Without an ounce of self-awareness, 106 of Republican members of the House of Representatives signed an amicus brief for the Texas anti-democracy lawsuit in which they claim the majority of voters nationally should decide whose president–and they did this in support of a idiotic argument to support the losing campaign of lame-duck Donald Trump, who didn’t win the plurality of the popular in 2016.

“While the Constitution of 1787 made no mention of and did not presume that the President would be elected by popular vote, the presumption of legal voting and majority rule, articulated in Texas’ decision in Ramsey v. Dunlop above, was implicit,” the filing, reported by Brian Heath of Reuters, states.

The GOP has won the popular vote for president just once since 1992, and that was in 2004 in the reelection of George W. Bush, who didn’t win the popular vote in 2000.

ABC News: “New details about the Justice Department investigation into a possible scheme to lobby the Trump administration for a presidential pardon indicate that a now-deceased California real estate mogul donated $6 million to support President Trump – and promised more. California billionaire Sanford Diller gave the seven-figure sum, and pledged the potential for an even larger donation, as he pursued a pardon for his friend, a Berkeley psychologist in prison for tax evasion, according to documents reviewed by ABC News.”

“Diller at one point suggested he had the potential to become a donor on the scale of Sheldon Adelson, a Las Vegas casino magnate who has given hundreds of millions of dollars to Republican political causes, sources told ABC News and documents confirmed. Donations from Diller do not appear on Trump’s federal campaign reports. Sources familiar with the matter told ABC News that the $6 million in contributions were made in 2016 to a pro-Trump nonprofit political committee, which – unlike a campaign – is not required by federal law to disclose its donors or donation amounts. It is routine for presidential candidates and other politicians to maintain political nonprofit entities to accept unlimited amounts of money from people who do not need to be identified, though there are some IRS restrictions on how the money can be used. Diller had arranged for his friend, Berkeley psychologist Hugh Baras, to retain help from Abbe Lowell, one of the most prominent and powerful D.C. attorneys. Documents reviewed by ABC News indicate that Lowell prepared a memo to argue the case. But no pardon was ever issued and Baras, who was 73 at the time, served out his sentence.”

Updating map from earlier to account for twenty three states and territories filing a brief in support of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin versus Texas and the other MAGA states.

Ohio’s Attorney General separately filed a brief in support of the four defendant states earlier Thursday. The deadline for submission was 3pm EST Thursday, now the nation eagerly awaits the Supreme Court’s decision and MAGA Land’s reaction.

The Pittsburgh office of the largely Christian Federal law enforcement agency, the FBI, is looking for two men in connection with an investigation into the Pagans Motorcycle Club.

Dominic Quarture and Richard Lee White III are two Non-Christian bikers wanted for trafficking drugs. Any Christian citizen with information is asked to call 412-432-4000. Christian U.S. Attorney Scott Brady says the Pagans have used violence to control cocaine, heroin and meth trafficking. Brady did not mention if this violence was of a ritual and/or sacrificial nature, but it should be assumed to be so since the bikers call themselves Pagans. Thirty other Pagans were arrested and charged with similar Unchristian crimes. ‘Today’s takedown is the most recent victory in our fight to disrupt and dismantle violent drug gangs that operate in Western Pennsylvania,’ Brady says. ‘Thanks to the tireless efforts of [largely Christian] law enforcement, you and your [Christian] loved ones are safer today than you were yesterday. It’s a good day for the [Christian] good guys'”. Additional reporting sourced from KDKA Pittsburgh.

Quinnipiac Polls: “Roughly one month after the presidential election, 60 percent of registered voters say they think President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election is legitimate and 34 percent think his win is not legitimate, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today. There are large partisan gaps. Democrats say 98 – 2 percent they think Biden’s election victory is legitimate and independents say 62 – 30 percent his victory is legitimate. Republicans, however, say 70 – 23 percent that they think Biden’s victory is not legitimate.”

“A majority of voters (58 percent) do not believe there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, while 38 percent say they believe there was widespread fraud. Democrats say 97 – 3 percent they believe there was no widespread voter fraud, independents say 62 – 35 percent they believe there was no widespread voter fraud, and Republicans say 77 – 19 percent they believe there was widespread voter fraud. ‘Was the election on the level? ‘No way’ say the vast majority of Republicans. The dearth of Republicans in the House and Senate willing to acknowledge the Biden win is in step with their base,’ said Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy.”

Ron Brownstein: “Republicans’ tolerance, if not active support, for President Donald Trump’s ongoing bid to overturn the 2020 election has crystallized a stark question: Does the GOP still qualify as a small-d democratic party – or is it morphing into something very different? Even with the Supreme Court still deciding whether to consider a last-ditch legal effort to invalidate the results from the key swing states, there appears little chance that Trump will succeed in subverting Joe Biden’s victory. But Trump’s failure on that front has obscured his success at enlisting a growing swath of his party to join his cause – a dynamic that is already prompting new Republican efforts to make it more difficult to vote and raising concerns about the party’s commitment to the basic tenets of Western democratic rules and conventions, including the peaceful transfer of power.”

