Tracker

Armed Trumpists Surround Michigan Secretary of State’s Home Screaming ‘Stop the Steal’ Armed Trump supporters demanding that the president’s election loss is overturned gathered outside Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's home this weekend to shout obscenities at her and her 4-year-old son, she said in a statement. Benson wrote that she and her boy were decorating the house and watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas Saturday night when dozens of protesters arrived outside. “The demands made outside my home were unambiguous, loud, and threatening,” she wrote. “They targeted me in my role as Michigan's Chief Election Officer.” The Detroit Free Press reported that part of the protest was livestreamed and showed some of the demonstrators kitted out in Trump merchandise. The group can be heard chanting “Stop the steal” and “We want an audit.” The group dispersed with no arrests when police arrived at the scene.

Very bad news for Giuliani- he is high risk in every category.

Trump's performance in Georgia would be funny but with the political climate in the US the way it is, it is both sad and frightening. America is edging closer to civil ware every day. But contrary to Trump, cucimbers have uses.

I thought it was hilarious (no reference to Ms. Clinton) and the poop-tossing may have occurred right after the picture was taken.

White House, January 20, 2021

Former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell fumbles her way into another legal blunder. Powell was dismissed from the president’s legal team after making unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud By TOM BOGGIONI According to Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Greg Bluestein, former Donald Trump election lawyer Sidney Powell continued her streak of legal appeal errors with what appears to be a typo telling judges in Georgia that votes intended for former Vice President Joe Biden were " flipped" to Donald Trump. Powell, who was dismissed from the president's legal team after making claims that were considered beyond the pale by both the president and his main legal adviser Rudy Giuliani, has continued to attempt to make the case for the president that the election was rife with fraud with what she called lawsuits of "biblical proportions." Writing "Whoops" and appending a screenshot of the latest filing in Georgia, where Trump unexpectedly lost, Bluestein added, "The latest legal filing from former Trump attorney Sidney Powell in her Georgia lawsuit accuses Dominion voting machines of flipping votes from Biden to Trump — which would mean the president gained fraudulent votes. One GOP attorney calls it an 'epic fail.'"

If we do not get a significant reduction in new cases and % of positive tests by Monday, we will be in trouble.

An anal apperture to the end.

And why should he? He has, with the support of the GOP, committed treason, broken election laws and the Emoluments laws, not to mention all of the very apparent criminal acts he committed before becoming president. Thieves are gonna keep stealing until they go to jail.

Rudy Giuliani’s star election fraud witness recently got off probation for "computer crime": report Mellissa Carone claimed that ballots were being smuggled inside food vans in interviews with right-leaning media. Melissa Carone, who was working for Dominion Voting Services, speaks in front of the Michigan House Oversight Committee in Lansing, Michigan on December 2, 2020. - The president's attorneys, led by Rudy Giuliani, have made numerous allegations of election fraud. A star witness in President Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election just recently got off probation for committing a "computer crime," the Daily Mail reports. Mellissa Carone was sentenced to 12 months probation in September of 2019 for the crime which took place the year before. Carone struck a deal with prosecutors who dropped a first-degree obscenity charge against her. Carone became a viral story after she appeared as a key witness in the Trump campaign's Michigan voter fraud claims. Everything that happened at that TCF Center was fraud," she said, when appearing on December 2 in front of a Michigan House oversight committee. "Every single thing." https://www.salon.com/2020/12/04/rudy-giulianis-star-election-fraud-witness-recently-got-off-probation-for-computer-crime-report_partner/

Ick! I would put that right up there with deep-fried Twinkies.

Trump has installed his toadies at the head of the Pentagon and there is reason to believe that he has done so in anticipation of declaring martial law due to a "rigged election". He and his advisors are hoping that if it comes to this, the military mindset of following orders without question will kick in and then troops will be sent into the streets to put down any dissent from voters or political adversaries. This is a chilling prospect as this would suspend the courts, habeas corpus and all other individual rights. Any American who thinks it couldn't happen is delusional as Trump has given every indication of being willing to do exactly this.

