hmmm
Sanders camp admits anti-Warren script was deployed in multiple early states
Talking points attacking Elizabeth Warren that Bernie Sanders’ campaign deployed were given to teams in at least two early voting states.
…[The] campaign pulled back the script — which described Warren’s appeal as limited to the highly educated and financially well off — later on Saturday after the story published.
…[The script included] talking points for voters who said they were leaning toward other candidates. In Warren’s case, they stated that the “people who support her are highly-educated, more affluent people who are going to show up and vote Democratic no matter what” and that “she’s bringing no new bases into the Democratic Party.”
…Warren told reporters Sunday that she “was disappointed to hear that Bernie is sending his volunteers out to trash me.”
She added that the attack was reminiscent of the “factionalism” that broke out during his campaign against Hillary Clinton in 2016.
…[In a move reminiscent of the 2016 cycle,] Sanders [took no responsibility for the actions of the campaign that bears his name and instead] appeared to blame the controversy on rogue employees.
“We have hundreds of employees. Elizabeth Warren has hundreds of employees. And people sometimes say things that they shouldn’t,” Sanders said.
…Warren responded later Monday night supporting the version of events reported by CNN. “Among the topics that came up was what would happen if Democrats nominated a female candidate. I thought a woman could win; he disagreed,” she said in a statement. [Which bears mentioning because, at the very least, his undeniably benefited from sexism that was being stoked by his supporters in 2016.]
Sanders camp admits anti-Warren script was deployed in multiple early states – POLITICO
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EPA is now allowing asbestos back into manufacturing
Asbestos is now legally allowed back into U.S. manufacturing under a series of loopholes by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
…The EPA’s recently released report detailing its new framework for evaluating the risk of its top prioritized substances states that the agency will “no longer consider the effect or presence of substances in the air, ground, or water in its risk assessments.”
…The SNUR greenlights companies to use toxic chemicals like asbestos without consideration about how they will endanger people who are indirectly in contact with them.
EPA is now allowing asbestos back into manufacturing – Archpaper.com
Jeezus Krrreyest….
Despite Election Security Fears, Iowa Caucuses Will Use New Smartphone App
The state party worked with the national party’s cybersecurity team, and with Harvard University’s Defending Digital Democracy project, but Price declined to answer directly whether any third party has investigated the app for vulnerabilities, as many cybersecurity experts recommend.
…Unlike many states in which local and state officials oversee the presidential primary election, in Iowa the state party is responsible for administering, staffing and funding the caucuses, relying primarily on trained but unpaid volunteers.
Cybersecurity experts interviewed by NPR said that the party’s decision to withhold the technical details of its app doesn’t do much to protect the system — and instead makes it hard to have complete confidence in it.
…A number of other potential vulnerabilities could also be introduced by using the technology, experts say.
If the app doesn’t work, either because a denial of service attack clogs the system or for any other reason, then there could be confusion at precincts across the state, and a potential delay on a winner being announced.
…Price did confirm that the app again would be downloaded onto the personal smartphones of the caucus precinct and party leaders, and not onto party-provided hardware.
That could make the system a more appealing attack target, according to Betsy Cooper, director of the Aspen Tech Policy Hub at the Aspen Institute, because peoples’ phones also may contain sensitive messages, emails and passwords.
…Jones, the University of Iowa cybersecurity specialist, says transmitting results from precincts to the state party through a smartphone app isn’t as insecure as the virtual caucus plan — but that it’s still insecure for the same reasons.
“The entire ecosystem of smartphones is extraordinarily poorly secured,” Jones said. “And resting security functions on that ecosystem is something I don’t trust at all.”
Despite Election Security Fears, Iowa Caucuses Will Use New Smartphone App : NPR
hmmmm
House Dems release new impeachment evidence related to indicted Giuliani associate
“Despite unprecedented obstruction by the president, the committee continues to receive and review potentially relevant evidence and will make supplemental transmittals.”
…The material released on Tuesday contains several handwritten notes, emails, encrypted messages, and other documents that underscore the close relationship between Parnas and Giuliani, who was actively pursuing an effort last year to push the Ukrainian government to announce investigations targeting Trump’s political rivals.
… Giuliani asked for a half-hour meeting with Zelensky as the former New York City mayor was pursuing investigations targeting former Vice President Joe Biden — and Giuliani made clear that he was acting with Trump’s “knowledge and consent” and in his capacity as a “personal” attorney for the president.
…One of the documents included in the disclosure is a handwritten note by Parnas that states: “Get Zelensky to announce that the Biden case will be investigated.” Another refers to Lanny Davis, the attorney representing Trump’s former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen: “Get rid of Lanny Davis (nicely!)”
…Trump authorized another attorney — John Dowd, who previously represented Trump — to serve as counsel to Parnas and Igor Fruman, another Giuliani associate who was arrested and indicted last year on similar charges.
…“These communications, often in Russian, demonstrate that Mr. Parnas served as a direct channel between President Trump’s agent, Mr. Giuliani, and individuals close to President Volodymyr Zelensky.”
House Dems release new impeachment evidence related to indicted Giuliani associate – POLITICO
hmmmm
St. Louis Prosecutor: Racist Interests Try to Force Her Out
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner on Monday filed what she called an unprecedented federal civil rights lawsuit, accusing the city, the local police union and others of a coordinated and racist conspiracy aimed at forcing her out of office.
Gardner, the city’s elected prosecutor, also accused “entrenched interests” of intentionally impeding her efforts to reform racist practices that have led to a loss of trust in the criminal justice system.
The lawsuit alleges civil rights violations as well as violations of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.
…The lawsuit cites a watchdog group’s report last year that identified several St. Louis officers accused of posting racist, violent or prejudiced messages on Facebook. Some of the posts highlighted by The Plain View Project included one in 2014 showing a black officer standing with two black demonstrators, calling the officer “Captain ‘Hug a Thug’” and “a disgrace to the uniform.” Another post in 2018 read: “If the Confederate flag is racist, then so is Black History Month.”
St. Louis Prosecutor: Racist Interests Try to Force Her Out | Time
hmmm
A Whole Lot of Water Goes Into That Milk
“Cows need to consume between 30 and 50 gallons of water per day,” said Donna Amaral-Phillips, extension dairy specialist for the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. “That’s more than 415 pounds of water every day.”
That number may sound extremely high until the consumer realizes it takes up to 4.5 pounds of water to make just 1 pound of milk, and cows produce, on average, 70 pounds, or 8 gallons of milk each day, which is equal to about 128 glasses.
A Whole Lot of Water Goes Into That Milk | Dairy Herd Management
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Stephanie Hofeller Shares Redistricting Files From Thomas Hofeller’s Hard Drives
A cache of computer files saved on the hard drives of Thomas Hofeller, a prominent Republican redistricting strategist, is becoming public.
…They have been cited as evidence of gerrymandering that got political maps thrown out in North Carolina, and they have raised questions about Hofeller’s role in the Trump administration’s failed push for a census citizenship question.
…”I originally started sharing them with journalists as a direct response to the assertion by the legislative defendants through counsel that they should be destroyed,” Stephanie tells NPR, which previously received a copy of the files from her.
The files document the wide reach of Thomas Hofeller’s work on political maps across the country — including in Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia, as well as New York’s Nassau County and Texas’ Galveston and Nueces counties.
In a Microsoft Word document last saved in 2015, Thomas Hofeller warned against changing the Census Bureau’s policy of including prisoners in the population counts of the areas where they’re incarcerated, expressing concern that “the actual effect on reapportionment and redistricting is not clearly known for individual states.”
…Stephanie says her father’s stated goal was to use gerrymandering to “create a system wherein the Republican nominee would win.”
Stephanie Hofeller Shares Redistricting Files From Thomas Hofeller’s Hard Drives : NPR
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Big Island: County Recycling Cutbacks A Sign Of Global Market Changes
Hawaii County …[is] no longer accepting plastic or most paper recycling.
……In 2018, about 224,200 tons were landfilled in Hilo and Puuanahulu (Kona) after more than 58,800 tons — about 20.8% — of waste were diverted, including 37,915 tons of green waste and nearly 21,000 tons of recyclables.
…The change will mean that the county will be shipping “possibly 4,000 tons per year of extra material” to the West Hawaii Landfill, the island’s only active facility.
…China’s [new] “National Sword” recycling directive that imports should have only minor contamination such as food particles or incorrectly sorted plastics.
Big Island: County Recycling Cutbacks A Sign Of Global Market Changes
hmm
Ocasio-Cortez won’t support the House Democratic campaign arm or any of her colleagues that rely on its assistance
“Sometimes the question comes: ‘Do you want to be in a majority or do you want to be in the minority?’ ” Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) told Fox News. “And do you want to be part of a team?”
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who is facing a primary challenge from a progressive Democrat backed by Ocasio-Cortez, expressed frustration over what he described as efforts to “purify” the Democratic Caucus by ousting members who aren’t part of the party’s progressive wing.
“To have people try to purify the caucus because they don’t agree with them — 100 percent, I certainly don’t agree with that,” he told Fox News. “Hopefully, we will start to get away from this circular firing squad.”
Ocasio-Cortez defends decision not to pay dues to House Democratic campaign arm | TheHill
She either does want not progress or does not understand how it happens. Either way, she comes off a selfish little twit here.
And, not for nothing, she opens her own flank.