Saturday, October 10, 2026

Walking It Back

"Wealth" defined as property has always been disproportionately distributed to the old, who are more likely to accumulate it. The house I’m sitting in is paid for,  which means I have that much more wealth (no debt) than I had for nearly 40 years. It has also increased in value, adding to my “wealth” without me doing a thing except being fortunate. (My grandparents moved from the house I knew in childhood to another because the neighborhood declined.  My grandfather worked all his life, and if I had lived as long as he did, I’d be three years dead. He never accumulated any real wealth. Not by this standard.) My father accumulated more wealth than his father ever had. I’m pretty sure that the post-war years were the aberration in American history, and we foolishly let it revert to the mean. States made education available, and Boomers took advantage of it. My education kept me away from stoop labor (I did enough of that between semesters), but it better me up for life.  So we (the Boomers) decided education was too expensive, and not producing enough “A” students, so we quit investing in it. Well, except for our kids. You know, Hid fearing white kids. Rich white people don’t want to pay to educate non-whites.

And Boomers all but invented generational animosity. “The Grneration Gap.” “Never trust anyone over 30.” We sowed the dragon’s teeth; now we reap the whirlwind.  But the lesson of the Prodigal applies here, too. Impatient child that he was, he told his father to give him his inheritance while he was young and could enjoy it. The framing in that tweet has some of that flavor. 

I worked hard all my life, suffered many setbacks and reversals. I’ve fallen ass backwards into a retirement I never really anticipated. Should I apologize to people under 35 who are being forced backwards? More properly I should sympathize, because I went through that when I was under 35. What, you thought everything came up roses until 2000?

I mean: “Been there, done that.” But why should you go through it? It was unjust and unfair when I had to struggle with it, and that struggle didn’t “make me a man.” It was bullshit. It was a broken system working for the benefit of the system and the few, not for people and all of us. So the real problem is not the rich taking from the poor (oh, they are; but “poor” is a very relative term in that analysis), or the old taking from the young (as my parents and grandparents and ancestors built the world I enjoyed in youth, do too I built it for today’s youth). But that raises the question: could it have been built more equitably?

Aye, there’s the rub. It’s not always a matter of taking; sometimes it’s a matter of structuring. Maybe it’s a matter of restructuring; and if I need to make some sacrifices to make this society more equitable, I will.

But there’s the other rub, the one Niebuhr recognized: a society cannot require sacrifice for meaning and belonging. That’s coercion, not morality. Except, of course, we do require sacrifice by some, so the rest of us can be comfortable. This is Omelas, after all.

Maybe, instead of bitching about who has and who has not, we address that root problem. It’s not like we can walk away. And we don’t have to act like the bargain of Omelas us absolute and irrevocable.
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The Rule Of Law Is A Quaint Concept

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🧊

And what they see is construction workers and random rabbis standing around, holding guns. Come ‘27, burn it to the ground, fire everyone involved, start over from scratch. With severe restrictions that keep Miller from ever getting his hands on it again.
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We Could Still Import Diesel…

... that could get here before Election Day.
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No Wonder People Were Leaving

Trump does an incoherent ramble as a confused audience listens in complete silence:

"And you know what they're doing? They go straight down, you know, you can make those drill bits talk. You can make 'em sing, you can make them go, they go down. New York's over here, Pennsylvania-- they go down and they take a sharp left. And they suck our oil out. Can you believe it? Lines of different states, and you'll see one has Cadillacs, because they like Cadillacs better than they like Mercedes, but one has an Escalade, and one has a 50 year old Chevy. And you're talking about 3 ft. It's a line that goes right up. One has some beautiful drilling plants, and one has no drilling plants, it's got no money, it's got poverty.
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Did Trump Really Think Ukraine Didn’t Have A Vote?

