The corrupt toadying in the Administration plunges right ahead. How many people here heard that the Bolton book had classified material in it? Yup. Of course you did. And you will continue hearing it if you watch Fox News, because they don't let facts get in the way of a good accusation.

Here's the story laid out in longer detail than most of us have any appetite for.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/us/p ... ocess.html
In a letter filed in court Wednesday, Ellen Knight, the professional who did the pre-publication review with Bolton, accuses the White House of falsely asserting that Bolton revealed classified information, and of retaliating against her when she refused, for reasons she stated carefully and in depth, to go along with an attempt to get her to back them up.

They lied, and then they pressured her to confirm their lie.

It turns out the accusation was by Michael Ellis, an unqualified political appointee who followed his own ignorant impulses and simply compared content to matters that were on a list of things that had been classified. Sounds legit, right? In the world Rudy Giuliani inhabits, that's all that matters. Sounds legit. The problem is the standard used for that list is the one for official government documents, which "pre-emptively classify" material, such as discussions with foreign leaders, which have not actually been reviewed for material that meets the standard of needing to be classified. But Knight and the other professionals who reviewed the book had already followed standard procedure by looking at the more stringent exclusion standards applied to books published outside, relying on whether the material stayed classified, based on real principles.

So the review by Ellis, whose qualification for the job is that he had worked for Devin Nunes, overturned the professional finding and claimed the book was full of still-classified material. Then the Justice Department, carrying this opinion, sued to block publication of the book. Fortunately the judge wasn't convinced. Would you, as a judge, take the Justice Department's word for anything these days? Judge Lamberth refused to censor the book, even though he left the question of its containing classified material for another day.

That should have been enough to pour shame on Ellis, the Justice Department, and the rest of His Messiahship's enablers. But they didn't stop there. Not only was Knight removed from her White House job and shunted back to a former job outside the national security bureaucracy, but they asked her not to communicate with them in writing so that they could deny her finding that the book contained no unclassified material by never officially declaring the pre-publication process to be complete.

The letter also describes the pressure campaign (more than 18 hours of meetings - this is Benghazi all over again, except done in the dark without cameras) by political appointees to get Knight to say she had erred. They challenged her to explain, and she responded with the details. Unfortunately for them she had actually considered the issues and knew the clear and objective reasons for allowing those matters to be published.

When Knight asked the lawyers why they were so insistent on pursuing legal action against Bolton, she speculated that it was because the most powerful man in the world said that it needed to happen. Several registered their agreement with that assessment, according to her letter.

When Adam Schiff pointed out that His Messiahship would continue to put his own political goals ahead of the good of the American public, every person in the room and most of the television viewers knew he was describing the actual situation.

Now we have the substance of the plans by His Messiahship to steal the election. Sources inside the campaign explain a plan to use electoral confusion to cover state legislators abrogating election results and appointing electors regardless of the vote in their state.

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters ... an/616457/

Now we know why Trump has been seeking more spread of the virus at every turn. Now we know why he lies constantly to claim that the election is going to be illegitimate.

We saw the Republican party refuse to oust him for misusing his power to blackmail an ally into smearing his opponent. We have seen them suppressing democracy at every turn. It's about to get much worse.

We need to rise up against these plutocrats and make clear what kind of system America has.

The Repubicans had a golden opportunity to avoid disaster for their party. They could have convicted Trump and very probably had 4 more years in power with Pence. But they blew it. The late Sen. Paul Simon said that in politics sometimes you lose when you win, and win when you lose. Republicans think they're going to keep on winning. I don't think the American public is going to reward them for their 'victories.'

Look how being 'exonerated' (not) has emboldened Trump. What reelection will cause this true maniac to do is the stuff of nightmare.

Now we know why Trump has been seeking more spread of the virus at every turn.

Yep - the election is going to be illegitimate as more and more issues with mail in balloting are beginning to pop up.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/tempora ... d=73251533


Nothing to see here!! Move along!!




