Like it Is... Deep Dives & Fascist Forecast

We’re back with another Fascist Forecast! Recorded on October 15th, we’re revisiting our predictions about the US midterm elections and looking at the state of play a few weeks out. Diana still think shit's gonna hit the fan on November 3rd, while Tina is suspicious but cautiously optimistic as per usual.

First off, the GOP is messing with individual candidates, which is no big surprise. Ilhan Omar has her home searched by federal authorities

• https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/14/ilhan-omar-phone-seized-relatives-subpoenaed

Republican operatives try to set up Tallarico but end up looking stupid:

• https://www.texastribune.org/2026/10/09/james-talarico-returns-to-campaign-trail-flu-austin-city-limits-senate/

• https://www.factcheck.org/2026/10/talaricos-campaign-trail-absence-sparks-false-rumor/

Kansas is re-opening the witch trials:

• https://newrepublic.com/post/216642/demonic-stuff-kansas-gop-accuses-democrat-witch

Meanwhile, the scenarios for how to mess with the midterms are laid out well in this special report:

• https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-election-midterms-scenarios/

But some of the scenarios have already come to pass. For instance, raiding voter rolls in Georgia:

• https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/politicizing-fbi-intimidate-voters

• https://www.axios.com/2026/07/31/fbi-voter-ip-address-investigation

• https://www.npr.org/2026/02/10/nx-s1-5710649/fulton-county-2020-election-affidavit-fbi

The DOJ attempting to sue for voter data throughout the country:

• https://projects.propublica.org/trump-doj-voter-data-lawsuits/

Trump’s executive order trying to block mail in voting, despite elections being a state’s issue:

• https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/09/trump-administration-asks-supreme-court-to-clear-the-way-for-it-to-implement-new-mail-in-voting-/

GOP efforts to rig votes through gerrymandering:

• https://www.reuters.com/world/us/how-republican-redistricting-gambit-faltered-under-trump-slump-2026-10-21/

These are all the efforts they’ve made in the run up to the election. The question now is what they’ll do the day of, and after.

Berlin has added 700+ pages to its laws governing policing, and a look inside is not reassuring. In fact its a grab-bag of failed predictive policing policies, AI, surveillance, and things we already know lead to racial profiling and human rights violations. In this deep dive, we’re getting into the new law and its implications for “danger zones” in Kreuzberg and Neukölln, its chilling effect on protest, and more. Here’s where to get additional background on the things we are talking about this episode:

• https://theleftberlin.com/berlin-enters-new-surveillance-era/

• https://www.heise.de/en/news/Berlin-Police-can-secretly-enter-homes-for-state-trojan-installation-11103284.html

• https://digitalrechte.de/news/palantir-beim-digitalgipfel-am-tisch-mit-merz-und-macron

• https://reclaimthenet.org/berlin-approves-new-expansion-of-police-surveillance-powers

We’re back with another Fascist Forecast! On Like it is...#61: Fog of War Crimes, which aired on March 28th, 2026, Diana and Tina both made 1 prediction. We’re not ready to call this prediction all the way yet, but the clouds are certainly gathering and the chances of coup weather seem to be increasing every day. Diana and Tina talk about how the US Supreme Court’s new ruling on racial gerrymandering is making the dreams of January 6th come true, and how this is making is update our predictions about how Trump may try to interfere with upcoming elections. Next radio show is Saturday, May 23rd on reboot.fm.

Learn more about what we talked about on this episode:

• https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/01/07/donald-trump-cancel-election/88062694007/

• https://time.com/7343696/trump-floats-cancelling-2026-elections/

• In Feb https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-says-hes-not-mulling-a-draft-executive-order-to-seize-control-over-elections-heres-what-we-know

• Newsom rightly big mad https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/newsom-says-trump-is-openly-calling-to-suspend-elections-in-ominous-democracy-warning/ar-AA22oFNl

Louisiana & The Supreme Court

• https://eu.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/2026/04/30/louisiana-governor-jeff-landryexpected-to-cancel-congressional-elections-after-supreme-court-ruling/89873077007/

• https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/29/politics/takeaways-supreme-court-voting-rights-act

• https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/30/supreme-court-voting-rights-ruling-explainer

• https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/30/has-the-us-supreme-court-weakened-the-voting-rights-act-and-how

What’s the VRA and what does this all mean for it?

