Donald Trump’s days of Tweeting misinformation unchecked are over. The Washington Post just did what should have been done years ago—add an automatic fact-checker to Trump’s Twitter.

The plug in was developed for the Google Chrome browser and was released by Philip Bump, who is a reporter at WaPo. Directly under Trump’s statements on Twitter, there is a gray box that simply declares, “This is incorrect or false,” with a sentence explaining why and a link. The fact-checking extension goes back to tweets from November and will be a beacon of truth in processing all of Trump’s misleading tweets in the future. A statement from WaPo declared the following, “our goal is to provide additional context where needed for Trump’s tweets moving forward (and a few golden oldies).”

As one of Trump’s most hated media outlets, Trump and WaPo have come to blows in the past. However, this is not a counter-move from the newspaper. Bump wrote on Twitter that he had just come up with the idea for the extension, “this morning.” Trump has called the media outlet, “phony and dishonest,” as well as having, “incredibly inaccurate coverage and reporting.” Trump even took away WaPo’s press credentials, as a way to hugely damage the paper. But now it seems WaPo will have the last laugh—through the plugin they will be able to invalidate all of Trump’s ramblings as exactly that; valueless rants of a narcissist that are ungrounded in reality. Perhaps the most brilliant part of this is that the plugin will take down Trump through Twitter, which he has grown so attached to. It is his way to self-publish without any checks or review, but WaPo has put a stop to that. Trump will now have to be accountable for the tweets he shares in the middle of the night (doubtful) or be called out on his lies, literally right underneath them.

http://occupydemocrats.com/2016/12/17/washington-post-just-created-plug-instantly-fact-check-trumps-twitter/

A ruling by a U.S. Appeals Court in Colorado on Friday in a case filed by Democratic electors has helped pave the way for Republican electors to cast their votes against Donald Trump when the Electoral College meets on Monday. In a footnote appended to its ruling the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals suggested that state officials are constitutionally barred from removing faithless electors – those who vote against the winner of their state – once voting has begun.

In their order the court’s three judges said that any attempt by Colorado’s Secretary of State to remove faithless electors “after voting has begun” would be “unlikely in light of the text of the Twelfth Amendment,” which covers the functioning of the Electoral College. That interpretation is excellent news for the movement to convince Republican electors to block Donald Trump, as it provides a solid legal backing for violating state laws that require immediate removal of electors who break with their pledged vote. Such laws are in place in 28 states, many of which were won by Trump.

The lawsuit filed in Colorado ultimately aimed to overturn that state’s version of the pledged elector law, a move that was denied by the court even as it offered the interpretation that electors would be legally protected from removal once voting had actually begun. Jason Wesoky, a lawyer for the two electors who filed the suit, said he may pursue Supreme Court review of the matter. Any such review, however, would likely not occur until after the College’s vote on Monday. The most relevant piece of the ruling, however, is the declaration that there is no legal basis for removing electors once voting has actually begun regardless of the state faithless elector laws.

http://occupydemocrats.com/2016/12/18/federal-court-just-gave-great-news-anti-trump-electors/

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/electors-colorado-court-appeals-232777

https://ffrf.org/images/FFRF_NYTAd_Pence_11x21_sm.pdf

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is placing a full-page ad in tomorrow’s (15th) New York Times honoring Bill of Rights Day. And if we’ve ever needed to worry about those rights being violated, it’s with the incoming Donald Trump administration.

Arpaio plans to hold a news conference on Thursday where he will announce the “newest” revelation about his investigation into President Barack Obama’s birth certificate.

#BREAKING: @RealSheriffJoe will be presenting “newest” revelation to investigation of President Obama’s birth certificate on Thursday.

— ABC15 Arizona (@abc15) December 14, 2016

Details of the announcement are still sketchy, at best. However, a local news outlet in Phoenix is reporting they will carry the news conference tomorrow live online at 4:00 p.m. local time. Chief Investigator Mike Zullo is reportedly also expected to appear with Arpaio at the press conference.

http://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/central-phoenix/sheriff-joe-arpaio-to-talk-obama-birth-certificate-investigation

Forty six additional electors have joined an effort demanding a full intelligence briefing on any alleged ties between President-elect Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Originally 10 electors had signed on to the letter, which was first published on Monday, and addressed to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Since then, the number of signatures has grown from 10 to 56. The 538 electors are scheduled to meet at the Electoral College on December 19, 2016.

