Reprieve

If you have been struggling to make sense of the midterm election cycle, welcome to the party. Almost everyone I respect has mixed feelings — relief that the worst outcomes were avoided, concern because there are still are plenty of election-deniers who did win office, and confusion because at this point we don’t know which party won control of the Senate.

The Senate is particularly important because the GOP-controlled House is likely to launch any number of witch-hunt-style investigations — into Hunter Biden, for example, or even more absurdly, impeachments.

If these occur, they will be nothing more than show trials demanded by the posers and quacks who have gained office by following in the shadow of Trump.

But all of that is a short-term problem for now. If the Senate remains Democratic, impeachments will die on the vine, as will all other baseless investigations. The good news is that Trumpism appears to have peaked and should soon enter a period of decline. The long-term damage to our system of governance is therefore the main issue.

How can those of us who operate in good faith help to repair trust in the system? At this point, the damage is severe enough that we are likely to face another crisis two years from now when elections roll around again. And again two years after that and so on perhaps for many years into the future.

And I’m afraid the ubiquitous conspiracy theories that drive mistrust aren’t going to go away anytime soon. The other day I heard someone complain that mail-in ballots encourage fraud because some ballots are mailed to addresses where voters no longer live.

Let’s examine this proposition. The ballots are mailed out by the county registrars under the supervision of the Secretary of State. If a voter has moved since the last election, they should have filed a change-of-address form with the county where they reside. California also makes this easy by allowing voters to file their information with the DMV as well.

So, if somebody receives a ballot for a voter who does not live at their address, the proper thing to do is return it to the address from which it was mailed. Only if they illegally use it to vote is a fraud involved. This probably happens in an infinitesimal number of cases but most people just throw the ballots away.

It is preposterous to imagine that anyone has the ability to track down the ballots mailed to the wrong addresses and use them to commit a widespread systematic fraud. No one person or party is in a position to do this.

So the wrong-address problem, which probably involves less than one percent of all ballots anyway, is in fact a non-issue.

But as I mentioned above, distrust of the government is so pervasive in America now that people latch on to far-fetched scenarios like this one to spread falsehoods that our election system is insecure.

It would help if we could restore a vital local press in this country. Journalists serve as watchdogs on matters such as election integrity and they are able to look into any allegations of fraud.

But lacking a vital local press, any community becomes vulnerable to the conspiracy theorists and quacks proliferating via social media and extremist propaganda circles.

Make no mistake about it. Democracy remains in great peril. Those of us of good faith have much work left to do.

NEWSLINKS:

• Trump Under Fire From Within GOP After Midterms (NYT)

• Trump grapples with 2024 questions amid GOP midterm letdown (CNN)

• Trump goes to war against DeSantis (Politico)

• The Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post and Wall Street Journal blamed Republicans' lower-than-expected election performance on Trump and his choice of candidates. "Trumpty Dumpty," declared the Post on its front page, with a suitable creative picture. That might not boost Trump's mood — he is reportedly "livid" and "screaming at everyone" over the election results. [HuffPost]

• Kevin McCarthy's bid to be House speaker is in jeopardy (NBC)

• U.S. Senate up for grabs as Republicans move toward House majority (Reuters)

• Election Denial Didn’t Play as Well as Republicans Hoped (NYT)

• Democrats celebrate surprise wins, but balance of power in limbo (WP)

• Democrats pour $7m into Warnock v Walker Senate runoff (Independent)

• Biden said he intends to run for re-election and would likely make a final decision by early next year. Donald Trump emerged from the midterms with a tarnished reputation as a Republican kingmaker, after poor performances by some of his high-profile endorsements. (Reuters)

• Whitmer vaults into national spotlight with double-digit reelection win (WP)

• Lauren Boebert is in an unexpectedly tight House race in Colorado. (NYT)

• Republican efforts to cry foul at the polls fizzled this time (WP)

• Trumpism Is Toxic (Atlantic)

• Minor poll problems twisted into false US election claims (AP)

• Voters rejected anti-abortion politics in all five states where abortion rights were on the ballot, in the first general election since the fall of Roe v. Wade. Abortion-rights advocates also claimed victories in critical gubernatorial and Senate races. [HuffPost]

• Federal court strikes down Biden’s student loan forgiveness program (CNN)

• Report: War-triggered gas boom threatens world climate goal (AP)

• Ukrainian troops enter Kherson city after Russia retreats (NPR)

• Huge blow for Russia as it abandons key Ukrainian city of Kherson (BBC)

• More than 100,000 Russian military casualties in Ukraine, top US general (Reuters)

• Russia Orders Retreat From Kherson, a Serious Reversal in the Ukraine War (NYT)

• Ukraine attacks Russian units in Kherson, saying Moscow didn’t request a ‘green corridor’ for withdrawal (CNBC)

• Ukraine Peace Talks Remain Distant Even as Moscow Signals a Retreat (NYT)

• Russia's announced retreat from Kherson, Ukraine, and a potential stalemate in fighting over the winter could provide the countries an opportunity to negotiate peace, Army Gen. Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said. “There has been a tremendous amount of suffering, human suffering,” he said. [AP]

• Biden and China’s Xi to hold first in-person presidential meeting (WP)

• Jordan Is Running Out of Water, a Grim Glimpse of the Future (NYT)

• Civil society groups report surveillance and intimidation at Cop27 (Guardian)

• Biden aims to assert American leadership abroad at UN climate summit and G20 (CNN)

• Big government contractors could be forced to cut climate pollution. The Biden administration will propose a rule today to make companies with at least $7.5 million in annual federal contracts set targets to limit emissions. (WP)

• Afghanistan: Taliban ban women from Kabul parks (BBC)

• Afghan women were stopped from entering amusement parks in Kabul after the Taliban's morality ministry said there would be restrictions on women being able to access public parks. Since taking over last year, the Islamist Taliban have said women should not leave the home without a male relative and must cover their faces. (Reuters)

• Taliban official: Women banned from Afghanistan’s gyms (AP)

• More than a year after seizing power, the Taliban still refuses to let girls get an education after sixth grade, so covert schools have formed in houses and apartments. (WP)

• Musk ends remote work at Twitter, warns of troubles ahead (AP)

• Future Sea-Level Rise May Be Much Higher Than Thought – Ice Loss in Greenland “Vastly Underestimated” (SciTechDaily)

• The Age of Social Media Is Ending (Atlantic)

• Wall Street surges, Dow up 1,000 points on cooling inflation (AP)

• A daily crossword might benefit your brain. Doing these puzzles regularly appeared to help slow decline in some older people with mild cognitive impairment, a new study found. (WP)

• Section of destroyed shuttle Challenger found on ocean floor (AP)

• Hong Kong court jails man for insulting Chinese anthem in first such conviction (NHK)

• They Said A Rock Could Never Have A Tasty Little Guy Inside: How Oysters Proved Everyone Wrong (The Onion)