LOCKDOWNS HAVE BEEN A DISASTER

LOCKDOWNS HAVE BEEN A DISASTER

BY JOHN HINDERAKER IN CORONAVIRUS

By any sensible calculation, the principal worldwide covid damage has come not from the virus, but from governments’ efforts to suppress it, principally through lockdowns. Dr. Ari Joffe attempts to quantify that disproportion. Joffe is a distinguished Canadian pediatrician, having recently been named one of the ten most influential researchers in the field of pediatric critical care.

Dr. Joffe itemizes some of the adverse consequences of shutdowns:

Public health leaders are medical experts and are necessary advisors in formulating a response to the pandemic. However, their expertise is not sufficient to make policy decisions. There are trade-offs to any decision made, and preventing COVID-19 cases, deaths, and overwhelmed hospital capacity are not the only factors to consider. Unfortunately, the response perspective of controlling a single disease has had devastating, often unequally distributed, collateral effects.

Lockdowns have put many sustainable development goals out of reach. In many parts of the world there have been interruptions in childhood vaccinations, education, detection and treatment of infectious diseases (for example, tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV), and prevention of under 5-year-old and maternal mortality, projected to cost many millions of lives in the coming years. These interruptions in economic activity and supply chains are estimated to cause more than 83 million people to become food insecure, and over 70 million people to enter severe poverty (living on less than US$1.90/day), both likely to cost many more millions of lives in the coming years. Violence against women, including intimate partner violence, female genital mutilation, and child marriage are projected to also increase by many millions of cases.

In high-income countries other collateral damage from lockdowns is occurring. Fear of attending hospitals resulted in 50 percent declines in visits for heart attacks and strokes, meaning missed opportunity for time-critical treatments. ‘Non-urgent’ surgery and cancer diagnosis/treatment were delayed, with backlogs that will take years of catch-up and untold effects on prognoses. Of excess mortality during the pandemic, 20-50 percent has not been due to COVID-19 (see Kontis et al. 2020; Docherty et all 2020; and Postill et al 2020); much of that excess is likely attributable to these collateral effects. An unexplained increase in deaths of people with dementia in the US and UK also likely arose from deterioration due to loneliness. Over time, suicide, depression, alcohol use disorder, childhood trauma due to domestic violence, changes in marital status, and social isolation are projected to cause millions of years of life lost in Canada alone.

Dr. Joffe uses an approach that quantifies “Quality Adjusted Life Years” to weigh the benefits and costs of global covid shutdowns. Using that methodology, he concludes that the costs of shutdowns have exceeded the benefits by at least ten to one. He also notes that “Various cost-benefit analyses from different countries, including some of these costs, have consistently estimated the cost in lives from lockdowns to be at least five to 10 times higher than the benefit, and likely far higher.”

This kind of calculation is by no means an exact science, but I think it is fair to say that a scientific consensus is emerging to the effect that shutdowns do vastly more harm than good.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/12/lockdowns-have-been-a-disaster.php

ARE DEMOCRATS IN TROUBLE IN 2022?

ARE DEMOCRATS IN TROUBLE IN 2022?

BY JOHN HINDERAKER IN 2022 ELECTION

That is the question posed by Adam Nagourney, a loyal Democratic Party foot soldier, in the New York Times: “A Stinging Setback in California Is a Warning for Democrats in 2022.”

The Democrats’ losses came for a number of reasons, including forces particular to California and the complications of campaigning during a pandemic. But as much as anything, they reflected the potency of Republican attacks, some false or exaggerated, that Democrats were the party of socialism, defunding the police and abolishing private health insurance.

This is rich. Nagourney doesn’t cite any Republican attacks that were “false or exaggerated.” It would be interesting to scour the archives of the Times in search of an occasion when Nagourney (or, perhaps, any other Times reporter) has characterized Democrats’ attacks on Republicans as “false or exaggerated.” Like, for example, the Russia collusion hoax, which the Times eagerly embraced and helped to perpetrate. Were claims of Russian collusion false or exaggerated, Adam? The Times isn’t talking.

Further, it is leading Democrats like Bernie Sanders and The Squad who tell us the Democrats are the party of socialism. And Nancy Pelosi, when asked on-camera to explain the difference between a Democrat and a socialist, was stumped. She couldn’t come up with a thing.

