Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Consistently wrong since 2002

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

No Justins, No Peace

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / Civic Action: Here’s Something We Can Do

Civic Action: Here’s Something We Can Do

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A lot of people keep asking in comments to posts, including the one where I tried to put oil on the water I had troubled and then you all decided to go after each other in comments you special people, what we can do. That is both a good question and a problematic one. Because a good chunk of the historic and traditional way you resolve the problem we’re facing is not something that is polite or pleasant or that I’m posting on the front page of John’s blog.

However, there is something I think we can do. Those of you in North Carolina will know and some of the rest of you might recall that in 2010 a wealthy North Carolinian named Art Pope leveraged his fortune to take control of North Carolina. Pope, through direct donations to candidates and campaigns, and indirect ones through his and other’s political action committees and through the conservative, free market promoting think tank, Civitas, that he funded and ran in North Carolina. Pope is, of course, not the only one who has done this. Every state, especially those now controlled by Republican majority legislatures even if they no longer have Republican governors – Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina – have one or more wealthy citizens, usually tied into the Koch’s and Leonard Leo’s and other’s dark money networks who are funding and/or running state level conservative, free market promoting think tanks.

This is how we got the mess in Wisconsin that is Wisconsin. Charlie Sykes, who has now gone apostate, was the front man for this there through the Badger Institute, Right Wisconsin, and his talk radio show. The Badger Institute used to be known as the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. Texas has one of these, The Texas Public Policy Foundation, which has recently jumped into the astroturfed anti-CRT bullshit with both feet. Almost every state has one. They all have innocuous sounding names. The big one in Florida used to be Jeb! Bush’s James Madison Institute, which he leveraged to get himself elected governor. They’re either predominantly funded by one wealthy conservative person or family in that state or by the usual funders like the Kochs, the Mercers, the Uhliens, the Friesses, the Popes, etc.

These think tanks, which are basically state level versions of the Heritage Foundation, serve as a key node in creating the conditions allowing for the anti-democratic voter suppression and electoral manipulation that is threatening America both as a whole and state by state. Organizing against them, shining some sunlight on them, would be very effective civic action.

So if you know the name of the think tank or think tanks in your state, like Civitas, the Badger Institute, or Texas Public Policy Foundation, sound off in the comments. If you’ve got a link ready to hand, through that in too. I’ll come along later and make a master list and put it up as its own post so that people know who to organize against.

Until then, Open Thread!

PS – I’m fine. Thanks for everyone asking in comments or emailing. Really. I’m not depressed. I’m not suicidal. The jury is out regarding homicidal… (this is sarcasm) I’m not quitting. I’m not leaving. I am frustrated. But I’m fine. Though if you see news reports of a Florida man who looks to be part susquatch on a tri-state homicide vacation, it might be me… (this is also sarcasm!)

Reader Interactions

146Comments

  3. 3.

    patrick II

    I like th idea of not just working against the politicians but the money men behind them. We should encourage our politicians to do the same, because the real political opponent of democracy are the Kochs and the Mellons and a bunch of other guys who I don’t know the name of and they should be better known and their contributions through dark money publicized.

  5. 5.

    VOR

    Minnesota has the Center of the American Experiment. Also the Taxpayers League of Minnesota.

  6. 6.

    Yutsano

    We got a list of em. And now I have a better understanding of how that toad* Tim Eyman keeps himself rich. It’s not just his business acumen.

    *with all apologies to toads, who are wonderful creatures and do not deserve to be lumped in with that joik.

  7. 7.

    UncleEbeneezer

    I like this idea but aside from advertiser boycotts I’m not exactly sure what we can do to fight them.  I would welcome guidance from people with experience in that.

     

    PS- much as I don’t like $ buying influence, I wish some of our more liberal-minded billionaires would lobby Manchin/Sinema and other Dems with cold feet.  Dangle some major $, factories, jobs etc. for their states.

  8. 8.

    CaseyL

    @sixthdoctor: Wow – I knew Washington State (well, Western Washington) was Democratic/Blue/liberal, but am still impressed that all of the major donors are, too.

    Considering how quickly and completely the GOP in Eastern Washington went down the GQP rabbithole, it’s reassuring to know that, for now anyway, GQP dark money hasn’t been a factor here.

    @Yutsano:  Ah.  The source I looked at just lists PAC contributions.  Still, none of the RW thinktanks made the list.

  9. 9.

    dmsilev

    Though if you see news reports of a Florida man who looks to be part susquatch on a trip-state homicide vacation, it might be me…

    How can we tell whether it’s you vs. some other typical Florida Man? I mean, your description doesn’t narrow things down much.

  10. 10.

    Red Hot Mess

    In WA state there are 3 that I know of: the Discovery Institute (the Intelligent Design folks), Washington Policy Center, and the Freedom Foundation.

  12. 12.

    Yutsano

    @CaseyL:  I was actually surprised how blue Spokane is turning. It doesn’t seem to be enough to throw out Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (spit) yet, but it does give me some hope. The Tri-cities is still a lost cause it seems even with our massive influx of population*.
    *Inb4 H.E. Wolf tells me I’m giving up too easily.​

  13. 13.

    Fake Irishman

    Michigan: Mackinac Center for Public Policy
    (Mackinac.org)

    “Think tank” linked with the noxious DeVos family (eg Betsy and Dick), puts on a “conference” every year at the resort on Mackinac island that hosts every Michigan politician of Republican persuasion. Anti-labor. anti-choice. Antitax. Anti-labor. Anti environmental regs. Anti consumer. Anti public transit. Anti-labor. Anti-Medicaid. Have I mentioned they hate unions? My old union local was on the receiving end of one of their astroturf campaigns in 2010-2012. Not fun times.

