msnbc--2020-10-28--Trump's attack on American government won't end if he loses. His latest order proves it.

When President Donald Trump said `` these people are sick '' during remarks to donors before his final debate with former Vice President Joe Biden last week , he was n't talking about the nearly 9 million people in the United States inflicted with Covid-19 or the resurgent pandemic that seems to spread wherever he holds a rally .
The people Trump was referring to as `` sick '' appeared to be the civil service professionals who devote their careers to serving our country .
`` You have a lot of people from past administrations , '' he complained , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I fired some . ''
The comments spoke to Trump 's unprecedented assault on professionalism in the ranks of our federal government , which he now promises to accelerate should he win a second term .
Specifically , they expanded on a sweeping executive order he had signed the day before to reclassify thousands of professional civil service jobs as `` political , '' thus permitting the president to replace professionals and experts throughout the federal government — who swear an oath to the Constitution , not to any president — with sycophants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump 's own appointee to the Federal Salary Council , which helps oversee the professional civil service , resigned in protest .
In a letter , Sanders warned that Trump 's order was a `` smokescreen '' designed `` to replace apolitical expertise with political obeisance . ''
If Trump wins , he has now ensured he 'll have the power to rapidly accelerate these damaging trends .
Even if he loses , in which case the executive order would likely not be upheld by Biden , it will take years to restore @ @ @ @ @ @ @ departments and agencies , from the State Department to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
It 's a hallmark of the Trump administration that in four short years it has managed to degrade America 's professional and nonpolitical institutions , from our intelligence services to our diplomatic corps to the doctors and scientists in our public health agencies .
The president is now sending every signal that his second term , in this regard , would be even worse .
No doubt , there could be more flexibility and discretion in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The interagency process can be cumbersome , a frustration felt by Trump 's predecessors .
( Harry Truman famously said of his incoming successor : `` He 'll sit here and say , 'Do this !
Do that ! '
and nothing will happen .
Poor Ike — it wo n't be a bit like the Army . ''
) But as Sanders warned , Trump 's reforms do n't aim to increase efficiency — rather , they aim to enable a wholesale de-professionalization of government service .
It 's part of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which shows little appreciation for the very idea of service in behalf of the American people , as opposed to service in behalf of a president 's personal interests .
I spent two years during the Trump administration in the State Department as the president 's special envoy , helping to lead the campaign against the Islamic State .
I held the same position under Barack Obama , and before that , I served on George W. Bush 's National Security Council .
These were not career posts : I served at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most people in positions in the upper ranks of an administration .
But it would have been impossible to get anything done , let alone competently , without depending on career professionals on my staff and in the ranks of our nonpolitical diplomatic , military and intelligence corps .
One of my colleagues in the Trump administration was Michael McKinley , a four-time U.S. ambassador and then senior adviser to Mike Pompeo , Trump 's secretary of state .
McKinley quit in late 2019 .
Last week , he explained why , writing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the diplomatic corps is likely to be `` generational '' after `` the department turned its back on its own staff . ''
For McKinley , the last straw was a White House campaign to denigrate Marie Yovanovitch , our career ambassador in Ukraine , after she refused to go along with a scheme to withhold security assistance from the country until it launched a fraudulent investigation of Biden .
McKinley resigned when nobody at the State Department stood up for Yovanovitch , who had dedicated her professional life to serving our country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ warns about `` the misuse of career professionals in Washington and abroad to pursue a U.S. electoral advantage . ''
No matter what , America 's public servants must know a president has their back .
What holds true for Yovanovitch when facing off against Russians in Ukraine applies equally to scientists and doctors in our public health institutions ( who are `` idiots , '' according to Trump ) .
We count on them to tell the truth even when it may be difficult to hear or it is an unwanted intrusion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shaped by social media and cable news .
Competent presidents seek out the truth , regularly inviting government experts into the Oval Office and asking them , in the words of President Dwight D. Eisenhower , to `` lay out the facts cold and hard '' before major decisions are made .
It 's up to a president to create an environment for such truth-telling , which starts with showing respect for the professionals in the ranks who do the work every day .
Those professionals need to know that they will not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ facts to superiors or standing up for American values overseas .
In early 2016 , I was flying to Turkey with then-Vice President Biden .
We had a difficult set of meetings with Turkish officials , including the president , Recep Tayyip Erdoğan , who was cracking down on dissent at home and doing little at the time to stem the flow of foreign fighters in and out of Syria .
Biden 's immediate focus , however , was the U.S. ambassador , John Bass , a career diplomat who was under fire @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recent crackdown as contrary to democratic values .
Biden understood that for an ambassador to be effective , everyone in the host country had to know that he or she spoke for the United States .
So he went out of his way to make it clear — before he even met with Turkish officials — that he had Bass ' back .
On the first morning of our visit , he spoke to the media about John .
`` He speaks for my government , '' he said .
`` He speaks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is what any president should say about professionals serving our country in tough assignments , whether for those protecting us from diseases at home or those representing us in foreign capitals abroad .
It could not be a sharper contrast to the current occupant of the Oval Office , who seems to have nobody 's back but his own .
That should be an important consideration when voting Nov. 3 .

When President Donald Trump said "these people are sick" during remarks to donors before his final debate with former Vice President Joe Biden last week, he wasn't talking about the nearly 9 million people in the United States inflicted with Covid-19 or the resurgent pandemic that seems to spread wherever he holds a rally. The people Trump was referring to as "sick" appeared to be the civil service professionals who devote their careers to serving our country. "You have a lot of people from past administrations," he complained, "and they're civil service. I fired some."
The people Trump was referring to as “sick” appeared to be the civil service professionals who devote their careers to serving our country.
The comments spoke to Trump's unprecedented assault on professionalism in the ranks of our federal government, which he now promises to accelerate should he win a second term. Specifically, they expanded on a sweeping executive order he had signed the day before to reclassify thousands of professional civil service jobs as "political," thus permitting the president to replace professionals and experts throughout the federal government — who swear an oath to the Constitution, not to any president — with sycophants. In response, Ronald Sanders, Trump's own appointee to the Federal Salary Council, which helps oversee the professional civil service, resigned in protest. In a letter, Sanders warned that Trump's order was a "smokescreen" designed "to replace apolitical expertise with political obeisance."
NEW: Ronald Sanders, a Trump appointee and chairman of the Federal Salary Council has resigned effective immediately, citing Trump's recent exec order on federal worker classification changes as the cause.
Background on EO: https://t.co/vBXpIPNfoY
Portion of Sanders' letter: pic.twitter.com/eBNlR97C6B — Brandi Buchman (@BBuchman_CNS) October 26, 2020
If Trump wins, he has now ensured he'll have the power to rapidly accelerate these damaging trends. Even if he loses, in which case the executive order would likely not be upheld by Biden, it will take years to restore the depleted ranks of experts across federal departments and agencies, from the State Department to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It's a hallmark of the Trump administration that in four short years it has managed to degrade America's professional and nonpolitical institutions, from our intelligence services to our diplomatic corps to the doctors and scientists in our public health agencies. The president is now sending every signal that his second term, in this regard, would be even worse.
No doubt, there could be more flexibility and discretion in reorganizing federal departments to face new crises. The interagency process can be cumbersome, a frustration felt by Trump's predecessors. (Harry Truman famously said of his incoming successor: "He'll sit here and say, 'Do this! Do that!' and nothing will happen. Poor Ike — it won't be a bit like the Army.")
But as Sanders warned, Trump's reforms don't aim to increase efficiency — rather, they aim to enable a wholesale de-professionalization of government service. It's part of the broader story of Trump's presidency, which shows little appreciation for the very idea of service in behalf of the American people, as opposed to service in behalf of a president's personal interests.
No matter what, America’s public servants must know a president has their back.
I spent two years during the Trump administration in the State Department as the president's special envoy, helping to lead the campaign against the Islamic State. I held the same position under Barack Obama, and before that, I served on George W. Bush's National Security Council. These were not career posts: I served at the pleasure of the president, like most people in positions in the upper ranks of an administration. But it would have been impossible to get anything done, let alone competently, without depending on career professionals on my staff and in the ranks of our nonpolitical diplomatic, military and intelligence corps.
One of my colleagues in the Trump administration was Michael McKinley, a four-time U.S. ambassador and then senior adviser to Mike Pompeo, Trump's secretary of state. McKinley quit in late 2019. Last week, he explained why, writing that the damage Trump has done to the diplomatic corps is likely to be "generational" after "the department turned its back on its own staff."
For McKinley, the last straw was a White House campaign to denigrate Marie Yovanovitch, our career ambassador in Ukraine, after she refused to go along with a scheme to withhold security assistance from the country until it launched a fraudulent investigation of Biden. McKinley resigned when nobody at the State Department stood up for Yovanovitch, who had dedicated her professional life to serving our country since the Reagan administration. He rightly warns about "the misuse of career professionals in Washington and abroad to pursue a U.S. electoral advantage."
No matter what, America's public servants must know a president has their back. What holds true for Yovanovitch when facing off against Russians in Ukraine applies equally to scientists and doctors in our public health institutions (who are "idiots," according to Trump). We count on them to tell the truth even when it may be difficult to hear or it is an unwanted intrusion for a president living in a world shaped by social media and cable news. Competent presidents seek out the truth, regularly inviting government experts into the Oval Office and asking them, in the words of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, to "lay out the facts cold and hard" before major decisions are made.
It's up to a president to create an environment for such truth-telling, which starts with showing respect for the professionals in the ranks who do the work every day. Those professionals need to know that they will not be penalized or shunned after reporting troubling facts to superiors or standing up for American values overseas.
In early 2016, I was flying to Turkey with then-Vice President Biden. We had a difficult set of meetings with Turkish officials, including the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was cracking down on dissent at home and doing little at the time to stem the flow of foreign fighters in and out of Syria. Biden's immediate focus, however, was the U.S. ambassador, John Bass, a career diplomat who was under fire from Turkish officials for calling out the recent crackdown as contrary to democratic values. Biden understood that for an ambassador to be effective, everyone in the host country had to know that he or she spoke for the United States.
So he went out of his way to make it clear — before he even met with Turkish officials — that he had Bass' back. On the first morning of our visit, he spoke to the media about John. "He speaks for my government," he said. "He speaks for the American people." That is what any president should say about professionals serving our country in tough assignments, whether for those protecting us from diseases at home or those representing us in foreign capitals abroad.
It could not be a sharper contrast to the current occupant of the Oval Office, who seems to have nobody's back but his own. That should be an important consideration when voting Nov. 3.


