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Ladybbird · 13-09-20, 11:24

Roger Stone to Donald Trump: Bring in Martial Law If You Lose Election

Trump meanwhile promises to ‘put down’ leftwing protests and says US Marshals killing Portland suspect was ‘retribution’

The Guardian UK, 13 SEP 2020.

Roger Stone

Roger Stone, whose 40-month prison sentence for lying to Congress and witness tampering in the Russia investigation was commuted by Donald Trump, has said Trump should seize total power and jail prominent figures including Bill and Hillary Clinton and Mark Zuckerberg if he loses to Joe Biden in November.

The long-time Republican strategist and dirty trickster, who has a tattoo of Richard Nixon on his back, lied about contacts with WikiLeaks during the 2016 election regarding emails hacked from Democratic party accounts.

In turn, special counsel Robert Mueller and the Senate intelligence committee suspected Trump lied when he said he could not recall discussing the leaks with Stone.

Stone did not turn on Trump and had his sentence reduced on the recommendation of attorney general William Barr. But he still faced prison before Trump acted. His conviction stands.

Both men were in Nevada on Saturday, Trump holding campaign events while Stone sought to raise money for himself. He outlined his advice to Trump should he lose in a call to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s Infowars online show, on Thursday.

Citing widely debunked claims of fraud around early voting, absentee balloting and voting by mail, Stone said Trump should consider invoking the Insurrection Act and arresting the Clintons, former Senate majority leader Harry Reid, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Tim Cook of Apple and “anybody else who can be proven to be involved in illegal activity”.

Stone also said: “The ballots in Nevada on election night should be seized by federal marshals and taken from the state. They are completely corrupted. No votes should be counted from the state of Nevada if that turns out to be the provable case. Send federal marshals to the Clark county board of elections, Mr President!”

Nevada has not gone to a Republican since 2004 but is shaping up to be a crucial contest this year. Biden leads there, but polls have tightened.

Trump’s own rhetoric was not far removed from that of the man he spared prison. The president continued on Saturday to make unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud. He and his campaign have also consistently claimed without evidence that “antifa”, or anti-fascist, activists represent a deadly threat to suburban voters that will be unleashed should Biden win.

Commenting on a Daily Beast report about leftwing activist groups planning what to do “if the election ends without a clear outcome or with a Biden win that Trump refuses to recognize”, Stone told Jones the website should be shut down.

“If the Daily Beast is involved in provably seditious and illegal activities,” he said, “their entire staff can be taken into custody and their office can be shut down. They wanna play war, this is war.”

Stone also advocated “forming an election day operation using the FBI, federal marshals and Republican state officials across the country to be prepared to file legal objections [to results] and if necessary to physically stand in the way of criminal activity”.

In an interview broadcast on Saturday night, Trump told Fox News he would happily “put down” any leftwing protests.

“We’ll put them down very quickly if they do that,” he told Jeannine Pirro.

“We have the right to do that. We have the power to do that if we want. Look, it’s called insurrection. We just send in and we, we do it very easy. I mean, it’s very easy. I’d rather not do that, because there’s no reason for it, but if we had to, we’d do that and put it down within minutes, within minutes.”

The Insurrection Act of 1807 allows the president to use federal troops to enforce federal law. Last used in 1992, it was much discussed this summer, amid protests over racism and police brutality arising from the killing of George Floyd by officers in Minneapolis.

Ultimately Trump chose simply to send federal agents to confront protesters, most prominently in Portland, Oregon, a move which proved hugely controversial.

In his interview with Fox News, Trump discussed an incident in the city in which US Marshals shot dead a suspect in the killing of a member of a rightwing group.

“There has to be retribution when you have crime like this,” Trump said.

He also said protests such as those in Portland would lead to “a backlash” from the political right, “the likes of which you haven’t seen in many, many years”.

MORE; Rage: Will Bob Woodward’s tapes bring down Donald Trump?

Trump uses Fox News interview to accuse Biden of taking drugs

jjive · 15-09-20, 09:06

you would think that this moron would count his lucky stars that he was pardoned and keep his mouth shut, but just shows you the criminality of this orange idiot in the white house and all his indicted/convicted friends know they can get away with anything and incite crimes also!!!

Ladybbird · 15-09-20, 17:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjive

you would think that this moron would count his lucky stars that he was pardoned and keep his mouth shut, but just shows you the criminality of this orange idiot in the white house and all his indicted/convicted friends know they can get away with anything and incite crimes also!!!

So true...

Ladybbird · 15-09-20, 17:27

Black Churches Say TRUMPS' Election Ad Incites White Terrorism

Doctored Video Pairs Biden at Prayer With Scenes of Street Violence

Leaders call for removal of ad depicting worshippers as ‘thugs’

The Guardian UK, 15 SEP 2020.

Black American church leaders have accused Donald Trump of inciting “white terrorism” against people of colour and depicting churchgoers as “thugs” in a presidential election campaign ad.

They are calling for the advertisement’s removal from display and federal protection from any bias or threats it could provoke.

The video, named Meet Joe Biden’s Supporters, is online and includes violent scenes of burning buildings and police cars followed by footage of the Democratic presidential nominee kneeling in front of the altar at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church alongside Black clergy members and community leaders in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.

The apparent voice of Vice-President Mike Pence is heard saying, “You won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America.” It then cuts to text that reads: “Stop Joe Biden and his rioters.”

The AME church on Monday denounced the ad, which they said links the church to violence and implies “that those who gathered there are ‘thugs’”. Meanwhile, the Bethel pastor Silvester Beaman told Religion News Service (RNS): “The ad is overtly racist and offensive on numerous levels.”

The statement, whose signatories include Bishop Michael L Mitchell, president of the AME council of bishops, and Bishop Frank Madison Reid III, chair of the church’s commission on social action, said: “This ad subtly incites white terrorism against people of colour and attacks the Black church and Black people for refusing to bow down to the idol called white supremacy.”

They demanded an “immediate apology” to Bethel AME church and to Beaman, for the ad to be removed from all networks and “federal protection” for the church, its staff and community.

They also called on the federal Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to launch an investigation into the “legality of the Trump campaign’s misrepresentation and Photoshopping images” and the “rhetoric as the language that might incite violence, and encourage racial tensions that lead to placing people of colour in harm’s way”.

Describing the ad, Reid told the Guardian: “In one word it was appalling, another word, divisive, and thirdly it was destructive.”

He added: “The insinuation that the church is a violent institution has brought attacks for centuries here in America against any Black person, male or female, any Black institution, that would dare stand up and speak up against white supremacist practices in the areas of culture, politics, spirituality and finances.”

Citing the recent killings in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where an armed, white agitator shot dead two men who were protesting against the police shooting of a Black man, and the shooting of two sheriff’s deputies in Los Angeles in an ambush at the weekend, Reid added: “There is a culture of violence that is being stirred up by those who have a political agenda.”

The statement, he said, is a warning “to alert the nation and to alert people of colour that this election and these shootings and this violence is all the hate that white supremacists’ hate has produced”.

While he said he is sure the church in Wilmington is “prepared” following the ad, that in the current climate they need “federal protection until this thing cools down”.

The statement said the FBI was investigating vandalism against “multiple” AME churches and that they “continue to cope” following the 2015 mass shooting at Mother Emanuel church in Charleston, South Carolina, by an avowed white supremacist.

“We are apprehensive that the history of burning and bombing Black churches is being stirred up by a political party that has lost its moral bearings. We are deeply concerned that the white supremacist lynchings, murders and assassinations of Black men and women, boys and girls in the past, is the plan for the present and future,” they said.

The Trump and Biden campaigns, the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to the Guardian’s requests for comment.

The Trump campaign’s deputy national press secretary, Samantha Zager, has previously denied the ad was intended to imply that Black churches make America unsafe, reportedly saying: “That’s absurd and it’s shameful to even make the allegation.”

An FBI spokesperson said: “Per our usual policy, the FBI does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations. We do not have further comment.”

Read More; Will Jerry Falwell Jr’s fall from grace end his influence ...

Meet Joe Biden's Supporters - (Doctored Video)

Ladybbird · 25-09-20, 05:54

Donald in Blunderland: TRUMP Won't Commit to Peaceful Power Transfer at Surreal Press Briefing

Top Republicans Dismiss Trump's Refusal to Commit to Peaceful Transfer

David Smith’s sketch: president takes us through the looking glass amid the kneecapping of American democracy

BBC News •25 Sep 2020

Leading Republicans have sought to quell fears that Donald Trump could stoke violence in an attempt to cling to power if he loses the US presidential election – though they stopped short of rebuking Trump directly.

The president sparked fresh anger and disbelief on Thursday after he refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. “Well, we’re going to have to see what happens,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday evening, before renewing a baseless complaint about mail-in ballots.

“Get rid of the ballots and we’ll have a very peaceful … there won’t be a transfer, frankly – there’ll be a continuation,” he said, referring to voting by mail instead of in person during the pandemic, and his chances of re-election.

It was one of Trump’s most stark and chilling warnings yet that he has no intention of conceding defeat to Democratic rival Joe Biden in November, raising fears of weeks of chaos and even an inauguration day in January 2021 that could see both men expecting to be sworn in.

Ladybbird · 28-09-20, 03:16

New York Times Publishes Donald Trumps' Tax Returns in Election Bombshell

“Trump taxes show chronic losses and years of tax avoidance,”

The Times reported that Trump paid no federal income taxes in 11 of 18 years the newspaper looked at.

Paper details $750 federal income tax payments in 2016, 2017

Information ‘does not reveal unreported Russia connections’

The Guardian UK, 28 SEP 2020.

Donald Trump, a self-proclaimed billionaire, paid only $750 in federal income taxes in the year he was elected US president, according to a stunning New York Times investigation that could shake up the presidential election.

“Trump taxes show chronic losses and years of tax avoidance,” was the banner headline on the paper’s website on Sunday. The president’s tax returns have long been the holy grail of American political reporting.

The president “paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency”, the paper reported, adding that “in his first year in the White House, he paid another $750.

“He had paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years – largely because he reported losing much more money than he made.”

In all, the paper said, Trump paid no federal income taxes in 11 of 18 years its reporters examined. Many of his businesses, including his golf courses, report significant financial losses – which have helped him to lower his taxes.

The Times also said the documents it had obtained “comprise information that Mr Trump has disclosed to the IRS, not the findings of an independent financial examination. They report that Mr Trump owns hundreds of millions of dollars in valuable assets, but they do not reveal his true wealth. Nor do they reveal any previously unreported connections to Russia.”

The paper said it would not publish the documents, in order to protect its source.

At a White House press briefing on Sunday, Trump made wild allegations about plots against him and about Biden, who he will debate for the first time on Tuesday. Eventually, he dismissed the Times report as “totally fake news”.

He said: “We went through the same stories, you could have asked me the same questions four years ago, I had to litigate this and talk about it.

“Totally fake news, no. Actually I paid tax. And you’ll see that as soon as my tax returns – it’s under audit, they’ve been under audit for a long time. The [Internal Revenue Service] does not treat me well … they treat me very badly. You have people in the IRS – they treat me very badly.”

The president added: “The New York Times tried it, the same thing, they want to create a little bit of a story. They’re doing anything they can. That’s the least of it. The stories that I read are so fake, they’re so phony.”

Pressed on why a billionaire only paid a few hundred dollars in the year he won the presidency, Trump insisted: “First of all I paid a lot, and I paid a lot of state income taxes too. The New York state charges a lot and I paid a lot of money in state. It’ll all be revealed. It’s going to come out but after the audit.”

The revelations threaten to damage Trump’s repeated claim to be a successful businessman and therefore a capable steward of the US economy.

The Times also said he has used “questionable measures” to reduce his tax bill. He faced a possible hit of “more than $100m” if he lost “a decade-long audit battle with the IRS over the legitimacy of a $72.9m tax refund that he claimed, and received, after declaring huge losses”.

It promised more stories in the coming weeks, adding: “The tax returns that Mr Trump has long fought to keep private tell a story fundamentally different from the one he has sold to the American public.”

Trump will face Joe Biden at the polls on 3 November. He has long resisted demands by political opponents and the media to release decades of tax information. He is the first president since the 1970s to keep his tax returns concealed.

The Times reported on Trump family tax affairs in late 2018, winning a Pulitzer Prize.

“Even while declaring losses, he has managed to enjoy a lavish lifestyle by taking tax deductions on what most people would consider personal expenses, including residences, aircraft and $70,000 in hairstyling for television,” the Times reported on Sunday.

“Ivanka Trump, while working as an employee of the Trump Organization, appears to have received ‘consulting fees’ that also helped reduce the family’s tax bill.”

The paper added: “Over the past two decades, Mr Trump has paid about $400m less in combined federal income taxes than a very wealthy person who paid the average for that group each year.”

Alan Garten, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, told the Times that “most, if not all, of the facts appear to be inaccurate”.

He said: “Over the past decade, President Trump has paid tens of millions of dollars in personal taxes to the federal government, including paying millions in personal taxes since announcing his candidacy in 2015.”

Only a fool would write off Trump. But there’s a reason he’s so desperate

The newspaper pointed out that “personal taxes” appeared to cover other federal taxes, including social security and Medicare.

The report prompted instant criticism. Ryan Thomas, a spokesperson for the progressive advocacy organisation Stand Up America, said: “Four years ago, Donald Trump broke decades of precedent when he refused to release his tax returns to the public. At each turn since, he’s attempted to shield his financial records from the public – even as congressional and criminal investigators look into how he’s profited off the presidency and his decades of fraudulent tax schemes.

“We’ve demanded Trump’s tax returns for years because the American people deserve to know what he’s paying – and the answer appears to be very little. A man who uses dubious tax schemes to avoid paying taxes or lies to the public about his finances has no place in the Oval Office.

“This is just one more reason why we must vote to evict him.”

MORE;

Trump’s taxes: key findings from the New York Times report

Recipe for chaos: 2020 election threatens to snap a US .

Tarfoot · 28-09-20, 19:21

Ya can't believe a quarter of what the NY Times prints. They've done proved their non-sense. You'd do better believing the Enquisiter......(Enquirer).

Ladybbird · 01-10-20, 16:08

Proud Boys are a Dangerous White Supremacist Group say US Agencies
-White Supremacists and Militias Have Infiltrated Police Across US, Report Says

When Trump Defends Armed Rightwing Gangs, His Rhetoric Has Echoes of Fascism

Presidential Debate Rules to Change After TRUMPS' Tirades

What Happens if Trump Refuses to Leave The White House if He Loses?

The Guardian UK / BBC NEWS, 1 OCT 2020.

A desperate man (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Proud Boys are a Dangerous White Supremacist Group say US Agencies-
White Supremacists and Militias Have Infiltrated Police Across US, Report Says

Law enforcement have shown concerns about the group’s menace to minority groups and police officers, and its conspiracy theories

The Proud Boys is a far-right and neo-fascist organization that admits only men as members and promotes and engages in political violence. It is based in the United States and has a presence in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

The far-right Proud Boys group whom Donald Trump told to “stand by” during this week’s presidential debate is seen as a dangerous organization by law enforcement, according to leaked assessments of the organization from federal, state and local agencies.

Trump’s refusal to condemn white supremacists during the debate, and his suggestion that the Proud Boys “stand by” during the current 2020 election campaign sent shockwaves through American politics. The Southern Poverty Law Center calls the Proud Boys a hate group.

Files from the Blueleaks trove of leaked law enforcement documents reveal warnings that the Proud Boys, who some of the US agencies label as “white supremacists” and “extremists”, and others as a “gang”, show persistent concerns about the group’s menace to minority groups and even police officers, and its dissemination of dangerous conspiracy theories.

Repeated warnings about the Proud Boys, and descriptions of them as a dangerous white supremacist group, were issued by members of the national network of counter-terrorist fusion centers. The Colorado Information Analysis Center (CIAC) showed particular, repeated concerns about the group, and their activities in that state.

A former FBI agent has documented links between serving officers and racist militant activities in more than a dozen states...

In a 22-page 2019 document titled Violent Extremism in Colorado: a Reference Guide for Law Enforcement, published by CIAC, the state’s division of homeland security, and the Colorado department of public safety, various incidents of violence involving the Proud Boys are discussed under the heading of White Supremacist Extremism.

On page 15 of the document, the group is discussed in terms of the “threat to Colorado” from white supremacist extremists, and the “concern that white supremacist extremists will continue attacking members of the community who threaten their belief of Caucasian superiority”.

In illustrating this threat, the document reports on local members of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, and Charlottesville’s deadly Unite the Right rally, but also offers that “there have been several incidents in Colorado between the Proud Boys and Rocky Mountain Antifa, to include violent clashes at protests”, and “two members of the Proud Boys were convicted of assaulting Antifa members during a 2018 fight in New York”.

Two pages later, the same document incorporates the Proud Boys, along with Atomwaffen, the Soldiers of Odin, and skinhead groups such as the Hammerskins in a list titled White Supremacist Groups with a Presence in Colorado.

Later, CIAC pointed to the group as a source of Covid-19 conspiracy theories. On 10 May this year, in a bulletin on Covid-19 Protest Disinformation Campaigns, CIAC described how “the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group, has been active in spreading conspiracy theories regarding Covid-19 on Twitter, Facebook, and Telegram”, suggesting that “a faction of elites are weaponizing the virus, and a vaccine would likely be a tool for population control and mind control”.

The bulletin also warns that “spread of disinformation has the potential to cause civil unrest and mass panic”.

Agencies have defined the Proud Boys as a threat throughout most of their active existence.

As early as August 2018, a brief from another fusion center, the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC), summarizes a report of rightwing groups gathering weapons before a rally. The basis for the warning is a July call from a named man to the Berkeley police department, expressing concern about someone who he knew “who is allegedly a member of the right-wing group called Proud Boys” who is “gathering masks, helmets, and guns and would have absolute war with the liberals at an event scheduled to take place in Berkeley on August 5, 2018”.

A much-heralded Say No to Marxism rally was held in the city that day, and saw the Proud Boys and their allies outnumbered by counter-protesters.

Mike Sena, executive director of NCRIC, told the Guardian that “everyone’s absolutely entitled to their freedom of speech”, but that “violence is a crime”, and that this kind of intelligence was passed to partners when “people mention the possibility of going to an event with weapons”.

In 2019, the Texas-based fusion center, the Austin Regional Intelligence Center, warned in a Special Event Threat Assessment of potential dangers to the Austin Pride Parade.

It identified the Proud Boys as being associated with a “growing backlash against Pride Month [which] has emerged in the form of the Straight Pride movement”, noting that “on 28 June 2019, a Trans Pride parade event in Seattle, Washington was disrupted by the alt-right Proud Boys organization”.

There is also evidence of concern about the group from local agencies, some of whom define the Proud Boys as a gang.

In 2019, a flyer from the Orange county, California, probation department advertised a “One Day Law Enforcement Training” day covering “white gangs”.

In one session of the training day on 19 April, the flyer said, two probation officers would “delve into ideological groups including KKK in Orange county as well as other hate groups/gangs including RAM (Rise Above Movement), Proud Boys, Traditionalist Worker’s Party, Hammerskins, WAR, and cover Antifa and sovereign citizens”.

White supremacists and militias have infiltrated police across US, report says....

Read More;
Report: White supremacists have infiltrated police across the US

When Trump Defends Armed Rightwing Gangs, His Rhetoric Has Echoes of Fascism

Signalling to his base, as he did referring to the Proud Boys on Tuesday, the president is following a playbook from 1930s Germany...

David Renton, a barrister

You can imagine the men as they prepared for the showdown. For days, the papers had been predicting a “great sensation”. Press photographers besieged the entrance. No one could enter the building where the debate was due to take place without a special permit. In his dark blue suit, one question above all troubled the party leader, and with the help of his advisers, he puzzled how best to answer it. What if he was accused of links to fascist street gangs?

This wasn’t the United States in September 2020. It was Germany in May 1931.

For as the historian Benjamin Hett describes in his book, Crossing Hitler, the summer of 1931 saw Hitler being summonsed to court and accused of being complicit in the work of gangs who had beaten – and killed – their anti-fascist enemies.

Hitler’s response was to play a double game. First of all, he was worried about looking weak in front of his supporters, who had called him a coward and a conformist. So he needed to signal that the gangs still had his support. Second, he tried to pretend that any harm caused by his supporters was necessary since the country faced a much more threatening enemy: the far left.

“The SA men are the first men in the party,” he told his opponent, the private prosecutor Hans Litten. Then, in answer to Kurt Ohnesorge, the judge who moderated the hearing, Hitler said that the “red murderers” of the left were the real problem: “If an SA man really oversteps the boundary of self-defence, you can’t hold a man responsible for that.”

Compare this to Donald Trump signalling to his base. During Tuesday’s presidential debate, he was asked:

“Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacist and militia groups and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence?”

He answered,

“I would say almost everything I see is from the left wing, not from the right wing.” He continued: “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.” Then came the justification: “But I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about antifa and the left. Because this is not a rightwing problem, this is a leftwing problem.”

Trump is wrong to pretend that the left is responsible for the violence on America’s streets. Between 1 January 1994 and 8 May 2020, white supremacists and other rightwing extremists in the US carried out attacks that left 329 people dead. In the same period, a single attack staged by an anti-fascist resulted in a killing. And during that incident, the one person who lost their life was the anti-fascist perpetrator.

That survey ended in May. Since then, the number of killings carried out by anti-fascists has risen from zero to one. On 29 August this year a pro-Trump truck convoy made its way through Portland, firing paintballs and pepper sprays. A counter-protest saw an associate of the far-right group Patriot Prayer, Aaron J Danielson, shot dead. One anti-fascist, Michael Forest Reinoehl, admitted to the shooting in a media interview, but said he acted in self-defence. He was shot by US marshals on 3 September in Lacey, Washington.

Even after Danielson’s death, the grim headcount remains: the far right has been carrying out killings at the rate of 300 to the anti-fascist one.

The 1920s saw a similar disparity of casualties. The most detailed survey of deaths in Weimar Germany, carried out by the German mathematician Emil Julius Gumbel, found 314 murders carried out by the right in 1918-22 and 15 by the left. After 1923, deaths fell almost to zero before resuming again from 1928 with the rise of the Nazis.

In the US, since 2016 and Trump’s election, attacks on leftwing demonstrators have become more frequent. They have included the killing of anti-fascist protester Heather Heyer at Charlottesville. James Alex Fields Jr drove his car at protesters after being photographed earlier brandishing a shield with a fascist symbol right out of the 1920s (a bundle of rods and an executioner’s rod). He was sentenced to life in prison.

There were the 11 worshippers shot at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, allegedly by Robert Bowers. And there have been the more than 100 white supremacists who have attempted to disperse anti-racist protests since the spring by driving their cars at demonstrators – the same method of attack as that used by Fields at Charlottesville.

Hitler’s followers were responding to the electoral success of the left; they knew that in areas of Berlin the Communist vote was as high as 40%. And, in order to break the opposition to Hitler, they went into those districts and beat and killed antifascists. It was this violence that led to Hitler’s trial.

The main purpose of the Proud Boys, in summer 2020, is the same. That’s why the they were in Portland last weekend, carrying posters denouncing anti-fascists and supporters of Black Lives Matters, and promising to drive the left out of the city.

Trump is lying when he says that the left is responsible for the violence. In blaming the left he is encouraging his armed supporters and inviting further killings.

In many ways Trump is a weak authoritarian. After four years in power, Trump has not gone to war. His opponents are at large and not in jail.
But when Trump defends armed gangs, he echoes the worst moments in modern history.

CONTINUED....
.

Ladybbird · 01-10-20, 16:37

Presidential Debate: Rules to Change After Trump-Biden Spat

The commission that oversees US presidential debates says it will change the format to ensure the remaining two encounters between Donald Trump and Joe Biden are more orderly.

One new measure could be to cut the microphones if the candidates try to interrupt each other, US media report.

BBC 1 OCT 2020

The announcement follows Tuesday's ill-tempered debate that descended into squabbling, bickering and insults by Trump.

President Trump's team has already criticised the commission's plans.

The tone and tactics of the first presidential debate were criticised across the US and around the world.

Trump-Biden debate pulled in 65 million TV viewers

The fallout, however, has also been dominated by Mr Trump's refusal in the debate to explicitly condemn a far-right group called the Proud Boys.

What are The Plans For The Next Debates?

In Tuesday's debate, the candidates were given two minutes to answer moderator questions, before being allowed to address each other's response.

However, President Trump constantly interrupted Democratic candidate Joe Biden leading to a series of chaotic exchanges in which both men talked over each other.

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) - a nonpartisan body that has organised presidential debates since 1988 - said it would soon announce new measures to help moderators "maintain order" in the remaining two debates.

It said the first debate had "made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues".

CBS News, citing an informed source, said the commission would spend the next 48 hours drawing up new guidelines and rules for the second debate on 15 October in Miami, Florida.

Controlling the candidates' microphones is at the top of the list, CBS said, in order to prevent them interrupting the moderator or each other.

Both campaign teams will be informed of the rules but they will not be subject to negotiation, the source added.

What's The Reaction?

Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh, who had described Tuesday's night's chaotic scenes as a "free exchange of ideas", criticised the plans.
President Trump was the dominant force and now Joe Biden is trying to work the refs. They shouldn't be moving the goalposts and changing the rules in the middle of the game."

Kate Bedingfield, deputy manager for Mr Biden's campaign, said the former vice-president would participate "under whatever set of rules the commission develops to try to contain Donald Trump's behaviour".

While one snap poll on the debate gave Mr Biden a slight edge, other opinion polls suggest 90% of Americans have already made up their mind how to vote for and the debate may well have made little difference.

'The loser is us, the American people'

Ladybbird · 01-10-20, 17:41

What Happens if Donald Trump Refuses to Leave the White House If He Loses?

The President has repeatedly signalled he won't accept the election result - but can he actually just refuse to leave?

BBC 1 OCT 2020

Donald Trump has strongly signalled that if he loses, he won’t accept the election result.

Asked during the fraught first televised debate of the 2020 Presidential Election whether he would tell his supporters to remain calm, and would wait until votes are counted, he said he couldn't promise to do that.

He told moderator Chris Wallace: “I am urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully, because that’s what has to happen.”

He added: “I hope it’s a fair election. If it’s a fair election, I’m on board.

"But if I see tens of thousands of ballots being manipulated, I can’t go along with that.”

In a chilling moment, the President added: "This is not going to end well."

Here we look at what could be done if he refuses to step down.

Trump has laid the legal groundwork to undermine an election result, but could he cling on to power?

Trump has no power to hold on to office or cancel the election. Even if he holes up in the White House, his term will end on January 20.

The 20th Amendment of the US Constitution says a president and vice president’s term “shall end at noon on January 20… and the terms of their successors shall then begin”.

If he refuses to leave, what action would be taken?

A president immediately and automatically loses their constitutional authority upon expiration of his term or after removal via impeachment. Trump would lack the power to direct the US Secret Service or other federal agents to protect him.

While even former presidents enjoy Secret Service protection, agents are unlikely to follow an illegal order to protect one from removal from office.

Joe Biden could direct federal agents to remove Trump from the White House forcibly.

Could Trump order the army to protect him?

Trump would also lose his power as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Could he be charged if he refuses to leave?

Now a private citizen and not immune to prosecution, he could be arrested and charged with trespassing in the White House.

What is the most likely scenario?

Most believe he will eventually vacate the White House on his own accord albeit ,,,, begrudgingly.

Ladybbird · 18-10-20, 17:10

How TRUMPS' Republicans Gutted the Biggest Voting Rights Victory in Recent History

Black Voters' Mail-in Ballots Being Rejected at Higher Rate -Data from North Carolina suggests unfamiliarity with voting by mail and need to have witness signature may play a part

Trump's hopes fade in Wisconsin as 'greatest economy' lies boast unravels. He pinned his re-election hopes on economic success – but the pandemic has transformed the terrain

The Guardian UK, 18 OCT. 2020.

The Fight to Vote

Black voters in North Carolina are disproportionately having their mail-in ballots flagged for potential rejection in the battleground state, setting off alarms about disenfranchisement.

North Carolina requires mail-in voters to get a witness for their ballots and at least 7,000 mail-in ballots have been flagged across the state because of a deficiency, according to data collected by Michael Bitzer, a professor at Catawba College who closely tracks voting data in the state. As of Wednesday, 40% of rejected ballots – 2,871 – were from Black voters, even though they comprised only 16% of the overall ballots returned. (A spokesman for the state board of elections cautioned some of the data may be outdated because local election offices have not been entering rejection data into the statewide system while legal challenges are pending.)

The Rev Anthony Spearman, the head of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, attributed the higher rate at which Black voters’ ballots were being flagged to the fact that African Americans traditionally have not widely voted by mail in the state, instead opting for in-person voting. Many voters are getting tripped up by the state’s requirement that mail-in voters get a witness to sign their absentee ballot, he said.

“The African American community, many of them for the first time, are utilizing absentee ballots and have not been cultivated to the practices thereof. There is a level of them being not aware of the process and how it goes and so they’re not filling out their forms correctly,” he said.

Just 3% of the Black voters whose ballots were flagged for rejection voted by mail in 2016, according to data collected by Bitzer.

“Voting by mail is very different than voting in person,” Bitzer said. “Until I’m presented otherwise I have to think lack of familiarity with the vote method process is probably what is hanging up so much of these ballots.”

The North Carolina data underscores the conundrum Democrats are facing this year as they encourage supporters to cast their votes by mail amid concerns about Covid-19. A mail vote is more likely to be rejected than an in-person one and research has shown that first-time voters and minorities are all much more likely to have their ballots rejected.

There is an ongoing legal battle in the state over how easy it should be for voters to fix a ballot flagged for rejection. Earlier this year state officials said that if voters had any omissions with the witness portion of their ballots – the section Spearman said was confusing voters – they could sign an affidavit and have their ballot count.

But state officials quickly suspended that guidance amid objections from Republicans and ongoing litigation. On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that a voter could use an affidavit to fix small discrepancies with the witness section, but said the voter would have to cast a new ballot if the witness forgot to sign altogether. Republicans are appealing against the ruling.

There also appears to have been some inconsistency in how strictly election officials needed to review a ballot to determine if it should be rejected. Earlier this month, state officials released a memo instructing local election boards that they should not automatically reject a ballot if an address for a witness was incomplete.

Guilford county, home to Greensboro, was flagging nearly one in every 10 ballots that came in for rejection before the memo. Madeline Reed, a voter in the county, told the Greensboro News and Record her ballot was flagged for rejection because officials couldn’t read the letter “C” in her witness signature. The rejection rate in the county has since fallen to 2.2%, according to data collected by Michael McDonald, a political science professor at the University of Florida.

“Our staff is very, very effective and they have been trained very well and they tend to scrutinize more closely the ballots they take a look at. And that may have something to do with the higher numbers in Guilford county,” said Spearman, who is also a member of the county’s board of elections.

In-person early voting began Thursday in North Carolina and Spearman said he would encourage anyone who had their ballot flagged for rejection to forget about casting a new mail-in ballot and vote in person instead. “ I think people will go ahead and do that,” he said.

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The fight to vote

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Ladybbird · 20-10-20, 13:07

US Supreme Court Denies Republican Bid to Limit Pennsylvania Mail-in-Voting

The USs’ highest court is allowing Pennsylvania to count ballots received up to three days after the presidential election

The Guardian UK, 20 OCT. 2020.

