"Los Angeles is a microcosm of the United States. If L.A. falls, the country falls." – Ice T
Yesterday I told readers I was waiting to write about the fascist federal invasion conducted by the Trump regime, on the city of Los Angeles because I didn't think we were yet at a point where the whole story, which remains ongoing, could be properly contextualized. Yesterday, by illegally commandeering 2,000 California National Guardsmen, and deploying them to suppress protests that were at that time entirely peaceful, the Trumpenreich provided that context on livestream; the regime staged a miniature invasion of LA and its surrounding communities; partly as a form of reprisal for Angelinos disrupting Trump's fascist mass deportations, partly to provoke a conflict that would allow the government to at least threaten to invoke the Insurrection Act, and partly to further criminalize Trump's political opposition as he drives America towards a one-party fascist dictatorship.
A cursory examination of the Trump regime's statements and behavior over the weekend make it abundantly clear that this violent fascist political theater was not spontaneous, and Stephen Miller, Trump's hate goblin deputy chief of staff who is clearly running this nazi shitshow, is fully aware of the size of the game he and the Trump regime are now playing. No matter what happens from here, this is a huge story, with ramifications that are going to be felt for the rest of the Swine Emperor's time in office at a minimum; much in the way that DHS human trafficking flights to El Salvador, or the regime's quest to deport Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk, and others for anti-genocide speech, defined the opening 100 days of Trump's clearly fascist presidency, the invasion of LA is going to define the next phase of the fight against US fascism.
Unfortunately, we live in a capitalist society that values property over people, and embraces violent murderpigs and soldiers, while demonizing marginalized people and protestors. Already the broader story of what we all just watched on livestreams and newsfeeds, is being massaged into a victim-blaming narrative that simultaneously absolves both the Trump regime's fascist provocations, and the excessive violence of local police forces against almost entirely peaceful protestors who had every right, if not a civic responsibility to try and stop illegal fascist abductions and open civil rights violations in their communities. Statements are being memory-holed, timelines are being distorted, and a million (mostly) white talking heads are starting to "just ask questions" about whether the horrifying security state violence on your screen was justified because some of the protestors had bottle rockets and someone set robo-taxis on fire; as if "violence" against property is a thing that exists, and mere vandalism is morally equivalent to stomping protestors with police horses and firing "nonlethal" rounds at journalists.
In order to combat that phenomenon, I'd like to establish in extremely broad strokes, a rough outline of what I personally just watched unfold over three days in L.A.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration ordered ICE to drastically scale up migrant detainment numbers, including instructions to raid community businesses, make arrests without judicial orders, and grab bystanders agents merely think might be undocumented.
On Friday, militarized ICE units start conducting raids across the LA area using these new tactics, which are civil rights violations; Angelinos, who receive no protection from these violations from local authorities, understandably become angry and begin nonviolently protesting and working to disrupt these fascist mass deportations. At this point, the protests are peaceful and the only crimes being committed are vandalism, and obstructing ICE; who again are violating civil rights, and conducting militarized raids as part of a fascist mass deportation scheme.
Despite this, the Trump regime repeatedly declares that there's a violent insurrection going on in LA, illegally commandeers 2,000 California National Guardsmen, and deploys them to the LA area; these soldiers are then used on Sunday to threaten protestors and clear roads for the feds conducting mass migrant arrests. At this point, realizing they're being invaded, Angelinos start fighting back, and numerous violent police reprisals against protestors are filmed till we arrive at this moment, with Trump and Newsom in a political standoff and the whole US establishment trying to pretend vandalism is violence and that "breaking the law" to stop fascist murderpigs from rounding up your neighbors is a greater crime than the fascist mass deportations Angelinos were obstructing.
That's the story I saw this weekend, and the story I'm going to keep talking about going forward; no matter how many Very Serious People TM in our discourse try to make lies the truth, and fascist police repression the moral option.
