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When a man walked into a Colorado police station last week to report a dead body in his home, the officers dispatched to the scene were likely not expecting to discover a mummified corpse, wrapped in Christmas lights, with glitter around empty eye sockets. The body was ensconced in a sleeping bag, lying on a bed, surrounded by “some kind of shrine,” according to the Saguache County Sheriff’s Office.

Although both the coroner’s office and law enforcement have not been able to identify the body through fingerprints, it allegedly belongs to Lia “Amy” Carlson, the leader of the Love Has Won cult, who often goes by the name “Mother God.”

The man who alerted authorities of Carlson’s body, Miguel Lamboy, claimed to be a member of Love Has Won, and said he found the body after returning home, where several other members of the group were staying in his absence. Seven adults were found and arrested in conjunction with Carlson’s death; however, there were also two children — aged two and 13 — in the home at the time officers arrived. They appear to be in good health, but all seven adults will face child abuse charges.

According to investigators, affidavits, and media shared by Love Has Won, the group’s members (with, perhaps, the exception of Lamboy) don’t see this as a crime: This is their leader’s “ascension.” Now, a larger public investigation seeks to identify who Amy Carlson was, what she was teaching this group, and why her body was mummified in a bizarre shrine by members of her own cult.

According to The New York Times, Love Has Won kept a Facebook page (which has since been deleted) detailing some of their activities. On Sunday, May 1, a man who appeared to be a member of the group posted a video, during which he said “Mom has ascended” and “completed her contract,” presumably referring to Carlson. He then says: “Is the mission over? No.”

So, what exactly is the mission of Love Has Won? The early history of the cult is not entirely documented, but according to Amy Carlson’s children, who have since spoken out, the cult started about 15 years ago. That’s when they said Carlson abandoned her family to teach “spiritual intuitive ascension sessions.”

“Everything in my life is very average except my mom is a cult leader, or was a cult leader, I should say,” Cole Carlson, Amy Carson’s estranged son, told KDVR News.

Carlson also claimed on the group’s now-defunct website that she was on her “534th reincarnation in my quest to recover my beloved Planet,” and that her past lives included Jesus Christ and Marilyn Monroe.

Although the cult appeared to be a local organization, with a few members living with Carlson, one former follower — Andrew Profaci — said that Love Has Won reached thousands of people, often recruiting people through social media and YouTube videos. A Vice News documentary from March 2021 detailed how Carlson would promise her followers “a superior alternative reality” if they provided the organization with financial compensation.

This is where Love Has Won was able to support itself and grow — and also where local people in Crestone, CO, the town where Carlson and her group lived, began to accuse them of brainwashing people into handing over control of all their personal finances for fraudulent purposes.

A Crestone town clerk told The New York Times that, over the course of the last four years, she often received calls from family members of those who had joined the cult trying to locate or contact them. But she always relayed the same thing: that the town of Crestone had no affiliation with Love Has Won, and the missing persons should be reported to the Sheriff’s office.

The cult never made more than local headlines until the past few months, when Carlson and 14 of her followers were supposedly forced to evacuate and fled to Hawaii. In September, Maui law enforcement intervened after protestors condemned the group’s presence on the island. One of the members then told police officers, who intercepted their travel plans, that the reason they traveled to the island was because of Carlson, who they alleged had cancer and was in poor health.

Profaci told CBS Denver that he “was not surprised” to hear of Carlson’s death. “She was not in very good health and getting worse,” he said. But others did not seem to mourn her — instead, Love Has Won followers continue to celebrate Carlson’s “ascension” as part of her work, teachings, and the group’s overall goals.

An investigation into Carlson’s death is ongoing, with all seven people likely to be charged, as officers begin to piece together other damages that Love Has Won caused. But for now, members continue not to mourn, but to celebrate.

“Her essence left the body of Amy Carlson at 12:22,” one follower posted on Facebook. “She is indeed happy now.”

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On Friday, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and husband to Queen Elizabeth II, died at the age of 99. According to Buckingham Palace, who announced his death, Prince Philip “passed away peacefully” at Windsor Castle in England.

The news of his death comes at a contentious time for the Royal Family, who have been accused of racist treatment of Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex and wife to Prince Harry. In a March 8 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Markle described how members of the Royal Family were concerned with her son Archie’s skin color. She also revealed struggling with mental health issues — including suicidal ideation — and receiving no support from the family. Though Prince Philip was never named as a perpetrator, the patriarch of Buckingham Palace was known to have his qualms about Markle, reportedly calling her a “destructive” presence within the Royal Family.

Now, as Philip’s legacy is being recounted, many are remembering his comments differently. In a New York Times obituary, Philip is referred to as making “occasional frank comments” that may have “hurt his image.” In reality, the late Duke is guilty of much more than an occasional “frank” comment, and has a storied history of perpetuating harmful, racist ideas from his platform in the Royal Family.

Long before Prince Philip allegedly voiced “concerns” about Markle, he was known to make sexist comments like, “I don’t think a prostitute is more moral than a wife, but they are doing the same thing.” In 2001, he told 13-year-old Andrew Adams, who aspired to become an astronaut, that he should “lose weight.” The following year, he allegedly told a 14-year-old at a Bangladeshi youth club that he looked like he was “on drugs,” after asking who else there was on drugs. He told the president of Nigeria, who was dressed in a traditional robe, that the president looked he was “ready for bed.” Philip was once also accused of comparing Ethiopian art to “the kind of thing my daughter would bring back from school art lessons.”

The list goes on. In fact, many such lists of Philip’s most controversial remarks have been compiled on the internet, but what’s most notable about them isn’t only how offensive many of his off-the-cuff remarks are, but also how they are grouped in with comments about his low opinion of British cooking, or other such innocuous things, demonstrating just how seriously casual bigotry is taken by many in the media when spoken by a powerful man — i.e. not very.

Of course, countless more people long spoke publicly about the detrimental effect of Philip’s “occasional frank comments” — and also took him to task for representing a strain of colonialist thinking that is not a relic of the past, but very much a pervasive influence to this day.

Acknowledging the true nature of Philip’s many offensive comments doesn’t negate the rest of his character or, for example, his charitable actions; instead, it gives a fuller portrait of a man who was born into almost inconceivable privilege and only saw his wealth and influence grow when he married into one of Europe’s last remaining monarchies. Failing to interrogate the character of these people — who have their positions granted to them by accident of birth — would be an abdication of the responsibility we all have to question the systems of power that are in place because of centuries of colonialism, white supremacy, and the myth that anyone has the divine right to rule — and so can just say whatever they want, consequences be damned.

