On November 27, 1978, San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Dan White snuck a gun into City Hall. He murdered Mayor George Moscone and fellow Supervisor Harvey Milk, then turned himself in to the police. His confession audio recording was made public.
There is a difference, mind you, between condoning and understanding. The latter is crucial. White had been subject to relentless political bullying by Moscone and Milk, enduring their smirks when he complained. Much to my surprise, I found myself sympathizing with him as I listened to the audio.
President Donald Trump believes the Democrats and the mainstream press have been out to get him ever since he took office. I urge everyone to read his controversial call to Georgia Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger, which for me evokes the memory of the Dan White tape.
Yes, Trump too can be a bully, but there is no question that the press in particular has been grossly unfair to him, in almost any aspect. Of course, just as White had no right to resort to murder, Trump has been wrong in disgracing himself in the last few weeks.
Did Trump actually win the election, as he claims? Seems doubtful to me, but there is no doubt that there were indeed voting irregularities, e.g. in the Pennsylvania changing its voting rules late in the game. Yet Trump should have conceded the election at some point, and accepted the situation for the sake of the nation and, especially, for the sake of his historical legacy.
I doubt that Trump meant for his supporters to mob the Capitol yesterday, but he least had the responsibility to warn his supporters not to engage in violence. On the other hand, regarding these cries from the Dems and the press that yesterday’s event was an attack on democracy, I can only offer a hollow laugh. Though a lifelong Democrat, I voted for neither Biden nor Trump, largely because I believe the Dems have become the antithesis of their party name. Plenty of disgrace to go around, I’d say.
What now? Biden has said his priority will be to reunify the country. Even if he is sincere, that would be a herculean task. The mob in DC yesterday was not representative of either the nation or the GOP, but there is widespread feeling among Republicans and even independents that the election was tampered with. If Biden has any hope of unifying the nation, he must recognize that, rather than treating them as kooks. And by the way, he should urge the media, notably the federally-funded NPR, to do the same.
Another action Biden could take towards national unity would be to recognize Trump’s solid accomplishments, especially Operation Warp Speed. (And he should also ask the states why they are so slow in using the vaccines they’ve received.)
Though I voted for neither man, I believe America is due for a reboot. Biden is the one with the finger on the Reset button.Let’s see if Biden really means what he says.
Upon Closer inspection 
Many people have been living on edge because of the non stop riots for the last 12 months. None of that mattered for some reason. Burning down buildings, attacking court houses and police. And now everybody is surprised that it hasn’t stopped and it’s all one persons fault?
This country is so broken and it’s very sad.
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Norm –
I hate career politicians, and I was never a fan of Donald Trump. My impressions of him are that he is egotistical, rude, arrogant, vain, crooked, and psychopathic.
I laughed when he announced his candidacy. Like you, I did not vote for him.
However, unlike almost all past Presidential candidates in my lifetime I saw him deliver on many of his campaign promises.
Unfortunately, he got blocked on many of his immigration-related promises, mostly because of his undiplomatic words and attitude.
It is sad that he couldn’t control his ego and his tongue. He could have done so much more for the country had there not been so many distractions caused by his own words and actions.
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Agreed, it seems that a boisterous fighter is the only kind of person with the guts to take on the Uniparty. But that same vigorous and acid-tongued persona also makes enemies of those who could be persuaded by a more reasonable and modest approach.
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NPR is a complete disgrace. Their coverage of illegal immigration is very typical of their approach: they interview many pro-illegal actors (think tanks, politicians, etc), but never get anti-illegal actors in front of the microphone. They don’t understand work visas, and continue to believe that conservative groups oppose work visas (which any knowledgeable person knows is false). They employ many illegals in their broadcast booth, who put a massive thumb on the scales of fairness. It’s completely appalling that they get federal funds.
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Well said Dr. Matloff.
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Washington DC has been a cruel city at least back to Thomas Jefferson and more so since 1992. Paraphrasing Harry Truman [or someone else], if you want a friend in this town, get yourself a dog.
Donald Trump became president by exploiting this exact cruel characteristic of DC – he scorned, belittled, and insulted his way into every daily news cycle as a candidate and in office. I simply can’t generate any sympathy when he dies on the very sword that he wielded every day with exceptional intuition, if not skill.
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Excellent analysis, including what I suspect “Trumper” could become a new “America First” political party. Lots of disgust among people that align with either party about e.g. the billions going overseas in the (merged) 1500 page covid bailout bill.
Not much hope for reconciliation. SF Chron quoting Biden:
“Don’t dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob — insurrectionists, domestic terrorists. It’s that basic.”
