Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Felya]

I have a feeling the new car is going to pay for itself once gas prices skyrocket.

Not at 5 miles per week... neither you nor the car will last that long, unless gas prices go triple digit.

Don’t mean to discourage... was just a flippant comment. Sounds like a good plan. Enjoy your new car!!!

[Benggaul]

Saturday's quick report:

35,755 new cases; 648 deaths, bringing the total to 595,588. 14 states not reporting.

Fauci: 'Unlikely' US will see COVID-19 surge in fall, winter--Dr. Fauci is more optimistic than I am, frankly, but I bow to his superior knowledge on the matter. He says we should hit 70% vaccinated (1 or more dose) by July 4th and the widespread availability of the vaccines will help keep numbers low, but I think he's underestimating the stupidity of 74 million Americans.

Stay safe, folks.

[fwc577]

Remember the time Cucker Tarlson said people should call child protective services if they see a kid in a mask? Legal Eagle remembers.

It's been a while since I've watched a LegalEagle video and I don't recall this back when I watched his channel more. But he looks like he's got on a facial prosthetics to make him look like Abraham Lincoln without a beard.

[Edge-]

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/maric...b0ae3c687ffc44

The AZ farce continues, and now they're demanding access to county routers/passwords that they have no need for. I seriously don't know how the Feds haven't rolled in and collected the ballots already, they're supposed to remain secure for 22 months following the election and these absolute chucklefucks are sitting there with blue pens (NOT THE COLOR YOU USE AS IT COULD ALTER BALLOTS) and ultraviolet lights lookin for fuckin bamboo because some racist on a conspiracy theory board said something about bamboo ballots and the other racists running this shit, including Cyber Ninjas and the AZ Republican Senate, thought that was a hot tip.

[Endus]

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/maric...b0ae3c687ffc44

The AZ farce continues, and now they're demanding access to county routers/passwords that they have no need for. I seriously don't know how the Feds haven't rolled in and collected the ballots already, they're supposed to remain secure for 22 months following the election and these absolute chucklefucks are sitting there with blue pens (NOT THE COLOR YOU USE AS IT COULD ALTER BALLOTS) and ultraviolet lights lookin for fuckin bamboo because some racist on a conspiracy theory board said something about bamboo ballots and the other racists running this shit, including Cyber Ninjas and the AZ Republican Senate, thought that was a hot tip.

Honestly, the whole thing stinks. Why do these people even have access? Why is vote validation not a federal purview? Surely, if the concern is bias or corruption within the State, you'd want an outside viewpoint, no?

Everyone involved in that shit should be facing 10-20 in federal prisons. None of this is happening by accident; they're actively seeking a way to subvert the lawful vote.

[Breccia]

I seriously don't know how the Feds haven't rolled in and collected the ballots already

They're probably not allowed to, and more importantly, they don't have to. The second this eggy farce ends, they can simply watch and see if the AZ legisilature tries to move on this, and then immediately sue and say "AZ law was broken, therefore, these results are invalid".

If there are any federal laws being broken by this "recount" they can move on those too I guess, but as we've all seen, AZ law was broken so that should be the end of that.

Honestly, the whole thing stinks.

Most farce stink, except to the ones who dealt it.

[Benggaul]

Sunday's quick report:

22,200 new cases; 241 deaths, bringing the total to 595,812. 15 states not reporting. Even on days when Florida has the tiniest excuse to cook their numbers they're topping the chart.

Related news:

New U.S. COVID weekly cases fall to lowest since September--Great news...but still nowhere near as low as they were at the start of the whole shebang. We've got a long way to go still.

Stay safe, folks.

[Edge-]

Even on days when Florida has the tiniest excuse to cook their numbers they're topping the chart.

I'm worried about spring break variants that appear to be doing the rounds escaping to other states. Still desperately hoping we don't have a "Florida Virus" that the vaccines aren't as protective against.

[Felya]

It's been a while since I've watched a LegalEagle video and I don't recall this back when I watched his channel more. But he looks like he's got on a facial prosthetics to make him look like Abraham Lincoln without a beard.

It’s a look... it received a lot of attention when Lyle Lovett was dating Julia Roberts... this is going to sound bad... but, people just look like that and as hard as it was to believe when it came Lyle, some people find it attractive.