This right out of the Tory playbook- blame the media when you screw up. There was no reason to believe that voluntary measures would stop the spread and there were lots of examples to prove the opposite. The Cons were afraid to alienate their base by clamping down like the Kiwis and Aussies did.

I'm Not Saying Donald Trump Is Planning a Coup, But He's Doing Exactly What Someone Would Do if They Were Planning a Coup Is Donald Trump Planning a Coup? (theroot.com) (An interesting read)

Ironically, it sure as spit doesn't look like Pence has any future in politics. Religion pays much better, you don't have to run for office, and, once in, you do whatever you want.

No question for me that Pallister was sincere in the anguish he displayed, but his core belief system is that Manitoba needs to be remade in a Tory image- hostile to unions and labour, regulated business and social infrastructure with deference to the rich and powerful.

The "Fundies" hold the Conservatives hostage much as they hold the GOP in thrall. In both cases, the core political philosophy is so weak that without that sort of tainted support, neither would win another election.

WELL, THAT BACKFIRED: Judges to Boycott South Dakota Courthouse That Will Allow Guns Inside Custer County A South Dakota county commission that voted to let people bring guns into the courthouse may have shot itself in the foot: The judges plan to boycott the facility. The Rapid City Journal reports that the presiding judge of the 7th Judicial Circuit has drafted an order that says the Custer County courthouse “is currently unsuitable and insufficient due to safety concerns.” Under the order, which has to be approved by a higher court, trials would take place in a different courthouse where guns are prohibited and judges may preside remotely. The commissioner who introduced the pro-gun rule refused to discuss it with the newspaper but has claimed the courthouse would be a target unless civilians could be armed. Judges to Boycott South Dakota Courthouse That Will Allow Guns Inside (thedailybeast.com)

Pastor of California Megachurch That Defied Lockdown Order Dies of COVID-19 Jason Cairnduff/Reuters A California pastor has died from COVID-19, five weeks after his megachurch reopened in defiance of the state’s ban on indoor religious services. Bob Bryant, a 58-year-old associate pastor at the Water of Life Community Church in San Bernardino County, contracted the virus in November and eventually suffered severe pneumonia in his lungs, the Los Angeles Times reports. San Bernardino is one of the hardest hit regions in a state struggling to contain a vicious winter wave of the virus. But the church nevertheless ignored a mid-July order banning indoor church services. Church officials insisted to the Times that Byrant didn’t come to church after he developed symptoms but they weren’t sure when the pastor was last in the church.

Apparently McConnell has decided to make things as difficult as possible for Biden, so reaching out to the GOP will be futile, and a sign to the GOP that Biden is weak. Prosecuting Trump and his followers to the full extent of the law ought to give them some pause.

Trump Pentagon Pick Suggested President Should Declare Martial Law Over Election ‘Coup’: ‘NOT A BAD IDEA’ Reuters President Trump’s nominee for a senior post at the Pentagon has repeatedly spread false conspiracies about the 2020 election, reposting tweets that it was stolen from Trump as part of an attempted “coup” and that Trump should declare martial law, CNN reports. Texan Scott O’Grady, an ex-fighter pilot who’s been nominated for assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, retweeted a post on Nov. 25 that falsely declared, “Trump won & Biden & his Comrades will now attempt a coup.” The tweet featured a doctored photo of Biden with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Several days later, he reposted a tweet suggesting it was time for Trump to invoke martial law. “I don’t know who needs to hear this,” the post read, “But calling for martial law is not a bad idea when there is an attempted coup against the president and this country happening right now.” That same account also posted an article about former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn calling for martial law in a petition, which O’Grady shared as well.

If our current provincial government is willing to court the right-wingers, this is only a small step beyond that.

Silence is complicity and silence from the incoming Biden administration would signal that the GOP can do whatever they want with impunity. It would also mean that they see whatever Trump and his sycomphants did as licit, and open the floodgates all manner of election tampering and corruption. Precedent is very important in law.

I would bet that Trump is functionally broke and his empire is living on credit, so he needs to divert as much money as possible into accounts that cannot be traced.