Retired senior DoD analyst Ray Blehar has examined an underreported election story pertaining to write-in and minor party ballots/votes. His investigation has resulted in some startling conclusions and a working theory: that Biden’s margin of victory in several key states could have been provided by shifting write-in and minor party ballots through ballot adjudication.

Let us examine his statistical analysis and conclusions in more detail. First, a definition of terms:

Write-in ballots. These are ballots marked by voters who choose to vote for a candidate other than those listed on the printed ballots.

Minor party ballots. These are ballots marked for candidates of minor parties who were qualified to be on the election slate, such as the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, and the Constitution Party. Approved minor party candidates will vary by state, depending on qualification requirements.

WIMP. This is an acronym that stands for the sum of write-in and minor party ballots in a given state.

Adjudication. This is a manual process by which the “intent of the individual voter” is determined when a given ballot cannot be determined by automated tabulation devices. Adjudicated ballots are typically write-in ballots, mismarked ballots (double votes), misaligned ballots, and other categories. Note: it is also possible to program voting machines in order to recognize a “straight party” ballot as misaligned and automatically sending it to the manual adjudication process. Adjudication is really where the vote shifting happens, particularly if the election officials in a given precinct are all from one political party and/or vote shifting malware has “infected” tabulation devices. //

Blehar believes the following happened:

Conclusion #1: The total adjudication manipulation resulted in Biden winning the state by ~80,500 votes, but in reality, President Trump actually won Pennsylvania by over 186,000 votes.
Conclusion #2: Biden’s margin of victory could have only been obtained through adjudication manipulation.

Yesterday, the worst miss in job’s report history made its debut. Only 266,000 out of over one million projected jobs were added to the economy, and it wasn’t just the economists who were surprised. //

It was a watershed moment in the new administration that showed that policy actually matters, and obsessions over decorum seem rather shallow when the bullets really start to fly.

Naturally, given the seriousness of what we witnessed, that meant resident Never Trumpers were talking about Donald Trump yesterday — instead of the failures of Joe Biden and how inflation is threatening to crush the middle class. //

Stephen Hayes
@stephenfhayes
For 6 years, elected GOPers have rationalized their Trump support saying to themselves "if I just compromise my values this one time" the worst will be behind me. They've been wrong every time.

Trump's not going away. This isn't going to get easier. Trump won't bring GOP unity //

Mollie
@MZHemingway
Replying to @MZHemingway
What's more far and away the largest source of division in the party has not been Trump but the NeverTrumpers who refused to accept the legitimacy and significance of his election, spending five years trying to throw him out of office and undermine his electorally winning agenda. //

Stephen Hayes
@stephenfhayes
"Electorally winning agenda."

In 2016 and 2020, Trump underperformed Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign at the national level. Romney won a higher share of the total vote in 2012 (47.2%) than Trump did in either 2016 (46.1%) or 2020 (46.9%). Romney was challenging a popular incumbent //

This is the delusion of Never Trump, in as stark of terms as I’ve ever witnessed.

Note the appeal to participation trophies instead of actually, you know, winning elections. Mollie Hemingway is obviously correct because Trump did actually win, and her qualifier of “electorally winning” is important. //

It is an exercise in beating one’s head against a brick wall to continue to sugar-coat Mitt Romney as the true representation of a winning coalition. He simply wasn’t, as evidenced by the fact that he did not win. Hayes can cherry-pick whatever results he wants, but in the end, the GOP has moved past Romney’s vision of the Republican party. No amount of fluffing The 2012 loss and obsessing over Donald Trump is going to change that. That doesn’t mean you have to support Trump himself as the 2024 nominee, but it does mean you have to accept the reality of how the party has changed in regards to policy and posture.

The current dynamic is simple. Republican voters prefer a far more restrained foreign policy; they see China as a threat to be combated; they oppose big tech monopolizing the means of information distribution; they want immigration laws followed; and they give no quarter to big corporations that turn around and spit in their faces with woke ideology. It’s not 2005 anymore. Mitt Romney and those like him are never going to represent the GOP at a high level again. Liz Cheney is not the future of the party.

These are facts that can be accepted and worked with, or one can continue to yell at the clouds as they pass. Hayes and his cohorts have chosen the latter path. We’ll see how that works out for them.

The case has been assigned to Senior Federal District Court Judge Paul A. Magnuson.

Judge Magnuson was appointed to the Court — by Pres. Reagan in 1981. He turned 84 in February and is reported online as having an active caseload.

In my experience, many federal judges quit handling criminal trials when they assume Senior Status, as they are able to limit the types and amount of work they do at that stage.

The Senior Status judges who continue to take criminal cases do so because they enjoy the criminal trial process. I suspect that in his 40 years on the bench Judge Magnuson has presided over hundreds of criminal jury trials.

We won’t have cameras in the courtroom this time, and this case might move quite fast. A federal defendant has a statutory right to go to trial within 70 days of his initial appearance. Given that the state trial just ended, and the defense has that transcript to work from in terms of the facts and witnesses likely to testify, it might make sense for the defense to push the matter to the earliest possible trial date.

