tardigrada

Archived version

The report by Taiwanese fact checkers is directly relevant to the election campaign, the voting and counting process, the candidates, their family members, the political parties of the candidates, or policies promoted by the candidates.

[...]

The report examines 40 Chinese false information narratives propagated on social media or websites during the election campaign. We observed that:

1. False information narratives focused the most on attacks on candidates, followed by misrepresenting policies, spreading suspicions about the election's integrity, and instilling fear about the outcome of the election if a specific candidate was elected.

2. The most common tactic utilized in disinformation claims was to distort the original information.

3. Pictures were the most popular format. In addition, we identified several cases in which information manipulators promoted AI-generated videos or photos.

[...]

Most of [the disinformation] targeting Harris and her vice presidential candidate Walz, appeared to be popular among Chinese supporters of Trump, influencers who frequently ridiculed US politics and society, and those who enjoyed the drama of American election campaigns. The comments accompanying the false claims questioned Harris and Walz's beliefs and ethics, as well as the Democrats' immigration policies that made the US more unsafe and US foreign policies that often meddle with international events. They warned of the ramifications if Harris was elected as the US president, including a loss of freedom, of course, and presented false evidence that the Democrats may have committed voting fraud.

[...]

There was also a false claim about China's meddling. For example, one false piece claimed that Anthony Blinken, US Secretary of State, stated that China supplied fraudulent IDs to the US for those who were ineligible to vote in the presidential election. The truth was that Blinken never made the statement.

[...]

The majority of the false information pieces can be traced back to English social media posts. Some of them were even translated or adapted from X posts by Trump's allies, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (who claimed that Harris wanted to shut X down) and Elon Musk (who promoted a video mocking Harris' campaign video).

One of the few exceptions was a piece suggesting Harris confirmed the US was involved in the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. This false claim was made by an official account linked to the Chinese government, which referenced the Russian state outlet Sputnik as its news source. However, Harris has never made such a statement.

[...]p

Archived version

The report by Taiwanese fact checkers is directly relevant to the election campaign, the voting and counting process, the candidates, their family members, the political parties of the candidates, or policies promoted by the candidates.

[...]

The report examines 40 Chinese false information narratives propagated on social media or websites during the election campaign. We observed that:

1. False information narratives focused the most on attacks on candidates, followed by misrepresenting policies, spreading suspicions about the election's integrity, and instilling fear about the outcome of the election if a specific candidate was elected.

2. The most common tactic utilized in disinformation claims was to distort the original information.

3. Pictures were the most popular format. In addition, we identified several cases in which information manipulators promoted AI-generated videos or photos.

[...]

Most of [the disinformation] targeting Harris and her vice presidential candidate Walz, appeared to be popular among Chinese supporters of Trump, influencers who frequently ridiculed US politics and society, and those who enjoyed the drama of American election campaigns. The comments accompanying the false claims questioned Harris and Walz's beliefs and ethics, as well as the Democrats' immigration policies that made the US more unsafe and US foreign policies that often meddle with international events. They warned of the ramifications if Harris was elected as the US president, including a loss of freedom, of course, and presented false evidence that the Democrats may have committed voting fraud.

[...]

There was also a false claim about China's meddling. For example, one false piece claimed that Anthony Blinken, US Secretary of State, stated that China supplied fraudulent IDs to the US for those who were ineligible to vote in the presidential election. The truth was that Blinken never made the statement.

[...]

The majority of the false information pieces can be traced back to English social media posts. Some of them were even translated or adapted from X posts by Trump's allies, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (who claimed that Harris wanted to shut X down) and Elon Musk (who promoted a video mocking Harris' campaign video).

One of the few exceptions was a piece suggesting Harris confirmed the US was involved in the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. This false claim was made by an official account linked to the Chinese government, which referenced the Russian state outlet Sputnik as its news source. However, Harris has never made such a statement.

[...]

