KABOOM

 It's a story that should have happened in 2020 rather than fifty years ago in 1970. But it is a classic and we love it 

Watch the Video and then we will discuss, but here are the basics. A 45 ton whale washed ashore in Florence, Oregon. It smelled. No one wanted to cut it up and bury it. So naturally, engineers decided to blow it up with dynamite.

Nothing could go wrong with that right? Right?

 

 Off all the hilarious unforeseen side effects which should have been foreseen, is the fact that the seagulls who were all standing by ready to eat the whale carcass were scared off by the explosion and did not return. Every time we think of the dead whale meat raining down over dozens of square miles of Florence, Oregon, with the hope that seagulls would eat the bits and pieces, and those birds scared to death by 25 pounds of TNT blowing the whale sky-high, we can not stop laughing. Engineer George Thornton should be enshrined in the Engineer Hall of Fame, if there is such an entity, for his supervision of this project. How many engineers can add "blew up a Pacific Grey Whale" to their resume of work? 

And then of course there is the person whose car was destroyed by whale blubber. We can envision how they filled out their insurance forms:

Describe the accident: "I parked my car in a legal parking spot near the beach. Unbeknownst to me, a group of brainless idiots who work for the Oregon Department of Highways decided to use TNT to blow up a dead 45 ton whale. A large piece of whale blubber flew a quarter mile through the air and landed on my car and destroyed it. Really. I am not making this up." 

So dear and loyal readers, November 12 will be forever enshrined on this blog as "Exploding Whale Day". As one commentator wrote, "it is a story that belongs in 2020 if ever there was one."  The only thing better would have been if it would have occurred on a Friday the 13th, which happens to be today. 

Enjoy your weekend. The virus is raging. Stay inside and stay safe. 

CASSIUS AND THE SECOND WAVE

 Every ten days a million Americans are infected with Covid19. Salt Lake City has a positivity rate of 22%. That means if you get on an aeroplane with 300 people, 60 of them have Covid. Fly the infected skies. 

On Wednesday Florida had 5,837 new cases. As we have explained before, that number can reach ten thousand in the blink of a Republican Governor's mask-less eye. 

There are almost 60.000 Americans hospitalized for Covid19 and that means that many hospitals are full. Perhaps this does not bother you because you are staying home and socially isolating and there is little chance you will get the virus. Good luck if your appendix bursts, or you have a cardiac incident or a car slams into you while you are jogging by yourself at night. 

And consider this. There will be an increase in 2021 of cancer deaths because when hospitals are overwhelmed, people do not follow up on preventive testing like colonoscopies, or mammograms.

All in all things are not looking great. 

And then there is the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. 

A more dastardly  villain lurks just out of sight. 

Forget for a moment that President Trump will not concede the election.  Consider this- the things the president are saying are causing large number of Americans to question the validity of the election, despite the fact that there is almost no evidence of any voter fraud, and zero evidence of widespread voter fraud. 

What this means is that Senator McConnell will be able to delegitimize  the presidency of Joe Biden. Like he did with President Obama, McConnell will be empowered to block most of Biden's programs, judicial appointments, and generally engage in four years of obstructionist actions. McConnell's actions will not be widely condemned, because many Americans will not view Biden as legitimately elected because Trump will be beating his "the presidency was stolen from me" Twitter-drum every day.  

In other words, Senator McConnell is using the actions of Trump and the gullibility of wide swarths of the American public to assist him in his own power grab.  

When you consider the evil of the Trump White House and you look for villains, look for the one who knows better and still plays along. He is lurking just offstage and out of sight.

There's your Cassius (Julius Caesar) or Claudius (Hamlet). He's the majority leader of the Senate. 

COURT APPOINTMENTS REDUX

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away there was a scandal in Miami over court appointments and payments and lawyers bills. Most prosecutors and PDs now in practice were in diapers, or not even a twinkle in their parent's eyes. There was no Starbucks outside of Seattle. We beeped each other from payphones, and sideburns were cool. 

The scandal back then  unfolded like this. There was no "Wheel". Yes it was so long ago the wheel had not yet been invented. To get a court appointment, a lawyer would grovel in chambers with a Judge, or seeing a Judge at a party, press two dozen business cards into his or her hands. The Judge could appoint a lawyer as many times as they wanted. Judicial campaign contributions didn't hurt a lawyer's cause. Some judges just appointed the same two or three attorneys over and over again. It was a living. (Not for us). 

The problem that arose back then is  the same as the current one reported Tuesday in El Herald Here. The lawyers' bills did not hold  up under scrutiny. Certain former judges were known, when their bills in various cases were matched up, to bill over 30 hours in a day- Einstein's theory of the relativity of time not withstanding. 

And then there was the old multiple case windfall scam  and it went like this. A defendant was charged with robbing six convenience stores and was charged with six separate robberies. We all know how those cases are resolved- a global plea to two years and five years probation back then, especially if the defendant had a drug problem. And in those days, rather than itemizing a bill, the lawyer could bill a set amount. So lets say the amount was $5,000 (we do not remember the exact billing levels but it was done by degree of crime.). Close out six cases at 5K each and make a cool $30,000 back when that bought you more than a weekend in NYC. 30K was some real scratch. 

