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babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
December 27, 2020
In His Final Month in Office, Trump Works Overtime to Drag the GOP Down With Him
KISS OF DEATH
The president has turned on a huge number of Republicans who aided his rise to power. And that’s just in the past week.
Sam Stein, Politics Editor
Asawin Suebsaeng, White House Reporter
Updated Dec. 27, 2020 1:57AM ET / Published Dec. 26, 2020 9:46PM ET
President Donald Trump has spent his final weeks in office much as he has the preceding years: setting fire to the relationships that buttressed his rise to power.
Over the past few days, the president has floated primaries against top-ranking Republicans, pushed out administration officials who were bedrock allies, threatened major bills crafted in conjunction with his team, and turned on officials who won’t help him cling to power. Inside the White House, the response to it all has been growing alarm, coupled with resignation that this is the 45th U.S. president’s modus operandi. Trump’s profound self-interest is no secret. But never has that trait been so visible against a backdrop this consequential, with his legal team and administration’s attack on democratic processes so blatantly anti-democratic.
But Trump’s actions raise questions about his future as well. And they have illuminated—once more—the fundamental paradox behind his political rise: How can someone burn so many bridges and not eventually find himself alone?
more...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-works-overtime-to-drag-the-gop-down-with-him?ref=home
In His Final Month in Office, Trump Works Overtime to Drag the GOP Down With Him
In His Final Month in Office, Trump Works Overtime to Drag the GOP Down With Him
KISS OF DEATH
The president has turned on a huge number of Republicans who aided his rise to power. And that’s just in the past week.
Sam Stein, Politics Editor
Asawin Suebsaeng, White House Reporter
Updated Dec. 27, 2020 1:57AM ET / Published Dec. 26, 2020 9:46PM ET
President Donald Trump has spent his final weeks in office much as he has the preceding years: setting fire to the relationships that buttressed his rise to power.
Over the past few days, the president has floated primaries against top-ranking Republicans, pushed out administration officials who were bedrock allies, threatened major bills crafted in conjunction with his team, and turned on officials who won’t help him cling to power. Inside the White House, the response to it all has been growing alarm, coupled with resignation that this is the 45th U.S. president’s modus operandi. Trump’s profound self-interest is no secret. But never has that trait been so visible against a backdrop this consequential, with his legal team and administration’s attack on democratic processes so blatantly anti-democratic.
“The president spent much of the Christmas weekend [at Mar-a-Lago] talking about other Republicans who weren’t doing what he wanted and acting like failures and defeatists,” said one person present at his private Florida club who was on the receiving end of his grievances. Even behind closed doors, the source said, “he was not finding much to be happy about this Christmas.”
But Trump’s actions raise questions about his future as well. And they have illuminated—once more—the fundamental paradox behind his political rise: How can someone burn so many bridges and not eventually find himself alone?
“He is no longer the celebrity mogul magnate as he was in New York, and now he is part of… that exclusive Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush [one term president] club,” said Sam Nunberg, a Trump supporter and former political adviser. “He has gone from handling this in a manner that would have helped him keep this power base that he had to now going through conspiracy theories and giving over the portfolio to two bumbling morons in Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell… You don’t want to go out like this with him. It’s not like you’re in a bunker at the end of WWII. You’re in Crazy Town.”
more...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-works-overtime-to-drag-the-gop-down-with-him?ref=home
December 27, 2020
https://www.thedailybeast.com/jon-ossoff-becomes-best-funded-senate-candidate-in-history?ref=home
Jon Ossoff Becomes Best-Funded Senate Candidate in History
GEORGIA ON MY MIND
Olivia Messer
Published Dec. 26, 2020 10:53AM ET
Jon Ossoff Becomes Best-Funded Senate Candidate in History
https://www.thedailybeast.com/jon-ossoff-becomes-best-funded-senate-candidate-in-history?ref=home
Jon Ossoff Becomes Best-Funded Senate Candidate in History
GEORGIA ON MY MIND
Olivia Messer
Published Dec. 26, 2020 10:53AM ET
Jon Ossoff just became the best-funded Senate candidate in history, after he pulled in $106.7 million in his race against Georgia Sen. David Perdue, a Republican incumbent. The Rev. Raphael G. Warnock, meanwhile, the Democratic challenger in the state’s second runoff, raised $103.3 million in his race against Sen. Kelly Loeffler, also a Republican incumbent. The large sums massively surpassed efforts by their opponents, a likely result of the attention the races have received from all over the nation. The runoff is scheduled for Jan. 5.