The supreme court is allowing Pennsylvania to count ballots received up to three days after the election, in a consequential ruling that will likely mean thousands more votes are counted in one of the most critical swing states in the election.

The court on Monday rejected a Republican plea to pause a September ruling from Pennsylvania’s state supreme court that allowed ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by election day and received up to three days later.

Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s three liberal justices in the ruling, producing a 4-4 deadlock. The even split means that the state supreme court’s ruling stands.

The ruling is a win for Democrats, who sought the extension in state court, and a loss for Republicans, who had asked the US supreme court to intervene. Nearly 900,000 voters in Pennsylvania have already returned their ballots, according to state data collected by Michael McDonald, a professor at the University of Florida.

The justices made the ruling after an emergency request from Pennsylvania Republicans and, as is customary in similar cases, offered no explanation for their decision. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas all said they would have granted the Republican request.

Pennsylvania typically requires mail-in ballots to arrive by election night in order to count. But last month, the Pennsylvania supreme court, citing potential postal service delays amid the Covid-19 pandemic, extended the deadline by three days, saying ballots should count as long as they are postmarked by election day. The court also required election officials to count ballots with no postmark or an illegible one.

In a typical election, only around 1% of mail-in ballots are rejected, but that number is expected to rise this year as more people vote by mail for the first time. One of the top reasons mail-in ballots get rejected is because they arrive after election day. The decisions from the Pennsylvania supreme court and US supreme court offer important insurance against that kind of disenfranchisement.

The ruling is a break from a string of rulings this year in which the US supreme court has upheld a swath of voting restrictions across the country, even amid the Covid-19 pandemic. But the Pennsylvania case had an important distinction; while all the voting cases that have reached the supreme court this year have been from federal courts, the Pennsylvania case came from a state court.

More; Los Angeles ballots damaged after suspected arson attack on ..

Ladybbird · 24-10-20, 16:44

Trump Paid Nearly $200,000 in Taxes to China, Trump Maintains Secret Bank Account in China

New York Times says records reveal company bank account in China, and documents show he paid more tax there than at home

Trump has a Chinese bank account and spent years pursuing business projects in the country.

BBC News / The Guardian UK, 24 OCT. 2020.

The account is controlled by Trump International Hotels Management and paid local taxes between 2013 and 2015.

It was set up "to explore the potential for hotel deals in Asia", according to a Trump spokesman.

Donald Trump, pictured here with President Xi Jinping, has portrayed China as a threat to the US

Trump has been critical of US firms doing business in China and sparked a trade war between the two countries.

The NY Times revealed the account after obtaining Mr Trump's tax records, which included both personal and company financial details.

TAXES Trump Paid to 'The Enemy of America'

Donald Trump maintains a bank account in China where he pursued licensing deals for years, according to a report that could undermine the president’s election campaign claim that he is tough on Beijing.

Tax records reviewed by the New York Times showed a previously unreported bank account in China controlled by Trump International Hotels Management. The account paid $188,561 in taxes in China between 2013 and 2015 in connection to potential licensing deals, according the newspaper.

Earlier reporting by the Times showed he paid just $750 in US taxes in 2016 and 2017.

The recent tax records also showed Trump invested at least $192,000 in five companies charged with pursuing business deals in China. Those companies claimed $97,400 in business expenses, including payments as recently as 2018, the Times reported.

Trump has waged his re-election campaign on his ability to stand up to China on issues from trade to human rights abuses in Xinjiang and political repression in Hong Kong as well as accountability for the spread of Covid-19. Under Trump, ties between China and the US have reached their lowest point in decades.

The disclosures also come after Trump accused his opponent, Joe Biden, of being “weak on China” and described the Biden family as “selling out our country” to China. The Trump campaign has run attack ads against Biden’s son for having “inked a billion-dollar deal” with the government-owned Bank of China, allegations that have not been substantiated.

Trump has previously pursued an office tower project in Guangzhou in southern China that did not come to fruition. AFP reported in 2016 that the Trump Hotel Collection negotiated with the government owned electricity company, State Grid Corporation of China, to brand and manage a major development in Beijing, resulting in a deal worth up to $150 million over 15 years. Negotiations were put on hold after the state-owned enterprise became the focus of a corruption probe.

A lawyer for the Trump Organization, Alan Garten told the Times that the company had “opened an account with a Chinese bank having offices in the United States in order to pay the local taxes”.

“No deals, transactions or other business activities ever materialized and, since 2015, the office has remained inactive,” he said.

Ladybbird · 24-10-20, 21:30

US ELECTION:
The Fight Intensifies as TRUMPs' Nasty Tactics, Jibs & Lies Increase

Sky News •24 Oct 2020

On Saturday, Trump was filmed at the polling station in West Palm Beach Florida with just over a week until the US presidential election on 3 November....in a private library & chose not to meet the people

Ladybbird · 30-10-20, 11:50

Americans Have Bought Record 17m Guns in Year of Unrest, Analysis Finds

Sales surged in the spring amid coronavirus fears and climbed higher during protests for racial justice

The Guardian UK, 30 OCT. 2020.

Americans have bought nearly 17m guns so far in 2020, more than in any other single year, according to estimates from a firearms analytics company.

Gun sales across the United States first jumped in the spring, driven by fears about the coronavirus pandemic, and spiked even higher in the summer, during massive racial justice protests across the country, prompted by police killings of black Americans.

“By August, we had exceeded last year’s total. By September, we exceeded the highest total ever,” said Jurgen Brauer, the chief economist of Small Arms Analytics, which produces widely-cited estimates of US gun sales.

The estimated number of guns sold in the US through the end of September 2020 is “not only more than last year, it’s more than any full year in the last 20 years we have records for”, Brauer said.

The previous record for estimated firearms sold in a single year was 16.6m in 2016, when Hillary Clinton ran for president against Donald Trump and endorsed a strong gun-control platform, he said.

The spike in gun sales comes amid rising tensions and intense political polarization. Citing “the current unrest”, Walmart removed guns and ammunition from display in stores this week, as a “precaution” against theft if stores are robbed, the Wall Street Journal reported. The retailer did not confirm when firearms and ammunition would be put back on display but said that customers could continue to buy guns and ammunition by request.

Walmart has already restricted the types of guns and ammunition it sells in the wake of mass shootings and other instances of gun violence. Last year the company announced it would no longer sell ammunition for military-style rifles after a white nationalist terror attack targeting Latino families at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.

The increase in gun sales appeared to be primarily driven by more purchases of handguns, though Americans were also buying more rifles and other long guns, Brauer, the firearms analyst, said.

While there is no hard data on how many Americans bought a gun for the first time this year, advocates across the political spectrum say they believe that many of the guns sold in 2020 went to new gun owners.

Fears about lawlessness and government instability drove many people to purchase firearms, according to a recent survey of California residents conducted by researchers at the University of California, Davis.

Of the people who said they had bought guns this year, “Two-thirds expressed worry about lawlessnes, and close to half worried about prisoners being released. Half also cited worry about the ‘government going too far’,” said Nicole Kravitz-Wirtz, the lead author of the study.

In the past, demand for guns in the US has typically spiked in reaction to events that are seen as increasing the risk of new gun control laws, including major mass shootings and the chance that a Democrat might win the White House. Barack Obama was known as America’s greatest gun salesman, while firearm sales initially slumped under Trump, whose election victory was backed by more than $30m from the National Rifle Association.

This year, months of sustained demand for firearms has resulted in continuing shortages, as well as rising prices, gun owners say.

“I don’t think there’s been anything like it in my 30 years of being involved in firearms,” said Chuck Rossi, one of the founders of Open Source Defense, a gun-rights group created by current and former tech workers.

“There’s no inventory. There are no guns to buy. There is no ammunition to buy. There continue, to this day, to be lines at the gun counters, with empty shelves.”

Gun violence prevention advocates said the sustained surge in gun sales was deeply troubling and could contribute to an increase in domestic violence, suicide, and children accidentally shooting themselves or other people with adults’ guns.

An increase in gun purchases in just the first three months of the coronavirus pandemic was associated with a nearly 8% increase in firearm violence in the US, according to an estimate from researchers at the University of California, Davis.

That increase translated into an estimated 776 additional shooting injuries in the US from March through May, the researchers found. States that had lower levels of violent crime pre-Covid saw a stronger connection between additional gun purchases and more gun violence.

“The gun industry thrives in a culture of fear. Their business model is based on a model of leveraging people’s fear in order to buy these products, and they never talk about the risk,” said Robyn Thomas, the executive director of the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

“The common thread is just uncertainty,” said Kareem Shaya, a gun rights advocate and another founder of Open Source Defense, which has organized dozens of video training sessions for first-time gun owners this year. “A feeling of, hey, if nobody else is going to be able to take care of me, push comes to shove, I want to be able to take care of myself.”

Ladybbird · 02-11-20, 11:10

US ELECTION:
FBI Investigating Trump Armed Supporters who Swarmed Texas Campaign Bus

Trump calls violent armed supporters ‘patriots’ He sparks fresh fears of election night chaos with threat to 'send lawyers'

The US President has spent months preparing the ground for him to claim victory before results are counted - branding the election a fraud and questioning the process

“Armed Trump trolls harassing Biden Bus on I35, ramming volunteer vehicles & blocking traffic for 40 mins,” Texas state representative Rafael Anchía wrote on Twitter.

BBC News, 2 NOV 2020.

The FBI has confirmed it is investigating an incident in which a convoy of vehicles flying flags in support of President Donald Trump’s re-election bid surrounded a tour bus carrying campaign staff for Democratic challenger Joe Biden on a Texas highway.

Friday’s incident prompted the Biden campaign to cancel at least two of its Texas events as Democrats accused the president of encouraging supporters to engage in acts of intimidation.

“FBI San Antonio is aware of the incident and investigating,” special agent Michelle Lee, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in San Antonio, told Reuters in an email. “No further information is available at this time.”

In response to news of the FBI’s investigation, Trump tweeted on Sunday night that the people involved in running the bus off the road were “patriots”.

The historian Eric Cervini, who had flown to Texas to help with get-out-the-vote efforts, posted a video on Instagram that showed a long line of cars with Trump paraphernalia stalled along the highway, waiting for the Biden-Harris bus.

“These Trump supporters, many of whom were armed, surrounded the bus on the interstate and attempted to drive it off the road,” he wrote, adding: “As a historian who studied the rise of the Third Reich, I can tell you: this is how a democracy dies.”

The ambush, which took place on Friday as the bus traveled from San Antonio to Austin to conclude a three-day tour, included a crash between a white SUV and a black truck, police in San Marcos confirmed, though it was still unclear who caused the collision. Officers there had tried to provide a police escort for the Biden-Harris bus but were not able to catch up because of traffic.

Even as dramatic footage from the scene caused widespread alarm, President Donald Trump threw his support behind the so-called Trump train, tweeting “I LOVE TEXAS!”

Earlier on Sunday, he asked supporters at a rally in Michigan: “Did you see the way our people … were… protecting this bus ... because they’re nice. They had hundreds of cars. Trump! Trump! Trump and the American flag.”

Trump also said Biden supporters lacked such spirit and enthusiasm.

One Texas Republican official, Naomi Narvaiz, applauded the caravan’s tactics to force the bus to leave: “Your kind aren’t welcome here!”

“Funniest thing I’ve ever seen, man!” a Facebook user recording from New Braunfels guffawed in a video posted on Friday. “They’re, like, literally escorting him out of town.”

A spokeswoman for Living Blue in Comal county, a local progressive group, told the Guardian the incident was a reflection of larger problems in the area, where “racist” locals “just kind of run this town, like the Klan did”.

The spokeswoman, who asked to remain anonymous because she feared being targeted, added: “They’ve dragged the BLM flag. They’ve called people the N-word from their truck. So it’s straight up harassment and intimidation. And then, to see President Trump validate them by retweeting their video and saying he loves Texas, he’s basically endorsing domestic terrorism.”

Amid safety concerns, Democrats in Texas cancelled multiple events. According to the Texas Tribune, the FBI was investigating.

The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr, had previously encouraged members of the Trump train in Texas to “get out there” and “have some fun” at the expense of vice- presidential nominee Kamala Harris, who was campaigning in the state but was not on the bus when the incident occurred.

Two days out from election day, Texas is close, Trump leading Biden by 1.5 points, according to the FiveThirtyEight.com polling average.

Tariq Thowfeek, Texas communications director for the Biden campaign, said in a statement: “Rather than engage in productive conversation about the drastically different visions that Joe Biden and Donald Trump have for our country, Trump supporters in Texas instead decided to put our staff, surrogates, supporters, and others in harm’s way.”

US representative Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat who represents constituents from San Antonio to Austin, said: “This aggressive, abusive conduct by his supporters results from Trump continuing to incite acts of intimidation and violence.

We have to stand up to these bullies just as we seek to protect the right of every last Texan to vote out the Bully-in-Chief.”

Donald Trump plans to send lawyers into key states as soon as voting ends, amid growing concern he'll try to claim victory before the votes are counted.

The US President has repeatedly refused to guarantee a peaceful transfer of power if he loses.

And he has called for the result to be announced "on the night" despite many states still counting postal votes that arrive after election day.

US Elections are never officially called "on the night" - in fact, it can often take weeks to certify the result. But TV news networks usually "project" a winner based on exit polls and other factors.

Reports published today suggested the President planned to claim victory if it appears he is "ahead" of Biden on election night.

This has been nicknamed the "red mirage" - in that it may appear that Republicans have won a state, but in reality they haven't.

And the President has claimed without evidence that votes received after polling day are vulnerable to fraud - particularly singling out the state of Pennsylvania.

Trump, it was reported, plans to claim he's won if he has a 'commanding lead' in Texas, Iowa, Georgia, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina and Arizona.

He dismissed the report as "false".

But he admitted he intends to send lawyers into key states to "dispute" ballots as soon as polls close.

Ladybbird · 02-11-20, 15:14

'Putin Could Only Dream of It': How Trump Supercharged Russias' Disinformation Playbook

Threats from Trumps' Proud Boys, designed to intimidate voters.Trump directly ordered the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist street gang, to “stand back and stand by” before a television audience of 73m people

Thousands of faked emails telling voters in Florida and Alaska to “vote for Trump or else”

The Guardian UK, 2 NOV 2020.

It seemed like the nightmare of 2016 all over again.

On 21 October, less than two weeks before election day, US intelligence and law enforcement officials convened a last-minute press conference to warn that foreign adversaries were once again interfering in American democracy. Iran was spreading false tales about “allegedly fraudulent ballots” and sending spoofed emails purporting to contain threats from the Proud Boys, “designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest and damage President Trump”, said John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence. Meanwhile, both Russia and Iran had obtained access to voter information that could be used to “cause confusion, sow chaos and undermine your confidence in American democracy,” he warned.

It was everything that Democrats and disinformation experts have been warning about for the last four years, except, well, not quite

The email operation had been relatively small and immediately debunked, while voter roll information is either public or easy to obtain. Senior intelligence officials quickly raised doubts about Ratcliffe’s emphasis on the threat from Iran over Russia and questioned whether his motives for the public announcement were political , the New York Times reported.

“It was very difficult to see those men in suits talking about interference in the election when the White House is the one interfering with the election,” said Claire Wardle, the executive director of First Draft, a group that researches and combats disinformation.

After all, when it comes to intimidating voters or inciting social unrest, nothing has had more impact than the constant drumbeat of lies and disinformation from Donald Trump. Years of preparation by the press, social media platforms, and civil society groups for a foreign interference campaign against the US electoral process have been upended by the bizarre reality that the biggest threat to American democracy right now is almost certainly the commander-in-chief, and that his primary mode of attack is a concerted disinformation campaign.

Because how much impact can a few thousand faked emails telling voters in Florida and Alaska to “vote for Trump or else” have on voters compared with Trump directly ordering the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist street gang, to “stand back and stand by” before a television audience of 73m people? And what kind of false tale of voter fraud could Iran possibly seed that could undermine Americans’ faith in the electoral process more than the disinformation about voter fraud and mail-in ballots coming straight from the White House and Trump’s campaign?

“‘Don’t trust the electoral system, don’t trust the CDC, don’t trust your neighbor because they’re probably antifa, don’t trust the left,’” Wardle said of Trump’s re-election message. “It’s not about persuading people one way or the other, it’s about making them scared and causing confusion and chaos,” she added.

“The media’s been obsessed with Russians under the bed, but to have the president of the United States telling people in the US that they can’t trust the results of the election – Putin could only dream of that kind of thing.”

Social media tactics

Russia’s disinformation campaign in the 2016 presidential election had two main vectors: a social media campaign to sow division and distrust among voters, and a “hack and leak” operation that resulted in the theft and publication of emails and documents stolen from Democrats and Hillary Clinton’s campaign. That hack and leak operation was incredibly successful, with caches of stolen material proving irresistible both for the mainstream press and for conservative activists and conspiracy theorists.

People have been overwhelmed with falsehoods and confusion. When people get overwhelmed, they either fight or flee
Whitney Phillips, Syracuse University

The 2020 iteration of the hack and leak tactic – Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani pushing dubious emails and text messages supposedly obtained from a hard drive linked to Joe Biden’s son Hunter – has been something of a damp squib, however. “You don’t see the same kind of credulous, knee-jerk out-of-control amplification that you saw in 2016,” said Whitney Phillips, a professor at Syracuse University and author of The Oxygen of Amplification, a report examining how the press served the purposes of media manipulators, trolls and hate groups in 2016. The top newspapers have debunked and deflated Giuliani’s claims, and the idea of the pilfered hard drive has failed to capture the public’s interest in the same way that troves of stolen emails did.

But while the Trump re-election campaign may have failed to recapture the magic of 2016 when it comes to hacked emails, the president has taken Russia’s 2016 social media playbook and supercharged it with the power of the White House.

“I’m sure that there is some foreign influence stuff happening and we might know more about it later,” said Phillips. “But so much of the pollution is trickling down from the White House itself, and people have been absolutely overwhelmed with falsehoods and confusion over Covid and ballots … When people get overwhelmed, they either fight or flee. [Trump] is making it almost impossible for people not to get totally burned out and disgusted.”

This year’s disinformation efforts on social media have taken aim at familiar societal fault lines. Both Russian operatives and the Trump campaign in 2016 targeted Black voterswith messages designed to depress enthusiasm for Clinton and suppress their votes. Similar efforts, especially those targeting Black women, are under way this election, said Shireen Mitchell, a disinformation researcher and founder of Stop Online Violence Against Women.

“There are groups working to basically remove us from the Democratic party, and tell us a story that matches what we’re going through, speaks our language,” said Mitchell of campaigns such as “Blexit” and Walk Away. One version of Black voter suppression that Mitchell is monitoring encourages people to #VoteDownBallot but abstain from voting for either presidential candidate because “both candidates are the same”, often alongside the hashtag #ADOS, which stands for American Descendants of Slaves.

Jacobo Licona, a disinformation researcher for Equis Labs, said he was tracking prominent far-right Latino Facebook pages pushing false information about voting and anti-Black Lives Matter messages. Efforts to paint Biden as a “socialist” are also particularly effective among Cuban and Venezuelan immigrant communities, he noted.

The false idea that Biden is a socialist or communist is also a tactic in messages targeting some Asian American voters. One apparently effective attack suggesting that Biden had opposed accepting refugees after the Vietnam war spread like wildfire within the Vietnamese American community. The source of the canard appeared to be a Washington Examiner article that was published in 2019 but went viral on Facebook in October. (Biden did support allowing Vietnamese refugees to come the US, while Trump has attacked all forms of immigration, including reducing the number of refugees admitted each year to an all-time low.)

“Older Vietnamese were especially angry about that,” said Thu Quach, an epidemiologist who helped to found Pivot, a progressive, volunteer organization fighting misinformation among Vietnamese Americans through a bilingual fact-check website. “It takes a lot of deep work to continue these conversations because it’s so deeply embedded to be anti-communist, and [conservatives] feed off that to paint Biden and Harris as communists.”

Tech platforms, after belatedly and begrudgingly admitting their tools had been used to ill ends in 2016, have made reforms that make some of the old tactics obsolete. The Trump campaign’s 2016 use of Facebook to target Black voters with voting “deterrence” messages, recently confirmed by a Channel 4 investigation, is the kind of digital dirty trickery that should no longer be possible.

Such reforms may be one reason Trump has been so openly fanning the flames of political violence, whether through his debate message to the Proud Boys or his call for his supporters to become “poll watchers”, said Joan Donovan, research director at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.

“They’ve had to adapt to a more mass media strategy,” she said of the Trump campaign. “If you can’t utilize those other mechanisms, then you have to use the megaphone.”

Trump’s blatant racism and ugly attacks on Black women, including the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, and the congresswoman Ilhan Omar, could also have the effect of suppressing turnout among Black voters, Phillips said, simply by demoralizing people and inducing despair. “If certain people feel just crushed under the weight of so much bull****, [Trump] is going to be the one to benefit,” she said.

Controlling the narrative

Even as volunteers like Quach work to fight false narratives and voter confusion ahead of election day, however, experts warn that the greatest scope for disinformation may still be to come. The surge in mail-in ballots is likely to delay the final results, and Trump has repeatedly telegraphed his intention to declare premature victory – or dismiss the election as “rigged”.

“I think we’re going to look back at 2020 and realize that it’s all going to play out from 11.30pm on Tuesday,” said Wardle. “Misinformation flourishes when there’s a vacuum or confusion, and my fear is that there will be a lot of confusion and whoever succeeds in controlling the narrative will be very well placed.”

In 2000, Al Gore never fully recovered from television networks’ premature declaration that George W Bush had won Florida, Wardle noted. “That made all the difference,” she said.

“We know that Trump’s closest circle is ready to deploy. We know that the militias are ready to deploy. What we don’t know is if newsrooms are ready for the absence of information,” Wardle added.

“Every newsroom should be very, very careful about what they publish, because they are going to become tools in the fight, and it’s going to be nasty.”

Officials are warning about foreign interference – but unlike in 2016, the bigger threat comes from the White House...

Ladybbird · 03-11-20, 02:16

Judge Orders US Postal Service to Take Extraordinary Measures to Deliver Ballots on Time

Several battleground states are experiencing severe mail delays as the election looms

Judge rejects GOP effort to throw out 127,000 Houston, TEXAS votes;
Judge rejects Republican efforts to halt early vote counting in Las Vegas

North Carolina voting rights marchers pepper-sprayed; 93M have voted

The Guardian UK, 3 NOV 2020.

A federal judge ordered the US Postal Service on Sunday to take “extraordinary measures” to ensure mail ballots arrive on time.

USPS is seeing a severe dip in on-time delivery rates leading up to the 3 November presidential election, according to the data from the agency. Some of the largest mail delays are in battleground states where late ballots could make the difference in which candidate wins the state – and possibly the election.

The judge’s ruling involves USPS using its express mail service to deliver ballots within one to two days, which will be crucial in states that require that ballots be received by election day.

On-time rates during the week of 17 October – when about 20 million Americans were sending in their mail-in ballots – fell to the lowest they had been all year. Only 81% of first-class mail was delivered on time.

The mail delays have been especially notable in some key swing states. In the central Pennsylvania mailing district, where Philadelphia is located, on-time rates fell to 66% after being at about 90% just months earlier.

In 2016, Democrats won Philadelphia by nearly 750,000 votes, but Trump made up the deficit with big wins in the more rural counties to win Pennsylvania by just 44,000 votes.

In the Detroit mailing district, on-time rates for first-class mail fell to 63%. It was above 90% at the beginning of the year. Detroit and the surrounding suburbs are where Democrats accrued most of their margin in 2016, when Trump won the state by less than 11,000 votes.

In both states, a record number of people have already voted by mail. But there are still hundreds of thousands of ballots that were requested but have yet to be returned.

A mail delay could make the difference between whether a ballot is counted. For example, in Pennsylvania mail ballots must arrive by 6 November at 5pm.

The postal service has come under scrutiny after Donald Trump’s ally Louis DeJoy was appointed postmaster general in May. DeJoy implemented cost-cutting changes to make the postal service more efficient, but that caused on-time rates to plummet.

After complaints that USPS was purposely slowing down mail to help Trump’s re-election, Dejoy said he would suspend the changes until after the election. Soon thereafter, on-time rates rebounded – but they are now dropping again.

RELATED:
Judge rejects Republican efforts to halt early vote counting ...

Judge rejects Republican suit against 'drive-thru' voting

Ladybbird · 05-11-20, 12:25

Bitter Trump, a Liar and Cheat to The End as US Election Slips From His Grasp. Trump Sues as Biden Edges Closer

The US President falsely claimed he had won the election early on and alleged that Democrats were attempting to 'steal' the election - but did not offer proof because there isn't any

Joe Biden has inched to within six Electoral College votes of the 270 necessary to win the US presidential election. Now requires him to win all four of the battlegrounds of Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

BBC News / Daily Mirror UK, 5 NOV 2020

"REMEMBER REMEMBER THE 5th of November, GUNPOWDER, TREASON and PLOT"

Each candidate needs to win the 270 electoral college votes.

BIDEN- 253 TRUMP- 214

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is in pole position for the presidency (Image: Getty Images)

Maricopa Elections Office In Phoenix Closes Building Amid Pro-Trump Protest

With the race still poised on a knife-edge, officials in Maricopa County, Arizona, have been forced to close the state’s ballot-counting facility amid safety concerns for the media as 200 Trump supporters - many of them armed - have reportedly gathered outside the building. But poll workers will continue to count ballots and report results amid the developing demonstration outside.

Bitter Donald Trump threw an extraordinary tantrum as rival Joe Biden closed in on the White House.

The hysterical President tried to whip up fury with a lying rant on the postal vote system, which was giving his rival a late lead.

Mr Trump warned he would go to the Supreme Court in a bid to stop votes being counted after election day, despite the process being legal. He said: “This is a major fraud on our nation.”

As his grip on power appeared to be slipping, Mr Trump also falsely claimed he had won the election, despite results clearly showing Mr Biden edging it.

In a desperate bid to cling on to office while rival Joe Biden edged closer to the White House, the President launched a lying tirade and tried to subvert democracy by demanding postal votes stop coming in.

Trump also falsely claimed he had won the election early on, despite results showing Mr Biden slightly ahead of him. During a meltdown at his campaign HQ – and with no evidence of voter fraud – he said: “We did win this *election. Our goal now is to ensure the *integrity for the good of this nation.

“This is a very big moment. This is a major fraud on our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we’ll be going to the US Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop.”

No citizen was casting votes after the election, but postal ones still have to be counted – which is legal.

Mr Trump later tweeted: “Last night I was leading, often solidly, in many key states, in almost all instances *Democrat-run and controlled. Then, one by one, they started to *magically disappear as surprise ballot dumps were counted. VERY STRANGE.”

Twitter immediately branded the post “disputed and might be misleading”.

But the deluded *President added: “We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. They are finding Biden votes all over the place… in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and *Michigan.

He gets on the television and he says, ‘Thank you, Americans, for re-electing me. It’s all over. Have a good day.’

“But next day, and the day following, all of those mail-in ballots start getting counted, and it turns out that Biden was won those states, at which point Trump says, ‘See? I told you the whole thing was fraudulent. And we’re not going to leave office.’”

Even Trump’s allies were disgusted by his claim of victory and demands to stop counting.

And the Trump campaign tonight said it filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Michigan, laying the foundation to contest the results there.

The court action demands better access for campaign observers to *locations where ballots are being processed and counted.

Ladybbird · 05-11-20, 19:34

Trumps' Legal Fightback Begins - Trump Campaign on Offensive With Barrage of Lawsuits

Ballots found in bins. As many as 18 ballots being sent to people's homes. Dead people voting. Those are the allegations....

Americans take to the streets amid ongoing vote counts A night of unrest as both sides prepare to contest result of election...

The Telegraph UK, 6 NOV 2020.

BIDEN- 253 TRUMP- 214

Donald Trump white supremacist supporters protest the vote count in Nevada. Credit: AP

Trump campaign this afternoon as the president's team confirmed it is filing a lawsuit in Nevada, a state which could be the key to Joe Biden winning the US presidential election. Richard Grenell, a former director of the US National Intelligence, said: "We are filing this federal lawsuit to protect legal voters" as he claimed representatives of the Republican party "are not being allowed to check" the validity of the count.

It is one of a string of lawsuits being launched by the President's campaign team. Earlier Mr Biden declared it was "clear" he has won the election as projected victories in Michigan and Wisconsin pushed him within touching distance of the White House. Yet there are concerns the election limbo could lead to violence as thousands of people took to the streets across the US overnight.

The counting of mail-in ballots in Philadelphia in the crucial state of Pennsylvania has been temporarily halted, it has been reported, as Democrats ask the state's top court to reverse a lower court ruling on ballot count observers.

So how could Mr Trump win? After Mr Biden's victory in Michigan, the President's path to the White House has narrowed. Here is how he can still win. It is still possible that neither candidate secures 270 electoral college votes. This would be the legal process if that happened.

The president's legal action could leave the result hanging in the balance for a long period.

It took 36 days to settle the outcome of the 2000 election

'Stop The Count': Trump Supporters File Suit in Michigan to Stop Vote Counting...

Republican's have filed into a Detroit polling centre chanting, "Stop the count". It comes as Donald Trump's campaign has filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia to halt the counting of votes in these areas.

The new filings, joining existing Republican legal challenges in Pennsylvania and Nevada, demand better access for campaign observers to locations where ballots are being processed and counted, and absentee ballot concerns, the campaign said.

It lays the groundwork for contesting battleground states as he slipped behind Joe Biden.

AP called Michigan for Mr Biden on Wednesday. Nevada, Pennsylvania and Georgia are undecided.

The Trump campaign is also seeking to intervene in a Pennsylvania case at the Supreme Court that deals with whether ballots received up to three days after the election can be counted.

Mr Trump believes, without proof, that the US election is being stolen by the Democrats.

Ladybbird · 06-11-20, 02:47

TV Networks Cut Away From Trumps’ Speech. Trumps’ Lies About The Election Results Proved Too Much.

Federal Judge Denies Trump Motion to Stop Counting Votes in Philadelphia

A federal judge has denied the Trump campaign’s motion to stop ballot counting in Philadelphia.

This is the third campaign legal challenge to the vote count that has been dismissed.

The Guardian UK, 5 NOV 2020.

BIDEN- 264 TRUMP- 214

The president’s chances of winning re-election appear to be shrinking as states continue to count ballots. His increasingly desperate campaign has launched a series of lawsuits that are unlikely to have any bearing on the election results, but have served as a means to sow doubt in the legitimacy of the whole elections system.

Update on Steve Bannon, the former Trump advisor who called for violence against US officials:

A spokesperson for YouTube told the Guardian the video was removed for “violating our policy against inciting violence”, and that the account received a “strike”. (After three strikes, it would be terminated.)

Bannon is also banned from uploading new content for at least a week. Alex Joseph, the YouTube spokesperson, added, “We will continue to be vigilant as we enforce our policies in the post-election period.”

Twitter permanently suspended his account.

LIVE RESULTS on LINE from The Guardian UK

5mins ago; Pennsylvania race grows tighter

Donald Trump’s lead has shrunk to just over 26,000 votes.

