rawstory--2020-11-22--Ex-Russian chess champion says Putin already has a his teeth sunk into Republicans in Congress

An ex-Russian chess champion revealed Sunday he believes President Vladimir Putin has sunken his teeth into “ an enfeebled Congress.
” Garry Kasparov tweeted , “ While most concerns about the U.S. becoming like Putin ’ s Russia focused on an authoritarian president , I ’ m starting to worry about an enfeebled Congress with extremist wings like Russia ’ s : Nationalists and Communists !
” His thread continued , “ Such extremes can push people toward a relatively reasonable sounding authoritarian .
Putin had the nationalist ranting of Zhirinovsky and the Communist Zyuganov to make him look like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrote years ago about this radicalization trend , the ‘ Spanish Civil War ’ model , this isolates the middle .
But that presumes an eventual victory by one side .
Instead , it can leave an opening for a opportunistic agnostic like Putin , who cares only for power.
” Kasparov said he wasn ’ t only alarmed by the threat of extremism .
“ Extremism isn ’ t the only danger , dysfunction and stagnation are too .
If Congress is increasingly seen as abdicating its powers as the first branch @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expansion of executive power when their party has power , ” Kasparov warned .
“ I wrote about the need for a ‘ popular front ’ against Trump in Jan .
The emphasis is usually on one extremist side winning the the winner-take-all prize .
But discrediting the parliament and regular politics is a more subtle danger.
” He continued , “ Putin cares more about the type of person who wins than their politics , and he supports extremists on all sides in his interference campaigns .
Not just for chaos , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an autocrat more likely to rise .
Trump attacking the legitimacy of the election doesn ’ t really end on January 20 .
It ’ s an attack on the legitimacy of Biden as president .
Trump is never going to stop saying he was cheated , and his GOP enablers are destabilizing the country with their silence.
” Exposing the GOP for their ineptitude followed — and included the concept of treason .
“ Only five GOP Senators have acknowledged reality by my count .
Cruz is tweeting pictures about Thanksgiving when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ turkeys .
Constitutionalists ?
Rule of law ?
Or Trump ?
They have chosen and it won ’ t be forgotten , ” Kasparov said .
“ Right now it ’ s high crimes and misdemeanors .
But if Trump holds a rally on January 21 , saying he ’ s the real president , is that not treason ?
Aside from the violence it would likely lead to , it ’ s an attack on the union itself.
” See the full thread below .

The three candidates, as well as businessman Perry Johnson and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, also had campaign events at the Iowa State Fair scheduled for Friday, meeting with Reynolds for a “fair-side chat” at JR’s SouthPork Ranch and speaking at the Register Political Soapbox.
In Thursday events, candidates talked with Iowans about issues from the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection to the investigation into Hunter Biden’s financial dealings. Some of the Iowans attending political events in the first two days of the Fair were weighing their options for the 2024 Republican caucuses — looking for alternatives to the frontrunner, former President Donald Trump.
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Linda Sullivan of Johnston came to listen to Burgum’s speech at 8:30 a.m., saying she and her husband were interested in what he and other candidates like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott were saying. Sullivan said Trump was “wouldn’t be on my top list,” and that she was looking for another candidate to take on leading the Republican Party in 2024.
“I just want to get the best person that can get us out of this — in my words — mess, we’re kind of in, in our country,” Sullivan said. “And, yeah, just get back to common sense, like Kim said.”
Trump plans to attend the fair Saturday, but does not plan to speak at the soapbox or participate in a chat with Reynolds.
Here are some updates from the second day of Iowa’s 2023 Iowa State Fair:
Larry Elder calls for support to get to GOP debate stage
Talk show host Larry Elder defended his spot as a “serious candidate” in the 2024 Republican presidential field Friday at the Iowa State Fair, while saying his role was to push other candidates on under-discussed issues.
“Did you think that Donald Trump would win in 2016 at some point? Did you think Joe Biden would the nominee in 2020 at some point?” Elder said. “… Honestly, things have a long way to go between now and the first vote was here in Iowa on January 15. And of longer way to go before the first vote in November in 2024. Anything could happen — trust me, it will happen. You have no idea what’s gonna happen. Do I believe I’m a serious candidate? Hell yes, I am.”
The former California gubernatorial candidate spoke to more than 60 people gathered at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox Friday afternoon. He shared his family story and described policy proposals to address the “epidemic of fatherlessness,” tie federal spending to a set percentage of the national gross domestic product and to remove so-called “soft on crime” district attorneys from office in cities around the country.
Elder described himself as a “MAGA” and “America First” Republican. Though Elder did not point to reasons why he would be a better nominee than former President Donald Trump, he asked for Republicans to support him to put a bigger spotlight on the topics he is discussing.
“Even if they want somebody else, I’m trying to put these issues front and center,” he said. “So if I’m not the nominee, if Trump, for example, is a nominee, if Trump can begin talking about this, given the strength of his voice, given the strength of his megaphone … maybe something can be done.”
Elder said no other Republican candidates are talking about issues such as fatherhood or saying that America is not “systematically racist,” for fear of being called racist. He asked for donations and support from Iowa Republicans at the soapbox and during his Thursday “fair-side chat” with Gov. Kim Reynolds to help him qualify for the Republican debate in Milwaukee Aug. 23.
Elder said he was about 15,000 donors short of the Republican National Committee’s 40,000 threshold. He asked the crowd for support to get his message on the national stage even if they support another candidate for the Republican nomination.
“Do you think that’s a serious message to take to the American people as I’m campaigning, even if I’m not the nominee?” Elder said. “Hell yeah, it is. That’s why I’m doing this.”
Perry Johnson wants executive order to stop Ukraine spending
Perry Johnson spent a large portion of his 20 minutes on the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox focused on federal debt and spending.
Defense spending, aid to Ukraine and federal departments were on Johnson’s list of cuts to make.
“I spent my entire life bringing quality and efficiency to companies and now I want to bring it to the federal government,” Johnson said.
Johnson is a businessman who focuses on efficiency and has founded several worldwide companies.
“I think it’s ridiculous that we are sending $113 billion to the Ukraine when we are going broke here,” Johnson said.
“The single most important thing we have in the United States is defense,” Johnson said, addressing the Department of Defense’s need to have advanced technology, as well as the department’s failed audits.
One audience member asked Johnson how he would be able to stop the U.S. from sending money to Ukraine.
“You noticed how Biden has all of the executive orders to send money over [to Ukraine]? You’re allowed to have an executive order to not fund it,” Johnson said. “… Let’s stop this craziness because sending $113 billion to the Ukraine, we don’t even know where the money is going. It’s nuts.”
Johnson also said he would get rid of the federal Department of Education if elected.
Lowering the cost of running the government is part of Johnson’s agenda, but he also wants to address costs Americans are facing in their privates lives, too, he said.
“The two major things that have gone up exponentially are college tuition and medical care and we need to address those issues,” Johnson, who just sent his eldest son to Michigan State, said.
Johnson said he would require colleges to freeze tuition cost and cut spending 2% each year to qualify for student loans if elected.
“Part of the thing that’s going to happen when I enter office is I will try to privatize as many things as possible,” Johnson said. “You realize, when we privatize things we force competition, we force people to have better quality and better efficiency or they can’t survive.”
Johnson is hosting a concert Saturday featuring the band Big & Rich at the Lauridsen Amphitheater in Des Moines. He said his concert was originally just for his donors, but he has reached his goal of 40,000 donors to reach the debate stage in Milwaukee on Aug. 23.
Johnson still invited everyone to the concert, “I guess in theory you’re supposed to donate, but I do have 52,000 donors, I don’t need more.”
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez emphasizes national electability while aiming for debate stage
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez does not have the name recognition that some of his competitors for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination can boast, but he told Iowans he was uniquely able to draw certain groups of voters away from the Democratic Party.
“I have absolutely no doubt that I would be a impossible candidate for the Democrats to beat, because I attack three core constituencies that, if they were to lose, they will lose the election by a landslide,” Suarez said. “… If we could win Hispanics, if we could win urban voters — which I’ve done already, my community — and young voters, it’s game over. There isn’t a place in the United States where Democrats can win. I’ve already done that.”
The Republican mayor talked with Iowans in back-to-back stops at the Iowa State Fair, first speaking with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds for a “fair-side chat” before speaking to a group of 30 at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox.
In both talks, Suarez discussed his experience as a Cuban-American whose parents were “kicked out of their country of birth by a communist dictator.” He said his family history and experience as a Republican mayor in a major American city would make him a good choice to lead conservatives to victory in a national election.
However, Suarez has acknowledged that his bid for the Republican nomination hinges on gaining a higher national profile. In an interview with The Hill Tuesday, the candidate said making it onto the Milwaukee debate stage later this month was “critical” to his campaign, and that he may drop out of the race if he does not qualify for the Aug. 23 debate.
Candidates must have donations from a minimum of 40,000 individuals, as well as hit at least 1% in three national polls or a mix of national and early state polls between July 1 and Aug. 23. Currently, eight candidates have met these thresholds for the debate: former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Trump, Pence and Christie have yet to sign the Republican National Committee’s pledge to back the eventual Republicans nominee regardless of who wins the contest also required to participate.
Suarez said that he is hoping the RNC offers some flexibility in the debate requirements because of some of the obstacles his campaign has encountered, “including not being included in at least a third of the polls that have been that have been put out.” Speaking with reporters after his soapbox speech, Suarez did not commit to dropping out if he does not qualify for the debate, but said he does believe candidates should not “linger around” if they do not have a credible shot at the nomination.
Getting a national platform would give his campaign the momentum needed to build toward that “credible” bid at the Republican nomination, he said.
“When you’re a relatively unknown candidate, you see the reaction that the crowd has and the people have when they listen to me, you know that if you’re given an opportunity to speak at a national level, that you’re gonna be able to connect and that you’re gonna be able to grow,” Suarez said. “So it’s kind of a chicken or an egg problem. And so we’re doing everything we can over the next 10 days to get there.”
Pence expresses pride in ‘Trump-Pence administration’
Although it’s been a common topic during campaign trail appearances, Gov. Kim Reynolds did not ask former Vice President Mike Pence about Jan. 6 during her “fair-side chat” interview.
A fairgoer on Thursday accused Pence of treason for refusing on Jan. 6, 2021, to block certification of the 2020 election. Pence said he was upholding his oath to defend the Constitution.
Reynolds, however, kept the focus on lighter topics. She asked what he was proud of during his time in the White House, as well as his Christian faith, his childhood and America’s current “absent president.”
Pence said he will “always be proud of the Trump-Pence administration,” an appealing line to some Republicans.
Andrew Wallace, a 21-year-old from Wisconsin drove five hours to see Donald Trump on Saturday, but decided to arrive to Iowa a day early to see Pence. Wallace said Pence is running on an agenda similar to Trump’s, but said he does not like Pence “ripping on Trump.”
“I don’t like that, I don’t like that,” Wallace said. “Trump didn’t do anything to him, Trump did absolutely nothing to him.”
Wallace said of Pence, “He’s running a Trump campaign, just a different guy other than Trump.”
Regarding Medicare and Social Security, Pence said, “We’re not going to change anything, 40-years-old or older and nothing changing for you.”
For those who are under 40, Pence said “I’d like to reform these New Deal programs and actually give you a better deal by making sure that Social Security and Medicare are actually there for you.”
The former vice president said the federal government has gotten too big.
“Washington is not only too big and spends too much, but it does too much,” Pence said before he told the audience of about 100 that he would shut down the federal Department of Education if elected.
Reynolds followed up with a question about Linn-Mar schools and a federal lawsuit regarding gender transitioning, with which Pence has been involved.
“We have got to make it clear that parents don’t co-parent with government,” Pence said, receiving a round of applause. “Parents are in charge of their children’s education and we got to protect our kids from this radical gender ideology.”
Pence promised attendees that he would bring small town values to the White House.
“Iowa just feels like home,” Pence said. “I grew up in a small town… I can tell you, I just promise you, you give me the privilege to be your president, I’m going to fight for the values and the ideals and the integrity and the character of the people of Iowa and the heartland of this country.”
Doug Burgum calls for action on U.S.-Mexico border
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum told Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds Friday about his recent trip to the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas, saying President Joe Biden’s administration was failing to support Border Patrol agents.
Both Burgum and Reynolds, Republican governors, have sent National Guard troops from their states at the request of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. The action comes following the end of Title 42, a measure that allowed the U.S. to turn away asylum-seekers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Burgum also made a trip to the border in Texas with North Dakota National Guard’s adjutant general on Monday and Tuesday, receiving a briefing from the more than 100 North Dakota National Guard troops on a yearlong deployment supporting U.S. Border Patrol agents in Texas.
In a “fair-side chat” with Reynolds Friday, Burgum said he saw the need during his trip for more federal support, and for more Border Patrol agents. There was not enough attention on the Biden administration’s border policies, he said, citing as an example an experience while he was being interviewed by national press in Texas.
“Over my shoulder, there was people wading across the Rio Grande, and I was getting questions about the swamp, and these indictments, while there’s people crossing the river behind us,” Burgum said.
The Biden administration asked Congress on Thursday for an additional $4 billion for border security.
Burgum linked the Biden administration’s handling of the U.S.-Mexico border with rising fentanyl overdose deaths, saying the U.S. was “taking mass casualties” by not stopping the flow of drugs over the southern border. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration found in 2020 that most fentanyl, produced in China and Mexico, was transported into the U.S. through legal ports of entry by U.S. citizens. Democrats have criticized Republicans for linking fentanyl trafficking with immigration.
The North Dakota Republican also said immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border was an issue of national security. He said cartels, transnational criminal organizations, were profiting off of people seeking transportation to the U.S. border, and that some of the people crossing the border could pose national security risks.
“This isn’t just like, ‘Oh, people are coming over from Mexico,'” Burgum said. Syrians, Iranians, North Koreans, Russians, Chinese — I mean, so we’ve got people on terrorist watch lists that are part of the group that are coming across the border right now.”
Burgum said there are roughly 20,000 Border Patrol agents currently working in the U.S. at both the northern and southern borders. He said he would reverse the Biden administration’s “dereliction of duty,” and put more federal resources behind border patrol.
“On a day one, if you give a group of law enforcement the support they need if you give them the technology, you give them the staffing you given the material, they’re going to be able to do the job when I was talking to Border Patrol people they said, Hey, we’ve done it before we’ve controlled the board before. Just give us a chance to do it.”
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Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.


