Link Bundle: Republicans and Bigotry

The tabs in my browser have been building up since 2019, and this is the only way I can seem to curb my tab-hoarding, so...

Republicans in Indiana decided there needed to be a hate crimes law... but not one that covers racism or homophobia.

Elected GOP official backs white supremacy, part 1.  (This guy has since been promoted from Raleigh to Washington.)

Elected GOP official backs white supremacy, part 2. (Josh Hawley is notorious for this.)

Elected GOP official backs white supremacy, part 3. (Why did you THINK so many people loved Reagan?)

Elected GOP official backs white supremacy, part 4. (Fifty-one of them, to be more accurate.)

Elected GOP official backs white supremacy, part 5. (What? You thought I was going to skip Trump? The dude tried to incorporate Nazi insignia into his 2020 campaign. And Tom Cotton is even worse than Hawley, believe it or not.)

Elected GOP official backs white supremacy, part 6.

Elected GOP official backs white supremacy, part 7. This article was written by my neo-Confederate US Representative at the time. My current one is just as bad.

Elected GOP official backs white supremacy, part 8.  (He didn't resign. He did, however, lose his re-election campaign, although getting prosecuted for embezzlement might have had something to do with that.)

Elected GOP official backs white supremacy, part 9. (This one is still there.)

Cops are bigots, part 1. 

Cops are bigots, part 2.

Cops are bigots, part 3.

Cops are bigots, part 4. (And for the record, I bought into the Acevedo hype at the time. More fool I.)

Cops are bigots, part 5. (What kind of people did you THINK the ICE would attract?)

Cops are bigots, part 6. Continued.

Cops are bigots, part 7. Yes, even cops of color. The training, the culture, and the weeding out of good cops guarantees it.

To be fair, cop-killers are ALSO bigots.

Just because the Kochs are fundraising against Trump now doesn't mean they don't still back white supremacy.

And by now it should be no surprise that "libertarian" tech-bros are RABIDLY racist.

Right-wingers lie to promote hate, part 1. (This is basically Ben Shapiro's whole thing.)

Right-wingers lie, part 2 (although the article writer gives Milton Friedman far more benefit of the doubt than I do).

Right-wingers lie, part 3.

But don't blame Republican officials: bigotry is the very core of American conservatism. It may be getting worse right now, but this is the way it has always been. And you can't say you were not warned.

Even though the Republican voting base will deny it.

 I'm only halfway through my tabs, but I have things I need to do today, so this is where I have to stop.

Link Bundle: This Is Capitalism

 All of these links are about capitalism working as the capitalists intend it should.

 Toys R Us was murdered. And its final CEO got paid big bucks to mismanage other things to death. (I just did a Google on the guy; apparently he's taken his money and run, for now.)

The people who killed Toys R Us also did in Gymboree, among other places, stealing severance pay to give the CEO a nice golden parachute.

In America it's illegal to require that financial advisors not steal you blind.

 In terms of paid time off, medieval peasants had it much better than the average American, who is too terrified of losing their job to voluntarily take time off. 

A reminder that Ayn Rand is still killing people- and companies- and even countries. But what do you expect from someone whose biggest hero was a murderer?

 More of corporations literally killing people and facing zero criminal liability.

Capitalists don't even want you to be able to own the things you buy. And the housing you rent? The poorer you are, the more you're being overcharged.

 Payment services want a cut from both sides of every transaction, even if and when it's bogus and refunded. 

Building too-big-to-fail megacorporations, especially in finance, is a bipartisan effort.

A reminder that conservatives believe a profit today is worth the whole damn company tomorrow. 

Even those charged with the spiritual care of the people squeeze them shamelessly.

And with all this dough they're pocketing, the ultra-rich still insist only the little people should pay taxes. Because economic stimulus. (Hint: that's bullshit.)

Meanwhile, the people they've crushed are scarred for life, physically and mentally, by the effects of poverty.

 

 

 

Old Link Bundle: More Trumpiness

 My tabs are REALLY piling up...

A reminder that Trump has been using government agents to target opposition protests long before the current BLM protests.

"Mr. Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it," 2019 style.

And again. And again.

Remember, Trump's cabinet is just as corrupt and incompetent as he is.

 Reminders that Trump wants to shut down all immigration except rich white people permanently, law be damned: here, here.

Reminders that Trump loves him some white supremacist terrorists: here, here.

Reminders that Trump is himself a white supremacist: here, here. And that he surrounds himself with white supremacists and does nothing about them: here.

