TACTICS OF FASCISTS! Meet The UCLA Zionist Street Thugs LA Police Permitted To Attack Students
All fascist regimes have a dirty menu of tactics used to seize and consolidate power and all are being employed now to intimidate and subjugate the American people. See three examples below.
One of the stick and pipe-wielding fascist thugs who attacked members of the peaceful protest encampment opposing the US/Israeli genocide in Gaza on the UCLA campus. The police stood by for four hours as these modern-day Brown Shirts rampaged.
Editor’s Note: Yesterday’s DeMOCKracy.ink Substack featured the independent documentary The Man Who Knew Too Much as a good example of how the corporate state attacks and undermines reform and protest movements. I said I’d have two examples in today’s column. Then a third example featuring Elon Musk popped up and is included here.
What these demonstrate are common tactics used by all fascist states to stifle dissent and consolidate power, including — like Hitler’s Nazis — use of Brown Shirt street gangs and thugs, corrupted law enforcement ordered to stand by and permit violence, pressuring the media to spout the government fascist line while suppressing free speech and, finally, individual wealthy oligarchs using their money and influence to harass, smear and destroy opposition. All these and more were used in 1930s Germany and are being used now by both political parties to undermine what remnants of free speech, thought and assembly we have in the Tattered States of America.
For an earlier post on this issue see: CARTOON: Hitler Is Giddy About His New Buddies!!!!
— Mark Taylor
By Wyatt Reed
The Grayzone (5/13/24)
The Grayzone has obtained a dossier detailing the identities of the Zionist hooligans who assaulted UCLA anti-genocide student protesters. It was sent to LA police, but no arrests have been made. And the cops still can’t explain why they disappeared for hours during the mob attack.
On April 30, thirty people were injured when a mob of Zionist hooligans savagely assaulted the pro-Palestine UCLA encampment shortly before midnight. For over three hours, local and campus police stood down as the masked thugs assaulted students, journalists, and even officers of the law with fireworks volleys, pepper spray, and metal pipes. Though multiple attackers have been identified by community members on social media, to date there have been no arrests of pro-Israel goons.
The Grayzone has obtained a dossier composed by anonymous sleuths claiming involvement with the UCLA student protests which apparently identifies some of the attack’s perpetrators. The students emailed the document to the UCLA administration and police (UCPD), as well as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. It contains detailed information about the identities of those who were filmed carrying out wanton violence.
Zero arrests
Los Angeles-area police have arrested droves of students protesting Israel’s US-backed genocide in Gaza, accusing over 40 students and journalists of “conspiracy to commit burglary” for attempting a sit-in on school grounds. Yet local authorities have made a grand total of zero arrests in the coordinated Zionist mob assault against UCLA anti-genocide protesters on April 30.
[Since this article was written it was announced on 5/24 one counter-protester has been arrested for assault with a wooden pole. Hundreds were involved in the UCLA attack, funded in part by comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s wife, Jessica. — MT]
The LA Times has reported that local law enforcement is relying on sophisticated facial recognition technology to hunt down the attackers. But as the UCLA sleuths’ dossier makes clear, many assailants have already been identified by matching their identities with social media profiles.
The UCPD and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department did not respond to questions from The Grayzone about whether the persons identified in the dossier were under investigation, or had been taken into custody.
Alleged attackers listed in the email include:
Liel Asherian. Asherian, who uploaded videos directly from the scene of the attack to Facebook, was reportedly seen assaulting pro-Palestine demonstrators with a tennis racket. In an interview with the New York Times, Asherian claimed without offering a shred of evidence that he was called a “dirty Jew” and doused in pepper spray. “That made me start breaking down their barricades,” he stated.
Nouri Mehdizadeh. Footage from before and after the attacks show Medizadeh was a constant presence on the periphery of the protest encampment. According to the email from student activists, Mehdizadeh “was involved in planning violence continuously” and UCLA officials were likewise “warned about him continuously.” The email’s author suggested Mehdizadeh’s actions would constitute hate crimes, given that he “referenced a desire to attack those who were not his “Jewish brothers.” A photo of Mehdizadeh taken shortly before the violence erupted indicates he had foreknowledge of the assault and may have helped organize the attack.
Nourish Mehdizadeh displays a threat on his phone to student activists in the run-up to the attack: “ENJOY TONIGHT!”
Later that evening, a masked Mehdizadeh was recorded attempting to destroy barricades while a compatriot with a speaker blasted “Mani Mantera,” a Hebrew-language children’s song that Israeli soldiers have played while torturing and/or taunting captive Palestinians on camera. Despite getting caught red-handed by several security officers — and despite nearly getting into a fistfight with another guard in a separate incident — Mehdizadeh was allowed to remain in the area.
