A General thread for 2024 Presidential Elections

[RTH10260]

Russia propaganda group behind fake Kamala Harris hit-and-run story, says Microsoft
Microsoft researchers found that the group created a video, paid an actor to appear as the alleged victim, and spread the claim through a fake website

Reuters
Wed 18 Sep 2024 02.50 CEST

A false claim circulating on social media that Kamala Harris was involved in an alleged hit-and-run in San Francisco in 2011 is the work of a covert Russian disinformation operation, according to new research by Microsoft.

Researchers found that the group created a video, paid an actor to appear as the alleged victim, and spread the claim through a fake website for a nonexistent San Francisco news outlet named KBSF-TV. The Russian group responsible, which Microsoft dubs Storm-1516, is described as a Kremlin-aligned troll farm.

Microsoft said the discovery was a sign of Russia ramping up its foreign influence efforts ahead of the 5 November presidential election. A spokesperson for the Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

“Russian influence operations initially struggled to pivot operations aimed at the Democratic campaign following president Biden’s departure from the US 2024 presidential race,” a blog published on Tuesday by Microsoft said.

“In late August, however, elements of prolific Russian actor Storm-1516 began producing content implicating vice-president Harris and governor Walz in outlandish fake conspiracy theories,” Microsoft said, referring to Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz.


https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... storm-1516

[Dr. Ken]

Golly Gee it's as if we didn't call that...

[RTH10260]

FWIW - Popok specuiates federal crimes by DonOld and JDV

AGAIN…Trump STEPS INTO Criminal Liability with Remarks

MeidasTouch
18 Sept 2024 Legal AF Podcast

Have Trump and Vance crossed the line into Federal Hate Crimes by using their campaign rhetoric to violently target the legal Haitian community in Springfield Ohio? Michael Popok examines and recommends that the DOJ warn the Proud Boys and other violent extremists that if they touch a hair on the Haitian community, they will be prosecuted.

► Show Spoiler

[RTH10260]

Iran sent hacked Trump documents to Biden campaign, FBI says
Officials say there is no indication Biden campaign responded to the emails, which offered information stolen from Trump campaign

Associated Press
Thu 19 Sep 2024 04.13 CEST

Iranian hackers sought to interest President Joe Biden’s campaign in information stolen from rival Donald Trump’s campaign, sending unsolicited emails to people associated with the then-Democratic candidate in an effort to interfere in the 2024 election, the FBI and other US agencies have said.

The FBI confirmed on 12 August that it was investigating a complaint from Donald Trump’s presidential campaign that Iran had hacked and distributed a trove of sensitive campaign documents. On 19 August intelligence officials confirmed that Iran was behind the hack.

There’s no indication that any of the recipients in Biden’s campaign team responded, officials said on Wednesday, and several media organisations approached over the summer with leaked stolen information have also said they did not respond.

Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign called the emails from Iran “unwelcome and unacceptable malicious activity” that were received by only a few people who regarded them as spam or phishing attempts.

The emails were received before the hack of the Trump campaign was publicly acknowledged, and there’s no evidence the recipients of the emails knew their origin.

The announcement is the latest US government effort to call out what officials say is Iran’s brazen, ongoing work to interfere in the election, including a hack-and-leak campaign that the FBI and other federal agencies linked last month to Tehran.



https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... n-fbi-says

[RTH10260]

Teamsters decline to endorse election candidate – but claim majority backs Trump
Decision to not make endorsement for first time in nearly three decades comes in wake of scrutiny of its president

Michael Sainato and Helen Sullivan
Wed 18 Sep 2024 21.33 CEST

The Teamsters International, a powerful US transportation workers union that represents over 1.3 million workers, declined to endorse a candidate ahead of November’s presidential election – but released data suggesting most of its members backed Donald Trump over Kamala Harris.

Polling conducted before Joe Biden, who in 2023 became the first sitting president to join a picket line, dropped out of the race, showed that the union’s members preferred Biden to Trump, 44.3% to 36.3%, according to the Union.

In polling conducted after Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris 59.6% of members said they wanted the union to endorse Trump over 34% for Harris.

The Teamsters’ decision to not make an election endorsement was the first time the union has chosen not to make an endorsement since 1996. The Union has endorsed every Democratic candidate since 2000.



https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... rris-trump?

[Volkonski]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-10/ ... /104104898

In Georgia, Democrats fear a Republican-controlled board could try to 'rig' the 2024 US election

Yep. Georgia elections officials have voted to hand count ballots.

[Dave from down under]

Of course they have..
Since hand counts are less accurate…
It’s as if they are getting directions on how to undermine democracy and the Republic.

[RTH10260]

And then they can stretch the proceedings out until SCOTUS needs to determine the final count. Even without haning chads. FL repeats itself

[Frater I*I]

Yep. Georgia elections officials have voted to hand count ballots.

The only mistake Sherman made was not burning the whole place to cinder and ash, and to salt the earth on his was out.....

[New Turtle]

Republicans Push to Change Nebraska’s Electoral System, Which Could Help Trump
By Courtney Cohn

September 20, 2024


Nebraska Republicans are pushing for the state to change its electoral vote process to a winner-take-all system, which could give former President Donald Trump an extra electoral vote in this year’s close presidential race.