Likewise with defunding the police. Does Nagourney think it was Republicans who made “defund the police” a battle cry across America? In a number of cities, Democratic politicians have done their best to make defunding a reality. And, as Ed Morrissey points out, Joe Biden was the only candidate in the Democratic presidential contest who came out against abolishing private health insurance, which the Democrats will surely do if they ever have the opportunity.

The attacks — led in no small part by Mr. Trump as a central part of his re-election strategy — came at a time when parts of California were swept by street protests against police abuses, some of which turned into glass-shattering bouts of looting and confrontations with law enforcement that were heavily covered on local television.

Funny how that happens–what Democrats like Adam Nagourney determinedly call “protests against police abuses” consist largely of arson, assault and looting. Nothing says “I’m against police abuses” like looting a pharmacy, liquor store or jewelry store. There is a reason why countless stores in urban areas were boarded up, and in many cases remain boarded up, and the reason isn’t that someone is “protesting against police abuses.” Further, Democrats in a number of cities, like Seattle, Portland, Chicago and Minneapolis, proved to be so sympathetic to rioters that they were unwilling to take effective measures to stop them. Voters noticed.

One more thing: Nagourney’s statement that riots, looting and arson were “heavily covered on local television” is revealing. The Times, the Washington Post, the Associated Press, the broadcast networks and other reliable Democratic outlets tried to suppress information about the riots that took place across the country, precisely so that such information would not damage the Democratic Party. But they failed, mostly on account of local news coverage, which was less dedicated to the Democratic cause and more interested in letting viewers know what was going on.

So, are the Times’s fears well-grounded? Will 2022 be a disaster for the Democrats? I certainly hope so, and I think the Republicans will take the House and expand their control over the Senate. (I anticipate winning at least one of the two Georgia runoff elections.) The president’s party almost always loses ground in his first midterm elections. Last time the Democrats elected a new president, Barack Obama, the 2010 midterms were a disaster for them. And there was a great deal more enthusiasm for Obama in 2008 than for Biden in 2020.

The Democrats have other problems, too. Their turnout this year was driven largely by antipathy toward President Trump in some quarters, and by voter fraud. We do not yet know how many of their votes were fraudulent, nor do we know what measures will be taken between now and 2022 to improve election security. But it seems safe to assume that there will be less fraud two years from now (if only because there will be less mail-in voting), and, in any event, President Trump will be out of the picture.

Too, it is highly probable that by 2022, a great many voters will be disillusioned with the rapidly-failing Joe Biden, assuming that he is still president in two years. There is usually an element of buyer’s remorse in a president’s first midterm election, and by 2022 the remorse could be profound.

So on paper, 2022 shapes up as an excellent year for the GOP. Of course, the reality is that we have little idea what the landscape will look like in two years. No one could have predicted in 2018 the events, foremost among them the much-hyped Wuhan flu, that reversed what looked like an easy re-election for President Trump. Nevertheless, at this stage there is every reason for Republicans to look to the future with confidence, and for Democrats like Adam Nagourney to fret.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/12/are-democrats-in-trouble-in-2022.php

Tony Shaffer: Election Anomalies ‘Too Vast and Too Detailed to Be Ignored’

Tony Shaffer: Election Anomalies ‘Too Vast and Too Detailed to Be Ignored’

BY LI HAI AND JAN JEKIELEK

 

Tony Shaffer, president of the London Center for Policy Research and a former senior intelligence officer, told The Epoch Times that action should be taken to address election anomalies and restore people’s confidence in the election system.

“We feel that the anomalies here are too vast and too detailed to be ignored,” Shaffer told Jan Jekielek, host of The Epoch Times’ “American Thought Leaders” program.

“We’re not advocating for the president,” Shaffer stressed. “We’re not advocating for any specific outcome. We’re specifically asking for investigations or other resolution of the questions we’re raising.”

Shaffer said there are three categories of “self-apparent” evidence that show at least the “perception of fraud,” and to reject investigating all three is “completely unreasonable.”

First is the obvious statistical anomalies. Shaffer explained that his intelligence team at the London Center checked the data from Edison Research—a provider of exit poll data for major television networks—and found anomalous spikes in numerous locations.

These votes “statistically cannot be supported without some level of outside force,” Shaffer said, adding that in all swing states, there were also anomalies reported from about midnight to 5 a.m. He also noted the statistical unlikelihood for the mismatch in results for so many bellwether counties.

