hotair--2020-11-17--Judy Shelton, Trump's pick for Federal Reserve, blocked by Senate -- for now

How many of his Federal Reserve picks has the Senate quashed now ?
Remember that Herman Cain and Stephen Moore were also floated at one point until a few centrist Republicans like Mitt Romney said , “ Uh , no.
” The problem with Cain , Moore , and Shelton is that they were all Trump cronies to various degrees and Fed governors aren ’ t supposed to be cronies .
The Fed is quasi-independent , to insulate it from political pressure .
That ’ s the opposite of what Trump wants in government , though ; the DOJ is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well , look for no further than the person of Bill Barr .
But Shelton had other issues .
There was , er , this , for instance : President Donald Trump ’ s newest selection for the Federal Reserve , Judy Shelton , previously called for open borders between the United States and Mexico .
In an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal published in 2000 , titled “ North America Doesn ’ t Need Borders , ” Shelton praised former Mexico President Vicente Fox ’ s vision of a “ greater @ @ @ @ @ @ @ United States .
“ His talk of open borders is deeply controversial in the U.S. , though what he is really selling is the fulfillment of open markets , ” wrote the economist .
“ His proposal to combine resources across borders may strike some as too imaginative in its scope .
But it is , in fact , steeped in pragmatism.
” It ’ s safe to assume that she no longer holds that view but righties aren ’ t usually so forgiving of former open-borders fanatics .
The bigger problem with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Shelton is a goldbug — or was .
It ’ s hard to tell what she believes now because her bad tendencies towards cronyism are at odds with her bad support for a return to the gold standard , leaving one to wonder what she ’ d do if confirmed to the Fed .
From NRO : For many years , Shelton tirelessly advocated a gold-backed dollar , 0 percent inflation , and higher interest rates .
After the financial crisis , when the U.S. had a prolonged spell of low inflation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Federal Reserve ’ s efforts to foster a recovery posed too great a risk of raising prices .
High and variable inflation , such as we experienced in the 1960s , is an evil that the central bank can and should avoid .
Regarding inflation as always and everywhere the chief threat to an economy , on the other hand , is an error that can trap economies in depressions .
It is an error to which Shelton ’ s ideology makes her especially prone .
President Trump has very different views @ @ @ @ @ @ @ does not worry about inflation , and shows no sign of caring about the gold standard .
During his presidency , these views have been right in their practical upshot more often than not .
What is worrisome is the extent to which Shelton has echoed Trump ’ s views without even acknowledging how they differ from the ones she has expressed in the past , let alone explaining her change of mind .
She wanted tighter money in the depths of recession a decade ago , and then advocated looser money at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ steep increase in the price of gold , which once would have alarmed Shelton as an indicator of future inflation , has not given pause to her in her current incarnation .
Today ’ s confirmation vote was unusually suspenseful .
For starters , three Republicans had already said they ’ d vote no on Shelton : Mitt Romney , Susan Collins , and Lamar Alexander .
That left the Senate theoretically divided at 50/50 , with Mike Pence the tiebreaking vote .
But then , thanks to COVID , things got complicated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vote due to close contact with someone who ’ s tested positive .
The same happened to Rick Scott earlier this week .
And Alexander was taken away from the chamber on family business .
There was also a question of whether VP-elect Kamala Harris would make it back to Washington in time to cast a vote against Shelton .
When the roll was called , it was anyone ’ s guess who might show up , whether other Republicans might vote no on Shelton , and whether Pence would be needed at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because Mitch McConnell switched his vote from yes to no at the last second , purely as a procedural matter .
By voting no , he ’ s now entitled to bring Shelton ’ s nomination back to the floor for a revote .
Once Grassley and Scott are back , that should give the GOP 50 votes — enough to confirm her with Pence ’ s help , even with Romney , Collins , and Alexander voting the other way .
But there ’ s another wrinkle .
Mark Kelly just defeated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ special election .
In a special election , senators don ’ t wait until January 3 to be sworn in .
They take office within weeks of their election .
Once Kelly ’ s seated later this month or in early December , that ’ ll be 51 votes against Shelton .
If McConnell wants to get her confirmed , he needs to find a moment before Kelly arrives but after Grassley and Scott are back .
Is there such a moment , with Thanksgiving recess looming ?
I recommend this piece by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ economists on both sides of the aisle look so dimly on returning to the gold standard .
Doing so would risk price instability , which one would think would be of great concern to the self-styled populists of the new GOP — Marco Rubio , Josh Hawley , Tom Cotton .
As others noted this afternoon , if they really are building a multiethnic , multiracial working-class party , as Rubio likes to say , they should be gravely worried about what inflation might do to cannibalize the wages of working-class Americans and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the sort of monetary stimulus the Fed has engaged in to help workers during the pandemic .
Instead they voted in lockstep for her , just as the president wanted .
A cynic might conclude that their “ populism ” is largely a rhetorical fraud designed to ingratiate themselves to Trump voters before the 2024 presidential primary .
Oh , speaking of frauds , please note that the Senate GOP ’ s pretend ambivalence about who won the election was revealed as the pretense that it is during this afternoon ’ s vote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was reportedly congratulated on her victory — which most of them currently deny — by multiple Republican colleagues : Does anyone in the leadership of this party believe anything they say ?

How many of his Federal Reserve picks has the Senate quashed now? Remember that Herman Cain and Stephen Moore were also floated at one point until a few centrist Republicans like Mitt Romney said, “Uh, no.”
The problem with Cain, Moore, and Shelton is that they were all Trump cronies to various degrees and Fed governors aren’t supposed to be cronies. The Fed is quasi-independent, to insulate it from political pressure. That’s the opposite of what Trump wants in government, though; the DOJ is supposed to be quasi-independent too and, well, look for no further than the person of Bill Barr. But Shelton had other issues. There was, er, this, for instance:
President Donald Trump’s newest selection for the Federal Reserve, Judy Shelton, previously called for open borders between the United States and Mexico. In an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal published in 2000, titled “North America Doesn’t Need Borders,” Shelton praised former Mexico President Vicente Fox’s vision of a “greater movement of people” migrating to the United States. “His talk of open borders is deeply controversial in the U.S., though what he is really selling is the fulfillment of open markets,” wrote the economist. “His proposal to combine resources across borders may strike some as too imaginative in its scope. But it is, in fact, steeped in pragmatism.”
It’s safe to assume that she no longer holds that view but righties aren’t usually so forgiving of former open-borders fanatics. The bigger problem with her was her views on monetary policy: Shelton is a goldbug — or was. It’s hard to tell what she believes now because her bad tendencies towards cronyism are at odds with her bad support for a return to the gold standard, leaving one to wonder what she’d do if confirmed to the Fed. From NRO:
For many years, Shelton tirelessly advocated a gold-backed dollar, 0 percent inflation, and higher interest rates. After the financial crisis, when the U.S. had a prolonged spell of low inflation and high unemployment, she argued that the Federal Reserve’s efforts to foster a recovery posed too great a risk of raising prices. High and variable inflation, such as we experienced in the 1960s, is an evil that the central bank can and should avoid. Regarding inflation as always and everywhere the chief threat to an economy, on the other hand, is an error that can trap economies in depressions. It is an error to which Shelton’s ideology makes her especially prone. President Trump has very different views. He wants low interest rates, does not worry about inflation, and shows no sign of caring about the gold standard. During his presidency, these views have been right in their practical upshot more often than not. What is worrisome is the extent to which Shelton has echoed Trump’s views without even acknowledging how they differ from the ones she has expressed in the past, let alone explaining her change of mind. She wanted tighter money in the depths of recession a decade ago, and then advocated looser money at the height of a boom. A steep increase in the price of gold, which once would have alarmed Shelton as an indicator of future inflation, has not given pause to her in her current incarnation.
Today’s confirmation vote was unusually suspenseful. For starters, three Republicans had already said they’d vote no on Shelton: Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, and Lamar Alexander. That left the Senate theoretically divided at 50/50, with Mike Pence the tiebreaking vote. But then, thanks to COVID, things got complicated. Chuck Grassley had to miss the vote due to close contact with someone who’s tested positive. The same happened to Rick Scott earlier this week. And Alexander was taken away from the chamber on family business. There was also a question of whether VP-elect Kamala Harris would make it back to Washington in time to cast a vote against Shelton. When the roll was called, it was anyone’s guess who might show up, whether other Republicans might vote no on Shelton, and whether Pence would be needed at all.
Result: 47/50. Technically.
2) She needed 51 yeas to clear the filibuster bar. However, the Senate could only muster 47 yeas to advance her nomination. The vote was 47-50 — Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 17, 2020
I say “technically” because Mitch McConnell switched his vote from yes to no at the last second, purely as a procedural matter. By voting no, he’s now entitled to bring Shelton’s nomination back to the floor for a revote. Once Grassley and Scott are back, that should give the GOP 50 votes — enough to confirm her with Pence’s help, even with Romney, Collins, and Alexander voting the other way.
But there’s another wrinkle. Mark Kelly just defeated Martha McSally in Arizona’s Senate special election. In a special election, senators don’t wait until January 3 to be sworn in. They take office within weeks of their election. Once Kelly’s seated later this month or in early December, that’ll be 51 votes against Shelton. If McConnell wants to get her confirmed, he needs to find a moment before Kelly arrives but after Grassley and Scott are back. Is there such a moment, with Thanksgiving recess looming?
I recommend this piece by Jon Hartley at National Review for why economists on both sides of the aisle look so dimly on returning to the gold standard. Doing so would risk price instability, which one would think would be of great concern to the self-styled populists of the new GOP — Marco Rubio, Josh Hawley, Tom Cotton. As others noted this afternoon, if they really are building a multiethnic, multiracial working-class party, as Rubio likes to say, they should be gravely worried about what inflation might do to cannibalize the wages of working-class Americans and what influence Shelton might have in blocking the sort of monetary stimulus the Fed has engaged in to help workers during the pandemic. Instead they voted in lockstep for her, just as the president wanted. A cynic might conclude that their “populism” is largely a rhetorical fraud designed to ingratiate themselves to Trump voters before the 2024 presidential primary.
Oh, speaking of frauds, please note that the Senate GOP’s pretend ambivalence about who won the election was revealed as the pretense that it is during this afternoon’s vote. Kamala Harris did show up and was reportedly congratulated on her victory — which most of them currently deny — by multiple Republican colleagues:
VP Elect Sen. Kamala Harris was warmly embraced by GOP senators on the floor, many offering her congratulations despite still siding w/ Trump “Congratulations,” said GOP Sen Lankford to Harris Graham gave her a fist bump Sens Tim Scott, Rounds & Sasse also congratulated her — Ali Zaslav (@alizaslav) November 17, 2020
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris returns to the Senate floor to cast a vote today. Here, Harris can be seen extending her fist to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for a bump. pic.twitter.com/3Mtaaykjpl — The Recount (@therecount) November 17, 2020
Does anyone in the leadership of this party believe anything they say?


