Global
Technology has bestowed a stunning twist of fate in the arcane world of counting how America votes.
A decade ago, activists railed against private companies who made the computer-driven “black boxes” that tabulated election results. That opacity, to protect their trade secrets, fueled sore losers, conspiracy theories and thwarted journalistic investigations of miscounts or tampering.
But today, the voting machine industry’s newest devices are producing digital images of individual paper ballots, accompanied by devices that mark the ballot or its image, and include audit systems that can trace disputed ballots back to their precincts—by using technology that’s akin to how banks allow smart phones to securely deposit checks.
These newest systems vary—some are better than others. Yet taken together, they suggest technology in on the brink of ushering in a new era of vote counting transparency. This is before winners are certified, not afterward as an academic exercise or audit.
Dear diary, many of my colleagues are unhappy about the recent events in Syria. They are unhappy that Assad is still in power. However, I see the metaphorical glass as being half full. In a recent poll, 58% of Americans support the bombing of Syria and 19% have “no opinion.” This is wonderful news, since it shows how the vast majority of people are easily manipulated and are simply apathetic. In a democracy, the most important but least understood tool is propaganda. Let me share with you the fundamentals of a successful propaganda campaign.
Here are the five rules of public relations a.k.a propaganda:
· Keep the message simple
· Make it emotional
By David Swanson
Of all the various groupings of Democrats raising campaign “contributions” under various banners, the only one that says anything useful about foreign policy is the Justice Democrats, whose platform says they want to close foreign bases, cut military spending, and end wars. It’s very short and vague, but it’s something.
The Justice Democrats’ website endorses 54 candidates and links to their websites. One is a candidate for governor, so let’s call it 53 candidates for Congress. They all supposedly support the platform of the Justice Democrats.
This year, Marvel Studios marks the 10th anniversary of the release of its first movie, Iron Man, and it does so with a movie that would have seemed like a crazy dream back then: Avengers: Infinity War, in which too many heroes to list fight a big guy with a giant purple chin and bejeweled golden glove and actually make it seem not totally ridiculous. Filmmaking has come so far that one of the biggest, gaudiest comic events of the early 90s can be adapted for the screen into a massive, critically-acclaimed blockbuster.
The question in the title of this week’s column was the title of the Duluth News-Tribune’s Opinion Page PRO/CON feature that was published yesterday, April 30, 2018.
The Boston Red Sox have finally decided to atone for two of the most racist, self-destructive snubs in sports history. Like so many other bigoted decisions, the team – and the town – paid a fearsome price.
And it did NOT come from the infamous “Curse of the Bambino.”
That one happened in 1920, when my dad was a two-year-old living in the shadow of Fenway Park. It was about money, not race.
That year the shady Bosox owner sold the great Babe Ruth to the hated Yankees for $125,000. He used the cash to fund a musical.
Soon Ruth led New York to more championships than we can bear to count. We wouldn’t win again until 2004, a “Cursed” wait of 86 years.
But selling the Bambino was NOT the dumbest thing the club ever did.
Just after World War II, the team shunned not one but TWO players as great as Ruth. And it happened not just from stupidity, but also from explicitly stated racism.
The two passed-over African Americans both went to New York, one to the Dodgers, the other to the Giants. Their names are hard for a Sox fan to say, but here they are: Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays.
By David Swanson
When peace shows its face, and weapons companies’ stocks plummet, we have to do more than just cheer. We have to avoid misunderstanding where peace comes from. We have to recognize the forces that want to destroy it. We have to work to make it last and expand.
By David Swanson
Suzy Hansen’s book Notes on a Foreign Country is the diary of someone going through the process of gaining the world by losing their religion, the religion of U.S. Exceptionalism. She begins as an ordinary U.S. resident, not believing anything that you would find unusual, but assuming all the certifiably insane things you assume are not even questionable:
False Flag is a concept that goes back centuries. It was considered to be a legitimate ploy by the Greeks and Romans, where a military force would pretend to be friendly to get close to an enemy before dropping the pretense and raising its banners to reveal its own affiliation just before launching an attack. In the sea battles of the eighteenth century among Spain, France and Britain hoisting an enemy flag instead of one’s own to confuse the opponent was considered to be a legitimate ruse de guerre, but it was only “honorable” if one reverted to one’s own flag before engaging in combat.