Tom Bibiyan. Footage uploaded to social media by Bibiyan himself reveals he personally participated in the April 30 attacks. A day after the assault, Bibiyan published a video on Instagram highlighting his involvement, alongside a caption boasting that “we rushed the terrorist encampment.” When another Instagram user asked Bibiyan to clarify his role in the violence, he bragged, “yeah I’m in this video” – apparently confident that he would face no legal repercussions for his crimes. Bibiyan reportedly spent several years participating in questionable cryptocurrency schemes while part of the Los Angeles NFT community, before being exiled from such groups following accusations of indecent exposure and sexual harassment. A website representing the Bibiyan Family Philanthropic Foundation indicates the family regularly donated to not only vehemently Zionist groups like the zealous and insular Chabad ultra-Orthodox cult, but also to liberal news outlets like Democracy Now. …
Read the rest, view X posts and videos
Meanwhile, at Columbia University, two former Israeli army soldiers who attacked students with toxic chemical “skunk” fluid this January, sending at least 10 anti-genocide protesters to the emergency room, have not been expelled from campus, nor have they been arrested. “There are no arrests, and the investigation is ongoing,” an NYPD spokesperson told HuffPost.
GOVT. CENSORSHIP! Biden Admin Working With Social Media Companies To Limit Pro-Palestinian Content
“My attorneys said that after their meeting with Meta that it was clear that the U.S. government asked them to shut my account down,” King told me. “Meta told my attorneys that it was ‘bigger than Meta.’”
(Editor’s Note: Wait, wait, unlike in Russia, we have free speech, open debate and free flow of information and ideas necessary to a vibrant democracy, right? They wouldn’t lie to me, right? Oops, my mistake. For more on how western governments censor and manipulate their populations into war and compliance see the post from yesterday on the documentary “The Man Who Knew Too Much”. — Mark Taylor)
By Ken Klippenstein
Ken Kippensteinf Substack (5/24/24)
The Biden administration has publicly admitted that it is working with tech companies to “limit Hamas's use of online platforms, including social media,” part of a campaign to suppress pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel sentiment. Though there has been much speculation that the federal government is pressuring social media companies to police their networks, this is the first official confirmation of its counterterrorism efforts.
A little-noticed readout for a May 15 Hague meeting between the State Department’s Coordinator for Counterterrorism Elizabeth Richard and other governments said that Richard “updated the group on U.S. efforts to engage tech companies in voluntary collaboration to limit Hamas’ use of online platforms, including social media, for terrorist purposes.” The readout also notes that another similar meeting took place on December 13, in which the U.S. coordinated with partner governments to “target Hamas’ online propaganda.”
Platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Facebook have long banned terrorist organizations like Hamas. Now, however, the federal government is pressuring companies to ban “Hamas-linked” accounts and those of pro-Palestinian Americans.
Hamas is a formally designated terrorist organization, so it makes sense that counterterror officials like Richard would target their communications broadly speaking. But with overwhelming evidence that Americans are getting banned from social media for posts regarding the Israel-Hamas war, the U.S. government needs to make clear what the exact nature of its coordination with social media companies is on this subject and how Americans’ speech is being protected. (The State Department and the National Security Council did not immediately respond to requests for comment.)
Government sets the list
Virtually every major social media platform has banned Hamas from their platforms. But some like Meta, parent company to apps like Instagram and Facebook, went a step further, banning “Hamas-linked” accounts and even ones without any link to Hamas for alleged “praise” of “dangerous organizations” — a category the company relies heavily on the U.S. government’s list of terrorist organization to define.
That’s exactly what happened to Shaun King, a prominent activist and former surrogate for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. In December, Meta informed King that his Instagram account with five million plus followers had been permanently suspended for “praise” of one of Meta’s designated dangerous organizations.
“The account was disabled due to multiple instances of praise for designated entities in violation of our policies,” a Meta spokesperson said in an email to King.
King told me that the ban came in response to a letter he had posted to his Instagram that December. In it, King praised the Houthi rebels in Yemen for blocking commerce heading toward Israel in the Red Sea, calling it “one of the most peaceful options to stop this genocide available to you” and thanking them for “trying to end the murder of over 25,000 Palestinians.”
When prompted about their terrorist designation in January of 2021, King pointed out (correctly) that at the time of his Instagram post, the Biden administration had de-listed them from the State Department list of terrorist organizations.
“We do not allow individuals or organizations,” a posting on Meta’s website about its dangerous organizations policy says, “designated by the United States government as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (or FTOs) or Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs), to have a presence on the platform.”
Above their pay grade
King told me that the U.S. government had a direct role in his being banned. A Kafkaesque back-and-forth between King’s lawyers and Meta ensued, in which they pointed to the fact that the Houthis were no longer on the terror list, but to no avail. This culminated in a meeting with his attorneys, King says, in which Meta hinted that the matter was above their pay grade.
