The American Resistance has many faces - this is just one of them

ACLU PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS AND COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF, 28 January 201... by clarencegirl on Scribd

https://www.scribd.com/document/337805663/ACLU-PETITION-FOR-WRIT-OF-HABEAS-CORPUS-AND-COMPLAINT-FOR-DECLARATORY-AND-INJUNCTIVE-RELIEF-28-January-2017

One of the temporary restraining orders granted 28 January 2017:

The Economist, 29 January 2017:

In her brief and unequivocal ruling on the evening of January 28th, Ms Donnelly wrote that Mr Alshawi and Mr Darweesh “have a strong likelihood of success” in showing that their deportation would violate their rights to due process and equal protection. There is “imminent danger”, she wrote, that “there will be substantial and irreparable injury to refugees, visa-holders and other individuals from nations” targeted by Mr Trump’s executive order, should it be fully implemented. Ms Donnelly thus “enjoined and restrained” the government from deporting refugees or “any other individuals from Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen legally authorised to enter the United States”.

The ruling, along with similar non-removal orders from judges in Virginia and Seattle, means that nobody who was told they didn’t belong in America when they arrived on January 27th can be deported—for now—though there were reports from several cities on the night of January 28th that customs officials were disregarding the judges' orders and arranging for individuals to be sent home. It also bears reminding that these rulings are stays, not final determinations. Further judicial hearings in February will determine if the stays should be lifted. And the rulings do not come close to erasing Mr Trump’s executive order; the ban remains in effect for refugees and others who were planning to come to America in the coming days, weeks and months.

Another temporary restraining order can be found here.

America is leaderless in 2017

Donald John Trump was not hiding his light under a bushel until after the presidential inauguration.

When during the Republican Party preselection process and then the long national presidential election campaign Trump kept telling the world how smart he was I’m sure there were those who secretly hoped this was so and, that the content of his stump speeches, his social media rants and very limited vocabulary were in combination simply a ploy aimed at the lowest denominator on the voter spectrum.

Unfortunately for those sanguine souls President Trump’s inauguration speech on 20 January 2017, his address to the Central Intelligence Agency the next day, as well as his inflating of swearing-in ceremony crowd size before sending his press secretary out to lie on his behalf, will have dashed theses hopes.

Donald Trump remains exactly as he always presented himself and now America has a predatory oaf as its 45^th president.

One so intellectually lightweight, wilfully ignorant, boastful, bigoted, paranoid, vengeful, erratic and work-shy, that effectively the United States of America is a nation which is leaderless as it goes forward.

Who will fill the vacuum is anyone’s guess.

Will it be his immediate family framing policy and making decisions for him to strut before the cameras? Will it be his newly installed far-right captain’s picks in the White House administration running the country in spite of Trump’s inadequacies? Or will it be a combination of family members, captain's picks and Congress racing around putting out political fires as Trump uncontrollably rampages across the economic and social landscape?

The future is unknowable until it becomes the present and by then it may be too late for America.

* Netflix image found on Twitter

When Twitter becomes a lethal weapon

A U.S. District Court’s response to Twitter being used to deliver a strobe effect video to a known epileptic…..

Rule 202 Order_signed 12.19.16_copy by Kurt Eichenwald on Scribd

https://www.scribd.com/document/334699195/Rule-202-Order-signed-12-19-16-copy

A Collector's Item: "@POTUS hasn't tweeted yet"

A genuine rarity at 4:33 am Sydney Time - a Trump Twitter account with no tweets 😉

UPDATE

The crowd in that Twiitter account banner? 

Not from Trump's 20 January 2017 inauguration - not even from any of the rallies he held during the 2016 presidential election campaign.

No, it happens to be a Getty image from Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration, taken down from Trump's @POTUS once social media had noticed.

Want to know who the world can blame for what is occurring in America today?

Today at noon Washington DC time (4am Saturday 21 January Sydney time) this profoundly ignorant man, Donald John Trump, will be sworn in as 45^th President of the United States of America.

Business Insider, 8 November 2016

This is occurring because one month previously on 19 December 2016 the U.S. Electoral College¹ met to confirm Donald Trump by vote as the President², despite Trump losing the popular vote at the 8 November presidential election by over 2.8 million votes.

Electoral College places are allotted to states proportionate to each state's population, each place can only be filled by a person resident congressional district in that state and a person is barred from a place at the college if he/she holds an office of profit or trust in that state. Members generally hold a leadership position in their party or were chosen to recognize years of loyal service to the party. Throughout our [U.S.] history as a nation, more than 99 percent of Electors have voted as pledged.

Trump won by threading a needle in the Electoral College, carrying four large states by one percentage point or less: Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Winning the Electoral College vote by 304 votes to Hillary Clinton’s 227. According to CNN seven "faithless" electors voted for other candidates, costing Trump two votes and Clinton four.

