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Benford's law and the 2020 presidential election - The numbers don't add up

John Walker
ratburger.org
Sun, 08 Nov 2020 02:16 UTC
trump biden
Benford's law (or the first-digit law) is an observation about the frequency of the most significant digit of naturally occurring numbers. Somewhat counter-intuitively (but with a well-understood explanation), small digits are more common than large ones, with around 30% of all values in a large collection beginning with 1, while only 4.6% start with 9. The probability for digit d is given by:

(P(d)=log_{10}(1+frac{1}{d}))

Benford's law is widely used in forensic accounting to detect phoney numbers, and evidence based upon these analyses has been admitted in a number of criminal trials. It is also used to detect scientific fraud in published data.

User "cjph8914" on GitHub has created a repository, 2020_benfords, which analyses the 2020 presidential election results for various districts and compares them with the expectation from Benford's law. Here are the results for precincts and wards in Fulton County, Georgia (containing Atlanta).
benfords law
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V

Freedom protests continue in UK and France: 'Take off your masks!'

John Scheerhout and Abigail O'Leary
Mirror UK
Sun, 08 Nov 2020 22:28 UTC
Protesters in Manchester
© Kerry Elsworth/LNP
Protesters in Manchester carry placards against the national lockdown
Hundreds of anti-lockdown protesters have taken to the streets against the national lockdown.

Huge crowds marched through Manchester city centre, accusing MPs who voted for the lockdown of treason.

Many held placards of anti-lockdown slogans, with one reading "Fear is the currency of control" while some chanted "take off your masks", witnesses claimed.

Video circulating on social media showed a man on a megaphone addressing the crowd with chants of "freedom, freedom, freedom" ringing through the streets.

He said: "Those 300-plus politicians that voted for the lockdown are treasonous."

The comment prompted cheering from those in the crowd.

Another man urged people to share videos of the event on social media, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Comment: Two were arrested in another protest over in Liverpool, attended by around 400.


High school students in Compiegne, France, protested new restrictions. Their confrontation with police turned violent.




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Eye 2

British health 'experts' call for meat tax - meanwhile a record number of families are relying on foodbanks to feed themselves


RT
Mon, 09 Nov 2020 07:36 UTC
meat
© Pixabay / Felix Wolf
A carbon tax should be introduced for food producers by 2025, a group of UK health professions has said, stressing that food production accounts for the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions.

It is impossible to "keep global temperatures at safe levels" without paying attention to the food industry, both in terms of production and consumption, the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change (UKHACC) said in a report released last week. The association represents several colleges of medicine and nursing, the British Medical Association as well as medical journal the Lancet among other groups.


Comment: EAT-Lancet's plant-based planet: 10 things you need to know


One of the incentives proposed by the alliance to save the planet is to switch to a climate-friendly diet. This includes, among other measures, trimming red meat consumption in favor of plant-based protein as they claim meat production is one of the major contributors to emissions. According to data cited in the report, the food system will be "within sustainable environmental limits" only if red meat consumption is cut by half.

Comment: It just goes to show how out of touch these 'health experts' are that they would even considering hiking the cost of healthy food while the number of families struggling to buy even the cheapest of foods is soaring.

The ridiculous claims that vegetarianism is 'better for the planet' as well as for human health are easily and thoroughly refuted in the following articles: Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Dissecting the Vegetarian Myth - Interview with Lierre Keith

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Calculator

Computer system proven defective is tallying votes in 30 states

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Sun, 08 Nov 2020 07:15 UTC
3 women in office
© Unknown
Further down the 'Dominion Voting System' rabbit-hole, Politico reports that a technology glitch that halted voting in two Georgia counties on Tuesday morning was caused by a vendor uploading an update to their election machines the night before, a county election supervisor said.

Voters were unable to cast machine ballots for a couple of hours in Morgan and Spalding counties after the electronic devices crashed, state officials said. In response to the delays, Superior Court Judge W. Fletcher Sams extended voting until 11 p.m.

The counties use voting machines made by Dominion Voting Systems and electronic poll books — used to sign in voters — made by KnowInk.

