Is fascism coming to America? You be the judge

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Santorum’s book doesn’t deal with foreign policy but does set out his approach to domestic policy: an active use of federal power and of the tax code to promote traditional behaviors and to preserve man-woman marriages.

Unlike Tea Party activists, Santorum doesn’t shrink away from the federal government; he wants to use it to nudge people toward more virtuous behavior, which he thinks will be best taught in traditional heterosexual families.

He says, “Liberals believe that the traditional family is neither natural nor vital, that it’s an antiquated social convention which has not only outlived its usefulness, but is now inherently discriminatory and repressive toward legitimate alternative ‘families.’”

Gee, thanks, Mr. Santorum. And while you seem to be in control of my thoughts, how about marching my body into the kitchen and making myself a sandwich? I'm getting kind of hungry. Unless, of course, you would like to relinquish control of my mind.

Link

I am SICK TO DEATH of these hacks. Can't the GOP offer up a single candidate that isn't out to impose their brand of "it's for the best" fascism onto the rest of America?

"Blames Immigrants for America's problems."

Thank heavens there's nobody like that in our Country.

Over there, the native Americans

must feel relieved.

Should we be surprised at the support for Trump? Of course not.

This is one of the side effects of neo-liberal capitalist system where profit is king. A system that propagates excessive levels of inequality that inevitably displaces, and disenfranchises, large sections of society. This leads to large sections of poorly educated, low skilled, poorly paid or unemployed lower classes festering in poverty trapped frustration and resentment. If these unfortunate victims of a dog eat dog political system are then provided with a focus for that frustration - no matter that the focus provided by Trump is clearly wrong, then........what else do the establishment, the intelligentsia, and our politicians expect? When a system stops caring for the welfare, or social security, of its people and starts treating them as fodder to make the minority at the top ever more grotesquely wealthy than something has to give. And all it takes is a maniac like Trump to step up and start harnessing the fragmented, unfocused rage of the lower class victims of that system, making them feel like they are a part of something, and have a voice for it to lead to.......?

The far right ideologists are capitalising on this, not just in America, but also in Europe, Australia, etc. I just pointed out on the UKIP page here how despite only getting one seat it should be noted they got 12.8% of the vote at the last election.

In my opinion the lower classes are much better aligning with the left, unions, etc and fighting against low wages, unfettered greedy capitalism, etc etc because that is a truer way to greater balance, fairer distribution of wealth and opportunity, and more reasonable levels of inequality. Aligning with the semi fascist / racist views espoused by far right types like Trump will only make the world a worse, and more unjust, place.

Not sure whether this belongs in here, if not my apologies and perhaps admin can move it for me? Donald Trump's recent comments, and some of his previous comments seem to be getting reminiscent of Nazis fascism. His most recent remarks suggesting the USA monitor and restrict the movements of millions of people based on their religious beliefs is step way too far IMHO. I am linking this petition that calls for him to be refused entry into the UK, one assumes this won't dent his ego or self awareness, but it might give others pause for thought.

https://petition.parliament.uk/signatures/6673509/signed/3pxk4GmpjRYPbNow3Ve

I am a fervent defender of human rights, and free speech is a cornerstone of that, but people in a position of power need to understand there are consequences to how you use that freedom, and hate speech should simply be challenged whenever and wherever it occurs.

Dr Sheldon Cooper PhD. I can't see any problems with posting that here. The Nazis persecuted those with mental and physical disabilities, and Trump has mocked a disabled journalist during one of his campaign speeches:-
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/donald-trump-condemned-for-mocking-journalists-disability-during-campaign-speech-a6749346.html

UK governments have been known to ban people from entering Britain if their presence was felt to be "not conducive to the public good". After his inflammatory remarks about Muslims, and his suggestion that parts of London are 'no-go areas' for the Metropolitan Police, I think Trump fits into that category. The fact that he is seeking the nomination of the Republican Party to be their candidate for president has no relevance; I say keep him out!

PETITION?  Let me tell you what I think about petitions !!

©latest.com

Good link, Sheldon.
I have signed the petition - I share your horror of the nasty hate-monger and his divisive speech

You have a point OW - but one must do something

Nurofen manufacturer sued over false claims on packets......  


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It’s hard to comprehend how the dangerous and hateful Donald Trump can be the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination. As always, he’s the master of the stereotype, now labelling Africans as “lazy fools who are only good at love-making and thuggery”. It's easy to see why the journalist Laurie Penny said that he is "selling fascism with a cartoon face".