“My attorneys said that after their meeting with Meta that it was clear that the U.S. government asked them to shut my account down,” King told me. “Meta told my attorneys that it was ‘bigger than Meta.’”
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment. …
NOTE: If you work for a social media company any have any information about the U.S. government’s influence on content related to the Israel-Hamas war, text me securely via Signal at (202)510-1268.
NOTE: Journalist Ken Klippenstein recently left The Intercept to go independent. Follow and consider supporting his work. — MT
'Sad Day For Free Speech': Media Matters Layoffs Follow 'Thermonuclear' Lawsuit By Elon Musk
"This is why right-wing billionaires sue people reporting on them. They know they can't win these lawsuits. But they also know legal fees will cripple the little guy reporting on their lies and crimes. This is how free speech is actually chilled—vengeful dipshit billionaires."
By Jon Queally
Common Dreams (5/24/24)
Just months after mega-billionaire Elon Musk launched what he termed a "thermonuclear lawsuit" against Media Matters for America, the nonprofit media watchdog outfit announced a round of punishing layoffs Thursday which it in part attributed to the financial strain imposed by the legal battle it now faces.
What triggered Musk's initial outrage in November was MMFA reporting about "pro-Nazi content" on the social media platform X, owned by Musk, appearing alongside ads by prominent corporations in the content stream shown to users.
In his post threatening the lawsuit, which was later filed in Texas, Musk vowed to target "Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company." Noting the scope of his retribution, Musk then added: "Their board, their donors, their network of dark money, all of them…" would be included in the suit's scope.
In the organization's Thursday announcement of layoffs, Media Matters' president Angelo Carusone said: "We're confronting a legal assault on multiple fronts and given how rapidly the media landscape is shifting, we need to be extremely intentional about how we allocate resources in order to stay effective. Nobody does what Media Matters does."
Due to the pressures, Carusone explained, the group was "taking this action now to ensure that we are sustainable, sturdy and successful for whatever lies ahead." More than a dozen staffers, including researchers and digital producers, were among those terminated.
"Many of my best colleagues at Media Matters lost their jobs today," Ari Drennen, the LGBTQ program director for Media Matters, said Thursday on X alongside individual posts from many of those laid off. "However you feel about our work, it should worry you that any billionaire could do this to any outlet at any time for any reason. It's a sad day for free speech."
Media Matters for America (MMFA) is a 501(c)3 registered nonprofit—which describes itself as a "progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media"—founded in 2004 at the height of the George W. Bush administration.
Ever since it has targeted the right-wing media echo chamber, including Fox News and other prominent cable, newspaper, and radio broadcasters who coordinate the messaging of pro-corporate and reactionary forces within the Republican Party and beyond.
Terrified billionaires
In a post on X shared Thursday afternoon, laid-off Media Matters journalist Kat Abughazaleh lamented the firing of her talented colleagues (and encouraged outlets that are hiring to consider them) as she also directed her ire at Musk for his possible role in the downsizing decision.
"There's a reason far-right billionaires attack Media Matters with armies of lawyers," said Abughazaleh. "They know how effective our work is, and it terrifies them (him)," with the parenthetical a seeming reference to Musk.
Responding to her message on the social media platform now owned by Musk, media executive Ben Collins, current CEO of the satirical website The Onion, doubled-down on the charge against the Tesla founder and on-again-off-again world's richest man.
"Fuck Elon Musk," Collins said.
"This is why right-wing billionaires sue people reporting on them," continued Collins, who previously worked as a reporter for NBC News covering, among other thing, right-wing disinformation. "They know they can't win these lawsuits. But they also know legal fees will cripple the little guy reporting on their lies and crimes. This is how free speech is actually chilled—vengeful dipshit billionaires." …
In 2007, in one of the most famous cases of its kind, the Gawker media group—which controlled a number of online outlets—was sued by professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, a lawsuit later discovered to be bankrolled by right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel due to a preexisting grudge he had against the site's reporting, which ultimately led to its bankruptcy.
The paralleling of situations and behaviors between the rise of the Third Reich and 2024 USA has swept me through stages of emotion. At first I was in denial, then deeply troubled by the unfolding of Fascism in our time, then scared and now … now … I’m scientifically fascinated by all this. Fascinated with the psychology of it all. By the pathology. The collective behavior. The collective trance. But something more … the repeating of history but with different clothing and different protagonists. Yet, the mirroring of it all. Maybe the quantum physics …. . There is something greater here than meets the eye.
So much useful information! I'm still disgusted by how the LAPD permitted these thugs to hurt the protesting students. If there is any justice in the world, both the thugs and the cops will rot in jail.