Sunday Morning Coming Down

Maybe government should become more modest and maybe even humble.  The last three years and ten months has been exhausting.  And I would ask those with extreme political views of all stripes the Ronald Reagan question with a slight twist:  Is the country and indeed the world better off now than it was four years ago? COVID 19 started in 2019 in China probably about a year ago.  The worldwide response and the checkerboard results indicates too many folks have died or become sick  which has stressed out health care providers and patients.   Instead of MAGA, let's go with " Try Not To Suck " .  The Joe Maddon baseball imperative makes sense in baseball.  It has applications throughout: as a people, as communities, as states, as institutions, and as a country. Baseball has rules, baseball has umpires, baseball has players, playing baseball requires talent, skills, practice and experience. If we could just avoid unforced errors in the field, at th...

 Yesterday, I wrote to Senator Marco Rubio asking him to speak out publicly and forcefully about President Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the November election which most people would acknowledge was won by Joe Biden. If Senator Rubio believes Joe Biden won, he should say so, if he doesn't think he Joe Biden won he should also say so and explain his reasons for his beliefs regarding the results of the election. If Senator Rubio wants to slow walk the transition even that should be explained which is the legalistic version of letting the process play itself out.  What is gained versus what is lost in time, opportunity, and credibility should be laid out for the public. On a more global scale poll workers and voters of all political stripes showed up in precincts through out this country or mailed in ballots.  The turnout of of almost 160,000,000, almost 67% of the eligible voters should be respected absent any credible proof of any partisan mischief that would ...

  "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." So much for the oath of office he took when inaugurated.  What he really meant to say was: When Pigs Fly or Hell Freezes Over.

 The current Donald J. Trump probably never wanted to really be President of the United States.  I'm not sure if he ever really wanted to win the Republican nomination to be president in 2016.  He probably realizes it is hard work, requires compromise and personal sacrifice to be a leader in this country now if not back then.   Back in 2015 though it was a great stage to sell his brand or so he might have thought.  Golf vacations at Trump Properties, get away luxury weekends at Trump Hotels, there might be endless opportunities to hook up the Trump name with stuff or maybe even insinuate yourself permanently into the national media and politics and make money as a twenty first century ward healer of sorts who could deliver crowds and excitement. money and votes.  And now as a lame duck president the fund raising continues to pay off campaign debt, "fight voter fraud", and pay for recount expenses.  Lawyers don't work for free and there will be o...

 The election season is almost over.  Two more runoffs for the United States Senate to be held in Georgia on January 5, 2021 will decide who the Senate Majority Leader will be.  Both republicans did better than the democrats in the Senate races and the presidential race had Biden leading Trump by about 14,000 votes.  None of the candidates for the United States Senate received 50% of the vote triggering the runoff election. The race for the President was called for Biden.  It will be difficult for President Trump to overcome a 14,000 vote deficit but it should be noted that neither presidential candidate received 50% of the vote in Georgia which will require a recount. Even though President Elect Biden has almost certainly won 306 Electoral Votes nation wide and commentators will crow about the number of folks that voted for President Biden, he has only the smallest mandate, that being "try not to suck" at being President like Trump does now and has the last fou...

The 2020 election is over.  I'm not sure all the people have spoken but on Saturday the preliminary results were clear enough to most people that Joe Biden was declared the winner of the race for President of the United States. Some will say the election was close, and in at least a few states the election was closer than polls suggested.  Seventy five million voters came out to vote against Donald J. Trump.  No it wasn't the 67 senators needed to convict Donald J. Trump but even a somewhat tarnished vote by 52 Republican Senators was needed to save the President from being removed from office in February 2020. The latest raw vote count indicates over 50% of the voters and over 50% of the Electoral College voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.  If we were talking about the popular vote only: Hillary Clinton would have been elected in 2016 and Al Gore would have been elected in 2000.  Who really knows what might or might or might not have happened had those elec...

 Thumbs up or thumbs down is a form of voting.  Voice voting where those that shout the loudest is a form of voting.  Pulling a lever on a voting machine next to a name was the modern standard for voting for a while. And then came punch cards where you punched out your choice and the votes were counted by a computer that counted the holes on a card was state of the art for a while.  Back to the future we have gone back to paper ballots where the bubbles are recorded in a computer and tabulated. You need to get your name on the list of voters.  You vote. It is really a simple problem to solve.  I remember sheepishly(now) the phrase "free, white, and 21.  I used the phrase at times when discussing or arguing shit with my folks while living with my parents.  It got so bad I left my job, moved to West Virginia, and went to graduate school after a botched election in Dade County. My right to vote has never been seriously challenged.  Now it may be...