How Russian Hackers Conquered the World
FangXiaNuo/Getty Before the 2016 US presidential election, most Americans had very little sense of Russia’s hacking capabilities and the extent to which its operatives were causing havoc. But the country’s hackers had been quite active and well known in some communities well before, staging a series of increasingly brazen and destructive attacks against regional rivals,…
Today New Yorkers Have the Power to Overhaul Their Elections
Richard Drew / AP In today’s election, New York City is considering adopting ranked-choice voting. If passed, it will be the largest municipality to adopt the innovate voting process. Ranked-choice voting is basically an “instant runoff”: Voters not only vote for one candidate but rank their preferences. New York City’s version of RCV would, for example,…
Why We Teamed Up With the Weather Channel to Bring You a Different Kind of 2020 Climate Debate
The Weather Channel Over the summer, the Democratic National Committee rejected calls to focus one of its dozen formal debates on the single issue of climate change. The outrage and disappointment from advocates and candidates was immediate: They argued that what could be considered the most important issue facing any president should not be given…
Taxes Are Surprisingly Similar in Texas and California
The LA Times tells us today that conservatives are leaving California for “redder pastures.” As it happens, the piece provides no evidence that this is happening more than usual, or even that conservatives are leaving the state at higher rates than liberals. But it does offer us this: Republicans and conservative voters were nearly three…
The 2020 Election Is Still Wide Open
The New York Times is a few days late with this, but here’s their Halloween scare for Democrats: Yep, they report that President Trump remains competitive in the states that gave him victory in 2016. Jonathan Chait is irate: In 2018, Democratic candidates waded into hostile territory and flipped 40 House districts…by avoiding controversial positions,…
“Read the Transcript,” Trump Berates Reporter Who Is Quoting Transcript
Oliver Contreras/Zuma After casually encouraging the media to release the name of the whistleblower who spurred the impeachment investigation against him, President Donald Trump engaged in a bizarre back-and-forth with a reporter Sunday. Trump repeatedly told the reporter to “read the transcript” of Trump’s July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—even as the reporter…