To Ukraine, the American money for Russian diesel would fuel Russia’s war effort. And Russia is not attacking industrial sites in Ukraine:
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Vote Like You’re As Gullible As An Infant 👶

 According to my stats, there’s suddenly a flood of interest in my posts from 7 years ago. This is one of them, which reaffirmed my conviction that Jefferson is overrated. He thought farmers the backbone of American democracy. I can’t help but see them as useful idiots to… well, not we, the people.

In electoral politics, at least, farmers are, by popular definition, insane. They keep doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome.

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“I Ain’t Readin’ All That”

"Sorry it happened to you, though. Or I’m happy for you.”
“This is the woman who received the Nobel Peace Prize over the Great United States of America, whose Representative, ME, settled eight Wars, and many other things,” Trump wrote. “I know nothing about this woman, and neither does anyone else!”
Which clearly should be the deciding factor.
“In actuality, I should have won 8 Nobel Peace Prizes, not just 1,” he wrote, before listing the eight conflicts he claims to have ended. “Egypt and Ethiopia” made the list, even though the two countries haven’t been at war. So did “Israel and Iran,” with his own administration still fighting Iran.
Was he just running through the alphabet? Poor Shouty Grandpa didn’t get a pony for Xmas again this year.
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“It Was A Pleasure To Burn.”🔥

 I worked in a small, independent bookstore for a few years, what now seems many years ago. I went back yesterday to see friends and browse again, and celebrate the owner’s 30th anniversary of the store. 

Part of her success (and I hasten to add, pre-emptively, that business is good), was selling books to local school libraries. She told us she doesn’t do that anymore. Not because she fell out with the schools (there was some friction years back with a local school board that went MAGA, but that only lasted ‘til the next election), but because the schools have all fired their librarians. Every single one. 

Budget constraints, in part. But largely due to state law, which now requires every book on the shelf be probationary. It must be available first for review by the parents for 30 days. If no one objects, it can go on the library shelves for the students. If they do, well…it never gets there. I’m not sure of the finer points of the law, but that’s how it works in real time. 

Later, the Lovely Wife pointed out that it would take a librarian to keep track of which new books had passed their probationary period, and which had just started. I pointed out that was another reason the schools didn’t have librarians. It was a feature, not a bug. I pointed out to my friend the bookstore owner that, when I was young, I read Fahrenheit 451, but I never imagined I’d be living in it one day.

If my daughter ever has a child, I’m going to make it my life’s last work to see it goes to a good private school. It’s the only hope I would have for my grandchildren.

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Friday, October 09, 2026

Everybody Owes Trump

Three year olds are less self-centered. 🤦‍♂️ Uh-huh. (He "got” what we already had.) And the sun comes up to shine on his countenance, and the tide comes in and goes out to pay him homage. But does Norway care? Do they show respect? 🫡  🙄 Nobody does, Grandpa. Just to prove he’s as dumb as a box of rocks…. It was $90. By next week it’ll be $900 he sent out. To every man, woman, and child in America. Grandpa needs his nap. They’re moving down to the floor. Right, Grandpa? This election is going to be over by Election Day. Lagniappe.
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I Should Have Realized….

Trump: "I have just concluded a highly successful discussion with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, wherein it was agreed that Russia will immediately supply over 300,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel to the American and Global Marketplace, another 500,000 Tons during the month of November, and 1,000,000 Tons immediately thereafter. Additionally, based on the condition of their Diesel Refineries, Russia will then deliver, within a short period of time, 3,000,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel."
... Trump has no idea what the fuel consumption is in this country. No idea at all:
On an average day, the U.S. transportation sector consumes about 2.94 million barrels of diesel.

Russia has historically been a major diesel exporter. A year ago, it was shipping about 2.5 million tons per month, but had been estimated to be shipping around 1 million metric tons in June, Reuters reported.

Andy Lipow, president of consulting firm Lipow Oil Associates, said he was “skeptical” that Russia would be able to come up with the promised barrels.

“I’m quite skeptical about those type of volumes being exported, given that currently Russia has imposed a diesel export ban in October,” Lipow told The Hill.