Secondly, Shaffer said there had been many potential acts of physical fraud, referring to his investigation of truck driver Jesse Morgan’s case.

Shaffer said he was the first to contact Morgan because, at that time, he was helping the Thomas More Society’s Amistad Project, an initiative that works to preserve civil liberties, to sort through whistleblowers.

Morgan, who was working for a U.S. Postal Service subcontractor, claimed that he was instructed to act outside of normal operations when driving a truck filled with an estimated 288,000 ballots on Oct. 21 to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, from Bethpage, New York. The truck—and the ballots—then disappeared from a USPS depot in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, after Morgan dropped them off and was instructed to leave.

“You never leave a truck in a facility, loaded. It’s against the law, you cannot leave,” Shaffer said.

Shaffer said he and his team took 30 days to independently verify Morgan’s account of events with a number of former postmasters and investigators, who confirmed many peculiarities, such as the mail sitting idle in a postal yard for six hours, those involved refusing to open the back of the truck, and the truck not being metered, which is in violation of Postal Service regulations and the law.

“If I’m going to put my reputation behind something, it’s going to be professional, it’s going to be thorough,” Shaffer said. “I was prepared to put my reputation behind Jesse Morgan. And I did.”

Shaffer said the third category of evidence is electronic or digital fraud.

“That’s the most difficult to prove because you have to get access to the source code and the actual mechanical elements of those systems,” Shaffer said. “There’s absolutely no reason for anyone to deny a competent third party from examining the machines at the forensic level to see if there were any shenanigans or not.”

Last week, a judge in Antrim County, Michigan, authorized a forensic audit of 22 Dominion Voting Systems machines. Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis confirmed on Dec. 7 that an independent team is involved in the audit, with a report to come out soon.

“So those are the three categories of fraud, and I believe that anyone who denies them is a science-denier because there’s ample evidence,” Shaffer said in the interview. “The only question is, was it sufficient fraud to overturn or somehow influence the results of the election? That’s the key question that needs to be resolved at this point.”

“I’ve been fascinated by the lack of interest by the Biden folks in resolving any of this, other than to say it’s too late, or it’s ‘safe harbor,’” Shaffer said.

“I would argue, again, fraud is never too late to worry about, especially when you’re talking about the policy directions of the most significant superpower left on the planet, and with a lot of challenges coming up.

“I would actually call on the Biden folks to get out there and try to help resolve this as quickly as possible. It’s in their interest to do so,” Shaffer said. “Seventy-three million people are not convinced Joe Biden won. That is the audience Joe Biden should be seeking to convince at this time, and I don’t see him doing it.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/tony-shaffer-election-anomalies-too-vast-and-too-detailed-to-be-ignored_3612025.html?utm_source=morningbriefnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mb-2020-12-10

CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS, AN UPDATE

 CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS, AN UPDATE

BY PAUL MIRENGOFF IN CORONAVIRUS

The other day, a friend remarked that I haven’t written about the Wuhan coronavirus numbers lately. He’s right. I haven’t, for various reasons. I will in this post. (Numbers cited are from Worldometer.)

In the U.S., more than 340,000 deaths are now attributed to the virus. That’s many more deaths than most experts expected earlier this year. However, it’s commensurate with the per capita death toll in the countries it makes most sense to compare with the U.S.

The U.S. number translates to 1,028 per one million people. In the UK, the per capita number is almost the same — 1,040. In Italy and Spain, it’s higher — 1,190 and 1,065, respectively. In France, it’s 940.

Among the major European nations, only Germany has broken the pattern. Per capita deaths there are only 363. I’m still not sure why the number is so low.

Thus, the Democrats and their allies in the media are lying when they claim that, in a comparative sense, President Trump bungled the U.S. response to the virus. In fact, it doesn’t make much sense to say that Trump dictated the U.S. response, by and large. In our system, governors determined the response in their states. (However, Trump was responsible for pushing resources towards the development of a vaccine, and he deserves high marks in that department.)

Indeed, Democrats and their media allies were apoplectic at the thought that Trump might dictate to the nation’s governors. He did not. Governors formulated the response in their states. As a group, they did about as well (or as badly) as the leaders of the UK, France, Italy, and Spain.

