I am 100% in favor of mocking the nazis and the stupid gear they wear to marches like we saw this weekend in #Berkeley and #Portland. But it's important to remember that costumes have been used by groups like the KKK to encourage people to minimize the very real threat they pose.
The reconstruction era KKK used costumes & stupid names like "Grand Wizard" intentionally, in the same way today's far-right extremists use "irony" to make their dangerous ideology seem like a big joke. While the KKK was murdering people, most of society saw them as pranksters.
Some historians also believe that costumes worn by the KKK served the function of making their violent acts seem almost like performance art — a spectacle to watch, rather than a political movement. The same could be said of today's far-right movement.
Staging political violence as a joke also gives power/control to those perpetrating the violence because it lets them define the narrative, & allows them to belittle their victims (or anyone else who takes them seriously) for not "getting the joke."
Similarly, by portraying their own violence as a joke, the KKK sought to frame any form of resistance as an overreaction — i.e., it wasn't just about making people see *them* as a joke, but also about making people see those who organized/fought back as irrational, gullible, etc.
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NEW: Rick Gates sought proposals from Psy-Group (the Israeli intel firm from the Aug 2016 Trump Tower meeting w/Don Jr, Erik Prince, etc) to create fake online identities & gather intel as part of a social media manipulation effort to swing voters to Trump nyti.ms/2E6xgmD
NYT reported in May that the intel firm (Psy-Group) proposed a multi-million $$ social media manipulation plan to help elect Trump.
Now, NYT reports that Rick Gates sought out the proposal to gather intel & create fake online/social media identities.
As expected: The White House is reportedly limiting the scope of the FBI’s investigation into Kavanaugh. The FBI will apparently not be given the authority to investigate the allegations brought forth by Julie Swetnick. nbcnews.com/politics/polit…
wow. The White House counsel's office has given the FBI a list of witnesses they are permitted to interview while investigating Kavanaugh.
The FBI will not be allowed to ask the supermarket where Mark Judge worked to provide records that could verify his time of employment, which was something Dr. Christine Blasey Ford specifically said could help delineate the time frame of the alleged sexual assault.
Describing the parties during which girls were targeted for gang rape, Julie Swetnick says she has a "firm recollection of seeing boys lined up outside rooms ... waiting for their 'turn' with a girl inside the room. These boys included Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh."
Amnesty International has taken the very rare step of calling to halt Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation process "unless and until" an adequate review of his human rights record is completed and all relevant documents released publicly.
Kavanaugh has denied playing any role in the Bush administration’s decision to use torture as an interrogation method, but Senate Democrats have challenged that assertion, citing two documents that suggest he was involved “in issues related to torture and rendition after 9/11.”
"We are aware of significant evidence of multiple house parties in the DC area during the early 1980s during which Brett Kavanaugh, Mark Judge, & others participate[d] in the targeting of women with alcohol/drugs in order to allow a 'train' of men to subsequently gang rape them."
The evidence described by @MichaelAvenatti - i.e., the targeting of women with alcohol/drugs - aligns very closely with Deborah Ramirez's account, as described by Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer, of being chosen repeatedly to drink during what was supposed to be a "drinking game".
Kavanaugh is a very hot topic among accounts linked to Russian influence operations.
Last night, an article about Ed Whelan's false claims aimed at "exonerating" Kavanaugh was the #1 URL & top trending URL (9,900% spike in shares) in the network tracked by @SecureDemocracy... 1/
The domain linked to the article about Ed Whelan's false claims was also the #1 domain and top trending domain shared by accounts linked to Russian influence operations last night... 2/
Kavanaugh is currently the #3 topic being discussed by accounts linked to Russian influence operations. And you can see how they're working both sides of the discussion: (#)ConfirmKavanaughNow is a top trending hashtag, while (#)WhyIDidntReport is a top hashtag overall... 3/