Over the past ten days, I've been writing towards what I think is an obvious conclusion about what the Trumpenreich invasion of LA actually means; namely that President Trump has declared war on his ever-growing cohort of "enemies" and is now effectively operating the US government as an instrument of that war in real time. Furthermore, while the regime continues to lose in court on the subject of whether or not they're allowed to do all this fascist bullshit, the entire Trumpenreich state seems focused on accomplishing as much fascist repression as possible while those cases move through the appeals process. In other words, whether America is yet a dictatorship or not, the Trump regime is clearly operating as if the Swine Emperor is already a dictator.
Which is why it should certainly give you pause when the sitting President of the United States takes to his private social media site on Sunday night to release an unquestionably fascist argument for his intention to invade large, specifically-named, Democrat-run cities that happened to have large "No Kings" anti-Trump protests on Saturday.
Trump promises expanded immigration crackdown after ‘No Kings’ protests
"Trump raised the specter of an expanded immigration crackdown in a lengthy Sunday night post to his Truth Social network, alleging without evidence that the cities had become the “core of the Democratic power center” by using “illegal aliens to expand their voter base”.
Non-citizens are not permitted to vote in US elections – and there is no widespread evidence of them ever having done so.
“ICE Officers are herewith ordered, by notice of this TRUTH, to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History,” he wrote.
“We must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside.”
First of all, let me state that as alarming as this Guardian piece from Richard Luscombe is, it really is still minimizing how outrageously fascist and threatening Trump's post actually was. There are a lot of media outlets reporting the nazi bullshit Trump just said as if it were merely the President being petulant about crowd sizes; those people are doing you a grave disservice. You can, and should, just read the President's post here: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114690267066155731
Holy fuck folks, buddy has gone full Hitler, and more to the point this is absolutely not the inane cracker ramblings we're used to from late night Trump-posting. The president's post simultaneously portrays his Democrat political opponents and anyone who resists his mass deportation agenda as enemies of the American state and justifies the invasion of three of the largest Dem-run cities in America, while aligning his opposition with virtually every fascist moral panic "cancer" he claims is destroying American society. He justifies his order to make war on his opponents by accusing Democrats of rigging elections through illegal migrant voting, then weaponizes transphobia to accused them of destroying our society, and finally he explicitly aligns liberals against every level of law enforcement and militarized authority in the country.
Of additional importance here is Trump's very deliberate use of white nationalist ideology and phrasing. The president openly references "mass migration destruction," and accuses Democrats of turning our "once Idyllic Towns into scenes of Third World Dystopia." Perhaps most alarmingly, Trump directly refers to "remigration" which is a euphemistic word used only in white nationalist and nazi circles to describe the forced ethnic cleansing of Pig Empire nations to establish white ethnostates. If you told me this post had come from the diaries of Joey Goebbels himself, the modern American signifiers is the only way I'd know you were lying.
This is, without a hint of hyperbole, a fascist declaration of war designed to signify to Trump loyalists that the regime has indeed moved into a phase of open conflict and attempted purges of its political enemies; including milquetoast liberal Democrat politicians and officials. Much like his objectively nazi speech to hand-picked reactionary soldiers at Fort Bragg, this isn't just Trump being Trump, but rather the Swine Emperor revealing his new style of openly fascist rule; a warlord, subjugating all who oppose him, with the instruments of state as his weapons. Whether Trump will ultimately be able to bend the American state to his will enough to conduct multiple invasions of Democrat-controlled cities, and engage in ideological purges of the regime's enemies, remains an open question. But there is absolutely no doubt that he intends to, and is attempting to do so, as we speak.
Obviously I watched Revenge because it was directed by Coralie Fargeat, the director of current world-wide phenomenon The Substance. Even though Revenge is her directorial debut, I didn't not think it would be a bad film going into it, based on what I know about The Substance. And my expectations w...
The cover of Kotza House by Tiffany E. Taylor on an eerie, moon-lit black-and white swamp background with a black panther springing in the corner and the short read tagline.
