Time to Give Thanks

 

It may seem odd in the midst of a pandemic to think about giving thanks, but this week I thought I would try to find a few positives to highlight.

As a supporter of President-elect Joe Biden, I know that we Democrats have to thank the voters of Georgia, particularly the African-American women voters there for the votes which turned Georgia blue for the first time in a generation. And one cannot mention Georgia without thanking Stacey Abrams for her outstanding efforts with Fair Fight to get out the vote. As the article in Newsweek indicated, a great deal of the credit for this change in Georgia is due to her efforts in getting voters registered and then getting them to show up at the polls. When she ran for Governor in Georgia a few years ago -and came very close to winning - Abrams had to contend with purging of the voter rolls by her opponent who was the Secretary of State at that time and would not recuse himself.  But I applaud her for turning a past electoral defeat into a win for us all.

Now that there is a Senatorial run off in which the Democratic candidates are quite competitive against two incumbent Republican candidates, Georgians have to do it all over again and show up to elect two Democratic Senators.  So – this time – I thank them in advance!  Doing so, would make the Senate even between Democrats and Republicans and VP Kamala Harris would be available to cast the deciding vote in case of a tie. This would also keep current Majority Leader Mitch McConnell from prohibiting Joe Biden’s agenda being addressed and keep him from doing to him what he did to President Obama with suppressing most of his initiatives. There also could be a question as to who will be Majority Leader. The last time such a split occurred, the two party leaders worked out a power sharing agreement for bills and committee assignments.  However, the partisanship was not quite as stark as it is now.  I guess we will wait to see.  But first, the Democrats have to win both of those Senate seats.

Next, I want to thank the voters of America who turned out in record numbers, braved all kinds of weather, stood in long lines, mastered changed election procedures, found new polling places and cast their ballots. A total of 153,628,636 votes were cast for the two major candidates with VP Biden receiving 79,836,191 and the president garnering 73,792,443.  I want to applaud their tenacity which, for me, reinforces the importance of voting in this country.  For those who might say that “my vote” doesn’t matter, we can point to close tallies in several states and in several races down ballot.  Winning swing states may mean more in some instances due to the Electoral College tallies, but as can be seen, the margins in some of those states were close and there were few of the projected landslides for either candidate.

Thanks also go to the elected officials across the country who, for the most part, ran elections which were COVID safe for voters and workers, and were safe from outside interference.  Despite some instances of voter intimidation or suppression, the majority of states held good elections.  For this I also thank Chris Krebs of CISA who worked with Homeland Security, the FBI, NSA and DNI to produce a hacker free election day and monitored a rumor control website. Because he made a statement that the election was one of the most secure in US History, and the rumor control site debunked or disagreed with the president’s claim of dead voters and widespread election fraud, Chris Krebs was fired this week by the president.  Thanks to Chris for a job well done!

In my opinion, the president has harmed our democracy with his false claims far more than any Russian bots could have managed.

Since the election was declared once VP Biden was determined to have earned 270 electoral votes, the General Services Administration was supposed to start the ball rolling for the transition team to have staff and office space.  The current administrator, a political appointee, stated that until she is told by the president that Biden is the winner, she will not release the transition funds even though the law states that this should happen, when the apparent winner is determined. Until then, the FBI cannot start the background and security checks on potential cabinet members, the security forces cannot begin giving the daily security briefings to the president-elect and the corona virus task force cannot get information on what work is in progress. Though no thanks to GSA, I do thank the transition staff and President-elect Biden and VP-elect Harris for their continued dignity, staying above the fray, holding meetings and making efforts to work around these road blocks.

Thanks also to the press and media outlets who mostly have determined it is their job to get the results of the election out to the public and break down the Republican claims that the totals are still uncertain or questionable. It is unprecedented to not have a president concede in the face of an obvious loss, but this one is contesting results in multiple states. More than 20 lawsuits filed by the campaign and the party have already been denied or dismissed. No thanks to those who are continuing to promote rumors and conspiracy theories such as Rudy Giuliani, Senator Ted Cruz and Minority Leader McCarthy. The Republican party chair (Ronna McDaniel - who was just supported by the president for another term) continues to echo these claims, when she should know better, although some party members are peeling off at the local levels, despite lobbying by the president.

Thanks also to Black voters across the country who voted in overwhelming numbers for Biden/Harris. According to Statistica, the racial breakdown for the electorate was:

White DJT –: 57%   JRB - 42%       Hispanic/Latina   DJT - 32%     JRB – 66%   Other – DJT- 40%   JRB – 58%

Black:  DJT –12%   JRB - 87%        Asian                        DJT - 31%    JRB – 63%

Thanks go to women voters generally as NBC news indicated that women and black women, particularly (91%), went strongly for Biden who won 57% of women and 45% of men overall. The issue of racial justice was a strong one for Biden voters, as was the choice of Kamala Harris and issues related to the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Republican women supporters were noted to be more often without college degrees and more likely to be evangelical. They also gained more Hispanic voters by labeling the Democrats socialists or communistic and for male voters by emphasizing strength and painting Biden as weak, even as the law and order message to suburban women did not seem to resonate.

Some pre-election polls had indicated a landslide for Biden, but the margin was actually much closer, about 4%. Many wonder why the polls were so far off, especially in the swing states.  Pollsters have agreed that they need to do some self-review.  In an interview on PBS Newshour some pollster suggestions were noted, there was the possibility that the presidents’ supporters were reluctant to identify themselves for fear of ridicule, but others disputed that theory; others questioned whether they were asking the correct questions or had identified the correct cohort. Some wondered whether phone interviews have lost their draw as many with caller ID phones will not pick up the call. So, it appears that time will tell as reviews of results continue.

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COVID Stats (NY Times) 11/22/20

Total US COVID cases:12,307,100.  Total new cases – 171,98

Total deaths: 256,500. Total new deaths: 1,428.

Maryland Total cases: 182,139. Total new cases: 2316. 

Total Deaths:4,434. Total new deaths: 19.

The national numbers of cases have increased 59% since last week as more than 1.9 million new cases were identified in statistics, which went up in 49 of our 50 states. Yet, still the president refuses to allow the task force staff to communicate with the Biden transition team, even as people continue to die in record numbers. Shameful!  Two vaccines are moving closer to applications for approvals from the FDA. That is something new to be thankful for! However, it will probably be several months before logistics are worked out and they are widely available. So, folks, hang tight, don’t travel for the holidays and wear your mask!

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Timely tidbit – Governor Hogan finally admitted this week that the well-publicized COVID tests he purchased for several million dollars from Korea were faulty and he had to purchase additional supplies later. Now he tells us!

So, enough thanks for today – I am certain that you can add more.  Do tell me your suggestions.  By the way, if you read and like these weekly postings, please share with others.

·         Here is the latest from the Pandacam.  There was a contest this week to name the cub (it is closed now) – here are the selections: (I voted for #3.) so the results should be announced soon.  I think it is tradition to name the pandas when they are 100 days old.

·         Fu Zai (fu-tzai) – Mandarin Chinese for “prosperous boy”

·         Xiao Qi ji (shiau-chi-ji) – Mandarin Chinses for “little miracle”

·         Xing Fu (shing-fu) – Mandarin Chinese for “happy and prosperous”

·         Zai (tzai-tzai) – Mandarin Chinese nickname for boy.

 

So do stay safe and have an enjoyable Thanksgiving, even if it is not your usual gathering.  Next year should be better.

“Til next week, peace.