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A consultant whose companies were paid almost $10 million by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign and associated political action committee appeared to be part of the mob that moved into restricted areas of the U.S. Capitol grounds on January 6, 2021.

The consultancy firm, operated by Trent Pool and his brother, worked to get Kennedy on the ballot in several states.

In photos and videos from January 6, a man resembling Pool can be repeatedly seen wearing a knit beanie from Pool’s alma mater, Southern Methodist University. In one video, he responds to the name “Trent.”

The man in the SMU hat spent hours on what the FBI later called restricted ground during the melee and was involved in carrying a barricade away from a police line after others had seized it. The man can be seen asking another demonstrator to take a photo of him, telling an associate to join him near a standoff with police, and waving a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag.

The man spent hours on what the FBI later called restricted ground and was involved in carrying a barricade away from a police line after others had seized it.

“My client was in Washington, D.C., with a documentary film crew to record portions of the rally that day,” said Pool’s lawyer, Jacques Catafago, in response to an inquiry from The Intercept.

“My client condemns the actions of the January 6 rioters, and any insinuation that he participated in that violence would be false and defamatory,” Catafago said. “In fact, while rioters were storming the Capitol, my client was outside helping a disabled friend get to safety and helping protect a police officer who was being attacked.”

Catafago did not respond to specific questions about the photos and videos of the man waving a flag and holding a police barricade aloft, but made a general statement that Pool disputed the accuracy of the materials reviewed by The Intercept. There is no evidence Pool entered the Capitol building, and he has not been charged with any crimes related to the January 6 riots.

When Kennedy was still actively campaigning for the presidency — a 10-month effort to get on all 50 ballots — Kennedy’s campaign and an affiliated super PAC paid companies associated with Pool’s firm $9,367,343, according to federal filings.

Though Kennedy suspended his campaign, Pool’s effort may still be felt in the presidential race. Kennedy has sued to be removed from ballots in order to benefit Donald Trump, including critical Midwestern swing states.

The man wearing the SMU beanie in the January 6 photos and videos reviewed by The Intercept can be seen in restricted areas right outside the Capitol building, around the southwest staircase and the western terrace.

One photograph of the man in the SMU beanie was posted on a far-right blog in January 2021. A former Kennedy campaign staffer and two of Pool’s former political associates, all of whom requested anonymity to for employment reasons, said the man in the beanie was Pool.

In the videos and photographs, the man with the SMU beanie can also be seen observing as rioters scaled scaffolds and fought their way into entrance tunnels to the Capitol.

Pool is among a group of Kennedy campaign consultants and staffers who have ties to right-wing figures. Zach Henry, a social media influencer hired in March by Kennedy, appeared to be on restricted Capitol grounds on January 6, according to NBC News.

With sometime Trump supporters in his orbit, Kennedy struck a deal to drop out of the race and throw his weight to the former Republican president. In exchange, Kennedy would, as the Trump campaign put it, be part of a transition team “to help pick the people who will be running the government.”

“We Got Trent”

In a video viewed by The Intercept, the man with the SMU beanie who resembled Pool can be seen on the southwest staircase heading to the upper west terrace of the Capitol waving a “Don’t Tread on Me” Gadsden flag.

A person holding the camera calls to him: “We got Trent.” The man in the SMU beanie then waves back. A third man, who is also in the frame and whose relationship to Pool, if any, is unknown, says, “We are taking the Capitol back!”

Like other photos and videos, the flag-waving takes place on what authorities have said in court was restricted ground. Much of the Capitol grounds were closed on January 6 in preparation for the upcoming inauguration, with officers, barriers, and signage around the perimeter. The initial police cordon was quickly broken when Trump supporters arrived.

In a series of photographs taken just before 3 p.m., the man in the SMU beanie is visible at the back of a crowd. At the front of the group, rioters were attempting to break through the police lines guarding the Capitol’s upper terrace.

The rioters seized a bike rack barricade being used by Metropolitan Police Department officers. After others passed the barricade back, the man in the SMU hat, along with another man, is seen in the photographs carrying a bike rack toward the staircase wall. In a subsequent photo, the barrier is gone and the men are seen peering over the edge of the staircase wall.

A live-feed video posted online shows the man in the SMU beanie standing at the back of the crowd that removed and passed a barricade back; the video ends approximately two minutes before a barricade is handed to the area where the man in the SMU beanie is standing.

In the photo posted on the far-right blog, the man in the SMU beanie is leaning against a concrete wall. A separate video shows him standing at the same spot, against a wall adjacent to one of the Capitol entrance tunnels that saw some of the day’s worst violence.

The man in the SMU hat can be seen in other publicly available archived videos of that day. In security footage, around a 4:45 p.m. timestamp, more than two hours after first being captured on the Capitol grounds, he passes a group of police in riot gear and appears to interact with the officers.

Kennedy January 6 Skepticism

Several Kennedy staffers have expressed skepticism that the attack on the Capitol on January 6 was violent or an attempt to overturn the election.

Kennedy himself has equivocated on the riots, questioning whether the January 6 prosecutions were politically motivated.

