Pennsylvania sued over 'restrictive' deadline for absentee ballot returns

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Voting rights advocates on Tuesday sued Pennsylvania over its deadlines to cast absentee ballots in elections, asking the commonwealth to overturn what they call "one of the most restrictive" deadlines in the country and alleging it disenfranchises eligible voters.

The plaintiffs, nine of whom are residents who applied for absentee ballots on time but missed the state's deadline for returning them, are asking the court to rule the deadline unconstitutional — in violation of the state constitution's guarantee of "free and equal" elections and equal protections under the law.

Represented in part by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the plaintiffs have taken issue with what the ACLU calls the "unreasonably early deadline" for returning absentee ballots, according to an ACLU release.

According to the lawsuit, Pennsylvania has the earliest deadline in the nation for returning absentee ballots; they must be received by county election bureaus by 5 p.m. on the Friday before Election Day.

- more at link -

Joke: It's a case of Irish Alzheimer's

A CASE OF IRISH ALZHEIMER'S

Murphy showed up at Mass one Sunday and Father O'Malley almost fell down when he saw him. He'd never been to church in his life. After Mass, the priest caught up with him and said, "Murphy, I am so glad ya decided to come to Mass. What made ya come?"

Murphy said, "I got to be honest with you Father. A while back, I misplaced me hat and I really, really love that hat. I know that McGlynn had a hat just like mine and I knew he came to church every Sunday. I also knew that he had to take off his hat during Mass and figured he would leave it in the back of church. So, I was going to leave after Communion and steal McGlynn's hat."

The priest said, "Well, Murphy, I notice that ya didn't steal McGlynn's hat. What changed your mind?"

Murphy replied, "Well, after I heard your sermon on the Ten Commandments, I decided that I didn't need to steal McGlynn's hat after all."

With a tear in his eye Father O'Malley gave Murphy a big smile and said, "After I talked about 'Thou Shalt Not Steal' ya decided you would rather do without your hat than burn in Hell?"

Murphy slowly shook his head. "No, Father, after ya talked about 'Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery' I remembered where I left me hat."

Joke: The Amish Lady Driver

An Amish lady driver is pulled over by a traffic cop.

"I'm not going to cite you," said the officer. "I just wanted to warn you that the reflector on the back of your buggy is broken and it could be dangerous."

"I thank thee," replied the Amish lady. "I shall have my husband repair it as soon as I return home."

"Also," said the officer, "I noticed one of your reins to your horse is wrapped around his testicles. Some people might consider this cruelty to animals so you should have your husband check that too."

"Again, I thank thee. I shall have my husband check this when I get home."

True to her word, when the Amish lady got home, she told her husband about the broken reflector. He said he would put a new one on immediately.

"Also," said the Amish woman, "the policeman said there was something wrong with the emergency brake..."

The Midwest just sent a bad omen to Trump about 2020

From: Vice News
Link: https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/qvq4mm/the-midwest-just-sent-a-bad-omen-to-trump-about-2020
Author: Greg Walters
Posted date: Nov. 7, 2018

President Donald Trump loves to boast about his business acumen and the country’s strong economy under his watch. But one key region widely believed to have handed him the presidency in 2016 declared itself on Tuesday night to be less than impressed.

The Rust Belt, which played a crucial role in cementing Trump’s 2016 victory, went largely for Democrats in the midterms. And that’s a bad omen for Trump’s 2020 hopes, both Democratic and Republican operatives said. Voters in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania broadly rejected Republican candidates in statewide races and sent a raft of Democrats to the House of Representatives from the suburbs of Philadelphia, Detroit and Milwaukee.

The result gives renewed hope for 2020 to Democrats still feeling stung by Trump's surprise wins in those crucial states.

“I think the Midwest is the big story,” Jennifer Palmieri, director of communications for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, told VICE News. “When you look at those Midwest wins, you can more than see a path for how a Democrat can win in 2020.”

- snip -

In a victory speech as he cruised to re-election Tuesday night, longtime Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown [photo above] called on his fellow Democrats to look to his region as a model for future victory.

“Let our country — our nation's citizens, our Democratic Party, my fellow elected officials all over the country — let them all cast their eyes toward the heartland, to the industrial Midwest," Brown said.

Trump shocked pundits in 2016 by cruising to victories in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin — states once considered keystones in an impenetrable “Blue Wall.” But the 2018 results paint the midwest as a trouble spot for Trump’s re-election, said Michael Steel, a senior policy and communications advisor to Jeb Bush’s 2016 presidential run.

- more at link -

Look for Seth Abramson's new book "Proof of Collusion: How Trump Betrayed America"

It's coming out next week!

For the first time, the full, explosive record of the unthinkable: how a US president compromised American foreign policy in exchange for financial gain and covert election assistance.