rawstory--2020-11-27--Trump lies about the election being ‘rigged’ — but says he will leave the White House

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would leave the White House if Joe Biden is officially confirmed the winner of the US election , making a further concession of defeat even as he railed against the “ rigged ” vote .
Trump has made an unprecedented attempt to defy the results of the election by refusing to concede , spreading wild theories about stolen ballots and launching baseless legal challenges that have been thrown out by courts across the country .
Answering his first questions from reporters since the November 3 vote , the president moved closer to accepting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in office before Biden is inaugurated on January 20 .
When asked if he would leave the White House if the Electoral College confirmed Biden ’ s victory , Trump said , “ Certainly I will .
And you know that.
” But “ if they do , they made a mistake , ” he said , adding , “ It ’ s going to be a very hard thing to concede.
” The Electoral College , which determines the White House winner , will meet on December 14 to certify Biden ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ votes to Trump ’ s 232 .
“ This was a massive fraud , ” Trump said about the result , again without providing any evidence during his remarks to reporters on Thursday , the Thanksgiving holiday .
He described the US voting infrastructure as “ like a third-world country.
” Earlier in the day he tweeted that “ this was a 100 % RIGGED ELECTION , ” while on Wednesday he called on his Republican supporters “ to turn the election over.
” President-elect Biden has said that Americans “ won ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the outcome , and called for Americans to unite to fight the worsening Covid-19 pandemic .
Trump , who tore up countless norms during his four years in power , has carved out new territory with his refusal to concede to Biden .
Supporters suggest he is already eyeing an announcement of running for president again in 2024 .
Trump , 74 , is alleging — among other conspiracy theories — that voting machines deliberately deleted millions of his votes , though the government election security agency declared it “ the most secure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coming under pressure from a slowly building trickle of senior Republicans , Trump this week ended his blockade of government assistance to ease Biden ’ s preparation for assuming the presidency .
Biden this week also introduced a slate of veteran diplomats and policy-makers who will make up his national security and foreign policy team , saying : “ America is back , ready to lead the world.
” “ These public servants will restore America ’ s global leadership and moral leadership , ” Biden , 78 , said as the six @ @ @ @ @ @ @ face-masks .
Biden said that in his first 100 days in office he will tackle the Covid crisis , scrap Trump policies “ damaging ” the environment and push legislation offering millions of undocumented residents a route to citizenship .

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would leave the White House if Joe Biden is officially confirmed the winner of the US election, making a further concession of defeat even as he railed against the "rigged" vote.
Trump has made an unprecedented attempt to defy the results of the election by refusing to concede, spreading wild theories about stolen ballots and launching baseless legal challenges that have been thrown out by courts across the country.
Answering his first questions from reporters since the November 3 vote, the president moved closer to accepting that he would serve only one term in office before Biden is inaugurated on January 20.
When asked if he would leave the White House if the Electoral College confirmed Biden's victory, Trump said, "Certainly I will. And you know that."
But "if they do, they made a mistake," he said, adding, "It's going to be a very hard thing to concede."
The Electoral College, which determines the White House winner, will meet on December 14 to certify Biden's victory, with Biden receiving 306 votes to Trump's 232.
"This was a massive fraud," Trump said about the result, again without providing any evidence during his remarks to reporters on Thursday, the Thanksgiving holiday.
He described the US voting infrastructure as "like a third-world country."
Earlier in the day he tweeted that "this was a 100% RIGGED ELECTION," while on Wednesday he called on his Republican supporters "to turn the election over."
No proof of fraud
President-elect Biden has said that Americans "won't stand" for attempts to derail the outcome, and called for Americans to unite to fight the worsening Covid-19 pandemic.
Trump, who tore up countless norms during his four years in power, has carved out new territory with his refusal to concede to Biden.
Supporters suggest he is already eyeing an announcement of running for president again in 2024.
Trump, 74, is alleging -- among other conspiracy theories -- that voting machines deliberately deleted millions of his votes, though the government election security agency declared it "the most secure" election in US history.
After coming under pressure from a slowly building trickle of senior Republicans, Trump this week ended his blockade of government assistance to ease Biden's preparation for assuming the presidency.
Biden this week also introduced a slate of veteran diplomats and policy-makers who will make up his national security and foreign policy team, saying: "America is back, ready to lead the world."
"These public servants will restore America's global leadership and moral leadership," Biden, 78, said as the six men and women stood behind him wearing face-masks.
Biden said that in his first 100 days in office he will tackle the Covid crisis, scrap Trump policies "damaging" the environment and push legislation offering millions of undocumented residents a route to citizenship.


