Sore Loser Democrat Cartoons

Defeated Democrat Stacey Abrams won't call Brian Kemp legitimate Georgia gov-elect

Defeated Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacy Abrams, who admitted last week that she could not beat Republican Brian Kemp, on Sunday refused to call Kemp the legitimate governor-elect and said democracy had "failed" in the state.
In an interview with CNN, Abrams said only that Kemp, Georgia's former secretary of state, had "won an adequate number of votes to become the governor of Georgia" and would become the "legal governor of Georgia" when he takes the oath of office.
"But we know sometimes the law does not do what it should, and something being legal does not make it right," Abrams told Tapper. "What you are looking for me to say is that there was no compromise of our democracy and that there should be some political compromise in the language that I use. And that's not right. ... Will I say that this election was not tainted, was not a disinvestment and a disenfranchisement of thousands of voters? I will not say that."
Abrams maintained that "it began eight years ago with the systematic disenfranchisement of more than a million voters and continued with the underfunding and disinvestment in polling places and training and in the management of the county delivery of services, and I think it had its pinnacle in this race."
Tapper pointed out that while 1.5 million voters were removed from Georgia's voter rolls from 2012 to 2016 if they did not vote for three years, many other states -- as well as heavily liberal Washington, D.C. -- also strike inactive voters from the rolls as a matter of course.
"Maintaining clean voter rolls is absolutely appropriate," Abrams acknowledged. She then criticized the "vigor with which [Kemp] did so -- and the mismanagement with which he did so." She cited the unverified case of 92-year-old Christine Jordan, who was reportedly denied at the polls despite voting regularly.
With 100 percent of precincts tallied, Georgia's official election website showed Kemp had won 50.22% of total votes cast, or 1,978,408 votes. Abrams, by comparison, had 48.83 percent, or 1,923,685 -- meaning Kemp leads by approximately 55,000 votes. A runoff would have automatically triggered if neither candidate had won 50 percent of the vote.
HOURS BEFORE ELECTION DAY, SECRETARY OF STATE KEMP ANNOUNCES VOTER HACKING PROBE INTO GEORGIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Other top Democrats echoed Abrams' rhetoric. "Democracy did not win in Georgia," former Attorney General Eric Holder tweeted Sunday morning.
Abrams insisted her complaints were based on "facts," and pointed specifically to "four different federal judges in the course of a week" who "forced better behavior" among Georgia election officials prior to the midterms.
In one instance, shortly before Election Day, a federal judge appointed by former President Barack Obama, U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross, ruled that the state's "exact match" law as a potential source of disenfranchisement and ordered the state to change its protocols.
Kemp had touted the law, which flags discrepancies between voter registrations and official identification documents. If there are any differences -- such as a missing hyphen -- voters had to clear the matter up with a state official before voting.
But those restrictions were estimated to affect only approximately 3,000 voters -- far short of the 55,000-vote margin that Kemp obtained on his way to victory.
Abrams also pointed to Kemp's decision to initiate a hacking investigation into the Georgia Democratic Party with just hours to go before Election Day.

Guardsman charged with smuggling migrants into US

U.S. Border Patrol agents and members of the military pass concertina wire during a tour of the San Ysidro port of entry in San Diego. (Associated Press)

A California National Guardsman was arrested earlier this month for allegedly smuggling migrants into the United States for money.
Private First Class Edward Jair Acosta-Avila was pulled over in San Diego, about two miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, USA Today reported.
SECTION OF TRUMP'S BORDER WALL UNVEILED IN CALIFORNIA AS CARAVAN ADVANCES NORTH THROUGH MEXICO
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials arrested Acosta-Avila and four other individuals – including a U.S. citizen and three undocumented Mexican nationals who were hiding under a blanket in the back seat, the report said.
Acosta-Avila told authorities that he and the U.S. citizen were going to split $400 for shuttling the three Mexican nationals into the U.S., according to the report. But the three men told authorities they agreed to pay between $6,000 and $7,000 each to enter the U.S., the report said.
Acosta-Avila and the U.S. citizen were charged in federal court with human trafficking. The Mexican nationals will serve as witnesses in the case, San Diego’s Fox 5 reported.
MIGRANT CARAVAN FACES OPPOSITION FROM ANGRY TIJUANA RESIDENTS
Acosta-Avila was reportedly not part of the 7,000 troops that President Trump ordered to various points at the U.S.-Mexico border, the Army Times reported.
The bulk of the troops are currently in Texas -- hundreds of miles away from the caravan that started arriving this week in Tijuana on Mexico's border with California -- after walking and hitching rides for the past month.