[Benggaul]

I'm worried about spring break variants that appear to be doing the rounds escaping to other states. Still desperately hoping we don't have a "Florida Virus" that the vaccines aren't as protective against.

I have so many jokes that I could make about a "Florida Virus" but they already have their own threads.

It's a race between vaccinations and new mutations and has been for a while. Dr. Fauci seems pretty happy with the progress, so I'm trying to latch on to those positive vibes. With varying degrees of success.

[cubby]

I have so many jokes that I could make about a "Florida Virus" but they already have their own threads.

It's a race between vaccinations and new mutations and has been for a while. Dr. Fauci seems pretty happy with the progress, so I'm trying to latch on to those positive vibes. With varying degrees of success.

It's good that progress in the U.S. is getting better. Have you seen anything coming out of India that doesn't terrify you?

[cubby]

Yes, but only things that aren’t covid news related.

I mean, are they on full melt down at this point? The last I saw was their COVID rate count was vertical and they were running out of oxygen.

[Benggaul]

Monday's quick report:

30,152 new cases; 370 deaths, bringing the total to 596,179. Both totals down quite a bit from the previous Monday. Florida topped both lists.

Related news:

'Ill-informed and cruel': Growing number of GOP-led states move to end Covid unemployment benefits--The GOP have always been bastards, but it seems ever since Trump slumped his way to the top of the shit pile they've been unmitigated cunts. That doesn't look to be letting up anytime soon.

Stay safe, folks.

[Darththeo]

They're probably not allowed to, and more importantly, they don't have to. The second this eggy farce ends, they can simply watch and see if the AZ legisilature tries to move on this, and then immediately sue and say "AZ law was broken, therefore, these results are invalid".

If there are any federal laws being broken by this "recount" they can move on those too I guess, but as we've all seen, AZ law was broken so that should be the end of that.



Most farce stink, except to the ones who dealt it.

A person on Twitter told me the evidence of Fraud was being released yesterday, I ask him "Where is the proof?" and he said it is coming. News then reported the audit won't be finished for months. So, these rolling evidence dates are getting ridiculous.

What annoys me the most is these people even if they prove fraud happened don't understand that doesn't mean Trump gets back into the White House. He literally cannot until after 2024 and that is only if he runs and wins then. Because you have to prove fraud happened, but since the election results have been certified and Biden sworn in, you have to impeach Biden. In order to do that, you have to have a crime in which to impeach him. Then he has to be found guilty by the Senate and removed. You would have to do this for Harris as well, otherwise she becomes President.

These Trump supporters are literally pushing for Pelosi to become president under the false ideal that if they prove fraud happened, Trump becomes reclaims the Presidency, he cannot. Just like if we proved, impeached, and removed Trump for the Russian Interference in 2016, Clinton would not have become president. That's not how our laws work.

[Breccia]

News then reported the audit won't be finished for months.

This is both true, false, and ridiculous.

Extending Arizona ballot recount past May 14 is 'not feasible', state fair official says

May 14, you say? Why, that's this coming Friday, isn'it it?

A state official said Wednesday it is "not feasible" to extend the Arizona Senate’s lease on the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where its contractors appear still early in the process of recounting all 2.1 million ballots that Maricopa County voters cast in last year’s general election.

Though tallying began April 23, the Senate’s liaison estimated that only about 200,000 ballots were counted as of Wednesday and that the effort likely would extend beyond the May 14 end date of the Senate’s lease on the facility.

The Republican-controlled Senate faces a hard deadline, however. When the Senate moved in, the coliseum was already booked for Phoenix Union High School District graduation ceremonies scheduled for several days later in May.

Ken Bennett, a former secretary of state acting as the Senate’s liaison, has said the Senate’s contractors could move the 2.1 million ballots off the coliseum floor but store the ballots on site and continue counting later.

“Nothing says we can’t take a break,” he said Friday.

Bennett told reporters Tuesday the Senate was working on extending the agreement so it would not have to vacate the premises entirely.

But Jen Yee, assistant executive director of the Arizona Exposition and State Fair, said Wednesday she had not heard about any extension past May 14.