As batches of mail-in ballots are being processed, Joe Biden has been winning between 60% and 80% of the votes. Democrats in the state were more likely to vote by mail, while Republicans tended to favor in-person voting. That’s why Trump initially appeared to have a huge lead in Pennsylvania – in-person votes were counted first.
Officials only began processing mail-in or absentee ballots on election day, and have been working to count all of those votes as fast as possible since then.

15mins ago; There are about 250,000 ballots left to count in Pennsylvania

Biden is trailing by just under 49,000 votes. He’s been winning the mail-in ballot counts by 10 to 15 points, and could very well take the state.

Pennsylvania backed Trump in the 2016 presidential election, but voted for the Democratic candidate in 2012, 2008, 2004 and 2000. Trump needs the state’s 20 electoral votes to win.

16 mins ago ; Georgia is a virtual tie

Trump is ahead by just 1,902 votes. The two candidates are tied at 49.4% each.

14 mins ago ; There are about 16,000 votes left to be counted in Georgia

Biden, who is trailing by just about 2,500 votes, has been winning huge shares of the mail-in ballots that officials are continuing to count. His chances of overtaking the president in the red state are looking increasingly possible.

25 mins ago ; Trump lead in Georgia and Pennsylvania shrinks

Joe Biden’s is trailing the president by just under 2,500 votes in Georgia, as election officials continue counting ballots. In Pennsylvania, Biden is trailing by 48,800 votes after officials released a new batch of ballot counts from Delaware county.

Biden has a good chance of winning both states, with uncounted ballots from liberal-leaning counties yet to be tabulated. Biden is now 6 electoral votes away from being declared the victor. Donald Trump’s path to victory is narrower - but still possible.

34 mins ago ; Biden's lead in Arizona shrinks further as Maricopa county releases more results

Joe Biden has maintained a lead in Arizona, but Donald Trump trails by just over 46,000 votes.

37 mins ago ; More results from Arizona are coming in, leaving Donald Trump trailing behind Joe Biden by just 56,833 votes.

VIDEO AIRED Before Some Networks CUT Away From TRUMP & His Lies;

Ladybbird · 06-11-20, 14:01

US Election 2020:

BIDEN- 264 TRUMP- 214

Biden Edges Ahead of Trump in Georgia as Pennsylvania Race Tightens

Biden takes lead in Pennsylvania and Georgia as he inches closer to beating Trump

Tally of mail ballots continues to skew heavily in Democrat’s favor as his lead in the national popular vote stretches to over 4m

Philadelphia election officials continue vote count as Trump tries to create chaos

While the president attempts to sow doubt about results, workers have been methodically counting the city’s 358,257 mail-in ballots

The Guardian UK, 6 NOV 2020.

Joe Biden, the US Democratic presidential challenger, has reached what appears to be a tipping point in the contest for the White House, taking the lead in Pennsylvania and Georgia as the tally of postal ballots continued to skew heavily in the Democrat’s favour.

With a Biden victory looking assured, CNN reported that a “national defence airspace” would be established above the Democratic candidate’s house in Wilmington, Delaware, meaning he would begin to receive the protection of the US military, the first trappings of the presidency.

But a smooth transfer of power still looked far from certain. Donald Trump and a handful of loyalists continued to allege election fraud, without any evidence. Biden was reported to be seeking to rally prominent figures from both parties to endorse the legitimacy of the election, at a nervous moment for US democracy.

After whittling down a substantial lead for Donald Trump in Pennsylvania on election night, Biden’s vote count passed the president just before 9am, building up a narrow edge of 5,587. Many of the roughly 130,000 votes yet to be counted in the state are in Democratic areas, and Democrats make up a disproportional share of postal ballots.

Winning Pennsylvania would also win the presidency, no matter what happens in the other states remaining undecided, but Biden also had the advantage there.

In the early hours of Friday morning in the US, Biden had moved to a 1,096-vote advantage in Georgia with thousands of ballots still left to be counted – many in counties where the former vice-president was in the lead.

The Georgia secretary of state reported late on Thursday there were about 10,000 ballots still to be counted in the state, a must-win for Trump in order to keep any chances of re-election alive in the race for the 270 electoral college votes that will determine the presidency.

Biden’s lead over Trump in the nationwide popular vote stretched to over 4m, as he amassed a record 73.7m, but the president’s tally of 69.7m was the second highest in US political history – reflecting the fact that while Trump seemed doomed to defeat, Trumpism will remain very much a force.

As Biden closed in on victory on Thursday night, he urged calm after an inflammatory and falsehood-filled Trump address from the White House where the president once again claimed he had won.

The latest voting figures accelerated increasingly frantic efforts by Trump and his campaign to undermine confidence in the election, threatening a rash of litigation amid unfounded claims of election rigging.

Donald Trump has again claimed he is being defrauded in a rigged US election in a speech so dishonest that multiple TV networks cut away mid-stream.

His surrogates, including his sons Eric and Don Jr and personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, have been spreading similar misinformation on social media.

All eyes are now on Pennsylvania, the battleground state most likely to declare a result next.

With ballot counting still ongoing in a handful of battleground states, federal and state officials have not reported any instances of widespread voter fraud.

Judges in two closely contested states — Michigan and Georgia — have already dismissed lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign.

The campaign said it had also launched a lawsuit against the Philadelphia board of electors, seeking an injunction to bar ballot counting unless Republican observers are present.

Trump’s baseless claims of electoral fraud have spurred continued protests outside counting centres in key states like Pennsylvania and Arizona.

In Philadelphia, police have uncovered a plot to attack a building where ballots were being counted.

Why are the media reporting different US election results?

Ladybbird · 06-11-20, 18:30

US Election 2020:

BIDEN- 264 TRUMP- 214

Joe Biden Has Taken The Lead in Both Pennsylvania and Georgia

Winning Pennsylvania would push Mr Biden beyond the 270 electoral votes needed in the race for the White House.

AP, 6 Nov 2020

A declaration seems to be imminent. Democratic nominee Joe Biden has taken the lead in both Pennsylvania and Georgia, two key states vital in the final push to win the US presidential election.

But, the race is by no means over: votes still need to be counted in both states, and the advantages in Pennsylvania and Georgia are both razor thin.

Democrat Joe Biden has overtaken Trump's lead in the two battleground states Pennsylvania and Georgia, inching him closer to a possible victory.

Angry protests have been reported at vote counting centers elsewhere.

With Joe Biden urging patience as the last votes are counted, President Trump has again gone on the attack. In his first appearance since election night, Trump made a series of unsubstantiated claims that he's being robbed of a second term.

State election officials insist there's no evidence of any wrongdoing.

Ladybbird · 06-11-20, 23:22

US Election 2020:

BIDEN- 264 TRUMP- 214

Georgia Announces Recount After Presidential Race Too Close to Call

The Guardian UK, 6 NOV 2020.

Election officials in Georgia announced a recount on Friday after the presidential race was deemed “too close to call” in that state.

Joe Biden overtook Donald Trump in Georgia, historically a Republican stronghold, at around 4.30am ET to secure a lead of 1,579 votes.

Related: What's happening in Pennsylvania? The state that may be about to tip the US election

Trump and Biden were locked in a tight contest on Friday, with the Democrat edging ahead, to get the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. For Trump, Georgia is a state he must win.

But with such a razor-thin margin, Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, said ballots will undergo a recount.

“Right now, Georgia remains too close to call. Of approximately 5m votes cast, we’ll have a margin of a few thousand,” he said in a press conference. He added: “With a margin that small, there will be a recount in Georgia.”

If Biden goes on to win Georgia, it would mark a major victory for the Democrats – and a huge upset for the Republicans – in a state that has been reliably Republican for decades.

The last time a Democratic presidential nominee won in the state was Bill Clinton in 1992. In 2016, Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Georgia by five percentage points.

Raffensperger acknowledged that Georgia’s result has “huge implications for the entire country” and officials said the unofficial tally could be completed by the end of the weekend.

He added: “The stakes are high and emotions are high on all sides. We will not let those debates distract us from our work. We will get it right, and we will defend the integrity of our elections.”

Georgia does not run automatic recounts, but candidates can request them if the margin is within 0.5%.

The announcement of a recount came after a judge dismissed a lawsuit from the Trump campaign over the state’s handling of absentee ballots in Chatham county.

The Trump campaign has launched a swath of legal cases across the country, which are largely intended as a distraction and are founded on weak legal arguments, experts say.

Related: Trump's lawsuits are diversionary tactic with little legal basis, experts say

Ladybbird · 07-11-20, 12:57

US Election 2020:

BIDEN- 264 TRUMP- 214

Rupert Murdoch-Owned US Outlets Turn on Trump, Urging Him to Act With Grace

Fox News, Wall Street Journal and New York Post all show stark change of tone as their former champion faces ‘presidential endgame’

The Telegraph UK / The Guardian UK, 7 NOV 2020.

Multiple Rupert Murdoch-owned conservative media outlets in the United States have shifted their messaging in a seeming effort to warn readers and viewers that Donald Trump may well have lost the presidential election.

The new messaging appears to be closely coordinated, and it includes an appeal to Trump to preserve his “legacy” by showing grace in defeat. The message is being carried on Fox News and in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post – all outlets avidly consumed by Trump himself, especially Fox.

One Fox News host, Laura Ingraham, an intimate of the president ever since she spoke at the 2016 Republican national convention, made an astounding statement that seemed directed at Trump personally, advising him to accept defeat “if and when that does happen” with “grace and composure” and appealing to his sense of his own legacy.

Ingraham said in part: “If and when it’s time to accept an unfavourable outcome in this election, and we hope it never comes, but if and when that does happen, president Trump needs to do it with the same grace and composure he demonstrated at that town hall with Savannah Guthrie. So many people remarked about his tone and presence. Exactly what he needs

The Wall Street Journal has published an opinion piece with almost the exact same message. It is titled “The Presidential Endgame” and subtitled “Trump has the right to fight in court, but he needs evidence to prove voter fraud”.

“Mr Trump’s legacy will be diminished greatly if his final act is a bitter refusal to accept a legitimate defeat,” the piece warns.

Here is how the article opened: “Perhaps it was inevitable that Donald Trump’s re-election campaign would end as his presidency began: with the president claiming victory and his frenzied antagonists denouncing him as a would-be fascist. The reality is that the US can and probably will have a normal election outcome regardless of the shouting between now and then.

“Mr Biden is leading in enough states to win the presidency, and if those votes survive recounts and legal challenges, he will be the next president.”

Top editors at the New York Post – which before the election was the launch vehicle for wild and desperate attacks on Joe Biden’s son Hunter – have “told some staff members this week to be tougher in their coverage” of Trump, the New York Times reported, citing two anonymous employees of the paper.

The Times piece said: “On Thursday, in a sudden about-face, Rupert Murdoch’s scrappy tabloid published two articles with a wildly different tone. One accused the president of making an ‘unfounded claim that political foes were trying to steal the election’. The headline on the other described Donald Trump Jr as the ‘panic-stricken’ author of a ‘clueless tweet’.”

News coverage at Fox News has similarly shown little patience with the lies about voter fraud Trump is advancing in hopes of reversing the election.

Asked about the Trump campaign’s assertion that Republican observers had not been allowed to observe vote-counting, the Fox correspondent states flatly: “That’s not true. It’s not true. It’s just not true.”

Ladybbird · 07-11-20, 13:22

US Election 2020:
BIDEN- 264 TRUMP- 214

What's Happening With Lawsuits, Postal Votes and Recounts in The US Election?

Five swing states face lawsuits from Donald Trump, who claims fraudulent votes have been counted in multiple counties

The Telegraph UK, 7 NOV 2020.

Donald Trump has launched legal challenges in five key US states, alleging that election officials are counting fraudulent votes. As a result, the winner of the election could be unclear for weeks, and the damage to public confidence in the democratic process could last much longer.

Which states are facing voting challenges?

Michigan

The Trump campaign filed a lawsuit seeking to halt voting in Michigan on Wednesday, November 4th, claiming that Republicans were not allowed to observe counts 'meaningfully' in several locations

A state court judge dismissed it.

Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens made the ruling during a court hearing on Thursday. She said she planned to issue a written ruling this Friday, November 6th.

She also said the defendant, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, was the wrong person to be suing because she doesn't control the logistics of local ballot counting, even if she is the state's chief election officer. The lawsuit claimed Ms Benson, a Democrat, was allowing absentee ballots to be counted without teams of bipartisan observers as well as challengers. She was accused of undermining the "constitutional right of all Michigan voters ... to participate in fair and lawful elections."

The state was key to Donald Trump's victory in 2016, when he flipped it from the Democrats by less than 11,000 votes, but this year Joe Biden has won its 16 electoral votes with 99 per cent of the votes counted.

Georgia

Joe Biden has taken a slim lead in the key state of Georgia as of Friday night (GMT).

Votes are still being counted in the state, meaning the race could continue to be exceptionally close - Mr Biden's lead was just over 4,000 votes.

As things stand, Mr Biden has 49.4 per cent (2,456,845 votes), while Donald Trump has 49.3 per cent (2,452,825 votes).

Georgia is a vital state for the president, who needs to win more of the remaining states than Mr Biden in order to grab the presidency.

If Joe Biden wins Georgia, he will have 269 of the electoral votes - a razor thin margin.

The Georgia Republican Party and President Trump have asked a judge to secure and account for all late ballots.

A Republican poll watcher claimed that election officials in Chatham County, Georgia, added 53 mail-in ballots which arrived late to a pile of lawfully collected votes. Mail-in ballots are expected to lean toward the Democrats.

A judge dismissed the lawsuit, however, Chatham County Superior Court Judge James Bass did not provide an explanation for his decision Thursday, November 5th, at the close of a roughly one-hour hearing.

The county includes the heavily Democratic city of Savannah.

Georgia state officials have indicated that a recount is likely due to the narrow margin between Mr Trump and Mr Biden.

A recount can be requested by a candidate if the margin is under 0.5 percent of votes cast according to Georgia state law.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said: "“Right now Georgia remains too close to call. Out of approximately 5 million votes cast we’ll have a margin of a few thousand. With a margin that small, there will be a recount in Georgia.”

A formal recount will be likely to take place in late November.

Wisconsin

Mr Trump's reelection campaign is seeking a recount in Wisconsin after Mr Biden won by less than 0.7 per cent of the vote. Under state law, a recount may be requested if the margin of defeat is less than one per cent.

The Trump campaign also claimed there were 'irregularities' in vote counting, but did not expand on what those might be.

Nevada

With Joe Biden leading, Republicans have hurled multiple lawsuits at Nevada. The Trump Campaign announced it would sue the state to stop counting after they claimed ballots have been cast by non-residents and on behalf of the deceased.

A request by the campaign to halt counting in Clark County, Nevada, which usually leans towards the Democrats, was rejected by the state Supreme Court on Tuesday.

The latest batch of votes were released on Friday night (GMT). With an estimated 87 per cent of the votes counted, Joe Biden is leading Donald Trump by more than 22,600 votes.

Pennsylvania

Multiple legal challenges have been filed by Donald Trump in Pennsylvania. Notably, they have become involved in a Supreme Court case which challenges a state law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted until this Friday, November 6.

The president won a different lawsuit in the state on Thursday 5th, which means observers can stand six feet from count officials.

As of Friday night (GMT) Mr Biden has extended his lead in Pennsylvania by 49.6 per cent, to Mr Trump’s 49.3 per cent, with an estimated 98 per cent of votes counted. Officials have said they expect most votes to be calculated within hours.

What has caused the confusion?

There are different voting and counting rules in different states. Recount margins vary and in some states, like Pennsylvania, voter ID is required for first-time mail-in and absentee votes.

In 21 states, like Nevada, mail-in ballots can be received after election day, but in others they cannot

Difficulties with administration - absentee ballots need to be checked against the rolls, and this slows up counts in some neck-and-neck states

More people have voted by post due to the coronavirus pandemic, creating counting delays

In most states, postal votes have favoured Joe Biden more than votes cast on election day. This is possibly due to the two candidates different messages on coronavirus, but the Trump campaign has been alleging these votes are fraudulent for several weeks

Big-city counts take longer. And urban areas generally vote Democrat

When will the election result be final?

All disputes must be settled by December 8. On December 14, electors will formally cast their votes in the Electoral College.

Ladybbird · 08-11-20, 11:53

US Election 2020:

BIDEN- 29O TRUMP- 214

Joe Biden Wins US Presidential Election and Says 'It's Time To Heal'

Democratic supporters celebrate - but bitter Trump warns the election is 'far from over' and shows no sign of conceding as Joe Biden declared winner

In a statement, Trump vowed he 'will not rest' until there was an 'honest vote count'...Trump refuses to concede defeat as recriminations begin. Jared Kushner has approached Trump about conceding the election

The Telegraph UK, 8 NOV 2020

Joe Biden was declared the winner of the US presidential election on Saturday, confining Donald Trump to only a single term and bringing to a close four tumultuous years in the White House....

President-elect Joe Biden addressed supporters in his home state of Delaware on Saturday in his first speech since winning the US presidential election 2020.

He pledged to bring the nation together saying now is the time for "healing".

Joe Biden has said he is “honoured and humbled” after winning the US Presidential election. He crossed the threshold of 270 Electoral College votes needed by winning the states of Pennsylvania and Nevada.

In a statement the President-Elect said: “In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted. Proving once again, that democracy beats deep in the heart of America. It’s time for America to unite. And to heal.”

The election has seen the highest turnout since 1900. Mr Biden has won more than 73 million votes, the most ever recorded for a US presidential candidate.

The result denies Donald Trump a second term after a divisive presidency defined by the coronavirus pandemic, bitter culture wars and social unrest.

There’s been a lot of congratulations from world leaders sent to president-elect Joe Biden, not all quite as barbed as those from Iran.

Reuters report Iranian state media quoting president Hassan Rouhani saying that the next US administration should use the opportunity to compensate for president Donald Trump’s mistakes.

“Trump’s damaging policy has been opposed...by the American people. The next US administration should use the opportunity to make up for past mistakes...Iran favours constructive interaction with the world,” Rouhani said.

CNN's Van Jones brought to tears as Joe Biden wins US election

Trump's Remaining Days in White House Could 'Sabotage' Biden's Victory | 60 Minutes Australia

Ladybbird · 09-11-20, 11:02

George W Bush Congratulated Joe Biden on His Victory and Said The Election was Fundamentally Fair

'Wounded animal' Donald Trump More Dangerous Than Ever in His Final Days of Power

The sitting president may have lost the election to Joe Biden but don't expect him to go quietly, or concede or act like any other person would in his final two months

'Biden Bounce' Sees Japan Shares Hit 29-Year High as Stock Markets Soar After Biden Wins

The Telegraph UK, 9 NOV 2020.

Shares in Japan hit a near 30-year high on Monday, the first day of trading following news that Joe Biden had won the US presidential election.

Japan's main share index - the Nikkei 225 - closed up 2.1% at a level not seen since 1991.

Stock markets across Asia also saw healthy gains with a positive sentiment in Australia, China and Hong Kong.

What is Trumps' Next Move?

He is under mounting pressure to concede the US presidential race as George W Bush congratulated Joe Biden on his victory and said the election was "fundamentally fair". The former president became the most prominent Republican to draw a line under the election. With the Trump campaign escalating calls for donations to fight legal challenges,

First Lady Melania Trump was reportedly privately urging her husband to concede. US Editor Ben Riley-Smith reports on a confused picture from the White House. This is what happens if Mr Trump refuses to concede the presidency. Before the 2016 election, Mr Trump boasted he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and people would still vote for him.

Experts believe the courts may not be so forgiving now. Mr Trump faces a blizzard of lawsuits and the potential threat of jail after office.

By now, Donald Trump’s presidency should be dead in the water – but tonight political experts warned the lame duck leader could cause chaos during his last 73 days in power.

His defeat – the first of an incumbent president in four decades – will have left the ultimate sore loser spitting feathers.

And critics fear that could make egotistical Trump more “dangerous” than ever.

They warn he will be hellbent on wreaking as much havoc as possible before he leaves the White House on January 20, packing courts and government posts with his preferred people and blocking Biden appointments.

Political pundit Tori Malvern told the Sunday Mirror: “Like a wounded animal, Trump is more dangerous today than he ever was while comfortably sitting in the Oval Office.

“He will remain a hero among millions of the Republican electorate and any resistance to his plans will be fiercely met by his loyalists.”

Today Trump continued to discredit his own country’s election process.

He made it clear he will not respect the counts or concede to Joe Biden.

Donald Trump met with 'orange crushed' sign at golf club as Biden family attend church

While the rest of the world congratulated the new President-Elect, Trump played golf in Virginia and was still insisting: “This election is far from over.”

And his official statement left no one in doubt that he plans to launch lawsuit after lawsuit to get his own way.

Trump faces a battery of legal cases on leaving office. Biggest threat to president is tax investigation in New York

Donald Trump is Booed & Greeted With Middle Finger as He Returns From Golfing
Internet says 'pack your bags'as He Returns to White House...

Ladybbird · 09-11-20, 11:35

US President-Elect Biden Pushes Forward With Plans For Office

Joe Biden plans flurry of executive orders to reverse Trump policies on first day in office

Joe Biden’s early months in power will be spent unpicking and reversing Donald Trump's policies

He is to make tackling the coronavirus pandemic his top priority following his win over Donald Trump, his team says.

BBC, 9 NOV 2020.

Joe Biden is set to sweep away some of Donald Trump’s most controversial policies on his first day as US president on January 20, using the powers of the Oval Office to remove key planks of his predecessor's agenda....

Announcing the first steps in his transition plan, his team said there would be more testing and Americans would be asked to wear masks.

On Monday, Mr Biden is expected to name a 12-member coronavirus task force.

His win remains a projection as key states still count votes. Mr Trump does not plan to concede, his campaign says.

Mr Trump is launching legal challenges to the results in several key states.

He has made unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud, but election officials say there is no evidence that the vote was rigged against him.

Mr Biden is forging ahead with his plans for assuming power in January after major US networks called the election in his favour on Saturday.

That reportedly also includes a slew of executive orders - written orders issued by the president to the federal government that do not require congressional approval - aimed at reversing controversial Trump policies. According to US media:

Mr Biden will rejoin the Paris climate agreement, which the US officially left on Wednesday

He will reverse the decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization

He will end the travel ban on citizens from seven mostly Muslim countries

He will reinstate an Obama-era policy of granting immigration status to undocumented migrants who entered the US as children

In his first speech as president-elect on Saturday, Mr Biden said it was "time to heal" the US and vowed "not to divide but to unify" the country. Addressing Trump supporters directly, he said: "We have to stop treating our opponents as enemies."

He and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris have launched a website for the transition, saying the team will also focus on the economy, tackling racism and climate change.

The projected election result means Mr Trump becomes the first one-term president since the 1990s.

Meanwhile, the General Services Administration, a government agency tasked with recognising the president-elect and beginning the transition process, has so far not done so.

Its administrator Emily Murphy, who was appointed by Mr Trump, has given no indication when this could happen. Until then, Mr Biden's transition team cannot access government funds or communicate with the federal agencies it will be staffing.

Media reports suggested senior Republicans remained divided over how to react to Mr Biden's victory, with some refusing to publicly acknowledge the result of the ballot.

The Republican leader in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, told Fox News that all recounts and legal challenges should be completed, adding: "Then and only then, America will decide who won the race."

But former Republican President George W Bush congratulated Mr Biden on his victory, saying the American people could have confidence that the election had been fundamentally fair and that its outcome was clear. He also congratulated Mr Trump on a hard-fought campaign.

What's Joe Biden's Pandemic Plan?

The president-elect is vowing a major shift in the way the White House approaches coronavirus after Mr Trump repeatedly downplayed its gravity and resisted public health measures including wearing masks and social distancing.

The Biden team has said it will ensure all Americans had access to regular and free testing and provide "clear, consistent, evidence-based guidance". The task force will be led by former surgeon-general Vivek Murthy and a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, David Kessler.

Mr Biden also wants rules mandating the wearing of masks across the country, which he says would save thousands of lives. He plans to call on every American to wear a mask when they are around people outside their own household and wants state governors and local authorities to make this obligatory.

The president-elect has regularly appeared in public wearing a mask while Mr Trump has largely avoided doing so.

US cases rose by more than 100,000 on Sunday for the fifth day in a row while more than 237,000 people have died. Earlier this month top US virus expert Dr Anthony Fauci said the US "could not possibly be positioned more poorly" as the country approached winter and people spent more time congregating indoors.

Mr Biden also announced plans to reboot the virus-hit US economy, which has seen millions more people become unemployed, by boosting manufacturing, investing in infrastructure, making childcare more affordable and reducing the wealth gap between different ethnic groups.

How Will He Tackle 'Systemic Racism'?

In another break with the Trump era - which saw Mr Trump accused of stoking of racial tensions and failing to condemn white supremacist groups - Mr Biden aims to make addressing racism a central pillar of his administration.

He wants measures including better access to affordable housing for black and minority communities, fair treatment and pay for workers and enabling the Federal Reserve - the US central bank, which sets monetary policy - to do more to reduce racial wealth disparities.

Mr Biden also wants to transform US policing by banning the use of chokeholds that have been involved in high-profile deaths at the hands of police, stopping the transfer of "weapons of war" to police forces and creating a national police oversight commission.

He further plans to reduce the US prison population, which at more than two million people is the biggest in the world and includes a disproportionate number of black and minority inmates, and focus more on "redemption and rehabilitation".

"Our criminal justice system cannot be just unless we root out the racial, gender, and income-based disparities in the system," his plan says.

The US has been roiled by protests against police brutality in the run-up to the election. Footage of the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis in May sparked outrage around the world, and exit poll showed that racial inequality was the second-biggest factor determining how people voted after the economy.

What are Mr Trump's Plans?

President Trump will hold a series of campaign-style rallies across the country to build support for the legal fights challenging the outcome, campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

The BBC projected Mr Biden's victory on Saturday after gains in the key battlegrounds of Pennsylvania and Nevada propelled him over the 270 electoral college vote threshold required to clinch the White House.

Mr Trump has not spoken in public since the numbers were announced, but he has repeated previous claims of voter fraud in tweets, which have been marked by Twitter as a "disputed" claim.

The president played golf at the Trump National Golf course in Virginia on Sunday but did not talk to reporters

After Mr Biden was projected to win Mr Trump remained defiant, saying Mr Biden was "falsely posing as the winner" and insisting the election was "far from over". The president took more than 70 million votes, the second-highest tally in history.

Mr Trump has vowed to contest the election results on several fronts. A recount will be held in Georgia - where the margins are tight - and Mr Trump wants the same in Wisconsin, but recounts rarely change results.

He has also vowed to take legal action to the Supreme Court, alleging voting fraud without evidence.

If the election result is challenged, it would require legal teams to challenge this in the state courts. State judges would then need to uphold the challenge and order a recount, and Supreme Court justices could then be asked to overturn a ruling.

The Trump campaign has filed a lawsuit over ballots cast on election day in Arizona that it claims were incorrectly rejected. Arizona's secretary of state, however, said in a statement that the case was "grasping at straws".

What Happens Next?

Votes in some states are continuing to be counted and results are never official until final certification, which occurs in each state in the weeks following the election.

This must be done before 538 chosen officials (electors) from the Electoral College - which officially decides who wins the election - meet in their state capitals to vote on 14 December.

The electors' votes usually mirror the popular vote in each state. However, in some states this is not a formal requirement.

The new president is officially sworn into office on 20 January after a transition period to give them time to appoint cabinet ministers and make plans.

The handover of power takes place at a ceremony known as the inauguration, which is held on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington DC.

MORE; Surge in youth voter turnout may have helped propel Biden to victory

Ladybbird · 13-11-20, 15:12

Joe Biden Ignores Trump Obstruction to Press Ahead With Cabinet Selection

Homeland Security experts find no fraud as Trump digs in. - Election ‘most secure in American history'

The president-elect is likely to value Washington experience but must balance the wings of his party and a possibly hostile Senate

The Guardian UK, 13 NOV 2020.

A coalition of federal and state officials have said they have not seen any evidence of voter fraud in the presidential election. A statement issued from cybersecurity experts said the election was in fact the “most secure in American history”, because of the reviewing and double-checking processes currently taking place across the US.

“While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too,” the statement said.

But with just six in 10 Republicans believing that Biden won the election, Trump’s claims appear to be cutting through to voters, and experts warn that his continuing allegations threaten to undermine Americans’ trust in voting and pose a national security threat.

Despite this, Biden has continued to press ahead with preparations for his presidency, including selecting his cabinet. Here, the president-elect has the opportunity to set the political direction for his administration – and to send a clear message to Trump that he will be moving to the White House in January.

President-elect Joe Biden’s team is pressing forward with preparations to take over the federal government when his term starts despite virtually no help from Donald Trump’s outgoing administration.

Biden faces choices that will either please or anger the bickering wings of his party as leftists and centrists vie to set the direction of the incoming Democratic administration. The process also sends a clear message to the Republican party and Trump: Biden won and will be sitting in the White House come January.

“The truth is the Trump administration can file whatever it wants to the federal register, can do whatever executive orders it wants until noon on January 20th, and at that moment they can no longer do it and the Biden people get to stop whatever they had in the pipeline and put whatever they want in their own pipeline,” said Tevi Troy, who helped run the transition to the second Bush-Cheney term in 2004. Troy also authored Fight House: Rivalries in the White House from Truman to Trump.

The Biden team, Troy added, “know the things they want to stop from happening and they’re just going to go do it”.

Senior Republicans are Starting to Defy Trump

The longest-serving Republican in the Senate, Iowa’s Chuck Grassley, has joined calls for Biden to receive the daily intelligence briefings that would normally be given to presidents-elect. So far, Trump has denied Biden access to the briefings because he does not acknowledge his victory.

His comments came after the Republican governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, said that Biden’s victory should be accepted. Even staunch Trump ally, senator Lindsey Graham, who has publicly stated that the president should not concede the election, said Biden should be invited to the briefings. This marks a significant blow to Trump

The Trump-Fox News love affair is over

Trump launched a Twitter tirade against Fox News on Thursday, accusing them of forgetting “what made them successful”. Fox, which has long been supportive of Trump, was one of the first to call the election for Biden and has since told its viewers that Trump’s claims about the election are unsubstantiated.

China Congratulates Joe Biden on Election Victory

Ladybbird · 13-11-20, 23:48

BREAKING:
Trump Says 'Time Will Tell' Who'll Be In Charge in January

•13 Nov 2020 Sky News

Donald Trump has again called into question the US election result, saying;

'time will tell who'll be in the White House in January'.

This was the first time the president has spoken in public since Joe Biden won the US election - a result Trump disputes.

Biden Becomes First Democrat in 28 Years to Win Georgia...

North Carolina Sticks With Donald Trump

With NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and others finally calling Georgia for the President-elect, Biden is the first Democrat to win the state since 1992. While Georgia is going to a hand recount, the Associated Press has not called the home of the late John Lewis and the pivotal Stacey Abrams, but this is already a big win for the Democrats.

Ahead of Donald Trump, who still refuses to concede, by just over 14,000 votes in Georgia and with counties beginning to certify their ballots, Biden’s electoral college victory is now at a near TKO 306.

Also today, Trump has been awarded North Carolina with a lead of 73,000 votes. That brings the outgoing incumbent’s electoral college tally to 232 – far short of the 270 needed to win.

