Don't believe #Trump #propaganda.
Believe the evidence of your eyes and ears.
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When #DietrichBonhoeffer, a German Pastor, Theorized How #Stupidity Enabled the Rise of the #Nazis (1942)
in History, Politics | March 26th, 2025
"Two days after Adolf #Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, the Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer took to the airwaves. Before his radio broadcast was cut off, he warned his countrymen that their führer could well be a verführer, or misleader. Bonhoeffer’s anti-Nazism lasted until the end of his life in 1945, when he was executed by the regime for association with the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler. Even while imprisoned, he kept thinking about the origins of the political mania that had overtaken Germany. The force of central importance to Hitler’s rise was not evil, he concluded, but stupidity.
"'Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice,' Bonhoeffer wrote in a letter to his co-conspirators on the tenth anniversary of Hitler’s accession to the chancellorship. 'One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless.' When provoked, 'the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack.'
"Fighting stupidity, to Bonhoeffer’s mind, first necessitates understanding it. 'In essence not an intellectual defect but a human one,' stupidity can descend upon practically anyone: 'under certain circumstances, people are made stupid or that they allow this to happen to them.' And it happens most noticeably when a particular figure or movement seizes the attention of the public. 'Every strong upsurge of power in the public sphere, be it of a political or of a religious nature, infects a large part of humankind with stupidity,' he writes. Since such phenomena could hardly arise without blindly obedient masses, it seems that 'the power of the one needs the stupidity of the other.'
"You can see Bonhoeffer’s theory of stupidity explained in the illustrated Sprouts video above, and you can learn more about the man himself from the documentary Bonhoeffer. Or, better yet, read his collection, Letters and Papers from Prison. Though rooted in his time, culture, and religion, his thought remains relevant wherever humans follow the crowd. 'The fact that the stupid person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent,' he writes, which held as true in the public squares of wartime Europe as it does on the social-media platforms of today. 'In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with a person, but with slogans, catchwords and the like, that have taken possession of him.' Whatever would surprise Bonhoeffer about our time, he would know exactly what we mean when we call stupid people 'tools.'"
https://www.openculture.com/2025/03/when-dietrich-bonhoeffer-a-german-pastor-theorized-how-stupidity-enabled-the-rise-of-the-nazis-1942.html
#Histodon #History #USPol #WorldPol #Fascism #Authoritarianism #BalladOfTheLittleMan
Open CultureWhen Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Pastor, Theorized How Stupidity Enabled the Rise of the Nazis (1942)Two days after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, the Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer took to the airwaves. Before his radio broadcast was cut off, he warned his countrymen that their führer could well be a verführer, or misleader.
#PineAndRoses #NewEngland #DSA protests #ICEDetentions
Posted by #MaineDSA and Wes Pelletier | Mar 27, 2025
"Last week, the #MaineCoalitionForPalestine organized a protest of ICE detention of #ColumbiaUniversity student leader #MahmoudKhalil. Since then, ICE has operated as the #Trump Administration’s #SecretPolice, abducting a growing number of immigrant organizers for exercising their right to #FreeSpeech and protesting the U.S.-sponsored #genocide in #Gaza. The list includes #RumeysaOzturk, #YunseoChung, #BadarKhunSuri, #MomodouTaal, #RanjaniSrinivasan, as well as #farmworker organizer #AlfredoJuarezZerefino. Maine DSA member and Portland District 2 City Councilmember #WesPelletier spoke at the Portland Mahmoud Khalil protest and DSA chapters around New England issued a joint declaration reprinted below against the ICE abduction of Rumeysa Ozturk.
New England DSA chapters demand freedom for Rumeysa Ozturk
"Yesterday, ICE agents abducted Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate student and pro-Palestine activist at Tufts.
"The kidnapping comes after almost 400 #ICEArrests in Massachusetts, as well as the #doxxing of Ozturk by the pro-Isreal website #CanaryMission.
"ICE’s abductions—of Ozturk, Khalil, and many others—is an unprecedented attack on basic #CivilRights in the name of U.S. Empire, whether those detained are peaceful #PoliticalActivists or undocumented #migrants seeking safety, jobs, and a better life.
"We must stand up against this brazen attack on #Palestine, #FreeSpeech, and the #RightToProtest.
"We must stand in solidarity with our neighbors and communities under attack from Trump, ICE, and all agents of #imperialism.
"Governor Healey, the courts, and the Democratic Party establishment are not coming to save us—we must mobilize, agitate, and organize in our workplaces and campuses to defend working-class rights.
In Solidarity,
#BerkshiresDSA, #BostonDSA, #BostonUniversityYDSA, #CapeCodDSA, #ConnecticutDSA, #MaineDSA, #NortheasternYDSA, #RiverValleyDSA, #SimmonsYDSA, #SouthernNewHampshireDSA, #UpperValleyDSA, #WorcesterDSA"
Source:
https://pineandroses.org/news/new-england-dsa-protests-ice-detentions/
#ResistICE #ResistFascism #Resistance #District13 #District13Resists #Fascism #USPol #Authoritarianism #TurReich #CharacteristicsOfFascism
Pine & Roses · New England DSA protests ICE detentions - Pine & Roses
More from 
Todd Chretien
very proud of this concentration camp, disappearing peace activists, and violating the constitution for Israeli war criminals.
...
"Portugal said it has updated its travel advice for the U.S. to reflect tighter entry conditions and changes around gender recognition. The Portuguese foreign ministry confirmed the changes in a statement to Newsweek.
Portugal is now one of a growing number of European countries that have updated travel advice for the U.S. as America's stricter immigration and enforcement practices under President Donald Trump have caused global concern.
It comes following a number of U.S. border-entry incidents that have happened in recent weeks, including a French scientist being denied entry after border officials searched his phone and found messages that were critical of Trump, and U.K. tourist Becky Burke also being detained at border control."
https://www.newsweek.com/portugal-issues-travel-warning-us-2051891
Newsweek · Portugal Issues Travel Warning For US
#LawrenceBritt #CharacteristicsOfFascism Numbers 1 and 11...
1. Powerful and Continuing #Nationalism
Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of #patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. #Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
11. Disdain for #Intellectuals and the #Arts
Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to #HigherEducation and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other #academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.
Trump targets 'anti-American ideology' at Smithsonian museums
by Max Matza, 3/27/2025
"US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order targeting the Smithsonian Institution, which operates more than 20 museums and research centres visited by millions yearly in Washington DC and New York City.
"The order directs the vice-president to 'eliminate improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology' from the institute's museums, centres and the National Zoo in Washington.
"It also directs the interior secretary to restore federal properties, including parks, memorials and statues, which 'have been improperly removed or changed in the last five years to perpetuate a false revision of history'.
"The move is part of Trump's effort to shape American culture, in addition to politics."
Read more:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdjy1jmvvwzo
#ChristoFascism #ChristianRight #USPol #Fascism #Authoritarianism #Fascists #TurdReich
www.bbc.comTrump targets 'anti-American ideology' at Smithsonian museumsThe order says that "divisive narratives" must be purged from the US museums and research centres.
Replied to Nonilex
Is it too soon to say #BrainDrain?
Continued thread
As the #Trump admin escalates its attack on universities, three #fascism scholars & vocal Trump critics are leaving Yale University for the University of Toronto. But their given reasons for crossing the border vary.
#tyranny #authoritarianism #autocracy #ThoughtPolice #dissent #FreeSpeech #FreedomOfAssembly
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2025/03/26/fascism-scholars-trump-critics-leave-yale-canada
Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and JobsFascism Scholars, Trump Critics Leave Yale for CanadaJason Stanley, decrying Columbia University’s capitulation to the federal government, is leaving for the University of Toronto. So is Marci Shore, who said she fears “civil war.” Timothy Snyder says his motivations were largely personal.
OMG
#TimothySnyder left the country for #Canada
Yale philosophy professor Jason Stanley, along with Yale history professors Marci Shore & her husband Timothy Snyder, are taking their teaching to the University of Toronto to advocate for #democracy, speak out against #fascism & teach without fear of #academic capitulation to the #Trump White House, they say.
