Source: Array / WENN
The presidential election will most likely continue to dominate the news cycle for much of the week if not longer as the race is still far too close to call. Despite the slim margins, President Donald Trump has prematurely declared victory over Joe Biden and it remains to be seen how the ending plays out.
Election Day (Nov. 3) was, as observed by many a commentator, pundit, and anchor, a nail-biter with Biden owning 238 electoral college votes to Trumps’s 213 according to The Associated Press. And like the presidential election, the U.S. Senate race is also undecided with the Democratic Party gaining one seat thus far but are still sitting at 45-47 with the Republican Party holding the slim majority.
President Trump, taking to his favored vehicle of Twitter after being largely silent on Election Day, got right back to the antics Wednesday morning (Nov 4).
“Last night I was leading, often solidly, in many key States, in almost all instances Democrat run & controlled. Then, one by one, they started to magically disappear as surprise ballot dumps were counted. VERY STRANGE, and the “pollsters” got it completely & historically wrong,” Trump wrote in a tweet that has been blocked by the service.
He continued with, “How come every time they count Mail-In ballot dumps they are so devastating in their percentage and power of destruction?”
In the Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives, that side lost four seats while the Republicans gained four, although Democrats still hold a 189-183 majority as of this writing. But while doom and gloom seem to be the order of the day for those who hoped for a landslide in Biden’s favor or flipping of the Senate, there has been some historic good news afoot.
Cori Bush is now the first Black congresswoman for Missouri’s 1st District. Bush, who was among the many activists on the ground in Ferguson after the killing of Mike Brown, took to Twitter and shared her gratitude and a promise to continue fighting for equal rights on the behalf of Missourians.”
“Mike Brown was murdered 2,278 days ago. We took to the streets for more than 400 days in protest. Today, we take this fight for Black Lives from the streets of Ferguson to the halls of Congress. We will get justice,” Bush began in a Twitter thread.
She added, “I am the first nurse going to Congress from Missouri—in the middle of a pandemic. Nurses all across the country have risked their lives to save others. Working class people need representatives who look like them and who have experienced their struggles. I am that champion.”
For the proponents of marijuana legalization, four states passed measures for adult recreational use, while a southern state passed a measure for medical usage. Arizona, New Jersey, Montana and South Dakota will now move towards allowing the use of cannabis for leisure purposes. In addition, South Dakota also passed a medical marijuana measure. Mississipi will now allow medical marijuana usage in the state.
Millions of votes are still being counted and most are awaiting the results of the tight races in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, with most analysts suggesting Biden needs to carry his state of birth in Pennsylvania and perhaps Michigan in order to pull further away. Georgia is still continuing its count but most observations are leaning towards Trump winning the state.
Drug policy advocates and those on the frontlines for decriminalization have reason to celebrate in Oregon after it became the first state to decriminalize hard drugs such as heroin, meth, and cocaine for personal use. Some say this is an effective strategy to mitigate the rash of drug convictions and offer a pathway to substance abuse treatment.
As details develop, we’ll return to update this post.
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Photo: WENN
