TWO THOUGHTS AS THE YEAR TURNS

 

            1.  Let Us Pray

The phrase “Let us pray” is uttered by priests at various points throughout religious services.  It may be an invitation (generally in Western style services) or an imperative (generally Eastern or Orthodox).  Some believe that prayer can become a way of life. 

The phrase is often uttered either at the end of or as a beginning to meaningful words or acts.  Therefore, it seems appropriate to utter them as we are on the cusp of the end of one year and the beginning of a new one; a time of both ending and beginning.

Of course, a natural question might be:  Pray to whom?  And for what? 

As far as “to whom”:  I would suggest that it matters less how one envisions the entity to whom one prays than it does the fact that someone accepts that there is someone or something greater than oneself in which one believes enough to send forth prayers.   I know there can be pushback here from every advocate of every religion (and every associated denomination within) who believes theirs is the one and only true faith.  But let’s remember that there is a difference between man-made religions and true faith in something that is greater than, and all-encompassing of, Mankind.  Beyond this short statement, I will leave it to the philosophers and saints to argue about who the whom in “to whom” is.

That leaves us the second question:  For what shall we pray?  That is an individual problem.  Many will sit down on New Year’s Day and compose a list of resolutions.  Those are generally positive wishes for oneself in the coming year; I’m not sure they are really prayers, but they could be if in the end they are directed to that greater being to whom one prays.

I think that my prayer is for a reinvigoration in this world of the faith that makes prayer meaningful.  This seems to be something that many humans have lost, or are in the process of losing, as individuals seem to become more and more self-absorbed and our world becomes more and more secular.

When one has no belief in something greater than oneself, when the self and its own satisfaction become of primary importance, that is when we lose tolerance for others, when we lose the urge and even the ability to do something for the true good rather than simply for what feels good.  That focus on worldly selves is when we lose respect for humanity and the individuals that surround us.  And it results in an emptiness, a hopelessness, and the anger that we see so much around us in the world these days.

So, my prayer is that we return to our souls and within those souls become reacquainted (or perhaps newly acquainted) with a faith in that which is greater than we, whatever we may choose to call that greater power.  Not only will it lead to truer individual happiness, but it will also go a long way toward healing the world.

2.  The Year You Complain of May Not Really be Over

For all of you who have sent out (sometimes quite offensive) “holiday” cards proclaiming how horrible 2020 was and your eagerness for 2021:  I have some bad news.

We are currently in the Chinese Year of the Metal Rat.  It began last January 25^th, just about the exact same time as COVID arrived on our shores (from China).  The year will not end until February 11, 2021.

The Year of Metal Rat comes once every 60 years.  Based in Chinese astrology, the 12 animal astrological symbols are combined with the 5 elemental signs, giving us 60 possibilities, each of which then contains a Yin or a Yang energy.

The Metal Rat is a Yang year.  Yang is an active energy, when the world is shaped through actions and big events, rather than by passive attitudes. It is therefore a year of changes some of which can be drastic. 

The Rat is symbolically a highly active animal; one that is known for being intelligent, curious, and restless. The Rat gets what it wants through tenacity and inventiveness; it is an animal that can also bite, explore the lower realm of our world, and carry illnesses. All those characteristics show up in the Metal Rat year. And the combination of Yang Metal and the Rat makes for a very active year that shakes things up.

This becomes clear when one considers previous Metal Rat Years.  The most recent was 1960-61. Not only did that year begin several years of social upheaval in this country, but it was also the year of a recession, the year that substantial American advisory forces arrived in Viet Nam.  It was a year that saw a strong socialist/communist movement in Europe, it began the transformation of colonialism to independence in Africa, and France detonated its first atomic bomb while other nations including China did so only a few years later.

Going back through history one will find that there were at least a few significant events in each Metal Rat year that caused or helped lead to significant changes in the future.  1900-01 saw widespread application of the internal combustion engine along with several other technological inventions, all of which served to push us full force into the industrial age and change human life forever.

Looking back further, in 1840-41, the World Anti-Slavery commission met for the first time, wagon trains began leaving for California, the Library of Congress was founded, and slavery was ended in the Northwest Territory.  1780-81 brought us to the end of armed conflict in the American Revolution and saw the approval of the Articles of Confederation.  In 1720-21, Tsar Peter the Great ended the Russian-Orthodox patriarchy, peace treaties were signed among several European countries, and Europe’s last major plague outbreak killed around 100,000 people.  1660-61 saw King Charles II sign the Declaration of Breda establishing freedom of religion.  In 1600-01, Astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler met for the first time near Prague, and the first British East India Company voyage departed from London. 1540-41 saw exploration of the New World by the likes of De Soto, Coronado, and Cartier while Michelangelo finished painting “The Last Judgment” in the Sistine Chapel.  The years 1480-81 and 1420-21 saw a number of religious wars play out including Ottoman troops beheading 800 Christians for refusing to convert to Islam,  Pope Martinus I calling for a crusade against the Hussite Protestants, and Jews in Syria and Austria were expelled. 

