The Polling Catastrophe - The Atlantic - "the failure of the polls leaves Americans with no reliable way to understand what we as a people think outside of elections—which in turn threatens our ability to make choices, or to cohere as a nation... Pollsters closely examined their methods and promised to try to fix problems in 2020, though they noted that polls are never perfect. (Again, the only poll that matters … ) FiveThirtyEight, which smugly boasted that it had given Trump a better chance (roughly 30 percent) than most analysts did in 2016, gave him just a 10 percent chance in 2020. The Economist was even more bullish on Biden. Then came the vote. In every swing state but Arizona, Trump outperformed the FiveThirtyEight polling average... Much of American democracy depends on being able to understand what our fellow citizens think. That has become a more challenging task as Americans sort themselves into ideological bubbles—geographically, romantically, professionally, and in the media they consume. Parties are now mostly ideologically homogeneous. We no longer spend much time around people who disagree with us. Public-opinion polling was one of the last ways we had to understand what other Americans actually believe. If polling doesn’t work, then we are flying blind"
Meme - "Gee, Wally - If most Republicans believe Antifa, BLM and violent left-wing activists stormed the Capitol building on January then why do they oppose a Commission to investigate it?"
If most Democrats believe there was no fraud in the election, why do they oppose audits?
Twitter censors journalist Jack Posobiec for repeating Amazon's stated position on mail-in voting - "Journalist and conservative influencer Jack Posobiec has been censored by Twitter over a tweet in which he repeated Amazon's claim that mail-in ballot elections "have serious and systemic flaws." Reports on Friday highlighted Amazon’s push for in-person voting, appealing a decision to hold mail-in voting to establish a union for workers in the company’s Bessemer facility in Alabama... Posobiec highlighted the hypocrisy of Jeff Bezos, who owns both Amazon and The Washington Post. The paper has repeatedly argued that mail-in ballots are safe and secure."
Former professor calls for government to be overthrown if Trump reelected - "Walsh, who was once a part-time adjunct professor for George Mason University, posted on Twitter his call to overthrow the government if President Donald Trump is re-elected. He tweeted: “Here’s the thing: if the worst-case scenario happens next week, Americans don’t need to just “protest.” They need to actively try to topple the government.” He later claimed the American military would not move to support a duly elected President of the United States if Trump wins. He added: “Also, worth noting that the military has already made it clear that in such a scenario, they’re not going to back Trump.” It is unknown what Walsh has based his claims on that the military would not intervene if a duly-elected president was overthrown. It is doubtful that any member of the United States military, who are bound by oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States, would participate in a coup. In order for anything like Walsh’s idea to work, the vast majority of the military would have to be in agreement to overthrow a duly elected President... Walsh’s call for revolt may have been a violation of 18 US Code 2385, advocating the overthrow of the United States Government."
"Insurrection" is only bad if the right does it
Facebook - [On Hunter Biden's laptop] "Yes, both media and social media straight up lied and suppressed something that would have affected the 2020 election result. Yes, the 2020 election was "rigged", but not the way most people led to think (i.e fraud etc). It was just "pushed" in that direction by controlling what information gets to voters. It's pretty much the kind of thing that some opposition folks in Singapore constantly accuse the ruling party of. Control of media etc. But because its for the "correct side", it was ignored."
Stephen L. Miller on Twitter - "“You can run the best campaign, you can even become the nominee, and you can have the election stolen from you.” — Hillary Clinton"
"Dangerous anti-democratic rhetoric."
Glenn Greenwald on Twitter - "In 2018, 2/3 of Democrats -- 2/3! -- believed that the Russians hacked into voting machine in the 2016 election and changed Hillary votes to Trump votes, which is what enabled Trump to win. Sadly, mass propaganda isn't confined to Hungary."
Project Veritas Exposes Ilhan Omar Allies in Alleged Ballot Harvesting Operation in Minnesota - " Video footage captured by Project Veritas shows an operative, Liban Mohamed, bragging about collecting hundreds of ballots."
