Open Thread - 17 November, 2020

pl

Comments

[Leith]

Damn fine mission by the SpaceX Dragon. Docking with ISS was reportedly completely autonomous. And just a few days short of the 22nd anniversary of the ISS launch.

https://www.businessinsider.com/astronauts-attach-spacex-crew-dragon-spaceship-international-space-station-2020-11

[Fred]

Looks like more facts about Dominion are bubbling to the top. "Mykale Garrett, former Dominion project manager, ..... Conveniently left Dominion in 2019 to become involved heavily in Michigan politics"
Apparently also involved in getting the Dominion software into the state.

https://threader.app/thread/1328390303607349248
https://www.michigan.gov/documents/localgov/7700117_555468_7.pdf

[Deap]

Is this called proof of voter fraud? Thousands of homeless were unlawfully registered to vote in Los Angeles - by a vote-harvesting team. Charges filed: https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/two-charged-los-angeles-submitting-thousands-fraudulent-voter-registration

Just checking because Democrats and media claim there is no evidence of voter fraud; just more Trump bloviating ..".absent any proof"..

[BillWade]

Fred, Sydney Powell said that there is some evidence of kickbacks to these types, sure hope she's got the goods on them.

[james]

@ pat, i happened to see this and thought of you.. he has a whole solo piano cd called the civil war diaries...one of the tracks that specifically made it think of you is titled - Carry Me Back to Old Virginia...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5BIUF-h6Zs&list=PLEHzH-kv412Hd_8xLDqZuTvJuvQfRv6kL

[Deap]

California counties using Dominion voting software:

"....Back in 2018, Sacramento County excitedly announced it was moving to sending all registered voters a ballot in the mail, and would be using Dominion Voting Systems to process these newfangled ballots.

In 2019, San Francisco County announced it was switching to a new voting system in November “aimed at improving efficiency, security and transparency.”

KTVU San Francisco reported: “The new voting system is called ‘Democracy Suite’ and is made by Dominion Voting, a company that supplies voting systems throughout the nation. Voters will still receive a paper ballot and insert it into the new voting machines.”

Calling it “Voting modernization,” Fresno County also approved the all-mail-in-ballot voting process, and Dominion Voting Systems.

According to the California Secretary of State, the California Counties that use Dominion are:

Alameda, Butte, Contra Costa, Colusa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Marin, Mono, Monterey, Napa, Placer, Plumas, Riverside, Sacramento, San Benito, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Siskiyou, Sonoma, Sutter, Tehama, Tulare, Tuolumne, Ventura, and Yuba......."

[J]

TTG,

Trump Fires Krebs.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1328852352787484677

[Deap]

Who said this in 2016: "We should always have a back up voting system. It is called paper".

Tune in to the interview with the computer expert and see what this expert thinks about computer voting machines: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/11/michigan_professor_demonstrates_how_easy_it_is_to_hack_voting_machines_in_2018_new_york_times_video.html

[J]

China turns Ladakh battleground with India into a ‘microwave oven’

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/china-turns-ladakh-battleground-with-india-into-a-microwave-oven-6tlwtrtzz

[different clue]

I have a question about something with no political consequence.
I used to buy things on Ebay years ago when Ebay was still any fun.
One group of things I collected a few of was interesting pressure cookers.

One time I saw a pressure cooker listed with only 12 hours left to bid. The photo showed an extremely ruggedized version of the swing-bolt style pressure cooker where swing-bolts screw down to hold the lid on. This seller claimed his cooker reached 800 pounds per square inch of pressure. I figured that HAD to be a typo and he MUST have meant 80 pounds per square inch. With 12 hours left, I decided there wasn't time to "ask seller a question" and get the answer in time to bid on it. Only later did I realize that even if it was "only" 80 pounds per square inch of pressure, that was still 4X what any other pressure cooker can do.

I tried researching the brand name of the cooker which I had saved, and the only company I could find with that name was a maker of compressed air machinery and containment vessels for road jackhammering and such. I figured maybe that company tried using its high pressure containment expertise to enter the pressure cooker market, and found no customers. After all these years, I can't even remember the name of the company.

Has anyone here ever seen or even heard of such a pressure cooker?

[Barbara Ann]

Witnessed the most incredible sunrise this morning. The gray and orange dappling seemed to stretch across most of the sky at one stage, with even a large patch behind be at the Western horizon. Isolated lower patches of fluff cast long, dark shadow beams across the brightly colored cloud base. I was reminded of the important message in the opening lines of the poem Leisure by W H Davies:

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

Soul recharged, I am ready for whatever tyrannies come my way this day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leisure_(poem)

[English Outsider]

Bent as a corkscrew, that election looked like. Bent everywhere you look, from rules relaxed or changed because of Covid to doubts about the computers. And so much in between.

And no chance of getting a full audit. Not any audit that's solid, from what I saw of the recount in Georgia. There'll be any amount of anecdotal evidence, plenty of proof of things done wrong here and there, but that's all being countered with "Sure, stuff like that always happens in American elections. But not enough to affect the result."

