Something Funny!
Chris Hedges had an interesting July 4th. He spent the day with, as he says, 'some of the few sane people left in the United States: drag queens'. When I read that sub-title I went, 'Huh???' but that, and the cartoon by Mr. Fish, made me eagerly read on. It was a completely different take on maga politics, Trump, and history (fascism...). I never thought of these things before, but there are aspects of the article which really struck me, and some parts made me laugh out loud and read them to my hubby, who also laughed out loud. So, here's the article: Independence Day Drag.

And the awesome cartoon by Mr. Fish, called 'Diva Don':

And more about the article below the break!

82 Years!
It's been 82 years since the USA and its allies stormed the shores of Normandy and started pushing the Nazis out of France. Reed Galen, writing on his substack (Home Front) produced a pretty good article, 2 years ago, about the 80th anniversary of D-Day. He republished it a few weeks ago, on the 82 anniversary of D-Day. Now, Reed Galen is a moderate conservative, and helped start the Lincoln Project. He opposes Trump and those who support Trump. I can't say I always agree with his takes on things but the article about D-Day was really good. Here's what he says at the beginning:

I originally posted this two years ago when the world was in a different place and it looked as if the forces of good might prevail. They did not, and now we owe it to ourselves, those of the Greatest Generation, to look back, learn their lessons, absorb their wisdom, and plot our own path through the darkness.

A bit later he writes:

As we face a battle of our own time, we must remember we’re not being asked to step off a landing craft or jump from a rickety airplane into the unknown. Our tasks are safer to be sure, and even mundane, but important nonetheless. As the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings wash over us, take hold of the spirit of those that came before us, that gave their last full measure of devotion, understood their tasks and faced their fears to do their duty.

We freedom-loving, democracy-defending Americans, we the lucky and the free, owe them nothing less.

Erosion of our Institutions?
Ron Placone wrote a recent piece about the erosion of many of the institutions we need and use. His title centers on the tsa and air travel (‘The Destruction of the TSA and Air Travel’), and his subtitle is ‘The Latest Fascist Casualty’. I think his article is pretty good, and goes into far more than just the TSA.

He writes:

One of the elements of fascism is the complete erosion of all institutions. Air travel is the latest one in the US. Donald Trump successfully sent in his nazi infantry to patrol airports and the situation keeps getting worse. This is all part of a more elaborate plan in Project 2025 to privatize the TSA. But, let’s start at the beginning, shall we? My claim is that this is just the latest casualty in a fascist coup, is that’s what’s happening? Are our institutions being eroded?
Definitely.

Seeger in Barcelona!

I recently came across this story/legend/truth/I dunno about Pete Seeger. Seeger was, apparently, invited to perform in Barcelona, Spain in 1971. Spain was still under fascist rule by Francisco Franco. Seeger was told not to play any songs on a list that the fascist government devised. Most of the tunes were Seeger's most famous ones. So Seeger went on stage and just strummed his banjo, and, the whole 100,000 people audience sang all the songs!

Pete Seeger, 25 years old or so, entertaining laborers, soldiers, federal workers, and Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the president of the USA, in 1944. Photo from wikipedia, by Joseph A. Horne - Photograph by Joseph A. Horne. Via Library of Congress site, Public Domain, Link

The Department of Homeland Security launched a failed operation that ensnared hundreds, if not thousands, of U.S. protesters in what new documents show was as a sweeping, power-hungry effort before the 2020 election to bolster President Donald Trump’s spurious claims about a “terrorist organization” he accused his Democratic rivals of supporting.

If you have what Joe McCarthy called "fellow travelers" as your Facebook friends, you've heard this narrative: "Omigod we all have to vote for Joe Biden because Donald Trump is a FASCIST!" I wrote a diary about this topic back in April: "The Trump-As-Dictator narrative." In this old diary, I wrote:

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/11/01/goog-n01.html

Top legal and security officials for Facebook, Twitter and Google appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, in a hearing targeting “Extremist Content and Russian Disinformation Online.”

It's not your usual celebratory event. My daughter's boyfriend, who is in the National Guard (in large part to fund his education), is being deployed to Ukraine. Why? Because we're all supposed to fear Russia.