Outrage erupted. We do not remember anyone being criminally charged. The investigation was an outgrowth of the infamous Court Broom investigation (where janitorial firms were charging the county excessive amounts to buy brooms to sweep the courthouse in the evenings. Not really, but if you do not know what Court Broom was, please stop reading our blog. There is space in Mr. Markus's universe for you).  

The wheel was created, and judicial campaign contributions plummeted. Defense attorneys did not need to be nice to judges who we really didn't like because now they did not control how much money we made. 

Life moved on and some twenty to twenty five years later we have another potential scandal. Well, this is how we view that- the Godfather answers all questions.  These things happen from time to time and then it blows over. (If anyone can send us the exact scene on You Tube where Clemenza says that we would be much obliged). 

 Do not get too exercised about this. There are very very good lawyers who have excellent reputations and we owe them the fairness of letting this play out before we rush to judgement or call Georgia for Biden. 

COURTS ARE OPEN (SORT OF)

 Good Tuesday morning.  State and Federal Courts are open in Miami-Dade County in the aftermath of the rain-event called ETA. "Open" in the sense of lawyers and litigants being able to appear via Zoom. "Closed" in the sense of the Covid19 Virus running rampant in Miami-Dade with a positivity rate over 7%. To put that in perspective, NYC is closing restaurants and re-instituting lockdowns because their positivity rate is over 3%. But as we say in Florida:  "We are not smarter than you;  and we are slower than you; but at least we are warmer than you. "

There are 70 days left in the most destructive presidency in the history of the United States. Some things that may occur during those 70 days: 

Thc cabinet is fired; Pennsylvania is sold to Canada...so is Wisconsin. Congress is disbanded. The US withdraws from NATO. The US invades Lichtenstein because we can. Russia buys Las Vegas. The Seventh Fleet is sold to China for a "very very good price." The wearing of masks in public is outlawed. Anyone caught wearing a mask in public is subject to a five year minimum mandatory sentence.  The President Tweets out the Nuclear Codes because "lots of people want to see them". Four Nuclear Missile Submarines are sold to Saudi Arabia in exchange for them throwing the President a "really really big parade. The type of parade no one has ever seen before." The President orders the National Archives to use a sharpie to remove Amendments 1, 3-11, and 13-14 from the original Constitution. Mosques are ordered closed because of Covid. Citizen councils are formed to report on anyone who says "Black Lives Matter." The White House is closed for renovations until further notice. The portraits of both President Bushes and Obama are lost after they are accidently set on fire. OJ Simpson is hired to investigate.  By executive order, the President must work at Mar A Lago. The entire state of Alaska is open for oil drilling.  The CDC is closed. Dr. Anthony Fauci is prosecuted by the Justice Department for speeding. Pfizer is seized by the Marines. Vaccinations will be given based on voting records. The Gulf Of Mexico is closed to commercial shipping so that more oil drilling rigs may be built. Amazon is prosecuted for selling soap over state lines. Every public school must be renamed for a Southern Confederate General. No federal funds will be spent to fight wildfires in California and Oregon. Airforce One is renamed TRUMP ONE. The Head of Qanon is named to head the Department of Education. "Every Legal Vote" is defined by law as a "every vote for a Republican."   "Defund Georgia" appears on billboards throughout the nation.  Philadelphia is closed for sanitation violations.  

Stevie Wonder is appointed to recount all of the votes by hand and until he is finished no winner of the race will be declared. 

And finally, the US Army Corps of Engineers is sent to the Mexican border to finish the wall. Rudy Guliani sues Mexico for the costs of the wall and the judgment is sent to a collection agency. 

And on January 1, 2021, by executive order, this is the newest National Park:

And this is the newest best selling shirt. We cannot wait until we get ours. 

PFIZER TO THE RESCUE

 First the bad news. The numbers across the US, Florida AND Miami-Dade are up. Ominously for Miami-Dade, the positivity rate leapt from 5% to 7% and anything above 5% is PELIGROSO with a capital P. We trust Judges Sayfie, Soto and Bailey know that such an increase requires them to seriously consider halting plans to bring jurors and witnesses and judges and staff and lawyers back into the often-scrubbed REGJB. 

Soto to Sayfie to Bailey is not Tinkers to Evers to Chance "words that are heavy with nothing but trouble"  but it has a nice rhyme to it. 

US Pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced early Monday morning that it's Covid19 vaccine is 90% effective with no serious side-effects seen in the early data. A 90% effective vaccine puts the vaccine in the top the level of effective vaccines like the vaccine against mumps and measles. Careful readers of the blog have discerned that Rumpole has repeatedly said that Pfizer would be first to get a vaccine approved as unlike Moderna, Pfizer has vast experience in bringing vaccines to market. Moderna has none. In response to this great news, the Dow futures are up 1,500+ points. 

Pfizer will ask the FDA for emergency use authorization by the end of November. However, because the vaccine news came after the election, President Trump, along with firing Dr. Fauci will be defunding the FDA and all food and drug approvals are being sent to the Four Seasons Total Landscaping firm in Philadelphia- taking care of Philly lawns since 1992. 

