Silicon Valley Game-Plans For a Messy Election Night (politico.com) 286
Google, Facebook, Twitter and other major social media companies are working together to scenario-plan for the last three months before Election Day in the United States -- including gaming out what to do if there's no quickly declared winner in the contest between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden on election night. From a report: The close collaboration between Silicon Valley companies in the run-up to election day is detailed in an unusual cross-industry statement put out Wednesday. Pinterest, LinkedIn-owner Microsoft, and Reddit are also among its signatories. "We discussed preparations for the upcoming conventions and scenario planning related to election results. We will continue to stay vigilant on these issues and meet regularly ahead of the November election,â reads the statement. Among dozens of scenarios being contemplated by the companies for election night in particular are a "hack and leak" operation where stolen materials are quickly spread through online networks and addressing the distribution of manipulated videos, according to a person involved in the planning who spoke anonymously so as to not speak on behalf of the full industry coalition. The scenario planning is "candidate agnostic," they said. Today's statement comes shortly after a meeting among the companies and government officials -- the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force, the Department of Justice's National Security Division, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence -- to discuss the planning. It builds on a series of monthly meetings, the person said, that go back to September of last year.
It's more important than competition (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:It's more important than competition (Score:5, Insightful)
It's kind of fascinating for a moderate to observe how your post could be modded up by both the left and the right.
Fight what garbage? (Score:2, Insightful)
I think that most sane people realize that coming together to fight this garbage
What you do not seem to have realized is that equally sane people have different definitions of what is garbage.
As long as you keep claiming anyone who does not think like you is sane, you will make more enemies than friends and not help anyone.
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Or, we have the same definition of garbage, but some people just seem to like garbage.
Re: Fight what garbage? (Score:3)
Be wary of demonizing your opposition and becoming a demon in the process.
Just November, actually (Score:4, Insightful)
I think that most sane people realize that coming together to fight this garbage is much, much more important than money. We're literally going to be fighting for the sake of the entire country between November and January. I'm not surprised that these companies are talking about it. I'm glad they are, quite frankly.
Just early November, actually.
Any fighting between November and January won't be for the sake of the country, it will be for the sake of *tearing down* the country because one side doesn't like the results.
Conservatives score high in Conscientiousness [wikipedia.org], while Liberals score high in Openness. Small differences in the average case (given two random people, 45%/55% chance of correct prediction based on their C/O score), but out at the extremes the differences are just about all-encompassing. Someone who scores *very highly* in openness (low conscientiousness) is not concerned with rules, while someone who scores *very highly* in conscientiousness (low openness) will respect the rules regardless of the outcome.
In short, if Biden and Harris lose, extreme liberals will be rioting and looting. If Trump and Pence lose, extreme Conservatives will quietly accept the results.
History supports this observation: after the 2016 election, it was Hillary supporters who pleaded with electors to become faithless [wikipedia.org], pleaded with the military to step in and forceably prevent Trump from taking office (!), and (once the EC had met) rioted until and past the inauguration. Hillary never told her supporters to stand down, never came out against anything the radical left did.
None of that happened when Obama was elected.
This holds for Trump as well: People saying that he won't vacate the office if he loses are simply not credible. Besides Trump himself being high in conscientiousness, if he ever tried to do something that radical his entire voting base would rise up and pitch him out into the street. So would the military.
So any calls for "fighting for this country between November and January" are simply calls for the radical left rioting and looting and general mayhem, a "poor sport" response to an election whose results they disagree with.
We'll probably have to simply, once more, endure it. For some reason, rioting and looting are now OK in this country.
Not credible? (Score:5, Informative)
"I have to see. Look
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This holds for Trump as well: People saying that he won't vacate the office if he loses are simply not credible. Besides Trump himself being high in conscientiousness, if he ever tried to do something that radical his entire voting base would rise up and pitch him out into the street.
Indeed, like when the federal government tear-gassed peaceful protesters in DC, then sent anonymous agents to Portland to grab protesters off the street and shove them into unmarked vans, Trump's supporters all said "wow, a government attacking citizens just for protesting is THE EXACT REASON THE SECOND AMENDMENT EXISTS! Quick, we'll rise up and... praise the federal government for attacking citizens!"
I mean, Trump called the 2016 election results invalid and fraudulent, and that's an election that he won.
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There were no anonymous officers in Portland. Claims with pictures clearly show ids on their shoulders.
Tear gas is deployed when the protestors turn violent. While the media won’t use the word rioters the rest of us can clearly see it. Play stupid games and win stupid prizes.
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Please point me to the violent rioters in the first 28 minutes of this video before the police just suddenly rushed the crowd and fired tear gas. I'm not seeing it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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The rioters who spray-painted buildings and set off some fireworks? Wow, that's like second degree murder! To buildings!
Thank god we have a government that cares more about it's buildings than it's citizens. That's something you can be proud of. Just think, your votes made this possible!
If agents had done the same thing to, say, Christians who were protesting their right to discriminate against anyone they wanted to, and Obama were president, you would be screaming for armed revolution right now. And i
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set off some fireworks
One night in February 1945 British and American aircraft set off 3900 tons of fireworks in Dresden, Germany.,
Attack a federal building with explosives and be very fucking thankful they only arrest you.
spray-painted buildings
I'm surprised you haven't exhulted the light show being provided for free by a generous group of free spirited citizens. Or as it's also known, attempts to blind federal officers with lasers.
Stop defending people committing acts of violence against the state for no reason other than their own pathetic selfish
Re: Just November, actually (Score:3)
And that, folks, is someone utterly losing an argument.
Comparing the fireworks in Portland to the bombing of Dresden? This shows that you are intellectually bankrupt, with no actual arguments to use. And comparing those tragedies shows that you are morally bankrupt.
If you ever want to have a discussion with actual arguments, please let me know. Until then, have a good day.
But please start consuming some media other than right wing; you'll seem less like a buffoon, and you may get some actual facts to sta
Re:Just November, actually (Score:5, Insightful)
Besides Trump himself being high in conscientiousness, if he ever tried to do something that radical his entire voting base would rise up and pitch him out into the street.
Nice rationalization, but quite wrong. As someone who understands what these personality dimensions mean, the claim that Trump is high on conscientiousness is woefully incorrect. Trump is hardly the poster boy for a dutiful rule follower who engages in meticulous well thought out planning and values tradition and keeping things unchanged. Jesus, your analysis sounds like someone who thinks Conscientiousness and Openness are opposites, rather than independent personality dimensions. You probably also think that Extroversion and Agreeableness are opposites too. If anything Trump is high on Extroversion and Neuroticism, low on Agreeableness, and whatever else he is, he's most certainly NOT high on Conscientiousness. The fact that he seems to like things to be just so is more because he's neurotic and uses that to manage his anxiety (high Neurotic) and control his environment (low Agreeableness).
If he is low on Agreeableness, he's very likely to not accept an election result that doesn't go in his favour.
Leave this to the experts thanks; not journalists, bloggers, and arm chair therapists.
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So they burned some of their own property and carried a few signs. Which federal buildings were burned or spray painted? Which stores were looted? How many people died?
You are incredibly lame.
Re:It's more important than competition (Score:4, Funny)
We're literally going to be fighting for the sake of the entire country between November and January.
Not really. What's the worst that can happen, Trump wins? Then we'll muddle through another four years, and then we'll have a new enemy arise, a new savior, and it will once again be time to fight for the sake of the entire country, it will once again be the most important election of our lives.
Re: It's more important than competition (Score:2, Insightful)
The worst outcome is Trump loses, refuses to accept it, fights all the way to the Inauguration (and possibly a little bit after it until removed from the White House by the Secret Service), then encourages his supporters to keep up the fight and resist the "stolen election".
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That's the worst outcome? That's the best outcome I can imagine. But then again, the only other option I can imagine is Trump winning and Biden conceding. Is there a third option that you would claim is plausible?
I suppose there are slight variants where Biden puts up a fight if there is bad enough .voter suppression.
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The Supreme Court already ruled that the President cannot pardon future acts. But I expect a blanket pardon for his children on the way out. Just in case.
Also, the fancy White House silverware is Vermeil from France pre-(french)Revolution. It's worth quite a bit.
Re: It's more important than competition (Score:4, Insightful)
He already didn't want the first four years. What he wanted was to lose the election, call it a stolen election and have his Breitbart competition news outlet ride on that. Everything was set and ready, and then those idiot voters ruin it all for him.
Wish I had mod points. He was already laying the groundwork for claiming the election was stolen. His walk to the podium to accept the election was the saddest candidate I've ever seen. And he was the winner! He was planning to ride that whine for the next decade, while remaining totally unaccountable for any promises. The voters ruined all of that and for the first time in his life, Donald Trump is being subjected to overt disapproval. It drives him in bizarre ways.
