Maine received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine on December 14. The first priority for distribution goes to front-line medical workers and residents of long-term care facilities. There’s no particular urgency in getting the vaccine to brand new octogenarians such as your columnist. Since the average age of death for my Frary fathers over eleven generations has been 86 I see no grounds for objection.

There was a telephone call last week from an organization offering to identify Medicare Benefits which I might be entitled to. I decided to speak to one of the organization’s specialists. Pressure on a telephone button put me in contact with a young woman. When I asked her if there was an assisted suicide option available she seemed uncertain, even confused. When I tried to explain that senility can cause even more embarrassment than sex she ended the call.

When you reach a point when you begin to feel as if you are watching a race between death and dementia, it’s probably a bad sign when you begin to favor death.

If you heard about Donald Trump’s lawsuit seeking damages from the 81 million people who inflicted emotional harm by voting against the best president ever, you should be aware that Babylon Bee.com is the source of this story. Although I’ve always found it to be an unusually reliable source in these troubled times, questions have been raised; doubts expressed. Some critics claim this announcement is mere satire.

The Heritage Foundation’s Election Fraud Database now has documented 1,302 cases of proven election fraud with names, locations, and dates for each. This total does not include all allegations of election fraud since incidents are not added until a conviction has been obtained or a civil judgment has been entered..

In contrast, David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist and media advisor, assures us that the 2020 election was unblemished by fraud. As a Chicago Tribune political writer since 1981, and longtime strategist of Mayor Richard M. Daley, Axelrod has authority as a student of political fraud. When federal prosecutors arrested two top Daley henchmen, they described City Hall as a scene of “pervasive fraud” in hiring and promotions.

During the period that Dave was in constant touch with Chicago politics … 32 Aldermen, out of 50, were found guilty of corrupt schemes.

In 1972 Fred Hubbard pleaded guilty to embezzling $100,000 from a jobs program he ran.

In 1973 Joseph Jambrone pleaded guilty of accepting kickbacks, Joseph Potempa was convicted of bribery and tax evasion, and Casimir Staszcuk was convicted for taking bribes to back zoning changes.

In 1974 Paul Wigoda was convicted for taking a bribe to support a zoning change, Thomas Keane was convicted on mail-fraud and conspiracy charges, and Frank Kuta was convicted for accepting a bribe in a zoning case,

In 1975 Edward Scholl pleaded guilty to taking bribes from a contractor and Donald Swinarski accepted bribes in exchange for facilitating zoning changes.

In 1980 Stanley Zydlo pleaded guilty to altering test results to help two relatives get fired by the Chicago Fire Department.

In 1983 Louis Farina was found to be involved in a conspiracy to extort $7,000 from contractors in exchange for city contracts, Tyrone Kenner was convicted for taking bribes for helping at least 12 people get hired as sheriff’s deputies or pass tests to become city electricians, and William Carothers was found guilty of extorting remodeling work for his ward office from a contractor seeking a permit to work on an expansion at Bethany Hospital.

In 1987 Chester Kuta pleaded guilty for a bribery scheme connected to business licensing and code enforcement, Wallace Davis, Jr. accepted a $5,000 bribe and extorted kickbacks, and Clifford Kelley pleaded guilty to involvement in the corrupt handling of City Hall bill collection contracts.

In 1988 Perry Hutchinson was convicted for his role in an insurance-fraud scheme.

In 1989 Marian Humes pleaded guilty to taking bribes

In 1993 Fred Roti was convicted for accepting $10,000 to influence a court case and $7,500 to facilitate a zoning change,

In 1996 Allan Streeter pleaded guilty to accepting $37,020 in bribes from an undercover FBI agent, and Ambrosio Medrano to accepting $31,000 in bribes from a government agent.

In 1997 Jesse Evans was sentenced on 15 counts of racketeering, extortion and Joseph Martinez was convicted of accepting pay for three City Hall jobs that didn’t exist.

In 1998 John Madrzyk was sentenced to prison for allegedly pocketing thousands of dollars in kickbacks, Virgil Joneswas caught accepting two payoffs totaling $7,000, and Lawrence Bloom pleaded guilty to filing a false income tax return.

In 1999 Percy Giles was convicted for agent extorting another $81,200.

In 2003 Ed Vrdolyak pleaded guilty to working with board member Stuart Levine on an agreement to split a $1.5 million finder’s fee for the $15 million sale of the school’s Gold Coast building.

In 2006 James Laski pleaded guilty to taking nearly $50,000 in bribes to give city business to trucking companies run by his acquaintances

In 2008 Arenda Troutman pleaded guilty in 2008 convicted on bribery charges;

In 2010 Isaac Carothers pleaded guilty to bribery and tax charges in a zoning case

In 2013 Sandi Jackson, Jesse Jackson Jr.’s wife, pleaded guilty to filing false income tax returns and William Beavers was found guilty of tax evasion

In 2016 Willie Cochran was convicted of wire fraud, bribery, and extortion.

In 2019 Edward Burke Chicago’s most powerful and longest-running City Council member was convicted with one count of attempted extortion and for trying to use his power on the City Council to solicit business for his private law firm. Old Ed had a pretty good run. “Served” his constituents for 50 years before they got caught him.

Now let’s focus on the crucial point here. Not one of these scoundrels were caught and convicted for electoral fraud. This can have one of two obvious explanations. First Democratic politicians have have been known to get involved in all kinds of crimes. Bribery? Lots of times. Extortion? Plenty of extortion. Tax fraud? Sure. Lots of swindles, big and small. But NO electoral fraud..

There are two possible explanations. First, they never engage in electoral fraud because of their reverence for honest elections. Second, proving electoral fraud is just too difficult.

The next time you read a liberal journalist or politician celebrate the lack of evidence for electoral fraud, see which explanation they offer. If any.

John Frary of Farmington, the GOP candidate for U.S. Congress in 2008, is a retired history professor, an emeritus Board Member of Maine Taxpayers United, a Maine Citizen’s Coalition Board member, and publisher of FraryHomeCompanion.com. He can be reached at jfrary8070