https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
In mid-November, the fickle Leonid meteor shower hits Earth once again. This annual meteor shower, which peaks overnight on Nov 16-17, is responsible for some of the most intense meteor storms in history. Sometimes, meteors fall at rates as high as 50,000 per hour. These meteor storms only happen rarely, but viewers this year will see more Leonid meteors than in 2019, because the thin, crescent moon will be only 5% illuminated during the night of the peak. The best time to look in past years was before dawn around 3 a.m. EST (0800 GMT) on the morning of the peak, according to Jane Houston Jones of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Leonid meteor shower peaks on the night of Monday, Nov. 16, and early the following morning. Skywatchers may be able to see some meteors on days just before and after the peak. According to NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke, without moonlight skywatchers can expect to see around 10-15 meteors per hour during the peak. | The Leonid meteor shower happens every year in November, when Earth's orbit crosses the orbit of Comet Tempel-Tuttle. The comet makes its way around the sun every 33.3 years, leaving a trail of dust rubble in its wake. When Earth's orbit crosses this trail of debris, pieces of the comet fall toward the planet's surface. Drag, or air resistance, in Earth's atmosphere cause the comet's crumbs to heat up and ignite into burning balls of fire called meteors. These comet crumbs are usually the size of a grain of sand or a pea, so they tend to burn up entirely before striking Earth's surface. Meteors that survive the whole journey to the ground are called meteorites. But the Leonid meteor shower likely won't deliver any meteorites.
https://www.space.com/34500-leonid-meteor-shower-guide.html
A South Dakota ER nurse JodiDoering says her Covid-19 patients often "don't want to believe that Covid is real." "Their last dying words are, 'This can't be happening. It's not real.' And when they should be... Facetiming their families, they're filled with anger and hatred."
https://twitter.com/i/status/1328319845012824065
Two issues that run deeper for Obama than Trump's personal deficiencies concern the changes he sees in the Republican Party and the broader conservative movement. "I did not believe how easily the Republican establishment, people who had been in Washington for a long time and had professed a belief in certain institutional values and norms, would just cave" to Trumpian populism, he said.
The First Amendment doesn't require private companies to provide a platform for any view that is out there.
Shocked, Soaked and Gassed: Help Stop Cruel PTSD Animal Experiments at Washington State University
https://animalpeopleforum.org/2020/11/13/shocked-soaked-and-gassed-stop-cruel-ptsd-experiments-at-washington-state-university/
Georgia's Republican secretary of state Brad Raffensperger goes on Facebook fact-checking spree over Trump's misinformation. He called Doug Collins, who was tasked by the Trump campaign to oversee the audit of ballots in Georgia, a "failed candidate" and a "liar."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/gop-secretary-state-goes-facebook-fact-checking-spree-over-trump-n1247898
For the first time in living memory, the hegemon at the center of a major global free trade agreement is not the U.S. because of Leftists and Republicans
https://www.axios.com/rcep-trade-bloc-china-new-world-order-4993564c-ca57-411f-aca4-15250869f762.html
New filing from four PA counties: Trump campaign has now admitted that "whole swaths" of its lawsuit "are meritless" and has "struck entirely" its ballot observer claims. Revised lawsuit removes "ALL claims related to the purported denial of Republican election observers' access."
https://twitter.com/jonswaine/status/1328392373336989696/photo/1
Republican lawyers hoping to block certification of the vote in Wisconsin claimed "evidence will be shortly forthcoming." That never happened. Their legal team just voluntarily dismissed their baseless voter fraud allegations hours before oral arguments. Pro-Trump lawyers who filed baseless vote fraud complaint claiming that evidence would be "forthcoming" had to dismiss their own case when it never emerged. Same pro-Trump group has also dismissed/dropped cases today in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Michigan: Roughly an hour before a status conference was supposed to take place in federal court in Green Bay in a case alleging illegal voting practices across Wisconsin, the plaintiffs (WI voters backed by a conservative group True the Vote) filed notice that they're dropping the case
https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1328375736210763776
https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/pro-trump-wisconsin-lawyers-spike-election-lawsuit-on-morning-of-court-hearing/
Linda Kerns, representing the Trump campaign in Pennsylvania, filed a whole motion requesting a sanction because she received a voicemail she didn't like
https://courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.pamd.127057/gov.uscourts.pamd.127057.131.0.pdf
Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds will announce new measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus19 Monday evening during a live address to Iowans.
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2020/11/16/iowa-gov-kim-reynolds-live-address-state-introduce-new-covid-19-response-watch/6311858002/
"It's a good day for freedom. Joe Biden realizes that the president doesn't have the authority to institute a mask mandate." -- Republican South Dakota governor Gov. Kristi Noem, as Covid19 deaths soar in her state
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/16/politics/kristi-noem-south-dakota-covid-19/index.html
If we're going to talk about student debt, why aren't we talking about why the *cost* of college is so expensive and why the *price tag* of college is rising at a faster rate than even health care. We need to seriously analyze the underlying costs and drivers.
Trump's Interior Department illegally and unconstitutionally asked oil companies to illegally and unconstitutionally nominate vast tracts in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to be illegally and unconstitutionally sold for immediate drilling in order to make it impossible for incoming Biden Administration enforce environmental protection laws in Alaska.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/11/16/arctic-refuge-drilling-trump/
"This is not a fraud case." Watch Trump campaign's lawyer disclaiming fraud allegations in last week's now-dismissed "Sharpiegate" case
https://twitter.com/i/status/1328367399603752965
RiceUniversity has created a student-run Covid19 court that can levy fines, community service, letters of apology and "re-education" when students fail to wear a mask or social distance.
https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/rice-coronavirus-court/
There are just over two months left in the Trump administration, and with top officials heading for the exits — or being fired — it is essential that their records are preserved and released so the public can get the full truth about the mismanagement of the Covid-19 response.
https://twitter.com/weareoversight/status/1328398605099601923
We FOIA'd each agency for the records on September 1. While all agencies acknowledged receipt of the respective requests by September 10, none have produced documents yet so we are suing.
https://twitter.com/weareoversight/status/1328398603812032513
Specifically, we asked for text messages (including those sent by apps like WhatsApp) related to Covid-19 sent or received by HHS Sec. Alex Azar, Assistant Sec. Michael Caputo, FDA Commission Stephen Hahn, CMS Administrator Seema Verma, and more.
https://twitter.com/weareoversight/status/1328398602478243847
It's refreshing to have all this Trump news drama dying down. We're just moving on.
If we don't get another stimulus soon then it's going to be a long, dark winter for tens upon tens of millions of people. One unemployed person represents an entire household of people. Remember that.
Supreme Court Declines To Take Up Pennsylvania Absentee Ballot Case
https://www.usnews.com/news/elections/articles/2020-11-16/supreme-court-declines-to-take-up-pennsylvania-absentee-ballot-case
More Than Two-Thirds Of UN Members Embrace Global Plastic Pollution Treaty, Republicans Reject It
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/16/more-two-thirds-un-members-embrace-global-plastic-pollution-treaty-not-us
Counties That Suffered Higher Unemployment Rates Voted for Biden
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/16/business/economy/unemployment-election-counties.html
She Worked to Turn Georgia Blue and Got Arrested for It. Again.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/11/georgia-black-voting-rights-olivia-pearson.html
US military anticipates Trump will issue order to plan for further troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and Iraq so Republican can pretend they ended and won the Afghani war and are anti-war even as they cheerlead the Taliban controlling Afghanistan. Just in time so Republican can blame Biden when the Taliban and ISIS and Al Qaeda flood the zones and mas slaughter resumes.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/16/politics/trump-afghanistan-iraq-troop-drawdown-order/index.html
The Pentagon issued a notice to commanders known as a "warning order" to begin planning to drawdown the number of troops in Afghanistan to 2,500 troops and 2,500 in Iraq by Jan 15. Currently there are about 4,500 in Afghanistan and 3,000 in Iraq.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/16/politics/trump-afghanistan-iraq-troop-drawdown-order/index.html
New York Sheriff Refuses To Enforce Gov. Cuomo's Thanksgiving Gathering Limit: "I really don't care, do u?"
https://lawandcrime.com/covid-19-pandemic/new-york-sheriff-refuses-to-enforce-gov-cuomos-thanksgiving-gathering-limit-i-cant-justify-it-constitutionally/
Michigan Republican legislators call for impeachment hearings on Gov. Whitmer. The people who don't give a fuck about whether their fellow citizens live or die trying to punish those who do. The Republican Party really is inhabiting a parallel universe.
https://nbc25news.com/news/michigan-marijuana/some-gop-legislators-call-for-impeachment-hearings-on-gov-whitmer
Daniel Jones has a higher grade than Carson Wentz this season. That gap is only going to grow after this one.
https://twitter.com/pff/status/1328094739787362304
#Saints QB Drew Brees suffered a rib contusion in yesterday's game, and he'll have an MRI for cartilage damage today. But sources tell me and @TomPelissero that New Orleans is bracing for Brees to miss some time to fully heal.
https://twitter.com/rapsheet/status/1328349023493890048
According to the broadcast, Alex Smith has been watching film of Philip Rivers to learn how to be a QB who doesn't rely on his legs.
https://twitter.com/thefootballgirl/status/1328036825840066560
Russell Wilson never thrown more than 11 interceptions in a season and finished under 10 interceptions five times. Through nine games this year Wilson has thrown 10 interceptions.
The City of Philadelphia announced new outdoor restrictions on Monday due to the ongoing health crisis and the recent increase in COVID-19 cases in the region. As a result, the Eagles will not be able to host fans at Lincoln Financial Field.
https://twitter.com/Eagles/status/1328401400154497027
Republican Senator Lamar Alexander announces opposition to Trump's Fed nominee Judy Shelton, saying he is not convinced she supports the independence of the Federal Reserve board. However, she could still be approved if the Vice President cast a vote in her favor. Romney and Collins previously said said they will vote against.
https://twitter.com/CNBCnow/status/1328424442939252738
Hate crimes in US reach highest level in more than a decade
https://apnews.com/article/hate-crimes-rise-fbi-data-ebbcadca8458aba96575da905650120d
OKC has traded Chris Paul to Phoenix for Ricky Rubio, Kelly Oubre, Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque and draft compensation, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1328400003564494856
OKC has turned Westbrook/Paul George into Oubre/Rubio/Lecque/Jerome/8 FRP/Gallinari/Shai/2 Pick Swaps. Talk about learning your lesson from Durant walking away for free
San Antonio Spurs star DeMar DeRozan has informed the franchise that he is opting into his $27.7 million player option for the 2020-21 season, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.News
https://twitter.com/ChrisBHaynes/status/1328407260767285248
Wow I didn't think that we'd have a trade this big so soon. The Suns are gonna be really fun to watch this new season.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission estimates a statewide recount would cost $7.9M. That money would have to be paid in advance of the recount. A recount can't be requested until the last county turns in its canvassing results. The deadline for that is tomorrow.
https://twitter.com/adam_brew/status/1328426445467693056
VA hits 15th consecutive day of record high coronavirus19 activity Down pointing backhand index Down pointing backhand index
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2020/11/16/vas-active-coronavirus-cases-jump-to-more-than-10000/
They are going to find so much bacteria and bodies. A look at what's being dredged from the toxic Gowanus Canal Superfund site Brooklyn
https://twitter.com/i/status/1328401768464650246
Biden is now running about an hour late here in Wilmington, where we are duly encircled. A downright Trumpian delay, as a colleague puts it. With their packed schedules, relish for meeting as many people as possible and natural tendency toward verbosity, most presidential candidates - and the commanders in chief they sometimes become - rarely get anywhere, or do anything, on time. Obama was often really late, too.
In 2019, the FBI recorded 953 anti-Semitic hate crimes. There were three lethal attacks — in Poway, California, in Jersey City and in Monsey, New York.
https://www.jta.org/2020/11/16/united-states/anti-semitic-hate-crimes-rose-by-14-in-2019-according-to-the-fbi
How to Protect New York's Jews
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/31/opinion/how-to-protect-new-yorks-jews.html
Brees led 2 TD drives with 5 fractured ribs & a collapsed lung before calling it a day. Results of medical evaluations performed today on Saints quarterback Drew Brees revealed that he has multiple rib fractures on both sides of his chest and a collapsed lung on the right side. Injuries suffered over two weeks. It is uncertain how much time he might miss.
Gov. Gavin Newsom says the state is "pulling an emergency brake" on its response to the coronavirus19 pandemic, including new restrictions necessary to help contain a recent spike.
https://twitter.com/nbcbayarea/status/1328431205361086464
Biden making an effort to specifically praise Republican governors who have taken steps to impose mask mandates & other Covid19 restrictions
Obama: I understand that. There's this sense of probity, honesty, responsibility, of homespun values, that I admire. That's the Kansas side of me. My grandmother's a stand-in for that. The folks we celebrate at Normandy, including my Uncle Charlie, who was a member of one of the units that liberated parts of Buchenwald, those were men who, whatever their limits, whatever their constraints in terms of their emotions because of what they were told they could and couldn't feel and be as men, however their relationship with women was skewed by all this—they sacrificed for others. And they never bragged, and certainly they would never make cheating others or taking advantage of them a calling card. So I guess the answer to your question is, I'm not surprised there was a market for populism, not just in the United States but around the world. Globalism is—Goldberg: You're just surprised by the horse populism rode in on. Obama: Yes, and it's this indication of parts of popular culture that I've missed. It's interesting—people are writing about the fact that Trump increased his support among Black men [in the 2020 presidential election], and the occasional rapper who supported Trump. I have to remind myself that if you listen to rap music, it's all about the bling, the women, the money. A lot of rap videos are using the same measures of what it means to be successful as Donald Trump is. Everything is gold-plated. That insinuates itself and seeps into the culture.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/why-obama-fears-for-our-democracy/617087/
Part of what you're sensing here are times when I make decisions to be gracious, when I assume the best in people, not because I'm naive but because this is how I choose to operate in the world, because I think the world would be better if more people operated that way. Sometimes I fall short and am disappointed in myself, but at least I think it's important to be anchored in ethics and morality and basic human decency in how you behave.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/why-obama-fears-for-our-democracy/617087/
Obama: This is what [David] Axelrod would call, dismissively, "Obama the icon," because he knew that this was dangerous. What happens is that they see you through the dominant filters and news sources, and those news sources have changed. Even as late as 2008, typically when I went into a small town, there's a small-town newspaper, and the owner or editor is a conservative guy with a crew cut, maybe, and a bow tie, and he's been a Republican for years. He doesn't have a lot of patience for tax-and-spend liberals, but he'll take a meeting with me, and he'll write an editorial that says, "He's a liberal Chicago lawyer but he seems like a decent enough guy, had some good ideas"; and the local TV station will cover me straight. But you go into those communities today and the newspapers are gone. If Fox News isn't on every television in every barbershop and VFW hall, then it might be a Sinclair-owned station, and the presuppositions that exist there, about who I am and what I believe, are so fundamentally different, have changed so much, that it's difficult to break through.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/why-obama-fears-for-our-democracy/617087/
A recount in Georgia's presidential race found more than 2,600 ballots in Floyd County that hadn't originally been tallied, likely helping Trump reduce his 14,000-vote deficit to Joe Biden. | The problem occurred because county election officials didn't upload votes from a memory card in an ballot scanning machine, according to the secretary of state's office.
https://www.ajc.com/politics/georgia-recount-uncovers-2600-new-votes-in-presidential-race/I75NSPYYGNF43HQZBPYKJWJ5MA/
Georgia's secretary of state Brad Raffensperger says fellow Republicans are pressuring him to find ways to exclude legal ballots. Lindsey Graham asked him if it would be possible to toss all mail ballots in places where there were higher rates of signature mismatch. This is election fraud. Raffensperger said he was stunned. Raffensperger said the recount will "affirm" the results of the initial count and the hand-counted audit will also prove the accuracy of the Dominion machines; some counties have already reported that their hand recounts exactly match the machine tallies.
https://washingtonpost.com/politics/brad-raffensperger-georgia-vote/2020/11/16/6b6cb2f4-283e-11eb-8fa2-06e7cbb145c0_story.html
Denver Nuggets forward Jerami Grant is declining his $9.3 million player option for the 2020-21 season to become an unrestricted free agent.
https://twitter.com/chrisbhaynes/status/1328452708311855104
Milwaukee Bucks center Robin Lopez is declining his $5M player option and becoming a free agent, source tells ESPN.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1328458390637572098
Black and Latino groups eye high-stakes Georgia Senate runoffs needing a sweep for Democrats | The field program will include 40,000 door knocks, 650,000 phone calls, 50,000 mailers, and 1,000,000 text messages, along with radio and digital campaigns, the group said. Runoff elections in Georgia have historically worked against Democrats due to what the New York Times called a "vestige of segregationist efforts to dilute Black voting power," because African-Americans are less likely to turn out for them.
https://newsweek.com/black-latino-groups-eye-high-stakes-georgia-senate-runoffs-needing-sweep-democrats-1547811
The Dow closes at a record high, erasing the last of its pandemic losses, after a second drug company announces encouraging progress on developing a coronavirus vaccine.
https://apnews.com/article/financial-markets-tokyo-hong-kong-coronavirus-pandemic-asia-41272a6a6ccbf06af32e17789a8a4bb2
.@NASA @SpaceX Docking with International @Space_Station & Welcome Ceremony - LIVE at 11pm ET on C-SPAN https://cs.pn/2IFJmWQ
https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1328475183221514242
Trump campaign agrees to drop its defamation lawsuit against a tiny Wisconsin TV station https://jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2020/11/16/trump-campaign-agrees-drop-suit-against-tiny-wisconsin-tv-station/6314907002/
I'm an RN in El Paso and was recently transferred from the OR to COVID ICU. I resigned from my job last week and I've been asked several times, "What was the breaking point?" I don't know a specific one, but I'll share this: a thread Thread 1/
https://twitter.com/TheBlondeRN/status/1328378945172074499
On my last shift I had a very eye opening experience. El Paso was in the middle of its hardest hit time with covid hospitalizations and cases. I was working in covid ICU and at the time checking finger stick blood glucose levels on the entire unit, about 25 patients 2/
https://twitter.com/TheBlondeRN/status/1328378947017580544
One of my last rooms to go into the patient was awake and alert. He was being transferred to a lower level of care in the next hour or so. The news was on, El Paso in the national headlines again for needing more freezer truck morgues. The patient makes small talk. 3/
https://twitter.com/TheBlondeRN/status/1328378948137455618
He mentions hating "fake news". He says, "I don't think covids is really more than a flu." I clarified, "Now you think differently though?" He replies, "No the same. I should just take vitamins for my immune system. They (news) are making it a big deal." I'm shocked. 4/
https://twitter.com/TheBlondeRN/status/1328378949387362315
I'm at a loss for words. Here I am basically wrapped in tarp, here he is in a Covid ICU. How can you deny the validity of covid? How is this possible? Misinformation is literally killing people in mass, I think to myself. 5/
https://twitter.com/TheBlondeRN/status/1328378950461108224
Typically as a nurse we usually put on a face. We don't tell our patients another patient just died. We don't tell them what we just saw. We walk in to care for that patient as they are. We give them our full unbiased care. I make a choice. Something I've never done. I say, 6/
https://twitter.com/TheBlondeRN/status/1328378951555756032
"To be honest this is my last shift. You're the only patient of 25 that has been able to speak to me today or is even aware I'm here." He's surprised but doubtful and asks if other people are doing as well as him. I tell him I've never seen so many people SO very sick. 7/
"Really?" He asks if a lot of people have died. I'm brutally honest. I tell him in 10 years of being a nurse I've done more CPR and seen more people die in the last 2 weeks than I have in my entire career combined. 8/
https://twitter.com/TheBlondeRN/status/1328378953736876038
His tone changes, he seems to have understood the gravity of what I'm saying. He apologizes. I cry. The hot tears roll down my face from under my glasses, onto my mask, my respirator, from under my face shield and onto my gown. I apologize for tearing up and compose myself 9/
https://twitter.com/TheBlondeRN/status/1328378954781241344
A few hours later I had the opportunity to transfer him in a wheelchair to a lower level of care, a medical COVID floor. He sees the other patients in the ICU as we are leaving. We arrive to to the floor and I'm waiting to give report to the nurse 10/
https://twitter.com/TheBlondeRN/status/1328378955943043074
He says one more thing, "Thank you for telling me what you told me. Thank you for being a good nurse and about me. I saw a lot of the other ones when you were wheeling me out of ICU. It's much more than a flu, I was mistaken." 11/
https://twitter.com/TheBlondeRN/status/1328378957205422081
I thanked him and I told him I hope he has a complete recovery. I hope he can heal. "I will tell everyone that denies how bad this is about my experiences," he says. I will too, Sir. I will too. /end
https://twitter.com/TheBlondeRN/status/1328378958375686144
What a roller coaster of a tweet: The #Padres have signed RHP Mike Clevinger to a two-year contract through the 2022 season. Clevinger will also undergo Tommy John surgery on Tuesday: atmlb.com/2UyQxmc
https://twitter.com/padres/status/1328472990644719616
Before signing w/ Tampa, Antonio Brown was accused of angrily destroying a surveillance camera at S. Florida gated community, throwing bike at a security-guard shack. He wasn't charged because HOA president "feared" retaliation, per police report
https://twitter.com/DavidOvalle305/status/1328444258378977280
Things are not going to end well for AB when football is over for him. You can see it coming. He will be financially broke and in prison.
The Missouri Senate has postponed a special legislative session focused on limiting Covid19-related lawsuits after a Covid19 outbreak within its ranks. | The infections are a reminder of Covid19's widespread toll in Missouri, as hospitalizations reach record highs and a patchwork of county regulations determine safety precautions such as whether one is required to wear a mask in public. | The special session, called by Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, originally focused on redirecting as much as $1.3 billion in federal stimulus funds. But last week, the governor expanded the scope to include legislation exempting businesses from Covid19-related lawsuits.
https://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/coronavirus/missouri-lawmakers-were-to-meet-on-covid-but-outbreak-after-retreat-forces-postponement/article_1ee4e849-6a05-5bef-ad83-a5f76c7021fa.html
A blog post on the website of the Trump campaign's new attorney in Pennsylvania, Marc Scaringi, calls Joe Biden President-Elect and states: "Joe Biden has successfully claimed the role of the 46th president of the United States."
https://www.scaringilaw.com/blog/2020/november/how-president-elect-joe-bidens-plan-could-affect/
What is Lindsey Graham doing talking to the Georgia Secretary of State in the first place?
https://twitter.com/benyc/status/1328472378259681280
From California to Pennsylvania, governors and mayors across the U.S. are ratcheting up Covid-19 restrictions amid the record-shattering resurgence of the virus that is all but certain to get worse because of holiday travel and family gatherings"
https://apnews.com/article/travel-family-gatherings-coronavirus-pandemic-thanksgiving-holidays-3c759ab924a0d9de27803527ddf36c1c
Trump-backing election conspiracy theorists cannot revive their lawsuit.
https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/michigan-judge-puts-the-kibosh-on-trump-supporters-conspiracy-theories-about-detroit/
Georgia votes found: Notice that Trump will say nothing about ballots being "found" in a Trump county. And to clarify: This is not "fraud." This is not deceit. This is human error and there are verification methods in place for ensuring these are legally cast votes and they'll be counted.
The growth of COVID-19 cases has led Iowa's largest hospital to consider delaying even essential surgeries to preserve capacity. "Gradually increasing that threshold means we won't be doing surgeries we would have done in a timely way."
https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/health/as-surge-continues-uihc-considers-further-steps-to-meet-covid-19-demand-20201116
What happened in the Clark County Commission District C race was not "large scale voter discrepancy." There were 139 discrepancies in the race, which normally would not matter except the Democratic candidate in the race, Ross Miller, won by only 10 votes. In total, there were 936 discrepancies identified across Clark County. That includes six people who voted twice, among other issues like check in errors, inadvertently canceled voter check ins, issues with the ballot cure process, etc. Those discrepancies, when you look at how many were in each race, were NOT enough to change the margin of difference in every single race in Clark County EXCEPT Commission District C, again because the margin was literally 10 votes. Also, who was it who identified these discrepancies? The registrar of voters in Clark County. The exact same Joe Gloria that Republicans have been maligning through this entire process. It was Gloria and his team who identified these errors. There is a process in place to find errors in the election. And when those errors are found — and are bigger than the margin of difference — you have folks like Gloria who will bring them to light. This is exactly how the process is supposed to work. This is what Joe Gloria told the Clark County Commission, which is made up entirely of Democrats: Clark County Registrar Joe Gloria on the Clark County Commission District C race: "We have found discrepancies that we can't explain that would cast a doubt on whether or not that margin of victory is solid." And you know what? The entirely Democratic Clark County Commission decided, yes, this race is really close and the discrepancies are large and so they are going to hold a special election (i.e. a revote) to ensure the residents of District C can be confident in the outcome.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1328483862490574849
Clevinger to miss entirety of 2021 season due to Tommy John surgery
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/30332282/mike-clevinger-tommy-john-surgery-re-signing-padres
Republicans are trying to jam through Judy Shelton. She has no business working at the Fed.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/republicans-are-trying-to-jam-through-judy-shelton-she-has-no-business-working-at-the-fed/2020/11/16/449749c6-2840-11eb-9b14-ad872157ebc9_story.html
The Michigan Court of Appeals has rejected an effort by Republican poll observers to argue for a swift reversal of a lower court judge's order rebuffing their claims of voter fraud in Detroit as "incorrect and not credible"
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Em_MPhAXEAA-oiX?format=jpg&name=small
More misleading info from the former acting director of national intelligence. They are considering a re-do election because there are 139 discrepancies — out of 153k votes — and the margin is 10 votes. No indication of fraud.
https://ktnv.com/news/political/elections-local/watch-live-special-meeting-on-2020-election-canvass-in-clark-county
https://twitter.com/RichardGrenell/status/1328494299743350784
This isn't accurate. The @ClarkCountyNV Commission today certified the results in each race except for 1 local race where there was a 10-vote difference & more than 10 discrepancies. The County will hold a special election for that local race alone.Your assertions are not factual
https://twitter.com/epappa/status/1328495765270917120
"I've been shot, I've been rolled over, I've been hit in the head a hundred times, but I've never felt as bad as I did" with the virus. "This is not good." Republican Alaska representative Don Young, who has been sick with covid19. He has repeatedly dismissed covid19 as a hoax. Despite suffering badly with Covid19, Young disagrees with mask mandates and other measures, and outright attacked everybody for invading his privacy, even though he works FOR US AND WE HAVE THE LEGAL RIGHT TO KNOW WHETHER OR NOT ELECTED OUR OFFICIALS ARE SICK. WE PUT YOU IN OFFICE AND PAY YOUR WAGES AND PAY FOR YOUR HEALTH CARE.
https://washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/11/16/coronavirus-covid-live-updates-us
Pennsylvania federal judge denied the request from Trump's lawyers to postpone tomorrow's hearing. After its lawyers quit, the Trump campaign wanted to postpone a hearing *tomorrow* in the Pennsylvania case so a brand new attorney can get up to speed. Order:
https://courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.pamd.127057/gov.uscourts.pamd.127057.153.0.pdf
The thing about Atlas's views isn't just that they were blandly "inconsistent" with mask wearing and social distancing. It's not even that they were epidemiologically irresponsible. It's that, in context, he was basically inciting violence against the Governor of Michigan.: Dr. Atlas has expressed views that are inconsistent with the university's approach in response to the pandemic. Dr. Atlas's statements reflect his personal views, not those of the Hoover Institution or the university. 3/3
https://twitter.com/Stanford/status/1328500859953586176
Stanford's position on managing the pandemic in our community is clear. We support using masks, social distancing, and conducting surveillance and diagnostic testing. We also believe in the importance of strictly following the guidance of local and state health authorities. 2/3
https://twitter.com/Stanford/status/1328500858586243072
What I found so remarkable was his reaction to the reaction. He was stunned that anyone thought he was calling for violence. Anyone who doesn't know that words matter, shouldn't be in a leadership position. If we had a normal, mentally-well president, that wouldn't be the case.
