The Rogovoy Report 11.20.23

From around the corner to around the globe...

Nov 19, 2023

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REQUIRED READING

Trump Crosses a Crucial Line

(The Atlantic) by Tom Nichols - After Trump was elected, I warned against the indiscriminate use of fascism, because I suspected that the day might come when it would be an accurate term to describe him, and I wanted to preserve its power to shock and to alarm us. The events of the past month, and especially Trump’s Veterans Day speech, confirm to me that the moment has arrived. For weeks, Trump has been ramping up his rhetoric. Early last month, he echoed the vile and obsessively germophobic language of Adolf Hitler by describing immigrants as disease-ridden terrorists and psychiatric patients who are “poisoning the blood of our country.” In one passage in particular, Trump melded religious and political rhetoric to aim not at foreign nations or immigrants, but at his fellow citizens. This is when he crossed one of the last remaining lines that separated his usual authoritarian bluster from recognizable fascism. Read also, Biden accuses Trump of echoing Nazis with ‘vermin’ remark (The Guardian); Trump threatens to handle the "vermin": MAGA has got a hold of the Nazi playbook (Salon)

This Is How It Begins

(LTN/Substack) by Lucian K. Truscott IV - The first guy waited until he became Chancellor of Germany and used the Reichstag fire as a pretext to start rounding up enemies and building concentration camps. A front-page story in the New York Times this morning tells us that our own Chancellor-in-Waiting, Donald J. Trump, isn’t waiting to be elected, or for a pretext. He has an SS team in place that is already making plans to round up tens of millions of immigrants and house them in camps they plan on building “on open land in Texas near the border,” according to Stephen Miller, who Trump has appointed to be his own personal Heinrich Himmler to handle the matter of immigration if he is elected president next year.

READ MORE:

Elon Musk affirmed the deadliest antisemitic conspiracy theory in recent American history (The Atlantic)

Advertisers are running from Twitter/X and Elon Musk’s antisemitism (New York)

Marjorie Taylor Greene: ‘I actually support Jewish space lasers’ (Forward)

Quiet Quitting: Franz Kafka’s work-life imbalance (Bookforum)

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Triplex Cinema Reopens as a Nonprofit, Community-Centered Theater

(RI) GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. - The Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington, which closed for a year-and-a-half during the pandemic, never really was able to recapture its former momentum, and last March developer/owner Richard Stanley announced he was going to close the theater if a buyer couldn’t be found. In record time, community members stepped up, created a "Save the Triplex" campaign, formed a nonprofit organization, and raised enough money to open its doors. Two of the four theaters will reopen on November 17, and you can be sure it will be a day of celebration and, for many, great relief.

READ MORE:

The Beatles “new” single sounds nothing like the Beatles, which is its greatest virtue by Seth Rogovoy (Everything Is Broken/Substack)

In his new memoir, Tom Werman looks back at his 3-decade career in the music industry (Berkshire Eagle)

Bridge Street Theatre’s mission is to bring forgotten ‘masterpieces to life.’ John Sowle believes ‘Sympathetic Magic’ is a perfect candidate (B Eagle)

The complex legacy of Thomas Cole (ATU)

James "Fergie" Chambers, speaking at a pro-Palestinian rally outside General Dynamics in Pittsfield last month. (Berkshire Eagle)

James ‘Fergie’ Chambers, Young Gun-Owning Antisemitic Multi-Millionaire, Threatens Harm in Great Barrington

(Berkshire Edge) ALFORD, Mass. - Over the past few days, via both his and the Berkshire Communists Instagram social media accounts, group leader James “Fergie” Chambers has made both anti-Semitic comments and threats towards Great Barrington residents. On Saturday, November 11, Chambers posted a story on his Instagram page, writing: “We need to start making people who support Israel actually afraid to go out in public." Read also, Pro-Palestine. Pro-Hamas. Berkshire landowner. Meet James 'Fergie' Chambers, in which Chambers explains, "“We are anti-weekender, anti-Zionist, anti-landlord, anti-racist, anti-Railroad Street, anti-Theory Wellness, anti-fake [food] ‘coops,’ anti-General Dynamics, Anti-Williams College, anti-Mass MoCA, anti-local being stuck in wage slavery and housing hell, anti-Amerikkka." (Berkshire Eagle)

READ MORE:

Environmental group seeks stricter protective measures for Pittsfield plant’s water discharge permit (Berkshire Edge)

Town leaders speak out against Housatonic Water Works’ proposed rate increase (B Edge)

Former Gov. Jane Swift, a Williamstown resident, says recovering from grief required grit, hope and faith (Berkshire Eagle)

Berkshire filmmaker’s documentary screened at the Statehouse as part of push for bill regulating benzodiazepines (B Eagle)

Meet Brooke Tame, the 25-year-old general manager who just bought the 200-year-old Knox Trail Inn in Otis (B Eagle)

A 1970s chalet abutting Jug End State Reservation in Egremont is demolished to protect the town's watershed. Former owner says it feels ‘like a death’ (B Eagle)

NEWS FROM THE HUDSON VALLEY

Ooms Conservation Area in Chatham is one of 10 public properties managed by the Columbia Land Conservancy

Preserving Columbia County Nature Not Just for Nature’s Sake

(ATU) by Tresca Weinstein , CHATHAM, N.Y. - Even on a drizzly fall afternoon, Ooms Conservation Area in Chatham is vibrant with color and life. A red oak glows in shades of burgundy beside the bright orange of a half-stripped maple. The goldenrod’s yellow blossoms have turned to furry, gray seed heads that rustle in tandem as the wind moves through. An osprey wheels over Sutherland Pond, the central feature of this 180-acre property, and alights in the grassland that provides habitat for bobolinks and monarch butterflies. Ooms is one of 10 public properties managed by the Columbia Land Conservancy, a nonprofit with the mission to bring people together to conserve, appreciate and enjoy the land of this region.

READ MORE:

Hochul pledges $2.5M to support FBI’s battle against antisemitism (HV360)

Local TV, film productions to resume after end of Hollywood strikes (ATU)

Lizzie Vann, Bearsville Center owner, plans to buy Woodstock Library site for a public park (Daily Freeman)

Albany Airport introduces facial recognition scanners for faster check-ins (ATU)

Hudson offers parking ticket amnesty until Dec. 31 (HV360)

National Grid replacing aging gas lines on 3 Hudson streets (HV360)

Columbia County gets $5.6M for economic development (HV360)

NYS funding recipients include Seventh Street Park, Hudson Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society, Hudson Hall, Union Street Brewing Co., Montgomery Street Projects LLC (to develop the former Kaz warehouse site as an arts and food hub) and Art Omi (GoR)

Windham Mountain’s upscale rebrand and $175K lifetime membership draw vitriol (ATU)

Outburst disrupts Hudson Common Council meeting, speaker escorted out by police (HV360)

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