rawstory--2020-11-29--Republican senator suddenly worries about ethics after ignoring them for 4 years

In a shocking news development , Senator John Cornyn of Texas has received a revelation : Transparency and ethics suddenly matter in government , after all .
Cornyn , blissfully unfamiliar with this topic for the past four years , has rediscovered his indignation hot button with the help of a New York Times ( erstwhile “ fake news ” ) story suggesting that some key aides to President-elect Joe Biden might face ethics issues .
Cornyn was just beside himself Saturday on Twitter : Non-negotiable , eh ?
Cornyn ’ s tweet trended number one for a while , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ senator ’ s belated discovery that integrity is a thing .
Turns out , hypocrisy is a thing , too .
That just scratched the surface of Cornyn ’ s mendacity on this topic .
As one of Trump ’ s loyalist lap dogs — until about 5 minutes before the November 3 election when it looked like that his fealty to the corrupt president might drag him down — Cornyn was unbothered by “ transparency.
” He never said a word about Trump ’ s refusal to release his tax returns ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ secrecy and coverups over the blackmailing of Ukraine , nor about the hundreds of times that the administration stonewalled both sides of the aisle in Congress in its full-scale assault on the very notion of oversight .
Cornyn never said a peep about Trump ’ s trampling of what the president termed the “ so-called Emoluments Clause.
” Here ’ s how little the Texas senator was troubled by one of the most egregious transparency failures in American history : Trump ’ s dishonesty about the deadliness of COVID-19 .
After reporter Bob @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the pandemic , here ’ s what Cornyn said in a phone call with Texas reporters , as covered by the Texas Tribune : “ ’ I understand the intention that he didn ’ t want to panic the American people , ’ ” Cornyn said .
‘ That ’ s not what leaders do .
But I think in retrospect , I think he might have been able to handle that in a way that both didn ’ t panic the American people but also gave them accurate information.
’ “ Cornyn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ initial actions on the pandemic , including China travel restrictions that he instituted in January .
“ ’ The truth is … we ’ ve learned a lot about this virus that we didn ’ t know when it first showed its ugly head , and I think the administration , through their coronavirus task force , has tried to be as transparent as they can , ’ ” Cornyn told reporters .
‘ But I guess I can understand on a human level why the president did not want to panic the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ try to calm fears rather than to stoke them.
” Now we can all understand on a human level why former Congressman Beto O ’ Rourke called out Cornyn as Trump ’ s “ single biggest enabler.
” Cornyn also carved out the distinction as one of the most disingenuous of those enablers : When his race was tightening in October , Cornyn flat out lied –and was outed for doing so by Senate opponent M. J. Hegar — over his prior support of Trump ’ s slimy effort to move military funds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to fully appreciate the depths of Cornyn ’ s hypocrisy on the subject of ethics , consider this passage from a 2019 story on him in the Texas Observer : “ Cornyn was tasked in 2017 with securing the largest spoil : Trump ’ s massive tax cut package .
Behind closed doors , Cornyn masterfully cut deals with senators to ensure that the bill would pass .
The result was a transformational redistribution of wealth to corporations and the ultrarich that Republicans promised would be paid for with magical levels of economic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ add at least $ 1 trillion to the federal debt ) .
“ Along the way , Cornyn ensured that his friends in the Texas oil and gas industry who have lavished him with more than $ 3.5 million in political contributions over his career would get their fair share .
Seventeen major oil and gas corporations , most based in Texas , would receive a combined one-time jolt of $ 25 billion .
Republicans promised that money would trickle down to average Americans through pay increases and bonuses , but that hasn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after the tax cuts were enacted , Houston ’ s major energy companies pumped a collective $ 9 billion into stock buybacks that enrich investors and executives .
ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66 said the tax cuts had , as the Houston Chronicle reported , “ no effect on employee wages , bonuses , or investment plans.
” Cornyn also slipped in a provision at the last minute that ensured oil and gas pipeline operators—a sector composed of many GOP mega-donors—would maintain their preferential tax advantage .
He was rewarded in 2018 with nearly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than any other senator.
” So there you have Cornyn ’ s idea of “ transparency ” when it applies to himself .
It ’ s also one more reason for Cornyn ’ s next top priority to be rejected as “ non-negotiable ” :

In a shocking news development, Senator John Cornyn of Texas has received a revelation: Transparency and ethics suddenly matter in government, after all.
Cornyn, blissfully unfamiliar with this topic for the past four years, has rediscovered his indignation hot button with the help of a New York Times (erstwhile “fake news”) story suggesting that some key aides to President-elect Joe Biden might face ethics issues. Cornyn was just beside himself Saturday on Twitter:
Non-negotiable, eh? Cornyn’s tweet trended number one for a while, but not so much for the Republican senator’s belated discovery that integrity is a thing. Turns out, hypocrisy is a thing, too.
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova was among thousands refreshing Cornyn’s memory.
That just scratched the surface of Cornyn’s mendacity on this topic. As one of Trump’s loyalist lap dogs -- until about 5 minutes before the November 3 election when it looked like that his fealty to the corrupt president might drag him down -- Cornyn was unbothered by “transparency.”
He never said a word about Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns (and associated lies) nor about the secrecy and coverups over the blackmailing of Ukraine, nor about the hundreds of times that the administration stonewalled both sides of the aisle in Congress in its full-scale assault on the very notion of oversight. Cornyn never said a peep about Trump’s trampling of what the president termed the “so-called Emoluments Clause.”
Here’s how little the Texas senator was troubled by one of the most egregious transparency failures in American history: Trump’s dishonesty about the deadliness of COVID-19. After reporter Bob Woodward released tapes showing Trump intentionally downplayed the pandemic, here’s what Cornyn said in a phone call with Texas reporters, as covered by the Texas Tribune:
“’I understand the intention that he didn’t want to panic the American people,’" Cornyn said. ‘That’s not what leaders do. But I think in retrospect, I think he might have been able to handle that in a way that both didn’t panic the American people but also gave them accurate information.’
“Cornyn nonetheless lauded the Trump administration for its initial actions on the pandemic, including China travel restrictions that he instituted in January.
"’The truth is … we've learned a lot about this virus that we didn’t know when it first showed its ugly head, and I think the administration, through their coronavirus task force, has tried to be as transparent as they can,’" Cornyn told reporters. ‘But I guess I can understand on a human level why the president did not want to panic the American people and felt like he should try to calm fears rather than to stoke them."
Now we can all understand on a human level why former Congressman Beto O’Rourke called out Cornyn as Trump’s “single biggest enabler.” Cornyn also carved out the distinction as one of the most disingenuous of those enablers: When his race was tightening in October, Cornyn flat out lied --and was outed for doing so by Senate opponent M. J. Hegar -- over his prior support of Trump’s slimy effort to move military funds to rebuild some border wall:
But to fully appreciate the depths of Cornyn’s hypocrisy on the subject of ethics, consider this passage from a 2019 story on him in the Texas Observer:
“Cornyn was tasked in 2017 with securing the largest spoil: Trump’s massive tax cut package. Behind closed doors, Cornyn masterfully cut deals with senators to ensure that the bill would pass. The result was a transformational redistribution of wealth to corporations and the ultrarich that Republicans promised would be paid for with magical levels of economic growth (it is actually expected to add at least $1 trillion to the federal debt).
“Along the way, Cornyn ensured that his friends in the Texas oil and gas industry who have lavished him with more than $3.5 million in political contributions over his career would get their fair share. Seventeen major oil and gas corporations, most based in Texas, would receive a combined one-time jolt of $25 billion. Republicans promised that money would trickle down to average Americans through pay increases and bonuses, but that hasn’t happened. In the months after the tax cuts were enacted, Houston’s major energy companies pumped a collective $9 billion into stock buybacks that enrich investors and executives. ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66 said the tax cuts had, as the Houston Chronicle reported, “no effect on employee wages, bonuses, or investment plans.” Cornyn also slipped in a provision at the last minute that ensured oil and gas pipeline operators—a sector composed of many GOP mega-donors—would maintain their preferential tax advantage. He was rewarded in 2018 with nearly $80,000 in contributions from pipeline companies—more than any other senator.”
So there you have Cornyn’s idea of “transparency” when it applies to himself. It’s also one more reason for Cornyn’s next top priority to be rejected as “non-negotiable”:


rawstory--2020-12-03--Advisers scramble to stop ‘livid’ Trump from firing Bill Barr: report

Attorney General Bill Barr this week revealed that the Department of Justice so far had uncovered no evidence of voter fraud that would overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election .
The Washington Post reports that Trump is “ livid ” at Barr for not doing enough help him remain in power and could even fire him despite having less than two months left in his term .
“ One senior administration official said there was a chance Trump would fire his attorney general and asserted that the president was not merely frustrated over Barr ’ s fraud-related assertions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The person said that several people are trying to persuade Trump not to do so.
” The Trump campaign ’ s legal team lashed out at Barr earlier this week when he made his remarks about voter fraud and the president has repeatedly questioned why the DOJ is not following up on his lawyers ’ purported voter fraud evidence that keeps getting tossed out of court .
The Post also reports that “ Barr and Trump ’ s relationship had been deteriorating ” and that “ one official said the two had barely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president was frustrated by the attorney general ’ s not releasing any findings of Durham ’ s investigation before the election and not taking more aggressive steps to back his claims of election fraud .
”

