I remain stunned on the daily that not a single former US President has found their voice to stand up for the Constitution they each swore to protect.
Cowards All
not my country tho so 
i guess.
#uspoli #theAmericanFascist #usa #constitution #authoritarianism
#fascism
#RepublicOfGeorgia: First year of #Georgia’s ‘foreign agent’ law shows how #autocracies are replicating #Russian model − and speeding up the time frame
Published: March 28, 2025 6:25am EDT
"#Autocracy is on the move worldwide and becoming more resilient.
"One of the driving forces behind this phenomenon is something scholars call '#AuthoritarianLearning,' a process by which autocratic leaders study each other and adapt tactics based on what appears to work, and how to proceed when they encounter #resistance.
"Take Georgia. The ruling Georgian Dream party has steered the Caucasus nation from a path toward democracy back to autocracy – and it has done so by learning from Russia. In particular, it adopted a '#ForeignAgent' law in May 2024 – legislation that came straight from #VladimirPutin’s playbook.
"Sold to the public as increasing #transparency, the legislation has been utilized to persecute Georgia’s #opposition and arrest #dissidents with impunity.
"As researchers examining the structure and effects of autocratic regimes, we view Georgia’s first year of its foreign agent law as an example of how politicians are not only learning the tactics of Russian authoritarianism but improving on them in a shorter time frame."
#RightToProtest #AntiProtestLaws
#GeorgianLaws #CriminalizingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #HumanRights #RepublicOfGeorgia #GeorgianDream #ProtestSponsors #ExpandedPolicePowers #PoliceState #Authoritarianism #Fascism #Autocracy
#RepublicOfGeorgia: New legislation directly threatens people's right to #protest and #FreeExpression
In a troubling shift toward #authoritarian governance, Georgia’s ruling party has enacted legislative reforms that drastically restrict freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and proposed changes to restrict #media, public participation.
February 10, 2025
"The key changes obstructing people’s right to protest include:
- Expanded organisers' liability;
- Restrictions on spontaneous protests;
- Limitations on protests in enclosed spaces: Protests in closed spaces or buildings now require written consent from the property owner, significantly restricting #student and #workplace #demonstrations. This provision appears to be a direct response to recent protests on #UniversityCampuses;
- Expanded penalties for protest-related offenses: Petty #hooliganism fines have risen from GEL 500-1,000 to GEL 500-2,000 (from maximum approximately 350-700 EUR) , with imprisonment now up to 20 days instead of 15. Verbal insults towards #PoliceOfficers now carry fines of GEL 2,000 5,000 (approx. 700-1750 EUR) or up to 60 days’ imprisonment. Repeat offenses can result in a GEL 3,500-6,000 ( 1200–2100 EUR) fine and extended jail terms. Additionally, individuals accused of "disrupting public order" face severe criminal penalties, including up to 3 years in prison;
- New restrictions on symbolic protest actions: Covering one's face, possessing a laser or light-emitting device, or wearing clothing resembling police or military uniforms during assemblies are now punishable by fines of GEL 2,000 ( 700 EUR) or imprisonment up to 7 days. Such measures are expected to disproportionately impact younger protesters and student-led movements;
- #Broadened law enforcement powers: The Ministry of Internal Affairs now holds increased authority over protest regulation, including the power to block protests that allegedly threaten public order or constitutional stability. Authorities can now use '#EmergencyMeasures' to disperse gatherings, including mass #arrests and prolonged #detentions;
- Increased state control over protest logistics: Protesters are now required to ensure that demonstrations do not obstruct transportation routes. Organisers must take action within 15 minutes of a warning to remove roadblocks or temporary structures, failing which they will face criminal liability;
- Participation in protests previously dispersed by law enforcement is now classified as an offense, subjecting #demonstrators to legal consequences.
"Given that the median salary in Georgia in 2023 was GEL 1,238 (approximately 400 EUR), these fines represent a disproportionate financial burden on protesters, effectively discouraging civic engagement and public demonstrations."
