Trump fires cybersecurity boss Chris Krebs for doing his job: Securing the election and telling the truth about it President Donald Trump tonight fired the boss of the US government's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the very organisation his administration formed with the aim of shoring up America's computer networks from hackers. Director Christopher Krebs was “terminated” by a presidential tweet, on grounds that …
Forgive me, but even though I am now 60 and retired, I do so want that Snow Patrol hoodie, you know, the one with the snow flake on the front. Do you think they do them in Donald Trump Sr.'s size?
<Sorry, I realise this is a serious matter, but I need something to chuckle about before the world ends.>
<Does el reg need an actual 'Snowflake' icon?>
Lindsey Graham goes to the Georgia Republican Secretary of State and tries to get him to toss out legally cast mail in ballots for whole districts using the excuse of some signatures not matching sufficiently well.
We know this because the Georgia Republican found it abhorrent enough to push back against it. He's already checked those ballots and they are real, and legally cast.
How many times did Lindsey Graham do that to Republican Secretaries of state and they didn't push back, they simply did it?
How many legally cast ballots have Republican secretaries of state tossed on behalf of Lindsey Graham to rig their votes for Republicans?
How many Republican Secretaries of State failed to call the FBI on Lindsey Graham and his election rigging scheme?
How many Republicans "won" their seats by his voter suppression trick?
You see Trump, now blaiming the voting machines. Voting machines that overwhelmingly voted for Trump! It's projection, he's tell you he didn't rig the election enough and he wants a do-over. The next time the voting machines will massively, 98.5% vote for Trump. It's all projection with this lot, if they're screaming voter fraud, they're confessing to voter fraud.
Voter fraud so blatant that even Republican Secretaries of State couldn't stomach it.
Well at least one of them couldn't!
only where he lost, because this PROVES, beyond ANY. DOUBT. fraud was involved! :D
but remember, OVER 70 MILLION people voted for this man in 2020. Some were not very clever as they genuinely believed Trump would be there for them (cause he said so, so it must be true), some were social media addicts, who take at face value whatever they read (more like: see) on fb and they see what they're shown, and they're shown...well. But there was, I presume, a large, large number of voters, who were not necessarily dim, but who thought: I don't give a fuck that he's a lying sob and a crook, etc, etc, this is how you do it or you get it done to you by others. I was already stuffed four years ago, and yeah, not much has changed, but if I vote Biden, then I'm more likely to be fucked than under Trump.
Trump is not a cause, he's the result, and I blame, as usual, social media, but the real reason, I think, is global economy. Ultimately, on an individual level, it boils down to two things: you get cheap(er) shiny-shiny (applause) but you lose a job (boo, oops). But here's no real, mas-solution, because 99% of those that lost their jobs simply won't be able to re-train / requalify (and definitely not fast) to get a new one, reasonably well-paid, other than the shitty zero-hour uber this or that which makes you, practically, a slave with no chance to improve your life. So, perhaps Trump is a face of mass desperation, when people see no future, and even 4 years of Trump promises-promises it looked better than "commie" Biden (they say so on social media, so it must be true, etc, etc.)
I followed the link and it said:
"Dean Browning, a former commissioner in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, confused Twitter users on Tuesday when he replied to his own tweet claiming to be a gay Black man who voted for Trump. In reality, Browning is a white man who describes himself as a “proud pro-life & pro-2A Christian conservative,” as his Twitter photo and bio clearly illustrate. "
RE: "Trump is not a cause, he's the result, and I blame, as usual, social media, but the real reason, I think, is global economy. Ultimately, on an individual level, it boils down to two things: you get cheap(er) shiny-shiny (applause) but you lose a job (boo, oops)."
I think the problem is simple. We want to pay the least possible for a given product or service, but also need the jobs producing that product or offering that service in your country. Moving those jobs back to your county involves higher costs for the supplier, which likely means higher costs for the consumer.
The other part of the problem is greed. We have an increasing number of people that now own more money than they could spend even if they had a very luxurious lifestyle, and spent the rest of their life just buying luxuries without earning extra.
We are in a position where we have individual companies setting up their own space programmes because they see a vague need, and have the spare cash to do so (thinking of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk here), and we have one sector of society where there are teenagers posting photos and videos of their latest supercars and other luxuries (just because they can) when a far larger sector is having to rely on food banks and the generosity of others so they can eat.
It won't happen, but I'd like to see a fairer society. Where people may pay a little more, but that extra money results in jobs not being outsourced to other countries, and everyone gets a fair day's pay for a fair day's work, and we don't end up with 1% of the population owning a large chunk of the world's wealth.
I don't like him, but it seems to me in England that Trump has pulled a blinder of a sales job (not so much now, but earlier). He persuaded the poorer Americans he was fighting for them while actually helping the 1% more. Hell of a misdirection trick, that.
We can look to history to see what happens when the two ends of the economy grow too far apart. It usually ends with those at the top having heads separated from bodies, or some other equally grisly end.
They could easily avoid that by paying more taxes, or in too many cases start paying taxes. And maybe not be too quick to offshore making their widgets just to make an extra 2% profit.
however, with current technical needs, those few with resource, are kept well aware of the situation "down below", and they will remove themselves to a safety of their N. Zealand home, before their bodies get separated from their heads. Some won't beat the fork crowd, but generally, if you have that much money, you're well covered for any serious risk, be it a revolution, or a pandemic.
"I don't like him, but it seems to me in England that Trump has pulled a blinder of a sales job (not so much now, but earlier). He persuaded the poorer Americans he was fighting for them while actually helping the 1% more. Hell of a misdirection trick, that."
True but not just Trump. The social democratic 'Third Way' comes to mind.
I'd like to see a world where the standard of living in the "other countries" levels up such that there is not enough to gain by outsourcing production to those places or any other.
That way you can have trade and all the benefits that brings without workers either losing jobs or getting exploited.
But that needs a level of education of the populace and honesty and expertise from the people in power that I don't see happening anytime soon.
"How many Republicans "won" their seats by his voter suppression trick?"
If anything, that really ought to trigger an independent recount in all Republican held areas, just to verify that the votes are real and not, you know, blatantly manipulated by somebody making false claims to cast doubt.
