AndyO Blog

Sunday, December 20, 2020

Enough of the false alarms

I just read that Trump is doubling down on his challenge to overturn the election. OK, this man has continued to yell “Fire!” to the entire country, where there are clearly no widespread conflagrations. There’s not even a wisp of smoke. Can you imagine someone repeatedly calling the fire department because they think there might be a fire nearby?

“If you people would just start looking around in basements and backyards, I’m sure you’d find some spark somewhere.”

After the second or third false alarm, the firefighters would be correct to question the president’s mental state. They’d be in their right to fine him for the false alarms, even though he’d sue them—because that’s what solves everything. 

Now we’re hearing about more of Trump’s desperate plans, like bringing in the military to run another election. It’s as if he’s calling fire stations outside his neighborhood to come in and investigate—because the local ones are incompetent. 

Someone is incompetent.

posted by AndyO @ 11:23 PM   0 comments

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Finally

On Monday, the Electoral College voted and Biden was declared the 46th President of the United States. This happened after countless lawsuits and outright pressure to overturn the election results. The Supreme Court on Friday chose not to hear a case brought by Texas, which was Trump’s last stand. 

Trump and his supporters have done great damage to our democracy, damage that will take years to repair. They’ve opened the door for a more competent tyrant to do even more damage.

Still, for all the sound and fury, the system of checks and balances has worked remarkably well. Fifty lawsuits across multiple states were thrown out for lack of evidence. Trump’s Jedi Mind Trick doesn’t work on judges who must maintain the rule of law; it doesn’t work on most election officials who are carrying out their constitutional duties. The courage of those officials in the face of death threats is inspiring. 

Now that Mitch McConnell has recognized Biden as president-elect, others in the GOP should fall in line. Because we don’t have any more time and effort to waste with a pandemic that’s claimed over 300,000 American lives.

The good news is that COVID-19 vaccine is finally being administered, although it will take six to nine months to start to get any kind of mass immunity. Somehow, despite all the headwinds of federal  incompetence and misinformation, companies were able to engineer and distribute a vaccine in record time. It’s an astonishing accomplishment, yet one that Trump deserves no credit. Because while we’ve been waiting his misinformation has cost countless lives. My only hope is these numbers will become understood very soon. After all, we’re currently seeing more people die of covid every day than who died in the 9/11 attacks. 

I’m not sure how anyone can support a president who helped make this possible.

posted by AndyO @ 12:49 AM   0 comments

Tuesday, December 08, 2020

Simple truths and ideas in the age of misinformation

  1. Biden won the Electoral and Popular Vote for the 2020 Presidential Election.
  2. Anyone asking for the will of people to be overturned without evidence is not interested in democracy or the rule of law.
  3. Party leaders who don’t stand up to a lawless president are complicit in the erosion of democracy.
  4. We’ve reached a point where the flaws in the system have been exposed, and we can no longer rely on good intentions for presidents and other elected officials. What is expected must now be codified into law. 
  5. Candidates running for office must release all taxes and financial information and put all investments into a blind trust to avoid conflicts of interest. If they’d rather be in business instead of politics, then they shouldn’t run for office. 
  6. Lying is not the same as free speech and should carry legal consequences. Any elected official who deliberately spreads misinformation and is charged with doing so can be prosecuted—even the president.
  7. Running for office should require prerequisites. Presidential candidates should have at least four years of experience as an elected official at the federal or state level. 
  8. Citizens United and the dirty money it’s allowed into our system should be struck down.
  9. We should change the presidential election to a popular vote so all citizens have equal say.
  10. Pardons and commutations must go through a thorough review before being carried out to guard against conflict of interest. Pardons for friends, colleagues, loyalists, or anyone else with personal ties will not be permitted.
posted by AndyO @ 12:02 AM   0 comments