attracts like.

Two peas in a pod.

Of the same stripe.

A man is known by the company he keeps.

Or whatever cliché you want to use for Trump’s close ally, Viktor Orbán.

Trump stumps for Viktor Orbán in phone call during Vance’s rally

Orbán is one of the Trump administration’s top allies in Europe, but he’s lagging in the polls ahead of Hungary’s national election next week.

Politico

By Gregory Svirnovskiy

04/07/2026

President Donald Trump took a call from Vice President JD Vance to voice support for Viktor Orbán during a rally alongside the Hungarian leader in Budapest on Tuesday, as the White House looks to boost the beleaguered prime minister ahead of what could be a bruising April 12 national election for his ruling Fidesz party.

Trump’s phone call came just hours after the president threatened the death of an entire civilization if Iran misses his 8 p.m. deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

“He does a job, remember this, he didn’t allow people to storm your country and invade your country like other people have, and ruin their countries frankly,” Trump said of Orban. “He’s kept your country good, he’s kept Hungarian people in your country. And he’s done a fantastic job.”

Orban is one of the Trump administration’s top allies in Europe, and the president has routinely praised his anti-immigration stance while slamming leadership in the United Kingdom, France and Germany as “weak.” Vance’s visit to the Hungarian prime minister follows a February meeting between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Orban, during which Rubio announced a “Golden Age” in relations between Washington and Budapest.

Who is Viktor Orbán? The Guardian wrote this about him last year,

‘In a real sense, US democracy has died’: how Trump is emulating Hungary’s Orbán

Trump has moved to gut the federal government, fire critics and reward allies – a path similar to ‘would-be dictators’ like Orbán, experts say

David Smith 

Fri 7 Feb 2025

A pitiless crackdown on on illegal immigration. A hardline approach to law and order. A purge of “gender ideology” and “wokeness” from the nation’s schools. Erosions of academic freedom, judicial independence and the free press. An alliance with Christian nationalism. An assault on democratic institutions.

The “electoral autocracy” that is Viktor Orbán’s Hungary has been long revered by Donald Trump and his “Make America Great Again” (Maga) movement. Now admiration is turning into emulation. In the early weeks of Trump’s second term as US president, analysts say, there are alarming signs that the Orbánisation of America has begun.

With the tech billionaire Elon Musk at his side, Trump has moved with astonishing velocity to fire critics, punish media, reward allies, gut the federal government, exploit presidential immunity and test the limits of his authority. Many of their actions have been unconstitutional and illegal. With Congress impotent, only the federal courts have slowed them down.

“They are copying the path taken by other would-be dictators like Viktor Orbán,” said Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator for Connecticut. “You have a move towards state-controlled media. You have a judiciary and law enforcement that seems poised to prioritise the prosecution of political opponents. You have the executive seizure of spending power so the leader and only the leader gets to dictate who gets money.”

And this is the person Trump envies, you want to know where Trump is getting his ideas from, his pal Orban.

Orbán’s fans in the US include Vice-President JD Vance, the media personality Tucker Carlson and Kevin Roberts, the head of the Heritage Foundation thinktank, who once said: “Modern Hungary is not just a model for conservative statecraft but the model.” The Heritage Foundation produced Project 2025, a far-right blueprint for Trump’s second term.

Orbán has addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference and two months ago travelled to the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida for talks with both Trump and Musk. He has claimed that “we have entered the policy writing system of President Donald Trump’s team” and “have deep involvement there”.

They worship this fascist authoritarian would-be dictator! In an opinion piece in The Washington Post...

The Trump administration is extremely invested in the outcome of the April 12 Hungarian election. Vice President JD Vance travels to Budapest this week for a series of events with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. In February, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the same trip, touting the “golden age” of U.S.-Hungarian relations. Late last month, President Donald Trump gushed on Truth Social that Orban is “a truly strong and powerful Leader, with a proven track record of delivering phenomenal results.”

It’s almost as if Trump and Orbán were cut from the same cloth.

Back in 2020 the Human Rights Watch wrote,

Tell Hungary That Trans Rights Are Human Rights

Update 28 May 2020 – Since this piece was originally written, sadly, Section 33 has passed into Hungarian Law. As it contravenes fundamental human rights, Amnesty International is calling on the Hungarian Human Commissioner for Fundamental Rights to stop this by rejecting the validity of this legislation. Join us in taking action

According to international and regional human rights standards, transgender people should be able to obtain legal gender recognition through quick, accessible and transparent procedures and in accordance with their own perceptions of gender identity. States must ensure that transgender people can obtain documents reflecting their gender identity without being required to satisfy criteria that in themselves violate their human rights.

Instead of complying with their human rights obligations, the Hungarian government is moving in the opposite direction, as they put forward a new bill including an article – Section 33 – which would ban legal gender recognition in Hungary. This is happening while all efforts should focus on protecting and guaranteeing the right to health for everyone without discrimination and taking urgent measures necessary to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hmm.... where are we seeing that now?

Do you now see why I questioned Vance's trip?

Part One: The Open Door

The genie is out of the bottle:

We can't put him back; surveillance is here to stay. It started in the 60s in London with the CCTV cameras around the city, and now we find surveillance cameras in doorbells!

Eyes that never blink: Cal Poly’s Flock license plate readers spark student backlash

In March of 2025, Cal Poly signed a contract with surveillance company Flock Safety

Mustang News

by Grace Gillio

March 3, 2026

Every time a vehicle, bike or motorcycle enters or exits Cal Poly’s campus, it’s being tracked, often without the driver knowing. 

Its license plate is scanned and make and model noted, along with the exact date, time and location by a network of license plate readers monitored by the Cal Poly Police Department.

The readers also record each car’s color, any present damage, bumper stickers and type of tire, allowing cameras to identify vehicles based on cosmetics rather than just a license plate. 

In March 2025, Cal Poly signed a contract with Flock safety, installing license plate readers and live video cameras at all campus vehicle entrances and exits, according to university spokesperson Matt Lazier. The decision, which was made with limited community input, incited condemnation from students and staff who are concerned about Flock’s potential to have a negative impact on the security of the Cal Poly community. 

