Electoral College Reality

My sister Jean's birthday is December 14 which happens to be the same day the Electoral College's electors cast their votes for the President in 2020. FYI, I checked to see how many of her birthdays were concurrent with the Electoral College voting day and this is the third (1964, 1992 and 2020). The term I read is that the date of the Electoral College is usually a civics class afterthought. My sister never thought of December 14 as an afterthought I am sure. And, this year it certainly was not overlooked. In fact, it had some drama leading up to it with all the falsehoods about election fraud and spurious lawsuits. Thankfully, the judicial branch of government demonstrated some integrity and dismissed these fallacies of logic into the trash where they belong. Really, I think if a prospective law student wrote one of these briefs, they would never get an interview to law school. But, in the end the people who actually administer elections did their jobs and the the Electoral College had no drama whatsoever.

January 11, 1987  Cleveland Municipal Stadium

Perhaps things can start getting back to normal. And, the results of the Cleveland Browns football game last night make me think the universe is starting to get back in sync. You see, I am a Cleveland Browns fan and last night's last minute loss to Baltimore brought back that awful feeling I have had on similar Brown's losses, feelings of anger, betrayal, and then a deep despair that the world is not fair. The Browns have never been to a Super Bowl and they tend to lose heartbreaking games. For example, the 1986 AFC Championship loss to Denver culminated in "The Drive" was similar to last night's 4th quarter loss.  When you are a child you have fantasies of greatness realized vicariously through heroes. Of course, for most of us those visions do not get realized and we eventually become aware that such desperate hopes should not be wasted on a fantasy. So, last night made me painfully aware again of this lesson of adulthood. 

Similarly, the current occupant of the White house has had his childish fantasies squashed and he is having a difficult time. However, I doubt if he can ever let it go because he never has had the self-insight of why reality has not met his expectation. Undoubtedly, many of his diehard followers are feeling despair but hopefully most will move on and realize that their hero is just a failed man. They should quit hoping that their lives can be fixed by a man-child who has not realized his flaws or his fantasies. 

Whew! How's the Water?

 I am grateful that the US Presidential election turned out the way it did.  Nina and I were seriously disturbed by the Trump administration; we've been quite stressed, not sleeping well, and having fantasies of revolution and violence.  I know we're not alone. I am relieved but wish the Biden victory would have been greater, more decisive, in order to show Trump and his minions how much they were disliked.  However, over 71 million people, 47.7% of the voters, chose him. For the past four years I've attributed the 2016 election result of people voting for Trump to a significant group that didn't like Hillary and didn't understand how unqualified Trump was to be President. I assumed that many of those 2016 voters would now see the light. Joe Biden is likable by about everyone; he fits the stereotypical model of the older white male with a qualified resume; and Trump was now a known entity.  I was wrong and I really don't know why I am wrong.  Me and over 75 million other voters don't understand the 71 million Trump supporters and I bet they don't understand me.

David Foster Wallace gave a commencement speech at Kenyon College in 2005 that turned into a small book called This is Water. I'd read it a number of years ago and it came to mind when pondering these two bubbles of American citizens who don't understand each other at all. He uses some cryptic stories that illustrate our problem. He offers some explanations about individual's templates and beliefs. He posits that some of a person's world view comes because we're hardwired but that people are also "arrogant and certain of their own interpretations... Blind certainty, a close-mindedness that amounts to an imprisonment so total that the prisoner doesn't even know he's locked up." You can find the speech on YouTube or the whole transcription at  This is Water

David Foster Wallace goes on to say that we have control over how we think about things. "It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed." I think many of the people in both groups of voters in this election are caught up in their own world views, hardwiring based on how and where you were raised and the experiences we've had.  And, indeed you should admit to yourself that arrogance is a factor in your choices of what you choose to think about and believe.  

Dave Chappelle was on SNL last night and had a great monologue with some hard truths and advice. We have to recognize that both groups have had terrible feelings of anguish. Chappelle suggests we have to, "Find a way to live your life. Find a way to forgive each other. Find a way to find joy in your existence in spite of that feeling."  

