Bake that anti-fascist bread. Share those anti-fascist cat videos. Wear that anti-fascist outfit of the day. Gather round this anti-fascist campfire. Choose a side, and make it loud.
Lovely photos from your daughter Sydney. Social media has always been political, but Minneapolis is waking up more people who might not have spoken of politics online or around a campfire. Thanks for this post. I was so sad to see that ICE was in Maine.
I am so. freaking. exhausted. So freaking tired of waking up every day and remembering that the most incompetent, arrogant, megalomaniacal excuse for a POTUS is still in charge of our country. Thank you for sharing some light.
I'm sending your the cold hard documented facts on "Fascism - it's origin and history - which you probably are not aware.
"Fascism" is only a part of a much broader ideology named "Modern Conservatism" -- which came into being during the last of the French Bourbon Kings, specifically King Louis XIV, who's ideology was "free enterprise without restriction".
King Louis, his courtesan Marie Antoinette, his Court, and the "commercial powers that be" at the time --"pushed it to maximum" - up to the French Revolution -- and we know how well it went for him / them.
Modern Conservatism then spread to Britain as the basis for their Conservative Party - where it still is practiced.
Next - it came to the South of this country in the form of landed gentry with their "human possessions" and businessmen - "...here to make a buck..." - with us fighting our Civil War over slavery / defeating the South and Midwest believers - including one Jefferson Davis, the "President of the Confederacy" who fled the US to Europe just ahead of the Northern Army people who were going to arrest him for Treason.
He later coined the term "MAGA," i.e., Make America Great Again - as a slogan to hopefully "fire up the troops as he slithered back into the Country -- so Trump stole that also.
Modern Conservatism is based on 7 core ideologies - and I will leave it up to you as to whether of not you think the word "fascism" even touches the depth of inhuman evil it actually contains.
The 7 ideologies are:
1.) "...Totalitarianism..." -- where "The Party" (the Republican Party in this case) controls "The Government", and seeks to punish it's political enemies, eliminating all descent from anyone;
2.) "...Dictatorship..." -- where "The Leader" controls absolutely everything - in this case - by "Executive Orders", thanks to the Republican Party, over time as directed by the Heritage Foundation - stacking the Supreme Court with the "Supreme Court 6";
3.) "Limiting Personal Freedoms" -- taking away personal freedom without cause or recourse - by the "Supreme Court 6" and "The Government";
4.) "...Xenophobia..." -- perpetuating the White / Nordic Race heritage - while eliminating all others as being "inferior" - this time via illegal arrest and deportation - or killing in the street;
5.) "...Nationalism..." -- "rebuilding the Country" - because "...it had been 'persecuted against' by literally every other nation..." - including countries inhabited by penguins only;
6.) "...Loyalty..." -- where every "Party Member" swears unconditional and total loyalty to "The Leader" as The Party Leader" -- and then to the Country -- and;
7.) "...Sovereign Economy..." -- where "The Government" runs everything for it's "war needs" - both economic - and "otherwise".
I've purposely separated these 7 so that hopefully they will "sink-in" - as they are the totally engulfing threat to this Country as they are -- and not just the term - "Fascism":
--- they are the ideologies of "The Nazi".
How do I know -- because being the son of a US Army Officer, who was assigned to help start the rebuild of Germany after the end of WW II in Europe; 1 1/2 years after the end of fighting - my family joined my father: where I played with kids, some with Nazi parent, and some that didn't.
The kids with Nazi Parents were "different" - and as we had a German maid who was not a Nazi ---- I starting to learn - and through the years kept in contact, as she married a US Army soldier and came to the US;
--- I learned what happened to those Germans that were not Nazi, which were many; and it was brutal.
It takes an independent, conscientious decision to turn away from being an old-style "American Conservative" - and turn oneself into a "Modern Conservative":
--- but that is exactly what has taken place here in the US - as far the party membership of one of the two US Political Parties - and the one that hasn't turned - is the Democratic Party.
These are strong statements concerning the ideologies list above - and the poeple who are now following them.
But you will find every one of them in the new Republican Party "Bible" - "Project 2025" and now "Project 2026":
Both "Projects" are a carbon copy of the German Third Reich Nazi Party's "playbook" under the Dictatorship of Adolph Hitler -- whom our present wanna-be Dictator is quoted - as "admiring".
Everything in Modern Conservatism / Nazism is complete down to Trump's version of Marie Antoinette - "Malania".
Their attack on our Democracy started in 2020 with the attack on the US Capital with Trump's version of the German "Brown Shirts".
In 2026 we now have the shooting and killing of US citizens in our streets - by ICE / Gestapo Federalized Agents commanded by "Stormgruppenfuhrer" Gregory Bovino - complete in his long dark trench-coat and cross-chest belt.
Furthermore - and to our destruction - the US Military Leadership is goose-stepping to "orders from headquarters" - just like the German High Command did - totally counter to the oath that all of us Vets took when we joined the US Armed Forces - which I honored in the US Navy in early Vietnam.
So -- now you have a lot more detailed information - as against when you thought it was just political based "Fascism.
You got me at Share That Anti-fascist Cat Video.... I am very glad your publication showed on my feed. Thank you for your posts and your photos. Insightful and poetic, good combination.
This framing about how authoritarian systems creep into everyday spaces totally captures what feels differnet right now. Saw it play out at a neighborhood cookout last summer, where someone casually brought up local politics and half the table went silent. That silence as consent idea is spot-on becasue neutrality just isn't an option anymore.
Lovely photos from your daughter Sydney. Social media has always been political, but Minneapolis is waking up more people who might not have spoken of politics online or around a campfire. Thanks for this post. I was so sad to see that ICE was in Maine.
