Georgia in for another recount if Trump does not concede election to
Biden in two days
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As per the electoral rules in Georgia, there will be an audit or
recount of one of the races in every general election. The option has
been given to the Secretary of State to decide which race is to be
recounted and how, ie, hand count or machine recount. Brad
Raffensperger chose the presidential voting as he argued that the
margin is narrowest here and the method he chose as hand recount
as, in his own words, "This (hand count) will build confidence."
Trump can demand another recount if Biden's margin in certification
continues to be below 0.5%. But Georgia will no more have any
impact with the latest results coming in! Yet if he asks for it at this
stage, it is signal for a bloody battle indeed!
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NEW DELHI, Nov 16: In the US, there is no Federal 'election commission'. The
States conduct the polls and count the votes and certify the results. And every State has its own rules. Under Georgia's electoral rules, there could be yet another recount of votes cast in the presidential elections on November 3, other than the ongoing hand recount.
Because the clause that allows this second recount will most probably not go
waste as a defeated Republican candidate, President Donald Trump, and his party,
that has not conceded defeat, will not necessarily be placated by the new result
of hand recount which is likely to remain unchanged. For Trump "the election
is not over" and he has not conceded till date although all other States' results
are out and Georgia is not going to have any impact on Biden's victory. He has
crossed 300 electoral votes (majority mark 270).
That is, the margin will remain below 0.5% at the time of certification which
may be by next Wednesday. The rule says that if the margin remains below 0.5%
in certification, the losing party can ask for a recount but within a couple
of days. Of course, this time it will be machine count and quick.
What is currently going on is not a recount asked for by Trump (he can ask
for a recount after certification only) but a mandatory procedure built into
the electoral process in Georgia by which votes in any one of the races in a general
election needs to be audited or recounted. That is to say, there will be an
audit in every general election.
It has been given to the Secretary of State's discretion to decide which race
to be counted and how. He opted for the presidential because the yardstick of
narrow margin suited here best although the recount here involves maximum number
of votes that takes very long time. He was free to opt another race, say of
the Senate votes, where margins are less narrow, and go for a sample auditing.
Moreover, he decided upon a hand count which will take several days. Secretary
of State Brad Raffensperger had said, "This (handcount) will build confidence."
The ongoing recount is the largest hand recount in US history that began on
Friday morning. Each county is reponsible for the counting of the votes cast
by the voters in its jurisdiction, including deployment of staff, for counting
every paper ballot and cross-checking against the machine totals.
From their experience, experts of electoral processes like former Secretary
of State Lera Catharine “Cathy” Cox discount any major variation in recounting
that can flip the initial result. However, there could be minor variations.
Why there should be minor variations? When variations can occur, it can occur
on larger scale too? The computer programming is such that if the oval space
on the ballot for marking is marked enough to cover 10% space then only the
vote is valid and counted. In hand recount, the less filling ballots also come
under human scrutiny. This explains any variance.
A total of 5 million votes are being hand counted in the State currently. Joe
Biden's lead here sits around 14,000 or around 0.3%, below the 0.5% limit for
a another recount call by losing party after certification.
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SELECTIONS FROM OUR ARCHIVES |
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Top Govt officer thrashed, kicked inside Bhubaneswar office: Incident sparks a debate
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The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.
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UK's House of Commons votes to legalise assisted dying: What it means | |
ANALYSIS: There have been cases of Britons going to Switzerland to get rid of a miserable life. Now once the House of Lords also passes the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, terminally ill Britons can call it quits with the help of a medical practitioner here itself. But the measure when comes into practice, will have very serious social consequences, it is feared. There won't be comparisons, even as tropes in Latin American folklores. The worst case scenario is of those who are not terminally ill also trying to misuse the provision to leave this world early when life with dignity is not available. But that is, in fact, a political question and not a moral imbroglio!
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What caused Air India Boeing 787 crash? Some questions, some answers | |
The CCTV footage and the video circulating on social media do not indicate any serious abnormalities in takeoff or descent, it has been confirmed. The disaster is becoming curiouser and curiouser. The flight path was not curvy. And the aircraft maintained a steady, gliding descent with its nose straight and the wings perfectly level. The pilot's distress call does not specify what prevented lift and climb-out. Here are some expert opinions. The sole purpose is to raise travellers' awareness about air travel.
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Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line brings Kashmir Valley on India's rail map |
- The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line provides Kashmir with all-weather connectivity and integrates the Valley with the rest of India.
- The saying 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari' is now a dream come true.
- The Chenab bridge on the line, an engineering marvel, is the world's highest
railway bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower. (Video: File)
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Work done, Elon Musk steps down from DOGE, leaves White House | |
Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.
PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.
Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people.
(Today's headlines )
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Ailing Asiatic lion Pataudi too dies of bird flu at Kanpur zoo
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Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.
Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.
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48 tourist destinations closed in Kashmir following Pahalgam terror attack
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As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.
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Trump slaps ‘kind’, ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on trading partners; a 'lenient' 26% on India!
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ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!
What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America!
(Today's headlines )
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Trump signs order to shut Education Dept - And the contrast with India
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PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).
In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.
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Sunita, Wilmore's Dragon splashes down in Gulf: What delayed their return? |
THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.
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All 80k health workers in US offered $25,000 voluntary buyout: Administering wrong prescriptions!
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The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.
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