It had to be this way. -Q
The 2024 presidential election will see the first application of a 2022 amendment to the laws governing the transfer of power between administrations.
There are 77 days between the Nov. 5 election and the Jan. 20, 2025, inauguration of the next president, during which time the president-elect will ready his or her administration to take over from President Joe Biden.
The handoffs between an outgoing administration and a government-in-waiting have been largely drama-free for decades, and they have been governed by the rules enumerated in the Presidential Transition Act of 1963.
The Electoral Count Reform Act will take effect this year, ensuring that five days after the election, the team of the winning candidate (or both candidates if the winner is not yet identified), will begin readying for the White House.
Unless another authority is designated by state law, the act appoints governors as the principal officials responsible for filing certificates of state presidential electors. By providing expedited court review of matters pertaining to electors, it guarantees that Congress can establish a final slate of electors.
The vice president’s involvement in the electoral vote count is defined by the new act as purely ceremonial, and he or she is not given any power to affect the count in any way. It also reduces the possibility of challenges by raising the threshold for congressional objections to one-fifth of each house. Previously, a single member of both chambers was needed to enter an objection to an elector or slate of electors.
That is all.
Well, other than prepare for the backlash [they] will inevitably unleash on Our country.
Kamala, a longtime member of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s Asian elephant herd, was euthanized Saturday in D.C. following years of struggling with osteoarthritis.
Even while measures were taken over the last several years to preserve Kamala’s health and quality of life, her physical condition had irreversibly declined, the Smithsonian said in a news release.
“Given Kamala’s declining quality of life and poor long-term prognosis, animal care staff made the decision to humanely euthanize her,” the zoo said in a statement.
Kamala, who was born in the wild, was estimated to be about 50 years old.
After she was put to sleep, the zoo said other members of the elephant herd, Maharani, Swarna, Spike, Bozie, Trong NHI and NHI Linh, were given an opportunity “to spend some time with their deceased herd mate.”
According to the zoo, Kamala was born in Sri Lanka around 1975 and first lived at an elephant orphanage in Pinnawalla, before being moved with her longtime herd mate, Swarna, to the Calgary Zoo in Alberta, Canada. Kamala gave birth to two offspring while in Canada.
Kamala, her daughter Maharani, and Swarna were all transferred to the National Zoo in D.C. in 2014. It was around then animal care staff at the zoo began noticing and treating the symptoms that would eventually develop into severe osteoarthritis.
Her longtime elephant companions, Maharani and Swarna, were the last to visit with Kamala after her passing Saturday afternoon.
“Swarna and Maharani were the last to visit. Maharani spent quite a long time investigating the body, blowing into her mouth and trunk and nudging Kamala’s head,” according to the zoo.
Former President Donald Trump left the door open for pardoning Hunter Biden, who is facing prison time over tax and gun crimes.
During a Thursday interview, radio host Hugh Hewitt asked Trump about possibly pardoning Hunter Biden, son of current President Joe Biden.
"I wouldn't take it off the books," Trump replied. "Unlike Joe Biden, despite what they've done to me. They went after me so viciously. And Hunter's a bad boy. There's no question about it. He's been a bad boy."
"But I happen to think it's very bad for our country," he added.
Trump asserted that he "could have gotten Hillary Clinton" when he was president but decided not to.
"Whenever they said lock her up, 30,000 people, what did I do? I said take it easy, just relax, take it easy. I could have had her put in jail. I didn't want to do that. I thought it would look terrible," the ex-president then said.
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Sums up Q and Trump
NCSWIC