Amen

We Are All in This Together

Whether we want to be or not

All humanity is one community and we all have one global sickness. We are all contagious and always have been, unconsciously infecting one another and yet caring for one another. There is really no division. Sometimes we need to be cared for and other times we do the caring. We must learn to stand in these two different places and then change places as life happens.

 

There are no perfect answers or absolute heroes. We must all wear a mask to protect the other from "me". Don't play the victim; it's a waste of time, yours and everyone else's. Just realize you and everyone else are in the circle of life. We will all have our time to suffer, to serve and to hopefully be, albeit slowly, enlightened.

Paraphrased from the letter Richard Rohr sent today.

Presidential Election

 Rage by Bob Woodward

I recently read Bob Woodward’s new book on Trump called Rage. He covers four primary topics that have occurred in the current administration: the turnover of the Secretaries of Defense and State and the Director of National Intelligence, the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, the relationship with North Korea, and the response to Covid-19. Woodward accomplishes this primarily by sharing direct conversations with either the parties involved or the President himself.  I believe his description of the conversations are accurate and fair. The quotations of the President in the book are similar to what I hear on radio and television. In addition, Woodward has not expressed undo bias in describing these four topics. I don’t believe Woodward is rooting against the President other than stating that because Trump is so fluid and volatile it is very difficult for people in his administration to stay in good graces; thus, these jobs are very difficult and stressful and turnover is inevitable. Regarding the Mueller investigation, he makes it clear that it was always under the control of political types such as Rod Rosenstein or William Barr but he provides no hint of allegation that there was collusion.

Lastly, we come to Covid-19.  Woodward gives Trump credit for shutting down international travel with China and the Europe based on the expert advice of scientists and his National Security team and for supporting the shut down of the economy. By the way, the National Security Director identified the coronavirus as the most significant security threat to the nation and to Trump's prospects for reelection at the end of December 2019.  Woodward by recounting the numerous conversations also illustrates that Trump was extremely conflicted about shutting down the economy because of its impact on reelection and how it makes him look. Woodward posed many hard questions to Trump about taking leadership on personal protective equipment and being a wartime president. Woodward coached Trump that if he was straight with the American public and took ownership and led, the public would back him and he would be reelected. But, that if he didn’t do those things and continued to deflect responsibility, he would lose in November.

State of the Election Today

So, here we are 21 days from the election. Biden is winning by significant margins in the polls. Even in the battleground states Biden has solid leads. If you’re a Biden supporter, things look good. Bill Maher the comedian who has a weekly HBO show that focuses on politics, despises Trump and believes with all his heart that Trump will not leave the White House even if defeated soundly.  He asks all his political guests, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Nancy Pelosi, etc .why they aren’t as worried as he is and what they are going to do about it.  All have stated that it’s a hypothetical and that they believe Trump is just bluffing in order to rile people up.  They all state that what we have to do is vote and turn out in huge numbers.  And, they are absolutely correct; first Biden has to win the vote and the more convincing the margin the harder it will be for Republicans to challenge the result. 

A Nefarious Scenario

However, last week Maher laid out what he believes Trump’s plan will be if he loses:

1. In our Constitution we have the Electoral College as a way of electing the President and Vice-President. When we vote on Nov 3 we are really electing electors in our state who are pledged to vote for either Biden or Trump on December 14 this year. Constitutionally, whoever wins the popular vote in each state wins the pledge of all the designated electors in that state.  Some states have lots of electors (California has 55) and many have just a few electors (AK, DL, DC, MT, ND, SD, VT and WY each get 3).  It takes 270 electoral votes to win the Presidency.
2. Here is the nefarious aspect of Bill Maher’s obsession.  What if the Republicans decide that they don’t trust the validity of the popular vote results in the battleground states such as Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin. Their reasons would likely be voter fraud particularly around mail-in ballots. The Republicans control both houses of the state legislatures in all these battleground states. What if these states cannot agree on whose electors get to vote, Biden's or Trump's? What if any contested states don’t send in their electoral votes at all?
3. On January 6 a joint session of the US Congress meets and counts the electoral votes. If no candidate gets 270 electoral votes, the House of Representatives gets to decide. However, per our Constitution each state gets one vote only (California and Alaska are equal). The representatives in a given state decide upon a single candidate.  It takes 26 votes to win.  Republicans currently control 26 of the states in such a situation.  Two states are virtually tied, Michigan and Pennsylvania, so Democrats currently control only 22 states.  A new Congress is seated on January 1; thus, if more Democratic congressmen can be elected in Michigan and Pennsylvania and if two seats could flip in Florida, we would have a tie in  such a contingency. FYI, Nancy Pelosi realizes this and is fund raising to win more seats for her majority particularly in these close states.

