Podcasts about Sam Biddle

Meta — Facebook and Instagram's parent company — refuses to provide evidence refuting widespread reports that it's censoring Gaza-related content on its platforms. This week on Deconstructed, technology reporter Sam Biddle joins Ryan Grim to discuss his recent reporting on the efforts of Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to press Meta for specifics.Grim and Biddle dig into debates blaming the horrifying images coming out of Gaza for turning young people against the war. "When people see images of horrific bloodshed," Biddle says, "when they see bodies blown apart by bombs, that's upsetting to most people. There doesn't have to be any ideology attached." They also dive into how pressures to sanitize Israel's war is being used to ban TikTok, and how X, formerly known as Twitter, is profiting off of government surveillance.If you'd like to support our work, go to theintercept.com/give, where your donation, no matter what the amount, makes a real difference.And if you haven't already, please subscribe to the show so you can hear it every week. And please go and leave us a rating or a review — it helps people find the show. If you want to give us additional feedback, email us at Podcasts@theintercept.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss the motivations behind the proposed TikTok ban and what the effort tells us about US tech policy.Jacob Silverman is a tech journalist and the co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud.Tech Won't Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.Also mentioned in this episode:Paris will be speaking in Montreal on March 23 and March 26.Jacob wrote about the GOP megadonor who could benefit from whatever happens to TikTok.Paris wrote about the geopolitics of the TikTok ban and what it says about US power.Taylor Lorenz broke down some of the disputed claims being made about TikTok.Sam Biddle wrote about how Facebook knows they violated Palestinian human rights.Byron Tau explained how US government agencies are getting people's personal data from data brokers.Support the show

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.insurgentspod.comSam Biddle of The Intercept joins us to talk about his recent piece examining Meta's consideration around censoring the word “Zionist.” We discuss how that would look in application, the limits of automated or outsourced content moderation, and the larger shift the company has announced regarding not recommending politic…

Meet Barrett Moore, the bunker-building bullshit artist who helps capitalists survive the apocalypse with beans, bullets, and bravado. Please share this episode with your friends and start a conversation.Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.For an entertaining deep dive into the theme of season five (Phalse Prophets), read the definitive peer-reviewed taxonomic analysis from our very own Jason Bradford, PhD. Sources/Links/Notes:History of the Kelly Butte Civil Defense CenterArticle on Kelly Butte in the Atlas ObscuraA Day Called X -- video of a dramatized atomic evacuation of Portland, OregonDonald Fagen's "New Frontier"Sam Biddle, "The Rise and Fall of the Ultimate Doomsday Prepper," The Intercept, July 5, 2021."Three Robots: Exit Strategies" -- episode 1 of season 3 of the Netflix series Love, Death & Robots.National Geographic produced the popular video series Doomsday Preppers.Molly Redden, "The American Elite Are Planning Their Escape — And It Starts With Paying For Passports," Huffington Post, March 19, 2023.John Ramey, "New statistics on modern prepper demographics from FEMA and Cornell," theprepared.com August 4, 2021.Bradley Garrett, "Living with bunker builders: doomsday prepping in the age of coronavirus,"The Conversation, May 14, 2020.Interview about Bradley Garrett's study of preppingJ. Oliver Conroy, "We mocked preppers and survivalists – until the pandemic hit," The Guardian, April 30, 2020.Walter Karp, "When Bunkers Last in the Backyard Bloom-d," American Heritage, February/March 1980.Red Cross's Preparedness ChecklistFEMA's 12 Ways to PrepareTom Prugh, "Democracy Rising 1 Introduction: Idiots R Us," Resilience, October 27, 2021.Jana Reiss, "For today's Latter-day Saints, it's food storage light," The Salt Lake Tribune, January 27, 2023.Support the show

Thursday's Expected Influx of Immigrants at the Southern Border and the Failure to Deal With the Root Causes | As Republicans Try to Extort Budget Cuts, the Counter Leverage of the 14th Amendment is in Biden's Pocket | The Weaponization of AI Tech as the Pentagon Looks at CHAT GPT backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Andrew Lawrence of Media Matters joins us to discuss Fox News settling with Dominion at the last minute in its defamation case over the network airing election lies and smearing the voting machine company in the process. The $787 million settlement is the largest defamation settlement in US history, and while the right-wing television network narrowly avoided its top talent taking the stand, we explore how Fox isn't out of the woods just yet.We also open with some NHL playoffs talk, so if you're not a hockey fan just skip that part I guess. (You should be though, hockey is great. Go Rangers.)You can follow Andrew here: https://twitter.com/ndrew_lawrenceTo become a subscriber (paid intern!) to the Insurgents and gain access to an additional episode every week, you can subscribe here:Our most recent premium episode with Sam Biddle about his story on how the Georgia National Guard using location tracking to recruit high school children is available here:You can find The Insurgents elsewhere on…YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheInsurgents/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theinsurgentspod/Twitter: https://twitter.com/insurgentspod This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theinsurgents.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit theinsurgents.substack.comSam Biddle, technology reporter at The Intercept, joins us to discuss his new story about the Georgia National Guard using location tracking to recruit high school children. We get into the pitfalls and dangers of using an inaccurate method to try to identify and follow young people for purposes of military recruiting, how its an extension of other pred…

Ryan and Emily discuss the Davos Summit and what the speakers and guests have to say about their version of the future, GOP attacking retirement age and Social Security, a failed Republican candidate Solomon Pena arrested for potentially hiring shooters to attack Democratic opposition candidates, Joe Rogan speaks on Joe Biden's classified documents disaster, Poland's Prime Minister warns of WW3 if Ukraine loses, a bathroom fight between Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert shows divisions, Ryan reviews the words of Alexander Hamilton in regards to the Debt Ceiling, Emily discusses her thoughts on American Pessimism, and an interview with Sam Biddle from The Intercept on Guccifer a hacker incarcerated for years for an email hacking spree against America's elite.To become a Breaking Points Premium Member and watch/listen to the show uncut and 1 hour early visit: https://breakingpoints.supercast.com/AUSTIN LIVE SHOW FEB 3RDTickets: https://tickets.austintheatre.org/9053/9054Merch: https://breaking-points.myshopify.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ryan and Emily discuss the Davos Summit and what the speakers and guests have to say about their version of the future, GOP attacking retirement age and Social Security, a failed Republican candidate Solomon Pena arrested for potentially hiring shooters to attack Democratic opposition candidates, Joe Rogan speaks on Joe Biden's classified documents disaster, Poland's Prime Minister warns of WW3 if Ukraine loses, a bathroom fight between Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert shows divisions, Ryan reviews the words of Alexander Hamilton in regards to the Debt Ceiling, Emily discusses her thoughts on American Pessimism, and an interview with Sam Biddle from The Intercept on Guccifer a hacker incarcerated for years for an email hacking spree against America's elite. To become a Breaking Points Premium Member and watch/listen to the show uncut and 1 hour early visit: https://breakingpoints.supercast.com/ AUSTIN LIVE SHOW FEB 3RD Tickets: https://tickets.austintheatre.org/9053/9054 Merch: https://breaking-points.myshopify.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new report shows how the authorities in Iran can track and control protestors phones. An investigation by The Intercept news organisation has found that mobile phone coverage is being switched from a healthy 5G or 4G network to slow and clunky 2G coverage when protestors gather. This means they no longer can communicate using encrypted messages or calls on their smartphones and instead have to rely up traditional phone calls or SMS messages which can be intercepted and understood easily. This, according to the report is being done by a web programme. One of reports authors Sam Biddle, a journalist specialising in the misuse of power in technology, is on the programme. Policing the metaverse Imagine being attacked in virtual reality – will the experience be as traumatic as in real life? Perhaps not yet but in the near future if we are living as least part of our live in the Metaverse, crime will also be part of the virtual life. But currently there is little if no protection if a crime committed against our virtual selves. Now Europol – the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation – has published a report into Policing the Metaverse. Journalist Emma Woollacott has been reading the report and she explains the many perils that we could face and also how we need to act now to manage these crimes in the Metaverse. Hollyplus -a digital twin AI that sings anything you want to (even if you can't!) Imagine being able to sing any song you like – and in any language you choose – even in musical styles that you have never studied? That's now possible thanks to artist, musician and composer Holly Herndon. She has trained a computer algorithm to sing like her – the cloned voice can sing in any language or style she chooses – even extending her own vocal range. The project is called Hollyplus and the digital twin has just released its version of Dolly Parton's song Jolene. The real Holly explains how she's done this. The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Bill Thompson. Studio Manager: Sue Maillot Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz (Image: Protest in Iran. Credit: Getty Images)

The Oakland Police Department was outed earlier this week for requesting to acquire a robot armed with a shotgun – a weapon that they said would generally be loaded with blank ammunition, but that they would consider using with regular shotgun shells should they desire. Since the story was covered by The Intercept, the Oakland Police Department has said that they are no longer pursuing the acquisition at this time, but the reporter who covered the story initially has worries about the department's future intentions and how these robotic systems are used by law enforcement nationally. We are joined in this episode by that reporter – Sam Biddle focuses on malfeasance and misused power in technology for The Intercept, and has published stories for Gawker, Gizmodo, GQ, Vice, and The Awl. Follow Sam Biddle on Twitter: https://twitter.com/samfbiddle Follow Sam Biddle's stories on The Intercept: https://theintercept.com/staff/sambiddle/ Check out Sam Biddle's website: https://www.sambiddle.com/ —- Subscribe to this podcast: https://plinkhq.com/i/1637968343?to=page Get in touch: lawanddisorder@kpfa.org Follow us on socials @LawAndDis: https://twitter.com/LawAndDis; https://www.instagram.com/lawanddis/ The post Oakland PD's potential shotgun-armed robot w/ Sam Biddle appeared first on KPFA.

Smartphone apps constantly harvest your location data. That information is shared with advertisers, typically without your knowledge or informed consent. There are no laws in the U.S. prohibiting the sale or resale of that private data. And companies like phone-tracking firm Anomaly Six exploit that. So do government agencies.This week on Intercepted, Intercept reporter Sam Biddle and Tech Inquiry's Jack Poulson discuss their reporting on Anomaly Six and the company's pitch to a social media monitoring company, Zignal Labs. Anomaly Six proposed that their joint efforts would permit the U.S. government to effortlessly spy on its adversaries. To show off its vast surveillance capabilities, Anomaly Six demo'd its software by spying on the CIA and NSA. Biddle and Poulson talk about the Wild West of personal data brokers, how the advertising industry feeds the surveillance industry, and just why the apps on your phone made it easy for Anomaly Six to build a tool it claims can spy on billions of devices. join.theintercept.com/donate/now See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Paris Marx is joined by Ryan Broderick and Hussein Kesvani to discuss how war gets filtered through social media and the content economy, and what that means for how we make sense of it.Ryan Broderick writes the Garbage Day newsletter and hosts Content Mines. Hussein Kesvani is a writer and the co-host of Trashfuture and Ten Thousand Posts. Follow Ryan on Twitter at @broderick and Hussein at @HKesvani.Tech Won't Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, support the show on Patreon, and sign up for the weekly newsletter.Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.Also mentioned in this episode:Ryan has written two issues of Garbage Day trying to make sense of what's happening in the war.Hussein wrote a very good tweet.Sam Biddle wrote about how Facebook is allowing users to praise the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion.Taylor Lorenz wrote about Instagram meme pages capitalizing on the conflict.Journalists have been saying some pretty racist things about why the war in Ukraine is different than those in the Middle East.Chris Stokel-Walker wrote about how TikTok is designed for war.Jonah Peretti wrote an article called “Capitalism and Schizophrenia.”NBC's Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel wondered aloud on Twitter whether NATO should start World War III.Hillary Clinton neglected the consequences of the US arming Afghan “insurgents” against the Soviet Union in the 1980s.The media isn't applying the right level of scrutiny to Ukrainian war stories, like Snake Island.Russia's invasion of Ukraine could have consequences for semiconductors.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)

Shares of the office-leasing company WeWork closed up more than 13.49 per cent on Thursday, after the company went public through a special purpose acquisition. We hear from Peter Eavis of The New York Times, who has been following the ups and downs of the company. A dispute between Brussels and Warsaw threatens to overshadow a summit for EU leaders. A Polish court recently found parts of EU law were incompatible with the country's constitution, and there have been calls from some quarters to withhold EU funds from Poland in response. Anna Wojcik is a researcher at the Polish Academy of Sciences and editor of the Rule of Law publication, and discusses the background to the dispute. The company behind a new cryptocurrency called Worldcoin wants to give away its tokens for free. But in exchange, users have to agree to have their eyes' iris scanned. This is, the website says, to "prove that they are indeed human... and that they have not received their free share of Worldcoin already". But there are already privacy concerns, as we hear from Sam Biddle of The Intercept. Shares in the Chinese property conglomerate Evergrande fell by 11.5% when they resumed trading in Hong Kong today. Sherry Fei Ju is a freelance journalist in Beijing, and brings us the latest developments. The Austrian city of Vienna is known for its collection of art galleries and museums. But some of the exhibits, it seems, are a little too racy for some social media networks. So the tourism board is posting images on the website OnlyFans, the only social network that permits depictions of nudity. We hear from Norbert Kettner of the Vienna Tourist Board. Plus, it's the beginning of India's festival season, and our workplace commentator Sandip Roy considers the challenges of trying to work through the mega festival Durga Puja, when millions are on the streets partying til dawn. All this and more discussed with our two guests throughout the show: Paddy Hirsch, a contributing editor at US National Public Radio, in Los Angeles. And writer Rachel Cartland, in Hong Kong. (Picture: A WeWork office building. Credit: Getty Images.)

In this free version of Unauthorized Disclosure, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss Facebook's secret blacklist, as revealed by Sam Biddle of the Intercept. They also talk about a Facebook whistleblower (not the one who orchestrated a public relations campaign).

