Trump can learn a lesson from a four-year old

DIOKNO

It's never too early to learn life's lessons.

OPINION

I was playing the board game of "Candyland" with my grandson. He was about to win, just a few squares from the jackpot when he drew the muffin card. By rules of the game, he would have to proceed to the square with a picture of muffin near the starting line.

"I don't like this card," my young grandson said. He quickly drew another card that moved him to the finish line to unofficially "win" the game.

As the rules of the game was explained to him, negating his brief joy of winning. He was told he would have to move his chip to the muffin square. "You have to play by the rules," we told my grandson.

"I don't want to," he said and proceeded to repeat, "I won, I won."

The "Candyland" game reminds me of Donald Trump and his refusal to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden.

The Electoral College today officially proclaimed Joe Biden as the next President of the United States. As expected, Biden wound up with 306 votes to Donald Trump's 232. But the count didn't go off without a hitch.

Trump's followers demonstrated against the vote in Washington D.C. and small gatherings around the nation.

Michigan Electors had to cast their 16 votes in a locked down Capitol Building in Lansing, Mich. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told NPR's Morning Edition that her state's electors would cast their votes within a closed capitol building, citing a "security issue.

Michigan's Attorney General perceived the threats from the state's unregulated vigilantes to be real. The armed so-called militias have already harassed and threatened Michigan lawmakers while the state's legislators were in session and they plotted to kidnap and murder Whitmer.

The FBI has called these unregulated militias as the biggest domestic threat to democracy. If the DOJ spent as much energy investigating these vigilantes -- agitators, really, who would appear want a civil war --- as they have spent on the so-called "China Initiative" targeting Chinese researchers and tech workers, we'd probably fill our prisons.

The Michigan lockdown, a large state police presence and the sub-30 degree temperature brought a much smaller group of Trump-believers than anticipated.

Trump has forced recounts in several states, tried to stop, overturn or negate the vote, because he believes there was massive fraud even though there is not a shred of evidence of any anomalies.

Some of the demonstrations turned violent: one person was shot in Washington, demonstrators attacked predominantly Black churches in the nation's capitol.

Trump's own election security expert said that the Nov. 3 vote was the most secure election ever. Attorney General William Barr said the Department of Justice could not find any evidence of wrongdoing regarding the election.

Still, Trump insists that he didn't lose and is trying to convince his followers that the elections were rigged. In doing so, he is underlying the democracy and what mamkes the United States a beacon of light throughout the world. U.S. elections and bloodless turnover of power is the bane of authoritarian leaders and communist governments thhroughout the world.

“If anyone didn’t know it before, we know it now. What beats deep in the hearts of the American people is this: democracy,” Biden said in a speech after the electors' votes were tallied. “The right to be heard. To have your vote counted. To choose leaders of this nation. To govern ourselves. In America, politicians don’t take power — people grant power to them.”

Trump is the first U.S. leader to make these unsubstantiated claims of a rigged election long after elections have been proclaimed free and fair despite all the Republican attempts to thwart, confuse and dissuade voters -- especially people of color -- from casting their ballots.

I wonder if anybody bothered to play games with Trump when he was a young child when his values and mores were still being formed..

I'm not sure if the lesson from playing "Candyland" will stick with my grandson. After all, he's only four-years old. There will be plenty of other games he'll play to help him learn life's lessons ... about winning ... and losing.

California Assembly's newest chaplain is a Buddhist

The Rev. Bob Oshida (at podum) led California's electors in prayer.

THE SOUND OF a Buddhist prayer bell rang through the chambers of the California Assembly Monday (Dec. 19) followed by the baritone of the Rev. Bob Oshita, the Assembly's new chaplain.

Oshita, the former reverend of the 117-year old Sacramento Buddhist Church, urged those in the room to engage in "calming self-reflection" in his opening prayer.

After the moment of silence and contemplation, California's 55 electors solemnly cast their votes for Hillary Clinton for President.

Oshita will open legislative sessions, serve as a spiritual counselor to members, and perform ceremonial and symbolic duties.

His appointment as chaplain was cheered by the body's AAPI members.

“His experience working with young people, tending to the spiritual needs of a variety of communities, and serving for many years in the capitol city as a compassionate and committed reverend will serve us well in his new role,” said Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), chair of the API Legislative Caucus and the only Filipino/American lawmaker.

Oshita, 67, and his wife, retired Rev. Patti Oshita, have made Buddhism accessible to people from various faiths and ethnic backgrounds. The church has long been a cornerstone of the Japanese/American community in Sacramento.

In a final expression of displeasure at the overall presidential vote in which Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by almost 3 million over eventual winner Donald Trump, the state's Electoral College members unanimously passed a resolution calling for an independent investigation into Russian activities that may have interfered with the U.S. elections.

The Japanese/American chaplain replaces Father Constantine Pappademos, a Greek Orthodox priest who served various roles at the Capitol, including Assembly chaplain from 2003 until this year. Oshita's counterpart in the Senate is Sister Michelle Gorman, a Roman Catholic nun who has served in the role since 2014.

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Asian American votes get short-changed by Electoral College

The  picture of the U.S. as weighted by the Electoral College

REPRINTED FROM ASAM NEWS

THE OLD ADAGE one person, one vote doesn’t seem to apply in the presidential election for people of color.

An analysis by the Center for Economic and Policy Research has found Asian American votes are only worth 0.93 of 1 vote, Latinos 0.91, Blacks 0.95 and Whites 1.0

How can that be? Under the electoral college system, a candidate gets all the state’s electoral college votes whether they win by one vote or one million. Under the system, large states such as New York and California are underrepresented.

Minorities are clustered in those larger states. White voters tend to live where their votes count more.

In Wyoming, there’s an electoral vote for every 195,000 residents. North Dakotans get one electoral vote for every 252,000 residents and Rhode Island gets one vote for every 264,000 votes. As the Center for Economic and Policy Research “In the electoral college, White votes matter more.”

You may have heard that Donald Trump won the electoral college vote, but Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. Those votes are still being counted, but right now, Hillary Clinton leads by 947,579 votes.

This is the second time in the last five presidential election where the presidential winner failed to win the popular vote. That’s lead to calls to change the system.

The group National Popular Vote is urging states to pass legislation to give their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote. That can only happen if the states with a majority of electoral votes pass the same legislation.

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