As to the performance of the various states, New Jersey leads the nation in per capital deaths at 2,113, twice the national number. New York comes in second at 1,920. Connecticut and Massachusetts also have a considerably higher number of per capita deaths than the national number — 1,624 and 1,757, respectively.

Outside of the northeast, two of the worst performing states are North and South Dakota. In North Dakota, 1,661 deaths are attributed to the virus. In South Dakota, 1,635 deaths are. Neighboring Minnesota comes in below the national number at 923.

Throughout the year, I have kept track of the numbers in Scandinavia, especially in Norway and Sweden. That’s because these two countries adopted different approaches to the virus. Norway went with most of the rest of Europe and locked down tight. Sweden did not.

In Sweden, the per capita deaths number is 817. In Norway, it’s 77. In Denmark, which also locked down, the number is 202.

In Sweden, some hoped that its more less drastic approach to stopping the virus’ spread would produce herd immunity. So far, it hasn’t.

Sweden has been hard hit by a second wave of the virus, with about 7,500 new reported cases per day and about 50 deaths per day during the last six weeks or so of the year. In Norway during the same period, the numbers are about 500 new cases per day and about ten deaths per day on average attributed to the virus.

Sweden’s population is about twice the size of Norway’s.

Any way you slice them, the numbers, both in the U.S. and worldwide, are depressing. I suppose this is the main reason why I stopped writing regularly about them.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/12/coronavirus-numbers-an-update.php

“STIMULUS” BILL INCLUDES GREEN GIVEAWAYS

“STIMULUS” BILL INCLUDES GREEN GIVEAWAYS

BY JOHN HINDERAKER IN ENERGY POLICY

The pork bill that Congress passed on Monday has been criticized on many appropriate grounds, but I haven’t seen much comment on the fact that it betrays taxpayers and users of electricity (all of us) by perpetuating and expanding “green” energy mandates. The bill includes:

* A two-year extension of the investment tax credit (ITC) used by solar power generators (keeping the ITC at 26% through year-end 2022 instead of falling to 22% in calendar year 2021)

* A one-year extender for the production tax credit (PTC) used by wind developers, and a NEW 30% ITC for offshore wind projects that commence construction by the end of 2025.

* Re-authorization the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy and the Weatherization Assistance Program through fiscal year 2025, and a requirement that the Secretary of the Interior seek to permit at least 25,000 MW of wind, solar and geothermal projects by 2025.

Wind and solar energy are a bad joke. They are obsolete, unreliable, and ridiculously expensive if all costs are included–something that “green” advocates never do. These industries, therefore, could not exist without government mandates and subsidies. Which means, in turn, that they are lavish contributors to politicians.

There are people getting rich on wind and solar projects, and they owe it all to government. Of course, those people aren’t you, me, or the hundreds of millions of Americans who buy electricity and pay taxes. Once again, the politicians and a handful of well-connected operators benefit, and the rest of us pay the tab.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/12/stimulus-bill-includes-green-giveaways.php

A Christmas Message for President Trump: You Must Win Now. You Can't Win in 2024

A Christmas Message for President Trump: You Must Win Now. You Can't Win in 2024

By Wayne Allyn Root

I have the most important Christmas message ever for President Donald Trump. I'm one of the few who can deliver this message. I understand the man. I appreciate the man. Even the liberal media has described me as President Trump's fiercest champion since the day he came down that escalator in June 2015.

The liberal Daily Beast called me "the Las Vegas version of Trump."

Anthony Scaramucci said, "Wayne Allyn Root was there for Trump before Trump was there."

Steve Bannon only days ago called me "The OG" — original gangster — "for Trump and the MAGA Movement."

And my current No. 1 bestselling book, "TRUMP RULES," catalogues my 41 years of studying and modeling Trump and his rules of success. It's been a No. 1 Amazon bestseller in a dozen categories for the past seven weeks.

So, it's a pretty well-established fact that I'm No. 1 in President Trump's corner. So, no one is in a better position to tell him the cold, hard truth ...

Mr. President, your time is now. There is no tomorrow. Winning again in 2024 is not going to happen. You have to win now — for you, for your legacy, for the 74 million voters you love, for America, for American exceptionalism, for capitalism. There is no tomorrow. If you don't win now, there is no chance for you in 2024. For two reasons ...

First, because Democrats cheated and stole this election, without punishment (so far). If they get away with rigging and stealing this election, it's all over for Republicans forevermore. They stole the election with you in charge. Who's going to stop them when they're in charge? That's like letting the wolf guard the hen house. It's only going to get worse.

