Hasta La Gadget!

It’s been clear for some time now that Facebook is betting heavily on video; everything from live streaming to hosting coverage of news and sporting events. But in an effort to really compete with YouTube, the social media behemoth is attempting to lure original video creators with the announcement of a new mobile app that focuses on, well, video creation. … Continue reading

As President Donald Trump continues to face questions about Russian interference in the 2016 election, the White House has pointed to a commission he created to investigate electoral integrity to show the president’s commitment from preventing a future intrusion.

But if understanding hacking is going to be a commission priority, it would appear to be news to at least some of the commissioners, who said this week they have no idea when the commission will meet or what it is actually going to examine.

Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, pointed to the presidential commission on electoral integrity, created by Trump in May, when he was asked Friday whether Trump was concerned about hacking.

“He instituted an election commission that is making sure that we look at all of how we’re voting, and to make sure that we maintain integrity in all of our voting process to make sure that we have faith in it,” Spicer said Friday. “And that includes cyber, it includes voter I.D., it includes all sort of systems.  I expect that commission to have several announcements in probably the next two weeks, and potentially some hearings in July.”

Kellyanne Conway, one of Trump’s senior advisers, made similar comments on CNN Friday morning after being pressed, repeatedly, on what Trump was doing to secure American election systems.

“The president has met with his national security team many times, he has an initiative or commission on voter integrity, and he himself has used the power of the bully pulpit to express his resistance towards any type of outside interference,” she said.

Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap (D) told HuffPost he had no contact with Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R), the vice chairman of the panel, since being named to the commission in May. While he hoped the commission would investigate Russian hacking, he didn’t know if it would. There’s been an urgent focus on the need to address election security after leaked National Security Agency documents showed Russia successfully breached election systems last year. Bloomberg reported there was a breach in 39 states, but Trump has downplayed Russia’s responsibility.

“I certainly believe it’s relevant to include [hacking] and it’s probably integral to include it if you’re going to talk about integrity of elections. Anything that would undermine the integrity of an election should be considered for recommendation by the commission. I mean that was the whole point,” Dunlap said. “You can’t talk about the integrity of elections and ignore a big pile of problems in the middle of the room.”

While Kobach told The Boston Globe he was open to investigating hacking if members of the commission wanted to examine it, he hardly made it seem like a priority.

“In the initial descriptions of the commission, election security and the integrity of equipment and voter databases was not specifically described,” he told The Globe. “But if it’s something the commission wants to discuss, we can.”

Given the attention on the commission, Dunlap said he was surprised he hadn’t heard more from Kobach or the White House as to what the commission would do.

“I haven’t heard anything since the executive order was made public. I understand that things happen to move kind of slow in D.C., that’s kind of the nature of the beast … I don’t have an answer as to what our scope is going to be or when we’re meeting or where we’re meeting,” he said. “I think this is something people are looking to now and the fact that it’s been treading water has been a surprise. But I don’t ascribe that to anybody having a particular motive to hold it up.”

Many have expressed concern over the decision to appoint Kobach to lead the commission because he has a history of exaggerating voter fraud and pushed some of the country’s most restrictive voting laws in his state. Critics say the probe is just a pretext to try and justify Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that millions voted illegally in the 2016 election.

Since being tapped to lead the commission, Kobach also launched a campaign to run for governor of Kansas.

David Dunn, a former Arkansas legislator, and Mark Rhodes, a West Virginia county clerk were both appointed to the commission this week, but both said they had received no details about the commission’s work. Dunn, who doesn’t have an expertise in elections, told HuffPost he was surprised he was picked for the panel and Rhodes had to search online to find out who else was on the commission.

In addition to Dunlap, New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner (D), another member of the commission has called for the probe to examine Russian hacking. Rhodes told HuffPost he thought the probe should “look at everything” while Dunn said Russian interference was beyond its scope.

The other members of the commission are Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson (R), former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell (R) and Christy McCormick, a commissioner on the Electoral Assistance Commission. Luis Borunda, the Maryland deputy secretary of state, is also serving, despite an apparent lack of previous election experience.

