#defending democracy

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Signe Wilkinson

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

April 20, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

APR 21, 2024

Cheering broke out in the gallery and among Democrats on the floor of the House of Representatives this afternoon when the House passed the $60.8 billion aid bill for Ukraine. The vote was 311–112, with all Democrats and 101 Republicans voting in favor and 112 Republicans voting against. One Republican voted present. 

The House also voted on the three other bills that will be packaged with the Ukraine bill as a single measure to go in front of the Senate. The House voted in favor of providing $8.1 billion in support for Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific by a vote of 385–34. It approved more than $26 billion for Israel, including $9.2 billion in humanitarian aid not specifically for Gaza but for populations in crisis, by a vote of 366–58. And it voted 360–58 to place additional sanctions on Iran, seize Russian assets, and require the Chinese owners of TikTok to sell the company within nine months if they want it to continue to be available on U.S. app stores.  

The total price tag of the measures is about $95.3 billion. About $50 billion of it will be used here in the U.S. to replenish the supplies that will go abroad. 

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says the Senate will take up the measure on Tuesday. Senators had gone home for recess but will come back to vote. The Department of Defense says it is ready to rush crucial supplies as soon as it gets the go-ahead. "We have a very robust logistics network that enables us to move material very quickly; as we've done in the past, we can move within days," Pentagon press secretary Air Force Major General Pat Ryder said Thursday.  

Aid to Ukraine has been stalled since Biden first asked for it in October 2023. First, MAGA Republicans said they would never pass such a national security supplemental bill until the U.S. addressed the need for better security at the country’s southern border. Senators, including Republican James Lankford (R-OK) took them at their word and hammered out a strong border security measure, only to have Republicans reject it when Trump demanded they preserve border security as a campaign issue. The Senate then passed the national security supplemental bill without a border measure, but that was back in February. Although it was clear the measure would pass the House, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has steadfastly refused to take it up. 

Meanwhile, countries around the globe have been stepping into the breach, providing funds and weapons for Ukraine as Ukraine’s war effort has faltered without U.S. war matériel.

Suddenly, the dam has broken. 

The MAGA extremists who oppose aid to Ukraine expressed anger over the measure’s passage, but outside of that group, there was bipartisan relief and mutual congratulations. The chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX), who has been vocal in his belief that Republicans have fallen prey to Russian propaganda, compared today’s vote to the period before World War II, when British prime minister Neville Chamberlain tried to appease dictator Adolf Hitler in 1938 by agreeing to Germany’s annexation of the Sudetenland. To Chamberlain’s successor, Winston Churchill, fell the task of fighting World War II. 

“Our adversaries are watching us here today, and history will judge us on our actions here today,” McCaul said. “So as we deliberate on this vote, you have to ask yourself: Am I Chamberlain or am I Churchill?”

House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said: “For months, the national security priorities of the American people have been obstructed by pro-Putin extremists determined to let Russia win. A bipartisan coalition of Democrats and Republicans has risen up to work together and ensure that we are getting the national security legislation important to the American people over the finish line.”

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also released a statement welcoming the passage of the measure. “This bipartisan legislation will allow the Department to surge lifesaving security assistance to help Ukraine defend itself from Russia’s aggression, support Israel’s defense from Iran and its proxies, and increase the flow of urgently needed humanitarian aid to suffering Palestinians in Gaza.” It is also, he wrote, “an important investment in America's future.”  

President Joe Biden said that “members of both parties in the House voted to advance our national security interests and send a clear message about the power of American leadership on the world stage. At this critical inflection point, they came together to answer history’s call, passing urgently-needed national security legislation that I have fought for months to secure.” 

The reiteration of the bipartisan nature of the vote suggests support for the idea that the breaking dam refers not just to the national security supplemental bill but also to the power of MAGA Republicans more generally. Representative Tom Cole (R-OK) suggested this interpretation in an interview today with Ryan Lizza of Politico. 