#RightToProtest #AntiProtestLaws
#GeorgianLaws #CriminalizingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #HumanRights #RepublicOfGeorgia #GeorgianDream #FaceMasks #AntiMaskLaws #ProtestSponsors #ACAB #ExpandedPolicePowers #PoliceState #Authoritarianism #Fascism
From 2024: #HumanRightsWatch - #Venezuela: Brutal #Crackdown on #Protesters, Voters
Killings, #MassArrests Following Elections
(Bogota) – "Venezuelan authorities are committing widespread #HumanRights violations against #protesters, #bystanders, #opposition leaders, and critics following the July 28, 2024, presidential election, Human Rights Watch said today. Concerned governments should push for independent verification of the electoral results and support international efforts to ensure accountability.
"International observers have raised serious concerns about the July 29 announcement by Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) that #NicolásMaduro had been re-elected president. Following the announcement, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets, in largely peaceful protests, to demand a fair counting of the votes. Human Rights Watch has documented that Venezuelan authorities and #ProGovernment armed groups known as '#colectivos' have committed widespread abuses, including killings, arbitrary detention and prosecution, and harassment of critics. On September 2, a judge issued an arrest warrant against opposition candidate #EdmundoGonzález for '#conspiracy,' 'incitement to #disobedience' and other crimes.
" 'The repression we are seeing in Venezuela is shockingly brutal,' said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. 'Concerned governments need to take urgent steps to ensure that people are able to peacefully protest and that their vote is respected.'
"Venezuelans voted in the presidential election in large numbers, despite irregular government actions and human rights violations in the lead-up to the election, including arrests of opposition members, arbitrary disqualifications of opposition candidates, and restrictions on Venezuelans #voting abroad. Several hours after polls closed, Venezuela’s electoral council declared that Maduro had won the election with over 51 percent of the vote. The Electoral Council has not released the tally sheets from the election, nor conducted the audits and citizen verification processes required by law.
"The United Nations Electoral Technical Team and the #CarterCenter, which observed the elections, said the process lacked transparency and integrity, and questioned the declared result. They indicated that, instead, the precinct-level tally sheets that the opposition made public were reliable. The Carter Center noted that the tally sheets showed, with 81 percent of the votes counted, that #González had won the election by a significant margin.
"Venezuelans have taken to the streets across the country, particularly in low-income areas traditionally supportive of the Chavismo movement, where many incidents of #repression have taken place.
"Human Rights Watch received credible reports of 24 killings in the context of #protests from independent local groups, including Foro Penal, Justicia Encuentro y Perdón, Monitor de Víctimas, and Provea, or discovered them on social media. Human Rights Watch independently documented 11 of these cases, including by reviewing death certificates, verifying videos and photographs, and interviewing 20 people, including witnesses and other local sources. Many relatives, witnesses, and others were not willing to be interviewed because they feared #GovernmentRetaliation.
"Human Rights Watch analyzed and verified 39 videos and 2 photographs of protests found on social media platforms or sent directly to researchers by people close to the victims, and by local organizations and journalists.
"Researchers confirmed the exact locations where these videos were filmed; used information such as shadows, weather patterns, and upload dates to determine the time of day; and consulted with forensic pathologists and arms experts, who analyzed the injuries and weapons that were seen and heard.
"According to Venezuelan authorities, they arrested over 2,400 people in connection with protests. The local pro bono group #ForoPenal recorded over 1,580 '#PoliticalPrisoners' who have been arrested since July 29, including 114 children. Prosecutors have charged hundreds with sometimes broadly defined crimes carrying harsh sentences, such as '#incitement to hatred,' '#resistance to #authority,' and 'terrorism.'
"The government has also intensified its broader repressive tactics, cancelling passports of critics to prevent them from leaving the country, encouraging citizens to report on #demonstrators, and conducting abusive #raids, especially in low-income communities. On August 15, Maduro’s supporters in the National Assembly passed a law that grants the government #BroadPowers to control and shut down nongovernmental organizations [#NGOs]."
