So, let's recap:
1. Probably through cheating, we "elected" a grifter fool slimebag white supremacist four years ago.
2. He immediately started us down the road to fascism via the news station controlled by what was once the Republicans but now the Fascist Party.

3. They did both evil racist things, like starting concentration camps and ignoring natural disasters in places where there were ppl of color and working to remove health care from everyone because people of color might get healthcare too.

4. So both evil racist things and also inexplicably stupid things like gutting the Clean Air and Water Act, trying to destroy as much wildlife as possible and deciding destroying the entire planet wld be a neat idea.

5. The people fought back hard for the healthcare and the states where more non-fascists lived did their part by marching peacefully, calling their reps daily, and running for office. The busiest group among these were women of color.

6. Meanwhile, a lot of weird things happen, including events where troops died and Twitler 2.0 lied every single day while looking lustfully at his daughter (which will always be super gross--people voted for a man who openly said he was sexually attracted to his own child)

A great read from @sulliview. I agree with it.

There are a few things to note here.

1) White journalists not only ignored, but actively silenced Black and POC colleagues who signalled alarm about Trump's white supremacy

2) The open, intense theater of white journalists and politicians being shaken by Trump's violence and danger NOW is fundamentally insulting to POC.

Watching Maggie Haberman be shocked at the man she openly enabled -- despite warnings -- is a bleak journalistic spectacle.

3) Someone very smart mentioned that it's natural that people recognize danger when it's "close to home." yes.

But the surprise and shock of white journalists now is also an admission that they never saw Black and POC colleagues in that same home. That home was a white project.

Lastly, in 2020 when Black Lives Matter protesters took to the streets and were met with state violence -- and Trump threatened worse-- white journos often seized on a narrative that the protests were "riots" and protesters should "follow police orders and you won't get hurt" ...

...Black protesters and organizers pointed to hours of footage showing that police, on Trump's incitement, purposely harmed and hunted BLM protesters. They also harmed white marchers. BLM advocates noted that you cannot be "lawful" when the police are breaking the law...

🔥
🔥🔥🔥Very important 🔥🔥🔥

Received a few minutes ago. Please read and share widely.
Thank you.

Michael Green From Gregory Ervin:
Dear Patriots:
Some of you may recognize my name. I have daily briefing with POTUS and have posted here before a handful of times as a “helper”

What I’m about to disclose is the most important post you’ll read before the inauguration. Q will not post here again, at least not for a while.
The operation is ongoing but must run silent at this point. Once we wind down you will not hear from Q again. Don’t let this

worry or upset you. We are in perhaps the most critical juncture of American history. POTUS is fully aware of the gravity of this time period. We have prepared from before 2015 for this exact moment.
I am not asking for faith in us. Q should have already used logic, reason,

a nd multiple proofs to establish our credibility. What happens this week will change history.
We are asking you for now to stay in your homes and do NOT under any circumstances interfere with the operation. You’ll soon see things unfold that many would think impossible.

POTUS is insulated and 100% safe. Our plan is almost complete. The DS has already lost. Everything you’re seeing in the MSM and on Twitter is a last-ditch attempt. Why has Kamala not yet left the senate? Where is Joe? Where is Joe really?
Hunter has turned himself in.

@kiki_cliff @Peaceforus21 @NYCMayor No sir the Senate can convene until January 19th at the earliest the only reason why they can't convene earlier is because it only takes one Senator to say I don't want to go and they don't go he has way more than one objection number two it's unconstitutional

@Peaceforus21 @NYCMayor The Democrats are respected to officially have an article of impeachment finished but they have said they're going to delay sending this article to Senate it's mostly just to score cheap political points and say hey look at me I impeach him twice

@Peaceforus21 @NYCMayor Constitutionally you cannot impeach a president that is no longer president when the Constitution was formed it was very strict in Article 2 that it would be different from the Imperial rule of England where a private citizen could be impeached

@Peaceforus21 @NYCMayor So what will happen is one Senator will automatically reject the Senate will not come back until January 19th Joe will be sworn in at 12 and at 12:01 the articles of impeachment expire as it is unconstitutional to hold a impeachment of a private citizen

@Peaceforus21 @NYCMayor Trump will still be entitled to all of his benefits under the previous presidents Act including his pension and everything else and he will be able to hold office any office because you must fully impeach and convict before that can happen they don't have time simple

Follow up thread on Eric Coomer.

New: Dominion Voting Systems employee SUES Trump campaign and allies https://t.co/7dEEapCEYI via @MailOnline

(Thread) Over the Cliff Notes: Impeachment #2

Let’s start with the Article of Impeachment itself: https://t.co/KRiPGstRwi

The charge: Incitement of Insurrection.

Spoiler: This is a slam-dunk in the impeach-and-convict department, and will create a moment of truth for the GOP.

1/ The basics:

🔹Impeachment requires a majority vote in the House. 

🔹Impeachment is followed by a Senate Trial.

🔹Conviction requires 2/3 of the Senate.

After conviction, preventing Trump from holding office again requires a simple majority vote.