#tyranny #authoritarianism #autocracy #ThoughtPolice #dissent #FreeSpeech #FreedomOfAssembly
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/28/us/yale-university-scholars-toronto-trump/index.html
CNN · 3 Ivy League scholars plan to leave US and teach in Canada amid Trump administration’s higher education battle
Continued thread
Richard Stallman doesn't like _______?
Yep, this is a dictatorship... I sincerely hope there will be more democratic elections in the USA...
"The tattoo on Suárez’s neck is of a colibrí, a hummingbird. His wife said it is meant to symbolize “harmony and good energy.” She said his other tattoos, like a palm tree on his hand—an homage to Suárez’s late mother’s use of a Venezuelan expression about God being greater than a coconut tree—were similarly innocuous. Nevertheless, they may be why Suárez has been effectively disappeared by the US government into a Salvadoran mega-prison.
Mother Jones has spoken with friends, family members, and lawyers of ten men sent to El Salvador by the Trump administration based on allegations that they are members of the Venezuelan organized crime group Tren de Aragua. All of them say their relatives have tattoos and believe that is why their loved ones were targeted. But they vigorously reject the idea that their sons, brothers, and husbands have anything to do with Tren de Aragua, which the Trump administration recently labeled a foreign terrorist organization. The families have substantiated those assertions to Mother Jones, including—in many cases—by providing official documents attesting to their relatives’ lack of criminal histories in Venezuela. Such evidence might have persuaded US judges that the men were not part of any criminal organization had the Trump administration not deliberately deprived them of due process.
On March 14, President Donald Trump quietly signed a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act—a 1798 law last used during World War II. The order declared that the United States is under invasion by Tren de Aragua. It is the first time in US history that the 18th-century statute, which gives the president extraordinary powers to detain and deport noncitizens, has been used absent a Congressional declaration of war."
Mother JonesThe men disappeared to El Salvador because of their tattoosThe Trump administration sent Venezuelans to El Salvador’s most infamous prison. Their families are looking for answers.
"In the case that concerns us here, the request to the IMF for a loan violates not only the National Constitution but also Law 27,612, passed in 2021, whose second article states that “any financing program or public credit operation carried out with the IMF, as well as any extension of the amounts – in addition to terms and conditions – of such programs or operations, shall require a law of the Honorable Congress of the Nation that expressly approves it.” In short, Javier Milei’s government is acting in open violation of the Constitution and the laws of this country, something that prima facie would violate the IMF’s own regulations, whose Board, if it did not take this situation into account, would become an accomplice in a violation of the Constitution and the laws of Argentina.
In view of this accumulation of irregularities, the debt that Argentina may contract becomes an “odious debt” not enforceable by the eventual creditors, in this case the IMF. This is something that has been sustained by US jurisprudence since the end of the 19th century up to the present day. "
https://socialistproject.ca/2025/03/open-letter-to-kristalina-georgieva-imf/
The Trump Administration: Government by Billionaires, for Billionaires
https://cepr.net/publications/the-trump-administration-government-by-billionaires-for-billionaires/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wikiCenter_for_Economic_and_Policy_Research
#billionaires #capitalism #inequality #plutocracy #meritocracy #oligarchy
#Trump #fascism #authoritarianism #Musk #DOGE #libertarianism #privatization #Christofascism
CEPRThe Trump Administration: Government by Billionaires, for BillionairesUncover the truth: the Trump administration’s priority is to help make rich people richer at the expense of the vulnerable.
"Trump says Skadden, Arps law firm will provide $100 million in pro bono legal services, avoiding executive order."
Law firms are complying with the corrupt & authoritarian #TrumpMusk regime.
#Resist #Authoritarianism #Fascism #Extortion #Republicans #Corruption #USPol
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/28/trump-skadden-law-firm-executive-order.html
Things are happening in Serbia, people mobilizing and organizing to resist a corrupt authoritarian government.
No leaders, cooperation, solidarity, respect for differences.
One student explains (very well and in excellent English) how they're doing. The most interesting and HOPEFUL thing I've watched all week.
Whoa, yesterday, #Trump illegally stripped #CollectiveBargaining rights from hundreds of thousands of #FederalWorkers in 18 different departments across multiple #FederalAgencies.
The admin stated that “Certain Federal unions have declared *#war* on President Trump’s agenda.”
Is he going to use #wartime powers against #union members now?
