Right wing nuts worldwide.

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
Not really. Nothing that is as scintillatingly fascinating as the question regarding how to record sonic thumping from the X-59
I was worried for a minute there, but I think I posted about that in the Junk Drawer. I’m sorta hoping to catch a glimpse of it … a plane with ultimate duckface.

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CCGNZ

Well-Known Member
A great read, thanks for this. My mind jumped to the anti-fascist counter demonstrations we had in Portland and elsewhere during the summer of 2020 that drew criticism from Trump's MAGA administration and most media organizations. From some reports, Trump was counting on the same backlash that Nixon benefitted from during the election of 1968, when protests against the Vietnam war and civil rights protests erupted after MLK was assassinated. Yet, as in the antifascist counter demonstrations in Greece, US fascism lost support and the election in 2020, despite or maybe due to those protests.

I found this passage from the second article you posted that described police favoring fascists over counter-fascist protesters interesting because we saw the same thing happen in Portland at anti fascist protests during Trump's reign:

On the appointed evening, a sense of chaos erupted in some parts of the Greek capital.
At two different metro stations in Athens, hundreds of antifascist demonstrators were held in static positions by rows of riot police.
At the small marble memorial for the Golden Dawn, supporters passed by rows of police, and left flowers or took selfies.


A political cartoon posted in a local newspaper in 2017 depicted Portland's counter protesters as dupes for reacting to fascist demonstrations. It was a common message at the time. "Just let the fascists do their thing and march through the streets. Resisting them will only make things worse. " I didn't think that was true at the time and in hindsight, especially with the description you provided of what happened in Greece, maybe I was right.


The similarities between what happened in Greece and in Portland are surprising. For example, the rise in tension and intensity of counter protests in both Greece and Portland began after acts of murder perpetrated by right wing terrorists.

In Greece, an anti fascist rapper was assassinated. In Portland, this happened:
.
The left-wing response to these rallies escalated after May 2017, when former Patriot Prayer marcher and white supremacist Jeremy Christian stabbed two men to death on a train. The attack started with Christian hurling racial epithets at two teenage girls, one of whom was a Somali Muslim wearing a hijab.
To Portland’s anti-fascists, the attack was evidence of everything they’d been saying for months: Patriot Prayer rallies were breeding grounds for racist violence. More people started donning black hoodies and crafting makeshift weapons. (“Black bloc,” initially a tactic to protect activists’ identity by wearing identical all-black outfits, became something of a uniform for Portland’s anti-fascists.)


We aren't through with the rise of fascism. Not in the US and from what you report to us, not in Europe. What the article you posted and what was said at the conclusion of the newlines magazine article that I posted says are similar:

Historically, fascists win when they decide to go for it, to throttle democracies, believing that no one is organized enough to fight them. They take advantage of the fact that most people fear confrontation and that the police tend to tolerate their activism. In Portland, people stood up and opted to call their bluff.

Diligent research, nonviolent organizing and the eventual acquiescence of the state and federal government to enforce the law against right-wing agitators were all factors in the success we see now. But none of it would have happened if an awful lot of people hadn’t shown up, for five years straight, ready to fight.

If the rest of America wants to get through the present crisis, they might learn something from that.


If true, the next few years are going to suck. Fascism won't just age out. It must be confronted. And apparently, our police aren't the ones who will do that.
Damn Fogdog,I knew Oregon had some battles and protests,but I always figured it a pretty progressive Blue state,the fact that you are having pitched battles w/far righties in the streets surprises me (I'm on the other coast so maybe I'm ignorant),in MA(home of Paul Reveres ride and Boston Tea Party) there are a few Trumpers around but no organized far right movements here,MA is bluer than blue and I on;y got politically motivated with the rise of Agent Orange because this is NOT status quo anymore. I know Portland is super progressive so I assume these right-wing combatants come from the hinterlands of Oregon or did they bus in from outside your state looking for trouble,I don't mean to sound ignorant but I'm 3K miles away.
 

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
Damn Fogdog,I knew Oregon had some battles and protests,but I always figured it a pretty progressive Blue state,the fact that you are having pitched battles w/far righties in the streets surprises me (I'm on the other coast so maybe I'm ignorant),in MA(home of Paul Reveres ride and Boston Tea Party) there are a few Trumpers around but no organized far right movements here,MA is bluer than blue and I on;y got politically motivated with the rise of Agent Orange because this is NOT status quo anymore. I know Portland is super progressive so I assume these right-wing combatants come from the hinterlands of Oregon or did they bus in from outside your state looking for trouble,I don't mean to sound ignorant but I'm 3K miles away.
Thanks for the kind words. We are trying to figure it out. A good number of MAGA goons live in and among the urban areas where Oregon got its reputation for being progressive. A lot of them flew in from all over the country, some were even given tickets and a place to stay. Trump, I believe targeted Portland to train his MAGA militia. If not Trump, then one of his associates, maybe Roger Stone, IDK. All I know is all of a sudden those fuckers were converging on Portland not long after Trump took office. Patriots Prayer is based in Washington but used Portland to stage some riots. They would bring in Proud Boys "for security".


 

CCGNZ

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the kind words. We are trying to figure it out. A good number of MAGA goons live in and among the urban areas where Oregon got its reputation for being progressive. A lot of them flew in from all over the country, some were even given tickets and a place to stay. Trump, I believe targeted Portland to train his MAGA militia. If not Trump, then one of his associates, maybe Roger Stone, IDK. All I know is all of a sudden those fuckers were converging on Portland not long after Trump took office. Patriots Prayer is based in Washington but used Portland to stage some riots. They would bring in Proud Boys "for security".


