Constitution

Biden Won | Will There Be An Electoral College Coup?

on November 11, 2020November 11, 2020 By Gallant Gold Media 1 Comment

Washington (GGM) Analysis | November 11, 2020 by Attorney Michael Wells, Podcast– Legal Fact and Fiction

On November 7, 2020, Joe Biden unofficially became the President-Elect, and Kamala Harris unofficially became the Vice President-Elect. Normally the losing candidate, in this case Donald Trump, accepts defeat and contacts the winner to congratulate him or her. Not Donald Trump. He made unsubstantiated claims of “voter fraud,” and then he never backed down. This likely surprised very few as Trump claimed back in 2016 the election was rigged, and he claimed it was rigged again in 2020. What is troubling, however, is most of his party, led by stalwarts such as Senators Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham, continue to argue Trump has every right to challenge the election results. And these fears became more real when on November 9th Attorney General William Barr opened up a probe into “voter irregularities” without alleging any evidence. It all smacks of hyper partisanship, and it raises the question as to whether an Electoral College coup is afoot.

Every four years the Electoral College meets in December. Each state’s electors then vote for the candidate who prevailed in the presidential race in their respective state. This is how it almost always happens. Different states certify their elections on different dates, but the Electoral College meets on December 14, 2020 and votes.

This year Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Nevada proved decisive. Nevada certifies its election on November 16th. Michigan and Pennsylvania certify their elections on November 23rd.

All legal challenges must be filed by December 8th, the so-called “Safe Harbor” date. In other words, challenges cannot be lodged after that date. It should be noted all challenges filed by Donald Trump’s campaign have been dismissed thus far. One filing was improperly filed and therefore rejected.

This is a short summary of the legal process involved. In all likelihood, everything will run smoothly, and Joe Biden will be declared, officially at least, the President-Elect.

This does not answer the question as to whether Trump’s supporters, both elected and otherwise, will accept the results of the election. Quite frankly, it does not matter if they accept the results.

Recent rhetoric from supporters has sounded alarm bells such as Senator’s McConnell’s statement that Trump was “100% within his rights to challenge the results of the election.”

On November 10th, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said:

Conservative commentator Bill Kristol responded, “Be alarmed,” in response to this troubling statement. And he is right.

Perhaps the best quote as to the vagueness and lack of substance of “voter fraud” came from Senator Lindsey Graham, who said: “And we will continue, in spite of my democratic colleagues protestations, we’re going to find someone accountable for something, when it comes to crossfire hurricane.”

Legally, the important dates to keep in mind are:

December 8th “Safe Harbor” deadline (no lawsuits after this date).
December 14th Electoral College meets and votes (it is over after this date).

Are there conspiracy theories out there? Yes. Could there be violence? Yes. Sadly, violence is always possible in America, but legally speaking not much will happen. The Electoral College will meet December 14th, and Joe Biden will officially become President-Elect. Again, this all assumes we do not fall into lawlessness and utter chaos. If we do, the law will not matter.

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Important Upcoming Primaries | The Future

on August 3, 2018August 4, 2018 By Gallant Gold Media

“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.” ~Thomas Jefferson

The time is now…

I can’t fathom there ever having been a more urgent moment to get involved in the electoral process than the present. Trump is furiously promoting his Anti-American/Pro-Russia Agenda in a flurry of “Divide America” rallies. We mustn’t fight each other, we MUST fight for the future of our remarkable nation.

Flipping the House and throwing Devin Nunes and Trey Gowdy out of office, and power, is within our reach.

There are still 18 primaries to be held before the midterm elections on November 6, 2018. If a few dozen Russians were successful at influencing our election, then a few million American Facebook posters can be succeed at enlightening our fellow compatriots about which candidates will best lead us forward and restore our lost principles.

Tuesday AUGUST 6, 2018

Kansas
Michigan
Missouri
Washington

Saturday AUGUST 11, 2018

Hawaii

Tuesday AUGUST 14, 2018

Connecticut
Minnesota
Vermont
Wisconsin

Tuesday AUGUST 21, 2018

Alaska
Wyoming

Tuesday AUGUST 28, 2018

Arizona
Florida

Tuesday SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

Massachusetts

Thursday SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

Deleware

Tuesday SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

New Hampshire

Wednesday SEPTEMBER 12, 2018

Rhode Island

Thursday SEPTEMBER 13, 2018

New York

Of course we can do this better than Russia!

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For more information call NCSL (National Conference of State Legislatures) 303-364-7700 / elections-info@ncsl.org .

