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Reports of protests are overblown. A few incidents around the country, but nothing major.

5 (45.5%)

A few major incidents in capitals, but nothing much in DC.

5 (45.5%)

A major incident in DC, but nothing much around the country.

0 (0%)

More than 10 capitals have major upheavals, but nothing much in DC.

0 (0%)

A major incident in DC plus more than 10 capitals with significant upheavals.

1 (9.1%)

More than half the capitals around the country have problems with protesters, but DC is quiet.

0 (0%)

DC has major problems, while more than half the capitals around the country also have considerable trouble with protesters.

0 (0%)

Huge disruption to the day.

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 9

Voting closed: January 19, 2021, 10:49:21 PM

[josh]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/13/politics/trump-michigan-election/index.html

A Michigan state judge has rejected an attempt by two poll challengers to block the certification of a Joe Biden win in Detroit, which helped carry his victory in the state. The judge also denied the request for an audit of the election.

The case has been among a series of attempts by Republicans to delay President-elect Joe Biden's win in key states and hand an Electoral College victory to President Donald Trump, by blocking or overriding popular vote results.
"It would be an unprecedented exercise of judicial activism for this Court to stop the certification process of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers," wrote Chief Judge Timothy Kenny.

Attorney David Fink, representing Detroit, said at a hearing Wednesday that blocking the finalization of Michigan's votes would either knock the state out of the Electoral College, kicking the selection of the president to the US House of Representatives, or would allow the Republican-held state legislature to try to seat its own slate of electors.

Earlier this month, Kenny also denied a request in a similar lawsuit to stop the certification of election results in Detroit, noting there was no evidence that oversight procedures had not been followed.

CNN has projected Biden as the winner of the state by almost 3% over Trump, with nearly a 150,000 vote lead.

The Trump campaign has a separate lawsuit open in federal court that makes a similar attempt to slow down the certification of the state's vote for Biden. That case is in its earliest stage.



Kenny debunked several allegations of fraud made by poll watchers who attacked the election in Detroit, as part of a broader ruling rejecting their effort to undercut the certification of Biden's win in the state. He called the accusations of widespread election fraud in Wayne County "incorrect and not credible."

Kenny went point-by-point to discredit the concerns brought forth by the seven people who claimed widespread voter fraud at the TCF Center, the absentee counting board in Detroit, and largely called into question why all of the serious allegations raised in the affidavits were only brought forward after the unofficial results of a Biden win were announced. Kenny also pointed out that none of the people attended a training session at the TCF Center that was available for all challengers to learn more about the facility and process, and therefore lacked a basic understanding of how the process worked.

"Perhaps if [they] had attended the October 29, 2020, walk-through of the TCF Center ballot counting location, questions and concerns could have been answered in advance of Election Day. Regrettably, they did not, and therefore, Plaintiffs' affiants did not have a full understanding of the TCF absent ballot tabulation process," Kenny wrote. "No formal challenges were filed. However, sinister, fraudulent motives were ascribed to the process and the City of Detroit. Plaintiffs' interpretation of events is incorrect and not credible."

Kenny took on individual allegations affidavit by affidavit. A furloughed Detroit city worker temporarily assigned to the Detroit City Clerk's office, Jessy Jacob, claimed that election workers and employees at satellite offices prior to Election Day were telling voters who to vote for, prompting Kenny to respond, "Ms. Jacob does not name the location of the satellite office, the September or October dates these acts of fraud took place, nor does she state the number of occasions she witnessed the alleged misconduct."

The judge also noted that Jacob failed to raise these concerns at the time, only coming forward after the unofficial results showed that Biden had won.

Kenny explained why there was no reason to be concerned about Jacob's claim that poll workers were directed to not compare signatures on the ballot envelopes she was processing at the TCF Center.

Citing evidence offered by longtime State Elections Director Christopher Thomas, who has worked for both Democrats and Republicans, Kenny wrote, "there was no need for comparison of signatures at the TCF Center because eligibility had been reviewed" previously. In response to Jacob's allegation that she was advised to pre-date ballots, Kenny again cited the experienced state official, who explained that this action was done to complete a data field inadvertently left blank when the absentee ballot was initially verified.

