The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides the procedure for electing the president and vice-president. It replaced the procedure provided in Article 1 Section 2, Clause 3, by which the Electoral College originally functioned. The amendment was proposed by the Congress on Dec. 9, 1803, and was ratified by the requisite three-fourths of state legislatures on June 15, 1804.
In order to amend the Constitution, it requires the approval of two thirds of both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, followed by ratification by three fourths of state legislatures. Good luck in getting that done in the near future.
Even for those who think it might be a good idea to eliminate the Electoral College, it has served two very valuable purposes in recent years: Keeping Al Gore an Hillary Clinton from becoming president of the United States.
Germans just enforce their immigration laws
Rudy Schuet (Letters, Nov. 28) suggests that Trump soften his deportation policy because his grandfather was deported from Germany, after returning there after immigrating to the U.S. and becoming a U.S. citizen. Since he had not served in the German army, he was sent back to the U.S. Rudy Schuets concludes by asking what would have happened to Trump if his grandfather had not been deported. The wrong conclusion. The conclusion is that Germany has laws and chooses to follow them.
Don’t test Cuba; Putin is no Nikita Khrushchev
Fidel has died, and now Trump is saying he’ll undo Obama’s new Cuban policies.
This would be a grave mistake because Putin would love to restart his relationship with Cuba and put a Russian Naval Base in Cuba. Followed by missiles. Just as he did in Syria.
And Putin, unlike Khrushchev, will never back down from USA threats to leave Cuba. After all, If The USA can have NATO bases and missiles in Poland, why can’t Russia have a military base and missiles in Cuba ?
Trump better be careful.
Humans should try to save species they have endangered
Letter writer Donald MacNab describes the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as protection of the weakest, implying that Democrats are being anti-science by supporting it. Just a few minutes of research could have taught him that plants and animals often face extinction due to human behavior, mainly destruction or degradation of habitat, and over-consumption. And that each species facing extinction has a significant ripple effect for the ecosystem and food chain to which it belongs. He also would have learned that the ESA has helped many species regain healthy populations, including the bald eagle, the humpback whale, the southern see otter, and the green sea turtle. In my mind, equating the ESA with protection of the weakest shows an appalling lack of science understanding.
Trump’s lie about non-citizens doesn’t equate to recount request
In its Nov. 28 front-page article about the recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, which originated with the Washington Post, referencing “more instability around the election
results from both ends of the political spectrum,” there seems to be an attempt to equate Donald Trump’s tweeting a known lie about non-citizens voting to Jill Stein’s use of an established, lawful practice to verify election results in the presence of significant evidence of possible errors. There is no equivalence.
Secession talk is the opposite of what America needs
California has taken this past election extremely hard—as it is so far from where they lie on the political spectrum. My AP U.S. History class right now is studying the Civil War, where the issue of secession was raised. They say history repeats itself, and if this is true, we are beginning the walk down a long, bloody path.
We have all begun to focus on what divides us, what makes us different, and while it is important to recognize our diversity, we need to look at our common denominators. As Abraham Lincoln once said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” In order to do anything, in order to make any substantial difference in the country, we must unify ourselves and the groups within the United States. Put aside political differences and work with your neighbors so that we might come out through this.
Magnificent Mentors needed for49ers and SJSU
Too late for this season, but here is my suggestion for San Jose State’s next football coach and the 49ers General Manager Trent Baalke for the 2017-18 season: Invite the “M7M Team” — the Magnificent 7 Mentors Team — which will include Joe Montana, Dwight Clark, Ronnie Lott, Jerry Rice, Harris Barton, Randy Cross, Eric Wright and ask them to work with the next year’s football players. With conditions such as: No politics, no tattoos, no “statements” attire… Just teamwork, inspiration, admiration, respect and football lessons by example. I guarantee success.
Los Altos Hills
Real ‘children of Satan’ are those who hate
The Evergreen Islamic Center, suffered a hate letter attack over Thanksgiving that the congregation found the next day. The letter said that they were “the children of Satan”.
This is abysmally ignorant and untrue. The children of Satan are all of us who sin repeatedly while believing that Muslims are the “un-Christian.” The anonymous writer is in need of reading the Quran, the Muslim Bible. Muslims believe in God. Devout Muslims face Mecca and pray
several times day. They are not irredeemable terrorists.
The letter writer should rearrange faulty thinking. But the letter writer is an extremist and likely not playing with a full deck. This trend in the Bay Area had better be watched. The next event will
be a bombing of innocent Muslim people including children.