For the record: I don't generally post pornographic material, gore, or subjects that I believe might reasonably cause harm or undue distress. And if I do, I would put them behind a CW.
But I do post about a variety of topics that may not be of universal interest, such as US law and politics, geeky technology stuff, ponderous art, and so on. Undesired exposure to my posts on those subjects is one of the risks of of following me. Feel free to block or mute me if that scares you.
#photography meta-note: I've taken lately to posting (approximately) a photo a day, generally with a link to the full res version (on Flickr), followed by a short thread with technical details and a few thoughts on composition and subject.
My model is Ansel Adams's "Examples", in which he mixes technical detail with comments on the subject, his artistic goals, and the circumstances under which each photo was made.
I'm not my comparing work with his, of course, but I really like the format.
Those who follow me on The Bad Place have heard me repeat this a thousand times, but once more won't hurt.
Election security is incredibly complex, full of seemingly impossible tradeoffs. But disinformation about supposed "rigged" elections is perhaps the most serious threat to election integrity today.
The best defense is to learn how elections actualy work! Becoming a poll worker is a great way to do that
Also, this National Academies study is a terrific resource:
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25120/securing-the-vote-protecting-american-democracy
Also, any serious discussion of election security has to grapple with two simultaneous realities:
- there's no evidence that any US election outcome has ever been altered by hacking
- there are real, exploitable vulnerabilities in many parts of our election infrastructure
I've written a bit on what these vulnerabilities are and how to fix them, See, e.g., this brief article:
https://georgetownlawtechreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/4.2-p505-522-Blaze.pdf
Those who follow me on The Bad Place have heard me repeat this a thousand times, but once more won't hurt.
Election security is incredibly complex, full of seemingly impossible tradeoffs. But disinformation about supposed "rigged" elections is perhaps the most serious threat to election integrity today.
The best defense is to learn how elections actualy work! Becoming a poll worker is a great way to do that
Also, this National Academies study is a terrific resource:
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25120/securing-the-vote-protecting-american-democracy
Georgetown just announced another snow day (with classes held via Zoom) for tomorrow.
After several days of sub-freezing weather, any unplowed roads and sidewalks (and there are many) in DC are especially treacherous - essentially solid ice. Stay safe, friends.
Georgetown campuses closed again tomorrow (with zoom classes).
Major arteries in DC are mostly cleared, but many local streets and sidewalks are basically solid sheets of ice at this point.
Stay safe and warm, DC friends.
Bondi's extortionary demand for the Minnesota voter rolls is curious. Minnesota's voter rolls, like those of most states, are essentially public, including name, address, phone number (if given), and elections voted in. The only information redacted (by law) is DoB, SSN (etc) and which party's primary elections they chose to vote in.
One can only speculate on why DoJ would want the redacted information.
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/201.091
Minnesota has open primaries - any voter can select which party primary they want to vote in at the time of the primary. There's no party registration, so the primary selected (and not made public) is the only indicator of party affinity in the voter database there.
Bondi's extortionary demand for the Minnesota voter rolls is curious. Minnesota's voter rolls, like those of most states, are essentially public, including name, address, phone number (if given), and elections voted in. The only information redacted (by law) is DoB, SSN (etc) and which party's primary elections they chose to vote in.
One can only speculate on why DoJ would want the redacted information.
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/201.091
Remember that the violence and brutality of ICE is outrageous, but it's not the only problem with the administration's immigration enforcement surge. It started out being about the "worst of the worst" (violent criminals), then quickly morphed to include anyone found with a status violation. But now they're CREATING status violations by mass revoking visas (especially of asylum seekers).
Many of the people being targeted and detained followed all the rules and committed no crimes or violations.
So in other words, this is not about deporting "illegals" and criminals. It's about getting rid of "foreigners" - anyone who doesn't fit the narrow, xenophobic MAGA vision of what constitutes an America.
Remember that the violence and brutality of ICE is outrageous, but it's not the only problem with the administration's immigration enforcement surge. It started out being about the "worst of the worst" (violent criminals), then quickly morphed to include anyone found with a status violation. But now they're CREATING status violations by mass revoking visas (especially of asylum seekers).
Many of the people being targeted and detained followed all the rules and committed no crimes or violations.
11 inches of snow so far in DC, which means the local supermarket has probably long ago sold out of fava beans and nice chiantis.
A non-trivial minority of Americans believe that protest is always illegitimate, and that police use of force against protestors is inherently justified. This is a failure of civics education, but it's been clearly with us throughout at least my lifetime. No matter how "perfect" the victim may be, those whose positions have metastasized this way will never be convinced.
That does not mean that protest is futile, only that we should expect that some people won't be reached by it.
I think the worst part of this, aside from the loss of life, is the near certainty that at some point today, Trump will find words that will make the situation much, much worse.
Be warned: The latest death video from Minneapolis is graphic enough to weigh heavily on you, but not detailed enough to really help you understand much about what happened beyond what’s been widely reported.
Matt Blaze