Merry Christmas

 Kari Lake is not having a Merry Christmas: Judge rules against Kari Lake in bid to overturn Arizona election results.

A judge found on Election Day that the mechanical issues did not prevent anyone from voting. But in a 69-page filing, attorneys for Lake used a grab bag of unproven theories and anecdotal accounts to argue that “hundreds of thousands of illegal ballots infected the election in Maricopa County.”

The claims reached far beyond the administration of voting to include conspiratorial allegations about efforts to combat election misinformation, which the filing deemed an “unconstitutional government censorship operation,” as well as evidence from the 2020 election.

The judge hearing Lake’s case, Peter A. Thompson of Maricopa County Superior Court, earlier tossed most of her assertions but allowed arguments to proceed on two claims — that employees at Maricopa County’s ballot contractor stuffed extra ballots into the system and that the printer problems on Election Day were intentional.

In Saturday’s 10-page ruling, Thompson said the court “acknowledges the anger and frustration of voters” who were inconvenienced by technical problems on Election Day.

“But this Court’s duty is not solely to incline an ear to public outcry,” he wrote. “It is to subject plaintiff’s claims and defendants’ actions to the light of the courtroom and scrutiny of the law.”

There was not convincing evidence that printer problems in Maricopa County were intentional, Thompson concluded, or that ballots were mishandled in a way that would have affected the outcome of the election. In his ruling, he made note that lawyers for Maricopa County had indicated they would be pursuing sanctions against Lake’s team and said such a motion must be filed by Monday morning.

Tom Liddy, an attorney for Maricopa County, confirmed to The Washington Post that the county will be seeking sanctions.

“A lawyer may not go to court without the evidence necessary for a chance to prevail,” Liddy said. “Lake had to make up 17,117 votes. She failed to identify one lawful ballot that was not counted, or one ballot that was counted that should not have been — and she knew that before she filed the contest.”

Lake wrote on Twitter that she would appeal the ruling.

Of course, she is. And people have called me delusional (I was once). Fact make up reality, deny facts, and you deny reality, and that brings us to Cloud Cuckoo Land.

Speaking of those who are deranged: Top 10 books about hellraisers. I have only read one.

I forgot to mention CC read the story and liked, barring one complaint. She wanted more. The woman is literate.

It is still cold.

Speaking of writing, I have two draft posts needing work and the Raintree County essay. 

See you later.

8:16 am

I re-read the submission for the essay. I misread the thing. A query is all they want.

I submitted "Colonel Tom" to The Cabinet of Heed. I doubt they take it, but I like the look of this one. You want to read some interesting stories, I suggest you follow the link above.

Another post started today is me taking apart some of the stories I am finding online. I knew I would be unfashionable, certainly I am not fitting into any pigeonholes, and I'm trying to find out the differences between me and what is published.

I found that magazine on 22 Approachable Literary Journals From Authors Publish. Since I am not a poet, and do not do flash fiction well, this was slim pickings for me. Maybe not for you.

Listening to The Sonic Bloom with DJ Esoterica 11/17/22 on MixCloud until Saint Mark's Christmas Greek Orthodox Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil went live.

I forgot to mention I taught CC The Jesus Prayer.

10:36 am.

Everyone should know Groucho Marx: Where to start with Groucho Marx (and why you should)

It is now 11:04. Time to post this.

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