Elsewhere, enemies entering territory potentially dangerous to both sides should share information.
A Norrman to two Maurai in Mong country:
"'Let's pool our data,' Mikli was saying, his tone gone mild."
-Orion Shall Rise, CHAPTER FIFTEEN, p. 241.
A black magician to his white opposite number while entering Hell after demonic victory at Armageddon:
"'Look here, Father, this is all so mysterious, and the future looks so black, that it's ridiculous for us not to make available and to make use of any little scraps of information that we may have to share.'"
-James Blish, The Day After Judgement IN Blish, After Such Knowledge (London, 1999), pp. 425-522 AT p. 510.
And that is one bunch of weird stuff. Are some parts of this planet approaching Armageddon or Judgment now? (Fantastic fiction reflects fantastic reality.) Good night.
22 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
A weird world? Absolutely! Just now I've been watching Fox News reports of how evidence seems to be coming out of corruption and abuse of the electoral system by the Democrats. Justice Alito, of the US Supreme Court, has ordered county electoral boards in Pennsylvania to set aside not count in the "general count" mailed in ballots not postmarked November 3rd.
And now the results in Michigan seems to be coming under attack. Evidence was found of a so called software "glitch" which switched 6000 votes from Trump to Biden in one county alone. And since 30 other states use that same software, chaos may come if evidence is found of serious "defects" in those states.
I know you are a leftist, but also an honest man. I am sure you would demand an honest and transparent counting of ballots, even if that means people you disagree with would win.
I don't think Poul Anderson would have been surprised by any of this! And the anger, contempt, and disgust I have for the Democrats also grows!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Sure. I find that glitch a bit hard to believe. Of course it must be checked but it sounds like the sort of argument that people come up with. In recent days, I have been googling news from the BBC and other outlets. I have been reading that accusations of fraud are unsubstantiated and that senior Republicans are not backing the proposed litigation. In response to your comment above, I googled "US election Fox News" and found a report that Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post are urging Trump to act with "grace." Of course, disagreement will continue.
Paul.
Sean,
Criticism the other way: surely Trump was wrong to claim electoral victory way in advance of the vote being completed? Even if some votes are illegal, how can he be certain that he has a majority of the legal votes?
Paul.
Sorry. In advance of the count of the vote being completed.
Sean,
I think that, in this case at least, contempt will be warranted only if and when the fraud allegations are proved? And a glitch, if it exists and if it is a mere glitch, is not part of any conspiracy and could equally have shifted votes in another direction.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And important thing to consider is that MILLIONS Americans don't trust the mainstream media: the NT TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, MSNBC, ABC, etc. Because of the sheer bias, dishonesty, and hostility they have shown for DECADES to anyone on the right who does not agree with them. So I frankly dismiss what such outlets say. At least check out alternate and opposition media!
There is simply too much evidence of fraud, corruption, and abuse coming out lately for me to be convinced right now that we had an honest election. So I'm likely to remain contemptuous of the US left.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Evidence or just accusations? If there is evidence, then it must certainly be taken to court. I have heard Trump speak but not, as yet, present evidence; documents; films; photographs; witnesses prepared to testify in court etc.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
But Fox News has been giving interviews with lawyers and observers giving detailed accounts of possible fraud and corruption. And of how they have been working at collecting the kind of evidence you listed. Including sworn affidavits from alleged witnesses.
It is possible the votes in Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia will need to be completely recounted by independent counters who are closely supervised. We will see what may happen.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Paul!
I've been reading of how carefully Georgia has been counting votes, including extensive security measures, so I would remove that state from the list of places where the counting can be challenged as questionable.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Fraud on a sufficient scale to affect the outcome? And only in favor of a single candidate? And organized or orchestrated by that candidate's political party? There is a lot to be proved here.
I have seen some of the prima facie evidence that has been circulated on social media: a man who had the same name as his father so it was thought that the dead father was voting; mistakes in reporting numbers of votes that were corrected although the mistaken reports continued to be circulated as evidence. Arguing about details like these can continue indefinitely but would resolving some of them significantly affect the election outcome?
Paul.
Sean,
I would be surprised if there was not a high standard of security across the board. The reason for a recount is usually just that the count is so close that a small miscount could matter.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree, there is much to be proved, for such suspicions or charges to be vindicated. And I agree corruption of that kind is usually feasible only in narrowly decided elections. But, the Democrat Party has a long history of indulging in such things, which is why I remain suspicious of the alleged outcomes in some of the states I listed, such as Pennsylvania.
Georgia has a Republican administration, and it has been the Republicans there, not the Democrats, who have been managing an honest count.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
The problem is that many people are now saying not, "Fraud allegations must be investigated," but, "There definitely was massive fraud which stole the election!" Trump is responsible for people thinking that. He claimed victory long before the count was completed. His followers who were present applauded instead of querying what he said. He does seem to be unable to distinguish between: "This statement is true" and: "This statement suits my purposes at the moment when I am saying it!" I am relieved that he is no longer President although he leaves as his legacy a badly Divided States.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Donald Trump is always going to be what he is, good and bad alike. And he has done a lot of good for the US during his tumultuous presidency. And I don't like or respect Joe Biden or the Democrats, who are vastly worse people.
That said, while it is frustrating that Trump lost in three or four crucial states by less than one percent, it would take proving about sixty thousand votes in those states to be illegal or fraudulent to flip them to Pres. Trump. I can't really see fraudulent votes affecting the outcome in more than one of those states, at most.
