Law
Senator Lindsey Graham pushed Georgia’s Secretary of State for lawfully cast votes
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Monday to the U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham questioned him if he had the right to refuse a number of absentee ballots, a question which he perceived as a statement that constitutionally cast votes should be cast.
Raffensperger made statements to The Washington Post that he was faced with growing criticism from fellow Republicans who needed to see the narrow leadership of Democrat Joe Biden overturned in the state. Nearly 5 million ballots were cast in Georgia’s presidential race, while Biden led President Donald Trump by nearly 14,000 votes.
Graham questioned him what political prejudice could have prompted election staff to approve non-matching ballots, and whether Raffensperger should cast all absentee ballots in counties with higher rates of non-matching signatures, the Secretary of State told the newspaper.
When asked about the talk with Raffensperger, Graham said on Monday that he was “trying to figure out how the signature stuff worked.” He said that Raffensperger “did a decent job of explaining to me how the signatures were verified.”
Asked about Raffensperger’s perception that he implied that legitimately cast ballots should be tossed out, Graham said That’s crazy.”
County election officers across the state worked over the weekend to count the ballots in the presidential race as part of a constitutionally required investigation to ensure that the latest voting machines counted the votes correctly.
Very sad to hear of the passing of my good friend Robert Rabon, former Chairman of the Horry County Republican Party. Robert was a can-do, optimistic leader who was invaluable to growing the Republican Party in Horry County.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 13, 2020
When the count is complete and the results are certified, the candidate losing will order a recount, which can be performed using machines that read and count the ballots.
Election officials said Monday that more than 2,500 ballots had been cast in one county that had not been counted before, but that this did not change the final result of the race.
The approximate distribution of the votes cast was 1,643 for Trump, 865 for Biden, and 16 for Libertarian Jo Jorgensen, according to Gabriel Sterling, the top official of the elections.
Raffensperger’s remarks came as election officials across the state prepared to finish a hand-over vote count in the presidential race.
When Georgia electors return an absentee ballot, they must sign an oath on the outer envelope. County election officers are expected to ensure that the signature fits that of the absentee ballot application and that of the voter registration system, Raffensperger said in a statement over the weekend.
“The reason you’re conducting an audit is to discover this sort of stuff,” Sterling said.
He said that the situation seemed to be an isolated concern and that there had been “no fundamental improvements” in other counties.
County Electoral Board Chairman Tom Rees said it appeared that the votes were cast early in-person, although the election officials were not aware if they were missing.
The county election office suffered some losses, including a top official who was afflicted with coronavirus, and it appears like proper protocols were not followed when the results were tabulated by the computer, Sterling said. But the county had the paper ballots and the error was caught during the hand count, he said.
Trump, who has made false accusations of irregularities and manipulation in the election process, has repeatedly brought his campaign to the social media to condemn Raffensperger and the manner in which the state’s hand has been counted. The Secretary of State responded to their claims in social media posts on his own.
Raffensperger told the Post that he and his wife had received death threats in recent days.
“Other than making you upset, it’s really disillusioning, too,” he said.
County election officers were ordered to finish the count by 11:59 p.m. It’s Wednesday. The deadline for the State to certify the results of the elections is Friday.
The hand tally seemed to go well in most areas, and the overwhelming majority of 159 counties in the state had finished their job by Monday, Sterling said. What remained was mainly data entry and quality management procedures prior to the application of results to the Secretary of State, he added. State election officials have said that they will not report any reports from the count until the entire process is complete.
Raffensperger’s office has repeatedly argued that it is likely that the findings would vary significantly from those historically reported by the counties, but that the variation is not supposed to affect the outcome. The findings of the audit are what will be approved, the election officials said.
The AP has not named a winner in Georgia, where Biden is leading Trump by 0.3 percentage points. There is no mandatory recounting law in Georgia, but state law allows for this alternative to a candidate who is on the run if the margin is less than 0.5 percentage points. It is the tradition of AP not to call a contest that is – or is likely to become – subject to a recount.
