Update from the
Heartland
No.784
19.12.16 – 25.12.16
Blog version: http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/
To all,
Happy Boxing Day
I watched the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl on Friday,
played in Fort Worth, Texas, between Louisiana Tech and U.S. Naval Academy. While Navy lost after a last second
field goal by Louisiana Tech, they played quite well – a fun game to
watch. The final score was 48-45 –
an impressive offensive display.
Throughout the game, I continued to think . . . if only they had played
like that against Army [782]. Nonetheless, I am still very proud of
the Middies. Well done. Go Navy, Beat Army.
Members of the Electoral College met in their respective state
capitals across this Grand Republic on Monday, to cast their ballots in
accordance with Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution. There were a number of faithless
electors [782]; however, the outcome
remained the same as predicted on election night [778].
Donald Trump 304
Hillary Clinton 227
Colin Powell 3
Bernie Sanders 1
John Kasich 1
Ron Paul 1
Faith Spotted Eagle 1
TOTAL 538
Having accumulated a majority of the Electoral College votes,
Trump has officially won the election.
While we must wait for the new Congress to officially validate the
election results early next year, for the election to be complete and closed,
we can now properly refer to Donald John Trump as President-elect and
soon-to-be 45th President of the United States of America.
Just
a related FYI: on election night, the Election vote was expected to be: Trump –
306; Clinton – 232. Most of the
faithless electors abandoned Clinton.
Let
us (and especially The Donald) not forget the final count of actual votes by
citizens in this election:
Hillary Clinton 65,844,954
Donald Trump 62,979,879
Gary Johnson 4,488,919
Jill Stein 1,457,044
Evan McMullin 725,902
Trump
hardly has the clear mandate he so vociferously claims. We can only hope he develops some
semblance of humility and more importantly respect for the office he is about
to occupy (at least in principle).
On Friday, the United Nations Security Council voted on and approved
Resolution
2334 (2016), by a vote of 14-0-1, with the United States abstaining. The resolution harshly criticizes
Israel's expansion of settlements in the West Bank region. The Obama administration's decision to
break from longstanding U.S. policy made the historic vote possible. The vote comes amid international
political jostling and took place a day after Egypt withdrew its draft of the
resolution, following pressure from Israel and President-elect Donald Trump. The Netanyahu administration was
characteristically incensed over the vote and threatened to withdraw all its
support from the United Nations, and he condemned President Obama for betraying
Israel. Frankly, President Obama
took the correct action. I have
long opposed the Israeli practice of encouraging and supporting West Bank
settlements in a de facto effort to
carve off more land from any potential Palestinian state. When the two-state solution finally
comes to fruition, as I believe it most assuredly will, those Jewish
settlements outside Israel (as presently defined) should be transferred to
Palestine, and further the occupants should be given the option of repatriation
to Israel, or becoming Palestinian citizens. And further and unfortunately, some form of protection must
be provided to prevent the current occupants or the Israeli state from destroying
those structures. What Israel has
been doing in the West Bank has been and remains wrong. Full stop!
Comments and contributions from Update no.783:
Comment to the Blog:
“I'll keep this one fairly quick. I need to catch a bus to
the Electoral College protest.
“The Fed raising the interest rate is boring but
significant. It means they believe
the economic crisis is over. I guess that depends on perspective.
“I mentioned in my comments the hackers who published the
DNC emails having Republican information for a reason. The election is (probably) over, but
damaging information about the Republican President just becomes more valuable.
The hackers have private information about the President of the United States. This one seems immune to ordinary
scandals, but if the hackers hold evidence of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors,’
they can make a very credible threat of impeachment. There's incredible blackmail leverage there. I thought that was obvious, which is why
I didn't explain it.”
My response to the
Blog:
How
did the protest go? The outcome
remained the same . . . to be certified on or about 6.January.2017.
Unfortunately,
the national economy does not and cannot represent an individual state. Rather, it is a national average. Perspective is an appropriate
word. Hopefully, your view of the
economy will improve soon.
Re:
blackmail. Conjecture, but an
interesting hypothesis, nonetheless.
Time shall tell the tale . . . soon enough.
. . . a follow-up comment:
“The protest went reasonably well. It matters to meet people who share one's views and are
willing to work for them.
“The source of the story on Republican information was as
authoritative as we'll ever have. Of course, the content is unknown, but so far Mr. Trump's
life is a sewer.”
. . . my follow-up response:
I
have an aversion and unease around crowds, so I shall not be attending protests
of any sort in my remaining lifetime.
Good on you for standing up to voice your opinion.
We
may never know the content of any material stolen from the RNC or any other
political organization. The vulnerability
alone is disturbing.
I
believe I have clearly written my displeasure and disapproval of so much of
Trump’s personality and character traits.
I doubt the leopard can change his spots, but I am prepared to be
surprised.
C'est
la guerre et c'est la vie!
My
very best wishes to all. Take care
of yourselves and each other.
Cheers,
Cap :-)
2 comments:
Your reporting on the Electoral College is accurate, but I disagree that Trump has a "mandate" in the sense he uses it. Merriam-Webster defines mandate first [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mandate] as "an authoritative command." Trump has no such thing from We the People. He has been selected by the Electoral College, but that is far from an "authoritative command" to follow his personal course. As you yourself pointed out, he lost the popular vote. Trump has provided our only true test of Hamilton's stated purpose of the Electoral College. It failed.
I have no affection for Israel and I cannot understand why the US government has seen fit to support them in the blind way it has. That UN abstention may be Obama's most positive foreign policy action. Israel has always been brash, much like a little kid who counts on a big, tough friend to get away with bullying. The big, tough kid is officially standing back right now, so we shall see the results of Israel's current bravado. I await Trump's whims, noting that events sometimes move very quickly in that part of the world and his options may be different.
Calvin,
Re: “mandate.” I do believe, if you re-read my words, we are in complete agreement. He has no mandate . . . despite what he thinks.
Re: “Electoral College.” I certainly understand why you would say it has failed. We shall respectfully disagree. We get what we deserve. It will soon be time to suffer the consequences of this election.
Re: “Israel.” The genesis of U.S. support for Israel goes back many decades . . . nearly a century by my reckoning. There is no simple answer. Trump’s espoused position is far to the right of my position. We can only hope, if he ever does study up on the history, he will find a more reasonable and informed position, rather than the emotional one he currently maintains. I agree. We shall see.
“That’s just my opinion, but I could be wrong.”
Cheers,
Cap
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