Trump on health care: let the corporations run wild, stick you with the bill. Hell, he even wants that to be the case in England.

Reminders that Trump is wholly corrupt not just morally but financially: here, here.

Reminder that Trump believes it's all right for him to make doing his job conditional on electoral support: here. 

Reminders that Trump's tax plan was designed specifically only to benefit people like himself: here, here.

Reminders that Trump uses his power to deliberately cover up his own scandals: here, here.

Reminders that Trump hates the poor: here, here, here.

Reminders that Trump is loading the federal courts with bigots and corrupt dealers wholly unqualified for their roles: here.

Reminder that Trump is absolutely incompetent at foreign policy: here. 

Reminder that Trump believes loyalty goes only one way: here.

Reminder that there is zero evidence that Trump will relinquish power voluntarily: here.

And, finally, reminders that Republicans and conservatives won't lift a finger to stop Trump: here. 

Because they had the chance to stop Trump once, for these reasons, and for others, and chose not to.

Because Trump is exactly what Republicans, as a group, are.

Beware Fake Police "Reform"

The police department of Arlington, Texas is the latest to circulate what is almost word for word a common "we're listening" statement given by police departments to cool the anger of protesters against endemic brutality, racism, and impunity in law enforcement.

The Arlington Police Department believes that the agency is consistent with adherence to these policy recommendations. The department has provided the most up-to-date Use of Force policy to the organizers of this project so that the city section can be updated to reflect this belief on their website. As a reference point, the department has disseminated this social media graphic to the public to raise awareness on this topic.

 What follows is a list of measures that purport to comply with the set of demands collectively called "8 Can't Wait." However, looking at the post (an image on Facebook, hence no link), I'm dubious. I see weasel words all through this. Let me explain.

The headers all refer to the eight points of "8 Can't Wait", but each of them adds qualifiers or other conditions that make each item meaningless.
 

1. BAN CHOKEHOLDS & STRANGLEHOLDS

Our department does not train on chokeholds or strangleholds. The use of the vascular neck restraint has been elevated to deadly force on the use of force continuum.

 "Our department does not train on chokeholds" is a meaningless statement, because not training on chokeholds does not mean officers won't use them. In fact, by keeping chokeholds, or "vascular neck restraint", on the use of force continuum under "deadly force" (more on that later), it REMAINS AN OPTION, because police are permitted to use lethal force.

Also, thing to remember: Minneapolis banned chokeholds years ago.

2. REQUIRE DE-ESCALATION

Employees shall use de-escalation techniques and other alternatives to higher levels of force consistent with department training whenever possible and appropriate before resorting to force and to reduce the need for forces.

The weasel phrase is, "whenever possible and appropriate." Who decides if it is appropriate? The cop on the scene. Far from being a requirement, this is a suggestion which can be waved aside by the simple lie, "I thought he was gonna pull a gun."

3. REQUIRE WARNING BEFORE SHOOTING

Our policy requires officers to issue a verbal warning, whenever reasonably safe to do so, prior to using deadly force against an individual.

"Whenever reasonably safe to do so." In other words, another judgement call left entirely up to the cop on the scene. This is no requirement, either.

4. EXHAUST ALL OTHER MEANS BEFORE SHOOTING

Our policy has de-escalation protocols in place. Our policy limits the authority to use deadly force when they reasonably believe it is necessary to protect any human life from immediate danger of death or serious bodily injury.

"When they reasonably believe it necessary." Again, up to the cop.

5. DUTY TO INTERVENE

Our policy requires employees to intervene to prevent or stop the use of excessive force by another employee when it is safe and reasonable to do so.

"When it is safe and reasonable to do so." So, if cop B is scared of cop A, nothing will be done.

Also: Minneapolis already had a "duty to intervene" regulation in place. Didn't save George Floyd.

6. BAN SHOOTING AT MOVING VEHICLES

Our policy states that officers shall not discharge a firearm at or from a moving vehicle. Exceptions include when the suspect is using deadly force against the officer(s) or others, and the exigency to stop the threat outweighs the potential risks involved.

First, this was implemented by most law enforcement agencies DECADES ago. But even here, there's a gigantic loophole: "Exceptions include when the suspect is using deadly force." In most jurisdictions a moving vehicle can be considered a lethal weapon. So far from banning shooting at moving vehicles, this item all but GRANTS PERMISSION to do it.

