#characteristicsoffascism — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #characteristicsoffascism, aggregated by home.social.
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[Alleged] #Christian Employers Can Now Discriminate Against #TransPeople
A settlement with the Christian Employers Alliance blocks the EEOC from ever investigating the group’s members for gender identity discrimination.
Bryce Covert
September 1 2026Excerpt: "The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency tasked with protecting workers from illegal discrimination, inked an unprecedented settlement with a conservative Christian employer association that could have long-term, wide-ranging consequences.
"The lawsuit that led to the settlement was in reaction to #EEOC guidance issued under the Biden administration and after a 2020 Supreme Court ruling that Title VII protects against gender identity discrimination.
In the settlement, reached on August 18, the EEOC pledged to not pursue any claims of gender identity-based discrimination against the #ChristianEmployersAlliance — and made the pledge in perpetuity."The EEOC provides free investigation into complaints of discrimination and, in some cases, will bring lawsuits on behalf of employees at no cost to the plaintiffs.
"Now, however, anyone who works for a company with membership in the Christian Employers Alliance who believes they suffered gender identity-based discrimination won’t be able to avail themselves of the EEOC’s process.
"The settlement also contains an unusual provision: It applies not just to the more than 20,000 employers that are already members in the Christian Employers Alliance, but also to any future members, so long as they are members at the time that any claimed discrimination occurred.
"That means that any employer that decides to sign up for Christian Employers Alliance membership will get the benefit of blanket protection from the EEOC against all claims of #GenderIdentity discrimination, such as harassing someone for being #nonbinary or firing them for coming out as #trans .
" 'I am not aware of any settlement that just creates in perpetuity a freedom from investigation, 'said Karla Gilbride, a former EEOC general counsel under President Joe Biden who is now at the American Civil Liberties Union. 'I’ve never seen an organization get a settlement that allows protection to future members in this way.'
"The settlement will stay in place even if #AndreaLucas, the current Republican chair of the EEOC, is replaced with a Democratic chair under a future Democratic president. (The Christian Employers Alliance declined to comment, and the EEOC did not respond to an inquiry.)"
Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2026/09/01/christian-employers-settlement-gender-discrimination-eeoc/Archived version:
https://archive.ph/FnMei#WWJD #LoveOneAnother #USPol #GBLTQRights #HumanRights #TransRightsAreHumanRights #HumanRightsViolations #ChristoFascism #Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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Trump Goes After Anonymous Email Provider in Italy. The Real Target Is Free Speech in the U.S.
Trump designated an Italian web-hosting provider as a foreign “terror” group. It could take #antifascist sites in the U.S. offline.
Matt Sledge
August 28 2026"In the latest escalation of the Trump administration’s war on the left, the U.S. government’s designation of a popular antifascist webhosting provider as a terror group could shutter a swath of radical websites in the U.S.
"Secretary of State #MarcoRubio and Treasury Secretary #ScottBessent announced Wednesday that they were targeting the Italy-based A/I Collective with terror sanctions. Federal law gives the Treasury Department broad discretion to apply the terror label to foreign groups.
"A wide array of #anarchist, antifascist, and #FarLeft groups in the U.S. and abroad use the privacy-minded collective’s offerings, including an anonymous email service and its popular noblogs.org blogging platform.
"The practice of designating an internet platform and service provider as a terror group — rather than those pursuing violence themselves — has 'huge' implications for the future free speech on the internet, warned Jillian York, the director of international freedom of expression at the #ElectronicFrontierFoundation.
" 'They are going after the messenger,' York said. 'I don’t think that the members of the group would necessarily condone the actions of the people that they hosted. What they do condone is the freedom to host, the ability to be anonymous, the ability to be private.'
"The A/I Collective told The Intercept that it is exploring its legal options to fight the sanctions, which block U.S. citizens and companies from providing the group with financial support.
"In an unsigned statement, the group said that it denies the U.S. government’s allegations.
" '#Antifascism and #anticapitalism are not #terrorism ,' the group said. '#Protesting is not terrorism. And everyone has the right to speak out and to struggle for #humanity.' " [And #MotherEarth ! ]
Source:
https://theintercept.com/2026/08/28/trump-antifa-terrorist-websites-free-speech/Archived version:
https://archive.ph/4ETk2#FreeSpeech #AutisticiInventati #Solidarity #USPol #WorldPol #SolidarityWithAutisticiInventati #FreedomOfExpression #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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#Whistleblower Says #Trump Officials Are Defying Court Orders on #VotingByMail
A report detailed “grave concerns” that a new system being rushed into use by the U.S. Postal Service could imperil millions of mail ballots ahead of the midterm elections.
Chris Cameron
By Chris Cameron
Reporting from Washington
Sept. 1, 2026Excerpt: "A U.S. Postal Service official has alleged that the agency is moving forward with a 'secretive, rushed' effort to carry out President Trump’s order exerting federal control over mail voting, despite a court order blocking those plans.
"The official filed a whistle-blower report, published on Tuesday morning by the office of Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, asserting that the 'risky and haphazard' implementation of Mr. Trump’s order could lead to a 'catastrophic failure' in the mail ballot system ahead of this year’s #MidtermElections. The report said that the agency had planned to complete the new digital system overseeing mail ballots by Sept. 1.
" 'Potentially millions of American voters may not receive their mail-in ballot this election cycle in a timely manner, or at all,' the official said in the report, which was prepared with the assistance of #WhistleblowerAid, a nonprofit group that represents people seeking to expose potential lawbreaking.
Speaking to reporters by phone on Monday, Mr. Blumenthal said of the report that 'the main takeaway for me is that the Postal Service has designed a system to disenfranchise millions of Americans. One-third of all Americans cast their ballots by mail, and the #USPS puts all of their votes at risk.'