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‘Tis the season of colorful marshmallow bunnies and chocolate eggs, as spring is in the air and Easter candy in its various forms prepare their take over of grocery store shelves. This year, in a collaboration that literally no one asked for, marshmallow Peeps and Pepsi are putting out a strange new beverage that you won’t actually be able to buy in stores. To make matters worse for anyone curious to try the new “Pepsi x Peeps” flavor, the two companies absolutely blew an opportunity to market their strange creation as “Peepsi.” I mean, Pepsi meets Peeps — it’s a no-brainer. 

The Pepsi x Peeps cola will mix the flavor of Pepsi cola with “the pillowy-soft and sweet” Peeps marshmallow flavor, making it the “ideal accessory and thirst quencher for springtime,” the companies said.  

While many people online first took an opportunity to express their disgust at the marshmallow-flavored pop, many more couldn’t believe that Pepsi x Peeps blew it on the branding. To be fair, mixing marshmallow and cola isn’t the weirdest flavor combo for a carbonated sugary drink, and it’s close enough to a cream soda. The biggest issue here really is that the companies didn’t brand their beverage as “Peepsi.”

“CALL IT PEEPSI YOU COWARDS,” one Twitter user wrote. Another called it a “missed opportunity.”

CALL IT PEEPSI YOU COWARDS. https://t.co/p9rMymsuRd

— Fahey (@UncleFahey) March 25, 2021

A seasonal marshmallow treat and the second best soda brand combine and they don’t call the flavour Peepsi?
Y’all messed up. pic.twitter.com/TNx2BXiq22

— Brittney ✨💖 (@britl) March 25, 2021

It’s not even called “Peepsi,” so you’ve already lost. https://t.co/jv9Lp1znav

— Patrick Lucas Austin (@patbits) March 25, 2021

1. Gross
2. How do you not call it Peepsi? https://t.co/T3hClmcVxd

— Karen Howell (@karenehowell) March 25, 2021

It turns out the companies did consider calling the drink Peepsi. Pepsi’s Twitter account recalled a time about a month ago when Pepsi apparently brought David from Legal a “great name for the Peeps collab” that David from Legal promptly turned down.

Us a month ago: David from Legal, we have a great name for this Peeps collab. It’s…
David from Legal a month ago: I know what you’re gonna say. No.
Us today: David, check Twitter. 🤦‍♂️ #PepsiXPeeps

— Pepsi (@pepsi) March 25, 2021

Unfortunately, Pepsi x Peeps will not be available on store shelves and is only available to people who enter their online sweepstakes. The only way to get your hands on the beverage that should be called “Peepsi” is by posting a photo of yourself enjoying the springtime with friends on Twitter or Instagram and using the hashtag #HangingWithMyPEEPS. 

But even if you happen to win a package of the three colorful mini-cans of Peeps-flavored Pepsi, which come in bright yellow, pink, and blue, you will never know the joy of drinking Peepsi. It’s one drink we didn’t know we needed in this year 2021. Pour one out for Peepsi.

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On Monday afternoon, Sarah Moonshadow was shopping for groceries with her son when a gunman opened fire. Ten people were shot and killed in Boulder, CO, while she was inside King Soopers grocery store. One of them was police officer Eric Talley, who arrived at the scene first. Moonshadow said she timed the shots in order to determine when to flee for safety.

In an interview with Good Morning America on Tuesday, Moonshadow described the events leading up to the deadly mass shooting. She recalled that she had only been planning a quick grocery trip, but ended up perusing around a bit. “At first I was kind of kicking myself, like, if we had left a little bit sooner maybe we could have avoided things,” she said. “But then I realized that we probably could’ve been in a lot bigger trouble had we left any time sooner, because when we had gotten out of the store, there were people lying in the street.”

As soon as she heard gunfire, she shifted her focus to protecting her son, trying to conceal him and stop him from moving around too much, and paying attention to where the sound of gunfire was coming from. “I just looked at my son and I told him — by the fourth shot I started counting — and I told him, ‘We have three seconds. Stay low and don’t look. And just move fast,'” she said.

Moonshadow was only one of dozens of shoppers who were at the scene when an unidentified gunman opened fire on Monday afternoon. At 2:49 p.m., the Boulder police department put out a Twitter warning about an active shooter at King Soopers, telling all residents to avoid the area. For at least 30 minutes after, officers reported a shooting stand-off with the gunman before they were able to take the suspect into custody.

“I promise … we will secure justice and do everything we must do to get justice in this case,” Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said in response to the violence.

In the hours after the shooting, several survivors recounted the terror that occurred inside King Soopers. Anna Haynes, the editor-in-chief of the University of Colorado’s CU Independent, said she witnessed the shooter enter the grocery store from her apartment window. “I saw the gunman himself holding a semiautomatic rifle. On his way to the entrance, [he] had turned around and was shooting rapid-fire at one particular target. … And then he turned around, he entered the building through the handicap entrance,” Haynes told CNN. “A few seconds later, I saw people running out of the building, I heard screaming, I heard people leaving in their cars, and it just evolved into chaos within just a couple of minutes.”

Ryan Borowski, who was inside the store during the shooting, described hearing three gun shots and running with another terrified shopper to the back of the store. “The employees in the back of the house didn’t know what was going on, so we told them that there was a shooter, and they told us where the exit was,” he said.

The shooting occurred less than a week after a white man killed eight people at three Atlanta massage parlors, and just a day after another gunman opened fire at a Philadelphia “pop-up” event. Police say they are continuing to investigate the deadly attack and have released information that the shooter is a 21-year-old man from Denver. They have not yet disclosed the gunman’s identity or motive.

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It appears gun rights advocate and newly elected Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert is living up to her (terrifying) reputation as a far-right wing fanatic whose passions include the Second Amendment and QAnon. After facing scrutiny for apparently revealing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s location via Twitter during the Capitol attack, Boebert is now resisting new Capitol safety protocols by refusing to walk through metal detectors that have been placed on the House floor.

In a series of tweets addressing a confrontation she had with Capitol police, who attempted to search her bags after she set off metal detectors, Boebert blamed the left — and Pelosi, specifically — for the use of metal detectors as a “political stunt.”

“I am legally permitted to carry my firearm in Washington, D.C. and within the Capitol complex,” she wrote on Twitter. “Metal detectors outside of the House would not have stopped the violence we saw last week — it’s just another political stunt by Speaker Pelosi.”

