"She Persisted" -- Damn Right, McConnell! (UPDATED)

During the debate over the nomination of neo- Confederate devoted Stormtrumper Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III to be Attorney General, this happened:

The Senate has silenced Elizabeth Warren. 

And by doing so, majority Republicans just handed the liberal firebrand a megaphone -- further elevating President Donald Trump's fiercest and most prominent critic in the Senate and turning her into a Democratic hero [Ed.: she already was a Democratic hero, numbnut]. 

The rebuke of Warren came after the Massachusetts Democrat read a letter written 30 years ago by Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King Jr., opposing the nomination of Jeff Sessions for a federal judgeship.  

Warren cited the letter during a debate on the nomination of Sessions -- now an Alabama senator -- as Donald Trump's attorney general. Reading from King's letter to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1986, Warren said: "Mr. Sessions has used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens in the district he now seeks to serve as a federal judge." [snip]

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell defended evoking Rule 19, a rarely evoked chamber regulation that prohibits senators from impugning each other. 

"She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted," the Kentucky Republican said on the Senate floor, delivering an instantly classic line -- the kind liberals imagine being replayed ad nauseum in TV ads in a future presidential campaign.  [Ed.: get used to it, snowflake!]

You can read Mrs. King's letter at the link above (pdf).

As Sen. Warren said when told to take her seat and be silent, “I am surprised that the words of Coretta Scott King are not suitable for debate in the United States Senate.”  Indeed.

However, reading some of the passages concerning Beauregard's past as a U.S. Attorney in Alabama will give you a good idea why Republican leader and human/ turtle hybrid Sen. Mitch "Missy" McConnell (Coward- KY) would want to shut Sen. Warren up quickly. Here are a few examples of Mrs. King's thoughts on Beauregard from 1986:

"The actions taken by Mr. Sessions in regard to the 1984 voting fraud prosecutions represent just one more technique used to intimidate Black voters and thus deny them this most precious franchise."  [snip]

"I urge you to consider carefully Mr. Sessions' conduct in these matters. Such a review, I believe, raises serious questions about his commitment to the protection of the voting rights of all American citizens and consequently his fair and unbiased judgment regarding this fundamental right."

Republicans are counting on the elfin- eared Beauregard, who was an early and avid supporter of neo- fascist fabulist and white nationalist Donald "Rump" Trump, to work hand in glove with Rump's voter suppression agenda, starting with that snipe hunt for millions of illegal voters.  He certainly has experience in that field, as the late Mrs. King's letter demonstrates.  And that's what Republicans don't want you to hear.

BONUS:  Here's more from Sen. Warren --

I will not be silent about a nominee for AG who has made derogatory & racist comments that have no place in our justice system.

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) February 8, 2017

I will not be silent while the Republicans rubber stamp an AG who will never stand up to the @POTUS when he breaks the law.

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) February 8, 2017

Tonight @SenateMajLdr silenced Mrs King's voice on the Sen floor - & millions who are afraid & appalled by what's happening in our country.

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) February 8, 2017

BONUS II:  Here's the Congressional Black Caucus statement on the silencing --

ALERT @OfficialCBC response to @SenWarren being silenced for reading #CorettaScottKing ltr is HOT @payneNBC @NickTShow @CornellWBrooks pic.twitter.com/NnbcMtnT9i

— Lauren Victoria (@LVBurke) February 8, 2017

UPDATE:  Charles Pierce has some background on the long, racist history of the Rule 19 that Missy used to shut down Sen. Warren.

National Shame

You couldn't toss a rock this morning and not hit a news story, an editorial or op/ ed about neo- fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump's un- American Muslim ban.

Our first order of business is to debunk Rump's and his cast of lying sycophants' claim that only 109 people are being affected by the Muslim ban. That would be off by a magnitude of several tens of thousands: it's more like 90,000.  Always remember these poor excuses for human beings are pathological liars.

Now, here are a few opinions that caught our eye (as always, please check out the full piece at the link).

Frequent blind squirrel and former Bush speechwriter Michael "Mushroom Cloud" Gerson rips Rump a new one:

The image of President Trump, flanked by Vice President Pence and Defense Secretary James Mattis, signing an executive order that (among other things) excludes Syrian refugees from the United States, is indelible. Three powerful American leaders, targeting and dehumanizing some of the most vulnerable people on Earth. A picture of bullying. A picture of cruelty. A picture of national shame.

