Month: December 2020

Wisconsin confirms Joe Biden as winner following recount

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Joe Biden’s victory in battleground Wisconsin was confirmed Monday following a partial recount that only added to his 20,600-vote margin over President Donald Trump, who has promised to file a lawsuit seeking to undo the results. Confirmation of the results by the Democratic chairwoman of the Wisconsin Elections Commission started a five-day window for Trump to file a lawsuit. Trump on Saturday promised to file a lawsuit either on Monday or Tuesday, a longshot attempt to overturn the results by disqualifying as many as 238,000 ballots. Trump’s attorneys have alleged without evidence that there was widespread fraud and illegal activity.

Biden’s campaign has said the recount showed that Biden won Wisconsin decisively and there was no fraud. Even if Trump were successful in Wisconsin, the state’s 10 Electoral College votes would not be enough to undo Biden’s overall victory as states around the country certify results. Earlier Monday, Arizona officials certified Biden’s narrow victory in that state. There’s no basis at all for any assertion that there was widespread fraud that would have affected the results, Wisconsin’s Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul said in a statement Monday. He noted that Trump’s recount targeted only the state’s two most populous counties where the majority of Black people live.

I have every confidence that this disgraceful Jim Crow strategy for mass disenfranchisement of voters will fail, Kaul said. An election isn’t a game of gotcha. State law gives the power to confirm the election results to the chair of the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission. The position rotates between Republicans and Democrats and is currently held by Ann Jacobs, a Democrat. She signed the canvass statement certifying Biden as the winner over objections from Republicans who wanted to wait until after legal challenges were exhausted. Under state law, the elections staff will next send a certificate to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to sign and send to the U.S. administrator of general services a procedural step since the law says the governor shall sign it. Evers’ office didn’t immediately respond to phone messages to ask when it expects to receive and sign a certificate.

In a possible nod to the threatened litigation, the commission called Jacobs’ action a determination, rather than certification, even though earlier this year and in prior elections it has called such action certification. Republican elections commissioner Bob Spindell said final certification would not take place until after Trump’s lawsuit plays out.

Trump’s legal challenges have failed in other battleground states, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Two lawsuits from others seeking to disqualify ballots in Wisconsin were filed last week with the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which has not taken action. Trump paid $3 million for recounts in Dane and Milwaukee counties, the two largest Democratic counties in Wisconsin, but the recount ended up increasing Biden’s lead by 87 votes. Biden won statewide by nearly 20,700 votes.

Trump, during the recount, sought to have ballots discarded where election clerks filled in missing address information on the certification envelope where the ballot is inserted. The state elections commission told clerks before the election that they could fill in missing information on the absentee ballot envelopes, a practice that has been in place for at least the past 11 elections and that no court has ever ruled illegal. Trump also challenged any absentee ballot where a voter declared themselves to be indefinitely confined under the law, a designation that increased from about 57,000 in 2016 to nearly 216,000 this year due to the pandemic. Such a declaration exempts the voter from having to show a photo identification to cast a ballot, which Trump attorney Christ Troupis called an open invitation for fraud and abuse. The conservative-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court this spring ruled that it is up to individual voters to determine whether they are indefinitely confined, in line with guidance from the state elections commission.

Trump also sought to discard any absentee ballot where there was not a written application on file and all absentee ballots cast in-person during the two weeks before Election Day. People who vote in-person early fill out a certification envelope that they then place their ballot in and that envelope serves as the written record. But the vast majority of absentee requests these days are made online, with a voter’s name entered into an electronic log with no paper record.

Disqualifying all of the ballots in Milwaukee and Dane counties that Trump identified during the recount would result in more than 238,000 votes not counting, according to an analysis by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The conservative Wisconsin Voters Alliance sued last week seeking to block certification of the results and give the Republican-controlled Legislature the power to appoint presidential electors to cast the state’s 10 Electoral College votes. The Wisconsin Democratic Party previously selected Biden’s 10 electors as prescribed by law. The signing of the canvass statement on Monday confirmed that Biden receives the state’s 10 Electoral College votes from those electors.