On Fox News, Dr. Scott Atlas encourages large holiday gatherings: "For many people this is their last Thanksgiving" https://mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-dr-scott-atlas-encourages-large-holiday-gatherings-many-people-their-last
Sometimes I think about the nearly 250,000 Americans who have died, their families, their friends, their loved ones, everyone whose lives they brightened. Then I think about those who deny Covid19 is real or downplay its seriousness. And I am overwhelmed by sadness and frustration.
More ghastly numbers. America's uniquely malevolent blend of rugged individualism, pathological distrust of government and expertise, and fetishistic privatization continues exacting its toll: Our daily update is published. States reported 1.5M tests, 149K cases, and 581 deaths. A record 73k people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19. Texas did not report testing data today.
https://twitter.com/COVID19Tracking/status/1328493116374990854
Trump asked advisers about strike on Iranian nuclear site in order to permanently stop Democrats from diplomatic engagement with Iran
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/16/us/politics/trump-iran-nuclear.html
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dakotas-covid-19-global-mortality-rate_n_5fb30a6ac5b6a46646702d74
300 companies that received PPP loans filed for bankruptcy
https://www.wsj.com/articles/hundreds-of-companies-that-got-stimulus-aid-have-failed-11605609180
The New Orleans Pelicans are trading Jrue Holiday to Milwaukee
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1328556060777586696
The Rockets are finalizing a trade to send Robert Covington to Portland for Trevor Ariza and 2020 first-round pick and 2021 protected first-round pick, sources tell ESPN.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1328555067088269314
Milwaukee is landing Sacramento's Bogdan Bogdanovich in a sign-and-trade deal, sources tell ESPN.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1328580779966914561
Bucks sending Eric Bledsoe and George Hill and draft compensation to New Orleans, sources said.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1328556260506161152
The Bucks are trading Donte Divincenzo. Ersan Ilyasova and DJ Wilson in the deal to the Kings
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1328581484513464323
The Bucks only have 7 guys on their team, no cap space, and no draft picks
The stenographer was next to him and his support staff, the presiding officers, and the media, were right in front of him. The camera was only trained on Sullivan.
https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1328547744584183809
A number of crucial covid19 stimulus provisions expire at the end of this year, which is 44 days from now:
- The Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which gives 13 weeks of extra UI to those who have run out of options, ends
- The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, used by gig workers, ends
- The Eviction Moratorium ends
- State And Local Covid19 Relief ends
- 2020 Rebate Checks end
- Student Loan Forbearance ends
- Small Business Debt Relief ends
- Charitable Deduction Limit expires
- The Exclusion of employer payments of student loans stops
- Republicans REJECT extending all the above
Nick Foles injury: Bears QB did not suffer major injury despite being carted off vs. Vikings, per report
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nick-foles-injury-bears-qb-did-not-suffer-major-injury-despite-being-carted-off-vs-vikings-per-report/
Patterson 105 yard kickoff return TD
https://streamable.com/wiimrl
We need an investigation into Lindsey Graham's intervention in Georgia
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/11/17/we-need-an-investigation-into-lindsey-grahams-intervention-georgia/
Facebook & Twitter CEOs Testify Before Senate Judiciary Committee. Boy I sure am glad we're doing this instead of passing covid19 relief. I don't know who to root for. Clearly social media is a cesspool of disinformation and lies, but the Republican-controlled senate is clearly only having these hearings to whine that Republican and pro-Trump users get fact checked over their most egregious lies.
Another anti-lockdown Republican congressman from Michigan tests positive for Covid19
https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2020/11/17/another-anti-lockdown-republican-congressman-from-michigan-tests-positive-for-covid-19
Native American voters in Montana turned out for Joe Biden, Democrats
https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2020/11/11/election-2020-montana-native-american-voters-joe-biden-democrats/6163692002/
In Wisconsin, Native American vote have helped Biden top Trump in 2020 election
https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/2020/11/06/election-2020-native-american-vote-helps-biden-beat-trump-wisconsin/6191107002/
This is why Native American voters in Washington state rallied behind Joe Biden
https://www.kuow.org/stories/this-is-why-native-american-voters-in-washington-state-rallied-behind-biden
Latino voters who fled dictatorships demand four more years for Trump
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/11/17/latino-trump-voters-fear-stolen-election-amid-fraud-conspiracies/6257746002/
A staffer for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger says he participated in that controversial phone call with Lindsey Graham and said he heard Graham ask if state officials could throw out legally cast ballots.
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1328759816467132424
Portland Trail Blazers F Rodney Hood is declining his $6M player option and becoming a free agent, sources tell ESPN. Hood's had nearly a full year to recover from a torn Achilles injury and can play right away with a new team.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1328758444116086785
The UK has established the largest Marine Sanctuary in the Atlantic Ocean, which will protect tens of millions of birds, sharks, whales, seals, and penguins
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/tristan-da-cunha-biggest-marine-protected-area/
Solomon Islands government bans Facebook
https://www.solomontimes.com/news/solomon-islands-cabinet-passes-ban-on-facebook/10421
GO VEGAN: Shocking footage of 'severely injured' pigs on Spanish farms released
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/16/shocking-footage-of-severely-injured-pigs-on-spanish-farms-released
How many animals were tortured to death discovering this?...: Immunity to the coronavirus19 might last years, maybe even decades, according to a new study — the most hopeful look yet at this issue.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/17/health/coronavirus-immunity.html
The Palestinian Authority announced today it will renew security and civilian coordination with Israel after a six month standoff triggered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's vow to annex parts of the West Bank.
https://www.axios.com/palestinians-resume-coordination-israel-biden-win-928f8977-18ac-43a5-9384-d30f02d9fd07.html
Georgia recount on track to finish Wednesday and affirm Biden win, official tells CNN. 300,000 ballots are left to be hand-counted out of nearly 5 million cast, vast majority of counties reporting results "spot on" with initial tallies.
https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/1328765350842945537
Leaked private communications from inside the Oath Keepers militia group, obtained by Unicorn Riot and now available to download, show their members are growing increasingly desperate and specific in violent ideations.
https://unicornriot.ninja/2020/its-time-to-start-killing-the-news-media-live-on-air-oath-keepers-private-chats-show-increased-desire-for-post-election-violence/
A Republican-led pressure campaign is mounting in Maricopa County, where officials are being urged to recount every vote by hand before finalizing the results. But the Republican-dominated Board of Supervisors intends to move ahead to meet a Monday deadline.
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1328767359243472906
If Shelton is confirmed, it could make life much more difficult for a Biden administration:
https://theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/judy-shelton-and-federal-reserve/617120/
If Kamala Harris stays in Wilmington, then it's a tie vote on Judy Shelton, Pence breaks tie, and she gets illegally and unconstitutionally confirmed to the Fed.
Not North Carolina, or Florida? Got it, just states Trump lost: Sen LindseyGrahamSC just told a group of reporters in the capitol that he's also spoken to Secretaries of State in Nevada and Arizona. This is in addition to the sos in Georgia. He said he's doing it as a senator who is worried about election integrity.
https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/1328737641190334465
Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske said she has not spoken with Senator Lindsey Graham or any other members of Congress about the election in Nevada or the post-election certification process.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EnC5q-cVQAAMrQn?format=png&name=small
Secretary Raffensperger Announces Completion of Voting Machine Audit Using Forensic Techniques: No Sign of Foul Play
https://sos.ga.gov/index.php/elections/secretary_raffensperger_announces_completion_of_voting_machine_audit_using_forensic_techniques_no_sign_of_foul_play
on the new post-canvass Biden lead in WI of 20,608 votes:
compared to the earlier unofficial results posted by the WI Elections Commission, the Biden vote total increased by 170 and the Trump vote total decreased by 11, which results in a net increase of 181 in Biden's margin.
https://twitter.com/WisVoter/status/1328767318705508362
With just a handful of races still uncalled at this point, Republicans have gained nine seats -- having won 12 Democratic-held districts and lost just three of their own. And those numbers don't even tell the full story, given that two of the three seats Republicans lost were the direct result of a redrawing of North Carolina's congressional districts that reworked the map in ways that were decidedly unfavorable to the Republicans. Subtract those two seats, which neither party spent any money in or seriously contested, and you are down to a single competitive seat that went from red to blue: The suburban Atlanta 7th District. As David Wasserman, the House editor at the Cook Political Report, a non-partisan campaign tip sheet, noted on Twitter on Monday: "It's been almost two weeks since Election Day, and Democrats still haven't won a *single one* of the 27 House races in @CookPolitical's Toss Up column."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/17/politics/2020-house-races-majority/index.html
https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/1328459932237230087
Quite the list of experts Biden meeting with today, remarkable considering McChrystal was dismissed from the top job in Afghanistan by Obama after a Rolling Stone interview in which McChrystal and his staff repeatedly demeaned Obama and Biden and Democrats. A sign that the next admin won't be stocked with yes-men.
- Lloyd Austin
- Tony Blinken
- Amb Nicholas Burns
- David Cohen
- Avril Haines
- Kathleen Hicks
- Stanley McChrystal
- William McRaven
- Carmen Middleton
- Samantha Power
- Vincent Stewart
- Linda Thomas-Greenfield
- Robert Work
Actual lol imaging Rudy trying to shove some printed memes from Reddit into the judge's hands: He showed up in Court with a bunch of pictures but they're not in the complaint and he hasn't shared them with anyone and he's trying to hand them to the judge (no).
https://twitter.com/RMFifthCircuit/status/1328780919944212481
This judge has extreme patience. He's letting Rudy ramble and mark exhibits and describe them. It's ... a little sad.
https://twitter.com/RMFifthCircuit/status/1328781483813826560
The way to summarize this hearing so far is that the defendants are pounding the facts and the law and Rudy Giuliani and the Trump campaign are pounding the table.
https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1328784779681075201
Striking that - in short bit of national security briefing we were allowed to see - Biden emphasized things we need to do *in the US* to ensure national security. Said: "We're going to need to reinvigorate our democracy at home." Talked about "damage done" and US institutions.
https://twitter.com/EamonJavers/status/1328785627110895626
If there is evidence Trump committed crimes he should be prosecuted. The decision to not prosecute in the name of national unity poses far worse a problem. It will put any former and future President above the law allowing them to lean away from accountability. That can't happen. Not to mention it means Democrats never win an election again because leftists and progressives and plenty of moderates will never vote again.
Neither the acting secretart of defnese nor Trump's national security adviser are willing to take questions and defend Trump's troop withdrawal plan that has drawn criticism from the entire Republican party and NATO. Miller & O'Brien refused to address what this means for NATO and other allies which have stood by US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan for nearly two decades. Will US help them if they fall into trouble? The answer: Trump doesn't care because in his mind, removing troops means he ended the war and won.
To be clear: Trump/Republicans/RudyGiuliani want to cancel the votes of -- disenfranchise -- people who voted absentee in those cities Republicans view as crooked and illegitimate.
As coronavirus19 cases top daily records across America, supermarket chains are taking steps to avoid the empty shelves that were a hallmark of the first weeks of the coronavirus pandemic.
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/grocery-stores-cap-more-customer-purchases-lockdowns-loom-n1247960
Iraqi security officials say two Katyusha rockets hit inside Baghdad's fortified Green Zone near U.S. Embassy.
https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/1328788647441817606
In a 5-2 decision this afternoon, the SupremeCtofPA has ruled that Phila Bd of Elections acted properly in setting up its access rules for canvass observers, rejecting Trump efforts (and an intermediate court ruling) seeking closer access.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EnDPutdXcAQncdj?format=png&name=small
Dr. Fauci says as many as 20 million Americans could get vaccinations around the end of the year https://bostonglobe.com/2020/11/17/nation/dr-fauci-says-many-20-million-americans-could-get-vaccinations-by-end-year/
The reinstating of Jeremy Corbyn into the Labour Party proves that both the Left and Right view antisemitism as only politics. When hatred of Jews benefits you, double down. When it doesn't, take action, but then reverse course when you realize you're pissing off the base.
Quite a few Republicans warned Trump this was a possible side effect of constantly trashing voting by mail during a pandemic. He did not listen: In new intv with me, GaSecofState says 24,000 Republicanss who voted absentee in primary did not vote in General - says Donald Trump cost himself the election by sowing distrust in absentee: "he would have won by 10 thousand votes he actually suppressed, depressed his own voting base"
https://twitter.com/JustinGrayWSB/status/1328782492913033219
Unreal and illegal and unconstitutional -- DHS says it temporarily put FEMA chief Peter Gaynor in charge of the department Nov 14 so he could change the order of succession to make Chad Wolf eligible for acting secretary job. Then Wolf re-issued all the orders that were under legal cloud. A reminder DHS was created in no small part to project stability and competence to an American public traumatized by 9/11. Under Trump the department has had 5 different leaders, only two confirmed by senate, and nearly all of its top jobs are filled by acting figures or vacant
https://dhs.gov/publication/dhs-statement-recent-challenges-acting-secretary-wolfs-authority
And Shelton is gone. Harris Fed nom quick strike
When the Obamas did a fist bump years ago, there was talk of it being a terrorist symbol
When Lindsey Graham has talked about this year's election results, he has repeatedly called them into doubt
Graham just congratulated Harris on winning, via fist bump
https://twitter.com/HowardMortman/status/1328795460648267781
Trump and his allies have just lost their 25th court case. This time in the PA Supreme Court. They are now 1-25.
https://www.inquirer.com/news/trump-pennsylvania-lawsuit-election-results-rudy-giuliani-hearing-case-williamsport-20201117.html
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), without a mask, walks through the corridor before today's Facebook/Twitter CEO hearing.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1328724072801431553
So Twitter has ripped off both Instagram and Clubhouse on the same day!
https://twitter.com/PopCrave/status/1328721099287371776
House Democrats Ask SCOTUS to Reject Trump's 'Unlawful and Unprecedented' Bid to Exclude Undocumented Immigrants from Census Apportionment
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/house-democrats-ask-scotus-to-reject-trumps-unlawful-and-unprecedented-bid-to-exclude-undocumented-immigrants-from-census-apportionment/
Senate Blocks Confirmation Of Trump's Federal Reserve Nominee Judy Shelton
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/senate-blocks-judy-shelton-trump-federal-reserve_n_5fb424dcc5b6a4664671b912
NBA players must return to their team's market no later than Nov. 30 to begin coronavirus19 testing and can begin individual workouts from Dec. 1-5 after three negative PCR tests.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1328795384890728448
Bernie Sanders Says U.S. Can Cancel All Student Debt if It Can Give the Top 1% $1 Trillion in Tax Breaks
https://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-says-us-can-cancel-all-student-debt-if-it-can-give-top-1-1-trillion-tax-breaks-1548134
Vox's article explaining about Science Magazine's study about emissions by Cattle Industry and also Benefits of Vegan Diet
https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/21562639/climate-change-plant-based-diets-science-meat-dairy
Careless and sloppy headline: "The Committee's investigations into misconduct by President Trump, oversight of agency activities during the Trump Administration, and consideration of related legislative reforms have remained ongoing. But a new Congress will convene in the first week of January 2021, and President-elect Biden will be inaugurated on January 20, 2021. Once those events occur, the newly constituted Committee will have to determine whether it wishes to continue pursuing the application for the grand-jury materials that gave rise to this case". It's not like they are dropping the investigation because he lost, it's more because they will have a new oversight committee
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/17/democrats-tell-supreme-court-they-might-drop-fight-for-mueller-documents.html
Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall has resigned following an internal investigation into allegations of physical and verbal abuse, the school announced Tuesday. The school and Marshall agreed to a contract settlement of $7.75 million. https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1328739326067421193
The Justice Department has announced that they are dropping their case against Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, the former Mexican Secretary of Defense, and will allow him to return to Mexico where he will be investigated. No prosecution here in the U.S.
https://twitter.com/Tom_Winter/status/1328823685554245635?s=20
Earlier this year AG William Barr said, "one of our highest priorities must remain destroying the Mexican cartels". Today Barr agreed to drop a case that alleged the former Sec. Def. of Mexico helped one of those cartels by accepting bribes in exchange for helping them out.
https://twitter.com/Tom_Winter/status/1328825217943277568
Update from U.S. district court in Williamsport, Pa., one of the Trump campaign's last stands:
GIULIANI: "I'm not sure what 'opacity' means. It probably means you can see."
JUDGE BRANN: "It means you can't."
https://twitter.com/MrDanZak/status/1328830050293215233
Giuliani says he is "aggrieved" by opposing counsel saying the complaint doesn't include allegations about observer access, and repeats language in the complaint referring to it. But he doesn't engage with the fact that they cut the specific counts related to that issue
https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1328830146523111433
Judge Matthew Brann asks the Trump team: "At bottom, you're asking this court to invalidate more than 6.8m votes, thereby disenfranchising every single voter in the commonwealth. Can you tell me how this result can possibly be justified?"
Judge Matthew Brann: Why should I consider claims now, on oral argument, when you made the decision to delete them in the amended complaint?
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley tested positive for Covid19
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1328831545382105088
Grassley normally does wear a mask. He's also third in line to be President.
Mr. Donovan for Penn. Sec of Commonwealth: "I think Mr. Giuliani can be more aggrieved because he deleted his due-process claim." "I know that Mr. Giuliani wants to talk about his canvass which is not in his complaint."
Trump's Nevada electors, including the chair of the Nevada Republican Party, are suing to either have Trump declared the winner of Nevada or to have the presidential election in the state annulled entirely.
Rudy Giuliani's argument in court: all the votes in Pennsylvania were fine *except* those from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia
Switzerland has reached capacity in its intensive care wards. A national medical association urged people who are especially vulnerable to the coronavirus to consider writing a living will, specifying whether they would want to be put on life support.
https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1328803876083015687
Donnovan swoops back in for the defendants to say that he pulled the case that Rudy and co-counsel cited and it doesn't say jack shit about what they claim it says.
The judge is having to teach Rudy basic constitutional law. That's not hyperbole. This is a description of what is happening at this hearing.
I've never seen worse lawyering in an election law case in my life.
https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/1328839978529406976
Judge now addressing the voice mail Kerns (Trump camp lawyer) received from someone (not involved in this case) who works at the firm repping the Pa SoS. Judge said it was "bad form" but not a sanctionable matter.
In the Pennsylvania case, Judge Brann is est a briefing schedule giving Giuliani time to submit a new motion for preliminary injunction because Giuliani is getting a chance to adjust his arguments with a new/revised complaint.
I've seen enough in #NY02, where Jackie Gordon (D) has no realistic path to overtaking Andrew Garbarino (R)'s 42k vote lead for Rep. Peter King (R)'s open seat. House count is now 221D, 209R and we're down to just five uncertain races: #CA21, #CA25, #IA02, #NJ07 and #NY22.
https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/1328827087382261761
NYPD Investigating After Man Seen Shooting Flamethrower Into the Air on Roof of MTA Bus https://nbcnewyork.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/nypd-investigating-after-man-seen-shooting-flamethrower-into-the-air-on-roof-of-mta-bus/2730204/
6 Senators (all Republicans) have tested positive for Covid19 over the course of the pandemic. If that were the rate out of 100 for the country, 19.7 million Americans would have tested positive. That's near twice as many as the 11 million, and climbing, rate.
"When you talk about the needs of Louisiana, you want someone in the West Wing," said Mr. Richmond, highlighting his state's dismal health and education outcomes.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/17/us/joe-biden-trump#a-congressman-from-new-orleans-informed-his-constituents-he-was-joining-the-biden-administration
In other news, it appears RudyGiuliani committed perjury in his pro hac vice petition to appear in MDPA today. He is suspended from the DC Bar for non payment of dues.
https://twitter.com/AndrewFeinberg/status/1328796179887427586
In April, less than a month after Covid-19 was officially declared a pandemic, Dolly Parton donated $1 million to coronavirus research at Vanderbilt University. Parton's donation helped fund Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine.
https://twitter.com/vmsalama/status/1328846363614965762
This isn't funny. What Rudy is doing isn't funny. And what Donald Trump and his cowardly, enabling Republicans are doing - purposely undermining an American election - is wrong, it's dangerous, and it will damage our democracy.
An elections security company has had to push back against a conspiracy theory that, uh, has a lot of holes in it. https://cnn.com/2020/11/17/media/scytl-debunks-conspiracy-theory/index.html
Trump fires Chris Krebs after the agency Krebs ran released a statement rejecting Trump's claims of widespread voter fraud. "There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised," the statement read. Trump just fired the head of cyber security and information security for the federal government because he pushed back on Trump's false and baseless claims of widespread election fraud.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1328852354049957888
There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised
https://cisa.gov/news/2020/11/12/joint-statement-elections-infrastructure-government-coordinating-council-election
Krebs had been telling people for the past week he was fully expecting this
Republicans don't even have their talking points straight. The board didn't cite fraud, they cited imbalanced polling books — which didn't stop 2016 election from being certified. Imbalance matters for recount only, which Trump isn't asking for anyway. https://detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2020/11/17/wayne-county-canvassers-deadlock-certifying-november-3-election-results/6324274002/
By all accounts (except Trump's) Chris has done a superb job making our elections secure from foreign interference. Chris has been fired by the President who, fortunately, has been fired by the voters.
To say there is a furious reaction inside DOJ to this deal is an understatement. Law and order AG Bill Barr is sending the former Mx defense secretary, jailed in Bklyn for for allegedly being cartel boss, back to Mexico with only a promise from FGRMexico to investigate him.
Michigan secretary of state makes clear the Wayne County canvassing deadlock will not stop the eventual certification of the votes. It'll just likely happen at the state level instead.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EnEFOJvXIAAzhYK?format=jpg&name=900x900
FBI is investigating Texas attorney general
https://apnews.com/article/ken-paxton-austin-texas-crime-f8413d14842d848e69cf81bb4d2e87e2
One way this could backfire for Trump: As a government official, Krebs had been forbidden from speaking to the Biden transition team. Nothing stopping him from doing so now, and he has a lot of institutional knowledge that isn't necessarily classified.
Biden's current margin of victory in Michigan is more than 13 times Trump's margin of victory there in 2016.
"I'm proud of the work we did at CISA," Christopher Krebs told NBC News after the firing. "I'm proud of the teammates I had at CISA. We did it right."
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1328880607691218949
Election workers discovered almost 2,800 previously uncounted ballots Tuesday, the second time this week that Georgia's recount revealed that election officials in Republican-leaning counties had missed some ballots. | The missing votes weren't entirely unexpected in Fayette and Floyd counties. Both counties had reported more ballots cast than votes counted, indicating that they might have overlooked some ballots. There didn't appear to be any other counties with vote-counting discrepancies, according to state election data.
https://www.ajc.com/politics/georgia-election-recount-nears-completion-with-results-to-come/D5OXYX2ILFFX5KOGP72OAM3AI4/
Along with financial settlement in Sterling Brown's lawsuit stating officers used excessive force with Taser/racially profiled him, the city of Milwaukee would admit to constitutional violation and commitment to incorporate changes to the Police Department operating procedures.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1325797529431273472
Wayne County, Mich., board reverses course, certifies election hours after deadlock
https://www.rocketcitynow.com/article/news/nation-world/wayne-county-canvassing-board-doesnt-certify-election/507-aceb2ec5-d3dc-43c9-a86f-11195e0f6a28
The Social Security Administration on Monday finalized a rule which would allow the agency to use its own attorneys to hear appeals from individuals denied disability benefits instead of administrative law judges, who are more independent from the administration. The change would make it more difficult for individuals to appeal decisions and erode due process for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income applicants and beneficiaries and threaten their access to their earned benefits. The rule puts unqualified agency staff in control of deciding appeals hearings and contradicts the congressional intent of the law governing such proceedings.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/11/16/2020-23856/hearings-held-by-administrative-appeals-judges-of-the-appeals-council
Sioux Falls City Council passes mask mandate
https://www.dakotanewsnow.com/2020/11/18/sioux-falls-city-council-passes-mask-mandate/
Graham is trying to overturn democracy. The headline needs to say that directly, rather than "unravel election results". And why use "long-shot mission," which could be interpreted as an heroic act, rather than "baseless as evidenced by all the Republican-appointed judges dismissing 99% of the challenges" and "illegal"? Is the NYT using a new computer program called the "Leni Riefenstahl Lede Generator"? Referring to NYT's new article about Graham this morning, depicting the election as a fraud and Graham the hero who will save the day.
Results keep coming in and New York Senate Democrats are confident they will get a super majority, which will allow them to overrule any veto issued by NYGovCuomo
https://ny1.com/share/nys/central-ny/news/2020/11/18/absentee-ballots-heavily-favoring-new-york-state-democrats
Republicans are outright saying "black votes are not legal" and not a single mainstream political reporter will call them on it because "we must understand the pain and shock of Republican voters"
Reminder: Today is the deadline for the Trump campaign to request a recount in Wisconsin. It will cost the campaign $7.9 million. Trump alleged without evidence that cheating occurred. His campaign never IDed specific irregularities. His campaign fundraised for efforts like this.
German police fired water cannons at crowds in Berlin protesting coronavirus19 restrictions. Demonstrators threw fireworks and flares in response.
https://apnews.com/article/international-news-berlin-bills-germany-coronavirus-pandemic-11dfd745d227ea773a9ac62edd2d4a7c
Here's a sampling of the insane Facebook content that Michigan right-wingers are consuming:
https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1328869084604346369
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Nancy Pelosi re-elected as House Speaker
https://www.axios.com/nancy-pelosi-reelected-speaker-house-018a9a4d-ad6d-4d87-9a96-96aeae2337a9.html
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/18/nancy-pelosi-house-speaker-second-term-437119
Biden assembles team to handle Senate confirmation battles
https://keyt.com/politics/2020/11/18/biden-assembles-team-to-handle-senate-confirmation-battles/
California Medical Association officials were among the guests seated next to Gov. Gavin Newsom at a top California political operative's opulent birthday dinner at the French Laundry restaurant this month. https://politico.com/states/california/story/2020/11/18/california-medical-association-brass-attended-french-laundry-dinner-with-newsom-kinney-1336924
Everytime a public official disregards their own public health advice, it gives people an even wider lane to dismiss them. It's infuriating. Imagine how frontline healthcare workers in California must feel.
Thanks for reading! You work for @realDonaldTrump and have no idea what free speech means. In 63 days you will be unemployed. How's that for serious? @Alyssafarah
https://twitter.com/Alyssafarah/status/1329129464509460480
Leader Hoyer wants the House Rules Chair to include whistleblower protection in the House rules. The proposal would make it a violation to disclose "the identity of an individual acting as a whistleblower under processes and protections provided by law."
