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Mark R. Stoneman

Historian, editor, and translator for hire (German to English). Longtime resident of Washington, DC, now in Conway, NH, as a caregiver (he/him).

  Authoritarianism

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    Cover of latest Stern magazine shows Trump and Putin bowing to each other over the corps of Ukraine. German text is discussed in main post.

    The title of this cover from a prominent German news weekly borrows from a famous Ronald Reagan quote: “Axis of Evil” (Die Achse der Bösen). Only this time a Republican president is casting the United States on the side of evil. The remaining text points to the “danger of war in Europe” and asks “what Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine means for us."1 The cover also mentions a statement by Joschka Fischer in an interview: “Germany needs conscription again."2

    POSTSCRIPT: See comments for connection to 1939

    1. “Us” could refer to Germany, given the magazine, but note the European flag that the two bowing men are standing on—with the corpse of Ukraine laid out face down between them. If the corpse is hyperbole, the betrayal and its geopolitical consequences are very real, ↩︎

    2. Fischer was a politician in the Greens who served as Germany’s popular foreign minister and vice chancellor from 1998 to 2005. ↩︎

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    Apropos of Russia’s meat assaults, which throw their soldiers' lives callously away:

    In the town of Polyarnye Zori in Russia’s Murmansk region, members of the country’s ruling United Russia party marked International Women’s Day by giving flowers and meat grinders to the mothers of soldiers killed in the war against Ukraine.

    Story via Meduza: “United Russia party gifts meat grinders to dead soldiers’ mothers,” meduza.io/en….

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    Does Felonious Husk even think about the probable consequences of his reliance on self-dealt government contracts come the midterm elections? Do his investors and boards? Add to that the destruction of his cars' reputation, and he is poised to fail hard.

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    As our government ramps up its war on its own people, not to mention the free world, I am finding it really difficult to focus.😱

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    If we as U.S. citizens find the resolve to oppose Orange Oaf’s foreign policy, especially with regard to Ukraine and Russia, we will help not only Ukraine against tyrants but ourselves as well. This is a transnational, existential fight for freedom and human rights. 🇺🇦🗽

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    'When you're famous, they let you . . .'

    “When you’re famous, they let you grab ‘em by the pussy,” bragged a choad from Queens. But in 2020–21 we didn’t let him. He lost the election and his coup too.

    Now the butthurt swine is fucking the entire country. He’s letting Musk and Putin have a go too.

    “When you’re famous, they let you do it. If they don’t, you must do it anyway. You must say it’s all their fault because they didn’t negotiate, I mean, submit.”

    “Now stop complaining, Republican senators. Say Daddy’s name like you mean it! You, too, Ukraine. You know you want it!”

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    The federal government is now using force to suppress knowledge of the history of violence against Black people. Remembering the past is too painful for these weak tyrants, so they tyrannize the brave who would teach or learn it.

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    🎙️ On one of my long drives last week, I heard Timothy Snyder talk about freedom in a helpful way in the “Explaining Ukraine” podcast. Far from being an absence of various restrictions, it is a thing we actively cultivate in our own everyday life practices. “Why is freedom not a given but a task?"

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    Let the great eugenicist experiment begin! RFK Jr.’s terrifying Senate confirmation puts the U.S. withdrawal from the WHO in a foul new light. Ditto Felonious Husk’s freezing of USAID funds.

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    It must be rough to have many billions but to not know love, friendship, or respect.

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    Translations from MAGA to English:

    • merit – good-for-nothing
    • meritocracy – mediocracy
    • patriot – sucker
    • taxpayer – sucker
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    I don’t know how the Republican party comes back from their fascism, however long the affair lasts, without some thorough housecleaning and a major rebrand.

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    What’s the U.S. version of “banana republic”? “Orange republic”?

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    Thick book: A Companion to Women's Military History, ed. Barton C. Hacker and Margaret Vining
    This is not a book I would have considered controversial even two weeks ago. Now I'm not so sure. Imagine having it on your desk in the Pentagon when the gender police come in. Women as part of military history despite Orange Oaf's decrees!

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    The fighting spirit and actions announced here are a breath of fresh air: “Congressional Democrats on Trump Admin. Closing USAID HQ”.

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    Shit is Getting Conspiratorially Dark

    “Senior U.S. Official to Exit After Rift With Musk Allies Over Payment System” (Wasington Post) https://archive.ph/omS67

    Typically only a small number of career officials control Treasury’s payment systems. Run by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, the sensitive systems control the flow of more than $6 trillion annually to households, businesses and more nationwide.… The clash reflects an intensifying battle between Musk and the federal bureaucracy as the Trump administration nears the conclusion of its second week. Musk has sought to exert sweeping control over the inner workings of the U.S. government, installing longtime surrogates at several agencies…

    This Musk business is getting increasingly dark. Democrats and Republicans should fight this, except there aren’t any Republicans in government anymore.

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    “Air Force says recruits will again learn about Tuskegee Airmen” by Sig Christenson, San Antonio Express-News, January 26, 2025.

    The head of the service’s San Antonio-based training command said a video about the famed Black aviators would remain in the Air Force basic training curriculum. The course had been shut down in response to President Trump’s DEI ban.

    Apparently overly zealous interpretations of executive orders can be turned back in some cases. It’s a small win for military training and tradition building, but it also suggests that military professionals can get through, at least on something like this. Trump’s pardon of war criminals in his first term tell a different story, however.

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    Finished reading Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present (Norton, 2020). Highly recommended. Good antidote to feelings of confusion and helplessness in these troubled times.📚

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    Valuing loyalty over expertise and allowing violence to become an end in itself can result in a deprofessionalized and demoralized military, especially if misguided wars end in defeat.

    – Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Strongmen (Norton, 2020), concl.

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    “Heeding Trump, Air Force won’t teach recruits about Tuskegee Airmen” by Sig Christenson, San Antonio Express News, January 24, 2025, expressnews.com….

    A video describing the exploits of the groundbreaking African American airmen, who flew combat sorties during World War II, has been removed from the instructional curriculum for new recruits at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, the hub of Air Force basic training.

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    Sherrilyn Ifill, “It Is MLK Day. Do Not Despair. This Year Especially, We Have Work To Do.” sherrilyn.substack.com…

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