 Uno problemo - Pfizer's vaccine must be kept at -80 degrees, meaning the 100 million doses to be distributed will need mucho dry ice. Segundo, the vaccine must be administered in two doses veintiuno dias apart (21 days apart).  But as John Lennon said, there are no problems, only solutions. 

Please look for our on-line petition to have legal bloggers vaccinated first. We will post it shortly. 

Meanwhile, although global warming is a democratic fiction right up there with Biden winning Georgia, Miami has a snow-day as a hurricane churns off the Florida Keys in November. ETA -which is named as such as we went through all 26 letters of the alphabet with named storms and turned to the Greek Alphabet, will enter the Gulf, and much like the magic bullet- will stop- turn 90 degrees, and head back towards Florida, because as we tweeted in our award winning twitter feed @Justicebuilding, Florida voted for Trump, and we believe in Karma. 

Let's end on a high note- YOUR MIAMI DOLPHINS ARE FOR REAL! They took it to the Arizona Cardinals on the road, came away with a win, and may well be headed for the Playoffs. With a hot new QB, a great coach, and an outstanding D and the Cheaters in New England flailing without their cheating QB who got spanked on national TV Sunday night, the future is bright for the Aqua and Orange. 

NFL 2020 WEEK NINE HOME DOG EDITION

BREAKING- CLOSE THOSE LAPTOPS! STATE COURTS CLOSED IN MIAMI-DADE MONDAY  

FEDS FOLD IN FACE OF ETA - FEDERAL COURT CANCELED MONDAY AS WELL

Our friend and compatriot 52nd Street Irwin, he of the setter of gambling lines and collector of bets, owns a few vacation homes- one paid for primarily on the performance of home dogs. Today, as difficult as it is, we take these home dogs, secure in the belief that past success speaks louder than feelings.

Ravens at Colts. Ravens bounced back convincingly in the week after they were beat by the Chiefs. Last week Baltimore lost a close game on the final play, and they played without their bruising running back Marl Ingram who could have carried the rock on the fourth down play against the Steelers in which the Pittsburgh stop helped decide the game. We also have a well known disdain for any team where Phillip Rivers lines up behind center. And yet, the Colts are a 2.5 home dog and we follow Irwin's advice and take the Colts +2.5.

Seattle travels east yet again this season to sample the wings in Buffalo and play those pesky Bills. The Bills have had a problem recently on offense and Seattle has a breathtakingly bad defense. Seattle has enough firepower to win this game. But Irwin reminds us about home dogs. Holding our nose, eating some wings, and taking Buffalo +3 at home. 

Chicago travels to Tennessee with the reverse problem of Seattle. A great D and little O. But finally this is a game we really like. Tennessee is not as bad as they have appeared since they went off the rails two weeks ago in the first half against Pittsburgh. Tennessee is at home and getting a juicy 5.5 points and we are jumping on this one. 

Giants at DC. Call DC the no-name team. They have no name. The Giants have a decent D and a spotty O. DC is better than their record. And getting 3 at home against the Giants is too good for us to pass up. Washington +3 at home. 

SURVIVOR POOL 

We are down to the final three. Mr. Markus with a K, rolling with the Steelers against a depleted cowpokes team. Ditto for Dustin Tischler. Mr. Feiler has not yet picked yet also likes the Steel City team. Last week The Kid fell with the Titans, while the Crime Dog got beat with the Pack.  Bye week update- all our participants lost because they foolishly all picked Biden to win FLA and ignored our tweets that POTUS was going to win Florida.  

Dustin Tischler wins the bye as he had Trump winning Florida, the Bucs in MNF,  and Biden in Pennsylvania.  CONGRATS. 

MISCELLANEOUS:

Did you know we are 1,426 days away from election day 2024?  And you know who will be running. Count on it. #MAGA.  

Anyone know the ETA for ETA? And think of this- pre-covid Chief Judges Soto and Moore  would have to cancel court on Monday.  But now, with Zoom, as long as you have power, you can arraign away -plead not guilty, don't just ask for discovery- DEMAND IT- and set that sucker for trial. 

ELECTION WEEK DAY FIVE

UPDATE BIDEN BEATS TRUMP Win in Pennsylvania puts Biden over 270. 

 OUR LONG NATIONAL NIGHTMARE IS                                         OVER  

2020 is the year that the US recognized that in the future we will have election weeks, not election days. From 1788 through 1964, presidential votes were hand counted and the results were usually available within the day. As electronic voting and optical scanning systems have come on line, the final votes are taking longer and longer to count. By the 2036 it will take the month of November to determine a winner in the presidential race and by 2052 it will take a year. Technology marches on. 

Here is your election round-up: 

In Nevada, they have scheduled next Thursday between two and four as a good time to resume the count. In Pennsylvania, Allegheny County Officials announced they have found over twenty-two thousand provisional ballots that may swing the election for President Ford over challenger Jimmy Carter.