msnbc--2020-10-27--My election anxiety scoffs at your 'numbers' and 'data'

As we careen toward Election Day , as much as I want to listen to the data , I ca n't let myself stop obsessing over all of the unknowns that lurk between now and then .
By most tangible measures , former Vice President Joe Biden is in the final countdown to an electoral win , seeming to condemn President Donald Trump to a single term .
National polling has been almost eerily consistent since Biden sewed up the Democratic nomination .
As of Monday , the latest NBC News National Polling Average showed that Biden holds a 7.4 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to 43.9 percent .
National polls can be misleading , though — a fact that still lingers like a bruise on the amygdala from four years ago .
Zooming in on the battleground states , though , the tightening we saw in Trump 's race against Hillary Clinton just is n't at play here .
In states that are necessities for Trump , it 's hard to see the gaps closing .
According to the RealClearPolitics average , we 're seeing Biden up by 8.1 points in Michigan , by 5.4 points in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Those states — paired with Pennsylvania , where he 's up 4.8 — are enough to push Biden over the edge if the rest of the map remains the same from 2016 .
Biden , in a bit of confidence that some might call hubristic , declared on Monday that he 'd win all three Midwest must-wins .
And states that once seemed out of grasp are apparently in play .
Does anyone think for sure that Biden is going to win Texas ?
Not with any certainty .
But the fact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — and that Biden 's running mate , Sen. Kamala Harris , is being sent to campaign there in the homestretch — is absolutely wild .
Part of the reason they 're able to devote resources to longer shots like Texas and Georgia — which Biden is visiting Tuesday — is the bonkers cash advantage the Biden camp has over the president 's re-election bid .
October began with Biden sitting on a war chest of $ 432 million , versus $ 251 million in the Trump camp .
Trump has tried at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a sign that he 's the less corrupt of the two candidates , since he 's not calling up companies and PACs to beg for money , even as he 's spent his entire term breaking down ethical barriers between the White House and the wealthy .
He 's , in fact , being forced to spend time fundraising instead of campaigning to make up for his campaign 's having burned through roughly $ 1 billion .
That 's before we even get into the early voting numbers .
NBC News ' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ advantage for the Democrats thus far .
Of the 55.5 million ballots already cast , 45 percent of those from voters whose party affiliations are known are from Democrats .
The early turnout does n't exactly guarantee the results when votes are tallied next week .
It is , though , votes in the bank that reduce the number of people who have to be turned out to the polls next Tuesday .
Of the intangibles , it feels like assured victory at the ballot box for Biden , even if the reporters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ frame it that way .
Politico recently noted that , if anything , the political media are doing everything they can to avoid stressing that narrative in these final days of the campaign : '' In normal times for normal candidates , the politician running significantly behind suffers from every news story starting with a dependent clause : 'With time running out and supporters increasingly worried of an electoral debacle ... ' Or perhaps : 'Amid finger-pointing among campaign aides and despair among party allies ... . '
Cumulatively , this creates a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before the actual death arrives .
`` Generally , Trump has avoided this phenomenon .
While there is lots of coverage illuminating the reasons he is in trouble , or even forecasting that defeat is significantly more probable than victory , the dominant storyline is far from , 'Why even bother waiting for Election Day — let 's just admit this thing is over . '
'' So , with all of these facts in hand ... why wo n't my heart stop pounding ?
Psychologists at San Francisco State University found in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the presidential race two years previously were severe enough in the young people they studied to resemble PTSD .
The narrative then had been that Trump would suffer an ignominious , if narrow , defeat and we 'd go about four years of a relatively boring second Clinton administration .
Instead , as the researchers found , `` the average stress score of students was comparable to the scores of witnesses to a mass shooting seven months after the event . ''
That feeling is hard to shake , despite all the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and trapped between a sense of unbridled optimism and sheer dread , '' Abington Township , Pennsylvania , Commissioner Bill Bole told The Washington Post in a recent story .
I understand that , and I feel the same .
That looming sense of catastrophe is only stoked when you pause to remember how hard the Trump campaign is hustling to ensure that the Electoral College map in 2020 looks as close to the one the president has memorialized in countless speeches and events since 2016 .
It has filed lawsuits in more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ number of ballots that can be counted .
And a new Supreme Court justice whom Senate Republicans raced to seat and who has dodged any questions about how she 'd rule during a disputed election awaits those cases .
Even before Amy Coney Barrett 's confirmation vote , the Supreme Court issued a 5-3 ruling preventing Wisconsin election officials from counting late mail-in ballots .
Justice Brett Kavanaugh gave a preview of how he 'd rule in a potential Trump v. Biden case in his concurring opinion .
He not only approvingly cited @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even though the court said at the time that it should n't be used as precedent — but he also focused on an argument from William Rehnquist , the chief justice at the time , that the other conservative members of the bench could n't back at the time .
Kavanaugh , like Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts , worked on that case on behalf of George W. Bush 's legal team , leaving a lot of people warily eyeing what happens if and when the election is tossed into the court @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has openly stated that Barrett needed to be seated to be able to help decide in his favor should that happen .
And where most people see only gains for Democrats in early voting tallies , Bloomberg News reports that the Trump campaign thinks some analysts are missing a major point : Those sorts of numbers , Bloomberg added , would really have an impact only in a particularly close election , which it 's not looking like this will be .
Or will it ?
Because yes , the mail-in voting numbers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ story so far thanks to the divide over trust in mailed ballots that Trump has instilled — but that narrative may be shifting as in-person early voting begins .
In Florida , Republican voters have already begun narrowing the gap in the Democrats ' lead .
What 's going to happen in a week when Trump voters actually go to the polls on Election Day ?
Meanwhile , last week , the director of national intelligence highlighted the threat of Iranian meddling in the election while downplaying Russia 's .
The New York @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , that most current and former intelligence officials said this was likely not where the focus should be , giving this example of what mischief Moscow could pull : Until we open the box of this particular quantum experiment and see whether the cat is alive or dead , Trump has both won and lost re-election simultaneously .
A future still exists in which the GOP 's push to enroll new voters in swing states , combined with a Republican rush to voting sites on Nov. 3 , shows massive leads for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by courts begin their frantic rush to process ballots once the polls close .
Russia , meanwhile , taps a few keys inside one of the systems it has accessed , casting substantive doubt on the election 's results as a multiplier to Trump 's ephemeral cries of cheating .
That would fit neatly into Trump 's declarations that any loss would be because the whole election was rigged .
And he 's still insisting that the election must be decided by the end of Election Day , teeing up a chaotic period @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when Trump tries to declare victory and we 're suddenly living through the nightmare scenario that Barton Gellman laid out in The Atlantic in September .
As it stands , there 's no guarantee that without a massive blowout on Election Day itself the president wo n't use every lever available to him in the legal system and the executive branch to prolong the confusion and cling to whatever slender hope remains of being sworn in once more in January .
All this is to say there 's comfort to be found in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and data .
Unfortunately , my brain is choosing to reject that embrace in favor of the red-hot needles poking into my brain that are anxiety .
I can only hope that in reading this , you realize you are n't alone in this horrible purgatory .
At least we have only a week left to spend here — hopefully .
While you wait for your heart rate to come back down after reading that , here are some links to start your morning .
• Mother Jones : Yes , the Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the cracks were already in place after decades of policies that have `` always been fraught , shot through with xenophobia and racism and the callous geopolitical reasoning of who , exactly , is worthy of protection from persecution . ''
• The Washington Post : This article from religion reporter Sarah Pulliam Bailey introduced me to a growing trend of Christian nationalism in the U.S. , as told through the story of `` a Patriot Church , part of a rapidly evolving network of nondenominational start-up congregations that say they want to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' • E & E News : In one of those stories that leaves you going `` well , of course ! ''
but in a good way , a new investigation shows that researchers at both General Motors and Ford Motor Co. knew that emissions from cars would cause the climate to change back in the 1960s and '70s .
We all know what happened next .
• Wired : And are you curious about how Wikipedia plans to come out the other side of Election Day without being pulled into a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ both , so thankfully this article exists .

