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THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE FREE was required reading in my undergrad Modern European History class, ca. 1973, I've read it several times since, and I frequently recommend it to others.

I finally subscribed, after considering it for several weeks. I've got too bloody much great stuff to read every day, but it dawned on me that the Hartmann Report is always one of the first emails I open, right up there with Lucian Truscott, Joyce Vance, and Heather Cox Richardson, so -- I'm in.

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Spot on. The 2nd Amendment was written to arm people against slave revolts. Nothing much has changed. In the 1920’s, the KKK went to Germany and taught the ‘Brown Shirts’ how to roll. Fear. Fear of ‘mud people, Jews; it was in the White Power literature 50 years ago and remains today.

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Thom, this piece is seminal and profound. I spend a lot of time and effort trying to help decent Americans understand the “long game” that Fascist loving billionaires, theists, misogynist and Racists have employed to take over the nation by stealth.

People may want a single concept to wrap the whole Fascist movement in, but it is an amalgamation of deeply rooted concepts of demonization by elite Whites to rule the world.

Surviving the era of Neo Fascism will be a nightmare, one exacerbated by powerful new AI technologies that will enable Orwellian surveillance far beyond anything he imagined and incite fanatical violence by a populace unable to discern what reality is.

The Neo-Fascist era is only a transition to the ultimate goal, the return of high-tech Feudalism.

I really wish to hell that I am wrong.

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I sincerely thank you for continuing to raise the alarm. It seems like violence and mayhem us all we see anymore. It scares me and I don't understand why it doesn't scare the Crap out of everyone. How did we get from Where Have All The Flowers Gone to this? How do people become so complacent that they just ignore what's going on right in front of them everyday?

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Apr 2, 2023Liked by Thom Hartmann

This is absolutely terrifying!!! The MAGA fascist movement must stop before too late.

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This is a very important post, Thomas. You nailed with these words This is a full-blown fascist movement within the United States, and it’s now taken over most of the Republican Party.

They openly deny that America is a democratic republic where people select their representatives through the vote, as Lauren Boebert said just this week, demanding that our school children be taught we’re not a democracy. Standing behind and encouraging this movement through their think-tanks, massive media operations, and political campaign contributions is a small army of rightwing billionaires .’ But, here is what I know is the big SECRET! When you say: ”they’ve spent decades getting us to this point, spending billions to stack our court system, infiltrate the political systems of every state and the federal government, and training up a new generation of fascist children through a widespread homeschool and whites-only private school movement."

Yes, People need two know the name Leonard Leo, as he and the Koch Bros,, and The American Enterprise Institute , are behind this plan, and they count on the fact that people lose sight of history-- of the Nazis.. and what fascism looked like.

So, these billionaires who are looking to be the power in this nation, decided to end public education and create an ignorant citizenry. Diane Ravitch https://dianeravitch.net and the NPE expose this plan.(go the their blogs.)

But, things changed dramatically, with the advent of a new transformational ERA of INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY -- which began with televisions , and then came that dark place, in cyberspace, the internet-- where millions of humans read fabrications and lies… repeated by algorithms in social media that these men own, and use to spread disinformation and chaos. https://www.opednews.com/Series/Transformational-era-of-in-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-171120-4.html

And then they burned /ban the books! https://dianeravitch.net/2023/03/31/texas-uh-oh-the-book-banners-have-gone-too-far/

Here is my own series at OpEd news.

https://www.opednews.com/author/series/author40790.html

Many links to articles are about the and the War on teachers, and the Privatization of public education

https://www.opednews.com/Series/PRIVITIZATION-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-150925-546.html

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I remember you talking about Milton Mayer many years ago and thank you for the up date. These are scary times and most of our society does not have a clue. We are called too far to the left by some of our friends.

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Your description of where we stand is very cogent.

I've been writing about it since last October (https://medium.com/@The_Last_Age/neo-fascism-db29ef692008). I cited a book there, How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, written by Jason Stanley whose father personally experienced Germany in the 30's and who felt our current times here in the U.S. strongly resemble those of Germany then.

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Those tours Repubs are offering to tourists -- many of them are probably casing the place so they'll know their way around. It won't surprise me if I hear that George Santos has been brought in by the Maga's as an inside man; heck, he's probably designing false security cards right now, just as he masterminded an operation that made false credit cards. What does he do behind the closed door of his office? -- he sure isn't doing work for his constituents, who all know his far-fetched stories.

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Thank you Thom for the education you've given me since 2004.

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Indeed, I was able to recommend Mayer's book to a fellow reader the other day, along with

theauthoritarians.org.

Essential reading.

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Oh my God , it is here. I fear we’re handling it in an inefficient and very frightening manner , that feels like we cant propel ourselves forward or backward or wherever it is we are supposed to be with whatever we are supposed to do.

What can we do ?

To see it happening is to witness evil . Truly dark, dank and frightening .

The hateful outbursts from Trump and Marg. T. Greene, Fox news , accusations fly . They insist ‘they are the victims’ . Trying to ‘make America great .’

They are making America toxic.

I worry so much for my children and grandchildren . God help us all .

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It's a simple but tried and true formula: Insecurity begets fear; fear begets hate; hate begets violence. Lies, ignorance, gullibility, and lack of self-awareness begets Republicanism, infusing insecurity, fear, hate, and violence into the lost souls and weak minds of fascist followers to amass ungodly power for their fascist leaders.

2023 America is just the latest incarnation of evil plaguing humankind from the inception of consciousness. To remain silent is to hasten the end of democracy and the failure of evolution.

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Logic and judgement has been tossed aside by the Republicans---they listen to their gut and all that emotion about their precious 2nd Amendment. If only they valued our children and their children as much.

Meanwhile those of us USING our prefrontal cortex are definitely seeing where Thom's through-lines lead.

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Reminds me of Rod Serling's Twilght Zone...

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Van Gogh? Seriously?

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