Tag Archives: Thom Tillis

That was a quote from a recent post on Lawyers, Guns and Money, discussing how the current ruling class is not only shitty and corrupt, they enjoy flaunting it. In this case, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, whose husband has been barred from the department due to sexual assault accusations, and who’s also spent government money to throw herself a birthday party.

Some more examples, not only of corruption but stupidity —

The DOJ’s lawyers keep getting slapped with state-level misconduct charges. Pam Bondi’s solution isn’t to make them act ethically, it’s to ban such charges so her department can investigate (yeah, right).

“Just days before the United States launched a major military operation in Iran, FBI Director Kash Patel fired a dozen agents and staff members from a counter intelligence unit tasked with monitoring threats from Iran. They were ousted for a simple reason: Each was involved in the investigation of President Donald Trump’s alleged retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.” Well, no way that could backfire, is there?

I don’t think assigning a 22 year old with no counterterrorism experience to lead Homeland Security’s counter-terrorism hub will work out well either. Of course all that really matters to the current administration is blind loyalty to President Toddler.

“According to MRFF President Mikey Weinstein, service members report “unrestricted euphoria” among segments of the chain of command portraying the assault on Iran as biblically sanctioned and tied to end-times prophecy in the Book of Revelation. One NCO wrote that such rhetoric is eroding morale and violating constitutional oaths, particularly for troops in Ready-Support status who could be deployed at any moment.”

“the Mahmoud opinion was the low-water water mark for the ways this court plans to use religious freedom to wash away any protections and policies that might be opposed by religious parents.” — another example of the Supreme Court’s Republicans being partisan hacks.

SCOTUS striking down the Toddler’s tariffs “is actually an indictment of the Court. These tariffs have been in effect for almost a year. They have upended whole sectors of the U.S. and global economies. The fact that a president can illegally exercise such powers for so long and with such great consequences for almost a year means we’re not living in a functional constitutional system. If the Constitution allows untrammeled and dictatorial powers for almost one year, massive dictator mulligans, then there is no Constitution.”

Can you imagine if Clinton or Harris were president and they started talking about interior decorating during a press conference on the war?

“Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) threatened Tuesday to use aggressive procedural measures to bring Senate work to a standstill if Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem fails to respond to his offices’ inquiries about an immigration crackdown in Charlotte, North Carolina.” — I’m pleased Tillis has finally grown a spine now that he’s retiring. After ten years of toadying to the Toddler, it’s also too little too late.

The Toddler is now talking about conquering Cuba as well.

Conspiracy theorist and bullshit artist Chris Rufo is shocked that so many people have gone down the conspiracy-theory hole — OMG, some of them are anti-semitic and anti-Republican!

“why are these people so utterly obsessive about constantly expanding their already uncountable wealth up until the very last day of their wretched lives?

“In a video posted online last week, two detectives with the Miami Beach Police Department were filmed questioning Raquel Pacheco, a former candidate for statewide office and longtime resident of the seaside resort city, over a post she made criticizing what she said was Mayor Steven Meiner’s hypocrisy around Israel and Palestine.”

“It’s remarkable that Nuzzi (according to multiple reviewers) seems to think even now that her having an affair with a subject she was covering and whose political goals she was working to advance without disclosure in subsequent profiles and who she was running ratfucking operations on behalf of represents merely “private” misconduct, like she had an affair with some random person she met on a dating app. It’s even more remarkable that she thought it was plausible that it would remain private. And her belief that Kennedy would just fade away would be the most remarkable and damning thing if she probably wasn’t lying about that.”

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre/The falcon cannot hear the falconer;/Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;/Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” — WB Yates, The Second Coming.

Yates’ poem about things falling apart gets quoted a lot in dark times. But both good and evil have a center. The falcon can spiral and turn away from the falconers of tyranny and oppression as well as those of justice.

First lets look at the anarchy President Necrotic Toddler is demanding that the Justice Department pay him about $230 million in compensation for the federal investigations into him, and says the final approval on the government giving him money belongs to him. Rep. Jamie Raskin says the Felon might be able to do it under the table, though eventually it would have to come out.

And the Felon is increasingly recruiting from the worst of the worst to staff his jackbooted ICE ranks.