As we careen toward Election Day, as much as I want to listen to the data, I can't let myself stop obsessing over all of the unknowns that lurk between now and then.
By most tangible measures, former Vice President Joe Biden is in the final countdown to an electoral win, seeming to condemn President Donald Trump to a single term. National polling has been almost eerily consistent since Biden sewed up the Democratic nomination. As of Monday, the latest NBC News National Polling Average showed that Biden holds a 7.4 percentage-point lead over Trump — 51.3 percent to 43.9 percent.
National polls can be misleading, though — a fact that still lingers like a bruise on the amygdala from four years ago. Zooming in on the battleground states, though, the tightening we saw in Trump's race against Hillary Clinton just isn't at play here. In states that are necessities for Trump, it's hard to see the gaps closing. According to the RealClearPolitics average, we're seeing Biden up by 8.1 points in Michigan, by 5.4 points in Wisconsin and by 6.0 points in Minnesota. Those states — paired with Pennsylvania, where he's up 4.8 — are enough to push Biden over the edge if the rest of the map remains the same from 2016. Biden, in a bit of confidence that some might call hubristic, declared on Monday that he'd win all three Midwest must-wins.
And states that once seemed out of grasp are apparently in play. Does anyone think for sure that Biden is going to win Texas? Not with any certainty. But the fact that we're even talking about it — and that Biden's running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, is being sent to campaign there in the homestretch — is absolutely wild.
Part of the reason they're able to devote resources to longer shots like Texas and Georgia — which Biden is visiting Tuesday — is the bonkers cash advantage the Biden camp has over the president's re-election bid. October began with Biden sitting on a war chest of $432 million, versus $251 million in the Trump camp.
Trump has tried at recent rallies to spin this fundraising dip as a sign that he's the less corrupt of the two candidates, since he's not calling up companies and PACs to beg for money, even as he's spent his entire term breaking down ethical barriers between the White House and the wealthy. He's, in fact, being forced to spend time fundraising instead of campaigning to make up for his campaign's having burned through roughly $1 billion.
That's before we even get into the early voting numbers. NBC News' data here, too, show an advantage for the Democrats thus far. Of the 55.5 million ballots already cast, 45 percent of those from voters whose party affiliations are known are from Democrats. The early turnout doesn't exactly guarantee the results when votes are tallied next week. It is, though, votes in the bank that reduce the number of people who have to be turned out to the polls next Tuesday.
Of the intangibles, it feels like assured victory at the ballot box for Biden, even if the reporters and their editors don't want to frame it that way. Politico recently noted that, if anything, the political media are doing everything they can to avoid stressing that narrative in these final days of the campaign:
"In normal times for normal candidates, the politician running significantly behind suffers from every news story starting with a dependent clause: 'With time running out and supporters increasingly worried of an electoral debacle ...' Or perhaps: 'Amid finger-pointing among campaign aides and despair among party allies ... .' Cumulatively, this creates a penetrating odor of death around a campaign before the actual death arrives.
"Generally, Trump has avoided this phenomenon. While there is lots of coverage illuminating the reasons he is in trouble, or even forecasting that defeat is significantly more probable than victory, the dominant storyline is far from, 'Why even bother waiting for Election Day — let's just admit this thing is over.'"
So, with all of these facts in hand ... why won't my heart stop pounding?
Psychologists at San Francisco State University found in a 2018 paper that the emotional aftershocks of the presidential race two years previously were severe enough in the young people they studied to resemble PTSD. The narrative then had been that Trump would suffer an ignominious, if narrow, defeat and we'd go about four years of a relatively boring second Clinton administration. Instead, as the researchers found, "the average stress score of students was comparable to the scores of witnesses to a mass shooting seven months after the event."
That feeling is hard to shake, despite all the omens. "I am feeling anxious and trapped between a sense of unbridled optimism and sheer dread," Abington Township, Pennsylvania, Commissioner Bill Bole told The Washington Post in a recent story. I understand that, and I feel the same.
That looming sense of catastrophe is only stoked when you pause to remember how hard the Trump campaign is hustling to ensure that the Electoral College map in 2020 looks as close to the one the president has memorialized in countless speeches and events since 2016. It has filed lawsuits in more than a dozen states to limit the number of ballots that can be counted. And a new Supreme Court justice whom Senate Republicans raced to seat and who has dodged any questions about how she'd rule during a disputed election awaits those cases.
Even before Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation vote, the Supreme Court issued a 5-3 ruling preventing Wisconsin election officials from counting late mail-in ballots. Justice Brett Kavanaugh gave a preview of how he'd rule in a potential Trump v. Biden case in his concurring opinion. He not only approvingly cited the infamous Bush v. Gore case — even though the court said at the time that it shouldn't be used as precedent — but he also focused on an argument from William Rehnquist, the chief justice at the time, that the other conservative members of the bench couldn't back at the time.
Kavanaugh, like Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts, worked on that case on behalf of George W. Bush's legal team, leaving a lot of people warily eyeing what happens if and when the election is tossed into the court's lap. Trump, meanwhile, has openly stated that Barrett needed to be seated to be able to help decide in his favor should that happen.
And where most people see only gains for Democrats in early voting tallies, Bloomberg News reports that the Trump campaign thinks some analysts are missing a major point:
“As of this week across eight battleground states, Republicans have registered about 179,000 more voters than Democrats since 2016, including big net gains in two states that could decide the election — Florida and Pennsylvania. After the 2016 election, famously decided by about 88,000 voters in three Midwestern states, that margin could prove significant on Election Night.”
Those sorts of numbers, Bloomberg added, would really have an impact only in a particularly close election, which it's not looking like this will be. Or will it? Because yes, the mail-in voting numbers, especially, are telling us one story so far thanks to the divide over trust in mailed ballots that Trump has instilled — but that narrative may be shifting as in-person early voting begins. In Florida, Republican voters have already begun narrowing the gap in the Democrats' lead. What's going to happen in a week when Trump voters actually go to the polls on Election Day?
Meanwhile, last week, the director of national intelligence highlighted the threat of Iranian meddling in the election while downplaying Russia's. The New York Times reported over the weekend, though, that most current and former intelligence officials said this was likely not where the focus should be, giving this example of what mischief Moscow could pull:
Officials say Russia’s ability to change vote tallies nationwide would be difficult, given how disparate American elections are. The graver concern is the potential effect of any attack on a few key precincts in battleground states. [...] But officials were alarmed by the combination of the targets, the timing — the attacks began less than two months ago — and the adversary, which is known for burrowing inside the supply chain of critical infrastructure that Russia may want to take down in the future. The officials fear that Russia could change, delete or freeze voter registration or pollbook data, making it harder for voters to cast ballots, invalidating mail-in ballots or creating enough uncertainty to undermine results.
Until we open the box of this particular quantum experiment and see whether the cat is alive or dead, Trump has both won and lost re-election simultaneously. A future still exists in which the GOP's push to enroll new voters in swing states, combined with a Republican rush to voting sites on Nov. 3, shows massive leads for the president as states hindered in their counting by courts begin their frantic rush to process ballots once the polls close. Russia, meanwhile, taps a few keys inside one of the systems it has accessed, casting substantive doubt on the election's results as a multiplier to Trump's ephemeral cries of cheating.
That would fit neatly into Trump's declarations that any loss would be because the whole election was rigged. And he's still insisting that the election must be decided by the end of Election Day, teeing up a chaotic period a week and a day from now when Trump tries to declare victory and we're suddenly living through the nightmare scenario that Barton Gellman laid out in The Atlantic in September. As it stands, there's no guarantee that without a massive blowout on Election Day itself the president won't use every lever available to him in the legal system and the executive branch to prolong the confusion and cling to whatever slender hope remains of being sworn in once more in January.
All this is to say there's comfort to be found in the cold, unassuming embrace of numbers and data. Unfortunately, my brain is choosing to reject that embrace in favor of the red-hot needles poking into my brain that are anxiety. I can only hope that in reading this, you realize you aren't alone in this horrible purgatory. At least we have only a week left to spend here — hopefully.
While you wait for your heart rate to come back down after reading that, here are some links to start your morning.