On Tuesday, Trump claimed he will hold a “major” news conference on Monday, during which he will present a “Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable REPORT on the Presidential Election Fraud which took place in Georgia.”
“Based on the results of this CONCLUSIVE Report, all charges should be dropped against me & others,” Trump added on his Truth Social website. “There will be a complete EXONERATION! They never went after those that Rigged the Election. They only went after those that fought to find the RIGGERS!”
Cobb Tuesday night told CNN that report might become evidence against the ex-president.
"This is all Trump PR," Cobb told CNN's Erin Burnett. "This is generating chaos. I mean frankly there's a good chance that whatever document he produces ends up as evidence against him."
"It could even could even end up, you know, as the basis for an obstruction count solely for the purpose of contaminating the jury pool."
Calling it a "very effective indictment," Cobb noted that "the absence of evidence of fraud" in the 2020 election "is patently obvious."
But he also warned that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' case against Trump may take longer to get to trial.
"Fani Willis made it clear she wants to move fast once you get going within six months," Burnett said, asking: "Is there any chance first of all that Fani Willis goes before Jack Smith?"
"No," Cobb answered. "There's no chance in my view that Fani Willis goes within two years."
"And if it takes her, you know, two years, I mean, heaven forbid the Trump wins the presidency, then there will be a fight to the Supreme Court over whether she can proceed against the sitting president during his term. That's an issue that's never been resolved. The federal prosecutors are not allowed to indict or prosecute the president during his term. But as to state court prosecutors, that issue has never been resolved and could could delay things quite some time."
Watch a portion of Cobb's remarks below or at this link.


rawstory--2020-12-08--Giuliani’s star witness Mellissa Carone served probation after sex video plea deal

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Miller’s America First Legal filed the lawsuit Tuesday alleging that Target misled investors when the shopping behemoth said it was monitoring financial risks associated with the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies, the report said.
Aaron Gregg and Jacob Bogage write for The Post: ”For America First Legal, the lawsuit represents a new strategy of seizing on investor losses to pressure corporations over political causes.”
“Miller’s legal group has put forward numerous complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, taking issue with various companies’ racial equity initiatives. The group has written to the EEOC urging investigations into allegedly discriminatory hiring practices at major corporations, including Starbucks, McDonald’s and the investment firm BlackRock.”
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
Brian Craig, a Florida resident who is at the center of the lawsuit, in April 2022, paid around $50,000 for 216.450 shares of Target stock that, by June 14 of this year, plummeted to $28,896 in value, the suit says, is as a result of a backlash against the company over its Pride Month promotions, according to the report.
The lawsuit contends the company’s stock value fell as a “direct and predictable result of management’s calculated decisions to promote sexualized material to children,” referring to family-themed LGBTQ Pride items.
“These false and misleading statements [about Pride Month promotions] caused Target’s shareholders to unknowingly support Target’s Board and management in their misuse of investor funds to serve its divisive political and social goals―and ultimately lose billions,” the lawsuit alleges, according to the report.
But experts say Miller’s group faces an uphill battle proving that Pride Month affected Target’s stock price.
“It is extremely hard to quantify exactly what role the Pride Month backlash had on the stock price,” GlobalData managing director for retail Neil Saunders told The Post. “However, given that there is no data to suggest it had a tangible impact on Target’s sales, it seems highly unlikely that it was the primary cause, or even a major cause, of the decline.”
Miller, who as a Trump advisor was a leading voice behind the administration’s anti-immigration policies including the family separation initiative, has previously argued that white Americans are victims of racism and that the United States represents “the apex of achievement of Western civilization,” with “a heritage to be jealously guarded.”
Read the full article here.


rawstory--2020-12-11--Manhattan DA ramps up probe of Trump’s finances and interviews ‘several’ Deutsche Bank employees

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance has been ramping up his probe of President Donald Trump ’ s finances in the @ @ @ @ @ the 2020 presidential election .
The New York Times is reporting that the Manhattan DA @ @ @ @ @ interviewed several employees ” in recent weeks at Deutsche Bank , which became notorious for @ @ @ @ @ late ’ 90s when no other major bank would touch him .
The Times notes @ @ @ @ @ Vance ’ s office will bring charges against the president , although its recent activities @ @ @ @ @ intensifying rather than winding down .
“ Mr .
Vance ’ s office has stepped @ @ @ @ @ new subpoenas and questioning witnesses , including some before a grand jury , according to @ @ @ @ @ the matter , who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the investigation , @ @ @ @ @ “ The grand jury appears to be serving an investigative function , allowing prosecutors to @ @ @ @ @ leads , rather than considering any charges .
”

“You’re just trying to get me to vote Democratic because you support that party’s corruption. I won’t be intimidated: I’m going to vote for the best person to run the country!”
Often these types of statements are followed by:
“People in France and Israel can vote for any one of a dozen parties and nobody complains that they’re ‘throwing away their vote.’ This is America: we’re even better! So, I should be able to vote for anybody I want!”
Some people pushing this line simply don’t understand the difference between the political systems of France/Israel and the US.
Others are cynical hustlers (this is true mostly of the talk-show and YouTube hosts trying to differentiate themselves by pushing this), trying to grab and hold an audience by being “edgy,” “iconoclastic,” or “a rebel with a cause.”
So, let’s review some political basics.
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
Whatever its genesis, this opinion — that ignoring our two-party system and “voting for the best candidate is a good thing” — is widespread. After all, intuitively it seems to make perfect sense.
In a rational world, who would want to vote for anyone less than the best candidate? Unfortunately, though, America’s political system is not as rational as that of countries with proportional representation or ranked choice voting.
A 2022 Pew poll found people’s unfavorable view of both parties has gone from 6 percent in 1994 to 27 percent today. Similarly, 38 percent of Americans “wish there were more political parties to choose from in this country” and may be persuaded to vote for a third-party candidate.
So why is it that third parties don’t work in America, but they do in France?
The United States, in 1789, became the first modern democratic republic founded on the notion of the leaders of a government, through elections, “deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
The Framers of the Constitution had never heard of proportional representation or the modern parliamentary system (more on that in a minute), so they went with a simple strategy that’s today referred to by political scientists as “first-past-the-post winner-take-all” (FPTP) or, sometimes, as “majoritarian” or “plurality” election systems.
Whoever gets the most votes becomes the elected politician, and everybody else gets nothing. If you voted with the majority, you’re represented; if not, you’re not at all represented by a person or party that shares your view.
America was an English-speaking country and, as a result, this system spread mostly throughout the English-speaking world and in former British or American colonies. Majoritarian FPTP systems like ours are used in Canada, the UK, India, Jamaica, Liberia, Singapore, Philippines, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Bangladesh.
As a result, most all of these countries are dominated by two parties who tend to pass control of the nation back-and-forth over time. (Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland use Ranked Choice Voting, an even more recent innovation which allows for more political parties; more on that in a moment.)
In such a system, third parties almost always act as spoilers, drawing votes away from the major party to which they’re most closely aligned. People who vote Green, for example, generally would have voted Democratic, thus reducing that party’s vote; people who vote Libertarian would have voted Republican with the same effect.
For example, in Florida in 2000, Ralph Nader on the Green Party’s ticket got 97,488 votes, while George W. Bush “won” Florida by 537 votes.
It strains credulity to assert that the majority of Nader’s voters would have either voted for Bush or not voted at all, which is why when David Cobb ran for president on the Green Party ticket in 2004, he explicitly told people in swing states not to vote for him but to cast their ballots for John Kerry instead.
Jill Stein had no such moral compunction with her Green Party candidacy in 2016. Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin provided Trump’s margin of victory in the Electoral College over Hillary Clinton, and, in each of those states, Stein pulled more votes than Trump’s margin.
(In Michigan she got 51,463 votes and Trump won by 10,704; in Pennsylvania she won 49,678 versus Trump’s margin of 46,765; and in Wisconsin Stein carried 31,006 votes but Trump only won by 22,177.)
In other words, had liberals not voted for Ralph Nader in Florida in 2000, Al Gore would have become president and we never would have been lied into a war; had people in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin not voted for Jill Stein in 2016, Hillary Clinton would have become president and America would have been spared the trauma of 500,000 unnecessary Covid deaths and the ongoing assault to our democracy.
This is apparently not lost on sour-grapes Jill Stein, by the way; she’s reportedly helping run Cornel West’s 2024 Green Party candidacy. It’s also not lost on the Democrat-hating folks at No Labels, who have pledged to put up a candidate for president (presumably Joe Manchin) in 2024.
In the 1950s, French sociologist Maurice Duverger published several papers on this odd quirk of FPTP systems and the way they turn aligned third-party candidacies into agents for the opposition party.
This simple reality — apparently unknown to those who advocate third party candidates — has since come to be known as Duverger’s Law.
It’s why when I lived in Vermont in 2000 and voted for Ralph Nader, knowing there was no chance Vermont would go for George W. Bush, I was making a safe “protest” vote, but if I’d been living in Florida it would have been political suicide.
With our FPTP system, voters in swing states operate under an entirely different set of electoral facts and circumstances as do those in solidly Red or Blue states: a fact that third-party candidacy advocates would really rather you don’t know.
So, why can France have so many political parties without damaging their political system but here in America third parties harm those they’re most closely aligned with?
This goes to the invention of what’s called “proportional representation.”
It wasn’t until the year the Civil War started, 1861, that British philosopher John Stuart Mill published a how-to manual for multi-party parliamentary democracies in his book Considerations On Representative Government.
It was so widely distributed and read that nearly all of the world’s democracies today — all of them countries that became democracies after the late 1860s — use variations on Mill’s proportional representation parliamentary system.
In Mill’s system, if a political party gets, say, 12 percent of the vote then they also get 12 percent of the seats in that country’s congress or parliament. A party that pulls 34 percent of the vote gets 34 percent of the seats, and so on.
The result is a plethora of parties representing a broad range of perspectives and priorities, all able to participate in the daily governance of their nation. Nobody gets shut out.
Governing becomes an exercise in coalition building, and nobody is excluded. If you want to get something done politically, you have to pull together a coalition of parties to agree with your policy.
Most European countries, for example, have political parties represented in their parliaments that range from the far left to the extreme right, with many across the spectrum of the middle. There’s even room for single issue parties; for example, several in Europe focus almost exclusively on the environment or immigration.
The result is typically an honest and wide-ranging discussion across society about the topics of the day, rather than a stilted debate among only two parties.
It’s how the Greens became part of today’s governing coalition in Germany, for example, and are able to influence the energy future of that nation. And because of that political diversity in the debates, the decisions made tend to be reasonably progressive: look at the politics and lifestyles in most European nations.
In our system, though, if a party gets 12 percent of the vote — or anything short of 50 percent plus one — they get nothing. Whoever gets 50-percent-plus-one wins everything and everybody else gets nothing, which is why we always end up with two parties battling for the higher end of that 50/50 teeter-totter.
Pretty much every democracy in the world not listed above under the FPTP label are using Mill’s proportional representation. But we don’t, which is why we’re stuck with a two-party system.
Australia and New Zealand have diminished the damage third parties can do to the main, established parties, by using a voting system called ranked choice voting. In a system like that I could have voted for Ralph Nader as my first choice in 2000, with Al Gore as my second choice. When it becomes apparent that Nader isn’t going to make it, my first choice is discarded by the system and my vote for Gore becomes the one that gets counted.
Over 300 communities in America are now using ranked choice voting (including Portland, Oregon) and it works great. Moving from FPTP to proportional representation would require amending the Constitution, though, so that’s not going to happen any day soon: ranked choice voting is a nearly-as-good alternative.
At the national level, though, the best way to solve the problem of some Democratic politicians not being as progressive as we’d like is to get active by joining the Democratic Party and becoming a force for positive change within it. To stand up for public office and elect more progressives, something that can only be done within the Democratic Party.
To not “throw away your vote,” but to help rebuild the institution that brought America Social Security, the minimum wage, the right to unionize, Medicare, Medicaid, free college, regulatory agencies that defend and protect the environment and working class people, support for people in poverty, and that built America’s first real middle class.
Yes, there are corrupt and bought-off politicians within the Democratic Party. Ever since the Supreme Court fully legalized political bribery with their Citizens United decision and its predecessors, there have been more than a few Democrats who have enthusiastically put their hands out. The most obvious and cynical ones call themselves corporate “Problem Solvers.”
But voting for a third-party candidate and thus handing elections to Republicans won’t solve that problem: if anything it will make it worse, because the entire GOP has committed itself to being on the take and, as we saw with Nader and Stein, third-party candidacies often simply hand more power to the GOP.
Try to find, for example, even one Republican who isn’t benefiting from the billions in oil dollars that have flowed through the Koch network over the years and is thus willing to do something about climate change. Republican governance and their fealty to the fossil fuel industry is literally destroying America.
This is why real progressives like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, and Pramila Jayapal stay and work within the Democratic Party. For progressives to take over the country, we must first take over the DNC.
In other words, get inside the Party and take it over! It’s what hard-core conservatives did with the GOP over the past 20 years, starting with the Tea Party movement, and it’s what progressives must do with the Democratic Party.
Cornel West is a great guy, but with our FPTP election system a vote for him for president in a swing state is effectively a vote for the Republican nominee. No third-party candidate has ever won the White House, and none ever will until we have nationwide ranked choice voting.
So, the next time somebody tells you how they’re going to only vote for “the best candidate,” you may want to give them this little Civics 101 lesson, along with the phone number, website, or email address for their local Democratic Party. And get behind the movement to bring ranked choice voting to national elections.
We can’t afford any more George W. Bush’s or Donald Trump’s, who were both brought to us, in part, by Democratic-leaning voters thinking they were doing the right thing by voting for third party candidates.


