"I have seen that it is not man who is impotent in the struggle against evil. but the power of evil that is impotent in the struggle against man. The powerlessness of kindness, of senseless kindness,....

I have seen that it is not man who is impotent in the struggle against evil. but the power of evil that is impotent in the struggle against man. The powerlessness of kindness, of senseless kindness,.... 206 AMERICAN FASCISTS is the secret of its immortality. It can never be conquered. The more stupid. the more senseless, the more helpless it may seem. the vaster it is. Evil is impotent before it. The prophets, religious teachers. reformers, social and political leaders are impotent before it. This dumb. blind love is man's meaning.

"In this version of the Christian Gospel, the exploitation and abuse of other human beings is a good. Homosexuality is an evil. And this global, heartless system of economic rationalism has morphed in the rhetoric of the Christian Right into a test of faith. The ideology it espouses is a radical evil, an ideology of death. It calls....

"In this version of the Christian Gospel, the exploitation and abuse of other human beings is a good. Homosexuality is an evil. And this global, heartless system of economic rationalism has morphed in the rhetoric of the Christian Right into a test of faith. The ideology it espouses is a radical evil, an ideology of death. It calls... for wanton destruction, destruction of human beings, of the environment, of communities and neighborhoods, oflabar unions, of a free press, of Iraqis, Palestinians or others in the Middle East who would deny us oil fields and hegemony, of federal regulatory agencies, social welfare programs, public education-in shon, the destruction of all people and programs that stand in the way of a Christian America and its God-given right to dominate the rest of the planet. The movement offers, in return, the absurd but seduc~ tive promise that those who are right with God will rise to become spiritual and material oligarchs. They will become the new class. Those who are not right with God, be they poor or Muslim or un~ saved, deserve what they get. In the rational world none of this makes sense. But believers have been removed from a rea1ity~based world. They believe that through Jesus all is possible. It has become a Christian duty to embrace the exploitation of others, to build a Christian America where freedom means the freedom of the powerful to dominate the weak. Since believers see themselves as becoming empowered through faith, the gross injustices and re~ pression that could well boomera

"Corporations, rapidly turning America into an oligarchy, have little interest in Christian ethics, or anybody's ethics. They know what they have to do. as the titans of the industry remind us, for their stockholders. They are content to increase profit at the expense of those who demand fair wages, health....

Corporations, rapidly turning America into an oligarchy, have little interest in Christian ethics, or anybody's ethics. They know what they have to do. as the titans of the industry remind us, for their stockholders. They are

"Totalitarian systems usually start as propagandistic movements that ostensibly teach people to "believe what they want," but that opening gambit is a ruse. This insistence on the primacy of personal opinion regardless of facts destabilizes and destroys the primacy of all fact. This process.....

https://archive.org/details/AmericanFascistsTheChristianRightAndTheWarOnAmerica

"talitarian systems usually start as propagandistic movements that ostensibly teach people to "believe what they want," but that opening gambit is a ruse. This insistence on the primacy of personal opinion regardless of facts destabilizes and destroys the primacy of all fact. This process.... leads inevitably to the big lie. Facts are useful only if they bolster the message. The

Did only I not understand this? The Republicans are waging a Christian holy war, holy Crusade, against the rest of us. Think about it.

We're in much deeper trouble than I realized. "As the process gains momentum-with some justices on the Supreme Court such as Antonin Scalia steeped in this ideology- America starts to speak a new language. There is a slow and

Free download archive.org.

We're in much deeper trouble than I realized. "As the process gains momentum-with some justices on the Supreme Court such as Antonin Scalia steeped in this ideology- America starts to speak a new language. There is a slow and.... inexorable hijacking of religious and political tenninology. Terms such as "liberty" and "freedom" no longer mean what they meant in the past. Those in the movement speak of "liberty," but they do not speak about the traditional concepts of American liberty-the liberty to express divergent opinions, to respect other ways of believing and being, the liberty of individuals to seek and pursue their own goals and fonns of happiness. When used by the Christian Right, the term "liberty" means the liberty that comes with accepting a very narrowly conceived Christ and the binary world· view that acceptance promotes. America's Providential Hi.... 

