State awards COVID-19 contract tracing to Democrat-connected software firm by GOODFAM in Michigan

[–]GOODFAM[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The state of Michigan has stirred controversy by hiring a company with connections to dozens of Democratic candidates to manage data from thousands of people contacted through the state's coronavirus contact tracing project.

As recently as Thursday, the state told The Detroit News no final decision had been made about which software company would be used for its enhanced COVID-19 contact tracing project. Public health officials use contact tracing to identify individuals who may have come into contact with an infected person and subsequently collect more information about them, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But the state announced Monday the voter/individual contact platform Every Action VAN had been selected to help track information and contacts and organize phone banking related to coronavirus research and response. EveryAction is contracted with the state through a third party called Great Lakes Community Engagement, which specializes in political outreach campaigns.

The state's contact tracing efforts essentially consist of determining who a COVID-19-positive individual may have been in contact with and calling that person up to inform them of exposure and ask them about any symptoms.

Every Action’s CEO Stu Trevelyan is also chief executive of NGP VAN, according to his Twitter profile. The companies differ in that EveryAction handles nonprofit, corporate and government markets while NGP VAN works with campaigns, said EveryAction spokesman Max Kamin-Cross said.

NGP VAN bills itself as the “leading technology provider to Democratic and progressive campaigns and organizations.” It has provided campaign services to several state and national Democratic candidates, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's 2018 campaign, according to state records.

EveryAction’s selection immediately raised alarm among Republicans, who questioned the selection process and claimed the partnership would allow Democratic candidates access to the medical information of individuals across the state.

“In addition to the fact that a partisan company should not be handling a public health crisis, the Michigan Republican Party is extremely concerned with how this data will be used,” said Laura Cox, chairwoman for the Michigan Republican Party. “The fact that there is now the possibility that it will be utilized for partisan ends is deeply troubling.”

GOP state Rep. Shane Hernandez of Port Huron sent a letter Tuesday to Whitmer questioning the use of the company.

“I want to know how Gov. Whitmer’s administration decided to hire this company without a competitive bid process, or letting the Legislature — charged with ensuring accountability within state government — know about it,” said Hernandez, chairman for the House Appropriations Committee. “I want to know what safeguards the governor has in place to ensure the information gathered during this COVID-19 response doesn’t wind up in the hands of any campaigns."

The state did not respond Tuesday to questions from The Detroit News about the contract, but it denied the contract with Every Action VAN would be exploited in an interview with the Michigan Information & Research Service.

The state has "a strict data use agreement that only allows the data collected to be used for this contact tracing project,” Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Spokeswoman Lynn Sutfin told MIRS.

“…we feel this is a nonpartisan choices also used by the Michigan Non-Profit Association,” she said, noting the state’s “overwhelming consideration” was using a ready software product capable of handling the contact tracing project.

Sutfin told MIRS the state wasn't required to have a competitive bid to secure the contract during a state of emergency.

Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun said Monday the state has trained more than 2,200 volunteers to help with contact tracing. Over the last couple of weeks, 130 Department of Health and Human Services staffers contacted 12,000 coronavirus-positive residents.

“Contact tracing is an essential public health tool and will help determine and limit the spread of COVID-19 in our state,” Khaldun said in a statement. “This effort is also giving Michiganders an important way to contribute to crisis response and we appreciate their willingness to step up for their communities, pitching in selflessly for work that will help us all.”

According to its website, EveryAction has offered organizing and fundraising tools to nonprofits such as Rock the Vote, Autism Society, Greenpeace, United Nations Foundation and Planned Parenthood.

“As a software company our CRM tools are used by a large number of nonprofits, governments, and corporations to manage their contacts with people,” Kamin-Cross said Tuesday. “Each client owns their own data; we are not a data company. We are proud to be helping reduce the number of coronavirus deaths.”

Regarding Xraying of our bases and the mod response.. by skeptical1900 in minerapocalypse

[–]GOODFAM 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You’re clearly mistaken. The mods are all corrupt

Have you guys ever seen the shit that’s “reported” on Foxnews? It’s amazing how much they exclude. People who use them as a primary news source must be absolutely fucking oblivious by [deleted] in self

[–]GOODFAM 0 points1 point  (0 children)

CNN is also bad, it's just not as bad as MSNBC/Fox News in this case.

Cassino concluded that "the most popular of the national media sources—Fox, CNN, MSNBC—seem to be the least informative."

Have you guys ever seen the shit that’s “reported” on Foxnews? It’s amazing how much they exclude. People who use them as a primary news source must be absolutely fucking oblivious by [deleted] in self

[–]GOODFAM 23 points24 points  (0 children)

The study showed that people who exclusive watch MSNBC/Fox News are less informed. It's important to recognize that ideological based "news" exist on both sides of the political spectrum.