Read more:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/09/04/venezuela-brutal-crackdown-protesters-voters
“We are watching the collapse of the international order in real time, and this is just the start,” says investigative journalist #CaroleCadwalladr. In a searing talk, she details a fast-moving technological coup and the rise of the “broligarchy”: an unprecedentedly powerful class of tech executives who are complicit in dismantling #democracy & enabling #authoritarianism globally. She shares how to digitally disobey in this age of data harvesting & mass surveillance.
#Germany seeks to #deport #protesters
Submitted by webadmin on 9 April, 2025
"The German state has issued deportation orders for three #EUCitizens and one #American who have attended #ProPalestinian protests.
"Berlin immigration authorities issued the orders on 31 March, demanding that the four individuals leave Germany within one month or else face deportation. Their orders cite a protest in October 2024 in which masked individuals caused 'significant property damage, including #graffiti', as well as resisting arrest and calling a #police officer a '#fascist'.
"Unusually, three of the four orders also invoke the German principle of #Staatsräson, (“#StateReason”). This term originates from a speech #AngelaMerkel gave to the #IsraeliKnesset in 2008, asserting that #Israeli security was fundamental to the purpose of the German state.
"Staatsräson is not an officially defined term or codified anywhere in the German constitution or by German courts. At least two of the protestors are appealing the decision, with their lawyer telling Al-Monitor that it is a 'political concept, not a legal concept, and therefore unlawful'.
"In any case, the #deportation of #activists for #protesting should be opposed.
"The activists’ lawyer has drawn parallels to the case of #MahmoudKhalil in the US. 'I see similarities… It is weaponization of #ImmigrationLaw as a tool to silence #PoliticalDissent'. Khalil’s case may also lead to a debate on interpretations of the US constitution’s #FirstAmendment.
"Back in February, #Berlin police broke up a protest, citing a ban on '#ArabicChanting', the playing of #ArabicMusic, or giving a speech in #Arabic. In October 2024, police raided the homes of five men, four of whom were being investigated over 'authorship of #antisemitic social media posts'.
Clapping
"And after the joint Israeli-Palestinian documentary #NoOtherLand won an Academy Award, German culture minister Claudia Roth insisted that she was only clapping for Israeli director Yuval Abraham, not Palestinian director #BaselAdra. Several politicians, including the mayor of Berlin, called for her resignation. A torrent of public criticism was aimed at #YuvalAbraham for his acceptance speech, to which he responded: 'To stand on German soil as the son of Holocaust survivors and call for a ceasefire — and to then be labelled as antisemitic is not only outrageous, it is also literally putting Jewish lives in danger.'
"Israeli politicians cited German politicians when attacking the filmmakers themselves, and only weeks later, co-director #HamdanBallal was attacked by #IsraeliSettlers in the #WestBank, and removed from an ambulance by #IDF soldiers.
"German Staatsräson is less about assuring Israel’s right to exist, and more about giving a free hand to the #repressive policies of the Israeli right."
Source:
https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2025-04-09/germany-seeks-deport-protesters
#CriminalizingDissent #ProPalestineActivists #ProPalestine
#CriminalizingProtest #AntiProtestLaws
#GermanyPol #GermanAntiProtestLaws
#Authoritarianism #Fascism #RightWing #StudentProtesters #Zionism #BibiIsAWarCriminal #Enablers
#German #ClimateActivist faces expulsion from #Austria after ban
AFP Apr 7, 2025, Updated Apr 8, 2025
"Austria has banned a German climate activist for two years, she said on Monday, adding she would fight the decision, which could see her expelled from the Alpine EU member.
"#AnjaWindl, who has been living in Austria for seven years, became known for her #protests against #ClimateChange, including glueing herself on streets to stop #traffic with the #LastGeneration group.
"In a decision Windl received last week, the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum issued the two-year ban, giving her one month to leave the country.