Another lawsuit filed over the weekend by Wisconsin resident Dean Mueller argues that ballots placed in drop boxes are illegal and must not be counted.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Biden speaks with UN chief, discusses strengthening partnership on urgent global issues

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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US President-elect Joe Biden on Monday spoke with United Nations Secretary-General Antnio Guterresas as the two discussed the need to strengthen their partnership on urgent global issues including combatting COVID-19, the transition said. They also talked about building resilience to future public health challenges, confronting the threat of climate change, addressing humanitarian issues, advancing sustainable development, upholding peace and security, resolving conflicts, and promoting democracy and human rights, it said. The president-elect also noted his deep concern for escalating violence in Ethiopia and the risk it poses to civilians, the transition readout of the call said.

Biden also spoke with President Alberto Fernndez of Argentina and pledged to work closely with that country to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and advance global health security, including through strengthening hemispheric institutions. He emphasised the need for even deeper hemispheric cooperation on advancing economic prosperity, combating climate change, strengthening democracy, and managing regional migration flows, among other shared challenges, the transition said. The president-elect also acknowledged the significance of His Holiness Pope Francis to the people of Argentina and Latin America.

In a separate phone call with President Carlos Alvarado of Costa Rica, Biden expressed appreciation for that country’s leadership on human rights, regional migration, COVID-19, and the threat of climate change. He underscored his concern for the people of Central America as they seek to rebuild from recent hurricanes and the challenges associated with climate migration.

The president-elect pledged to deepen the US-Costa Rica partnership based on shared democratic values, while also advancing a shared vision for regional prosperity and more effective hemispheric institutions, said the readout. Biden in a phone call with President Kenyatta of Kenya conveyed his interest in building on partnership across a range of issues, including by tackling the threat of climate change, supporting refugees and their host communities, and addressing challenges of regional security and instability

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Baba Amte’s granddaughter, social activist Sheetal commits suicide after family feud

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Sheetal Amte-Karajgi, granddaughter of social activist Baba Amte, allegedly committed suicide at Warora in Maharashtra on Monday, family
sources said. Sheetal (39) took the extreme step following a recent
public spat with other members of the Amte family over the
management of Maharogi Seva Samiti, a social service organisation founded by Baba Amte, a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award and Padma Vibhushan, who died in 2008.

Police declined to comment on reports that Sheetal apparently injected herself with a lethal dose. Her body was taken from Warora to Chandrapur, 50 km away, for post mortem. A team of forensic experts from Nagpur has gone to Warora and the room in Anandwan where Sheetal’s body was found has been sealed, sources said.

Baba Amte’s sons Vikas and Prakash and their wives Bharti and Mandakini, respectively, had recently issued a clarification on several allegations made by Sheetal, Vikas’s daughter, on social media. She was the Samiti’s CEO.

The clarification from the senior Amtes had read: “Maharogi Seva Samiti, Warora is a leading social service organisation in the country. It provided direction and inspiration to the development of the deprived. Lakhs of social activists were trained here. Three generations of Amtes are deeply involved in this work.

“Among us, Sheetal Gautam Karajgi, nee Sheetal Vikas Amte, has contributed to the work done by our organisation. She, however, is facing mental stress and depression. While admitting it in her social media posts, she made inappropriate statements about the work, trustees and workers of Maharogi Seva Samiti.

“All her comments are baseless. The Amte family is issuing this statement after mutual discussions to prevent any likely misunderstanding caused by Sheetal’s allegations.” Baba Amte received India’s second-highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan for his social work, particularly for leprosy patients, carried out at Anandwan, an asylum for the afflicted discarded by the society.

Set up in 1959 at Warora in Chandrapur district, Anandwan is administered by Maharogi Seva Samiti, a public charitable trust of which Vikas Amte is the secretary and Sheetal Karajgi was the Chief Executive Officer, a post created three years ago.

The Samiti added two other projects under the Lok Biradari Prakalp at Somnath in Mul tehsil of Chandrapur district in 1967 and at Hemalkasa in Bhamragad tehsil of Gadchiroli district in 1973.

The Hemalkasa project is looked after by Prakash and Mandakini Amte, both doctors, and their sons Digant and Aniket and their wives Anagha and Sameeksha.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Stock Market Highlights: Sensex, Nifty end at record close; IT, pharma, metal stocks surge

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Stock Market Highlights: Indian indices ended at record close on Tuesday led by gains in IT, pharma and metal sectors as faster than expected recovery in the GDP growth also lifted sentiment. The Sensex ended 506 points higher at 44,655 while Nifty rose 140 points at 13,109. On the Nifty50 index, GAIL, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, and UPL were teh top gainers while Nestle, Kotak Bank, Titan, Bajaj Finance and HDFC Bank led the losses.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow