RationalWiki:What is going on with the elections?/October 2016

October 2016
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/washington-foreign-policy-elites-not-sorry-to-see-obama-go/2016/10/20/bd2334a2-9228-11e6-9c52-0b10449e33c4_story.html? Washington’s neoconservative foreign policy elite breaks with Obama as Clinton is expected to become president.] Of course "Malcolm-Ieuan: Roberts., the living soul", representing a corporate entity called MALCOLM IEUAN ROBERTS is pledging his support for Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton’s Wall Street fundraising benefited from loophole in federal anti-corruption rule. (Autoplay video) Mariano Rajoy sworn in as Spain's PM after winning the confidence vote to end 10-month period with no government. In Iceland, the Pirate Party triples its seats but the incumbent Independence Party stays in power. The Trump-owned casino, Taj Mahal, repeatedly violated US anti-money laundering laws. Trump’s donors paid for his jetliner, his hotels, and his books. Trump's long history of racial housing discrimination. The FBI has found no clear links between Putin and Trump. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/her-instincts-can-be-terrible-wikileaks-reveals-fears-and-frustrations-inside-clinton-world/2016/10/25/a6ceefdc-9ae0-11e6-a0ed-ab0774c1eaa5_story.html? The Podesta emails released by WikiLeaks reveal fears and frustrations inside Clinton world] and affirm concerns about undemocratic inner workings of America's political elite. A 2005 audio tape shows Hillary Clinton proposing that the US should have rigged the Palestinian election after Hamas was elected in Gaza. [http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/23/opinion/sunday/the-dangers-of-hillary-clinton.html? The dangers of Hillary Clinton.] After weeks, if not months, of shouting how the election is rigged against Trump, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/10/29/trump-supporter-charged-with-voting-twice-in-iowa/? a Trump supporter in Iowa has been arrested for voting for Trump twice.] Weiner's wiener protruding into election again Trump's campaign has turned to a firm offering creepy "psychographic" profiles of every registered voter to get out the vote. Trump has apparently decided that promising to contest the results if he loses was too subtle of an attack on American democracy, saying in a rally that "we should just cancel the election and just give it to Trump." [http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/wall-street-firms-make-money-teachers-pensions-fund-charter-schools-fight-2437702? Eight financial executives who manage Massachusetts state pensions have bypassed anti-corruption rules and funneled at least $778,000 to groups backing the governor's policy initiative which would expand the number of charter schools in the state.] There is no evidence that thousands of noncitizens are illegally voting and swinging elections. An investigative report by the Telegraph has found that a Super PAC associated with Donald Trump's campaign were prepared to accept $2 million from a fake Chinese foreign national and are trying to dissuade Clinton voters in key areas from turning out to vote. (Both contain autoplay videos Donald Trump: the small businesses candidate.  Wall Street executives at firms managing state pension money have donated millions on governor races despite a "pay-to-play" rule barring executives who make political donations from earning fees off the pensions. (Autoplay video) "Disorganization and sheer incompetence within the Trump campaign." [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/23/trump-receives-his-first-major-newspaper-endorsement-and-he-has-sheldon-adelson-to-thank/ Trump finally has his first major newspaper endorsement. Guess who?] The alcohol industry is bankrolling ads to scare Massachusetts voters about legal pot The energy industry attempted to deceive Florida voters into supporting restrictions on the expansion of solar by shrouding Amendment 1 as a pro-solar amendment. As a socially conservative governor, Mike Pence promised to limit gambling, then he helped casinos after they skirted Indiana's law banning political donations by gambling institutions by donating money to groups associated with his campaign. (Autoplay video) Mike Pence refuses to pardon a Black man who was proven innocent, but was released with a felony regardless, because he doesn't want to make the prosecuting attorney look bad; this same attorney is the Republican's nominee for Attorney General in Indiana. (Autoplay video) Log Cabin Republicans have declined to endorse Trump If Joe Biden had a time machine, he'd use it to go back and slap the shit out of a snot-nosed, sophomore Donald Trump. Donald Trump has another ex-president as a critic: George Washington. Vogue magazine has made its first ever endorsement in a US presidential race. Guess who wins their approval. The New York Daily News drops the mic and delivers what ought to be the final word on every — and we do mean every — scandal, business failure, bigoted remark, flip-flop, and just plain stupid thing that the Donald has ever done, calling on voters to "bury [him] in a landslide". The financial industry may control retirement savings in a Clinton administration. (Autoplay video) Even Roger Ailes has had enough of Trump Mark Cuban says he personally knows two women who were sexually assaulted by Donald Trump. A yuuge wall of taco trucks will surround the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas today Marine Le Pen promises to ban all religious symbols including kippas, headscarves, veils, burqas, and burkinis from public spaces. [http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/24/the-creepy-clown-hysteria Why the creepy clown hysteria? Why now? Two words: Donald Trump.] The fury and failure of Donald Trump. Stopped clock