2020 Election: Predictions, Results and Reactions

[Frelga]

This link to the article referenced in the tweet should be free.

[RoseMorninStar]

But will their viewers care? Will they even know?

[narya]

One more comment on Faraday cages. Our city had a jail in the basement of one of the city buildings that was heavily reinforced with extra rebar in all the walls, which was handy when it was a jail. When we later converted it to an Emergency Operations Center, we were not-so-delighted to find out that the structure was a Faraday cage, unable to get any kind of cell service, which, you know, would have been handy to have in an emergency.

[N.E. Brigand]

Next week, a man named Douglass Mackey will go on trial for his efforts to undermine the U.S. presidential election in *2016.* He was charged in January 2021. Mackey was apparently a prominent troll on social media using the nickname "Ricky Vaughan"; his true identity became public in 2018. Mackey is alleged, along with four unnamed co-conspirators, with having spread disinformation to Democratic voters in 2016 about how to vote. Today the judge in this case unsealed an order approving a request by prosecutors to keep the identify of one of Mackey's co-conspirators, who has pleaded guilty and is cooperating, secret from Mackey. Apparently Mackey only knew this person by his internet alias.

I'm noting this here because (1) I don't want to unearth the 2016 thread so and (2) journalists previously identified another of Mackey's alleged accomplices as Anthime Gionet, aka "Baked Alaska," who is "a pro-Trump white nationalist who was arrested on Jan. 16 [2021] for his involvement in storming the Capitol on Jan. 6. Gionet also participated in the deadly white nationalist 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017." (emphasis added)

It took four years to charge Mackey for what he did in 2016. That tells me that three more years may pass before the final charges are brought for actions on January 6th.

That cooperating witness testified today in person but using a pseudonym: "Microchip." So others now know what he looks like but not his real name. In 2016, he spent $300 per month on services to boost the visibility of his disinformation tweets and posted constantly. Why? "To destroy the reputation of Hillary Clinton."

Also presented as part of the prosecutors' case was evidence that the defendant, Douglass Mackey, "called Black people 'the most gullible,' as in easy to deceive . . . [and] also said women should be denied the right to vote."

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The latest bruhaha in the Proud Boys trial is that the defendants are alleging that the prosecutors failed to reveal that a witness that one of the defendants wants to call was an informant. It remains to be seen whether this will be much ado about nothing like the last bruhaha.

[N.E. Brigand]

ABC reports that last week in a sealed order, Judge Beryl Howell, in her final days as Chief Judge of the D.C. district court, "rejected former President Donald Trump's claims of executive privilege and has ordered Mark Meadows and other former top aides to testify before a federal grand jury investigating Trump's efforts to overturn the election leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol." The others former aides are Dan Scavino, Robert O'Brien, Ken Cuccinelli, John McEntee, Nick Luna, and Stephen Miller.

Trump is likely to appeal.

The public didn't know about this order, but Trump did, so I wonder if that's what's been driving his increasingly desperate social media posts over the last several days.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

In addition to the Corcoran order in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, and the ongoing saga with the Manhattan D.A, plus the Fulton County investigation. It's really not surprising that he is melting down.

[N.E. Brigand]

Some Republican members of Congress have been describing January 6th defendants as political prisoners being held in deplorable conditions. Today a contingent from Congress, including two Democrats (one a former defense attorney), visited the jail where many of these insurrectionists are being held.

[RoseMorninStar]

In addition to the Corcoran order in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, and the ongoing saga with the Manhattan D.A, plus the Fulton County investigation. It's really not surprising that he is melting down.

More than usual?

Honestly, if he isn't getting the reaction he hopes for (and he's not because I suspect nothing less than burn it all to the ground and all out civil war would be enough) I expect things to keep ramping up.

[N.E. Brigand]

Here's another important admission in a text from Tucker Carlson that's only come to light because of the Dominion lawsuit. In response to someone complaining that Democrats have competent lawyers while Republicans only have Syndey Powell and Lin Wood, Carlson wrote this (my emphhasis) about Trump's presidency: "That's the last four years. We're all pretending we've got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it's been is too tough to digest. But come on. There isn't really an upside to Trump." Carlson also said that it was "destructive" for Trump not to attend Joe Biden's inauguration. And Carlson said about Trump's various businesses: "All of them fail. What he's good at is destroying things."

A former Fox News lawyer producer named Abby Grossberg who was deposed as part of Dominion's defamation lawsuit against Fox (for having pushed the narrative the Dominion changed voters' ballots) now says that Fox lawyers pressured her to give vague answers to some questions and has filed a request to correct her testimony: "I did not understand at the time, as I had not been made aware by Fox, that the statement 'I don’t recall' is potentially perjurious."

