As good a time as any to remind folks of the 14 properties of "ur-fascism" (described by Umberto Eco, who grew up in Italy under Mussolini, in his 1995 essay Ur-Fascism). Not all need be present for single regime to be fascist, but a Venn diagram of all fascist regimes will cover them all.

1. CULT OF TRADITION. The old ways are best. The New is not worthwhile.
2. REJECT MODERNISM The development of Western philosophy post-Enlightenment is seen as a descent into depravity. See also : Reject post-modernism, which is seen as an even greater descent into irrationality.
3. ACTION FOR ACTION'S SAKE. Action is to be taken without reflection or introspection - that's for weaklings and degenerates. Often seen in a derision of "intellectual elites".
4. DISAGREEMENT IS TREASON. Analytical criticism cannot be allowed. A pantomime of discourse may be allowed, but only within the accepted framework and only if reaching the foregone conclusion.
5. FEAR OF DIFFERENCE. Outsiders are your enemy. Those who are different are evil and want to corrupt you and destroy all you hold dear.
6. APPEAL TO A FRUSTRATED MIDDLE CLASS Capitalising on genuine frustrations by pointing them toward convenient scapegoats. Real concerns used a recruiting tools.
7. OBSESSION WITH A PLOT. There is a conspiracy run by THEM. You are besieged by THEM. THEY are behind all your ills. THEY are working in the shadows to enslave and destroy you.
8. THE ENEMY IS BOTH STRONG AND WEAK. When rhetorically convenient, THEY are all-powerful. When rhetorically convenient, THEY are feeble, stupid, weak. The rhetorical focus shifts regardless of self-contradiction, because all that matters is positioning the enemy where the speaker's goal requires them to be at any given moment.
9. PACIFISM IS THE ENEMY. LIFE IS ETERNAL WAR. There must always be an enemy to fight. When that enemy is defeated, another must be found. When they cannot be found, they must be created, even from within. There is always the promise of a Final Solution bringing Ultimate Triumph, but it can never be achieved.
10. CONTEMPT FOR THE WEAK. Elitism disguised as populism. Everyone of US is superior to THEM, cockroaches and drains on society that they are. But people are sheep who require strong leaders, who are by their nature superior to others.
11. EVERYONE IS TAUGHT TO BE THE HERO. A CULT OF DEATH. Where in myth the hero is exceptional, in fascism everyone must be the hero. They crave heroic death, the reward for heroic life. In seeking it, they send others to die. (See also: Militarism).
12. MACHISMO. Disdain for women and femininity. Intolerance of non-standard sexuality and gender expression.
13. SELECTIVE POPULISM. The People are viewed as a monolith with a single will, as interpreted (in reality, determined) by the leaders. Democratic institutions are viewed as illegitimate because they run counter to the narrative of the existence of a single Voice Of The People.
14. NEWSPEAK. Vocabulary cannot expand. If anything, it must shrink. Variation and nuance in dialogue means variation and nuance in thought. This cannot be allowed. Therefore categories must be binary. Definitions are simple and limited. If it cannot be boiled down into snappy catchphrase it does not exist.

Okay, to explain this one:

Legal discrimination against trans people in the UK dates back to a specific court case in 1970.

In 1963, Arthur Corbett, the 3rd Baron Rowallan, married April Ashley, an English model sixteen years his junior. Ms. Ashley was transgender, and the fact that she was trans was public knowledge at the time due to her being outed by a tabloid newspaper in 1961. Mr Corbett was fully aware of her being trans from the beginning of the relationship.

I want to emphasize here: they were legally married, and they were not the first couple including a trans person to do so. There were legal methods to change your birth certificate, which trans people had availed of.

The marriage fell apart within weeks. Three years later, Ms. Ashley's lawyers requested alimony payments from Corbett.

Corbett responded by suing to have the marriage annulled by making the argument that Ms. Ashley was legally a man and that, as gay marriage wasn't legal at the time, the marriage wasn't legal.

Despite at least one prior court case finding the opposite, court agreed with Corbett, and this finding set legal precedent in the UK until 1999.

Arthur Corbett died of gangrene in 1993, having previously been disinherited by his father for an extra-marital affair. While he inherited the title of "Baron", the house seat and lands had instead passed on directly to his eldest son from a previous marriage. His son went bankrupt in 1989.

April Ashley passed away in her home in 2021, at the age of 86. She had been awarded an MBE in 2012 for her trans rights activism.

@luimnigh Fascinating and instructive about the "Baron marries trans girl" part (karma! Eat it, Corbett!) but what about the "unelected Prime Minister collapse the union with Scotland"?

