Curmudgeon Corners
Welcome to Curmudgeon Corners, homeland of the eternally disgruntled, the perpetually disaffected, the terminally opinionated, the fatally flawed. As the author of 22 published novels (a complete list of my published works can be found on my website: stephensolomita.com), I was appointed town mayor by a committee of one. But all are welcome and dissenting opinions are encouraged. Safe is not the town pastime in Curmudgeon Corners. We do brawls instead.
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
RIDE EM COWBOY
I've been listening to C-Span's call in program, National Journal, for the past few days. The topic each day has been the disaster in Texas, as you'd expect, and a lot of Texans have called in. Funny thing, not a single one has advocated secession. In fact, the calls expose the great conservative hypocrisy. One consistent thing about conservatives, they're only self-reliant until they need help.
Friday, August 18, 2017
QUICK HIT #10
Don the Con is
planning to hold a campaign-style rally at the Phoenix Convention Center next
Tuesday. The Mayor’s asking him to
cancel, but Trump is so far unwilling to comply. So, will his racist-right
supporters also make an appearance, banners unfurled? And how large will the
anti-Trump demonstrations be? The stakes are high on all sides, the potential
for violence extreme.
Hitler’s
Brownshirts, formally called Sturmabteilung (Storm Detachment), originally
functioned to protect him at rallies and intimidate opponents in the years
prior to his political success. He made no public appearances without them. Although
he had its leaders murdered (the Night of the Long Knives) after he got control
of the German military, the Brownshirts were essential in the early days,
fighting off anti-Hitler demonstrators, intimidating opponents, engaging in
massive street fights with the usual collection of Communists, socialists and
anarchists. At its height, just after Hitler came to power, Sturmabteilung
claimed to have 3,000,000 men under arms, more than 30 times the size of the
German Army.
I believe the
racist-right organizations who carried those torches in Charlottesville are
waiting for Trump to call. I believe they’re convinced that he’s certain, at
some point, to order them into action. The Southern Policy Law Center keeps
directories listing America’s hate groups. One such directory, of groups who
fought in Charlottesville, contains photos of 18 flags, representing 18
organizations. Each of these hate groups believes in a violent revolution to
come, a race war they’ve already armed themselves to fight. The photos of armed
participants from the racist-right at Charlottesville are chilling, men in full
military regalia carrying assault rifles with extra magazines in pouches attached
to their bullet-resistant vests. Virginia’s governor, Terry McAuliffe, later
claimed that the State Police were outgunned and intimidated by dozens of armed
men. Leaving aside the pathetic element to that claim, what’s clear is that our
open carry laws have created tensions that cannot be defused until after the
first trigger is pulled.
Modern assault
rifles are generally fitted with 50-round magazines. They can be fired as fast
as you can pull the trigger.
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
QUICK HIT #9
QUICK HIT # 9
OK, so I’m
watching a gaggle of talking heads on MSNBC review a Vice News clip from an
interview with Christopher Cantwell, the white supremacist, conducted by the
fearless Elle Reeve, a woman with the face of an ingenue and the instincts of a
crocodile. Reeve at one point, asks Cantwell about the death of Heather Heyer.
“I think,” Cantwell
unhesitatingly replies, “a lot more people are gonna die before we’re done
here, frankly.”
The MSNBC
pundits were shocked by this news, as if anything else could have been meant by
the “blood” part of “blood and soil.”
The Brownshirts
are coming.
Monday, August 14, 2017
THE BROWN SHIRTS ARE COMING
Twice during last year's presidential campaign, Donald Trump threatened to call his supporters into the streets, just before the nominating convention, then again just before election day. There would be, he declared, a violent response on the part of his supporters if he was cheated in any way. I think it useful, therefore, to point out that armed militia types were on the streets of Charlottesville over the weekend. I can say this with absolute assurance because photographs of these armed men and women are easily uncovered by a Google-Image search.
