#tr*mp the biggest loser

[malenipshadows]

True that.

I really think people have forgotten just how bad things were under the Trump Administration. Literally every day there was news about some service being cut or someone terrible appointed somewhere they shouldn't be or what have you. He constantly flirted with WW3 and military dictatorship. It was such a blur of badness that there aren't big standouts for people to point to to make him "the XYZ president." it was everything. all the time. Why do we not remember this.

[malenipshadows]

Melania Tr*mp makes statement?

At the Manhattan courtroom, where former pres-ident and biggest loser Donald Tr*mp was tried and ultimately convicted of 34 felony counts, the loser's current wife never attended a single day of the trial. None of his family members attended opening arguments. Deafening silence. Yeah, sure, the Cinnamon Voldemort never wears a wedding ring. Ostensibly, he does not like jewelry. Apparently, he doesn't like a lot of things that respectable, committed, and "regular" people do. Like, say, honor the institution of marriage, of voting, of paying vendors on time, respecting women, et al.

[deepermadness]

Okay, look

I'm not saying that it's absolutely fucking hilarious that they announced not only a Covid vaccine, but strong stock growth AND multiple companies announcing commitment to the Paris Accord moments after announcing Tr*mp lost by having the largest ever count against any politician in American history, but if you ever wanted a sign that shit will instantly get better once hateful people like him are gone then there it is.

And I'm in stitches after laughing so hard at the biggest loser in American history.

[meaningtotellyou]

Apparently Tr*mp says he won’t be attending Joe Biden’s inauguration. I don’t want any of his supporters saying he’s not a sore loser ever again. No more of those bullshit posts “If we lose we’ll go to work the next day like any other day and we won’t complain! ✨🙏💞” because it’s a fucking lie. I’ve never SEEN a pack of sorer losers in my life.

THEY ARE THE BIGGEST PACK OF SORE LOSERS AND THAT’S WHY WE’RE IN THIS HELLHOLE NOW

[malenipshadows]

on tumblr 

[mandaloriangf]

tr*mp didn’t finish the wall, likely has long-term health problems after catching a deadly virus that he allowed to spread across the US, lost the electoral and popular vote, got some red states to go blue for the first time in years, and became the first president to get impeached twice in their first term. What a loser.

literally one of the biggest losers in american history

[lanaarwenlazar]

in honor of villain releasing and me starting it later today, here is a special insight into my brain in the form of the notes i made on my phone as i was reading monster last year, completely unedited (so with all my spelling mistakes and freakouts)

there are spoilers for monster, obviously

(keep in mind that i was very emotional about being back in the gone-universe, so don’t judge me lmao)

i ship malik and shade already. can’t habdle them they’re too cute

oh my god shade is basically a true crime fan, thanks i hate it

“WHATEVER MALIK DID IT GENERALLT SOMEHOW WORK” MY LOVE

...it will be interesting to see what people have to say about mg writing his first trans character

transphobic violence already, i think someone will have a problem with this chapter being called “the meet cute”

where

is

dekka

WHAT THE FUCK SHADE WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOURE INSANE

I WAS RIGHT BY THE WAY THE MOVIE SUCKED AND WAS A BAD IDEA AND I HOPE ASTRID AND SAM ARE SUFFERING AND HAVE NO FRIENDS

nooo dekka sweetie :(((

oh my god a dekka chapter what if we get updates on everyone i’m not ready

dekka is broke no :(((

but she drives a motorcycle i’m so in love

dekka has a cat. marry me

“Of those three hundred thirty-two kids, fifty-one developed one supernatural power or another. Only nineteen of you developed major powers and survived. And of these nineteen, seven have since developed serious psychological disorders” NO MY KIDS IM CRYING

“Lana Lazar spent time in a mental health facility” eeelp

“I know, she’s a friend of mine. She’s fine now.” THEY ARE FRIEND.jzoddbfb

“Others’ like Sam Temple, the supposed hero of the fayz, have had-”

HAVE HAD WHA TOM??!!!?!

