Worth a Look: The Swing Vote – The Untapped Power of Independents

Access, Cultural Intelligence
Amazon Page
Amazon Page

Do half of Americans stand on the right and the other half on the left with a no-man’s-land between them? Hardly. Forty percent of all American voters are Independents who occupy the ample political and ideological space in the center. These Americans are anything but divided, and they’re being ignored. These Independents make up the largest voting bloc in the nation and have determined the outcome of every election since World War II. Every year their numbers grow, as does the unconscionable disconnect between them and the officials who are supposed to represent them.

Killian paints a vivid portrait of the swing voters around the country and presents a new model that reveals who they are and what they want from their government and elected officials. She also offers a way forward, including solutions for fixing our broken political system. This is not only a timely shot across the bows of both parties but an impassioned call to Independents to bring America back into balance.

Bernie Sanders: The GOP Debate Tweet of Tweets

Access

Sen. Bernie Sanders“It's over. Not one word about economic inequality, climate change, Citizens United or student debt,” Sanders (I-Vt.) tweeted as the two-hour-long debate wrapped up. “That’s why the Rs are so out of touch.”

Phi Beta Iota: Kudos for Fox for tough questions, but Senator Sanders is correct — all the major serious issues were left out of this first debate. HOWEVER, Senator Sanders is also a hypocrit — he offers platitudes in these areas but is absolutely committed to the maintenance of the existing dysfunctional two-party system. The difference between Trump and Sanders is clear: Trump is willing to break from the two-party tyranny, Sanders is not.

Matt Taibbi: In the Age of Trump, Will Democrats Sell Out More, or Less?

Access, Ethics, Government
Matt Taibbi
Matt Taibbi

In the Age of Trump, Will Democrats Sell Out More, Or Less?

The collapse of the GOP gives the Democrats an opportunity to abandon “lesser evilism” — but they probably won't

EXTRACT

The Democrats could take this godsend of a Trump situation and use it as an opportunity to finally have a healthy primary season debate about what they want to stand for in the future. But nah to that. They'll probably just hoover donor cash and use press surrogates to bash progressives the way they always have. Trump or no Trump, if politicians don't have to work for your vote, they won't.

Continue reading “Matt Taibbi: In the Age of Trump, Will Democrats Sell Out More, or Less?”

IVN: No Party Preference — and Not Voting: Latinos and Asian-Americans

Access

IVNWhy Aren’t The Two Fastest Growing Demographics in Calif. Voting?

Only one in three eligible voters cast a ballot in the 2014 general election to elect all the statewide offices, congressional representatives and approve initiatives, a record low. But, for two of California’s fastest growing groups, the numbers are even more troubling.

Continue reading “IVN: No Party Preference — and Not Voting: Latinos and Asian-Americans”

Third Parties Win Ballot Access in Pennsylvania

Access
Average Joe Super Hero
Average Joe Super Hero

Pennsylvania Third Parties Win Key Petition Ruling

The court ruling is a major victory for disparate Pennsylvania third parties on petitioning rules | Democracy, elections and voting at Democracy Chronicles

This is a major victory for ballot access. The case was won by Oliver Hall, who has been Ralph Nader’s ballot access attorney for many years.

Continue reading “Third Parties Win Ballot Access in Pennsylvania”

Berto Jongman: Say NO to Mandated Cyber – Insecurity (“Keys Under Doormats”)

Access, Security
Berto Jongman
Berto Jongman

Keys Under Doormats: Mandating insecurity by requiring government access to all data and communications

We have found that the damage that could be caused by law enforcement exceptional access requirements would be even greater today than it would have been 20 years ago. In the wake of the growing economic and social cost of the fundamental insecurity of today’s Internet environment, any proposals that alter the security dynamics online should be approached with caution. Exceptional access would force Internet system developers to reverse “forward secrecy” design practices that seek to minimize the impact on user privacy when systems are breached. The complexity of today’s Internet environment, with millions of apps and globally connected services, means that new law enforcement requirements are likely to introduce unanticipated, hard to detect security flaws. Beyond these and other technical vulnerabilities, the prospect of globally deployed exceptional access systems raises difficult problems about how such an environment would be governed and how to ensure that such systems would respect human rights and the rule of law.

PDF (34 Pages)

Antechinus: Battle for Open Access to Information

Access
Antechinus
Antechinus

The battle for open-access information

A PhD candidate’s online open-access publishing forum is a boon for those wishing to access texts and transcripts free.

Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves. The world’s entire scientific and cultural heritage, published over centuries in books and journals, is increasingly being digitised and locked up by a handful of private corporations … Forcing academics to pay money to read the work of their colleagues? Scanning entire libraries but only allowing the folks at Google to read them? Providing scientific articles to those at elite universities in the First World, but not to children in the Global South? It’s outrageous and unacceptable.