News bits 'n whatnot

A lot of people are slow to see reality

The NYT writes:

Jewish Allies Call Trump’s Dinner With 

Antisemites a Breaking Point

Supporters who looked past the former president’s admirers in bigoted corners of the far right, and his own use of antisemitic tropes, now are drawing a line. “He legitimizes Jew hatred and Jew haters,” says one. “And this scares me.”  

But last week, Mr. Trump dined at his Palm Beach palace, Mar-a-Lago, with the performer Kanye West, who had already been denounced for making antisemitic statements, and with Nick Fuentes, an outspoken antisemite and Holocaust denier, granting the antisemitic fringe a place of honor at his table. Now, even some of Mr. Trump’s staunchest supporters say they can no longer ignore the abetting of bigotry by the nominal leader of the Republican Party.

“I am a child of survivors. I have become very frightened for my people,” Morton Klein, head of the right-wing Zionist Organization of America, said on Monday, referring to his parents’ survival of the Holocaust. “Donald Trump is not an antisemite. He loves Israel. He loves Jews. But he mainstreams, he legitimizes Jew hatred and Jew haters. And this scares me.”

Seriously? Really? It took this long and something this blatant to scare another self-deluded radical right right winger? This is what scares me about people who can delude themselves into believing they are pro-democracy and pro-civil liberties while supporting a bigoted fascist who is blatantly anti-democracy and anti-civil liberties.

This reminds me of the Indian scouts that Col. Custer used to track down tribes the scouts hated so that Custer could slaughter them. Later after the main event slaughter was complete, the scout tribes got what was coming to them. 

So, a question pops right up. How stupid and/or deluded are some people? Apparently, pretty stupid and/or deluded. Look at how Mr Recently Scared rationalized Trump’s antisemitism into a false reality, i.e., He loves Israel. He loves Jews. That is nonsense. Trump loves Trump. Stupid, deluded, both and/or something(s) else, Mr Scared is Custer’s Indian scout who still doesn’t get it.

Stolen election hardball in Arizona

The AP writes:

GOP-controlled Arizona county refuses to certify election

State Elections Director Kori Lorick wrote in a letter last week that Hobbs is required by law to approve the statewide canvass by next week and will have to exclude Cochise County’s votes if they aren’t received in time.

That would threaten to flip the victor in at least two close races — a U.S. House seat and state schools chief — from a Republican to a Democrat.

As usual, there is no evidence of widespread vote or voter fraud in Cochise County. That inconvenient fact does not matter. What matters is subverting those elections based on lies about vote and/or voter fraud or irregularities.

So, a question pops right up. How ignorant, stupid and/or deluded are some people who still cannot see blatant Republican Party fascism and its hostility to elections and other targeted civil liberties? Elections and voting are civil liberties. Stupid, deluded, ignorant and/or something(s) else, most rank and file Republican voters are Indian scouts who still don’t get it. If the fascist beast they support gains enough power, it will turn on them sooner or later.

From the crumbling rule of law files:

Rut roh!! Be afraid: The Supreme Court is at it again 

The NYT writes:

Supreme Court Seems Poised to Limit Public Corruption Cases

The fraud convictions of Joseph Percoco, a former aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York, and Louis Ciminelli, a contractor in Buffalo, appeared likely to be overturned.

The Supreme Court, which has become increasingly skeptical of federal prosecutions of public corruption in state government, seemed poised on Monday to hand prosecutors two more defeats.

The question in the first case, Percoco v. United States, No. 21-1158, was whether Mr. Percoco could be prosecuted under a federal law that makes it a crime to deprive the government of “honest services” for conduct that took place after he resigned his government position to run the governor’s 2014 re-election campaign.

Yaakov M. Roth, a lawyer for Mr. Percoco, said the law applies only to people who exercise the authority of the government, a power he said his client had lacked when he received the payments.

“What he did have, like many lobbyists and donors and interest groups and others, was influence — in his case, influence drawn from years of public service, from a close relationship to the Cuomo family and from his senior campaign role,” Mr. Roth said. “But none of that creates a fiduciary duty to the public.”

Justice Clarence Thomas asked whether an official could resign for an afternoon, just long enough to take a bribe. Mr. Roth responded that such a bribe would very likely be in exchange for government action after the official’s return, which he said would be covered by the law.

“The State of New York doesn’t seem to be upset about this arrangement,” Thomas said of the payments to Mr. Percoco, adding, “It seems as though we are using a federal law to impose ethical standards on state activity.”

Once again, the hard core pro-corruption capitalism that the Christofascist Republican Party leadership supports is on public display for all to see. What the Christofascists on the Supreme Court are aiming for in this case is severance of federal law enforcement reach into state corruption. The underlying truth is that it is easier to corrupt a state government and state law enforcement than it is to corrupt their federal counterparts. 

This is why Republican brass knuckles capitalist elites are so hell-bent on shifting as much power  as possible from the federal government and law enforcement to the states. That opens the door to more corruption with less danger for the criminals and bent politicians and bureaucrats. In turn, more corruption amounts to more wealth and power for the capitalists.

The Republicans have been chipping away at anti-corruption laws for years. This is just another step on the fascist Republican road to legalizing blatant corruption in government.

Big businesses hate labor unions

Vice writes:

Federal Judge Orders Amazon to Stop Firing People for Organizing

A cease-and-desist order filed against the company demands it stop retaliating against unionizing workers.

A federal judge filed a cease-and-desist order against Amazon on Friday, demanding that the company stop firing its employees for participating in union organizing.

Once again, brass knuckles capitalism shows its true colors. The rule of law does not matter much. Profits matter.