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Your tax dollars are funding Trump's election lies
Dec. 12th, 2025 11:00 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
dailykos_feedThe Department of Justice announced Friday it’s suing Georgia as part of President Donald Trump’s crusade to pursue long-debunked 2020 election conspiracies.
The suit demands that the state turn over “all used and void ballots, stubs of all ballots, signature envelopes, and corresponding envelope digital files from the 2020 General Election in Fulton County.”
County officials reportedly told the DOJ that those records are sealed and that the federal government would need a court order to turn them over.
Former President Joe Biden defeated Trump in Georgia by more than 12,000 votes. And in Fulton County, where the county seat is the capital city of Atlanta, was even more overwhelming—a margin of more than 243,000 votes.
Trump has never been able to accept the fact that he is the first GOP presidential candidate to lose the state since 1992, when George H.W. Bush lost to Bill Clinton.
Despite the DOJ’s actions and Trump’s rhetoric over the last five years—including falsely claiming that the election was rigged—it was actually Trump who tried to steal the race.
In January 2021, Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, pressuring him to certify him as the winner of the race against the will of thousands of Georgia voters. Trump was criminally charged for his attempt to subvert the election, but those charges were dropped earlier this year.
The right has been reeling since Biden’s victory in Georgia, and the state has been the focus of baseless conservative conspiracy theories.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who acted as Trump’s lawyer in a slew of election lawsuits that were thrown out, pushed the conspiracy that two Georgia election workers manipulated vote totals in favor of Biden. After he was sued by plaintiffs Ruby Freeman and Wandrea Moss for defamation, Giuliani settled for nearly $150 million.
Trump lost Georgia in 2020. And now he’s using the DOJ as a weapon of revenge for that humiliation—and it’s all on taxpayers’ dime.
Google Translate Expands Live Translation To All Earbuds On Android
Dec. 12th, 2025 11:00 pmslashdot_feed
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The Data Breach That Hit Two-Thirds of a Country
Dec. 12th, 2025 10:22 pmslashdot_feed
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We Heard Of Fast Food, But This Is A New Level…
Dec. 12th, 2025 11:00 pmnotalwaysright_feedRead We Heard Of Fast Food, But This Is A New Level…
One typical Friday, we were tossing sandwiches to the drive-thru, unbeknownst to our manager, the drive-thru person had ducked away to look at something, and without looking, sort of absently chucked a turkey club over his shoulder.
icanhascheezburger_feedThe story here centers around a couple and a cat. The protagonist is a girl who's had some rough patches in her housing situation. She was separated from her cat for a bit while she was figuring out where to live. They finally found a place, and she starts dating someone. Her boyfriend starts to complain about the cat – about the fur everywhere, about how the cat likes to sit in the sink. The boyfriend threatens to leave his girlfriend over the cat, claiming that he wants her to consider her priorities. She cries, she begs him to stay and that he's breaking her heart.
As time goes on, the tables turn, and the boyfriend is the one who finds he loves the cat. Suddenly, he's into the cat, he wants to spend time with the cat, and he doesn't want to break up anymore. But something doesn't feel right for the girl. She ends up leaving him over the whole fiasco and deems him controlling. She moves out, and her and her cat get an apartment together. She takes her authority and power from him, and does what's the right thing for her, and claims she's never been happier.
Friday Squid Blogging: Giant Squid Eating a Diamondback Squid
Dec. 12th, 2025 10:00 pmbruce_schneier_feedI have no context for this video—it’s from Reddit—but one of the commenters adds some context:
Hey everyone, squid biologist here! Wanted to add some stuff you might find interesting.
With so many people carrying around cameras, we’re getting more videos of giant squid at the surface than in previous decades. We’re also starting to notice a pattern, that around this time of year (peaking in January) we see a bunch of giant squid around Japan. We don’t know why this is happening. Maybe they gather around there to mate or something? who knows! but since so many people have cameras, those one-off monster-story encounters are now caught on video, like this one (which, btw, rips. This squid looks so healthy, it’s awesome).
