Because we’re not afraid of ugly truths on these sites, I’ll embed the Republican Ad, approved by Trump and Team, which represents the Closing Argument for voting Republican on Tuesday, that everyone is talking about and no one will show you.

As always, you only click it if you want to see it. We’re all adults here.

Frankly, I don’t get it. Outside of making it look like Donald J. Trump is the kind of person we shouldn’t let into our country (and I agree that Institutional Democrats deserve a boatload of responsibility for allowing him and Republicans to seize the government because of Democratic fecklessness, cowardice, and lying), it makes him look like a stupid, silly Snake Oil Salesman with no talents except shameless self-promotion, at which he is really bad. It’s a gag reel of all his failed businesses and scams.

Oh, and they found an Undocumented Immigrant who’s also a criminal and quite proud of it.

It reminds me of nothing so much as the “Willie Horton” Ad (previously and recently discussed so I won’t include that), only a pale shadow of it, poorly executed.

The Horton Ad, remember, was part of George H.W. Bush’s campaign, back in 1988 (not so long ago). Now revered as “Poppy” Bush, give it another look. I’ll wait.

Does it seem to you the Republican Party has changed a bit in 30 years? Me neither.

I get the outrage, but it’s Not. Just. Trump.

It’s all Republicans and Democrats too for not crushing them like a bug when they had the chance in 2008. Ten years of craven excuses and dithering led by Barack Obama (though he wasn’t the only one either).

Maybe you’re still mad at them, I sure am and I will never, ever forget.

But I won’t vote Republican for Dog Catcher. I hear they kick puppies.

With racist ad, Trump sinks to a new low
By Paul Waldman, Washington Post
November 1, 2018

I’ll leave it to our intrepid fact-checkers to document the lies in this ad, other than to note that just about every word in it is false. What’s more important is the president’s objectives and tactics, not to mention the fact that he put out this rancid poison just five days after a gunman killed 11 worshippers in a Pittsburgh synagogue, the worst anti-Semitic massacre in American history, in part because he believed the conspiracy theories propagated by the president and his supporters about immigrants threatening America, then joined it to his hatred of the Jews he thought were responsible. Five days.

If you have a long memory, you’ll recall that in 2016 many Republicans assured us that once he beheld the majesty of the Oval Office and its awesome responsibilities, Trump would become “presidential.” The bombastic, dishonest race-baiter we watched during the campaign was really just an act, and in office he’d become more serious and responsible.

What actually happened was just the opposite. It’s true that Trump isn’t the same man we saw on the campaign trail in 2016. He’s worse.

Because it lacks even the subtlety your average racist demagogue musters in 2018, this ad is particularly Trumpian. From the moment he became a candidate, Trump would say explicitly what others would only imply, in ways that some found thrilling and others found appalling. Sometimes it was because saying it explicitly would make you sound like a toddler; for instance, while a regular candidate might find ways to persuade you of their intelligence, none but Trump would come out and say “I’m, like, really smart,” and if they did you’d immediately conclude that smart is the last thing they are.
…
Let’s compare this latest case to its famous precursor, that of Willie Horton. When George H.W. Bush used that story to turn voters against Michael Dukakis in 1988, he would tell the lurid tale and then conclude, in the politician’s common idiom, that it raised serious questions about Dukakis’ judgment. Since it wasn’t as though prison furlough policy was going to be a serious issue for the president to address, Bush at least maintained some plausible deniability by allowing the audience to make the most racist conclusions themselves. He didn’t have to say out loud what he wanted voters to believe, because they’d do it all on their own.

Had Donald Trump been the Republican nominee that year, he would literally have said, “Michael Dukakis wants scary black men to kill you and rape your wife.”

We all know he would, just as he now says “A vote for Democrats is a vote to liquidate America’s borders and it’s a vote to let fentanyl, heroin and other deadly drugs pour across our borders,” and claims ludicrously about a deranged killer who was deported once under Bill Clinton and once under George W. Bush that “Democrats let him in. Democrats let him stay.”

But please, let’s not get ourselves into a debate about whether Trump is “really” a racist in his heart. I happen to think the evidence on that score is at this point beyond dispute, but it doesn’t really matter. What matters are the things he says and does: the way he encourages his supporters to nurture their own racism, the way he promotes resentment and division at every opportunity, the way he absolutely, positively believes that hate is what got him to the White House and hate his what will keep him there.

Trump is the most racist president in modern history, not because of what is or isn’t in his heart but because of the despicable way he has acted. There is little doubt that there is no depth to which he will not sink. Seriously: Try to come up with the most horrific dirty campaign trick or piece of demagoguery you can think of, then ask yourself: Would Trump do this if he thought it would help him win the next election, or would his ethical compass prevent him? The answer will always be: Yes, he would do that. He would lie, he would cheat, he would steal, he would promote racism and misogyny and anti-Semitism and xenophobia and every other hatred imaginable if he thought it would get a few more of his supporters to the polls.