CBS2 Investigation Uncovers Votes Being Cast From Grave Year After Year - "A comparison of records by David Goldstein, investigative reporter for CBS2/KCAL9, has revealed hundreds of so-called dead voters in Southern California, a vast majority of them in Los Angeles County."
Democratic senators warned of potential 'vote switching' by Dominion voting machines prior to 2020 election - "Four congressional Democrats sent a letter to the owners of Dominion Voting Systems and cited several problems that “threaten the integrity of our elections,” including “vote switching.” In a December 2019 letter to Dominion Voting Systems, which has been mired in controversy after a human error involving its machines in Antrim County, Michigan, resulted in incorrect counts, Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, and Amy Klobuchar and congressman Mark Pocan warned about reports of machines “switching votes,” “undisclosed vulnerabilities,” and “improbable” results that “threaten the integrity of our elections.”"
Is it dangerous if Democrats do it?
Meme - "Yes, just spent an hour walking around DC writing "Biden Won" in the snow. Always have to remind the GOP."
Pennsylvania Court Rules State’s Mail-In-Voting Law Is ‘Unconstitutional’ - "A Pennsylvania court ruled on Friday that the commonwealth’s 2019 voting law, which allowed anybody to apply for and receive a mail-in ballot to vote at least 50 days in advance, was “unconstitutional” because the legislature did not have permission to alter voting laws without amending the constitution, according to a five-judge panel. Act 77, as the voting law is officially known, “allowed voters to submit a ballot by mail up to 50 days before an election and placed voters on a list to permanently receive a ballot application by mail. It also established 15 more days to register to vote and extended mail-in and absentee submission deadlines”"
This is the subtle election about legitimacy
Months after Trump complaints, some courts are finding irregularities in 2020 elections - "Long after former President Donald Trump dropped his legal challenges to the 2020 election, some courts in battleground states are beginning to declare the way widespread absentee ballots were implemented or counted violated state laws. The latest ruling came this month in Michigan, where the State Court of Claims concluded that Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's instructions on signature verification for absentee ballots violated state law... In neighboring Wisconsin, the state Supreme Court handed down a significant ruling in December when the justices concluded that state and local election officials erred when they gave blanket permission allowing voters to declare themselves homebound and skip voter ID requirements in the 2020 elections... in Virginia, a judge in January approved a consent decree permanently banning the acceptance of ballots without postmarks after Election Day, concluding that instructions from the Virginia Department of Elections to the contrary in 2020 had violated state law"
Ian Miles Cheong on Twitter - "Twitter has banned an account that has been documenting election irregularities. What’s going on?"
Mollie on Twitter - "Trump team: we want every legal vote counted
Biden team: we want every vote counted Distinction between these two approaches is interesting."
Michael Tracey on Twitter - "Most claims of election fraud are straightforwardly insane, but Dems do a bad job of diffusing the issue when they arrogantly insist that all fraud claims are invariably baseless. "Ballot harvesting" manifestly breaks the chain of custody and has been abused by both Dem and GOP"
Arizona Vote Audit Raises Civil Rights Concerns, Partisan Tensions - "Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs sharply criticized the recount, including for reports that ballots and laptops had been left unattended. The same day, a Justice Department official warned that the audit could be violating the 1960 Civil Rights Act by giving election materials to Florida-based contractor CyberNinjas"
"Recounting is illegal, refuse to hand over data is legal. What a time to be alive"
Stephen L. Miller on Twitter - ".@HillaryClinton and Louise Penny are doing a book event tonight on Zoom about their new political thriller, with Stacey Abrams as moderator. Clinton just said she feels "strongly" that Stacey Abrams "actually won" her 2018 race, before pivoting quickly back to the book"
"Is this a threat to democracy? This feels like a threat to democracy. Has the coalition of the very concerned spoken up about this? Guys..."