Ladybbird · 18-11-20, 02:27

TRUMPS' Dangerous Threat to Iran > They Warn of ‘Crushing Response’ if Trump Targets Nuclear Sites

Outgoing president reported to have looked at military options against Tehran and its allies

TRUMPS' Last Stand -Pennsylvania Court Deals Trump Campaign Yet Another Defeat in Bid to Block Biden Win

Court rules officials did not improperly block Trump’s campaign from observing counting of mail-in ballots

AP/ The Guardian UK, 17 NOV 20... Patrick Wintour, Diplomatic editor, The Guardian

Iran has warned of a strong response if Donald Trump goes ahead with plans to use the twilight of his presidency to mount a strike on Iran or its allies in the region.

It was reported that Trump last week looked at options for striking Iran’s main nuclear site, but was dissuaded from taking action after his advisers warned it might lead to a larger conflict in the Middle East. The report was sourced to four US officials by the New York Times.

Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei warned against such an attack. “Any action against the Iranian nation would certainly face a crushing response,” he said in remarks streamed on a government website.

Trump is frustrated that his policy of maximum sanctions has not forced Iran back to the negotiating table and has not ruled out other military action against Iranian surrogate forces in the Middle East ahead of his first term ending in January.

He has yet to concede defeat to Joe Biden, but appears to be looking for foreign policy legacy, including the further withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and Iraq

US officials told Trump last week that inspectors from a UN nuclear watchdog had reported on Wednesday that Iran’s stockpile of nuclear material increased significantly, and that Iran had barred their access to another site where there is evidence of prior nuclear activity.

Iranians are also monitoring sudden personnel changes inside the Pentagon, including Trump’s removal of the defence secretary, Mark Esper, and the recruitment of a group of hardliners. Little official explanation has been given for the reshuffle, leaving Iranian officials on guard for a military confrontation.

Aides present at the meeting included the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, the acting defence secretary, and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.

Officials said Trump had been dissuaded from striking the nuclear facility, but the possibility remains of targeting Iranian assets and allies outside of Iran, such as Iranian-aligned militias operating in Iraq. A day before the White House meeting, the report says, a small group of national security advisers met to discuss the issue.

Pompeo is on a tour of the Middle East, including stops in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, three countries fiercely opposed to Iran. Pompeo also met with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on Monday.

The three main European powers – the UK, France and Germany – would be fiercely opposed to any military strike and favour the reopening of US talks with Iran. The EU has already said it will support a EU-Iran business conference if sanctions are lifted by the US.

It will take many years of any future President to undo the many insults/ offensive remarks Trump has done to many leaders of many countries to bring back the respect that America once had in the world

Trump lacks empathy, understanding, knowledge and respect for anyone......

& HIS Mental instability & BITTERNESS grows stronger..

READ MORE:
Trump Fires Top Election Security Official Who Debunked

Ladybbird · 24-11-20, 15:23

TRUMP Accepts US Presidency Transition to Biden Must Begin

President says he will continue to fight results as General Services Administration clears way for handover

BBC •24 Nov 2020

Joe Biden has been elected America's 46th president

The General Services Administration has declared president-elect Joe Biden the apparent winner of the US election, clearing the way for the formal transition from Donald Trump’s administration to begin after weeks of delay.

The GSA said on Monday that it had determined that Biden was the winner of the 3 November race after weeks of Trump refusing to concede and violating the traditions of the transition of power at the White House.

Trump said on Twitter he had directed his team to cooperate on the transition, but vowed to continue fighting the election results, despite the lack of evidence of widespread voter fraud. Hours later, he said: “Will never concede to fake ballots & ‘Dominion’.”

Michigan certified Biden's victory despite Trump's efforts to undermine it

Emily Murphy, who heads the GSA, said she made the determination based on “the law” and “facts.”

“Please know that I came to my decision independently, based on the law and available facts. I was never directly or indirectly pressured by any executive branch official including those who work at the White House or GSA with regard to the substance or timing of my decision,” Murphy wrote in a letter to Biden.

Murphy had faced growing pressure from Democrats and some Republicans to allow the transition to begin, as Trump’s efforts to challenge the results in numerous battleground states failed.

A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Saturday tossed a Trump campaign lawsuit that sought to prevent certification in that state. And on Monday, Michigan certified Biden’s victory, despite an unprecedented push by the president last week to undermine that move to allow for an audit of ballots in Wayne county, where Biden won by more than 330,000 votes.

GSA certification is a process that in typical election years occurs without fanfare or discussion shortly after the race is called by major news outlets.

Murphy’s refusal to declare Biden the winner weeks after the election prevented the transition team of Biden and Vice president-elect Kamala Harris from accessing federal funding and meeting with government officials to prepare for inauguration on 20 January.

The delay was particularly concerning given the urgent and unprecedented tasks facing the federal government amid a significantly worsening pandemic and economic crisis. The US must also begin work to prepare a national rollout of Covid-19 vaccines. There were also major concerns about the potential national security implications of a delayed transition, which blocked Biden from accessing classified briefings.

After Murphy’s letter was made public, Trump tweeted,

“We will keep up the good fight and I believe we will prevail! Nevertheless, in the best interest of our country, I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and have told my team to do the same.”

The Trump legal team dismissed the certification as “simply a procedural step” and insisted it would fight on.

Yohannes Abraham, executive director of the Biden transition, said in a statement Monday that the move by the GSA “is a needed step to begin tackling the challenges facing our nation, including getting the pandemic under control and our economy back on track”.

He added: “In the days ahead, transition officials will begin meeting with federal officials to discuss the pandemic response, have a full accounting of our national security interests, and gain complete understanding of the Trump administration’s efforts to hollow out government agencies.”

With GSA permitting the formal transition to start, more Republicans started to acknowledge the reality that Biden is president-elect.

“President Trump’s legal team has not presented evidence of the massive fraud which would have had to be present to overturn the election,” said Bill Cassidy, a Republican senator from Louisiana. “I voted for President Trump but Joe Biden won.”

A majority of GOP senators have refused to recognize Biden’s win, arguing that Trump should be allowed to pursue his cases in court, despite the lack of evidence of any widespread fraud that would change the outcome of the race. Since the Associated Press and other news organizations across the country declared Biden the winner on 7 November, five days after polls closed, Trump and his allies have continued to spread misinformation and baseless conspiracy theories, seeking to undermine the legitimacy of mail-in voting and falsely asserting that the election was “stolen”.

Audits, recounts and the Trump campaign’s court cases, however, have resulted in no meaningful changes to the election results, and in some cases, Biden’s lead has only increased. Judges repeatedly threw out the Trump campaign team’s cases.

But the false accusations of fraud did lead some election officials to seek to delay certification of the vote. The city commissioner’s office in Philadelphia, where counting took days, reported facing death threats, and Trump supporters have staged protests outside election offices across the US.

Murphy’s letter came on the same day that Biden announced his selection for several key cabinet roles. The president-elect said he would be nominating Tony Blinken as secretary of state, Jake Sullivan as national security adviser and John Kerry as “climate tsar”, suggesting a return to the priorities of the Obama era.

Biden also selected Alejandro Mayorkas for homeland security secretary. If he is confirmed, he would be the first Latino and migrant to have the position. He has further chosen Avril Haines to be the first female director of national intelligence and Janet Yellen to be the country’s first female treasury secretary.

Ladybbird · 25-11-20, 14:12

Trump Plans to Pardon Michael Flynn, Former National Security Adviser

Flynn will be among a series of pardons before Trump leaves office, according to multiple reports

The Guardian UK, 25 NOV 2020.

Donald Trump plans to pardon his disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn before he leaves office, according to multiple media reports.

Flynn will be among a series of pardons that Trump plans to grant before his term in office ends, multiple sources were reported as saying by Axios and the New York Times.

Flynn admitted lying to the FBI about his contact with the former Russian ambassador to the US, and became a cooperating witness in Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign’s links with Moscow.

Flynn was the only White House official charged in Mueller’s investigation.

He has become a cause célèbre among the far right, with many of Trump’s most ardent supporters arguing the former national security adviser was a victim of the “deep state”.

Efforts by Trump and the justice department to dismiss the criminal case against Flynn have become mired in lengthy legal battles in the courts.

On Wednesday morning, Democratic congressman and member of the House intelligence committee Adam Schiff said that any such move would speak ill of America’s democracy.

He said that such a pardon by Trump would show that “if you lie on his behalf, if you cover up for him he will reward you and he will protect you if it’s in his interests”.

Schiff was a leading figure in the impeachment of Trump last year. The president was tried in the Senate and acquitted in early 2020.

He said world observers would see the pardon as reflecting badly on the US.

“It reflects so ill on our democracy, imagine what people around the world think when we have a president who is acting like an organized crime figure. But that is who Donald Trump is,” Schiff told CNN’s New Day.

Read More; 'Conmen, grifters and criminals': why is Trump's circle so at ...

Trump's coup failed – but US democracy has been given a scare

Ladybbird · 02-12-20, 16:46

US Justice Department Investigates Alleged Bribery for Pardon Scheme at White House

Heavily redacted court filing, which does not name Trump, comes as president reportedly is considering sweeping pardons

The Guardian UK, 2 DEC 2020.

An alleged “bribery for pardon” scheme at the White House is under investigation by the justice department, according to a court filing unsealed on Tuesday.

The heavily redacted document does not name Donald Trump or other individuals and leaves many unanswered questions, but comes amid media reports that the US president is considering sweeping pardons before he leaves office next month.

It shows that the justice department investigation alleges that an individual offered “a substantial political contribution in exchange for a presidential pardon or reprieve of sentence”.

Two individuals acted improperly as lobbyists to secure the pardon in the “bribery-for-pardon schemes”, as the document puts it. All three names are blacked out.

On Tuesday night, a justice department official told Reuters that no US government official is the “subject or target” of investigation into whether money was funnelled to the White House in exchange for a presidential pardon.

Trump issued a brief response on Tuesday night, resorting to one of his favourite phrases to criticise the media even though the details were contained in official court papers. “Pardon investigation is Fake News!” he tweeted.

The watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew) tweeted in response: “It’s hard to overstate how big a deal the phrase ‘bribery-for-pardon schemes’ is.”

The document was unsealed by the district court for the District of Columbia, in Washington. Some of its 20 pages are entirely redacted, implying that revealing the details now might jeopardise an ongoing investigation.

They discuss a review by chief judge Beryl Howell in late August of a request from prosecutors for documents gathered for the bribery investigation. More than 50 digital devices including iPhones, iPads, laptops, thumb drives and computer drives were seized after investigators raided unidentified offices. It was not clear why Howell decided to release the filing now.

Trump last week pardoned Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser, who had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Trump and Rudy Giuliani, his personal lawyer, discussed as recently as last week the possibility of a “pre-emptive pardon”. Giuliani tweeted a denial.

The court disclosure unleashed a whirlwind of speculation in Washington. The Democrat Adam Schiff, the chair of the House of Representatives’ intelligence committee, told the MSNBC network: “People shouldn’t presume – and there may be a tendency to leap to the – that this may involve some of the personalities that have been very much in the news and are worried about their criminal liability.

“It may be someone that we’ve never heard of that wants a pardon and is well-heeled and therefore in a position to make a sizeable contribution. So it doesn’t have to be any of the parties that we think that may want a pardon: the [Paul] Manaforts, the Giulianis and others. It could be someone completely different but, at the end of the day, someone in that chain has to be close enough to the White House where they could conceivably deliver on the official act of pardon if the bribe were paid.”
Reuters contributed reporting....

Read More;

Trump reported to have discussed granting 'pre-emptive pardons' for his family

First Thing: Barr rules out voter fraud as court paper ...

Ladybbird · 05-12-20, 14:39

I Beg Your Pardon? Does TRUMP Really Plan to Absolve Himself and His Family?

Rudy Giuliani, the Trump children – even Joe Exotic – are reportedly being considered, along with the soon to be ex-president

David Smith in Washington, The Guardian, 5 DEC 2020.

Rudy Giuliani. Ivanka Trump. Joseph Maldonado-Passage, AKA Joe Exotic, star of the Netflix series Tiger King. And, just possibly, Donald Trump himself.

These are some of the candidates mentioned as prospects for official pardons before the US president leaves office on 20 January. Such a spree would test the political and constitutional limits of a centuries-old power that echoed the British monarchy. It would also be revelatory of the potential legal jeopardy of Trump and his allies once they depart the White House.

“The fact that we’re even having this conversation speaks volumes about the level of criminal exposure that they all think that they have,” said Tara Setmayer, a former Republican communications director on Capitol Hill. “You don’t talk about pardons unless there is a concern about things that have been done wrong. It’s the antithesis of draining the swamp. What happened to that?”

While presidents signing divisive pardons in the twilight of their administrations has become something of a Washington ritual, Trump is said to be considering an unusually high number of interventions in the cases of aides, friends and family members he believes have been unfairly imprisoned, indicted or put at legal risk.

Last month’s pardoning of Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser who lied to the FBI about his conversations with a Russian diplomat, could be just the beginning. In the past week it emerged that the justice department is investigating an alleged “bribery for pardon” scheme at the White House.

It was also reported that Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, whose business dealings in Ukraine are under investigation by federal prosecutors in Manhattan, had spoken to the president about a pardon. Giuliani denied the account.

Among others hoping for Trump’s tender mercies are old allies convicted in the wake of the special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, which he continues to denounce as a hoax, including the former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, his deputy, Rick Gates, and ex-campaign aide George Papadopoulos.

Donald Trump is reportedly considering pardons for his three eldest children, Ivanka, Eric and Don Jr. Photograph: Tasos Katopodis/AFP/Getty Images

Gates, found guilty of financial crimes and lying to the FBI, said this week: “I think the president knows better than anybody the difficult and just tragic event of the Mueller probe and how all of us have suffered. I would be absolutely grateful for a pardon and I hope the president does it but, at the end of the day, it’s his choice. People ask me, ‘Would you take a pardon?’ Of course, absolutely. Who wouldn’t?”

One such example is Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic and currently serving 22 years in prison for his role in a murder-for-hire plot against a longtime rival. In September he filed an application for a pardon with the justice department that included a handwritten letter to Trump asking him to “grant me a miracle”.

But pardons can also come very close to home. The New York Times reported that Trump has asked advisers about the possibility of “pre-emptively” pardoning his three eldest children. Defenders of such a move could argue that family members are not off limits: in 2001, Bill Clinton pardoned his brother, Roger, who was convicted for cocaine possession in Arkansas.

Trump’s offspring have not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing but, in a sign of potential legal perils to come, his daughter and senior adviser, Ivanka, was this week interviewed by lawyers in Washington alleging that Trump’s 2017 inauguration committee misused donor funds.

In addition, Cyrus Vance, the Manhattan district attorney, and Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, have active tax fraud investigations into Trump and his family company, the Trump Organization. His son Eric, an executive vice-president of the company, was deposed in October because of his involvement.

Joseph Maldonado-Passage, AKA Joe Exotic, sent a handwritten letter to Trump requesting a pardon. He is currently serving 22 years for a murder plot. Photograph: Netflix US/AFP via Getty Images

Presidents can grant clemency to people who have not yet been charged, as President Gerald Ford did in 1974 when he issued a broad pardon to his predecessor, Richard Nixon. But the pardons apply only to federal crimes and do not extend to state laws, so Trump’s ability to insulate his family and himself is limited.

Even so, a self-pardon might at least shield him from potentially the most serious federal case against him: Mueller’s final report identified 10 instances of possible obstruction of justice, and hundreds of former prosecutors concluded that the evidence supported such a charge.

But a self-pardon would open a legal can of worms. In 2018, Trump declared that he had the “absolute right” to pardon himself but none of his predecessors – not even Nixon – ever put that to the test. Gates suggested that it would be justified “in the context of what he’s been through and being the only president in US history, Republican or Democrat, that’s been attacked over a sustained period, almost four years. There’s never been anything like it in the history of our politics.”

He added: “So on that basis, if I were him, I would absolutely seriously consider it just for the mere fact that you wouldn’t want your enemies to come after you. I honestly don’t think Joe Biden will, but that doesn’t mean people under Joe Biden won’t and I think that’s the real threat in the federal level.”

Many legal experts, however, contend that a self-pardon would be unconstitutional because it violates the basic principle that nobody should be the judge in his or her own case.

Laurence Tribe, a constitutional law professor at Harvard University, argued in an email that it “flies in the face of the universally agreed proposition that the pardon power cannot be used as a license to commit future crimes”.

Rudy Giuliani has denied discussing a pardon with Donald Trump. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

He added: “The basic problem is that, if a president were able to pardon himself, he could commit crimes with impunity throughout his presidency. He could ransack the treasury, bribe the chief justice to overrule Roe v Wade, and shoot someone on Fifth Avenue knowing he could never be punished.”

The nation’s founders saw the pardon power as a way to show the quality of mercy. While Trump might undermine their credibility in the short term, experts say he is not the first president to be accused of abusing pardons and is unlikely to do lasting constitutional damage.

David Super, a law and economics professor at Georgetown University, said: “The very discussion of it has undermined public confidence in them but it’s not an area where Congress can legislate. The only way that it could change would be through a constitutional amendment.”

He added: “There have been people pardoned that many thought should not have been. President Clinton had some pardons that many people thought were at least ill-advised, if not corrupt, and President Ford’s pardon of President Nixon probably cost him any chance of being elected in his own right.

“So there certainly have been criticisms of them but it’s so hard to amend the constitution that people haven’t felt energised enough to do that heavy lifting. But on the state level, where one governor or another abused the power and it’s not quite such a heavy lift to change the constitution, that has happened in many places.”

Tiger King Joe Exotic, Who May Be Pardoned By President Trump, Checks In From Prison

“Tiger King” Joe Exotic writes Trump handwritten letter in pardon application

President Trump says he will look into Tiger King Joe Exotic’s case

Trump Discussing Pardons For His Kids and Rudy Giuliani

Ladybbird · 10-12-20, 12:34

In His Final Days in Office, Trump Orders Series of Executions

As President Donald Trump's days in the White House wane, his administration is racing through a string of federal executions.

BBC News, 10 DEC 2020.

Five executions are scheduled before President-elect Joe Biden's 20 January inauguration - breaking with an 130-year-old precedent of pausing executions amid a presidential transition.

And if all five take place, Mr Trump will be the country's most prolific execution president in more than a century, overseeing the executions of 13 death row inmates since July of this year.

The five executions are to begin this week, starting with 40-year-old Brandon Bernard and 56-year-old Alfred Bourgeois. They are both scheduled to be put to death at a penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Attorney General William Barr has said his justice department is simply upholding existing law. But critics have said the move is concerning, coming just weeks before Mr Biden - who has said he will seek to end the death penalty - takes office.

Attorney General William Barr and Donald Trump holds a signing ceremony for an executive order establishing the Task Force on Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives

"This is really outside the norm, in a pretty extreme way," said Ngozi Ndulue, director of research at the non-partisan Death Penalty Information Center.

US inmate has 'no right to painless death'

Here's what you need to know about President Trump's last-minute rush of executions.

What is Current Policy in The US?

Since the federal death penalty was reinstated by the US Supreme Court in 1988, federal executions in the US have remained rare.

Before Mr Trump took office, only three federal executions had taken place in this period.

All were carried out under Republican President George W Bush, and included inmate Timothy McVeigh, convicted of the Oklahoma City federal building bombing. Since 2003, there have been no federal executions at all.

Most federal executions take place here, at the Terre Haute Federal Correctional Complex in Indiana

US states have continued to execute inmates in state prisons, putting a combined 22 death row inmates to death last year. But state executions are also on a downward trend.

A growing number have moved to abolish capital punishment all together, and the majority have either formally banned the practice or have not put any inmates to death in more than a decade.

Popular opinion, too, has shifted away from capital punishment. A November 2019 Gallup poll found that 60% of Americans supported life in prison over the death penalty for the first time since the survey began more than 30 years ago.

"Public support for the death penalty is at a decades-long low," Ms Ndulue said.

Further problems have emerged with the methods of execution, sourcing drugs used for lethal injections, and the costs of decades-long court battles and appeals.

What Did The Trump Administration Do?

In July 2019, Mr Barr announced the scheduled executions of five death row prisoners, despite prevailing practices and public opinion.

"Congress has expressly authorised the death penalty," the country's top legal official said in a statement at the time. "The justice department upholds the rule of law - and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system."

The selected inmates had been convicted of murdering or raping children and the elderly, Mr Barr said.

The move drew fierce criticism from top Democrats and human rights groups.

"We feel [the death penalty] is an unconstitutionally arbitrary punishment that should have been abolished decades ago," said Lisa Cylar Barrett, director of policy at the NCAAP Legal Defense Fund.

And the particular selection of inmates fuelled charges that the decision was politically motivated.

The first set of executions this summer - during a wave of anti-racism protests and demonstrations - were all of white men. Now, four of the five prisoners scheduled to be put to death are African American.

Ms Ndulue said she didn't think it was "coincidental" that no black prisoners were scheduled for execution during a period of "enhanced awareness of the racial disparities around the federal death penalty".

Research suggests the death penalty has been enforced differently according to race.

"One of the most robust findings of study after study, in jurisdictions across the country, is that the race of your victim is a serious factor in determining whether or not you will have the death penalty," Ms Ndulue said.

What is Happening Now?

If the executions of Brandon Bernard and Alfred Bourgeois go ahead as scheduled the 10 inmates executed in 2020 will bring a single-year total unmatched in modern history.

"We'd have to go back to 1896 to find another year where there were 10 or more executions," Ms Ndulue said.

Brandon Bernard image copyrightCourtesy Bernard Defense Team

Campaigners are seeking to prevent Brandon Bernard's execution

The Trump administration has also chosen to carry out federal executions in the midst of a political transition, with a lame-duck president, for the first time in more than a century.

Incumbent presidents have typically deferred to their successors, allowing presidents-elect to set the course.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Mr Barr defended the post-election executions, and said he would likely schedule more before he leaves the justice department.

"I think the way to stop the death penalty is to repeal the death penalty," he said. "But if you ask juries to impose it, then it should be carried out."

But it is a controversial choice, especially as the incoming Biden administration has said it will work to end the death penalty.

The first scheduled execution, of Bernard, has drawn particular attention. Convicted of murder and kidnapping in 1999, Bernard was 18 years old at the time of his offense, and would be the youngest offender executed by the federal government in nearly 70 years.

Five of the nine surviving jurors in the case, as well as the US attorney who defended the death sentence on appeal, have publicly called for his execution to be stopped.

What is Bidens' Policy on The Death Penalty?

Trump has been a long-time, vocal advocate of the death penalty. The Biden team is opposed.

Vice-president-elect Kamala Harris, in particular, has been a consistent critic of the practice. She took a stand against capital punishment in her successful 2003 campaign for San Francisco District Attorney and declined to seek the death penalty in the murder of a 29-year-old police officer, killed in the line of duty - despite pressure from within her party.

The president-elect's record is more uneven.

Mr Biden's 1994 crime bill added some 60 federal crimes for which someone could be put to death. Some of those on death row today were convicted under provisions of his legislation. Now, he has promised to push for legislation eliminating federal executions entirely, and to encourage states to do the same.

The Biden team has noted that more than 160 individuals sentenced to death in the US since 1973 have later been exonerated. Mr Biden has yet to name his choice for US attorney general.

The Inmates Facing Execution;

Brandon Bernard was convicted in the 1999 kidnapping and murder of two youth ministers, Todd and Stacie Bagley. He is scheduled for execution on 10 December, amid calls for clemency due to his young age at the time of the crime.

Alfred Bourgeois is on death row for torturing and beating his two-year-old daughter to death. He is scheduled for execution on 11 December. An earlier execution date was stayed by a federal judge due to evidence from Bourgeois' legal team showing he had an intellectual disability. This ruling was overturned in October.

Lisa Montgomery strangled a pregnant woman in Missouri before cutting out and kidnapping the baby in 2004. She is scheduled for execution on 12 January. Her lawyers have said she experienced brain damage from beatings as a child and suffers from serious mental illness. She will be the first woman to face federal execution in the US since 1953.

Cory Johnson was convicted for the murder of seven people, related to his involvement with the drug trade in Richmond, Virginia. Johnson's legal team has argued that he suffers from an intellectual disability, related to physical and emotional abuse he experienced as a child. His execution is scheduled for 14 January.

Dustin John Higgs was convicted in the 1996 kidnapping and murder of three young women in the Washington, DC area. Higgs did not kill any of his victims. His co-defendant Willis Haynes did, after being instructed to by Higgs. Haynes has said in court documents that Higgs did not threaten him, or force him to shoot. Higgs is scheduled for execution on 15 January.

Ladybbird · 12-12-20, 14:04

Supreme Court Rejects Trumps' Bid to Overturn Election

Trump, GOP raised $170M since Election Day pushing baseless election fraud claims

Trump's coup is failing but American democracy is still on the critical list

David Smith Washington, The Guardian •12 Dec 2020

The US Supreme Court acted with unusual speed to reject a bid from Texas' attorney general — supported by Donald Trump — to block the ballots of millions of voters in battleground states that went in favour of President-elect Joe Biden. CNN's Jessica Schneider has the details.

The Legal Probes Facing Trump When He Leaves Office

Randi Kaye looks into the legal probes President Donald Trump faces after he leaves the White House.

Ladybbird · 22-12-20, 09:55

Trump Orders New Federal Buildings -Must Be Beautiful...
-Impoverished Americans Suffer During COVID

Trump has issued an order that future federal buildings across the country must be beautiful and preferably built in a classical Greek, Roman, or similar style.

BBC News, 22 DEC 2020.

Washington is a city of columns

The executive order says too many federal buildings reflected "brutalist" designs of the last century.

It says new government buildings should look more like America's "beloved" landmarks such as the White House.

Although traditionalists will welcome the move, many others are unhappy.

The American Institute of Architects said it "unequivocally opposes" the initiative.

Is the White House really a dump?

The order - titled "Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture" - creates a new council to advise the president on future federal buildings.

"New federal building designs should, like America's beloved landmark buildings, uplift and beautify public spaces, inspire the human spirit, ennoble the United States, command respect from the general public, and, as appropriate, respect the architectural heritage of a region," the order reads.

Trump, a property developer, has only a few weeks left in office after losing November's election to Joe Biden.

His executive order says that federal buildings built in Washington DC in recent times have created "a discordant mixture of classical and modernist designs".

It said that with some exceptions, the government had "largely stopped building beautiful buildings".

The use of classical and other traditional architecture "should be encouraged instead of discouraged", it adds.

A draft of the order was first made public in February, raising objections from the American Institute of Architects and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

On Monday, the institute said that communities should have "the right and responsibility to decide for themselves what architectural design best fits their needs".

The head of the institute, Robert Ivy, said in a statement: "Though we are appalled with the administration's decision to move forward with the design mandate, we are happy the order isn't as far reaching as previously thought."

MORE;
Covid-19 pandemic: International alarm grows over new variant

Ladybbird · 26-12-20, 12:24

What's The Future of Trumps' Border Wall?

•24 Dec 2020 CNN

In the waning days of the Trump administration, construction crews are rapidly working to finish the US-Mexico border wall as President-elect Joe Biden pledges to bring construction to a halt.

CNN's Ed Lavandera reports on the what the future may hold for one of Trump's biggest initiatives and the controversy surrounding it.

Ladybbird · 25-01-21, 18:20

Dominion Sues Rudy Giuliani for $1.3 Billion Over False Election Claims

Trump Plotted to Pick Loyalist as Acting AG to Overturn Election

Trump Supporters' Campaign of Intimidation

BBC News, 25 JAN 2021.

Dominion Voting Systems has sued former President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani for defamation after he pushed claims of election fraud against the company.

Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Clark nearly convinced then-President Donald Trump to remove then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and use the Department of Justice to undo Georgia's election results, The New York Times reported on 22 January.

“Death threats happened. My wife actually got the first ones.”

Following the US election, Trump’s supporters carried out a campaign of intimidation. Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, proved a tough target.

This film charts Donald Trump’s last months as president as he attempts to win, and subsequently overturn, the results of the 2020 election – culminating in scenes of violent ‘insurrection’ against the US Congress.

Friends, advisers and close observers tell the story of Trump’s last days, from packed rallies - held as coronavirus besieges America - to riots on Capitol Hill. The film provides a blow-by-blow account of the final weeks of his administration - and a gripping psychological study of the controversial leader’s final days in power.

Ladybbird · 02-07-21, 09:59

Is Trump Next on The Legal Chopping Block?

ABC News 2 Jul 2021

Ladybbird · 28-07-21, 07:33

Thomas Barrack: Top TRUMP Aide Pleads Not Guilty to Working asForeign Agent

Billionaire investor and former Donald Trump adviser Thomas Barrack has pleaded not guilty to charges of acting as an agent of a foreign government.

BBC News, 28 JUL 2021

Mr Barrack, 74, was a key aide to Mr Trump during his 2016 campaign.

He has been accused of illegally lobbying on behalf of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during and after the election, as well as lying to the FBI.

Mr Barrack entered his not guilty plea during his first court appearance on Monday in New York City.

The ex-Trump official faces federal charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making multiple false statements to the FBI during a 2019 interview. He was arrested in California last week.

As he left court on Monday, Mr Barrack told reporters: "As you'd expect, the system is working... you'll all see that I'm 100% innocent."

On Monday Matthew Grimes, a former executive at Mr Barrack's company, also pleaded not guilty to charges of illegal lobbying. A UAE citizen, Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi, 43, was charged as well and remains at large.

The three men are accused of unlawfully trying to promote UAE government interests by using Mr Barrack's connections to influence officials and media appearances.

They also allegedly promoted the candidacy of a UAE-favoured individual as US ambassador to Abu Dhabi.

Mr Barrack, who also served as Mr Trump's inaugural committee chairman, had been friends with the former president for four decades.

The wealthy investor is the latest ex-Trump aide to face criminal charges, like former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former Trump Organization lawyer Michael Cohen.

His next court appearance is 2 September.

Mr Barrack is currently free on a $250m (£180m) bond, but must wear an electronic GPS ankle bracelet, restrict his travel and follow a curfew.

Ladybbird · 31-10-21, 12:22

Completely Damning Video of TRUMP Ally Emerges...

TRUMPs’ Scheming Lawyer John Eastman Tried To Pin The Blame For 6 Jan. Capitol Riot On…Mike Pence

BBC News 31 Oct 2021

A video captured by a Democratic activist shows conservative lawyer John Eastman, who had worked with EX-President Donald Trump's legal team, criticizing former Vice President Mike Pence for not overturning the 2020 election results.

TRUMP with Mike Pence

The Jan. 6 committee is still investigating into what caused a legion of Trump supporters to overtake the Capitol building, with little help from Trump himself. Perhaps it was Trump himself? With some help from staffers and die-hards? Just spit-balling here.

The former president himself has tried to point the finger elsewhere. And a new report from The Washington Post reveals that one of his more dastardly advisers tried to pin the blame on someone else — a certain person who said supporters wanted to hang.

The Post unearthed an email sent from attorney John C. Eastman to Greg Jacob, the former vice president’s chief counsel, while Pence was hiding from the mob that wanted him dead.

“The ‘siege’ is because YOU and your boss did not do what was necessary to allow this to be aired in a public way so that the American people can see for themselves what happened,” Eastman wrote.