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1329137299913752577
LOUISIANA CORONAVIRUS SUMMARY NUMBERS (11/18):
(1) Hospitalizations 886 (+12)
(2) Today: 8.0% (+0.9%) (Antigen tests are 11.2% positive)
(3) November: 5.9% (+0.1%)
(4) October: 3.7%
(5) September: 4.0%
(1/2)
https://twitter.com/WinWithJMC/status/1329136869188259850
The chasm between what Trump is saying and what his lawyers (not named Rudy) are actually arguing is continually stunning: In Bucks County, PA litigation, Trump campaign agrees to joint stipulation saying no fraud.
https://twitter.com/marceelias/status/1329126963605286912
This 6 foot distancing by the defense is really paying off: And then there was one: The #Seahawks are the only NFL team that still hasn't placed a player on the Reserve/COVID-19 list since the regular season began.
https://twitter.com/tompelissero/status/1329044486329147397
New York fines NRA gun rights group, bans insurance sales for five years
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-york-nra/new-york-fines-nra-gun-rights-group-bans-insurance-sales-for-five-years-idUSKBN27Y20G
YEP: Maher on why 70 million Americans dislike Democrats so much, they held their nose for Trump | He said, "Democrats kept saying in the campaign, 'You can't possibly think Trump is preferable to what we're selling,' and many voters keep saying, 'Yes. We. Can. In fact, our primary reason voting for him is to create a bulwark against you. Because your side thinks silence is violence, and looting is not. Because you're the party of chasing speakers off college campuses, and making everyone walk on eggshells, and replacing "Let's not see color" with "Let's see it always and everywhere,"' formerly the position of the Ku Klux Klan. It would be so easy to win elections if we'd just drop this s—t."
https://twitter.com/billmaher/status/1327478205733687297
"This idea of purity and you're never compromised, and you're always politically woke and all that stuff — you should get over that quickly."
https://twitter.com/billmaher/status/1327478205733687297
Arizona's Secretary of State Katie Hobbs says she's getting death threats, calls on AZ Gov Doug Ducey to "stand up for the truth."
https://twitter.com/SecretaryHobbs/status/1329142152991969284
Users of Twitter, I beg of you, stop adding "BREAKING" to your tweets, especially if you are a.) not a journalist, and b.) not actually breaking news.
When Al Gore made fundraising calls from inside the WH it was a 3 year news story, NYT called for an independent counsel. Watch SenatorLoeffler break basic Senate ethics rules, solicit donations for her campaign, and urge people to visit her campaign website from a federal office building. They really don't care anymore. Trump has shown them that they can break the laws with impunity and nothing will happen to them.
https://twitter.com/helen_kalla/status/1329100618779287555
Max Rose's history as a staunch moderate and vocal critiques of de Blasio could give him an interesting lane in the crowded mayor's race
https://news.yahoo.com/max-rose-considering-mayoral-campaign-nyc-193511355.html
Federal judge orders the Trump admin. to stop expelling immigrant children who cross the southern border alone, halting a policy that has resulted in thousands of rapid deportations of minors during the coronavirus19 pandemic.
https://twitter.com/NBCPolitics/status/1329153895294259207
Trump is now disseminating his own disinformation from eight years ago.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/265905510115590144
Prison labour is used to load bodies into mobile morgues, folks form bread lines a mile long, millions face eviction, children fall behind in education, elected officials commit crime in the open without consequence, and most state taxes are going to rioting equipment for police forces to stop violent racist protestors from burning down America and the national debate centres on whether to wear a mask or acknowledge the election results.
Three top ethics experts have formally requested the Senate Ethics Committee investigate whether Sen. Lindsey Graham violated the chamber's rules in his probe over how mail-in voting was conducted in the 2020 election.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/18/politics/lindsey-graham-ethics-experts-senate-investigation/index.html
Giving New York parents less than 24 hours notice...never mind their jobs, finding child care in time and so on. NYC school system will temporarily close tomorrow. Chancellor Carranza just announced in email to principals.
https://nytimes.com/2020/11/18/nyregion/nyc-schools-covid.html
The drug Robinson Canó tested positive for was Stanozolol. His first suspension was for furosemide, a diuretic. He will be suspended for the entire 2021 season.
https://twitter.com/jareddiamond/status/1329160526778208262
New York Mets second baseman Robinson Cano has tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug and will be suspended for the entire 2021 season, sources familiar with the situation tell ESPN. He will forfeit a $24 million salary. News story will be up soon at ESPN.
https://twitter.com/jeffpassan/status/1329159458786828289
They found a small owl inside of this year's Rockefeller Christmas tree, he hitched a ride all the way to NYC and is now being treated and cared for at a wildlife rehab facility.
https://twitter.com/techladyallison/status/1329133725779628033
The facility taking care of him is accepting donations:
https://ravensbeard.org/
How many owls and other creatures did they kill when they murder Earth's Trees? I'm sure the tree is super happy it was killed so you could celebrate nothing more than unbridled consumerism. I guarantee the tree, if it could would've taken a pass on this.
His name is Rockefeller Owl | Back at Ravensbeard Wildlife Center, we've given him fluids and are feeding him all the mice he will eat. It had been three days since he ate or drank anything. So far so good, his eyes are bright and seems relatively in good condition with all he's been through. Once he checks in with the vet and gets a clean bill of health, he'll be released to continue on his wild and wonderful journey.
https://www.facebook.com/1404058576543469/posts/2833723070243672/?d=n
A few hours after the 2008 election was called, the Bush administration sent this letter to me in my capacity as executive director of the Obama transition. For over 200 years, the peaceful transfer of power has been a hallmark of our democracy.
https://twitter.com/ChrisLu44/status/1325152837299564545/photo/1
https://twitter.com/ChrisLu44/status/1325152837299564545?s=20
Raffensperger savages fellow Republican Doug Collins to Grace Ppanetta, calling him "the president's mouthpiece." "He did nothing when he was a Congressman. And I think he needs to answer to the voters why he never did anything for election reform."
https://www.businessinsider.com/brad-raffensperger-criticizes-doug-collins-for-inaction-on-election-reform-2020-11
No. GSAEmilyMurphy isn't in a tough spot. She doesn't have a hard choice to make. The standards are not vague. The law requires her only to ascertain the "apparent" winner. It does not require her to be right. There is no harm in releasing the resources. People may die if she doesn't.
Alaska decides to switch to open primaries and ranked elections
https://thefulcrum.us/big-picture/alaska-ballot-measure
Good, FUCK Republicans: House speaker won't allow Whitmer impeachment vote
https://www.wlns.com/news/local-news/house-speaker-wont-allow-whitmer-impeachment-vote/?
In addition to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib, there are multiple members of Democratic Socialists of America in state legislature and City Councils. The number of D.S.A. college chapters has more than tripled in the past five years."
https://nytimes.com/2020/11/18/opinion/biden-democrats-moderate-progressive.html
Sen. Loeffler dumped stock on the same day she got a Senators-only Covid19 briefing. But instead of facing consequences, her husband made a $1 million contribution to a pro-Trump super PAC. The investigation was then dropped. Vote #CrookedKelly out. Vote #CrookedKelly out.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1329154346303426561
Fact check: President Trump falsely claimed there were more votes than people in the city of Detroit. There are 670,000 people living in Detroit, according to most recent US Census Bureau estimate, and the city says that 250,138 ballots were cast there.
https://twitter.com/NBCPolitics/status/1329165009126088707
The Republican leaders of Pennsylvania's state House want to join President Trump's lawsuit challenging the election he lost there. They say allowing voters to fix defective absentee ballots - something the US Constitution allows and has been done for centuries - "compromised the electoral process and the secrecy" of secret ballots. This is the Republican party suing to negate and discard the votes of American citizens. It's not just Trump.
https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.pamd.127057/gov.uscourts.pamd.127057.166.0.pdf
America's 11 largest metro areas—NY, LA, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, DC, Miami, Philly, Atlanta, Boston, Phoenix—produced more Trump votes in total than all of rural America combined. Trump wasn't just a rural phenomenon.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/11/18/rural-city-trump-voters/
Eight defamation lawsuits in two years. Devin Nunes sues Washington Post again, saying midnight run 'never happened'
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/article247264799.html
If Kyrie couldn't handle playing Robin to Lebron, how is he going to like becoming Alfred the Butler if KD and Harden team up in Gotham City
20-30 percent of Americans on either end of the political spectrum are getting their information from highly politicized sources and are therefore not agreeing on the basic facts of whether an event has even happened or not.
https://nytimes.com/2020/11/18/opinion/biden-democrats-moderate-progressive.html
Down to its final weeks, the Trump administration is working to illegally and unconstitutionally push through dozens of illegal and unconstitutional environmental rollbacks to weaken century-old protections for migratory birds, expand Arctic drilling and permanently ban future environmental regulation
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-public-health-climate-birds-a947e76f1023b739121692096322da24
Truly one of the worst publishing decisions in a year of particularly bad decisions was allowing Cuomo to put out a book about how he solved Covid-19 for NY.
Trump appoints Holocaust-denier speechwriter - fired for attending conference with white nationalists - to commission that preserves Holocaust memorials
https://news.yahoo.com/trump-appoints-speechwriter-fired-for-attending-conference-with-white-nationalists-211254619.html
Covid-19 outbreak at Missouri nursing home leaves 20 dead, over 100 infected
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/526570-covid-19-outbreak-at-missouri-nursing-home-leaves-20-dead-over-100
It's going to disappear.....when everyone is dead and there's no one left to infect.
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/10/politics/covid-disappearing-trump-comment-tracker/
Missouri is a lost cause
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/11/18/health-care-worker-threats-coronavirus
Sigh.........Wisconsin Elections Committee Receives Petition For Partial Recount; Recount To Be Ordered Thursday
https://elections.wi.gov/node/7249
Justice Dept. Plans 3 Executions Before Biden's Inauguration — The Trump administration is continuing to carry out capital punishment for federal crimes even though President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has signaled he will reverse the policy.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/18/us/politics/executions-death-penalty-biden.html
Oil companies illegally and unconstitutionally purchase federally-protected water for illegal offshore drilling in last bid before Biden transition
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/11/18/gulf-of-mexico-offshore-oil-drilling/
Harassment claims and dwindling donations: The fall of Daniel Snyder's nonprofit for Native Americans
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/11/18/original-americans-foundation-harassment/
Sure: The NFL sent a memo today saying all clubs must go into intensive protocols for the rest of the season, starting Saturday. All meetings virtual or in large spaces, mandatory masks/mouth shields in practice, etc. Goal is reduce close contacts, further mitigate risk of covid19 spread
https://twitter.com/TomPelissero/status/1329154768741289986
Sure: Lucretia Fasciano, Community Association Manager where Antonio Brown lives and recently had a despite, wrote to him in an email: "All violations per the notice of August 27 2020 have been cured." The situation surrounding his home has been resolved and handled.
https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1329131454765395971
The NFL is reviewing the incident last month in which police say #Bucs WR Antonio Brown destroyed a security camera and threw a bike at a security shack, I'm told. This is standard. The league wasn't aware of the incident prior to reinstating Brown, who wasn't charged.
https://twitter.com/tompelissero/status/1328748179760680960
Antonio Brown's apparent failure to promptly report his October 15 incident to the NFL becomes separate grounds for potential discipline under the Personal Conduct Policy
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/11/17/antonio-brown-may-have-violated-personal-conduct-policy-by-not-reporting-october-15-incident/
The #Raiders have been fined more than $1M for various COVID-19 protocol violations. That there are so many close contacts is not good for anyone.
https://twitter.com/rapsheet/status/1329185818209087492
The Browns have placed OT Jack Conklin, LS Charley Hughlett and K Cody Parkey on the Reserve/COVID-19 list.
https://twitter.com/fieldyates/status/1329099412224831491
The #Chiefs are expected to sign former #Giants CB DeAndre Baker to their practice squad in the coming days, source says. The 2019 first-round pick is headed there for a visit, as @NYPost_Schwartz noted. That's the only planned visit and, barring a snag, he'll be a Chief.
https://twitter.com/mikegarafolo/status/1328882722744496130
Several prominent members of Congress & government reform groups say a 9/11 Commission-style bipartisan probe of the Trump admin's failings - aka a "truth commission" that investigates Trump's and Republicans' covid-19 response, business entanglements, and border separation policies is essential to overcoming them. But Biden is screaming behind the scenes that he wants all Trump/Republican investigation to stop.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-truth-commission-investigation-biden-democrats-republicans-coronavirus-ethics-2020-11
General Motors Co will roll out details of an expanded and accelerated electric vehicle strategy on Thursday in an effort to convince investors it can be a serious competitor to Tesla Inc, people familiar with the plans said.
https://in.reuters.com/article/us-gm-evs-idUSKBN27Y1BP
The White House is barreling ahead. Republicans want to set so many fires that it will be hard for the Biden administration to put them all out.
OH YES SIXERS GOT GAME: The Sixers are trading Al Horford and a first-round and second-round pick to the Thunder for Danny Green, sources tell ESPN.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1329188492912578568
Far-right anti-immigration groups have enjoyed a high level of access within the Trump administration. Records we've obtained reveal their influence in an administration that has instituted the most restrictive anti-immigration measures in decades.
https://twitter.com/weareoversight/status/1329188467511881738
Whoops! Trump campaign claims they "inadvertently" deleted a broad swath of their initial allegations and want a federal judge's permission to backpedal on their backpedal: Trump's campaign is moving to amend its Pennsylvania election case again, this time to "restore claims which were inadvertently" deleted the last time plus add some other new stuff.
https://twitter.com/bradheath/status/1329183644108328965
Since the campaign has already amended its complaint once, it needs either consent from the defendants [which it won't get] or leave of court.
https://twitter.com/bradheath/status/1329183790586093569
As the sun sets in Washington, a Marine stands outside the West Wing - signaling that President Trump remains in the Oval Office. He has not appeared in public for days.
https://twitter.com/JonLemire/status/1329187476326453250
The Senate is expected to recess tonight until after Thanksgiving. That means they will come back the week of Nov. 30 ahead of a Dec. 11 govt funding deadline. Republican refuse to take up covid19 relief. Tens of millions of people left jobless because of covid19 will suffer through Thanksgiving not knowing if any relief is coming their way. Senator-Elect Democrat Mark Kelly likely sworn in that day. That narrows Republican majority to 52-48. And that may spell the end of Judy Shelton's nomination to the Fed, with three Republican senators opposed
Congress has decided to leave tens upon tens of millions of Americans to suffer and die. Meanwhile Republicans continue to illegally and unconstitutionally appoint unqualified right-wing anti-government racist hateful non-judges to federal courts all over the country. Democrats MUST REMOVE THESE JUDGES OR EXPAND THE COURTS AND PACK THEM. REPUBLICANS CONTROL THE ENTIRE NATION'S LEGISLATIVE PROCESS AND JUDICIAL SYSTEM DESPITE BEING A MINORITY PARTY.
https://twitter.com/SenateCloakroom/status/1329186937043824643
We have not seen any widespread fraud," Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says on CNN, noting the votes Trump picked up during the recount were due to clerical errors, not machines. Ga. announces audit results tomorrow, which officials say will affirm Biden's win.
https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1329186575901732866
Here we go - private religious Catholic "schools" will be open while public schools close because the religious population of the US dismisses covid19 as a hoax and claims G-d decides everything. I'm seeing this where I live at.
https://twitter.com/BQDiocesePress/status/1329179071922774017
A leftist-progressive group whose leaders include AOC's former chief-of-staff say in a new memo to President-elect Biden that he can achieve almost all of his economic recovery plan without control of the Senate.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/18/progressive-group-biden-economic-goals-senate-437167
He ran Charlie Kirk's TPUSA teenage "troll farm" to illegally and unconstitutionally rig elections until it was banned and removed by Facebook and Twitter. Now, after winning a seat in the state House, he's going to help craft election laws in Arizona.
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona-house-gop-appoints-disinfo-boss-to-help-lead-elections-panel-11515248
Brianna Joy Gray is a professional Twitter troll who has spent the past year attacking Democrats and excusing Republicans. Why should I take anything she says as accurate?
Charlie, the co-founder of your own activist organization died from COVID-19: Wear a mask and avoid crowds to minimize the number of people who suffer the same fate.
https://politico.com/news/2020/07/29/turning-point-usa-founder-dies-coronavirus-complications-387077
The Arizona Secretary of State just completed the post election accuracy test and it found a 100% match. All 3 political parties were present as well as a representative from the Arizona Attorney General's Office.
https://twitter.com/MaricopaVote/status/1329194532626427904
Immigration officials have been told not to communicate with Joe Biden's transition team
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hamedaleaziz/immigration-officials-joe-biden-transition-memo
Senate Republicans are racing ahead with illegal and unconstitutional post-election judicial confirmations, breaking a 123-year tradition.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/trump-gop-defy-precedent-with-lame-duck-judicial-confirmations
A Democratic operative just talked to me about their frustration with young woke progressives: "I am ready to burn Generation Z down with a flamethrower from atop a bus. If you're under 23 I have no use for you."
https://twitter.com/hunterw/status/1328886679483142151
The Trump campaign's proposal--literally I am not making this up--is that *THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN* will obtain and count all or a subset of the Pennsylvania mail ballot envelopes and, based on the formula in footnote 3, let the judge know if he should declare them the winner.
https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1329200499652956160/photo/2
https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1329200499652956160
.@ReverendWarnock and Jon @Ossoff can win in Georgia—and Democrats can re-take the Senate—with your help. Please join @ChrisMurphyCT and me tomorrow night for a conversation with these two inspiring leaders! Info here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ossoff_warnock_1118
Wearing a mask is not a surrender of liberty. It is an affirmation of love.
https://twitter.com/CoryBooker/status/1329161910361722883
Conditions inside the nation's hospitals are deteriorating by the day amid the surging coronavirus. The number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 in the U.S. has doubled in the past month and set new records every day this week.
https://twitter.com/AP/status/1329204020616056835
Online sales fuel fringe movements: Hats, T-shirts, books abound as e-commerce platforms slow to track, ban merchandise fostering extremism
https://www.ajc.com/news/online-sales-fuel-fringe-movements/AZQCZ4OPRFBLDKWTMRJ6UBRZFI/
Warriors star Klay Thompson suffered an apparent lower leg injury today and is undergoing tests to determine severity, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1329203349879721991
That picture of Steph sitting on the baseline just watching the Finals slip away
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EeYnKo5WkAAHNaX?format=jpg&name=900x900
Symone Sanders needs to be Press Secretary
Green Beret who betrayed America for Russia was a graduate of and teacher at the D.C.-based Institute of World Politics, a small but influential school in conservative foreign policy circles. Michael Flynn and Erik Prince both have ties to the school. Bear face Flag of Russia
https://washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/green-beret-spy-russia/2020/11/18/a36d7e56-290e-11eb-92b7-6ef17b3fe3b4_story.html
A contact tracer in Missouri: "Probably half of the people we call are skeptical or combative. They refuse to talk. They deny their own positive test results." She has received death threats over her work. | I don't really know if I should be talking about all of this. It makes me worried for my safety. I've had strange cars driving back and forth past my house. I get threatening messages from people saying they're watching me. They followed my family to the park and took pictures of my kids. How insane is that? I know it's my job to be out front talking about the importance of public health — educating people, keeping them safe. Now it kind of scares me. | I get the same comments all the time over Facebook or email. "Oh, she's blowing it out of proportion." "She's a communist." "She's a bitch." "She's pushing her agenda." Okay, fine. I do have an agenda. I want disease transmission to go down. I want to keep this community safe. I want fewer people to die. Why is that controversial? We weren't set up well to deal with this virus in Missouri. We have the worst funding in the country for public health, and a lot of the things we've needed to fight the spread of covid are things we should have had in place 10 years ago. We don't have an emergency manager. We don't have anyone to handle HR, public information, or IT, so that's all been me. We didn't get extra funding for covid until last month. I'm young and I'm motivated, and I took this job in January because public health is my absolute love. It doesn't pay well, but would I rather be treating people who already have a disease or helping to prevent it? That's what we do. We help take care of people. At one point this summer, I worked 90 days straight trying to hold this virus at bay, and my whole staff was basically like that. | The board decided to go ahead with the mandate anyway, but part of the community revolted. We did a survey a few weeks later, and mask-wearing had actually gone down by six percent. We required it, and people became more likely to do the opposite. How do you even make sense of that? We like to believe we take good care of each other here. This is rural Missouri. We pride ourselves on being a down-home community that sticks together, and now this is how we treat each other? This is who we are? | I don't go out in public very much anymore. It's work and then back home. I don't want to be recognized. I don't want my kids to see any of that hate. The one place where I had to draw the line was that my son plays baseball, and honestly, his games are the most normal I've felt all year. But then, a little while ago, somebody took a photo at a game of me with my daughter. We were outside and social-distanced, so we weren't wearing masks. The photo got posted all over social media, and it was the usual comments. "Bitch." "Communist." "Hypocrite." My daughter has had some anxiety. My son said to me: "Mom, why does everybody hate you?" | I've been living with that steady hum of tension and fear for almost a year, and I just can't do it anymore. I keep saying my family is my number-one priority, so at some point I have to keep my kids safe. I decided to put in my notice earlier this month. My last day is this Friday. I've already accepted another nursing job. I'm not abandoning the community. I'm going to keep fighting this pandemic, but I'd rather not say anything much more specific. I don't want that target on my back. I'm ready to be anonymous.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/11/18/health-care-worker-threats-coronavirus/
And a scoop with some drama between the left-wing and advocacy groups for people of colour who today urged Biden to "reject demands for a blanket exclusion on potential appointees with experience in the corporate sector or financial services field specifically."
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/transition-playbook/2020/11/18/house-math-complicates-cabinet-calculus-791754
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000175-dd70-d1da-a775-dd761f390000
Senate Illegally And Unconstitutionally Confirms Trump Nominee, 33, To Lifetime Judgeship Despite 'Not Qualified' Rating And Lack Of Trial Experience
https://lawandcrime.com/judiciary/kathryn-mizelle-confirmed-as-federal-judge/
Instead of answering questions about arrangement with his sister (does he pay rent, has he slept there), Hawley's office attacked The Star for asking and the senator tried to obfuscate with tweets about the house he's building (but doesn't yet live in)
https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article247260219.html
One family set up 72 "farms" out of three houses in Cleveland and obtained $7.2 million in pandemic government aid for them. The problem? The farms don't exist. Fraud-Prone Aid Program Sent $7 Million to Family's Fake Farms. The SBA approved loans and grants to dozens of new agricultural businesses registered at three single-family homes in the Cleveland area.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-18/-7-2-million-in-sba-coronavirus-aid-went-to-fake-farms-in-cleveland-ohio
Houston is trading Trevor Ariza and the No. 16 pick tonight to Detroit for a future first-round pick, sources tell ESPN. The deal gives the Rockets - a hard-capped team -- the freedom to use their mid-level exception in free agency.
http://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1329210516900864000
Tying to break the record for number of times they can trade for Trevor Ariza.....
Klay Thompson was unable to place weight on his lower leg injury leaving the gym today, sources said. Everyone is hoping for the best.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1329209251290615810
.@WI_Elections Commission meeting is off to a rocky start, with GOP members arguing for another meeting before @realDonaldTrump
recount results are certified Democrats say there's no point to meet again because the law spells out how certification goes
Commission is split 3-3
https://twitter.com/sbauerAP/status/1329221032566251520
In the absence of peace, experts will point out, there is simply no way to have a truly effective comprehensive counternarcotics strategy in Afghanistan. But peace, too, may be precluded by the corruption and humanitarian crises that are exacerbated by the Afghan drug industry.
Where's the U.S. Strategy for Counternarcotics in Afghanistan?
https://lawfareblog.com/wheres-us-strategy-counternarcotics-afghanistan
CNN investigation reveals how the Nigerian Army opened fire on EndSARS protesters protesting against police brutality on October 20, 2020.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/18/africa/lagos-nigeria-lekki-toll-gate-feature-intl/index.html
For years, asylum-seekers have been claiming abuse at the hands of Croatian border police, with some reporting beatings, electric shocks and even having their toenails torn out. For the first time, videos in combination with reporting by Der Spiegel have confirmed some of these reports.
https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/croatia-video-documents-illegal-refugee-pushbacks-a-294b128d-4840-4d6b-9e96-3f879b0e69af
Covid-19 mink variants discovered in humans in seven countries
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/18/covid-19-mink-variants-discovered-in-humans-in-seven-countries
U.S. illegally and unconstitutionally renews navy's right to harm marine mammals during testing and training off Pacific Coast
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/u-s-renews-navy-s-right-harm-marine-mammals-1.5802652
Scientists Discover CRISPR Gene Editing Technique for Corals To Help It Survive Climate Change
https://www.ibtimes.sg/scientists-discover-crispr-gene-editing-technique-corals-help-it-survive-climate-change-53449
WHO announces end to Ebola outbreak in Congo
https://thehill.com/homenews/news/526466-who-announces-end-to-ebola-outbreak-in-congo
Rape, abuses in palm oil fields linked to top beauty brands
https://apnews.com/article/plants-health-indonesia-trees-sumatra-2a209d60c42bf0e8fcc6f8ea6daa11c7
World's only known white giraffe fitted with tracker to deter poachers
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-54980914
In her first tweet since the networks and AP called the election for Biden and she's been under pressure to start the Biden transition, the first tweet from @GSAEmily is.....Dcccf Rex zzz. @#z@smaan anaNN
https://twitter.com/GSAEmily/status/1329224094257197057
And deleted. Obviously hacked to force her to make a public statement.
https://twitter.com/GSAEmily/status/1329224094257197057
Her tweet saved. Decaf, rx's, sleeeeeep. Something, something, Q-anon.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EnJfGxrWMAAmiUS?format=jpg&name=900x900
Following publication of our story, Ellis removed her post from 2016 referring to Trump as "Drumpf."
https://twitter.com/KFILE/status/1329225784951775234?s=20
Ellis said Trump's values were "not American," linking to a post that called Trump an "American fascist." She praised Mitt Romney for speaking out against Trump, referring to Trump as "Drumpf."
https://twitter.com/KFILE/status/1329175228551991300?s=20
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/18/politics/kfile-jenna-ellis-2016-trump-comments/index.html
The Trump campaign's top legal advisor, attorney, and spokesperson Jenna Ellis previously repeatedly called Trump an "idiot," and said his supporters didn't care about "facts," "logic" or that Trump was an "unethical, corrupt, lying, criminal, dirtbag."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/18/politics/kfile-jenna-ellis-2016-trump-comments/index.html
The Vatican has launched an investigation after Pope Francis' official Instagram account liked a picture of a Brazilian bikini model in a https://www.thedailybeast.com/vatican-launches-probe-after-pope-francis-account-likes-very-risque-school-girl-pic-on-instagram
Ohio Senate illegally and unconstitutionally passes bill allowing teachers to illegally and unconstitutionally carry guns at school and to do so without training
https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/11/ohio-senate-oks-bill-allowing-teachers-to-carry-guns-at-school-without-needing-peace-officer-training.html
Plaintiffs have DISMISSED their lawsuit filed by seeking to stop the final certification of election results in Michigan. Trump and his allies are now 1-28 in court.
https://democracydocket.com/cases/michigan-final-certification-challenge/
Indigenous and Progressive Activists and Lawmakers Plan Rally at DNC to Push Biden in Greener Direction
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/18/indigenous-and-progressive-activists-and-lawmakers-plan-rally-dnc-push-biden-greener
The Senate just advanced Kathryn Mizelle's nomination to a lifetime federal judgeship. Mizelle was rated NOT QUALIFIED, is only eight years out of law school, and hasn't tried a case since her admission to the bar. Why is THIS McConnell's priority as pandemic surges?
https://twitter.com/vanitaguptaCR/status/1329164237277704194
No events on Trump's public schedule again tomorrow. That will mark the 12th day since the election where he hasn't held any public events. No questions in over two weeks, which is unusual for him.
