Tracker

Newly sworn-in GOP rep: Some Republicans voted to overturn election due to fears for 'safety of their families' In a phone interview with Reason reporter Matt Welch published on January 8, newly sworn in Republican Rep. Peter Meijer, of Michigan, wasted no words in condemning those responsible for the attempted toppling of our government. But he also reported a chilling detail from the events of that night: Rep. Meijer claims that some Republican lawmakers voted to throw out the ballots from Arizona and Pennsylvania not because they truly believed Trump's claims, but were concerned for "the safety of their families." "One of the saddest things is I had colleagues who, when it came time to recognize reality and vote to certify Arizona and Pennsylvania in the Electoral College, they knew in their heart of hearts that they should've voted to certify, but some had legitimate concerns about the safety of their families. They felt that that vote would put their families in danger," said Meijer. Newly sworn-in GOP rep: Some Republicans voted to overturn election due to fears for 'safety of their families' - Alternet.org Melania Identifies Real Victim of the Deadly Capitol Riots: Herself Reuters/Hannah McKay Last week, five people died as rioters incited by President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol seeking lawmakers to lynch. But First Lady Melania Trump has identified the worst thing about the entire horrific spectacle—people saying mean things about her online. In a deeply weird and jarring farewell statement posted by the White House early Monday morning, Melania first paid tribute to those who lost their lives in last week’s violence carried out in support of her husband, before going on to settle some scores against unspecified people who she claims have “attacked” her over the past few days since the riots. “I am disappointed and disheartened with what happened last week,” she began, in a paragraph which, at first, you assume is a condemnation of Trumpist rioters. But she then goes on to say: “I find it shameful that surrounding these tragic events there has been salacious gossip, unwarranted personal attacks, and false misleading accusations on me—from people who are looking to be relevant and have an agenda. This time is solely about healing our country and its citizens. It should not be used for personal gain.”

Calgary pastor says church will continue to break COVID-19 rules, days after health order issued Sarah Rieger · CBC News · Posted: Jan 10, 2021 2:26 PM MT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church in southeast Calgary was issued a public health order, after an inspection found almost no attendees or church staff wearing masks or distancing. (Fairview Baptist Church/YouTube) Police and Alberta Health Services responded to a southeast Calgary church on Sunday, after the pastor continued to encourage congregants to break public health rules following a fine and health inspection order. Pastor Tim Stephens wrote in an emailed newsletter to Fairview Baptist Church congregants on Wednesday that he had received a $1,200 fine from Calgary bylaw officers for violating public health orders. "I addressed the regulations theologically, scientifically, legally, and politically. I knew that receiving a fine would be a real possibility. Having received one now, the course is unchanged," he wrote, adding that he would not be following the restrictions and reducing capacity to ensure physical distancing or enforcing mask use within the church.

Trump's followers posted this today- an alteration of Pelosi's letter.

I had a sister in law who is in hospital waiting to be admitted to the COVID ward for two days and was finally transferred today. She had two false positives before a third confirmed the infection. Even so, she is in a high-risk group and is far from being out of the woods.

Thank God! There seems to be a national consensus building in the US. All hope may not yet be lost.

The Republicans who stood with Trump and still largely do, have fallen back to the old right-wing two-step crisis management. Step one: "We are in a crisis- this is not the time to debate this or assign blame". Step Two: "Why bring up the past- its all over now, Lets get on with things"

He will stay on an NFL roster only as long as they cannot find a 6'4" QB and/or have their usual one return from the COVID reserve. Whether he will stoop to coing North is another matter altogether.

Championship teams always have their staff and rosters raided. Doesn't matter which sport- it happens.

