The two most murderous tyrants in the twentieth century—Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler—received unexpected cooperation from their victims.
Confronted with the titanic crimes of their persecutors, millions of otherwise intelligent men and women couldn’t believe anyone—even Stalin or Hitler—could be so diabolically evil.
Millions of Jews knew that Hitler had made them pariahs in their own country, subject to arrest and deportation to eastern ghettos. Yet they refused to believe he intended to exterminate every trace of European Jewry.
Adolf Hitler
Similarly, millions of Russians knew that, under Stalin, untold numbers of innocent men and women had been arrested and much of Ukraine had been condemned to starvation through his forced collectivization policies. Yet they refused to believe that Stalin was responsible for this.
Surely, they felt, it was those around Stalin—such as Lavrenti P. Beria, the notorious chief of the secret police, the NKVD—who were responsible for such horrific crimes. “They don’t tell Stalin,” went the pathetic cry.
Joseph Stalin
But Russia and Germany are not the only countries where people refuse to accept the bitter truth about their leaders.
The vast majority of Americans believe that the United States is an “exceptional” nation whose leaders are guided by God. Mormons, for example, believe that the Constitution is a divinely-inspired document.
Thus, most Americans reject the idea that American politicians—especially those on the Right—could ever indulge in the sort of corruptions and atrocities of other world leaders.
On January 11, Iowa House Republicans introduced a bill to drastically eliminate the types of food available to people using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, SNAP provides food assistance to more than 41 million people with low or no income.
Under the proposed restrictions, the following staples would be forbidden:
- Fresh meats
- Flour
- Butter
- Cooking oil
- Frozen prepared foods
- Baked, refried or chili beans
- Sliced, cubed or crumbled cheese
- Salt
- Pepper
- Canned vegetables
- Fruit
- Soup
In lieu of fresh meats, Iowans would only be allowed to buy canned tuna or salmon.
The bill would also make it harder for needy persons to qualify for SNAP.
Families would be barred if they had more than $2,750, or $4,250 if someone with a disability or over the age of 60 lives in their family.
Ownership of only one vehicle would be allowed, thus excluding families with two cars.
“It’s almost like we’re trying to make sure that these people don’t get ahead,” said state Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell. “I think the job of SNAP is to try and lift people up while they’re down and try and help them get ahead, not take away what they already have, what little they have.”
Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley—who sponsored the bill—complained: “It’s these entitlement programs. They’re the ones that are growing within the budget and are putting pressure on us being able to fund other priorities.”
Pat Grassley
Those “other priorities” ignore the sharp rise in grocery prices owing to the conflict in Ukraine, climate change, the deadliest bird flu in American history, transportation costs and alleged supply chain disruptions.
Iowa isn’t alone in targeting SNAP. The GOP is doing so at a national level.
And yet there are those, even among the most ardent opponents of the proposed bill, who can’t believe the worst of the men supporting it.
One of these is Luke Elzinga, chair of the Iowa Hunger Coalition.
“I don’t think the 39 co-sponsors of this bill know just how restrictive this is, and that it would ban meat,” he said. “Under this bill, no ground beef, no chicken, no pork in the state of Iowa. I just can’t believe that they knew that was what it was when the bill was introduced.”
Of course they knew. That’s why they’re fiercely supporting this legislation.
Their support is grounded in history—the history of Nazi Germany.
On June 22, 1941, German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler sent three million soldiers smashing into the Soviet Union. During the first six months—June to December, 1941—German armies lured huge Soviet forces into gigantic “cauldron battles,” surrounding and exterminating them.
An estimated 5.7 million prisoners of war fell into German hands. The Germans found themselves surprised and overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of them. But their mandate demanded that they keep marching ever forward.
So they simply imprisoned their captives behind barbed wire and wasted no food or medical care on them. Between starvation, illness and the brutal Russian cold, at least 3.5 million POWs died in captivity.
Soviet POW’s
Republicans have learned a valuable lesson from this: If you simply deprive those you detest of food, clothing, shelter—and medical care—you don’t need gas chambers or firing squads. Or rigged vote-counts.
That’s why, to this day, Republicans are still trying to abolish “Obamacare”—the Affordable Care Act.
Yet Democrats are too naive and/or cowardly to publicly admit this.
Ironically, Democrats could learn a lesson from Ronald Reagan, who dared brand the Soviet Union as “an evil empire.”
His description of Soviet leaders now applies to those of his own party: “The only morality they recognize is what will further their cause, meaning they reserve unto themselves the right to commit any crime, to lie, to cheat.”
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IT WORKED FOR THE NAZIS; NOW REPUBLICANS WANT IT TO WORK FOR THEM
In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on November 5, 2025 at 12:10 amThe Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) now provides access to healthcare for more than 45 million Americans, who could not otherwise afford coverage.
The Act:
Yet since it won Congressional passage in 2010, Republicans have made 50-70 attempts to repeal, modify, or otherwise weaken the Act.
As a Presidential candidate and President, Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that he wants to replace it. But he’s never offered a credible substitute.
On September 10, 2024, in his only Presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, moderator Linsey Davis, of ABC News, asked him: “So tonight, nine years after you first started running, do you have a plan and can you tell us what it is?”
Trump’s reply: “I have concepts of a plan. I’m not president right now.”
On July 4, a re-elected Trump, backed by a Republican House and Senate, signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law. Its purpose: Significantly cut federal health programs to pay for tax reductions for billionaires.
The law primarily impacts Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and is projected to cause millions of Americans to lose health insurance coverage. The bill includes the largest cuts in Medicaid’s history, reducing funding by nearly $1 trillion over the next decade.
Democrats refused to support a temporary spending bill to fund the government unless Republicans reversed cuts to Medicaid and prevented health insurance premiums from rising at the end of the year.
Trump—and Congressional Republicans—refused. They also falsely claimed that Democrats wanted to give health coverage to illegal aliens.
So the Federal Government shut down on October 1. The shutdown continues into its 36th day—with no end in sight.
Why have Republicans relentlessly tried to end healthcare for the poor? Here are the publicized reasons:
Barack Obama
Now for the most important—and unpublicized—reason.
Like so much else in the Republican agenda, it is rooted in the goals and methods of the Third Reich.
On June 22, 1941, German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler sent three million soldiers smashing into the Soviet Union. During the first six months—June to December, 1941—German armies lured huge Soviet forces into gigantic “cauldron battles,” surrounding and exterminating them.
An estimated 5.7 million Russians became prisoners of the Wehrmacht. The Germans found themselves surprised and overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of them. But their mandate demanded that they keep marching ever forward.
So they simply imprisoned their captives behind barbed wire and wasted no food or medical care on them. Between starvation, illness and the brutal Russian cold, at least 3.5 million POWs died in custody.
Soviet POW’s
Republicans have learned a valuable lesson from this: If you simply deprive those you detest of food, clothing, shelter—and medical care—you don’t need gas chambers or firing squads. Or even rigged vote-counts.
No better proof of this could be given than the lying announcement made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on October 27:
“Senate Democrats have now voted 12 times to not fund the food stamp program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01.”
This is a lie. Trump is holding back access to a contingency fund of $5 to $6 billion for the SNAP program. The reason: To pressure Democrats into agreeing to gut healthcare programs for the poor.
SNAP provides food assistance to more than 42 million Americans with low or no income.
For Trump, Democrats can choose to provide the poor with food—or medical care.
The official Republican lie continued:
“We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats. They can continue to hold out for healthcare for illegal aliens and gender mutilation procedures or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive critical nutrition assistance.”
Most Americans—owing to naivety or historical ignorance—cannot accept that their Right-wing politicians can be as evil as those in other nations.
But they can—and are.
Those who depend on the government to provide access to food or medical care had better learn this truth quickly.
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