Bottom Line

I don't think even Trump thought he would win in 2016. He creates such chaos that very strange things happen and I believe he could turn things around and still win the electoral college. If Trump loses the popular and the Electoral College elections as current polls project, I do not put it past him to follow the Bill Maher scenario which would start a very dark period in this country. I fear that rioting and rebellion on a large scale would occur.  So vote for a president and vote in your House and Senate elections, as well. Let us just make this a legitimate election and hope that both parties do their duty to support the will of the people. 

Air Quality in Portland is the Worst in the World

The West Coast is burning. Many have had their houses burned, their autos are skeletons and thousands are now refugees from the wild fires.  The West is too dry and the underbrush has not been thinned. By late August and September the forests are tinder and a spark and winds bring conflagration.  The smoke hangs over the states of Oregon, Washington and California. The smell permeates everything and can sting your eyes and make your throat sore even insides. Our dogs do not even want to go out for a walk.  I am sure asthma and lung disease will devastate many.

Climate change is real and now we are seeing the results both economically and personally.  Wait until the seas rise and all the dams and dikes cannot protect our low lying cities. Florida will be underwater as will the Eastern seaboard and the Gulf coast. You can deny science for so long to support your lifestyle but fires, air quality, water levels and our lungs do not care. They will react as the laws of physics, chemistry and biology dictate.  I suggest you vote as if your life depends upon it. Yes, dealing with climate change will be very expensive and disruptive but as Bernie Sanders said, "Expensive as opposed to what?"

The Jersey Shore of My Imagination

Where the Bruce is loud and the Rolling Rocks are cold

Jennifer Finney Boylan is a Philly girl who's family went to the Jersey Shore in the summers. She is now an author, transgender activist and English professor at Barnard College. She wrote this wonderfully evocative piece in the New York Times on Thursday August 20, 2020. I didn't grow up going to the Shore; I grew up in Ohio and we'd to Lake Erie which isn't a scene like the Atlantic coast. Not until my brother married into a Philadelphia family who went to the Jersey Shore, did I understand how wonderful and what an escape it is. My family started to join Tom and Leslie on Shore vacations. We rode out Hurricane Bob in 1991 at Cape May. My son loved the beach just like Jennifer Finney Boylan's friend Mickey said, "You know, this beach is a good idea." Families change where they vacation. Tom and Leslie tend to go to the Outer Banks and reside part time in the Poconos. My son Drew and his wife Sarah go to Virginia Beach. But this article will bring back those sights, sounds and smells which directly link to the memories of summers past.

Richard Rohr at Chautauqua

 Last year I went to Chautauqua in upstate New York for the first time. Chautauqua is famous for providing education over 9 weeks every summer on various topics of secular, religious and cultural basis. It is an institute started in the late 19th century that has evolved and is now ecumenical and multi-cultural.  Originally it was a place for families to come in the summer by train, relax on beautiful Lake Chautauqua and be entertained by sermons, lectures, music, dance and theater.  Over time families built houses and the institute expanded its facilities and a grand hotel was built.  Now you can stay on the grounds in the hotel or rent a house or stay off the grounds and drive in for the day's events.  Of course, this year everything is changed with Covid-19.  All programs are presented virtually and can be seen over the web.  Here are the themes for this year's program.  Check out their website and see the diversity of speakers and presentations. 

