Jan 07 2021

It’s Done

At 3:32 AM ET on January 7, 2021 with the verification of the 3 electoral votes of Vermont, a joint session of Congress confirmed 271 electoral votes for Joseph R. Biden and Kamala Harris to be the next President and Vice President of the United States

At 3:41, Vice President Mike Pence confirmed the vote of the Electoral College that Joseph R. Biden and Kamala Harris will take the oaths of office to be President and Vice President of the United States on January 20, 2021.

The joint session adjourned at 3:44 AM ET.

ek hornbeck’s vote counted.

Jan 06 2021

Electoral College Vote Count

Up Date 8:15 PM ET: After the events of the day, Congress will resume the certification of the Electoral College votes and certify the election of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States and his Vice Presidential choice, Kamala Harris.

WATCH LIVE: Congress holds joint session to count Electoral College vote

On Wednesday, the nation will tune in to a dramatic and historic, if mostly symbolic, joint session of Congress. Usually there would be relatively little fanfare over the counting of Electoral College votes by Congress — a necessary step in the presidential election process. But as the electoral votes from each state reach their final destination at the U.S. Capitol, Republicans in both chambers have declared that they will object to the counting of some states where President Donald Trump lost his closest races to President-elect Joe Biden.

Ed.: Congress stands in recess due to rioters on the East steps of the Capitol Building just outside the Senate chamber trying to gain access. Previously, these individual had been listening to the heated rhetoric of the Squatter-in-Chief who incited this behavior. Reports are coming in that congress members have been told to shelter in place. The Vice President, and Speaker of the House are being protected by the Secret Service. To be clear, this riot was instigated by the lame duck President of the united States.

Ed.: Protesters have breached the building and are marching through Statuary Hall which is about 20 yards from house floor. It is pretty clear that the Capitol police do not have control of this situation. There are less than half a dozen police in the hall.

Ed.: Protesters are now on the West side of the building on the platform for the Inauguration. Those who have entered the building did not go through metal detectors and may be armed. Capitol police are now using tear gas on the rioters. The Senate floor has now been evacuated.

Ed.: Members of the House in side the chamber have been told to put on their gas masks that are kept under the members’ seats.

ED.: There is now an armed standoff in the House of Representatives chamber. Police hare in the gallery near the doors with their guns drawn. There is a protester in the Senate sitting in the Leader’s chair.

Sen. Mitt Romney is blaming the Squatter and calling this an insurrection.

ED.: Reports of shots fired inside the building and there is a video of a woman, who is covered in blood, being removed by paramedics.

The Squatter is in the Oval Office watching the rioting he instigated on TV. There are calls now for his immediate impeachment and conviction in the Senate.

Virginia Gov. Northam is sending the VA National Guard

Ed.: According to reports from the news media the Capitol building has been secured and the White nationalist terrorists have been removed. So far, there are now reports of arrests. Police and other law enforcement officers used flash bangs and tear gas to remove the terrorists from the grounds.

At 6 PM ET the entire city is locked down and a curfew is in effect and, as per the DC Mayor Murial Bowser, it will be strictly reported

The woman who was shot earlier has been pronounced dead at the hospital.

Facebook and YouTube have removed the Squatter’s video messages to the rioting supporters of his who breached the Capitol building. In the video, he told the terrorists that they were special, he loved them and that the election was stolen from them. Essentially, he was saying this violent insurrection was justified.

There is now a wide spread call from the right and left for the Squatter to be removed by the 25th Amendment.

ED.: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to her colleagues that the certification of the election of Pres.-Elect Joe Biden and VP-Elect Kamala Harris will proceed tonight

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that he expected the joint session to resume in a little over an hour, at 8 pm ET.

The DC police chief, Robert Contee, said that 13 people have been arrested so far in connection to the “riot” at the US Capitol.

Ed.: From The Guardian:

Twitter has announced that Donald Trump’s account will be locked for at least 12 hours, after the removal of three of the president’s tweets.

“As a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, D.C., we have required the removal of three @realDonaldTrump Tweets that were posted earlier today for repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy,” the Twitter Safety account said in a tweet thread.

“This means that the account of @realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours following the removal of these Tweets. If the Tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked.”

The social media giant added, “Future violations of the Twitter Rules, including our Civic Integrity or Violent Threats policies, will result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account.”

Jan 06 2021

Cartnoon

he Toledo War: When Ohio and Michigan Went to War and Wisconsin Lost

The Toledo War (1835–36), also known as the Great Toledo War, the Michigan-Ohio War or the Ohio-Michigan War, was an almost bloodless boundary dispute between the U.S. state of Ohio and the adjoining territory of Michigan.