hotair--2020-11-17--Justice Democrats and BLM disagree over who should replace Kamala Harris in the Senate

With Kamala Harris leaving the Senate , Gov .
Gavin Newsom will now have to pick a replacement to fill out the remainder of her term .
Already , two far left groups are in public disagreement over who should take that spot .
Justice Democrats is a progressive group co-founded by Cenk Uygur and AOC ’ s former Chief of Staff Saikat Chakrabarti among others .
The group is already expressing its excitement over the possibility that Rep. Ro Khanna , an ally of AOC , is being discussed as a possible replacement for Harris .
When asked about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s camp was vague : I guess a free pass to the Senate isn ’ t the kind of job you want to be seen openly campaigning for .
Meanwhile , Black Lives Matter has launched a petition demanding that Gov .
Newsom appoint a black woman to replace Harris , calling it “ nonnegotiable.
” We ’ re calling on Governor Gavin Newsom to appoint a Black woman to fill that seat .
And like the California Legislative Black Caucus , we ’ re pushing for the appointment of either Rep. Karen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the position… Appointing a Black woman to this seat is nonnegotiable — this must be done .
Our government is about representation of the people , and as we saw in this election , Black people , and more specifically Black women , are constantly showing up for democracy .
If there is not a single Black woman in the Senate , then the Senate is simply not a proper representation of the people… All in all , these Black women are overwhelmingly qualified , and most importantly , they ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Let ’ s make one thing clear to Governor Newsom : This is not a one-way street .
We showed up , and now , it ’ s his turn to do the same .
Team , together , we ’ ll get the Senate seat that rightfully belongs to a Black woman .
In today ’ s Democratic party , can you tell BLM no ?
I don ’ t think so , which is why I think Newsom will pick either Rep. Bass or Rep. Lee .
But doing so may @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democrats who just today criticized Biden ’ s plan to appoint people they consider “ corporate-friendly insiders.
” One of the people they are unhappy about is Rep. Cedric Richmond .
The Sunrise Movement is also attacking Rep Richmond ’ s selection .
Justice Democrats has already picked out new jobs for half of the Squad already .
Rep. Tlaib would go to HUD and Ayanna Pressley could be Sec .
of Transportation : Justice Democrats are going to be disappointed when it comes to Rep. Ro Khanna and Rep. Cedric Richmond .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ left more determined to claim ground in other areas .
I guess we ’ ll have to wait and see if half of the Squad winds up in a Biden administration .

With Kamala Harris leaving the Senate, Gov. Gavin Newsom will now have to pick a replacement to fill out the remainder of her term. Already, two far left groups are in public disagreement over who should take that spot.
Justice Democrats is a progressive group co-founded by Cenk Uygur and AOC’s former Chief of Staff Saikat Chakrabarti among others. The group is already expressing its excitement over the possibility that Rep. Ro Khanna, an ally of AOC, is being discussed as a possible replacement for Harris.
We are excited that @RoKhanna is being considered by many California Democrats and progressives as a candidate for the next United States Senator of California. His voice in the Senate would be a major boost for our movement for justice.https://t.co/Wk4DvtJl51 — Justice Democrats (@justicedems) November 17, 2020
When asked about it by Fox News, Khanna’s camp was vague:
“Ro strives to be a strong progressive voice in California and across the country,” a spokesperson for Khanna told Fox News on Tuesday. “He is keeping all of his options open to best do that. We aren’t closing any doors right now. And he’s so appreciative of all the support he’s received.”
I guess a free pass to the Senate isn’t the kind of job you want to be seen openly campaigning for. Meanwhile, Black Lives Matter has launched a petition demanding that Gov. Newsom appoint a black woman to replace Harris, calling it “nonnegotiable.”
We’re calling on Governor Gavin Newsom to appoint a Black woman to fill that seat. And like the California Legislative Black Caucus, we’re pushing for the appointment of either Rep. Karen Bass or Rep. Barbara Lee as candidates for the position… Appointing a Black woman to this seat is nonnegotiable — this must be done. Our government is about representation of the people, and as we saw in this election, Black people, and more specifically Black women, are constantly showing up for democracy. If there is not a single Black woman in the Senate, then the Senate is simply not a proper representation of the people… All in all, these Black women are overwhelmingly qualified, and most importantly, they’re dedicated in the fight for Black liberation… Let’s make one thing clear to Governor Newsom: This is not a one-way street. We showed up, and now, it’s his turn to do the same. Team, together, we’ll get the Senate seat that rightfully belongs to a Black woman.
In today’s Democratic party, can you tell BLM no? I don’t think so, which is why I think Newsom will pick either Rep. Bass or Rep. Lee. But doing so may not sit as well with the Justice Democrats who just today criticized Biden’s plan to appoint people they consider “corporate-friendly insiders.” One of the people they are unhappy about is Rep. Cedric Richmond.
A Joe Biden administration dominated by corporate-friendly insiders will not help usher in the most progressive Democratic administration in generations. This move gives greater urgency for Joe Biden to create an Office of Climate Mobilization on Day 1 and appoint progressives. pic.twitter.com/xkSszuza1q — Justice Democrats (@justicedems) November 17, 2020
The Sunrise Movement is also attacking Rep Richmond’s selection.
Richmond doesn't have a great history with climate activists in his district. This story from 2019 stands out: https://t.co/HvcGPCY2G5 — Tara Golshan (@taragolshan) November 17, 2020
Justice Democrats has already picked out new jobs for half of the Squad already. Rep. Tlaib would go to HUD and Ayanna Pressley could be Sec. of Transportation:
For Secretary of Transportation ✅ Rep. Chuy Garcia
✅ Sara Nelson
✅ Rep. Ayanna Pressleyhttps://t.co/wMJkjijhcX pic.twitter.com/GhaLjYdizk — Justice Democrats (@justicedems) November 17, 2020
Justice Democrats are going to be disappointed when it comes to Rep. Ro Khanna and Rep. Cedric Richmond. Those disappointments will only make the progressive left more determined to claim ground in other areas. I guess we’ll have to wait and see if half of the Squad winds up in a Biden administration.


hotair--2020-11-17--Today's hot topics on #TEMS: Rudy's debut, Biden ado, Georgia review, COVID brew, GOP's Year of the

Today's hot topics on #TEMS: Rudy's debut, Biden ado, Georgia review, COVID brew, GOP's Year of the Woman view, and more!

