# Is Sidney Powell insane? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 22, 2020, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169 "2020-11-22T04:25:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/261 "2020-12-23T15:07:51Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Since 1814, US territory has been invaded by hostile belligerents exactly once, and how did we react? We set up [Pancho Villa State Park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_of_Columbus_and_Camp_Furlong#Historic_district) to honor the invaders and their leader. Whoa there. See WWII history and Alaska. > **[Aleutian Islands campaign](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleutian_Islands_campaign)** > > US Navy vessels lost: > 4,350 killed28 captured7 warships sunk9 cargo/transport ships sunkImperial Japanese Navy vessels lost: > Second Sino-Japanese War ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/262 "2020-12-23T15:16:48Z")
@eschereal should have been more specific. No US state has been invaded. Otherwise he would have had to include Pearl Harbor. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/263 "2020-12-23T15:19:49Z")
The Wiki article says that the Japanese did invade and occupy two remote (but populated) islands. And very fierce battles ensued. Interesting, I had never come across this part of history before. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/264 "2020-12-23T15:57:27Z")
A German sub dropped several agents on the beach in my home town on Long island during WWII with the intent of sabotage They were later apprehended due to betrayal within their ranks. > **[Operation Pastorius](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Pastorius)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > > Operation Pastorius was a failed German intelligence plan for sabotage inside the United States during World War II. The operation was staged in June, 1942 and was to be directed against strategic American economic targets. The operation was named by Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, chief of the German Abwehr, for Francis Daniel Pastorius, the organizer of the first organized settlement of Germans in America. Fourteen other people would be charged with... ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/265 "2020-12-23T18:20:25Z")
That was more of an infiltration. An invasion is an overt act of tromping in with an army and declaring “this is ours now”. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/266 "2020-12-23T18:29:03Z")
The Wiki article on the Aleutians is a bit unclear. It says that most of them “belong to” Alaska. Is there some distinction that they are drawing here from being “part of” Alaska? If I and my gang invade an island in the Aleutians, is there any sense in which we have not invaded the state of Alaska? ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/267 "2020-12-23T18:30:40Z")
Fully backing this Canadiana/possible Japanese US overthrow derail. ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/268 "2020-12-23T18:32:35Z")
I think the technicality is that Alaska was not admitted as a state until 1959. Hence @k9bfriender saying “No US state has been invaded.” ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/269 "2020-12-23T18:34:16Z")
Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/270 "2020-12-23T18:40:42Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Fully backing this Canadiana/possible Japanese US overthrow derail. Well the original proposition that Sidney Powell might be insane has been decided in the affirmative so wandering is the default on this board. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/271 "2020-12-23T18:42:54Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > It says that most of them “belong to” Alaska. Is there some distinction that they are drawing here from being “part of” Alaska? The westernmost 6 of them actually belong to Russia. So you could invade those, and just be invading Russia. ETA: and as @ctnguy says, Alaska wasn’t actually a state during WWII ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/272 "2020-12-23T18:44:14Z")
There’s also the technicality that the Aleutian Islands are, well, islands, so even if you count mainland Alaska as being part of the Continental U.S., the Aleutians aren’t actually on the continent, so might not technically count as part of the Continental U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/273 "2020-12-23T18:59:15Z")
But “mainland” and “continental” are not synonymous. The “Continental U.S.”, includes many islands. It just excludes Hawaii. Perhaps you can make an argument that some of the Aleutians are far enough away from the mainland that they should be excluded, but it does not fall out indisputably from the usual definition. But they are not really very far away from the peninsula anyway. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/274 "2020-12-23T19:12:53Z")
_Shrug_ I’m not making the argument, just speculating on why someone might be differentiating between Aleutian islands being “part of” Alaska" and the Aleutian islands “belonging to” Alaska. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/275 "2020-12-23T19:15:29Z")
I think you’re reading too much legal specificity into a wikipedia article. 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/276 "2020-12-23T19:31:04Z")
Yes, Canaris sabotaged this operation. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/277 "2020-12-23T19:42:45Z")
I half listened to her, and I thought she was referring to herself as the kracken, and that could work, much like Nick Charles was the Thin Man. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/278 "2020-12-23T19:47:28Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I think you’re reading too much legal specificity into a wikipedia article. I agree, I was just asking the question in case I was missing something - but I think it’s just a turn of phrase. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/279 "2020-12-23T20:38:40Z")
Does that make Rudy some sort of terrier? ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/280 "2020-12-23T21:11:46Z")
nope, just a rat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169.md?page=15)