Politics

70+ Election Deniers in Key Roles in County Election Boards

There are many true believers working as county election officials who have denied that Biden won in 2020 and are poised to refrain from certifying the elections this fall.

“At least 70 pro–Donald Trump election denialists are working as election officials in key swing states, according to a report published Monday from Rolling Stone and the right-wing extremism research newsletter American Doom.

“Officials who had promoted election conspiracy theories were identified in at least 16 counties in six swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

“These individuals were identified through scouring coverage of refusals to certify 2020 election results and other denialist behavior, as well as sifting through the social media profiles of election officials in these states.

“Across these swing states, Trump loyalists stand ready to disrupt the results of democratically held elections—at least 22 of them have already refused or delayed certification in recent years, indicating likely chaos in November.”

Source: https://newrepublic.com/post/184340/trump-election-deniers-power-swing-states

Interview with the author: https://youtu.be/cojKYPWoUyE?si=ApUDdMHsGu9M6KvN

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2024-08-01

Information Literacy / Politics

Russia Still Spreading Disinformation about 2024 Election

“The Kremlin is turning to unwitting Americans and commercial public relations firms in Russia to spread disinformation about the U.S. presidential race, top intelligence officials said Monday, detailing the latest efforts by America’s adversaries to shape public opinion ahead of the 2024 election.

“Groups linked to the Kremlin are increasingly using private public relations firms or unwitting social media users to spread their false claims as a way to hide their tracks.

“The warning comes after a tumultuous few weeks in U.S. politics that have forced Russia, Iran and China to revise some of the details of their propaganda playbook. What hasn’t changed, intelligence officials said, is the determination of these nations to seed the internet with false and incendiary claims about American democracy to undermine faith in the election.

“The American public should know that content that they read online — especially on social media — could be foreign propaganda, even if it appears to be coming from fellow Americans or originating in the United States,” said an official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under rules set by the office of the director.”

Source: https://apnews.com/article/russia-trump-biden-harris-china-election-disinformation-54d7e44de370f016e87ab7df33fd11c8

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2024-07-30

Language / Politics / Society

First Name or Last Name?

I’ve been noticing that people tend to refer to Kamala Harris as “Kamala” but use other politicians’ last names. It made me wonder if this was a kind of discrimination, not showing the same respect for her as for the men, or maybe it was an attempt to make her seem more relatable or approachable.

In video clips I’ve seen, people in the crowd behind her when she’s giving a speech have signs that say KAMALA and the crowd has chanted her first name. If they’re printing up signs, that’s pretty intentional.

Below is a link to an interview on NPR this week that discusses this very phenomenon. Here are a couple quotes from the interview:

“Strategically, politicians often try to seem relatable, which a first name can help achieve. And at the same time, they try to present themselves as leadership figures of authority, which a last name can help achieve.”

“I do actually think it is a sign of disrespect in an environment where you have multiple candidates, and you’re referring to one by her first name and then all of the men by their last name. You are making her the exception and not giving her that very small piece of respect that we give people in positions of power.”

“I do think that this election provides an environment where this might be more positive than negative for Harris. And that’s because we’re looking at an election where almost all the major issues are domestic policy issues. These are things that voters might actually think women are going to be better at handling.”

Source: https://www.npr.org/2024/07/24/nx-s1-5049773/powerful-women-tend-to-be-called-by-their-first-name-its-not-an-accident

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2024-07-27

Politics

Obama Endorses Harris

Contrary to news from the NY Post, Obama has indeed endorsed Kamala Harris for president. So has the entire Democratic party. And even some Republicans who are brave enough to oppose Trump.

During the first 24 hours of Harris’s campaign, she raised $126 million! A record! And what’s more informative is that 896,000 of those donors were making their first donations during this election. That means they weren’t giving anything when it was Biden vs Trump, but when Harris became the candidate, they were motivated to give and get involved.

Trump posted yesterday that Obama thinks that “Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump.” He is so full of excrement! And that was the reason he put forward as to why he wouldn’t schedule a debate for Harris. He’s actually just afraid.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/26/politics/barack-michelle-obama-kamala-harris-endorsement/index.html

Source: https://apnews.com/video/2024-united-states-presidential-election-barack-obama-michelle-obama-joe-biden-government-appointments-and-nominations-c3e863d0b27e455a9e3cd9427a6d677e

Source: https://youtu.be/EDD3mJcfb5g?si=6qlWuZD_D8sqnbm5

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2024-07-26

Information Literacy / Politics / Society

Most Reliable News Sources

As we move closer and closer to the election, we will be hearing tons of conflicting, biased, and even false stories. It is important to get your news from an unbiased, reliable source.

Using the rating system of Media Bias / Fact Check, I have created a list of the 13 least-biased news sources that have been given a Very High rating for factual reporting.

“These sources have minimal bias and use very few loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes). The reporting is factual and usually sourced. These are the most credible media sources, and they use proper sourcing and have a clean fact check record.”

There are many that have a High rating for factual reporting, but I kept this list to the Very High.

Source: https://www.listobsession.com/news-sources/

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2024-07-25

Politics

Kamala Harris Leads Polls

These surveys don’t mean much at this point in time — only the vote matters — and they say there is a 3-point margin of error. But it’s a swing of 4 percent toward Harris in just a week or so.

