Are 24-hour traffic reports the modern equivalent of "the trains running on time"?

Marilyn forwarded a long message about how today's America seems to be taking on a fascist tinge. If you'd like to judge for yourself, this article offers a standard of comparison, 14 commonalities between Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Franco’s Spain, Salazar’s Portugal, Papadopoulos’s Greece, Pinochet’s Chile, and Suharto’s Indonesia to come up with the identifying characteristics of fascism. Getting a little close to home.