Poor geographical understanding of the Great Lakes helped produce conflicting state and federal legislation between 1787 and 1805, and varying interpretations of the laws led the governments of Ohio and Michigan to both claim jurisdiction over a 468-square-mile (1,210 km2) region along the border, now known as the Toledo Strip. The situation came to a head when Michigan petitioned for statehood in 1835 and sought to include the disputed territory within its boundaries. Both sides passed legislation attempting to force the other side’s capitulation, while Ohio’s Governor Robert Lucas and Michigan’s 24-year-old “Boy Governor” Stevens T. Mason helped institute criminal penalties for citizens submitting to the other’s authority. Both states deployed militias on opposite sides of the Maumee River near Toledo, but besides mutual taunting, there was little interaction between the two forces. The single military confrontation of the “war” ended with a report of shots being fired into the air, incurring no casualties.

During the summer of 1836, the United States Congress proposed a compromise whereby Michigan gave up its claim to the strip in exchange for its statehood and about three-quarters of the Upper Peninsula. Although the northern region’s mineral wealth would later become an economic asset to Michigan, at the time the compromise was considered a poor outcome for the new state, and voters in a statehood convention in September soundly rejected the proposal. But in December, the Michigan government, facing a dire financial crisis and pressure from Congress and President Andrew Jackson, called another convention (called the “Frostbitten Convention”) which accepted the compromise that resolved the Toledo War.

Ed.: Pardon the promotional in the video. It can’t be edited out. TMC

TMC for ek hornbeck

Jan 06 2021

The Breakfast Club (Driving At Night)

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:00am (ET) (or whenever we get around to it) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.

This Day in History

Joan of Arc is born; Samuel Morse demonstrates the telegraph to the public; Commercial airplane completes first round-the-world flight; Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked; Dizzy Gillespie and Rudolf Nureyev die.

Breakfast Tunes

Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac

Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.

E. L. Doctorow

Continue reading

Jan 06 2021

And The Winners In Georgia Are: Warnock and Ossoff

As of 3 AM ET, Jon Ossoff was leading David Perdue by 12,806 votes with 98% of the votes counted. The outstanding votes are mail-ins that more often than not lean heavily Democratic. There are currently about 40 thousand outstanding votes. Ossoff’s win should be confirmed by noon tomorrow.

The race between the Reverend Raphael Warnock and Kelly Loeffler was called earlier when Warnock’s lead, which is now over 49,000 votes, became insurmountable. He will be the first Black senator from Georgia.

It’s a 50 – 50 split Senate with Vice President Kamala Harris the deciding vote. This won’t be easy, especially with the filibuster still in place and Sen. Joe “I’m really a Republican” Manchin (D?-KY) adamantly opposed to ending it. Let’s hope the Democrats don’t screw this up too much.

Jan 05 2021

Late Night Today

It’s only Tuesday and it feel like a month. With the brouhaha over the Squatter’s latest criminal threats to the Georgia Secretary of State, the double Senate run-off with control of that body on the line and rumors of violence by MAGAts for delusions too many to enumerate, we need a laugh as we wait for the election results in Georgia. Our Late Night host have returned from Winter vacation to keep our spirits up.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert opened with a parody song.

The President Just Called To Steal The Election

In his now-infamous call with Georgia election officials, the president went for the high notes to make his case.

Of course Stephen’s first monologue after his vacation focused on the Squatter’s weekend phone call.

Another Perfect Call: The President’s Desperate Attempts To Steal The Election Continue

We welcome back Late Night with Seth Meyers who takes a Closer Look at the purpose of that infamous phone call.

Trump’s Phone Call with Georgia Election Officials Could Be a Crime: A Closer Look

Seth takes a closer look at President Trump trying his hardest to get impeached again and prosecuted after he pressured the Georgia secretary of state to overturn election results.

On a serious note, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah gives us primer on mental health in the Black community.

If You Don’t Know, Now You Know: Mental Health Stigma in the Black Community

Why does the Black community have limited access to mental health resources? And why isn’t therapy more like Black church? If you don’t know, now you know.

Jimmy Kimmel Live based in Los Angeles where the CoVid-19 pandemic has once again spiked forcing everyone to hunker down at home.

