In Other News: Georgia voting equipment breach at center of tangled tale; Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes’ path: From Yale to jail

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Georgia voting equipment breach at center of tangled tale

A breach of sensitive voting equipment data from a rural county in Georgia spilled into the public light last month when documents and emails produced in response to subpoenas revealed the involvement of high-profile supporters of former President Donald Trump. Since then, a series of revelations about what happened in Coffee County have raised questions about whether the Dominion Voting Systems machines used throughout Georgia have been compromised. The tale involves a bail bondsman, a prominent attorney tied to Trump and a cast of characters from an area that rarely draws notice from outsiders.

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes’ path: From Yale to jailOath Keepers militia group founder Stewart Rhodes was once a promising Yale Law School graduate. Rhodes was born in California and spent time in Nevada and once secured an Arizona Supreme Court clerkship. But Rhodes’ deep distrust of government and thirst for greatness led him down a different path. Rhodes built one of the country’s largest anti-government militia groups with members who’d eventually storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The 57-year-old Rhodes and four others tied to the group head to trial this week on charges of seditious conspiracy. It’s the most serious charge leveled by the Justice Department in its far-reaching prosecution of Capitol rioters.

Interview: New UN climate chief takes the fight personallyFor the United Nations’ new climate chief, the fight is personal. As a former engineer who says he knows “how to make things work and get things done,” it wasn’t just what Simon Stiell did before he became a top U.N. official, it was where. Stiell was the environment and climate resilience minister on the small island nation of Grenada until he started his job as the executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change a few weeks ago. It’s now his job to make sure the world cuts about half emissions of heat-trapping gases — which are helping trigger unprecedented frequent weather disasters — in just eight years, or as he puts it, two World Cups or two Olympics away. “Living half my life in a climate-vulnerable nation gives me a deep appreciation,” Stiell, 53, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I’ve lived through two hurricanes ( Ivan in 2004 and Emily in 2005). I’ve seen my country flattened through hurricanes. I’ve seen sea level rise around my ankles. … And I’ve also been in government finding solutions and responsible as the lead policymaker in how we build a more resilient nation with the limited resources that we have.”