When we see big (giant or colossal) healthy squid like this, it’s often because a fisher caught something else (either another squid or sometimes an antarctic toothfish). The squid is attracted to whatever was caught and they hop on the hook and go along for the ride when the target species is reeled in. There are a few colossal squid sightings similar to this from the southern ocean (but fewer people are down there, so fewer cameras, fewer videos). On the original instagram video, a bunch of people are like “Put it back! Release him!” etc, but he’s just enjoying dinner (obviously as the squid swims away at the end).
As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.
One Expects A Quiet Savagery From Such Institutions
Dec. 12th, 2025 10:00 pmnotalwaysright_feedRead One Expects A Quiet Savagery From Such Institutions
Customer: "I want a discount."
Manager: "I'm afraid that won't be possible. Prices are set by the design house."
Customer: "This jacket is £2,500, and you expect me to pay full price?!"
Manager: "Yes, madam."
icanhascheezburger_feedFor all the times that we find cats to be abrasive, arrogant and unkind, they know when it is time to show up and be a bro. Sometimes it is in the form of providing comfort in our deepest and darkest times of need, and other times, like in this story, it is literally saving our lives. It is a part of the extremely polar relationships that cats like to form, where there is little to no middle ground in any part of it.
Making the good sides of caring for a cat incredible and the bad sides insufferable. But because the good is just that important and meaningful, we happily overlook the bad and focus all our attention on the good that may or may not return one day. And when you come across stories like the one we have for you today, you will believe in the incredible good of cats no matter how felines have treated you in the past.
Epstein kept photos of Trump, young women, and sex toys
Dec. 12th, 2025 10:00 pmdailykos_feedHeads up, besties—new photos of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein dropped.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Friday released a second set of photos found on the late convicted sex offender’s computer, and some of the images are quite disturbing.
While none of the photos featuring Trump were directly incriminating, the combined snaps are a bad look as the Dec. 19 deadline nears for the Department of Justice to release the entirety of the notorious Epstein Files.
Related | Epstein files inch closer to release after House does its damn job
In one of the newly released images, Trump—who was a real estate developer at the time of his early friendship with Epstein—is seen with a group of women whose faces are redacted. He’s also seen seated next to a blonde woman, whose identity is also redacted, in another.
One of the stranger photos found in Epstein’s digital archive is of novelty “Trump condoms,” which feature a drawing of the president’s face on the box with the text “I’m HUUUUGE!” superimposed below. They were being sold for a whopping $4.50.
Other NSFW adult photos showing extreme sex toys were also included in the release, but do not feature faces.
Out of the 19 photos published, the president appeared in three. Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon also appeared a handful of times alongside Epstein. Former President Bill Clinton, tech tycoon Bill Gates, problematic filmmaker Woody Allen, former Clinton Treasury Secretary and Harvard President Larry Summers, British billionaire Richard Branson, and attorney Alan Dershowitz, who previously represented Epstein, were also pictured.
There are a reported 95,000 photos in the collection waiting to be fed to the public.
Trump has put in work to try to distance himself from Epstein, but he’s faced quite a few hurdles as more damning evidence pops up. In July, a birthday card Trump sent to Epstein featuring a creepy poem and sketch of a naked woman’s torso surfaced.
Naturally, he attempted to sue his buddy Rupert Murdoch for The Wall Street Journal’s stories exposing the birthday message’s existence. That $10 billion lawsuit is still pending.
Then House Oversight Committee Democrats released a treasure trove of emails on Nov. 12. There was plenty of damning information found throughout, but eyebrows were definitely raised when accused sex trafficker Epstein himself wrote that Trump “knew about the girls.”
Related | Pam Bondi is pissing off Republicans by dodging Epstein files release
As the Oversight Committee slowly drops more disturbing content from Epstein’s estate, the real behemoth of information, currently still in the hands of Attorney General Pam Bondi, is approaching a deadline.
