Many parents look to the president of the United States as someone who is worthy of emulation. He (and someday she) is a role model. What Donald Trump is modeling right now is how to be a sore loser, how to throw a childish temper tantrum, how to undermine the democratic system of government founded on the consent of the governed.
We already have a convoluted democratic system, in which the will of the majority is overridden by the antique “electoral college.” The electoral college made Trump the president in 2016, even though Hillary Clinton won three million votes more than he did. In 2020, Trump lost the popular vote by five million, and Biden has unofficially won 306 electoral college votes, 36 more than is required to be called the winner. World leaders are congratulating Biden; Biden is moving forward, but Trump continues to whine that the election was “rigged” and that he is the actual winner.
The results of voting in the states have not yet been certified, and Trump is well within his rights to ask for recounts where the votes were very close. He has filed lawsuits in many states, and thus far none has been successful. All have been dismissed for lack of evidence of voter fraud or misdeeds of any kind. Based on past history, election experts say that the recounts are unlikely to change the results.
No one should object to recounts or serious lawsuits. Trump commits a grave error, however, in insisting that the election was “stolen” because he didn’t win. That’s the behavior of a toddler or a tyrant or both. It does a terrible disservice to the legitimacy of our democracy. Out of sheer spite, he hopes to undermine the Biden presidency in the eyes of his followers.
We have never seen anything like this in our lifetimes. We have never seen a president intent on destroying the Constitution and smearing the reputations of state election officials in every state that he did not win.
Politico reported this morning that Trump tweeted that Biden won, then withdrew the tweet and replaced it with another spurious claim of victory:
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP offered JOE BIDEN a backhanded concession this morning, tweeting “He won” amid a series of complaints about the 2020 election. LESS THAN AN HOUR LATER, he took it all back. TRUMP tweeted: “RIGGED ELECTION. WE WILL WIN. … He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!”
Toddler or tyrant?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Concerning conspiracy theory believers, here is a really good explanation of how Q has taken root in the minds of its adherents. It’s part of the larger story of human vulnerability to false information. https://medium.com/curiouserinstitute/a-game-designers-analysis-of-qanon-580972548be5
A superb piece, Jon, and much to the point.
“YO – BASE – he’s playing you like a fiddle and could care less about you.”
If his “base” was unaware that he cares nothing about them, uses their persona to his advantage, and is using them – this deceitful blatant lie to their faces should do it (but it won’t).
They blow it off when they know his is lying to them about bleach or masks or his cure for the virus or larger crowds than Obama or heck, even his taxes which would make them go ballistic if it were their mayor or governor or school principal.
This lie disrespects them and playing them to be the fool. This one is flat out saying, the game is over. It has been played. the runs, goals, baskets, touchdowns, best card hand, photo finish, fastest time… take your pick… have been recorded. One team or person wins, the other loses. You can’t lie about that. You score three touchdowns, I score four. You lose. Bottom of the ninth your team scores a walk-off hit (Pennsylvania in this case), the other team loses.
How does he look them in the eye, drive by their proud boys angry white man stand by your man women, thumbs up and say “I WON!”
And – for all the senators and representatives who echo it – well, they are officials and should be censored for lying to their constituents.
“Toddler or tyrant?” Yes.
I hear from my friends in Germany this clip is viral in their county:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1324367609454878720
That’s very funny–thank you!
Prescient: it’ll be taken out of the WH kicking & screaming, as well.
DT knows he lost. But he doubtless hopes to be able, somehow, to escape prosecution and to use false claims about a stolen election to rile up his mobs to make them into customers for a Trump media empire that he hopes to create to supplant Fox. We know him to be an extremely dangerous authoritarian, and he must be stopped. The only way to do this is to go forward with those many prosecutions of Trump and his spawn for their many, many crimes. Only that will shut him up.
In prison, he won’t have access to the blonde hair dye and the orange clown makeup, but that’s OK, given the orange jump suits. Orange on orange is just too matchy-matchy.
If he was really a tyrant, he would FORCE you to go to his marches and such… does he? I think not.
If he was a tyrant, he would rip your family from your arms to be his slaves. Does he? I think not.
If he was a Tyrant, there would be NO election, and he would use the Dominion Voting System to win.
If he was a tyrant, I wouldn’t support him at all. If he forced me to go to a Trump Rally, I wouldn’t be smiling. If he stole my family from me, I would fight back. If he said “there will no longer be elections” then I would fight back and protest.
But, he has done none of that.
Trump is only occasionally tyrannical, as when he tyrannizes little children fleeing violence and hunger in countries destabilized by American intervention by stealing them from their parents or when he’s gassing Moms in yellow shirts protesting systemic racism of the kind that regularly ends in the deaths of innocent black men. He’s a WANNABE tyrant who only idolizes and aspires to be like his heroes and pals Putin and Duterte and Bolsonaro and bin Salman or like other dictators around the globe who used the military and the courts, led by his toadies, to reverse free elections. But that he is a wannabe fascist autocrat is obvious. The problem for him, there, is that he keeps being stymied by courts that keep him from carrying out his wishes (e.g., using military construction funds to build his ridiculous wall) or by heroic members of his administration like Mark Esper, who refused to follow his orders to use the military against peacefully protesting citizens or Kirstjen Nielsen, who refused to follow his order to shoot unarmed legal asylum seekers.
