US intelligence community: No evidence of any foreign country undermining mail-in voting

Casting doubts on suggestions by President Trump and Attorney General William Barr, the U.S. intelligence community said it is not aware of any evidence that a foreign adversary is trying to undermine the mail-in voting process. Less than 70 days before Election Day, a senior official with the FBI and another senior official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the intelligence community’s 17 agencies, said during an election threat briefing call that there is not currently any evidence of a mail-in voter fraud effort being carried out by any foreign adversary. However, the two agencies warned that the broader threat of foreign election interference remains ever-present. “We have no information or intelligence that any nation-state actor is engaging in any sort of activity to undermine any part of the mail-in votes or ballots,” the senior ODNI official said Wednesday when asked about the concern. Barr told New York Times Magazine on June 1 that “in terms of foreign influence, there are a number of foreign countries that could easily make counterfeit ballots, put names on them, send them in — and it’d be very hard to sort out what’s happening.” He followed up on that by telling Fox News on June 21 that “right now, a foreign country could print up tens of thousands of counterfeit ballots, and be very hard for us to detect which was the right and which was the wrong ballot. So, I think it can upset and undercut the confidence in the integrity of our elections.”

When pressed in a July 28 hearing by House Judiciary Democrats on whether he had evidence that foreign countries could successfully sway an election with fraudulent ballots, Barr replied, “No, but I have common sense.” Barr was repeatedly cut off as he attempted to expound upon the issue. Trump himself has echoed these sentiments, including in a June 22 all-caps tweet. “RIGGED 2020 ELECTION: MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WILL BE PRINTED BY FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AND OTHERS. IT WILL BE THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES!” he said in the online missive. During a June 23 speech in front of the right-wing student activist group Turning Point USA, Trump asked: “Will they be counterfeited by groups inside our nation? Will they be counterfeited maybe by the millions by foreign powers who don’t want to see Trump win because nobody has been tougher on trade or making our country great again?” A senior FBI official said Wednesday that “we are fully aware that COVID-19 and the expectation of the increased mail-in ballots has created a new environment for this election cycle; however, we have not seen, to date, a coordinated national voter fraud effort during a major election.” The FBI official argued that “it would be extraordinarily difficult to change a federal election outcome through this type of fraud alone, given the range of processes that would need to be affected or compromised by an adversary at the local level.” But the official stressed that “that doesn’t minimize our commitment to investigate those incidents" and said that "election crimes coordinators" nationwide train to be ready for any sort of voter fraud they might encounter.

It would likely be difficult for a foreign adversary to create, print, mail, and have counted large numbers of fraudulent ballots for a number of reasons, given the very decentralized nature of the U.S. election system, with 50 states, Washington, D.C., territories, and thousands of localities with different ballots. The differing ballots often use different designs and paper and generally employ bar codes or other tracking that would be difficult to recreate. It would also likely be a challenge for a foreign adversary to match the unique ballot to the proper person in a voter database, although Russian hackers have shown interest in probing voter files.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/us-intelligence-community-no-evidence-of-any-foreign-country-undermining-mail-in-vote

'Divisive' Trump gets Republicans to paper over differences

President Trump is not often thought of as a uniter, but he is the common thread that ties together disparate speakers at the Republican National Convention. Republicans with widely divergent views on how the party should move forward are bound together in loyalty to Trump and try to present their arguments in ways that appeal to the president’s most loyal supporters. But those differences are sure to take on renewed importance as 2024 approaches, whether Trump wins or loses this November. “I’m supporting President Trump because he believes as I do that a strong America cannot fight endless wars,” Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, said in his Tuesday convention speech. “We must not continue to leave our blood and treasure in Middle East quagmires. “President Trump is the first president in a generation to seek to end war rather than start one. He intends to end the war in Afghanistan,” Paul continued. “He is bringing our men and women home.” Speaking later, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lauded the more hawkish elements of Trump’s record. “When Iran threatened, the president approved a strike that killed Iranian terrorist Qasem Soleimani, the man responsible for the murder and maiming of hundreds of American soldiers and thousands of Christians across the Middle East,” Pompeo said. He later added, “The president exited the U.S. from the disastrous nuclear deal with Iran and squeezed the ayatollah, Hezbollah, and Hamas.”

Both Republicans framed the policies they championed as consistent with Trump’s “America First” doctrine. “You will all recall that when the president took office, radical Islamic terrorists had beheaded Americans and ISIS controlled a territory the size of Great Britain,” Pompeo said. “Today, because of the president’s determination and leadership, the ISIS caliphate is wiped out, its evil leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, is dead, and our brave soldiers are on their way home.” Note the emphasis on the troops coming home. Paul had voted against confirming Pompeo for director of the CIA. The Kentucky lawmaker was originally going to do the same when Pompeo was tapped for secretary of state, but Trump prevailed on Paul to cast the deciding vote in favor of the nominee. Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican and Trump ally who is considered more hawkish, is scheduled to speak on Thursday night, when the president delivers his own formal acceptance speech. Both Donald Trump Jr. and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz spoke of ending “endless wars” in their Monday convention speeches. All of the above Republicans are considered possible 2024 candidates.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/divisive-trump-gets-republicans-to-paper-over-differences

>>10430873

It appears that's the way they are trying to make it sound.. however, John Ratcliffe states there is: “China poses a greater national security threat to the U.S. than any other nation — economically, militarily and technologically” — and “that includes threats of election influence and interference.” The whole thing sound very contradictory. Thinking the issue is on both sides foreign and domestic.

>>10430981

It's looking like it needs a change..

Appeals court grants transgender student access to men's restroom, citing Gorsuch decision

A United States appeals court on Wednesday cited June's landmark Supreme Court decision on gay and transgender issues in a decision finding that a transgender male student was discriminated against by not being allowed to use the men's restroom. In a 2-1 decision, the Richmond, Virginia, court stated that Gavin Grimm, a student who sued a Virginia school board in 2015, was the victim of "a special kind of discrimination against a child that he will no doubt carry with him for life." Judge Henry Floyd wrote in the court's majority opinion that in light of the June Supreme Court decision Bostock v. Clayton County, which found that gay and transgender people are protected by nondiscrimination employment laws, the court had "little difficulty in holding that a bathroom policy precluding Grimm from using the boys restrooms discriminated against him." Floyd added that although Bostock "expressly" excluded a discussion of how bathroom cases should be decided, the basic principles of nondiscrimination were the same. The landmark Supreme Court case, Floyd said, deals with Title VII employment laws in the Civil Rights Act, and he said that Justice Neil Gorsuch's reasoning in the majority opinion, that rules regarding gender identity is discrimination "on the basis sex," could easily be used to interpret Title IX, which prevents sexual discrimination in schools. "Grimm was treated worse than students with whom he was similarly situated because he alone could not use the restroom corresponding with his gender," Floyd wrote. "Unlike the other boys, he had to use either the girls restroom or a single-stall option. In that sense, he was treated worse than similarly situated students."

In a dissent, Judge Paul Niemeyer said that the decision ran contrary to commonly held biological definitions of sex. The American Civil Liberties Union, the legal nonprofit organization representing Grimm, celebrated the decision as an expansion and affirmation of Bostock, a case in which the ACLU was also involved. "Transgender students belong in our schools," senior staff attorney Josh Block said. "The court once again ruled that school’s obligation to create an environment that is safe and welcoming for all students includes transgender students." Grimm's case has been the subject of a long legal battle. It was set to be heard before the Supreme Court in 2017 but was sent back to lower courts after President Trump rescinded Obama-era requirements on transgender bathroom access. The case has the potential to be appealed back to the Supreme Court. After the Bostock decision was delivered, many social conservatives feared that the legal thinking behind it would inevitably be extended to cover Title IX. A collection of schools led by the Catholic University of America and Brigham Young University filed an amicus brief before Bostock was decided. The schools expressed fears that a decision in favor of transgender rights could imperil their ability to operate according to their religious beliefs.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/appeals-court-grants-transgender-student-access-to-mens-restroom-citing-gorsuch-decision

>>10431050

Wound vac's need to have a daily change..they heal from the deepest portion of the wound until it's completely closed. They usually don't look like the one in the image if working properly the blood that you see in that image would be in a bag not on his arm. What would usually be seen is not red at all but rather just the flesh and plasma in the bandaged portion, which the body produces naturally when these are used.

>>10431156

Not disagreeing with you but going on an experience, at the time I didn't know this existed, the individual I was taking care of had theirs look just like the image..unbeknownst to me, the wound should not have had all of that blood..during this stage, a visiting nurse came out everyday until the problems were resolved which was for a period of by memory 2 wks in the end to get to the point you are speaking of. The nursing team had to find different equipment to heal the wound. In all this individual was on a wound vac for at least 2 months.

>>10431227

Forgot to mention the problem was that the bandage necessary for these machines was not working for this individuals skin as the bandage would not stay sealed. A lot of work went into find one that would.