Nebraska’s all-Republican congressional delegation sent a letter to Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (R) and Speaker of the Legislature John Arch (R) asking them to pass and sign a bill that would make this change.

Also, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) flew to Nebraska on Wednesday to meet with Pillen and numerous state legislators to push them to adopt a winner-take-all system, multiple news outlets reported. Pillen’s office did not respond to a request for comment on this meeting.

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-al ... elp-trump/


It says they need 33 votes to pass in the legislature and they have 30 or 31.

[bill_g]

(xpost from Arkansas Gov thread)

Compare and contrast -

[Volkonski]

Yep!

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

[RTH10260]

Jane Fonda rallies disaffected young US voters: ‘Do not sit this election out’
The Hollywood actor and activist backs Harris for president as she warns of climate emergency and talks Taylor Swift

Mark Hertsgaard
Mon 23 Sep 2024 12.00 CEST

Young people’s understandable unhappiness with the Biden administration’s record on oil and gas drilling and the war in Gaza should not deter them from voting to block Donald Trump from again becoming president of the United States, the Hollywood actor and activist Jane Fonda has warned.

“I understand why young people are really angry, and really hurting,” Fonda said. “What I want to say to them is: ‘Do not sit this election out, no matter how angry you are. Do not vote for a third party, no matter how angry you are. Because that will elect somebody who will deny you any voice in the future of the United States … If you really care about Gaza, vote to have a voice, so you can do something about it. And then, be ready to turn out into the streets, in the millions, and fight for it.’”

Fonda’s remarks came in a wide-ranging interview organized by the global media collaborative Covering Climate Now and conducted by the Guardian, CBS News and Rolling Stone magazine.

Making major social change requires massive, non-violent street protests as well as shrewd electoral organizing, Fonda argued. Drawing on more than 50 years of activism, from her anti-Vietnam war and anti-nuclear protests in the 1970s to later agitating for economic democracy, women’s rights and, today, for climate action, Fonda said that: “History shows us that … you need millions of people in the streets, but you [also] need people in the halls of power with ears and a heart to hear the protests, to hear the demands.”



https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ate-change

[zekeb]

Jane Fonda is not so well liked by veterans. Perhaps she should just sit this one out.

[New Turtle]

Republicans Push to Change Nebraska’s Electoral System, Which Could Help Trump
By Courtney Cohn

September 20, 2024


Nebraska Republicans are pushing for the state to change its electoral vote process to a winner-take-all system, which could give former President Donald Trump an extra electoral vote in this year’s close presidential race.

Nebraska’s all-Republican congressional delegation sent a letter to Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (R) and Speaker of the Legislature John Arch (R) asking them to pass and sign a bill that would make this change.

Also, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) flew to Nebraska on Wednesday to meet with Pillen and numerous state legislators to push them to adopt a winner-take-all system, multiple news outlets reported. Pillen’s office did not respond to a request for comment on this meeting.

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-al ... elp-trump/


It says they need 33 votes to pass in the legislature and they have 30 or 31.

Word on the street is they need 1 vote, but he won't budge.budget. the governor won't call the special session unless he had 33 votes. The holdout said no because it is too close to the election to make a change like that, so I don't think they will be able to change Nebraska to winner-take-all.

[Volkonski]

Republican bid to change Nebraska voting rules to help Trump fails

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... rump-fails

Mike McDonnell, a former Democrat who crossed to the Republican party this year, said he would not vote to change the midwestern state’s distribution of electors to the same winner-takes-all process that operates in most of the US.

His decision followed intense lobbying from both Republicans and Democrats, who anticipated that a change in the allocation of Nebraska’s five electoral college votes could have have a decisive impact on the outcome of the 5 November poll.

It reduces the possibility that the former president and Kamala Harris could be tied on 269 electoral college votes each, a scenario that would throw the final say on the election’s outcome to the House of Representatives.

[Foggy]

Six weeks from today.

[AndyinPA]

[keith]

Six weeks from today.

Bu, bu, but...

[Rolodex]

Thank goodness I *finally* got my packet of postcards to send voters. They are a GOTV but I hope all my addresses are people who are registered...it may be too late for some folks. They came today in the mail but I didn't get them till tonight after getting back from trailering the boat to put in the boathouse before the hurricane. I managed to bend both of the guide bars we'd just paid $100 to have straightened. LOL Oops. In my defense, it was the first time I'd driven this boat, a replacement for the boat that was destroyed in Hurricane Michael. And the wind was blowing, so it was hard to keep straight.

But hurricane weather is perfect for addressing 100 postcards!

[neonzx]

Thank goodness I *finally* got my packet of postcards to send voters. They are a GOTV but I hope all my addresses are people who are registered.
But hurricane weather is perfect for addressing 100 postcards!

I am sure they are all Dem party current registered voters. You'll be fine.
Thank you for helping.

[Ben-Prime]

Got a message yesterday that my absentee ballot is on its way to me from Florida to my current assignment. Woo!

[June bug]

[keith]

My ballot is in my inbox - haven't printed it yet though.