Another U.S Capitol Police Officer Has Died After Trump Supporters' Riot Officer Howard Liebengood died on Saturday, the department announced. He is the second officer to die since Wednesday's violent siege of the Capitol. U.S. Capitol Police on Sunday announced the death of one of its officers, bringing the number of deaths in the unit since Wednesday’s violent Capitol siege to two. Officer Howard Liebengood, 51, died on Saturday, when he was off duty, the USCP said in a statement. He had worked with the department since 2005. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends, and colleagues,” the department said. Multiple outlets reported that Liebengood died by suicide; those reports were backed by a social media post from another USCP officer. It is not yet clear whether Liebengood’s death is linked to Wednesday’s insurrection. Another U.S Capitol Police Officer Has Died After Trump Supporters' Riot | HuffPost Canada (huffingtonpost.ca)

Having a minister who claims to be a voice of a Higher Power spout this kind of crap is bad enough, but that it not as corrosive to society as a politician in a seat of power. It is equally repugnant when people/politicians who are rebuked for good reason start comparing their censures to the Nazi exterminations of not only Jews, but the mentally and physically disabled or ill or gays. Hitler and his people also started off by first imprisoning, then killing anyone they saw as unfit. Their ultimate plans were to first enslave Slavs and use them for forced labour, working them to death, then exterminate Semites, blacks, and then Asians. Just as you cannot be just little bit pregnant, you cannot be a little bit racist. The racists among us selectively attack one minority at a time, and too many "good people" remain silent because they are not directly affected, hoping that they will be passed over and safe. Too late, they learn that they are mistaken and their silence is really complicity. Bill Barr's parting gift: A new rule stripping civil rights enforcement in Justice Department Call it the last stand of the confederacy: a Republican administration attempting to roll back decades of civil rights protections for American citizens. Before he left office, former Attorney General Bill Barr submitted a regulatory change to the White House that would narrow the department's enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, the provision that strips federal funding away from entities discriminating against people of color and other groups, including women, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ people. The rule change would mean the civil rights division would only enforce the cases where it could prove intentional discrimination, getting rid of the "disparate impact" rule. That rule is based on the legal doctrine that a policy is discriminatory if it adversely impacts a group based on that group's race, color, religion, sex, and, more expansively, sexual orientation. It's been applied in education, housing, transportation, health care—essentially every facet of government policy by previous administrations, but especially expanded under former President Barack Obama. Trump has been chipping away at it since Day One in individual departments like Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Education, but now they're going for the whole shebang, just removing it from consideration overall in the Justice Department. Bill Barr's parting gift: A new rule stripping civil rights enforcement in Justice Department - Alternet.org (If you wanted an example of justice being whittled away, here it is)

‘All Started With Lies’: Arnold Schwarzenegger Compares Capitol Riots to Nazi Attack on Jews Lisi Niesner via Reuters Arnold Schwarzenegger posted an impassioned address to Twitter Sunday morning in which he compared the attempted coup on Capitol Hill last week to the infamous 1938 Nazi attack on Jewish people known as the “Night of Broken Glass” in his native country Austria. “I grew up in a country that suffered from the loss of its democracy,” he said after explaining that the 1938 attack was carried out by a “Nazi equivalent of the Proud Boys.” He then explained that he grew up knowing people who weren’t anti-Semites or Nazis but who “just went along” with the violent acts, including his father who he said would come home drunk and beat him and his mother, like other neighborhood men who were “in emotional pain for what they saw or did.” He then went on to warn, “It all started with lies, lies, lies and intolerance. Being from Europe I’ve seen firsthand how bad things can spin out of control.” He went on to explain how President Trump tried to run over an election and would go down as the “worse president” in history. “He sought a coup by misleading people with lies,” he said. “I know where such lies lead.” I have not been a big fan of Ah-nold but this is an act of courage on his part to disclose this pain and shame in his past ‘All Started With Lies’: Arnold Schwarzenegger Compares Capitol Riots to Nazi Attack on Jews (thedailybeast.com) Republicans are now begging Biden, "in the spirit of healing," to stop Pelosi from impeaching Trump. Republicans are arguing against holding Donald Trump account for the fatal insurrection he incited at the U.S. Capitol. The request came in a letter signed by Representatives Ken Buck (R-CO), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Tom McClinton (R-CA), Nancy Mace (R-SC), Chip Roy (R-TX), Kelly Armstrong (R-ND), and Mike Gallagher (R-W). The letter was addressed to President-elect Joe Biden. "In the spirit of healing and fidelity to our Constitution, we ask that you formally request that Speaker Nancy Pelosi discontinue her efforts to impeach President Donald J. Trump a second time. A second impeachment, only days before President Trump will leave office, is as unnecessary as it is inflammatory," the Republicans argued. Despite arguing against accountability for Trump's failed coup, the group went on to say they "celebrate the peaceful transfer of power, a bedrock of our system of self-government."

