#because of it electronic voting system here

[tortiefrancis]

Thinking about the fact there are sounds people hear every day and are such a huge part of their lives and that someone else living in another continent never heard it

[odinsblog]

🗣️THIS IS WHAT INCLUSIVE, COMPASSIONATE DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE

Minnesota Dems enacted a raft of laws to make the state a trans refuge, and ensure people receiving trans care here can't be reached by far-right governments in places like Florida and Texas. (link)

Minnesota Dems ensured that everyone, including undocumented immigrants, can get drivers' licenses. (link)

They made public college free for the majority of Minnesota families. (link)

Minnesota Dems dropped a billion dollars into a bevy of affordable housing programs, including by creating a new state housing voucher program. (link)

Minnesota Dems massively increased funding for the state's perpetually-underfunded public defenders, which lets more public defenders be hired and existing public defenders get a salary increase. (link)

Dems raised Minnesota education spending by 10%, or about 2.3 billion. (link)

Minnesota Dems created an energy standard for 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040. (link)

Minnesota already has some of the strongest election infrastructure (and highest voter participation) in the country, but the legislature just made it stronger, with automatic registration, preregistration for minors, and easier access to absentee ballots. (link)

Minnesota Dems expanded the publicly subsidized health insurance program to undocumented immigrants. This one's interesting because it's the sort of things Dems often balk at. The governor opposed it! The legislature rolled over him and passed it anyway. (link)

Minnesota Dems expanded background checks and enacted red-flag laws, passing gun safety measures that the GOP has thwarted for years. (link)

Minnesota Dems gave the state AG the power to block the huge healthcare mergers that have slowly gobbled up the state's medical system. (link)

Minnesota Dems restored voting rights to convicted felons as soon as they leave prison. (link)

Minnesota Dems made prison phone calls free. (link)

Minnesota Dems passed new wage protection rules for the construction industry, against industry resistance. (link)

Minnesota Dems created a new sales tax to fund bus and train lines, an enormous victory for the sustainability and quality of public transit. Transit be more pleasant to ride, more frequent, and have better shelters, along more lines. (link)

They passed strict new regulations on PFAS ("forever chemicals"). (link)

Minnesota Dems passed the largest bonding bill in state history! Funding improvements to parks, colleges, water infrastructure, bridges, etc. etc. etc. (link)

They're going to build a passenger train from the Twin Cities to Duluth. (link)

I can't even find a news story about it but there's tens of millions in funding for new BRT lines, too. (link)

A wonky-but-important change: Minnesota Dems indexed the state gas tax to inflation, effectively increasing the gas tax. (link)

They actually indexed a bunch of stuff to inflation, including the state's education funding formula, which helps ensure that school spending doesn't decline over time. (link)

Minnesota Dems made hourly school workers (e.g., bus drivers and paraprofessionals) eligible for unemployment during summer break, when they're not working or getting paid. (link)

Minnesota Dems passed a bunch of labor protections for teachers, including requiring school districts to negotiate class sizes as part of union contracts. (Yet another @SydneyJordanMN special here. (link)

Minnesota Dems created a state board to govern labor standards at nursing homes. (link)

Minnesota Dems created a Prescription Drug Affordability Board, which would set price caps for high-cost pharmaceuticals. (link)

Minnesota Dems created new worker protections for Amazon warehouse workers and refinery workers. (link)

Minnesota Dems passed a digital fair repair law, which requires electronics manufacturers to make tools and parts available so that consumers can repair their electronics rather than purchase new items. (link)

Minnesota Dems made Juneteenth a state holiday. (link)

Minnesota Dems banned conversion therapy. (link)

They spent nearly a billion dollars on a variety of environmental programs, from heat pumps to reforestation. (link)

Minnesota Dems expanded protections for pregnant and nursing workers - already in place for larger employers - to almost everyone in the state. (link)

Minnesota Dems created a new child tax credit that will cut child poverty by about a quarter. (link)

Minnesota Democrats dropped a quick $50 million into homelessness prevention programs. (link)

And because the small stuff didn't get lost in the big stuff, they passed a law to prevent catalytic converter thefts. (link)

Minnesota Dems increased child care assistance. (link)

Minnesota Dems banned "captive audience meetings," where employers force employees to watch anti-union presentations. (link)

No news story yet, but Minnesota Dems forced signal priority changes to Twin Cities transit. Right now the trains have to wait at intersections for cars, which, I can say from experience, is terrible. Soon that will change.

Minnesota Dems provided the largest increase to nursing home funding in state history. (link)

They also bumped up salaries for home health workers, to help address the shortage of in-home nurses. (link)

Minnesota Dems legalized drug paraphernalia, which allows social service providers to conduct needle exchanges and address substance abuse with reduced fear of incurring legal action. (link)

Minnesota Dems banned white supremacists and extremists from police forces, capped probation at 5 years for most crimes, improved clemency, and mostly banned no-knock warrants. (link)

Minnesota Dems also laid the groundwork for a public health insurance option. (link)

I’m happy for the people of Minnesota, but as a Floridian living under Ron DeSantis & hateful Republicans, I’m also very envious tbh. We know that democracy can work, and this is a shining example of what government could be like in the hands of legislators who actually care about helping people in need, and not pursuing the GOP’s “culture wars” and suppressing the votes of BIPOC, and inflicting maximum harm on those who aren’t cis/het, white, wealthy, Christian males. BRAVO MINNESOTA. This is how you do it! And the Minnesota Dems did it with a one seat majority, so no excuses. Forget about the next election and focus on doing as much good as you can, while you still can. 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿

👉🏿 https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1660846689450688514.html

[metamatar]

When electronics manufacturing took off in China in the 1980s, rural women who had just begun moving to the cities made up the majority of the factory workforce. They didn’t have many other options. Managers at companies like Foxconn preferred to hire women because they believed them to be more obedient [...]

Hiring a young, female workforce in India comes with its own requirements — which include reassuring doting parents about the safety of their daughters. The company offers workers free food, lodging, and buses to ensure a safe commute at all hours of the day. On days off, women who live in Foxconn hostels have a 6 p.m. curfew; permission is required to spend the night elsewhere. “[If] they go out and not return by a specific time, their parents would be informed,” a former Foxconn HR manager told Rest of World. “[That’s how] they offer trust to their parents.”

[...] the Tamil Nadu government sent a strong signal welcoming Foxconn and other manufacturers: Authorities approved new regulations that would increase workdays from eight to 12 hours. This meant that Foxconn and other electronics factories would be able to reduce the number of shifts needed to keep their production line running from three to two, just like in China. [...] Political parties aligned with the government called the bill “anti-labor” and, during the vote, walked out of the legislative assembly. After the bill passed, trade unions in the state announced a series of actions including a demonstration on motorbikes, civil disobedience campaigns, and protests in front of the ruling party’s local headquarters. The government shelved its new rule within four days.