  14. 14.

    geg6

    RIP Rich Trumka. The best union leader of my adult lifetime. A big blow to organized labor.

  15. 15.

    White & Gold Purgatorian

    In Alabama, the Alabama Policy Institute has long been a source of right wing “thought,” distributing their “unbiased” editorials to every newspaper in the state, most of which are happy to have a freebie to fill some space. They are also very good at providing nicely dressed right thinkers when local news needs a reaction to Obamacare, immigration, taxes, etc. It looks like the Alabama Center for Law and Liberty is another one to watch, with a focus on legal action as opposed to just propaganda. I used to have a good idea who was the money behind a lot of the bought and paid for politicians in Montgomery, but have sort of fallen out of the habit of looking at that.  Could do some digging if it seems worthwhile, but in this state it feels rather pointless. Feel free to inspire me …

    Edited to fix typo.

  18. 18.

    Another Scott

    Thanks for this.

    Jane Mayer’s latest long piece at TheNewYorker is another good example of shining light in the dark places:

    (quasi-repost)

    […]

    An animating force behind the Bradley Foundation’s war on “election fraud” is Cleta Mitchell, a fiercely partisan Republican election lawyer, who joined the organization’s board of directors in 2012. Until recently, she was virtually unknown to most Americans. But, on January 3rd, the Washington Post exposed the contents of a private phone call, recorded the previous day, during which Trump threatened election officials in Georgia with a “criminal offense” unless they could “find” 11,780 more votes for him—just enough to alter the results. Also on the call was Mitchell, who challenged the officials to provide records proving that dead people hadn’t cast votes. The call was widely criticized as a rogue effort to overturn the election, and Foley & Lardner, the Milwaukee-based law firm where Mitchell was a partner, announced that it was “concerned” about her role, and then parted ways with her. Trump’s call prompted the district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, to begin a criminal investigation.

    In a series of e-mails and phone calls with me, Mitchell adamantly defended her work with the Trump campaign, and said that in Georgia, where she has centered her efforts, “I don’t think we can say with certainty who won.” She told me that there were countless election “irregularities,” such as voters using post-office boxes as their residences, in violation of state law. “I believe there were more illegal votes cast than the margin of victory,” she said. “The only remedy is a new election.” Georgia’s secretary of state rejected her claims, but Mitchell insists that the decision lacked a rigorous evaluation of the evidence. With her support, diehard conspiracy theorists are still litigating the matter in Fulton County, which includes most of Atlanta. Because they keep demanding that election officials prove a negative—that corruption didn’t happen—their requests to keep interrogating the results can be repeated almost indefinitely. Despite three independent counts of Georgia’s vote, including a hand recount, all of which confirmed Biden’s victory, Mitchell argues that “Trump never got his day in court,” adding, “There are a lot of miscarriages of justice I’ve seen and experienced in my life, and this was one of them.”

    Mitchell, who is seventy, has warm friendships with people in both parties, and she often appears grandmotherly, in pastel knit suits and reading glasses. But, like Angela Lansbury in “The Manchurian Candidate,” to whom she bears a striking resemblance, she should not be underestimated. She began her political career in Oklahoma, as an outspoken Democrat and a champion of the Equal Rights Amendment. She was elected to the state legislature in her twenties, but then lost a bid for lieutenant governor, in 1986. She told me that she subsequently underwent a political conversion: when her stepson squandered the college tuition that she was paying, she turned against the idea of welfare in favor of personal responsibility, and began reading conservative critiques of liberalism. When I first interviewed her for this magazine, in 1996, she told me that “overreaching government regulation is one of the great scandals of our times.”

    On behalf of Republican candidates and groups, she began to fight limits on campaign spending. She also represented numerous right-wing nonprofits, including the National Rifle Association, whose board she joined in the early two-thousands. A former N.R.A. official recently told the Guardian that Mitchell was the “fringe of the fringe,” and a Republican voting-rights lawyer said that “she tells clients what they want to hear, regardless of the law or reality.”

    In our conversations, Mitchell mocked what she called the mainstream media’s “narrative” of a “vast right-wing conspiracy to suppress the vote of Black people,” and insisted that the fraud problem was significant. “I actually think your readers need to hear from people like me—believe it or not, there are tens of millions of us,” she wrote. “We are not crazy. At least not to us. We are intelligent and educated people who are very concerned about the future of America. And we are among the vast majority of Americans who support election-integrity measures.” Echoing what has become the right’s standard talking point, she declared that her agenda for elections is “to make it harder to cheat.”

    Mitchell told me that the Democrats used the pandemic as a “great pretext” to “be able to cheat”: they caused “administrative chaos” by changing rules about early and absentee voting, and they didn’t adequately police fraud. She denied that race had motivated her actions in Georgia. Yet, in an e-mail to me, she said that Democrats are “using black voters as a prop to accomplish their political objectives.”

    […]

    Everything is a battle for political power for them. A science-based response to a global pandemic? That’s a Democratic plot!!11ONE.

