Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Is it the dawning of a new era or are we continuing the one we’re already in? The answer was not clear when we assembled today at 9AM Pacific Time (the best time zone, as everyone knows), but we do our best to pundit all of the facts we knew when we rolled tape clicked record. But before we start that, Rob Long has a statement he’d like to make. And Peter Robinson has some thoughts on why the race may not really be over. On that topic, we are lucky to have John Yoo, Esq. back on to take us through the myriad election laws on both the state and the Federal level. Then, Arizona native (and Ricochet Editor-In-Chief) Jon Gabriel calls in from his car to explain the finer points of voting with a Sharpie and why that matters and offer his theory on how that state’s Presidential race is going to wind up. Finally, we go across the pond to Budapest to tap the mind of one the most cogent political observers we know: John O’Sullivan. From his perch in Budapest, he has a perspective and a point of view that is perceptive and unique. And he sounds so urbane when he delivers it, we can’t resist. Finally, wind up with some thoughts and insights on polling and why it was so off this cycle.
That’s a wrap on the 202o election cycle, folks. We thank you for sticking with us. We know (boy, do we know…) that you didn’t always agree with what you heard on this show, but we hope you weren’t bored and that once in a while you gained an insight or two. We have some interesting plans for the show going forward (including offering members the ability to watch it –warts and all– live on Zoom as we record it) and some very cool guests. The future starts now.
Music from this week’s show: That’s Life by Frank Sinatra
Subscribe to The Ricochet Podcast in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.
DonorsTrust
DonorsTrust is the community foundation for the liberty movement. Any donor-advised fund will simplify your giving and offer great tax benefits. Only DonorsTrust shares your principles. Visit donorstrust.org/ricochet to get your free prospectus.
Well, supposedly Rob wasn’t a NYC person until just recently, but he may have always been an elitist.
From The Daily Caller article previously cited (emphasis mine):
and later in the same article:
So, which is it? Software glitch? Or user error? Why is the story changing? If the user was able to make an error of this magnitude, perhaps other users of the same software could also inadvertently or deliberately make the same error? Or if it’s a software glitch, then perhaps other copies of the software installed in other Michigan counties and states exhibited the same glitch.
Either way, an audit of every county or precinct in every state in the Union that used this software should be undertaken.
On a side note, this software was certified for use in the election by CISA (the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency). If this software is prone to a user error that can shift 6,000 votes from one presidential candidate to the other (and these “oops” errors always seem to go in the direction of Joe Biden) or if the software has a glitch they hadn’t run across, one would think that they too should have known BEFORE certifying it for use in the 2020 election. I’m sure teams of CISA officers are en route to Michigan and other states as I write this…or not.
I guess the CISA people didn’t notice the switch that can be set to either “Normal” or “Cheat.”
As others have noted elsewhere, much of the recent generations is pretty innumerate. So if they are running these ballot-counting machines, and they feed in 50 ballots and the numbers change by 6,000 they might not even notice. And if they noticed, they would think it was just fine, somehow.
That’s why a full audit should be done.
At a minimum I would at least look at a full recount in each State that utilized the software and initiate a full recount of every county that used it. Minimum. We as a country need to do something about our third world elections system, which by the way, is not as secure from cheating as the one we forced on Iraq for the elections there…just sayin’.
Thought I’d catch the weather report for tomorrow and landed at the end of Slow Joe’s speech. You called it. More babbling about unity. I managed to keep dinner down.
Carry on.
Two words for Robb: Trump 2024!
Donald “Grover Cleveland” Trump (MOST popular Republican President ever)
Either Donald, or Ivanka, depending how things turn out now.
My fantasy is that after three months of Biden and the remainder of Harris, repubs take the House and the Senate by wide margins the mid-terms. The Constitution doesn’t specify that the Speaker of the House must be a member, so The Donald is elected. Two impeachments later, Trump is President again. Better than contemplating what Headboard Harris will do to the country.
At least it’s fun to think about. Unlike what’s going on now.
Peter, you were not listening to Rush very closely (or your staffer got it wrong) because he did not concede. He was making a hypothetical question. He even remarked about all the incorrect e-mails he got about conceding. Otherwise, I like your comments about the bald faced way the Dems just steal the election, and nothing happens to them. If there is no downside to cheating, i guess it is OK for them to keep on cheating.
