Tag: Georgia

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News Round-Up: November 20, 2020

Jim Newman (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Let’s hear it for Broadway’s Jim Newman (above) who definitely knows how to find his light. Follow him on Instagram here. • CNN: Donald Trump told an ally that he knows he lost, but that he is delaying the transition process and is aggressively trying to sow doubt about the election results in order to get back at Democrats for questioning the legitimacy of his own election in 2016, especially with the Russia investigation. • HBO Max: The original series EQUAL pays tribute to the epic origin stories of the LGBTQ+ movement. The four-part docu-series captures the true backstories of the leaders and unsung heroes, pre-Stonewall, who changed the course of American history through their tireless activism. Each hour-long episode in the series plays like a thriller, bringing to life the high stakes and hard deadlines of historical events that have not yet been given their due. In honor of Transgender Day of Awareness, I want to highlight Episode 2 which focuses on the courageous pioneers of the trans movement. Check out the trailer for the series below.

• Out: Two Trump-appointed judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit today overturned a lower court ruling and struck down local ordinances prohibiting licensed therapists from practicing the debunked “conversion therapy” on minors. • Bloomberg: Donald Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., tested positive for coronavirus earlier this week and is isolating. Junior recently downplayed the extent of the coronavirus outbreak that deaths are “almost nothing.” I guess this makes Junior “almost nothing.” • AP: Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger certified results reported by the state’s 159 counties that show Biden won the state by a margin of 12,670 votes.

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Hand Recount Confirms Joe Biden’s Win In Georgia

(graphic via ABC News)
The results of a week-long hand recount of ballots in Georgia show President-elect Joe Biden did win the Peach State. Via CNN:

Georgia has finished its statewide audit of the razor-thin presidential race and President-elect Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump, according to a news release from the Secretary of State’s office.

Biden beat Trump by 12,284 votes, according to the final results from the audit. This is a slight drop for Biden compared to the pre-audit results.

Officials have said repeatedly that the audit confirmed there was no widespread fraud or irregularities in the election.

Per state law, the Trump campaign will have two business days to request a machine recount once these results are certified which is expected to occur on Friday.

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Georgia: Trump Depressed His Own Voting Base By Discouraging Mail-In Voting

A prosecutor in Georgia is reportedly in the early stages of investigating Donald Trump for attempting to overturn the election results in the state

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says Donald Trump actually depressed his own voting base by demonizing mail-in ballots. According to the stats, 24,000 Republicans that voted by absentee ballot in the 2020 primary didn’t vote at all in the general election which President-elect Joe Biden won by 14,000. From HuffPost:

Raffensperger, a Republican, ordered a recount. But he also told Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB that the president hurt his own cause by discouraging mail-in voting, which he portrayed as a “scam.”

Raffensperger told the station that 24,000 Republican voters who voted absentee in the primary did not vote in the general election.

“Those 24,000 people did not vote in the fall,” Raffensperger said. “They did not vote absentee because they were told by the president, ‘Don’t vote absentee. It’s not secure.’ But then they did not come out and vote in person.”

“He actually depressed, suppressed his own voting base,” he added.

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Joe Biden Projected To Win Georgia, Electoral College Vote Total Now 306

(graphic via MSNBC)
And the final two states have been projected in the 2020 presidential election. Multiple news outlets have projected President-elect Joe Biden will win Georgia, and as expected, Donald Trump will win North Carolina. Biden is the first Democrat to win Georgia in 28 years and the first non-southern Democrat to win the state in 60 years. Biden wins 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232. In 2016, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway called Trump’s win with 306 electoral votes a “massive landslide” and “historic.” Trump would repeat that claim many, many times.

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News Round-Up: November 9, 2020

(image via Andrew Christian)
Some news items you might have missed: • The Advocate: Underwear company Andrew Christian recently has apologized for marketing a harness (above) emblazoned with the word “slave” using a POC to model them. “As you accurately noted in your article our ‘Master’ and ‘Slave’ harnesses and underwear only reference the ‘Master’ and ‘Slave’ terminology of the BDSM culture and has nothing to do with anything else.  We sincerely apologize if anyone finds the image of the model offensive and we will replace it immediately.” • Out Music: Colton Ford releases his first new music in years with the single, “Stronger.” The inspirational ballad features upbeat lyrics that share Ford’s own positive self speak: “We have to stay conscious of what we are telling ourselves, as that impacts and influences everything we experience in this life.” You can stream the full track here.

• NBC News: Georgia plans a recount of votes in its presidential race, but in the past 50 years, few recounts have led to changes in the winners. And in the handful of still-uncalled battleground states, there hasn’t been a flip following a recount in at least the last two decades. • Statista: As the presidential election results unfolded before the American people last week, the stock market saw the writing on the wall. The S&P 500 closed the week up 7.3 percent on Friday marking the best election week rally since 1928. The Nasdaq and Dow Jones saw similar gains.

(graphic via Statista)
• The Independent: Donald Trump’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson, has become the latest Trump administration official to test positive for Covid-19. Carson attended the election night party at the White House on Tuesday where few in attendance wore masks to prevent the spread of the virus. • Mediaite: Fox News cut away from the White House press secretary this afternoon after she alleged that the Democratic party was “welcoming fraud and you are welcoming illegal voting.” Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto cut in saying, “Unless she has more details to back that up, I can’t in good countenance continue showing this.”  