The email was featured in a draft opinion article Jacob had written about Trump’s legal team, Eastman among them. Jacob told The Post that, by sending the email at the peak of the Capitol siege, Eastman had “displayed a shocking lack of awareness of how those practical implications were playing out in real time.”

If Eastman’s name sounds familiar, that’s because he’s the author of the infamous “Eastman memo,” which outlined how Pence could overturn the election results and generally create chaos. (He didn’t, thanks in part to Dan Quayle.)

The memo was penned in late 2020 but wasn’t made public until this fall. But it’s clear that there’s still plenty more damning evidence about the lead-up to one of the darkest days in history en route.

Ladybbird · 05-11-21, 12:09

Trump-Russia Steele Dossier Analyst Charged With Lying to FBI

A Russian analyst who worked on a dossier that made unsubstantiated claims linking Donald Trump to the Kremlin has been arrested in the US.

BBC 5 NOV 2021.

The US Department of Justice has charged Igor Danchenko with repeatedly making false statements to the FBI

The Department of Justice charged Igor Danchenko, 43, with lying to the FBI.

He was detained as part of an inquiry into the origins of baseless claims that Mr Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election.

The so-called Steele Dossier was used by the FBI to obtain surveillance warrants on a top Trump aide.

The document was held up by Democrats to paint Mr Trump as a Russian puppet, a narrative amplified in a feedback loop by most US media for much of the president's four years in office.

A lawyer for the Russian analyst did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Reuters news agency reports.

Mr Danchenko worked with ex-British spy Christopher Steele on the dossier.

Published by Buzzfeed 10 days before Mr Trump took office, the Steele Dossier made a number of explosive claims linking Mr Trump to the Kremlin - including that Russia had compromising material on the Republican candidate. Mr Trump always dismissed the allegations as a hoax.

Mr Steele was hired to conduct the research through a law firm on behalf of Mr Trump's political opponents, including the campaign of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate in the 2016 election.

Mr Steele has previously defended his work, but recently acknowledged to ABC News that "not everything in the dossier is 100% accurate".

According to the federal indictment, a US-based public relations executive "who was a long-time participant in Democratic Party politics" was "a contributor of information" to the dossier.

Mr Danchenko, it is alleged, lied to agents when he said he had never communicated with this unnamed PR executive about the dossier allegations.

A statement released by the US Department of Justice says Mr Danchenko was charged with making false statements to the FBI five times in 2017, "regarding the sources of certain information that he provided to a UK investigative firm".

The Russian national appeared briefly before a judge on Thursday in Alexandria, Virginia.

As early as July 2016, US investigators began to examine whether there were any links between Mr Trump and the Kremlin. This led the following year to a major investigation headed by special counsel Robert Mueller.

The dossier was the basis for a wiretap on Trump adviser Carter Page. A former FBI lawyer who worked on the Carter Page case later pleaded guilty to altering an email related to the surveillance application.

In 2019, the Mueller investigation concluded that it could not determine any criminal conspiracy between Moscow and the Trump campaign.

It also found that Russia had interfered in the election "in sweeping and systematic fashion", and outlined 10 times when Mr Trump possibly impeded the investigation.

Following this, the Trump administration announced an investigation into the origins of the inquiry into Russian interference. Mr Trump had long called for such a probe.

Then-Attorney General William Barr appointed John Durham, a US attorney in Connecticut, as the senior federal prosecutor.

This is the latest arrest under the investigation. In September officials under Mr Durham charged a prominent lawyer for allegedly making false statements to the FBI.

Ladybbird · 05-02-22, 00:11

Star Witness in Ukraine Impeachment Saga Sues Trump Allies

4 Feb 2022 CNN

Retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who served on the National Security Council and emerged as a star witness against then-President Donald Trump during the 2019 Ukraine impeachment, is suing Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani and former Trump White House staffers, alleging they conspired against him.

Ladybbird · 24-05-22, 07:08

Mike Pence is Defying TRUMP in Georgias' Primary.

The Mike Pence-Donald Trump proxy war takes center stage Monday night as they rally for rival camps in the Georgia Republican primary

Donald Trump and Mike Pence have had a falling out over the 2020 election - Pence concedes they lost to President Joe Biden while Trump keeps pushing the big lie. Now, Pence is in Georgia stumping for incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp who is running against Trump-endorsed David Perdue.

INSIDER, 23 May 2022

The Mike Pence-Donald Trump proxy war takes center stage Monday night as they rally for rival camps in the Georgia Republican primary

Trump and Pence fell out after the ex-VP certified the Electoral College votes on January 6, 2021.

Now the two men are backing rival camps in the Georgia gubernatorial race, in a sort-of proxy war.

On Monday, Pence will stump for Brian Kemp as Trump holds a tele-rally for a trailing David Perdue.

Donald Trump and Mike Pence will find themselves dueling in a virtual boxing ring on Monday night in Georgia where the winner — and loser — will be decided the next day.

The former president and his ex-vice president have picked opposing camps in the Georgia gubernatorial race in what appears to be the pinnacle of their proxy war since the two men fell out after the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack and Pence's decision to certify Joe Biden's electoral win.

Pence will be stumping for the incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp Monday night in Kennesaw, Georgia, while Trump holds a tele-rally for his preferred candidate, former Sen. David Perdue. Both events will happen the night before Georgians head to the polls on Tuesday to determine which Republican will challenge likely Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams in November.

For Pence, campaigning against the Trump-backed candidate on his home turf marks the former vice president's boldest break yet with his old boss. The latest polls show Kemp ahead of Perdue by about 30 points. That would put Pence in the more-likely winning camp and Trump on the losing side. And Trump hates to lose.

Pence joins a long list of high-profile Republicans such as Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie who have crisscrossed Georgia in recent days to drum up support for Kemp.

Perdue, who lost his Senate reelection bid in a January 2021 runoff election, entered the 2022 gubernatorial race in December at the urging of Trump, who's been seeking revenge against Kemp for defying him by refusing to overturn Georgia's 2020 presidential election results. Neither Pence nor Kemp's teams immediately responded to Insider's request for comment about the Monday night campaign event. Insider has also reached out to Perdue's team.

In his last-minute salvo in his bid to defeat Kemp, Perdue has attempted to cast himself as the guy to beat Abrams in November.

"Abrams doesn't care about Georgia. She wants to live in the White House. It's up to us to make sure that NEVER happens," Perdue tweeted Monday morning, hours before his virtual rally with Trump.

At a campaign event in Augusta, Georgia over the weekend, he said Kemp has "divided the party" and would not be able to unite the pro-and anti-Trump factions to defeat Abrams.

"So I'm very concerned that he's gonna have a hard time pulling us together again in November," Perdue told supporters about his rival.

Perdue supporters are threatening to sit out the November elections if their candidate loses the primary rather than vote for Kemp, who they still hold responsible for Trump's 2020 loss in Georgia. Trump's team did not respond to a request for comment on the tele-rally, which comes days after news reports that he was backing away from Perdue as polls showed the candidate losing.

Meanwhile, Kemp is already anticipating that pro-Trump Republicans could try to challenge his primary win after the Tuesday vote. He's trying to get ahead of it by assuring voters that any "mechanical" issues that might have marred the 2020 election have already been solved through a bill he signed into law last year.

"That's why we have the laws and the constitution that we have when it comes to elections," Kemp told Insider May 19 in Georgia of the electoral changes he's overseen since taking office in 2018.

Ladybbird · 25-05-22, 06:09

Georgia Primaries: Trump-Backed Perdue Trounced by Pence's Pick

Donald Trump's grip on the Republican party suffered a slip after his handpicked candidate for Georgia governor was trounced at the polls.

BBC News 25 MAY 2022.

David Perdue and Donald Trump photographed together at the White House in 2017

Trump recruited David Perdue, an ex-senator, to challenge incumbent Brian Kemp in the Republican primaries.

Mr Kemp had rejected Mr Trump's pleas to overturn the 2020 Georgia election results.

But as ballots were counted, Mr Perdue was so far behind that he was defeated before half the votes were in.

The primary was being closely watched as a test of Mr Trump's hold over the Republican party, as voters decide who will be the party's official candidate in the midterm elections in November.

The midterms will decide who controls the two chambers which make up Congress - the Senate and the House of Representatives - and fall halfway through President Joe Biden's term in office.

The result in Georgia sets up a general election rematch between Mr Kemp and Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams, who had accused the Republican of suppressing votes in her previous tilt at the governor's seat in 2018.

In a speech after the results, Mr Kemp said: "Our battle is far from over. Tonight the fight for the soul of our state begins to make sure that Stacey Abrams is not going to be our governor".

Allegations of unfair voting practices are likely to emerge again in the crucial state, where a highly competitive Senate race is also due to take place in November.

Democrats wrested the state's two Senate seats from Republicans in 2021 - including one from Mr Perdue - to gain a slim majority in the upper chamber of the US Congress.

However, one senator, Raphael Warnock, must now defend his post against Herschel Walker, a well-known former American football player, who is also backed by Mr Trump.

But the governor's race was seen as the bigger test of the former president's clout.

Mr Kemp, a staunch conservative, drew the former president's ire after he certified that his state had been won by Joe Biden in 2020. Mr Trump had alleged that there were 11,000 votes for him to be found which would reverse the result, but the governor disagreed.

Georgia's top election official, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who also refused Mr Trump's entreaties at the time, won his bid for re-election on Tuesday.

Mr Trump's claims that the election had been "stolen" from him has become a divisive issue within the party, splitting "establishment" Republicans from Trump populists, even dividing the former president's own administration members.

In the primary, Mr Kemp was backed by Mr Trump's former deputy, Vice-President Mike Pence.

Ladybbird · 19-06-22, 04:15

Cowboys for TRUMP Founder Couy Griffin Sentenced For Trespassing on 6 Jan Refuses to Certify Primary;

Couy Griffin was sentenced to 14 days, $3,000 fine for Jan. 6 misdemeanor convictions

Couy Griffin, founder of Cowboys for Trump, & a New Mexico county commissioner and election-fraud conspiracy theorist, refuses to certify the primary results for an election in Nevada.

New Mexico’s Supreme Court Orders County Commission to Certify Vote

The order follows the commission’s refusal to approve primary vote tallies, citing discredited concerns about Dominion machines

AP. 19 JUN 2022.

New Mexico’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the county commissioners in rural Otero County to do their jobs and certify election results, two days after they refused, citing unsubstantiated concerns about fraud.

The court granted the emergency motion by New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat, who earlier this week asked the court to intervene and compel the three-member board to approve vote totals from a June 7 primary. The commission had voted on Monday not to do so.

That move had potentially disenfranchised “every Otero County voter who legally and securely cast a ballot” and harmed candidates “seeking to have their names on the General Election ballot” in November, Oliver argued.

A spokesman for Oliver, Alex Curtas, said that office was also pursing a criminal referral with the state’s attorney general, which could result in the commissioners being charged with contempt of court or removed from office if they do not follow the court’s instructions.

“This is terra nova; it’s uncharted territory,” said Curtas. “Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.”

The commissioners’ refusal has thrust the small county of 66,000 on the Texas border into the national spotlight at a time of rising concern over the long-term damage from former president Donald Trump’s repeated claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him — the so-called “big lie.”

Trump pushed 'big lie' despite being told election fraud claims were false, aides testify

The deadline to certify the primary election results is Friday. Under state law, county boards must prove there were discrepancies in election returns if they decline to certify results; so far, the commissioners have only said they are generally distrustful of state officials and of the electronic voting machines.

Ladybbird · 27-07-22, 06:32

TRUMP and Pences’ Dueling DC Speeches

TRUMP Repeated Re-Election LIES as He Hints at Presidency Run

Donald Trump once again repeated false election claims that sparked the infamous January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol on his first return to the city since that day.

Former Vice President Mike Pence Outlined His Vision For The Republican party.

ITV News 27 Jul 2022

The former president is under pressure as a Congressional hearing continues its public investigation into his role during the attack, with claims he did “everything in his power to overturn the election.”

Speaking at an America First Policy Institute event in Washington DC, Mr Trump hinted he would run for the White House again in 2024 as he hit out at what he described a “very corrupt” election.

Former President Donald Trump returned to Washington, DC to deliver a speech while blocks away, former Vice President Mike Pence was outlining his vision for the Republican party.

Trump Repeats Election Falsehood as He Hints at Presidency Run

Mike Pence Takes Thinly-Veiled Shot at Trump

13-09-20, 11:24	#1
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	TRUMP's in Danger-His Big Mouth Hands Lawyers NEW Ammo on Carrolls' $91 Bond Roger Stone to Donald Trump: Bring in Martial Law If You Lose Election Trump meanwhile promises to ‘put down’ leftwing protests and says US Marshals killing Portland suspect was ‘retribution’ The Guardian UK, 13 SEP 2020. Roger Stone Roger Stone, whose 40-month prison sentence for lying to Congress and witness tampering in the Russia investigation was commuted by Donald Trump, has said Trump should seize total power and jail prominent figures including Bill and Hillary Clinton and Mark Zuckerberg if he loses to Joe Biden in November. The long-time Republican strategist and dirty trickster, who has a tattoo of Richard Nixon on his back, lied about contacts with WikiLeaks during the 2016 election regarding emails hacked from Democratic party accounts. In turn, special counsel Robert Mueller and the Senate intelligence committee suspected Trump lied when he said he could not recall discussing the leaks with Stone. Stone did not turn on Trump and had his sentence reduced on the recommendation of attorney general William Barr. But he still faced prison before Trump acted. His conviction stands. Both men were in Nevada on Saturday, Trump holding campaign events while Stone sought to raise money for himself. He outlined his advice to Trump should he lose in a call to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s Infowars online show, on Thursday. Citing widely debunked claims of fraud around early voting, absentee balloting and voting by mail, Stone said Trump should consider invoking the Insurrection Act and arresting the Clintons, former Senate majority leader Harry Reid, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Tim Cook of Apple and “anybody else who can be proven to be involved in illegal activity”. Stone also said: “The ballots in Nevada on election night should be seized by federal marshals and taken from the state. They are completely corrupted. No votes should be counted from the state of Nevada if that turns out to be the provable case. Send federal marshals to the Clark county board of elections, Mr President!” Nevada has not gone to a Republican since 2004 but is shaping up to be a crucial contest this year. Biden leads there, but polls have tightened. Trump’s own rhetoric was not far removed from that of the man he spared prison. The president continued on Saturday to make unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud. He and his campaign have also consistently claimed without evidence that “antifa”, or anti-fascist, activists represent a deadly threat to suburban voters that will be unleashed should Biden win. Commenting on a Daily Beast report about leftwing activist groups planning what to do “if the election ends without a clear outcome or with a Biden win that Trump refuses to recognize”, Stone told Jones the website should be shut down. “If the Daily Beast is involved in provably seditious and illegal activities,” he said, “their entire staff can be taken into custody and their office can be shut down. They wanna play war, this is war.” Stone also advocated “forming an election day operation using the FBI, federal marshals and Republican state officials across the country to be prepared to file legal objections [to results] and if necessary to physically stand in the way of criminal activity”. In an interview broadcast on Saturday night, Trump told Fox News he would happily “put down” any leftwing protests. “We’ll put them down very quickly if they do that,” he told Jeannine Pirro. “We have the right to do that. We have the power to do that if we want. Look, it’s called insurrection. We just send in and we, we do it very easy. I mean, it’s very easy. I’d rather not do that, because there’s no reason for it, but if we had to, we’d do that and put it down within minutes, within minutes.” The Insurrection Act of 1807 allows the president to use federal troops to enforce federal law. Last used in 1992, it was much discussed this summer, amid protests over racism and police brutality arising from the killing of George Floyd by officers in Minneapolis. Ultimately Trump chose simply to send federal agents to confront protesters, most prominently in Portland, Oregon, a move which proved hugely controversial. In his interview with Fox News, Trump discussed an incident in the city in which US Marshals shot dead a suspect in the killing of a member of a rightwing group. “There has to be retribution when you have crime like this,” Trump said. He also said protests such as those in Portland would lead to “a backlash” from the political right, “the likes of which you haven’t seen in many, many years”. MORE; Rage: Will Bob Woodward’s tapes bring down Donald Trump? *Trump uses Fox News interview to accuse Biden of taking drugs* __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

15-09-20, 09:06	#2
jjive LADY of WAREZ & HONOURED MEMBER Join Date: Jul 2018 Posts: 15,507 Thanks: 176 Thanked 2,148 Times in 1,903 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 4	re: Bitter TRUMP Liar & Cheat to The End Incites More Violence & Starts Lawsuits you would think that this moron would count his lucky stars that he was pardoned and keep his mouth shut, but just shows you the criminality of this orange idiot in the white house and all his indicted/convicted friends know they can get away with anything and incite crimes also!!! __________________

15-09-20, 17:27	#4
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: Bitter TRUMP Liar & Cheat to The End Incites More Violence & Starts Lawsuits Black Churches Say TRUMPS' Election Ad Incites White Terrorism Doctored Video Pairs Biden at Prayer With Scenes of Street Violence Leaders call for removal of ad depicting worshippers as ‘thugs’ The Guardian UK, 15 SEP 2020. Black American church leaders have accused Donald Trump of inciting “white terrorism” against people of colour and depicting churchgoers as “thugs” in a presidential election campaign ad. They are calling for the advertisement’s removal from display and federal protection from any bias or threats it could provoke. The video, named Meet Joe Biden’s Supporters, is online and includes violent scenes of burning buildings and police cars followed by footage of the Democratic presidential nominee kneeling in front of the altar at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church alongside Black clergy members and community leaders in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. The apparent voice of Vice-President Mike Pence is heard saying, “You won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America.” It then cuts to text that reads: “Stop Joe Biden and his rioters.” The AME church on Monday denounced the ad, which they said links the church to violence and implies “that those who gathered there are ‘thugs’”. Meanwhile, the Bethel pastor Silvester Beaman told Religion News Service (RNS): “The ad is overtly racist and offensive on numerous levels.” The statement, whose signatories include Bishop Michael L Mitchell, president of the AME council of bishops, and Bishop Frank Madison Reid III, chair of the church’s commission on social action, said: “This ad subtly incites white terrorism against people of colour and attacks the Black church and Black people for refusing to bow down to the idol called white supremacy.” They demanded an “immediate apology” to Bethel AME church and to Beaman, for the ad to be removed from all networks and “federal protection” for the church, its staff and community. They also called on the federal Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to launch an investigation into the “legality of the Trump campaign’s misrepresentation and Photoshopping images” and the “rhetoric as the language that might incite violence, and encourage racial tensions that lead to placing people of colour in harm’s way”. Describing the ad, Reid told the Guardian: “In one word it was appalling, another word, divisive, and thirdly it was destructive.” He added: “The insinuation that the church is a violent institution has brought attacks for centuries here in America against any Black person, male or female, any Black institution, that would dare stand up and speak up against white supremacist practices in the areas of culture, politics, spirituality and finances.” Citing the recent killings in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where an armed, white agitator shot dead two men who were protesting against the police shooting of a Black man, and the shooting of two sheriff’s deputies in Los Angeles in an ambush at the weekend, Reid added: “There is a culture of violence that is being stirred up by those who have a political agenda.” The statement, he said, is a warning “to alert the nation and to alert people of colour that this election and these shootings and this violence is all the hate that white supremacists’ hate has produced”. While he said he is sure the church in Wilmington is “prepared” following the ad, that in the current climate they need “federal protection until this thing cools down”. The statement said the FBI was investigating vandalism against “multiple” AME churches and that they “continue to cope” following the 2015 mass shooting at Mother Emanuel church in Charleston, South Carolina, by an avowed white supremacist. “We are apprehensive that the history of burning and bombing Black churches is being stirred up by a political party that has lost its moral bearings. We are deeply concerned that the white supremacist lynchings, murders and assassinations of Black men and women, boys and girls in the past, is the plan for the present and future,” they said. The Trump and Biden campaigns, the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to the Guardian’s requests for comment. The Trump campaign’s deputy national press secretary, Samantha Zager, has previously denied the ad was intended to imply that Black churches make America unsafe, reportedly saying: “That’s absurd and it’s shameful to even make the allegation.” An FBI spokesperson said: “Per our usual policy, the FBI does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations. We do not have further comment.” Read More; *Will Jerry Falwell Jr’s fall from grace end his influence ...* Meet Joe Biden's Supporters - (Doctored Video) __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

25-09-20, 05:54	#5
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: Bitter TRUMP Liar & Cheat to The End Incites More Violence & Starts Lawsuits Donald in Blunderland: TRUMP Won't Commit to Peaceful Power Transfer at Surreal Press Briefing Top Republicans Dismiss Trump's Refusal to Commit to Peaceful Transfer David Smith’s sketch: president takes us through the looking glass amid the kneecapping of American democracy BBC News •25 Sep 2020 Leading Republicans have sought to quell fears that Donald Trump could stoke violence in an attempt to cling to power if he loses the US presidential election – though they stopped short of rebuking Trump directly. The president sparked fresh anger and disbelief on Thursday after he refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. “Well, we’re going to have to see what happens,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday evening, before renewing a baseless complaint about mail-in ballots. “Get rid of the ballots and we’ll have a very peaceful … there won’t be a transfer, frankly – there’ll be a continuation,” he said, referring to voting by mail instead of in person during the pandemic, and his chances of re-election. It was one of Trump’s most stark and chilling warnings yet that he has no intention of conceding defeat to Democratic rival Joe Biden in November, raising fears of weeks of chaos and even an inauguration day in January 2021 that could see both men expecting to be sworn in. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

28-09-20, 03:16	#6
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: Bitter TRUMP Liar & Cheat to The End Incites More Violence & Starts Lawsuits New York Times Publishes Donald Trumps' Tax Returns in Election Bombshell “Trump taxes show chronic losses and years of tax avoidance,” The Times reported that Trump paid no federal income taxes in 11 of 18 years the newspaper looked at. Paper details $750 federal income tax payments in 2016, 2017 Information ‘does not reveal unreported Russia connections’ The Guardian UK, 28 SEP 2020. Donald Trump, a self-proclaimed billionaire, paid only $750 in federal income taxes in the year he was elected US president, according to a stunning New York Times investigation that could shake up the presidential election. “Trump taxes show chronic losses and years of tax avoidance,” was the banner headline on the paper’s website on Sunday. The president’s tax returns have long been the holy grail of American political reporting. The president “paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency”, the paper reported, adding that “in his first year in the White House, he paid another $750. “He had paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years – largely because he reported losing much more money than he made.” In all, the paper said, Trump paid no federal income taxes in 11 of 18 years its reporters examined. Many of his businesses, including his golf courses, report significant financial losses – which have helped him to lower his taxes. The Times also said the documents it had obtained “comprise information that Mr Trump has disclosed to the IRS, not the findings of an independent financial examination. They report that Mr Trump owns hundreds of millions of dollars in valuable assets, but they do not reveal his true wealth. Nor do they reveal any previously unreported connections to Russia.” The paper said it would not publish the documents, in order to protect its source. At a White House press briefing on Sunday, Trump made wild allegations about plots against him and about Biden, who he will debate for the first time on Tuesday. Eventually, he dismissed the Times report as “totally fake news”. He said: “We went through the same stories, you could have asked me the same questions four years ago, I had to litigate this and talk about it. “Totally fake news, no. Actually I paid tax. And you’ll see that as soon as my tax returns – it’s under audit, they’ve been under audit for a long time. The [Internal Revenue Service] does not treat me well … they treat me very badly. You have people in the IRS – they treat me very badly.” The president added: “The New York Times tried it, the same thing, they want to create a little bit of a story. They’re doing anything they can. That’s the least of it. The stories that I read are so fake, they’re so phony.” Pressed on why a billionaire only paid a few hundred dollars in the year he won the presidency, Trump insisted: “First of all I paid a lot, and I paid a lot of state income taxes too. The New York state charges a lot and I paid a lot of money in state. It’ll all be revealed. It’s going to come out but after the audit.” The revelations threaten to damage Trump’s repeated claim to be a successful businessman and therefore a capable steward of the US economy. The Times also said he has used “questionable measures” to reduce his tax bill. He faced a possible hit of “more than $100m” if he lost “a decade-long audit battle with the IRS over the legitimacy of a $72.9m tax refund that he claimed, and received, after declaring huge losses”. It promised more stories in the coming weeks, adding: “The tax returns that Mr Trump has long fought to keep private tell a story fundamentally different from the one he has sold to the American public.” Trump will face Joe Biden at the polls on 3 November. He has long resisted demands by political opponents and the media to release decades of tax information. He is the first president since the 1970s to keep his tax returns concealed. The Times reported on Trump family tax affairs in late 2018, winning a Pulitzer Prize. “Even while declaring losses, he has managed to enjoy a lavish lifestyle by taking tax deductions on what most people would consider personal expenses, including residences, aircraft and $70,000 in hairstyling for television,” the Times reported on Sunday. “Ivanka Trump, while working as an employee of the Trump Organization, appears to have received ‘consulting fees’ that also helped reduce the family’s tax bill.” The paper added: “Over the past two decades, Mr Trump has paid about $400m less in combined federal income taxes than a very wealthy person who paid the average for that group each year.” Alan Garten, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, told the Times that “most, if not all, of the facts appear to be inaccurate”. He said: “Over the past decade, President Trump has paid tens of millions of dollars in personal taxes to the federal government, including paying millions in personal taxes since announcing his candidacy in 2015.” Only a fool would write off Trump. But there’s a reason he’s so desperate The newspaper pointed out that “personal taxes” appeared to cover other federal taxes, including social security and Medicare. The report prompted instant criticism. Ryan Thomas, a spokesperson for the progressive advocacy organisation Stand Up America, said: “Four years ago, Donald Trump broke decades of precedent when he refused to release his tax returns to the public. At each turn since, he’s attempted to shield his financial records from the public – even as congressional and criminal investigators look into how he’s profited off the presidency and his decades of fraudulent tax schemes. “We’ve demanded Trump’s tax returns for years because the American people deserve to know what he’s paying – and the answer appears to be very little. A man who uses dubious tax schemes to avoid paying taxes or lies to the public about his finances has no place in the Oval Office. “This is just one more reason why we must vote to evict him.” MORE; Trump’s taxes: key findings from the New York Times report *Recipe for chaos: 2020 election threatens to snap a US .* __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

28-09-20, 19:21	#7
Tarfoot Honoured Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: US Posts: 1,912 Thanks: 547 Thanked 1,107 Times in 992 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 5	re: Bitter TRUMP Liar & Cheat to The End Incites More Violence & Starts Lawsuits Ya can't believe a quarter of what the NY Times prints. They've done proved their non-sense. You'd do better believing the Enquisiter......(Enquirer). __________________ I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people -- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:1-4