This is some of his recent bile:-

“African Americans are very lazy. The best they can do is gallivanting around ghettoes, lamenting how they are discriminated. These are the people America doesn’t need. They are the enemies of progress. Look at African countries like Kenya for instance, those people are stealing from their own government and go to invest the money in foreign countries. From the government to opposition, they only qualify to be used as a case study whenever bad examples are required.

How do you trust even those who have ran away to hide here at the United States hiding behind education? I hear they abuse me in their blogs but I don’t care because even the internet they are using is ours and we can decide to switch it off from this side. These are people who import everything including matchsticks. In my opinion, most of these African countries ought to be recolonised again for another 100 years because they know nothing about leadership and self governance.

I promise to make America great again by restoring our dignity that we have since lost through Obama. The more reason why I still believe that he, and his Kenyan brothers and sisters should be deported back to Kenya to make America safe.”

http://www.sirkenayo.com/donald-trump-africans-are-lazy-fools-and-are-only-good-at-lovemaking-and-thuggery/

QUOTE: ".... African countries like Kenya for instance, those people are stealing from their own government and go to invest the money in foreign countries."

I never knew that Starbucks, Amazon, Google, e-bay and Apple were Kenyan.

When you have your feet firmly under the table of a 1st. class dining car on the gravy train, it must seem perfectly natural to deny boarding to those with whom it's difficult to identify.

Donald Trump wants to ban from the USA people who happen to do things like this:-


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It's so easy to confuse Trump and Boris.

The current "elections" are for the Republican and Democrat Parties to each choose their candidate for President. Even after that there's still more than a year of campaigning to look forward to ....

Not quite so. Since 1845, US presidential elections have been held every four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Therefore, the next election will be on 8 November, just over nine months away. It’s just that it will seem like more than a year……

There's not going to be a President Trump.  His xenophobic rants against Mexicans, afro-americans and Muslims have ensured failure.

In the 18 to 50 age-group of US citizens, the majority are of Hispanic origin. (South of Texas of course, everybody in America is, incidentally). The over-50s "white" segment of the population which Donald Trump seems to be addressing is dwindling numerically, and by no means all of them will be Republican supporters.

Donald hasn't done the math.

How George W. Bush Gave Rise to Trump

From an article by Matt Taibbi:-

The amazing anti-miracle of the George W. Bush presidency is what makes today's nightmare possible. People forget what an extraordinary thing it was that Bush was president. Dubya wasn't merely ignorant when compared with other politicians or other famous people. No, he would have stood out as dumb in just about any setting. He knew absolutely nothing about anything.

Bush went to the best schools but was totally ignorant of history, philosophy, science, geography, languages and the arts. His main rhetorical tool was saying the same thing, only twice. "It's very important for folks to understand that when there's more trade, there's more commerce" was a classic Bush formulation. "Our nation must come together to unite" was another. But Bush's tautologies weren't gaffes or verbal slips. They just represented the limits of his reasoning powers: A = A.

Trump's ignorance level is nearly as awesome as what Bush accomplished. However, unlike Bush, who had the decency to not even try to understand the news, Trump reads all sorts of crazy things and believes them all. But Washington is freaking out about Trump in a way they never did about Bush: Bush was their moron, while Trump is his own moron. Hooting and hollering about how "embarrassing" and "dangerous" Trump is will fall on deaf ears, because as gullible as Americans can be, they remember being told that it was OK to vote for Bush. A lot of American culture is just dumb slobs cheering on other dumb slobs. It was inevitable, once we broke the seal with Bush, that our politics would become the same thing.

For the whole article:-
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/revenge-of-the-simple-how-george-w-bush-gave-rise-to-trump-20160301

Footnote: The death was announced last week of Ralph Nader, who forced General Motors to stop selling dangerous cars. Nader also stood for President of the US several times. A common claim is that Nader's candidacy acted as a spoiler in the 2000 U.S. presidential election, in which 537 votes gave George W. Bush a crucial and controversial victory in Florida (Nader received almost 100,000 votes in Florida, from which a slight decrease in favour of Gore would have altered the outcome).

electionbettingodds.com

The American Fascist

From an article by Robert Reich:-

I’ve been reluctant to use the “f” word to describe Donald Trump because it’s especially harsh, and it’s too often used carelessly. But Trump has reached a point where parallels between his campaign and the fascists of the first half of the 20th century are too evident to overlook. It’s not just that Trump recently quoted Mussolini, or that he’s begun inviting followers at his rallies to raise their right hands in a manner chillingly similar to the Nazi ‘Heil’ salute. The parallels go deeper.

As did the early 20th century fascists, Trump is focusing on the angers of white working people who have been losing economic ground for years, and who are easy prey for demagogues seeking to build their own power by scapegoating others. Add fears and uncertainties about terrorists who may be living among us or sneak through our borders and this vulnerability and powerlessness is magnified.

