Notices by Alexander Karn (xankarn@mastodon.online)

It’s of course important to talk about the insufficiencies of memory culture and the strategic blunders of liberals, but I don’t accept the argument that the duty to remember is what spawned neofascism. It certainly isn’t what spawned Nazism in the 1920s and 1930s (because it didn’t exist then).

A student sent me this.

I have some thoughts. 🧵

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/20/opinion/germany-elections-afd.html?unlocked_article_code=1.yk4.iCAG.I7hk7P6dYux8&smid=url-share

People who want to be morally unrestrained and embrace myths of past glory don’t become that way by being asked to show moral restraint and think more deeply/seriously about history.

Nazis make Nazis, even if they deeply resent woke libs.

@kims

Made it to the end of history.

Now it’s outtakes and bloopers.

Sec State Rubio realizing that he is, in fact, "making history."

Now that Google has changed the map to show the Gulf of America, I assume they will also refer to POTUS as Russia’s Bitch.

🧵

Lost in Trump's flurry of EOs is the "Celebrating America's 250th Birthday" proclamation he signed on Jan 29.

For anyone concerned with historical revisionism and right-wing attacks on knowledge, this is something startling.

To me, it looks like a move to wrest control of the anniversary away from the America 250 Commission that was created through an act of Congress in 2016.

Trump has called for a new White House "Task Force" on the upcoming Semiquincentennial.

#history #uspol

Sec. 3 of the EO reinstates Trump's "National Garden of American Heroes" project.

This is a proposal from 2020 for sculpture garden honoring "great figures of American history."

When it was first floated, the executive director of the American Historical Association said this about the garden:

"The choices vary from odd to probably inappropriate to provocative." He deemed it an attempt by Trump "to seize on a cultural conflict to distract from other issues" during an election season.

The exec dir of the congressional commission, it appears, can also be directed by the task force to seek advice from "other agencies" that the TF deems relevant.

The Task Force, for reasons I can't begin to understand, is housed/administered under the Department of Defense.

Yes, DoD.

The Chair of the new TF will be POTUS.

Vice-Chair: Vance.

7 members of Cabinet and a host of others, all under the authority of the executive branch, are also appointed.

The TF Chair and Vice-Chair "as they deem appropriate" can call on the exec dir of the extant America 250 (Congressional) Commission "to provide recommendations."

It's a hodgepodge, to say the least.

I really can't do full justice here to just how inchoate his list is, but I'll note that it includes Alex Trebek.

Alex Trebek, game show host.

Born in Canada, naturalized in the US in 1998.

A head-scratcher, I'd say.

Your clue is: This batshit crazy wannabe dictator was re-eelected to the White House in Nov. 2020.

If you're curious about who Trump wants to include in the Nation Garden of Heroes, you can see the list here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Garden_of_American_Heroes

NOT listed or mentioned anywhere in the order are acts of vandalism at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 or the assaults on Federal (and other) law enforcement officers there.

Sec. 4 of the EO reinstates two previous orders (2020/21) aimed at "Protecting America's Monuments from Vandalism."

This is apparently part of a larger crackdown on crime.

There are listed several "recent examples of conduct necessitating reinstatement."

The first is what the order calls "pro-Hamas related vandalism of historically significant public monuments and related assaults on Federal officers."

Vandalism in Lafayette Square and of the Christopher Columbus fountain are also listed.

Something else I learned today about America 250, the congressional commission formed in 2016 to spearhead the Semiquincentennial:

They've received public funding between $15-19 million per annum for the past several years.

They also solicit private donations.

In June 2024, they announced a sponsorship agreement with WALMART, which makes the retail giant a "founding sponsor" of the 250th anniversary celebration. Can't find info so far on how much $$$ this entailed.

https://america250.org/news/america250-announces-founding-sponsorship-from-walmart/

The monument protection provision is actually more disturbing, imo.

Through the samples provided, it's clear that this provision is selective in its intention and will almost certainly be applied selectively, if the EO isn't challenged.

There's, of course, LOTS to say about criminal law and power.

A measure like this, which cares only about some monuments and some vandals, needs a fuller exposition than I can give here.

Artist/illustrator: Matias De Brasi

I have a piece in The Progressive today on “The Danger of MAGA History.”

It’s about memory holes, memory trolls, and the creature in the Oval Office.

I hope you’ll read and perhaps boost or repost where you think there might be interest.

#RMOL

https://progressive.org/latest/the-danger-of-maga-history-karn-20250130/

#history #uspol #democracy #authoritarianism #histodons

@histodons

Not shocked
Not awed.
Not caving.
Not scared.
Not blinking.
Not packing it in.
Not coming to heel.
Not building bridges.
Not extending grace.
Not asking permission.
Not accepting the lies.
Not quitting.
Ever.

#RMOL

02/05/25: At the Syracuse field office for Senators Schumer and Gillibrand. #coup #uspol #5050protest