Shot in the Dark

Rule Of Law

Governor Klink had a union obligation to save the bloody shirt yesterday:

I mean, he’s not wrong – although I doubt he knows why.

The part of our “democratic ideals” that the mooks ofJanuary 6 attacked was the process – the Constitutionally-mandated steps for determining who the President is.

The rioters tried to circumvent that process. That – not the hooliganism in the Capitol itself – was the attack on democracy.

When government encourages or (hold onto this word) allows people to chuck the process and impose rule themselves – that’s the very definition of an attack on democracy.

Like, January 6? Sure.

Even if they’re dead sure the election was stolen, because Rudy Giuliani said so, and Sidney Powell had

Like when a group of protesters tore down the statue of Christopher Columbus on the Minnesota Capitol mall – bypassing the rule of law (the Capitol Architecture Committee), but with the tacit blessing of the Administration (whose Lieutenant Governor, Peggy Flanagan, chairs the committee); the DFL machine then “punished” the ringleader by “sentencing” him to preach to school kids why Columbus was evil enough to warrant trashing the process. Which would be more or less like “sentencing” Sheriff Hutchinson to a punitive round of tequila shots.

Is the destruction of the statue as big an assault on the rule of law as the riot a the Capitol?

In and of itself, of course not.

Is the fact that our institutions, and our media, tolerate one side attacking the rule of law while hammering on the oppositions attacks?

Yeah,that doesn’t help one little bit.

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Mitch Berg

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37 responses to “Rule Of Law”

  1. kinlaw Avatar
    kinlaw

    “The rioters tried to circumvent that process.”

    Jeebus christ soymitch, just go write for the huffpo and be done with it.

    Horn man and granny with a flag an insurrection?

    Take some some time off the blog dude, you need it.

  2. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    Let’s consider the question a different way. Instead of analyzing what was done, let’s talk about what should have been done.

    I believe there was fraud in the conduct of the election. I believe the official vote totals do not reflect the actual results of legitimate ballots cast. I conclude my vote was negated by the fraud and the election was stolen. I wish to have the official vote totals set aside until a manual recount of legitimate ballots is complete. What is my proper course of action?

    I go to court. The court refuses to hear my evidence because I have not yet suffered any injury. I won’t suffer an injury until the state certifying body adopts the official vote totals. Case dismissed for lack of standing.

    I petition the state certifying body to delay certification until the investigation is conducted. The state certifying body declines to wait. They adopt the fraudulent election results.

    I go back to court. The court refuses to hear my evidence becasue I waited too long. The state certifying body has already acted. Case dismissed for laches.

    I go to Washington, where Congress is meeting to consider whether to accept the state-certified fraudulent election results. I march to the Capitol waving my sign but I’m not allowed into the building. I’m stuck behind barricades with thousands of other people.

    I should . . . what? What’s my proper course of action? What’s my recourse to have the fraudulent election results set aside and a proper count conducted?

    I know what people did. What I want to know is what they should have done.

  3. Emery Incognito Avatar
    Emery Incognito

    Whataboutism is strong in MBerg….

  4. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    Perhaps you could suggest a course of action, E?

    What’s a citizen’s proper response to a stolen election?

  5. Emery Incognito Avatar
    Emery Incognito

    ^ A good con never breaks character.

  6. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    What should citizens have done, when they honestly believed the election was stolen?

  7. Emery Incognito Avatar
    Emery Incognito

    A little evidence would be helpful.

  8. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    The rioters tried to circumvent that process. That – not the hooliganism in the Capitol itself – was the attack on democracy

    Man, I dunno. If I had opinions on a topic that are similar to those of Nancy Pelosi, Dick Schumer and the rest of Democrat power structure (not to forget the E-collective), I’d think that maybe I should reconsider. Especially if Pelosi, Schumer, et al were getting cover from National Review.

    As to the “hooliganism”, my favorite part of it was whenthe terrorists made sure to respect the velvet ropes in Statuary Hall

  9. Mitch Berg Avatar
    Mitch Berg

    Whataboutism is strong in MBerg

    “Whataboutism” is just a way of dismissing refernces to hypocrisy that you happen to agree with.

  10. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    E I, there is lots of evidence of fraud in the conduct of the election but no court has ever considered it. They’ve refused to hear every case for lack of standing (too early) or laches (too late).

    But that’s not my question. Mitch’s point is that going to Congress to protest the steal was wrong. My question is what should have been done, instead?

    Assume, for purposes of this hypothetical, that election fraud is proven beyond all doubt but no court or legislature will act on that proof. Under those facts, the democracy has been stolen. Under those facts, what is the proper course of action for citizens to regain their democracy?

  11. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    To be clear, I’m not posing an academic question or trying to be contrary. I genuinely want to know the answer. Because as far as I can see, the only remaining alternative is:

    . . . But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these citizens; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. . . .