We know he would because he has already done all those things. And he’s not finished yet.

Well, not unless we stop him. Ballot Box is easiest. If you’re not truly prepared for Armed Revolutionary Struggle in which you’re as likely to “Go up against the Wall” as the next person I suggest you give it a shot.

Couldn’t hurt.

A Big Old Pot Of Dicks

Shockingly Mainstream

Not An Outlier

Law Cobra

That show concept so totally belongs to Sam Bee that if I see it turn up as a Summer replacement or on next Fall’s schedule I am going to recommend she sue.

Get out the Vote Special Monday, Post Election not so Special Wednesday.

I’m not done with Halloween yet.

Salem Witch Trials

This piece in Politco contains in its second graph what I conclude was the working title- “How Robert Mueller Is Spending His Midterms”.

As they note it’s been a while since we’ve had news on what TMC calls “The Russian Connection” and I, in my less diplomatic way, “The Trump Treason Plot”. Sure there has been some surface froth which indicates Roger Stone is getting squeezed on the Trump-Wikileaks-Russia channel and Michael Cohen is not off the hook yet as he is still involved in pending criminal investigations which are legally distinct for his plea agreement with Mueller.

Also we have the breaking news that some dumb Stone wannabe, Jack Burkman, was pushing a ludicrous scheme to fabricate evidence that Mueller engaged in sexually harassing behavior. Too bad that the first woman he approached to make these false charges narced him out and the matter referred to the FBI. Nothing will come of this except maybe Burkman gets some G. Gordon Liddy reflection time in a Federal Correction facility.

But today we have this blockbuster news which, if true, means Trump might theoretically be forced to testify in front of a Grand Jury (no lawyers to help you out and the members of the Jury can ask you any question they like, oh, and if you lie it’s Perjury).

Has Mueller Subpoenaed the President?
By NELSON W. CUNNINGHAM, Politico
October 31, 2018

(F)or those of us who have been appellate lawyers, the brief docket entries tell a story. Here’s what we can glean:

• The parties and the judges have moved with unusual alacrity. Parties normally have 30 days to appeal a lower court action. The witness here appealed just five days after losing in the district court—and three days later filed a motion before the appellate court to stay the district court’s order. That’s fast.
• The appeals court itself responded with remarkable speed, too. One day after getting the witness’ motion, the court gave the special counsel just three days to respond—blindingly short as appellate proceedings go. The special counsel’s papers were filed October 1.
• At this point an unspecified procedural flaw seems to have emerged, and on October 3, the appeals court dismissed the appeal. Just two days later, the lower court judge cured the flaw, the witness re-appealed, and by October 10 the witness was once again before appellate court. Thanks to very quick action of all the judges, less than one week was lost due to a flaw that, in other cases, could have taken weeks or months to resolve.
• Back before the D.C. Circuit, this case’s very special handling continued. On October 10, the day the case returned to the court, the parties filed a motion for expedited handling, and within two days, the judges had granted their motion and set an accelerated briefing schedule. The witness was given just 11 days to file briefs; the special counsel (presumably) just two weeks to respond; and reply papers one week later, on November 14 (for those paying attention, that’s eight days after the midterm elections). Oral arguments are set for December 14.

At every level, this matter has commanded the immediate and close attention of the judges involved—suggesting that no ordinary witness and no ordinary issue is involved. But is it the president? The docket sheets give one final—but compelling—clue. When the witness lost the first time in the circuit court (before the quick round trip to the district court), he petitioned, unusually, for rehearing en banc—meaning the witness thought the case was so important that it merited the very unusual action of convening all 10 of the D.C. Circuit judges to review the order. That is itself telling (this witness believes the case demands very special handling), but the order disposing of the petition is even more telling: Trump’s sole appointee to that court, Gregory Katsas, recused himself.
…
Katsas previously served in the Trump White House, as one of four deputy White House counsels. He testified in his confirmation hearings that in that position he handled executive branch legal issues, but made clear that apart from some discrete legal issues, he had not been involved in the special counsel’s investigation. If the witness here were unrelated to the White House, unless the matter raised one of the discrete legal issues on which Katsas had previously given advice, there would be no reason for the judge to recuse himself.