“Trump’s disconnect from reality is uniquely destructive. No previous president has tried to overturn an election, sought to use the military against U.S. citizens, or sought to use the Justice Department as his own personal vendetta machine. The difference is that he’s the first president to live in an autocratic bubble, surrounded by a cult of personality within which nobody dares to criticize him, tell him uncomfortable truths or refuse to engage in blatantly illegal acts.”

President Felon Trump as mob boss.

A Tennessee man is in jail for posting about Charlie Kirk.

“’Who owns Warner Bros. Discovery is very important to the administration,” a senior Trump administration official told On The Money. “The Warner board needs to think very seriously not just on the price competition but which player in the suitor pool has been successful getting a deal done.’” An unsubtle hint that the Felon’s administration will approve the merger based on whether the Felon likes the bidder.

The NYT plays down the big No Kings protests, shifting them to the back pages. Which is very different from how they covered the much smaller Tea Party protests 15 years back. And they portray “running against Trump” as a bad thing, as if running against the party in power wasn’t how politics works (they didn’t condemn Republicans for running against Biden).

We have the recent AI video of the Toddler wearing a crown shitting on protesters. As Adam Serwer says, “if a Dem is critical of conservative voters it’s a generational scandal and when Republican pols literally post themselves shitting on their opposition virtually the entire elite politics and media class treats it as fine and normal” Because Republicans can’t help themselves but Democrats have agency. And apparently some NYT reporters are baffled why “No Kings” was a protest theme.

The Times also compares the protests unfavorably to Vance flexing “the Marines’ might” by having them fire cannon over a California highway (wisely Governor Newsom closed the road to traffic).

RFK continues spreading bullshit. Someone quipped on FB that his claim about low teenage sperm counts only works if you count teenage girls who have, of course, zero sperm counts.

And yet the Republicans continue to shower their leader with fawning bullshit: “A similar process of self-reinforcement applies to telling lies that serve the autocrat’s ego. Call it “mendacity inflation.” Trump insists that he’s overwhelmingly popular and that only a lunatic fringe disapproves of his presidency. Well, to show loyalty his hangers-on must go further, declaring that grandmothers and parents pushing prams down 7^th Avenue are illegal aliens and violent criminals. The humiliating absurdity is a feature, not a bug. Simply lying about demonstrators isn’t enough; to prove their MAGA mettle people in Trump’s orbit must tell lies that are grotesque and ridiculous.” Case in point: Tim Burchett.

And nobody has the courage to provide guardrails, to be the adults in the room this time. And as always, the media were negligent not to admit that a president who needs guardrails might be a problem.

And the Toddler’s administration continues withholding funds to punish their opponents.

But the Felon’s falconers are losing control too: “This same MAGA faction is ever weaker, ever less popular, ever more subject to sand-in-the-gears resistance. This pro-democratic friction has come from courts (at the local, state, and federal-district level), from mayors and governors, from universities and libraries other civic institutions. It has come from foundations and NGOs, from artists and writers, and from ordinary citizens, across the country and in growing numbers.”

A gay single dad sues Hitler admiring homophobe Stew Peters for implying the father abuses his kids.

“Gavin McInnes lost his defamation lawsuit against the Southern Poverty Law Center; the Vice Media and Proud Boys co-founder could not convince an Alabama federal court that he was defamed when the organization called his right-wing fraternity a “hate group.””

The Felon’s (In)Justice Department is monitoring California’s elections; California has announced it will assign people to watch the watchmen.

Dangling confederates

A lawsuit against Mike “Biblical Worldview” Johnson over his refusal to seat a new Dem (who could vote to release the Epstein Files).

Indiana doesn’t have enough votes to back the Necrotic Toddler’s redistricting campaign.

Despite all the pressure to canonize Charlie Kirk, not everyone’s on board.

Now that Sen. Thom Tillis isn’t running for re-election, he’s criticizing the Felon, at least a little. Though he’s not doing anything to throw sand in the gears, and given his past performance (backing RFK Jr. and Hegseth nominations) it’s too little too late.

Even the GOP are getting fed up with Kristi Noem.

Rep. Swalwell calls on all Democratic candidates for 2028 to vow to demolish the Trump Ballroom.

When you’ve lost Sen. Ron Paul …

And as No Kings showed, lots of people do not accept the status quo. And while this does not guarantee victory, Trumpers are on the wrong side. Not just legally — what the Republicans are doing is immoral. If the government’s lawyers find legal justification, it’s still immoral. If you’re pushing back, let that thought give you strength. We’re the good guys.