I’ll have another story soon taking a closer look at these and other issues.

But very little about what DOJ did today makes sense to me. I think it has the potential to cause problems in a variety of ways.

Did the Minnesota Attorney General request DOJ to charge the three officers who haven’t gone to trial yet? Will the Minnesota AG drop that case out of fear of maybe losing it??

Hmmm.

An AOPA petition to expand pilots’ ability to use certain Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) Out equipment in anonymous mode has resulted in the FAA clarifying that what AOPA sought actually is what the agency intended when it wrote the ADS-B requirements.

Does your aircraft have an electrical system?
NO →
Typically balloons, gliders

14 CFR 91.225 (e) states the requirements under the provision of 14 CFR 91.225 (b) do not apply to certain aircraft without an electrical system, including balloons and gliders. Refer to 14 CFR 91.225(d) & (e) for specific exemptions and airspace limitations.

Do you operate your aircraft above 10,000 feet MSL within the 48 States or DC?

YES

If you operate your aircraft above 10,000 feet MSL within the 48 States or DC do you remain below 2,500 feet AGL?

YES

ADS-B not required

It seems that some higher powers in government think encryption is only used for nefarious purposes. //

Here, though, as my colleague Asha Barbaschow reported, are the public thoughts of the commission: If you use encryption, you're likely a crook. Which may surprise one or two iMessage and WhatsApp users. //

The commission's actual words about encrypted communication services were: "These platforms are used almost exclusively by SOC [serious and organised crime] groups and are developed specifically to obscure the identities of the involved criminal entities and enable avoidance of detection by law enforcement."

I do understand that there are many bad people in the world. I fear I have done business with some. A few may have even become my friends for a short while. //

But to suggest -- with a straight face and a public voice -- that encryption is almost exclusive to the evil seems like the sort of exaggeration that only a politician would embrace. Publicly.

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission has said an encrypted communication platform is not something a law-abiding member of the community would use.

With news on the disappointing April jobs report out of the way, the crew at CNS News did some digging and found some pretty fantastical, pre-jobs report headlines from mainstream media news outlets that were difficult to distinguish from an official White House press release. Here’s what they found: //

G6095
an hour ago
The real problem is not the headline writers, liars that they are, it's the, shall I say lack of intelligence, of the vast majority of readers who invest the sum total of their information gathering in headline reading. //

mlmorrison44
14 hours ago
So it's all up from here. As soon as jobs hit 500K they will be saying how Biden doubled growth. //

Skeptical Techie
11 hours ago edited
Love how that last guy absolutely steps on the guy who is reading out the whole point of the segment and then starts shouting out about other stats and oohing and ahing about them.

Look over here!

At the end he oohs about the Workforce Participation of 61.7%...? What? That is STILL WORSE than before all the economic pandemic hitting the world February 2020! We are still in the hole and he is shouting, "Yes, yes, yes, look at that, we are IN THE HOLE!"

Witnesses are gathering upon the scene where a woman has been crushed, dragged, disemboweled, dismembered and killed by a city trolley and a guy from the City's PR firm is shouting, "Hey look over here, she was just given a chrome engagement ring. Isn't it shiny?"

hoot.smawley
4 hours ago edited
Name one Freedom Caucus leader who has actually built a coalition of GOP votes capable of winning that position. Just one. I’ll wait.

I actually support the goals of the Freedom Caucus and share concerns about Stefanik (and loathed Cheney), but here’s a harsh truth…not one of the members of that caucus has built any kind of base of support that could elevate them to leadership. Not one. They preen for the cameras, they complain to the friendly press, and they do little to nothing to actually lead when it comes to doing the work in Congress, so nobody votes to make them leaders. They’re grandstanders who alienate people, and so the only people with sufficient support to get promoted to leadership are the squishes.

We spend a lot of time trashing Dems, RINOs, and weak-kneed conservatives (deservedly so)…but we also need to ask why the people saying things we want to hear to friendly journalists (cough Gaetz) can’t seem to impress their colleagues enough to get a leadership position. Because that’s actually on the person pursuing the leadership job when they fail to perform. We can’t clear the entire path for them…they actually have to do more than produce a bunch of pithy soundbites in order to get promoted. And until they d0 that, Stefanik is an improvement over Cheney, so she’ll do for now. //

hoot.smawley writeofcenter
2 hours ago edited
There was an observation from Elizabeth Warren (when she first got into office) that at some point politicians have to make a choice between being insiders or outsiders. If you’re an insider, you get to lead and make changes and have authority, but the one rule is that you can never criticize other insiders. If you’re an outsider, you can say and do anything you want, but nobody with the ability to change anything will care what you think and you probably won’t accomplish much. And if you’re not sure which you are, you’re an outsider.

I happen to think there’s a middle ground between those positions…you can have sway and criticize insiders, but only if you’ve actually accomplished something impressive first and demonstrated your value. Usually that means you kept your mouth shut, focused on building smart legislation, did a solid job in your committees, and built up a raft of allies. Then you can start taking the big guys down a few pegs…you put in the work, you earn the respect from enough people that you matter. That way, you shift what qualifies as “inside” and you build your army before going to war.