Trump’s incendiary verbal attacks on Mexican immigrants and Muslims follow the older fascist script. Fascists glorified national power and greatness, fanning xenophobia and war. Trump’s entire foreign policy consists of asserting American power against other nations. Mexico “will” finance a wall. China “will” stop manipulating its currency. In pursuit of their nationalistic aims, the fascists disregarded international law. Trump recently proposed using torture against terrorists, and punishing their families, both in clear violation of international law.

Viewing Trump in the light of the fascists helps explain what he is doing and how he is succeeding. It also suggests why he presents such a profound danger to the future of America and the world.

https://www.socialeurope.eu/2016/03/the-american-fascist/

oftenwrong wrote:Footnote:  The death was announced last week of Ralph Nader, who forced General Motors to stop selling dangerous cars.  Nader also stood for President of the US several times.   A common claim is that Nader's candidacy acted as a spoiler in the 2000 U.S. presidential election, in which 537 votes gave George W. Bush a crucial and controversial victory in Florida (Nader received almost 100,000 votes in Florida, from which a slight decrease in favour of Gore would have altered the outcome).

Born: Feb 27, 1934 (age 82) · Winsted, CT
Height: 6' 3" (1.91 m)
[*]Parties: Green Party of the United States
· Reform Party of the United States of America · Democratic Party · Natural Law Party

[*]

Ralph Nader - Official Site

nader.org
The official website of Ralph Nader. Ralph Nader. Toggle navigation Ralph Nader. Nader Radio; Nader Blog; Books; Biography; Tort Museum; ... It is Ralph’s first book.

[*]So if Ralph's crystal ball is in working order and he's got his thumb on the pulse of the 'Green Party' --- there's got to be some serious rumblings going on behind the scenes to push 'chump-trump' off of the GOP center stage! 

For third party-inclined billionaires, 2016 is already looking like a promising political year, said Ralph Nader on Monday.
“Here’s what I think is going to happen,” said Nader, who has served as third-party candidate himself, speaking on C-SPAN. “We will have the usual Green Party and libertarian parties in 2016. But there are some mega-billionaires who are seriously considering running third party. And the minute a mega-billionaire announces, like Ross Perot, they get enormous press, they get the polls and they are in play.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/ralph-nader-billionaires-to-party-in-2016-089284#ixzz43Ikncmf1

[*]But as a registered Independent; I've had my hopes crushed before by Ross Perot when he pulled a chicken-poop stunt and withdrew! 
[*]But I did work on Ralph Nader's election campaign...I so believed in him!

Oops! I read a recent newspaper review commenting on the 50 years since publication of "Unsafe at any speed" and took it to be an obituary. Delighted to learn that Ralph Nader is still going strong, and tender my apologies to all concerned.

Being corrected in such a friendly manner is almost a pleasure, and I look forward to hearing more from you on the pages of Cutting Edge, ASPCA4ever.

NP ...no harm - no foul.  My reading, as well as my writing has under gone a drastic change this past 2 years.  I wanted to warn/explain to Ivan prior to getting scolded for my confused method of typing and poor punction...but I'm not allowed to contact him directly.
My brain has become a quagmire of sluggish minutia and pregnant pauses that makes verble communication an hellious endeavor and typing a exercise that I must do or allow the sludge to over take My short term memory is pretty much a pocket rife with holes

TO the topic; as a registered Independent, the media quoted POV being pushed by quite a few on the GOP agenda have not only become very RIGHT-WINGED BIBLE THUMPING driven but insulting gender bashing as well. There have been some god-awful quotes about: rape/our reproductive parts/how the GOP want more input on what doctors we see/where we go to receive our check ups...it feels like the GOP have declared a 'war on women' and it's very disconcerting!

Shirina wrote:

Unlike Tea Party activists, Santorum doesn’t shrink away from the federal government; he wants to use it to nudge people toward more virtuous behavior, which he thinks will be best taught in traditional heterosexual families.

He says, “Liberals believe that the traditional family is neither natural nor vital, that it’s an antiquated social convention which has not only outlived its usefulness, but is now inherently discriminatory and repressive toward legitimate alternative ‘families.’”

Gee, thanks, Mr. Santorum. And while you seem to be in control of my thoughts, how about marching my body into the kitchen and making myself a sandwich? I'm getting kind of hungry. Unless, of course, you would like to relinquish control of my mind.

I am SICK TO DEATH of these hacks. Can't the GOP offer up a single candidate that isn't out to impose their brand of "it's for the best" fascism onto the rest of America?