My family are Mexican Immigrants, and Trump was the one who gave my aunt a job.
Trump is NOT perfect. No one is. I just think he has been a good leader, he hasn’t started any wars either. Peace is good. And please don’t be mad at me, I just want to express my opinion 🥺❤️
I am not mad at you, Riverlark. I am just worried when I see my country slipping into fascism, with 47 percent of the electorate supporting a leader who loves fascist authoritarians.
Is he also the one who took it away when it was discovered he was staffing his golf clubs with illegal immigrants? That can be seen as quite snarky especially the implied assumption that your aunt was illegal. He didn’t employ her out of the goodness of his heart as has been become more than obvious over time. He has made it more than obvious how he feels about immigrants from south of the border. As for wars, he seems to be doing his best to land us in the middle of more conflict in the Middle East and tie Biden’s hands in sorting it out. He has alienated our allies and toadied to dictators. I’m sure he hopes to criticize Biden as he attempts to undo all the damage he has done. I’m glad your aunt got a job, but you would be hard pressed to find much positive that has been done anything notable for the average Joe.
BTW, if you need a refresher on what a tyrant is and how Trump fits that bill, I highly suggest Stephen Goldblatt’s wonderful book on the subject, Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics, which amusingly paints a portrait of Donald Trump as wannabe tyrant without even mentioning Trump by name simply by drawing the obvious parallels between public statements and actions by Trump and those of tyrannous villains of Shakespeare’s plays.
Or, as Donald Trump himself put it, declaring himself in the Wannabe Tyrant camp: “Then, I have an Article II, where I have to the right to do whatever I want as President” (e.g., my power is absolute) and “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by” (e.g., get ready, brownshirts).
I think if Trump was a wannabe tyrant he would send the military straight to Seattle to stop the riots. He did want to, but the Governess said no. He respected her decision
He didn’t send the military to Portland or anywhere else because it is illegal to use the military to intervene in domestic violence. Cities and states have their own police force and National Guard.
Yes, and it’s also unconstitutional for governors to close churches, schools, etc… its in the first amendment
🙂💕I am not sure what time zone you are in, my I’m going to bed. Have sweet dreams and a great morning. Goodnight Dianeravitch🌙😴💤
Have you ever read the First Amendment?
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
“Or the right of the people to peaceably assemble”
I think Churches and schools should peaceably assemble, Pastors shouldn’t be thrown in jail, etc
Which pastors were thrown into jail?
Sorry i just had the time to get back to you! I thought I heard somewhere that a pastor was thrown in jail though apparently he was just arrested or something.
However, the police blocked the entrance for the drive-in service for the church I attend. We felt very betrayed 😕❤️
Thank you for having these conversations with me, Diane
Have a great night! 😴
First of all education is not a federal responsibility. It is left to the states.
Secondly, what about the rights of everyone not attending church sponsored, Covid spreading events? Right now, my denomination practices our religious beliefs remotely, so that we don’t endanger each other or the rest of the community with which we come in contact. Over and over again, we have seen that large gatherings lead to infection. What part of your religion tells you to endanger yourself and everyone around you by ignoring the public health advice?
I got tangled up in my own words.
cx: to find much notable that has been done for the average Joe.
Mary Trump’s niece said, “if he thinks he’s going down, he’s going to try to take the rest of us down with him.”
That’s what Hitler did to Germany once he knew he was losing WWII. When Germany’s generals asked Hitler to surrender, Hitler said no and that his people had failed him and had to suffer horribly.
And, anyone with a brain that works, knows Trump is in love with dictators like Hitler, Stalin, Putin, et al. Being an all-powerful dictator has been Trump’s dream since he was a toddler.
Trump is an insult to toddlers everywhere. Toddlers haven’t learned yet how to be as malicious, hateful and deceptive as Trump. Trump and the GOP are trying to cripple and dismantle the Biden administration before Biden has even been inaugurated. McConnell is looking to be co-president and too many of the Trump hating GOPers, like Kasich, are trying to dictate how Democrats should act. In essence, they want the Democratic party to renounce and marginalize the progressives in the party (such as AOC, Pressly, Omar, etc.) and move even more rightward. My fear is that the Democratic party will move even more conservative because of all the socialism baiting from Trump and the GOP. The GOP would be very happy if all Democrats would behave like Joe Manchin (UGH!). Tough luck, AOC is still in Congress and she’s not giving up.
I apologize to toddlers around the world.
Toddlers have not learned how to lie.
Toddlers are honest.
When they are hungry, they let you know.
When their diapers are wet, they let you know.
They never lie.
