And the Counts go on!

 

As of this date, there are still votes being counted, Georgia is undergoing an audit and several lawsuits have been filed about vote counts by the Republican Party and dismissed. No final total was really close although Wisconsin and Arizona had closer margins than some other states and might have qualified for a recount. That count would have been moot as VP Biden has exceeded the required 270 electoral votes by 36 points. More than 154 million votes were cast, the highest tally ever in a presidential election. (The 2016 totals were approximately 129 million.) Former VP Joe Biden is firmly in the position of President-elect, regardless of what the president, his minions and the Republican party have declared.

Vote totals thus far: Biden: 50.8% - 78,675,847 votes - 306 Electoral College Votes

                      The president:  47.2% - 73,115,212 votes - 232 Electoral Votes

The electoral college totals are the same as the president received in 2016 when he lost the popular vote; he has been touting his totals since then as a landslide.

Despite these numbers, the results in several states were challenged with allegations of “voter fraud, dead people voting, votes counted after election day” (which is perfectly legal if they were postmarked properly) and other improprieties.  As those lawsuits failed, then rumors were floated that votes for the president were being discarded and that the election was being stolen. Calls went out for protestors to appear at counting centers and were answered in several states. It has been reported that the president has not accepted that he could have lost the election if the votes were fairly counted. At other times he discussed running again in 2024, which seemed to indicate that he knew it was over. Despite this, few Republicans have congratulated the President-elect; Secretary of State Pompeo indicated that he would be attending the presidents’ second inaugural. The Department of State has declined to forward to Biden congratulatory messages sent in from heads of state from other countries. All of this seems unnecessarily petty, but as the president keeps tweeting, he has left no doubts that he is taking names of those who stray from the expected path of pretending that he has won.

The right-wing media has also jumped on the “Stop the Steal” election fraud bandwagons and encouraged the MAGA followers who rallied on DC street this weekend. While last week saw cheers and joy by masked and diverse celebrants, this week saw a mostly white and unmasked crowd waving alternative flags who came to demonstrate in support of a flawed election, many disputing the final tallies. I sometimes wonder if we are living in two different worlds. There were a few confrontations with Biden supporters, but no major violence, although some of the MAGA fraud protestors were arrested on gun-carry violations.

The president has made only minimal public appearances since VP Biden was declared the winner: he held a bizarre press conference where his remarks primarily contained false and unproven claims about the election, he laid a wreath at the Arlington Cemetery Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where he appeared unmasked, and he made remarks about the Pfizer vaccine in the Rose Garden, where he took no questions. He has ben said to be ignoring the duties of his office, is holding no meetings, is attending no briefings and has basically abdicated the responsibilities of his office. He is said to be spending hours on the phone and twitter while watching television continuously.  He is spending many hours on the golf course – how sad is this? More than 60 days still will pass before the date of the Inauguration on January 20, 2021; who is running this country?

The president has managed to fire people in several departments across the government as he lops off those whom he considers insufficiently loyal. The first and most prominent to go was Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who had been on the hit list ever since he opposed the president’s request for armed troops to police American city streets (He was fired by a tweet). A low-level person in the office of counter terrorism, Christopher Miller, was appointed to take his place as acting secretary, an act which alarmed many defense professionals. Three other senior officials were also fired abruptly – the deputy administrator of USAID, Bonnie Glick, Lisa Gordon-Hagerty of the National Nuclear Security Administration, and Neil Chatterjee, Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. As described by NPR, “these positions cover the nuclear weapons stockpile, electricity and natural gas regulation and overseas aid”. Temporary replacements do not require Senate consent. One replacement as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy - was retired General Anthony Tata who had previously called President Obama a terrorist and a Muslim in a controversial tweet, which he now says he regrets. The Senate had refused to confirm him and his hearings were cancelled earlier in the year.

Other officials said to be on the chopping block are Gina Haspel, CIA director, who has refused the request to declassify materials which the president felt would be a defense for him regarding Russian meddling and FBI Director Christopher Wray who has declined to go after supposed foes of the president.  Wray is supposed to have a ten-year appointment which should secure him from political machinations, but this president does not follow the rules, as we know. How many more important positions will be vacated and filled by unprepared yes men before the president leaves office in January? What is this doing to our safety as a country, and our security regarding national defense? What signals does this send to countries who do not wish us well?

Finally, what has this lack of attention to national needs done to our country as we face an unprecedented eruption across the country of the COVID pandemic? Drs Brix and Fauci state that they are not consulting with the White House COVID task force any longer, although VP Pence is said to be holding some meetings. The White House held another super spreader event on election night as the guests watched the returns. HUD secretary Ben Carson, advisors Corey Lewandowski, Mark Meadows and several others are all now infected from the mostly mask-free evening. The virus, however, has not listened to the press releases sent out by the White House, indicating that they are so over this, the virus will just go away, even as daily numbers continue to astonish and frighten most observers.

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Comparison of totals from last week and this week show an astonishing jump in totals number in the US and in Maryland.  I have copied the numbers from last week to compare them:

Total US COVID cases as of 11/14/20: 11,108,600. (There has been an increase of over one million cases this week!)  Total new cases: 159,121 (Friday – the total was 184,00)

Total US COVID cases: 10,051,300.  Total new cases 11/7 – 126,156.  

Total deaths: 246,013 Total new deaths: 1210.

Total deaths:  238,023.  Total new deaths: 1013. 

Total Maryland cases 11/14/20 – 164,090. Total new cases: 2321

Maryland Totals as of 11/7/20.  Total cases: 152,915. Total new cases: 1410. 

Total Deaths:4,293 Total new deaths: 20.

Total deaths: 4,201. Total new deaths: 7. 

Maryland has shown an increase of over 12 thousand cases since last week.  The Governor and most County Executives have rolled back some of the restaurant permissions which had been opened; mandatory mask wearing is in place indoors and outdoors and gatherings are being restricted across the state.  Travel is discouraged and quarantining is in place in several areas.  The same increases are being seen across all states with some at a critical stage. Chicago has imposed a lockdown for 30 days. Maryland has indicated that lockdowns are not being considered.

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With a lack of Federal response or leadership, states are attempting to contain the virus on their own with varied success. The president has denied President-elect Biden access to the normal transition processes and daily security briefings, so he does not have up to date information on what steps have been taken. However, despite these obstacles, he has still put in place a COVID task force consisting of professionals, physicians, public health experts and scientists who will hit the ground running once the new president is in place. Unfortunately, this still endangers the safety of all Americans as we must wait until these experts can address the problems and get a Federal response up and running. In the meantime, thousands of Americans are suffering and dying.

That is about all I have to say this week. It is sad that we lost Jeopardy host Alex Trebek to pancreatic cancer this week. This is the same condition which took the lives of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Congressman John Lewis this year. Perhaps, someday, we will have a treatment for this condition. It is being reported that cancer patients are afraid to visit hospitals for fear of catching the virus, I do wonder how many other health conditions are being neglected.

So much more to discuss – the demographic voter breakdowns and the failure of the polls – maybe next week if time permits.

“Til next week – peace.