Issa Amro
@Issaamro
The soldiers raided my house today, they wanted to revenge from me for participating in the @BBC documentary " the settlers", after the army left the settlers raided my house, they injured one activist and cut the tree, they stole tools and the garbage containers.
The Israeli police officer came to threaten me not to file a complaint if so l will be arrested for trying to push the settlers outside my house. It is #apartheid
Includes four screenshots showing armed people confronting an unarmed person.
So, I'm just a lady who studies the horrors of fascism and right wing extermination campaigns, but is it a good idea to let nazi propagandists completely control the narrative surrounding a fascist government's rapidly expanding pogrom against a highly-vulnerable marginalized group?
Trump’s Anti-Trans Orders Get Most Airtime on Fox News, Report Finds
"In President Donald Trump’s first month back in the White House, Fox News broadcasted more coverage of his anti-transgender executive orders than both MSNBC and CNN, according to a report by Media Matters for America — allowing the right-wing network to shape public discourse on trans people at a critical time for transgender rights.
“The shocking lack of coverage by more liberal media has allowed Fox News to push increasingly harmful narratives about transgender people,” LGBTQ legislative researcher Allison Chapman told Truthout.
In his first 31 days back in office, Trump signed a slew of anti-trans executive orders undermining the rights and protections of transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people. These policies sought to eradicate legal recognition of transgender identities, reinstate a ban on transgender people in the military, cut federal funding for hospitals providing gender-affirming care to trans people under the age of 19, withhold federal funds from schools that allow trans women to compete in women’s sports, and reverse diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives."
Folks, I'm getting pretty tired of explaining to incredulous cis-het people that the larger liberal establishment doesn't care if trans people live or die; the evidence, whether it's raw television broadcast data, a lack of organized protest to oppose anti-trans laws, or maggot collaborators like Gavin Newsome gleefully telling nazi propagandists they make some good points about trans rights, is literally all around you. As both an antifascist researcher and a target of the anti-trans pogrom, I can assure you that this is real and I'm not overreacting. When a government pursing fascist policies and using eliminationist rhetoric officially decrees that there are only two "biologically" determined "sexes" and thus trans people don't exist, they are following an eliminationist blueprint designed to make trans people not existing an enforced reality; if you want to know how that story ends, you should study the step by step process of isolating, de-personing, and demonizing Jewish people that Hitler and the Nazi Party used to justify, enable, and enact the Holocaust. Maybe you already realize this, maybe you know that the fascists aren't going to stop eliminating groups of people they don't like after they get done erasing the existence of trans people, maybe you even care about trans lives on a personal level; but your leaders don't, the opinion makers who control public discourse don't, and the politics being pursued by the larger liberal establishment in the face of an active anti-trans pogrom actually occurring as we speak, make that abundantly clear.
Or, maybe you don't care. Perhaps, like a lot of cis het people, you're not openly transphobic, but you find trans people somehow scandalous, distasteful, or disconcerting, and that's enough to buy your silence and keep you from speaking out against the silence of your leaders and media organizations. I don't know how to make folks who don't think my existence matters care about trans lives if telling them that refusing to speak out and fight back now, means their families, their children, will be next. What I can tell you is that avoiding the subject and hoping the nazis lose interest in erasing trans people from our society isn't going to work, and hasn't worked for anyone else trying to stop a fascist takeover in all of human history.
The fact is that Fox News (and every other fascist propaganda outlet in America) hasn't been pushing a moral panic about trans people (particularly trans women) while gleefully celebrating legal assaults on trans people's right to exist, for no reason; these fascists are dead serious about this, they want their base to be excited about this, and they're putting in the work every day to make sure public opinion continues to favor further marginalizing, punishing, and yes eventually eliminating, trans people. The fact that corporate media muppets and bougie Democrat political strategists can point me to polls showing that the fascists are moving the needle, and defending trans people is unpopular with suburban white voters who picked Trump anyway, doesn't prove their cowardice is justified, it just proves that the larger liberal establishment isn't working hard enough to oppose an anti-trans pogrom; and that, whether you want to believe it or not, puts everyone in danger - even you.
