Guard Dog

LOL! This is why the American government needs to be small enough to drown in a bucket if needs be! Because of the jackasses that end up running it

Electors are chose by the state legislature. They are pledged to vote for the winner of the Presidential election of that state. But the state legislature is not legally beholden to the outcome of the election. They could, theoretically, go another way. It has never been done to my knowledge and is as near unthinkable as it gets in American politics. Not the least of which they know torches and pitchforks will follow. And what President would even want to be in office under such a cloud? Prior to this one I'd have said "none". There have been instances of "faithless electors" who went rouge and voted how they liked. In fact in 2016 Democrats were begging for Republican electors to install Hillary. But what Trump is doing is so much worse. This isn't people asking for a favor. This is a President discussion collaborating with a Legislature to take power unelected. Like I said. Horrifying. Incidentally many states are passing laws to prevent faithless electors. The Supreme Court has already said this is OK. I agree. As for what kind of a pardon Trump might be hoping for, there are still numerous court cases. some with criminal implications, going against him. But what he really fears I think is IRS trouble and things that may come to light after he is gone.

So I read in three different news sources yesterday that Trump is again asking if the Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Arizona Legislatures (all Republican controlled) could be asked to appoint "loyal electors" and re-elect him in defiance of the state vote. That a US President would even ask that is horrifying. But after four years of this SOB not surprising. The latest story is that he will pardon everyone he feels "loyal" to and then resign the office before Jan 20th so a President Pence can pardon him. I've always thought highly of Pence before he became associated with Trump. I always thought he had integrity. As Trump's VP he has a role to play but if he becomes President, even if only a matter of days, that integrity will be put to the test. I hope he passes, issues no pardons, and heads off into the retirement he was planning before he became Trump's running mate. He owes Trump nothing and Trump surely deserves nothing.

Just finished re-reading The Cruelest Miles. I posted about it a few pages back. It's about the dog sled relay to get the first part of a diphtheria vaccine from Anchorage to Nome. What a great book. Worth reading twice.

Going up to Dyersburg to do some landscaping on my lot up there. I got a nasty letter from the city. Well, it HAS been a while.

Tell me this is not the greatest birthday cake ever!

Can’t argue that point

No actually it’s not like that at all.

Eisenhower. More limited than under Bush in 88 anyway. Certainly more than anything that came after

Well there was the Democrats back in Thomas Jefferson’s day. The Whig party some of the time. The republican party off and on following World War II. And if you are fond of shaggy dog stories is there is the Libertarian party.

Sadly true. There is no party of limited government now.

Too funny!

Scary isn’t it? You know I always suspected this would happen in the US one day. But I always thought it would be the Democrats.

Could Trump Stage a Coup this is the kind of news reporting I would normally scoff at. But nothing is normal this year. But no, LOL, he’s not going to do that no one would ever support him even if he wanted to

I would not say opposition to both candidates leads to a center position. But I also would not call opposition to either or both candidates faulty reasoning. Political affiliations are not a mathematical proof. There is no single correct answer. For someone who values limited and constitutional government and personal liberty there are ample reasons to oppose both candidates. Indeed the logical reasoning of such a voter can lead to little else that mutual opposition. To support one or the other such a voter must begin to make compromises on their beliefs. What will they trade in return for what. Speaking for myself alone I refused to betray my personal ethics to support a lesser evil. I do not consider that a vice and my reasoning was not faulty. To suggest someone who came to a different conclusion did so by faulty reasoning is a tad arrogant.

I posted this a page or two ago but since you brought it up it’s right on point. I won’t pretend to know the mind of Trump voters but I would imagine a good percentage of them are not voting for anything so much as against the alternative. No matter how horrible Trump was it doesn’t make Biden good. In 2016 I can almost guarantee you the majority of trumps support was opposition to Hillary.

One more thing. Demonstrating that sour grapes is a bipartisan dish, a number of left wing Dems are grumbling about disproportionate representation in the Senate again since it is highly probable the GOP might retain control. I have a solution to that problem. And it is an elegant solution in that is not only "fixes" the Senate but also restores some of the power lost by the House of Representatives AND will stop the bleeding of the State governments that see Leviathan usurp more and more power that is solely theirs. That solution is to repeal the 17th Amendment. Prior to it's passage the Senators of each state were elected by the legislatures of each state. That will increase voter involvement in State elections that are very important and often go without notice. THAT is where you get gerrymandering by the way. It will also increase the importance of the House rep to their districts and improve that interaction. Finally the Senate was never meant to be the hot mess it's turning into. It was supposed to counter "the passions of the House" and be a more deliberative body.

After Pre election polling has been laughably wrong three of the last four elections it is probably fair to say the entire polling process has been thoroughly discredited. It probably should be ignored going forward. But of course it won’t be. Trump would have us believe that pre-election polling was a left-wing tactic to depress his voter base. That of course does not make sense because there are numerous polling organizations that are competing with each other. Competitors don’t collaborate generally speaking. speaking of Trump, yes he did receive the second most votes of any presidential candidate in history. And while I cannot even fathom the minds of 72 million Americans it’s probably worth considering that a considerable portion of the votes cast are no longer for the candidate so much as against the alternative. That is certainly a factor that got Trump elected in the first place.

McConnell is paying lip service I think. He and Biden have been friends for years. I don’t think he’ll be sorry to see Trump gone

@ShadySands, @ManifestedISO Our motto was "Always Faithful". But it was not to a President nor to a government that we pledged fidelity It was to the country, our countrymen, our bothers and sisters in arms, and to ourselves. Years have passed since we turned away from battles and watches. The service we gave fading from all memory but our own. But once a Marine always a Marine. Always faithful we remain. Happy Birthday my brothers!

Oh OK. That makes more sense then!

@Gromniryou were right. Even I could not predict how low he’d stoop. Despite his long history in public life which made this all but assured. He even made me of all people look optimistic. On another note I saw on the news there were fireworks in London and they rang the bell‘s in Paris win Biden won. What the hell? They really need to get a life. The outcome of the US presidential election is not that consequential. Especially for the Georgia senate runoff goes the ways we hope.

Achilles is right. If Trump ended up getting Arizona it wont help him. He'd need to overturn Arizona, AND Pennsylvania, OR Michigan and still get North Carolina AND Georgia. And he's not going to win Georgia. That is why the court challenges are moot. He'd have to win almost all of them and even then that won't get him to the promised land because he's far enough behind it's unlikely there are enough "illegal" votes to toss. Was there voter fraud? Almost certainly. Was Joe Biden the beneficiary of it? Again almost certainly. But it is near impossible to prove in court that it altered the outcome because it just did not. The candidates down ballot likely have more cause for complaint than Trump in those cases.

Well I have to say I am quite pleased to see the back of side of Trump on his way out the door. Whenever he gets around to walking (or is dragged) through it. That does not make me love Joe Biden in any way. He is simply a slightly less defective replacement of a faulty cog. But I will say if both of the Senate seats going to a runoff in Georgia are retained by the Republicans I will sleep a lot better at night. Unified government is not a thing a wise person should wish for. At least not in this country.

Didn’t know it happened until 10 minutes ago. Have to read up on the details. The United States government has never been shy about turning the military on civilians