In a fundraising email, the Kennedy campaign referred to January 6 rioters as “activists” who were “stripped of their constitutional liberties,” but later said the email came from a contractor who the campaign cut ties with.

Last week, in an interview on the Tucker Carlson Live Show Tour, Kennedy downplayed the January 6 riot. “If you broke the law you should be punished, but was the republic threatened on January 6?” he said. “Even if a building was burned down, it’s not the end of the republic.” (Kennedy’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.)

Pool’s two ballot access companies earned a combined $9,367,343 from Kennedy’s campaign and affiliated super PAC American Values 2024 between November 2023 and July 2024. He runs those two ballot access firms, Accelevate 2020 and Public Appeal LLC, with his brother Trey Pool.

Trent Pool, who was recently arrested for violating a restraining order in connection with an alleged April assault of a woman in New York City, is the grandson of former Democratic Texas Rep. Joe Richard Pool. His father is a Texas district judge who raised eyebrows by running as a Democrat in 2022 after years of being a Libertarian-leaning Republican.

Pool has said he started doing work for third parties and candidates in 2010, going on to do petition collecting and ballot work for Rand Paul, Tulsi Gabbard, and Brock Pierce, among others. Pool’s company Accelevate 2020 was also paid $212,098 by Nikki Haley’s campaign in 2024, among other clients.

Kennedy is seeking to remove his name from ballots in 10 swing states to help Trump but will remain on the ballot in several states, including Wisconsin, where the deadline for removing his name has passed, and Michigan, where a judge recently ruled Kennedy should stay on the ballot.

The post RFK Campaign Paid $10 Million to Consultant Who Appears to Have Been on Capitol Grounds During Jan. 6 Attack appeared first on The Intercept.

Adobe addressed tens of vulnerabilities, including critical issues that could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code on Windows and macOS.

Adobe Patch Tuesday security updates addressed multiple vulnerabilities in its products, including critical flaws that could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code on Windows and macOS systems.

The most severe vulnerabilities are two critical memory corruption flaws in Acrobat and PDF Reader, tracked as CVE-2024-41869 (CVSS score of 7.8) and CVE-2024-45112 (CVSS score of 8.6).

The vulnerability CVE-2024-41869 is a Use After Free issue while the flaw CVE-2024-45112 is a Type Confusion’ bug. An attacker can exploit these vulnerabilities for arbitrary code execution.

CVE-2024-45112 was reported by an anonymous researcher and the researcher Haifei Li of EXPMON and Check Point Research reported the flaw CVE-2024-41869.

The company also fixed the following critical flaws in Photoshop

and in the Illustrator software

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Adobe)

The Los Angeles Times published a sprawling essay Wednesday written by environmental reporter Rosanna Xia, who expressed overwhelming grief about the prospect of climate change and called to “fix individualism” and “reimagine” society’s “systems” to address climate change.

“How do you cope? I feel the sorrow, the quiet plea for guidance every time someone asks me this question. As an environmental reporter dedicated to helping people make sense of climate change, I know I should have answers,” Xia lamented in her essay. “But the truth is, it took me until now to face my own grief.”

Two paragraphs later, Xia said that she finds herself “questioning whether I could ever justify bringing my own children into this world,” adding that she “can’t help but feel like we’re just counting down the days to our own extinction” and noting the amount of plastic used nationwide and decreasing populations of certain butterfly species.

Xia’s essay underscores how energy and environmental reporters, purportedly tasked with objectively reporting stories related to their beat, often have the same views as far-left climate activists. Such despair about climate, for example, is a hallmark of groups that have called on the federal government to declare a “climate emergency” and disrupt public events nationwide to protest fossil fuels.

Later in her story, Xia calls for fixing “individualism” and reimagining “the systems that got us into such a devastating crisis in the first place” in order to save the planet.

“It is not too late to turn your climate anxiety into climate empathy,” she wrote. “Acknowledging the emotional toll on people beyond yourself can be an opportunity to listen and support one another. Embracing our feelings—and then finding others who also want to turn their fear into action—can be the missing spark to much-needed social and environmental healing.”

In a coinciding article also published Wednesday, Xia listed book recommendations for people with climate anxiety who need hope. “The future of our planet has become all but impossible to ignore, and it’s not exactly easy digging your way out of a despair that is so deeply connected to, well, everything,” she said.

The worldview presented by Xia, according to Alliance for Consumers executive director O.H. Skinner, leads directly to policies that make everyday items, such as residential appliances and cars, more expensive. Activists have increasingly targeted those items in their regulatory war on carbon emissions, even as the price of goods across the board have skyrocketed in recent years.

“This is the ultimate worldview that motivates so much of the war on household appliances and everyday conveniences: these activists don’t care that life is being made harder, because they ultimately care about ideology over their own children, future children, or even their own lives,” Skinner told the Washington Free Beacon. “It’s sad, and not a path most consumers want to follow.”

But Xia and other journalists at both the Times and other mainstream outlets that have published “climate anxiety” pieces are often rewarded by organizations that oversee journalism awards.

