Texas, Trump, The Case of Schrodinger’s Cat and What’s Next | Raucous Caucus | Tom Cushing | DanvilleSanRamon.com |

Local Blogs

Raucous Caucus

By Tom Cushing

E-mail Tom Cushing

About this blog: The Raucous Caucus shares the southpaw perspectives of this Boomer on the state of the nation, the world, and, sometimes, other stuff. I enjoy crafting it to keep current, and occasionally to rant on some issue I care about deeply...  (More)

View all posts from Tom Cushing

Texas, Trump, The Case of Schrodinger’s Cat and What’s Next

Uploaded: Dec 11, 2020
Texas has always enjoyed an inflated self-image – 'too big for its britches' in the local parlance. Size matters – so coming over the Sabine River bridge from Louisiana, travelers are greeted by a sign reading ‘Beaumont 5 miles, El Paso 879 miles.’

There’s even a legend that the state’s Congressional delegation considered a filibuster of Alaska’s statehood bill (that would render Texas only second largest) … until the Alaskans threatened to divide their territory in two – dropping Texas to third place. As the tourist ads used to beckon: “It’s like a whole ‘nother country.”

So, perhaps it’s unsurprising that Texas would shack-up with a whole ‘nother blustering blimp of a smoldering ego in the person of the White House’s current occupant. Recently served with an eviction notice, the tenant there has been desperately seeking to raise the tortured ghost of the vicious shyster Roy Cohn to assist him in resisting the electorate. All he’s gotten, instead, is a melting apparition of the former Rudy Giuliani, well past his spook-by date. Wanting to conjure a fearsome Freddie Krueger, all he’s mustered forth is Casper.

It’s high time for the cavalry, pardner. Here comes the Texas Rangers ridin' to the rescue in the form of a remarkably arrogant lawsuit, made direct to the Supreme Court, that would effectively expand the state’s territory to the entire U S of A.

It claims the right to overturn elections of other states, conducted by those other states, and for those states, equally sovereign under our system of federalism. Actually, the Texas beef is not with all of them other states – it’s just certain ones with whom they be havin’ a dust-up.

Obviously, the suit faces a pesky threshold matter of encroachment (here called ‘standing to sue’) – whether one state has the right to try and impose its legal will on the internal workings of another. Then on the merits, the lawsuit asks the Supremes to simply throw-out election results of WI, MI, GA and PA without even directly alleging fraud. Instead, per NPR’s legal pundit Mara Liason, the essence of the claim is that those four states had all passed laws which render fraud ‘undetectable’. In other words, they’re so clever that we can’t tell how they cheated – but we just KNOW that they did.

It's the perfect Trump claim - no proof required - indeed the absence of proof IS the proof. The defendant states’ results become the Schrodinger’s Cat of elections: it’s a closed box; you can’t tell whether the votes are legit or not/dead or alive. Throw out the box.

The lawsuit then sprinkles some statistical whiffle dust on the reported results and alleges that the chance that they are legitimate is one in a quadrillion. It neglects to mention that the same model applied to Mr. Trump’s losing results, renders their probability also around the same: 1/1000000000000000.

Actual statisticians have called the Texas model ‘comical,’ and worse. “The model is silly,” said Philip Stark, a professor of statistics at the University of California at Berkeley. “This is not science or statistics. It’s not even a good cartoon of elections.” (NYTimes) Beware those coastal elites and their so-called expertise.

Fortunately for Schrodinger’s cat (and Biden’s upcoming feline companion to his dogs), we Can open that ballot box. Voting and counting were witnessed, ballots have been recounted multiple times, and even the Uber-partisan Attorney General Barr has found no significant evidence of fraud.

That is because the saving genius of the American voting system is that it is so thoroughly decentralized. Therefore, it is exceptionally difficult – nearly impossible - to game it. You’d have to involve too many people, too many places, and too many times to achieve meaningful results, and all those incidents would be detectable. Far from fraud being undetectable, it would be impossible to pull it off on a wide scale - that makes these elections impregnable - and reliable.

