OUR PICKSToday, Nixon Would Probably Have Gotten Away with Watergate | How UFO Sightings Became an American Obsession | The Right Is Still Pushing Election Denial—and Pillows, and more
· U.S. Judge Again Dismisses Mexico’s Lawsuit Against Most Gun Manufacturers
Mexico had argued the companies knew weapons were being sold to traffickers who smuggled them into Mexico and decided to cash in on that market
· Trump’s Focus on Georgia Election Board Raises Fears for November Vote
The board’s majority enacted a series of changes to state election rules this week, days after Trump singled its members out for praise at his Atlanta rally
· The Right Is Still Pushing Election Denial—and Pillows
Ahead of November, far-right election deniers are only getting more organized
· How UFO Sightings Became an American Obsession
In 1947 a pilot spotted a fleet of “saucer-like” aircraft speeding across the sky. It was only a matter of time until paranoia set in
· Sorry, Richard Nixon
The Watergate scandal forced his resignation 50 years ago. Today, he’d probably have gotten away with it
· Microsoft: Iran Accelerating Cyber Activity in Apparent Bid to Influence U.S. Eelection
Iran is evolving its tactics for an election that’s likely to have global implications
U.S. Judge Again Dismisses Mexico’s Lawsuit Against Most Gun Manufacturers (AP / VOA News)
A U.S. federal judge in Massachusetts again dismissed a $10 billion Mexican government lawsuit against six U.S. gun manufacturers on Wednesday.
Mexico had argued the companies knew weapons were being sold to traffickers who smuggled them into Mexico and decided to cash in on that market.
However, the judge ruled that Mexico had not provided concrete evidence that any of the six companies’ activities in Massachusetts were connected to any suffering caused in Mexico by guns.
Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department said Wednesday the ruling would allow the lawsuit to proceed against a seventh manufacturer and a gun wholesaler.
Regarding the dismissal against the others, the department said, “Mexico is analyzing its options, among them presenting an appeal.”
Trump’s Focus on Georgia Election Board Raises Fears for November Vote (Amy Gardner, Washington Post)
The board met over two days this week to consider a long list of proposed rules, most of which passed with support from the three pro-Trump members.
Critics said the most concerning among the new rules is a standard that allows county-level election boards to demand “reasonable inquiries” if they have questions about the outcome of an election. The rule does not specify what a reasonable inquiry is, and it places no limits on the time frame of such a probe or what documents a board can demand.
Georgia law requires county boards to certify their results by the Monday following an election, but critics of the new rule say it could prompt partisan county boards of any ideological stripe to misinterpret their power and refuse to certify, thereby slowing the process of state-level certification. In a presidential election, the calendar for determining which presidential electors will convene and send their votes to Washington is fixed and inflexible, with disruptions having the potential to derail the process.
The Right Is Still Pushing Election Denial—and Pillows (Leah Feiger, Wired)
The election denial movement lives on, thanks in part to the efforts of well-funded and well-organized far-right activists. Today on the show, CNN correspondent Donie O’Sullivan joins WIRED Politics Lab to talk about his forthcoming documentary examining election deniers’ new tactics, and what happens after the November vote.