“’Supposed hero?’ Screw you. You don’t disrespect Sam Temple where I can here it.” I’m 😭😭😭😭😭😭

sam was in rehab has an alcoholic kill me

and he’s on the wagon sober for sixteen months ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

DEKKA REMEMBERINH BRIANNA KILL ME

Hey, Sam’s sober and Astird got her head screwed on straight so leave them out of this - dekka out there defending her people

MG in the online: edilio is the true hero of the fayz MG in the books: sam is the true hero of the fayz me: so what is the truth?

oh my god that just means edilio is still underappreciated

DEKKA WANTS SAM AND ASTRID TO GO TO COLLEGE WORK AND ONE DAY HAVE A BABY GIRL NAMED DEKKA WHAT THE FUCK SHOOT ME

Me @ me: mg loves edilio. he will be in here. mg loves edilio. he will be in here. mg loves edilio. he will be in here. mg loves edilio. he will be-

Four year old Sean is here to cause trouble

Cruz singing my love ❤️❤️

We’ve literally just met him and Justin DeVeere already sounds like a potential school shooter

also how dare mg give him the same name as justin roger’s little brother

He’s so disgusting yikes

I don’t understand what just happened and what erin and justin are up to but WHY do i feel like they just had sex so they could have a gaia-like baby

is justin turning into the hulk or orc

Justins arm is turning into a sword

Is justin turning into drake...

Or orc/britney? Orc/britney/justin?

If Aristotle Arno Adamo is anything like Ari from Aaddtsotu i already love him

oh he’s not

Armo is the Quinn of Monster pass it on

Will Quinn be mentioned in this book?

“Armo was not part of any clique, because there was one, only one Armo at Malibu High School” oh my god he’s awful i love him

“I want to take Danish. My family is danish” bitch mine too

“You understand that everyone in Denmark speaks english right? Usually better than most Americans?” drag america i love t

god i love him

armo just survived a serious accident and he’s crying because he wreacked his car whaya guy

what are they doing to armo :(((

SHADE WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT

noo poor cruz

whyy would mg introduce malik tenerife, the biggest sweetheart and shade’s closest friend and make me fall in love with him, and then in the SAME CHAPTER introduce cruz, a new best friend for shade and then just never mention malik again???? i love cruz but i miss malik

where is knightmare

“I REREAD THE ELLISON BOOK” ASTRID WROTE A BOOK

yikes a milady dude and homophobia all in one page!!

WHY IS EVERYONE IN THIS BOOK JUST TRANSFORMING INTO BOOKS

oh shit i just understood why mg says this is part animorphs

Malik’s back my boy

DEKKAS CAT IS NAMED EDITH WINDSOR I JUST----

DEKKA TOOK THE FRAMED PICTURE OF BRIANNA WITH HER OH MY GODDD

“Only now did Dekka see that those last four years had been a dream, unreal, somehow. The FAYZ was real.” dekka bby no :(((

oh my goooood taylor is back bitches i just got chills

SHE GRABBED THE CELEBRITY GOSSIP MAGAZINES OF COURSE SHE DID I LOVE HER

dekka be nice to taylor she’s had a hard life she deserves to know the goss :))

when they’re only talking baout the kids with power... when will edilio come in

aaaand there is drake ugh. “a violent, sadistic psychopath. A rapist. A torturer. A murderer”

EDILIO WAS THERE TOO THERE TOO THE FUCK

DID MG FORGET EDILIO ECISTS

BRIANNA DEKKA SAM ASTRID TAYLOR DRAKE LANA HUNTER ORC HAVE ALL BEN MENTIONED

WHERE IS EDILIO AND LANA

Drake responsible for 18 instances of rape mutilation and murder in the last year y i k e s

Justin has a lobster claw for one hand and a sword for the other o k a y

oh my god shade could kill tr*mp

“There are three types of superheroes, Shade: Hero, Villain and Monster” *looks into the camera like i’m on the office*

CAINE AND PENNY GOT THEIR MENTIONS

NOW GIVE ME EDILIO

Malik is still in love with shade rip me

oh no cruz bby you’re invisible :((

i feel like this series will be more hard sci-fi with aliens and government and powers than gone was, gone was more of a sci-fi/dystopian/lord of the flies/survival-mix

i’m worried about armo :((

me: had never read an animorphs book in my life also me: wow this reminds me so much of animorphs!