The irresistible conclusion is that fraud wasn’t found because it was never there. The cat was never in peril. You lost, fair-and-square. Please enjoy this parting participation trophy, and leave the cat.


So, what’s next?

Well, in service to our readers, I’ve consulted with some guy. Now, he has an advanced degree in something, and he’s an Alaskan by birth (recall that makes him worth more than any Two Texans). Here’s some of what he thinks. Remember, folks – you heard it here first.

Vladimir Putin v. United States, d/b/a The Trump Organization.

In this case, Mr. Putin claims unspecified damages (but they are certainly in the $ quadrillions). He alleges that he had a contract with defendant Trump to deliver him 75 million Trump votes in the November election.

Further, Plaintiff fully performed on that promise via widespread pre-election tactics of social media disinformation, conspiracy theories, hacking, troll farming and worse. Plaintiff reasonably relied on defendant’s representations to the effect that 75 million would be more than enough to deliver the election to the incumbent.

In return, Plaintiff was promised a four-year period of leaked secrets, weakened alliances, tax holidays for the rich, toadying to plaintiff and others similarly situated, and a domestic US march toward totalitarianism – to the ultimate effect that further, future investments in such electioneering would not be necessary.

In conciliation, Plaintiff invites defendant’s CEO to Moscow for settlement discussions – a hotel room is all set-up.

California v. Trump Campaign 2020

Building from the logic of the Texas case above, California claims by statistical evidence that there Must Have Been fraud committed by the Trump campaign against the state. Plaintiff alleges that in 2016, with none of its citizens on the ballot, the state voted overwhelmingly for candidate Clinton – she won the state by more votes (4.3 million) than her nationwide victory margin (2.9 million).

In 2020, however, even with a fair daughter of California prominently on the ballot, the Biden margin in CA (5.1 million) was substantially Less than the national plurality of more than 7 million votes. 7 million! QED.

Plaintiff further alleges application of the legal doctrine of Projection, to wit: our claims must be true, because the Trump campaign Never accuses anybody of misbehaviors that it is not, itself, already doing.

CA seeks injunctive relief against Trump’s traveling in or through the state, lest anyone think he’s a star, with the inevitable consequences.
Democracy.
What is it worth to you?

Comments

Posted by Mr. Wick, a resident of Walnut Creek,
on Dec 11, 2020 at 10:13 pm

Mr. Wick is a registered user.

The reader assumes the content of this rather long winded version of ‘I don't know what' has some purpose. Maybe a tawdry musing about the current state of politics - I guess? Egads, a Phoenician scribe would stand a much better chance of communicating his thoughts.

You're all over the place. A byproduct of haphazardly attempting to create with a thought process run amok. Focus my good man. Focus.



Posted by American, a resident of Danville,
on Dec 12, 2020 at 8:56 am

American is a registered user.

Yes, I concur, an absolute frivolous lawsuit that should have never been filed. Any 1 L would realize Texas had no standing to file suit. A no brainer.

However, since you pontificated in great detail about Texas, lets examine that. Tesla, HP, and now Oracle, have all recently announced that they are moving to Texas. Experts are predicting this is just the beginning, as it is anticipated that in the next 6 months dozens of other long time Silicon Valley companies will be saying goodbye to CA, and hello to Texas. Any economic model would have predicted this-there is only so much over regulation, over taxation, anti-business policies that will drive any company, no matter how entrenched in CA, to greener shores.

This should wake up CA one party politicians and realize that it is time to abandon their extreme "progressive" policies and come back to at least the middle of the road on legislation, taxation, and regulations. However, the rhetoric from CA politicians is exactly the opposite, close down out door restaurants(despite no evidence that it makes a noticeable difference in Covid numbers), and treat business like the enemy rather than the cash cow that pays for their never ending social welfare programs. It is very similar to BART leaders, when faced with less riders and less revenue, to increase prices, rather than come up with ideas to encourage more riders. How about increasing BART police, making the cars less disgusting and crime infested? Nope, crickets on that...Raise fares, that is the answer to every problem...

