Tag: Bigotry

New Mexico judge and wife arrested for hiding an alleged Venezuelan gang member in their house

https://www.msn.com/en-us/crime/general/new-mexico-judge-and-wife-arrested-for-hiding-an-alleged-venezuelan-gang-member-in-their-house/ar-AA1DCdVU

These people are not undocumented.  They had immigration papers.  Plus the  Tren de Aragua gang do not have common tattoos nor hand signals.  So everything the government claims is again suspect and wrong.  I offer the quotes below.  They had papers saying this person is not subject to removal but ICE took them anyway.   Hugs

 

“Let me be as crystal clear as possible,” Cano wrote in his resignation, obtained by KOAT. “The very first time I ever heard that the boys could possibly have any association with Tren de Aragua was when I was informed of that by [the] agents on the day of the raid.”

He added that each of the men had immigration paperwork that suggested that they were not subject to removal. “Their papers stated in the upper right-hand corner, ‘This Person is Not Subject to Removal.’ They each had a specific court date regarding their asylum hearing,” Cano stated.

Story by Kelly Rissman
 • 23h

Immigration authorities raided a former New Mexico judge’s home, where they accused him of harboring an alleged Tren de Aragua gang member, and took him into custody.

Former Dona Ana County Magistrate Judge Joel Cano, 67, and his wife, Nancy Cano, 68, were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcementx Thursday after a tipster claimed that undocumented migrants associated with the Venezuelan gang were staying at their home. The couple has been charged with tampering with evidence, jail records show.

The investigation began in January 2025 after ICE received an anonymous tip that “an illegal alien from Venezuela and a suspected member of a criminal gang, was residing with other illegal aliens in the United States” at the judge’s home in Las Cruces and was in possession of firearms, according to court filings.

Two search warrants were executed at the Canos’ home on February 28, during which authorities seized four guns and took three immigrants into custody, documents say.

The judge resigned in March after federal authorities accused the couple of housing an undocumented Venezuelan immigrant, Cristhian Ortega-Lopez, at their home.

A former New Mexico judge, Joel Cano, and his wife, Nancy Cano, were arrested after ICE accused them of harboring members of a Venezuelan gang (Dona Ana County Jail)

“Let me be as crystal clear as possible,” Cano wrote in his resignation, obtained by KOAT. “The very first time I ever heard that the boys could possibly have any association with Tren de Aragua was when I was informed of that by [the] agents on the day of the raid.”

He added that each of the men had immigration paperwork that suggested that they were not subject to removal. “Their papers stated in the upper right-hand corner, ‘This Person is Not Subject to Removal.’ They each had a specific court date regarding their asylum hearing,” Cano stated.

He continued: “I have three grandkids that I love dearly. Their ages are 15, 8 and 6. There is no way in the world that I would have allowed my grandkids to have any contact with the boys if I had sensed danger.”

Ortego-Lopez installed a glass door for Nancy Cano in late 2023, according to court documents. He continued doing a few jobs for her in 2024 and after he was evicted from his apartment in April 2024, she offered him a stay in their “casita,” a small house on their property. There, Ortego-Lopez was given access to guns, the filing says.

Ortega-Lopez allegedly posted photos of himself on social media holding guns. Agents also looked at the social media accounts of the other undocumented immigrants staying at the judge’s house that suggests “clear indicators” of association with the Venezuelan gang.

“These indicators included tattoos, clothing apparel and displaying hand gestures,” the government wrote.

Nancy Cano has been accused of witness tampering after she allegedly let Venezuelan gang members live in a ‘casita’ on her property (Dona Ana County Jail)

President Donald Trump’s administration has repeatedly relied on tattoos to identify alleged gang members. ICE has been apparently relying on a scorecard — the “Alien Enemies Act Validation Guide” — to determine whether Venezuelan immigrants are eligible for deportation, ACLU lawyers have said. If migrants reach a score of eight points or higher, they are “validated as members” of the Tren de Aragua gang, the guide states. Tattoos are worth four points.

Last month, the administration sent three planes carrying dozens of Venezuelans to a notorious prison in El Salvador after the president invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime law.

The president’s order states that “all Venezuelan citizens 14 years of age or older who are members of [Tren de Aragua], are within the United States, and are not actually naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the United States are liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies.” The ACLU sued administration officials over their use of the Alien Enemies Act and a judge issued a temporary restraining order barring the migrants from being deported. Still, the planes flew to El Salvador; the judge this month said he found “probable cause” to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt.

The Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that the Trump administration has the authority to deport migrants under the centuries-old act but also ordered that the government provide detainees an opportunity to contest their removals in court districts nearest to the detention centers where they are being held.

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2 In 5 Corporations Scaling Back LGBTQ Pride Engagement Amid Trump Administration Pressure, Survey Finds

https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/04/24/2-in-5-corporations-scaling-back-lgbtq-pride-engagement-amid-trump-administration-pressure-survey-finds/

This is why I keep saying we must be vocal and show our displeasure with companies that pull back out of fear.  We must voice it also with our money.  I used to shop Target, but until they reverse their polices I won’t spend a dime in any of their stores.  I know you can search and there are websites that show pro-LGBTQ+ stores and those who betrayed the LGBTQ+.  But the right learned from the protests and tactics used by the LGBTQ+ in the past.  We were vocal, we were loud, we worked both behind the scenes with companies and we made it clear we have disposable money to shop.  A lot of gay people still do.  Hugs

Conor Murray

Forbes Staff
Murray is a Forbes news reporter covering entertainment trends.

 

Nearly two-fifths of corporations plan on scaling back engagement for LGBTQ Pride Month this June, an uptick from the same survey last year, while another two-fifths said their support would remain unchanged, according to a survey of corporate executives by Gravity Research, as some LGBTQ Pride organizations nationwide report fewer corporate sponsorships than past years.

Key Facts

Of the 49 executives surveyed from Fortune 1000 companies, those who said they were pulling back on Pride support cited pressure from conservative activists and President Donald Trump, who has signed executive orders gutting diversity, equity and inclusion and targeting the transgender community.

Of the 39% of companies who said they would reduce Pride Month engagement this year, 43% said they would reduce external shows of support, which includes having a visual presence at or financially sponsoring Pride marches, offering a Pride merchandise line, updating social media branding and partnering with influencers for Pride-themed sponsorships.

Fewer respondents, 19%, said their decreased engagement for Pride would be internal, including internal communication with employees about commitments to equality and offering employee resource groups.

About 41% of the companies surveyed said their support for Pride will remain unchanged this year, while the rest responded “don’t know” or “haven’t decided.”

Last year just 9% of companies told Gravity Research last year they would alter their Pride Month engagement plans.

Crucial Quote

Gravity Research president Luke Hartig told Forbes the survey “reveals just how dramatically the cultural and political tides have turned,” stating two-fifths of companies scaling back Pride Month engagement “would’ve been unthinkable just five years ago.” Hartig said, though, “most are holding firm internally, continuing to show up for LGBTQ+ employees and allies via events, partnerships with ERGs, and reiterating workplace inclusion.”

What Did Corporate Leaders Say About Reducing Pride Month Engagement?

One corporate leader told Gravity Research their company would reduce their acknowledgement of Pride Month on social media to “minimize public visibility that could trigger attention.” An unnamed corporate executive at a Fortune 500 consumer staples company told Gravity Research it has “reduced risk across all heritage month events” by “focusing internally and doing what’s right for our people and not necessarily shouting to the world about it.” Some executives told Gravity Research they are preparing talking points in response to their Pride Month activities, including one financial executive, who said their company has provided HR employees with prepared responses for employees who question its Pride Month support. The financial executive also said their company is planning to take a “more conservative approach to how we are acknowledging Pride month on our social media channels.”

Surprising Fact

Business-to-consumer companies (71%) are more likely than business-to-business companies (53%) to prepare for Pride Month-related backlash, Gravity Research reported, which it says shows “increased public pressure and threat of consumer backlash.”

Which Pride Organizations Have Lost Corporate Sponsors?

Some of the United States’ biggest Pride organizations have said corporate sponsors pulled back financial support this year. Anheuser-Busch, the alcoholic beverage company that battled a wave of conservative backlash in 2023 over a partnership between Bud Light and transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, declined to support St. Louis Pride in 2025 after more than 30 years of sponsorship, St. Louis Pride said in an Instagram post. San Francisco Pride organizers told Forbes Anheuser-Busch also declined to support the organization this year, as did previous sponsors Comcast and alcoholic beverage company Diageo, representing a loss of $200,000 in corporate sponsorship funding. Pride Houston’s board of directors told Forbes some corporate sponsors reduced support by as much as 75%, totaling $100,000 in lost funds. Chris Piedmont, media director for NYC Pride, told Forbes some corporate sponsors have scaled back budgets, though he did not name specific companies. The loss of funding has led some organizations to turn to crowdfunding, including St. Louis Pride and Twin Cities Pride in Minnesota, which cut ties with Target after the company walked back its diversity, equity and inclusion measures in January.

