Desperate to create an incident that will give Trump cause

He couldn't get the people of Minnesota to attack his gestapo and give him an excuse to declare a national emergency.

 

Resistance

I hope they're going to stand on a protest line somewhere instead of just staying home.  Maybe like these Philadelphians...

 

Speaking of Philadelphia..

 

"The criminal in the White House."

Brave woman.

Schadenfreude, indeed

Major Trump lickspittle, Dinesh D'Souza three days ago:

I think so, Dinesh:

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:  Also...

They're just getting started, folks

Actually, Rudy.   What gave me away?

Still speaking of Pennyslvania...

Get ready for the mean tweets and death threats.

Because they can't win if they don't cheat

The Trump campaign has been videotaping Philadelphia voters while they deposit their ballots in drop boxes, leading Pennsylvania’s attorney general to warn this week that the campaign’s actions fall outside of permitted poll watching practices and could amount to illegal voter intimidation.

[...]

Both the Trump and Biden campaigns are focused on Pennsylvania, seen as one of the most important swing states in the election and where polls show Joseph R. Biden Jr. with a seven-point lead.

[...]

The [Trump] campaign made a formal complaint to city officials on Oct. 16, saying a campaign representative had surveilled voters depositing two or three ballots at drop boxes, instead of only their own. The campaign called the conduct “blatant violations of the Pennsylvania election code,” according to a letter from a lawyer representing the Trump campaign that was reviewed by The New York Times. The campaign included photos of three voters who it claimed were dropping off multiple ballots.

  NYT

It may have been set up by the Trump campaign so they could challenge the results.

[A local lawyer for the Trump campaign, Linda A. Kerns,] demanded that the names of all voters who had used a drop box in front of Philadelphia’s City Hall on Oct. 14 be turned over to the campaign, and insisted that the city station a staff member around every drop box “at all times.” She also asked for footage from municipal cameras around City Hall.

But city officials rejected the assertion that the voters who had been photographed had necessarily done something improper. The city’s lawyers forwarded the campaign’s complaints to the local district attorney, but did not make a formal referral and cast doubt on the assertions. They also said they do not track which voters use which drop box.

“Third party delivery is permitted in certain circumstances,” Benjamin H. Field, a deputy city solicitor and counsel to the city Board of Elections, wrote in a letter sent to Ms. Kerns on Monday.

[...]

Under Pennsylvania law, voters are allowed to deliver only their own ballots to drop boxes, unless they are assisting a voter with a disability or who otherwise needs assistance. But voting has been upended by the pandemic and many voters are unfamiliar with the rules around drop boxes, which they may be using for the first time.

And it may be just pure bullshit.

Earlier this month, a Trump campaign official told The Times that the campaign would be videotaping drop boxes but was only interested in people who were dumping large numbers of ballots — not in those bringing an extra ballot or two. That assertion appears to have been false.

The Trump campaign’s Oct. 16 letter described three voters who had been videotaped by a Trump campaign staff member. One was “wearing a striped baseball cap” and deposited “what appears to be three separate ballots.” Another voter was “a woman wearing a face mask and a long sweater jacket over a yellow shirt” who appeared to put three ballots into the drop box, while a woman “with gold bangles” dropped off what appeared to be two ballots.

“We believe these to be just the tip of the iceberg,” Ms. Kerns wrote.

Bite me.

In a statement to The Times, the Pennsylvania attorney general, Josh Shapiro, excoriated the campaign’s tactics. “Pennsylvania law permits poll watchers to carry out very discrete and specific duties — videotaping voters at drop boxes is not one of them,” Mr. Shapiro, a Democrat, said. “Our entire system of voting is built on your ballot being private and your choice to vote being a personal one. Depending on the circumstance, the act of photographing or recording a voter casting a ballot could be voter intimidation — which is illegal.”

[...]

Last month, campaign representatives tried to enter a satellite election office in the city in an attempt to monitor with their cellphone cameras voters picking up and filling out mail-in ballots. Philadelphia election officials barred them from entering, saying that laws permitting citizen poll watchers referred only to polling locations, and that a satellite election office was not a polling location.

[...]

Pennsylvania law also requires poll watchers to be registered, trained and certified.

[...]

None of the officials from the Trump campaign who tried to monitor satellite election offices last month had certification. The campaign is currently suing the city to be allowed to station poll watchers in satellite election offices.

Jesus Christ.

But wait. There's more.

Earlier this year, the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit in the Western District of Pennsylvania in an attempt to halt state election officials from using drop boxes for the general election in November. As evidence, the campaign provided photographs and video stills of seven people returning more than one ballot to drop boxes in Philadelphia and Elk Counties during the primary this year, although those pictures were not taken by the campaign, lawyers involved in the case said. Instead, they were culled from municipal security cameras, newspaper articles and social media.

One of the pictures Republicans highlighted showed a Black man wearing a hat and sweatshirt bearing the logo of the Philadelphia Water utility, who was photographed putting two ballots in a drop box. In another photograph, a Black woman wearing Nike sneakers and a plaid shirt was shown depositing two ballots in a drop box. A white man in a third photograph — a post from an Instagram account — appears to be holding up two ballots near a drop box, but it is not clear whether he is the only voter present.

Ooooh. Tip of the iceberg.

The Trump campaign lost the lawsuit, with Judge Nicholas Ranjan dismissing the photographs, noting that “it is undisputed that during the primary election, some county boards believed” it was “appropriate to allow voters to deliver ballots on behalf of third parties.”

Despicable people. May they rot in hell.

UPDATE:

A spokesperson for President Donald Trump’s campaign says two people who were dressed as armed security guards outside a Pinellas County early voting location on Wednesday were not hired by the campaign.

  WFLA Channel 8

You don't have to hire them. Trump just has to call on them to act, which he does every time he gets a chance.

Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Julie Marcus told 8 On Your Side Wednesday night the two people set up a tent outside an early voting site in downtown St. Petersburg and claimed to be with the Trump campaign.

[...]

Trevor Mallory, the Democratic candidate running to become Pinellas County’s property appraiser, was also at the early voting site on Wednesday. He went live on Facebook to show video of the armed guards.

“I mean, I’m 6-foot-5, 250 pounds but still, when you see someone toting a weapon that’s not in an official police or sheriff’s office uniform, it’s a little uncomfortable. "

[...]

Thea McDonald, the deputy national press secretary for the Trump campaign, told 8 On Your Side the campaign did not hire the individuals at the site.

“The campaign did not hire these individuals nor did the campaign direct them to go to the voting location,” McDonald said in a statement.

Trump did!

In the first presidential debate last month, President Trump encouraged his supporters to go to the polls to watch what happens there.

“I’m urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully,” Trump said. “Because that’s what has to happen. I am urging them to do it.”

[...]

Deputies with Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office came to the polling place on Wednesday and spoke to the guards, who said they were hired by the Trump campaign and said they would be out tomorrow at the early voting location.

It is illegal in the state of Florida to bring a gun to a polling place, and Gualtieri says intimidation won’t be allowed either.

[...]

During a news conference on Thursday morning, Sheriff Gualtieri said the two individuals did not violate any laws.

“Their mere presence does not constitute voter coercion or intimidation,” Gualtieri said.

St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman told us he doesn’t feel the same.

“I can’t say I agree with him on that. There’s zero reason for anyone to be armed – openly-armed – out in front of a polling place. I can’t think of any justification for that,” he said.

The sheriff did say deputies would be stationed at all of the early voting locations in Pinellas County starting Thursday.

[...]

Gualtieri spoke with News Channel 8 on Tuesday about his plans to thwart any potential voter intimidation.

[...]

Gualtieri spoke with News Channel 8 on Tuesday about his plans to thwart any potential voter intimidation.

UPDATE:

Our national nightmare continues

As Donald Trump traveled to Florida for his first MAGA rally since his hospitalization for COVID-19, his campaign called in the most famous Italian American Trump supporter who hasn’t yet been fired or indicted (it’s been a rough four years for my people) for what they billed as the launch of “Italian Americans for Trump.” With Trump down in the polls 22 days from Election Day, the evening started with an actual Hail Mary inside a cramped Trump campaign office in Northeast Philly.

[...]

[Rudy] Giuliani, who is 76 years old, spoke at close range to about 75 supporters for over 30 minutes. Although he claims to have tested negative, he was present at debate-prep sessions two weeks ago with the president and others — Chris Christie, Kellyanne Conway, and Bill Stepien — all of whom have since tested positive. At the Philly event on Monday night, he did not wear a face covering, and while many others in attendance did, they often wore them improperly, the masks hanging below their noses, rendering them ineffective.

Giuliani mentioned hydroxychloroquine, the drug promoted by Trump throughout the pandemic as a way to prevent coronavirus infection that was discredited even before Trump contracted the virus. “I took one this morning,” Giuliani said. “I was exposed four days ago. Four negatives. My doctor makes me take hydroxychloroquine because he believes it’s a prophylactic. Not only that — my doctor has treated 2,000 patients. Two people died. One was 87. The other was 79. Both of them had very serious diabetes.”

[...]

“Now we have at least five therapeutics,” he said, adding falsely that “people don’t die of the disease anymore. Young people don’t die at all. Middle-aged people die very little. And even elderly people have only a one percent chance of dying."

[...]

Trump has only led Biden in one out of 55 state polls conducted over the past 19 months and tied with him just twice. More often, Biden has beat Trump by double digits, and currently leads him by an average of seven points.

[...]

“Hillary was more frightening than Joe. Joe’s a big crook, don’t get me wrong. He’s a slimy crooked politician. But he comes across like a nice old man,” Giuliani said before transitioning into a singsong voice: “He’s a Catholic” — a “fake Catholic” someone in the crowd interrupted — “killing babies about two days before they’re born. He’s okay with that.”

[...]

The event had been scheduled to take place in South Philly, home to the city’s Italian Market. But the owners of 2300 Arena, a 15,000-square-foot venue best known for hosting pro-wrestling matches (and, relevant to our purposes here, once called the Asylum Arena) canceled after learning that the “private fundraiser for a local politician” they’d agreed to was actually a MAGA rally. [...] Trump campaign failed to note the change of address in invitations to supporters, as well as the 4:30 start time. [...] The sign on the doors read “THERE IS NO POLITICAL RALLY OR FUNDRAISING EVENT TONIGHT AT THE 2300.”

[...]

Philadelphia’s health department guidelines ban indoor gatherings larger than 25 people. Relative to the rest of the country, rates of coronavirus in Pennsylvania have been low, but they are rising. Over the last week, the state has averaged more than 1,000 new infections per day with 18 deaths reported on Monday alone.

[...]

A half-hour away from the 2300 Arena, amid construction warehouses in Northeast Philly, a police officer told reporters outside the Trump campaign office that the Italian Americans for Trump event was in obvious violation of the city mandate.

[...]

Giuliani claimed to be defending his honor. “They have 10,000 people march, spitting in each other’s face,” he said. Assuming the character of a left-wing protester, he shouted, “‘Kill police! Kill police! Pigs in a blanket! Fry ’em like bacon!’” As he remarked that “‘Black Lives Matter’ equals ‘kill cops,’” a man in the room yelled, “Build the wall!

[...]

[Giuliani] offered the example of Susan Rosenberg — a onetime fugitive and member of the Weather Underground who served 16 years in jail after being caught with weapons and explosives — who became, on the inside, an influential activist, writer, and poet. Giuliani has been using her case to whip up fear since 2001, when her prison sentence was commuted by President Bill Clinton. “He let her out in 16 years so she could train Black Lives Matter in how to kill cops,” he said on Monday, “which is what she did when she was young.”

[...]

After claiming that Democrats used the pandemic to take away gun rights, which did not happen, he mentioned the McCloskeys, the couple who wielded guns on the porch of their St. Louis mansion in front of Black Lives Matter demonstrators who were passing by. Giuliani claimed, falsely, that the protesters had yelled, “’We want to rape your wife! We want to rape your wife! We want this for reparations! This is number one for reparations! Biggest house here! Reparations!’” He added, “Nobody knows this, but at the time, their daughter was upstairs under the bed because she was afraid they’re going to come in and they’re talking about rape and they’re going to rape the wife and they’re going to find the daughter.”

