| | | | Fareed: Democrats, It's Not the Economy, Stupid | | It is becoming increasingly clear that the problem facing America's Democratic Party isn't really about economics. After all, the party's economic agenda is generally popular with the U.S. public, Fareed writes in his latest Washington Post column.
Instead, he says, it has "much more to do with a cluster of issues they would rather not revisit -- about culture, social mores and national identity."
"The more I study this subject, the more I am convinced that people cast their vote mostly based on an emotional bond with a candidate, a sense that they get each other. Democrats have to recognize this. They should always stay true to their ideals, of course, but yet convey to a broad section of Americans -- rural, less-educated, older, whiter -- that they understand and respect their lives, their values and their worth. It's a much harder balancing act than one more push to raise the minimum wage. But this cultural realm is the crossroads of politics today." - Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va) gave Fareed his take on the controversy over President Trump's tweets Thursday about Mika Brzezinski. "I don't think he understands that the words of the president matter," Warner said. "They matter not only in America, but in many ways the words of the president matter even more in terms of how the world views our country."
Watch the full interview on GPS this Sunday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET on CNN. | | Could U.S. Rely On Its Missile Defenses? | | As President Trump prepared to meet Friday with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, U.S. officials were wrestling with how, exactly, they could stop any potential future strike from North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles that would be traveling at around 15,000 miles per hour, Katrina Manson reports for the Financial Times.
"Relying on sensors across 15 time zones, [36] interceptors -- descendants of Ronald Reagan's 1983 Star Wars program -- release a 'kill vehicle' carrying no explosive charge of its own: the mere force of impact would be enough to pulverize any incoming missile mid-flight. But in 18 tests since 1999, eight have failed -- including three of the past five." | | Why Trump Should Arm Ukraine: Blank | | | President Trump will have a rare opportunity to "demonstrate American greatness in action" when he heads to Poland next week ahead of the G-20 summit, argues Stephen Blank in the Wall Street Journal. That means giving weapons to Ukraine. "Arming Ukraine would keep faith with American policies dating back to President Harry Truman to support free peoples against aggression. It would enhance U.S. leadership and resolve. Moreover, it would communicate those attributes globally and create, as Ronald Reagan's policies did, a real basis for future dialogue with a Russia deprived of the means of aggression. A public show of helping Ukraine would also turn down the heat domestically. Mr. Trump's persistent critics would be forced to credit him with resisting Russia in support of American interests." | | Ex-CIA Chief: 2016 Won't Be Last Election Attack | | | The U.S. election system is more vulnerable to foreign interference than many people realize, according to a new report from the Brennan Center for Justice.
"When the United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor, we took action to protect our fleet. When we were attacked on 9/11, we took action to upgrade transportation security and protect our ports and other vulnerable targets," former CIA Director James Woolsey writes in a foreword to the report. "We were attacked in 2016. The target was not ships or airplanes or buildings, but the machinery of our democracy. We will be attacked again. We must act again -- or leave our democracy at risk."
Among the key recommendations: "Replace Antiquated Voting Machines with New, Auditable Systems"; "Conduct Audits of Paper Ballots or the Voter Verified Paper Record" (the report notes "only 26 states require that election officials conduct post-election audits of paper records"); "Complete a Full Assessment of Threats to Our Voter Registration Systems"; and "Upgrade and Replace IT Infrastructure, Including Databases," (the report notes many local systems rely on outdated or discontinued software, and that "42 states are using voter registration databases that were initially created at least a decade ago.") | | Why Do We Need Encryption? NSA, CIA Can't Keep a Secret | | The massive cyber attack that hit businesses around the world this week should be the nail in the coffin of the argument that law enforcement should have a "backdoor" into encryption services, argues Brian Barrett for Wired.
This week's attack would have been damaging even without the possible exploitation of leaked alleged NSA hacking tools, Barrett writes. "But that all of this has fallen into public hands shifts the nature of the encryption debate from hypothetical concern that someone could reverse-engineer a backdoor to acute awareness that someone could just steal it."
"The NSA and CIA's recent misadventures in securing their wares is just one among many points in favor of encryption. After months of spy agency tools gone rogue, though, the only argument needed should be a lesson you probably learned in junior high: Don't share secrets with people who can't keep them." - It's not about the money. This week's cyber attack is looking less like a ransomware attack aimed at gathering cash, and more like sabotage, CNN reports.
"If the primary objective was financial gain, the virus doesn't appear to have been very successful. [Security firm] Kaspersky said that it had seen only 24 people hand over the ransom in an effort to rid their machines of the virus, with payments totaling $6,000."
| | China Won't Save the Hollywood Blockbuster | | | The days of Hollywood being able to rely on China to save poor quality, badly reviewed blockbusters might be coming to a close. "China's tastes are changing for the better, and Hollywood isn't ready," argues Adam Minter for Bloomberg View. "Chinese are becoming more discerning about what they pay to see, and are no longer as easily seduced by Hollywood spectacle. Last summer, Chinese box office receipts declined for the first time in five years (box office fraud may have also played a role)," Minter writes. "If, as expected, China expands the quota for foreign films, big Hollywood productions will face competition from smaller and more sophisticated U.S. dramas, too. And it's not just U.S. and Indian movies that'll tempt viewers. Chinese films continue to improve, with locally produced fare now successfully competing against Hollywood's best (and worst). Last year, 'The Mermaid,' a Hong Kong-Chinese romantic comedy, earned the biggest box office in Chinese history, while other local comedies are regularly outselling the Hollywood competition." | | | | | | |
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