They need to filter what we might see for our good (Score:2)
Re: They need to filter what we might see for our (Score:5, Insightful)
Yep. 4th Estate. (Score:2, Troll)
Impartial (Score:2, Insightful)
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Re:Impartial (Score:4, Insightful)
Completely true. But also irrelevant when talking about Silicon Valley companies, unlike parents' statement.
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Re:Impartial (Score:5, Insightful)
lol (Score:2)
Yeah, anyone who isn't a Trump cultist is now a "Marxist". That makes about as much sense as anything else coming out of those people.
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"Google, Facebook, Twitter and other major social media companies" are almost all left-wing.
Except for helping get Trump elected.
Re:Impartial (Score:5, Insightful)
left-winged media companies
Fortunately for you, "left-winged media companies" is an oxymoron in a country where almost everything of importance is owned by the super-rich.
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left-winged media companies
Fortunately for you, "left-winged media companies" is an oxymoron in a country where almost everything of importance is owned by the super-rich.
Plenty of super rich people are left wing. For pete's sake, look at Hollywood, for one thing.
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What they are is "establishment". They agree on everything important to the wealthy elite, and stage theatrical arguments over financially unimportant stuff like gay marriage. Some for DC politicians: there's no daylight between establishment Dems and never-Turmper GOPers on economic issues. The Bernie Bros and the Trumpistas are the non-estabishment grassroots, for all Bernie himself surrenders at the first opportunity and Trump has never seen a money printing press he doesn't like. But that little gap
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I hear countless stories of Twitter and Facebook removing trending news/tweets that have right-wing slants to them. In private recording, Google themselves have made it all too clear [archive.is] they're biased against conservatives and against Trump.
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They banned the biggest Trump forum on the net called The_Donald partly due to that same bias (who have since moved over to TheDonald.win [thedonald.win] FWIW.
Which is kind of like saying your kid was kicked out of Walmart for trying to sell lemonade inside the store, so you were forced to set up shop in your own front yard.
That's exactly how it's supposed to work, silly goose.
The best thing Facebook and Twitter could do (Score:5, Insightful)
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They are the disinformation campaigns. I’ll be glad if they go dark months before elections.
Re:The best thing Facebook and Twitter could do (Score:5, Insightful)
No, they could point you to the nearest polling place in lieu of going dark.
Considering all the information they have, it's the least they could do.
And slashdot? (Score:3)
The best thing Facebook and Twitter could do on election night is go dark.
When current management took over Slashdot they asked for suggestions for improvement. My suggestion was to do something to limit the noise that precedes an election.
I've noticed over the years that this site goes to hell before any election. It happens for 2 weeks ahead of any normal election, and 6 weeks ahead of a presidential election. All the "Correct the record" [wikipedia.org] types with no clue about the issues and no identifiable skill at composing an argument would come on to insult, downvote, contradict, and gen
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Worst case scenario? Just make sure your prepared statement mentions that you did your best to warn everyone, but in the end they shouldn't blame you because you voted for the other guy [youtube.com].
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the post office is late and then it's up the court (Score:2)
the post office is late and then it's up the courts to rule if the votes will court.
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Re:This need not happen (Score:4, Insightful)
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There is no election night.
You don’t seem to grasp the concept of mail in voting. It’s going to be days after the cutoff before the tally is complete.
Can we just do the election tomorrow? (Score:2)
What will it take? Canâ(TM)t we just have the election tomorrow I am tired of waiting. Canâ(TM)t I declare citizen initiated election or something?
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
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Everyone should for vote Jo Jorgensen https://jo20.com/ [jo20.com] She would be vastly better then anyone else running.
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No one who comprehends the FPTP voting system in America should vote for anyone but Trump or Biden (Biden, please) unless you think they are literally the same quality of candidate.
A third party vote is a protest vote. It is a wasted vote. It is one rung above intentionally not voting at all.
Don't like that? Fight for ranked choice voting so third parties can matter.
Re:Jesus Fuck (Score:4, Insightful)
No one who comprehends the FPTP voting system in America should vote for anybody that they don't want to be President.
A third party vote is not a protest vote and is not a wasted vote. It's a very deliberate and intentional vote that counts every bit as much as any other.
If you don't like that then that's your problem, but stop trying to perpetuate a two party state and impose it on others.