Donald Trump Makes Another Perfect Phone Call

Jimmy talks about doing the show at his house again due to the virus taking up permanent residence in Los Angeles, the New Year’s Eve bash at Mar-A-Lago with Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani & Vanilla Ice, Donald Trump’s pathetic phone call to the Georgia Secretary of State, a new show on NBC starring our dear misleader, the premiere episode of “The Bachelor,” and Jimmy’s wife Molly gives her Bachelor picks with help from their six-year-old daughter Jane.

As with Jimmy, The Late Late Show with James Corden is based in LA which has James, once again, doing his show from his garage.

Trump Tried to Shakedown Some Georgia Fellas

James Corden kicks off 2021 back in his garage as a safety precaution with COVID-19 cases surging in Los Angeles and he dives into the recording of President Donald Trump and Georgia election officials, in which Trump pressures them to change the outcome of the election. And James finds his limit with the inclusion of “Amen and A woman” at the end of an opening prayer to swear in the new Congress.

Jan 05 2021

Pondering the Pundits

Pondering the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news media and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Pondering the Pundits”.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

Paul Krugman: How the Republican Party Went Feral

Democracy is now threatened by malevolent tribalism.

There have always been people like Donald Trump: self-centered, self-aggrandizing, believing that the rules apply only to the little people and that what happens to the little people doesn’t matter.

The modern G.O.P., however, isn’t like anything we’ve seen before, at least in American history. If there’s anyone who wasn’t already persuaded that one of our two major political parties has become an enemy, not just of democracy, but of truth, events since the election should have ended their doubts.

It’s not just that a majority of House Republicans and many Republican senators are backing Trump’s efforts to overturn his election loss, even though there is no evidence of fraud or widespread irregularities. Look at the way David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are campaigning in the Senate runoffs in Georgia.

They aren’t running on issues, or even on real aspects of their opponents’ personal history. Instead they’re claiming, with no basis in fact, that their opponents are Marxists or “involved in child abuse.” That is, the campaigns to retain Republican control of the Senate are based on lies.

Margaret Sullivan: We must stop calling Trump’s enablers ‘conservative.’ They are the radical right.

By using the mild label, journalists are normalizing the activities of a group attempting to subvert democracy.

You hear the word “radical” a lot these days. It’s usually aimed like a lethal weapon at Democratic office-seekers, especially those who want to unseat a Republican incumbent. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, the Georgia Republican, rarely utters her challenger’s name without branding him as “radical liberal Raphael Warnock.”

Such is the upside-down world we’ve come to inhabit. These days, the true radicals are the enablers of President Trump’s ongoing attempted coup: the media bloviators on Fox News, One America and Newsmax who parrot his lies about election fraud; and the members of Congress who plan to object on Wednesday to what should be a pro forma step of approving the electoral college results, so that President-elect Joe Biden can take office peacefully on Jan. 20.

But instead of being called what they are, these media and political figures get a mild label: conservative. [..]

In applying this innocuous-sounding description, the reality-based media does the public a terrible disservice. Instead of calling out the truth, it normalizes; it softens the dangerous edges.

It makes it seem, well, not so bad. Conservative, after all, describes politics devoted to free enterprise and traditional ideas. [..]

My high school Latin comes in handy here: “Radical” derives from the concept of pulling something up by the roots, which seems to be exactly what these political and media types seem bent on doing to democratic norms.

The dictionary definition says radical means “advocating extreme measures to retain or restore a political state of affairs.”

Bingo.

Michelle Goldberg: To Defend Democracy, Investigate Trump

There needs to be a cost to trying to overthrow an election.

According to Title 52, Section 20511 of the United States Code, anyone who “knowingly and willfully deprives, defrauds, or attempts to deprive or defraud the residents of a state of a fair and impartially conducted election process” for federal office can be punished by up to five years in prison.

Donald Trump certainly seems to have violated this law. He is on tape alternately cajoling and threatening Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to “find 11,780 votes,” enough to give him a winning margin in a state that he lost. He may have also broken federal conspiracy law and Georgia election law. [..]

At this point, demanding such accountability feels like smashing one’s head into a brick wall, but our democracy might not be able to stagger along much longer without it. Republicans already often treat victories by Democrats as illegitimate. Their justification for impeaching Bill Clinton was flimsy at the time and looks even more ludicrous in light of their defenses of Trump. Trump’s political career was built on the racist lie that Barack Obama was a foreigner ineligible for the presidency.

Now Trump and his Republican enablers have set a precedent for pressuring state officials to discard the will of their voters, and if that fails, for getting their allies in Congress to reject the results.

Jamelle Bouie: Can Only Republicans Legitimately Win Elections?

