Subverting Fascism means Communicating Outside the Box

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When I was in Lisbon, I learned about the hair scratching and tugging that Portuguese women would do to communicate with others in public under the fascist regime of António de Oliveira Salazar. I thought of this again in seeing how the Trump regime in the United States is cracking down even more on free speech and on the media.

The “Estado Novo” (the name given to the Portuguese fascist regime) made women second class citizens. Fear ruled their daily lives as patriarchy was paramount. Men could do anything to women without worrying about the repercussions. But they found ways to subvert the oppressive system. And creative communication became a vital tool in this resistance.

The youngest generation understands this now. They have mastered a form of communicating that has confounded older people. Indeed, their use of mixed political symbols and phrases are baffling the agents of the current fascist order. And that is a good thing.

As the forces of fascism seek to consolidate their power and control over the media narrative and landscape, many will need to learn how to communicate differently. And understand this as not only a means of survival, but as a form of resistance.

It may be as simple as a hair tug or a carefully placed pin on a lapel, or it could be the way we post on social media or communicate in emails. It may mean creating an entirely new medium or platform outside the control of billionaires. But what we do could have enormous ramifications for the future under a regime intent on crushing any dissent or speech it deems unacceptable.

Kenn Orfanos, September 2025

The Banality of Evil is Seeing Genocide as a “Real Estate Bonanza”

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The depravity and sheer evil we are seeing on full display is truly staggering to behold. In their hollowed out souls, they actually see this genocide as a business opportunity. As “urban renewal.” As a “real estate bonanza.”

They want to normalize this. For us to forget what has happened. To forget the families burned alive in their tents. To forget the infants left in incubators to die alone. To forget the children starved to death. To forget the toddlers shot in the neck. To forget the thousands upon thousands of doctors, nurses, medics, journalists, bakers, students, farmers, poets, artists, musicians. To forget Refaat Alareer, Dina Zaurub, Hind Rajab.

In truth, every seaside condo they intend to build would be a sepulcher. Every mundane settlement would be a graveyard. Every park they fill with non-indigenous trees would be over a mass grave. They can demolish buildings, but the bones will remain, even if crushed into dust. Every particle of suffering will linger in the air. Every soul tied eternally to the land they came from.

They will not be forgotten. And we will not let them ever forget.

Kenn Orfanos, September 2025

Democrats Seek to Become Even More Unlikeable and Irrelevant

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So, this group, who look like a barrel of laughs at any well heeled dinner party, want the Democrats to become even more conservative than they already are. This, despite countless polls indicating Democrats lost votes for being too conservative, historic wins like socialism-friendly Zohran Mamdani, and that the base is far more left than the Democratic Party elite.

This “Democratic think tank” (an oxymoronic term I absolutely loathe) wants to throw LGBTQ people under the bus and stop talking about that pesky existential threat of looming climate catastrophe. I’m betting they aren’t too keen on Palestinian human rights either.

I mean, who needs human rights, an end to genocide and a livable biosphere when you have the corporatized version of Fleetwood Mac to make the party exciting again?

From left to right, Breston McWhiteywhite III, Hester Ravenwhite, Burley Whitewallace, Chester Thomas (nephew of the Supreme Court justice), and Karen von Whitenstein.

The excerpt below is from the piece in the New York Times on their nauseating attempt to get the Democrats to become more like Maga.

“As Democrats search for their way out of the political wilderness, a new think tank, introduced on Wednesday, has some ideas about where the party went wrong.

Among them: too much emphasis on issues like climate change and L.G.B.T.Q. rights, and far too much deference to the powerful liberal organizations championing those causes at the expense, some argue, of appealing to voters in battleground states.

The think tank, the Searchlight Institute, was started by Adam Jentleson, a veteran Democratic operative. He knows that his effort, intended to minimize the sway that left-leaning groups have over candidates before what is expected to be a crowded 2028 presidential primary, will infuriate almost everyone — activists, organizations and the party’s liberal base, which is urging Democrats to fight President Trump.”

Kenn Orfanos, September 2025

The End of Israel

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The United Nations just confirmed what every person of conscience has known since the beginning or at least for nearly two years. That Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. It is true that the gears of international law grind slowly. But in this case the gears were impeded at every step of the way, even as Israel continuously broadcast its crimes openly.

No crime against humanity in history has been this well photographed, recorded or documented as Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians. No crime against humanity has been as loudly announced as Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians. What’s most striking is that this is the first known genocide in history where the perpetrators have provided most of the evidence.

Despite Israel’s smear campaigns and ongoing massacre of journalists, it is they, themselves, who have told us what they’ve done, what they are doing, and what they plan to do next.

From IDF soldiers parading around in Palestinian women’s lingerie that they killed or expelled, shooting toddlers in the neck, or assassinating medics, or blowing up hospitals, universities and bakeries, to Israeli media and political leaders openly inciting or calling for genocide. And all of this has only been possible because of Western support, chiefly the support and assistance of the United States.

Only the most sycophantic and obtuse refuse to see what is in plain sight. Those who hollowed out their very souls in exchange for a racist narrative, support a profitable grift, or reinforce devotion to an apocalyptic death cult. And there is literally no hope for any of them.