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Yes, please, throw your vote away in the most consequential election in a century. It's much more important to make a useless empty statement no one will laud you for, than to be able to cast your ballot in a pivotal point in history and be able to stand behind that conviction.
Being a Libertarian was cool in 2000, when Ron Paul was a maverick instead of a crazy old goldbug, and when I was 19 fucking years old. Then I grew up, and got angry, and realized third parties have no chance in this country, and hasn
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Jesus fuck, you still think that.
No difference in healthcare. No difference in minimum wage. No difference in immigration policy. No difference in covid response. No difference in rule of law. No difference in relations with allies and adversaries.
What a load of shit.
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Nice red herring, bubba. I didn't say it isn't a disaster. I said there are meaningful, material differences between them.
Good job not challenging any point I made, and pivoting to bitching about the two party system. See here for an explanation on that.
https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... [slashdot.org]
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It doesn't matter what Joe Biden supports, if he actually manages to remember it without reading off a script verbatim. He is just the placeholder.
Go watch some recent vids of him (Score:2)
And if I may switch gears to his opponent, don't listen to Trump, read transcripts. Trump employs a rhetorical device called the "gish gallop" where he rapid fires nonsense too fast for the human brain to keep up with. It doesn't work in writing, reading Trump Transcripts break's the spell.
In the event of a messy election night (Score:2)
Let's fucking hope (Score:2)
That somebody both intelligent and competent is in charge of this. Oh, and also non-partisan.
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How about we reflect on how we allowed so much of our speech to be at the tender mercies of silicon valley executives. If we only hope for fairness, we probably won't receive any.
Not old guard (Score:2)
Yes, Biden is a throw-back to the bad days of 'corporatism is good'. But the glimmer of sunlight here is Kamala Harris: She isn't part of the Christian 'old guard' and is placed to demand policies containing the leftist choices of the American majority.
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So you're satisfied Trump is less of a corporatist? Is that it?
Re: Not old guard (Score:2)
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Well because posts like yours intentionally or unintentionally help Trump win. So either you're "confused of mind" or intentionally supporting him winning because that's the outcome you're contributing towards.
Re: Not old guard (Score:2)
Why do mail in ballots take so long? (Score:2)
Every election they're at like "with 80% of the precincts reporting, we're waiting for the mail in vote". When it's close 3-4 days later it's "still counting the mail in ballots".
Why?
You've had my ballot for a month. Check my signature, open it up, and toss my ballot into the "good" pile. On election day run the "good" pile through your automatic counters.
Instead, it's like they to
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I was curious, so I looked this up.
Apparently, by law, states are often not allowed to begin counting until election day. There are a few exceptions, of course. I'd guess the restriction is done to protect the integrity of the results, but that's just speculation on my part. Here's the state by state breakdown of the laws: https://www.ncsl.org/research/... [ncsl.org]
However, in most cases, the are allowed to to "prepare" your mail in ballot, such as making sure the signature matches the record, etc. Everything but
Please. (Score:2)
They are not trying to figure out what to do. They are only trying to figure out how to do it. Just sayin'.
Re: Don't worry, not even close (Score:3)
Re: Don't worry, not even close (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd argue the exact opposite. Democrats desperately need to distance themselves from craziness of far left now that it's becoming fairly clear that what they're arguing for is utterly rejected by majority of those they claim to represent. I.e. the "majority of black people want more police, not less" polling vs narrative of BLM.
In this regard, VP pick looks brilliant to me. She's sorta kinda black, sorta kinda police, sorta kinda centrist. Checkboxes. She ticks a lot of them. The rest is just about putting spin on it, and considering that there a lot of people on her side who still think that Trump called nazis fine people, spinning her as great presidential material isn't going to be a problem.
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I'm still rather concerned that we are attempting to run California's prior top cop. Without even saying one thing about her race or gender, the Trump campaign can literally just sit there and go through all the cases she worked that swayed toward the cops. Cops do dirty things to further the cops agenda, which is to get arrest to show how much they are doing for us.
Simply just painting her with the truth of her past ten years should be sufficient to cost her enough of the black vote. She needs at least 60%
Re: Don't worry, not even close (Score:4, Interesting)
But really, even if Biden gets a little loopy, it ultimately won't matter. It's the people that he appoints that do the work, not him, himself. Biden is going to surround himself with smart, capable people, I'm sure.