rawstory--2020-12-12--‘Anybody got a bazooka?’ Proud Boys wreak havoc on DC as Mike Flynn and others rally Donald Trump lo

‘Anybody got a bazooka?’ Proud Boys wreak havoc on DC as Mike Flynn and others rally Donald Trump loyalists

Fueled by the words of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn , conspiracy-monger Alex Jones and other luminaries of Trump-sphere , thousands of Trump loyalists poured into Washington , DC on Saturday , pledging defiance to an orderly transfer of presidential power and looking for opportunities to clash with antifascists .
Police blocked off the streets several blocks back from the National Mall and Freedom Plaza — the two focal points of the Trump rallies — causing traffic to snarl and impeding ambulances from passing through .
Flynn , who served as Trump ’ s first national security advisor and who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pleading guilty to the crime of lying to the FBI , was one of several speakers who described the effort to overturn Joe Biden ’ s election as a “ spiritual battle ” at the event dubbed “ Stop the Steal ” and “ Jericho March.
” As President Trump buzzed over the National Mall in Marine One , Flynn lambasted the news media , echoing his former boss ’ scorn .
“ Every time they throw an arrow at him , it is an arrow directed at us , and we can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ We can not allow that in this country .
We the people have to continue to fight back.
” Another speaker , conservative radio host Eric Mataxas , also engaged in media demonization .
Spotting another helicopter prior to Marine One , he said , “ That ’ s the media ?
We need to shoot that down .
Anybody got a bazooka ?
” Weaving together the martial religious language of the Old Testament with Trumpist conspiracy-speak , Flynn concluded : “ I ’ m gon na use a metaphor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inside the walls of the Deep State .
There is evil and there is corruption , and there ’ s light and truth .
We ’ re going to get to the light and we ’ re going to get to the truth .
And us inside of this barricade , we ’ re gon na knock those walls down.
” Earlier this month , Flynn retweeted a press release calling on Trump to declare martial law and temporarily suspend the Constitution and civilian control of the elections , and have the military @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his approval with the hashtag # WeThePeople .
And in an essay published on Thursday , Flynn characterized the incoming Biden administration as “ tyrants ” whose plan is “ to eliminate dissent , subdue any criticism , and outlaw those who do not submit unconditionally to the dictatorship of the New World Order.
” Aside from a few tweets expressing gratitude to his supporters , Trump ’ s Twitter feed on Saturday featured a stew of resentment at various actors that have refused to cooperate with his scheme to overturn the election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yesterday to consider a challenge filed by the Texas attorney general ) , the Republican governors in Georgia and Arizona ( for affirming their states ’ electoral votes for Biden ) , and Attorney General Bill Barr ( for not speaking publicly about a purported investigation into Hunter Biden ) .
Sebastian Gorka , a podcast host and former White House strategist under Trump , swatted aside his former boss ’ continued failures to get traction in the courts to overturn the election during a speech at a separate March for Trump rally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kremer .
“ Let ’ s be very clear , ” Gorka said .
“ The first thing I said last night when I heard the decision : ‘ Stop .
Take a deep breath .
Count to ten .
Read the Bible and pray .
Because we are on the side of truth.
’ ” Back at the National Mall , Alex Jones of InfoWars , pledged unyielding resistance to a Biden administration .
“ We will never back down to the Satanic pedophile globalist New World Order and their walking-dead reanimated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ And we will never recognize him… .
So , I don ’ t know who ’ s going to the White House in 38 days , but I sure know this : Joe Biden is a globalist will be removed one way or another .
Trump supporters carrying American flags roamed in small bands between the National Mall and Freedom Plaza throughout the day .
Supporters held a giant American flag on Pennsylvania Avenue outside Trump International Hotel , and enthusiastically posed for selfies with a Trump impersonator .
Dozens of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hotel Harrington in the morning and roved through downtown .
In the early afternoon , Proud Boys knocked a man to the ground and began punching and kicking him on the National Mall near the Washington Monument , according to video showed on Twitter .
Witnesses described an altercation involving Proud Boys in front of the Army Navy Club on 17th Street .
Police completely blocked off Black Lives Matter Plaza to keep the Proud Boys and antifascists separated .
Video shared on Twitter shows the police using a chemical spray on Proud @ @ @ @ @ @

