# 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:** 21
**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:** [June 10, 2021, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/403 "2021-06-10T19:35:52Z")
by the time this case is done, that will be in the public record. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2021, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/404 "2021-06-11T12:56:28Z")
> [@simster](#): > > the time this case is done, that will be in the public record. The public record already has Trump losing the 2020 election. It would seem the public record doesn’t really matter much, here. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2021, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/405 "2021-06-11T17:10:43Z")
As Dirty Harry almost said: > Nuthin’ wrong with wrong facts. As long as the right people believe the wrong facts. ---
**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:** [June 11, 2021, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/406 "2021-06-11T18:20:45Z")
In this case I am reffering to the public COURT records - where it has been adjudicated - those do hold far more weight than the general ‘public’ records. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2021, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/407 "2021-06-12T15:27:41Z")
Far more weight for who? As a matter of law, only the court records affect who pays who or who goes to jail or not. As has been amply demonstrated for decades, in the court of public opinion, whatever the media and the public say to one another is the _only_ thing that gets remembered. In the social media + full-bore RW propaganda era this is 10x or 100x as true as it was for the Rosenbergs or Kennedy at Chappaquiddick or … So when it comes to the political and social consequences of everything Powell did or does, the court records that will eventually emerge 2 or 4 years or 7 years from now are just about irrelevant. Net of whatever part of the records or the settlement are sealed and never see the light of day. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2021, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/408 "2021-06-12T17:37:57Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > If the facts are against you, argue the law. > If the law is against you, argue the facts. > If both are against you, just argue. The way I heard the third line was that if both are against you, pound the table. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2021, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/409 "2021-06-12T17:45:39Z")
The version I"ve heard is: “If the law is on your side, pound the law. If the facts are on your side, pound the facts. If nothing’s on your side, pound the table” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2021, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/410 "2021-06-12T20:00:47Z")
Now we just need this last version rendered into Latin and we’ll have a great all-purpose legal maxim. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2021, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/411 "2021-06-12T21:00:49Z")
Something like > Si nihil utile, battuo in mensam Except that I’m not sure that’s the imperative, plus I don’t know if “in” is the right preposition, plus I don’t really know if any of the other words are right either. IANAR. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/412 "2021-06-13T02:33:49Z")
This is the only version I’ve ever heard, amongst lawyers. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/413 "2021-06-13T19:38:37Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > IANAR. IANAR = I Am Not A Roman ? ---
**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:** [June 13, 2021, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/414 "2021-06-13T20:01:03Z")
Verum. Civis Romanus non sum, as Palmerston didn’t say. ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/415 "2021-06-13T20:17:06Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > She could be sane, but just incredibly fucking stupid. It’s easier to think it’s the opposite. She has a law degree, which takes a certain level of intelligence to get. That wouldn’t prevent her from going mental. A family member of mine was a lawyer, and developed severe mental problems. When speaking to someone at the law society, they told me about how so many lawyers are alcoholics or have other mental problems. I don’t know if “IQ loss” is a thing barring severe brain damage or dementia. However, mental problems can develop rapidly, and persist. Unfortunately, online radicalization (not actually a mental problem, at least not in most cases) also develops rapidly, and persists. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/416 "2021-06-13T20:28:17Z")
> [@Kimera757](#): > > She has a law degree, which takes a certain level of intelligence to get. The stupidest professional I have ever worked with was an attorney. He was young, too. His grandfather and father were well known and successful in law, so by gum he was following them. Had the III after his name and everything. And he was dumber than a sack of dildos. One of the partners eventually told me he’d skated through law school essentially as a favor to his well-heeled family (read: don’t piss off the generous donors). And that also explained why he was at our firm, to make nice with the powerful and connected elders. It was an eye opening work experience. ---
**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:** [June 13, 2021, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/417 "2021-06-13T20:28:43Z")
I assume that the bar is like the driver’s test, only taken once? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/418 "2021-06-13T22:02:05Z")
Each state has their own version of the bar exam. So someone who practices in one state for a career need never take another exam. Someone who changes states may need to take the new state’s bar exam, or in other cases may be admitted to practice at the new state’s bar based on the old state’s acceptance test / licensing procedures. My wife has three state’s licenses and took 2 bar exams to get there, the third state accepting one of the two earlier ones. But not the other; it’s a real patchwork hodgepodge. ---
**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:** [June 13, 2021, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/419 "2021-06-13T22:06:27Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > patchwork hodgepodge Isn’t that the name of the lawyer in Harry Potter? ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/420 "2021-06-13T22:40:04Z")
Intelligence is not adequately measured by a linear scale. For instance someone can be really good at understanding what is asked of them in an educational (and some other settings), but be shit at independently evaluating evidence and resisting garbage information or their own faulty misconceptions. It’s unusual to be highly educated and a Trump supporter, but it’s not unheard of, and that isn’t because they managed to hide being stupid all through whatever education they completed, it’s because they were always hateful shits and believe being a hateful shit is rational. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/421 "2021-06-13T23:39:33Z")
> [@naita](#): > > It’s unusual to be highly educated and a Trump supporter, but it’s not unheard of, and that isn’t because they managed to hide being stupid all through whatever education they completed, it’s because they were always hateful shits and believe being a hateful shit is rational. Nitpick - there are _Plenty_ of intelligent Trump supporters. I hate McConnell, and all of his ilk, but he isn’t unintelligent. He is just willing to tolerate all the funk of Trump in his quest for unbridled power, consequences be damned. Which, from a certain POV, is also stupid in the long run for the good of the nation, but just fine from the “I’ve got mine POV.” Similarly, there are plenty of wealthy individuals and captains of industry who realize Trump and his agenda is hateful as heck, but are/were in for lower personal taxes and higher personal profits. Again, let’s not underestimate them all. I will grant that Sidney Powell is unusual (although far from unique) in that she seems to have bought into the lies and propaganda to an unusual degree. Alternately, she feels she’s in so deep that the only way out is to keep doubling down. Considering the legal risks she’s taking in compromising her own defense, I think it’s probably both. TLDR - many Trump supporters are intelligent, but hugely amoral or selfish in following their own ambitions/profits at the cost of the rest of the nation. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/422 "2021-06-18T15:38:37Z")
For criminal defense attorneys, the third line goes “Pound the cops.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169.md?page=20) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169.md?page=22)