Incoming GOP rep. apologizes for saying 'Hitler was right' in speech at US Capitol — but people aren't buying it This week, while speaking at a Moms for America® Save the Republic Rally at the nation's capitol, incoming Republican Illinois Congresswoman Mary Miller said, "Hitler was right." While she wasn't talking about the Nazi leader's decision to kill over six million Jews, queers and others, she said, "Hitler was right on one thing. He said, 'Whoever has the youth has the future,'" adding that to build a lasting social movement conservatives must win the hearts and minds of our children," like Hitler's Nazi Youth program did, presumably. "This is the battle," she said. Incoming GOP rep. apologizes for saying 'Hitler was right' in speech at US Capitol — but people aren't buying it - Alternet.org Trump won’t lower flags for slain officer — even on ‘Law Enforcement Appreciation Day’: report President Donald Trump would repeatedly tweet "LAW & ORDER" while running for re-election and before being banned from the social media website for inciting violence. But his purported support for police was called into question on Saturday, which was coincidentally, "Law Enforcement Appreciation Day." After Capitol Hill Police Officer Brian Sicknick was murdered during Wednesday's insurrection by Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol, Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker Nancy Pelosi called his grieving family to offer their condolences. However, Trump did not offer his condolences. "President Trump has not ordered the flags on federal buildings to fly at half-staff in honor of Brian D. Sicknick, a police officer who was killed after trying to fend off pro-Trump loyalists during the siege at the Capitol on Wednesday," The New York Times reported Saturday. "While the flags at the Capitol have been lowered, Mr. Trump has not issued a similar order for federal buildings under his control. A White House spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment." The newspaper also reported, "The president and the vice president have not spoken since Wednesday morning, before the riot unfolded, an administration official said." Trump won’t lower flags for slain officer — even on ‘Law Enforcement Appreciation Day’: report - Alternet.org (More of Trump's mindset is revealed- he sees even police as disposable assets)

Damn. That was preventable- after we reach age 50, our thirst response weakens and we can be quite dehydrated and not know it. The body signaling system is so primitive that our brain (the signal receiver) cannot differentiate between thirst and hunger. So, often the late evening hunger we experience is often thirst but we eat instead of drinking water. About 2/3 of people over 55 that come into hospitals for other reasons are significantly dehydrated.

Trump Pressured Another GA Elections Official in Second Phone Call: WaPo Getty News Details of a new phone call between President Trump and a Georgia elections investigator have surfaced in which Trump told the official that they would become a “national hero” if they found evidence of election fraud. The official, who works as the investigations chief in the Georgia secretary of state’s office, was looking into allegations of ballot fraud in the Atlanta suburbs. State officials ultimately concluded there was no widespread fraud. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told the Post that the call was inappropriate. “I don’t believe that an elected official should be involved in that process,” he said. News of the call comes a week after the bombshell release of a late December phone call between Trump and Raffensperger, in which Trump demanded Raffensperger “find” new votes. Legal experts say both calls could potentially amount to a crime of obstruction of justice.

‘He's Going To Be More Unleashed And Unhinged Than Ever’. A scholar of authoritarians discusses the MAGA insurrection and how the end of Trump’s presidency might be the beginning of a phase of extremist violence. President Donald Trump had been laying the groundwork for the insurrection at the Capitol for years, according to historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, who says this "cultivation" of far-right extremists has been "entwined with this victim cult." This week a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Five people died in the chaos, including a police officer. This historic insurrection was the culmination of five years of fascist rhetoric from the president, who now has less than two weeks left in his disastrous sole term in the White House. Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a history professor at New York University and author of the book “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present.” She talked to HuffPost about how she thinks Trump might act once he’s out of office and how America could be headed for even more violence and political unrest. You’ve been at the forefront of identifying and documenting how Trump and the “Make America Great Again” movement represent a real authoritarian or fascist insurgency. Were you still surprised to see what you saw Wednesday? No, I wasn’t surprised. I was extremely calm when it happened because I just kind of expected it. Of course, it was shocking to then see the lawmakers cowering, and then I became very angry at the arrogance and lawlessness, and the fact that the police didn’t do anything and that these guys went out for drinks later, these insurgents. But no, this has been set up since Trump’s presidential campaign, when he actively cultivated all of these various militias and far-right forces, so it’s that cultivation entwined with this victim cult. Because this doesn’t work if you don’t have the cult leader. And the leader is the victim. So the leader is the protector, he’s going to save the nation, blah, blah, blah, but once they bonded to him, it’s very fascistic. It’s very fascist. If he’s in trouble, their duty is to save him. And so Trump has played them like a violin all these years, doing exactly what he needs to do to string them along and keep them loyal. Give them just enough crumbs of affirmation. And then he called on them because the other things that he was trying to do didn’t work. ‘He's Going To Be More Unleashed And Unhinged Than Ever’ | HuffPost Canada (huffingtonpost.ca)