Jemal meets the boss of the organisation, and realises the terrible truth behind the software he has stolen. Does he get into bed with them or find a way  out of it. Sam and Jon are back, after a 4 month break, find out why that have been AWol and read the next chapter in Hypnos. here are some of the links Sam and Jon talk about. I hate this book instagram - https://www.instagram.com/i_hate_this_book/Pet portraits by Sam Biddle - https://artbysamantha.co.uk/pet-portraits/Cows by Mathew Stokew - https://amzn.to/3v8GBBiBUY HYPNOS for 99p here - https://jonbiddle.uk/books/hypnos/

My guest on this episode is Hamed Allahyari, who is a refugee from Iran. Hamed was in his early 20s when, fearing for his life, he fled his country and travelled to Australia by boat. After spending time in a detention centre, he arrived in Australia in early 2013. It took 2 years for him to receive his work/study right on his visa and even though he had extensive experience working as a chef in Iran, he found it very difficult to find a job. This became the driving force behind him opening his social enterprise restaurant a few years later. Cafe Sunshine and Salamatea is run entirely by refugees and asylum seekers, providing them with experience, training and employment here in Australia. In this interview Hamed is extremely open about his whole journey, including why he had to leave his home country and the conditions he faced whilst coming to Australia. He then explains how he built his life here in Australia and used his own experiences to help other refugees and asylum seekers through his cafe/restaurant. Hamed's Details Salamatea: 21 Dickson St, Sunshine VIC 3020 Website: salamatea.org  Instagram: @salamateahouse @hamedsfood Facebook: CafeSunshineAndSalamaTea Youtube: Hamed's Persian Kitchen Photo of Hamed in episode artwork by Sam Biddle @biddle.biddle Podcast details: Website: inspirationaltales.com.au Instagram: @inspirationaltalespodcast  

Now that Donald Trump is gone from office, what’s next? This week on Intercepted: There are a slew of unanswered questions about the siege of the Capitol. Americans are being asked to believe that the national security apparatus — the same one that charged nearly 200 people en masse, including journalists and observers, with felony rioting when Trump was inaugurated in 2017, and has leveled federal charges including terrorism charges on Black Lives Matter protesters — failed to see the threat to the U.S. Congress posed by right-wing extremists, even as people organized across social media platforms in plain sight.In response to the Capitol siege, Joe Biden and some members of Congress are looking to expand new domestic terrorism laws. They are using the exact same playbook deployed by the Bush-Cheney White House after 9/11 and embraced across the aisles in Congress. This is a dangerous moment where policies with very serious implications could be rushed through in the heat of the moment.The Intercept’s Ryan Devereaux, Ken Klippenstein, Alice Speri, Natasha Lennard, Sam Biddle, Mara Hvistendahl, and Murtaza Hussain share their thoughts on the transition of power from Trump to Biden that is happening today. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

12-11-20 Alice Speri on Social Media Censorship Alice Speri, a writer with The Intercept (TheIntercept.com) discusses a recent article she wrote with co-author Sam Biddle in which she explores censorship by Zoom against programs and conferences that feature topics Zoom considers violations of US Law. Click here to read her article. Speri joined host Ray Hanania on The Arab street Radio/US Arab Radio Network on Tuesday Dec. 11, 2020 on WNZK AM 690 Radio in Detroit. Speri and Hanania talk about the parameters of censorship as they apply to social media and how Zoom censorship a University program that only included a discussion about a controversial figure in Palestinian and Israeli history, Leila (Laila) Khaled, the first woman to hijack an airplane during the military conflict against Israel in the 1970s. Just the discussion of the topic prompted Zoom to block the program and censor the panel. The article she wrote is titled "Zoom Censorship of Palestine Seminars Sparks Fight over Academic Freedom. Zoom cited anti-terrorism laws to shut down an event with Palestinian activist Leila Khaled -- and other events criticizing its censorship. The Arab street Radio is broadcast Live every 2nd Tuesday of the month on WNZK AM 690 Radio in Detroit, Michigan and is simulcast Live on the USArabRadio Facebook page online. For more information on Ray Hanania visit his Internet writing hub at www.Hanania.com. For more information on The Arab street Radio visit www.TheArabStreetRadio.org. For more information on US Arab Radio visit www.ArabRadio.us.

We're back with Sam Biddle for another pandepisode. We get down to the nitty gritty regarding all your write ins on this week's Bropinionated. Stay sane! Jesse briefly mentions immaculate conceptions and we made it the title #clickbait

This week we wrestle with the topic of cyber security. From Web Summit 2018, Meet the defender of the Democratic party in the cyber war against hackers, Raffi Krikorian as he and Sam Biddle of the intercept ask the question: “ How can we defend democracy against cyber attacks?” Be sure to learn more about #CollisionfromHomeSupport the show (https://websummit.com/)

Sammy B, our brilliant brother, joins this surprise pandepisode (pandemic episode) of Bropinionated. Jesse's baseball season is postponed so we were able to virtually discuss our lives during the pandemic. Sit back, relax, and let Sam's insights breathe new life into your soul, Jesse's wisecracks make you chuckle uncontrollably, and Conor's... idk. Enjoy! We apologize for the shotty sound quality #stayhome

Hello! And welcome to another edition of the Inside The Newsroom podcast newsletter, where I’ll dish further context and info about everything discussed in the podcast. If you enjoy what you read and listen to, please subscribe to get it straight to your inbox next time. Today’s guests are…… storm chaser Josh Morgerman and filmmaker Caroline Menzies of the new TV show Hurricane Man, currently airing in the UK and South Africa (random) and set to hit the US in the coming months. I loved this episode and Josh’s obsession with chasing storms was absolutely addictive and makes me (don’t worry I won’t) really want to tag along with him next time. Does climate change make hurricanes worse?Although it’s not central to the show, it’s impossible not to talk about hurricanes without talking about climate change. What you have to consider is the difference between meteorology and climatology — they’re different but closely related. Meteorology is the study of weather, most often on a day-to-day or event-by-event basis, so it’s hard to decipher if climate change is involved. Climatology is the study of weather trends over an extended period of time. In order to explore if climate change is making hurricanes worse, you have to look at long-term trends, which is (*shameful plug time*) what my colleague and I looked at for the Guardian last year.Niko Kommenda and Moi, The GuardianThe Category is Just a NumberWe most often hear about the ‘category’ of a hurricane, and the barometer of panic ascends or descends according to this number. But what causes significant damage is the rain these storms bring. Take Hurricane Harvey in 2017, which stalled and sat on top of Houston and its surrounding areas for multiple days. In total, Harvey dumped 33 trillion gallons of water, and the folks at the Washington Post visualized what that looked like at the link below. Angela Fritz and Jason Samenow, Washington PostWhy Don’t People Evacuate?Hurricanes bring out the best and worst of people. On one hand, so many incredible people offer to help those whose lives have been destroyed. Then there’s those who sit on the sidelines and lambast anyone who “chooses” not to evacuate. The fact is, not everyone can just get up and leave town for safety. Some are physically unable. Some are physically unable to move loved ones. And as you’ll see from the next blurb, some people just flat out cannot afford to leave their possessions that they rely on to make a living.Nicole Stephens, for the New York TimesLike Inside The Newsroom? Do us a solid and tell a friend or colleague who might enjoy it and subscribe.This Is Why People Don’t LeaveA couple from Florida refuse to leave their fishing boat — worth $250,000 and uninsured against hurricanes — during Hurricane Michael. I watched the below clip with anguish and a clenched butt. Long Road to RecoveryIf you watch the series or have ever seen the destruction of a hurricane, you'll know town's and cities don't recover overnight. My former colleagues at FiveThirtyEight visualized how long it took the victims in New York and New Jersey to recover from Hurricane Sandy (which actually made landfall as a tropical cyclone) and there are still people calling the authorities about the damage. I imagine it will take at least the next decade for the Florida Panhandle to fully recover from the impact of Hurricane Michael, which made landfall as a top-end Category 4 hurricane. Julia Wolfe and Oliver Order, FiveThirtyEightInside the EyeTime for another video. If you’re reading this and you’ve ever survived the strongest part of a hurricane — the ferocious ‘eye wall’ — you’ll know that on the other side is a mystical land where the sun shines and the birds tweet. That majestic place is called the ‘eye’, and in the below clip, we get to see Josh experience something he described as indescribable. I likened it to being on drugs.2019 Hurricane Season ForecastThe past two Atlantic hurricane seasons have been devastating with a total of 32 named storms, including eight major hurricanes (Category 3 or stronger). The good news is that the 2019 season is expected to be nearer the average of 12 named storms. The Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State releases its predictions each year and, while these are subject to change, the early signs are that 2019 will be calmer than the past couple of years.Jonathan Erdman, The Weather ChannelRelated Podcasts#23 — Michael E. Mann (Penn State University)#17 — James Spann (ABC 33/40)#15 — Marshall Shepherd (The Weather Channel)#14 — Rick Luettich (University of North Carolina)#13 — Jonathan Petramala (Accuweather)#2 — Damon Lane (KOCO)Next up…Next week we’ll have music label man Shane Morris to talk about the controversy of Lil Nas X and his ‘Old Town Road’ being removed from the Billboard Country chart. And also there’s a good chance I’ll release a pod with Jeff Zeleny of CNN.Last time…#36 — Sam Biddle, technology reporter at The InterceptThanks so much for making it all the way to the bottom. If you haven’t already, please consider subscribing to get a newsletter about a cool news topic in your inbox every time I release a new podcast (1-2 times a week). You can find me on Twitter at DanielLevitt32 or email me corrections/feedback or even a guest you’d like me to get on the podcast at daniellevitt32@gmail.com. Get on the email list at insidethenewsroom.substack.com

Hello! And welcome to another edition of the Inside The Newsroom podcast newsletter. For many of you it'll be the first time receiving one, so I hope you get something out of it and please do message me with any suggestions (contact details at the bottom). Today’s Guest Is…… Sam Biddle, technology reporter at The Intercept. Sam’s worked at a host of outlets including DCist, Newser and Gawker in the past, and reports from the intersection of technological malfeasance. Above is the podcast. And below is more context of everything we talked about with links and a little analysis from yours truly.The Intercept is BornSam joined The Intercept back in 2016, shortly after it was launched in 2014 by Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill. It’s funded by eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar. You may have heard of Greenwald and Poitras from their time in a hotel room in Hong Kong with Edward Snowden, as part of Poitras’ movie Citizenfour, which documented Snowden’s first contact with journalists about leaked NSA files. The Intercept is one of the most important news outlets in the world, imo, if not only for Greenwald calling out b******t in public as he sees it. Ben Cosman, The AtlanticAre Facebook’s Algorithm Sexist and Racist? Hmm… 🤔Sam delved into a new study showing how Facebook delivers certain adverts to people based on their race and gender, even when advertisers had asked to target a broad audience. Per the researchers: “Critically, we observe significant skew in delivery along gender and racial lines for “real” ads for employment and housing opportunities despite neutral targeting parameters. Our results demonstrate previously unknown mechanisms that can lead to potentially discriminatory ad delivery, even when advertisers set their targeting parameters to be highly inclusive.” Sam Biddle, The InterceptCan We Live Without the ‘Big Five’?Ever wondered what life could be like without Google and Facebook? I know I do all too often. Fortunately for us, Gizmodo journalist Kashmir Hill went all-in and cut the ‘Big Five’ technology companies from her life for an entire week. Personally, I’ve deleted Facebook and Instagram in the past six months and definitely feel better for it. But I’ll admit, I never knew how much of the internet’s infrastructure relied on a handful of companies and, as Kashmir found out, it’s almost impossible to operate as a human without them.Kashmir Hill, GizmodoLike Inside The Newsroom? Do us a solid and tell a friend or colleague who might enjoy it and subscribe.Add Another Zero and Then We’ll TalkThe Washington Post reported last week that Facebook could be fined between $3 billion and $5 billion by the Federal Trade Commission, for the company’s mishandling of its users’ data. That could turn out to be more than 100 times larger than the previous largest fine levied by the FTC to a technology company — $22.5 million given to Google in 2012. The problem is, though, Facebook released its latest earnings on Friday, and a $5 billion fine represents just a third of Facebook’s quarterly revenue, something the New York Times described as a “parking ticket”. Facebook’s share price rose 8 percent as a result. How do you penalize a company if a multi-billion dollar fine is good news? Elizabeth Dwoskin and Tony Romm, The Washington PostZuckerberg’s Pivot to PrivacyBack in March, Mark Zuckerberg published the latest of his trivial essays, this time on “a privacy-focused vision for social networking.” The crux of Zuckerberg’s message was that his platform would be moving to complete end-to-end encryption, that “prevents anyone — including us — from seeing what people share.” Now, on the face of it, this appears to be positive. But does this now give Facebook an out from banning the fake content and Russian trolls that have plagued its platform in recent years? Like with most things, there’s be pros and cons. But it’s hard to believe that this move has been made for user protection, especially after leaked emails showed Facebook’s real mission is to make as much money out of its users’ data.Joshua Rothman, The New YorkerThe Third Era of ZuckIt hasn’t been long since rumours of a presidential run circled Zuckerberg, but a tumultuous 24 months later, the only visit to Washington Zuck’s had has been to testify in Congress. According to Tim Hwang, who founded the California Review of Images and Mark Zuckerberg, we’ve entered the “third era of Zuck.” First there was the “plucky in the college dorm room hacker guy”; then came “world leader”; and finally we’ve entered Zuckerberg “in the wilderness.” Bearing in mind that Zuckerberg is still only 34, we’re starting to see through the cracks of what has been an efficient PR machine until now.Julia Carrie Wong, The GuardianJack Dorsey’s PR B******t TourI’ve listened to three podcasts with Jack Dorsey in the past three months and all of them were scarily similar. Even ultra-skeptical podcast hosts such as Joe Rogan struggled to crack Dorsey’s veneer, as Twitter’s co-founder and current CEO told us that he’s working on changes that will mitigate abuse and harassment on the platform, but users wouldn’t notice them. Finally, in the below episode, journalist Tim Pool puts up more of a fight and things get a bit testy. Well worth the listen. Joe Rogan Experience podcast with Jack Dorsey, Vijaya Gadde and Tim PoolRelated Podcasts#31 — Max Read (New York Magazine)#25 — Alex Hern (The Guardian)#24 — Ben Hammersley (Future Predictor)Next up…Later this week we'll have the folks of Hurricane Man on to talk about their new show and what it's like being in the middle of a hurricane.… Last week#35 — Richard Deitsch (The Athletic)Thanks so much for making it all the way to the bottom. If you haven’t already, please consider subscribing to get a newsletter about a cool news topic in your inbox every time I release a new podcast (1-2 times a week). You can find me on Twitter at @DanielLevitt32 or email me corrections/feedback or even a guest you’d like me to get on the podcast at daniellevitt32@gmail.com. Get on the email list at insidethenewsroom.substack.com