Diane, we all have that capacity – it is built in. Donald Trump can be useful to us – if we are accurately and logically critical of its root cause. We will then be better equipped to counter this disposition in our students, in the very young, and ourselves. It is essential for educators to understand where this comes from.
I don’t work deep enough inside government to know if this delayed transition threatens our national security or our Covid-19 response, but I do know that President Trump’s inauguration caused bullying complaints to rise in schools. His bad sportsmanship here, by example, I predict, will encourage some adults and their kids to say after every loss from here on out, “The refs rigged the game.” I so dread the next decade of interscholastic athletics if people who follow his example, millions of them, are like the toddler he eggs on.
Trump was a sore winner in 2016; he kept up the rant about Hillary’s emails long after winning (“lock her up”).
Now we know he is both a sore winner and a sore loser.
He’s basically a kind of demonic force.
“Toddler or tyrant”? Both, in my humble opinion. How does anyone that voted for more of the same from DJT ( if he had won) possibly rationalize that they are American patriots and that they stand for American values?
If there’s mega vote fraud out there, let’s see some videos of it. Cameras are everywhere, in various forms. 🤔😮🔔
Georgia is recounting its 5 million votes by hand, with one Republican and one Democrat verifying each ballot.
I have no idea how they can do this in only one week since Nov 20 is the deadline for certifying the vote.
Somehow, that sounds impossible to me. ☹️
I am simply reminded of one of my mother’s old Pennsylvania Dutch sayings, “Convince a man against his will, and he is of the same opinion still.” That is Trump and his ardent followers.
Out of office, into jail.
Is that why he is putting up such a fight?
The scary part about Trump for me is
that he has so many followers.
Lies do not count
Scholarly analysis does not count.
Ad nauseum.
Now that demagogues know easy
it is to pull the wool over the eyes
of so many Americans – what, who is next?
This comment nails it.
Fareed Zakaria:
First, Fareed argues that while President Trump’s false claims about electoral fraud won’t keep him in office, they will do serious and lasting damage to America’s political fabric.
Trump “is whipping up his base into a frenzy about a stolen election,” Fareed says. As Republicans echo Trump’s claims, they’re degrading faith in American democracy in a way that’s reminiscent of post-World War I Germany, which indulged in conspiracy theories about having really been on the verge of winning, if not for a sinister plot.
“It is a cliché to say it but it’s true—democracy is centrally about the peaceful transfer of power,” Fareed says. “Trump is shredding those norms for his own egotistical needs. But his actions today will have a large and lasting and effect on this country’s politics for decades—a cancer that could metastasize in gruesome ways.”
Further to carolmalaysia’s comment above, the full video of Fareed Zakaria is worth watching. He lays out the issue succinctly.
Flerpi: Thank you for posting this – I could not agree more. Zakaria helps us understand more how repulsive it is to be this way. All the more reason to use the Trump – and the others in history to deeply understand how ugly this way of mind is – and reject it!!
Have we known colleagues working in schools a little like Trump? I have. Perhaps some we have worked under have been a little like Trump? I have. Have we had students acting a little like a little Trump? I have. Have we seen the Trump like winning is everything mentality in Athletics placing students in danger – especially in football? I have. Have we seen things in ourselves a little like Trump? Yes, I have and still do.
As educators, do we want to be against this? I say loudly: YES. Then it is our obligation to look to understand where this comes from and be against it. Haven’t we seen plenty of snobbery and arrogance, in the education world in may forms? The jargon, the acronyms, the profit programs du jour, the medicating and so on. Why not make Trump’s ugliness useful – understand it and use it to make education as such, kinder, deeper, and better?
This piece got me thinking back to times when I either participated in student government or voted in them, and I cannot imagine such an election ever devolving into the circus that supposed adults are orchestrating now. Somewhere along the line, student government became “uncool” and became a shadow of what it used to be if it even managed to survive. What a mistake!
Trumpism is a cult. But Trump is a poor cult leader. He missed parts of the standard “How to Build a Cult” program. So, here:
A Dummies’ Guide to Becoming a Cult Leader | Bob Shepherd
These guidelines will help people to recognize such scam artists when encountering them. Just about all cults include most or all of these elements.
Make a Promise that gets at something people really want and don’t have, such as community, wealth, happiness, sex, or freedom from anxiety or worry.
Explain that The Promise will be realized in a Transformation into a Higher State of Being or a Return to a Mythical Golden Age.
Create an Impending Calamity or Apocalypse (the End of the World has typically been the staple here) that can be avoided through membership in the group, achievement of The Promise, and possession of The Secret Knowledge. The supposed Secret Knowledge can be simply a mash-up of pop psychobabble or pseudoscience or political ideology or New Age nonsense or traditional religious ideas or some combination of these, augmented by Guided Apophenia–encouraging Disciples to perceive patterns in the world (in popular culture, for example) that aren’t really there, especially patterns involving the Adversary (see below).
Make use of Normalizing Disciples and their Testimonies.