United States Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito referred a republican challenge filed early Friday morning to including the votes of California and New York in the electoral college to the entire court for consideration. "We all know how New York and California will vote, so there is no need to count them in the electoral college" the lawsuit maintained. "Without these votes, Joe Biden could not win the presidency, so the vote count in Pennsylvania and Georgia should stop immediately."  Justice Kavanaugh signaled that the reasoning resonated with him "Votes in a Democracy could undermine the principles of federalism and should be treated with a wary eye" the new Justice wrote. 

In the White House,  President Trump tweeted murky pictures of Bigfoot voting in Clark County, Nevada,

Note the Biden Ballot in his left paw/hand

  and the Loch Ness Monster tossing his ballot on the shores of Lake Erie for counting in Michigan. 

The Biden ballot is seen to the very right of the neck of Lochie just at the water line. Other editions of the photo show a joyous Hillary Clinton on the shoreline ready to catch the ballot. 

"More voter fraud!" POTUS tweeted. 

QAnon opened Facebook pages alleging that children in  forced labor in Georgia Pizza restaurants were being forced to fill out thousands of ballots for Biden. Members of the New York Times would then sneak the ballots into voting centers in Atlanta. Vice President Pence urged all Republicans in Georgia to order pizzas "so those poor children will be forced to make pies and cannot vote for Biden." The  Papa Johns servers in Atlanta have since crashed. 

And finally these two nuggets: 1)Florida Governor Ron DeSantis offered to send Florida Poll workers to states still counting ballots: "Florida has a long history in affecting Presidential elections, and we would like to lend our expertise to those states who need a helping hand."   

2) In a programming change, Fox News announced that beginning January 21, 2021, the news channel would air reruns of the General Hospital Soap Opera from 6 am to 11pm, and would break in for news updates if needed. "We are not expecting any news for the next four years" said Tiffany Trump, new head of Fox programming. 

FORMER ASA PAT TRESE HAS PASSED AWAY

 We bring more sad news in these troubling times. On Wednesday, apparently during a Zoom court hearing,  Former ASA Pat Trese passed away from a heart attack. 

We received this email from Ms. Regina de Moraes, Esq:

Hello

I am a former ASA and started with Pat Trese in county court. Several years later he became chief of county court. He was also an ASA in the Sex Bat unit and in the last years was a member of the private bar.

I was notified that he passed away of a heart attack during a zoom hearing today. Specifics aren’t available yet, but if I find out anything else, I can notify you for the blog.

Pat was a loving husband to his college sweetheart Teri, he was a father to 3 beautiful children, 2 girls and 1 boy, all now in their teen and pre teen years. He was very compassionate as an ASA and loved by all his clients in private practice.

He was also very funny! He quietly would make comments which at first, seems not to fall within the conversation.... and then it would click- “oh! That’s sarcasm!”
Pat was also a great trial partner and friend.

With a heavy heart-
Regina

JURY TRIAL TOWN HALL MEETING WEDNESDAY AT 530 PM

YE OLDE TOWNE HALL LEGAL UPDATE 

If you missed the town hall legal meeting because you were streaming Queens Gambit on Netflix (which you should not miss)- then you made a  Mistake. The town hall meeting was much better entertainment then Fox News' STOP THE VOTE STOP THE COUNT IN PENNSYLVANIA AND GEORGIA  BUT NOT WISCONSIN SCREED. You can see all of our minute by minute sui generis thoughts on @Justicebuilding twitter. 

Some thoughts: 

Judge Sayfie thinks SOME trial lawyers are mostly bluffers and do not try a case when their hand is called. Sadly, she is right.  In other words, she believes a lot of cases plea out at the last moment. She was not attacking lawyers on either side- just stating a fact. Perhaps the defendant gets cold feet. Or the state has a last minute witness problem. Again, she was not criticizing lawyers. She sincerely believes we need to get back to trying cases. Judge Soto noted half the Florida counties have had multiple criminal trials-  and we do not care. Half the country voted for an idiot named Trump. What other counties do in this State is meaningless to us. 

In one of the jaw-dropping comments of the evening, when Judge Soto was asked why Miami Dade state court is trying cases when the Feds are not until April, 2021, she basically trashed the feds, implying that while we do not have the funds they have, we have more cases and we try more cases and we care more about our cases then the feds do. This is OUR recollection of her statements, and she is free to deny it but we say WELL SAID JUDGE SOTO

In the other stop-the presses moment, your PD Carlos Martinez said that PD trial lawyers have to go to court to try their cases. He said PD lawyers are NOT fungible. That lawyers are not interchangeable. We agree.  And that if a PD is afraid to go to court, they cannot do their job. He was asked if that meant they would be fired, and without saying the "F" word, he reiterated that PDs must be in court to try their cases if required. 

We asked several questions in the chat room. Some about aerosol transmission were asked and answered. Others were not. For example when we accused a certain Judge of being on the Zoom and not wearing pants, the moderator would not ask the question. We then offered the moderator a $500 Amazon gift card to ask Judge Sayfie if she would rather have Covid or have dinner with a notorious ASA whose last name rhymes with "Green". You figure it out. The question remains unasked and unanswered. 

We think Abe Laeser was on the meeting and asked about being over the age of 70 and being forced to go to court. 