[...]

On Feb. 26, 2026, nearly a year after Cal Poly signed a contract with Flock Safety, CPPD decided to opt-in to a transparency portal. The cameras have detected 55,070 vehicles in the last 30 days, and CPPD has made 21 searches of the data, according to the portal. CPPD conducted 406 searches through Flock data from June 2025 to Feb. 3, 2026, according to Kevin Cushing, public records access officer. 

What does that mean? It means that every single person entering a supposedly "open" center of learning, students, faculty, and visitors, is being indexed into a searchable database. As the Mustang News report notes, in just a 30-day period, these cameras detected over 55,000 vehicles.

Cal Poly had “general discussions” with ASI leadership before the Flock cameras were installed, according to Lazier. However, Mustang News found no formal Cal Poly announcement that Flock’s license plate recognition technology was to be utilized on campus. 

Some students and staff are left wondering where the line is drawn between safety and surveillance. 

Ryan Jenkins, philosophy professor and associate director of the Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group, says he is worried about the normalization of surveillance in general, especially the expectation that citizens have to “submit” to technology like Flock without knowledge or consent.

“We’re told that it’s being done in our interest and for our benefit. I think that it’s fair to demand more than that in terms of an explanation,” Jenkins said. “I think it’s fair to understand how the data are used, who has access to them, what real kind of technical safeguards we have.”

But I don't think that having unfettered access to the databases is good. We cannot have open databases that can be accessed by any law enforcement agencies!

If we cannot put the genie back in the bottle, we must at least build a cage for it. We need a "gatekeeper"—strict legal guardrails and oversight—to ensure that "safety" doesn't become a permanent excuse for the end of privacy. There needs to be a gate keeper!

LAPD’s relationship with Flock Safety under scrutiny from oversight body

L A Times

By Libor Jany

March 3, 2026

The Los Angeles Police Commission on Tuesday said it wants to know more about how data captured by the controversial license plate reader company Flock Safety is stored and shared.

Commissioner Jeff Skobin requested a report from the department about its relationship with Flock, citing his conversations with city officials and residents, as well as news reporting detailing how federal authorities had repeatedly accessed Flock’s surveillance data as part of their nationwide deportation crackdown.

Speaking during the civilian oversight panel’s meeting Tuesday, Skobin said that, for the sake of transparency, he wanted the department to explain how it was “so confident” that its data wasn’t being accessed by federal authorities as part of their immigration roundups.

[...]

The chief added that the department was aware of news reports suggesting that a “configuration error” by Flock had allowed out-of-state law enforcement agencies, including federal agents, to access license plate data from Ventura County in violation of state law.

McDonnell said he ordered an internal audit to determine whether similar inadvertent sharing had occurred within the Los Angeles Police Department.

Ops... "Sorry about that boss!"

Plate-reading technology has been around for decades. But as the Trump administration’s deportation crackdown has ramped up, residents, privacy advocates and officials in some cities across the country have mounted campaigns urging their local governments to stop using the technology.

Before the commission meeting, several dozen activists gathered outside LAPD headquarters in downtown L.A. to demand that the department cut ties with Flock.

"It won't happen again boss, promise! Cross my heart."

Ding Dong... ICE Calling!

Amazon's Ring ends deal with surveillance firm after backlash

BBC News

13 February 2026

Kali Hays

Amazon's smart doorbell company is dropping a partnership with a firm known for its surveillance services, after facing scrutiny over its privacy practices.

The decision cancels a deal announced in October between Amazon's Ring and Flock Safety, a firm that operates a network of cameras and license plate readers in the US used primarily by police and law enforcement agencies.

The agreement would have allowed agencies working with Flock to retrieve video captured on Ring devices, if needed for investigations and allowed by customers.

The decision not to move forward came days after a Ring advertisement aired during the Super Bowl sparked widespread backlash for being "creepy".

You know that speaks volumes on their mindset... that they didn't think people would think that it was "creepy" that Big Brother was staring out their front door!

In George Orwell book Nineteen Eighty-Four he never dreamed of computers and databases would lead us down the path to Big Brother and fascism.

Orwell’s 1984 warned of a world where Big Brother’s face was on every corner. He never imagined we would buy the cameras ourselves and mount them on our doors. We are reaching a tipping point where the "Search Party" for a lost dog becomes a "Search Party" for a political dissident or an immigrant neighbor. If we don't demand a "gatekeeper" now, we aren't just leaving the bottle open—we’re handing the genie the keys to our homes.

Just like in Nineteen Eighty-Four pictures of "Big Brother" are appearing all over Washington DC, on the Department of Justice, Department of Labor, and Department of Agriculture there are portraits of Big Brother on them.

A Tale Of Two States

One Republican and one Democrat and the opposite directions that are going! First the Republican state.

Missouri anti-LGBTQ+ laws linked to population loss and decline in tax revenue, studies find

Researchers and business leaders warn that discriminatory laws are pushing LGBTQ+ Missourians and employers to leave, hurting the state’s economy

Missouri Independent

By: Annelise Hanshaw

November 7, 2025

When Rob Connoley shut down his award-winning St. Louis restaurant last year, business was thriving.

Tourists and locals alike lauded Bulrush as a destination for Ozark cuisine, making its way into local and national publications as a top restaurant. Profit margins were beyond national averages, and Connoley was a newly awarded James Beard Award finalist.

But it didn’t feel right.

During a trip to London to represent Missouri in an international food festival, Connoley realized he couldn’t be an ambassador for a state that didn’t respect him.

“It felt egregious and awkward to be promoting a state in a region that was actively working against my own personal interests,” he told The Independent.

Connoley, who is gay, pointed to an onslaught of anti-LGBTQ+ laws. The final push was when the Missouri Attorney General sought out transgender kids’ medical records.

As I have said before... what is this country coming to where we don't feel safe from the police in our homes that we have to flee!

Analysis by the Movement Advancement Project estimates that around $362 million to $879 million in household income has left the state, a number that is expected to increase.

