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Andrew Kreig
JIP Editor
The Justice Integrity Project (JIP) researches official misconduct
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Editor's Choice: Scroll below for our monthly blend of mainstream and alternative May 2018 news and views
May
May 23
U.S. Politics
New York Times, Abrams Wins Georgia Primary for Governor, Making History, Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, May 23, 2018 (print edition). Georgia Democrats selected the first black woman to be a major party nominee for governor in the United States on Tuesday, choosing Stacey Abrams, a liberal former State House leader, who will test just how much the state’s traditionally conservative politics are shifting.
By defeating Stacey Evans, also a former state legislator, Ms. Abrams (shown at right in a 2012 photo by Kerry Battles via Flickr) also became Georgia’s first black nominee for governor, a prize that has eluded earlier generations of African-American candidates in the state. The general election is sure to draw intense national attention as Georgia voters determine whether a black woman can win in the Deep South, a region that has not had an African-American governor since Reconstruction.She will face either Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, the top Republican vote getter Tuesday, or Secretary of State Brian Kemp. Mr. Cagle and Mr. Kemp will vie for their party’s nomination in a July runoff.
Ms. Abrams’s victory came on the latest 2018 primary night to see Democratic women finding success, as voters in Kentucky, Arkansas and Texas also went to the polls. Among the winners was Amy McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot, who upset Mayor Jim Gray of Lexington in a House primary in Kentucky
Washington Post, Fresh faces beat out political pedigree in Democratic primaries across the South, Michael Scherer and David Weigel, May 23, 2018 (print edition). The results in Georgia, Kentucky, Texas and Arkansas marked an ongoing embrace by Democratic voters of non-politicians, women, veterans and nonwhite candidates to lead the party’s effort to take back control of the House and governors’ mansions this fall. Trump Probes
Washington Post, Opinion: There is no evidence for ‘Spygate’ — but there is a reason that Trump invented it, Philip Bump, May 23, 2018. h
President Trump has a new catchphrase that he is trying on for size."SPYGATE could be one of the biggest political scandals in history!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 23, 2018“Spygate” made its debut on Wednesday morning during Trump’s “executive time,” the period during which he watches “Fox and Friends” before starting his official day. The term is a shorthand meant to refer to a scandal that Trump has insisted is potentially the worst in American history, easily eclipsing Watergate. Not to dampen his enthusiasm or anything, it’s also a scandal for which there’s no public evidence.
Trump’s claim is that the FBI put a “spy” in his campaign at the behest of Barack Obama’s White House as part of an effort to undercut his candidacy by alleging collusion with the Russians.
It’s hard to square that claim with 1) Trump’s repeated insistence that the Russia investigation began only after he won as an excuse for the Democrats’ loss, and 2) the fact that America only learned about the investigation into Russian collusion after voting had already occurred. If Obama and the Democrats put a spy in his campaign to undercut his chances, they made a small strategic error by not mentioning anything publicly before votes were cast. But that’s the claim, because internal consistency is not a requirement for any conspiracy theory, much less this one.
As it stands, the evidence that there was a “spy” — or multiple “spies” — within his campaign is as follows:
1. A professor based in Britain reached out to Trump campaign advisers George Papadopoulos and Carter Page before the election, apparently to evaluate any connections they might have had to Russian actors. The professor also had coffee once with senior adviser Sam Clovis, during which they discussed China.
2. A former adviser, fired in the middle of the campaign, is telling people that he knows of another spy, but hasn’t offered any evidence to that effect.
3. A “lot of people” are saying there were spies in the campaign, per Trump.
Guns / Constitution / Courts / New Research
Washington Post, Opinion: Antonin Scalia was wrong about the meaning of ‘bear arms,’ Dennis Baron (professor of English and linguistics at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), May 23, 2018 (print edition). The words have never worked comfortably with the language of personal self-defense, hunting or target practice. By Antonin Scalia’s logic, the natural meaning of “bear arms” is simply to carry a weapon and has nothing to do with armies.But Scalia (shown in a portrait) was wrong. Two new databases of English writing from the founding era confirm that “bear arms” is a military term. Non-military uses of “bear arms” are not just rare — they’re almost nonexistent.
Personal Privacy v. Amazon
New York Times, Amazon Pushes Facial Recognition to Police. Critics See Surveillance Risk, Nick ...
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