MAGAs are Trump loyalists, counting on his return to power, and Trump is visibly diminished. For the last week, he has been sitting in a courtroom with no choice but to do as he is told by the judge while potential jurors have expressed their dislike of him to his face. This is novel for him, and it is clearly taking a toll. 

Trump’s financial troubles have not gone away, either. Yesterday, New York attorney general Letitia James asked a judge to void the $175 million appeals bond Trump posted to secure the $454 million judgment against him in the business fraud case. She says that the defendants have failed to show that there is enough collateral behind the bond to secure it. She has asked for a replacement bond within a week. Without a bond, James can begin to seize Trump’s property. 

Since Republicans took control of the House, Republican leaders have had to turn to Democrats to find the votes to pass crucial legislation like the national security supplemental bill, preventing a U.S. default, and funding the government. Republicans interested in governing and eager to protect the institutions of democracy appear to be getting fed up with the attention-seeking and bomb-throwing MAGA faction that refuses to do the work of governing. 

That frustration might have been on display when the House also voted on a fifth measure: a border bill the extremist Republicans demanded. Because it was considered under a suspension of the rules, it needed a two-thirds majority to pass. The measure failed with a vote of 215–211. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a lawyer with the American Immigration Council advocacy group, noted that the last time the House voted on a similar measure, it got 219 votes. This time it got fewer votes, even with an added $9.5 billion for Texas, Florida, and other states that are restricting immigrants’ rights. 

In The Atlantic today, David Frum noted the changing U.S. political dynamic and, referring  to the Ukraine vote, wrote: “On something that mattered intensely to [Trump]—that had become a badge of pro-Trump identity—Trump’s own party worked with Democrats in the House and Senate to hand him a stinging defeat. This example could become contagious.” In other words, he said: “Ukraine won. Trump lost.”

For his part, leading Russian politician Dmitry Medvedev had his own reaction to the House’s passage of the national security supplemental bill with aid for Ukraine. He vowed that Russia would win the war anyway and added: “[C]onsidering the russophobic decision that took place I can't help but wish the USA with all sincerity to dive into a new civil war themselves as quickly as possible. Which, I hope, will be very different from the war between North and South in the 19th century and will be waged using aircraft, tanks, artillery, MLRS, all types of missiles and other weapons. And which will finally lead to the inglorious collapse of the vile evil empire of the 21st century—the United States of America.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Letters From An American #Heather Cox Richardson #War in Ukraine #the Putin Caucus #Moscow Marge #MAGA Extremists #bi-partisan coalition #do your job #aid to ukraine #defending democracy

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

“Authoritarian Reactionary Christianity”

Sep 13, 2023

David Gushee, distinguished university professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University and chair of Christian social ethics at Vrije Universiteit ("Free University") Amsterdam/IBTS, talks with Word&Way President Brian Kaylor about his forthcoming book Defending Democracy from Its Christian Enemies. He also discusses issues in Russia and Brazil, attacks on LGBTQ people, and the hopeful legacy of Baptists and Black Christians. He previously appeared on episode 12.

_________________________________

JANUARY 9, 2024 AUTHOR: ROBERT D. CORNWALL, WORD&WAY

Review: Defending Democracy From Its Christian Enemies

#David Gushee #authoritarianism #democracy #Christianity #defending democracy

[angry-antifascist]

Defending Democracy in Daily Life

Alright, I haven’t seen anyone online really discussing this gigantic Strengthening Democracy Challenge study that just put this working paper out, so here’s my effort to get people to notice this incredibly important research, and a handful of the most important takeaways from the study + how you can act on this new knowledge in your everyday life. (The paper itself describes 25 different experimental interventions across more than 200 pages, so I don’t recommend digging in unless you’re really curious about specifics.)