The estimate is based on a survey conducted by MAP in collaboration with The Trevor Project, a mental health nonprofit for LGBTQ+ youth. Their research shows that among LGBTQ+-identifying people ages 13 to 24, around 39% have considered moving to a different state and 4% have already moved because of policies targeting gay and transgender people.

“There is good reason to suspect this 4% estimate may be even higher in Missouri,” the report says.

A separate study conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality and released in 2024 found 47% of transgender people have thought about moving to a different state because of discriminatory state laws, and 5% had completed a move for that reason.

Missouri is one of 10 states highlighted in the study as having a higher proportion of respondents moving away.

Now lets take a look at Illinois, the governor there just gave a speech to the legislature! NBC Ch5 Chicago reported on the governor's State of the State address in February...

Pritzker questioned what the president will do next, with uncertainly surrounding DOGE, the future of federal programs and more in the balance.

"After we’ve discriminated against, deported or disparaged all the immigrants and the gay and lesbian and transgender people, the developmentally disabled, the women and the minorities – once we’ve ostracized our neighbors and betrayed our friends – After that, when the problems we started with are still there staring us in the face – what comes next?" he said. "All the atrocities of human history lurk in the answer to that question. And if we don’t want to repeat history – then for God’s sake in this moment we better be strong enough to learn from it."

He ended his address with another Holocaust mention.

"If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this: It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic," he said. "All I’m saying is when the five-alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control... Tyranny requires your fear and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage. So gather your justice and humanity, Illinois, and do not let the 'tragic spirit of despair' overcome us when our country needs us the most."

People fleeing their homes, people being persecuted for who they are... this is something out of a fascist dream!

They Want To Win At Any Cost

• What party started the gerrymandering wars? The Republicans with a plea from Trump!
• What party is sitting on seating a duly elected Congresswoman from Arizona? The Republicans, Johnson is holding up the seating Adelita Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona because she will break the tie vote to release the Epstein papers!
• What party is trying to strip the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

The Supreme Court has chipped away at the Voting Rights Act for years. Will this case be the final blow?

The case centers on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the key provision of the law that broadly prohibits discrimination in voting practices on the basis of race or creed.

Politico

By Zach Montellaro and Andrew Howard

10/15/2025

The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments in a case that could gut the Voting Rights Act by barring states from considering the racial makeup of voting populations when drawing district lines — an outcome that stands to change the course of next year’s midterm elections.

In adopting that approach, the justices could upend decades of court decisions holding that states may — and sometimes must — use race-conscious redistricting to protect the voting power of minorities.

Some conservatives argue that any consideration of race in drawing district lines is cynical, discriminatory and unconstitutional. Advocates for minority voters warn a “colorblind” interpretation of the Voting Rights Act would erode Black, brown and Asian representation in American politics and kick off another round of redistricting amid an already chaotic cycle of mid-decade redraws ahead of 2026.

Did you get that argument? Banning discriminations is itself discriminatory! Talk about circular reasoning!

Some conservatives argue that any consideration of race in drawing district lines is cynical, discriminatory and unconstitutional. Advocates for minority voters warn a “colorblind” interpretation of the Voting Rights Act would erode Black, brown and Asian representation in American politics and kick off another round of redistricting amid an already chaotic cycle of mid-decade redraws ahead of 2026.

So in other words it will make gerrymandering districts to break up black communities legal!

Will the Voting Rights Act Be Gutted? Supreme Court Could Decide Its Future.

If the justices decide that lawmakers cannot consider race in drafting maps, redistricting could result in congressional seats flipping from blue to red throughout the country.

The New York Times

By Abbie VanSickle

Oct. 15, 2025

The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments in a challenge to Louisiana’s congressional map, a legal battle over whether states can use race as a factor in drawing electoral lines.

The dispute centers on whether Louisiana lawmakers ran afoul of the Constitution when they adopted a new electoral map in 2024, creating the state’s second majority-Black district.

But the case could have much broader implications for the law and for politics, potentially gutting the remaining pillar of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has sharply curtailed in recent years. If the justices decide that lawmakers cannot consider race in drafting maps, redistricting could result in congressional seats flipping from blue to red throughout the country.

You see the racist Republicans are worried, they are becoming the minority so they want to break up the "Black vote." Thety have been chipping away at the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Back from day one the Republicans have fought it!

• 1965: South Carolina v. Katzenbach (Unconstitutional intrusions on states' rights)
• 2013: Shelby County v. Holder (Formula that determined which jurisdictions needed preclearance)
• 2021: Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee (Set limits plaintiffs challenging state or local rules under Section 2)
• 2023: Allen v. Milligan (The question was whether the state illegally diluted Black voting strength by having only one majority‐Black district even though Black voters could form a second fairly compact majority‐Black district.)

And now we have...

The legal battle can be traced back to the 2020 census, which showed an increase in Louisiana’s population of Black adults. While Black Louisianans made up about a third of the state’s population, there was only one majority-Black congressional district out of six districts.

Bring back, bring back, bring back my Jim Crow laws to me! (Yeah, yeah, I know. But what do you want at 6AM when I'm writing this!)

There is no doubt the Republican party is a party of racists! The Republican party is a party of fascists! The Republican party is a party for the party and not the people! 

This Is Sick!

Why do they hate us so much?

This is unbelievable and dripping with animosity... Why?

Republican Sen. Mike Lee's pornography ban is moving forward in the Senate

Utah Senator Mike Lee's bill that would ban all pornography federally is advancing within the Senate.

The Advocate

By Ryan Adamczeski

August 12 2025

A Republican bill that would ban all pornography federally is advancing within the Senate.

Utah Senator Mike Lee's Interstate Obscenity Definition Act (IODA) has been referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation for review. If approved, it will go to the U.S. Senate for voting.

The law would alter the Miller Test, which was established in the 1973 Miller v. California Supreme Court decision that determined "obscene" speech is not protected by the First Amendment. The test defines obscenity as material that "appeal[s] to prurient interests as judged by the average person; depict[s] sexual conduct in a patently offensive manner; and lack[s] serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value."