“An extension is not feasible due to Phoenix Union High School graduations,” she said in an email.

Under its agreement with the Exposition and State Fair, the Senate is required to remove all materials no later than the final date of the agreement on May 14. And transporting the ballots from the county's facilities to the coliseum took an entire day.

The CEO of Cyber Ninjas, the Florida-based firm the Senate hired to lead the process, said on April 22 that he was planning for counting to last about 16 days. And Bennett previously said the process was on track for completion in the time available.

The pace so far is well short of that goal.

The Senate's contractors have created room at the coliseum to accommodate more workers for the recount but the companies are still recruiting for those jobs.

The Senate is not paying rent for the facility, which is owned by the state, but it is required to pay the costs of utilities and other services. Bennett has estimated those costs at about $1,000 a day.

Other, more recent sources, like this one and this one and this one, continue to give similiar numbers: 300,000 or fewer votes counted, about 15% of the total at the most generous. They only have half the staff needed, which makes a lot of sense because they're only bringing in members of the GOP-on-the-bed to do the recount.

Now as a reminder:
1) We do know how much the AZ taxpayers will spend for this. It's $150,000. We don't know how much it will actually cost. One would assume it's a lot, since they're paying $15/hr and are on track to take ten times longer than promised.
2) But we do know a judge told Democrats they would have to pay $1 million to pause the recount, which they refused. Therefore, it's logical to assume AZ recount's hidden backers are primed, ready, and eager to pay that same $1 million, if not more, for Cyber Ninjas to pack things up, wait for a week for the high school graduation, then one would assume continue.
3) The recount is being done further in secret than the state laws seemed to suggest was okay. We already know about the UV lights and the pens, for example. Moving the ballots an extra two times (once out, once more back in) is yet more opportunity to flat-out manufacture evidence.

"Hey! That sounds like a conspiracy theory!"

No. First of all, I said "opportunity", I didn't say they would do it. I merely implied it whilst winking and sipping coffee. Second of all, more recent reports from actual elected officials backing away from this dumpster tire diaper fire sounds less and less "we'll conspire to commit mass election fraud" and more "Your Honor, I swear, I didn't know a group called Cyber Ninjas wouldn't be trustworthy". Third of all, even if I did go full-on frothing at the mouth -- no, cappuccino doesn't count -- I'd be so fashionably late to the party that I'd need my own runway.

When the recount started, the ballots were viewed under ultraviolet light to check for watermarks. A theory popular with QAnon followers is that Trump secretly watermarked mail ballots to catch cheating.

There are no watermarks on ballots in Maricopa County. The effort has since been abandoned.

Read that bolded part back.

No, really.

I SAID FUCKING READ IT BACK.

(sip)

The theory was, Trump was marking ballots. Just going to throw it out there: pretty sure marking someone else's ballot with identifying features without their consent is a felony. Votes are supposed to be sealed.

Math guy here: the highest number I saw was 300,000 votes out of 2.1 million. I'm just going to assume they've been working weekends because I'm too lazy to look it up. Yesterday was 17 days. If that pace continues, and I have 10% or lower confidence it will because amateurs can't sprint a marathon and the money will dry up, but if it did, that means they'd be done...Oct 28th.

Oh, and there's no current law in state or federal writ that will overturn shit. Trick or treat, motherfuckers.

Granted, the point is still to manufacture enough false outrage to create election laws, which based on that timeline, will almost certainly need to be passed by Oct 27th before the smoke fades and mirrors tarnish.

So
a) it's true because, by every measurable metric they're cripplingly behind schedule
b) it's false because, they might not be able to start back up -- they might have no money, no venue, and/or no interest
c) it's ridiculous because, at this point, we're in Plan 9 from Outer Space levels of "so incompetent it's funny to watch".

And yes, I am saying the GOP are going to metaphorically prepare for alien invasion...and this recount is the probe.

[Darththeo]

So
a) it's true because, by every measurable metric they're cripplingly behind schedule
b) it's false because, they might not be able to start back up -- they might have no money, no venue, and/or no interest
c) it's ridiculous because, at this point, we're in Plan 9 from Outer Space levels of "so incompetent it's funny to watch".

And yes, I am saying the GOP are going to metaphorically prepare for alien invasion...and this recount is the probe.