Key Background

Some companies have faced backlash among conservative activists in recent years for their support for LGBTQ pride, notably Bud Light, which lost its spot as the top beer in the United States after facing a consumer boycott over its partnership with Mulvaney. Within about a month of the Bud Light boycott, which began in April 2023, Bud Light’s sales were down 26% compared to the year prior. Other companies that faced online attacks and boycotts included Nike, which also partnered with Mulvaney in 2023, and Target, which sparked outrage for selling a swimsuit marketed for trans women. In response to backlash, Target removed some of its LGBTQ pride items from stores. Target has faced renewed boycotts in recent weeks after it joined a wave of companies walking back diversity, equity and inclusion standards, angering critics who viewed the company as a longtime LGBTQ ally. Target’s foot traffic in stores has been down year-over-year for 11 straight weeks, beginning with the week after it dropped DEI commitments in January, Retail Brew reported.

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan arrested by federal authorities at Courthouse

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/breaking/2025/04/25/milwaukee-county-judge-hannah-dugan-arrested-by-feds-at-courthouse/83270885007/

The judge was to be arraigned that day.  Under federal procedures, she would likely appear in U.S. District Court on the day of the arrest.  Instead she was sent to an ICE detention facility and denied her due process rights.  This is not legal nor right.   They refused her rights to due process.  She is a citizen.  Hugs

Portrait of Daniel BiceDaniel Bice

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested April 25 by federal authorities who are investigating whether she tried to help an undocumented immigrant avoid arrest after he appeared in her courtroom last week, officials confirmed.

Brady McCarron, spokesman for U.S. Marshals Service in Washington, D.C., confirmed Dugan was arrested at about 8 a.m. at the Milwaukee County Courthouse and is in federal custody. Under federal procedures, she would likely appear in U.S. District Court on the day of the arrest.

FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X about the arrest. He later deleted the post.

“Just NOW, the FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on charges of obstruction — after evidence of Judge Dugan obstructing an immigration arrest operation last week,” Patel wrote. “We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, allowing the subject — an illegal alien — to evade arrest.”

A screenshot of a since-deleted April 25 tweet by FBI Director Kash Patel
A screenshot of a since-deleted April 25 tweet by FBI Director Kash Patel

Multiple Milwaukee County judges confirmed that the arrest took place at the courthouse. Chief Judge Carl Ashley confirmed the incident in an email to courthouse officials.

Officials have not yet identified the defendant whom she is accused of assisting, but it appears to be Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican immigrant facing three misdemeanor battery counts. He was in Dugan’s courtroom on April 18 for a pre-trial conference.

Flores-Ruiz, 30, is listed as being in ICE custody at Dodge Detention Facility in Juneau, according to the federal online detainee locator system.

Sources have told the Journal Sentinel that ICE officials arrived in Dugan’s courtroom on the morning of April 18. When they went to the chief judge’s office, Dugan directed the defendant and his attorney to a side door in the courtroom, directed them down a private hallway and into the public area on the 6th floor.

Last week’s arrest marked at least the third time in recent months that federal immigration agents have come to the courthouse with arrest warrants. In March and early April, two people were arrested by ICE officials in the hallways of the courthouse.

This is a breaking story and was updated with new information. More updates are coming.

Pentagon to resume medical care for transgender troops

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/24/transgender-troops-military-care-00306827

The move is another setback for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has made culture war issues a major part of his role.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gives the thumbs-up.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has faced pressure from Democrats to follow the court order, suggesting he was undermining military recruitment needs. | Kevin Wolf/AP

By Jack Detsch, Paul McLeary and Kyle Cheney

Updated: 

The Pentagon will resume gender-affirming care for transgender service members, according to a memo obtained by POLITICO, an embarrassing setback to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s efforts to restrict their participation.

The memo says the Defense Department is returning to the Biden-era medical policy for transgender service members due to a court order that struck down Hegseth’s restrictions as unconstitutional. The administration is appealing the move, but a federal appeals court in California denied the department’s effort to halt the policy while its challenge is pending.