“In the six weeks since Kirk’s death, most of the right-wing efforts to avenge his death — except the ones in the federal government — have closed up shop.”

Multiple press organizations refused “Whiskey Pete” Hegseth’s new rules for journalists covering the Pentagon.

I read a few arguments in the last century that having big, powerful media conglomerates was a good thing. They’d have deep pockets to stand up to lawsuits. They’d be able to stare down officious governments. They’d be strong enough to publish controversial books and deep, anti-government reporting.

As we’ve seen under the Felon, that was a pile of horse manure. Jeff Bezos, who has more money than the felon, refused to back a candidate last year, when the WaPo editorial board wanted Harris. The NYT and the WaPo are both happy to sanewash the Felon administration, along with other media outlets. One article earlier this year (I forget which company) described FOTUS “teasing” the acquisition of Greenland and Canada, as if it was all just so, so amusing and whimsical. It’s not, and if it was some other country — India threatening to take over Pakistan, say — they’d never phrase it like that.

We have an otherwise excellent piece on the Felon’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein that phrases the issue as “what Mr. Trump’s long association with Mr. Epstein says about his judgment and character.” Or Variety saying David Ellison, whose Skydance Media may be taking over CBS, “has projected an image of being intrigued by the politics espoused by President Donald Trump.” Sounds like a careful way to avoid saying “right-wing dictatorship supporter.” (judging by this article, Ellison is indeed intrigued by the politics espoused by the Felon — will CBS be the new Fox News?).

I’ve heard some bloggers say it’s because the media can’t admit what a nightmare we’re in, but I don’t buy that. If Biden had started calling Canada our “cherished 51st state” they’d be describing him as either a warmonger or senile — but Biden isn’t going to hunt them down for hurting his fee-fees the way President Snowflake does.

Now we have CBS, settling a $16 million lawsuit over supposedly editing a Harris interview that the Felon thinks made her look smart — everyone has to say widdle baby Donny is the smartest widdle baby of all time! On top of that, they’ve fired Stephen Colbert for mocking the Felon, while insisting it has nothing to do with wanting approval of the Skydance deal. Oh, and Ellison may be talking about bringing right-wing hack Bari Weiss aboard in some news capacity (the Writers Guild wants CBS’ capitulation investigated as a bribery case).

This isn’t new. There was a story back in the 1990s about how one journalist had written a blockbuster book about the blood feud between the Lebanese-American families that ran Guess and Jordache jeans. It was going to be a big, big deal … then Paramount bought up the publisher. Paramount’s head at the time had married one of the women involved in the feuding; suddenly word came down to the publisher not to name her anywhere in the book. Publicity and promotion plans evaporated; the book tanked. The story I read said it’s not necessarily that Paramount’s CEO wanted it killed; it’s equally possible some underling worried about how he’d react. The result was the same either way.

(Sidebar: there are rumors Bezos wants to buy Conde Naste, which owns Vogue, because his wife would like him to own Vogue. This would also make him the owner of Wired, which has been doing blockbuster reporting on the current administration).

Theoretically the elites could do fine defying the Felon. They have money enough for the best security. They do indeed have the power and pockets to fight bullshit suits — hell, big corporations routinely spend millions of dollars a year on legal fees. But they’re risk-averse or in some cases opportunistic. The CBS merger, for instance. And Bezos wants the National Labor Relations Board, which oversees union elections, declared unconstitutional. And in some cases, they may be okay with what the Snowflake is doing. Sen. Thom Tillis, a multi-millionaire, has announced his retirement but he’s still voting a straight Republican ticket.

Business guru Harvey Mackay wrote once that if you think $10 million is enough, you will never have $10 million. The same thing is in play here. Billionaires could lose all but one billion and still have enough to live in luxury. But they can’t bear the thought — they’re like Smaug grieving for a missing bit of treasure. Only much less interesting.

And they have egos, as witness the bizarre story of Trumper Bill Ackman buying his way into a tennis tournament he’s not qualified for. Retiring and living comfortably may not suit them as much as getting bigger and bigger, more and more, and seeing an ever-widening gulf between them and their imagined inferiors.