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News Round-Up: November 6, 2020

Juan Melecio (image via Twitter)
Some news items you might have missed: • Edge Media: Juan Melecio (above), better known as gay porn star Antonio Biaggi, finished 5th in a field of 6 candidates for two city commissioner seats in gay-centric Wilton Manors, Florida. • The Advocate: The GOP failed in its attempt to derail the campaign of Democrat Roger Montoya by shaming him over a gay porn past nearly 40 years ago. Montoya triumphed in his New Mexico race for House District 40, besting Republican opponent Justin Salazar-Torrez 56.8 percent to 43.2 percent. • Victory Fund: Todd Gloria has won his race to become the next Mayor of San Diego, California. He is the first openly LGBTQ person and first person of color to be elected to the office. • New Music: Australian superstar Kylie Minogue drops some super-cute disco beats with her latest single, “Where Does The DJ Go?” The pop diva will also be streaming a live 50-minute performance – Kylie: Infinite Disco – around the globe on Saturday, November 7.

• NBC News: Defense Secretary Mark Esper has prepared a letter of resignation, according to three current defense officials. Defense officials say Esper prepared his letter because he is one of the Cabinet officials long expected to be pushed out after the election. • Vox: Georgia now has two Senate runoffs, both to be decided on January 5, 2021, as Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R) and Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock failed to cross the majority threshold in Georgia’s special election Senate race.  Sen. David Perdue (R) and Jon Ossoff (D) are headed to a runoff as well as neither were able to clear the state’s 50 percent threshold. • Washington Examiner: Amid reports Donald Trump might not concede the election, a spokesman for Joe Biden’s campaign, Andrew Bates responded: “The American people will decide this election. And the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House.”

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New Poll: 3 Southern Battleground States Are Neck And Neck

L-R Former Vice President Joe Biden, Donald Trump
From CBS News:

In the final stretch of the campaign, we find three Southern battlegrounds that could still go either way. Our estimates show Joe Biden with just a two-point edge over President Trump in Florida, Biden up four points in North Carolina, and the contest even in Georgia.

Millions have already voted and many others say they’ve already decided.

While early voters in each state told us they substantially favored Biden, those who have not yet voted heavily favor Mr. Trump, setting up a key turnout test running now through Election Day for both parties.

Sixty-one percent of people who already voted said they voted for Biden while 59 percent of those who haven’t yet said they were in favor of Trump.

This post is not to insinuate Biden has this in the bag. It’s meant to encourage everyone to vote, vote, vote, because we’re in this to win.

(graphics via CBS News)

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Georgia Senate Races Could Result In Run-Off Elections

A prosecutor in Georgia is reportedly in the early stages of investigating Donald Trump for attempting to overturn the election results in the state

A new poll by Public Policy Polling shows the two Senate races in Georgia may well end in run-off elections in January. Georgia is one of seven that require a run-off election if no candidate receives a majority of the vote in a primary election. Not saying a Democrat will necessarily win, but I found this interesting as a possibility.

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Georgia: 1,000 Double-Voted In State Primary

(image: Element5 Digital/Pexels)
Georgia’s Secretary of State says 1,000 Georgians voted twice in the June 9 primary, although the double-voting didn’t change the outcome of any races. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Tuesday that 1,000 Georgians voted twice in the state’s June 9 primary, a felony that he said will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

These voters returned absentee ballots and then also showed up to vote on election day June 9, Raffensperger said. County election officials are able to stop double-voting most of the time, but they weren’t able to catch everyone.

“A double voter knows exactly what they’re doing, diluting the votes of each and every voter that follows the law,” Raffensperger said during a press conference at the state Capitol. “Those that make the choice to game the system are breaking the law. And as secretary of state, I will not tolerate it.”

Of those, 1,000 voters had returned their absentee ballots to county election offices, and poll workers also allowed them to vote in-person.

In the report, Raffensperger doesn’t note the party affiliation of the double-voters.

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Justice Dept To Launch Hate Crime Investigation In Georgia Shooting

Ahmaud Arbery
From CBS News:

The U.S. Department of Justice is launching an investigation into the shooting death of an unarmed black man in Georgia as a hate crime, according to attorneys for the victim’s family.

Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was shot and killed by two white men while jogging in his neighborhood on February 23. Three arrests were made this month after video surfaced of the violent encounter.

Attorneys for Arbery’s family said the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia Bobby Christine and his office will look into why Glynn County and the state of Georgia took more than two months to make an arrest and whether the region has historically violated the rights of its citizens. The U.S. Attorney said he plans to file criminal and civil charges.

William Bryan, who recorded Arbery’s killing from his car, was arrested and charged with felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. His footage showed 64-year-old Gregory McMichael and his 34-year-old son, Travis, confront Arbery before shooting him.

Gregory and Travis were both arrested May 9. Travis was charged with murder and aggravated assault, and Gregory was charged with party to murder and aggravated assault.