During Trump’s first term, the ACLU filed 434 legal challenges against his administration, successfully blocking some of Trump’s most egregious policies, like the Muslim ban and separating immigrant families. When Trump once again set his sights on the White House, the ACLU’s legal and advocacy experts drafted a roadmap to combat his administration head-on. On day one, we are prepared to:

• Defend against the Trump administration’s unlawful mass deportation plan through coordinated action at all levels of government. We’ll also work with states and localities to protect residents to the full extent possible and ensure that a Trump administration can’t hijack state resources to carry out its draconian policies.
• Provide legal defense to whistleblowers and critics who dare to stand up to Trump’s policies. We’ll also protect freedom of speech and the right to protest against Trump’s agenda.
• Use the courts to affirm that LGBTQ people are protected from discrimination under federal law. We’ll fight to invalidate Trump administration policies that permit discrimination across the federal government, and to shut down the administration’s efforts to require discrimination at the state and local levels.
• Challenge the Trump administration’s dangerous attacks on reproductive freedom, including any attempts to weaponize the Comstock Act to ban abortion nationwide or to take medication abortion off the shelves. We’ll also protect access to birth control and family planning services.

[...]

Archived version

People For the American Way today announced the launch of its new campaign, Resist Project 2025, a roadmap for immediate resistance to an incoming Trump administration and for a strong pro-democracy movement for freedom and justice. The plan calls for assembling a unique coalition of young progressive officials, faith leaders and artists to take prominent roles in resistance and reform.

"Make no mistake, the election result is horrifying and we should not kid ourselves: Trump 47 will be worse than last time. He has signaled he intends to preside over a regime of fascism and bigotry on steroids, one that will be empowered by a MAGA Supreme Court. That means the resistance must start now,” said Svante Myrick, president of People For the American Way.

[...]

[Edit typo.]

Archived version

In the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s reelection, advocates for transgender people in Illinois are scrambling to strengthen the state protections they’ve created, while some trans Midwesterners consider moving to states with shield laws for safe harbor.

State Rep. Kelly Cassidy told the Sun-Times there has been a coalition effort of state lawmakers to protect trans and reproductive health care access since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade leaked in 2022.

Now, they’re looking closely at Project 2025 — a conservative policy playbook created by the Heritage Foundation — and Trump policy proposals and “evaluating what further protections we can enact in the coming months,” a spokesperson for Gov. JB Pritzker said.

[...]

Protections for reproductive rights and gender-affirming care were enshrined in state law in January 2023, putting Illinois on the side of people who risk prosecution by traveling to the state for treatment and also protecting the licenses of Illinois doctors who provide care that’s illegal elsewhere. The Illinois Human Rights Act also protects against discrimination based on gender identity.

Archived version

[...]

Trump’s reëlection, his victory over Kamala Harris, can no longer be ascribed to a failure of the collective imagination. He is the least mysterious public figure alive; he has been announcing his every disquieting tendency, relentlessly, publicly, for decades. Who is left, supporter or detractor, who does not acknowledge, at least to some degree, his cynicism and divisiveness, his disrespect for selfless sacrifice? To him, fallen American soldiers are “suckers.” Many of his former closest advisers—Vice-President Mike Pence; his chief of staff John Kelly; Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—have described him as unfit, unstable, and, in the case of Kelly and Milley, a fascist. In the closing weeks of the campaign, Trump went out of his way to dismiss his consultants’ blandishments to moderate his tone. Instead, he pretended to fellate a microphone and threatened to direct the military against the “enemy from within.” He emphasized every rotten thing about himself, as if to say, “Forget the scripted stuff on the teleprompter. Listen to me when I go off-the-cuff. The conspiracy theories. The fury. The vengeance. The race-baiting. The embrace of Putin and Orbán and Xi. The wild stories. This is me, the real me. I’m a genius. I’m weaving!”

[...]

An American retreat from liberal democracy—a precious yet vulnerable inheritance—would be a calamity. Indifference is a form of surrender. Indifference to mass deportations would signal an abnegation of one of the nation’s guiding promises. Vladimir Putin welcomes Trump’s return not only because it makes his life immeasurably easier in his determination to subjugate a free and sovereign Ukraine but because it validates his assertion that American democracy is a sham—that there is no democracy. All that matters is power and self-interest. The rest is sanctimony and hypocrisy. Putin reminds us that liberal democracy is not a permanence; it can turn out to be an episode.

One of the great spirits of modern times, the Czech playwright and dissident Václav Havel, wrote in “Summer Meditations,” “There is only one thing I will not concede: that it might be meaningless to strive in a good cause.” During the long Soviet domination of his country, Havel fought valiantly for liberal democracy, inspiring in others acts of resilience and protest. He was imprisoned for that. Then came a time when things changed, when Havel was elected President and, in a Kafka tale turned on its head, inhabited the Castle, in Prague. Together with a people challenged by years of autocracy, he helped lead his country out of a long, dark time. Our time is now dark, but that, too, can change. It happened elsewhere. It can happen here.