Create and present, optionally in some Sacred Text, a Backstory of a Revelation of The Secret Knowledge or Hidden or Esoteric Teachings being communicated by A Messenger to The Great Leader (that would be you), who becomes the embodiment of The Secret Knowledge on earth.
Create Stages of Development toward acquisition of The Secret Knowledge, aka, The Path, and Testimonials from Normalizing Disciples further along The Path toward Mastery of The Secret Knowledge. Name these stages, creating ranks within the group of Disciples. Charge people increasing amounts of money (and/or other services) for training to reach these ranks.
Create an Other–an Enemy or Adversary–that wishes to destroy the group, and include among these anyone from outside the group (e.g., friends or family members) who might attempt to get the Disciples from drinking the Kool-Aid. Isolate Disciples as much as possible from competing ideas and from the society at large.
Create community-binding Rituals involving Sacred Objects or Talismans, and Symbols or Icons, including both Bonding Rituals (to the leader and to other members of the group) and Private Rituals (to carry the activities of the cult into the disciple’s private life).
Build community and immunity within the cult by warning Disciples on The Path that exposure to the ideas of those outside the cult, such as other belief systems, can prevent acquisition of The Secret Knowledge and bring about The Calamity.
Engage group members in Proselytizing and Recruitment.
Trump is a national danger and a disgrace. Creepy.
…………………………………………..
“It’s very hard for our democracy to function if we are operating on just completely different sets of facts,” Mr. Obama said on CBS’s “60 Minutes.” “Any of us who attain an elected office — whether it’s dogcatcher or president — are servants of the people. It’s a temporary job. We’re not above the rules. We’re not above the law. That’s the essence of our democracy.”
Mr. Obama said he worried that many parts of what he called a “deeply divided” nation believed Mr. Trump’s falsehoods.
“The power of that alternative worldview that’s presented in the media that those voters consume, it carries a lot of weight,” Mr. Obama said.
Trump, Trying to Cling to Power, Fans Unrest and Conspiracies
The president’s refusal to concede has entered a more dangerous phase as he blocks his successor’s transition, withholding intelligence briefings, pandemic information and access to the government.
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s refusal to concede the election has entered a more dangerous phase as he stokes resistance and unrest among his supporters and spreads falsehoods aimed at undermining the integrity of the American voting system.
More than a week after President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. was declared the winner, Mr. Trump continues to block his successor’s transition, withholding intelligence briefings, critical information about the coronavirus pandemic and access to the vast machinery of government that Mr. Biden will soon oversee.
Some former top advisers to Mr. Trump have said that his refusal to cooperate is reckless and unwise. John F. Kelly, Mr. Trump’s former chief of staff, called it “crazy” on Friday. John R. Bolton, the president’s former national security adviser who wrote a scathing memoir about his time in the administration, said the refusal “harms the country.”
“Every day that he delays under the pretense that he’s simply asking for his legal remedies ultimately is to the country’s disadvantage,” Mr. Bolton said on ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday morning.
The president’s attempt to cling to power played out against a backdrop of protests by Trump supporters and opponents late Saturday, with sporadic clashes near the White House. The police arrested 21 people as one protester was stabbed and four officers were injured. Rather than seek to calm tensions, Mr. Trump lashed out.
“ANTIFA SCUM ran for the hills,” he posted on Twitter on Saturday as he urged the police to move in aggressively. “DC Police, get going — do your job and don’t hold back!!!”
By Sunday morning, the president seemed to briefly acknowledge defeat, but he quickly reversed himself, declaring “I concede NOTHING!” He repeated lies about the vote-counting process, falsely insisting that Mr. Biden’s victory was the result of a “RIGGED ELECTION” orchestrated by the “Fake & Silent” news media.
Facing his final 66 days in office, Mr. Trump appears unwilling to break from the gut instincts that have guided his pursuit of the presidency and his exercise of authority in the past five-and-a-half years: a fierce determination to act only in his self-interest and a near-total refusal to accept blame or responsibility for his failures.
As the total number of coronavirus cases in the United Statessoared past 11 million and deaths neared 250,000, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease specialist, warned that 200,000 more people could die by spring if Americans did not more fully embrace public health measures, even with an effective vaccine…
But anyone hoping for a similarly quiet withdrawal from Mr. Trump as he leaves the presidency appears destined not to get it. He continues to deny facts and science in favor of baseless conspiracy theories and has moved aggressively to remove anyone he views as disloyal: a fact underscored by a purge of top officials at the Pentagon last week that was followed by an implicit rebuke by the military’s top general.
“We do not take an oath to a king or a queen, a tyrant or a dictator. We do not take an oath to an individual,” Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a speech on Wednesday. “We take an oath to the Constitution.”…
Ron Klain, who will be Mr. Biden’s chief of staff, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that a concession tweet from the president was not necessary.
“Donald Trump’s Twitter feed doesn’t make Joe Biden president or not president,” Mr. Klain said. “The American people did that.”