The IODA would remove the “community standards” benchmark for determining obscenity, and would remove the provision clarifying that sexual conduct must be depicted in a “patently offensive” manner to be considered obscene — labeling all phonographic content as obscenity and rendering it illegal nationally.

Banning pornography that is American as apple pie. But as they say the "devils in the details" but in this case the lake of details.

The bill instead defines obscenity as material that “taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest in nudity, sex, or excretion; depicts, describes, or represents actual or simulated sexual acts with the objective intent to arouse, titillate, or gratify the sexual desires of a person; and taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”

That is where it gets dicey... whose standards? Are they going to hold a nationwide survey to come up with "A standard" and how will they do it? Have us look at "naughty" pictures that get naughtier and naughtier until the majority says "Stop?"

Sen. Mike Lee’s obscenity bill is a free speech nightmare straight out of Project 2025’s playbook

The Utah Republican introduced the Senate version of the “Interstate Obscenity Definition Act” (IODA) — a recycled attempt to ban online pornography nationwide.

MSNBC

By Jacob Mchangama

May 13, 2025

A new bill in Congress threatens to dictate what Americans can read, watch and say online. On May 8, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah and Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill.,  introduced the “Interstate Obscenity Definition Act” (IODA) — a recycled attempt to ban online pornography nationwide.

While concerns about pornography, including moral and religious ones, are part of any healthy public debate, this bill does something far more dangerous: It empowers the federal government to police speech based on subjective values. When lawmakers try to enforce the beliefs of some Americans at the expense of others’ rights, they cross a constitutional line — and put the First Amendment at risk.

[...]

The IODA seeks to sidestep the Supreme Court’s long-standing three-part test for obscenity, established in the 1973 case Miller v. California. The material must appeal to a prurient interest, depict sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, and lack serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

Lee’s bill would scrap that standard and replace it with a broader, far more subjective definition. It would label content obscene if it simply focuses on nudity, sex or excretion in a way that is intended to arouse and if it lacks “serious value.”

I wasn't joking on who gets to decide, it is a real problem. The bill says Congress should set the standard. The Advocate goes on to say,

LGBTQ+ identities are included within "obscene materials" in some states. Under Kansas criminal law, obscene material deemed "harmful to minors" that requires identification to view includes nudity and "sexual content," which is defined in part as "acts of masturbation, homosexuality, or sexual intercourse."

Will we be going back to pre-Stonewall, to the era of the Black Cat Tavern, Compton's, and Dewey's when the police raid LGBTQ bars? So where did this bill originated from? News.com.au writes,

Under current US law, a charge of obscenity can only be laid if a “reasonable person” would find it “patently offensive”.

The Christian conservative Heritage Foundation wants to redefine both.

“Look at America under the ruling and cultural elite today: Inflation is ravaging family budgets, drug overdose deaths continue to escalate, and children suffer the toxic normalisation of transgender-ism with drag queens and pornography invading their school libraries,” it proclaimed during the 2024 US election campaign.

The Washington DC think-tank authored Project 2025: Mandate for Leadership – The Conservative Promise. This 920-page document forms the basis of many of Trump’s policies, ranging from tariffs, slashing government spending, ending anti-discrimination efforts and renewing bans against the LGBTQ+ community.

Did you catch that? Project 2025.

Do you know where else they have laws like this? Russia passed a law banning the "propaganda of non‑traditional sexual relationships" directed at minors. It broadly prohibited any positive or neutral portrayal of LGBTQ topics, in Hungary Anti‑LGBTQ Legislation law making it illegal to present or promote sex reassignment or homosexuality, spanning schools, media, advertising, and family content—echoing Russia’s earlier law, and in China doesn't have an explicit “anti‑LGBTQ bill” but enforces stringent content restrictions through censorship, regulatory pressure, and punitive actions which as you can guess we are included.

I asked Chat GPT aI: Tell me what do these countries have in common?

ChatGPT said:

Great question—and the answer reveals a clear pattern. Despite different cultures, religions, or political systems, the countries that restrict or criminalize LGBTQ+ expression tend to share several key characteristics:

---

🔍 What These Countries Have in Common

1. Authoritarian or Illiberal Governance

• Power is concentrated in a small ruling group or leader.

• Judicial independence, media freedom, and civil liberties are weakened.

• Political dissent is discouraged or criminalized.

Examples: Russia (Putin), China (CCP/Xi Jinping), Hungary (Orbán), Iran, Uganda.

---

2. State-Controlled or Restricted Media

• Governments control or heavily influence TV, newspapers, and online platforms.

• Independent media and journalists face surveillance, censorship, or shutdowns.

• LGBTQ+ stories are either banned or re-framed as "Western propaganda" or "immorality."

---

3. Use of “Traditional Values” or Religion to Justify Control

• LGBTQ+ people are portrayed as threats to the "natural family," "national identity," or "morality."

• Religious narratives (Islamic in Iran/Nigeria, Christian in Uganda/Hungary, Confucian in China) are used politically—not just spiritually.

• “Protect the children” is a common rallying cry.

---

4. Weaponization of Law Against Minorities

• Laws are written vaguely—terms like “obscenity,” “abnormal,” “propaganda,” or “promotion” let governments target a wide range of content or behavior.

• LGBTQ+ people are made symbolic targets to distract from corruption, economic issues, or unpopular policies.

---

5. Suppression of Civil Society and Dissent

• LGBTQ+ organizations, Pride events, and advocacy groups are shut down, banned, or surveilled.

• Online speech is monitored and punished.

• Broader human rights defenders—feminists, journalists, students—are often attacked too.

---

6. Populism and Nationalism

• These regimes often promote a version of “cultural purity” or national rebirth.

• Anything “foreign” (especially progressive Western ideas about gender and sexuality) is labeled as a threat.

---

🧠 Why This Matters

Laws targeting LGBTQ+ people are rarely just about sexuality or gender. They’re about control:

• Over bodies

• Over thought

• Over speech

• Over resistance

That’s why what starts as “just a bill about obscenity” or “protecting children” can quickly morph into a system that criminalizes difference.