Tillerson’s Moral Impairment Impacting Decision Making | Perspective

on January 28, 2018March 31, 2018 By Gallant Gold Media

For decades we’ve witnessed a staggering phenomenon. Musicians, actors, writers, athletes, politicians and business leaders, many of whom were born with an abundance of natural talent, natural gifts that are magnified by disciplined training and education, until they reach the top of their field…and after arriving at the summit, they plateau for a few years, but very few can hold their edge, instead they most likely decline, many completely losing their gifts and talent all together.

Some of the stories have been heart wrenching. OJ Simpson became a murderer, butchering his ex-wife and her boyfriend. But he’s not the only “star” turned murderer: Oscar Pistorius, Aaron Hernandez, Phil Spector, Sid Vicious from the Sex Pistols, Michael Jace from The Shield, Johnny Lewis – Sons of Anarchy, Howard Hughes, Robert Blake…the list goes on and on.

And then there’s the business leader side of the coin. The executives who transform into vicious criminals. This list is so incredibly distressing, mostly because of the sheer volume of well-educated and talented executives who’ve succumbed to the classic lures of financial gain, career boosting shortcuts, manipulation of stock prices, insider trading, fraud, money laundering, etc, many of whom have landed in jail or were charged millions of dollars in fines.

And don’t get me started on the incredibly promising politicians who get sucked into corruption schemes, defrauding taxpayers, bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud, tax evasion.

There are the insanely brilliant pop stars and actors who aren’t able to handle their fame and fall prey to drugs, leading to wretched endings as a result of overdoses, ie Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson, and so many more.

How about the unfortunate twist of making it to the top, but once you get there you lose your mojo. This usually happens to writers, particularly singer-songwriters who can keep singing for decades but they seemingly no longer have the ability to write lyrics and compose. When was the last time superstars like Paul McCarthy, Billy Joel, Mick Jagger produced a new award-winning album? It’s been decades.

So apparently there’s an arc to success. Work incredibly hard, and finally make it to the top. But once there, and you’re no longer hungry and struggling, you may begin to lose your advantage if you don’t understand how you became successful, and don’t stay committed to maintaining the traits that made you a star. (Steve Jobs mastered this.)

But Trump’s billionaire cabinet, the majority of whom are clearly morally impaired, and suffering from extremely poor judgement, and making horrible decisions that are life-threatening for the American public, have not only lost their mojo and are clearly in a state of decline, they seem to have been transformed into enemies of the United States of America.

Moral impairment is a serious detriment especially when someone like Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is representing the people of the United States on foreign policy issues as well as our American values. So what’s going on here? How do we wrap our minds around Tillerson’s decision making?

The recent article by the New York Times on Tillerson, the State Department and employees claiming political retribution, has key Democrats calling on State Department watchdogs for an “immediate review.”

Tillerson has made a series of terrible management decisions that appear to be setting our foreign policies on a path of self destruction. Only an enemy would pursue such a course, or perhaps someone suffering from Mad Cow Disease. Tillerson’s in a critical role on the world stage and seems unable to apply the most basic management and/or executive principles in his role as Secretary of State.

The critical issues according to the New York Times:

(1) Key positions in major hotspots across the globe are vacant, 5 in the Middle East

(2) Employees with long careers and deep experience are being re-assigned to do FOIA data entry

(3) Tillerson insists FOIA requests are very important and employees have to help out with the extra workload

Employees are claiming this is political retribution.

What can Tillerson say to defend his decision making? Nothing. It’s an indefensible decision. How is working a job 10 levels below an employee’s pay grade a sound management decision? The vast majority of us know that this is illogical. Why does Tillerson believe any educated professional American citizen will buy this explanation?

None will.

So then yes, it’s clearly political retribution….which is another bad choice by Tillerson.

Moral impairment in a world leader is profoundly unsettling. Lives are at stake. The world is struggling under widespread unrest. We are the United States of America, a superpower, a bright positive force in a chaotic world.

Tillerson must resign or be removed. He’s in a state of dramatic decline. He’s lost his mojo, maybe even his marbles.

It’s. That. Simple.

Senate Steps-Up | Perspective

on January 9, 2018March 31, 2018 By Gallant Gold Media

SENATE SECURES 30th CO-SPONSOR

The senate secured the required 30th co-sponsor Monday to reverse the recent net neutrality repeal by the FCC.

In light of Trump’s apparent indifference to the checks and balances of the three branches of government, which were established by our founding fathers to restrain each branch from having more power than it was designed to have, Trump’s continuous forceful over-reaching has been stymied.

This first feat of the new year, the first morning Senate was back in session, was accomplished when Senator Claire Mccaskill added her name to the list.

Net neutrality was a major notch in Obama’s belt of achievements. It guaranteed equal access to all internet content without “favoring or blocking particular products and websites.”

