NastyRiffraff
NastyRiffraff's JournalWatch live: Drawing for VA House delegate
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/watch-live-virginia-elections-drawing-to-pick-house-winner-11291597479052018 Voting checklist:
As the Great Ferret says, Vote in the godamn midterms!
https://twitter.com/Marmel/status/946925367192838144
12 Days of Christmas
per Scott Dworkin:
https://twitter.com/funder/status/944792083143028736?ref_src=twcamp%5Eshare%7Ctwsrc%5Em5%7Ctwgr%5Eemail%7Ctwcon%5E7046%7Ctwterm%5E2
TRUMP WAS RIGHT!
Remember when he said in his inimitable style:
"My people are so smart. And you know what else they say about my people, the polls? They say I have the most loyal people. Did you ever see that? Where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK? It's like incredible."
Now there's a poll to check if he was right. Turns out, he was (for once):
via Newsweek
Let that sink in. 45% of Trump voters said it was okay for a president* of the United States to murder someone in cold blood, as long as it was Donald Trump. And 26% just didn't know, couldn't decide, if that would be right or wrong.
These are the people whom we are told we must "reach out" to.
No wonder Congressional Republicans are trying to destroy Mueller
Some of them could have a Russia problem.
As Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team probes deeper into potential collusion between Trump officials and representatives of the Russian government, investigators are taking a closer look at political contributions made by U.S. citizens with close ties to Russia.
(snip)
An example is Len Blavatnik, a dual U.S.-U.K. citizen and one of the largest donors to GOP political action committees in the 2015-16 election cycle. Blavatnik's family emigrated to the U.S. in the late '70s from the U.S.S.R. and he returned to Russia when the Soviet Union began to collapse in the late '80s.
Data from the Federal Election Commission show that Blavatnik's campaign contributions dating back to 2009-10 were fairly balanced across party lines and relatively modest for a billionaire. During that season he contributed $53,400. His contributions increased to $135,552 in 2011-12 and to $273,600 in 2013-14, still bipartisan.
In 2015-16, everything changed. Blavatnik's political contributions soared and made a hard right turn as he pumped $6.35 million into GOP political action committees, with millions of dollars going to top Republican leaders including Sens. Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham.
Dallas News
Inside the secretive nerve center of the Mueller investigation
Source: Washington Post
(snip)
Once inside, most witnesses are seated in a windowless conference room where two- and three-person teams of FBI agents and prosecutors rotate in and out, pressing them for answers.
Among the topics that have been of keen interest to investigators: how foreign government officials and their emissaries contacted Trump officials, as well as the actions and interplay of Flynn and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law.
Mueller’s group has also inquired whether Flynn recommended specific foreign meetings to senior aides, including Kushner. Investigators were particularly interested in how certain foreign officials got on Kushner’s calendar and the discussions that Flynn and Kushner had about those encounters, according to people familiar with the questions.
Often listening in is the special counsel himself, a sphinx-like presence who sits quietly along the wall for portions of key interviews.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-the-secretive-nerve-center-of-the-mueller-investigation/2017/12/02/e6764720-d45f-11e7-b62d-d9345ced896d_story.html?utm_term=.adb26269bdef&wpisrc=al_trending_now__alert-politics--alert-national&wpmk=1
Interesting peek into the very secretive Mueller team and how they work. The inside view was provided by "witnesses, lawyers and others briefed on the interviews." These people aren't convinced that the investigation is going to wind down anytime soon, much as Ty Cobb hopes it will.
"Forget the Pivot: Trump's Abnormality is Getting Worse"
(snip)
This past week in particular saw Trump plummet to levels predicted by few, making a racially insensitive joke during an event celebrating Native Americans, and retweeting propaganda videos from a far-right British group and activist. Several reports indicate that Trump is falling back on conspiracy theories that he himself has disproven, such as the idea that the infamous Access Hollywood tape is fake (even after he personally admitted that he “said it” and “was wrong”). And on Wednesday, The Washington Post reported that, even in the wake of pushback, Trump feels emboldened, with sources adding that the president feels he can “largely operate with impunity.”
Officials told Axios that, far from being cowed, Trump seems “more self-assured, more prone to confidently indulging wild conspiracies and fantasies,” and more combative than he did at the beginning of his time in office. And rather than grapple with a boss who will simply steamroll them, Trump’s aides seem to have largely given up. On Wednesday, Politico reported that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who was brought in to streamline and restrict the information that reaches the president’s desk, has yet to figure out a way to prevent Trump from scrolling through his Twitter mentions, which is what led Trump to retweet two anti-Muslim videos from a far-right British nationalist group, one of which was first tweeted, along with Trump’s Twitter handle, by right-wing pundit Ann Coulter.
