2021 American Political Scene

[Albany Rifles]

The problem is "Nixon's Southern Strategy" (at least at a national level) did not produce disproportionate or necessary EVs to sway elections. Nixon destroyed McGovern, Ford LOST the South, Reagan/Bush destroyed all comers...it's not really until the 90s when the GOP starts getting disproportionate votes in the South (at the national level).

At that point, you're literally talking about different generations. The electorates of the 1990s are not the electorates of the 1960s, and especially not the 1940s when the New Deal coalition started to crack.

That's leaving aside that Democratic policy-makers can still be pretty racist mo-fos in terms of policy application, especially at the local level. It's not like the Chicago police force or transportation policy was assembled by Republicans.

They may not have been winning presidential elections (I know...I was alive and voting in those days) but they were winning state legislatures, governships and Congressional delegations. The tilt started to be felt in the early 1990s.

And as for your comments on Chicago...remnants of the old machine politics which were and are inherently racist in origin. They arose as a result of the Black Migration from the Depression and World War 2 worker migration to get jobs...and to escape the worst of the Jim Crow policies in the South. Being excluded from some forms of economic & social advancement beat the hell of the being lynched. And as for Illinois...there is a reason the 5 southern counties were nicknamed Egypt.

[DOR]

"...96 respondents isn’t enough for a robust polling sample..."

[TopHatter]

“I Want Them To Start Something”: White Supremacists Allegedly Strategized How To Provoke Counterprotesters Ahead Of The “Unite The Right” Rally
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia — As the plaintiffs in the landmark federal lawsuit against two dozen neo-Nazis and other white supremacists who organized the “Unite the Right” rally called their final witnesses, they zeroed in on the alleged calls for violence in the run-up to the event, presenting organizers’ own message threads as evidence.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Karen Dunn on Tuesday called to the stand Jason Kessler, a white nationalist, member of the Proud Boys, and one of the primary “Unite the Right” organizers. The attorney spent hours Tuesday confirming and walking Kessler through his extensive communications with other white nationalists and neo-Nazis in the months, weeks, and days leading up to Aug. 11 and 12, 2017. Those communications — over social messaging platforms including Facebook and Discord, as well as by phone and text message — made clear that Kessler was looking to draw like-minded people from across the US to Charlottesville. In one post, he promised it would be “the biggest Alt-Right event of the year.”

He also referred to the rally in fighting terms, saying it would go down in history as “the Battle of Charlottesville.” Many of his messages discussed violence and provoking antiracist counterprotesters as a means to not only foment a race war, but also get media attention.

“We need a new way to tip off antifa when we want them to show up somewhere,” read one message that Kessler wrote to other white nationalists. “We definitely want to play these people into our hands Saturday in Charlottesville.”

In that same online discussion, Kessler spoke about the need to hide weapons while in public and his expectation that at least some attendees would be packing firearms.

“Can you guys conceal carry? I don’t want to scare antifa off from throwing the first punch. Big scary guns...will keep Antifa away. I want them to start something,” Kessler wrote. “Lots of armed military vets in attendance so we aren’t going to be lacking for firepower.”

The planning of violence is key to the case of nine plaintiffs, who are suing for damages to compensate for the injuries they sustained in August 2017 as well as to punish the rally organizers. Brought on the plaintiffs’ behalf by the civil rights nonprofit Integrity First for America, the lawsuit is using the 150-year-old Ku Klux Klan Act to try to hold some or all of 24 of the most notorious white nationalist figures and organizations in the US accountable for alleged racially motivated violence.

Over the course of three weeks, the plaintiffs have laid out their case that the rally planning amounted to a conspiracy; they have testified about the physical and psychological injuries they experienced and still struggle with; and they have used a mountain of digital evidence to show the extent to which the group of white supremacists went to allegedly get the fight they were after.

The jury is expected to hear from defense witnesses as early as Tuesday. So far, defense statements at trial have ranged from bizarre rants to hate speech. Unable to afford lawyers, some of the white supremacists are representing themselves, using their time in court to broadcast their extremist ideologies as well as grievances with their fellow defendants.