    These rich kooks are using the tax system to protect and perpetuate their fortunes, and preventing disclosure of what they’re doing with their protected money to undermine our system of government. They’re buying politicians through their successful blocking of contribution limits and prevention of even seriously talking about public financing of campaigns. Congress should get onto reining in these abuses. If I have to disclose a $200 donation to Mr. Smith in his campaign for Congress, and am limited in my total donations, then these bazillionaires should not be able to abuse loopholes to donate whatever they want and hide what they’re doing with their millions.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  20. 20.

    cain

    @Red Hot Mess:

    You can always tell a right wing organization because they use terms like “freedom”, ‘patriot”, and other terms that they subvert. Literally, even our country’s flag has been co-opted by right wingers.

  22. 22.

    Martin

    California has a few

    • Hoover Institute
    • Pacific Research Institute
    • Claremont Institute
    • Reason Foundation (not fascist, just weird)

    Notably, these have almost zero influence in state politics any more. We just export the bullshit to the rest of the nation. You’re welcome.

  23. 23.

    JoJo

    @Another Scott: I was just about to post about Wisconsin’s own Bradley Foundation, which has been a toxic force in both Wisconsin and the US for quite some time. And there they are in your quote!

    If anyone has ideas as to how to shine a light on the wretched Bradley Foundation and destroy them, I will gladly take such advice.

  24. 24.

    narya

    In Illinois: The Heartland Institute. (Note: NOT Heartland Alliance, which is a large social service organization that does much good work.)

  25. 25.

    DFH

    @narya:  What about the Illinois Policy Institute?  Local paper runs a IPI columnist, who seems reasonable but in the end always comes out as a winger.

  26. 26.

    Martin

    Adam, keep us informed as best you can.  I’m in the process of deprogramming a few relatives and I’m really alarmed. I think I have a new understanding of things, and there’s just nothing happening to take off the strain. It’s a ratchet that just keeps cranking down – from both the left and right – and the only resolution is for the thing to break.

  27. 27.

    Betty Cracker

    There’s a “Badger Institute” in Florida too, and it’s run by this shady, paparazzi-resistant character:

    Don’t let the dapper attire and bug-eyed choirboy presentation fool you. He is ruthless and determined to monopolize all the cheese, even if he has to subvert democracy to do it.

  29. 29.

    JaySinWa

    @Yutsano: Thanks,

    I was trying to remember the name of the anti union group Freedom Foundation and Washington Policy Center. Discovery Institute had totally slipped my mind.

  30. 30.

    Starfish

    @Martin:

    Did you read this by an author who is a guardian of her nieces and nephews because their parents religious-kooked themselves into early graves?

  32. 32.

    Another Scott

    IANA Tax Lawyer, but I would hope that those that are are looking at abuses of the 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), etc., parts of the tax laws.

    IRS.gov (2 page .pdf)

    Tell the IRS about Suspected Tax Exempt Status Abuses

    Go ahead and complain. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is all ears –
    particularly about complaints alleging any abuse of the tax-exempt status granted to a non-profit organization.

    When reviewing filed complaints, the IRS follows special procedures that
    enable it to treat all organizations fairly and without outside influence.

    A complaint – which the IRS calls a referral – is any communication
    alleging a tax-exempt organization is in potential noncompliance with the tax law.

    Every year, the IRS receives complaints from the general public, members of
    Congress, federal and state government agencies, and internal sources.

    Referrals are sent to analysts at the Exempt Organizations Classifications
    Office in Dallas, TX. The IRS will send an acknowledgement letter to all non-IRS
    sources making a referral, unless it was made anonymously.

    The IRS cannot disclose whether it has initiated an examination or the
    results of an examination. In fact, the source of a referral only receives an
    acknowledgement letter.

    […]

    I hope that Biden’s increasing the number of inspectors in the IRS includes increasing the number of people looking at things like these. We know that the GQP is scared of people actually looking at what they’re doing – witness the 2013 IRS “targeting” “scandal”…

    They wouldn’t scream about it if they thought it was a nothingburger…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  34. 34.

    jimmiraybob

    “…the historic and traditional way you resolve the problem we’re facing is not something that is polite or pleasant …”

    Are we talking garrotes and shivs?

  36. 36.

    wjs

    Red state governors are doing an excellent job of killing as many of their own voters as possible.

    I am neither endorsing or celebrating this fact; I think it should be factored into the next set of elections. They are, literally, Gerrymandering themselves into a situation where they still won’t be able to steal elections.

  37. 37.

    Eljai

    @Betty Cracker: Oh, dear.  I think I just donated my life savings to the Badger Institute.  I wondered why I haven’t received my collectible Badgercoin yet.

  38. 38.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Yutsano: I haven’t yet seen any reasons to tell you that. I know we’re both in the long game. :)

    And I haven’t given up hope of recruiting you as a Postcards To Voters writer – it really didn’t seem like the time, though, while you were in the midst of a health situation.

    Very glad to know you’re on the road to recovery, by the way!

    (Also, won’t it be a Day of Jubilee when WA-05 flips to blue….)

  39. 39.

    Andrya

    Adam

    Please don’t ever apologize for being a Cassandra.  Your doom and gloom warnings are providing a valuable public service.  And may I remind you of the original (mythical) Cassandra?  She warned the Trojans “do NOT bring that wooden horse inside the city walls!”.  They did not listen…

    Andrya

  40. 40.

    Fake Irishman

    @Martin:

    isn’t there a Jarvis Institute too?

    Reason can be quite weird and sometimes very damaging, occasionally they do some good work on criminal justice or free speech though

  41. 41.

