What are the Democrats up to in pursuing election recounts?
Still if all 3 states fail to make a timely recount and fail to appoint their slate of Trump-Pence electors…then the presidential race will be thrown into the House where each State has one vote. Under Article II and the Twelfth Amendment, Trump has to carry a majority of state delegations (26 of 50). There is a separate quorum requirement: 2/3 of the States (34 of 50) must have one or more members present. Trump can probably meet this bar: 32 of the state delegations in the 115th Congress will have Republican majorities (albeit some are narrow majorities), and 11 other state delegations have 1 or more Republican members. So the Republicans should be able to reach a quorum of 34 States with one or more members present.
However, if all three 3 states fail to make a timely recount and fail to appoint their slate of Trump-Pence electors…then the vice presidential race will be thrown into the Senate. Under Article II and the Twelfth Amendment, Pence will need a majority of the “whole number” of senators. The Republicans have such a majority. But the Twelfth Amendment also has a quorum requirement: “two-thirds of the whole number of Senators.” [2/3 is 67 of 100 senators, assuming all elected Senators are alive and sworn during the proceedings to select a Vice President.] The Republicans cannot meet this bar, at least not absent Democratic participation. By absenting themselves, the Democrats can block the narrow Senate Republican majority from selecting Pence.
Maybe Trump can consult Scott Walker for advice on how to handle recalcitrant donkeys. Would they flee to Canada or Mexico to escape armed escort to the Senate floor?
Nothing could seal a trunk landslide in 2018 like these kind of shenanigans. Nice analysis of extraordinarily unlikely possibilities.
In this scenario, there would be a vacancy in the VP slot for which Trump (after being sworn in) can nominate Pence to fill. The senate can confirm with a simple majority vote (with no special quorum requirement) then, yes?
What they are ‘up to is’ keeping the partisan fires stoked. Keeping the ginned-up ideological quarrels alive and real and seething and ugly.
Over on PJM and Instapundit they are crowing over mass media stories talking about how minorities are rushing to buy guns all of a sudden, and what a positive development this is. I keep begging to differ, and I keep getting blasted.
>After Donald Trump’s win, Yolanda Scott is upgrading the crowbar she keeps in her purse to a small-caliber pistol.
>Scott, an African-American, is one of many minorities who have been flocking to gun stores to protect themselves, afraid Trump’s victory will incite more hate crimes.
>”You feel that racists now feel like they can attack us just because the president is doing it,” Earl Curtis, the owner of Blue Ridge Arsenal in Chantilly, Virginia, told NBC News.
Et cetera. It gets worse, a lot worse.
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/trump-s-victory-has-fearful-minorities-buying-guns-n686881
So… okay. After decades in he public eye, all of a sudden the left has discovered that Donald Trump is a racist. Their half of America swallows this meme. The half of America that went out screaming and crying and breaking stuff in the frozen rain over the outcome of an election they didn’t like. The half that winks at Black Lives Matter and howls for the deaths of the people at the Bundy Ranch. And now the hysterical gullible ideologues are going out and arming themselves.
Joy. Oh, while you’re at it, skim this:
>In deep-red white America, the white Christian God is king, figuratively and literally. Religious fundamentalism is what has shaped most of their belief systems. Systems built on a fundamentalist framework are not conducive to introspection, questioning, learning, change. When you have a belief system that is built on fundamentalism, it isn’t open to outside criticism, especially by anyone not a member of your tribe and in a position of power. The problem isn’t “coastal elites don’t understand rural Americans.” The problem is rural America doesn’t understand itself and will NEVER listen to anyone outside their bubble. It doesn’t matter how “understanding” you are, how well you listen, what language you use”¦if you are viewed as an outsider, your views are automatically discounted. I’ve had hundreds of discussions with rural white Americans and whenever I present them any information that contradicts their entrenched beliefs, no matter how sound, how unquestionable, how obvious, they WILL NOT even entertain the possibility it might be true. Their refusal is a result of the nature of their fundamentalist belief system and the fact I’m the enemy because I’m an educated liberal.
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/rural-america-understanding-isnt-problem
Why all the disconnected cut-&-pasting? And what the hell does any of this have to do with last-minute gambits involving the electoral college….? Because I was a senior-level technical writer and process analyst in Silicon Valley for quite awhile. I spent most of two decades ferreting out information and carefully crafting it to appear appealing and lucid to the target audience, whether it was Carly Fiorina’s staff or semi-English/semi-computer literate middle aged Mexican ladies working in the call center. And I understand exactly what I am looking at. False legal arguments combined with a dash of snake-oil patriotism, designed to create a feeling of legitimacy and outrage in an already-hysterical target audience with a low level of expertise in civic affairs. Nancy Pelosi did the same thing when she suggested she could abolish that now-inconvenient electoral college by introducing legislation. If only those nasty Rethuglicans wouldn’t get in her way…! (and that moldy old fact of requiring a Constitutional amendment, in case you weren’t paying attention in Social Studies).
Read Tillman’s piece. Then read the ones at NBC and Alternet. Read the horrifying comments.
That is your target audience for these shenanigans. Understand that. Internalize it. And keep buying ammo.
Phil has it right. Prices are down, buy the good stuff and keep it dry. Know your “target” audience, “quick’s the word and surprise is on our side!” should we need to push them away.
Impossible to track gun sale trends in many places where street buying is common. How many of the guns used over the past holiday period used to kill in Chicago were sold on the street one or more times? My guess is most. Maybe the fact that some minority members are making retail purchases is good news.
Death6
Apparently Pennsylvania says they missed the deadline so it’s all a waste of time and money
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/pennsylvania-state-department-says-stein-missed-recount-deadline/article/2608305
The whole exercise seems to be some sort of fund raiser for the Greens. NO recount will occur, as best I can tell.
The Democrats are significantly responsible for outrages like the Ohio State rampage as they keep stirring up Muslims with hatred directed at whites and Republicans.
Somalis seem to be the worst offenders but there are plenty of “sudden jihad” cases waiting to appear. The agitation just adds to the problem.
“How many of the guns used over the past holiday period used to kill in Chicago were sold on the street one or more times? My guess is most. Maybe the fact that some minority members are making retail purchases is good news.”
Most violent crimes in Chicago are gang related with about half the murder victims being known gang members. Many of the other half are innocent victims because the fools don’t know how to shoot. Illinois requires not only background checks but an FOID card, so most gangbangers aren’t going to bother with that.
I’m skeptical of rumors about minorities flooding to gun shops, at least in Chicago. Individual initiative is unfortunately in short supply in the inner city. For it to actually happen would require it to be led by some Democratic Machine ward bosses or local churches, but they usually do the opposite and protest gun dealers.
Despite all that clamor, there are relatively few guns in Chicago per capita, but they are concentrated among few criminal gangs, sold and resold like you said.
About 70 percent said they got their guns from family, fellow gang members or through other social connections. Only two said they bought a gun at a store. It’s unclear how many of those surveyed were felons, but they can’t hold a state firearm owner’s permit ”” so they can’t legally purchase a weapon at a store.
The inmates also told the researchers they typically kept a gun for less than a year, fearing that keeping it long could pose a legal liability. “Dirty guns,” those fired in a crime, could become evidence in a police investigation, according to those interviewed.”
Democrats know perfectly well that they would be shot in the streets for that kind of election theft. They will make some noise for the base but that’s it, none of them want to die.