The effort, spearheaded by elector Christine Pelosi (the daughter of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi) asks for further information to determine whether “Mr. Trump is fit to serve as President of the United States.”

http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/46-more-electors-sign-onto-letter-demanding-putintrump-intelligence-briefing/

By James DeVinne

directelection.org

As the Electoral College’s December 19th vote nears and revelations of Russian interference in the election convince an increasing number of people that Trump ought to be disqualified from the presidency, one man is fighting back by organizing a massive letter writing campaign to convince Electoral College electors not to vote for Trump.

Jeff Strabone, a Connecticut College professor and neighborhood activist in Brooklyn, created the site directelection.org to help people send their own signed postal letters to electors from states won by Donald Trump. Strabone focuses on sending actual letters because he believes that “a single good old-fashioned voter-to-voter letter is probably worth a thousand emails.” On the website you can download customizable letters from Microsoft Word and labels with the addresses of any electors you want. You then simply mail the letters to the electors.

Strabone spent weeks gathering the contact information for all 306 red state electors, and his project is a powerful call to action to all of us who view Trump as an existential threat to American democracy. “How realistic is it that we can politely convince enough electors to abandon Trump (and choose the popular-vote winner Hillary Clinton instead),” Strabone asks on website. “Admittedly, the chances are slim, but this is our only shot! Nothing else at this point, other than swaying the electors, can stop Trump from becoming president. Let’s not throw away our shot!”

The site has already attracted considerable media attention and facilitated thousands of letters to electors. And while the goal of convincing 37 electors to change their votes on December 19th may seem far-fetched, there is already a significant movement to stop Trump and this represent our last best chance to keep him from the White House. At least one Electoral College member, Christopher Suprun of Texas, has already decided to vote against Trump, a decision he outlined in a New York Times op-ed that argued the Donald is unfit for the presidency. Another Texas elector, Art Sisneros, resigned rather than be forced to vote for Trump, and a California law firm, Durie Tangri LLP, has partnered with Harvard Law School professors to offer pro bono legal assistance to any electors who break their pledged vote. Visit Strabone’s site below and do your part to stop Trump today!

By Jeffrey Lewis

The department spends most of its time and money on nuclear weapons, not oil, and played a critical role in the Iran deal. Governor Oops isn’t remotely qualified to run it.

As a nuclear weapons nerd, I do love a presidential transition. Every four or eight years, I get to watch beffudled politicians discover that the United States Department of Energy doesn’t actually have anything to do with energy policy. It would be more accurately named the Department of Nuclear Weapons.

If you didn't know that, or forgot, it’s OK. Rick Perry probably forgot, too.

Yes, the former Texas governor is reportedly President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to be the Secretary of Energy. The same Rick Perry who’s gaffe-studded run for the 2012 Republican nomination for president included a promise to abolish three federal departments – Commerce, Education and … he couldn’t remember the third. But the third was the Energy Department because of course it was.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/13/rick-perry-will-really-run-the-department-of-nukes-not-energy.html

Better late than never

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/politifacts-2016-lie-of-the-year-fake-news/2306159?utm_source=TBT_email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daystarter

http://lettertoelectors.org/

Ukrainians have seen the likes of Donald Trump before, in ex-President Viktor Yanukovych. Both men ran against strong women — Hillary Rodham Clinton and Yulia Tymoshenko, respectively — and won by small margins. And both were wealthy outsiders with a flair for the flamboyant. But in 2014, after weeks of protests over his rejection of an EU association agreement, Yanukovych fled his post for exile in Russia.

So is Trump vulnerable to being ousted by popular rebellion? While a Ukrainian-style Maidan Revolution in Washington, D.C. seems unlikely, a return to the late 1960s, when students, women, protesters and minorities took to the streets across America, could easily be in the cards. Especially if Trump, like Yanukovych, refuses to become president of all the people, encourages corruption and remains committed to his extremist policies.

Three possible outcomes await. By gleefully abandoning all semblance of civility in his campaign and consciously insulting his political adversaries among the elites and in the population, Trump crossed a line that will be next to impossible to uncross. At least half the country will likely remain sullen, angry and unwilling to accept Trump as their legitimate president. When leaders lose legitimacy, as Yanukovych did within a year of his 2010 election, their ability to serve successfully declines, and they have no choice but to increasingly resort to demagoguery, coercion and cronyism.

http://www.ozy.com/pov/does-a-ukrainian-style-revolution-await-washington/74352?utm_source=dd&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=12112016&variable=9d91d2d18ffb4c5a3c26fdf0d50dd20e