‘Take our country back’
| 'Take our country back'  What a relief.
This week's elections in the United States are over, and there's been no wailing and whining about the results. Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe accepted his narrow defeat, called his victorious Republican opponent and wished him well. His vanquisher, Glenn Youngkin, issued a gracious statement thanking his foe and his family for their service. It's not as if it wasn't a tough election — with claims of racism and personal character attacks flying. But this is how a democratic society functions.
That this is even notable speaks to the excruciating post-election period that the United States has just endured. Ex-President Donald Trump and conservative media propagandists are gutting faith in the US system by falsely convincing millions of Americans that the 2020 election was stolen.
A cynic might point out that Republicans have not alleged cheating in Virginia because they won. And in New Jersey, Republican Jack Ciattarelli still hasn't yet conceded after TV network projections gave incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy a narrow win. He's started to talk about making sure "every legal vote" is counted in a disturbing echo of Trump's rhetoric.
Trump has already claimed that Youngkin's victory in a state that he lost by a nearly 16 points to Joe Biden proves last year's election was rigged. He doesn't seem to have twigged that the next Republican governor probably won because he didn't adopt the ex-President's angry, alienating behavior that horrified suburbanites.
One final note from Election Week in America: There was no end-of-the-world vibe once it was over. No sense that every value of the losing side was about to be eviscerated.
When Trump won in 2016 and when he lost in 2020, there was existential horror on the part of his opponents and his supporters respectively. Now, the underlying theme of his emerging 2024 campaign is "Take our Country Back" and his politics is rooted in the sense that traditional America is being destroyed. The civility of Virginia's vote is a reminder of a time when Republicans won elections and Democrats won elections and everyone accepted the results -- and felt that in the end things were still going to be ok.
But don't bet on it staying that way. The world and America Europe is again the epicenter of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
 Sponsor Content by LendingTree  Lock in a 1.99% APR Refinance Rate Before The Fed Meets Economists are urging Americans to refinance to take advantage of historically low refinance rates. These low rates are not going to last much longer.
 'We're not wanting to be millionaires' After seven months on strike in Alabama, a handful of striking coal miners rallied in New York on Thursday before the offices of BlackRock, the legendary asset manager that is also the largest stakeholder in their employer, Warrior Met Coal.
"We're not asking for something outrageous. We're not wanting to be millionaires or anything like that. They're basically wanting to get back to where they were five years ago," said Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, who was among those arrested Thursday at the rally.
"We love our jobs, but we're not getting any respect, we're not getting any time off — we get Thanksgiving off, Christmas Eve and Christmas as far as holidays — the rest of the holidays we have to work while our families are celebrating holidays," Kelly said. Their mines reach 2,000 feet underground, making them the deepest coal mines in North America, according to the union. City of brotherly love Philadelphia is famous for many things — as the cradle of American democracy, for its famed cheesesteaks, for "Rocky" and as the place whose hardcore football fans once booed Santa Claus.
Now it's chalked up another breakthrough, with plans to become the first large American city to ban police traffic stops for minor violations – a move often seen as pretext for racially motivated targeting of African Americans. CNN reports that Black drivers comprise 48% of the city's population but accounted for 72% of nearly 310,000 traffic stops by police officers between October 2018 and September 2019.
From early next year, Philadelphia police patrols will let people with broken tail lights, obscured license plates or hanging items from a rear-view mirror go. These will still be illegal, but fines or citations will be issued by mail.
The new measure follows a spate of incidents in the United States when Black drivers have been pulled over by police for seemingly minor reasons that escalate into major confrontations. Some police defend such stops as opening the way to enforcement against other far more serious crimes — including the possession of illegal drugs, human trafficking and drunk driving.
But civil rights groups argue that the stops unfairly target Black drivers. Several smaller other US cities, states and jurisdictions have already taken similar steps to Philadelphia as they seek to respond to the concern and to improve relations between minority communities and the police.
In Virginia, law enforcement officers cannot lawfully stop motorists for driving without a light illuminating a license plate or without brake lights, for instance, according to a new law. The bill also states that "no law enforcement officer may lawfully stop, search, or seize any person, place, or thing solely on the basis of the odor of marijuana."   A strong geomagnetic storm Wednesday into Thursday put on a spectacular aurora show as stargazers enjoyed the Northern and Southern Lights at both ends of the Earth. (Photo courtesy of Sai Shankar in Christchurch, New Zealand) Thanks for sticking with us through the week.
On Friday, the United Nations Human Rights Council holds an emergency session on Sudan. Opening statements begin in Brunswick, Georgia, during the trial over the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. European and British officials meet in Brussels to talk trade.
And "Remember, Remember the Fifth of November, gunpowder, treason and plot": It's Bonfire Night in the UK, marking the day in 1605 when Guy Fawkes tried to blow up parliament. On Saturday, thousands celebrate Pride in Buenos Aires. View in browser | All CNN Newsletters
Want to easily manage your newsletter subscriptions?
Copyright © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc. A WarnerMedia Company, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
Want to change how you receive these emails?
| |||||||||||
