Daily Beast: “When Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) added her name to a letter to financial regulators in May urging them not to make changes to consumer credit reporting requirements during the pandemic, it seemed like a good case of home-state politics for the first-year senator.”

“Democrats had been pushing to suspend negative credit score reporting in the wake of COVID-19’s economic impact. But that was strongly opposed by the so-called Big Three credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. And one of those three, Equifax, happens to be headquartered in Atlanta, Loeffler’s hometown. But shortly after she signed the letter, its purpose became neatly aligned with her personal financial interests as well. In August, Intercontinental Exchange – the company run by Loeffler’s husband, Jeffrey Sprecher – announced a $10 billion acquisition of home loan data giant Ellie Mae, which had stood to be hurt by the proposal.”

“Federal prosecutors Wednesday charged a New Hampshire woman with texting threats to the chair of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers following the presidential election and sending photos of a bloody mutilated female body. Katelyn Jones, 23, formerly of Olivet, was charged with threatening violence through interstate commerce following an FBI investigation that probed lingering fallout from President Donald Trump’s defeat and baseless allegations about voting irregularities. The criminal complaint and an FBI affidavit filed in federal court describe threats made against Monica Palmer, chairwoman of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers, after she voted against certifying the election results.”

“Palmer declined comment Wednesday morning but is expected to speak later today. On Nov. 18, she received multiple threatening texts from an unknown person who utilized a cellphone with a 269 area code. ‘Damn it was not hard finding all of your information disgusting racist bitch,’ one text read. ‘I don’t tolerate people like you, in fact I consider you to be a terrorist and do you know what happens to terrorist,” the text read, adding Palmer’s name. ‘The messages were immediately followed by two graphic photographs of a bloody, deceased, nude, mutilated woman, lying on the ground,’ FBI Special Agent Emily Munchiando wrote in the affidavit” – Detroit News.

Houston Chronicle: “All John Fetterman wants for Christmas is the $3 million he says Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick owes him. The Democratic lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania has been trolling his Republican counterpart for weeks to collect on the $1 million Patrick offered in November for evidence of fraud in the Nov. 3 election. Three supporters of President Donald Trump have now been charged in separate voter fraud schemes in Pennsylvania. Fetterman says they should all count for bounty purposes. The most recent charges came this week against the second Pennsylvania man to be accused of casting a ballot for Trump in the name of his deceased mother.”

“‘We hit the jackpot with this last one,’ Fetterman said. ‘There are three documented cases three.’ ‘All I want for Christmas is my handsome reward from Dan Patrick,’ Fetterman tweeted on Dec. 18 with a Christmas tree and pleading face emoji. Fetterman says he’ll donate the proceeds to food banks in the form of gift cards to Sheetz and Wawa, competing Pennsylvania convenience stores with die-hard followings. Patrick has responded to Fetterman just once, in a tweet in November that read: ‘Faith in the electoral process is a serious issue. Transparency is critical. PA Dems brought this on themselves w/ last minute changes to election laws and counting ballots behind closed doors. Respond to the reports. Answer the questions. Stop the snide put-downs and #getserious’ Fetterman says he is serious about debunking the false allegations being thrown at his state. He has taken the lead in Pennsylvania pushing back on bogus claims of voter fraud circulated by Trump and his allies. Patrick honorary chairman of Trump’s campaign in Texas and his million-dollar reward are helping to disprove those claims, Fetterman says. ‘While it’s undoubtedly and undeniably hilarious these cases involved Trump voters and their dead mothers, it’s irrelevant because it documents how truly rare voter fraud is and how impossible it is to truly pull it off,’ Fetterman said.”

Apparently Dominion is suing people.

You know who owns all of these Dominion machines?

The American people.

Payed for by their tax dollars.

DEMAND a forensic audit!

Is Dominion going to sue all the Americans who bought their machines?

Yeah I don’t think so.

— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) December 23, 2020

AP: “White supremacists plotted to attack power stations in the southeastern U.S., and an Ohio teenager who allegedly shared the plan said he wanted the group to be ‘operational’ on a fast-tracked timeline if President Donald Trump were to lose his re-election bid, the FBI alleges in an affidavit that was mistakenly unsealed. The teen was in a text group with more than a dozen people in the fall of 2019 when he introduced the idea of saving money to buy a ranch where they could participate in militant training, according to the affidavit, which was filed under seal along with a search warrant application in Wisconsin’s Eastern U.S. District Court in March. The documents were inadvertently unsealed last week before the mistake was discovered.”

