So, Jeff the Elf, you want a culture war? Let's get it rolling!

The Kebler Elf's evil twin, Attorney General Jefferson Beuregard Sessions III, came to Sacramento on Wdnesday to insult and threaten them thar California cultural elite librul types.

He didn't bother making a courtesy call on the Governor of California. Who is not an enemy that either Jeff or Trump should really be inviting to challenge them on national news platforms.

Jeff the Evil Elf took his shot with a xenophobic show in Sacramento, Suing California, Sessions vows to ‘use every power’ to stop state laws on immigration enforcement PBS Newshour 03/07/2018.

Jerry Brown responded, CA governor and atty. gen. discuss sanctuary cities PBS Newshour 03/07/2018:

Among other things, he says in that press conference:

Look, this is completely unprecedented for the chief law enforcement of the United States to come out here and engage in a political stunt, make wild accustations, many of which are based on outright lies, that's unusual.

And particularly for a fellow from Alabama talking to us about secession and protecting human and civil rights.

He and state Attorney General Xavier Becerra also did an interview with Margaret Warner, Gov. Jerry Brown: Sessions 'sowing discord' instead of proposing immigration reform PBS Newshour 03/07/2018:

In his last year as Governor of California, Jerry Brown is still out there fighting for civil rights and the rights of immigrants, a major theme of his entire political career. In this interview we see Jerry the formidable debater and former Jesuit seminarian who has never had any problem about applying his religious values to politics. Trump and Jeff Sessions didn't really understand, I'm sure, what they were getting into with this latest stunt. Some of Jerry's comments in this interview (Gov. Jerry Brown: Sessions ‘sowing discord’ instead of proposing immigration reform transcript PBS Newshour 03/08/2018):

[Jeff Sessions is] going after men, women, and children, some who have worked 10 or 20 years picking our food, washing our dishes, building houses. And, yes, we need an immigration reform for the whole nation. We don’t need a Gestapo-kind of tactic with vitriol spewing out of Jeff Sessions’ mouth.

What we need, Jeff Sessions, propose an intelligent immigration reform, and we will work with you. But don’t come out with these kind of gutter tactics, bring some of your really discredited politics from your background here. It’s just not right. It’s not generous, and it’s not Christian."Sessions is in a cesspool of deception and mendacity. So, don’t believe him.

Sessions is in a cesspool of deception and mendacity. So, don’t believe him.

I call upon Mr. Sessions and Mr. Trump to act like Americans, act like the good Christians they claim to be, and work with us to get a good immigration law, and not to try to just hyperbolically scare the hell out of people ...

This face-off between California and Washington has some interesting historical echoes. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III is a smirking prick who could have stepped right out of a White Citizens Council convention in 1961. Jerry Brown has been an active supporter of immigrant rights and farmworkers for pretty much his entire life.

Harold Meyerson writes about an even older historical echo in There Are Echoes of the Fugitive Slave Act in Today’s Immigration Debate The American Prospect 03/06/2018:

An 1842 court ruling absolved states of any duty to cooperate in the recapture of former slaves who'd freed themselves by fleeing to the North. In response, as part of the Compromise of 1850, the Congress passed and President Millard Fillmore signed the Fugitive Slave Act, which not only required state and local governmental officials to aid owners and their agents who'd come North to capture and re-enslave the runaways, but also required the same level of cooperation from all citizens. If a slaver was in the act of recapture, bystanders were required to help out.

Not surprisingly, the North greeted the new law with fury and resistance. Vermont, Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Michigan, and Wisconsin all enacted “personal liberty laws”—the 1850s equivalent of California's sanctuary state law—forbidding public officials from cooperating with the slave owners or the federal forces sent to back them up, denying the use of their jails to house the captives, and requiring jury trials to decide if the owners could make off with their abductees. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the Fugitive Slave Act violated the Constitution's 10th Amendment, which gave states the power to enact laws not specifically preempted by federal authority. (The Southern-dominated U.S. Supreme Court overturned that ruling on the eve of the Civil War).

Opponents of the Fugitive Slave Act also took to the streets (and jury rooms, where verdicts were rendered that freed some of the captives). Crowds would form to oppose and resist, sometimes forcibly, the apprehensions of African Americans. [my emphasis]

After the Confederacy's defeat in the Civil War, unreconstructed white Southerners created a neo-Confederate narrative that, unfortunately, is very much a part of the white nationalist narrative currently dominant in the Republican Party. And a key element of it was the false claim that the Confederate states had seceded from the Union in 1860-61 over the abstract issue of States' Rights, and not, oh Lordy certainly not over slavery!

