Sunday night thoughts

Tomorrow, Monday December 19, 2016 is the day the 538 chosen members of the Electoral College will assemble in their respective state capitols.  In those meetings, they will cast their ballots.  They are all pledged to vote for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.  

There have been multiple efforts by various individuals and organizations to try to convince at least 38 electors that are pledged to vote for Donald Trump to vote for someone else.  Obviously, it would be the dream of Democrats and others who prefer Hillary Clinton to Mr. Trump in the Oval Office; but that won’t happen.  Republicans are not going to make that choice and spend the rest of their lives as pariahs in their chosen political party.

The Associated Press has attempted to reach all the electors and claim to have been in touch with at least 330 of them.  Of that group, only one is on the record as planning to vote for someone other than Donald Trump.

As pointed out in an earlier blog, unless at least one electoral vote is cast for someone other than the two major party nominees, if the election weren’t decided by a 270 vote majority on Monday; the election goes to the House of Representatives.  They can choose a president from only the three candidates who received the most electoral votes. 

Who could the future faithless electors vote for, since they would never vote for Secretary Clinton?  Mike Pence?  Perhaps.  One of the other top primary vote-getters?  Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Marco Rubio are the only three other Republican candidates who got more than a million votes in the primaries.  Of those only Senator Cruz received at least 50% of the total number of votes that Donald Trump got during the Republican primaries.  Would any of these three be acceptable alternatives to Mr. Trump or Governor Pence?  Again, perhaps.

Unfortunately, I believe it unlikely that there will be anywhere near enough faithless electors to change the outcome of the November general election. 

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As to the subject of Russian hacking and people asking that the election be put on hold until there is an investigation, there is no provision in our Constitution specifically addressing this situation.  If the House cannot elect a president in a contingent election before January 20^th, the Vice-President-Elect would become president.  In the event both Trump and Pence failed to get the required number of votes in the Electoral College, the House fails to elect a President and the Senate fails to elect a Vice-President; the Twentieth Amendment gives Congress the authority to decide statutorily who will become President.  Congress has never passed that statute.

Talk about uncharted waters!  President Obama cannot remain president temporarily.  That would also violate the Constitution.  I suppose that the Congress could appoint the current House Speaker, who is next in the line of succession after the President and Vice-President, but that isn’t a solution either.

As to the question, why is Donald Trump and his minions attempt to make the allegations of Russian hacking sound like nothing more than “sour grapes” (a term future White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus used on a Sunday news show); that’s an interesting question to ponder.

Is he afraid that if he were to come out in favor of investigating and possibly retaliating against Russia, his friendship with Vladimir Putin might be damaged?  Is the concern that the legitimacy of his election being called into question might cause him to fail to get his dream job? 

To those who point out that all 17 U.S. intelligence-gathering organizations appear to be on the same page concerning the allegation of Russian hacking, aren’t those the same groups who claimed there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?  The same people who failed to foresee the 9-11 attacks? 

Some claim this is a partisan issue but I’m hearing the voices of Republicans among those elected officials who are calling for a closer look at just what transpired.

Why is it so difficult to ensure that computer systems are protected against this kind of hacking?  Considering what has transpired this year, is it not more obvious than ever what a horrible choice Secretary Clinton made in using a private email server; without regard to the issue of the transmission of classified information.  Not all important information gets properly classified and there are going to be emails and documents attached to them that no one outside the State Department should have been able to see.

It seems that no matter how hard cybersecurity people work to protect networks and computers from hacking, the hackers are always finding new ways to bypass these security measures.

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Because I had to be at work this afternoon to proctor a certification exam for some of my students, I could not see the movie I wanted to see this morning.  The timing did not work.  But what I found so amazing about movies this weekend was what happened yesterday.  Figuring most of the people at the malls would be there doing last-minute shopping, I could duck into an afternoon showing of one of several movies on my list.  When I was sure I’d be able to leave the office as scheduled, I checked to see what was showing nearby and when.  Every single showing of any movie I was even remotely interested in within 25 miles of where I was; for at least three hours after I was finished working, was sold out.  I went home and watched reruns of Blue Bloods, Hill Street Blues and Star Trek – The Next Generation. 

I am now taking tomorrow off so I can get to a movie on both Monday and Tuesday.   I am so far behind in movie-going.  I want to see the following films, in no particular order:

Fences

Collateral Beauty

Miss Sloane

Nocturnal Animals

Jackie

Moonlight

Office Christmas Party (yeah, I know, not my usual fare)

Loving

Elle

Of the films that open on Wednesday, Dec 23rd, I plan to get to the following before December 30^th:

Passengers

Silence

Assassin’s Creed

Patriots Day

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From the “being drunk is no excuse” file, a deputy U.S. Marshal was arrested for allegedly pulling out a gun in a Brooklyn, NY McDonald’s when it took too long to get served.  Charles Brown, 30 years of age and off-duty at the time was described as “drunk” by witnesses who saw him point the gun at the cashier and others in the lobby.

He was able to pay for his food and left the restaurant but was arrested a short time later.  He has been charged with menacing, harassment and violating firearms regulations.

I suspect his career with the U.S. Marshals Service might be in serious jeopardy.