I've pondered this knee jerk pendulum extremist swing to the 'Far Right Side' of our equality and morality issues here in America; and the growing angst that having elected our first bi-racial black president seemed to cause a emotional 'BOIL' that has just festered for almost 8 years now. 
Toss in the growing 'equality push' for the GLBT community and that creates seething hate and growing fear; we read it on all of our social media pages {FB/TWEETER/Internet Chat Groups}...
And the rhetoric that...even fair minded - middle of the road republicans {IMO, they seemed on the surface to be those things} have tilted over to some fearful - over reactive nut cases...hell bent on hurting our president and anyone that opposes their agenda!
I'd really thought that this past 2 years of the POTUS election process was going to be one long drawn out - boring - redundant - waste of media time; and it's turned out to be the most contentious/gut wrenching/horrified/train wreck of my entire 62 years of drawing breath!  Now that I'm made that grandiose - broad sweeping generalization...I'll back peddle just a wee-little bit and state; there are many middle of the road GOP Rino's out here in the middle of America and find the GOP ticket to be an ugly/vile/mean spirited thing to avoid...and yet they'd still vote the party line for 'WHOM EVER' get the RNC nod, then go off party ticket and vote for the better American    And they're silent consent about these horrid media talking points being spewed by the GOP circus train --- just leaves me dismayed that they can't/won't/don't speak up and let their feelings be heard.
I want to shake them out of their 'stupor' and say 'stop being such SHEEPLE' and wake the hell up

If a rabble-rousing belligerent turns out to be the President of the United States of America,
a lot of things are going to be different, not least of which the question of whether Britain wants to stay in a "special relationship" with uncontrolled anger as a Foreign Policy.

I've heard tell that our 'Northern Border Neighbor' has asked for signs to be made: 'No Americans Allowed' --- just to stymie the flood of Americans fleeing from the Chump-Trump and his ilk!

I feel for you, I really do. I'd be distraught if I thought Trump or Clinton were going to be in charge of my country. I'm scared enough of them being in charge of yours.

A television documentary revealed that Donald Trump's political inspiration is Abraham Lincoln.

Donald should probably avoid going to the Theatre.

A quick guide to help our American members decide how to vote.  


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As I've become so 'ILL' at the very sound of his voice, I've stopped listening to any and all interviews that the American media is flooding our network news programs with

The man is an abomination of the worst sort and as popular as he was on his reality TV program; his vile rhetoric found an audience out here in the states.

When we elected President Obama {that first year}, I worried about his safety and that of his family; and the utterly vile/heinous ass-swipes that were propelled and regurgitated every 4 - 6 months via FB --- the shocking mindlessness of so many on my 'Friends List' that participated in those ugly rumors --- WAS MIND BLOWING.  Some of those people I'd known for over 20+ years --- and they were just 'SHARING' anything and everything without bothering to FACT CHECKING it for truth & validity!  Needless to say I managed to cut my number of FB friends to less then ½ of what it had been

IMO...the angst from having a bi-racial president became such a burr up the wazoooo of so many ignorant Americans and that was fed and perpetrated by the red-neck/Neanderthal mindset within the GOP.  And then we had the BALLS to vote Obama into office AGAIN --- that just made the bonfire smolder and now there's this billionaire with a platform that feeds the 'I HATE OBAMA' crowd ---
There's no rhyme or reason - no basis for their vile ad hominin attacks --- yet it just keeps flowing and the women/black/Latino's/Mexicans/LGBT groups have been pulled back into the fray!

Donald Trump is an egalitarian, he appears to despise everybody equally.

I have only quite a casual knowledge of what's going on in America but I do feel quite impressed by Bernie Saunders, who seems to talk a lot of sense.
I don't quite understand where he stands in the popular imagination - in England, it seems a lot of Labour voters are all for Jeremy Corbyn while a majority of career politicians and journalists seem to be against him - is that the case in America for Mr Saunders?
(please try to understand, I'm not stupid, only often focussed on other things)

Rare image from Tromsø, Norway, of where Donald Trump grows his hair:-


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When Trump is on the TV there always seems to be a nasty smell about him, some times the faces he pulls makes you think he can smell it too.
I don't thing he is Presidential material and won't make a good President, so won't win.
We have competition here in England called Gurning contest, it is pulling faces, Trumps is always pulling faces. He would have a good chance off winning a gurning competition though.
Hillary Clinton looks the best of a bad bunch of candidates, her only draw back is that she is married to a liar. He is the bloke that told a blatant lie on TV when he said, I never had relations with that women.
Still, who becomes the next President in not my problem, we have enough problems with who will be the next Prime Minister of England. I am a Labour voter that his not happy about about our present Labour Party leader. I think Jeramy Corbyn is as big a idiot has Donald Trump and is unelectable for the job of Prime Minister.