"A Postal Service official declined to comment on the record."
Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/us/politics/whistle-blower-voting-by-mail.htmlArchived version:
https://archive.ph/IJg8U#USPol #Elections2026 #Fascism #USElections #Trump #StealingElections #VoterSupression #TrumpIsAFascist #VoterDisenfranchisement #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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HT
@brucesA single signature by #Trump can remove you from the #internet
by di Stefania Maurizi, 31 August 2026
Excerpt: " 'Designating a collective that has been active for over twenty years in the European civil and digital rights movement—and has always operated openly—as a terrorist organization is part of the technological war that the United States is waging against anyone who asserts autonomy over digital networks and infrastructure...' "
https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2026/08/29/autistici-inventati-trump-terrorists-news/8491452/
#AutisticiInventati #USPol #WorldPol #ItalyPol #Censorship #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #Trumpistan #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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Postal Service Rule Could Bar Millions From #VotingByMail
A judge temporarily blocked the agency from refusing to deliver ballots in #noncompliant states, which could disproportionately affect #Democrats and many battleground elections.
By Reid J. Epstein, Aug. 30, 2026
Excerpt: "Voting by mail would become much more difficult, if not impossible, for tens of millions of Americans if the #USPostalService is allowed to implement a restrictive rule governing mail voting that President Trump has demanded.
"The effects would likely be greater for #DemocraticVoters, who vote by mail in higher numbers than #Republicans, and in states where mail voting is universal or nearly so. #MailVoting may not happen at all in states that resist the #Trump administration’s demands for #VoterData .
"The rule would particularly affect people in #rural areas and #OlderVoters, who tend to cast ballots by mail in greater numbers. It could also deeply affect states where some of the most competitive races for House, Senate and governor will determine control of Congress and state governments.
" #Michigan, where 37 percent of votes were cast by mail in 2022, would be one epicenter, with hard-fought statewide contests and multiple battleground House races. #California, which mails ballots to all voters, is expected to be central to Democratic efforts to win a majority in the House.
"The rule is being challenged in several lawsuits, and it is on hold temporarily following a federal judge’s ruling on Thursday. The administration is appealing. Even if the Postal Service is permitted to proceed, it is unclear that it would have time to implement the plan ahead of an election that is fewer than 70 days away.
"For instance, the rule requires states to upload a list of voters to a federal mail ballot portal that is not yet online. Nearly two dozen Democratic-led states and #WashingtonDC , have sued to block the proposed rule and said they will not comply with it.
"If the agency were to move ahead, state and local officials would shoulder enormous costs in what would need to be a herculean effort to prepare election offices and educate voters in time for the midterm elections in November.
"The most dramatic aspect of the proposed rule is a plan to deny services for election mail entirely in states that do not turn over #VoterData, which federal officials say they want to use to identify noncitizens on state #VoterRolls. The policy would upend mail voting in any state that does not comply, but the effects would be measurably greater in the smaller number of states that rely heavily on mail voting.
"More than one in three Democrats voted by mail in 2024, compared with about one in four Republicans, according to estimates by the States United Democracy Center, which examined voting data in 32 states where it was available.
" 'It’s not that complicated,' said Marc Elias, the Democratic election lawyer, who said the new policy was a blatant effort to disenfranchise Democrats. 'The administration knows that Democrats are more likely to vote by mail than Republicans. Donald Trump has demonized voting by mail and made that differential even greater.' "
Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/30/us/politics/mail-voting-trump-midterms-supreme-court.htmlArchived version:
https://archive.ph/3A3nw#USPol #Elections2026 #VoterDisenfranchisement #VoterIntimidation #Fascists #CharacteristicsOfFascism #LiteracyTests
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Republican nominee for #Maine governor says he wants #ICEAgents at #Polling places in the state
The Maine Democratic Party criticized the idea as likely illegal and an attempt to intimidate voters.
by PATRICK WHITTLE and MATT BROWN,
August 26, 2026PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — "Maine’s Republican nominee for governor recently told a crowd of supporters that he would ask a top Department of Homeland Security official to send U.S. Marshals and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to polling places in the state for this fall’s midterm elections, according to audio obtained by The Associated Press.
"During an Aug. 20 event in Arundel, Bobby Charles told a group of supporters that he would ask #TomHoman, the White House #BorderCzar, to send federal agents to polling places in the weeks before #ElectionDay. The audio was first reported by the Bangor Daily News.
" 'Here’s my secret,; Charles told members of a Maine Young Republicans chapter. 'I have a friend named Tom Homan. Tom and I used to get on Fox all the time together. Tom’s an awesome guy.'
" 'I’m going to ask Tom, I’m going to actually — three or four weeks before the election, maybe three — I’m going to make an appeal for ICE and #USMarshals to be at our voting booths,' Charles said, according to the audio."
Read more:
https://www.bostonherald.com/2026/08/26/bobby-charles-ice-at-polling-places/#MainePol #USPol #Elections2026 #VoterIntimidation #ICEOutOfMaine #ICEOut #DefundICE #CapitalPolice #CapitolPolice #PanEm #Fascists #BobbyCharles #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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#LawrenceBritt 's #CharacteristicsOfFascism number 14 - #FraudulentElections
"Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by #SmearCampaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control #voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections."
Supreme Court Allows Trump to Pursue Mail Voting Limits, for Now
The administration asked the court to clear the way for President Trump’s order that creates “state citizenship lists” and directs the Postal Service to decide who gets a mail-in ballot.