Next week, the DOJ will hit its 30-day deadline to release the files after a nearly unanimous House vote forcing the matter on Nov. 18.
Getting to this point has been a battle which, as a reminder, has been about delivering justice to Epstein’s victims.
As some of you might recall, Trump pounced on the notion that the files were a Democrat-led “hoax,” and his elected supporters followed suit. House Speaker Mike Johnson was scolded for delaying the swearing in of Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva amid the government shutdown, which conveniently stalled the vote.
The president’s more prominent MAGA talking heads did not respond to the findings publicly as of Friday afternoon. While his supporter base rallied behind releasing the files, some more loyal to the president began to change their tune.
Bannon, who is furiously trying to spin the situation considering his own connections with Epstein, described Trump as “imperfect” on his podcast last month before launching into predictable hyperbole.
“Did I mention that Trump’s not perfect?” Bannon said. “He’s an imperfect instrument, but he’s an instrument infused by divine providence. If you had not had him and you didn’t have him today, you wouldn’t have anything.”
Many skeptics are holding their breath as they brace for some kind of “divine” intervention that mysteriously delays the DOJ’s release of the Epstein files. Stay tuned for the next drop.
Friday Frenzy of Fluff to Laugh About in the Form of 23 Feline Funnies
Dec. 12th, 2025 12:00 pmicanhascheezburger_feedAh, Friday. That sweet, sweet day when the workweek finally waves goodbye and we can all exhale… maybe with a cat purring somewhere on our lap, demanding attention with the subtlety of a tiny floofy dictator. There's nothing quite like a Friday with a feline friend nearby, soft paws tapping, whiskers twitching, and that unmistakable "I am adorable, give me treats" energy radiating strongly from every soft meow. It's like your own personal weekend hype squad, but with fur.
Cats have this magical way of turning even the most mundane moments into laugh-out-loud chaos. They can be snoozing like tiny loafs of purrfection, but then they're suddenly zooming around like little furry hurricanes, knocking over pens, tripping over cables, or somehow ending up in the weirdest places. You can't help but giggle (or maybe quietly groan) at their antics. Every paw and head bop is a reminder that life's better when sprinkled with cat chaos.
So as Friday brings us over into the weekend, what better way to celebrate than with a bunch of silly, wholesome feline fun? Sit back, maybe pour a cup of something warm, and let these cats do their thing. Because if there's ever a day to laugh at the adorable absurdity of life, it's Friday, and if there's ever a creature to lead that charge, it's definitely a cat.
Podcast 696, Your Transcript is Ready
Dec. 12th, 2025 09:38 pmsmartbitches_feed
The transcript for Podcast 696. Holiday Wishes IV with Rae A, Josephine, and Sneezy has been posted!
This podcast transcript was handcrafted with meticulous skill by Garlic Knitter. Many thanks.
New Kindle Feature Uses AI To Answer Questions About Books - And Authors Can't Opt Out
Dec. 12th, 2025 09:40 pmslashdot_feed
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Trump grants fake pardon to infamous election denier
Dec. 12th, 2025 09:00 pmdailykos_feedPresident Donald Trump has issued a “symbolic” pardon of Tina Peters, once the clerk for Mesa County, Colorado, but now a convicted felon for a little light election security breach to try to overturn the 2020 election results.
It turns out that when you do an actual crime, such as using your position as county clerk to give a random, unauthorized fellow election denier access to secure election equipment, you actually get convicted.
The problem for Peters—and Trump—is that Trump cannot simply wave his pardon wand and free her since she was convicted in state court. And of course, Trump can’t pardon state court convictions, much to his chagrin.
This fake pardon seems to have come about because, earlier this week, a federal magistrate denied Peters’ attempt to get a federal court to release her on bond while she appeals her state sentence. The magistrate pointed to a basic, bedrock principle of federalism and the courts: Federal judges can’t just reach down and meddle in state criminal cases.
