A top Trump-appointed Census Bureau official who was installed this summer under controversial circumstances is also serving as an expert for a Georgia lawsuit seeking to stave off the President’s defeat in the state.
The Census Bureau should have Ben Overholt years ago.
Ignore him, he don’t count…
Ignore him, he don’t count…
Which is quite an indictment for someone with a Ph.D. in applied statistics!
He sounds like a mean guy.
Of course … the trumpanzees are falling from the trees trying to please their cult leader.
I’m so disgusted, I don’t know where to start.
And here? I was almost certain it was TPM’s house tinfoiler @davidfarrar
The relevant adjectives gave me hope.
has raised concerns about the pressure being placed the Bureau.
“Pressure”? So mealy-mouthed. Just say what is actually true: it’s raised concerns that they’re looking to falsify and/or eliminate data for certain states, likely just the blue ones.
Yeah, it sure builds confidence in the Census being fair and precise when an asshole like this has power over it. It’s a very good thing that the final results have been pushed back until after the inauguration, that will give actually competent people a chance to look over the work and see how Overholt and other Republican operatives tried to twist the Census for their own ends.
Based on how slipshod the census was done this time is there going to be a repeat of 1920 when Congress threw the results out and there was no reapportionment?
… vaguely reminds me of - wack-job with academic credentials …
Paul Elias Alexander - a Canadian health researcher and a former Trump administration official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He attracted attention in 2020 when, as an aide to HHS assistant secretary for public affairs Michael Caputo, he participated in efforts by the administration to control COVID-19 messaging from federal scientists and public health agencie
So, his experience includes five years of evaluating data for a department whose name he got wrong.
Very detail oriented, I see… Perhaps he’s missed some other details??
Translation: “We EXPECTED to win, but we didn’t, so, it MUST BE FRAUD!!!”
Yeah. That’ll go over well in court.
NEXT!
Speaking of wacky claims, I was reading the Trump lawsuit in Wisconsin and a main claim is that mail-in ballots and in-person ballots are treated differently:
Consequently, mail-in voting also does not present the same opportunity
to challenge the claimed identity of the voter that exists when every in-person voter must
sign the voting list, to produce photo identification and is subject to challenge by a live
poll worker and/or poll watcher. See Wis. Stat. § 6.79.
On the other hand, you have to receive the mail at the voter’s house to get ahold of their mail-in ballot, which is something the in-person voter doesn’t have to do. They’re two different systems and so of necessity have different modes of verification. They always have.
I’m sorry but I can’t read this sort of language to be anything but a disguised appeal to white supremacy – Milwaukee’s votes are being counted, and they should have their votes thrown out because… mumble mumble mumble…
"Overholt’s affidavit — which identifies him as a seven-year civil servant, but doesn’t mention his current gig at the Census Bureau "
Judge won’t like that and it’s great cross-exam fodder.
“Overholt’s analysis makes “a substantive leap that is wholly unsupported,””
That’s a nice way of saying that it’s complete fucking garbage and constitutes “ipse dixit” testimony that shouldn’t even be admissible. Ipse dixit means “he, himself, said it”…or as I like to paraphrase “cuz I said so.” It’s an attempt to present a conclusory opinion of an alleged expert that rests solely on the supposed authority, expertise and credibility of the expert and not on any substantive evidence or widely accepted scientific methodology. It’s improper testimony without foundation. It also often falls into the “junk science” category and probably is subject to a “Daubert” motion in limine to exclude it. Just get the stupid thing tossed from evidence and you don’t even have to reach the point of crossing him with shit like pressing him on WHICH particular counted votes he is relying on to show that votes with improper signature matches were counted. It’s absurd, and they are yet again playing the game of saying “I’ve offered a batshit conspiracy theory that challenges the legitimacy of this wide swath of votes, so you have to prove the negative that they were not fraudulent, and if you can’t, then it justifies an entire investigation where we get to challenge any vote we want and have it tossed out.” Simply yelling “nuh uh” doesn’t shift the burden to the other party.
The bottom of the barrel, um, er, has no bottom.
A Sketchy Trump Appointee…
That doesn’t narrow it down much, that describes all his appointees.
Dr. Overholt cleared his participation with career ethics officials at the Department of Commerce Office of General Counsel.
We can all assume this office does not actually do ethics evaluation but just determines whether something can be argued in court, right? Because this is exactly how everyone Trump-adjacent operates.
signature issues
A game two can play.