By Abbie VanSickle and Ann E. Marimow
Aug. 24, 2026Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/24/us/politics/supreme-court-trump-mail-ballots.htmlArchived version:
https://archive.ph/vDt6r#USPol #USElections #Elections2026 #Fascism #VoterDisenfranchisement
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Pentagon Spokesperson Admits There’s a Secret Blacklist of Journalists
When pressed about the Iran war, a CENTCOM press official threatened to put an Intercept reporter on a “list of people to disregard.”
Nick Turse, August 24 2026
Excerpt: "Under self-styled #WarSecretary #PeteHegseth, the U.S. military has mounted the most aggressive assault on #PressFreedom in memory, from an effort to outlaw 'unauthorized' questions from reporters to imposing unconstitutional restrictions on journalists’ access to the Pentagon. Hegseth has compared reporters to 'Pharisees,' who in the Bible call Jesus’s teachings into question, while the secretary’s minions regularly hurl insults at reporters. This is part of a broader war on press freedoms by the #TrumpAdministration, that includes demonizing #journalists; filing so-called strategic lawsuits against public participation, or #SLAPPs, to intimidate and silence criticism through expensive legal proceedings; and employing grand jury subpoenas and search warrants to intimidate reporters.
" 'Threatening journalists with placement on a #blacklist in retaliation for reporting the government doesn’t like is as #unconstitutional as it gets,' said Seth Stern, the director of advocacy for Freedom of the Press Foundation. 'This should put to rest the Pentagon’s prior claims that it’s anti-press policies — like its infamous requirement that reporters sign pledges to only print authorized information — are somehow content neutral.'
"Allee revealed the existence of the blacklist after this reporter was left on hold for more than two hours and complained about a long-standing lack of transparency by the command. In calls earlier that morning, Maj. Emma Thompson, #CENTCOM ’s media operations chief, repeatedly refused to answer questions about Iranian attacks on U.S. bases across the Middle East, disparate U.S. casualty counts, and medical evacuation flights: 'Nothing for you,' 'Don’t have anything for you,' 'No comment.' Thompson then hung up on this reporter mid-question.
#TheIntercept called back multiple times until Allee picked up the phone. 'They’re not going to answer your call if you just keep calling and calling,' he told this reporter."
Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2026/08/24/pentagon-military-journalist-blacklist-press-media/Archived version:
https://archive.ph/uPwYW#USPol #Censorship #SiliencingDissent #SilencingThePress #NoComment #Orwellian #MinistryOfTruth #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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Older #StudentLoan borrowers are at risk of losing a chunk of their #SocialSecurity. There's a new bill to prevent that.
Story by Ayelet Sheffey, August 17, 2026
"Student-loan borrowers could lose their Social Security checks if they fall behind on their loan payments. Democratic lawmakers want to put an end to that practice.
"On Monday, Sens. #BernieSanders, #ElizabethWarren, and #EdMarkey introduced a bill to prevent older student-loan borrowers and borrowers with disabilities from facing Social Security garnishment if they default on their payments.
"A fact sheet of the legislation reviewed by Business Insider said that the bill would prohibit the Treasury from seizing Social Security payments, including Social Security Disability Insurance, and protect those borrowers from 'unnecessary forced collections.'
"Sanders said in a statement that 'in the richest country in the history of the world, no senior should have their Social Security payments taken away from them to pay back student debt.'
" 'This is especially true when seniors throughout the country already cannot afford the skyrocketing price of healthcare, prescription drugs, groceries and housing,' Sanders said. "Congress must pass this legislation.'
"The legislation comes as student-loan defaults are at a record high. Over 9 million borrowers were in default as of March, according to the latest Education Department data, which happens when a borrower has missed payments for 270 days.
"The New York Federal Reserve's latest household debt report showed that student-loan delinquencies stood at 10.6% in the second quarter of 2026 — up from 10.3% in the first quarter. Pre-pandemic delinquency rates were around 11%, and researchers said the latest data showed that delinquency is stabilizing. Yet researchers said that number could rise again due to the elimination of the Biden-era SAVE repayment plan, which gave borrowers affordable payments and a shorter timeline to debt relief."
Read more:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/older-student-loan-borrowers-are-at-risk-of-losing-a-chunk-of-their-social-security-there-s-a-new-bill-to-prevent-that/ar-AA2ahcsA?#SAVEPlan #StudentLoans #USPol #TrumpSucks #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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What’s Happening in #Kansas Should Alarm Us All
by M. Gessen, August 13, 2026
Excerpt: "Some of the words or expressions in this article may at first blush seem hyperbolic. One of them is ' #fascism. ' That’s how #SiobhanKirschstein characterized the process when we met in Lawrence, Kan., in July: 'It was #SoftFascism.' It was. Fascism usually begins with redefining the nation by excluding certain groups, which are branded threats to national health and unity. The #Trump administration has fixated on two groups most of all — #immigrants and #TransPeople — in just this way, smearing us (I am a member of both groups) as predatory, sick, at once subhuman and terrifyingly powerful. Even before Donald Trump was elected for the second time, more than half the states had considered or passed legislation limiting the rights of trans people. The process has intensified in the last year and a half, and the law enacted in Kansas in February is one of the most restrictive pieces of anti-trans legislation passed in any state so far."
Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/13/opinion/kansas-anti-trans-laws-drivers-license.htmlArchived version:
https://archive.ph/M45LM#USPol #AntiTransLegislation #SB244 #BathroomLaws #Transgender #AntiTransLaws #DrivingWhileTrans #CharacteristicsOfFascism #TransRightsAreHumanRights
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#US Manufactured Crimes and Spied on Peaceful #Protesters During #Minneapolis Metro Surge, New Court Filing Reveals
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, August 14, 2026
MINNEAPOLIS -- "While #Dakotas were praying at a #SacredSpring for those held in federal detention at the #WhippleBuilding in Minneapolis -- the U.S. government was spying on, and stalking, the #WhippleWatchers, a new court document reveals.
