TYB
[WATCH] N.J. Gym Owner Fined $1 Million for Refusing to Close Has a Message for Gov. Phil Murphy
BY MEGAN FOX DEC 13, 2020 6:33 PM ET
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Atlas Gym has been continuously harassed by the government of New Jersey for refusing to shut its doors or impose mask mandates on its clients. Owner Ian Smith has made headlines for staying open despite orders from the state to close up shop.
But now he’s back with a viral video message he made for Governor Phil Murphy. I don’t think the state’s sanctions on him are working, do you? Filming in a full gym, Smith stands defiant against government interference with his right to work and feed his family. I wish every business owner in America was this courageous. That’s all it would take to end the unfair targeting of small businesses while huge corporations are allowed to turn profits without fines. Resist!
This is Epic. Atlas Gym New Jersey.🇺🇸 Continually denying illegitimate orders. If you are wondering what Civil disobedience means, watch these clip and read the placards. This guy nails it, If the system is corrupt let's build a new one. Long Live the People 👊 pic.twitter.com/rHVmxYnd1Q
— ✖️RISEUPMELBOURNE✖️ (@riseupmelbourne) December 12, 2020
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/megan-fox/2020/12/13/watch-n-j-gym-owner-fined-1-million-for-refusing-to-close-has-a-message-for-gov-phil-murphy-n1208869
Early voting begins for key US Senate elections in Georgia
Early voters in Atlanta, Georgia, queue to cast their votes in two runoff elections that will determine control of the US Senate [Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters]
14 Dec 2020
Hundreds of people lined up in a cold rain on Monday to cast ballots in a pair of US Senate races in Georgia that will determine control of the chamber and heavily influence Democratic President-elect Joe Biden’s ability to enact his agenda.
Election experts said turnout on the first day of early voting in a contest that ends on January 5 could offer clues to which side ultimately prevails: Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, or their respective Democratic challengers, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
Each side has made the race about Senate control and the success of Biden’s priorities, with Republicans warning voters that President Donald Trump’s policies are on the line and Democrats warning that healthcare coverage and coronavirus relief hang in the balance.
“I should have expected long lines; this race is a big deal. The world is watching us,” said James Crawford, 54, a Democrat and retired Navy sailor who was near the front of a line of hundreds outside a polling place in his hometown of Marietta, Georgia, about 32km (20 miles) northwest of Atlanta. “This will affect whether Biden can get anything done, his ability to run the government.”
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Republicans could have the advantage in a state their party has long dominated. But Biden’s narrow victory there over Trump last month has buoyed Democratic hopes of another win, aided by aggressive Democratic voter registration drives and demographic trends that have nudged the electorate away from Republicans.
“We can’t let Biden and the Democrats have total control of Washington, who knows what kind of radical thing they’ll do,” said Norman Johnson, a 53-year-old Republican engineer, also voting in Marietta.
Perdue on Sunday said the contest was all about voter turnout. He finished just ahead of Ossoff in November, while not quite getting the 50 percent needed for a victory under Georgia law.
“If we get our vote out, we’ll be able to hold the line here in Georgia,” Perdue said on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures.
But Georgia Democratic activist Stacey Abrams told CNN’s State of the Union this was “the first runoff where we (Democrats) have the level of investment and engagement that it takes to win a runoff”.
Abrams, who lost a race for Georgia governor in 2018, said 1.2 million absentee ballots have been requested thus far. In the November general election, 1.78 million absentee ballots were requested and 1.32 million were returned and accepted, according to the US Elections Project.
She said 85,000 of those applications are from voters who did not vote in the general election, and they are disproportionately young and people of colour.
Democrats are depending on voters of colour, young people and college-educated white people to turn out for them in urban and suburban communities, especially in the Atlanta area, while Republicans need Trump supporters in outlying areas of the state.
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More than 246,000 Georgians have already voted by mail, according to McDonald’s findings, raising expectations for a mammoth runoff turnout of between 3.5 million and four million voters. Just more than five million people voted in the general election, about 1.3 million by absentee ballot.
But both sides face challenges getting voters to the polls without Trump on the ballot in a campaign marked by political turmoil, a surging coronavirus pandemic and the threat of winter weather in a region where ice and snow can paralyse travel.
The showdown has also spawned court battles involving the state’s removal of nearly 200,000 people from voter registration rolls, and a Republican Party effort to curb the use of drop boxes for absentee ballots.
Republican infighting over Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of election fraud could lead some of the president’s most ardent supporters to stay home in protest.
Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have both visited Georgia to warn supporters that failure to vote could mean Democratic rule in Washington. Two Democratic wins would produce a 50-50 party breakdown in the Senate. That would give Democrats control because Kamala Harris could cast tiebreaking votes as vice president. Democrats already run the House of Representatives.
Biden is expected to visit Atlanta on Tuesday to urge supporters to see votes for Warnock and Ossoff as a way to ensure quick action on coronavirus relief for struggling families.
Monday’s early voting coincides with an Electoral College vote that would make Biden’s victory over Trump official.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/14/early-voting-begins-for-key-us-senate-elections-in-georgia
Democrats Coming After President Trump’s Efforts To Advance Religious Freedoms
FAKE President-elect Joe Biden (AKA Mr Defect), right, and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, left, share a laugh during an event to announce several choices for positions in the Biden administration at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., Friday, Dec. 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 8:29 AM PT – Monday, December 14, 2020
Secular Democrats are urging Joe Biden to fight what they have described as a “national security threat,” “Christian nationalism” and the “Trump administration’s actions to advance religious freedom.”
Last month, the Secular Democrats of America PAC presented Biden with a 28 page agenda of their recommendations, including eliminating the country’s officials motto of “in God we trust.” The group argues the current motto is not “inclusive” of non-religious people or a secular political ideology.
In public addresses, President Trump has claimed he does not serve political organizations, but rather the people and God.
“For the last four years the depraved swamp has tried everything to stop me because they know I don’t answer to them, I answer to you,” he stated. “Together we will defeat the corrupt establishment, we will dethrone the failed political class, and we will drain the Washington swamp and we will save the American Dream.”
Over the next 4 years, we will teach our children to love our Country, honor our history, and always respect our great American Flag—and with God’s help, we will defend the right to life, religious liberty, and the right to KEEP AND BEAR ARMS! https://t.co/gsFSghkmdM
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2020
Further, their agenda criticizes the Trump administration’s depiction of the U.S. as a Christian nation based on faith oriented values, which is an idea that has been central to American identity for generations. Presidents have long included God in his addresses.
The secular Democrats called for the U.S. to be re-branded as a “secularist nation based in revolutionary democratic ideas.” One of the policies recommended is the withholding of federal funds from any faith-based organization that is perceived as discriminatory on the basis of one’s religion and the repeal of non-medical exemptions on religious grounds.
Further, the group recommended Biden discourage politicians from using the words God and country while speaking, but mandate including non-religious advisors attend all faith-based gatherings at the White House.
Throughout his campaign, President Trump has warned traditional values and religious freedom would be under attack if a potential Biden administration ever stepped into the White House. The Biden campaign has not commented on the recommendations.
https://www.oann.com/democrats-coming-after-president-trumps-efforts-to-advance-religious-freedoms/
I approve, that's very cool!
omg, that's what I drink, not hot chocolate but cocoa…
its like
OMG! Your time stamp! And the one above…
laughing