Wow, do I have some stories for you guys tonight. A double header about the fall of those not ready for the third reich players, the Alt Right.
Elements of the left say that antifa tactics -- direct, physical confrontations with fascists and racists -- are a "gift to the alt-right," letting them play victim and validating their paranoid fantasies about the persecution of white dudes -- but punched Nazi Richard Spencer says that antifa tactics have worked as intended, making it impossible for him to continue his on-campus recruitment tour for his forthcoming race-war.
Spencer's admission of antifa's victory was part of a long, dull Youtube video he posted last Sunday, in which he announced the premature end of his "college tour," because "When they become violent clashes and pitched battles, they aren’t fun," adding, "Antifa is winning to the extent that they’re willing to go further than anyone else, in the sense that they will do things in terms of just violence, intimidating, and general nastiness."
Yep, after a year of getting his ass kicked at very corner by everybody, Richard Spencer is getting out of the being a Nazi shithole business. And nothing of value was lost.
Oh but it gets better:
It’s been a bad week for white supremacists and fake news. First, Matt Heimbach—the founder of the neo-Nazi group the Traditionalist Worker Party and a man famous for shoving a black woman at a Donald Trump rally—was arrested for assaulting another woman (his wife). Since Heimbach was also accused of choking the co-founder of the party as part of what seems to be a complicated love rhombus, it now appears the entire group is defunct. Also this week, the Southern Poverty Law Center discovered that the wife of Stewart Rhodes, founder of the alt-right anti-government militia group the Oath Keepers, had filed for a temporary restraining order, claiming her husband was abusive and violent. Alt-right servers are being shut down, as are YouTube channels, albeit too slowly. And Richard Spencer, who was meant to be the alt-right’s palatable offering, has ruefully declared that his white-supremacist rallies—as a result of which at least one woman has been killed—are “not fun anymore.” He says he is considering canceling his whole not-fun, poorly attended speaking tour. He’s also dropping his lawsuits against colleges that had barred him from speaking. Also, he can’t get a lawyer to represent him.
In addition to this spectacular self-propelled flame-out of prominent white supremacist leaders, there are also a handful of lawsuits seeking to bankrupt them and the media outlets that give them oxygen. It’s easy to say this is a paper war between paper enemies. But the truth is that these suits are, paradoxically, the only mechanism these plaintiffs can deploy to prove they are real humans being subject to real damage, by media companies that pretend to be journalists when in fact they are just bullies.
Two such suits have been filed in recent days: one against Fox News by Joel and Mary Rich, the parents of Democratic National Committee employee Seth Rich, and another against Alex Jones and Gateway Pundit for pushing false stories about a man who filmed the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The defamation suit filed by Rich’s parents names Fox News reporter Malia Zimmerman, who allegedly worked with a wealthy former Morgan Stanley executive named Ed Butowsky to create a “sham” story about Seth Rich’s death. The story claimed Rich, who was murdered in 2016, had leaked DNC emails to WikiLeaks and implied that he was killed for it. There is no substance to any of these allegations. (The entire story, detailed in the complaint, is mind-boggling, but the Washington Post has a good summary.) Suffice to say that the private detective quoted by Fox News to support the story is also suing Fox in connection with the same story.
Yep, both Alex Jones and Fox news are being sued for spreading fake news. This is seriously like someone hacked my dream journal.
Well, now that your ass kicking of Nazi’s has been satisfied, lets move on to other news:
Republican Senator Rand Paul said Sunday he would “do everything to stop” President Donald Trump’s nominations of Mike Pompeo for secretary of State and Gina Haspel for CIA director, but conceded he may not be able to stop them.
Paul, a Kentucky Republican, said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that he wants someone who’s not “advocating for war,” particularly against Iran and North Korea, rather than Pompeo, the current CIA director.
Yeah yeah, probably just a lot of hot air, but the public dissent of the GOP is always good for morale. Remember, these guys hate each other even more than they hate us, that’s why we will win.
Democrats in Congress may have found a way to save former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s government pension, despite Attorney General Jeff Sessions firing him two days before he could qualify for it.
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) on Saturday extended a federal job offer to McCabe, who has worked for the FBI for 21 years. Pocan wants McCabe to work with his office on election security.
Should McCabe accept the offer, Pocan said in a statement it would allow the former FBI official to reach the length of service he needs to retire and collect his pension, estimated at $60,000 a year.
You may recall that orange turd in a suit Donald Trump fired McCabe just two days before his retirement to keep him from getting his Pension. So once again the Democrats show themselves to be the ones with compassion and basic human decency to want to help McCabe out like this so he can get his Pension.
And of course I have to leave you with a little news about Net Neutrality, my personal pet project.
When California proposed a bill this week to preserve net neutrality rules in the state, it was the most comprehensive effort in the nation. The bill would even move beyond the protections that the FCC recently moved to roll back.
Listed efforts in 35 states
But the bill is only one way states are moving to keep the rules after last year’s FCC decision. The activist group Fight for the Future has listed efforts in 35 states and the District of Columbia, including legislation under consideration and executive orders.
Those attempts to keep the rules come in an array of forms. A major part of the list includes a national attempt that kicked off in January, when 22 attorneys general signed on to a lawsuit challenging the rules. The suit, led by New York’s attorney general, will take some time to wind its way through court, but is one of the most prominent challenges to the repeal.
The governors of five states — Montana, New Jersey, New York, Hawaii, and Vermont — have signed executive orders to preserve the rules. Several other states have proposed legislation in some form that would keep rules in place. Nearly all of those bills, though, are still making their ways through the legislative process, and it’s difficult to guess how many will become law.
Just a reminder that we have powerful allies in the fight for Net Neutrality.
So that’s it, have a pleasant morning, and fuck the Alt Right.