Kenny also summarily dismissed one challenger's claim that all the ballots they saw being delivered were votes for Biden, concluding "it is not surprising that many of the votes being observed by Mr. Sitto were votes cast for Mr. Biden in light of the fact that former Vice President Biden received approximately 220,000 more votes than President Trump."

Another witness's Facebook page was cited by the city of Detroit in their response filings, pointing to posts before Election Day where he expressed his views that Democrats were using the pandemic to cover up fraud. Judge Kenny cited the posts to cast doubt on his claims writing, "his predilection to believe fraud was
occurring undermines his credibility as a witness."

Addressing the various concerns raised by Zachery Larsen, a former assistant attorney general for the State of Michigan who also submitted a witness statement to the court, Kenny questioned why he hadn't filed any formal complaint when serving as a poll challenger, given his background as a lawyer and familiarity with the process.

Larsen claimed that ballots were being processed without confirmation that the voter was eligible, that he was unable to observe the activities of election officials because he had to keep six feet away, and that he was excluded from the TCF Center after briefly leaving on November 4 to get something to eat.

Kenny noted that voter eligibility was determined before ballots got to the TCF Center, a large monitor was at each table so challengers could view poll workers without getting too close, and again discredited the notion that poll challengers were kicked out of TCF, a point made in various lawsuits including those filed on behalf Trump.

While Kenny acknowledged that there was a certain point on November 4 where poll challengers who had left the main room were not allowed back in, this affected both Democrat and Republican poll challengers and the decision was only made to avoid overcrowding of the number of poll challengers already inside.

[bambu.]

http://www.vox.com/2020/11/13/21563782/joe-biden-president-2020-china-congratulate

Joe will need to get tough with China...as China is threatening war with Taiwan, if you believe the talk coming out of China.

[josh]

The excuses start already

"The Trump administration is leaving Joe Biden a hot mess when it comes to COVID"

- Juan Williams, Fox News

The lies continue.

The rate of deaths has QUADRUPLED in the last 9 weeks.

"excuses"

Grow up, Kid. Pretend to give a fuck about somebody else.

Pretend you can do logic.

You want me to "clean up" around here?

Really?!

[josh]

Appeals court rejects Pennsylvania mail-in ballot challenge

Also on Friday, a Republican congressional candidate from Pennsylvania lost a case on appeal that he had brought just before Election Day over ballots in Pennsylvania that arrived late.

The issue of the legality of those ballots was already at the US Supreme Court -- and still is there -- but Jim Bognet and voters had added to the effort in their own federal case that challenged those ballots.

The 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals decided the voters and Bognet, who lost his race in Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District, didn't have the ability to sue and had gone to court too close to the election, rejecting their case. The appellate decision was in line with the lower court's ruling in the case.

The ruling on Friday also appears to block voters from making broad, theoretical claims under the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution about the possible dilution of their votes.

Lawyers representing Republicans in other weak suits since Election Day have tried to make similar constitutional arguments to block Biden's win in several states, including Pennsylvania.

[Kam]

The excuses start already

"The Trump administration is leaving Joe Biden a hot mess when it comes to COVID"

- Juan Williams, Fox News

Biden has made no excuses.

[kidcarter8]

"It is a blessing that we have so many vaccine candidates - on the threshold - and that credit has to be given to this administration and this NATION.  Without this nation, these vaccines would not have been possible"


AMEN

[Kam]

"It is a blessing that we have so many vaccine candidates - on the threshold - and that credit has to be given to this administration and this NATION.  Without this nation, these vaccines would not have been possible"

You think the Anti-Vaxxers are impressed?

Can't praise Trump for a vaccine if you don't believe in vaccines.

[kidcarter8]

heh

Noted.

[josh]

"It is a blessing that we have so many vaccine candidates - on the threshold - and that credit has to be given to this administration and this NATION.  Without this nation, these vaccines would not have been possible"


AMEN

Pfizer would like to disagree. So would the Russians and Chinese.

Me? I am willing to give them credit for having pushed to get them done, brickbats for trying to push things through prematurely, and a grade of incomplete on finishing the job.

Plus... it would be far less urgent, if Trump had just done his job.

[josh]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/13/politics/john-kelly-statement-trump-transition/index.html

John Kelly disagrees with Kid on whether Trump is inhibiting the transition.

