Swinging for the Fences

The Trump campaign is swinging for the fences in most of its litigation efforts in ...

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The Trump campaign is swinging for the fences in most of its litigation efforts in hopes that at least some of its legal arguments will be successful. But as our podcast hosts remind us, most of the president’s post-election lawsuits are unlikely to change the outcome even if the Trump campaign scores a few victories along the way. “The Trump administration could win, dunk on the opposition, hang on the rim, taunt its opponents, and nothing changes,” David explains. On today’s podcast, David and Sarah explain the overall legal context surrounding the president’s ongoing election litigation efforts and give us the lowdown on the latest voter fraud conspiracy theories. Plus, David and Sarah break down Supreme Court oral arguments for the Affordable Care Act case and discuss a race-based admissions lawsuit at Harvard.

Show Notes:

-“Fact Check: Debunking the Hammer and Scorecard Conspiracy Theory” by Khaya Himmelman in The Dispatch.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Bruce Mamont

    A belated suggestion on obtaining/building a gaming computer: first, some context. I bought a gaming computer to run X-Plane, a flight simulation program. My intent was to have a means of practicing aerobatics during the Pacific NW months when flying opportunities are limited. Software requirements drove the choice of HW that I needed for satisfactory performance, a big tower that would be easy to upgrade.

    All was fine until last month when during Zoom sessions my (ground school) students complained that audio quality was degraded to Krugman-esque incomprehensibility. I doubled my RAM, quadrupled the capacity of my SDD, eliminated a lot of features that might have been competing for compute power with little to no success. Finally I decided to update my BIOS. I discovered that my CPU was running at 100 deg C, way hot. The hot temp triggered a reduction of CPU speed to 20% (and it still was running very hot) causing the garbled audio symptom. When I went to exam fan operation I discovered to my great shock that the CPU was liquid-cooled (you probably already know this about gaming computers, David).

    Turns out that the closed-loop liquid cooling systems (they literally use anti-freeze and a radiator) are not designed to be easily serviced. (BTW, my standard for maintainability is informed by replacing the engine and transmission of an infantry fighting vehicle in the field, at night, during a snow storm. This is not an imagined scenario.) I tried to flush my system and broke parts that weren't designed for disassembly, finally replacing the entire system for $80. This instantly solved my problem; my CPU now runs at about 35 deg C (and all other systems run in a cooler environment).

    Lesson: buy a cooling system that will be easy to replace. It doesn't look to me like any of them were designed for periodic (annual) maintenance.

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  2. Avatar photo
    Angie

    What I never understood about people being mad about the mandate...inability to afford the insurance was a legitimate reason to be exempt from the mandate...there were other reasons they approve for waiving it...but, I never had to pay it because ofthis

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  3. Avatar photo
    William Miller

    For David's request on a gaming PC recommendation, I definitely second the call to build your own. It definitely gives you the most bang for your buck. Then again, I also find it fun...like erector sets for grown up nerds.

    Somebody else already proffered the suggestion for some of the configurable options, so I'll go a different route. If you're looking for a pre-configured system-in-a-box, I've had good look with ASUS ROG motherboards/components. They've got some very pricey ones with high-end specs, but this one should do the job without breaking the bank:

    https://rog.asus.com/us/Desktops/Mid-Tower/ROG-Strix-GA15-Series/
    https://www.newegg.com/asus-ga15dh-bs762-rog-strix/p/N82E16883221589?

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  4. Avatar photo
    Seth B

    Great episode, you two.

    These lawsuits remind me of "Brandolini's Law": The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than the amount of energy needed to produce it.

    (My apologies for the naughty word; I'm using it, naturally, in the technical sense - as defined by philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt.)

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  5. Edward Ericson

    Agreeing with the other boardgame comments that Root is definitely worth your time, Sarah, but not much like Wingspan in gameplay or play balance. It's definitely NOT a coop, like your favorite, Pandemic. So get ready for some "kill or be killed" action.

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  6. Nathan

    Please for the love - could there be a situation where a faithless electorate could alter the election

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  7. Avatar photo
    Jonathan Crymes

    Does anyone else think s plausible result of Trump screaming “STOLEN ELECTION” for four years is that GOP voters will stay home in 2022 and 2024 because they were convinced that their votes don’t matter?

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  8. Stephen Nielson

    Interesting note about the paper ballot issue with Georgia. We were electronic, but it was a lawsuit by the democrat party that got a judge to make an order requiring there to be a paper ballot. Kennesaw cyber security experts were alarmed at the all digital voting. I bet the Georgia SOS is now so happy he dodged a bullet haha, despite having to be dragged kicking and screaming into the process.

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  9. Stephen Nielson

    I had hoped they would have put sources for David's vote totals he made because I wanted to post it on facebook. Since it wasn't there... I went and found the sources myself:

    2004 Wayne County Michigan
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_United_States_presidential_election_in_Michigan?fbclid=IwAR0l6_siBwr9jLkuwgRKPBe4rpmT8M-RzehPnGkF1hsmAHTzXPccnrIl454#By_county

    2020 Wayne County Michigan
    https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/michigan/

    2016 Philadelphia County Pennsylvania
    https://www.electionreturns.pa.gov/General/CountyResults?countyName=Philadelphia&ElectionID=54&ElectionType=G&IsActive=0&fbclid=IwAR07_PrdUCQKwlvnpXQUtEat005R-8JSQO8sio7tzIkm3g87dG56HUQ2wsM


    2020 Philadelphia County Pennsylvania
    https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/pennsylvania/

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  10. Nathan

    No one is going to talk about a faithless electorate?

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