Zhi Zhu 🕸️
@ZhiZhu@newsie.social  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago
Text from article: But here’s where it gets truly Orwellian. The document identifies “common recurrent motivations” that supposedly unite all this “terrorism”: "Common threads animating this violent conduct include anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality." Read that again. “Extremism on migration, race, and gender” and “hostility towards traditional American views” are now markers of terrorism?!? Supporting comprehensive immigration reform? Terrorist. Advocating for LGBTQ+ rights? Terrorist. Criticizing discriminatory policies? Terrorist. This has nothing to do with stopping political violence—if it did, it would address the vastly more prevalent cases of right-wing extremist violence. It doesn’t mention the Trump supporter who assassinated a Democratic politician in Minnesota and had a target list of other Democrats, or the firebombing attempt on Pennsylvania’s governor. Trump had already forgotten about that anyway. The memorandum is a roadmap for weaponizing federal law enforcement against political dissent, dressed up as counter-terrorism. I mean, the same day this came out, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, claimed that calling out actual government authoritarianism somehow constitutes “incitement to violence.”
Text from article: But here’s where it gets truly Orwellian. The document identifies “common recurrent motivations” that supposedly unite all this “terrorism”: "Common threads animating this violent conduct include anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality." Read that again. “Extremism on migration, race, and gender” and “hostility towards traditional American views” are now markers of terrorism?!? Supporting comprehensive immigration reform? Terrorist. Advocating for LGBTQ+ rights? Terrorist. Criticizing discriminatory policies? Terrorist. This has nothing to do with stopping political violence—if it did, it would address the vastly more prevalent cases of right-wing extremist violence. It doesn’t mention the Trump supporter who assassinated a Democratic politician in Minnesota and had a target list of other Democrats, or the firebombing attempt on Pennsylvania’s governor. Trump had already forgotten about that anyway. The memorandum is a roadmap for weaponizing federal law enforcement against political dissent, dressed up as counter-terrorism. I mean, the same day this came out, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, claimed that calling out actual government authoritarianism somehow constitutes “incitement to violence.”
Text from article: But here’s where it gets truly Orwellian. The document identifies “common recurrent motivations” that supposedly unite all this “terrorism”: "Common threads animating this violent conduct include anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality." Read that again. “Extremism on migration, race, and gender” and “hostility towards traditional American views” are now markers of terrorism?!? Supporting comprehensive immigration reform? Terrorist. Advocating for LGBTQ+ rights? Terrorist. Criticizing discriminatory policies? Terrorist. This has nothing to do with stopping political violence—if it did, it would address the vastly more prevalent cases of right-wing extremist violence. It doesn’t mention the Trump supporter who assassinated a Democratic politician in Minnesota and had a target list of other Democrats, or the firebombing attempt on Pennsylvania’s governor. Trump had already forgotten about that anyway. The memorandum is a roadmap for weaponizing federal law enforcement against political dissent, dressed up as counter-terrorism. I mean, the same day this came out, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, claimed that calling out actual government authoritarianism somehow constitutes “incitement to violence.”
Zhi Zhu 🕸️
@ZhiZhu@newsie.social  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago
Alt-text continued from previous image: Remember how Republicans lost their minds over the supposed “IRS scandal” under Obama? Just last week, Ben Shapiro was still pushing this narrative on Ezra Klein’s podcast: So I try to hold steady to the idea that when the I.R.S. cracks down on conservative nonprofits under Barack Obama — I know that happened to people, and I know people to whom it happened — that is a major problem. And it is a major problem when the president of the United States unleashes law enforcement on his political opponents. Here’s the thing: that “IRS scandal” was completely fabricated. It never happened. But what Obama never actually did, Trump is now doing explicitly and in writing. Publicly. He’s not just going after progressive nonprofits’ tax-exempt status—he’s ordering the IRS to refer them to the DOJ for prosecution. So where’s Ben Shapiro’s outrage now? This is “every accusation is a confession” in its purest form.