Neither Dominion nor KnowInk responded to a request to comment. A spokesperson for the secretary of state's office also did not respond to follow-up questions about who uploaded the dataset and whether it had been reviewed and tested by anyone beforehand.
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Magnify

Republican-led Michigan legislature to hold hearings on election fraud claims

Amy Furr
Breitbart
Sat, 07 Nov 2020 00:00 UTC
Guy looking at a ballot
© Getty Images/Jeff Kowalsky
The Republican-led Michigan legislature will hold hearings Saturday to consider fraud claims regarding the presidential election.

"Every single legal vote needs to be counted, regardless of who cast it or who they voted for," said Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield (R-Levering), according to the Daily Journal.

"And then the candidate who wins the most of those votes will win Michigan's electoral votes, just like it always has been. Nothing about that process will change in 2020," he continued.

Multiple allegations of election fraud, typos, and glitches were made after the election on Tuesday.

"Questions followed after a software glitch initially gave roughly 5,000 votes cast for President Donald Trump to former Vice President Joe Biden in Antrim County, sparking a manual recount," the newspaper said.

In a statement Friday, state Sen. Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan) wrote,
"One candidate seems to be willing to pour gas on every potential fear and doubt about the integrity of the system while the other seems uninterested in some very troubling reports and witness testimony. We need to let the system we have work through these problems. It will take time and involve lawyers and arguments: that's ok and has worked before in contested elections."

Comment: See also:

Michigan Republican down 104 votes wins by 1,127 after 'glitch' fixed

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Megaphone

Weekend of chaos in Minsk as authorities crack down on protests against embattled Belarusian leader Lukashenko


RT
Sun, 08 Nov 2020 19:24 UTC
woman and flag
© Reuters
Woman wearing flag is detained by Minsk police.
Thousands took to the streets of Belarus' capital, Minsk, again on Sunday as part of demonstrations against President Alexander Lukashenko's leadership, which have now been running for three months.

According to reports, around 450 people were arrested as authorities cracked down on the rally. Minsk's metro network and internet were both disrupted in an apparent attempt to limit the protests. A number of journalists covering the events are also believed to be in custody.

Footage published on Twitter shows columns of police officers setting up rolling barricades against activists on Sunday.

The protesters had reportedly organized into separate marches to head towards the center of the capital, with one group reaching the Minsk City Hero Obelisk, not far from Lukashenko's residence.

A defining feature of recent months has been the cross-societal support garnered by the opposition movement. On Saturday, several arrests were made at a 'Medics March', in which doctors and medical professionals turned out to call for fresh elections. Previous weekends have seen rallies specifically for pensioners and military veterans.

Comment: Protest action in Minsk, Belarus:



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Magnify

Fulton County, GA discovers 'issue' with ballot reporting - state investigators dispatched

Dylan Gwinn
Breitbart
Sun, 08 Nov 2020 20:15 UTC
ballot counter
© Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images
Poll worker counting ballots
Georgia's top election official is dispatching a team of investigators after a ballot "issue" was discovered in one of the counties most responsible for giving former Vice President Joe Biden the lead over President Trump.

While Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) did not reveal the nature of the issue with the ballots, he did announce late Saturday that investigators were headed to State Farm Arena in Fulton County to "secure the vote and protect all legal votes."

"Fulton County has discovered an issue involving reporting from their work on Friday. Officials are at State Farm Arena to rescan their work from Friday," Raffensperger said.
"The Secretary of State has a monitor onsite, has sent additional investigators, and dispatched the Deputy Secretary of State as well to oversee the process to make sure to thoroughly secure the vote and protect all legal votes. Observers from both political parties are there as well."

Comment: Georgia has been the site of previous election shenanigans. From the 2018 midterms:

Midterm elections: Voters report watching their ballots mysteriously switch to another candidate

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Wolf

Project Veritas: Erie, Pa. USPS insider exposes anti-Trump postmaster's illegal order to back-date ballots


Project Veritas
Thu, 05 Nov 2020 19:33 UTC
project veritas post mark voter fraud
© Project Veritas
'All these ballots that were coming in--today, tomorrow,yesterday — are all supposed to be postmarked the third'

Project Veritas released an interview with another U.S. Postal Service worker, where the worker described how his leadership here ordered all late ballots to be postmarked for Nov. 3, Election Day.