The real problem with many of questions is this- they assume specific unique facts and then interpose them as a reason to not try. For example, a question was asked about a witness getting covid during the trial. We applaud Judge Sayfie for responding that you do what you would normally do if a witness got sick during a trial- delay it, resolve it, or have a mistrial. 

The meeting went almost as long as the vote count in North Carolina and mercifully ended at 7:30 when Zoom pulled the plug just as we were taking off our Rumpole mask to reveal ourselves to the world. Well, another time perhaps. 

YOUR TOWN HALL IN ACTION 

300 People attending because we promoted it.

BREAKING THE TOWN HALL ZOOM CHAT HAS BEEN....TRUMP-LIKE DISABLED. TRUMP WANTS TO STOP THE COUNT AND CERTAIN PEOPLE WANT TO STOP THE CHAT (or at least Rumpole from chatting). So now we will have to sit quietly in a corner like a good little blogger. 

Um.....FIGHT THE POWER ..TAKE IT TO THE STREETS but not chat room...

HO HO 

HEY HEY 

FACDL HOW MANY CHATS DID YOU DISABLE TODAY? 

 

100,000 Americans a day are getting Covid-19

over 1,000 Americans a day are dying

The US is about to explode over a contested election 

And that is why your Miami Eleventh Judicial Circuit wants to have a friendly chat today at 5:30 about restarting Jury Trials. 

Timing is everything in life. 

Here is the log on information 

Rumpole will be present ...maybe. 

ZOOM ID:         869 3900 2186

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86939002186

criminal jury trial town hall   wednesday,     nov 4th at 5:30PM   ZOOM ID 869 3900 2186 Webinar Format Generously sponsored by FACdl – Miami & League of prosecutors

Featuring:   Chief judge berdy soto judge nushin sayfie judge carroll kelly judge robin faber judge miguel de la o   dr. zinzie bailey dr. kenneth ratzan   state atty katherine fernandez rundle chief asa don horn   pd carlos martinez apd guy robinson apd teresa enriquez apd rick demaria   arc silvia gonzalez arc zena duncan   matt meyers, facdl jude faccidomo, facdl   rachel morales-gellis, lOP   ad c. jones, mdcr capt b. kim, mdcr   deputy clerk luis montaldo  Professor Irwin Correy on Legal Ethics; Chris Rock town hall comedian and.....DAVVVVVID Letterman as guest host participants will be permitted to ask questions via “chat”     recording of town hall will be available

TOO CLOSE TO CALL

UPDATE 7:20 am: With 92% of the vote counted in Wisconsin, Biden's lead is expanding and we feel secure in our call that he wins Wisconsin. If he doesn't win Wisconsin, Biden  can't win the presidency without flipping Georgia.  

Also- not that it matters, but Biden will win the popular vote. 

Once you wake up Wednesday morning and come to our fair blog, the headline is "Too Close To Call."

The second headline is that the President repeated his performance in 2016, which is this- voters, mostly high-school educated, disaffected, and white who live in rural areas of battleground states and are rarely polled- turned out in force for Donald Trump. Except in Florida, where Cuban Hispanic voters abandoned the Democratic party and responded to allegations that Joe Biden was a socialist. 

Here is our electoral map scenarios. 

Click the map to create your own at 270toWin.com

SCENARIO ONE BIDEN TAKES NEVADA. 

Nevada is Clark County and then tumbleweeds and rattlesnakes everywhere else. In Clark with 84% of the vote counted at 6:20 am, Biden has 84% of the vote with 800,000 votes cast. Biden wins Nevada. 

He now needs Michigan OR Pennsylvania to get to 270. Picking up the one undecided electoral vote in Maine will also help Biden. Trump responds by challenging the vote in Nevada where there are allegations of fraud and late voting.  In this scenario Biden barely loses Georgia. Georgia will be close but Biden is about 50,000 in the hole that we do not see him making up after the Democratic areas are counted. 

SCENARIO TWO  BIDEN WINS MICHIGAN AND NEVADA 

As we write this, Biden is winning Wayne County by 20%. 48% of the vote is counted with 460,00 votes counted and Trump in the lead in the State by 190,000 votes. So assume Biden nets an additional 150,000 votes, it is not enough. In the other counties, Trump will net 30,000. So Biden is down 70,000 votes. Enter the Absentee ballots in Michigan. Uhho... Can you spell "Lawsuit" Al Gore? 15% of the Michigan absentee ballots have been counted. Biden leads 60-40, with one million votes counted. So if the trend continues even with Biden up 55-45, Biden wins Michigan. But he needs the absentee ballots to win. If he does, he is POTUS 46. 

SCENARIO THREE BIDEN WINS PENNSYLVANIA. VERY UNLIKELY

Trump is up 610,000 votes with 75% counted. Philadelphia is the big Biden prize. He is winning 75-25% with 55% counted of the 460,000 votes. So assume another 420,000 votes are counted and Biden wins 75% of those- Biden nets 220,000. Not enough. The remaining largest counties like Allegheny (Pittsburgh) and Delaware and Montgomery, they have all counted around 75% of their votes and Biden generally leads by 9-10%. We did the math and it does not appear to be enough. Biden will not win Pennsylvania. But it does not matter as long as Joe wins Michigan and Nevada. 

