My assessment of the electoral vote count for the 2020 election

I have watched all of today’s electoral count events – many thanks to CSPAN, CNN, and PBS for their coverage (also Twitter and other linked material from Twitter). It has been quite an experience to see our nation’s Capitol building attacked by a mob, and to see the almost total lack of response by law enforcement to this violent attack. I hope that there is some followup investigation to find out why this happened. CNN had a story late Wednesday showing the difference in police response between Wednesday’s mob action and previous Black Lives Matter protests (spoiler: police response was very strong for BLM protests, yet almost non-existent for the mob action)

I am glad to see that the electoral count was able to be completed, and that Vice-President Mike Pence carried out his constitutional duty and did not attempt to veer from that duty. It is the first time during the past four years that I have found something to appreciate about Mike Pence. The Senate speeches during the debate were excellent, the House speeches less so. It was sad that House members continued to object to certificates without Senate concurrence (Georgia, Michigan, Nevada). On the Pennsylvania speeches, it seemed that every House rep from PA spoke – ugh! Enough is enough!

I also created a liveblog of the events, I hope that some of my five readers found it of some value. I felt an obligation for myself to document this event in a journalistic way. It will be a record for years to come. The Little Outliner application worked superbly, and I appreciate all the work that its creator, Dave Winer, has done to make outliners more available to all.

In one of the Senate speeches in the Arizona debate, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden stated that the Senate needed to spend the next two weeks watchdogging Donald Trump. He also mentioned that the National Association of Manufacturers called for the 25^th Amendment to be used to remove Donald Trump from office. Via CNN, the House Judiciary Committee Democrats also called for the 25^th Amendment to be applied, and Cabinet members are also discussing this. I think it would be in the interest of the nation for Donald Trump to be removed from office to protect our country from any further damage, and this be done by any legal means available.

My hope is that when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris become President and Vice-President, our nation will begin the healing process, and can focus on helping our citizens in this pandemic. Donald Trump has shown no interest in this, resulting in many deaths that could have been avoided. Let us pull together to make this a better nation.