Washington Post: President Trump called GA Governor Kemp asking him to convince state legislators to overturn Biden’s win in GA. Trump requested Kemp call a special session & urge state legislators to select their own electors that would support Trump, source says

Speaking of pardons some names have started to emerge in the pardons for payments scheme, and it involves all the usual suspects.

Twitter said yesterday that after January 20 Trump loses his world leader status and is subject to the same rules as everyone else including banning for violation of Twitter's terms, something he does scores of times a day.

How to talk to a flat-earther

With the rise of QAnon and the spread of misinformation about the pandemic, many people this year have had the bewildering and distressing experience of watching a loved one "fall down the rabbit hole".

But for those most affected it can be difficult to know how to respond, or even where to turn for help.

"I would [once] look at these people … and think they were contemptible, reprehensible idiots," Kasey said.

"And then I saw my mum become a conspiracy theorist and I was like, well, this is someone that I love, and this is someone who is not stupid."

For friends and family, a starting point is to recognise that people hold beliefs for good reasons, according to Australian Psychological Society president Tamara Cavenett.

Conversations are best structured around gentle enquiries about how these beliefs formed and attempts to understand each other.

"[It's] not to necessarily try to change the belief outright, but introduce little pieces of doubt," Ms Cavenett said.

Confronting people too directly runs the risk of expecting them to admit their entire worldview is wrong and having them shut down the conversation, she said.

We've seen this year how some COVID-deniers in the US go so far as to angrily maintain their belief that the virus is fake right up to their dying breath.

One way to handle this is to give someone the "Golden Gate of Retreat": the space to recognise they are wrong without feeling attacked and doubling down.

"I'd also encourage family members to just consider [that] the other person doesn't have to hold all the same beliefs [as you]," Ms Cavenett said.

"It's really about whether or not the belief is interfering with their life."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-06/mum-thinks-the-earth-is-flat-saving-family-conspiracy-theories/12935984

The problem with Trump is that he is an opportunist, and he has identified that you can get away with bad behaviour in the office of POTUS, because of the inordinate amount of respect people have for the office itself, regardless of the occupant. The two need to be coalesced, the office is only as good as whoever holds it.

max manewer wrote: The problem with Trump is that he is an opportunist, and he has identified that you can get away with bad behaviour in the office of POTUS, because of the inordinate amount of respect people have for the office itself, regardless of the occupant. The two need to be coalesced, the office is only as good as whoever holds it.

rusty nails wrote: 97. Over the past two weeks, President Trump has not tweeted once about the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. (despite the fact that Covid-19 has killed more than 23,000 Americans during this time period), yet has tweeted about election fraud 97 times.

The "myth" being, that the office, and those who attain it, are sacrosanct. But it isn't just POTUS that such an aura attaches itself. If in science we accept that arguments from authority are useless, it is past time we need to bring that kind of thinking into the wider society. 

Maybe you are watching a different movie.

Shammy posted today...or sort of posted.

maybe even shammy is embarrassed about the bad ending

It is very easy to remove a prime minister. You can do it in a day. Almost impossible to remove a president. Would anything convince Republican senators to convict and remove a Republican president these days?

To be truthful we have it easy.  We have a government (both sides in fact) who went in fast hard and effectively - despite mistakes along the way.  With something new like this blighter is is something where people will try to take short cuts to ease the way and no short cuts could be taken here.

The American system of government came about through revolution . Their founding fathers only term of reference was the monarchies of Europe. They gave their brand new office of President the same powers as George lll basically . The president was an elected monarch . Over the years the Westminster system of government, has evolved and changed with thee monarch giving up all political power to the elected government but the monarch remaining head of state. The American system has stayed the same with the President both deferred to as head of state but also being the top politician. The concept of a monarchy is a ridiculous outdated anachronism of one BUT it does seem to work in a strange way. Respected Head of State not a politician is not that bad