fascism – Page 4 – Desdemona Despair

German language posts (top) and French language posts (bottom) containing antisemitic content, 1 January 2020 - 8 March 2021. German language posts are shown only for Telegram, because the numbers of antisemitic posts on Facebook and Twitter and were low and constant. In France, the huge increase in antisemitic posts during the pandemic occurred almost entirely on Twitter. Graphic: EU

January 27, 2022

World remembers Holocaust as antisemitism rises in pandemic – “The pandemic has acted like an accelerant”

By Vanessa Gera and Samuel Petrequin 27 January 2022 WARSAW, Poland (AP) – Survivors recalled their agony to a world they fear is forgetting, Israel’s parliamentary speaker wept in the German parliament and politicians warned of a resurgence of antisemitism on Thursday’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The day falls on the anniversary of the liberation […]

Florida Department of Health in Orange County director Dr. Raul Pino speaks during the press conference that Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings help on 13 April 2020 to discuss COVID-19 and County updates. On 19 January 2022, the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis put Dr. Pino on leave and threatened criminal prosecution for encouraging his staff to get vaccinated. Photo: Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda / Orlando Sentinel

January 19, 2022

DeSantis administration puts Florida health director on leave for encouraging vaccinations for his staff – “I have a hard time understanding how we can be in public health and not practice it”

By Frank Gluck 19 January 2022 (Fort Myers News-Press) – Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration, already facing criticism for downplaying the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccinations, has put on leave Orange County Health Director Dr. Raul Pino for encouraging his staff to get vaccinated. Pino had written in a 4 January 2022 email to his staff: “I […]

A plaque depicts Donald Trump as a “Hero of the Freedomsurrection”, part of an art installation in New York City’s Flatiron Plaza on 6 January 2022. The plaques were created by Trevor Noah and “The Daily Show” to commemorate the first anniversary of Trump's coup attempt and his co-conspirators in the insurrection. Trump’s plaque reads, “No hero played a bigger part in the Freedomsurrection than President Trump himself. Though too humble to willingly release documents detailing the full scope of his efforts to stop the tyrannical will of the people, we do know he fought tirelessly to install turnover-friendly allies in the Justice Department and directed officials to ‘just say the election was corrupt’ and ‘leave the rest to me.’ While his efforts were not enough to keep him in the White House, his bravery on January 6 will never be forgotten, unless Republicans retake Congress and disband the committees investigating it.” Photo: The Daily Show

January 6, 2022

Trevor Noah trolls Trump and conservatives with Capitol insurrection monuments – “Heroes of the Freedomsurrection honors eight of the patriots who tried to overthrow their country on January 6, 2021 – and failed miserably”

By Christi Carrasstaff 6 January 2022 (Los Angeles Times) – Trevor Noah and The Daily Show are commemorating the Jan. 6 insurrection in their own special way. On Thursday, the hit Comedy Central program erected a series of “monuments” holding former President Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Fox News pundit Tucker […]

Armed Trump coup supporters surround the home of Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on 5 December 2020, as part of an organized harassment and intimidation campaign planned by convicted felon Bernard Kerik and other Trump insurrectionists. Photo: Genevieve Peters / Facebook / CNN

January 5, 2022

Trump coup plan included harassment and intimidation campaign against election officials – “I’ll never forget the moment armed protestors gathered outside my home in the dark of night last December”

By Andrew Feinberg 4 January 2022 WASHINGTON, D.C. (The Independent) – Allies of former president Donald Trump planned a campaign of harassment and intimidation against election officials and “weak” Republicans that was to culminate in what would become the worst attack on the US Capitol since the Burning of Washington in 1814, according to new […]

An anti-vaccine protester, left, attacks Status Coup journalist Tina Desiree Berg at an anti-vaxxer protest in Los Angeles on 14 August 2021. During the protest, one man screamed, “unmask them all” and clawed at a woman’s face. KPCC reporter Frank Stoltze walked out of the park near City Hall at was screamed at by anti-mask protesters. One man could be seen kicking him. Stoltze later told a police officer he had been assaulted while trying to conduct an interview. Stoltze later tweeted this statement: “Something happened to me today that’s never happened in 30 yrs of reporting. In LA. I was shoved, kicked and my eyeglasses were ripped off of my face by a group of guys at a protest - outside City Hall during an anti-vax Recall @GavinNewsom/Pro Trump rally.” Photo: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times

December 31, 2021

Covid and the war on medical expertise

31 December 2021 (Desdemona Despair) – If you’ve been on the internet for a few years, you may have encountered a skirmish with climate denialists or evolution “skeptics”. Frequently, these threads start with a “concern troll” who questions some aspect of science and insinuates corruption or deception on the part of scientists. The accusations are […]

A supporter of Russia’s most prominent human rights organization, the International Memorial Society, holds a sign reading, “Hands off Memorial,” outside the Russian Supreme Court in Moscow on 28 December 2021. Russia’s Supreme Court ordered the liquidation of Memorial, in a decision that dismayed rights advocates. The ruling signaled the Kremlin’s determination to obliterate dissent, after a year in which authorities have jailed and harassed hundreds of opposition figures, activists, journalists and human rights lawyers, forcing dozens of them to flee the country. Photo: Yuri Kochetkov / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock

December 29, 2021

Russia Supreme Court abolishes country’s most prominent human rights group, the International Memorial Society – “Memorial began the human rights era in our country, and it ends it today”

By Robyn Dixon 28 December 2021 MOSCOW (The Washington Post) – Russia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the liquidation of the country’s most prominent human rights organization, the International Memorial Society, in a decision that dismayed rights advocates. Russia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the liquidation of the country’s most prominent human rights organization, the […]

Fox News entertainer Jesse Watters calls for the assassination of Dr. Anthony Fauci at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference on 20 December 2021. Watters encouraged his supporters to ‘ambush’ the infectious-disease expert with a ‘kill shot’. Fox News had no comment. Photo: Ron Filipkowski / Twitter

December 21, 2021

Fox News host Jesse Watters publicly calls for assassination of Dr. Anthony Fauci – Fox News says violent words “taken out of context”

By Allison Quinn and Justin Baragona 21 December 2021 (The Daily Beast) – Anthony Fauci has called for Fox News host Jesse Watters to be axed from the cable channel for encouraging his supporters to “ambush” the infectious-disease expert with a “kill shot.” [UPDATE 21 Dec 2021: Fox News has defended the violent language as […]

Missouri Governor Mike Parson answers media's questions on Tuesday, 13 July 2021, in Kansas City, Missouri. Parson, a Republican, is digging in on his belief that mask mandates don't work despite a health department analysis showing reduced COVID-19 infections and deaths in cities that require face coverings. The Republican governor on Thursday, 2 December 2021, ripped into a report on the analysis by The Missouri Independent. Photo: Shelly Yang / The Kansas City Star / AP

December 5, 2021

Missouri health department found mask mandates work, but Republican governor didn’t make findings public – “It’s devastating to see what the Missouri governor did”

By Rudi Keller, Derek Kravitz, and Smarth Gupta 1 December 2021 (Missouri Independent) – Mask mandates saved lives and prevented COVID-19 infections in Missouri’s biggest cities during the worst part of the delta variant wave, an analysis by the state Department of Health and Senior Services shows. But the analysis, conducted at the request of Gov. […]

Aerial view of deforestation in Labrea in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest in September 2021. Photo: Victor Moriyama / Amazônia em Chama / Greenpace Disclosure

November 20, 2021

Amazon deforestation soars to 15-year high – “This is not surprising. The result of pulling apart Brazil’s environmental policy is deforestation.”

By Manuela Andreoni 19 November 2021 RIO DE JANEIRO (The New York Times) – Brazil’s pledge this month to end illegal deforestation in eight years drew much praise from global leaders, but an official report this week cast doubt on that commitment after it showed that the rate of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest was at its […]

Map showing the 12 worst countries in the Global Impunity Index 2021. CPJ’s Global Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are murdered and their killers go free. Editor’s note: This map reflects that CPJ holds Russian authorities responsible for press freedom violations in Ukraine’s Crimea. Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea led to de facto control of its media sphere, with Russian authorities jailing independent journalists, closing down media outlets and forcing critical journalists to flee. Graphic: CPJ

November 7, 2021

CPJ’s Global Impunity Index 2021: Killers of journalists still get away with murder – No one held to account in 81 percent of journalist murders during the last 10 years

By Jennifer Dunham 28 October 2021 (CPJ) – Somalia remains the world’s worst country for unsolved killings of journalists, according to CPJ’s annual Global Impunity Index, which spotlights countries where members of the press are singled out for murder and the perpetrators go free. The index showed little change from a year earlier, with Syria, […]