# 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:** 9
**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:** [December 1, 2020, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/161 "2020-12-01T17:30:15Z")
Maybe she meant Edison count **r** y. You know, where they grow all the light bulbs. > This hyar’s cattle country; Edison country’s over yonder hills. 😉 ---
**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 1, 2020, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/162 "2020-12-01T17:50:09Z")
thats classic misdirection - the real county name has been obfuscated to protect the evidence. ---
**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 1, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/163 "2020-12-01T17:56:24Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Active service members and veterans are not perfect in their terminology, and dropping the word “Battalion” is really no big deal. I rarely, if ever, use the full styling of the units I served with. Sure, and if he had said in casual conversation that he had served with “the 305th”, in a context where it would be clear which particular unit he was referring to, that would be understandable. I’ve also heard people refer to better known units in a similar shorthand - if someone said they had served in “the 3rd Infantry”, I’d know they are referring to the 3rd Infantry Division of the U.S. Army. But just referring to an obscure battalion that way? I’ve personally never encountered it. And in a legal document, an affidavit where you’re trying to establish your bona fides as a subject matter expert, using that kind of shorthand, which wouldn’t even be meaningful to most MI personnel (like me), much less to the civilians you’re supposedly writing for, is just weird. > [@](#): > > That said, service members and veterans are also not always honest about their experience. Stating he was “an electronic intelligence analyst” with the 305th is a dishonest misrepresentation of the facts. He was either a student or an instructor there. This also raises a legitimate question; did he even graduate from that program? Was he ever a working intop? If he was, why would he not refer to THAT unit? It’s akin to a person implying they’re a doctor, and when you ask where they practice medicine, telling you what school they took their pre-med courses at. Agreed. To quote myself from upthread: > [@gdave](#): > > I’ve been trying to think of a comparison, and it’s kind of like an attorney tried to present an expert opinion on software tampering by citing someone claiming to be a chemist, and establishing their bona fides by citing the dorm where they lived as an undergraduate, getting the name of the dorm wrong, and the dorm actually only houses humanities majors while chemistry majors are in a completely different dorm, and of course neither a humanities major nor a chemist actually have any relevant expertise. ---
**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/164 "2020-12-01T18:05:26Z")
Since Sidney Powell no longer represents Trump or his campaign, what standing does she have to file any election-related lawsuits on his behalf anymore? ---
**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:** [December 1, 2020, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/165 "2020-12-01T18:34:26Z")
> [@ricksummon](#): > > … what standing does she have to file … You don’t need standing to file. You need standing to have your case heard beyond summary judgment against for lack of standing. The goal is not to win any cases. The goal is to have media coverage about the act of filing cases. See here for more: > **[Trump Legal Team’s Record So Far: Bad](https://www.loweringthebar.net/2020/11/trump-legal-teams-record-so-far-bad.html)** > > Like many bad things, its exact badness is hard to quantify. ---
**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 1, 2020, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/166 "2020-12-01T18:36:14Z")
> [@simster](#): > > the real county name has been obfuscated to protect the evidence. Evidence has feelings too, you know. > [@ricksummon](#): > > Since Sidney Powell no longer represents Trump or his campaign, what standing does she have to file any election-related lawsuits on his behalf anymore? She is doing it out of the goodness of her heart, a volunteer being paid by a PAC or 2. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/167 "2020-12-01T18:39:43Z")
> [@ricksummon](#): > > Since Sidney Powell no longer represents Trump or his campaign, what standing does she have to file any election-related lawsuits on his behalf anymore? I think these lawsuits are being filed on behalf of voters who claim to have been scammed. When you hear things like “Trump is 1-39 in lawsuits” he actually isn’t; neither he nor his campaign is the plaintiff in most of them. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/168 "2020-12-01T19:23:26Z")
FYI, the Lowering the Bar website is a real time-sink You have been warned Brian ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/169 "2020-12-01T19:46:24Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > You don’t need standing to file. You need standing to have your case heard beyond summary judgment against for lack of standing. A lawsuit needs a plaintiff. And the lawyer filing the lawsuit has to be the lawyer for the plaintiff. So, she has to at least _allege_ she represents someone who has been harmed. ---