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That tells us all we need to know about the quality of your imagination, and nothing about the person in the White House.
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First of all, I think that whoever runs for "VP" in this election under Biden is de facto running for the Presidency. And I suspect that most people know this, even through many will have to deny this for ideological reasons. This would be why democratic campaign spent so much time picking the VP candidate after Biden got the nomination. They appear to fully recognise that they were picking the top of the ticket.
Second, you're assuming that people won't be sold the narrative. If last four years showed us an
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People like this person. As you can see, they'll swallow the spin whole, without even chewing.
Re: Don't worry, not even close (Score:2, Flamebait)
So I never saw videos of people marching in Charlottesville chanting Nazi slogans, I didnt see video of one of the protesters running down counterprotesters with his car, and I never saw video of Trump refusing to condemn anyone on the side of the Nazi protesters? Again, if you don't want to be associated with Nazis don't associate with Nazis.
Re: Don't worry, not even close (Score:2, Troll)
Notice in your link that, while he says "They should be condemned"? Notice how he never says "I condemn them"? He wouldn't say it, because he knows they voted for him and they'll still vote for him. And he also continues to refuse to support the removal of statues built to commemorate people who waged war on the country he leads because, again, he knows a very vocal portion of the people who vote for him like those statues.
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Yes, this is exactly the kind of mindless, zealous gullibility that I'm talking about. Thank you.
Re: Don't worry, not even close (Score:2)
So me pointing out the exact statement he made and following it up with a statement he explicitly did not make is gullibility? And they say TDS applies to his opponents.....
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Yes, you stating that if you spin phraseology to an absolutely absurd extent, you can still pretend that lies you are very invested in can still be somehow justifiable is exactly that.
"He said they should be condemned absolutely, but he didn't say "I condemn them", got him!"
Brilliant.
Re: Don't worry, not even close (Score:2)
Sure...because saying "someone should do something about x" is the same as doing something about x, clearly.
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I rest my case on incredible levels of mindless, gullible zealotry being present. Truly, there is nothing I can add to make my point better than you just did.
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Actions do speak louder than words to many. Whatever he says is not the real measure in the end.
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I have good news for you. Secret Service people have lived a long time watching the obscene excess of nation's political elites, while having to protect them.
If there's any president who was to try to stay in White House beyond his/her mandate, I think even the most jaded among us would be disturbed by the sheer gleeful enthusiasm with which Secret Service agents would remove any such individual from White House.
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Re:Possible outcomes (Score:4, Insightful)
And those people would get removed by Secret Service. That's what they do for a living. Remove idiots who think they can just show up at White House and do something to people in it.
Unlike crazy dreams of far left in US, US military is not an internal political force. Any removal of the kind you're talking about would be done through the justice system and law enforcement. In case of POTUS, that would be Secret Service.
Re: Possible outcomes (Score:2)
And as soon as Biden is sworn in as President if he wins, Trump is no longer allowed to be in the White House. The Secret Service would have to remove him if he refuses to do so.
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I applaud your reading comprehension and ability to rephrase this statement with added "my candidate will win!" spin:
>If there's any president who was to try to stay in White House beyond his/her mandate, I think even the most jaded among us would be disturbed by the sheer gleeful enthusiasm with which Secret Service agents would remove any such individual from White House.
I also suspect that your types will be the only ones to be shocked by the fact that Trump prefers Mar-a-Lago to White House after his
Re: Possible outcomes (Score:2)
I said if Biden wins. I think, and hope, he will, bu the past few years have taught me a lot about the American electorate. And its fairly obvious Trump hates being at the White House. Its not his style or asthetic at all. He doesn't actually want to stay there. He will just make enough of a show of resisting to get his base all worked up, probably do his ask/not ask for his supporters to show up to "protect" him, then jet on down to Mar a Lago where the January weather will be much better than DC. Basi
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As I understand it, people who would gleefully hand [sitting president] by the neck until dead are dime a dosen. Pretty much a weekly to maybe monthly now in pandemic that they get arrested somewhere for planning it, or just straight up invading White House proper. Consider the craziest 1% among the "feds are evil and are coming for me" crowd alone. The only reason they don't invade White House more than they already do is the distance between their homes and White House.
And former presidents enjoy Secret S
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If you haven’t noticed, they seem to want to hang anyone that doesn’t agree with them.
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Trump is winning again so go cry about it some more.
[Citation needed]