Notices by Alexander Karn (xankarn@mastodon.online), page 3

Michelle Chen dropping truth bombs in the Progressive.

"The zeal for political deportation faded largely by the early 1960s. The McCarthyite climate of repression had dissipated due to political backlash and courts invalidating some of the most draconian anti-communist restrictions. But the intersection of political persecution and immigration enforcement has resurfaced in more subtle ways in recent years."

#uspol #democracy #immigration #deportation

https://progressive.org/latest/the-dark-mccarthyist-history-of-deporting-activists-chen-20250321/

A few months ago, Khalil himself was protesting alongside them, calling for peace and Palestinian freedom. Now, the activist has written from detention, like many before him, declaring, “At stake are not just our voices, but the fundamental civil liberties of all.” His own freedom will rely on his allies taking up the struggle where he left off, demanding justice everywhere, without borders.

from the article:

A new mass struggle may now be emerging once again to defend politically persecuted immigrants. We are seeing the beginnings of it in recent demonstrations in New York City, with Columbia activists calling for Khalil’s release and Jewish protesters declaring “Not in our name.”

cont'd

USIP web site still out of commission.

Forty years of serious work on diplomacy, mediation, and peace-building out the window.

Total annual budget, according to Wikipedia, was $55 million, which is obviously peanuts in the grand scheme. Trump will likely spend more than this on golf trips this year.

So it isn’t about cost savings or efficiency or anything other than this administration’s recalcitrance in the face of expert knowledge and vetted facts.

Nobody home this morning at the United States Institute of Peace web site.

Sabotage masquerading as patriotism.

Exhibit #12,273,493

#uspol #usip #democracy #authoritarianism

#Serbia #Belgrade #democracy

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20250315-belgrade-on-edge-as-anti-government-protesters-converge-on-serbian-capital

Pro-democracy protests in #Serbia and #Hungary.

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS mobilizing to make their voices heard.

When governments prove hostile to civil society, when powers of arrest, detention, and deportation are weaponized and abused, when graft and nepotism are the norm, when elected opposition bows to pressure, people sometimes have to represent themselves.

Edit to add: #Romania #Bucharest too.

#uspol #democracy

@knittingknots2

“President Donald Trump on Friday walked into the Department of Justice and labeled his courtroom opponents “scum,” judges “corrupt” and the prosecutors who investigated him “deranged.”

With the DOJ logo directly behind him, Trump called for his legal tormentors to be sent to prison.”

I am saying it once more.

If #academia and #highered do not QUICKLY develop a coordinated strategy of resistance, then MAGA will pick them off one by one.

“Half of this stuff you can’t just do and the other half is insane,” said Joseph Howley, a professor of classics at Columbia. “If the federal government can show up and demand a university department be shut down or restructured, then we don’t have universities in this country.”

#uspol #democracy

https://apnews.com/article/columbia-university-mahmoud-khalil-ice-arrests-1921e26f6b5a8585ad5cbda790846324

@heidilifeldman

I’m opposed to circular firing squads, but NYers should consider a call or email to Schumer to let him know the costs of his capitulation, both in the near term and going forward.

I have to imagine he’s thinking of this as his final term in the Senate. If not, he probably should be!

https://www.schumer.senate.gov/contact

@heidilifeldman

Schumer outlines the risks of a govt shutdown in his NYT op-ed (below), but seems oblivious to what kind of damage his capitulation will do to American democracy, to the Democratic congressional caucus, and to real people, who will now be fully under the thumb of two nihilists in Trump and Musk.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/opinion/trump-musk-shutdown-senate.html?unlocked_article_code=1.304.OMwQ.VJRVtIzzb8EK&smid=url-share

Ed department sends letter to 60 institutions, warning of potential violations and "enforcement actions."

Harvard
Brown
Stanford
Princeton

BUT ALSO

Middlebury
Swarthmore
Pomona
Wellesley
.
.

Liberal arts colleges will not be spared. We teach the habits of mind they deem traitorous.

Don’t panic. Organize.

#academia #liberalarts #democracy

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/10/us/department-of-education-warning-universities-title-vi-antisemitism

Wealth management guy laments that morals and ethics and values (i.e., people) sometimes complicate efforts to multiply profits.

Why can't the world be widgets and cogs and ledger sheets like we learned in our MBA programs?

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/opinion/anheuser-busch-dylan-mulvaney.html?unlocked_article_code=1.3E4.hjFQ.03JDHgQ2sMPT&smid=url-share

So much of the MAGA worldview hinges on the fear of being duped and emasculated. From the moment he rode down the escalator, the premise and constant refrain has been that "we" are imperiled, and "they" have lulled us into a vulnerable state.

Fascism is launched through a rhetoric of deception.

Deep State
Internal Enemies
Wokerati
Globalists
Etc.

It isn't paranoia when they're out to get you!

#uspol #fascism #language

@br00t4c

Seems obvious, but I guess it still needs to be said.

You can’t “appreciate” Trump AND respect due process, as at least one “anti-discrimination” org has claimed to since this news surfaced.

Apologies for a bit of shameless self-promotion.

I'm an academic, so normally the things I publish don't travel very far or appeal to a broad readership.

Since last fall, I've turned to writing shorter pieces for public venues. I do these to organize my thinking, explain things I think I've learned, and build community.

You can see that the theme is anti-fascism.

MAGA Language: https://progressive.org/op-eds/trumps-rhetoric-is-frightening-and-toxic-karn-20241029/

MAGA Laughter: https://www.salon.com/2024/11/18/the-corruption-of-maga-comedy/

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

I’m not a psychologist.

But Trump’s malignant narcissism seems plain.

I’m not a lawyer.

But the collapse of checks and balances and the resultant constitutional crisis seems plain.

I’m not an economist.

But the hollowing out of the public sector for the benefit of corporations and billionaires seems plain.

I am an historian.

And the convergence of these forces has never ended well.

Midnight in America.

#uspol #democracy #fascism

🧵

You don't have to observe Trump for long to see how unprincipled and inconsistent he is.

You never know from one minute to the next where he stands on key issues. He changes his position paragraph by paragraph and sometimes within the same sentence.

He often rides the fence and refuses to commit himself to any side, or he extends his sympathy to "both sides."

He's a hollow man in this regard.

1/

It’s worth asking, what is the difference between these two scenarios? Or, rather, what will determine which of these scenarios awaits us?

The answer reveals a lot about the essence of MAGA politics.

4/

With Trump, we’re always suspended somewhere between

“You won’t have a country anymore.”

AND

“A new golden age.”

3/