Fair Vote states that these seven electors were Democratic electors David Bright (ME - Bernie Sanders), Muhammad Abdurrahman (MN - Bernie Sanders), Michael Baca (CO - John Kasich), Esther John (WA - Colin Powell), Levi Guerra (WA - Colin Powell), Bret Chiafalo (WA - Colin Powell), Robert Satiacum (WA - Faith Spotted Eagle), David Mulinix (HI - Bernie Sanders) and two Republican electors Chris Suprun (TX - John Kasich) and Bill Greene (TX - Ron Paul).

Members of the U.S. Electoral College indicating Democratic or Republican (GOP) affiliation, according to a 19 December 2016 Politico provisional list³:

ALABAMA (GOP)
1. Frank Burt, Jr. Appears to hold an office of profit in the state of Alabama
2. Will Sellers
3. Jim Wilson Appears to hold an elected office of in the state of Alabama
4. Tim Wadsworth
5. Elbert Peters
6. Mary Sue McClurkin
7. Bob Cusanelli
8. Perry Hooper Jr.
9. Grady Thornton

ALASKA (GOP)
10. Sean Parnell
11. Jacqueline Tupou
12. Carolyn Leman

ARIZONA (GOP)
13. Bruce Ash
14. Walter Begay
15. Sharon Giese
16. Robert Graham
17. Alberto Gutier
18. Jerry Hayden
19. Carole Joyce
20. Jane Lynch
21. Foster Morgan
22. James O'Connor
23. Edward Robson

ARKANSAS (GOP)
24. Jonelle Fulmer
25. Jonathan Barnett
26. Keith Gibson No registered voter of that name in Arkansas
27. Sharon Wright
28. Tommy Land Does not appear to live in Congressional District he is representing
29. John Nabholz

CALIFORNIA (DEM)
30. Dustin Reed
31. John Ryan
32. Faith Garamendi
33. Kathleen Scott
34. Timothy Farley
35. Analea Patterson
36. Janine Bera
37. Denise Wells
38. Mark Headley
39. Susan Eggman
40. James Donahue
41. Christine Pelosi
42. Saundra Andrews
43. Mark Olbert
44. Donna Ireland
45. Steven Diebert
46. Steve Spinner
47. Celine Purcell
48. Javier Gonzalez
49. Vinzenz Koller
50. Ana Huerta
51. Stephen Natoli
52. Andres Ramos
53. Gail Teton-Landis
54. Natalie Fortman
55. Shawn Terris
56. David Warmuth
57. Laurence Zakson
58. Nury Martinez
59. Sheldon Malchicoff
60. Cathy Morris
61. Benjamin Cardenas
62. Edward Buck
63. Olivia Reyes-Becerra
64. Robert Torres
65. Priscilla Richardson
66. Gwen Moore
67. Jacki Cisneros
68. John MacMurray
69. Marie Torres
70. Jane Block
71. Andrew Krakoff
72. Karen Waters
73. Dorothy Vann
74. Sandra Aduna
75. Gregory Willenborg
76. Carmen Perez
77. Raymond Cordova
78. Francine Busby
79. Patrick Drinan
80. Christine Kehoe
81. Katherine Lyon
82. Shirley Weber
83. Eileen Feinstein Mariano
84. Laphonza Butler

COLORADO (DEM)
85. Terry Phillips
86. Mary Beth Corsentino
87. Jerad Sutton
88. Robert Nemanich
89. Amy Drayer
90. Ann Knollman
91. Sen. Rollie Heath
92. Hon. Polly Baca
93. Micheal Baca

CONNECTICUT (DEM)
94. Barbara Gordon
95. Ellen Nurse
96. Edward Piazza
97. Tyisha Walker
98. Christopher Rosario
99. Robert Godfrey
100. Steven Jones

DELAWARE (DEM)
101. Lynn Fuller
102. Lydia York
103. Linda Cavanaugh

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (DEM)
104. Anita Bonds
105. Jack Evans
106. Franklin Garcia

FLORIDA (GOP)
107. Ade Aderibigbe
108. Larry Ahern Appears to hold elected office in Florida
109. Brian Ballard
110. Kristy Banks
111. Michael Barnett
112. LizBeth Benacquisto Appears to hold elected office in Florida
113. Robin Bernstein
114. Pam Bondi Appears to hold elected office in Florida
115. John Browning Appears to hold an office of profit in Florida
116. Sharon Day
117. Dena DeCamp
118. Nick D
119. Jeremy Evans
120. John Falconetti 
121. Peter Feaman
122. Kat Gates-Skipper
123. Joe Gruters Appears to hold elected office in Florida
124. Debbie Hannifan
125. Blaise Ingoglia Appears to hold elected office in Florida
126. Tony Ledbetter
127. Mike Moberley
128. Susan Moore
129. Joe Negron Appears to hold elected office in Florida
130. Clint Pate Appears to hold an office of profit in Florida
131. Ray Rodrigues Appears to hold elected office in Florida
132. Carlos Trujillo Appears to hold elected office in Florida
133. Robert Watkins
134. Susie Wiles
135. Christian Ziegler