And the situation is not destined to improve once the G.O.P. pushes its tax bill through Congress. For one, scoring a legislative win would only embolden Trump. Perhaps more important, nobody in Congress or the White House seems to know what Trump wants to focus on next. Whereas past presidencies have laid out their agendas months, even years in advance, most in the Trump administration are unsure what topics they will broach, or revisit. “There is very little in the pipeline, and no obvious next item on the agenda after tax reform except maybe a return to health care,” Yuval Levin, the editor of the conservative policy journal National Affairs, told Politico. “Combine that with a president who doesn’t think in terms of policy, and you’ve got no clear next step.” Rather than take charge of policy direction, Trump seems content to limit his activities to Internet feuds.
From Vanity Fair
This adds to the growing chorus of various people, including psychiatrists, hinting or outright stating that there's a possible mental health problem. I don't mean the "he's crazy" kind of thing you say when someone says or does something stupid; I mean there's a real, clinical problem.
Count Our Votes! Protest Monday 9am in Stafford
From Flippable:
Last Tuesday was an incredible night for Virginia: as of this email, we have flipped 15 seats in the House of Delegates, with 49 Democrats headed to Richmond next year. Three more Republican-held seats are within a 0.5% margin and therefore headed for a recount. Razor-thin margins like these demonstrate the power of every last vote.
Unfortunately, the Stafford County Registrar is refusing to count 55 ballots submitted by members of our armed forces who were unable to vote in person. The ballots arrived on Election Day, but since the Registrar did not retrieve the ballots from the post office until Wednesday, they are not being counted. The Virginia Democratic Party has called on the Registrar to count these votes, but the Registrar has remained silent, refusing to talk to the press and shutting down its social media accounts.
To make sure these votes are counted, we need your help. Together, we can show Virginia’s election officials that the country is watching, and that we won’t stand for these anti-democratic practices.
Flippable's Facebook:
ATTENTION:
We're gathering 9AM Monday morning, at the Stafford Courthouse! The fate of the house of delegates is in our hands and we're making sure our voices are heard!
There are 55 ballots that the registrar refuses to count.
The registrar won't even release the names of those who cast a provisional ballot - meaning we can't reach out to make sure their vote is counted before the Monday noon deadline.
This is pure voter suppression and we need to speak out.
BRING YOUR FRIENDS, BRING YOUR FAMILY!
Join Flippable and let's flip!
VA recount: Live near Stafford? Need your help!
From Flippable:
Last Tuesday was an incredible night for Virginia: as of this email, we have flipped 15 seats in the House of Delegates, with 49 Democrats headed to Richmond next year. Three more Republican-held seats are within a 0.5% margin and therefore headed for a recount. Razor-thin margins like these demonstrate the power of every last vote.
Unfortunately, the Stafford County Registrar is refusing to count 55 ballots submitted by members of our armed forces who were unable to vote in person. The ballots arrived on Election Day, but since the Registrar did not retrieve the ballots from the post office until Wednesday, they are not being counted. The Virginia Democratic Party has called on the Registrar to count these votes, but the Registrar has remained silent, refusing to talk to the press and shutting down its social media accounts.
To make sure these votes are counted, we need your help. Together, we can show Virginia’s election officials that the country is watching, and that we won’t stand for these anti-democratic practices.
From Flippable's Facebook:
ATTENTION:
We're gathering 9AM Monday morning, at the Stafford Courthouse! The fate of the house of delegates is in our hands and we're making sure our voices are heard!
There are 55 ballots that the registrar refuses to count.
The registrar won't even release the names of those who cast a provisional ballot - meaning we can't reach out to make sure their vote is counted before the Monday noon deadline.
This is pure voter suppression and we need to speak out.
BRING YOUR FRIENDS, BRING YOUR FAMILY!
Join Flippable and let's flip!
VA recount: Live near Stafford? Need your help!
From Flippable:
Last Tuesday was an incredible night for Virginia: as of this email, we have flipped 15 seats in the House of Delegates, with 49 Democrats headed to Richmond next year. Three more Republican-held seats are within a 0.5% margin and therefore headed for a recount. Razor-thin margins like these demonstrate the power of every last vote.
Unfortunately, the Stafford County Registrar is refusing to count 55 ballots submitted by members of our armed forces who were unable to vote in person. The ballots arrived on Election Day, but since the Registrar did not retrieve the ballots from the post office until Wednesday, they are not being counted. The Virginia Democratic Party has called on the Registrar to count these votes, but the Registrar has remained silent, refusing to talk to the press and shutting down its social media accounts.
To make sure these votes are counted, we need your help. Together, we can show Virginia’s election officials that the country is watching, and that we won’t stand for these anti-democratic practices.
Flippable's Facebook:
ATTENTION:
We're gathering 9AM Monday morning, at the Stafford Courthouse! The fate of the house of delegates is in our hands and we're making sure our voices are heard!
There are 55 ballots that the registrar refuses to count.
The registrar won't even release the names of those who cast a provisional ballot - meaning we can't reach out to make sure their vote is counted before the Monday noon deadline.
This is pure voter suppression and we need to speak out.
BRING YOUR FRIENDS, BRING YOUR FAMILY!
Join Flippable and let's flip!
Profile Information
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