You’re reading the inaugural edition of the Inside The Newsroom podcast newsletter. If you like it, then consider subscribing to get something similar sent to your inbox every time I publish a podcast. And maybe even tell a friend or colleague too.Today’s Guest Is…… Richard Deitsch, a journalist for The Athletic covering sports media and radio host for Sportsnet 590 in Toronto. Richard previously covered sports and its media for Sports Illustrated for more than 20 years. We talked about various topics including the rise of alternative sports media (i.e. The Athletic) against legacy outlets (i.e. ESPN and Sports Illustrated) and how ESPN is dealing with insurgents to its empire. Below is some further reading (kind of like being back at school but more fun) about everything we discussed. New Sports Sheriff In Town The Athletic — the subscription-based sports website whose ambition is to “be the local sports page for every city in the country” — launched in January 2016. The site now has dedicated sites for more than 45 cities across North America, as well as for certain pro and college sports. Momentum appears to be strong — they raised $40m in their latest round of funding — in part because they now exist as a hive of former writers from the likes of ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports and more. The comeback of the paywall and its consequences have been fascinating to watch, as the Athletic very much has become the Spotify or Netflix of sports media.Kevin Draper, The New York TimesPrepare To Pay For Your News AgainEmployee layoffs are commonplace in today’s world, in large part due to Google and Facebook’s domination of advertising revenue. Between 2008 and 2017, around 27,000 newsroom jobs in the U.S. were cut. In the UK, more than 200 local newspapers have been completely erased. To combat the decline, more and more outlets have introduced paywalls that require readers to actually pay for content — the New York Times, Washington Post and Financial Times are three of the biggest to do so successfully. But can smaller organizations make paywalls work too? Well, there is hope. Digital media companies have much larger audiences than they did a decade ago, and successful paywall models by the NYT and co. show that consumer habits are changing, i.e. people are willing to pay for news again.Alexis C. Madrigal, The AtlanticDemise of Sports IllustratedMagazines played a huge role in me growing up to have my very own newsletter, as I’m sure they did for others, so it’s disheartening to see the industry being decimated in very public ways. First published in 1954, Sports Illustrated became a weekly staple for US sports fans, providing inside access to their favorite teams and players that social media and podcasts do today. SI’s role in pop culture has been crushed — why spend $5.99 when you can listen and scroll for free? Even the infamous Swimsuit edition has been made redundant due to, well, online porn. I’m not sure what happens to SI in the future — the title is currently up for sale for the second time in as many years — but whatever happens, the magazine will have a place in sports culture history forever. Michael MacCambridge for The RingerThe Guardian Shows There’s Another WayAn alternative to the paywall and advertising is the donation-based model. Without shamefully plugging my own employer, the Guardian has proven that a large news organization can be sustainable while keeping content completely free. In November of last year, the Guardian reached 1 million supporters in just three years from more than 180 countries around the world. Also, donation platforms such as Patreon allow readers to support independent journalists to cover underreported topics. So, while parts of the industry will inevitably continue to downsize, there’s definitely light at the end of what has been a dark, dark tunnel for journalism.Pablo Gutierrez, The GuardianThe Return of TrueHoopTrueHoop is a basketball blog that started in 2005 and was quickly acquired by ESPN in 2007. It was known for its compelling deep dives around the NBA, and its contributors included giants such as Brian Windhorst, J.A. Adande and David Thorpe. After a two-year hiatus, Abbott and TrueHoop have relaunched as a newsletter on Substack, the very platform you’re reading this newsletter on. Its first series was an investigation on Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov.Henry Abbott, TrueHoopThe Latest at ESPNRichard and I talked about why the likes of Bill Simmons, Jemele Hill and Adnan Virk — some of ESPN’s most high-profile names — have left the company in recent years. This comes as part of an overall cost reduction strategy by the company, which was behind the ‘Great Purge’ of talent in 2017. The below link will take you to Richard’s own podcast where he spent more than an hour discussing where ESPN finds itself in this changing media landscape and what its future looks like.Richard Deitsch, Sports Media podcastRelated Inside The Newsroom PodcastsEpisode #28 — Jonah Keri of The AthleticEpisode # 26 — Jacob Bogage of The Washington PostNext up on the podcast: Sam Biddle of The Intercept Get on the email list at insidethenewsroom.substack.com

