Nazis marching in America

To whit:

https://mobile.twitter.com/freeyourmindkid/status/897555349607141376

Ya know I felt I had to quick doublecheck my closet because I know somewhere in there there was awhite shirt I never wear, but if was a polo I’d have thrown it away. Took a look, button down. Phew, back to the back of the closet it went.

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Saw Trumps’s press conference where he basically went on full defense for white nationalists. It’s fucking harrowing. Just unbelievable that this is the most powerful man on the planet.

Also this excellent point by hank green:

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So is this the part where I book a one way ticket to London and pray?

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Canada, friend, Canada. As far as I can tell Canada and New Zealand are the only places that aren’t fucked right now.

Maybe he meant London, Ontario.

Vice did an excellent job documenting the whole ordeal. I guess a warning is appropriate not just because of the neo-Nazi assholes that are being interviewed, but also because the video shows the car attack in multiple angles as well as the aftermath. It makes me physically ill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P54sP0Nlngg

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Nah, we’re okay. Turns out our deputy Prime Minister is from New Zealand. To the great surprise of everyone, including the deputy prime minister.

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Wait…What?

I assume it was a bit like this around the office.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTwAoFR4DuM

Also these situations look like a time that genuine shield wall tactics would be a boon. Depending on the state laws is there anything to stop you distributing plywood shields to people and making a wall? It worked in the Ukraine.

Just marching past the synagogue carrying assault rifles and sieg heiling. Freedom of speech. No punching allowed!

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So realistically can we expect anything? I know the President is totes-my-goats up for race war. But surely there is something at the state level that can be done? I think it was Illinois that banned them or something but man a big statement needs to come out.

Edit; yeah this is sort of sending a message I think? http://fox2now.com/2017/08/15/illinois-state-senate-passes-measure-designating-neo-nazi-groups-as-terrorists/

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The law might be written to protect the weak, but it’s just ink on paper if police don’t enforce it.

https://mobile.twitter.com/alexnpress/status/897858214309613568

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This is kind of my experience. The US is in a strange state because the freedom of speech allows niche hate groups to fester and produce a following which is somehow not completely rejected.

When racist politicians try to do the same thing over here they for the most part get shut down and any political parties which align with them lose the favour of the public.

I guess it boils down to having a competent democracy / political system and legal system, unfortunately those are things that appear to be lacking in America.

Except white supremacy isn’t niche, now or ever. It’s the law of the land. Germany was made to deal with it. US never has been.

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You’re right not niche in America. I mean listen to the elected leader of the country.
How does this change? Get a competent legal and political system. Are there any laws or rules being broken by the leader? If yes why hasn’t he been removed?

That comes down to who’s allowed to say (and be taken seriously) the president’s broken laws.

Technically the answer to that is other parts of government. Regular people can’t do much.

If nothing else, Trump has taught us that norms, however long enshrined in our history, are not enough. Some things require actual laws to be on the books.

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That is also nothing new in our history, we’ve been taught that before.

In 1940 there was an unprecedented guy (FDR) who ran for a third term as president. Why didn’t anyone do that before? Well the first guy had two terms and nobody wanted to break with that unwritten rule.

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“President Trump’s relationship with the American business community suffered a major setback on Wednesday as the president was forced to shut down his major business advisory councils after corporate leaders repudiated his comments on the violence in Charlottesville this weekend.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2017/08/16/after-wave-of-ceo-departures-trump-ends-business-and-manufacturing-councils/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_trumpcouncil-130pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.712c65fd54e3

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