It is genuinely hard for me to adequately describe what a loathsome reactionary piece of human dogshit California Governor Gavin Newsom is, but that bastard is apparently working full time to force me to keep coming up with new ways to say it. In today's example of why fascism and fascist repression is not restricted to Republicans in American political life, the Democrat leader and potential presidential nominee of the future is now threatening to cut funding to California counties that refuse to enact the dystopian homeless encampment sweep policies he recently legalized in the state by executive order:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/gavin-newsom-homeless

Newsom Threatens to Defund California Counties That Don't Clear Homeless Encampments

"Buoyed by the right-wing U.S. Supreme Court's recent City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson ruling—which was welcomed by Newsom and other Democratic leaders like San Francisco Mayor London Breed who filed amicus briefs in the case—the governor issued an executive order last month directing officials to clear out homeless encampments, which have proliferated amid rampant economic inequality and stratospheric housing prices in the nation's most populous state.

After taking part in a Thursday sweep of an encampment in Mission Hills in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley, Newsom declared: "I want to see results... If we don't see demonstrable results, I'll start to redirect money."

At this point I'm not rightly sure what it will take to make people realize that Gavin Newsom is objectively a fascist shitbag who doesn't view unhoused people as human beings worthy of dignity, respect, or even life for that matter. We're talking about a man who actively championed and cheered on a 6-3 fascist high SCOTUS ruling that criminalized the existence of homeless people; folks victimized, through no real fault of their own, by a larger housing crisis caused by capitalist predation. Furthermore, this same man then used that fascist ruling to enact an executive order authorizing cruel and inhumane homeless encampment sweeps that don't solve any problems and just destroy the lives of some of the most marginalized people in our society; that sick son of a bitch is even participating in the homeless sweeps himself directly and turning that participation into photo-ops for a broader (yes, fascist) political campaign. Not satisfied with merely enabling and encouraging fascism however, Newsom is now using his control of the California state budget to literally force communities to comply with his fascist policies targeting unhoused people, or risk losing state funding for their refusal to do so.

Please keep in mind that this is all happening in California, a state with a Democratic Party supermajority where politicians, including Gavin Newsom, frequently decry the GOP's descent into overt (instead of covert) fascist ideology and policy positions. And for what purpose? Both the entire history of state anti-homeless repression, and literally every single credible study of the housing crisis indicates that homeless encampment sweeps and criminalizing the unhoused does absolutely nothing to solve the problem of homelessness in our society whatsoever; in fact, all these draconian policies rooted in fascist ideology about worthy and unworthy human beings in our communities do is immiserate and even kill unhoused people. Newsom is actively enacting cruelty and carceral punishment, even forcing fascist policy on California communities, simply for some photo-ops and so bougie pricks can feel that "something is being done" to "clean up" their streets - as if unhoused people are simply human refuse to be "swept" away by murderpigs with garbage trucks.

The inarguable truth here is that the only state-level solution for these problems is to provide direct financial support for unhoused people, and to build more affordable housing in California, or literally anywhere else in the Pig Empire for that matter. It also wouldn't hurt to address the predations of capitalist society that are working overtime to reduce so many labor class people to poverty for the profit of an already rich ruling class that really doesn't need any more money, either. But those solutions are hard, cost money, and require some degree of human decency and compassion, so Newsom would rather just "sweep" unhoused people under the rug while directing state funds to the carceral machine he's using to crush marginalized homeless people and destroy their lives. You'd have to ask Governor Newsom why he prefers the cruelest, most inhumane, and least effective option here but what I *can* tell you is that fascists are people who enact fascist policies to enforce unequal hierarchies that benefit the powerful few, at the cost of the disempowered many. If it walks like a duck, it probably is a duck, and that means it's not unfair at all to call Governor Newsom a fucking fascist.

#USPol #Unhoused #EncampmentSweeps #California #Fascism #Newsom

Literally the *only* story I'm going to share about the goddamn Olympics:

U.S. Rugby player Ariana Ramsey found out athletes get free healthcare in the Olympic Village and immediately booked a bunch of appointments for routine services many Americans living under our dystopian private healthcare regime simply can't afford:

https://www.si.com/olympics/american-athletes-taking-full-advantage-of-free-healthcare-olympic-village-france

"Like, what?” she said in a post on TikTok describing her new discovery: The Olympic Village offers free healthcare.

The United States, of course, does not. So in the days following her victory, Ramsey made appointments with the Village gynecologist, dentist and ophthalmologist. According to the Paris 2024 organizing committee, the Village also offers cardiology, orthopedics, physiotherapy, psychology, podiatry and, of course, sports medicine—all at no cost to the athletes. (Paralympic athletes will also have access to dermatology.)"

The best part of the story is that Ramsey not only convinced a bunch of other U.S. Athletes to take advantage of the program, but after realizing how beneficial having access to free healthcare is, she's decided to become an advocate for Universal Healthcare in America.

On a personal level and as someone who has spent time in multiple countries that offer free healthcare to their citizens, I honestly cannot stress how much it improves not only health outcomes, but also quality of life for labor class people; from increasing your lifespan, to freeing workers from dependence on bad employers just to keep their health insurance, this is one social policy that has ripples throughout almost every aspect of the lives of everyday people. And it says a LOT about the priorities of the American ruling class that they'd do almost anything to keep you from having access to universal healthcare.

#UniversalHealthcare #USPol #Capitalism #Olympics