Before going to play golf at his club in Virginia for the second day in a row on Sunday, the president once again lashed out at the news media and Mr. Biden’s supporters, retweeting reports of a university professor who said that anyone who voted for the Democrat was “ignorant, anti-American and anti-Christian.” In his tweet, Mr. Trump called that “Progress!”…
Trump just came back from golfing for two days. Can’t overwork the dear man.
The president has lunch with the vice president at 12:30 p.m.
The Republican party is dead. It is a ship filled with fools and essential for the cult of Trump to prevail. Trump has enacted Bannon’s vision of president who would “deconstruct the administrate state.”
Usually, even the rats abandon the ship when it is sinking.
But this may be the single exception to that rule in the long (6000 year old) history of the world.
Trump sides now (apologies to Joni Mitchell for ruining her beautiful song)
Bats and rats and dirty mouse
And I scream assholes in the House
And crazy Bannons all abouts
I’ve looked at Trump that way
And now they only block results
They rain and snow on all the votes
So many tweets I’d like to quote
From Trump on every day
I’ve looked at Trump from inside out
From up and down, and there’s no doubt
It’s Trumpy tantrums I recall
I really DO know Trump, that’s all
Perfect, SomeDAM
This gets to the point:
“When your time is up, then it is your job to put the country first and think beyond your own ego,” Obama said during the interview.
The Onion:
What Trump Hopes To Accomplish Before Leaving The White House
On January 20, 2021, Donald Trump will leave office at the end of his presidential term, coup permitting.
Here’s what President Trump hopes to accomplish over his final two months in office.
An unfathomably high amount of document shredding.
Sunrise yoga on the National Mall.
Finally follow through on campaign pledge to stand in middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody.
Hold yard sale to raise money for legal battles and recounts.
Award Twitter user @920274749_000 the Presidential Medal of Valor for unwavering support over past four years.
Humor the hapless boys and girls in intelligence by listening to even one morning briefing.
Honor the teachings of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Install ultrasonic alarms to torment Joe Biden’s dogs 24 hours a day.
Get his father’s ghost to say one kind thing.
Yeah, well–some of these seem possible (esp. 3,4 & 10).
it probably would simply say that its “father’s ghost” said “one kind thing.” (That would be, “YOU BEAT JOE!)
It’s too bad that it’s become harder to separate Onion “news” from reality. Or vis a versa.
The truly astonishing thing, to me, about the recent election is that even after the utter disaster of Trump’s performance over the past four years, almost half the electorate still voted for him. Half the electorate lacks the ability to separate fact from fiction. How does one account for this ability on the part of large numbers of Americans to believe something despite reason or evidence? Well, an AP VoteCast survey showed that 81 percent of White evangelical Protestant voters voted for Trump and 18 percent for Biden. Edison Research exit show 76% of White evangelicals for Trump, 24% for Biden. According to a 2001 Gallop poll, 61 percent of adult Americans–grown ups–believe in Satan and another 12 percent say that they aren’t sure. My own take is that if a person is capable of believing in an invisible evil angel working secretly to make mischief in the world, then he or she is capable of believing literally anything, for example, that Trump is a Christian and a patriot and a brilliant businessman and a moral exemplar. The inescapable conclusion, I think, is that we’re doing a very poor job of teaching students what constitutes actual warrant for belief.
It’s time to stop being so polite about people believing BS and time for an epistemology strand in our K-12 curricula. We shouldn’t have people graduating from our schools who routinely say things like, “Everybody’s entitled to his/her opinion.” Someone who could say that has not been educated.
Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion about Satan.
Mine is that he should just stay out of politics.
SomeDAM Poet: I’m sure that you know that my brother has tagged me.
Satan is influencing me because I vote for evil politicians like Biden/Harris, NOT really compassionate, caring, intelligent ones like Trump.
And that he should be banned from Twitter.
He can start his own damned social medium.
Slither?
Carolmalaysia
You did not need to explain to me that Satan is influencing you.
I already knew that from reading your comments here.
In fact, it is quite clear that Satan has a very strong presence on this blog and that Diane is really just Satan in drag.
That’s why I always wear a cross when I am blogging — to keep Satan from jumping out of my tablet and taking over my mind.
SomeDAM Poet: One time when I was visiting my aunt, she had a religious group meet in her condo. They got together regularly and there was a printed curriculum on what topics to cover. It was a discussion group.
Unfortunately, for me the topic that evening was the devil. I learned that the devil hides behind bushes and trees and is waiting to attack people who don’t believe in Jesus. The whole group nodded in agreement.
Someone asked me why I wasn’t contributing to the conversation. I replied that I was listening.
My aunt is a very kind, gentle woman who reads the bible daily. She told me that not everyone deserves healthcare. He son, who worked hard to get through college deserved healthcare, but not those druggies. Her favorite president was George W. because God was directing him.
I have no idea what she thinks of Trump. Since he is the “Chosen One by Evangelicals’, she might even support him.
