Writing my next script I am researching the Nazi takeover of Germany. The similarities with present day USA are striking.

Hitler formed a paramilitary force that used violence to intimidate the public. Trump has formed ICE which does the same.

Hitler used selective justice and pardoned his violent SA Stormtroopers. Trump pardoned his violent Jan 6 supporters.

Hitler used his majority to ensure he could rule by decree. Trump uses his majority to rule by executive order.

And the list goes on.

I have two opinions I want to post today:

1. You should install Signal on your phone and computer. Connect with your friends and partners on it. Use it casually, regularly, for non-sensitive messages. You'll probably never *need* an encrypted messenger, but if you someday hit a rare case where it's useful? Better it's already set up *before* you need it. Signal still requires a phone# for signup but you can use a username to message.

(This is Mastodon, so you're likely far ahead of me on this)

Trump and his cult, including many Republican office-holders, have been egging on political violence -- aimed at the left -- for years. They are NOT opposed to political violence.

Our "mainstream" journalists seem mostly unwilling to provide that context in their coverage at the moment.

One of the biggest cultural issues we have is that no major media or journalistic institutions have been reinforcing norms of what things *should* look like. That corruption isn’t normal, that cronyism isn’t normal, that lies and scandals should be punished, that incompetence is disqualifying.

They’ve simply stopped pointing out that there are any standards at are, or that there used to be a bar of any sort. And now an entire generation doesn’t know this concept at all.