Wait - I didn't vote for that!

Whether deliberately or through apathy, Americans just elected a racist, sexist half-wit to the presidency and the most radical Congress in US history. Just some exuberant populism, right? Let's watch and learn.

[whitepeopletwitter]

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[saywhat-politics]

DoJ Bizarrely Brands NYC, Seattle, Portland as ‘Anarchist Jurisdictions’ in Move to Revoke Federal Funding

This month, President Trump issued a memo announcing his plans to cut off “lawless zones” from federal funding—cutting off Portland and Seattle.

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We all laugh - but intimidating non-cooperative levels of government is a standard agenda item for a group that wants to build an authoritarian state.

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Trump mocks MSNBC anchor Ali Velshi for getting shot with rubber bullet

President Donald Trump on Friday mocked an American news anchor for being shot with a rubber bullet during George Floyd protests in May, cal

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YouTuber Poops on Nancy Pelosi’s Driveway in Honor of President Trump, Says Report

After walking away from the scene, the streamer zooms in on his mess and proclaims: “That’s for President Trump.”

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The poop will last until Pelosi’s gardener, or one of her grandkids, find the hose. All traces will be gone next time it rains.

The video of this loser pooping will be on the internet forever.

Hey dude, congrats on “owning the libs.”

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Bill Barr gets angry when CNN’s Wolf Blitzer fact-checks him on voter fraud lies: ‘I don’t know what the laws are’

Attorney General Bill Barr appeared to get very upset when CNN host Wolf Blitzer fact-checked him on the GOP voter fraud conspiracy theories.

Speaking to the Trump lawyer Wednesday, Blitzer asked why President Donald Trump would be encouraging people to commit voter fraud by voting twice. Trump said in an interview that people should vote by mail and then “if the system works” they should be able to go to their polling place and find out if their vote had already been counted. If it has not then they should vote again, according to Trump. That’s actually illegal, Blitzer explained.

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Yeah, he’s just the Attorney General of the United States. In an administration that claims to be VERY CONCERNED about voting fraud.

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Trump Stopped Going to Dover AFB To Receive Bodies After Getting Berated On First Visit

Vice President Pence attended "dignified transfer" ceremonies for two years by himself after the father of a slain SEAL "rattled" Trump In February 2017.

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White House doc's "herd immunity" plan could lead to long-term heart problems for many Americans

Even patients with no coronavirus symptoms may have heart issue months or years later, doctors are finding

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Baltimore postal facility sat on 68,000 pieces of election mail for 5 days ahead of primary, audit shows

An audit of U.S. Postal Service performance during the primary elections earlier this year has found 68,000 pieces of political mail sat untouched at a Baltimore mail processing facility just ahead of Maryland's June 2 primary.

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Толстой плакал

It’s always puzzled me that Russians - a proud, creative, energetic people that have made countless contributions to the world in the sciences, literature, music and many other areas - allow themselves to be ruled by a gang of brutal, corrupt, humorless thugs. The world sees today’s Russia primarily as a bleak commodity-producing dictatorship that bullies its smaller neighbors and tries to exert international influence through - get this - massive government-sponsored hacking and trolling social media. And poisoning people they don’t like. And the general population is either proud of all this or indifferent. It’s kind of pathetic.

Even more pathetic that the Republican Party in the US - from the president on down - admires Russia so much, and for the same reasons.

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Do you think Trump will be subject to prosecution for his many crimes after he leaves office?

If Trump loses reelection in 2020 (not a sure thing of course), expect him to resign the day before the new president is inaugurated, and Pence to give him a full pardon (along with pardons for Manafort, Stone and Flynn).

Republicans, pundits and more than a few Democrats will welcome this: time to move on etc. The country will be too swept up in the excitement of the new administration to care. The new administration itself will be glad to be rid of the distraction.

And Trump’s lifetime of getting away with shit will be complete. Soon we’ll see his name on schools, roads, airports. Brace yourself.

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A footnote to my previous post, if and when the full Mueller report is leaked, expect the leaker to be demonized and prosecuted mercilessly. Remember Reality Winner? Probably not - that’s my point.

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Can there be any better case study of how Republicans are so effective at manipulating media and public discourse than the Barr DOJ’s handling of the Mueller report?

1. Barr’s “summary “ letter established the basic spin of “no collusion, no obstruction“, even though it’s now clear the report is more nuanced. And of course taking advantage of nuance to establish favorable spin is a classic Republican tactic.

2. The letter set off a completely predictable round of Democratic retreat, recriminations, navel-gazing etc.

3. Congressional Democrats’ fully proper demand for the full report was recast as a”tiff”, part of a “feud” between Trump and Nader. Recasting straightforward legal issues in terms of personalities- also classic.

And the future course of events is perfectly obvious:

4. When the redacted report appears, the redactions will almost certainly shade the report in Trump’s favor. Congressional Democrats who have seen the full report will angrily assert this, and Mueller’s investigators will confirm. But Barr and Republicans will deny. And the media will report the controversy.

5. Democrats will subpoena the full report, Republicans will refuse, and it will go to court. Eventually - well after Trump has (hopefully) left office, it will reach the Supreme Court, which will rule in favor of Trump. The full report might well be leaked at that point, but it will attract little notice by journalists, because it’s no longer at the forefront of the news: “the country has moved on.”

6. And, many years later, historians will review the whole sorry history of the Trump presidency and find things that are even more shocking. But that will be much, much too late to matter.

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Ted Cruz on Twitter

“In Beto O'Rourke's own words #TXSenateDebate https://t.co/uUzW7DSqgo”

So apparently the Cruz campaign, no doubt on the advice of experienced, high priced consultants and operatives, thinks replaying this stirring denunciation of police brutality and incompetence will help Cruz win a Senate seat. I guess because it shows Beto O’Rourke stirring up passion among black churchgoers, thereby awakening primal fears among white voters. Making it an effective attack ad.

At a deep level I will never understand the South.

[saywhat-politics]

What If Trump Has Been a Russian Asset Since 1987?

A plausible theory of mind-boggling collusion.