Robert Graham

So you are saying that during the 14 years of the Nazi party, before Hitler seized power, he wasn't a fascist, because he wasn't a dictator yet?

That's what I mean. It's very close -- but it's still a different piece, not identical. It's close in style only. So where does this style come from?

I'm guessing there's an entire field of historians and artisans designing these things according to some documented historical standards/rules, which is why they look very close while not being identical.

I've been researching this. As it turns out, I was wrong. While the appliques/mouldings are very close to what you can buy on Temu, Home Depot, and Amazon, they aren't exact.

It's still just mass produced acrylic items that have either been painted with gold or had gold leaf applied (i.e. cheap).

Hitler was a fascist for 14 years before becoming a dictator. Yes, one form of dictatorship is fascism. Another form is communism. But a lot of people are communists who are not dictators.

They espoused fascism and acted on fascism before becoming dictators. Becoming a dictator was a gradual process, not an instant event.

Germany, Italy, and Spain. The politicians were fascist before seizing power and becoming dictators.

That's the point, pointing out the parallels now before Trump starts his third term in office and becomes a dictator.

Winning. This feels like we are winning.

I think some care more about the schadenfreude of celebrating their loss rather than celebrate our win.

That journalists have principles and uphold them is an important lesson for everyone. That journalists will protect cybercriminals as a source is something they should know. Likewise, it's important for journalists safety: they are after the story, not aiding law enforcement.

Well, no. Fascism was the path to dictatorship. Hitler and Mussolini were avowed fascists before seizing power.

That's the point. We can recognize them for what they are before they seize power, before the country falls.

I'm meandering. My point is that Nichols makes some strong points, maybe we should avoid the F-word. But at the same time, the parallels aren't as rare as he claims. We are falling into barbarism, and we need to point this out.

Instead, he threatens to withhold broadcast licenses or block mergers. He can abuse his power to do so. Sure, it's a High Crime or Misdemeanor, but his party can block any action by Congress against him.

People imagine that suppression of the press will come from laws. In practice, in regimes around the world, it's more subtle. They rarely arrest journalists.

Trump shows the way, how he's totally subverted CBS with non-criminal threats.

Sinclair Lewis's 1935 book, "It Can't Happen Here", describes how it could happen here. There are lots of parallels.

It's not all parallels, though. Some things don't match. The de facto suppression of the press, for example.

That's rarer. Very few countries have fall from prosperous enlightened democracies into barbarism.

The question we've been asking for 90 years is whether "it can happen here", whether our country can fall into barbarism.

For almost 100 years, we've been asking ourselves how a leading, enlightened, liberal democracy like Germany could fall into barbarism.

We aren't talking about totalitarian regimes forming in already backwards countries, but how a leading country went backwards.

Tom is probably right, we should probably just focus on authoritarianism or illiberalism.

Also, the audience is too dumb, they don't know anything more about "fascism" other than it's an insult.

But for the educated, there are important parallels.

I asked ChatGPT to create a graphic for it. It did a good job, getting the number of fingers correct.

Experts vs. WiFi privacy vs. VPNs Recently on the socials there was a discussion whether VPNs are needed to protect your privacy while on WiFi.

Some in cybersec were debating how much VPNs protect your privacy while on public WiFi hotspots. I wrote some technical notes.
cybersect.substack.com/p/experts-vs...

That's way funnier than my tweet.

I can see that you just want what's best for me, that you think I'll be happy in joining everybody else watching the show, almost a biological imperative to get me to join.

Why is everyone around me trying to get me to watch this show???

What, what, you are Famous Nate Cardozo??

Yes, OSI Model was based on IBM mainframes So very mainframey

Techies often learn the "OSI Model" to explain networking. It's false, it describes IBM mainframes of the 1970s and not the modern Internet. I have some comments here.
cybersect.substack.com/p/yes-osi-mo...

Louvre Jewel Heist and the NYTimes They only quote people who matter.

Some comments on the Louvre Heist relative to cybersecurity.
cybersect.substack.com/p/louvre-jew...

What the fuck do you mean I got a longer prison sentence than Diddy

Microsoft shoved their AI Copilot into everything in Windows 11. Which lead to an increase in Windows 10 use. So they announced they'd stop support for Windows 10, but its usage was still strong. So they started to put Copilot into Windows 10.

Windows 7 use is surging 5x now.

AI is product poison.

I rely upon @andylevy.net for inciteful baseball commentary.

(This tweet contains no spelling errors.)

She deserved a third Oscar for "Barbarella".

I had such a crush on her as a kid after seeing "Barbarella", her best work.