Althouse: Sunrise — 7:06, 7:18, 7:21.

October 22, 2023

Sunrise — 7:06, 7:18, 7:21.

25 comments:

Kai Akker said...: $DJUSRE 20 years
Draw the support trendline and what do you see?; 10/22/23, 6:56 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: Let’s try this again: One of Greta’s protesting friends looks like one of the actors in the movie Uncle Buck

This might also be a way of saying I'm spending a lot of time there. I don't know. It is very popular with women, that site.

One thing I've only noticed today, is that the site r/Doppleganger is misspelled.

When I search the Reddit spelling I get:
Including results for Doppelganger.
Do you want results only for Doppleganger?

That must've been intentional.; 10/22/23, 7:28 PM
Narr said...: There's life in the classics yet. Who'da thunk Bach would sound good on marimbas?

Youtube has a jolly arrangement of the Concerto for Harpsichord, BWV 1052, at TheWaveQuartetVEVO.

Superb.; 10/22/23, 7:32 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: Reddit: I remember when reading/watching the news was not, could not be detrimental.

Then again, maybe people have always been like this; they just didn't have the means to inflict their pain on others this way.; 10/22/23, 7:44 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: Video: How come there's never a guy around when you need one? Or, is it sexist to ask that?

I looked it up, she better get a rabies shot.; 10/22/23, 8:15 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: YouTube: Sounds to me like a lucid Roger Waters pleading for a negotiated solution to the reheating war in the middle east. Meantime I pray, because I believe what we want does not come about until we are willing to ask. This idea appears to be so fundamental it shows up 3 times in the New Testament: Matthew 7:7, Luke 11:9, and John 16:24.; 10/22/23, 9:34 PM
Howard said...: Good point, Lem. The entire point of social media and online infotainment is to influence pain. It's the most lucrative pathway to click-throughs and page views. FUD is also the primary tool of propaganda.; 10/23/23, 3:53 AM
Howard said...: Today is the 40th anniversary. We have a lot of skin in the game. Is it a coincidence that the MEU is about to anchor in the region?

http://beirut-memorial.org/media/index.html

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Beirut_barracks_bombings; 10/23/23, 4:04 AM
Humperdink said...: "The US government on Friday posted a $1.695 trillion budget deficit in fiscal 2023, a 23% jump from the prior year as revenues fell and outlays for Social Security, Medicare and record-high interest costs on the federal debt rose.

The Treasury Department said the deficit was the largest since a COVID-fueled $2.78 trillion gap in 2021. It marks a major return to ballooning deficits after back-to-back declines during President Biden’s first two years in office." (NYPost 10/23)

Bidenomics, it's what's for dinner. Cringe Jean Pierre: "Deficits? What deficits?"; 10/23/23, 4:13 AM
wendybar said...: "In fact, just a few months ago, McConnell said that the war in Ukraine was “the number one priority for the United States right now according to most Republicans. That’s how we see the challenges confronting the country.”

Maybe McConnell and his fellow neocons believe that the war in Ukraine is the top priority, but most Republicans are concerned about the weaponization of the Department of Justice, the censorship of conservative ideas, the poor economy, the high crime rate, the influx of illegal drugs and the open southern border among other issues."

https://townhall.com/columnists/jeffcrouere/2023/10/23/the-gop-is-at-war-with-its-base-n2630209; 10/23/23, 4:25 AM
MadTownGuy said...: The Most Expensive Judicial Race in US History Is Raising Questions

"Updated:
Oct 21, 2023
In the most expensive state judicial race in U.S. history, Janet C. Protasiewicz, a liberal, defeated conservative attorney Dan Kelly in April for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

The record $23 million raised by or on behalf of the Janet for Justice campaign prompted a group of citizen investigators in Wisconsin to look into where all of the money had come from.

Election Watch, an election integrity watchdog group, has now asked the Wisconsin Ethics Commission to investigate campaign contributions made to Ms. Protasiewicz.

The complaint is based on a computer analysis of state and federal databases conducted by Election Watch.

The filing against Justice Protasiewicz is part of a broader nationwide investigation into how both Democrats and Republicans benefit from lax campaign finance rules that may result in violations of contribution limits.

Peter Bernegger, a data analyst with Election Watch, which filed the complaint, told The Epoch Times that the group’s research found that the Protasiewicz campaign has received a myriad of repetitive small contributions purportedly from the same individuals totaling at least $6 million.

According to the complaint, the official reports from the Wisconsin Campaign Finance Information System reveal that 234 of Justice Protasiewicz’s 38,169 contributors donated more than 10 times.

