But it’s just the beginning
AARON REGUNBERG in Common Dreams
That’s because criminal law plays a unique
role, not just in our legal system, but in society at large. It is how the
state takes action to protect citizens from harm, promote public safety, and
hold wrongdoers accountable. It’s also how we illustrate what’s right and wrong
and publicly mark that certain acts are simply not acceptable—that they are
condemned by the community at large.
Another Setback for Boeing’s Starliner
By NASA
The Boeing Crew Flight Test was scheduled for May 6, but
that launch was scrubbed due
to a faulty oxygen relief valve. Subsequent issues changed the targeted launch
date to May 17, May 21,
and May 25,
before this current target of no earlier than June 1.
Toxic vaping
By RCSI
.webp)
The research team at RCSI University of Medicine and
Health Sciences, Dublin, used artificial intelligence (AI) to
simulate the effects of heating e-liquid flavor chemicals found in nicotine
vapes. They included all 180 known e-liquid flavor chemicals, predicting the
new compounds formed when these substances are heated within a vaping device
immediately prior to inhalation.
The analysis revealed the formation of many hazardous
chemicals including 127 which are classified as ‘Acute Toxic’, 153 as ‘Health
Hazards’, and 225 as ‘Irritants’. Notably, these included a group of chemicals
called volatile carbonyls (VCs) which are known to pose health risks. Sources
for VCs were predicted to be the most popular fruit, candy, and
dessert-flavored products.
Hopefully, they'll be good years
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
Increases are expected to be largest in countries where
life expectancy is lower, contributing to a convergence of increased life
expectancy across geographies. The trend is largely driven by public health
measures that have prevented and improved survival rates from cardiovascular
diseases, COVID-19, and a range of communicable, maternal, neonatal, and
nutritional diseases (CMNNs).
This study indicates that the ongoing shift in disease
burden to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) -- like cardiovascular diseases,
cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes -- and exposure to
NCD-associated risk factors -- such as obesity, high blood pressure,
non-optimal diet, and smoking -- will have the greatest impact on disease
burden of the next generation.
Summer Outdoor Fun
Companion animals command and deserve your care
 |
| Frida and Joey. Photo by Will Collette |
Then there are the lows, like stressful trips to urgent care, waking up to that unpleasant vomiting noise, or making the difficult choice to say goodbye because of medical problems or even intractable behavioral issues.
For those pet-owners who are struggling, it’s beneficial to their mental health to acknowledge that pets can create stress and that some animals are more work than others.
Research has shown that both cats and dogs can have equally positive impacts on mental health.
Pets may be helpful at reducing stress, anxiety and feelings of being overwhelmed, including in children. Pet ownership has also been shown to improve well-being by instilling people with a sense of purpose and responsibility.
As a licensed clinical social worker, animal lover and proud dog mom, I have both professionally and personally seen the mental health impacts of having animal companions.
Media stories commonly cover the positives of pet ownership. But the hardships and downsides of owning a pet are not discussed as often. For instance, while there are many positive aspects to pet ownership, some research is showing that pets may lead to exacerbated mental health concerns or even sleep issues.
Whether you’re adopting or shopping, pets can bring a full range of emotions into our lives. Research has even shown that pets may benefit non-pet owners around them as well.
No justification
By Frank Carini /
ecoRI News columnist
Doughnuts, retied yellow rope, and
sawed-off signposts mark where dunes and piping plover nests should rest, in
peace. But thoughtless motorists, empowered by commercials that glamorize Jeeps
pulverizing non-pavement space, treat the Quonochontaug Sand Trail, and the
dunes and beach that run parallel with it, as their private racetrack.
The Sand Trail, 15 feet wide at best in some spots, runs along much of Quonochontaug Beach, one of the few remaining undeveloped barrier beaches in Rhode Island. This fragile stretch of sand runs nearly 2 miles between Spray Rock Road to the Breachway in Charlestown.
It
encompasses some 150 acres, which are largely privately owned — the Rhode
Island Department of Environmental Management owns some of the land at the tip
that touches the Charlestown Breachway. It separates Quonochontaug Pond from
the Atlantic Ocean, and is one of the Ocean State’s most beautiful coastal
spots.