“‘Where their hearts are is hard to know, but their behavior is not small-d democratic,’ Susan Stokes, a political-science professor and the director of the Chicago Center on Democracy at the University of Chicago, told me. Stokes, like other experts, says the Republican Party is on a continuum toward the kind of ‘democratic erosion’ visible in other countries, including Turkey under Recep Erdoğan, Hungary under Viktor Orbán, or, in the most extreme example, Russia under Vladimir Putin. In those nations, a party that wins office through a democratic election then seeks to use state power to tilt or completely undermine future elections. ‘With one of our political parties trying to overturn the results of a free and fair election, we are way farther down that road now than we were before the election, or a year ago,’ she told me. Republicans ‘have been going down that road all through Trump’s term, but this is the parting gift, which is more extreme than what has happened before.'”

“Republican Dick Hinch, a longtime New Hampshire state representative, who was just elected Speaker of the House last week, unexpectedly died Wednesday at 71. ‘He was a loving husband, father, family man, and veteran who devoted his life to public service,’ his office said in a statement announcing his death. The statement did not give a cause of death” the Boston Globe reported Wednesday. On Thursday afternoon Boston Globe political reporter James Pindell tweeted “The newly elected New Hampshire House Speaker died yesterday of COVID, an autopsy by the state’s chief medical examiner just revealed”

Dave Yost, the Republican Attorney General of Ohio, filed an amicus brief Thursday with the US Supreme Court asking the Court to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Texas seeking to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters in four states, Reuters reporter Brian Heath tweets.

“[T]he relief that Texas seeks would undermine a foundation premise of our federalist system:  the idea that the States are sovereigns, free to govern themselves,” Yost opined.

Texas, with 17 other states in support, wishes the Supreme Court to invalidate mail-in ballots in four key swing states–Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin–thereby giving those Electoral College votes to lame-duck president Donald Trump instead of President-elect Joe Biden. 

“U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned Britain should prepare to leave the European Union’s single market without a trade deal as negotiations with the bloc falter. ‘There’s now the strong possibility we will have a solution that’s much more like an Australian relationship with the EU than a Canadian relationship with the EU,’ he said in a pooled TV interview on Thursday. ‘We’re not stopping the talks, we’ll continue to negotiate. But looking at where we are, I do think it’s vital that everybody now gets ready for that Australian option'” – Bloomberg.

Read more at USA Today.

“Doug Emhoff, the future second gentleman and husband of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, will serve as ‘Distinguished Visitor from Practice’ at Georgetown University Law Center and as a distinguished fellow of the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law and Policy beginning in January 2021, according to a Biden-Harris transition spokesperson. Law students will be able to sign up to take Emhoff’s two-credit course coming this spring semester on entertainment law disputes. Incoming first lady Dr. Jill Biden, too, has made plans to teach when she arrives at the White House next year.”

“‘I’ve long wanted to teach and serve the next generation of young lawyers,’ Emhoff said in a statement. ‘I couldn’t be more excited to join the Georgetown community.’ During his close to 30-year career, Emhoff has focused on litigating disputes with an emphasis on media, entertainment and intellectual property matters. Since Harris joined the Democratic ticket in August, Emhoff has been on a leave of absence from the law firm DLA Piper, where he’s a partner. The campaign announced days after the election that Emhoff would sever all ties with DLA Piper before Inauguration Day” – CBS News.

Breitbart: “Wednesday on FNC’s ‘Hannity,’ Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) argued that on the heels of the announcement Hunter Biden, son of Joe Biden, was being investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Delaware for what he called ‘tax affairs,’ the media had more ‘influence’ than Russia had in the previous presidential election. I want to hone in on this very, very closely here,’ host Sean Hannity said. ‘If you don’t have experience and you are getting paid millions, and then you have your father bragging on tape he leveraged the billion-dollar taxpayer dollars and give them six hours to fire the prosecutor investigating the son making millions with zero experience, how is that not a quid and a pro and a quo? I mean, where I grew up, that would be a quid pro quo.'”

“‘Well, it is,’ Johnson replied. ‘It’s obvious to everybody except the mainstream media. And, of course, we found out now the mainstream media had far greater influence and interference in our election than any Russian interference ever could have hoped for. I mean, the fact of the matter, there are polls out now. A McClatchy poll said that 36 percent of Biden voters had never heard of the Hunter Biden story because of the censorship and suppression. Of that, 13%, once they found out, said they wouldn’t have voted for Biden. So, that means that 4.6% of Biden voters would not have voted for him,’ he continued. ‘That means that Trump would have won the election. That’s the enormous influence that social media and our liberal biased media played on this election. Their interference just orders a magnitude greater than any Russian or Chinese or Iran foreign interference in this – in this campaign.”