Fueled by the words of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, conspiracy-monger Alex Jones and other luminaries of Trump-sphere, thousands of Trump loyalists poured into Washington, DC on Saturday, pledging defiance to an orderly transfer of presidential power and looking for opportunities to clash with antifascists.
Police blocked off the streets several blocks back from the National Mall and Freedom Plaza — the two focal points of the Trump rallies — causing traffic to snarl and impeding ambulances from passing through.
Flynn, who served as Trump’s first national security advisor and who received a pardon from the president after pleading guilty to the crime of lying to the FBI, was one of several speakers who described the effort to overturn Joe Biden’s election as a “spiritual battle” at the event dubbed “Stop the Steal” and “Jericho March.”
As President Trump buzzed over the National Mall in Marine One, Flynn lambasted the news media, echoing his former boss’ scorn.
“Every time they throw an arrow at him, it is an arrow directed at us, and we cannot allow that,” Flynn said. “We cannot allow that in this country. We the people have to continue to fight back.”
Another speaker, conservative radio host Eric Mataxas, also engaged in media demonization. Spotting another helicopter prior to Marine One, he said, “That’s the media?
We need to shoot that down. Anybody got a bazooka?”
[caption id="attachment_1696806" align="alignnone" width="460"] Photo credit: Jordan Green[/caption]
Weaving together the martial religious language of the Old Testament with Trumpist conspiracy-speak, Flynn concluded: “I’m gonna use a metaphor, because Jericho — we’re inside the walls of the Deep State. There is evil and there is corruption, and there’s light and truth. We’re going to get to the light and we’re going to get to the truth. And us inside of this barricade, we’re gonna knock those walls down.”
Earlier this month, Flynn retweeted a press release calling on Trump to declare martial law and temporarily suspend the Constitution and civilian control of the elections, and have the military oversee a new election. Flynn signaled his approval with the hashtag #WeThePeople. And in an essay published on Thursday, Flynn characterized the incoming Biden administration as “tyrants” whose plan is “to eliminate dissent, subdue any criticism, and outlaw those who do not submit unconditionally to the dictatorship of the New World Order.”
Aside from a few tweets expressing gratitude to his supporters, Trump’s Twitter feed on Saturday featured a stew of resentment at various actors that have refused to cooperate with his scheme to overturn the election: The Supreme Court (for declining yesterday to consider a challenge filed by the Texas attorney general), the Republican governors in Georgia and Arizona (for affirming their states’ electoral votes for Biden), and Attorney General Bill Barr (for not speaking publicly about a purported investigation into Hunter Biden).
Sebastian Gorka, a podcast host and former White House strategist under Trump, swatted aside his former boss’ continued failures to get traction in the courts to overturn the election during a speech at a separate March for Trump rally organized by Women for Trump organizer Amy Kremer.
“Let’s be very clear,” Gorka said. “The first thing I said last night when I heard the decision: ‘Stop. Take a deep breath. Count to ten. Read the Bible and pray. Because we are on the side of truth.’”
Back at the National Mall, Alex Jones of InfoWars, pledged unyielding resistance to a Biden administration.
“We will never back down to the Satanic pedophile globalist New World Order and their walking-dead reanimated corpse Joe Biden,” he said. “And we will never recognize him…. So, I don’t know who’s going to the White House in 38 days, but I sure know this: Joe Biden is a globalist will be removed one way or another.
Trump supporters carrying American flags roamed in small bands between the National Mall and Freedom Plaza throughout the day. Supporters held a giant American flag on Pennsylvania Avenue outside Trump International Hotel, and enthusiastically posed for selfies with a Trump impersonator. Dozens of Proud Boys in tactical gear massed outside Hotel Harrington in the morning and roved through downtown.
In the early afternoon, Proud Boys knocked a man to the ground and began punching and kicking him on the National Mall near the Washington Monument, according to video showed on Twitter. Witnesses described an altercation involving Proud Boys in front of the Army Navy Club on 17th Street. Police completely blocked off Black Lives Matter Plaza to keep the Proud Boys and antifascists separated. Video shared on Twitter shows the police using a chemical spray on Proud Boys seeking to antagonize antifascists.
This story is developing.
Feature photo credit: Roy Lewis


rawstory--2020-12-13--Here’s how to stop Trump’s election fraud lawyers dead in their tracks

In an opinion piece for Politico , an exasperated Kimberly Wehl — a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law — said it is time for judges who are being forced to rule on accusations of voter fraud by Donald Trump ’ s lawyers to lay down the law and penalize them for wasting the court ’ s time .
Following the ultimate smackdown on Friday by the Supreme Court , which refused to even consider a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton , Wehl said now is the time for judges to put a halt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pointing out that the president ’ s lawyers currently have won only one case out of the 55 presented to the courts , the law professor wrote , “ The defeats are piling up so fast—the Supreme Court summarily rejected two lawsuits inside of four days—and the judges ’ rebukes have been so withering that many people outside the legal profession wonder why trained lawyers are being allowed to persist in this doomed effort to overturn the results of an election that has been described by the president ’ s own elections officials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ history.
” Isn ’ t there some kind of rule against this ?
” As you might expect , she stated there is .
“ In federal court ( where 11 of the cases have been brought ) it ’ s called Rule 11 .
And courts have used it many times to discourage the very kinds of legally insufficient and bad faith claims that have been advanced by Rudy Giuliani and his so-called elite strike force of attorneys , ” she wrote before pointing out that the president ’ s lawsuits have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an indication of how specious they are .
“ The insufficiency of the claims is evidence of bad faith , and that is precisely what Rule 11 is designed to punish .
Trump supporters ’ litigious assault on the 2020 election results is even more troubling than most groundless claims because it creates a perverse incentive for candidates and parties to abuse the courts for political gain in future high-profile elections , ” she explained .
“ Rule 11 is a ‘ stop-and-think ’ mandate , which basically requires lawyers and parties to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ court filings that they have some law and some facts on their side.
” She went on to explain the lawsuits filed by Trump ’ s attorneys and his allies are “ … are scandalously thin on the law .
They are also thin on facts , ” which should set the stage for future sanctions .
“ Rule 11 sanctions are normally triggered when the offended party files a motion .
The alleged wrongdoer gets 21 days to fix the problem , else the court gets involved .
Courts can also prompt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ If it ’ s a party that brings up sanctions , courts can order monetary fines to be paid to the court under Rule 11 ( not to the other party , for fear of creating incentives to seek sanctions as a moneymaking enterprise ) , ” she explained before adding , “ Moreover , courts can sanction parties and lawyers in ways that do not involve money .
At the federal level , nonmonetary sanctions have included public reprimands , orders to undergo legal education , referrals to the bar for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even disbarment , forced admission of the facts alleged by the other side , and bans on a party or attorney ( e.g.
, Powell or Giuliani ) from bringing similar suits without advance permission from the court.
” “ Rule 11 provides a final basis for sanctioning lawyers and parties , and it ’ s critical .
Whenever a paper is filed in a federal court , the person signing the paper certifies that ‘ it is not being presented for any improper purpose , such as to harass ’ or ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lawsuits that nitpick the hard work of hundreds of thousands of election officials , poll workers and volunteers as a basis for overturning Biden ’ s win are not about achieving justice .
They are about hard-line politics , pure and simple , ” she concluded .
You can read more here .

In an opinion piece for Politico, an exasperated Kimberly Wehl -- a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law -- said it is time for judges who are being forced to rule on accusations of voter fraud by Donald Trump's lawyers to lay down the law and penalize them for wasting the court's time.
Following the ultimate smackdown on Friday by the Supreme Court, which refused to even consider a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Wehl said now is the time for judges to put a halt to the Republican election fraud charade.
Pointing out that the president's lawyers currently have won only one case out of the 55 presented to the courts, the law professor wrote, "The defeats are piling up so fast—the Supreme Court summarily rejected two lawsuits inside of four days—and the judges’ rebukes have been so withering that many people outside the legal profession wonder why trained lawyers are being allowed to persist in this doomed effort to overturn the results of an election that has been described by the president’s own elections officials as the “most secure in American history.” Isn’t there some kind of rule against this?"
As you might expect, she stated there is.
"In federal court (where 11 of the cases have been brought) it’s called Rule 11. And courts have used it many times to discourage the very kinds of legally insufficient and bad faith claims that have been advanced by Rudy Giuliani and his so-called elite strike force of attorneys," she wrote before pointing out that the president's lawsuits have been dismissed with astonishing speed which is an indication of how specious they are.
"The insufficiency of the claims is evidence of bad faith, and that is precisely what Rule 11 is designed to punish. Trump supporters’ litigious assault on the 2020 election results is even more troubling than most groundless claims because it creates a perverse incentive for candidates and parties to abuse the courts for political gain in future high-profile elections," she explained. "Rule 11 is a 'stop-and-think' mandate, which basically requires lawyers and parties to certify when signing their names to federal court filings that they have some law and some facts on their side."
She went on to explain the lawsuits filed by Trump's attorneys and his allies are "... are scandalously thin on the law. They are also thin on facts," which should set the stage for future sanctions.
"Rule 11 sanctions are normally triggered when the offended party files a motion. The alleged wrongdoer gets 21 days to fix the problem, else the court gets involved. Courts can also prompt sanctions on their own—or 'sua sponte.' If it’s a party that brings up sanctions, courts can order monetary fines to be paid to the court under Rule 11 (not to the other party, for fear of creating incentives to seek sanctions as a moneymaking enterprise)," she explained before adding, "Moreover, courts can sanction parties and lawyers in ways that do not involve money. At the federal level, nonmonetary sanctions have included public reprimands, orders to undergo legal education, referrals to the bar for disciplinary proceedings, warnings, suspension or even disbarment, forced admission of the facts alleged by the other side, and bans on a party or attorney (e.g., Powell or Giuliani) from bringing similar suits without advance permission from the court."
"Rule 11 provides a final basis for sanctioning lawyers and parties, and it’s critical. Whenever a paper is filed in a federal court, the person signing the paper certifies that 'it is not being presented for any improper purpose, such as to harass' or 'cause unnecessary delay.' The dozens of lawsuits that nitpick the hard work of hundreds of thousands of election officials, poll workers and volunteers as a basis for overturning Biden’s win are not about achieving justice. They are about hard-line politics, pure and simple," she concluded.
You can read more here.


rawstory--2020-12-14--Adam Schiff explains why the latest hacks from Russia are particularly dangerous for the US

Sunday it was revealed that the Russian intelligence organization hacked the United States Commerce and Treasury Departments after they were able to hack into other security services that the government uses as protection .
It was announced on Monday that the Department of Homeland Security was also hacked .
It is a security breach that has thus far been ignored by President Donald Trump , who spent the past 24 hours since the news complaining about his 2020 election loss and pledging that the fight will continue .
“ These latest cyber-attacks , which media reports attribute to Russia , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ believed to be stolen and the network software reportedly compromised by threat actor malware are used by some of the world ’ s biggest companies , ” said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff , reported Fox News ’ Chad Pergram .
While it ’ s unclear what the Russians were able to obtain from the hack they didn ’ t access any classified information .
It was the NTIA ’ s Microsoft Office software that hackers were able to breach .
According to The Verge , the hackers “ compromised SolarWinds ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a foothold in target networks .
Intruders were then able to ‘ impersonate any of the organization ’ s existing users and accounts , including highly privileged accounts.
’ ” Last week it was revealed that the Russians also hacked FireEye , an anti-malware internet security company that protects 7,700 customers in 67 countries , according to their investor information .