HES A POLAR BEAR NOW

THEY’RE LITERALLY SAYING THE WORD MORPHING

should be interesting to see what kind of shit mg will get for this y i k e s

WHAT THE FUCKKKKKK IS HAPØENING THE SEAN WAS HE TURNING INTO A CATERPILLAR WITH NO MOUTH WHAT THE FUCK HE IS FOUR YEARS OLD

OH THERES HIS MOUTH WHAT THE FUCK

fuuuuck i knew he would be knightmare

at least knightmare really is the name of a shitty pretentious art student dude

a group of girl scouts just fell to their deaths off the golden gate bridge

WHO ARE THE DARK WATCHERS

i actually think they’re aliens

pls get over brianna dekka

at least mg is realizing that brekka was kind of weird

why is dekka watching danish sex. what does that even mean.

this book is unrealistic bc it’s page number 208 and dekka still hasn’t thought about edilio. who goes that long without thinking about edilio.

oh no dekka is morphing with some animal too

DEKKA HAS MEDUSA HAIR WHAT THE FUCK

the cat died WHAT THE FUCK

“Motorcycle gangs and white supremacists and registered sex offenders, that’s who dominated Perdido Beach today” yikes

Dekka mentioned the word gaiaphage and i had a physical disgusted reaction, but not because of the actual gaiaphage, but bc of that fucking website. god i lvoe that gaiaphage.com is dead.

why has mg created a worldwide perdido beach situation but just given is three books to fix it

“I was Sam’s soldier” NO??? You wrre edilio’s soldier the fuck

EVERY TIME I SEE EDITH MY HEART SKIPS BECAUSE IT STARTS WITH EDI AND I THINK ITS FINALLY GOING TO BE EDILIO

Armo and Dekka is my new brotp

WHO THE FUCK IS JEHOVA

LESS VILLAIN POVS MICHAEL PLEASE

“Hey. You. Should. Um.... Stop. Being. An. Asshole.” SHADE

Combining the villains into one villain. Very schmart michael 👌🏻

PAGE 308 EDILIO MENTION OH MY GOD

Edilio on page 309 kill me cant even quote it

GRAVES STILL THERE

IN RESPECTFUL MEMORY TO BOTH THE WISE AND THE FOOLISH WHO STRUGGLED TO SURVIVE UNSPEAKABLE HORRORS IN THIS PLACE im 😭😭

ALBERT GOT HIS DUES YEAH

BUT HOW IS EDILIO TODAY

WHERE IS DINAA LOSER

GRAVE FOR MARY 😭

GRAVE FOR DUCK 😭

GRAVE FOR HUNTER 😭

GRAVE FOR ORC 😭

Grave for Caine 😐 “Caine Soren. “King of the FAYZ. Blaze of Glory”

FIRST DIANA MENTION AND ITS HOW MUU CAINE LOVED HER IM

BRIANNA HAS A LAST NAME SOS. “Brianna Berenson. “The Breeze”. None More Bold.”

DIANA IS HERE I REPEAT DIANA IS HERE IN THE FLESH AND STILL BEAUTIFUL

DIANA PUTS FLOWERS ON THE GRAVES ONCE A WEEK OH MY HOD YOU HAVE NOTHING TO BE SORRY ABOUT I MEAN YOU DID GIVE BIRTH TO GAIA AND EAT PANDA BUT STILL

DIANA HAS A JOB AS A BARISTA HER OWN PLACE IS SEVEN MONTHS SOBER AND HAVENT TRIED TO KILL HERSELF LATELY

WAS HER AND SAM DRINKING BUDDIES

THEY SERVE A SAM TEMPLE CUCKTAIL AND A LANA VODKA

“I GUESS THEIRONY THAT FAYZERS HAVE A TENDENCY TO DRINK TOO MUCH IS LOST ON THEM” TELL THEM DEKKA

“YOU WERE GOOD TO KEEP SAM AND STRID OUT OF IT” NO TELL THEM LOSERS

DOES DIANA LIVE IN PERDIDO BEACH :((((

“THIS IS THE MOST INTIMATE IVE EVER BEEN WITH A DUDE” SAME

When Roger still hasn’t been mentioned and you know he wasn’t really that important so you can’t really complained but you miss him

and how is edilio really dekka hmmm???

