5/26/21: Another vote audit, this time in New Hampshire, ends without producing
evidence of widespread voter fraud. In this case, a tangible gap in vote
tallies in a race for the state legislature prompted a check of all totals.
____________________
Yes.
“Seeing things,” is correct.
____________________
A
bipartisan team of three auditors finds no sign of tampering, and rules that
the mistake was due to human error.
Naturally, “Loser Donald” isn’t buying such results. In a
plaintive statement, he wonders, “Why aren’t
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republicans doing anything about what went
on in the 2020 Election? How can the Democrats be allowed to get away with
this?”
You mean
get away with nothing, according to New Hampshire auditors?
It turns
out voting machines were confused by improperly folded ballots, which
left a crease running through a bubble, making it appear a vote had been cast
for one candidate, when none was intended.
Looking for voter fraud in New Hampshire.
Kancamagus Pass, New Hampshire.
Corey
Lewandowski, who lives in Windham, New Hampshire, and served as Trump’s campaign manager for
part of 2016, has seized on the audit as proof that there are voter
discrepancies elsewhere.
“This isn’t
just about the town of Windham,” Lewandowski exclaims. “We’re seeing things
take place across this entire country.”
Auditors
point out that no results were changed in the end. The four Republicans who
were elected were still elected.
It doesn’t
matter. Evidence isn’t the issue. Trump supporters continue to believe that the
New Hampshire audit proves their Orange God could have been cheated out of
millions of votes, even though this audit had nothing to do with mistakes in
the presidential race.
“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics
are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.”
Bertrand
Russell
____________________
September Dumping Ground: As the month comes to an end,
we catch up on a few stories you might have missed.
The “Justice for J6” rally in Washington D.C., organized by former
Trump campaign aide Matt Braynard and planned for Sept. 18, proves a fizzle. The cause for which rally-goers had
planned to gather was to demand release of “political prisoners” jailed for
their part in the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill.
Apparently, most Americans with eyeballs had deduced that the
rioters were not innocent patriots and, because of their alleged advocacy of
violence in many cases, might deserve to be sitting in jail until trial. Only a
few hundred pro-insurrectionist types showed up, and found themselves
outnumbered (this time) by police.
Even most Republican politicians, who had backed up Donald Trump’s
claims of a stolen election, decided showing up to support people who beat up
scores of police officers would be bad optics. So they stayed away.
*
Sept. 20: The Wall Street Journal
reports that Loser Donald is still fuming over Mitch McConnell’s failure to support
him – just because he wanted to steal the election, and maybe watch Mike Pence
hanged.
Donald is trying to recruit allies in the Senate “to depose
Mr. McConnell.” In a recent interview, Trump said McConnell should be taken out
like the trash, and maybe left at the curb, in hopes some scavenger would pick
him up. (Okay, he did mention trash; I just made up the part about the
scavenger.) Trump added that the Kentucky lawmaker “is very bad for the
Republican Party.”
In particular, Loser Don was angry because McConnell had gone
along with President Biden, in working to pass an infrastructure plan. That
deal, he grumbled, made “the Republicans look weak, foolish and dumb.”
As opposed to the fine infrastructure deal that Trump never
got done.
*
Sept. 21: People magazine posts a
story about an Idaho nurse, Natalie Rise, mother of two ten-year-old twins. Mom
died from COVID-19 in August. Her own mother first fell ill, then Ms. Rise developed symptoms and went to the hospital. She
and her mother ended up in rooms not far apart, but her mother recovered. Even
as Natalie’s condition deteriorated, she told her brother not to get vaccinated.
“She was telling me not to get vaccinated,” he explained. “I
think it was from misinformation, I think it was from falling into negative
social media and bloggers, YouTubers.”
*
Sept. 23: NOAA reports that the
Southwest is suffering through the worst drought in “instrumental history,”
going back to 1895, when accurate and detailed measurements became common.
The source of the problem? Scientists warn that in an already
dry region, higher temperatures – a result of climate change – melt snow packs
in the mountains earlier, speeding up drying of soil. (And vegetation.) Water
evaporates quicker in the heat, and levels in reservoirs start falling.