msnbc--2020-10-29--The list of Republicans backing Biden grows a bit longer

The number of Republican officials who 've thrown their support behind Joe Biden 's candidacy was already striking , but as the Washington Post reported this week , the list is n't done growing .
Thomas Heffelfinger , a Republican and a former two-time U.S. attorney in Minnesota , not only signed his name to the joint statement , he also told the Post , `` I ca n't look at myself in the mirror ; I ca n't look my daughters in the face if I ca n't do what I can to get rid of him . ''
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ him '' referred to Donald Trump .
And while these Republican prosecutors ' willingness to publicly step up like this is an important story in its own right , it 's the larger pattern that 's unlike anything Americans have seen in modern political history .
As we 've discussed , every four years , voters will see a handful of partisan apostates throw their support behind the other party 's nominee -- Georgia 's Zell Miller , for example , delivered an unfortunate keynote address at the Republican convention in 2004 -- @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to make it appear as if White House hopefuls enjoy broad , bipartisan support .
But 2020 is qualitatively and quantitatively different .
Former Republican National Committee chairs are backing Biden .
Former Republican cabinet secretaries have also endorsed Biden .
Some Republicans who worked as members of Trump 's own team have announced their support for Biden .
The list includes former GOP governors , former GOP senators , former GOP House members , and several dozen Republican national security officials -- from the Reagan , Bush/Quayle , and Bush/Cheney administrations -- @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it possible the electoral impact of this will be muted ?
Sure .
As I 've argued before , Trump 's intra-party backing is relatively strong , and many far-right voters , if they hear about Biden 's GOP backers at all , will simply assume they 're a bunch of centrist RINOs who deserve to be ignored .
But let 's not overlook another group of voters : traditional Republicans whose support for their party is soft .
They reluctantly backed Trump in 2016 , largely because of their contempt for Hillary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they 've grown weary of their president 's tweets , failures , and scandals .
These voters are n't satisfied with the status quo , and while they 're reluctant to back a Democratic ticket , they 're open to change .
This is a constituency basically waiting for allies to tell them it 's OK to choose Biden over Trump .
And for this contingent , a whole lot of prominent Republican voices are now encouraging them to do exactly that .

The number of Republican officials who've thrown their support behind Joe Biden's candidacy was already striking, but as the Washington Post reported this week, the list isn't done growing.
Twenty former U.S. attorneys — all of them Republicans — on Tuesday publicly called President Trump "a threat to the rule of law in our country," and urged that he be replaced in November with his Democratic opponent, former vice president Joe Biden. "The President has clearly conveyed that he expects his Justice Department appointees and prosecutors to serve his personal and political interests," said the former prosecutors in an open letter. They accused Trump of taking "action against those who have stood up for the interests of justice."
Thomas Heffelfinger, a Republican and a former two-time U.S. attorney in Minnesota, not only signed his name to the joint statement, he also told the Post, "I can't look at myself in the mirror; I can't look my daughters in the face if I can't do what I can to get rid of him."
In context, of course, "him" referred to Donald Trump.
And while these Republican prosecutors' willingness to publicly step up like this is an important story in its own right, it's the larger pattern that's unlike anything Americans have seen in modern political history.
As we've discussed, every four years, voters will see a handful of partisan apostates throw their support behind the other party's nominee -- Georgia's Zell Miller, for example, delivered an unfortunate keynote address at the Republican convention in 2004 -- and these isolated voices are often exaggerated to make it appear as if White House hopefuls enjoy broad, bipartisan support.
But 2020 is qualitatively and quantitatively different. Former Republican National Committee chairs are backing Biden. Former Republican cabinet secretaries have also endorsed Biden. Some Republicans who worked as members of Trump's own team have announced their support for Biden.
The list includes former GOP governors, former GOP senators, former GOP House members, and several dozen Republican national security officials -- from the Reagan, Bush/Quayle, and Bush/Cheney administrations -- who've all endorsed Biden.
Is it possible the electoral impact of this will be muted? Sure. As I've argued before, Trump's intra-party backing is relatively strong, and many far-right voters, if they hear about Biden's GOP backers at all, will simply assume they're a bunch of centrist RINOs who deserve to be ignored.
But let's not overlook another group of voters: traditional Republicans whose support for their party is soft. They reluctantly backed Trump in 2016, largely because of their contempt for Hillary Clinton, and every day since, they've grown weary of their president's tweets, failures, and scandals.
These voters aren't satisfied with the status quo, and while they're reluctant to back a Democratic ticket, they're open to change. This is a constituency basically waiting for allies to tell them it's OK to choose Biden over Trump.
And for this contingent, a whole lot of prominent Republican voices are now encouraging them to do exactly that.


msnbc--2020-10-29--Joe Biden pledges to reunite the over 500 migrant children still separated from their parents