Adam Serwer: “The conviction that the rival political constituency cannot, under any circumstances, legitimately hold power has not yet resulted in widespread violence. But it remains incompatible with democracy, which requires the assent of its losers and the peaceful transfer of power between factions. Enough local Republican officials in 2020 have recognized that their civic obligations outweigh their partisan identities. But if Republicans continue to believe, and assert as a matter of their partisan identity, that the rival party’s victories are fraudulent, their claim to power illegitimate, and their holding office an existential threat, at some point, the tension between partisan identity and democratic function will become irreconcilable. Next time a president seeks to stay in power after losing an election, there may not be enough Republicans who place duty above party to make a difference.”

“When they say the 2020 election was stolen, Trumpists are expressing their view that the votes of rival constituencies should not count, even though they understand, on some level, that they do. They are declaring that the nation belongs to them and them alone, whether or not they actually comprise a majority, because they are the only real Americans to begin with.”

Wonder what their deal is. Were they just not invited? Do they not love Trump? Are they too busy dealing with their own problems to sue Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin?

Also, why didn’t they sue Arizona or Nevada? Those were the other states Trump was “supposed” to win, so you’d think Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton would’ve sued them too.

Politico: “President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Obama’s former national security adviser Susan Rice to run the White House Domestic Policy Council, according to people familiar with the decision. Rice, who also served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was vetted to serve as Biden’s vice president and was a contender to be secretary of State, a position that went to Antony Blinken. The director of the Domestic Policy Council is not a Senate-confirmed position. The Biden team had been looking to find a high-profile role for Rice, but the top domestic policy job comes as a surprise given her expertise and experience in foreign policy.”

….The fact that our Country is being stolen. A coup is taking place in front of our eyes, and the public can’t take this anymore.” A Trump fan at Georgia Rally on @OANN Bad!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 10, 2020

MSN: “Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh has suggested that some American states could soon breakaway from the United States and declare independence. Limbaugh has suggested that there is growing support among Conservative majority states to breakaway from the United States of America. Speaking on his program, The Rush Limbaugh Show, on Wednesday, Limbaugh claimed that ‘there cannot be a peaceful coexistence’ between liberal and conservative America, which he said had increasingly different cultures.”

“Some states are ‘trending toward secession’ as a result, he said, adding that there was ‘sizable and growing sentiment’ for declaring independence from the U.S. in those which have a majority of conservative or right-wing voters. The talk show presenter made the remarks in response to a question from his show’s official program observer about whether Republicans could ever win major national elections ‘without taking back blue cities.’ Limbaugh said that the party had already won many elections without doing so in the past, before discussing whether conservatives could ‘dominate… the culture?’ ‘I actually think that we’re trending toward secession,’ he said. ‘I see more and more people asking what in the world do we have in common with the people who live in, say, New York? What is there that makes us believe that there is enough of us there to even have a chance at winning New York? Especially if you’re talking about votes.’ He went on to suggest that liberal and conservative political cultures had become ‘much more separated’ and that things ‘can’t go on this way,’ although noting that he was undecided on whether entire states should breakaway. ‘There cannot be a peaceful coexistence of two completely different theories of life, theories of government, theories of how we manage our affairs,’ he added. ‘We can’t be in this dire a conflict without something giving somewhere along the way.'”

“As his already long prospects for overturning the election results have grown even more remote, President Donald Trump has amplified pressure on state Republicans to hit the brakes on certifying Joe Biden’s win. Now, a robocall campaign has been launched targeting the top Republican in Pennsylvania’s state legislature over his refusal to help overturn Biden’s victory in the state last month. And it’s a mystery who is behind it” the Daily Beast reports.

“In the calls, a man who identifies himself only as ‘Rob’ accuses statehouse Speaker Bryan Cutler of ‘siding with the Democrats that have been cheating us out of a fair election.’ ‘Rob’ asks recipients of the call to ‘stand with President Trump and against Speaker Cutler and the rest of those weak-kneed Republican leaders in the Pennsylvania House.’ The robocall campaign began around the time that Trump was reportedly leaning on Cutler to back his efforts to nullify Pennsylvania’s presidential election results by using the state legislature to appoint presidential electors who support Trump. Cutler informed the president in a pair of phone calls last week that he does not have the authority to do so, the speaker’s spokesperson told The Washington Post. At least two versions of the calls have gone out since last week, according to dated audio clips on the website Nomorobo, most from numbers with area codes corresponding to the cities of Harrisburg, the state capital, and Lancaster, which Cutler represents in the legislature. The speaker ‘just embarrassed Lancaster in front of the whole nation,’ one of the calls declares.”

KXAN: “Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is leading a last-ditch effort to overturn election results in four battleground states lost by President Donald Trump, said he has not discussed a presidential pardon with the White House for his own legal troubles. Paxton, a loyal ally of Trump, faces a 5-year-old indictment on felony securities fraud charges and is reportedly being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for bribery and misuse of office.”

“I’ve had no discussions with anything about… anything like that,” Paxton said. Texas’ lawsuit brought against Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin in the U.S. Supreme Court claims last-minute changes before the election in each of the states violated the U.S. Constitution and “skewed” election results in favor of President-elect Joe Biden.