Election Watch has dubbed the observed repetition of thousands of small donations being made under the same name as “smurfing.” It’s occurring nationwide and has been detected down to the municipal election level.

Justice Protasiewicz didn't respond to a request for comment.

Red Flags

A spreadsheet accompanying the Election Watch complaint details a number of questionable contribution patterns. To ensure the privacy of the contributors mentioned in this article, their names have been changed.

Wisconsin voter Mike K., a disabled 66-year-old, has supposedly contributed to various campaigns 6,812 times for a total of $97,021, according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) database."

To be continued...; 10/23/23, 4:51 AM
MadTownGuy said...: More about donations to the Protas

"A summary of an interview by the private investigator with Carol D., an elderly Wisconsin woman, reads: "Upon speaking with the subject regarding her political donation history, she denied making 9,463 political donations as well as $53,361 in donations.

"She stated that her husband allows her to make several political donations, but nowhere near $53,361.

"She also stated that she makes only several donations of $800 to $1,000 per year in a lead up to a big election, such as a presidential election.

Ronald T., 87, is listed on FEC records as donating to candidates and committees across the country 14,524 times for a total of $324,228.

Mr. T. told the private investigator hired by Election Watch that he never made those contributions. Mr. T. is listed as a purported donor to Justice Protasiewicz’s campaign. He's recorded to have given her $113.34 in mostly small increments.

Mr. Larry Z., an 84-year-old Wisconsin voter, purportedly contributed $856 to Janet for Justice in 71 separate transactions, ranging from $1.67 to $500 each, with many occurring on the same day or consecutive days. FEC records show Mr. Z. donating to various candidates and committees 15,520 times for a total of $62,410.

Protasiewicz campaign contributor Mary E., 75, of Maryland, is listed as donating to Janet for Justice 28 times for a total of $230. And, in elections nationwide, FEC records show Ms. E. donating 25,461 times to various candidates and political action committees in the past three election cycles.

All of the elderly donors interviewed were surprised when presented with their purported political contribution records from the FEC and Wisconsin campaign finance records.

Mr. Bernegger explained that both databases are constantly being updated, so an examination of the records represents a snapshot in time.

"The data an investigator sees this month will be somewhat different than he or she saw last month," he said.

Christopher Gleason, an Election Watch computer expert, is one of the developers of the rapid search capabilities that have made it possible for citizen investigators to sift through gigantic quantities of government campaign finance data in seconds. He believes that the transaction patterns suggest that an algorithm is involved in the process.

Donations Exceeding Legal Limit

The Election Watch analysis revealed that six donors to the Janet for Justice campaign allegedly exceeded the state’s $20,000 legal limit for individual contributions.
Donor Glenda R., an elderly woman whose address is listed as a UPS store in Los Altos, California, is said to have given $31,452 to Janet for Justice.
One of the six donors, Conrad Q., exceeded the Wisconsin campaign contribution limit by $21,000. He's listed as having donated four times. The address recorded on his entries matches a UPS store in San Francisco.

On all four of the data entries recording Mr. Q.’s donations, the address was in some way misstated or obscured.

According to the Wisconsin Ethics Commission, political donors aren't required to provide their residential address but must include a valid and accurate street address. Out-of-state campaign contributions are legal in Wisconsin."

More to come.; 10/23/23, 4:59 AM
MadTownGuy said...: Continued...

"Small Donations

Many more possible violations of state law involving numerous small contributions were discovered in entries on Justice Protasiewicz’s campaign finance records, the complaint alleges.
The Wisconsin Campaign Finance Information System data show numerous single donors making a large number of very small donations ranging from $1.50 to $25. The contributions were often made on the same or consecutive days.

In some cases, Election Watch investigators found that groups of smaller donations added up to exceed the $20,000 legal limit for a single donor.

In Wisconsin, a contribution by an individual of less than $200 exempts the donor from having to disclose his or her place of employment.

What’s in a Name?

According to Mr. Gleason, incomplete or omitted data and the use of multiple variations of a person’s name, zip code, or street name could be intentional in order to obscure donors who have exceeded the legal contribution limit.
"Examination by the human eye would determine these are all the same person, but a computer would read each variation as a separate individual," he said.

In the complaint, Mr. Bernegger provided the Wisconsin Ethics Commission with the following evidence from the Federal Election Commission database.

A woman named Jane B. from a Southern state was discovered to have 20 different spellings of her name, five different street address numbers, and three different zip codes.

“This is commonly found in Wisconsin,” Mr. Bernegger wrote.