And once LGBTQ+ rights are weakened, other rights often follow: free speech, privacy, education, reproductive rights, freedom of assembly.

---

🧭 So if the U.S. passes IODA?

It joins a global trend—away from democracy and toward authoritarianism. Not because the bill says “LGBTQ people are illegal,” but because it creates a legal and moral framework that erases them from public life.

---

So if the U.S. passes this bill we would be in good company with other authoritarian countries!

Hey Folks... Is This What You Voted For?

This is the middle finger salute to the people of California.

This is an insult. 

This is racist, and is what a tyrant does.

Border Patrol agents stage show of force at Newsom’s ‘big beautiful press conference’

The LA Times

By Connor Sheets, Brittny Mejia and Julia Wick

Aug. 14, 2025

• Newsom was announcing California’s response to President Trump’s efforts to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives
• Mayor Karen Bass asks why border patrol ‘thumbed their nose’ at the governor’s event
• “WE WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED,” Newsom’s office posts on X

As Gov. Gavin Newsom prepared to announce that he would take on President Trump’s redistricting plans on behalf of California, scores of federal immigration agents massed outside the venue Thursday.

Newsom was set to speak at the Japanese American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles, when Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino, who has been leading the immigration operations in California, arrived in Little Tokyo, flanked by agents in helmets, camouflage, masks and holding guns.

NBC 4 Los Angeles reported...

"Right outside, at this exact moment, dozens and dozens of ice agents," Newsom said. "Donald Trump, you think it’s coincidental? Donald Trump’s minions, (border czar) Tom Homan, decided this was a location they’d advance.

[...]

"There is no way this was a coincidence," Mayor Karen Bass said. "There was no reason in the world for them to come here. This is a complete provocation. This has nothing to do with safety. This is the exact opposite of keeping our city safe."

When asked about it the coincident Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino arrogantly replied...

Bovino was asked whether the location of the Border Patrol presence was a coincidence.

"Breaking the law is not coincidental," Bovino said. "Breaking the law is breaking the law."

Yeah but... he is right in one respect, "Breaking the law is not coincidental," but enforcing it right in front of the press conference is also not a coincidence!

• “It is not a coincidence that they chose this moment and this place. It’s a statement. A political one.” — Governor Gavin Newsom
• “This was a provocation — a show of force designed to intimidate. There is no chance this was accidental.” — LA Mayor Karen Bass

I also want to point out that this is not the half of it... also the location was important and it sends a message. Many of the people inside that museum were once victims that were forced into internment camps during World War II, simply because of their ancestry. For nearly five years, they were incarcerated under Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, citing vague “national security concerns.”

Now, once again, we see “national security” being invoked, but this time to justify the federal invasion of the District of Columbia.

And today, decades later, they watch as another president signs executive orders, while armed, masked men stand outside that same museum—the very place built to ensure America never forgets what was done to them.

That order cost them everything. Their homes, businesses, and property were confiscated. Their dignity erased. The psychological scars never fully healed.

And now, once again, they see men in uniforms rounding up the so-called “undesirables.”

What must they be thinking when they see it happening once again?

---

If you want to share this, the best way is with the direct link.

Is This His Guidebook?

I have to wonder where is Trump getting all his evil ideas? It from Putin whispering in his ear? Or is it from other dictators? Because I don’t think Trump is smart enough to think of it on his own.

America’s Future Is Hungary

MAGA conservatives love Viktor Orbán. But he’s left his country corrupt, stagnant, and impoverished.

The Atlantic

By Anne Applebaum

May 2025

Flashy hotels and upmarket restaurants now dominate the center of Budapest, a city once better known for its shabby facades. New monuments have sprung up in the center of town too. One of them, a pastiche of the Vietnam War memorial in Washington, D.C., mourns Hungary’s lost 19th-century empire. Instead of war dead, the names of formerly “Hungarian” places—cities and villages that are now in Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Poland—are engraved in long granite walls, solemnly memorialized with an eternal flame.

But the nationalist kitsch and tourist traps hide a different reality. Once widely perceived to be the wealthiest country in Central Europe (“the happiest barrack in the socialist camp,” as it was known during the Cold War), and later the Central European country that foreign investors liked most, Hungary is now one of the poorest countries, and possibly the poorest, in the European Union. Industrial production is falling year-over-year. Productivity is close to the lowest in the region. Unemployment is creeping upward. Despite the ruling party’s loud talk about traditional values, the population is shrinking. Perhaps that’s because young people don’t want to have children in a place where two-thirds of the citizens describe the national education system as “bad,” and where hospital departments are closing because so many doctors have moved abroad. Maybe talented people don’t want to stay in a country perceived as the most corrupt in the EU for three years in a row. Even the Index of Economic Freedom—which is published by the Heritage Foundation, the MAGA-affiliated think tank that produced Project 2025—puts Hungary at the bottom of the EU in its rankings of government integrity.

Gee does all this sound familiar? Is this where we are heading? To the bottom of the dung heap?

Hungary was taken over by a “strongman” who took over like Trump did but Viktor Orbán did it in 2010 when he started his second term. Since then he has wrecked the political system, bullied the media, and appointed his cronies to the courts. Hmm… sounds like Trump’s playbook doesn’t it?

What is this Hungarian model they so admire? Mostly, it has nothing to do with modern statecraft. Instead it’s a very old, very familiar blueprint for autocratic takeover, one that has been deployed by right-wing and left-wing leaders alike, from Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Hugo Chávez. After being elected to a second term in 2010, Orbán slowly replaced civil servants with loyalists; used economic pressure and regulation to destroy the free press; robbed universities of their independence, and shut one of them down; politicized the court system; and repeatedly changed the constitution to give himself electoral advantages. During the coronavirus pandemic he gave himself emergency powers, which he has kept ever since. He has aligned himself openly with Russia and China, serving as a mouthpiece for Russian foreign policy at EU meetings and allowing opaque Chinese investments in his country.

Getting chills up your spine yet?