December 26, 2020
OPINION
Letter: When pandemic ends, 'I can't promise I won't remember'
Toni Vitanza
Letter to editor submission
When pandemic ends, 'I can't promise I won't remember'
https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/opinion/2020/12/26/when-pandemic-ends-i-cant-promise-wont-remember/4022815001/OPINION
Letter: When pandemic ends, 'I can't promise I won't remember'
Toni Vitanza
Letter to editor submission
Tonight there are 17 ICU beds between Pickens, Anderson and Oconee counties -- because so many people won't mask and stay home.
These are the same people who remove their shoes and jackets at the airport, limit liquids to 3 ounces when packing their carry-ons, and buckle their seat belts on the plane. The same people who teach their kids to hold doors open for others and to say, "Yes, ma'am," and, "No, sir." The same people who tell you they pray for you, who brag on their hospitality, "back the badge," "support the troops," are "pro-life" and cherish the work of their kids, the doctors and the nurses.
These are the same people who volunteered for military duty.
But they won't wear a mask. And they refuse to exercise any social distancing. They won't stop going to bars, malls, restaurants, vacations and family gatherings long enough to get the virus under control.
When this is over and my husband and I have both survived, I can't promise I won't remember and hold it against them. I can't promise not to ask, "Did you mask?" in the same arch tone folks that asked me, "What church do you attend?" the minute they met me.
I can't promise that if I get it and survive it that I will donate antibodies to anyone other than someone I know behaved like a responsible citizen. I can't promise that I won't ignore the GoFundMes for families who suffer not because of bad luck, but because of irresponsibility.
Because I still see photos of parties and trips, everyone hugging, singing, cheering. I still see the online boasts of how you don't "believe" in masks, or even in the virus.
Because I still see the unmasked everywhere I go, which is drug, grocery and hardware stores, where employees are either put at risk by people to whom they are required to be polite, or are themselves setting a bad example, forcing me to take my business elsewhere.
And I will continue to call them out and answer their bogus excuses and, yes, shame them. Because they've more than earned that from me.
Toni Vitanza
Clemson
These are the same people who remove their shoes and jackets at the airport, limit liquids to 3 ounces when packing their carry-ons, and buckle their seat belts on the plane. The same people who teach their kids to hold doors open for others and to say, "Yes, ma'am," and, "No, sir." The same people who tell you they pray for you, who brag on their hospitality, "back the badge," "support the troops," are "pro-life" and cherish the work of their kids, the doctors and the nurses.
These are the same people who volunteered for military duty.
But they won't wear a mask. And they refuse to exercise any social distancing. They won't stop going to bars, malls, restaurants, vacations and family gatherings long enough to get the virus under control.
When this is over and my husband and I have both survived, I can't promise I won't remember and hold it against them. I can't promise not to ask, "Did you mask?" in the same arch tone folks that asked me, "What church do you attend?" the minute they met me.
I can't promise that if I get it and survive it that I will donate antibodies to anyone other than someone I know behaved like a responsible citizen. I can't promise that I won't ignore the GoFundMes for families who suffer not because of bad luck, but because of irresponsibility.
Because I still see photos of parties and trips, everyone hugging, singing, cheering. I still see the online boasts of how you don't "believe" in masks, or even in the virus.
Because I still see the unmasked everywhere I go, which is drug, grocery and hardware stores, where employees are either put at risk by people to whom they are required to be polite, or are themselves setting a bad example, forcing me to take my business elsewhere.
And I will continue to call them out and answer their bogus excuses and, yes, shame them. Because they've more than earned that from me.
Toni Vitanza
Clemson
December 26, 2020
Trump Calls The United States A Third World Country Because He Lost The Election
Have you ever known such a sore loser?
Posted on Sat, Dec 26th, 2020 by Sean Colarossi
Trump Calls The United States A Third World Country Because He Lost The Election
Donald Trump lashed out at his own country on Saturday morning, calling the United States a third world country because he lost the election to Joe Biden.
Trump, citing a “young military man working in Afghanistan,” said elections in the middle eastern country are “far more secure and much better than the USA’s 2020 Election.”
“Fake President!” Trump whined, referring to Biden, who beat him by millions of votes.
more...
https://www.politicususa.com/2020/12/26/trump-calls-the-united-states-a-third-world-country-because-he-lost-the-election.html
December 26, 2020
Judge dismisses Nunes's defamation suit against Washington Post
By Jordan Williams - 12/26/20 01:49 PM EST
A federal judge dismissed Rep. Devin Nunes's (R-Calif.) defamation lawsuit against The Washington Post this week.
The dismissal is the latest development in a string of lawsuits Nunes has filed against major news outlets.