Indian Foxconn workers told Rest of World that eight hours under intense pressure is already hard to bear. “I’ll die if it’s 12 hours of work,” said Padmini, the assembly line worker.

For the expatriate workers, the slower pace of the factory floors in India is its own shock to the system. A Taiwanese manager at a different iPhone supplier in the Chennai area told Rest of World that India’s 8-hour shifts and industry-standard tea breaks were a drag on production. “You have barely settled in on your seat, and the next break comes,” the manager lamented.

In China, Foxconn relies on lax enforcement of the country’s labor law — which limits workdays to eight hours and caps overtime — as well as lucrative bonuses to get employees to work 11 hours a day during production peaks [...] five Chinese and Taiwanese workers said they were surprised to discover that their Indian colleagues refused to work overtime. Some attributed it to a weak sense of responsibility; others to what they perceived as Indian people’s low material desire. “They are easily content,” an engineer deployed from Zhengzhou said. “They can’t handle even a bit more pressure. But if we don’t give them pressure, then we won’t be able to get everything right and move production here in a short time.” [...] At the same time, the expat staff enjoy the Indian work culture of tea breaks, chatting with colleagues, and going home on time. They recognize they are helping the company spread a Chinese work culture that they know can be unhealthy. [...]

On the assembly line, Foxconn’s targets were tough to reach, workers said. Jaishree, 21, joined the iPhone shop floor in 2022 as a recent graduate with a degree in mathematics. (With India’s high level of unemployment, Foxconn’s assembly line has plenty of women with advanced degrees, including MBAs.) [...] “At the start, during my eight-hour shift, I did about 300 [screws]. Now, I do 750,” she said. “We have to finish within time, otherwise they will scold us.” [...]

Mealtimes are an issue, too. In December 2021, thousands of Indian Foxconn employees protested after some 250 colleagues contracted food poisoning. In response, the company changed food contractors, and increased its monthly base salary from 14,000 rupees to 18,000 rupees ($168 to $216) — double the minimum wage prescribed by the Tamil Nadu labor department for unskilled workers. [...]

Working conditions take a physical toll. Padmini has experienced hair loss because she has to wear a skull cap and work in air-conditioned spaces, she said. “Neck pain is the worst, since we are constantly bending down and working.” She has irregular periods, which she attributes to the air conditioning and the late shifts. “[Among] girls with me on the production line, some six girls have this problem,” Padmini said. Workers said they regularly see colleagues become unwell. “The day before yesterday, a girl fainted and they took her to the hospital,” [...] Padmini, at 26, believes she is close to the age where the company might consider her too old. “They used to hire women up to age 30, now they hire only up to 28,” she said.

[qqueenofhades]

Having seen what's currently happening in Venezuela, I feel so terrible for everyone to tried to vote Maduro out, and I worry about the US election. Will Trump and the GOP be able to do the same thing??

I agree that what's happening in Venezuela is bad and scary, but it's also not unexpected (unfortunately), and it doesn't correlate to the US election. It is very much a cautionary tale for us, but in the case of what could happen, not what has happened yet (and which we could and MUST still avoid). Here's why I think that.

First, Maduro is the heir of 25+ years of dictatorship (first the Chavez regime and then his), and that political machine has had a full generation to fix/control everything in Venezuela just as they want it. They've collapsed the economy, driven mass emigration/purges/brain drains, installed corrupt systems and destroyed civil society, staffed the government with cronies who will only ever do what Maduro personally says -- etc. In other words, exactly what Trump and the Republicans aspire to do here in America, but with 25 years' head start, so all those fixes are well entrenched. Outside observers were also warning well ahead of the Venezuelan vote that even an overwhelming majority for the opposition candidate might not be enough, because Maduro and co. can just fix the result however they want with imaginary fantasy numbers. (See Putin's "win" in the Russian presidential "election.") Because dictators all draw from the same playbook regardless of their professed ideological temperament, they always use the same tools.

Next, voting in Venezuela is all-electronic, which is obviously the easiest kind of voting to jigger, and which means that whatever the people actually select has little to no relevance to what gets published, recorded, or proclaimed. Now, despite the Republicans' constant screaming about ELECTION FRAUD, the 2020 elections in America were widely hailed as the safest, most accurate, and fraud-free in the nation's history. (For that matter, multiple investigations afterward have re-confirmed this, and the tiny handful of cases of election fraud that were found were committed by, you guessed it, Republicans.) This did not happen because of the Orange Fuhrer and co., who were busy trying to commit election fraud on their own behalves, but because America, however flawed, is still a participatory liberal democracy and citizens have the right to engage and to do so in a meaningful fashion. We had the entire investigation about how Russia meddled with the election in 2016, and changes were made. Cybersecurity experts were brought in; redundancies and failsafes were introduced; etc., and even the Russian campaign focused on psychological influence rather than actually, physically changing already-cast votes, because that is very, very hard to do in America. We are not an all e-voting nation; there are paper trails, hard-copy ballots, hand recounts, poll observers, election lawyers, and multiple other safeguards that exist. The Republicans have been attacking them as hard as they can, but they're still there.

Thirdly, the Evil Orange tried to fix the elections when he was the sitting president (don't forget the infamous "find me 11,780 votes" phone call to the Georgia Secretary of State that got him slapped with felony charges), but he couldn't do it even then. He also tried a coup as the sitting president, with full discretion as to whether, for example, the National Guard should be deployed to the Capitol on January 6, and that didn't succeed. As such, when he's a disgraced jobless felon who is not the commander-in-chief of the American military and holds no official or political role, he's definitely not getting it done now. There were reforms made to the Electoral Count Act to prevent another January 6, Biden and not Trump would be the president at any other attempted attack on the counting of electoral votes, and I can guarantee Biden would not sit around for three hours watching Fox News and cheering the rioters on if such a thing happened again. Trump has been threatening violence again because that's the only move in his playbook, and he wants to intimidate people into voting for him out of fear that he'll attack them if they don't give him what he wants, like any other psychopathic bully. But that does not mean he actually has the tools to successfully carry it off, and honestly, motherfucker? Try it one more fucking time. I double fucking dog dare you. Biden has 6 months left in his term and total immunity, according to your own SCOTUS. So.

