Category: Opinion

Everyone has been focused on President Trump doing whatever he can to prove voter fraud and overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election but no one is paying attention to U.S. Senate candidate John James and his efforts to delay certification results in Michigan.

But since James was not already the President of the United States with an elite legal team at his disposal he had to think of another way to raise money for his cause.

The Fulton County Superior Court Clerk’s Office said Trump’s lawsuit, which was filed on Friday, did not have the appropriate fee and the attorneys did not fully complete the case information form.

Actions were taken to correct the paperwork later that day but the delay but this is just the latest in a long list of setbacks for the president and his legal team’s efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the Peach State. That same day, a U.S. district judge dismissed a lawsuit by a former Trump attorney and days before an appeals court rejected another lawsuit by Trump supporter L. Lin Wood.

President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani announced the latest litigation during a state Senate hearing last week. Among other things, he said it would show tens of thousands of ineligible voters such as felons, underaged voters, out-of-state residents, and many others who cast their ballots in the November election.

William Petty of Deland, Florida, was arrested in Port Orange over the weekend for shooting his fiancee’s two dogs and trying to convince a teenager to partake in the killings.

How a man could do this to 2 defenseless dogs is beyond understanding. Their names- Wheezy (catahoula) & Mason (dachshund). Loyal & trusting to the end I'm sure. Thanks to our great @VolusiaSheriff deputies, @VolusiaAnimal & @PortOrange_PD for locking up this scumbag dog killer https://t.co/CuFYiRNdcV

— Mike Chitwood (@SheriffChitwood) December 7, 2020

Pollster Douglas Schoen says that Democrats should stop pushing the “defund the police” agenda if they want to stay competitive in 2022.

“The data says to me that if the Democrats go the progressive route they can lose the House and the Senate overwhelmingly in 2022,” Schoen said. “The incoming Biden administration has to understand that unless they take a moderate path, that is a likely potential outcome for the Democrats.”

As a Democrat himself, Schoen has been a longtime pollster for Mike Bloomberg and even worked on the billionaire’s short-lived presidential campaign.

Schoen asked 1,000 voters in a post-election poll whether Joe Biden’s victory was a “mandate for centrist policies” or a “mandate for progressive policies.” A whopping 62% of respondents said centrist while just 28% said progressive.

The survey also found that the Democratic party was hurt in down-ballot races by the “defund the police” movement promoted by progressives. There were 35% of voters who agreed the issue made them “less likely to vote for Democrats,” while 23% said it made them more likely.

The poll only solidified longstanding trends showing self-identified conservatives outbesting self-described liberals 37% to 24%, leaving 36% who said they were “moderate.”

“The hardcore activists, they like AOC. The rest of the country outside of hardcore party activists are not so keen on AOC or her agenda,” Schoen said of the New York representative. “The question for the Democrats is how to keep the progressives on the reservation without fracturing the party.”

About 70% of respondents agree with the centrist Democrats like former Senator Clair McCaskill and Representative Abigail Spanberger making pleas for moderation.

“We need to not ever use the words ‘socialist’ or ‘socialism’ ever again,” Spanberger told her Democratic colleagues.

Barack Obama made a warning this week about “snappy” progressive slogans leading to downfall.

“I guess you can use a snappy slogan, like Defund the Police, but, you know, you lost a big audience the minute you say it, which makes it a lot less likely that you’re actually going to get the changes you want done,” said the former president.

On Friday Dr. Anthony Fauci praised President-elect Joe Biden for his proposal to require all Americans to wear face masks during the first 100 days of his incoming administration saying it was a “good idea” to halt the surge of U.S. coronavirus outbreaks.

Biden announced the proposal during an interview with CNN adding that he would ask Americans to cover their faces while in public for “just 100 days… not forever.” The president-elect predicts that a countrywide adoption of the personal mitigation measure would cause a “significant reduction” in coronavirus cases.

Fauci was asked whether Biden’s proposal would impose an “artificial time limit” on mask-wearing but he dismissed those concerns saying he spoke to the president-elect about that and he “didn’t mean it that way.”

“He just wants to get — and it’s a good idea — uniform,” Fauci explained. “He’s saying, ‘Hey, folks, trust me. Everybody for 100 days.’ Now, it might be that after that, we still are going to need it. But he just wants it, everybody for a commitment for 100 days.”