Under these variations, Jane B. purportedly made 18,654 campaign contributions from 2015 through 2022 to candidates across the country. She supposedly averaged 7.3 donations per day, 365 days per year, for seven years.
Profiling the Donors
Of the 10,200 high-frequency donors that Election Watch identified across the nation, almost all are middle-class, white, retired, or otherwise not employed and range in age from their late 60s to their 90s.
Election Watch researchers used readily available public and commercial information sources to study each of the above individuals in order to create a demographic profile.

They had all donated to candidates and political action committees in the past. Then, allegedly without the donors' knowledge or consent, their names and addresses were used again and again to make multiple political contributions.
From the personal interviews with the donors, investigators learned that very few, if any, of the donations attributed to their names are paid with their own credit cards.

Many have said that their monthly credit card statements show no unusual charges.

It's the practice of most credit card companies to immediately notify the cardholder if suspicious activities are spotted on the customer's account.

The donors interviewed by Election Watch report receiving no such notifications.

The Election Watch complaint states that large, well-organized political fundraising organizations not only serve as conduits for contributions but also act as credit card processors.

Entities such as ActBlue for Democrats and WinRed for Republicans may legally choose to not verify credit cards, pre-paid credit cards, debit cards, virtual cards, overseas cards, and gift cards that are used in millions of transactions."

[Note: the Obama campaign in 2008 is the first one, AFAIK, that switched off capture of the country code for card transactions. Obama Campaign Fined Big for Hiding Donors, Keeping Illegal Donations]

More to come...; 10/23/23, 5:09 AM
MadTownGuy said...: Continued...

"Confident in their data

Because the information sent to the Wisconsin Ethics Commission by Election Watch is sourced directly from the state and federal governments' own databases, Mr. Bernegger and Mr. Gleason contend that their findings are hard to dispute.

After an initial screening and review of the Election Watch complaint and amendment by Wisconsin Ethics Commission staff, the complaint is being passed on to the full commission for further examination, according to a letter from the commission to Mr. Bernegger dated Sept. 25.

"It is sufficient to proceed to the Commission for consideration," the letter reads.

Upon receipt of the letter, Mr. Bernegger offered to meet with the commission's investigators to go over the evidence. He hasn't yet received a response.

Senators Demand Answers

When Election Watch’s discovery of questionable high-frequency, small donations first surfaced earlier this year, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) wrote to the FEC demanding answers and urging an investigation into the practice and ActBlue.

“Recently, alarming reports emerged of fraudulent donations being reported to the FEC by ActBlue," Mr. Rubio’s letter reads.

“These reports indicate that numerous individuals, including senior citizens, have purportedly donated to ActBlue thousands of times a year. However, according to recent investigative reports, many of these individuals had no idea that their names and addresses were being used to give thousands of dollars in political donations, with most of these 'donations' going to ActBlue.

"It should come as no surprise that ActBlue serves as a vessel for fraud, considering the intentional lack of security engrained within their donation processes and systems."

Mr. Rubio called on the big campaign fundraising organizations that receive and process credit card contributions to use the card verification value (CVV) number on the back of the card to be certain that the person named as the donor is actually the one holding the card and giving the money.

“Foreign actors use fake accounts to exploit donation systems that do not have robust verification processes and systems in place,” he wrote in his letter.

Mr. Rubio is actively pushing legislation to mandate better security for all electronic campaign contributions.

In its response, the FEC told Mr. Rubio that it “has not mandated specific procedures to verify the identity of an individual making a credit card contribution over the Internet” and that the Federal Election Commission Act (FECA) “does not specify that political committees are required to collect card verification value numbers on credit and debit card transactions.”

The FEC also stated that the FECA “leaves the political committees with discretion to determine their methods of ensuring their compliance with reporting requirements and contribution source prohibitions and amount limitations.”

The FEC told Mr. Rubio that the agency conducts civil enforcement, while the Department of Justice has criminal enforcement authority over knowing and willful violations."
[Says I: lots luck with asking the DOJ for help.]

"Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), ranking Republican member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, also wrote to the FEC earlier this year to request a staff briefing on the subject.

The FEC failed to comply with his request, prompting Mr. Johnson to write again.

“I am disappointed that the FEC is refusing to provide transparency about its awareness of potential misconduct regarding political donations," he wrote.

“It is important for the FEC to be forthcoming with Congress and the public in order to maintain confidence in the FEC’s abilities to address potential wrongdoing.”

If the Wisconsin Ethics Commission rules against Justice Protasiewicz, her campaign committee could be ordered to return excess contributions to the donors or to put the money in a statutorily specified public fund.

ActBlue didn't respond to a request for comment."; 10/23/23, 5:18 AM
Humperdink said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/23/23, 5:38 AM
gadfly said...: Wendybar: It is difficult to understand how it is possible that honest conservative Republicans are concerned about the weaponization of the DOJ when it was the Trump administration that sought to overthrow an honest election with schemes designed to keep The Donald in power.

Perhaps you should not rely on far-right-influenced opinions at MAGA townhall.com and look at the facts. The Atlantic has a good article on the subject entitled: "The Real Weaponization of the DOJ."; 10/23/23, 5:49 AM
wendybar said...: The Atlantic?? bahahahahha. Okay then.; 10/23/23, 7:18 AM
Big Mike said...: The Atlantic has a good article …

There is no such thing as a good article anywhere in The Atlantic.; 10/23/23, 7:19 AM
Humperdink said...: Comment above deleted due to typo. Argh .....; 10/23/23, 7:26 AM
Scott Patton said...: Someone posted over on Instapundit... feeling middle aged when you pack a c-pap machine in the "spend the night bag".; 10/23/23, 7:31 AM
wendybar said...: "On October 28, 2016, the New York Observer, owned by former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, released a leaked audio clip from back in 2006 in which Hillary Clinton proposed rigging a foreign election to achieve the desired outcome that she wanted.

The media did not report on the audio clip when it was released in 2016 because it would have been extremely damaging to then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Let that sink in: she advocated for rigging the results of an election in another country; how much more so her own?"

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/10/flashback-leaked-audio-reveals-election-denier-hillary-clinton/; 10/23/23, 7:53 AM
Kai Akker said...: The Democratic Party cheats relentlessly on all fronts. They should be prosecuted for their illegal activities against our Constitution.

They need to be investigated by the House Undemocratic Activities Committee. A new HUAC to clean our Augean stables.; 10/23/23, 8:12 AM
tim in vermont said...: If I disappear off of this forum, you are free to believe that I have gone to my reward, but more hopefully, it will be due to having beaten an internet addiction. Last time I dropped off-line for two weeks, I wrote ten thousand words of a novel, I got up to twenty thousand words before I once again succumbed to the lure of easy dopamine hits. If I do come back to Althouse, I hope that it is not before December 1st, and hopefully I can finish the first draft of my novel before the end of "Novel-vember."

I am 'tim in vermont," and I am an Internet addict. (I have been saying the same thing to my IRL friends recently, except with my real name, hoping for a psychological boost in the effort. ) If you watch the movie The End of the Tour, it's about David Foster Wallace and his novel Infinite Jest, which can be read as the world's longest suicide note. In the movie, a fictionalized, but based on an days long interview with Wallace, the fictionalized Wallace claims that although one of the main themes of the book was alcohol addiction, his actual addiction was to watching television, but he couldn't write about it because it wasn't "literary." I think I know how it feels. I see internet addiction everywhere around me, everywhere I go. It's far too commonplace for a novel, and yet it's probably the most serious issue of our time, which is both ironic, and an obvious truth.

BTW, though written in the nineties, when internet graphics were rendered in ASCII and had to be converted by programs separate from the browser, the "Infinite Jest" in the novel was what we would call today a viral video that created so much pleasure in the viewer that he could no longer look away and because a useless zombie. It was being used to conquer the United States by nefarious actors. Kind of like Tik Tok. Wallace also foresaw a populist businessman president who had very unorthodox views of foreign policy, rather than being an imperialist, he was an "experialist," who reminds me greatly of Trump. Once again, I warn everybody against reading it because it's a real slog, and it is going to take a lot more motivation than simply that required to ignore this warning to finish that novel. Not to mention, what were prescient warnings in the nineties, are now just simple statements of the facts of the world around us, embellished for literary effect. Maybe a movie version of Infinite Jest would be a way for Hollywood to approach this issue without being to didactic. Maybe I should write a screenplay from it that's more actually filmable, and see if anybody would buy the rights to the novel to actually make it. It would be a lot like "The Fight Club" I think. But here I am rambling on, when this creative effort could have gone into my novel.

Anybody who feels like this comment resonates with their lives, whatever their goal that they have been steered away from by the sirens of the Internet, they should watch the move "The Social Dilemma" and/or maybe watch this video: Controlling Your Dopamine; 10/23/23, 8:20 AM
Narr said...: Good luck, tim in vermont.; 10/23/23, 8:53 AM
wendybar said...: People like THIS idiot is WHY I refuse to become a Republican, and refuse to continue to elect people just because of the letter after their name.
If you wonder WHY people love Trump, it is idiots like this who hate us who make us turn to the only guy who seems to care about the rest of us... He isn't any better than the idiots on the left.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/10/nebraska-rino-don-bacon-compares-america-first-movement/; 10/23/23, 10:22 AM