1,869 deaths in one day is the highest since May and well above any day during the summer surge. With record hospitalizations this is likely to get worse before it gets better.
https://twitter.com/COVID19Tracking/status/1329235190615474179
The election's biggest surprise – and its most consequential single outcome – was the passage of Admt 3, a redistricting ballot measure that permanently makes Democrats a minority in the state legislature
https://missouriindependent.com/2020/11/16/2020-was-a-bloodbath-for-missouri-democrats-will-2022-be-any-better/
Tyson Foods ordered employees to report for work while supervisors privately wagered money on the number of workers who would be sickened by the deadly virus.
https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2020/11/18/lawsuit-tyson-managers-bet-money-on-how-many-workers-would-contract-covid-19/
Trump's lawyers say that when Republican-leaning counties decided not to permit voters to cure defective ballots, that deprived the president of "lawful votes." But when Democratic-leaning counties did let people cure, those were "unlawful votes."
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EnJpNJJXcAA7WTt?format=jpg&name=small
https://twitter.com/bradheath/status/1329240524159639552
The fear is Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson has suffered a significant Achilles injury. An MRI scheduled for tomorrow morning.
https://www.twitter.com/ChrisBHaynes/status/1329263895362502656
Absolutely crushed about Klay Thompson.
Minnesota is acquiring Oklahoma City's Ricky Rubio, the 25th and 28th picks for a package that includes the No. 17 pick, sources tell ESPN.
http://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1329251174067920904
This is big, Philly is stacking itself for an NBA Finals run: Dallas is acquiring Philadelphia's Josh Richardson and No. 36 pick for Seth Curry, source tells ESPN.
http://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1329275500565557251
After Sixers struggled to shoot for the entirety of last season, Morey has acquired 3 shooting guards and drafted another shooting guard for the Sixers
'Some of the darkest places in the world': Joaquin Phoenix on a photobook about slaughterhouses | In Hidden, 40 photographers go inside factory farms and abattoirs to create a global indictment of the meat industry
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/nov/18/some-of-the-darkest-places-in-the-world-joaquin-phoenix-on-a-photobook-about-slaughterhouses
The fact that the execution has been comically inept doesn't change the fact that it's a vast and proud treasonous seditious conspiracy undertaken on the premise (shared widely in the Republican party) that they have successfully stolen and corrupted the courts: The Two Republican Wayne County Board of Canvassers are trying to rescind their votes after certifying election results. As if it couldn't get any wilder at the Wayne County board of canvassers:The republican members are now seeking to rescind certification, despite the fact that the motion officially passed, certification papers were signed, & records were sent to secretary of state this AM
https://www.wxyz.com/news/wayne-county-board-of-canvassers-look-to-reverse-decision-again-after-certifying-election-results
States, health care groups and activists are trying to drum up PPACA sign-ups among millions of uninsured Americans as the coronavirus spreads. Their Get Covered 2021 campaign starts today and culminates Dec. 10 in a national Get Covered America Day.
https://apnews.com/article/politics-coronavirus-pandemic-b276fc82b8559d8a91c9b9e3dc5abb7f?
President-elect Biden and VP-elect Harris will meet virtually with several governors Thursday and are expected to focus on improving coordination between the federal and state responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.
https://twitter.com/NBCPolitics/status/1329405996406595584
Nursing home neglect deaths surge in shadows | This June 7, 2020, photo provided by June Linnertz shows her father, James Gill, seen through a window at Cherrywood Pointe nursing home in Plymouth, Minn. As more than 90,000 of America's long-term care residents have died in the coronavirus pandemic, advocates for the elderly say a tandem wave of death separate from the virus has quietly claimed tens of thousands more, often because overburdened workers haven't been able to give them the care they need. Gill died of Lewy Body Dementia, according to a copy of his death certificate provided to the AP. Linnertz always expected her father to die of the condition, which causes a progressive loss of memory and movement, but never thought he would end his days in so much needless pain. | Hale and happy before the pandemic, the 75-year-old retired Alabama truck driver became so malnourished and dehydrated that he dropped to 98 pounds and looked to his son like he'd been in a concentration camp. Septic shock suggested an untreated urinary infection, E. coli in his body from his own feces hinted at poor hygiene, and aspiration pneumonia indicated Wallace, who needed help with meals, had likely choked on his food. "He couldn't even hold his head up straight because he had gotten so weak," said his son, Kevin Amerson. "They stopped taking care of him. They abandoned him." | Nursing home watchdogs are being flooded with reports of residents kept in soiled diapers so long their skin peeled off, left with bedsores that cut to the bone, and allowed to wither away in starvation or thirst. Beyond that, interviews with dozens of people across the country reveal swelling numbers of less clear-cut deaths that doctors believe have been fueled not by neglect but by a mental state plunged into despair by prolonged isolation ̶ listed on some death certificates as "failure to thrive." A nursing home expert who analyzed data from the country's 15,000 facilities for The Associated Press estimates that for every two COVID-19 victims in long-term care, there is another who died prematurely of other causes. Those "excess deaths" beyond the normal rate of fatalities in nursing homes could total more than 40,000 since March
https://apnews.com/article/pandemics-alabama-europe-coronavirus-pandemic-3b74a2202140c5a6b5cf05cdf0ea4f32
80% of Republicans think the election was stolen. Trump will spend 4 years keeping that number up. Republicans in Congress will demure on whether THEY think Biden is legitimate but say the country must respect all the people who don't and use that to block Democrats from doing anything
Trump campaign dismisses last remaining lawsuit in Michigan as voter fraud claims widely debunked
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/19/trump-campaign-drops-michigan-election-lawsuit-rudy-giuliani-
Trump personally called the two Wayne County Republicans and ordered them to rescind their certification of Detroit votes
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/526687-michigan-republican-who-balked-at-certifying-election-results-says
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/11/19/trump-monica-palmer-wayne-canvassers-certification-election/3776190001/
Walmart and McDonald's have the most workers on food stamps and Medicaid
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/11/18/food-stamps-medicaid-mcdonalds-walmart-bernie-sanders/
12 Million People Who Were Forced Out Of Work Because Of Covid19 To Lose Jobless Benefits The Day After Christmas Unless Senate Republicans Act
https://www.npr.org/2020/11/19/936329130/12-million-to-lose-jobless-benefits-the-day-after-christmas-unless-congress-acts
Reminder: In 2017, the 'Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017' was passed by the Senate(51-48) and signed by Trump as a law. It increased taxes for people people making less than 75k a year (low-income and poverty income people) over a 9 year period, and lowered it semi-permanently for upper incomes and for corporations, adding 1.4 T to the deficit.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/30/heres-how-the-senate-tax-bill-affects-people-earning-less-than-100000.html
The total cost of the races for the White House, the Senate and the House is expected to hit nearly $14 billion
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/28/us/politics/2020-race-money.html
Wayne County Republicans can't rescind their votes to certify election, says Secretary of State Michigan
https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2020/11/wayne-county-republicans-cant-rescind-their-votes-to-certify-election-says-secretary-of-state.html
Sidney Powell is now up after Giuliani, who is detailing a conspiracy theory that draws lines between executives of companies that produced ballot tabulation tech used in this election and George Soros, the Clinton Foundation, Hugo Chavez, and antifa.
https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1329483806320046094
And now we're being told by Sidney Powell that the election was fixed throughout the entire country and not just in swing states.
https://twitter.com/Bencjacobs/status/1329483850372833280
Mike Flynn's attorney Sidney Powell is now making allegations about voting systems and Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013, during this press conference.
https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1329483255662456835
Expert in our Georgia lawsuit, "Dr. Makridis includes a discussion of provisional ballots in Mercer County. It is difficult to know what Dr. Makridis might be referring to, since there is no county called Mercer in Georgia."
https://www.democracydocket.com/cases/georgia-presidential-electors-challenge/
More Cincinnati City Council arrests than Bengals wins: As expected, Cincinnati City Council watchers had a field day on Twitter Thursday morning with news of P.G. Sittenfeld's arrest on federal charges. Sittenfeld is the third member of the city's nine-member council to be arrested this year on bribery-related charges and is accused of bribery, wire fraud, and attempted extortion. He also announced a bid for mayor earlier this year.
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2020/11/19/cincinnati-council-watchers-react-on-social-mediaafter-sittenfelds-arrest-ohio/3777534001/
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2020/11/19/p-g-sittenfeld-cincinnati-city-council-arrest-fbi/3775193001/
Giuliani's also claims that Joe Biden personally coordinated all the multi-state election fraud from his basement in Delaware!
https://twitter.com/aravosis/status/1329482090300235778?s=20
Community supervision can be a tripwire that perpetuates incarceration based on crimeless technical violations -- and over 4 million Americans are caught in that web: Community supervision, once intended to help offenders, contributes more to mass incarceration
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/policing/2020/11/19/supervision-once-intended-help-offenders-ups-mass-incarceration-column/3765824001/
Giuliani's remarks today repeated allegations from various court cases that judges have rejected or, as happened in MI today, the campaign has dropped altogether. Giuliani vaguely says they're "about to" file suit in GA and will "more than probably" file suit in AZ
https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1329482264737157120
WSJ editorial debunks conspiracy theories about Dominion Voting Systems
https://wsj.com/articles/rage-against-the-voting-machine-11605656036
During the 83-county canvassing/certification process in Michigan, Biden's lead over Trump grew from about 146,000 votes to now 153,000 votes - a change of about 7,000 votes.
https://twitter.com/DavidEggert00/status/1329481706496270337
The Trump campaign's claims are being rejected in court over and over so Rudy is trying to go to the cameras instead and convince the Trump base widespread fraud when there's not.
Sidney Powell: "Trump won this election in a landslide."...........It's just not true. It's not. This is getting insane.
https://twitter.com/robbysoave/status/1329491343509491712
If you thought Rudy Giuliani's conspiracies were insane, here comes Sindey Powell crashing through Leeroy Jenkins-syle to spin a tale about Huge Chavez and George Soros working together to steal millions of votes via voting machines and software.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1329485347382845440
Someone not at the presser can now be heard on the Trump campaign's live stream: "See fuckin' Rudy's hair dye dripping down his face?"
Some Trump advisers - none of whom are speaking publicly - are saying this press conference and what Giuliani is doing is dangerous. They're waiting for the president to recognize that but he is not so far.
https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1329491331501191169
Rudy Giuliani doesn't understand how signature-matching works under Georgia law. Signatures are verified BEFORE ballots are counted. They cannot be checked again in a recount under GA constitution that protects secrecy of a voter's identity. Ballot is detached after verification.
https://twitter.com/BrendanKeefe/status/1329478873898242048
Here's why the actual votes of Georgia citizens are secret under the GA constitution: "Voters cast their ballots in secret so that no political party or candidate can ever intimidate nor threaten a voter into changing his or her vote," Sec. Brad Raffensperger
https://twitter.com/BrendanKeefe/status/1329485316026195969
Because there were vote-buying schemes decades ago. The person paying would check to verify the person followed through to cast the purchased vote. So GA voters amended their constitution to make all votes secret. The signatures are verified first, then unmarried from the ballot.
https://twitter.com/BrendanKeefe/status/1329485316709871617
This is also why it is against the rules to take a photo of your own ballot in the polling place in GA. For the same reason -- it could be used as proof to collect payment after the fact.
https://twitter.com/BrendanKeefe/status/1329485982496907266
Most if not all states shred the signature portion of the ballot, but once the signature is separated from the ballot they can't be matched up again so it's not relevant.
As always and over the last 5+ years (he launched campaign summer 2015), it doesn't matter what the truth is, he's lying and his people are listening. 73+ million of them.
Judge delays execution date until Dec. 31 for Lisa Montgomery, the only female death row inmate, whose lawyers are suffering from coronavirus19 after traveling for prison visit.
So Rudy Giuliani went on a lengthy tirade filled with false and evidence-free claims and during all that time he was ranting no one thought to pull him aside and tell him that his hair dye was dripping down his face
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/death-row-inmate-lawyers-covid/2020/11/13/44bcc97a-252b-11eb-a688-5298ad5d580a_story.html
Lie after lie after lie after lie. Rudy Giuliani is lying: "they held the vote back in Palm Beach County & Broward County in order to see if they could steal that election for the Senate & Governor, and then caught manufacturing ballots." This didn't happen.
https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2020/05/21/a-trump-election-conspiracy-collapses-1285442
Rudy just accused a DAILY CALLER reporter of being "completely unfair" when he asked whether the former mayor would release his "evidence" to the public.
https://twitter.com/KenDilanianNBC/status/1329494804326195204
Giuliani says he doesn't want to reveal his evidence because judges won't like it and he doesn't want his witnesses to be exposed to the press. He also says the lawyers only left because they were threatened or their careers were threatened.
https://twitter.com/kathrynw5/status/1329494832536977408
Jenna Ellis says the purpose of this presser was an "opening argument" like in court but when asked for evidence, says they're not in court.
Now the Trump campaign appears to have deleted video of the presser immediately upon its conclusion. Link is dead:
https://twitter.com/AaronBlake/status/1329495240533794816
Mexican cartels are buying huge .50 caliber rifles – sold legally in the U.S. – and using them to kill police and soldiers, shoot down helicopters and defeat the Mexican government on the battlefields of the drug war.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/mexico-losing-control/mexico-drug-cartels-sniper-rifles-us-gun-policy/
This is the Team Trump argument: George Soros, Biden, the Clinton Foundation, and the antifa worked with Hugo Chavez (died 2013) and the Venezuelan government to rig the election by making big Democratic cities vote for the Democratic candidate. But they also let Republicans wi the Senate, Congressional, and local races.
The whole point is precisely to create damage. Historically, that's how evil leaders in power go down.
Red flag: 4.4 million Americans are receiving "Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation," up from 1.4 million in August. That's the program for people who have been unemployed for months and exhausted their regular UI. **It will end on Dec. 26 if Congress does not act**
One of the last, dying gasps of the Trump presidency is a sweaty, septuagenarian non-lawyer (Rudy's licence expired decades ago and he has a record of unpaid contempt of court and misconduct fines that bar him from being in a courtroom....) spouting baseless conspiracies while hair dye runs down the sides of his face.
Back to the MI case — Ellis says Wayne County is not going to certify the election results. Wayne County *did* certify the results. MI SoS says there is no legal mechanism for county canvassing board members to rescind their votes after the fact
https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1329494571764609024
I'm not an alarmist and I believe this effort will fail because our institutions are resilient and it's mostly theatre. Still, it's dispiriting that the Republican Party has so few people willing to say obviously true things, condemn obvious lies, and put an end to this farce.
https://twitter.com/wrdcsc/status/1329493887988199425
Golden State's Klay Thompson has suffered a season-ending Achilles tear.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1329492642896470016
Based on the type of tear, Thompson has been told to expect that he will make a full recovery, a source tells ESPN.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1329498145773019136
Alright, so the Pistons are acquiring Trevor Ariza for his fully guaranteed amount of $12.8M per a league source. That means Detroit will have $9.4M in cap space left.
https://twitter.com/KeithSmithNBA/status/1329489929433473025
ACL + Achilles. Two career altering injuries back to back. Almost no chance to see peak Klay again. I am so very thankful to have witnessed Klay going nuclear in so many games. 5 straight NBA finals absolutely did a number on his legs. We will never see the same Klay again, the two harshest injuries on different legs on back to back seasons.
In 2015, Venezuela held a national parliamentary election, in which the ruling United Socialist Party (Chavez's creation) lost control of parliament, with the party created to oppose Chavez and his successor winning 112 seats and earning a supermajority. If the voting software - software which the US uses and which Team Trump are claiming Democrats used to rig the election in their favour - if the Dominion softare made it so easy to rig elections, why would the PSUV (Chavez's party) ever have allowed itself to be beaten so badly and allow its opponents to take over the Venezuelan parliament? More important, there's a profound tension between the "fraud" claims Giuliani has been making and Powell's claims of massive vote-rigging by software. Giuliani is talking about "fake" mail-in ballots and vote counters "miscounting" votes. But Powell says that the "globalists," with the assistance of the CIA, could just switch as many votes as they wanted using Dominion's software. If that's the case, why would Democrats bother with faking mail-in ballots or blocking poll watchers, if they could rig the vote software however they wished? For that matter, Biden was ahead in polls by substantial margins in most swing states. So why, if you were going to rig the vote, would you make it so close? Why not give Biden comfortable wins, instead of dragging the count out for days, as in MI and PA and GA and NV and AZ etc? Why would Democrats rig House and Senate and State Legislature elections AGAINST themselves? Instead, according to Powell's theory, the sinister globalists chose to wait until the last minute to effect their plan, and chose to make the election really close, making it easier for people like her to raise questions. Why?
Joe Biden will still be the president, despite attempts to subvert the will of the electorate. But it's not so hard to imagine a slightly different world - a closer race, a few more Wayne-ish dissenters - where similar efforts could threaten continuity of constitutional government. This "we will bully our way into undoing the election results" creates a legal foundation upon which to build future campaigns to undo election results.
Congresswoman-elect Cori Bush joins a group of climate activists outside of the DNC: "We're looking right now to President-elect Joe Biden to make some changes," she said. "But it's not good enough to just do different. We have to do bold. We have to make changes now
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EnNgkdGW8AE0yAY?format=jpg&name=small
https://twitter.com/alexi/status/1329512508265291777?s=20
There are currently two bills that deal with $ that are in the news right now.
1.) Spending bill to keep the government funded past December 11
2.) Stimulus bill to help Americans, businesses, localities deal with fallout from Covid19
Hmm. So Facebook fact-checkers have flagged as false a YouTube video from OANN with bogus election rigging claims. The YouTube link is labeled as false if a regular Facebook user shares it -- but NOT if Trump shares it. Like he did here:
https://twitter.com/donie/status/1329514131465105409
Rockets guard Austin Rivers has decided to opt out of his contract to become an unrestricted free agent, a source told @TheUndefeated .
https://twitter.com/MarcJSpears/status/1329512260121686017
Rivers needs to join the Warriors or the Sixers (Philadelphia's Three Rivers Stadium: Doc Rivers, Delaware Rivers, Callie Rivers, plus the Splash Step-Brothers: Seth is married to Doc's daughter, Austin is Doc's son and he is married to Seth's sister)
The Trump we're seeing right now is perfectly consistent with the Trump some of us saw all along. Let's not pretend otherwise.
New RSC chairman sees Trumpism as future| "If we're going to win the majority in 2022 and win the White House in 2024, our party has to look a lot more like Donald Trump than some of the Republican candidates in the past"
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/526740-new-rsc-chairman-sees-trumpism-as-future
An election hearing before a Trump-appointed judge is ongoing in the Northern District of Georgia. Wood, a GA Elector, is asking Judge Grimberg, a Trump appointee, for a temporary restraining order to block certification of GA's final count as well as closer count observers for the GA Senate runoff
https://courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.gand.283580/gov.uscourts.gand.283580.6.0.pdf
I just can't get over how shortsighted and dumb it is that in many places bars and restaurants and stores and everything else are open and schools are closed.
That press conference was the most dangerous 1hr 45 minutes of television in American history. And possibly the craziest. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're lucky.
https://twitter.com/C_C_Krebs/status/1329521812951142400
Judge: "What is your client's standing to bring this claim?"
Long pause
Wood's atty: "...is to ensure an accurate count and only lawful ballots are counted."
Judge is still asking why this is an emergency,considering there have been 3 elections since settlement agreement
https://twitter.com/NicoleCarrWSB/status/1329521110153646083
To recap, this witness is alleging that 97 ballots for Joe Biden in Georgia "felt" different to her and struck her as "very unusual."
She offers no proof--or even any suggestion--that anything untoward happened with these ballots. Just that the ballots were somehow...off.
https://twitter.com/alanfeuer/status/1329528313887547398
How dare seniors vote for Biden!
Already, 16 of the 78 days the new administration would have had to prepare between Election Day and January 20 when Biden is sworn-in have passed. Zero access to White House.
Biden campaign spokesman MichaelJGwin on the Trump legal team presser: "No matter how hard Trump and the flailing Giuliani try, they cannot overturn the will of the American people, who resoundingly picked Joe Biden to be the next President of the United States."
https://twitter.com/JTHVerhovek/status/1329526705929773060
Fox News, making the long trek back from Trumplandia: Fox's KristinFisher: "So much of what Giuliani said was simply not true"
https://twitter.com/i/status/1329503459444465666
Golden State will now apply for the Disabled Player Exception worth $9.3M.
https://twitter.com/BobbyMarks42/status/1329493411402018820
GOOD: Arizona judge dismisses with prejudice the latest lawsuit over ballots in Maricopa County. He also denies the Arizona Republican Party's request for an injunction enjoining the county from certifying ballots.
https://clerkofcourt.maricopa.gov/Home/ShowDocument?id=1800
A reminder that the standard line among elected national Republicans is "let's just let the legal process out."...The legal process is being dragged out in the hopes of convincing state legislatures to overturn the will of the people: The Trump campaign is trying to convince state legislatures to overthrow the will of the electorate, and bragging about their plans on background.
https://reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-strategy/trumps-election-power-play-persuade-republican-legislators-to-do-what-u-s-voters-did-not-idUSKBN27Z30G
Smithsonian closing museums and zoo again amid virus spike
https://apnews.com/article/museums-archive-coronavirus-pandemic-b4d260745c8312d4607559dc804dffec
Stacey Abrams Says Reason Republicans Are 'So Mad' About Election Is That Their Voter Suppression Efforts Were Blocked
https://www.newsweek.com/stacey-abrams-says-reason-republicans-are-so-mad-about-election-that-their-voter-suppression-1548765
Mnuchin To End Covid19 Federal Emergency Programmes And Return Unused Funds, Preventing Biden Administration From Restarting Those Programmes.That matters hugely, because the $454 billion pot from CARES cannot make new loans. No new loans and no money left in the facilities = a new Democratic administration can't just restart the programmes. They need to find new $$$ to back them up.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/business/economy/mnuchin-fed-emergency-programs.html
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-mnuchin/mnuchin-asks-fed-to-return-more-than-400-billion-in-unused-funds-idUSKBN27Z34P
Update from Constitution Ave: "The Federal Reserve would prefer that the full suite of emergency facilities established during the coronavirus19 pandemic continue to serve their important role as a backstop for our still-strained and vulnerable economy."
https://twitter.com/jeannasmialek/status/1329543891981307906
Prosecutors drop cases against thousands arrested during George Floyd protests
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/526767-prosecutors-drop-cases-against-thousands-arrested-during-george
GOOD: US to designate Israel boycott movement BDS as antisemitic
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-boycott-pompeo-anti-semitic-us-bds-movement-b1744605.html
Dominion employees latest to face threats, harassment in wake of Trump conspiracy
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/dominion-employees-latest-face-threats-harassment-wake-trump/story?id=74288442
Terrible signing: The Warriors will absorb Oubre Jr., and his $14.4M salary into their $17.2M trade exception once deal is done.
http://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1329545263967588352
Reminder: Michael D'Antoni is Assistant Coach for Brooklyn Nets
More Biden White House job announcements coming tomorrow, Ron Klain says on CNN. "We're going to announce some more officials for the White House tomorrow," he says, and expects about 2 dozen WH hires announced by the end of November.
https://twitter.com/jeneps/status/1329549364579196930
Media, the word you are avoiding is "coup." I'm not saying they will succeed - they will not. But Republicans are trying to overturn a free, fair election and this deserves at least as much attention as the full week you devoted to Sarah Sanders being refused service at a restaurant.
New word to describe Trump: Seditious. As in this is an act of sedition. Trump lost. The Con Man can't handle it and he has sycophants who will repeat and amplify his message. @realDonaldTrump 62 Days to go!
State judge in Pennsylvania rejected attempt by Trump campaign to throw out more than 2,000 absentee ballots for technical reasons, adding to several losses the Trump campaign has faced in the last week as it tries to contest votes in heavily Democratic counties.
https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/1329553862299181059
Unclear why Shitstain Pence continues to say this government doesn't support "another" national lockdown. The US never implemented a national lockdown to curb virus spread.
We obtained emails that indicate at least some Bureau Of Prisons officials resisted coronavirus19 mitigation measures or took actions that may have harmed incarcerated people who were not sick with the virus.
https://www.americanoversight.org/bureau-of-prisons-records-provide-new-details-on-prison-officials-response-to-pandemic
Everyone knows that Covid19 only comes out after 10 p.m. and only targets masks, not hair or clothes or bare arms or foreheads or ears or necks or bare legs or bare feet or anything else. IT'S IN THE AIR, IT'S ON EVERYTHING.
How many people are "in on it" in Giuliani's mind? Would have to take thousands of election workers, officials, Dem pols, funders, tech people (does the conspiracy have an HR dept?) etc. Would create massive paper trail of email, receipts, money transfers. Amazingly leak proof!
These efforts to sabotage emergency relief funds seem similar to how the outgoing administration is throwing Foreign Policy firebombs on their way out. What other crucial functions could be sabotaged in the coming weeks?
PA Commonwealth Court judge illegally and unconstitutional ruled that 2,349 absentee ballots in Allegheny County where the voter didn't date their declaration are invalid, reversing a lower court judge. Other PA judges have rejected the Trump campaign's challenges to absentee ballots with declaration deficiencies such as missing dates, addresses, or printed names — those cases are still pending up on appeal.
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7331319/11-19-20-Ziccarelli-Opinion-1162-CD-2020.pdf
Boris Johnson's ambitious plans on defense spending and climate policy are likely to please an important new person in his life: Joe Biden. A Boris trade deal with the EU would please Biden even more.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/world/europe/johnson-biden-climate-defense.html
Imagine if tonight Biden tweeted out this MSNBC screengrab from early on Nov. 3 and was like "I won Florida!" and then sued in federal court to get a judge to toss out all the votes from the panhandle. Would everyone be saying "well let's let the process play out"?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EnJtJS5XIAYBEUM?format=jpg&name=small
https://twitter.com/JacobRubashkin/status/1329245207259443202
And if the acting Defense Secretary who has the job of potentially sending young Americans to combat, young Americans willing to perish defending the Constitution which includes freedom of the press, why can't he answer questions in an actual public setting: The federal government — the president, the vice president, the press secretary, the Pentagon chief, the national security adviser and others — is refusing to answer questions amid a surging pandemic and attempt to discredit the election.
https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1329555613127421952
A federal judge in Georgia has rejected a bold election lawsuit of a Republican elector, Lin Wood, who had alleged in court constitutional violations, perceived fraud in the presidential election, and sought to block the certification of election results.
https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/1329562139867099137
Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Steven D. Grimberg on the breathtaking request to block certification of the election results in Georgia: Judge: The requested relief—blocking Georgia's certification—is "quite striking." That would harm the public in "countless ways." "To halt the certification at literally the 11th hour, would breed confusion and disenfranchisement that I find have no basis in fact and law."
https://twitter.com/KlasfeldReports/status/1329561368698249228
https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/trump-appointed-judge-rejects-lin-woods-creative-election-lawsuit-in-georgia/
Joe Lacob is willing to spend over $80 million in luxury tax even when he has lost his second best player. Tillman Fertita is surrounding Harden with G leaguers
There are few cooler moments than Klay Thompson shoots a 3 on a big playoff game on the road, the crowd is petrified, like an animal senses its death. He made so many big shots. I just love Klay.