Basically, Venezuela has already been a banana republic for 20+ years, the dictator has had a full generation to destroy it/remake it/turn it into his personal fiefdom, he allows elections only because he already knows they won't change anything or actually remove him from power, and that is precisely what Trump wants to do in the US -- but, and this is crucial, has not done yet. Which is why it is so, so important to Orange-Proof America and get rid of him once and for fucking all on November 5th. We can do it. So yes.

[girlactionfigure]

🟣 Thu morning  - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

▪️MIN. OF HOUSING BOOTS UNRWA.. The Ministry of Housing has been ignoring UNRWA failing to pay for use of their Jerusalem facility as well as making illegal changes to the property.  The Ministry, at instruction of Minister GoldKnopf, has now given UNRWA 30 days to vacate the premises as well as demanding back payments of over NIS 7 million.

▪️AUSTRALIA VOTES AGAINST PALESTINIAN STATE.. recognition, 80 to 5.

▪️AFTER THE BAT HEFER SHOOTING.. the IDF informed the mayor of a reduction in the reserve force of the standby-alert squad for the town.  The IDF similarly has been reducing the size of the reserves in standby squads in near-Gaza towns.  ???

▪️TULKARM TERRORISTS SAY THEY INFILTRATED AND TRIED TO KILL AN OFFICER.. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Battalions of the Fatah in Tulkarm claim in a proclamation: “Our operatives infiltrated a house in the settlement of Bat Hefer with the aim of eliminating an officer.”  But nicely didn’t slaughter the wife and children when the officer wasn’t found (their words, more or less).

IDF: there was no intrusion into Bat Hefer.

▪️AID LIES.. Samantha Power, head of the US Agency for International Development USAID: Our humanitarian partners working in Gaza tell us that conditions are worse now than ever before. (( And you, of course, believed them and repeat their words with no evidence because JOOOOOOS bad? ))

▪️TRAVEL TO ISRAEL - THE NEW AUTHORIZATION THING..

Israel introduces a new electronic travel authorization (ETA) system for visitors from visa-exempt countries, similar to the US ESTA. 

Visitors from countries that do not require visas to enter Israel will be required to obtain an ETA before boarding a flight to Israel. An ETA will be valid for two years, and allows the holder to enter Israel multiple times. Fee: NIS 25 (approx. US $7).

Israeli citizens, non-citizens with a Teudat Zehut (Israeli ID), and student visa holders are exempt.

Starts June 1 for US & German passport holders.  Mandatory after Aug. 1.

Issued within 72 hours, though it may arrive in a few hours. 

A person can apply any time, you don’t have to be traveling right now.

Apply here -> https://israel-entry.piba.gov.il/

▪️3 HERO SOLDIERS HAVE FALLEN.. two from an attack in Samaria, one in combat in Gaza.  Yedidya Azugi, 21, from Revava, Eliya Hilel, 20, from Tel Tziyon, and Diego Shvisha Harsaj, from Tel Aviv.  May their families be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem, and may G-d avenge their blood!

▪️SWEARING IN.. of the latest Paratrooper trainees at the Kotel last night.  Did you know that included a charedi paratrooper combat brigade?

▪️IRAN LEADER TO US STUDENTS.. at US universities: "Now you are part of the resistance front. You have inspired the rest of the world to act against Israel.”

▪️POLICE STOPPED STOLEN WATERMELONS?  An overloaded vehicle was stopped by Emek Ma’aina, filled to overflowing with watermelons.  Resident of Nazareth suspected of theft of watermelons worth approx. NIS 3,000 (about $815) along with severely unsafe overloaded vehicle.  Mass watermelon theft, who knew?

▪️JERUSALEM PRIDE PARADE.. today at 15:30, expect city traffic disruptions.  Refocused on theme “Born to be free” with a call for return of the hostages.

⭕ HAMAS Rockets at Nirim.

⭕ HEZBOLLAH Suicide Drones at south Golan: Avnei Eitan, Eliad, Afik, Bnei Yehuda and Givat Yoav, Gshur, Haspin, Kfar Haruv, Mevo Hama, Metzar, Neot Golan, Nov, Natur, Ramat Magshimim, Bnei Yehuda Industrial Zone 

⭕ HOUTHI RED SEA ACTIVITY.. US Central Command reported the US navy successfully destroyed two missile launchers of the Houthis. In addition, the forces destroyed two UAVs over the Red Sea. At the same time, the Houthis launched two ballistic missiles against ships.

[sapphicscholar]

Hey so remember how I posted yesterday about how it’s not a great idea to be condescending to people assuming the worst about the surveillance state and the role of the internet and tech companies in upholding and enforcing it? Well anyway, here’s an important thread on the House’s Section 702 “reform” bill, scheduled for a floor vote ASAP (as early as Dec. 12), which would be one of the largest expansions of surveillance within the US (accessible text below the images along with links to the linked articles)

Tweet thread from Elizabeth Goitein:

RED ALERT: Buried in the House intelligence committee’s Section 702 “reform” bill, which is schedule for a floor vote as soon as tomorrow, is the biggest expansion of surveillance inside the United States since the Patriot Act. 1/11

Through a seemingly innocuous change to the definition of “electronic service communications provider,” the bill vastly expands the universe of U.S. businesses that can be conscripted to aid the government in conducting surveillance. 2/11

Under current law, the government can compel companies that have direct access to communications, such as phone, email, and text messaging service providers, to assist in Section 702 surveillance by turning over the communications of Section 702 targets. 3/11

Under Section 504 of the House intelligence committee’s bill, any entity that has access to *equipment* on which communications may be transmitted or stored, such as an ordinary router, is fair game. What does that mean in practice? It’s simple… 4/11

Hotels, libraries, coffee shops, and other places that offer wifi to their customers could be forced to serve as surrogate spies. They could be required to configure their systems to ensure that they can provide the government access to entire streams of communications. 5/11

Even a repair person who comes to fix the wifi in your home would meet the revised definition: that person is an “employee” of a “service provider” who has “access” to “equipment” (your router) on which communications are transmitted. 6/11

The bill’s sponsors deny that Section 504 is intended to sweep so broadly. What *is* the provision intended to do, and how is the government planning to use it? Sorry, that’s classified. 7/11

At the end of the day, though, the government’s claimed intent matters little. What matters is what the provision, on its face, actually allows—because as we all know by now, the government will interpret and apply the law as broadly as it can get away with. 8/11

This isn’t a minor or theoretical concern. One of the FISA Court amici posted a blog to warn Americans about this provision. I can’t overstate how unusual it is for FISA Court amici to take to the airwaves in this manner. We’d be foolish to ignore it. https://www.zwillgen.com/law-enforcement/fisa-reform-bill-702-surveillance/ 9/11

If you don't want to have to worry that the NSA is tapping into communications at the hotel where you're staying, tell your House representative to vote NO on the House intelligence bill this week. More on the many flaws with that bill here: https://t.co/i9PEXmg5r6 10/11

Instead, they should vote for the Protect Liberty & End Warrantless Surveillance Act, a bill passed by the House Judiciary Committee on a 35-2 vote that would reauthorize Sec. 702 with strong reforms to protect Americans’ privacy and civil liberties. https://t.co/CN7ZepGSUu 11/11

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Mike Luckovich

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

May 8, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

MAY 09, 2024

Today, in Racine, Wisconsin, President Joe Biden announced that Microsoft is investing $3.3 billion dollars to build a new data center that will help operate one of the most powerful artificial intelligence systems in the world. It is expected to create 2,300 union construction jobs and employ 2,000 permanent workers. 