**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 1, 2020, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/170 "2020-12-01T19:51:24Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > A lawsuit needs a plaintiff. And the lawyer filing the lawsuit has to be the lawyer for the plaintiff. So, she has to at least _allege_ she represents someone who has been harmed. In the suit [linked above at post #86](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/86), the plaintiffs are a list of names that I don’t recognize - presumably these are Trump voters in the state in question, as @RickJay suggested. I think ordinary voters would have standing if an election were manipulated. ---
**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:** [December 1, 2020, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/171 "2020-12-01T19:57:45Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > FYI, the Lowering the Bar website is a real time-sink > You have been warned > Brian You say that like it was a bad thing. I can wander through there for _hours_. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/172 "2020-12-01T20:29:26Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > I think ordinary voters would have standing if an election were manipulated. I believe this is correct. In the decision in Pennsylvania which was dismissed for lack of standing, the plaintiffs included two PA Trump voters who had voted by mail and had their ballots not counted for procedural deficiencies. I think mailed without the privacy envelopes or something. Some counties had put in place a ‘notify and cure’ system to allow voters to fix such procedural deficiencies, but the counties where the plaintiffs had voted had not. The judge noted that this was a real injury that would grant standing, if they’d sued the counties they were from. Instead they had sued those other counties that would have allowed them to fix their ballots had they voted there, demanding they throw out those votes. From the judges tone, it didn’t sound like the plaintiffs had any real case even if they’d sued their own counties (state election law gives counties latitude to institute different procedures), just that they would have had standing. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/173 "2020-12-01T20:35:31Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > > [@ricksummon](#): > > > > … what standing does she have to file … > > You don’t need standing to file. You need standing to have your case heard beyond summary judgment against for lack of standing. > > The goal is not to win any cases. The goal is to have media coverage about the act of filing cases. See here for more: > [Trump Legal Team’s Record So Far: Bad – Lowering the Bar](https://loweringthebar.net/2020/11/trump-legal-teams-record-so-far-bad.html) Those election stickers must be from Philly: “Yo, Vote.” [![](https://i1.wp.com/loweringthebar.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/random-election-image.jpg?w=777&ssl=1) ](https://i1.wp.com/loweringthebar.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/random-election-image.jpg?w=777&ssl=1) ---
**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 1, 2020, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/174 "2020-12-01T20:44:33Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Those election stickers must be from Philly: “Yo, Vote.” Reminds me of my dad’s Smith-Corona manual. There was no “1” key: you used lower-case L for one, and if you needed an exclamation point, it was apostrophe-backspace-period. By which I mean that was supposed to be an exclamation point but they did not finish it. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/175 "2020-12-01T21:07:59Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Some counties had put in place a ‘notify and cure’ system to allow voters to fix such procedural deficiencies, but the counties where the plaintiffs had voted had not. The judge noted that this was a real injury that would grant standing, if they’d sued the counties they were from. Instead they had sued those other counties that would have allowed them to fix their ballots had they voted there, demanding they throw out those votes. The [LegalEagle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-nblE8ps2M) guy goes into some depth on this case, but yeah it was basically, “county X injured me, so I want counties Y, Z, A, B, C to injure a bunch of other people to make it even”. ---
**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:** [December 1, 2020, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/176 "2020-12-01T21:19:23Z")
If you squint _real hard_ you can sort of see the idea of “equal treatment for all voters” glimmering in there somewhere amongst the muck of tortured logic. Which if so may be a first for the R party this whole election season. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/177 "2020-12-01T22:47:12Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > There was no “1” key: you used lower-case L for one, and if you needed an exclamation point, it was apostrophe-backspace-period. By which I mean that was supposed to be an exclamation point but they did not finish it. That’s how my mom’s old manual typewriter (c. 1939) worked, too. Don’t remember if it was Smith-Corona or not. ---
**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:** [December 1, 2020, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/178 "2020-12-01T22:50:23Z")
They all did. But @eschereal’s joking point is that the voting sticker in the pic has just half an exclamation point. Like on an Olde Tyme TypeWritere. ---
**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 1, 2020, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/179 "2020-12-01T22:58:37Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > But @eschereal’s joking point is that the voting sticker in the pic has just half an exclamation point. Like on an Olde Tyme TypeWritere. uh, guys, isn’t that an accent? "_yo voté_ is Spanish for _I voted_. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169/180 "2020-12-01T23:04:03Z")
Yep, it is spanish. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sidney-powell-insane/926169.md?page=10)