"The government is refusing to release all of its documents on its surveillance of those watching the Whipple building. The Whipple building is on the site of a former concentration camp, where Dakota and Ho Chunk were imprisoned, suffered and died.
" 'The government admits withholding at least five #ProjectWhippleShield #ROIs (Reports of Investigation) from the initial disclosures,' the court filing states.
"In the current case, the court document for discovery filed yesterday describes how the U.S. government spied on and tracked peaceful protesters during the #resistance to #OperationMetroSurge.
"Not only were peaceful protesters spied on, #stalked and #doxxed, but the #surveillance was carried out to #ManufactureCrimes when none existed, states the court document filed by a defense attorney for one of the government's targets."
Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/08/us-manufactured-crimes-and-spied-on.html#Authoritarianism #Fascism #USPol #UnionBusting #SilencingDissent
#CriminalizingDissent #DefundICE #DefundDHS #CharacteristicsOfFascism
#DepartmentOfHomelandInsecurity -
Documents show federal surveillance operation in #Minnesota targeted #progressive groups, #unions
By TIM SULLIVAN and JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER
Updated 11:02 PM EDT, August 13, 2026MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — "Federal agents launched a sweeping undercover surveillance operation earlier this year targeting progressive organizations, labor unions and other groups protesting the immigration crackdown then raging through Minneapolis, according to court documents filed Thursday.
"The program, dubbed #OperationPuppetMaster, was aimed at what officials called a network of conspirators helping 'violent opportunists and agitators.' The documents were filed in a case involving 15 people charged by federal prosecutors in June with impeding the crackdown, accusing them of conspiring against the federal government through a range of actions, from throwing ice chunks to setting up blockades.
"The government documents were released Thursday in connection with a motion from a defense lawyer in the case, #KevinRiach, who requested that officials disclose more material collected during the investigations.
"The reality, according to government documents revealed in court motions, was Department of Homeland Security officers infiltrating meetings in churches, schools and parks that were often simply discussions of constitutionally protected protests.
"A statement from the department said Homeland Security Investigations doesn’t comment on the existence or status of on-going investigations or investigative methods. The statement referred questions to the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota, which didn’t immediately respond to an after-hours email from The Associated Press."
#Authoritarianism #Fascism #USPol #UnionBusting #SilencingDissent
#CriminalizingDissent #DefundICE #DefundDHS #CharacteristicsOfFascism
#DepartmentOfHomelandInsecurity -
‘Outrageous’: #Trump Officials Investigated #LeftWing Groups After #AlexPretti Killing in #Minneapolis
One #FirstAmendment advocacy group called the investigation a “disturbing, invasive, and utterly unjustifiable attack on freedom of expression and political dissent.”
Julia Conley
Aug 13, 2026"The Trump administration began the probe under the auspices of investigating whether the groups had provided 'help and money,' as the Times reported, to people who had participated in protests across the #MinneapolisSaintPaul area, where tens of thousands of residents rallied against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (#ICE) and defended their neighbors from immigration raids last winter.
"Newly released government documents, which were uncovered after an attorney filed a motion with the federal District Court in Minnesota demanding information about the DHS investigation, show that the agency characterized the protesters who opposed ICE as 'violent opportunists and agitators.'
"The investigation included #DHS’ use of administrative subpoenas to obtain financial records from #SunriseMovement, Communications Workers of America [ #CWA ], and the #SEIU, scrutinizing what the agency called 'domestic terrorist financing.' "
https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-left-wing
#Authoritarianism #Fascism #USPol #UnionBusting #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #DefundICE #DefundDHS #CharacteristicsOfFascism #DepartmentOfHomelandInsecurity
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Posting again for others. My #Facebook account was suspended today. They wanted me to submit a photo ID, but my hubby, who also had his account suspended, told me that didn't change anything. This is #Fascism and #FaceSurveillance at it's highest form. If you're still on FB and get suspended, download your archive and maybe make an announcement on #Instagram (mine was still working).
#BigBrother #ZuckSucks #SilencingDissent #CharacteristicsOfFascism #TechBros #SurveillanceState
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Incarcerated for Life in #Trump’s War on the Left
#AutumnHill had already gone home when a #protest outside an #ICE facility turned violent. She was still sentenced to 50 years, over twice as long as any #Jan6 defendant
by MATTHEW COOLEY
August 12, 2026"The battering ram took down the door first. A column of steel bolted to the front of a tactical vehicle slammed through Autumn Hill’s front entryway. Then the windows shattered. FBI agents threw flash-bang grenades through the glass, their concussions rattling the house’s front rooms. Hill was in the shared office space, in a thin red dress, puttering around on her computer. She heard screams from the other rooms. Then, the buzzing of a drone, as the police flew a quadcopter in through the splintered doorframe. A voice from the drone shrieked out, telling the residents of the house to come out with their hands up. Hill was terrified. She edged out of the door and immediately stared down a wall of gun barrels, masked agents screaming orders, the drone screaming in the air behind her.
" 'I remember thinking, ‘If I don’t do exactly what I’m told for the next minute of my life I’m going to die right now,' Hill says.
Through its loudspeaker, the #drone called repeatedly for one name: '#BenjaminSong.' Song wasn’t in the house, and no one inside knew them by that name. To Hill and her chosen family — an eclectic mix of personalities who lived together in what they called the '#BigGayHouse' — Song was 'Champagne,' a #genderfluid, politically #radical #activist who had, the night before, led a group to a demonstration outside of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility near #PrairielandTX. The protest, on July 4, 2025, was loosely organized in a collection of local activism group chats, and attracted a few dozen attendees, all of whom had their own idea of what they wanted to accomplish. Many, like Hill, planned a '#NoiseDemo,' or a loud protest involving fireworks and loud chants, aimed at disrupting the guards’ routine and letting the detainees inside know that they had supporters outside the fence."
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/eRg8I#WarOnTheLeft #USPol #Prairieland #DetentionCenters #Fascism #NSPM7 #PrairielandDefendants #Orwellian #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #Prairieland8 #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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#FlockCameras Can Track Every Car in America. #Police Love Them. Citizens Don’t.
In Texas, there’s one thing liberals and conservatives agree on: They don’t want cameras trained on their cars.
By Fernando Alfonso III and Kashmir Hill
Aug. 10, 2026Excerpt: "A #Texas officer used Flock’s cameras to track a woman across state lines who was suspected of self-administering an abortion. Officers across the country have abused their access to Flock’s cameras, including to track romantic partners, resulting in discipline and termination. #LosAngeles and #DaytonOH , among other cities, recently suspended their contracts with Flock to prevent immigration authorities from accessing data from the cameras. Dayton resorted to covering the cameras with trash bags. In cities like Houston, Oakland, Calif., and Grand Junction, Colo., residents have taken matters into their own hands, with police reports and surveillance footage documenting Flock cameras being cut down, splattered with paint and even shot.
"Flock’s pitch is simple: It can help the police find stolen cars, locate wanted people and solve crimes. One license-plate reader led to the arrest in Florida of a man who had threatened a mass shooting in Louisiana; another helped police find the man eventually convicted in an assassination attempt against Donald J. Trump.
"But as its cameras have spread, so has the opposition. Americans are accustomed to surveillance cameras. They put them on their doorbells and tolerate them on street corners, offices and restaurants. What sets Flock’s cameras apart is that they are connected, creating a vast, searchable national network — often surprising residents who didn’t realize their local governments had signed up for them and raising fears of #BigBrother style surveillance. And they are hard to miss once you start noticing them."
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/3PnB8#USPol #ACAB #ICE #SurveillanceState #Fascism #Orwellian #PoliceState #BigBrotherIsWatchingYou #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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Fast forward to 2026...
#EFF - Lawmakers Must Act Now to Prevent #ArmedPoliceDrones
By Matthew Guariglia
June 26, 2026"This is not science fiction. It’s not premature. If towns, cities, states, or the federal government want to act to rein in the emergence of armed police drones and robots, we have precious little time. In the absence of substantial regulation around when and how domestic law enforcement in the United States can deploy force using drones, the companies that markets technology to law enforcement have been moving. It’s past time concerned people take notice. Cities should not procure weaponized drones or robots, and multi-purpose drones and robots should be restricted from causing harm.
"Since 2021, EFF has been advocating against the use of armed robots or drones by law enforcement. This call has become more urgent as companies are moving in to take advantage of the lax regulatory landscape.
"This month, two disturbing developments raised concerns that we might be on the verge of a larger trend of drone militarization. The first is that the CEO of Skydio, one of the most prolific vendors of police drones in the United States, signaled that the company has a more permissive attitude toward arming their drones in some contexts than many people expected. When asked on a podcast about the public perception that the company had restrictions around letting the military arm their drones, CEO Adam Bry said, 'This is an area where I’ve gotten some things wrong. We said some things previously that led folks externally and internally to believe that, for example, we would prevent the military from putting weapons on our drones […] It’s very easy to sit back in a Silicon Valley office and think that we’re very smart, that we know the technology, and the idea of using it for X, Y, or Z thing seems evil or bad, so we’re going to write a policy or ban people from doing it. I think that’s ultimately misguided.'
"Simply put: he is signaling that #Skydio will not implement restrictions on their customers’ use of their devices.
"Bry was specifically asked about the military arming drones but the question reveals a disturbing truth: whether police arm drones domestically is currently based more on the internal ethical commitments of companies than it is any laws created by elected officials. Combining Skydio’s huge amount of police contracts, including supplying entire fleets for Drone as First Responders ( #DFR ) programs, and the tendency of military technologies like #surveillance aerostats to get redeployed on U.S. soil, creates a real recipe for the emergence of armed police drones."
Read more:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/lawmakers-must-act-now-prevent-armed-police-drones#SurveillanceState #DefundICE #DefundDHS #ArmedPoliceDrones #PoliceDrones
#ACAB #RoboCops #PredatorUAVs #PredatorDrones #UAVs #ICE #SurveillanceState #Fascism #WeaponizedDrones #DepartmentOfHomelandInsecurity
#CompliantTechnologies #CharacteristicsOfFascism #USPol -
Drones have been on my radar screen (pun intended) for quite a few years...
Don’t Let Police Arm Autonomous or Remote-Controlled Robots and Drones
By Matthew Guariglia
July 16, 2021"It’s no longer science fiction or unreasonable paranoia. Now, it needs to be said: No, police must not be arming land-based robots or aerial drones. That’s true whether these mobile devices are remote controlled by a person or autonomously controlled by artificial intelligence, and whether the weapons are maximally lethal (like bullets) or less lethal (like tear gas). [Or #ElectricShockGloves !]
"Police currently deploy many different kinds of moving and task-performing technologies. These include flying drones, remote control bomb-defusing robots, and autonomous patrol robots. While these different devices serve different functions and operate differently, none of them--absolutely none of them--should be armed with any kind of weapon.