Chris Hedges: Stringfellow repeatedly warned Christians, as well as Christian institutions, not to allow the fear of death to diminish the power of Christian witness. Faith becomes real o....

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.truthdig.com/articles/the-suicide-of-the-liberal-church/%3famp

Stringfellow repeatedly warned Christians, as well as Christian institutions, not to allow the fear of death to diminish the power of... Christian witness. Faith becomes real on the edge of the abyss. “In the face of death,” he wrote, “live humanly. In the middle of chaos, celebrate the Word. Amidst Babel, speak the truth. Confront the noise and verbiage and falsehood of death with the truth and potency and efficacy of the Word of God.”

Hedges is our greatest living Prophet, as many times James has said. Tragically....

Hedges is our greatest living Prophet, as many times James has said. Tragically.... he is a little bit too addicted to his depression tho that is completely understandable. He is 1% wrong in this article, and that 1% is important. It is not without material hope. The Senate could be overturned. A general strike could force him out of office when Sanders wins. Greta could lead the world's children to hunger strike to death unless the world wakes up. No, seriously. Young children willing to die in the Civil Rights Movement were a decisive factor. And more importantly he is 100% wrong in concluding

The fourth Reich is now. And forever. Must read.

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/how-democracies-die/

.. . The Christian right is a “crisis cult.”...

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/onward-christian-fascists/

... These believers find in Donald Trump a reflection of themselves, a champion of the unfettered greed, cult of masculinity, lust for violence, white supremacy, bigotry, American chauvinism, religious intolerance, anger, racism and conspiracy theories that define the central beliefs of the Christian right....

... The greatest moral failing of the liberal Christian church was its refusal, justified in the name of tolerance and dialogue, to denounce the followers of the Christian right as heretics. By tolerating the intolerant it ceded religious legitimacy to an array of con artists, charlatans and demagogues and their cultish supporters. It stood by as the core Gospel message—concern for the poor and the oppressed—was perverted into a magical world where God and Jesus showered believers with material wealth and power....

... Imperialism and war became divine instruments for purging the world of infidels and barbarians, evil itself. Capitalism, because God blessed the righteous with wealth and power and condemned the immoral to poverty and suffering, became shorn of its inherent cruelty and exploitation.

Article : Trump has a few weeks before the Democrats take control of the House. This may give him enough time to carry out his constitutional coup and consolidate power. Our decayed democratic institutions, including a corporate press that has rendered the working class and the poor invisible and serves as an apologist for corporate power, are detested by many Trump Republicans. Trump can rally his cultish supporters, hermetically sealed in their non-reality-based belief system, to attack and demolish the last of our democratic protections. “We have a tremendous dearth of readiness by major constituencies such as civic groups, the legal profession, the business community and academia to deal with someone who misuses his authority, power and resources,” Nader warned. “Nobody knows how to do it more precisely, relentlessly, strategically and tactically than the cunning Donald J. Trump.”....

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/are-we-about-to-face-our-gravest-constitutional-crisis/

Must read. Chris Hedges. Fascism rises out of failed democracies where elites mouth the feel-your-pain language of liberalism while selling out the public. This was true in 1917 Russia, in Weimar Germany and in the former Yugoslavia. Article

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/behind-mask-moderates/

Fatal flaw of the Giants Hedges and Chomsky: never will they criticize their followers. Only empty flattery.

Fatal flaw of the Giants Hedges and Chomsky: never will they criticize their followers. Only empty flattery.

