10 November 10 at 7:00 am EST |
USA World: So the media has called the election for Joe Biden, but President Trump has not conceded rather he has filed [apparently mainly failing] lawsuits in swing states with 'thin margins for Biden.' What next? Well, although tradition, conceding is not legally required. Here's how the process unfolds understanding although Americans vote for a 'ticket of President & Vice President' on their ballots, it is an indirect vote, in that the final determination is by the Electoral College.
December 8: Yes, next month! - Deadline for finalizing/resolving state level election totals
December 14: State electors vote by paper ballot. 33 states and DC require electors to vote as per popular vote; other state electors can theoretically do as they please! All states use a winner-take-all vote, except for Maine and Nebraska. Electors sign 'Certificates of the Vote' which are then sent to the President of the Senate (i.e. VP Pence) among others.
December 23: Certificates of the Vote must be delivered to designated officials.
January 6: House and Senate hold joint session to count the votes. If no candidate reaches the required 270 electoral votes, the House decides with each state having one vote.
January 20: Inauguration Day when the President and Vice-President are sworn in on Capital Hill.
Details can be found here if you want to read more. COVID-19 and the western wildfires have all but been pushed out of the news.
The World: Very little of any reporting in the USA about the rest of the world as all eyes on election issues!
Sanity comes in the form of: trying to learn to french braid my hair in the back of my head (ha ha), watching the wildlife and crafting (sorry no previews of Christmas pressies) and of course lots of volunteering - mainly over Zoom.
Brown pelicans fishing close to shore ... more brown pelicans swooping across the sky - never seen them quite like this before!
- October 31, 2020 - Tropical Storm Eta forms in the Caribbean.
- November 2, 2020 - Strengthens to a hurricane and intensifies to a Category 4 hurricane throughout the day.
- November 3, 2020 - Eta makes landfall in northeastern Nicaragua as a Category 4 storm. At least 100 people have died in Central America due to the storm.
- November 8, 2020 - Makes landfall on the south-central coast of Cuba as a tropical storm. Later in the day, Eta makes landfall in the Florida Keys.
- November 11, 2020 - Eta lingers in the southern Gulf of Mexico and strengthens to Category 1 hurricane.
- November 12, 2020 - In the morning, makes landfall at Cedar Keys, Florida as a tropical storm.
Crazy Eta - became Hurricane 1 at 7:25 am on 11 November with storm tracking closer to West Coast & direct for us - a big change at the last minute! Tornado watches all around us this afternoon. Happily 4:35 pm Eta downgraded to Tropical Storm, hurricane shutters rattling in the wind, electricity blips, and storm looking like landfall now north of us, which actually means more bad weather as we are longer in NE quadrant of storm - the most violent part of a storm. Bathtub filled, cold dinner made in case cannot cook.
ReplyDeleteEta made landfall about 150 miles north of us in the wee hours of this morning. We lost power at 20:45 last night and were restored at 3:30 this morning. Streets flooded about 11 pm, but have subsided this morning; wind and banging hurricane shutters all night as we got the most active eastern side of the storm even after the eye passed. About 3-4 inches of sand under the building and 3 beach benches from who knows where arrived at our fence line. Unusually unpredictable storm meaning we all had less notice than normal - forecasters advising it would move westward, but then the models suddenly tracked eastward around 4 pm Tuesday and it was with us Wednesday pm.
ReplyDeleteSo our recently under-grounded electric supply didn't hold up!
ReplyDeleteFinal tally 8 inches of rain, winds just under/at hurricane level, and 30+ water rescues from storm. About 3 feet water in street out front which flowed like a river, but thankfully missed our car in parking lot or so I believe - haven’t driven it yet. Street flooded by 8:30 pm not 11 pm as stated above - first time we and long-timers have seen such flooding.
ReplyDeleteAm now waiting to see how the offshore sandbar has been rearranged!