July, 19 2024, 02:09pm EDT
IT Outage Shows Danger of Relying on a Handful of Companies for Critical Services
Today, technical problems reportedly related to the interaction between Microsoft’s cloud computing system and cybersecurity provider Crowdstrike caused massive worldwide IT outages, disrupting transportation, healthcare, and businesses. Emily Peterson-Cassin, Demand Progress’s Director of Corporate Power, issued the following statement.
"Today’s outage shows how one software issue stemming from only one or two companies can ground flights, take down hospital systems, stop 911 calls, and cut off access to the internet in one fell swoop. Economy-wide reliance on a few giant companies is a serious fundamental risk to Americans.
No one regulatory or legislative intervention will prevent this kind of situation, but there are plenty of policies that can reduce the danger. Efforts to empower regulators’ ability to tackle the risks posed by concentrated corporate actors are critical to protecting Americans from these kinds of failures.
Cloud systems are critical to our infrastructure, and need to receive legislative and regulatory attention equal to their importance to our economy and the harms they cause when they fail."
Demand Progress amplifies the voice of the people -- and wields it to make government accountable and contest concentrated corporate power. Our mission is to protect the democratic character of the internet -- and wield it to contest concentrated corporate power and hold government accountable.
LATEST NEWS
Calls for Release of WSJ Reporter Sentenced in Russia
Press freedom groups accused Russia of using Evan Gershkovich as a "pawn" to secure the release of a Russian assassin convicted of murder in Germany.
Jul 19, 2024
Condemning the apparent use of an American journalist as a "pawn" to secure the release of a Russian imprisoned in Germany, press freedom groups on Friday demanded the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum security penal colony.
Gershkovich was convicted and sentenced after a secretive and unusually speedy trial, with a court in Yekaterinburg finding him guilty of espionage.
The journalist was detained in March 2023 while he was reporting in Yekaterinburg. Prosecutors accused him of collecting "secret information" about a state-owned factory which manufactures tanks for Russia's war in Ukraine. The factory is located in Nizhniy Tagil, about 87 miles from the city.
Russia accused him of spying on behalf of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, which Gershkovich, the Biden administration, and The Wall Street Journal have strongly denied.
Russian officials fueled speculation that Gershkovich had been targeted in order to negotiate a prisoner exchange when they immediately denounced him as a spy after his arrest, without presenting evidence.
During three hearings in recent weeks, journalists were permitted into Sverdlovsk Regional Courthouse only before evidence was presented.
"Targeting Gershkovich in this way is another blatant example of unacceptable state hostage-taking by Russia."
Prosecutors pushed for an 18-year sentence, but their reasoning "faced no public scrutiny and may never be disclosed," reported The Washington Post.
Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested in February that Gershkovich could be released for Vadim Krasikov, an assassin associated with Russia's Federal Security Service, who was convicted of murder in Germany for killing a former Chechen separatist commander in Berlin in 2019.
Rebecca Vincent, director of campaigns for Reporters Without Borders (RSF), said Gershkovich had been subjected to a "sham trial" for political purposes.
"The sentencing of Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in prison is outrageous, and is the result of a trial that cannot be considered fair or free by any means," said Vincent. "This verdict should be immediately overturned. Journalists are not spies, and conflating journalism with espionage has highly dangerous implications for press freedom."
"Targeting Gershkovich in this way is another blatant example of unacceptable state hostage-taking by Russia," she added. "We urge his own government, the United States, to do everything in its power to secure his immediate release and his safe travel home."
Carlos Martinez de la Serna, program director for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said Gershkovich's case demands an end to "hostage diplomacy."
"Russia's decision to jail Evan Gershkovich for 16 years on sham charges is outrageous," said Martinez de la Serna. "Journalists are not pawns in geopolitical games."
U.S. President Joe Biden also described the 32-year-old journalist as a "hostage" and said the White House is "pushing hard for Evan's release and will continue to do so."
Several American citizens have been detained in Russia in recent years, raising alarm about Putin's government possibly using the tactic to secure the release of Russians who have been convicted in other countries. Biden secured the release of professional basketball player Brittney Griner in 2022, in exchange for the release of a Russian arms dealer.
Other American citizens imprisoned in Russia include musician Michael Travis Leake, who was sentenced to 13 years in a penal colony on Thursday; Marc Fogel, a teacher who was sentenced to 14 years for drug smuggling in 2022; and Marine veteran Paul Whelan, who was arrested in 2018 and accused of spying.
