# 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:** 7
**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:** [November 29, 2020, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/121 "2020-11-29T12:09:36Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > I’ve got co-workers who don’t necessarily believe that claim, but they did talk a lot about how if you disregard California, Trump won the popular vote. (They were never clear on _why_ California’s votes shouldn’t count…) > [@bobot](#): > > That’s a good one. If you don’t count all of the votes, he got more votes. Logically, sounds just like the Trump supporters I know. Amazingly gullible, they are. Actually this all makes complete, if confused, sense. Remember this is a battle between True Americans and socialist mostly brown people. California has already fallen to the Enemy. And so of course it should be disregarded. Once you count the votes of what’s left of True America, _of course_ the True Americans are in the majority. How could it be otherwsie? Until we can convince the “True Americans” that _all_ Americans are Americans, we’re not going to get very far. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/122 "2020-11-29T12:16:16Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > but they did talk a lot about how if you disregard California, Trump won the popular vote. And they’d be wrong(surprise, surprise, surprise,) by roughly a million votes. And Biden would still be ahead on electoral votes 251-232. ---
**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:** [November 29, 2020, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/123 "2020-11-29T12:41:10Z")
They were talking about 2016, not 2020. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/124 "2020-11-29T13:25:27Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Until we can convince the “True Americans” that _all_ Americans are Americans, we’re not going to get very far. I’ll have to live with the guilt of not making any effort to convince those guys of anything. Seriously, how gullible are they? To what degree? Follow that California vote logic a step further: If you count only the votes that my candidate got, my candidate won unanimously! I’m not wasting a breath doing anything but making fun of people like that. ---
**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:** [November 29, 2020, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/125 "2020-11-29T17:10:54Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Remember this is a battle between True Americans and socialist mostly brown people. California has already fallen to the Enemy. And so of course it should be disregarded. Once you count the votes of what’s left of True America, _of course_ the True Americans are in the majority. How could it be otherwsie? > > Until we can convince the “True Americans” that _all_ Americans are Americans, we’re not going to get very far. Exactly the point Obama is making on his book tour, in an interview with the CBC: > [@](#): > > “This fear of the other, this suggestion that somehow there’s real Americans and then there are people who, I guess, are fake Americans,” he said. > > “And somehow, the fake Americans tend to look like me.” > **[Barack Obama on a Biden presidency, racism in the Trump era and what he...](https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/obama-the-current-trump-biden-1.5809468)** > > Former U.S. president Barack Obama says the biggest challenge for president-elect Joe Biden will be to bridge the vast political divide that exists in the country and find areas of potential compromise with those who continue to support Donald Trump,... ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/126 "2020-11-30T01:21:21Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > Does anyone here have a PACER account? “305th Military Intelligence” guy’s affidavit is apparently Exhibit 8 in the filing, but I can’t find or access it online - I think it’s available to someone using PACER. I’m just really, morbidly, curious whether it was the supposed witness or Sidney Powell who borked the references. The docket and documents are available from [Court Listener](https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/18693929/king-v-whitmer/). The exhibits are all screwy, but 305th Military Intelligence guy’s affidavit appears to be [exhibit 115](https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mied.350905/gov.uscourts.mied.350905.1.15.pdf), and it wasn’t Powell who borked that particular reference. ---
**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:** [November 30, 2020, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/127 "2020-11-30T02:00:22Z")
Thanks. I may have borked the exhibit numbering. But this fellow borked their references something fierce. Here’s the second section of the affidavit: > I was an electronic intelligence analyst under 305th Military Intelligence with experience gathering SAM missile system electronic intelligence. I have extensive experience as a white hat hacker used by some of the top election specialists in the world. The methodologies I have employed represent industry standard cyber operation toolkits for digital forensics and OSINT, which are commonly used to certify connections between servers, network nodes and other digital properties and probe to network system vulnerabilities. Oh, my. Again, “305th Military Intelligence” isn’t a thing, and I have a hard time believing an actual veteran would refer to their former unit that way. The 305th Military Intelligence _Battalion_ is a thing, but, again, it’s a _training_ unit, not an operational unit, and it doesn’t have anything to do with electronic intelligence. It’s _possible_ that there is a different 305th MI _something_ that does handle ELINT, but I can’t find any references online to any other “305th” MI units. It doesn’t help that this individual doesn’t even identify the branch of service they supposedly served with (again, I find it hard to believe an actual veteran would identify their unit without reference to their branch of service). The reference to OSINT is also weirdly wrong. OSINT is Open Source INTelligence. It’s a category of intelligence, which is gathered from open sources. It’s a fancy way of saying the info came from reading a newspaper. It has _nothing_ to do with “certify[ing] connections between servers, network nodes and other digital properties and probe to network system vulnerabilities.” That section really comes across to me as having been written by an autodidact who has come across a couple of terms, but doesn’t actually know what they mean or how to use them. Frankly, I couldn’t follow the technical sections of the affidavit, so I have no idea if they made sense or not. ---