#law #LaborLaw #labor #Musk #DOGE #authoritarianism #autocracy #tyranny #propaganda #Trumpaganda #gaslighting #NaziState #MafiaState
https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/03/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-exempts-agencies-with-national-security-missions-from-federal-collective-bargaining-requirements/
The White House · Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Exempts Agencies with National Security Missions from Federal Collective Bargaining RequirementsPROTECTING OUR NATIONAL SECURITY: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order using authority granted by the Civil Service Reform Act of
#Trump administration targets #Maine again, this time on #transgender policy in schools
The U.S. #DepartmentOfEducation. which Trump wants to abolish, is investigating whether dozens of Maine school districts are violating or misusing federal privacy laws and infringing on parents’ rights.
by Eric Russell, March 28, 2025
"The Trump administration is once again targeting Maine over its policies on transgender youth.
"The U.S. Department of Education – an agency the president is trying to abolish – announced Friday it has initiated an investigation into Maine’s Department of Education over allegations that school districts in the state are violating the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (#FERPA).
"Specifically, the federal agency says school districts are allowing officials to create 'gender plans' that support a transgender student’s identity but then not making those plans available to parents.
"A similar investigation was launched in #California this week.
[...]
"Schools in Maine have been caught in a legal gray area between respecting student privacy and parents’ rights to be informed when it comes to children’s expression of gender identity while at school. Many youth live in families whose members might not be supportive of their gender identity.
"The Trump administration already has been investigating Maine for allowing #TransgenderAthletes to compete, something that is allowed under the #MaineHumanRightsAct but defies an executive order the president signed in February. This month, the administration found that Maine violated the federal law known as #TitleIX and warned that if the state didn’t make changes, it would risk referral to the U.S. Department of Justice and the potential loss of tens of millions of dollars in federal funding.
"The announcement from the U.S. Department of Education this week also warns that if any Maine district is found in violation of the federal privacy act, it could lose federal funding. It’s unclear how that will play out, though, because Trump is trying to eliminate the education department at the federal level.
"A spokesperson for the Maine Department of Education did not immediately respond Friday to questions about the investigation. A spokesperson for the Maine Attorney General’s Office declined to comment.
"Trump and his supporters have elevated transgender rights as the biggest battle in the country’s culture war and believe their messaging is a political winner, even beyond traditional party lines.
"In addition to his executive order barring transgender girls or women from competing in athletics, Trump signed another that says the federal government would only recognize two genders, male and female, a move some advocates said was designed to erase transgender individuals from existence.
"Many states, Maine included, have strong protections for transgender individuals."
Archived version:
https://archive.md/b6gpf
#MainePol #USPol #MaineResists #ProtectTransYouth #TrumpIsABully #Education #Authoritarianism #Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism #TransRightsAreHumanRights
Is this the America we want to live in? A Turkish doctoral student, Rumeysa Ozturk, was allegedly abducted by masked U.S. immigration agents, raising alarms over authoritarian practices. Despite lack of legal infractions, claims were made of her supporting Hamas without evidence, emphasizing fears of politically motivated actions against dissenters. Ozturk’s case spotlights urgent civil liberty concerns. Read more: https://crooksandliars.com/2025/03/not-america-masked-trump-operatives-snatch #CivilLiberties #FreeSpeech #Authoritarianism
Crooks and Liars · This Is Not America: Masked Trump Operatives Snatch Young Turkish Student Off The Street
What if the foundations of American democracy are under siege? Heather Cox Richardson reveals alarming findings about Trump officials using Venmo to discuss military actions, shedding light on a broader agenda aimed at dismantling essential American institutions. This effort, notably through Project 2025, signals a push for authoritarianism and deep cuts to agencies affecting everyday citizens. Learn the full implications and context in her insightful article.
#Politics #Democracy #Trump #Authoritarianism #AmericanInstitutions [Source](https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-27-2025)
Letters from an American · March 27, 2025
Saturday 5 April. Nonviolent action.
Host an event or find an event to participate in.
most important: BE THERE FOR ALL OF US.
#protest #RESIST #HandsOff #politics #FascistAmeriKKKa #fascism #Nazis #Authoritarianism https://handsoff2025.com