So, of course, Trump took to Truth Social to yell about it, granting Peters “a full Pardon for her attempts to expose Voter Fraud in the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election!”
Okay, grandpa, let’s get you to bed.
Trump has been banging this drum for months now, saying he will impose some unspecified “harsh measures” against Colorado if it doesn’t free Peters. Those harsh measures haven’t yet materialized, but at least Peters gets to feel special getting her fake pardon.
The Department of Justice also keeps trying to free Peters, filing a “statement of interest” in March, saying that “reasonable concerns have been raised” and that it was part of their larger review of cases “across the nation for abuses of the criminal justice process” and that it was part of the efforts to end the weaponization of the federal government.
Cool story, bro. But this is state court and state government.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons also got involved, seeking to transfer Peters from state to federal custody, where she could presumably get the Ghislaine Maxwell “special treatment for Trump friends” level of amenities.
Or perhaps the muddled thinking is that, if she is somehow transferred to a federal prison, then Trump can magically pardon her for her state crimes.
The fake pardon follows Trump’s other symbolic pardons—which are, again, not a real thing—of Rudy Giuliani and other election-denying cronies who got jammed up in state court. But that gosh-darn federalism keeps stopping Trump from being able to tell states who they can and cannot prosecute.
In all seriousness, this is a wholesale attack on federalism. It’s the Trump administration telling Colorado repeatedly that it does not acknowledge state sovereignty and does not believe the state can take action against its own citizens in its own courts if Trump doesn’t like it.
That’s not how the United States works. But this administration doesn’t care.
DOJ withholding Epstein files would be a 'crime,' says Republican
Dec. 12th, 2025 08:55 pmdailykos_feedGOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky spoke with reporters Friday, where he was asked what would happen if the Department of Justice fails to release the long-promised Epstein files by its Dec. 19 deadline.
Massie: Well, I mean, it's a crime if they don't. It's not like they're in contempt of Congress because they didn't respond to a subpoena. This is a new law with criminal implications if they don't follow it. But I was encouraged, again, by the fact that they went back to these three judges and got the judges to release the grand jury material to the DOJ.Reporter: Is that grand jury material enough, do you think, to comply with the law?
Massie: No, the grand jury material is just a small fraction of what the DOJ needs to release because the FBI and DOJ probably has evidence that they chose not to take to the grand jury because the evidence they're in possession of would implicate other people, not Epstein or [Ghislaine] Maxwell. So the grand jury material is probably going to just be mostly facts and evidence that was used to convict those two, and what we want to see are the facts and evidence that the FBI and the DOJ have never given to a grand jury.
Related | Trump signs bill to release Jeffrey Epstein case files after fighting it for months
Arkansas Becoming 1st State To Sever Ties With PBS, Effective July 1
Dec. 12th, 2025 09:00 pmslashdot_feed
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Willfully Ignorant About Their Own Willful Ignorance
Dec. 12th, 2025 09:00 pmnotalwaysright_feedRead Willfully Ignorant About Their Own Willful Ignorance
Me: "You might want to put him on the card-only register."
Supervisor: "Why? He's been trained on cash."
Me: "Yes, but he absolutely refuses to believe $2 bills are real. It doesn't matter how many times we've told him. The last time someone tried to pay using one and he called security."
Amazon Prime Video Pulls AI-Powered Recaps After Fallout Flub
Dec. 12th, 2025 08:36 pmslashdot_feed
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A Nasty Case Of Selective Hearingitis, Part 3
Dec. 12th, 2025 08:00 pmnotalwaysright_feedRead A Nasty Case Of Selective Hearingitis, Part 3
Me: "…Ma’am, I never said—"
Customer: "—It was in our conversation. You said you would."
Me: "No. I said I would check availability. Not order. Not reserve. Not request."
Customer: "Well, that’s not what I heard."
Me: "I know. That’s the problem. You only seem to hear what you want to hear."