    Betty Cracker

    Viktor Orbán is getting a lot of attention from MSM and lefty media now that American wingnuts are openly making pilgrimages to Budapest to study his model of democracy subversion. I’m not familiar with the details on how Orbán’s party pushed Hungary down the autocracy chute, but from what I’ve read, it’s eerily similar to what we’re seeing here, complete with culture war argle-bargle, gerrymandering power-grabs, court-stacking, kleptocratic relationships, etc. I wonder if think-tanks played a role. Probably!

  42. 42.

    Betty

    Sheldon Whitehouse is working this beat. He has a lot of information on the big spenders.

  47. 47.

    Betty Cracker

    @geg6: I don’t know much about Trumka, but my impression is he was an old-time labor leader in the best sense. His death is a tragedy for his family and also for organized labor.

  49. 49.

    piratedan

    Adam, thank you for the guidance and constructive feedback… just like we’re being proactive on donating cash and helping to get people to the polls, anything we can do to drag these disingenuous fucks into the light is a good thing.  The other side wants to dox people and make their lives a living hell, I see no reason why we can’t return the favor in some small capacity.

  51. 51.

    lurker

    Re:

    “Though if you see news reports of a Florida man who looks to be part susquatch on a tri-state homicide vacation, it might be me… (this is also sarcasm!)”

    So the sarcastic part is you are not limiting it to three states?  Cuz I understand various people have various lists relevant to this whole thing.  Also, Florida and Kentucky are just two states and that potentially goes somewhere right there.

     

    Ok, enough of the dark humor for now.

  52. 52.

    Mike in NC

    The loathsome Art Pope bought a cabinet post under our terrible Governor Pat McCrory, who got dumped like Trump after one disastrous term. But Fat Art is still out there stinking up the state.

  53. 53.

    Hildebrand

    I think that this kind of proactive, constructive suggestion should be required of every doom-singing post.  If an action item were tacked on to such posts, I wouldn’t complain (as much).  We have agency, and I appreciate it when we are encouraged to use it, and how to use it, even in the face of the knavery we are confronted by every day.

    I know some folks slag on the ‘Obama Bros’ around here, but they have been determined, from the beginning, to offer constructive suggestions of what each of us can do in the face of Republican perfidy.   That is a huge help in the midst of the ongoing crisis.

  54. 54.

    PaulWartenberg

    Though if you see news reports of a Florida man who looks to be part susquatch on a tri-state homicide vacation, it might be me…

     

    FLORIDA MAN HERE MYSELF, ADAM.

    I MIGHT HAVE TO USE YOU AS AN ALIBI HOPE YOU DON’T MIND.

    YES THIS IS ALL IN CAPS LOCK I AM A FLORIDA MAN AND HAVE GONE QUITE QUITE MAD.

  58. 58.

    narya

    @DFH: Their website suggests they’re on the right (e.g., referring to last year’s protests as something like “riots,” which is no accurate), but kinda keeping full-on nuttiness on the DL. Very anti-pritzker. TBH, though, I don’t know them.

  61. 61.

    lurker

    As I recall, Tim Eyman in WA has been mentioned – he has funded a lot of initiatives over the years to screw around with democracy in WA state.  The steady blue heartbeat of King County seems to have blunted the worst of that, and slowly pumped out more blue into some of the eastern parts of the state, helping a little around Spokane, for example.

    In CA, a number of things were mentioned and there are more on the ground.  See, e.g., @Martin.

    However, CA witnessed the steady march to the right and off the cliff of the Republican party, starting at least with Pete Wilson the Governor who would be President (and yet failed).  Wilson led the anti-immigrant and ultimately racist moves of the Republican party as part of his ambition to move to the right for national political purposes, and the party kept on driving that bus even after Wilson exited from public view.  So, as mentioned, we export our bad ideas elsewhere and the rabid Republicans in CA foam at the mouth but do not get statewide traction.

    Coming out of this, you get things like Condi Rice coming from the Hoover Institution and Stanford to the Bush II admin, or machinations from Thiel.

  62. 62.

    Betty Cracker

    @Hildebrand: Are you specifically talking about Adam’s posts, or do you mean doom-infused posts in general should contain action items? Either way, I think I disagree. There’s a difference between blogs and activist networks, Balloon Juice being an example of the former and the Obama Bros’ digital channels representing the latter. There are folks here who do a fair amount of site-based activism, political and/or humanitarian fundraising and sharing of specific expertise. That’s great, but I don’t see it as the site’s primary purpose.

  68. 68.

    glory b

    Allegheny Institute for Public Policy

    305 Mt Lebanon Blvd, Suite 208 Pittsburgh PA 15234

  70. 70.

    No name

    @Adam L Silverman: Looking forward to reading your post about upcoming August 13 debacle.  Never viewed your posts as sky is falling doom mongering.  I like knowing what could be the worst case scenario in any situation, especially when it’s provided by someone with your background.  Who wants to be blindsided?

  71. 71.

    glory b

    @Mike in NC: Last I heard, he left Caitlyn Jenner’s campaign broke and busted, and there are unconfirmed allegations that he absconded with campaign funds.

    My sources are only social media, but it would seem to fit a pattern.

  73. 73.

    misswhatsis

    New Hampshire has the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy which is a specifically Free State right wing nuthouse. Because it’s not enough to have right-wingers we get to have Free Staters trying to get the state of NH to secede from the union and in the meantime lets us destroy public education and every public good.

  74. 74.

    Hildebrand

    @Betty Cracker: I am speaking broadly – not just Adam’s posts.

    Yes, I recognize that there is a difference between action posts and news or commentary posts – and yep, I understand that Balloon Juice has mostly been commentary and news.