• https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5858597-voting-rights-act-supreme-court-what-to-know/

• https://legalclarity.org/voting-rights-act-renewal-current-status-and-expiration/

• https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/the-history-and-legacy-of-the-voting-rights-act

Virginia

• https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/panicking-virginia-democrats-now-think-their-gerrymander-will-fail-in-court-triggering-infighting-report/ar-AA22swwD

• https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/virginia-redistricting-referendum-in-limbo-following-virginia-supreme-court-decision/ar-AA22nQLi

• https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/03/virginia-redistricting-april-election-poll-00857936

We're back with a new season of Deep Dives for subscribers! This season we'll be covering the AfD and the nation-wide democracy protests following a bombshell report on their secret plans to f*ck with German democracy, plus a host of elections for Germany, USA and European parliament. First up, we're reviewing the outcome of the Berlin repeat elections that took place on Feb. 11.

Here's some links that will help you find more about the topics we discussed on this episode.

• First off, to know what sparked nation-wide anti-AfD protests, check out this investigation from Correctiv (in German) about a secret meeting in Wannsee featuring AfD figures and funders alongside special guest, neo-nazi Martin Sellner (Banned in the UK!) https://correctiv.org/aktuelles/neue-rechte/2024/01/10/geheimplan-remigration-vertreibung-afd-rechtsextreme-november-treffen/

• For more insight into Sellner's plan to discourage voting by immigrants and the left, here's a loooong expose of his poisonously racist and incredibly stupid beliefs on the topic of the "ethnic vote" (warning: reading WILL make you dumber but it does flush out the AfD's evil intentions) https://sezession.de/60002/die-ethnische-wahl

• To understand Sunday's election, Berliner Morgenpost has an excellent interactive map of the voting outcomes by local voting district plus a rundown of the seats lost and who held on https://interaktiv.morgenpost.de/wiederholungswahl-berlin-2024/

• But why did the election get a re-do in the first place? Here's an explainer: https://www.dw.com/en/berlin-state-elections-declared-void-following-polling-chaos/a-63773961

• The AfD did so well that even imprisoned alleged neo-nazi terrorist Brigid got more votes than in her first run in Steglitz-Zehlendorf https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article250038388/Birgit-Malsack-Winkemann-Inhaftierte-AfD-Kandidatin-gewinnt-Stimmen-bei-Berlin-Wahl-dazu.html

• Stay tuned for more upcoming deep dives!

Our full interview with Die Urbane, where we get to hear their policies on art, drugs, migration, police and much more!

Our full interview with Raphael Hillebrand and Niki Drakos from Die Urbane. Eine HipHop Partei is out. In this longer interview we were able to go deep with them on the issues - including where they stand on drug decriminalization, #defundthepolice, migration, education and much more. We also dug into how their policy on the arts is meant to create a German culture that doesn't automatically translate into white culture, and the concept of a "maximal standard of living."

If the other parties are thinking about these issues, we haven't seen it so clearly articulated!

Stay up to date with Die Urbane by checking out their website, following them on instagram, or becoming a member. 

Finally our full behind-the-scenes interview with Leigh Haynes is out, and its well worth the wait! Haynes is a researcher in political  science at Ghent University where her work focuses on the power that  social movements can have in influencing health policy. Originally from  southeast Texas in the US she now lives in Brussels. Leigh is a long-time health activist with the People’s Health Movement,  advocating and organizing for the right to health around the world.  She’s also campaign manager for the Free the Vaccine for COVID-19  campaign which is part of the global People’s Vaccine Alliance demanding  that COVID-19 vaccines to be made available free for everyone,  everywhere.

Things referenced in the convo:

Bill Gates interview with NYT
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/15/opinion/sway-kara-swisher-bill-gates.html?showTranscript=1

NYT Opinion piece about Russia and Chinese vaccines
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/opinion/covid-vaccines-china-russia.html

Cuba selling the vaccines & using the money for social things
https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/cuba-develops-covid-19-vaccines-takes-socialist-approach/

A policy brief on the patent protection waiver proposal at the WTO
https://phmovement.org/policy-brief-on-proposed-trips-waiver/

You can follow Leigh on twitter: @leighkamore


Some other useful social media sources:
@uaem - Universities Allied for Essential Medicines
@right2cure
@PHMEurope
@peoplesvaccine
 

Also check out this video Leigh made about distrust of the vaccine for her home community of Jasper, Texas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvAm6Nh3zXM

The one year anniversary of the racist murder of Gökhan Gültekin, Sedat Gürbüz, Said Nesar Hashemi, Mercedes Kierpacz, Hamza Kurtović, Vili Viorel Păun, Fatih Saraçoğlu, Ferhat Unvar, Kaloyan Velkov in Hanau on February 19, 2020 took place this week. #SayTheirNames

This episode, which is part of a mini-series on Hanau, delves into what actually happened that night and gives insight into how other injured, families and friends, were treated by police and other authorities. Future episodes will look into what authorities knew about the perp before hand, why the numerous 911 calls weren’t picked up by police that night and much more.