Week One • June 27–July 4 | Climate Change: Prioritizing Our Global and Local Response

Week Two • July 4–11 | Forces Unseen: What Shapes Our Daily Lives

Week Three • July 11–18 | Art and Democracy

Week Four • July 18–25 | The Ethics of Tech: Scientific, Corporate and Personal Responsibility

Week Five • July 25–August 1 | The Women’s Vote Centennial and Beyond

Week Six • August 1–8 | Rebuilding Public Education

Week Seven • August 8–15 | The Science of Us

Week Eight • August 15–22 | Reframing the Constitution

Week Nine • August 22–30 | The Future We Want, The World We Need: Collective Action for Tomorrow’s Challenges

This week, week eight, is on the topic of Reframing the Constitution. with scholars such as Jeffrey Rosen and Robert Levy and historian Jon Meacham. The big artistic name is violinist Joshua Bell. Giving a series of lectures in their Interfaith Lecture Series is Father Richard Rohr. Richard is famous as a speaker and author; he is a Franciscan priest and heads the Center for Action and Contemplationin Albuquerque. I know Richard personally from Cincinnati when we were both young men and he was co-head of the New Jerusalem Community and I was a recent ex-Jesuit looking for a community and parish. I believe I can say that Richard is the best preacher I have ever heard and what he says makes sense to you in your deepest source because he speaks honestly and unvarnished.


This year he is speaking on the subject of evil and is attempting to explain it. He does not mince words though the subject is difficult to define. You won't be overwhelmed with piety nor does he give a Roman Catholic only perspective. I think you'll find a touchstone whatever your faith perspective may be. Enrolling in all the Chautauqua program for 2020 is a bargain of $45 for the entire season and all the lectures and artistic performances are included. And, the first 90 days is free. If its not your cup of tea, cancel your membership. But give it a try and consider taking in Richard's lectures.

View of the Protest from a Higher Point of View

View from a friend's apartment within the four block perimeter of the 

downtown Portland Federal Building

Portland, Land of Protests

What to say about Portland? It’s beautiful here; the weather has been perfect for the past week with blue skies, temperature in the 80’s during the day and 60’s at night. Low humidity and you can see the mountains. The town is full of creative types doing innovative interesting things. It's liberal. You can be gay here and no one looks twice. It will definitely vote for the Democrats and Trump is despised. However, it has a long racist past. There aren’t many black people; Portland is the whitest big city in America. One of the former African American neighborhoods was destroyed by the interstate highway running though downtown as well as the Moda Center basketball arena and the Convention Center. Blacks were forbidden from buying property in white areas of the city. 

Like many cities, black men are still being shot and killed here by our police without ramifications.  The police were under a federal court order to reform. They’ve brought in an African American woman to be the chief of police who's since moved on to Philadelphia. The culture of the police department is still one of command and control and you better not be around if you’re a person of color or you could still end up dead.  So we now have Black Lives Matter protests going on for over 50 days.  It's an odd conglomeration of groups that gather to protest. Of course, some are from BLM but there are others that join in to protest other things (fascists, environment, homeless, jobs, gender/transgender).  And, of course, there is a criminal element that started a small fire at the courthouse and have written graffiti downtown particularly on the Federal Building. From what I can figure, this 2 minute video maybe best describes what the protestors want which is for massive changes.

However, after about 50 days the protestors were down to around one or two hundred and the movement was on the wane. In truth, as long as you avoid the 4 blocks around the Federal Building during the protest at night, there has been no disruption to our town. The city police and the protestors had reached an agreement that as long as there wasn’t violence, the people could protest, maybe tag a few buildings, maybe throw some fireworks and the police wouldn’t shoot, arrest anyone or use tear gas. Most Portlanders not involved in the protest had a “whatever” kind of attitude about the whole thing and assumed that just like the 99% protests of several years ago, protests would eventually dwindle to a few people holding signs in the park.