As I mentioned in the post above, the Trump regime's war on the existence of trans people is clearly important enough to them ideologically and politically, to enact a series of punishments on the entire state of Maine, to cow their governor Janet Mills into submission. That's not just my interpretation as a trans woman, we literally just caught the acting Social Security Administration Commissioner admitting as much in writing:
"The top Democrat on the U.S. House Oversight Committee on Wednesday led calls for the resignation of acting Social Security Administration Commissioner Leland Dudek following the revelation of internal emails confirming that the SSA canceled contracts with the state of Maine as political payback after Democratic Gov. Janet Mills publicly defied President Donald Trump in support of transgender student athletes.
The emails—which were obtained by House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Gerry Connolly (D-Va.)—show that Dudek ordered the cancellation of enumeration at birth and electronic death registration contracts with Maine, even though SSAd subordinates warned that such action "would result in improper payments and potential for identity theft."
Dudek—who is leading the SSA while the Senate considers Trump's nomination of financial services executive Frank Bisignano—replied to the staffer: "Please cancel the contracts. While our improper payments will go up, and fraudsters may compromise identities, no money will go from the public trust to a petulant child."
He was referring to Mills, who stood up to Trump in February after the president threatened to suspend federal funding for Maine unless the state banned transgender girls and women from participating on female scholastic sports teams."
I mean good on Connolly to call for Dudek's resignation, but are centrist party strategists even paying attention to what's going on here? I can't stress how degrading it is to keep having to remind powerful cis people who were happy to promote supporting trans rights as a brand eight years ago, that the fascist Trump regime's anti-trans pogrom is going to affect everyone who isn't a fascist negatively, not just trans people. But also, that's exactly what's happening, and even as we speak these same people point to opinion polling as an excuse for leaving trans people and their civil rights to the tender mercy of guys like Stephen fucking Miller.
Greed. Jealousy. Revenge. With a plot to engineer the total destruction of APS in the bargain. And that’s just before lunch. Whimsical Angel, Book 3 in the Whimsical Dreams series.
The cover of Whimsical Angel, Book 3 in the Whimsical Dreams series, on a pink and dark blue sea background with a ship on the horizon and a blurb from the book for LesFicFri: Theme is “SHADOW”
MVP #KamalaHarris is making the “closing argument” for her presidential campaign Tuesday from the same site where #Trump incited his #Jan6, 2021, #insurrection.
"This is someone who is #unstable, obsessed w/ #revenge, consumed w/ #grievance & out for unchecked #power. Donald #Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people #divided & #afraid of each other," #KamalaHarris said criticizing Trump for his "#EnemyWithin" language.
Pivoting to her promise to Americans, she pledged "to seek #CommonGround & #CommonSense solutions to make your lives better. I am not looking to score political points. I am looking to make #progress."
The #Jenin Refugee Camp was established by persons coming from Haifa and whereabouts, who fled or were expelled by Zionist forces during and in the aftermath of the 1948 Palestine War.
The camp has since become a stronghold of militants. It was the location of several occupation incidents, most notably the 2002 entry by the Israel military, and the 2022 killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. It remains the site of frequent clashes between Israeli forces & the residents. 🧵
Photographic view of the rubble in Jenin after a quarter of the town was dynamited by British forces in 1938, as a retaliatory attack after a British official was assassinated
Amjad #Iraqi explains why Palestinians identify with Khader #Adnan, a prisoner who died on hunger strike, for his struggle against #israel#prisons.
"Those trying to undermine public anger over the hunger striker's death don't want to talk about the violent carceral regime that he struggled against."
Scabies is an itchy skin rash caused by a tiny burrowing mite called Sarcoptes scabiei. Intense itching occurs in the area where the mite burrows. The need to scratch may be stronger at night.
Scabies is contagious and can spread quickly through close person-to-person contact in a family, child care group, school class, nursing home or prison.
Prison authorities help scabies to spread by restricting inmates’ water supply and depriving them of clean clothes and medical care.
