Tuesday, December 08, 2020

Dominion truth

Do you know of any way to pass a message to folks of the Trump persuasion? Pass along this important message from clean-elections advocate Jennifer Cohn:
The vendors that sold voting machines to Venezuela? ESS & Smartmatic. The vendor that didn’t? Dominion. The vendor Trump & @SidneyPowell1 want everyone to associate w/ Venezuela? Dominion. 
 
This is propaganda.
 
Source re: ESS, Smartmatic & Venezuela: https://www.wired.com/2004/08/e-vote-rigging-in-venezuela/
The article was published by Wired in 2004, so no-one can claim that the Deep State created Fake News in order to smear Trump on behalf of the adrenochrome-chugging Satanists Who Control Everything. 
 
Fact: Dominion offers computerized voting with a paper trail. This means that the recounts in Georgia actually mattered: Paper ballots were recounted by hand. 
 
Yes, Jennifer Cohn has criticized the Dominion system, because she opposes the way this system creates a paper ballot. It is up to each voter to double-check the paper print-out, and most people don't bother. But a decent percentage do bother, and in Georgia, those who checked did not report conflicts between the paper record and their intentions. Most importantly, the recount of the paper ballots did not differ from the initial "digital" count. 
 
So why are the Republicans besmirching Dominion? Perhaps because some evidence suggests that the paper-free ES&S vote in Florida was rigged -- in Trump's favor. It's a classic move: The best way for the Trumpers to hide their own wrongdoing is to accuse their foes of the very crime they committed. Through a sly bit of political jiu-jitsu, the Democrats have been forced to stipulate the fairness of a suspiciously poll-defying election that may have been rigged against the Dems.  
 
A repentant Red Stater. There was a time when I never thought I'd agree with Erick Erickson about much of anything, but this essay maps out a lot of common territory. I not only agree with what he says about the Trump cult, I also agree with many of his complaints about the left. His religiosity may not be my cup of tea -- but so what? Must we all drink from the same tea cup? 

Now I get yelled out by both sides — from the one for not going down the stolen election rabbit hole or sufficiently genuflecting and from the other for still actually being a Christian conservative. It was a rude awaking for some new followers to find out I actually really do believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God and yes, transgenderism is a mental issue and Ellen whatshername can call herself whatever she wants, but I won’t be bullied into thinking it is normal, healthy, or right.

On the other side, I have a lot of people yelling at me for refusing to accept the election was stolen. Frankly, I don’t even think the Trump team really believes it. His lawyers sure as hell don’t or they wouldn’t have screwed up so may cases with late filings, missing paperwork, missing fees, and erroneous affidavits. I know of a call wherein they told some folks I am very familiar with that they really were just going to scream and holler and refuse to concede. It is all payback for 2016. They’ve lost about 50 lawsuits and in their latest, in state court in Georgia, they forgot to pay the court filing fees and fill out the right paperwork. That got their lawsuit thrown out.

That’s not even considering the batshit crazy lawsuit from Sidney Powell and her insane claims. I’m sorry some people take that stuff seriously. I’m sorry some people really believe Ware County, Georgia had machines seized. I’m sorry there are up and coming grifters on the right who don’t really believe it but get clicks, followers, and money by convincing you that they do. I’m sorry some people will take at face value the claims of some without thinking through or seeking rebuttal.

I’m really concerned with the crazy on my side, or at least what should be my side. I’m not even sure I have a side anymore. I just tell people I’m a conservative who thinks the GOP has failed on the debt and a bunch of issues and the Democrats are going full bore socialist secularists who’ll eventually get their own Mao and deny it while trying to silence people like me.
There's much more at the other end of the link. Worth a read. Some of it will make you snarl, but again I ask: So what? We need dialogue. When a former foe takes a step toward you, take a step toward him -- and don't try to yank him all the way over.
 
Despite my oft-expressed detestation of political correctness and Identity politics, I don't think that the left will fall under the spell of a Mao any time soon. Lefties are too self-absorbed and too quarrelsome to become entranced by anyone proclaiming himself to be Dear Leader. A cult of personality requires followers to surrender much of their own ego, and most lefties are too solipsistic for that sort of thing, too full of me-me-me-pay-attention-to-me-me-MEEEE!!!
 
I suppose Obama had "Dear Leader" appeal in 2008. But the Obama cult couldn't last, because everyone could see that he was a centrist masquerading as a progressive, an Ike disguised as FDR. Two or three months into the Obama presidency, Dear Leader became just another politician. Bernie Sanders, on the other hand, has become the centerpiece of a personality cult. Fortunately, most Democrats found it repellent.
 
(When Juno came out, I told my ladyfriend that Ellen Page was "a really cute girl" -- and I immediately felt guilty because she was so young. Now Page has announced that she's not a girl, even though she had once presented awfully convincing evidence to the contrary. What I feel now is not guilt but the uneasy realization that that I've become trapped in a surrealist painting. I often feel that way. Sometimes I just want to fade into the walls, like Kitty Pryde.)
 
Added note: "It is all payback for 2016." Wow. The Trumpers feel a need to attain payback for an election they won? This takes the concept of the "sore winner" to a whole new level.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree with the dialogue comment! A good way to figure out what is really going on is to have an earnest chat with someone who sees things differently. I sure as heck don’t know the answer. I feel like the news has been chock full of Fnords though since the election. It’s getting entertaining with the recent lawsuit from Texas.

fred said...

Reasonable engagement should be encouraged. But the depth of mindless Republican hatred of the Dems is unremitting and will return with new BS denying the legitimacy of anything Democratic. Some cancers you just have to burn out. Get into office and then throw everything at Mitch McConnell and the rest -- impeachments, investigations. No middle ground. They're a Jim Jones cult.