Beautiful photograph by your daughter and prose by you!!! Thank you for sharing!
Lovely piece, as always. Peace to you and your family
I am so. freaking. exhausted. So freaking tired of waking up every day and remembering that the most incompetent, arrogant, megalomaniacal excuse for a POTUS is still in charge of our country. Thank you for sharing some light.
You stated how I feel so perfectly. Glad so many of us are linking arms, standing up, and speaking out. Even in the midst of the exhaustion and fear.
Hi Sydney:
The following is for your children and yourself.
I'm sending your the cold hard documented facts on "Fascism - it's origin and history - which you probably are not aware.
"Fascism" is only a part of a much broader ideology named "Modern Conservatism" -- which came into being during the last of the French Bourbon Kings, specifically King Louis XIV, who's ideology was "free enterprise without restriction".
King Louis, his courtesan Marie Antoinette, his Court, and the "commercial powers that be" at the time --"pushed it to maximum" - up to the French Revolution -- and we know how well it went for him / them.
Modern Conservatism then spread to Britain as the basis for their Conservative Party - where it still is practiced.
Next - it came to the South of this country in the form of landed gentry with their "human possessions" and businessmen - "...here to make a buck..." - with us fighting our Civil War over slavery / defeating the South and Midwest believers - including one Jefferson Davis, the "President of the Confederacy" who fled the US to Europe just ahead of the Northern Army people who were going to arrest him for Treason.
He later coined the term "MAGA," i.e., Make America Great Again - as a slogan to hopefully "fire up the troops as he slithered back into the Country -- so Trump stole that also.
Modern Conservatism is based on 7 core ideologies - and I will leave it up to you as to whether of not you think the word "fascism" even touches the depth of inhuman evil it actually contains.
The 7 ideologies are:
1.) "...Totalitarianism..." -- where "The Party" (the Republican Party in this case) controls "The Government", and seeks to punish it's political enemies, eliminating all descent from anyone;
2.) "...Dictatorship..." -- where "The Leader" controls absolutely everything - in this case - by "Executive Orders", thanks to the Republican Party, over time as directed by the Heritage Foundation - stacking the Supreme Court with the "Supreme Court 6";
3.) "Limiting Personal Freedoms" -- taking away personal freedom without cause or recourse - by the "Supreme Court 6" and "The Government";
4.) "...Xenophobia..." -- perpetuating the White / Nordic Race heritage - while eliminating all others as being "inferior" - this time via illegal arrest and deportation - or killing in the street;
5.) "...Nationalism..." -- "rebuilding the Country" - because "...it had been 'persecuted against' by literally every other nation..." - including countries inhabited by penguins only;
6.) "...Loyalty..." -- where every "Party Member" swears unconditional and total loyalty to "The Leader" as The Party Leader" -- and then to the Country -- and;
7.) "...Sovereign Economy..." -- where "The Government" runs everything for it's "war needs" - both economic - and "otherwise".
I've purposely separated these 7 so that hopefully they will "sink-in" - as they are the totally engulfing threat to this Country as they are -- and not just the term - "Fascism":
--- they are the ideologies of "The Nazi".
How do I know -- because being the son of a US Army Officer, who was assigned to help start the rebuild of Germany after the end of WW II in Europe; 1 1/2 years after the end of fighting - my family joined my father: where I played with kids, some with Nazi parent, and some that didn't.
The kids with Nazi Parents were "different" - and as we had a German maid who was not a Nazi ---- I starting to learn - and through the years kept in contact, as she married a US Army soldier and came to the US;
--- I learned what happened to those Germans that were not Nazi, which were many; and it was brutal.
It takes an independent, conscientious decision to turn away from being an old-style "American Conservative" - and turn oneself into a "Modern Conservative":
--- but that is exactly what has taken place here in the US - as far the party membership of one of the two US Political Parties - and the one that hasn't turned - is the Democratic Party.
These are strong statements concerning the ideologies list above - and the poeple who are now following them.
But you will find every one of them in the new Republican Party "Bible" - "Project 2025" and now "Project 2026":
Both "Projects" are a carbon copy of the German Third Reich Nazi Party's "playbook" under the Dictatorship of Adolph Hitler -- whom our present wanna-be Dictator is quoted - as "admiring".
Everything in Modern Conservatism / Nazism is complete down to Trump's version of Marie Antoinette - "Malania".
Their attack on our Democracy started in 2020 with the attack on the US Capital with Trump's version of the German "Brown Shirts".
In 2026 we now have the shooting and killing of US citizens in our streets - by ICE / Gestapo Federalized Agents commanded by "Stormgruppenfuhrer" Gregory Bovino - complete in his long dark trench-coat and cross-chest belt.
Furthermore - and to our destruction - the US Military Leadership is goose-stepping to "orders from headquarters" - just like the German High Command did - totally counter to the oath that all of us Vets took when we joined the US Armed Forces - which I honored in the US Navy in early Vietnam.
So -- now you have a lot more detailed information - as against when you thought it was just political based "Fascism.
It's not.
Take care.
You got me at Share That Anti-fascist Cat Video.... I am very glad your publication showed on my feed. Thank you for your posts and your photos. Insightful and poetic, good combination.
So great to read your thoughtful words again alongside your daughter’s beautiful photos✌️
Thank you Sydney. I a place far far away I stand with you. Bless you, bless the people of Minnesota for their courage.
This framing about how authoritarian systems creep into everyday spaces totally captures what feels differnet right now. Saw it play out at a neighborhood cookout last summer, where someone casually brought up local politics and half the table went silent. That silence as consent idea is spot-on becasue neutrality just isn't an option anymore.
Take care dear people. Sending hugs and best wishes. Beautiful photography! Heartfelt words. 🤗🤗