We could go on, but you get the picture.  Years of the Metal Rat include events that tend to shake up the status quo and are likely to change the course of history.  That does not necessarily make them evil, even though experiencing a Metal Rat year as it is happening may be unpleasant at best. 

But, if we look at the long view, perhaps 2020 or this Metal Rat year is not as malevolent as many now believe it to be.  We should stop and consider what has 2020 taught us, how it has prepared us better for the future and how we can work to make that future better.

But whether it is the Year of the Metal Rat or simply 2020 that is so fashionable to trash, I find it hard to believe that there is not at least one thing that each person can find during the year to be thankful for.  Even in the most difficult times, there is always light to be found.

In conclusion, then, as we sit on this cusp between years, let us search within our souls for the faith that is there that can make prayer real and meaningful.  Let us look to what we have learned from this year that is passing and let us find our many lights within it.  And, for the future, let us pray.

Look Forward

 Whether or not you say that he won, Joe Biden will be our next president.  One can continue to look back at what happened, or one can look forward to what needs to be done.

               The Election is Over.

We had an election.  Irregularities and fraud were alleged.  Legal processes for those allegations were followed.  The states certified their results.  The electors voted.  Joe Biden won that election.  The votes of electors and the slates of electors can be challenged on Jan. 6, but those challenges will most certainly fail.  The vote of the electors will be certified, and Joe Biden will be inaugurated as our 46^th President.  That is how it works in America.

I am in my 70s and every election that I can remember, whether for president or dog catcher or anything in between, has included allegations of cheating and irregularities.  Sometimes recounts do change a result.  That did not happen in this election. 

Certainly, with mass mail-in ballots, use of electronics with its possibilities for hacking or other tampering, one can perhaps reasonably assume that some fraud occurred.  There is documented evidence of some irregularities and even some cheating.  There are certainly suspicious vote drops and failures to follow some state election procedures that should make one at least question what went on.  But fraud has not been proven.  And even if it were, that does not mean that the fraud would necessarily change the ultimate outcome of the election.

In America, we are supposed to accept the results of elections, of due legal processes, even when we do not like those results.  In recent years more and more seem to find doing that to be difficult if not impossible.  How many Democrats never accepted that Trump was a legitimate president?  Before that, how many Republicans refused to accept that Obama was their president?  How many Democrats refused to accept that Bush, not Gore, was the legitimate winner of that election?

Refusal to accept suggests not only a selfishness, but also a lack of understanding of how America works.  It sounds like schoolyard kids.  I don’t accept you.  Well then, I won’t accept you.  He started it.  No, he started it.  If he did it then I will do it.  And on and on.  But it goes nowhere.

Time to grow up.  Time to review our Constitution and begin to understand how our Democratic Republic works.

I realize that some may say, “but state election procedures themselves were not followed, so this is different.”  No, it is not.  Those procedures could have been, and many were challenged before the election even took place.   The challenges either resulted in some changes or failed.  Others were challenged after the fact; those challenges also failed. Either way, there was due legal process before, during, and after the election. 

Just because one thinks that legal challenges were wrongly decided does not change the decision or make it procedurally or legally wrong.  Anyone who follows and understands our legal processes knows that sometimes the outcome of those processes is not what one might have wished it to be.  Sometimes they are not or do not seem to be fair.  But, in this country, in our Democratic Republic, we follow the legal processes and accept their results.  That is how we avoid the rule of the mob, the rule of dictatorship, and how we keep our freedoms.

You do not have to congratulate Joe Biden, you do not have to like Joe Biden, you do not have to say that he won, but pursuant to our Constitution and our rule of law you do have to accept that he will be our President on Jan. 20 of 2021.

               For the Future

So, rather than whine because one did not get what one wanted, rather than continue the schoolyard name calling, it might be far more productive to work to make elections more secure in the future. 