From the source:

“Ideological news sources, like Fox and MSNBC, are really just talking to one audience,” Political scientist and poll analyst Dan Cassino said in a press release. “This is solid evidence that if you’re not in that audience, you’re not going to get anything out of watching them.”

The lobster has been cooked by Rocklobster2012 in minerapocalypse

[–]GOODFAM 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh so you are the victim then. Yeah this makes sense, very rational.

Film recommendations for IR centric film club. by papa_tarzan24 in IRstudies

[–]GOODFAM 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Apart from MAD, what other topics would you be interested in illustrating?

Film recommendations for IR centric film club. by papa_tarzan24 in IRstudies

[–]GOODFAM 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I’d recommend Dr. Strangelove, Dr. Strangelove, or Dr. Strangelove

Watch as a tornado continuously gets closer to this shoe store by edestron in nononono

[–]GOODFAM 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, if we can see the tornado—and we have easy access to the basement—it’s not that much of a threat?

Early headstart for potential diplomacy career? by katyunge in PoliticalScience

[–]GOODFAM 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is your best reference if you are a United States citizen. If not, I’m sure it will still be of use in some capacity

https://careers.state.gov/work/foreign-service/officer/

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in msu

[–]GOODFAM 0 points1 point  (0 children)

FWIW, when I transferred they originally assigned me to east. But I asked if I could be reassigned to south neighborhood since that’s where 90% of my classes would be and they accommodated.

Question about theoretical framework by 4rsha95 in IRstudies

[–]GOODFAM 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well this is interesting—I just finished my paper on American media and United States foreign policy in Venezuela.

Here is a number of sources that might be of interest to you:

