Cyber Ninjas scammed Arizona's Senate. Hard.

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/arizona-s-audit-2020-election-con-artist-s-dream-n1267985

Karen Fann probably has some regrets. Fann, the Republican president of the Arizona Senate, advocated for an outside team of contractors to conduct an audit of the 2020 election in March. Since then, an army of auditors has searched for some crumb of voter fraud that would back the conspiracies that former President Donald Trump spread, quickly becoming a mortifying spectacle for the state and a wedge between the state's GOP elected officials.

I hate to say it, but I have to give Doug Logan props for what appears from the outside to be a truly successful con job. His Florida-based company, Cyber Ninjas, was granted a $150,000 contract to recount the 2.1 million ballots cast last year in the state's largest county. By snagging the deal, Logan positioned himself to pull in potentially millions in private donations from Trump supporters, many eager to see their man vindicated.

Logan also reportedly promoted election conspiracies himself, but whether he genuinely believed the lies or was signaling to fools he would soon part from their money, I can't really say. (Is there even really that much of a difference these days between the two in this corner of the GOP?)

Either way, Logan clearly knows how to pick 'em. A good con artist can spot a mark who will believe whatever tale he's prepared to tell on this particular day. But a great con artist, someone on the level of Trump — and, it seems, Logan — understands that the best marks are the ones who are sold before he even opens his mouth. And boy, did Arizona's Senate Republicans want to be conned here, desperate for evidence to support the lie that Trump won the election, at least in their state.

*snip*

[QED]

1. And they may have messed up elections equipment.

What if they plant Spyware or malware on the equipment?

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/05/19/arizona-audit-dominion-machines-maricopa-county-unusable-now/5063300001/?gnt-cfr=1

[11 Bravo]

8. The Arizona SoS has already stated that the machines will NOT be re-certified ...

so any tinkering with the machines will have no effect other than to open the tinkerers up to the possibility of criminal charges.

[ck4829]

2. "Hey kids, you wanna see what sunk-cost fallacy looks like?"

[soothsayer]

3. Jeezus they got paid?

[dalton99a]

4. "The state Senate signed a new lease for the count to resume"

It's still unclear how much longer this farce is going to continue. High school graduation ceremonies have overtaken the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where the counting is being done. The state Senate signed a new lease for the count to resume on Sunday; given the slow pace so far, it may be the end of June before the counters have gone through all of the ballots.

But I doubt that will be the last time we hear from Cyber Ninjas. The company has been hustling hard to spread the Big Lie since last year. Logan has prepared presentations on alleged voter fraud for other clients, including a document titled "Election Fraud Facts & Details," which he provided to U.S. senators who wanted to object to certifying the election results in January.

Cyber Ninjas also provided "analysis" in support of a lawsuit in Michigan seeking to launch an audit like the one in Arizona. Circuit Judge Kevin Elsenheimer, a former Republican state lawmaker, dismissed that case Tuesday — but I'm sure it won't be the last one filed with Cyber Ninjas' support, not when there's still more cash to rake in from the people waiting to be told what they want to hear.

Remember: By the time Lanley hit Springfield with his song and dance, he'd already bilked the residents of Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haberbrook. That didn't stop him from running his con one more time. When all this ends, however it ends, Cyber Ninjas won't be around to bear any consequences. It will already have packed its suitcases full of cash and hightailed it out of town, ready to find the next mark. And there's always a next mark.

[TygrBright]

5. Actually, it probably wasn't hard to scam them. Lotta idiots there. n/t

[Botany]

6. 2022 and so and so paid for something that had ......

.... already been done. Do you want to reelect that man/woman?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. The Arizona GOP is full of idiots