CA's obituary is being written and sadly nobody will say that the "emperor has no clothes"...


Posted by Kevin, a resident of Castlewood,
on Dec 12, 2020 at 6:27 pm

Kevin is a registered user.

Texas Attorney General is under felony indictment and was just accused by his deputies of bribe and abuse of office. He is begging to be pardoned by outgoing loser Trump. The rest of 17 attorney generals and house representatives who signed on this garbage case are cowards, afraid of Trump who has a chokehold on the Republican Party. Party of law and order - my a**!

Web Link

Innovative happens in Bay Area and other areas because of universities and research institutes. Proof is the life sciences industry with pharma, biotech, medical device industries. Major IPOs from Bay Area companies are happening almost ever week. I can understand from a business perspective that companies like HP, Oracle will move their HQ to low-tax state. What was the last innovation from HP and Oracle? Oracle keeps buying its smaller competitors to survive - that is not innovation. It is making employees of small companies rich by overpaying for their stock to take them over.

Tesla moves to Texas so it can continue to underpay its low-wage employees. They will continue to have major presence in the Bay Area for innovation.


Posted by Tom Cushing, a resident of another community,
on Dec 13, 2020 at 9:18 am

Tom Cushing is a registered user.

My apologies, Mr. Wick. My Sunday morning brain thinks it flows, so there may be little hope of improved focus.

Am: me - 'pontificate?' I'm way too progressive for that. ;-) I did spend six years all over Tejas, and enjoyed it and Texans. Loved Austin in the SRV era. But Austin is now Houston, traffic-wise, according to my daughter who lived there semi-recently. The local roaches are Texas-size - and they have their own air force. And that self-regard will forever be there. California's a better place for me.

If those several fleeing Oraclans finally tip the state blue (despite the natives' fervent attempts at Dem dis-enfranchisement), we'll all be better-off.

Cerred: Great point - I'm a DE native, and if all the companies HQd there actually had people there, there'd be no room for Joe's dogs.

Kevin: Yes! In a trumpian world where EVen the Post Office is politicized, you always have to look behind the action to see the Real rationale. Rumor is that when Trump said he liked the idea, Paxton responded: "Pardon me?"

I also agree that Silicon Valley is here for many reasons - a very underappreciated one being BP Code 16600 - no non-competes in employment Ks. A friend in Dallas sent me hers - it was nine pages of airtight wage slavery, and she's in property management! Silicon Gulch will never match the Alaska-sized critical mass of very mobile genius that's here and staying.


Posted by MichaelB, a resident of Pleasanton Meadows,
on Dec 13, 2020 at 11:22 am

MichaelB is a registered user.

"If those several fleeing Oraclans finally tip the state blue (despite the natives' fervent attempts at Dem dis-enfranchisement), we'll all be better-off. "


No, we would not.

The tax/spend/regulate ("progressive") crowd would gut the oil and gas industry there to "save the planet". Millions in the state would lose their jobs, energy prices would substantially increase, prices for products/services across the board would be higher, and we would once again be forced to rely on unfriendly nations/regimes for sources of energy. Yet another example of the knee jerk and shortsighted "progressives good, conservatives bad" reasoning process at work.


Posted by Kevin, a resident of Castlewood,
on Dec 13, 2020 at 11:36 am

Kevin is a registered user.

The oil and gas industry will take the path of coal. Texas will be a leader in renewable energy.

Web Link


Posted by MichaelB, a resident of Pleasanton Meadows,
on Dec 13, 2020 at 1:23 pm

MichaelB is a registered user.

"The oil and gas industry will take the path of coal. Texas will be a leader in renewable energy."


How's the renewable energy "leadership" working out in California? When the weather gets hot, we get reminders not to use air conditioners and appliances in the late afternoon/evening - and rolling blackouts afterward. Did I forget to mention the high energy prices as well?


Posted by MichaelB, a resident of Pleasanton Meadows,
on Dec 13, 2020 at 2:21 pm

MichaelB is a registered user.