This message came shortly after Boebert tweeted a video of herself carrying a loaded gun around Washington, D.C. in an effort to promote Second Amendment rights. But according to the city’s police chief, the new congresswoman will be investigated for carrying a concealed weapon registered in another state, which is not legally permitted in D.C. And although Boebert suggested that she was legally allowed to carry a firearm around the Capitol complex, acting House Sergeant at Arms Timothy Blodgett explained that congresspeople were only technically allowed to have guns in their personal offices.

Boebert’s refusal to comply with metal detectors opened the floodgates for already-building calls for her resignation. For over a week now, many pundits and other members of Congress have called for her removal from office for her actions before, during, and after the Capitol siege. On January 6, Boebert tweeted: “Today is 1776.” Later in the day, after sharing Pelosi’s whereabouts, she blamed “the far-left” for the riots.

“I denounced the violence over the summer just as I did the recent events at the Capitol. I defended our Constitution and I always will. America will persevere because freedom always prevails. But let’s get real—the far-left and their policies are causing harm to our country. I refuse to let their political machine write a narrative that millions of Americans know is false,” Boebert said.

It’s unclear what consequences Boebert may face for her refusal to comply with the House floor’s metal detectors. Though there is certainly a case to be made that it’s actually the least of her worries, since publicly sharing the location of a politician during a violent attempted coup could be considered aiding and abetting. Now, it remains in the government’s hands to fairly assess how dangerous this new congresswoman really is, and what the consequences are for stoking violence.

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As America continues to watch MAGA rioters violently attacking the Capitol Building and terrorizing Washington, D.C., outgoing First Daughter Ivanka Trump came under fire for a tweet that grossly mischaracterized the situation. Though it’s been deleted, Trump’s tweet didn’t condemn the chaos, but rather called her father’s violent supporters “American Patriots.”

“American Patriots — any security breach or disrespect to our law enforcement is unacceptable,” she tweeted on Wednesday afternoon. “The violence must stop immediately. Please be peaceful.”

Shortly after she posted this, Twitter users reviled Trump for her empty message, which read more like a suggestion that children “play nice!” rather than a real wish for an end to the domestic terrorism that just so happened to have been incited by her father. It should come as no surprise, though, considering that President Trump’s own comments on these attacks have been comparably docile; not only did he release a video in which he declined to ask protestors to stand down and stop breaking Capitol building windows and shooting at members of Congress, but he also told them: “We love you.”

The president also tweeted: “I know your pain. I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it. Especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace.”

None of this is unexpected, as both the president and his adult children have fanned the flames of his base, lying about the election being “stolen.” Leading up to the Electoral College vote that would confirm President-elect Joe Biden, Trump’s second-oldest son, Eric, threatened to “personally defeat” any Republicans who did not support Trump’s efforts to discredit the election results. “I will personally work to defeat every single Republican Senator/Congressman who doesn’t stand up against this fraud – they will be primaried in their next election and they will lose,” he tweeted on Tuesday evening.

Today, Eric’s birthday, he attended the protests, even tweeting about how the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to him, before releasing a toothless tweet saying that Republicans are the “party of Law & Order” but refusing to ask for the violence to stop. Meanwhile, Don Jr.’s softball approach involved calling his father’s most faithful followers “wrong” and “not who we are.” Sure. But perhaps the best tweet came from Tiffany Trump, who, at 5:48 p.m., just as a woman was pronounced dead at the hands of protestors shooting inside the Capitol Building, wished her brother a happy birthday. “I love you and I’m so grateful to always have you by my side!” she wrote, apparently not reading the room in any capacity.

As for Ivanka, though, after she deleted her original tweet calling the domestic terrorists “American patriots,” she posted another, ostensibly clarifying her first tweet, and writing: “Peaceful protest is patriotic. Violence is unacceptable and must be condemned in the strongest terms.”

All it really clarified though is that Donald Trump isn’t the only problem here, it’s his whole family — and all their cultish followers.

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Four years ago, the country experienced what had once been unthinkable: Donald Trump became the 45th president of the United States. Those of us who had believed we were on the verge of electing our first-ever woman president — rather than a billionaire, former-reality TV show star — were devastated. The fact that Hillary Clinton had received millions of more votes than Trump made it even harder to bear.

When the reality of Trump’s election struck, it was gut-wrenching: Thousands gathered in the streets of New York, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and other cities, big and small, not only in protest of this undemocratically elected president, but also in an act of collective grief. This wasn’t the sorrow of sore losers — this was the despair of people who were afraid of what a Trump presidency would mean for marginalized communities, for the health and safety of millions around the world, and for the future of our country. Republicans greeted this response with a collective demand for Democrats to just suck it up.

For all those reasons, the 2020 election came with a much greater weight — the weight that, if Trump defeated Biden, we could see another four years of galvanized white supremacists, children separated from their parents at border camps, and the deranged tweets of a pathological liar. There was also the knowledge that Republicans didn’t care about the outrage their policies have incited among liberals and progressives. As newly elected far-right Republican Representative Madison Cawthorn tweeted on Tuesday in celebration of his own victory: Cry more, lib. And Trump, too, has frequently revealed, with the names he calls his opponents and his constant calls for them to be imprisoned, that he cares nothing for the feelings of anyone but himself.

But, almost immediately after Biden’s victory on Saturday morning, as a mass celebration broke out across the country, Republicans and conservatives began to peddle the message that Democrats should show empathy, and give the president time to “absorb the emotional aspect of his loss before demanding a concession.”

And I’m not sure who needs to hear this but: There’s no reason to feel any empathy for Donald J. Trump.

We’ve spent four years living in a reality where our president has attempted to build a wall around the U.S.-Mexico border, deport children, attack Roe v. Wade, approved oil pipelines that run through Native lands, used his presidential power to investigate his political opponents, withheld funds to citizens amid a devastating pandemic, tried to impose a “Muslim ban,” and, of course, accepted endorsements from neo-Nazi groups. 

There is no need to feel sorry for a man who has let almost 275,000 Americans die from a virus that he refused to treat seriously, even though he knew of its gravity long before it came to this country. There’s no need to feel sorry for a man who once said that it was okay to grab women “by the pussy.” But perhaps what is more necessary to state right now is that there is also no reason to feel empathy toward the millions of Americans who voted for Donald Trump — in 2016 or in 2020 — either.

Even in 2016, Trump ran on a campaign of toxicity and vitriol. Apart from period-shaming Megyn Kelly during a debate, Trump called Iraq “Harvard for terrorism,” Obama the “founder of ISIS,” and Clinton a “bigot.” But millions of people still voted him into office, despite those inflammatory statements, and then attempted to vote him in again four years later, even as our country is roiled by joblessness, economic crisis, and the ongoing pandemic. 

Trump’s presidency will be forever marked by the harm he has done to marginalized communities, to women, and to those who care more about capitalism than human rights. There is no reason to empathize with him for losing a presidency that he never should have had to begin with. Instead, the American people should continue to rejoice, celebrating the moment that we defeated one of the most dangerous men in the history of American politics, and reduced him to exactly what he is: a FOX News-watching grandpa who spends way too much time on Twitter. Sad!

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Meanwhile, Where In The World Is Mike Pence?

Trump's Unsurprising Reaction To Biden's Victory

Kamala Harris Did That!

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The air across the U.S. (or at least in the majority-Democratic parts of it) is full of excitement over President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. And while outgoing-President Donald Trump is busy stewing in his own grandiose plans to discount millions of votes against him and going on all-caps Twitter rants, Vice President Mike Pence has been remarkably silent. In fact, he hasn’t been seen in public since at least Tuesday. 

According to NBC News, Pence — who heads the U.S.’s COVID-19 task force — has not been spotted since Election Day and was not with Trump during his Thursday evening address. Although sources say that he has been “active” at the White House this week, Pence’s official schedule is empty through this weekend — a rarity during normal times, and these are not normal times.

It should be noted that White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, along with four other staffers, have all tested positive for COVID-19 this week — a striking coincidence. While there’s no way to know right now whether or not Pence has contracted the virus, it would potentially explain his general silence during this critical period. But this administration has never been very forthcoming when it comes to the truth.

Pence has often served as Trump’s more articulate mouthpiece for the duration of their term together, making it all the more strange that he isn’t in public, rallying support from their base. Instead, after Trump’s Thursday speech claiming victory in states that have now been declared for Biden, Pence simply sent an email asking everyone to “remain vigilant.”

“As the President said, the right to vote has been at the center of our Democracy since the founding of this great Nation,” the email said. That same day, Pence also tweeted, “I Stand With President @realDonaldTrump. We must count every LEGAL vote.”

While Pence’s use of language like “LEGAL vote” is a thinly coded reference to voter fraud, it is telling that he hasn’t done what the president or the president’s large adult sons did, and blatantly claimed that Democrats are trying to “steal” the election. For a man whose political career has been marked by calmly lying about Indiana’s HIV outbreak, and now downplaying the thousands of deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S., it’s unusual that Pence wouldn’t use this opportunity — and his platform-at-large — to galvanize his camp with the same lies that Trump is currently spewing.

Perhaps Mike Pence is turning a new leaf, and resigning himself to the fact that he and Trump have been defeated. Perhaps he is trying to distance himself from the sinking ship that is Team Trump, and thinking about how best to position himself for his own presidential run in 2024. Or perhaps — and most likely of all — Pence, the head of the administration’s coronavirus response team, just has COVID, and is in hiding. We hope any flies who come in contact with him quarantine themselves for 14 days after they leave him.

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Moments before cities across the U.S. erupted in celebration to the news of President-elect Joe Biden defeating Donald Trump, the sitting president tweeted: “I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!”

It’s no surprise that Trump — a president who has spent four years running on fumes of white supremacist propaganda and outright lies — refuses to accept the fact that Biden ultimately out-edged him with several much-anticipated and finally declared electoral victories in Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Nevada on Saturday morning. 

Trump has spent the duration of his reelection campaign making vague threats about what will happen if he were declared the loser — and now he’s following through by suggesting that he will not concede, falsely claiming that Democrats are trying to “steal” the election, and even saying that the race is “far from over.”

In a statement released shortly after the Associated Press and CNN declared Biden the president-elect, Trump threatened legal challenges ahead. “We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don’t want the truth to be exposed,” it reads. “The simple fact is this election is far from over. Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor.”

Trump was reportedly on a golf course in Virginia when the news broke around the world that Joe Biden was elected the next President of the United States. And although some speculate that, as a stereotypical sore loser, he will likely refuse to concede, it should be mentioned that his concession is unnecessary for Biden to hold office: Regardless of what Trump says or does now — even if he threatens to stay in the White House — Joe Biden is going to be the 46th President of the United States. Trump is now just…a Twitter joke.

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On hour ??? of Election “Day,” I fell asleep watching workers sort ballots in rural Nevada and Pennsylvania. I’ve started to think that CNN’s bright red and MSNBC’s more burnt orangey-red deserve further analysis. (Pantone, can you weigh in?) Also, I am pretty sure Jake Tapper is flirting with me through the TV. Oh, wait: KEY RACE ALERT. Oh, never mind: These are just more projections. Is this what purgatory feels like?

This purgatory was probably inevitable. How else could the 2020 election end? Or, not end? And yet the sense of impending doom we’ve had for four years didn’t leave us any more prepared for the endless parade of Trumpers rejecting democracy and pundits arguing over whether or not the country “deserves” this level of uncertainty. But perhaps the silver lining to our absolute dumpster fire of a Democratic process as that we might not spend another four years subjected to the insane tweets of a man who once had a cameo in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

As I idly watched numbers inch forward — with surprising heroes like Michigan and Wisconsin pulling through for Biden — not all hope seemed lost. My hourly mantra for the past 48 hours has been: If he loses Pennsylvania, this is all going to be over soon. And now it looks like Pennsylvania is going blue. And like there’s an end in sight to our purgatorial existence. Is it heaven up ahead? Hardly. But at least it’s not the hell we’ve been in for almost four years.

As a very wise colleague (and then later Reductress’s Instagram) told me, “I look forward to having a president that I can hate a normal amount.”

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On Monday night in Grand Rapids, Michigan, President Donald Trump made his final appearance ahead of Election Day. During his speech — which reportedly lasted over one hour while the temperature dipped into the low-40s — Trump declared that he is “perhaps the most innocent man anywhere in the history of the United States.”

The statement was in response to the 2017-2019 Special Council investigation — which Trump referred to as the Mueller investigation, and mispronounced — where the president was probed for alleged links to Russian officials who contributed to election interference in 2016, as well as obstruction of justice. According to Trump, the Mueller report was able to find “nothing” incriminating on him, making him completely “innocent” of all allegations, despite being one of only three presidents to be formally impeached by Congress in U.S. history.

Given Trump’s claims to be “perhaps the most innocent man anywhere in the history of the United States,” we’ve taken the time to investigate whether or not this is true.