for Donald Trump as he defends congressional term limits After almost a year of accusing Trump of running a fascist campaign, Democrats donate nearly $13k to the Kill Muslims and Gays™ party (Autoplay video) after someone firebombed their office in North Carolina. (Y'know the state where Republicans started the transphobic bathroom law and continue to disenfranchise Black voters.) Ohio’s homeless voters face barriers to the ballot box. Donald Trump continues grandstanding about the "rigged" election (something he's done throughout his campaign and something which has a long history in Republican rhetoric). Meanwhile his campaign, party and supporters are up to all sorts of dirty tricks, including (but not limited to) ongoing voter suppression in Republican states, mail flyers outrageously claiming that Democrat voters will be named and shamed, and trying to convince Clinton supporters they can vote online with a social media hashtag. Plus of course the ongoing incitement of voter intimidation and "patriot" violence. A raid by Indiana State police this month seized 45,000 voter registration applications, most of them from black voters. [https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/03/hillary-clinton-womens-rights-feminism/? Hillary Clinton isn’t a champion of women’s rights. She’s the embodiment of corporate feminism.] Natasha Staynoff, a writer for People magazine, and Cathy Heller have accused Donald Trump of sexual assault, joining an exhaustive list of accusers. Trump’s supporters talk rebellion, assassination at his rallies. Why the poorest county in West Virginia has faith in Trump. (Video) How Trump took hate groups mainstream: the full story of his connection with far-right extremists Vermont is one of the states asking Google about write-in votes the most, raising the possibility that its three electoral votes will go to Bernie Sanders. The New South Wales upper house has passed a motion describing Donald Trump as a "revolting slug". Thankfully, Tony Abbott has come forward in favour of Trump. Phew! What if only goats voted in the US election? [http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37595047 WikiLeaks publishes Hillary Clinton's Wall Street speeches and more hacked emails. ] A review for the final exam on November 8. Putin responds to the hacking allegations recently and formally levied at his government by the Obama administration, claiming he Russia has no interest in influencing the US presidential race and offers a diplomatic invitation to working with a willing future president. He wonders why "such a third-rate regional power" like Russia was such a hot topic in the election anyway. Wisconsin's fundamentally broken voter ID laws are systematically failing to provide photo IDs for the upcoming election. One 90-year-old women has been disenfranchised by these laws despite a federal judge ordering an end to these voter suppressions. Texas’s voter-registration laws are straight out of the Jim Crow playbook. Ron Paul doesn't believe Gary Johnson is a good libertarian and instead praises Jill Stein. Borowitz: "Republicans Urge Replacing Man Who Hates Women with Man Who Hates Women and Gays"

It's a four-way race for real in Utah now. Clinton, Johnson, and (conservative independent candidate and BYU grad) all stand to gain as Trump's support among Utah Republicans collapses after the latest revelations. GOP has no easy path at this point to dump Trump from the ticket. More Republicans to Trump: Drop out now. This list is rapidly growing. Hacked emails show that Harvey Weinstein, a major political donor to Hillary's campaign, urged her to use Sandy Hook to silence Sanders' BLM message. Due to low voter turnout, the Hungarian government will now reject the EU's migrant relocation plan that would've settled 1,294 refugees in Hungary. Hillary Clinton's disapproval rating has hit an all-time high and a majority of women disapprove of her, according to a new Washington Post/ABC poll. FYI: the blog's summary of the poll is wrong, as her unfavorable rating among women was still below 50%. Maybe this is because everything she is promising never happened under Obama. Leaked memo shows Clinton was provided questions ahead of her Feb. 17 interview with Steve Harvey. (Autoplay video) Excerpts from Hillary Clinton's Goldman Sachs speeches have been leaked. Leaked video and audio from Access Hollywood from 2005 when Donald Trump was bragging about grabbing women the pussy". Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence official implicate Russia in election-related hacking activities. Thirty former GOP lawmakers sign open letter denouncing Trump and urging his defeat A company controlled by Donald Trump secretly conducted business in Cuba during Fidel Castro’s presidency despite strict American trade bans that made such undertakings illegal. (Autoplay video) A federal court orders Wisconsin to stop suppressing the vote. In a surprise upset, voters in Columbia have rejected the peace deal with FARC. The new anti-Semitism in the age of Trump Brexiteer Nigel Farage may coach Trump for next debate As battles against racist voting rules and voter suppression continue in some states, in Pennsylvania Donald Trump urges his (predominantly white) supporters to go in groups to "certain areas" on Election Day and "watch" the voters there because "we can't lose an election because of you know what I'm talking about". [http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur/ New York Times obtains tax records of Donald Trump showing he could have gotten away with not paying any taxes... for 18 years.] Update: Trump aides Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani double down, claiming that the NYT exposé is a "very good story" showcasing the "genius" of Mr Trump and "this kind of economic genius is a lot better for the United States than a woman".