Let’s take a minute to remember that Republicans don’t need no stinkin’ Donald Trump to have terrible ideas about dragging us back to when the country was a lot less equitable (I know, I know) than it is even now.

Pictured above is Judge James Ho of the Fifth Circuit. For a safely sympathetic crowd, he recently talked strategy about things like rolling back marriage equality and gender identity. I’d give you the full quote that started with, “For example: What about the Biblical truth that …”

… except that you don’t need any more than that to understand how fucked up the situation is. Talking political agendas for the judiciary shouldn’t really be a thing for judges, so his judgment is already compromised. But more importantly, THE BIBLE ISN’T PRECEDENT OR IN THE CONSTITUTION OR A LEGAL TEXT, YO.  His remarks should take him directly to discipline or worse for the lack of interest in the oath he took, but don’t hold your breath.

NITWITS IN NEVADA
Next up, Gov. Joe Lombardo of Nevada spoke at a Trump rally recently about a law-enforcement officer who recently died while confronting an armed man. Unfortunately for Lombardo, the officer’s name was Abdelnabi. Let’s roll the videotape.

Abdelnabi got a couple of boos solely on the basis of his last name. Former GOP congressman and outspoken anti-Trump critic Joe Walsh responded on his socials with this attempted MAGA mockery:

“Guys, you’ve gotta pause a second before the racism, to make sure they are actually foreigners. Did you not learn anything at white supremacy classes?”

Walsh gets points for having his heart in the right place here, but Congressman, you’re missing the heart of the matter: They don’t care if people with those names are police officers or not. Or legal citizens or not.

They just don’t want brown people around. At all.

Get it?

Nevermind that if you never saw either name before, you’d notice some similarity between “Lombardo” and “Abdelnabi.” Italian names are fine now. But they weren’t always. And the same bigot clowns were the problem then, too.

BLOCKING IT OLD SCHOOL
Yesterday was the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, and we’re all familiar with the GOP’s relentless efforts to kneecap it into irrelevance over the decades. But in addition to the gerrymandering and dark money and whatnot, several current members of Congress cling to a simpler idea:

Repeal the 17th Amendment, take the election of U.S. senators out of the hands of the citizens, and return that job to the state legislatures.

Ten (TEN!) Republicans in the House have signed on as sponsors. The same people who are trying to make Communism a believable campaign issue continue are also working on rolling back our system’s democratic progress whenever possible. Voters have been electing senators in every state for 113 years. So much for tradition.

It ain’t easy (or pretty) when a minority gets desperate to cling to power. At least with a likeminded moron in the White House, they get easier to spot.

On that note, take in this overview (and tasty solo) from the one and only J.J. Cale.