Microsoft has also partnered with Gateway Technical College to train and certify 200 students a year to fill new jobs in data and information technology. In addition, Microsoft is working with nearby high schools to train students for future jobs. 

Speaking at Gateway Technical College’s Racine campus, Biden contrasted today’s investment with that made by Trump about the same site in 2018. In that year, Trump went to Wisconsin for the “groundbreaking” of a high-tech campus he claimed would be the “eighth wonder of the world.” 

Under Republican governor Scott Walker, Wisconsin legislators approved a $3 billion subsidy and tax incentive package—ten times larger than any similar previous package in the state—to lure the Taiwan-based Foxconn electronics company. Once built, a new $10 billion campus that would focus on building large liquid-crystal display screens would bring 13,000 jobs to the area, they promised. 

Foxconn built a number of buildings, but the larger plan never materialized, even after taxpayers had been locked into contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars for upgrading roads, sewer system, electricity, and so on. When voters elected Democrat Tony Evers as governor in 2022, he dropped the tax incentives from $3 billion to $80 million, which depended on the hiring of only 1,454 workers, reflecting the corporation’s current plans. Foxconn dropped its capital investment from $10 billion to $672.8 million.  

In November 2023, Microsoft announced it was buying some of the Foxconn properties in Wisconsin.

Today, Biden noted that rather than bringing jobs to Racine, Trump’s policies meant the city lost 1,000 manufacturing jobs during his term. Wisconsin as a whole lost 83,500. “Racine was once a manufacturing boomtown,” Biden recalled, “all the way through the 1960s, powering companies—invented and manufacturing Windex…portable vacuum cleaners, and so much more, and powered by middle-class jobs.

“And then came trickle-down economics [which] cut taxes for the very wealthy and biggest corporations…. We shipped American jobs overseas because labor was cheaper. We slashed public investment in education and innovation. And the result: We hollowed out the middle class. My predecessor and his administration doubled down on that failed trickle-down economics, along with the [trail] of broken promises.” 

“But that’s not on my watch,” Biden said. “We’re determined to turn it around.” He noted that thanks to the Democrats’ policies, in the past three years, Racine has added nearly 4,000 jobs—hitting a record low unemployment rate—and Wisconsin as a whole has gained 178,000 new jobs. 

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act have fueled “a historic boom in rebuilding our roads and bridges, developing and deploying clean energy, [and] revitalizing American manufacturing,” he said. That investment has attracted $866 billion in private-sector investment across the country, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs “building new semiconductor factories, electric vehicles and battery factories…here in America.” 

The Biden administration has been scrupulous about making sure that money from the funds appropriated to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure and manufacturing base has gone to Republican-dominated districts; indeed, Republican-dominated states have gotten the bulk of those investments. “President Biden promised to be the president of all Americans—whether you voted for him or not. And that’s what this agenda is delivering,” White House deputy chief of staff Natalie Quillian told Matt Egan of CNN in February. 

But there is, perhaps, a deeper national strategy behind that investment. Political philosophers studying the rise of authoritarianism note that strongmen rise by appealing to a population that has been dispossessed economically or otherwise. By bringing jobs back to those regions that have lost them over the past several decades and promising “the great comeback story all across…the entire country,” as he did today, Biden is striking at that sense of alienation.

“When folks see a new factory being built here in Wisconsin, people going to work making a really good wage in their hometowns, I hope they feel the pride that I feel,” Biden said. “Pride in their hometowns making a comeback. Pride in knowing we can get big things done in America still.” 

That approach might be gaining traction. Last Friday, when Trump warned the audience of Fox 2 Detroit television that President’s Biden’s policies would cost jobs in Michigan, local host Roop Raj provided a “reality check,” noting that Michigan gained 24,000 jobs between January 2021, when Biden took office, and May 2023.

At Gateway Technical College, Biden thanked Wisconsin governor Tony Evers and Racine mayor Cory Mason, both Democrats, as well as Microsoft president Brad Smith and AFL-CIO president Liz Schuler.

The picture of Wisconsin state officials working with business and labor leaders, at a public college established in 1911, was an image straight from the Progressive Era, when the state was the birthplace of the so-called Wisconsin Idea. In the earliest years of the twentieth century, when the country reeled under industrial monopolies and labor strikes, Wisconsin governor Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette and his colleagues advanced the idea that professors, lawmakers, and officials should work together to provide technical expertise to enable the state to mediate a fair relationship between workers and employers. 

In his introduction to the 1912 book explaining the Wisconsin Idea, former president Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, explained that the Wisconsin Idea turned the ideas of reformers into a workable plan, then set out to put those ideas into practice. Roosevelt approvingly quoted economist Simon Patten, who maintained that the world had adequate resources to feed, clothe, and educate everyone, if only people cared to achieve that end. Quoting Patten, Roosevelt wrote: “The real idealist is a pragmatist and an economist. He demands measurable results and reaches them by means made available by economic efficiency. Only in this way is social progress possible.”

Reformers must be able to envision a better future, Roosevelt wrote, but they must also find a way to turn those ideals into reality. That involved careful study and hard work to develop the machinery to achieve their ends. 

Roosevelt compared people engaged in progressive reform to “that greatest of all democratic reformers, Abraham Lincoln.” Like Lincoln, he wrote, reformers “will be assailed on the one side by the reactionary, and on the other by that type of bubble reformer who is only anxious to go to extremes, and who always gets angry when he is asked what practical results he can show.” “[T]he true reformer,” Roosevelt wrote, “must study hard and work patiently.” 

“It is no easy matter actually to insure, instead of merely talking about, a measurable equality of opportunity for all men,” Roosevelt wrote. “It is no easy matter to make this Republic genuinely an industrial as well as a political democracy. It is no easy matter to secure justice for those who in the past have not received it, and at the same time to see that no injustice is meted out to others in the process. It is no easy matter to keep the balance level and make it evident that we have set our faces like flint against seeing this government turned into either government by a plutocracy, or government by a mob. It is no easy matter to give the public their proper control over corporations and big business, and yet to prevent abuse of that control.”