“The teenager wanted the group to be ‘operational’ by the 2024 election because he believed it was likely a Democrat would win, but ‘the timeline for being operational would accelerate if President Trump lost the 2020 election,’ according to the affidavit. An informant told investigators that the teen ‘definitely wanted to be operational for violence, but also activism.’ The Ohio teen, who was 17 at the time, also shared plans with a smaller group about a plot to create a power outage by shooting rifle rounds into power stations in the southeastern U.S. The teen called the plot ‘Lights Out’ and there were plans to carry it out in the summer of 2021, the affidavit states.”

“InfoWars hit new heights in Trump’s first term, with the president and other Republicans appearing on Jones’ show and Trump retweeting InfoWars videos and defending its staffers from social media takedowns. But the conspiracy theory hub, like other right-wing media outlets, has been thrown into turmoil in the aftermath of the election, facing firings, budget cuts, and accusations from a former host that the site has gone too soft on the president. As Jones tries to find a footing in the post-Trump world, he’s facing competition from better-produced rivals like One America News and Newsmax, which have promoted conspiracy theories of their own. The most visible sign of internal tumult came on Dec. 17, when Jones fired longtime InfoWars host and conspiracy theorist David Knight. ‘I was just fired by Alex effective immediately,’ Knight, the rare InfoWars host to not already be banned by Twitter, tweeted shortly after his ouster. Knight and InfoWars didn’t respond to requests for comment.”

“InfoWars continues to face legal bills and potential hefty future judgments from lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas over Jones’ attacks on the families of children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre. But that budget crunch didn’t stop InfoWars from recently buying a hulking ‘battle tank.’ InfoWars also appears to have cut its evening show, which featured QAnon conspiracy theorist DeAnna Lorraine Tesoriero, a decision Knight claimed was prompted by the InfoWars show getting crushed on a nightly basis by Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show. InfoWars also appears to have stopped sponsoring conservative personality Kaitlin Bennett, the so-called “gun girl” whose job consisted primarily of baiting liberal college students into viral-ready exchanges. Even Jones’ teenage son, Rex Jones, has quit the site, complaining in an appearance on a right-wing internet show last week that InfoWars had failed to develop his talent and squelched his own attacks on Trump. ‘I have a lot of views on Trump that they didn’t like, and they didn’t want me to talk about some stuff,’ the younger Jones said. ‘They didn’t want me to criticize him'” – Daily Beast.

CNN: “Donald Trump’s presidency is blazing into history in a way that epitomizes his corrupt excess, with pardons for cronies and war crimes, assaults on democracy, fresh Covid-19 denial and impunity for Russia. And in a trademark bombshell that blindsided aides, Trump on Tuesday also issued a sudden pre-Christmas demand for changes to a desperately needed $900 billion pandemic relief bill that risked shattering a fragile bipartisan compromise he had made no effort to shape. His move could send global markets into free fall and prolong the deprivation of millions of Americans who are going hungry or have lost their jobs.”

“The antics of the outgoing President in recent hours further weighed down the yet-to-begin presidency of his successor, Joe Biden, who already faced the most challenging debut of any US leader since Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. ‘I think it’s a nightmare that everyone is going through, and they all say it’s got to end,’ Biden said Tuesday when asked whether he expected ‘a honeymoon’ of early political goodwill to help extricate the nation from the pandemic and its consequences. The sleazy final days of the Trump White House later hit new lows when the President wielded his unassailable pardon power, substituting political payoffs for justice in yet another morally questionable use of executive authority.”

Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, along with Democratic New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have drafted a one-page amendment to the coronavirus relief bill calling to increase the support checks to $2,000 per person.

Me and @AOC have the amendment ready. Send the bill back, and we will put in the $2,000 we’ve been fighting for that your party has been blocking. pic.twitter.com/GGXtJt77D9

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) December 23, 2020

Outgoing Vice President Mike Pence gave an address to a rabid, maskless crowd (indoors in a hotel ballroom) at the Turning Point USA conference Tuesday, decrying Democrats and positing a false equivalence between “freedom” and “socialism” that demonstrates the dangers Trumpism holds for this nation and the problems the GOP will have in the future.

https://youtu.be/ev0dODE-Vrc

From beginning to end, this five-minute snippet exemplifies the structural and political fallacies that have propped up Trump, from an undying faithfulness to a failed politician to a series of fact-free and history-defying statements.

Looking back, I can say I’m indeed proud of my ‘work’ on that miserable excuse for a political news site – also realize that I wouldn’t want me commenting on my website if I were them.