Former Obama official says Georgia gov-elect not ‘normal head of the state’

Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp gives a thumbs-up to supporters, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018, in Athens, Ga. (Associated Press)

Georgia Gov.-elect Brian Kemp should not be treated as a “normal head of the state” because of allegations of voter suppression during this month's election, a former ethics chief for the Obama administration said Sunday.
Norm Eisen, who also served as U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic from 2011 to 2014, was responding to allegations about Georgia's gubernatorial race that were posted on Twitter by Ari Berman, a writer for liberal publications such as Mother Jones and the Nation.
Berman alleged that Kemp, in his role as Georgia's secretary of state, had purged 1.5 million voters from registration logs, and that the state had placed 53,000 registrations on hold, closed more than 200 polling sites and made voters wait in lines for more than four hours.
Kemp, 55, who asked Georgia's voters to unite behind him Saturday after the election results were certified, showing he defeated Democrat Stacey Abrams, a 44-year-old attorney, has defended himself against allegations that the election was tainted.
"Look, we have laws on the books that prevent elections from being stolen from anyone," Kemp said, according to Atlanta's FOX 5. Those laws "make sure we have secure, accessible, fair elections," he added.

"Look, we have laws on the books that prevent elections from being stolen from anyone."
— Georgia Gov.-elect Brian Kemp

Eisen wrote that if the same conditions Berman described for Georgia had existed in a country to which he was appointed an ambassador, he "would have publicly slammed them & called for economic sanctions."
“I certainly would not have treated the 'winning' candidate as the normal head of the state, & we should not do so here,” Eisen wrote.
Eisen's tweet linked to Berman's article in Mother Jones, which accused Kemp of implementing hurdles to the election process while secretary of state.
During the campaign, Democrat Abrams repeatedly accused Kemp of voter suppression. Final tallies showed that Kemp won by about 55,000 votes, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
GEORGIA CERTIFIES ELECTION RESULTS SHOWING KEMP AS VICTOR IN GOVERNOR'S RACE
DEFEATED DEMOCRAT STACEY ABRAMS WON'T CALL BRIAN KEMP LEGITIMATE GEORGIA GOV-ELECT
Abrams acknowledged defeat Friday, 10 days after the election, but stopped short of calling it a concession. She vowed to continue fighting in court to prevent voter disenfranchisement, the Hill reported.
“I acknowledge that former Secretary of State Brian Kemp will be certified victor in the 2018 gubernatorial elections,” Abrams said. “But to watch an elected official -- who claims to represent the people of this state, baldly pin his hopes for election on the suppression of the people's democratic right to vote -- has been truly appalling."
Abrams also told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that she intends to run for public office again in the future.
"I’m going to spend the next year as a private citizen but I do indeed intend to run for office again," Abrams said, according to the Hill. "I’m not sure for what and I am not exactly certain when."
"I need to take a nap," she added. "But once I do, I’m planning to get back into the ring."

Ocasio-Cortez lashes out again, says ‘drooling’ Republicans waiting to ‘chop up’ her ‘word slips’

What a Idiot.

U.S. Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., lashed out at Republicans via Twitter on Sunday night, accusing the GOP of “drooling” in anticipation of the 29-year-old’s every misstep.
“Maybe instead of Republicans drooling over every minute of footage of me in slow-mo, waiting to chop up word slips that I correct in real-tomd (sic),” she wrote, “they [should] actually step up enough to make the argument they want to make: that they don’t believe people deserve a right to healthcare.”
She later tweeted a correction on the spelling of “real-time.”
It was the latest in a series of complaints the socialist political newcomer has made on social media since winning her election Nov. 6 in New York’s 14th Congressional District, which includes parts of New York City.
On Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez complained that critics were calling her “divisive” because she participated in a demonstration about climate change two days earlier outside the office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
“When I respectfully join young people in an action promoting climate action while encouraging leadership decisions, it’s ‘divisive,’” she tweeted.
On Wednesday, she wrote that people on Capitol Hill were repeatedly mistaking her for an intern, or thinking she was the spouse of a member of Congress, rather than a lawmaker-elect.
“People keep giving me directions to the spouse and intern events instead of the ones for members of Congress,” she tweeted.
Last week she wrote that her constituents in Queens reacted with “outrage” that online giant Amazon had decided to bring 25,000 jobs to the borough.
Earlier this month, soon after becoming the youngest woman elected to Congress, Ocasio-Cortez complained that she wouldn’t have enough money to rent a Washington, D.C., apartment until she begins drawing her congressional salary.
“Don’t worry btw,” she later tweeted. “We’re working it out!”
Ocasio-Cortez stunned many in the political world in June when she defeated longtime incumbent U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, in a primary race.
Since then, she has continued looking to stir things up in her own party. On Saturday she endorsed a far-left group’s bid to run primary candidates against moderate Democrats in 2020.
The group, called Justice Democrats, calls its effort #OurTime.
“We recruited and supported Ocasio-Cortez all the way to a historic victory,” Justice Democrats Executive Director Alexandra Rojas told Politico in a statement, “and now we’re going to repeat the playbook.”