Second, the 2024 election will not matter, simply because America won't exist in 2024 — not the America we know now. Democrats will destroy that America. Trust me, this will be a foreign country by 2024.

By 2024, there will be tens of millions of new Democratic voters. Democrats won't even need to steal elections anymore. They won't need dead voters. They won't need to stop counting at midnight on election night and add millions of emergency fake ballots in the middle of the night. No more need for vans at 3 a.m. No more U.S. Postal Service 18-wheelers filled with fake ballots rushed to Pennsylvania the day after the election. No need to keep Republican witnesses out of the counting room. They won't even need computer systems to switch votes away from you.

That will all be old news by 2024. To paraphrase James Carville, it's all about illegal immigration, stupid. First, Democrats will legalize the 22 million to 32 million illegal aliens already in the country. Next, they'll knock down Trump's wall and open the borders, offering free health care to anyone who comes, from anywhere in the world. Tens of millions more foreigners will come to America. Democrats will make sure they can all legally vote.

Those two moves will erase any need for cheating and stealing elections. Democrats will have 40 million to 60 million new Democratic voters by 2024. Almost all of them will legally vote Democratic in order to keep the bribes coming (citizenship, welfare, food stamps, free health care, free college).

Cheating won't be necessary ever again. America will cease to exist. America will be a foreign nation — certainly foreign to Republicans and patriots.

So, as much as I love and appreciate you and everything you've done for America, Mr. President, there is no tomorrow for you. 2024 is a mirage. You can never win again. You won't even recognize America in 2024. It will be a country no Republican can live in, let alone run.

So, my Christmas message is simple: Your time to win is now. You have to overturn a stolen election between now and Jan. 20. But that's OK. You've got this. I've studied your "Trump rules" for 41 years. You are Houdini. You are a man of miracles. Only you can pull this off. You were born to do this. You have the rules and tools to make the impossible possible. I wrote the book. I believe in you.

But it has to be now. You've got only a few days left. After that, your window closes forever.

And so does the future of America.

https://www.creators.com/read/wayne-allyn-root/12/20/a-christmas-message-for-president-trump-you-must-win-now-you-cant-win-in-2024

Articles on election issues (will open new windows)

 Georgia Voting Technician: I Saw Irregularities with the Mail-in Ballots

Hostile Reaction in Detroit Forced Election Official Into Hiding

Former Wisconsin Judge: Court System ‘Deeply Intimidated’ by the Left

Why the 2020 Election Was Neither Free nor Fair

COMMENTARYBy Joel B. Pollak

The 2020 presidential election was neither free nor fair. 

Much of the debate has focused on the question of “voter fraud” — whether alleged violations of the rules moved enough votes in key states to overturn the outcome, or whether speculative theories about hacked voting machines and software should be taken seriously. These claims remain unproven.

But while voting is the most important event in an election, it is not the only event, but the culmination of a process.

Many of these were violated in 2020.

“Fraud” was not as important as what Democrats were able to accomplish legally, for example, by pushing the country to adopt vote-by-mail on a massive scale.

The scientific basis for doing so was always dubious. South Korea and Israel both had national elections at the height of the pandemic in March and April, and both used in-person voting, almost exclusively. Neither could be accused of a lax approach to COVID-19.

Never before had the country adopted an entirely new system of voting in the middle of an election, at the urging of one party, and over the objections of the other. 

Democrats also sued to lower the safeguards against fraud in absentee ballots. The attorney leading many of those lawsuits, Marc Elias of Perkins Coie, was also the key figure in hiring Fusion GPS to produce the fraudulent “Russia dossier” in an attempt to smear Donald Trump in the 2016 election.

Democrats preferred vote-by-mail because it allowed them to turn out low-propensity voters. Republicans preferred voting in person — the standard practice worldwide — partly because of an attachment to tradition, but also because many Republican voters did not trust that mail-in ballots would remain secret or would be delivered at all by postal workers whose union had backed Democrat Joe Biden.

Republicans turned out voters; Democrats turned out envelopes.

Beyond that unfair advantage to Democrats, there were flagrant abuses of the principles that make an election free and fair.

Political violence was widespread, carried out almost entirely by left-wing groups alongside Black Lives Matter protests. Though most protests were peaceful, hundreds were not.

Forty-eight of the 50 largest U.S. cities experienced riots, as did many smaller towns. Democrats minimized the violence and blamed police, or the president, for the unrest.

With the riots came a national panic that came to be known as “cancel culture.” Conservatives feared speaking out lest they lose their jobs, their social media accounts, or their lives. A poll in July revealed that 77% of Republicans were afraid to share their political views.

The extreme bias of the mainstream media also suppressed conservative and pro-Trump views. Media fact-checkers cast Trump as a liar while ignoring Biden’s lies about Charlottesville and much else.

The 2020 election also featured unprecedented censorship. Google manipulated its search algorithm to bury conservative news. Facebook and Twitter suppressed debate about the coronavirus.

In October, when the New York Post published credible allegations about Hunter Biden’s laptop and emails, which exposed Joe Biden’s past dissembling, Twitter and Facebook both censored the story. Mainstream media applauded the censorship, and demanded more.

Other factors also made the 2020 election unfree and unfair. The Commission on Presidential Debates was stacked against Trump, with one moderator caught conspiring with a prominent Trump critic. An election-year impeachment, based on claims by a “whistleblower” whose very name was censored voluntarily by the press, cast the president as illegitimate. Former military leaders, like Admiral William McRaven (Ret.), called for his removal, “the sooner, the better.”

Most of these abuses were legal. That is why the results of the election cannot simply be set aside. When laws were broken — as in the nationwide riots — voters arguably delivered their own verdict, punishing Democratic candidates for the violence and for the party’s waffling on “defund the police.”

But we cannot pretend that what happened in 2020 was acceptable. It leaves many Republicans convinced that the system is “rigged” — even against a “red wave.”

We need to make urgent changes.

If vote-by-mail cannot be reversed, it must be made more secure, or replaced with a secure, 100% American, and politically independent remote voting system.

Political parties must condemn violence unequivocally. Big Tech must lose its immunity under Section 230, which it has abused. The Commission on Presidential Debates should be replaced. 

Above all, “free and fair” must be the standard to which American elections are held. 

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/12/08/why_the_2020_election_was_neither_free_nor_fair_144798.html

Don's Tuesday Column

                          THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson   Red Bluff Daily News   12/29/2020

        Merry Christmas and New Year, Trump Won

Upon the passing of a personal birthday several days before Christmas, the Merry observance of the Sacred birth of Jesus Christ assumes priority: Having abandoned gift-giving, card-mailing, tree- and house-decorating, partying and other superficialities, focus turns to solemnity and sacred (or not) music.

A CW channel 2-hour special on the history and universality of “Silent Night, Holy Night” brought needed spiritual uplift, while several of the Country Music Channel music videos provided alternately somber reflection and welcome comic relief. If you haven’t watched Ray Stevens’ rendition lately, this surely rings a bell: “‘Cause Santa Claus is watching you (He’s everywhere, he’s everywhere).” The animated “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” actually improves on the hilarity of the song itself.

Informed supporters of President Trump cheer his accomplishments and his efforts to reverse what should, on its face, have no standing—the attempted theft of a presidential election “by hook or crook, phony ballots, or voting machine manipulation.” We are neither in denial, engaged in “gaslighting,” possessed of conspiracy theories or given over to “wish-craft.”

Hugh Hewitt’s book, “If It’s Not Close, They Can’t Cheat,” stating the obvious reality of electoral fraud, may have unintentionally guided purveyors of election graft: Don’t let Trump’s lead stand. Have the tools in place in case the wave of votes—reflecting economic satisfaction, Trump’s approval and enthusiasm by his supporters—gives him insurmountable leads. Ignore the “bellwether” counties and states (Iowa, Ohio, Florida) that have never gone to the loser; Trump won them all.

The “gaslighting” (massive lies by liars with the power to limit those subjected to the falsehoods from having their doubts proven or even validated) has culminated in a mainstream news media narrative and paradigm: Refusing to accept the Biden/Harris victory is the equivalent of denying the Jewish Holocaust by Hitler. A ludicrous assertion emanating from Trump Derangement Syndrome.

“Gaslighting” of Trump’s supporters has just been the latest form of quasi-violent intimidation that started with the riots, arson, destruction and murders inflicted by radical antifa/BLM-ers; and so-called “protests” over “unarmed” black men killed by law enforcement. Though not obvious, such violence has accompanied every leftist revolution and attempted takeover of countries, as Lenin specifically advocated to destabilize the target populations.