Assault rifles, sniper rifles and shotguns. In this case, as in prior cases, the appearance of these militia types amounted to little more than posturing. Will that continue? If, perhaps, Trump's presidency is threatened? If, perhaps, he calls his supporters into the streets as he's already threatened to do?
Never forget, Don the Con's every instinct is totalitarian.
Saturday, August 12, 2017
OUT OF THE CLOSET AT LAST
Is there anyone out there who still denies that race is at the heart of the rise of the Republican Party in general, and Donald Trump in particular? Anyone?
In a previous post, I included a list of white supremacists supporting Trump. I think it useful to re-post that list. First, however, let me provide a two-part working definition of white supremacist. One, the belief that race is a valid concept, which, in fact, it is not. Two, that one or more races is inherently superior to another race or races.
A few days ago (during the campaign), I did a simple search for “white supremacists supporting Donald Trump.” I expected to uncover five or six fully-committed types, but found dozens instead. A short list follows, only enough to make the point, but it's important to remember that these individuals jumped onto the Trump bandwagon before he was nominated.
In a previous post, I included a list of white supremacists supporting Trump. I think it useful to re-post that list. First, however, let me provide a two-part working definition of white supremacist. One, the belief that race is a valid concept, which, in fact, it is not. Two, that one or more races is inherently superior to another race or races.
A few days ago (during the campaign), I did a simple search for “white supremacists supporting Donald Trump.” I expected to uncover five or six fully-committed types, but found dozens instead. A short list follows, only enough to make the point, but it's important to remember that these individuals jumped onto the Trump bandwagon before he was nominated.
Rocky J. Suhayda: head of American Nazi Party: We have a
wonderful OPPORTUNITY here, folks, that may never come again at the RIGHT
time.”
Andrew Anglin: Runs the Daily
Stormer: “The biggest story in the filthy kike media has been a few lines
from Melania’s speech which these Jews claim she stole from Monkey Michelle.”
David Duke: the only white supremacist Donald Trump formally
disavowed.
Alex Linder: National Alliance (Neo-Nazi group) “Only Trump
can turn back the brown tide and white folks know this.”
Don Black: former KKK Grand Dragon: “Trump resonates with
many of our people, of course….”
August Kreis III: former Aryan Nations Minister of
Information and Propaganda: “I will always hate the Jew. This government is run by an evil group of
people, and please vote for Trump.”
Rachel Prendergast: national organizer for the Rights Party
(KKK affiliated): “Trump is one example of the alternative-right candidate
Knights Party members and candidates are looking for.”
John Ritzheimer: Anti-Islam strategist who participated in
the Oregon Occupation: “We will level and demolish every mosque across this
country.” Showed up at Trump rally with a bullhorn.
Gerald DeLemus: Chief of Security for Cliven Bundy: Co-Chair
of Veterans for Trump in New Hampshire: “At least Donald Trump is offering a
solution. I know who gets my vote.”
Michele Fiore: formally endorsed Trump: “I am not OK with
terrorists. I am not OK with Syrian refugees. Just put a piece of brass in
their oracular cavity and end their miserable life.”
James Edwards: founder of white supremacist website
VDARE.com: “Our people just needed a viable candidate and they’ve identified
Trump as that man.”
Brad Griffin: founder of white nationalist website
Occidental Dissent: “The signal has gone out to join the Trump campaign and to
openly organize in the mainstream….”
Mathew Heimbach: leader of Traditionalist Workers Party:
“Hail, Emperor Trump. Hail, victory.”
Richard Spencer: head of the National Policy Institute: “Do
you think it’s a coincidence that everybody like me loves Trump and supports him?”
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
GROW UP RANT
So, maybe you
think it can’t get worse? Maybe Trump’s Obamacare-repeal failure has you giddy
and you’re looking forward to another victory over the Republican’s tax cut
(please don’t call it tax reform) plan? Well, you need to stop looking at the
trees, entrancing as they may be. Look at the forest, instead, specifically at the
grove tucked behind that hill. We call that particular grove the Senate
Judiciary Committee and it’s a busy, busy, busy place.
