I am increasingly concerned about the growth of fascism in our military and law enforcement agencies (see SR archive). It started with the sheriffs, but it has spread, as this article describes. At the very least we are training volunteer potential terrorists in the best techniques a terrorist could know.
Members of the Proud Boys march in Manhattan against vaccine mandates in New York City (AFP)
According to a report from Vice, Jack Teixeira‘s arrest last week for sharing the documents with his friends on Discord is just the tip of the iceberg of what could be a serious national security threat with one DOD staffer saying the number of far-right extremists they are surrounded with is frightening.
As Vice’s Ben Markuch wrote, “Someone allegedly taking classified information to impress their chaos-loving online friends is yet another security threat to a defense force that military sources say has yet to even properly handle individuals with anti-government or extremist beliefs. “
According to the DOD staffer, “It highlights the need […]
COLIN WOODARD, Contributing Writer - Politico Magazine
Stephan:
Like me, I suspect you have heard endless Republican politicians or commentators talking about the crime wave and gun violence in Blue cities in the Blue and even Red states. The implication being that Democrats don’t know how to handle gun violence. Well, here are the facts. That whole Republican sthick is crap. The fact is that gun violence in Red states is triple or quadruple what it is in those Blue cities, whether in Red or Blue states.
Listen to the southern right talk about violence in America and you’d think New York City was as dangerous as Bakhmut on Ukraine’s eastern front.
In October, Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis proclaimed crime in New York City was “out of control” and blamed it on George Soros. Another Sunshine State politico, former president Donald Trump, offered his native city up as a Democrat-run dystopia, one of those places “where the middle class used to flock to live the American dream are now war zones, literal war zones.” In May 2022, hours after 19 children were murdered at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott swatted back suggestions that the state could save lives by implementing tougher gun laws by proclaiming “Chicago and L.A. and New York disprove that thesis.”
In reality, the region the Big Apple comprises most of is far and away the safest part of the U.S. mainland when it comes to gun violence, while the regions Florida and Texas belong to have per capita firearm death rates (homicides […]
Right now there is a case before the Supreme Court in which Harlan Crow has an interest. Do you think Clarence Thomas will recuse himself? Of course, he won’t. Nine people determine how the law is interpreted in the United States. At least three of them are hopelessly corrupt, and six of them put their personal prejudices and ideologies before fair jurisprudence. Is it any wonder that the current court has seen its respect and confidence ratings drop like a rock recently?
Other recipients of Harlan Crow money Credit: Slate
Real estate mogul Harlan Crow has been in the national spotlight lately over his penchant for giving extravagant (undisclosed!) gifts to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas: private jet trips, mega yacht excursions and a $19,000 bible, to name just a few. He also spent $133,363 to buy several properties from Thomas—including the home the justice’s mother still lives in. Crow, and groups linked with him, often have cases before the court, and Thomas has ruled in their favor. As Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern wrote, this sure seems like a case of “classic quid pro quo (or perhaps quid pro Crow) corruption.”
Though most of us probably didn’t even know Crow existed until recently, the 73-year-old Texan has been pouring his wealth into influencing American politics since the 1990s. Transparency group OpenSecrets identified $14.7 million that Crow and his wife Kathy have contributed to state and federal candidates, committees and parties over the past three decades.
In an interview with the Dallas Morning News, Crow said […]
As you will remember I predicted that one of the effects I saw coming out of the MAGAt world’s hysterical obsession with controlling women, which masquerades as the anti-abortion movement, would be that it would have a significant effect on healthcare in Red states, but also it would have a great influence on the college choices made by graduating high school seniors. Well, as predicted, it is happening. What I had not fully appreciated is how much this rightwing power play would have on young men and their college choices, and how it would affect the choices of conservative students. Here, confirming all this is the actual factual data. The net net of what the Republicans have done to the Red states they control is to severely damage their future and their social wellbeing. But what this is also telling us is that the schism between Democrats and Republicans is starting in the teen years, and that means it will go on into the next generation.
A quarter of prospective college students say they’d shun a school in a state whose politics or policies they abhor, a recent survey finds.
The finding is true whether a student says they’re a liberal, moderate or conservative, per the report, published by higher-ed consultancy Art & Science Group.
In a separate surveyby Gallup and the Lumina Foundation published Thursday, 72% of college students said that the reproductive health laws in their school’s state affected their decision to stay enrolled.
Among adults ages 18-59 without a college degree, 60% said such laws would affect their decision to attend a specific college or university.
Why it matters: Americans are choosing where to live and whom to associate with based on politics, exacerbating polarization.
And, judging by these polls, that process is beginning at a young age.
As free speech battles play out on campuses nationwide, growing imbalances in the politics of the student body could further stifle healthy debate.
Driving the news: In a poll of 1,865 college-bound high school seniors conducted this winter […]
I am a vet and, although I have never used any VA service, I have several friends for whom it provided crucial support. The idea that the Republican bill being put forward by Kevin McCarthy would cut 81,000 Veteran Health Administration jobs, making it more difficult for veterans to get the help they need I find offensive and stupid. We have all-volunteer armed forces, and if we ask a man or woman to join the military and potentially put their life on the line, and then make it difficult for them to get the help they need, I’m sorry that is just inhumane. But so typical of the Congressional House Republicans.
“I have worked to ensure that veterans in our district — and throughout the country — have the tools they need when they come home to advance their careers and build their own American Dream,” Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) says on his website.
Yet, the bill would, among other things, cut 81,000 Veterans Health Administration jobs, making it more and more difficult for veterans to get quick care, according to the VA. The VA also asserts that the bill would kill funding for rural telehealth, requiring veterans outside major cities to drive long ways to get care. It also slashes 6,000 benefits jobs, which would also increase the wait times that are already too long for veterans. The plan would also kill the $565 million that the VA was using to build new clinics to handle the […]