GEORGIA
136. Bruce Allen Azevedo
137. Brian K Burdette Appears to hold an office of profit in Georgia
138. Lott Harris Dill
139. John David Elliott
140. James Randolph Evans
141. Bobbie D. Frantz
142. Linda D. Herren
143. Rachel Blackstone Little
144. Deborah M. McCord
145. Michael Neil McNeely
146. Mary L. Padgett
147. Neil L. Pruitt
148. Joshua Kirk Shook
149. Frank B. Strickland
150. Baoky Nguyen Vu (resigned, will be replaced by alternate)
151. John B. White

HAWAII (DEM)
152. John Bickel
153. Janice Bond
154. Marie (Dolly) Strazar
155. David Mulinix

IDAHO (GOP) All 4 votes irregularly given
156. Jennifer Locke
157. Melinda Smyser
158. Layne Bangerter
159. Caleb Lakey

ILLINOIS (DEM)*
160. Toni Preckwinkle
161. Carrie Austin
162. Silvana Tabares
163. Jesus "Chuy" Garcia
164. Pam Cullerton
165. Nancy Shepardson
166. Vera Davis
167. William Marovitz
168. Barbara Flynn Currie
169. John R. Daley
170. Michelle Mussman
171. Lauren Beth Gash
172. Kevin Duffy Blackburn
173. Jerry Costello
174. Carol Ammons
175. Mark Guethle
176. Flint Taylor
177. John Nelson
178. Don Johnston
179. Shirley McCoombs

INDIANA (GOP) All 11 votes irregularly given
180. Stephanie Beckley
181. Kevin Steen
182. Kelly Mitchell
183. Daniel Bortner
184. Laura Campbell
185. Jeff Cardwell
186. Donald Hayes
187. Randall Kirkpatrick
188. Edwin Simcox
189. Ethan Manning
190. Chuck Williams Does not appear to live in the Congressional District he represents

IOWA (GOP)
191. James Whitmer
192. Don Kass
193. Dylan Keller
194. Alan Braun
195. Kurt Brown
196. Polly Granzow

KANSAS (GOP) All 6 votes irregularly given
197. Ashley J. McMillan
198. Helen Van Etten
199. Mark Kahrs Appears to hold an elected office in Kansas
200. Ron Estes
201. Clayton L. Barker
202. Kelly Arnold

KENTUCKY (GOP)
203. Jim Skaggs
204. David Disponett
205. Robert Duncan
206. Michael Carter
207. Scott Lasley
208. Walter Reichert
209. Mary Singleton
210. Troy Sheldon

LOUISIANA (GOP)
211. Chris D. Trahan Does not appear to live in the Congressional District he represents
212. Lloyd A. Harsch
213. Charles L “Charlie” Buckels
214. Louis R. Avallone
215. Kay Kellogg Katz
216. Lennie H. Rhys
217. Garrett C. Monti
218. Steven “Scott “ Wilfong

MAINE (3 D, 1 R)
219. Diane Denk
220. David Bright
221. Sam Shapiro
222. Richard Bennett (R)

MARYLAND (DEM)
223. Lesley Israel
224. Robert Leonard
225. Lillian Holmes
226. Salome Peters
227. Hagner Mister
228. Claudia Martin
229. Courtney Watson
230. Karen Britto
231. Susan Ness
232. Wayne Rogers

MASSACHUSETTS (DEM)
233. Nazda Alam
234. Mary Gail Cokkinias
235. Marie Turley
236. Dori Dean
237. Donna Smith
238. Cheryl Cumings
239. Marc Pacheco
240. Curtis Lemay
241. Jason Palitsch
242. Paul Yorkis
243. Parwez Wahid

MICHIGAN (GOP) All 16 votes irregularly given
244. John Haggard
245. Jack Holmes Does not appear to live in Michigan
246. Kelly Mitchell
247. Judy Rapanos
248. Henry Hatter
249. Robert Weitt
250. Wyckham Seelig
251. Ross Ensign
252. Michael Banerian
253. Brian Fairbrother
254. Ken Crider
255. Mary Vaughn
256. Jim Rhoades
257. William Rauwerdink
258. Hank Fuhs
259. Joseph Guzman

MINNESOTA (Dem)
260. Fred Knudson
261. Roger Gehrke
262. Marge Hoffa
263. Raymond Hess
264. Muhammed Abdurrahman
265. Betsy O’Berry
266. Mike Wammer
267. Mary Murphy
268. Jules Goldstein
269. Sherrie Pugh

MISSISSIPPI (GOP)
270. Ann Hebert
271. Joe F. Sanderson Jr.
272. Bradley R. White
273. J. Kelley Williams
274. William G. Yates Jr.
275. Wirt A. Yerger, Jr.