"Mission creep is very real. Time and time again, technologies given to police to use only in the most extreme circumstances make their way onto streets during protests or to respond to petty crime. For example, cell site simulators (often called ' #Stingrays ') were developed for use in foreign battlefields, brought home in the name of fighting 'terrorism,' then used by law enforcement to catch immigrants and a man who stole $57 worth of food. Likewise, police have targeted #BLM #protesters with #FaceSurveillance and #AmazonRing doorbell cameras.
"Today, scientists are developing an #AI enhanced #AutonomousDrone, designed to find people during natural disasters by locating their screams. How long until police use this technology to find protesters shouting chants? What if these autonomous drones were armed? We need a clear red line now: no armed police drones, period.
"There are already law enforcement robots and drones of all shapes, sizes, and levels of autonomy patrolling the United States as we speak. From autonomous #Knightscope robots prowling for 'suspicious behavior' and collecting images of license plates [ #FlockCameras ] and phone identifying information, to #BostonDynamic robotic dogs accompanying police on calls in New York or checking the temperature of unhoused people in Honolulu, to #PredatorSurveillanceDrones flying over BLM protests in #Minneapolis.
"We are moving quickly towards arming such robots and letting autonomous artificial intelligence determine whether or not to pull the trigger."
#ICESucks #SurveillanceState #DefundICE #DefundDHS #ArmedPoliceDrones #PoliceDrones
#ACAB #RoboCops #PredatorUAVs #PredatorDrones #UAVs #ICE #SurveillanceState #Fascism #WeaponizedDrones #DepartmentOfHomelandInsecurity
#CompliantTechnologies #CharacteristicsOfFascism #USPol -
#EFF Says Lawmakers Have “Precious Little Time” to Stop #ArmedPoliceDrones, and the Skydio Reversal Is Why
Haye Kesteloo · Editor-in-Chief June 29, 2026
Excerpt: "Federal law governs shooting at drones, not drones shooting at people
"The regulatory gap EFF is pointing at is real and lopsided. Federal law is clear and well-tested on one direction of force: firing at a drone is a felony. As DroneXL reported this month, a man who fired a BB gun at a Lee County Sheriff’s Office drone is facing charges under 18 U.S.C. § 32, which treats a drone as an aircraft and carries up to 20 years in prison. The statute dates to 1956 and has been applied to drone cases for years.
"There is no equivalent body of law running the other way. No federal statute defines when a law enforcement drone may deploy force against a person, what counts as proportionate, or who is liable when a less-lethal effect injures a bystander. San Francisco became the first city to ban police from using deadly force via robot back in 2022, but EFF argues a single-city policy covering only robots, not drones, is not enough. A workable rule, the group says, has to cover both categories and explicitly prohibit any body harm. The asymmetry is the whole problem: the person on the ground who shoots at a police drone faces two decades in federal prison, while the drone that might one day deploy force against that person operates in a legal vacuum."
https://dronexl.co/2026/06/29/eff-armed-police-drones-skydio-legal-gap/
#PoliceDrones #ArmedPoliceDrones #ACAB #RoboCops #PredatorUAVs #PredatorDrones #UAVs #ICE #SurveillanceState #Fascism #WeaponizedDrones #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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Oh great... Now we're in the #THX1138 phase of #Fascism!
#ICE #ElectricShockGloves Spark Alarm as $20M Plan Lets Officers Deliver Silent Pain by a Button
The device's own maker bars its use on children, pregnant women, the elderly, or as punishment
By Jim Manzon
Published 12 August 2026, 8:00 AM BST"The product is called the G.L.O.V.E., short for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter. It looks and works like a standard patrol glove until an officer flips a switch that activates its electrical mode.
"The glove must touch a person's bare skin to deliver its jolt. The manufacturer says the shock usually forces compliance within seconds. Unlike a stun gun, it carries no barbs or projectiles, so it leaves little visible evidence behind."
[...]
"Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy project director on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union (#ACLU), said the public should have no confidence the devices will be used appropriately. She questioned why civil immigration enforcement needs shock tools, and warned that people being shocked may get no notice."
Learn more:
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ice-shock-gloves-civil-rights-concerns-1813689#ICESucks #DefundICE #DefundDHS #DepartmentOfHomelandInsecurity #CompliantTechnologies #CharacteristicsOfFascism #ACAB #USPol
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Um, looks like #USGovt is looking to imprison more folks -- #shoplifters! Like, parents who can't afford food for their kids because of #TrumpsWar ! #Homeless folks, #veterans , #protestors -- they are all on the *list* too!
Congress Might Give ICE the Power to Go After Shoplifters
A bill intended to halt the supposed threat of “organized retail crime” would put ICE in charge of the federal response.
by Sam Biddle
August 7 2026, 7:17 a.m. ET"To counter the purported national scourge of 'organized retail crime,' a bill moving through Congress would deliver the Department of Homeland Security unprecedented policing powers, granting even more authority to what experts say is an already lawless ICE."
Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2026/08/07/congress-ice-shoplifting-theft-surveillance/Archived version:
https://archive.ph/gMIHt#USPol #DetentionCenters #HungerGames #DefundICE #DefundDHS #WarOnIran #Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism #CORCA #DepartmentOfHomelandInsecurity
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She protested #ICERaids. Then agents showed up at her door
by Meg Anderson, August 3, 2026
"Early one morning this June, #TreasureThoreson was drinking coffee on her couch in #Minneapolis when she heard a knock at the front door.
" 'I go and I see a woman standing there in office clothes, but with a Homeland Security vest over the top. And I see six more agents standing in my front yard,' Thoreson told NPR. "She said, 'We have a warrant for your arrest, for conspiracy.' "
"Thoreson, a special education teacher, was still in her pajamas. The agent let her change clothes and hug her partner goodbye before taking her into custody.