"Any economic model would have predicted this-there is only so much over regulation, over taxation, anti-business policies that will drive any company, no matter how entrenched in CA, to greener shores."


The "economic model" of progressives has nothing to do with actual economics.

It's the collectivist "you owe me" mentality of how much more income/wealth that needs to be taken from those who earn and given to those who do not - until it's "fair". And it never will be. Any businesses still around are simultaneously expected to operate like charities needing to provide "shared" prosperity and "living" wages - regardless of the efforts, skills, or experience of employees. Never mind that a business operating this way can't stay in business.


Posted by Tom Cushing, a resident of another community,
on Dec 13, 2020 at 3:20 pm

Tom Cushing is a registered user.

MichaelB: There's this disturbing tendency in your comments to confront a very complex topic, start with your preconceptions, then choose one data point that you think confirms your pre-conceptions and you're off and ranting.

It goes like this: "I think climate change is a hoax. It was chilly here yesterday. Therefore, climate change is a hoax and everybody who thinks otherwise is a fool, especially socialists."

Or you could try "I think CA sucks at energy. Energy alerts! Therefore, CA sucks at renewable energy, especially socialists!"

When open-minded individuals examine an issue, they look for a range of relevant facts, and see where they lead, reaching conclusions at the end. Drunk uncles start from the foregone conclusion and look for evidence to support it.

CA seems to lead by far in solar, but is only fourth in wind, where TX has the advantage of more wind, and more Texans. In many other ways CA is consciously working long term toward a renewables economy (it's now at 1/3 or so, depending on what you measure).


Posted by Kevin, a resident of Castlewood,
on Dec 13, 2020 at 4:20 pm

Kevin is a registered user.

MichaelB and DHKSK have the same approach as mentally ill people when they post here. They put others' statements in quotes and counter with crazy lies and warped conclusions. It takes the same kind of crazy personality and mental illness to follow Trump blindly. The similarities are astounding. Both of you go seek help!


Posted by American, a resident of Danville,
on Dec 13, 2020 at 6:06 pm

American is a registered user.

Tom: "Open minded"...Come on, even you must admit that you are hardly "open minded"...I can not recall reading one blog from you in years in which your thesis was anything but straight out of the Dem's playbook...An open minded person would be able to come up with at least 10 policies from the other party that you support...Can you even come up with one policy under the Trump presidency that you supported??


Posted by Tom Cushing, a resident of Danville,
on Dec 13, 2020 at 6:20 pm

Tom Cushing is a registered user.

And now, on to the next favorite game of The Right: You're One, Too! I never said that one should never reach a conclusion - only that the process should not fore-ordain the outcome. 'Seek', then 'find', instead of the reverse.

I also think you're allowed to check your conclusion to see if it fits with other, similar results. If it does, that's a further indication that it may be a good one.

That's also not the same as confirmation bias = arguing backwards and seeking evidence that supports the preconception.


Posted by MichaelB, a resident of Pleasanton Meadows,
on Dec 13, 2020 at 7:51 pm

MichaelB is a registered user.

"MichaelB: There's this disturbing tendency in your comments to confront a very complex topic, start with your preconceptions, then choose one data point that you think confirms your pre-conceptions and you're off and ranting."


There's this disturbing tendency for you to ignore what progressives do or want to do to others - despite the standard of living outcomes and the resulting increased government control in a supposedly free society. If the state can't supply energy needs with renewables, then don't do more of the same expecting a different result and/or claim we all have to accept lower reliability/standards (with excessive costs) to "save the planet". There's nothing complex about needing a reliable, abundant, and low cost source of energy as a means of keeping our economy going/creating opportunity. The left prefers managed decline with government mandated green jobs, fossil fuel bans, and carbon taxes.


Posted by MichaelB, a resident of Pleasanton Meadows,
on Dec 13, 2020 at 8:19 pm

MichaelB is a registered user.

"Or you could try "I think CA sucks at energy. Energy alerts! Therefore, CA sucks at renewable energy, especially socialists!" "


Or you could try this:

Web Link


Posted by Malcolm Hex, a resident of San Ramon,
on Dec 14, 2020 at 2:14 am

Malcolm Hex is a registered user.