SpartanWarrior✓TEAM SOROS™ • 15 days ago Removed
Trump should pour gasoline on himself and light a match outside Biden’s inauguration. That would really steal the show.
Tue, 12/7/2020 10:20 AM on ‘Trump mulling extravagant White House exit to upstage Biden inauguration: report’

SpartanWarrior✓TEAM SOROS™ • 1 month ago Removed
Love the tears and the screams from the MAGA fangirls like Joe Concha. It truly is a spoil of victory.
Thu, 11/19/2020 8:20 AM on ‘Joe Biden’s friendly press conferences are an absolute joke’ by Joe Concha

SpartanWarrior✓ TEAM SOROS™ Sniffer, not a Lover • 2 months ago Removed
In less than three weeks you’ll be back to working the glory hole in the restroom of a Moscow karaoke bar to pay the rent. Wish you all the best.Sun, 10/18/2020 5:12 PM on ‘Watch live: Trump holds campaign rally in Nevada’

SpartanWarrior✓ TEAM SOROS™ • 2 months ago Removed
Notice how the MAGA trolls are really hitting the gas in a desperate attempt to turn things around. Like comments on The Hill are going to win over undecided voters somehow.
Fri, 10/16/2020 6:07 PM on ‘Republicans increasingly seek distance from Trump’

SpartanRevenge✓TEAM SOROS™ ? • 3 months ago Removed
Most of the male Trump fans usually here have already “heard about” this dick pic. They “heard” it was really big and throbbing and “a friend of theirs” got extremely aroused and salivated upon viewing the photo.
Tue, 9/15/2020 8:32 PM on ‘Chris Evans on NSFW photo: ‘Now that I have your attention, vote”

SpartanWarrior✓ TEAM SOROS™ • 4 months ago Removed
Joe Kennedy shouldn’t worry. His uncle JFK Jr will appear when THE STORM comes, and Markey will be executed for child cannibalism in Hyannisport. WWG1WGA
Tue, 9/1/2020 10:27 PM on ‘Markey defeats Kennedy in Massachusetts’

“A tabulation by the Harvard Law School professor Jack Goldsmith found that of the 45 pardons or commutations Mr. Trump had granted up until Tuesday, 88% aided someone with a personal tie to the president or furthered his political aims.” —Kyle Griffin, Senior Producer of MSNBC’s “The Last Word”

Lame duck president Donald Trump, minutes after announcing pardons for 20 convicted felons including political allies and murderers, appeared to conflate what was in the omnibus spending bill and what’s in the coronavirus relief bill, stating that he was going to delay signing the long-awaited coronavirus relief bill until Congress resubmits a bill that increases the amount of aid checks to Americans.

https://youtu.be/L_bJO7dv2qg

Trump lists a series of foreign and domestic aid that was included in the $900 billion package, which amount to a little more than 1% of the entire cost, and isn’t part of the coronavirus relief bill but part of the omnibus spending bill.  Before ending, Trump delusionally stated, “Maybe the next administration will have to deliver a COVID relief package, and maybe that administration will be me.”

Lame duck president Donald Trump, 29 days from leaving office, issued 20 pardons today including for two people convicted in the Mueller investigation into Trump’s obstruction of justice and his campaign’s cooperation with Russian government efforts to disrupt the 2016 election.

According to the New York Times, George Papadopoulos and Alex van der Zwaan both received Trump pardons.  Both were convicted of making false statements to federal investigators and served short prison terms.  Trump described Papadopoulos as a “coffee boy” on the campaign.

Three former Congressmen convicted of various charges–Duncan Hunter of California, Chris Collins of New York and Steve Stockman of Texas–received pardons.  Collins and Hunter were the first two member of Congress to endorse Trump’s campaign.

Trump also pardoned four veterans who, while serving as private contractors in Iraq, murdered Iraqi civilians.

The United States will top 3 million deaths in 2020, making it the deadliest year in the nation’s history, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

NBC News reports that the CDC estimates that 3.2 million Americans will have died in 2020 when the final data are tallied.  That number is 400,000 more, or roughly 12% higher, than the 2019 total.  It’s the largest year-over-year percentage point growth since 1918, when the number of deaths increased by 47% over the previous year, due to the tandem of World War I casualties and the Spanish Flu pandemic.

The dramatic increase is beyond the expected range attributable to population growth and other demographics.  The CDC says that the increase is due primarily to the coronavirus pandemic.

“President Donald Trump is plotting a final stand in Congress on Jan. 6, casting it as the ultimate loyalty test in his quest to remain in power and shutting out anyone who won’t get in line. Trump has been strategizing in recent days with a band of his fiercest congressional supporters about the effort, which will involve lodging objections during the typically pro forma congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. It’s a gambit that even Republican leaders and those around Trump concede is doomed to fail, given the makeup of Congress. But that’s not the only point, according to GOP lawmakers, Trump advisers and Republican operatives.”