As a British Citizen I cannot believe that each state, and sometimes county/city can decide how to hold elections. Why would you do that? So one state decides to enforce draconian rules and try to disenfranchise voters, another one is prepared to let people actually vote?
How does this make sense. About as much as each state (I think) being able to redefine the boundries any way they want to maximise their own parties vote. This is called gerrmanering! and should be categorically illegal.
Boundries should be decided by an INDEPENDANT body and NOT by party politics.
All states should follow the same set of rules for holding an election. Otherwise, surprise, surprise you end up with chaos.
Right. It's a portmanteau of Elbridge Gerry's1 last name and "salamander" for the convoluted shape of the district created in Boston by the bill that Gerry signed.
In the US, anti-gerrymandering measures are controversial (because they threaten entrenched interests), but Iowa, at least, was able to institute some.
1Gerry, of Marblehead, Massachusetts,2 was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and subsequently Governor of Massachusetts, where he reluctantly3 allowed the practice which now bears his name. (Gerry was also Vice President under Madison.)
2AKA "the yachting capital of the world", "the home of the Spirit of '76", "birthplace of the American Navy", etc. Marblehead has never been shy about self-promotion.
3According to Wikipedia. I don't recall anything about his feelings on the matter coming up when we studied Gerry or gerrymandering in school, and I'm not going to dig out primary sources at the moment.
Then the executive branch - i.e. the Trump administration - would have been running it. What are the chances we'd see Trump win less than 80% of the vote in an election his appointed cronies are responsible for operating? You don't think Putin really wins as much of the vote as his "elections" show, do you?
Having states run their own elections is the biggest protection against fraud, because even if you can rig the election in a single state, that's not enough to seize power. Yes, the varying rules and regulations are kind of mind numbing, and maybe some national standards around things like "do absentee ballots postmarked on or before election day count if they arrive after election day" would be a good thing.
Regardless, I for one am glad elections are operated the way we are, or Trump would have "won" the election along with enough republicans in the legislature and the states to remove the two term limit in the constitution, and anything else in the constitution that got in his way of becoming a dictator.
Or they could have an independent, non-partisan organization that handles elections. The would decide on locations and number of polling stations, set uniform voting rules and most importantly decide on the redistricting without taking into account which kind of voters live where.
But that will never happen. Without gaming the system republicans would never win again.
The average partisan person equates "non partisan" with "the other side". Iowa has a non partisan commission that draws districts instead of allowing political gerrymandering like many states. The republican majority in the legislature was talking about trying to change that last year, because they think putting a political party in charge would have a more "fair" outcome.
Iowa also had a very good system for selecting Supreme Court judges that insured experienced and well qualified judges would be selected. They changed that recently so that their party has the majority say because they're still sore about the Iowa Supreme Court making it the second state to allow gay marriage back in 2008, so Iowa will eventually have a hyper partisan court the way Mitch McConnell would like to see the US Supreme Court.
There's corruption everywhere you look.
>I cannot believe that each state, and sometimes county/city can decide how to hold elections. Why would you do that?
Because the states wanted "sovereignty" - they saw the danger of throwing out a British monarch for an emperor. Imagine if the Whitehouse was directly in charge of the election
>Boundries should be decided by an INDEPENDANT body and NOT by party politics.
Ideally, but at this point where the Center for Disease control is a political football - who do you get to do it, the Canadians ?
Yep, even though he's a conservative republican who doesn't match Biden's politics I think he would be a great choice to continue in that role, since he obviously takes his constitutional oath to put country before party to heart. If only enough other republicans would do so, Trump would have been a lot less dangerous.
I think he had 2 "education" secretary DeVos and Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and old Betsy has been a complete disaster.
While lining the pockets of her supporters and refusing to follow court orders to ease the debt, of students who were cheated by the "For Profit" schools like Trump U.
For part of the 17th century the Bedlam Hospital (Roughly London lunatic asylum) allowed and encouraged the public to come and look at the patients. It was one way to raise funds. That sort of thing is terribly frowned upon nowadays... But I have no qualms about buffoons in power being mercilessly mocked. Let's not hurt harmless lunatics but the 'Napoleons of the 21st century' should be jeered into oblivion.
Puppet not lunatic.
Look at the other things he's doing while he's distracting with his attack on US democracy: Ordering a frantic pullout of troops in Afghanistan & Iraq before January 20th.
So he clearly understands that he won't be President by then, otherwise he wouldn't be in such a rush.
The people he sacked and replaced in the Department of Defense to get this done. Their early sacking means he knew he would lose at the point he did those changes to the Defense Department. He knew he would be frantically pulling troops even then.
So he might sound delusional about the election loss, but his actions indicated deception, not delusion.
Why puppet?
You can see the pushback from Senate Republicans, which means it wasn't his Republican colleagues idea, it was his Russian colleagues idea.
Imagine Russian with nukes in the middle east threatening Saudi Arabia (Trump unilaterally cancelled a nuke deployment treaty + withdrew and handed over Syria to Putin, now Iraq is going the same way, and Iran is being bombed to drive it to Putin).
The much delayed TAPI pipeline, delayed by Taliban attacks, Putin has his Taliban agreement, with America gone, he controls the pipeline. He controls Asian oil exports too.
He has part of the Baku pipleline via the South Ossetia invasion, he can take the rest of Georgia (the country) quite easily in the remaining Trump time-space.
Hello Petro-Ruble.
Petro-dollar, taught in Economics class now as the primary asset that the dollar is leveraged off. A few years time it will be taught in History class as the primary reason for the demise of the US.
United States will still be a world leader, but in landscaping. You want a new golf course designed for an Oligarch? Call "Trumps-Total-Landscaping"!
No petro-dollar, no dollar printing press. Putin gets it all. All very predictable.
With respects to your point about Oil and withdrawing from the middle east, it misses some key points.
