one of our favorite election dumbasses who needs no introduction decided to investigate the election himself and found “proof” of election fraud and put out a challenge with Trump and dared the world to prove him wrong for 5 million dollars
Ironically a pro-trump software engineer took him up on it and according to an arbitration board panel with the American Arbitration Association, a not-for-profit group that offers commercial dispute resolution services, which may or may not be a legally binding agreement agreed with the software engineer… Of course Lindell is trying to weasel out of it and anyone doubts that any actual money will be paid out But boy is most of the media pundits having fun with this
The big lesson to take away from all this is, when some people say, “Hey, they all know they’re full of shit, but lying is how they think they can win”, that’s actually wrong in some cases. This jackass really, honestly thought he had unassailable proof of a faked election, and was willing to put up millions of dollars to prove that, because he thought he’d never lose.
He really, honestly truly is just stupid enough to really believe all that nonsense.
To get publicity for a “challenge” like this while not exposing yourself to the risk of having to pay any money, you need to 1) devise entry requirements so onerous that most or all would-be challengers will drop out, 2) demand specific evidence impractical or impossible to obtain, and/or 3) ensure that the judges are under your control.
There’s still weasel room for Mike, depending on the extent to which he can appeal the ruling and the financial resources the winner has to pursue the award.
I’m reminded of the doctor who won a 100,000 euro challenge issued by a German biologist (Stefan Lanka) who claimed that measles was not caused by a virus and instead was a psychosomatic illness. A court agreed the doctor was entitled to the award, but the decision was later overturned on a technicality by a higher court.
Lindell, even if he eventually loses and has to pay up, will probably just claim that the ruling(s) are part of the vast election conspiracy and proof of his claims.
He really is kind of a tragic fugure. He honestly believes he is on a Mission From God to get the band…uh, I mean to Save America from evil fraudsters. It is just that he is dumb enough to actually be allied with the evil fraudsters without knowing about it.
It’s pretty clear that it was a valid contest under state law and that the challenge was extremely simple to fulfill. Lindell claimed he had packet data captured from the internet that contained information about the 2020 election. The challenge was to prove that it was not packet data containing information about the 2020 election. The data provided to the contestant did not contain packet data containing information about the 2020 election or any packet data at all.
While it certainly couldn’t happen to a more deserving asshole, does it even really matter? He’s still facing a $1.3 billion dollar lawsuit from Dominion that’s going to be a slam dunk in the wake of Fox’s settlement, and Lindell doesn’t have the kind of cash that Fox had to settle it out of court. Even if he did, Smartmatic wants their billion from him too. Any way you slice it, he’s going to go bankrupt. Zeidman just gets his $5 million before that inevitably happens.
A packet is what is sent out over a network. Imagine you’re sending a picture to someone on the Internet. The picture needs things added to it, extra information so that different parts of the network know how to handle it. Think of it like sending a real package in the mail, and having to put it in a box, putting a label on it, postage, etc. The packet is the original data plus all of that extra stuff, like getting a box in the mail. When the receiver gets the picture, those extra things are stripped away layer by layer until what you receive is just the picture, like a box being opened. (I’m simplifying, but that’s to keep this from getting too boring or long.)
A packet is that data as sent out on the network with extra stuff attached for purposes of making sure it gets where it needs to go and is handled properly by systems along the journey. Also, packets are usually pieces of data that are stuck back together by the recipient at the end (think of the download progress when you’re downloading something). It’s almost like piecing a shredded document together.
You can inercept that data in transit via a packet analyzer, and among other things the tool does, you can use it to pick usable data out of the packets.
Apparently, after analyzing the packets Lindell had, they were shown to not be what he claimed they were. It’s like claiming you have a bunch of rocks full of precious metals or gems, but when a geologist analyses the rocks, they’re just junk.
So in addition to the usual delaying tactics (lame appeals, “I need time to get the cash liquidated” etc), can’t Lindell just refuse to pay, tell this guy “Sue me,” and tie him up in court for a while and show empty pockets (except for paying his own lawyers), appealing to MAGA nuts to finance his pro-MAGA case? Eventually, he’ll be bankrupted and this guy can get on a long line of creditors trying to get money from a pillow company that owes billions to dozens of creditors.
You might be right, but it might still just be that he really, really super-believed that lying is how he could win (i.e. he didn’t think he couldn’t lose because of facts, but because of being superbly adept at lying)