Proof? No more talking dead people. why didnt lawyers in MULTIPLE lawsuits in the state produce more than news accounts and a single affadavit? Will you ever put the country first?
https://twitter.com/ChrisCuomo/status/1329570576411791360
Your periodic reminder that Giuliani began his political career by inciting a riot of drunken, racist cops.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2016/11/16/more-on-the-time-rudy-giuliani-helped-incite-a-riot-of-racist-cops/
It's only the memory of what the USA once was that stops the rest of the world saying that an attempt at a coup is underway. If this were Africa or Latin America or the Balkans we would have no hesitation in saying that the ruling clique was using electoral fraud to maintain its power.
Wayne County is 40% Black. Detroit, which Giuliani focuses on, is 80% Black. So let's talk about what we're really talking about here. Take the vote away from Black people, and Trump wins. That's what they're arguing, racism plain and simple.
https://twitter.com/CREWcrew/status/1329564263216721921
NYC preschools remain open, raising questions about safety and equity among staff
https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2020/11/19/21578285/nyc-preschools-remain-open
Joe Biden Says 'Under No Circumstance' Will There be a National Lockdown
https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-says-under-no-circumstance-will-there-national-lockdown-1548878
One of the two Republicans on the state canvassing board, Norman Shinkle, Michigan Republican official says he is leaning toward illegally and unconstitutionally seeking to delay certification of vote Monday
https://washingtonpost.com/elections/2020/11/19/joe-biden-trump-transition-live-updates/#link-BQG6ROIDWFEI5FTT7VSJOGIWDI
Georgia presidential hand-recount of the roughly 5 million votes cast affirms Biden's lead over Trump. The Secretary of State is set to certify the final result tomorrow.
https://mynbc15.com/news/beyond-the-podium/official-biden-wins-hand-tally-of-presidential-race-in-georgia
https://sos.ga.gov/index.php/elections/historic_first_statewide_audit_of_paper_ballots_upholds_result_of_presidential_race
In recent weeks, FBI agents in New York contacted witnesses and asked new questions about Giuliani's efforts in Ukraine and possible connections to Russian intelligence, the sources said.
http://www.cnn.com/2020/11/19/politics/rudy-giuliani-chaos-election/index.html
Only once in history has a state had a problem certifying its electoral results: 1960 in Hawaii, when there was a long recount and two sets of electors were named. "Nixon went for being a gracious loser, said he wasn't looking to set a precedent& accepted the Kennedy electors"
https://twitter.com/IsaacDovere/status/1329577306726207490
Reminder: Team Trump lawyers repeatedly state in court that there is no fraud because there are major legal ramifications for lying to judges. The Trump campaign and their Republican allies have now filed at least thirty lawsuits in six different swing states. None of them has shown any evidence of widespread voter fraud. ALL have said THERE IS NO FRAUD.
One little note: Lacob didn't want to discuss the Oubre deal because it's not official yet, but it's clear from our conversation that GSWs are keeping Minnesota's 2021 pick. Which isn't a surprise, but I wanted to underline it. Don't know if that's been reported. I was recording!
https://twitter.com/timkawakami/status/1329575550092906496
Two separate New York State fraud investigations into Trump and his businesses, one criminal and one civil, have expanded to include tax write-offs on millions of dollars in consulting fees, some of which appear to have gone to Ivanka Trump.
https://nytimes.com/2020/11/19/nyregion/trump-fraud-investigations-taxes.html
Tucker Carlson just now: He says his show has repeatedly asked Sidney Powell for evidence of her vote rigging claim. He says that she refuses to provide evidence, got angry with his staff, and told them to stop contacting her.
Listen to the counsel for Pennsylvania counties roast Rudy Giuliani for smearing the Keystone State's "patriots" on https://instagram.com/p/CHyyiZ0ARzG/?igshid=1fgwkfqrzis4l
If you want to understand a bit about Sidney Powell's judgment, here's a blast from the recent past -- where she wondered if illegal immigrants were responsible for the spread of "polio-like paralysis" in our kids, and it was too much even for Lou Dobbs.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1057061701865144320
Trump is bringing Michigan Republican leaders to DC Friday to tell them to illegally and unconstitutionally cast their electoral vote for him. The is what needs to be called out, more than the rantings of Team Trump.
Phone bank to help send two Democrats to the Senate from Georgia
https://votesaveamerica.com/state/georgia/
French President Emmanuel Macron has asked Muslim leaders to accept a "charter of republican values" as part of a broad clampdown on radical Islam.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55001167
Anger as UN body approves deal that allows ship emissions to rise to 2030
https://www.climatechangenews.com/2020/11/17/anger-un-body-approves-deal-allows-ship-emissions-rise-2030/
A new monument to Native American veterans shows how we can push the statue debate ahead
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/11/19/native-american-memorial-statue-debate/
Let's take a vote .How about we have a Bobby Bonilla day every year. Hand him an oversized check and drive a lap around the stadium.Could be fun
https://twitter.com/StevenACohen2/status/1329595853774970880
Former Veterans Affairs deputy secretary claims his refusal to discredit female veteran who complained of sexual assault led to his firing
https://www.newsweek.com/former-veterans-affairs-dep-sec-claims-refusal-discredit-vet-led-firing-1548833
Trump said he would do this if he lost in 2016. He said he would do this if he lost in 2020. There is nothing here that wasn't predictable, and predicted. The only thing we didn't know was how much of the Republican Party would fall in line. Now, sadly, we know.
US Chamber of Commerce condemns step taken by Mnuchin to try to terminate lending program under the CARES Act
https://www.uschamber.com/press-release/us-chamber-of-commerce-statement-treasury-s-termination-of-federal-reserve-s-emergency
Reporters are people who ensure those in power are accountable to you - especially when they don't want to be questioned.
Biden-voting counties equal 70% of America's economy
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2020/11/09/biden-voting-counties-equal-70-of-americas-economy-what-does-this-mean-for-the-nations-political-economic-divide/
Rick Scott tests positive for coronavrius
https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2020/11/20/floridas-rick-scott-tests-positive-for-coronavrius/
David Perdue Hit With More Allegations Of Shady Stock Transactions
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/11/perdue-hit-with-more-allegations-of-shady-stock-transactions.html
GA secretary of state: I'm a proud Trump supporter but numbers don't lie, Biden won
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/11/20/brad-raffensperger-georgia-election-results-sot-newday-vpx.cnn
Saints' QB Taysom Hill will start Sunday vs. the Falcons, per source. Hill took all the starter reps at practice this week. Jameis Winston will be the backup.
https://twitter.com/adamschefter/status/1329805135871139841?s=21
Jameis Winston will not be part of any offensive packages Sunday vs. the Falcons, per @diannaESPN. The Saints' QB now is Taysom Hill.
https://twitter.com/adamschefter/status/1329807379865726977
Taysom Hill is a great utility player, he moonlights as a tight end, primary kick returner, and rusher.
#Browns pass-rusher Myles Garrett is being placed on the COVID-19 reserve list.
https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1329793989923495938
Carlos Dunlap with the game sealing sack
https://www.clippituser.tv/c/wdqeqz
The Saints are paying Taysom Hill $21M. I don't totally understand the shock that they're starting him this week
Russell Wilson earned his 93rd career win as a starter. He passes Peyton Manning's 92 for the most by any QB in his first 9 seasons in NFL history
One person dying every 17 seconds from Covid-19 in Europe
https://news.theceomagazine.com/lifestyle/health/world-health-organization/
500+ Fishermen Hit By Mysterious Skin Disease In Senegal
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/over-500-fishermen-hit-by-mysterious-skin-disease-in-senegal-2327660
Trudeau defends arrest of Huawei executive, says countries must stand up to China
https://thinkpol.ca/2020/11/19/trudeau-defends-arrest-of-huawei-executive-says-countries-must-stand-up-to-china/
Georgia Sec. of State's Office certifies the 2020 general election results with Joe Biden winning the state's electoral votes.
https://twitter.com/NBCPolitics/status/1329847087056515073
Wayne County, MI Board of Canvassers Vice Chair Jonathan Kinloch on CNN: "The state law says that we shall certify, and so all of the comments and all of the lies that have been put out there ... has no bearing in whether or not the election will be certified."
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1329846979304828928
The Trump administration refuses to provide robust cyber defenses or govt-hosted, CISA-protected email accounts to the Biden transition team. Left to fend for itself, the team has distributed security keys, limited shared-drive access, and trained staff.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-team-lacks-full-u-s-cybersecurity-support-in-transition-fracas-11605891470
Ezra Klein, co-founder of Vox, is leaving Vox
https://yashar.substack.com/p/scoop-ezra-klein-is-leaving-vox
Matt Iglesias and now Ezra Klein, it's because they're not leftist shitstains
Of note: Princeton professor cited in affidavit that mixed up Michigan-Minnesota says Michigan does not use the type of Dominion voting machine he criticized -- and that Michigan uses the "state-of-the-art most-secure-known way of conducting elections"
https://freedom-to-tinker.com/2020/11/13/did-sean-hannity-misquote-me/
Latinas for Trump founder unseated Florida Democrat after 'shadow candidate' with his surname entered the race
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/11/20/florida-election-trump-senator-rodriguez/
Pool report: "From the Office of President- elect Biden: 'President- elect Biden underwent PCR testing for COVID-19 today and COVID-19 was not detected.'"
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1329850761954664450
Republicans would be better off politically if they tried making inroads in American cities instead of acting like they're not part of "real America.": "If you take out Wayne County," Trump wins Michigan, says Rudy Giuliani. Sure, if you 'take out' all the valid votes from Americans in Atlanta, Philly, Detroit, and their suburbs, you get a different outcome. But that's not how any of this works in our Democratic Republic.
https://twitter.com/BrendanKeefe/status/1329479671273189378
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) declined to comment Friday. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) didn't respond to a request for comment.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-courts-state-lawmakers-amid-effort-to-block-biden-win-11605887559
Testing lines are long everywhere today from what I've seen - even at H + H (this one is in Fort Greene). I imagine they'll be longer next week with the pre-Thanksgiving rush
https://twitter.com/i/status/1329847402090655748
The recount, according to the Wisconsin Republican plan, is not a recount at all. Instead of hoping to find more ballots for Trump, it's a plan to steal the election. If they don't get the ballots thrown out during the recount, they hope to throw out ballots in court. Here is the script being handed out by the Wisconsin GOP to get ballots thrown out during the recount. Only two heavily Democratic counties are being reviewed
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EnSRXGcXIAQgIYF?format=jpg&name=900x900
https://mailchi.mp/rightwisconsin/wisconsin-gop-throw-out-the-ballots?e=%5BUNIQID
Eleventh Circuit says bans on conversion "therapy" on #LGBTQ minors, which is extremely harmful and dangerous, are unconstitutional under the First Amendment. The court majority ignores these harms completely and puts the lives of #LGBTQ youth at risk. Joining Britt Grant in the opinion was Barbara Lagoa, both of whom are Trump-appointed judges. Logoa was on the short-list of Trump's potential choices to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court before he ended up choosing Amy Coney Barrett.
https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201910604.pdf
At Republican rally in Georgia for Republican Senate candidates Perdue and Loeffler facing January runoffs, VP Pence told supporters that he and Trump will keep fighting until every legal election day vote is counted and every "illegal" early vote and mail-in ballot for Biden is thrown out.
Since the last minimum wage hike in 2009, the cost of living has increased 20%. Even if the minimum wage is increased to $15/hour, minimum wage workers will only be earning around $30,000/year.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/millions-of-full-time-u-s-workers-receive-federal-health-care-and-food-assistance/
I think Kaitlin Collins could sue the White House under the 1st Amendment for disfavouring selected speech now that Kayleigh McEnany openly called her an "activist." Demanding answers from government officials is not activism, it's journalism. Accountability and truth matters.
Sen. Kelly Loeffler is facing a pair of ethics complaints after she solicited campaign contributions for her Georgia runoff campaign during an on-camera interview at the U.S. Capitol.
https://www.ajc.com/politics/politics-blog/ethics-complaints-target-loeffler-after-she-solicited-donations-in-us-capitol/YV6NF3ILHBG7VIAEYRAUANZSQU/
A top Airbnb executive resigned last year after six months on the job over concerns about how the platform shares data on millions of its users with Chinese authorities.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/airbnb-executive-resigned-last-year-over-chinese-request-for-more-data-sharing-11605896753
NBA, Raptors denied permission to play in Canada
https://apnews.com/article/nba-toronto-coronavirus-pandemic-toronto-raptors-canada-84f80c23dd7104ceb699e300ee672af6
I seem to recall a million memes mocking Clinton voters for crying: A caller who is near tears, distraught over election results, tells Rush Limbaugh that he's willing to die for Trump
https://twitter.com/i/status/1329847884997660677
Detroit Asks Court to Issue Sanction After Trump Campaign Lawyer Used Court Filing to Spread Disinformation
https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/detroit-seeks-sanctions-blasts-trump-campaign-for-using-court-filing-to-spread-disinformation/
Trump did not have an orderly transition because he didn't plan for one, he fired the head of his campaign right after winning, and then ignored most of the copious transition materials the outgoing administration had prepared. Also Kushner took a walk on the South Lawn with Obama's chief of staff and Hicks met with Obama's press sec. in the office McEnany now occupies on 11/10/16.
"Pres. tRUMP won by a landslide-We are going to prove it" But due to lack of evidence & 31 losses in courts so far, how about a load of widely debunked conspiracy theories designed to poison America's trust in our elections & a reenactment of a scene from My Cousin Vinny instead?
https://twitter.com/HamillHimself/status/1329583158199652353
Reminder that Trump's definition of "news conference" does not always mean fielding questions. News Conference on Reduced Drug Prices at 2:30 P.M.
From Trump's inaugural address: "Every four years, we gather on these steps to carry out the orderly and peaceful transfer of power, and we are grateful to President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for their gracious aid throughout this transition."
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/the-inaugural-address/
The Toronto Raptors will begin the 2020-21 NBA season playing in Tampa, Florida.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1329846469168336897
First time a Canadian team has been so close to the Stanley Cup in nearly 30 years.
Something that jumped out: In opposing admission of DNC counsel, the plaintiff's lawyer Craig Mueller argued it was a narrowly-drawn, county-specific case, and he started to say it involved fraud before quickly correcting himself that it was not about fraud
https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1329867968176664579
Trump presser abgout drug prices: he boasts of 74 million votes and says of the election - "which I won by the way, we'll find that out." Biden has won 79.6 million votes and 306 electoral votes, compared to 232 for Trump.
The eagle-eyed @fschouten points out that, in the latest Trump campaign fundraising appeal, 75% of the proceeds actually go to the president's "Save America" Leadership PAC, up from 60%, with only a small portion of contributions actually going towards recount efforts.
https://twitter.com/DJJudd/status/1329875064284721152
Kentucky has certified its 2020 election results:
Trump 1,326,646 (62.1%)
Biden 772,474 (36.2%)
That's a 3.9 point margin swing against Trump vs. 2016 and a 11.1% increase in votes cast. https://cookpolitical.com/2020-national-popular-vote-tracker
https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/1329830204978683904
Server fired for posting video of Republican Gov. Ricketts in a bar without a mask
https://fox42kptm.com/news/local/employee-fired
Heartbreaking NYT story on a medical examiner who tried to prepare a rural Wisconsin county for Covid19- but it wasn't enough.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/20/us/wisconsin-coronavirus.html
"What an extremely exciting day for American health care," Azar says. More than 2,000 people died yesterday. These guys are really just pretending that Trump won the election and everything is normal, covid19 never happened. There was no purpose to Alex Azar and Seema Verma's comments other than to remind Trump how big, powerful, and awesome he is. Big Führerbunker vibes.
It's terrorism for a president to say he forced FDA to make a medical decision to approve a vaccine. Americans need to know our public health officials like Dr Fauci are saying they're confident in the results we have so far and that an authorization would be safe.
I love you Edward Norton and Trump is doing what he's doing for ALL THE REASONS you and the media mentioned. The most important reason is the fact that Trump knows he and his family WILL be prosecuted the moment his Presidential immunity ends 20th January 2021. He knows the real fight for his life ends the moment that immunity ends.
I'm no political pundit but I grew up w a dad who was a federal prosecutor & he taught me a lot & I've also sat a fair amount of poker w serious players & l'll say this: I do not think Trump is trying to 'make his base happy' or 'laying the groundwork for his own network'...
https://twitter.com/EdwardNorton/status/1329728889296355328?
...or that 'chaos is what he loves'. The core of it is that he knows he's in deep, multi-dimensional legal jeopardy & this defines his every action. We're seeing 1) a tactical delay of the transition to buy time for coverup & evidence suppression 2) above all, a desperate endgame
https://twitter.com/EdwardNorton/status/1329728890143576070
...which is to create enough chaos & anxiety about peaceful transfer of power, & fear of irreparable damage to the system, that he can cut a Nixon-style deal in exchange for finally conceding. But he doesn't have the cards. His bluff after 'the flop' has been called in court...
https://twitter.com/EdwardNorton/status/1329728890965659648
His 'turn card' bluff will be an escalation & his 'River card' bluff could be really ugly. But they have to be called. We cannot let this mobster bully the USA into a deal to save his ass by threatening our democracy. THAT is his play. But he's got junk in his hand. So call him.
https://twitter.com/EdwardNorton/status/1329728891808739330
I will allow that he's also a whiny, sulky, petulant, Grinchy, vindictive little 10-ply-super-soft bitch who no doubt is just throwing a wicked pout fest & trying to give a tiny-hand middle finger to the whole country for pure spite, without a single thought for the dead & dying
https://twitter.com/EdwardNorton/status/1329728892618166273
But his contemptible, treasonous, seditious assault on the stability of our political compact isn't about 2024, personal enrichment or anything else other than trying to use chaos & threat to the foundation of the system as leverage to trade for a safe exit. Call. His. Bluff.
https://twitter.com/EdwardNorton/status/1329728893419327489
Faith in the strength of our sacred institutions & founding principles is severely stretched...but they will hold. They will. He's leaving, gracelessly & in infamy. But if we trade for it, give him some brokered settlement, we'll be vulnerable to his return. We can't flinch.
https://twitter.com/EdwardNorton/status/1329728894224666626
Trump's lawyers seem to have confused Michigan and Minnesota: In their filing alleging campaign fraud in Michigan, they listed townships in Minnesota.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/11/do-trumps-lawyers-know-what-they-are-doing.php
GOOD. ENOUGH WITH THE ANTISEMITISM: Pollard, the American convicted of spying for Israel in one of the most notorious espionage cases of the late Cold War, completed his parole on Friday, the Justice Department said, freeing him to go to Israel as he has said he intends to do.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/20/us/politics/jonathan-pollard-parole-ends.html
I hope we'll find when more states report that the mail ballot rejection rate in 2020 was down from 2016 due to a combination of changes to laws, education efforts, and election officials working with voters to fix problems
https://twitter.com/ElectProject/status/1329883623118540802
Nevada judge denies petition by a Republican congressional candidate to toss out and re-do the election in Clark County. Follow live coverage of failed GOP candidate Jim Marchant's longshot bid for an election re-do after getting pummeled by ~5 points and +10K votes at the ballot. Marchant stumbles out the gate, @ZoeTillman observes below in her live-tweet. 10-min recess right now.
https://twitter.com/KlasfeldReports/status/1329885924126314499
https://twitter.com/KlasfeldReports/status/1329862867949154310
Ironically, of course, both Smartmatic and Dominion are members of @realDonaldTrump's DHS/CISA Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Council:
https://cisa.gov/government-facilities-election-infrastructure-charters-and-membership
As someone *from Colorado,* she should know that everyone in Colorado votes entirely on paper ballots, not on Dominion voting machines — with the exception of a few voters w disabilities/accessibility issues who vote on ballot-marking devices, which still produce a paper ballot: Trump campaign lawyer @JennaEllisEsq claims election rigging in Colorado races, telling @630khow's @DanCaplis, "We are seeing how Dominion may have swung some of the state and local races in Colorado." Ellis did not provide evidence & Caplis did not ask for evidence. #9News
https://twitter.com/KyleClark/status/1329884708147056640
Portland is acquiring Boston's Enes Kanter in a three-way deal with Memphis, sources tell ESPN. Memphis gets Mario Hezonjia and 30th pick (Desmond Bane) from draft night deal as part of trade too. Celtics get a future Memphis draft consideration.News
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1329888113519259650
Kanter ($5M) slides into Portland's $7M trade exception and resumes the model at center -- Nurkic and Kanter -- that helped lead Portland to WCF. Nurkic got hurt late that season, but now he'll be starter with Kanter as backup. Zach Collins is recovering from ankle surgery.News
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1329891040740794368
Republican leaders from Michigan are very likely discussing plans for coup with Trump. Remind them who their bosses are. Do it now before it's too late. Rep Lee Chatfield: 1 (517) 373-2629 Sen. Mike Shirky: (517) 373-5932
http://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/20/us/politics/trump-meeting.amp.html
Updated: #Browns Myles Garrett tests positive for COVID-19 and will sit out the #Eagles game; Because he's symptomatic, he must miss at least 10 days, which puts the #Jaguars game next week in question too https://twitter.com/MaryKayCabot/status/1329798773103538177
Trump: You wouldn't have had a vaccine for another four years if it wasn't for me
#Nats are considering a trade for #Cubs 3B Kris Bryant, among numerous hitters they're currently monitoring on the market. Free agent DJ LeMahieu is another option, as I reported earlier today
https://twitter.com/jonmorosi/status/1329913694214631425
Mayor says multiple victims but no life-threatening injuries at Wauwatosa, Wisconsin mall, shooter remains at large.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/nation-world/story/2020-11-20/mayor-says-multiple-victims-but-no-life-threatening-injuries-at-wauwatosa-wisconsin-mall-shooter-remains-at-large
https://twitter.com/AP/status/1329908001478750209
You know that Americans are feeling a return to normalcy when there are active shooters at suburban malls again. Nature is healing.
Hell of a couple of years for Brian Kemp, accused by both left-wing and right-wing icons of stealing Georgia elections
Trump's lawyers have lots of affidavits. That doesn't mean as much as it seems.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/20/affidavit-giuliani-vote-fraud/
Sometimes your side loses elections. That's democracy. To throw around baseless claims of fraud, with no evidence, undermines our republic and threatens our most precious freedoms.
Kyle Rittenhouse says he used stimulus money to buy the gun he allegedly used to kill two during Wisconsin protest
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/19/us/kyle-rittenhouse-gun-kenosha/index.html
Think of all times the RNC screamed there was "evidence." In court, the Trump campaign was roasted by a judge for submitting affidavits only the basis only they believed they were not false, not whether they had any clue if they were true: A supercut of an Arizona judge examining the electronic form-letter affidavit collection process used by the Trump campaign to support one since-dismissed case. It yielded lies and "spam." The judge didn't let in the dodgy affidavits:
https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/trump-campaign-lawyer-admits-to-judge-our-search-for-evidence-of-fraud-produced-obvious-lies-and-spam/
Ben Carson says he was 'desperately ill' from Covid but is now 'out of the woods'
http://www.cnn.com/2020/11/20/politics/ben-carson-covid-diagnosis-update/index.html
I do agree: It was an honor to be with @FLOTUS and represent @WhiteHouseHstry to cut the ribbon for the new Isamu Noguchi sculpture in the Rose Garden. Noguchi is the first Asian American to have a work in the White House collection. This work is a terrific selection by the First Lady!
https://twitter.com/WHhistoryPres/status/1329910818163580930
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/28/books/review/listening-to-stone-the-art-and-life-of-isamu-noguchi.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/30/arts/art-review-modernist-in-the-making-noguchi-s-many-voices.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/arts/design/at-the-noguchi-museum-worlds-of-stone-fuse-the-physical-and-the-dreamlike.html
Progressives are ramping up public pressure on Biden to appoint progressives and keep corporate execs/consultants out of the admin, even as some in the transition are starting to grow frustrated since they have continued to engage the left privately.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/corporation-free-zone-progressives-press-biden-lock-out-big-business-n1248312
Part of the reason Biden is hiring people with ties to tech but not ties to Wall Street is simple: If you left Biden's VP office around ~2012, working for Wall Street was politically poisonous, but working for Facebook/Google/Apple was not.
Asked Biden if he will encourage teacher unions to cooperate to get kids back in school because the COVID task force said it is safe to be in the classroom. He didn't answer. "Why are you the only guy that always shouts out questions?" he said.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1329895714973999109
UN panel votes 163-5 in support of declaring the Jewish population of Israel and the West BanK as military targets and removing them by any means necessary from the West Bank and Israel
https://www.timesofisrael.com/un-votes-163-5-in-support-of-palestinian-statehood-end-of-occupation/
So last night, @mngop Chair @jkcarnah claimed "extreme abnormalities and statistical variations from Minnesota's historic voter trends" in the 2020 election. I delved into her specific claims, which turned out to be vague, off-base or simply wrong:
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/11/20/mngop-chairs-election-claims-unsupported-by-facts
OMB Documents Obtained by Chairs Yarmuth, Lowey, Maloney Show Trump Admin Withheld WHO Funds to Combat the Coronavirus Pandemic with Same Tactic Used in Illegal Ukraine Impoundment
https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/omb-documents-obtained-by-chairs-yarmuth-lowey-maloney-show-trump-admin-withheld
Where we're at:
-the legal challenges are getting tossed
-they wouldn't be enough to stop Biden's win anyway
-the aim is to overturn popular vote
-even if they worked the Senate could reject them
-democracy is being undermined
-most Republicans are silent
-Trump is making money
The Fifth Circuit denies qualified immunity for police who beat a non-resistant man outside a school. 1/
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a46U29TYNxOt-9o8IdqSXp2baCFq4ZI1/view?usp=drivesdk
https://twitter.com/RMFifthCircuit/status/1329919798873034762
OK let's just be clear about this - the idea that Mulgrew wanted a geographic approach, not a citywide approach, is brand new as of the morning after schools closed. When BdB closed the schools at 3%, Mulgrew sent a supportive statement. UFT was on board with that #.: Mulgrew: "This is very frustrating because we are the ones who worked hard to get our school system open. ... I believe there should be a geographic approach, not a city-wide approach."
https://cbsnews.com/video/nyc-schools-closed-learning-covid-19-teachers-union-michael-mulgrew/ via @CBSNLive
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/nyc-schools-closed-learning-covid-19-teachers-union-michael-mulgrew/
Please, Trump, show your support for these patriots!!...: Some Trump supporters on Parler want to boycott the Georgia runoff — or even write in Trump's name! #Genius
https://twitter.com/mbaram/status/1329896177073074182
Dear WH press corps,
This is the only question you should ask for the next 60 days.
