Today In The Banana Republic of Georgia

Exactly! I've likened it to the Director of the Lottery certifying the balls and the equipment, ensuring there were no other tickets in the system, then yelling "I've won!" That's what Kemp did.
Re-upping @ProfCAnderson Neo-Jim Crow in Georgia https://t.co/rtpCR5lGYm https://t.co/8k3dNQ2adw

— Carol Anderson (@ProfCAnderson) November 17, 2018

A Southern politician changed voting eligibility rules in a way that resulted in **hundreds of thousands** more citizens, disproportionately African American, being stripped of the vote under his governorship. Then he won by 12,000 votes. This feels in line with U.S. history.

— Taniel (@Taniel) November 17, 2018

Today In The Banana Republic Of Georgia

They're not even trying to hide the abuse of power anymore. They think it helps them. Shows who's boss. https://t.co/VkwG1KYYql

— digby (@digby56) November 4, 2018

Brian Kemp: The boy who cried "Omigosh I can't beat this African American woman without cheating" hack

— emptywheel (@emptywheel) November 4, 2018

So old I remember Brian Kemp made baseless accusations of hacking against the Obama administration two years ago at a moment when it was politically advantageous to Trump. Took six months to debunk. https://t.co/9LJD606Wr9 pic.twitter.com/3X1IEgn5RX

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) November 4, 2018

Seriously: has any news outlet gotten this detail correct?

Story should be: "GA SoS* referred suspected breach to DHS and FBI for investigation."

Period. Anything else is just getting played by a known fabricator.

*A candidate in this race

— emptywheel (@emptywheel) November 4, 2018

This "investigation" is announced a day after reporters obtain a letter warning of the Georgia election system's vulnerability to hacking. I don't think it's all that crazy to think Kemp is hacking his own system and planning to blame it on Democrats. https://t.co/RSsILu8l2T

— Lex Alexander (@LexAlexander) November 4, 2018

America

1858.

Actually, Frederick Douglas gave this speech on July 5, 1852. Sue me. Just read it. Better yet, read the whole thing here: https://t.co/rsvEj748yA

— Ward Harkavy (@WHarkavy) July 4, 2018

2018.

“Hello, 911? There’s a black woman running for office.” https://t.co/C8SQVFO3GF

— Kashana (@kashanacauley) July 4, 2018

The Week In Review

This Is America, via @sltrib https://t.co/vTaqaDpkoc

— Pat Bagley (@Patbagley) June 1, 2018

No Knowledge, No Problems

Plan to dismantle Puerto Rico's statistics agency gets green light https://t.co/0vxNpFXihB <-- in line with other US government attacks on research and accurate data, but particularly alarming given the post-hurricane humanitarian crisis

— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) April 9, 2018

Alabama Special

All the women who support Roy Moore should respect his wishes and ignore the 19th Amendment https://t.co/pEBgEMsvBi

— Jess Dweck (@TheDweck) December 11, 2017

Roy Moore in 2011: Getting rid of amendments after 10th would 'eliminate many problems' @CNNPolitics https://t.co/qqmaogIeV7

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) December 11, 2017

Come now; surely he could say what he means—just narrow it down to #13...

Can't make this up -- Roy Moore said in September that the last time America was great was when we had slavery. (h/t @reckonalabama)https://t.co/NMF4BCQ6ZS pic.twitter.com/XbpPtdifuS

— Eric Columbus (@EricColumbus) December 7, 2017

A pro-Moore ad calling a drive to increase turnout a "race war" tells you all you need to know. https://t.co/VAtDsv6E0d pic.twitter.com/cjEulEnUm1

— Taniel (@Taniel) December 11, 2017

Basest of bases, GOP voters, are just fine...

So I don't know who is doing chyron text for MSNBC, but this sums things up pretty succinctly. pic.twitter.com/mCtZQeE3Sf

— Christina Henderson (@HendWex) December 11, 2017

Expected

Tengrain, on the 25th

...ABC reports that Hair Führer Donald Trump is probably going to end the DACA program next week. 800,000 people who came to the U.S. illegally as children could be deported. So more fodder for his base. The optics of deporting 800,000 people will be shocking, by the way. I cannot see how he can do it without boxcars and camps to process them

Ethnic cleansing, to be bolstered by even harsher occupation forces, arrayed against a certain set of citizens...

"More than 20 school districts ... have been equipped with military-grade equipment" including grenade launchers. https://t.co/yWIqslqsrk

— melinda d. anderson (@mdawriter) August 28, 2017

It's like Trump's only commitments are to 1.) his grift 2.) helping America destroy itself with its own greed and paranoia. https://t.co/apNliicXGI

— Roy Edroso (@edroso) August 28, 2017

Today In White Supremacy

Timothy McVeigh admirer arrested by FBI after allegedly trying to detonate what he thought was an 1,000-pound bomb: https://t.co/gU7DNRu4D4

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 14, 2017

Man who made extremely vague condemnation when it came to neo-Nazis makes extremely specific condemnation of CEO who dared criticize him: https://t.co/yydxlPWKj9

— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) August 14, 2017

I once challenged @RealDonaldTrump's ratings & he tweeted me in 15 minutes. It took him 3 days to say the KKK is bad. Sorry, it's too late.

— Danny Zuker (@DannyZuker) August 14, 2017

President Trump: "We all salute the same great flag."

Fact Check: Nope! pic.twitter.com/xou3WjFm20

— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) August 14, 2017

"Those who spread violence in the name of bigotry strike at the very core of America, now watch me pardon Sheriff Joe." pic.twitter.com/rY3pvJ4DXc

— Schooley (@Rschooley) August 14, 2017

WhiteHouse Washing

Heartbroken and outraged by the images coming out of Syria following the atrocious chemical attack yesterday.

— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) April 5, 2017

No "Violent Extremism" To See Here

So said the Trump administration, when it re-branded violent extremism as unique to Muslims.

The State of New York has disagreed, charging Timothy Caughman's killer with terrorism as well as counts of murder.

Caughman was the latest victim added to the growing list of hate crimes found unworthy of the slightest comment by Trump and Co.

Spicer asked about an avowed white supremacist killing a black man. His answer was on "rush to judgment by the left" over JCC bomb threats.

— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) March 27, 2017

Reporter yells q about white supremacist who killed a black man in NYC. "Is that a hate crime, sir." Sessions keeps walking. No answer.

— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) March 27, 2017

And their allies...

A white supremacist drives from MD to NYC to stab a random black man to death & news reports compliment his attire? https://t.co/4lrr3TmbY5

— JJ MacNab (@jjmacnab) March 22, 2017

It does if it's a legendarily racist tabloid https://t.co/bd7XIBVe80

— Roy Edroso (@edroso) March 23, 2017

Jamelle Bouie sees Caughman's murder in its historical context: white terrorist murder of a black man as lynching.

Standing on line waiting to vote I love america󾓦󾓦󾓦 pic.twitter.com/jVAeLXtUAq

— timothy caughman (@timrock715) November 8, 2016

Timothy Caughman was an American above all else. He was killed by a white supremacist in MY city. This IS NOT America. #BlackLivesMatter https://t.co/RvsNwHPZuR

— Emanuel Zbeda (@therealezway) March 22, 2017

Selma to Montgomery Anniversary

March 21-25, 1965. To prevent the police violence directed at all previous attempts, Lyndon Johnson had sent federal troops to escort the marchers. This year's anniversary ends without comment from the part-time current occupant of the White House.

The silence is telling. But history is eloquent, and suggests an arc that must bend away from silence and denial.

The Kings in Montgomery, closing Selma March, today 1965: #Adelman pic.twitter.com/Bn72iGKsoi

— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) March 25, 2017

Confederates Win Civil War

It's mere SOP to the GOP that those who would destroy a government department be named to run it. A Trump/Heritage Foundation/Big Oil cabinet will be the most extreme illustration to date, but it was inevitable: once Republicans gained control of all branches, new heights of klepto-kakistocracy were there for the grabbing.

For all that, the Jefferson Beauregard Nathan Bedford Forrest Sessions nomination is especially offensive, when his history is so long and familiar. Someone whose record was so terrible, even  Republicans under Reagan rejected him for a federal judgeship.

Since then, he has been a Senate fixture of the Confederate caucus. An early backer who became part of Trump's inner circle, he attended "Lock Her Up" rallies. Certainly, Sessions was well-positioned to encourage Twitler's rants about voter fraud. Sessions' reward (and his payback for 1986) will be the power to pound last nails in the coffin of voting rights. That's along with overseeing the FBI; anything related to federal enforcement of "justice" will be the purview of the anti-immigrant, anti-minority, anti-woman, anti-police accountability Sessions.

There will at least be historical witness to this. John Lewis has also lived long enough to remain a link to the struggle for civil rights. There's no forgetting that the near-lethal beating he survived in 1965 was at the hands of those who were the ideological allies of Jeff Sessions.Rep. Lewis testified against the nomination, as did Cory Booker; both spoke in a rare break from the usual displays of congressional collegiality.