Escape The Echo Chamber - Posts | Facebook - "You would think that if a foreign nation had hacked a political party’s server, where confidential political documents and conversations were held, that the Department of Justice would pull out all stops to find evidence of the culprit and their methods. Instead they allowed the alleged victim to conduct the physical investigation under the control of a partisan law firm allowing them to hide any illegal activity found under lawyer/client privilege. That’s what the FBI did with the DNC “hack”. Further, the report provided to the FBI didn’t contain any proof of Russian hacking and parts of the report were redacted from the FBI. Then DOJ officials claimed that Russia did hack the DNC server and political operatives spread the narrative that Russia did this to support Trump’s election. Meanwhile we have compelling third party analysis that the “hack” was committed by a DNC insider."
Joe Biden pledged to not declare victory until election is certified - YouTube - "Joe Biden promised he would NOT declare victory until all the votes were counted and the election was independently certified.
Biden lied. He has not been certified as the winner, and yet he has prematurely declared victory. His word is useless."
Biden won places that are thriving. Trump won ones that are hurting. - "The parts of America that have seen strong job, population and economic growth in the past four years voted for Joe Biden, economic researchers found. In contrast, President Trump garnered his highest vote shares in counties that had some of the most sluggish job, population and economic growth during his term."
The subaltern cannot speak, since liberals don't like what he has to say
Michael Tracey on Twitter - "Did anyone notice that nobody brought up Trump's impeachment at the Dem Convention. Frantically portrayed as of earth-shattering, world-historical importance at the time, but apparently didn't even warrant a mention 🤔"
Meme - "It's all a setup. The quarantine, the riots. All of it is just to unseat Trump as President."
"Wouldn't a way easier plan by the "Deep State" have been to find someone other than a senile establishment Dem who sniffs kids, to run against Trump?"
Raheem J. Kassam on Twitter - "Obama says mail-in ballots can only be trusted if the signatures are verified. Go figure!"
What a racist conspiracy theorist
Chris Krebs: 95% of 2020 Ballots Were Paper - "Krebs explained that 82% of the ballots used in the 2016 presidential election had a paper record associated with them. In 2020, that figure increased to 95%. “And with a paper record, you can go back and verify what the machine is saying by physically counting the paper?”... “That tells you that there was no manipulation of the vote on the machine count side”"
Jordan Peterson's Neverneverland Ranch for High IQ Lost Boys - Posts | Facebook - (Fake quote): "Election night. After catching the coronavirus, Trump's re-campaign collapsed, leading to a decisive Biden win... Mr Trump, sir, you deserve to lose - but not *somrthing* be defeated by a fair election, not by the coronavirus. I therefore call for a run[-off] *something* from now"
"Scratch a liberal, find a fascist."
To Communists, anything they don't like (including Democracy) is fascist
The Alt-Centrist - Posts | Facebook - "The next Presidential Debate 'moderator'
Steve Scully: "No, Not Trump, Not Ever""
Donald Trump Will 'Somehow' Try To Delay Election, Joe Biden Warns - "Biden also suggested that Trump is doing “all he can to make it very hard for people to vote” in the ballot with his attempts to use an emergency federal loan as leverage over the Postal Service to bring it further under his administration’s control... To be clear, Trump himself cannot cancel or delay the election. The power to change the election date falls on Congress. And should the vote be postponed, Trump’s term in office would automatically end on Jan. 20, 2021, anyway... Actor Robert De Niro last year floated a theory that if Trump, who has repeatedly joked about being president for life, won the 2020 election, then he could declare war to remain in office for a third term. The 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, however, prevents a president from serving more than two terms."