Since February 2020, the Initiative 19. Februar was founded as a place to mourn, be in community and organize - a place for the family and friends of the victims. Their website is a great resource. Please consider donating to ensure this community has a place to mourn and be together.

Ferhat Unvar’s mother, Serpil Temiz Unvar, also founded an anti-racist educational organization in remembrance of her son. Check it out and donate.

We also recommend the German Spotify podcast 19 02 20 - Ein Jahr Nach Hanau (One Year After Hanau) and the German ARD documentary Eine Nacht und Ihre Folgen (One Night and it’s Consequences), both of which centres the voices of families and friends of the victims.

Ferhat Unvar was once quoted saying “Tod sind wir erst, wenn man uns vergisst.” (We are dead only if we are forgotten.) Gökhan, Sedat, Said Nesar, Mercedes, Hamza, Vili, Fatih, Ferhat,  and Kaloyan, you are not forgotten.

In this latest deep dive we are digging into the actions tech platforms took in the wake of the MAGA Insurrection, from banning Trump to kicking off users. Suddenly, white supremacists the world over awoke to find that they had lost tens of thousands of followers, or even themselves! What happened and is it good? Also: what happened with fascist “safe space” Parler?

Updates:

Information continues to emerge showing direct cooperation between congresspeople and the organizers of the insurrection, and another avenue emerges for ridding congress of the plotters: the 14th Amendment.

Mitch Mcconnell also seems to be signalling his willingness to support the cause of impeachment, but we don’t trust him.

Meanwhile, the fallout for law enforcement and military that participates in January 6 keeps coming, with veterans groups now kicking out members who went to the Capitol. As for the National Guard troops expected to guard the capitol for the inauguration, 12 have been removed after vetting, including two for connections to right wing extremism. Oh, ok.

And we found another funder: don’t buy Uline office supplies!

Notes and further reading from this episode:

NGO First Draft has a up-to-date comprehensive breakdown of each tech platform and how they responded to January 6. Its also links to the statements the companies made at the time.

As for Parler, here’s more information on why what donk_enby did wasn’t hacking, and why Parler’s digital security was a joke.

Some of the other resources we mentioned about Parler on the episode:

https://gist.github.com/Parler-Analysis/2c023fd2e053fba5bc85b09209f606eb

https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjpevv/archivists-parler-capitol-hill-crimes

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/parler-shutdown-future

https://projects.propublica.org/parler-capitol-videos/

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jan/19/parler-website-partially-returns-with-support-from-russian-owned-technology-firm

https://www.businessinsider.com/parlers-ceo-fled-his-home-after-receiving-death-threats-2021-1?r=DE&IR=T

What’s next for Big Tech? We’ll keep you posted in upcoming episodes!

Image remixed via Blink O'fanaye on Flickr. (CC BY-NC 2.0)

We're back! 

The world was stunned when a mob of rabid Trump supporters flooded the Capitol on Jan. 6th, attempting to overthrow the US election results. At Like It Is, we were not so stunned.

That's because we have been reporting on the far right and its increasing violent extremism for two years (check out our past episodes for LOTS of background.) In this, our first deep dive episode, we are starting a series on what happened at the US capitol - what we know, what we have warned about previously, and what is still unknown and needs to be investigated.

Episode 1: Infiltration Nation is free! In this episode we are discussing the police on the inside and the outside of the Capitol. Why were police so uniquely unprepared for this crowd? Why did some of them appear to help protesters? Were there any heroes? (YES! There were!)

On the outside, what was the deal with all the military equipment and badges warn by the insurrectionists? We will tell you what has already been learned about police officers taking part in putsch, and why it's what we have been raising the alarm about long before January.

In our next Deep Dives, we will discuss more aspects of the storming of the capitol, including the subsequent Big Tech Fascist Rapture, Who Funded the MAGA Mob, and Impeachment: Why? These episodes will be exclusively available to our Patrons at any level, so there has never been a better time to subscribe and help support anti-fascist international coverage.

This story is developing fast so be sure to tune in for our continuing coverage!

Notes/ Further reading from this episode:

Police departments across the U.S. open probes into whether their own members took part in the Capitol riot (WaPo)

Black officer seen risking his life to lead Capitol mob away from Senate chamber hailed as a hero (CBS)

Capitol Police:

-Letting protesters through gates and entrances 

-Taking selfies 

-And now, mere hours after we predicted they would find information that some evidence of infiltration by police, it was announced that 8 officers are under investigation for their possible participation.

More coming soon!

TITLE PICTURE:
Adapted from Blink O'fanaye on Flickr, (CC BY-NC 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/blinkofanaye/50817557187/