MISSOURI (GOP)
276. Tim Dreste
277. Janice DeWeese
278. Hector Maldonado
279. Sherry Kuttenkuler
280. Casey Crawford
281. Tom Brown
282. Cherry Warren
283. Scott Clark
284. Al Rotskoff
285. Susie Johnson

MONTANA (GOP)
286. Thelma Baker
287. Nancy Ballance
288. Dennis Scranton

NEBRASKA (GOP) All 5 votes irregularly given
289. Phil Berlin
290. John Dinkel
291. Chuck Conrad
292. Craig Safranek
293. Paul Burger

NEVADA (Dem)
294. Dayananda Prabhu Rachakonda
295. Larry Jackson
296. Joetta Brown
297. Paul Catha II
298. Greg Gardella
299. Teresa Benitez-Thompson

NEW HAMPSHIRE (Dem)
300. Bev Hollingworth
301. Terie Norelli
302. Carol Shea Porter
303. Dudley Dudley

NEW JERSEY (Dem)
304. Alaa R Abdelaziz
305. Tahsina Ahmed
306. Anthony Cureton
307. Lizette Delgado-Polanco
308. Edward Farmer
309. Christopher D. James
310. Leroy J Jones Jr
311. Retha R Onitiri
312. Marlene Prieto
313. Ronald G Rios
314. Hetty M Rosenstein
315. Kelly Stewart Maer
316. Mary Ann Wardlow
317. Heriberta Loretta Winters

NEW MEXICO (DEM)
318. Lorraine Spradling
319. Edward Torres
320. Noyola Archibeque
321. John Padilla
322. Roxanne Allen

NEW YORK (DEM)
323. William J. Clinton
324. Andrew M. Cuomo
325. Kathy C. Hochul
326. Thomas P. DiNapoli
327. Eric T. Schneiderman
328. Carl E. Heastie
329. Andrea Stewart-Cousins
330. Bill de Blasio
331. Letitia A. James
332. Scott M. Stringer
333. Melissa Mark-Viverito
334. Byron W. Brown
335. Christine C. Quinn
336. Basil A. Smikle, Jr.
337. Melissa Sklarz
338. Mario F. Cilento
339. Rhonda Weingarten
340. George K. Gresham
341. Daniel F. Donohue
342. Stuart H. Appelbaum
343. Gary S. LaBarbera
344. Lovely A. Warren
345. Stephanie A. Miner
346. Katherine M. Sheehan
347. Anastasia M. Somoza
348. Sandra Ung
349. Ruben Diaz, Jr.
350. Hazel L. Ingram
351. Rachel D. Gold

NORTH CAROLINA (GOP)
352. Linda Harper Does not appear to live in Congressional District she represents
353. Charles Staley Does not appear to live in Congressional District he represents
354. Karen Kozel Does not appear to live in Congressional District she represents
355. Martha Jenkins
356. Celeste Stanley
357. Donald Webb Does not appear to live in Congressional District he represents
358. Robert Muller
359. Jennifer Dunbar
360. Andrea Arterburn
361. Glenn Pinckney Sr. Does not appear to live in Congressional District he represents
362. Mark Delk
363. David Speight  Does not appear to live in Congressional District he represents
364. Ann Sullivan Does not appear to live in Congressional District she represents
365. Lee Green
366. David Smuski

NORTH DAKOTA (GOP)
367. Duane Mutch
368. John Olson
369. Ronald Carlisle

OHIO (GOP) All 18 votes irregularly given
370. Alex Triantafilou
371. Mary Anne Christie
372. Cory Schottenstein
373. Jim Dicke II
374. Cheryl Blakely
375. Marilyn Ashcraft
376. Christina Hagan
377. Richard Jones
378. Tom Coyne
379. Judy Westbrock
380. Ralph King
381. Leonard Hubert
382. Tracey Winbush
383. James Wert
384. Brian Schottenstein
385. Curt Braden
386. LeeAnn Johnson
387. Ed Crawford

OKLAHOMA (GOP)
388. David Oldham
389. Teresa Turner
390. Mark Thomas
391. Bobby Cleveland
392. Laurie Beth
393. Charlie Potts
394. George Wiland

OREGON (DEM)
395. Frank James Dixon
396. Karen A. Packer
397. Austin Folnagy
398. Leon H. Coleman
399. Harry W. "Sam" Sappington III
400. Timothy Norman Powers Rowan
401. Laura Gillpatrick

PENNSYLVANIA (GOP) All 20 votes irregularly given
402. Robert Asher
403. Mary Barket
404. Robert Bozzuto
405. Theodore Christian
406. Michael Downing
407. Margaret Ferraro
408. Robert Gleason
409. Christopher Gleason
410. Joyce Haas
411. Ash Khare
412. James McErlane
413. Elstina Pickett
414. Patricia Poprik
415. Andrew Reilly
416. Carol Sides
417. Glora “Lee” Snover
418. Richard Stewart
419. Lawrence Tabas
420. Christine Toretti
421. Carolyn “Bunny” Welsh

RHODE ISLAND (DEM)

422. Clay Pell
423. Grace Diaz
424. L. Susan Weiner
425. Frank J. Montanaro

SOUTH CAROLINA (GOP)
426. Glenn McCall
427. Matt Moore
428. Terry Hardesty
429. Jim Ulmer
430. Brenda Bedenbaugh
431. Bill Conley
432. Shery Smith
433. Moye Graham
434. Jerry Rovner

