Now that Biden has crossed the 81 million vote barrier and upped his percentage lead in the popular vote to 4.4%, we should keep in mind that if we didn't have the electoral college, it would have been pure folly for Trump to try to over turn the election.

However, because we do have this electoral college, our democracy is dependent upon various secretaries of states, state legislators, state courts, and governors. Sure, Trump's coup failed...THIS TIME, but the electoral college allows a path for a more devious, smarter coup attempt in the future. A corrupt secretary of state here, a state court there, a legistaure here, and Voila!, the presidential election is stolen and voters are disenfranchised. With a simple popular vote, a coup like this would be impossible.

The electoral college is a ticking time bomb in our democracy.

The answer to that question provides us with some of the answers for dealing with the Trump cult.

And prefer that style of government to a democracy. Can we stop always blaming the Democratic party or "Socialism" or "Defund the Police" or "Cancel Culture"?

Trump got more votes in 2020 than he did in 2016 against the best candidate that the Democrats could nominate. Biden had much higher approval ratings than Trump and didn't have ANY of the "baggage" that Hillary had. Still, Trump did better. That should tell you something. And no, I don't think that "Defund the Police" was the reason. Trump has said and did FAR worse, but paid no political price. Anyone remember him calling our military suckers? There was more evidence of that than Biden saying, "Defund the Police".

No amount of messaging or policy is ever going to change the minds of that near 50%. It's comforting to think that if the Democrats said "X" instead of "Y", we would have done better, but that's overlooking the obvious. We have a massive cultural and political schism in this country with no easy, simple solutions. This is something that out of the control of the party.

The good news is that over 50% of this country does indeed want a democracy. Let's focus on the majority and run the country to the best of our ability.

that struggle economically. The two are tied together.

We're living in an era of capitalism that does not need armies of laborers to amass profits for the owners. How many employees did Henry Ford have to become filthy rich vs. how many employees does Mark Zuckerberg have to become filthy rich. Companies need less employees, but what they do need are smarter employees. In this stage of capitalism, the better paying jobs need workers who can think critically, take in information, and solve problems.

If all you want is your world view confirmed and any evidence to the contrary be dismissed, then, in general, you will have a difficult time finding success in today's economy.

You will be left behind, and blaming the Democrats for "not reaching out" is not the answer either.

Dear Trump, if you want to keep your cult going, you need to understand the money, time, and energy that it takes to maintain a cult.

Think about the more famous cults like the Moonies, Scientology, The People's Temple, Rajneeshpuram, and NXIVM.

They all share some basic similarities:

1. They require a lot of money to manage the day to day activities of the cult. Money needs to be coming in on a regular basis. Helps to have an extremely wealthy benefactor or two. The Bhagwan had the heirs to Learjet and BaskinRobbins. NXIVM had the Seagram heirs. Scott Baio has that Charles in Charge royalty checks.

2. They need to recruit new members to keep it going which means highly active recruiting. This will be hard to do when you no longer have any power and cannot bestow favors like pardons onto people.

3. They have to spend a lot of money on lawyers to keep members under control, and fight criminal charges and civil lawsuits. Good lawyers are not cheap.

4. They all have/had some sort of security force that maintains control. All good cults need their henchmen. Scientology employs an army of private investigators.

5. They all project a feeling of omnipresence. Cult members need to feel that you are always around. Being president, Fox News, and abusing Twitter fulfilled this requirement, but you won't have these things when you leave.

You could label yourself and your movement as a religion which would allow you to raise money tax free, but that move may turn off the fundies.

Give this some serious thought. As you age from your mid to late 70s, do you have what it takes to maintain your cult? Do you really want to do this. 2024 is a very, very, very long time away.

Cults are a young man's game.

Source: CBS sports

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the Baltimore Ravens this past week, and it now has reportedly affected their best player. On Thursday night, Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported that Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson tested positive for the coronavirus. The Ravens were scheduled to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers Thursday night, but the league was forced to reschedule the matchup due to the Ravens' COVID-19 outbreak.

Read more: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/ravens-quarterback-lamar-jackson-tests-positive-for-covid-19-per-report/

Esp. when they know that half or more of the staff will be out. I know that the days before Christmas will be maddening, yet the first 2 or 3 weeks of the new year are always slow. Why is that?

Everyone knows the holiday calendar. Schedule important deadlines away from the holiday weeks. It's not that hard.

My guess is that people like to show off how important they are or how hard they're working. They want to be able to say, "I got this done in advance of the holidays while everyone else took off from work." Yes, because working is much more important than being an actual human being.

Here's the truth. Unless your work involves actually saving lives or feeding people or caring for the sick or some other life essential service, it can wait two days. No one is going to review your deliverable until after the holidays.

Joe Biden: 80,033,996
Donald "The Loser" Trump: 73,878,907


https://cookpolitical.com/2020-national-popular-vote-tracker