According to our findings, the short answer to this is: No.

But if you need more proof, all available evidence shows that Trump is not “perhaps the most innocent man anywhere in the history of the United States.” This is due to the fact that he has been accused of sexual assault by over 20 women, has implemented policies that directly harm LGBTQ+ communities, tacitly accepted endorsements from Nazi and white supremacist groups during his 2020 campaign, and straight up told the right-wing extremist group Proud Boys to “stand by,” among other things.

So, the long answer to the question of whether or not Trump is the most innocent man in the history of the U.S. is also: No.

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After months of dismissing the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic and almost always refusing to wear a mask or follow basic safety protocols, President Donald Trump reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 early Friday morning. First Lady Melania Trump tested positive as well.

The couple’s test results followed Thursday evening’s late-breaking news that Trump’s advisor and senior counselor, Hope Hicks, had tested positive and entered quarantine. Last night, Trump tweeted, “Hope Hicks, who has been working so hard without even taking a small break, has just tested positive for Covid 19. Terrible! The First Lady and I are waiting for our test results. In the meantime, we will begin our quarantine process!”

Only two hours later, the president followed up, confirming that he and First Lady Melania Trump had both tested positive and planned to get through this “TOGETHER!”

For months now, Trump has severely downplayed the novel coronavirus, with members of his cabinet (and family) calling it a “hoax.” In February, the president even said, “It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”

Trump has also made false statements about potential “cures” for COVID-19 including the injection of disinfectants into human bodies, later saying he was being “sarcastic,” since sarcasm is a typical tone for a president to take during an official press briefing during a pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Beyond the fact that any 74-year-old should have been taking every possible precaution to prevent exposure to the coronavirus, perhaps the most concerning element of Trump’s diagnosis is that he’s been traveling around the country for his campaign, often greeting many massive groups of maskless supporters, indoors, who have been galvanized by his own refusal to take proper precautions. When Trump was asked two weeks ago if he has any fear of getting COVID-19 from his rallies, he said: “I’m on a stage, it’s very far away, so I’m not at all concerned.”

There’s even more reason to be concerned, though, as news of his positive test result comes only three days after Trump debated 77-year-old Joe Biden for the first time. Though the two were standing somewhat far apart during the debate, both Biden and his wife, Jill, have reportedly just undergone their own testing.

It’s not clear what will happen to Trump’s campaign now that he has tested positive for COVID-19, though the president does plan to remain isolated in the White House and has canceled his plans to travel to Florida, Wisconsin, and Arizona. Although he is allegedly asymptomatic, we are only 32 days out from the November 3 election and two weeks before the next scheduled presidential debate. It certainly seems likely that the latter will be postponed, if not canceled. As to the former? It seems like we will have to wait and see.

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Welcome to the first presidential debate of 2020: No, this is not an episode of Black Mirror — it’s real life!

In tonight’s debate face-off between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, chaos ensued in the first 15 minutes when Fox News moderator Chris Wallace had to literally ask both men to take his questions “seriously” going forward. But as Trump’s many interruptions, racial references to COVID-19, and “socialist” jabs had him occupying the spotlight, many were left wondering one thing: How is Joe Biden doing?

It’s a simple enough question, but also nearly impossible to decipher in the midst of what shall forever be known as Scream Fest 2020™. And yet, despite all the chaos and perhaps to the surprise of many, Biden is holding his own — or, at least, doing the best that he can. When Trump started the night by saying that the Democratic party was embracing “socialist medicine,” Biden quickly retorted, “I am the Democratic Party.” And in that moment, he set the tone of the rest of the debate: He would answer question to the best of his ability, he would not interrupt Trump, but he would also refuse to be railroaded by a screaming 74-year-old billionaire.

In some of Biden’s more impressive moments, he spoke eloquently about the coronavirus pandemic, and the need to listen to scientists, wear masks, and flatten the curve — all of which Trump refuted. But Biden did not back down to Trump’s attacks and references to the swine flu epidemic of 2009: “This is the same man who told you by Easter this would be gone away. By the warm weather, it’d be gone — like a miracle. And by the way, maybe you could inject some bleach into your arm,” Biden said.

Biden also clearly addressed the movement to combat racism against Black people in America. While he said he did not support the movement to defund the police, Biden did paint a clear picture of systemic racism in education, work, and policing, demanding that security systems change to allow psychologists and social workers to respond to 9-1-1 calls. But when Trump even attempted to state that he was trying to protect Black communities, Biden immediately cited Trump’s statements about white supremacists at the 2017 Charlottesville rally, where the president said there were “very fine people on both sides.”

“No one, no one, should have to vote for any party based on their race, their religion, their background,” Biden said. “There are African-Americans who think that Trump was worth voting for. I don’t think so, I’m prepared to put my record against his. That was the bottom line and it was, it was really unfortunate.”

After a lengthy back-and-forth (scream-and-scream?) about climate change, Wallace asked both Biden and Trump about how fair the upcoming election will be, alluding to Trump’s mission to derail mail-in voting as a whole. And this was perhaps Biden’s most measured and divisive moment: He pleaded to the American people to vote — not even for him — but just to vote. “He’s just afraid of counting the votes,” Biden said, looking straight into the camera.

And by comparison, Trump continued to trail into a hundred different tangents, attacking Biden and shamelessly refusing to condemn white supremacy. But in the end, all anyone watching could thing was: Will you shut up, man?

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In the aftermath of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, public displays of grief have been rampant: Countless Americans are mourning the loss of RBG, a cultural icon who impacted the lives of so many women and marginalized people during her 27-year tenure on the Supreme Court. But alongside that grief is another powerful feeling: uncertainty. What is going to happen with the vacant seat on the Court?

Within hours of her death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pledged to hold a Senate-wide vote to nominate Ginsburg’s successor. President Donald Trump also tweeted at the GOP on Saturday morning to make his stance clear: “We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been considered to be the selection of United States Supreme Court Justices. We have this obligation, without delay!”

Just 45 days before the election, a new Trump-selected Supreme Court justice strikes great fear among Democrats. With the appointment of another right-wing justice, SCOTUS will have a 6-3 conservative majority for years to come, almost guaranteeing the reversal of everything from Roe v. Wade to the Affordable Care Act.

But, will that happen? Can the Senate vote on a new justice less than two months before a presidential election, even though they refused to do so eight months before the 2016 presidential election? What will the remaining left-leaning justices be able to do to maintain the legacy of Ginsburg’s work? Ahead, we’ve laid out some answers.