Russia has suffered its worst ever month for casualties since the start of the war in Ukraine, the UK chief of defence staff has told the BBC. Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said Russia’s forces suffered an average of about 1,500 dead and injured "every single day" in October, bringing its losses to 700,000 since the war began in February 2022.

Russia does not disclose the number of its war dead, but Western defence officials have said October's death toll was the heaviest so far.

[...]

While allies of US President-elect Donald Trump insist that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may have to cede territory to bring the conflict to an end, Sir Tony insisted that Western allies would be resolute for "as long as it takes".

"That’s the message President Putin has to absorb and the reassurance for President Zelensky," he told the programme.

Russia has suffered its worst ever month for casualties since the start of the war in Ukraine, the UK chief of defence staff has told the BBC. Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said Russia’s forces suffered an average of about 1,500 dead and injured "every single day" in October, bringing its losses to 700,000 since the war began in February 2022.

Russia does not disclose the number of its war dead, but Western defence officials have said October's death toll was the heaviest so far.

[...]

While allies of US President-elect Donald Trump insist that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may have to cede territory to bring the conflict to an end, Sir Tony insisted that Western allies would be resolute for "as long as it takes".

"That’s the message President Putin has to absorb and the reassurance for President Zelensky," he told the programme.

Archived version

The Chinese leadership is reportedly considering offering tariff cuts, visa exemptions, and other incentives to U.S. allies in Europe and Asia. This strategy, termed “unilateral opening,” represents a shift from China’s traditional quid-pro-quo approach to economic and diplomatic deals.

Despite this, China faces resistance, with the European Union (EU) expressing discontent over China’s support for Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines, are growing increasingly wary of China’s assertive behavior in the South China Sea.

U.S. President-elect Trump promised to impose tariffs of up to 60% on Chinese imports poses a significant threat to Xi Jinping‘s economic model, which is heavily reliant on manufacturing and exports [due to China's structured overcapacity].

Archived version

The Chinese leadership is reportedly considering offering tariff cuts, visa exemptions, and other incentives to U.S. allies in Europe and Asia. This strategy, termed “unilateral opening,” represents a shift from China’s traditional quid-pro-quo approach to economic and diplomatic deals.

Despite this, China faces resistance, with the European Union (EU) expressing discontent over China’s support for Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines, are growing increasingly wary of China’s assertive behavior in the South China Sea.

U.S. President-elect Trump promised to impose tariffs of up to 60% on Chinese imports poses a significant threat to Xi Jinping‘s economic model, which is heavily reliant on manufacturing and exports [due to China's structured overcapacity].

Archived version

The former Democratic vice presidential nominee gave a concession speech on Friday in his state of Minnesota.

[...]

Walz reflected on his time traveling the country [during the U.S. presidential campaign], saying he recognized that "people want security" as well as the "freedom to live their lives the way they want to live it."

[...]

"I just want to acknowledge the moment. It's hard. It's hard to lose," Walz said. "It's hard to understand how so many of our fellow citizens ... wound up choosing the other path. If you're feeling defeated or discouraged today, I get it. Take some time. [Get back in this fight when you are ready.]"

[...]

[Walz's] postelection speech about vowing to fight is not unlike other Democratic governors. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy told reporters on Wednesday that his team had recently held a meeting to "war game" the prospect of a second Trump presidency.

[...]

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday called for lawmakers to convene a special session to bolster the state's legal resources to protect civil rights, reproductive freedom, climate action and immigrant families.

[...]

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has convened a task force—called the Empire State Freedom Initiative—to "develop strategies for protecting New Yorkers from a variety of policy and regulatory threats that could emerge under President-elect Trump."

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, who filed dozens of lawsuits against Trump as the state's attorney general during his first term, has said that she expects litigation will be filed if Trump proceeds with plans for mass deportations.

"There's going to be a lot of pressure on states and state officials, and I can assure you, we're going to work really hard to deliver. I'm sure there may be litigation ahead," she said.

[...]

Archived version

"I know where I will be on day one of Trump’s presidency. I will be standing hand in hand with my undocumented community, proudly declaring that we are here to stay. This moment, however, begs the question of our allies: Where will they be on day one?"

"To those who are feeling despair at this moment, who are asking how it’s possible that a fascist, rapist and impeached former president has made it back to the White House, I say this: Let the rage you’re feeling catalyze you into action.