Trump regrets committing to a peaceful transfer of power and will not resign: report. Trump's recent behavior 'would meet criteria for an involuntary mental health hold': mental health expert One day after President Donald Trump released a video committing to a peaceful transfer of power, he was banned from Twitter—his strongest form of communication with his base. As expected, the new directive did not go over well with Trump and now, according to The New York Times, he regrets committing to a peaceful transition. Amid calls for Trump's resignation or impeachment, the isolated lame-duck president is reportedly seething behind closed doors at the White House and has made it clear that he will not resign. The publication reports: At the White House, Mr. Trump struck a defiant tone, insisting that he would remain a potent force in American politics even as aides and allies abandoned him and his post-presidential prospects turned increasingly bleak. Behind closed doors, he made clear that he would not resign and expressed regret about releasing a video on Thursday committing to a peaceful transition of power and condemning the violence at the Capitol that he had egged on a day before. The latest report comes shortly after Trump's commitment to a peaceful transfer of power. In a perplexing video message, the president offered a tone completely different from his typical attacking rhetoric. While he did not make any apologies for his involvement in the siege on the U.S. Capitol, he called for calm as he finally admitted that a new administration would be taking over on Jan. 20. "Like all Americans, I am outraged by the violence, lawlessness, and mayhem," Trump said in the video. He also claimed: "the demonstrators who infiltrated the capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy." He added, "To those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country. And to those who broke the law, you will pay." As Inauguration Day nears, lawmakers are on edge as they are concerned about more potential damage an unpredictable Trump could cause in his final days at the White House.

Trump is as much a symptom of the rot in America as the cause, and that is why, barring a conversion on the road to Damascus , we are witnessing the end of the American empire and a devolution into chaos and tribalism. All self-inflicted.

Blanche was in top form. Many farms could use a manure spreader like that.

America has January 20th to look forward to, and the lunatic fringers have promised more violence to come.

Fired Trump Official's Ominous Warning: 'There Will Be More Bloodshed' Before Inauguration Trump “has to declare that this was a free and fair election,” urged Chris Krebs. “He still has time to do what’s right.” Chris Krebs, the fired former chief of U.S. cybersecurity, warned Friday there will be more bloodshed from supporters of President Donald Trump in the run-up to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Krebs told CNN’s Don Lemon there had been no question in his mind that violence would erupt on Wednesday, when a mob of pro-Trump rioters — incited by the president and his allies ― stormed the U.S. Capitol in disgraceful scenes that shocked the world. And Krebs cautioned: There’s going to be more violence. There is going to be violence in the run-up to the inauguration. This is not over. There will be more. There are steps that can be taken by various individuals, and I hate using the passive voice there, so I’m just going to call it out. The president has to declare that this was a free and fair election. He lost. He still has time to do what’s right. It has to happen. There will be more bloodshed. Fired Trump Official's Ominous Warning: 'There Will Be More Bloodshed' Before Inauguration | HuffPost Canada (huffingtonpost.ca)

The Democrats have a once in a generation chance to change America irreversibly and for the better. They need to aggressively and legally prosecute all the GOP people who have broken the law with impunity so far. Simultaneously, strengthen their Medicare program. They can then impeach Clarence Thomas, extend statehood status to Washington DC and Puerto Rico, do away with gerrymandering, and restore voting rights protection. Then withdraw all US forces from non-critical areas. If they institute most or all of these, the GOP and their neo-fascists will die off or adapt to a better, kinder America.

The GOP is long past caring what looks bad or what the voting public or the courts think.

Fixed it for you.