What comes next should not come as a surprise to anyone. Israel has already begun its spin, denying the obvious and attempting to deflect through outright lies. The US, its colonial benefactor which is now lead by a fascist regime, is doing everything within its power to destroy any opposition or dissent. There are many meaningful and encouraging developments, but the machinery of American Empire is still the most lethal and the most powerful. It will ensure that Gaza is completely erased and its people either annihilated or forcibly displaced. The rest of Palestine will be absorbed into the Zionist state.

There are a few other things that are true as well. In its fever of genocidal mania, Israel has destroyed any normal future for itself. Indeed, this is the end of Israel. It is being blacklisted and shunned, whether publicly or quietly. It no longer enjoys the unassailable image it once had, as European nations begin to distance themselves, threaten boycotts of Eurovision, divest billions of dollars of investment, and make Israeli vacationers feel unwelcome. And despite the sycophancy of its leaders, it has lost the next generation in the West. Like its benefactor the United States, Israel is rapidly descending from its pedestal in the most ignominious manner. Neither of them will ever recover.

This is of small consolation to the Palestinians, who continue to suffer unimaginable cruelty and horror at the hands of the Zionist state. But it is simply a statement of fact. One that both nations will learn the hard way in years to come.

Kenn Orfanos, September 2025

Ezra Klein, Gavin Newsom, and the Death of American Liberalism

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We live in an age of absurdity when a fascist like Charlie Kirk is hailed as a champion of free speech and open debate. Free speech advocates don’t create databases of people they disagree so that they can be harassed, get death threats and have their career’s ruined. This is what Kirk’s Turning Point USA’s did to professors across the United States by creating the “Professor Watchlist.”

Kirk hated free speech, as evidenced by the watchlist and by his own rancid record of punching down on college students who objected to his rhetoric. His “debates” were merely opportunities for public mockery and the platforming of fascist ideas. And these professors, who generally taught the real history of the United States, represented an existential threat to his supremacist ideology.

He didn’t deserve to be shot, but the posthumous honorifics and performative mourning following his murder are beyond absurd. And it isn’t just Magaland that is responsible for that. Vacuous liberals like Ezra Klein have contributed to this kabuki theatre of wailing ninnies.

Klein is a particularly odious example. He penned a nauseating eulogy for the New York Times immediately following Kirk’s demise, claiming Kirk “did politics right.” Would this correct way of doing politics include the professor watchlist? Or paying for busses to the January 6th attempted coup? Klein’s intellectual rot is indicative of the nature of American liberalism, which usually plays handmaiden to fascism by pretending to be a foil while never obstructing its rise in meaningful or material ways.

Gavin Newsom is another problematic character in this regard. His gushing of grief for Kirk seems almost endless. Apparently, the two shared a warm moment on his show in their shared hatred of transgender athletes that Newsom still cherishes. And yet, we are told that he is the only viable opposition to Trumpian fascism. To many older, white liberals, Newsom charms with his use of memes to “own Trump.” It is a classic case of spectacle over substance.

If nothing else, Charlie Kirk’s death signals the death of American liberalism. An ideology that has always acted as a fortress to protect and save capitalism from itself. Presented as the only rational alternative to leftism, liberalism borrowed the left’s most palatable and inoffensive values and made them central to its ethos, all but ignoring the material concerns of the working class.

Championing equality and human rights ring hollow in a society where the working poor continue to see their status decline. And this is also how liberalism has provided cover for every brutal excess of American imperialism, from war, coups, up to and including the genocide of Palestinians by Israel, the empire’s most important colonial asset. Like so many Americans, white liberals are largely apathetic when it comes to foreign policy.

The result has inevitably been the rise of fascism. Like a ravenous vulture unobstructed from liberalism’s ashes, it ascends while liberals bask in self absorbed revelry, trample on the left for even modest demands, and pander to the very worst elements in society. What is tragically ironic is that figures like Klein and Newsom are busy throwing wood on its funeral pyre.

Kenn Orfanos, September 2025

Israel is Carrying Out its Final Solution as the World Watches

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Israel is ordering the Palestinians in the north of Gaza to take a death march to the south. A people who have been starved and viciously attacked continuously are now being forced to march through a killing zone of snipers, drones and airstrikes.

There are some credible estimates that put the death toll at a staggering 600,000. Gaza already holds the world’s record of child amputees. More journalists have been murdered there than in any conflict since World War II.

Western politicians have either been silent or have supported this genocide. They must never be forgiven for their complicity in this heinous annihilation of a people.

Kenn Orfanos, September 2025

Fascists Eat Their Own

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It appears that Charlie Kirk was murdered by a boy who didn’t believe Kirk was fascist enough. Taylor Robinson wasn’t radicalized by “Marxist, transgender Islamists.” He was a “Groyper,” which is a term used for adherents of the notorious white supremacist, Nick Fuentes.

None of this should come as a surprise. Fascists have a long history of treachery against each other. For example, Adolf Hitler ordered the assassination of Ernst Röhm and other leaders of the SA (Sturmabteilung).