For example, Xia was awarded a prize last year for her reporting on the environment by the Society of Environmental Journalists, an organization that presents itself as nonpartisan but routinely targets the oil industry and recommends that reporters reach out to activist groups such as the Union of Concerned Scientists when writing stories.

And other Times reporters have been awarded prizes by Covering Climate Now, a group that also presents itself as nonpartisan but was cofounded by left-wing news outlet The Nation. The group is housed at the Washington, D.C.-based Fund for Constitutional Government, which boasts funding from top liberal nonprofits such as the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and MacArthur Foundation, according to tax filings reviewed by the Free Beacon.

The post LA Times Reporter Reveals ‘Climate Anxiety’ and Calls To ‘Fix Individualism’ To Save the Planet appeared first on .

(NewsNation) — Unsubstantiated claims that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio are eating neighbors’ pets have gone from city commission meetings to the 2024 presidential campaign. But the attention has led to a larger discussion about the impact of immigration on U.S. communities.

Springfield, Ohio mentioned during presidential debate

During his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump repeated claims that immigrants in the Ohio town are eating neighbors’ pets. Springfield city leaders have said those claims are unsubstantiated.

Springfield is a town of just under 60,000 people, according to the 2020 Census, and since then an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 migrants have settled there looking for work, many of them from Haiti.

Its city leaders are faced with the same reality many other midsized manufacturing towns are faced with — balancing the need for workers versus managing finite resources in the community.

Immigrants in Springfield

Residents who spoke with NewsNation say the situation is out of control and the city lacks the ability to handle the 20,000 Haitian immigrants. Richard Jordan addressed the issue at a city commission meeting.

“Is there a cut-off point for the population here?” he asked.”I mean, I feel like there should be a ‘No Vacancy’ sign right now and people are still coming in. What’s the cut-off point?”

Some Haitian residents of the city feel they are victims of misconceptions about the community and their status in the country.

“Let’s be clear, there is a preconceived notion that all Haitians here in Springfield are illegal immigrants, which is false. Some of us are Haitian-American citizens who can vote, we are green card holders, and some of us are here via a federal program that allows us to have a Social Security card, employment authorization, that allows us to temporarily stay in the country,” one resident said.

The federal government has pledged $2.5 million to increase access to medical care but Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine says it isn’t enough. 

“They have to step up,” he said. “It is their policies that have created these surges.”

The number of immigrants has strained healthcare services and schools and the number of car accidents has skyrocketed.

Springfield residents talk to NewsNation

Residents tell NewsNation they are additionally concerned about crime in a town that’s already seen a spike in violent offenses. FBI data shows violent crime went up by 142% from 2019 to 2022, the latest year data is available. The agency does not track crime by immigration status.

Bill Monaghan, a former journalist in Springfield, is now part of a group called “Stop the Influx.”

“It’s causing sharp increases in rent and home prices, which is forcing people out of their homes,” Monaghan said. “It’s causing delays in public safety response like police, fire or even emergency services. You go out to a site and no one speaks English.”

Aidan Clark

Last year 11-year-old Aiden Clark was killed in a car accident, and the person driving the car was a Haitian migrant. His father, Nathan Clark, urged politicians not to use his son’s death to further political agendas in a city commission meeting this week, NewsNation affiliate WDTN reported.

“You know, I wish that my son, Aiden Clark, was killed by a 60-year-old white man,” Nathan Clark said. “I bet you never thought anyone would ever say something so blunt. But if that guy killed my 11-year-old son, the incessant group of hate-spewing people would leave us alone. The last thing that we need is to have the worst day of our lives violently and constantly shoved in our faces.”

Rents and home prices have risen nationwide since 2019, with the increases partially attributed to inflation and interest rates as well as a lack of housing stock.

Another man told NewsNation he lost his job and his home because of the influx of immigrants, saying he was replaced by workers willing to accept worse conditions.

“Haitians [replaced me] through a temporary company because they found out they could get it for a lot less than $21 per hour,” Roland said.

Claims of immigrants eating pets

But it’s the topic of immigrants eating pets and other animals that has gone viral. One 911 call included a report of people taking waterfowl.

“I see a group of Haitian people, there are about four of them, they all have geese in their hands,” the caller said. 

In an August city commission meeting, Anthony Harris complained that immigrants were taking ducks from a park. 

“They’re in the park grabbing up ducks by the neck and cutting their head off and walking off with them and eating them,” he said.

Springfield’s mayor denies reports of pets being taken

Springfield police didn’t find any evidence of those actions and the city’s mayor has also denied all reports of pets being taken and eaten.

“The president of the Clark County Commission and I held a press conference to address recent rumors that have been circulating relative to the Haitian Community,” said Clark County Commissioner Rob Rue. “We wish to clarify that there have not been any credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”

The city also says that Haitian immigrants are in the country legally under a federal program that allows them to remain in the country temporarily, the Associated Press reported.

Last month the Biden administration granted eligibility for temporary legal status to about 300,000 Haitians already in the United States because conditions in Haiti are considered unsafe for them to return. Haiti’s government has extended a state of emergency to the entire country due to endemic gang violence, according to the AP.

Some residents told NewsNation they don’t believe the city and are now planning to leave. 