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Tesla is interested in opening a factory in China to begin building its all-electric vehicles in the country, the company revealed this week. But before fans of American manufacturing start getting worried, know that this isn’t about Tesla looking for a cheaper workforce or anything like that. Instead the car maker is looking to improve its appeal among buyers by … Continue reading

Just over two years ago, Donald Trump gave a speech announcing his run for the presidency. In that speech, he promised that he would not cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. That promise became a centerpiece of his campaign. It was a key way for Trump to differentiate himself, as a matter of policy, from his Republican primary opponents – a distinction he happily and frequently pointed out. In the general election, the promise helped him appeal to voters who don’t traditionally support the GOP.

But six months into his presidency, Trump has already betrayed those voters by breaking his promise. Indeed, rather than protecting those programs, he has already, in his short tenure, gone after all three!

When it comes to Social Security and Medicaid, that betrayal is highly visible and clear: His budget slashes billions from Social Security and Medicaid. Trump also champions the Republican health care repeal bill (also known as Trumpcare), which includes yet more massive cuts to Medicaid.

Indeed, Trumpcare is bait-and-switch: It claims to repeal and replace Obamacare, which it modifies, but doesn’t completely undo. What it does do, without broadcasting the fact, is repeal and replace Medicaid.

Trumpcare repeals Medicaid as we know it. It replaces it, transforming it from a guarantee to individuals into an inadequate lump of money to states. When the Medicaid changes are completely phased in, the clock will be turned back to before the enactment of Medicaid in 1965, when millions of seniors, people with disabilities and others were unable to afford life-saving health care, home health care, and nursing home care.

The destruction of Medicaid and the cutback to Social Security have gotten media attention. The broken promise on Medicare is in danger of slipping by beneath the radar, though.

Only days after the election, Speaker Paul Ryan announced that he saw an opportunity to realize his decades-long dream of destroying Medicare. He said that he planned to enact legislation as soon as possible that would end Medicare’s guaranteed benefit and replace it with voucher coupons.

Ryan justified this horrible plan — destined to leave the nation’s seniors without medical care after a lifetime of work — by claiming “because of Obamacare, Medicare is going broke.” Nothing could be further from the truth. The Affordable Care Act improved Medicare’s long-term finances, by requiring the wealthiest Americans to pay somewhat more. Trumpcare repeals that increased funding.

Ryan, Trump and their fellow Republicans are like the proverbial murderer who kills his parents and pleads for leniency because he is an orphan. In this case, they are raiding Medicare of necessary revenue, only down the road to argue that they must cut Medicare because it has insufficient funding! Indeed, Trumpcare accomplishes two goals: It gives a giant tax break to the wealthy at the expense of Medicare and it sets up the destruction of Medicare by raiding it. It is completely predictable that, if Trumpcare becomes law, Republicans will, as a next step, go after Medicare, claiming its funding shortfall as the supposed reason.

Trump ran on a promise to protect Medicare and Medicaid. But he now champions a bill that would destroy Medicaid and tees up the destruction of Medicare. This terrible bill is a betrayal of the American people, and it can still be stopped. To become law, the bill must first pass the Senate and then be voted on a second time in the House. I urge everyone who cares about the future of Medicare, Medicaid, and all health care in this country to take the following steps:

1. If you have a Republican Senator or Representative, protest outside their state or district offices, and at any events they hold. If they are marching in a parade or participating in a ribbon cutting, it’s the perfect opportunity to demand that they keep their hands off the American people’s Medicare and Medicaid.

2. Call your Senators at 202-224-3121. Tell them why cuts to Medicare and Medicaid would be a disaster for your family.

3. Share this blog post, and all other information about how terrible Trumpcare is, with your friends and family. The media, especially TV news, likes to focus on “process” (e.g. how will this Senator vote?) at the expense of covering what’s actually in the bill. We need to make sure that everyone hears the truth about what Trump and the GOP are trying to impose on America.

It is not a stretch to say that the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid required the landslide victory of President Lyndon Johnson, one of the nation’s truly masterful legislators. We cannot let them be repealed. It is, bluntly, a matter of life and death.

Nancy J. Altman is President and Linda Benesch is Communications Director of Social Security Works. Email your Senators today and tell them to vote NO on Trumpcare!

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SpaceX‘s record of success continues to grow as the space company successfully launched and landed a used Falcon 9 rocket for the second time on Friday. As the second instance of reusing one of its rockets, this marks 12 completed landings out of 17 attempts for SpaceX, and the 7th successful recovery at sea, where the rocket’s first stage touches … Continue reading