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SPREADING HOLIDAY CHEER
Reverend Raphael Warnock is officially the first African-American Senator from the state of Georgia. He won his first full term election last night. According to The Associated Press, with 99% of the votes counted from all precincts, Warnock had 51.4% (1,816,093) to Walker's 48.6%. If you're like me, you're thrilled that Warnock pulled off this victory, ensuring a true Democrat majority in the Senate for the next two years, as well as sending a bold message to Trumpers nationwide. But you're also dismayed that it was actually so close. I mean, look at Walker. Try to listen to him for more than a few minutes before alternately laughing in disbelief and feeling sick that he got over a million and a half votes - 1,719,481, to be exact.
It did make me feel a little better to see that Warnock handily took the top four most populated counties in the state: Fulton, Cobb, DeKalb, and Gwinnett. He also took 3 of the next 5 most populous counties. So, it's a steady march in the right direction. And I will give kudos to Stacey Abrams' Fair Fight organization, who may be the single biggest reason for increased - record breaking early - Democrat voter turnout. As her, and other, voter registration organizations continue to do their work in Georgia and elsewhere, we should begin to see a turn in the tide. The next critical battles for the future of our Democracy will be in passing Voting Rights legislation and fighting GOP gerrymandering in multiple states. It will be nice to be able to work towards passing these, as well as filling crucial judicial vacancies, without having to make coal-smudged deals with Manchin.
Speaking of voter turnout: Every Vote COUNTS. As of Monday, Melissa Hurtado, who had been trailing Republican David Shephard on election night by several points, pulled ahead by TWELVE VOTES. 68,302 to 68,290. And if you look at the breakdown over the four counties that AD16 covers, Kern County is the reason for the turnaround. That doesn't say much for Tulare, Kings, and Fresno, but I am very proud that Kern County was able to pull that out. Because the tally is so close, I would be surprised if Shephard's team didn't pay for a recount, but I am going to remain optimistic!
Oh, and karma has been working her magic regarding all things Trump.
First, Trump's handpicked meat puppet Herschel Walker lost in Georgia.
Second, a Manhattan jury found the entire Trump organization guilty of committing financial crimes including tax fraud, conspiracy and falsification of records.
Third, Trump was on the receiving end of a giant judicial smackdown - from an extremely conservative Florida Court of Appeals - regarding his attempts to block the proceedings surrounding his theft of classified government documents and storing them at Mar-A-Lago. Bonus smackdown goes to his judicial lackey, Judge Aileen Cannon, who should be disbarred and removed from the bench.
Fourth, as Jay Kuo noted in his December 7 Status Kuo, is that, "as the Washington Post reported, within days of his appointment back in November, Special Counsel Smith drafted subpoenas to election officials in three key swing states of Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin asking for communications they or their offices had with Trump, his allies, or his campaign.... The subpoenas meant that Smith was coming after Trump strongly along two fronts, rather than just on the question of the stolen classified documents, and that the inquiry into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election on January 6, 2021 was still very much in Smith’s sights.... Unlike the Congressional subpoenas that many of Trump’s cronies successfully ignored or quashed, subpoenas from the Justice Department, via federal grand juries conducting criminal investigations, are not so easily parried."
Finally, at least for this week, Rep Bennie Thompson has stated that the January 6 Committee is ready to submit a list of "criminal referrals" to the DOJ, as early as this week. According to NPR, "Congress does have the authority to issue criminal referrals. They cannot issue criminal charges. So this is the closest they can come to that. And it basically comes in the form of a letter to the Justice Department, perhaps signed by Thompson, for example. And the letter would name certain individuals and the charges that the panel said these individuals could face if the Justice Department were to mount a prosecution." I think it's very possible that Trump, as the instigator of the march on the Capitol and the one who truly incited the riot, will be on that list.
Now THAT'S what I call a Santa's Naughty List. Trump's downfall. The gift that keeps on giving.
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