A diversity, equity, and inclusion activist group backed by anti-Semite Rev. Al Sharpton ended its race-based grant program after settling a legal battle with the American Alliance for Equal Rights.

Venture capital firm Fearless Fund on Wednesday announced the closure of its Fearless Strivers Grant Contest, which awarded $20,000 in grants to black female-owned businesses, the Washington Post reported. In August 2023, Edward Blum, president of the AAER who led the charge against affirmative action in college admissions, sued the Fearless Fund, arguing that the program violated the 1866 Civil Rights Act.

“Race-exclusive programs like the one the Fearless Fund promoted are divisive and illegal,” Blum said Wednesday. “Opening grant programs to all applicants, regardless of their race, is enshrined in our nation’s civil rights laws and supported by significant majorities of all Americans.”

The Fearless Fund’s settlement is the latest blow to DEI initiatives in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling against affirmative action last June. Since winning that battle in the Supreme Court, Blum, a leading anti-discrimination advocate, has scored many victories against DEI efforts in the private sector, including programs at major firms such as Amazon, Meta, and Pfizer, the Washington Post reported.

In June, a U.S. federal appeals court temporarily prohibited Freedom Fund from awarding the grants, saying the contest was “substantially likely to violate” section 1981 of the 1866 Civil Rights Act.

Sharpton, who has supported Fearless Fund’s legal battle since the beginning, counseled the firm to settle the dispute before it went to the Supreme Court, which could result in a precedent-setting ruling against corporate affirmative action. He described Wednesday’s decision as a “sacrifice” and a “painful decision,” according to the Washington Post. 

“If we had fought, and Blum and them wanted to go all the way to the Supreme Court, we’d have lost the fight for generations,” Sharpton said.

Sharpton, a prominent Democratic ally, provoked the 1991 Crown Heights riots—one of the worst eruptions of anti-Semitic violence in American history that inspired chants such as “Let’s get the Jew!” and “Hitler didn’t finish the job!” Sharpton has also said Jews have the “blood of innocent babies” on their hands.

The post Sharpton-Backed DEI Group Shutters Race-Based Grant Program Following Legal Fight appeared first on .

In 2004, Brooklynite Rony Vardi opened her first store on Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg. Catbird, in the beginning, sold an eclectic assortment of items: clothes, art supplies, candles, and jewelry.

Twenty years later, the business has found its niche and flourished. Catbird now has seven — soon to be eight — locations across the country, and its demi-fine jewelry has become a viral sensation. The brand’s delicate rings and necklaces are popular with models, influencers, and everyday New Yorkers, and videos of people getting the popular “Forever Bracelets” zapped onto their arms are everywhere on social media.

For its 20th birthday, the brand is inviting locals to celebrate right in the center of Williamsburg, where it all began. On Sept. 14, Catbird will celebrate throw its 20th birthday party at the Williamsburg flagship store on North 7th Street, just blocks from its original location.

The sparkling party will offer raffle prizes; a prize jar filled with envelopes, which attendees can select to find vouchers for discounts, necklaces, and other jewelry; and free gift bags included with every purchase of $200 or more. At the Williamsburg store exclusively, Catbird leaders will serve up a special Luckybird birthday cake. 

“At Catbird, our jewelry is created to be a part of the many chapters, milestones and celebrations of our customers’ lives,” Vardi said in a statement. “We are so grateful and honored to celebrate our own momentous milestone — 20 years of Catbird —surrounded by those we have come to know and love in the city where it all began.”

All of Catbird’s jewelry is crafted in the store’s Brooklyn Navy Yard Studio by a team of about 40 jewelers, and the brand says it uses all recycled and ethically-sourced metals and diamonds. The store stocks hundreds of pieces — from simple chains and thin stacking rings, a hallmark of the brand, to engagement rings and celebrity collaborations.

To celebrate two decades in business, Catbird released a special limited-run birthday collection, with just five items – all “shiny solid gold classics, reimagined,” per the website. 

The collection includes a small swan feather charm, a thin gold stacking ring, tiny alphabet stud earrings, and, the most popular item, a “Hang in There” kitten charm, featuring a miniature gold kitten dangling from a gold chain, a lá the inspirational classroom posters. Days before the 20th birthday party, the kitten charm was already sold out, with potential buyers able to join a waitlist to buy when it’s back in stock. 

Catbird also offers New York City mementos in its permanent collection. A series of small gold “City Charms” pay homage to the sights and sounds of the city, like pretzels, bodega coffee, and yellow taxicabs. 

“Williamsburg will always hold a special place in our hearts as we continue to spread our wings and bring the magic of Catbird to new heights,” she said. 

Correction 9/12/24, 10:18 a.m.: This story previously misstated the number of Catbird stores. We regret the error. 

On stage last night during the presidential debate, as the war on Gaza grinds on, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump battled over who had the most pro-Israel and anti-Iran credentials. After a brief moment of hope that Harris might offer something different to American voters, this seemed to confirm a grim status quo: No matter who is elected president, the U.S. will remain deeply invested in structures of violence and repression across the Middle East. 