Trump and many of the G.O.P.’s leaders seem to think so, with ominous consequences for the future.

Of the many stories to tell about American politics since the end of the Cold War, one of growing significance is how the Republican Party came to believe in its singular legitimacy as a political actor. Whether it’s a hangover from the heady days of the Reagan revolution (when conservatives could claim ideological hegemony) or something downstream of America’s reactionary traditions, it’s a belief that now dominates conservative politics and has placed much of the Republican Party in opposition to republican government itself.

It’s a story of escalation, from the relentless obstruction of the Gingrich era to the effort to impeach Bill Clinton to the attempt to nullify the presidency of Barack Obama and on to the struggle, however doomed, to keep Joe Biden from ever sitting in the White House as president. It also goes beyond national politics. In 2016, after a Democrat, Roy Cooper, defeated the Republican incumbent Pat McCrory for the governorship of North Carolina, the state’s Republican legislature promptly stripped the office of power and authority. Wisconsin Republicans did the same in 2018 after Tony Evers unseated Scott Walker in his bid for a third term. And Michigan Republicans took similar steps against another Democrat, Gretchen Whitmer, after her successful race for the governor’s mansion.

Considered in the context of a 30-year assault on the legitimacy of Democratic leaders and Democratic constituencies (of which Republican-led voter suppression is an important part), the present attempt to disrupt and derail the certification of electoral votes is but the next step, in which Republicans say, outright, that a Democrat has no right to hold power and try to make that reality. The next Democrat to win the White House — whether it’s Biden getting re-elected or someone else winning for the first time — will almost certainly face the same flood of accusations, challenges and lawsuits, on the same false grounds of “fraud.”

Amanda Marcotte: Georgia runoffs reveal the total putrefaction of the GOP: Republicans are now openly anti-democratic

Democrats ran a normal campaign — but Republicans competed with each other to see who could be the most repugnant

In a mildly healthy society, Donald Trump should have been scared to death to set foot in Georgia Monday night. Just the night before, a tape was leaked of Trump calling up the Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, and demanding that he “find 11,780 votes” — Trump’s mob speak for cooking the books — in order to steal the state’s election from the true winner, president-elect Joe Biden. It’s literally one of the worst scandals in American history, far worse than Watergate. This is a sitting president demanding that an entire state’s election be illegally thrown out, all because he doesn’t like the outcome.  [..]

This display was a suitable cap to the past two months, with Republican politicians competing with each other in a grotesque competition to be the most fascistic and sociopathic, all to honor their fallen leader, Trump. (Not that they’ll admit he’s fallen.) And no where has this been more evident than in Georgia, which is holding a Senate runoff election Tuesday between two incumbent Republicans, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, and their Democratic opponents, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.

Whatever the election outcome is after the polls close on Tuesday, this election has demonstrated beyond all shadow of of a doubt that the rot that has infected the Republican Party has completely overtaken the organism. Every tendril of Republican politics, from the White House to the homes of ordinary voters, has putrefied and grown toxic with loathing for their fellow Americans and for democracy itself.

Richard Wolff: Trump is a buffoon – but the next aspiring autocrat won’t be so incompetent

Our concern shouldn’t focus on whether Trump can derail Biden’s inauguration. Instead we should be deeply concerned about whether this cult can derail our democracy

Eleven Christmases ago, a student boarded a Northwest Airlines plane flying from Amsterdam to Detroit with a singular mission.

As the plane crossed the US border, he spent 20 minutes in the bathroom and then returned to his seat. There he tried to detonate his underwear, but only succeeded in burning his leg. The likely reason Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab failed to kill almost 300 people was because he was sweating too much.

The US has often been lucky that its enemies are too incompetent to detonate their own devices. But rather than relying on good fortune, successive presidents have spent trillions of dollars building a post-9/11 military order that is supposed to protect our freedoms. [..]

One of the many challenges of this era is the distortion field that surrounds Donald Trump. Because he only cares for himself, and because he represents such a grotesque distortion of leadership, we focus on the individual. We try to understand his sociopathy and we talk about Trumpism, assuming it will all dissipate after inaugural day.

But at this point, our concern should not focus on whether Trump and his allies can still derail Joe Biden’s inauguration: they can’t. Instead we should be deeply concerned about whether this cult can derail our democracy.

Long after Trump shuffles down the ramp to his post-presidency, there will be another: a Josh Hawley or a Ted Cruz or a Tom Cotton. We won’t call their autocratic politics Trumpism, but they will be Trump-like.