Neo-Nazi podcaster Christopher Cantwell, who is defending himself in the trial, also took the stand Monday. The plaintiffs played episodes of his podcast that aired before “Unite the Right,” including one in which he interviewed Andrew "Weev" Auernheimer of the neo-Nazi site Daily Stormer. In the interview, Auernheimer calls for a race war and praises neo-Nazi mass murderer Dylann Roof.

“I fucking like you… You’re awesome," Cantwell tells Weev after listening to him rant.

Social media posts by Cantwell in which he used racist and violent language were also shown to the jury. One read, “America won’t be free until the last kike is strangled with the entrails of the last Democrat.”

The plaintiffs also played a clip from a Vice News interview in 2017, in which Cantwell shows off the arsenal of firearms he had brought to “Unite the Right.”

In the process of presenting their case, the plaintiffs have also indirectly exposed how the ties among the white nationalists have frayed since the lawsuit was filed against them. During cross-examinations when some of the pro se defendants — those who are representing themselves — have interrogated their codefendants, things have turned heated.

In one testy exchange Monday, white nationalist Richard Spencer asked Kessler on the stand about Kessler’s public criticism of him.

“So when did you determine that I was a sociopathic narcissist?" Spencer asked Kessler, a term the latter had used in a 2019 tweet.

“You were just despicable to everyone you ever came in contact with... You were like a robot, like a serial killer,” Kessler answered.

Kessler, his voice raised at Spencer, continued, saying that Spencer had accused him “of being a Jew because I wouldn’t ‘Sieg Heil’ with you,” referring to the Nazi salute.

Spencer, glancing nervously at the jury and then down at his notes, responded before ending his questioning a moment later: “That’s — that's enough, Jason.”
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[TopHatter]

'It's so stupefying': Carl Bernstein says Trump looked for people to 'facilitate his authoritarian impulse' after Michael Flynn said the US needs one religion

The journalist Carl Bernstein said President Donald Trump added people to his administration who facilitated "his authoritarian impulse," following remarks from former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn that the US needs one religion.

"It should be a surprise to no one that Michael Flynn is saying the kind of things that he is saying," Bernstein said in an interview with CNN's Jim Acosta on Sunday.

During the ReAwaken America tour on Saturday, Flynn said Christianity should become the United States' only religion.

"If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God and one religion under God," Flynn said.

During the CNN interview, Acosta called Flynn's remarks "shameful."

"It's not a question of shameful," Bernstein replied. "It's a question of let's look into the kind of people that came into Donald Trump's orbit and became the most influential around."

Bernstein added that people such as Flynn and Rudy Giuliani were "saying out loud things that have never been said by an aide or close associates to a president of the United States."

"It's so stupefying to think that we had a president of the United States that would entertain these knaves, fools, and dangerous authoritarian figures. That's what we need to look at the big picture," he said. "Donald Trump looked for people to facilitate his authoritarian impulse."

He said people like Flynn who were around Trump were "instruments" to help Trump remain in office.

Flynn, a Trump loyalist, pleaded guilty to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his communications with Russia in 2017. He was pardoned in November 2020.

Bernstein added that Flynn's comment also reflected what a good portion of Christians who supported Trump may be feeling.

"What's mostly significant here is much of the Republican Party, both officials in the Republican Party and voters — 48, 50% of the voters who believe in Donald Trump and Trumpism, many of them, something like 35% in exit polls, said they favor Trump and Trumpism because Christianity is being taken away from them," Bernstein said. "So, Michael Flynn is not that far away from huge numbers of people in this country."

While it's not clear which exit poll Bernstein is referring to, NPR reported that polls from the past election showed between 76% and 81% of white evangelical and "born again" voters supporting Trump.

Trump did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
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[tbm3fan]

Flynn is an ass. Who the hell does he thinks he is in denying me my 1st Amendment rights which is Freedom FROM Religion. Seems many in this country have a hard time with that and in fact don't even realize that is part of the 1st Amendment. Practice your religion at home and in Church but in public keep it out of my face and out of my life. Christians seem to have a hard time realizing this.