Sunday it was revealed that the Russian intelligence organization hacked the United States Commerce and Treasury Departments after they were able to hack into other security services that the government uses as protection. It was announced on Monday that the Department of Homeland Security was also hacked.
It is a security breach that has thus far been ignored by President Donald Trump, who spent the past 24 hours since the news complaining about his 2020 election loss and pledging that the fight will continue.
"These latest cyber-attacks, which media reports attribute to Russia, could be particularly devastating because the tools believed to be stolen and the network software reportedly compromised by threat actor malware are used by some of the world’s biggest companies," said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, reported Fox News' Chad Pergram.
While it's unclear what the Russians were able to obtain from the hack they didn't access any classified information.
It was the NTIA’s Microsoft Office software that hackers were able to breach. According to The Verge, the hackers "compromised SolarWinds’ Orion monitoring and management software giving attackers a foothold in target networks. Intruders were then able to 'impersonate any of the organization’s existing users and accounts, including highly privileged accounts.'”
Last week it was revealed that the Russians also hacked FireEye, an anti-malware internet security company that protects 7,700 customers in 67 countries, according to their investor information.


rawstory--2020-12-16--Florida appears to have manipulated COVID-19 death data ahead of election: Analysis

Florida appears to have manipulated data for COVID-19 deaths in the days leading up to the 2020 presidential election , according to a new analysis .
The South Florida Sun Sentinel found the state stopped including the backlog of unrecorded deaths on Oct. 24 and did not start including that number in the overall totals until Nov. 17 , two weeks after the election .
“ It ’ s hard to know if there was a limitation around election time or random other things were happening , ” said Scott David Herr , a Florida computer scientist who tracks the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Health hasn ’ t explained why lags have been inconsistent .
When they keep changing whatever is going on behind the scenes , when the lags keep changing , that is where it gets confusing.
” State officials refused to explain the anomaly , which showed the death count started declining ahead of the election and climbing back up in the days after voters headed to the polls .
“ I ’ m starting to wonder what ’ s going on , ” said Jason Salemi , a University of South Florida @ @ @ @ @ @

"He's saying that he wants to fight this case in Georgia," said Polantz. "But Rudy Giuliani actually has a lot of other things on his plate right now: namely, he appears to be out of cash. He hasn't been able to share details in court. He's trying to not do that because it would embarrass him and draw attention to his misfortunes, but we were able to pick through some court filings that do outline in lawsuits that he's facing related to his work for Donald Trump after the 2020 election, just how much his bills have piled up right now."
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
"Right now, he has $181,000 in current bills," said Polantz. "That includes a judgment from a court last week saying he had to pay a phone bill for his company from 2020, that he has to pay legal fees for two Georgia election workers who are suing him. That's what the sanction would be, an $89,000 sanction. That's not even what happens if he were to lose that case."
As if that weren't enough, Polantz made clear she was just getting started in listing the former New York mayor's financial woes.
"On top of that, he has a lot of bills for just keeping ahold of the records that he had in his various cell phones and other electronic equipment," she said. "He has that all in a company. It costs money to do searches for those records every time he's getting sued, and it costs money just to hold them with that company. So he has access to his electronic records. It's a lot of legal bills, but on top of that, he has debts. One of the debts that has become public in the court proceedings is he had a $320,000 debt to this company hosting his electronic records. Donald Trump's PAC has paid that off ... but this is not even capturing the scope of the money Rudy Giuliani is just being bogged down with in order to fend off just lawsuits related to the 2020 election and other court proceedings."
"If he's actually out of cash, does he just have two options, pro bono representation or public defender?" asked Harlow.
"Those would be some options. The other options would be to get some cash based on the assets he has. One of the things he has done recently is put a three-bedroom Manhattan apartment up for sale for $6.5 million. It's only been listed for a couple days. As far as I can tell, it doesn't have a bid or a sale on it yet, but he's listing that property of his in Manhattan. We're talking about bills he has right now for lawsuits going on that are not even at the end. If he gets judgments against him for things where he is already conceding he was making false statements about the 2020 election, those bills could skyrocket. That doesn't even factor into how much it costs to defend yourself in criminal court."
Watch the video below or at the link here.


rawstory--2020-12-17--Florida’s Ron DeSantis claims vaccine shipments are ‘on hold’ — but Pfizer says he’s wrong

On Thursday , the Tampa Bay Times reported that drug maker Pfizer , one of the main manufacturers of COVID vaccines , has directly contradicted the claim from Gov .
Ron DeSantis ( R-FL ) that shipments of the vaccine are “ on hold ” to his state .
“ Gov .
Ron DeSantis said Tuesday that Florida could receive less than the 452,000 does of the coronavirus vaccine that the state was expecting because of a ‘ production issue ’ on the part of a vaccine manufacturer , ” reported Kirby Wilson and Steve Contorno .
“ DeSantis said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be sent to Florida in the coming weeks are ‘ on hold right now . '
” This is directly at odds with a statement put out by Pfizer , which states that , “ Pfizer is not having any production issues with our COVID-19 vaccine , and no shipments containing the vaccine are on hold or delayed .
This week , we successfully shipped all 2.9 million doses that we were asked to ship by the U.S. Government to the locations specified by them .
We have millions more doses sitting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now , we have not received any shipment instructions for additional doses.
” “ DeSantis ’ office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday , ” said the report .
“ DeSantis said Tuesday the state was expecting 205,000 doses of the vaccine to be shipped the week of Dec. 21 , followed by 247,000 more the week after.
” Pfizer ’ s vaccine , along with a competing vaccine from Moderna , are a daunting logistical challenge for federal and state officials as they try to work out which vulnerable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ least spread of the disease .