Problem is that too many of these guys in the Freedom Caucus (especially Gaetz) just came to D.C. to play the R vs. D game and get their faces on camera so they can maybe land a gig on Fox like Chaffetz or Gowdy (two guys who ran their mouths a lot while accomplishing very little that mattered) did. You’re not going to build a winning movement by building around the mouthy malcontents who mainly produce hot air,

I suspect that middle way is going to look an awful lot like Ron DeSantis…who takes a lot of shots at the press and prominent Dems, but doesn’t take shots at his own party even when he disagrees. He stays in his lane and doesn’t alienate potential allies while dismembering adversaries.

Why is the FAA transitioning away from radar and towards ADS-B technology?
ADS-B is an environmentally friendly technology that enhances safety and efficiency, and directly benefits pilots, controllers, airports, airlines, and the public. It forms the foundation for NextGen by moving from ground radar and navigational aids to precise tracking using satellite signals.

With ADS-B, pilots can see what controllers see: displays showing other aircraft in the sky. Cockpit displays also pinpoint hazardous weather and terrain, and give pilots important flight information, such as temporary flight restrictions.

ADS-B reduces the risk of runway incursions with cockpit and controller displays that show the location of aircraft and equipped ground vehicles on airport surfaces – even at night or during heavy rainfall. ADS-B applications being developed now will give pilots indications or alerts of potential collisions.

ADS-B also provides greater coverage since ground stations are so much easier to place than radar. Remote areas without radar coverage, like the Gulf of Mexico and much of Alaska, now have surveillance with ADS-B.

Relying on satellites instead of ground navigational aids also means aircraft are able to fly more directly from Point A to B, saving time and money, and reducing fuel burn and emissions.

The improved accuracy, integrity and reliability of satellite signals over radar means controllers will be able to safely reduce the minimum separation distance between aircraft and increase capacity in the nation's skies.

The FAA published Federal Regulation 14 CFR 91.225 and 14 CFR 91.227 in May 2010. The final rule dictates that effective January 1, 2020, aircraft operating in airspace defined in 91.225 are required to have an Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) system that includes a certified position source capable of meeting requirements defined in 91.227. These regulations set a minimum performance standard for both the ADS-B transmitter and the position sources integrated with the ADS-B equipment.

Jim and Nancy Crawford say they see Elon Musk about once a week when they are in Boca Chica Village. //

In echoes of the Old West, the Tesla CEO’s rocket firm has been building a company town in seaside Boca Chica, pressuring locals to sell their properties

In response to the news of the Civil Service Board’s ruling, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) issued a statement defending the decision to terminate Rolfe’s employment at the time, and it was – quite frankly – one of the most embarrassing justifications I’ve ever seen a so-called “leader” give for this type of knee-jerk decision:

“Given the volatile state of our city and nation last summer, the decision to terminate this officer, after he fatally shot Mr. Brooks in the back, was the right thing to do,” she said. “Had immediate action not been taken, I firmly believe that the public safety crisis we experienced during that time would have been significantly worse.”

In other words, the decision to kick Rolfe off the police force rather than give him due process was done in an effort to appease mobs of violent rioters so they wouldn’t get more violent or something.

So how exactly did that work out for Mayor Bottoms? As noted above, a child was murdered by rioters who were “protecting” the parking lot, and others were shot in the area as well in weeks following Brooks’ death – all because Bottoms refused to have the Wendy’s parking lot cleared and opposed measures eventually carried out by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) to get the situation under control.

While Cheney needed to go for a host of reasons, I’m just not sure we are improving our lot by rushing to anoint Stefanik as GOP Conference chairwoman. //

I’m a big believer in redemption and I would happily kill the fatted calf to welcome a prodigal child home, but nothing about this leaves me feeling all that good about what we’re about to do in the House.

I’ve written it before and I’ll write it many more times over the next several years. You get what you vote for, and policy always outweighs personality in the end. If you were shallow enough to vote against Donald Trump and a roaring economy because you wanted the government to represent some quasi-religious bastion of decorum instead, congrats and enjoy your consequences. //

tomferal
4 hours ago
" Sure, the media tried to play Joe Biden off as a harmless geriatric, but the words that were coming out of his mouth continually said otherwise. "

His mumbling mouth is full of lies
As he gazes out of increasingly empty eyes
He too might see the disaster draw ever nearer
If only he would only look in the mirror //

tomferal
4 hours ago
Yesterday upon the stair
I saw and heard a man whose brain wasn't all there
Even less of it was there today
Oh, how I wish Joe Biden would just go away //

Chris Bolts Sr
4 hours ago
"Nothing about Biden’s career was moderate."

Indeed. Nothing about Biden's career ever evinced success, decency or competence. Biden is a congenital liar, a racist who has contempt for any other race not white, and is absolutely corrupt. People who thought he would be anything else are fools and like being lied to.