This from the same A-head that dismisses Antifa violence as “come on man, it’s just an ideology yuk yuk.” Contrast to Antifa in Seattle and Portland, pelting police with bricks and firebombs, assaulting innocent by passers, defacing and burning buildings… the “unauthorized entry into the Capitol building” was mostly peaceful.
Trump supporters generally support border security, including building the wall, funding ICE, and not accepting everything that shows up carrying a kid as a DACA admission. Trump supporters generally oppose “amnesty for all.” Trump supporter generally oppose government being Robin-Hood – for example forcing taxes from families earning $50k/year and using that to pay off the student loans for families earning $150k/year. Trump supporters support low taxes on U.S. corporations so that they can be globally competitive.
Specifically Trump added some US worker protections in H-1b – and without explanation Biden promises to roll them back.
Problem is Biden’s platform and campaign promises are contrary to these positions. Factor in possible support for the extreme BREATHE ACT and GREEN NEW DEAL and there is no common ground.
For me, Congress promised one-time amnesty in 1986. At the point Biden breaks that promise, he is my “liar in chief” and #NotMyPresident
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Well, to my pleasant surprise, I find that a fairly balanced statement. Thanks.
Balanced, or even rational, statements are in exceedingly short supply these days, on either side.
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Not to mention left-handed compliments? 🙂
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I commend the “rank and file” law enforcement officers and National Guard response. Their reasoned response with the tools and orders they were given certainly contributed to a much better outcome than what could have happened.
However, coming from a career in law enforcement and physical security…
The planning and execution of protecting the Capital from a known and expected protest is the most incompetent dereliction of duty in law enforcement LEADERSHIP I have ever seen in my life.
I’m disgusted by it and it was hard to watch those extremists and terrorists freely going through the Capital building windows rather than being confronted and arrested by an insurmountable show of force.
Irrespective of the severity of Trumps incitement, had proper SOP protest and riot control planning been put in place and executed by the Capital Police, the Mayor, DC Police and many other agencies responsible, including the FBI, the Capital would have never been breached by the right wing extremists and terrorists who used the protest crowd for cover.
Instead, they would have been easily separated and arrested from the real protesters. It would have probably been a relatively peaceful protest with no breach of even the Capital grounds let alone the Capital itself. It should have been a Crowd/Riot Control 101 Event.
Trumps actions and responsibility are deflecting the incompetence of the Law Enforcement LEADERSHIP right now. However, once Trump is dealt with I hope a President Biden will make the failed LEADERSHIP truly accountable for their incompetence.
All of our Politicians and their staff who were in that building should be outraged by the lack of protection they were afforded on many levels.
And this comes right on the heels of the Cyber-Security breach. Do we really have any experts in anything!
I’m so sick and tired of hearing “I take full responsibility and they’ll be an investigation so this never happens again” as an acceptable excuse for incompetent planning and execution of one’s responsibilities and duty.
Nope, for many it’s easier to just blame Trump for everything!
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Not to be ignored is the massive media consolidation over the past 30 years. There is no such thing as a “free press” outside of a few websites (I find Zerohedge to be more broad-spectrum and daring than almost anything mainstream.). We live under a Corporate-Media Complex. Recall that Mark Twain said, “Never get in an argument with a man who buys printer’s ink by the barrel.” Today, that admonition would include those who buy bandwidth by the terabyte. A republic depends on a well-informed, not indoctrinated, public. That is now the weak link.
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“largely because I believe the Dems have become the antithesis of their party name”, and also likely succumbed to the human vulnerability of ad populum in the worse smear campaign in human history.
“…an actual partnership between the press and people who are providing false information to prosecute a campaign against the Trump Administration.
“I am very familiar with the left-wing bias in the media. My family, father, grandfather, great grandfather all worked in the press. I was the literary editor of the Village Voice, which was the first alternative weekly in America cofounded by Norman Mailer. I come from the left. I am familiar with left wing bias. What we’ve seen the last several years has nothing to do with left wing bias. This is not about partisanship. What we’ve seen is something, uh, something very destructive, and very dangerous.
“We’ve seen … the moral and professional collapse of the press. What we’re talking about now is not a normal media. It is a platform for information operations.” – Lee Smith
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I have been following the election fraud claims fairly closely. There has been enough of it with the Dominion voting systems in Michigan and Pennsylvania just with the forensics, the software features, and a demonstration by a courageous election supervisor, not to mention the report from Texas why they did not buy those systems, to rule the results in those states bogus. That is beside the irregularities you referred to. All of which would have been enough to keep both candidates from 270, forcing state legislatures to choose, which must be along party line meaning a mandatory win for Trump. No wonder the Democrats want to abolish the Electoral College.
