'They think they are above the law': the firms that own America's voting system

Maryland congressman Jamie Raskin is a newcomer to the cause of reforming America’s vote-counting machines, welcomed through baptism by fire. In 2015, Maryland’s main election system vendor was bought by a parent company with ties to a Russian oligarch. The state’s election officials did not know about the purchase until July 2018, when the FBI notified them of the potential conflict.

The FBI investigated and did not find any evidence of tampering or sharing of voter data. But the incident was a giant red flag as to the potential vulnerabilities of American democracy – especially as many states have outsourced vote-counting to the private sector. After all, the purchase happened while Russian agents were mounting multiple disinformation and cybersecurity campaigns to interfere with America’s 2016 general election.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/22/us-voting-machine-private-companies-voter-registration

America's new voting machines bring new fears of election tampering

By design, tens of millions of votes are cast across America on machines that cannot be audited, where the votes cannot be verified, and there is no meaningful paper trail to catch problems – such as a major error or a hack.

For almost 17 years, states and counties around the country have conducted elections on machines that have been repeatedly shown to be vulnerable to hacking, errors and breakdowns, and that leave behind no proof that the votes counted actually match the votes that were cast.

Now, in a climate of fear and suspicion over attacks to America’s voting system sparked by Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections, states and counties across the country are working to replace these outdated machines with new ones. The goal is to make the 2020 elections secure.

“There’s a lot of work to do before 2020 but I think there’s definitely opportunities to make sure that the reported outcomes are correct in 2020,” said Marian Schneider, president of the election integrity watchdog Verified Voting. “I think that people are focusing on it in a way that has never happened before. It’s thanks to the Russians.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/22/us-voting-machines-paper-ballots-2020-hacking

Media Ignoring Persecution of Christians

Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama used the term “Easter worshippers” in their tweets about the Sri Lankan church bombings. Others did as well. It was if they went out of their way to come up with another term for Christians to avoid admitting that Christians had been attacked.

Adding insult to injury, The Washington Post ran with the headline “Sri Lanka church bombings stoke far-right anger in the West.” Tucker Carlson observed: “As if you have to be some kind of Nazi to be upset about church bombings.”

“I do wonder whether on some unconscious level the secular and broadly progressive west thinks that Christianity had it coming” wrote Giles Fraser. The British minister and social commentator observed that progressives “associate Christianity with popes and their armies, with crusades and inquisitions, with antisemitism, British imperialism, Trump supporters and abortion protesters.”

But what’s there to be upset about? “Only” 11 Christians are killed for their faitharound the world — every day.

Persecution Around the World

Will Maule at Faithwire compiled a few examples of Christian persecutions so far in 2019. Most people are unaware of them because the media coverage was so sparse. For example: In Nigeria two weeks ago, “16 Christians were slaughtered after attending a baby dedication service. Tragically, the mother of the child was one of those killed. Authorities expect the Islamic Fulani herdsmen were behind the attack.”

And in Pakistan in February: “A young Christian student, Haroon, was viciously stabbed by his classmates. He suffered grave internal injuries. ‘The attack was so terrible that Haroon’s kidney was cut into two pieces,’ said a local Christian activist.”

Had you heard either story? Seen them covered in any major liberal news source? Neither did I.

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Open Doors USA tracks Christian persecution around the world. If you get your news from the mainstream media, you might not realize how frequent violence against Christian is. Christians are the most persecuted demographic in the world. Every month, on average, 345 Christians are killed for faith-related reasons. Another 105 churches and Christian buildings are burned or attacked. And 219 Christians are detained without trial, arrested, sentenced and imprisoned.

http://www.intellectualconservative.com/media-ignoring-persecution-of-christians/

>>6376960

Antifa Wimps Out IN D.C. After Being Unmasked

Yesterday was the “Mother of All Rallies” of Trump supporters in the nation’s capital. Of course idiots self identifying as antifa showed up with their faces covered ready to attack the peaceful assembly. The potential attackers however backed down and behaved when D.C. police forced them to uncover their face

https://iotwreport.com/antifa-wimps-out-in-d-c-after-being-unmasked/

>>6377156

Not to worry the FBI/CIA will take it as the gospel truth and start another investigation into Trump and claim is was a legitimate source

>>6377195

AS if that will change anything

Former Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt says Silicon Valley will form 'AI principles' for working with the government

As Google employees fret about becoming engaged in "the business of war," Alphabet board member Eric Schmidt thinks the tech industry will likely form a shared set of "AI-principles" to guide how Silicon Valley works with the Department of Defense.

Schmidt, chairman of the Department of Defense's Innovation Board, spoke before a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. He was responding to a question about how to overcome hesitance from the private sector about working with the department on artificial intelligence projects.

Since Google revealed in March that it had partnered with the DOD to develop AI to analyze and interpret drone videos, more than 3,000 employees signed a letter urging Google CEO Sundar Pichai to pull out of the initiative, called "Project Maven." Although Google publicly said that the project was scoped for "non-offensive purposes," employees worried that once the technology was built, the military could use it to help launch weapons.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/17/eric-schmidt-on-department-of-defense-innovation.html