SCOTUS Independence

   It seems the president expects the Supreme Court to do his bidding and reverse nearly 30 lower court rulings that tossed his challenges to American voting procedures that cost him re-election.
   Judging from his public comments, Donald Trump wants the Republican majority on the court -- three of whom are his appointees -- to overrule the tradition of electing a president, taking it way from voters and moving it to politicians.
   But Supreme Court justices are appointed for life, and cannot be summarily dismissed by someone who thinks he is in charge of everything. SCOTUS is a separate and independent branch of the U.S. government, with equal status to Congress and the president.
   Nevertheless, this president behaves like he's in charge of everything, and anyone who disagrees is automatically wrong and is to be ignored or fired. That may have worked in his private business empire, but the U.S. government is not an empire and he is not an emperor.
   So this president is in a dilemma. Can he realistically ignore the Supreme Court? Or can he close it down if he does not approve of its decisions? Take this thinking a few steps further, and the question becomes whether he can ignore the voters and stay in office?
   Currently, he is lamenting the reality that the Supreme Court may not take up his challenges, most notably the one by the federal district court in Pennsylvania that said elections are decided by voters, not by lawyers.

Druid Dilemma

   The latest in the series of stories about Jack McHarg and his dealings with the spirit world is now available at bookstores or via Amazon.

Inauguration Daze

   The president continues his allegations that the election was rigged, despite some 30 court cases being summarily dismissed by state and federal courts for lack of evidence.
   He has finally acknowledged that he will probably leave the White House on January 20, inauguration day, leading some to suspect that he will not attend the swearing-in ceremony of his successor.
   And, given the fierceness of his insistence that he actually did win the election, this gives rise to speculation that he will hold a separate "inauguration" for a second term, to be held at his Florida estate.
   Or at minimum, there will be some sort of appearance at the same hour that Joe Biden is sworn in at the nation's capitol in Washington.

Attitude

   Donald Trump: "Don't talk to me like that. I'm the president of the United States."
   Pug Mahoney: "Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel."
   Note: Americans, particularly journalists, have the right to ask any question of anyone else at any time, as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution.
   The president is not a king or a dictator, and it's long past time he stopped acting like one. Unless that is his intention, to continue in his position even after January 20 despite the results of the general election, as certified by the individual states.

Covid Statistics

Just checked some covid stats.

   Morris County NJ, my home county, has seen 12,550 cases and 854 deaths.
   Bucks County PA, where I am now, has seen 15,408 cases and 658 deaths.

Pennsylvania, 25,132 cases and 9,932 deaths
NJ 311,400 cases and 16,772 deaths.
US, 12.5 million cases and 257,629 deaths.

I'm staying home.

   Other countries have better policies, and the problem is less. Thanks to the fearful leader, many Americans deny it exists and blame the "fake news media" for spreading nonsense. The pharaoh syndrome (king of denial) is spreading, and the virus rides with it.

Speculation

   So why is the president trying so hard to overturn the well documented results of an election that he lost by nearly 8 million votes as well as a solid margin in the electoral college?
   Repeated attempts to block several state results in court challenges have failed, either dismissed by judges or abandoned by law firms.
   Could it be that he plans to force a tie electoral vote, which would put the final choice into the Congress? That's not likely to work either.
   Perhaps it's his ego, which does not allow him to admit defeat in anything, ever. Or is the power play to remain president a move to remain in office permanently? He has in the past spoken of his next ten years in office, which is disallowed by the Constitution.
   Could it be that he would suspend the Constitution by executive order? As if that is even possible. But in the past, reality has not stopped him from doing things that others would not try.
   Perhaps he is relying on the enthusiasm of his dedicated supporters to enable him, and they would support his every move, even those that would result in violence.
   This would mean a civil war.

Sore Loser?

    "He cheated" and "That's not fair" are two expressions many of us remember from our childhood when playmates did not win a competition. By high school, especially in sports, we learned to accept defeat, congratulate the winner and move on.
   Some, however, never learn that, and for the rest of their lives refuse to accept a loss and spend many hours blaming others for embarrassing them.
   Currently, we are seeing similar behavior by the man who happens to be president of the United States, using the same expressions that children use when they do not win.   
   Granted, the results are not yet official, even ten days after Election Day, and won't be until the Electoral College certifies the vote in December and later presents their conclusion to Congress.
   Meanwhile, projections by news media, relying on the same tabulations as gathered by the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, show that Joe Biden has a total of more than 270 electoral votes to become the next president.
   But even if the four states that had not yet completed their vote count all favored Donald Trump, that would still not be enough to overtake the presumed winner. The current president had a total of 214 electoral votes as of Monday. Assuming that Alaska, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina put their total of 43 electoral votes to the Trump column, that would still be only 257 votes, 13 short of the 270 needed for reelection.
   That would mean that several previously submitted state counts would have to be overturned, and several lawsuits have been submitted to do just that. Winning an overturn in Pennsylvania alone, for example, with its 20 electoral votes, would be more than enough to return Trump to the Oval Office.
   So what are the odds of any of those court challenges succeeding? As well as winning in all four of the states that had not yet completed their vote counts?
   Somewhere between slim and none. Meanwhile, America will hear the chanting of a sore loser.