2/ This is not a criminal trial.

The Constitution specifically says that a criminal trial may be appropriate AFTER impeachment and removal.

Defendants in a criminal trial have special protections because they stand to lose their liberty, property, or even their life.

3/ An impeached president stands to lose his job and the ability to hold the job again.

Therefore certain requirements for a criminal trial, such as the requirement that allegations be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, do not apply.

4/ In addition to charging Incitement of Insurrection, the Article invokes the 14th Amendment (sec 3) and Trump’s duty to faithfully execute the oath of office. 

Notice the 14th Amendment doesn’t give the procedure for determining when Section 3 applies.

1) The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Starting an Impeachment Trial

2) It is unclear when and how the Senate may begin President Trump’s second impeachment trial. The problem with “starting” an impeachment trial is that once you start, under the Senate impeachment rules, it can potentially supersede all other Senate action.

3) That’s the case - UNLESS - the Senate works out some sort of an agreement on handling an impeachment trial. Otherwise, once you start an impeachment trial, without a side agreement, the Senate meets six days a week at 1 pm et, Sundays excluded, until the trial is finished.

4) The key is when the House sends over the article of impeachment. That triggers a lot of things.

First things first. The Senate must send a parliamentary message to the House that it’s ready to “receive” the article.

5) This is kind of like a football referee waving his hand at a kickoff returner stationed in the end zone to make sure he’s ready to proceed with the kickoff. Once the Senate does that, the House can send the articles.

But…

Wish folks cared as much about countering the political culture of far right hyper-nationalistic populism that traffics in anti-Semitic tropes and naturalized conceptions of racial and gender hierarchies, as they care about dissing those who use the word “fascism” to describe it.

Ultimately, I think that’s what lay behind this terminological dispute. Is democracy more threatened by “center-left/center-right neoliberalism” or by the far right? People who resist the f-word say the former is the *real* threat. People who use the f-word focus on the latter.

My sense is that the people who use the "f-word" are not the neoliberal simpletons their critics tend to think they are. And likewise, the f-word refuseniks are no fans of the far right, they just don't see it as being as powerful and threatening as others do.

This might be overly reductive, but I think at least some of this has to do with where one lives. If one lives in a very blue part of the country, I can see how the threat of far right paramilitaries would seem hyperbolic and exaggerated.

I happen to live in a state capitol were heavily armed, far right paramilitaries have spent the past year assaulting people on a regular basis and working in cahoots with GOP legislators to invade and shut down the state legislature. Things feel quite edgy here.

The @HouseDemocrats have released the newest version of H.R. 1, the For The People Act of 2021. Here's a thread highlighting some especially exciting provisions on voting access. (You can read the bill for yourself here:

H.R. 1 is broken into 3 sections: voting, campaign finance, and ethics. This thread will focus on *just one part* of the voting section. Let's go.

H.R. 1 *requires* that states let people register to vote online. (Today, 9 states still don't have online registration laws on the books.)

H.R. 1 would mandate that states adopt "automatic voter registration." This doesn't immediately register everyone, to be clear—but it *does* use the info people provide at participating gov't agencies like the DMV to automatically register them to vote, unless they opt out.

H.R. 1 would mandate same-day registration for federal elections. No more having to register before a deadline. You could show up to vote on Election Day *or* early and register at your polling place before casting your ballot.

Hi all. I’ve been sent LOTS of photos of the food parcels that have replaced the £30 vouchers and asked what I would do with them. I’m replying with advice privately because to do so publicly would look like justifying these ill thought through, offensively meagre scraps /1.

There seems to be a prevalent train of thought that if you’re in poverty you should be ‘grateful’ for anything you get. I have spent the last seven years giving talks to various organisations and conferences and political parties urging them to put DIGNITY AND ACTIVE LISTENING /2

at the core of all of their work. Nothing about us without us. Ask people what their needs are, respond accordingly. Don’t be a Marie Antoinette or worse, a sneering Scrooge. People in difficult situations are PEOPLE, no less ‘deserving’ of a good meal than anyone else. /3

The vouchers were a good idea. They were BLOCKED from being spent on age restricted products, like alcohol, lottery tickets, cigarettes. Despite this restriction, mouthpieces on Twitter with their own austerity agendas claimed that there was widespread misuse. With no evidence./4

But the demonisation of the poor and working class in this country has been in plain sight for years now. Programmes like Benefits Street, Jeremy Kyle, ill fortune as gladiator style entertainment. /5.

THREAD: The Godfather & Rocky > Comms on the 'Sly'

In the same article? What are the odds?

Who is Rocky?

In the movie 'The Godfather', what was the "offer he couldn't refuse"?

A threat with a gun and a payment to a 'band leader'...

New research into anti-immigration rhetoric, which I'll try to summarise in this THREAD.

It basically suggests that the emotive use of metaphor & hyperbole in anti-immigration rhetoric drives base support & INCREASES their likelihood of political

Typical anti-immigration rhetoric used by right-wing populist nationalist parties presents immigrants as outsiders, who are framed as a threat to the populist nationalists idealized nation.

