Day: November 6, 2019

“Senior Officials Believed Pence Would Support Use Of 25th Amendment”

UncleScoopy

“The much-anticipated book ‘A Warning,’ reportedly written by an unnamed senior White House official, claims that high-level White House aides were certain that Vice President Mike Pence would support the use of the 25th Amendment to have President Donald Trump removed from office because of mental incapacity.”

(NOTE: The author of this book is the same person who gained notoriety for an anonymous NYT op-ed some time ago.)

“According to Anonymous, there was no doubt in the minds of these senior officials that Pence would support invoking the 25th Amendment if the majority of the Cabinet signed off on it.”

This is basically gossip at this point. The author does not specify which aides believed that, or how many, or why. It is possible that this was just two people stating their gut feel, and did not involve any overt indication from Pence. Whether the officials believed it or not, I see no evidence that Pence did anything to create this belief.

Prosecutor says Roger Stone lied because ‘the truth looked bad for Donald Trump’

UncleScoopy

The prosecutor in this case is Captain Obvious, Esq.

There is no defending Stone on the facts of the case because the prosecution has his e-mails, public admissions, and phone records, which contradict his sworn testimony. In light of this, Roger Stone’s lawyers have come up with an interesting strategy: Lying, by definition, requires an intent to deceive. Roger Stone could not have been lying, because he’s too dumb to know the truth. I’m not kidding. That really is their defense, in these precise words: “There was no corrupt intent in what Mr. Stone said. These people were playing Mr. Stone. Mr. Stone took the bait.”

Y’know, I was convinced that Stone must be guilty, but that defense team may be on to something. If I were on the jury, and the judge instructed me that I must find Stone not guilty of lying if I believe he is too dumb to know the truth, I would probably have to find him not guilty.

After all, this is the guy who said it wasn’t the Russians who hacked the DNC, but Guccifer 2.0. That claim makes no sense if you assume he was lying. It only makes sense if you assume he was too dumb to know that Guccifer 2.0 was a construct of Russian Intelligence. Given that as background, the same general principle may apply elsewhere as well, although I have not studied Stone’s false statements one-by-one.

The official College Football Rankings have been released

UncleScoopy

These are not poll rankings, but the official committee rankings that ultimately determine the four playoff teams.

Surprise #1 – Clemson is not in the top four. That doesn’t really matter. They will be in the big four next week, because Alabama and LSU play one another, so one of them will drop to fifth or lower. If Clemson keeps winning, they will make the playoff.

Surprise #2 – The committee did not place either Alabama or LSU in the top spot, but awarded it to THE Ohio State University. That assessment agrees with the computers, but not with the polls. The sportswriters place LSU #1 and the coaches are going with ‘Bama. None of that really matters. Determining the order of the top three at the beginning of November is purely for academic exercises and barroom debates. The only thing that matters during the season is whether a team makes the top four after the final week. And the only thing that matters after that is what happens head-to-head.

Not really a surprise – The committee didn’t rank Baylor and Minnesota, two undefeated teams, as high as the polls did. Not to worry. If Minnesota beats Penn State this weekend, they will rise like towels in a public bath, while Baylor will get the same chance later in the year against Oklahoma.