It's the only one that matters.
You control the narrative.
Start acting like it.
https://twitter.com/BrianKarem/status/1329875432641097728
NOW: "what will it take for you to admit you lost the election sir?" @realDonaldTrump
https://twitter.com/BrianKarem/status/1329875432641097728
Donald Trump Jr. has covid19(https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-jr-tests-positive-for-coronavirus) and at this point it doesn't matter, most people will get infected with covid19 eventually, and most people won't even know it because most people are ASYMPTOMATIC. Almost all the elected officials who tested positive have been asymptomatic. It's possible Biden and Harris had covid19 already and do not know it because they were asymptomatic. The covid19 test they undergo does not check their blood for antibodies. Almost everybody in the US government is routinely tested for covid19, that's why so many are testing positive, and that's why they're mostly all Republican (most people working in the federal government are Republican). 99% are asymptomatic, they feel fine. A few, like Ben Carson and Don Young and Melania, were very sick.
Every Transition has raised money. Including Obama's.
https://twitter.com/neeratanden/status/1329928025903943686
In other news, 3 of 9 members of Cincinnati City Council have been arrested this year on bribery-related charges...
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2020/11/19/p-g-sittenfeld-cincinnati-city-council-arrest-fbi/3775193001/
After meeting with Trump, two Republican Michigan state lawmakers say they "have not yet been made aware of any information that would change the outcome of the election in Michigan."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-courts-state-lawmakers-amid-effort-to-block-biden-win-11605887559
Michigan Republican leaders issue statement on Trump meeting: We have not yet been made aware of any information that would change the outcome of the election in Michigan and as legislative leaders, we will follow the law and follow the normal process regarding Michigan's electors,
https://twitter.com/HeidiNBC/status/1329924603922231299
just as we have said throughout this election. Michigan's certification process should be a deliberate process free from threats and intimidation. Allegations of fraudulent behavior should be taken seriously, thoroughly investigated, and if proven, prosecuted to
https://twitter.com/HeidiNBC/status/1329924846571167750
the full extent of the law. And the candidates who win the most votes win elections and Michigan's electoral votes. These are simple truths that should provide confidence in our elections.
https://twitter.com/HeidiNBC/status/1329924904448307209
They also lobbied Trump on Covid19 relief: We used our time in the White House to deliver a letter to President Trump making clear our support for additional federal funds to help Michigan in the fight against COVID-19. We have since sent the same correspondence to congressional
https://twitter.com/HeidiNBC/status/1329928103653740544
Months ago, Michigan received funds through the federal CARES Act, and we used that funding to quickly support front line workers, improve testing, ensure adequate PPE, provide additional support to out-of-work Michiganders, and deliver assistance to local businesses
https://twitter.com/HeidiNBC/status/1329928282150744068
that are struggling through no fault of their own. We once again face a time in our state when additional support would go a long way to help those same residents who need our help.
https://twitter.com/HeidiNBC/status/1329928433208598528
Former acting ODNI is unaware of how domestic law works. It is not illegal for a reporter to disclose this information. It was also confirmed by a spokesperson. Don Junior's spokesman provided the information to @NBCNews. HIPAA doesn't apply to the press. News outlets are not covered entities.
https://twitter.com/RichardGrenell/status/1329926454801416192
How many times is Biden going to win Georgia?
Trump allies are spreading another baseless election rumor. The Army says there has been no raid on the offices of a business that makes software for local election officials. And the business does not "tabulate, tally or count votes" in U.S. elections.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/18/technology/scytl-trump.html
If Trump was a doctor and intentionally misled our nation about this pandemic, he'd be prosecuted for medical malpractice. Trump as POTUS aided and abetted a virus that murdered 253K+ Americans, committing Crimes Against Humanity & Genocide. The IntlCrimCourt should prosecute him.
This is a big, especially in light of the #FinCENFiles: @MarkWarner says his bipartisan bill to fight money laundering & terrorist financing has been included in the NDAA, the yearly defence spending bill. His bill forces shell companies to reveal their true owners to Treasury.
https://twitter.com/LoopEmma/status/1329927937685118977/photo/2
https://twitter.com/LoopEmma/status/1329927937685118977
It's the first time since 1944 a Democratic presidential candidate has carried Virginia by double digits.
https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/1329934216948305924
Virginia has certified its 2020 election results:
Biden 2,413,568 (54.1%)
Trump 1,962,430 (44.0%)
That's a 4.8 point margin swing against Trump vs. 2016 and a 12.0% increase in votes cast. https://cookpolitical.com/2020-national-popular-vote-tracker
https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/1329933694254133250
As Biden prepares to pick his cabinet, it's amazing to think that Hillary was confirmed as Obama's Sec State by a 94-2 Senate vote, on day one of his administration. Such a painless confirmation seems unfathomable today.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/20/us/politics/biden-nominees-senate-republicans.html
Hey everybody: It's over. Michigan ain't budging. Georgia ain't budging. Pennsylvania ain't budging.
War crimes reported in Ethiopia as the country sits on the brink of collapse
https://radio.foxnews.com/2020/11/19/evening-edition-war-crimes-reportedly-taking-place-in-ethiopias-civil-war/
A 15-year-old Kentucky girl who beat the odds against cancer last summer, died of Covid-19 this month
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/20/us/kentucky-student-cancer-covid-trnd/index.html
Rays DFA Hunter Renfroe
https://twitter.com/juanctoribio/status/1329924647228485633
Police: 8 people injured in Wisconsin mall shooting; shooter no longer at scene as authorities seek to identify suspect.
https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/1329938241986961410
You are the lawful president-elect. Quit begging for cash and quit pretending Republicans are your friends. Condemn the White House and call on the House to hold Emily Murphy in criminal contempt for impeding the transition.
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1329878933043515392
Yes, Trump can request a 2nd recount, but there was already one recount, and recounts don't overturn 10K+ vote margins.
Kevin Durant's brother Tony, in an Instagram comment, says free agent Serge Ibaka is headed to the Brooklyn Nets. Free agency begins at 6 PM ET.
Trees Are Time Machines. Arborists are planting trees today that must survive decades of global warming. The health, comfort, and happiness of city dwellers hang in the balance.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/10/trees-need-be-future-proofed/616660/
Free agent center Mason Plumlee has agreed to a three-year, $25M deal with the Detroit Pistons, his agent Mark Bartelstein of @PrioritySports tells ESPN.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1329933651757457408
Free agent center Jahlil Okafor has agreed to a two-year deal with the Detroit Pistons, sources tell ESPN.News
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1329938585043267584
The Pistons are going to collect all of the underwhelming centers of the mid 2010s
Jahlil Okafor vs. Pistons 25 Points/5 Assists/3 Blocks Full Highlights (1/13/2020)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnB8QdgeO8Q
I had heard that the Pistons were the Nuggets' top competition for Jerami Grant. Within an hour of free agency opening, Detroit has reportedly agreed to deals with both Mason Plumlee and Jahlil Okafor. Good news for Denver.
https://twitter.com/HarrisonWind/status/1329939384490024960?s=20
Jerami "Steph Curry" Grant please resign with Denver or go to Warriors....
________________
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/10/trees-need-be-future-proofed/616660/
Trees Are Time Machines
Arborists are planting trees today that must survive decades of global warming. The health, comfort, and happiness of city dwellers hang in the balance.
by Clive Thompson
October 9, 2020
City trees lead difficult lives. A lot of things are trying to kill them, particularly the trees planted on sidewalks: Tightly compacted soil with high alkaline content makes it harder for them to absorb nutrients. Tiny plots of land admit very little rainwater. They've got dogs peeing on them, people dropping cigarette butts nearby, and cars belching pollution.
"We're talking about trees that are very vulnerable," says Navé Strauss, the head of street-tree planting for New York City. His team manages the planting of new trees on streets and public rights of way; there are more than 666,000 street trees in the city, and the team plants about 16,000 new ones annually. For decades, New York arborists have tended to prefer "tough," hardy species that thrive well against adversity—such as the London planetree, which sports grayish bark and big, maple-like leaves that offer sidewalks tons of shade.
But lately, Strauss has been looking for trees that can handle an even tougher challenge: climate change.
In the past century, the United States has heated up as much as 1.9 degrees Fahrenheit. The natural cycle of cities is already being pushed in new directions; in New York, spring now begins a week earlier than in the 1950s. Current predictions suggest that the temperature in the city will rise by up to 6 degrees by the 2050s, and up to 10 degrees by the 2080s. This hotter climate will bring longer periods of drought too. That will require some entirely new trees that can survive, and thrive, in the decades to come.
One stands out: "There's this crazy tree out in Arizona, where it's highly, highly dry," Strauss told me. A few of its relatives, the northern catalpa, have already migrated to New York and thrived, sporting huge leaves and flowers. "You'll see them growing in vacant lots, where you'd be like—Where's their food source?" he laughed. That's why he thinks this new hybrid ought to be able to handle the coming droughts. So he pulled the trigger, and 10 of them went into the ground. Within a few years, Strauss and his team will know whether this tree will be a useful part of New York's warmer, weirder climate.
[Read: Trees have their own songs[
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/04/trees-have-their-own-songs/521742/
Urban foresters think a lot about their cities' distant future, because when you plant trees, you have to. A well-maintained tree in an urban park can last 150 years or longer. A sidewalk tree lives a shorter period, but it still might get 30 years or more. So a city arborist is always thinking: What's this city going to be like 20 years from now? Or 50? Or 100? Trees are time machines, connecting us to the future.
American cities are host to 3.8 billion trees—on sidewalks, in parks, in our front yards and backyards, outside houses of worship and office complexes. They're crucial for urban life: Most notably, trees cool down cities by creating shade and engaging in transpiration, the process by which they return water vapor into the atmosphere. Together, these effects can lower the temperature of a city street a few degrees (and as much as 10 degrees, as one recent study found). Studies have also found that well-placed trees can reduce air-conditioning costs by about one-third. Trees also remove up to 24 percent of dust; studies show that kids who live near urban trees have lower rates of asthma. Trees can even make pavement last a decade longer.
https://thought-leadership-production.s3.amazonaws.com/2016/10/28/17/17/50/0615788b-8eaf-4b4f-a02a-8819c68278ef/20160825_PHA_Report_FINAL.pdf
https://www.pnas.org/content/116/15/7575
https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr201/psw_gtr201.pdf
https://blog.nature.org/science/2016/10/31/planting-healthy-air-can-urban-trees-help-clean-up-pollution/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3415223/
https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/topics/urban_forestry/products/cufr639mcpherson-JOA-pavingshade.pdf
If cities want to keep those benefits, they've got to plan for a future with a different, more hostile climate. As cities heat up, they effectively become different places, where a species that has persisted for hundreds of years can no longer thrive. By some estimates, the habitable zones for 130 of the country's tree species could move north by more than 400 miles by the end of the century. New invasive species will arrive. Unless cities continually adapt, these shifts could significantly erode their tree canopies, making urban landscapes uglier—and more unlivable.
https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/57/11/939/234280
If you wander around Louisville, Kentucky, you'll find trees tucked in nooks all over—some dotting the downtown sidewalks, big clusters of mature ones along the snaky banks of the Ohio River, and even a few young trees adding a splash of green in front of the KFC Yum! Center sports complex.
But those trees are in danger. After an assessment of its urban forest in 2015, the local government discovered that the city was losing its canopy at a startling rate of 54,000 trees a year. The reasons for the decline are multifaceted, ranging from real-estate development to disease. The emerald ash borer, an invasive Asian beetle species that has been on a rampage across the United States, poses a particular problem. It destroys ash, a tree commonly planted in urban areas because of its good leaf cover and (normally) hardy nature. More than one in 10 trees in Jefferson County, where Louisville is located, are ash.
But on top of those problems, Louisville's rate of heating is intense: Research by Brian Stone, the director of the Urban Climate Lab, discovered that Louisville had the fastest-growing urban heat-island effect of any other American city he and his team had studied.
https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/sites.gatech.edu/dist/f/1440/files/2020/09/Stone-et-al_Urban-Heat-Mgt-in-Louisville.pdf
"Big red flag, big red flag," says Cindi Sullivan, a horticulturalist who used to work for the city and is now the executive director of TreesLouisville, a group that funds tree planting across the city. On top of regular climate warming, Louisville has the curse of geography; it's in the Ohio Valley, and "the air will tend to kind of hang," as Sullivan told me. "Unfortunately, that's why we're also called the allergy and asthma capital of the world." Some of the city's local climate change can likely be attributed to the loss of trees. Trees are, in effect, lo-fi geoengineering on an urban scale. Plant them, and things cool down; remove them, and things heat up.
[Read: The best technology for fighting climate change? Trees]
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/02/the-best-technology-for-fighting-climate-change-trees/385304/
So Louisville needs to plant more trees, and ones that are future-proofed. This means working with private citizens, because in Jefferson County, most of the trees aren't on public land such as streets or parks. Fully 70 percent grow on private property, rooted in people's yards. Rebuilding the canopy thus means making it as easy as possible for everyday citizens to plant a new tree; among other things, Sullivan's group raises money to subsidize all this planting. It connects residents with software from the Arbor Day Foundation that lets a Louisville resident find the best place on their property to plant a tree that'll provide maximum shade and energy savings.
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/tech/science/environment/2016/02/26/city-struggles-dig-out-deep-tree-deficit/80623018/
But which species of tree will survive Louisville's emerging climate? Lately, Sullivan's group has been looking for trees that are native a bit farther south, such as Ulmus crassifolia, the cedar elm. It produces a big cloud of oval leaves, offering terrific shade, and it's also good at dealing with drought.
And drought resistance is maybe even more important than heat resistance, if you want a tree that's future-proof. Under climate change, city planners note, their precipitation is increasingly arriving in bursts; they get longer jags with less rain, followed by torrential downpours. When weather becomes spiky like that, a healthy urban canopy is even more crucial to have around, because trees help reduce the runoff that would otherwise overwhelm a city's drain system. But the catch is finding a tree that can handle those erratic, feast-or-famine rainfall patterns. Crassifolia, Sullivan thinks, fits the bill for Louisville, and, as a bonus, it's aesthetically interesting. "It's a really cool tree," she told me. "It has quirky bark, quirky stem—there are these ridges that fall all along the branches and stems."
On a personal level, Sullivan also has high hopes for the zydeco twist, a species of black gum she planted at her own Louisville home nine years ago. The zydeco twist is originally from Louisiana, and Sullivan bubbled with excitement as she described it to me. "It has great fall colors—oh my gosh, it is fluorescent everything, all at the same time. It's purple and it's red and it's yellow and it's orange. I mean, it is amazing; it's a beautiful tree!" She predicts that hers could survive another 50 to 90 years, well into maturity.
Sullivan's sheer joy at her zydeco twist points to another reason cities need trees: They lift the human spirit. Trees don't just keep the city cool and the air clean. They also have powerful aesthetic and psychological effects.
You can see it even in the numbers. People are more likely to walk down tree-laden streets, and they pay a premium of 6 to 9 percent for homes in neighborhoods with good tree cover. Sick people do better when surrounded by trees, too: One study found that patients recovering from surgery spent 8.5 percent less time in the hospital when they had a view of nature, compared with those who didn't. Other research found that children with ADHD displayed better concentration after a 20-minute walk in a green park. Trees even appear, remarkably, to correlate with lower rates of crime: Academic research in 2001 discovered that apartments with abundant greenery experienced 52 percent less crime than those with less foliage.
https://www.naturewithin.info/Policy/Hedonics.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/17043718_View_Through_a_Window_May_Influence_Recovery_from_Surgery
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18725656/
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013916501333002
Exactly why trees have such a powerful effect on us is not clear, though in the 1980s, the biologist Edward O. Wilson advanced the concept of biophilia, "an innately emotional affiliation of human beings to other living organisms." We've co-evolved with trees, so maybe we have an emotional bond with them. Some scientists note that trees have self-replicating fractal patterns—the structure of a leaf resembles the structure of an entire tree—which may tickle human brains in ways that few other urban objects do.
"You start seeing, through biophilia, what the dappled shade does," says Janette Monear, the head of the Texas Trees Foundation, a nonprofit that supports urban forestry in the state. "Your reptilian brain really connects to nature."
[Read: Trees that have lived for millennia are suddenly dying]
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/baobab-trees-dying-climate-change/562499/
I remember noticing this effect myself after Hurricane Sandy swept through Brooklyn, where I live, in 2012. It destroyed 319 trees in Prospect Park, a huge, 585-acre green space where some 30,000 trees grow. Of those trees that were killed, almost 50 were very mature—more than 150 years old, planted when the park was constructed in the 19th century. When I wandered through the park two days after the hurricane, local residents were standing in little clusters around the huge, toppled elms and oaks, and I saw a few people weeping. "I feel like someone has died," one cleanup volunteer told the local radio station WNYC.
Sandy was "a big wake-up call to us to make sure that we're considering planting trees that are going to be climate-adapted," New York's Navé Strauss told me. Kristen King, a colleague of Strauss's, is the city's director of natural-areas restoration and management, in charge of planting and maintaining New York's parkland, which has about 2 million trees. King and Strauss know that climate change means more superstorms like Sandy. They're easing back on planting trees that won't thrive in the hotter, wilder weather to come, such as sugar maple ("they need that cold," Strauss says) and northern red oak.
Increasing the diversity of trees is also crucial, King told me. In previous decades, the city had a fairly small range of trees, with only 40 different species. Now King oversees parks and forests with 180 species.
"If you have diversity, you have some built-in resilience," she says. "If you lose one species, you don't lose them all." This is arguably what got cities in such trouble when they overplanted the ash in the 20th century, only to be sideswiped by the ash borer decades later. "Our work in forest management is to fight against monoculture," King says.
Trees don't show you your results right away," as Rob Davis told me. "You can build a new building, you can put new sod in, you can build new roads—but no matter how much money and power somebody has, they can't put back 50-year-old trees."
Davis, back when I spoke with him two years ago, was a forester for Denver, and he was making a crucial point about urban trees: They are the acme of civic planning. You want a street lined with mature, 50-year trees with tons of shade? Great! Even if you find the money and space to plant them, you need to wait half a century to see the fruits of your labor. Odds are you'll be dead by then. This means that urban trees require serious forethought; they're the opposite of what's-in-it-for-me-right-now transactional politics.
The White House has abandoned serious climate planning, and federal climate legislation has also flagged. But some state and local governments have enacted effective climate action. Cities are more responsive, because they're closer to where early climate problems are already being felt—including flooding coastal towns and sweltering inland ones. And city councils are a lot more accessible to activists too. When it comes to the urban canopy, everyday citizens have led the way: Some cities created an urban-forestry department after being urged by local nonprofit groups that had spent years doing volunteer work to aid green spaces; in others, urban-forestry departments rely on volunteer labor, such as "citizen pruners" (permitted to clear dead or hanging branches as they wander the town) and residents who walk around with clipboards doing tree censuses.
Thus far, Denver's trees have survived the temperature increase of the 20th and early 21st centuries pretty well. Davis has seen pictures taken in the late 1800s showing American elm trees that still stand today. But Denver is now heating up in ways that longtime locals can notice too. "I've lived in Colorado all my life, and we used to play ice hockey on ponds here," he noted. "Good luck playing ice hockey on a pond here anymore."
Sara Davis, who worked as Denver's urban-forestry program manager when I interviewed her in 2018 (she's currently the city forester for Carmel-by-the-Sea, California), agreed. "We're getting heavy, wet snow at the wrong time," she said. "It was a couple of years ago that we had a huge storm on Mother's Day. Everything was in leaf, and it was—how many inches of wet snow? Eight inches?"
So they, too, are focusing on trees that might survive the hotter, spottier weather in decades to come. Kentucky coffeetrees—with pointed oval leaves that cast a mountain of shade—will thrive, they suspect, because they handle drought easily and don't seem much bothered yet by invasive species.
It might also be that, when it comes to trees, our urban future will borrow from our truly ancient past.
I asked Jenny Willoughby, the sustainability manager for Frederick, Maryland, how the city's trees would fare in the hotter decades to come. She worried that one loser would be the sugar maple.
"We're getting out of their range," she said. Her phrasing reminded me that the language of cities and climate change can be odd. When you speak of a city going "out of range" for a tree, it makes it sound like the city is the thing that's moving—as if it were an unmoored ship, floating away, pushed along by the tides of climate. Willoughby is also concerned about the fate of the eastern white pine, and the chestnut oak, which is already showing signs of distress.
When I asked her what trees might thrive, she brightened: "Ginkgo!" The ginkgo tree, as she noted, has a strange history. More than 200 million years ago, it was native to the landmass that became North America, back when the Earth was composed of one supercontinent, Pangaea. When continental drift broke Pangaea apart, the ginkgo vanished from North America. It thrived in Asia, though, where it became a common, hardy tree with large, fan-shaped leaves, and one famous for longevity—Japan and China have ginkgo trees that are more than 1,000 years old.
In 1784, William Hamilton, a wealthy botanical collector in Philadelphia, brought ginkgo trees back to the United States to plant on his property. The architect Frank Lloyd Wright loved them, and partly because of Wright's influence, the ginkgo spread into cities across the country. It's still an extremely hardy tree; two of those Hamilton originally planted were alive two centuries later. After hundreds of millions of years, the ginkgo had finally come back to America.
"It's technically native," Willoughby noted, so it thrives almost anywhere in the United States. But it doesn't have any species that attack it, nor any that it attacks and crowds out, which makes it a useful addition to a city's forests. "It's a really weird conundrum. Ecologically, it exists outside of the whole web—it's a living fossil. It really hasn't changed over the years. And it really can survive cold and heat, and seems to be happy wherever you put it." One of the trees that helps cities survive climate change may well be one that survived the dinosaurs.
Clive Thompson is a writer who covers science and technology. His latest book is Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World.
________________
Free agent Jordan Clarkson has agreed to a four-year, $52M deal with the Utah Jazz, his agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports tells ESPN.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1329943993577299969
CISA's No. 2 official, Matthew Travis, pressured by the White House to resign, finishes his last day at the agency, as the (presumably short) new era of Acting Director Brandon Wales begins: DHS badge turned in; office lights turned out. Profoundly honored to have been @CISAgov co-pilot for @C_C_Krebs. Nation needs more leaders like him. 2-year old CISA now custom-built for performance + speed. Good luck to Team Biden-Harris who will make it even better.
https://twitter.com/Travis55DC/status/1329933866484854787
Mystery Deposition in Ghislaine Maxwell Civil Case Will Be Unsealed on Monday
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/mystery-deposition-in-ghislaine-maxwell-civil-case-will-be-unsealed-on-monday/
Justice Dept. schedules 3 more illegal and unconstitutional federal executions during lame-duck period, including two days before Biden sworn in.
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-inaugurations-executions-0e718e4e59acc0e9e85d089079d7d651
In AZ, the latest iteration of Sharpiegate has been dismissed with prejudice, per the court's website (don't have a written order yet). There was a hearing earlier today in this case, see:
https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1329943337919524865
Trump and his allies are now 2-33 in post election litigation.
There are few constants in the world, but you can always count on:
- Ted Cruz willfully lying about Section230
- Devin Nunes filing bullshit defamation lawsuits using a sketchy, ethically challenged lawyer, and
- Firefox not releasing your RAM even after closing all those tabs
A Republican state senate candidate in Nevada has dropped her election challenge in Clark County seeking a revote, two days after filing the contest notice (doc courtesy of Democracy Docket) — this is one of several similar cases filed by this attorney in NV over the past week
https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1329942360436989952
Free agent Derrick Favors has agreed to a three-year, nearly $30 deal with the Utah Jazz, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.News
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1329945861426737155
Twitter will hand @POTUS to Biden on Inauguration Day, even if Trump doesn't concede. "Twitter is actively preparing to support the transition of White House institutional Twitter accounts on January 20th, 2021," a Twitter spokesperson said.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/20/twitter-trump-transition-biden-potus-438880
We are waiting for a guy who hasn't accepted his own hair loss to accept losing an election.
A reminder that environmentalists and animal rights activists are serving serious prison time and labelled as domestic terrorists for having mass released minks years ago.
Kalief Browder's family was not allowed to post his bail so he spent 3 years in Rikers Island for allegedly stealing a backpack. There are Two Americas. Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who is charged with murdering two people (and the murders are on video) during a protest in Wisconsin was released from custody today after posting $2 million bail
Since Covid19 arrived, 326,000 more Americans have died than would have in a normal year. https://nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/05/us/coronavirus-death-toll-us.html
What do they have in common? So far, all 12 House Dem losses have been to GOP women/minorities.
House Republican pickups:
#CA21 David Valadao
#CA39 Young Kim
#CA48 Michelle Park Steel
#FL26 Carlos Gimenez
#FL27 Maria Elvira Salazar
#IA01 Ashley Hinson
#MN07 Michelle Fischbach
#NM02 Yvette Herrell
#NY11 Nicole Malliotakis
#OK05 Stephanie Bice
#SC01 Nancy Mace
#UT04 Burgess Owens
https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/1329951594809618449
The chair of the Minnesota Republican Party promised allegations of "extreme data abnormalities" that "don't make sense" and ended up just doing a 3-tweet thread about Joe Biden's substantial gains in the outer Minneapolis suburbs
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EnTvp9dW8AA0QpT?format=jpg&name=medium
"You married your brother"
"Things might be different where you come from"
Incoming congresswoman and sitting congresswoman trade insults on Twitter
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EnS-h2FXEAE-fwV?format=png&name=small
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EnS-h2pXYAUTVee?format=png&name=small
https://twitter.com/peterjhasson/status/1329897590725423105
GOOD. SIXERS STACKED. Free agent Dwight Howard has agreed to a one-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers, his agent Charles Briscoe tells @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1329960730511233027
Lakers, well, Everybody, just got Dwightmared again
Free agent F Danilo Gallinari is finalizing a three-year, $61.5M contract with the Atlanta Hawks, his agent Michael Tellem of CAA Sports tells ESPN.
http://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1329960035837939712
LeBron James says the voting-access organization he started, More Than a Vote, ahead of the 2020 election is "not just a one-off." It'll remain active in the Georgia runoffs and beyond. "We're going to continue to figure out ways we can create change."
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1329967769400397826
Michigan attorney general ponders criminal probes of state and local officials who bend to Trump’s will on overturning election results
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/michigan-attorney-general-canvassing-board-lawmakers/2020/11/20/87d19ce6-2b65-11eb-8fa2-06e7cbb145c0_story.html
Cool. Is he going to swing by and visit Al-Qaeda and ISIS/ISIL to give them high-fives too? Days after Trump
announces early troop drawdown from Afghanistan, SecPompeo to meet tomorrow in Doha with the Taliban. He'll also meet with the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Negotiation Team.
The Los Angeles Lakers are nearing a deal with Montrezl Harrell, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1329977779434053632
Lakers fans deleting comments. What the fuck Golden State Warriors, you needed to sign Montrezl, or Dwight Howard.
