2016 may well be the 21st Century’s worst year, assuming we can prevent our WiFi sous vide cookers from becoming self-aware and murdering us until 2100. The Electoral College went exactly as planned, forcing distraught liberals to small talk even harder about how great “La La Land” is. And today made us wonder whether people in 1914 were too busy tweeting “Wow, shades of 1914,” to actually do anything about stopping World War I. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Monday, December 19th, 2016:
OBAMA CLEMENCY BONANZA - Most of the individuals who had their sentences commuted were in jail for drug-related offenses, which is basically what Marc Rich was put away for, but more controlled substance-y. Ryan J. Reilly: “President Barack Obama shortened sentences of 153 federal prisoners on Monday as part of a clemency push before he leaves office in a few weeks. Obama has now commuted the sentences of 1,176 people during his presidency, and has pardoned 148. The announcement came as the president and his family were in Hawaii for a holiday vacation…. Those whose sentences were commuted on Monday, granting them early release, were convicted on drug crimes. Some will be released in 2017 and 2018, while others will have to wait several years before their release date. Obama also granted pardons to 78 individuals on Monday. Separately, the United States Sentencing Commission issued a report on Monday showing a 5 percent drop in the number of federal offenders sentenced in the 2016 fiscal year from the year earlier. There are currently about 190,000 federal inmates, the fewest since 2005.” [HuffPost]
‘FAITH SPOTTED EAGLE’ APPARENTLY NOT JILL STEIN’S RUNNING MATE - The things you learn on Electoral College day. Igor Bobic, Mollie Reilly and Chris D’Angelo: “Several electors bucked their states on Monday by opting to cast their presidential ballots for someone other than Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. Members of the Electoral College met in their respective state Capitols to vote for the presidential and vice presidential candidates for whom they had pledged to vote earlier this year. Many electors, however, are not legally bound to vote for a specified candidate. Some electors ― known as ‘faithless electors’ ― have in the past voted against their political party or abstained from voting altogether. Maine Democratic elector David Bright chose to cast his ballot for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who lost to Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary.” [HuffPost]
@komonews: BREAKING: WA Electoral college presidential results: 8 votes Hillary Clinton, 3 votes Colin Powell, 1 “Faith Spotted Eagle”
PARANOID, SELF-LOATHING GOP LOBBYIST DOESN’T SEE COLOR - HuffPost Hill’s Paranoid Self-Loathing GOP Lobbyist, who is pretty sure Russian interference caused Johnny’s Half Shell to move to Adams Morgan, sees a connection between the apparent hypocrisy of white newsrooms and the rise of Donald Trump. “It’s nice to see that the New York Times thinks white rich liberals are full of shit, too,” PSLGOPL ― who was too busy fiddling with with his NetJets membership settings to have his lobbying firm appear at a HBCU job fair ― writes. “Trump is making liberals great again!” Thanks, PSLGOPL!
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DISORGANIZING FOR AMERICA - Shane Goldmacher: “Donald Trump’s top advisers are jousting over control of the new political group they are forming to help press the president-elect’s agenda, as rival camps have formed with repercussions for who ends up as senior staff at the White House. The issue came to a head last Wednesday, in a glass-walled conference room on the 14th floor of Trump Tower, where about a dozen members of Trump’s inner circle gathered to plot the future of the still-unformed nonprofit. At the head of the table sat Brad Parscale, Trump’s digital director, and Kellyanne Conway, his campaign manager, with top aides scattered all around, among them Trump’s longtime attorney Michael Cohen, Trump’s deputy campaign manager David Bossie, senior Trump communications adviser Jason Miller, Vice President-elect Mike Pence’s senior adviser Marc Short, and Rebekah Mercer, the most influential donor in Trump’s orbit.” [Politico]
GOOD NEWS FOR THOSE OF YOU WORRIED ABOUT TAMMY’S BRUNCH BEING CALLED THIS YEAR - Also, we can’t wait for Axios to revolutionize media. Michael Calderone: “Donald Trump has not held a press conference in 144 days, but he did speak Sunday night to members of the press corps at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. We just don’t know what he said…. The decision of journalists to allow Trump to speak off the record after canceling last week’s press conference, and on the eve of the Electoral College vote, was particularly tone-deaf and reinforces perceptions that the press still doesn’t know how to handle a master media manipulator…. Trump had ostensibly called [his planned press conference] so he could address questions about his business ventures and his many looming conflicts of interest. Though he postponed that press conference until at least January, Trump found time over the past week to meet with hip-hop star Kanye West and hold four ‘Thank You’ rallies.” [HuffPost]
THE FOUR REMAINING DEMOCRATIC GOVERNORS TRY TO SAVE OBAMACARE - There are only four, right? Sam Stein: “Democratic governors from across the country are making back-channel entreaties to Republican members of their state’s congressional delegations. Their pitches have been simple and uniformly distressed: Uprooting the Affordable Care Act at this juncture, they warn, would cause a massive disruption in the health care markets and have costly impacts in members’ home districts. Gov. Jerry Brown’s (D-Calif.) office confirmed that he had been in ‘close contact’ with legislators in Washington, D.C., to discuss ‘potential challenges ahead’ on health care. Gov. Tom Wolf (D-Penn), meanwhile, is drafting a letter to Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and the entire Pennsylvania delegation, reminding them that some 63,000 people in the state depend on the law for drug and alcohol treatment ― at a time when they’re grappling with an opioid and heroin epidemic. And in Washington, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) made similar overtures to GOP leadership and fellow members, while noting that 51,000 health-related jobs have been added to the state’s economy since the ACA was passed.” [HuffPost]
DID YOU SAY ‘ECONOMIC ANXIETY?’ WE THINK YOU MEANT ‘RELENTLESS DISENFRANCHISING’ - Jaweed Kaleem: “Now, voting rights advocates, elections officials and political experts have zeroed in on [Milwaukee] as a case study of whether controversial new rules requiring ID for voting — the kind used in several states in November for the first time in a presidential election — blocked vast numbers of largely young and racial minority Democrats from casting ballots and contributed to Clinton’s defeat. In a state that saw its lowest turnout in 20 years, nearly 248,000 people voted in Milwaukee, roughly 41,000 fewer than in the last presidential election. ‘I believe it was voter suppression laws from the state government that crushed turnout,’ said Milwaukee County Clerk Joe Czarnezki, one of two officials who oversees local elections. ‘They tend to hit hardest on people who are poor, who don’t drive and don’t have a license, who are minorities.’” [LA Times]
NORTH CAROLINA TRIES TO BE SLIGHTLY LESS AWFUL - Mark our words: The first time President Trump’s approvals dip below 40 percent, we’ll see a constitutional amendment proposed about this issue. Amanda Terkel: “The North Carolina legislature plans to convene a special session Tuesday to take up the repeal of HB2, the controversial law that barred anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. North Carolina Gov.-elect Roy Cooper (D) said on Monday morning that GOP leaders assured him they would meet this week. Cooper’s statement came in response to the Charlotte City Council’s surprise unanimous vote Monday morning to rescind its ordinance providing LGBT protections. The council passed its ordinance in February, which angered the GOP-controlled legislature and prompted it to pass a law invalidating the measure.” [HuffPost]
ICYMI: UNEMPLOYMENT FRAUD IS A FRAUD - Ryan Felton: “A Michigan government agency wrongly accused individuals in at least 20,000 cases of fraudulently seeking unemployment payments, according to a review by the state. The review released this week found that an automated system had erroneously accused claimants in 93% of cases – a rate that stunned even lawyers suing the state over the computer system and faulty fraud claims. ‘It’s literally balancing the books on the backs of Michigan’s poorest and jobless,’ attorney David Blanchard, who is pursuing a class action in federal court on behalf of several claimants, told the Guardian on Friday.” [Guardian]
BECAUSE YOU’VE READ THIS FAR - Here’s a cat who loves lamp.
HUMANS ARE AWFUL - We really need to figure out what we’re going to do about America’s 17-year-old boys with internet connections. Benjamin Freed: “The Washington area has a long and mostly proud tradition of houses that lend themselves as venues for up-and-coming bands. But in the last few days, some residents of those houses have become guarded after discovering their homes’ names and addresses targeted in online message boards populated by members of the white nationalist movement known as the ‘alt-right.’ Sites like 4chan and Reddit, along with even more unfiltered corners of the internet, have seen the emergence of threads in which users encourage each other to post addresses of houses that host concerts and other arts programming around the country, and to call local authorities to report safety and building-code violations in hopes of getting the venues shut down.” [Washingtonian]
COMFORT FOOD
- An animated history of the worst video game of all time.
- A look inside New York’s new Second Avenue subway.
- Analyzing the design of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” hats.
TWITTERAMA
@fineout: So how long before there’s a punk band called Faithless Elector?
@MEPFuller: Does James Comey have anything he wants to share about Faith Spotted Eagle or nah?
Harry Reid, from the back: “Oh, I think he does...”
@BrandyLJensen: I too have taken a high school-level history class and would like to comment on this latest geopolitical event
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