7. REQUIRE USE OF FORCE CONTINUUM

Our policy provides for de-escalation where appropriate and includes a use of force continuum.

"We have a policy." Yes, because having a policy is the exact same thing as taking action.

A use of force continuum is, in fine, an explanation of how much force a cop is allowed to use in what circumstances. It's a thing practically ALL law enforcement agencies have. It's meant to be in basic police training. Add to this the weasel phrase "where appropriate", and this is just window dressing.

8. REQUIRED COMPREHENSIVE REPORTING

Our policy requires written electronic reports to be completed before the end of the employee's shift related to force. There is a multi-level supervisor review to ensure employee's compliance with policy and department expectations.

Uh huh.

Last week the Louisville police department released the official incident report of the no-knock raid that ended with the death by perforation of Breonna Taylor. The document was practically blank. Under "injury to suspect," the cops actually had the gall to write, "none." Obviously the cops there weren't afraid to lie on paper or just skive off on the paperwork.

But let's say, unlike Louisville, Arlington does actually write the reports. Who is going to review them? Nobody but OTHER COPS. That's what "multi-level supervisor review" means: the precinct captain and like that.

And that last point cuts to the heart of why this is a sick joke. Nowhere- ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE- in this drivel is one word about holding accountable police officers who break these rules. And that accountability is the whole point of the protests. That accountability is the only way we have to ensure these rules are being followed and that the "bad apples" are getting thrown out.

And that accountability isn't there because the police explicitly don't WANT it to be there.

Firing officers who use excessive force? Nope.

Ending, or even reducing, qualified immunity? Not a peep.

And that's why police departmenrts across the country are rushing to embrace "8CantWait"- because it requires them to change NOTHING. They get their gold star, teacher pats them on the head, and they go right back out to the playground and resume kicking heads in.

8CantWait is a joke. No reform can work unless the cops who resist reform- those who turn a blind eye, who forge reports, who shout, "HE'S GOT A GUN!" etc.- can be fired and permanently banned from wearing a badge ever again. 8CantWait doesn't even pretend to offer that.

Demand more.

Nerf The Police.

It's Not Just Trump: GOP Link Bundle

A reminder that there's a lot more evil in the Republican Party than just Trump...

A reminder that over a hundred GOP representatives backed the end of Net Neutrality... but none opposed it. (And bonus reminder: they generated millions of fake pro-repeal comments to astroturf support for the repeal.)

Paul Ryan, former Speaker of the House, and all around Ayn Rand worshipping, Social Security cutting asshole.

The Republican Party is the party of choice for modern white supremacists arming for civil war- and they have the help of elected Republicans

Nepotism? It's the conservative way.

In Arkansas, they expect poor students to make bricks without straw

This despite the fact that studies show students learn better when they don't have to worry about where their next meal is coming from.

Republicans see no problem in taking a public good and making it literally private property.

Money, blackmail and corruption- business as usual if you want to be Trump's toady.

Steven Menachi, white nationalist and homophobe, is a federal appeals justice now not just because Trump appointed him, but because fifty-one Republicans endorsed him. And he's not even remotely alone.

Republicans will admit that their leader committed crimes... and then acquit him.

And, finally, a reminder that, if these trends are not reversed, our fate will be that of the Weimar Republic.

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Link Bundle: Democractic 2020 Race

ELIZABETH WARREN:

... calling out the Democrats who voted to deregulate Wall Street.

... has the momentum, seemingly winning debate after debate.

... is absolutely right on justice reform.

... is going after the 0.1% hoards of wealth.

... "I don’t understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United States just to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for."

BERNIE SANDERS:

... brushing up on his foreign policy chops.

... made the mistake of going on s Fox News town hall... and still emerged triumphant.

PETE BUTTIGIEG:

... has a tin ear when it comes to the demands of Black Lives Matter.

... has gone from being young and friendly to being white and angry.

ANDREW YANG:

... vote for him because Trump's fat...? I guess?

BETO O'ROURKE:

... got an endorsement from a Congresswoman who thought Nancy "Big Donors Call the Shots" Pelosi was too far to the left. And also a few other blue dog Dems. Which is interesting, because as his recent call for banning and confiscating assault rifles shows, he's not nearly as much of a centrist as he makes out.

... is still not liberal enough for a lot of Texans who worked for him in 2018.

JOE BIDEN:

... falls well short on climate change policy.

... preaches the merits of compromise and bipartisanship, despite the blatantly obvious.

... seriously, the completely fucking obvious.

