April 22, 2014

NYT: Widespread fraud in Afghan elections (Andar district)

NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/world/asia/afghan-district-reports-of-fraud.html?hp&_r=0

Excerpts:

"But as always in Andar, there is another side. A review by The New York Times found that polling centers in more than half of the host villages were either closed or saw little to no activity on Election Day, even though they submitted thousands of votes."

...

"Representatives of observer organizations, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of disrupting the official tabulation process, said evidence of fraud was widespread. Though polls were open across the district, it was unsafe for monitors to reach many places, raising the likelihood of vote manipulation.

Of the roughly 47,000 votes registered districtwide — roughly half the district’s estimated population — one organization figured the number of legitimate votes was closer to 10,000."

April 22, 2014

UK poll: Conservatives significantly more likely than liberals to hate Snowden's leaks

In Britain, the number of conservatives who consider Snowden's NSA leaks "good for society" is slightly higher than the number of conservatives who consider it "bad for society".

% WHO SAY GOOD/% WHO SAY BAD
Con 42/35
UKIP 37/36

As ideology moves away from conservatism, we see an overwhelming advantage by those who consider it "good for society."

LABOR 54/14
LIB/DEM 57/17

http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/hy8mpku1lj/YG-Archive-140409-Edward-Snowden.pdf

April 22, 2014

Yougov poll: Is opposition to Obama motivated by race?

April 21, 2014


yougov.co.uk/news/2014/04/21/opposition-obama-motivated-race/

April 22, 2014

OMG Elizabeth Warren went there! Finally someone calls Hillary Clinton what she is

“I think Hillary Clinton is terrific,” Warren said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/21/elizabeth-warren-2016_n_5187672.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

April 22, 2014

More classified-information-leaking traitors/thieves

The secret whistleblowers, revisited

The new documentary 1971, which premiered on Friday, reveals how a group of activists exposed the secrets of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI - See more at: http://www.cjr.org/reality_check/the_secret_whistleblowers_revi.php#sthash.BPpM1yL6.dpuf

"In March 1971, eight burglars broke into a Federal Bureau of Investigation office in Media, PA, and stole hundreds of documents. They sorted through the files—which revealed a massive, illegal campaign by the FBI to crush political dissent—and sent some of them to the press. The documents were sent anonymously and, despite a lengthy FBI investigation, the burglars were never found.

This story was retold recently in Betty Medsger’s book, The Burglary. Medsger introduced director Johanna Hamilton to the story, and 1971 is in many ways the book’s companion piece. While Medsger builds as detailed a profile of the FBI under Hoover as she does of the individual burglars, Hamilton spends more time on the burglars’ personal stories and how their decision to steal the documents changed their lives.

The burglars, who called themselves the Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI, were all anti-war activists and ordinary people: Bob Williamson was a social worker; John and Bonnie Raines were a couple with young children; Keith Forsyth drove a cab. Alarmed by rumors that the FBI was spying on anti-war protesters and civil rights activists, they decided to get proof, no matter the considerable risk to themselves or their families. “When you realize that something is very wrong,” Forsyth says in the film, “there’s no choice. You have to do something.” -

See more at: http://www.cjr.org/reality_check/the_secret_whistleblowers_revi.php#sthash.BPpM1yL6.dpuf

Most of us (including me) would have called them heroes if DU had existed back then.