At its core, fascism a death cult and its currency is violence. Its ideological framework is raw power through mockery, threat, sadism and murder. Kirk knew this better than anyone. He employed these tactics through his polished debate performances and incendiary tweets. But he underestimated the threat to his own life from the very lunatics he helped to influence.

Kenn Orfanos, September 2025

Jerry Seinfeld’s Pathetic Attempt to Stay Relevant

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Jerry Seinfeld, the washed up has-been who made a fortune from a vacuous sitcom that celebrated mediocrity, recently compared the Free Palestine movement to the KKK.

The Free Palestine movement includes Jews, Christians, Muslims and others. And it is against occupation, apartheid, colonialism and genocide.

The KKK is a 160 year old white supremacist terrorist organization that spreads racist, white supremacist hatred and encourages violence against Black, Brown, Latino and other minorities.

Seinfeld has used much of his underserved wealth supporting the genocidal state. He once took his kids to an IDF terror camp where he posed for photos like some drunk circus clown out of makeup. His moment has passed and he knows this. That is why he is floundering like a fish out of water, desperately trying to stay relevant in a world that can see right through his decaying grift as if it was glass.

Kenn Orfanos, September 2025

Liberals: Stop Tone Policing Normal Responses to the Death of a Terrible Person

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I was a hospice social worker for over 20 years, so I am quite familiar with death and human reactions to it. That said, I wanted to address some garbage pop psychology going around the internet the last couple days.

First, it is totally normal to feel relieved or to even feel glad when a terrible person dies. This does not mean you support the killing of that person. For example, I had a client whose father was incredibly abusive. He never made amends or apologized. In fact, he continued to be emotionally abusive. When he died, she went out to dinner with friends to celebrate. There was nothing wrong with her response to this. For her, it was cathartic.

Second, it is totally normal to feel joy about the demise of a horrible person. When the news of Hitler’s death reached people in concentration camps, they were jubilant. This was the man responsible for their enslavement and torture. He had murdered millions of people. So, celebrating the end of his reign of terror was to be expected. In fact, it would have been strange if people did not feel this.

Third, it is totally normal to laugh when an evil person dies. When Kissinger finally died, the internet exploded with humorous memes. This was because he was an evil man who was responsible for the deaths of countless people in the Global South and misery that lasts to this day. Laughing about the death of this odious person wasn’t pathological. It was an emotional release.

None of this means that a person approves of or is reveling in murder or violence because they feel this way. It simply means that they recognize that the person who is gone did horrible things to other human beings and now that they are gone, they will not be missed. And they are glad about it because their cruelty has ended.

So, enough with the shaming. Human emotions are complicated and messy. But tone policing them is not only annoying and counterproductive, it is often far more damaging in the long run.

Kenn Orfanos, September 2025

Ultimately, Iryna Zarutska was a victim of Capitalism

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Iryna Zarutska was a 23 year old Ukrainian refugee who had fled her home country after the Russian invasion. She emigrated to the United States, eventually settling in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she got a job at a pizza parlour. But Iryna had ambitions to become a veterinarian. Sadly, her dreams were cut short one night on a light rail train when she was fatally stabbed to death as she sat in her chair by a man with severe and untreated mental illness.

Train surveillance videos captured the entire, gruesome attack from before she sat down to after, when she had collapsed on the floor by her seat, bleeding out. After being stabbed, Iryna looked at her assailant bewildered and in despair. She held her hands to her face crying before losing consciousness from blood loss. None of the people around her came to her aid. It was a few good Samaritans from another car who eventually tried to help her. But it was too late.

Iryna’s story deserves to be told. Her life mattered. But there is another reason people need to know. The far right in the US is using Iryna’s tragic murder as a means to stoke racist hatred. They are also painting the unhoused and people who have mental health struggles as deranged and violent, when in reality only a minute percentage of these populations have aggressive tendencies. The Trump regime has been using it to justify more draconian crackdowns on the poor and unhoused. Even though statistics clearly show a decline in the crime rate in the US.

Progressives and those on the left should not ignore Iryna Zarutska. Her life deserves dignity. It is also imperative to address the conditions that led to her murder. The US, lacking in any kind of universal healthcare, has also steadily defunded mental health programs. And as rents soar, the population of unhoused people has soared with it.

Capitalist systems created these conditions. And its only solution to the inevitable problems that arise is carceral. To lock people up in for-profit prisons. In the end, this only creates more misery, especially for the working class who cannot afford expensive treatments or high end sanitoriums.

Capitalism has also created a culture of indifference. A social milieu where individuality is lauded as a virtue, and selflessness is seen as a weakness. Everything is transactional. Indeed, under the Trump regime, every naked cruelty that capitalism has to offer has been normalized and celebrated. And this is denuding working class communities of agency and solidarity.

Iryna’s life was cut short in a most brutal and heartless way. We should remember and honour her. But we should be reminded that she was ultimately a victim of capitalism. Of its neglect. Of its indifference. And we should not allow her legacy to be used by far right media and politicians to push for even more policies of brutality and heartlessness.

Kenn Orfanos, September 2025