“Now, it’s certainly possible that once the harvest season ends in Russia, that we do see an increase in diesel exports, but I believe that Ukraine is going to continue to attack Russian refineries to impact on their ability to produce transportation fuels,” he said.

If Russia is able to come up with the barrels, Lipow said that the 300,000 ton and 500,000 ton figures are “quite small” compared to the entire global diesel market, though he said 3 million tons was more significant.

He says that if Russia does come up with the diesel to export, he expects there will be “some relief on diesel prices.”
Not soon; if at all. Certainly not before Election Day.

Trump really has no fucking idea what he’s doing. 
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And Sure Enough, It Gets…

Oh, well, that’s alright then. And sure enough, it got worse: And worse: And worse: Except it won’t help Trump in the elections. Voting has already started, and Russia can’t ship enough diesel fast enough to lower prices between now and November. Besides, weren’t we told Russia didn’t have any diesel because of Ukraine? We are betraying allies right and left. Even impeachment and removal won’t cleanse this stain. Or this stain.
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Follow The Lack Of Money 🤑

Why does the oldest man in the Senate tweet like a Millenial in the first decade of this century? He knows Twitter raised the character limit, right?

And what does this have to do with the price of diesel in Iowa? Or anywhere else in America?
Q: You called voters "nuts" for saying prices are too high. You said Trump's tariffs were an "absolute win." Now you're saying you're against tariffs. Should you provide voters with an explanation of why you were wrong and what you're going to do about it?

Mike Rogers: I'm not sure exactly where that question went
South? To...Florida?
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Columbus Day For Idiots

Meanwhile, in Manhattan:
U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken issued the order Friday after lawyers for Oscar Belgal, 28, challenged his detention in federal court in Manhattan.

Belgal was shot Thursday afternoon in the Marble Hill neighborhood of Manhattan, according to ABC News. Court records spell his last name Bergal.

“[He] shall not be removed from the United States absent further order of this Court,” Oetken wrote.

Oetken wrote that “an immediate order is necessary to preserve the Court’s jurisdiction,” or its power to decide the case, until a judge is assigned. The judge also barred officials from moving Belgal to any facility outside the federal court districts covering New York City, Long Island, parts of the Hudson Valley and New Jersey, according to the order.

Belgal’s lawyers say they cannot find him, Courthouse News reported. Their petition says ICE vehicles rushed him out of a hospital Thursday evening.
They’re gonna need a new court order.

Meanwhile, Grandpa ShoutyPants is out in public in D.C.
"They." He’s listening to the voices in his head. It's one of the miracles he’ll need for his canonization. Women couldn’t vote. Non-white people couldn’t get decent housing. Or vote. White men ran everything with impunity, especially the rich. O, what a paradise it seemed! Completely illegal, but oh well, what the hell? Another thing “they” never did. But reality never penetrates the bubble. See? (And no, he’ll never do either of those things.)
Trump: "New York City officials released a map showing ethnic communities. It includes Little Senegal, Little Guyana, Little Haiti, Little Yemen, but it does not include a place called Little Italy. An unthinkable omission. We are gonna work on that immediately, or we're not going to be sending them any of the billions and billions of dollars that they want to waste all the time."
Pretty sure the courts and the next Congress won’t let that happen. That will be Vought’s “midterm surprise.” "They" is Venezuela. Which has never been thought to have a nuclear weapon, much less a delivery system. 

This was Trump’s Columbus Day address. In case you couldn’t tell from context.
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🎃

 I have a cross stitch design that features cartoonish pumpkins and the legend: “PUMPKINS ARE IMPORTANT/A pumpkin a day keeps the goblins away.”