But if the witness were the president himself—if the matter involved an appeal from a secret order requiring the president to testify before the grand jury—then Katsas would certainly feel obliged to recuse himself from any official role. Not only was the president his former client (he was deputy counsel to the president, remember) but he owes his judicial position to the president’s nomination. History provides a useful parallel: In 1974, in the unanimous Supreme Court decision United States v. Nixon, which required another witness-president to comply with a subpoena, Justice William Rehnquist recused himself for essentially the same reasons.

We cannot know, from the brief docket entries that are available to us in this sealed case, that the matter involves Trump. But we do know from Politico’s reporting that it involves the special counsel and that the action here was filed the day after Giuliani noted publicly, “[W]e’re pretty much finished with our memorandum opposing a subpoena.” We know that the district court had ruled in favor of the special counsel and against the witness; that the losing witness moved with alacrity and with authority; and that the judges have responded with accelerated rulings and briefing schedules. We know that Judge Katsas, Trump’s former counsel and nominee, has recused himself. And we know that this sealed legal matter will come to a head in the weeks just after the midterm elections.

If Mueller were going to subpoena the president—and there’s every reason why a careful and thorough prosecutor would want the central figure on the record on critical questions regarding his knowledge and intent—this is just the way we would expect him to do so. Quietly, expeditiously, and refusing to waste the lull in public action demanded by the midterm elections. It all fits.

It is still unlikely that Trump will face the full horror show of an unassisted, unscripted Grand Jury appearance but it is highly likely that, after a complete and thorough victory by Mueller (this is not unlitigated, United States v. Nixon is pretty clear) and perhaps several weeks persuading Trump his legal position is hopeless, they will negotiate a sworn, taped deposition with Counsel present like the one Bill Clinton had (and remember, that was a civil case, in Criminal Law the presumption of required testimony is much stronger). Or he could plead the Fifth which would be ironic in the non-Classical way.

So there you go. Things will start a’poppin’ November 7th. Pick up some Popcorn on your way home from the polls.

Ghosts!

Jenny Nicholson

I’ve taken a good deal of heat over my Internet career. Banished from dK for 2 years for calling some idiot who wished Obama to suppress the photographic evidence of United States torture a “Good German”. What else can you do? If you live downwind of Auschwitz don’t you feel the tiniest obligation to complain about the smell? They rendered Human Beings, Jews, like cattle, candles and tattooed lampshades in the Gift Shop on your way out. I was invited back personally by Markos and Meteor Blades without any conditions other than that I not interact with the person I chastised (to be fair Markos merely said- “Why aren’t you writing anymore?”).

Shortly after that I was banished again for calling Front Pager Denise Oliver a rapist apologist (she is) which seems oddly prescient in this moment of the clash between “rape culture” and #MeToo. I know what it is to be be bullied and I won’t stand for it.

I have no desire to return again. The real action is on Twitter and I don’t Tweet, but my point is I’m an acolyte of Clio and her lessons are not lost to me. I use the Nazi word quite freely because Nazi is as Nazi does whether you have a tooth brush moustache and a weird hair style to cover up your bald spot or just a weird hair style.

The big “news” today is that Trump has unilaterally decided that the 14th Amendment does not apply-

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

This is one of the “Reconstruction” Amendments that States that participated in the The Rebellion to Keep Black People Enslaved were forced to accept. Forced? We’ll just kill your sorry asses back tho the Stone Age you Idiots until you get the message that all men (now humans thank goodness) are created equal. It covers several necessary details.

Black Slaves were not citizens necessarily, this changed that. More importantly (and the reason this Amendment is frequently cited) is this-

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

“Due Process”, “Equal Protection”. Sound familiar? Welcome to the 14th Amendment. Kanye thinks it should be repealed.

Section 2 is kind of obsolete in that all the participants in The Rebellion to Keep Black People Enslaved are dead. Likewise Section 3.

Section 4 is kind of interesting from an economic standpoint in that it amounts to a complete repudiation of Confederate Debt which is why their currency has become a byword for valueless except for collection and decorative purposes (or insulation, fuel, and toilet paper).

Section 5 is boilerplate that allows Congress to enact enforcement Laws.

Trump seems to think that by Executive Fiat he can ignore the whole damn thing (you’ll be glad you have that stash of Confederate Currency now!). Even the most racist (Plessy v. Furguson) Supreme Court since Dred Scott v. Sandford ruled in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that it’s Unconstitutional. Good luck with that.

To wind this back to the precis, the Hebrew people have lived in a stateless diaspora for over a Thousand years, unprotected by the language of the 14th Amendment. The reason their interests (for the most part) sympathize with that of Black People is that they have keen institutional memory of slavery. This Saturday we had the largest pogrom the United States has ever seen and last night Trump announced he’s going to take action to abrogate the 14th Amendment.

Feel like a ‘Good German’ yet?

Scary.

Jenny Nicholson