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Stephanie Leary

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Fascism Watch, November 29 (and some things you can do about it)

November 29, 2016 Stephanie Leary 1 Comment

Today in American fascism…

Trump

Trump is now floating the idea (on Twitter, natch) that some forms of protest should be punished with loss of citizenship.

Chair of the House Oversight Committee was gung-ho about investigating Clinton if she took office, but has lost interest now that the job involves actual crimes and a Republican president.

Which stage of fascism is “cutting off press access” again? Trump hasn’t held a press conference since July 27, but is planning “victory rallies” across the South and Midwest.

Nepotism wouldn’t be Jared Kushner’s only problem if he were given a role in the government. His own company has plenty of conflicts of interest.

For a guy who is about to swear to defend the Constitution, Trump says a lot of things that are contrary to the Constitution.

Pence

Here’s a fascinating profile of Pence and his Koch backing from 2014, featuring some quotes from Kellyanne Conway.

Transition Team & Cabinet Appointees

HHS pick plans to dismantle Medicare; thinks tax credits will let people buy insurance. Does he not know that 47% of Americans don’t make enough to pay taxes, or does he not care?

Rep. Tom Price (R), challenged a reporter to "bring me one woman" who hasn't been able to afford birth control.

He's Trump's pick for HHS.

— NARAL (@NARAL) November 29, 2016

Ethics are for other people; Mitch McConnell has on intention of recusing himself from his wife’s confirmation vote as Secretary of Transportation.

Our new Treasury Secretary’s resume: 17 years at Goldman Sachs; CEO of a bank that made billions by foreclosing on 36,000 homeowners.

Boy! Protest voters angry bout a speech at Goldman Sachs sure showed America! Particularly the new Secretary of Treasury from Goldman Sachs.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) November 29, 2016

Voting

North Carolina’s Board of Elections slapped down most of its outgoing governor’s spurious challenges, with which he was attempting to run out the clock by simply not conceding until the new state representatives convened and could (in theory) reinstate him despite his loss in the polls. It’s not over yet, though. “The North Carolina imbroglio is so complicated, with so many moving pieces, that a spokesman for the State Board of Elections could not say Tuesday when it might be resolved.” North Carolina’s legislative districts were found to be gerrymandered this summer, and today a federal court ordered the state to redraw its districts and hold new elections for affected districts next fall.

In the presidential race, Jill Stein has filed for recounts in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Other Fascist Nonsense

Over in the UK, “The only amendment to the government’s sweeping new spying bill so far made by politicians is to stop them from being spied on.” How nice.

So, hey, what can I do about all this?

I built a thing: text your US postal address to (520) 200-2223 and get a text back with your state & federal legislative rep phone numbers.

— John Emerson (@backspace) November 20, 2016

How to call your representatives when you have social anxiety.

Make Democracy Matter lists your state’s electors and their contact info

Good places to donate:

  • ACLU
  • SPLC
  • Planned Parenthood

Subscribe to publications doing good journalism:

  • New York Times
  • Washington Post
  • Teen Vogue (seriously)

Here are a few people who will email you more suggestions:

  • Daily Activism
  • Flippable, a regular email of small actions you can take
  • Resist, a daily email
  • re:act, a weekly email
  • Wall of Us, “four concrete acts of resistance delivered to your inbox each week”

Politics fascism watch

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Torbjørn Kristensen says

    November 30, 2016 at 6:50 am

    Great article!! Keep it up ^_^

    Reply

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I’m a front end developer at Equinox OLI, working on open source library software. I was previously a freelance WordPress developer in higher education. You can get in touch here or on LinkedIn.

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