On Israel, Harris spent time during the debate stating her commitment to helping Israel “defend itself,” which is Harris-speak for a continued blank check of U.S. military support for Israel. This oft-repeated Harris position, now enshrined on her campaign website, undermines the hope that many Democratic voters might have had for a future Harris administration that would prioritize an end to Israel’s war in Gaza

Trump tried to outflank Harris from the right by claiming that Harris “hates Israel” and that she would destroy the country. In one of Trump’s many ridiculous statements of the night, he argued, “If she’s president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years.” Harris responded by doubling down on her pro-Israel bona fides: “I have my entire career and life supported Israel and the Israeli people.” 

Related

The U.S.-Led Ceasefire Talks Are Just Buying More Time for Israel’s Genocide

Harris did mouth words of sympathy for Palestinians in Gaza, declaring once again that “far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed.” She went on to say, “This war must end, it must end immediately and the way it will end is we need a ceasefire deal and we need the hostages out.” 

But such statements won’t amount to much if Harris’ underlying policy is to maintain U.S. military support for Israel. So long as Harris is committed to arming Israel, she has no leverage with which to end Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.

U.S. military hegemony in the Middle East rests upon three relationships: the alliance with Israel, alliances with the oil monarchies of the Gulf, and hostility toward Iran. These three relationships reinforce each other and keep the U.S. locked into permanent military involvement across the region. That’s why Israel in particular often pushes for U.S. conflict with Iran. Without U.S.–Iran hostilities, more Americans might question whether the U.S. needs an alliance with Israel. 

In their debate last night, both Harris and Trump also underlined their shared determination to use U.S. military power against Iran.

Harris stated, “I will always give Israel the ability to defend itself in particular as it relates to Iran and any threat that Iran and its proxies pose to Israel.” Trump again attacked from the right, blaming President Joe Biden and Harris for being weak with regards to Iran, declaring, “Iran was broke under Donald Trump … now they’re a rich nation,” despite the fact that the Biden administration has not significantly changed the sanctions imposed on Iran after Trump backed out from the Obama-era nuclear deal. Trump, then, went a step further and tried to argue, against the evidence, that Hamas attacks on Israel and the actions of Yemen’s Houthis were the result of Biden and Harris coddling Iran. 

But the U.S. alliance with the petromonarchies of the Gulf went entirely unmentioned. This marks a dramatic shift from the politics of 2020, when Biden felt the need to call Saudi Arabia’s government a “pariah.” Biden’s long-since-discarded hostility to Saudi Arabia originally occurred in the aftermath of the kingdom’s killing of dissident Jamal Khashoggi and the Trump administration’s naked wheeling and dealing with Middle Eastern autocrats.

What the silence on this topic means today is that the Trump and Harris campaigns are likely in agreement on maintaining close U.S. alliances with Saudi Arabia and the other oil monarchies of the region, a policy that has been almost as destructive to human life as the U.S.–Israel alliance. During the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations, Saudi Arabia and the UAE often used U.S. weapons as they killed thousands of Yemeni civilians in their war with Houthi rebels. And both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have repeatedly intervened against the possibility of democracy across the region.

At the heart of this reality is an ugly fact that many Democrats don’t want to acknowledge. The Biden–Harris administration has implemented and worked to expand upon a core Trump foreign policy: the Abraham Accords. These agreements marginalized Palestinians by securing diplomatic recognition between Israel and several of the monarchies in the region, like the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco. 

Related

Most Americans Want to Stop Arming Israel. Politicians Don’t Care.

Biden’s push to expand upon Trump’s Abraham Accords by securing formal Saudi recognition of Israel would amount to the final nail in the coffin for Arab governments’ solidarity with Palestinians. This was likely a key factor in Hamas’s foolish and ugly decision to attack Israel on October 7.

Biden’s effort to secure a mutual recognition agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel represents the ultimate Washington consensus. Saudi–Israel mutual recognition is a key plank in the conservative movement’s Project 2025 agenda. Last night’s presidential debate ultimately revealed, despite all their differences on domestic policy, just how similar both candidates are on policies that maintain U.S. military dominance over the Middle East and perpetuate the bloody status quo.

The post Trump and Harris Agree: More Bombs for Israel appeared first on The Intercept.

Ukraine’s operation on Russian territory (in the Kursk region) has revealed that the Kremlin’s rhetoric about so-called “red lines” is a psychological operation aimed at exerting pressure on U.S. and EU leaders. This suggests that the West is mistaken in believing that some of its decisions will lead to an escalation of the conflict and its spread to NATO member countries. With conspiracy theories dominating Kremlin thinking, Moscow is convinced that Ukraine’s defense operations on Russian soil are part of a Western plot.

More on this story: Conspiracy and existentialistic theories: the West is too far from true reasons of Russia’shostility

However, The Ukrainian operation in the Kursk region, launched in August 2024, serves multiple strategic purposes. First, it disrupts Russian plans for offensive operations from Kursk into northern Ukraine, specifically the Sumy region, and diverts Russian forces away from key areas of conflict in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi stated that the operation also aims to create a “security zone” and take Russian POWs, ultimately weakening Russian morale and defensive posture in other regions.