Today on The Ed Morrissey Show ( 4 pm ET ) , we have another great lineup for the news of the day !
The show will be streamed on Hot Air ’ s Facebook page and embedded here and on the show page for those who are not on Facebook .
Join us as we welcome : • Andrew Malcolm joins us for Tuesdays with Andrew !
The Prince of Twitter and I will discuss all of the hot political stories of the day .
What ’ s happening in Georgia — and not happening in Nevada ?
We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ double standards on “ concessions , ” and more !
• Is this the GOP ’ s Year of the Woman — and minorities ?
How did Trump do so well in South Florida ?
Congressional candidate Amanda Makki joins us to explain !
Be sure to follow her on Twitter and Facebook , too .
The Ed Morrissey Show and its dynamic chatroom can be seen on the permanent TEMS page .
Be sure to join us , and don ’ t forget to keep up with the debate on my Facebook @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and conservatives keep the momentum going ?
Find out in GOING RED , published in April from Crown Forum !

Today on The Ed Morrissey Show (4 pm ET), we have another great lineup for the news of the day! The show will be streamed on Hot Air’s Facebook page and embedded here and on the show page for those who are not on Facebook.
Join us as we welcome:
Andrew Malcolm joins us for Tuesdays with Andrew! The Prince of Twitter and I will discuss all of the hot political stories of the day. What’s happening in Georgia — and not happening in Nevada? We’ll also talk about ridiculous media double standards on “concessions,” and more!
Is this the GOP’s Year of the Woman — and minorities? How did Trump do so well in South Florida? Congressional candidate Amanda Makki joins us to explain! Be sure to follow her on Twitter and Facebook, too.
The Ed Morrissey Show and its dynamic chatroom can be seen on the permanent TEMS page. Be sure to join us, and don’t forget to keep up with the debate on my Facebook page, too!
How can Republicans and conservatives keep the momentum going? Find out in GOING RED, published in April from Crown Forum!


hotair--2020-11-17--Georgia secretary of state: Audit of Dominion voting machines shows no signs of tampering

It ’ s touching that this guy continues to try to prove that his state ’ s election was clean , knowing full well that the defining characteristic of conspiracy theories is that they ’ re unfalsifiable .
There ’ s literally no authority on Earth that could examine the Dominion machines and give them a clean bill of health such that Trump would say , “ I stand corrected.
” On the contrary , “ Trump has become personally obsessed with the baseless Dominion claims and has asked campaign officials as well as national security officials in the government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” according to WaPo .
He started with a conclusion , as he normally does — I could only have lost Georgia if I was cheated — and then “ reasoned ” backwards to whatever predicate would justify that conclusion .
Trump lost , so the machines must have been rigged .
Pro V & V , based in Huntsville , Alabama is a U.S. Election Assistance Commission-certified Voting System Test Laboratory ( VSTL ) , meaning the lab is “ qualified to test voting systems to Federal standards.
” VSTL certification @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Votes Act of 2002 .
Pro V & V ’ s accreditation by the USEAC was also recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology ( NIST ) , the U.S. government ’ s physical science laboratory dedicated to creating standards and measures that would help America be the leading science innovator in the world .
NIST contributes regularly to the development of cybersecurity and elections security standards for the U.S. and the world .
Pro V & V conducted an audit of a random sample of Dominion Voting Systems voting machines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including equipment from Cobb , Douglas , Floyd , Morgan , Paulding , and Spalding Counties .
ICP ( precinct ballot scanners ) , ICX ( ballot marking devices ) , and ICC ( central absentee ballot scanners ) components were all subject to the audit .
In conducting the audit , Pro V & V extracted the software or firmware from the components to check that the only software or firmware on the components was certified for use by the Secretary of State ’ s office .
The testing was conducted on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the system .
According to the Pro V & V audit , all of the software and firmware on the sampled machines was verified to be the software and firmware certified for use by the Office of the Secretary of State .
Coupled with the risk-limiting audit of all paper ballots relying solely on the printed text of the ballots , these steps confirm the assessment of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency that there are no signs of cyber attacks or election hacking .
The secret to Biden ’ s win @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nate Cohn looked at the results in detail today and found that they confirmed exactly what everyone expected before the vote , that suburbanites were tilting blue this year and might make the difference for Sleepy Joe in close states .
Go look at the map he created showing voting trends by county and you ’ ll find a blue belt around Atlanta .
That ’ s what delivered the state for Biden .
For all the hype about Stacey Abrams ’ s turnout machine , it wasn ’ t black voters who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a share of the electorate , their numbers dropped a few crucial points since Abrams ’ s race in 2018 .
Suburbanites picked up the slack for Dems , though .
In areas where a majority of residents are college grads , the vote was six points bluer this year than it was in 2016 .
In fact , notes Harry Enten , Trump ’ s “ I was cheated ” theory is deliberately blind to his performance with suburbanites .
He and his supporters keep pointing to urban areas like Philadelphia as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and therefore the likeliest places where vote-rigging occurred .
That ’ s simply not true .
Biden *did* outperform Hillary in 31 of 36 urban counties located in swing states , contrary to popular belief among some righty populists .
( Ironically , Philly was one of the five where he underperformed Clinton , making it even less likely as a locus of voter fraud . )
But the voters who turned most decisively on Trump were suburbanites .
In Wisconsin , notes Enten , the suburbs around Milwaukee handed Biden 25,000 more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to make the difference in the state .
If Trump were seriously worried about fraud instead of just lashing out willy nilly to discredit Biden ’ s win , he ’ d be less focused on cities and more on the counties surrounding them .
And if he were seriously worried about winning , he would have knocked off the nonsense conspiracy-mongering about mail-in ballots many months ago , when every state and local Republican official in the country was begging him to .
Raffensperger thinks that , not the Dominion machines , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Georgia : For what it ’ s worth , dozens of computer scientists and cybersecurity experts are issuing a letter today affirming CISA ’ s assessment that there ’ s no evidence of election tampering in any voting machines .
Won ’ t do a lick of good to convince people who refuse to accept that Trump lost fairly , but the effort is appreciated .
Meanwhile in Georgia , David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are wrestling with a problem that ’ s bedeviling the entire Republican leadership class but posing special difficulty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you acknowledge the basic reality that Trump lost without alienating the president and the voters who ’ ll believe anything he tells them ?
Most striking was the way the senators nodded toward the likelihood of Biden ’ s presidency .
While Trump keeps insisting that he won the election , making baseless claims of voter fraud and mounting legal challenges , Republicans on the call privately cast those efforts as an understandable but potentially futile protest .
“ What we ’ re going to have to do is make sure we get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and get them back out , ” Perdue said of core Republican voters .
“ That ’ s always a hard thing to do in a presidential year , particularly this year , given that President Trump , it looks like now , may not be able to hold out.
” … Perdue ’ s delicate approach — standing with Trump , but also privately acknowledging that the president ’ s time in power could be waning and that he carries possible political liabilities — extended to others on the call who tried @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their apprehension about what is needed in Georgia to save the GOP Senate majority .
It is revealing of the Republican dilemma in the winter of Trump ’ s presidency , with fear of offending him and his fervent supporters hovering over a cold political reality .
The best thing that could happen to Perdue and Loeffler would be the states certifying their results , Trump throwing in the towel , and then the party uniting behind them to make sure that Democrats don ’ t regain total control of government by winning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s going to happen , though , is Trump will keep doubling down on the “ I won ” messaging after certification , Perdue and Loeffler will be forced to awkwardly hedge or avoid that topic altogether , and the suburbanites who delivered Georgia to Biden will get pissed off at POTUS again .
Possibly for that reason , more Senate Republicans have begun to make noises about Biden having won the election .
Marco Rubio ’ s now referring to him as the “ president-elect ” and there ’ s a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for starting the transition process .
Even Lindsey Graham , who ’ s been open to the idea of states tossing their election results on fraud grounds and certifying their electors for Trump , is sounding more resigned lately : Is Graham sure that certification is enough ?
I ’ d bet anything that Trump will keep filing lawsuits , maybe start leaning on state-level Republicans to award him their electors , maybe try to pressure the electoral college to support him when they vote .
All of that is a month away @ @ @ @ @ @ @ away depending on the state .
That means Graham and the Senate GOP will be at odds with Trump on his ultimate loyalty test for weeks at a moment when the president is still futilely contesting the election .
How are they going to get through that and hold the party together all the way until January 5 , when Georgia votes ?