(I think it’s safe to say Rejected-President Trump has not
been keeping up with reports from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association,
and neither have his generally clueless fans.)
*
Sept. 23: The Mormon Church informs members that all workers and patrons will be
required to wear masks in all temples at all times. God might work in
mysterious ways. But no need to take chances with viruses here on earth.
*
Sept. 24: We learned that Dr. Matthew Trunsky, a pulmonologist and
director of the palliative care unit at a Beaumont Health hospital
in southeastern Michigan, had reached a breaking point.
He’s seen more than a hundred coronavirus deaths, but reactions
of the most recent patients have been hard to take. As the Washington Post
explains, one night he went home, still in his black scrubs, opened up
Facebook, and vented:
He wrote about a critically
ill patient who disputed his covid-19 diagnosis. Another threatened to call his
lawyer if he wasn’t given ivermectin, an anti-parasite drug that is not approved for treating covid. A
third, Trunsky wrote, told the doctor they would rather die than take one of
the vaccines.
One demanded a different doctor.
“I don’t believe you,” he told the physician [when told he had the
coronavirus].
[Dr. Trunsky] added: “Of course
the answer was to have been vaccinated – but they were not and now they’re
angry at the medical community for their failure.”
*
Sept. 24: We learned that Rudy Giuliani
has been banned from appearing on Fox News, much to his chagrin. (In
fact, he’s been banned for three months, but didn’t know it until September
11.) Since he, and Fox have both been sued for defamation, for peddling “stolen
election claims” focusing on Dominion Voting Systems, it would seem likely Fox
doesn’t want to give Dominion’s lawyers any more ammunition to use in court.
Because this is Rudy. You know, if he shows up on Sean Hannity’s show, he’s
going to say something truly nuts.
*
Sept. 26: A crush of new COVID cases in
Idaho has left morgues scrambling. One funeral director has brought in a
refrigerator truck to handle the overflow. According to the Idaho Statesman,
other funeral directors are embalming bodies that might not need it, in order
to save space in coolers.
Even cremation facilities are finding it difficult to
keep up. Idaho, of course, is one of the least-vaccinated states. (With only
41.4% of adults fully or partially vaccinated, when I checked the Mayo Clinic
website three days later, only Wyoming and West Virginia had fared worse when
it came to convincing citizens to take the shots.)
*
Sept. 26: We learned, via a report on Politico,
but also covered by Fox News, that Team Trump had suffered
another self-inflicted gunshot wound to the groin. This time, Trump loyalist
Corey Lewandowski got the boot after a Trump donor accused him of drunken, sexual
misconduct.
To wit, from his accuser Trashelle Odom:
“On the evening of September 26 in Las Vegas, Nevada, I
attended a dinner to support a charity and spend time with wonderful friends,”
Odom told Politico. “He repeatedly touched me inappropriately,
said vile and disgusting things to me, stalked me, and made me feel violated
and fearful,” she said, referring to Lewandowski.
“I am coming forward because he needs to be held accountable,”
Odom continued. “I am blessed to have a loving husband and family behind me. I
want other women to know that you can be heard, too, and together we can stop
terrible things like this from happening.”
Team Trump released a statement, wishing Mr. Lewandowski
well, but noting, “He will no longer be associated with Trump World.”
As an added bonus, a conservative website, citing multiple
sources, accused Lewandowski of conducting a months-long affair
with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, whom he was serving as an informal adviser.
For her part, the governor has denied the story, calling it “total garbage.”
“I love Bryon,” she added in a Twitter post pledging fealty
to her husband. “I’m proud of the God-fearing family we’ve raised together. Now
I’m getting back to work.”
*
Sept. 28: We learned that Louisiana had
piled up another 1,048 cases of the coronavirus, 30% of which
were kids. Officials noted that across the state, 952 persons were hospitalized
with COVID-19.
*
Sept. 29: At the Billings Clinic, the largest
hospital in Billings, Montana, emergency
room doctor Jaimee Belsky was warning that staff could barely keep up with the influx
of extremely sick COVID-19 patients. The ICU was operating at 150% of normal
capacity. “People need to get vaccinated because right now we’re hurting,” she explained.
The National Guard had been called out to help.
