Is this treason?

Trump says, “I just want to find 11,780 votes” in extraordinary phone call with Georgia secretary of state

From the constitution “Before he enters the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:—’I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.'”

Listen to this phone call and tell me is the treason?

It Won’t be a Military Coup

Inauguration January 20 2020 without an audience thanks to COVID-19

Is it treason for senators and representatives to question the legitimacy of an election? No!  However, you do need provable facts.

No one likes losing an election.  There is always a winner.  All the losers have to accept the results.  That is the way our democracy functions.  If every loser claims fraud and cheating our country will fall into chaos where the ultimate winner is the person with the most power to control the results.

After a judge tossed Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert’s baseless lawsuit that challenged President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, the Trump sycophant responded by suggesting that those who live in a MAGA reality should “go to the streets” and be “violent.”

Gohmert made the dangerous remarks on the Trump-friendly “news” network Newsmax on Saturday morning while discussing his lawsuit against Vice President Mike Pence that U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kernodle dismissed on Friday.

Could Trump use the military to enforce his control? On Friday December 18, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy and Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville reiterated in a joint statement that there “is no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of an American election.”

It appears that the GOP has become a circular firing squad after L. Lin Wood, a conservative attorney and Trump ally, has rejected questions about his sanity after he tweeted that Vice President Mike Pence should face a firing squad.

This Washington article explains why Joe Biden will be inaugurated on January 20.

Why January 6 Is a Key Date for Trump’s Election Gripes – The Washington Post

If Trump is inaugurated for a second term on January 20 it won’t be a military coup.  It will be a bloodless coup.  That would signify that elections don’t count. That would be the end of the greatest democracy the world has ever known.

I will be holding my breath for the next 17 days.  Won’t you?

Being a Pastor is Big Business

Evangelist Franklin Graham: Net Worth $25 Million

How do you feel about pastors making so much money that some of them have accumulated wealth in the million of dollars?

Pastor Joyce Hutchison, from St. Louis has an estimated net worth of $8 million. Rick Warren of Orange County California Saddle Back Church has an estimated wealth of $25 million. Joel Osteen – Net Worth $40 Million.

Pastor Kenneth Max Copeland hails from Lubbock, Texas. He is the founder and owner of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, located on an estate of more than 1,500 acres, equipped with a church, a private airstrip, and a hangar for the ministry’s $17.5 million jet and other aircraft. A televangelist, he hosts a live television show called Kenneth Copeland and You. Pastor Copeland has seven ministry offices around the world to spread his beliefs through a variety of channels. Those channels include television program Believer’s Voice of Victory, radio broadcasts, a podcast, a magazine, a ton of books and various social media platforms, to name a few. His estimated wealth is $760 million.

Perhaps I am wrong but I always thought men and women of the cloth worked to better mankind.  It appears being a pastor is just a business.  Give me your money and you will be saved is just a sales pitch and millions of Americans and people around the world have bought into that pitch.

U.S. Stocks Notch Records in Final Trading Day of 2020

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 ended the year set new high records on the last day of trading.  Major indexes finished 2020 solidly. The Dow was up more than 6%  for the year. The S&P 500 was up 15%, the Russell 2000 was up 19%, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 43%.

If you had put just $5,000 in a Vanguard 500 Index Fund on January 1, 2020.  Your investment would now be worth $5,748 The expense .04% or $2.  If you had your money in a Bank of America savings account  your earnings are .05%.  CDs (certificate of deposit savings accounts of rates no more than 1.5% or an account worth $5,250 at the end of the year.

I know so many people are fearful of losing their hard earned savings but the S&P 500 has a history of success.  If you had put $10,000 in that account ten years ago it would be of $42,844 today.  You just have to ignore the down swings like this year’s decline due to the corona virus.  This Morningstar graph shows that ten year growth.

 

I am not a broker but have learned the hard way.  It feels good selling my earnings to pay bills or take a trip but leaving my initial investment untouched to earn more money.

A Good News Start to 2021

Two additional vaccines for Covid-19 may be authorized for use in the US in the coming months as the country tries to deal with record hospitalizations and deaths.

The COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca wasn’t the first to be OK’d by regulators in the U.K.—health officials authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech jab nearly four weeks earlier. And it’s not the most effective—Stage 3 clinical trials suggest it prevents COVID-19 symptoms about 70% of the time vs. about 95% for the Pfizer vaccine and a similar one from Moderna (which is authorized in the U.S., but not the U.K.).

The first thing to know about the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab is that it’s cheap. AstraZeneca has promised it will not make a profit on the vaccine during the pandemic. As a result, it costs $3 to $4 per dose around the world. Compare that to $25 to $37 a dose for the vaccine developed by Moderna and about $20 a dose for Pfizer’s jab, according to figures reported in Europe.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine that the United Kingdom approved for use on Wednesday may be authorized for emergency use in the US in April, according to Moncef Slaoui, chief scientific adviser for Operation Warp Speed.

In addition, Johnson and Johnson’s single-dose vaccine may be authorized for emergency use in February and could be a “game changer” for the US, Slaoui said. Phase 3 trial recruitment for this vaccine has been completed.

Source for this information is CNN and Time magazine.

Working from Home is now part of American Life

The fix is in. Working from home is now part of American life and it’s not going away when COVID-19 vaccinations have been given to most of the population.

A neighbor of mine who does video editing no longer drives 30 miles to work. He does his job on-line. Unless his employer demands he drive to the office he will continue to work at home after the virus is gone. For him it means ending his one hour drive each way and reduced ware and tear on his car.

The working from home idea is not new. Even before COVID-19 became a factor, increasing numbers of people have been saying goodbye to their onerous commute to work. Thanks to ever-evolving technologies like Skype, Facetime, Slack, Zoom, Google Hangouts, authenticator apps, and cloud computing—not to mention texting and email—it’s no longer necessary to be in an office full-time to be a productive member of the team. In fact, many kinds of work can be done just as effectively, if not more so, from a home office.

“Consumer Brands Bet Working From Home Is Here to Stay,” by Annie Gasparro and Sharon Terlep: “Consumer-product companies are expanding factories and revamping production lines, wagering that work-from-home habits like growing beards and fixing quick lunches will outlast the coronavirus pandemic. Millions of Americans spent much of the year working from home. While legions of employers are planning to reopen their offices, many have said they would let employees continue working remotely some or all of the time once the pandemic subsides.

“As a result, many food-and-consumer-products companies are investing in factories, equipment and brands to provide more of those items for years to come, seeking to accommodate consumers who are making more coffee, buying more casual clothes and tending beards with trimmers and balm rather than shaving them off.

“Conagra Brands Inc. and Kraft Heinz Co. are buying and upgrading equipment to make more at-home lunch foods. General Mills Inc. has added a manufacturing line for Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal at a Georgia factory, which the company said is one of its most expensive capital projects ever. Kimberly-Clark Corp. is converting a plant to make toilet paper for homes instead of offices, and Procter & Gamble Co. is adding beard-care products in addition to Gillette razors.”

The work at home employees may not need office space at their employer’s office.  That translates to reduced office space needed by businesses.  If those “employees” are paid as contractors rather than “employees” they can claim a deductible of part of their home as a business expense.

What’s not to like? Comradery, friendships, the lack of a feeling that you are part of a team. All other things being equal, an employee who is physically in an office constructively communicating in person with colleagues and supervisors is better positioned to get a promotion, raise, or new opportunity than one who opts to remain in the comforts of their home.

That’s life in 2021 and beyond.