    That said, if a post is primarily focused on how the world is ending, I don’t think it is asking too much for our front-pagers to throw in a suggestion about how we slow down the impending armageddon.

    You are all thoughtful and creative writers, with a deep reserve of education and experience, why not, after a good round of doom-singing, bring some of those gifts to bear on what might be done.  I see it as taking the next step in the process of working through the regular calamities wrought by right-wing knaves.

    Some of the front-pagers already do this, as do many of the commenters (all brighter and savvier than me).  I simply appreciate when the collective wisdom of this place is aimed at ways we can take steps to get things done.

    I understand that this is not the raison d’etre of this place, that doesn’t mean its an unwelcome addition to what this community can do.

  75. 75.

    Leto

    @Betty Cracker: Ben Rhodes last book, “After the Fall”, as well as Madeline Albright’s “Fascism: A Warning”, both offer pretty good explainers of how Orban came to power. Like you said, very similar to what Repubs are doing now.

  77. 77.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Seething…

    For those of you who’ve had the misfortune to read my posts over the years, you know me as a general practice lawyer who generally tries to stick with family law.  For those of us who work in Louisville, we generally cover several counties within about an hour’s radius. This is primarily because the Southern Indiana cities across the river make up a not insubstantial lump of the metro area; Indiana has some onerous residency rules about admission,  so we compensate for that loss by spreading south and east.  Kentucky and Indiana’s COVID rates related to the Delta variant are squeezing this city – outside Jefferson County, positivity is blazing red.

    Our first, most basic rule as family law practitioners is to expect judges to “do no harm”.  This means “if presumptively fit and experienced lawyers agree about either procedure or something substantive, don’t fuck it up with useless surplusage”.  This rule got tossed out the window today in an exurban county.

    Making a long story short, I’m the subsequent lawyer on a fraught case involving a manipulated 4 year old, domestic violence allegations, and a metric fuckton of crazy.  The other party is a malicious moron, the mom of the kid is a hot mess, and her dad is rightfully pulling his hair out over the malicious party accusing him of everything under the sun while withholding the child.  The fraught aspects of the case were brought about in two parts – some ridiculous surplusage which had been expected of prior counsel, but without telling her about it, and the court’s refusal to deal with a problem summarily.

    Today, we came in with an agreement that 1) killed both DV cases and 2) set some mild conditions on grandpa’s contact pending CPS concluding an investigation. It also immediately restored mom’s time.  Keep in mind that biodad somehow decided that he needn’t show up, but I honor my agreements even when somebody fucks up.  I’m there with grandpa, and have been authorized by mom to do an agreed order. Other lawyer has been authorized to sign it, so we’re all good.

    Then, the dipshittery started:

    Judge: “I really want the parties to sign this”.

    Me: “They don’t have to, and there’s no rule requiring it. We were hoping to eliminate points of conflict.”

    Judge: “I just don’t like signing agreed orders without the parties’ signatures on them. I think its better to have them on the document. Since everybody is supposed to be here tomorrow, we’ll just have them sign it then.”

    Me: “But if you just sign it, there will be no need to have us all in on the EPO docket tomorrow. That’s kind of a crowded docket with a lot of people that probably aren’t vaccinated.”

    Judge: “We’re very careful.”

    Me: “I was going to bring this up after the docket, but you need to be aware that this is spreading like wildfire. In the past two days, I learned that Marcia X was pretty sick and tested positive, and that Christine Y is pretty sure she has it and is really sick, awaiting test results. In fact, Linda Z informed me of a mediation she attended at the office of Charlie A, and there was an exposure there that resulted in the COVID death of the spouse of one of the litigants. I’m pretty concerned about needless gatherings.”

    Judge (have I mentioned she’s sitting unmasked?): “Lawyers are the worst at keeping themselves safe. I haven’t heard of anything coming out of here, and I make sure that litigants come alone without an entourage. We’re very careful in this courthouse!”

    Me: “I struggled to find a parking place, the lot was so full. I understand that there’s a heavy felony docket today, everybody passing through metal detectors and using the baskets to put their stuff in to go through.”

    Her: “Look, if you don’t like it, take it up with the Chief Justice, because we have some discretion.”

    Me: “I will.”

    What an irresponsible piece of shit – she’s putting four people into a crowded room that don’t otherwise have to be there. Everybody despises her for her snits, her laziness and her general levels of gross stupidity; sadly, she’s not up again for re-election for three more years. She’s been sitting on ruling on one case of mine for 8 months – stuff has changed on both sides, and both parties have new gripes. Other people have reported that she is a year late.

    I did go ahead to apply for an open Court of Appeals nomination this year. The governor probably won’t appoint me, but I want my name out there in the hunt. I think I could actually file for the seat and win it from whoever gets named (nobody cares about intermediate appellate races – but its a cool title and a really easy workload for decent pay and fantastic benefits). Ideally, I’d use my appellate power to concentrate on punishing this particular judge…..

  78. 78.

    mrmoshpotato

    @glory b:

    Last I heard, he left Caitlyn Jenner’s campaign broke and busted, and there are unconfirmed allegations that he absconded with campaign funds. 

    Just to clarify.  Parscale fleeced Jenner’s campaign.  (SAD!)

  87. 87.

    RaflW

    @VOR: That hideous woman who basically has made it her life’s work to immiserate LGBTQ people gets her checks from the Center of the American Experiment (oy, that name).