“The objections will also force Republicans in Congress to go on record voting to affirm Biden’s victory – acknowledging the outcome and likely inflaming Trump’s diehard supporters, a crucial GOP faction that has joined the president in denying the election results. Republican strategists and Trump allies inside and outside Washington said Trump’s core supporters will remember how their lawmakers vote on Jan. 6. It’s a preview of the burgeoning rift between two groups of Trump supporters: Those who will stand with him to subvert the outcome of the election, no matter what, and those who are accepting the results of the democratic process. The split between the groups is threatening to unravel the shaky alliances that allowed Trump to maintain his hold on multiple GOP factions during his tumultuous tenure, with implications for upcoming elections. ‘There’s no base of voters more passionate than President Trump’s,’ said Lou Barletta, a former congress member and top Trump ally in Pennsylvania. ‘They are not going away and they will remember who isn’t standing up to fight for President Trump and fair and free elections'” – Politico.

NPR: “A top employee of Dominion Voting Systems, who has gone into hiding after becoming the subject of conspiracy theories on the right since the election, is suing the Trump campaign, a number of campaign surrogates and pro-Trump media outlets for defamation. Eric Coomer, director of product strategy and security for the Denver-based company, has been baselessly accused of using his position to mastermind a high-tech plot to steal the election for President-elect Joe Biden, whose victory has been certified in the states by officials of both parties with no evidence of widespread fraud or irregularities. Coomer’s suit, filed in Colorado state district court in Denver on Tuesday, accuses those responsible for spreading the falsehoods of intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy. The lawsuit states the claims made about Coomer have led to death threats, constant harassment and ‘untold damage to his reputation as a national expert on voting systems.’ Coomer was forced to leave his home one week after the presidential election ended and move to a safe undisclosed location where he remains.”

“Among the those being sued, along with the president’s campaign, are his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and outside lawyer Sidney Powell, who has been spotted at the White House in recent days as the president has continued to look for ways of overturning the election, including a meeting with conservative lawmakers who are planning an ill-fated push to challenge state electors when Congress certifies their votes on Jan. 6. Coomer is also suing figures in right-wing media, including the networks Newsmax and One America News Network, OANN reporter Chanel Rion, blogger Michelle Malkin and others.”

Axios: “Israel’s power-sharing government collapsed on Tuesday, only seven months after it was formed, putting Israel on course for its fourth elections in two years. The government was formed by two rivals – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Benny Gantz – to end a political stalemate, but it was totally dysfunctional. Its collapse means Gantz will not rotate in as prime minister next November, as the two had agreed in their coalition deal. With the deadline to pass a budget looming, Netanyahu and Gantz held secret negotiations over the past two weeks in an attempt to reach a deal. Gantz insisted that Netanyahu must agree to pass a budget for 2021 and legally lock in the rotation deal.”

“The lawyer representing Bruce Bartman – the Pennsylvania Republican charged with voter fraud for pretending to be his dead mother to illegally cast a vote on her behalf for President Donald Trump – says his client believed he was participating in some kind of ‘protest.’ ‘He was angry at people criticizing the president and complaining about the election process, and he wanted to do what he considered civil disobedience by registering his mother and voting her,’ the attorney, Samuel Stretton, told Insider on Tuesday. ‘Of course, he was wildly mistaken.'”

“Bartman has been charged with unlawful voting and perjury. Delaware County prosecutors say he filled out voter registration forms in August, using a driver’s license for his dead mother, Elizabeth Bartman, and social security number for his dead mother-in-law, Elizabeth Weihman. He ultimately cast a successful vote in Elizabeth Bartman’s name for Trump. Stretton told Insider that Bartman plans to plead guilty once his case goes through preliminary hearings, calling his actions ‘a terrible mistake.’ The 70-year-old Bartman faces a maximum of 19 years in prison” – Business Insider.

Daily Beast: “Donald Trump informed the conspiracy-theory-driven MAGA attorney Sidney Powell on Monday that he does not intend to appoint her ‘special counsel’ to investigate ‘election fraud,’ according to two people with knowledge of the matter and another source close to the White House. Trump had met with Powell and others in the Oval Office on Friday to discuss, among other items, the possibility of appointing her to such a position. The president has been captivated by Powell’s extreme views and anti-democratic ideas for nullifying this year’s presidential election that Joe Biden won – to the point that Powell continued to be given an audience at the White House and with Trump in the subsequent days.”

“But Trump has now buckled at the prospect of giving her such a formal portfolio for pursuing her conspiracy theories around voter irregularities and fraud, which include a supposed Venezuelan plot to rig the election. Asked whether Trump told Powell that she wouldn’t be ‘special counsel,’ Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani – who leads the president’s post-election legal team—told The Daily Beast on Tuesday: ‘Yes,’ adding, ‘she is no longer part of [our] team. She is on her own.’ Powell and White House spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday afternoon. President Trump, it should be noted, is notorious for changing his mind on a whim.”