SOUTH DAKOTA (GOP)
435. Dennis Daugaard
436. Matt Michels
437. Marty Jackley

TENNESSEE (GOP)
438. Joey Jacobs
439. Beth Scott Clayton Amos
440. Jason Mumpower
441. Susan Mills
442. Liz Holiway
443. Lynne Davis
444. Tom Lawless
445. Mike Callahan
446. Pat Allen
447. Shannon Hanes
448. Drew Daniel

TEXAS (GOP)
449. Marty Rhymes Does not appear to live in Congressional District she represents
450. Thomas Moon
451. Carol Sewell
452. John Harper
453. Sherrill Lenz
454. Nicholas Ciggelakis
455. William Hickman
456. Landon Estay
457. Rex Lamb
458. Rosemary Edwards
459. Matt Stringer
460. Shellie Surles
461. Melissa Juett Kalka
462. Kenneth Clark
463. Sandara Cararas
464. David Thackston
465. Robert Bruce
466. Marjorie Forster Does not appear to live in Congressional District she represents
467. Scott Mann
468. Marian Stanko
469. Curtis Nelson
470. Tina Gibson
471. Kendell Muenzler
472. Alexander Kim
473. Virginia Able
474. John Dillard
475. Thomas Knight
476. Marian Knowlton
477. Rex Teter
478. Stephen (Chris) Suprun Jr.
479. Jon Jewett
480. Susan Fischer
481. Loren Byers
482. William Lawrence Greene
483. Mary Lou Erben
484. Art Sisneros
485. Candace Noble
486. Fred Farias

UTAH (GOP)
487. Peter Greathouse
488. Jeremy Jenkins
489. Kris Kimball
490. Cherilyn Eagar
491. Chia-Chi Teng
492. Richard Snelgrove

VERMONT (DEM)
493. Peter Shumlin
494. Martha Allen
495. Tim Jerman

VIRGINIA (DEM)
496. James O’Connor
497. Vivian Paige
498. Delegate Lashrecse Aird
499. Bethany Johnston Rowland
500. Jasper Hendricks
501. Deb Fitzgerald
502. Harold Boyd
503. Ginny Peter
504. Jeanette Sarver
505. Kathy Stewart Shupe
506. Keith Scarborough
507. Susan Rowland
508. Terry Frye

WASHINGTON (DEM)
509. Varisha Khan
510. Bret Chiafolo
511. Ryleigh Ivey
512. Levi Guerra
513. Phillip Tyler
514. Julie Johnson
515. Chris Porter
516. Dan Carpita
517. Esther John
518. Eric Herde
519. Robert Satiacum
520. Elizabeth Caldwell

WEST VIRGINIA (GOP)
521. Ron Foster
522. Patrick Morrisey
523. Ann Urling
524. Mac Warner
525. Bill Cole

WISCONSIN (GOP) All 10 votes irregularly given
526. Steve King
527. Mary Buestrin
528. Kim Travis
529. Kim Babler
530. Brian Westrate
531. Brad Courtney
532. Kathy Kiernan
533. Dan Feyen
534. Jim Miller
535. Bill Berglund

WYOMING (GOP) All 3 votes irregularly given
536. Karl Allred
537. Bonnie Foster
538. Teresa Richards

1. The Electoral College is a process, not a place. The founding fathers established it in the Constitution as a compromise between election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens.

The Electoral College process consists of the selection of the electors, the meeting of the electors where they vote for President and Vice President, and the counting of the electoral votes by Congress.

The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President. Your state’s entitled allotment of electors equals the number of members in its Congressional delegation: one for each member in the House of Representatives plus two for your Senators. Read more about the allocation of electoral votes.

Under the 23rd Amendment of the Constitution, the District of Columbia is allocated 3 electors and treated like a state for purposes of the Electoral College. For this reason, in the following discussion, the word “state” also refers to the District of Columbia.

Each candidate running for President in your state has his or her own group of electors. The electors are generally chosen by the candidate’s political party, but state laws vary on how the electors are selected and what their responsibilities are. Read more about the qualifications of the Electors and restrictions on who the Electors may vote for.

The presidential election is held every four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. You help choose your state’s electors when you vote for President because when you vote for your candidate you are actually voting for your candidate’s electors.

Most states have a “winner-take-all” system that awards all electors to the winning presidential candidate. However, Maine and Nebraska each have a variation of “proportional representation.” Read more about the allocation of Electors among the states and try to predict the outcome of the Electoral College vote.

After the presidential election, your governor prepares a “Certificate of Ascertainment” listing all of the candidates who ran for President in your state along with the names of their respective electors. The Certificate of Ascertainment also declares the winning presidential candidate in your state and shows which electors will represent your state at the meeting of the electors in December of the election year. Your state’s Certificates of Ascertainments are sent to the Congress and the National Archives as part of the official records of the presidential election. See the key dates for the 2016 election and information about the roles and responsibilities of state officials, the Office of the Federal Register and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and the Congress in the Electoral College process.

