Audit A-Z

From the, as Tengrain puts it, Terrible Sand Kingdom of Arizonastan, we have the tale of the release of the Maricopa County election audit. An initial first draft did not look promising for the MAGA crowd:

The Arizona “audit” coming out tomorrow didn’t just confirm Biden won. Biden actually gained votes in their recount, while Trump lost hundreds, according to a draft report. https://t.co/vSflCtllni pic.twitter.com/9JuLNtYbeW

— Will Sommer (@willsommer) September 24, 2021

Yeah, the first draft of the 'audit' actually increased Joe Biden's margin of victory. If you can't trust an outfit named Cyber Ninjas, who can you trust? My suspicion is that the Cyber Ninjas decided not to claim that the election was fraudulent because they didn't want to go to Big Boy Prison for Big Boy Voter Fraud. They made their pile of money, why push their luck? Wonkette's Liz Dye noted that everying about the 'audit' is bullshit, and urged us not to take the bait, but I confess to having a masochistic streak. I've been following this shitshow, through official channels, and through the work of cybersecurity analysts:

Been relatively quiet today because I've been preparing for the AZ audit results tomorrow. I'll start live tweeting in a thread under this tweet when the event starts at 1PM MST/PST/GMT-7.

— TRAPEZOID OF DISCOVERY (@get_innocuous) September 23, 2021

On the outside, coverage of the MAGA response is the bailiwick of AZ Right-Wing Watch. A bunch of armed whackos showed up to the proceedings, including some of the 1/6 rioters. One particular insurrectionist was spotted, and hopefully someone will identify his ass. Meanwhile, in the online fever swamps, the denizens are howling for blood:

Over on the Twitter knock off Gab, followers of Arizona lawmaker and Oath Keepers member Wendy Rogers are posting messages about killing Maricopa County officials because of the "audit." pic.twitter.com/KzXrQBQexv

— Nick Martin (@nickmartin) September 24, 2021

The more passive QAnon weenies are tempering expectations, by downgrading the Big Boom they have been anticipating for months. All told, today was a shitshow, but an inconclusive one. The real action is taking place in state capitals, where GOP legislators are enacting voter suppression bills. The Cyber Ninjas' fraudit might have been an incompetent farrago, but real actors are using stealth and deception to accomplish similar goals.