Regarding Sessions' past abuses of power, an old "disgrace to his race" issued this statement.

Also introduced: a 1986 letter from Coretta Scott King, sent to, and then suppressed by, Judiciary Committee chair Strom Thurmond. Mrs. King wrote that the prospect of Sessions on the federal bench—

...raises serious questions about his commitment to the protection of the voting rights of all American citizens.

Anyone who has used the power of his office as United States Attorney to intimidate and chill the free exercise of the ballot by citizens should not be elevated to our courts....Mr. Sessions has used the awesome powers of his office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters. For this reprehensible conduct, he should not be rewarded with a federal judgeship.

The irony of Mr. Sessions' nomination is that, if confirmed, he will be given a life tenure for doing with a federal prosecution what the local sheriffs accomplished twenty years ago with clubs and cattle prods...

And so: history on one side.

On the other: Southern Strategy. Jeff Stein at Vox tweeted this morning:

Trump team at the Sessions hearing just passed out a dossier citing an article about "how black Democrats stole votes"

Hyperreality TV

I've lost track of who said this and where, but: "America is about to be governed by a Mafia crime family interbred with a genocidal Nazi televangelism cult."

One bit player, Doctor Quack Z. Runningmouth—

"It never occurred to me that he was the oldest president, not for a second," Bornstein, 69, said in his Upper East Side office of the 70-year-old Trump. He said that "there's nothing to share" on a regular basis about a president's health. "Ronald Reagan had pre-senile dementia. I mean, seriously, did they share that one with you, or did Nancy just cover it up?"

Weeellll... okey-dokey, then...

"If something happens to him, then it happens to him," Bornstein said. "It's like all the rest of us, no? That's why we have a vice president and a speaker of the House and a whole line of people. They can just keep dying."

Smart, keeping the business in the family. Why even his wife appears to be impersonating a doctor...

... his great-aunt, who is also a patient of his, was headed to the emergency room across the street from his office. He and his wife put on their matching white doctors coats and headed to the hospital, to see how she was doing and make sure she got the best possible care.

Rounding out the cast... Though they may not be ready for prime time, the private security goons were a big hit with fans during rallies, as they roughed up whoever The Boss fingered. Now, they're ejecting journalists. Unaccountable to only one man, they appear poised to supercede the Secret Service.

And for some really small bit players... Jes' folks: hangin' at home with the kids, lettin' their hoods down...

A&E's newest series does something worse than just provide a platform for the KKK: It employs the formal format and devices of the channel's other hits (Hoarders, Intervention) to transform its bigots into colorful characters, thereby placing them on the same plane as the rest of cable TV's freaky reality stars. By situating them in a familiar faux-verité package, Generation KKK makes clear that these rancid people are just as suitable subjects for our entertainment as anyone else. In short: It legitimizes them.

Well the format has worked quite well for a certain rancid, orange-hued star.

That structure will be recognizable to anyone who's watched a reality-TV program over the course of the past decade—and it's Generation KKK's most reprehensible aspect. By having its subjects constantly restate the same soundbites (Daryle is going to "put boots on the ground"; Cody views Richard as a "father figure"), and by repeatedly manufacturing a sense of impending doom—through interview snippets, and ominous music—that never materializes, the show feels like just another small-screen effort aimed at drumming up spectacle through staged scenarios and manipulative aesthetics. It's akin to a multi-episode KKK variation on Teen Mom or My 600 Lb. Life, except with more go-nowhere handwringing by hatemongers who aren't committed to (or interested in) changing.

Generation KKK seems to believe it's exposing these cretins for who they truly are (and what they stand for). However, by using a standard-issue TV template to let them prattle on about race-mixing and white power, about their oh-so-sacred "naturalization" ceremonies performed next to dirt road shacks, about their "religious" "cross-lighting" rituals, and about the color-coded ranks of their hate group, the show treats them no differently than any of its other reality TV oddballs. That includes the bearded hillbillies of Duck Dynasty, whose hit A&E show is, coincidentally, going off the air shortly after Generation KKK—another program courting rural white viewers—premieres. The network's apparent underlying business model isn't difficult to decipher. But it's certainly something to condemn.

"There Was Video.There Should Have Been A Verdict."

Writes Charles Pierce. Citing the NYT—

"Our whole criminal justice system rides on the back of law enforcement," the chief prosecutor for Charleston County, Scarlett A. Wilson, said during her closing argument. "They have to be held accountable when they mess up. It is very, very rare, but it does happen." Ms. Wilson acknowledged from the beginning of the trial that she thought Mr. Scott had contributed to his own death by running away. "If Walter Scott had stayed in that car, he wouldn't have been shot," Ms. Wilson said. "He paid the extreme consequence for his conduct. He lost his life for his foolishness."