Citizens in countries such as Iran and North Korea, those run by dictators, are blocked from most internet content that we take for granted including social media. Additionally, citizens suffer through painfully slow connection speeds in oppressed countries. Under Trump, the FCC was directed to repeal the Net Neutrality protections, resulting in large corporations being able to limit consumer access to all content.

“‘We’ve reached the magic number of 30 to secure a vote on the Senate floor, and that number will only continue to climb,’ Markey said in a statement Monday. ‘Republicans are faced with a choice — be on the right side of history and stand with the American people who support a free and open internet, or hold hands with the special interests who want to control the internet for their own profit.’”

STATES

A panel of federal judges has ruled North Carolina’s U.S. congressional GOP-drawn districts are overly partisan and thus unconstitutional. No more elections can take place using the old maps. Gerrymandering will also be reviewed by the Supreme Court in 2018. Many states will likely follow North Carolina’s lead.

ENVIRONMENT

The warming air and seas across the globe, brought on by climate change, is turning 99% of the sea turtles in the Pacific Ocean female. “…the sex of the sea turtle is determined by the heat of the sand incubating their eggs.” The relationship between the number of females to males is now extremely mismatched. There are other temperature dependent species who’ll be similarly impacted.

HEALTH

Many health conscious professionals believe there are natural alternatives for the most prescribed drugs. This because we’ve been on earth several millenniums and it’s only recently in the past few decades that pharamacutucals have been the primary go-to solution for most medical conditions. Medication is quick and easy and we don’t have to make too many changes in our lifestyle. However, side-effects can be a serious liability, which result in many new conditions.

Here are natural remedies for several of the top ten medical conditions: pain, high cholesterol, high blood pressure.

Classified Information | Perspective

on January 5, 2018March 31, 2018 By Gallant Gold Media

CLASSIFIED INFORMATION, SENATORS GRASSLEY & GRAHAM

Today’s breaking news story about the criminal referral filed with DOJ by Senators Grassley and Graham pertaining to Fusion GPS’ Steele dossier, is an interesting anomaly.

Is it legal for the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, investigating Russia meddling and Trump-Russia collusion, to publicly undermine evidence in this way, particularly in light of the fact that much of the hearing is classified?

What are the laws pertaining to knowing classified information, and using this knowledge to negatively impact evidence that supports proof in an investigation for the purpose of undermining the investigation? Is that obstruction of justice?

Following Trump’s election, Grassley has been a steadfast Trump loyalist. Harshly demanding of the American public after Comey was fired, “Suck it up, and move on.”

A month ago, Grassley seemed Intent on undermining the public’s view of the FBI’s independence by publicly revealing that an agent was removed from the investigation in July after it became clear he was pro Hillary and felt negatively about Trump.

Grassley has access to substantial amounts of classified evidence in the Russian investigation. As the proof piles up, Grassley retaliates by publicly undermining the investigation team itself. Mueller’s independence. And now the evidence.

His actions seem to clearly underscore Trump’s guilt. The vicious turbulence reminds me of a fighter plane breaking the sound barrier.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/05/trump-dossier-author-steele-fbi-326613

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-06/grassley-examines-reports-of-biased-fbi-agent-in-russia-probe

PUTIN & U. S. REGULATIONS

American Regulations are one of the pillars that make us a developed country, a super power. Third World countries don’t have regulations and look what a mess they are. Behind all the U.S. regulations are thousands of victims. Often hundreds of thousands. Sometimes millions of victims.

Regulations = Consumer Protection

So Trump is on a mission to eliminate our regulations, and knock down one of the fiercest pillars that stablize the country and protect the public.

We understand regulations on a personal level in our everyday lives. We make decisions to fund personal security and protection.

What family isn’t for a home security system? Do we mind paying for smoke detectors? Child safety locks? Cars with airbags? Cross walks? Safe and clean food, water, air? Of course not.

So why does our President think he can decide for us that he doesn’t want the American people to have protection for our financial assets. Net neutrality? Our natural resources?

Trump, through his clever word manipulation, is framing his de-regulation agenda so positively. Calling it over-regulation.

But it’s not over-regulation.

For every regulation, there are exceptions. If a situation falls into the “exception” category, you feel annoyed if you’re the one impacted. Sure. But you understand. When you think of the flip side, the no regulation side, you come to grips with your frustration and let it rest. (I was annoyed this week when I tried to deposit cash in a family member’s bank account who lived in another state. They needed immediate assistance. A check takes 48 hours to clear. Bank of America explained that unless I had an account with them, I couldn’t deposit cash into someone else’s account. It was a new regulation. Argh!)

So again, why has Trump eliminated the vast majority of our protections? We do not have a dictatorship in America, so how is he able to do this?

