Trump's last assault on D-Day will make Biden & K sweat it
out for some more time
At the joint Congress session, Trump supporters are determined to vainly raise objections when the swing States' electoral votes are counted by the tellers, leading to adjournment - stretching further the agony of the President-elect
and the 'brown girl.'
Tuesday's Georgia runoffs may be crucial for the immediate future of America
but it will have no consequence on the scheduled declaration of results of the
presidential election on Wednesday afternoon by the joint session of the Congress
to be held in the House and presided over by Vice-President Pence in a ceremonial
capacity.
First of all, the declaration of results of the runoffs and swearing-in will
come later.
Secondly, for any objection at the joint session to the electors or the votes
from any State to succeed the session will adjourn and both chambers will have
to sit separately and each of them must support it by simple majority. Therefore,
whether the Democrats have majority in the Senate or not is immaterial because
they have majority in the House of Representatives, which is enough.
At the joint session, Trump supporters are determined to vainly raise objections
when the swing States' electoral votes are counted by the tellers, leading to
adjournment of the session and separate meetings of the Senate and the House
to consider the issue - stretching further the agony of the President-elect
and the 'brown girl.'
WASHINGTON, Jan 4: The American election may be said to be incomplete till
two Georgia runoffs on Tuesday will decide who will control the Senate and therefore
the economic agenda of the new Government. Because at Sunday's swearing-in for
the 117th Congress when, apart from the House Representatives, the two-third
Senators elected in November were also sworn in, the strength of the Republicans
in the chamber was 51 and of Democrats 48. Two seats are up for grabs in Georgia
runoffs on Tuesday. Senator Kelly Loeffler (R) is contesting for one of the
two seats but she also holds the seat at the same time as her term continues
and hence the Republican number is 51. If the Democrats win both the seats,
the equation will be 50:50 when Vice- President-elect Kamala Harris (after they
take over the administration on January 20) can give the tiebreaking vote, the
Democrats getting the majority needed to go ahead with their agenda. Else, the
Republicans will hold the reins. Biden will find it difficult to run the Government.
However, Tuesday's Georgian runoffs results will have no bearing on the joint
session of the Congress which meets on Wednesday afternoon to count the electors'
votes and certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. Because, for
one, results will not be declared by then and swearing-in will be much later.
Secondly, there is no need for the Democrats to flip the Republican majority
in the Senate as majority in one chamber is enough to defeat Trump camp's objections.
For Trump to succeed with the objections to the presidential results, both chambers
must support the objections by simple majority when the joint session needs
to be adjourned and both the chambers meet separately to take up the objections.
The joint session to declare the presidential results will be incumbent Republican
President Donald Trump's last but futile chance to influence his colleagues
to reject the electoral college electors and their votes by raising objections
over allegations of unsupported voting malpractices.
Notwithstanding the outcome, Trump supporters in the ROP are determined to
exercise the provision which will only add to the agony of the President-elect
Joe Biden and VP-elect Kamala Harris undergoing all the troubles and tribulations
created by an unsuccessful but aggressive bully called Trump, who just wants
to stay put in the White House!
Trump's camp has already issued a statement calling upon party members to reject
the electos' votes.
A dozen Republicans, including Senators Ted Cruz (Texas), Senator Josh Hawley
(Missouri ) and Marsha Blackburn, have prepared their plan to unleash a futile
attempt to overturn Biden’s win. A hundred members from the House of Representatives
also will join. The modus operandi is to demand the Congress appoint a commission
to audit electoral results else they will raise the objections to the electors
and the votes. Vice-President Mike Pence, the presiding officer of the Senate,
has reportedly supported the move. He will preside over the joint session to
be held in the House chamber. He has only ceremonial status as per the 12th
Amendment to the Constitution, which lays out the procedure for counting electoral
votes. Pence must know as he is a "lawyer by training."
Although all the lawsuits so far have been failures despite the fact that three
of the nine judges in the US Supreme Court are Trump appointees.
Interestingly, on Sunday a number of Republican Senators and House Representatives
released statements opposing the election challenge planned for Wednesday. Last
month Trump's Attorney General William Barr had stepped down after confirming
there is no electoral fraud.
While Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has warned the GOP colleagues
against the misadventure, Utah Senator Mitt Romney said rejecting electors "dangerously
threatens our democratic Republic. I could never have imagined seeing these
things in the greatest democracy in the world. Republican Senator Ben Sasse
remarked on Facebook: "Dangerous ploy". Texas Sen John Cornyn and South Dakota
Senator John Thune, the No2, have also criticised any objections like McConnell.
How the Congress counts the electors' votes and certify the results
On Wednesday afternoon, as soon as the joint session begins the huge boxes
containing the electors' votes from each State will be be moved in. The certificates
will be opened in alphabetical order of the States' names. The VP presides over
and at the end of the procedures declares the result. A VP has no power to tilt
the balance. If all goes well, VP Pence will announce his own defeat like last
time Biden did.
To begin with, the teller from each party reads the results and count the votes.
At this point any member can raise objections on any count, leading to suspension
of the joint session. Then the House and Senate retire to their own chambers
for a period of "not more than two hours," discuss and decide on the issue.
Both chambers must support the objection by simple majority for the challenge
to move on. In the past there have been occasions when objections were raised
but rejected, like in 2005 and 2017.
It will take long, long time for the Americans to realise that Trump was like
a bull from the countryside running amok in the town!
Five people were arrested from a banquet hall in Sector 51 Noida on Thursday
where they were called to hold a rave party in a trap laid by the animal
rights group, PFA. They named Yadav but he was not present.
Betting through Dubai-based Mahadev Book in India is conducted through a countrywide network. Probes reveal that the online gambling is worth several millions and top politicians, officials and celebs have been beneficiaries.
TAILPIECE: Polling dates for some States are round the corner. Top
politicians have begun their acrimonious debate who looted more, even as
Mahadev is washing their dirty laundry in the open ghat. Come what may,
one needs to seize power to amass "thy wretched pelf!" One simple
question is, why else one should spend lakhs or crores to get elected! A
question every Indian should ask to oneself at least once a day!
His inaction amounts to defeating the rights of the people of the State to
welfare measures sought to be implemented through the Bills, the Kerala
Government's petition submitted, while the State of Tamil Nadu remarked
that its "Governor is acting as a political rival."
Tailpiece: Coming up back to back, the petitions in their totality seem to question the provision of Raj Bhavan, and not motives of a Governor as a
person.
Hundreds of cars piled up behind the wreckage of crashes occurring one
after other in backing up - continuous crashes to the rhythm of metallic
clanks and bangs back to back. According to reports, some ops required
'Jaws of Life' to pull apart the mangled cars to save lives inside.
The pilots struggled with Emerson to thwart a shut-off as he reached for
the T-handles (see pix). Later he admitted to police he had taken
psychedelic mushrooms and had a "nervous breakdown."
Doctors reasoned how the incidence of heart attacks is spiking over time and
advise the simple way to play safely is to take a break and rehydrate
yourself.
But how come ten people, including children, die of cardiac arrest at
Garba in 24 hours, and that at different places of Gujarat? Garba had been going on
for six days, and every year it is celebrated.
Shocking news from the UK: Leading grocers have started bribing policemen with free food and drinks to persuade them to take action against shoplifters.
Shoplifting has risen by about 27 per cent in 10 major cities across the UK
this year. The cost of retail crime last year was $2.15 billion. Besides, “We
are seeing organised gangs threatening staff with weapons and emptying
stores," Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium,
said. Data shows that the police failed to respond to 73 per cent of serious
retail crimes that included assault and abuse of workers, apart from
shoplifting.
Harris said hip-hop is “the ultimate American art form” that “shapes every
aspect of American popular culture.” “Hip-hop culture is American
culture,” she said in a talk at her official residence at the US Naval
Observatory in Washington, D.C.
The social media had mixed reaction. There was much appreciation that
she dances better than any VP in American history. But some called her
"moves" as “cringe” while others did not like her pink pants - "pink pants
don’t look good.” In fact, her ensembles have always been incongruous.
"Let’s see how the (Governor's) Vice-Chancellors are given salary."
Mamata's extreme statements will put the Marxist Government in Kerala,
which is also facing similar issues, to shame. Has she begun the
countdown for a war on the streets?