For those such as Westerly resident Michael
Sands, “Quonnie Beach,” as the locals call it, is a tranquil coastal oasis
whose ecological and social value easily exceeds its size.
This barrier beach is “a unique and special
place for us all to enjoy,” according to the Nope’s Island Conservation Association (NICA).
Sands is the nonprofit’s president. About 40% of the Quonochontaug coastal area
is owned and protected by NICA. (Nope’s Island is a
small island in Quonochontaug Pond that is home to a stand of trees.)
Oh really?
Acoustical Society of America
Oscar Wilde once said that sarcasm was the lowest form of
wit, but the highest form of intelligence. 
Image credit: This image was created with the assistance of DALL•E 3.
Perhaps that is due to how difficult
it is to use and understand. Sarcasm is notoriously tricky to convey through
text -- even in person, it can be easily misinterpreted. The subtle changes in
tone that convey sarcasm often confuse computer algorithms as well, limiting
virtual assistants and content analysis tools.
Xiyuan Gao, Shekhar Nayak, and Matt Coler of Speech
Technology Lab at the University of Groningen, Campus Fryslân developed a
multimodal algorithm for improved sarcasm detection that examines multiple
aspects of audio recordings for increased accuracy.
What's that smell?
James Urton, UW News
.webp)
Even brief exposure
to nature can help. One well-known study found that hospital patients recovered
faster if their room included a window view of a natural
setting.
Knowing more about nature’s effects on our bodies could not only help our well-being, but could also improve how we care for land, preserve ecosystems and design cities, homes and parks.
Yet studies on the
benefits of contact with nature have typically focused primarily on how seeing
nature affects us. There has been less focus on what the nose knows. That is
something a group of researchers wants to change.
Seth’s record on seniors’ issues is perfect
“Older Americans have worked hard their entire lives, and they deserve to retire and age with dignity,” said Rep. Seth Magaziner. “I am proud to receive a perfect score from the Alliance for Retired Americans, and will continue to stand up for seniors and fight to protect the Social Security and Medicare benefits they have earned. Our country must ensure that those who have worked hard and contributed to our society are supported in their golden years.”
View the full 2023 scorecard HERE.
Senator calls out history of ‘creepy billionaires meddling in the court’
By Walter Einenkel, Daily Kos Staff
"This goes way back. The person
responsible for the appointment of Justice Alito was actually Leonard Leo, the
operative of the Koch brothers and the creepy billionaires who have been
meddling in the court,” Whitehouse explained.
When Justice Sandra Day
O’Connor announced she was retiring in 2005, it
was Leo and his Federalist Society who helped
create a campaign to put Alito on the bench.
Tina Spears bill on workers’ rights passes the House
The
bill now moves to the Senate where Sen. Jacob Bissaillon (D-Dist. 1,
Providence) has introduced companion legislation (2024-S
2282).
“This bill creates a simple mandate that we educate students on worker’s rights, the labor movement and how we came to have the important employment protections we have today,” said Representative Spears (D-Dist. 36, Charlestown, New Shoreham, South Kingstown, Westerly).
“As child labor violations are increasing across
the nation, it is important that we in Rhode Island educate our students on
their rights at a time in their lives where many of them are entering the
workforce for the first time.”
Maybe we'll really start to worry when the list hits 10,000
By NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE
AND TECHNOLOGY
.gif)
“We found as many as 9936 different chemicals in a single
plastic product used as food packaging,” said Martin Wagner, a professor at the
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU’s) Department of Biology.
Wagner has been working with chemicals in plastic
products for several years. He is part of a research group at NTNU that has now
published its findings in the Environmental Science & Technology journal.
PhD candidates Molly McPartland and Sarah Stevens from NTNU are the lead
authors of both studies.
