Good morning.
At 10 am there will be a hearing in Atlanta for Sidney Powell’s “kraken” conspiracy lawsuit to overturn the Georgia elections. Just this morning, a judge in Michigan tossed a similar effort to overturn that state’s results.
Here’s a quick primer on the GA case.
“Much like the mythological 'kraken' monster…their claims of election fraud and malfeasance belong more to the kraken’s realm of mythos than they do to reality.”
“The security of the state’s electronic voting equipment was not compromised.”
This weekend, the defendants dismantled it in a brutal motion to exclude her “expert” witnesses.
It’s too detailed to describe but here it is.
https://t.co/0z9soJ3Vtv
Judge Timothy Batten, a GWB appointee, on the bench.
He tells the parties this hearing is being audiocast nationally so...be forewarned.
Legal problems include: standing, untimeliness, state claims not federal claims made.
It's breathtaking:
Have a federal judge rule that "massive fraud" occurred, scrap the entire election in Georgia and effectively name Donald Trump the winner.
"This case simply does not belong in this court," he says.
Belinfante says the suit seeks "to substitute judicial fiat" for "the will of the people."
There is by now a growing body of case law that cuts against almost everything Powell has argued.
"At this point," she says, "there is simply no question that Joe Biden has won Georgia's election."
"Voters not lawyers choose the president. Ballots not briefs decide elections."
Statistical analysis, video, etc.
He asks her about federal/state claim issue.
Powell swears without explanation that she has raised federal claims.
Powell: These are federal claims.
Powell: Bush v Gore allows it.
*Shrug emoji*
Powell says she came forward with her claims as fast as possible.
She is saying this is a massive case with worldwide importance.
Frankly, she sounds crazy.
She mentions the Fulton County video...
She is completely ignoring Judge Batten's schedule and is likely flirting with disaster.
Powell says yes, there's more fraud everywhere--everywhere!--in Senate seats, House seats, gubernatorial seats...
"This is nowhere near over," she says.
He asks: How do your clients survive the motion to dismiss on standing?
Powell says electors have standing.
Appeals courts, he adds, have made it clear they don't want federal court handling this issue. They want state courts doing it.
Extreme importance felt by a litigant is not a legal argument as far as I can tell.
She's back to the conspiracy theory evidence:
The military intelligence canard.
The "lie" about the water leak.
The "suitcase" votes....
Plaintiffs also do not have standing, Batten rules.
Powell could have questioned the use of Dominion voting machines in GA months ago, not three weeks after the election.
"As if such a mechanism even exists and I find that it does not," he says.
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The benign product is sovereign programmable money, which is historically a niche interest of folks with a relatively clustered set of beliefs about the state, the literary merit of Snow Crash, and the utility of gold to the modern economy.
This product has narrow appeal and, accordingly, is worth about as much as everything else on a 486 sitting in someone's basement is worth.
The other product is investment scams, which have approximately the best product market fit of anything produced by humans. In no age, in no country, in no city, at no level of sophistication do people consistently say "Actually I would prefer not to get money for nothing."
This product needs the exchanges like they need oxygen, because the value of it is directly tied to having payment rails to move real currency into the ecosystem and some jurisdictional and regulatory legerdemain to stay one step ahead of the banhammer.