Politics

Politics

There are 1,049 posts filed in Politics (this is page 6 of 105).

Private Equity Controls the Gatekeepers of American Democracy – Bloomberg

Here’s yet another reason why we need open-source, fully auditable voting machines.

Millions of Americans will cast votes in Tuesday’s midterm elections, some on machines that experts say use outdated software or are vulnerable to hacking. If there are glitches or some races are too close to call — or evidence emerges of more meddling attempts by Russia — voters may wake up on Wednesday and wonder: Can we trust the outcome?

Meet, then, the gatekeepers of American democracy: Three obscure, private equity-backed companies control an estimated $300 million U.S. voting-machine industry. Though most of their revenue comes from taxpayers, and they play an indispensable role in determining the balance of power in America, the companies largely function in secret.

Source: Private Equity Controls the Gatekeepers of American Democracy – Bloomberg

The Growth of Sinclair’s Conservative Media Empire | The New Yorker

Sinclair is not Fox News … it owns FCC broadcast licenses that require it to serve the public interest. Sinclair can’t spew lies and propaganda with reckless abandon the way Fox News does. Sinclair can be held accountable.

In some cases, [Sinclair] anchors have been compelled to read from scripts prepared by Sinclair. In April, 2018, dozens of newscasters across the country parroted Trump’s invectives about “fake news,” saying, “Some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control exactly what people think. This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.” In response, Dan Rather, the former anchor of “CBS Evening News,” wrote, on Twitter, “News anchors looking into camera and reading a script handed down by a corporate overlord, words meant to obscure the truth not elucidate it, isn’t journalism. It’s propaganda. It’s Orwellian. A slippery slope to how despots wrest power, silence dissent, and oppress the masses.”

Source: The Growth of Sinclair’s Conservative Media Empire | The New Yorker

Turks tell U.S. officials they have audio and video recordings that support conclusion Khashoggi was killed – The Washington Post


The Saudis are screwed.

The Turkish government has told U.S. officials that it has audio and video recordings that prove Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul this month, according to U.S. and Turkish officials.

The recordings show that a Saudi security team detained Khashoggi in the consulate after he walked in Oct. 2 to obtain an official document before his upcoming wedding, then killed him and dismembered his body, the officials said.

The audio recording in particular provides some of the most persuasive and gruesome evidence that the Saudi team is responsible for Khashoggi’s death, the officials said.

“The voice recording from inside the embassy lays out what happened to Jamal after he entered,” said one person with knowledge of the recording who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss highly sensitive intelligence.

“You can hear his voice and the voices of men speaking Arabic,” this person said. “You can hear how he was interrogated, tortured and then murdered.”

Source: Turks tell U.S. officials they have audio and video recordings that support conclusion Khashoggi was killed – The Washington Post

He’s ‘One of Us’: The Undying Bond Between the Bible Belt and Trump – The New York Times

Here’s Exhibit A where the “Depolorables” comment lost Clinton’s presidential campaign. It’s also a path by which Democrats might claw their way back to respectability in the South.

Despite never having met him, Mr. Bledsoe said he felt a personal link and a sense of shared values with Mr. Trump.

“I don’t really look at him as a politician,” he said. “Even now, I look at him as just one of us. He doesn’t act like he’s above you, as a person.”

Source: He’s ‘One of Us’: The Undying Bond Between the Bible Belt and Trump – The New York Times

Turkey concludes Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi killed by ‘murder’ team, sources say – The Washington Post

Well, this is disturbing.

ISTANBUL — Turkey has concluded that Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent journalist from Saudi Arabia, was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last week by a Saudi team sent “specifically for the murder,” two people with knowledge of the probe said Saturday.Turkish investigators believe a 15-member team “came from Saudi Arabia. It was a preplanned murder,” said one of the people. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.

Source: Turkey concludes Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi killed by ‘murder’ team, sources say – The Washington Post

China Snuck Chips Into CIA, U.S. Military, Commercial Servers Leaving Them Open To Hacks: Report – The Drive

China seems willing to gamble its huge manufacturing industry in service to its spying. Why should foreign companies trust their manufacturing to China anymore? Regardless of the economic price China will pay for this, it can never be fully trusted again.

A new report is alleging the Chinese government directly interceded to insert small microchips into motherboards from a company called Supermicro, that are in use in servers everywhere from the adult film industry to U.S. military and U.S. Intelligence Community data centers, which make them vulnerable open them up to remote hacks. If the claims turn out to be true, it would be an intelligence operation of historic proportions that would have far-reaching and long-lasting ramifications.

On Oct. 4, 2018, Bloomberg Businessweek published its story, which is the culmination of years of investigative work and cites nearly 20 anonymous sources from both the U.S. government and private companies reportedly involved in the affair. The piece says that American authorities first became aware of the existence of the chips in 2015, that the classified probe is still ongoing, and that U.S. officials have identified an unspecified unit of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as being responsible for sneaking the malicious hardware into the servers.

Source: China Snuck Chips Into CIA, U.S. Military, Commercial Servers Leaving Them Open To Hacks: Report – The Drive

Hong Kong denies visa to Financial Times journalist Victor Mallet — Quartz

I was sorry to learn that Hong Kong’s freedom-of-speech protections are under attack by mainland China.

Mainland China frequently denies visas to foreign journalists and scholars—a preferred way to force out those whose reporting or research officials object to. But Hong Kong has long offered a welcoming visa regime that made it a safe hub for journalists in the region.

That may be changing. The Hong Kong Free Press on Friday (Oct. 5) reported that the Hong Kong Immigration Department denied a work visa renewal to highly-regarded Financial Times journalist Victor Mallet, the paper’s Asia news editor. The Financial Times said in a statement, “This is the first time we have encountered this situation in Hong Kong. We have not been given a reason for the rejection.”

Source: Hong Kong denies visa to Financial Times journalist Victor Mallet — Quartz

Trump Weaponizes Victimhood – Trevor Noah

Daily Show host Trevor Noah spoke last week about the Kavanaugh hearings and pointed out something I’d never grasped until now. Trump’s whole shtick is that he plays to his base’s sense of victimhood. Many on the right feel persecuted – like the majority is coming to get them – and Trump has become expert at feeding these fears.

Of course, those of us who aren’t under his spell clearly see that this victimhood perception is nonsense but for those caught in its grasp it can be a powerful illusion. I’d been enraged by the antics of Trump and his supporters but never saw what he was doing until Noah pointed it out.

Now I know what we’re dealing with. Now I know how the right will perceive the left’s actions, and more importantly how it will be portrayed by right-wing media. The left needs to adjust accordingly so that we do not inadvertently feed this narrative. We need to diffuse this perception. Some ways to do this is to reach out to these folks, find the common ground, and build trust. If we can prove that we’re not out to get them – that we have the same struggles they do – we might find ways to work together as a community instead of as opposing teams.

Now wouldn’t that be great?

Mitch McConnell, the man who broke America – The Washington Post

By rights, McConnell’s tombstone should say that he presided over the end of the Senate. And I’d add a second line: “He broke America.” No man has done more in recent years to undermine the functioning of U.S. government. His has been the epitome of unprincipled leadership, the triumph of tactics in service of short-term power.

Source: Mitch McConnell, the man who broke America – The Washington Post

FACT CHECK: Could a Case Currently Before the Supreme Court Result in a Stronger Presidential Pardon?

Kavanaugh may overturn a longstanding legal precedent in order to offer Trump pardon power. The case us Gamble v. United States and it may turn into the ultimate power grab by any president.

Kavanaugh mayWhy Would President Trump Be Interested in the Outcome of This Case?

The reason Gamble v. United States is generating buzz from people other than constitutional law scholars is that the separate sovereigns exception also prevents President Trump from pardoning people for state crimes. Under current Supreme Court precedent, a presidential pardon of an individual does not prevent that individual from being prosecuted for the same or similar crimes under state law. “Under the dual sovereignty doctrine,” Adam J. Adler wrote in the Yale Law Review, “as long as two offenses are defined by different jurisdictions, they cannot constitute the ‘same offense.’”The Congressional Research Service issued an August 2018 report on the potential ramifications of the case, and this report included a discussion of its possible effect on the presidential pardon power: The Gamble case may nevertheless have significant collateral legal effects … A win for Gamble could also indirectly strengthen the President’s pardon power, by precluding a state from prosecuting an already-pardoned defendant who has gone to trial on an overlapping offense.

Source: FACT CHECK: Could a Case Currently Before the Supreme Court Result in a Stronger Presidential Pardon?