I grew up hearing the phrase “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” No one around me took that as gospel, but it was told to reinforce the health benefits of eating apples; or just fresh fruit. In a time when apples were seasonal, and only red or golden delicious; and your other options were grapes (one variety only), bananas, and navel oranges. It was just accepted as a bit of folk wisdom, something handed down from the Olde Countrye, where apples grew. (We grow peaches and grapefruit in Texas, but not apples. Watermelon, too, though nobody ever thought of watermelon as “fresh fruit.” 🤷‍♂️.) 

And then I found out it was the brainchild of an ad man trying to market his client’s apples. I think it dates back to the early 20th century.

IOW, it was always bullshit. Just like the ads if my childhood reassuring mother that the bowl of edible cardboard (for all the nutritional value it had) that was mostly sugar (to make palatable) was not candy for breakfast (effectively), but part of a balanced diet. Besides, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right? That was another ad campaign.

I had a friend who described to me his grandfather’s typical breakfast. The man was a farmer in the upper Midwest, and on winter mornings he was out at 4 a.m. tending the cows and working in the snow. He’d come in to sit down to a stack of pancakes and sausage, and he pour the grease from the sausage over the pancakes, and devour everything on his plate. And then go out into sub freezing weather and work it off. Me, I sat down to a bowl of candy, sometimes supplemented with canned and freshly baked cinnamon rolls. The most important meal of the day just gave me a serious sugar high, especially if I was fortunate enough to get chocolate or strawberry milk to drink (more sugar!).

But Mom was told it all provided essential nutrients and minerals, and probably even vitamins! So who complained? Certainly not the kids shaking like live wires from all that sugar.

(I saw my own daughter’s childhood moods shift dramatically if she got a cookie or a candy bar at the right moment. The effect is physical, and it’s very real. But soft drinks are still just liquid candy, and yet we consume those blithely, when sitting down to a bowl of candy, or just sugar, would be anathema.)

This is not a comment on American nutrition, but on hucksterism, what the law allows as “puffery.” (There is a line between fraud and puffery, but it depends entirely on how direct the damage is. The inchoate damage of eating your way into diabetes as an adult, or even triggering it in childhood, is too indistinct to create liability. Especially when there’s money to be made.)

Yeah, pretty much like that. Here’s where I remind you that the Constitution and the English common law adopted in this country based legal protection on property first, and people second, and then only as subjects of the Crown, so it was a criminal offense to punch them (injuring the king’s property). But if you abused your peasants, well, you know…peasants. 🤷‍♂️ Same as it ever was. It’s why in America we called them “robber barons.” The barons had the support of the crown. The peasants, not so much. The term was meant to be derogatory. Turned out it was too apt.

American culture is built on a set of lies, chief among them that we are all created equal, but those with money, earned or inherited, are more equal than others. And then there’s the opportunity scam, the “build a better mousetrap” hustle that means you, too, can be rich one day, and escape the worries of mortal existence. That scam is sold by hucksterism, and everyone buys it.

Just like we bought the idea that Trump was a businessman (he’s not. He’s a liar and a cheat and a very lazy and incompetent con man). But mostly we bought what he was selling because no small part of American culture is about buying the con. Mark Twain understood this, but it didn’t stop him from speculating his money away,  buying grifts and cons and bamboozlements until he had to go on the lecture circuit in his old age, to give Hal Holbrook a career in the latter half of the 20th century.

The con is as American as cherry pie. So it’s not that big a surprise we put a con man in the Oval Office; twice. Not even a very good one. Now it may be we see through the con. But I doubt it. The American con cannot fail; it can only be failed.

We’ve never tried to describe something a day that will keep them away, have we?
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🍎🤖

Forbes:
Apple’s shares dipped more than 1.6% in premarket trading early on Friday after a report that the company had cut back on the production of components for its new iPhone 18 Pro and ​iPhone 18 Pro Max due to slower demand for the new phones, which were priced higher than the previous year’s models amid an AI-industry-driven spike in memory chip prices.
But the end consumer doesn’t seem that interested in AI, if it’s going to drive the price up.