  NY Magazine Intelligencer

Jesus Christ.

If there is a deep-state plot to prevent Donald Trump from being reelected, they couldn’t do a better job than the Trump campaign.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Unacceptable

When cops get shot

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Jesus wept

A Pennsylvania school district is warning that children could end up in foster care if their parents do not pay overdue school lunch bills. The letters sent recently to about 1,000 parents in Wyoming Valley West School District have led to complaints from parents and a stern rebuke from Luzerne County child welfare authorities.

The district says that it is trying to collect more than $20,000, and that other methods to get parents to pay have not been successful. Four parents owe at least $450 apiece.

  Philadelphia CBS Local

So threaten them with a false claim to take their kids away?!

“You can be sent to dependency court for neglecting your child’s right to food. The result may be your child being taken from your home and placed in foster care,” the letter read.

After complaints, district officials announced they plan to send out a less threatening letter next week.

How about a truthful one, to boot?

Luzerne County’s manager and child welfare agency [...] calls the district’s actions troubling and a misrepresentation of how the Children and Youth Services Department and its foster care program operate.

Wyoming Valley West’s lawyer, Charles Coslett, said he did not consider the letters to be threatening.

“Hopefully, that gets their attention and it certainly did, didn’t it? I mean, if you think about it, you’re here this morning because some parents cried foul because he or she doesn’t want to pay a debt attributed to feeding their kids. How shameful,” Coslett told WYOU-TV.

That man should lose his law license.

School district officials say they plan to pursue other legal avenues to get the lunch money, such as filing a district court complaint or placing liens on properties.

For the coming year, the district will qualify for funding to provide free lunches to all students.

What a novel idea.

Larry Krasner and Philadelphia's criminal justice reform

Across the country, talking the talk of criminal justice reform has gotten many people elected as DA. Once in office, their reforms have often been painfully slow and disappointing. Krasner was the first candidate elected who publicly committed not just to intermittent changes, but a radical overhaul.

So far, having been office less than three months, he has exceeded expectations.

[...]

It’s a dream come true for those of us who’ve been fighting our hearts out for justice reform for years.

  The Intercept

Good luck to Larry Krasner for continued forward motion, and remaining alive.

This is going to be a very interesting case study.

Continue reading.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Last Night Outside the DNC

This video is amazing. The first part of it looks like it could be a scene from Jurassic Park where the dinosaurs are trying to escape their pens.

Weds night at #DNCinPHL : protesters breach security perimeter, police attack crowd. #DemsInPhilly #DemConvention pic.twitter.com/2jEjQUmAJ3

— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) July 28, 2016

Philadelphia Police said they detained seven people who breached the fence at Broad Street and Pattison Avenue. The Secret Service arrested the seven and said they faced felony charges for entering a restricted area.

[...]

Police Commissioner Richard Ross said protesters were warned repeatedly not to breach the area.

"For whatever reason, they chose to do it anyway with multiple officers sitting there waiting for them, so it was over before it started," Ross said, explaining the situation never got tense for the officers, who were still in "soft" clothes rather than protective gear.

  NBC Philadelphia

Yeah, those officers didn't look tense.

Here's another video, presumably of the same protest. Some folks thought it would be a good idea to burn the American flag. And one idiot set herself on fire in the process. Looks like she was trying to stomp out the fire, in an ankle-length skirt. Brilliant.

The U.S, Secret Service said seven people entered through the outer perimeter fence and into a Secret Service designated secure zone. They were detained without incident by Philadelphia police and are expected to be federally charged with entering a restricted area.

  USA Today

Without incident, eh?

Now That's How You Do It

The vote, which took place at the airport, was 461-5 in favor of striking out of 500 on shift Tuesday participating. The workers, who number about 1,000, work for subcontractors hired by various airlines.

[...]

Morgan said other area unions have fair contracts and thus would not have strikes during the convention, but that's not the case for the airport workers. He said that workers pushing for unions have been fired from their jobs.

  Philly.com

This post is dedicated to TJ Templeton, wherever he may be.