***** Chris Hedges, the politics of Terror. ### I'm realizing this morning that things are probably decades more advanced than I had realized. For the poor and folks of color the cities are already mini police States. I just hadn't seen it that clearly. Chris Hedges today. The mega wealthy have been building their Elysiums for a long time.

http://m.truthdig.com/report/item/legalized_murder_and_the_politics_of_terror_20160710

***** Though I've long stated he's our greatest intellectual, Chris Hedges, I've also long been concerned that something wasn't right. He's no revolutionary, I think. He's just one more Champion for violence. Just one more Champion for inverting who is oppressed and who does the oppressing. Who imposes, and who does the imposing. The world he wants is not the world I want.

***** Though I've long stated he's our greatest intellectual, Chris Hedges, I've also long been concerned that something wasn't right. He's no revolutionary, I think. He's just one more Champion for violence. Just one more Champion for inverting who is oppressed and who does the oppressing. Who imposes, and who does the imposing. The world he wants is not the world I want.

### So, Hedges, you are down with violating the rights of others to peacefully Assemble? Just what kind of world is it that your proposed violence will give us? The answer is, just one different group imposing their will on others. Violence by whatever name is violence. I don't want your world. I'm so disappointed in you. Have you become what you hate? '' shutdown the Democratic National Convention.''

http://m.truthdig.com/report/item/shut_down_the_democratic_national_convention_20160605

............
... I admit to being conflicted on my comment above. But I stand by it. I think it is insane that the young people of this country don't come to Washington DC and so fill every street corner that the city ceases to function until it implements Marshall Plan level policy to stop global warming, for example. But to shut down, shut down, a meeting of fellow citizens, no matter how corrupt, no matter how revolting? How is this not inviting citizens that disagree with my policies to shutdown my peaceful meeting? I am opposed to the Democratic party just as I am opposed to the Nazi party. But if I violate their rights then I am violating my rights, and more importantly, I am violating the rights that I am bound to protect with my life for all species. Hate begets hate. Violence begets violence. There is only one set of rights, that which applies to us all. An attack on what is Right for any creature is an attack on what is Right for every one of us. Violence, violating the rights of others to get what one wants, that's the world we have. I don't want more of it.

Fb reply:  James, I think you are misinterpreting this. He is not calling for violence. These homeless and impoverished people were denied the right to peacefully assemble. That is a Constitutional right denied in the city where the Constitution was written! Nowhere does he promote violence. You interpret "shut down" as a violent expression. I disagree. If someone is murdering someone else, and you try to stop them, are you violating their rights??

James: Thank you for your thoughtful reply. Please be sure you have read what I just added to my comment immediately above this one. Not that it will persuade you differently. I don't write to persuade. I write to share what I am persuaded of. Yes, I am absolutely responding to the wording shut it down. The DNC is a citizen group. It is different than a governmental group in my view, Morally. It is different than a corporate group, morally. And the nature of the assembly, no matter how much I may detest it with every fiber of my being,, I do not have the right to shut it down nor does anyone else. To demonstrate against it? Absolutely. I would say there is a duty to demonstrate against it. Language matters. The headline is shut it down. Yes, I absolutely respond to that as should anyone.

Friend: Please see my comment below and also consider that lobbyists have a huge hand in putting the DNC together. It will be run by bankers and lobbyists. This is much more a corporate assembly than a citizens assembly. The whole "people side" of it is a sham, theater for the controlled masses. To stand in support of such a gathering is to support war lords and those who impoverish our inner cities. Just my opinion...