Hence, lawyers and law firms—who as a profession have never been subjected to disrespect and sanction for defending the most heinous of criminals and terrorists—are threatened with retaliation for involvement with President Trump’s legal efforts to have illegal votes and voting practices annulled. “Michigan AG Dana Nessel Pursues Sanctions Against Lawyers Questioning Election,” (by Kyle Olson, 12/26) illustrates the fact that only Democrats are allowed to raise questions about elections they lose.

Likewise, other thinly-veiled threats: “Former Wisconsin Judge: Court System ‘Deeply Intimidated’ by the Left” (by Janita Kan, 12/21); “Hostile Reaction in Detroit Forced Election Official Into Hiding” (Charlotte Cuthbertson, 12/21) both at Theepochtimes.com. Trump’s staff risks permanent unemployment.

Many stories show threats of violence against those courageous enough as supposedly-free citizens to simply recount witnessed irregularities, rule-breaking and legally-questionable practices that only benefited His Fraudulency, Joe Biden. “Georgia Voting Technician: I Saw Irregularities with the Mail-in Ballots” (by Matt Vespa, 12/8 Townhall.com), recounts how Bridget Thorne detailed the massive unsecured ballot handling she witnessed.

A wide array of credible observers and partisans are not wrong. “Tony Shaffer: Election Anomalies ‘Too Vast and Too Detailed to Be Ignored’” by Li Hai and Jan Jekielek (12/10, theepochtimes.com), quotes Mr. Shaffer, president of the London Center for Policy Research and former senior intelligence officer: “We feel that the anomalies here are too vast and too detailed to be ignored.” Shaffer’s not a Trump advocate, but “We’re specifically asking for investigations or other resolution of the questions we’re raising…First is the obvious statistical anomalies…spikes in numerous locations which cannot be supported without some level of outside force.” Specifically, the massive tranches of Biden-only votes in multiple states between about midnight and 5 a.m. are impossible to account for.

Secondly, Shaffer said there had been many potential acts of physical fraud, such as the documented, verified, “outside-of-normal-operations” handling and disappearance of hundreds of thousands of ballots, observed by truck driver Jesse Morgan in Lancaster, PA.

Shaffer said the third category of evidence is electronic or digital fraud. “That’s the most difficult to prove because you have to get access to the source code and the actual mechanical elements of those systems. There’s absolutely no reason for anyone to deny a competent third party from examining the machines at the forensic level to see if there were any shenanigans or not.” Yet, the Dems deny such access.

In his own interest, Biden’s folks should “get out there and try to help resolve this…74 million people are not convinced Joe Biden won (and he’s not) seeking to convince them.” Mindless repetitions of “no evidence” don’t do that.

I doubt local Democrats will look it up (use title or Donpolson.blogspot.com), but the case is made and proven: “Why the 2020 Election Was Neither Free nor Fair,” by Joel B. Pollack, details how the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s standards were ignored. “The absolute right to a secret ballot” is abrogated with mail-in votes, ballot harvesting and unsecured drop boxes. “The right to express opinions without interference” was denied by ballot harvesting, union (and other leftist) intimidation of personal expression.

“The equal opportunity of access to the media” was denied to Trump’s campaign by legacy and social media. “The right of candidates to security” was likewise shredded by the outbreaks of violence. The “cancel culture” took aim at the “right to freedom of association.” There’s more, much more.

President Donald Trump lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks to media while flanked by Trump campaign senior legal adviser Jenna Ellis (R) at a press conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington on Nov. 19, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

DONALD TRUMP

Giuliani: Election-Related Cases Going to ‘Blow Up’ After Christmas

BY ZACHARY STIEBER

Election-related lawsuits and similar matters are going to “blow up” after Christmas, President Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said this week.

In a self-hosted podcast episode, Giuliani told listeners that there is “considerable movement” in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin towards decertification of the election results amid a growing body of evidence of election fraud.

“So starting after Christmas, this is really going to blow up,” he said. “Because the evidence that all these crooked television networks, newspapers, big tech, and the leadership of the Democratic Party, have been giving you is false. And you’re going to find that out all at once. It’s going to be very shocking to the country.”