    When my partner worked at the Star Tribune, I wanted him to sue them for ‘hostile work environment’ because K. Kersten had a cubicle within visual range of his.

    It would of course have made his work life awful to do it. She just wrote such garbage lies about us queers. And the fking paper printed them. In the Opinion section, of course, so a suit would not likely have worked. But it would have/should have embarrassed Strib management.

  88. 88.

    John Revolta

    We should also mention the Republican Governors Association, a wretched hive of scum and villainy which among other things financed several busloads of “patriots” to the party on Jan. 6th.

  91. 91.

    RaflW

    @zhena gogolia:
    “I have no idea how the State Department lost this thing, although I saw enormous incompetence at the State Department” — Mike Pompeo

    Hey, Mike. You ran State for two years and nine months. You saying you ran an incompetent agency for nearly three years isn’t the win you think it is!

  92. 92.

    Glidwrith

    @Betty Cracker: I don’t remember exact details but Krugman did a whole series of guest posts from someone that was living through it in real-time and yes, it always looked like a dress rehearsal on how to take us down.

  93. 93.

    edmund dantes

    Trump Is Planning a Much More Respectable Coup Next Time (msn.com)

     

    Good article laying down what the plan is for next time. This is why “Vote” is not a viable strategy.

    It wasn’t just Trump advancing this argument to try to overturn the election. It also was a cadre of conservative activists like Leonard Leo, co-Chairman of the Federalist Society, whose Orwellian-named “Honest Elections Project” pushed the same argument before the Supreme Court. As leading election law scholar Nate Persily told Jane Mayer for the New Yorker, the Independent State Legislature doctrine is “giving intellectual respectability to an otherwise insane, anti-democratic argument.”

  97. 97.

    germy

    We pursue the financiers of Islamic terror groups with reckless disregard as to whether the objects of our pursuit are guilty or not, under the understood principles of collateral damage. Yet we allow the financiers of domestic terror – the CNP, the Koch Org, etc, free rein. Why?

    — David Baerwald (@dbaerwald1) August 5, 2021

    We allow these groups to hollow out our pillars of democracy from within, we allow them to propagandize, to spread their virus of lies, of hatred, and treason. We allow them to operate a sophisticated Fifth Column of propagandists, terrorists and spies. Why?

    — David Baerwald (@dbaerwald1) August 5, 2021

    We allow them to hide behind our most cherished principles – free speech, others, while they work tirelessly, with seemingly endless funds, to destroy those very principles. We allow them to corrupt the courts, to purge voters, to send their dupes to violate our Capitol. Why?

    — David Baerwald (@dbaerwald1) August 5, 2021

  98. 98.

    schrodingers_cat

    He used to blog here. I wonder why he doesn’t anymore. In this tweet he accurately describes a threat closer than Orban.

    dengre

    @denngree

    ·
    4m

    100% accurate This has been true since 2000 when the defeated Al Gore to put Bush in the WH. Same with 2016. They make more money for themselves when the can sell outrage. Fascism and the white nationalist right have no better allies than these cosplayers.

    “Leftists” never abandoned the “Bernie or Bust” strategy. They’re still all about attacking/undermining Democrats whenever possible. They *never* challenge GQP officeholders. And they care less about winning races against Democrats than inflicting as much damage as they can.

  99. 99.

    Old School

    @Elizabelle:

    Paul Krugman? Did the guest posts appear in his NY Times column? I’d be interesting in finding those …

    Not in his column, they were in his blog. Luckily, CrunchyFrog posted a link to one over at LGM earlier today.

  104. 104.

    schrodingers_cat

    People who are asserting here that turning out to vote is not going to help with 100% conviction are helping in voter suppression tactics of the Republican party. Why vote when Rs are going to cheat anyway is the message sent.
    At this rate we will suppress our own vote like we did in 2010 so Rs won’t have to lift a finger as we deliver an own goal and give them the control of the House and the Senate.

  108. 108.

    RaflW

    BTW, in the sickening decay of our country theme, here’s US Senator Rand Paul helping set the state for attacks on immigrant children (for being disease vectors. Now, where has that rhetoric been used in history?).

    And how it is that the head of his caucus, Mitch McConnell, isn’t hounded for such outbursts from his members speaks volumes to our perverted press incentives.

  110. 110.

    Roger Moore

    @schrodingers_cat:

    What I would say is that turning out the vote is a necessary but not sufficient condition to win.  We will obviously fail if everyone stays home; we will also fail if the Republicans are allowed to cheat wholesale.  So we need to do both things: get our people out there to vote and keep the Republicans from rigging the election.

  112. 112.

    Carol

    In Colorado
    Here’s a list of Colorado think tanks published by Colorado Politics, a publication owned by far right billionaire Philip Anschutz. https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/cover-story-colorados-think-tanks-put-ideas-into-action/article_8560fe0c-c8fb-11e9-8659-63f163b831a9.html

    The conservative tanks mention here are:
    Independence Institute https://i2i.org/
    Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian College https://centennial.ccu.edu/
    Focus on the Family https://www.focusonthefamily.com/

    These are the obviously conservative organizations. The article lists other entities that are more business oriented, or sound either neutral or left leaning.

  113. 113.

    prostratedragon

    @DFH:  I was going to name IPI if no one else had, and DFH describes precisely their tactic as I’ve encountered it on local talk shows. If you’ve developed enough of an ear to suss out the come-on, you won’t be disappointed. What I don’t know or recall is how much impact they had on getting Bruce Rauner elected governor 7 years ago.

