October 1, 2020 |
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Security experts on Monday testified in support of Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein, who is spearheading a by-hand election recount initiative in Wisconsin.
Unless a judge rules in her favor, the state will likely allow its 72 counties to decide whether they want to conduct the process manually or by machine. On Monday, a group of academics and other specialists agreed with Stein’s argument that an automated recount would risk an incorrect tally. President-elect Donald Trump won Wisconsin 47.9 percent to Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s 46.9 percent—a margin of just over 22,000 votes.
A manual count would be the only way to ensure that there had been no hacking, the experts said.
“It is not possible to determine with certainty the absence of malicious software hiding within what might appear to be many thousands of lines of legitimate software code,” Poorvi Vora, a professor at George Washington University, wrote in an affidavit (pdf) on Monday.
In another affidavit, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor Ronald Rivest quoted (pdf) the famous proverb, “Trust, but verify.”
“We have learned the hard way that almost any computer system can be broken into by a sufficiently determined, skillful, and persistent adversary,” he said.
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And professor Philip Stark of the University of California at Berkeley noted (pdf) that Wisconsin should not rule out simple software problems with the ballot scanning machines.
“The amount of error required to alter the outcome can easily be less than the error that an optical scan system makes in inferring and tabulating voter intent from the ballots or other paper record,” he wrote. “For instance, the software may miss a light or incomplete mark, interpreting it as an undervote, whereas a human being inspecting the paper record would see the voter’s intent clearly.”
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“To determine whether the reported winner actually won requires verifying the results as accurately as possible, which in turn requires manually examining the underlying paper records,” he said.
Stein is also pushing for election recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania. Although the deadline to request a per-precinct recount reportedly passed on November 21, Stein’s campaign sued Pennsylvania on Monday to initiate a statewide recount. The campaign will also request a manual recount in Michigan on Wednesday, the last day to do so. Michigan certified Trump as its winner on Monday.
By Monday, Stein had raised nearly $7 million for the effort—although she tweeted on Tuesday that Wisconsin would charge $3.5 million for a recount, “an outrageous increase from the initial estimate of $1.1M.”
“Americans deserve a voting system we can trust,” Stein said. “After a presidential election tarnished by the use of outdated and unreliable machines and accusations of irregularities and hacks, people of all political persuasions are asking if our election results are reliable. We must recount the votes so we can build trust in our election system. We need to verify the vote in this and every election so that Americans of all parties can be sure we have a fair, secure, and accurate voting system.”
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Buried amid the outcry over the white-nationalist beliefs of Steve Bannon, President-elect Donald Trump’s selection for chief strategist, is the scale of his global ambitions as sources close to the Brietbart News chairman predict he will use his influence to craft a foreign policy that includes “aggressive military action” and bolstering international far-right leaders, beginning with France’s Marine Le Pen.
Speaking with sources close to Bannon, The Hill reported Tuesday that he is expected to “be an influential adviser to Trump in the international arena.”
“Bannon admires right-wing nationalists and hard-line illegal immigration opponents in Europe and elsewhere,” The Hill reports. “He wants to work more closely with them and sees them as part of a worldwide movement to overthrow the ‘globalists,’ according to multiple sources familiar with his thinking.”
In fact, Breitbart is planning to open offices in France and Germany specifically in preparation for upcoming elections in those countries, Breitbart editor Andrew Marlow told the New York Times.
A source “familiar with the website’s internal dynamics” told The Hill that the new Paris bureau, “will campaign aggressively” on behalf of Le Pen, leader of France’s far-right National Front party.
Meanwhile, Bannon’s strong opposition to Chancellor Angela Merkel will be a source of inspiration for the German branch. According to a “source familiar with Breitbart’s internal dynamics,” Breitbart Berlin will focus “on the Islamic refugee crisis that Merkel created.”
Former Breitbart writer Ben Shapiro minced no words Monday when he declared: “Bannon has goals.”
One of those goals, he wrote, is “maximization of personal power,” which in large part will be used to “target enemies.”
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“But more importantly,” Shapiro said, “Bannon’s interested in turning the Republican Party into a far-right European party.”
Citing the Daily Beast report that Bannon has reached out to Le Pen to form a “global ultra-right coalition,” Shapiro notes that “[o]ver the weekend Le Pen met with Nigel Farage of the U.K. Independent Party. And Trump met with Farage shortly after being elected.”
“Bannon has always wanted to burn down the GOP. That’s still his goal. He wants it replaced with an American National Front party in fact if not in name,” Shapiro wrote.
Bannon is also expected to focus “on an America-first foreign policy, taking care of America’s interests in whatever negotiation the country is engaged in,” one source told The Hill, which added:
Meanwhile, Bannon’s appointment has roiled everyone from national civil rights groups, progressive Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and the New York Times editorial board, to mainstream conservatives—including Glenn Beck.
“One of the most dangerous trends in America today is the blurring of lines between fact and fiction, between propaganda and news. Bannon has stood at the vanguard of that pernicious trend and he found his vehicle in Donald Trump,” Frida Ghitis, world affairs columnist for The Miami Herald, wrote Monday.
“We can expect that the White House itself will become the source of disinformation, of lies and distortion, backed by propaganda sites such as Breitbart and others posing as news organizations, trying to shape the narrative of what Americans receive as news,” Ghitis continued, “trying to create a new reality to suit their political ends.”
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Marking the divestment movement’s “undeniable success,” a new report shows the value of funds controlled by individuals and institutions who have vowed to dump their fossil fuels assets now surpasses $5 trillion.
350.org co-founder Bill McKibben said the “news is mammoth.”
The report (pdf) by Arabella Advisors for the Divest-Invest Network shows that the value of global funds making the commitment—now at about $5.2 trillion—has doubled in size since September 2015, and comes from 688 institutions and over 58,000 individuals spanning 76 countries.
It comes exactly one year after the adoption of the landmark Paris climate accord, and that agreement, the report says, “bolstered the economic arguments underpinning divestment, validating it as a key tool for achieving the agreements goals.”
Pointing to the election of climate science-denier Donald Trump, the report adds: “Any setback to official U.S. climate policy elevates the importance of divestment as an organizing and financial tool to speed the clean energy transition. Absent effective federal policy to curb emissions, advocates and investors can use their assets and their voice to continue pushing the energy sector beyond fossil fuels.”
Outgoing United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the findings, stating that “it’s clear the transition to a clean energy future is inevitable, beneficial, and well underway, and that investors have a key role to play.”
May Boeve, 350.org executive director, declared: “In the face of intensifying climate impacts, and regressive and anti-climate governments like the Trump administration, it’s more critical than ever that our institutions—especially at the local level—step up to break free from fossil fuel companies.”
The growing calls to divest, already underscored by the threats of a “carbon bubble,” come as what may likely be the hottest year on record draws to a close.
The new report also comes as the American Museum of Natural History in New York City tells (pdf) climate campaigners it too has joined other science and natural history museums in cutting ties with the polluting industry. “We hope we can achieve our collective goal of global sustainability while maximizing the resources each of our institutions brings to bear on this vital issue,” Daniel Stoddard, the museum’s chief investment officer, wrote.
Beka Economopoulos of The Natural History Museum, a mobile and pop-up museum calling for climate action, said she hopes the development “encourages other science museums to stand up for science and cut ties to fossil fuels.”
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A newly unearthed memo revealed Tuesday at The Intercept bolsters the case against former Goldman Sachs partner Steven Mnuchin, the “foreclosure king” who is Donald Trump’s choice to lead the U.S. Treasury Department.
The 2013 document, penned by top prosecutors in the California attorney general’s office and obtained by The Intercept, suggests that when Mnuchin was CEO from 2009 to 2015, OneWest Bank “repeatedly broke California’s foreclosure laws” and then hamstrung an investigation into its practices. From backdating foreclosure notices of default to making unlawful credit bids at foreclosure sales, investigators “uncovered evidence suggestive of widespread misconduct” by OneWest during Mnuchin’s tenure.
Mnuchin “was already facing challenges in his upcoming Senate confirmation hearings on account of his bank’s ruthless foreclosure practices, ranging from locking out one homeowner during a Minneapolis blizzard to foreclosing on another over a 27-cent payment shortfall,” writes journalist David Dayen.
But “[t]he consistent violations of California foreclosure processes outlined in the memo would indicate that Mnuchin’s bank didn’t merely act callously, but did so with blatant disregard for the law,” he continues.
What’s more, Dayen’s probe found that OneWest “also obstructed the investigation by ordering third parties to refuse to comply with state subpoenas.” Despite prosecutors’ recommendation, Attorney General Kamala Harris’s office never prosecuted the case against OneWest.
Grassroots activist organization Rootstrikers said the revelations “paint a damning picture of Mnuchin’s time as CEO” of OneWest—warranting a delay of his confirmation hearing until he:
- makes full and public disclosures about his role in obstructing investigations into wrongdoing by his companies,
- makes a full and public accounting of the settlements and lawsuits OneWest has been subject to for illegal behavior, and
- gives a full response to all questions submitted by Finance Committee members.
“The documents made public today bolster the already strong case that Mnuchin’s bank was an egregious actor during the foreclosure crisis, flouting both the law and common decency in the rush to kick Americans out of their homes,” said Kurt Walters, campaign director at Rootstrikers.
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and the American people deserve a full explanation of these serious charges of fraud,” added Paulina Gonzalez, executive director of the San Francisco-based California Reinvestment Coalition. “Mr. Mnuchin and OneWest Bank need to turn over all of the evidence they previously obstructed so that their banking regulators can conduct a thorough investigation into these serious charges prior to any hearings about Mr. Mnuchin serving as our next Treasury Secretary. If Mr. Mnuchin’s bank wasn’t engaged in illegal behavior, why did they try and obstruct the attorney general’s staff?”
Dayen spoke to Democracy Now! on Wednesday about his investigation:
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Meanwhile, on Wednesday, national progressive advocacy group Allied Progress launched two six-figure network and cable television ad buys in Arizona and Nevada calling on Senators Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.) to reject Mnuchin’s nomination.
“Donald Trump promised he would hire the best to serve in his administration, but instead he’s picked a former Goldman Sachs executive who made millions when his own bank foreclosed on the family homes of thousands of hard-working Americans,” said Allied Progress executive director Karl Frisch.
“Arizona and Nevada were hit particularly hard by the foreclosure crisis that Steven Mnuchin and his Wall Street buddies helped to create—and profited from. Senators Flake and Heller have a simple choice: will they stand with Mnuchin and Goldman Sachs or with their constituents who were brutalized by Wall Street greed during the Great Recession?”
Watch the ad below:
Senate Democrats have also set up a website for OneWest foreclosure victims to share their stories of being impacted by Mnuchin.
Mnuchin’s spokeswoman Tara Bradshaw said Tuesday that Mnuchin will not answer questions—several related to his time as head of OneWest—posed last month by Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee.
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