... so obvious there are people who think Biden is only playing dumb.

... has ex-Republicans like David Brooks rooting for him.

... keeps finding new ways to shoot himself in the foot.

... cries crocodile tears for how he treated Anita Hill when presiding over Clarence Thomas's Supreme Court hearings.

... is still the leading choice of black Democratic primary voters, despite having built his entire career on anti-black policies.

... has a pair of Billy Carters, his brother and his son, who have traded on Joe's political career (incompetently) their whole lives, and whose wheeling and dealing are just waiting to embarrass him in the general election.

And, finally:

BILL AND HILLARY CLINTON:

... need to just go away.

Link Bundle: Things Trump Has Been Doing

... when he's not extorting money and election favors from other countries, that is.

He's also arranging sweetheart deals with foreign countries for businessmen who are members of his resorts.

He's trying to cover up or deny his scheme to pay off and silence his mistresses.

He's pocketing millions in cash when Republicans hold events at his hotels and resorts, even when the rooms aren't actually slept in by anybody.

He's embarrassing America on his trips abroad.

He's blocking members of the International Criminal Court from entering the US and freezing their assets here.

His tax cuts are lining his pockets (and those of other billionaires) while utterly failing to create jobs.

And while he's helping billionaires get richer, he's looking for new ways to make the poor poorer.

In fact, he's considering creating concentration camps for the homeless.

He's looting other programs (including support for our soldiers) and violating the Constitution and the express will of Congress in order to fund a wall that won't work.

He's blocking data collection on climate change.

He's protecting carcinogenic, nerve-damaging pesticides which almost all other civilized countries have banned.

He's helping protect violent white supremacists by blaming mass shootings on the political left.

He uses workers as political props.
 
He runs the White House like a mafia family don.

And, just as a reminder, he successfully obstructed justice by suborning perjury and withholding of evidence and interfering in the Mueller investigation. And although proving it in court will be almost impossible, it's all but certain he made himself a pawn of Russian intelligence.

And he's willing to do absolutely anything- even destroy the American republic- to avoid the consequences.

In this struggle, he will have the total support of most elected Republicans... and virtually all Republican voters.

Link Bundle: Prejudice

Well, I have too many tabs on my laptop web browser, so let's clean them up. I think I can get a bunch of them off just by picking those involving racism and bigotry...

A reminder that modern day conservatives use religious liberty as an excuse to defend bigotry and discrimination... if they bother to require any excuse at all.

Reminders that conservatives only believe in free speech if it's speech that upholds white supremacy. Otherwise, if you speak out against injustice and for equality, they want you dead.

Reminders that our judicial system itself is built on racial bias.

Reminder that Eisenhower, yes, was quite thoroughly racist.

Reminder that, for Trump and his cronies, even legal immigrants must be purged. And, eventually, native born citizens that the conservatives don't like.

Reminder that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is an organization out of control, violating our most basic freedoms at will.

Reminder that conservatives still believe women are property.

Reminder that the party of Lincoln now believes the South should have won the Civil War.

Reminder that there will always be members of a persecuted group who pretend that their persecutors actually like them.

Reminder that, when a system is biased, a computer programmed to follow that system will also be biased.

Reminder that conservatives are working to prevent non-whites from voting at all costs.

Reminder that Trump and his followers are willing to waste money and make America less safe in order to advance nakedly racist goals.

Reminder that "Go back where you came from" has always been racist.

Reminder that, in America, "normal" is defined as "straight white man".

Reminder that racism is alive and well in our schools.

And, finally, reminders that our current administration has no interest whatever in serving any American who isn't white.

I didn't get to watch the Democratic debates last week, and I might not have done so even if I hadn't been working. I get too damn angry.

But I read tons about the coverage, and cheered retroactively when Joaquin Castro called out Beto O'Rourke for being an empty suit and when Kamala Harris went after Joe Biden for being a big fat phony. And I cheered louder when both the Republican-loving centrists responded by doubling down on their bullshit.

And yet, to me at least, the only important thing about the debates was: would they change people's minds?

Well, FiveThirtyEight did some polling on that very subject through Morning Consult, and I'm using their article as the foundation for this list: Three Winners, Three Losers, Three Meh.

So, beginning with the obvious:

WINNER #1: KAMALA HARRIS

Well, duh. Harris's campaign was suffering a pretty significant failure to launch. Harris has serious issues- her career as a prosecutor and attorney general protecting crooked cops and upholding wrongful convictions, attacking sex workers and transgender people, and being such a ruthless drug warrior that all her Republican opponents in California RAN TO HER LEFT. But the biggest issue is her comparative lack of traction with black voters, whose single biggest priority in choosing a candidate is that mythical creature, "electability". More on that point in a bit.