Turning Tech Trash Into Precious Metals
By RIITTA-LEENA INKI, UNIVERSITY
OF HELSINKI
EDITOR'S NOTE: The first step to recovering otherwise wasted precious metals is to collect electronic waste for recycling. Fortunately, Charlestown is home to Indie Cycle LLC. Phyllis Hutnak and her crew have been collecting e-waste all over RI since 2010. In Charlestown, they often do drop-off/pick-ups at the Mini-Super on Old Post Road and have an up-coming collection day this Saturday, June 1 from 9 AM to noon. Check out their website to see the types of material they can handle. - Will Collette .JPG)
Photo by Will Collette
Waste computers and cell phones, solar panels, and other
electronic waste are becoming an important source of noble metals alongside
mining. Researchers at the University of Helsinki have developed sustainable
dissolution methods for noble metals.
The extraction methods currently in use consume a lot of
energy and are detrimental to the environment. The method of roasting is
particularly dangerous for its practitioners and the environment, into which it
releases hazardous chemicals, alike. In developing countries, noble metals are
to this day extracted under crude conditions in landfills.
Even though advanced hydrometallurgical processes are
safer and able to dissolve noble metals, the result is metal mixtures that
require further processing.
Still time for Rhode Island to follow suit
SAM
PIZZIGATI for Inequality.Org
This spring has been an exceedingly good one for
Flightline Aviation Limited, a London-based enterprise that specializes in helping the world’s
deepest pockets find the private jet of their dreams.
“We have closed six sales in the past five weeks,”
Flightline’s Anna Campbell gushed at
London’s most celebrated luxury trade fair earlier this month. “Everyone seems
to want to get a plane for summer.”
Polly Toynbee, a veteran British political columnist,
happened to be at that same trade fair. She watched one gentleman talking with
a salesman about a showcased private plane and then approached that potential
buyer with a question. With so many families struggling to put food on the
table, Toynbee asked, shouldn’t the
U.K.’s richest be paying “a bit more” in taxes?
“Why would I?” the private-jet aficionado replied.
“Look,” he added, waving at the aircraft on sale all
around him, “take any more in tax and the wealthy would be off—away out of here
in one of these!”
Off to a place, that gentleman of means was implying,
smart enough not to inconvenience its richest residents with any sort of robust
tax on income or wealth.
The rich who call the U.K. home have, at the moment,
little reason to start looking for one of those tax-getaway locales. Britain’s
Labour Party, the likely winner in the nation’s next parliamentary elections,
is showing no interest whatsoever in subjecting the U.K.’s richest to any
significant tax hike.
“We have no plans for a wealth tax,” Rachel Reeves, the
Labour Party’s likely choice for finance minister, announced last
summer—and no plans either to put in place a mansion tax or a higher levy on
either capital gains or top tax-bracket income.
“I don’t see the way to prosperity as being through
taxation,” Reeves went on. “I want to grow the economy.”
The British economy is already growing quite nicely—for
the U.K.’s wealthiest. Since 1989, the University of Greenwich economist Ben
Tipper points out, the
nation’s 200 richest residents have seen their wealth—after taking
inflation into account—grow on average by 15% per year.
Throughout human history, adds the U.K.
High Pay Center’s Luke Hildyard, living standards for average households have
only improved when societies have in place mechanisms “to ensure that wealth
doesn’t overwhelmingly flow to the people with all the economic and political
power.”
Given that reality, Hildyard posits in his
just-published Enough: Why it’s Time to Abolish the Super Rich,
modern societies need to both tax the top 1% “more effectively” and get those
wealthy to pay more “to the workers at the companies they run and invest in.”
How best to accomplish all that? Progressives in the
United States—the only U.K. peer nation with less of a tax burden on its
richest—have plenty of ideas on that score. This past week we learned that one
of those ideas is generating some encouraging results.
The back story: In 2022, after seven years of dedicated
volunteer labor, the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition of over 150 community
organizations, faith-based groups, and labor unions had worked onto the
November statewide ballot a constitutional amendment to add what amounted to a
special tax on millionaires to the state constitution.
Plastic, your crown jewels, and family
Wayne State University
The study, “Mixtures of per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances (PFAS) alter sperm methylation and long-term reprogramming of
offspring liver and fat transcriptome,” published recently in Environment International, assessed the effect of PFAS
mixtures on the sperm methylome and transcriptional changes in offspring
metabolic tissues such as in the liver and fat.
What a great question!
Jeffrey Miller, Colorado State University
 |
| One slice is never enough. Radu Bercan/Shutterstock.com |
Why does pizza taste so good? – Annika, age 5, Oneonta, New York
Pizza is one of the world’s most popular foods.
In the U.S., 350 slices are eaten every second, while 40% of Americans eat pizza at least once a week.
There’s a reason why pizza is so popular. Humans are drawn to foods that are fatty and sweet and rich and complex. Pizza has all of these components. Cheese is fatty, meat toppings tend to be rich, and the sauce is sweet.
Pizza toppings are also packed with a compound called glutamate, which can be found in the tomatoes, cheese, pepperoni and sausage. When glutamate hits our tongues, it tells our brains to get excited – and to crave more of it. This compound actually causes our mouths to water in anticipation of the next bite.
Then there are the combinations of ingredients. Cheese and tomato sauce are like a perfect marriage. On their own, they taste pretty good. But according to culinary scientists, they contain flavor compounds that taste even better when eaten together.
Another quality of pizza that makes it so delicious: Its ingredients become brown while cooking in the oven.
Desperate to cave in to bank's extortion
By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current
 |
| Yeah, Dan sez give them the money |
From modest beginnings as High Street Bank in Providence in 1828, to a history-making initial public offering in 2015, Rhode Island’s largest bank has fueled the Ocean State’s reputation and local economy for nearly two centuries.
Which is why a not-so-thinly-veiled threat that the locally headquartered financial powerhouse would pour its attention, and money, outside Rhode Island made hearts race on Smith Hill.
At least, for Gov. Dan McKee. In a May 10 budget memo, McKee proposed overhauling how the state taxes banks, offering the option to replace the longtime “three-factor” tax calculation based on in-state sales, property and payroll with a “single-factor” formula that only considers in-state sales.
The proposal comes a month after Mike Knipper, executive vice president and head of property and procurement for Citizens Financial Group Inc., wrote a letter to lawmakers warning the company “would strongly consider expanding its corporate footprint and employee base outside of Rhode Island because of differing tax treatment among the states.”
But should the state rewrite its tax regulations in an attempt to hold on to a company that has shifted its focus away from local retail branches to national acquisitions? Depends who you ask.
Refusing to fight in unjust wars also counts as greatness
By
Mitchell Zimmerman
 |
| To purchase, CLICK HERE |
But
it takes nothing from those who served in the so-called “good war” — or who were
sacrificed in more recent and more dubious wars — to observe that resisting an
unjust war can also make a generation “great.” Those who were born around the
end of World War II, among whom I number myself, and came of age in the 1960s
did something rare in the annals of nations: we rejected our own country’s “patriotic”
call to fight, kill and die in an unjust war.
Our
generation recognized that the war in Vietnam was a barbaric crusade, a war against
the people of Vietnam, and we declined to join the parade.
Our
generation was not unpatriotic. But we were revolted by the images we saw each
day on television and in the newspapers, visions of burning Vietnamese villages,
children scarred by napalm, and bullet-ridden bodies of babies, small children,
women and old men.
We
came to understand that the excuses for the mass
murder were lies. America was neither defending itself in Vietnam — confirmed
by the fact that communism did not wash over our shores after the war was lost
— nor were we defending freedom or democracy by killing millions of civilians
to preserve a succession of unpopular client regimes in South Vietnam.
My
generation saw the evil of the war, and determined to refuse, avoid, evade or escape
“service” in that war however we could.
By the end of the war, those members of our generation who had not succeeded in avoiding conscription — those in the dissolving U.S. military forces — also organized themselves against the war.
They met in anti-war coffeehouses
near military bases; they published hundreds of GI-written
anti-war newspapers; they led peace demonstrations both in-country and at
military bases in the U.S.; and they were often jailed for refusing to fight.
Their opposition was critical to ending the war.
Many of our generation did participate in a fight for freedom — not with guns or bombs and not overseas, but here in the United States, confronting violent adversaries with peaceful determination in the civil rights movement. Our freedom movement was a struggle for voting rights and human dignity, a fight against racism, segregation and white supremacy.
That nonviolent movement ultimately brought
down the South’s legal apartheid system and revived American democracy. And our
movement triggered a resurgence of the women’s movement and inspired other
movements for social justice.
America needs to acknowledge that different generations are called to greatness in different ways. The critical challenge taken up by today’s younger generations is that of climate change, which threatens the entire human race.
May we live to celebrate
their greatness in a future in which we have avoided the worst effects of climate
change and have equitably protected those most likely to be victims of catastrophic
global heating!
As
we pay homage to the sacrifices of those who fought with guns, let us not glorify
war itself nor see greatness most of all in violent, military approaches to the
problems within and among nations. The generations of Americans who strove for
justice through peaceful means are as worthy of memorialization and honor as the
greatest of warriors.
Mitchell Zimmerman
Los Angeles Review of Books on my novel: "Gripping and harrowing . . . Mississippi Reckoning punches the reader in the guts with intersecting stories of terrible violence arising from the sickness of white supremacy."
Pulitzer Prize winning historian Eric Foner: “Rooted in history, this riveting novel strikingly illuminates our tortured racial past—and its legacy in the present.” Kirkus: "Riveting." Ark Dem-Gazette: "Powerful."
Will common sense or gun nuts prevail?
By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current
“This is a big deal, this will save lives,” Tony Morettini, a volunteer for Moms Demand Action Rhode Island, said after the vote.
The amended legislation sponsored by Rep. Justine Caldwell of East Greenwich and Sen. Pamela Lauria of Barrington requires that all firearms not in use by the owner or another authorized user be stored in a locked container or equipped with a tamper-resistant lock.
Unsafe storage of guns would also be a civil offense punishable by a fine of up to $250 for the first offense and $1,000 for the second. A subsequent violation would be punishable by up to six months in prison and a fine of up to $500.
Why not?
Biological (or epigenetic) age is
arguably more important than chronological age. But what happens if your cells
are aging faster than the calendar says? Can you reset your biological age and
live a longer, healthier life? Science may offer the answers.
We are not necessarily as old as we look. That’s because many scientists don’t measure “age” chronologically. Our cells may age at a slower or faster rate than our age as marked by the calendar. Chronological age refers to the actual time a person has been alive.
Biological age is a more amorphous concept that considers an individual’s
physical health, functionality, and molecular profiling, which can be
influenced by genetics, lifestyle, and diet. However, as measured by biological
or epigenetic
clocks, age may have a much more significant role in governing how
long we live and how healthy we remain as the years pass.
Our epigenetic clocks begin ticking before we emerge from the womb. They appear soon after the embryonic stem cell stage and continue uninterrupted until the day we die. The clock ticks faster or slower, depending on the wear and tear we experience.
“Aging is an unintended consequence of processes necessary for the development of the organism and tissue homeostasis thereafter,” according to the Clock Foundation, a nonprofit working to speed the availability of treatments that help improve health and life expectancy.
That concept implies that while we can tinker
around the edges (don’t smoke—or quit smoking if you’ve picked up this harmful
habit), aging is an irrevocable part of being human, and there’s not much you
can do about it. Other experts beg to differ, claiming that aging can be considered
a disease.
Is aging a disease? Or is it a risk factor for what is usually referred to as age-related diseases? The World Health Organization (WHO) now recognizes aging as a disease.
We’re not just talking
about semantics. How we regard a disease—separate from or integral to
aging—will guide scientists searching for new therapies to address it, such as
preventing cancer and heart disease. We must be careful here, though. Many
diseases are caused by factors other than age, and it becomes more difficult to
correlate a particular disease with biological age.
Will Ruth Platner's proxy now go along?
By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current
Big opposition to tiny houses last year took down a legislative attempt to make it easier to build in-law apartments, or accessory dwelling units (ADUs).
Victoria puts her back into helping So. County Habitat
build affordable housing on Legislator Volunteer
Day (photo by David DelPoio, Prov Journal)
Now in the home stretch of the 2024 legislative session, a compromise has emerged. Even municipal naysayers backed the amended legislation introduced by Sen. Victoria Gu, a Westerly Democrat, during a May 16 State House hearing.
At first glance, Gu’s version of the ADU bill appears similar to one spearheaded by House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, which passed in the House earlier this year. But the tweaks to building and property size limits, alongside extra powers to cities and towns to set owner occupancy and minimum lease length requirements, have assuaged some of the harshest critics.
“Really, what we want to do is to keep as much local control as possible, giving municipalities the tools to expand ADUs based on their circumstances,” Jane Weidman, Charlestown town planner and chair of the American Planning Association Rhode Island chapter’s legislative subcommittee testified before the Senate Committee on Housing and Municipal Government on May 16 in support of Gu’s legislation.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Weidman was recruited to Charlestown by CCA leader and Planning Commissar Ruth Platner after Weidman was fired by Block Island. Weidman generally speaks only for Platner and not necessarily on behalf of Charlestown (in my opinion). - Will Collette
Unlike the House version, which was put forth without input from town planners, Gu’s version sought their feedback well before a formal proposal was introduced, Weidman said. The effort began as soon as the 2023 legislative session ended, with monthly meetings among lawmakers, planners, housing advocates and other stakeholders.
Not just challenging voters’ credentials in battleground states but attacking every step in running elections.
By Steven Rosenfeld
Bobb believed that Democrats and election officials
colluded to fabricate thousands of voter registrations, illegal voters, forged
ballots, and finessed the vote count until Joe Biden was the victor in 2020’s
battleground states.
Yet it was Bobb and Trump loyalists who were feverishly
plotting and pushing to alter the presidential election’s outcome, as she
detailed in her 2023 book, Stealing Your
Vote: The Inside Story of the 2020 Election and What it Means for 2024.
Publicly, Bobb kept reporting for OANN. Under the radar,
she “joined” Rudy Giuliani and others in Trump’s orbit who pursued ways to
nullify the results. She wrote that she was on the call with Trump when he
urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes.” Bobb said that she
coordinated “the litigation efforts in Arizona, Michigan, and New Mexico,”
including, apparently, a slate of fake Electoral College members who forged and
sent paperwork to Congress certifying that Trump had won Arizona.
In April, Bobb and 17 others were indicted on multiple felonies in that
electoral hijacking scheme by Arizona Attorney General Kristin Mayes, a
Democrat. Only weeks before, on the same day Trump secured the 2024 Republican
nomination, Bobb was named the Republican National
Committee’s senior counsel for election integrity. Beyond the surreal twist
that a politico indicted for attempting to overturn a swing state’s
presidential vote will now lead a national party’s efforts to police elections,
Bobb’s book previews the lawfare and conspiratorial mindset that is already
shadowing 2024’s presidential election.
In her book, Bobb complained about “inflated” voter
rolls, “ballot trafficking,” and “ballot harvesting,” which are conspiratorial
pejoratives that imply fabricating voters, forging ballots, and stuffing ballot
boxes. As States Newsroom reported in April 2024, the RNC and
its allies have already sued in five states—including Pennsylvania, Michigan,
and Nevada—to challenge their voter rolls’ accuracy, and, in turn, voters’
credentials. In Georgia, a Republican bill empowering mass challenges of voter
registrations was signed into law on May 7. (The American Civil Liberties Union
has vowed to sue to block last-minute voter
purges.)
Bobb’s book also targeted the way that elections are run.
She disparaged “centralized” counting operations (“makes cheating easier”) and
complained of local election officials “removing” Republican workers and
restricting GOP’s observers (“so that they could cheat”). She said that
Democrats will spread “misinformation” (“an information war against the
American people”), run “out the clock” after Election Day, and collude with the
media to change “the Narrative.”
“The media and the Left insist that there were no
crimes committed, and they love to point to the courts, claiming that all
charges of criminal activity have been proven wrong,” she wrote of 2020. “The
real story, however, is quite different.”
The real story of 2020’s finale, contrary to Bobb’s
assertions, was that Trump loyalists would not accept his defeat and were
running blind. They presented their “evidence” to courts overseen by Democratic
and Republican judges and lost every substantive legal challenge.
Their evidence—sworn statements by individuals who claimed they had witnessed
misdeeds and voter fraud—was not deemed credible and was rebutted by factual
evidence provided by experienced and informed experts.
Nonetheless, Bobb’s belief that hidden hands are again
plotting to steal votes is not just taken as an article of faith in Trump
circles. It is emblematic of a new development in the GOP’s “election
integrity” circles, which Mimi Marziani, a political science and election law
professor at the University of Texas at Austin, recently characterized as “throwing the kitchen
sink” at elections officials, the courts, and the public.
In recent years, these self-taught grassroots Trump
activists—who distrust almost everyone who has run an election, including Republicans—have discovered the
details of election administration. These are the often-repetitive steps,
procedures, and technologies used in elections. The activists assume the worst
will happen at any point. They distrust almost everything about every stage in
the process.
As Marziani recently told Votebeat’s Texas reporter,
“They’re not actually trying to have a different person elected… They’re trying
to set some sort of precedent to destabilize free and fair elections.”
“If someone really wants to interfere with our elections,
they will find a way to accomplish that,” wrote Erica in April, the curator of
the Election Education channel on Telegram, a platform favored by Trumpers.
“The security measures the election officials repeat over and over are a false
sense of security when we can’t verify any of them for ourselves.”
Telegram’s ‘Election Education’
That online comment hardly seems threatening. But what I
found on the channel, which leaders of national groups seeking to defend 2024’s
elections said they had not seen via emails, was stunning. Bobb’s book puts
forth broad conspiracies and talking points. The Election Education channel has
weaponized the details beyond anything I have seen.
I have studied and covered voting rights, election
administration, voting system technology, election procedure, and
disinformation for two decades. This winter, I worked for nearly two months as
a county election official during California’s presidential primary, where I
had an up close look at many of the practices targeted by Bobb and her fellow
travelers. I understand the frustrations of not getting timely, easily
understood explanations and evidence about what happened in any close election.
I’ve faced many tight-lipped officials as a journalist.
But the Election Education channel is a repository that
catalogs the fine print of running elections and sows doubt about almost
everything. It is filled with scores of graphic charts that put forth almost
every imaginable conspiracy. It makes hundreds of blunt accusations that are
difficult to unwind and begin to respond to—because running an election isn’t
so simple.
The graphics include topics such as: “Ballot Harvesting
Hot Spots,” “Known Election Fraud Maneuvers,” “Election Observer Tips,”
“Take-Aways from 2020 Elections,” “What Could Possibly Happen to a Mail-In
Ballot?” “Bring Election Accountability to Your Local Elections Office,” “Why
Aren’t Change of Addresses Being Updated in the Voter Rolls?” “Our Elections
are Under Attack!” and “Voter Authentication Not Required When Voting by Mail.”
The channel’s messages are not unique in Trump land. They
are signs of our polarized, tribal, and political times. The channel’s curators
believe they are educating Trump’s base. Their most popular posts are regularly
seen by tens of thousands of viewers, according to Telegram’s counter. But they
are blissfully unaware of what they do not know. In contrast, the longer I have
been around elections, the more I have realized how much more there is to know.
For example, below the assertion that anyone who wants to
interfere will find a way is a chart entitled, “Election Fraud Work-Arounds:
The Art of Cheating Without Getting Caught.” It is one of 50 graphics posted so
far in 2024, has been viewed by 26,000 people, and bluntly lists a half-dozen
scenarios to cheat to “Pass Post-Election Audits,” “Pass Logic and Accuracy
Tests,” “Add Late Ballots to the Count,” and “Use Uncertified Systems.”
These technicalities are steps that occur during the
set-up and running of elections. Like all propaganda, their assertions start
with a thread of truth. A factual process or procedure or an election record or
computer system is cited. But the messages and messengers invariably go on to
assume that specific steps will be secretly sabotaged.
For example, under “Add Late Ballots to the Count”—which
implies that Democrats or colluding officials are stealing votes—are six
conspiratorial scenarios. One might “alter or don’t require [a] USPS [Post
Office] time stamp.” One might “use ‘blank’ ballots later to vote” or “backfill
the votes via adjudication [a process where officials review ballots if there’s
more than one vote in a single contest to ascertain the voter’s intent].” One
might “alter chain-of-custody records [concerning the handling and inventorying
of ballots].” One might exploit the “ballot curing period [when voters can
correct mistakes or return to an election office with more identifying
information] to insert votes” or “use early votes to calculate how many more
ballots are needed to win.”
Accusations like these sow doubts. It is virtually
impossible to factually respond to people who say that no matter what evidence
is presented, that something invisible is happening elsewhere to corrupt the
process. But that’s their mindset.
“Election fraud does not require the assistance of
election staff,” said a chart entitled, How an Election can be Stolen without
Poll Worker’s Knowledge. “Poll workers can do everything right and still have
the election stolen from them. There are people in this world who will stop at
nothing to gain or maintain power.”
How Impactful Might This Be?
As a longtime journalist, I don’t criticize individual
citizen activists. But I can’t help but notice the blind spots in this movement
and its methodology.
Bobb’s assertions and Election Education’s graphics are
not just overclaiming and propagandist. They are also not fully knowledgeable
about their topics and targets. One can notice what is not mentioned. They
never say how many voters or votes might be affected in their latest
conspiratorial scenario. They never mention what steps, security measures,
bureaucratic redundancies, observer scrutiny, and time crunches would prevent
their feared subterfuge from pragmatically occurring. They are self-taught and
unaware of their shortcomings—unintentionally, or perhaps more cynically, they
are aware and don’t care.
This winter, I learned things as an election official
that I had not known until I worked on the inside. Election administration is
not easily understood nor is it often well-explained. That encourages
propaganda. But an absence of understanding does not mean the process is
implicitly corrupt and untrustworthy. Today’s voting systems are not black
boxes. They are filled with data and voter- and ballot-centered evidence that
is—and can be—repeatedly verified.
But Trump’s base doesn’t want to believe that he lost in
2020 and might lose again in 2024. That mindset raises some big questions about
their latest messaging. Will efforts such as the Election Education channel’s
targeting and disparaging of the process’s fine print and the officials who run
elections lead to protests and unrest this fall? There are only several dozen
swing counties in all of the swing states. It doesn’t take more than a few
dozen protesters to show up at a single site, call the media, and be noisy and
disruptive.
But succeeding as a propagandist is not the same as being
better-informed and smarter about the electoral process. Nor does it mean
Trumpers will be pursuing better-informed legal challenges after Election
Day—should a statewide or federal election come down to a margin of several
thousand votes.
When asked about potential impacts in 2024, several
former officials who are involved in defending elections said that they had not
heard of the Telegram channel. One was wary of giving the channel too much
attention, as GOP activists have a history of hyping their vigilantism and then
barely showing up on Election Day, and afterward.
Apparently, the channel is being tracked by some
disinformation watchers. The channel’s curator has posted that one contractor
working with election officials has tagged some of its posts. But that
surveillance only seems to stiffen the belief of Trumpers that Democrats and
many officials are plotting against them. And they think they know how.
On April 28, Election Education asked readers how they
thought 2024 would be stolen. “What is your theory on how elections are stolen
in your neck of the woods? We know they are all possible, but curious what you
think the biggest factor is,” it said.
Nearly 4,800 people replied. That’s more respondents than
most national polls. “Mail-in ballots,” replied 30 percent. “Machine vote
flips,” said 22 percent. “Injecting votes using dirty voter rolls,” said 17
percent. “Machine is set for certain outcome,” said 10 percent. Their answers
were seen by 16,500 viewers.
A few days later, a new graphic appeared. “They are
INFLATING the voter rolls because they know we have been STUDYING the MACHINES!
Do NOT get BLINDSIDED.” Below, it said, “Remember, there are multiple ways they
can accomplish their goal of stealing an election.”
Click here to read the article on the Bucks County Beacon.
Steven Rosenfeld is the editor
and chief correspondent of Voting Booth, a project of the Independent Media
Institute. He has reported for National Public Radio, Marketplace, and
Christian Science Monitor Radio, as well as a wide range of progressive
publications including Salon, AlterNet, the American Prospect, The Washington
Monthly, and many others.
.jpg?format=1000w)