“All through the Union we need to learn the Wisconsin lesson,” Roosevelt wrote in 1912.

“We’re the United States of America,” President Biden said today, “And there’s nothing beyond our capacity when we work together.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[newkiqx]

Nearly every single modern computer utilizes cobalt, a mineral whose supply chain is so heavily dominated by slave labor that it's practically impossible to ethically source. Ignoring AI, it is even ethical to do digital art at all? The production of a drawing tablet is not a victimless crime.

I feel you when you want to reduce this to something as simple as a comparison. But bear with me (or alternatively, I put a tl;dr/conclusion at the end).

Much of capitalism is unethical - yes. I agree with this point completely. It's impossible to completely avoid unethical consumption in the world we live in. But it's good to be thoughtful of it and I think businesses and governments responsible for bad practice should be held accountable. Sadly I can't change the world on my own in any meaningful way, but i'll do my part where I can & vote people into power that care about this too.

Taking your comparison for a second, I feel like the art project of that OP was asking a much more direct "I bought cobalt I didn't need and then turned into a children's toy, could this be art?". And my reply was basically yeah sure it could be art, but was it worth it? My point is that I'm not sure on that last part, and leaning towards a 'no'. They specifically sourced it unethically and made that the center piece, which is distinct from the utilitarian nature of consumer electronics we need to get through our lives. Unethical sourcing of art can be a goal or statement (like here cw dead pets) but will then of course still be a part of it. I don't think ethics were considered for the post we're discussing though and it instead only discussed the very unproductive 'is it art' discourse. This, of course, matters about as much as my "dick" being objectively "long" or not.

Maybe getting a little sidetracked, but I also want to mention that cobalt is an extremely useful metal, whereas AI.. well.. i've mentioned the very human cost of mturk and the wholesale theft of the entire internet. There's also:

the power required

the jobs in art it threatens and therefore the skilled labor we stand to lose if we're not careful

the inevitable price hike and betrayal of the public as soon as alternatives are out competed (this will happen)

the risks of biases (racism, ableism, sexism) in an opaque weighted system like AI & the fact we cannot deal with this except for slapping some extra prompts in front

AI poisoning our actual collective knowledge with untrue shit. Recent cases in point being the hilarious fake mouse dick science being published and the ai generated inaccurate servals on google, but there's a lot more going on

the risks of companies and people in power using AI to more efficiently screw everybody over and hide behind 'machine told me so' accountability loopholes

the risks of AI being used in all sorts of malinformed use cases

But what are the gains? What do we stand to win? Call me cynical, but we already had an infinite amount of pictures at our fingertips, as well as all the mediocre writing you could ever want (but actually much better because someone loved writing it). I feel like all these general AI's are good for is filling the pockets of some very rich robber barons and grifters, as well as diluting everything that's beautiful and true in the world.

Quick sidenote - Some specialist AI have genuinely already improved the world, like with medical screenings, but even then it's hard to really call it a win because reverse engineering the reasoning of an AI is so fucking hard. And again, they're a slippery slope with insurance companies wanting a piece of that pie badly, just so they can apply their 'justified' penalties to people not even sick yet.

tl/dr; So in conclusion, no, I don't think your comparison holds up. I agree that it sucks that so much of necessary consumption is unethical in ways we can't easily fix as consumers. But one thing bad does not equate other thing good. If anything, it should inspire you to do better where you can make a difference and hold the ones responsible for the exploitation in this world accountable.

Don't let it eat you up though. I'm not even saying you can't use it for inspiration ever. But any art based on these generated pictures cannot be divorced from the ugly side we'd rather not see: the underpaid army of technically not slaves and the wholesale theft of everything.

also sorry but i couldn't not include this (source: matt bors)

[thessalian]

Thess vs The Blessing/Suck Balance

The first thing I will say is that yes, I am well aware that I post a lot about American politics, even though I don't live there. I am going to continue doing so, for a lot of reasons. Like ... most of my nearest and dearest live there, and most of them are in really horrible positions if Trump gets back in. Like ... even if I didn't know anyone in the fucking country, I have this little thing called empathy, and I don't want anyone to suffer what Trump would be willing to do to the US. Like ... also the passingly curious fact that politics does not exist in a vacuum and Trump getting into the White House the first time was already seen as proof that some really horrific shit is not only acceptable but desirable, and this country is bad enough as it is without more of that populist bigoted bullshit. Seriously, having been through the whole "elect a populist leader" bullshit back in 2019 ... vote for Biden. Hell, if the Democrats have to scrap Biden and put a head of lettuce as the Democratic candidate, vote for the fucking lettuce. It would have done a better job than Liz Truss, and will certainly do a better job than Trump.

Anyway.

My migraine is still torturing me. This isn't helped by rising temperatures. It's supposed to get up to 32C tomorrow (nearly 90F, by the way), and ... yeah, a) I'm more sensitive to heat than I used to be because fibro, and b) the meds I'm on are apparently less effective in the heat. Because my life is just fun that way.

However, there was some good about today, and oddly enough, it came out of my stupid Zoom staff meeting. I mean, most of it wasn't great. The bad news was:

They hired New Girl as a permanent member of staff, same as Temp (who I will continue to call temp because that's how we know her now). So I guess that explains why she persistently takes only all the smaller, shorter bits of typing - why should she try harder when she was made permanent on minimal effort? Ugh.

The devs who gave us our frankly janky electronic records system are currently trying to code transcription software into said janky electronic records system. The jackasses do things according to what they find useful and user-friendly, and kind of ignore what functionality the rest of us need to consider it user-friendly, so I'm not looking forward to this. But it's IT, so it'll take half-past forever, so I won't worry about it yet.

They want to add more non-typing work to our collective plates. Scruffman was like, "Look, lemme show you how to do this thing but we won't be starting to ask you to do it, like, tomorrow or anything", as apparently it'll only come to us when we're understaffed and/or he's away. And seemed a little taken aback when I asked him to actually write down the procedure so that we could have it to refer to when we were asked to do the thing, because he won't be there to ask for guidance.

Scruffman does not have an inside voice and having him literally in my ear via earbuds was not a fun experience, given migraine.

However, all that badness aside, here's the good news:

The other issue I flagged up when we were asked to start helping with that particular non-typing work was how hard it was going to be on a small laptop screen. Also flagging up how I requested a proper monitor and a USB hub to plug it into back in fucking January and that apparently stalled right the hell out. So Scruffman's going to try to expedite that, at least. Also Goblin's a little happy with me because me bringing that up flagged up to her that she'd do better with a proper monitor too.