'Make America rage again : ' Jack Black on 'rocking ' Trump out of office

Joe Biden pledges to reunite the over 500 migrant children still separated from their parents
MSNBC’s Alicia Menendez and editor-at-large at The Bulwark Charlie Sykes on Joe Biden’s pledge to create a task force to reunite the 545 children with their parents through an executive order if he’s elected, and how Trump’s family separation policy could influence his support from LatinosOct. 29, 2020


msnbc--2020-10-29--Outreach to Black male voters in Florida expands to gentlemen’s club

‘They better get out a really big check book’: Dominion case rips open Fox News to more lawsuits from Smartmatic, Ray Epps, and more 06:28


msnbc--2020-10-29--Frank Figliuzzi on DNI Director John Ratcliffe: ‘I don’t want to see him, I don’t want to hear him’

Frank Figliuzzi on DNI Director John Ratcliffe: ‘I don’t want to see him, I don’t want to hear him’
Former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence Frank Figliuzzi criticizes the current Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, for not mentioning the Proud Boys and for not being apolitical when he discussed Russian and Iranian interference in the 2020 electionOct. 29, 2020


msnbc--2020-10-30--Report says 5 states at high risk for activity by armed groups around election

Report says 5 states at high risk for activity by armed groups around election
A report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project and MilitiaWatch determined five states to be at high risk for increased armed group activity leading up to Election Day.Oct. 30, 2020


msnbc--2020-10-29--Ben Jealous: ‘Black voters could be the difference in almost every battleground state.’

Ben Jealous, the President of People For the American Way, joins MSNBC’s Craig Melvin to discuss how he is working to encourage millions of people across the country to vote and what his group is doing to combat misinformation campaigns against black voters.Oct. 29, 2020


msnbc--2020-10-29--Sen. Sanders calls Trump’s strategy to gain his supporters’ votes ‘desperate’

This time last year, Senator Bernie Sanders thought he would be the Democratic nominee. He joins Stephanie Ruhle to discuss how he feels about the race 5 days before election day.Oct. 29, 2020


msnbc--2020-10-29--First votes counted on Election Night may give false impression of vote leader

Rachel Maddow shares advice from election experts who explain that in-person Election Day votes may be cast by a greater proportion of Republicans, so the counting of those ballots first could show an early "mirage" of stronger showing by Donald Trump than is true once the count of mail-in ballots is added.Oct. 29, 2020


msnbc--2020-10-28--Comey's wife tried to stop his October surprise

Meacham: Pence probably saved the republic, but I don't always want to count on one person to do it 08:18


msnbc--2020-10-30--Steve Kornacki on what keeps him up at night

‘ It doesn ’ t have to be this way ’ : Chris shares his thoughts before Election Day

Steve Kornacki on what keeps him up at night
Steve Kornacki joins Nicolle Wallace and Rick Stengel from the big board to explain the advantage Joe Biden has over Hillary Clinton from 4 years ago, and what to expect on Election Night as the polls start coming inOct. 30, 2020


msnbc--2020-10-30--Joe Biden and Barack Obama hit the campaign trail together for the first time

Joe Biden and Barack Obama hit the campaign trail together for the first time
Joe Biden will be joined by his former boss to make his closing argument to voters in MichiganOct. 30, 2020


msnbc--2020-10-30--A November nightmare: What if the polls are right about being wrong?

It 's Halloween weekend , and with Election Day looming on the other side , there 's a certain added degree of fear and anxiety in the air .
It 's time to talk to you about the gremlin lurking on the wing , the eldritch horror waiting in the night , the chance that you may be living in the worst of all worlds .
Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society : `` The Tale of the Multiverse 's Madness . ''
Do you ever feel like there 's something otherworldly lurking just out of your line @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the corner of your eye , a flash , a glimpse .
And then it 's gone — or is it ?
That feeling in your spine says otherwise .
Something is not right .
You open your laptop to check , as you have every day for the last month , to make sure that the numbers still suggest a Biden victory in the Electoral College .
A sigh escapes your lips : The national polls are , on average , showing a bigger lead for former Vice President Joe Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ point in the race in the last 20 years .
All is well — or so it seems .
A thought comes to you , unbidden : We all learned in 2016 that state polling is where the real danger lurks .
A scan of RealClearPolitics ' average of results in top battleground states seems to show Biden with a lead in most of them .
But something compels you to look elsewhere , drawing you into the underlying polls themselves .
And as you do , a number stands out , one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cursing you with the burden of knowledge : the margin of error .
According to the Pew Research Center , `` A margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level means that if we fielded the same survey 100 times , we would expect the result to be within 3 percentage points of the true population value 95 of those times . ''
And in that moment , the picture shifts .
Like Roddy Piper 's nameless main character in `` They Live '' wearing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ around him , the true nightmare of reality has snapped into focus .
The margins are close — feeling the warmth from an exhaled breath on the back of your neck close .
Your stomach begins to twist as your doubts begin to climb .
You frantically look for some shred of certainty .
Instead you get Pew Research Center 's director , Courtney Kennedy , who explained in August that the margins of error that are reported may actually be too generous in their certainty , accounting for just one of four @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Several recent studies show that the average error in a poll estimate may be closer to 6 percentage points , not the 3 points implied by a typical margin of error , '' Kennedy wrote .
`` While polls remain useful in showing whether the public tends to favor or oppose key policies , this hidden error underscores the fact that polls are not precise enough to call the winner in a close election . ''
With that knowledge , the floor shifts under your feet .
Looking at NBC News ' battleground @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is how close the polls could be if the margin is applied .
In Florida , the latest NBC News/Marist poll shows Biden up 51 percent to 47 percent against President Donald Trump .
The margin of error — 4.4 percent — could result in the exact opposite .
A 5-point lead for Biden in Wisconsin transforms into a Trump victory before your eyes .
What once seemed like a likely win has now metamorphosed into a tie in survey after survey — a flip of the coin seems more likely to predict @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of thought that suggests that the universe we live in is one of an infinite number of universes and that each event on the quantum scales forms a new one .
That 's been expanded into the `` multiple worlds '' theory , with some science fiction writers even taking the concept up to the macroscale , positing that every choice that 's made forms a new timeline .
In its third season , the TV show `` Community '' explored this concept in the episode `` Remedial Chaos Theory . ''
With @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who has to grab a delivery from downstairs , six new timelines are created .
Each pocket universe has the characters ' interactions affected by the missing member 's absence , with the consequences mostly small and interpersonal .
But one — known as the darkest timeline — spawns mass chaos .
So , the question is which timeline are we in ?
Where do the dice land this time the survey is run ?
Is this the nightmare world where it 's 2016 forever and the polls are wrong ?
You can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more tenuous , your psyche unmoored .
The probability of recovery — marginal .
Reader , the good news is that — much like Edward Allan Poe 's lover in `` The Raven '' — the rising dread you 're feeling in this moment is a projection .
There 's no real way of knowing how the dice will land until all of the votes are counted after Election Day .
And as we 've been repeatedly told since 2016 , polls are just snapshots of a moment , not windows into the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weekend with scary movies and beat back the nightmares of a horrifying future , beware the margin of error — but do n't let it send you spiraling into the darkest timeline .
While you stop shivering from the intensely scary story you 've just read , have some morning links : • NBC News : Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is under investigation for allegations of multiple ethics violations , but the emails that NBC News ' Josh Lederman obtained show how readily his family blurred the line between the personal and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Doocy has been the lead anchor on `` Fox and Friends '' for its entire run , and this profile from Mark Oppenheimer shows that he 's not exactly who anyone thinks he is ?
• BuzzFeed News : One of the plotters who allegedly planned to kidnap Michigan Gov .
Gretchen Whitmer was in contact with extremists around the country and had also wanted to kidnap the leaders of North AND South Carolina .
• The New York Times : This piece has everything : Trump placing his businesses interests over everything @ @ @ @ @ @ @ criminal case , a foreign autocrat successfully pressuring an American president , and Turkish banking !
• NBC News : And finally , the latest Trumpworld attacks on Hunter Biden were preceded by a fabricated dossier of information about him , which itself was distributed by fake persona .