"The government charged Thoreson and 14 others with engaging in a conspiracy to impede federal agents — a conspiracy it says culminated in the use of blockades outside the Whipple Federal Building, which served as ICE's headquarters during the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota this past winter.
"The government cited meetings and conversations on the encrypted messaging app #Signal as evidence. At the advice of her lawyer, Thoreson declined to comment on the specifics of the indictment.
An increasing trend
"The charges against Thoreson are part of an escalating trend. NPR reviewed court records from the last five years to examine how the federal government is wielding one specific charge: conspiracy to impede or injure an officer, which can carry a sentence of up to six years in federal prison.
"The statute, which dates back to the Civil War, has historically been used infrequently. But since President #Trump took office last year, the Justice Department has charged more than three dozen people in at least 10 cases. All of them involve people protesting federal immigration enforcement.
The government has also indicted nearly 50 people on #conspiracy charges in #Michigan, #Texas and #Minnesota using different legal statutes."
Read more:
https://www.npr.org/2026/08/03/nx-s1-5886263/ice-dhs-immigration-enforcement-conspiracy-arrests#USPol #CharacteristicsOfFascism #CriminalizingDissent #SilencingDissent #ICESucks #DefundICE #TrumpSucks #DepartmentOfHomelandInsecurity
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I'm not much of a beer drinker these days, but I would encourage everyone who does, and who has access to #MinocquaBrewing, BUY THEIR BEER!!! And donate to their legal fund!
US brewery punished for promising free beer when Trump dies
Carsen Holaday
Thursday 30 July 2026"- The Wisconsin Department of Revenue is set to revoke the alcohol permit for Minocqua Brewing Company by 4 August.
- Owner #KirkBangstad, a liberal activist, claims the move is politically motivated due to his outspoken #AntiTrump stance.
- The brewery previously garnered attention for social media posts suggesting free beer would be offered upon the death of a prominent political figure.
- Bangstad plans to challenge the decision, urging supporters to donate to a legal defence fund to fight the state.
- The Department of Revenue confirmed the revocation notices for two brewery locations and an alcohol beverage warehouse, stating the business can operate during the appeal process until 4 August. "
Link to defense fund:
https://buy.stripe.com/7sYbIT1S090709RbpZ97G00#TrumpSucks #USPol #Wisconsin #Illinois #DrinkUp #Cheers #Resistance #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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So, I've been downloading #GBLTQ resources and historical documents (including #QueerTalk, a radio show on #WMPG hosted by one of my first friends after I moved to #Maine). Why am I doing this? Because I don't trust #Trump and fiends to be in charge of public university archives. I'll be uploading those precious digital records to the @internetarchive soon. So grateful IA are there to be an independent repository of #History and #Culture! 📚 🎧 🎥
#PreservingCulture #PreservingHistory #InternetArchive #FundingCuts #MemoryHole #USPol #CharacteristicsOfFascism #LGBTQ #QueerHistory
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#ICE Arrests Surge at #Airports, Opening New Front in Deportation Drive
Federal agents are arresting spouses of Americans, tech workers and others whose visas have expired, including many who have active applications to stay in the country.
By Hamed Aleaziz and Miriam Jordan
July 28, 2026Excerpt: "The Trump administration has begun arresting foreign citizens with expired U.S. visas as they travel through airports, including spouses of Americans, according to documents obtained by The New York Times and interviews with immigration lawyers — a tactic that opens up a vast new pool of people for deportation.
"Immigration agents in plain clothes have whisked away targets at check-in counters and arrival gates, with enforcement actions in at least 15 airports in recent weeks. Some of the arrests have occurred quietly, while others have happened as angry fellow passengers filmed the encounters.
"The recent arrests appear to be an expansion of an arrangement between the Transportation Security Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Times reported in December that ICE officers were arresting people with deportation orders at airports with the help of information provided by airlines to the T.S.A.
"Now, through a review of #HomelandSecurity Department documents and interviews with lawyers for more than 25 people from more than a dozen countries recently detained at airports, The Times has learned that the program apparently now includes people with expired visas — a much larger group.
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants and visitors overstay visas each year. Many with expired visas occupy a legal gray area, as they are awaiting #VisaExtensions or #GreenCards and have been issued work permits. Such individuals were not prioritized for deportation in the past unless they had committed crimes, and they were rarely detained while waiting for visa extensions or green cards. But that has changed under President #Trump, whose administration has undertaken a campaign of mass deportation and views all visa overstays as illegal." 'This administration is working diligently to ensure that aliens in our country illegally can no longer fly unless it is out of our country to self-deport,' a spokesperson for the Homeland Security Department said in a statement. The agency did not confirm the expansion of the program.
"The department, which oversees ICE, has not disclosed how many people have been detained at airports as overstays under the new initiative. The arrests come during a period in which the White House has pushed ICE for more arrests across the country, and Homeland Security Secretary #MarkwayneMullin has pledged to turn 'up the heat on the streets.' To that end, the administration has set a target of 2,000 immigration arrests a day, roughly double the pace from earlier this year.
"Interviews with more than a dozen immigration attorneys, advocacy organizations and an airline employee reveal a broad cross-section of targets: an engineer awaiting a work-visa extension, several newlyweds married to U.S. citizens, and a former au pair.
"Footage of encounters between travelers and ICE officers have flooded social media. In one widely circulated video, Chantal Morales Rojas, a 27-year-old from Ecuador, was detained by plainclothes officers as she boarded a Southwest Airlines flight from Denver to Oakland, Calif., on July 20. She had been spending the weekend with the family for whom she had worked as an au pair, according to the family."
Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/28/us/ice-arrests-airports-visa-overstay.htmlArchived version:
https://archive.ph/brvNl#ICESucks #USPol #WorldPol #Fascism #DefundCBP #DefundICE #TSA #TrumpSucks #CharacteristicsOfFascism #DepartmentOfHomelandInsecurity
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Oh yes. Abusing the system by paying for an #education and then paying into #SocialSecurity when they become wage earners?!! WTF!
"Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said: 'For decades, foreign students have been admitted into the US indefinitely, allowing thousands to abuse our immigration system by perpetually enrolling in courses to avoid having to leave the US.' "
#Trump administration tightens visa rules for foreign students
Read more:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czdmp87rpv1oArchived version:
https://archive.ph/JxT20#CharacteristicsOfFascism #USPol #WorldPol #TrumpSucks #TrumpAbusesTheSystem
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Yeah, I can think of two criminals that should be put away for a loooong time... One is #TrumpSucks, the other is #RJKJr! You were right @justbob , they want to lock up #Homeless people and a lot of other folks!
Trump’s actions signal a move toward institutionalizing people with disabilities, advocates warn
By ANNIE MA
Updated 12:12 AM EDT, July 1, 2026Excerpt: "Meanwhile, following a #WhiteHouse push to police #homelessness, the Department of Justice released guidance that lowered the barrier to institutionalizing any person with a disability. "
#USPol #Disabilities #Unhoused #PrivatePrisons #Institutions #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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When The #TwilightZone Imagined #Fascism in #America in a 1963 Episode Starring #DennisHopper
in History, Television | March 25th, 2025
"Watch through The Twilight Zone, and you’ll find yourself spotting no end of familiar faces: Julie Newmar, Burt Reynolds, Robert Redford, Elizabeth Montgomery, William Shatner, even Buster Keaton. The 1963 episode 'He’s Alive' is at least doubly notable in that respect, featuring as it does a young (but in acting sensibility, almost fully formed) Dennis Hopper as Peter Vollmer, a ne’er-do-well made into an aspiring dictator by none other than Adolf Hitler. Played by Curt Conway, a specialist in doctors, judges, and other authority figures, the undead Führer offers his young disciple instructions like the above, from an early scene before his identity is revealed.
"'How do you move a mob, Mr. Vollmer? How do you excite them? How do you make them feel as one with you?' Hitler asks. The answer, which he then provides, is first to join them: 'When you speak to them, speak to them as if you were a member of the mob. Speak to them in their language, on their level. Make their hate your hate. If they are poor, talk to them of poverty. If they are afraid, talk to them of their fears. And if they are angry, Mr. Vollmer… if they are angry, give them objects for their anger. But most of all, the thing that is most of the essence, Mr. Vollmer, is that you make this mob an extension of yourself.'
"If accused of scapegoating minorities, he should address the throng thus: 'Should I tell you who are the minorities? Should I tell you? We! We are the minorities.' Soon, we see Peter in full neo-Nazi gear delivering just such a harangue, thoroughly Hopper-ized in diction, to a modestly attended rally. How could these ordinary-looking attendees be a minority? 'Because patriotism is a minority. Because love of country is the minority. Because to live in a free, white America seems to be of a minority opinion!'
"Though hardly artful, this rhetoric eventually makes him into a popular figure, albeit one whose rise is cut short when he turns to conspiracy to accelerate his rise to power.
"And what of the spirit of Hitler? 'Where will he go next, this phantom from another time, this resurrected ghost of a previous nightmare?' Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling asks in his episode-closing monologue. 'Any place, every place where there’s #hate, where there’s prejudice, where there’s #bigotry.' It was against such broad social phenomena that Serling so often used his scripts to argue, and with 'He’s Alive,' he made use of an unusually vivid ideological example.
"A veteran of the Second World War, which had ended less than twenty years earlier, Serling surely had even fresher memories of the threat of Hitler than did the general American public — and understood even more clearly what could happen if those memories were to fade away."
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05LaTuuKPlI#CharacteristicsOfFascism #USPol #WorldPol #Twitler
#TheBalladOfTheLittleMan #LittleManWithin -
From #LawrenceBritt's #CharacteristicsOfFascism published in 2003 (based on #UmbertoEcco's list)
5. Rampant #Sexism
The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional #gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to #abortion is high, as is #homophobia and anti-#gay legislation. -
Federal Judge Blocks #Idaho Law Criminalizing #Transgender Bathroom Use
Six transgender residents claimed that the #BathroomBan, the most restrictive in the nation, violated their constitutional rights.
By Amy Harmon, June 16, 2026
Excerpt: "Twenty states besides Idaho restrict transgender people from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity, according to the #MovementAdvancementProject, which tracks state-level legislation on #LGBTQ issues. But the restrictions elsewhere apply only to schools and colleges, government-owned buildings and public places like parks and airports.
"Idaho’s measure is viewed as the most restrictive such law in the nation because of its broad application and because of the penalties it imposes. Repeat violators face up to five years in prison. The law covers restrooms in all publicly owned buildings as well as privately owned settings such as restaurants, retail stores and business offices. It includes bathrooms with a single stall. Idaho’s law also applies more immediately, including no provision like the one in #Florida that requires a transgender person to refuse to leave a bathroom that does not match their sex at birth in order to establish a violation.
"State officials argue that even if the law is challenging to enforce, it is not unconstitutionally vague because it is clear about what must be proved. They noted that a person’s biological sex could be determined later through objective means, such as a birth certificate or DNA testing, even if it cannot be done at the scene."
Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/16/us/transgender-idaho-bathroom-law.htmlArchived version:
https://archive.ph/VjZXW