Alt-text continued from previous image: Remember how Republicans lost their minds over the supposed “IRS scandal” under Obama? Just last week, Ben Shapiro was still pushing this narrative on Ezra Klein’s podcast: So I try to hold steady to the idea that when the I.R.S. cracks down on conservative nonprofits under Barack Obama — I know that happened to people, and I know people to whom it happened — that is a major problem. And it is a major problem when the president of the United States unleashes law enforcement on his political opponents. Here’s the thing: that “IRS scandal” was completely fabricated. It never happened. But what Obama never actually did, Trump is now doing explicitly and in writing. Publicly. He’s not just going after progressive nonprofits’ tax-exempt status—he’s ordering the IRS to refer them to the DOJ for prosecution. So where’s Ben Shapiro’s outrage now? This is “every accusation is a confession” in its purest form.
Alt-text continued from previous image: Remember how Republicans lost their minds over the supposed “IRS scandal” under Obama? Just last week, Ben Shapiro was still pushing this narrative on Ezra Klein’s podcast: So I try to hold steady to the idea that when the I.R.S. cracks down on conservative nonprofits under Barack Obama — I know that happened to people, and I know people to whom it happened — that is a major problem. And it is a major problem when the president of the United States unleashes law enforcement on his political opponents. Here’s the thing: that “IRS scandal” was completely fabricated. It never happened. But what Obama never actually did, Trump is now doing explicitly and in writing. Publicly. He’s not just going after progressive nonprofits’ tax-exempt status—he’s ordering the IRS to refer them to the DOJ for prosecution. So where’s Ben Shapiro’s outrage now? This is “every accusation is a confession” in its purest form.
Text from article (alt-text continued in next image): But the most damning evidence of this memorandum’s true purpose lies in its targeting of progressive funders. Buried in section 2(j), Trump orders the IRS to weaponize tax-exempt status against his political opponents: The Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (Commissioner) shall take action to ensure that no tax-exempt entities are directly or indirectly financing political violence or domestic terrorism. In addition, where applicable, the Commissioner shall ensure that the Internal Revenue Service refers such organizations, and the employees and officers of such organizations, to the Department of Justice for investigation and possible prosecution. When you’ve already defined supporting immigration reform, LGBTQ+ rights, or racial justice as “terrorism,” going after the nonprofits that fund such work becomes a natural next step. (... alt-text continued in next image)
Text from article (alt-text continued in next image): But the most damning evidence of this memorandum’s true purpose lies in its targeting of progressive funders. Buried in section 2(j), Trump orders the IRS to weaponize tax-exempt status against his political opponents: The Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (Commissioner) shall take action to ensure that no tax-exempt entities are directly or indirectly financing political violence or domestic terrorism. In addition, where applicable, the Commissioner shall ensure that the Internal Revenue Service refers such organizations, and the employees and officers of such organizations, to the Department of Justice for investigation and possible prosecution. When you’ve already defined supporting immigration reform, LGBTQ+ rights, or racial justice as “terrorism,” going after the nonprofits that fund such work becomes a natural next step. (... alt-text continued in next image)
Text from article (alt-text continued in next image): But the most damning evidence of this memorandum’s true purpose lies in its targeting of progressive funders. Buried in section 2(j), Trump orders the IRS to weaponize tax-exempt status against his political opponents: The Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (Commissioner) shall take action to ensure that no tax-exempt entities are directly or indirectly financing political violence or domestic terrorism. In addition, where applicable, the Commissioner shall ensure that the Internal Revenue Service refers such organizations, and the employees and officers of such organizations, to the Department of Justice for investigation and possible prosecution. When you’ve already defined supporting immigration reform, LGBTQ+ rights, or racial justice as “terrorism,” going after the nonprofits that fund such work becomes a natural next step. (... alt-text continued in next image)
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