    ETA links:
    Illinois Policy Institute website

    IPI entry at Wikipedia

  114. 114.

    Kay

    the Independent State Legislature doctrine is “giving intellectual respectability to an otherwise insane, anti-democratic argument.”

    It’s when I knew they would try it again.

  115. 115.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Roger Moore: That’s going to be tough  needle to thread. Its like telling a student you should study for an exam, but we are going to fail you no matter how well you do. And then tell the student that not only do they have to study for the test but that they have to monitor the people who set the exams

    Also, this narrative that the Republicans always win no matter what is an insidious message to send. It also happens to be not true. Democratic wins are pooh-poohed and Republican threats are amplified to the maximum.

  116. 116.

    Mo MacArbie

    Not a thinktank, to be sure, but I’m tempted to add the Westlands Water District to the CA list…

  117. 117.

    Elizabelle

    @Roger Moore:   Agreed.  But messaging is important.  Don’t let people seize onto the cynical there. Got to encourage them to come out and vote no matter what the obstacles.

    If we continue to win, it will get easier.

  118. 118.

    Kay

    In Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board (Bush I), the Supreme Court suggested that when state legislatures direct the manner of appointing presidential electors under Article II, Section 1, they must remain free from state constitutional limitations. In Bush v. Gore (Bush II), three Justices argued that Article II legislatures must remain free from obviously incorrect state court statutory interpretation. Since then, several defenders of the Court’s Election 2000 decisions have embraced this idea that Article II grants to state legislatures a degree of independence that they do not otherwise enjoy.

    They’ll absolutely do this to overturn an election, and there will be a substantial group of powerful people who will either immediately endorse it or insist it’s a close question and a reasonable result.

  119. 119.

    Betty Cracker

    @schrodingers_cat: That depends on how you define “leftist.” If you mean Nina Turner, okay, but she’s not representative of all candidates commonly thought of as “leftist.” Take Jessica Cisneros, who, like Turner, was recruited by the dreaded Justice Democrats.

    Cisneros is gearing up for a rematch against ConservaDem incumbent Henry Cueller, who narrowly beat her in the 2020 primary. I hope she kicks his anti-choice ass this time. [HuffPo]

    Cisneros is unlikely to have [Turner’s] problem. She not only voted for Biden, but also repurposed her campaign infrastructure to organize phone banks and canvasses on his behalf.

    “I’m ready to work for whoever has the best interests of our community in mind,” she said. “I also recognize that we would have been much better off with a president like Joe Biden because South Texas could not afford another four years of President Trump.”

    She argues that her policy positions are closer to Biden’s than Cuellar’s.

    “Joe Biden’s values align better with our campaign’s than they do with Henry Cuellar’s, because [Cuellar is] constantly anti-labor, constantly against reproductive justice, constantly against the environment,” she said.

    There are obviously issues like Medicare for All, where Cisneros is to Biden’s left ideologically. But she sees Rep. Bush’s successful pressure on Biden to extend the eviction moratorium as evidence that the president is open to adapting when pushed.

    “As much as I’m ready to work with folks, I am also willing to call them out when they are not on the right side of issues for South Texans,” Cisneros said.

    As Armando on the Twitter put it, that’s a smart approach. It doesn’t alienate party regulars, whereas Turner had a dumb, alienating approach, which is why she lost.

  120. 120.

    sab

    @schrodingers_cat: I think they are wrong. Things are being gamed against us, but thi is still a democracy. A lot of the problems are low turnout indifference, and also voter suppression. Voter supprssion varies by laws state to state. Indifference is a concern everywhere.

    I am really heartened by the high turnout in Ohio 11th. August off-year election that only the political junkies knew was happening. They expected about 8% and got 20%.

  122. 122.

    hervevillechaizelounge

    Oh my fucking god, not only do we have a right-wing think tank in Boston it’s a five minute walk from chez Villechaize; spitting on their sidewalk when I walk past will only be the opening salvo in my personal crusade against this wanton fuckery.

    The fascist circle jerk is called the Pioneer Institute, btw.  Not sure if posting this will work but I wrote them a one-star review on the googles.

  124. 124.

    sab

    @Kay: So we need to be careful about throwing the book at protesters. I am fine with serious time for guys who bashed and injured cops, or damaged federal property.

    I do not want them going after idiots who turned up at a protest, didn’t do much, and then other people elsewhere blew it all up. I went to a lot of anti-Vietnam war protests, and this could have been me in high school. Except that nobody attacked the capitol. But buildings across the country were burned by morons.

  125. 125.

    andy

    Center of the American Experiment are the pieces of shit in Minnesota. They regularly have their propaganda published in small weeklies to keep the folks in Greater Minnesota hating the smarts. They also provide “experts” to local news shows and pods as well. You might notice on their website where they link to fellow traveler orgs in the other 49 states.

  126. 126.

    Kay

    @sab:

    I am fine with serious time for guys who bashed and injured cops, or damaged federal property.

    Oh, it’ll be tiered and in a specific order because all US criminal law is. 1. voilence against a person, 2. damage property, 3. general disorder and/or stupidity. They will “throw the book” at injuring a cop because that has another “social order” dimension- that’s complete societal breakdown territory. I agree with that too- the cop is the state in this scenario. Sounds bad because as you know “all lives matter(!)” but that’s an important distinction in my view. It isn’t because cops are special people- it’s because they’re specifically tasked with restoring order. Attacking them is one step further and that’s how it’s treated.

  127. 127.