[TopHatter]

Flynn is an ass. Who the hell does he thinks he is in denying me my 1st Amendment rights which is Freedom FROM Religion. Seems many in this country have a hard time with that and in fact don't even realize that is part of the 1st Amendment. Practice your religion at home and in Church but in public keep it out of my face and out of my life. Christians seem to have a hard time realizing this.

He's a statist. Who is admired by statists. And supported by statists. Take a look at the company he keeps.

[zraver]

Flynn is an ass. Who the hell does he thinks he is in denying me my 1st Amendment rights which is Freedom FROM Religion. Seems many in this country have a hard time with that and in fact don't even realize that is part of the 1st Amendment. Practice your religion at home and in Church but in public keep it out of my face and out of my life. Christians seem to have a hard time realizing this.

Maybe because the 1st Amendment doesn't say anything about Christians or anyone else belonging to any religion not trying to follow core tenets requiring proselytizing, but instead ensures free expression. You have no right under the 1st to silence from others. There is no freedom from private religion.

In case you forgot the text as badly as Flynn seems to have.


Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances

[Albany Rifles]

A full interpretation of the religious clauses of the 1st Amendment can be found here...

First Amendment and Religion | United States Courts (uscourts.gov)

First Amendment and Religion


The First Amendment has two provisions concerning religion: the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. The Establishment clause prohibits the government from "establishing" a religion. The precise definition of "establishment" is unclear. Historically, it meant prohibiting state-sponsored churches, such as the Church of England.

Today, what constitutes an "establishment of religion" is often governed under the three-part test set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court in Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971). Under the "Lemon" test, government can assist religion only if (1) the primary purpose of the assistance is secular, (2) the assistance must neither promote nor inhibit religion, and (3) there is no excessive entanglement between church and state.

The Free Exercise Clause protects citizens' right to practice their religion as they please, so long as the practice does not run afoul of a "public morals" or a "compelling" governmental interest. For instance, in Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158 (1944), the Supreme Court held that a state could force the inoculation of children whose parents would not allow such action for religious reasons. The Court held that the state had an overriding interest in protecting public health and safety.

Sometimes the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause come into conflict. The federal courts help to resolve such conflicts, with the Supreme Court being the ultimate arbiter.

Check out similar cases related to Engel v. Vitale that deal with religion in schools and the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

[tbm3fan]

Maybe because the 1st Amendment doesn't say anything about Christians or anyone else belonging to any religion not trying to follow core tenets requiring proselytizing, but instead ensures free expression. You have no right under the 1st to silence from others. There is no freedom from private religion.

In case you forgot the text as badly as Flynn seems to have.


Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances

Thank you very much. I rest my case as I knew you would since "Christians" don't believe in free exercise for all but only them thereby impinging on my free exercise...

[TopHatter]

Florida Guv’s Press Sec Walks Back Rothschild-Dog-Whistle Tweet After Backlash

Just a few months after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press secretary got called out by the Associated Press for “abusive behavior” toward a reporter, she’s at it again—but this time with a notorious antisemitic conspiracy theory.

Amid a flurry of tweets mocking pandemic-related restrictions, Christina Pushaw singled out the Republic of Georgia for its new policy requiring citizens to hold a “Green Pass” in order to enter public establishments like restaurants and theaters to try to contain the coronavirus pandemic. (The passes do not require that one be vaccinated; those who have recovered from the virus and can provide proof of a negative COVID test can also use the passes.)

While the system largely resembles similar measures put in place worldwide, Pushaw appeared to employ some deeply revolting (and flawed) logic to suggest the system is part of a nefarious Jewish plot.

“Georgia decided to enact a ‘Green Pass’ system (biomedical security state). Immediately after that, the Rothschilds show up to discuss the attractive investment environment in Georgia (lol). No weird conspiracy theory stuff here!” she wrote Tuesday.

Pushaw attached a screenshot of a tweet from the Government of Georgia as supposed evidence of the Rothschild family having their hand in the country’s COVID response. The tweet said that the Georgian prime minister had, in fact, met with the managing director of Rothschild & Co.—but that meeting was way back in June.