Eww this Drake Brittany thing is worse if possible

wait wait wait what hoe did they get there what

if i finish monster and still don’t know how edilio is doing i’ll sue

the villain...breathes fire. he’s a dragon

Shade looks like a the bizzare cross between a flea, a Power Ranger and a teenaged girl w h a t

Vincent Vu: part fish!

noooo not malik :(((

one half of me: where the fck is edilio go talk to him dekka other half of me: edilio deserves a peaceful life thank i for keeping him away from it all

OKAY BUT WOULD EDILIO AND SAM AND EVERYONE SEE DEKKA ON THE FBI MOST WANTED LIST AND HEAR ABOUT EVERYTHING GOING ON AND SAY YIKES NOT OUR PROBLEM??? No tf they would help her!!!!

DEKKA IS WITH SAM DEKKA IS WITH SAM I REPEAT DEKKA IS WITH SAM AND HE IS HER STRONG RIGHT ARM SHOOT ME LET ME DIE

im emo

the end

missing: quinn and roger

[shortiedoowop]

I think my biggest beef with tr*mp supporters is that they literally think everyone else is just a sore loser, like our hometown football team lost a game and we're pouting about it, but they have their heads so far up their asses that they don't - and refuse to - understand that people are literally fearing for their lives because *they* elected some unqualified shit heel who wants to work with a bunch of other unqualified super villains to run the entire country into the ground and send us all to hell in a grocery bag. They literally will not accept that this is bigger than our chosen candidate not winning and it drives me up a wall when I hear people say we just have to deal with it or get over it. Fuck those people and fuck their demagogue.

[malenipshadows]

That “never surrender” tagline?  Clearly contradicted by actions of Orange Voldemort:  He was booked and had his mugshot taken at the Fulton County Jail, in Georgia state, USA.  Tr*mp had to *surrender* to do so.  He has surrendered four times, thus far.

Donald Trump has always sucked. Rudy Giuliani has always sucked.

I’ve been looking forward to this moment for a long time.

[malenipshadows]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/robert-de-niro-former-police-officers-slam-trump-outside-new-york-hush-money-trial/ar-BB1ncqf2?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=6ee2f7a1a1d2457d94b9ceb9d9fcd542&ei=27

The Biden campaign on Tuesday [5-28-2024] dispatched actor Robert De Niro and two former police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 -- Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone -- to convey the threat they argued former President Donald Tr*mp poses to the country. Speaking to reporters near the Manhattan courthouse where Trump's criminal hush money trial is taking place, De Niro said Tr*mp "wants to sow total chaos." De Niro, a New Yorker, called Tr*mp a "clown" whose presidency could be dangerous for Americans. He said New Yorkers once tolerated Tr*mp, but now recognize him as a threat. (Remainder omitted.)

[malenipshadows]

Tiffany Tr*mp made a surprise appearance at her father’s hush trial in New York today [5-28-2024]. But it’s unclear whether the ex-president even noticed her standing in the crowd outside the courtroom. Donald Tr*mp‘s forgotten fourth offspring–along with his adult sons, Don Jr. and Eric Tr*mp, and Eric’s wife, aspiring country singer Lara–went down to the Manhattan Criminal Court today to attend the closing arguments of his historic trial. Noticeably absent from Tr*mp’s closest group of supporters were his third wife, Melania, and his one-time favorite child, Ivanka, both of whom have been avoiding the trial (and him) for months. (Remainder omitted.)

[malenipshadows]

“FBI searched Tr*mp’s home to look for nuclear documents and other items, sources say,”

The former pres-ident said on social media that he won’t oppose a Justice Dept. request to unseal the search warrant, By Devlin Barrett, Josh Dawsey, Perry Stein, and Shane Harris; The Washington Post.  Updated August 12, 2022 at 12:10 a.m. EDT.   

