Minus FJ Bullshit: Citing Disclaimer OAN Placed Before Mike Lindell "Documentary" Is An "Appeal To Authority"

"...an appeal to authority... is a form of argument in which the opinion of an authority on a topic is used as evidence to support an argument. (source: Wikipedia).

One America News is an authority? According to their Wikipedia page "the channel is known for promoting falsehoods and conspiracy theories". Doesn't sound like they are an "authority" to me.

Yet, according to the pro-Dotard blogger Minus FJ (and his sockpuppet "Thersites") citing the disclaimer that OAN ran prior to their airing of Mike Lindell's conspiracy-theory-palooza was an "appeal to authority". aka I employed a logical fallacy to dodge addressing Mike's evidence-free "absolute proof".

In part the OAN disclaimer stated that "the statements and claims expressed in this program are presented of this time as opinions only and are not intended to be taken or interpreted by the viewer as established facts".

So, the "authority" OAN says Mike's statements are "not to be taken as established fact". Except OAN isn't an "authority". Their disclaimer was a very poor attempt to protect them from being sued. As per Dominion's attorney Thomas Clare... "the disclaimer on Lindell's film [will] not help OAN avoid legal action".

But, as I pointed out previously, wouldn't "absolute proof" protect OAN from being sued? Clearly the disclaimer indicated that OAN does not believe Mike's video constitutes "absolute proof". If OAN is an "authority" in anything, they're an authority in bullshitting. So, maybe in that regard I did employ the logical fallicy of an "appeal to authority"?

OK, even though I KNOW Minus will accept NO rebuttal, I did Google some rebuts to a few of the Pillowman's false claims. According to Snopes (and other sources as noted) Mike made the following false assertions in his video.

"Absolute Proof" rehashes a number of debunked rumors. Here are some of the facts... Hammer & Scorecard Flippped Trump Votes To Biden. Snopes. A supercomputer called HAMR (or "Hammer") and a software program called "Scorecard" are being used to alter vote counts in the US presidential election of 2020. ... Rumors about the existence of a CIA supercomputer ... can be traced to a man named Dennis Montgomery. According to the website American Report, Montgomery, whom the website describes as a "CIA contractor-turned-whistleblower", designed and built this supercomputer. The fact-checking website Lead Stories also notes that some of the specifics in the American Report article don't hold up to scrutiny. For example, American Report claims that Scorecard works by tampering with "transfer points" between state computers and third-party election data vaults. The article claims that "VR Systems Inc" is one of these transfer points, but VR Systems' COO told Lead Stories that "VR Systems does not do voter tabulation and is not connected to county or state voter tabulation systems". But perhaps the biggest red flag is this story's source, Montgomery. The Daily Beast wrote: What Trump allies tend to leave out, however, is that Montgomery has a long history of making outlandish claims that fail to come true. ... In 2006, Montgomery claimed that he had emails showing that Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons was guilty of bribery. According to USA Today, the Justice Department cleared Gibbons of wrongdoing after a computer expert cast doubt on the authenticity of the emails that had been provided by Montgomery. Dominion Voting Systems Altered Vote Counts In Antrim County MI. Snopes. One of the most prevalent voter fraud claims to emerge in the days following the election was the accusation that a computer glitch in a software program from Dominion Voting Systems had mistakenly counted thousands of votes for President Trump as votes for President Biden. This claim was based on a half-truth: a tabulation error did occur in Antrim County, but the problem was a result of a human error, and the mistake was quickly caught and corrected. [According to] the Michigan Department of State ... The correct results always were and continue to be reflected on the tabulator totals tape and on the ballots themselves. Even if the error in the reported unofficial results had not been quickly noticed, it would have been identified during the county canvass. Boards of County Canvassers, which are composed of 2 Democrats and 2 Republicans, review the printed totals tape from each tabulator during the canvass to verify the reported vote totals are correct. Joe Biden Ballots Were Counted Multiple Times. AP. "Absentee ballots were not scanned multiple times inappropriately" said Tracy Wimmer, media relations director for the Michigan Department of State. ... [Mellissa] Carone, who was hired by the election technology vendor Dominion Voting Systems to do IT work at the TCF Center, made claims about witnessing fraud at a 12/2/2020 hearing in front of Michigan state lawmakers with Trump's attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and in an affidavit in an unsuccessful legal challenge that sought to stop the certification of Detroit-area votes. In a 12/13/2020 order, Judge Timothy Kenny, of the Third Judicial Circuit Court of Michigan, noted that Carone's account did not square with any others. "The allegations simply are not credible", he wrote. A "Seized" Server in Germany Proves Trump Won 410 Electoral Votes. Snopes. [According to OAN] ...computer servers belonging to the Dominion Voting Systems and/or Scytl Secure Electronic Voting companies had supposedly been seized by the U.S. Army in Frankfurt, Germany, and the served data showed that Trump had actually won a landslide victory in the 11/3/2020 election. The rumor was one no reliable news outlet gave any credence to. ... In response to that rumor, Scytl noted that they had no servers or offices in Frankfurt, nor had anything of theirs been seized from them by the U.S. military ... Likewise, the Associated Press reported that Dominion has no connection to Scytl, does not store voting data on servers in Germany, nor was its property targeted by the U.S. military for seizure. Georgia Poll Workers Hide Suitcases Of Ballots From Republican Observers. Snopes. On 12/3/2020 a committee of Georgia state legislators met to discuss potential changes to the state's election system ...attorneys advocating on behalf of the Trump campaign, including Rudy Giuliani. They showed the committee frames of surveillance footage supposedly showing a handful of poll workers illegally counting absentee and military ballots inside a banquet room of Atlanta's State Farm Arena on Election Day, 11/3/2020... ...the county's election director, Rick Barron, said no one told anyone (including the observers and reporters) to leave the banquet room on the night of 11/3/2020... Rather, some poll workers had finished their shifts, and the staff was considering ceasing operations. "I told them not to do that", Barron said... "At about 11:15 [pm] they were fully scanning again, and once they were scanning, Carter Jones, the State Election Board monitor, he told me 11:42 or 11:52 [pm] that he arrived". In other words, Barron alleged that a nonpartisan, state-designated monitor was present when poll workers were scanning ballots just before and after midnight. And after that, he said, an investigator with the secretary of state's office also monitored the ballot scanning. Atlanta 11Alive [reported that] What the video shows is that they [retrieved] plastic bins [not suitcases] from underneath the desks [where they were stored after Rick Barron told them to keep working]. Thousands Of Unregistered Voters, Dead People, People Using A PO Box As Their Address, Felons, Underage Children, And People Residing Outside The State Cast Ballots In Georgia. NYT. [According to] ...Gabriel Sterling, a top election official in Georgia... Mr. Trump said that thousands of people voted despite not being registered to vote. This is impossible ... "You can't do it. There cannot be a ballot issued to you, there's no way to tie it back to you, there's nowhere for them to have a name to correspond back to unless they're registered voters. So that number is zero". Mr. Trump said that thousands of voters died before the election. Mr. Sterling said the secretary of state's office had found only two who might fit that description. Mr. Trump said that hundreds of people voted using PO boxes rather than a residential address. Mr. Sterling said that the secretary of state's office was still investigating, but that everyone it had examined so far had, in fact, used a proper residential address — just one for a multifamily residence or apartment building. Mr. Trump's campaign said that many felons voted. In reality, using records from the state's corrections and probation departments, the secretary of state's office identified only 74 people who might fit that category — and Mr. Sterling said the final number would be even lower once the office completed its investigation, because in many cases, the person might have had their voting rights reinstated after completing a sentence or might simply have the same name as a felon. Mr. Trump's campaign said that tens of thousands of people younger than 18 voted. "The actual number is zero ... and the reason we know that is because the dates are on the voter registration. There are four cases... where people requested their absentee ballot before they turned 18, but they turned 18 by Election Day". Mr. Trump's campaign said that hundreds of voters cast ballots in two states. Mr. Sterling said that officials were still investigating, but that if any such cases were confirmed, it would be "handfuls", and nowhere near enough to change the outcome.

