Quick Hits

Friedrich Merz conned his way into an election "win" by telling the German voters that he was breaking with his mentor Angela Merkel and would start deporting illegal aliens. Then, having won a plurality of seats, he repudiated those promises, formed a government with the left, and announced there would be no changes to German immigration policy at all.

He's now facing embarrassment and setback as he fails to secure a majority of parliamentary votes actually become chancellor.

Holger Zschaepitz @Schuldensuehner

Good Morning from Germany, where Friedrich Merz has fallen short of a majority in the first round of the chancellor vote--something that has never happened before in German history. He received 310 votes, 6 short of the 316 needed for a majority in parliament.

AfD leader Alice Wiedel was pleased:

Naomi Seibt @SeibtNaomi

BREAKING: FRIEDRICH MERZ LOSES CHANCELLOR ELECTION

For the first time in history, the designated chancellor loses the parliamentary election.

This is the consequence of his unprecedented voter BETRAYAL.

@Alice_Weidel: "Today we saw that liars won't get far."

I'm sure he'll wind up "winning" -- German democracy is dead and "managed" by the the Nazi successor regime -- but it's nice to see him at least embarrassed.

Yesterday I mentioned the UK council elections over the past weekend, but I failed to provide numbers showing just what an absolute catastrophe this was for Labour, and even more so for the "Conservatives."

Both parties lost two thirds of their council representatives, mostly to Reform.

The first line shows the new number of council members, the second line shows the change, up or down, from the last election. The "Conservatives" lost 665 seats, falling from 966 to 311.

I don't know how many times I have to tell you Bigots that there is no election fraud in America.

Former Colorado postal employee admits to stealing ballots ahead of 2024 election

Not just stealing them -- voting them.

One of the women accused of stealing and fraudulently casting more than a dozen ballots ahead of last November's election pleaded guilty Monday.

Vicki Stuart, 64, was charged with 34 counts related to the ballot theft scheme, which occurred in the lead-up to last year's presidential election. She pleaded guilty to one count of identity theft and one count of forgery in the 21st Judicial District Court.

For much of the hearing, she answered Judge Brian Flynn's questions with a simple "yes," but when asked why she was willing to accept the plea agreement, she responded because "I feel like I am guilty for the part that I played in it."

Stuart was charged in November with counts that included forgery, identity theft and attempts to influence a public servant. According to the arrest affidavit, Stuart and another woman stole more than a dozen ballots from Mesa County residents before they could be delivered to the intended voters. The goal, prosecutors said, was to test the state's voting safeguards.

The scheme was uncovered when some voters alerted authorities after the Colorado Ballot tracking system informed them their ballots were being processed, even though they hadn't received their ballots yet. State officials said three of the stolen ballots that were cast fraudulently did make it through the signature verification process and were counted as legitimate votes.

This article completely fails to mention which party they were associated with and for which party they cast the fraudulent ballots. They're women working for the government so I'll just assume they could be from any party.

No idea who these Crusty Karens cast fraudulent ballots for, none at all.

Wow this is sure nice: The Supreme Court realized that the Command in Chief of the United States, rather than lowly district court judges, has plenary power over the military's health and readiness standards.

What a nice thing to discover. Who knew that the Command-in-Chief, as designated in the Constitution, had some kind of power over military readiness?

ABC "News:"

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration can move forward with a ban on transgender military service members for now, lifting a lower court injunction against the policy after a judge ruled it was an "unsupported, dramatic and facially unfair exclusionary policy."

The court did not explain its decision other than to say the order would expire if the justices ultimately take up the case on the merits and issue a ruling striking it down.

Ed Morrissey comments:

The order itself is interesting, in that it pre-empts any action the Ninth Circuit might take against this policy. The text states that the injunction will remain in place as it proceeds to the Supreme Court, as long as a writ of certiorari "is timely sought." Three justices indicated that they would not have enjoined the district court ruling -- you can guess which three, and probably why, although it may be just that they object to an intervention at this stage.

It seems pretty clear, though, that six justices think that the ruling will not survive scrutiny and that the authority to make these decisions fall within executive authority when Congress has not acted in one way or the other. It is yet another incremental indicator that the Supreme Court has begun to draw some constitutional lines, and may be ready to draw jurisdictional lines in its own branch.

oh no you guys

'Non-Binary Femme' Singer Robert Adam Refuses to Perform His Queer Country Music in U.S. over Trump

This is a real blow you guys.

Self-described "non-binary femme" Canadian country singer Robert Adam went to Nashville, Tennessee, to record his latest album but cites the triumphant return of President Donald Trump to the White House as the reason he won't be heading back across the border anytime soon.

The Calgary-based performer says he contemplated the decision not to go back for several months, claiming past negative experiences as a "queer person" visiting the United States were weighed against the importance of that market for emerging musicians.

Don't sweat it, the US isn't a big market for country music anyway.

Adam told the Canadian Press in a phone interview he made the right decision not to go stateside because it would be just too stressful.

(I'm) pretty non-binary presenting, pretty femme ... it's hard not to see that I kind of stick out.

I don't want to spend my life stressed out over whether I feel like I have to ... tone down my image, or what I have to say, just to exist and play a show.

"Just to exist." They all say exactly the same things using exactly the same cultic code words.

posted by Ace at 06:40 PM

| Access Comments