It’s touching that this guy continues to try to prove that his state’s election was clean, knowing full well that the defining characteristic of conspiracy theories is that they’re unfalsifiable. There’s literally no authority on Earth that could examine the Dominion machines and give them a clean bill of health such that Trump would say, “I stand corrected.” On the contrary, “Trump has become personally obsessed with the baseless Dominion claims and has asked campaign officials as well as national security officials in the government about the company, the advisers said,” according to WaPo. He started with a conclusion, as he normally does — I could only have lost Georgia if I was cheated — and then “reasoned” backwards to whatever predicate would justify that conclusion. Trump lost, so the machines must have been rigged.
They weren’t rigged, says Georgia SoS Brad Raffensperger.
Pro V&V, based in Huntsville, Alabama is a U.S. Election Assistance Commission-certified Voting System Test Laboratory (VSTL), meaning the lab is “qualified to test voting systems to Federal standards.” VSTL certification is provided for under the Help America Votes Act of 2002. Pro V&V’s accreditation by the USEAC was also recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the U.S. government’s physical science laboratory dedicated to creating standards and measures that would help America be the leading science innovator in the world. NIST contributes regularly to the development of cybersecurity and elections security standards for the U.S. and the world. Pro V&V conducted an audit of a random sample of Dominion Voting Systems voting machines throughout the state using forensic techniques, including equipment from Cobb, Douglas, Floyd, Morgan, Paulding, and Spalding Counties. ICP (precinct ballot scanners), ICX (ballot marking devices), and ICC (central absentee ballot scanners) components were all subject to the audit. In conducting the audit, Pro V&V extracted the software or firmware from the components to check that the only software or firmware on the components was certified for use by the Secretary of State’s office. The testing was conducted on a Pro V&V laptop independent of the system. According to the Pro V&V audit, all of the software and firmware on the sampled machines was verified to be the software and firmware certified for use by the Office of the Secretary of State. Coupled with the risk-limiting audit of all paper ballots relying solely on the printed text of the ballots, these steps confirm the assessment of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency that there are no signs of cyber attacks or election hacking.
The secret to Biden’s win in Georgia is actually no secret. Nate Cohn looked at the results in detail today and found that they confirmed exactly what everyone expected before the vote, that suburbanites were tilting blue this year and might make the difference for Sleepy Joe in close states. Go look at the map he created showing voting trends by county and you’ll find a blue belt around Atlanta. That’s what delivered the state for Biden. For all the hype about Stacey Abrams’s turnout machine, it wasn’t black voters who came through for the Dems; as a share of the electorate, their numbers dropped a few crucial points since Abrams’s race in 2018. Suburbanites picked up the slack for Dems, though. In areas where a majority of residents are college grads, the vote was six points bluer this year than it was in 2016.
In fact, notes Harry Enten, Trump’s “I was cheated” theory is deliberately blind to his performance with suburbanites. He and his supporters keep pointing to urban areas like Philadelphia as the engine of Biden’s victory and therefore the likeliest places where vote-rigging occurred. That’s simply not true. Biden *did* outperform Hillary in 31 of 36 urban counties located in swing states, contrary to popular belief among some righty populists. (Ironically, Philly was one of the five where he underperformed Clinton, making it even less likely as a locus of voter fraud.) But the voters who turned most decisively on Trump were suburbanites. In Wisconsin, notes Enten, the suburbs around Milwaukee handed Biden 25,000 more votes than they handed Hillary, enough to make the difference in the state. If Trump were seriously worried about fraud instead of just lashing out willy nilly to discredit Biden’s win, he’d be less focused on cities and more on the counties surrounding them.
And if he were seriously worried about winning, he would have knocked off the nonsense conspiracy-mongering about mail-in ballots many months ago, when every state and local Republican official in the country was begging him to. Raffensperger thinks that, not the Dominion machines, was the real reason why he lost Georgia:
In new intv with me, @GaSecofState says 24,000 GOPs who voted absentee in primary did not vote in General – says Donald Trump cost himself the election by sowing distrust in absentee: "he would have won by 10 thousand votes he actually suppressed, depressed his own voting base" — Justin Gray (@JustinGrayWSB) November 17, 2020
For what it’s worth, dozens of computer scientists and cybersecurity experts are issuing a letter today affirming CISA’s assessment that there’s no evidence of election tampering in any voting machines. Won’t do a lick of good to convince people who refuse to accept that Trump lost fairly, but the effort is appreciated. Meanwhile in Georgia, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are wrestling with a problem that’s bedeviling the entire Republican leadership class but posing special difficulty for them. Namely, how do you acknowledge the basic reality that Trump lost without alienating the president and the voters who’ll believe anything he tells them?
Most striking was the way the senators nodded toward the likelihood of Biden’s presidency. While Trump keeps insisting that he won the election, making baseless claims of voter fraud and mounting legal challenges, Republicans on the call privately cast those efforts as an understandable but potentially futile protest. “What we’re going to have to do is make sure we get all the votes out from the general and get them back out,” Perdue said of core Republican voters. “That’s always a hard thing to do in a presidential year, particularly this year, given that President Trump, it looks like now, may not be able to hold out.”… Perdue’s delicate approach — standing with Trump, but also privately acknowledging that the president’s time in power could be waning and that he carries possible political liabilities — extended to others on the call who tried to balance their loyalty to Trump with their apprehension about what is needed in Georgia to save the GOP Senate majority. It is revealing of the Republican dilemma in the winter of Trump’s presidency, with fear of offending him and his fervent supporters hovering over a cold political reality.
The best thing that could happen to Perdue and Loeffler would be the states certifying their results, Trump throwing in the towel, and then the party uniting behind them to make sure that Democrats don’t regain total control of government by winning the two Georgia Senate runoffs. What’s going to happen, though, is Trump will keep doubling down on the “I won” messaging after certification, Perdue and Loeffler will be forced to awkwardly hedge or avoid that topic altogether, and the suburbanites who delivered Georgia to Biden will get pissed off at POTUS again. Possibly for that reason, more Senate Republicans have begun to make noises about Biden having won the election. Marco Rubio’s now referring to him as the “president-elect” and there’s a bit more vocal support among his colleagues for starting the transition process. Even Lindsey Graham, who’s been open to the idea of states tossing their election results on fraud grounds and certifying their electors for Trump, is sounding more resigned lately:
GRAHAM: "We are at the point now where recounts are going on and it’s now time to put it up." Q: What’s the standard in your mind for saying Biden is president-elect? GRAHAM: "When Trump concedes or the court cases have been dismissed and the states certified." 2/4 — Lindsay Wise (@lindsaywise) November 17, 2020
Q. The electors don’t need to cast their votes to convince you? GRAHAM: (Sigh)"…If there is no concession there is a contest. If there is a contest in court & the party loses, that’s the end of the contest. There is no way to overturn a election other than a court of law" 4/4 — Lindsay Wise (@lindsaywise) November 17, 2020
Is Graham sure that certification is enough? I’d bet anything that Trump will keep filing lawsuits, maybe start leaning on state-level Republicans to award him their electors, maybe try to pressure the electoral college to support him when they vote. All of that is a month away; certification is a week or two away depending on the state. That means Graham and the Senate GOP will be at odds with Trump on his ultimate loyalty test for weeks at a moment when the president is still futilely contesting the election. How are they going to get through that and hold the party together all the way until January 5, when Georgia votes?


hotair--2020-11-17--Wow: Data suggests immunity from COVID may least years -- or decades

It ’ s jarring how we ’ re getting the worst news of the pandemic and the best news all at the same time .
On the one hand , cases have climbed past 150,000 per day and hospitalizations are at record levels , with deaths likely soon to follow .
The disease is no longer happening in regional waves either .
The entire country ’ s in the soup , which means doctors and nurses can ’ t be moved around to help out in harder-hit areas .
To make matters worse , Americans are about to throw caution @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gatherings for Thanksgiving , pouring fuel on the flames .
It ’ s a disaster .
Meanwhile , Pfizer and Moderna just reported that their vaccines are more than 90 percent effective , beyond the wildest dreams of epidemiologists .
And new data noted today by the Times indicates that immunity from COVID is probably very durable , making the task of beating the disease that much easier .
A world in which we all need to be vaccinated , say , every three months to stave off the virus is a logistical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may only need to be vaccinated every few years is much simpler .
Put it all together and it ’ s as if the wretched year 2020 is trying to give birth to something better .
A joyous day is coming , but agony comes first .
Eight months after infection , most people who have recovered still have enough immune cells to fend off the virus and prevent illness , the new data show .
A slow rate of decline in the short term suggests , happily , that these cells may @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , very long time to come… “ That amount of memory would likely prevent the vast majority of people from getting hospitalized disease , severe disease , for many years , ” said Shane Crotty , a virologist at the La Jolla Institute of Immunology who co-led the new study… And the research squares with another recent finding : that survivors of SARS , caused by another coronavirus , still carry certain important immune cells 17 years after recovering… A study published last week also found that people who have recovered from Covid-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even when antibodies are not detectable .
The immune cells in the body that remain after infection wouldn ’ t necessarily prevent you from being reinfected in the future , the Times notes , but they should be enough to prevent illness .
And because the coronavirus is comparatively slow-moving , it may be that people who get reinfected are able to squelch the virus before they become infectious to others .
Reading that made me think of Rand Paul , a COVID survivor , complaining recently that people who ’ ve recovered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go back to their pre-pandemic lives : No doubt , the government would need to reach an accommodation on that point in a world without a vaccine , where the ranks of survivors gradually grew month by month , year by year .
Immunity “ passports ” would need to be issued to let people who ’ ve had the disease function with fewer restrictions than others .
As it is , even after the brutal winter we ’ re facing , probably only something like 10-15 percent of the population will have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is widely available .
If Paul wants to take off his mask and party , no one ’ s stopping him ; plenty of people who haven ’ t had COVID are doing that , at great risk to themselves and others .
But no scientist is going to take a “ go party ” position under the circumstances when ( a ) today ’ s data on long-lasting immunity needs more study , ( b ) people who aren ’ t immune are destined to let down their guard because of it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of us are mere months away from safe , vaccine-supplied immunity .
In fact , Pfizer ’ s CEO told an audience this morning that his company ’ s in the process of submitting its application for emergency use authorization to the FDA right now .
The cavalry ’ s almost here .
All we need to do is hang on .
Instead , the message from the de facto leader of the federal COVID task force is to invite grandma over for the big Thanksgiving celebration .
We ’ ll call this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he ’ s right , he ’ s right : For many of America ’ s elderly , this will be their last Thanksgiving .
The contagion spread by these foolish family gatherings will guarantee it .
Speaking of which , isn ’ t Atlas ’ s “ herd immunity ” approach to the virus contingent upon *shielding* the elderly from the rest of the population while letting healthy people go about their business ?
How the hell does that jibe with inviting the grandparents over for a big group get-together indoors stretched @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID cases are higher than they ’ ve ever been ?