01-10-20, 16:08	#8
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: Bitter TRUMP Liar & Cheat to The End Incites More Violence & Starts Lawsuits Proud Boys are a Dangerous White Supremacist Group say US Agencies -White Supremacists and Militias Have Infiltrated Police Across US, Report Says When Trump Defends Armed Rightwing Gangs, His Rhetoric Has Echoes of Fascism Presidential Debate Rules to Change After TRUMPS' Tirades What Happens if Trump Refuses to Leave The White House if He Loses? The Guardian UK / BBC NEWS, 1 OCT 2020. A desperate man (Image: AFP via Getty Images) Proud Boys are a Dangerous White Supremacist Group say US Agencies- White Supremacists and Militias Have Infiltrated Police Across US, Report Says Law enforcement have shown concerns about the group’s menace to minority groups and police officers, and its conspiracy theories The Proud Boys is a far-right and neo-fascist organization that admits only men as members and promotes and engages in political violence. It is based in the United States and has a presence in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. The far-right Proud Boys group whom Donald Trump told to “stand by” during this week’s presidential debate is seen as a dangerous organization by law enforcement, according to leaked assessments of the organization from federal, state and local agencies. Trump’s refusal to condemn white supremacists during the debate, and his suggestion that the Proud Boys “stand by” during the current 2020 election campaign sent shockwaves through American politics. The Southern Poverty Law Center calls the Proud Boys a hate group. Files from the Blueleaks trove of leaked law enforcement documents reveal warnings that the Proud Boys, who some of the US agencies label as “white supremacists” and “extremists”, and others as a “gang”, show persistent concerns about the group’s menace to minority groups and even police officers, and its dissemination of dangerous conspiracy theories. Repeated warnings about the Proud Boys, and descriptions of them as a dangerous white supremacist group, were issued by members of the national network of counter-terrorist fusion centers. The Colorado Information Analysis Center (CIAC) showed particular, repeated concerns about the group, and their activities in that state. A former FBI agent has documented links between serving officers and racist militant activities in more than a dozen states... In a 22-page 2019 document titled Violent Extremism in Colorado: a Reference Guide for Law Enforcement, published by CIAC, the state’s division of homeland security, and the Colorado department of public safety, various incidents of violence involving the Proud Boys are discussed under the heading of White Supremacist Extremism. On page 15 of the document, the group is discussed in terms of the “threat to Colorado” from white supremacist extremists, and the “concern that white supremacist extremists will continue attacking members of the community who threaten their belief of Caucasian superiority”. In illustrating this threat, the document reports on local members of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, and Charlottesville’s deadly Unite the Right rally, but also offers that “there have been several incidents in Colorado between the Proud Boys and Rocky Mountain Antifa, to include violent clashes at protests”, and “two members of the Proud Boys were convicted of assaulting Antifa members during a 2018 fight in New York”. Two pages later, the same document incorporates the Proud Boys, along with Atomwaffen, the Soldiers of Odin, and skinhead groups such as the Hammerskins in a list titled White Supremacist Groups with a Presence in Colorado. Later, CIAC pointed to the group as a source of Covid-19 conspiracy theories. On 10 May this year, in a bulletin on Covid-19 Protest Disinformation Campaigns, CIAC described how “the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group, has been active in spreading conspiracy theories regarding Covid-19 on Twitter, Facebook, and Telegram”, suggesting that “a faction of elites are weaponizing the virus, and a vaccine would likely be a tool for population control and mind control”. The bulletin also warns that “spread of disinformation has the potential to cause civil unrest and mass panic”. Agencies have defined the Proud Boys as a threat throughout most of their active existence. As early as August 2018, a brief from another fusion center, the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC), summarizes a report of rightwing groups gathering weapons before a rally. The basis for the warning is a July call from a named man to the Berkeley police department, expressing concern about someone who he knew “who is allegedly a member of the right-wing group called Proud Boys” who is “gathering masks, helmets, and guns and would have absolute war with the liberals at an event scheduled to take place in Berkeley on August 5, 2018”. A much-heralded Say No to Marxism rally was held in the city that day, and saw the Proud Boys and their allies outnumbered by counter-protesters. Mike Sena, executive director of NCRIC, told the Guardian that “everyone’s absolutely entitled to their freedom of speech”, but that “violence is a crime”, and that this kind of intelligence was passed to partners when “people mention the possibility of going to an event with weapons”. In 2019, the Texas-based fusion center, the Austin Regional Intelligence Center, warned in a Special Event Threat Assessment of potential dangers to the Austin Pride Parade. It identified the Proud Boys as being associated with a “growing backlash against Pride Month [which] has emerged in the form of the Straight Pride movement”, noting that “on 28 June 2019, a Trans Pride parade event in Seattle, Washington was disrupted by the alt-right Proud Boys organization”. There is also evidence of concern about the group from local agencies, some of whom define the Proud Boys as a gang. In 2019, a flyer from the Orange county, California, probation department advertised a “One Day Law Enforcement Training” day covering “white gangs”. In one session of the training day on 19 April, the flyer said, two probation officers would “delve into ideological groups including KKK in Orange county as well as other hate groups/gangs including RAM (Rise Above Movement), Proud Boys, Traditionalist Worker’s Party, Hammerskins, WAR, and cover Antifa and sovereign citizens”. White supremacists and militias have infiltrated police across US, report says.... Read More; *Report: White supremacists have infiltrated police across the US* When Trump Defends Armed Rightwing Gangs, His Rhetoric Has Echoes of Fascism Signalling to his base, as he did referring to the Proud Boys on Tuesday, the president is following a playbook from 1930s Germany... David Renton, a barrister You can imagine the men as they prepared for the showdown. For days, the papers had been predicting a “great sensation”. Press photographers besieged the entrance. No one could enter the building where the debate was due to take place without a special permit. In his dark blue suit, one question above all troubled the party leader, and with the help of his advisers, he puzzled how best to answer it. What if he was accused of links to fascist street gangs? This wasn’t the United States in September 2020. It was Germany in May 1931. For as the historian Benjamin Hett describes in his book, Crossing Hitler, the summer of 1931 saw Hitler being summonsed to court and accused of being complicit in the work of gangs who had beaten – and killed – their anti-fascist enemies. Hitler’s response was to play a double game. First of all, he was worried about looking weak in front of his supporters, who had called him a coward and a conformist. So he needed to signal that the gangs still had his support. Second, he tried to pretend that any harm caused by his supporters was necessary since the country faced a much more threatening enemy: the far left. “The SA men are the first men in the party,” he told his opponent, the private prosecutor Hans Litten. Then, in answer to Kurt Ohnesorge, the judge who moderated the hearing, Hitler said that the “red murderers” of the left were the real problem: “If an SA man really oversteps the boundary of self-defence, you can’t hold a man responsible for that.” Compare this to Donald Trump signalling to his base. During Tuesday’s presidential debate, he was asked: “Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacist and militia groups and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence?” He answered, “I would say almost everything I see is from the left wing, not from the right wing.” He continued: “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.” Then came the justification: “But I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about antifa and the left. Because this is not a rightwing problem, this is a leftwing problem.” Trump is wrong to pretend that the left is responsible for the violence on America’s streets. Between 1 January 1994 and 8 May 2020, white supremacists and other rightwing extremists in the US carried out attacks that left 329 people dead. In the same period, a single attack staged by an anti-fascist resulted in a killing. And during that incident, the one person who lost their life was the anti-fascist perpetrator. That survey ended in May. Since then, the number of killings carried out by anti-fascists has risen from zero to one. On 29 August this year a pro-Trump truck convoy made its way through Portland, firing paintballs and pepper sprays. A counter-protest saw an associate of the far-right group Patriot Prayer, Aaron J Danielson, shot dead. One anti-fascist, Michael Forest Reinoehl, admitted to the shooting in a media interview, but said he acted in self-defence. He was shot by US marshals on 3 September in Lacey, Washington. Even after Danielson’s death, the grim headcount remains: the far right has been carrying out killings at the rate of 300 to the anti-fascist one. The 1920s saw a similar disparity of casualties. The most detailed survey of deaths in Weimar Germany, carried out by the German mathematician Emil Julius Gumbel, found 314 murders carried out by the right in 1918-22 and 15 by the left. After 1923, deaths fell almost to zero before resuming again from 1928 with the rise of the Nazis. In the US, since 2016 and Trump’s election, attacks on leftwing demonstrators have become more frequent. They have included the killing of anti-fascist protester Heather Heyer at Charlottesville. James Alex Fields Jr drove his car at protesters after being photographed earlier brandishing a shield with a fascist symbol right out of the 1920s (a bundle of rods and an executioner’s rod). He was sentenced to life in prison. There were the 11 worshippers shot at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, allegedly by Robert Bowers. And there have been the more than 100 white supremacists who have attempted to disperse anti-racist protests since the spring by driving their cars at demonstrators – the same method of attack as that used by Fields at Charlottesville. Hitler’s followers were responding to the electoral success of the left; they knew that in areas of Berlin the Communist vote was as high as 40%. And, in order to break the opposition to Hitler, they went into those districts and beat and killed antifascists. It was this violence that led to Hitler’s trial. The main purpose of the Proud Boys, in summer 2020, is the same. That’s why the they were in Portland last weekend, carrying posters denouncing anti-fascists and supporters of Black Lives Matters, and promising to drive the left out of the city. Trump is lying when he says that the left is responsible for the violence. In blaming the left he is encouraging his armed supporters and inviting further killings. In many ways Trump is a weak authoritarian. After four years in power, Trump has not gone to war. His opponents are at large and not in jail. But when Trump defends armed gangs, he echoes the worst moments in modern history. CONTINUED.... . __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

01-10-20, 16:37	#9
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: Bitter TRUMP Liar & Cheat to The End Incites More Violence & Starts Lawsuits Presidential Debate: Rules to Change After Trump-Biden Spat The commission that oversees US presidential debates says it will change the format to ensure the remaining two encounters between Donald Trump and Joe Biden are more orderly. One new measure could be to cut the microphones if the candidates try to interrupt each other, US media report. BBC 1 OCT 2020 The announcement follows Tuesday's ill-tempered debate that descended into squabbling, bickering and insults by Trump. President Trump's team has already criticised the commission's plans. The tone and tactics of the first presidential debate were criticised across the US and around the world. Trump-Biden debate pulled in 65 million TV viewers The fallout, however, has also been dominated by Mr Trump's refusal in the debate to explicitly condemn a far-right group called the Proud Boys. What are The Plans For The Next Debates? In Tuesday's debate, the candidates were given two minutes to answer moderator questions, before being allowed to address each other's response. However, President Trump constantly interrupted Democratic candidate Joe Biden leading to a series of chaotic exchanges in which both men talked over each other. The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) - a nonpartisan body that has organised presidential debates since 1988 - said it would soon announce new measures to help moderators "maintain order" in the remaining two debates. It said the first debate had "made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues". CBS News, citing an informed source, said the commission would spend the next 48 hours drawing up new guidelines and rules for the second debate on 15 October in Miami, Florida. Controlling the candidates' microphones is at the top of the list, CBS said, in order to prevent them interrupting the moderator or each other. Both campaign teams will be informed of the rules but they will not be subject to negotiation, the source added. What's The Reaction? Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh, who had described Tuesday's night's chaotic scenes as a "free exchange of ideas", criticised the plans. President Trump was the dominant force and now Joe Biden is trying to work the refs. They shouldn't be moving the goalposts and changing the rules in the middle of the game." Kate Bedingfield, deputy manager for Mr Biden's campaign, said the former vice-president would participate "under whatever set of rules the commission develops to try to contain Donald Trump's behaviour". While one snap poll on the debate gave Mr Biden a slight edge, other opinion polls suggest 90% of Americans have already made up their mind how to vote for and the debate may well have made little difference. 'The loser is us, the American people' __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

01-10-20, 17:41	#10
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: Bitter TRUMP Liar & Cheat to The End Incites More Violence & Starts Lawsuits What Happens if Donald Trump Refuses to Leave the White House If He Loses? The President has repeatedly signalled he won't accept the election result - but can he actually just refuse to leave? BBC 1 OCT 2020 Donald Trump has strongly signalled that if he loses, he won’t accept the election result. Asked during the fraught first televised debate of the 2020 Presidential Election whether he would tell his supporters to remain calm, and would wait until votes are counted, he said he couldn't promise to do that. He told moderator Chris Wallace: “I am urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully, because that’s what has to happen.” He added: “I hope it’s a fair election. If it’s a fair election, I’m on board. "But if I see tens of thousands of ballots being manipulated, I can’t go along with that.” In a chilling moment, the President added: "This is not going to end well." Here we look at what could be done if he refuses to step down. Trump has laid the legal groundwork to undermine an election result, but could he cling on to power? Trump has no power to hold on to office or cancel the election. Even if he holes up in the White House, his term will end on January 20. The 20th Amendment of the US Constitution says a president and vice president’s term “shall end at noon on January 20… and the terms of their successors shall then begin”. If he refuses to leave, what action would be taken? A president immediately and automatically loses their constitutional authority upon expiration of his term or after removal via impeachment. Trump would lack the power to direct the US Secret Service or other federal agents to protect him. While even former presidents enjoy Secret Service protection, agents are unlikely to follow an illegal order to protect one from removal from office. Joe Biden could direct federal agents to remove Trump from the White House forcibly. Could Trump order the army to protect him? Trump would also lose his power as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Could he be charged if he refuses to leave? Now a private citizen and not immune to prosecution, he could be arrested and charged with trespassing in the White House. What is the most likely scenario? Most believe he will eventually vacate the White House on his own accord albeit ,,,, begrudgingly. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

18-10-20, 17:10	#11
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: Bitter TRUMP Liar & Cheat to The End Incites More Violence & Starts Lawsuits How TRUMPS' Republicans Gutted the Biggest Voting Rights Victory in Recent History Black Voters' Mail-in Ballots Being Rejected at Higher Rate -Data from North Carolina suggests unfamiliarity with voting by mail and need to have witness signature may play a part Trump's hopes fade in Wisconsin as 'greatest economy' lies boast unravels. He pinned his re-election hopes on economic success – but the pandemic has transformed the terrain The Guardian UK, 18 OCT. 2020. The Fight to Vote Black voters in North Carolina are disproportionately having their mail-in ballots flagged for potential rejection in the battleground state, setting off alarms about disenfranchisement. North Carolina requires mail-in voters to get a witness for their ballots and at least 7,000 mail-in ballots have been flagged across the state because of a deficiency, according to data collected by Michael Bitzer, a professor at Catawba College who closely tracks voting data in the state. As of Wednesday, 40% of rejected ballots – 2,871 – were from Black voters, even though they comprised only 16% of the overall ballots returned. (A spokesman for the state board of elections cautioned some of the data may be outdated because local election offices have not been entering rejection data into the statewide system while legal challenges are pending.) The Rev Anthony Spearman, the head of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, attributed the higher rate at which Black voters’ ballots were being flagged to the fact that African Americans traditionally have not widely voted by mail in the state, instead opting for in-person voting. Many voters are getting tripped up by the state’s requirement that mail-in voters get a witness to sign their absentee ballot, he said. “The African American community, many of them for the first time, are utilizing absentee ballots and have not been cultivated to the practices thereof. There is a level of them being not aware of the process and how it goes and so they’re not filling out their forms correctly,” he said. Just 3% of the Black voters whose ballots were flagged for rejection voted by mail in 2016, according to data collected by Bitzer. “Voting by mail is very different than voting in person,” Bitzer said. “Until I’m presented otherwise I have to think lack of familiarity with the vote method process is probably what is hanging up so much of these ballots.” The North Carolina data underscores the conundrum Democrats are facing this year as they encourage supporters to cast their votes by mail amid concerns about Covid-19. A mail vote is more likely to be rejected than an in-person one and research has shown that first-time voters and minorities are all much more likely to have their ballots rejected. There is an ongoing legal battle in the state over how easy it should be for voters to fix a ballot flagged for rejection. Earlier this year state officials said that if voters had any omissions with the witness portion of their ballots – the section Spearman said was confusing voters – they could sign an affidavit and have their ballot count. But state officials quickly suspended that guidance amid objections from Republicans and ongoing litigation. On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that a voter could use an affidavit to fix small discrepancies with the witness section, but said the voter would have to cast a new ballot if the witness forgot to sign altogether. Republicans are appealing against the ruling. There also appears to have been some inconsistency in how strictly election officials needed to review a ballot to determine if it should be rejected. Earlier this month, state officials released a memo instructing local election boards that they should not automatically reject a ballot if an address for a witness was incomplete. Guilford county, home to Greensboro, was flagging nearly one in every 10 ballots that came in for rejection before the memo. Madeline Reed, a voter in the county, told the Greensboro News and Record her ballot was flagged for rejection because officials couldn’t read the letter “C” in her witness signature. The rejection rate in the county has since fallen to 2.2%, according to data collected by Michael McDonald, a political science professor at the University of Florida. “Our staff is very, very effective and they have been trained very well and they tend to scrutinize more closely the ballots they take a look at. And that may have something to do with the higher numbers in Guilford county,” said Spearman, who is also a member of the county’s board of elections. In-person early voting began Thursday in North Carolina and Spearman said he would encourage anyone who had their ballot flagged for rejection to forget about casting a new mail-in ballot and vote in person instead. “ I think people will go ahead and do that,” he said. MORE: The fight to vote *Trump's hopes fade in Wisconsin as 'greatest economy' boast ...* US elections 2020 . __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

20-10-20, 13:07	#12
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: Bitter TRUMP Liar & Cheat to The End Incites More Violence & Starts Lawsuits US Supreme Court Denies Republican Bid to Limit Pennsylvania Mail-in-Voting The USs’ highest court is allowing Pennsylvania to count ballots received up to three days after the presidential election The Guardian UK, 20 OCT. 2020. The supreme court is allowing Pennsylvania to count ballots received up to three days after the election, in a consequential ruling that will likely mean thousands more votes are counted in one of the most critical swing states in the election. The court on Monday rejected a Republican plea to pause a September ruling from Pennsylvania’s state supreme court that allowed ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by election day and received up to three days later. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s three liberal justices in the ruling, producing a 4-4 deadlock. The even split means that the state supreme court’s ruling stands. The ruling is a win for Democrats, who sought the extension in state court, and a loss for Republicans, who had asked the US supreme court to intervene. Nearly 900,000 voters in Pennsylvania have already returned their ballots, according to state data collected by Michael McDonald, a professor at the University of Florida. The justices made the ruling after an emergency request from Pennsylvania Republicans and, as is customary in similar cases, offered no explanation for their decision. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas all said they would have granted the Republican request. Pennsylvania typically requires mail-in ballots to arrive by election night in order to count. But last month, the Pennsylvania supreme court, citing potential postal service delays amid the Covid-19 pandemic, extended the deadline by three days, saying ballots should count as long as they are postmarked by election day. The court also required election officials to count ballots with no postmark or an illegible one. In a typical election, only around 1% of mail-in ballots are rejected, but that number is expected to rise this year as more people vote by mail for the first time. One of the top reasons mail-in ballots get rejected is because they arrive after election day. The decisions from the Pennsylvania supreme court and US supreme court offer important insurance against that kind of disenfranchisement. The ruling is a break from a string of rulings this year in which the US supreme court has upheld a swath of voting restrictions across the country, even amid the Covid-19 pandemic. But the Pennsylvania case had an important distinction; while all the voting cases that have reached the supreme court this year have been from federal courts, the Pennsylvania case came from a state court. More; Los Angeles ballots damaged after suspected arson attack on .. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

24-10-20, 16:44	#13
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: Bitter TRUMP Liar & Cheat to The End Incites More Violence & Starts Lawsuits Trump Paid Nearly $200,000 in Taxes to China, Trump Maintains Secret Bank Account in China New York Times says records reveal company bank account in China, and documents show he paid more tax there than at home Trump has a Chinese bank account and spent years pursuing business projects in the country. BBC News / The Guardian UK, 24 OCT. 2020. The account is controlled by Trump International Hotels Management and paid local taxes between 2013 and 2015. It was set up "to explore the potential for hotel deals in Asia", according to a Trump spokesman. Donald Trump, pictured here with President Xi Jinping, has portrayed China as a threat to the US Trump has been critical of US firms doing business in China and sparked a trade war between the two countries. The NY Times revealed the account after obtaining Mr Trump's tax records, which included both personal and company financial details. TAXES Trump Paid to 'The Enemy of America' Donald Trump maintains a bank account in China where he pursued licensing deals for years, according to a report that could undermine the president’s election campaign claim that he is tough on Beijing. Tax records reviewed by the New York Times showed a previously unreported bank account in China controlled by Trump International Hotels Management. The account paid $188,561 in taxes in China between 2013 and 2015 in connection to potential licensing deals, according the newspaper. Earlier reporting by the Times showed he paid just $750 in US taxes in 2016 and 2017. The recent tax records also showed Trump invested at least $192,000 in five companies charged with pursuing business deals in China. Those companies claimed $97,400 in business expenses, including payments as recently as 2018, the Times reported. Trump has waged his re-election campaign on his ability to stand up to China on issues from trade to human rights abuses in Xinjiang and political repression in Hong Kong as well as accountability for the spread of Covid-19. Under Trump, ties between China and the US have reached their lowest point in decades. The disclosures also come after Trump accused his opponent, Joe Biden, of being “weak on China” and described the Biden family as “selling out our country” to China. The Trump campaign has run attack ads against Biden’s son for having “inked a billion-dollar deal” with the government-owned Bank of China, allegations that have not been substantiated. Trump has previously pursued an office tower project in Guangzhou in southern China that did not come to fruition. AFP reported in 2016 that the Trump Hotel Collection negotiated with the government owned electricity company, State Grid Corporation of China, to brand and manage a major development in Beijing, resulting in a deal worth up to $150 million over 15 years. Negotiations were put on hold after the state-owned enterprise became the focus of a corruption probe. A lawyer for the Trump Organization, Alan Garten told the Times that the company had “opened an account with a Chinese bank having offices in the United States in order to pay the local taxes”. “No deals, transactions or other business activities ever materialized and, since 2015, the office has remained inactive,” he said. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

24-10-20, 21:30	#14
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: Bitter TRUMP Liar & Cheat to The End Incites More Violence & Starts Lawsuits US ELECTION: The Fight Intensifies as TRUMPs' Nasty Tactics, Jibs & Lies Increase Sky News •24 Oct 2020 On Saturday, Trump was filmed at the polling station in West Palm Beach Florida with just over a week until the US presidential election on 3 November....in a private library & chose not to meet the people __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

30-10-20, 11:50	#15
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	Americans Bought Record 17mil Guns Before Election-Year of Unrest Americans Have Bought Record 17m Guns in Year of Unrest, Analysis Finds Sales surged in the spring amid coronavirus fears and climbed higher during protests for racial justice The Guardian UK, 30 OCT. 2020. Americans have bought nearly 17m guns so far in 2020, more than in any other single year, according to estimates from a firearms analytics company. Gun sales across the United States first jumped in the spring, driven by fears about the coronavirus pandemic, and spiked even higher in the summer, during massive racial justice protests across the country, prompted by police killings of black Americans. “By August, we had exceeded last year’s total. By September, we exceeded the highest total ever,” said Jurgen Brauer, the chief economist of Small Arms Analytics, which produces widely-cited estimates of US gun sales. The estimated number of guns sold in the US through the end of September 2020 is “not only more than last year, it’s more than any full year in the last 20 years we have records for”, Brauer said. The previous record for estimated firearms sold in a single year was 16.6m in 2016, when Hillary Clinton ran for president against Donald Trump and endorsed a strong gun-control platform, he said. The spike in gun sales comes amid rising tensions and intense political polarization. Citing “the current unrest”, Walmart removed guns and ammunition from display in stores this week, as a “precaution” against theft if stores are robbed, the Wall Street Journal reported. The retailer did not confirm when firearms and ammunition would be put back on display but said that customers could continue to buy guns and ammunition by request. Walmart has already restricted the types of guns and ammunition it sells in the wake of mass shootings and other instances of gun violence. Last year the company announced it would no longer sell ammunition for military-style rifles after a white nationalist terror attack targeting Latino families at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. The increase in gun sales appeared to be primarily driven by more purchases of handguns, though Americans were also buying more rifles and other long guns, Brauer, the firearms analyst, said. While there is no hard data on how many Americans bought a gun for the first time this year, advocates across the political spectrum say they believe that many of the guns sold in 2020 went to new gun owners. Fears about lawlessness and government instability drove many people to purchase firearms, according to a recent survey of California residents conducted by researchers at the University of California, Davis. Of the people who said they had bought guns this year, “Two-thirds expressed worry about lawlessnes, and close to half worried about prisoners being released. Half also cited worry about the ‘government going too far’,” said Nicole Kravitz-Wirtz, the lead author of the study. In the past, demand for guns in the US has typically spiked in reaction to events that are seen as increasing the risk of new gun control laws, including major mass shootings and the chance that a Democrat might win the White House. Barack Obama was known as America’s greatest gun salesman, while firearm sales initially slumped under Trump, whose election victory was backed by more than $30m from the National Rifle Association. This year, months of sustained demand for firearms has resulted in continuing shortages, as well as rising prices, gun owners say. “I don’t think there’s been anything like it in my 30 years of being involved in firearms,” said Chuck Rossi, one of the founders of Open Source Defense, a gun-rights group created by current and former tech workers. “There’s no inventory. There are no guns to buy. There is no ammunition to buy. There continue, to this day, to be lines at the gun counters, with empty shelves.” Gun violence prevention advocates said the sustained surge in gun sales was deeply troubling and could contribute to an increase in domestic violence, suicide, and children accidentally shooting themselves or other people with adults’ guns. An increase in gun purchases in just the first three months of the coronavirus pandemic was associated with a nearly 8% increase in firearm violence in the US, according to an estimate from researchers at the University of California, Davis. That increase translated into an estimated 776 additional shooting injuries in the US from March through May, the researchers found. States that had lower levels of violent crime pre-Covid saw a stronger connection between additional gun purchases and more gun violence. “The gun industry thrives in a culture of fear. Their business model is based on a model of leveraging people’s fear in order to buy these products, and they never talk about the risk,” said Robyn Thomas, the executive director of the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. “The common thread is just uncertainty,” said Kareem Shaya, a gun rights advocate and another founder of Open Source Defense, which has organized dozens of video training sessions for first-time gun owners this year. “A feeling of, hey, if nobody else is going to be able to take care of me, push comes to shove, I want to be able to take care of myself.” __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

02-11-20, 11:10	#16
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: Bitter TRUMP Liar & Cheat to The End Incites More Violence & Starts Lawsuits US ELECTION: FBI Investigating Trump Armed Supporters who Swarmed Texas Campaign Bus Trump calls violent armed supporters ‘patriots’ He sparks fresh fears of election night chaos with threat to 'send lawyers' The US President has spent months preparing the ground for him to claim victory before results are counted - branding the election a fraud and questioning the process “Armed Trump trolls harassing Biden Bus on I35, ramming volunteer vehicles & blocking traffic for 40 mins,” Texas state representative Rafael Anchía wrote on Twitter. BBC News, 2 NOV 2020. The FBI has confirmed it is investigating an incident in which a convoy of vehicles flying flags in support of President Donald Trump’s re-election bid surrounded a tour bus carrying campaign staff for Democratic challenger Joe Biden on a Texas highway. Friday’s incident prompted the Biden campaign to cancel at least two of its Texas events as Democrats accused the president of encouraging supporters to engage in acts of intimidation. “FBI San Antonio is aware of the incident and investigating,” special agent Michelle Lee, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in San Antonio, told Reuters in an email. “No further information is available at this time.” In response to news of the FBI’s investigation, Trump tweeted on Sunday night that the people involved in running the bus off the road were “patriots”. The historian Eric Cervini, who had flown to Texas to help with get-out-the-vote efforts, posted a video on Instagram that showed a long line of cars with Trump paraphernalia stalled along the highway, waiting for the Biden-Harris bus. “These Trump supporters, many of whom were armed, surrounded the bus on the interstate and attempted to drive it off the road,” he wrote, adding: “As a historian who studied the rise of the Third Reich, I can tell you: this is how a democracy dies.” The ambush, which took place on Friday as the bus traveled from San Antonio to Austin to conclude a three-day tour, included a crash between a white SUV and a black truck, police in San Marcos confirmed, though it was still unclear who caused the collision. Officers there had tried to provide a police escort for the Biden-Harris bus but were not able to catch up because of traffic. Even as dramatic footage from the scene caused widespread alarm, President Donald Trump threw his support behind the so-called Trump train, tweeting “I LOVE TEXAS!” Earlier on Sunday, he asked supporters at a rally in Michigan: “Did you see the way our people … were… protecting this bus ... because they’re nice. They had hundreds of cars. Trump! Trump! Trump and the American flag.” Trump also said Biden supporters lacked such spirit and enthusiasm. One Texas Republican official, Naomi Narvaiz, applauded the caravan’s tactics to force the bus to leave: “Your kind aren’t welcome here!” “Funniest thing I’ve ever seen, man!” a Facebook user recording from New Braunfels guffawed in a video posted on Friday. “They’re, like, literally escorting him out of town.” A spokeswoman for Living Blue in Comal county, a local progressive group, told the Guardian the incident was a reflection of larger problems in the area, where “racist” locals “just kind of run this town, like the Klan did”. The spokeswoman, who asked to remain anonymous because she feared being targeted, added: “They’ve dragged the BLM flag. They’ve called people the N-word from their truck. So it’s straight up harassment and intimidation. And then, to see President Trump validate them by retweeting their video and saying he loves Texas, he’s basically endorsing domestic terrorism.” Amid safety concerns, Democrats in Texas cancelled multiple events. According to the Texas Tribune, the FBI was investigating. The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr, had previously encouraged members of the Trump train in Texas to “get out there” and “have some fun” at the expense of vice- presidential nominee Kamala Harris, who was campaigning in the state but was not on the bus when the incident occurred. Two days out from election day, Texas is close, Trump leading Biden by 1.5 points, according to the FiveThirtyEight.com polling average. Tariq Thowfeek, Texas communications director for the Biden campaign, said in a statement: “Rather than engage in productive conversation about the drastically different visions that Joe Biden and Donald Trump have for our country, Trump supporters in Texas instead decided to put our staff, surrogates, supporters, and others in harm’s way.” US representative Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat who represents constituents from San Antonio to Austin, said: “This aggressive, abusive conduct by his supporters results from Trump continuing to incite acts of intimidation and violence. We have to stand up to these bullies just as we seek to protect the right of every last Texan to vote out the Bully-in-Chief.” Donald Trump plans to send lawyers into key states as soon as voting ends, amid growing concern he'll try to claim victory before the votes are counted. The US President has repeatedly refused to guarantee a peaceful transfer of power if he loses. And he has called for the result to be announced "on the night" despite many states still counting postal votes that arrive after election day. US Elections are never officially called "on the night" - in fact, it can often take weeks to certify the result. But TV news networks usually "project" a winner based on exit polls and other factors. Reports published today suggested the President planned to claim victory if it appears he is "ahead" of Biden on election night. This has been nicknamed the "red mirage" - in that it may appear that Republicans have won a state, but in reality they haven't. And the President has claimed without evidence that votes received after polling day are vulnerable to fraud - particularly singling out the state of Pennsylvania. Trump, it was reported, plans to claim he's won if he has a 'commanding lead' in Texas, Iowa, Georgia, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina and Arizona. He dismissed the report as "false". But he admitted he intends to send lawyers into key states to "dispute" ballots as soon as polls close. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

02-11-20, 15:14	#17
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: Bitter TRUMP Liar & Cheat to The End Incites More Violence & Starts Lawsuits 'Putin Could Only Dream of It': How Trump Supercharged Russias' Disinformation Playbook Threats from Trumps' Proud Boys, designed to intimidate voters.Trump directly ordered the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist street gang, to “stand back and stand by” before a television audience of 73m people Thousands of faked emails telling voters in Florida and Alaska to “vote for Trump or else” The Guardian UK, 2 NOV 2020. It seemed like the nightmare of 2016 all over again. On 21 October, less than two weeks before election day, US intelligence and law enforcement officials convened a last-minute press conference to warn that foreign adversaries were once again interfering in American democracy. Iran was spreading false tales about “allegedly fraudulent ballots” and sending spoofed emails purporting to contain threats from the Proud Boys, “designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest and damage President Trump”, said John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence. Meanwhile, both Russia and Iran had obtained access to voter information that could be used to “cause confusion, sow chaos and undermine your confidence in American democracy,” he warned. It was everything that Democrats and disinformation experts have been warning about for the last four years, except, well, not quite The email operation had been relatively small and immediately debunked, while voter roll information is either public or easy to obtain. Senior intelligence officials quickly raised doubts about Ratcliffe’s emphasis on the threat from Iran over Russia and questioned whether his motives for the public announcement were political , the New York Times reported. “It was very difficult to see those men in suits talking about interference in the election when the White House is the one interfering with the election,” said Claire Wardle, the executive director of First Draft, a group that researches and combats disinformation. After all, when it comes to intimidating voters or inciting social unrest, nothing has had more impact than the constant drumbeat of lies and disinformation from Donald Trump. Years of preparation by the press, social media platforms, and civil society groups for a foreign interference campaign against the US electoral process have been upended by the bizarre reality that the biggest threat to American democracy right now is almost certainly the commander-in-chief, and that his primary mode of attack is a concerted disinformation campaign. Because how much impact can a few thousand faked emails telling voters in Florida and Alaska to “vote for Trump or else” have on voters compared with Trump directly ordering the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist street gang, to “stand back and stand by” before a television audience of 73m people? And what kind of false tale of voter fraud could Iran possibly seed that could undermine Americans’ faith in the electoral process more than the disinformation about voter fraud and mail-in ballots coming straight from the White House and Trump’s campaign? “‘Don’t trust the electoral system, don’t trust the CDC, don’t trust your neighbor because they’re probably antifa, don’t trust the left,’” Wardle said of Trump’s re-election message. “It’s not about persuading people one way or the other, it’s about making them scared and causing confusion and chaos,” she added. “The media’s been obsessed with Russians under the bed, but to have the president of the United States telling people in the US that they can’t trust the results of the election – Putin could only dream of that kind of thing.” Social media tactics Russia’s disinformation campaign in the 2016 presidential election had two main vectors: a social media campaign to sow division and distrust among voters, and a “hack and leak” operation that resulted in the theft and publication of emails and documents stolen from Democrats and Hillary Clinton’s campaign. That hack and leak operation was incredibly successful, with caches of stolen material proving irresistible both for the mainstream press and for conservative activists and conspiracy theorists. People have been overwhelmed with falsehoods and confusion. When people get overwhelmed, they either fight or flee Whitney Phillips, Syracuse University The 2020 iteration of the hack and leak tactic – Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani pushing dubious emails and text messages supposedly obtained from a hard drive linked to Joe Biden’s son Hunter – has been something of a damp squib, however. “You don’t see the same kind of credulous, knee-jerk out-of-control amplification that you saw in 2016,” said Whitney Phillips, a professor at Syracuse University and author of The Oxygen of Amplification, a report examining how the press served the purposes of media manipulators, trolls and hate groups in 2016. The top newspapers have debunked and deflated Giuliani’s claims, and the idea of the pilfered hard drive has failed to capture the public’s interest in the same way that troves of stolen emails did. But while the Trump re-election campaign may have failed to recapture the magic of 2016 when it comes to hacked emails, the president has taken Russia’s 2016 social media playbook and supercharged it with the power of the White House. “I’m sure that there is some foreign influence stuff happening and we might know more about it later,” said Phillips. “But so much of the pollution is trickling down from the White House itself, and people have been absolutely overwhelmed with falsehoods and confusion over Covid and ballots … When people get overwhelmed, they either fight or flee. [Trump] is making it almost impossible for people not to get totally burned out and disgusted.” This year’s disinformation efforts on social media have taken aim at familiar societal fault lines. Both Russian operatives and the Trump campaign in 2016 targeted Black voterswith messages designed to depress enthusiasm for Clinton and suppress their votes. Similar efforts, especially those targeting Black women, are under way this election, said Shireen Mitchell, a disinformation researcher and founder of Stop Online Violence Against Women. “There are groups working to basically remove us from the Democratic party, and tell us a story that matches what we’re going through, speaks our language,” said Mitchell of campaigns such as “Blexit” and Walk Away. One version of Black voter suppression that Mitchell is monitoring encourages people to #VoteDownBallot but abstain from voting for either presidential candidate because “both candidates are the same”, often alongside the hashtag #ADOS, which stands for American Descendants of Slaves. Jacobo Licona, a disinformation researcher for Equis Labs, said he was tracking prominent far-right Latino Facebook pages pushing false information about voting and anti-Black Lives Matter messages. Efforts to paint Biden as a “socialist” are also particularly effective among Cuban and Venezuelan immigrant communities, he noted. The false idea that Biden is a socialist or communist is also a tactic in messages targeting some Asian American voters. One apparently effective attack suggesting that Biden had opposed accepting refugees after the Vietnam war spread like wildfire within the Vietnamese American community. The source of the canard appeared to be a Washington Examiner article that was published in 2019 but went viral on Facebook in October. (Biden did support allowing Vietnamese refugees to come the US, while Trump has attacked all forms of immigration, including reducing the number of refugees admitted each year to an all-time low.) “Older Vietnamese were especially angry about that,” said Thu Quach, an epidemiologist who helped to found Pivot, a progressive, volunteer organization fighting misinformation among Vietnamese Americans through a bilingual fact-check website. “It takes a lot of deep work to continue these conversations because it’s so deeply embedded to be anti-communist, and [conservatives] feed off that to paint Biden and Harris as communists.” Tech platforms, after belatedly and begrudgingly admitting their tools had been used to ill ends in 2016, have made reforms that make some of the old tactics obsolete. The Trump campaign’s 2016 use of Facebook to target Black voters with voting “deterrence” messages, recently confirmed by a Channel 4 investigation, is the kind of digital dirty trickery that should no longer be possible. Such reforms may be one reason Trump has been so openly fanning the flames of political violence, whether through his debate message to the Proud Boys or his call for his supporters to become “poll watchers”, said Joan Donovan, research director at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. “They’ve had to adapt to a more mass media strategy,” she said of the Trump campaign. “If you can’t utilize those other mechanisms, then you have to use the megaphone.” Trump’s blatant racism and ugly attacks on Black women, including the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, and the congresswoman Ilhan Omar, could also have the effect of suppressing turnout among Black voters, Phillips said, simply by demoralizing people and inducing despair. “If certain people feel just crushed under the weight of so much bull**, [Trump] is going to be the one to benefit,” she said. Controlling the narrative Even as volunteers like Quach work to fight false narratives and voter confusion ahead of election day, however, experts warn that the greatest scope for disinformation may still be to come. The surge in mail-in ballots is likely to delay the final results, and Trump has repeatedly telegraphed his intention to declare premature victory – or dismiss the election as “rigged”. “I think we’re going to look back at 2020 and realize that it’s all going to play out from 11.30pm on Tuesday,” said Wardle. “Misinformation flourishes when there’s a vacuum or confusion, and my fear is that there will be a lot of confusion and whoever succeeds in controlling the narrative will be very well placed.” In 2000, Al Gore never fully recovered from television networks’ premature declaration that George W Bush had won Florida, Wardle noted. “That made all the difference,” she said. “We know that Trump’s closest circle is ready to deploy. We know that the militias are ready to deploy. What we don’t know is if newsrooms are ready for the absence of information,” Wardle added. “Every newsroom should be very, very careful about what they publish, because they are going to become tools in the fight, and it’s going to be nasty.” Officials are warning about foreign interference – but unlike in 2016, the bigger threat comes from the White House... __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL** ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

