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2016 Election Tag

Rick Santelli, the CNBC analyst whose glorious rant led to the creation of the Tea Party movement, created another memorable TV moment today. On Meet the Press, reacting to reports that the Russians were happy on Election Night because Trump won, Santelli said to Andre Mitchell: "on Election Night, I never saw you so unhappy. You pick sides. Everybody picks sides." An indignant Mitchell, protecting her [illusory] reputation for objectivity, shot back: "That's not true, Rick. That's just not true." Sure, Andrea.

So the American intelligence community has declassified a report that supposedly shows that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a campaign to influence the election in favor of President-elect Donald Trump. However, the report includes circumstantial evidence. They provided no concrete evidence that shows Putin sat down with his Kremlin cronies to orchestrated a campaign to make Hillary Clinton lose. They also concentrated on RT, formerly known as Russia Today, with a brief mention of the phishing schemes that led to Wikileaks publishing emails from the DNC and Hillary campaign chair John Podesta.

Until recently, it wasn't known which of the living presidents would attend Trump's inauguration. Jimmy Carter was quick to accept the invitation but George W. Bush had reasons to skip the event due to the many clashes between Trump and Jeb Bush. Bill Clinton had an even more obvious reason to be busy that day. It turns out everyone is going, even Hillary. New York Magazine reports:
Bill and Hillary Clinton Will Attend the Trump Inauguration Bill and Hillary Clinton have decided to attend the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States, according to two sources with knowledge of their plans. The Clintons will join former Presidents George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, who have also announced that they will attend. George and Laura Bush said today that they would be present “to witness the peaceful transfer of power.”

The most famous The New Yorker magazine image ever clearly has to be a 1976 illustration by Saul Steinberg for the cover depicting the view from 9th Avenue (the West Side) of Manhattan. The landscape of the rest of the country is shown as mere random places on a blank landscape between the Hudson River and the Pacific ocean. Having grown up in the NYC suburbs, I can tell you it was an absolutely accurate visualization of how New Yorkers thought of the country. Jersey was over there, and there were some mountains most of the way across the country somewhere, D.C. was on the way to Florida, and on the other side of the ocean were three countries: China, Japan, and Russia.

On Thursday, President Barack Obama passed sanction against Russia for allegedly interfering with our presidential election. This includes expelling 35 diplomats and closing down two compounds. Two weeks ago, Politifact ran an article to call President-elect Donald Trump a liar about his doubts on Russia and accusing Obama of not acting against Russia until after Clinton lost. On Twitter, @neontaster pointed out evidence that contradicts Politifact's "facts." It turns out, the administration has known for months about Russian involvement and did absolutely nothing because they thought Hillary Clinton would beat Donald Trump. No concerns about our national security because they thought their candidate would win.

President Barack Obama has placed more sanctions against Russia and expelled intelligence operatives from America for allegedly interfering with our 2016 election. The sanctions include expelling 35 Russian intelligence officers and closing two Russian compounds. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security found some information that Russians may have phished into the Democratic National Committee over the summer. (Before I go on, I need to correct the media. NO ONE hacked the election. Saying Russia hacked the election implies Russians invaded our voting booths and physically changed votes. That did NOT happen.)

Add CNBC's John Harwood to the long and growing list of liberal media types who still have no idea why Trump won and the Democrats lost. You may recall John Harwood as a member of the worst team of debate moderators ever. You may also know that Harwood was exposed by Wikileaks for sucking up the Democrats during the election. Now he's floating a new theory about why his party lost. Mediaite reports:
CNBC’s John Harwood: ‘White Fear’ Partly Responsible for Democratic Losses Under Obama CNBC host John Harwood argued on Twitter Tuesday that the Democratic Party suffered electoral losses under Barack Obama‘s leadership in part because of “white fear” in the age of the first black president.

In 2007, I could have sworn President Barack Obama was supposed to be the savior of the Democrat Party. The smooth talking, suave Illinois senator had everything to bring the party together and end any GOP dominance. Well, it turns out, the Democrats have lost 1,030 seats across the board since Obama took office in January 2008. This includes seats in state's houses and senates, governorships, and Congress.

We all complain about how leftism has penetrated and taken over just about every conceivable institution, from the media to academia to the federal bureaucracy and political structure. It seems unstoppable. As leftists like to say, it's the arc of history. The writer who uses the pseudonym Zombie at Zombieblog disagrees, and the Trump election is the proof, Trump’s Victory Is a Pivotal Turning Point in Human History.
It's lengthy, and definitely read the whole thing. Here's an excerpt (bold in original):

Well, look at this! Politico has revealed that those in the electoral college who wanted to cause a ruckus on Monday kept in close contact with Hillary Clinton's top aides Jake Sullivan and Jennifer Palmieri. Politico reported:
The first conversation appears to have occurred on Nov. 29, when Sullivan and other aides joined a conference call that included Colorado elector Micheal Baca, a member of a group working to persuade Republicans in the Electoral College to abandon Trump. Baca relayed the group’s long-shot strategy: to persuade Democratic and Republican electors to unite behind an alternative candidate to Trump. In an email after the call, Baca apologized to Sullivan for his urgent tone.

I recently blogged that the Yes, Californa secession campaign is being run by a 30-year-old American who lives and works in a city on the edge of Siberia. Now, even before all the required signatures for the ballot measure have been collected, the chief secessionist says that a California embassy has opened in Moscow, Russia.
California gained an embassy in Russia last weekend, at least in the eyes of those who have promised to seek a statewide vote on secession, nicknamed "Calexit," in 2018.

I'm sick of writing this kind of "well, actually" post. They're required far too often, but this is the world in which we live. Media narrative wish casts one version of a story while the facts say another. Such is the case (again) in the arson and vandalization of a black church in Mississippi. An arrest has been made, reports the AP:

Just days after the election, two students from Babson College drove a pick-up truck through the campus of nearby Wellesley College flying a Donald Trump flag. Wellesley students made accusations against the young men ranging from spitting to yelling discriminatory slurs. The two were expelled from their fraternity and faced multiple charges, but now it's all over. The Boston Globe reports:
Pro-Trump Babson students cleared in Wellesley incident Babson College has cleared two students of any disciplinary violations stemming from their controversial drive through Wellesley College to celebrate Donald Trump’s victory the day after the presidential election, their lawyers said Monday.

A New York judge has unsealed the search warrant giving the FBI permission to search a laptop belonging to disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner and his estranged wife Huma Abedin, one of Hillary Clinton's top aides. The FBI began an investigation into Weiner after it emerged he sexted with an underage girl. The investigation revealed a laptop that may have had new information for the FBI's investigation into Hillary's private email server, which Director James Comey closed in July.

Going into Monday, leftists and celebrities tried to persuade electors in the Electoral College to vote for anyone but President-elect Donald Trump. It's all the media has covered, but hiding underneath that remains the disdain and anger Democrats have for their own party. When electors met to vote, several electors for the Democrats defected or attempted to defect. Seven electors tried to vote against Hillary with four succeeding in Washington. Trump easily won with 304 electoral votes.