It’s jarring how we’re getting the worst news of the pandemic and the best news all at the same time. On the one hand, cases have climbed past 150,000 per day and hospitalizations are at record levels, with deaths likely soon to follow. The disease is no longer happening in regional waves either. The entire country’s in the soup, which means doctors and nurses can’t be moved around to help out in harder-hit areas. To make matters worse, Americans are about to throw caution to the wind and host extended family gatherings for Thanksgiving, pouring fuel on the flames. It’s a disaster.
WATCH: Frontline workers warn about surging covid cases. #MTPDaily "This is going to get very bad, very quickly." "I can't believe that we're here."@chucktodd: "Health care workers across the country are pleading with us to heed their warning." pic.twitter.com/XipfgPBbz7 — Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) November 17, 2020
Meanwhile, Pfizer and Moderna just reported that their vaccines are more than 90 percent effective, beyond the wildest dreams of epidemiologists. And new data noted today by the Times indicates that immunity from COVID is probably very durable, making the task of beating the disease that much easier. A world in which we all need to be vaccinated, say, every three months to stave off the virus is a logistical nightmare. A world in which we may only need to be vaccinated every few years is much simpler.
Put it all together and it’s as if the wretched year 2020 is trying to give birth to something better. A joyous day is coming, but agony comes first.
Eight months after infection, most people who have recovered still have enough immune cells to fend off the virus and prevent illness, the new data show. A slow rate of decline in the short term suggests, happily, that these cells may persist in the body for a very, very long time to come… “That amount of memory would likely prevent the vast majority of people from getting hospitalized disease, severe disease, for many years,” said Shane Crotty, a virologist at the La Jolla Institute of Immunology who co-led the new study… And the research squares with another recent finding: that survivors of SARS, caused by another coronavirus, still carry certain important immune cells 17 years after recovering… A study published last week also found that people who have recovered from Covid-19 have powerful and protective killer immune cells even when antibodies are not detectable.
The immune cells in the body that remain after infection wouldn’t necessarily prevent you from being reinfected in the future, the Times notes, but they should be enough to prevent illness. And because the coronavirus is comparatively slow-moving, it may be that people who get reinfected are able to squelch the virus before they become infectious to others. Reading that made me think of Rand Paul, a COVID survivor, complaining recently that people who’ve recovered from the disease should be encouraged to go back to their pre-pandemic lives:
Rand Paul: We have 11 million people in our country who have already had COVID. We should tell them to celebrate. We should tell them to throw away their masks, go to restaurants, and live again because these people are now immune(they are not immune) pic.twitter.com/Un2CQ1b5Tg — Acyn (@Acyn) November 13, 2020
No doubt, the government would need to reach an accommodation on that point in a world without a vaccine, where the ranks of survivors gradually grew month by month, year by year. Immunity “passports” would need to be issued to let people who’ve had the disease function with fewer restrictions than others. As it is, even after the brutal winter we’re facing, probably only something like 10-15 percent of the population will have had COVID by the time the vaccine is widely available. If Paul wants to take off his mask and party, no one’s stopping him; plenty of people who haven’t had COVID are doing that, at great risk to themselves and others. But no scientist is going to take a “go party” position under the circumstances when (a) today’s data on long-lasting immunity needs more study, (b) people who aren’t immune are destined to let down their guard because of it, and (c) many millions of us are mere months away from safe, vaccine-supplied immunity. In fact, Pfizer’s CEO told an audience this morning that his company’s in the process of submitting its application for emergency use authorization to the FDA right now. The cavalry’s almost here. All we need to do is hang on.
Instead, the message from the de facto leader of the federal COVID task force is to invite grandma over for the big Thanksgiving celebration. We’ll call this segment “Atlas shrugs”:
Trump COVID-19 adviser Scott Atlas says people ought to visit their elderly relatives for Thanksgiving despite the pandemic because "for many people this is their final Thanksgiving, believe it or not." pic.twitter.com/ta1rEIBawO — TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) November 17, 2020
When he’s right, he’s right: For many of America’s elderly, this will be their last Thanksgiving. The contagion spread by these foolish family gatherings will guarantee it.
Speaking of which, isn’t Atlas’s “herd immunity” approach to the virus contingent upon *shielding* the elderly from the rest of the population while letting healthy people go about their business? How the hell does that jibe with inviting the grandparents over for a big group get-together indoors stretched over many hours at a moment when COVID cases are higher than they’ve ever been?


hotair--2020-11-17--Black Virginia police chief fired for charging prominent BLM vandals and public officials

Back on June 10th in Portsmouth , Virginia , a large group of protesters decided to tear down and destroy a Confederate monument located in that city .
An investigation was launched , led by Portsmouth Police Chief Angela Greene .
After collecting video from the event and conducting interviews for two months , Greene announced in August that charges were being filed against 19 people who had been involved in the destruction .
Police were seeking 13 more people who had yet to be identified .
In the process , one of the protesters was severely injured when the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them by his accomplices .
That was also being investigated separately .
You might think that would be pretty much the end of the story , but it wasn ’ t .
Among those arrested was State Sen. Louise Lucas , several leaders of the local Black Lives Matter movement , officials from the NAACP , and a member of the local school board .
Since several crimes had obviously been committed , you might think that Chief Greene ( who is Black , by the way ) would be lauded for holding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ accountable .
You would be wrong , however .
Howls of protest emerged not only from the community but from elected officials .
Yesterday the situation came to a head and Chief Greene was unceremoniously fired .
( NBC News ) The police chief of Portsmouth , Virginia , was fired Monday in what she suggested was a politically motivated move moments before criminal charges were dropped against a prominent state senator and several local Black leaders accused of conspiring to damage a Confederate statue during a protest this year .
The latest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Louise Lucas , a high-ranking Democrat who is Virginia ’ s most senior Black legislator , drew praise from Democrats who condemned the charges… The Portsmouth Police Department did not immediately return a request for comment , and a city spokeswoman declined to say whether Greene ’ s firing was a result of the initial charges .
Greene had charged all of the people involved with felony injury to a monument in excess of $ 1,000 and conspiracy .
She had the perpetrators on video using cans of spray paint and eventually toppling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the social media records showing the state senator encouraging everyone to come down to the location and help them destroy the statue .
There was even a video of the state senator telling police officers what they intended to do and saying that the police couldn ’ t arrest them for it .
In other words , Greene had the perpetrators dead to rights and it should have been an open and shut case .
But she was attacked incessantly by Democratic leadership instead .
After she was fired for this , those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Terry McAuliffe celebrated her firing , describing her efforts to enforce the law as “ despicable political persecution.
” Jay Jones , a member of the legislature and currently a candidate for State Attorney General next year jumped on the bandwagon as well .
This entire affair is a disgrace .
There are laws on the books regarding the destruction or defacement of monuments .
One of the state ’ s own legislators ( who you might think would be familiar with the laws ) conspired with dozens of other people to break @ @ @ @ @ @ @ captured on video .
The Chief of Police brought charges against those involved .
And now she ’ s been fired and there are other Democrats in the state government celebrating her termination .
Apparently , the laws only apply when some people agree with them .
And charges are filed against the accused unless they are from a politically approved demographic or group .
Great job , Virginia .
You ’ re really covering yourselves in glory this week .