In August 2024, NGO B'tselem published a report on what it calls 'torture camps':
“B’Tselem collected testimonies from 55 Palestinians held during that time and released, almost all with no charges. Their testimonies reveal the outcomes of the rushed transformation of more than a dozen Israeli prison facilities, military and civilian, into a network of camps dedicated to the abuse of inmates as a matter of policy. Facilities in which every inmate is deliberately subjected to harsh, relentless pain and suffering operate as de-facto torture camps.
Report on the imprisonment of residents of the occupied West Bank
from the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) and the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association: https://www.addameer.org/news/5559
UN expert Francesca Albanese spoke to the UN Palestinian Rights Committee on 31 October 2024. She called on all States to examine their relationships and avoid being #complicit in the crime of genocide being committed by Israel on the Palestinian people in Gaza. 🧵
"The current genocide is part of a century-long project of eliminatory settler-colonialism in @palestine, a stain on the international system and humanity, which must be ended, investigated and prosecuted.
The Special Rapporteur reminds all States of their legal obligation to act on their due diligence duties given the clearly serious risk of continuous breach of the Genocide Convention and Geneva Conventions, and urges States to consider and reach an urgent public determination as to what levers and tools each State has at its disposal to ameliorate that risk, whether acting alone or with other States, including at the United Nations; and to explain to the public and the international community the steps which it has taken and why.
Whether in compliance with the above due diligence duties or otherwise, the Special Rapporteur urges Member States to:
(a) Use all their political leverage – commencing with a full arms embargo and sanctions – so that Israel stops the assault against the Palestinians, accepts a ceasefire and fully withdraws from the occupied Palestinian territory in line with the ICJ Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024;
(b) Formally recognize Israel as an apartheid State and persistent violator of international law, reactivating the Special Committee Against Apartheid to comprehensively address the situation in Palestine, and warn Israel of possible suspension of its membership under Article 6 of the Charter of the United Nations;
(c) Support the deployment of an international protective presence throughout the occupied Palestinian territory;
(d) Develop a protective framework for Palestinians displaced outside Gaza, in line with international human rights and refugee law, while fully preserving their right to return;
(e) Support independent and thorough investigation(s) of criminal conduct, including genocide and apartheid, including through the application in national courts of universal jurisdiction over those suspected of such criminal conduct, including all relevant ancillary offences;
(f) Investigate and prosecute corporate entities and dual citizens involved in crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory, including soldiers, mercenaries and settlers;
(g) Ensure unhindered humanitarian assistance to Gaza and full financing and protection of UNRWA, including from attacks on its premises and personnel and from libellous smear campaigns, and ensure the continuity of its mandate in all fields.
The Special Rapporteur urges the ICC Prosecutor to investigate the commission of the crimes of genocide and apartheid by Israel, and investigate other prominent individuals mentioned in the present report.
The Special Rapporteur urges the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel to investigate the broader context of eliminatory intent and practices of Israel against all Palestinians (triple lens test), including those with Israeli citizenship and the refugees, and recent acts of genocide."
The pellets fired by most israeli drones are more destructive than bullets which would pierce a body straight through. Instead, the pellets are bouncing around inside bodies.
"I feel because you can't unsee what you have seen."
Respect to #SarahChampion, #Labour MP, for handling the hearing with so much care.
British surgeon giving evidence to the parliamentary International Development Committee:
"So the drones woud come down and pick off civilians, children."
The present video goes longer than the excerpt chosen by the #BBC. The national broadcaster notably chose to cut the phrases:
"We had one or two mass casualty incidents every day."
"It was a persistent act, persistent targeting of civilians day after day."
"This is not an occasional thing. This was day after day after day operating on children who would say, 'I was lying on the ground after a bomb dropped and this quadcopter came down and hovered over me and shot me'."
"I am an obstetrician and gynecologist who has worked in Gaza throughout the Israeli genocide. I have seen the destruction of Gaza's medical sector firsthand. My patients' stories tell the story of the genocide."