Nunes filed the lawsuit in March over a story published in the Post about a conversation Nunes had with President Trump about an intelligence briefing.
The article, titled “Senior intelligence official told lawmakers that Russia wants to see Trump reelected,” claimed that intelligence official Shelby Pierson told members of the House Intelligence Committee that Russia had "developed a preference" for Trump.
snip//
D.C. District Judge Amit Mehta sided with the Post on Thursday, writing in his ruling that the newspaper did not act "with 'actual malice,' that is, with 'knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.'"
more...
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/531703-judge-dismisses-nunes-suit-against-the-washington-post
Judge dismisses Nunes's defamation suit against Washington Post
Judge dismisses Nunes's defamation suit against Washington Post
By Jordan Williams - 12/26/20 01:49 PM EST
A federal judge dismissed Rep. Devin Nunes's (R-Calif.) defamation lawsuit against The Washington Post this week.
The dismissal is the latest development in a string of lawsuits Nunes has filed against major news outlets.
Nunes filed the lawsuit in March over a story published in the Post about a conversation Nunes had with President Trump about an intelligence briefing.
The article, titled “Senior intelligence official told lawmakers that Russia wants to see Trump reelected,” claimed that intelligence official Shelby Pierson told members of the House Intelligence Committee that Russia had "developed a preference" for Trump.
snip//
D.C. District Judge Amit Mehta sided with the Post on Thursday, writing in his ruling that the newspaper did not act "with 'actual malice,' that is, with 'knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.'"
more...
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/531703-judge-dismisses-nunes-suit-against-the-washington-post
December 25, 2020
Democrats Shatter Fundraising Records In Georgia
Merry Christmas!! 
https://politicalwire.com/2020/12/24/democrats-shatter-fundraising-records-in-georgia/
Democrats Shatter Fundraising Records In Georgia
December 24, 2020 at 11:30 pm EST By Taegan Goddard
“Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock shattered fundraising records by hauling in more than $100 million each in the past two months, significantly outraising GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in the final stretch of the two Georgia Senate races that will decide control of the chamber next month,” Politico reports.
“The massive fundraising for the two Democrats was driven largely by small-dollar donations, continuing the pattern this year of the party’s Senate candidates tapping into online donors across the country to fund their challenger campaigns, although Democrats underperformed expectations in November despite the fundraising edge.”
“The massive fundraising for the two Democrats was driven largely by small-dollar donations, continuing the pattern this year of the party’s Senate candidates tapping into online donors across the country to fund their challenger campaigns, although Democrats underperformed expectations in November despite the fundraising edge.”
December 24, 2020
Republicans invite 'avalanche of evictions' in a pandemic, in the middle of winter
Joan McCarter
Daily Kos Staff
Thursday December 24, 2020 · 1:04 PM EST
So it's Christmas Eve. Republicans have blocked the thing Donald Trump demanded in return for signing the coronavirus relief and government funding bill—$2,000 survival checks. Senate Republicans are blowing off the whole premise of helping people. Extended unemployment benefits from the CARES Act expire Saturday. Government funding expires on Monday at midnight, along with current pandemic response efforts. Assistance to renters—$25 billion in emergency aid—and an extension on the federal eviction moratorium are dependent on Trump signing this bill, and Republicans just have "thoughts and prayers" that he'll do it.
All this while an "avalanche of evictions" is starting to roll, as the eviction moratorium expires at the end of Thursday, Christmas Eve. The census estimates that 11.3 million households are either behind on their rent or won't be able to pay next month's rent. Moody's Analytics figures there is a $70 billion backlog in unpaid rent. Landlords have to live, too, and hundreds of thousands have filed eviction notices in local courts pending the expiration of the moratorium.
That means hundreds of thousands of people—including households with children—are going to be thrown out of their homes. Those evictions will, once again, hit communities of color disproportionately hard. It will put people out of their homes—during a pandemic—and into crowded shelters or in doubled-up housing with family or friends. It will only worsen infection rates. In the middle of winter. That's what Trump is doing. And Republicans have no plan to stop him from doing it.
Republicans invite 'avalanche of evictions' in a pandemic, in the middle of winter
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/12/24/2003923/-Republicans-invite-avalanche-of-evictions-in-a-pandemic-in-the-middle-of-winterRepublicans invite 'avalanche of evictions' in a pandemic, in the middle of winter
Joan McCarter
Daily Kos Staff
Thursday December 24, 2020 · 1:04 PM EST
So it's Christmas Eve. Republicans have blocked the thing Donald Trump demanded in return for signing the coronavirus relief and government funding bill—$2,000 survival checks. Senate Republicans are blowing off the whole premise of helping people. Extended unemployment benefits from the CARES Act expire Saturday. Government funding expires on Monday at midnight, along with current pandemic response efforts. Assistance to renters—$25 billion in emergency aid—and an extension on the federal eviction moratorium are dependent on Trump signing this bill, and Republicans just have "thoughts and prayers" that he'll do it.