It's Halloween weekend, and with Election Day looming on the other side, there's a certain added degree of fear and anxiety in the air. It's time to talk to you about the gremlin lurking on the wing, the eldritch horror waiting in the night, the chance that you may be living in the worst of all worlds. Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society: "The Tale of the Multiverse's Madness."
Do you ever feel like there's something otherworldly lurking just out of your line of sight? You catch it out of the corner of your eye, a flash, a glimpse. And then it's gone — or is it?
That feeling in your spine says otherwise. Something is not right. You open your laptop to check, as you have every day for the last month, to make sure that the numbers still suggest a Biden victory in the Electoral College. A sigh escapes your lips: The national polls are, on average, showing a bigger lead for former Vice President Joe Biden than for any other candidate at this point in the race in the last 20 years. All is well — or so it seems.
A thought comes to you, unbidden: We all learned in 2016 that state polling is where the real danger lurks. A scan of RealClearPolitics' average of results in top battleground states seems to show Biden with a lead in most of them. But something compels you to look elsewhere, drawing you into the underlying polls themselves. And as you do, a number stands out, one that's all too often overlooked, cursing you with the burden of knowledge: the margin of error.
According to the Pew Research Center, "A margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level means that if we fielded the same survey 100 times, we would expect the result to be within 3 percentage points of the true population value 95 of those times."
And in that moment, the picture shifts. Like Roddy Piper's nameless main character in "They Live" wearing his special sunglasses to reveal the aliens around him, the true nightmare of reality has snapped into focus. The margins are close — feeling the warmth from an exhaled breath on the back of your neck close. Your stomach begins to twist as your doubts begin to climb.
You frantically look for some shred of certainty. Instead you get Pew Research Center's director, Courtney Kennedy, who explained in August that the margins of error that are reported may actually be too generous in their certainty, accounting for just one of four possible errors in poll results. "Several recent studies show that the average error in a poll estimate may be closer to 6 percentage points, not the 3 points implied by a typical margin of error," Kennedy wrote. "While polls remain useful in showing whether the public tends to favor or oppose key policies, this hidden error underscores the fact that polls are not precise enough to call the winner in a close election."
With that knowledge, the floor shifts under your feet. Looking at NBC News' battleground polling, all you can see now is how close the polls could be if the margin is applied. In Florida, the latest NBC News/Marist poll shows Biden up 51 percent to 47 percent against President Donald Trump. The margin of error — 4.4 percent — could result in the exact opposite. A 5-point lead for Biden in Wisconsin transforms into a Trump victory before your eyes. What once seemed like a likely win has now metamorphosed into a tie in survey after survey — a flip of the coin seems more likely to predict the winner.
There's a school of thought that suggests that the universe we live in is one of an infinite number of universes and that each event on the quantum scales forms a new one. That's been expanded into the "multiple worlds" theory, with some science fiction writers even taking the concept up to the macroscale, positing that every choice that's made forms a new timeline.
In its third season, the TV show "Community" explored this concept in the episode "Remedial Chaos Theory." With a toss of the dice to determine who has to grab a delivery from downstairs, six new timelines are created. Each pocket universe has the characters' interactions affected by the missing member's absence, with the consequences mostly small and interpersonal. But one — known as the darkest timeline — spawns mass chaos.
So, the question is which timeline are we in? Where do the dice land this time the survey is run? Is this the nightmare world where it's 2016 forever and the polls are wrong? You can feel your grip on this reality become more tenuous, your psyche unmoored. The probability of recovery — marginal.
Reader, the good news is that — much like Edward Allan Poe's lover in "The Raven" — the rising dread you're feeling in this moment is a projection. There's no real way of knowing how the dice will land until all of the votes are counted after Election Day. And as we've been repeatedly told since 2016, polls are just snapshots of a moment, not windows into the future. As you frighten yourselves this weekend with scary movies and beat back the nightmares of a horrifying future, beware the margin of error — but don't let it send you spiraling into the darkest timeline.
While you stop shivering from the intensely scary story you've just read, have some morning links:


msnbc--2020-10-30--How the U.S. government is making a dangerous Russian ransomware problem worse

This week , more than 43,000 Americans have been hospitalized for Covid-19 .
In intensive care units across the country , patients are separated from their families and loved ones , some waiting in the hush punctuated by the beeping of monitors .
But many are oblivious to another threat looming over them : a cluster of attacks from hackers , some allegedly Russian , targeting the hospitals fighting to save their lives .
The FBI has announced that hackers are attempting to break into hospitals ’ systems using a botnet known as Trickbot in order to insert a malware @ @ @ @ @ @ @ data hostage until a ransom is paid .
The alleged Russian hackers had reportedly been circulating a list of 400 American hospitals they planned to target .
In 2020 , ransomware has become an increasingly prevalent threat as we see more cities , hospitals and companies shut out of their operations .
The victims of corporate or civic ransomware face a terrible choice : pay the ransomer ’ s demands or engage in the expensive , time-consuming and potentially futile effort to rebuild entire operations .
The U.S. government has struggled to figure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Understandably , the government encourages victims to report these incidents and tries to dissuade them from paying ransoms so that the crime is no longer profitable .
The U.S. military has been working to disrupt hackers ’ cybertools , as has the private sector .
These efforts have been effective at taking some attackers offline temporarily .
But unfortunately , the government ’ s efforts have at best been temporary disruptions , and at worst made things far worse for the victims .
This has been especially true for the latest wave of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to these ransomware attacks , accessing medical data is literally a life-or-death matter .
Doctors may not be able to access patient medical histories or admit new patients .
Ambulances may be diverted to other hospitals , increasing the time it takes patients to get access to life-saving care .
Surgeries and other procedures may be delayed at cost to patients ’ health .
There are many reasons why a hospital might decide that the quickest , most effective way to get up and running is to pay the ransom .
For many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a life or cooperating with the government , paying a ransomware is the responsible choice .
And amid the difficult decision of whether to pay the ransomer , a hospital under attack must contend with a further complication .
On Oct. 1 , the Treasury Department issued an advisory that if a victim pays a ransom and the perpetrator turns out to be from a sanctioned country like North Korea , Iran or Russia , the victim may be liable for violating U.S. sanctions law .
The department does allow a victim to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ payment at the Office of Foreign Asset Control .
But for a hospital administrator wrestling with the urgent question of whether to pay a ransom , applying and waiting for an OFAC license is an untenable bureaucratic delay when lives hang in the balance .
It ’ s not enough to disrupt the attacker ’ s systems or shame victims out of paying to get their data back .
In order to permanently disrupt these ransomware attacks , you have to get to the people behind the attacks either by arresting them or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and cybersecurity analysts point out that these attackers are often in countries like Russia , where Russian President Vladimir Putin ’ s government is uninterested in turning them over for prosecution and , in some cases , actively fights against the extradition of cybercriminals .
Still , indictments are a powerful tool , even if another country is harboring the cybercriminal .
Issuing an indictment makes clear that the U.S. is holding the individual behind the illegal acts accountable .
By seeking an arrest and presenting a request for extradition , the U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a violation of international norms , akin to the targeting of hospitals in wartime .
A refusal by a country like Russia to honor such a request would make clear that they are willing to harbor those who would kill innocent people for greed .
If nothing else , indictments could at least help apply international pressure on a foreign government .
During the previous administration , President Barack Obama expressed his displeasure at Chinese hackers who target the intellectual property of U.S. companies by directly speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ after which we saw a marked decline in Chinese hacking .
Unfortunately , President Donald Trump has demonstrated his refusal to believe that the Russians are behind any hacks .
And worse , he has refused to confront Putin over reports that the Russians were paying the Taliban bounties to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan .
If Trump won ’ t stand up to Putin for the lives of American troops in the field , there ’ s little chance that he would confront Putin over targeting vulnerable patients in American hospitals .