By far the biggest lesson this megastudy points toward is that reducing polarization (specifically partisan animosity) tends not to be the same thing as strengthening democracy. The relationship between polarization and democracy has always been a contested issue among researchers, and after concerns were dampened over the threat posed by ideological polarization (which many researchers have argued actually makes coalition-based political systems more efficient in representing public interests), many started turning to the problem of “affective polarization” — more easily understood simply as political animosity, especially across ideological or partisan lines — instead.

Until very recently, it’s looked like there was a consensus forming over the threat this identity-based form of polarization poses to democracy and democratic survival. Previous research (e.g., this and this) has repeatedly suggested that partisan animosity precedes and facilitates democratic erosion/backsliding, in large part by encouraging citizens to put party over nation.

But this new research suggests that the relationship between democracy and partisan animosity isn’t so straightforward as we’d like to think — because attempts to address one usually don’t successfully address the other. In the authors’ words, this suggests “that these outcomes are largely driven by separate factors.” In other words, democracy and partisan tension might not necessarily be in conflict after all.

This comes with an important caveat, though — which is that the relationship between partisan animosity and democratic erosion can be inhibited by making sure that we constrain our polarization to be based on the facts. It’s one thing to detest your political competition for their behavior and beliefs; it’s another thing entirely to lie to yourself about their behavior and beliefs to justify hating them. Base your political resentment in truth, and make sure to fact-check your assumptions about the evils of the other party.

You’ll find that doing so confirms that yes, things are bad, but maybe not quite so bad as they might feel. Most people still care about democracy, especially when they’re reminded that yes, even people in the other party do overwhelmingly support democratic norms. In fact, this is precisely the most effective intervention the study identified for strengthening democracy — alongside reminding people of just how dire the consequences of democratic collapse could be. In other words, people are already committed to democracy — we just need to remind them that their commitments are shared broadly, and for good reason.

So when you talk about fascism in the U.S., get vivid. Do your research and paint a picture of the oppressive hellscape that even the quaintest of suburban neighborhoods could become if democracy deteriorates and crackdowns begin for wrongthink. And never forget that the overwhelming majority of your compatriots are similarly, viscerally disgusted by these dystopian images. Defend democracy with them.

#us politics #democracy #polarization #antifascism #defending democracy

[don-lichterman]

Book Review: Memoirs Of Defending Democracy

Book Review: Memoirs Of Defending Democracy

Nothing Will Be Forgotten  By Nehal Ahmed LeftWood Bookspp. 134, Rs 225 Being part of a central university with active politics always provided us with channels of expression. When the CAA-NRC protest gained momentum, I was off for fieldwork in a remote area where I felt terribly helpless and realised the importance of the university as a political space. I then observed universities as the…

View On WordPress

#book review #Book Review of Nothing Will Be Forgotten #CAA/NRC #CAA/NRC protest #Defending Democracy #Democracy #Featured #Jamia Milia protest

[misternohair]

WHEN YOUR SQUAD IS GETTING OUT OF ROBO-'NAM, YOU DO WHAT EVERY GOOD DEFENDER OF DEMOCRACY DOES

YOU TAKE OUT YOUR RAILGUN AND YOU

HOLD

THE

LINE

#helldivers 2 #enlist today #spread democracy across the galaxy #defend super earth #and send those bastards back to the scrap yards #automatons #remember draupnir #🫡🫡🫡

[thevitalportal]

This image will be posted at least once a week for the remainder of the year throughout the election cycle. This is about saving democracy in America.

#trump is a threat to democracy #defend democracy #vital community #vital information exchange #vitalportal #thevitalportal #additional information #vital media #blacklivesmatter #blacktwitter #vital politics #myvitaltv

[alwaysbewoke]

christian fascism is here. don't let anyone tell you or try to convince you that voting democrat is the wrong choice. what little democracy we have left is on the ballot. before we can help anyone outside the united states, there must be democracy in america. without it, we are of no use to anyone anywhere.

