Monthly Archives: December 2020

Trump dumber than many of his followers

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When looking at the 2020 election fraud conspiracy theories, some are dumber than others and some are more simply debunked than others. One of the dumbest and simplest to debug is the claim that there were more votes than voters in Pennsylvania.

The claim takes the number of absentee ballots requested in the Pennsylvania primary election and compares it to the number of absentee votes cast in the general election. Oops. If one takes the number of absentee ballots requested for the general election, then it is smaller (as it would have to be) to the number of absentee ballots cast.

This was of course debunked by the journalists who do this for a living:

These debunking articles are a month or more old today, as Trump continues to repeat them

And just in case it gets deleted, here’s a picture:

Open letter to Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee

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Dear Senator Graham:

I was extremely troubled to hear press reports that President Trump was considering appointing Sidney Powell as a special prosecutor to investigate fraud in the 2020 election.

As you are probably aware, Powell was responsible for filing lawsuits fancifully called the “Kraken” in four states. In the Georgia lawsuit, signed by Powell, a false statement appears in the complaint describing an affidavit filed with the suit as that of “a former US Military Intelligence expert” when in fact, the affiant Joshua Merritt was never in military intelligence. Further the affidavit included with the Kraken lawsuits also contains the same false statement. Powell attempted to conceal the identity or Mr. Merritt even from opposing counsel.

Either Powell suborned perjury or she was grossly negligent in vetting her affiant. In either case, such a person is unfit for a position of trust under the United States, and particularly unfit for the job of investigating such a sensitive issue as election fraud.

Two Presidents

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This article is reprinted from my post at Quora.com.

The reader can take comfort from the fact that I am usually wrong predicting Donald Trump.

Let’s start with an iconic photo of Lyndon Johnson taking the oath of office as president upon the death of John F. Kennedy.

Lyndon Johnson takes the oath of office

The woman administering the oath of office was federal district judge Sarah Hughes. There’s nothing in U. S. law requiring the president’s oath of office be administered by the chief justice of the Supreme Court or even a federal judge; it can be administered by anyone who is authorized under law to accept an oath.

History is not my strong suit, but I recall that in the 14th century, the Roman Catholic Church had two popes. (There was a plague too.) There were two claimants to the throne of St. Peter, and for political reasons some supported one, and some supported the other.

Could not Donald Trump, again, declare that he won the election, and find some justice of the peace to swear him in? Could some red state legislature then vote, saying that Pope Donald was the real president, and swear allegiance to him? Could Trump surround himself with supporters, and he appoint them to “cabinet positions,” and start calling world leaders declaring Biden not the real president? Would we have “divided government” to a degree not seen since the Civil War?

Trump doing that seems insane, but so does what Donald Trump is doing now with his election conspiracy theories.

Whether Trump will try to get himself sworn in president in January is unknown, but be prepared for 4 years of “Biden is not really president” on the Internet, as we had 8 years of “Obama is not really president” from the same crowd.