Call it whatever you like...

The words "fascism" and "fascist" were coined when Benito Mussolini rose to power in Italy, almost a century ago. Some people think fascism died when Il Duce was overthrown just before the end of WWII. "Progressives", however, want you to believe that fascism lives on in today's America.

Google's totally unbiased (LMAO) AI overview tells us: Fascism is a far-right political ideology characterized by authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and often militarism. It emphasizes the importance of the nation above individual rights and prioritizes a strong, centralized state controlled by a dictatorial leader or a small group. Key features include the suppression of dissent, [my emphasis] a focus on national unity and renewal, and the use of propaganda and symbols to cultivate a sense of national identity and purpose.

Here's another view.

Try speaking out against the liberal, woke, orthodoxy pushed by the intellectual elites and their lickspittle media and you'll soon find out who the real fascists are.

You don't believe me? Click here.

California pols: Ronald Reagan, Clint Eastwood, and now... Mel Gibson?

Think about American politics in the Age of Woke (now ending, we hope), and the California politicians who have risen to great heights... or sunk to great depths, take your pick. 

Walt tried, but can't help but remember Kamala Harris, who rose from her knees to prominence as the landslide loser in the recent unpleasantness. Hock Ptui is now leading the pack of would-be successors to Gavin Newsom, who rose from being a leader of the Johnny Carson band to the governorship of the Golden State. 

Mr Newsom isn't the first Hollywood showbiz type to go into politics to parlay his popularity into a nice job in a mayoral mansion or statehouse or even the Oval Office. Clint Eastwood became mayor of Carmel. In the same decade, a great American named Ronald Reagan went from being "best friend" in B-movies to the greatest Republican President until... well, you know the story.

Given that the Golden State has, under successive Democratic administrations, been turned into the Shithole State, many voters are thinking that maybe it's time to elect a Republican governor. Someone in the mold of Ronald Reagan, say. A new poll, reported last week in the California Globe, reveals that the most popular Republican candidate for California's highest office is... wait for it... none other than Mel Gibson!

A new Lost Coast Outpost poll places Mr Gibson, well known for his conservative (and traditional Catholic!) views, in third place in as responders' pick for the governorship, with 12% of the vote, and the top Republican candidate.

The leading candidate, according to the poll (a straight straw poll with no demographic data) is former Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-CA), swept aside in the Trump tsunami, chosen by 25% of responders.

The nation's pre-eminent Indo-Jamaican politician, who has led the last several polls with significant margins, fell to 20% in the new poll. She says now that she will decide in the summer whether or not to set herself up for another failure.

Mr Gibson has become a speculative candidate in recent weeks thanks to his opposition to both Governor Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass over their mismanagement of the Los Angeles fires in January. TMZ News reported on Tuseday that he is "flattered" to be considered and to have done so well in the poll, but (the outlet continued), "We're told Mel has never had any political ambitions -- and that isn’t changing now even if voters are digging his criticisms of current Democratic leadership on the state and local level."

So it's probably nothing, then? Walt thinks otherwise. Mr Gibson is known to have a large ego -- very large indeed -- which may be coupled with a Messianic complex. He has not been heard to say, "My kingdom is not of this world." Stay tuned.

President Reagan on Freedom

Triumphs of Biden's first 100 days: Canadians to snap up US shares; menthol cigarettes to be banned; and so much more!

Last night, before a joint session of Congress, the fraudulently elected President of the Paranoid States of America mounted a campaign-style attack on Ronald Reagan, whom he seems to think he beat last November. He also gave himself an hour-long pat on the back for all the big announcements he's made in the first 100 days of his presidensity.

Sleepy Joe bragged about plans to spend over a TRILLION dollars -- raised by mortgaging America's future -- to get the economy moving again, so Americans can all enjoy a cookout on July 4th.** Part of the money has been earmarked for the purchase of new printing presses, as the existing ones are already showing the strain of printing so many banknotes and cheques of diminishing value. 

Value is measured by the worth of the once-mighty greenback against other currencies. In November of 2020 it took 75 American cents to buy one lousy Canadian dollar. This morning, if you want a "loonie", it'll cost you nearly 82 cents in real money. You'll find out next time you go to Niagara Falls!

As surely as day follows night, more reckless government spending is followed by higher taxes. Mr Biden-Harris seems very happy to "tax the rich". Unfortunately raising capital gains tax will hit the small investor [like me with my 100 shares of Tesla. Ed.] just as much as the vile Koch Bros who helped get Sleepy Joe elected.

What Mr Biden-Harris apparently doesn't realize is that his proposed hikes to corporate and capital-gains taxes could compel family-owned US companies to sell their businesses, creating opportunities for foreigners -- especially those greedy Canucks -- to make cross-border acquisitions. 

Sleepy Joe's alleged plan would reverse President Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which slashed the top corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% . The Biden-Harris plan will raise the rate back up to 28%.

The levy on long-term capital gains will rise to 39.6%, up from the current 20%. The unintended (?) consequence will be family-owned enterprises cashing out before the Biden-Harris shit-hammer crashes down. Smart, eh?

But wait (as Vince Offer used to say), there's more! The Biden-Harris administration is set to alienate millions of Americans who voted for them -- voters of the coloured persuasion (aka BIPOCs) -- by banning the sale of menthol cigarettes!

The Food and Drug Administration says that 19.5 million Americans, most of them younger and, errr, darker, smoke menthol cigarettes.  Among black smokers, 85.8% smoke menthols, compared with 28.7% of smokers of paler complexion.

Right on cue, the SJWs -- the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice, etc etc -- warned that the move to ban menthol cigarettes "would disproportionately impact communities of color, result in criminalization of the market, and exacerbate mass incarceration," according to a letter sent this week to HHS Secretary and Chief Prosecutor of Nuns Xavier Becerra.

The ACLU and other groups claim the ban on menthol smokes has the potential to create "large underground, illegal markets.... In addition, underground cigarette sales would be a massive law enforcement problem for states, counties, and cities, since all states treat unlicensed sale of tobacco products as a crime – usually as a felony punishable by imprisonment."

The letter goes on to say that "in the end, tobacco policy will no longer be the responsibility of regulators regulating, but police policing." Do they mean that the police, who aren't allowed to arrest black rioters and looters, are going to feel the collars of POCs selling smokes on street corners? 

Oh yes, sez the ACLU. "'Our experience with alcohol, opioid, and cannabis prohibition teaches us that that is a policy disaster waiting to happen, with Black and other communities of color bearing the brunt." Well, at least no-one will be able to accuse Biden-Harris of being soft on crime!

Footnote: Even CNN's Anderson Cooper noticed that Mr Biden-Harris barely mentioned the little problem at America's southern border, and clearly has no clue about what to do about it. See "Axelrod: Biden 'Didn't Offer a Solution' for His 'Biggest Problem' at the U.S.-Mexico Border" (referencing remarks by David Axelrod, former advisor to the Prez), Breitbart News, 29/1/21.

**Another footnote: Please sit down while you look at this little graph, scraped from the Economist, and consider its implications for your future.

How to tell the Communists from the anti-Communists

Scraped from BlazingCatfur, 23/4/21.