This autocratic takeover is precisely what Bannon, Roberts, and others admire, and are indeed seeking to carry out in the U.S. right now. The destruction of the civil service is already under way, pressure on the press and universities has begun, and thoughts of changing the Constitution are in the air. But proponents of these ideas rarely talk about what happened to the Hungarian economy, and to ordinary Hungarians, after they were implemented there. Nor do they explore the contradictions between Orbán’s rhetoric and the reality of his policies. Orbán talks a lot about blocking immigration, for example, but at one point his government issued visas to any non-EU citizen who bought 300,000 euros’ worth of government bonds from mysterious and mostly offshore companies.

He rhapsodizes about family values, even though his government spends among the lowest amounts per capita on health care in the EU, controls access to IVF, and notoriously decided to pardon a man who covered up sexual abuse in children’s homes.

Forget Mein Kampf! This is the new Twenty-First Century version complete with social media.

Hungary’s transformation into an ‘electoral autocracy’ has parallels to Trump’s second term

AP News

By  JUSTIN SPIKE and NICHOLAS RICCARDI

February 15, 2025

Hours before President Donald Trump was sworn in to begin his second term, promising a “golden age” for America, the leader of a Central European country was describing the years ahead in strikingly similar terms.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Trump’s return would usher in Hungary’s own “golden age” and mark the “collapse” of liberal democracy.

The messaging overlap was no surprise.

Orbán’s strongman style has long served as an inspiration for U.S. conservatives, who have looked at Hungary as a possible model for a right-wing America with less immigration, fewer regulations and the removal of democratic constraints they see as unwieldy or inconvenient.

So is Trump taking instructions from Putin and Orbán? It is almost like a conspiracy of dictators coaching one another!

Orbán has formed a close bond with Trump and has made multiple visits to the president’s Florida resort. This week, the prime minister praised Trump’s unilateral outreach to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine. During one of last year’s U.S. presidential debates, Trump praised Orbán as “a strong man. He’s a tough person.”

I don’t know about you but I don’t get a warm-fuzzy feeling about this!

Orbán used state power to crush rivals, remake the judiciary and game elections to make it much harder to oust his party. He has cracked down on LGBTQ+ rights, immigration, the media and civic organizations.

Just this week Trump issued elections reforms by executive order! The Brennan Center writes…

A coalition of voting rights organizations filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to challenge President Trump’s unlawful executive order on voting that attempts to seize the power to set voter registration rules from Congress and the states, and doing so in a way that would violate federal law and the Constitution if carried out by the Election Assistance Commission (EAC). Key provisions of Trump’s order could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters, particularly voters of color, women voters, naturalized citizens, voters with disabilities, voters with low incomes, and first-time voters.

The Constitution specifies that Congress and the states can set the rules for our elections, not the President. On March 27, several of the groups also sent a letter to the EAC urging them not to take action in response to key provisions in the executive order, as doing so would violate federal law.

Late last month Trump attacked the law firms that filed cases against him in an effort to intimidate the legal system, he has threatened to impeach judges that ruled against him, VOX wrote,

Their democracy died. They have lessons for America about Trump’s power grab.

Hungarians who lived through Viktor Orbán’s 2010 power grab warn Americans: Act now, before it’s too late.

by Zack Beauchamp

Feb 5, 2025

A leader who voters rejected several years ago returns to power, largely thanks to discontent with the incumbent party’s economic performance. Almost immediately upon taking office, the leader launches a blitzkrieg designed to strengthen his personal grip on power. He claims unprecedented power over the budget, fires the leaders of government oversight agencies, and places vast policymaking power in the hands of an unelected wealthy ally. The opposition, divided and disorganized after electoral defeat, struggles to formulate an effective response as democracy begins to buckle.

The country I am describing is, of course, Hungary in 2010.

That year, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán returned to power after his defeat in 2002. He then launched an ambitious plan for turning a vibrant democracy into an authoritarian state, moving so swiftly to remove all formal checks on his power that few Hungarians truly understood how much power he was accruing. Judges and watchdogs were replaced with pliant cronies; his top allies took command of policymaking apparatus while developing tools for controlling the press.

[…]

Orbán’s 2010 takeover depended crucially on his legislative dominance. His Fidesz party had a majority large enough to amend the Hungarian constitution at will. With that much power, it was easy for him to seize full control over the government in record time.

By contrast, Trump’s House majority is one of the narrowest in history. And in the Senate, the filibuster severely limits what Republicans can pass. The legislative balance of power situation forces Trump to rely on executive orders of dubious legality, creating a number of different ways to check his abuse of power (like lawsuits) that wouldn’t have worked in Hungary of 2010.

But the thing is the Republicans in Congress are gutless… they worry about Musk throwing millions of dollars against them, they worry about Trump’s wrath instead of the Constitution and the people of our country.

We still have time but the sand is running down... they talk about the elections the other day being a wakeup call for Trump because the elections were so close. But I say it has to be a wakeup call for us! We lost, I don't care how close it was this time... we lost! The MAGA block is untied in tearing down the country, they hate LGBTQ+ people, they hate immigrants, they the government and they want to make it into a fascist nation to punish us and everyone else who is not White, evangelical Christian, and straight. And if you look at Hungary that is exactly where they are now!

So be scared and hope that the courts can stop him!!!!!

---

Update: April 16, @ Noon

Robert Reich posted this...

Trump’s playbook is Viktor Orbán’s

My breakfast with Orbán expert John Shattuck

Apr 15, 2025

A few days ago I had breakfast with my old friend John Shattuck, who, as president of Central European University in Budapest, saw firsthand how Viktor Orbán took over Hungary’s democracy and turned it into an authoritarian state.

When Trump was elected in 2016, Trump endorsed Orbán, and Orbán started attacking universities — forcing the Central European University out of Hungary.

John believes Trump is emulating Orbán’s playbook. (Steve Bannon once declared that “Orbán was Trump before there was Trump.”)

Orbân’s playbook has 10 parts, according to John:

One: Take over your party and enforce internal party discipline by using political threats and intimidation to stamp out all party dissent.

Two: Build your base by appealing to fear and hate, branding immigrants and cultural minorities as dangers to society, and demonizing your opponents as enemies of the people.