You can skip Gerson's last paragraph, where he feels obliged to cite Ronnie Reagan as a counterpoint. Reagan, of course, is the spiritual father of these assorted white nationalists and nihilists running the show now. Look it up on Breitbart or WND ("wing nut daily"), Gerson. They see all kinds of similarities.

Catherine Rampell reminds us of the colossal cowardice and hypocrisy that's part of the Republican Party's DNA:

Where, exactly, is the red line for Republicans in Congress right now? 

We have a president with pronounced authoritarian tendencies, who believes he “alone can fix it”; who signs sweeping executive orders reportedly without even briefing relevant Cabinet members on the logistical, humanitarian and national security consequences; who directs his staff and surrogates to lie about the tiniest and most ridiculous and easily fact-checkable of details; and whose staffers brought us to the brink of a constitutional crisis when they ignored federal court orders. [snip] 

A mere year ago, Republican leaders condemned Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) said it was “not conservatism.” Then-Gov. Mike Pence (Ind.) called it “offensive and unconstitutional.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) called it “completely and totally inconsistent with American values.” Senator and then-presidential-candidate Marco Rubio (Fla.) agreed, saying, “It violates a lot of the things that we think about our country.”

Maybe when perceive that their own skinny necks are on the electoral chopping block they'll suddenly see that "red line." Or not.

Jonathan Alter on "the least American president of the United States":

The most striking thing about President Trump’s first 10 days in office is that the ardent nationalist who pledged to put “America first” is emerging as the least American president of the United States. 

By least American, I mean least connected to the larger democratic values that define the country. 

Our national identity is unique in the world because it’s based not on race, religion, or country of origin, but on ideals that transcend party 

Such ideals are at odds with a president who lies promiscuously, destabilizes the government with impulsive, discriminatory, and inhumane policies backed up with jarring firings, and cannot allow his White House to apologize or admir error under any circumstances, even for neglecting to mention Jews in a Holocaust commemoration. Those are the telltale signs of a foreign dictator, not an American leader. 

This morning*, the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to confirm as Attorney General slimy neo- Confederate weasel Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (KKK- AL) who is said to have had his hand in the Muslim ban order as well as other un- American actions by this White (supremacist) House junta.  With that knowledge alone, as we say in the post below, if there's one Democrat on the committee or in the full Senate who votes for this "thing," he or she should be written out of the Democratic Party.  Period.'

* The vote today was delayed, not in small part because the Russo Republicans couldn't keep their half-assed members in the room long enough to vote.

Trump's Vote Fraud Lie Is The Opening Gambit In Voter Suppression Drive

The adoption by neo- fascist loser Donald "Rump" Trump of far- right claims of massive voter fraud in the recent election (see Rump's tweet in the post below) is being seen as not only the wounded reaction of a narcissistic sociopath who sees himself as a "winner" in all things, but the opening shot in an aggressive voter suppression drive by his forming administration.  Instituting restrictive voter ID laws, which do nothing to prevent (non-existent) voter fraud but do everything to keep Democratic- leaning constituencies away from the polls, will likely be the first step. Here are the tells:

-- The involvement in the transition of Kansas Secretary of State Kris "Starts And Ends With Koch" Kobach.  Kobach is the nation's number one voter suppression expert, who's been out encouraging fellow right- wing election officials to adopt Kansas' methods of keeping right- wing office holders in place.  The Koch brothers' darling has been advising Rump on matters involving establishing a database of Muslims as well.

-- The involvement of the "True the Vote" racist voter suppression goons in ginning up the false claims.  As the "True the Vote" cranks say in a press release (via Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog, who has more on how the vote fraud conspiracy theory originated):

“True the Vote absolutely supports President-elect Trump’s recent comment about the impact of illegal voting, as reflected in the national popular vote. We are still collecting data and will be for several months, but our intent is to publish a comprehensive study on the significant impact of illegal voting in all of its many forms and begin a national discussion on how voters, states, and the Trump Administration can best address this growing problem.”

"... begin a national discussion..." on the non- existent voter fraud threat.  Yeah, we see where that's going.

-- Racist Attorney General- designate Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, soon to be in charge of what's left of Voting Rights Act "enforcement" -- 'nuff said.

