demon in basement
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The electoral voters speak and they're not out for a revolt
Source: Associated Press
By CALVIN WOODWARD and RACHEL LA CORTE
Dec. 15, 2016 3:53 AM EST
WASHINGTON (AP) — Although pestered to a fare-thee-well to abandon Donald Trump, Republican electors appear to be in no mood for an insurrection in the presidential campaign's last voting ritual. This most untraditional of elections is on course to produce a traditional outcome Monday — an Electoral College ticket to the White House for the president-elect.
Whether they like Trump or not, and some surely don't, scores of the Republicans chosen to cast votes in the state-capital meetings told AP they feel bound by history, duty, party loyalty or the law to rubber-stamp their state's results and make him president. Appeals numbering in the tens of thousands — drowning inboxes, ringing cell phones, stuffing home and office mailboxes with actual handwritten letters — have not swayed them.
The Associated Press tried to reach all 538 electors Wednesday evening and interviewed more than 330 of them, finding widespread Democratic aggravation with the electoral process but little expectation that the hustle of anti-Trump maneuvering can derail him. For that to happen, Republican-appointed electors would have to stage an unprecedented defection and Democrats would need to buck tradition, too, by peeling away from Hillary Clinton and swinging behind a consensus candidate in sufficient numbers.
Still, people going to the typically ho-hum electoral gatherings have been drawn into the rough and tumble of campaign-season politics. Republicans are being beseeched to revolt in a torrent of lobbying, centered on the argument that Clinton won the popular vote and Trump is unsuited to the presidency. Most of it is falling on deaf ears, but it has also led to some acquaintances being made across the great political divide.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ec578b86110043f59def592d1f178be1/electoral-voters-speak-and-theyre-not-out-revolt
I suspected as much, but to have it laid out like this is a real gutpunch.
Report: Beijing adds weapons to South China Sea islands
Source: AP
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
Dec. 15, 2016 3:28 AM EST
BEIJING (AP) — China appears to have installed anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapons on its man-made islands in the strategically vital South China Sea, a U.S. security think tank says, upping the stakes in what many see as a potential Asian powder keg.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a report late Wednesday that the anti-aircraft guns and close-in weapons systems designed to guard against missile attack have been placed on all seven of China's newly created islands. The outposts were built in recent years over objections by the U.S. and rival claimants by piling sand on top of coral reefs, followed by the construction of military grade 3,000-meter (10,000-foot) airstrips, barracks, lighthouses, radar stations and other infrastructure.
CSIS based its conclusions on satellite images taken in mid-to-late November and published on the website of its Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.
In a statement, China's Defense Ministry repeated that development on the islands was mainly for civilian purposes, but added that defensive measures were "appropriate and legal."
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/90951c7ab1d94ebc90bef9d2f62ac318/report-beijing-adds-weapons-south-china-sea-islands
I'm not worried about China defending itself in a sea bearing its name, especially given the fact that Putin, not Xi, will be running our OWN country in less than six weeks!
Hanover School District in El Paso County will allow teachers to carry guns on campus
Source: thedenverchannel.com
9:14 PM, Dec 14, 2016
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. -- A rural Colorado school district in southeastern El Paso County will allow teachers and staff to carry guns on campus.
The Hanover School District 28's Board of Education voted Wednesday night 3-2 in favor of allowing "qualified teachers" to carry guns while on school grounds, our ABC-affiliate station in Colorado Springs, KRDO-TV, reports.
The resolution was proposed by one Board of Education member, who cited fears over mass shootings, according to KRDO.
Another board member, Michael Lawson, said marijuana grows prompted the security concerns for the district, as he believes criminals may be involved, signaling a threat to student safety.
Read more: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/colorado-springs-area/rural-colorado-school-district-will-allow-teachers-to-carry-guns-on-campus
Oh, yeah, you've GOT to counter
marijuana with guns!
The race to 37: Electoral College members say they're seeing possible defections
Salon's Matthew Rozsa, early this evening.....
“Obviously, whether an elector ultimately votes his or her conscience will depend in part upon whether there are enough doing the same. We now believe there are more than half the number needed to change the result seriously considering making that vote,” Lessig told Politico.
The news comes as Hamilton Electors, the group of Electoral College members trying to persuade electors to defect to an alternative candidate, tell Salon they’re “looking at is the best chance we have of stopping Trump than at any other point during this process.”
“It’s a very fluid situation,” one Electoral College member told Salon.
http://www.salon.com/2016/12/14/the-race-to-37-electoral-college-members-say-theyre-seeing-possible-defections/
Personally, I am less than optimistic, given the fanaticism of Trumpies, but figured this article deserved some exposure regardless.
G.O.P. Resistance Builds to John Bolton as State Dept. Deputy
Source: NY Times
By JEREMY W. PETERS and MAGGIE HABERMAN DEC. 14, 2016
WASHINGTON President-elect Donald J. Trumps extended deliberations over assembling a team to run the State Department are reviving some of the same debates that consumed the years of war and strife in the administration of George W. Bush. And in some cases, the cast of rivals is even the same.
The conflict has come to a head over choosing a deputy to serve under Rex W. Tillerson, the Exxon Mobil chief executive whom Mr. Trump selected this week to be secretary of state. Mr. Trump is weighing whether to choose John R. Bolton, a combative and strident advocate for an expansive American foreign policy who was closely aligned with Vice President Dick Cheney in the Bush administration.
Mr. Boltons nomination as deputy secretary of state would be subject to a vote in the Senate, and it is not clear whether he would survive his confirmation hearing. Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, has said privately that he has misgivings, according to a person who has spoken with him. And Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, another Republican on the committee, has promised to block the nomination.
There is something to be said, Mr. Paul said Wednesday, for one of the top diplomats in the country being diplomatic.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/14/us/politics/john-bolton-state-dept-deputy.html?_r=1
Later in the article, it's reported that Tillerson himself is less than thrilled with Bolton as his #2.
Russia says Syrian rebels broke cease-fire deal
Source: AP
Dec. 14, 2016 4:00 AM EST
The Russian Defense Ministry says Syrian rebels in the besieged city of Aleppo have broken the latest cease-fire deal.
The ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that the rebels "resumed the hostilities" at dawn, trying to break through Syrian government positions to the north-west.
The ministry also says the rebels fired at a convoy that was due to depart in the early hours of the day from an eastern Aleppo neighborhood with the rebels who had agreed to be evacuated to the city of Idlib.
Syrian rebels and civilians were expected to pull out from their last holdout in Aleppo after the remaining rebel factions the previous day reached a cease-fire deal to evacuate from eastern Aleppo.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/syrian-activists-say-bombing-resumes-rebel-part-aleppo
Fuck you, Shoygu!
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