Looking back at this moment, historians will ask if Americans knew they were living through the first case of criminal conspiracy between an American presidential candidate turned commander in chief and a geopolitical enemy. The answer might be: it was hard to see the whole picture. The stories coming in from across the globe have often seemed fantastical: clandestine meetings in foreign capitals, secret recordings in a Moscow hotel, Kremlin agents infiltrating the Trump inner circle…

Seth Abramson has tracked every one of these far-flung reports, and now in, Proof of Collusion, he finally gives us a record of the unthinkable—a president compromising American foreign policy in exchange for financial gain and covert election assistance. The attorney, professor, and former criminal investigator has used his exacting legal mind and forensic acumen to compile, organize, and analyze every piece of the Trump-Russia story. His conclusion is clear: the case for collusion is staring us in the face. Drawing from American and European news outlets, he takes readers through the Trump-Russia scandal chronologically, putting the developments in context and showing how they connect. His extraordinary march through all the public evidence includes:

-How Trump worked for thirty years to expand his real estate empire into Russia even as he was rescued from bankruptcy by Putin’s oligarchs, Kremlin agents, and the Russian mafia.

-How Russian intelligence gathered compromising material on him over multiple trips.

-How Trump recruited Russian allies and business partners while running for president.

-How he surrounded himself with advisers who engaged in clandestine negotiations with Russia.

-How Trump aides and family members held secret meetings with foreign agents and lied about them.

By pulling every last thread of this complicated story together, Abramson argues that—even in the absence of a report from Special Counsel Mueller or a thorough Congressional investigation—the public record already confirms a quid pro quo between Trump and the Kremlin. The most extraordinary part of the case for collusion is that so much of it unfolded in plain sight.

Pittsburgh : Represent!

Rob Rogers is our great home-grown cartoonist...

James Comey: "I will not vote for another Republican..."

Here's a good joke to tell your MAGA friends

While walking down the street a Republican Senator was tragically hit by a car and died. His soul arrives in Heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.

"Welcome to Heaven, Senator" says St. Peter. "Before you settle in it seems there is a problem. We seldom see an important Republican around these parts, so we're not sure what to do with you."

"No problem, just let me in," says the Senator.

"Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from the higher ups. What we'll do is have you spend one day in Hell and one in Heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity."

"Really? I've made up my mind. I want to be in Heaven," says the Senator.

"I'm sorry, but we have our rules."

And with that St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to Hell.

The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him. Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.

They played a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and the finest champagne. Also present is the devil who really is a very friendly guy who is having a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are all having such a good time that before the Senator realizes it, it is time to go. Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises.

The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens in Heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him, "Now it's time to visit Heaven."

So the Senator joins a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time, and soon he realizes the time's up and St. Peter returns.

"Well then you've spent a day in Hell and another in Heaven. Now choose your eternity."

The Senator reflects for a minute before he answers: "Well, I would never have said it before, I mean Heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in Hell."

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to Hell. Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage. He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above. The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulders.

"I don't understand," stammers the Senator. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?"

The devil smiles at him and says, "Yesterday we were campaigning. Today you voted."

Multiple fatalities are reported in Squirrel Hill (Pittsburgh) synagogue mass shooting

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 10/27/18



link: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2018/10/27/Police-responding-to-incident-in-Squirrel-Hill/stories/201810270069

Multiple people are dead and several wounded — including four police officers — after a mass shooting at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood Saturday morning.

The shooter is in custody, Pittsburgh Police report. Gunfire erupted as a service was getting underway during a baby-naming ceremony.

“It sounded like a loud crash in the hallway,” said Stephen Weiss of Squirrel Hill, who was in Tree of Life services Saturday morning. Services were scheduled from 9:45 a.m. to noon.

As Mr. Weiss was running through the building, he heard loud, repeated gunfire that he said sounded like an automatic weapon. He ran to the basement and found the congregation holding services there sheltering in place. He then went back up to the main chapel and left the building, he said.

Trump calls aftermath of Khashoggi killing 'worst cover-up ever'

Source: NBC News

Oct. 23, 2018 / 5:48 PM EDT / Updated 6:45 PM EDT
By Jonathan Allen



Photo caption: U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters about the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey during a bill signing ceremony at the White House in Washington on Oct. 23, 2018. Leah Millis / Reuters

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the effort to conceal the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Turkey was the "worst cover-up ever."

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump declined to preview what the U.S. would do in response to Khashoggi's death by Saudi operatives. But he was clear in his view that the operation and its aftermath demonstrated incompetence.

"They had a very bad original concept, it was carried out poorly, and the cover-up was the worst in the history of cover-ups," he said. "They had the worst-cover up ever."

Shortly after Trump spoke, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. would punish certain Saudis who have been connected to the killing.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-calls-khashoggi-killing-worst-cover-ever-n923591