#christian fascism #voting democrat #democracy at stake #defend democracy #save democracy #democratic values #election2024 #democratic party #political activism #united states politics #democracy matters #democracy in danger #voting rights #democracy first #progressive values #anti-fascism #democratic principles #election integrity #political engagement #vote for democracy #fascism #Dictatorship

[marrys-dream-world]

Lula, as soon as the Brazilians are out of Gaza:

"Lula says Israel wants to occupy the Gaza Strip and oust the palestinians"

President Lula also criticizes USA's veto (the only country to veto Brazil's resolution at UN's security council). "It's incomprehensible, inadmissible. That's why we fight to change the UN. 1945's UN is worthless in 2023. That's why we want to change the amount of people and the way it works and end the right of veto."

#going insane that the relatiation was so so obvious #it's high time global south countries pressure to change the un's system #just hope this doesn't end with the us “bringing democracy” to brazil tbh #palestine #brazil #he does defend the weak ass two state solution in this tho 🙄

[nudeartpluspoetry]

DEFEAT TRUMP

Surely if the Allies could defeat Hitler, American voters can defeat Trump. He isn't even a dictator--yet.

#defeat Trump #defeat the GOP #defend democracy #vote blue

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

An 82-year-old grandmother affiliated with the local Republican Party spat at and attacked a group of veterans during a press conference in Tulsa last Friday, after they vocally protested against the enforced use of religion in public schools.

The incident, which was captured on camera, took place at a press conference called by State Superintendent Ryan Walters on the grounds of Tulsa Public Schools’ administration building.

Attendees were there to show support for E’Lena Ashley, a Tulsa school board member who had been criticized by parents and her fellow board members for praying during a high school graduation ceremony in May. Among those attending the event were members of the local chapter of extremist group Moms for Liberty, which endorsed Ashley’s campaign for school board last year.

Also in attendance were Roberta Pfanstiel and her husband Carl, who were there to support Walters’ call for “religious freedom” in schools. Last month at a Tulsa School Board meeting he called for the promotion of Christianity and “Western heritage” in every classroom, including displaying the Ten Commandments.

At the event, the Pfanstiels were standing next to three activists from Veterans Defending Democracy, who were calling out what they saw as Walters’ hypocritical calls for “religious freedom” in schools.

During the event Pfanstiel, who lives in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, approached one of the activists, Bailee Tyler, who was sitting on the ground wearing a hat bearing the name of one of the activist groups she is affiliated with, Defense of Democracy.

“[Tyler] was on her knees, on the ground in front of me, and [Pfanstiel] came up from behind her and smacked her hat off of her head,” Erika Stormont, one of the three activists said in a podcast discussing the incident.

Much of the exchange was captured on video and posted online. In the clips Stormont, who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 before becoming one of the Army’s first female cavalry scouts in 2015, told Pfanstiel that she cannot touch her or anyone else, and that if she does it again they would press charges.

At one point during the press conference a Christian pastor began praying, and at this point protesters called on Walters to allow a rabbi to pray also if he really believed in religious freedom, chanting “let him pray.”

“And it’s as we’re chanting that, again unprovoked, this woman comes up from behind my friend who’s still on the ground and it looks to me like both of her hands are going for her neck, her shoulders area, and that she made contact,” Stormont said.

In Stormont’s video, posted on TikTok, Pfanstiel’s husband is seen restraining his wife by holding both her elbows.

“As I turned my camera back to her and said: ‘That’s twice, you cannot touch people in public.’ She spits in my face and her saliva lands on my cheek,” Stormont said.

At this point in the video, Stormont is heard telling Pfanstiel to spit again because she has captured it on camera. “I know that’s a very inciting thing to say [but] when I say that, every single part of my body at that point was in fight flight [mode].”

Stormont says she drew on the training she had received in therapy about how to deal with such situations. “I refocused back to the event, I refocused on why I was there, and I ‘gray rocked’ her, which is a term we use when we talk about recovering from narcissistic abuse. You cannot give them any of your energy at that point. And I knew at that point we were going to be pressing charges.”