"The ban was issued after the German activist was found to pose a 'danger for the #PublicOrder and security', according to the decision seen by AFP.
" 'This is highly problematic from a democratic perspective,' Windl, a 28-year-old psychology #student, told AFP, adding she would appeal the ban.
" 'We are moving toward civilisational #collapse, and instead of holding those responsible accountable, it is those who have peacefully advocated for the preservation of our livelihoods" who are targeted, she said.
"Her lawyer, Ralf Niederhammer, said he did not know of any other political activist being banned from Austria. Windl faces no criminal charges, he added."
Read more:
https://homenewshere.com/national/news/article_5a9945d1-17ed-57c3-9d7a-9152ee80d9b5.html
Chilling! This is what the #USA has come down to? Wow!
#Michigan #Lawyer Detained at Detroit Airport, Phone Seized; He Represents #ProPalestine Protester
Story, April 11, 2025
Read / watch / listen:
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/4/11/lawyer_detained_border
#FreeSpeech #FreeSpeechIsDead #FullOnFascism #USPol #CharacteristicsOfFascism #Authoritarianism
Trump did this by EO, with photo op… -not just about punishing Krebs & Taylor -a msg to everyone who might consider “crossing” him. We often say this is how #authoritarianism begins.
The GOP is right that America wants to “move on” from the 2020 election -a real problem for them: Trump won’t.
This latest attack on the #ruleoflaw is a naked attempt to use the DOJ as a tool of pol oppression.
It'd be grossly unethical for #DOJ ATTYs to accept this kind of order.
#USPol https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/5242757-trump-krebs-taylor-justice/
Sasha Abramsky says the shocking truth we have to learn with the Abrego Garcia case is that America is now one vast Milgram experiment:
"In Trump’s fascist netherworld, there are a shockingly large number of Good Americans, people who seem incapable of rejecting unjust orders or understanding the moral implications of acquiescence in organized cruelty."
#Trump #AbregoGarcia #immigrants #deportations #authoritarianism #cruelty #MilgramExperiment
/5
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/america-milgram-experiment/
"That’s important for a couple of reasons. One is that Donald Trump is already sinking in the polls, but the one issue still keeping him slightly afloat—believe it or not—is immigration. About half of Americans like that he is supposedly getting tough on immigrants."
#Trump #AbregoGarcia #immigrants #deportations #authoritarianism
/4
"Once the government starts returning people, they will be back in our system where they will have access to lawyers, their families, and the media. They will talk about what happened to them and the brutality of the gulag where we sent them. This will then become one of the top stories in the country."
#Trump #AbregoGarcia #immigrants #deportations #authoritarianism
/4
"Perhaps more important, the administration doesn’t want to concede that a judge can order it to change that request.
They don't want to admit this, because if they bring back this one man, they will have to bring back others. Abrego Garcia is not the only one who can show he was wrongly deported and imprisoned."
#Trump #AbregoGarcia #immigrants #deportations #authoritarianism
/2
Anybody who gets “in the way” of #Trump’s efforts to deport migrants will be charged “for obstruction, for concealment,” #AlinaHabba, the interim US attorney in #NewJersey, warned.
“I will come after them hard,” she said.
The move is part of a broader effort by Trump to use the #DOJ to punish Democratic state & city officials who refuse to help carry out the admin’s extreme #immigration agenda & to quash so-called #SanctuaryCities.
*Top* US Prosecutor in #NewJersey, a #Trump Loyalist, Targets Governor
#AlinaHabba said she was investigating Gov. Philip D. Murphy & the state’s attorney general [#NJAG] over #immigration policy. She called the inquiry a “warning for everybody.”
#law #intimidation #WeaponizationOfGovernment #EnemiesList #authoritarianism #autocracy #tyranny #federalism
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/11/nyregion/trump-justice-department-habba-immigration.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=p&pvid=BFE44020-29CA-4995-8D54-CCAD9494BA82
From 2024: States Are Restricting Protests and Criminalizing Dissent
United States of Suppression is a series documenting the recent crackdown on dissent and protests in the U.S. This op-ed discusses what happens when protesting becomes a crime.