Party before principles!


Carry on.

That incident needs to be investigated, of course. And so the conclusion is that Trump is justified in claiming that if he loses, it will be due to massive fraud with mail-in ballots. That is what die-hard supporters are saying, I guess.

Here's a good 'equal time' article on the falsehoods and misrepresentations of both Biden and Trump. It's from the fact-check guy at the Wash Post, Glen Kessler. His column has become well-known for tallying the over 20,000 false or misleading statements coming from Trump. So, many Republicans dismiss it because, after all, it is the Post. But these people don't know that Kessler covers the other side, too. Trump's record of lies and misinformation has been so overwhelming that we forget that before Trump came along, Joe Biden was noted for getting things wrong, and even for lying, since plagiarism is a form of lying. If you want, you can read the piece and assess Kessler's side-by-side comparison.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... tale-tape/

DWill wrote:That incident needs to be investigated, of course. And so the conclusion is that Trump is justified in claiming that if he loses, it will be due to massive fraud with mail-in ballots. That is what die-hard supporters are saying, I guess.

No, it's not what "die-hard supporters" are saying, and if they are, they do not have a copyright on the phrase, nor should anyone that is reasoning mail in balloting can result in significant fraud be demonized for saying it.
Similar incidents are popping up more often. Everyone should be concerned.

ant wrote:No, it's not what "die-hard supporters" are saying

Oh yes, it certainly is what they're saying. I hear it nonstop all day long.

Similar incidents are popping up more often. Everyone should be concerned.

I don't think it should ever be less than a concern, just to maintain diligence. In the article you linked, the 9 trashed ballots were found and an investigation is underway, the culprit fired. The supervisor was diligent enough this time.

But how much of a concern?

It's unreasonable to think that of the 140 million votes or so cast, human error or stupidity or intentional ill-will won't cause some ballots to be misplaced or trashed. I also think it's unreasonable to assume that it would greatly benefit either side, as there are fervent supporters on both sides amongst election staff.

The real fear is a single concentrated effort by one side or the other, to the order of thousands or more ballots. That sort of fraud is the type that would tilt the scales, and is the type that there is no evidence of.

I'm curious if there's any fiction or nonfiction book that talks about how someone might hypothetically bypass the safeguards to perpetrate fraud on that level.

ant wrote:

DWill wrote:That incident needs to be investigated, of course. And so the conclusion is that Trump is justified in claiming that if he loses, it will be due to massive fraud with mail-in ballots. That is what die-hard supporters are saying, I guess.

No, it's not what "die-hard supporters" are saying, and if they are, they do not have a copyright on the phrase, nor should anyone that is reasoning mail in balloting can result in significant fraud be demonized for saying it.
Similar incidents are popping up more often. Everyone should be concerned.

A someone with the power and influence of a president certainly should be demonized for making entirely false claims that lead Americans to doubt the integrity of elections. He is not even acting as a patriot. He puts himself before country; we've known that.

DWill wrote:

ant wrote:

DWill wrote:That incident needs to be investigated, of course. And so the conclusion is that Trump is justified in claiming that if he loses, it will be due to massive fraud with mail-in ballots. That is what die-hard supporters are saying, I guess.

No, it's not what "die-hard supporters" are saying, and if they are, they do not have a copyright on the phrase, nor should anyone that is reasoning mail in balloting can result in significant fraud be demonized for saying it.
Similar incidents are popping up more often. Everyone should be concerned.

A someone with the power and influence of a president certainly should be demonized for making entirely false claims that lead Americans to doubt the integrity of elections. He is not even acting as a patriot. He puts himself before country; we've known that.

Why shouldn't he bring to the forefront the obvious issues with mail-in ballots?
Issues exist. It is not some made up fantasy, nor should it be a taboo topic because a climate of desperation exists for the left.

The democrats are pretending there aren't any risks.
That is false. Whether you choose to admit it or not.