EDITED to correct Ms. Grossberg's job: she was a Fox News producer, not a lawyer. My apologies for the error.

[RoseMorninStar]

I'd say she paid too much for her law degree.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Or not enough

[N.E. Brigand]

Roger Parloff of Lawfare is one of the reporters covering the Proud Boys seditious conspiracy trial. This morning a defense witness named George Meza was being cross-examined by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason McCullough. Meza has since left the Proud Boys and become a rabbi. He was called by the defense for the apparent purpose of portraying the Proud Boys as tolerant and peaceful. He was at the Capitol on January 6th. AUSA McCullough challenged Meza's interpretation of that day's events. Here's how Parloff reported it (parenthetical notes in original):

McCullogh: You saw violence?
Meza: I saw mass hysteria and people emoting.
McCullogh: You saw officers being assaulted?
Meza: No.
(McCullogh now showing the video again. It shows violent melée outside Columbus/East Rotunda doors.)
McCullogh: See the officers there?
Meza: Yes.
McCullogh: See two more officers there, pinned against the doors?
Meza: I see officers who are being thanked for doing their jobs and who are being pepper-sprayed by other officers. (Utterly outlandish testimony.)
McCullogh: You were right there when all this was happening?
Meza: Yes.

That's only a sample of a defense witness who seem not be doing much to help the defense.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Yes the "Rabbi" (he is a self-professed rabbi, but I don't really know what that means) George Mezz aka Ash Barkoziba was an unmitigated disaster for the defense. Prosecutors are probably kicking themselves that they didn't call him themselves.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[N.E. Brigand]

Here's another important admission in a text from Tucker Carlson that's only come to light because of the Dominion lawsuit. In response to someone complaining that Democrats have competent lawyers while Republicans only have Syndey Powell and Lin Wood, Carlson wrote this about Trump's presidency: "That's the last four years. We're all pretending we've got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it's been is too tough to digest. But come on. There isn't really an upside to Trump." Carlson also said that it was "destructive" for Trump not to attend Joe Biden's inauguration. And Carlson said about Trump's various businesses: "All of them fail. What he's good at is destroying things."

A former Fox News lawyer producer named Abby Grossberg who was deposed as part of Dominion's defamation lawsuit against Fox (for having pushed the narrative the Dominion changed voters' ballots) now says that Fox lawyers pressured her to give vague answers to some questions and has filed a request to correct her testimony: "I did not understand at the time, as I had not been made aware by Fox, that the statement 'I don’t recall' is potentially perjurious."

Matt Gertz of Media Matters has obtained a slide presentation prepared by Dominion as part of their lawsuit against Fox News, consisting mostly of Fox staff emails obtained in the discovery process. Among them is one in which employees on Tucker Carlson's show say that MyPillow CEO and conspiracy theoriest Mike Lindell is "definitely crazy" before adding that Lindell's financial support (via advertising on Fox) has been crucial to the network's financial stability. In another, Suzanne Scott, the network's CEO, complains about reporters correcting Donald Trump's lies: "This has to stop now... this is bad business... the audience is furious and we are just feeding them material."

[N.E. Brigand]

I don't know what the defense intended when they called a Capitol Police officer, Sgt. Blane Endale, as a witness. Endale oversees the office that issues permits for demonstrations at or near the Capitol. In cross-examination, the government was able to get Endale to testify that:

(1) there were only six permitted demonstration zones in the area around the Capitol on January 6th;
(2) much of the remaining area around the Capitol was either entirely off-limits or at least required that walkways not be impeded;
(3) the permits require demonstrations to keep noise to a minimum and directed away from the Capitol buildings;
(4) the permits state that no weapons are permitted in the demonstration zones;
(5) video shows the defendants marching to the Capitol despite the fact that no marches were permitted that day;
(6) video shows the defendants in a group larger than 50 at the Capitol despite the permits limiting each demonstration to 50 people;
(7) video shows one of the defendants walking through a restricted area saying, "We've gone through every barricade so far. F*** you!"; and
(8) none of the defendants in this trial obtained a permit to demonstrate.

On redirect, one of the defense attorneys managed a partial save on the last item by getting Endale to acknowledge that someone can attend a demonstration and not hold a permit.

[Frelga]

NPR: Counsel for Rupert Murdoch]NPR: Counsel for Rupert Murdoch told the judge he’s too infirm to testify next month in the $1.6 Billion Dominion defamation trial. The judge responded that Rupert just announced marriage plans for the 5th time, and travels between his homes in LA, Montana, NY, and London.

[N.E. Brigand]

An FBI source in the Proud Boys testified today that the FBI never actually asked him for information about the Proud Boys. They wanted information about Antifa instead.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This sounds right to me.