[Hairy Lime]

mrs bambu told me that:
Most of the cops she saw on the street in NY were of 'Mediterranean appearance' (incl Italy), who were not so tall and who were
'strutting around trying to look tough'.
Not many Black, or White cops in NY did she see.

Your wife doesn't include Italians as white? Jesus she is more racist than you are.

She doesn't make the race descriptions:

Mediterranen/Middle Eastern Appearance.
White European Appearance
African Appearance
Asian appearance
Aboriginal appearance
Indian appearance.
Cops made them up, had to stop using them..."racist."
Now it is "a man in white shirt and grey pants"...ridiculous.

Why not just use the term "Aryan" and be honest about it?

[kidcarter8]

Well run - and kind of celebratory presser today - complete with reports from key figures in COVID fight - and a zing at Governor Cuomo.

Thanks for the great work, Trump/Pence administration

Too bad for the press that they were unable to blurt out their asshat questioning.

----

So, do I have this right - Biden is planning on getting rid of the leaders of this operation, General Perna and the lead doctor?

[bambu.]

mrs bambu told me that:
Most of the cops she saw on the street in NY were of 'Mediterranean appearance' (incl Italy), who were not so tall and who were
'strutting around trying to look tough'.
Not many Black, or White cops in NY did she see.

Your wife doesn't include Italians as white? Jesus she is more racist than you are.

She doesn't make the race descriptions:

Mediterranen/Middle Eastern Appearance.
White European Appearance
African Appearance
Asian appearance
Aboriginal appearance
Indian appearance.
Cops made them up, had to stop using them..."racist."
Now it is "a man in white shirt and grey pants"...ridiculous.

Why not just use the term "Aryan" and be honest about it?

Many people would not know what that was/is.
Sometimes they use 'Caucasian'...same deal with that.

Mrs bambu's statement is what it is...most of the cops she saw on the streets of NY were of "Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance".

[josh]

Judges rule against Trump campaign in 6 Pennsylvania cases over absentee envelopes
From CNN's Katelyn Polantz

Two judges in Pennsylvania on Friday tossed a half dozen court cases the Trump campaign had brought to invalidate thousands of votes around Philadelphia, where voters carried President-elect Joe Biden to a win in the battleground state.

In total, the Trump campaign had sought to throw out almost 9,000 absentee ballots because their outer envelopes lacked a name, date or address, or some combination of the three that voters could have filled out.

In five related cases, Judge James Crumlish of Philadelphia County's Court of Common Pleas said the Trump campaign couldn't invalidate 8,329 ballots it alleged were improper. The judge ruled those ballots should be processed and counted.

In another case, the President's campaign sought for the Montgomery County Board of Elections to throw out 592 mail-in ballots where voters hadn't filled out their address on the outside envelope. Those ballots will be counted, the second judge, Richard Haaz of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, ruled on Friday.

Haaz found that state law didn't require voters to fill out the address section on the envelopes, and the instructions on the ballots didn't tell voters they must have filled them out more.

"Voters should not be disenfranchised by reasonably relying upon voting instructions provided by election officials," Haaz wrote.

The Trump campaign had said in court it wasn't alleging voting fraud in the cases, just attempting to enforce the rules.

Some context: Though the ballots are numbered in the thousands, they would not be enough for Trump to overcome Biden's win in Pennsylvania, even if all were Biden votes.

[bambu.]

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/dumping-ground-australia-charged-with-discouraging-electric-vehicles-20201113-p56efr.html

'Dumping ground': Australia charged with discouraging electric vehicles

Australia could become a parking lot for the world's petrol vehicles unless drivers are encouraged to buy more electric vehicles, industry and experts say, as prices for the cheapest electric models here can be double what they are overseas.

This year an estimated 4400 electric vehicles were sold in Australia, a mere 0.6 per cent of total car sales in that time.
University of Queensland research fellow Jake Whitehead said Australia had become a "pariah" in the eyes of manufacturers of electric vehicles because there were no major incentives to encourage consumer uptake, while other countries set ambitious goals and generous incentives to drive the switch from petrol and diesel engines.

"We are down the path to becoming a dumping ground and my fear is it will become worse," Dr Whitehead said.

#####

Electric cars?
Don't go far enough...no time to sit around by the side of the highway waiting for cars to charge up in 40C heat and pouring rain.
If I want to go see the in-laws I have to drive across Germany and halfway back to get there...and the same deal on return.