Cyberattack on massive U.S. energy pipeline sparks state of emergency

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The GOP faces a reckoning this week. Ahead of Wednesday's vote on Liz Cheney's future in party leadership, two Republican governors—Larry Hogan of Maryland and Spencer Cox of Utah—warned of the dangers of a "circular firing squad," in which voices of dissent within the party are silenced. House Republicans don't appear to be listening however. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has indicated his support for replacing Cheney with Elise Stefanik, a once well-respected congresswoman who made a baffling turn toward Trumpism over the past two years and objected to the Electoral College results after the Jan. 6 insurrection. Buckle up. It's sure to be an interesting week, with ramifications for the party that will last well into the future. —Melissa Amour, Managing Editor

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** 'The most significant, successful attack on energy infrastructure'
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Less than six months after a major cyberattack on the federal government and U.S. companies, a ransomware attack on a key U.S. pipeline on Friday night forced the Biden Administration to declare a regional state of emergency to keep fuel supply lines open. Colonial Pipeline, which was targeted in the attack, carries 45% of fuel supplies in the eastern U.S. Some 5,500 miles of pipeline have been shut down in response to the attack. ([link removed])
* — While gasoline and diesel prices aren't expected to be impacted if pipeline operations resume in the next few days, fuel suppliers are becoming "increasingly nervous" about possible shortages. Colonial said its main fuel lines remain offline, but some smaller lines between terminals and delivery points are now operational. ([link removed])
*
* — Commerce Sec. Gina Raimondo said there's an "all hands on deck" effort to resume operations. "We are working closely with the company, state, and local officials, to make sure that they get back up to normal operations as quickly as possible and there aren’t disruptions in supply." ([link removed])
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* — Once everything is back online, big questions remain: who was responsible, how will they be held accountable, and most importantly, how can the nation's energy infrastructure be secured to prevent a larger-impact event. Stay tuned. —Axios ([link removed])

MORE: FBI suspects criminal group in Colonial Pipeline hack —The Wall Street Journal ([link removed])


** 'Turning the corner' on Covid
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Jeff Zients, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, is confident that the U.S. now has the upper hand in the battle against the coronavirus. "I would say we are turning the corner. We now have, as of this morning, 58% of adult Americans with at least one shot, over 110 million Americans fully vaccinated," Zients said yesterday. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, is equally optimistic. He said yesterday that the U.S. is unlikely to see a surge of COVID-19 infections over the fall and winter like it did last year, pointing to the widespread availability of vaccines as a "game-changer" that would prevent future surges. Woohoo! — ([link removed]) The Hill ([link removed])

MORE: Fauci says face masks could become seasonal after Covid pandemic —CNBC ([link removed])


** Friedman: Covid lays bare the price of populism
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"As populism has experienced a resurgence in recent years, many have focused on the hazards the ideology poses to democratic systems. But today's complex and highly technical global threats—pandemics, climate change, cyberattacks, financial crises—that demand technocratic solutions have driven home a grim reality: Populism can place us all at risk." —Uri Friedman in The Atlantic ([link removed])

Uri Friedman is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and managing editor at the Atlantic Council.

MORE: 'You’ve got to shut down,' Biden's chief medical adviser tells the Indian government —Quartz India ([link removed])


** Social media: The great divider
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Most Americans admit they use social media at least once a day, but they also believe platforms like Facebook and Twitter are doing more harm than good. A new national poll from NBC News shows that 64% of Americans think social media platforms do more to divide us than bring us together—a majority that crosses ideologies, race, and age. Among daily social media users, 49% say social media platforms make their lives better, while 37% say they make their lives worse. Democrats, women, and college graduates are more likely to say that social media improves their lives. —NBC News ([link removed])

MORE: Pew Report shows state of social media in 2021 —Business 2 Community ([link removed])
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** Farmer, Goldenberg & Langston: Fight disinfo locally
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"Local officials remain the most trusted government officials. To retain that status, they must recognize the threat posed by today's toxic information environment. Local officials, working with business and community leaders, must rebuild the public's trust that the information government provides is accurate, timely, and truthful. No amount of spin can disinfect the information environment. In confronting mis- and disinformation as it propagates across social media platforms, local governments that invest in telling the truth and debunking falsity in every form will be our best hope for a lasting inoculation." —John Farmer, Paul Goldenberg & Linda Langston on ([link removed]) NJ Spotlight News ([link removed])

John Farmer is director of the Rutgers University Eagleton Institute of Politics and the Miller Center for Community Protection and Resilience. He is the former attorney general of New Jersey and chief counsel to Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. Paul Goldenberg is a senior fellow with Rutgers University Miller Center for Community Protection and Resilience and senior adviser to the Network Contagion Research Institute. He previously served in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Linda Langston is a former local elected official in Iowa who served as president of the National Association of Counties and on FEMA's National Advisory Council.