Since the 2016 election, our country has been questioning whether our elections are secure, fair, and accurate. In this episode, we examine the threats to our election administration, both real and overblown. Please Support Congressional Dish - Quick Links Click here to contribute a lump sum or set up a monthly contribution via PayPal Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Use your bank’s online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North Number 4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD175: State of War CD172: The Illegal Bombing of Syria CD167: Combating Russia (NDAA 2018) LIVE CD108: Regime Change CD041: Why Attack Syria? Additional Reading Report: Dramatic increase in voters purged from voter rolls between 2014 and 2016 by Adia Robinson, ABC News, July 24, 2018. Article: Mueller's latest indictment suggests Russia's infiltration of U.S. election systems could get worse by Lawrence Norden, Slate, July 26, 2018. Article: State election officials didn't know about Russian hacking threat until the read it in the news, emails show by Sam Biddle, The Intercept, June 20, 2018. Article: Supreme court upholds Ohio's purge of voting rolls by Adam Liptak, The New York Times, June 11, 2018. Article: What we know and don't know about election hacking by Clare Malone, FiveThirtyEight, April 10, 2018. Report: America's voting machines at risk - An update by Lawrence Norden and Wilfred U. Codrington III, Brennan Center for Justice, March 8, 2018. Article: The dark roots of AIPAC: America's Pro-Israel Lobby by Doug Rossinow, The Washington Post, March 6, 2018. Article: Wyden presses leading US voting machine manufacturer on potential hacking vulnerabilities by Olivia Beavers, The Hill, March 6, 2018. Article: They myth of the hacker-proof voting machine by Kim Zetter, The New York Times, February 21, 2018. Article: No instant profits in US electronic voting machines, Financial Times, 2018. Article: Virginia is replacing some of its electronic voting machines over security concerns by Andrew Liptak, The Verge, September 10, 2017. Report: It took DEF CON hackers minutes to pwn these US voting machines by Iain Thomson, The Register, July 29, 2017. Article: Russian hackers broke into elections company used in Miami-Dade, Broward by Tim Elfrink, Miami New Times, June 6, 2017. Report: Exclusive: Trump says Clinton policy on Syria would lead to world war three by Steve Holland, Reuters, October 25, 2016. Article: The best Congress AIPAC can buy by L. Michael Hager, Foreign Policy Journal, March 22, 2016. Article: AIPAC-linked group launches $5 million ad campaign against nuke deal by Adam Kredo, The Washington Free Beacon, July 17, 2015. Article: The non-pliticians who profit from Election Day by Megan McCarthy, Fortune, November 4, 2014. Report: Diebold indicted: Its spectre still haunts Ohio election by Bob Fitrakis, Columbus Free Press, October 31, 2013. Article: The mysterious case of Ohio's voting machines by Kim Zetter, Wired, March 26, 2008. Letter: Elections: Federal efforts to improve security and reliability of electronic voting systems are under way, but key activities need to be completed, GAO, September 2005. Article: Ohio's odd numbers by Christopher Hitchens, Vanity Fair, March 2005. Article: Diebold's political machine by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman, Mother Jones, March 5, 2004. Resources Brennan Center for Justice: The Help America Vote Act Congress.gov: S.2261 - Secure Elections Act GovTrack: H.R. 3295 (107th): Help America Vote Act of 2002 Internet Research Agency Indictment: Mueller John Husted, Secretary of State of Ohio Report: President/Vice President Voting Report: November 2, 2004 Justice.gov: New Indictment of Mueller Source Watch: Ashcroft Group Info Sound Clip Sources Hearing: Election Security Preparedness, Senate Rules and Administration Committee, C-SPAN, June 20, 2018. Witnesses: Matthew Masterson - National Protection and Programs Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security Jim Condos - Vermont Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft - Missouri Secretary of State Steve Simon - Minnesota Secretary of State Connie Lawson - Indiana Secretary of State Shane Schoeller - Clerk for Greene County, Missouri Noah Praetz - Director of Elections for Cook County, Illinois 2:40 Senator Roy Blunt (MO): January of 2017, the Department of Homeland Security designated our country’s election infrastructure to be critical infrastructure. This designation began the formalization of information sharing and collaboration among state, local, and federal governments through the creation of a Government Coordinating Council, some of our witness this day are already sitting on that newly formed council. More recently, in the 2018 omnibus, Congress appropriated right at $380 million to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to help states enhance their election infrastructure. As of this week, 38 states have requested $250 million of that money, and about 150 million of it has already been disbursed to the states. 6:45 Senator Amy Klobuchar (MN): So, we have a bill, Senator Lankford and I along with Senator Harris and Graham and Warner and Burr, Heinrich, and Collins. It’s a bipartisan bill called the Secure Elections Act, and we have been working to make changes to it along the way and introduce it as amendment, but it really does four things. First of all, improves information sharing between local election officials, cyber-security experts, and national-security personnel. Second, providing for development and maintenance of cyber-security best practices. We all know, I think there’s five states that don’t have backup paper ballots, and then there's something like nine more that have partial backup paper ballots. And while we’re not mandating what each state does, and we do not want each state to have the exact same election equipment—we think that would be a problem and could potentially lend itself to more break-ins—we think it’s really important that we have some floor and standards that we set that given what we know, I don’t think we’d be doing our democracy any good if we didn’t share that and we didn’t put in some floors. Third, the bill will promote better auditing our election’s use of paper backup systems, which I mentioned, and finally, it’s focused on providing election officials with much-needed resources. As you all know, we were able to get $380 million to be immediately distributed to the state, not play money, money that’s going out right now to states across the country, based on populations. We didn’t have some complicated grant process that would have slowed things down. The money went directly to state election officials as long as the state legislature authorizes it to get accepted and get to work to update their systems. 11:50 Jay Ashcroft: But before we move forward, we should briefly look back to the impetus of why we are all here today: allegations that outside actors threaten the integrity of our elections during the 2016 election cycle. While these are serious allegations, it is vitally important to understand that after two years of investigation, there is no credible—and I could strike “credible” and just put “evidence”—there is no evidence that these incidents caused a single vote or a single voter registration to be improperly altered during the 2016 election cycle. It was not our votes or our election systems that were hacked; it was the people’s perception of our elections. 30:50 Matthew Masterson: For those voters who have questions or concerns regarding the security or integrity of the process, I implore you to get involved. Become a poll worker; watch pre-election testing of the systems, or post-election audits; check your registration information before elections; engage with your state- and local-election officials; and most importantly, go vote. The best response to those who wish to undermine faith in our democracy is to participate and to vote. 1:08:00 Senator Roy Blunt (MO): Should the federal government make an audit trail, a paper audit trail, a requirement to have federal assistance? Jay Ashcroft: I don’t think so. Jim Condos: I do think so. Steve Simon: I think there is a federal interest in making sure that there's some audit process. Sen. Blunt: Well, now, what I’m asking about is, should there be a way to recreate the actual election itself? And I don’t know quite how to do that without paper, even if you had a machine that was not accessible to the web. Jay Ashcroft: I believe states are moving to do that, without federal legislation. So that’s why I don’t think that federal legislation needs to be done to that. 1:23:30 Shane Schoeller: I do want to address one area that concerns Secure Elections Act, that is on page 23, lines three, four, and five. It says, “Each election result is determined by tabulating marked ballots, hand or device.” I strongly recommend for post-election auditing purposes that a state-marked paper ballots, because I believe the opportunity for fraud in electronic ballot-casting system that does not have a paper trail’s too great. *1:32:00 Shane Schoeller: Even if you do a post audit with the machine, how would you know if something’s been compromised if you can’t at least compare the results of the paper ballot. And I think that’s the assurance it gives. Clearly, the machine, when you have an accurate election, does do a better job of counting the ballots. I’m talking about in the case where clearly fraud has occurred, then the paper ballot is going to be the evidence you need in terms of if your system inside that machine is compromised. 1:32:30 Senator Amy Klobuchar (MN): I think for a while people were talking about, well, why doesn’t everyone just vote from home, which is great when you can mail in a ballot, we know that, but vote from home just from your computer, and that would mean no paper records of anything. Could you comment about that? Noah Praetz: I think that’s 100% inappropriate for civil elections. Sen. Klobuchar: Got it. Shane Schoeller: I find it ironic because this is my first term, although I ran for this office in 2014, that was actually a common theme that I heard. Sen. Klobuchar: Right. I was hearing it, and I was—I kept thinking— Schoeller: Mm-hmm. Sen. Klobuchar: —about our state with, they’re not going to keep dwelling on it, with that high voter turnout. But, you know, that involved a paper ballot— voice off-mic: incredible integrity. Sen. Klobuchar: —and incredible integrity. But it involved people—they could vote by mail, and we’ve made that even easier, but they had actual paper ballots that they did, and then they were fed into this machine to count, with auditing. But you’re right. That’s what people were talking about. Why can’t you just do it from your home computer and have no backup, right? Schoeller: Right. And that was one of the things I actually had to disagree when that viewpoint was put forth, particularly in one city that I remember. And even after I became elected, I went to a conference of other elected officials, and there was a group of speakers, and they all were talking about this, and there was actually one speaker— Sen. Klobuchar: Like voting from Facebook. Schoeller: Correct. Sen. Klobuchar: Just kidding... Schoeller: But they actually disagreed, and I went up, and I think I was the only election official that day—this was prior to 2016—that didn’t think that it was a good idea. But I think we have evidence now from 2016 that clearly—that’s a convenience that we just can’t afford. 1:35:05 Noah Praetz: We’ve got a piece of paper that every voter looked at. Senator Amy Klobuchar: Mm-hmm. Praetz: So worst-case scenario, a Sony-type attack with full meltdown of all systems, we can recreate an election that’s trusted and true. Hearing: Election Security, Senate Judiciary Committee, C-SPAN, June 12, 2018. Witnesses: Adam Hickey - Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division at the Department of Justice Matthew Masterson - National Protection and Programs Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security Kenneth Wainstein - Partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell, LLP Prof. Ryan Goodman - New York University School of Law Nina Jankowicz - Global Fellow at the Wilson Center 9:00 Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA): We know that Russia orchestrated a sustained and coordinated attack that interfered in our last presidential election. And we also know that there’s a serious threat of more attacks in our future elections, including this November. As the United States Intelligence Community unanimously concluded, the Russian government’s interference in our election—and I quote—“blended covert intelligence operations, such as cyber activity, with overt efforts by the Russian government agencies, state-funded media, third-party intermediaries, and paid social-media users or trolls.” Over the course of the past year and a half, we’ve come to better understand how pernicious these attacks were. Particularly unsettling is that we were so unaware. We were unaware that Russia was sowing division through mass propaganda, cyber warfare, and working with malicious actors to tip scales of the election. Thirteen Russian nationals and three organizations, including the Russian-backed Internet Research Agency, have now been indicted for their role in Russia’s vast conspiracy to defraud the United States. 39:40 Senator Mike Lee (UT): First, let’s talk a little bit about the integrity of our election infrastructure. We’ll start with you, Mr. Masterson. Were there any known breaches of our election infrastructure in the 2016 election? Matthew Masterson: Thank you, Senator. Yes, there was some publicly discussed known breaches of election infrastructure specifically involving voter-registration databases. Sen. Lee: Are there any confirmed instances of votes being changed from one candidate to another? Masterson: There are no confirmed instances of that. Sen. Lee: And were any individual voting machines hacked? Masterson: No, not that I know of. 42:55 ** Senator Mike Lee**: One approach to some of this, to the threat, the possibility of election infrastructure or voting machines being hacked from the outside is to go low-tech. Some states have gravitated toward that. For example, some states have started making moves back toward paper ballots so that they can’t be hacked. Is this something that’s helpful? Is it something that’s necessary that you think more states ought to consider? Matthew Masterson: Yeah. Senator, the auditability and having an auditable voting system, in this case, auditable paper records, is critical to the security of the systems. In those states that have moved in that direction have implemented means by which to audit the vote in order to give confidence to the public on the results of the election. In those states that have non-paper systems have indicated a desire—for instance, Pennsylvania—to more to auditable systems. And so at this point, resources are necessary to help them move that direction. Sen. Lee: By that, you mean either a paper-ballot system or a system that simultaneously creates a paper trail. Masterson: An auditable paper record. Correct, sir. 1:22:08 Senator Kamala Harris (CA): Will you talk a bit about what you have seen in terms of the risk assessments you’ve been doing around the country? I believe 14 states have been completed. Is that correct, 14? Matthew Masterson: I believe it’s 17 states have been completed— Sen. Harris: Right. Masterson: —thus far, as well as 10 localities. Sen. Harris: And what generally have you seen as being the vulnerabilities— Masterson: Sure. Sen. Harris: —in those assessments? Masterson: Thank you, Senator. Generally speaking, within the election’s infrastructure sector, we’re seeing the same typical vulnerabilities you’d see across IT systems, so managing software updates, outdated equipment or hardware, as well as general upgrades that need to take place as far as what configuration management within systems to limit the damage that could be done if something were to take place. And so— Sen. Harris: Resilience. Masterson: What’s that? Sen. Harris: Their resilience. Masterson: Yeah, their resilience. Sen. Harris: Mm-hmm. Masterson: Exactly. Thank you, Senator. And so this sector is no different in what we see in the work we’re doing with them. 2:15:00 Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI): But what I want to talk about in my time is the problem of shell corporations, because for all of the emphasis that the witnesses have put on policing and prosecuting foreign influence in our elections, you can neither police or prosecute what you cannot find. And at the moment, we have both a shell-corporation problem, which was emphasized by Mark Zuckerberg in his testimony when he said their political advertisement-authentication program would only go to the first shell corporation and not seek any information about who was actually behind it. I don’t think Putin is stupid enough to call it Boris and Natasha, LLC. It’s going to sound more like Americans for Puppies and Peace and Prosperity. But it’s a front group, and it’s got Putin or whomever else behind it, and until we can know that, we cannot enforce effectively, period, end of story. Similarly, when our election system has these colossal channels for dark money, anonymized funding, if you can’t find out what special interest is behind anonymous money, you can’t find out if there’s a foreign interest behind that money. Darkness is darkness is darkness, and it hides malign activity, both foreign and domestic. And I’d like to ask each of you to comment on that. We’re concerned about trolling. Obviously, that’s facilitated by shell corporations. You talked about general propaganda campaigns. Obviously, facilitated by shell corporations. Campaign finance laws, you’ve called out for a need for effective disclosure. You can’t have effective disclosure if the only thing you’re disclosing is a front corporation and you don’t know who’s really behind it. So, if I could ask each of you three on that, then that’ll be the end of my time. Kenneth Wainstein: Sure, I’ll go first, Senator Whitehouse. And thank you for kind words, and good to work with you again. Always is. Sen. Whitehouse: We were good adversaries. Wainstein: We were. Adversaries who were working for the same goal. Sen. Whitehouse: Yes. Wainstein: Look, as a prosecutor, former prosecutor, looking at this issue, of course you want to know more about the corporations than less. There are obviously First Amendment issues and other concerns out there in the election context, but absolutely, there’s no way to sort of resist your logic, which is we’ve seen the use of corporations in a variety of contexts, whether it’s money laundering or otherwise, but we’ve seen here in the election interference and disinformation context, and a lot of that— Sen. Whitehouse: In fact, they’re widely used in the criminal context for money-laundering purposes and to hide the proceeds of criminal activities, correct? Wainstein: Absolutely. Sen. Whitehouse: So to the extent that what Putin is running is essentially a criminal enterprise of himself and his oligarchs. Why would they not look to what criminal enterprises do as a model? Wainstein: Yeah, it’s meat-and-potatoes criminal conduct. Sen. Whitehouse: Yeah. Wainstein: No question. And all intended to hide the fact of the source of this malign activity. Hearing: Election Security, Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, C-SPAN, February 13, 2018. Witnesses: Robert Butler - Co-Founder and Managing Director, Cyber Strategies LLC Heather Conley - Director of the Europe Program Center for Strategic and International Studies Former Dep. Asst. Sec. of State for EU & Eurasian Affairs in GWB admin, 2001-2005 Richard Harknett - Professor of Political Science and Head of Political Science Department, University of Cincinnati Michael Sulmeyer - Director, Cyber Security Project, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University 7:15 Senator Ben Nelson: First, the department has cyber forces designed and trained to thwart attacks on our country through cyberspace, and that’s why we created the Cyber Command’s National Mission Teams. A member of this subcommittee, Senator Blumenthal, Senator Shaheen, we all wrote the secretary of defense last week that they, the department, ought to be assigned to identify Russian operators responsible for the hacking, stealing information, planting misinformation, and spreading it through all the botnets and fake accounts on social media. They ought to do that. That’s—the Cyber Command knows who that is. And then, we ought to use our cyber forces to disrupt this activity. We aren’t. We should also be informing the social-media companies of Russia’s fake accounts and other activities that violate those companies’ terms of service so that they can be shut down. 18:20 Heather Conley: You asked us what role DOD could play to protect the U.S. elections, and I think, simply, DOD working with Congress has got to demand a hold of government strategy to fight against this enduring disinformation and influence operation. We don’t have a national strategy. Unfortunately, modernizing our nuclear forces will not stop a Russian influence operation. That’s where we are missing a grave threat that exists in the American people’s palm of their hand and on their computer screens. 19:05 Heather Conley: As one of the most trusted institutions in the United States, the Department of Defense must leverage that trust with the American people to mitigate Russian influence. Simply put, the Department of Defense has to model the bipartisan and fact-based action, behavior, and awareness that will help reduce societal division. This is about leadership, it’s about protecting the United States, and as far as I can see, that is in the Department of Defense job description. Hearing: Cybersecurity of Voting Machines, House Oversight Subcommittee and Government Reform Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Affairs, C-SPAN, November 29, 2017. Witnesses: Christopher Krebs - Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary National Protection & Programs Directorate, Department of Homeland Security Tom Schedler - Secretary of State of Louisiana Edgardo Cortes - Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Elections Matthew Blaze - Associate Professor, Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania 4:24 Representative Robin Kelly (IL): In September of this year, DHS notified 21 states that hackers affiliated with the Russian government breached or attempted to breach their election infrastructure. In my home state of Illinois, the hackers illegally downloaded the personal information of 90,000 voters and attempted to change and delete data. Fortunately, they were unsuccessful. 5:05 Representative Robin Kelly (IL): Earlier this year, researchers at the DEF CON conference successfully hacked five different direct-recording electronic voting machines, or DREs, in a day. The first vulnerabilities were discovered in just 90 minutes. Even voting machines not connected to the Internet still contained physical vulnerabilities like USB ports that can be used to upload malware. Alarmingly, many DREs lack the ability to allow experts to determine that they have been hacked. Despite these flaws, DREs are still commonly used. In 2016, 42 states used them. They were more than a decade old, with some running outdate software that is no longer supported by the manufacturer. 20:30 Tom Schedler: In terms of voting-machine security, remember that with the passage of the Help America Vote Act in 2002, states were required to purchase at least one piece of accessible voting equipment for each polling place. 23:55 Edgardo Cortes: Virginia has twice has been put in the unfortunate position of having to decertify voting equipment and transition to new equipment in a condensed timeframe, based on security concerns of previously used DREs. These steps outlined in detail in my written testimony were not taken lightly. They place a financial and administrative stress on the electoral system. They were, however, essential to maintain the public’s trust and the integrity of Virginia elections. The November 2017 general election was effectively administered without any reported voting-equipment issues. Thanks to the ongoing partnership between the state, our hardworking local election officials, and our dedicated voting-equipment vendors, the transition to paper-based voting systems on a truncated time line was incredibly successful and significantly increased the security of the election. 25:45 Edgardo Cortes: To ensure the use of secure voting equipment in the future, Congress should require federal certification of all voting systems used in federal elections. This is currently a voluntary process. Federal certification should also be required for electronic poll books, which currently are not subject to any federal guidelines. 28:20 Matthew Blaze: Virtually every aspect of our election process, from voter registration to ballot creation to casting ballots and then to counting and reporting election results, is today controlled in some way by software. And unfortunately, software is notoriously difficult to secure, especially in large-scale systems such as those used in voting. And the software used in elections is really no exception to this. It’s difficult to overstate how vulnerable our voting infrastructure that’s in use in many states today is, particularly to compromise by a determined and well-funded adversary. For example, in 2007 our teams discovered exploitable vulnerabilities in virtually every voting-system component that we examined, including backend election-management software as well as particularly DRE voting terminals themselves. At this year’s DEF CON event, we saw that many of the weaknesses discovered in 2007, and known since then, not only are still present in these systems but can be exploited quickly and easily by non-specialists who lack access to proprietary information such as source code. 38:40 Matthew Blaze: The design of DRE systems makes their security dependent not just on the software in the systems but the hardware’s ability to run that software correctly and to protect against malicious software being loaded. So an unfortunate property of the design of DRE systems is that we’ve basically given them the hardest possible security task. Any flaw in a DRE machine’s software or hardware can become an avenue of attack that potentially can be exploited. And this is a very difficult thing to protect. Representative Gary Palmer: Do we need to go to, even if we have some electronic components to back it up with paper ballots because your fallback position is always to open the machine and count the ballots? Blaze: That’s right. So, precinct-counted optical-scan systems also depend on software, but they have the particular safeguard, but there is a paper artifact of the voter’s true vote that can be used to determine the true election results. DRE, paperless DRE systems don’t have that property, and so we’re completely at the mercy of the software and hardware. 47:00 Christopher Krebs: When you characterize these things as attacks, I think that is perhaps overstating what may have happened in the 21 states, as was mentioned, over the course of the summer. The majority of the activity was simple scanning. Scanning happens all the time. It’s happening right now to a number of probably your websites. Scanning is a regular activity across the web. I would not characterize that as an attack. It’s a preparatory step. 58:15 Matthew Blaze: There is no fully reliable way to audit these kinds of systems. We may get lucky and detect some forensic evidence, but ultimately the design of these systems precludes our ability to do a conclusive audit of the voter’s true intent. That’s why paperless systems really need to be phased out in favor of things like optical-scan paper ballots that are counted at the precinct but backed by an artifact of the voter’s true intent. 1:02:42 Tom Schedler: The system that we’re looking at, we’re not out for bid yet, would be one that would produce, even though you would vote on an electronic machine, it would produce an actual paper ballot that you could hold in your hand—Representative Paul Mitchell (MI): My concern with that— Schedler: —and then cast ballot only with that point when you put it into a secure box. Rep. Mitchell: My concern with that, and Dr. Blaze makes the point, is that if you produce a paper result after you put something into the machine, if in fact the machine is tampered with, you could in fact end up with just confirming the tampered information. Schedler: Yes, sir. Speech: Hillary Clinton on National Security and the Islamic State, Council on Foreign Relations, November 19, 2015. 12:35 Hillary Clinton: So we need to move simultaneously toward a political solution to the civil war that paves the way for a new government with new leadership and to encourage more Syrians to take on ISIS as well. To support them, we should immediately deploy the special operations force President Obama has already authorized and be prepared to deploy more as more Syrians get into the fight, and we should retool and ramp up our efforts to support and equip viable Syrian opposition units. Our increased support should go hand in hand with increased support from our Arab and European partners, including Special Forces who can contribute to the fight on the ground. We should also work with the coalition and the neighbors to impose no-fly zones that will stop Assad from slaughtering civilians and the opposition from the air.   Hearing: Electronic Voting Machines, House Administration Committee, C-SPAN, September 28, 2006. Witnesses: Edward Felton - Computer Science Professor at Princeton University Keith Cunningham - Board of Elections Director of Allen County, Ohio Barbara Simons - Association for Computer Machinery, Public Policy Committee Co-Chair 19:54 Edward Felten: Two weeks ago my colleagues, Ari Feldman and Alex Halderman, and I released a detailed security analysis of this machine, the Diebold AccuVote-TS, which is used in Maryland, Georgia, and elsewhere. My written testimony summarizes the findings of our study. One main finding is that the machines are susceptible to computer viruses that spread from machine to machine and silently transfer votes from one candidate to another. Such a virus requires moderate computer-programming skills to construct. Launching it requires access to a single voting machine for as little as one minute. 1:45:23 Keith Cunningham: Can they be improved? Absolutely, and I think throughout my comments I was very definite to say that these machines, as they currently sit, are not reliable. My question back to you, though, in that regard is, who’s going to pay to fix it, because one of the problems we have right now is in the last 24 months every election jurisdiction in this country has spent the $3 billion we spoke about earlier on new election equipment, and that’s what’s in place. So without somebody stepping forward to fund that enterprise, I don’t know how we’re going to improve them ourselves. 1:51:00 Barbara Simons: I wanted to remind the panelists of what happened in Carteret County, North Carolina, in, I believe it was, ’04, where paperless DREs were used and over 4,000 votes were lost. I mean, there's this concern about being able to reprint paper ballots or paper VVPATs. When you lose votes in a DRE, which has no paper, there is nothing you can do, and in fact, there was an election for—the statewide election—for agricultural commissioner, where the separation between the two candidates was such that the results could have been reversed by those missing votes. And it went to court, it went to two different courts, where they first tried to hold a recount just for the county itself. That was thrown out. Then it went for a statewide recount, and that was thrown out because we had no laws to deal with what happens when DREs fail. And finally, there were a number of people who submitted subpoenas or petitions say they had voted for one of the candidates, and based on those submissions, it looked like the judge was going to declare that candidate the winner, and so that was how the election was decided. This is not a way to hold elections in this country. Community Suggestions See more Community Suggestions HERE. Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)  

 While Paul Manafort enjoyed the comforts of his Hamptons mansion on house arrest, Winner was denied bond, kept in a jail and has been subjected to a public smear campaign by Jeff Sessions’ Justice Department. She was the first whistleblower charged under President Trump and her treatment is unprecedented. Former drone technician-turned-whistleblower Lisa Ling talks about the campaign to free Winner. Trevor Timm of Freedom of the Press Foundation breaks down how the government is stripping Winner of her right to a fair trial. The Intercept’s Peter Maass highlights the injustice and hypocrisy of her treatment. Intercept editor in chief Betsy Reed and reporter Sam Biddle talk about the top secret NSA document she allegedly leaked, the irony of the media silence about Winner’s treatment, and why First Look Media is funding her defense. To support Reality Winner's legal defense fund, click here. Come see Intercepted live in Brooklyn, NY on June 21 with featured guest, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh. Tickets are now available.