The meeting of the electors takes place on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December after the presidential election. The electors meet in their respective states, where they cast their votes for President and Vice President on separate ballots. Your state’s electors’ votes are recorded on a “Certificate of Vote,” which is prepared at the meeting by the electors. Your state’s Certificates of Votes are sent to the Congress and the National Archives as part of the official records of the presidential election. See the key dates for the 2016 election and information about the roles and responsibilities of state officials and the Congress in the Electoral College process.

Each state’s electoral votes are counted in a joint session of Congress on the 6th of January in the year following the meeting of the electors. Members of the House and Senate meet in the House chamber to conduct the official tally of electoral votes. See the key dates for the 2016 election and information about the role and responsibilities of Congress in the Electoral College process.

The Vice President, as President of the Senate, presides over the count and announces the results of the vote. The President of the Senate then declares which persons, if any, have been elected President and Vice President of the United States.

The President-Elect takes the oath of office and is sworn in as President of the United States on January 20th in the year following the Presidential election. [https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/about.html]

2. The date for officially counting the electoral votes is fixed by law as January 6 following each presidential election.

3. Annotations in red reflect part of the contents of ELECTORAL VOTE OBJECTION PACKET, 4 January 2017.

The Doom of Donald Trump: fleshy man given to vulgarities and gauche behavior, boastful, thin-skinned, politically amoral, vengeful, unforgiving and, most important, considered an illegitimate president

New York Daily News, 16 January 2017:

Whether he knows it or not, the specter of Lyndon Baines Johnson haunts Donald John Trump. There are some jarring similarities -- two big fleshy men given to vulgarities and gauche behavior, boastful, thin-skinned, politically amoral, vengeful, unforgiving and, most important, considered illegitimate presidents. For Johnson that took some time to sink in; Trump is already there.

Johnson ascended to the presidency upon the death of John F. Kennedy and then won election in a landslide over Barry Goldwater. Nevertheless, an air of illegitimacy clung to him like an odor. It thickened as opposition to the Vietnam War became more and more furious and it peaked, in my estimation, with a hoax in 1967 by Paul Krassner in the counterculture magazine The Realist.

Tongue in cheek, it reported that Johnson had climbed into Kennedy's casket and there done unspeakable things. The story was abominable, tasteless and deserved any other insult you could throw at it, but some people believed it. I know. I heard it.

Jump now a half-century to the recent stories relating to Trump and alleged shenanigans in Russia at a time not all that distant. The accounts, unverified and as revolting as any concocted about Johnson, had a currency that can only be explained by Trump's own behavior -- a persona that seems so self-indulgent, so juvenile, that almost any sort of behavior seems credible. Trump called the report fake news and, as always, blamed the messenger (the media, the intelligence community, etc.) but he ought to have looked in the mirror and wondered why he looks so ugly to so many people.

Krassner is an obscure 1960s figure; Rep. John Lewis is not. He said the other day that Trump's presidency was illegitimate and he would not, as an invited member of Congress, attend the inaugural. Trump, of course, tweeted a disparagement. As he did when he belittled John McCain's heroism under torture, Trump said Lewis was "all talk" and "no action."

Lewis is one of the last of the great civil rights era heroes. He marched. He protested. He had his head cracked at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. It was 1965 and the Alabama police nearly beat him to death. He is a man of immense courage and morality, so much greater than Trump in those respects.

Yes, Trump won in the Electoral College and that, alas, is all that matters. But on the larger point, Lewis is right. Trump conducted a dirty, dishonest campaign which sullied the very presidency he won. He questioned Barack Obama's legitimacy, trafficked in racism and demagoguery and seems to have had poll workers in far-off Moscow. Still, he'll be the President….

By the end of the week, Donald Trump will be the President. I wish him the best; I wish him the worst. The dilemma is how to separate loathing for him from love of the country. I am leaving it to time to work that out.

In the meantime, Trump will have his moment, that's for sure, but when things go wrong he will be chased from office -- just like Johnson once was. The ancient Greeks knew why: A man's character is his fate. In that case, Trump's presidency is doomed.

Socking it to Donald Trump

Charlotte Church Wikipedia biography

Items not allowed around Trump on 20 January 2017

These are items that cannot be near Donald J. Trump during what he refers to as "the show" aka the presidential inauguration. It would appear that protesters will not be welcome if they make themselves visible.

*Aerosols

*Ammunition

*Animals other than service/guide animals

*Backpacks and bags exceeding size restrictions (18" by 13" by 7")

*Bicycles

*Balloons

*Coolers

*Drones and other unmanned aircraft systems

*Explosives

*Firearms

*Glass, thermal, or metal containers

*Laser pointers

*Mace / Pepper spray

*Packages

*Selfie Sticks

*Signs exceeding the size restrictions (20" x 3" x 1/4")

*Structures

*Supports for signs and placards

*Toy guns

*Weapons of any kind

*Any other items determined to be potential safety hazards

https://www.58pic2017.org/faq

Hollywood speaking truth to power in 2017

Publicly saying your piece before neo-McCarthyism hits Hollywood - replacing the 1940s & 50s persecution of alleged Reds Under Beds with Let's Get People Who Don’t Agree With Trump in 2017.

https://youtu.be/NxyGmyEby40

It's as official as it is ever going to get - the Russian Government decided it would like this man to be the 45th President of the United States of America

It's as official as it is ever going to get - the Russian Government decided it would like this man to be the 45th President of the United States of America.