Blue Anon struck again, but of course liberals and the media didn't care
Democrats reaping the whirlwind of their 2016 election 'Resistance' - "“My sense is that if Trump wins, Hillary supporters will be sad,” left-wing writer Sally Kohn tweeted the day of the 2016 election. “If Hillary wins, Trump supporters will be angry. Important difference.” Kohn turned out to be wrong about her own side that year, which angrily set about delegitimizing Donald Trump’s victory. She was wrong, too, in her apparent assumption — shared by shop owners who boarded up their windows — that Trump supporters would react as violently to his defeat as the Black Lives Matter movement reacted to a death in Minneapolis... we have — or had — a norm against delegitimizing election results. In 1960, Richard Nixon chose to observe that norm and not challenge results in multiple states. In 2000, Al Gore contested the results in Florida but conceded after the final court ruling and segued to issue advocacy. Not so in 2016. In violation of longstanding norms, Obama administration intel and law-enforcement agencies spied on the opposition party campaign. Officials proffered the dodgy Steele dossier before the FISA court without revealing it was paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign. In violation of longstanding norms, Democrats refused to accept the result as legitimate. “I will not accede to this. I will resist,” tweeted liberal think tank head Neera Tanden (President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to head the Office of Management and Budget) five days after the election. Democrats took to calling themselves “the Resistance,” suggesting the Trump administration was morally equivalent to the pro-Hitler Vichy regime in France. Again and again, leading Democrats — Hillary Clinton, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the late Rep. John Lewis, Joe Biden, Jimmy Carter — called Trump an “illegitimate” president. For three years, Democrats advanced the Russia-collusion hoax without finding or producing any evidence except for the discredited Steele dossier. Joe McCarthy had the limp excuse that at some point, there were some communists in the State Department. Democrats and their many allies in the news media lacked a similar excuse for propagating the Russia-collusion hoax. So you can find polls that say most Democrats believe Trump is an “illegitimate” president and that Russians hacked election websites and polls that say most Republicans believe Biden stole the election with the connivance of election officials in multiple states... The conservative National Review is right to denounce Trump’s “disgraceful endgame.” But its liberal counterparts have done little or nothing to denounce Democrats’ disgraceful flouting of longstanding norms. The few left writers — Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi — have taken flak and separated themselves from institutional affiliations. Democrats who are dismayed that many Americans aren’t meekly accepting the legitimacy of the Biden presidency are in the process of learning a lesson taught a very long time ago. You reap what you sow"
One key difference - Trump supporters are saying the results are illegitimate because of fraud. But Trump haters spent 4 years denouncing Trump just because they don't like him
Dave Wasserman on Twitter - "The story is pretty clear in NYC: Biden gained ground among whites, Trump gained ground among minorities. Pro-Trump swing by borough, '16-'20: 1. Bronx +11.8 2. Queens +8.6 3. Brooklyn +7.6 4. Manhattan +3.0 5. Staten Island -0.2"
ARIZONA: White Powder Sent to Senate President Fann, Who Organized The Forensic Audit - "A letter filled with suspicious “white powder” was sent to Arizona Senate President Karen Fann’s office"
The Meme Policeman - Posts | Facebook - "Most of you following this page understand the importance of diversifying your fact check sources. This post will highlight that by looking at some of NBC’s analysis from last night’s debate.
▪️Fact checking Trump’s claim that windmills “kill all the birds.”
🔹No one took this statement literally, even the NBC fact checkers, but they admit that windmills do kill birds. Which was Trump’s point. So the fact check then adds in that they kill less birds than cats or high rises, like Trump used to live in. This is not a fact check, just a writer taking jabs at Trump.
🔹Pointing out that cats and buildings kill more birds than windmills is true, but fails to distinguish that they kill different TYPES of birds. Windmills tend to kill larger, rarer and more threatened birds. Like golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, kestrels, burrowing owls and peregrine falcons. Cats and buildings mostly kill smaller, more common and less threatened types of birds, particularly passerines. Your house cat isn’t out killing eagles.
🔹Furthermore, the larger birds windmills kill have far less offspring. For example, a golden eagle has just 1-2 chicks in a brood, usually less than once a year. Whereas a songbird like a robin could have up to 2 broods of 3-7 chicks a year. Some bird species are far more resilient than others, making number comparisons misleading.
🔹Windmills also kill bats, particularly migratory bats. Scientists are worried that their populations could drastically decline because of windmills, the hoary bat up to 90% in the next 50 years. In fact, scientists consider windmills, especially a huge increase in windmills across the country, to be the single greatest threat to bats.
🔹This is some of the missing context from a “fact check” that insisted on adding context solely to take a jab at Trump, but ended up telling you little.
▪️The check on Trump’s claim about carbon emissions is even worse.
🔹NBC brings up points about cutting EPA funding and reducing regulations, but this is unrelated to Trump’s claim, which was emissions. He’s equivocating emissions with “climate protections.” Why couldn’t both emissions and the EPA be cut?! Again, this is just a writer trying to take jabs at Trump.
🔹The actual fact check about Trump’s emissions claim cites a spike of emissions from 2018, not revealing that emissions fell 2.8% in 2019! And projections for this year are for it to plummet another 11%. Obviously, this year’s numbers are impacted by COVID, but they’re falling and many emissions categories are the lowest on record. And petroleum/coal emissions are at record lows, largely offset by lower-emitting natural gas, which was a Trump’s claim in the debate.
▪️Highlighting his comments about China, India and Russia’s environment being “filthy” is just absurd. It admits he was referring to pollution, but that the word has “a connotation far beyond that.” This gigantic stretch allows them to dredge up the “shithole countries” remark, again only to take a jab, not to inform.
▪️Fact checking Trump’s claim that the stock market would crash if Biden wins is useless. It’s a prediction by Trump, not a factual claim. All politicians make predictions, most of which are wrong. You either believe them or not. Biden in the same debate predicted a “dark winter” with COVID. It’s only worth examining in hindsight, or arguing with in the present. The stock market might very well crash under a Biden presidency, or it could go up. The only “evidence” for either claim is the opinion of other investors, which are notoriously unreliable. How many financial experts would have predicted stock markets at this level back in March?"
Judge rules Michigan's Democratic secretary of state broke law with absentee ballot rule - "A Michigan judge ruled last week that Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson violated state law by unilaterally altering absentee voting rules ahead of the 2020 presidential election."
Meme - "David Atkins @ @DavidOAtkins: No seriously...nhow *do* you deprogram 75 million people? Where do you start? Fox? Facebook? We have to start thinking in terms of post- WWII Germany or Japan. Or the failures of Reconstruction in the South.
Biglittlebilly2 @biglittiebilly2: First we need to disarm them. Then we can put them in reeducation camps that can be established all across the country. Reeducation should only take 2 to 4 weeks. After that they can reenter society"
"Unity" is achieved when you've crushed all your political enemies
What progressives should know about Trump voters - "1. Voters appreciate that the economy is currently experiencing near record-low peacetime unemployment, record-low minority unemployment, and virtual 3% annualized GDP growth. Interest and inflation rates remain low. Workers' wages increased after years of stagnation. The US is now the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas. And gasoline prices remain affordable. The President continues to redress asymmetrical trade with China, as well as with former NAFTA partners and Europe. He jawbones companies to curb offshoring and outsourcing...
2. Trump does not exist in a vacuum. Many supporters turned off by some of his antics are still far more appalled by an emerging radical neo-socialist Democratic agenda. If the alternative to Trump is a disturbing tolerance among some Democrats for anti-Semitism, the Green New Deal, reparations, a permissive approach to abortion even very late in pregnancy, a wealth tax, a 70-90% top income tax rate, the abolition of ICE, open borders, and Medicare for all, Trump's record between 2017-20 will seem moderate and preferable. Progressives do not fully appreciate how the hysterics and media coverage of the Kavanaugh hearings, the Covington teenagers and the Jussie Smollett psychodrama turned off half the country. Such incidents and their reportage confirmed suspicions of cultural bias, media distortions, and an absence of fair play and reciprocity.
3.Trump can be uncouth and crass. But he has shown an empathy for the hollowed-out interior, lacking from prior Republican and Democratic candidates. His populist agenda explains why millions of once traditional Democratic voters defected... Some polls counterintuitively suggest that Trump may well win more minority voters than prior Republican presidential candidates.