US judge Beryl Howell bars USAGM CEO Michael Pack and his team from investigating or interfering with journalists at Voice of America & sister networks - a significant win for Pack's internal critics
https://www.npr.org/2020/11/20/935456549/voas-5-months-under-trump-ceo-lawsuits-bias-claims-and-a-sex-scandal
So actor Rick Schroder of SilverSpoons fame & the My Pillow CEO both put up money for Kyle Rittenhouse's bail after he murdered two people & injured another protesting in support Black Lives Matter? Both Schroder & Mike Lindell have been arrested for domestic violence too.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-kyle-rittenhouse-out-of-jail-after-posting-two-million-bond-20201120-w7q34vwdfbc3llwesn3hbmdjee-story.html
The Thunder have agreed in principle to trade Steven Adams to the Pelicans as part of a multi-team trade, sources tell ESPN. OKC is getting back -- wait for it -- future first-round pick and second-round picks.
http://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1330034629387096066
Clippers players are legitimately shocked that Montrezl Harrell signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. They didn't expect this.
PG: yo, so we seeing you at the Staples Center for training camp?
Harrell: Yeah, Staples Centre.
????? Free agent Jerami Grant has agreed to a three-year, $60 million deal with the Detroit Pistons, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. Deal negotiated by agent Mike Kneisley.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1329982846291894273
Free agent Derrick Jones has agreed to a two-year, $19M deal with the Portland Trail Blazers, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1329988235397836801
Free agent JaMychal Green has agreed to a two-year, $15M deal with the Denver Nuggets, with player option in second season, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.News
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1330038700894466048
The Nuggets, Golden State, Rockets, and Clippers are out of contention. Portland, Lakers, Sixers, Pistons, Oklahoma, are stacked.
Robin Lopez has agreed to terms with the Washington Wizards.
https://twitter.com/KeithSmithNBA/status/1329992853850820610
Mavericks guard Delon Wright is headed to Detroit as a part of a three-team trade with OKC, source tells ESPN. Detroit's Trevor Ariza is going to the Mavericks.
http://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1330030918459936769
Trevor "I have houses everywhere" Ariza has got to be the most traded player ever
The Thunder have traded with 12 teams in the past 5 days
One more time amid the madness so we're all clear: Dallas gets James Johnson (from OKC), Detroit gets Delon Wright (from Dallas), OKC gets Trevor Ariza (from Detroit), Justin Jackson (Dallas) and draft compensation to be explained later.
The Lakers path to the 2021 Finals through the West got easier in the past 48 hours. They restacked their team yet are bankrupt in the triple-digit billions (lost revenue from covid19)
The Saints put QB Drew Brees on injured reserve. He's out at least three games.
Stop Donald Trump's coup. Impeach him again (Democrats, won't, they're terrorist cowards no different than Republicans)
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-11-20/stop-donald-trumps-coup-impeach-him-again
If you want to help the democrats in Georgia, go to www.gasenate.com and donate. It will direct you to an ActBlue fund that will split your donation between each of the Georgia Democratic Senate campaigns and Stacey Abrams's Fair Fight organization to prevent voter suppression. This is the site that Stacey Abrams created just for this reason.
FFS: Staff of U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn says she misspoke by calling Biden President-Elect
https://tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2020/11/20/tennessee-senator-marsha-blackburn-donald-trump-joe-biden-president-elect/6367537002/
On Monday, Ted Cruz called Sherrod Brown a "complete ass" for asking a maskless Dan Sullivan (R) to wear his mask in the Senate. Since then, 87-year-old Chuck Grassley (R) and Rick Scott (R) have both tested positive for Covid19.
At one point OKC had Russ, KD, Harden, Adams, and Ibaka and lost them all, with nothing to show for it
Scott Brown and his wife fly around New Zealand on a private jet so that he doesn't have to quarantine, and taxpayers get to foot the bill. Hard to imagine a dumber use of money
https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-new-zealand-wellington-scott-brown-united-states-12869f9f18b1bfbc8ea1630f7aeb3e6c
LOUISIANA EARLY VOTING
While there is no statewide race, the "big races" instead are (1) 5th CD runoff (Reps Lance Harris/Luke Letlow), (2) EBR Mayor-President's race (Dem Sharon Weston Broome/Rep Steve Carter), (3) PSC race in SE LA (Rep Eric Skrmetta/Dem Allen Borne)(1/)
https://twitter.com/WinWithJMC/status/1330155732851974147
Being from Baton Rouge (and the fact that the EBR race is a Rep/Dem race in a Dem leaning parish) my analytical focus is there.
1. 4182 EVd in EBR - that's "10% turnout bad"
2. Healthy black turnout - EV was 54-43% white/black
3. 25% voted by mail - pretty strong VBM %(2/)
https://twitter.com/WinWithJMC/status/1330155733833408514
In my experience, Dems turn out is strongest on Saturdays, so that likely means a strong Dem vote today and next Sat (the last day to early vote). Meaning Republicans have to play "catchup" on Mon, Tue, and Wed. In a Dem leaning parish that voted for Biden 56-42%(3/3)
https://twitter.com/WinWithJMC/status/1330155734819016706
Taliban launches 23 rockets at Kabul, Afghanistan, murdering eight civilians, as Pompeo plans to hang out with Taliban for photo opportunity
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/21/world/middleeast/afghanistan-kabul-rocket-attack.html
The United States reported 195,542 new coronavirus19 cases on Friday, the highest number of new cases in a single day since the pandemic began.
https://twitter.com/ryanstruyk/status/1330157296945664001
The United States has now crossed 12,000,000 Covid-19 infections. America has 4.25% of the global population, but 20% of all coronavirus19 cases, and 18.5% of all deaths.
Free agent F Moe Harkless has agreed to a one-year, $3.6M deal with the Miami Heat, sources tell ESPN.
http://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1330169612886044672
Free agent guard Kris Dunn has agreed to a two-year, $10M deal with the Atlanta Hawks, sources tell ESPN. Player option on the second year.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1330183029353025540
Maricopa County Republican Supervisor Bill Gates debunks the Dominion conspiracy. "Frankly, those people who have problems with this software have had multiple opportunities to go to court, to present evidence, and the courts have found that there are not any issues."
https://twitter.com/i/status/1330196547166941195
NBC News has confirmed nearly 50 Covid-19 cases among the Trump administration and campaign officials.
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1330194264886689792
Trump is skipping a side-event at the G20 virtual summit focused on pandemic preparedness, golfing instead.
https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/1330193020109647872
A meeting of some G-20 leaders on coordinating the global response to the pandemic just concluded. And Trump was at his golf club and did not participate
https://twitter.com/mikememoli/status/1330197952355299335/photo/1
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EnXP_N4XYAEUdPJ?format=jpg&name=900x900
The number of inbound containers into LA and Long Beach ports (the busiest in the US) has surged to a record high, as companies re-stock after the US-China trade war and Covid. That means trucking too, boosting diesel
https://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-20/record-cargo-flow-to-west-coast-port-offers-oil-market-lifeline
In Wisconsin, some counties use Dominion voting machines and some don't. The Trump campaign only requested a recount in Dane County and Milwaukee County—both of which don't use Dominion machines: https://elections.wi.gov/sites/elections.wi.gov/files/2020-02/%28External%29%20WI%20Voting%20Equipment%20List%20by%20Municipality%20February%202020.pdf
If the Trump campaign thought the Dominion conspiracy theories were remotely plausible, wouldn't they want the counties that used Dominion machines to receive this level of scrutiny?
https://twitter.com/McCormackJohn/status/1329889261970186242
Deep Frozen Arctic Microbes Are Waking Up. Thawing permafrost is releasing microorganisms, with consequences that are still largely unknown
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/deep-frozen-arctic-microbes-are-waking-up/
Nazi concentration camp guard to be deported from America to Germany
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12383974
Women activists, political prisoners 'sexually assaulted, tortured and executed in Saudi Arabia' jails
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-prisoners-womens-human-rights-b1745241.html
Computer simulations suggest that using geoengineering to cool the planet would not be enough to overcome greenhouse effects if emissions continue at the current rate
https://phys.org/news/2020-11-simulations-geoengineering-global-greenhouse-gasses.html
We've now found microplastics on the very highest and lowest points on Earth. Mount Everest is littered with them. They have also been found in human poop, Arctic ice, and the Mariana Trench 36,000 feet deep in the Pacific Ocean.
https://www.businessinsider.com/mount-everest-summit-microplastics-study-national-geographic-2020-11
Death of black man beaten by supermarket security guards sparks violent protests at Brazil's Carrefour stores
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/11/21/death-black-man-beaten-supermarket-security-guards-sparks-violent/
Australian War Crimes Report Released; Australian Soldiers Would Slit the Throats of Afghan Children, and Then Dump Their Bodies in Rivers; 39 Murders Confirmed, Many More Possibly Committed
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2020/nov/19/australian-soldiers-sas-war-crimes-afghanistan-australia-special-forces-inquiry-brereton-report-released-latest-live-updates
Free agent Avery Bradley has agreed to a two-year, $11.6M deal with the Miami Heat, his agent Charles Briscoe tells @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1330219614517780481
Free agent Gordon Hayward is signing a 4-year, $120M deal with Charlotte, per source.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1330216568450650113
YEP: Joe Biden Owes His Victory to the Left, No Matter What the Democratic Party Says. Organizers, not consultants, delivered key states like Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia. Democrats ignore this reality at their peril
https://inthesetimes.com/article/joe-biden-2020-election-grassroots-left
GOOD: Democrats' New Plan To Win Georgia's Crucial Senate Seats In A Pandemic Is To Actually Knock On Doors
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zahrahirji/georgia-senate-race-democrats-on-ground-covid
Joe Biden is against the death penalty and will work to end its use, his spokesman said, as the Justice Department scheduled three more federal executions before the Jan. 20 inauguration.
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-prisons-inaugurations-coronavirus-pandemic-executions-365258989e6be8d7077b2f67d8c3e190
Months after the recession hit, Kelly Loeffler & her husband set up a scheme at the world's most notorious tax shelter specifically so the biggest banks could trade the same derivatives that just brought down the global economy — tax free.
https://salon.com/2020/11/21/kelly-loeffler-marketed-derivatives-during-great-recession-at-worlds-most-notorious-tax-haven/
Free agent Jae Crowder has agreed to a three-year deal with the Phoenix Suns
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1330224397467185153
Not gonna lie, the Black Rifle Coffee Kenosha thing has me pretty messed up right now. The United States has an entire flourishing market sector of George Zimmermans, by George Zimmermans, for George Zimmermans
Trump campaign attorneys are now insisting that the count should "stop immediately" in Milwaukee County, claiming that they have already objected to hundreds or thousands of envelopes this morning that have not been set aside.
https://twitter.com/MSpicuzzaMJS/status/1330194860742242308
The board has voted 2-1 to reject the Trump campaign attorney call to stop the count. They are instead bringing up representing representatives from each municipality to confirm that they understand how to handle objections.
https://twitter.com/MSpicuzzaMJS/status/1330197206863912962
Milwaukee County Elections Director Julietta Henry says some observers are objecting to EVERY absentee ballot that is folded. (Absentee ballots are all folded, so that would be every absentee ballot.)
https://twitter.com/MSpicuzzaMJS/status/1330197982076137473
The Brown Deer clerk says an observer told her that she would be objecting to "all folded ballots." Trump campaign attorneys say maybe she just couldn't see the ballots that were folded - but say the campaign will not argue all absentee ballots that are folded are invalid.
https://twitter.com/MSpicuzzaMJS/status/1330199960223182849
Claire Woodall-Vogg, the City of Milwaukee's chief elections official, says that Trump campaign observers have objected to every single envelope for Ward 5 and every single ballot in Ward 1 in the City of Milwaukee.
https://twitter.com/MSpicuzzaMJS/status/1330202327798734848
Neil Albrecht says that a Trump campaign observer was moving from table to table at the Milwaukee County recount objecting to all City of Milwaukee ballots that were cast. Elections officials are asking for answers from Trump campaign attorneys.
https://twitter.com/MSpicuzzaMJS/status/1330205506498080772
Rajon Rondo has agreed to a two-year, $15M deal with Atlanta Hawks, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1330262001344507912
A bipartisan group of Georgia teens is trying to flip the Senate by enlisting thousands of students to vote in the January runoffs
https://www.businessinsider.com/georgia-senate-runoff-young-voters-movement-flip-the-senate-2020-11
Kansas issued a face mask order. Counties that opted out saw Covid-19 cases rise 100% in 6 weeks, CDC says
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/11/21/covid-19-kansas-face-masks-prevented-rise-coronavirus-cases/6373257002/
Free agent Carmelo Anthony is finalizing a deal to re-sign with the Portland Trail Blazers, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1330273048025509894
The Spurs, Warriors, Clippers, Celtics, Rockets have done next to nothing in free agency....
In light of today's filing (Republican candidate Sean Parnell joining a lawsuit today claiming PA's mail-in voting is unconstitutional): Here's an April tweet from Sean Parnell touting Pennsylvania's "bipartisan system in place for early & mail in voting", referring to Act 77: Voting IS a cornerstone of our republic. That's why we must protect the sanctity of the process. Your proposal undermines it.
Moreover, PA already has a bipartisan system in place for early & mail in voting that can safeguard public health & protect the voting process. Use it!
https://twitter.com/SeanParnellUSA/status/1249872115450478593
https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/sean-parnell-is-suing-pa-over-mail-in-voting-even-though-he-praised-mail-in-voting-earlier-this-year/Content?oid=18413927
Trump stacked the government with HOLLYWOOD PRODUCERS, the Republican political establishment, the Republican media, etc.
Texas National Guard troops help El Paso with an overflow of close to 240 bodies, per below thread.
https://twitter.com/KeenanKFOX_CBS/status/1330256764533661698?s=20
We know you lost. We know there are 260K dead and the coronavirus pandemic is widespread. We know you are at fault and we know you will be gone from the White House 1/20/2021. Buh Bye.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1330273053104885762
To reiterate, every single member of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors—comprised of four Republicans and one Democrat—voted last night to certify the election there.
https://twitter.com/KlasfeldReports/status/1330272998113284096
Utterly despicable, nothing but TERRORISTS, DEPORT THEM: Secret plans helped Brooklyn synagogue pull off massive, maskless wedding
https://twitter.com/nypmetro/status/1330242115620794369
Armed fascist group displaying white supremacist symbols today in Wisconsin
https://twitter.com/BresPolitico/status/1330266995888185346
A Michigan deputy was fired after posting a racist photo of a watermelon Jack-O'-Lantern she said depicted Kamala Harris on Facebook
https://www.insider.com/michigan-deputy-fired-kamala-harris-racist-facebook-photo-2020-11
Debunking vote switching claims in 4 simple steps. (1) paper ballots marked. (2) ballots scanned, tallied, reported on machine (in the US!). (3) ballots then canvassed & audited. (4) outcomes consistent. This is how it works. Elex officials don't blindly trust tech
https://twitter.com/C_C_Krebs/status/1329974537597939712
Literally all Tucker Carlson did was ask for someone to show him evidence of voter fraud and now he's being accused of raping children by other trumpers. The Trump cult rules
SOON at 6 pm ET: We take you back to the November 22 1963 assassination of President Kennedy with radio communications between the White House and Air Force One and LBJ's first calls as President. Download and listen with free apps: http://bit.ly/radiocspan
https://twitter.com/cspanradio/status/1330284354334027779
Culture wars fuel Trump's blue-collar Latino gains | Despite four years of being defined as a racist for his rhetoric and harsh immigration policies, Trump improved his margins in 78 of the nation's 100 majority-Hispanic counties. And he did better with Latinos in exit polls of each of the top 10 battleground states, a POLITICO review of election data found.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/21/culture-wars-latinos-trump-438932
Despite stay at home advisory, Browns intend to welcome fans to Sunday's game
http://cleveland19.com/2020/11/20/despite-stay-at-home-advisory-browns-intend-welcome-fans-sundays-game/
A federal judge DISMISSES WITH PREJUDICE the bid by Team Trump to "discard millions of votes legally cast by Pennsylvanians" in a blistering ruling. | "That Plaintiffs are trying to mix-and-match claims to bypass contrary precedent is not lost on the Court." | "This Court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations, unpled in the operative complaint and unsupported by evidence. In the USA, this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter." | "Plaintiffs' only remaining claim alleges a violation of equal protection. This claim, like Frankenstein's Monster, has been haphazardly stitched together from two distinct theories in an attempt to avoid controlling precedent."
https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/rudy-giulianis-disgraceful-courtroom-rant-about-voter-fraud-didnt-resemble-trump-lawsuit/
https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.pamd.127057/gov.uscourts.pamd.127057.202.0_1.pdf
Trump praised the Obama administration's handling of the swine flu outbreak in 2009. Told them not to overreact because it was the flu. And then said a swine flu vaccine might cause autism. What I am saying is Trump might not be being honest here.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1330273053104885762
"All [that] Plaintiffs have alleged is that Secretary Boockvar allowed counties to choose whether or not they wished to use the notice-and-cure procedure. No county was forced to adopt notice-and-cure; each county made a choice to do so, or not."
https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.pamd.127057/gov.uscourts.pamd.127057.202.0_1.pdf
Federal agency proposes illegal and unconstitutional rule aimed at blocking banks from not financing Arctic drilling
https://www.adn.com/business-economy/energy/2020/11/20/federal-agency-proposes-rule-aimed-at-blocking-banks-from-not-financing-arctic-drilling/
This is minor, but it says something about @GSAEmily's level of interest in rules. GSA's Inspector General reported that Murphy "often" let her staff drink in the office after hours. A regulation (41 C.F.R. § 102-74.405) bars alcohol on federal property. /1
https://twitter.com/waltshaub/status/1330249548678262791
When asked about it, Murphy said she didn't know the process for approving alcohol use on federal property. But the regulation is her own agency's regulation. As GSA Administrator, she's the one ultimately responsible for enforcing it government-wide. /2 http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2019/images/08/22/report.of.investigation.re.p..brennan.hart.iii.pdf
https://twitter.com/waltshaub/status/1330249549617778690
The court seems puzzled that Trump wants to invalidate the presidential race, but uphold other races on the same ballot. "Even if it were logically possible to hold PA's electoral system both constitutional and unconstitutional at the same time, the Court would not do so."
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EnYqNWUXIAA0ums?format=jpg&name=medium
A proposed Pentagon rule change that would allow presidents and vice presidents who haven't served in the military to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery has drawn blowback from veterans
https://www.wsj.com/articles/proposal-to-allow-non-veteran-presidential-burials-at-arlington-draws-pushback-11605868201
But, you know, Rudy had "great rapport" with the judge — who just gave him a proper evisceration: You media morons are all laughing at RudyGiuliani, but he appears to have already established a great rapport with the judge, who is currently offering recommendations on martini bars for Team Trump in open court.
https://twitter.com/JennaEllisEsq/status/1328849514015363072
Read the ruling scorching Giuliani's "Frankenstein monster" legal theories and lack of evidence here.
https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/after-horror-show-hearing-judge-throws-out-giuliani-and-trumps-bid-to-disenfranchise-almost-seven-million-pa-voters/
Free agent center Tristan Thompson has reached an agreement with the Boston Celtics, his agent @RichPaul4 of @KlutchSports tells Yahoo Sports.
https://twitter.com/ChrisBHaynes/status/1330311906901389313
The "Obama appointee" PA judge who ruled against Trump, Judge Brann, was hand-picked by Republican Senator Toomey, a former Republican Party official and a member of the Federalist Society.
Obama-appointee Judge Brann was recommended by Sen. Pat Toomey as a compromise pick - a Republican and Federalist Society member. He's a conservative judge. It's not his fault the complaint was a soggy pile of toilet paper.
https://citizensvoice.com/news/judiciary-committee-hears-from-two-pennsylvania-nominees-for-federal-bench/article_be7de885-1d45-5e16-af73-965b1c077a53.html
The Trump campaign and other Republican interests have filed at least 36 election lawsuits. At least 24 cases have been denied, dismissed, settled or withdrawn. In at least 9 cases, Trump/Republican lawyers chose voluntary dismissal. No court has found a single instance of fraud.
Trump has been open about what he's doing for years. He always boasts about elections he won. He always going to says the ones he lost were rigged. He's been threatening lawsuits when he doesn't get what he wants since before Giuliani was even mayor.
Judge Matthew Brann remains a registered Republican
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EnZQO8uXcAQyAwU?format=png&name=small
https://twitter.com/jonswaine/status/1330339024372981761
Deep dive into Chester County, Pa, home to my 1st full time reporting gig. Biden won big yet Dems flamed out down ballot. Comes down to Axis of Exton, Routes 30 & 100, west of 100 is Cracker Barrel country, to the East, Whole Foods.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/democrats-suburbs-senate-2022/2020/11/21/107a2616-2b80-11eb-8fa2-06e7cbb145c0_story.html
Sydney Powell is currently alleging on Newsmax that Georgia's Republican governor, Brian Kemp, was paid by Dominion as part of the conspiracy to defeat Donald Trump. The Newsmax anchor just said everything she is alleging sounds nuts but who knows it could be true.
https://twitter.com/Jamie_Weinstein/status/1330337895505399810
Mark Halperin is also on set. He's asked a couple of decent questions, like why is Donald Trump's DOJ not interested in this vast conspiracy.
https://twitter.com/Jamie_Weinstein/status/1330338479801331712
Loeffler tests positive for Covid19
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/21/politics/kelly-loeffler-tests-positive-covid-georgia/index.html
GOOD, Clippers needed to replace that fool Montrezl: Free agent Serge Ibaka has agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles Clippers, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1330366922169454593
Trump team requests another recount of Georgia's presidential race and idiot Georgia officials consent
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/21/politics/georgia-presidential-election-recount/index.html
Republicans destroy US National Security AGAIN by ahem ILLEGALLY AND UNCONSTITUTIONALLY withdrawing from Open Skies Treaty that bolstered European security against Russia
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/22/politics/us-withdrawal-open-skies/index.html
Seven people dead after drinking hand sanitiser at party in Russia
https://7news.com.au/news/world/seven-people-dead-after-drinking-hand-sanitiser-at-party-in-russia-c-1628266
ttps://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/1606032152-report-israel-to-transfer-millions-of-covid-19-vaccines-to-palestinians
LOLFrance's parliament voted to approve a controversial law Friday that will ban the publication of images of on-duty police officers as well as expand the use of surveillance drones and police powers
https://www.france24.com/en/france/20201121-new-french-law-banning-images-of-police-sparks-civil-rights-concerns-protests
Since the pandemic started, as many as seven million people have enrolled in the federal government's food stamp program, and many are relying on charitable food banks for the first time to feed their families
https://twitter.com/CBSSunday/status/1330514660248989698
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-rise-in-americans-food-insecurity/
US government planning on 20 million people getting vaccinated in December, 30 million per month from Jan onwards. 70% of population immune by May, for legitimate herd immunity
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/22/us-vaccine-expert-life-could-be-back-to-normal-may
The Dolphins have won the first three games with Tua as their starter. With a win vs. the Broncos today, Tua would become just the second rookie QB in the last 40 years to help his team to wins in his first four starts, joining Ben Rapistberger.
Of all the reasons to start Taysom Hill over Jameis Winston, one stands out: #Saints coach Sean Payton "just wants to know," those close to him say. Is Hill the next franchise QB? The evaluation starts today.
https://twitter.com/rapsheet/status/1330482782620033037
Brees had X-rays, CAT scans and has been seen by doctors every other day this week. They have now confirmed eight rib fractures on his left side and three on the right. That's more than double the total from testing performed on Monday that revealed five rib fractures.
https://twitter.com/werderedespn/status/1330340623967203330
Free agent Kent Bazemore has agreed to a one-year deal with the Golden State Warriors, agent Austin Walton tells @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.News
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1330567453554974723
LOUISIANA CORONAVIRUS SUMMARY NUMBERS (11/22):
(1) Hospitalizations 967 (-5)
(2) Today/yesterday: 7.3% (+2.9%) (Antigen tests are 11.3% positive)
(3) November: 5.8% (+0.2%)
(4) October: 3.7%
(5) September: 4.0%
(1/2)
https://twitter.com/WinWithJMC/status/1330584194746114050?s=20
"Senator Loeffler's previously inconclusive PCR results were retested overnight and the results thankfully came back negative," her campaign says, adding that she'll continue to self-isolate and test again.
https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1330581890743537666
South Dakota reported 42 new COVID-19 related deaths Sunday as the Department of Health listed 851 new cases.
https://argusleader.com/story/news/2020/11/22/sd-covid-19-coronavirus-south-dakota-deaths-department-of-health/6382391002/
57 years ago today, the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, was killed in Dallas. @WhiteHouseHstry was founded during his presidency. We honor President Kennedy with our 2020 official White House Christmas ornament depicting his iconic portrait by Aaron Shikler.
https://twitter.com/WHhistoryPres/status/1330585491595517952
These are the last lines of the last speech ever typed for President Kennedy, intended for remarks on November 22, 1963 at the Democratic State Committee in Austin: Let us stand together with renewed confidence in our cause -- united in our heritage of the past and our hopes for the future - and determined that this land we love shall lead all mankind into new frontiers of peace and unbundance.
https://jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKPOF/048/JFKPOF-048-023?image_identifier=JFKPOF-048-023-p0002
If you had done your job, America's governors wouldn't have been forced to fend for themselves to find tests in the middle of a pandemic, as we successfully did in Maryland. Stop golfing and concede.
https://twitter.com/GovLarryHogan/status/1330581894841430017
The FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are investigating threats to Georgia's top elections official and his deputies, the secretary of state's office said.
https://ajc.com/politics/election/trump-formally-requests-recount-in-georgia/TXCURGSK7ZE4PJYPQNR4NEI7QY/?d
Instead of reporters asking Republicans officials if they accept Biden as president-elect they should ask, "do you think Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp was bribed by a Venezuelan front company in cahoots with the CIA to throw elections to Communists?"
But Trump's team largely ignored advice from Obama staffers, leaving briefing books unopened and ignoring special iPads loaded with materials. The lack of preparation left aides clueless even about how to work the overhead intercom in the West Wing
https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-coronavirus-pandemic-elections-e9f1167a204dbfa51fb38608677fac70
"This is not a fraud case."— @RudyGiuliani to a federal judge who dismissed his case.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1329493625886093317
https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/rudy-giulianis-disgraceful-courtroom-rant-about-voter-fraud-didnt-resemble-trump-lawsuit/
For those wondering about the consequences of Trump's efforts to sow distrust in voting and elections, here's a pretty significant one: It will help states sustain new restrictions on voting if they choose to implement them.
Complicating Biden's options, the Trump administration is designating Open Skies aircraft "excess defense articles" and will eliminate the planes after leaving the treaty today to make sure the Biden Administration cannot rejoin Open Skies.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-exits-open-skies-treaty-moves-to-discard-observation-planes-11606055371
Reminder: Team Trump is lying. Trump received an orderly transition in 2016. Clinton conceded. Obama invited Trump to the White House. During his inaugural address, Trump thanked Obama and Michelle "for their gracious aid throughout this transition."
Of the three Blue Wall states Biden flipped back, he won Michigan by the most (2.8% margin). But that was still less than what Obama carried Ohio by in 2012 (3.0%). Obama *really* made the Midwest look bluer than it is.