Ukrainian forces have established control over certain areas of Kursk, which has forced Russia to redeploy significant military resources—approximately 60,000 troops—from the Ukrainian frontlines to defend this region. This shift is particularly impactful as it has reduced Russia’s artillery dominance in places like Pokrovsk, where the Ukrainian-Russian ratio of artillery fire has decreased from 12:1 to 3:1. Despite this, the operation remains highly risky for both sides, as Russia is expected to mount counteroffensives to reclaim lost ground.

In the broader context, Ukraine’s push into Kursk has not drastically changed the military situation in Ukraine’s eastern and southern regions but has given Kyiv increased leverage for potential future diplomatic negotiations. The operation signals that Ukraine can strike inside Russian territory, enhancing its position in possible talks to end the war. 

We are convinced that the operation in the Kursk region has exposed the limitations of Russian resources, as Moscow was forced to redeploy units stationed in Africa. This points to a shortage of forces and assets in the event of an invasion of Russia from its western and eastern borders. Despite the Kremlin’s threats to reconsider its nuclear doctrine and conduct exercises simulating the use of tactical nuclear weapons, Moscow has not seriously considered such a scenario in response to the shifting of hostilities to the Kursk region. Statements by former President Dmitry Medvedev reflect his psychological state, exacerbated by alcohol abuse and depression stemming from his lack of prospects in Russian politics and the loss of influence in the Kremlin. Thus, we are confident that Russia will not escalate the conflict in response to Western decisions, such as granting Ukraine permission to strike deeper into Russian territory. It is likely that the current situation has crossed a threshold beyond which Russian leadership is unwilling to further intensify its confrontation with the West. This reluctance is also driven by the sharp decline in Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings. The potential expansion and deepening of the conflict are not in the Kremlin’s interest, especially after the escalation of hostilities on Russian soil, as it would lead to a continued drop in the regime’s popularity.

Given Georgia’s status as an important battleground state, it may be tempting to view the latest election litigation there in isolation. The stakes are high enough in the Peach State alone: The Georgia State Election Board unveiled rules this summer that could threaten to wreak havoc in this year’s presidential election. But what exactly is happening in Georgia offers insight into trend lines in other parts of the country.

One of the new rules in Georgia focuses on county boards, traditionally ministerial and technocratic bodies of civil servants tasked with simply counting votes. The rule orders the county boards, however, to conduct an undefined and unprecedented “reasonable inquiry” before certifying election results. Another rule gives board members similarly novel powers to “examine all election-related documentation created in the conduct of elections.” In tandem, the two rules would appear to vest partisan-affiliated local administrators with an expansive, if not freewheeling, ability to question, investigate, delay, or even nullify election results, and this power-grab seems to have won the enthusiastic endorsement of the Republican Party, despite some significant pockets of intra-GOP resistance including from the Georgia Secretary of State. Exactly a month after the board unveiled the then-proposed “reasonable inquiry” rule, former President Donald Trump praised the three Republican board members by name — Janice Johnston, Rick Jeffares and Janelle King — for their efforts in helping to pass the new rule. 

“They’re on fire. They’re doing a great job,” Trump told a cheering crowd in Atlanta on Aug. 3, describing the board members as “all pitbulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.” Those three members passed the “reasonable inquiry” rule on Aug. 6, three days later. 

The MAGA ties to the “reasonable inquiry” rule do not end there. Fulton County commissioner Bridget Thorne, a Republican who reportedly spread election fraud lies about the 2020 presidential race, originally submitted it, claiming to have done so in her capacity as a private citizen. Earlier this month, the Republican Party’s state and national organizations sought to intervene in support of the Board’s rules, arguing in a motion that they would be “harmed by certification of inaccurate election results” and “lawsuits that upend the administration of Georgia elections.” The RNC’s attorney William Bradley Carver did not respond to a request for comment seeking an explanation of what powers the party believes county boards should have across the country — and what constraints, if any, there should be on their actions. According to The Associated Press, Thorne played down the effects of the rule that she spearheaded by claiming that it  “simply offers guidance on following the existing law.”

Others take a more wary view of the drafters’ intentions. 

On Aug. 26, the Democratic Party’s state and national entities joined 10 Georgia voters in filing a petition seeking to block the rules’ ability to provoke electoral “chaos.” Traditionally, courts have adjudicated election contests and fraud allegations, but Georgia’s board apparently offered an alternative end-run to this process through county officials. (The state board plays no direct role in the certification process.)

“These rules ask election officials to approach their duties as though they have discretion to delay or refuse certification of election results,” the challengers wrote in a motion seeking to expedite the case to seek a ruling before Election Day. “Georgia law permits no such discretion. But if officials interpret the new rules as the drafters assert they should, the officials could (unlawfully) delay certifying an election to complete a ‘reasonable inquiry’ or examine documents—or could even (unlawfully) refuse to certify at all.” 

The “reasonable inquiry” rule’s challengers emphasize that time is of the essence.