Thus far, Don
the Con has appointed 34 individuals – 27 men and 7 women – to positions on the
Court of Appeals or the District Court. With 100 to go, he will, before he
finishes his first term, have appointed 15% of the judges who sit on those
courts.
Let’s take a
look at three of these appointees.
Kevin Newsome,
nominee for the 11th Circuit. In 2000, Newsome’s law review article
likened Roe v. Wade to Dred Scott vs. Sandford. Decided in
1857, Judge Roger Taney’s opinion in Dred
Scott included his belief, which became law when the decision was
announced, that “a black man has no rights that a white man is bound to
respect.” Newsome served for a time as Alabama’s Solicitor General, where he
expressed his disappointment with a Supreme Court decision (Roper vs. Simpson) that made it
unconstitutional to execute juveniles like George Stinney, who was electrocuted
at age 14. Stinney deserved every volt, of course, because he murdered two
little white girls. That no corroborating physical evidence existed was a mere
technicality. Alabama, by the way, is one of only a few states that doesn’t
provide free lawyers to its death-row prisoners. You wanna appeal? Read a law
book.
John Bush, nominee
for the Court of Appeals: John Bush has an easily-accessed history. Under the
pseudonym, G. Morris, he maintained a blog entitled Elephants in the Bluegrass.
On October 7, 2008, G. Morris posted the following:
“The government
of Kenya is holding WND (World Net Daily) staff reporter Jerome Corsi in custody
at immigration headquarters after police picked him up at his hotel just prior
to a scheduled news conference in which he planned to announce the findings of
his investigation into Barack Obama’s connections to that country.”
Want more?
“The two
greatest tragedies in our country’s history – slavery and abortion – relied on
similar reasoning and activist judges on the Supreme Court.”
If this posting
was about slavery, I’d explain that the right to own slaves was protected in
our founding document, specifically by the three-fifths clause, the fugitive
slave clause and a clause that secured the continuation of the international
slave trade for a minimum of twenty years. But this posting is not about
slavery or the Constitution. I move on.
Amy Coney
Barrett, nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals. Barrett clerked for Antonin
Scalia and worked for a time at the law firm of Miller, Cassidy, Larocca &
Lewin, which merged into Baker, Botts. From private practice, she migrated to Notre
Dame’s law school. She is now a full professor.
Barrett’s time
in private practice was short, but in the main she represented white collar
defendants on the hook for defrauding the government. She was also on the team
that represented George Bush in Bush vs.
Gore. Neither activity condemns her, of course. You’d hardly expect Donald
Trump to appoint the lead counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. But
there is one element of her background that should give us pause.
As conservative
overall as Alito, Thomas and Gorsuch, Barrett has taken her jurisprudence to a
new extreme. Neither prior decisions (stare
decisis) or even the law itself, as written, should take precedence over a
judge’s religious beliefs. In an article entitled “Catholic Judges in Capital
Cases,” she condemned William Brennan (a fellow Catholic) for writing, “There
isn’t any obligation of our faith superior” to the judicial oath. “We do not,”
she added, “defend this position as the proper response for a Catholic judge to
take with respect to abortion or the death penalty.”
Handpicked by
the Federalist Society and Heritage Action, the rest of Trump’s nominees all
fit neatly into a circle of judges who view the post-Civil War period as the
golden age of American jurisprudence. The Federalist Society is packed with
similar thinkers. They will describe this era, if you should run into one at a
cocktail party, as a time when the court defended liberty as the framers
understood it. That may be true, but the liberty was only for the rich and
powerful – as the rich and powerful were the only Americans represented at the
Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Yes, the Field Court, named for Stephen
Johnson Field, voided nearly all attempts to regulate the workplace, but liberty
for individuals was hard to come by. Censorship of every kind prevailed, along
with laws against blaspheming the Sabbath, public indecency, interracial
marriage, sodomy, illegal assembly and the union shop. And then there’s vagrancy.
Throughout this period, which lasted from the end of the Civil War until, at
the earliest, the start of the New Deal, you could be imprisoned for not having
a job. What kind of liberty is that?