Jeremy digs deep into the U.S. legacy in Iraq.  Mehdi Hasan, host of the new Intercept podcast "Deconstructed," talks about the commercial that 60 Minutes ran for the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and the war in Syria. Matthew Cole talks about how, before becoming FBI director, Chris Wray supervised an investigation that found that Blackwater founder Erik Prince likely broke U.S. laws. The Intercept’s Sam Biddle takes us inside the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the chaos at Facebook. And artist, writer, and educator Eve Ewing talks about her new book "Electric Arches,"

On August 2nd, President Trump signed a new law that passed Congress with the overwhelming support of both political parties, which imposes sanctions on three countries: Russia, North Korea, and Iran. In this episode, we examine the new sanctions and the big-picture motivations behind them. In the process, we jump down the rabbit hole of the U.S. involvement in the 2014 regime change in Ukraine. Please support Congressional Dish: Click here to contribute using credit card, debit card, PayPal, or Bitcoin Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Mail Contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North #4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD041: Why Attack Syria? CD067: What Do We Want In Ukraine? CD068: Ukraine Aid Bill CD108: Regime Change CD150: Pivot to North Korea Episode Outline H.R. 3364: Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act Title I: Iran Sanctions Gives the Executive Branch additional power to block property or exclude from the United States both companies and people who materially contribute to Iran's ballistic missile program. Orders the President to enact sanctions that block property and financial transactions for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard-Corps Quds Force and it's affiliates starting 90 days after enactment, which is November 1, 2017. Orders the President to block property and prohibit from the United States any person or company that materially contributes to the transfer to Iran any battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, artillery systems, combat planes, attack helicopters, warships, missiles, or parts of those items. Sanctions prohibiting travel to the United States and financial transactions are exempted for humanitarian purposes. The President can waive the sanctions for two 180-day periods by notifying Congress. Title II: Russia Sanctions Subtitle A: Sanction related to terrorism and illicit financing Sense of Congress "It is the sense of Congress that the President should continue to uphold and seek unity with European and other key partners on sanctions implemented against the Russian Federation, which have been effective and instrumental in countering Russian aggression in Ukraine" Part 1: Trump Report Orders the President to submit reports outlining his reasons to Congress before terminating or waiving sanctions relating to Russia, Ukraine, and Syria The President can not terminate or waive the sanctions on Russia, Ukraine, and Syria within 30 days of submitting his report unless a branch of Congress passes a resolution to allow it. Part 2: Sanctions on Russia Makes state-owned companies in the rail, metals, and mining sectors subject to sanctions. Limits financial loans to Russian industries. Prohibits the transfer of goods & services (except banking) that support new Russian deepwater oil drilling, Arctic offshore drilling, or shale projects. Russians need to be have a 33% share or more in the company for the sanctions to apply. Forces the President to enact sanctions in situations when it was previously optional. Gives the President the option to enact sanctions on companies and individuals who provide materials to Russia for energy export pipelines valued at $1 million or more. Forces the President to block property and deny visas to anyone who provides the government of Syria financial, material, or technical support for getting almost any kind of weapon. The sanctions do not apply to products for Russia that are for space launches. Subtitle B: Countering Russian Influence in Europe and Eurasia Appropriates $250 million for a "Countering Russian Influence Fund" which will be used for "protecting critical infrastructure and electoral mechanisms" for members of NATO, the European Union, and "countries that are participating in the enlargement process of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or the European Union, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Macedonia, Moldova, Kosovo, Serbia, and Ukraine." The money can also be used to information distribution. There is a list of nongovernmental & international organizations eligible to receive the money. The Secretary of State will work with the Ukrainian government to increase the amount of energy produced in Ukraine. This will "include strategies for market liberalization" including survey work need to "help attract qualified investment into exploration and development of areas with untapped resources in Ukraine." The plan will also support the implementation of a new gas law "including pricing, tariff structure, and legal regulatory implementation." and "privatization of government owned energy companies." American tax money is contributing $50 million for this effort from the 2014 Ukraine aid law and $30 million more from this law. The money will be available until August 2022. Title III: North Korea Sanctions Subtitle A: Sanctions to enforce and implement United Nations Security Council sanctions against North Korea Expands existing mandatory sanctions to include anyone who provides North Korea with any weapons or war service, aviation fuel, or insurance or registration for aircraft or vessels. Also expands sanctions to include anyone who gets minerals, including gold, titanium ore, vanadium ore, copper, silver, nickel, zinc, or rare earth minerals from North Korea. Expand optional sanctions to include anyone who purchases above-the-U.N.-limited amounts of coal, iron, textiles, money, metals, gems, oil, gas, food, or fishing rights from North Korea. Also sanctions anyone who hires North Korean workers, conducts transactions for the North Korean transportation, mining, energy, or banking industries, or participates in online commerce, including online gambling, provided by the government of North Korea. Prohibits North Korean ships from entering US waters. Additional Reading Article: Iran could quit nuclear deal in 'hours' if new U.S. sanctions imposed: Rouhani, Reuters, August 15, 2017. Article: The Nation is reviewing a story casting doubt on Russian hack of DNC by Erik Wemple, The Washington Post, August 15, 2017. Article: Iranian Parliament, Facing U.S. Sanctions, Votes to Raise Military Spending by Thomas Erdbrink, The New York Times, August 13, 2017. Article: A New Report Raises Big Questions About Last Year's DNC Hack by Patrick Lawrence, The Nation, August 9, 2017. Article: North Korea's missile tests by Joshua Berlinger, CNN, August 7, 2017. Article: Iran Says New U.S. Sanctions Violate Nuclear Deal by Rick Gladstone, The New York Times, August 1, 2017. Article: Iran Reports Successful Launch of Missile as U.S. Considers New Sanctions by Thomas Erdbrink, The New York Times, July 27, 2017. Article: Trump Ends Covert Aid to Syrian Rebels Trying to Topple Assad by David E. Sanger, Eric Schmitt and Ben Hubbard, The New York Times, July 19, 2017. Article: Trump Recertifies Iran Nuclear Deal, but Only Reluctantly by Peter Baker, The New York Times, July 17, 2017. Article: Russians targeted election systems in 21 states, but didn't change any results, officials say by Joseph Tanfani, Los Angeles Times, June 21, 2017. Article: Top-Secret NSA Report Details Russian Hacking Effort Days Before 2016 Election by Matthew Cole, Richard Esposito, Sam Biddle and Ryan Grim, The Intercept, June 5, 2017. Article: The $110 billion arms deal to Saudi Arabia is fake news by Bruce Riedel, Brookings, June 5, 2017. Article: Iran Nuclear Deal Will Remain for Now, White House Signals by Gardiner Harris and David E. Sanger, The New York Times, May 17, 2017. Report: Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections, National Intelligence Council, January 6, 2017. Article: Obama Strikes Back at Russia for Election Hacking by David E. Sanger, The New York Times, December 29, 2016. Article: Murphy leads CT delegation in official overseas travel by Ana Radelat, The CT Mirror, March 13, 2015. Article: Major Study Finds The US Is An Oligarchy by Zachary Davies Boren, Business Insider, April 16, 2014. Article: Ukraine wins IMF lifeline as Russia faces growth slump by Natalia Zinets and Elizabeth Piper, Reuters, March 27, 2014. Article: Ukraine orders Crimea troop withdrawal as Russia seizes naval base by Marie-Louise Gumuchian and Victoria Butenko, CNN, March 25, 2014. Article: Defense Ministry: 50% Of Ukrainian Troops in Crimea Defect to Russia, Ukrainian News Agency, March 24, 2014. Article: European Union signs landmark association agreement with Ukraine by Adrian Croft, Reuters, March 21, 2014. Article: Crimea applies to be part of Russian Federation after vote to leave Ukraine by Luke Harding and Shaun Walker, The Guardian, March 17, 2014. Article: The February Revolution, The Economist, February 27, 2014. Article: Ukrainian MPs vote to oust President Yanukovych, BBC News, February 22, 2014. Article: Ukraine: Yulila Tymoshenko released as country lurches towards split by Conal Urquhart, The Guardian, February 22, 2014. Transcript: Ukraine Crisis: Transcript of leaked Nuland-Pyatt call, BBC, February 7, 2014. Article: Putin: Russia to buy $15 billion in Ukraine bonds by Vladimir Isachenkov and Maria Danilova, USA Today, December 17, 2013. Article: EU suspends trade talks with Ukraine, crowds rally against govt, Reuters, December 15, 2013. Article: Senators McCain, Murphy join massive Ukraine anti-government protest, threaten sanctions, Fox News, December 15, 2013. Article: Ukraine parliament rejects proposed laws to release Tymoshenko by Richard Balmforth and Pavel Polityuk, Reuters, November 21, 2013. Article: Ukraine suspends talks on EU trade pact as Putin wins tug of war by Ian Traynor and Oksana Grytsenko, The Guardian, November 21, 2013. Article: Ukraine signs $10 billion shale gas deal with Chevron by Pavel Polityuk and Richard Balmforth, Reuters, November 5, 2013. Article: Exclusive - EU, IMF coordinate on Ukraine as Russia threat looms by Luke Baker and Justyna Pawlak, Reuters, October 31, 2013. Press Release: Statement by IMF Mission to Ukraine, International Monetary Fund, October 31, 2013. Article: Ukraine's EU trade deal will be catastrophic, says Russia by Shaun Walker, The Guardian, September 22, 2013. Article: U.S. Repeals Propaganda Ban, Spreads Government-Made News to Americans by John Hudson, ForeignPolicy.com, July 14, 2013. Article: Ukrainian tycoon Firtash takes over bank Nadra, Reuters, May 4, 2011. References GovTrack: H.R. 3364: Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act Overview House Vote Senate Vote GovTrack: H.R. 4152: Support for the Sovereignty, Integrity, Democracy, and Economic Stability of Ukraine Act of 2014 Overview GovTrack: H.R. 5859: Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014 IMF Report: Ukraine 2012 Article IV Consultation CSPAN Video: Iran's Response to U.S. Sanctions, July 18, 2017. CSPAN Video: British Prime Minister Camerson Question Time, December 18, 2013. CSPAN: Victoria Nuland Profile CSPAN: Anne W. Patterson Profile Executive Orders Executive Order 13757: Taking Additional Steps to Address the National Emergency With Respect to Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities, December 28, 2016 Annex to Executive Order 13757 Executive Order 13694: Blocking the Property of Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities, April 1, 2015 Executive Order 13685: Blocking Property of Certain Persons and Prohibiting Certain Transactions With Respect to the Crimea Region in Ukraine, December 19, 2014 Executive Order 13662: Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine, March 20, 2014 Executive Order 13661: Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine, March 16, 2014 Executive Order 13660: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine, March 6, 2014 Visual References Image source Sound Clip Sources House Debate: House Debate on Russia, Iran and North Korea Sanctions, July 25, 2017. Timestamps & Transcripts 1500 Rep. Pete Sessions (TX): The bill that was passed by the Senate risked giving Russian energy firms a competitive advantage across the globe by inadvertently denying American companies access to neutral third-party energy markets where there would simply be a small or diminished Russian presence. The bill before us today prevents Russia from being able to weaponize these sanctions against U.S. energy firms. And I want to thank Chairman Royce for his hard work on this issue. I also want to ensure that we have an understanding of the definition of the word controlling in Section 223(d) of H.R. 3364. For purposes of clarification and legislative intent, the term controlling means the power to direct, determine, or resolve fundamental, operational, and financial decisions of an oil project through the ownership of a majority of the voting interests of the oil project. 1515 Rep. Tim Ryan (OH): What’s happening with these sanctions here in the targeting of Russian gas pipelines—their number one export—I think is entirely appropriate. The Nord Stream 2, which carries gas from Russia through the Baltics to Germany—and I know Germany isn’t happy about it, but this is something that we have to do. And the point I want to make is we have to address this issue in a comprehensive way. We must continue to focus on how we get our gas here in the United States, our natural gas, to Europe, to our allies, so they’re not so dependent on Russia. We’ve got to have the sanctions, but we’ve also got to be shipping liquid natural gas to some of these allies of ours so they’re not so dependent on the Russians, which is part and parcel of this entire approach. Senate Session: "Skinny Repeal" vote down, July 27, 2017. Transcript Sen. Chuck Schumer (NY): Mr. President, and last year we know the United States was victim of an attack by a foreign power on the very foundation of this dear democracy: the right of the people to a free and fair election. The consensus view of 17 agencies is that Mr. Putin interfered in the 2016 election. Hearing: North Korea Policy, Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cyber Security, July 25, 2017. Witnesses Bruce Klingner: Senior Research Fellow of the Heritage Foundation Leon Sigal: Director of Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project at the Social Science Research Council (SSRSC) Susan Thornton: Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Screenshot: No other Senators in the room Timestamps & Transcripts 3:48 Sen. Cory Gardner (CO): Last Congress, I lead the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act, which passed the Senate by a vote of 96 to nothing. This legislation was the first stand-alone legislation in Congress regarding North Korea to impose mandatory sanctions on the regime’s proliferation activities, human-rights violations, and malicious cyber behavior. According to recent analysis from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, North Korea’s sanctions have more than doubled since that legislation came into effect on February 18, 2016. Prior to that date, North Korea ranked 8th behind Ukraine, Russia, Iran, Iraq, the Balkans, Syria, Sudan, and Zimbabwe. Even with the 130% sanctions increase after the legislation passed this Congress, North Korea is today still only the 5th most sanctioned country by the United States. 21:22 Sen. Cory Gardner: Could you talk a little bit about the timing of the travel ban? Susan Thornton: Yeah. So, we believe that within the coming week we will publish a notice in the Federal Register, outlining the period of consultation and what we’re proposing, which is a general travel restriction, that will be in the Federal Register for a 30-day comment period. And the proposal is to, I think as you know, make U.S. passports not valid for travel into North Korea unless you get—an application is made for a one-time trip, and you get a license or sort of a permission to make that trip. And so that’ll be in the Federal Register for 30 days. Gardner: Is that trip allowable under a humanitarian exemption? Is that the purpose of that allow— Thornton: Right, right. For the subsequent appl— you’d have to make an in-person application for a trip to— Gardner: And are we encouraging other nations to do the same, and have others made the same decision? Thornton: We have encouraged other people to make decisions about restricting travel and other—because tourism is obviously also a resource for the regime that we would like to see diminished. I don’t think so far there are other people that have pursued this but this will be sort of the initial one, and we will keep talking to others about that. 1:12:32 Leon Sigal: A policy of maximum pressure and engagement can only succeed if nuclear diplomacy is soon resumed and the North’s security concerns are addressed. We must not lose sight of the fact that it’s North Korea that we need to persuade, not China, and that means taking account of North Korea’s strategy. During the Cold War, Kim Il Sung played China off against the Soviet Union to maintain his freedom of maneuver. In 1988, anticipating the collapse of the Soviet Union, he reached out to improve relations with the United States, South Korea, and Japan in order to avoid overdependence on China. That has been the Kims’ objective ever since. From Pyongyang’s vantage point, that aim was the basis of the 1994 Agreed Framework and the September 2005 six-party joint statement. For Washington, obviously, suspension of Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs was the point of those agreements, which succeeded for a time in shuttering the North’s production of fissile material and stopping the test launches of medium- and longer-range missiles. Both agreements collapsed, however, when Washington did little to implement its commitment to improve relations, and, of course, Pyongyang reneged on denuclearization. That past is prologue. Now there are indications that a suspension of North Korean missile and nuclear testing and fissile material production may again prove negotiable. In return for a suspension of its production of plutonium and enriched uranium, the Trading with the Enemy Act sanctions imposed before the nuclear issue arose could be relaxed for yet a third time, and energy assistance unilaterally halted by South Korea in 2008 could be resumed. An agreement will require addressing Pyongyang’s security needs, including adjusting our joint exercises with South Korea, for instance by suspending flights of nuclear-capable B-52 bombers into Korean airspace. Those flights were only resumed, I want to remind you, to reassure our allies in the aftermath of the North’s nuclear tests. If those tests are suspended, B-52 flights can be, too, without any sacrifice of deterrence. North Korea’s well aware of the reach of U.S. ICBMs and SLBMs, which, by the way, were recently test launched to remind them. The U.S. can also continue to bolster, rotate, and exercise forces in the region so conventional deterrence will remain robust. The chances of persuading North Korea to go beyond another temporary suspension to dismantle its nuclear missile programs, however, are slim without firm commitments from Washington and Seoul to move toward political and economic normalization; engage in a peace process to end the Korean War; and negotiate security arrangements, among them a nuclear-weapons-free zone that would provide a multilateral legal framework for denuclearization. In that context, President Trump’s willingness to hold out the prospect of a summit with Kim Jong-un would also be a significant inducement. 1:23:06 Sen. Ed Markey (MA): We “convinced” Qaddafi to give up his nuclear-weapon program, we “convinced” Saddam Hussein to give up his nuclear-weapon program, and then subsequently we participated in a process that led to their deaths. Emergency Meeting: U.N. Security Council Meeting on North Korea Sanctions, August 5, 2017. Timestamps & Transcripts 3:47 Nikki Haley (US Ambassador): This resolution is the single largest economic sanctions package ever leveled against the North Korean regime. The price the North Korean leadership will pay for its continued nuclear and missile development will be the loss of 1/3 of its exports and hard currency. This is the most stringent set of sanctions on any country in a generation. 6:30 Matthew John Rycroft (British Ambassador to the U.N.): Make no mistake: as North Korea’s missile capabilities advance, so too does their contempt and disregard for this security council. We must meet this belligerence with clear, unequivocal condemnation and with clear, unequivocal consequences. Today, Mr. President, we have banned North Korean exports of coal, iron ore, lead, and seafood. These are the lifeline exports that sustain Kim Jong-un’s deadly aspirations. In simple terms, should the North Korean regime continue its reckless pursuit of an illegal missile program and a deadly nuclear program, they will have vastly less [unclear]. We’ve also capped the number of foreign workers from North Korea. Every year, DPRK sends thousands of ordinary workers overseas. They often endure poor conditions and long hours, and their toil serves to provide critical foreign currency for North Korean government coffers. This is undoubtedly a form of modern slavery, and today we have taken the first step to ending it. The world will now monitor and curtail work authorizations for these desperate ex-patriots. 