“A delay or failure to certify at the county level would run headlong into the Secretary of State’s own certification obligations, potentially interfering with binding federal deadlines […] and could result in the Secretary certifying results without counting ballots from the affected county,” their petition states. “That would mean mass disenfranchisement of eligible, registered Georgians.”

Aside from its ramifications in Georgia, the DNC’s lawsuit points to a trend: Emboldened by Trump’s attempts to subvert the 2020 presidential contest, once-modest public servants tasked with a clerical yet crucial role in election administration have tried to anoint themselves as the arbiters of the races within their jurisdictions — and grown into a national movement. 

No Longer “Without Fanfare or Controversy”

Georgia’s “reasonable inquiry” regime did not crop up in a vacuum. 

“For many decades, the certification of election results was a straightforward administrative process that was faithfully followed by local officials without fanfare or controversy,” the Democratic Party’s petition states. “But, in recent years, efforts to delay or impede the certification of election results have become increasingly common. During the 2020 election cycle, these efforts culminated with the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.”

Since the Capitol insurrection, certain partisan members on county boards across the country have contested election results they disapprove of with every passing race until being ordered to certify the results through emergency litigation.

During primary elections in 2022, the pattern occurred in New Mexico’s Otero County, Arizona’s Cochise County and no fewer than three counties in Pennsylvania, where the Secretary of the Commonwealth, Al Schmidt, has been targeted by Trump’s election denialism. Schmidt, who was formerly Philadelphia’s only Republican commissioner, testified two years ago before the House Jan. 6 Committee about the threats he received after debunking Trump’s false claims that dead people voted in the 2020 election. “The threats became much more specific, much more graphic, and included not just me by name, but included members of my family, by name, ages, our address, pictures of our home – every bit of detail you can imagine,” Schmidt told the Committee on June 13, 2022. 

Such efforts at intimidation have not slowed Schmidt’s fight against election denialism. His office wrote in an email to Just Security: “The Department of State is working closely with our county partners to ensure the 2024 general election runs smoothly and to minimize opportunities for bad-faith actors to unnecessarily delay certification at the county or state level.”

By the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s count, “at least 19 election board members across nine Georgia counties … have objected to certifying an election over the past four years.” That the election-board refuseniks appear to be especially persistent and entrenched in Georgia may not be surprising in a state where the coordinated attack on the 2020 election is being prosecuted as a racketeering scheme. Georgia is, after all, the state where Rudy Giuliani unleashed his disinformation campaign defaming two poll workers, daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and mother Ruby Freeman, and where Trump implied that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger could face prosecution if he did not “find 11,780 votes” to flip the election results.

“Most recently, a member of the Fulton County Registration and Elections Board refused to vote to certify the May 2024 primary results,” the DNC’s petition notes. “Indeed, that member has brought suit in this Court, seeking a declaration that her duties regarding certification are discretionary.”

The Georgia petition summarizing this broader trend, though eye-opening, does not purport to be comprehensive. In their study titled Certification and Non-Discretion: A Guide to Protecting the 2024 Election, published in the Stanford Law & Policy Review, Lauren Miller and Will Wilder tracked other attempts to subvert election results on the local level, offering a historical perspective of county board-certifications as well as strategies for combating attacks on the system. In a report titled “Election certification under threat,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), an anti-corruption watchdog, counted “35 rogue election officials across the country who have already refused to certify election results and may be in a position to do so again,” including in other states like Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina, and Michigan, though not all of these refusers’ efforts went to litigation. 

Many of these nationwide efforts appear to be aligned with a strategy spawned in part by Steve Bannon years ago, as ProPublica documented in a 2021 report.

Georgia’s GOP Secretary of State Tells Counties: “Follow the Law”

Trump’s attacks on the 2020 election results in Georgia failed, in no small part, because his fellow Republicans — such as Raffensperger and Gov. Brian Kemp — resisted the former president’s pressure campaign to overturn then-president elect Joe Biden’s victory in the state. Raffensperger made clear once again that he opposes any delays to certification of election results. 

“Georgia’s Election Integrity Act requires counties to certify the election results by November 12th and we fully anticipate that counties will follow the law,” Raffensperger wrote in an X (formerly Twitter) post on Aug. 7, the day after the state board passed the disputed rule. 

Four days earlier, Raffensperger responded to Trump’s attack against him on Truth Social with a warning that election-denialist tactics backfired on the former president in 2020. 

“Georgia’s elections are secure,” Raffensperger said in a statement directed to Trump on Aug. 3. “The winner here in November will reflect the will of the people. History has taught us this type of message doesn’t sell well here in Georgia, sir.”

In a motion to fast-track their lawsuit, the challengers of the Georgia State Election Board’s rules also quote Raffensperger as warning, “These misguided, last-minute changes from unelected bureaucrats who have never run an election and seem to reject the advice of anyone who ever has could cause serious problems in an election that otherwise will be secure and accurate.” Their case has landed before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who was appointed by a Republican governor and presided over the special grand jury investigation that preceded Trump’s election-racketeering indictment. On Tuesday, McBurney dismissed a lawsuit filed by Julie Adams, a Republican member of the Fulton County Board of Elections and Registration who refused to certify the county’s May 2024 primary election based on supposed “discrepancies.” (Adams, who named the wrong defendant in her lawsuit, will have an opportunity to correct her technical error and refile.)