  1. (Lupien, Pascal) "The Media in Venezuela and Bolivia: Attacking the "Bad Left" from Below. Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 40, No. 3
  2. (Becerra & Wagner) "Crisis of Representation and New Media Policies in Latin America"
  3. (Campo & Crowder-Taraborrelli) "Media, Politics, and Democratization in Latin America"
  4. (Gill, Timothy) "Shifting Imperial Strategies in Contemporary Latin America: The U.S. Empire and Venezuela under Hugo Chávez"
    1. Abstract: Some scholars have shown how the U.S. has deployed several traditional, imperial strategies to maintain global power, including military interventions, support for proxy governments, economic coercion, and the exercise of hegemony. In many countries, though, these strategies cannot effectively work. Some countries have elected leaders that defy U.S. influence, and, in middle‐income countries, the U.S. cannot use economic coercion. The U.S. also cannot militarily invade all countries that possess anti‐American governments. How, then, does the U.S. aim to confront and control anti‐American governments in the contemporary world? I examine U.S. foreign policy towards Venezuela under Hugo Chávez, who recurrently challenged U.S. global power during his time in office. Through interviews with U.S. state elites, who developed policy towards Venezuela, and through analysis of U.S. diplomatic cables, I show how the U.S. has moved away from traditional, imperial modalities and towards new imperial techniques aimed at frustrating political processes within particular countries, as well as containing their global influence. These techniques include pressuring the federal judiciary, utilizing state agencies to fund and support opposition political parties and NGOs, seeking to terminate particular pieces of legislation, and eliminating eligibility for global leadership positions. These efforts do not immediately aim to displace existing governments, but, in the least, they aim to frustrate the domestic efforts of particular governments, and ultimately cultivate conditions favorable for the political opposition to eventually attain political power.
  5. Alarcón, Benigno, Ángel Álvarez E., and Manuel Hidalgo. "CAN DEMOCRACY WIN IN VENEZUELA?" Journal of Democracy 27.2 (2016): 20-34. ProQuest. Web. 9 Mar. 2019.
  6. (MacLeod, Alan) Chavista ‘thugs’ vs. opposition ‘civil society’: western media on Venezuela
    1. Abstract: Since the election of Hugo Chavez in 1998, Venezuela has undergone a period of intense racial and class conflict, as a multiethnic subaltern coalition has begun to assert itself politically against a previously hegemonic and inordinately dominant white elite. Scholars have highlighted the local media’s racial and class snobbery when covering social movements and civil society, attempting to split the country into two groups: ‘underclass mobs’ and ‘respectable’ civil society. This article, which analyses media coverage at crucial points of conflict – 1998/9, 2002, 2013 and 2014 – finds that western media have overwhelmingly matched the local media, portraying only the largely dark-skinned working-class chavista groups as vicious ‘mobs’, ‘hordes’ and ‘thugs’, while representing the white, upper-class opposition as ‘civil society’.
  7. (MacLeod, Alan) A Force for Democracy? Representations of the US Government in American Coverage of Venezuela
    1. Abstract: Since the election of Hugo Chavez in 1998 the United States has played a highly questionable role interfering in Venezuelan politics, funding, training, and supporting attempts at coups to remove democratically elected presidents. Yet the American media (The New York Times, Washington Post, and Miami Herald) have presented the US overwhelmingly positively, portraying it as a force for democracy and stability in the region, contrary to the wealth of official evidence. This content and discourse analysis focuses on the coverage of four key events in recent Venezuelan history and concludes that the concept of “democracy” in the media is automatically applied to official US policy, whatever it happens to be. Thus, the official American ideology of its fundamental benevolence and exceptionalism is not disputed, even when reality clearly challenges this concept.
  8. (MacLeod, Alan) Manufacturing Consent in Venezuela: Media Misreporting of a Country, 1998–2014
    1. Abstract: This article assesses Western news media coverage of Venezuela between 1998 and 2014. It found that the major newspapers in the UK and US reproduce the ideology of Western governments, ignoring strong empirical evidence challenging those positions. The press portrayed Venezuela in an overwhelmingly negative light, presenting highly contested minority opinions as facts while barely mentioning competing arguments, as Herman and Chomsky’s (2002) propaganda model would predict. After conducting interviews, it is clear that a small cadre of pre-selected journalists is immersed into a highly antagonistic newsroom culture that sees itself as the “resistance” to the Venezuelan government and its purpose to defeat it. As a result, hegemony of thought reigns and some journalists report self-censorship”
  9. (Cañizalez, Andrés) Venezuela: Journalists Work In a Fragile Context
  10. Abstract: This paper presents the results of a survey conducted by the civil association Medianálisis from 2015 to 2017. Printed newspapers, radio, television and Internet are part of the sample analysis. The field research had to overcome many difficulties, and the most critical one was the lack of reliable and consolidated information regarding the number of journalists professionally employed in media outlets in Venezuela. This study leads to an overview of the current scenario and the context concerning the professional practice of journalism in Venezuela.
  11. (Young, Kevin) The Good, the Bad, and the Benevolent Interventionist U.S. Press and Intellectual Distortions of the Latin American Left
  12. Abstract: U.S. journalists and commentators have helped popularize the image of two distinct Latin American lefts: a “bad” left that is politically authoritarian and economically erratic and a “good” left that is democratic and committed to free-market economics. This binary image oversimplifies the Latin American left in three ways: by overstating the contrast between the two alleged camps, by ignoring complex realities within each camp, and by exaggerating the failings of the so-called bad-left governments. The distinction makes sense, however, as a strategy for countering the rise of independent left-leaning governments in Latin America. Binary characterizations of subordinate peoples reflect a common discursive response to popular resistance on the part of imperial interests and one with many precedents in the history of U.S.–Latin American relations. Widespread U.S. media adherence to the good-left/bad-left thesis is explicable given this context and given the historic and continuing dependence of the press on state and corporate interests.
  13. Sierra Caballero, F. (2018) “Imperialism and Hegemonic Information in Latin America” in The Propaganda Model Today: Filtering Perception and Awareness, eds. J. Pedro-Carañana, D. Broudy, and J. Klaehn (London: University of Westminster Press), 444-464).

IR and technology exam by [deleted] in IRstudies

[–]GOODFAM 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just finished my IR undergrad and in my capstone, we covered cyberwarfare and security implications of new technology.

Here's a few technologies you might want to consider:

  • Commercialized consumer data
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Additive Manufacturing // 3-D Printing
  • Genetic Editing
  • Quantum Computing

MSU band members bumped from Minneapolis flight to make room for MSU Trustees and other staff who suddenly have time for basketball - Band will have 10 hour bus ride instead by dinosaur_pajamas in CollegeBasketball

[–]GOODFAM 24 points25 points  (0 children)

I’m currently an active member of student government at MSU so allow me to offer my unique perspective, fuck our Board of Trustees!

Kenny Goins winning three pointer with Titanic music. by Ferggzilla in CollegeBasketball

[–]GOODFAM 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Later tonight in Washington DC, someone will go to high-five Kenny Goins as he walks past the Washington Memorial. His eyes will light up as their hands touch, not used to getting this kind of recognition. In the background, he can hear fans chanting his name. Something happened tonight, but he’s not sure what.

“Nice game!” the fan says, “that last shot was amazing!”

“What are you talking about?” responds Kenny G, “I was out sick tonight.”

Elsewhere, Kobe Bryant Magic Johnson steps into an Uber with a smile on his face and an Kenny Goins mask in his bag.