It may be it’s not AI, but a $100 price hike for a phone with a better camera, in hard economic times. But if AI is driving chip prices, then it ultimately it is about AI.

Welcome to the bubble. Look out below when it bursts.
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Thursday, October 08, 2026

Pics Or It Didn’t Happen

We’ve seen the video from C-SPAN. She knows that, right? Kids watching porn on line is bad. Kids watching a live snuff film, government sponsored and approved, is good? I’ve seen a number of Twitter comments about how this is good. I hope it’s a high quality video stream, if it has to happen. Almost all of those cheerleaders (including Hegseth) have never seen a firing squad rip a human body apart. They’ve just seen the highly sanitized Hollywood versions. Even Tarantino is beggared by reality.

This is an hideous and dehumanizing display. To put it online where it can be reviewed repeatedly and indiscriminately is going to produce massive blowback. The reality of death by firing squad is not going to be popular. And in December, when we’ve started Christmas celebrations. 

Heckuva job, Kegsbreth.
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Drink!🍹*

It pretty much went like that all night. And in Georgia: Can I answer that? ‘Cause I’ve seen pictures of the moonscape that is now Lebanon and Gaza, and I’m comfortable saying Israel is creating lebensraum. In the distinctly Nazi use of that word.

And elsewhere: 🤦‍♂️
Will this affect the outcome of elections in Georgia and Michigan? I dunno.🤷‍♂️ Sure is fun, though.


*Creeping elderliness, tied to me as to a dog’s tail, curtails my drinking to near zero; so “drink” means tea 🫖 or coffee ☕️ or water 💧; as you prefer. I’ll join you in any of them. Or sip my coffee while you drink your preferred alcoholic beverage. Makes me no never mind. 😸
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This Is Despicable

Trump is trying to start a race war in Minnesota: "The once Great State of Minnesota is being taken over by Somali Immigrants. There is Violence, Murder, and Mayhem all over the State. The people of Minnesota must fight back. You have been robbed, and abandoned by your State Government. Your Governor is an incompetent thief who doesn't want to get involved. He just wants to get out of town with as much as he can steal, and then, lead a quiet life. The Somalians should not be allowed to get away with what they are doing. They view you as weak and stupid people. Fight back Minnesota, fight back! If you need, the Federal Government will come to your rescue.

Governor Tim Walz, and Mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, must immediately ask for Federal help — and leave the rest to us! President DONALD J. TRUMP
But then the last time Trump tried to start a race war in Minnesota the people banded together and refused to play along. And that time, two people were killed; by government agents.

This time it’s just words from Shouty Grandpa, who made his point the first time he tried this, and failed. The last time the “Violence, Murder and Mayhem” were all on him, and ICE. This time it’s just his fevered imagination; which is actually an improvement.

Maybe next year Congress can take his ICE away, and Shouty Grandpa can just yell at the clouds. That would make this outburst a good reminder of what we need to do.
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This Is How You Make “Fetch” Happen

For blowing up more rockets than NASA ever did? For proving AI can be Nazi, too? For proving P.T. Barnum right again? For his contributions to eugenics? Clearly the real definition of “socialism.” "Do you guys just put the word 'quantum' in front of everything?"—Scott Lang, “Ant-Man and the Wasp”
Alternatively:
Testosterone is a helluva drug. Funny thing. Three of the four are Muslim countries. I thought that was some kind of problem in America; at least among MAGA.

Wikipedia:
Hasan is incarcerated at the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, awaiting execution by firing squad, which was approved by President Trump in October 2026. That same month, the acting Secretary of the Army set Hasan’s execution to be carried out at Fort Hood on December 3, 2026 at 1 p.m. CST. If Hasan's execution is carried out, he would be the first member of the US Armed Forces to be executed since John A. Bennett was hanged for rape and attempted murder in 1961.
December 3 is a Wednesday, but I’m sure we can get TeeVees in all of America’s classrooms so our children can learn this important lesson. 
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North Korea Has Entered The Chat

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“A Message From President Trump”

Dear Robert,

Congress provided 2 Billion Dollars to make improvements to the Medicare program for Americans enrolled in traditional Medicare. I believe the best way to do that is to put healthcare dollars back where they belong—directly in the hands of the American People.

