Russian Infiltration Of Word Press Blogs

In spite of Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell warning Russia to “quit messing around in our elections,” Russians have not stopped.  They continue their influence and propaganda.  With social media such as Facebook and Twitter taking note and making changes, Russian propagandists have turned to Word Press blogs.

Earlier this year, I received notifications from Word Press for email followers.  I didn’t pay much attention to the first one because there are people who follow this blog via email who do not have Word Press accounts to comment.   When I received two more notifications on the same day, and they too had Outlook email addresses, I knew that was not usual.  I checked a Word Press forum and found that others were experiencing the same and were concerned about it.

A thread in one Word Press forum began in January 2018.   Also in January, a blogger named Ray wrote what he was experiencing with these strange email followers.

Another thread began in March, and still another was started in April.   A staff person posted in April;

“My guess is it’s an attempt to overload our (WordPress.com’s) mail servers by making us send out more subscription emails than our system can handle. The other option is that they’re hoping bloggers will email them at that address to thank them for following, which will give them access to active email addresses which they can then attempt to spam or hack directly.”

“The follows in themselves are not an actual threat, though – our system can handle many times more emails than these additional subscriptions are making us send, and there’s no way receiving these follows can compromise your site or account, so really all they’re achieving is to annoy people.”

I only access Word Press through computer, and I use the old way of assessing the Admin side of the blog.  What I learned earlier this year is that if I go to the Word Press ribbon that appears at the top of the blog when I’m signed in and click “My Sites,” that I can scroll down to where it says “People”.  Clicking that takes me to a screen with three tabs, one of which is labeled “Email Followers”.  By clicking there, I can not only see who is following my blog via email, but I can also remove them. 

Can You Take A Selfie In A Polling Place?

New Hampshire’s State Motto is “Live Free or Die.”  New Hampshire’s citizens demonstrated their progressive stance in a case regarding taking selfie’s in polling places.   New Hampshire passed a law banning it, and the citizens took the case to federal court.  Attorney David Allen explains the case.

 

Changes To The Illinois Constitution On The Ballot

Yesterday, I received a pamphlet in the mail from the Illinois Secretary of State. It is addressed to “Residential Customer” and titled, “Proposed Amendments and Addition to The Illinois Constitution.” Of course, it captured my attention.

The introduction says,

“At the General Election to be held on the 4^th of November, 2014, you will be called upon to adopt or reject the following proposed amendments to the Illinois Constitution. As required by law, I provide you with the following information.”

Wow!  To be fully informed, I read the 6 pages.

There is one proposed Amendment, and an addition to Article III which is titled, “Suffrage and Elections.

New Rule Prohibits Voters In Miami-Dade County From Using The Restroom, No Matter How Long The Line

I would like to see someone donate porta-potties, putting them right outside the polling places.

The Fifth Column

South Floridians stand in line during the last day of early voting in Miami, Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012. | CREDIT: AP PHOTO/ALAN DIAZ

I read this headline and my mouth dropped.  What the hell is wrong with the GOP?   I suppose in their mind, the current political climate makes an insane rule like this quite sane.

President Bill Clinton spoke on this very issue yesterday while touting the 50th anniversary of the voting rights act of 1964 at the LBJ Library in Austin Texas.

Clinton spent much of his speech addressing last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down key provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which was also signed into law by Johnson. The ruling allows several states with a history of discriminatory voting laws, mostly in the south, to change election laws without federal approval.

“It sent a signal throughout the country,” Clinton said…

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