Politics in the Zeros

Charlottesville was a turning point. White supremacists and Nazis crawled out of their sewers long enough to show the country who they really are. The internet has responded by banning their websites and ability to fundraise. Further, many of them have been personally identified. Some have lost their jobs, others are in hiding because there are warrants out for their arrest or lawsuits against them.

Daily Stormer is dead. No one, including Russia will touch it. It was the first site that Cloudflare banned, and without Cloudflare, it would be crushed by DDOS attacks. Cloudflare says they want to work out a system for banning such sites, a responsibility they do not take lightly. Other hate sites are facing similar internet death sentences. PayPal just banned over 30 or them. This kills their ability to fund raise easily. The ACLU now says they will no longer defend any hate group that is armed.

Another fine tactic would be to boycott Trump properties. Three fundraisers have already been cancelled at Mar-a-Lago, with many more cancellations expected.

PayPal, Patreon, Facebook, Squarespace, Spotify, Google, GoDaddy, Texas A&M University, the University of Florida, Michigan State University, and a mountain resort in Colorado are among the companies removing white nationalists’ accounts and venues canceling their planned events in the wake of violent street clashes that left three people dead and dozens injured on Saturday. By eliminating both the physical and virtual platforms that white nationalists use to promote their ideas, those companies and institutions have curtailed the avenues by which they could grow their reach.

“I can’t think of another incident to which the backlash has been nearly so widespread,”

The extent to which white nationalist groups were affected by service denials and account terminations this week varied depending on their size, reach and how violent and virulent their views are. Andrew Anglin’s neo-Nazi website, The Daily Stormer, was essentially wiped off the mainstream internet after GoDaddy, Google and CloudFare stopped providing domain registration in quick succession. Anglin has since relocated the site to the dark web, where it is only available via use of a Tor network, radically restricting his audience.

“His site is all he has,” the ADL’s Pitcavage observed. “He can’t even show his face ‘cause he’ll get served with lawsuits. So his site is basically his voice.”

Mar-a-Lago may soon find itself to be a pariah.

Three fundraising giants decided to pull events from President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Thursday, signaling a direct blowback to his business empire from his comments on Charlottesville’s (Virginia) racial unrest.

But the Florida club may face an even deeper crisis of confidence from the local business community. The head of the Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce, of which Mar-a-Lago is a member, called the business “morally reprehensible” on Thursday and said she expected more charities to defect.

“The glitter, the shine has gone from the club,” chamber executive director Laurel Baker said, “and I can’t help but think there will be more fallout from it.”

Tony Schwarz, who wrote Trump’s 1987 book The Art of the Deal, thinks Trump will resign soon to avoid embarrassment. However, there’s no reason for Trump to go gracefully.

1) Trump doesn’t do graceful. It’s not in his nature. He screams and yells and bullies to get his way but this time he is up against people who can’t be intimidated. That won’t stop him from having temper tantrums.

2) Resigning means Trump will have far less power with which to fight back. The Mueller investigation will certainly be devastating for him. The NY AG investigation, which is focusing on organized crime aspects of the Trump family, could put them all in prison.

3) Resigning will not allow Trump to save face. Instead Trump will be ridiculed as worst loser president ever. He will bigly hate that.

4) Mueller will not accept immunity for Trump in return for resigning because there’s no reason for Mueller (or the country) to do so. Trump is going to fall, so there’s no reason for prosecutors to make it easier for him. Besides, IMO, Trump is a money-laundering pig and the truth needs to be known.

5) Schwarz is far too nice to Trump’s kids, who he calls “dumber versions of their father.” This implies they somehow aren’t complicit and they absolutely are, just as corrupt as Trump is.

Trump will fall, but it’ll probably be a train wreck as it happens.

Richard Holley was arrested for leaving a handwritten note threatening to kill Nevada Senator Dean Heller if Heller voted to repeal Obamacare. Holley’s wife suffers from multiple debilitating conditions and is bedridden.

Heller did vote to repeal, however the vote lost. Holley was arrested on felony charges and could go to prison. What happens to his wife? Gosh people, threatening to kill public officials is just a really bad idea.

The arrest comes nearly a month after an ominous handwritten note was found wedged behind the placard identifying Heller’s suite in an office complex in southwest Las Vegas. At the time, an acrimonious debate was raging over health care, and swing voting Heller was the subject of an advertising blitz and frequent protests.

“Sen Heller, I am sick and will die without continued medical care,” read the message left on a folded piece of binder paper. “If I’m going to die because you voted to repeal or replace with a death bill, I will take you with me. If I’m going to die so are you.”

Rural counties in Nevada will have access to Obamacare again. Anthem left the exchange, however SilverSummit has agreed to provide coverage in 2018.

As other companies have abandoned insurance exchanges, Centene has expanded its presence, stepping in to offer low-premium, high-deductible plans. The company has said that 90 percent of its exchange customers are eligible for federal subsidies based on income, including many who rotate in and out of Medicaid, which is Centene’s core business.