As a result, you are receiving a One-Time Payment of $90 to offset some of the cost of your October Medicare premium. This will ensure these funds benefit YOU and your individual healthcare needs.

Healthcare Dollars should benefit Patients, not Insurance Companies or Government Bureaucrats. Since returning to office, I have fought to lower Healthcare Costs, increase Accountability, and Put Patients First. As a result, I am proud to be the First President in History to bring down Americans’ prescription drug prices. Through TrumpRx, we are delivering massive discounts on Household Prescription Drugs, and my Most-Favored-Nation Pricing Agreements have already saved Americans more than 1 Billion Dollars on much-needed Medications. We also secured an unprecedented 50 Billion Dollar investment to transform Rural Healthcare, expanded access to Health Saving Accounts for millions of people on Obamacare, and restored Price Transparency, all while rooting out the Waste, Fraud, and Abuse across our Healthcare System.

I will never stop fighting to put the American People FIRST, restore Affordability, protect your hard-earned money, and lower the Cost of Healthcare.

May God bless you, and may He continue to bless the United States of America.
Received this morning via email.

I’m confused. My premium payments pay for Medicare, which pays for my healthcare. $90 is less than 1/3rd of my annual deductible, and not even one-half of my monthly premium. The fund it comes from was meant to help Medicare function. It’s not a slush fund for Trump to buy votes in the midterms. Which he seems to think come pretty cheap. And for stupid people. 

Trump is taking money away from Medicare, and throwing it in the street. It’s not doing anything to lower healthcare costs or drug prices.
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“IT’S YOUR FAULT IF WE DON’T WIN!”

A variation on the Angela Paxton strategy. And Trump is the one consistently looking for villains. He usually finds them in our allies. Or people who don’t vote for him.

JD Vance shoots Bezos’ premise in the head and leaves it lying by the road.
  See? Can we swap Vance for a “truly elite human being?” Even one to be named later?
Just a reminder that Trump loves Putin and pressures Zelenskyy to stop the war Russia started and keeps fighting.
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Nail. Coffin. ⚰️

So is this. 😎
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Take Me Outta The Ball Game ⚾️

What was this?
At the rally, Trump invited Clemens on stage to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor, because Clemens had not yet been elected to the Hall of Fame.
Why hasn’t Clemens been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame?

 And then I remembered: Clemens was discovered to have a mistress, as well as his wife. But she was 15 when they started dating. He was something of a local hero in Houston, until that news broke. He opened a baseball themed hamburger joint, the first of an anticipated many. It closed almost immediately after that news. And then he sort of disappeared.

I guess 15 is not too young for Trump.

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Wednesday, October 07, 2026

Another Winning Proposal From Trump

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October Surprise 😦

A) It will remind people Trump started this war, and Trump seems uninterested in stopping it.

B)  Voting has already started. More states will be voting shortly. Bombing Iran again will again call into question how much munitions we have left. And put more attention on this:
And how much the war is costing us, in tax dollars and gas and diesel prices. There also won’t be any “progress.”

“Feral cunning,” donchaknow?
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Miles Of Aisles

And then Trump tossed out a bunch of ppeople. I know I’ve never seen it before. My monthly Medicare premium is over $200. What am I supposed to do with this? And how does it improve Medicare? So how did any Paxton supporters hear this? 👇 Call it the “Angela Paxton strategy.” Also why he’s not winning.
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Perspective

DOOCY: You’re telling voters that the Democrats will impeach you if they win. For what?

TRUMP: They don’t know. I could have done very bad things to Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Barack Hussein Obama. I thought it would be Inappropriate to because you have to treat the office of the presidency with respect. To this moment I can do whatever I want if I want. They've done some very bad things. It was just mentioned in the form of a question what they did, very illegal what they did.
They also took pictures of seashells spelling out “8647”? Took out loans on more than one residence? Touched the water at the reflecting pool?