Reagan’s foreign policy advisor Jeane Kilpatrick once argued that one of the reasons right-wing dictatorships were better than left-wing ones was that they kept everything calm and stable. The poor would get screwed over but they’re always getting screwed over; the rich and powerful would be fine as long as they respected who the new top dog was. She thought this was a good thing.

As we are seeing, it is not.

The WaPo profiles Ryleigh Cooper, a Forest Service worker who says she voted for The Felon because he promised to make IVF free. Instead she’s one of the thousands fired as Musk hacks away mindlessly at the federal government. At LGM, Cheryl Rofer suggests Cooper deserves sympathy rather than censure. She’s young enough voting for the wrong candidate is understandable, she doesn’t seem to have paid much attention to politics (I agree with Rofer, it would be ideal to live in a country where there’s no penalty to ignoring politics). Doesn’t she deserve some compassion?

Someone on Bluesky made the same point about a young girl (distantly related to JD Vance) who’s been denied a heart transplant because her family is anti-vax: gloating or declaring “you fucked around, now you find out” is crueler than the family or the girl deserves (the issue is that we have a limited supply of transplantable organs, she’ll be on immunosuppressive drugs for life so without vaccines the odds are too high she’ll use up an organ and die anyway).

I have friends who are pretty bloodthirsty by this point: Republican voters have empowered The Felon to trash this country, they’re happy to see him wage war on LGBTQs and women. My friends are pissed, horrified to discover how quickly people sell out human decency to cut inflation (which wasn’t bad by historical standards — and the Felon of the United States has failed to bring it down). You want trans people dead, women in chains? Same back at you, buddy. I can’t say I blame them — the imprecatory psalms sound pretty damn good at times. Especially when you look at what’s going down:

•Musk’s bodyguards have arrest powers.

•Unsurprisingly Pam Bondi’s DOJ has dropped a discrimination suit against Musk’s SpaceX. And the DOJ is threatening Rep. Robert Garcia for daring to criticize Elon Musk. (while it’s not a government decision, I’ll note here that Twitter’s community notes feature frequently corrects Musk’s lies. The whiny snowflake and pretend free-speech champion doesn’t like that so he’s changing it.)

•Homeland Security is now open to spying on people based purely on their sexual orientation.

•FDA has canceled the usual meeting to decide which strains of flu to target with vaccines. This probably means no flu vaccine this fall which means RFK Jr. will kill more people. He’s also blocked trials of a covid vaccine pill. And despite promises of radical transparency he’s making his department less transparent. And his solution to the measles outbreak in Texas? Vitamin A.

•The Felon is taking Russia’s side in the invasion of Ukraine. And assuring us we needn’t worry about Putin. After all, how would it help Trump if we noticed how much his policies weaken us and thereby strengthen Russia?

I’m not comfortable taking pleasure in right-wing voters’ suffering. I can understand the desire for them all to die, but I can’t share it. I’d sooner live in a country that worked better for everyone, even awful people. That said, I’m not terribly sympathetic to people who brought their suffering on themselves (though Scott Lemieux offers an alternative view).

As several people pointed out in the comments on Rofer’s post, The Felon’s been on the political stage for a decade. For anyone who wanted to know what his second term is like — well we had the evidence. Admittedly some things came out of almost left field, like threatening to conquer Greenland and Canada, but FOTUS made plenty of barking-dog insane statements before. I’m surprised by how rapidly and blatantly FOTUS and Co-President Musk have moved to push everyone who’s not an outwardly straight white Christian man out of positions of authority but the direction was clear from the first time.

Plus, of course, some people consider the Felon’s anti-equality policies a plus. I don’t know if Cooper’s one of them but it’s certainly possible. In which case, no sympathy at all.

And no sympathy for the Republican Senators who’ve enabled this at every step. That includes Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, who voted faithfully for all of the WEI cabinet nominees (white, entitled, incompetent). They own RFK’s decisions, so they own the Texas measles outbreak which he will do nothing to stop. And other outbreaks.

Having no sympathy isn’t the same as wanting them to suffer. And as Robert Farley says, if someone realizes they blew it, however foolish they were, forgiveness should be an option — we want them voting our way (or at least not Republican) in 2026 and 2028 (assuming we have a shot at a fair election) if that’s possible (the article doesn’t raise the issue). I disagree with Liz Cheney on pretty much everything but I respect her for sticking her neck out and fighting the felon. I would never have expected to be on the same side as paleoconservative Bill Kristol but his Bulwark newsletter is willing to call a swastika a swastika.