“And I discussed that with him, and I told him I thought that was a good idea,” he added.

The doctor also confirmed that he accepted the offer to become Biden’s chief medical adviser and to stay on as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci has held this position since 1984 across six administrations.

Although Biden previously endorsed a nationwide mask mandate he also acknowledged that he was unclear whether a president “could mandate everyone” to cover their faces while in public. This latest proposal seems to represent a national call to action, so to speak.

President Trump and Fauci have clashed over the issue of masks. While in the initial stages of the U.S. outbreak the Trump administration did not endorse mask-wearing but neither did the immunologist. It was not until early April that the CDC recommended the use of cloth masks when going out in public.

By a vote of 60-35, the Ohio House passed Senate Bill 27, which had already been passed in the state Senate. The current law in Ohio states that any fetal remains, including those from abortions, miscarriages, or embryos in fertility clinics should be disposed of in a “humane” way. The new bill would only change the rules for abortion providers, requiring that clinics comply with newly written guidelines for the cremation or burial of a fetus.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is expected to sign the bill into law. In 2019 the governor signed in controversial and restrictive abortion legislation known as the “Heartbeat” bill which prohibits abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected.

In 2016, Ohio’s previous governor, John Kasich, declined to sign the legislation saying that it would only initiate a slew of hard-to-win legal battles.

President-elect Joe Biden gave Americans a little bit of hop on Friday by saying another round of coronavirus stimulus checks “may still be in play” for U.S. families.

During a press conference, Biden responded to critics asking about a new COVID relief plan by saying that this week marks the starting point for another round of negotiations on Capitol Hill.

“I think it would be better if they had the $1,200,” he said. “And I understand that may still be in play. But, I’m not going to comment on the specific details. The whole purpose of this is, we’ve got to make sure people aren’t thrown out of their apartments, lose their homes, are able to have unemployment insurance [that] they can continue to feed their families on as we grow back the economy.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has backed a bipartisan $908 billion relief plan as a basis for talks with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, told reporters “there is momentum” toward lawmakers coming to an agreement.

Biden said this plan is a “good start” but is pushing for more aid as soon as his administration takes charge.

The bipartisan plan includes a portion of funding for a round of Paycheck Protection Program small business lines, relief for local and state governments, and money for schools. It also allocates money for transportation and vaccine distribution.

Skeptics are worried it will not put enough money directly into the pockets of Americans because while it authorizes a $300 per week enhanced federal unemployment that’s still only half of the weekly payments that Congress passed in March.

The President-elect’s willingness to compromise shows promise that the stalemate in Congress will give way to a deal just in time to “keep us from going off the edge here.”

“If you insist on everything,” he said, “you’re likely to get nothing on both sides.”

President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani tested positive for the coronavirus.

According to a family member who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter Giuliani has been admitted to Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington.

In recent weeks the former New York mayor has traveled to many different battleground states in an effort to help President Trump in his legal battle to prove widespread election fraud and overturn the results. He met with several local officials for hours at a time and on numerous occasions would not wear a mask.

Trump confirmed Giuliani’s positive test in a tweet and wished him a speedy recovery.

.@RudyGiuliani, by far the greatest mayor in the history of NYC, and who has been working tirelessly exposing the most corrupt election (by far!) in the history of the USA, has tested positive for the China Virus. Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2020

Just last week Giuliani attended a hearing at the Georgia Capitol where he did not wear a mask for several hours. There were several state senators present at the hearing who were not wearing masks.

On Wednesday night, the attorney stopped in Lansing, Michigan, to testify in an uncommon legislative hearing that lasted over four hours during which he urged Republican lawmakers to dismiss the certification of Joe Biden’s Michigan victory and appoints electors for President Trump. A lawyer sitting next to him was not wearing a mask and at one point Giuliani asked an election worker if she would be comfortable removing her mask but legislators wouldn’t allow it.

Before the hearing began, Giuliani and Michigan Republican Party Chairman Laura Cox hosted a virtual briefing for GOP activists.

Then, on Sunday, he made an appearance on Fox News to discuss legal challenges in different states on behalf of Trump.

Giuliani’s positive diagnosis came after his son tested positive for the coronavirus late last month.