When fascists come to power (and if you don't see nascent fascism here, you're not paying attention) they don't like to give it up through such messy niceties like democratic elections.  What we are beginning to see are the first steps in consolidating white nationalist/ fascist power in America;  there will be more as power is handed over to these knuckle- draggers. We've been warned.

BONUS: What Gene says.

BONUS II:  Ezra Klein on what is really scary about Rump's detachment from reality.

BONUS III:  Greg Sargent has more along the same lines.

(Photo:  The picture of Rump that he objected to as "unflattering" in his meeting with the New York Effing Times one week ago today - please disseminate far and wide.)

Another Inmate Will Be Helping To Run The Trump Asylum (UPDATED)

As they say, if you're shocked by any of this, you haven't been paying attention. (Also, "elections have consequences.")

The appointment of alt- right anti- Semite Steve "Assputin" Bannon as chief strategist and senior counselor to neo- fascist wig stand Donald "Rump" Trump was a yuuge tell.  Then there was Putin- curious Michael Flynn as National Security Advisor, a crackpot and a person whose shrouded, conflict- of- interest background mimics a Russian Matryoshka nesting doll. Now, here comes the latest inmate of the fringe right asylum reportedly ready to take his place in a critical government position.

Meet reported front- runner for Attorney General, Alabama Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, an early Rump supporter and immigration hardliner. A person once deemed too racist to be appointed a Federal judge (by a Republican Senate!), Beauregard has a nasty history, as one might expect from an Alabama Republican:

Back in the mid-1980s, when Sessions was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, President Ronald Reagan nominated him to become a federal judge. But during the nomination process, allegations emerged that Sessions had called a black attorney “boy,” that he suggested a white civil rights lawyer was a race traitor, that he joked he liked the Ku Klux Klan until he found out they smoked marijuana and that he referred to civil rights groups as “un-American” organizations trying to “force civil rights down the throats of people who were trying to put problems behind them.”

You were expecting Eric Holder?

More recently, here's where Beauregard stands on the issues:

-  Voted no on reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act;

-  Voted yes on Constitutional ban on same- sex marriage;

-  Voted no on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes;

 -  Voted yes on loosening restrictions on wiretapping cell phones;

-  Voted yes on ending special funding for minority- and women- owned businesses;

-  Rated 20% by the ACLU, indicating an anti- civil rights record;

-  Rated 0% by the HRC, indicating an anti- gay rights record;

-  Rated 7% by the NAACP, indicating an anti- affirmative action record.

Clearly, Beauregard stands firmly in the 19th Century.

So, we think it's safe to say Beauregard won't be looking after the best interests of women, minorities, or justice in general.  As a bonus, he seems the kind of AG that FBI Director Comey, his New York field office and Milwaukee County's skeevy Sheriff David Clarke (new Homeland Security Secretary?) can play ball with, though.

UPDATE:  Adding to the crackpottery at the most sensitive levels of government, there's this teabagger pol who's in line for CIA Director.  Nice. You think there'll be any pushback on Russia now?

UPDATE II:  Martin Longman takes a somewhat deeper dive into Flynn, Sessions and Pompeo (though, shall we say, the pool is rather shallow).

Ah Say, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III Will Have None of Those Black Fellow's Nominees!

Racist cornpone and New Confederate Party/ Rethuglican political template Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (NCP-AL) is outraged, ah say, outraged at that black fellow's nominee for Secretary of the Treasury:

Jack Lew must never be secretary of Treasury...At this time of unprecedented slow growth, high unemployment, and huge deficits, we need a Secretary of Treasury that the American people, the Congress, and the world will know is up to the task of getting America on the path to prosperity not the path to decline. Jack Lew is not that man.

Sessions, like fellow cornpone Sen. Lindsey "Huckleberry Closetcase" Graham (Closet-SC), is determined to piss on every major nominee President Obama sends up to the Senate. Why? Maybe Sessions still has hurt fee-fees from when he was nominated for a federal judgeship but was rejected because of racist positions (just Google "Sen. Jeff Sessions racist" for the motherlode). Or maybe he's just playing to his inbred, angry white man base.

We suspect that this kind of in-your-face obstructionism has worn out any welcome it may have had with all but the most Obama-derangement-syndrome-suffering Americans. People like Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III aren't interested in governing; they're interested in blowing things up.

(Photo: Ah say, that's Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III standing in the schoolhouse door at the podium.)