Back on June 10th in Portsmouth, Virginia, a large group of protesters decided to tear down and destroy a Confederate monument located in that city. An investigation was launched, led by Portsmouth Police Chief Angela Greene. After collecting video from the event and conducting interviews for two months, Greene announced in August that charges were being filed against 19 people who had been involved in the destruction. Police were seeking 13 more people who had yet to be identified. In the process, one of the protesters was severely injured when the statue was pulled down on top of them by his accomplices. That was also being investigated separately.
You might think that would be pretty much the end of the story, but it wasn’t. Among those arrested was State Sen. Louise Lucas, several leaders of the local Black Lives Matter movement, officials from the NAACP, and a member of the local school board. Since several crimes had obviously been committed, you might think that Chief Greene (who is Black, by the way) would be lauded for holding all citizens, regardless of their status accountable. You would be wrong, however. Howls of protest emerged not only from the community but from elected officials. Yesterday the situation came to a head and Chief Greene was unceremoniously fired. (NBC News)
The police chief of Portsmouth, Virginia, was fired Monday in what she suggested was a politically motivated move moments before criminal charges were dropped against a prominent state senator and several local Black leaders accused of conspiring to damage a Confederate statue during a protest this year. The latest twist in the case involving state Sen. Louise Lucas, a high-ranking Democrat who is Virginia’s most senior Black legislator, drew praise from Democrats who condemned the charges… The Portsmouth Police Department did not immediately return a request for comment, and a city spokeswoman declined to say whether Greene’s firing was a result of the initial charges.
Greene had charged all of the people involved with felony injury to a monument in excess of $1,000 and conspiracy. She had the perpetrators on video using cans of spray paint and eventually toppling and destroying the statue. She had the social media records showing the state senator encouraging everyone to come down to the location and help them destroy the statue. There was even a video of the state senator telling police officers what they intended to do and saying that the police couldn’t arrest them for it.
In other words, Greene had the perpetrators dead to rights and it should have been an open and shut case. But she was attacked incessantly by Democratic leadership instead. After she was fired for this, those same Democratic leaders, including former Governor Terry McAuliffe celebrated her firing, describing her efforts to enforce the law as “despicable political persecution.”
JUSTICE IN PORTSMOUTH. Our hero Louise Lucas and her fellow proud Portsmouth citizens deserve our admiration. Grateful this despicable political persecution is over. https://t.co/K8dgOqhFU7 — Terry McAuliffe (@TerryMcAuliffe) November 16, 2020
Jay Jones, a member of the legislature and currently a candidate for State Attorney General next year jumped on the bandwagon as well.
The absolute right call. @SenLouiseLucas is a warrior for justice and this situation serves as a reminder of the systemic ills we're working to combat every day. An empowered Civil Rights Division in the AG's office would stamp out these baseless claims. Bravo @DonScott757 ✊🏾 https://t.co/1UJHYkVtQk — Jay Jones (@jonesjay) November 16, 2020
This entire affair is a disgrace. There are laws on the books regarding the destruction or defacement of monuments. One of the state’s own legislators (who you might think would be familiar with the laws) conspired with dozens of other people to break that law and the whole thing was captured on video. The Chief of Police brought charges against those involved. And now she’s been fired and there are other Democrats in the state government celebrating her termination.
Apparently, the laws only apply when some people agree with them. And charges are filed against the accused unless they are from a politically approved demographic or group. Great job, Virginia. You’re really covering yourselves in glory this week.


hotair--2020-11-17--NY Times Opinion: Suck it up liberals, the Electoral College isn't going anywhere (Update)

Progressives helped elect Joe Biden this year but some of them are still angry about 2016 and seem traumatized that Donald Trump came so close to winning a second term .
The problem as they see it is the Electoral College which makes it possible to win the White House without winning the most votes .
Over at Vox , Ezra Klein daydreamed out loud about what might have been if not for the dreaded Electoral College : Imagine that , four years ago , Donald Trump lost the presidential election by 2.9 million votes , but there was no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his favor .
In January 2017 , Hillary Clinton was inaugurated as president , and the Trumpist faction of the GOP was blamed for blowing an election Republicans could have won… Take the most recent election .
Joe Biden is on track to beat Donald Trump by around 5 million votes .
But as my colleague Andrew Prokop notes , a roughly 50,000-vote swing in Arizona , Georgia , and Wisconsin would have created a 269-269 tie in the Electoral College , tossing the election to the state delegations in the House , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republicans control more states , though not more seats .
Trump didn ’ t almost win reelection because of polarization .
He almost won reelection because of the Electoral College .
A day later , NY Times columnist Jamelle Bouie made a similar complaint .
And once again , he ’ s trying to terrorize his readers with how close Trump came to winning again : Last year I wrote that the Electoral College , an archaic and outmoded system that runs contrary to our democratic principles and intuitions , was the “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , this was an understatement… We are living through a period in which , for reasons of geographic polarization in particular , the Republican Party holds a powerful advantage in the Senate and the Electoral College , and a smaller one in the House of Representatives .
Twice in 20 years they ’ ve won the White House without a majority of votes .
A few shifts here and there , and Trump might have won a second term while losing by a popular vote margin nearly twice as large as the one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ concludes , “ the Electoral College is a loaded gun , waiting to be fired .
We ’ ll disarm and disassemble it as soon as possible , if we value this democracy of ours.
” So is this really likely to happen ?
Are we going to disassemble the Electoral College to benefit Democrats ?
In a word , no .
Today the Times published an opinion piece by Johns Hopkins University political science professor Stephen Teles which is titled “ Our Political System Is Unfair .
Liberals Need to Just Deal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that despite electing Biden , it ’ s very unlikely Democrats will be able to institute any of the big changes on their wish list in the next four years : Even if Democrats somehow squeak out wins in both Georgia Senate races , the Senate will then pivot on Joe Manchin of West Virginia .
Not only does this take much of the liberal wish list off the table , it also makes deep structural reform of federal institutions impossible .
There will be no new voting rights act in honor of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ statehood for Washington , D.C. , and Puerto Rico , and no Supreme Court packing .
For that matter , the filibuster will not be eliminated , which would have been the essential predicate for all of those other changes as well as expansive climate or health care legislation .
Teles suggests it ’ s this inability to do much of anything that is really driving people like Klein and Bouie crazy .
As he puts it , the left sees the Electoral College as the reason “ liberals can ’ t have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says there ’ s only one solution : Democrats need to suck it up .
Liberals need to adjust their political strategy and ideological ambitions to the country and political system we actually have , and make the most of it , rather than cursing that which they can not change… If Democrats at some point get a chance to get full representation for Washington , D.C. , they should take it .
But beyond that , there are few if any pathways to changing either the Electoral College or the structure of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Democrats must accept these structures as fixed .
In order to make do with things as they are , Teles recommends that Democrats ( and he clearly counts himself as one of them ) should organize in all 50 states and learn to manage their own internal differences better .
Specifically , he suggests it ’ s clear that far left pieties “ don ’ t travel well.
” He says this doesn ’ t mean telling the Squad to shut up to keep from scaring the crap out of moderate voters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ norms of pluralism and coexistence.
” At this point the piece ends by once again stating that daydreaming about abolishing the Electoral College is “ pointless.
” Teles is certainly right about the likelihood that the Electoral College is going to disappear .
But I think he glosses over just how serious the divide is within his own party between the moderates and the Squad .
Democratic Socialists like AOC aren ’ t interested in what works best for the party as a whole .
Her project is openly to undermine and challenge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with progressives .
The fact that this mostly hasn ’ t worked and has arguably led to the loss of 10 House seats in this election doesn ’ t matter to AOC .
She has already blamed the failure of moderates on their poor social media outreach .
It really never seems to occur to her that she could never win a race in a red district .
And that ’ s the Democrats ’ real problem .
A significant portion of the party wants America to shift somewhere to the left of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) and they aren ’ t interested in compromising that vision with anyone who doesn ’ t feel the same way .
The bigger the party gets and the closer it gets to power , the more obvious those internal divisions will become .
And that will make it much harder to appeal to the more moderate voters they need to win elections .
Simply put , the far left is on a crusade to remake the country in the image of America ’ s most progressive college campuses and they care more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they do about winning elections .
Update : The Washington Post published an editorial titled “ Abolish the Electoral College ” Sunday .
Naturally they claim this isn ’ t about partisanship : We believe that Mr. Trump ’ s election was a sad event for the nation ; his reelection would have been a calamity ; we hope Mr. Thiessen is wrong about 2024 .
But we would be making this argument no matter which party seemed likely to benefit .
If Democratic nominee John F. Kerry hadn ’ t lost Ohio @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he would have won an electoral college victory despite trailing President George W. Bush by 3 million votes in the national count .
That would have been a problem , too .
Americans are not going to be satisfied with leaders who have been rejected by a majority of voters , and they ’ re right not to be .
It ’ s time to let the majority rule .

