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Prepare Yourselves for the Upcoming Purge [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-01-23
The seed of this article started with a simple criticism of President Muskrat.
x And so it begins. Sam Kuffel, a meteorologist for CBS58, has reportedly been fired for criticizing Elon Musk’s arm gesture on her personal social media account.
[image or embed] — Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Spare me the talk about contracts, legalese, and corporatese please. I’m sure they trussed up the firing and couched it in legal terms. But odds are Sam Kuffel lost her job because she posted something unfavorable about the Muskrat.
Think this is an isolated incident? If you are even tangentially associated with DEI (and they are trying to add an “A” for accessibility now) you just got purged from the government and most corporations are doing the same in their ranks.
x Trump has signed an executive order eliminating all funding for diversity and inclusion in the federal government, sending home DEI staff who will then be laid off. The historical echo for this is when Woodrow Wilson resegregated the federal government in 1913. We have reached the second nadir.
[image or embed] — Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 4:04 PM
And if you aren’t overtly purged by this, the snitch hotline has been set up! (an aside — it’d be a SHAME to send mailing lists, pr0n, and false reports behind a VPN to the snitch hotline)
x The thing that’s most striking about this is that they set up an e-mail account specifically for people to report on each other for any attempt to implement “DEIA or similar ideologies” and threatened “adverse consequences” for NOT reporting.
[image or embed] — Katie Mack (@astrokatie.com) January 22, 2025 at 5:44 PM
(This is the missing Bluesky embed above).
Let’s get those “woke” bastards!
Think as a health care leader, a scientist, or university researcher that you are immune? Try again!
x Sweeping restrictions at NIH have halted grant reviews, workshops, and hiring. Travel and communication bans block scientists from presenting work, recruiting for clinical trials, and publishing. Fear and uncertainty now threaten U.S. biomedical research progress. 🧪 www.science.org/content/arti...
[image or embed] — Dr. Joseph J. Thiebes (@thiebes.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 10:22 PM
If you’re working towards civil rights, expect to be next. Unless you fight for the rights of white people.
I think I’ve made my point. There is a storm brewing, and it echoes the McCarthyism of the 1950s and the Nazi oaths of the 1930s. If you aren’t a conservative cishet white male, get your resume ready. That is, if you can find a job willing to hire you in this shithole country.
It really doesn’t take more than a few people getting purged for the remaining people to fall in line either.
x We’re going to see this en masse, and it will provoke silent compliance from the survivors of the purges. Purge a few and the rest get in line quick
[image or embed] — Rachel Bitecofer (@rachelbitecofer.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 7:07 PM
If you weren’t alive during the 1950s (as I wasn’t), here is a quick blurb from Wikipedia (which the fascists are ALSO targeting).
The term has since taken on a broader meaning, describing the excesses of similar efforts to crack down on alleged "subversive" elements. In the early 21st century, the term is used more generally to describe reckless and unsubstantiated accusations of treason and far-left extremism, along with demagogic personal attacks on the character and patriotism of political adversaries. The primary targets for persecution were government employees, prominent figures in the entertainment industry, academics, left-wing politicians, and labor union activists. Suspicions were often given credence despite inconclusive and questionable evidence, and the level of threat posed by a person's real or supposed leftist associations and beliefs were often exaggerated. Many people suffered loss of employment and the destruction of their careers and livelihoods as a result of the crackdowns on suspected communists, and some were outright imprisoned. Most of these reprisals were initiated by trial verdicts that were later overturned,[8] laws that were later struck down as unconstitutional,[9] dismissals for reasons later declared illegal[10] or actionable,[11] and extra-judiciary procedures, such as informal blacklists by employers and public institutions, that would come into general disrepute, though by then many lives had been ruined. The most notable examples of McCarthyism include the investigations of alleged communists that were conducted by Senator McCarthy, and the hearings conducted by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).
This is what the fascists have been after since McCarthy was shamed by both Edward Murrow in 1954 and the infamous “Have you no sense of decency?” quip.
On March 9, 1954, See It Now aired another episode on the issue of McCarthyism, this one attacking Joseph McCarthy himself. Titled "A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy", it used footage of McCarthy speeches to portray him as dishonest, reckless, and abusive toward witnesses and prominent Americans. In his concluding comment, Murrow said: We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men.[46] This broadcast has been cited as a key episode in bringing about the end of McCarthyism.[151] In April 1954, McCarthy was also under attack in the Army–McCarthy hearings. These hearings were televised live on the new American Broadcasting Company network, allowing the public to view first-hand McCarthy's interrogation of individuals and his controversial tactics. In one exchange, McCarthy reminded the attorney for the Army, Joseph Welch, that he had an employee in his law firm who had belonged to an organization that had been accused of Communist sympathies. In an exchange that reflected the increasingly negative public opinion of McCarthy, Welch rebuked the senator: "Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"[152]
Problem is, I don’t see any Edward Murrow remaining in the media. Instead, you have this happening instead. The Edward Murrows of the world risk getting blacklisted and doxxed and receiving death threats these days.
x Scoop: On Sunday, CNN chief Mark Thompson convened his top anchors for a meeting about inauguration coverage in which he signaled he did not wish to see them focus on Trump's record as a convicted felon or the fact he was twice-impeached. Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/mark-thomp...
[image or embed] — Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy.bsky.social) January 21, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Even posting on this site is a risk (one that I am willing to take). Yes, you may feel that this site is small potatoes but all it takes is one doxxing or hack or connection to your social media feeds and you could be on the blacklist too for “supporting DEI”, “being woke”, or (in the immortal words early on in this site’s history) a “socialist fuckstick”.
Oh, but there will be some in the replies that claim “it can’t happen here (again). There’s no way the American people will stand for it!” Look around, dudes and dudettes. It was already happening in red states to teachers. Look up Christopher Rufo and “Don’t Say Gay” in Florida. That’s only the tip of the iceberg too. Now, it will be on a national scale.
More people in the replies will say “they don’t have the manpower to go after everyone”. They are probably right — except for the fact that with the FBI being headed by the modern-day J. Edgar Hoover (Kash Patel) they’ll find a way. They have tools at their disposal that Hoover could only dream of. Smart devices like Alexa, the internet of things, people posting on social media out in the virtual town square… they have lots of means at their disposal to spy on those who are dissidents. And don’t think for a second they won’t do it illegally either.
So what do we do? First off — DO NOT OBEY IN ADVANCE. The fascists are counting on that happening and most people will take the path of least resistance and do exactly that.
Second, listen to elders on this site that have lived through or have knowledge of the Civil Rights movement and the McCarthy scare in the 1950s. Denise Oliver Velez. rugbymom. Meteor Blades. They are survivors of previous bad shit and will have invaluable tips and tricks to both cause good trouble and to survive the next four years.
Third, know your risk tolerance. There are degrees of resistance and it is imperative that you do what you feel comfortable doing. Just watch out for the biggest agitators in any group trying to get you to escalate. Chances are they are a fed.
Here’s a good place to start. I don’t agree with all of them necessarily but many of these are invaluable.
x The bad news is that the world is unpredictable and uncontrollable. The good news is that we are not helpless, and we shouldn’t feel hopeless. We can save ourselves and one another. Here’s how.
[image or embed] — Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 10:21 AM
It’s going to be a long 4+ years. As someone trying to become a teacher again, I face the distinct possibility of being purged or blacklisted myself. It is both sad and alarming that this country once again revealed the worst about itself and that we have to go through shit like this once more.
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