"All these ballots that were coming in--today, tomorrow, yesterday — are all supposed to be postmarked the third," said the postal service employee, who works out of the USPS General Mail Facility here.

The Project Veritas Insider said the supervisors are collecting the ballots and making sure they are postmarked.

"They're getting these ballots in and they're getting, they're taking them from us," he said.

Comment: And a follow up in Pennsylvania by Project Veritas:

Social Media was on the job however. Big League Politics reports:
Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe has been censored again by Twitter shortly after releasing a video of a whistleblower attesting to voter irregularities in Pennsylvania. The video can still be accessed on Facebook at the present time.
And not for the first time:
Big League Politics has reported on the censorship that O'Keefe is receiving for merely exposing abnormalities with regards to the election process:
Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe was recently locked out of his Twitter account for a nine-month-old tweet that supposedly violated a copyright shortly after he uncovered a Democrat ballot harvesting scheme operating out of Minneapolis, Minn. tied to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).


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Guinness

Steven Crowder: 'Fox News is NOT Your Friend! Here's Why'


StevenCrowder
Mon, 09 Nov 2020 19:48 UTC
fox news calls biden election

Fake News
Steven looks at the deterioration of Fox News and the network's massive failures in covering the 2020 presidential race. He then assesses the latest calls for civility from the Left and contrasts this with their past statements.

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Eye 1

Rights activists slam EU plan for access to encrypted chats

Frank Jordans
Associated Press
Mon, 09 Nov 2020 00:00 UTC
encrypted messages
© Reuters/Phil Noble
Digital rights campaigners on Monday criticized a proposal by European Union governments that calls for communications companies to provide authorities with access to encrypted messages.

The plan, first reported by Austrian public broadcaster FM4, reflects concern among European countries that police and intelligence services can't easily monitor online chats that use end-to-end encryption, such as Signal or WhatsApp.

A draft proposal dated Nov. 6 and circulated by the German government, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, proposes creating a "better balance" between privacy and crime fighting online.

The confidential draft, obtained independently by The Associated Press, states that "competent authorities must be able to access data in a lawful and targeted manner, in full respect of fundamental rights and the data protection regime, while upholding cybersecurity."

It adds that "technical solutions for gaining access to encrypted data must comply with the principles of legality, transparency, necessity and proportionality."

Comment: On-line privacy encryption - like all other types of privacy these days is coming under severe attack. And has been for quite a while now:

RT reports:
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) protects communications between two devices from eavesdropping by a third party, even if the snooper intercepts the message. Popular Services like WhatsApp, Telegram or Facebook Messenger use it to protect user privacy.


Austrian public broadcaster ORF reported on Sunday that the EU may soon get access to this type of protection, linking the potential policy shift with the recent terrorist attacks in Europe, including in Vienna. It cited a draft document of the Council of the European Union, which member states may approve as soon as this month.

The EU believes that "competent authorities must be able to access data in a lawful and targeted manner," according to the draft. E2EE makes it "extremely challenging or practically impossible" to see the contents of the communications "despite the fact that the access to such data would be lawful."

Actually, the document in question has been in the works long before the latest terrorist attacks in Europe, while the issue of undefeatable encryption has been under debate for years. Public perception of encryption gained a boost in the wake of the 2013 revelation by Edward Snowden of mass electronic surveillance by the US and its allies. E2EE helps journalists protect their sources, facilitates anonymous anti-government speech in repressive nations and otherwise serves the goals of freedom.

Of course, it just as easily serves criminals. The rise of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) in Iraq and Syria in 2014 and the spillover of Islamist violence into Europe in the following years propped up the argument that privacy concerns should be sidelined for the sake of public safety. Unsurprisingly, spy agencies on both sides of the Atlantic are among the most vocal proponents of this approach.

The draft cited by ORF is reflective of what privacy groups see as the EU's growing willingness to dismantle E2EE in favor of some diluted encryption solution. The tech companies so far have resisted the push to remove E2EE from their products.


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