James: Which part of my wording, duty to protest, is unclear? Again, I hope you seriously consider what I've said. I have considered what you have shared. I think you are not seeing the distinction between violence and nonviolence. I think Hedges article provides an important opportunity to see that whatever one does one should accept in return. So, if you are fine with the state or fellow citizens shutting down your meetings then you should feel fine with Hedges language to shut down the DNC. Otherwise, not so much. And then there's the matter of incitement. Are you okay with the violence against the Trump demonstrators in California? I suspect not. Are you okay with language that would incite such violence? I suspect not. This is not a time for amateurish, thoughtless, self-indulgent, acting out, Behavior. No, I am not accusing you or Hedges of that. I am cautioning against it. I've shared what I have to share. Be well

James:  I think we have a shared what we have to share on this. Be well

Friend 2:  James, thank you for posting this article. I will be on the South side of city hall, as close to Honksla and Chris as possible. I AM NOT going to Philly to solely support brother Bernie Sanders, although I will participate in many activities "permitted" in FDR park. I do not want to get arrested the first day, but if I have to I will. I will go to Philly with peace in my heart, revolution in my soul and a very practical approach to what the FBI, Homeland Security and their patsies the Philadelphia police force have in mind for those of us that will be Heard and not Herded. I grew up in South Philly and coming home in more ways than one. I hope to see you there as I know your convictions are even deeper than mine.

James: I appreciate your thoughtful and constructive words. On those days I will be fighting, every breath, for an anti-violent, loving world, of that we can both be certain. Whether I will be in Philly or not depends on whether on those days I view the that is my best means of serving creation. Yes, Sanders is a wonderful human being, a godsend. My donation of virtually all of my meager savings this month to his campaign was not to him, but to the revolution he is trying to lead. He would be the first to agree, is the first to agree, that he is not the revolution. He is the spirit of the Revolution I believe, and those who embody that Spirit are also of the revolution. It is that spirit that my life is devoted to embody with my every breath in whatever Direction, in whatever form, I think can best serve creation.

The political, cultural and judicial system in a capitalist state is centered around the protection of property rights. And, as Adam Smith pointed out, when civil government “is instituted for the security of property, [it] is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all.” The capitalist system is gamed from the start.'' Chris Hedges. See article.....

http://m.truthdig.com/report/item/reform_or_revolution_20160522

***** Paul Tillich wrote that all institutions, including the church, are inherently demonic. Reinhold Niebuhr asserted that no institution could ever achieve the morality of the individual. Institutions, he warned, to extend their lives when confronted with collapse, will swiftly betray the stances that ostensibly define them. Only individual men and women have the strength to hold fast to virtue when faced with the threat of death. And decaying institutions, including the church, when consumed by fear, swiftly push those endowed with this moral courage and radicalism from their ranks, rendering themselves obsolete.'' Chris Hedges, the suicide of the liberal church

http://m.truthdig.com/report/item/the_suicide_of_the_liberal_church_20160124

***** Chris Hedges. Everything he writes, every week, is must read. The most important intellectual alive today. ''Revenge is the psychological engine of war. Victims are the blood currency. Their corpses are used to sanctify acts of indiscriminant murder. Those defined as the enemy and targeted for slaughter are rendered inhuman. They are not worthy of empathy or justice. Pity and grief are felt exclusively for our own. We vow to eradicate a dehumanized mass that embodies absolute evil. The maimed and dead in Brussels or Paris and the maimed and dead in Raqqa or Sirte perpetuate the same dark lusts. We all are Islamic State.''.......

***** Chris Hedges. Everything he writes, every week, is must read. The most important intellectual alive today. ''Revenge is the psychological engine of war. Victims are the blood currency. Their corpses are used to sanctify acts of indiscriminant murder. Those defined as the enemy and targeted for slaughter are rendered inhuman. They are not worthy of empathy or justice. Pity and grief are felt exclusively for our own. We vow to eradicate a dehumanized mass that embodies absolute evil. The maimed and dead in Brussels or Paris and the maimed and dead in Raqqa or Sirte perpetuate the same dark lusts. We all are Islamic State.''.......

http://m.truthdig.com/report/item/we_are_all_islamic_state_20160327

***** THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS. This is what I've been living. This is what I've been trying to say. F***ing lipservice liberals. F***ing lip service Christians.

http://m.truthdig.com/report/item/the_revenge_of_the_lower_classes_and_the_rise_of_american_fascism_20160302