    Betty Cracker

    @schrodingers_cat: As is your right, of course! I think some of them are way out there too, FWIW. C. Bush is definitely a mixed bag, IMO. Just wanted to point out that there are distinctly different approaches within that group. They’re not all out to destroy the party.

  128. 128.

    FlyingToaster

    I just went through my local stuff, seeing if anyone even attempted to do GQP voter suppression here in the People’s Republic Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and, well, all of our groups are anti-gay oriented.  To Wit:

    • Super Happy Fun America (Mark Sahady’s RW group, famed for their Straight Pride Rally)
    • Abiding Truth Ministries/Scott Lively Ministries (Scott Lively is an international anti LGBTQ+ activist, ran for governor in the primary against Charlie Baker the last couple cycles).
    • MassResistance (known for getting arrested for trespassing and taping minors at school events)

    None of them have a deep pockets funder; they each seem to have a slow steady income stream that is naturally unexposed.  None of them have any power with the Lege (currently H:129D;30R;1U & S:37D;3R).  Every other group is a piece of a national organization (e.g., Patriot Front).

    I suspect the Maine & New Hamster Hampshire orgs above are my best targets hereabouts.

  129. 129.

    Dan B

    @Hildebrand: Proactive suggestions are great but I hope they are not required.  That would be a bar so high it can result in worse despair.  I’m thinking of AIDS when the only things to do were to try to sort reality from rumor and endure the horror.  Action emerged after many years and institutions evolved.  Sometimes the only thing to do is rage against the onrushing cataclysm.  And sometimes from the rage the solutions emerge.  It’s rarely pretty in a crisis but trying to pretend there’s no crisis is to surrender more thoroughly than is otherwise possible.

  130. 130.

    Jim Vandewalker

    @Adam L Silverman: in Florida you don’t get Sasquatches you get skunk apes. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/trail-floridas-big-foot-skunk-ape-180949981/

  133. 133.

    hervevillechaizelounge

    @FlyingToaster:

    Will you please join me in leaving a one-star review for the Pioneer Institute?

    The Beacon Hill Institute doesn’t seem to have a review option, unfortunately:(

    Vengeance will be mine, sayeth this righteously pissed-off liberal.

  136. 136.

    FlyingToaster

    @hervevillechaizelounge: Done!

    Though I declined to write my actual opinion, since though they’re fully wingnut funded, the General Court sitting 166-33-1 means that they can’t really buy any legislation, plus Charlie Baker won’t take their calls (out of embarassment, I suspect).

    My opinion: “All Dressed Up, but No One to Blow”

  138. 138.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    I’m listening to an interview on Fresh Air with Jane Meyer who has a new article in The New Yorker dealing with this. They’ve already absolutely done this. How did we let it get this far?

  139. 139.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: When Turner realized that the that the OH 11th was up for grabs, she pivoted and tried to present her self as a reasonable Democratic team player. But Turner had left a wide and long trail of incendiary statements that were used against her by Shontel Brown’s campaign and it’s outside supporters. When Brown pulled even with Turner, Turner reverted to a scorched earth approach and went down snarling.

    The Cuellar-Cisneros rematch will be a real fight. Cisneros came within 3.6% of of beating Cuellar, and this probably was a surprise to him. But he’ll have had two years to get ready for next year’s primary.

    There is somewhat of a Cuellar family machine based in Laredo. Henry’s sister is the Laredo Municipal Judge, and his brother is Sheriff of Webb County. Covering 3700 square miles, Webb County surrounds Laredo. Cisneros’ campaign workers had better make sure their car lights are in order when they go out campaigning. Dashboard cameras could come in handy if they are accused of swerving.

  140. 140.

    The Moar You Know

    Carl DeMaio here in San Diego decided since we wouldn’t crown him mayor he’d burn down the state. “Reform California” is his operation. They’re bankrolling every dime of Newsom’s recall and trying to flip every school board in the state. All-out assault on democracy, this operation.

  142. 142.

    Hildebrand

    @Dan B: @Dan B:  Not a requirement, a suggestion, a hope.

    Rage, anger, a deep well of knowing that something must change but not knowing how, these I can understand. That is not what I am referencing, it is the defeatism or fatalism that is most frustrating, and most unhelpful.

  143. 143.

    Nobody in particular

    REPUBLIC, n. A nation in which, the thing governing and the thing governed being the same, there is only a permitted authority to enforce an optional obedience. In a republic, the foundation of public order is the ever lessening habit of submission inherited from ancestors who, being truly governed, submitted because they had to. There are as many kinds of republics as there are graduations between the despotism whence they came and the anarchy whither they lead.

    The Devil’s Dictionary

    The jury is always out on “homicidal.”

    Or It might be that new Epix Series about the Patrician Roman wives after the assassination of Caesar:

    Domina.

     

    Poor Cicero

  144. 144.

    Nobody in particular

    It’s time for a rendition of HUAC. That’s my 2 cents.

    SourceWatch is an excellent resource for rooting out the toxicity among us.

    So is this, but it’s a forward looking path to sustainability, or authentic conservatism.
    Posterity, The Stewardship Doctrine and intergenerational justice.

    Burke never used the term “conservative.” It had not entered the political lexicon in any language until 1824. It was the Frenchman, Chateaubriand, a regular meathead. By 1830 it had popped up in England.

    “People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.”

    Edmund Burke

  146. 146.

    Bex

    Way late, but have you seen this? theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/09/deznats/religious-extremists-mormon-vision

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