Here is one suggestion. People unhappy with the questionable integrity of this election (that should be all Americans!) can mobilize within their states to petition their state lawmakers to make changes in their election laws.  I would suggest the following:

1.       Requirement that voting occur only in one of two ways:  in person during the designated voting period or by a requested absentee ballot.

a.      In person voting must require that the voter show a photo ID of a type approved by the state’s voting authority.

b.      Absentee ballot must be requested, and a valid reason must be given for the request.  Such reasons might include but not be limited to:  being out of the state during the election period; being an invalid or impaired in a way that prohibits one from physically going to the polls; having no reasonable means of transportation to the polls; etc.

c.      Submitted absentee ballots shall use signature matching or similar verification before the vote is counted.

2.      Required steps for security of the voting and counting procedures.

a.      Requirement that appropriate steps be taken to guard against cyber-interference with the election, including but not limited to checking and protecting voting machines and tallying machines.

b.      Requirement that even when machines tabulate votes that paper ballots be preserved.

c.      Requirement that one observer from every major party represented on the ballot must be present in each polling place during voting and present during any handling, including verification and counting of ballots and votes. 

With relatively simple steps such as these, perhaps we could instill a greater faith in our election process.  None of the above are difficult to implement and would go a long way towards election integrity, and in dispelling allegations of cheating, irregularities, and fraud, whether real or imagined.

In the meantime, we all need to remember that this is America and we are Americans.  We don’t always get what we want.  Neither do we necessarily get what we need.  But, because this is a government of/for/by the people, we are always able to look forward and do more than simply wring our hands over what has already happened.  Even if we feel what happened was wrong, we have the right and the power to stand up and turn whatever hate we may have for what has passed to hope and action for the future.  That is America. 

 

Step Back from This Battle but Fight for the Future

As a lawyer I have fought some hard-won battles and I have suffered a few excruciating losses.  There have been one or two times when I knew absolutely that I/my client were right and yet we lost.  That is hard. 

I think for Republicans and others who question the fairness of the election that this is one of those times.  Like many I believe there was significant cheating or dishonesty in this election and that many illegal ballots were counted.  Because once counted it is impossible to know for whom those illegal ballots were cast, recounts do little; they find the occasional counting error but not the fraud regardless of whether that fraud was minimal or widespread, committed by rogue individuals acting alone or due to some greater coordinated plan.

It is next to impossible to prove election fraud, especially the mail-in fraud that almost certainly occurred or the counting machine tampering that has been alleged.  Moreover, even if proven, it is impossible to prove what the legitimate vote totals would have been.

Yes, there is proof that some vote counting was intentionally deceptive, that some votes that should not have been counted were nonetheless counted and others that should have been counted were not.  But did that swing the election?  There is no proof of that; it is impossible that there could ever be proof of that.

Those who know they are right about the fact that illegal votes were counted are fighting the good fight.  Some are fighting because they believe the presumptive result is inaccurate and want it overturned, some are fighting because they simply want a clear declaration of the improprieties that occurred, and others are fighting to protect the vote in the future. 

The fight is properly playing out in the courts and the fight on behalf of free and fair elections is losing.  The cases asserting fraud are not unreasonable and there is some evidentiary support.  The problem is, because of the very nature of the fraud alleged, there cannot be sufficient evidence to move forward.  As to the Texas case that was dismissed by SCOTUS, that dismissal was expected based on precedent.  That does not mean that Texas should not have brought the case – lawyers sometimes bring cases in which they know they are not likely to prevail in a hope of convincing the Court to reexamine the law.  SCOTUS chose not to do that in this case.

Some (mostly Democrats and Biden supporters) refuse to believe there were any irregularities at all.  Some (mostly Republicans and Trump supporters) will never be convinced that Trump did not win.  The truth is likely somewhere in between.  Yes, there were irregularities and some of those irregularities may well have amounted to fraud.  Trump may well have won more electoral votes and Biden fewer than the results show; but that does not necessarily mean that the ultimate result would have changed.  Sadly, we will never know what the result would have been if irregularities, tampering, and possibly fraud had not occurred. 

But we do have a result.  While other legal actions are available, it is clear that any further challenges to that result will likely have no effect. 

As a lawyer I learned to be a good winner (don’t gloat) and perhaps more importantly to be a good loser – know when it is time to step back from the battle and congratulate your opponent, even when you know that the result is not what it should be, even when you know there were mistakes made, laws misread, evidence missing or incorrectly excluded.  

Sometimes, you just don’t have what you need to prove your case.   For those of you more familiar with the popular Queen’s Gambit miniseries than the courtroom, sometimes the chess player must realize that it is time to lay the king on his side and resign.   For card players, the phrase is “you’ve got to know when to fold ‘em.”  The point is, when the outcome is clear and when it is equally clear that any further efforts will be entirely fruitless, it is time to walk away.  Now is that time for the Republicans.