Pierce—

Ask Philando Castile how safe you are from gun-happy cops if you stay in your car. Oh, sorry, you can't. He's dead, too.

Wilson's statement, however tactical it may have been, is simply appalling. Unless Slager was certain that Scott was running to get an RPG launcher that he'd secreted across the park, Slager simply was in no imminent danger and Scott should not be dead. If the video weren't evidence enough of that, then the lengths to which Slager and his superiors went to bullshit the public about how this was a righteous shoot should have been.

But if the prosecutor is hanging the victim with the original responsibility for his own death, even for purely tactical reasons, then that's opening the contest with a pretty serious own goal. If we're going to be serious about criminal justice reform—on which I've never been optimistic, but never mind—then there has to be a serious conversation at the state level about removing local DAs from the process of prosecuting cops that they also need to use as witnesses in their day-to-day lives. The current system is a mockery of justice. And there is the one thing about which nobody wants to talk in this national conversation that we're never likely to have now. It is that black lives matter less in the law, time and time again.

Which Pierce follows with this story, from Louisiana. Black motorist shot to death by white motorist—who police first released, for cooperating with the investigation. Sheriff now enraged over criticism of his department's actions. As Pierce says—

Sooner or later, Sheriff Normand is going to testify for the prosecution in the trial of the guy who is charged with shooting Joe McKnight. Good luck with that, folks.

Carolina, South

A mistrial declared in North Charleston.

Slager shot Walter Scott in the back repeatedly, killing him. At the time of the shooting, Scott was already 15 to 20 feet from Slager and running away.

Video taken by a bystander showed Slager placing a weapon by Scott's body after the shooting, in an apparent attempt to plant a weapon on him. When the officer radioed a dispatcher, he explicitly lied, stating that Scott had taken his Taser.

Scott Lemieux: "38% of the population of North Charleston is white, and yet 92% of the jury was."

The jury was hung due to a single hold-out; case will be re-tried.

White Riot

Since the 9th Shaun King has posted sickening reports from around the country. His twitter feed is now filling up with trolls, but this is a sampling from the last three days.

"A Nation Within A Nation"

Charles Pierce on the DOJ report on "the racial catastrophe that is the Baltimore Police Department"—

The history of the numbers—and, therefore, how things went so badly wrong in Baltimore—is a sorry and not entirely inexplicable story. Not if you are familiar with the history of how things go so badly wrong in this country. Race is shot throughout the report; the numbers draw a clear and vivid picture of that. Everything in the report comes down to the disinclination of the civic and political power to grant the freedom of their constitutional rights to its African American citizens. Nothing in the report proceeds without that simple fact. From fugitive slave patrols to this report, the history of American law enforcement shows that so much of American law enforcement hasn't any more idea of how to solve this nation's original sin than does any other institution of American society. Except these people have badges. And guns.

"Unfiltered"

The Times' video.

The Other Team Sounds Off

Bill O'Reilly yesterday, on Michelle Obama's 7/25 speech. While some say goose-bumps and tears followed the First Lady's, "I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves," O'Reilly harrumphed—

"Slaves that worked there were well fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government, which stopped hiring slave labor in 1802."

Etc., in the patented tones of bluster and dismissiveness, from "History's Greatest Reporter".

The Butler, Doing It Again

This guy.

This week —

Anthony Senecal, who worked as Donald Trump's butler for 17 years before being named the in-house historian at the tycoon's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, has repeatedly published posts on his Facebook page that express profound hatred for President Barack Obama and declare he should be killed.

The posts were later taken down, and Trump "disavows" the remarks by the "former butler." All of a sudden, Senecal isn't an employee, he just hangs around as a Trump "historian.".

As the NYT quoted him, in a March interview,

"You're a Hispanic and you're in here trimming the trees and everything, and a guy walks up and hands you a hundred dollars," Mr. Senecal said. "And they love him, not for that, they just love him."

When Trump married the current wife

...Mr. Senecal greeted guests at the door, including Hillary Clinton. (In the interview, he offered a profane description for Mrs. Clinton, the front-runner in the Democratic presidential race.)

Steve M. adds other sentiments from the Family Values heartland; one needs to take a shower after reading what's directed at Mrs. Obama and the kids.

Steve M. adds,

Here's what I want to know: When is the "respectable" political world going to recognize what a cesspool of hate and delusion conservatism has become in America?