Donald John Trump

U.S. National Intelligence Council, Intelligence Community Assessment, 6 January 2017, excerpt:

“This report is a declassified version of a highly classified assessment; its conclusions are identical to those in the highly classified assessment but this version does not include the full supporting information on key elements of the influence campaign.

Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections

ICA 2017-01D

6 January 2017

Key Judgments

Russian efforts to influence the 2016 US presidential election represent the most recent expression of Moscow’s longstanding desire to undermine the US-led liberal democratic order, but these activities demonstrated a significant escalation in directness, level of activity, and scope of effort compared to previous operations. We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgments.

 We also assess Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him. All three agencies agree with this judgment. CIA and FBI have high confidence in this judgment; NSA has moderate confidence.

 Moscow’s approach evolved over the course of the campaign based on Russia’s understanding of the electoral prospects of the two main candidates. When it appeared to Moscow that Secretary Clinton was likely to win the election, the Russian influence campaign began to focus more on undermining her future presidency.

 Further information has come to light since Election Day that, when combined with Russian behaviour since early November 2016, increases our confidence in our assessments of Russian motivations and goals.

Moscow’s influence campaign followed a Russian messaging strategy that blends covert intelligence operations — such as cyber activity — with overt efforts by Russian Government agencies, state-funded media, third-party intermediaries, and paid social media users or “trolls.” Russia, like its Soviet predecessor, has a history of conducting covert influence campaigns focused on US presidential elections that have used intelligence officers and agents and press placements to disparage candidates perceived as hostile to the Kremlin.

 Russia’s intelligence services conducted cyber operations against targets associated with the 2016 US presidential election, including targets associated with both major US political parties.

 We assess with high confidence that Russian military intelligence (General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate or GRU) used the Guccifer 2.0 persona and DCLeaks.com to release US victim data obtained in cyber operations publicly and in exclusives to media outlets and relayed material to WikiLeaks.

 Russian intelligence obtained and maintained access to elements of multiple US state or local electoral boards. DHS assesses that the types of systems Russian actors targeted or compromised were not involved in vote tallying.

 Russia’s state-run propaganda machine contributed to the influence campaign by serving as a platform for Kremlin messaging to Russian and international audiences.

We assess Moscow will apply lessons learned from its Putin-ordered campaign aimed at the US presidential election to future influence efforts worldwide, including against US allies and their election processes.”

Full declassified report can be found here.

Trump's first week in office was a litany of bad decisions

https://youtu.be/CZkopd9m1lw

Plea from Standing Rock Sioux Tribes falling on deaf ears?

For months now the Dakota and Lakota people and their supporters have been resisting the establishment of an oil pipeline across their ancestral lands in North Dakota.

Thus far the courts have offered no relief and the U.S. Government is showing no desire to require that the pipeline path be altered. 

If you live in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, reflect on how lucky you are that that traditional owners, retirees, families, farmers, graziers, business people and the communities in which they live all came together and successfully fought off the threat to water security and the environment that coal seam gas mining represented. 

Those proposed gas field were also supposed to have a long pipeline.

Now look in your wallet and see if there are a few dollars to spare and consider donating at http://standwithstandingrock.net/.

"The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is a federally recognized tribe of American Indians.  81 Federal Register 26826, 26830 (May 4, 2016)." 

#NoDAPL

Excerpt from letter:

"Our Tribe is deeply disappointed in this decision by the United States, but our resolve to protect our water is stronger than ever. The best way to protect people during the winter, and reduce the risk of conflict between water protectors and militarized police, is to deny the easement for the Oahe crossing, and deny it now.

We ask that everyone who can appeal to President Obama and the Army Corps of Engineers to consider the future of our people and rescind all permits, and deny the easement to cross the Missouri River just north of our Reservation and straight through our treaty lands. When the Dakota Access Pipeline chose this route, they did not consider our strong opposition. Our concerns were clearly articulated directly to them in a tribal council meeting held on Sept. 30, 2014, where DAPL and the ND Public Service Commission came to us with this route. We have released the audio recording from that meeting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XARJFdyyfac

Again, we ask that the United States stop the pipeline and move it outside our ancestral and treaty lands.