**Author:** ![GinoC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f4b2a3/32.png) [@GinoC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GinoC)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/128 "2020-11-30T02:21:20Z")
I have always regretted the mostly successful attempt to eradicate the word Dominion from Canadian governmental parlance. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/129 "2020-11-30T02:33:59Z")
Thank you for sharing. That was insightful, profound, and deeply disturbing. Back to the question at hand- she may not be insane. But she has fallen under the spell of a cult. For some reason, those who fall under Donald’s spell are changed much for the worse. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/130 "2020-11-30T04:24:59Z")
> [@Is Sidney Powell insane?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/120): > > Someone with the Washington football team, who recently took control of their local division, tweeted out the chart showing them at the top along with “Stop The Count!” It has since been deleted. EPL soccer football team from a few weeks ago: > ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/131 "2020-11-30T10:49:47Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > But this fellow borked their references something fierce. Here’s the second section of the affidavit: Is there any legal consequence to signing an affidavit filled with nonsense? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/132 "2020-11-30T11:07:37Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Is there any legal consequence to signing an affidavit filled with nonsense? I understand that would be perjury. Some serious consequences for that. _“I declare under penalty of perjury that the forgoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge. Executed this November 23th, 2020”_ ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/133 "2020-11-30T11:10:31Z")
So there’s that to look forward to, then. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/134 "2020-11-30T18:39:57Z")
I’m pretty certain that Trump has telegraphed his willingness to pardon all the “brave whistleblowers” coming out in support of him. That’s why I hope that federal law enforcement lays low with regards to these bullshit affidavits for another …what is it now, 50 days or so. Then I hope they round up every one off these lying liars and throw the book at them. I hope that what their plan is for this guy. I listened to the tape of the interview where he recanted which was totally aboveboard - and the USPIS agents were good, dropping in QANON code words like “the Storm”, in order to make him think they were on his side. [https://www.postal-reporter.com/blog/tag/richard-hopkins/](https://www.postal-reporter.com/blog/tag/richard-hopkins/) I expected him to be arrested as soon as he “recanted the recant” but I think these LEO’s may have been smarter than that. ---
**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:** [November 30, 2020, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/135 "2020-11-30T18:45:10Z")
Perjury is very hard to prove, because it has a subjective test, as the quoted portion indicates: > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > “I declare under penalty of perjury that the forgoing is true and correct **to the best of my knowledge.** “I read this information on the internet and I genuinely believed it at the time I swore the affidavit.” If someone really, truly believes that, it’s hard to make a perjury charge stick. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/136 "2020-11-30T18:59:34Z")
If somebody claims to be an expert, while knowing nothing, that is a lie. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/137 "2020-11-30T19:11:21Z")
Not really. Dunning-Krugerites are perfectly capable of thinking themselves to be experts to the best of their knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/138 "2020-11-30T19:22:36Z")
He is claiming to have specific experience. _"I was an electronic intelligence analyst under 305th Military Intelligence with experience gathering SAM missile system electronic intelligence. I have extensive experience as a white hat hacker used by some of the top election specialists in the world. "_ Sure, it’s possible that he genuinely thinks he is smarter than he is. But he claims to have worked for a specific MI section, and to have worked for some top election specialists. If that is untrue, then it’s perjury. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/139 "2020-11-30T19:34:27Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > “I read this information on the internet and I genuinely believed it at the time I swore the affidavit.” > > If someone really, truly believes that, it’s hard to make a perjury charge stick. I was really confident that “purple monkey dishwasher” was a valid legal argument to overcome the election results. ---
**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:** [November 30, 2020, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/140 "2020-11-30T19:49:30Z")
Or " Person, woman, man, camera, TV". [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169.md?page=8)