Tweet of the Day

Illinois Democrats flip State Senate seat held by Jim Oberweiss

California Governor Gavin Newsom reverses parole for Manson follower Leslie Van Houten

Newsom's decision marks the fourth time a governor has blocked her release.

A California panel recommended parole in July for Van Houten, who has spent nearly five decades in prison.

Newsom reversed her release once previously and his predecessor, Jerry Brown, blocked it twice.

Van Houten's attorney, Rich Pfeiffer, said they will appeal Newsom's decision.

"This reversal will demonstrate to the courts that there is no way Newsom will let her out,'' Pfeiffer says, "So they have to enforce the law or it will never be enforced.''

Van Houten is serving a life sentence for helping Manson and others kill Los Angeles grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, in August 1969.



https://abc7.com/ca-gov-newsom-nixes-parole-for-manson-follower-van-houten/8367413/

It's time again for the worst commercial of the season.

In third Lexington shooting Sunday, man stands in busy intersection and fires shots

Lexington police are investigating at least three shootings that occurred Sunday, including one in which a man stood in a busy Lexington intersection and fired a gun.

Police were called to the intersection of Tates Creek Road and Old Mt. Tabor Road at 4:11 p.m. Sunday, initially responding to a report that a car had hit a retaining wall at Centenary United Methodist Church, Lexington Police Lt. Daniel Truex said. Witnessed told investigators that the man driving the vehicle that crashed got out with a handgun and ran inside a nearby Speedway gas station before running out into the middle of the intersection and firing multiple shots, Truex said.

No one was injured and no vehicles were reported to have been hit, so it’s unclear what the man was aiming at when he fired shots in the intersection, Truex said. No shots were fired inside the Speedway.

Police were able to take the man into custody without incident and were still talking to him as of about 6 p.m. Sunday night in hopes of learning more about what happened and why he fired the shots, Truex said.

The shooting on Tates Creek was the third shooting reported in Lexington Sunday, according to police. Early Sunday morning, around 2 a.m., police responded to Payne Street near the Lexington Cemetery and found three people shot. One of the victims died at the scene and two others were taken to a local hospital, Truex said. One of the people transported had life-threatening injuries, and the other had injuries that were not thought to be life-threatening, he said.




https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article247495910.html#storylink=cpy

Afghanistan vet David Ortiz will be Colorado's first out bisexual lawmaker

Democrat David Ortiz has succeeded in his race to become the first out bisexual lawmaker in Colorado. Ortiz was standing for the state’s 38th District.

Ortiz, 38, is a former helicopter pilot with the U.S. military. He survived a crash while serving in Afghanistan that left him paralyzed from the waist down and put an end to his military career. Since that time, he has found a new calling as an advocate for disabled veterans and as a champion for equality. His victory also makes him the first wheelchair user elected to the legislature.

aking 56.6% of the vote, he unseated the Republican incumbent, Richard Champion. Ortiz said on Instagram, “I am incredibly humbled, honored, and excited to declare victory in the race for Representative of State House District 38.”

“This has been the third toughest experience of my life, behind combat and rebuilding my life after surviving a catastrophic crash that left me paralyzed from the waist down. But it has definitely also been one of the most rewarding. Thanks to this community, which has embraced the campaign’s motto of “I am, we are,” this seat has finally flipped blue!”




https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/11/afghanistan-vet-david-ortiz-will-colorados-first-bisexual-lawmaker/

Georgia Republicans propose a new round of voter supression.

MACON, Ga. — On Friday, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger proposed three changes that he says would help restore public faith in Georgia elections.

"Close elections sow distrust. People feel their side was cheated," said Raffensperger in a press conference.

First, he says his office should have the power to intervene in counties with "systemic ongoing problems" in running their elections.

Republican State Representative Dale Washburn says while he hasn't seen all of the details that go along with Raffensperger's proposal, he says he agrees with this part.

"We do have some counties where it does seem to be a pretty normal routine that there's a lot of delays, a lot of problems."

Raffensperger also wants more power to challenge voters suspected of not living where they vote and changes in absentee ballots, like requiring voters to mail a copy of their voter ID.
Washburn says he has a problem with that. He says he doesn't support "no excuse" absentee ballots.

He says absentee ballots should be reserved for people who absolutely can't make it to the polls, like those serving in the military or college students.

"I have very strong feelings about this. I personally, as a state representative, do not believe that we should have mail in voting as an alternative way to vote," he says. "There is no question that there is too much opportunity for fraud with mail in ballots."

Democratic House Minority Leader James Beverly says he does not support Raffensperger's proposal.

"If they start cherry-picking stuff about what they want, it's going to become very obvious to the general public that these are voter suppression tactics 2.0. 2020 style."




https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/georgia-state-legislators-react-to-proposed-election-reform/93-1b37fb7b-0f9e-49ce-a818-b8600e9eea48

Tweet of the Day

'Then Fox News called Arizona for Biden.'

ut in the final stretch of the campaign, nearly everyone — including the president — believed he was going to win. And early on election night, Trump and his team thought they were witnessing a repeat of 2016, when he defied polls and expectations to build an insurmountable lead in the electoral college.

Then Fox News called Arizona for Biden.

“He was yelling at everyone,” a senior administration official recalled of Trump’s reaction. “He was like, ‘What the hell? We were supposed to be winning Arizona. What’s going on?’ He told Jared to call [News Corp. Executive Chairman Rupert] Murdoch.”

Efforts by Kushner and others on the Trump team to persuade Fox to take back its Arizona call failed.

Trump and his advisers were furious, in part because calling Arizona for Biden undermined Trump’s scattershot plan to declare victory on election night if it looked as though he had sizable leads in enough states.

With Biden now just one state away from clinching a majority 270 votes in the electoral college and the media narrative turned sharply against him, Trump decided to claim fraud. And his team set out to try to prove it.




https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-election-overturn/2020/11/28/34f45226-2f47-11eb-96c2-aac3f162215d_story.html

Trump spent part of his Thanksgiving asking aides if he really lost

Yet even that incomplete surrender was short-lived. Trump went on to falsely claim that he “won,” that the election was “a total scam” and that his legal challenges would continue “full speed ahead.” He spent part of Thanksgiving calling advisers to ask if they believed he really had lost the election, according to a person familiar with the calls. “Do you think it was stolen?” the person said Trump asked on the holiday.

But, his advisers acknowledged, that was largely noise from a president still coming to terms with losing. As November was coming to a close, Biden rolled out his Cabinet picks, states certified his wins, electors planned to make it official when the electoral college meets Dec. 14 and federal judges spoke out.

A simple and clear refutation of the president came Friday from a Trump appointee, when Judge Stephanos Bibas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit wrote a unanimous opinion rejecting the president’s request for an emergency injunction to overturn the certification of Pennsylvania’s election results.




https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-election-overturn/2020/11/28/34f45226-2f47-11eb-96c2-aac3f162215d_story.html