Do you know? Does anyone reading this?

My Google-fu isn't figuring this one out and I'm dying of curiosity.

So, to explain: since 1999, Scotland has had a Devolved Parliament. Basically, Scotland votes for it's own politicians to pass it's own laws in many areas, while other areas are reserved for the wider UK Government to legislate on.

However, the UK Government can block whatever Scottish law it wants completely unilaterally, whenever it wants. This powers sat unused for for 23 years, until late 2022/early 2023.

The Scottish Parliament had passed the Gender Recognition Reform Bill, a law easing the process of changing your gender on legal documents.

The previous UK-wide legislation, the Gender Recognition Act of 2004, required a trans person to obtain a medical certificate that involved invasive questioning and two years of living as the "acquired gender", just to get their gender changed on legal documents.

The Reform Bill instead made it just a process of legally declaring your gender. No wait time, no invasive questioning, no medical certificate.

The Conservative UK government in 2023, led by Rishi Sunak, blocked the Gender Recognition Reform Bill. Because they're transphobes and the UK is TERF Island.

(Sunak had become Prime Minister by becoming leader of the Conservative Party after the previous election, he had not won the election as leader, hence the "unelected PM" part.)

The Scottish Government then launched a legal challenge against the veto.

The meme is basically saying that the latest Scottish push for independence from the UK has a basis in trans rights movement, and the changing of transphobic law brought in due to the divorce of April Ashley.

Since the original post was made, the Scottish Government has unfortunately lost their legal challenge. The SNP, the main party of the Scottish Government, has kinda squandered the opportunity to raise outrage about this, due to a leadership change which has favoured some of the more transphobic members of the party.

The Conservatives have lost control over the UK Government to the theoretically left-leaning Labour Party, however their at-the-time leader Keir Starmer confirmed he would not be rescinding the veto. Because Keir Starmer is a Conservative in a red tie.

The Scottish branch of the Labour Party, who supported the Reform Bill in the Scottish Parliament, turned on the Bill once the UK-wide Labour Party voted in favour of the Veto.

Labour has since changed leadership to the more progressive Andy Burnham, who has yet to state a position on the Veto, but has unfortunately walked back his own trans rights statements in recent years.

This has been your explanation of a outdated political meme.

@luimnigh Thank you for this very kind and thorough explanation.

I live in hope that tyranny and bigotery are like cowboy boots. It come back into fashion every 40 years or so, until everyone remembers why it fall out of fashion in the first place. 🤞🏳️‍🌈⚖✊

Okay, to explain this one:

Legal discrimination against trans people in the UK dates back to a specific court case in 1970.

In 1963, Arthur Corbett, the 3rd Baron Rowallan, married April Ashley, an English model sixteen years his junior. Ms. Ashley was transgender, and the fact that she was trans was public knowledge at the time due to her being outed by a tabloid newspaper in 1961. Mr Corbett was fully aware of her being trans from the beginning of the relationship.

I want to emphasize here: they were legally married, and they were not the first couple including a trans person to do so. There were legal methods to change your birth certificate, which trans people had availed of.

The marriage fell apart within weeks. Three years later, Ms. Ashley's lawyers requested alimony payments from Corbett.

Corbett responded by suing to have the marriage annulled by making the argument that Ms. Ashley was legally a man and that, as gay marriage wasn't legal at the time, the marriage wasn't legal.

Despite at least one prior court case finding the opposite, court agreed with Corbett, and this finding set legal precedent in the UK until 1999.

Arthur Corbett died of gangrene in 1993, having previously been disinherited by his father for an extra-marital affair. While he inherited the title of "Baron", the house seat and lands had instead passed on directly to his eldest son from a previous marriage. His son went bankrupt in 1989.

April Ashley passed away in her home in 2021, at the age of 86. She had been awarded an MBE in 2012 for her trans rights activism.

@luimnigh Fascinating and instructive about the “Baron marries trans girl” part (karma! Eat it, Corbett!) but what about the “unelected Prime Minister collapse the union with Scotland”?

Do you know? Does anyone reading this?

My Google-fu isn’t figuring this one out and I’m dying of curiosity.

need me some of this "renewable energy" I keep hearing about

My friend told me the best example to explain the vast difference between a million and a billion

"A million seconds ago was last week. A billion seconds ago we were still dealing with the Soviet union."

This is why when we talk about “rich people” who aren’t paying taxes or who are wasting money, we’re not talking about the person who makes 1 or 2 grains of rice worth of money a year. We’re talking about the person who makes the giant fucking Costco sized pile of rice.