Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Lyric Video)

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

George Orwell “1984”

Minnesota Anthem

“In Marquez’s experience, truth has been controlled to the point at which it has ceased to be possible to find out what it is. The only truth is that you are being lied to all the time.”

Salman Rushdie LRB 9/16/1982 “Angel Gabriel” article about Gabriel García Márquez

Are You a Cowardly Bully?

 

Uncle Sam is hiring. 

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“When the liberals are in power, we demand liberty from them, because that is their principle; and, when we are in power, we will refuse it to them because that is our principle.”

From Louis Veuillot 19th century French journalist, antisemite and fan of Joseph de Maistre. Veuillot promoted ultramontanism - Papal supremacy. He was being quoted by Adrian Vermeule, 21st century law professor and creator of Common Good Constitutionalism (goal is good rule not liberty),

The John Birch Society

The John Birch Society has been bringing Wack job ideas to America since 1958. 

When I was a kid, the Birchers would pay for billboards that said things like "Get the U.S. out of the United Nations" They were too radical for mainstream Republicans particularly when the John Birch Society's leader Robert Welsh began attacking President Dwight Eisenhower, claiming Ike was a communist agent. The Birchers also believed Fred Rogers and MLK were communists. 

A couple of interested factoids about the JBS. 

Ginni Thomas's family were Birchers. In case you are not aware - Ginni is the wife of bought and paid for Supreme Court judge Clarence Thomas. It should come as no surprise that Clarence's chief benefactor Harlan Crow is an aficionado of Nazi paraphernalia.

The reactionary "Uncle Sam" sign that has been beside I-5 near Napavine Washington for 60 years has included various messages that came from the JBS.

A Short History Lesson

The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) attracted anti-fascist fighters from around the world. These international fighters joined pro-Republican International Brigades to fight Spanish Nationalist forces who had the support of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. 

Spoiler alert - Franco and the Nationalists won. Franco ruled Spain until his death in 1975. 

In attempt to clarify terms, it is clear that the current U.S. Republican party, does not support the political theory of Republicanism where citizens hold power and govern themselves, rejecting monarchy and hereditary rule, by electing representatives to act for the common good, emphasizing civic virtue, participation, and the rule of law to protect liberty from corruption.

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L. Brent Bozell Jr. who ghost-wrote Republican Barry Goldwater's "Conscience of a Conservative", was a key Goldwater adviser, and an admirer of Franco who moved his family to Spain in 1965 as a sign of solidarity with Franco's authoritarian regime, in stark contrast to American democratic ideals. This Bozell was a consistent supporter of Joseph McCarthy. One of Bozell's grandsons was convicted of various crimes. during the January 6th, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capital by supporters of Donald Trump.  and in May of 2024 sentenced to 4 years in prison

Fascist anti-democratic movements in the U.S. are at least as old as the anti-New Deal American Firsters of Charles Lindberg and Henry Ford's time. I copied the following from Google Gemini AI -

"Anti-New Deal "America Firsters" were a diverse group in the 1930s-40s, including conservatives, isolationists, and some far-left figures, united by opposition to FDR's expansive federal programs, viewing them as tyrannical, "un-American," or leading towards "good fascism" or European-style militarism, with prominent voices like Charles Lindbergh, Father Coughlin, William Randolph Hearst, and the American Liberty League, often blending critiques of government overreach with anti-Semitic or pro-Nazi sentiments."

People from every country in the world may have a chance in the 21st century to defend representative democracy against the Trump corporate version of crony capitalistic totalitarianism, possibly in Greenland, Canada or the U.S. 

The fact that other countries have a free press and that there is a thriving independent press in the U.S. give me hope.

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Background information regarding the film "The Spanish Earth".

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Labor Anthem "Bread And Roses" at Mayor Mamdani's Inauguration