Stormont filed a police report online and received a tracking number, but told VICE News that she has not heard back from the Tulsa Police Department. She called the department this week to update them with the identity of the person who spat at her, after she had been identified by online sleuths, but had to leave a voicemail. The Tulsa Police Department did not respond to VICE News’ requests for comment on the case.

In total about 100 people attended the event according to Stormont, with about one third of the attendees opposing Walters’ and Ashley’s claims that the school board is being religiously intolerant.

Alongside members of the local Moms for Liberty chapter were prominent members of the state and county Republican Party, including Oklahoma GOP chair Nathan Dahm and Tulsa County GOP chairwoman Ronda Vuillemont-Smith. Moms for Liberty did not respond to questions about Pfanstiel’s affiliation with the group.

Pfanstiel, who deleted her Facebook account this week after VICE News contacted her, has in the past appeared in pictures posted online showing herself and her family with Dahm. One photo was taken in front of the Oklahoma State Capitol on January 6, 2021, to oppose the outcome of the 2020 presidential elections.

Dahm didn’t respond to VICE News’ request for comment but Vuillemont-Smith said the party “is aware of the allegations of assault that took place” and “while the party was not the organizer of this press conference, we are monitoring the situation.”

“The Republican Party of Tulsa County honors all veterans who served, and support the freedom of speech,” Vuillemont-Smith added. “We do not condone nor endorse violence of any kind, nor do we support actions or free-speech that disrupt and impede on others' right to free speech.”

When asked if Pfanstiel is a member of the Tulsa GOP, the chairwoman said “all registered Republicans in Tulsa County are considered members of the Tulsa GOP.”

#us politics #news #vice news #2023 #republicans #conservatives #gop #moms for liberty #Ryan Walters #religious freedom #religious right #Oklahoma #Tulsa Public Schools #E’Lena Ashley #Roberta Pfanstiel #Carl Pfanstiel #Veterans Defending Democracy #Defense of Democracy #Bailee Tyler #Erika Stormont #veterans #military veterans #tiktok #Tulsa Police Department #Ronda Vuillemont-Smith #tulsa county gop #Nathan Dahm #Oklahoma gop

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Mike Luckovich

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

November 29, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

NOV 29, 2023

In the final exchange of hostages taken by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel under the current truce, Hamas released 16 people—10 Israelis and four Thai nationals, along with two Russian-Israeli women in a separate release—while Israel released 30 people from its jails.

Negotiators from Qatar, Egypt, Israel, and the U.S. are rushing to try to get another truce in place, even as far-right Israeli leaders are pressuring Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to restart the assault on Hamas. Far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir warned today that unless he does, Ben-Gvir’s faction will leave the government coalition Netanyahu leads. “Stopping the war = breaking apart the government,” Ben-Gvir said. 

Losing that faction would not overturn the government, but it would weaken Netanyahu enough that he could have to call elections. Netanyahu, who remains under indictment for bribery and fraud, is eager to stay in power, but recent polls show his popularity is perilously low: only 27% of Israelis in one recent poll said they would vote for him. Two members of his staff told Sheera Frenkel of the New York Times he wants to avoid an election at all costs. 

Shortly after Ben-Gvir’s statement, Netanyahu said: “There is no situation in which we do not go back to fighting until the end.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Israel today with a different agenda than Netanyahu’s. “We'd like to see the pause extended because what it has enabled, first and foremost is hostages being released and being united with their families,” Blinken said. “It's also enabled us to surge humanitarian assistance into the people of Gaza who so desperately need it. So, its continuation, by definition means that more hostages would be coming home, more assistance would be getting in.”

The foreign ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization met today in Brussels, Belgium, where they met with Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba as part of the NATO-Ukraine Council. Before the meeting, Kuleba noted that Ukraine is “pretty much becoming a de facto NATO army, in terms of our technical capacity, management approaches and principles of running an army."