Ben Garrison Trump Cartoons

Trump backs Pence, dismisses ‘phony’ report he questioned loyalty

President Trump on Saturday pushed back on a “phony” New York Times story that said Trump was questioning Vice President Mike Pence’s loyalty and that a 2020 shakeup could be on the cards -- telling reporters that Pence was “100 percent loyal.”
“No, I don’t question his loyalty. He is 100 percent loyal,” he told reporters before departing for California. “It was a phony story. I doubt they have any sources, a typical New York Times phony story.”
The article, published Friday, reported that Trump has repeatedly asked aides and advisers about Pence’s loyalty to the point that it has “alarmed” advisers. The Times reported that Trump has not openly suggested dropping Pence from the 2020 ticket but advisers said that such questions indicate that he is irritated with someone.
The Times reported that while most White House advisers have backed Pence, others outside the White House have said that Trump now has his own relationship with evangelical voters and he may benefit from a running mate who could help him with women. According to the Times, some of Trump's advisers outside the White House have mentioned outgoing U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley as a potential running mate. But the report says that few advisers believe he would really go through with a change on the ticket.
But Trump brushed off the report and said he “couldn’t be happier” with his vice president.
“Mike Pence is 100 percent, not even a doubt of it in my mind, he’s a trooper. He’s been with me as soon as I won the primaries, he was the one I chose and I couldn't be happier and I don't question his loyalty at all. He’s already been tested in many ways," he said.
Trump also said the outlet “never called me for a comment.” However, the article does include a comment from the White House.
“The president absolutely supports the vice president and thinks he’s doing an incredible job helping to carry out the mission and policies of this administration,” Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told the outlet.
This was seconded by reporter Maggie Haberman, who tweeted a "fact check" on Saturday:
"Emailed with @PressSec and spoke with first deputy Hogan Gidley, who is quoted. POTUS would need to talk to them about why they didn’t provide us with a quote from him."
Trump later followed up on Twitter, criticizing the Times again and saying he "can’t imagine any President having a better or closer relationship with their Vice President then the two of us."
Trump’s remarks come after a press conference last week at the White House in which he was asked about the 2020 ticket, and he asked Pence to be his running mate on the spot.
“Mike, will you be my running mate?” Trump asked Pence, who stood up and nodded.
“Will you? Thank you. OK, good,” the president said. “That was unexpected, but I feel very fine.”

Patriot Prayer rally in Portland, Ore., leads to 6 arrests as groups clash

Dueling rallies in Portland, Ore., ended with members of the Patriot Prayer group and counter-demonstrators clashing on Saturday, resulting in six arrests.
The day started with a rally downtown to support survivors of sexual assault where several in attendance spoke about their experiences, the Oregonian reported. Around 200 people attended.
Nearby, a "Him Too" rally, a counter to the #MeToo movement, hosted by Patriot Prayer member Haley Adams was underway with about 40 people in attendance.
Adams said the gathering was to support men falsely accused of sexual assault, though some guest speakers spoke about freedom and a "war on men." Once the rally ended, protesters allegedly began throwing bottles and flares and small scuffles broke out.
A few demonstrators allegedly tossed smoke bombs as well, the paper reported. Police officers in riot gear separated the Patriot Prayer members and the black-clad counter-demonstrators.
FOX 12 Oregon reported that six people were arrested. police identified them as Gary Fresquez, 52, on suspicion of disorderly conduct and two counts of interfering with a peace officer; Hannah R. McClintock, 19, charged with harassment., and four others - Ruben A Delahuerga, 25; Betsy Toll, 68; Elizabeth L. Cheek, 33; and Brittany N. Frost, 35 – charged with interfering with a peace officer.
Saturday’s events came nearly a month after Patriot Prayer members and Antifa counter-demonstrators got into a bloody brawl outside a popular bar in the city.
Members of the conservative group had marched earlier that day calling for the ousting of Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler.
Wheeler has faced harsh criticism in recent months over his oversight of the city’s police department and how it responds to protests.