As a result, the administration is barred from removing transgender service members or restricting their medical care, a priority of President Donald Trump and Hegseth. The administration insisted its restrictions were geared toward people experiencing medical challenges related to “gender dysphoria,” but two federal judges said in March that the policy was a thinly veiled ban on transgender people that violated the Constitution.

The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to allow the Pentagon to ban transgender servicemembers while legal battles continue to play out.

Both judges ordered the military to refrain from forcing out more than 1,000 transgender troops and to resume providing for their medical care, including surgical procedures and voice and hormone therapy. The memo is the latest move by the Pentagon to comply with those orders.

But it presents another headache for Hegseth, who has made culture war issues — such as changing recruitment standards and reinstating the ban — a key piece of his effort to make the military more lethal. Hegseth has emphasized this theme as he’s sought to defend himself amid multiple scandals, including texting sensitive details of military operations in Yemen to multiple Signal group chats and a vicious brawl between his top advisers.

“Service members and all other covered beneficiaries 19 years of age or older may receive appropriate care for their diagnosis of [gender dysphoria], including mental health care and counseling and newly initiated or ongoing cross-sex hormone therapy,” Dr. Stephen Ferrara, the Pentagon’s acting assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs, said in a memo dated April 21.

President Donald Trump signed a long-expected order banning transgender people from serving in the military at the outset of the administration, just as he had done in 2017. But LGBTQ advocacy groups quickly pounced, calling the order discriminatory.

So far, the courts have rejected the Pentagon’s arguments that including transgender troops reduces the military’s ability to fight. U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle ruled in March that there is no evidence that transgender troops harm military readiness, and ordered the Pentagon to return to the status quo.

A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday became the first appellate court to hear arguments on Trump’s transgender military policy but gave little indication of how it might rule.

Defense officials acknowledged in a March memo sent to Pentagon leadership that the agency would comply with the court order, but did not detail the steps the department would take to follow it. Hegseth has openly attacked one of the judges, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, for her order, labeling her “Commander Reyes” in a pejorative post on X.

Hegseth has faced pressure from Democrats to follow the court order, suggesting he was undermining military recruitment needs.

“Given the unwillingness or inability of 99.6 percent of the U.S. population to serve in our military, the last thing our nation should be doing is rejecting patriotic Americans who are ready and willing to serve our country,” a group of 14 Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), an Iraq veteran, wrote Tuesday to Hegseth. “The Trump administration’s repeated attacks on the transgender community reveal an ideological obsession rooted in a poor understanding of science.”

The Pentagon referred questions to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A February memo signed by then-acting undersecretary for personnel and readiness Darin Selnick — who was fired by Hegseth last week — said service members or potential recruits interested in the military who have “a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria” are “incompatible” with U.S. military service.

Some officials saw the move as a capitulation by the administration, which was settling for a loss in court while continuing to wage a public relations war to keep transgender service members out of the military.

“They’ve scared all of the trans people off,” said one person close to the Pentagon familiar with the conversations, granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue. “What’s to be gained by continuing to fight with the courts? It seems pretty easy to stop getting crazy with it. You won. You got what you wanted.”

Is “Being Gay” an Unforgivable Sin? – Questions from the Audience with Colby Martin

Roger suggested I look up this person and see what they had to say.  I have read snippets of what he wrote and I like his message.  He seems sincere and genuine.  Hugs

Showing your ignorance with confidence.

Matt Walsh STUNNED During Heated Debate | Hasanabi reacts

If you look past the Matt Walsh crap Hasan gets to talking about people who are passing as the gender they identify as.   And that is one reason why the red states are pushing so hard to trans block kids from using puberty blockers while allowing them for cis kids, they work and are safe but the trans kids won’t go through the wrong puberty giving them the wrong features we normally associate with genders.  These people are terrified they won’t recognize who is trans because they pass so well.  It shouldn’t be the issue I know as many wonderful trans people who had to go through the wrong puberty are still the gender they know and identify as.  Sadly two things are at work.  The two groups working together to stop trans positive or any positive LGBTQ+ inclusion / equality are the fundamentalist religious groups who think the entire world should run according to their faith … yet they have different faiths so … and the republican politicians who use it as a way to win votes and keep their base outraged.  Both groups have their own agenda and they both ignore science and facts to create the narrative / outrage they desire rather than create a peaceful loving inclusive society.   Oh I guess I forgot the white supremacist Nazi’s but they really fall under the Fundamentalist Christian banner right?   Hugs.