** Focus on the Arizona recount
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There is no evidence that President Biden's win in Arizona's presidential election in November was the result of fraud. The Republicans who dominate the Maricopa Co. Board of Supervisors, which supervised the election, said it was fair and accurate. Nevertheless, 16 Republicans in the State Senate voted in December to subpoena and audit the ballots from the large county, which includes Phoenix, to show those convinced of fraud that their concerns were taken seriously. It’s been a dumpster fire, to put it nicely. ([link removed])
* — Officials said the review would be completed by May 14. But so far, only about 250,000 of the county's 2.1 million ballots have been processed. At that rate, the hand recount will not be finished until August. But the delay is the least of critics' worries about an exercise they say is wrecking voters' confidence in elections, not restoring it. ([link removed])

* — "A significant departure from standard best practices." Echoing the Justice Department, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs charged last week that the auditor, Cyber Ninjas, is using uncertified equipment and unstandardized ballot-counting procedures. Gov. Doug Ducey has since ordered police protection for Hobbs, who received death threats as a result. ([link removed])
*
* — "It makes us look like idiots," State Sen. Paul Boyer, a Republican from suburban Phoenix who voted for the audit, said on Friday. "Looking back, I didn't think it would be this ridiculous. It's embarrassing to be a state senator at this point." —The New York Times ([link removed])

MORE: How an obscure Texas security company helped convince Americans the 2020 election was stolen —The Washington Post ([link removed])


** Sargent: Is it cowardice or something more sinister?
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"[D]escribing Republicans as 'cowards' who 'fear Trump' casts their machinations as mere reluctant efforts to cope with externally imposed circumstances they'd prefer not to be dealing with. This lets Republicans off the hook in a very fundamental way. It risks misleading the country about the true depths of GOP radicalization—and the real dangers it poses." —Greg Sargent in The Washington Post ([link removed])

Greg Sargent is a columnist at The Washington Post and the author of "An Uncivil War: Taking Back Our Democracy in an Age of Trumpian Disinformation and Thunderdome Politics."

MORE: As Texas voting restrictions near passage, Democrats stage protest —The New York Times ([link removed])

The America I grew up in was building the interstate highway system, figuring out how to send a man to the moon, and developing the technology that created the internet. I was taught we were all part of a great melting pot, where in a classless society, we all had an equal chance to climb the ladder of success, and we try our best to live by the Golden Rule.

There were problems, but we continued our efforts to create a more perfect union. We all came from different places, but we shared a common belief and faith in our government. We were citizens of the greatest country in the world. Citizens pay their taxes, help those less fortunate, do not flush their toilet in their neighbors' drinking water or throw their garbage in the street, and never spit in the subway.

The America I grew up in was upwardly mobile, and mailroom to boardroom was an achievable goal. We always moved forward. We sent a man to the moon, and there were solar panels on the White House. The companies expected, encouraged, and paid for their employees to take advantage of every opportunity to grow and advance personally and professionally.

The America I grew up in began to change in the 1980s. The shareholders' profits became more important than the employees, R&D, and CapEx. We were told that our government, our common bond, what binds us together, is our enemy. For the last 40 years, people have been taught to see themselves not as citizens but as taxpayers. If you see yourself as a taxpayer, it is easy to believe you are the victim of the welfare queens, young bucks, illegal immigrants, and all those lazy people who live off your tax dollars. As you become more resentful and angrier, you lose empathy for your fellow citizens, and feed the selfish "I did it on my own" attitude that has poisoned this country for decades.

The reason this country is exceptional is because of our government. Since the Erie Canal, our government has made the investments that drive economic development and expansion. Capitalism will fill all the rungs of the ladder; the government's role is to ensure the bottom rungs are treated with dignity and respect. Jeff Bezos and Reed Hastings had transformative ideas that could not exist without a government agency, the USPS. Walmart and FedEx did not build the interstate highway system. That is a fact, not the liberal answer.

The weepy billionaire, the coffee guy, the CNBC show host who calls the Democrats "communists" have all forgotten that generations of Americans before them paid their taxes and worked hard to build the civil and physical infrastructure that allowed the future generations to achieve their pursuit of happiness. Everything Trump said in 2015 I have heard from self-identified conservative Republican friends, relatives, and acquaintances for the last 20+ years. Trump says the quiet words out loud, and that is why they love him.

The Supreme Court has been tainted by politics driven by dark money; soybeans, cows, and corporations have more political representation than citizens in Washington, D.C. William Barr and his buddies came sooo close to creating an autocratic theocracy. Unfortunately, I believe if the Democrats lose power in 2022, that will be the end of our already marginal democracy. —David F., New Jersey
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** The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.
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