Reminder: The latest Georgia recount requested by Donald Trump, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler — all multi-millionaires who rank among the wealthiest politicians in Washington — would be paid for by local taxpayers.
https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1330621637033652227
Exurban Carroll County swing over 10% towards Biden this year. He was the best-performing Democratic presidential candidate there since 1976, and was the first Democrat to win any precincts there since at least 1996. (I can't find precinct results before 2000)
https://twitter.com/JimNPol/status/1330625895816687622?s=20
It's darkly ironic to watch Trump and Powell do against Kemp what Kemp did against Abrams right before the 2018 election — make up nonsense about a fraud conspiracy that needs investigation (an investigation which, after the election passed, found nothing).
Bengals rookie QB Joe Burrow is down against Washington. Cart coming out.
[Joe Burrow] Thanks for all the love. Can't get rid of me that easy. See ya next year✊
https://twitter.com/JoeyB/status/1330616204172681222
Carson Wentz throws a pick-6 to Sione Takitaki
https://streamable.com/5nmcc3
Carson Wentz now leads the league in both interceptions (13) and fumbles (9).
https://twitter.com/RyanMc23/status/1330581764176220160
AJ Brown breaks multiple tackles and bulldozes his way into the endzone to give the Titans the lead
https://streamable.com/l8snp7
Derrick Henry 29-yard run to win the game
https://streamable.com/8u3e8b
Steelers (9-0) at Jaguars (1-8) will be the first NFL game in 45 years between a team on a 9+ game winning streak and a team on an 8+ game losing streak.
P.J. Walker throws a 52-yard bomb to DJ Moore
https://twitter.com/Panthers/status/1330578060127723522
7-3 Browns will need a lot of help to make the playoffs. 3-6-1 Eagles in good position to host playoff game. Let that sink in.
The Saints have sacked Matt Ryan 30 times in their last six meetings.
https://twitter.com/ByLukeJohnson/status/1330606158575525888
Nick Chubb transforms the Browns rushing offense. In 5 games with Chubb, the Browns have scored 9 Rush TD while averaging 209.8 Rush YPG and 5.8 yards per rush. In the 4 games without Chubb, the Browns scored 0 Rush TD while averaging 95.5 Rush YPG and 3.9 yards per rush.
https://twitter.com/espnstatsinfo/status/1330511351014322176
Taysom runs it in for his second rushing TD of the day
https://twitter.com/nflbrasil/status/1330611029559173120
Taysom Hill thus far today: 233 yards, 78% accuracy. 8 rushes. 48 yards. 2 TDs.
With the Browns win (7-3) and the Ravens loss (6-4), the Browns take 2nd place in the AFC North
Panthers played without the following players and still beat Matt Patricia's Lions 20-0
- QB Teddy Bridgewater
- RB Christian McCaffrey
- LT Russell Okung
- CB Donte Jackson
- RG John Miller
With today's 27-3 loss to the Steelers, the Jaguars have now lost 100 games since Shad Khan bought the team in 2012. He's the 2nd fastest owner ever to do so.
The browns today without Myles Garrett have sacked Wentz 5 times
The Browns had a 13-play, 95-yard drive and came away with 0 points after their TD on 4th-and-goal was overturned in the 1st quarter. It was the longest drive in the NFL in terms of yards that led to 0 points since 2018 Week 3 (Raiders: 95 yards, 0 points at Dolphins).
https://twitter.com/espnstatsinfo/status/1330586250080886793
Denzel Ward picks off Wentz in the red zone to seal the game
https://twitter.com/BarstoolOSU/status/1330618441045319681
Baltimore's final possession of the first half says a lot about them. Running out clock instead of trying for about 40 yards in 40 seconds???
NFL investigation of Saints not wearing masks during postgame celebration in Tampa remains open, per league official. Saints have been arguing to NFL that no discipline is warranted as many teams have been spotted not wearing masks during postgame celebrations.
https://twitter.com/adamschefter/status/1330543682324475904
The Trump campaign has issued a statement saying that Sidney Powell is not associated with them. This comes after she's been alleging some incredibly nonsensical stuff over the past week. But...the campaign had Powell on stage at their press conference earlier this week!
https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1330639346630725632
"Sidney Powell is practicing law on her own. She is not a member of the Trump Legal Team. She is also not a lawyer for the President in his personal capacity," say Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis
https://twitter.com/anitakumar01/status/1330638908833591296
Powell, Giuliani & Ellis all spoke at this week's presser at the RNC.
Um she was at the nearly 2-hour press conference with Giuliani, and Trump listed her as part of the team in a tweet. Hard to put the toothpaste back.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EndjGqoW4AAQI0X?format=jpg&name=small
I've spent the last four days with the President's national legal team, and I'm confident we are going to preserve FREE and FAIR elections in America!
@RudyGiuliani
@SidneyPowell1
Joe DiGenova
@VicToensing
COUNT ALL LEGAL VOTES!!
https://twitter.com/Bencjacobs/status/1330642197277007872
Giuliani literally described Powell as a member of his team during that press conference 3 days ago: "I'm in charge of this investigation with Sidney and the people that you see here," he said, standing alongside Powell & Ellis.
Sidney Powell will no longer have a vote on Trump legal strategy, making her the only American Trump has successfully disenfranchised in the course of 34 lawsuits.
President Kennedy's Dallas motorcade, this hour 1963, in long-lost photograph:
https://twitter.com/BeschlossDC/status/1330583376013746178
In other news, a longshot Republican candidate in Maryland who lost by over 40 points claims that Larry Hogan was part of a plot to steal the election from her
https://twitter.com/Bencjacobs/status/1330346101795393540
There is no reason, after five and half years (when Trump began his campaign, summer 2015) of untruths, dog-whistles, slurs and conspiracies, to hug the people who want to disenfranchise and exterminate you. Trump encouraged his supporters to beat people up at his rallies. He hired a string of criminals and incompetents, some of whom ended up disgraced, others in jail. He lied with reckless abandon about obvious things. He never served the country, he served himself. From the start.
With the Steelers win against the Jaguars. They become the 16th team in the Superbowl era to start the season 10-0
Doug Pederson said Carson Wentz would start next week. "No question about it. He's our starter."
https://twitter.com/Tim_McManus/status/1330629524971794432
#Bengals QB Joe Burrow suffered a torn ACL based on the initial diagnosis, source said. There may be additional damage. Burrow signaled it with his tweet, but the MRI confirming the injury would end his stellar rookie season.
https://twitter.com/rapsheet/status/1330642399475929092
Will Someone Please Fire Matt Patricia
https://defector.com/dear-god-will-someone-please-fire-matt-patricia/
Saints QB Taysom Hill had a passer rating of 108.9 in today's win vs. Atlanta. Of the 50 QBs making their first NFL starts in last 5 years, that's the 6th-highest rating. Only ones higher are Sam Darnold, Nick Mullins and Kyle Allen in 2018, Daniel Jones, Brandon Allen last year.
https://twitter.com/gregauman/status/1330623086757076995
The #Patriots fear RB Rex Burkhead tore his ACL during today's loss to Houston, per @jeffphowe. He's getting an MRI to confirm.
https://twitter.com/mysportsupdate/status/1330637318752006149
Bill Belichick: "Disappointing. But we'll turn the page and move on. Still have a lot of confidence and belief in the team. If we can just do things a little bit better, I think the results will be different, and better. We just couldn't do it today."
https://twitter.com/MikeReiss/status/1330635476202565635
2000 WI doctors' urgent plea: "Wisconsin is in a bad place right now with no sign of things getting better without action. We are, quite simply, out of time. Without immediate change, our hospitals will be too full to treat all of those with the virus (& other illness)"
https://twitter.com/CBSWalsh/status/1330645535880073219
Want to learn about the Wampanoag people who lived in the Plymouth area prior to the arrival of the Pilgrims? Darius Coombs of @plimoth talks about their history and culture in a talk hosted by @ackhistory. Watch on @cspan 3 this Sunday at 6:15pm ET.
https://twitter.com/cspanhistory/status/1329857705482317824
Free agent Austin Rivers has agreed to deal with Knicks, source tells ESPN.News
http://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1330648312899383298
I'm going to have to root for the Knicks????? Austin is one of the best backups in the league, should have returned to the Clippers or resigned with the Rockets or signed anew with Denver or Golden State or Spurs, he should have remained in the Western Conference, not signed with one of the worst teams in the NBA
Nerlens Noel to the Knicks
https://nypost.com/2020/11/21/knicks-sign-center-nerlens-noel-to-one-year-5-million-deal/
Wow. Ryan Fitzpatrick coming in the game in place of Tua Tagovailoa.
Kareem Hunt with the big hurdle into the endzone
https://streamable.com/j2paok
Thielen makes an absurd 1-handed touchdown catch in the corner of the endzone
https://streamable.com/tblnww
Minnesota is trading Omari Spellman and Jacob Evans and a future second-round pick to New York for F Ed Davis, sources tell ESPN.
http://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1330661781283483651
Just a reminder that the chairman of the Federal Elections Commission just a few days ago personally vouched for Sidney Powell, adding the words "I believe her.": Having practiced law for almost 2 decades as a member of the State Bar of Texas, I've never known fellow TX lawyer @SidneyPowell1 to be anything but forthright and honest in every case she's ever taken on. If she says there is rampant voter fraud in #Election2020, I believe her.
https://twitter.com/txelectionlaw/status/1328374748959694850
Can't help but think of how it was Sidney Powell who took over representing former Nat Sec adviser Mike Flynn and then lobbied Barr and his top aides to appoint outsider to investigate case and drop charge, and that's exactly what Barr and co. did. Now they're pretending they never met her and she's operating all on her own. One wrinkle in any effort by Trump to distance himself from Sidney Powell is that she is still representing Michael Flynn, and Trump has championed Powell's efforts to fight the criminal case against Flynn and, more recently, to back DOJ's effort to drop it. That's still pending.
Trump should direct his staff to cooperate in the transition and he should participate graciously in the transfer of power. That's what American presidents do and it is a key to our success as a nation.
This attempt by Trump's legal team - Giuliani, Ellis - to distance themselves from Sidney Powell's insane conspiracy theories is going to be super awkward next time - oh, I dont know - say, Trump Giuiliani, or Ellis - tweet about the very same insane conspiracy theories.
Police have arrested a 15-year-old boy in connection with a shooting that injured eight people at a suburban Milwaukee mall. Wauwatosa Police Chief Barry Weber said the shooting happened during a dispute Friday afternoon between two groups.
https://apnews.com/article/shootings-wisconsin-arrests-milwaukee-8ea598878ec5b322851f8f1096e58599
The Lakers are trading JaVale McGee to Cleveland, source tells ESPN.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1330671803677765633
Update on Rivers' contract: Three years, $10M, source tells ESPN.
http://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1330667778987069442
Free agent Marc Gasol has agreed to a deal with the Lakers, source tells @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1330673178977382402
Cleveland is trading Jordan Bell and Alfonzo McKinnie to the Lakers in the Gasol deal, sources tell ESPN.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1330674926026698753
Toronto picks up one of the top big men on the market in Aron Baynes. Second season is a team option, sources said. Marc Gasol heads to Los Angeles on an agreement with the Lakers, where his preference has been and where his brother Pau is an icon.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1330674795562868736
________________________
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/antony-blinken-steps-into-the-spotlight-with-obama-administration-role/2013/09/15/7484a5c0-1e20-11e3-94a2-6c66b668ea55_story.html
Antony Blinken steps into the spotlight with Obama administration role
By Jason Horowitz
September 15, 2013
As a precocious teenager growing up in Paris, Antony J. Blinken asked his stepfather, the world-renowned lawyer Samuel Pisar, to open up about his experience surviving Auschwitz and Dachau.
"He wanted to know," Pisar said. "He took in what had happened to me when I was his age, and I think it impressed him and it gave him another dimension, another look at the world and what can happen here. When he has to worry today about poison gas in Syria, he almost inevitably thinks about the gas with which my entire family was eliminated."
Blinken is deputy national security adviser to President Obama, who has also invoked the Holocaust as his administration wrestles, often painfully, with how to respond to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's alleged use of chemical weapons. One of the government's key players in drafting Syria policy, the 51-year-old Blinken has Clinton administration credentials and deep ties to Vice President Biden and the foreign policy and national security establishment in Washington. He has drawn attention in Situation Room photos, including the iconic one during the May 2011 raid of Osama bin Laden's compound, for his stylishly wavy salt-and-pepper hair. But what sets him apart from the other intellectual powerhouses in the inner sanctum is a life story that reads like a Jewish high-society screenplay that the onetime aspiring film producer may have once dreamed of making. There's his father, a giant in venture capital; his mother, the arts patron; and his stepfather, who survived the Holocaust to become of one of the most influential lawyers on the global stage. It is a bildungsroman for young Blinken — playing in a Parisian jazz band, debating politics with statesmen — with a supporting cast of characters that includes, among others, Leonard Bernstein, John Lennon, Mark Rothko, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Abel Ferrara and Christo.
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-05-02/national/35264963_1_surgical-raid-al-qaeda-leader-osama-bin-laden
Despite being astoundingly pedigreed, Blinken further distinguishes himself in this transactional town by being almost universally regarded as unassuming and collegial. It is a character trait that has smoothed over significant policy rifts with his bosses and aided his long career in a field trudged by enormous egos. Beyond the White House gates, he shares a Dupont Circle home with his equally photogenic wife Evan Ryan, a former Hillary Rodham Clinton scheduler, Biden campaign staffer and now a State Department nominee. And Blinken periodically dusts off his guitar to jam the blues and Beatles covers with White House press secretary Jay Carney and other Washington pals. ("He's a good singer," said Dave McKenna, a writer and bandmate.)
Discreet even among his closest family, Blinken, who declined an interview request for this article, has for decades been Washington's consummate staffer. But now, as he transfers from aide to policymaker in the middle of what is perhaps the administration's most delicate and volatile foreign policy crisis, he is inching into a spotlight.
A much-discussed Wall Street Journal article in January attributed greater administration focus on Syria to Blinken, who frequently insisted that "superpowers don't bluff." On Sept. 6, Blinken caused a mini-stir on NPR, saying that "it's neither [Obama's] desire nor intention" to strike Syria without congressional backing. Three days later, he told MSNBC's "Daily Rundown" that the United States doesn't do "pinprick" attacks, a line repeated by Obama in his national address Tuesday night. Blinken "seemed to be the leader of the pack" in a briefing with counterparts from the State and Defense departments in his old Capitol Hill stamping grounds, according to Rep. Steven Cohen (D-Tenn.), who also participated in a Blinken-led call with other Jewish lawmakers.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324049504578545772906542466.html
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/09/06/219626379/obama-has-no-intention-to-strike-syria-if-congress-says-no
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/running-transcript-president-obamas-sept-10-speech-on-syria/2013/09/10/a8826aa6-1a2e-11e3-8685-5021e0c41964_story_2.html
Blinken, his advocates say, seems groomed for this enhanced and increasingly public role.
"Tony Blinken is a superstar and that's not hyperbole," Biden said. The vice president joked that "the president recognized that after four years with me and stole him." Blinken, he added, "could do any job, any job."
Process over advocacy
Deputy national security adviser might sound like a junior job, but in a town where winning bureaucratic arguments can determine national policy, Blinken wields enormous influence by helping to set the agenda.
On policy, Blinken is considered a deeply knowledgeable and nonideological consensus-builder, allowing the facts of each situation to guide his questions and advice and emphasizing process over advocacy. He is also known for his light touch ("He has a way of telling people hard things in soft ways," said Sandy Berger, Clinton's former national security adviser and a Blinken mentor) and eye-roll-worthy puns. (He began a recent White House meeting on Arctic policy by saying, "Before I go any further on this topic, I think we need to break the ice.")
Officials and friends say that Blinken's lessons learned while working on Bosnia in the Clinton administration and myriad other national security matters play a significant role in informing his views on current issues. They describe him as sharing much of the centrist, realist thinking of Biden and former national security adviser Thomas E. Donilon, another Bidenite with whom Blinken is close, but with a stronger interventionist streak. Blinken surprised some in the Situation Room by breaking with Biden to support military action in Libya, administration officials said, and he advocated for American action in Syria after Obama's reelection. These sources said that Blinken was less enthusiastic than Biden about Obama's decision to seek congressional approval for a strike in Syria, but is now — perhaps out of necessity — onboard and a backer of diplomatic negotiations with Russia.While less of an ideologue than Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (a job for which he was considered), he not surprisingly shares her belief that global powers such as the United States have a "responsibility to protect" against atrocities.
"I came from oblivion," said Pisar, Blinken's stepfather. Sent to a labor camp at 13, he survived Majdanek and Dachau, escaped the gas chambers of Auschwitz and, in 1945, emerged an orphan at age 16. A refugee, he got his hands on a BMW 500 and sped over the German highways, turning to thieving and the black market, and he was jailed by American MPs before distant relatives found him and sent him to Paris and Australia. There, he excelled academically and won a scholarship to pursue a PhD at Harvard.
Pisar's controversial Cold War thesis about coexistence and commerce between the United States and Russia ("a very hot topic today," he noted) won awards and the attention of then-Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-Mass.), who later recruited the polyglot as an adviser and signed, as president, a special act of Congress making Pisar an American citizen. After Kennedy's assassination, Pisar practiced law in Hollywood and counted many stars among his clients. He eventually returned to Europe as a UNESCO official and opened a law office in Paris representing high-watt names, including Catherine Deneuve, Jane Fonda, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, whose first divorce he negotiated. He counseled President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing of France, represented Coca-Cola and the Republic of China. Pisar met Blinken's mother, Judith, at a New York soiree in 1968.
Judith was then married to Donald Blinken, the son of an influential Yonkers lawyer, and had given birth to Antony in 1962. Judith managed Merce Cunningham's dance company and socialized with Arturo Toscanini and Bernstein at the couple's Park Avenue home. Donald was a New York powerhouse and arts patron, counting Rothko and Robert Rauschenberg among his friends. When Tony Blinken interviewed for the exclusive Dalton school as a kindergartener, the teacher asked him what he thought of a painting on the wall.
" 'Some people would call it a painting,' " Blinken said, according to his mother, " 'but I would call it a picture.' "
Blinken was Dalton material. His mother recalled him sitting in the pit at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, where she was the director of music, as John Cage conducted and let the boy play with whatever he wanted. "It didn't matter if another strange sound was heard," she said.
The Blinkens divorced in 1970, and Judith married Pisar the following year and relocated to France with Antony.
"I was concerned how he would take to being shipped abroad so suddenly to live in a strange city with a different language and his parents divorced," said Donald. "And it could have worked out very badly. But, happily, both his mother and I were supportive of him all along, and he never blinked."
Pisar said that he was careful never to try to supplant Blinken as the boy's father. "I was his friend and maybe his mentor a little bit," Pisar said.
As chairwoman of the American Center for Students and Artists in Paris, Blinken's mother further expanded his horizons. The artist Christo, who hired Pisar as his lawyer to assist in a project to wrap Paris's Pont Neuf, recalled Blinken as a "very exquisite, demanding and curious" young man. "His mother was taking him around to all the exhibitions."
Blinken talked politics with family friend Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, the author of "The American Challenge," and other U.S. dignitaries that Judith called the "hungry Americans," including Sens. Jacob Javits (R-N.Y.) and Henry "Scoop" Jackson (D-Wash.). But Blinken also had a more carefree side. As a high school student at the Ecole Bilingue, he delighted in puns, played hockey and scored gigs in a jazz band to raise money for the school's first yearbook. He sneaked out of his family's apartment on Avenue Foch Square, facing the Debussy garden shared by the pianist Arthur Rubinstein and Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco, to see a Rolling Stones concert, recalled one friend.
"He wasn't a goody-goody," Judith said.
He asked his stepfather for a motorcycle, and Pisar, recalling his reckless postwar rides, suggested a car instead. Blinken also spent time with his half-sister Leah, who also became a Clinton administration official, at the Pisars' apartment in New York, where the family displayed a 96-inch-wide Christo drawing of the Pont Neuf above the modernist living room. He took in Yankees games with his father.
By then, the elder Blinken had co-founded E.M. Warburg, Pincus & Co., a powerhouse global venture capital firm. He was also president of the Rothko Foundation and a major Democratic donor, and was named chairman of the New York state university program by Democratic governors. Tony Blinken made his bar mitzvah at Temple Emanuel in Yonkers and spent summers in East Hampton, where his father got him a job as a counselor at Boys Harbor, a camp for underprivileged kids.
While Blinken was not religious, his father said, thoughts of the Holocaust always lingered. The year before Blinken received his French baccalaureate degree, Pisar published his memoir, "Of Blood and Hope."
Blinken also pursued the writing life. At Harvard, he joined the Crimson as a freshman and ultimately edited the paper, as well as the weekly art magazine, What Is To Be Done, with the highly regarded New York political reporter Errol Louis. Blinken wore his hair long, played the guitar and cherished a John Lennon autograph his mother scored for him one day after she spent hours reading poetry with the musician and Yoko Ono.
Friends say he was torn about whether to pursue a career in the arts or in politics. He attempted to split the difference by interning at the New Republic, writing pieces critical of Reagan administration and Republican hedging on apartheid. He graduated from Harvard in 1984, the year of the Los Angeles Olympics, which he attended with his stepfather, then general counsel of the International Olympic Committee. Seated upfront for the 100-meter dash, Blinken's sister complained about being splashed with Carl Lewis's sweat as the sprinter blazed past. "Shut up and bottle it," his stepfather recalled Blinken saying.
In Paris, Blinken organized a film festival and his family hosted a gathering for Spike Lee, who, Judith recalled fondly, "kept calling me 'sister.' "
Blinken, too, had filmmaking ambitions, even organizing a short film festival in Paris. "I talked him out of it," Pisar said.
"Everyone age 21 wants to make films," said Donald Blinken, adding that he and his second wife, Vera, "hoped that he would go on to law school."
He did, attending Columbia and furthering his education in international affairs. In 1987, the same year Blinken worked as a summer associate at the prestigious Rogers & Wells law firm, Praeger published his Harvard senior thesis — "Ally vs. Ally: America, Europe and the Siberian Pipeline Crisis." ("I've reserved the rights for the miniseries," he told the Los Angeles Times. "But we haven't discussed who'll play the part of the pipeline.") He also became active in Democratic politics, helping his father raise money for Michael Dukakis's 1988 presidential run. The campaign's finance director, Robert Farmer, recalled Blinken fondly as bright, but "not an outgoing young man." He remembered Blinken bartending at fundraisers at his Brookline home.
From N.Y. to D.C.
The Clinton administration was in many ways an adult version of Dalton — a magnet for gifted, ambitious Democrats with sterling credentials and impressive connections.
In 1993, during Blinken's stint at another white-shoe New York law firm, a friend of Pisar, "a significant individual and important journalist" whom Pisar declined to name, suggested that Blinken apply for an opening at the State Department.
Stephen Oxman, then the assistant secretary of state for European and Canadian affairs who hired Blinken, recalled that a former colleague, Laurence Grafstein, brought Blinken to his attention. Oxman said he wanted the new perspective a "smart cosmopolitan" could bring to his team.
It was a banner time for the Blinken men. Bill Clinton appointed Tony's uncle, Alan, as ambassador to Belgium and then named his father ambassador to Hungary, where he helped the government in compensating Holocaust survivors. Around that time, White House speechwriter Robert Boorstin lured Tony Blinken to the National Security Council staff, where Blinken eventually became the president's chief foreign policy speechwriter. "I was looking for somebody who both could write speeches for President Clinton and think a little bit more broadly about where we were headed more strategically," said Berger, then the deputy national security adviser.
But Blinken also remained involved in cultural pursuits. In 1995, he earned an associate producer credit on Abel Ferrara's "The Addiction," a gritty New York vampire movie starring Lili Taylor and Christopher Walken. ("It was so long ago," Ferrara wrote in an e-mail.) That year, Blinken noticed Evan Ryan, the attractive granddaughter of a former Secret Service director and the first lady's scheduler.
Within four years, Blinken found himself, as Berger put it, making the "leap from communications to substance" as senior director of Europe at the NSC. When Berger left the White House, Blinken, film producer to the wonks, put together a "Star Wars"-themed send-off video.
The ascendancy of George W. Bush in 2000 pushed Blinken out of government, but he was now entrenched in the foreign policy establishment. He became a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and in 2002 trudged around Idaho in his uncle Alan's ill-fated Senate campaign to defeat Republican incumbent Larry Craig.
The 39-year-old Blinken had better luck in his personal life. He married Ryan, then a 30-year-old colleague from a D.C.-area middle-class, Irish Catholic family, at Georgetown's Holy Trinity Church in a bi-denominational ceremony.
"At first his mother was quite skeptical about it," said Rabbi Harold White, who co-officiated with a Catholic priest. At the reception, Blinken spoke about bringing different nations and religions together and with guest Hillary Clinton in attendance, thanked the "the 40-odd million people who voted for Bill Clinton because without them I would never have met Evan at the White House."
A month later, Blinken embarked on another enduring relationship — with Biden. As staff director to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he worked on issues involving the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, relations with Pakistan and nuclear disarmament. In the process, he became "a member of the family," said Carney, who was brought into the Biden fold by Blinken.
Foreign policy veteran Les Gelb recalled a lengthy delay on a shuttle from New York to Washington during which he and Biden discussed a proposal to end the Iraqi civil war by partitioning the country into a federalist system. "At the end of it, [Biden] says, 'Okay, now you do it all again with Tony Blinken,' " Gelb said.
Blinken went on to work on Biden's 2008 presidential bid and returned to the Senate with Biden after the unsuccessful run. Bad luck turned to good fortune when Obama selected Biden as his running mate, catapulting Blinken back into the White House.
The president gave Biden — and by extension, Blinken — a broad portfolio that included overseeing the administration's Iraq policy.
"We would not have gotten out of Iraq in a way that left the government with a fighting chance to make it without Tony Blinken's hard work," Biden said. "He was the go-to guy. He still is the go-to guy."
Blinken had, by this time, also become close to Obama and an integral part of a small circle of national security experts, including Biden, Donilon, his deputy Denis McDonough and counterterrorism chief John Brennan, who briefed the president daily. "That was a very highly stable group for 41 / 2 years," Donilon said.
That lineup has changed since Obama's reelection, with Donilon leaving government and McDonough becoming chief of staff. Now, the national security team Blinken helps lead is under intense criticism for the administration's response to the Syrian conflict. But if his past is any indication, he'll remain part of the inner circle and his influence will be felt for some time to come.
"I'm glad he's in the room," Berger said.
________________________
Democrats understand that a cabinet is not an all-star team
It would be more exciting to write about how the new president is betraying his promise to shake things up in Washington by turning to the same old Beltway hands, but of course Biden always promised to turn to the same old Beltway hands so we're left with a boring story and screaming leftists
So the big election-rigging case Trump wants to tee up for the Supreme Court is actually whether his lawyers should have gotten permission to fix a filing they screwed up: Trump today filed in CA3 a motion to expedite the appeal, and it's quite interesting. It says "the appeal concerns only the decision denying leave to amend." (Case # is 20-3371 but the case appears not to be on pacer yet, maddeningly.)
https://twitter.com/MatthewStiegler/status/1330684916179333123
Remember: Judge Brann made painfully and accurately clear that the same appellate court to which the campaign is appealing rejected their legal theory just more than a week ago in a different lawsuit. Rather than push that dud, they want another re-do.
https://twitter.com/KlasfeldReports/status/1330607292430110720
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