By Elly Page and Alana Greer
June 26, 2024
Excerpt: "Since 2017, 21 states across the country have passed new laws that restrict protests — nearly 50 in total — with dozens more being introduced annually.
"Most of these new laws increase criminal penalties for conduct, like interfering with traffic, involved in some kinds of protests. Under laws passed in states such as #Arkansas, #Iowa, and #Tennessee, protesters can spend up to a year in jail for 'obstructing' public #streets or #sidewalks, even though these are traditional venues for First Amendment-related activities. After protests against the #KeystoneXL Pipeline, 14 states dramatically increased penalties for trespassing, which would usually amount to a petty offense, if protesters enter lands with #pipelines or #pipeline construction sites.
"In many cases, these laws go further than punishing individual protesters to include the people and organizations that support them, putting organizers and community groups at risk. Under a recent law in #Oklahoma, an organization that 'conspires' with people to hold a protest can face felony penalties if the protest is deemed to be an 'unlawful assembly' — which state law defines vaguely enough to include a three-person protest that 'disturbs the public peace.' "
Read more:
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/states-restricting-protests-criminalizing
#CriminalizingDissent
#Authoritarianism #Fascism #Clampdown #CriminalizingProtest
#CharacteristicsOfFascism #USPol #PipelineProtestors #TrafficInterference #DisturbingThePeace #BogusCharges #Crackdown #SLAPPs #VagueLaws #ProtestOrganizers #ProtestSponsors #ProtestSupporters #FirstAmendment
Proposed #AlabamaLaw limiting #protests near homes passes despite #FirstAmendment concerns: ‘We might go too far’
Updated: Apr. 02, 2025
"Alabama state Sen. #ArthurOrr’s, R-Decatur, bill seeking to limit where and when protests could be organized passed a Senate Committee on Wednesday.
"The Senate Committee on County and Municipal Government voted to pass the legislation despite concerns from Democratic lawmakers.
"Orr has attempted to pass similar legislation for several years but has been unsuccessful so far.
"The bill, #SB247, states that it would 'prohibit a person from picketing or protesting at or near the residence of any individual with the intent to harass, intimidate, or disturb during the period starting 30 minutes after sunset and ending 30 minutes before sunrise.'
"This prohibition would also apply if an individual used artificial noise amplification, blocked a public road, or blocked the entrance and exit of a residential area or place of employment.
"Orr defended the bill saying it would meet constitutional standards and that individuals should find public places to protest outside of neighborhoods."
Full text of bill [pdf]:
https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/files/pdf/SearchableInstruments/2024RS/SB247-int.pdf
#CriminalizingDissent
#Authoritarianism #Fascism #Clampdown #CriminalizingProtest
#CharacteristicsOfFascism #USPol
"The Trump administration is quietly drafting a bold new strategy for combating terrorism that targets a wide range of perceived foes, from Tesla vandals to everyday protesters, intelligence sources say.
White House counterterrorism czar Sebastian Gorka is leading the effort, which covers both foreign and domestic strategies. Gorka recently boasted that the president has “done a 180 on our counterterrorism policy.” He’s also been quite candid in comparing his political opponents to terrorists, as I’ve written about.
Farewell episode of “The Gorka Reality Check” show in January
The domestic focus derives from the view that foreign control, antisemitism and a conspiracy against Donald Trump are behind everything from Gaza protests to Planned Parenthood. White House insiders firmly believe that protestors are being “paid” to disrupt the Trump agenda, the same sources say. "
https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/trump-team-prepping-new-strategy
Look, at some point Very Serious PeopleTM in the media and the political class are going to have to accept reality; the fascist GOP is actively and knowingly working to make Trump a literal dictator and they're prepared to deploy any nonsensical lie, rhetorical argument, and instrument of state power to do so. On Wednesday, the House passed a bill that would make it functionally impossible for a single lawsuit to stop even the Trump regime's most blatantly unconstitutional activities, by drastically curtailing the judiciary's power to issue nationwide restraining orders; under the nonsensical argument that ruling against Trump's orders is part of some vast left wing conspiracy to stymie the President's lawful right to um, make America conform to his unhinged authoritarian nonsense, apparently.
