The World 111820

“The Thin Red, White and Blue Line: Thanks to the Election
Workers Who are Showing the Resilience of Our Democracy”
By Patrick Leahy
The 2020 presidential election may be nearing an end but
it is not yet over, and it will be months before we know
the final results of some U.S. Senate races. But at a
time of heightened divisiveness and disillusionment in our
country, and in the midst of a worsening public health crisis
unlike any the world has faced in more than 100 years, we
should all take pride in the way that the thousands of poll
workers, vote counters, and state officials have conducted
themselves over these long days and nights.
We have seen the best of America, as they have carried out
their responsibilities with the utmost seriousness and care.
They have not been intimidated by threats or baseless claims
of fraud, even from the White House podium. They have not
succumbed to impatience or pressure. They have followed
their procedures methodically and meticulously, day after day,
hour after hour. It is the best evidence that, at its core, our
democracy is strong, despite relentless attempts by some,
including President Trump and members of his family, to sow
division and doubt, and even to incite violence.
It is the American people, and only the people, who ultimately
choose their leaders, by the simple act of voting. It is
not rocket science. It requires marking a box, and, for mail-in
ballots, sealing an envelope and dropping it in the mail. These
procedures have been in place for decades. President Trump
won in 2016 with the support of votes that were mailed in by
absentee Republican voters, and in some states he won by the
slimmest of margins. He voted in this election by mailing in
his ballot, so it is ludicrous to impugn the integrity of others
who mailed in their ballots. Each state counts those votes
Network (1976)
HHHH
Before the election, CNN featured a Coronavirus death
counter. Even when the pundits weren’t talking about
Covid, the body count was always on the screen.
This is an irresponsible thing for a news channel to do, and
I’ll tell you why.
A Covid death counter is more interesting when it is high
and when it is ticking ever higher – the faster the better.
Consequently, there are now higher-ups at CNN who want
more people to die. The problem with a body count is that it
requires fresh bodies, and it turns journalists into morbid
ghouls.
The best-case scenario with the CNN death tracker is that
they will simply inflate the number for ratings. If two sources
cite the body count for India as 110,000 and 150,000, CNN is
certain to publish the higher number because it is more sensational.
The worst-case scenario is that CNN – and its parent company
AT&T – will inflate the body count the old-fashioned
way: by killing people. If they could get away with killing us
for profit, they might just do it.
Is that far-fetched? The visionary movie “Network” doesn’t
think so.
“Network” is an articulate comedy that vividly condemns
network news and American media in general.
There might have been a time long ago when newspeople
tried to report the news, without political pressure or profit
motive.
By 1976, that idealistic notion was history. The line
between news and entertainment was already blurring. More
importantly, corporations were beginning to buy television
networks. Television news was becoming the propaganda arm
of the globalist establishment.
Faye Dunaway stars as Diane Christensen. She’s the forward-thinking,
amoral head of programming for struggling
network UBS. Diane will do absolutely anything for ratings.
Her reality show about a domestic terrorist organization – The
Mao Tse-Tung Hour – is already a hit.
Diane has a gift thrown right into her lap when drunken old
news anchor Howard Beale (Peter Finch) starts to lose his
• • •
• • •
Give Thanks Anyway continued from previous page
be the same this year.
But we must try to be thankful that even though it will not
be the same, at least there will be something in its place. And
perhaps in its absence we can create new traditions, unique to
our own families, creating something to look forward to in the
years to come.
The list of reasons to dread this year’s holidays could go on
and on. But the same can be said for the list of reasons to be
thankful anyway.
Even though times are tough, we can be thankful that we
• • •
• • •
according to its own procedures, which vary from state to
state. And that is what they are doing, as their laws require.
There are multiple checks and redundancies in the processing
of each ballot to minimize the chance of error. We can be
proud that Vermont’s Secretary of State Jim Condos has
emerged as a national leader in providing clear guidance and
strong leadership in defending the right to vote.
One thing is clear: President Trump will again lose the
popular vote by a decisive margin. And the reason for so
many mail-in votes is obvious: the Covid pandemic.
Unlike any time in U.S. history, President Trump has called
for the vote counting to stop before all the votes are counted.
This is what dictators do. They stop the count when they see
they are losing. Thankfully, our president does not have that
power. He is not a dictator and he is not above the law. Yet
he has repeatedly insisted that only “legal” ballots should be
counted. What is he talking about? If he has credible evidence
of illegality, or even of significant, widespread errors in
the counting, why hasn’t the White House produced the evidence?
If such evidence existed, they would be the first to
produce it. They haven’t, and that speaks volumes.
The campaign for president lasted well over a year. The
accurate counting of tens of millions of votes takes time. That
time is nearing its conclusion, and we owe an immense debt
of gratitude to the poll workers, election officials and ballot
processors across the country for their dedication and vigilance.
They are among democracy’s foot soldiers – our thin
red, white, and blue line – who are demonstrating the resilience
of our democracy.
mind on air. “Bull**** is the reason we give for living,” Beale
explains. “And if we can’t think up any reasons of our own,
we always have the God bull****.” The news director wants
to fire Howard Beale; Diane wants to make him a superstar.
Howard Beale gets his own prime time show, and his
nightly rants are a profit bonanza for UBS’s parent company
Communications Corporation of America (CCA).
Profanity, rage, sacrilege, despair … this is all acceptable to
the network execs. But then Howard Beale crosses the line
and tells the real truth. One night, Beale exposes the fact that
CCA is doing a multi-billion dollar business deal with Saudi
Arabia and he urges his viewers to stop it.
“Network” reaches a crescendo of brilliant fury when the
Chairman of UBS brings Howard Beale into his office.
“There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only
IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, and Exxon. Those are the
nations of the world today … We no longer live in a world of
nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of
corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws
of business.”
These words were true in 1976 and they are doubly true
today.
I love this movie. It’s a cinematic cauldron of excitement,
pitch-black comedy, and wisdom.
The final scene is perfect. “Network” forces us to ask ourselves
whether a corporation cares whether we live or die.
Yes, of course they do. Usually, they want you to live and
give them money.
Sometimes, they would prefer that you die.
live in a time where healthcare advancements are being made
every day, that resources are still relatively easy to come by
(often without having to leave the comfort of our homes), and
so on.
Many events have been cancelled this year in the interest of
health and safety, but Thanksgiving, as far as what it stands
for, cannot and will not be cancelled.
For further details on CDC guidelines for a safe and healthy
Thanksgiving 2020, visit cdc.gov and search “Holidays.”
Andrea Gallitano, P.C.
Attorney At Law
www.GallitanoLaw.com
Email: Andrea@GallitanoLaw.com
301 North Main Street, Suite 2
Barre, VT 05641
(802)622-8230 Fax: (802)622-8232
Practice areas include: • commercial and residential real estate transactions
• business formation • buy/sell arrangements
• stock purchase agreements • asset sales and leasing • wills • trusts
• power of attorney • probate administration and litigation • guardianships
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November 18, 2020 The WORLD page 11