A statement by the NATO-Ukraine Council agreed that it was deepening the NATO-Ukraine relationship, vowing that allies would “continue their support for as long as it takes” and declaring, “A strong, independent Ukraine is vital for the stability of the Euro-Atlantic area.” In the statement, Ukraine also committed to reforming the government and security sector as it moves toward a future NATO membership. 

David Andelman, a former foreign correspondent for the New York Times and CBS News who now writes Andelman Unleashed, noted today in CNN that President Biden has brought a very clear-eyed set of principles to foreign affairs, making him “one of the rare presidents who has accomplished something quite extraordinary: He has carefully defined and quite successfully defended democracy and democratic values before a host of existential challenges.”

In the Middle East he has defended Israel, which The Economist’s Democracy Index identifies as the only democracy in the Middle East and North Africa, while also trying to restrain the Israeli government and to get humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, all while (so far) keeping Iran and Hezbollah from spreading the conflict. Andelman also called out that Biden avoided the direct conflict with Russia that Russia's president Vladimir Putin so clearly wanted, supporting Ukraine but delaying its admission to NATO and ratcheting up military aid slowly enough that the U.S. did not get directly involved.

Biden is defending democracy where it has a foothold and can survive and then prosper, Andelman says, noting that he had little interest in continuing to send U.S. troops to Afghanistan, where it seemed clear democracy “never really took root.” Andelman writes, “Its ill-conceived and improbable ‘elections’ were little more than window dressing on a deeply flawed and corrupt kleptocracy that America had been backing with the bodies of thousands of its troops.”

Defending democracy “is something that makes [Biden] tick,” Andelman writes, “and remain appealing to others, as I’ve seen in so many parts of the world.” 

The administration has also been crystal clear that its approach to governance at home is also designed to protect democracy by demonstrating that a democracy can do more for people than an authoritarian government, but in a speech at a campaign reception in Houston, Texas, Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged that voters somehow don’t seem to understand that transformation. 

Even as former president Trump threatened to use the government to silence press outlets he doesn't like, Harris noted the billions of dollars invested in infrastructure and clean energy, allowing the U.S. to be a global leader in new technologies; the cap of insulin at $35; rural broadband and the clean-up of lead pipes; and pointed out that all of the things the Democrats have accomplished are “incredibly popular with the American people.” The challenge, she noted, is getting people to understand these transformations, and which party is responsible for them. 

“[T]here’s a duality to the nature of democracies,” Harris said. “On the one hand, …it is very much about strength—the strength that it gives individuals in terms of the protection of their rights and freedoms and liberties. When a democracy is intact, it is very strong in its capacity to lift the people up.” But, she added, “It is also very fragile. It is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it.”

Today the Democrats’ economic program got another boost with the news that the economy grew faster in the third quarter than previously reported, coming in at a blistering 5.2%, and that a record 200.4 million shoppers visited stores and websites on the five days after Thanksgiving, the traditional start of the holiday shopping period. That number reflects people’s confidence in their own finances, but also that the economy appears to be cooling and there are therefore bargains to be had.  

A new analysis by the Treasury Department shows that the Inflation Reduction Act, which puts money into climate change technologies, is delivering investment to communities that have benefited least from the economic growth of the past few decades. Today, President Joe Biden presented his case for his economic policy directly to one such community in the Colorado district of MAGA Republican mouthpiece Representative Lauren Boebert.

Biden visited CS Wind, the largest wind tower manufacturer in the world, which is expanding its operations in Pueblo, Colorado, thanks to the IRA. Boebert voted against the IRA, calling it “dangerous for America” and saying it was her “easiest no vote yet.” But the new $200 million expansion will create 850 new jobs, and CS Wind has already hired 500 new employees. And a solar project in the district will bring both power and as many as 250 jobs.

The White House listed the many projects underway in the district thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including nearly $30.2 million to redesign and revitalize streets and $160 million for a 103-mile pipeline that will bring clean water from Pueblo to 50,000 people in southeastern Colorado. Boebert called the law “garbage” and “wasteful” and said it was “punishment for rural America.” 