How does the Supreme Court nomination process work?

There are a number of steps designated by the U.S. Constitution in order to nominate and appoint a new Supreme Court Justice. This process only happens when an existing justice dies, retires, or is forcibly removed by impeachment. Once there is a vacant seat, the President of the United States has the power to nominate a new candidate. That person will then go through a hearing process before the senate and a thorough FBI investigation.

The Senate’s Judiciary committee — which currently holds 11 Republican members and 9 Democratic members — is usually expected to be the first vote on the president’s pick. From there, they can either confirm, reject, or bring the vote to the full Senate floor. If the vote goes to the full Senate floor, the process is really in the hands of the Senate Majority Leader: He or she can dictate when the vote occurs and how swiftly the want to push through a confirmation. Once a nominee completes the hearing process, investigation, and is confirmed by the Senate, they are officially permitted to serve as a member of the Supreme Court.

Can Trump replace RBG before the election?

Trump has the power to nominate a new justice before the election, but that doesn’t mean the nominee will be confirmed within the last 45 days of his term. That power ultimately lies with the Senate — and Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — to determine whether or not they will push through a vote and confirmation quickly, or delay until after the election. Historically, only two justices have ever been confirmed within 45 days of the election, but it’s not impossible, since the process can take as little as two months to complete. If Trump and McConnell move quickly, they could put forth a nominee within the coming weeks and confirm that person as soon as November 3, the eve of the election.

When will the Senate vote to replace RBG happen?

This depends entirely on Mitch McConnell. In a statement released on Friday, McConnell said that he intends to move on a Senate vote swiftly. “Since the 1880s, no Senate has confirmed an opposite-party president’s Supreme Court nominee in a presidential election year,” McConnell wrote. “By contrast, Americans reelected our majority in 2016 and expanded it in 2018 because we pledged to work with President Trump and support his agenda, particularly his outstanding appointments to the federal judiciary.”

Although McConnell evades an actual time frame for when he plans to hold the vote, his message is clear: Not only will the Senate seek to vote on a nominee, they will specifically await Trump’s nomination. It should also be noted that McConnell actively blocked former president Barack Obama’s 2016 SCOTUS nominee, Merrick Garland, on the grounds that voters should first elect a new president. This happened eight weeks before the 2016 election, after which Trump was able to nominate his own candidate. Though a number of senators have pledged to hold McConnell to the same standard now, it seems unlikely that he will.

Who will Trump try to replace RBG with?

Trump’s potential list of replacements for Ginsburg is nothing short of terrifying to Democrats, giving the Supreme Court a conservative majority of 6-3. After Trump’s 2016 victory, he nominated Justice Neil Gorsuch and then later nominated Brett Kavanaugh. Though both judges faced nearly full opposition from Democrats and Independents within the Senate, their runner-ups give us a pretty good idea of who Trump may pick next.

In 2017, Trump personally interviewed three people for Gorsuch’s seat: Thomas Hardiman, William H. Pryor Jr., and Amul R. Thapar. For Kavanaugh’s seat, Hardiman was once again thought to be the frontrunner, though two others — Raymond Kethledge and Amy ­Coney Barrett — were also considered for the spot. As early as Friday night, Barrett was already thought to be the frontrunner for Ginsburg’s seat, since Trump had previously appointed two white men. Barrett, a 48-year-old Evangelical Christian, could serve for decades on the Supreme Court if she is appointed. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Diane Feinstein have, in the past, taken issue with Barrett’s beliefs, particularly her statements regarding religion, and will likely continue to oppose her if she is nominated.

Assuming that Trump will be pressured into nominating a woman for Ginsburg’s seat, a few other names have been floated: Britt Grant, Barbara Lagoa, and Joan Larsen.

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In an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Thursday night, Mary L. Trump, President Donald Trump’s niece, confirmed she has heard her uncle repeatedly use racist language, including the n-word and antisemitic slurs. According to Mary, who went on MSNBC to discuss her tell-all book Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man, Trump’s language should come as no surprise considering his administration’s political history and the president’s own track record of racist remarks.

During the highly-anticipated interview, Maddow specifically asked Mary if she had heard the president “use antisemitic slurs, or the n-word or other racist slurs or other sentiments like that,” to which Mary replied, “Oh, yeah, yeah, of course I did.” Mary added, “I don’t think that should surprise anybody given how virulently racist he is today.” When pressed again on whether Trump used these specific slurs, Mary replied “yes.”

Despite repeatedly stating that he is “the least racist person there is anywhere in the world,” President Trump has historically supported white supremacist causes and denounced Muslim, Native American, and Latinx communities, among others. During his run for office, Trump called for a ban on “all Muslims” coming to the U.S., eventually turning this into a loose policy at the end of 2017. That same year, he defended the white nationalists who organized the so-called Unite the Right rally and publicly attacked NFL protestors kneeling during the national anthem.

Even before he was president, Trump publicly pitched a version of The Apprentice that pitted “a team of successful African Americans versus a team of successful whites,” which spurred controversy over Trump’s treatment of Black contestants. The president also played a large role in disseminating lies about former President Barack Obama not being born in the U.S., eventually demanding that Obama release his birth certificate.

And let’s not forget his treatment of the Central Park Five, a group of Black and Latinx men who were wrongly convicted for raping a jogger in New York when they were teenagers. (Spoiler alert: Trump called to “Bring back the death penalty and bring back our police!” in response to allegations against them.

Trump’s attacks have previously extended to the Jewish community, too. Although Trump’s own daughter converted to Judaism before marrying her husband, Jared Kushner, the president has made a series of antisemitic comments over the past decade. In a 2015 forum, Trump told a room full of Jewish people that they buy off politicians — a trope which he frequently used to shame Jewish people who voted for Democrats. He also once tweeted a picture of Hillary Clinton on top of a pile of cash and a Star of David with the phrase “Most Corrupt Candidate Ever!”

Trump historically failed to denounce neo-Nazis, and, just a few weeks ago, shared a video of Nazis screaming “white power.” But fear not: in 2017 he assured everyone, “I am the least antisemitic person that you’ve ever seen in your entire life.”

Although there’s a rich history of the president’s behavior to back up Mary’s stories, it’s still jarring to hear a member of his own family confirm the President of the United States’ casual use of the n-word, among other racist and offensive slurs against people of color. The list of Trump’s defamations of different communities of color is too hard to recount in-full, but for now, Mary Trump’s tell-all will likely fill in some of the blanks.

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Ruth Bader Ginsburg announced on Friday that she is undergoing another round of chemotherapy to treat her recurring liver cancer diagnosis.

Earlier in the week, Ginsburg was admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for a fever and chills. According to the Supreme Court’s office, she underwent an “endoscopic procedure to clean out a bile duct stent” during her visit. However, her current cancer diagnosis is unrelated to the gallstone infection treated during the hospital visit this week, Ginsburg says.

The news of Ginsburg’s cancer diagnosis comes months after the SCOTUS justice reported being cancer-free in January. After years of struggling with pancreatic cancer, RBG said that she was in good health and had resumed an active role in oral arguments at the beginning of the year. Ginsburg’s health has been an ongoing point of concern over the years, though she now remains hopeful that she will once again recover.

In a statement released by the Supreme Court’s office, Ginsburg says that she has no intention of stepping down unless she has to. “I have often said I would remain a member of the Court as long as I can do the job full steam,” she wrote. “I remain fully able to do that.” Ginsburg said that she will undergo biweekly chemotherapy treatments to keep her cancer at bay, and will maintain an active daily routine, including keeping up with opinion writing and other Court work.

The Supreme Court ended its term last week after a slew of controversial decisions, including one to allow New York circuit courts access to Trump’s tax returns. Most recently, SCOTUS voted 7-2 to let employers opt out of birth control coverage on religious or “moral” grounds, with Ginsburg dissenting.

The 87-year-old justice’s health has been a consistent source of anxiety throughout Trump’s presidency. If Ginsburg leaves the Supreme Court and Trump is allowed to appoint another judge, it will be the third judge appointed by the Republican president, causing a major election issue, reports CNN.

For now, though, RBG remains in good spirits with no intention of resigning.

May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind quickly be freed from their illnesses. May those frightened cease to be afraid, and may those bound be free.

Prayers for RBG 🙏 pic.twitter.com/JppEHLmAu4

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) July 17, 2020

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Tiffany Ownbey, the mayor of Belton, South Carolina, made a vow on Thursday morning to “fight back” after alleging she is a victim of revenge porn.

According to the mayor’s attorney, the 34-year-old Ownbey was in a relationship with a man who threatened to publicly disseminate a filmed sexual encounter between the two if she broke up with him. Filmed without Ownbey’s consent or knowledge, the encounter happened years before she was elected mayor. Since her November 2019 election — and  after years without contact between Ownbey and the man in the video — the mayor’s lawyer says that she began to hear rumors that he was planning to release the footage, followed by outright threats. Now, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) is investigating the case.

“Tiffany immediately requested a SLED investigation, even though she knew that such an investigation would subject her to a great deal of adverse publicity,” her lawyer, Druanne White, said in a statement.“She refused to tacitly condone the man’s repugnant behavior by remaining silent.”

Ownbey — who is the first woman mayor in Belton — says she will not stand down or be intimidated by a sexual predator and will continue to fight against this kind of behavior, and has issued her own statement on Facebook: 

“If YOU have been a victim of or threatened with blackmail and ‘revenge porn,’ don’t remain silent. You are not alone, it’s time [South Carolina] steps up like other states and makes this a law with tough penalties. Put an end to victim shaming, this is why women don’t come forward when bullied like this!”

Ownbey’s statement comes on the heels of being victim-shamed, after the video in question was posted to social media. But, despite being upset at the public’s reaction, she is refusing to be silenced. “I would like to remind you all that I am STILL the Mayor of Belton, SC, but I am also the mother of young children,” she wrote on Facebook. “I would encourage you to please show my family as well as my children the respect and privacy that you would seek at this time.”

Although investigators have not yet named a suspect, Ownbey’s vow to continue battling against intimidation and online abuse for women includes a plan to promote new legislation in her state.

“It is time for South Carolina to enact legislation to protect women from this kind of sexual predatory behavior. Tiffany plans to lead the charge,” White said. “She wants to make sure that there are adverse consequences for those who secretly record a sexual interlude and then use it as revenge porn. She does not want other women to be victimized in this manner.”

Refinery29 has reached out to Tiffany Ownbey’s attorneys for comment. We will update this story as we know more.

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Over a week after the police killing of George Floyd and several days after manslaughter charges were brought against former office Derek Chauvin, Minneapolis Attorney General Keith Ellison announced charges against the three officers involved in Floyd’s death. According to a tweet sent out by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and as confirmed by CNN, Ellison is also increasing the severity of the charges against Chauvin, who was captured on video suffocating Floyd by holding a knee to his neck for at least eight minutes. 

Chauvin was previously charged with manslaughter and third degree murder, but he will now be charged with second degree murder, indicating that investigators believe Chauvin understood the intent of his action. The other three officers involved — Thomas Lane, J.A. Keung, and Tou Thao — were charged with aiding and abetting Floyd’s killing. While Chauvin kneed Floyd, Lane and Keung helped restrain him and Thao stood by watching.

The attorney general’s office took over the investigation and since then, two autopsies have determined that Floyd died by homicide. An independent autopsy led by George Floyd’s family detailed that he died of “asphyxiation from sustained pressure,” specifically to the neck and back.

Following the announcement that the AG’s office will now charge all four officers, Benjamin Crump, the Floyd family’s attorney, shared their response: “This is a bittersweet moment. We are deeply gratified that (Ellison) took decisive action, arresting & charging ALL the officers involved in #GeorgeFloyd’s death & upgrading the charge against Derek Chauvin to felony second-degree murder.”

“My father should not have been killed like this — we want justice,” Quincy Mason Floyd said in an interview on Wednesday.

Charges come after a massive national outcry, with protests flooding the streets in cities across the U.S. The immediate call for justice came after multiple unarmed Black men and women were killed by police, highlighting a problem with police brutality and systemic racism in America.

According to CNN, Minneapolis protestors, who began demonstrating last Tuesday and have not ceased, broke out in jubilation after hearing about additional charges to Chauvin and charges against all officers involved in his killing.

Still, Crump says that there’s more justice to be served in this case — and others. In response to the announcement, he said he will continue to push the AG to increase charges against Chauvin to first degree murder.

“It was torture. It was an outward expression of complete utter desperation from a dying man,” Crump said. “We cannot unsee it.”

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It’s debate time again, and all eyes are on South Carolina for what should be another heated battle between the seven remaining Democratic candidates. Since the Nevada debate less than a week ago, candidates have been gearing up with receipts — Sen. Elizabeth Warren forced former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg’s hand when he agreed to release women from his company’s NDAs. Meanwhile, former vice president Joe Biden came under fire after saying that he was arrested trying to see Nelson Mandela — a fact that has since been disproved — and the epic battle between South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar is sure to continue on tonight’s stage.