I am sad that half of America was not interested in examining or even discussing the large number of irregularities that evidence indicated occurred.  I am sorry that so many feel it is just easier to move on than to seek the truth when that truth may lead to unpleasant results.  I am saddened that so many care so little about our right to vote and how essential it is that it be protected in order for our democracy and our freedoms to continue.

As I have said from the beginning, this election was not just about the specific men running; it was about much more than that.  This election was about what kind of country we are going to become.  This inertia towards any unpleasant narrative, this lack of concern over a core element of our democracy saddens and concerns me.  That people are celebrating when an election lawsuit is dismissed while their comments reveal they have no understanding of why it was dismissed or even the important right of the people that it involved, I wonder where indeed this country is headed. 

I hope the bitterness of this election passes and that when it does that people stop and think rationally about it, about the Constitution, and about the central role that voting rights play in our democracy.  I hope that it is not too late for every legitimate voter in this country to demand that safeguards be enacted so that the voting irregularities of this election never happen again.  That is necessary to protect the vote of those entitled to cast one and more importantly to preserve the freedoms that those votes protect.

It is time to accept the result even if you feel it is not fair.  Step back from this battle.  Use that energy instead to fight to ensure that our Constitutional protections will be the guiding force for our country’s future. 

It’s So Much More Than Just the Biden Coverup

By now you are (or should be) aware of the fact that the press conveniently ignored and suppressed the Hunter Biden investigation until after the election.  Now, when the result is fairly certain, they begin to report it, though generally with the best spin possible. 

We should all be appalled about their coverup, but the concern goes or should go far beyond that.  Anyone who does not believe their vote this election was at least in part manipulated by the media is dreaming.  But, beyond vote manipulation, we should all be concerned about the way that more generally our thinking is being manipulated.    

        The Hunter Biden Affair
First, a quick recap of the Hunter Biden affair. If you are not inclined to research the actual documents, two current opinion pieces present the key facts fairly objectively and I will quote from them in this summary. They are from the Wall Street Journal LINK-HERE  and The Hill LINK-HERE 

If you only read the mainstream Left media or get your news from social media, you probably don’t remember when the Biden story broke last October.  The New York Post published an exclusive story about Hunter Biden being under investigation.  There was a laptop and incriminating email from and to Hunter including about arranging a meeting between his father Joe and executives of the Ukrainian oil company with which his father may have used his influence when he was Vice President.  There are texts and witness statements from people close to Biden. 

The story’s sources were verified.  Here is what happened to that story:  It and any reference to it was banned from Twitter and accounts were locked down; other media outlets and all Democrats simply and immediately dismissed it as either Russian disinformation or a smear campaign by Trump and the Republicans. 

Here is what some of the more popular “news” outlets said:

Politico: “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say.”;
CNN: “The anatomy of the New York Post's dubious Hunter Biden story.”;
Washington Post: “The truth behind the Hunter Biden non-scandal”;
New York Times: “Trump Had One Last Story to Sell. The Wall Street Journal Wouldn’t Buy It: Inside the White House’s secret, last-ditch effort to change the narrative, and the election — and the return of the media gatekeepers.”;
Taxpayer-funded NPR: "We don't want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories. And we don't want to waste the listeners' and readers' time on stories that are just pure distractions."

Leslie Stahl interviewed President Trump for 60 minutes and here is a portion of that interview relating to the Biden story:

Stahl (response when Trump brought up the topic): “This is the most important issue in the country right now?” 
Trump: “It’s a very important issue to find out whether a man’s corrupt who’s running for president, who’s accepted money from China, and Ukraine, and from Russia. . . .Take a look at what’s going on, Leslie, and you say that shouldn’t be discussed? I think it’s one of the biggest scandals I’ve ever seen, and you don’t cover it.”
Stahl: “Well, because it can’t be verified.  I’m telling you —”
Trump: “Of course it can be verified.  Excuse me, Leslie, they found a laptop…”
Stahl: “It can’t be verified.”

As the Hill article notes, “Well, it's difficult to verify anything when you don't bother to check under the hood in the first place, right? Because that's exactly what happened here, except that the cake was baked with a condemnation of the few who decided to pursue the story.”

None of these responses should surprise us.  Before the NY Post Story, there were earlier reports that Hunter’s position on the board of Ukrainian energy company Bursima was tied to improper influence by his then Vice President father Joe.  The media chose to ignore this along with Sens. Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley, the chairmen of investigating Senate committees who in September released a joint report detailing some of Hunter’s million-dollar dealings with politically connected foreigners. The report said they raised “serious counterintelligence and extortion concerns relating to Hunter Biden and his family.” And as the WSJ states, the press merely “yawned.”

But now, the election is over, Hunter admitted that he is under investigation, and the story can no longer be ignored (although, the press is putting the best spin possible on it to make it as innocuous as possible for presumptive president-elect Biden).

            Omission Bias
There was widespread omission bias by the media and big tech.  Omission bias is “when an outlet or publication purposely suppresses or outright ignores a newsworthy story that is carried by others.”  In this case the story carrier was the NY Post and the suppressing (actually outright banning) outlets were the rest of the media.      

The Hill piece notes “There are two kinds of bias in the media. First there is the kind we regularly see from many – not all – outlets in broad daylight, which includes openly rooting for one political party while echoing rapid-response opposition research against another. And then there is the more invisible, insidious variety — the bias of omission.”

Clearly, the Hunter problem is a clear example of this insidious bias.  But it is not in any way the only example.  For four years we have had the worst spin possible put on anything that President Trump did while any achievements were either downplayed or ignored.  Ask those who get their news from the mainstream or social media or late-night TV.  They never heard about Trump’s criminal justice reform, about his peace accords in the Middle East, about his work to improve the economic status of minorities or to preserve funding for Black colleges.  They don’t know the positive effects that his re-negotiated trade agreements had for American businesses.  And the positives that they have heard about are couched in such things as:  the previous administration set up the ability for him to do this or that; despite a litany of negatives, he did one small thing; etc.  They still believe that the Obama border cages did not exist before Trump took office. 

The political bias is clear and it is indeed a bias of omission rather than just spin.  That is dangerous because without facts, with a preconceived narrative presented to us, we are bound within the facts of the particular narrative being presented.  Our views are being bent to fit within someone else’s narrative.

That should anger us.  And not just because the press is not doing its job of presenting us with fair and unbiased facts.  It should anger us because it means that they are trying to change, create, and determine the way that we think about issues or people.

That the press creates a narrative for us means that they are attempting to manipulate and mold our thinking, and that should be of deep concern to every American.

               The Manipulation goes beyond Political Viewpoint
Not just the news, but everywhere around us our freedom of thought is being interfered with if not obstructed. The Academy Awards now require certain identity qualifications for actors and staff.  Try to get a grant in any of the arts without having a “social justice” aspect to your work.  LeBron James was awarded Time’s athlete of the year because of his activism (I don’t deny that he is a great athlete, but that goes unmentioned in this “athletic” award). 

The political correctness and thought control goes beyond popular entertainments.  People are fired for speaking their mind if it is not in agreement with the appropriate political correctness.  A doctor had his license revoked after giving a view of COVID precautions that was not that of the mainstream.  A medical professor at Harvard expressed the more widespread danger of this sort of action to science generally:  science requires that people question; when questioning is silenced, when people become afraid to speak out, then science cannot progress.  Nor can anything else.

In Russia following the revolution the Communists created a series of 5-year plans to lead the country more and more toward socialism.  Contrary to popular belief, these plans were not just industrial or manufacturing goals.  They also governed things like the arts, media, and most every aspect of life.  The goal was to create a new type of human being, to turn the individual into a communist, a communal being that was little more than an automaton for the State.  The individual voice was no longer welcome and everything the people did, read, watched, or interacted with was designed to display the (often false) positivity and beauty of communism and the proper behavior of the communist.

So, when the media commits acts of omission and when it presents clear positive bias for its narrative and negative bias against those who disagree, when the arts present only one view of life as that which should be lived and strived for, when athletics become about how good an activist (for the right cause) rather than athlete you are, when you cease questioning either because you are afraid to or simply not allowed to, when these things happen, remember this:  media can change your thinking, remold who you are.  The Soviets tried it, and it worked for 75 years. But those 75 years were far from the utopia that the people were told it was.

We live in dangerous times.  This is a post-truth America.  I’d like to think that those whose votes were manipulated this election cycle will wake up when they see the bait and switch that occurred.  I doubt they will because the media will continue to hide what is inconvenient to its narrative.  More dangerous is the media, film, music, entertainment generally that is with us 24/7.  That and the social shunning of those who question or disagree. 

We are definitely being manipulated and the danger is that we end up losing ourselves.  Stay alert.  Keep questioning.  And most importantly, think for yourself.