SCEARIO FOUR. TRUMP MAINTAINS LEADS IN PENNSYLVANIA AND MICHIGAN. Then it is over Johnny. Four more years of MAGA

Wildcard. If your head is hurting like ours is, then don't even try the math in Georgia. But this much we know, Biden is down but could net at least an additional 120,000 votes which is just barely enough to throw the State to Joe. In our view, it is all coming down to Michigan, Nevada and potentially Georgia. Put another way, Biden actually has a better path to winning Georgia then he does Pennsylvania. Trump's lawsuit in Pennsylvania does not matter. But the lawsuit in Nevada does. This assumes that Biden's lead in Wisconsin is safe. When you roll it all back, it is Biden flipping Arizona and Wisconsin and Michigan  from 2020 and holding Nevada that gave him a non-Pennsylvania path to the presidency.

Meanwhile the Hialeah school board race has the nation transfixed. More on this shortly. 

ELECTION DAY TRIVIA

UPDATE: We are live tweeting the election results @justicebuilding. Follow us....or else! 

Presidential elections. Judicial elections. Match wits with the master. You will see a trend in the questions. But it probably will not help you. 

A) Name the last presidential election with a repeat match-up- meaning the two candidates ran against each other twice. Eisenhower/ Stevenson. Adlai Stevenson went on to be JFK's ambassador to the UN and distinguished himself in the Cuban Missile Crisis by announcing he was prepared to wait for hell to freeze over ask he cross examined the Russian Ambassador to the UN on whether Russia had placed medium range nuclear missiles in Cuba. It was his shinning moment and even surprised JFK and RFK with a backbone they did not think Stevenson had. 

B) Who did Judge Katie  Tess Pooler lose to? (Our typo on Katie. She never lost to anyone. In her honor we are eating a piece of candy).  Judge Jon Schlessinger, now enjoying his retirement.  Judge Tess Pooler went on to run in he next election and won. 

C) Who did Judge Murray Klein lose to (tricky question).  Kathy Rundle State Attorney Race

D) Who did Thomas Jefferson lose to? (Hint, he also beat him in another election). John Adams (kudos to Judge De La O)

E) Who did Horatio Seymour lose to? Everybody knows the 1868 Presidential Campaign when NY Governor Horatio Seymour ran on a national reconciliation and expanded rights for African Americans as a Democrat and lost to General US Grant. 

F) Who did Judge Martin Kahn lose to (this one broke our hearts. We loved Judge Kahn).  Judge Glazer

G) Who did judicial candidate Marcos Ambrose lose to? (Judge Knight who lost to Judge Bailey in 1992 and he also ran in 94 against Judge Kahn who lost to Mindy Glazer)

H) Who did Judge Migna Sanchez Llorens lose to? The Late Great Shelly Schwartz

I) Who did Thomas Dewey lose to the first time he ran for President? (Be careful here). FDR Again, Judge De La O nailed it first. 

J) Who was Independent Candidate George Wallace's VP? General Curtis LeMay who advocated a first strike nuclear war. 

K) Name the opponents for independent candidates John B Anderson and Ross Perot? Extra bonus points for their VPs. (The only question we had to google was Anderson's VP- that is one tough trivia question). 

L) Who was a recent presidential candidate? 1) Faith Spotted Eagle; 2) Mickey Mouse: 3) Nobody; 4) Anybody; 5) Professor Corey Irwin. 

M) Who ran against Janet Reno in her first election after being appointed state attorney? 

N) Who ran against Rick Scott for governor of Florida? 

O) Who ran against Judge Jon Colby? Lenny Cooperman, now somewhere in Maine we believe. His mom was a beloved Miami-Dade clerk. 

P) Who ran against Judge Orlando Prescott?

Q) Who ran against Kathy Rundle in her 2016 election and in her 2012 election (not saying it is the same person(s).

R) Who ran against Harvey Ruvin in the most recent election?

S) Who defeated Circuit Court Judge Ted Mastos? Henry Ferro who later distinguished himself on the bench by pulling a gun on a young black male who happened to be the nephew of Miami political leader the late Georgia Ayers and that was all she wrote for Judge Ferro.

T) Who defeated Circuit Court Judge Alan Postman? Diane Ward

U) Who defeated Circuit Court Judge Peter Adrian? Samantha Ruiz Cohen

V) Who did Judge Monica Gordo beat to win her circuit court seat? Attorney and author and all around good guy Robert Kuntz 

W) Hannibal Hamlin was elected vice president with which President? Abe Lincoln 

X) Who is the last president who could have run for re-election but chose not to do so? LBJ

Y) Which County Court Judge, appointed by Governor Askew, is in the Miami-Dade Tennis Hall of Fame. If you get this- and you won't- you are a Miami-Dade Judicial Trivia master. Hint- it is NOT who you think it is.  Two readers got this. We won't post it but don't read the comments if you're still guessing.  It is the Meek one. The legendary Meek Robinette. 

Z) This County Court Judge Placed a Defendant in Pre-trial diversion over the objection of the State. The state took a writ and lost. Then they appealed. The Great Sy Gaer and his appellate cohort John Lipenski represented the appellee. They lost. This same Judge found a defendant guilty for disorderly conduct for performing a "street art" monkey impersonation on the new metro-rail. The case made nationwide headlines as "monkeyshines" in court.  Another Miami-Dade master trivia question. 