I so hope Trump's lawsuits get somewhere but don't know enough about it to even guess whether they will. Of course over here there are plenty of arguments about it all too. Those of us who are anti-Trump think the thing was roughly fair and those of us who are pro think it wasn't. Big surprise.

I spoke to a friend who was very much in the anti-Trump camp. He'd been looking around at all the stories as I have. A man of some judgement too. He was pretty sure there wasn't enough in the stories to overturn the result.

OK, I said. But say all these stories were going around as they are, but your man Biden had lost. Would you be happy that he'd lost fairly?

An honest man, this friend. He pondered for a while. "No. I don't suppose I would be."

[Eric Newhill]

In my humble opinion, there is no way in hell the swamp/deep state/Borg will allow the depth of their subversive control over everything and their election fraud be revealed. I believe Trump is merely negotiating for his post-presidential life - and that of his family - at this point. In typical Trumpian fashion he is wisely driving a hard bargain. He will push the potential of a reveal up to the point where they will give him what he needs and a little of what he wants. Trump will try to get security for his family's continued ability to do business and to be financially successful. Trump may be throwing in the ability to obtain license to own and operate a media company. In exchange, he will cease to seek a second term and will not tell too much about certain details or people in his upcoming book deal.

That's it. IMO, Trump has learned that the deep state is too well entrenched to be defeated; that he cannot use the very system that screwed him (and us) to unscrew him.

If the deep state has the power and will to fix a US presidential election and have the media pre-set on their side for the aftermath -and there's no reason to believe they couldn't and didn't(quite to the contrary) - then it is either a fool's errand to think that one could use the very same system to set things right, legally, or it is the first step in the journey of a revolutionary hero of historic proportions that is willing, along with his followers, to take up arms and fight to the death.

I like Trump's vision and policies, but I don't see him as a fool or a war hero.

Why a war hero? Why fighting to the death?

There is so much at stake for the swamp/deep state/borg that they would fight back more viciously than ever. There would have to be investigations and arrests of perpetrators. Careers will be ruined. Glad handing money making networks will be disrupted on a huge scale. In fact, the entire democrat party, especially as run by an old school machine politician like Biden, is a massive money making cartel. That cartel will take a big hit. All of these people will have their media allies amp up the anti-Trump rhetoric to hyperbolic levels exceeding even what we have seen over the past four years. True believers/ideologues will be in a frenzy. There will be continuous riots in the streets. probably targeted assassinations of Trump supporters and conservative politicians on a regular basis. Some of that will be spontaneous and some will be directed and funded by the anti-Trump "resistance". Blue governors will defy policy directives out of Washington DC and there will be de facto secession of states, especially on the West coast.

There will be a whole new round of sabotage from the deep state that will surpass covid, Russia collusion, lying about troop levels deployed to war zones, leaking to the press, fake news, idiotic impeachments and all of that nonsense.

Trump will have to become autocratic, even 100% dictatorial, in his administration style. He will have to suspend posse comitatus to crush out wide spread civil unrest. Basically, he'd have to be a CinC during a civil war. Again, merely my humble - and perhaps very misguided - opinion.

I don't see him as willing or able to do that job.

[The Twisted Genius]

Barbara Ann,

Great to see you have your priorities straight. I wish more people were so enlightened. I read your sunrise report just prior to throwing out a few handfuls of peanuts off the back deck for the squirrels and birds. It was the coldest morning so far this season here in eastern Virginia so I retreated behind the French doors to watch. It was also bright and blustery. I must have had a score of bluejays darting through the hollies and crabapple feasting on the nuts. Their activity was frenetic, but somehow soothing. They were joined by two pair of cardinals and a couple of mockingbirds. I could listen to our mockingbird recitals for hours. They delight and surprise. These birds were giving me such joy that I threw out another couple of handfuls of nuts. Finally a few squirrels ventured forth to share in the bounty, but the birds were the stars this morning. Before I knew it, I spent near forty minutes standing and staring. Time well spent.

[Deap]

Writers on American Thinker are doing a lot of serious number crunching over the very curious, and abberational Biden surge in the wee small hours of the morning CST - between 3AM and 6AM - Wednesday morning:

WISCONSIN:
........
"At 3:37 AM CST, total votes were 3,018,212; Trump had 1,536,270 votes (50.9%); Biden 1,427,614 votes (47.3%); other candidates 54,328 votes (1.8%).

At 3:42 AM CST, total votes were 3,186,598; Trump had 1,561,433 votes (49.0%); Biden 1,570,993 votes (49.3%); other candidates 54,172 votes (1.7%).

Total increase in Trump votes in 5 minutes: 25,163 (1.64%).

Total increase in Biden votes in 5 minutes: 143,379 (10.04%).
....
Before the Biden vote dump, both candidates' votes were increasing at about the same rate, 1.64% per 5 minutes. So the "legitimate" Biden vote increase is likely around 23,400 votes. The remaining 119,979 votes are fake.

......
MICHIGAN:
At 5:32 AM CST on November 4, total votes were 4,574,555; Trump had 2,346,747 votes (51.3%); Biden 2,150,041 votes (47.0%); other candidates 77,767 votes (1.7%).

