Misinformation

How do we keep dismissive labels from replacing discussion and debate about facts and data? Plus updates from GA, MI, WA, HI, KS and NJ.

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17

It is a concept that strikes me often when engaging in debate. The goal is to find the truth, but it is so easy to get lost trying to win an argument instead.

One of the tactics employed to win an argument is ‘dismissive labeling’. Rather than taking the time to dissect the argument of the other side, the shortcut is to label and dismiss. You don’t believe the 2020 election was the safest and most secure in history? Then you are an ‘election denier’.

It is not a tactic that is exclusive to one side. Here in Idaho, every charge of ‘far right extremist’ is often met with the counter charge of ‘RINO’ or some similar term. And it is not just politics that it occurs. I have seen many theological discussions employ the term ‘heretic’ or ‘cult’ as well.

That is not fruitful debate. Quite the contrary, it tends to energize those that are labeled and escalate tempers. Not only do we not get to the truth, but we also miss the refining process that pursuit of truth creates. That is the ‘iron sharpens iron’. There may be sparks, but ultimately, the process refines you and your ‘opponent’ to better understand the issue and each other.

That is what has been lost as the term ‘misinformation’ (or disinformation) has become more pervasive in political media. It is just another dismissive label used to win an argument, but it does not seem to be working. Rasmussen polling continues to show that about half the country is still questioning our elections and that is upwards of 70% of Republicans, which is particularly relevant here in red Idaho.

While I think lawfare is driving the prosecutions of Donald Trump, a possible positive outcome will be that the many allegations of election fraud will finally be heard in a court of law where people are put under oath. Watching the testimony or reading the transcripts will give us all unfettered access to firsthand information, and we can perhaps engage in a national debate about 2020 rather than regurgitating talking points from our go-to media.

To some extent, this is happening now with the disbarment trial of Trump attorney John Eastman in California, but that trial does not have the national attention that Trump’s trials will have, particularly in Georgia. For a taste of some of the items that may arise in the GA trial, check the link in the GA story below.

Transparency is the key to restoring confidence in our elections and full transparency of the many questions that people have about 2020 should be cathartic for our nation and the world. I hope that is where we are headed though I know there are going to be some serious sparks ahead.

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GA: Defendant in Trump Trial Takes Plea Deal - Scott Hall accepted a plea deal for ‘unlawfully’ attempting to access voting machines in Coffee County. Hall is one of the 19 (including Trump) charged in Georgia for attempting to overturn the election. Details are sketchy but this Epoch Times article (paywall) states that a group known as Sullivan-Strickler was given access to the machines by the Coffee County Election Board, which supposedly did not have the authority to do so. Read more here. For a deep dive on the various issues in Georgia stemming from the 2020 election, this article touches on many of the items that are likely to come up during the Trump GA trial.

X: Musk Fires Election Integrity Team - In this ‘tweet’, Musk refers to the firing of several employees who he said were ‘undermining election integrity’. While the news made the rounds among election integrity groups, blogger Nick Moseder cautioned that Musk has made other moves to restrict content and is under pressure to do even more to rein in ‘disinformation’. Read more here.

MI: 11 Legislators File Suit Over Election Law Changes - The claim is that election laws were implemented by the Secretary of State (such as no excuse absentee voting and same day registration) that circumvented the legislative process. The suit was filed in federal court. Read more here.

WA: Vote Server Secretly Swapped During Election - A citizen observer noted strange activity and strange people in King County during their August election. A critical server failed during the election, and the election manager attempted to use a backup server without proper testing. The King County GOP requested an investigation, and the Washington state GOP has requested the same. Watch a video recap here.

HI: Lawsuit Filed to Access Voter Rolls - Hawaii ranks dead last in Heritage’s election legislation scoring. This past week, the Public Information Legal Foundation (PILF) filed suit for being denied access to voter rolls. PILF has won similar lawsuits in other states. Citizen efforts to review voter rolls in many states have found significant issues such as duplicates, invalid addresses, deceased voters and other irregularities. Read more here.

KS: Court Ruling, Physical Ballots Required in Recounts - The Kansas Attorney General declared that recounts must use the physical ballot and not ballot images. This is important as ballot images can be manipulated. Read the tweet here.

NJ: GOP Seeks to Replace Primary with Convention - The move would likely benefit former NJ Governor Chris Christie’s presidential campaign in that he may pick up a few delegates via convention versus the normal primary process. The convention would allow some 650 party leaders to select delegates instead of the over 400,000 GOP voters in the state. The move was just another in a number of attempts (CA, FL, MI, NH) to slow Trump’s runaway lead in the campaign. It was unanimously voted against by the state committee, but party leaders are still attempting to get convention delegates seated at next year’s national GOP convention. Read more here.