Or did they take classified documents to their Florida resort and stack them in a ballroom and a bathroom? Or incite a crowd into a riot at the Capitol while Congress was in session? Because that was very illegal, whoever did that.
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“Blood In The Face”

I dunno. Sounds like Markwayne to me. It’s got his name on it, anyway.
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He’s Also An Expert On Space

Because his head’s full of it.
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Lazarus And Dives

The "real economy.”
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Costs Are Up, Performance Is Down

Why Trump fantasized about Iran nuking San Diego.
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“Context Is All”

Now at least I understand why HHS is so desperate to discredit any connection between measles and cause of death.

MAHA, huh?🤔 
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💦

Uh-huh. Paxton can’t face reality, either. It must be something in the GOP water.
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Tuesday, October 06, 2026

OTOH

If you read the article which Marc Elias references (he’s promoting the work of his group, and Steven’s is responding to a tweet by Elias), the argument is concocted by a GOP lawyer and the conspiracy theorist Tina Peters. It goes like this:
Peters, Martin and other conspiracists have long pushed the false claims that voting machines are compromised because they use some foreign-made parts. Election deniers claim that poses a national security risk.

Now, they want the Trump administration to use that as justification to seize voting machines. And they believe that the commerce secretary already has authority to do that — a view that legal experts say is way off base.
The authority for this is an EO Trump issued in 2019. It gets convoluted after that (what conspiracy theory doesn’t?), but the crux of the biscuit is that the “foreign parts” make the matter a national security issue and Lutnick has the authority to seize all election machines in all 50 states; because of the EO.

Yeah; him and what army? I mean, the logistics of it alone make it farcical. And what about states where voting has already started? There’s a fundamental problem of evidence, you see. To even say it’s a national security emergency requires some basis other than crude xenophobia. That works for Peters and Martin, but it’s the same nonsense that lost over 60 times in courts in 2020. No evidence, no court order. Or:
One small issue: The 2019 order doesn’t convey that authority to Lutnick at all. No federal official can seize control of election administration from the states and counties, who hold the power [to] run elections under the U.S. Constitution.

For that reason, such an effort would be blatantly unconstitutional and get struck down in the courts, David Becker, the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, told Democracy Docket.

“I can’t say this any more clearly: The Commerce Secretary has no authority,” Becker said. “If the Commerce Secretary tried to exert authority, first of all, the states would laugh at him.”

“The administration has been relying upon conspiracy theorists to push election policy for over 20 months now,” he added. “These conspiracy theories have led to really bad policy decisions, whether they be executive orders or the SAVE America Act or DOJ lawsuits — and every one of these efforts has failed.”
As I said: him and what army? (And no, the military couldn’t get involved. Don’t chase down other rabbit holes.) Not only is lack of evidence an impediment; so is lack of a legal basis to act. The evidence of fraud, malfeasance, corruption, would have to be established for every machine in all 50 states. Not every individual machine; but enough proof to invalidate all machines in all 50 states. Good luck with that. Then there’s the legal basis for the claim. Electoral fraud might be the legal claim, but again, that would have to be shown in every contested race. All 500 of them?

This ain’t 2020 and one election result. And do you still remember how well that turned out?

And it’s still not an issue of national security. Nowhere near. The nation is not at risk from election fraud, especially if the evidence of fraud is that you didn’t like the outcome. Or think you won’t.

This is not “this.” This is a sad joke.

An aggressive state AG could bring a RICO action. Maybe. But that would be swatting a fly with a sledgehammer. And besides, discussing nonsense with the POTUS is protected by the 1st amendment  You might turn it into a criminal conspiracy. But that wouldn’t convince Peters she was wrong. Or stop anyone from espousing her ridiculous theory.
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