Oct 28, 2016You know it’s happening but it’s almost impossible to prove. It’s all over the place.
↩︎ The Wall Street Journal
In disputed elections, no one wins
Zombie voters haven't been effective since the Civil War
Dead people "voting" has been an American election year bugbear since the 1870s, and yet there's zero evidence to show it has ever fraudulently happened. When it does happen, it's usually a clerical error.
Oct 17, 2016To rig an election, you would need (1) technological capabilities that exist only in Mission Impossible movies, plus (2) the cooperation of the Republicans and Democrats who are serving as the polling place’s election officials, plus (3) the blind eyes of the partisan pollwatchers who are standing over their shoulders, plus (4) the cooperation of another set of Republicans and Democrats — the officials at the post-elections canvass, plus (5) the blind eyes of the canvass watchers, too.
↩︎ Extra Newsfeed
What happens if nobody wins?
What happens if neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton receive enough electoral votes for an outright win? After all, it's possible, but unlikely. The Atlantic concocted a lengthy potential scenario for the election of 1980, in which an independent upstart snags a significant portion of the electoral votes, and the case is sent to the House of Representatives under a little-used statute, where it becomes a legitimate Constitutional crisis.
Oct 17, 2016The election proved to be the longest, closest, most hostile, and most controversial—up to that time—in the history of the United States.
↩︎ The Miller Center at the University of Virginia
Oct 17, 2016I can’t see the fever swamp, alt-reality media universe on the right learning the lessons of this. Can you see Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham saying, ‘OK, sorry, we screwed up’?
↩︎ Politico
America has been "influencing" election results around the world for centuries.
It's true! A brief list, with some recent examples:
Honduras, where a failure by Hillary Clinton's State Department to condemn a violent coup d'état legitimized it.
Iran, where the US launched its own coup in 1953 against Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq.
Haiti, where the US regularly installs puppet governments and otherwise intervenes in elections.
Chile, where the CIA admitted to kidnapping a top general for refusing to prevent Salvador Allende from taking power.
Indonesia, where the US, with the UK and Australia, was found complicit in the mass killing of communists after the Community Party was offered proportional representation in the parliament.
Oct 17, 2016The old American virtues have already been eaten away by cosmopolitans and intellectuals; the old competitive capitalism has been gradually undermined by socialistic and communistic schemers; the old national security and independence have been destroyed by treasonous plots, having as their most powerful agents not merely outsiders and foreigners as of old but major statesmen who are at the very centers of American power.
↩︎ Harper's
The Editors' Longreads Picks
- An excellent essay on poverty and writing by Starr Davis. Updated May 31, 2022
- Novelist Héctor Tobar tries to understand the 1992 Los Angeles riots through the experiences of a single high school.
- Steven Johnson with a long assessment of the current state of A.I. and language. (The illusion has gotten very good.)
Welcome to The Morning News Tournament of Books, 2017 edition.
- Our championship match is decided in the Tournament of Books, with news of a Rooster surprise debuting this summer. Updated Mar 31, 2017
- In Thursday's action, Reyhan Harmanci sets up a colossal final.
- The Zombie round opens with Buzzfeed's Isaac Fitzgerald reading The Nix and The Underground Railroad.
Все ваши Белый дом принадлежит нам.
- "Will Putin expose the failings of American democracy or will he inadvertently expose the strength of American democracy?" Updated Mar 3, 2017
- Wilbur Ross just wanted to make some money in ethically gray areas (that should've prevented him from taking office).
- Jeff Sessions's spokeswoman can't help but continue to lie.
The oceans are under assault, and not just from the White House and friends.
- Trump's assault on the environment begins with American headwaters. Updated Mar 1, 2017
- Don't just blame the oil companies for destroying the oceans—blame sushi restaurants.
- Nothing escapes the deepest trenches of the ocean floor. Not light, not nutrients, not pollutants.