Month: November 2020

Finally something has happened here in California that has already happened in some other states. No, this has nothing to do with the election, the result of which will probably not be known for days and maybe not for weeks.

Here I am referring to  a ruling by a  Sutter County Superior Court Judge in California. On 11/2/20 a Northern California judge tentatively ruled in favor of state Assemblymembers James Gallagher and Kevin Kiley regarding their lawsuit against Governor Gavin Newsom. The two Republicans are claiming the Democratic governor has abused his power during the COVID-19 pandemic. They have been arguing that the California Emergency Services Act does not provide for one-man rule.

Similar suits in other states have had similar results, namely that governors cannot unilaterally dictate, and dictate, and dictate ad-nauseam to the residents of their state on a never ending list of issues. I would guess that we will see more of these suits as the Constitution does not take a holiday for a pandemic, or a flood, or a hurricane, etc.

Here in California, in Sutter County Superior Court Judge Sarah Heckman ruled as unconstitutional Governor Newsom’s statewide vote-by-mail executive order. The directive required that all registered voters in California receive mail-in ballots to avoid having large numbers of people gathered at polling places. It also mandated one voting place per 10,000 residents be open from October 31st to November 2nd for at least 8 hours.

The details of this particular case are not particularly important as the voting has been completed, but rather it is the principle that is important, namely that Governor Newsom is not a monarch, and California is not a monarchy.

In addition, the judge’s tentative ruling places an injunction on any unilateral attempts by the Governor to make or change state law in the immediate future.

“This is a victory for separation of powers. The Governor has continued to create and change state law without public input and without the deliberative process provided by the Legislature,” said Kiley, one of the two Republican state Assemblymen who filed the suit against Governor Newsom. “The judicial branch again gave him the check that was needed and that the Constitution requires.”

Finally, with this ruling perhaps there will be some clarity of just how much King Newsom can dictate to his serfs here in California.

11/4/20

When will we learn the results of this Presidential election? It will probably be days or even weeks before the final tally is in. Undoubtedly there will be skulduggery in counting the votes in many states . . . which ballots are valid and which are fake? With the large number of mail-in ballots, the absentee ballots, the court decisions to extend deadlines, the comparing of voter’s signatures, and the number of dead people voting (other than in Chicago), there is going to be a substantial delay before all the legitimate votes are counted. (Remember, Hillary’s advice to Biden not to concede.)

Don’t be surprised if the Supreme Court has to get involved. (Thank God that the Court now has nine members.)

Are there any hints or shortcuts to tell who is likely to win before the fat-lady sings? The obvious answer is, “no,” however there is an indicator that can give a good reading before all of the votes are counted. That indicator is Florida. 

I have read the following multiple times:

“If Biden wins Florida, his chance of winning the presidency is 95%; whereas if Biden loses Florida, his chance of winning drops to <50%.”

Certainly there are multiple other battleground states in which the polls are too close to call at this point, but Florida appears to be a key state for each candidate, and more important South Florida appears to be a critical piece of the Florida puzzle. Why? Because South Florida (Miami-Dade County) is heavily Democrat. Hillary won that part of the state by >29% in 2016, and still lost Florida. However, this year there appears to be some Democrat angst concerning South Florida, because at this point, the turnout is relatively low. Young people are not getting out to vote there as anticipated. (FL: total Ds lead 95,130 so Rs again chopping that lead bit by bit. Ds led 96,400 going into election day 2016 when Trump won by 113,000.)

It is quite interesting that on Sunday, 11/1, President Trump held his final rally of five that day in Opa Locka, Florida. Where the hell is Opa Locka? Why hold a rally there? Well, Opa Locka is in Miami-Dade County. The rally started late at 11:47 pm, and lasted a little over an hour till 12:49 a.m. The Opa Locka Executive Airport was packed . . . at midnight for the rally.

At the Opa-locka Rally there were 14,254 signups – 23.9% of whom did not vote in 2016. Will these 2016 non-voters vote for Trump in 2020 or are they just there to enjoy the crowd? (You must make your own judgement on that. I have made mine.)

The latest CBS poll has Florida going for Trump, and the Democracy Institute State Polls has the following (per Breitbart):

FLORIDA

Trump 49%

Biden  45%

So the bottom line is that the vote tallies will not be finalized probably for weeks, however Florida could well be the canary in the coal mine, so to speak.

God bless Florida, and may God bless America.

I know that you are all anxiously waiting for my prediction for the upcoming election. In early to mid October, I felt that Biden was clearly going to be the winner, and felt that he would easily hold on.

Just over the last week or two some things have happened that I believe have influenced the independent voters. I do not think that all of the things I am going to detail below effected all independents the same. However, as I look back, I believed that some of these things could effect individual independent voters or more importantly groups of independent voters. 

The following are in no particular order:

Nuns in MAGA masks at Trump rally in Ohio; they were behind Trump and           were very enthusiastic for DJT.

Seals rescue American in Nigeria

Recent and ongoing Philadelphia riots

New Orleans police officer ambushed, shot in the face

Minnesota Dem. Governor and Dem. AG limiting Trump rally to 250;  (Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) said the              Trump campaign had to limit their rally to 250 people – hundreds,  maybe a thousand gathered in the adjacent parking lot)

Black women wanting better schools for their kids, and a recent Zoom  meeting with black pastors in which Trump vowed to help poorer children have “school choice.”

Biden’s almost pitiful attempt to coddle up to Florida’s Hispanic voters with some rap-like song. (Cubans in So. Florida are still reacting to Obama’s buddying up to Castro.)