Three: Use disinformation and lies to justify what you’re doing.

Four: Use your election victory to claim a sweeping mandate — especially if you don’t win a majority.

[...]

Europe’s three biggest countries, Italy, France and Germany, have all swung toward the far-right, but so far they remain democracies.

Now Here Is An Idea!

All you Pride committees our there how about this?

In move that could cost organization tens of thousands of dollars, Cincinnati Pride cutting ties with sponsors

WLWT Ch 5

By Nicole Aponte

March 24, 2025

Cincinnati Pride is willingly giving up tens of thousands of dollars as it prepares for its biggest event of the year.

The LGBTQ advocacy organization says it's choosing to stop working with some of its sponsors even as it's in need of funding for its annual parade this summer.

Beginning at 7th and Plum, Cincinnati's pride parade in June costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to put on every year. It's made possible by donations, but as companies roll back diversity, equity and inclusion programs, the organization says they're re-evaluating their partnerships.

Cincinnati Pride says they're committed to equality for all and advancing the mission of celebrating the rich history and diverse culture of the LGBTQ community.

While not naming names, Cincinnati Pride says they'll separate from some corporate sponsors, ranging from small businesses to major retailers.

How about... your company dropped DEI, we don't want you for sponsors!

How about... your company donated to the Republican party, we don't want you for sponsors!

How about... your company donated to Trump... we don't want you for sponsors!

Companies are shaking in their boots that Trump & Company will come after them!

Sponsors drop San Francisco Pride as festival decries ‘rights backtracking’

Comcast, Anheuser-Busch and others cancel funding as US becomes increasingly hostile toward LGBTQ+ communities

The Guardian

By Dani Anguiano

Tue 18 Mar 2025

Pride, one of the largest LGBTQ+ celebrations in the world, has lost significant funding as major corporate sponsors – some who supported the festivities for years – have pulled out of the event.

Several companies, including Comcast, Diageo and Anheuser-Busch, which had provided about $300,000 in funding, told the organization that they did not have the budget to participate this year, Suzanne Ford, the executive director of San Francisco Pride, told the Guardian. Some of the companies had been a part of Pride for decades, Ford said. “We have relationship with all those people. It’s not just a number or transaction.”

Ford believes the sudden departure of long-term sponsors is the result of a political environment, driven by the Trump administration, that has become increasingly hostile to the LGBTQ+ community.

“The backtracking on rights for the LGBTQ community certainly have to be part of any [corporation’s] calculus on whether they give us money so I can’t pinpoint the exact reason, but, as we all know now, it’s more difficult than ever to stand up and say you support rights of LGBTQ people,” Ford told KRON4.

FEAR! Fear of legal action...

But maybe we should boycott the companies that put profit first before human rights?

Since taking office, Donald Trump’s administration has attacked LGBTQ+ people and diversity efforts with a barrage of executive orders. The president has ordered that the US only recognize two sexes, sought to ban trans people from the military, and repealed policies promoting racial equity and protecting LGBTQ+ people from discrimination. Major US companies from Amazon to Google have announced they will end their diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

The Christian Post.

The national retail chain Target is scaling back socially progressive policies, including phasing out its diversity and inclusion policies.

In a statement on Friday, Target said it is ending the "three-year diversity, equity and inclusion goals" as well as concluding its "Racial Equity Action and Change (REACH) initiatives in 2025 as planned."

Additionally, Target promised to stop "all external diversity-focused surveys," specifically naming the LGBT activist group Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index as an example.

The businesses fear the wrath of Trump & Company more than the wrath of a god.

FEAR! Fear of losing grants and funding...

Under threat from Trump, Columbia University agrees to policy changes

The announcement drew immediate condemnation from some faculty and free speech groups.

Boston.com

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ, Associated Press

March 21, 2025

Columbia University agreed Friday to put its Middle East studies department under new supervision and overhaul its rules for protests and student discipline, acquiescing to an extraordinary ultimatum by the Trump administration to implement those and other changes or risk losing billions of dollars in federal funding.

As part of the sweeping reforms, the university will also adopt a new definition of antisemitism and expand “intellectual diversity” by staffing up its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, according to a letter published Friday by the interim president, Katrina Armstrong.

The announcement drew immediate condemnation from some faculty and free speech groups, who accused the university of caving to President Donald Trump’s largely unprecedented intrusion upon the school’s academic freedom.

“Columbia’s capitulation endangers academic freedom and campus expression nationwide,” Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.

First they came for...

We are living in  Rev. Martin Niemöller poem.

There was this meme on Facebook:

It is time for Pride events look at who their sponsor are and if they are capitulating to Trump the way Neville Chamberlain capitulated to Hitler!

---

Updated: 3/26 @ 3:30AM

History Is Repeated

We are reliving the Red Scare, the Lavender Scare, and the Holocaust all at once.

In 1935 Germany passed Paragraph 175 criminalizing LGBTQ people. Florida and Texas banned anything LGBTQ or Black history. Germany passed laws banning LGBTQ book, Florida and other states have passed laws banning books on LGBTQ and Black history. In the 1930s they did it to divide the country and in 2023 the Republicans are doing it for votes and campaign donation!

Conservatives wants to bring back the anti-sodomy laws…

Analysis: Will Sodomy Laws Return?
Philadelphia Gay News
By Victoria A. Brownworth
July 6, 2022


Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton want to bring back anti-gay sodomy laws. 

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s reversal of the 49-year-old reproductive healthcare statute, Roe v. Wade, other long-time Supreme Court decisions are being revisited by both the Court and the states. As Texas led with the abortion ban, so too could it lead on reversing the 2003 Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas. That case invalidated sodomy laws across the U.S., making same-sex sexual activity legal in every state and U.S. territory.

Thomas isn’t so sure that Lawrence has constitutional merit. The Court’s longest serving justice wrote in a concurring opinion that the SCOTUS should now “reconsider” rulings in several past decisions, including those on sodomy and gay marriage. 

As PGN reported, Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage in 2015, is likely the next case to fall. Justice Samuel Alito, who authored the Roe decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, has, with Thomas, been vocal about his continued opposition to marriage equality. In a speech to the conservative Federalist Society in 2020, Alito asserted that opposing same-sex marriage is now “considered bigotry.” 