Enjoy, and vote. 

THE TWELFTH PART TWO

 We have some difficult predictions for election day. Make no mistake, our very democracy is at stake this election day and the days that will follow. 

First: there will be violence at polling stations, instigated by right-wing white-supremacists who rightly believe the President wants them to privately police (non-existent) voter fraud.  The violence may tragically include gunfire. They shoot up schools, so why not polling places (some of which are at schools).  Two likely cities to experience violence and disruption: Miami and Philadelphia, where large democratic margins are needed to offset Republican majorities in other parts of the two states. These thugs will also be recording people standing in lines. It is not going to be pretty. But hang in there. We are Americans. We do not give up or give in.  We are not bullied by thugs. And a new dawn is coming. 

Second: The President has the unfettered authority under Article Two of the Constitution to nationalize State National Guards and order ballots seized and order  patrols and curfews to stop protests. In certain places like Portland, Oregon, Chicago, and Philadelphia, there could be significant social unrest on both sides. 

Third: Expect foreign interference in state election tabulations. Electronic attacks could shut down the ability to tabulate votes. Once midnight comes, if Trump is ahead in any particular state, expect lawsuits to stop the count. Even innocuous problems will be overblown. An old CIA intelligence rule is that the truth is the best lie. Think about that. If there are no foreign influences in the election, but it appears there are- the actual result will be in dispute. Iran, Russia, China, and Trump's old friend North Korea all have reasons to attempt to disrupt the count. 

    The president has already attacked mail-in ballots. In some states ballots postmarked November 3 will be counted. In other states, ballots that do not arrive by November 3 will not be counted. The rule is not uniform and we could see wild swings in vote totals, especially in Pennsylvania where millions have voted by mail or voted early. Justice Kavanaugh has already signaled that a quick count is preferred to having every vote counted. It worked once when the SCOTUS stopped the count in Florida and handed the election to GW Bush. It could work again and hand Trump a reelection. 

Item: The NY Times quoted a senior intelligence official: "That guy you saw in the debate- bullying, ridiculing, manic, boasting, fabricating, relentlessly interrupting...that's really him. Not the myth that's been created. That's Trump."

Item: The NY Times quoted another government official: "He has done nothing that's a constant, except acting in his own interest. And that's how he's going to be thinking, every step of the way come November 3." 

Item: Early in his first term Trump wanted to send the Marines to the border to shoot migrants crossing the Rio Grande.   His chief of Staff General Jim Kelly told him "It's illegal sir and the kids, they're good kids, they just won't do it." 

Item: Trump wanted to invade Venezuela but the Joint Chiefs refused. 

Look around you. Back when you could be in a room with ten people, four of them were not college educated and feel angry and disenfranchised and support Trump the despot. Uneducated, they do not know any amendment but the Second. They do not understand the value the United States gets from alliances around the world. They are angry at people of color who they think took their jobs. They chant "lock her up" when Hillary Clinton's name is mentioned, or the Governor of Michigan, or Kamala Harris. You think Germany 1925-1940 was an aberration? Think again. A scared populace can be cowed by a dictator-liar. It's why the same 40% of Americans who support Trump do not think masks work, hate Dr. Anthony Faucci (SEE BELOW), and believe the virus is a fake media creation and that it will fade and that the number of Covid-19 deaths has been inflated by doctors who get an extra two thousand dollars for labeling a death Covid related. 

These are dark and dangerous times. But those of us who believe in democracy and science and the power of the mind over the gun need to hold on. A new dawn is coming. The sun will rise and the truth will out. 

"Elections belong to the people. If they decide to turn their behinds to the fire and burn their behinds, then they will have to sit on their blisters."
Abraham Lincoln.

THE TWELFTH PART ONE

BREAKING: Based on polls and early voting returns, Trump sues to stop VOTING AND THE COUNT in Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Arizona and Nevada. "Enough is enough. People have been voting for weeks. Lots of fraud. Stop the vote fraud, count it now and let's Make America Great Again" the President tweeted at 3:42 AM.  

The twelfth amendment sets out how we elect a president. It creates sets rules for the electoral college. And if no candidate has a majority of 270 of the electors, then it gets interesting:

...[A]nd if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice...

Now here's the rub: When the election returns to the House, each state has a single vote, with a majority of states required to elect a president. While there are more democrats than republicans in Congress, there are more votes to move a majority of the states to vote Republican. Think of it like this. Assume there are three States. NY with 100 Democratic congress-people and six Republicans; New Jersey with Five Republicans and two democratic congress-people; and Maine, with Five Republican and two Democratic congress-people.  So while there are 104 Democratic congress-people in our small congress, versus sixteen Republican Congress-people,  two of the three States would vote Republican and the Republican Nominee would win. 

In our electoral map no candidate has a majority of 271 electors when election day is over. Lawsuits will be filed to stop the count. We will address this further tomorrow. 