Harris went into the debate knowing she had to go big to break out of the second digits- and she did. She realized something few candidates understood, but which Reagan and Trump used to their advantage: breaking debate rules never hurts the person doing it. She went straight for Biden's jugular, putting him on the defensive for much of the night. When she wasn't on Biden, she was presenting her case, getting her full message out and daring the moderators to do anything about it.

As a result, according to Morning Consult, Harris's support DOUBLED after the debate, effectively tying her with Sanders for second place behind Biden. She's now firmly established as a top-tier candidate. She used the moment to make herself look more electable... and Biden much less electable.

WINNER #2: JOAQUIN CASTRO

Speaking of failure to launch... Joaquin Castro probably wishes he'd run for Senate in 2018. If he had, he'd probably be in the top tier right now himself. Instead, his staying on the sidelines and remaining virtually unknown outside Texas (and not especially loved even here in Texas) plus his comparatively late launch dropped him square in the 1% pack.

Until the first debate, where he provided the moment of the evening by tearing into Beto O'Rourke on immigration- the closest thing O'Rourke has to a signature issue. Castro utterly destroyed O'Rourke's credibility on the issue, and at the same time demonstrated that, unlike a certain three-term Congressman, he actually knew the laws. It wasn't enough to put him in the top tier, but his performance probably keeps him on the stage for the next debates.

WINNER #3: MICHAEL BENNETT

No, he wasn't in either debate last week.

Yes, he's still below 1% support in the polls. 

But he more than doubled his support according to Morning Consult, and much of his competition in the sub-1% candidates discredited themselves in the debates. The door has opened a crack, if he can lever it open wider to get his chance in the next round of debates. If he qualifies for the debates, he'll go in without the baggage of a poor performance in the first debate. By not getting bloodied, he counts as a winner here.

LOSER #1: ELIZABETH WARREN

Yeah, this is the real controversial one. Warren was the undisputed winner of the Wednesday night debate. She demonstrated her policy chops, her stump skills, and her (dare I say it?) presidential mien. According to Morning Consult, out of twenty debaters, she is the only one whose unfavorable rating went DOWN after her debate performance. And according to Huffington Post / YouGov, she had the highest overall gains in favorability and "electability" of any candidate in the debate. So why do I call her the loser?

Because her gains were almost totally wiped out by Harris's performance the following night, that's why.

The thing about "favorable" and "unfavorable" in polling is this: you can really, really like Candidate X and still vote for Candidate Y instead. 

Warren had the deep misfortune to be put on the first night, which turned out to be the undisputed "undercard" ticket. Her performance, solid as it was, was forgotten because a new circus came along the next day, with bigger names, and left something else as the last thought in potential voters' minds. As a result, despite what by all reports was an epic debate performance, Warren's actual support in the fundamental question- who would you pick for the Democratic nominee for President?- barely rose at all. In fact, Harris passed her by. 

The question for Warren is: can she find another opportunity to shine, one where she won't get overshadowed almost instantly? Stay tuned...

LOSER #2: JOE BIDEN

Obviously. 

When Harris went after Biden on his record on racial issues, not only did Biden not apologize or explain, he doubled down on his record. And that record doesn't really bear close examination. Older voters of color will tend to give him a pass, not so much because he was Obama's VP but rather because they're comparing Biden to the other options from forty years ago. Even if he didn't walk the walk, he talked the talk, and that was about all they could expect back then. 

But times have changed, and for the most part Biden hasn't. He's still at best a clueless bungler- as witness his response to one of Chuck Todd's idiotic group questions, when he said his first priority once he was in the White House would be "defeating Trump". (News flash: if Biden ever makes it into the Oval Office again, Trump will already have been defeated.) 

Again, I didn't watch the debate, but by all reports Biden's sole strategy was to hammer on "beat Trump, beat Trump", and avoid any substantative talk about what Biden would actually do. As a result, Joe came off as a befuddled old man without substance whose only rationale for the nomination boils down to, "Because it's my turn now."

The sad thing is, that often works in the Democratic Party... and every time Dems obey it, they lose. 

Biden's still the leader for the moment, but his support dropped by almost one-quarter after the debate... and right now he's still on the stump explaining why he was right and Harris is wrong. If we're lucky, the self-destruct machine that killed Biden's first two runs for president is full steam ahead.

