Friday, December 16, 2016

A pet peeve regarding stupidity

I saw an exchange yesterday between a trump supporter and someone that was encouraging rational thought. The trump surrogate said something along the lines of-

It's all hillarys fault that she lost. The Russians didn't hack anything, that's a lie. You can't brief the electors about anything because they don't have security clearance. The recount failed. Just accept it and move on.

What lays bare here is this persons ignorance. The CIA, as well as the Russians themselves, have said there was an effort to interfere with the election. Let's see what they find before we snap to judgement. That's the American fucking way.

The electors, it is true, don't have high level security clearance. But how about if agents of the CIA present publicly available and relevant facts of the case in a summary to them? Don't filter it through the media or the party. Let them hear it from the source and ask relevant questions. I know why. Because that's rational thinking! Can't have that.

And as for the recounts. Yes, they did Peter out. But do you know why? Because each of the states in question (along with many others) has absurd rules about how a recount works, who pays for it, what triggers it, and if the state supervisor of elections agrees to it. It's a myriad of complex legal questions that aren't easily addressed by just anyone. It goes along with the notion that the elections themselves - from the equipment to the methods used and even ID requirements - are a weird mix that seem ineffective.

The fact that they petered out doesn't mean that they didn't find anything. In fact the anecdotal and early finding suggest otherwise. It is a matter of legal hurdles not being cleared.

As always, educate yourself. Don't open your pie hole to say stuff unless you have an informed position. And don't blindly follow anything.

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