© Jim Young | Reuters
Just yesterday
we noted that Jill Stein was acting on behalf of Hillary Clinton to raise money for recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. As we noted then, we continue to be astonished by the amount of money flowing into the fundraising campaign and
would love to see which of Hillary's mega donors have spent the most on the effort...somehow we suspect this isn't just a "grassroots organizing" effort as Stein described it.
So, in less than 1 day, Jill Stein raised over $3mm, which is more than the $2mm needed to force a recount in Wisconsin. While she attributed the accomplishment to "the power of grassroots organizing," we would tend to be a little more skeptical and would love to see exactly where those donations came from. Then again, maybe we're wrong and there really are just that many disaffected snowflakes out there willing to blow their money on an extreme long shot.
But, today a new mystery has emerged in Stein's fundraising efforts.
Apparently, the more money she raises the more expensive the recount effort becomes. Courtesy of the Wayback Machine we have the following snapshots from her fundraising page over the past couple of days:
November 24, 2016 at 3:46AM -
In the beginning, Stein figured she needed a total of $2.5mm to fund her recount efforts. That figure included $2.2mm for the actual filing fees and presumably another $0.3mm for legal fees and other costs.
November 24, 2016 at 1:20PM -
Then, just 12 hours later, after the cash just kept flowing in, Stein figured she needed at least another $2mm as her fundraising goal was raised to $4.5mm in total. Of course, the filing fees of $2.2mm didn't change but the "attorney's fees" apparently surged by about 300% and the total costs of the effort skyrocketed to $6-7mm.
November 25, 2016 at 6:11AM - Now, just this morning as Stein approaches $5mm in total donations, her overall fundraising goal has surged once again and now stands at $7mm.
So, with nearly $5mm raised so far, the question is no longer whether recounts will occur in WI, MI and PA but just
how much Jill Stein will be able to drain from the pockets of disaffected Hillary supporters to fund her long-shot efforts.All that said, here is Jill Stein admitting to CNN that
she has absolutely no evidence of election hacking....even though she asks that you please keep sending your money anyway.
And another where she says she would have challenged the election result even if Hillary won...though somehow
we suspect she wouldn't have been able to raise quite so much money under that scenario.
And finally we leave you with this latest
epic rant from PJW on the whole situation:
Comment: There's always the chance that a recount will show that Trump won by a larger margin than he officially did, so far. But just what is Stein up to? Jerome Corsi at WND writes:
Stein raised only $3.5 million from donors during her 2016 presidential campaign, prompting critics to charge that her ability to quickly raise nearly $5 million for an election recount indicates Clinton supporters are funding her.
...
In the third presidential debate, however, Clinton chastised Trump for his unwillingness to pledge that he would accept the outcome of the election, reserving the right to challenge voter fraud. She called Trump's statement "horrifying." "That is not the way our democracy works," she said. "We've been around for 240 years. We've had free and fair elections. We've accepted the outcomes when we may not have liked them, and that is what must be expected of anyone standing on a debate stage during a general election."
...
No recount in U.S. history has ever changed the outcome of a presidential election, including in 2000, when the U.S. Supreme Court stopped a recount in Florida that Democratic candidate Al Gore had hoped would deprive Republican George W. Bush of a narrow win.
...
Meanwhile, efforts are under way to challenge the votes in three states won by Clinton: Nevada, Colorado and Virginia. Operation Sabot 2016, launched by the group Oath Keepers is contesting vote totals in Clark County in Nevada; Denver and Boulder Counties in Colorado; and Richmond, Fairfax, and Henrico Counties in Virginia.
"In all three states there were precincts where over 95 percent of the vote went to Clinton with voter turnouts above 90 percent," wrote "Navy Jack," an anonymous Navy veteran leading the Operation Sabot 2016 charge on the Oath Keeper's website. "Richmond, Denver and Clark County had precincts with more votes than registered voters," Navy Jack continued. "This is similar to what occurred in Philadelphia back in 2012. In Virginia, Governor McAuliffe issued 60,000 autopen pardons to allow felons to vote."
Navy Jack continued to note that McAuliffe sent each pardoned felon a personal letter asking them to vote for Clinton, accompanied by a voter-registration form, ballot and a return postage paid envelope. "In each of these cases, the President Elect appears to have been disadvantaged," Navy Jack concluded. "If recounts and investigations become inevitable, expanding the list of states to also include states won by former Secretary Clinton would be appropriate."
Comment: There's always the chance that a recount will show that Trump won by a larger margin than he officially did, so far. But just what is Stein up to? Jerome Corsi at WND writes: