Steve Bannon

Like Hitler, about a third of Germans had been born into Catholism in the 1930s. (Hitler himself had already found a different god by then.) As the Nazis came to power they recognized the Church as an enemy. They banned the Catholic-aligned Centre Party in 1933 and although the Reichskonkordat treaty with the Vatican that year guaranteed religious freedom for Catholics, the Nazis confiscated Church property and closed down Church schools and youth organisations and banned the Catholic press.

This is an extension of the growing trend to use private businesses and economic measures to eliminate freedom-of-speech in America. Shadow banning, withdrawal of advertising, and cancellation of Internet accounts is now joined by denial-of-services at the local level.

The European Union is under numerous existential threats.

It is everywhere. In a few years, it has metastasized like a cancer, on all continents. Its fervent proponents and ill-informed supporters call it populism or nationalism. In the Italy, Germany, or Spain of the 1930s, however, this ideology of exclusion and fear, defined by a hatred of the other, together with a tyrannical executive power, was called by its proper name: fascism. Mussolini in Italy, Hitler in Germany and Franco in Spain were the bloodthirsty tenors of capitalism’s symphony orchestra, singing the deadly opera quietly conducted by the military-industrial complex.

A troubling new era has begun in Brazil with the election on Sunday of the far-right Jair Bolsonaro as president, writes Pepe Escobar. By Pepe Escobar Special to Consortium News It’s darkness at the break of (tropical) high noon. Jean…Read more →

Looks like the Trumpist base isn't interested in Dr. Frankenstein any longer, now that his own monster has banished him. He released a delusional, manipulative video-- starring Corey Lewandowski, Hungarian Nazi, Sebastian Gorka and other #MAGAbomber types-- that has been largely ignored.

BRASILIA, BRAZIL — The rise to prominence of Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro has given many in Brazil and abroad cause for concern. Bolsonaro – once considered a “fringe” politician – has publicly proposed bringing back elements of the country’s former military dictatorship, which he has often promoted over his three-decades-long career in Brazil’s Congress.

As the 2018 U.S. midterm elections approach, there is still no evidence of ‘collusion’ between the campaign of President Donald J. Trump and the Russian government after nearly two years of inquiry. Thus far in the Department of Justice’s investigation led by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III, only a trail of corruption involving Trump associates has been discovered.

Via Zerohedge…

Stripped to its essence, the Brazilian presidential elections represent a direct clash between democracy and an early 21st Century neofascism, indeed between civilization and barbarism, writes Pepe Escobar. By Pepe Escobar in Paris Special to Consortium News Nothing less than…Read more →