John Yoo’s argument that the electoral system is too diverse to be rigged is preposterous, and he should be embarrassed.
In all but landslide elections, all you need is a few corrupt inner city precincts or districts to inject enough fraudulent ballots to swing a state’s electoral votes.
And when they all use the same voting software, that makes it even easier.
Well, Pennsylvania officials have until 2pm ET tomorrow to respond to Alito. My sense is that Alito and the other conservative justices are in discussion on whether to declare the new PA election extension unconstitutional and put it to the entire court for a vote. If that’s the case then potentially tens or hundreds of thousands of votes could be tossed out. Now, the PA officials could respond by stating they don’t have a way to identify which ballots came in after Election Day…which could trigger the high court to order a blanket recount and supervised audit under their conditions not Pennsylvania’s.
Sounds good to me!
Now maybe they just need to order the same thing for a few other states…
Remember how we mocked the Democrats for their Diebold theories in 2004?
We can hope. Downside: It’s blood in the streets. I guess that’s the price.
Did anyone catch Diebold machines changing 6,000 votes at a time?
I wish we could send the Republicans supporting Biden the bill for all of the promises Biden signed on to in the Democratic Party Platform. For starters, say good-bye to more school choice and hello to more money for the teachers’ unions. And the costs and controls that go with Paris Agreement on climate change are staggering. Can we send just the Democrats and Never Trumpers the bill for that, please?
And in firing Trump’s entire cabinet and supporting Biden’s cabinet, there will be an onslaught of both resurrected and new regulations that the Democratic Party cabinet will institute. These will be a terrible burden to individuals and businesses. It’s been wonderful seeing so many regulations bite the dust these last four years. Now it’s back to slogging through them every day. I wish I could put them only on the Never Trumpers.
Most of all, I wish someone would hold the Democrats responsible (a) for telling so many lies about Trump’s work to slow the virus down and encourage the development of treatments and vaccines and (b) for impugning the reputation of the vaccine developers and casting doubt on the safety and efficacy of the vaccines now in the works.
The Never Trumpers got so caught up in their hatred for Donald Trump that they gave away the really brilliant work his cabinet has been doing.
This election, like all presidential elections, was about the governing philosophies of the two parties, not the men running for president. Welcome to the new welfare state of America. It’s coming.
One problem is, the Never Trumpers probably don’t have to deal with those regulations themselves. What kind of regulations do you suppose Biden would put on Jonah Goldberg reading dusty old tomes and typing out his own thoughts on them?
Now, if you make it impossible for Jonah to get the pipes and cigars and tobacco and wine and stuff that he wants, then you might have some impact.
But mostly, probably not. Indeed that could easily be why people like Jonah don’t mind people like Biden winning: it really has little or no serious impact on THEIR lives.
I’m not going to entertain specific hypotheticals about a Biden presidency. I’m going to take one day at a time. After having lived through the Bush v. Gore nightmare, it could be weeks before either Trump or Biden is declared POTUS – and most likely some of the legal challenges may be destined for SCOTUS. Overconfidence on Biden’s part and his campaign and the Democrats may backfire on them.
At a time such as this one’s mind wanders. Things are either eternal or temporal. If the latter, there is an end date. That is indisputable. It remains only to guess the end date. I have a feeling that the end date of the USA as I’ve known it is not that far away.
Hopefully SCOTUS doesn’t just punt on things as being “political issues” or something.
What would be nice is a bunch of 7-2, 8-1, even 9-0 decisions so that there can’t be any crying about illegitimacy due to ACB.
Here’s the New York Post on how to fix mail ballots:
https://nypost.com/2020/08/31/mass-vote-by-mail-really-does-invite-fraud-we-must-guard-against-it/
On some podcasts I take the Ben Grimm approach – res ipsa loquitur – and unless I have some trenchant point or am peeved or piqued, well, I figure Rob or Peter have questions enow.
Also, I have suspicions and doubts and questions, but I do not completely trust the things that led to these doubts, so maybe I didn’t want to air out things I’m thinking that might be half-baked.
This dovetails with the statistical analysis Rush Limbaugh was talking about. Biden significantly under performed Clinton in the states where it didn’t matter and he significantly over performed Clinton where it did.
@jameslileks
If I may say…
Many of us feel more confident with your guesses than with other peoples’ facts.
(Dr McCoy)