Or, SomeDAM, you could order one of the Satan-proofing tablet covers sold by Good (Bob) Shepherd Ministries! I can guarantee that no invisible demonic spirits will jump out of a laptop protected by one of these!
Bob Shepherd: BUT, can your Satan-proofing tablet covers keep the devil from attacking people who don’t believe in Jesus?
Do you sell protective gear?
The problem with the Satan Screen (TM) is that Satsn gets caught between the tablet and the cover and if you ever take the cover off, you are doomed and damned.
So, much as I am tempted to get a screen, I think I will stick with wearing my cross.
Or maybe I can draw a big cross on my screen with a sharpie
Hell, it works for Trump, right?
Sharpies are very powerful. They are like the wands in the Harry Potter books but good, not evil instruments of Satan, as the Harry Potter books obviously are. We at Bob’s Flor-uh-duh Boogaloo Outfitters would happily supply you with Trump-branded Sharpies, but we don’t want to compete with the Trump website. Check that out for many other products to help make America grate again!
Bob, I asked a very pertinent question recently [yesterday] about whether or not you sold protective gear for all the people who were afraid of being attacked by the devil who was hiding behind bushes.
Since you didn’t respond, I’m assuming that I’ll have to look on some other site to get this gear. Maybe I can get a glowing globe like the one Trump and the Evangelicals had when they all put their hands on the Chosen One and the globe.
[I believe in Jesus but I have to be careful.]
No, the glowing globe was in Saudi Arabia. You are conflating that with the great pray-in and laying on of hands in the Offal Office, after which Trump said to his staff, “Can you believe that shit? They are all hustlers.”
So, Donald was in good company.
Trump’s special psychological pathology, it seems to me, is his penchant for creating his own reality. He believes a thing; therefore it exists.
The Central Park 5 are guilty.
Obama is a Kenyan Muslim.
Hilary is Crooked.
His inauguration was the biggest crowd ever.
Obama spied on his campaign.
Voter fraud is everywhere.
He is the greatest president of all time.
Biden cheated him of his second term.
Had we left him in Trump Tower, mumbling nonsense at the end of the bar while the regulars nodded sympathetically, perhaps there’d be a quarter of a million more Americans alive today. Perhaps asylums seekers at the border would know where their children are.
Time to turn off The Trump Show.
This permutation also works
The Central Park 5 are the biggest crowd ever
Voter fraud is a Kenyan Muslim
His [Trump’s] inauguration was corrupt.
Hilary cheated him of his second term.
Obama is the greatest president of all time.
Biden is everywhere.
Amen to this, Christine!
This bit of SH*T-HOLE news comes from Breaking Christian News. I am furious that something proclaiming to be ‘Christian’ can lie. We are supposed to believe Giuliani who spoke on Fox ‘news’.
……….
TRUMP LAWYERS SAY WITNESSES AND EVIDENCE OF RIGGED SOFTWARE DESIGN PROVE A STOLEN ELECTION
Dale Hurd : Nov 16, 2020 CBN News
“First of all, I never say anything I can’t prove… and President Trump won by not just hundreds of thousands of votes, but by millions of votes that were shifted by this software that was designed expressly for that purpose. We have sworn witness testimony of why the software was designed. It was designed to rig elections.”— Sidney Powell, Trump attorney
(Washington, DC) — [CBN News] Stunning revelations about the 2020 election: President Trump’s legal team says it has evidence that foreign software was used to steal the election and that the evidence is strong enough to overturn results in multiple states. Is it possible that President Trump won by millions of votes? (Screenshot via CBN News)
The media continue to pressure the president to admit he lost to Joe Biden, but lawyers for the president say they have evidence the 2020 election was stolen.
When President Trump tweeted over the weekend that Biden won because the election was rigged, the media said the president was finally admitting defeat. But the president followed up that Biden “only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA.” You’ll notice in the tweets here that Twitter slaps a “disputed” label on most of President Trump’s tweets these days, but Twitter never cites evidence.
The Biden camp is frustrated that the Trump administration is not admitting defeat and not allowing government agencies to cooperate with its transition team.
Biden “Chief of Staff” Ron Klain told NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “We can’t until we get that GSA ascertainment that authorizes us to contact government officials. And so, we can’t have any of those kind of contacts until we get to that stage of ascertainment.”
Even many Republicans believe Joe Biden is the president-elect and should be treated as such. Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine told CNN, “The president has every right to go into court. On the other hand, it’s clear, that certainly based on what we know now that Joe Biden is the president-elect.”
Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson told “Meet the Press”: “It is very important that Joe Biden have access to the intelligence briefings to make sure he is prepared.”
But the president’s legal team says it has evidence that foreign software from companies called Dominion and Smartmatic were used to steal the election. Trump Lawyer Rudy Giuliani told the Fox News program “Sunday Morning Futures” that Smartmatic software has a backdoor that allows votes totals to be changed.