28:11 Vasily Nebenzya (Russian Ambassador): We share the feeling of neighboring states in the region. The ballistic missiles, which were launched without warning from North Korea, pose a major risk to marine and air transit in the region as well as to the lives of ordinary civilians. We call upon the North Korean government to end the banned programs and to return to the NPT, nonproliferation regime, and the IAEA oversights as well as to join the Chemical Weapons Convention. All must understand that progress towards denuclearization of the Korean peninsula will be difficult so long as the DPRK perceives a direct threat to its own security, for that is how the North Koreans view the military buildup in the region, which takes on the forms of frequent, wide-ranging exercises in maneuvers of the U.S. and allies as they deploy strategic bombers, naval forces, and aircraft carriers to the region. Another destabilizing factor in the region is the scaling up in North Korea of the THAAD, the U.S. antimissile defense elements. We repeatedly noted not only this constitutes an irritant, but this also undermines the overall military balance in the region and calls into question the security of neighboring states. We would like to hope that the U.S. secretary of state’s assurances were sincere, that the U.S. is not seeking to dismantle the existing DPRK situation or to forcibly unite the peninsula or militarily intervene in the country. However, we are concerned that our proposed, our paragraph in the draft resolution was not supported. The possible military misadventures by any side are liable to cause a disaster for regional and global stability. Discussion: Senator John McCain on Ukraine, December 19, 2013. Witness Frederick Kempe: President & CEO of the Atlantic Council Transcripts Frederick Kempe: Russian president, Vladimir Putin, on Tuesday said he had agreed to loan Ukraine $15 billion and cut the price of critical natural gas supplies. Ukraine’s Prime Minister Azarov called the deal historic. In Brussels a draft EU document, reported this morning by the Wall Street Journal, indicated Ukraine could have gained even more from the West, though with different conditions and perhaps not as plainly put. Had it signed the EU pact, it might have had $26 billion of loans and grants from the EU over the next seven years, and if it had also agreed to the IMF package. While the Ukraine pivots economically eastward, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians continue to pivot westward, standing together in protest for their continued desire to be part of a Europe, whole and free. And it’s in that context that we welcome back a great friend of the Atlantic Council, Senator John McCain, who visited these protestors over the weekend with Senator Chris Murphy, and continues to play a consistent and leading and principled role in supporting democratic change both in Eastern Europe and around the world and thinking through what role the United States should be playing in these challenging times. Sen. John McCain (AZ): If Ukraine’s political crisis persists or deepens, which is a real possibility, we must support creative Ukrainian efforts to resolve it. Senator Murphy and I heard a few such ideas last weekend. From holding early elections, as the opposition is now demanding, to the institution of a technocratic government, with a mandate to make the difficult reforms required for Ukraine’s long-term economic health and sustainable development. Sen. John McCain (AZ): And eventually, a Ukrainian president, either this one or a future one, will be prepared to accept the fundamental choices facing the country, which is this: while there are real short-term costs to the political and economic reforms required for IMF assistance and EU integration, and while President Putin will likely add to these costs by retaliating against Ukraine’s economy, the long-term benefits for Ukraine in taking these tough steps are far greater and almost limitless. This decision cannot be born by one person alone in Ukraine, nor should it be. It must be shared, both the risks and the rewards, by all Ukrainians, especially the opposition and business elite. It must also be shared by the EU, the IMF, and the United States. YouTube: Victoria Nuland call with the US Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, February 7, 2017. Click here to see the full transcript Transcripts Victoria Nuland: What do you think? Geoffrey Pyatt: I think we’re in play. The Klitschko piece is obviously the complicated electron here, especially the announcement of him as deputy prime minister. And you’ve seen some of my notes on the troubles in the marriage right now, so we’re trying to get a read really fast on where he is on this stuff. But I think your argument to him, which you’ll need to make, I think that’s the next phone call you’ll want to set up, is exactly the one you made to Yats. And I’m glad you sort of put him on the spot on where he fits in this scenario, and I’m very glad he said what he said in response. Nuland: Good. So, I don’t think Klitsch should go into the government. I don’t think it’s necessary, I don’t think it’s a good idea. Pyatt: Yeah, I mean, I guess. In terms of him not going into the government, just let him sort of stay out and do his political homework and stuff. I’m just thinking in terms of sort of the process moving ahead, we want to keep the moderate Democrats together. The problem is going to be Tyahnybok and his guys, and I’m sure that’s part of what Yanukovych is calculating on all of this. I kind of— Nuland: I think Yats is the guy who’s got the economic experience, the governing experience. What he needs is Klitsch and Tyahnybok on the outside. He needs to be talking to them four times a week, you know? I just think Klitsch going in—he’s going to be at that level working for Yatsenyuk; it’s just not going to work. Victoria Nuland: Can’t remember if I told you this or if I only told Washington this, that when I talked to Jeff Feltman this morning, he had a new name for the U.N. guy, Robert Serry. Did I write you that this morning? Geoffrey Pyatt: Yeah. Yeah, I saw that. Nuland: Okay. He’s not gotten both Serry and Ban Ki-moon to agree that Serry could come in Monday or Tuesday. Pyatt: Okay. Nuland: So that would be great, I think, to help glue this thing and have the U.N. help glue it, and, you know, fuck the EU. Pyatt: No, exactly. And I think we’ve got to do something to make it stick together because you can be pretty sure that if it does start to gain altitude, the Russians will be working behind the scenes to try to torpedo it. Geoffrey Pyatt: I think we want to try to get somebody with an international personality to come out here and help to midwife this thing. And then the other issue is some kind of out reach to Yanukovych, but we probably regroup on that tomorrow as we see how things start to fall into place. Victoria Nuland: So, on that piece, Geoff, when I wrote the note, Sullivan’s come back to me VFR, saying, you need Biden, and I said, probably tomorrow for an “atta-boy” and to get the deets to stick. Pyatt: Okay. Nuland: So, Biden’s willing. Pyatt: Okay, great. Thanks. Briefing: State Department Daily Briefing, February 6, 2014 Witness Jen Psaki: State Department Spokesperson Timestamps & Transcripts 0:19 Male Reporter: Can you say whether you—if this call is a recording of an authentic conversation between Assistant Secretary Nuland and Ambassador Pyatt? Jen Psaki: Well, I’m not going to confirm or outline details. I understand there are a lot of reports out there, and there’s a recording out there, but I’m not going to confirm a private diplomatic conversation. Reporter: So you are not saying that you believe this is a—you think this is not authentic? You think this is a— Psaki: It’s not an accusation I’m making. I’m just not going to confirm the specifics of it. Reporter: Well, you can’t even say whether there was a—that this call—you believe that this call, you believe that this recording is a recording of a real telephone call? Psaki: I didn’t say it was inauthentic. I think we can leave it at that. Reporter: Okay, so, you’re allowing the fact that it is authentic. Psaki: Yes. Reporter: “Yes,” okay. Psaki: Do you have a question about it? 7:40 Female Reporter: This was two top U.S. officials that are on the ground, discussing a plan that they have to broker a future government and bringing officials from the U.N. to kind of seal the deal. This is more than the U.S. trying to make suggestions; this is the U.S. midwifing the process Hearing: Ukraine Anti-Government Protests, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, January 15, 2014. Witnesses Zbigniew Brzezinski Carter’s National Security Advisor 77-81 Center for Strategic & International Studies, counselor & Trustee Thomas Melia: Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Rights & Labor at the Department of State Victoria Nuland: Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Timestamps & Transcripts 32:27 Thomas Melia: Our approach to Ukraine complements that of our EU partners and what they sought in their association agreement, a Ukraine that is more responsive to its citizens, that offers its people opportunities that a growing free-market economy would provide based on the rule of law. 34:19 Victoria Nuland: The point that we have made repeatedly to Russia, and that I certainly made on my trip to Russia between two trips to Ukraine in December, was that a Ukraine that is economically stable and prosperous should be no threat to Russia, that this is not a zero-sum game that we are playing here, and that, in fact, the same benefits that the EU was offering to Ukraine—benefits of association and economic integration—are also available to a Russia that wants to take the same market opening and democratic reform steps that Ukraine has already taken, 18 pieces of legislation having already been completed. 58:43 Senator John McCain (AZ): This is a country that wants to be European. They don’t want to be Russian. That’s what this is all about. 59:52 Senator John McCain (AZ): I’m somewhat taken aback by your, “well, it’s sort of up to the Ukrainian people.” We ought to be assisting morally the Ukrainian people for seeking what we want everybody on this earth to have, and so it’s not just up to the Ukrainian people. They cry out for our assistance. Panel: Internet and Democracy, Aspen Ideas Festival, June 26, 2017. Witnesses Ory Rinat: White House Interim Chief Digital Officer Farhad Majoo: New York Times Correspondent Transcripts Ory Rinat: What drives social engagement? What drives Internet engagement? It’s shares. And that’s not a social-media thing; that’s back to forwarding chain emails. It’s when people share, that’s the source of engagement. And what drives people to share? It’s anger. It’s sadness. It’s inspiration. It’s really rare; it happens, but it’s rare that somebody says, wow, I just read an objective, fascinating piece that represents both sides; let me share it on Facebook. That’s not what people share. And so what happens is we’ve incentivized, as a society, sensationalism in journalism. I was giving an example earlier: during the transition, there was an article in a publication that should not be named that said something along the lines of, Trump transition website lifts passages from nonprofit group. Okay. Doesn’t sound that great. Couple of paragraphs in, they mention that the website actually sourced and cited the nonprofit. Couple of paragraphs later, they quote the CO of the nonprofit saying it was okay. Couple of paragraphs later, they quote a lawyer saying even if it wasn’t okay, even if they didn’t have permission, and even if they didn’t cite it, it was probably still legal. But that headline was so sensationalized, and people want to click on something that makes them angry, and so everybody just needs to take a breath, and it’s not the Internet’s fault. Farhad Manjoo: Well, it’s the Internet ad model’s fault, right? It’s the fact that those sites—Facebook, every news site you can think of—is getting paid based on clicks. So is sort of the fundamental fix here some other business model for online news and everything else? Ory Rinat: Sure, I just can’t think of one. Farhad Manjoo: Right. Panel: U.S. Global Leadership, The Aspen Institute, August 4, 2017. Witnesses Nick Burns: Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Bush) Condoleezza Rice: Former National Security Advisor (Bush) Tom Donilon: Former National Security Advisor (Obama) Stephen Hadley: Former National Security Advisor (Bush) Susan Rice: National Security Advisor Timestamps & Transcripts 9:00 Condoleezza Rice: The liberal order was born, it was an idea, designed after World War II, when people looked out at the world that they had inherited after World War I and said, let’s not do that again. And it had two important elements, and it had one important fact. One element was they really believed that the international economy did not have to be a zero-sum game. It could be competitive, but it could be a growing economy and a positive-sum game, so my gains were not your losses, and that’s why they wanted to have free trade, and they wanted to have a comparative advantage among countries. And as you said, they set up institutions to do it, an International Monetary Fund and exchange rates, a World Bank eventually starting as a European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, which would rebuild economies and actually would become a source of capital for countries coming out of colonialism. And in some ways the most remarkable one, the general agreement on tariffs and trade, which was not a set of trade agreements but rules of the road to level the playing field so that the international economy could grow. So it was by its very nature supposed to get us away from conflict in the international system. They hated the fact that there’d been beggar-thy-neighbor trading policies and competition over resources. It was violent. So they weren’t going to do that again. Then, the important fact: they were going to try to create the democratic peace where they could, so they rebuilt Germany as a democracy, Japan as a democracy, and it was all going to be protected by American military power. And so that was the liberal order. 12:00 Condoleezza Rice: It is being challenged by Russia because Russia unfortunately doesn’t really have a foot in the economic side and, therefore, uses its military power for its respect. But it’s also being challenged by the four horsemen of the Apocalypse—populism, nativism, isolationism, and protectionism—and they tend to run together. And so one of the questions that we ought to be asking is not just the challenge to the liberal order from transnational terrorism or cyber warfare or from big powers like Russia and China but how do we deal with the fact that it does seem that there are those who believe that they were left behind by the global order, and they’re fighting back. They found people who will give them an answer as to why they didn’t succeed. Populists always have an answer: it’s the other—the Chinese; the illegal immigrants; if you’re from the Left, the big banks. And, oh, by the way, the other this time around is not just taking your jobs; the other is dangerous—so refugees and immigrants—and so I think the challenge is this time not just one that we foreign-policy people can understand but one that has to go internally to these societies and see what’s happening. That’s why I’m glad for the Aspen Strategy Group, that we are having this wonderful session that _____(01:30) will help to lead, because this is a really big challenge from the inside and from the out. And, yes, I’m worried that the liberal order might not survive it. 31:00 Condoleezza Rice: Leading differently obviously means finding a role for others—that’s very important—but it also means—and I know we can’t retire from this role, but there is a weariness among the American people, and we can’t ignore it. We can’t as foreign-policy people simply say, look, we’ve had to get back there and lead. We have to say, we’re going to lead because it’s in our interests, it’s with our values, and our allies have to appreciate it, right? And they have to be a part of it. That’s my point. I think we really haven’t gotten from the allies. What we get mostly from the allies is criticism for not leading, because the only thing the world hates more than unilateral American leadership is no American leadership, but we do need our allies to step up, and some of them have. On Minsk, for instance, the Germans stepped up to try and settle the Ukrainian circumstances. But let’s not underestimate outside of foreign-policy leads, the degree to which the American people are asking questions about how much more we can do. Unknown Speaker: Well, this is a good transition point to Russia. Let me just frame it this way: since Putin’s invasion and annexation of Crimea, 20 of the 28 allies have raised their defense spending, and they feel the threat. And I would even say right now, Merkel is leading NATO, not so much the United States; she’s leading NATO on this. So, Condi, you studied the Russians and the Soviets your life; we’ve got a dilemma here. Putin attacked our election and tried to discredit our democracy. We know he did that. Putin annexed Crimea. He still has troops in the Donbass and Eastern Ukraine, dividing that country. He has been a malevolent force in Syria. So, what’s the strategy for President Trump here? How does he respond to this? And we saw this extraordinary situation where the president was essentially repudiated by the Republicans in Congress on this big vote in the Senate and House to sanction Russia. If you were to give advice to him, what would it be? Not to put you on the spot too much. Rice: Well, thanks. Well, the first advice I would give is, be sure you know who Vladimir Putin is, right? And Vladimir Putin is someone who likes to humiliate, someone who likes to dominate, and someone who essentially understands power. And so don’t go into a room with Vladimir Putin unless you are in a pretty powerful position, and that means when you go to talk to Vladimir Putin, first let’s continue the policy that the Obama administration began, maybe even accelerate the policy of putting forces, at least on a rotating basis but possibly on a permanent basis, in places like Poland and the Baltic states so that you say to him, this far and no further. Secondly, I like raising the defense budget as a signal to the Russians. Third, I think you have to say to the Russians, we know you did it on the electoral process; we will, at a time of our choosing, by means of our choosing, we will deal with it, but we have confidence in our electoral system, so don’t think that you’re undermining American confidence by what you’re doing, because he feeds on the sense that he’s succeeding in undermining our confidence. And the final thing I’d say to him is, stop flying your planes so close to our ships and aircraft; somebody’s going to get shot down, because once you’ve established the kind of ground rules with Vladimir Putin, now you can talk about possible areas of cooperation. By the way, there’s one other thing I’d do: I’d arm the Ukrainians. I think that you have got to raise the cost to the Russians of what they’re doing in Ukraine, and it’s not on the front pages anymore, but in Eastern Ukraine, people are dying every day because of those little Russian green men, the Russian separatists, who, with Russian military training and Russian military intelligence and Russian military capability, are making a mess of Eastern Ukraine and making it impossible for Kiev to govern the country. And so I think it’s time to arm them. 33:30 Nick Burns: I think President Obama actually put in place a lot of what Condi’s saying. Is there bipartisan agreement on this tough policy? Susan Rice: I think there’s certainly bipartisan agreement on the steps that Condi described that we characterized as the European Response Initiative, where we got NATO with our leadership to put in those four countries, the three Baltics, plus Poland, a continuous, rotating, augmented presence and _____(00:26) deployed not only personnel but equipment, and we have reversed the trend of the downsizing of our presence in Europe, and that’s vitally important. 36:00 Tom Donilon: It’s important to recognize some of the fundamentals here, right, which is that we are in an actively hostile posture with the Russians right now. And it’s not just in Europe; it’s in Syria, it’s in Afghanistan, it’s in Syria, and it was in our own elections, and it’ll be in the European elections going through the next year as well, and it’ll probably be in our elections 2018 and 2020 unless we act to prevent it. So, we’re in, I think, in an actively hostile posture with the Russians, coming from their side. 40:00 Stephen Hadley: We’re putting battalions—we, NATO—putting battalions in the three Baltic states and in Poland and in Bucharest. Battalions are 1200 people, 1500 people. Russia is going to have an exercise in Belarus that newspaper reports suggest maybe up to 100,000 people and 8,000 tanks—I think I’ve got that number right— Unknown Speaker: This month. Hadley: —more tanks than Germany, France, and U.K. have combined. And we have to be careful that we don’t get in this very confrontational, rhetorical position with Russia and not have the resources to back it up. 58:00 Condoleezza Rice: Democracy promotion—democracy support, I like to call it—is not just the morally right thing to do, but, actually, democracies don’t fight each other. They don’t send their 10-year-olds as child soldiers. They don’t traffic their women into the sex trade. They don’t attack their neighbors. They don’t harbor terrorists. And so democracies are kind of good for the world, and so when you talk about American interests and you say you’re not sure that we ought to promote democracy, I’m not sure you’ve got a clear concept, or a clear grasp, on what constitutes American interests. Speech: Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton National Security Address, Council of Foreign Relations, November 19, 2015. Transcript Hillary Clinton: So we need to move simultaneously toward a political solution to the civil war that paves the way for a new government with new leadership and to encourage more Syrians to take on ISIS as well. To support them, we should immediately deploy the special operations force President Obama has already authorized and be prepared to deploy more as more Syrians get into the fight, and we should retool and ramp up our efforts to support and equip viable Syrian opposition units. Our increased support should go hand in hand with increased support from our Arab and European partners, including Special Forces who can contribute to the fight on the ground. We should also work with the coalition and the neighbors to impose no-fly zones that will stop Assad from slaughtering civilians and the opposition from the air. Hearing: U.S. Policy and Russian Involvement in Syria, House Foreign Affairs Committee, November 4, 2015. Witnesses Anne W. Patterson: Assistant Secretary Department of State, Near Eastern Affairs Transcript Rep. David Cicilline (RI): Who are we talking about when we’re speaking about moderate opposition, and do they, in fact, include elements of al-Qaeda and al-Nusra and other more extremist groups? Anne Patterson: Well, let me take the civilian moderate opposition, too, and that’s the assistance figure that you’re referring to, and that is groups within Syria and groups that live in Turkey and Lebanon and other places; and what that project is designed to do is to keep these people, not only alive physically, but also keep them viable for a future Syria, because we have managed to, even areas under control of ISIL—I won’t mention them—but we have managed to provide money to city councils, to health clinics, to teachers and policemen so these people can still provide public services and form the basis for a new Syria. So that’s—a good portion of that money goes into efforts like that. There’s also the opposition on the ground, and I think they’ve sort of gotten a bum rap in this hearing because I think they are more extensive than it’s generally recognized, particularly in the south, and they, yes, of course, in the north, some of these individuals have affiliated with Nusra because there was nowhere else to go. Anne Patterson: Moscow has cynically tried to claim that its strikes are focused on terrorists, but so far eighty-five to ninety percent of Syrian strikes have hit the moderate Syrian opposition, and they have killed civilians in the process. Despite our urging, Moscow has yet to stop the Assad regime’s horrific practice of barrel bombing the Syrian people, so we know that Russia’s primary intent is to preserve the regime. Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations

How to Build a Lobbying Presence in Washington Before you build a lobbying presence in Washington, consider the fact that technology now touches almost every aspect of our lives. Accordingly, our policymaking has become more complex as companies develop new technologies and consumers use technology in ways that were unanticipated. What are the key issues that policymakers and businesses should be focused on as they seek to fine-tune their policy strategies? How are policymakers dealing with issues, like diversity, that policymakers have historically considered less "substantive" but which have begun to take on monumental importance in American business and politics? Why is Washington, D.C. relevant to start up and early stage ventures and how can they build a lobbying presence in Washington? You'll get answers to these questions and more on Ep. 102! Bio Named a “Top Lobbyist” by The Hill newspaper, Elizabeth Frazee (@EFrazeeDC) has a 30 year career in Washington. Elizabeth has worked in high-level jobs on Capitol Hill, as an entertainment executive, and policy representative of major companies. Elizabeth interweaves a thorough understanding of policy, communications, politics and an impressive network of contacts to manage campaigns and coalitions. A native of North Carolina, Elizabeth began her career working for her home state Senator. She then served as press secretary for the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Additionally, Elizabeth ran the legislative office of then-freshman Representative Bob Goodlatte. Goodlatte now serves as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Following her time in Congress Elizabeth was director of government relations at the Walt Disney Company. There she served as the motion picture industry's representative in Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) negotiations. Those negotiations resulted in revisions to the Copyright Act. Additionally, Elizabeth also negotiated with Congress and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enact the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). She joined AOL in the late 90's as vice president of public policy and ran its Congressional team. While at AOL she served on the front lines of Internet policy debates, helped AOL merge with Time Warner, and helped secure the passage of Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China. Then, in 2003,  Elizabeth built a private lobbying practice. That practice became TwinLogic Strategies when she and co-founder Sharon Ringley launched the firm in 2009. Elizabeth earned her law degree from the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America, while working full-time for Congress. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Resources TwinLogic Strategies Future Crimes by Marc Goodman News Roundup Members Slam Google on Tech Diversity Most of you are familiar by now with Google's firing of James Damore. Damore is the engineer who wrote the screed that reinforced stereotypes about women working at the company. Well, lawmakers are now urging Google to ensure its stated efforts to improve diversity lead to actual diversity. In a Medium post, Silicon Valley Rep. Ro Khanna wrote that the incident highlights Google's diversity challenges. He called upon Google to do more. Further, eps. Jan Schakowsky, Pramila Jayapal, Jamie Raskin and Robin Kelly -- all Democrats -- also weighed in. They urged Google to address diversity more effectively. Tony Romm reports in Recode. In Punch to Disney, Netflix Signs Shonda Rhimes Disney announced last week that it would be ending its contract with Netflix in 2019. Disney plans to offer its content on its own standalone service. However, Netflix responded by signing hit showrunner Shonda Rhimes. Rhimes previously created such shows as Grey's Anatomy and Scandal for Disney. Rhimes has been a boon to Disney's ABC unit for more than a decade. Netflix is also negotiating with Disney the possibility of Netflix continuing to carry Marvel content after 2019. Meg James, David Ng and Tracey Lien report for the LA Times and Lizzie Plaugic reports for the Verge. Major Tech Firms Lining Up to Support "Extreme Vetting" Several tech firms are enthusiastically lining up to support President Trump's "extreme vetting" program.  Recall that on the campaign trail Trump advocated for the creation of an extreme vetting program.  The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations (ICE) division is now working on building the program.  The program's  goal is to determine, with pinpoint accuracy, which persons entering the country are most likely to engage in acts of terrorism. IBM, Booz Allen Hamilton, Lexis Nexis, SAS and Deloitte are among the companies interested in building this out. Sam Biddle and Spencer Woodman report for the Intercept.   Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick Benchmark Capital--a major Silicon Valley investor and Uber investor--is suing former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick for fraud, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. In  a complaint filed in Delaware, Benchmark says Kalanick deceived the board into expanding Uber's board from 8 to 11. Now, Benchmark says, Kalanick holds one of the very seats he created and is attempting to pack the board with members who are sympathetic to him. Dan Primack reports for Axios. More Tech Companies Oppose Anti-Sex Trafficking Bill We reported last week that the House introduced a bill, with the support of 24 members, that seeks to curtail online sex trafficking. The bill is a response to Backpage.com, a site that hosted prostitution and sex abuse ads. Now the bipartisan bill is up to 27 sponsors. However, joining the opposition are Engine Advocacy and the Copia Institute which spearheaded a letter campaign that was signed by 30 tech companies including Kickstarter, Meetup, Medium and Reddit. They argue that the bill goes too far in restricting legal third-party content. Wendy Davis Reports in Media Post.  