It's true Mamata has come to see a conspiracy to demolish the established systems across the country, but lacks the ability to foresee what exactly is being pushed.
Brandishing a sword, Mahant Paramhans told reporters on Tuesday he
himself will behead MK Stalin's son for his remarks against Sanatan
Dharma in case nobody came forward to accept his offer he made in his
video. Udhayanidhi reacted to the saint's Monday video, "I will speak
more. I am the grandson of the artist who put his head on the rail track for
Tamil Nadu."
Somanath elaborated, "I am an explorer. I explore the Moon. I explore the inner
space. So it's a part of the journey of my life to explore both science and
spirituality. So I visit many temples and I read many scriptures. So try to find the
meaning of our existence and our journey in this cosmos. So it's a part of the
culture that we are all built to explore, find out the inner self as well as outer
self. So for the outer, I do science, for the inner I come to temples." (See videos)
Rao the mathematical legend had fathered the path-breaking Rao-Blackwell
theorem, one of the most important theorems in mathematical statistics, at the
age of 25. That brought him global fame. He is also famous for his Cramér-Rao
Bound inequality theorem relating to quality of estimators in statistics which has
had a profound bearing on applications of modern economics and several other
diverse fields. Simply put, with the pioneering statistician computation became a
tool to analyse even socio-economic challenges of modern times.
The alleged incident has received such a flash publicity that a standardised
city's hugely middle class population will have second thoughts about eating
outside for some time. Now everything on the table looks suspicious!
“All subjects directly connected to the people should be shifted to the State List. Particularly the subject of education. Only if this is done can cruel exams like NEET be abolished,” Stalin said. Education was moved from the State List to the Concurrent List with the 42nd Constitution Amendment made by the Central Government in 1976.
Decentralisation has been at the core of Tamil politics since the times of CN Annadurai. Stalin indicated there will be political changes in the offing.
TAILPIECE: While the Centre and the States are at loggerheads, it takes a
different cognitive acumen to know that entrance tests are not the way for
students' admission to courses.
As recently as Tuesday Craig Robertson had posted on Facebook: "Perhaps
Utah will become famous this week as the place a sniper took out Biden the
Marxist." Biden was scheduled to make his first visit to Utah as President
Wednesday afternoon.
Maruti is recalling 87,599 S-Presso and Eeco vehicles to inspect and possibly
replace parts in the steering system. All reputed companies around the
world do recall their products when a defect comes to light.
Meanwhile, a question arises why just in about a year so many accidents have
taken place involving Mercedes sent to India while the car has won safety awards
abroad? In most cases, the vehicle collided with divider, while manoeuvring a
turn. Was there a split second delay in the steering system coming to a grip
when at high speed? Did anybody in India bother to study a pattern in several
of these accidents that took place one after other?
Former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry died when his Mercedes-Benz-SUV hit
a divider in Gujarat. Cricketer Rishabh Pant's Mercedes-Benz-SUV rammed a divider
in Uttarakhand and smashed. It went up in flames but he escaped with injuries.
Brother of PM Narendra Modi, Prahlad Modi's Mercedes-Benz-SUV met with a similar
accident in Mysuru. And many more.
Experts blame violation of the Visual Flying Rules (VFR) for most of the
chopper crashes in the mountains as the leading cause. VFR means fly only
visually - because of the lack of navigation aids in remote areas or unreliability
of GPS-like aids in hilly terrains or a remote manipulation of instruments
in cases of sabotage - as the topography plays havoc especially in the monsoon
(mid-June to September).
Even when VFR is followed, most crashes occur due to CFIT (Controlled Flight
into Terrain) - that is, everything else is OK but the aircraft collides with
hills or trees hidden by the clouds. This also occurs mostly in the monsoon.
On Tueday with Manang, the chopper was brand new, pilot was highly experienced.
But it hit an 'invisible' tree and then crashed against a hillside. This
CFIT occurred when the pilot tried to dodge patches of clouds even as he was
following the VFR.
Simply put, everyone knows flying in the hills during the monsoon is risky,
but the companies want to make more money in any which case. This type of
tragedy is very frequently invited in the Indian hill State of Uttarakhand
as well, where pilots are even made to fly without the mandatory rest.