All this while an "avalanche of evictions" is starting to roll, as the eviction moratorium expires at the end of Thursday, Christmas Eve. The census estimates that 11.3 million households are either behind on their rent or won't be able to pay next month's rent. Moody's Analytics figures there is a $70 billion backlog in unpaid rent. Landlords have to live, too, and hundreds of thousands have filed eviction notices in local courts pending the expiration of the moratorium.
That means hundreds of thousands of people—including households with children—are going to be thrown out of their homes. Those evictions will, once again, hit communities of color disproportionately hard. It will put people out of their homes—during a pandemic—and into crowded shelters or in doubled-up housing with family or friends. It will only worsen infection rates. In the middle of winter. That's what Trump is doing. And Republicans have no plan to stop him from doing it.
December 24, 2020
7 hours ago
With His Pardons of Stone and Manafort, Trump Completes His Cover-Up
These acts don’t just protect his former aides; they protect Trump.
Dan Friedman
David Corn
By pardoning Paul Manafort and Roger Stone on Wednesday night, President Donald Trump concluded a four-year campaign to use his office to cover up his own wrongdoing in the Trump-Russia scandal. Trump aided and abetted Vladimir Putin’s attack on the 2016 election—which had the aim of helping Trump win the White House—by denying this assault was real, while he simultaneously sought to exploit Moscow’s operation for his own political gain. Ever since, Trump has strived to keep this scandal from defining his presidential victory and his presidency, and he has endeavored to hide his own possible criminality. With these pardons, that effort, which has largely succeeded, is complete.
Stone and Manafort were among 26 pardons and three commutations Trump issued Wednesday, following a batch on Tuesday. This slew of pardons is collectively corrupt. While ignoring thousands of Americans who may deserve clemency but lack the political juice to win presidential assistance, Trump singled out for special dispensation war criminals, the powerful and the connected, friends of his allies, the father of his son-in-law, and corrupt former Republican congressmen. But Manafort and Stone are in a special category.
Their pardons are part of Trump’s crusade to take revenge on Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his investigation that detailed the Russian attack that helped Trump win, that led to criminal convictions of Trump aides, and that provided evidence arguably showing that Trump had obstructed justice. But the pardons are more than that. They aim to help Trump himself.
snip//
Trump and his enablers will continue to claim falsely that the Russia scandal was a hoax. But the reports from Mueller and the Senate Intelligence Committee show this was a profoundly serious matter that included what appears to be significant wrongdoing on the part of Trump’s campaign, his aides, and Trump himself. With these pardons, Trump made sure the public would not learn the full story about their recipients—or about his own suspicious actions. With this use—or abuse—of presidential power, Trump is not only protecting his henchmen; he is protecting himself. These pardons don’t end the scandal; they are part of it.
With His Pardons of Stone and Manafort, Trump Completes His Cover-Up
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/12/with-his-pardons-of-stone-and-manafort-trump-completes-his-cover-up/7 hours ago
With His Pardons of Stone and Manafort, Trump Completes His Cover-Up
These acts don’t just protect his former aides; they protect Trump.
Dan Friedman
David Corn
By pardoning Paul Manafort and Roger Stone on Wednesday night, President Donald Trump concluded a four-year campaign to use his office to cover up his own wrongdoing in the Trump-Russia scandal. Trump aided and abetted Vladimir Putin’s attack on the 2016 election—which had the aim of helping Trump win the White House—by denying this assault was real, while he simultaneously sought to exploit Moscow’s operation for his own political gain. Ever since, Trump has strived to keep this scandal from defining his presidential victory and his presidency, and he has endeavored to hide his own possible criminality. With these pardons, that effort, which has largely succeeded, is complete.
Stone and Manafort were among 26 pardons and three commutations Trump issued Wednesday, following a batch on Tuesday. This slew of pardons is collectively corrupt. While ignoring thousands of Americans who may deserve clemency but lack the political juice to win presidential assistance, Trump singled out for special dispensation war criminals, the powerful and the connected, friends of his allies, the father of his son-in-law, and corrupt former Republican congressmen. But Manafort and Stone are in a special category.
