3.30.21 Dr David Relman, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at Stanford, warns that the WHO draft report on the origins of COVID-19 is “somewhat superficial, skewed and incomplete.” The report, which claims that the virus originated in a wildlife market rather than a Wuhan virology lab partly run by the military, is short on data to back up the enthusiastic assertions of the Chinese scientists.
2.13.21 A dark day, as the Senate acquits Trump in his second impeachment trial. Seven Republicans joined with all Democrats in voting to convict Trump of inciting an insurrection (57-43), but their majority fell short of the 67 votes needed for the effort to succeed.
1.21.21 What a difference a day makes! The first full day of the Biden administration features an honest-to-goodness press conference. Biden’s new press secretary, Jen Psaki, is a breath of fresh air.
1.20.21 Joseph R Biden is sworn in as the 46th president of the United States. Kamala D. Harris becomes the nation’s first female vice president.
1.19.21 Pro-Trump House Republicans try to punish Liz Cheney for supporting Trump’s impeachment.
1.19.21 The US Senate returns from recess on the last full day of Trump’s presidency. Mitch McConnell declares on the floor, “The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the President and other powerful people. And they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like. But we pressed on.”
1.13.21 The US House impeaches president Donald J. Trump for a second time. this time on a single charge of “inciting an insurrection.” The vote is 232 to 197, with four not voting. Ten Republicans join Democrats in support.
1.6.21 Rioters ransack and terrorize the US Capitol and its lawmakers. The attack interrupts but does not deter Congress from certifying Biden’s presidential victory late that night.
1.5.21 The Senate run-offs in Georgia produce victories for the Democratic candidates, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. David Purdue and Kelly Loeffler go down to defeat. Going forward, the US Senate will have 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans.
1.3.21 The new (117th) Congress convenes. New and returning members of the House and Senate are sworn in.
1.02.21 Senator Ted Cruz and 10 other senators announce plans to object to the Electoral College certification, bringing the size of the ‘sedition caucus’ to twelve. In the House, some 140 Republican members also intend to derail Biden’s victory.
1.01.21 Happy New Year!
12.31.20 Thanks to the 12,000 unique visitors who read American Inquiry in 2020!
12.30.20 Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri announces that he will object to the Electoral College certification.
12.3.20 With hospitalizations and deaths from CoV at an all-time high, the next few months are forecast to be the most difficult in the public health history of the US, CDC chief Robert Redfield says.
11.23.20 A pivotal day in politics, as Michigan certifies its election results and GSA chief Emily Murphy at last authorizes the start of the formal transition process for president-elect Biden.
Rather frightening actually! The continued left swing is likely to dilute the vote and help re-elect Der Fuerer.
Yes, and what’s interesting is that, though everyone wants to part of a party, the parties are no longer doing the work of organizing voter blocs and coordinating talent as they once did. The whole idea of parties is to sustain viable ideologies–so that when the party attains power the ideas can be put into practice. If officials within a party don’t agree on what they want, that can’t happen.
Case in point, the tension between Speaker Pelosi and a certain bartender who is now in Congress.
My goodness, who can even keep track of how many Dems have thrown their hats in the ring! Twelve to sixteen? By now, the number is larger than in 2016 when so many GOP hopefuls ran. . . . The Democratic presidential debates begin in mid-June! The “rule makers” decided that only those who have raised a certain amount of money will be allowed to debate. That “certain amount” has not yet been disclosed . . . . I do know one important fact: if the DEMS choose a far lefty, Rump will win again-UGH!
I believe that at least seventeen Democrats have declared: Warren, Harris, Booker, Gillibrand, Klobuchar, Yang, Ryan (Tim), Castro, O’Rourke, Delaney, Gabbard, Hickenlooper, Inslee, Messam, Sanders, Swalwell, and Williamson (Marianne, a spiritual writer).
Buttigieg and Biden are likely candidates but haven’t formally committed to run.
It really is a mess. What happened to the Republicans in 2016 is happening to the Dems in 2020. The parties have lost control over who their nominees will be. This is not at all what the founders intended; on the contrary, it’s what they feared.
It’s pretty clear to me that Buttigieg has wanted to be president since he was about 12. So, not a snap decision on his part, except in the sense that he quickly decided that now was the time.
Re the parties losing control of who their nominee will be, I don’t know. In the case of the democrats in 2016, Hillary came into the primaries with hundreds of pre-committed “super delegates”, which, in the eyes of Bernie supporters was an unfair “crowning” of the nominee. Not sure if the old system works anymore, but what will replace it is anyone’s guess. (I’m disturbed by Buttigieg promoting abandoning the electoral college. On the other hand, he can throw that idea out there, knowing full well that it will take a constitutional amendment to do so, so that the demise of the college would not happen quickly, and would not be his direct responsibility.)
What is the expression? Chance favors the prepared mind? Certainly those vying for the Democratic nomination have pondered their choice and decided that it’s worth doing, just as Trump and Sanders did last time around. And yet they can’t all be right . . . the primary system is great in that it’s open to talent, yet it’s very inefficient in terms of how long it goes on and how many resources go into all those losing races. And the ideological independence of candidates for national office is leading to a loss of cohesion in the major parties after candidates are elected. (Think of how Nancy Pelosi and AOC are butting heads now that they are both where they want to be.) In the past, parties tried more strenuously to protect this cohesion. Now they’re giving up–at least that’s how I read things.
I hadn’t been following the DNC’s rules changes, but I gather that the party has stripped the superdelegates of their voting power (according to this article). They also have a rule requiring candidates to be Democratic party members and to serve the party afterwards (a kind of anti-Bernie rule).
As for the electoral college, let’s hear what its critics would replace it with. Currently, half of the nation’s population is concentrated in just 9 states, so it’s tough to imagine the majority of states that are less populous agreeing to get rid of the EC.
Thank you KW–I always enjoy knowing your views–
Susan