The indictment describes Individual 1 as talking about a draft speech on or about Oct. 21, 2020, that falsely declared victory and alleged voter fraud. It matches what was found by the House Select Committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack and the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election. Fitton wrote a draft speech he emailed to Trump through two aides on Oct. 31.
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
That matches material the Jan. 6 congressional committee released last year, revealing that Fitton had written a draft speech and emailed it to Trump via two aides on Oct. 31, noting he had recently discussed the draft with the then-president.
“Dear Mr. President,” the email begins. “Please see below a draft statement as you requested.”
They can't say with absolute certainty that Fitton is the one, but it's their best guess. Just Security agreed with the assessment, naming Fitton, too.
Individual 2, they believe, is a fake elector that was among one of the most engaged, based on the descriptions in the indictment, according to both sites. No name is included.
Individual 3 is likely Boris Epshteyn, one of Trump's longtime aides that has provided legal advice. The indictment says that he was on stage with Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, and Sidney Powell, which narrows things down.
He sent an email that investigators have from John Eastman where he admits to constitutional questions about the Electoral Count Act before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which “could invite counter views that we do not believe should constrain Pence.”
Just Security agreed that Epshteyn is Individual 3, specifically citing Act 109 of the indictment.
Individual 4, the Daily Beast confirmed is Robert Sinners, who ran operations for Election Day for the Trump campaign. Indicted co-conspirator David Shafer, former Republican Party chair of Georgia, and Sinners exchanged emails on Nov. 20, 2020, which claimed that indicted Georgia bail bondsman Scott Hall “has been looking into the election on behalf of the President at the request of [Trump adviser] David Bossie." He then asked Individual 4 to contact Hall and lend a hand.
Just Security also named Sinners, saying that "the same email is accounted for in Curling v. Raffensperger ."
Sinners now works "with an institutional bulwark that brooked some of the most severe abuse and violent threats while holding the Trump team’s anti-democratic efforts at bay—the office of Georgia’s GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger," said the Beast.
Individuals 5 and 6 are likely Bernie Kerik (5), and Phil Waldron (6). Kerik is the longtime Rudy Giuliani pal who was in the war room at the Willard Hotel on Jan. 6. But he was also chatting with Waldron about a conspiracy theorist in Texas who had a PowerPoint roadmap to overturning the election using China and Venezuela.
Just Security agreed, too, noting that the two men are in some of the same places or meetings as previously known. Waldron, for example, told The Washington Post that he was at the Nov. 25 meeting.
"The indictment then puts Individuals 5 and 6 together during similar back-to-back presentations that Giuliani’s team made days later to a group of Arizona GOP lawmakers. Kerik describes those meetings in detail to the Jan. 6 committee, matching details in the indictment," the Beast concluded.
Individual 7 was unknown to the Daily Beast, but Just Security can narrow it down to five people: "G. Michael Brown or others on email chain: James Fitzpatrick, Shawn Flynn, Thomas Lane, Valerie McConahay."
"Act 77 of the indictment alleges that Mike Roman sent an email on 12/14/2020 to Robert Sinners, Individual 7, and others stating: 'Please send me an update as soon as the State Electoral College has adjourned and all paperwork is secured.'"
The House Select Committee had the email, showing the possible people that were also on the email.
Individual 8 appears to be Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, both sites said. He was a state senator at the time, and was one of the 16 fake electors.
"The indictment makes it easy to identify Individual 8, who is portrayed as a central figure in the alleged fake elector scheme, appearing in 11 overt acts," said the report. "But the glaring tip that Willis included might not sit well with the purportedly anonymous Individual 8. Last year, Jones successfully barred the DA from publicly naming him in connection with the grand jury probe."
Still, he was quoted from an identifiable Dec. 7 tweet, that Rudy Giuliani shared.
“Georgia Patriot Call to Action: today is the day we need you to call your state Senate & House Reps & ask them to sign the petition for a special session,” the tweet says. “We must have free & fair elections in GA & this is our only path to ensuring every legal vote is counted. @realDonaldTrump.”
Jones is the author, making it easy to identify him. He refused to comment, but did attack D.A. Fani Willis on Twitter for "pursuing 'political vendettas of the past' and spending 'millions of taxpayer dollars' on the sprawling criminal investigation for 'the sole purpose of the furthering of her own political career.'"
Individual 9 the Daily Beast thinks is former Georgia Republican Party treasurer Joseph Brannan, but Just Security isn't as certain. They only identify 9 as a fake elector.
"Individual 9 is alleged in the indictment to have been on the receiving end of a Dec. 10 email from indicted pro-Trump lawyer Ken Chesebro, who is said to also be unindicted co-conspirator 5 in Smith’s federal indictment," said the Beast.
The House Select committee has an email from that as well, showing Chesebro trying “to help coordinate with the other 5 contested States, to help with logistics of the electors in other States hopefully joining in casting their votes on Monday.”
The recipients match Brannan's description, the report explained, which also featured indicted former Georgia GOP chair David Shafer along with “unindicted co-conspirator Individual 9.” The two other people on the email are women, and 9 is referred to as male.
Individuals 10-19 are all fake electors both sides said.
Individual 20, which was cited by some of the legal analysts after the indictment dropped, was someone who was in the Oval Office during one of the key meetings on 12/18/2020. While the Daily Beast won't say, Just Security narrows it down to Michael Flynn, Patrick Byrne, or Emily Newman.
Individual 21, the Beast said was unknown, but Just Security identifies Todd Sanders or Conan Hayes. They use Act 91, which refers to an email sent by Sidney Powell that mentions both men along with Waldron, who was identified as Individual 6. The email was also included in the records from Curling v. Raffensperger.
Individual 22 would reportedly be the other of Todd Sanders or Conan Hayes.
Individual 23, which the Beast also said was unknown. Citing Act 115, Just Security said that Individual 23 was on one of the phone calls with Harrison Floyd and others on Jan. 3, 2021, at 8:11 p.m. Act 27 also references a four-way call that included Floyd, Trevian Kutti, Stephen Lee, and individual 23 on Jan. 5, 2021.
Individual 24 is Alex Cruce, Just Security said, using Act 143 which references the individual flying into Coffee County with Scott Hall, something Cruce admitted in Curling v. Raffensperger.
Individual 25, both sites believe to be Doug Logan, the CEO of the Cyber Ninjas.
Act 154 refers to Misty Hampton, one of the people who allowed Individual 25 into non-public areas of the Coffee County Election Board offices on Jan. 18, 2021. The videos were reported by ABC News and showed Logan and Jeff Lenbert being allowed in on that time. Act 150 refers to Individual 25 downloading the information from the county and putting it on legal technology company Sullivan Strickler's ShareFile, which showed Logan downloading the data on several dates in Jan. 2021.
Individuals 26 and 27, Just Security writes are probably Michael Pospieszalski or Jovan Pulitzer. They cite Acts 151 and 152 accusing Individuals 26 and 27 of downloading Coffee County data. There were six people who did this according to Curling v. Raffensperger. Others have already been identified, leaving these two men.
Individual 28, both believe is Jim Penrose, a former National Security official who ultimately went to work for Sidney Powell. Act 155 alleging an email on April 22, 2021 to SullivanStrickler COO Paul Maggio, asking that the voting data taken from Coffee County be sent to an attorney working with Powell.
“On or about the 22nd day of April 2021, unindicted co-conspirator Individual 28, whose identity is known to the grand jury, sent an email to the chief operations officer of SullivanStrickler LLC directing him to transmit all data copied from Dominion Voting Systems equipment at the Coffee County Board of Elections & Registration Office in Coffee County, Georgia, to unindicted co-conspirator Individual 30, whose identity is known to the grand jury, an attorney associated with Sidney Katherine Powell and the Trump campaign,” the indictment says.
Individual 29 is likely Jeffrey Lenberg, the Beast and Just Security believes, citing Act 154 of the indictment. Lenberg was with Logan on Jan. 18, 2021, when going into the board of elections.
Individual 30 is probably Stefanie Lambert, the sites agree, citing Act 155.
Jim Pemrose, though to be Individual 28, sent an email that was available in Curling v. Raffensperger, indicating Stefanie Lambert was to get the data from Coffee County. Penrose wrote to send the materials to "the same address as before," and "[i]nvoice Stefanie Lambert for the work like last time."
The Daily Beast spoke to Lambert's lawyer, Michael Smith, who said, “My client is a brilliant and zealous advocate for her clients. Stefanie Lambert has done nothing illegal. Like all law firms, Lambert hires experts to opine on potential cases or cases in active litigation. She intends to file suit against any person or entity falsely implying her legal work was improper.”
Read both reports at Just Security and the Daily Beast for significantly more details.


rawstory--2020-12-17--Overdose deaths in US rise during COVID-19

The Covid-19 pandemic has fuelled a rise in fatal drug overdoses in the United States , officials said Thursday , stressing that essential medical services have to remain accessible despite coronavirus disruptions .
More than 81,000 drug overdose deaths were recorded in the US in the year to May , the highest number ever in a 12-month period , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) .
It said the latest data showed an acceleration of overdose deaths since the pandemic took hold at the start of the year .
“ The disruption to daily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hit those with substance use disorder hard , ” said CDC director Robert Redfield .
“ As we continue the fight to end this pandemic , it ’ s important to not lose sight of different groups being affected in other ways .
We need to take care of people suffering from unintended consequences.
” More than 500,000 Americans have died of opioid overdoses — both prescription and non-prescription — since 1999 .
Corporate drugmakers such as Purdue Pharma have been taken to court on criminal charges over their drives to push unnecessary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a nationwide addiction crisis .
Illicitly manufactured fentanyl has been the primary cause of the recent increase in overdose deaths , the CDC said .
On Wednesday , Canada said it had also seen a jump in opioid deaths this year .
Experts said opioid users faced increased risk in part because of unemployment and homelessness during the pandemic .

The Covid-19 pandemic has fuelled a rise in fatal drug overdoses in the United States, officials said Thursday, stressing that essential medical services have to remain accessible despite coronavirus disruptions.
More than 81,000 drug overdose deaths were recorded in the US in the year to May, the highest number ever in a 12-month period, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
It said the latest data showed an acceleration of overdose deaths since the pandemic took hold at the start of the year.
"The disruption to daily life due to the COVID-19 pandemic has hit those with substance use disorder hard," said CDC director Robert Redfield.
"As we continue the fight to end this pandemic, it's important to not lose sight of different groups being affected in other ways. We need to take care of people suffering from unintended consequences."
More than 500,000 Americans have died of opioid overdoses -- both prescription and non-prescription -- since 1999.
Corporate drugmakers such as Purdue Pharma have been taken to court on criminal charges over their drives to push unnecessary sales of prescription opioids, which stoked a nationwide addiction crisis.
Illicitly manufactured fentanyl has been the primary cause of the recent increase in overdose deaths, the CDC said.
On Wednesday, Canada said it had also seen a jump in opioid deaths this year.
Experts said opioid users faced increased risk in part because of unemployment and homelessness during the pandemic.


rawstory--2020-12-17--Pfizer has ‘millions’ of unused vaccine doses waiting for the Trump admin to tell them where to ship

There are millions of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses sitting in warehouses because the Trump administration has not yet told the pharmaceutical company where to ship the medicine , the company said Thursday .
“ Pfizer is not having any production issues with our COVID-19 vaccine , and no shipments containing the vaccine are on hold or delayed .
This week , we successfully shipped all 2.9 million doses that we were asked to ship by the U.S. Government to the locations specified by them .
We have millions more doses sitting in our warehouse but , as of now , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for additional doses , ” the company said in a statement .
“ We have continuously shared with Operation Warp Speed ( OWS ) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through weekly meetings every aspect of our production and distribution capabilities .
They have visited our facilities , walked the production lines and been updated on our production planning as information has become available , ” Pfizer wrote .
“ We remain confident in our ability to deliver up to 50 million doses globally this year and up to 1.3 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forward to continuing to work with the US Government to deliver our vaccine to the American people.
” Pfizer released the statement after Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told CNBC that the pharmaceutical company was “ going to need help from us on their manufacturing.
” “ We don ’ t have complete visibility into their manufacturing because they have kept that a bit more arm ’ s length , ” the Trump official claimed .
The Washington Post reported earlier this month that Pfizer had told the Trump administration it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ until the summer .
Illinois Gov .
JB Pritzker was baffled to hear that Pfizer had vaccines sitting on the shelves .
“ I don ’ t know what to say about that , ” the governor told WEBZ .
“ I have not had any direct conversations with the people who control those doses .
Our ( Illinois Department of Public Health ) talks to the federal government every day and we ’ ve not been informed why the federal government is not drawing down those vaccines .
”