Trump doesn’t even seem intelligent enough to mastermind this massive de-regulation scheme. Further, what real president of the United States would want to harm America to this extreme? It doesn’t even seem probable that Trump has time to zero-in on de-regulating the USA.

Using the scientific method, I’m left to deduce that there’s someone else behind this nefarious de-regulation curtain pulling all the strings.

Putin!

I’m being serious. A complex action plan crafted before the election. Sun Tzu The Art of War again.

STATES

“Fake it until you make it.” That’s what I’m deducing after the endless stream of unilateral Trump decisions.

DOJ upends states’ rights to legalize marijuana. Can the Department of Justice really up and do this?

In business, Trump’s a dictator.

We saw in January, Trump’s sinister attempt to turn the U.S. presidency into a dictatorship. Months of massive protest marches around the globe eventually creating a barrier for this Machievellian vision of his. He then became embroiled in the Trump-Russia Collusion Investigation.

But here we go again this week, with Trump’s DOJ overturning state laws by the flick of a switch. States are a constitutional check & balance. This reversal is the act of a would-be dictator with no respect for states rights or the three branches of government.

Trump has said he can tell a lie three times and by the fourth everyone will think it’s true. Apparently, he feels the same about his actions. If he fakes being a dictator long enough, eventually we Americans will believe we’re governed by a dictator and allow him to be one.

So no, it’s imperative we throw everything we have against this and block Trump from overturning our Constitution.

Quote, Senator Cory Gardner: “‘One tweet later, one policy later ― a complete reversal of what many of us on the Hill were told before the confirmation. Without any notification, conversation or dialogue with Congress, completely reversed.’”

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/politicians-react-jeff-sessions-reverse-marijuana-legal_us_5a4e58dde4b06d1621bddc48

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-issues-memo-marijuana-enforcement

HEALTH

Salt deficiency is nearly as dangerous as salt overindulgence. So, everything in moderation…including salt.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/6-dangers-of-sodium-restriction

The Electoral College

on December 18, 2017December 20, 2017 By Gallant Gold Media

One of the most resounding objections against the GOP in 2017 has to be: “Party over Country!”

The majority of us were consistently stunned with GOP decision-making that appeared to malign the country while benefitting the party.

The never-ending daunting issues, challenges, and conflicts created major turmoil and unrest for the majority of us who did not vote for trump. With trump’s popularity plummeting following an endless stream of extreme Executive Orders, and without any attempt by trump to invite the majority into the conversation and find bipartisan solutions, we need to dig deeper into the Electoral College process and strengthen this particular check & balance to prevent this type of hostile takeover from happening again.

A year ago, the public conversation was focused on the Electoral College. Electors cast their votes in their states the first Monday following the second Tuesday of December (tomorrow, a year ago). So a year ago today, a tidal wave of news headlines called on the Electoral College to vote their conscience rather than along party lines. Millions of us believed that if they did it would likely upend trump’s apparent win (despite trump’s losing the majority of votes in the national election on November 8, 2016).

But even this didn’t work.

I was recently reminded that when James Madison and the Continental Convention created the Electoral College in 1787, there were no political parties in the United States. Initially, our founders believed that despite the many differences that existed amongst the public — this because of varied backgrounds, education, local landscapes, religions, professions — the public all shared similar moral principles, so we would use our principles and common sense when voting. (Jefferson phrased it, “many different opinions, but all the same principles.”) Our founder never envisioned we’d devolve into a binary system for electing a president.

Back when those who formed the Continental Convention were vigorously debating the concepts to include in the Constitution, (Madison explained to Jefferson in a letter how daunting this huge monster challenge was, “To adjust the clashing pretensions of the large and small States. Each of these objects was pregnant with difficulties. The whole of them together formed a task more difficult than can be well conceived by those who were not concerned in the execution of it. Adding to these considerations the natural diversity of human opinions on all new and complicated subjects, it is impossible to consider the degree of concord which ultimately prevailed as less than a miracle.”), the founders eventually envisioned that there might be five strong candidates that would rise to the top and become contenders for the two most important posts: president and vice-president.

So with no political parties, and with the founders hoping for a strong five candidates to emerge and become the presidential contenders, would the Electoral College as it was intended have netted the same result as the broken binary 2016 Electoral College?

I honestly don’t believe it would have.

I therefore have 3 takeaways from the past 12 months:
(1) It’s time to rethink this binary system that results in party allegiance over national best-interest.

(2) If the party system was redesigned (following the Blue wave in 2018 which we desperately need, I’m a registered Independent so this is my Independent perspective), then we could correct the broken Electoral College check & balance.

(3) And let’s simultaneously correct the representation-denying issue of gerrymandering that is another negative outcome of the two party political system we’ve devolved into, enabling millions of Americans to finally have a voice in Congress that has long been blocked. Ω