Got it,while civil strife doesn't surprise me in a still young (relatively speaking)democracy,as we hash shit out,that Trump,the self absorbed,absurdly incompetent,ignorant,unhinged,blatant con would ascend from scheming NY state w/ taxes,building codes,contractors to buckling the knees of our nation legislatively,politically,and judicially as a messianic figurehead of far right sadists when he used to run in democratic circles 20 yrs.ago,maintains support of veterans who despise draft dodging and choose to ignore his service people are "suckers" rants is the most confounding issue that I've wrapped my mind around in my adult life.
 

CCGNZ

Well-Known Member
Um..., the site has a political section? For discussion? For years? Easy to avoid, just don't go there?
Originally I joined to shoot the shit over strains I've done,seedbanks,tips,etc,then things happened Pandemic,Unprecedented turmoil in politics ignited by a clown not capable of being a mayor,let alone President,and the largest European war in 80 yrs.,etc. etc.NOT status quo from my eyes.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
When long time people stop posting here, you never know.
I keep meaning to write up a list of passwords and contact people at the various forums I have a presence in for the wife so she can let people know in case something happens to me. A holographic will too which is allowed here in Alberta and is just an all hand-written will that doesn't need a witness signature. We've been common law for 25 years this July and Alberta still has differences in what that kind of relationship gets compared to legally married couples. I don't want anything going to my legal wife who I foolishly married in '78 and lasted less than 2 years.

:peace:
 

Sativied

Well-Known Member

BRUSSELS — Every five years, like clockwork, mainstream politicians freak out about the rise of radicals and populists ahead of the European election. But then, the danger suddenly seems to dissipate as the traditional center-left and center-right forces that built the European Union forge coalitions that hold more radical parties at bay.

Don’t bank on it this time. [...]

“This time it won’t be easy to dismiss the gains of the far right, the impression is that a new moment is about to start,” the EU diplomat added.


Exactly, perfectly worded. That moment being itself the start of something worse, something we've seen before. Seems more like an expanding sinkhole than a wave.
 

hanimmal

Well-Known Member
https://apnews.com/article/us-senators-resolution-hungary-democracy-f4972b78c0f1f8d6a905058c8bc250ae
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BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A bipartisan delegation of U.S. senators made an official visit to Hungary’s capital Sunday and called on the nationalist government to immediately approve Sweden’s request to join NATO.

Hungary is the only one of NATO’s 31 existing members not to have ratified Sweden’s bid. The Hungarian government faces mounting pressure to act after delaying the move for more than 18 months since admitting a new country to the military alliance requires unanimous approval.

The visiting senators announced they would submit a joint resolution to Congress condemning alleged democratic backsliding in Hungary and urging the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to lift its block on Sweden’s trans-Atlantic integration.

“With accession, Hungary and your prime minister will be doing a great service to freedom-loving nations worldwide,” Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, said during a news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Budapest.

The resolution, first reported early Sunday by The Associated Press, was authored by Tillis and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat. Joining them in the delegation to Budapest was Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut.

Shaheen said it was “disappointing” that no members of the Hungarian government had accepted invitations to meet the delegation but she was “hopeful and optimistic” Sweden’s accession would be submitted for ratification when Hungarian lawmakers reconvene on Feb. 26.

Murphy said the refusal of Orbán’s government to meet was “strange and concerning,” but that the onus was on the long-serving leader to push for a vote.

“We are wise enough about politics here to know that if Prime Minister Orbán wants this to happen, then the parliament can move forward,” he said.

Earlier this month, U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat and chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, raised the prospect of imposing sanctions on Hungary for its conduct, and called Orbán “the least reliable member of NATO.”

In the resolution, obtained by the AP, the senators note “the important role Hungary can have in European and trans-Atlantic security,” but point out its failure to keep earlier promises not to be the last NATO ally to sign off on Sweden’s membership.

Hungary, the resolution says, “has not joined all other NATO member states in approving the accession of Sweden to NATO, failing to fulfill a commitment not to be last to approve such accession and jeopardizing trans-Atlantic security at a key moment for peace and stability in Europe.”

Orbán, a staunch nationalist who has led Hungary since 2010, has said that he favors making Sweden part of NATO but that lawmakers in his party remained unconvinced because of “blatant lies” from Swedish politicians on the state of Hungary’s democracy.

But in a state of the nation speech in Budapest on Saturday, Orbán indicated that Hungary’s legislature might soon relent.

“It’s good news that our dispute with Sweden is nearing a conclusion,” he said. “We are moving toward ratifying Sweden’s accession to NATO at the beginning of the spring session of Parliament.”

The senators’ resolution criticizes Orbán’s increasingly warm relations with Russia and China, and notes that while Hungary has opened its doors to Ukrainian refugees fleeing Moscow’s invasion, it has also “resisted and diluted European Union sanctions with respect to the Russian Federation.”

Orbán, widely considered to be the Kremlin’s closest EU ally, has long been criticized for flouting the bloc’s standards on democracy and the rule of law. The EU has withheld billions in funding from Budapest over alleged breaches of its rules.

Hungary’s government has also adopted an increasingly adversarial stance toward the administration of President Joe Biden, accusing the U.S. of attempting to influence Hungarian public life.

Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, said Friday that he welcomed the senators’ visit but that it was “not worth trying to exert pressure on us, because we are a sovereign country.”

“We are glad they are coming here because they can see for themselves that everything they read about Hungary in the liberal American media is a blatant lie,” Szijjártó said.
 
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