That's because slavery by 1865 had become so completely discredited in the whole country that the former Confederates wanted to try to distance themselves from it. The Fugitive Slave Act is one of the major reasons we know that postwar claim was nonsense. I mean, apart from the fact that the seceding states made it as clear and explicit as they could that they were seceding over slavery. Or, as Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens described it in his Cornerstone Speech in March of 1861:

Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea [from human equality]; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery -- subordination to the superior race -- is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.

For the decade prior to the election of Abraham Lincoln, the major conflicts between the slave and free states associated with events like the Compromise of 1950, the mini-civil war in Kansas, and the Dred Scott decision involved the Slave Power using its domination of the federal government to impose pro-slavery measures on unwilling free states.

The reliable if stodgy Encyclopaedia Britannica describes the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and its repercussions this way (Fugitive Slave Acts 01/17/2018):

The demand from the South for more effective legislation resulted in enactment of a second Fugitive Slave Act in 1850. Under this law fugitives could not testify on their own behalf, nor were they permitted a trial by jury. Heavy penalties were imposed upon federal marshals who refused to enforce the law or from whom a fugitive escaped; penalties were also imposed on individuals who helped slaves to escape. Finally, under the 1850 act, special commissioners were to have concurrent jurisdiction with the U.S. courts in enforcing the law. The severity of the 1850 measure led to abuses and defeated its purpose. The number of abolitionists increased, the operations of the Underground Railroad became more efficient, and new personal-liberty laws were enacted in many Northern states. These state laws were among the grievances officially referred to by South Carolina in December 1860 as justification for its secession from the Union. Attempts to carry into effect the law of 1850 aroused much bitterness and probably had as much to do with inciting sectional hostility as did the controversy over slavery in the territories. [my emphasis; internal hotlink omitted]

For the secessionists of South Carolina, the unwillingness of state governments to knuckle under to an atrocious proslavery federal law which really did encroach of the Tenth Amendment right of states was a grievance to be used as a justification for treason and secession.

Electing Roy Moore - and seating him in the Senate?

Infamous theocratic blowhard Roy Moore's chances of winning the open Alabama Senate seat vacated by Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III have probably been diminished by credible accusations from two women that he sexually abused them as minors.

But who knows? It's Alabama. And a non-trivial number of voters there are telling pollsters the accusations makes them more likely to vote for him.

The truth is that the Democratic candidate Doug Jones was always a strong candidate. Even though conventional wisdom assumed - not without reason - that it would be difficult for a Democrat to win the seat.

But the unexpected turn of events with the scandalous revelations about Moore is yet another reminder of how damaging the Barack Obama/Debbie Wasserman-Schultz strategy of studied neglect of state parties and less-competitive districts has been to the Democratic Party. Even the most conventional political pundits now realized that the liberal Democrat Doug Jones has a real shot at winning the Senate election in supposedly safely Republican Alabama. If the Democratic National Committee had spent the eight years of the Obama Presidency building the state party in Alabama, they would have been in an ever stronger position to take the Senate seat in December.

It's important to keep in mind that for Obama, having the Democratic Party be non-competitive and weak in many states was an advantage. Obama seemed genuinely obsessed with bipartisanship as an end in itself. And some of his major goals were downright conservative, particularly his repeated attempts at a Grand Bargain to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits. And it's hard to forget how willing he was cave to Congressional Republicans on occasions like the "fiscal cliff" deal at the beginning of 2013. As Paul Krugman wrote at the time, "He kept drawing lines in the sand, then erasing them and retreating to a new position. And his evident desire to have a deal before hitting the essentially innocuous fiscal cliff bodes very badly for the confrontation looming in a few weeks over the debt ceiling." (Perspective on the Deal New York Times 01/01/2017)

For a Democrat like Obama eager to make those kinds of compromises and concessions, it's actually better to have a Republican majority or only a narrow Democratic majority in Congress. If bipartisanship is a goal in itself, not annoying conservative Republicans in a state like Alabama is a feature, not a bug in the approach.

There is presently a lot of speculation about whether the Republicans will replace Moore as the Republican candidate. As I understand it from the news reports, the Alabama Republican Party can withdraw its official endorsement of Moore. It's too late to take him off the ballot for the election now scheduled. But if the state party withdraws its endorsement, since Moore appears on the ballot as the Republican candidate, any votes for him in that category would be invalid. (If voters just wrote in his name, I don't know if those would be counted.) In one version of that scenario, the Republicans could get behind Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III as a write-in candidate. If he wins, he could resign as Attorney General to become Senator, then Trump could appoint a new Attorney General who could fire Robert Mueller and instead open an investigation of a series of Hillary Clinton pseudoscandals.