Their pardons are part of Trump’s crusade to take revenge on Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his investigation that detailed the Russian attack that helped Trump win, that led to criminal convictions of Trump aides, and that provided evidence arguably showing that Trump had obstructed justice. But the pardons are more than that. They aim to help Trump himself.
snip//
Trump and his enablers will continue to claim falsely that the Russia scandal was a hoax. But the reports from Mueller and the Senate Intelligence Committee show this was a profoundly serious matter that included what appears to be significant wrongdoing on the part of Trump’s campaign, his aides, and Trump himself. With these pardons, Trump made sure the public would not learn the full story about their recipients—or about his own suspicious actions. With this use—or abuse—of presidential power, Trump is not only protecting his henchmen; he is protecting himself. These pardons don’t end the scandal; they are part of it.
December 24, 2020
Laney's Christmas
This is a lovely story that restored some of my faith in my fellow Americans. It's from 2013 but still warmed my heart.
https://truthout.org/articles/laneys-christmas/
William Rivers Pitt | Laney’s Christmas
By William Rivers Pitt,
Truthout
Published December 25, 2013
snip//
Because there must be hope, because I will always try to find hope, because there is always reason for hope, I choose instead to write about Laney Brown of West Reading, Pennsylvania. Seven months ago, she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. All options for her recovery were exhausted. The term of her life was measured in days.
Recently, she told her family that her last Christmas wish was to hear carolers at her door. By way of social media and the local news, her family put the word out about Laney’s last wish. On Friday night, a few people arrived outside her door, and then a few more, and then a few hundred, and then a few thousand, until finally some ten thousand people stood shoulder to shoulder on Chestnut Street in West Reading and sang to Laney.
Laney Brown passed away early this morning with her family at her side. But on Friday night, she heard the carolers. She heard them all.
Laney Brown could be my daughter, or yours. We are all our brother’s and sister’s keeper, and so Laney Brown belongs to each and every one of us. That so many people came out to give her comfort, to grant her wish, and to comfort her family in this darkest of hours, is proof positive to me that far more people believe that than don’t.
And that is why, despite all the King’s horses and all the King’s men, despite all the greed and malice and deliberately-inflicted deprivation that takes place as a matter of public policy and “responsibility,” despite the grotesque perversion of simple morality that has so gruesomely twisted the fabric of life in America, we will someday prevail, and find a better way, and make a better place.
There are more of us than them. We are better than that, and Friday night on Chestnut Street hammered that truth home for all time.
Goodbye, Laney. I also sing to you.
December 23, 2020
Trump administration advances bomb sale to Saudis
By Rebecca Kheel - 12/23/20 05:47 PM EST
The State Department has notified Congress that it is moving forward with issuing a license for the sale of precision-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia, a person familiar with the situation confirmed to The Hill.
The license, the advancement of which was first reported by Bloomberg News, would allow Raytheon to directly sell Saudi Arabia 7,500 of its Paveway air-to-ground “smart” bombs at an estimated value of $478 million.
Asked for comment, a State Department spokesperson told The Hill that federal law and regulation bars the department from “commenting on or confirming specific direct commercial sales defense trade export licensing cases.”
The administration is moving ahead with approving the license in the waning days of President Trump’s tenure over the objection of Democratic lawmakers.
Lawmakers in both parties have been increasingly opposed to selling the Saudis weapons amid thousands of civilian deaths in the Saudi-led war in Yemen. Many lawmakers also reached their breaking point with the Kingdom when a Saudi hit squad killed and dismembered journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
more...
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/531527-trump-administration-advances-bomb-sale-to-saudis
Trump administration advances bomb sale to Saudis
Trump administration advances bomb sale to Saudis
By Rebecca Kheel - 12/23/20 05:47 PM EST
The State Department has notified Congress that it is moving forward with issuing a license for the sale of precision-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia, a person familiar with the situation confirmed to The Hill.
The license, the advancement of which was first reported by Bloomberg News, would allow Raytheon to directly sell Saudi Arabia 7,500 of its Paveway air-to-ground “smart” bombs at an estimated value of $478 million.
Asked for comment, a State Department spokesperson told The Hill that federal law and regulation bars the department from “commenting on or confirming specific direct commercial sales defense trade export licensing cases.”
The administration is moving ahead with approving the license in the waning days of President Trump’s tenure over the objection of Democratic lawmakers.
Lawmakers in both parties have been increasingly opposed to selling the Saudis weapons amid thousands of civilian deaths in the Saudi-led war in Yemen. Many lawmakers also reached their breaking point with the Kingdom when a Saudi hit squad killed and dismembered journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
more...
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/531527-trump-administration-advances-bomb-sale-to-saudis
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