When we got to Any Other Business? I was migrainous and a little fed up in general, so I brought up a few of The Annoyances - specifically the two who refuse to actually dictate a block key and the one who doesn't pause recording while taking measurements and thus makes us listen to an awful lot of silence over the dictation. Apparently, those three had been driving Goblin up the wall too. Now, Scruffman seemed to want us to take that to the guy in charge of the dictating doctors ourselves, but I flagged up that it's actually way more professional to have it coming from the secretary's line manager, since just one of us flagging up the issue could be ignored as just one of us with a problem, and all of us flagging up the issue in separate emails would just be petty. So Scruffman accepted that and hopefully this will make a few of The Annoyances less annoying. (Though nothing will make one of those particular three Annoyances less annoying because ... well, accent. Word salad. It's a thing.)

So I'm trying to focus on the silver lining here. Shame it's kind of balanced by suck in terms of my professional life.

I don't want to cook dinner. I want a curry. Eh well.

[theplottdump]

Queenie: My friends. The time has come to reach a consensus. It has been over a calendar year and we can no longer delay this matter.

Queenie: It is time to select a new leader from those seated at the table amongst us. So I present to the members of this coalition this sole question.

Queenie: How many of you would dare to stand against me?

Brutalist: Respectfully Mama Hong, may I argue that no one here comes close to the level of control we hold over our own sycophants. With the successful launch of our Accursed Foundry System, we have more control over electronic fine art markets than ever.

Simcraft: Yes, but none of it is remotely interesting. The introduction of your advanced AI has left the art world lacking panache.

Perhaps another vacation to Bali is in order? Maybe backpacking through the mountains of Shang Sim-la? Becoming lost and dying of exposure?

Brutalist: You're just bitter because your precious vault has a hole in it the size of your bruised ego.

What votes do you hold here? What sway?

Simcraft: While your sycophants and the common peasant may buy what you're selling, let me clarify something to you. You are neither liked nor despised enough among this council to hold any sway.

While past events have affected my chances, I understand my position here. Do you?

A-EYE: I've run the numbers, and I'm afraid the Doctor is correct. Brutalist: Then perhaps we may use our alliance to tip the scale in a favorable direction.

[gravedangerahead]

top 5 reasons why brazilians are the best

Oooooooh, good one

I. We're very funny and beautiful: you gotta laugh so you won't cry

II. Music: We're just better than everyone else at it. This is no shade at all at everyone else's rich and beautiful musical traditions, it's just hard to reaach our level. Samba, Bossa Nova, MPB, our popular music in general, it's all amazing. Father of pleasure, son of pain.

This year was exceptional in terms of how much brazilian music I listened to, to the exclusion of everything else. Probably because it's an election year. In 2018 Rage Against the Machine suddenly made it to my top 100, this year I listened to A LOT of protest music from the times of the military dictatorship and opened up from there, and I even read a bit about the history of samba and bossa and how it was used to construct a national identity

III. Electronic voting system: it's safe, it's fast, it's awesome. The best in the world.

Complainers are sore losers. And the history of it is pretty fascinating. (I recommend the podcast Paredes São de Vidro)

IV. PENTACAMPEÃO: I temporarily care about football because I wanna feel included.

V. Our capacity as a people to find beauty and joy, to make beauty and joy, under the most painful circumstances. Some of worst atrocities that ever happened took place here. And people did more than just survive it.

They fought to live and to end their oppression, and they also fought to make life worthwhile. Every day. Radical joy, while the world tries to break you.

A lot of these are just general human things, of course, because borders are bullshit and there's only one humankind, but I do like our specific configurations of it.

I'm quite opposed to nationalism but I do truly love my country. And there are a lot of people dressed up in flags right now, defending horrible things in the name of patriotism, who don't love this country half as much as I do. Because you cannot love a country and despise its people.

put “top 5” anything in my ask and i will answer ok go

[urban-orc]

Hey folks!

Just saying that Brazil is the first country to be accepting LGBTQ refugees from any country that criminalize our lives. Yes, this include USA.

This was announced yesterday (may 19).

So... We are here with open arms. This is not an easy country for a lot of things, but we have:

Universal public health

General practitioner, vaccines, AIDS treatment, most common medicines are free or cheap, specialists, dental treatment... Including gender affirming care - there are queues, but it exist.

We have one of the world best dentistry.

Its still starting, but a lot of cities already have veterinary public health, or subsided vets to at least spay/neuter your pets.

Birthing is complicated in general, but there are some free options that are really good.

We don't have an opium crisis and our government break patents of medicines when needed. Insulin is free in the public health system. Condoms too.

Abortion is a current fighting matter.

Public education and universities

Public schools are everywhere. And every school will grant you and kids the basic things like notebooks, pencils, pens, etc, and books. Every school have a library or reading room, the government send new fiction books to schools.

Food is free in public schools, and in the majority of the places, good food. Even if most schools have the kids for 4 or 5 hours, not the entire day, there will be free lunch.

Our educational system is universal, so by law, every child and teen must be studying, disabled kids included.

If you cannot pass the tests for a public college, there are paid colleges you can go with government subsidy, and no one left college with an absurd debt. I mean, really. There are special credit lines to grant that. And the prejudice against community colleges is minimal. Its absolutely common that people work at day and go to college in the night shift.

Black and indigenous people have further affirmative policies to go and stay at college.

Unions and workers rights

Our president used to be an union leader. Even with the recent shit show (we had our own trump/jonhson like asshole) , unions are very present and we have LAWS that protect workers. Including 30 days of paid vacation every year, paid weekend, 50% extra payment for working more than 8 hours day or Sundays, 30% more per hour worked at night, social security services, paid health leave, and retirement.

We have a lot of shit going on in work environment, but unions grant lawyers to help, and everything in our work conditions is better than in USA.

Leftist parties and an almost fair voting system.

Almost because Im an anarchist so, every voting system to me is flawed as fuck BUT how far a voting system can go, Brazilians have the best option.

We have a lot of parties, both left and right. You dont have only two options. We have not one, but two communist party. Our socialist party have a huge queer presence. The presidency now is at the Workers Party hands, a left-centered bunch. I think they are not left enough, but our left center party is still much more to the left than any american party.

Our democracy is direct, every vote have the same value, there are not delegates and caucus and such stuff. Every adult need to vote, so your work cannot stop you from voting. There is one election day, its a holiday because everybody votes in the same day, from 8 am to 6 pm. Since the system is electronic, the same night we have the results.