This week, more than 43,000 Americans have been hospitalized for Covid-19. In intensive care units across the country, patients are separated from their families and loved ones, some waiting in the hush punctuated by the beeping of monitors. But many are oblivious to another threat looming over them: a cluster of attacks from hackers, some allegedly Russian, targeting the hospitals fighting to save their lives.
In 2020, ransomware has become an increasingly prevalent threat as we see more cities, hospitals, and companies shut out of their operations.
The FBI has announced that hackers are attempting to break into hospitals’ systems using a botnet known as Trickbot in order to insert a malware called Ryuk to encrypt and hold hospital data hostage until a ransom is paid. The alleged Russian hackers had reportedly been circulating a list of 400 American hospitals they planned to target.
In 2020, ransomware has become an increasingly prevalent threat as we see more cities, hospitals and companies shut out of their operations. The victims of corporate or civic ransomware face a terrible choice: pay the ransomer’s demands or engage in the expensive, time-consuming and potentially futile effort to rebuild entire operations.
The U.S. government has struggled to figure out how to stop these hackers. Understandably, the government encourages victims to report these incidents and tries to dissuade them from paying ransoms so that the crime is no longer profitable. The U.S. military has been working to disrupt hackers’ cybertools, as has the private sector. These efforts have been effective at taking some attackers offline temporarily. But unfortunately, the government’s efforts have at best been temporary disruptions, and at worst made things far worse for the victims. This has been especially true for the latest wave of hospital attacks.
For hospital administrators responding to these ransomware attacks, accessing medical data is literally a life-or-death matter. Doctors may not be able to access patient medical histories or admit new patients. Ambulances may be diverted to other hospitals, increasing the time it takes patients to get access to life-saving care. Surgeries and other procedures may be delayed at cost to patients’ health. There are many reasons why a hospital might decide that the quickest, most effective way to get up and running is to pay the ransom. For many, when it comes down to saving a life or cooperating with the government, paying a ransomware is the responsible choice.
And amid the difficult decision of whether to pay the ransomer, a hospital under attack must contend with a further complication. On Oct. 1, the Treasury Department issued an advisory that if a victim pays a ransom and the perpetrator turns out to be from a sanctioned country like North Korea, Iran or Russia, the victim may be liable for violating U.S. sanctions law. The department does allow a victim to apply for a license to make said payment at the Office of Foreign Asset Control. But for a hospital administrator wrestling with the urgent question of whether to pay a ransom, applying and waiting for an OFAC license is an untenable bureaucratic delay when lives hang in the balance.
It’s not enough to disrupt the attacker’s systems or shame victims out of paying to get their data back. In order to permanently disrupt these ransomware attacks, you have to get to the people behind the attacks either by arresting them or convincing them to stop. Law enforcement and cybersecurity analysts point out that these attackers are often in countries like Russia, where Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government is uninterested in turning them over for prosecution and, in some cases, actively fights against the extradition of cybercriminals.
Still, indictments are a powerful tool, even if another country is harboring the cybercriminal. Issuing an indictment makes clear that the U.S. is holding the individual behind the illegal acts accountable. By seeking an arrest and presenting a request for extradition, the U.S. would make clear that targeting hospitals is a violation of international norms, akin to the targeting of hospitals in wartime. A refusal by a country like Russia to honor such a request would make clear that they are willing to harbor those who would kill innocent people for greed. If nothing else, indictments could at least help apply international pressure on a foreign government.
Issuing an indictment makes clear that the U.S. is holding the individual behind the illegal acts accountable.
During the previous administration, President Barack Obama expressed his displeasure at Chinese hackers who target the intellectual property of U.S. companies by directly speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two governments reached an agreement, after which we saw a marked decline in Chinese hacking.
Unfortunately, President Donald Trump has demonstrated his refusal to believe that the Russians are behind any hacks. And worse, he has refused to confront Putin over reports that the Russians were paying the Taliban bounties to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan. If Trump won’t stand up to Putin for the lives of American troops in the field, there’s little chance that he would confront Putin over targeting vulnerable patients in American hospitals.


msnbc--2020-10-30--Why white Americans are finally talking about election violence

If you read the news these days , there 's a good chance you 'll see that sociologists believe the United States is on the verge of sustained political violence , that our democracy is on a knife 's edge , that voters openly fear a race war and that Facebook is adopting its tools for `` at-risk '' countries to head off post-election chaos in the U.S .
When I get messages from friends asking me whether they should retweet the threat of Election Day violence by a leader of the Oath Keepers militia — after it was broadcast @ @ @ @ @ @ @ show — my mind hovers uneasily between two thoughts : The first one is that we are about to have an election in which the threat of violence is real and spreading .
I ca n't remember an election when anything outside of sporadic disorder felt possible .
And then sense and history kick in : Political violence , most especially to prevent Black people and other minorities from voting and attaining power , has been a feature of American elections since our country 's founding .
In the 20th century , white @ @ @ @ @ @ @ delegitimize a pluralistic democracy .
As MSNBC 's Chris Hayes has pointed out , referring to the post-World War II Jim Crow South , stationing armed men at polling places was a `` key feature of that movement . ''
One hundred years ago , in 1920 , Black residents of Orange County , Florida , spent the summer braving deep , humid swamps to register hundreds of new voters in the county .
They conspired with sympathetic white Republicans , who wanted those votes .
Black people had been almost completely politically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ central Florida , with the exception of Eatonville , a small town in the center of the county .
Orlando was the county seat , and its police chief was a white supremacist , who according to history feared the power of the Black franchise .
On Election Day , when several Black men in Ocoee , a city in the northern part of the county , would n't leave polling sites as ordered , a group of white men , helped by the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan , tracked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ away from the polls , one Black man , Mose Norman , returned to his precinct with a gun .
The white gang reportedly used the specter of armed Black men as a pretext .
Some historians call the following events a `` race riot , '' but that euphemizes what happened : A throng of white men proceeded to massacre as many as 50 Black people .
There is no record of the exact number of people killed , because no one was ever convicted of the killings .
When it comes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ events remain open wounds throughout the country .
I grew up around the same area in central Florida , and I had no idea this had happened until I began researching state-sanctioned violence against Black people .
It certainly was n't taught in local schools .
( Only as of this year was it included in the public school history curriculum . )
There 's a new conversation that 's been sparked in 2020 about violence — racial violence , and also election violence .
Reportedly 3 in 4 voters expect this Election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ difference is that this year , more white people fear being violently deterred from exercising their constitutional right to vote , and for most white people , they 're experiencing this type of fear for the first time .
This in itself is a significant fact — that we are talking about election violence more because of who is being affected by it — and it says nearly everything you need to know about racial inequality in America .
Violent domestic extremism has become a leading threat in the country , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ groups have more or less been granted permission by President Donald Trump to incorporate violent imagery and threats in service of their political agendas .
When Trump calls out Michigan Gov .
Gretchen Whitmer for refusing to open up her state during a pandemic , his audience knows that they can start to shout `` lock her up , '' which , even in the most benign interpretation , means the arrest and detention of a governor for committing no crimes ( which , as we know , allegedly really almost happened ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` lock her up '' is an incitement of violence .
When I grew up in Orange County , politics was a joy .
My family , led by my mom , instilled in me a love of politics .
She was a Tsitizen for Tsongas in 1992 , and one day , we hosted a fundraiser to help Paul Tsongas , the quirky , brainy senator from Massachusetts , raise money for his on-again , off-again presidential bid .
I was 13 , and I decided to wear a badge marked `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , because the candidate had just lost his Secret Service detail .
I loved election days and nights ; I once set up a ballot box outside our garage .
As a kid , politics was so fun for me .
It took me a while to fall out of love .
When I was a reporter in Washington , D.C. , the institutionalized b.s .
grated on my sense of truth .
I had to pretend that there were two equal sides to a story that had at least seven .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Republican efforts to `` prevent voting fraud '' had a shred of credibility to them , which is why I was n't allowed to describe them as `` efforts to suppress the Black vote . ''
But what finally did me in was a realization , perhaps too late , that what was great fun for me as a kid was , for so many others , a deadly threat , an unending war for dignity and the basic right to participate politically .
And even then I was ignorant of what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where I grew up .
In her book `` Political Emotions : Why Love Matters for Justice , '' philosopher Martha Nussbaum writes of the many attempts by so-called enlightened countries to create a civil religion that would bind together its citizens , especially during emergencies .
At the core of these efforts were attempts to `` expand empathy , '' she writes , and reduce the influence of human greed and egoism .
In our modern life , as we approach an election with extreme trepidation , we might be tempted to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I disagree with you , but I respect you ; you disagree with me , and yet you respect me .
But respect , Nussbaum writes , `` is cold and inert , insufficient to overcome the bad tendencies that lead human beings to tyrannize one over the other . ''
Overt election violence against Black people and Indigenous people and people of color has waned over decades .
But the bone-deep sense of dread that many people feel about elections remains .
The reality is that enough white people still see @ @ @ @ @ @ @ justify extraordinary departures from some of our deepest intuitions about what a mature democracy looks like .
Voter suppression is only a more banal descendant of racial violence .
To move the conversation forward , we must first acknowledge that a major reason we are at this threshold is that we lack the mechanisms to hold the Republican Party accountable for its efforts to willfully suppress and depress the vote .
My dream is that politics becomes fun for everyone : hard-fought , serious , weighty — but also exuberant and thrilling and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ climate , we are far from that reality .