There has been discussion of the Senate declining to seat Moore if he wins, and much of the commentary I've seen appears to assume that's an obvious possibility. But as William Douglas reports in If elected, Roy Moore will probably take his seat in the Senate McClatchy Newspapers 11/14/2017:

Senate Republicans could try to refuse to seat Moore at all, but that could prove legally difficult thanks to the late Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, a Democrat from New York.

Powell won a Supreme Court case in 1969 after House leaders tried to refuse to seat him following his re-election because he was accused of misappropriating public funds. The justices ruled that Powell had to be seated because he met the Constitution’s age, residency and citizenship requirements to hold office.

Here is the Morning Zoo crowd today discussing the Moore race, including the Sessions option, Alabama Voters Continue Deliberation On Senate Candidate Roy Moore Morning Joe/MSNBC 11/15/2017:

At around 5:00 in the video, there is an Alabama example of what Germans and Austrians call a Stammtisch, a "regular table" where the good ole boys discuss life and politics and wimmin.

further reporting from the Washington Post: Sean Sullivan, National Republican move against Roy Moore grows — but key Alabama Republicans are not joining in 11/14/2017; Write-ins, expulsion: Roy Moore offers no easy answers for Republican Party WaPo/AL.com

Greg Garrison reports that Roy Moore was a topic of discussion at the annual state convention of Alabama Baptists, Alabama Baptists rattled by accusations against Roy Moore AL.com 11/14/2017:

The allegations have rattled pastors attending the Baptist convention.

"If he did it, we need to know that," said State Baptist President John Thweatt, pastor of First Baptist Church of Pell City. "We need to condemn it. If he didn't, then we need to know that too. There are probably some people who will believe him no matter what."

Thweatt, who has four daughters, said the denomination stands opposed to the abuse of women.

"Baptists have to stand against the abuse of women," he said. "It's not tolerable. There are no exceptions. We have to create a culture that treating women as sexual objects is not acceptable. There's no hesitance to speak against the abuse of women. But we're hesitant to speak out against Roy Moore because we don't know if it's true."

Many of the pastors here have had Moore speak in their churches or attended prayer rallies with him.

"He has denied it and I take him at his word," said the Rev. John Killian, director of the Fayette County Baptist Association, who hosted Moore speaking twice when he was pastor of Maytown Baptist Church. "I believe him. That's not the way he's lived his life for the last 25 years. It's been reputable and respectable. He's a godly man, a brilliant man. I know Roy Moore. He has a great relationship with (his wife) Kayla. That's not the guy that's (being portrayed) out there now. I believe he's a good man. I don't believe the allegations have been proven. When a brother in Christ speaks, you give him the benefit of the doubt."

The Rev. Chad Burdette, pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church in Ranburne, said he attended a prayer rally at which Moore recited Psalm 103 from memory. "Until it's proven, pastors are holding their breath," Burdette said. "If it's not, then maybe they are afraid of having a man that quotes scripture in government. Are they that afraid? Maybe they are scared of this guy who is so full of scripture. We can't cast a stone because we all have sinned. The truth always comes to the surface."

I would say that none of those quoted responses actually qualify as examples of prophetic courage.

Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III on college free speech - and the President's?

The Kebler Elf's evil twin, Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, spoke at Georgetown yesterday. He was introduced by a guy named Barnett. You can't make this stuff up. Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks on campus free speech at Georgetown Law PBS Newshour 09/26/2017:

For those of you blessed enough not to recognize the Barnett reference, he was the most notorious governor Mississippi ever had. And that's saying at lot! This 1959 campaign song of his gives a flavor, Roll With Ross:

Yes, you may wonder why "he's his own boss" would be considered a desirable qualification for an elected public servant. One of the many eldritch mysteries of Segregation 1.0.

JBS III was talking about free speech on college campuses. Two things to understand about this. One is that JBS III is a straight-up segregationist. He could have stepped into a time warp at the 1948 Dixiecrat convention and emerged this past Sunday, just in time to be briefed on the latest white supremacist phraseology.

When I was in college in Mississippi, I heard Ross Barnett speak to a small group of student in a classroom. This was 1974, as I recall, well after defending de jure segregation was consider pointless (for the time being). Rolling Ross came off just like he sounded when inciting a treasonous uprising at Ole Miss in 1963. A blithering bigot, in other words. I remember thinking at the time that it was a momentary dose of something preserved from 10 years ago. Which seemed then a much longer time than it does now.