   Classified documents relating to nuclear weapons were among the items FBI agents sought in a search of former president Donald Tr*mp’s Florida residence on Monday [8/08/2022], according to people familiar with the investigation.    Experts in classified information said the unusual search underscores deep concern among government officials about the types of information they thought could be located at Tr*mp’s Mar -a-Lago Club and potentially in danger of falling into the wrong hands.    The people who described some of the material that agents were seeking spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. They did not offer additional details about what type of information the agents were seeking, including whether it involved weapons belonging to the United States or some other nation. Nor did they say if such documents were recovered as part of the search. A Tr*mp spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. The Justice Department and FBI declined to comment.    Attorney General Merrick Garland said he could not discuss the investigation on Thursday [8/11/2022]. But in an unusual public statement at the Justice

Department, he announced he had personally authorized the decision to seek court permission for a search warrant. ...    Material about nuclear weapons is especially sensitive and usually restricted to a small number of government officials, experts said. Publicizing details about U.S. weapons could provide an intelligence road map to adversaries seeking to build ways of countering those systems. And other countries might view exposing their nuclear secrets as a threat, experts said.    One former Justice Department official, who in the past oversaw investigations of leaks of classified information, said the type of top-secret information described by the people familiar with the probe probably would cause authorities to try to move as quickly as possible to recover sensitive documents that could cause grave harm to U.S. security.    “If that is true, it would suggest that material residing unlawfully at Mar -a-Lago may have been classified at the highest classification level,” said David Laufman, the former chief of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence section, which investigates leaks of classified information. “If the FBI and the Department of Justice believed there were top secret materials still at Mar -a-Lago, that would lend itself to greater ‘hair-on-fire’ motivation to recover that material as quickly as possible.” ...    It was Garland’s first public appearance or comment since agents executed the warrant at Mar -a-Lago Club, taking about a dozen boxes of material after opening a safe and entering a padlocked storage area. The search was one of the most dramatic developments in a cascade of legal investigations of the former president, several of which appear to be growing in intensity.    The investigation into the improper handling of documents began months ago, when the National Archives and Records Administration sought the return of material taken to Mar -a-Lago from the White House. Fifteen boxes of documents and items, some of them marked as classified, were returned early this year.  The archives subsequently asked the Justice Department to investigate.    Former senior intelligence officials said in interviews that during the Tr*mp administration, highly classified intelligence about sensitive topics, including about intelligence-gathering on Iran, was routinely mishandled. One former official said the most highly classified information often ended up in the hands of personnel who didn’t appear to have a need to possess it or weren’t authorized to read it.  [Remainder omitted.]

[malenipshadows]

Analysis: Citizen Tr*mp may have broken a law that Pres-ident Tr*mp made a felony

Analysis by Philip Bump, National correspondent, The Washington Post, published online August 10, 2022, at 4:17 p.m. EDT. [excerpt]

   There are not many people who know exactly why FBI agents searched Donald Tr*mp’s Mar -a-Lago estate on Monday [8/08/2022]. The FBI knows, certainly, and the former president and his attorneys probably have a good sense as well, given that they saw the search warrant. Everyone else is operating on what’s been revealed by Tr*mp’s team and public reporting: The FBI search was largely or entirely a function of the investigation into Tr*mp’s retention of documents after leaving the White House.    We know that he did, by his own admission. This year [2022], a number of boxes of material were turned over to the National Archives. Included in that material were some that were classified. On Monday [8/08/2022], the FBI removed another dozen boxes, with speculation rampant that more of that material was similarly restricted.    If Tr*mp is found to have violated federal law in removing and retaining classified documents without authorization, he could be convicted of a felony punishable by five years in prison. And that conviction would be a felony carrying that punishment because of a law signed by Pres-ident Donald Tr*mp.    Tr*mp’s 2016 campaign was intertwined with a similar question. His Democratic opponent, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, had been found