03-11-20, 02:16	#18
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: Bitter TRUMP Liar & Cheat to The End Incites More Violence & Starts Lawsuits Judge Orders US Postal Service to Take Extraordinary Measures to Deliver Ballots on Time Several battleground states are experiencing severe mail delays as the election looms Judge rejects GOP effort to throw out 127,000 Houston, TEXAS votes; Judge rejects Republican efforts to halt early vote counting in Las Vegas North Carolina voting rights marchers pepper-sprayed; 93M have voted The Guardian UK, 3 NOV 2020. A federal judge ordered the US Postal Service on Sunday to take “extraordinary measures” to ensure mail ballots arrive on time. USPS is seeing a severe dip in on-time delivery rates leading up to the 3 November presidential election, according to the data from the agency. Some of the largest mail delays are in battleground states where late ballots could make the difference in which candidate wins the state – and possibly the election. The judge’s ruling involves USPS using its express mail service to deliver ballots within one to two days, which will be crucial in states that require that ballots be received by election day. On-time rates during the week of 17 October – when about 20 million Americans were sending in their mail-in ballots – fell to the lowest they had been all year. Only 81% of first-class mail was delivered on time. The mail delays have been especially notable in some key swing states. In the central Pennsylvania mailing district, where Philadelphia is located, on-time rates fell to 66% after being at about 90% just months earlier. In 2016, Democrats won Philadelphia by nearly 750,000 votes, but Trump made up the deficit with big wins in the more rural counties to win Pennsylvania by just 44,000 votes. In the Detroit mailing district, on-time rates for first-class mail fell to 63%. It was above 90% at the beginning of the year. Detroit and the surrounding suburbs are where Democrats accrued most of their margin in 2016, when Trump won the state by less than 11,000 votes. In both states, a record number of people have already voted by mail. But there are still hundreds of thousands of ballots that were requested but have yet to be returned. A mail delay could make the difference between whether a ballot is counted. For example, in Pennsylvania mail ballots must arrive by 6 November at 5pm. The postal service has come under scrutiny after Donald Trump’s ally Louis DeJoy was appointed postmaster general in May. DeJoy implemented cost-cutting changes to make the postal service more efficient, but that caused on-time rates to plummet. After complaints that USPS was purposely slowing down mail to help Trump’s re-election, Dejoy said he would suspend the changes until after the election. Soon thereafter, on-time rates rebounded – but they are now dropping again. RELATED: *Judge rejects Republican efforts to halt early vote counting ...* *Judge rejects Republican suit against 'drive-thru' voting* __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

05-11-20, 12:25	#19
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: Biden Leading in Pennsylvania & Georgia /FED Judges Deny TRUMP Bitter Trump, a Liar and Cheat to The End as US Election Slips From His Grasp. Trump Sues as Biden Edges Closer The US President falsely claimed he had won the election early on and alleged that Democrats were attempting to 'steal' the election - but did not offer proof because there isn't any Joe Biden has inched to within six Electoral College votes of the 270 necessary to win the US presidential election. Now requires him to win all four of the battlegrounds of Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. BBC News / Daily Mirror UK, 5 NOV 2020 "REMEMBER REMEMBER THE 5th of November, GUNPOWDER, TREASON and PLOT" Each candidate needs to win the 270 electoral college votes. BIDEN- 253 TRUMP- 214 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is in pole position for the presidency (Image: Getty Images) Maricopa Elections Office In Phoenix Closes Building Amid Pro-Trump Protest With the race still poised on a knife-edge, officials in Maricopa County, Arizona, have been forced to close the state’s ballot-counting facility amid safety concerns for the media as 200 Trump supporters - many of them armed - have reportedly gathered outside the building. But poll workers will continue to count ballots and report results amid the developing demonstration outside. Bitter Donald Trump threw an extraordinary tantrum as rival Joe Biden closed in on the White House. The hysterical President tried to whip up fury with a lying rant on the postal vote system, which was giving his rival a late lead. Mr Trump warned he would go to the Supreme Court in a bid to stop votes being counted after election day, despite the process being legal. He said: “This is a major fraud on our nation.” As his grip on power appeared to be slipping, Mr Trump also falsely claimed he had won the election, despite results clearly showing Mr Biden edging it. In a desperate bid to cling on to office while rival Joe Biden edged closer to the White House, the President launched a lying tirade and tried to subvert democracy by demanding postal votes stop coming in. Trump also falsely claimed he had won the election early on, despite results showing Mr Biden slightly ahead of him. During a meltdown at his campaign HQ – and with no evidence of voter fraud – he said: “We did win this election. Our goal now is to ensure the integrity for the good of this nation. “This is a very big moment. This is a major fraud on our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we’ll be going to the US Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop.” No citizen was casting votes after the election, but postal ones still have to be counted – which is legal. Mr Trump later tweeted: “Last night I was leading, often solidly, in many key states, in almost all instances Democrat-run and controlled. Then, one by one, they started to magically disappear as surprise ballot dumps were counted. VERY STRANGE.” Twitter immediately branded the post “disputed and might be misleading”. But the deluded President added: “We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. They are finding Biden votes all over the place… in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. He gets on the television and he says, ‘Thank you, Americans, for re-electing me. It’s all over. Have a good day.’ “But next day, and the day following, all of those mail-in ballots start getting counted, and it turns out that Biden was won those states, at which point Trump says, ‘See? I told you the whole thing was fraudulent. And we’re not going to leave office.’” Even Trump’s allies were disgusted by his claim of victory and demands to stop counting. And the Trump campaign tonight said it filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Michigan, laying the foundation to contest the results there. The court action demands better access for campaign observers to locations where ballots are being processed and counted. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL* ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

05-11-20, 19:34	#20
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: Biden Leading in Pennsylvania & Georgia /FED Judges Deny TRUMP Trumps' Legal Fightback Begins - Trump Campaign on Offensive With Barrage of Lawsuits Ballots found in bins. As many as 18 ballots being sent to people's homes. Dead people voting. Those are the allegations.... Americans take to the streets amid ongoing vote counts A night of unrest as both sides prepare to contest result of election... The Telegraph UK, 6 NOV 2020. BIDEN- 253 TRUMP- 214 Donald Trump white supremacist supporters protest the vote count in Nevada. Credit: AP Trump campaign this afternoon as the president's team confirmed it is filing a lawsuit in Nevada, a state which could be the key to Joe Biden winning the US presidential election. Richard Grenell, a former director of the US National Intelligence, said: "We are filing this federal lawsuit to protect legal voters" as he claimed representatives of the Republican party "are not being allowed to check" the validity of the count. It is one of a string of lawsuits being launched by the President's campaign team. Earlier Mr Biden declared it was "clear" he has won the election as projected victories in Michigan and Wisconsin pushed him within touching distance of the White House. Yet there are concerns the election limbo could lead to violence as thousands of people took to the streets across the US overnight. The counting of mail-in ballots in Philadelphia in the crucial state of Pennsylvania has been temporarily halted, it has been reported, as Democrats ask the state's top court to reverse a lower court ruling on ballot count observers. So how could Mr Trump win? After Mr Biden's victory in Michigan, the President's path to the White House has narrowed. Here is how he can still win. It is still possible that neither candidate secures 270 electoral college votes. This would be the legal process if that happened. The president's legal action could leave the result hanging in the balance for a long period. It took 36 days to settle the outcome of the 2000 election 'Stop The Count': Trump Supporters File Suit in Michigan to Stop Vote Counting... Republican's have filed into a Detroit polling centre chanting, "Stop the count". It comes as Donald Trump's campaign has filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia to halt the counting of votes in these areas. The new filings, joining existing Republican legal challenges in Pennsylvania and Nevada, demand better access for campaign observers to locations where ballots are being processed and counted, and absentee ballot concerns, the campaign said. It lays the groundwork for contesting battleground states as he slipped behind Joe Biden. AP called Michigan for Mr Biden on Wednesday. Nevada, Pennsylvania and Georgia are undecided. The Trump campaign is also seeking to intervene in a Pennsylvania case at the Supreme Court that deals with whether ballots received up to three days after the election can be counted. Mr Trump believes, without proof, that the US election is being stolen by the Democrats. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

06-11-20, 02:47	#21
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: Biden Leading in Pennsylvania & Georgia /FED Judges Deny TRUMP TV Networks Cut Away From Trumps’ Speech. Trumps’ Lies About The Election Results Proved Too Much. Federal Judge Denies Trump Motion to Stop Counting Votes in Philadelphia A federal judge has denied the Trump campaign’s motion to stop ballot counting in Philadelphia. This is the third campaign legal challenge to the vote count that has been dismissed. The Guardian UK, 5 NOV 2020. BIDEN- 264 TRUMP- 214 The president’s chances of winning re-election appear to be shrinking as states continue to count ballots. His increasingly desperate campaign has launched a series of lawsuits that are unlikely to have any bearing on the election results, but have served as a means to sow doubt in the legitimacy of the whole elections system. Update on Steve Bannon, the former Trump advisor who called for violence against US officials: A spokesperson for YouTube told the Guardian the video was removed for “violating our policy against inciting violence”, and that the account received a “strike”. (After three strikes, it would be terminated.) Bannon is also banned from uploading new content for at least a week. Alex Joseph, the YouTube spokesperson, added, “We will continue to be vigilant as we enforce our policies in the post-election period.” Twitter permanently suspended his account. LIVE RESULTS on LINE from The Guardian UK 5mins ago; Pennsylvania race grows tighter Donald Trump’s lead has shrunk to just over 26,000 votes. As batches of mail-in ballots are being processed, Joe Biden has been winning between 60% and 80% of the votes. Democrats in the state were more likely to vote by mail, while Republicans tended to favor in-person voting. That’s why Trump initially appeared to have a huge lead in Pennsylvania – in-person votes were counted first. Officials only began processing mail-in or absentee ballots on election day, and have been working to count all of those votes as fast as possible since then. 15mins ago; There are about 250,000 ballots left to count in Pennsylvania Biden is trailing by just under 49,000 votes. He’s been winning the mail-in ballot counts by 10 to 15 points, and could very well take the state. Pennsylvania backed Trump in the 2016 presidential election, but voted for the Democratic candidate in 2012, 2008, 2004 and 2000. Trump needs the state’s 20 electoral votes to win. 16 mins ago ; Georgia is a virtual tie Trump is ahead by just 1,902 votes. The two candidates are tied at 49.4% each. 14 mins ago ; There are about 16,000 votes left to be counted in Georgia Biden, who is trailing by just about 2,500 votes, has been winning huge shares of the mail-in ballots that officials are continuing to count. His chances of overtaking the president in the red state are looking increasingly possible. 25 mins ago ; Trump lead in Georgia and Pennsylvania shrinks Joe Biden’s is trailing the president by just under 2,500 votes in Georgia, as election officials continue counting ballots. In Pennsylvania, Biden is trailing by 48,800 votes after officials released a new batch of ballot counts from Delaware county. Biden has a good chance of winning both states, with uncounted ballots from liberal-leaning counties yet to be tabulated. Biden is now 6 electoral votes away from being declared the victor. Donald Trump’s path to victory is narrower - but still possible. 34 mins ago ; Biden's lead in Arizona shrinks further as Maricopa county releases more results Joe Biden has maintained a lead in Arizona, but Donald Trump trails by just over 46,000 votes. 37 mins ago ; More results from Arizona are coming in, leaving Donald Trump trailing behind Joe Biden by just 56,833 votes. VIDEO AIRED Before Some Networks CUT Away From TRUMP & His Lies; __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

06-11-20, 14:01	#22
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	TV Networks Cut Off TRUMP/Fed Judges Deny TRUMP-Counting Votes Must Continue US Election 2020: BIDEN- 264 TRUMP- 214 Biden Edges Ahead of Trump in Georgia as Pennsylvania Race Tightens Biden takes lead in Pennsylvania and Georgia as he inches closer to beating Trump Tally of mail ballots continues to skew heavily in Democrat’s favor as his lead in the national popular vote stretches to over 4m Philadelphia election officials continue vote count as Trump tries to create chaos While the president attempts to sow doubt about results, workers have been methodically counting the city’s 358,257 mail-in ballots The Guardian UK, 6 NOV 2020. Joe Biden, the US Democratic presidential challenger, has reached what appears to be a tipping point in the contest for the White House, taking the lead in Pennsylvania and Georgia as the tally of postal ballots continued to skew heavily in the Democrat’s favour. With a Biden victory looking assured, CNN reported that a “national defence airspace” would be established above the Democratic candidate’s house in Wilmington, Delaware, meaning he would begin to receive the protection of the US military, the first trappings of the presidency. But a smooth transfer of power still looked far from certain. Donald Trump and a handful of loyalists continued to allege election fraud, without any evidence. Biden was reported to be seeking to rally prominent figures from both parties to endorse the legitimacy of the election, at a nervous moment for US democracy. After whittling down a substantial lead for Donald Trump in Pennsylvania on election night, Biden’s vote count passed the president just before 9am, building up a narrow edge of 5,587. Many of the roughly 130,000 votes yet to be counted in the state are in Democratic areas, and Democrats make up a disproportional share of postal ballots. Winning Pennsylvania would also win the presidency, no matter what happens in the other states remaining undecided, but Biden also had the advantage there. In the early hours of Friday morning in the US, Biden had moved to a 1,096-vote advantage in Georgia with thousands of ballots still left to be counted – many in counties where the former vice-president was in the lead. The Georgia secretary of state reported late on Thursday there were about 10,000 ballots still to be counted in the state, a must-win for Trump in order to keep any chances of re-election alive in the race for the 270 electoral college votes that will determine the presidency. Biden’s lead over Trump in the nationwide popular vote stretched to over 4m, as he amassed a record 73.7m, but the president’s tally of 69.7m was the second highest in US political history – reflecting the fact that while Trump seemed doomed to defeat, Trumpism will remain very much a force. As Biden closed in on victory on Thursday night, he urged calm after an inflammatory and falsehood-filled Trump address from the White House where the president once again claimed he had won. The latest voting figures accelerated increasingly frantic efforts by Trump and his campaign to undermine confidence in the election, threatening a rash of litigation amid unfounded claims of election rigging. Donald Trump has again claimed he is being defrauded in a rigged US election in a speech so dishonest that multiple TV networks cut away mid-stream. His surrogates, including his sons Eric and Don Jr and personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, have been spreading similar misinformation on social media. All eyes are now on Pennsylvania, the battleground state most likely to declare a result next. With ballot counting still ongoing in a handful of battleground states, federal and state officials have not reported any instances of widespread voter fraud. Judges in two closely contested states — Michigan and Georgia — have already dismissed lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign. The campaign said it had also launched a lawsuit against the Philadelphia board of electors, seeking an injunction to bar ballot counting unless Republican observers are present. Trump’s baseless claims of electoral fraud have spurred continued protests outside counting centres in key states like Pennsylvania and Arizona. In Philadelphia, police have uncovered a plot to attack a building where ballots were being counted. Why are the media reporting different US election results? __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

06-11-20, 18:30	#23
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: Georgia Announces Recount After Biden Lead in Pennsylvania & Georgia US Election 2020: BIDEN- 264 TRUMP- 214 Joe Biden Has Taken The Lead in Both Pennsylvania and Georgia Winning Pennsylvania would push Mr Biden beyond the 270 electoral votes needed in the race for the White House. AP, 6 Nov 2020 A declaration seems to be imminent. Democratic nominee Joe Biden has taken the lead in both Pennsylvania and Georgia, two key states vital in the final push to win the US presidential election. But, the race is by no means over: votes still need to be counted in both states, and the advantages in Pennsylvania and Georgia are both razor thin. Democrat Joe Biden has overtaken Trump's lead in the two battleground states Pennsylvania and Georgia, inching him closer to a possible victory. Angry protests have been reported at vote counting centers elsewhere. With Joe Biden urging patience as the last votes are counted, President Trump has again gone on the attack. In his first appearance since election night, Trump made a series of unsubstantiated claims that he's being robbed of a second term. State election officials insist there's no evidence of any wrongdoing. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

06-11-20, 23:22	#24
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: Georgia Announces Recount After Biden Lead in Pennsylvania & Georgia US Election 2020: BIDEN- 264 TRUMP- 214 Georgia Announces Recount After Presidential Race Too Close to Call The Guardian UK, 6 NOV 2020. Election officials in Georgia announced a recount on Friday after the presidential race was deemed “too close to call” in that state. Joe Biden overtook Donald Trump in Georgia, historically a Republican stronghold, at around 4.30am ET to secure a lead of 1,579 votes. Related: What's happening in Pennsylvania? The state that may be about to tip the US election Trump and Biden were locked in a tight contest on Friday, with the Democrat edging ahead, to get the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. For Trump, Georgia is a state he must win. But with such a razor-thin margin, Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, said ballots will undergo a recount. “Right now, Georgia remains too close to call. Of approximately 5m votes cast, we’ll have a margin of a few thousand,” he said in a press conference. He added: “With a margin that small, there will be a recount in Georgia.” If Biden goes on to win Georgia, it would mark a major victory for the Democrats – and a huge upset for the Republicans – in a state that has been reliably Republican for decades. The last time a Democratic presidential nominee won in the state was Bill Clinton in 1992. In 2016, Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Georgia by five percentage points. Raffensperger acknowledged that Georgia’s result has “huge implications for the entire country” and officials said the unofficial tally could be completed by the end of the weekend. He added: “The stakes are high and emotions are high on all sides. We will not let those debates distract us from our work. We will get it right, and we will defend the integrity of our elections.” Georgia does not run automatic recounts, but candidates can request them if the margin is within 0.5%. The announcement of a recount came after a judge dismissed a lawsuit from the Trump campaign over the state’s handling of absentee ballots in Chatham county. The Trump campaign has launched a swath of legal cases across the country, which are largely intended as a distraction and are founded on weak legal arguments, experts say. Related: Trump's lawsuits are diversionary tactic with little legal basis, experts say __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

07-11-20, 12:57	#25
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Plans to Pardon Himself, Family & Joe Exotic? US Election 2020: BIDEN- 264 TRUMP- 214 Rupert Murdoch-Owned US Outlets Turn on Trump, Urging Him to Act With Grace Fox News, Wall Street Journal and New York Post all show stark change of tone as their former champion faces ‘presidential endgame’ The Telegraph UK / The Guardian UK, 7 NOV 2020. Multiple Rupert Murdoch-owned conservative media outlets in the United States have shifted their messaging in a seeming effort to warn readers and viewers that Donald Trump may well have lost the presidential election. The new messaging appears to be closely coordinated, and it includes an appeal to Trump to preserve his “legacy” by showing grace in defeat. The message is being carried on Fox News and in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post – all outlets avidly consumed by Trump himself, especially Fox. One Fox News host, Laura Ingraham, an intimate of the president ever since she spoke at the 2016 Republican national convention, made an astounding statement that seemed directed at Trump personally, advising him to accept defeat “if and when that does happen” with “grace and composure” and appealing to his sense of his own legacy. Ingraham said in part: “If and when it’s time to accept an unfavourable outcome in this election, and we hope it never comes, but if and when that does happen, president Trump needs to do it with the same grace and composure he demonstrated at that town hall with Savannah Guthrie. So many people remarked about his tone and presence. Exactly what he needs The Wall Street Journal has published an opinion piece with almost the exact same message. It is titled “The Presidential Endgame” and subtitled “Trump has the right to fight in court, but he needs evidence to prove voter fraud”. “Mr Trump’s legacy will be diminished greatly if his final act is a bitter refusal to accept a legitimate defeat,” the piece warns. Here is how the article opened: “Perhaps it was inevitable that Donald Trump’s re-election campaign would end as his presidency began: with the president claiming victory and his frenzied antagonists denouncing him as a would-be fascist. The reality is that the US can and probably will have a normal election outcome regardless of the shouting between now and then. “Mr Biden is leading in enough states to win the presidency, and if those votes survive recounts and legal challenges, he will be the next president.” Top editors at the New York Post – which before the election was the launch vehicle for wild and desperate attacks on Joe Biden’s son Hunter – have “told some staff members this week to be tougher in their coverage” of Trump, the New York Times reported, citing two anonymous employees of the paper. The Times piece said: “On Thursday, in a sudden about-face, Rupert Murdoch’s scrappy tabloid published two articles with a wildly different tone. One accused the president of making an ‘unfounded claim that political foes were trying to steal the election’. The headline on the other described Donald Trump Jr as the ‘panic-stricken’ author of a ‘clueless tweet’.” News coverage at Fox News has similarly shown little patience with the lies about voter fraud Trump is advancing in hopes of reversing the election. Asked about the Trump campaign’s assertion that Republican observers had not been allowed to observe vote-counting, the Fox correspondent states flatly: “That’s not true. It’s not true. It’s just not true.” __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

07-11-20, 13:22	#26
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Plans to Pardon Himself, Family & Joe Exotic? US Election 2020: BIDEN- 264 TRUMP- 214 What's Happening With Lawsuits, Postal Votes and Recounts in The US Election? Five swing states face lawsuits from Donald Trump, who claims fraudulent votes have been counted in multiple counties The Telegraph UK, 7 NOV 2020. Donald Trump has launched legal challenges in five key US states, alleging that election officials are counting fraudulent votes. As a result, the winner of the election could be unclear for weeks, and the damage to public confidence in the democratic process could last much longer. Which states are facing voting challenges? Michigan The Trump campaign filed a lawsuit seeking to halt voting in Michigan on Wednesday, November 4th, claiming that Republicans were not allowed to observe counts 'meaningfully' in several locations A state court judge dismissed it. Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens made the ruling during a court hearing on Thursday. She said she planned to issue a written ruling this Friday, November 6th. She also said the defendant, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, was the wrong person to be suing because she doesn't control the logistics of local ballot counting, even if she is the state's chief election officer. The lawsuit claimed Ms Benson, a Democrat, was allowing absentee ballots to be counted without teams of bipartisan observers as well as challengers. She was accused of undermining the "constitutional right of all Michigan voters ... to participate in fair and lawful elections." The state was key to Donald Trump's victory in 2016, when he flipped it from the Democrats by less than 11,000 votes, but this year Joe Biden has won its 16 electoral votes with 99 per cent of the votes counted. Georgia Joe Biden has taken a slim lead in the key state of Georgia as of Friday night (GMT). Votes are still being counted in the state, meaning the race could continue to be exceptionally close - Mr Biden's lead was just over 4,000 votes. As things stand, Mr Biden has 49.4 per cent (2,456,845 votes), while Donald Trump has 49.3 per cent (2,452,825 votes). Georgia is a vital state for the president, who needs to win more of the remaining states than Mr Biden in order to grab the presidency. If Joe Biden wins Georgia, he will have 269 of the electoral votes - a razor thin margin. The Georgia Republican Party and President Trump have asked a judge to secure and account for all late ballots. A Republican poll watcher claimed that election officials in Chatham County, Georgia, added 53 mail-in ballots which arrived late to a pile of lawfully collected votes. Mail-in ballots are expected to lean toward the Democrats. A judge dismissed the lawsuit, however, Chatham County Superior Court Judge James Bass did not provide an explanation for his decision Thursday, November 5th, at the close of a roughly one-hour hearing. The county includes the heavily Democratic city of Savannah. Georgia state officials have indicated that a recount is likely due to the narrow margin between Mr Trump and Mr Biden. A recount can be requested by a candidate if the margin is under 0.5 percent of votes cast according to Georgia state law. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said: "“Right now Georgia remains too close to call. Out of approximately 5 million votes cast we’ll have a margin of a few thousand. With a margin that small, there will be a recount in Georgia.” A formal recount will be likely to take place in late November. Wisconsin Mr Trump's reelection campaign is seeking a recount in Wisconsin after Mr Biden won by less than 0.7 per cent of the vote. Under state law, a recount may be requested if the margin of defeat is less than one per cent. The Trump campaign also claimed there were 'irregularities' in vote counting, but did not expand on what those might be. Nevada With Joe Biden leading, Republicans have hurled multiple lawsuits at Nevada. The Trump Campaign announced it would sue the state to stop counting after they claimed ballots have been cast by non-residents and on behalf of the deceased. A request by the campaign to halt counting in Clark County, Nevada, which usually leans towards the Democrats, was rejected by the state Supreme Court on Tuesday. The latest batch of votes were released on Friday night (GMT). With an estimated 87 per cent of the votes counted, Joe Biden is leading Donald Trump by more than 22,600 votes. Pennsylvania Multiple legal challenges have been filed by Donald Trump in Pennsylvania. Notably, they have become involved in a Supreme Court case which challenges a state law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted until this Friday, November 6. The president won a different lawsuit in the state on Thursday 5th, which means observers can stand six feet from count officials. As of Friday night (GMT) Mr Biden has extended his lead in Pennsylvania by 49.6 per cent, to Mr Trump’s 49.3 per cent, with an estimated 98 per cent of votes counted. Officials have said they expect most votes to be calculated within hours. What has caused the confusion? There are different voting and counting rules in different states. Recount margins vary and in some states, like Pennsylvania, voter ID is required for first-time mail-in and absentee votes. In 21 states, like Nevada, mail-in ballots can be received after election day, but in others they cannot Difficulties with administration - absentee ballots need to be checked against the rolls, and this slows up counts in some neck-and-neck states More people have voted by post due to the coronavirus pandemic, creating counting delays In most states, postal votes have favoured Joe Biden more than votes cast on election day. This is possibly due to the two candidates different messages on coronavirus, but the Trump campaign has been alleging these votes are fraudulent for several weeks Big-city counts take longer. And urban areas generally vote Democrat When will the election result be final? All disputes must be settled by December 8. On December 14, electors will formally cast their votes in the Electoral College. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

08-11-20, 11:53	#27
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Plans to Pardon Himself, Family & Joe Exotic? US Election 2020: BIDEN- 29O TRUMP- 214 Joe Biden Wins US Presidential Election and Says 'It's Time To Heal' Democratic supporters celebrate - but bitter Trump warns the election is 'far from over' and shows no sign of conceding as Joe Biden declared winner In a statement, Trump vowed he 'will not rest' until there was an 'honest vote count'...Trump refuses to concede defeat as recriminations begin. Jared Kushner has approached Trump about conceding the election The Telegraph UK, 8 NOV 2020 Joe Biden was declared the winner of the US presidential election on Saturday, confining Donald Trump to only a single term and bringing to a close four tumultuous years in the White House.... President-elect Joe Biden addressed supporters in his home state of Delaware on Saturday in his first speech since winning the US presidential election 2020. He pledged to bring the nation together saying now is the time for "healing". Joe Biden has said he is “honoured and humbled” after winning the US Presidential election. He crossed the threshold of 270 Electoral College votes needed by winning the states of Pennsylvania and Nevada. In a statement the President-Elect said: “In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted. Proving once again, that democracy beats deep in the heart of America. It’s time for America to unite. And to heal.” The election has seen the highest turnout since 1900. Mr Biden has won more than 73 million votes, the most ever recorded for a US presidential candidate. The result denies Donald Trump a second term after a divisive presidency defined by the coronavirus pandemic, bitter culture wars and social unrest. There’s been a lot of congratulations from world leaders sent to president-elect Joe Biden, not all quite as barbed as those from Iran. Reuters report Iranian state media quoting president Hassan Rouhani saying that the next US administration should use the opportunity to compensate for president Donald Trump’s mistakes. “Trump’s damaging policy has been opposed...by the American people. The next US administration should use the opportunity to make up for past mistakes...Iran favours constructive interaction with the world,” Rouhani said. CNN's Van Jones brought to tears as Joe Biden wins US election Trump's Remaining Days in White House Could 'Sabotage' Biden's Victory \| 60 Minutes Australia __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

