News bits: Fascism?; Mandatory defense against the dark arts education!; DJT's open attack on justice

From Morning Joe: 

It's time fascism is called fascism and Americans 

know exactly what they're voting for

One commentator commentated: State and Federal judges must begin treating Trump like common Americans or start treating common Americans like Trump

The NYT article not paywalled off -- discussed in the video:

Trump’s Dire Words Raise New Fears About His Authoritarian Bent

The former president is focusing his most vicious attacks on domestic political opponents, setting off fresh worries among autocracy experts

Donald J. Trump rose to power with political campaigns that largely attacked external targets, including immigration from predominantly Muslim countries and from south of the United States-Mexico border.

But now, in his third presidential bid, some of his most vicious and debasing attacks have been leveled at domestic opponents.

During a Veterans Day speech, Mr. Trump used language that echoed authoritarian leaders who rose to power in Germany and Italy in the 1930s, degrading his political adversaries as “vermin” who needed to be “rooted out.”

“The threat from outside forces,” Mr. Trump said, “is far less sinister, dangerous and grave than the threat from within.”

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California law now requires K-12 teaching of defense against the dark arts in public schools: 

Pushing back against the surge of misinformation online, California will now require all K-12 students to learn media literacy skills — such as recognizing fake news and thinking critically about what they encounter on the internet.

Gov. Gavin Newsom last month signed Assembly Bill 873, which requires the state to add media literacy to curriculum frameworks for English language arts, science, math and history-social studies, rolling out gradually beginning next year. Instead of a stand-alone class, the topic will be woven into existing classes and lessons throughout the school year.

“I’ve seen the impact that misinformation has had in the real world — how it affects the way people vote, whether they accept the outcomes of elections, try to overthrow our democracy,” said the bill’s sponsor, Assemblymember Marc Berman, a Democrat from Menlo Park. “This is about making sure our young people have the skills they need to navigate this landscape.”

The new law comes amid rising public distrust in the media, especially among young people. A 2022 Pew Research Center survey found that adults under age 30 are nearly as likely to believe information on social media as they are from national news outlets. Overall, only 7% of adults have “a great deal” of trust in the media, according to a Gallup poll conducted last year.  

“The increase in Holocaust denial, climate change denial, conspiracy theories getting a foothold, and now AI … all this shows how important media literacy is for our democracy right now,” said Jennifer Ormsby, library services manager for the Los Angeles County Office of Education. “The 2016 election was a real eye-opener for everyone on the potential harms and dangers of fake news.”

“Media literacy is a basic part of being literate. If we’re just teaching kids how to read, and not think critically about what they’re reading, we’re doing them a disservice.” 
AB 873 passed nearly unanimously in the Legislature, underscoring the nonpartisan nature of the topic. 

Nationwide, Texas, New Jersey and Delaware have also passed strong media literacy laws, and more than a dozen other states are moving in that direction, according to Media Literacy Now, a nonprofit research organization that advocates for media literacy in K-12 schools.

Still, California’s law falls short of Media Literacy Now’s recommendations. California’s approach doesn’t include funding to train teachers, an advisory committee, input from librarians, surveys or a way to monitor the law’s effectiveness.

This is long overdue and minimal, but better than nothing. As I posted about in 2019, Finland has been subject to decades of relentless, severe Russian dark free speech attacks. Russian governments have been intent on poisoning and pacifying Finland's society to make it compliant with Russian demands. In response, Finland adopted a nationwide education program for all people, children and adults, to defend themselves against the dark free speech arts. That program has been significantly effective. The US now desperately needs the same kind of program.

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Business Insider reports about an effort by DJT to openly and directly attack witnesses against him in the federal insurrection lawsuit against him for his 1/6 coup attempt:

A panel of three judges on Monday appeared highly skeptical of arguments from Donald Trump's legal team seeking to revoke a gag order that bars him from attacking potential witnesses in his election interference criminal case.

D. John Sauer, Trump's attorney in the hearing before the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, took a highly expansive view of the former president's First Amendment rights.

Depending on "the context," Sauer argued, Trump would be permitted to pressure possible witnesses not to cooperate with prosecutors.

Judge Patricia Millet, an Obama appointee on the panel, repeatedly pressed Sauer to explain if Trump could ever be restricted from saying anything. She appeared annoyed when he avoided articulating any such standard.

"So is it your position that if he communicates through a social media post: 'Hey, Witness X, I know the prosecutor is bothering you, trying to get you to say bad things about me — be a patriot, don't act treasonously, don't cooperate'—" she began to ask Sauer.

Sauer interrupted the judge, saying it would "depend on the context" if it would be OK for Trump to pressure a witness in a public setting, and declined to answer the question directly.

After several minutes of back-and-forth with the judge — What if it was a "fair response" to something Witness X said? What if it was in the "political arena"? What if it was about former Vice President Mike Pence, who until recently challenged Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination? — Sauer finally conceded that there were possible circumstances where Trump would be violating the order.  

Trump's attorneys have sought to get rid of the gag order entirely, arguing that it infringes on his First Amendment rights, which they say is particularly heightened since he is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election. Chutkan scheduled a trial for March.

"What they've described as 'threats' is actually, under the Supreme Court's jurisprudence, pure political speech," Sauer said. "It is rough and tumble, it is hard-hitting in many situations, but it absolutely is core political speech."

DJT is clear that he has abandoned all respect for our law enforcement and legal systems if they are applied against him. It is also clear that he will use those systems to attack and persecute his enemies and annoyances, real or perceived. DJT wants to publicly attack and intimidate witnesses into silence or perjury to subvert justice for himself. 

DJT is a vicious dictator, pure and simple. If people cannot see the gravity and urgency of the threat by now, it's unclear what could wake them up.