Snopes further notes (in their debunking of Mike Lindell's "Absolute Proof") that (as per Dotard's AG, William Barr), "We have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election".

Appeal to authority? BWAAAH!! (as Minus FJ frequently writes). The facts simply do not support Mike Lindell's allegations. OAN knows this, which is why they ran the disclaimer. Yes, they are concerned about Dominion suing them, but if Mike's allegations were supportable by the facts, OAN would have run the "documentary" without the disclaimer. Because they'd be able to present evidence in court showing Mike's "documentary" was factual. And the lawsuit would be dismissed. Or they'd present their evidence and Dominion (knowing it would lose in court) would drop their lawsuit.

Is this a complete refutation of all of the allegations Mike Lindell made in "absolute proof". I don't think so. The entire thing was 3 hours, of which I watched about 12 minutes. I stopped when Mike threw up a chart that claimed thousands of dead people voted. Why did I need to "refute" an allegation that was made with no evidence backing it up?

Ad hominem was the appropriate response. It is very likely I am going to find out (unless Minus declines to respond) that giving Minus what he asked for isn't going to result in him conceeding that Mike Lindell is full of shit. As acknowledged in the OAN disclaimer. Even that that ABSOLUTELY is the case. And will be why OAN and Mike Lindell lose bigly if Dominion's lawsuit against them goes to court. Not because the judge hearing the case is corrupt.

Judge appointed by a republican (or elected by a republican constituency), judge appointed (or elected by a Democratic constituency)... it doesn't matter. If they rule against the "election frad" liars, they are corrupt. Sure, Minus. If you redefine "corrupt" as applying to anyone who disagrees with your "widespread voter fraud" fantasies.

Post authored by the anti-Trump Leftist Bastard Dervish Sanders. WYM-245.