Trade deal won’t happen unless UK removes protections for the LGBTQ+ community

It was never about protecting women

Harvard 2025 and the University of Munich 1933

I want to thank brucedesertrat who sent me the link to this substack article.  I enjoy learning about history but sadly this hits home too deeply.  It is so close it is scary.  Hugs.

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https://davidwfitzsimmons.substack.com/p/harvard-2025-and-the-university-of?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1360838&post_id=161410082&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=ko4d&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

David W Fitzsimmons
Apr 17, 2025

Today President Trump is threatening to pull funds if Harvard does not comply with his demands for the school to shape it’s curricula to favor Trumpism. Harvard has refused to caved to Trump’s fascist demands which clearly violate free speech.

“The University will not surrender its independence or its constitutional rights,” Harvard President Alan M. Garber

The seizure of power by the MAGA Republicans in 2025, led by Donald Trump, brought far-reaching changes to American Universities. Some caved, some obeyed in advance.

The seizure of power by the Nazis in 1933, led by Adolph Hitler, brought far-reaching changes to German Universities. All caved. All obeyed in advance.

There is a parallel in German history for this American moment when books are banned, educational institutions are battered and a brutal and barbaric anti-intellectual ethos is on the rise.

A timeline of the Nazification of Munich University

1933

Hitler demands The University of Munich restructure its curriculum in accordance with the new ruling ideology of Nazism.

Trump demands Harvard University restructure its curriculum in accordance with the new ruling ideology of Trumpism. Abandon DEI. Police your students and faculty for viewpoint “diversity”.

Those faculty members who are not Nazi sympathizers are dismissed.

Trump’s letter calls for political undesirables to be gone.

The numbers of Jews admitted to university are restricted.

Munich University is the site of book burnings led by pro-Nazi students.

With the passage of these laws, the Nazis attempted to root out any opposition to their ideology that remain in German higher education.

Trump wants all of America’s Universities to root out anti-Trumpist thought, to be citadels of Trumpism, to employ MAGA professors who will teach American students how Trumpism will make America and her institutions of higher learning great again.

1941

Munich University appoints of Walther Wüst, an Aryan ideologue, Führer-Rektor of the University. By this time the Nazification of Munich University is complete. The once prestigious Munich University employs an all Nazi faculty.

1943

Sophie Scholl, a student attending Munich University, is guillotined for distributing anti-Nazi broadsides on campus.

Under President Trump students are deported or “disappeared”. I can safely assume an American student will be martyred for resisting fascism here in our nation in t he months ahead.

Hitler visiting the University of Munich

Here is a harrowing account of the Nazification of Frankfurt University witnessed by young Austrian economist named Peter Drucker:

Frankfurt was the first university the Nazis tackled, precisely because it was the most self-confidently liberal of major German universities, with a faculty that prided itself on its allegiance to scholarship, freedom of conscience, and democracy. The Nazis knew that control of Frankfurt University would mean control of German academia. And so did everyone at the university.

Above all, Frankfurt had a science faculty distinguished both by its scholarship and by its liberal convictions; and outstanding among the Frankfurt scientists was a biochemist-physiologist of Nobel-Prize caliber and impeccable liberal credentials. When the appointment of a Nazi commissar was announced . . . and every teacher and graduate assistant at the university was summoned to a faculty meeting to hear this new master, everybody knew that a trial of strength was at hand. I had never before attended a faculty meeting, but I did attend this one.

The new Nazi commissar wasted no time on the amenities. He immediately announced that Jews would be forbidden to enter university premises and would be dismissed without salary on March 15; this was something that no one had thought possible despite the Nazis’ loud antisemitism. Then he launched into a tirade of abuse, filth, and four-letter words such as had been heard rarely even in the barracks and never before in academia. . . . [He] pointed his finger at one department chairman after another and said, “You either do what I tell you or we’ll put you into a concentration camp.” There was silence when he finished; everybody waited for the distinguished biochemist-physiologist. The great liberal got up, cleared his throat, and said, “Very interesting, Mr. Commissar, and in some respects very illuminating: but one point I didn’t get too clearly. Will there be more money for research in physiology?”