“I know I can prove that they did it in Michigan,” Giuliani said. “I can prove it with witnesses. We’re investigating the rest. And every one of those states, though, we have more than enough illegal ballots already documented to overturn the result in that state.”…
https://?ID=31629
carol: Don’t you just wish that Giuliani was the sole Lawyer “handling” all these suits over purported voter fraud? The biggest joke would be on it45 because it certainly looks like Rudy’s lost it (whereas it45 never had it to begin with, according to Mary Trump). How does an incompetent competently handle the affairs of an incompetent client?
Giuliani was born with his foot in his mouth.
There is even a real disease name for for it (although it usually infects cattle): foot and mouth disease
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot-and-mouth_disease
I have no idea whether fraud has actually occurred in this election, but there actually IS vote tabulation software that allows vote totals to be changed (called GEMs)– although I have no idea if it is still being used after it was “outed” several years ago.
https://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-1/
It’s important to note that the software in question was actually for tabulating vote totals in a database AFTER they have been recorded (either by machines or hand written ballots). So simply eliminating the e-voting machines does not eliminate the potential for fraud.
There is really no legitimate reason for tabulating votes as decimal numbers (termed floating point) rather than as integers and, whether intended or not, it is actually an invitation to fraud because it allows someone to modify totals in ways that are not readily detected.
I used to work as a programmer (but not of election related software) and it is simple and commonplace to add code to software that allows it to be used in different ways with “secret” keystroke combinations. It is normally used to allow the people who wrote the software to debug it (on the fly) but it might also allow them to do more insidious things.
Good programmers also “comment” their code, which gives another programmer a quick overview of what it is supposed to do.
From the piece I linked to:
“According to programmer notes, a weighted race feature was designed which not only gives some votes more weight than others, but does so based on the voter’s identity. Ballots are connected to voters, weights are assigned to each voter per race, stored in an external table not visible in GEMS. Our testing shows that one vote can be counted 25 times, another only one one-thousandth of a time, effectively converting some votes to zero.”
That certainly does not sound legitimate to me.
How can the country fight such ignorance? How many more people have to get infected before Trump’s followers finally realize COVID-19 is killing people? It will make Biden’s plans to lower the curve much more difficult. There is no fixing ignorance…except through having relatives or friends die.
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WaPo:
But if you needed a sign that the country’s political divisions probably aren’t going away any time soon, look no further than Michigan, where Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is facing a new round of blowback over lockdown restrictions.
Back in April, as she tightened restrictions on public activity in response to the virus’s surge, far-right groups stormed the Michigan State Capitol, with some people toting firearms and Confederate flags. The president fanned the flames with an infamous message on Twitter: “Liberate Michigan!” Months later, F.B.I. agents arrested a group of men on charges of domestic terrorism in a plot to kidnap Whitmer.
Whitmer lifted many of those restrictions, but this week, with the virus roaring back, she put in place a new set of lockdown measures. On Sunday she announced that she would shut down indoor dining, close casinos and movie theaters, and halt in-person learning at high schools and colleges for three weeks.
Dr. Scott Atlas, President Trump’s coronavirus adviser, immediately denounced the decision in a tweet, calling on people to “rise up” against the measures. A Republican legislator in Michigan called for Whitmer to be impeached.
Yesterday, Whitmer responded forcefully to Atlas’s comments, calling them “incredibly reckless, considering everything that has happened.”
Looks like another day of tough work in store for Trump. /s The pandemic is spreading wildly and he hides and pouts.
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Trump has another day scheduled without public appearances
By John Wagner
The White House is advertising no events for Trump on Tuesday as he continues to keep a low public profile in the aftermath of an election he has refused to concede to Biden.
While making few public appearances, Trump has continued to air grievances about the election through Twitter. Late on Monday night, he tweeted a Breitbart story about Kelli Ward, the chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, asserting that “this election is far from over.”
Vice President Pence, who has resumed a more regular schedule than Trump, is scheduled Tuesday to hold a meeting of the White House coronavirus task force.
Didn’t you know that (cheating at) golf takes a lot of time and energy? Between that and monitoring social media, his days are more than full.
Whoever wrote this article is a complete fool , anyone that would vote or want anyone other than trump in office is a complete traitor to the United states can you not see what the demo rates are doing talking about shutting down again well there goes the economy , the new green deal that’s fucking retArded go ahead and burn the rest of the country down you fucking moron. Trump forever
Scott,
Trump lost the election. He lost the electoral college and the popular vote.
Scott: Trump forever??? He has too much crime in his background. Trump’s narcissism won’t allow him to admit he LOST. Diane is kind to let you speak on this blog.
Letitia James: “No one is above the law. We will just follow the facts and the evidence, wherever they lead us.”
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Trump Tax Write-Offs Are Ensnared in 2 New York Fraud Investigations
Inquiries into the president and his businesses, one criminal and one civil, are now looking at tax deductions taken on consulting fees. Some of the payments appear to have gone to Ivanka Trump.
