National

Trump Continues to Flip Flop on Conceding Election and a Peaceful Transition

Stacy M. Brown decision, Trump reverted to false 5 Lame-Duck President Donald Trump (Courtesy photo) WI Senior Writer claims that he’s the victim of wide@StacyBrownMedia spread and unproven voter fraud the election’s legality. RIGGED and that I WON!” despite numerous court rulings to “Five more ways Joe Biden magi- Speaking to news crews gath-

Lame-Duck President Donald the contrary. cally outperformed election norms,” ered to watch the traditional holiTrump continues to flip flop on Desperate to hang on to power, Trump tweeted. He captioned the day conversation with the military, conceding the 2020 presidential Trump lashed out at a journalist, tweet: “A must-read. Impossible for Trump denounced officials in batelection to Joe Biden. yelling, “I’m the President of the Biden to have overcome these, and tleground states he’d lost as “com-

After weeks of falsely claiming United States. Don’t ever talk to the even greater, odds!” munists” and “enemies of the state.” he’s the winner, Trump authorized President that way.” And to cement his status as the The Associated Press [AP] rethe General Services Administra- The Republican demagogue only modern-day president to blow ported that Trump also announced tion to turn over critical presiden- then engaged in a tweetstorm up American democracy, Trump he’d be traveling to Georgia to tial transition material to Biden. egging on his tens of millions of pressed on: “Primary point made meet with what he said would be

However, within days of that followers while casting doubt on was that the 2020 Election was tens of thousands of supporters on Dec. 5 ahead of two runoffs there

JOIN US FOR DC’S PUBLIC SCHOOL FAIR - ONLINE! that will likely determine whether Republicans or Democrats control the Senate. According to the AP and other outlets, the end goal for Trump Saturday, remains to try and prevent enough states from certifying election reDecember 12 sults which would keep Biden from claiming the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency. 11AM – 2PM Biden currently has 306, well above the margin of victory. VIRTUAL EVENT If Trump were to convince the states not to certify the election, the U.S. House of Representatives would choose the next president. “I think the strategy of the Trump team is not to get him to 270 but to keep [Joe] Biden from getting to 270,” Dershowitz told REGISTER FOR FREE at bit.ly/virtualedfest Zenger News in a video interview, or scan here referring to the minimum number of Electoral College votes required to capture the White House. Today, Biden would have 306 electoral votes if all 50 state governments were to certify their unofficial vote totals. “I don’t think this is a charade of some kind,” he said of the many legal efforts of Trump’s legal team now spread thin across Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. “He believes the legal claims advanced by the Republicans appear to be largely sound,” Dershowitz said.

“Vice President Biden is not yet the president-elect. He hasn’t gotten the 270 certified votes yet. There are so many contingencies that could occur, that anyone who tells you now with 100 percent certainty they can predict the outcome is not being straight with you.”

If Biden were limited to 269 or fewer votes when the Electoral College meets, the U.S. Constitution’s 12th Amendment requires members of the newly-elected House of Representatives to go into session immediately and resolve the presidential stalemate through a “contingent election.”

Only 50 votes would be cast in the House, one from each state’s congressional delegation. Democrats will continue to occupy more than half of all House seats but Republicans will hold majorities in 26 of the 50 delegations—the bare minimum required to elect a president.

However, Trump’s attempts to stop certification has so far fallen short. Among his latest attempts, a federal appeals court in Philadelphia rejected his effort to challenge the state’s election results.

The Philadelphia judges ruled that Trump’s claims of voter fraud had no merit.

“Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here,” Judge Stephanos Bibas wrote for the threejudge panel.

WI

NATIONAL

Smoking’s Bad for Your Health but Some Say, ‘So is the Pandemic’

Stacy M. Brown ple depressed and feeling out of “In a way, smoking cigarettes WI Senior Writer control. While smoking can make is a way to take back control over @StacyBrownMedia people feel more relaxed, a bigger the most important thing in our reason why more people are smok- lives, our death, by being the one

Researchers at the University of ing is that they can feel in control,” who decides what that death will California, Los Angeles, and Ce- Dr. Andrew Selepak, a program be caused by rather than the undars Sinai Medical Center recently coordinator at the University of known of a global pandemic,” conducted a study that suggests Florida’s College of Journalism Selepak concluded. smoking increases the risk of more and Communications, said in an With the pandemic’s stress, severe lung disease in cases of se- email. many people have grown oververe acute respiratory syndrome “People know smoking and to- come with boredom and find coronavirus infection. bacco is bad for them but while smoking a way to escape the chaos

While the U.S. Surgeon Gen- they are being required to wear of everyday life, offered Mariam eral and scientists have long es- masks and social distance, smok- Simmons, a fashion trendsetter. tablished that smoking remains a ing is a form of rebellion, although “Smoking makes people physideadly habit, the current pandem- not a very smart one during a re- cally and mentally dependent on ic poses an even more significant spiratory pandemic,” he said. nicotine, so trying to quit results threat for smokers. Across the globe, Turkey’s govSelepak called smoking a legal form of rebellion from governin symptoms like headaches, depression, anxiety, slower heart rate, (RealTime Images/ABACA/PA Images) ernment has banned smoking in ment mandates. and so forth. So, they start using of time addressing smoking cessa- with mental illness smoke at twooutdoor spaces to try and blunt “It is a misguided way to take tobacco again,” Simmons opined. tion and believes there’s a signifi- to-four times the general populathe rise of COVID-19 cases. back power over your own life and According to the National Can- cant relationship between tobacco tion’s rate.

But given the potential health have control over your own death cer Institute, the average cost of use and mental disorders. “I am witnessing a surge in a risks, why do people pick up the and health, especially at a time a pack of cigarettes is $6.28, or Her assessment can be sup- relapse in nicotine use in many of habit? when thousands are dying from a $2,292 per year. ported from a report released by my patients who had kicked the

“Our lives are being dictated by disease that we still don’t under- As a psychiatrist, Rhonda J. the National Institute of Mental outside forces leaving many peo- stand,” he declared. Mattox said she spends a great deal Health which noted that those SMOKING Page 26

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