Twitter

The Rothschilds have long been used as a kind of antisemitic boogeyman to fearmonger about Jewish families secretly controlling the world and global banking. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) put forth perhaps the most batshit conspiracy theory ever when she argued in a now-infamous 2018 Facebook post that “lasers” in space owned by the Rothschilds might be to blame for California’s deadly forest fires.

As Pushaw’s tweet was met with mounting outrage Wednesday, she said the comment was really “an attempt at sarcasm that could have been misinterpreted.”

“‘The Rothschilds’ feature prominently in conspiracy theories, and I felt that the government of Georgia—like other governments—is intentionally feeding existing conspiracy theories around vaccine passports so that they can dismiss anyone who opposes vaccines passports as a ‘conspiracy theorist,’” she told The Daily Beast.

It was not immediately clear how the Georgian government’s “Green Pass” initiative is “feeding existing conspiracy theories.” Pushaw deleted the tweet in question after being asked to clarify it, though she told The Daily Beast she took it down when she realized “how it could be perceived,” insisting that she is “completely opposed to anti Semitism and would never want to inadvertently fuel anti Semitic tropes.”

After being asked about the tweet, Pushaw also preemptively warned her followers of an imminent “hit piece” against her, tweeting out this reporter’s author profile.

This is not the first time Pushaw has raised eyebrows on Twitter. In late August, the platform temporarily suspended her account after the Associated Press called her out for “harassing behavior” against a reporter.
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It never ends...

[Bigfella]

Are we at the point yet where we can just accept that Republicans getting cozy with anti-semitic ideas & behaviours is a feature rather than a bug?

[TopHatter]

Are we at the point yet where we can just accept that Republicans getting cozy with anti-semitic ideas & behaviours is a feature rather than a bug?

Oh it's been that way for years. Some right-wingers are just better at hiding it than others....and others have apparently stopped giving a damn that it's a thing. I used to have a friend that could sniff out anti-Semitism in a yeshiva. Now he's apparently indifferent to fairly blatant anti-Semitism as long as it comes from the Right.

[Bigfella]

Oh it's been that way for years. Some right-wingers are just better at hiding it than others....and others have apparently stopped giving a damn that it's a thing. I used to have a friend that could sniff out anti-Semitism in a yeshiva. Now he's apparently indifferent to fairly blatant anti-Semitism as long as it comes from the Right.

It is a fascinating phenomenon, made more so by the fact that such people are often vocal defenders of Israel. There have been alarm bells going off for years, but rather than paying attention the GOP & number of other formerly mainstream right wing parties in the western world have gone back to embracing such people.

In the case of the GOP it is unclear if this is really a departure from the norm or just a reassertion of normality. People forget that parallel to Nixon's 'Southern strategy' was a concerted attempt to recruit within Eastern European migrant communities that drew in some honest to Adolph WW2 era Fascists as recruiters & organizers. When I say 'Fascists' I mean actual members of Fascist parties, including the Arrow Cross. This finally became public knowledge in the early 90s & Bush had a house clean.

The difference then is that these people worked behind the scenes, with their backgrounds only known to insiders. Flash forward 25 years & Trump brings the inheritors of these ideas out of the woodwork & proudly out into the light. In some cases into his administration (hello Sebastian Gorka, Steve Miller et.al.). Perhaps a future GOP leader will have to clean house again, but judging by how comfortable GOP supporters seem to be with this it won't be due to internal pressure.

[zraver]

Are we at the point yet where we can just accept that Republicans getting cozy with anti-semitic ideas & behaviours is a feature rather than a bug?

Conservatives end up with a few wingnuts, and Lefties like Tinfoil try to make any discussion about Soros money automatically a discussion about Soros ethno-religious identity. Meanwhile prominent leftists like The Squad, Joy Reid, Al Sharpton etc get a pass.

Tlaib made the bizarre statement that she felt “a calming feeling … when I think of the Holocaust.”

That statement was made by a sitting member of Congress.

[Albany Rifles]

It is a fascinating phenomenon, made more so by the fact that such people are often vocal defenders of Israel.

This is less about a defense of the Nation of Israel & Judaism and more the support of Biblical Israel by many Fundamentalist Christians supporting & hoping for the 2nd Coming & The Rapture.