Thank you for the laugh. The idea that there are people who have yet to realize all these audits and recounts are a farce, isn't as humorous however.

I am just tired of all these "Wait until <insert date> then you'll see!" And when <insert date> passes, they are like "no no, you have to wait until <insert new date>." Repeat ad nauseam.

And as I said, these people don't realize even if they prove Biden cheated to be President and remove him and Harris, we get President Pelosi, not President Trump.

[Felya]

Thank you for the laugh. The idea that there are people who have yet to realize all these audits and recounts are a farce, isn't as humorous however.

I am just tired of all these "Wait until <insert date> then you'll see!" And when <insert date> passes, they are like "no no, you have to wait until <insert new date>." Repeat ad nauseam.

And as I said, these people don't realize even if they prove Biden cheated to be President and remove him and Harris, we get President Pelosi, not President Trump.

Just enjoy the schadenfreude... after 4 years of crazy Democrats trying to over turn elections... we see what sane looks like for republicans.

[Darththeo]

Just enjoy the schadenfreude... after 4 years of crazy Democrats trying to over turn elections... we see what sane looks like for republicans.

Well, the difference is that they had found and supplied evidence of Russian Interference in 2016 (just not that Trump was involved or aware of it; even if he was involved, we would need evidence to know that he knew at the time he was breaking the law.) while there is no evidence presented for fraud outside of personal incredulity that there was no way Joe "Sleepy" Biden won fairly.

The whole "only Democrats" challenge the results of an election is a false narrative anyway.

[Breccia]

Texas GOP floors a bill banning vegetarian food from using words like "meat" or "beef" on their food's labels.

"We think the government's role is to protect the people from being tricked by misleading or false claims," the party of smaller government didn't say but I'm pretending they did. "Now let's all continue to push for election suppression laws because of all the fraudulent ballots we never looked for, because they don't exist. HEIL TRUMP!"

- - - Updated - - -

Arkansas' GOP governor: "Trump is dividing our party"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA he did it on CNN HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Gov. Hutchinson joins the not-long-enough list of Republicans standing up for their principles, willing to openly criticize Trump because they're out of office (he can't run for a third term).

Whenever we do not have the president in power from our party, you have divided leadership — you have many different voices.

And former President Trump is dividing our party, and so it's important we not unite with someone who is dividing our party.

And so I don't believe Liz Cheney should be ousted for a vote of conscience. I believe we need to concentrate on more things that bring us together than to separate us, and going to see former President Trump, to me, causes more division than anything else.

Like many others, Hutchinson got on board the Trump train willingly during the 2016 election. His candor now in no way excuses his earlier cowardice. He, and others, knew Trump was a liar, a thief, violent, angry, and incompetent way back in Sept 2105 when he'd been in office for eight months. And he's been a classic Republican for a while (like, Homeland Security on the border classic). If he wanted his party united, he had his chance.

Of course, he's right -- the group of people that sexually identify as Republicans is divided. Problem is, he allowed himself to be outnumbered. As soon as someone retweets this Trump will...bad example. As soon as someone posts this as a reply on Trump's blog, he will...oh, right, disabled. Um, as soon as someone Trump is playing golf with tells him about it, Trump will turn on Hutchinson, too. Not that it matters in terms of elections, but we all know the rabid fanbase loves them some death threats. (See also: murderous insurrection)

You don't say "Hey coach, maybe we should field more than 2 defensive linemen" when you're down 63-3 at the two-minute warning. Or more to the point, if you wait that long, your ass deserves to lose.

[Bodakane]

Texas GOP floors a bill banning vegetarian food from using words like "meat" or "beef" on their food's labels.

"We think the government's role is to protect the people from being tricked by misleading or false claims," the party of smaller government didn't say but I'm pretending they did. "Now let's all continue to push for election suppression laws because of all the fraudulent ballots we never looked for, because they don't exist. HEIL TRUMP!"

As a vegan who buys many faux meats, this stuff isn't a thing. There are NOT a lot of vegan/vegetarian products that have meat or beef in their names or package, unless they say "meatless" or "beefless".

If they care about the consumer, they should talk about the hormones and antibiotics in all their meat.