Trump’s Hail Mary to the Supreme Court goes for naught.
The Electoral College meets and will vote today.
The vaccine is being handed out starting today but some of the decisions on who gets them is a little strange.
And California continues to run the race for stupidest state in the Union.
Hail Mary
On December 8th, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin in the United States Supreme Court. According to Paxton’s official government website, he believes that these four states “exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to justify ignoring federal and state election laws and unlawfully enacting last-minute changes,” and that these last-minute changes were responsible for “skewing” the results of the presidential election on November 3rd.
Continuing, the post claims that Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin — states which are crucial to Biden’s presumed victory — had “flooded their people with unlawful ballot applications and ballots while ignoring statutory requirements as to how they were received, evaluated and counted.”
The lawsuit is being described by critics as a “Hail Mary play for President Donald Trump,” with Sen. Ben Sasse calling the lawsuit a “PR stunt.” However, over 100 GOP members of the House of Representatives disagree, filing an amicus brief supporting Texas’ case. Among these Republicans are Ohio’s Rep. Jim Jordan, Texas’ Rep. Dan Crenshaw, and Florida’s Matt Gaetz.
On Wednesday, seventeen states “filed documents with the Supreme Court,” as Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia joined with Missouri to file an amicus brief supporting Texas.
The next day, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Utah “formally joined Texas in its Supreme Court suit.”
In response, the attorneys general for Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin have asked the Supreme Court to reject the lawsuit with “blistering language,” calling the attempt “an affront to democracy and the rule of law.” According to the New York Times, “legal experts” have criticized the basis of the suit, citing that the case relies on the claim that “Texas can dictate how other states run their elections because voting irregularities elsewhere harm the rights of Texans.”
On Friday night, the Supreme Court refused to hear the case
https://www.dailywire.com/news/texas-election-lawsuit-heres-what-you-need-to-know
The Electoral College
Today, Monday, the Electoral college gets together. By tonight, Joe Biden will be named President. This is what is going to happen:
- The electors from each state will get together and vote based on the popular vote in that state. The winner will get all the electors.
- Several states will have a split vote based on the the voting percentages. Nebraska and Maine are states that will give voted to both Biden and Trump.
- Seventeen states will have faithless electors. These people vote for the candidate they feel should have been chosen. How states treat faithless electors is dependent on the state.
Trump vows that he will continue to fight even if he loses the electoral college. That doesn’t mean much. The window is closing for Trump and, so far, he has lost all but one court battle (out of 49) and the Supreme Court will not take up any of the cases.
A Big Victory
The Debate Continues
The FDA has approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine through an emergency use authorization, clearing the way for Americans to receive inoculations against COVID-19 for the first time since the pandemic was declared in March, according to multiple reports.
The first vaccines should be released on Monday. Frontline workers and the elderly will be the first to receive the vaccine. This is a huge victory for Donald Trump. He created laws that allowed a vaccine that should have taken 5 to 10 years to create in less than a year. Joe Biden is going to receive the fruits of this victory and he deserves none of it. Especially since his running mate said she would not trust the vaccine since it came out if this White House, like Trump was actually producing the vaccine in the White House basement.
This brings up the debate: Should we take the vaccine?
I was talking to Josie, my fiancé, who works in a clinic as a medical assistant. Needless to say, she is a front line worker. She said she would not take the vaccine even if it was a requirement for her to work there. We had a nice long talk about it on Saturday night. Here’s what we came up with:
- Risk versus Reward: Is the virus more dangerous than taking a vaccine? I don’t think so.
- Has the vaccine been suitably tested? I think so. I doubt companies are going to release something that will kill people.
I do not have a problem with vaccines but I also don’t like sticking crap into my body unless there is a real reason. I usually don’t take aspirin when I get a headache (unless it’s really bad). My job requires me to take a flu shot every year. And I do without argument. That doesn’t mean I like it.
Though I doubt there are any side effects from the vaccine, I just don’t think it’s worth it because I am in the age group that is not a threat. I have a 99.8% survival rate if I contract the China virus. It’s not like it’s polio or the measles or anything. Yes, it’s easier to contract and deadly than the flu but I have more of a chance dyeing in a car accident than by the China virus.
I do think those who are older and those that have pre-existing conditions should take the vaccine. For them, this virus is deadly. I would never recommend that someone who is in danger of dying should avoid the vaccine. I’m just not sure it’s necessary for someone like me.
The Media Gets Skunked Again
When Trump announced in August that there would be a vaccine by the end of the year, the media made asses of themselves.
NBC actually fact-checked the President:
“Fact check: Coronavirus vaccine could come this year, Trump says. Experts say he needs a ‘miracle’ to be right.”
I guess Trump is a miracle worker.
NPR said that Trump, “contradicting the CDC,” said a COVID-19 vaccine could be ready by the end of 2020.
The next day, another NPR article featured the transcript of one of its programs knocking Trump for suggesting the vaccine would be ready by the end of the year. The outlet used testimony from CDC Director Robert Redfield before a Senate panel that month, in which he said the vaccine would not be ready until the spring or summer of 2021.
CNBC said:
“President Trump says Covid-19 vaccine will be coming by the end of the year, despite contrary evidence.” The article featured footage from the presidential debate between Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden in which NBC News’ Kristen Welker noted Trump administration health experts saying a vaccine wouldn’t be ready until 2021 and asking Trump if his predictions were “realistic.”
Well, we have a vaccine. Is anyone going to apologize? Of course not. The media is now trying to find a way to give credit to Joe Biden. Kind of hard to do since all Old Joe can think of is that everyone should wear a mask.
Only in California
The Los Angeles Times reports, “the move came in response to a lawsuit filed in April by the American Civil Liberties Union against Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes, seeking the release of medically vulnerable and disabled inmates as well as necessary measures to protect those remaining in the jails from the coronavirus.”
According to Judge Peter Wilson:
“The uncontested facts found here include that conditions in the jail do not permit proper social distancing, there is no mandatory testing of staff or asymptomatic detainees after intake, and no strictly enforced policy of requiring masks for all staff interaction with inmates.”
Sheriff Don Barnes said:
“If the order stands, it will result in the release of more than 1,800 inmates. Many of these inmates are in pre-trial status for, or have been convicted of, violent crimes and will be released back into the community. This order puts our community at substantial risk and does not take into account the impact on the victims of these crimes.”
As the Los Angeles Times reported:
The judge ordered Barnes to reduce the population in all congregated living areas by 50%, including all dormitory and barracks-style housing and multi-person cells. He also instructed Barnes to provide a release plan by Dec. 31 that lists all medically vulnerable inmates, and to identify measures to protect all people in that category who won’t be released or transferred from jail.
He ordered Barnes to maintain the reductions “until the current COVID-19 emergency is declared terminated” and to impose a strict policy for staff members to wear face masks anytime they are within six feet of an inmate.
Is there ever going to be anything that makes being a felon a person that needs to be punished? A strong flu is now going to release felons?
https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-vaccine-authorization-one-of-the-greatest-scientific-accomplishments-in-history
https://www.dailywire.com/news/fda-approves-first-covid-19-vaccine-for-emergency-use
https://www.dailywire.com/news/flashback-media-said-a-vaccine-by-end-of-year-was-impossible-even-fact-checked-trump-making-claim
https://www.dailywire.com/news/many-states-will-offer-vaccine-to-prisoners-before-general-public
https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-orders-california-sheriff-to-reduce-inmate-population