That, my
friends, is the kind of liberty the Supreme Court had in mind when they defended
the sacred right of corporations to back their speech with cold, hard cash. The
more, the better.
Friday, August 4, 2017
THEY NEVER STOPPED RANT
They’re not at it
again. They never stopped.
Many of us are
familiar with the illegal voter purge in Florida that put George Bush in
office, a criminal action on the part of his brother, Governor Jeb Bush, and Florida’s Secretary of State, Katherine Harris. Acting in concert, they purged 57,700
names from the voter rolls despite federal and state court orders to cease and
desist. Among other atrocities, they obtained a database of Texas felons, ostensibly
to identify felons who’d moved from Texas to Florida and remove them from voter
rolls. Convicted felons were not allowed to vote under Florida law, but the law,
in this case, was a mere fig leaf to cover the overall goal of eliminating
Democratic voters. Felons were allowed to vote in Texas and no state can
override the laws of another. The purge was illegal from day one.
Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris had to know
this because they were informed of the fact by a federal court. They forged
ahead, nonetheless, all scruples conveniently suppressed.
The State of
Florida, in an effort to keep its fingerprints off the theft, contracted the
actual work to a company named ChoicePoint, awarding the company a $2,317,700
no-bid contract. Later, dragged into a congressional hearing by Congresswoman
Cynthia McKinney, ChoicePoint admitted that when comparing names on the Texas
list with Floridians, it did not use Social Security numbers, did not verify
addresses, did not conduct a single interview and added a name to the purge if a
comparison of two surnames provided a 90% match.
Take a second to
absorb the implications. Florida removes 57,700 voters from its registration
files. George Bush wins Florida and the presidency by 537 votes. Bush appoints
John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. Bush engineers a tax cut
that doubles the national debt. Bush lies us into a war in Iraq, fundamentally
upsetting the balance of power between Shia and Sunni in the Arab world.
Are we having
fun yet?
Voter ID laws have
drawn a lot of attention over the past few years, but the stakes, in the case
of voter ID requirements, are very small compared to what Republicans are
trying to accomplish through voter registration purges.
Kris Kobach is
Secretary of the State of Kansas and Chairman of the Republican State Party.
Like most Secretaries of State (like Katherine Harris), he supervises all
elections in Kansas, including federal elections. At the same time, as if he
didn’t have enough to do, Kobach is the co-chair of Trump’s Commission on
Election Integrity and the driving force behind a consortium of
Republican-dominated states, 27 in all, who participate in the Interstate
Crosscheck System.
Never heard of
the Interstate Crosscheck System? You’re not alone.
In North
Carolina, the chief of the Board of Elections, using numbers generate by ICS,
testified that 35,750 voters registered to vote in North Carolina were also
registered in another state. How many prosecutions resulted from this
revelation? None. But that didn’t stop the State of Virginia from purging
41,637 names from its voter rolls, using the same bogus identification
techniques that Bush used in Florida, with no middle name match, no Social Security match and no personal
interviews.
More than
850,000 individuals residing in America bear the surname Garcia. If your last
name is Washington, there an 89% likelihood that you’re African-American. This
is how the game is played. The targeting of minorities by the Republican Party,
acting in concert, is two-pronged: Voter ID laws that make it harder for
minorities to vote and voter purges that remove minorities from voter rolls,
often without notification. Trump’s Commission on Election Integrity, headed by
Kris Kobach, is currently demanding voter-registration data from every State in
the Union. Surely, its aim cannot be to prove that massive voter fraud exists.
If it did, the Interstate Crosscheck System would have already produced
thousands of arrests. No, Republicans mean to extend the sort of voter purges already
happening in Republican-dominated states, using techniques developed by Jeb
Bush in Florida, to the entire nation. I mean, why steal thirty or forty
thousand votes when you can steal millions?
Russia conducts
regular elections, as do China and Turkey, but it doesn’t make them democratic.
If Republicans have their way, the United States will soon join them. Welcome to the New World Order.
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