I have never chosen a party, but have voted Democrat. After this election never again. But this election cycle has shown voting is becoming irrelevant. Given how Trump voters are being referred to, voting Democrat would serve the sole purpose of keeping a target off one’s back (and family’s back).
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Is there a credible account of the Dominion situation somewhere, with all the information in one place for us to read?
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I’m deplorable but I try to stay balanced. From what I’ve seen there are now over a thousand affidavits about election violations. Some even come from Democrat and Independent poll watchers. Dominion machines need to be removed for the sake of the republic. The video from Georgia of the large plastic containers of ballots that were processed after poll watchers were asked to leave it shocking and disturbing.
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it seems the only thing you’ve been following are conspiracy theories.
Dominion machines aren’t even used in the counties in PA (Philly and Allegheny) that Trump claimed were responsible for fraud. Mi went Dem by 10 pts in 2012, so going Dem by 2.5 pts in 2020 is hardly surprising. PA went Dem by as much as NC went R, and Mi went Dem by as much as Fl went R, but their results are just fine while PA and MI are fake to Rs.
Wi had a full recount in the main Dem counties (Dane and Mil). AZ had several audits, has a R governor, and a 4-1 R board in the key county (Maricopa).
Trump and his allies brought 60 court cases in 6-7 states. They were pretty much ALL thrown out, often by R judges (the AZ and GA SCts are all conservative), sometimes by Trump appointed judges. in NV, the judge threw out the election contest saying 25 times that Trump could not show any proof ‘Under no conceivable standard of evidence’.
Ga has a R Gov, SoS, election officials, and did a full manual recount, then another full recount, then a massive 15k signature audit, and found NO fraud.
This election has been more thoroughly examined than any in recent history. Al Gore in 2000 lost by a margin of a few hundred to a thousand votes in 1 state, he got nowhere near the number of recounts and cases that Trump got in 6-7 states that he lost by 10s of thousand to 150K votes.
And the Dems did badly in down ballot races. Common sense (a commodity uncommon in Trump cultists) would dictate that if you were rigging races, you’d rig down ballot House, state leg and Senate races too.
But Trump and his cultists will NEVER be satisfied, repeating one insane conspiracy theory after another,. Trump tried to overturn the results of the election in GA by calling the SoS and trying to get 10s of millions of votes invalidated because he and his delusional cultist can’t stand loss.
But Mark,if you think voting is becoming irrelevant, by all means don’t vote !
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It’s become a myth that the courts said Trump’s claims were false. Instead, they are said the evidence was not strong enough. Some did concede that there was disturbing evidence, but not enough to overturn the election. It does appear that Trump had weak legal representation, but he still would have lost with better counsel.
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I am a Democrat and not appreciate “conspiracy theories” much.
That said, you don’t have to look too hard to find signs of election fraud. Just off the top of my head. Historical, and almost impossible high rates of voter participation in only key areas where it really counted. The DNC using the courts to slip around state laws to change and weaken state voting rules and laws. How about the fact that Biden didn’t do as well in many parts of the country as H. Clinton or Obama but crushed them in swing states AND got 10 million more votes than Obama. Common man! Anybody with two eyes in their head that aren’t welded to MSNBC, CNN and the HuffPost can see that this likely was a very dirty election.
As far as the lawsuits being thrown out. It would be impossible to prove mass fraud once the ballots have been separated from their envelopes. It would be as simple as getting the bad ballots through the gate, mix them in with the good ballots, and that’s it. No way of ever reversing the damage or proving it happened or it didn’t.
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I’ve worked on campaigns, walking precincts, canvassing voters, and working turnout. Every campaign concentrates its efforts in key districts. That’s where they register voters, mobilize, and work voter turnout. That is exactly what Stacey Abrams did in Georgia and what every other campaign does around the country.
When you see those efforts in the ballot counts, it means the “organizers” were organized.
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There were extra votes in the key districts because the Dems targeted those districts. Nothing wrong with that. Plenty wrong with last-minute changes the rules, though.
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Of course the Democrats focused on key areas. And so did the Republicans. What’s new?
Biden didn’t do as well as Obama or Clinton in many areas of the country which makes sense since he wasn’t nearly as popular. But he beat them in only the areas that really mattered. I am pretty gullible, but really?
Here is a snippet from an article focusing on Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. When something seems to be wrong, it’s worth investigating even if it’s now considered sedition to even question the election by some which is very scary.
