Open Thread For September 12, 2017
Report: Trump Lawyers Wanted Kushner Out. Every time he talks to King Cheeto or anyone in the WH, he increases the potential legal liability for those he talked to.
Rethugs Want To Criminalize Exposure Of Criminal Activity By Private Companies. Would it shock you if you learned that one of the companies is owned by the Koch Brothers, and that the Arkansas legislature jumped to their defense?
Russia Used Facebook To Organize Anti-Immigrant Protests In US. I admit I had no idea just how extensive their meddling in the election was. The FBI knew about so much of this, yet kept the lid on.
How Slimy Legal Tricks Tip The Scales Of Corporate Justice. Must-reading for every member of the Court Of Chancery. That Chuck Cooper guy has been a pox on America for decades. BTW, Jeff Sessions has retained him as counsel concerning Sessions’ role in the Russian collusion investigation.
Hillary: ‘Don’t Blame Me’. This review sums up why I think she lost. Some operative quotes:
But by and large, Clinton’s efforts to understand populism always get short-circuited, probably because taking it seriously might lead one to conclude that working people have a legitimate beef with her and the Democratic party.
Countless inconvenient items get deleted from her history. She only writes about trade, for example, in the most general terms; Nafta and the TPP never. Her husband’s program of bank deregulation is photoshopped out. The names Goldman Sachs and Walmart never come up…
…Hillary Clinton simply cannot escape her satisfied white-collar worldview – compulsively listing people’s academic credentials, hobnobbing with officers from Facebook and Google, and telling readers how she went to Davos in 1998 to announce her philosophy.
More R’s Head For Exits. Michigan US Rep. Dave Trott to retire after two terms. Was maybe facing right-wing challenge. Swing district.
The Legacy Of Sex-Positive Stores. ‘Good vibrations’ a triumph of feminism. Will Amazon rule this world as well?
What do you want to talk about?
Yeah, I had to be shamed by people in here to vote Clinton. Other than being competent, she really had little appeal, vision or any inspiring characteristics other than being the first woman. At least the orange sociopath had a slogan that idiots could parrot. The Russians helped her lose but she lost to a crude know nothing psychopathic carnival barker. I would be embarrassed.
The integrity of our state’s elections are highly suspect. I just forwarded this article to our Commissioner of Elections, Elaine Manlove. If you get a chance please email her and let her know that you think it’s time for Delaware to do exactly what these other locations have done to restore the integrity to our electoral process. Thanks, Jim
Verified Voting
Safeguarding Elections In The Digital Age
BREAKING: Virginia Board of Elections Votes to Remove All Paperless Voting Machines
Here’s some exciting news to start off your weekend: The Board of Elections in Virginia, one of just 13 states that still uses paperless voting machines, just UNANIMOUSLY voted to decertify ALL of the state’s paperless voting machines! This is a huge step forward and hopefully the start of a trend to secure elections in the wake of 2016’s chaos.
Verified Voting President Barbara Simons said:
“Virginia’s move to decertify all of its paperless voting machines is a critical step toward securing its elections and acknowledging that post-2016, we’re living in a brave new world where election interference from hostile foreign attackers is no longer theoretical. We all need to step up our game to secure our elections and restore voter faith that their votes will be counted as cast.”
Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines (typically touch-screen) without paper ballot back-up have been the source of controversy for years because of their unreliability in providing accurate election results. In 2011, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) found that any system that does not provide a voter-verified paper record of voter intent will be susceptible to undetectable errors in the vote count.[1] Put simply, it is impossible to know for sure that the vote tallies generated from DRE voting machines are correct.
The decision is a significant victory, but we still have a lot of work ahead.
Unfortunately, five states still exclusively use DREs with no paper ballot back-up—including New Jersey, where voters will choose a new Governor this November, and Georgia, where issues with the state’s outdated machines flared in the 6th District Special Election earlier this year. Eight additional states use a mix of paper ballots and paperless DREs, including Pennsylvania, where roughly 80 percent of voters use obsolete and insecure paperless machines.
Tonight, let’s raise a toast to the Commonwealth of Virginia! Then let’s get back to work to ensure that ALL states have secure elections. Thanks for all you do!
[1] Report of the Auditability Working Group, Jan. 14, 2011, U.S. Election Assistance Commission.