Education
Puthuppally bypoll: Meet Chandy Oommen who broke father Oommen Chandy’s record
Puthupally Bypoll News: In the Keralan constituency of Puthuppally, Chandy Oommen of the Congress could very easily beat his father’s previous record of 33,255 votes.
Chandy Oommen, the late Congress leader Oommen Chandy’s son, won the byelection for the Puthuppally assembly seat in Kerala on Friday by a margin of more than 36,000 votes.
Shashi Tharoor, a member of the Congress, campaigned at Kottayam for the party’s candidate and Chandy Oommen, son of former chief minister of Kerala Oommen Chandy. Chandy Oommen, son of former Kerala governor Oommen Chandy, and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor during Chandy Oommen’s election campaign in Kottayam, ahead of the Puthuppally assembly constituency by-elections. (PTI)
Since the first round, the opposition Congress-UDF candidate has gained a definite advantage; in contrast, Jaick C. Thomas, the candidate for the ruling LDF, has never been able to take the lead in any rounds. Chandy Oommen may probably beat his father’s record of 33,255 votes in the district, which the late Congress leader held for more than 50 years while representing Puthuppally in the state assembly.
On September 5, elections were held to fill the seat that Oommen Chandy’s death left empty.
Chandy Oommen, who is he?
Chandy Oommen, who was born in Puthuppally, Kottayam district, in March 1986, graduated from Loyola School in 1992 and earned a BA with honors and an MA in history from the prestigious St Stephen’s College in New Delhi.
From 2006 to 2007, he served as the college students’ union’s president. Chandy earned his LLB from Delhi University and LLM in constitutional law at Christ University in Bengaluru after completing his post-graduate studies in 2015–16.
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Scaler Academy: Supported 3. Chandy Oommen finished his LLM in criminology at the National Law University, New Delhi, in 2016, following the completion of a summer course at the London School of Economics. He is a practicing attorney who also teaches as an adjunct professor at Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies in Delhi and Amity University.
Since his college days, Chandy Oommen, 37, has been a part of the Congress’ organizational structure. He is currently a member of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and the chairman of the national outreach cell of the Youth Congress.
In 2013, Chandy Oommen served as the Youth Congress’ state secretary. Additionally, he had taken part in the Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, which was led by Rahul Gandhi. But because of his father’s illness, he had to abandon the padyatra in the middle.
Drugs
Danny Masterson sentenced to 30 years to life for two rapes
Danny Masterson, a US actor, was found guilty of raping two women and was given a sentence of 30 years to life in jail.
At the time of his offenses in the early 2000s, Masterson was a cast member of the TV show That ’70s Show.
Masterson, 47, was accused of avoiding responsibility by relying on his fame as a famous Scientologist, according to the prosecution.
Before imposing a sentence, Judge Charlaine Olmedo enabled the victims of his acts to read impact statements in court.
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Leah Remini, a well-known former Scientologist and actress, was present at the court on Thursday and consoled the women before and after they gave their testimony.
US media stated that one of the women remarked, “I wish I had reported him to the police earlier.”
I’m sorry, another woman said to Masterson. I can no longer bear your illness, according to Reuters.
Masterson didn’t say anything at all during the hearing.
His wife, Bijou Phillips, was spotted in court sobbing as the judge pronounced his sentence—the harshest penalty permitted.
After the initial jury was unable to reach a verdict in 2022, Masterson underwent a retrial and was found guilty in May. After being found guilty, Masterson was placed under jail because he posed a flight risk.
Three women who said he had sexually assaulted them at his Hollywood home between 2001 and 2003—during the height of his television fame—led to the actor’s conviction.
He gave them drugs before assaulting them, according to testimony presented to the jury.
Of his three accusers, he was found guilty of rape by two of them. A mistrial was declared over the third accuser’s allegations, and the prosecution stated they have no plans to retry the case.
In a statement provided to BBC News, Alison Anderson, a lawyer for two of the victims, said that the ladies “have displayed tremendous strength and bravery, by coming forward to law enforcement and directly participating in two grueling criminal trials.”
These brave women helped hold a cruel sexual predator accountable today “despite persistent harassment, obstruction, and intimidation,” she said.
Prosecutors claimed throughout the trial that the Church of Scientology had assisted in covering up the assaults, a claim that the group has vehemently refuted.
Both Masterson and all three of his accusers were Scientologists at the time of the attacks. Many of the women claimed it took them years to come forward because Church of Scientology leaders allegedly told them not to call the police about the rape.
Prosecutors claim that Scientology leaders threatened one survivor with losing her membership unless she agreed to a non-disclosure agreement and took a $400,000 (£320,000) payment.
Judge Olmedo permitted discussion of the theology and practices of Scientology during the trial, which infuriated the group.
The Church of Scientology said there was “not a scintilla of evidence supporting the scandalous allegations that the Church harassed the accusers” in a statement following the verdict in May.
Leah Remini, an actress, has a reputation for being a vocal opponent of religion.
SOURCE OF IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES
picture caption
Leah Remini, an actress, has been vocal in her criticism of the Church of Scientology and is shown here during a movie screening.
One woman testified in court on Thursday about being rejected by her mother, a Scientologist who is still active.
According to her account, “She texted me and told me to never contact her again,” as quoted by the LA Times.
She had told me beforehand that she wanted Danny Masterson to be imprisoned for what he had done to me, but not at the expense of her religion.
Another woman claimed that the Church of Scientology had treated her unfairly ever since she spoke out.
“For almost seven years now, the cult of Scientology has terrorized, harassed, and invaded my privacy daily since the week I came forward to police,” she claimed, adding, “But I don’t regret it.”
At the height of the #MeToo movement in 2017, Masterson was accused of rape for the first time. He refuted the charges and insisted that all of the interactions were consensual.
After a three-year investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department, charges were filed. Due to insufficient evidence and the passing of the statute of limitations, prosecutors decided not to press charges in two other cases.
Jessica Barth, who established Voices in Action in the wake of the #MeToo movement, also attended Thursday’s sentence.
One of the women who accuse scandalized Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of assault was Ms. Barth. Her nonprofit promotes reporting of abuse and encourages others to do the same.
According to a Los Angeles court official, the judge rejected Masterson’s defense team’s plea for a new trial prior to the hearing.
Law
Jawan box office collection Day 1: Shah Rukh Khan film likely to open at ₹75 cr, as per early estimates
Few people would have predicted that the record-breaking opening day attendance of Shah Rukh Khan’s spy thriller Pathaan earlier this year would be quickly exceeded. According to early predictions, Shah Rukh’s own action film Jawan might possibly succeed, according to a report from Sacnilk.com. (See also: In most of his films, Shah Rukh Khan flawlessly blends the personal and the political; Jawan is not one of them.)
Jawan, Shah Rukh Khan’s newest movie, is probably going to surpass Pathaan.
New movie starring Shah Rukh Khan Pathaan will probably lose to Jawan.
There are preliminary estimations.
According to the source, Jawan’s domestic box office debut on September 7 is predicted to bring in roughly 75 crore across the three languages of Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. This is merely a selection from Day 1, which also happens to be a holiday because of Janmashtami and falls on a Thursday. Before the first Monday arrives, it is expected to have a fantastic run on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Statistics & facts
According to the same survey, the Hindi version had a 46% first day occupancy rate. The movie outperformed Pathaan on Day 1 with ticket sales of 14 lakh.
A long weekend was also enjoyed by Jawan vs. Pathaan Pathaan, which debuted on January 25. To have a successful run at the box office, it had Republic Day, the national holiday, on Thursday, the following Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
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