Also, States are not independent to decide most of things. The laws are federal, so there's a consistency in rights and such things.

The greatest variety of foods

And even if inflation because our last government is still a thing, so food right now is not exactly cheap, we don't have food shortages.

There are no food deserts. Fresh food is easily available, and our climate is good to grow food at home.

In general, Brazilians have much more healthier food accessible than USAians.

And in big cities we have government programs and the MST (our Liga campesina) to help.

Guns are mostly illegal

Yes, thats what you read. We have huge gun control.

There are no school shootings. We had a few school incidents (big part of it with mellee weapons and not guns) by alt right men, but every single one was treated as a national tragedy and there's a real effort so that it don't happen again. In 20 years, we didn't had the amount of shootings that happens in a week in the USA.

Federal investigations of hate groups are happening constantly.

I could go on and on. And yes, we have problems, as any other country. But if you have the chance, come. We have our xenophobes, but mostly is a country that receive well the refugees. We have several organizations that help people to get on their feet. Caritas have even Portuguese classes specially developed for refugees.

There is racism, a lot, but it's very different than in USA, so it will take sone time to figure out wtf.

And we have A LOT of affirmative actions for minorities. We have a strong and huge queer community (better saying, various huge queer communities).

São Paulo Pride parade receives more than 1 million people.

And 1 dolar = 4 or 5 reais. Even if you don't have much money, this will make easier to you start a new life here.

[royaidaydreams]

Double check your state and county’s voting policies

Please, please, please double check your state and county’s voting policies if you live in the U.S. Even if you think you know them, read them again. Lots of political fuckery is occurring to make voting as difficult as possible.

Here’s what happened to me.

Two weeks ago my husband and I, Americans living overseas, requested an absentee ballot to vote in the November midterms. His ballot came back via email immediately, no problem.  Mine ... did not.

Two weeks and TWO absentee ballot requests later, my ballot was also emailed to me. However, my voter registration had been canceled for having “moved out of county.”

This didn’t happen to my husband! He still had his voter registration! Now, I can’t prove why, but I know for a fact the only differences in our paperwork were his (masculine) name and party alignment. He said Independent because his ideology leans farther left than Democratic candidates are willing to vote. I recorded my party as Democrat because I still trusted the integrity of the system wouldn’t try to fuck me over for not voting Republican. I was wrong...

My family disputed the cancellation with the county auditor. I am now re-registered to vote. BUT the auditor informed us our state’s absentee voting laws changed this year and no longer accept emailed ballots from overseas. All civilian ballots must be physically mailed and received before November 2nd.

Our electronic votes would have been ignored without us ever knowing.

So fuck us Americans working on the opposite side of the world, I guess. My husband and I thought we knew what we needed to do in order to vote, but the laws changed since the 2020 election, making it more difficult, almost impossible for us to vote without dropping major money to ship documents across the world.

Moral of the story, triple check your state and county’s voting policies and be vague about your party alignment.

Also, fuck you to the state of Iowa. And the U.S. for limiting its citizens’ right to vote.

[audio-luddite]

Rationalization & Justification

Sometimes I want to pause and figure out why things are as they are. I have noted many times that in the audio hobby people form tribes of rigid beliefs and opinions in the face of contradicting opinions and often facts. This is better, that is better blah blah blah.

First fact: Nelson Pass produced an audio product where the user could turn a knob to adjust the level and perhaps the type of distortion and found that people prefered a certain type and amount of distortion over simple accuracy.

Next Fact: Many people prefer things they describe as warmth and space in say an amplifier. Others prefer neutrality whatever that means. Sum that as preferences rule decisions.

Another Fact: Every audio component has distortion and artifacts and responses that are not in the input signal.

Last fact: "Better things" cost more money.

I think that most of the discussion and arguments over what you use to listen to recorded music is rationalization for purchase decisions. It is economics not what is better, whatever than means.

My preference for vinyl may be because my system is built around it. My turntable, cartridge, and preamp are the most expensive parts of my system. Easy to understand as when I started out LPs were the only quality source available. Replacement cost for that front end would be about 3 to 4 kilodollars based on recent used equipment ads. My CD player was about $400.00.

It is logical to think that if I had spent five to ten times what I did on a CD based system it should sound better, no? My CDs sound pretty good but my best LPs are "better" only by an increment.

Then there is my software base. I have about 600 LPs and maybe 150 CDs. Voting with my wallet LPs won.

So in an absolute objective sonic sense is vinyl better / best? I have my doubts. But as a human I do not have to be objective. Lets put digital versus analog aside for now.

Tubes versus solid state amplifiers next. I think here even the adherents admit it is only a preference. Testing geeks repeatedly prove that the best solid state units generally have less measurable distortion than vacuum tubes. The glass head rebuttal of that is testing people are stupid or if not they cannot measure what we clearly hear as different. Ears are better than meter readouts.

It is clear to me that the things they hear as better are colorations from distortion. Nice pleasant distortion like 2nd harmonics and such. I have gone into much detail on this in previous posts. Oh and I am a long term fan of glass electronics.

When pressed some golden ears admit to masking of details by tube amplifiers but they don't mind that. In reviews of solid state equipment they occasionally admit to transistors being superior for detail but are not warm enough. I can absolutely vouch for a very good tube amplifier masking information I can clearly hear with a transistor amp.

Yet I think the biggest reason for conflict is money. My tube amp, which I think is great, was at least double the cost of my transistor amp, and I got a smoking deal. It is also 1/4 the power. For a given power tube amps cost MUCH more than solid state. Or for the same rough cost they have far less power.

A typical low level tube amp such as an updated Dynaco ST70 is $1500 bucks and up. I see current ads for 6 mid priced tube amps on the Audio mart listing for approximately 1800 CDN all about 60 Watts per channel. In the same place I found 6 Bryston 4Bs at 250 Watts per side for a wee bit more to a great deal less money.

I know that those Brystons have far less distortion than any of those tube amps.

If you just spent double or triple the money for half or much less of the power and several times the measurable distortion you would get a bit defensive, it is only human. Personally I know the things I like about tubes are actually flaws and inaccuracies. To be clear I think these factors apply to power amplifiers. Preamplifiers are different mostly as they do not need output transformers and operate as Class A just like the Transistors do.

There is a sociological / economic thing called conspicuous consumption. Originally described in 1899 by American sociologist Thorstein Veblen during the Guided Age. It is where people who can afford very expensive things buy them to demonstrate they can easily afford them. It is just like an ape drumming his chest in the forest. I place all the really expensive audio equipment in that box and say have fun. Up there the technology or performance doesn't really matter.