LOSER #3: BETO O'ROURKE

He was white. He was male. Hispanics loved him. He almost unseated an ultra-conservative Republican in a red state. And he was the most successful fundraiser of 2018. So naturally he was expected to be a top Democratic contender in 2020.

Unfortunately for him, the Wednesday debate showed the world that his 2018 achievements weren't so much due to his own skills or positions as they were to hatred of Ted Cruz. Far from being a wunderkind, he turned out to be an empty suit with only two platform planks: "stop Donald Trump" and "make nice with the other Republicans". 

And Joe Biden's already sewn up that path, if it exists. 

After Castro destroyed him Wednesday night, O'Rourke's support crumbled. He's gone from second tier down into the 1% pack, and the odds are he won't climb back out again. In fact, if he abandons his presidential run and declares for US Senate against John Cornyn, he might not even win the nomination- a couple of strong Democrats are already in that race. 

It's a long time until Iowa votes, but the odds are, O'Rourke's shooting star has flamed out.

MEH #1: BERNIE SANDERS

By all reports, Sanders was just kind of there on the state Thursday night. He contributed a few sound bites, he declared his opposition to private health insurance (a position this writer shares, by the way), and... that's about it. He didn't do much attacking, and nobody much attacked him. Meanwhile, Warren and Harris were having their moments. 

As a result, Sanders is more or less where he was before the debates- in a close race for second behind Biden. He'll have to do a lot better if and when he and Warren are on the same stage... because 16% isn't going to win any nomination.

MEH #2: PETE BUTTIGIEG

Buttigieg turned in a reasonable performance in the debate... except that his big moment was admitting his complete and total failure in race relations as a small-city mayor. He was given all the attention any top-tier candidate could ask for, and he failed to convert it into gains- to the extent that, after Thursday night, his support was actually slightly lower than before Wednesday night. Polls show he's seen as a bit more likeable after the debates... but apparently not more electable. 

And meanwhile, the unrest in his city continues to build... and Pete continues to be without answers.

MEH #3: THE REST OF THE PACK

Joaquin Castro was the only 1%er to break out in any way. The rest of the also-rans stayed right where they were. Eric Swalwell got a moment to demand more attention to climate change. Andrew Yang got to complain the next day that his microphone didn't work. Marianne Williamson became Twitter's favorite punching bag for a day. Hickenlooper tried to persuade Democrats that they should become Republican-lite. And- to no great surprise- nobody much cared. 

Castro might make the case that the also-rans deserved time on the stage, but the others confirmed that they DON'T. Experience isn't enough. Ideas aren't enough. The simple fact is, if you're running for president, you have to bring a substantial pre-existing support base with you. 

"Electability" is a myth... but Democratic base voters sure as hell believe in it. You have to give them a damn good reason to think you can win in the general election before they'll even consider you. Most of the people on the debate stages failed to do that... and, as a result, their support remains at 1% or lower, where it will likely remain until they drop out.

SUPER BONUS LOSER: CHUCK TODD

Seriously. The man should never be allowed to moderate anything ever again. How he retains a job as the boss of NBC News's political coverage is an eternal mystery.

Laptop tab clearance...

Well, a browser crash cleaned out my desktop tabs for me quite some time ago, but my laptop browser is slowing down under the weight of tabs, so let's clear some out...

A reminder that white supremacists will say or do anything to strike at their enemies. They don't care about justice or law except where it serves their ends.

NBC and Weinstein: Rich white men look after their own.

A glimpse in the mind of President Used Car Salesman.

What the two previous articles have in common. Simply put, we enable abusers in America.

Another thing Trump and Weinstein have in common: organized and criminal cover-ups of their wrongdoing.

Glimpses into the minds of people who, despite all the evidence, despite everything, still support Trump. And the reaction other people have to those people.

ALL OF THIS. And more, probably. Republican policies are intended to concentrate wealth and crush the poor... and Democrats have failed to provide any serious pushback, never mind policies that would actually fix the problem. (And no, job training is NOT a solution, not when you're training people to compete with China and India and when the jobs in question will never come to the people being trained.)

And this is WHY Democrats have no answers: their leadership is filled with the same kind of people who are squeezing the rest of us.

Yet another chapter in the politicization of the bench. Electoral politics have no place in a courtroom NONE. (This judge will be on the bench until at least 2021, by the way.)