I’m not sure where all that leaves us. I don’t think there’s one size fits all rule I can suggest for everyone. I’m not even sure where I stand, exactly. But it’s definitely something to be thinking about.

(FOTUS being the Felon of the United States).

Discussing his TV miniseries V, Kenneth Johnson said the theme of the film was power: Who has it? Who wants it? Who collaborates? Who resists? Questions relevant today as we watch too many people bend their knee to FOTUS — but not everyone.

Harvard, for instance “announced that, as part of a lawsuit settlement, it would adopt a definition of antisemitism that includes some harsh criticisms of Israel and Zionism, such as holding Israel to a “double standard” and likening its policies to Nazism. Though Harvard claims that it still adheres to the First Amendment, under this definition a student or professor who accuses Israel of genocidal action in Gaza — as the Israeli American Holocaust scholar Omer Bartov has — might be subject to disciplinary action.”

Rep. Elise Stefanik, who’s been in the tank for FOTUS from the get-go, claims she is shocked, shocked and appalled that people think Elon Musk gave a Nazi salute — she wasn’t there but she just looooves the Co-President of the United States! By constrast Senator Lisa Murkowski, who has a long history of wringing her hands without taking action, says she’ll vote no on alcoholic, alleged spouse-abusing DOD nominee Pete Hegseth. If she holds the course, good for her! Quite aside from his ugly side, Hegseth is a massively unqualified WEI hire (white, entitled, incompetent. Regrettably I didn’t come up with the term).

Sen. Rick Scott has ducked away from questions about Trump pardoning violent J6 insurrectionists. Some senators have come out and criticized the pardons, including my own senator Thom Tillis. I disagree so much with Tillis, I feel it necessary to give him credit when he does something good.

A Reagan-appointed judge, John C. Coughenor, has blocked the administration’s order ending birthright citizenship. Judge James Ho, who took a similar stance during Trump’s first term, has decided the 14th amendment no longer applies because all these illegal immigrants coming over the border are an invading force. They’re not, but hey, Trump’s bound to appoint at least one SCOTUS justice in the coming years.

Wake County in NC says ICE agents don’t get to enter schools without a warrant.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker says his state will not comply with FOTUS illegally revoking birthright citizenship. Alas, NJ Governor Phil Murphy says he’s happy to work with Trump in return for the president blocking New York from applying congestion pricing to traffic (from what I’ve read it’s an excellent policy but unsurprisingly some drivers hate paying even slightly more).

The media have been sanewashing and admiring the FOTUS since he first ran. Now Politico declares he’s a great president (not a direct link), “Breathtakingly expansive about his intention to reshape the vast federal government around his vision” I mean, what else could they say about a guy who wants to punish TV stations that criticize him, blocking Afghan refugees from settling here legally (funny, under Biden Republicans were soooo concerned about the Afghan people), pardoning violent anti-abortion activists, revoking security protection for Antony Fauci and abolishing the Pentagon office that tracks civilian deaths. Hmm, come to think of it maybe “breathtakingly expansive” isn’t quite the perfect phrase.

A special case are the people who voted Trump because thought it was in their interest and now the leopard’s eating their face. I can’t help feeling sorry for them, but at the same time I don’t. Particulary since the faceless individual’s rationalization is that if only he can get an explanation to the Glorious Supreme Leader, everything will be fine.

The court prophets who worship Trump and glorify him in return for him punching down at gays, POC and women sold out long ago — he’s offering them a kingdom of this world and that’s in the Bible somewhere, right? By contrast Bishop Mariann Budde spoke truth to power, thereby infuriating Trump and MAGA.

“It’s all woke crap” he must have been thinking. “When will we get to the acclamation of my win in the election? When will we get to their acknowledgment of my power, my success, my victory? When are we going to get to the praise of me?” Spoiler alert: Never, never, and never. Because this service was never going to be about Trump, and I’m sure that never even dawned on him as he arrived at the National Cathedral.

The snowflake FOTUS has demanded an apology. I don’t anticipate him getting one.