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New AFL-CIO Guide Shows How Trump Agenda Would Be 'Catastrophic' for Workers
"A second Trump term would put everything we've fought for—good jobs, fair wages, healthcare, retirement security, worker safety—on the chopping block," said AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler.
Jul 19, 2024
The U.S.' largest labor union federation on Thursday launched a comprehensive new online guide detailing how Project 2025—the far-right initiative to boost the power of the presidency and purge the federal civil service—would threaten worker rights and well-being under a second administration of former Republican President Donald Trump.
"We are deeply concerned about pro-corporate policies that would drive up costs, put people out of work, endanger people's lives, and make it harder for working people to get ahead," the AFL-CIO—which endorsed Biden last year—said in a statement. "For unions, this agenda would make it tougher for members to win gains in our next contracts and stack the deck in favor of CEOs."
Trump has recently tried to distance himself from Project 2025 and appeal to working-class voters by announcing Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) as his running mate and inviting International Brotherhood of Teamsters general president Sean O'Brien's to speak at this week's Republican National Convention—but progressives and labor advocates are calling "bullshit."
The AFL-CIO guide highlights how Project 2025 would "be catastrophic for working people," including by:
- Banning unions for public service workers (page 82);
- Firing civil service workers and replacing them with Trump anti-union loyalists (page 80);
- Letting bosses eliminate unions mid-contract (page 603);
- Letting companies stop paying overtime (page 592) and allowing states to opt out of federal overtime and minimum wage laws (page 605);
- Eliminating child labor protections (page 595); and
- Urging Congress to pass Sen. JD Vance's bill to let employers create their own sham company-run unions (page 599).
"In his first term as president, Donald Trump was a disaster for workers and our unions, governing exclusively for the wealthy and well-connected," AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler said in a statement Thursday.
"The Trump Project 2025 Agenda lays out his plan to turbocharge his anti-worker policies, eliminate or control unions, and eviscerate labor laws and workers' contracts," she continued. "A second Trump term would put everything we've fought for—good jobs, fair wages, healthcare, retirement security, worker safety—on the chopping block.
"This new online tool is an essential part of our massive voter education campaign to reach every union household with critical information about the stakes of this election," Shuler added. "Union voters could be the difference-makers in this election, and the AFL-CIO and affiliated unions have a plan to mobilize tens of thousands of grassroots activists across every community to get the message out and vote."
"Union voters could be the difference-makers in this election."
While Trump has dubiously attempted to distance himself from the far-right Project 2025 by claiming he knows "nothing" about it or "who is behind it," at least 140 people who worked in his administration helped draft the initiative's policy document, according to a CNN review.
Furthermore, Trump's campaign has
acknowledged that Agenda 47, "the only official comprehensive and detailed look at what President Trump will do if he returns to the White House," aligns well with Project 2025. According to a survey published last week by the progressive messaging firm Navigator Research, a majority of Americans believe that Project 2025 represents what Trump stands for.
During his rambling Republican National Convention speech accepting the GOP nomination Thursday night, Trump—during whose tenure the offshoring of U.S. jobs increased—said United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain should lose his job for letting automakers build factories in countries including Mexico.
"The United Auto Workers ought to be ashamed for allowing this to happen, and the leader of the United Auto Workers should be fired immediately and every single autoworker, union and nonunion, should be voting for Donald Trump, because we're going to bring back car manufacturing and we're going to bring it back fast," Trump said.
UAW—which
endorsed Biden in January—hit back on social media, calling Trump a "scab and a billionaire."
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8 More Democrats in Congress Urge Biden to Step Aside
"It is now time for you to pass the torch to a new generation of Democratic leaders," four congressmen said in a joint statement. "We must defeat Donald Trump to save our democracy."
Jul 19, 2024
Seven Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives and one senator on Friday added their voices to growing calls for President Joe Biden to step aside as the party's candidate to face former Republican President Donald Trump in the November election.
"Our country faces an existential threat this November," Congressman Sean Casten (D-Ill.) wrote in a Chicago Tribune opinion piece. "In the conversations I've had with the folks it is my privilege to represent, there is tremendous fear about this moment. People wonder whether our nation—and indeed, our world—can survive another Trump administration."
"If the upcoming election is a referendum on past performance, future promises, and character, I have every confidence Biden would win," Casten continued. "But politics, like life, isn't fair. And as long as this election is instead litigated over which candidate is more likely to be held accountable for public gaffes and 'senior moments,' I believe that Biden is not only going to lose but is also uniquely incapable of shifting that conversation."