At Kevin

Um, you mentioned mental illness in last your post. You said: “MichaelB and DHKSK have the same approach as mentally ill people when they post here."

The anger management file is growing - see below.

Posted by Kevin, a resident of Castlewood,
on Nov 14, 2020 at 12:37 pm

Kevin is a registered user.

You Trumpist Republicans are a dying race! You have another generation or two before you are gone. You have lost the support of increasing black and brown population. Too bad For you that Trump will not be there to keep out immigrants who are mostly liberals. You have ruined the church and Christianity in the eyes of the young people by aligning it with a porn-star loving, p***y grabbing, ever-lying dictator. The vast majority of the young people in this country despise what you represent, especially young women. You are happy about your 401k when almost 250,000 people have died of COVID, people are on waiting on food bank lines or COVID testing lines. You and your so-called party are out of touch and on the way to extinction because decent Americans see right through all the BS.

All this hatred coming from a guy in Castlewood! LOL!!!!!!

“Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured."
? Mark Twain





Posted by Kevin, a resident of Castlewood,
on Dec 14, 2020 at 7:23 pm

Kevin is a registered user.

You call me angry when you support your crazy Putin's boy Trump? A guy who sides with hate groups kkk and proud boys?

I am not angry. I am being aggressive in responding to and arguing with people like you, Jake, Dan, etc. I now believe it is no longer ok to go quietly and ignore people like you. Saying / doing nothing is as bad as taking your side.

I and over 80 million people were tired of the BS which is why your dictator is voted out and democracy lives!

Trump just fired Bill Barr. For once, Barr sided with truth by saying that there were no evidence of problems with the election and he is gone. You are mentally ill if this does not at least disappoint you.

BTW- thanks for putting the effort to include my post. It is right on!




Posted by MichaelB, a resident of Pleasanton Meadows,
on Dec 14, 2020 at 7:53 pm

MichaelB is a registered user.

"I and over 80 million people were tired of the BS which is why your dictator is voted out and democracy lives!"


You just have to laugh about progressives complaining about the so called "dictator" Trump. These are the same ones promoting coronavirus lockdowns, government controlled health care, firearms bans/turn in programs for the law abiding, banning fossil fuels, "income equality" legislation, "diversity" requirements for corporate boards, packing the Supreme Court because they couldn't get their earlier nominees approved, etc. So how many millions of people really want any of this BS?

Freedom/liberty fails if the left succeeds.


Posted by Malcolm Hex, a resident of San Ramon,
on Dec 14, 2020 at 9:48 pm

Malcolm Hex is a registered user.


At Kevin,

You said: "Trump just fired Bill Barr."

Really? Where's your proof? You made that up. Trump raised the prospect of firing Barr, but it's unclear whether he'll choose to dismiss Barr before the end of his term next month - CNN.

Angry people often resort to not telling the truth and name calling.

Settle down little man. Your lack of control appears a tad unstable.

Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.

- Ambrose Bierce



Posted by Tom Cushing, a resident of another community,
on Dec 15, 2020 at 7:35 am

Tom Cushing is a registered user.

Okay, let's have a vote:

Who is angrier:

( ) Donald L. Trump

( ) Kevin, of Castlewood

Silly attempts to label him notwithstanding, I think Kevin loses this one. Yeah, let's let the temporary incumbent win one without actually counting the votes - it's the way he likes it.

I also think this thread has run its course, I get the last word on these threads, and this one is 'it'.


Follow this blogger.
Sign up to be notified of new posts by this blogger.

Email:

SUBMIT

Post a comment

Sorry, but further commenting on this topic has been closed.

Stay informed.

Get the day's top headlines from DanvilleSanRamon.com sent to your inbox in the Express newsletter.

Common Ground
By Sherry Listgarten | 3 comments | 2,126 views

Tri-Valley Nonprofit Alliance grew from chance meeting
By Tim Hunt | 1 comment | 389 views