“President Biden made a commitment to be a President for all Americans, regardless of political party, and he’s kept that promise,” the White House said. “The Biden-Harris Administration will continue to deliver for workers and families in Colorado’s third congressional district and across the country—even if self-described MAGA Republicans like Representative Boebert put politics ahead of jobs and opportunities created by Bidenomics.“

Biden was even blunter. After listing the benefits the new laws have brought to Boebert’s district, he said: “She, along with every single Republican colleague, voted against the law that made these investments in jobs possible…. And then she voted to repeal key parts of this law, and she called this law a massive failure. You all know you’re part of a massive failure? Tell that to the 850 Coloradans who got new jobs.… It all sounds like a massive failure in thinking by the congresswoman and her colleagues.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Mike Luckovich #Heather Cox Richardson #Letters From An American #Biden Administration #Israel-Hamas war #Bipartisan Infrastructure law #defending democracy

[commiepinkofag]

Georgia is intensifying its crackdown against opponents of Cop City, with the state’s Republican attorney general announcing sweeping indictments of 61 people on racketeering charges over protests and other activism related to the $90 million police training facility planned to be built in Atlanta. The RICO charges were approved by the same grand jury that indicted former President Trump and 18 others on RICO charges in the same county by the Democratic district attorney, and come after many of the same people were earlier charged with domestic terrorism and money laundering as part of the Stop Cop City movement, which is still seeking to block construction of the new police complex. “They are choosing to use the legal process in an essentially violent way to target protesters,” says attorney Devin Franklin with the Southern Center for Human Rights, which is organizing legal representation for the defendants in the case. We also speak with Keyanna Jones, a Stop Cop City organizer with Community Movement Builders, who notes the indictments are dated from May 25, 2020, the day Minneapolis police killed George Floyd. “Since that date, this country has been upended by governments across the nation trying to build Cop Cities in order to quell protest,” says Jones. “The government is simply upset that people seek to … use their First Amendment right to protest when we see injustice coming from those in authority.”

#fascism #capitalism #terrorism #stop cop city #defend the atlanta forest #antifa #acab #police state #policing #george floyd #racism #georgia #atlanta #atl #rico act #racketeering #democracy now #2023 #2020s #human rights #community movement builders #southern center for human rights

[nyanspirals]

I like you kitt but that voting take is just not it. When shit hits the fan you won't really have a right to complain since you didn't even try to change it. Refusing to vote is a vote for Trump who is, like it or not, objectively worse than Biden.

biden is a genocider my guy

#neon.txt #neon.ask #shit has already hit the fan shit is always hitting the fan no matter if its democrats or republicans in office #you are trying to defend a genocider right now because hes “the lesser evil' doesnt that tell you something #if you wanna vote for biden because you think it makes a difference go right ahead lol but no the fuck it doesnt #america will continue to dromp bombs on children no matter whos in office #anti abortion laws and transphobic legislations got passed while biden was in office #biden being in office wont even change anything for YOU guys. much less for those outside america #voting in america is useless. democracy is dead and you all have gotta like suck it up and do something abt it im so serious

[msboutofcontext]

#magic school bus #out of context #ms frizzle #keesha #carlos #tim #phoebe #ralphie #wanda #arnold #due to a large ball of hot gas #we are out of control #fuck trump #defend democracy #lock him up #stars #Sees Stars

[wedgie-of-destiny]

LES QUARANTE BRAVES , Iréne Papas

#youtube #worth watching #democracy began here #and still requires defending

[uomo-accattivante]

Il materiale di origine: Clooney Foundation for Justice / Today is Human Rights Day, and to help reflect on that, here is a look back at the introduction Oscar Isaac gave to Justice for Democracy Defenders Award-winner Viasna (whose members fearlessly document human rights abuses and defend freedom in Belarus) at the Inaugural Albie Awards this past September.

#oscar isaac #albie awards #clooney foundation for justice #viasna #justice for democracy defenders #video