"It is with a heavy heart and much personal reflection that I am therefore calling on Biden to pass the torch to a new generation," he added. "To manage an exit with all the dignity and decency that has guided his half-century of public service. To cement his legacy as the president who saved our democracy in 2020 and handed it off to trusted hands in 2024 who could carry his legacy forward."
Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) on Friday explained his new call for Biden to step aside in a series of posts on X, while Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) released a lengthy statement, which was dated for Thursday.
Four other House Democrats—Reps. Jesús G. "Chuy" García (Ill.), Jared Huffman (Calif.), Mark Pocan (Wis.), and Marc Veasey (Texas)—issued a joint statement urging 81-year-old Biden to withdraw from the presidential contest.
"Mr. President, with great admiration for you personally, sincere respect for your decades of public service and patriotic leadership, and deep appreciation for everything we have accomplished together during your presidency, it is now time for you to pass the torch to a new generation of Democratic leaders," they said. "We must defeat Donald Trump to save our democracy, protect our alliances and the rules-based international order, and continue building on the strong foundation you have established over the past few years."
"We must face the reality that widespread public concerns about your age and fitness are jeopardizing what should be a winning campaign. These perceptions may not be fair, but they have hardened in the aftermath of last month's debate and are now unlikely to change," they warned. "We believe the most responsible and patriotic thing you can do in this moment is to step aside as our nominee while continuing to lead our party from the White House."
Since the debate, Biden has faced public and reported private pressure to "pass the torch" from a growing number of Democratic lawmakers, public figures, and organizers. Many of the members of Congress have been white "moderates," while leading progressives including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have stuck with the president.
"Democrats have a deep and talented bench of younger leaders, led by Vice President Kamala Harris, who you have lifted up, empowered, and prepared for this moment."
Notably, García, Huffman, and Pocan are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. García is also part of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus—whose political arm formally endorsed Biden on Friday morning. Veasey is the first member of the Congressional Black Caucus to openly urge the president to step aside.
"Democrats have a deep and talented bench of younger leaders, led by Vice President Kamala Harris, who you have lifted up, empowered, and prepared for this moment," the four congressmen said. Polling released Friday by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about 6 in 10 Democrats believe Harris would do a good job as president.
"Passing the torch would fundamentally change the trajectory of the campaign. It would reinvigorate the race and infuse Democrats with enthusiasm and momentum heading into our convention next month," they concluded. "Mr. President, you have always been our country and our values first. We call on you to do it once again, so that we can come together and save the country we love."
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) similarly argued in a Friday statement urging Biden to exit the race that "by passing the torch, he would secure his legacy as one of our nation's greatest leaders and allow us to unite behind a candidate who can best defeat Donald Trump and safeguard the future of our democracy."
After surviving an assassination attempt last weekend, Trump this week announced Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) as his running mate and formally accepted the GOP nomination in a long, rambly speech at the Republican National Conventional in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The Democratic National Convention is planned for August 19-22 in Chicago, Illinois, but the party is planning a "virtual roll call" among delegates to nominate Biden—who is currently isolating in Delaware due to a Covid-19 infection—before the event. Biden said Friday that he plans to be back on the campaign trail next week.
Heinrich is the third Senate Democrat to push Biden to withdraw, following Sen. John Tester (D-Mont.) on Thursday and Sen. Peter Welch (Vt.) last week. They are joined by over 20 other House members and various other current and former officials.
There is also the newly launched Pass the Torch campaign and fresh calls from the Step Aside Joe campaign sponsored by RootsAction.org, which started urging Biden to not seek reelection long before last month's disastrous debate.
"Twenty months ago, just after the 2022 midterm elections, we launched a campaign for Joe Biden to voluntarily be a one-term president, and the Step Aside Joe campaign has continued to urge that realism prevail over wishful thinking," the initiative said in a statement Friday. "As our country has faced the extremist Republican threat, we have persisted in pointing out that the Democratic Party needs a much stronger standard-bearer than Biden, someone capable of articulating a popular vision that could galvanize a solid electoral majority."
"It's sad, in fact tragic, that the party leadership has waited until just the last few days to publicly acknowledge what has long been apparent: Biden is unable to speak effectively or act decisively to counter the MAGA movement," the campaign added. "It shouldn't have taken a thoroughly disastrous debate performance to set off alarm bells. Long overdue, Biden's withdrawal from the 2024 race can open up vital possibilities that his candidacy has foreclosed."
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