The west has (courtesy of the dash for gas and hydralic fracturing) pivoted away from a dependance on middle east oil:-
https://www.statista.com/statistics/381963/crude-oil-and-natural-gas-import-origin-countries-to-united-kingdom-uk/
The US imports a bit more (6% of total) from Saudi Arabia, compared to the UK, but this pales compared to China importing 44.8% of their oil from the middle east. From a western point of view, while we once needed to prop up certain regeimes and keep the peace to ensure safe oil supplies to keep our economy (and society) operational this is no longer required, or even in our interests. We are now in a geopolitical situation where we may as well just withdraw from the middle east as to be frank chaos in the middle east would largely cause problems for China, not us.
As to the petrodollar going? Not sure that's going to be honest. Saudi Arabia is almost certainly going to keep it to retain influence with the US as a counterbalance to Iran and China. Even if they don't, the US has just become a LNG gas exporter so it will probably just become known as the gasdollar instead.
"Right, he will resign, and President Pence will absolve him of all wrong doing, including Trump's mafia and Rudy G. Everybody will walk away scot free..."
It's traditional. As are many, many Presidential Pardons signed off by outgoing Presidents for their "friends". On the other hand, Trump is REALLY pissing off Biden at the moment. I could quite easily see Biden "forgetting", or issuing a Pardon with deliberate errors leaving loopholes or legally invalidating it.
I think there are a lot of renewable energy companies that would argue with you about the US being owned by petro dollars. Wind farms are growing like weeds in the center of the US, and HVDC lines are being built to service areas without wind power. Nevada is making a killing off solar power sold to California; any place that has arid land unfit for farming, that has desert like weather will be a solar gold mine. In fact California weather makes it an ideal solar generator, if they stack enough of them on roofs and over parking lots. Energy storage solutions are growing rapidly too, using several techniques mostly from gravity; like pumped storage, and rail weights.
It needed 7 international coalitions to bring him down, and his last major defeat was when he was greatly outnumbered. May Grouchy have come instead of Blücher...
69 victories, 8 defeats, 2 draws, few generals can claim such a record, knowing that many of his victories were the direct consequences of his orders, like during the Siege of Toulon, Austerlitz or Friedland. Strategically he made many mistakes, but tactically he was a real genius.
You do the orange haired fucktard to much service by comparing him to Napoleon. Despite greatly underestimating the British, and failing to take heed of the weather - old Bonepart is well regarded as one of histories great Generals alongside Alexander and Mr Caesar.
Trump and his boneheaded "family" will be long forgotten before any of those are.
He needs to stay in power as well. When he leaves power it seems very likely he's going to end up in gaol, as will many of his family. I think Biden would be well-advised not to pursue him legally too much as it will simply further widen divisions and no-one needs that, but there will be plenty and plenty of other people coming after him.
My wife and I have a small bet that Melania will file for divorce on the day he leaves power so she can get whatever she is then owed before all his money evaporates, and also that there is some kind of prenup which grants her more money so long as she stays with him while he is in office. Well, not a bet, we both think this.
Trump is simply deluded. He never loses. When anything ever goes wrong, he always finds a scapegoat to blame for it. That's how he has operated for years.
Problem is, the election sits firmly with him alone. Admitting defeat to Biden is to admit failure - something Trump is mentally incapable of doing. In his warped mind, it isn't possible for him to be a failure, and hence it simply isn't possible for Biden to have beaten him fair and square.
So if Biden didn't win fair and square, the election must be rigged. In Trump's warped mind, that's the only conclusion that makes sense. If you repeat your own warped conspiracy theories enough, even you start to believe them.
I actually don't lay most the blame with Trump here. He's clearly mentally ill and mental illness is no laughing matter. I blame the cronies around him who deep-down are likely well aware that Trump has simply lost. However instead of arranging an intervention to try and persuade him to seek the therapy and treatment that he clearly needs, they're instead actively supporting and validating his delusions.
Yes Hitler crouched in his bunker in 1945 moving divisions that no longer existed and when the truth finally dawned on him his attempts at destroying what was left of Germany.
Luckily there were people around Der Fuehrer with a bit more sense and did all they could to save what they could of the people and the country.
Trump on the other hand is surrounded by sycophants and yes-men and there is no one with the moral fibre to tell him that it is over.
One aspect of Trump and his behaviour echoes another of the Axis dictators. His posturing and pouting have always put me in mind of Mussolini and his appearance on the balcony of the White House after his discharge from hospital was straight out of the Mussolini handbook.
We know that it appears that Trump has a bee in his bonnet with "antifa". Could it be that he takes their actions as being a personal attack on him? Mind you in Trump World everything is about him.
It wouldn't surprise me if Trump's last act in office was to press the big red button.
Fortunately we have nothing to worry about because the CIA gave him a fake nuclear button, which he already pressed a dozen times in his first month in the White House. That's definitely true according to unimpeachable news sources.
I had to explain to somebody just after Trump was elected that the president doesn't actually launch the missiles. Neither did NORAD and there are humans in the launch chain to stop accidental launches or temper tantrums from the president. I then discovered they'd watched White House Down believeing it to be factual.
Actually, the whole system is geared towards executing the launch order as swiftly as possible, since cold war reasoning is behind the current system. In those scenario's, the US would detect a swarm of soviet missiles, meant to decapitate the US leadership, thus making a launch order impossible. So a quick reaction is paramount.
The commander in chief gives the launch order, after a quick conference with advisors about the targets and assets used for the strike. That launch order is validated, but only to check that the person giving the order, is in fact the president. That's it, there is no psychological check of the president, or additional checks along the chain. Once the validation is done, the whole system is geared towards only one task, making sure the order is executed as swiftly as possible. https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/graphics/2016-nuclear-weapon-launch/
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Oh absolutely it's just that the president doesn't have a button he/or she can press to "Launch the missiles". They do have their Sealed Authenticator System Card (AKA the biscuit etc.) that identifies them to the military so that they don't accept just anyone impersonating the great Orange One. Clinton infamously lost his and Reagan was separated from his when the assasination attempt took place. It was in his wallet which the FBI took along with the clothes he was wearing and possesions as evidence.