Progressives helped elect Joe Biden this year but some of them are still angry about 2016 and seem traumatized that Donald Trump came so close to winning a second term. The problem as they see it is the Electoral College which makes it possible to win the White House without winning the most votes. Over at Vox, Ezra Klein daydreamed out loud about what might have been if not for the dreaded Electoral College:
Imagine that, four years ago, Donald Trump lost the presidential election by 2.9 million votes, but there was no Electoral College to weight the results in his favor. In January 2017, Hillary Clinton was inaugurated as president, and the Trumpist faction of the GOP was blamed for blowing an election Republicans could have won… Take the most recent election. Joe Biden is on track to beat Donald Trump by around 5 million votes. But as my colleague Andrew Prokop notes, a roughly 50,000-vote swing in Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin would have created a 269-269 tie in the Electoral College, tossing the election to the state delegations in the House, where Trump would’ve won because Republicans control more states, though not more seats. Trump didn’t almost win reelection because of polarization. He almost won reelection because of the Electoral College.
A day later, NY Times columnist Jamelle Bouie made a similar complaint. And once again, he’s trying to terrorize his readers with how close Trump came to winning again:
Last year I wrote that the Electoral College, an archaic and outmoded system that runs contrary to our democratic principles and intuitions, was the “greatest threat to our democracy.” Somehow, this was an understatement… We are living through a period in which, for reasons of geographic polarization in particular, the Republican Party holds a powerful advantage in the Senate and the Electoral College, and a smaller one in the House of Representatives. Twice in 20 years they’ve won the White House without a majority of votes. A few shifts here and there, and Trump might have won a second term while losing by a popular vote margin nearly twice as large as the one he lost by in 2016.
He concludes, “the Electoral College is a loaded gun, waiting to be fired. We’ll disarm and disassemble it as soon as possible, if we value this democracy of ours.”
So is this really likely to happen? Are we going to disassemble the Electoral College to benefit Democrats? In a word, no. Today the Times published an opinion piece by Johns Hopkins University political science professor Stephen Teles which is titled “Our Political System Is Unfair. Liberals Need to Just Deal With It.” He opens by noting that despite electing Biden, it’s very unlikely Democrats will be able to institute any of the big changes on their wish list in the next four years:
Even if Democrats somehow squeak out wins in both Georgia Senate races, the Senate will then pivot on Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Not only does this take much of the liberal wish list off the table, it also makes deep structural reform of federal institutions impossible. There will be no new voting rights act in honor of the late Representative John Lewis, no statehood for Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, and no Supreme Court packing. For that matter, the filibuster will not be eliminated, which would have been the essential predicate for all of those other changes as well as expansive climate or health care legislation.
Teles suggests it’s this inability to do much of anything that is really driving people like Klein and Bouie crazy. As he puts it, the left sees the Electoral College as the reason “liberals can’t have nice things.” But from there Teles says there’s only one solution: Democrats need to suck it up.
Liberals need to adjust their political strategy and ideological ambitions to the country and political system we actually have, and make the most of it, rather than cursing that which they cannot change… If Democrats at some point get a chance to get full representation for Washington, D.C., they should take it. But beyond that, there are few if any pathways to changing either the Electoral College or the structure of the Senate. So any near-term strategy for Democrats must accept these structures as fixed.
In order to make do with things as they are, Teles recommends that Democrats (and he clearly counts himself as one of them) should organize in all 50 states and learn to manage their own internal differences better. Specifically, he suggests it’s clear that far left pieties “don’t travel well.”
We also need to recognize that the cultural values and rituals of Democrats in cosmopolitan cities and liberal institutional bastions like universities do not seem to travel well. Slogans like “defund the police” and “abolish ICE” may be mobilizing in places where three-quarters of voters pull the lever for Democrats. But it is madness to imagine that they could be the platform of a competitive party nationwide.
He says this doesn’t mean telling the Squad to shut up to keep from scaring the crap out of moderate voters. It just means creating “internal norms of pluralism and coexistence.” At this point the piece ends by once again stating that daydreaming about abolishing the Electoral College is “pointless.”
Teles is certainly right about the likelihood that the Electoral College is going to disappear. But I think he glosses over just how serious the divide is within his own party between the moderates and the Squad. Democratic Socialists like AOC aren’t interested in what works best for the party as a whole. Her project is openly to undermine and challenge moderate Democrats in hopes of replacing them with progressives. The fact that this mostly hasn’t worked and has arguably led to the loss of 10 House seats in this election doesn’t matter to AOC. She has already blamed the failure of moderates on their poor social media outreach. It really never seems to occur to her that she could never win a race in a red district.
And that’s the Democrats’ real problem. A significant portion of the party wants America to shift somewhere to the left of Sweden or France (for a start) and they aren’t interested in compromising that vision with anyone who doesn’t feel the same way. The bigger the party gets and the closer it gets to power, the more obvious those internal divisions will become. And that will make it much harder to appeal to the more moderate voters they need to win elections.
Simply put, the far left is on a crusade to remake the country in the image of America’s most progressive college campuses and they care more about the purity of that vision than they do about winning elections.
Update: The Washington Post published an editorial titled “Abolish the Electoral College” Sunday. Naturally they claim this isn’t about partisanship:
We believe that Mr. Trump’s election was a sad event for the nation; his reelection would have been a calamity; we hope Mr. Thiessen is wrong about 2024. But we would be making this argument no matter which party seemed likely to benefit. If Democratic nominee John F. Kerry hadn’t lost Ohio by just 120,000 votes in 2004, he would have won an electoral college victory despite trailing President George W. Bush by 3 million votes in the national count. That would have been a problem, too. Americans are not going to be satisfied with leaders who have been rejected by a majority of voters, and they’re right not to be. It’s time to let the majority rule.
Suck it up, editorial board.


hotair--2020-11-17--Raffensperger: I inferred that Graham was implying we should toss mismatched ballots, or something

No one doubts that Brad Raffensperger has a thankless job at the moment , but maybe that ’ s why he should refrain from picking unnecessary fights in the middle of a recount .
After accusing Lindsey Graham of pressuring him to throw out ballots in the presidential recount , Raffensperger retreated on an interview with Fox ’ s Martha MacCallum this morning .
Graham had asked about signature-matching procedures in relation to the Senate races , the secretary of state explained , and only “ implied ” that Raffensperger should discard ballots where signature matching had questionable results .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Atlanta ’ s CBS affiliate reports that Raffensperger “ stood firm ” in his allegation against Graham , but their headline is rather amusing : “ Raffensperger Says He Inferred Lindsey Graham Hinted He Should Discard Ballots.
” He inferred a hint ?
“ He asked if the ballots could be matched back to the voters , ” Raffensperger told CNN ’ s Wolf Blitzer on “ The Situation Room ” Monday evening .
“ And then he , I got the sense it implied that then you could throw those out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the counties with the highest frequent error of signatures .
So that ’ s the impression that I got.
” He later added , “ It was just an implication of , ‘ Look hard and see how many ballots you could throw out.
’ ” Raffensperger ’ s comments come after he told The Washington Post on Monday that Graham had cast doubt on Georgia ’ s signature-matching law in a conversation on Friday , and had also floated the possibility that biased poll workers could have counted ballots with inconsistent signatures @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Atlanta ’ s CBS affiliate to rescue Raffensperger ’ s story .
He told the Washington Post a somewhat different story , at least as the Post reported it : In their conversation , Graham questioned Raffensperger about the state ’ s signature-matching law and whether political bias could have prompted poll workers to accept ballots with nonmatching signatures , according to Raffensperger .
Graham also asked whether Raffensperger had the power to toss all mail ballots in counties found to have higher rates of nonmatching signatures , Raffensperger said .
Raffensperger @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to suggest that he find a way to toss legally cast ballots .
Absent court intervention , Raffensperger doesn ’ t have the power to do what Graham suggested because counties administer elections in Georgia .
So Raffensperger ’ s changing his tune a bit , or at least the tenor of it .
An inferred hint is a pretty thin basis for a high-ranking official to claim interference .
For his part , Graham says he ’ s mystified , as he thought the conversation was friendly : Reached by the newspaper @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s characterization of events while acknowledging that the two did speak .
The South Carolina Republican explained that he sought out Raffensperger on his own to understand the signature-matching law .
“ The main issue for me is : How do you protect the integrity of mail-in voting , and how does signature verification work ?
” he said , adding that , “ If he feels threatened by that conversation , he ’ s got a problem .
I actually thought it was a good conversation.
” Why would Graham ask about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , for one thing , Graham currently chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee , which has jurisdiction over federal law enforcement .
Both Democrats and Republicans acted to expand federal jurisdiction over election processes after the 2016 election and foreign interference claims , plus Georgia is operating under a federal consent decree ( although that ’ s not related to the signature issue ) .
On top of all that , the Senate has the final authority whether to accept election results for senatorial elections , just as the House does with its elections @ @ @ @ @ @ @ least one of the committees that would have to investigate irregularities in case of challenges to results , if not the committee with the highest jurisdiction on those issues .
Why is it a surprise that the Judiciary chair wants to make sure that the proper processes are followed and asks questions of the official in charge of that ?
Thankfully , the recount is nearly over , Raffensperger tells MacCallum .
Perhaps at that point , he can get off of national television and do his job in the runoffs , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