4. Trump may come across as callous to some, but to others at least genuine. He does not modulate his accent to fit regional crowds, as did Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden...
5. Even when Trump has hit an impasse, his supporters mostly continue to believe that he at least keeps trying to meet his promises... Trump has not suffered a "Read my lips" or "You can keep your doctor" moment.
6. Voters are angry over the sustained effort to remove or delegitimize a sitting president. Many of the controversies over Trump result from the inability of Hillary Clinton supporters to accept his shocking victory. Instead they try any means possible to abort his presidency in a way not seen in recent history... All this comes in addition to a disturbing assassination "chic," as Madonna, Johnny Depp, Kathy Griffin, Robert DeNiro and dozens of others express openly thoughts of killing, blowing up, or beating up an elected president. The Shorenstein Center at Harvard University has found that mainstream media coverage of Trump's first 100 days in office ranged from 70-90% negative of Trump, depending on the week, an asymmetry never quite seen before seen but one that erodes confidence in the media. Voters are developing a grudging respect for the 72-year-old, less-than-fit Trump who each day weathers unprecedented vitriol and yet does not give up, in the Nietzschean sense of whatever does not kill him, seems to make him stronger.
7. Progressives seemingly do not appreciate historical contexts. By past presidential standards, Trump's behavior while in the White House has not been characterized by the personal indiscretions of a John F. Kennedy or Bill Clinton. His language has been blunt, but then so was Harry Truman's. He can be gross, but perhaps not so much as was Lyndon Johnson... the present media climate and the electronic age of the Internet and social media, along with general historical ignorance about prior presidencies, have warped objective analysis of Trump...
8. Globalization enriched the two coasts, while America's interior was hollowed out... half the country feels that elites, a deep state, or just "they"... are both condemnatory and yet ignorant of so-called fly-over country. Trump is seen as their payback.
9. For a thrice-married former raconteur, the Trump first family appears remarkably stable, and loyal. The first lady is winsome and gracious. Despite the negative publicity, daughter Ivanka remains poised and conciliatory. The appearance of stability suggests that if Trump may have often been a poor husband, he was nonetheless a good father.
10. Trump is a masterful impromptu speaker. Increasingly he can be self-deprecatory, and his performances are improving."
Twitter didn’t just suspend Arizona, they just suspended the election audit accounts of ALL the contested Battleground states.
Apparently audits are bad
I'm sure this convinced the conspiracy theorists that the election wasn't stolen
USA TODAY on Twitter - "The claim: Trump campaign shirts feature imperial eagle, a Nazi symbol
Our ruling: True
Clarification: The claim that Trump 2020 has put out a T-shirt with a symbol similar to a Nazi eagle and is being criticized for it is true. Worth noting, the eagle is a longtime US symbol, too."
We're still told liberals don't hate their countries
USA Today fact-check slammed after claiming picture of Biden press secretary with communist imagery is 'missing context' - "“Fact check: The claim: A photo shows Jen Psaki, Joe Biden's pick for press secretary, wearing a hammer and sickle hat while posing with officials from Russia,” USA Today tweeted on Tuesday in response to a photo that resurfaced of Obama administration alum Jen Psaki posing with Russian officials donning a hat emblazoned with the communist hammer and sickle"
How convenient. "Context" is how you can defame your political opponents while shilling for your side
Meme - "Regardless of the outcome, one thing I know is that a latino will never see remorse or care from me again. Whatever shit y'all got going on (and I mean WHATEVER) that is on YOU as of today. Don't mention black people. Do not ask for our help. I view y'all the same as white people"
Facebook - "Imagine being part of a "resistance" movement that wants to install a man who has been in elite political power for over 40 years. Imagine feeling like a revolutionary as all major corporations, TV, newspapers, academia, music, social media, film, streaming, ads, textbooks, unions, NGO's, global agencies, and bureaucracies echo your every feeling and passion."