“ In 2008, Barack Obama received 316,916 votes in Milwaukee County. In 2016, Hilary Clinton won only 288,822 votes there. But in 2020 Biden outperformed them both, receiving 317,251 votes countywide and besting Obama’s share of the vote by nearly two points.
What makes this suspicious is that the county is shrinking. The Census Bureau population estimates show that in the last 10 years, thousands of metro Milwaukee residents have left the area for other parts of the state and country. As the Milwaukee Sentinel put it, “We’re lagging in a key metric that often reflects the vitality and desirability of a metro area: population growth.” The City of Milwaukee, which makes up about 60 percent of the county’s population, saw the number of registered voter decline by more than 26,700 from 2008 to 2020.“
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Beware when anyone who says “everybody knows” or “anybody can see”. I would suggest that the facts are much more complex than many on either side are saying. Those who say that Biden won all of the swing states are ignoring several of the swing states which Trump won. North Carolina was projected by 538 to go Democratic by less than 2 percent and went Republican by less than 2 percent. Iowa was projected to go Republican by less than 2 percent and went Republican by about 8 percent. Likewise, Texas was projected to go Republican by less than 2 percent and went Republican by less than 6 percent. You can’t just listen to MSNBC, CNN and the HuffPost but neither can you listen just to the Trump campaign which focused only on those swing states which Trump lost.
Of course, Democrats could have investigated North Carolina, Iowa, and Texas and publicized irregularities there but mostly chose to insist that the election had no problems. But what could we have done if they had publicized additional irregularities? The problems in this and past elections (like 2000 and 2016) show that there’s really nothing that we can do after the election except recount votes and make changes to avoid problems in future elections. That’s why we need a system by which all votes can be recounted. We also likely need mandatory audits so that any recounting is done in a balanced way. You can just cherry-pick the close states or counties that your candidate lost and only recount those. Most security experts that I’ve heard suggest that we need hand-marked paper ballots (HMPBs). That makes it most likely that we can determine the intent of the voter in a recount. They also suggest mandatory risk-limiting audits (RLAs).
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Liberals have tied the human needs for love, validation, growth, and self-actualization to support for their bigoted ideologies and to keeping them in power. It is the ultimate form of social control.
America will now be turned into an open borders economic zone, and will therefore end up being reverse-colonized by the Third World. The majority of US STEM jobs over the next decade will go to Indians.
The Right will never win another federal election, thanks to the deep control over the voting system that the left already has, and the further changes that they will make.
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2A will be repealed or severely restricted, thereby eliminating even the Adam Purinton option that true patriots with very strong feelings about H-1B and F-1 vermin have had thus far…
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I think the best that can be done is to do the Canadian style election of only paper ballots and voter ID. Also implementing ideas the Carter/Baker Commission would add to the integrity of elections.
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Up here in the Pacific Northwest, the governors and senators are apoplectic about the US Capitol riots. These are the same nimwits that largely ignored the CHAZ/CHOP takeover in Seattle and the 130+ days of violent rioting at the Federal courthouse in Portland. When they did respond, they blamed it all on Trump and white supremacists.
Would highly recommend the YouTube channel – Summit Properties NW. This is a Seattle area realtor who analyzes the affect of rioting and crime on real estate. In recent shows he’s highlighted the loss of:
– Seattle – 200+ cops
– Portland – 50+ cops
Crime, homelessness and property insurance are rising in each city. Same in SF, Minneapolis and other cities with Progressive leadership.
Also recommend Counterpunch with Trevor London’s expose on President Kamala Harris – she’s no moderate.
Also check out Tulsi Gabbard comments on Democrats on Dave Rubin’s show.
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“ask the states why they are so slow in using the vaccines”
I don’t understand this even being a question.
Nurses, working straight out night and day, due to a pandemic. Where’s the presumption coming from that thousands of them would be spontaneously appearing for this and from where?
As for suspicions about the election results, irregularities and rule changes are common. Irregularities such as infirmed vote by mail, and then die by election day. Infirmed, no surprise, yes? Rule changes, also common, due to hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and this year, pandemic. Polling locations change, vote by mail criteria changes, etc.
These cast as suspicious speaks to how disassociated people are from our actual voting processes. The solution to that is … volunteer. They usually can use a hand.
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The mistakes made at the state level, past and present, in getting people vaccinated are well documented, and generally admitted to by governors etc.
Yes, there have always been anomalies in elections. I did not say otherwise. I do strongly suspect that things like politically-motivated rules changes were more common this time around.
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