The meeting broke up shortly thereafter with the commissar assuring the scholars that indeed there would be plenty of money for “racially pure science.” A few of the professors had the courage to walk out with their Jewish colleagues, but most kept a safe distance from these who only a few hours earlier had been their close friends. I went out sick unto death—and I knew that I was going to leave Germany within forty-eight hours.

The Nazis attacked academic dissent with lethal cruelty

Some went to nearby Dachau. Some, such as our heroic young student Sophie, were beheaded.

Sophie Scholl, photographed by the Gestapo

Here is the text of the pamphlet that cost Munich University student Sophie Scholl her life. Her haunting critique of Hitler resonates eerily with the familiar critiques of our current leader:

Fellow Students!

Shaken, our people faces the downfall of our men of Stalingrad. Three hundred thirty thousand German men have been senselessly and irresponsibly rushed into death and ruin by the brilliant strategy of the man who served as a private in the Great War. Führer, we thank you!

It is festering in the German people: Do we want to continue entrusting the fate of our armies to a dilettante? Do we want to sacrifice the rest of our young Germans to the base, power-seeking instincts of a Party clique? Nevermore.

The day of reckoning has come, our German youth’s reckoning with the most abhorrent tyranny that our people has ever endured. In the name of all young Germans, we demand that Adolf Hitler’s State return to us our personal freedom, the German’s most valuable possession, which he has cheated us out of in the most disgraceful way.

We have grown up in a State where every free expression of opinion has been ruthlessly gagged. The HJ, SA, and SS have tried to make us uniform, to revolutionize us, to narcotize us in the most fruitful educational years of our lives. “Ideological training” was the name given to the despicable method of stifling our budding independent thought and self-esteem in a haze of empty phrases. A “Führerauslese”1 of a kind as fiendish and at the same time as narrow-minded as one can possibly imagine, grooming its future Party bosses at Ordensburgen [special educational centers for Party cadres] to become godless, shameless, and unscrupulous exploiters and cutthroats, to become blind, mindless followers of the Führer. We “brain-workers” were exactly right for becoming the cudgel of this new ruling class. Front-line soldiers are disciplined like schoolboys by student leaders and would-be Gauleiter; Gauleiter, with prurient jests, assault the honor of female students. German female students at the university in Munich have given a dignified reply to the insult to their honor, and German male students have intervened and stood their ground on behalf of their female classmates. That is a first step toward gaining our right to free self-determination, without which intellectual values cannot be created. We are grateful to our brave fellow students, female and male, who have led the way by setting this shining example!

For us, there is only one watchword: Fight against the Party! Get out of the Party formations, in which the goal is to keep us politically muzzled! Get out of the lecture rooms of the SS Unter- or Oberführer and the Party bootlickers! True scholarly activities and genuine intellectual freedom are at stake! No threat of any kind can frighten us, not even the closing of our universities. Each of us must fight for our future, our freedom and honor in a body politic that is aware of its moral responsibility.

Freedom and honor! For ten long years, Hitler and his comrades have squeezed these two magnificent German words and made them loathsome, have banged on them and twisted them as only dilettantes can, dilettantes who cast the highest values of a nation before swine. They have sufficiently demonstrated what freedom and honor mean to them during ten years of the destruction of all physical and intellectual freedom, of all moral substance in the German people. Even the dumbest German’s eyes have been opened by the dreadful blood bath which they have brought about everywhere in Europe and continue to bring about each day. The German name will remain forever disgraced unless German youth stand up at last, engage simultaneously in revenge and expiation, smash their tormentors, and bring about a new intellectual and spiritual Europe.

Students! The German people is watching us! It expects us, as in 1813 with the breaking of Napoleon’s domination, now also in 1943 to break the domination of National Socialist terror through the power of the mind.

Berezina and Stalingrad blaze in the East; the dead of Stalingrad implore us!

“Fresh on, my people, the flame signals are smoking!”2

Our people is rising up against the enslavement of Europe by National Socialism, in a new, trustful breakthrough of freedom and honor!

As you read her courageous words consider how and why a regime would loathe and fear such a voice for liberty.

Now is the time to stand with all who see Trump for the terrifying tyrant he is.

Now is the time to stand with all educators and students who courageously stand against this tyranny.

Now is the time to join Thomas Jefferson in swearing “upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”

Now is the time to stand with Harvard University.

Now is the time to stand with all educators and educational institutions threatened by MAGA fascism.

 

REFERENCES:

Higher education in Nazi Germany

Controlling Universities

Higher education in Nazi Germany

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