09-11-20, 11:02	#28
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Plans to Pardon Himself, Family & Joe Exotic? George W Bush Congratulated Joe Biden on His Victory and Said The Election was Fundamentally Fair 'Wounded animal' Donald Trump More Dangerous Than Ever in His Final Days of Power The sitting president may have lost the election to Joe Biden but don't expect him to go quietly, or concede or act like any other person would in his final two months 'Biden Bounce' Sees Japan Shares Hit 29-Year High as Stock Markets Soar After Biden Wins The Telegraph UK, 9 NOV 2020. Shares in Japan hit a near 30-year high on Monday, the first day of trading following news that Joe Biden had won the US presidential election. Japan's main share index - the Nikkei 225 - closed up 2.1% at a level not seen since 1991. Stock markets across Asia also saw healthy gains with a positive sentiment in Australia, China and Hong Kong. What is Trumps' Next Move? He is under mounting pressure to concede the US presidential race as George W Bush congratulated Joe Biden on his victory and said the election was "fundamentally fair". The former president became the most prominent Republican to draw a line under the election. With the Trump campaign escalating calls for donations to fight legal challenges, First Lady Melania Trump was reportedly privately urging her husband to concede. US Editor Ben Riley-Smith reports on a confused picture from the White House. This is what happens if Mr Trump refuses to concede the presidency. Before the 2016 election, Mr Trump boasted he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and people would still vote for him. Experts believe the courts may not be so forgiving now. Mr Trump faces a blizzard of lawsuits and the potential threat of jail after office. By now, Donald Trump’s presidency should be dead in the water – but tonight political experts warned the lame duck leader could cause chaos during his last 73 days in power. His defeat – the first of an incumbent president in four decades – will have left the ultimate sore loser spitting feathers. And critics fear that could make egotistical Trump more “dangerous” than ever. They warn he will be hellbent on wreaking as much havoc as possible before he leaves the White House on January 20, packing courts and government posts with his preferred people and blocking Biden appointments. Political pundit Tori Malvern told the Sunday Mirror: “Like a wounded animal, Trump is more dangerous today than he ever was while comfortably sitting in the Oval Office. “He will remain a hero among millions of the Republican electorate and any resistance to his plans will be fiercely met by his loyalists.” Today Trump continued to discredit his own country’s election process. He made it clear he will not respect the counts or concede to Joe Biden. Donald Trump met with 'orange crushed' sign at golf club as Biden family attend church While the rest of the world congratulated the new President-Elect, Trump played golf in Virginia and was still insisting: “This election is far from over.” And his official statement left no one in doubt that he plans to launch lawsuit after lawsuit to get his own way. Trump faces a battery of legal cases on leaving office. Biggest threat to president is tax investigation in New York Donald Trump is Booed & Greeted With Middle Finger as He Returns From Golfing Internet says 'pack your bags'as He Returns to White House... __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

09-11-20, 11:35	#29
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Plans to Pardon Himself, Family & Joe Exotic? US President-Elect Biden Pushes Forward With Plans For Office Joe Biden plans flurry of executive orders to reverse Trump policies on first day in office Joe Biden’s early months in power will be spent unpicking and reversing Donald Trump's policies He is to make tackling the coronavirus pandemic his top priority following his win over Donald Trump, his team says. BBC, 9 NOV 2020. Joe Biden is set to sweep away some of Donald Trump’s most controversial policies on his first day as US president on January 20, using the powers of the Oval Office to remove key planks of his predecessor's agenda.... Announcing the first steps in his transition plan, his team said there would be more testing and Americans would be asked to wear masks. On Monday, Mr Biden is expected to name a 12-member coronavirus task force. His win remains a projection as key states still count votes. Mr Trump does not plan to concede, his campaign says. Mr Trump is launching legal challenges to the results in several key states. He has made unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud, but election officials say there is no evidence that the vote was rigged against him. Mr Biden is forging ahead with his plans for assuming power in January after major US networks called the election in his favour on Saturday. That reportedly also includes a slew of executive orders - written orders issued by the president to the federal government that do not require congressional approval - aimed at reversing controversial Trump policies. According to US media: Mr Biden will rejoin the Paris climate agreement, which the US officially left on Wednesday He will reverse the decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization He will end the travel ban on citizens from seven mostly Muslim countries He will reinstate an Obama-era policy of granting immigration status to undocumented migrants who entered the US as children In his first speech as president-elect on Saturday, Mr Biden said it was "time to heal" the US and vowed "not to divide but to unify" the country. Addressing Trump supporters directly, he said: "We have to stop treating our opponents as enemies." He and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris have launched a website for the transition, saying the team will also focus on the economy, tackling racism and climate change. The projected election result means Mr Trump becomes the first one-term president since the 1990s. Meanwhile, the General Services Administration, a government agency tasked with recognising the president-elect and beginning the transition process, has so far not done so. Its administrator Emily Murphy, who was appointed by Mr Trump, has given no indication when this could happen. Until then, Mr Biden's transition team cannot access government funds or communicate with the federal agencies it will be staffing. Media reports suggested senior Republicans remained divided over how to react to Mr Biden's victory, with some refusing to publicly acknowledge the result of the ballot. The Republican leader in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, told Fox News that all recounts and legal challenges should be completed, adding: "Then and only then, America will decide who won the race." But former Republican President George W Bush congratulated Mr Biden on his victory, saying the American people could have confidence that the election had been fundamentally fair and that its outcome was clear. He also congratulated Mr Trump on a hard-fought campaign. What's Joe Biden's Pandemic Plan? The president-elect is vowing a major shift in the way the White House approaches coronavirus after Mr Trump repeatedly downplayed its gravity and resisted public health measures including wearing masks and social distancing. The Biden team has said it will ensure all Americans had access to regular and free testing and provide "clear, consistent, evidence-based guidance". The task force will be led by former surgeon-general Vivek Murthy and a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, David Kessler. Mr Biden also wants rules mandating the wearing of masks across the country, which he says would save thousands of lives. He plans to call on every American to wear a mask when they are around people outside their own household and wants state governors and local authorities to make this obligatory. The president-elect has regularly appeared in public wearing a mask while Mr Trump has largely avoided doing so. US cases rose by more than 100,000 on Sunday for the fifth day in a row while more than 237,000 people have died. Earlier this month top US virus expert Dr Anthony Fauci said the US "could not possibly be positioned more poorly" as the country approached winter and people spent more time congregating indoors. Mr Biden also announced plans to reboot the virus-hit US economy, which has seen millions more people become unemployed, by boosting manufacturing, investing in infrastructure, making childcare more affordable and reducing the wealth gap between different ethnic groups. How Will He Tackle 'Systemic Racism'? In another break with the Trump era - which saw Mr Trump accused of stoking of racial tensions and failing to condemn white supremacist groups - Mr Biden aims to make addressing racism a central pillar of his administration. He wants measures including better access to affordable housing for black and minority communities, fair treatment and pay for workers and enabling the Federal Reserve - the US central bank, which sets monetary policy - to do more to reduce racial wealth disparities. Mr Biden also wants to transform US policing by banning the use of chokeholds that have been involved in high-profile deaths at the hands of police, stopping the transfer of "weapons of war" to police forces and creating a national police oversight commission. He further plans to reduce the US prison population, which at more than two million people is the biggest in the world and includes a disproportionate number of black and minority inmates, and focus more on "redemption and rehabilitation". "Our criminal justice system cannot be just unless we root out the racial, gender, and income-based disparities in the system," his plan says. The US has been roiled by protests against police brutality in the run-up to the election. Footage of the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis in May sparked outrage around the world, and exit poll showed that racial inequality was the second-biggest factor determining how people voted after the economy. What are Mr Trump's Plans? President Trump will hold a series of campaign-style rallies across the country to build support for the legal fights challenging the outcome, campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying. The BBC projected Mr Biden's victory on Saturday after gains in the key battlegrounds of Pennsylvania and Nevada propelled him over the 270 electoral college vote threshold required to clinch the White House. Mr Trump has not spoken in public since the numbers were announced, but he has repeated previous claims of voter fraud in tweets, which have been marked by Twitter as a "disputed" claim. The president played golf at the Trump National Golf course in Virginia on Sunday but did not talk to reporters After Mr Biden was projected to win Mr Trump remained defiant, saying Mr Biden was "falsely posing as the winner" and insisting the election was "far from over". The president took more than 70 million votes, the second-highest tally in history. Mr Trump has vowed to contest the election results on several fronts. A recount will be held in Georgia - where the margins are tight - and Mr Trump wants the same in Wisconsin, but recounts rarely change results. He has also vowed to take legal action to the Supreme Court, alleging voting fraud without evidence. If the election result is challenged, it would require legal teams to challenge this in the state courts. State judges would then need to uphold the challenge and order a recount, and Supreme Court justices could then be asked to overturn a ruling. The Trump campaign has filed a lawsuit over ballots cast on election day in Arizona that it claims were incorrectly rejected. Arizona's secretary of state, however, said in a statement that the case was "grasping at straws". What Happens Next? Votes in some states are continuing to be counted and results are never official until final certification, which occurs in each state in the weeks following the election. This must be done before 538 chosen officials (electors) from the Electoral College - which officially decides who wins the election - meet in their state capitals to vote on 14 December. The electors' votes usually mirror the popular vote in each state. However, in some states this is not a formal requirement. The new president is officially sworn into office on 20 January after a transition period to give them time to appoint cabinet ministers and make plans. The handover of power takes place at a ceremony known as the inauguration, which is held on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington DC. MORE; Surge in youth voter turnout may have helped propel Biden to victory __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

13-11-20, 15:12	#30
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Plans to Pardon Himself, Family & Joe Exotic? Joe Biden Ignores Trump Obstruction to Press Ahead With Cabinet Selection Homeland Security experts find no fraud as Trump digs in. - Election ‘most secure in American history' The president-elect is likely to value Washington experience but must balance the wings of his party and a possibly hostile Senate The Guardian UK, 13 NOV 2020. A coalition of federal and state officials have said they have not seen any evidence of voter fraud in the presidential election. A statement issued from cybersecurity experts said the election was in fact the “most secure in American history”, because of the reviewing and double-checking processes currently taking place across the US. “While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too,” the statement said. But with just six in 10 Republicans believing that Biden won the election, Trump’s claims appear to be cutting through to voters, and experts warn that his continuing allegations threaten to undermine Americans’ trust in voting and pose a national security threat. Despite this, Biden has continued to press ahead with preparations for his presidency, including selecting his cabinet. Here, the president-elect has the opportunity to set the political direction for his administration – and to send a clear message to Trump that he will be moving to the White House in January. President-elect Joe Biden’s team is pressing forward with preparations to take over the federal government when his term starts despite virtually no help from Donald Trump’s outgoing administration. Biden faces choices that will either please or anger the bickering wings of his party as leftists and centrists vie to set the direction of the incoming Democratic administration. The process also sends a clear message to the Republican party and Trump: Biden won and will be sitting in the White House come January. “The truth is the Trump administration can file whatever it wants to the federal register, can do whatever executive orders it wants until noon on January 20th, and at that moment they can no longer do it and the Biden people get to stop whatever they had in the pipeline and put whatever they want in their own pipeline,” said Tevi Troy, who helped run the transition to the second Bush-Cheney term in 2004. Troy also authored Fight House: Rivalries in the White House from Truman to Trump. The Biden team, Troy added, “know the things they want to stop from happening and they’re just going to go do it”. Senior Republicans are Starting to Defy Trump The longest-serving Republican in the Senate, Iowa’s Chuck Grassley, has joined calls for Biden to receive the daily intelligence briefings that would normally be given to presidents-elect. So far, Trump has denied Biden access to the briefings because he does not acknowledge his victory. His comments came after the Republican governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, said that Biden’s victory should be accepted. Even staunch Trump ally, senator Lindsey Graham, who has publicly stated that the president should not concede the election, said Biden should be invited to the briefings. This marks a significant blow to Trump The Trump-Fox News love affair is over Trump launched a Twitter tirade against Fox News on Thursday, accusing them of forgetting “what made them successful”. Fox, which has long been supportive of Trump, was one of the first to call the election for Biden and has since told its viewers that Trump’s claims about the election are unsubstantiated. China Congratulates Joe Biden on Election Victory __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

13-11-20, 23:48	#31
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Plans to Pardon Himself, Family & Joe Exotic? BREAKING: Trump Says 'Time Will Tell' Who'll Be In Charge in January •13 Nov 2020 Sky News Donald Trump has again called into question the US election result, saying; 'time will tell who'll be in the White House in January'. This was the first time the president has spoken in public since Joe Biden won the US election - a result Trump disputes. Biden Becomes First Democrat in 28 Years to Win Georgia... North Carolina Sticks With Donald Trump With NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and others finally calling Georgia for the President-elect, Biden is the first Democrat to win the state since 1992. While Georgia is going to a hand recount, the Associated Press has not called the home of the late John Lewis and the pivotal Stacey Abrams, but this is already a big win for the Democrats. Ahead of Donald Trump, who still refuses to concede, by just over 14,000 votes in Georgia and with counties beginning to certify their ballots, Biden’s electoral college victory is now at a near TKO 306. Also today, Trump has been awarded North Carolina with a lead of 73,000 votes. That brings the outgoing incumbent’s electoral college tally to 232 – far short of the 270 needed to win. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

18-11-20, 02:27	#32
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Plans to Pardon Himself, Family & Joe Exotic? TRUMPS' Dangerous Threat to Iran > They Warn of ‘Crushing Response’ if Trump Targets Nuclear Sites Outgoing president reported to have looked at military options against Tehran and its allies TRUMPS' Last Stand -Pennsylvania Court Deals Trump Campaign Yet Another Defeat in Bid to Block Biden Win Court rules officials did not improperly block Trump’s campaign from observing counting of mail-in ballots AP/ The Guardian UK, 17 NOV 20... Patrick Wintour, Diplomatic editor, The Guardian Iran has warned of a strong response if Donald Trump goes ahead with plans to use the twilight of his presidency to mount a strike on Iran or its allies in the region. It was reported that Trump last week looked at options for striking Iran’s main nuclear site, but was dissuaded from taking action after his advisers warned it might lead to a larger conflict in the Middle East. The report was sourced to four US officials by the New York Times. Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei warned against such an attack. “Any action against the Iranian nation would certainly face a crushing response,” he said in remarks streamed on a government website. Trump is frustrated that his policy of maximum sanctions has not forced Iran back to the negotiating table and has not ruled out other military action against Iranian surrogate forces in the Middle East ahead of his first term ending in January. He has yet to concede defeat to Joe Biden, but appears to be looking for foreign policy legacy, including the further withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and Iraq US officials told Trump last week that inspectors from a UN nuclear watchdog had reported on Wednesday that Iran’s stockpile of nuclear material increased significantly, and that Iran had barred their access to another site where there is evidence of prior nuclear activity. Iranians are also monitoring sudden personnel changes inside the Pentagon, including Trump’s removal of the defence secretary, Mark Esper, and the recruitment of a group of hardliners. Little official explanation has been given for the reshuffle, leaving Iranian officials on guard for a military confrontation. Aides present at the meeting included the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, the acting defence secretary, and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. Officials said Trump had been dissuaded from striking the nuclear facility, but the possibility remains of targeting Iranian assets and allies outside of Iran, such as Iranian-aligned militias operating in Iraq. A day before the White House meeting, the report says, a small group of national security advisers met to discuss the issue. Pompeo is on a tour of the Middle East, including stops in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, three countries fiercely opposed to Iran. Pompeo also met with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on Monday. The three main European powers – the UK, France and Germany – would be fiercely opposed to any military strike and favour the reopening of US talks with Iran. The EU has already said it will support a EU-Iran business conference if sanctions are lifted by the US. It will take many years of any future President to undo the many insults/ offensive remarks Trump has done to many leaders of many countries to bring back the respect that America once had in the world Trump lacks empathy, understanding, knowledge and respect for anyone...... & HIS Mental instability & BITTERNESS grows stronger.. READ MORE: *Trump Fires Top Election Security Official Who Debunked* __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

24-11-20, 15:23	#33
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Plans to Pardon Himself, Family & Joe Exotic? TRUMP Accepts US Presidency Transition to Biden Must Begin President says he will continue to fight results as General Services Administration clears way for handover BBC •24 Nov 2020 Joe Biden has been elected America's 46th president The General Services Administration has declared president-elect Joe Biden the apparent winner of the US election, clearing the way for the formal transition from Donald Trump’s administration to begin after weeks of delay. The GSA said on Monday that it had determined that Biden was the winner of the 3 November race after weeks of Trump refusing to concede and violating the traditions of the transition of power at the White House. Trump said on Twitter he had directed his team to cooperate on the transition, but vowed to continue fighting the election results, despite the lack of evidence of widespread voter fraud. Hours later, he said: “Will never concede to fake ballots & ‘Dominion’.” Michigan certified Biden's victory despite Trump's efforts to undermine it Emily Murphy, who heads the GSA, said she made the determination based on “the law” and “facts.” “Please know that I came to my decision independently, based on the law and available facts. I was never directly or indirectly pressured by any executive branch official including those who work at the White House or GSA with regard to the substance or timing of my decision,” Murphy wrote in a letter to Biden. Murphy had faced growing pressure from Democrats and some Republicans to allow the transition to begin, as Trump’s efforts to challenge the results in numerous battleground states failed. A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Saturday tossed a Trump campaign lawsuit that sought to prevent certification in that state. And on Monday, Michigan certified Biden’s victory, despite an unprecedented push by the president last week to undermine that move to allow for an audit of ballots in Wayne county, where Biden won by more than 330,000 votes. GSA certification is a process that in typical election years occurs without fanfare or discussion shortly after the race is called by major news outlets. Murphy’s refusal to declare Biden the winner weeks after the election prevented the transition team of Biden and Vice president-elect Kamala Harris from accessing federal funding and meeting with government officials to prepare for inauguration on 20 January. The delay was particularly concerning given the urgent and unprecedented tasks facing the federal government amid a significantly worsening pandemic and economic crisis. The US must also begin work to prepare a national rollout of Covid-19 vaccines. There were also major concerns about the potential national security implications of a delayed transition, which blocked Biden from accessing classified briefings. After Murphy’s letter was made public, Trump tweeted, “We will keep up the good fight and I believe we will prevail! Nevertheless, in the best interest of our country, I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and have told my team to do the same.” The Trump legal team dismissed the certification as “simply a procedural step” and insisted it would fight on. Yohannes Abraham, executive director of the Biden transition, said in a statement Monday that the move by the GSA “is a needed step to begin tackling the challenges facing our nation, including getting the pandemic under control and our economy back on track”. He added: “In the days ahead, transition officials will begin meeting with federal officials to discuss the pandemic response, have a full accounting of our national security interests, and gain complete understanding of the Trump administration’s efforts to hollow out government agencies.” With GSA permitting the formal transition to start, more Republicans started to acknowledge the reality that Biden is president-elect. “President Trump’s legal team has not presented evidence of the massive fraud which would have had to be present to overturn the election,” said Bill Cassidy, a Republican senator from Louisiana. “I voted for President Trump but Joe Biden won.” A majority of GOP senators have refused to recognize Biden’s win, arguing that Trump should be allowed to pursue his cases in court, despite the lack of evidence of any widespread fraud that would change the outcome of the race. Since the Associated Press and other news organizations across the country declared Biden the winner on 7 November, five days after polls closed, Trump and his allies have continued to spread misinformation and baseless conspiracy theories, seeking to undermine the legitimacy of mail-in voting and falsely asserting that the election was “stolen”. Audits, recounts and the Trump campaign’s court cases, however, have resulted in no meaningful changes to the election results, and in some cases, Biden’s lead has only increased. Judges repeatedly threw out the Trump campaign team’s cases. But the false accusations of fraud did lead some election officials to seek to delay certification of the vote. The city commissioner’s office in Philadelphia, where counting took days, reported facing death threats, and Trump supporters have staged protests outside election offices across the US. Murphy’s letter came on the same day that Biden announced his selection for several key cabinet roles. The president-elect said he would be nominating Tony Blinken as secretary of state, Jake Sullivan as national security adviser and John Kerry as “climate tsar”, suggesting a return to the priorities of the Obama era. Biden also selected Alejandro Mayorkas for homeland security secretary. If he is confirmed, he would be the first Latino and migrant to have the position. He has further chosen Avril Haines to be the first female director of national intelligence and Janet Yellen to be the country’s first female treasury secretary. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

25-11-20, 14:12	#34
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Plans to Pardon Himself, Family & Joe Exotic? Trump Plans to Pardon Michael Flynn, Former National Security Adviser Flynn will be among a series of pardons before Trump leaves office, according to multiple reports The Guardian UK, 25 NOV 2020. Donald Trump plans to pardon his disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn before he leaves office, according to multiple media reports. Flynn will be among a series of pardons that Trump plans to grant before his term in office ends, multiple sources were reported as saying by Axios and the New York Times. Flynn admitted lying to the FBI about his contact with the former Russian ambassador to the US, and became a cooperating witness in Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign’s links with Moscow. Flynn was the only White House official charged in Mueller’s investigation. He has become a cause célèbre among the far right, with many of Trump’s most ardent supporters arguing the former national security adviser was a victim of the “deep state”. Efforts by Trump and the justice department to dismiss the criminal case against Flynn have become mired in lengthy legal battles in the courts. On Wednesday morning, Democratic congressman and member of the House intelligence committee Adam Schiff said that any such move would speak ill of America’s democracy. He said that such a pardon by Trump would show that “if you lie on his behalf, if you cover up for him he will reward you and he will protect you if it’s in his interests”. Schiff was a leading figure in the impeachment of Trump last year. The president was tried in the Senate and acquitted in early 2020. He said world observers would see the pardon as reflecting badly on the US. “It reflects so ill on our democracy, imagine what people around the world think when we have a president who is acting like an organized crime figure. But that is who Donald Trump is,” Schiff told CNN’s New Day. Read More; 'Conmen, grifters and criminals': why is Trump's circle so at ... Trump's coup failed – but US democracy has been given a scare __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

02-12-20, 16:46	#35
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Plans to Pardon Himself, Family & Joe Exotic? US Justice Department Investigates Alleged Bribery for Pardon Scheme at White House Heavily redacted court filing, which does not name Trump, comes as president reportedly is considering sweeping pardons The Guardian UK, 2 DEC 2020. An alleged “bribery for pardon” scheme at the White House is under investigation by the justice department, according to a court filing unsealed on Tuesday. The heavily redacted document does not name Donald Trump or other individuals and leaves many unanswered questions, but comes amid media reports that the US president is considering sweeping pardons before he leaves office next month. It shows that the justice department investigation alleges that an individual offered “a substantial political contribution in exchange for a presidential pardon or reprieve of sentence”. Two individuals acted improperly as lobbyists to secure the pardon in the “bribery-for-pardon schemes”, as the document puts it. All three names are blacked out. On Tuesday night, a justice department official told Reuters that no US government official is the “subject or target” of investigation into whether money was funnelled to the White House in exchange for a presidential pardon. Trump issued a brief response on Tuesday night, resorting to one of his favourite phrases to criticise the media even though the details were contained in official court papers. “Pardon investigation is Fake News!” he tweeted. The watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew) tweeted in response: “It’s hard to overstate how big a deal the phrase ‘bribery-for-pardon schemes’ is.” The document was unsealed by the district court for the District of Columbia, in Washington. Some of its 20 pages are entirely redacted, implying that revealing the details now might jeopardise an ongoing investigation. They discuss a review by chief judge Beryl Howell in late August of a request from prosecutors for documents gathered for the bribery investigation. More than 50 digital devices including iPhones, iPads, laptops, thumb drives and computer drives were seized after investigators raided unidentified offices. It was not clear why Howell decided to release the filing now. Trump last week pardoned Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser, who had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Trump and Rudy Giuliani, his personal lawyer, discussed as recently as last week the possibility of a “pre-emptive pardon”. Giuliani tweeted a denial. The court disclosure unleashed a whirlwind of speculation in Washington. The Democrat Adam Schiff, the chair of the House of Representatives’ intelligence committee, told the MSNBC network: “People shouldn’t presume – and there may be a tendency to leap to the – that this may involve some of the personalities that have been very much in the news and are worried about their criminal liability. “It may be someone that we’ve never heard of that wants a pardon and is well-heeled and therefore in a position to make a sizeable contribution. So it doesn’t have to be any of the parties that we think that may want a pardon: the [Paul] Manaforts, the Giulianis and others. It could be someone completely different but, at the end of the day, someone in that chain has to be close enough to the White House where they could conceivably deliver on the official act of pardon if the bribe were paid.” Reuters contributed reporting.... Read More; Trump reported to have discussed granting 'pre-emptive pardons' for his family First Thing: Barr rules out voter fraud as court paper ... __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

05-12-20, 14:39	#36
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,552 Thanks: 27,622 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMPS' WALL Fails to Stop Immigrants & Destroys Wildlife I Beg Your Pardon? Does TRUMP Really Plan to Absolve Himself and His Family? Rudy Giuliani, the Trump children – even Joe Exotic – are reportedly being considered, along with the soon to be ex-president David Smith in Washington, The Guardian, 5 DEC 2020. Rudy Giuliani. Ivanka Trump. Joseph Maldonado-Passage, AKA Joe Exotic, star of the Netflix series Tiger King. And, just possibly, Donald Trump himself. These are some of the candidates mentioned as prospects for official pardons before the US president leaves office on 20 January. Such a spree would test the political and constitutional limits of a centuries-old power that echoed the British monarchy. It would also be revelatory of the potential legal jeopardy of Trump and his allies once they depart the White House. “The fact that we’re even having this conversation speaks volumes about the level of criminal exposure that they all think that they have,” said Tara Setmayer, a former Republican communications director on Capitol Hill. “You don’t talk about pardons unless there is a concern about things that have been done wrong. It’s the antithesis of draining the swamp. What happened to that?” While presidents signing divisive pardons in the twilight of their administrations has become something of a Washington ritual, Trump is said to be considering an unusually high number of interventions in the cases of aides, friends and family members he believes have been unfairly imprisoned, indicted or put at legal risk. Last month’s pardoning of Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser who lied to the FBI about his conversations with a Russian diplomat, could be just the beginning. In the past week it emerged that the justice department is investigating an alleged “bribery for pardon” scheme at the White House. It was also reported that Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, whose business dealings in Ukraine are under investigation by federal prosecutors in Manhattan, had spoken to the president about a pardon. Giuliani denied the account. Among others hoping for Trump’s tender mercies are old allies convicted in the wake of the special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, which he continues to denounce as a hoax, including the former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, his deputy, Rick Gates, and ex-campaign aide George Papadopoulos. Donald Trump is reportedly considering pardons for his three eldest children, Ivanka, Eric and Don Jr. Photograph: Tasos Katopodis/AFP/Getty Images Gates, found guilty of financial crimes and lying to the FBI, said this week: “I think the president knows better than anybody the difficult and just tragic event of the Mueller probe and how all of us have suffered. I would be absolutely grateful for a pardon and I hope the president does it but, at the end of the day, it’s his choice. People ask me, ‘Would you take a pardon?’ Of course, absolutely. Who wouldn’t?” One such example is Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic and currently serving 22 years in prison for his role in a murder-for-hire plot against a longtime rival. In September he filed an application for a pardon with the justice department that included a handwritten letter to Trump asking him to “grant me a miracle”. But pardons can also come very close to home. The New York Times reported that Trump has asked advisers about the possibility of “pre-emptively” pardoning his three eldest children. Defenders of such a move could argue that family members are not off limits: in 2001, Bill Clinton pardoned his brother, Roger, who was convicted for cocaine possession in Arkansas. Trump’s offspring have not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing but, in a sign of potential legal perils to come, his daughter and senior adviser, Ivanka, was this week interviewed by lawyers in Washington alleging that Trump’s 2017 inauguration committee misused donor funds. In addition, Cyrus Vance, the Manhattan district attorney, and Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, have active tax fraud investigations into Trump and his family company, the Trump Organization. His son Eric, an executive vice-president of the company, was deposed in October because of his involvement. Joseph Maldonado-Passage, AKA Joe Exotic, sent a handwritten letter to Trump requesting a pardon. He is currently serving 22 years for a murder plot. Photograph: Netflix US/AFP via Getty Images Presidents can grant clemency to people who have not yet been charged, as President Gerald Ford did in 1974 when he issued a broad pardon to his predecessor, Richard Nixon. But the pardons apply only to federal crimes and do not extend to state laws, so Trump’s ability to insulate his family and himself is limited. Even so, a self-pardon might at least shield him from potentially the most serious federal case against him: Mueller’s final report identified 10 instances of possible obstruction of justice, and hundreds of former prosecutors concluded that the evidence supported such a charge. But a self-pardon would open a legal can of worms. In 2018, Trump declared that he had the “absolute right” to pardon himself but none of his predecessors – not even Nixon – ever put that to the test. Gates suggested that it would be justified “in the context of what he’s been through and being the only president in US history, Republican or Democrat, that’s been attacked over a sustained period, almost four years. There’s never been anything like it in the history of our politics.” He added: “So on that basis, if I were him, I would absolutely seriously consider it just for the mere fact that you wouldn’t want your enemies to come after you. I honestly don’t think Joe Biden will, but that doesn’t mean people under Joe Biden won’t and I think that’s the real threat in the federal level.” Many legal experts, however, contend that a self-pardon would be unconstitutional because it violates the basic principle that nobody should be the judge in his or her own case. Laurence Tribe, a constitutional law professor at Harvard University, argued in an email that it “flies in the face of the universally agreed proposition that the pardon power cannot be used as a license to commit future crimes”. Rudy Giuliani has denied discussing a pardon with Donald Trump. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP He added: “The basic problem is that, if a president were able to pardon himself, he could commit crimes with impunity throughout his presidency. He could ransack the treasury, bribe the chief justice to overrule Roe v Wade, and shoot someone on Fifth Avenue knowing he could never be punished.” The nation’s founders saw the pardon power as a way to show the quality of mercy. While Trump might undermine their credibility in the short term, experts say he is not the first president to be accused of abusing pardons and is unlikely to do lasting constitutional damage. David Super, a law and economics professor at Georgetown University, said: “The very discussion of it has undermined public confidence in them but it’s not an area where Congress can legislate. The only way that it could change would be through a constitutional amendment.” He added: “There have been people pardoned that many thought should not have been. President Clinton had some pardons that many people thought were at least ill-advised, if not corrupt, and President Ford’s pardon of President Nixon probably cost him any chance of being elected in his own right. “So there certainly have been criticisms of them but it’s so hard to amend the constitution that people haven’t felt energised enough to do that heavy lifting. But on the state level, where one governor or another abused the power and it’s not quite such a heavy lift to change the constitution, that has happened in many places.” Tiger King Joe Exotic, Who May Be Pardoned By President Trump, Checks In From Prison “Tiger King” Joe Exotic writes Trump handwritten letter in pardon application President Trump says he will look into Tiger King Joe Exotic’s case Trump Discussing Pardons For His Kids and Rudy Giuliani __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES