November 1, 2022

Candidate for Fayette Pa. House seat assaulted amid warnings about election-related threats and

violence

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/election2022/2022/10/31/democrat-richard-ringer-candidate-for-pa-house-seat-assaulted-election/stories/202210310087

A candidate running for a state House seat called 911 Monday morning after being assaulted at his Fayette County home in what would be the third time in two weeks he has had to call police to his residence.

Democrat Richard Ringer said he was bloodied and knocked unconscious by an attacker in his back yard around 5 a.m.

“A guy was standing with his back to me. I went and bear-hugged him, wrestled, ended up on the ground,” said Mr. Ringer, 69, who is running in a contested race for the open 51st House District seat against Republican Charity Grimm Krupa. “He was larger than I am and he pinned me down on my left side. ... He hit me 10 to 12 times in the head, in the face and by the eye and he knocked me out.”

A call placed to the state police trooper who responded to a call to Mr. Ringer’s home was not returned on Monday afternoon. Mr. Ringer said his hands were bloodied and his faced bruised from the attack.

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October 18, 2022

What is Fog Reveal? A legal scholar explains the app some police forces are using to track people

without a warrant

https://theconversation.com/what-is-fog-reveal-a-legal-scholar-explains-the-app-some-police-forces-are-using-to-track-people-without-a-warrant-189944

Government agencies and private security companies in the U.S. have found a cost-effective way to engage in warrantless surveillance of individuals, groups and places: a pay-for-access web tool called Fog Reveal.

The tool enables law enforcement officers to see “patterns of life” – where and when people work and live, with whom they associate and what places they visit. The tool’s maker, Fog Data Science, claims to have billions of data points from over 250 million U.S. mobile devices.

Fog Reveal came to light when the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit that advocates for online civil liberties, was investigating location data brokers and uncovered the program through a Freedom of Information Act request. EFF’s investigation found that Fog Reveal enables law enforcement and private companies to identify and track people and monitor specific places and events, like rallies, protests, places of worship and health care clinics. The Associated Press found that nearly two dozen government agencies across the country have contracted with Fog Data Science to use the tool.

Government use of Fog Reveal highlights a problematic difference between data privacy law and electronic surveillance law in the U.S. It is a difference that creates a sort of loophole, permitting enormous quantities of personal data to be collected, aggregated and used in ways that are not transparent to most persons. That difference is far more important in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which revoked the constitutional right to an abortion. Dobbs puts the privacy of reproductive health information and related data points, including relevant location data, in significant jeopardy.

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October 2, 2022

Hurricane Ian: Damage will drive insurance rates even higher, cripple industry

https://nordot.app/949031601073864704?c=592622757532812385

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — With early predictions of $50 billion in damage from Hurricane Ian, experts worry whether the state’s struggling property insurance system will become another casualty of the storm and lead to even higher premiums.

If it fails, the cost will be passed on to all Florida homeowners,not just those who suffered damage, because of assessments levied on them to cover the losses.

“We’re relying on a strategy of hope, and that hasn’t played out,” State Sen. Jeff Brandes, a Republican from Pinellas County who has tried to push for strict insurance and litigation reforms to rein in the spiraling costs.

The governor and Legislature need to seek out solutions quickly if they want to save the industry, Brandes said, suggesting a special session after the election.

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(emphasis mine)

September 15, 2022

California sues Amazon, alleging its policies cause higher prices everywhere

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/14/1122995430/california-sues-amazon

California sued Amazon on Wednesday, accusing the company of pushing sellers and suppliers into anticompetitive deals that lead to higher prices, including at rival online stores.

The lawsuit, filed by state Attorney General Rob Bonta, focuses on the way Amazon — the largest online retailer — deals with third-party merchants, who account for most of the sales on the platform.

California alleges that Amazon penalizes sellers and suppliers that offer cheaper prices elsewhere on the internet, including Walmart and Target, for example by displaying their items lower or less prominently or outright blocking their new postings.

"Amazon makes consumers think they are getting the lowest prices possible," the lawsuit alleges, "when in fact, they cannot get the low prices that would prevail in a freely competitive market because Amazon has coerced and induced its third-party sellers and wholesale suppliers to enter into anticompetitive agreements on price."

California's antitrust lawsuit is among the biggest legal challenges to Amazon in recent years, as lawmakers and regulators in the U.S. and abroad have investigated the retail giant for potential anticompetitive practices.

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September 15, 2022

Dutch students devise carbon-eating electric vehicle

https://nordot.app/942816952346492928?c=592622757532812385

(Reuters) - The sporty all-electric car from the Netherlands resembles a BMW coupe, but is unique: It captures more carbon than it emits.

"Our end goal is to create a more sustainable future," said Jens Lahaije, finance manager for TU/ecomotive, the Eindhoven University of Technology student team that created the car.

Called ZEM, for zero emission mobility, the two-seater houses a Cleantron lithium-ion battery pack, and most of its parts are 3D-printed from recycled plastics, Lahaije said.

The target is to minimize carbon dioxide emitted during the car's full lifespan, from manufacturing to recycling, he added.

Battery electric vehicles emit virtually no CO2 during operation compared with combustion-engine vehicles, but battery cell production can create so much pollution that it can take EVs tens of thousands of miles to achieve "carbon parity" with comparable fossil-fueled models.

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September 12, 2022

Celebrity Medicare Sales Pitches Are Toned Down After Scrutiny

https://www.wsj.com/articles/celebrity-medicare-sales-pitches-are-toned-down-after-scrutiny-11661940999?st=2q0c9no5cgthayb&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

If it’s football season, you can count on seeing Joe Namath on television, along with William Shatner and Jimmie “J J” Walker. They are the most prominent pitchmen for what has become an annual fall selling frenzy for Medicare Advantage policies.

After a surge in consumer complaints, and stiffer government rules, the sales pitches will likely be tamer this year. If there is confusion, “we’ll change things so it satisfies everybody and eliminates the confusion,” said Mr. Shatner, best known for his role as Captain Kirk in the “Star Trek” franchise

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services toughened its oversight after consumer marketing complaints surged 165% last year to 41,136 compared with 2020. Brokerages, agents and other marketing businesses tried to convince Medicare recipients to switch plans, with promises of perks in their new plans such as home-delivered meals, rides to doctors’ appointments and cash.

In some cases, beneficiaries would effectively pay for the perks with more-limited provider networks, forcing them to find new doctors, regulators say. The celebrity pitchmen haven’t been accused of violating any rules.

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September 6, 2022

Loose Cannon rejects amicus brief opposing special master

https://twitter.com/donlew87/status/1567217096018329600

September 3, 2022

Far-right website Kiwi Farms offline after Cloudflare drops them following public backlash

https://www.rawstory.com/cloudflare-drops-controversial-far-right-website-kiwi-farms-after-public-backlash-site-is-down-report/

Growing public backlash against the Kiwi Farms website has resulted in the website losing a key technological vendor and going offline.

"Reversing course under growing public pressure, major tech security company Cloudflare announced Saturday that it will stop protecting the Kiwi Farms website, best known as a place for stalkers to organize hacks, online campaigns and real-world harassment," The Washington Post reported. "Cloudfare chief executive Matthew Prince, who this past week published a lengthy blog post justifying the company’s services defending Kiwi Farms, told The Washington Post he changed his mind not because of the pressure but a surge in credible violent threats stemming from the site."

Prince issued a statement explaining the action the company finally took.

"We have blocked Kiwifarms. Visitors to any of the Kiwifarms sites that use any of Cloudflare's services will see a Cloudflare block page and a link to this post. Kiwifarms may move their sites to other providers and, in doing so, come back online, but we have taken steps to block their content from being accessed through our infrastructure," Prince said. "This is an extraordinary decision for us to make and, given Cloudflare's role as an Internet infrastructure provider, a dangerous one that we are not comfortable with. However, the rhetoric on the Kiwifarms site and specific, targeted threats have escalated over the last 48 hours to the point that we believe there is an unprecedented emergency and immediate threat to human life unlike we have previously seen from Kiwifarms or any other customer before."

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August 23, 2022

Trump's lawyers admit to him violating the Espionage Act in their own court filing; legal analyst

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-lawyers-admit-espionage/

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Legal analyst Marcy Wheeler, of EmptyWheel, posted an excerpt from the documents showing the strange admission of guilt.

The court filing says that Trump was subpoenaed on May 11, 2022, and "On June 2, 2022, President Trump, through counsel, invited the FBI to come to Mar-a-Lago to retrieve responsive documents."

About a month after the subpoena, Trump invited the FBI to come in and look at what he had. So, why did Trump still have the documents after June 2, necessitating a search warrant?

"Responsive documents were provided to the FBI agents," it says on page 5.

Twice, in the document, Trump admits he took government documents, which is illegal under the Espionage Act and the Presidential Records Act.

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July 27, 2022

The Electoral Count Reform Act Unpacked (Democracy Docket/Marc Elias)

https://www.democracydocket.com/news/the-electoral-count-reform-act-unpacked/?emci=6fdb8560-540c-ed11-b47a-281878b83d8a&emdi=02613b7a-da0c-ed11-b47a-281878b83d8a&ceid=15585701

Last week, U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) released S. 4573, or the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act, their long-awaited proposal to reform the Electoral Count Act of 1887 (ECA), an antiquated law that governs how Congress counts the Electoral College votes for president every four years. Former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election revealed several weaknesses in the law that could be exploited by a disgruntled and defiant presidential candidate. The proposed legislation purports to address those flaws. In today’s piece, we’re breaking down the Electoral Count Act, how Trump tried to exploit it and how a group of 14 senators hope to reform it.
What is the Electoral Count Act?

The ECA is a 19th-century law passed by Congress in response to the disputed election of 1876. That election, between former President Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden, was marred by allegations of fraud, violence and disenfranchisement. Four states ended up sending competing slates of presidential electors to Congress and the U.S. Constitution did not give Congress any guidance on how to resolve the dispute. After the Compromise of 1877 decided the election in favor of Hayes, Congress recognized the need to add more clarity to the process of resolving election disputes.

After two more closely fought elections and several failed attempts at reform, Congress finally passed a bill to regulate how states finalize their election results in 1887. Under the ECA, the Electoral College (the group of people appointed by each state to elect the president), casts its votes on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December following the presidential election. If a state has finalized its election results by six days before the Electoral College casts its votes, then that state’s results qualify for “safe harbor” status, meaning that Congress is supposed to treat those vote totals as the conclusive result. The law also includes a mechanism for Congress to decide which slate of electors is valid if a state sends multiple, like in 1876. Finally, the law lays out the procedures for Congress to count the electoral votes during a joint session on Jan. 6 — and gives members of Congress a way to object to a state’s electoral votes. If just one senator and one representative — regardless of the state they represent — object to a state’s electoral vote in writing, both chambers of Congress are required to debate and vote on the objection.

Almost since it was passed, the ECA has been criticized for being vague and confusing. The mechanism to decide between multiple slates of electors, for instance, was derided by a contemporary political scientist as “very confused” and “almost unintelligible” and by legal scholar Stephen Siegel as “repetitious” and “contradictory.” Most recently, Trump’s efforts to sow doubt into the results of the 2020 election it even happened brought renewed attention to the law and a fresh wave of criticism.

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