 to have operated a private email server that she used for official business — including, the FBI determined, some that was classified. Tr*mp and his allies pushed for Clinton to face criminal charges but in July 2016, FBI Director James B. Comey announced that the FBI wouldn’t seek an indictment. Tr*mp was furious, but he won, anyway.   During his first year in office, a central tool used for surveillance by the intelligence community — Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act — was set to expire. Shortly before it did, Congress passed an extension of the authority for another five years.    But that didn’t come without turmoil. Tr*mp came into office angry at the intelligence community for revealing to reporters that it believed Russia had interfered in the 2016 election. He excoriated intelligence agencies on Twitter — and continued to do so as the contours of the investigation into that interference became clear.    On the day that the House was set to vote on the reauthorization, Tr*mp complained on Twitter:    “House votes on controversial FISA ACT today.” This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Tr*mp Campaign by the previous administration and others? ��(That initial phrase is in quotes because Tr*mp, characteristically, was responding to something he saw on Fox News.)    The tweet freaked out advocates of the extension. A few hours later, he tweeted his support and it passed. On Jan. 18, 2018, he signed it into law.    What became law was S. 139. It had been introduced by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) as the Rapid DNA Act of 2017. But sometimes Congress hollows out existing legislation and replaces it entirely with other legislation to move the process forward more quickly. So S. 139 was replaced with H.R. 4478, which extended Section 702 for another five years.    It also had a stipulation editing 18 U.S. Code §1924. It originally read:

   “Whoever, being an officer, employee, contractor, or consultant of the United States, and, by virtue of his office, employment, position, or contract, becomes possessed of documents or materials containing classified information of the United States, knowingly removes such documents or materials without authority and with the intent to retain such documents or materials at an unauthorized location shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.”

    With Tr*mp’s signing S. 139 into law, that became: “shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both.” And with that, it became a felony.    You can see how Tr*mp absconding with classified material to Mar-a-Lago facially would violate the law as articulated. So, Tr*mp’s allies have already been offering a rationalization: He had declassified everything he took to Mar -a-Lago. [Remainder omitted.]

[malenipshadows]

   Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of scandal-plagued Facebook, might be held personally liable for damages in a consumer protection lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C.   D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine’s office filed a suit in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in December 2018 against Facebook over the Cambridge Analytica data-leak fiasco, alleging that the social media giant had misled consumers about its privacy policies.    Racine announced on Tuesday (10-19-2021) that his investigation had determined Zuckerberg played a much bigger role in the incident than prosecutors were previously aware, according to the New York Times, and will be adding him to the suit.  This would be one of the first times a regulator has tried to find Zuckerberg personally liable for the actions of his company.    The suit claims that Facebook made misleading promises to users that their data would be kept private. In reality, its Open Graph API was so loose with

protections that it allowed Cambridge Analytica, a shady political firm that worked with right-wing clients like consultants to Donald Tr*mp’s 2016 campaign, to run off with extensive info on 87 million users.  The D.C. suit states that Facebook not only gave users false reassurances about the security of their data, but failed to monitor third-party apps’ use of it, deliberately made it difficult for users to control privacy settings, and did not disclose how some apps could override their preferences. Facebook also sat on the Cambridge Analytica leak for two years with no public disclosure, according to the suit.    Facebook tried to have the suit thrown out in 2019, as well as to block the D.C. attorney general’s office from reviewing certain internal documents in discovery, but its efforts failed.  As the Times noted, that set off a discovery process involving interviews with numerous current and former Facebook staff and a look at Zuckerberg’s testimony to Congress.    Zuckerberg pushed the Open Graph API in 2010 as central to the future of the company, and Racine told the Times that his office had determined his involvement was so pivotal as to warrant adding him to the suit.  Racine referred to the API as Zuckerberg’s “brainchild” to the Times.    “Under these circumstances, adding Mr. Zuckerberg to our lawsuit is unquestionably warranted, and should send a message that corporate leaders, including the C.E.O., will be held accountable for their actions,” Racine told the paper.    “These allegations are as meritless today as they were more than three years ago, when the District filed its complaint,” Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone told the Times in response.  “We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously and focus on the facts.”    Facebook can and almost certainly will file to dismiss Racine’s effort to add Zuckerberg to the suit, as it has fought every other element of the case. In September 2021, Facebook shareholders went public with a lawsuit that claims Facebook agreed to pay the Federal Trade Commission a multi-billion dollar settlement (which itself was chump change for the company) for the express purpose of keeping Zuckerberg uninvolved in the Cambridge Analytica investigation.