Last week Trump sent Homeland Security paramilitary people to Portland. The Acting Secretary of Homeland Security came to town and gave a get-tough speech.  They certainly weren’t invited by the mayor or the governor.  Some reputable reporting was done by OPB, the public radio and television affiliate in Oregon, about some people being apprehended on the street and taken away in unmarked vehicles by Feds. We’ll see what the US Attorney and Oregon Attorney General find out. I’m sure there will be congressional investigations at some point.  I believe Trump is just using these amateur quasi-military types to stir up his base. He has nothing to lose in Oregon since this state and the whole west coast is going to go for Biden. But now, with the Federal agents invading our city, abducting citizens like you’d see in a dictatorship, shooting projectiles and injuring people, and deploying tear gas, the protests have swollen. 

Navy Vet being beaten and tear gassed by Feds

One of our local papers, The Oregonian, gave a description of Portland during the BLM protests. And, truly, as long as you stay out of the protest area , there isn’t any change to our city. The keystone cops have gotten physical as demonstrated with this video of them whaling on a Navy veteran and graduate of Annapolis who came down for the first time over the weekend to see what was going on.  I love this video of a naked woman in a mask who struts in front of the advancing Feds and stops them in their tracks; the Feds didn’t know what to do and withdrew.  The crowds are in the thousands now; we even have Moms (#MAFIA Moms Against Fascism in America) in yellow shirts linking arms, singing and taunting the Feds and police. Last night they had a chant going using Ice Cube’s refrain to Fuck the Police from the Straight Outa Compton album.  It’s quite a scene.  The protests are not going away and I would guess that eventually the Feds will go home. 

After they go home, I don’t know what will happen to the protests. We have an election in November and there won’t be any question about the results in Oregon for any of the federal offices. However, our mayor, Ted Wheeler, is up for reelection. He would have won easily because he’s done a nice job on the Covid19 response and was doing okay with BLM until the Feds showed up. There was progress on defunding portions of the Portland Police department’s responsibilities. But, the police department was allowing the Feds to participate in their planning meetings and the police were getting physical over the weekend when the protests gained momentum again. He’s making statements objecting to the Feds but I don’t see activity in addressing the protestors' requirements.  He appears to be dithering. Unless he takes leadership and really gets the Feds out, makes progress on reengineering the police department, addresses the needs of the black community, and deals with our huge homeless situation, he’s going to lose the November election.

I'm curating and hope its useful.

I'm going to post summaries of articles that I have read recently so that you may decide if you want to read as well.  Let's talk about the President first then some good news and then some predicting the future.


I think most damning is by Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal. In her words, "He hasn't been equal to the crises. He never makes anything better. And everyone kind of knows."   The Week It Went South for Trump.

Next is by Maureen Dowd of the New York Times:   Republicans have a history of playing on the fears of white people by labeling people with dark skin as invaders:  Trump: Not So Statuesque  Things are looking down for the Donald.

• Nixon's Southern strategy.
• Willy Horton ads by George HW Bush.
• W and Cheney playing on the fear of Al-Queda terrorists.
• Trumps reaction to Black Lives Matter protesters as agitators and anarchists; defending Confederate statues; promising a wall to protect us from Mexican criminals, drug dealers and rapists; recent immigration policy changes banning visas.

And, on that note, let's turn to Nicholas Kristof today for an uplifting piece of good news: 

Now is a Time to Learn from Hispanic Americans

• He describes the Hispanic paradox of how poverty and discrimination do not lower the life expectancy of Hispanics. They have a life expectancy of 81.8 years vs 78.5 years for whites and 74.9 years for blacks. 
• He describes a strong social fabric and how Hispanics take care of those within their communities.   

I thought Ross Douthat was insightful in that he posits that the viral pandemic will cause an acceleration of changes already in progress in the US. So much so that by the time we exit the pandemic in 2022, the country will take on changes that without the pandemic would not have evolved until 2030.  Waking Up in 2030 The suspended time of the pandemic has put history on fast-forward.

• There will be an acceleration of the demise of midsize daily newspapers and the national news media will have even more advantages.
• Higher education will evolve further with online education. in addition, foreign enrollment will decline and the marginal state universities and many small liberal arts colleges will financially collapse.
• Church attendance will decay faster and many small churches will go away. In addition, parochial schools and parishes will consolidate even faster.
• The political shift to the Democrats is being accelerated by the Trump administration disaster and more states will shift from Red to Blue maybe even for the current election.