    Is that truly where all this is headed?

  12. Rat Emery’s unwholesome urges for his son Avatar
    Rat Emery’s unwholesome urges for his son

    Ted Cruze called, and said stop stepping on his lines.

  13. Rat Emery’s unwholesome urges for his son Avatar
    Rat Emery’s unwholesome urges for his son

    JD; if all goes well, yes.

  14. jimf Avatar
    jimf

    https://i1.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2022/01/0j5nv5enc4a81.jpg?w=630&ssl=1

  15. justplainangry Avatar
    justplainangry

    Mitch’s point is that going to Congress to protest the steal was wrong.

    Wrong? WRONG? Mitch not only jumped the shark, he jumped the minnow. All those pussyhats disrupting proceedings IN the fucking congress chamber IN session(!) and being hauled out and not charged? Next thing Mitch will defend 1/6 kangaroo court with foam at the mouth.

  16. Mammuthus Primigenesis Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenesis

    The larger point is ignored by everyone, of course (except for me!).
    What the Democrats did during 2020 was accelerate their long term plan to shape the election process in their favor.
    The old way the Democrats hate: Everyone goes to their polling place on the same day, shows their ID, have their registration verified, and then casts their vote. After the polls are closed, the votes are counted in transparent fashion and a winner quickly declared.
    The new way. It is here now:
    Anyone can register without showing ID or proof of residency in a district. Voting is done over a period of weeks, not a single day. More than half the votes will be cast by mail, without proof that the person who marked the ballot is in fact the registered voter. Due to mail delays, some ballots may be marked and mailed in after election day and be counted. If you are not registered to vote, you will be allowed to cast a ballot anyway. The election then results in a mass of undifferentiated votes that cannot be traced back to the person who cast the vote. This mass of votes will be counted over a period of days or weeks, often by partisan vote counters. Parties will use the court system to try and get votes from precincts favorable to them counted, while trying to disqualify votes from precincts where the other party is favored. Elections become a drawn out affair where the courts and players routinely play a huge role in determining the winner.
    Our system was not designed to handle the large amount of fraudulent or potentially fraudulent votes such a system will necessarily produce. Laws often require that a winner assume office within a short period of time after “election day.” This makes it difficult to pursue legal claims in court. There is also the problem of standing: since my vote cannot be tracked back to me, I cannot claim harm if my vote was not counted, or diluted by votes that were cast illegally.

  17. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    Yes, MP, those are problems. Legislatures created them. Courts won’t address them. Leaving those problems in place results in fraudulent elections.

    So how do ordinary citizens fix the problems? If protesting at the Capitol is Insurrection, then what should we have done?

    How do we get free and fair elections back?

  18. Emery Incognito Avatar
    Emery Incognito

    Stop the squeal.

  19. justplainangry Avatar
    justplainangry

    Newly released video from the West Terrace tunnel of the U.S. Capitol provides more details on the collapse, beating, and death of Rosanne Boyland on Jan. 6, 2021. A three-hour video unsealed in late December in a Jan. 6 federal criminal case shows the 34-year-old President Donald Trump supporter entered the tunnel, was pushed back out, fell, and was struck by police before her lifeless body was dragged into the Capitol. Boyland’s sister and a New York attorney question the District of Columbia medical examiner’s finding that Boyland died of an overdose of a prescription medication she took for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

    This is what Mitch is defending. Just saying. How does that propaganda taste, eh Mitch? Are you taking care of that hole in the cheek from the hook which you fell for, sinker and all? Did you apply to be an official boot licker to the kangaroo court?

  20. justplainangry Avatar
    justplainangry

    A year ago, we witnessed an assault on our democracy when the U.S. Capitol building was stormed during an attempted insurrection. Today, we must protect and uphold our democratic ideals by ensuring this never happens again.

    — Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) January 6, 2022
    I mean, he’s not wrong – although I doubt he knows why.

    Which part, Bagdad Mitch is not wrong? Assault on democracy – protesting the steal of an election is an assault? That Capital was stormed? Doors were opened and people were invited into the building, there is plenty of video evidence already out to show that. Attempted insurrection – insurrekshun? Really Bagdad Mitch? YOU believe that it was an insurekshuin? Kazakhstan, THAT’s an insurrection – J6, Bagdad Mitch? You truly went off the deep end.

  21. Mammuthus Primigenesis Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenesis

    I describe, I do not prescribe.
    Casinos have a return rate of about 95%. This means that if your goal is to maximize your returns at a casino, instead of going through the door, just give casino management, say, $100 and they will give you $95 back. Save time!
    So I never go into casinos. Why not just give them money instead? But if the odds ran the other way — if my $95 “investment” in playing the slots returned $100, I would be in that casino every day from opening to closing, pumping every penny I had into those mechanical bandits.
    We have a winner take all political system. If you win all of the close races, 51% to 49%, soon ALL political power will be in your hands.
    Working against this is the fact that the positions of the parties are fluid. The incentive is to move just far enough left or right to get 51% of the votes. This is why the idea of a permanent D or R majority is nonsense. When a party begins to lose consistently, it changes its tactics until it begins to win elections.