No one doubts that Brad Raffensperger has a thankless job at the moment, but maybe that’s why he should refrain from picking unnecessary fights in the middle of a recount. After accusing Lindsey Graham of pressuring him to throw out ballots in the presidential recount, Raffensperger retreated on an interview with Fox’s Martha MacCallum this morning. Graham had asked about signature-matching procedures in relation to the Senate races, the secretary of state explained, and only “implied” that Raffensperger should discard ballots where signature matching had questionable results.
Pick this up at the 3:20 mark:
Watch the latest video at foxnews.com
Atlanta’s CBS affiliate reports that Raffensperger “stood firm” in his allegation against Graham, but their headline is rather amusing: “Raffensperger Says He Inferred Lindsey Graham Hinted He Should Discard Ballots.” He inferred a hint?
“He asked if the ballots could be matched back to the voters,” Raffensperger told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room” Monday evening. “And then he, I got the sense it implied that then you could throw those out for any, if you look at the counties with the highest frequent error of signatures. So that’s the impression that I got.” He later added, “It was just an implication of, ‘Look hard and see how many ballots you could throw out.’ ” Raffensperger’s comments come after he told The Washington Post on Monday that Graham had cast doubt on Georgia’s signature-matching law in a conversation on Friday, and had also floated the possibility that biased poll workers could have counted ballots with inconsistent signatures.
That headline is an embarrassing attempt by Atlanta’s CBS affiliate to rescue Raffensperger’s story. He told the Washington Post a somewhat different story, at least as the Post reported it:
In their conversation, Graham questioned Raffensperger about the state’s signature-matching law and whether political bias could have prompted poll workers to accept ballots with nonmatching signatures, according to Raffensperger. Graham also asked whether Raffensperger had the power to toss all mail ballots in counties found to have higher rates of nonmatching signatures, Raffensperger said. Raffensperger said he was stunned that Graham appeared to suggest that he find a way to toss legally cast ballots. Absent court intervention, Raffensperger doesn’t have the power to do what Graham suggested because counties administer elections in Georgia.
So Raffensperger’s changing his tune a bit, or at least the tenor of it. An inferred hint is a pretty thin basis for a high-ranking official to claim interference. For his part, Graham says he’s mystified, as he thought the conversation was friendly:
Reached by the newspaper Monday evening, Graham denied Raffensperger’s characterization of events while acknowledging that the two did speak. The South Carolina Republican explained that he sought out Raffensperger on his own to understand the signature-matching law. “The main issue for me is: How do you protect the integrity of mail-in voting, and how does signature verification work?” he said, adding that, “If he feels threatened by that conversation, he’s got a problem. I actually thought it was a good conversation.”
Why would Graham ask about this in the first place? Well, for one thing, Graham currently chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over federal law enforcement. Both Democrats and Republicans acted to expand federal jurisdiction over election processes after the 2016 election and foreign interference claims, plus Georgia is operating under a federal consent decree (although that’s not related to the signature issue).
On top of all that, the Senate has the final authority whether to accept election results for senatorial elections, just as the House does with its elections. The Judiciary Committee would be at least one of the committees that would have to investigate irregularities in case of challenges to results, if not the committee with the highest jurisdiction on those issues. Why is it a surprise that the Judiciary chair wants to make sure that the proper processes are followed and asks questions of the official in charge of that?
Thankfully, the recount is nearly over, Raffensperger tells MacCallum. Perhaps at that point, he can get off of national television and do his job in the runoffs, and quit complaining about oversight of his performance.


hotair--2020-11-17--Irony apocalypse: We must be secure enough to admit our mistakes on COVID without getting defensive,

Irony apocalypse: We must be secure enough to admit our mistakes on COVID without getting defensive, says ... Cuomo

Let me remind you up front that , as of late August , this guy was convinced that his main mistake in handling New York ’ s COVID outbreak was that he didn ’ t order a mask mandate sooner .
Since New York ’ s pandemic abated in June he ’ s been on an extended “ victory ” tour that ’ s been monetized at least twice even though : — the single most notorious policy move by any American official , Trump included , since the virus arrived in this country was Cuomo ’ s decision to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , victimizing an especially vulnerable population ; — his main contribution to the war on coronavirus recently has been spreading vaccine skepticism while toying with the idea of shutting New York City ’ s schools again even though infections in schools across the country appear to be vanishingly rare ; — New York ’ s total death toll from COVID stands north of 34,000 people this morning , the highest of any state by leaps and bounds .
Texas is a very distant second at 20,000 with California and Florida close behind .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ populations than New York ( California is roughly double the size ) .
with the combined death toll in California and Florida only slightly larger than NY ’ s .
So now here he is , the self-appointed Churchill of the pandemic , dispensing advice on being humble and forthright about one ’ s errors .
“ It is results that matter at the end of the day , ” he concludes .
If that were true , this tool would have been impeached already , not in line for a Biden cabinet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We deserve Andrew Cuomo , national COVID czar .
Maybe Sleepy Joe , seduced by the media myth that Cuomo ’ s performance on the virus has been impressive or even passable , will make it happen .
He makes one fair point in the clip , though , that “ a vaccine will only work if people trust the government enough to take it.
” That ’ s true , but guess what ?
That ’ s quite a reversal in the span of a month , with support rising even before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Moderna that their vaccines appear to be 90+ percent effective .
What explains the shift ?
If you follow the last link and scroll down , you ’ ll see .
Support among Republicans and independents remains flat but there was a big rebound in October among Democrats , presumably because they came to realize that the FDA wasn ’ t going to rush a vaccine authorization before the election to help Trump ’ s campaign after all .
Relatedly , among people who claim they *won ’ t* get vaccinated , Democrats @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that it ’ s because they have concerns about a rushed timeline for approval .
Now that Election Day has come and gone , more of them may conclude that the vaccine wasn ’ t some Trump political ploy after all but a good-faith effort .
Combine that with the rosy data from Pfizer and Moderna plus the fact that Trump took a deserved victory lap last week about the success of Operation Warp Speed and we might see bigger pro-vaccine numbers among both parties next month than anyone had hoped for .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the rest of this year turns out be as grim as doctors expect .

Let me remind you up front that, as of late August, this guy was convinced that his main mistake in handling New York’s COVID outbreak was that he didn’t order a mask mandate sooner.
Since New York’s pandemic abated in June he’s been on an extended “victory” tour that’s been monetized at least twice even though:
— the single most notorious policy move by any American official, Trump included, since the virus arrived in this country was Cuomo’s decision to return infected nursing-home patients to their facilities, victimizing an especially vulnerable population;
— his main contribution to the war on coronavirus recently has been spreading vaccine skepticism while toying with the idea of shutting New York City’s schools again even though infections in schools across the country appear to be vanishingly rare;
— New York’s total death toll from COVID stands north of 34,000 people this morning, the highest of any state by leaps and bounds. Texas is a very distant second at 20,000 with California and Florida close behind. All three of those states have larger populations than New York (California is roughly double the size). with the combined death toll in California and Florida only slightly larger than NY’s.
So now here he is, the self-appointed Churchill of the pandemic, dispensing advice on being humble and forthright about one’s errors.
NY Gov. Cuomo: "The key is to be strong and secure enough to admit your mistakes and admit your shortcomings — don't get defensive." pic.twitter.com/cOWDbdSJj4 — The Hill (@thehill) November 16, 2020
“It is results that matter at the end of the day,” he concludes. If that were true, this tool would have been impeached already, not in line for a Biden cabinet position.
But you know what? We deserve Andrew Cuomo, national COVID czar. Maybe Sleepy Joe, seduced by the media myth that Cuomo’s performance on the virus has been impressive or even passable, will make it happen.
He makes one fair point in the clip, though, that “a vaccine will only work if people trust the government enough to take it.” That’s true, but guess what?
That’s quite a reversal in the span of a month, with support rising even before the bombshell news arrived from Pfizer and Moderna that their vaccines appear to be 90+ percent effective. What explains the shift? If you follow the last link and scroll down, you’ll see. Support among Republicans and independents remains flat but there was a big rebound in October among Democrats, presumably because they came to realize that the FDA wasn’t going to rush a vaccine authorization before the election to help Trump’s campaign after all. Relatedly, among people who claim they *won’t* get vaccinated, Democrats are the group most likely to say that it’s because they have concerns about a rushed timeline for approval. Now that Election Day has come and gone, more of them may conclude that the vaccine wasn’t some Trump political ploy after all but a good-faith effort. Combine that with the rosy data from Pfizer and Moderna plus the fact that Trump took a deserved victory lap last week about the success of Operation Warp Speed and we might see bigger pro-vaccine numbers among both parties next month than anyone had hoped for. Especially if the outlook on COVID for the rest of this year turns out be as grim as doctors expect.