House Passes Bill Limiting Judges’ Ability to Place Injunctions on Trump Orders
"Trump has had the most nationwide injunctions placed against him due to his presidential decrees oftentimes flatly violating the law or U.S. Constitution — for example, three federal judges this year alone have placed injunctions on his ability to enforce an executive order to redefine the birthright citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment.
While blatantly improper orders like those have been blocked, Trump loyalists have errantly claimed that so-called “activist judges” on the left have chosen to stymie the president’s agenda for political reasons — ignoring the fact that right-wing judges (including some Trump himself picked) have also issued injunctions against the president.
Republican Rep. Darrell Issa (California) authored a bill entitled the “No Rogue Rulings Act,” which would restrict judges’ rulings to only apply to the litigants directly included in the lawsuit — under the bill’s terms, only a plaintiff could receive relief from a judgment against a presidential administration, even if the underlying reason for that judgment is that the law or order at issue is unconstitutional and shouldn’t be enforced on anyone."
Okay, let's start with the good news; although the bill passed on a party lines vote in the House, it still has to make its way through the Senate and unless Chuck Schumer has another brain tumor for breakfast, that seems highly unlikely to happen. Given the level of collaboration Democrat Senators have already engaged in while (not really) opposing the Trump regime, I can't guarantee anything, but here's to hoping the opposition party realizes what a monumentally bad idea it would be to upend "hundreds of years of judicial case law and precedent" and allow Trump to essentially force everyone victimized by even his most unconstitutional orders, to seek remedy separately in the courts. If you want to understand just how bad this would be for our civil rights, consider the three current injunctions preventing Downmarket Mussolini from ending birthright citizenship and how folks whose only "crime" is being born in the US to parents who aren't citizens, would have to seek legal remedy under these new rules; not only are all of them unlikely to be able to bring a suit in federal court, but just processing all of those cases would take decades, and in the meantime Trump would be free to treat those victimized by his executive order as if his word was law.
Even if the bill doesn't pass the Senate however, I think it's pretty instructional to look at the overarching theme of the fascist GOP's arguments for running it through the House. To justify the bill, House Republicans have constructed a vast conspiracy theory, whereby even conservative judges who disagree with Trump are working with an undefined "radical left" to undermine the country; this is "if you're not with us, you're against" us logic and as author Jason Stanley noted in his excellent book, How Fascism Works, fascism functions by transforming everything into the politics of "us versus them." And what pray tell is their evidence for this conspiracy theory? The fact that Trump, who is actively trying to transform the United States into an autocratic fascist dictatorship, has seen his orders subject to a record number of injunctions and court orders preventing him from, um, breaking the law and violating the constitution? As at least one House Dem noted, it probably makes sense that Trump's agenda has been targeted by the most nationwide court orders because Trump has tried to violate the constitution more than probably any other president in American history.
“If it seems like an incredible number of cases to lose in less than 100 days, recall that Trump is engaged in a record number of illegal actions at a breathtaking velocity never seen before in U.S. history,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) said."
My friends, it's fascism, and the fascist GOP party is willingly installing a fascist dictator; there's nothing accidental or "misguided" about it.
Last month, #JDVance said #Denmark had "not done a good job" for #Greenland & had not spent enough on security while visiting the Danish territory.
The alleged email, released by a #military news site, told staff Vance's comments were "not reflective" of the base. A #Pentagon spox cited the article, saying "undermining" US leadership was not tolerated.
#dissent #diplomacy #ForeignPolicy #geopolitics #authoritarianism #autocracy #Trump
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/04/10/space-force-commander-greenland-sent-out-email-breaking-vance-after-his-visit.html