It is both unfortunate and disrespectful that this announcement comes the day after this country celebrates Thanksgiving—a historic exchange of goodwill between Native Americans and the first immigrants from Europe. Although the news is saddening, it is not at all surprising given the last 500 years of the mistreatment of our people. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe stands united with more than 300 tribal nations and the water protectors who are here peacefully protesting the Dakota access pipeline to bolster indigenous people’s rights. We continue to fight for these rights, which continue to be eroded. Although we have suffered much, we still have hope that the President will act on his commitment to close the chapter of broken promises to our people and especially our children.”

https://www.governor.nd.gov/files/executive-order/Executive%20Order%202016-08.pdf

Plea for assistance sent on behalf of three Sioux tribes to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 2 December 2016:

Standing Rock, Cheyenne River & Yankton Sioux Tribes - Request for Precautionary Measures - FINAL Dec 02, 2... by clarencegirl on Scribd

If anyone living in the Northern Rivers region would like to show support for the people at Standing Rock they may send a message to U.S. President Barack Obama on the White House website at https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact.

Background

Standing Rock has 2.3 million acres and the fourth largest land base tribe in the United States and the second Indian Nation to be in two states, both North Dakota and South Dakota.....

The people of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Nation are often called Sioux. They are the members of the Dakota and Lakota Nations. “Dakota” and “Lakota” mean “friend” or “allies”. The term “Sioux”, dates back to the seventeenth century when some of the Dakota people were living in the Great Lakes area. The Ojibwa or Annishinaabe called the Lakota and Dakota “Nadouwesou” meaning “adders” or “little snakes”. This term was then shortened and corrupted by French traders, resulted in retention of the last syllable as “Sioux.”

The Dakota and Nakota people of Standing Rock include the Upper Yanktonai (in their language called Ihanktonwana, which translates to “little end villages”) and Yanktonai from the Cut Head Band. The Cut Heads, whose name is literally translated, get their title from the fact that when they withdrew from the Yanktonais, there was a row over secession and a fight. Their leader sustained a scalp wound and the name Cut Head was given. The Yankton and Yanktonais are called the Wiceyala or Middle Sioux. When the Middle Sioux moved onto the prairie, they had contact with the semisedentary riverine tribes such as the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara. Eventually the Yanktonai displaced these tribes and forced them upstream. However, periodically the Yanktonai did engage in trade with these tribes and eventually some bands adopted the earth lodge, bullboats and horticultural techniques of these people, though buffalo remained their primary food sources. The Yanktonai also maintained aspects of their former Woodland lifestyle. Today Yanktonai people of Standing Rock live primarily in communities on the North Dakota portion of the reservation.

The Lakota, as the largest division of the nation, are subdivided into the Oceti Sakowin or Seven Council Fires. The Lakota people of the Standing Rock Reservation included two of these subdivisions, the Hunkpapa, means “campers at the Horn” and Sihasapa or “Blackfeet,” not to be confused with the Algonquian Blackfeet of Montana and Canada, which are an entirely different group. The Hunkpapas get their name from their hereditary right of pitching their tepees at the outer edge of the village as defenders of the camp. The Sihasapa name comes from walking across a burned prairie after an unsuccessful expedition and their feet blackened, thus they were called the Blackfeet. The Lakota Hunkpapas and Sihasapa are the northern plains people and practically divested themselves of all woodland traits of their Dakota ancestors. The culture revolved around the horse and buffalo; the people were nomadic and lived in hide tepees year round. Their Hunkpapas and Sihasapa ranged in the area between the Cheyenne River and Heart Rivers to the south and north and between the Missouri River on the east and Tongue River to the west.

UPDATE

RT Question More, 4 December 2016:

The US Army Corps of Engineers will not grant permission for the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross Lake Oahe, the hotspot of massive protests of water protectors, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe said in a statement, adding that alternative routes are now being studied.

"The Department of the Army will not approve an easement that would allow the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe in North Dakota," said a statement on the US Army website, citing the Assistant Secretary for Civil Works, Jo-Ellen Darcy.

U.S. Army statement, 4 December 2016:

The Department of the Army will not approve an easement that would allow the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe in North Dakota, the Army's Assistant Secretary for Civil Works announced today.
Jo-Ellen Darcy said she based her decision on a need to explore alternate routes for the Dakota Access Pipeline crossing. Her office had announced on November 14, 2016 that it was delaying the decision on the easement to allow for discussions with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, whose reservation lies 0.5 miles south of the proposed crossing. Tribal officials have expressed repeated concerns over the risk that a pipeline rupture or spill could pose to its water supply and treaty rights.
"Although we have had continuing discussion and exchanges of new information with the Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access, it's clear that there's more work to do," Darcy said. "The best way to complete that work responsibly and expeditiously is to explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing." 
Darcy said that the consideration of alternative routes would be best accomplished through an Environmental Impact Statement with full public input and analysis.
The Dakota Access Pipeline is an approximately 1,172 mile pipeline that would connect the Bakken and Three Forks oil production areas in North Dakota to an existing crude oil terminal near Pakota, Illinois. The pipeline is 30 inches in diameter and is projected to transport approximately 470,000 barrels of oil per day, with a capacity as high as 570,000 barrels. The current proposed pipeline route would cross Lake Oahe, an Army Corps of Engineers project on the Missouri River.