If it was a Bolt Out Of the Blue attack AKA a BOOB attack then yes the president may have seconds to authorise a launch. If no launch has been detected and everything is normal then I believe from an interview I heard that the National Command Authority (POTUS and SecDef) have to agree to launch. Thankfully this has never been tested in real life and you'd have a defence secretary with a backbone. Mark Esper was removed after he authorised the no fly zone over the President Elect Biden residence in Delaware. El Presidente was very unhappy about somebody at cabinet level legitimising the new president.
The US submarine commanders recieve part of the safe combination (as the bloomberg article states) as part of the launch orders. In the UK it's much less restricted. If both the captain and the first officer decide to launch they can do so, orders or not*. We do have the best submarine command training course in the world known as the Perisher and other countries send their officers on it because it's that good. I know somebody who completed the Perisher and passed. It has a very high failure rate though and is very hard.
*The crew might try to stop them though.
I believe other officials (National Security Advisor, VP, and other senior people) also have a card to authenticate, not just SecDef, the idea being that SecDef will be sitting at the pointy end of an incoming trajectory so others in different locales can also verify (or not, depending on their judgement of NCA's state of mind).
This was gamed out pretty well by Tom Clancy in The Sum of All Fears with Jack Ryan as DDNI refusing to sanction a launch order.
"That's definitely true according to unimpeachable news sources."
.
“He’s currently under the impression that we also nuked France yesterday because he once received unsatisfactory service in a restaurant in Barcelona.
There are a number of things wrong with that sentence but if we start highlighting them then we have to start highlighting all the other stuff too and we really don’t have the time.”
his entire reality will have gone
As will $421m of his assets when his debts are called in, and however many tens of millions he's made while president if the emoluments charges stick. That should kick a hole in his empire.
I expect his tax advisers will find a way to write that off against his next two decades of personal tax, though.
I'm looking forward to the fraud charges playing out in the courts, as I understand it he can be pardoned for federal crimes - assuming he admits guilt, which is another kettle of fish - but not state crimes. With a bit of luck he can do some time, and that should save a chunk of cash on secret service protection for starters.
One theory had him resigning before 20th Jan so Pence could (briefly) take office and offload any pesky federal prosecutions, although surely that pre-supposes charges are brought before then.
I wonder if Biden will pardon him, though, if only to attempt to unite americans a bit. Nixon got pardoned by Ford, after all
Yep. The SDNY District Attorney is just waiting for jan 21st. Then he can file tax evasion charges against Trump inc and also against Donald J Trump.
Rudi "4 seasons total landscaping" Giulaini has been barred from practicing law in DC and is apparently demading $60,000 per day to continue the fight. Before he was doing it Pro-bono. Perhaps even he is starting to realise that it is game over.
The only person we have not heard from recently is the blonde bimbo Kelly, the WH press Secretary. She is pure entertainment every time she opens her mouth.
"Perhaps even he is starting to realise that it is game over."
Or maybe he's finally figured out that doing and saying what he's been doing and saying has trashed his career, his character, and any goodwill people had following his stint as mayor of New York in a particularly challenging time.
I actually don't lay most the blame with Trump here. He's clearly mentally ill and mental illness is no laughing matter. I blame the cronies around him who deep-down are likely well aware that Trump has simply lost. However instead of arranging an intervention to try and persuade him to seek the therapy and treatment that he clearly needs, they're instead actively supporting and validating his delusions.
Ah, politics. The President is insane, long live the new President! Which is rather reminiscent of the old Soviet Politburo days.
But again, surely this is about evidence, and democracy. The US system has checks & balances, so vote, count, object, certify, elect, throw an inaugaration party! But people want to skip a few of these steps. Which seems.. dangerous. What if instead of being deluded, some of the claims are actually correct? After all, collecting and examining evidence takes time, and is harder than simply denying it.
So consider-
https://conservativedailypost.com/nevada-implodes-clark-county-election-tossed-re-election-scheduled/
A special election will be held next month for that single seat as officials acknowledged the discrepancies they uncovered highlighted problems with their current system.
“We have found discrepancies that we can’t explain that would cast a doubt on whether or not that margin of victory is solid,” Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria said referring to the District C race.
And a fresh lawsuit from Nevada Republicans alledging wider problems. And they may have a point, ie if inexplicable discrepancies have affected one ballot, can people be sure they're not systemic? The complaint suggests it does, but that's not proven. There's even an IT angle, ie issues with automatic signature verification used as part of election security. That got turned down to a 40% match from vendor's recommended settings, which seems questionable.
Or
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/pair-charged-with-voter-fraud-allegedly-submitted-thousands-of-fraudulent-applications-on-behalf-of-homeless-people/2464168/
Carlos Antonio De Bourbon Montenegro -- also known as Mark Anthony Gonsalves -- was set to be arraigned Tuesday in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on 18 felony counts of voter fraud, 11 felony counts of procuring a false or forged instrument, two felony counts of perjury and one felony count of conspiracy to commit voter fraud, along with nine misdemeanor counts of interference with a prompt transfer of a completed affidavit, according to the District Attorney's Office.
Where an attempt at voter fraud was caught, and stopped. Or from the Georgia recount, USB sticks have been found with uncounted votes on them. Mostly for Biden, but the thing about 'free and fair' elections is accepting the results, not just simple denial that mistakes have been made, and will no doubt continue to be uncovered.
But such is politics, especially the highly polarised US politics. Much easier to say one candidate is insanse rather than actually investigating and proving claims are baseless, and this really was a 'free and fair' election. But divisions are probably so ingrained that many Americans will refuse to accept evidence of irregularities, or the results.. And the media isn't exactly helping that by being highly partisan.
Sure, there are issues, but as you pointed out they are a) known and being addressed b) localised. In the interest of democracy they should be checked and indeed are being checked.
Trump is perfectly entitled to issue legal challenges, as he has indeed been doing. These have to have a specific focus though. Trump is on Twitter vaguely saying "they cheated, I won", but in the specific cases his allegations of widespread fraud are baseless. Even the Nevada issue you mentioned is a system issue, not fraud.
Trump is on Twitter vaguely saying "they cheated, I won", but in the specific cases his allegations of widespread fraud are baseless. Even the Nevada issue you mentioned is a system issue, not fraud.
