Category Archives: Politics

I like paper and pencils

Computerphile: Why Electronic Voting is a BAD Idea. (YouTube, 8:20min) “Voting is centuries old, why can’t we move with the times and use our phones, tablets and computers? Tom Scott lays out why e-voting is such a bad idea.”

“[Electronic voting] is a terrible idea. And if a government ever promises to use it, hope they don’t manage it before you get a chance to vote them out.”

PBS News Hour: An 11-year-old changed election results on a replica Florida state website in under 10 minutes.

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One year after Charlottesville

The Washington Post: ‘It’s still hard to look at’. “The story behind the searing photo of Charlottesville’s worst day”.

“On April 16, [Ryan Kelly] and his wife were flying home from Amsterdam, where he had accepted an award for the photo. “We landed, I turned on my phone, and it was just swamped with texts and tweets and calls,“ Kelly said.

He had won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking-news photography, an accolade that leaves him both proud and pensive.

“I’ve also been very aware that it came at the expense of the death of Heather Heyer, of dozens of other people being injured, of Charlottesville being torn apart,“ Kelly said, […]. “I think about that every day.“ “

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“Osama’s son Hamza may well cloud the family’s attempts to shake off their past”

The Guardian: My son, Osama: the al-Qaida leader’s mother speaks for the first time. “Nearly 17 years since 9/11, Osama bin Laden’s family remains an influential part of Saudi society – as well as a reminder of the darkest moment in the kingdom’s history. Can they escape his legacy?”

“Alia Ghanem is Osama bin Laden’s mother, and she commands the attention of everyone in the room. On chairs nearby sit two of her surviving sons, Ahmad and Hassan, and her second husband, Mohammed al-Attas, the man who raised all three brothers. Everyone in the family has their own story to tell about the man linked to the rise of global terrorism; but it is Ghanem who holds court today, describing a man who is, to her, still a beloved son who somehow lost his way. “My life was very difficult because he was so far away from me,“ she says, speaking confidently. “He was a very good kid and he loved me so much.“ Now in her mid-70s and in variable health, Ghanem points at al-Attas – a lean, fit man dressed, like his two sons, in an immaculately pressed white thobe, a gown worn by men across the Arabian peninsula. “He raised Osama from the age of three. He was a good man, and he was good to Osama.“ “

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“Verbale Aggressivität” und “hohe Affinität zu Waffen”

Deutsche Welle: Immer mehr “Reichsbürger” unter Beobachtung. “Der Verfassungsschutzbericht ist wegen des Asylstreits liegen geblieben. Jetzt werden die neuen Zahlen offiziell vorgestellt – zusammen mit alarmierenden Bewertungen.”

“Viele “Reichsbürger” behaupten, das Deutsche Reich existiere in den Grenzen von 1937 fort. Beide Gruppen erkennen die Bundesrepublik Deutschland nicht als Staat an, lehnen deren Rechtssystem ab und weigern sich oftmals, Steuern oder Bußgelder zu zahlen. Die Mitglieder der Szene werden daher vom Verfassungsschutz aktuell als “staatsfeindlich und extremistisch” eingestuft.”

“A frontal attack on the EU and European values”

Deutsche Welle: German politicians allied against Steve Bannon. “Steve Bannon plans to build a right-wing populist think tank in Europe. German lawmakers called the plans by the former adviser to the US president to influence the 2019 European elections “a frontal attack on the EU.””

Michael Roth, a center-left Social Democratic (SPD) lawmaker and minister of state for Europe: Europe should not “be afraid of nationalist campaigns with which Mr. Bannon would like to force Europe to its knees…our values are stronger than his hate and his lies.”

See also: Steve Bannon plans Brussels-based foundation ‘The Movement’ for EU far-right. “Donald Trump’s ex-strategist, Steve Bannon, told the Daily Beast he hopes the foundation will fuel the spread of right-wing populism across Europe. He wants to offer a right-wing alternative to George Soros’s foundation.”