While all eyes in Washington remain focused on the Russia investigation, a Republican firm forgot to secure its invasive personal data on 198 million American voters. This week on Intercepted: We speak to radical librarian Alison Macrina of the Library Freedom Project about the fight against digital surveillance. Sam Biddle gives an update on attacks on U.S. voting systems. And, we speak with one of the rising stars of the “dirtbag left,” Felix Biederman of Chapo Trap House.

The Intercept reporter, and former Gawker writer and Valleywag editor, talks about growing up as a Dreamcast kid, playing Yakuza 0 and Persona 5, and what it was like to be in the middle of a Gamergate skirmish. The post What I Play: Sam Biddle appeared first on Shall We Play a Game?.

Luke's oldest and dearest friend, Sam Biddle (Gawker, Valleywag, The Intercept) visits the studio to rehash a near friendship-ending doozy they had over the show Mad Men. Later, a listener submitted argument that asks: Is stealing from a significant other ever justified? Executive Producer: Jon Perry Logo by Graham Wallace Theme Song by Doug DeLuca

The Notorious B.I.G. famously alleged that federal agents were mad because he was flagrant. Trump also believes he has beef with the Feds, accusing Obama of tapping his phones. The Intercept’s Matthew Cole and journalist Marcy Wheeler dissect the accusations and the (curious) denials. Sam Biddle and Josh Begley explain what the CIA hacking docs published by Wikileaks say about our “smart” TVs and phones. Journalist Aura Bogado confronts Trump’s assault on undocumented immigrants. Punk band Anti-Flag performs. Plus, Trump “stars” in a scene from Goodfellas. Can he get out of Mar-a-Lago alive?

New York Times investigative reporter James Risen breaks down Trump’s declaration that journalists are the enemy and analyzes Trump’s royal court. ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio and former New England Patriots star Donté Stallworth talk about the war on the transgender community and the rising resistance of pro athletes. Sam Biddle exposes the Trump-connected firm that helped the NSA spy on the world and actor Wallace Shawn stars as an NSA operative who is worried about adversaries spying on his luncheons. Plus music from Anohni.

Dr. Sepehr Hejazi Moghadam (@sepurb), Head of Research and Development, K-12 Pre-University Education at Google. Previously, Sepehr was an Associate at both A.T. Kearney and Booz Allen. He also served as Associate Director of Teacher Effectiveness for the New York City Department of Education. He has broad experience leading key components of strategic human capital plans in the public and government sectors. He has led the design of human capital policies, programs, and practices; and managed the implementation of highly effective, performance-based systems. He is an expert on research methods, data analytics, emerging technologies, business development, program management, high-level negotiation and partnership strategy, data visualizations, performance reporting and education policy. Sepehr received a PhD from Columbia University, where his dissertation was on the Treatment of African Americans in Education Research. He also has a Masters from Stanford and Bachelors from UC Santa Barbara. In this episode, we discussed: Google's research on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) achievement gaps. The two key factors affecting African-American and Latino participation in STEM careers. How Google is using this research to make the company and the tech sector more inclusive. Resources Google for Education - Computer Science Education Research Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates NEWS ROUNDUP The FBI announced last week that it agrees with the CIA's finding that Russia deliberately hacked into the Democratic National Committee's servers in order to help Donald Trump's candidacy for president. At first, the President-elect called the allegations "ridiculous", but on Fox News Sunday, incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Preibus suggested Trump may consider accepting the accusations if the CIA and FBI issue a joint report. But, of course, the report would be done under the Trump administration, spearheaded by a Director of National Intelligence who would be nominated by Trump. It is not clear whether FBI Director James Comey, although he is a Republican, would stay on board at the FBI, but the head of the Department of Justice, under which the FBI sits, would also be selected by Trump. For an analysis of how Russia carried out the intrusions into the DNC, check out Eric Lipton, David Sanger, Scott Shane's coverage in the The New York Times, which you can find the link for in the show notes. -- The Department of Defense's Office of Inspector General has concluded that the DOD is almost totally deficient when it comes to cybersecurity. The report on 21 audits and reports found the DOD isn't up to par on 7 out of 8 cybersecurity metrics. Sean Carberry has more in FCW. -- President-Elect Trump invited Silicon Valley luminaries to Trump Tower last week to discuss working together after the tech industry snubbed Trump on donations during the campaign season. In attendance were Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Tesla's Elon Musk, Tim Cook from Apple, Sheryl Sandberg from Facebook, Larry Page and Eric Schmidt of Google, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and others. Although diversity has been a major topic of discussion in tech, no black or Latino tech executives were present at the meeting. Donald Trump assured those in attendance that he's "here to help" them do well. As a side note, all the gentleman in attendance wore ties to the meeting except for Paypal founder Peter Theil. Thiel supported Trump with more than a million dollars late in the campaign season, roiling tech sector diversity and inclusion advocates. David Streitfeld has the story for The New York Times. -- Yahoo revealed yet another hack. This time it affected 1 billion accounts. The hack took place in 2013. Yahoo is currently negotiating an acquisition by Verizon, with Verizon asking for either a reduction in the sale price or exit from the deal given this breach, plus another breach the company revealed in September that affected 500 million users. -- Twenty-two social justice organizations sent a joint letter to tech companies urging them to refuse participation in helping the Trump Administration build a Muslim Registry. The groups take aim at the so-called National Security Entrance Exit Registration System or NSEERs, a post-9/11 program that requires Muslims entering the U.S. on non-immigrant visas to register. According to the groups, the NSEERS registry hasn't led to a single arrest. Thus far, Twitter is the only company that has refused to participate in building up the registry. Sam Biddle has the story in The Intercept. -- Google has announced a new agreement with Cuba to improve internet speeds there. The agreement gives Cuba access to Google's Global Cache Network, which brings YouTube and Gmail closer to end users. It's not clear how Cuba's commercial relationship with the U.S. will evolve under the Trump administration. Mark Frank at Reuters writes the Obama-era Executive Agreements  that have normalized relations with the communist country can be easily reversed. -- Justin Ling at Motherboard reports that blacklivesmatter.com suffered some 100 DDoS attacks between January and July alone. -- Senate Republicans failed to confirm Democratic FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel to another term at the agency. Rosenworcel, who is a highly-regarded public servant who fought on behalf of underserved communities, will end her term at the end of the month. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler will leave the Commission on January 20th, giving the Republicans a 2-1 majority at the agency. Sam Gustin has the story in Motherboard. -- Free Press released a study tying systemic racial discrimination to the digital divide. The report finds lower investments in broadband in both rural and urban areas hit by high rates of unemployment and low incomes. Sam Gustin has the story in Motherboard. -- Finally, Twitter has reinstated white supremacist Richard Spencer, President of the National Policy Institute who has advocated that the United States was created by and for white people. Twitter reinstated Spencer because he was not found to have violated Twitter's policy against inciting violence.

From: Tomorrow Podcast Sent: Tuesday, July 26th 2016 To: Loyal Listeners Subject: Sam Biddle, Reporter at The Intercept Getting intel that Sam Biddle and Joshua Topolsky discuss the DNC Leaks, the influence of money on politics, Superman, and bad comedy. Sam is apparently as hilarious, informed, and charming a guest as always – but word on the street is that Episode 63 is a must listen. Please CC all parties this may concern. Regards! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sam Biddle – senior writer at Gawker and all around bon vivant – is a man who knows how to attract controversy. He sits down with Josh in a bedroom of a strange and possibly haunted mansion in upstate New York to discuss the thankless work of covering the dark side of Silicon Valley startups, the increasing toxicity of the internet, the mysterious appeal of Fallout 4, and the difference between Breitbart and Stormfront (spoiler: not much). Along the way Sam and Josh find a friendship that will last a lifetime, or at least until Sam puts Josh in the spotlight for being a snake oil salesman who's too busy getting high on his own supply to see the damage he's doing to the crafting industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Awkward phone calls, Sam Biddle at Gawker.com is an asshole, and the time I spoiled Star Wars for all the other kids even though I didn’t. Plus my continued love for Jason Aaron. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jeff-sanguis-show/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jeff-sanguis-show/support

Awkward phone calls, Sam Biddle at Gawker.com is an asshole, and the time I spoiled Star Wars for all the other kids even though I didn’t. Plus my continued love for Jason Aaron. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jeff-sanguis-show/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jeff-sanguis-show/support

Meet Sam Biddle.  International nail tech and educator who offers up her advice and insight into the nail industry and how nail techs can be most successful.  Follow her on social media @sambiddle_inspired

Nicholas Carlson writes for Business Insider. His book Marissa Mayer and the Fight to Save Yahoo! came out this week. “To me people are what’s really interesting. Marissa Mayer is a once in a lifetime subject. She’s full of contradictions. … There are a million business stories, but if you don’t have that character at the center then you’re lost.” Thanks to TinyLetter, Lynda and Squarespace for sponsoring this week's episode. Show Notes: @nichcarlson Carlson on Longform [6:00] Longform Podcast #81: Kevin Roose [13:00] "What Happened When Marissa Mayer Tried to Be Steve Jobs" (New York Times Magazine • Dec 2014) [16:00] "Viacom Takes Google, YouTube Fight to Court" (InternetNews.com • Mar 2007) [18:00] Disney War (James B. Stewart • Simon & Schuster • 2005) [19:00] Longform Podcast #19: Choire Sicha [23:00] Longform Podcast #88: Sam Biddle [23:00] Carlson’s archive on Valleywag [33:00] "Google Gave Employees This Smartwatch As A Holiday Gift, And Some Of Them Are Whining About It" (Business Insider • Dec 2014) [34:00] Marissa Mayer and the Fight to Save Yahoo! (Twelve • 2015) [38:00] Googled: The End of the World As We Know It (Ken Auletta • Penguin Press • 2008) [48:00] "The Story Behind Why AOL CEO Tim Armstrong Fired An Employee In Front Of 1,000 Coworkers" (Business Insider • Nov 2013) [48:00] "This Man Was Supposed To Become Steve Jobs 2.0 — Here’s What Happened Instead" (Business Insider • Nov 2014) [54:00] "The Untold Story Of Larry Page's Incredible Comeback" (Business Insider • Apr 2014) [1:01:00] "Hacks Into Hackers" (The New York Times • Sep 2010)

A look back at some of our favorite moments from the first 99. Thanks to our sponsors, TinyLetter and Squarespace. Show Notes: [4:45] #3: David Grann [7:00] #4: Jon Mooallem [10:10] #7: Ta-Nehisi Coates [14:15] #9: Jeanne Marie Laskas [12:32] #10: Chris Jones [18:00] #22: Charles Duhigg [20:00] #29: Matthew Power [23:45] #37: Ann Friedman [26:30] #39: Natasha Vargas-Cooper [28:00] #43: Margalit Fox [31:20] #57: Eli Saslow [34:50] #62: Malcolm Gladwell [39:00] #64: Gay Talese [43:35] #65: Elizabeth Wurtzel [46:10] #67: Evan Wright [49:30] #75: George Saunders [52:10] #77: Dan P. Lee [57:00] #78: Ariel Levy [102:30] #84: Sabrina Rubin Erdely [104:20] #88: Sam Biddle [106:30] #91: Michael Lewis [110:30] #95: Wesley Morris

Sam Biddle writes for Valleywag. "It's a lot of overgrown, entitled manchildren pulling price tags out of the ether and passing them around. Considering Silicon Valley worthy of contempt is the first premise that we work from." Thanks to TinyLetter for sponsoring this week's episode. Show notes: @samfbiddle [6:15] Valleywag's coverage of Sean Parker [6:45] "'The Uber of Private Jets' is a Real Thing" (Valleywag • Apr 2013) [6:55] "What is Auto-Tune, and Why Does Jay-Z Want It Dead?" (PSFK • Jun 2009) [18:15] "Look Who’s Gawking: Inside Nick Denton’s Phony, Hypocritical Class War Against Tech Workers" (Paul Carr • Pando Daily • Dec 2013) [19:45] "Meet the Google Founder's Mistress" (Valleywag • Aug 2013) [34:15] "Indentured Servitude, Money Laundering, and Piles of Money: The Crazy Secrets of Internet Cam Girls [NSFW]" (Gizmodo • Sep 2012) [41:45] "Google Employee: 'You Can't Afford It? You Can Leave!' (Update: Hoax) (Valleywag • Dec 2013)

Mike and Jessie are joined in the studio by none other than Valleywag editor, and protector of the oppressed, Sam Biddle. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lets-make-mistakes/message