  22. Mammuthus Primigenesis Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenesis

    But it does make you wonder what the claimed goal of loosening voting rules is. The massive changes in voting rules in 2020 can be shown NOT to have increased people’s confidence that their vote had any meaningful effect on the election. If I remember correctly, one of the justifications of encouraging voter turnout is to make people feel that their political ideas are better represented by elected officials.
    How is that working out for you?
    At the federal level, the congress is the most representative of the will of the voters. People routinely give congress extremely low approval ratings, currently the congressional approval rating is 20%.
    So what, exactly, is the point of increasing voter participation in elections? What is its purpose?

  23. Emery Incognito Avatar
    Emery Incognito

    Changes to voting rules will not be necessary to stop the GOP from taking control of Congress later this year. Democrats have handed them a victory by ignoring kitchen table issues in favor of identity politics, or at least the media has made it seem so. More words have been wasted on gender identity and racism than major issues like health care reform, housing and rampant crime. James Carville called it “stupid wokeism” and was dismissed as a geezer. He was right.

  24. Rat Emery’s unwholesome urges for his son Avatar
    Rat Emery’s unwholesome urges for his son

    Say, rat? I hear CNN is hiring scumbags with your skill set.

    Strike while the iron us hot.

  25. Mammuthus Primigenesis Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenesis

    So “our democracy” == Joe Biden issuing orders to vaxx unwilling people?
    Don’t seem like much of a democracy to me.

  26. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    Does stupid wokeism matter, if ballots are fraudulent, counted for the other candidate, or run through the machine enough times to return the desired result?

    If nobody is allowed to watch the count and nobody is allowed to challenge the count, what difference does the count make? Simply announce that Candidate B won and skip the entire electoral process.

    Until we have a fully transparent election, we have a rigged election. What’s the point in voting in a rigged election? And where do we go to get our democracy back?

    If protesting at the Capitol wasn’t the right thing to do, what is?

  27. Emery Incognito Avatar
    Emery Incognito

    Maybe that’s what JD is buying into — the conspiracy theory that it was all an Antifa and BLM black flag operation.

  28. Emery Incognito Avatar
    Emery Incognito

    Vaccines are working. Unvaxxed are taxing hospital capacity and everyone else pays. Sadly, about a third of Americans don’t believe this. They are too caught up in their own “research” and other nonsense.

    Revealing chart about Omicron hospitalizations in NYC: barely changed for the vaccinated.
    But big spike ⬆️ Upwards arrow for unvaccinated.
    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/01/09/us/omicron-cities-cases-hospitals.html

  29. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    OK, Dr Emery (credentialed by NY Times), according to Bloomberg, the fourth jab is being discussed as necessary. So, if I didn’t get the first three jabs and just go straight to the fourth, will that one work? Or do I have to get all the previous jabs that didn’t work, to make the fourth one work?

  30. Mammuthus Primigenesis Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenesis

    Emery is on his vax obsession again?
    He is an extremely ignorant human being.
    Watch for his tune to change in the next few weeks. “Public health officials” are beginning to realize that it simply is not possible to vaccinate everyone on the planet every six months, and it especially makes no sense to vax a person who has robust protection from a real honest-to-God covid infection, 99%+ of which do not even result in a visit to a doctor’s office.
    It is fun and interesting to watch the covid-maniacs react when you simply tell the truth. They are like a glitching computer, as the truth causes them to have a sort of mini stroke where they mindlessly repeat propaganda from sources who are known to have lied, time and again, in the past.

  31. Emery Incognito Avatar
    Emery Incognito

    I’ll start learning to live with Covid when learning to live with Covid means doing the things that allow us to live with Covid and not acting as if the way to end a pandemic is to pretend the pandemic isn’t real.

  32. Emery Incognito Avatar
    Emery Incognito

    JD wrote: “Until we have a fully transparent election, we have a rigged election. What’s the point in voting in a rigged election?”

    This is America, where voter fraud is illegal, while vote buying is a tradition.

  33. Mitch Berg Avatar
    Mitch Berg

    Jeebus christ soymitch, just go write for the huffpo and be done with it.

    I respectfully decline.

    You want a debate on the facts, let’s do it.

    You want to insult the host? I won’t be the one taking the time off.

  34. Mitch Berg Avatar
    Mitch Berg

    Watch for his tune to change in the next few weeks

    Yep. There’s a reason all these A-list prog talking heads are announcing they have Covid. Big Left needs to start the long, awkward. process of reversing itself on two years of “eradicating Covid” nonsense.

    The meme hasn’t apparently gotten to Emery/ies yet.

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