In their anti-immigration rhetoric, politicians typically use strong, vivid, & negative metaphors & hyperboles to frame their political statements.

There is agreement that, at least for parts of the electorate, such populist anti-immigration rhetoric can be highly persuasive.

Metaphor & hyperbole can spark emotions by eliciting a vivid image & can increase perceived message intensity.

Metaphors can activate connotations attached to intense & negative concepts, like war & other threats, & hyperboles can exaggerate danger & emphasize threats.

When metaphor &/or hyperbole are used to frame a political issue, they not only add a rhetorical flourish, but they transfer conceptual content as well: they can promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, problem evaluation, &/or a possible problem solution.

🍑🧵Our voting rights litigation was instrumental to winning Georgia in the 2020 election. As a result of our lawsuits, over 3,000 ballots were cured statewide. The post-cure rejection rate DECREASED by 6% since 2016. How did we get there?

On behalf of the @dscc, @dccc and @GeorgiaDemocrat, we sued and obtained a favorable settlement with the state regarding #GA's signature matching laws and Gwinnett County's absentee ballot design. Why was this so important? (2/16)


Up until our settlement, VBM ballots were being thrown out in #GA for no lawful reason due to standard-less signature matching processes that failed to notify voters. As I warned in my #FourPillars, signature matching laws drive disenfranchisement.

Under the terms of the settlement, #GA agreed to provide prompt notification of absentee ballot rejections and increased signature matching regulations and trainings. Gwinnett County also adopted a clearer absentee ballot envelope design in the settlement. BIG wins!🥳 (4/16)

Our victory was critical in the face of #COVID19. Like other states, #GA experienced a giant surge in VBM. Our settlement installed stronger guardrails against VBM disenfranchisement and set the tone for what states had to do to protect their voters amid the pandemic. (5/16)

We analyzed, minute by minute, the crucial two-hour period during which a Trump rally to stop the certification of the election results gave way to a mob that nearly came face to face with Congress. Here’s what we found: https://t.co/HSsHQLiEpp

As President Trump prepares to speak near the White House, his loyalists are already gathering at the Capitol. Inside, Congress prepares for proceedings to certify the Electoral College vote. Putting these timelines together shows the urgency of the situation.

For weeks, Trump had urged his supporters to go to D.C. to stop the certification of election results. Several simultaneous rallies are planned, including the “wild rally” on the Capitol lawn, as this supporter-made map shows.

It’s 11:50 a.m. A group of Proud Boys is staging on the east side of Capitol, along with hundreds of Trump supporters. Photo credit: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/For The Washington Post via Getty Images.

More than a mile away, at 11:52 a.m., Donald Trump Jr. films the president and his inner circle backstage before his father’s speech, marveling at the size of the crowd.

The Authority Figure Defense

My latest for the Washington Post with @reichellaw

https://t.co/QwdXVmXXuk

The Public Authority Defense will make it harder for the Trumps, Giuliani, and pals to squirm out of facing consequences.

1/

Here’s how the defense works. If the chief of police tells you that you could ignore “no parking” sign, you could evoke the Public Authority Defense.

You could point your finger at the authority figure who invited you to commit the illegal act.

The spotlight then turns to the authority figure: Did the chief of police have the authority to waive the parking restriction?

If not, was it reasonable for you to believe that he did?

See where this is

Each day, more evidence emerges that Trump and other elected officials instigated this riot.

Every day, more evidence emerges that the lies told by people like @tedcruz, @HawleyMO, and @KellyannePolls led to the

The public authority defense doesn’t mean the rioters are off the hook: They can still be arrested, charged and brought to trial.

But depending on the circumstances, a defense like this one can mitigate or even eliminate their culpability or lessen their punishment.

5/

THREAD ✖
@M_McCormackMP voted against

A carbon price

A fast transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy

A minerals resource rent tax

A Royal Commission into Violence and Abuse against People with Disability

An NBN (using fibre to the premises)

✖
Assisting the Arts through the coronavirus pandemic

Carbon farming

Community right to say no to nuclear waste disposal sites

Creating a federal Anti-Corruption Commission

Decreasing the private health insurance rebate

Doctor-initiated medical transfers for asylum seekers

✖
Encouraging Australian-based industry

Ending illegal logging

Ending immigration detention on Manus Island

Ending immigration detention on Nauru

Government action on animal & plant extinctions

Increasing Aboriginal land rights

Increasing access to the JobKeeper Payment

✖
Increasing access under Freedom of Information law

Increasing competition in bulk wheat export

Increasing consumer protections

Increasing fishing restrictions

Increasing funding for legal aid

Increasing funding for university education

✖
Increasing funding for vocational education

Increasing government support for dairy industry

Increasing housing affordability

Increasing investment in renewable energy

Increasing marine conservation

Increasing penalties for data breach

Increasing political transparency

With respect to PA election results, did you know that after the Act 77 and Act 12 were approved, the Secy of State made additional changes to voting law through “guidelines”? These guidelines were challenged by state republican