With an incoming Republican administration I’ve resumed my practice of writing to our senators, even though I doubt it’ll do much good. The new one, Senator Richard Budd, hasn’t responded; Thom Tillis does (I do give him points for that) but as always, it’s to emphasize his absolute loyalty to the Glorious Supreme Leader. To Tillis’ credit, he voted to certify Biden’s win in 2020. However his initial criticism of the Jan. 6 attempted coup has, like most other Republicans, faded in favor of kowtowing to the man behind it.

During the Biden years, Tillis whined that Democrats passed partisan bills, meaning that Republicans didn’t support them. He had, however, no problem voting to confirm Brett Kavanaugh despite the lack of Democratic support. In the past he’s drawn other lines in the sand — then erased them and done Trump’s bidding.

Now he’s declaring Glorious Supreme Leader has a mandate to govern (a common tactic in authoritarian states as Kristin Kobes duMez says), yet somehow he never thought Biden deserved the same consideration. As I’ve mentioned before, mandates are bullshit. If Trump did have a mandate it would presumably be for things such as rounding up immigrants and imposing tariffs — stuff he talked about during the election. It doesn’t follow that everything he does has the voters’ blessing.

I specifically urged Tillis to vote against anti-vax RFK and the abominable Pete Hegseth as SecDef. Tillis’ response was that one of his priorities once Congress is in session is to review and then approve Trump’s nominees as fast as possible. I take it that’s a no to my suggestions; if I’m wrong, I’ll happily apologize. I doubt I am.

As someone who feared Biden would be centrist and too eager to cooperate with Republicans, I’ve been happily surprised that he’s pushing a relatively radical agenda for 21st century America. As John Scalzi says, it’s hard for Repubs to hammer him as the Evil Devil Socialist because he’s a blandly boring, decent white dude. While Republicans shriek about him betraying his talk of unity, Catherine Rampell says he’s delivering it a different way: by not treating the enemy the way Trump treated his.

The downside? Although Biden’s policies are popular and Republican policies are very much unpopular, our country has reached a point at which Republicans find minority rule easy. It’s not just that they won two of the last five elections despite losing the popular vote; the counter-majority elements in the U.S. system also give them disproportionate power in the House, the Senate and at state level. And they’re pushing to make it harder to vote while lying it’s because the election was stolen.  Or that their voters think it was stolen (“When half of the voters of this country don’t have faith in our electoral system, doing nothing is not an option,”) which is supposedly enough of a reason (I’m sure if Dems feel the same about 2024, they’ll be back to “fuck your feelings.”).

As we’ve seen the past month or so, given a choice between supporting corporate America and making it harder for people to vote, they prioritize disenfranchising people. This leads to bizarre twists such as Ted Cruz admitting he’s sold out America for corporate donations and pretending he won’t do it again.  Or Marco Rubio’s outrage that corporations won’t support the new version of Jim Crow. Or Glenn Beck being shocked and appalled that anyone would see this as a return to Jim Crow (whereas it’s perfectly acceptable for him to call liberals Nazis). Of course Ron DeSantis tops him by insisting systemic racism is a myth.

Hell, they’re still trying to “prove” Trump won in 2020.

Republican candidates have to worry about alienating their voters in primaries much more than winning over the majority. That gives them an incentive to let their inner, anti-American scumbag out. Especially with Trump still demanding revenge for Republicans not overthrowing the government for him. That involves giving them someone to hate; as gay-hating is losing its punch, we’ve seen the sudden concern about the trans menace. Sexism isn’t the only thing that spawns undead cliches.

And there’s no stopping the rejection of reality or the lies. Michelle Bachman lying about how Biden will impose the homosexual agenda. Tucker Carlson telling viewers to call the cops on parents with masked kids. Republicans supporting Carlson’s rants about replacement theory. A lying snake who claims the George Floyd murder was a hoax. Or the completely bullshit claims that Biden’s climate-change plan will restrict Americans to one burger a month.

Meanwhile, the capital rioters are still struggling to stay out of jail. And extremist groups are making it fun and entertaining to become a white supremacist and hang out with your buddies. Which is not surprising: it was part of the appeal of the 1920s KKK.

And when you get down to the state level, like Kansas Rep. Mark Samsel, they’re even creepier.

I keep trying to think of ways I can contribute besides writing a check, or writing to the lying liar Sen. Thom Tillis, but so far I haven’t much in the way of ideas.