Btw, Trump is constitutionally eligible to run for President again! He could run and win again in 2024 if he chooses to try. If so, and if he wins, he would be the first President since Grover Cleveland to have two non consecutive terms in office.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
We approach some measure of shared acceptance of the de facto outcome of the election. At least, you and I here and now do. But there are all those Trumpists who have been convinced by him that the entire election result was a fraud and that he really won the election. That is a very serious situation. He seems to be of the view that he should not accept any election result unless he wins it. And that is precisely the wrong attitude to take into any electoral process.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I think Pres. Trump will soon be resigning himself to his loss. Esp. if the courts rule there is not enough evidence to seriously challenge the results in more than one or two states.
And I expect NOTHING good from Biden. My view is he will be a weak and ineffectual president. And a captive of the hard left of the Democrats.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
But I think that Republicans in the Senate will block any left policies?
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I hope so, IF they can retain control of the Senate. Someone what unusually, Georgia has two run off Senatorial elections scheduled for January 5. If the GOP can win both, it can keep control of the Senate.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Sean and Paul,
I’m behind on the blog as usual. Sean, I meant to post this in response to something of yours back in October, but several weeks later, it’s still an issue. Trump’s assertions about massive fraud at the polls, or in counting the ballots, are bogus, or, to put it politely, unproven, and I’m not even relying on Democratic or remotely leftist sources for this. Reason magazine, which is libertarian, has been quite critical of Joe Biden and his agenda, as well as being critical of Trump. You might want to turn to what a Reason writer has to say, at https://reason.com/2020/11/11/republican-lawsuits-cannot-deliver-the-evidence-trump-needs-to-prove-he-actually-won-the-election/
Since that was posted, the case for regarding Trumpublican allegations as groundless has only grown stronger. Trump’s consigliere Rudy Giuliani made a fool of himself in court when it came time to back up accusations of vote fraud in Pennsylvania, for example. Trump can tweet that he won the election, and his sycophants can back him up, but when it comes to actual hearings in courts of law, there is very little evidence to be presented, and lawyers are wary making demonstrably false statements of fact or law to judges, which is understandable, as they could be disbarred.
I can understand that as a Burkean conservative, you, Sean, do not think highly of Biden; coming from a somewhat different perspective, I don’t think very highly of him, either. However, I do not believe that it is very conservative, as that term has been traditionally understood, to support an unqualified buffoon and ignoramus who demonstrates contempt for the Constitution, runs up huge deficits, spews vulgar insults, and fails to take effective action in the face of a real emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic. As you may recall, our toddler president denounced concern about the virus as a new Democratic hoax, after the attempt (a fully justified attempt, in my view) to remove him by impeachment failed. At most, a respectable conservative might hold his nose and vote for such a man if he were convinced that the alternative was even worse.
Best Regards,
Nicholas
Kaor, Sean and Paul!
One further point: I forgot to describe Donald Trump as a chaos muppet who frivolously changes long-standing policies and weakens long-standing alliances. A Burkean conservative is not obliged to refrain from ever changing any policies, but would not disrupt them frivolously or without careful thought.
Best Regards,
Nicholas
Thank you, Nicholas.
In case anyone out there thinks that political controversy is inappropriate on the blog, it is not. I am keeping out of the details on this one but the blog welcomes comments from any of its readers. Sean comments a lot, Nicholas sometimes - but there must be other points of view out there?
Paul.
Kaor, Nicholas!
Many thanks for your comments, even tho I don't quite agree with all of what you have written. Yes, I agree it has not been proven that corruption, fraud, or irregularities affected the outcome of the election in more than, at best, a couple of the disputed state. And that won't be enough to change the over all electoral results.
And those results were, after all, less than satisfactory to the Democrats. There was no Blue Wave, no Biden landslide. It was a squeaker which Joe barely won and in which the Democrats suffered losses in the House and may not get control of the Senate. And remain a minority in the number of states they govern. And, like it or not, I put a lot of that down to Trump's truly amazing efforts during the last month of the campaign, which probably brought lots of people to voting for the GOP.
I already know about Pres. Trump's flaws and agree about them. I do not see Joe Biden: a shallow, opportunistic, sleazy empty suit who has accomplished nothing REAL in 47 years in politics, to be any better. In fact worse, due to him not having a tenth of the energy and drive of Trump. He has always been as left wing liberal as it was politically prudent to be--and in the last few years he has totally surrendered to the extreme left of the Democrats. And, given their horrible ideas and policy wishes, Trump looks good by comparison. Because, when it came down to the practicalities of governing, he has governed as a fairly standard GOP conservative.
As for foreign affairs, my view remains that Trump has not been that bad. I APPROVE of him renegotiating trade agreements in ways that benefits the US, I approve of him demanding that the members of the NATO pay more of their share for mutual defense. I approve of how he has been strangling the brutal theocracy in Iran with those sanctions, and I approve of how he finally moved the US embassy to Israel to Jerusalem. And Trump has brokered those peace agreements Israel has made with Bahrain, the UAE, Sudan, etc. Trump has done more for Middle Eastern peace than what any US President has managed to achieve in decades.
A Burkean conservative is also a realist, he does not allow wished for ideal outcomes to get in the what of what can be ACHIEVED.
Best regards! Sean
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