The Democratic presidential candidate was certified the winner of the four swing states Giuliani mentioned, though alternate slates of electors cast votes for Trump. Giuliani and Trump’s legal team were working to convince state legislatures to take back the power to appoint electors, but none did so before the votes were cast on Dec. 14. They’re now pushing state lawmakers to decertify the election results, and potentially certify Trump as the winner of the states, citing irregularities including alleged fraud.

“The numbers were wrong. Therefore they must be decertified,” Giuliani added in a podcast episode on Dec. 25.

Decertification would require, in most swing states, support from at least a handful of Democrats, something considered unlikely.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, left, and President Donald Trump in file photographs. (AP Photo; Getty Images)

Giuliani marked Christmas with the video, saying America is “going into probably a more dramatic January than we’ve had in our history.”

He mentioned the House of Representatives, where at least nine members or members-elect have pledged to contest electoral votes during the Jan. 6, 2021, joint session of Congress.

“That’s what’s going to go on now—going to state legislatures and go on [to] Congress. This is going to be pursued. No matter what the crooked media tells you, it’s a real case,” the lawyer said, remarking shortly after he said he was not allowed as a guest on ABC, NBC, CBS, or Fox News.

Trump and his campaign have pointed to witnesses attesting to irregularities at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta and elsewhere, along with applications of election law they say were unconstitutional, in contesting election results. So far, no legal cases have been successful.

Biden appeared to have secured enough electoral votes to win the election earlier this month, but contests during the joint session, or certain legal rulings, could change that calculus. The Epoch Times is not calling the race at this time.

Biden declared victory after the electoral votes were cast, calling on Trump to concede. His team didn’t respond to a request for comment on Giuliani’s remarks.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/giuliani-election-related-cases-going-to-blow-up-after-christmas_3633023.html?utm_source=news&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2020-12-26-2

LOCKDOWN MYSTERIES

LOCKDOWN MYSTERIES

BY SCOTT JOHNSON IN CORONAVIRUS, MEDIA

Following the politics and public health policy of the COVID-19 epidemic in Minnesota, I have drawn several inferences. Among them are these.

The disease places the elderly and infirm (i.e., those with one or more of seven identified underlying medical conditions) at elevated risk of death. At last word, those with significant underlying conditions account for some 94 percent of fatalities attributed to the disease in Minnesota. We should be warned to look out for ourselves and, if in residential care, protected.

The disease places the rest of us at minimal risk. We should be left free to look out for ourselves with the appropriate public health guidance.

The lockdowns imposed on us to prevent spread of the disease are both futile and destructive. The collateral consequences of the lockdowns render them unconscionable on any rational scale weighing costs against benefits.

Stanford University’s Jay Bhattacharya is one of the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration. In the October number of Hillsdale’s Imprimis, Dr. Bhattacharya observes:

The widespread lockdowns that have been adopted in response to COVID are unprecedented—lockdowns have never before been tried as a method of disease control. Nor were these lockdowns part of the original plan. The initial rationale for lockdowns was that slowing the spread of the disease would prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed. It became clear before long that this was not a worry: in the U.S. and in most of the world, hospitals were never at risk of being overwhelmed. Yet the lockdowns were kept in place, and this is turning out to have deadly effects.

Dr. Scott Atlas criticizes lockdowns in the second of “three realities” he urges Americans to understand in the Wall Street Journal column “A pandemic of misinformation.” This is the central reality:

[N]early all states used the same draconian policies that people now insist on hardening, even though the number of positive cases increased while people’s movements were constrained, business activities were strictly limited, and schools were closed. Governors in all but a few states—Florida and South Dakota are notable exceptions—imposed curfews, quarantines, directives on group gatherings, and mask mandates.

Mobility tracking verifies that people restricted their movement. Gallup and YouGov data show that 80% to 90% of Americans have been wearing masks since early August. Lockdown policies had baleful effects on local economies, families and children, and the virus spread anyway. If one advocates more lockdowns because of bad outcomes so far, why don’t the results of those lockdowns matter?

That is a good question. There is much more to the same effect here.

Considering the role of the media in misinforming the public with political attacks about who is to blame for the pain and misery of the lockdowns, Dr. Atlas concludes: “It is not at all clear that American society with its cherished freedoms will survive, regardless of our success in defeating the pandemic threat.”

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/12/lockdown-mysteries.php