Trump’s recent Peace Prize nominations 

Rappers Lil Wayne and Ice Cube both endorsing Trump

The Washington Examiner and the New York Post both endorsing Trump

The hectic pace of Trump the extremely enthusiastic rallies over the last few weeks, and especially the last few days . . .compared to the sad         almost sullen Biden rallies – no comparison.

Bobby Orr coming out for Trump in New Hampshire

Biden’s major debate faux pas when he said that he was going to end fracking

And finally, Trump coming down with Covid was a blessing in disguise.

Finally, my prediction:

Trump will win with at least 290 electoral votes. Biden could win the popular vote tally with a lot of basically useless Biden votes coming from the west coast (including California, and Wash/Ore), Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and basically all of New England. Despite the anticipated caterwauling from the Dems . . . “Like Hillary, Biden won the popular vote, he should be President” . . . tough, as the Electoral College is how the USA picks the winner.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot:

I am also predicting that the Republicans will hold on to the Senate with the Republicans taking two of the following four . . . Arizona, North Carolina,  Michigan, Iowa . . . on Trump’s coattails.

These days it seems that there is no room for disagreement. If one disagrees with the prevailing opinion, then he/she is vilified and slandered. There is no room for any discussion . . . “If you disagree with me, go to hell. You’re wrong! Shut up. No, there will not be any discussion. The matter has already been settled.”

The best example in recent years is that of “man made global warming.” One somewhat erudite discussion group that I belong to would not allow an anti- man made global warming speaker to present a different side to the “accepted science” of man made global warming. (“You’re wrong. We are right. Shut up. There is no need for any discussion on the topic.”)

With this Covid pandemic we are seeing a similar pattern : “We are right and you’re wrong. Shut up. End of discussion.” I do agree that some things, like social distancing, seem to be common sense. It would seem logical that the farther one stays away from other people, the less likely one is to get the infection from another person. However, where did the magical six feet come from? In Europe it is one meter, the equivalent of about three feet. Do droplets travel less of a distance in Europe?

Lockdowns? If anyone has the audacity to disagree with lockdowns or masks . . . “you are a mean anti-social person that wishes harm to others. You’re wrong. Shut up. We do not need or want your opinion. Anyone who opposes lockdowns or the constant wearing of masks is  dangerous.”

The latest “we are right, you’re wrong, no discussion is needed” is against the authors of The Great Barrington Declaration, which is, in essence, a statement written by three public health experts from Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford. It encourages governments to lift lockdown restrictions on young and healthy people while focusing protection measures on the elderly. This would allow COVID-19 to spread in a population where it is less likely to be deadly. The authors state that this would encourage widespread immunity that is not dependent on a vaccine.

These three epidemiologists have been vilified not only by the press, but also by other medical professionals that do not agree with them.(“Despite the fact that you are three distinguished epidemiologists, you are wrong. Shut up!”)

One of the main authors states that lockdown restrictions violate two main tenets of public health (from the WSJ):

• You cannot just look at Covid but must look holistically at health and evaluate collateral damage,for example, worsening incidence of cardiovascular disease and cancer, as well as an alarming decline in immunizations world wide.
• You cannot just look at the short term; we will be dealing with these long term lockdown consequences for a very long time.

The proponents of government lockdowns in the name of protecting the public from dangerous ideas will not open up the topic to scientific discourse. (“We are right. You’re wrong. No discussion is needed. Shut up.”) 

What is very interesting is that the WHO, just within the last few weeks, has reversed its stance and has come out against lockdowns. I have seen neither this latest WHO statement nor a summary of The Great Barrington Declaration in my local “newspaper.”

Furthermore, as an aside, this is the issue I have with the all-knowing Dr. Fauci. He is only considering Covid from the morbidity and the mortality due to the virus itself. As best I can ascertain he does not consider any of the ancillary damage that comes from his one size fits all policies. It seems to me that he has put on blinders to any of the obvious ancillary damage that comes from his stringent views, and that is why, at this point, I think that he has outlived his usefulness. 

This afternoon I went to the gym and parked myself in front of the T.V. that has Fox News. Now granted what I am going to say and comment on is without sound. I can clearly see the screen and am able to read about 80% of what is typed and runs across the screen, but I cannot hear anything.

For the first twenty-five minutes a Trump rally from somewhere in Pennsylvania. There was the a short pause for an interview of a few minutes, followed by a Biden rally somewhere just outside of Detroit in Michigan.

For those of you not aware, I was an internist type of physician in my first career. One of the things that an internist sees not infrequently are thyroid problems, from an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism) to an under-active thyroid (hypothyroidism). 

Metaphorically speaking, the Trump rally was a personification of hyperthyroidism . . . very active, much enthusiasm with loud cheering, and the waving of signs. Likewise, the speaker was quite active with his arm movements and his facial expression . . . President Trump and his audience seem to feed on each other, as his speech was interrupted many times with the cheering of the thousands of people in attendance.

Then after a relatively short pause there was a live Biden rally on the screen. The first clue that this was going to be different was that Joe Biden was standing on a flat surface, perhaps in a parking lot. It was not necessary for him to be elevated up on a speaker’s platform as it appeared that there were perhaps only a few hundred in attendance and none of them were having any difficulty seeing the masked speaker. Biden, despite the mask was apparently having no difficulty projecting his voice over the fifty or so feet, so that the entire “throng” could hear him. 

Now here is where the thyroid analogy comes in. The Biden sopporters were the epitome of hypo-thyroidism . . . there was no energy, and they appeared almost sullen even though it was difficult to see any facial expression as everyone was wearing a mask, Everyone including Sleepy Joe was at least six feet from anyone, and there was no obvious crowd-speaker interactive enthusiasm that I could see. However, the most obvious symptom of hypo-thyroidism the sparse crowd had was . . . constipation . . . while Sleepy Joe not only looked constipated, but also was F.O.S.!