It is a wedge issue that the Republicans are trying to divide the nation and to focus people attentions away from the real issues. Dividing the nation making scapegoats of LGBTQ+ children, Blacks, non-Christians, and immigrants. They Republicans are using fear of people who are different to drive a wedge between us. Just like the National Socialist German Workers’ (Nazi) Party did in Germany in the 1930s with the other marginal peoples.

~~~~~~~~

Is history repeating itself in Germany?
That history should serve as a reminder why it might be a mistake to dismiss lightly the far-right plot foiled in Thuringia (Germany) last week.
The Statesman
By Mahir Ali
December 15, 2022<


Nearly 100 years ago, a bunch of radicalised, extreme-right Bavarians launched an audacious attempt to capture power locally, with a dream of subsequently extending it across Germany. The November 1923 plot, which has gone down in history as the Munich beer hall putsch, was partly inspired by Benito Mussolini’s successful march on Rome a year earlier.

Newly fascist Italy offered a role model, but the Bavarian authorities foiled the coup attempt. Among the nine men arrested was their ringleader, a World War I corporal by the name of Adolf Hitler. He was sentenced to five years in prison, the most lenient sentence possible given the charges against him and served merely eight months during which he began dictating Mein Kampf to his secretary, Rudolf Hess. His other key associates at the time included Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler.

Fewer than 10 years later, they were all in power in Germany, not just Bavaria. Hitler remained chancellor for arguably the most tumultuous dozen years in modern European history.

That history should serve as a reminder why it might be a mistake to dismiss lightly the far-right plot foiled in Thuringia [My link] (Germany) last week.

~~~~~~~~

Thuillier: History is repeating itself — right before our eyes
The Daily Northwestern
By Marcus Thuillier, Columnist
May 2, 2019


History has a tendency to repeat itself. As memory fades, events from the past can become events of the present. Some, like author William Strauss and historian Neil Howe, argue that this is due to the cyclical nature of history — history repeats itself and flows based on the generations. According to them, four generations are needed to cycle through before similar events begin to occur, which would put the coming of age of the millennial generation in parallel to the events of the early 20th century. And if recent events are any indicators, American society is inching dangerously close to mirroring events of a century ago.

Hate crime reports increased 17 percent in the United States in 2017 according to the FBI, increasing for the third consecutive year. I talked about this a little last week when mentioning a rise in LGBTQ+-driven hate crimes, but this rise in crime also marks a return to a dangerous reality. It is not just LGBTQ+ hate crime that is on the rise. 2018 saw a 99 percent increase in anti-Semitic incidents versus 2015, according to the Anti-Defamation League. When it strictly came to race/ethnicity/ancestry motivated crimes, the increase was 18.4 percent between 2016 and 2017. It is a dangerous time if you are not a cisgender, white, Christian in America, but that is not new.

A hundred years ago, in 1920, the National Socialist German Workers’ (Nazi) Party was founded in Germany. It started a generation of Germans that came of age around World War II, meaning they were young adults in 1939. I raise that point because this is where the generational theory and the recent hike in anti-semitic crime connect.

[…]

White nationalism and white supremacist groups have made a push in recent years in the United States. Even here on campus, “it’s okay to be white” stickers have been appearing. The violence and disgusting ideas that these groups promote have no place in a country that fought fascism the 1930s. But we forget, and history repeats itself.

Recently, a group of white nationalists in Washington D.C. interrupted a book reading by Jewish author Dr. Jonathan Metzl by chanting “this land is our land.” Even in non-violent demonstrations such as these, these groups refer to events that changed the landscape of the world and caused massive casualties. Those events took so many lives, led to a collective awakening to the plight of the Jewish people and now, 80 years later, we are falling back into old patterns.

~~~~~~~~

The RTE reported…

The UN secretary-general has warned of social media's role in spreading violent extremism around the globe as he marked Holocaust Remembrance Day, urging policy makers to help stop online hate.

Antonio Guterres said parts of the internet were turning into "toxic waste dumps for hate and vicious lies" that were driving "extremism from the margins to the mainstream."

~~~~~~~~

With anti-LGBTQ laws proliferating, older activists say history is repeating itself
Activists say they hope the younger generation will maintain LGBTQ equality.
ABC News
By Kiara Alfonseca
October 1, 2022


Despite major progress in recent years in the fight for LGBTQ equality, older LGBTQ activists say the country is seeing increased political pushback against the LGBTQ communities, reminiscent of past anti-LGBTQ movements they lived through during the 20th century.

History repeating itself, is something of which they say everyone should be aware.

[…]

"It's fearmongering, which I think is really very dangerous," said Green [A 71 yo lesbian]. "They want to take us back ... I have to say -- confidently -- I don't think people are gonna go for it."

[…]

"We're definitely seeing history repeating itself in frustrating ways because we've been through it before so many times," said Andrew Shaffer, the director of development and communications at the GLBT Historical Society.

---

Found on Facebook.

One of my friends told me about a powerful lesson in her daughter's school class recently. They're learning about the Salem Witch Trials, and their teacher told them they were going to play a game.

"I'm going to come around and whisper to each of you whether you're a witch or a regular person. Your goal is to build the largest group possible that does NOT have a witch in it. At the end, any group found to include a witch gets a failing grade."

The teens dove into grilling each other. One fairly large group formed, but most of the students broke into small, exclusive groups, turning away anyone they thought gave off even a hint of guilt.

"Okay," the teacher said. "You've got your groups. Time to find out which ones fail. All witches, please raise your hands."

No one raised a hand.

The kids were confused and told the teacher he'd messed up the game. "Did I? Was anyone in Salem an actual witch? Or did everyone just believe what they'd been told?"

And that is how you teach kids how easy it is to divide a community.

Shunning, scapegoating and dividing destroys far more than they protect. There's plenty of it going around.

Do not allow the ruling elite to divide and destroy us. We must remain united against those who would do so..‼️

Unknown Credit:

PS. I rest my case.