Now adjudicating two election-related cases on his docket, McBurney has been asked to declare the certification of election results a mandatory duty — and reaffirm that this process must take place by Nov. 12 at 5 p.m. ET. The Georgia board’s “reasonable inquiry” rule formally took effect on Sept. 4, exactly 20 days after its filing with the Secretary of State’s office. 

“Settled Georgia law establishes that election contests — not certification — are the designated mechanism for resolving disputes about alleged irregularities in the election process,” the lawsuit states. “Such contests are a separate process, within the judicial system and thus with the attendant evidentiary standards and other procedural protections, that follows certification.” The State Election Board has yet to respond with a brief of its own.

Fortifying the Guardrails

With election refusers racking up defeats, some state and local officials remain confident that the guardrails protecting vote totals from nullification remain fortified. Alex Curtas, a spokesman for New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, emphasized in a phone interview that the state’s Supreme Court decision ordering deep-red Otero County to certify its election left no room for confusion.

“We feel that that Supreme Court order is the stark black line that already showed anyone who had this kind of strategy in mind that that is not a legal strategy,” Curtas said. 

Otero County is a staunchly conservative county that has remained a hotbed of election-related denialism. The county’s former commissioner Couy Griffin, the founder of a group called Cowboys for Trump, was disqualified from public office under the 14th Amendment for his role in the Jan. 6th insurrection, following his federal prosecution for climbing barricades in his approach to the U.S. Capitol. (Griffin, who did not ultimately enter the building, was found guilty of misdemeanors.) After the 2022 primary election, county board members sought to nullify the results based on unspecified suspicions related to Dominion voting machines, a baseless conspiracy theory that forced Fox to pay a $787 million defamation judgment for disseminating it in the wake of the last presidential election. 

Had Otero’s county board members succeeded, they ironically would have negated the 2022 primary elections of their own Republican candidates in their broader efforts to sow doubt over Trump’s defeat in 2020. 

“One of the [Otero County] commissioners was on the ballot,” Curtas noted. “So he was basically going to not certify the election that would allow him to move forward and be reelected.  So it’s got this sort of illogical, shoot-yourself-in-the-foot aspect to it.”

Curtas noted that New Mexico law has procedures in place for disputing the election results, and as the challengers of the Georgia State Election Board’s new rules note, so do other states across the country.

“If election officials have concerns about possible election irregularities, they are free to voice those concerns at the time of certification, so that they may be considered and adjudicated, by judges, in any subsequent election contest,” the Georgia lawsuit states. “But they may not point to those election irregularities (or anything else) as a basis for delaying certification or denying it entirely. Absent a valid court order, certification by the deadline is mandatory.” 

Before the 2020 election, such principles were uncontroversial, but the organized opposition to this framework by partisan operatives — posing as local election functionaries — could remain a sustained challenge to U.S. democracy, regardless of the outcome of any particular litigation.

IMAGE: A graphic of select states where county boards contested election results during races that took place in the years after the 2020 presidential election, until being forced to certify through litigation (Photo Credit: Just Security).

The post Election Certification Refusers Are a Movement: Georgia Lawsuit Highlights Alarming Trend appeared first on Just Security.

Highline Public Schools, a school district in Washington state, remains closed following a cyberattack that occurred two days ago.

Two days ago Highline Public Schools (HPS), a school district in Washington state, suffered a cyber attack that caused a significant disruption of its activities.

Highline Public Schools (HPS) is a public school district in King County, headquartered in Burien, Washington, it serves more than 18,000 students.

The HPS took critical systems offline in response to the security incident.   

“We have detected unauthorized activity on our technology systems and have taken immediate action to isolate critical systems. We are working closely with third-party, state and federal partners to safely restore and test our systems.” reads the first statement published by the school district on Monday. 

“We understand this comes as an unexpected disruption, particularly on the eve of the first day of kindergarten for many of our families. We recognize the burden this decision places on both families and staff, but student safety is our top priority, and we cannot have school without these critical systems in place.”

Two days later, the Washington state school district is still closed due to the unavailability of its IT systems.

Following the cyberattack, the school district announced the closure of its facilities and the temporary suspension of all activities, including athletics and meetings.

“All schools will remain closed on Tuesday, September 10. All school activities, athletics and meetings are canceled. Central office will be open.” reads the statement published by the HPS on its website. “Our investigation into unauthorized activity on our technology systems is ongoing, and critical systems are still offline. We understand canceling school is a significant disruption for our families and staff, but student safety remains our top priority.”

The HPS did not provide details about the attack, however, the measures adopted in response to the incident suggest it was the victim of a ransomware attack. At this time, no cybercrime group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Unfortunately, school districts are privileged targets of cybercrime groups due to the huge amount of date they manage.

In March 2024, schools in Scranton, Pennsylvania, experienced a ransomware attack, resulting in IT outages. In September 2022, one of the US largest School districts, the Los Angeles Unified School District, suffered a ransomware attack.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Education)