Burger King says no to bullying... sandwiches.

Fascism spreading around the world...

Yet another reminder that when a conservative says "voter fraud", what they mean is, "only wealthy white men should vote." (And incidentally, this isn't the only con game Kris Kobach is involved in.) (Not that he's the only Republican blocking people from voting...nor is this in any way a recent development...)

A reminder of how Republicans got this way.

You know how Trump just ordered his attorney general to perform selective declassification of FBI records in order to prove the Russia investigation was politically motivated? Not the first time he's declassified records for purely political ends. This is what a dictator does.

And you know how Trump is rumored to be considering pardoning war criminals? Might be because he doesn't think it's a crime to kill families of terrorists or innocent bystanders."Not white" is enough for him. And he knows his followers agree.

This is another thing dictators do: attempt to change the facts to match their beliefs.

 All part of the Big Lie Trump is employing, a tactic which his supporters embrace wholeheartedly.


 That's going to do it for this one...

Link Bundle: Racism

Clearing out more tabs from my browser:

Charles Murray is an anti-scientific quack and charlatan who still gets honored by white supremacists for his snake oil... because they need someone authoritative-sounding to spew their lies for them.

A reminder that white-supremacist internet memes are usually blatant lies. (It's worth noting that the peak of the Klan's political power came in Indiana in 1924... when it essentially took over the ruling REPUBLICAN Party...)

A reminder that racial prejudice might be an official Republican platform plank, but there's plenty of it in the Democratic leadership too. (Or it could be anti-progressive leadership, considering that said leadership worries first and foremost about its billionaire top donors...)

And this is leaving behind the Democratic moderates' obsession with compromise and bipartisanship, which they praise as a goal and a good thing in and of itself. It really isn't.

But to be fair, the Republicans really are much worse, since they openly embrace alt-right scum like Gavin McInnes and his Proud Boys... and they elect public officials like this Georgia mayor... and the newest senator from Mississippi... and appoint neo-Confederates to executive positions... and they encourage blatant Islamophobes on the one hand while boosting anti-Semitism on the other...

Last year Michigan's Republican-controlled government enacted new history standards for public schools that literally whitewashed the struggle for civil rights and equality in America.

As you would expect from the Trump administration, laws about threats of violence, particularly threats based on hate, are being selectively enforced.

A reminder that all American immigration laws have their origins in white supremacy.

Racism in policing in Oklahoma.Racist paramedic in Virginia.

Remember GamerGate? Well, yeah, online gaming is now a favorite tool for alt-right, white supremacist recruiting. They're not even bothing to hide it anymore.

And, finally, a reminder that merely getting rid of Trump or securing Democratic supermajorities in government will not make the fundamental problem go away. The problem is widespread, shameless white racism... and you know it's going to get worse before it gets better. Though there is some hope.

Link Bundle... Let's Focus on Trump

I currently have 268 tabs open on a browser. Um, yeah. Time to reduce that.

So how about I grab all the tabs about Donald Trump?

An gender-flip experiment suggests that Hillary Clinton didn't lose because she was a woman; she lost because Donald Trump was a clear, simple, dominant communicator, and she wasn't.

This communications strategy continued after the election, with Trump and his minions micro-managing how the federal government refers to practically every issue in order to push a reactionary agenda. And the media's eagerness to give him an eternal loudspeaker doesn't help. In fact, it's had lethal consequences.

Why did Trump side with Saudi Arabia against our long-term ally Qatar? Money.

Trump and his followers routinely use dehumanization tactics so Americans will cheer when the ICE breaks up immigrant families and puts children into concentration camps.

Trump's bigotry is so overt and over-the-top that his administration is now challenging the citizenship of people BORN IN THE UNITED STATES. He's moving to block legal residency status for any immigrant who seeks public assistance. And he even threatens to cut aid to the countries immigrants are fleeing, because Trump believes other countries serve no other purpose than to be prisons for inferior races.

It may appear that Trump is an inept negotiator... but that's because Trump doesn't negotiate. He believes that all deals have a winner or a sucker... which means if the other guy is happy, then you're the sucker.  That's why he's quite happy to blow up any pre-existing deal and break any promise if he thinks he can extort a better one. In the short-term, he's right, as the tweaked NAFTA demonstrates. But he wins these victories at the cost of making all our long-term allies into enemies. What happens when the US needs something we can't extort?

It's always worth the reminder: Donald Trump cares about nothing, absolutely nothing, other than himself. And he'll break anything, destroy anything, if it advances his own agenda.