“Vice President Kamala Harris opened up a marginal two-percentage-point lead over Republican Donald Trump after President Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign and passed the torch to her, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

“That compares with a marginal two-point deficit Biden faced against Trump in last week’s poll before his Sunday exit from the race.

“The new poll, conducted on Monday and Tuesday, followed both the Republican National Convention where Trump on Thursday formally accepted the nomination and Biden’s announcement on Sunday he was leaving the race and endorsing Harris.

“Harris, whose campaign says she has secured the Democratic nomination, led Trump 44% to 42% in the national poll, a difference within the 3-percentage-point margin of error.

“Harris and Trump were tied at 44% in a July 15-16 poll, and Trump led by one percentage point in a July 1-2 poll, both within the same margin of error.

“While nationwide surveys give important signals of American support for political candidates, a handful of competitive states typically tilt the balance in the U.S. Electoral College, which ultimately decides who wins a presidential election.”

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/harris-leads-trump-44-42-us-presidential-race-reutersipsos-poll-finds-2024-07-23/

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2024-07-24

Politics / Society

North Korea Continues Sending Trash Balloons to South Korea

“Trash carried by at least one North Korean balloon fell on the South Korean presidential compound on Wednesday, raising worries about the security of key South Korean facilities during North Korean provocations.

“The rubbish that landed on the presidential compound in central Seoul contained no dangerous material and no one was hurt, South Korea’s presidential security service said. While North Korea likely lacks sophisticated technology to drop balloons on specific targets, some experts say South Korea should shoot down incoming North Korean balloons next time to protect major facilities because they might contain hazardous substances in the future.

“North Korea’s latest balloon launches came days after South Korea boosted its broadcasts of K-pop songs and propaganda messages across the two countries’ heavily armed border. Their tit-for-tat Cold War-style campaigns are inflaming tensions, with the rivals threatening stronger steps and warning of grave consequences.”

Source: https://apnews.com/article/north-korea-trash-balloons-south-22b2eb516f7fa5670a3c6c27f25d3182

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2024-07-24

Economy / Politics / Society

Biden-Harris Record

For the record, the Biden-Harris administration has added 16 million jobs, including 800,000 manufacturing jobs, overseen the lowest unemployment rate in half a century, presided over the strongest economy on Earth, and brought the murder rate down 25%!

Legislatively, the comparison between Harris and Trump cannot be greater. Trump’s only legislative accomplishment was a tax cut for millionaires and billionaires. That’s it. Biden and Harris’s legislative accomplishments include the American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act, the PACT Act (expanding health care and benefits for veterans), the CHIPS Act, the Infrastructure Law, the Gun Safety Law, reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act (which Trump allowed to lapse), codifying marriage equality into federal law. They have also prohibited junk fees at banks, capped insulin and inhalers at $35, and ensured that airlines automatically reimburse passengers for canceled flights. All of these help regular Americans, not just the wealthy.

Sources are linked below, using Wikipedia rather than government websites to help ensure objectivity.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Rescue_Plan_Act_of_2021

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honoring_our_PACT_Act_of_2022

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHIPS_and_Science_Act

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure_Investment_and_Jobs_Act

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipartisan_Safer_Communities_Act

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_Against_Women_Act#Reauthorizations

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_for_Marriage_Act

Source: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/916

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Business/trumps-economic-legacy/story?id=74760051

Source: https://www.propublica.org/article/secret-irs-files-reveal-how-much-the-ultrawealthy-gained-by-shaping-trumps-big-beautiful-tax-cut

Source: https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/the-2017-trump-tax-law-was-skewed-to-the-rich-expensive-and-failed-to-deliver

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2024-07-23

Politics / Society

World Leaders React to Biden Leaving the Race

“Messages of gratitude and support for US President Joe Biden poured in following his stunning announcement Sunday that he is exiting the 2024 presidential race and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the next Democratic nominee.

“It was the second seismic moment in US politics in just over a week, following the assassination attempt against former president Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally on July 13, which saw global leaders rally around him as the Republican nominee.

“Pressure had mounted on Biden to pull out of the race since his disastrous performance at the CNN presidential debate last month, and on Sunday, he confirmed he would remain a one-term president, prompting a flood of tributes from US allies who thanked him for his leadership.”

See the link below to view the many statements by world leaders. The list was too long to include in the text of this post, so it is linked here:

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/22/world/world-reaction-biden-exit-2024-us-presidential-race/index.html

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2024-07-22

Politics

Biden Drops Out of Presidential Race

This is an interesting new development. It’s no longer a referendum on someone’s age, but more about policies.

President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race for the White House on Sunday, ending his bid for reelection.

He has endorsed current Vice President Kamala Harris and encouraged his party to unite behind her. And it totally changes the dynamic of the election.

I wonder who will get the eventual nomination. Probably Harris, since she is the current VP and has been endorsed by Biden. I’d guess any other potential candidates will fall in line this late in the campaign.

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”

Source: https://apnews.com/article/biden-drops-out-2024-election-ddffde72838370032bdcff946cfc2ce6

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2024-07-21