But that's not known, and certainly wasn't known the day after the election when allegations were simply denied. At the time, no evidence of fraud, but equally no evidence there wasn't fraud. But subsequently there has been evidence of 'systems issues'. There seems to have been an unfortunately timed Apple update that interfered with iPads. There were some human errors.
The Nevada thing is perhaps more important. So election security relied in part on signature verification for ballots against recorded signatures. System supplier recommended 70-80% match, setting changed to only 40%. Reason for doing so wasn't given, but can be guessed at. So lots of votes to scan & verify, reports of ballots being scanned repeatedly. We're IT types, so can probably guess why, and OCR isn't an exact science.
So it's entirely plausible that it was dialled down to 40% to speed up the process, but of course that comes with problems.. Like the potential of ballots being accepted rather than rejected having invalid signatures, that may or may not have been due to fraud. Procedures would fail because ballots wouldn't be manually checked because the machine 'verified' them. A recount wouldn't catch invalid votes as that just counts ballots, not rechecks security.
But basically altering the sensitivity goes directly against best practice advice from the US Election Commission-
https://www.eac.gov/sites/default/files/electionofficials/vbm/Signature_Verification_Cure_Process.pdf
ASV/Tier 1 Review Using signature verification software can be considered the first tier in the review process. Essentially, the software is looking for the image from the envelope and the image from the voter registration system to be a near-perfect match. Most ASV software can be set at different tolerances, meaning you can vary how precise you want the images to match. Best practice is to not allow much variance between the envelope signature and the voter registration signature during this first tier of review.
So expediancy breeds insecurity. Get a high FMR (False Match Rate) due to <50:50, and fraud becomes easier because the first stage of voter verification is bypassed. Get a high FRR (False Rejection Rate) and more votes need curing, and a higher risk of disenfrachising voters. And a high FMR also means being less likely to be able to detect frauds.
"At the time, no evidence of fraud, but equally no evidence there wasn't fraud. "
I don't recall hearing anyone official claiming there was no evidence of fraud, although, like the claims of fraud, some officials may have been categoric in their statements. These are people used to dealing with politicians and lawyers. All the interviews and statements I saw and heard talked about "no apparent evidence of significant fraud" or words to that effect.
"What if instead of being deluded, some of the claims are actually correct?"
I have no doubt in my mind that some of the claims are correct. In an election of that size, there's always going to be some fraud or rigging attempts and some will be succesful. What I sincerely doubt is that any of the claims of fraud or rigging are anywhere near enough to have swung any of the results.
I think his problem is that he can't handle politics. He still thinks it's like business, and in business you always get another go.
He's treating this election like a takeover bid; if the shareholders turn you down you can always have another go with a bit more money, and/or sue the target to try & reduce the price. He hasn't understood that presidential elections can't be made to work like hostile takeovers.
There hasn't been an independent win since 1845 and he only dumped his party after his first term and did the second as an independent (He also served both terms without a Vice President). Only George Washington has been elected as an independent for a 1st term and that was a special case.
He does not know the meaning of the word "defeat".
Or of grace, honour, charm, humility or actual leadership.
The line of Sir Alan Sugars in the UK Apprentice springs to mind with Trump.
"I don't like schmoozers." Trump does nothing else but schmooze. Preferably with dictators. Bullies only have (grudging) respect for other bullies and Trump is a bully. an amazing collection of human character weaknesses and personality disorders. You have to wonder who was the man his mother f**ked to produce him.
I have dual NZ and UK citizenship. Every time I get depressed by the latest Westminster debacle I remind myself that there are some countries in the world with relatively sane political systems.
Mine's the one with the proportional representation leaflet in the pocket, thanks. Back to the discussion about the Bigliest Orange Cheato.
The process is a lot different. Each state runs their own election, with different rules, but each county within a state is responsible for implementing those rules, and for producing the ballot paper, so you get ~3k differently designed ballot papers. Each ballot paper has all the things being voted on that day, from Presidential vote all the way down to local school board vote - there can be 30 different votes expressed on one ballot paper. This is partly why tabulation takes so long - there are so many things expressed on one sheet.
UK has one body producing ballot papers. If there are multiple things to be voted on in one day, you get multiple ballot papers. Processing the most important, the MP vote, can be done super quickly because there is only one thing to look at. Ballots close at 10pm, and by 4am the next day 80%+ of locations will be declared - 99% by mid morning. Ballots are counted so quickly that even some large constituencies declare within an hour of closing.
No - I think Tom38 has nailed it. First time I voted here I turned to one of the election officials with a 'is this for real?'. After decades of UK voting it was one of the larger culture shocks. Some states are mail-in vote by default. You *can* go to a voting center to vote on the day - this is mainly to accommodate people who have lost/mangled their ballot - but using it to change your mind is also allowed.
Colorado is one such - our results for the main races were announced within a few hours. Much more civilized and much less open to the voter suppression tactics that the mango moron and his cohort like to use. Even screwing over the postal service didn't do them much good as there are many dozens of official places to hand your ballot in. They're even in the damn supermarkets on election day.
Indeed. It's a case of life imitating art imitating life.
I just rewatched the original, i.e. with the legit subtitles -- mostly to see what Hitler says to his Krebs (Hans, Chief of Staff, OKH). It's eerie how apt it is. Replace military positions with electoral counts and judicial rulings, and it all fits. Well, up until the moment Hitler realizes they've lost; we don't know yet whether the scenarios will diverge.
(Oddly, Wikipedia has entries for three people named Krebs, all with first name Hans. This will presumably soon change.)
Because some people just want to be told what to do, and not have to make any decisions for themselves or take any responsibility. And others have got so much money that they know (or think they know, as some Russian oligarchs have discovered) they can carry on making a profit while their money shields them from the worst excesses of the regime.
I think it's very clear what he hopes to achieve. And it makes it look all the more pathetic.
Krebs is a former Microsoft executive, and after reading his comments in more detail elsewhere this morning, deserves a lot of respect for showing real integrity, in contrast with the utterly pathetic creature doing all the firing. Not sure what any member of the Congress hopes to gain by not putting a stop to this madness by firing the loser right now.
Think about how child-like people in position of extreme power act, CEOs, MPs etc.
They have live their lives with eveyone saying 'yes' to them or they have employees to ensure that the answer that comes back is always 'yes'. To not get what they want is a massive slap to a massive ego and they don't like it one bit. Humility is not really a known qualtity in those lofty circles.
Trump got the biggest ego boost ever to be voted in as POTUS. Not only was he handsome, intelligent, rich and famous, he was beloved by the people as well.
Now he's has the biggest slapdown going by being voted out after one term, he's being told he's old, dumb, broke and the majority of voters think he's an ass.
He's a very powerful child who has just had all his toys taken away and he doesn't like it one bit.
At least he can honestly be told he is still famous
"...putting a stop to this madness by firing the loser right now."
As yes, you are thinking of the 25th Amendment to the US constitution. It's a bit late for that now as Trump will be out of office before the process had run its course. Instead we find that the citizens of the United States have done the job themselves and voted him out.
It may be flawed but democracy is the least worst option.
Trump currently reminds me a bit of both Ernest Saunders and General Pinochet after they were 'caught. Saunders (head of dins empire which manipulated the share price for a takeover, contrary to UK law) was caught and could not understand that the law applied to him. He is the only known person to 'recover' from dementia after serving his sentence in a category C prison. Pinochet (ex-dictator of Chile) could not understand why he would rearrested in the UK when visiting his friend, Margaret Thatcher, and charged with crimes against humanity in a Spanish court.
They both suffered what appears to be a nervous breakdown when confronted with the reality of being held responsible for their own actions (any psychiatrists / psychologists please correct me if I'm wrong). Trump is about to experience the same thing.
The idea promoted by the TV commentators is that by claiming the election was stolen, he will give Republican voters a great incentive to vote in the re-run of the Georgia USA Senatorial elections as they were too close (0.5%) according to Georgia's state law. If the Democrats win both seats, then the US Senate will be tied at 50-50, and the VP, Kamala Harris will have the casting vote, giving the Democrat's control of both houses of congress and the Presidency. If the Republicans win only one of the seats, they will control the Senate and can block things, like they did under Obama. No Republican politician is going to do anything drastic against Trump until after the Georgia election re-run.
On the other hand, it means that Trump has to maintain some semblance of sanity until after the re-run elections, as otherwise, starting a major war say, could harm republican prospects, at least until early January 2021.
Believing that fraud had stolen the election and made your vote worthless give you incentive to vote again? If I believed elections were rigged I wouldn't bother voting.
These claims might backfire on republicans in the same way that telling people the coronavirus is "going away" since February did. That denial strategy is probably the reason Trump lost the election, if he'd simply told people wearing masks is the patriotic thing to do instead of turning it into another wedge issue fewer people would have died and the economy would be in better shape today and some of the seniors who abandoned him would have stuck by him.
As usual: Follow The Money.
If he concedes, the various nuisance lawsuits are unlikely to be viewed with favor. No Lawsuits, no fundraising for the lawsuits. IIRC, much of the money raised to pursue the lawsuits is actually going to repay his campaign expenses. That income stream would stop, and he might have to repay his various creditors with his own money, if he has any.
It occurs to me that this gives his creditors a good reason to bang the drum (or rattle the can) as well.
BTW the "We build the wall" scammers who were recently caught apparently had a similar moral compass:
https://nypost.com/2020/11/07/indicted-we-build-the-wall-founder-raising-money-for-legal-fees/
(Note to non-US folks, the New Your Post "has a different viewpoint" than the New York Times or Washington Post. FYI)
"Not sure what any member of the Congress hopes to gain by not putting a stop to this madness by firing the loser right now."
I believe they're terrified of the Republican voters, 70% of whom have bought Trump's lies. As Krebs has discovered, speaking truth to power -- even deranged power -- is a dangerous game.
They -- or McConnell in particular -- are also trying to protect those two Georgia senators who are facing runoff elections. I hope their strategy for protecting those two seats will fail dismally, but even so, they believe they're helping the situation.
Also, Trump is bringing in huge amounts of money. Some of that is being diverted, but presumably not all.
Finally, they're stoking a stabbed-in-the-back legend, which should prove most helpful (to them; frightening to the rest of us) in 2024.
All of which is to say, they have a number of reasons to support Trump's BS, most of them valid from their purely self-interested POV. None of those reasons are remotely honourable, but what's surprising about that, from this disreputable crew?
BTW, in practice it would be hard for Congress to fire Trump at this point, even if they wanted to. The only mechanism for them to do that is impeachment -- and even if that weren't as doomed to failure as the last time around (because see above), as others have posted there doesn't seem to be nearly enough time left. The 25th Amendment can't be done by Congress, but only by Exectuive Branch people, i.e. Trump's tools. So that also has the proverbial snowball's chance of succeeding.
At this late date, I believe that would be a godsend. The damage Pence wants to do can't be done in a month, I don't think -- at least, not with a Democratic House (abortion, gay rights, etc.). And he's not crazy like his boss. I doubt he'd launch an offensive against Iran just for the hell of it, for example; I have no such confidence in Trump.
well trump is a domestic cybersecurity threat to the US. Conspiracy theories, fake misinformation, destruction of civil, judicial institutions, and so on.
It's the perfect thriller story. If he is a foreign plant, these are the symptoms of a successful external operation to take over the presidency of the US. Russia is now on its way to controlling Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq - world energy and mineral rights in many of these countries, through the *direct* actions of the Commander in Chief of the United States. His wives and mistresses are all Eastern European from ex-USSR countries. Some things even KGB cannot train away :D He never speaks ill of Putin.
That's more evidence than the voter fraud stuff, but obviously my deep conspiracy "facts" don't meet the Trump standard (which is known elsewhere as orange tan bullshit).
I think the rest of the world needs to take action to contain this to the united states. This is another kind of possible pandemic emerging.
I thought that Ms. Maples was from the People’s Republic of Kalifornia, (The state flag even has a bear and a red star!) which would make it a leading light of the Worker’s Paradise. Pity, that, it would have been so perfect. As it is, just recall that DJT is a major reason why the US needs immigrants, very few native Americans want the job of being married to him...
There are obviously plus points and minus points to the UK way of doing things over the US way, but the instant transfer of power in the UK along with the civil servants, permanent under-secretaries and infrastructure does at least stop this attempt to scorch the earth before you leave.
I did see that even Mitch McConnell was critical of the decision to brings troops home from Afghanistan, so the tide does seem to be turning within the GOP over what Trump is doing.
I was quite disappointed to find out there is no red button - it is actually a biscuit that allows the President to launch....
That aside, Trump does have overriding authority to request a pre-emptive launch - it would be interesting to know if anyone would follow through with it though. Given that he has lost the election and are in a transition period (even if he is in denial), a retaliation would be no problem but would the chiefs respond as well to a tantrum now?
Mr Krebs had the option of agreeing with Mr Trump, and basically admitting that he had failed at his job of securing the election, or claiming that he did his job properly and contradicting Mr trump publicly. Either way he was not going to do well in the present climate of everything being anyone's fault but Mr Trump's. I ate that Rump and his followers have completely failed to produce any actual evidence of voter fraud anywhere. Yes, there have been some mistakes, but nothing of the scale that Trump claims or which would actually change the result of the election.
Remember when the US used to go to war to bring 'democracy' to those countries under a dictatorship? They must now be looking how well the style of democracy the USA wants the world to have and laugh.
If all this were happening in another country where the president were refusing to acknowledge the result of an election, leaders of countries all over the world would be calling for them to step down and bow to the will of the people.
That the white house 2050 will offer visitors...
Trump's fingernail scratches across the floor as they dragged him out the oval office, his official "as worn on the day" restraints and spit hood and the black unmarked van they drove him to the nuthouse in.
I kind-of want Matt Groening to bring Futurama back just so we can see Trump's head in a jar in the "Closet of Presidential Has-beens"[*]. Bonus points if he gets roundly laughed at by the head of Richard Nixon.
(even by Republican standards, Nixon was an utter cunt but I think the Tangerine Fucktrumpet has him beaten on pretty much every level)
[*] - yes, I know there's that episode of The Simpsons where he unwittingly predicts the aftermath of a Trump presidency, but nothing beats heads in jars.
If the White House staff are clever, this should not be necessary.
The idea would be to lock the Office on the eve of Biden's inauguration (assuming Trump vacates it, of course) and post five big Marines (carrying handcuffs) outside every entrance.
Only if Trump does not vacate the Oval Office the day before Biden is inaugurated should he be forcibly ejected.
>The Trump madness goes on, but will disappear like a fart in Sahara.
So you don't think that 4years of 70million armed 'patriots' being told that they won but were cheated and now have a new hero, who is careful to keep the military on side, is likely to be a problem?
It might get him an offer for the same position in the Biden administration. We obviously didn't have any cybersecurity issues during the election, despite republicans doing everything they could to limit funding for securing elections, so I'd say he did a pretty good job. He obviously takes his oath seriously and feels his allegiance is to the country not to his party or his president.
I don't know if Biden has someone in mind for that job, but if he doesn't I think it would be a great idea to bring Krebs back if he's willing.
Is the concern with the Dominion Voting machines not unlike the issues the Post Office and Fujitsu had with the Horizon platform?
This link explains how easy it is to tamper with the devices: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKcPoCNW8AA&t=1s
As far as I know we don't yet use any such machines in the UK - but I would be worried if we did.
The concern with Dominion voting machines is no different from the concern over the Diebold and ES&S machines in 2004, who had a big republican donor CEO who promised "to deliver the state of Ohio for George W. Bush".
I didn't see any of the republicans complaining now claiming that maybe Bush had stolen the 2004 election - which was a lot closer than this one and OHIO ALONE provided Bush's victory margin!
So, his department protected the US election (as they were created to). He pointed that out (as he should) but because he going against what the President preached (which is arguably wrong) ,he is fired? And they say Trump is not a Narcissist?
Hopefully, one result of this whole debacle is that it will be recorded in History that the Republicans tried massively to fix the Election for Trump (from what I have seen, there is likely some evidence for this), and he still lost.
Well it just shows how f***ed up US elections are when trumpy can 'win' the presidents job even though his opponent had 3 million more votes, and that Biden has just about scraped it home with 5 miilion+ more votes than trumpy.
But then to sort things out would be changing the constitution and you'd get all the 'you cant change the constitution" types out of the woodwork, spouting on about how they're ready to use their 2 admendment rights to stop changes to the constitution while being unaware that the 2nd admendment IS a change to the constitution......
Anyways.. so long as the adults have taken away trumpy's big red button, its time for the popcorn and see what he does next...
I mean we went from in 2016 having the Democrats shouting from every rooftop that the election had been hacked to, in 2020, having them* declare that the electoral process is absolutely secure and free from any sort of influence.
Have improvements in cybersecurity and the like improved so hugely in just four years? Did the Russians sleep in?
It does seem a little weird, doesn't it?
*and the agencies whose reputations are on the line for this
Well, Republican "Chad Wolf" said the following, so maybe the Democrats are just following what the Republicans say?
“We have no indications that a foreign actor has succeeded in compromising or affecting the actual votes cast in this election,” announced Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf on Nov. 3.
No one was saying the election in 2016 was "hacked". They were saying that Russia had "interfered" as far as being the ones who hacked Hillary's email and gave it to Wikileaks.
The Mueller report clearly established that was the case, and indicted a dozen or so Russians who were responsible (who will never be extradited, of course) Mueller couldn't find enough evidence to establish whether Trump's campaign coordinated directly with Russia (there's circumstantial evidence but no smoking gun) or just with Wikipedia (that has been proven, Roger Stone was the go between)
Now there is plenty of evidence the Russians TRIED to hack our elections in 2016, and they penetrated systems in multiple states. Whether they couldn't actually affect the results or could but were afraid of the US response if caught isn't known. They (as well as other countries) tried to do the same in 2020, but as far as we know we were able to block those attempts this time around because we were better prepared.
I think it's pretty clear that Krebs is not only acting honourably, he's acting in his own self-interest: it's in his self-interest to be fired by Trump. The reason for this is that, given the assumption that Trump will be out of office in January, then he'll either be the person who clearly lied because he placed under political pressure to do so, in which case he will probably never work in the cybersecurity business again, or he'll be the person who did his job properly and then refused to lie that he hadn't even when placed under extreme pressure to do so, in which case he definitely will work again in the industry.
The only way he loses is if Trump does remain in power, but that's not a serious option at this point I think.
....It's only a day a way. Mr. Krebs, please pay attention to your Twitter spelling. That way Mr. Biden will hopefully and justifiably give you a job.
Seriously Chris great to see someone break free from the evil clutches of Trump Inc.
Toodle Pip from your over the pond cousins.
Great! Another website that didn't challenge RUSSIAN COLLUSION narrative for FOUR YEARS. Didn't challenge the LEFT pushing the ILLEGITMATE PRESIDENT narrative.
Fraud can't happen right?
What a joke. Piece out REG. not coming back.
What's the ILLEGITMATE PRESIDENT narrative?
The narrative I've seen is that he's an incompetent buffoon, perpetual liar, narcissist.
But recently I've been seeing posts like this, rewriting history to try and justify the massive fraud claims.
I think most people think it was unfair he won despite losing the popular vote, and that he possibly colludes with foreign powers to try and get dirt on his rivals and influence the vote.
But this narrative you speak of? where is it?
"What a joke. Piece out REG. not coming back."
You've only been signed up for a couple of hours, Troll. So get back under your bridge and stop yer yappin'.
>>Posts by RussianCollusion
>>1 post • joined 18 Nov 2020
This post has been deleted by its author
Technically, according to Trump, he's been "terminated".
In my days writing security policies for customers, I was pedantically insistent on stating that a user's access or account could be suspended, terminated, frozen, deleted, etc., and that if you wanted to do any of the aforementioned to the actual user, you should consider joining the Mafia or MOSSAD.
Welcome to your final exam.
Your final exam is now over.
I'm afraid all of you failed.
Trump is a spineless little sh*t, if he can't summon up the "courage" (an alien word to him) to sack somebody to his face. The guy is a total and utter b*st*rd - no other word for it. Surely someone can't be sacked for doing his job properly? Oh yes he can - in Trumpworld. That man's attitude beggars belief. An inveterate and pathological liar as the most powerful elected official in the world? America - how did you go down THAT rabbit hole?
Trump has one overriding weakness -- he just can't keep his mouth shut. Back in late Spring when the November election landscape became visible he, when pressed, wouldn't say he'd abide by the result of the November election. He also started going on about voter fraud. Starting in the Summer he started lining up legal teams who could dispute results in various states.
All this added up to a very clear message -- Trump was going to seek every and any avenue to remain in power should the election not go his way. Since he started so early, though, he gave everyone ample time to prepare, to tide up procedures and generally make sure that the election was run by the book. (Trumpers will immediately denounce this as a conspiracy against the President but realistically its the President that's making the moves, everyone else is just countering them.) So when election day came and went and the results failed to be the "MASSIVE LANDSLIDE" that Trump desired the campaign to undermine public confidence in the vote started. Unfortunately for Trump everyone was ready for it.
Firing Krebs was a deranged move. But then Krebs failed to the job he was hired to do. He thought that his job was to secure the election when it really was to find credible reasons why the election was rigged agains his boss.
I'm frankly amazed how well it went off.
I had expected school-shooter events at polling places Or Barr's 'special' police squads teargassing lines of black voters. Anything to discourage democrat suburban-mom type voters from turning out.
Followed by a supreme court ruling that states are people and so have freedom of speech to announce who won - irrespective of any votes.
I'm torn between they thought they had enough of a poll lead to win anyway, or they were too disorganised to organise a coup
He has many weaknesses, but that one overrides, and undermines, all the others.
Which is why if nothing else bipartisan happens, Biden and senate republicans need to agree on a slate of new laws to restrict some of Trump's worst abuses by making the DoJ more independent of the president, making it so presidents can't simply refuse to respond to congressional subpoenas, and so on.
We're damn lucky Trump is such an ignoramus, if we'd instead had a president with his overwhelming desire to be a dictator but able to keep his plans secret the world would have lost its biggest democracy to tyranny.
We need to strengthen the laws to codify things that are "norms" and not rely on the voters being smart enough not to vote for someone like that.
Indeed. A worse thought: Trump is out (even though the corpse is still kicking), but the forces he unleashed will be with us for years. Watch for the Repuglicans [sic], in 2024, to find someone just as evil, but more competent.
"... the world would have lost its biggest democracy to tyranny."
And by a huge margin its biggest military power -- truly frightening, that.
Quite right..
To paraphrase the old saying: "People might suspect that you are a lying, immoral, incompetent, immature, small-minded, vindicative, racist, dim-witted, misogynistic, self-serving, mentally ill moron with delusions of adequacy, but why keep opening your mouth and removing all doubt?"
...is that there has been a hell of a lot of fraud in this US election.
So many people want Trump out (for so many good reasons) that if someone saw an opportunity to give Biden a 'nudge in the right direction', I reckon they would do it and tell themselves it was for the good of the US. Getting Trump out probably definitely is for the good of the US, but that doesn't excuse any election fraud.
And as far as "Securing the election and telling the truth about it", we just don't honestly know. We really don't. Just because Chris Krebs (the person responsible) says he did a good job doesn't mean that he did. It is more likely to mean that he didn't, to be honest.
I'm sure Dido "Chaos" Harding tells anyone daft enough to listen what a good job she did at Talk Talk and what a good job she's doing right now with Test and Trace. I'm sure Chris Grayling would tell you that he definitely isn't an incompetent fücktard. Would you believe them? Do you feel comfortable with people like this running the show?
There will be many more revelations about this election over the coming months. Not all of them will be made up.
Ah, this is a new definition of the word "Truth" that I was previously unaware of.
Unless Unless Krebs meant it in a sarcastic or ironic fashion when he said "*most* secure". Quite simply, throwing a whole major election into a hashed-together mess of multiple, unverified systems is like loading alpha-level code on your PRODUCTION servers without having ever run any testing on it. It HAS to be verified regardless of outcome, otherwise Harris and her puppet Biden cannot be considered legitimate dictators.
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