Click the map to create your own at 270toWin.com

AND HERE IS THE SCENARIO WHERE THE ELECTION IS 269-269, AND GIVEN THIS IS 2020, WHY WOULDN'T THIS OCCUR?

 

Click the map to create your own at 270toWin.com

NFL WEEK EIGHT 2020

SUNDAY EVENING UPDATE: TWO DROP OUT OF SURVIVOR POOL- THE KID AND THE CRIME DOG . THREE LEFT. FINS ROMP TO START TUA ERA.  

Good Sunday morning. Fall back and set your clocks back one hour. For you millennial judges and lawyers, we used to tell time by something that had hands that moved around a dial and was not connected to the internet.  Both watches (not Apple Watches and Clocks) Unlike your iPhone, you have to actually move the hands back one hour. Try it- it's fun. 

The Sunday before election day, we will be doing our Red State/ Blue State football picks. Don't forget to read the blog next week as we have a Monday/Tuesday two part expose on the 12th Amendment, and Tuesday evening we will be live-tweeting the election @Justicebuilding. 

It's TUA TIME MIAMI!. Our Fins leave a toss-up state-Florida-  slightly leaning Biden-Blue- to a solidly Blue California and the Rams. We like the Over 45 but can't bring ourselves to buy into a Tua win just yet. Rams roll by 7-10, give the 4.5. UPDATE: If this is Tua time then sign us up. Fins are rolling and may get the over by themselves. They will win big time. 

49ers (Blue State) vs. Seattle (Washington Blue State). Hawks bounce back after their first loss of the season last week.  Seattle -3.

Cheaters (Massachusetts Biden-Blue) vs Buffalo (NY Clinton Blue). The Bills did not look great last week versus the Jets but managed a six field goal win, while the emperor Bill has no clothes (or at least no QB) and got destroyed. Cheaters still have no QB and Bills have a good one, Chicken wings on us- Bills -3.5. 

Our J...E...T...S... Jets Jets Jets, the very best 0-7 team on the planet, roll fearlessly into KC Missouri (finally a red state on our slate ). KC isn't looking like the super bowl winning monster they were last year. The Jets, as we said, are the best 0-7 team around. We love teams that have nothing else to lose and we love getting 19.5 points. Jets won't win, but 35-21 sounds about right to us. Update- Jets hanging tough in 3rd Q. 

Dallas (Red State but could be close) vs. Philly (Pennsylvania Blue state but could be close). Now this is what we are talking about. There is chatter Biden could win Texas. All our well educated Robed Readers are saying "wait a cotton picking second! Texas hasn't voted for a Democrat since James Earl Carter won the presidency in 1976", which is true. Biden will come close. If he does win Texas, then Florida and Pennsylvania do not matter and the Presidency is Biden's. But we do not think that will happen. We think POTUS wins Florida and Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin will decide the matter (see our electoral map scenarios tomorrow). Meanwhile just about everyone including an aging Rumpole was asked to try out for QB for the Cowpokes this week. Philly ain't much, but we know Philadelphia is going Biden-Blue and that will be enough for them to beat Dallas by more than 7.5. 

Game of the week is Steelers vs Ravens.  Pennsylvania toss-up, versus Maryland blue. Sort of like the Steelers getting 4.5 on the road, but love the over 47 as both teams have very good offenses. The Ravens won't be able to run on the Steelers with their RBs, but as Tennessee showed last week, just because the guys from Pittsburgh can stop run doesn't mean they win easy. Pittsburgh (another solid Biden-Blue town) over Baltimore (also Biden-Blue) and over 47. 

Survivor Pool up soon. NOTICE TO SURVIVOR POOL PLAYERS - GET A VALUABLE ONE WEEK PASS PICK 1) The Winner outright of the MNF Bucs-Giants  game AND  2) The Winner of Pennsylvania AND 3) The Winner of Florida for your one week pass as the season winds down. 

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Michael Feiler	KC 75	Tennessee	49ers	Bucs	Cowpokes	Fins	Saints	Iggles
The Kid	Bills	49ers	Colts	Rams	Cards	Fins	Chiefs	Titans
David Markus	Bills 92	KC	Colts	Rams	Cowpokes	Fins	Saints	Bucs (Bucs; Biden;Biden)
David CRIME DOG McGriff	KC 78	Tenn	Colts	Rams	Cowpokes	Ravens	Saints	Pack
Dustin Tischler	Ravens	Bucs	Colts	Rams	Cards	Fins	Bills	KC

3

Special Added Pick: Decision of the week. There will be a lawsuit challenging the counting of votes in at least one state and maybe three or four. Those lawsuits will reach the US Supreme Court. And we pick the split as 5-4 which CJ Roberts voting with the liberal wing minority of the court, and Justice Thomas (as the most senior judge in the majority) assigning himself and Justice Kavanaugh to write the individual opinions in which the highest court in the United States of America once and for all states that in this beacon of democracy, not every vote should be counted. The swing vote? None other than our favourite  western court Justice-  Gorsuch. He is not a reliable conservative vote on all issues. Or to put it more in our language, he is more of a true conservative than the collectivist- conservatives like Alito and ACB. 

Sorry to end on a sour note, but after the Blue Halloween moon, we now see a bad moon arising.