 Multiple studies have shown it: the more conservative you are, the more likely you are to support sexism, white supremacy and authoritarianism. If you want evidence, look who they elect or nominate. (Especially look at Steve King of Iowa, who narrowly won re-election this year despite all of this.) That is particularly true of Trump's supporters, who actively reject democracy if they aren't the ones on top. They don't mind Trump's evil because they believe that evil is the proper way of things. And no, you can't separate white supremacy from conservatism- as Roseanne Barr demonstrated.

And Trump knows who his people are- appointing racists and white nationalists whenever he gets the chance.

Even when he's not appointing overt racists, his appointments to the federal bench will leave a lasting and destructive legacy.

A historian compares Trump to a certain other incurious, narcissistic, insecure dictator.

And, finally, more examples of Trump's corruption and criminal activity.

Link Bundle 8

Reminder: it's not just Trump who wants to silence all dissent.

Meanwhile, the people who want to stifle dissent quite happily lie to you about the media.

Reminder: our new CIA director is guilty of war crimes.

A gun in public is a threat. Nothing less.

Here's the inside story from the man who helped Steve Bannon weaponize Facebook.

Conservatives cannot endure even peaceful protests, as witness the steps a public school took to quash a student anti-gun protest.

If you want the freedom of speech to call for ethnic cleansing, we demand the freedom to call you out for the evil fascist asshole you are.

Reminder: Trump's foreign policy is completely incoherent. Those "resistors" in his Cabinet must be so proud.

Reminder: the old billionaires who claim to advocate freedom want to control higher education.

And this is the kind of rape-defender scum they're funding.

In my home state it is a legal defense to a murder rap to claim that your victim made a sexual advance on you.

Enough for now, I hope...

Link Bundle #7

Hadn't done one of these for a while after a computer crash wiped out all my old tabs, but the browser's getting overfull again. So...

The ICE is inherently corrupt, part n+1.

CHP is spelled KKK.

And they have good friends, if not members, in the White County, TN sheriff's department.

And certain Alabama sheriffs may or may not be working with the alt-right, but they're deliberately looting the funds appropriated for their prisoners so they can get rich.

Trump wants the poor to eat less healthy. Which is a problem, because the poor generally are too poor to eat anything but cheap junk anyway- especially since food is the one pleasure they're still allowed.

White supremacists are recruiting openly, and nobody seems to be able to counter it effectively. Part of this is an attempt to indoctrinate young people into the cause, but more of it is a simple attack against the very idea of higher education.

In fact, the alt-right is so petty that they attacked a trio of black women science students in an attempt to get them thrown out of a NASA contest.

This is the kind of people Trump brings to Washington: an EPA "science advisor" who thinks pollution is GOOD for you. A financial industry watchdog who thinks 950% interest is perfectly fine, but students getting back fraudulently spent loan money is wasteful. A cabinet secretary who demotes and fires underlings for not being willing to spend enough taxpayer money on the secretary's personal luxury. A person in charge of the Bureau of Indian Affairs who harrassed women and native Americans in the employ of the government. A son in law so openly on the take it's ridiculous. And, of course, the president himself, who uses his 2020 re-election campaign as a personal revenue source and who sends goons to steal medical records from his doctor in broad daylight..

A reminder that five months ago, Trump and his loyal Republican ass-kissers were doing everything in their power to undermine good government, defend their leader, and protect Russia.

A worthy read about how the NRA became a vehicle of big business to turn Americans away from government and civic involvement... and against each other.

Our Revolution, the organization created by Bernie Sanders, endorsed Dennis Kucinich for US Senate in Ohio. It's not the first time they've endorsed an obvious crackpot (who thankfully lost)- or gone against Sanders's express wishes. It appears "Our Revolution" is not going to be a force for good, which makes me wonder who's really in charge of it anymore. It certainly isn't Sanders.

Oh, and remember the tax cuts Republicans enact which were going to lead to new jobs and investment? Nope! They're going straight into the pockets of the wealthy and staying there. Of course, when the biggest beneficiaries of the tax cuts are those who needed it the least, that's how it was designed to work in the first place, lies about new jobs notwithstanding.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party did its best to surrender unconditionally on guns when confronted with yet another mass murder. They endorsed (and boosted to the nomination) a white male anti-abortion, anti-gay, pro-gun candidate over a liberal black woman.

Fun times. Still plenty of tabs, but that'll do it for now.