Jan 05 2021

Cartnoon

Clearly all this dog wanted to do was play

Dog Interrupts Soccer Match in Bolivia

Paws the Game: A dog ran onto a soccer field during a match in Bolivia. The game had to stop for a few minutes before a player was able to pick up the dog and carry it off the field ?⚽️

TMC for ek hornbeck

Jan 05 2021

The Breakfast Club (Hopelessly Confused)

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:00am (ET) (or whenever we get around to it) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.

 

This Day in History

 

Elian Gonzales decision; First female U.S. governor inaugurated; Sonny Bono dies; Pete Rose admits to betting on baseball; Bruce Springsteen’s first album debuts.

 

Breakfast Tunes

 

 

Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac

 

If you are sure you understand everything that is going on, you are hopelessly confused.

Walter F. Mondale

Continue reading

Jan 04 2021

Anatomy of Sedition in 62 Minutes

Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organisation, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or rebellion against, established authority. Sedition may include any commotion, though not aimed at direct and open violence against the laws. Seditious words in writing are seditious libel. A seditionist is one who engages in or promotes the interest of sedition.

Because sedition is overt, it is typically not considered a subversive act, and the overt acts that may be prosecutable under sedition laws vary from one legal code to another.

On Saturday, after 18 attempted calls from the White House to the Georgia secretary of state’s office since the election, the Squatter-in-Chief Donald J. Trump got on the phone and for 62 minutes harangued and threatened Brad Raffensperger to find him 11,780 votes to overturn his loss in that state. Georgia has already recounted the votes three times. No voter fraud was found and the count was accurate: Joe Biden won. No voter fraud was found and the count was accurate: Joe Biden won. The tape of the call was released by Georgia election officials yesterday, less than 24 hours after news of the call broke in one of The Squatter’s  typical Twitter rants.. This afternoon, Georgia’s election official Gabriel Sterling stated the reason the tape was released was due to the the Squatter’s multiple baseless claims of election fraud in the state. Despite the Squatter’s squealing, the taping was legal under Georgia law.

Per O.C.G.A. 16-11-66, you can record a telephone conversation in Georgia if you are a party to the conversation (on the phone). The recording will typically be admissible evidence at any hearing or trial.

The tape is, to say the least, an indictment for voter fraud, at worst, sedition. CNN has the full tape and transcript and their fact check of the conversation.

Reps. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Kathleen Rice (D-NY) have sent a criminal referral to the FBI related to Trump’s Georgia election fraud.

Under 52 U.S.C. § 20511, it is a crime for, “A person, including an election official, who in any election for Federal office … knowingly and willfully deprives, defrauds, or attempts to deprive or defraud the residents of a State of a fair and impartially conducted election process, by … the procurement, casting, or tabulation of ballots that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under the laws of the State in which the election is held.” In this case, Mr. Trump, for purposes of a federal election, solicited Secretary of State Raffensperger to procure ballots that are known to be false by threatening him to “find 11,780 votes.”

Reps. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Kathleen Rice (D-NY) have sent a criminal referral to the FBI related to Trump’s Georgia election fraud.

Reps. Lieu and Rice wrote:

Under 52 U.S.C. § 20511, it is a crime for, “A person, including an election official, who in any election for Federal office … knowingly and willfully deprives, defrauds, or attempts to deprive or defraud the residents of a State of a fair and impartially conducted election process, by … the procurement, casting, or tabulation of ballots that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under the laws of the State in which the election is held.” In this case, Mr. Trump, for purposes of a federal election, solicited Secretary of State Raffensperger to procure ballots that are known to be false by threatening him to “find 11,780 votes.”
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Under 52 U.S.C. § 10307(a), “No person acting under color of law shall … willfully fail or refuse to tabulate, count, and report such person’s vote.” During the phone conversation, Mr. Trump, under color of law, solicited Secretary of State Raffensperger to re-tabulate or “recalculate” the votes, which would have deprived Georgia voters of the accurate count of their votes.
….

The evidence of election fraud by Mr. Trump is now in broad daylight. The prima facie elements of the above crimes have been met. Given the more than ample factual predicate, we are making a criminal referral to you to open an investigation into Mr. Trump. Thank you for your attention to this urgent request.

Under the definition of sedition, the Squatter’s continued attempts to overturn the election and, therefore, the Constitution, with threats is an act of sedition. He should not only be impeached, convicted and blocked from running for any office with just 17 days left in his term, but prosecuted to the full extent of the law, along with every member of Congress that votes to block the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

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