If you read the news these days, there's a good chance you'll see that sociologists believe the United States is on the verge of sustained political violence, that our democracy is on a knife's edge, that voters openly fear a race war and that Facebook is adopting its tools for "at-risk" countries to head off post-election chaos in the U.S. When I get messages from friends asking me whether they should retweet the threat of Election Day violence by a leader of the Oath Keepers militia — after it was broadcast to millions on Alex Jones' radio show — my mind hovers uneasily between two thoughts: The first one is that we are about to have an election in which the threat of violence is real and spreading. I can't remember an election when anything outside of sporadic disorder felt possible.
And then sense and history kick in: Political violence, most especially to prevent Black people and other minorities from voting and attaining power, has been a feature of American elections since our country's founding. In the 20th century, white supremacists kindled ethnic resentment and sought to delegitimize a pluralistic democracy. As MSNBC's Chris Hayes has pointed out, referring to the post-World War II Jim Crow South, stationing armed men at polling places was a "key feature of that movement."
Also, none of this is abstract. It's happened in American history. Armed men at polling places were a key feature of the movement of terroristic violencethat murdered multi-racial democracy in the south and replaced it with a one-party apartheid authoritarian regime. — Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) October 27, 2020
One hundred years ago, in 1920, Black residents of Orange County, Florida, spent the summer braving deep, humid swamps to register hundreds of new voters in the county. They conspired with sympathetic white Republicans, who wanted those votes. Black people had been almost completely politically disenfranchised — re-disenfranchised — for decades in central Florida, with the exception of Eatonville, a small town in the center of the county. Orlando was the county seat, and its police chief was a white supremacist, who according to history feared the power of the Black franchise.
An officer approaches an unconscious woman as mounted police officers chase marchers in Selma, Ala., during a voting rights march to Montgomery in 1965. Bettmann Archive / via Getty Images file
On Election Day, when several Black men in Ocoee, a city in the northern part of the county, wouldn't leave polling sites as ordered, a group of white men, helped by the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, tracked them down. Having twice been turned away from the polls, one Black man, Mose Norman, returned to his precinct with a gun. The white gang reportedly used the specter of armed Black men as a pretext. Some historians call the following events a "race riot," but that euphemizes what happened: A throng of white men proceeded to massacre as many as 50 Black people. There is no record of the exact number of people killed, because no one was ever convicted of the killings. When it comes to elections, this massacre and similar events remain open wounds throughout the country.
There is no record of the exact number of people killed, because no one was ever convicted of the killings. When it comes to elections, this massacre and similar events remain open wounds throughout the country.
I grew up around the same area in central Florida, and I had no idea this had happened until I began researching state-sanctioned violence against Black people. It certainly wasn't taught in local schools. (Only as of this year was it included in the public school history curriculum.) There's a new conversation that's been sparked in 2020 about violence — racial violence, and also election violence. Reportedly 3 in 4 voters expect this Election Day to be violent. A key difference is that this year, more white people fear being violently deterred from exercising their constitutional right to vote, and for most white people, they're experiencing this type of fear for the first time. This in itself is a significant fact — that we are talking about election violence more because of who is being affected by it — and it says nearly everything you need to know about racial inequality in America.
Violent domestic extremism has become a leading threat in the country, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Far-right groups have more or less been granted permission by President Donald Trump to incorporate violent imagery and threats in service of their political agendas. When Trump calls out Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for refusing to open up her state during a pandemic, his audience knows that they can start to shout "lock her up," which, even in the most benign interpretation, means the arrest and detention of a governor for committing no crimes (which, as we know, allegedly really almost happened). In its most extreme interpretation, "lock her up" is an incitement of violence.
When I grew up in Orange County, politics was a joy. My family, led by my mom, instilled in me a love of politics. She was a Tsitizen for Tsongas in 1992, and one day, we hosted a fundraiser to help Paul Tsongas, the quirky, brainy senator from Massachusetts, raise money for his on-again, off-again presidential bid. I was 13, and I decided to wear a badge marked "security," which was primo timing, because the candidate had just lost his Secret Service detail. I loved election days and nights; I once set up a ballot box outside our garage. As a kid, politics was so fun for me.
It took me a while to fall out of love. When I was a reporter in Washington, D.C., the institutionalized b.s. grated on my sense of truth. I had to pretend that there were two equal sides to a story that had at least seven. I had to pretend that, for example, Republican efforts to "prevent voting fraud" had a shred of credibility to them, which is why I wasn't allowed to describe them as "efforts to suppress the Black vote." But what finally did me in was a realization, perhaps too late, that what was great fun for me as a kid was, for so many others, a deadly threat, an unending war for dignity and the basic right to participate politically. And even then I was ignorant of what had happened a few miles north of where I grew up.
Siegfried White raises his fist as he protests the fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks, a Black man killed by a police officer, in Atlanta on June 15, 2020. Chandan Khanna / AFP - Getty Images
In her book "Political Emotions: Why Love Matters for Justice," philosopher Martha Nussbaum writes of the many attempts by so-called enlightened countries to create a civil religion that would bind together its citizens, especially during emergencies. At the core of these efforts were attempts to "expand empathy," she writes, and reduce the influence of human greed and egoism. In our modern life, as we approach an election with extreme trepidation, we might be tempted to ground our appeals to others in respect. I disagree with you, but I respect you; you disagree with me, and yet you respect me. But respect, Nussbaum writes, "is cold and inert, insufficient to overcome the bad tendencies that lead human beings to tyrannize one over the other."
Overt election violence against Black people and Indigenous people and people of color has waned over decades. But the bone-deep sense of dread that many people feel about elections remains.
Overt election violence against Black people and Indigenous people and people of color has waned over decades. But the bone-deep sense of dread that many people feel about elections remains. The reality is that enough white people still see Black political power as a threat to justify extraordinary departures from some of our deepest intuitions about what a mature democracy looks like. Voter suppression is only a more banal descendant of racial violence. To move the conversation forward, we must first acknowledge that a major reason we are at this threshold is that we lack the mechanisms to hold the Republican Party accountable for its efforts to willfully suppress and depress the vote.
My dream is that politics becomes fun for everyone: hard-fought, serious, weighty — but also exuberant and thrilling and inspiring. But based on our current climate, we are far from that reality.


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