Then, still at 5:32 AM CST, only five seconds later than the prior reading, total votes were 4,724,327; Trump had 2,352,715 votes (49.8%); Biden 2,291,299 votes (48.5%); other candidates 80,313 votes (1.7%). In that brief five-second period, Trump's vote total increased by 5,968 (0.25%) while Biden's vote total increased by 141,258 (6.57%)!

Folks, that is a clear, fraudulent electronic "ballot dump" for Biden. I calculate that this fraud created about 135,883 fake votes for Basement Joe."

[Deap]

Some great, snappy rebuttals to Leftist "wokeism". We will need these rejoinders over the next few years: https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2020/11/18/woke-author-tries-defining-what-the-opposite-of-woke-means-and-the-responses-were-perfect-n281570

There is hope for America afterall - so many do get it.

[ked]

I found this AI tool for distinguishing conspiracy theories from factual ones to be enlightening - kinda automation of quality LE or intel investigation / analysis. The distinct character of unsubstantiated theories (rapid generation to full-blown narrative and their fragility) are helpful filters.

https://theconversation.com/an-ai-tool-can-distinguish-between-a-conspiracy-theory-and-a-true-conspiracy-it-comes-down-to-how-easily-the-story-falls-apart-146282

Reminded me of this example (the “when will you apologize for beating your wife?” question is classic);

https://www.thedailybeast.com/george-soros-breaks-silence-on-right-wing-conspiracies

[Valissa]

Eric, I pretty much agree. The bipartisan swamp/Borg/deep state has been increasingly determined to expel the Trump virus. Once Trump pushed the generals aside to focus on troop reductions/withdrawals he sealed his fate. Will any future revelations about voting machine fraud be enough to turn the tide? Will the supreme court justices be willing to rule in Trump's favor knowing that it would unleash much instability and violence? If they don't want to be the ones deciding who is the president, that will effect their ruling(s).

In case anyone hasn't read Sundance's writeup on how Trump has been depriving the swamp of its typical rewards for being in political office, I suggest you do.

“There are Trillions at Stake.” https://www.theburningplatform.com/2020/10/04/there-are-trillions-at-stake/

Trump cannot fight off both the Swamp and the Globalists that are all arrayed against him. In a different fashion but with similar results Boris Johnson has been "persuaded" to sing a different tune than the one that got him elected. He seems a shadow of his former self.

I don't care that there are wealthy plutocratic elites with power and influence, but I do care that many of them today no longer care what happens to their home country... and even worse many actively seem to despise their home country and the citizens that still care about where they live and their own quality of life.

Many of the current plutocrats that run US politicians will be more than happy to push Biden et al to undo Trump's executive order against Critical Race Theory. CRT is such a wonderful tool for suppressing free speech and related liberty oriented activism. Threaten folks with being called racists, white supremacists and nazis for daring to have different beliefs or supporting a different political party/ideology so they'll be afraid to challenge those in power. Cancel culture is an often effective though despicable tactic. This leaves those that still care about liberty and free speech with no other options than guerilla warfare against state sponsored Newspeak. Interesting times.

[NancyK]

It seems to me that if the Democrats did steal the election they would have done a better job of it, perhaps won a few more congressional seats or a bigger majority. The reality is they didn't cheat, the election was not stolen. Republicans won more house seats because they put up candidates that the voters liked. Trump did not win because a majority of Americans do not like him, they think he is crude, unprincipled, and a bit off.

[Leith]

Former Green Beret Captain Peter Debbins has just pleaded guilty. He had been arrested back in August and and charged with conspiracy to provide classified defense information to Russian intelligence services.

https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2020/11/18/former-army-green-beret-pleads-guilty-to-divulging-military-secrets-to-russia/

[Fred]

Nancy K,

"perhaps won a few more congressional seats or a bigger majority"

how do you know they didn't?

[Deap]

Time to call cancel culture, name-calling, doxxing, etc what it really it - extortion by threat of violence. Why tip toe around this calculated mob thuggery? Only when naming it correctly, will it be targeted and defeated.

The Hounds of Hell are mythic and eternal - always with us - let's learn how the ancients defended against them. Victor Davis Hanson observed they immediately curl up in a fetal position when they get any pushback. Fie.

One can practice Maori "Hakka" chants of aggression in the privacy of their own homes. And be ready to go into offensive mode when the hounds strike..

[Deap]

New Zealand All Blacks do the best Haka Dance ever- no wonder covid stayed away from this island nation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiKFYTFJ_kw

Try this when BLM/Antifa asaults your next outdoor dinner event.

[Eric Newhill]

Ked,
Maybe someone should run the covid hysteria and the Russian collusion idiocy through the magic AI. Who programmed it? Same guys as Dominion?

[Eric Newhill]

Valissa,
Many elites are now openly talking about how covid represents an opportunity for a total re-set of the global economy. Little Justine Trudeau is one such global/homo/socialist.

No way they can allow Trump to block their golden opportunity.

BTW, I was given a seven day suspension from Facebook for using the term globohomo.