@jennycohn1's Threads
186 added
Brilliant thread by @MarilynRMarks1 regarding vote by mail. Yes, we should expand it in November due to the coronavirus. But we need as much transparency as possible bc it, too, can be scammed or otherwise mishandled. #VetTheVendors #VoteByMail #coronavirus 1/
2/ We must ensure that each state gives voters notice and sufficient opportunity to cure any defects in their mail ballots.
3/ We need a way to publicly quantify different problems that voters encounter, including with expanded vote by mail. It would be nice if the Voter Protection Hotline would publish its statistics. This type of info is necessary to enable any mishaps or fraud to be detected.
Genocide does not require hands-on killing: “Guns are not necessary. Mass death camps are not necessary...[H]olding back necessary supplies & aid for political purposes constitutes genocide & has led to some of the most tragic moments in human history.” 1/ themuckrake.com/main/genocide
“We’ve seen it with Stalin, with Mao, with Pol Pot, with the British Empire in India, in colonies around the world.
In the United States with the systematic eradication of the Native People.” 2/
In the United States with the systematic eradication of the Native People.” 2/
“What we see coming at this moment is a textbook genocide, a targeting of individuals for purposes of political retribution.” 3/
Trump punishes another Democratic governor. This time it’s Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, which is becoming another coronavirus hit spot. 1/
Another election scam underway in Georgia. First they assure us that changing voters’ registration status to “inactive” doesn’t necessarily mean they will be purged. Then they suppress those voters during the coronavirus pandemic w/ a verbal sleight of hand. 😡 #gapol #shameless
“A Medical Worker Describes Terrifying Lung Failure From COVID-19 — Even in His Young Patients”
“‘I’ve never seen a microorganism or an infectious process cause such acute damage to the lungs so rapidly. That was what really shocked me.’” 1/ propublica.org/article/a-medi…
“‘I’ve never seen a microorganism or an infectious process cause such acute damage to the lungs so rapidly. That was what really shocked me.’” 1/ propublica.org/article/a-medi…
“‘It first struck me how different it was when I saw my first coronavirus patient go bad. I was like, Holy shit, this is not the flu. Watching this relatively young guy, gasping for air, pink frothy secretions coming out of his tube and out of his mouth.” 2/
“‘The ventilator should have been doing the work of breathing but he was still gasping for air, moving his mouth, moving his body, struggling. We had to restrain him. With all the coronavirus patients, we’ve had to restrain them.‘“ 3/
Trump won’t care if this happens in NY or California or Washington state. It’s as if he’s trying to ensure that it does.
Agree. It doesn’t make sense. And we’ve never been told why Trump was rushed to Walter Reed on 11/16/19, the day before the first coronavirus case was reported in China.
Link: huffpost.com/entry/trump-wa…
Link: nypost.com/2020/03/13/cor…
Link: huffpost.com/entry/trump-wa…
Link: nypost.com/2020/03/13/cor…
And yes Trump really is a germaphobe. This from 2019. politico.com/story/2019/07/…
“Autocracy is not the cure for the coronavirus.”
“There are few things more enticing to an autocratic government than a pretext to surveil and detain citizens. “ 1/ slate.com/news-and-polit…
“There are few things more enticing to an autocratic government than a pretext to surveil and detain citizens. “ 1/ slate.com/news-and-polit…
“Putin is using the instability provoked by the virus as part of the justification for constitutional changes that would allow him to run for a fifth term, and to ban mass protests against the vote.“ 2/
“The need to enforce quarantine orders has also provided a convenient test case for the Russian authorities to roll out their expanded facial recognition and surveillance capabilities.” 3/
Lawsuit by the City of Costa Mesa, California against the Trump Administration:
“Trump Admin Using Coronavirus as Political Weapon to Punish California and ‘Reward’ Red States” 1/ lawandcrime.com/lawsuit/lawsui…
“Trump Admin Using Coronavirus as Political Weapon to Punish California and ‘Reward’ Red States” 1/ lawandcrime.com/lawsuit/lawsui…
“On 2/23/20, ... Trump spoke w/ Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby & promised to protect....AL by not sending Coronavirus patients to that state even tho the facility there is a former military base.. & one of the most suitable in the country to handle...2/
...the unique challenges of isolating & treating Coronavirus patients. Yet Health & Human Services Secretary Alex Azar confirmed to Alabama Congressman Mike Rogers that no one exposed to Coronavirus would be sent to the Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, Alabama.” 3/
This is meant to distract from the fact that Trump has the power to order production of face masks, ventilators, etc. & yet refuses to do so. Steve Bannon & Jason Miller have a new show: “War Room: Pandemic.” It was Miller who anointed Trump a “wartime president.” #propaganda 1/
2/ In 2014, Wylie & Bannon “began testing slogans like ‘drain the swamp’ & ‘the deep state’ & ‘build the wall,’ & found a surprising number of Americans who responded strongly to them.”
“All they needed was a candidate to parrot them.” newyorker.com/news/news-desk…
“All they needed was a candidate to parrot them.” newyorker.com/news/news-desk…
3/ Yku can be sure that Bannon tested out the phrase “wartime president,” and it flew off the chart. 😡
Trump’s approval is up. Much of the public has no idea that Trump cld order production of masks & ventilators & yet has refused to do so. As others have noted, his misleading propaganda pressers have taken the place of rallies. The media must stop airing them NOW. #coronavirus
I should have said “reportedly” or “allegedly” up.
Another poll.
“The German government just placed an order for 10,000 mechanical ventilators. What’s the U.S. government doing about a potential shortage here? Not much, it seems. “ forbes.com/sites/baldwin/…
You want to know what may happen in the US while we literally fight for our lives against the coronavirus? Take a look at what Trump’s pals, Netanyahu and Putin, are up to. #powergrab 1/
“Coronavirus forces Putin critics to scale back protests before big vote” on amendment that will allow Putin to run again for president in 2024. 3/ mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/id…
Our elected representatives & media must remain on high alert for power grabs during this nightmare. Counter-messaging to Trump’s propaganda (I’m a “wartime president,” etc.) is crucial. They must enlist help from experts who are skilled at counter-propaganda. @GeorgeLakoff 4/
“The rules for the chain of custody of [mail] ballots, which can be a source of litigation and claims of fraud, must be clearly specified in advance.” #ExpandedVoteByMail by @lawfareblog 1/ lawfareblog.com/ten-recommenda…
2/ “Election officials should communicate frequently with the public and be transparent as counting progresses.”
“Some local jurisdictions livestream the counting of their absentee ballots, while others install large glass walls outside their centralized tabulators to allow the public to watch. More measures like this are required.” #TransparentElections 3/
Handout outlining the logistics of scaling up vote-by-mail due to coronavirus. Note the technology involved in processing & sorting ballots & verifying signatures. If centralized, will vendors take it over, as in Brexit? cc: @AmberMcReynolds 1/ voteathome.org/wp-content/upl…
I support expanded use of vote by mail (giving every voter the option) due to coronavirus. But we need at least one or two weeks of experts hashing out the risks so that they can be mitigated effectively. 2/
All voting systems can open the door to fraud if sloppily implemented. We are in a rush, but need to get this right. Experts, pls weigh in! Publicly if possible! Thanks. 3/
“Some elections have long had problems with voters not receiving their absentee ballots before Election Day, & this would probably be exacerbated in a universal vote-by-mail election.“ By @kimzetter 1/ politico.com/news/2020/03/1…
“Hence the proposed bill [introduced by @RonWyden & @amyklobuchar] includes the provision to allow distribution via email or online, though not the return of completed ballots that way for security reasons.” 2/
But “ballots that voters print out themselves present additional problems — most election scanners can’t read ballots cast on standard printer paper, so election staff have to hand-transfer the votes to a ballot made from official ballot stock.“ 3/
@HillaryClinton Counties should mail out ballots w/in 48 hours of voters requesting them. Voters must be able to pick them up in person at the county if they don't arrive. Voters must be able to track their ballots after they mail them. They need notice & an opportunity to cure defects. 1/
@HillaryClinton A significant problem with vote by mail is that voters sometimes don't receive them on time or at all. The chair of the LA County Bd of Supervisors recently announced that SEVENTEEN THOUSAND vote-by-mail voters didn’t get mailed a ballot in the primary! 2/
@HillaryClinton Many voters in South Florida in 2018 also didn't receive their mail ballots. There must be transparency and some form of remedy when this occurs. There must be a way to quantify the scope of the problem in case it warrants an election challenge. 3/ palmbeachpost.com/news/20181110/…
“‘My oxygen had less than a half hour left on the machine, & I had to go home,’ disabled Navy veteran Rodney Davis, 52, of Delray Beach [Florida] said of being turned away from his designated polling location.” 1/ palmbeachpost.com/news/20200317/…
“Davis said he was told the registrar failed to show up so they had no way to turn on the voting machines. He went to two other nearby locations, but said he was turned away at both.” 2/
“Workers, he said, told him the law dictates that, while he could have voted at any location during the early voting period, on voting day his only option was to go to the Supervisor of Elections Office if his assigned polling place was closed.” 3/
I’m compiling posts re: problems voting during today’s Florida primary. Pls reply with any others that you find. Thanks. Thread. 1/
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I’m compiling Twitter posts re: problems with voting during the Illinois primary today. Pls reply with any others that you hear about. Thanks. Thread. 1/
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Dear @orlandosentinel and @WCIA3: I’ve seen multiple people posting this. Is it true? Did each of you post primary election results a day early? If so, please explain immediately. Thanks.
Here is the official explanation from @WCIA3. They say they accidentally aired the “test page.”
The Orlando Sentinel one says it’s “test data” too. 
New HBO documentary @KillChaindoc “makes the case that voting insecurity in the US can and should be drastically improved.“ cc: #HandMarkedPaperBallots #ManualAudits 1/ wired.com/story/hbo-kill…
“It focuses on...core issues, like voting machines that don't produce any type of paper record that can be used to verify an election's results. Or how the paper records some of the machines do produce contain a barcode or other machine-readable output that voters can't parse” 2/
“Precincts need...to perform stringent post-election audits, like the gold standard known as risk-limiting audits. And even precincts and states that have the records to perform audits often don't have policies in place to actually carry them out.” 3/
“A majority of Shelby County [TN] commissioners have approved a resolution backing hand-marked paper ballots, claiming in the resolution that they are the most secure voting system available.” 1/ dailymemphian.com/article/11568/…
“Five Republican state legislators from Shelby County, however, sent a letter to Republican members of the local election commission in February saying they favor touch screen machines to avoid ‘human errors.’” 2/
But at least with hand marked paper ballots (as opposed to machine marked), you don’t have to worry about MACHINE errors, electronic failure, or hacking. Voters themselves can just as easily make mistakes when using a touchscreen as opposed to a hand marked ballot. 3/
Amazing how many times the Trumps can be exposed to covid19 and NOT appear to catch it. Maybe they are carriers.
