Email Insights: ALGOP to hold rallies for Donald Trump
The Alabama Republican Party is planning three Trump rallies across the state.
Bernie Sanders distances himself from group backing his WH run
Sanders’ tax-exempt nonprofit functions much like a super PAC.
Michael Bloomberg outlines plans for cleaner buildings, cars
Bloomberg’s plan outlines how he would cut down pollution from cars and trucks.
Elizabeth Warren makes debate case: Democratic woman can beat Donald Trump
Her argument came after she accused Bernie Sanders of saying a woman couldn’t be elected President.
Bernie Sanders didn’t think woman could win Presidency, Elizabeth Warren says
The statement drew a swift and strong denial from Bernie Sanders.
Cory Booker ends presidential bid after polling, money struggles
Booker’s campaign struggled from the beginning.
2020 Democratic race is wide open in Iowa as caucuses near
Iowa has a solid record of backing the ultimate Democratic nominee.
Facebook Refuses to Ban Political Ads, Even False Ones
The decision follows action by Google and Twitter to restrict or ban political ads on their respective social media platforms.
2020 Election Year to Feature Bitter Fights, Mudslinging
Democrats are taking aim at Donald Trump
Rio2016, Election2016, PokemonGo top global Twitter trends
The Rio Olympics, the American presidential election and Pokemon Go were the top global trends on Twitter in 2016. The social media site says Rio2016 was the most tweeted-about topic around the world, followed by Election2016 and PokemonGo. Euro2016, Oscars, Brexit, Trump and BlackLivesMatter also made the top 10. A Spanish gamer known as elrubius originated the year’s most popular tweet: It reads “Limonada” (lemonade) and was retweeted more than 1.3 million times. One Direction’s Harry Styles had the second most-repeated post — quoting a Taylor Swift song — with more than 700,000 retweets. A postelection tweet from Hillary Clinton encouraging little girls to recognize their power and seize opportunities was the third most popular of the year with 634,560 retweets. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Steven Kurlander: Redefining a political hack: The dangerous obsolescence of the electoral process
Stealing elections, even presidential ones, is an American political tradition dating back to the beginning of our nation. Think about those hanging chads in Florida, or Mayor Daley stuffing the ballot box in Chicago for JFK. But stuffing the ballot box is about to be taken to a new level in the race for the White House — not by Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, but by the Russian government. Our electoral process has failed to keep up and adapt to tremendous technological changes in the last half-century that impact the exchange, storage, and security of voter information and the election process itself. Our political system is not only broken by being obsolete and inefficient, but extremely vulnerable to hacking and disruption to the point where the integrity of the elections can be greatly impacted. “Cybersecurity experts have long warned that computerized voting systems are vulnerable to hacking, and what once seemed like wild prognostication is increasingly coming true,” writes Elias Groll of Foreign Policy. As the presidential election continues, the Russians are penetrating these vulnerabilities to influence who wins the Oval Office by hacking their way into the American political system, some say to swing the election for Donald Trump. The Washington Post termed the hacking campaign by Russia as “a broad covert Russian operation in the United States to sow public distrust in the upcoming presidential election and in U.S. political institutions.” The most obvious example so far this election cycle was the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and the release of emails by WikiLeaks showing a bias by DNC officials for Hillary Clinton, which impacted the Democratic convention and the Democratic Party itself. In addition, the FBI issued an alert in mid-August after the Arizona and Illinois voter databases were hacked by what is again to be believed Russian operatives. Disinformation, whether planted by a foreign government or a political adversary, is nothing new to politics, particularly when it can be identified as such by our security apparatus. All those WikiLeaks about the DNC did was embarrass Democratic officials for a day and get Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz fired as chairwoman, which was going to happen anyway. But if the Russians can hack into a Democratic or Republican Party database — or, even worse, the registration lists of various states — how can’t you believe that Putin could not compromise the tabulation of votes on Election Day to swing the election to Trump? In this presidential race, most Americans have already decided who they are not voting for. So they won’t be fooled by the Russians, or anyone else, looking to sway their votes one way or the other or discourage their participation in the electoral process. They are already very displeased with their politicians, and with the choice of Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton too. Now we must question whether their votes will really count, or be counted accurately. There’s really no assurance these vulnerabilities are being adequately addressed and that Americans can be confident the final tabulations of the 2016 election will be accurate and correct. Hacking is not simply a matter of simple voter fraud in the traditional sense that should be considered just another aspect of an American election. It’s about a Russian political hack, not American voters, deciding who is our next American president. ___ Steven Kurlander blogs at Kurly’s Kommentary. He is a communications strategist and an attorney in Monticello, New York, writes for Florida Politics and is a former columnist for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He can be emailed at kurly@stevenkurlander.com.