But, the candidate to beat is still Sen. Bernie Sanders, who recently won the Nevada caucus following a steady lead (with the exception of Iowa) in all of the early states so far. Sanders, who in the last two debates has been called out for being a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist, is anticipated to continue his winning streak, which will likely make him a target at tonight’s debate. Joining the aforementioned on stage will be Tom Steyer, who did not qualify for the last debate, but is back alongside a second billionaire candidate for the first time ever. Ahead, we’ve mapped out all the biggest moments from the South Carolina debate.

Liz backs up Bernie’s progressive ideas (but says she’d be a better president).

Although they share a lot of the same progressive ideas, Warren says she’d make a better president because she can actually get things done. She also pointedly says that Bernie’s team has “trashed” her. Pete Buttigieg butts in to say that if we think America’s divisive now, wait until we have a Trump vs. Bernie showdown.

Gayle grills the candidates on stop and frisk.

Gayle King came prepared to ask tough questions tonight, and she immediately turned the attention to Bloomberg’s history with stop and frisk laws in New York. King said that although Bloomberg has apologized for stop and frisk, she wants to know exactly what he is apologizing for. Bloomberg’s fairly rehearsed answer, he apologized again for his record with targeting black and brown people as New York mayor, but it was Mayor Pete who had a bit of a hero moment, calling out the fact that every candidate on the debate stage is white.

Bloomberg swoops in with the urgent news that he has met black human beings and that they’ve reported a phenomenon known as “racism”

— Sady Doyle (@sadydoyle) February 26, 2020

Elizabeth Warren hammers Bloomberg on his comments and NDAs — again.

After she talked about her experience with pregnancy discrimination, Warren and Bloomberg go back and forth on whether he truly told a pregnant coworker to “kill it,” which he categorically claims he never said. Bloomberg then says he thinks he’s done enough by releasing women at his company from their NDAs, purporting that he’s never been accused of making more than a “joke” that he “probably” shouldn’t have made. For Warren, this isn’t enough — the senator who has gone after Bloomberg’s history of offensive comments about women plans to hold him accountable at every turn.

Bernie Sanders: “here’s how we’re going to pay for it.”

Bernie Sanders released a document detailing how he’s going to pay for Medicare for All and other plans earlier this week. When the moderators asked him about his spending plans, the other candidates piled on about why they don’t believe they’re realistic. It’s the first of probably many moments in the night where Sanders will be the target of all other candidates.

Warren says Democrats won’t get gun reform passed without abolishing the filibuster.

Every debate: Warren is the only one who brings up nuking the filibuster. Every time, I say this is the most important thing. Every spin, the media ignores.

— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) February 26, 2020

Amy Klobuchar brings up her bill to close the boyfriend loophole.

Amy Klobuchar refers to her bill calling to close the “boyfriend loophole,” which is a legislation gap allowing physically abusive ex-boyfriends with convictions to continue accessing guns. Biden immediately jumps on Klobuchar to take credit for his role in writing the bill, igniting a heated moment between the two.

Bloomberg thinks he won the last debate…?

via GIPHY

Here’s what Bloomberg meant when he mentioned the naked cowboy.

Bloomberg seems to be full of jokes tonight, and one of them is a shout out to New York’s infamous Naked Cowboy — a Times Square staple. For those outside of New York, the Naked Cowboy is exactly what it sounds like: an actor and singer who performs in Times Square wearing only a cowboy hat, tighty whities, and a strategically placed guitar.

Bernie Sanders wants to legalize marijuana on day 1

Sanders is famously the pro-weed candidate — though his position on this is not necessarily resonated in everyone on stage. When asked about his plan to legalize marijuana nationally during his first day in office, Bloomberg claps back, saying that there is not enough research to allow a potentially “dangerous” drug to be freely wielded. Klobuchar brings up the possibilities of regulations — mostly pointing to the continued opioid crisis in the U.S. — but when it comes back to Bernie, he pulls out all the receipts. According to the Vermont senator, not only is marijuana legalization favorable for recreational use, but mainstreaming the drug will also help people of color start businesses and is one step closer to ending the war on drugs.

The candidates are asked about coronavirus.

The candidates are asked on how they would handle the coronavirus outbreak. Klobuchar passionately stresses that Americans educate themselves by understanding how the CDC is handing coronavirus, while Biden points the blame on Trump cutting funding of the CDC for potentially creating a pandemic.

Bernie & Pete spend a full two minutes screaming over each other.

All the candidates (but mostly Pete) continue to pile on Bernie about “praising” authoritarian leaders. Bernie has clarified that he does not condone Fidel Castro’s authoritarian regime, but simply stated the fact that he increased literacy in his country. As Pete keeps digging, Bernie can’t seem to get a word in, and the two end up screaming over each other for what seems like an eternity (even debate moderators could not get a word in during their simultaneous rants).

via GIPHY

Bernie’s team hit back on Pete for his comments.

Wait … is it bad to have nostalgia for the revolutionary politics of the 1960s Pete?

I’m seem to recall Black people fighting for and securing some important rights during that revolutionary period. #DemDebate

— Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) February 26, 2020

Bernie & Bloomberg are asked about their plans for Israel as Jewish candidates.

Moderators address a point that has yet to come up in any debate: if Bernie (and now Bloomberg) were elected to office, the United States would have their first Jewish president in history. Bernie says that he is proud of being Jewish, but there is a “reactionary racist” running Israel, and that needs to be stop. Pointing his comments to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he says that he wants justice for Palestinians. Bloomberg, the other Jewish candidate on stage, weighs in suggesting a two-state solution as his plan of action. Bloomberg also speaks against moving the American embassy back from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv and calls illegal settlements “new communities.”

Candidates close out the debate by listing the their personal mottos.

Tom Steyer: Tell the truth and do what’s right.

Amy Klobuchar: Politics is about improving people’s lives.

Joe Biden: You are defined by your courage, you are redeemed by your loyalty.

Bernie Sanders: (Quoting Nelson Mandela) Everything is impossible until it happens.

Elizabeth Warren: (Quoting Matthew 25) Inasmuch as ye have done to one of these, the least of my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Pete Buttigieg: We are to treat others as we would be treated.

Mike Bloomberg: I’ve trained for this job for a long time, and when I get it, I’m going to do something instead of just talking about it.

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