Watching JBS III is a similar kind of thing. Although he's part of a full-blown segregation-restorationist movement that currently controls the White House. Their predecessors of the 1870s liked to call themselves Redeemers.

The other thing is that this speech is an example of what Alex Pareene in another context has cleverly is called a “the greatest threat to free speech in the nation today is college students heckling an asshole” presentation. (You Are Jonathan Chait's Enemy Splinter 09/26/2017) This is also part of a long-standing authoritarian-conservative obsession, the idea that colleges are dominated by Jew-Commie-Mean Libruls who look down their noses at Real Americans.

Sinclair Lewis created a minor character that embodied this attitude, the Rev. Ezekiel Bittery, in the 1943 novel Gideon Planish. The Rev. Bittery had been discovered by some leftie newspaper who reported he was preaching hellfire sermons about the virtues of Jesus and fascism. After a while, a regional newspaper picked up the story. Finally, it made its way to a major metropolitan daily. Eventually Congress and others make formal investigations, and there is considerable hand-wringing about this exotic development in the heartland:

And during all this time, the Reverend Ezekiel himself will, as publicly as possible, to as many persons as he can persuade to attend his meetings, have admitted, insisted, bellowed, that he has always been a Ku Kluxer and a Fascist, that he has always hated Jews, colleges and good manners, and that the only thing he has ever disliked about Hitler is that he once tried to paint barns instead of leaving the barns the way God made them.

JBS III's speech was stock whining about the Mean Libruls being mean to nice Christian white folks, based on generalizing from marginal cases for the most part. There are a number of Christian Right legal groups who present themselves as civil rights advocates but actually are more interested in trying to get courts to ratify a theocratic political agenda. The American Center for Law and Justice, Liberty Counsel and the Alliance Defending Freedom are some of the better known of these groups. See: Daniel Bennett, The Rise of Christian Conservative Legal Organizations Religion & Politics 06/10/2015. Bennett also reports on a current case being pursued by the latter group, Masterpiece Cakeshop: Meet the Christian Legal Group Behind the High-Profile Court Case Religion & Politics 07/19/2017.

JBS III was vague on Tuesday about just what cases he was referring to. But they sound like the sort of thing such conservative groups pursue. They sometimes have good grounds to pursue them, and more legitimate civil liberties groups like the ACLU are sometimes on the same side. But often they are fairly marginal cases, like overzealous school administrators not allowing Christmas carols to be sung in school assemblies. And the AG made it clear that the Justice Department was prioritizing Christian nationalist sort of cases going forward.

JBS III's case might sound convincing if you don't know anything about what happens on college campuses and don't want to know. One "tell" was that he even mocked UC-Berkeley for bending over backwards just this month to allow a couple of obnoxious white nationalists to speak on campus. And somehow even this is a sign of how Berkeley is run by Mean Liburuls who hate free speech. Emily Deruy reports on some of this week's events there in Milo Yiannopoulos’ 15 minutes in Berkeley cost university $800,000 East Bay Times 09/24/2017. To those not washed in the blood of white nationalism, this looks like a university being very serious about protecting free speech, even though everyone involved knows that the rightwing provocateurs holding the event were hoping for disruptions that would give them more excuse for their WATB stock whining about Mean Libruls pickin' on them.

JBS III of course tossed in a lot of standard general quotes about why freedom of speech is a good thing, so there's that.

Another real "tell" came in the brief questioning period afterward, when the AG is asked about the President's tirade against black football players over "taking the knee" during the playing of the National Anthem at football games. JBS III responded, "The President has free speech rights, too."

This is a mirror-image redefining of free speech not as protection of free speech against existing authorities into the defense of declarations for the highest governmental executive authority. This is rightwing victimization taken to an insane extreme. Of all people in the country, the President is the least in danger of having his free speech restricted. As he illustrates daily in his tweets and speeches.

Digby on Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III and DACA

Digby on the Trump Family Business Administration's DACA policy as announced by Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (Another step toward Making America White Again Hullabaloo 09/05/2017):

Trump and Sessions and the people who back them are dangerous racist fascists. And the only people who can stop them at this point [i.e., the Republican in Congress] are just as bad. They had their chance to fix this for the last five years and didn't do it. DACA wouldn't have been necessary if they'd passed Comprehensive Immigration Reform or the DREAM Act.

Maybe they'll do it now. But I wouldn't be too sanguine. So far they have not been able to show they can get anything done, much less something that their base hates with a passion. Does anyone believe that after the failure of Obamacare Repeal these people will legalize a bunch of Latinos?

Maybe they'll surprise us. I certainly hope so. This is a nightmare.