Maggie's Farm

That's a false characterization of her comments. The article falsely states that the US Constitution has three requirements to be president:

Be a natural-born citizen of the United States.
Be at least 35 years old.
Have been a resident of the United States for 14 years.

But there are other qualifications: that the person has not been elected twice previously (Twenty-second Amendment) and not be an insurrectionist (Fourteenth Amendment).

The point about state laws is that the Constitution grants the power to the states to run elections for presidential electors. State laws vary on how those elections are run, including how to enforce U.S. Constitutional provisions. The U.S. Congress has also been granted power to regulate these elections under Article I Section 4 Clause 1 and under the Fourteenth Amendment Section 5, but the U.S. Congress has not passed legislation directly addressing the Insurrection Clause.

Don: If Trump is guilty then Biden must be guilty.

That doesn't follow. There is no evidence that Biden has tried to overthrow the constitutional order, such as by using extralegal means to hold on to power after an election.

Don: Last I knew Trump was not charged with Insurrection in any court of law, but only in the media.

That is incorrect. Trump was found to have engaged in insurrection after a trial by a Colorado court, a finding which has been upheld by the Colorado Supreme Court. The decision is under appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Don: They noted that Trump has not been convicted of insurrection by a jury and did not have the right to subpoena records or compel witnesses to testify in the case, among other basic rights afforded to criminal defendants.

That's right, though that wasn't your exact claim. Trump was not charged under a criminal statute, but under a civil, non-criminal process as to whether Trump was eligible to be on the Colorado ballot pursuant to Colorado law and consistent with the U.S. Constitution. The court worked under a preponderance of evidence standard, but the court found clear and convincing evidence that Trump engaged in insurrection, a much higher standard. Nor, as is clear from the history of the Fourteenth Amendment, was criminal conviction required. Most insurrectionists were never going to be charged after the Civil War, much less convicted and hanged (the latter rather resolving the whole matter about oaths). The whole point of Section 3 was to disallow oathbreakers from taking a new oath.

Other questions of eligibility are commonly determined by the states. In Maine, the "Gordon Challenge" contested Trump being on the ballot under the Twenty-Second Amendment. Trump was ruled eligible because, wait for it, Trump lost in 2020. Was that process in error? Who should make that decision?

There are legitimate questions about the process concerning Section 3. Having different states reaching different conclusions seems contrary to the framers' intent. The U.S. Congress can and should step in to resolve the question under Section 5. However, the U.S. Congress is dysfunctional and barely able to elect a Speaker. That means varying state laws, state courts, and the federal courts have to try to sort out the current politically destabilizing situation.

Don't worry, though. The U.S. Supreme Court will squint and grimace and find some justification to keep Trump on the ballot—even if they have to ignore their own precedents to do so. As Justice Robert Jackson said of the Supreme Court, “We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final."

As COVID evolves, the immune system becomes less familiar with the current circulating strain, so an infection is likely to be more severe and longer lasting. Newer vaccines target newer variants, so it is prudent to get the latest vaccine, especially if you are immune compromised.

Anon: Give them boosters every month.

Huh?

Lord Heathen: The CDC is back on the plain old flu bandwagon after three years.

The CDC is recommending updated vaccination for those who are moderately or severely immunocompromised.