[velvetporcelain]

yesterday the girl at the gas station said that red nails were for sluts and I said “pink is for sluts.”

hello. From the underground. From reality. I am a real person. I am a real woman.

Our brains are like an SD card. Do we get a warning when we are low on storage? Do we even recognize the warning? So many things I have forgotten. So many things I don’t want to remember. I take each memory with grace.

Every once and awhile I get the urge to look, but I refuse, by nature — not by choice. My mind sinks thinking about it , slowly slipping down my throat into my stomach. I want to vomit you from my system, but nothing is coming out but words and random feelings. Maybe this is the only way. This is the only thing that truly saves me , writing.

I thought maybe it was because I love to hear myself think. Talking is a different sense. Hearing myself think, hearing myself debate, hearing myself love. I still shake my head when the thoughts run throughout my body and I become a joker of some sort. Leaving my body in rabbit hole fashion. Stretched and fully conscious. Confident it could change any persons perspective. I am not afraid to listen to myself think, and sometimes I think a big part of mental health and wealth is taking the time TO LISTEN- I think people speaks too much time trying to quiet the mind. Yes- I do believe that the mind also needs quiet, but to me if I’m not talking? I’m quiet- while still being very loud in my head. Is that the sickness? Is that the illness? We have taught the world that thinking is the illness instead of learning to do it well, we silence it all, almost ignore it.

My position is life as a mother is extremely important. I show them how to use their mind, body and spirit together — recognizing and regulating the making of thoughts. Thinking. Fucking thinking.

—- school is not thinking, you see — it’s memorization. We are taught to conform, memorize and obey. Naturally you need these in a function society, however, as individuals we are NOT a functioning society, and we need to treat ourselves accordingly. If this makes sense- you will realize the soul crushing work it would take to completely retire the fucking brain. So yeah get the fuck out of my way, I’ve spent the last four years focused on rewiring my brain, and what are you doing? Slaving away for the white man? 👀

Middle class isn’t dying, it’s dead. Rabbit hole. Left turn. Wait a minute man you mispronounced my name.

— ha anyways — that was a landslide of thought. That was raw—- bleeding.

YOU CANNOT FIND ME ANYWHERE ELSE. ⚠️- how is that for a warning? I laugh because I believe it to be true. I embrace individuality and rewiring. I enjoy individuality and rewiring.—- and everything that comes with it. It’s only in my favor that I, me, myself believe these things without feeling the need to convince the world that I have found the way to be an individual.

I don’t want to change the world anymore, well, because I can’t. We can’t. I’ve let go of control, I have let go of my vote. I’m falling off the face of this dream world into my own and I’m deeply in love. Deeply fucking in love.

The tenderness in my hands has remained tender. I can easily recognized callused hands. And I just want to hold them. Just let me hold your hand. Please. And sometimes people aren’t ready for touch- that’s okay? Haha yeah- that’s okay. Remember that show in the 90s called touched by and angel? Yeah , I knew I wanted to be here when I grew up. A well liked, angelic woman who heals with her presence, kindness, gentleness, love, understanding, and problem resolution.

I resent the earth a bit- because it’s killing me. Not so much the actual earth but you know the one where we are aware of our own mortality. That kind.

I’m still smoking cigarettes. I know I’m consciously killing myself—- but I also each the food we sell here- I also am exposed to radioactive electronics 24/7- I drive a car(death trap) —- i drink the forever chemicals in the drinking water—- try to hope I wash the pesticides off the fruit and vegetables—

Liar. Lawyer. Mirror. WHATS THE DIFFERENCE?

I love you. I’ve gone insane again. But that’s what makes you gorgeous- your ability to be insane in the presence of raw and natural existence, life and manifestation —- all from your own brain , body, and spirit. That’s what sets you free, watering, blooming garden of many colors. That’s why they say the beast has many colors— because the beast is you. The one who lives inside you. I think that’s beautiful too.

Vienna waits for me.

-x

[lunarsilkscreen]

Election Conspiracy

"Do you really think NASA is dumb enough to fall for fake sensors?"

That was a response to my previous post on moon landings. The question isn't "Is NASA dumb?" it's "Could the entity NASA be feasibly tricked in such a manner?" AND Is there an agency willing to pool enough resources to make that happen.

So with election fraud, there was in fact several incidents and analysis of the technical hardware brought up that suggests that the interfaces used to interface with the electronic voting system could feasibly be hacked.

University of Michigan Alumni's association posted an article with this exact premise.

In a study on voting machines in a lab setting, they were able to find vulnerabilities and exploit them.

What isn't clear is whether or not the producer of the voting machines had corrected for those vulnerabilities, or if those particular hacks were reproducible on official voting hardware.

And what is only Alleged is voter fraud happening on such a scale.

These two things get conflated in the global and political sphere, where "We hacked them..." Is appended to the Allegations that the election was hacked.

So it sounds like "We know the federal election was hacked, because we [The UofM alumni association] hacked the election".

USB and other ports, are commonly defaulted on computer hardware. There's also the possibility of somebody bringing in a soldering kit with them, disassembling a voting machine, installing a port to hack a machine, reassembling it, and nobody noticing in an official setting.

"What're you doing in that voting booth? ", "Uhh... Masterbating! Don't come in here!"

A person involved in such an attack would have to know the hardware, the firmware, the operating system, and the network infrastructure in order to create such an attack. Yes it is possible. Likely? Not without enough advanced notice, nor without inside information.

They wouldn't be able to waltz into an election booth and circumvent an election, they'd have to do months of research and planning.

Unless, the people at UoM performed the attack themselves, or released their findings themselves in the days leading up to an election, There's little reason to suspect an attack occurred.

Especially since Trump had a team inspecting the hardware. Or did he? If not, what was he doing?

Now, what circumstances would make such an attack likely? If the hardware they used, the firmware, the operating system, and the network infrastructure they used were off-the-shelf products.

I hesitate to say that internalized development and proprietary machines would be a cure-all, because that just means they can hide vulnerabilities, which would then be vulnerable to social engineering.

Fact is; if the digital system is vulnerable, then so is the paper system. Because anybody can fill out any voter ballot with anybody's information.

That's why we have people verifying IDs at the door, and early voters need to register for an official ballot. Hand changing those official ballots would mean a bigger conspiracy than the U.S. could withstand, it might be doable at a county level, but then they'd probably not want "your kind" in that county anyway. You can't stop something if you're the odd person out in that instance.

Paper ballots could also be vulnerable if, for some reason, the Postal Service was weakened or had employees who wanted to cause damage.

But we don't know, because there's not enough public literacy on the topic.