"If Fascism came to the United States it would come disguised as anti-Fascism."

In the 1920s and early 1930s, the Sturmabteilung (SA) were the military wing of the National Socialist German Workers' Party, that is better known by its abbreviation of Nazi Party. 

The SA gained control of the streets in Germany by beating up or killing anybody who they disagreed with. Many people excused their murderous behaviour because the SA were opposed to the "genocidal" communists.
They wore a uniform with a brown shirt. That is why they were called "Brownshirts", They chose brown-coloured shirts because a large number of them were cheaply available after World War I.

In the beginning, the National Socialists were social justice warriors for tens of millions of Europeans and Americans. They were going to redress the evil done to Germany at the end of the First World War and they were rabidly anti-capitalist.
The street-fighting SA were the main "socialist" group of the Nazis. They are categorized as Strasserites, as supporters of the ideas of Otto and Gregor Strasser. 
Their leader was Ernst Röhm, who saw the SA as the vanguard of the "National Socialist revolution". After the Nazis gained power he called for a second "socialist" revolution. 

Berkeley August 27, 2017. 
A mob of masked Antifa thugs dressed in black roamed Harvey Milk park, beating up anybody they disagreed with.
The mainstream media and many political and religious organizations have nurtured and empowered this violent mob behaviour, because they maintained it was directed against genocidal Nazis and white supremacists.
These thugs have been romanticized. Echoes of "¡No pasarán!"  and comparisons with the groups who fought the Fascists before the Second World War.

During the Antifa thug attacks in Harvey Milk park, a shocked James Queally of the LA Times tweeted the following: "There is a complete mob mentality here. People are randomly accusing random people of being Nazis." 
The tweet is naive at the very least. Anybody Antifa disagrees with is a "Nazi". That is the name of the game.

Antifa is only inclusive of people it agrees with. 
It is against hatred, except the hatred of anybody it does not agree with.
It objects to genocide, except the genocide of its enemies.
It bemoans the slaughter of 6 million Jews and supports organizations that call for the slaughter of 6.4 million (Israeli) Jews. 

"If Fascism came to the United States it would come disguised as anti-Fascism."

Goodbye America, thanks for the ride

When it comes to Americans, most Europeans I have met are snobs.

It may be jealousy, but lots of reasons are cited. I have heard that Americans are, among other things, brash, shallow, ignorant, flashy, loud, cultural philistines and gun-toting maniacs.  

The US has some pretty good wines, yet nobody I know buys them. No, they will say, they are not snobs. There are some very good Chilean and Argentinian wines that they do buy. It does not have to be French. It is just they cannot imagine that Coca-Cola drinking Americans can make good wine.

My Dutch acquaintances prefer a French film to an American one. Even though they usually speak good English and hardly any French.

It is a question of style. I think that is the most important reason for the European feeling of superiority: they think Americans have no style.

I used to speak up for Americans. You see, I liked America. I am an old-style social justice warrior weaned on "Shane"  and "The Lone Ranger".

I admired that wonderful constitution, drawn up by some of the greatest minds the world has ever known. I identified with the cowboy, the individual who stood up against evil. I thought American literature, music and art were among the best in the world. 
“Nighthawks” is my favourite painting.

Most of all, I loved American "film noir".

As a teenager I used to watch film noir on British television. I admired everything about the films: the dark and brooding atmosphere, the stories, dialogue, actors, actresses, and music. 
Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson and all those mysterious and seductive leading ladies. I fell in love with Rita Hayworth when I saw her in “Gilda”.
It was one long cultural joyride for me.

I got over Rita Hayworth and I have gotten over America.

It is now the land of psychic epidemics, mob media, zealots, foul-mouthed snowflakes and social justice bigots. It has become an intellectual desert.

Goodbye America, thanks for the ride.

Falling over a reminiscence: A Dirty English Jew

A Swiss hotel put up a notice telling their “Jewish guests” to use the (cold) showers before and after swimming in the pool. This created some consternation.

It also triggered a few old memories of mine.

When I was seventeen I decided to go to Israel and live on a kibbutz.

I had two major problems: No money and nowhere to go in Israel.

I solved both problems by tagging on to a Hashomer Hatzair youth group ("garin") from continental Europe that was going to kibbutz Magen. I was the only member from the British Isles.

Hashomer Hatzair paid my train and ship fare and I even received some pocket money.

I had to spend a few weeks on a “training” farm near Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire. The caretakers of the farm were a young Israeli couple who had a baby daughter.

All I can remember about them is that they were nondescript and short. He had a moustache and she was plumpish and wore tight jeans.

Hashomer Hatzair had few members in England so I was the only trainee there. I slept in a dormitory near the chickens. The caretakers had a small house.

All I did was shovel chicken shit.

Sometimes there were visitors. One who turned up for a few days, was a Dutch member of my European group. He was the first person I met from the group. We later became good friends in Israel and worked together with the sheep.

He was tall and blond. The Israeli wife used to get all bleary-eyed in his presence. Coquettish grins and constantly stroking her hair.

He confided in me that he was banging her up on the side, which was the real reason he was passing through.

Sometimes the couple would invite me around to watch television in the evening. The wife had one rule that I had to comply with: I was not allowed to use their toilet. She thought that the English were very dirty, especially teenage English males. 
She was worried about getting diseases from the dirty English, who wallowed in befouled water when taking a bath and never took showers.

For this Israeli woman I was a dirty English Jew.