[malenipshadows]

    Representative Liz Cheney called out House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy for what she described as his "active" role in trying to block the select committee that is investigating the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.    Cheney made a point to directly appeal to her colleagues during a meeting on Wednesday to take up a resolution finding former Donald Tr*mp associate Steve Bannon in criminal contempt for defying the House panel's subpoena and refusing to cooperate in the probe.    Cheney, the Wyoming Republican, said she's heard from several GOP members that they "don't want this target on their back" and that they're "trying to keep their heads down" on the issue."    They don't want to anger Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, who has been especially active in attempting to block the investigation of events of January 6, despite the fact that he clearly called for such a commission the week after the attack," Cheney said.    Earlier this year, McCarthy opposed the creation of an independent,

bipartisan commission to examine what happened during the January 6 riot.    The select committee investigating the matter is controlled by Democrats, who have subpoena power. Pelosi appointed Cheney and Representative Adam Kinzinger to the panel, the only two Republicans to vote in favor of the investigation.    Cheney was promoted to be the panel's vice chair last month.    So far, the panel has requested testimony from four former Tr*mp administration officials: Bannon, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino Jr. and Pentagon chief of staff Kash Patel.    The January 6 panel has also demanded records from more than a dozen social media companies as part of its probe. McCarthy previously threatened to use a future Republican majority to punish companies that comply with the request.    Bannon has argued that executive privilege protects him from having to provide information to the panel.  Bannon was not working in the administration at the time of the January 6 insurrection, and legal questions have been raised about whether Tr*mp, now a private citizen, can claim executive privilege in the committee's probe.    The full House of Representatives will vote on Thursday (10-21-2021) on whether to hold Bannon in criminal contempt.  Following expected passage of the action in the Democrat-controlled chamber, the matter would be referred to the Department of Justice.    "I ask each one of you to step back from the brink," Cheney told her Republican colleagues on Wednesday (10-20-2021). "I urge you to do what you know is right, to think of the long arc of history.  We are told that it bends towards justice, but it does so only because of the actions of men and women in positions of public trust."   

[malenipshadows]

+ Federal investigators looked into accusations from Project Veritas that Pennsylvania postal workers tampered with mail-in ballots and found that the claims were false. + The findings came in a little-noticed February 26 report from the US Postal Service Office of Inspector General. The report drew widespread attention after being posted by the website 21st Century Postal Worker earlier this week (15-19 March 2021). + The investigation was initially launched after Project Veritas, a far-right political operation seeking to undermine media outlets and tech companies, produced an affidavit from a "whistleblower" postal worker, Richard Hopkins, in November. + Hopkins claimed that he overheard other postal service employees in Erie County, Pennsylvania, backdating ballots that arrived in the mail. In the 2020 election, Pennsylvania counted only mail-in ballots sent by Election Day on

November 3. + Hopkins recanted the affidavit he signed days later.  A video obtained by Insider's Charles Davis showed that Hopkins had other people in the room as he swore to the affidavit over Zoom. + The Inspector General report said Hopkins admitted he never actually heard other employees talking about backdating ballots in the first place."[Hopkins] revised his claims, eventually stating that he had not heard a conversation about ballots at all -- rather, he saw the Postmaster and Supervisor having a discussion and assumed it was about fraudulent ballot backdating," the report says. + "[Hopkins] acknowledged that he had no evidence of any backdated presidential ballots." + The fake story was widely cited by Republicans as a reason to doubt the results of the presidential election. Then-Pres-ident Donald Tr*mp pushed the claims on his now-suspended Twitter account. Sen. Lindsay Graham used it as a basis to request that the Justice Department investigate the election results. + Now-President Joe Biden won the state of Pennsylvania by more than 81,000 votes in the election, and there's no evidence of widespread voter fraud. + The highest-profile case of voter fraud in Pennsylvania is from a man who pretended to be his dead mother to cast an additional vote for Tr*mp in a county he lost anyway. + OIG investigators also said they reviewed all the ballots in the post office where Hopkins worked that were postmarked November 3 and later and did not find any evidence of tampering.