1/ BREAKING GEORGIA SENATE RUNOFF THREAD:

While it is illegal to tally the results of early & absentee ballots before 7PM, but election officials CAN use Dominion Voting machines to scan the ballots allowing each precinct to know the outcome of the election. (cont)

Life Comes At You Fast Thread: Just two weeks into his presidency Biden's resolve is being tested by Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Isreal, China, and even Burma.

1/ Georgia State Senate Hearing Live Tweet Thread:

The current Senate witness, J. Hutton Pulitzer, claims that the state's ballot auditors audited reproduction ballots because the original ballots are missing.

2/ This is concerning because previous witnesses testified that stacks of ballots appeared to be machine-made missing telltale creases and having identical vote markings for Biden and no other candidates.

3/ J. Hutton Pulitzer states his team can review 100% of Georgia's ballots to determine if they are REAL or FAKE within two hours. The State of Georgia has refused to allow any examination of the ballots for authenticity.

4/ J. Hutton Pulitzer claims he can determine the authenticity of the ballots from the State Farm Arena within hours if the state will make them available to his company. He calls the physical ballot the Holy Grail.

5/ The Senate has moved to compel the Georgia Secretary of State to turn over the physical ballots. The fight will likely end up in the courts as the Secretary of State has refused to comply with the Senate's request.

1/25 ELECTOR CHALLENGE THREAD

Each state governor sent their slate of electors by registered mail to Senate President Pence. By tradition, he will count these votes in a joint session of Congress tomorrow. If he simply counts those votes Biden will become president. But...

2/ Traditionally states have empowered their governors to certify and transmit the votes of their electors to the Senate President but this year at least six GOP-controlled legislatures acted to revoke this authority and count the votes of electors for President Trump.

3/ The first question is whether or not the state's legislatures have the constitutional authority to rescind the governors' traditional authority to transmit the 'official' vote of the electors to the Senate President.

4/ Article II, Section 1, Clauses 2 and 3, gives the state legislature the sole authority to determine the manner of appointment of electors. While a state has the right to outsource this to the governor they do not lose the right to change their mind at a later date.

5/ Six state legislatures changed their minds and voted to send alternative electors to the Senate President. These electors were loyal to President Trump and cast their ballots for him. So what is the problem?

ENEMY OF THE STATE: There is a growing concern in Biden's administration that the world's richest African American could pose a huge problem for Biden and Democrats in general. This thread discusses the possible reasons why they fear the mercurial billionaire named Elon Musk.

1/ Political violence is NEVER an appropriate call to action. It is certainly not appropriate for a sitting United States Senator like @CoryBooker to call on Americans to head to the Capitol to "get up in the face of Congresspeople." #incitement

🚨 Thread: It’s Happening!

1. This may be the most important thread I’ve put together, yet. This is truly an exciting time for America. We are about to witness history in the making. It will, in fact, be Biblical. Not just for Us, but for the world.

Trump on climate: I don't believe it. Trump on Khashoggi: I don't believe it. Trump on Russia: I don't believe it. Idiocy? A canny game? Doesn't really matter as much as the underlying intellectual autocracy. In this administration only one opinion matters.

It's an assault on facts and reason. It's an assault on good governance. It's an assault on the bureaucracies that are being discounted. It's an assault on science and history. But it is also an assault on one of the underpinnings of democracy.

We live in a system that is grounded on the idea of collaborative government. Leaders may have a final word but even then, there are typically checks and balances. Hopefully, in this case, such checks and balances may work. But they also are being tested.

The president's position that he is smarter than all the world's scientists, than the entire intelligence community, than experts who have studied any issue all their lives, is, of course, asinine. But his belief that government turns solely on his opinion, is monarchic.

Louis XIV reportedly said, "L'etat est moi." That he was the state. Trump asserting that he knows better than all, discounts all advice, that his brain is enough to chart the course for America alone, is essentially saying the same thing.

Trump is a Russian asset, a mob money launderer installed by his mob whoremasters to sow chaos and weaken the US & our allies.

EVERY SINGLE THING HE’S DONE since taking office is to achieve those purposes—that and to enrich himself personally.

[THREAD]

1/ His entire family is part of this. Melania is a fucking crook. Ivanka is a fucking crook. Junior and Gums are fucking crooks. They will all die in prison, except for Kushner, who, if he really *did* trade US intel for money, should be executed for espionage.

2/ Why do you think Trump installs uniquely corrupt & awful people to Cabinet positions? Pruitt, Zinke, Betsy, Rex/Pompeo, Wilbur "Melting Nazi Face" Ross. They are not there to serve us. They are not there to drain the swamp. They are there to BURN THE REPUBLIC DOWN.

3/ Trump steals. He takes taxpayer money—your money and mine—and lines his pockets with it. He exploits his office to make himself richer. This is all he cares about. Why are Republican citizens, you “fiscal conservatives,” not more angry about this? Riddle me THAT, #MAGA.

4/ Matt Whitaker, the human dildo and “acting AG,” was illegally installed to throw a monkey wrench in the Mueller investigation. That’s why they won’t release his financials. He’s fucking bought and sold. He’s going to prison for obstruction.

A central tension in our politics is this we have 1 political party that cares about upholding democracy, whereas the other party's aims can only be achieved thru undermining democracy. This is coupled w/ the fact that 1 party cares about people's well-being & the other does not

These 2 facts lead to a situation in which, in order to both uphold democracy & advance well-being, 1 party is dedicated to a functional gov't & the other party is well-served by a dysfunctional government. Such dysfunction is both instrumental & ideological (anti-government)

And then, of course, we have gerrymandering + a cap on the House of reps, 2 Senators per state, & the electoral college. A set of circumstances that gives massively disproportionate power to the anti-democracy & anti-well-being party.

Taken together, the structural issues in our electoral system, deep ideological divides about government/democracy, & the differential investment in advancing citizens' well-being does leave Democrats at a perpetual disadvantage.

A firefighter who is looking at a burning house & trying to decide whether to concentrate on stopping the fire from spreading or to save a child at the expense of a grandmother is facing a fundamentally different set of choices than the person who lit the fire in the first place