GOP Embraces Moore, Infighting Derails Far-Right Rally, And Dems Ask Judge To Reject Arpaio Pardon

September 28th, 2017 Top Stories --------------------------------------------------------------- [Republicans: Roy Moore May Be Crazier Than Todd Akin, But We’ll Still Back Him]( The Gist: Then-Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-MO) Senate campaign imploded when he declared that women couldn’t get pregnant from “legitimate rape,” and GOP leaders including then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and presidential nominee Mitt Romney demanded that he drop out of the race and apologize for his remarks. But former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore’s (R) Tuesday primary win elicited a very different result from many of the same people in spite of his long history of homophobic, Islamophobic and racially charged remarks: A full-out embrace. [Planned Far-Right Torch Rally In Charlotte, NC Derailed After Infighting]( The Gist: In what is becoming something of a pattern, a far-right event slated to take place just after Christmas in Charlotte, North Carolina appears to be losing support even before planning really gets underway. Infighting, mistrust and the dark stain of August’s deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia are threatening to derail a “March Against Communism” rally scheduled for Dec. 28. At least one slated headliner has already pulled out, while other white nationalist figureheads are warning their followers not to participate. [House Dems Ask Federal Judge To Reject Trump Pardon Of Sheriff Joe Arpaio]( The Gist: More than 30 House Democrats have filed an amicus brief asking a federal judge to reject President Donald Trump’s pardon of controversial former Sheriff Joe Arpaio. From The Reporter's Notebook --------------------------------------------------------------- President Donald Trump can’t stop talking about the NFL, [TPM's Nicole Lafond reports](. After calling any football player who kneels during the national anthem a “son of a bitch” who deserves to be fired last week, Trump tweeted about the NFL and its disrespect for the flag at least a dozen times over the course of the weekend and into Monday. During an interview with Fox News that aired Thursday, Trump talked about the controversy again, saying the NFL needs to do something to force players to stand for the national anthem and suggesting the team owners are “afraid of their players.” Many NFL players and team members have been kneeling as a sign of unity and protest of police brutality and racial profiling in the U.S. Agree Or Disagree? --------------------------------------------------------------- Josh Marshall: "Coming to the terms with the brutality of slave revolts [brings the brutality and violence of slavery itself to the fore in a way America has seldom publicly faced](. It’s like a tight and uncompromising algebraic equation. Honoring Nat Turner means that his actions were laudatory and merit public memorialization. But his actions involved killing families and small children in their beds. If such actions, which are normally among the worst we can imagine, merit praise and public honor, the system they were meant to fight and destroy must have been barbaric and unconscionably violent beyond imagining. Very few of us would contest this description of slavery. But bringing Turner into the discussion of public commemoration will air these issues in a new (I think very positive) and jarring way." Say What?! --------------------------------------------------------------- "We have a lot of shippers, and a lot of people — a lot of people that work in the shipping industry that don’t want the Jones Act lifted." - President Donald Trump said Wednesday [explaining]( his hesitation to lift the Jones Act in order to aid Puerto Rico following a devastating hurricane on the island. BUZZING: Today in the Hive --------------------------------------------------------------- From a TPM Prime member: "Desolate country up there. If you wanted to meet up with someone and not have any prying eyes around, you could do that. Charter a fly-in hunting trip, other folks do the same, nobody else around for hundreds of miles. Would take a satellite to spy on you, and the satellite operators would have to know you were there. Or maybe someone else has a better theory for why Don Jr. ditched his Secret Service for that particular two-week period. Because this is a very strange thing for him to have done." Related: [NYT: Trump Jr. Ditched Secret Service Before Moose-Hunting Trip In Canada]( Have something to add? Become a [Prime]( member and join the discussion [here](. What We're Reading --------------------------------------------------------------- Opioid Crisis Drives A Grim Business In West Virginia: Body Transport ([The Charleston Gazette-Mail]( What I Learned About Concussions — By Having One ([The Verge]( [unsubscribe from this list]( | [update subscription preferences]( | [view email in browser](