By Danny Hakim, Mike McIntire, William K. Rashbaum and Ben Protess
Nov. 19, 2020
Two separate New York State fraud investigations into President Trump and his businesses, one criminal and one civil, have expanded to include tax write-offs on millions of dollars in consulting fees, some of which appear to have gone to Ivanka Trump, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The inquiries — a criminal investigation by the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., and a civil one by the state attorney general, Letitia James — are being conducted independently. But both offices issued subpoenas to the Trump Organization in recent weeks for records related to the fees, the people said.
The subpoenas were the latest steps in the two investigations of the Trump Organization, and underscore the legal challenges awaiting the president when he leaves office in January. There is no indication that his daughter is a focus of either inquiry, which the Trump Organization has derided as politically motivated.
The development follows a recent New York Times examination of more than two decades of Mr. Trump’s tax records, which found that he had paid little or no federal income taxes in most years, largely because of his chronic business losses.
Among the revelations was that Mr. Trump reduced his taxable income by deducting about $26 million in fees to unidentified consultants as a business expense on numerous projects between 2010 and 2018.
Some of those fees appear to have been paid to Ms. Trump, The Times found. On a 2017 disclosure she filed when joining the White House as a presidential adviser, she reported receiving payments from a consulting company she co-owned, totaling $747,622, that exactly matched consulting fees claimed as tax deductions by the Trump Organization for hotel projects in Hawaii and Vancouver, British Columbia…
Few details have been publicly disclosed about the district attorney’s investigation, the only known active criminal case involving Mr. Trump. Mr. Vance’s office began the inquiry more than two years ago, initially focusing on the Trump Organization’s role in hush money paid during the 2016 presidential campaign to Stormy Daniels, a pornographic film actress who claimed to have had an affair with Mr. Trump.
The investigation has been stalled since last fall, after the president filed a lawsuit to block a subpoena for his tax returns and other financial records.
The legal fight is before the United States Supreme Court for a second time, with a ruling expected soon. Prosecutors have suggested in court filings that their investigation has expanded far beyond the hush money and is focused on a number of potential financial crimes, including insurance and bank-related fraud, tax evasion and grand larceny.
Ms. James’s civil investigation is focused on the Trump Organization’s business practices, though she can make a criminal referral and can seek authority from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s administration or the state comptroller to bring charges on her own.
Her inquiry began last year in March, after Michael D. Cohen, the president’s former lawyer, told Congress that Mr. Trump had inflated his assets in financial statements to secure bank loans and understated them elsewhere to reduce his tax bill. In August, the attorney general’s office asked a judge to force the president’s son Eric Trump to testify in the inquiry, and he did so last month. Eric Trump is an executive vice president at the Trump Organization, running its day-to-day operations.
Investigators in Ms. James’s office have scrutinized a widening array of transactions. One of them is a 2010 financial restructuring of the Trump Hotel & Tower in Chicago, when the Fortress Credit Corporation forgave debt worth more than $100 million. The attorney general’s office said in court documents filed in August that the Trump Organization had thwarted efforts to determine how that money was reflected in its tax filings, and whether it was declared as income, as the law requires in most instances. The Times’s analysis of Mr. Trump’s financial records found that he had avoided federal income tax on almost all of the forgiven debt.
The attorney general’s office is also examining whether the Trump Organization used inflated appraisals when it received large tax breaks for promising to conserve land where its development efforts faltered, including at its Seven Springs estate in Westchester County, N.Y.
“The outcome of the election will have no impact on our investigations,” Ms. James said in a television interview this month, adding: “No one is above the law. We will just follow the facts and the evidence, wherever they lead us.”
Mr. Trump has frequently assailed Ms. James, the latest in a string of New York attorneys general with whom he has clashed. Ms. James presided over the final stages of an investigation that led to the closing of his scandal-marred charitable foundation. She is also seeking to dissolve the National Rifle Association, a key ally of the president…
The examination of fees apparently paid to his older daughter is likely to arouse even more vitriol from the outgoing president. And it raises questions about whether the payments were a tax-deductible way for him to compensate his children, or avoid gift taxes he might incur from transferring wealth to them, something Mr. Trump’s father had done through legally questionable schemesuncovered by The Times in 2018…
Seems like the people around Trump get fired and are put in prison. What a GREAT leader. /s. Love the thought that Trump is livid and can’t do anything about the situation that he is in.
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Advisers Are Begging ‘Livid’ Trump Not to Fire Bill Barr, Says Report
Jamie RossReporter
Published Dec. 03, 2020 5:24AM ET
Reuters/Leah Millis
President Donald Trump is absolutely furious with Attorney General Bill Barr for dismissing his persistent claim of election-deciding fraud as the obvious nonsense that it is. So much so, in fact, that his job is said to be under threat. On Wednesday night, The Washington Post cited one official who said that several people are trying to talk Trump down from getting rid of the attorney general. Trump’s rage follows Barr’s comment Tuesday that “we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was asked Wednesday if Trump still had confidence in Barr. She gave a non-committal answer, simply saying: “The president, if he has any personnel announcements, you will be the first to know it.”
Read it at The Washington Post