In the first half, social justice gadfly and election transparency activist John Brakey and researcher Tim White discussed how publicly verified elections could be used to secure the will of the people for generations to come. While the secrecy of an individual voter's ballot is crucial, the counting of the votes should be a public and transparent process, the two concurred. The introduction of computerized aspects to voting tabulations in recent years opened the door to the possibility of localized or widespread fraud, tampering, or hacking. Most fraud committed in the US is committed by insiders, added Brakey. But now, there's a digital solution to help prevent election fraud and allow for the detection of malfeasance in voting systems.
The so-called "Brakey Method" involves preserving and making public "ballot images" which are already created by modern voting systems. Each ballot image is associated with a unique ID number (though the identity of the voter remains anonymous), and these could then be posted online as a public record open for inspection. Following this procedure, we could have thousands of citizens across the country "crowd auditing" election results, said White, offering a new level of verification and transparency. For more info, view their paper: Publicly Verified Elections are Key to De-Corrupting Our Democracy!
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One of the most experienced and sought-after meditation teachers in America, Bob Roth, has taught Transcendental Meditation to thousands of people over the last 40 years. He spoke about different types of meditation and the many benefits a person can accrue by committing to a practice, such as enhancing the brain, and lowering one's stress and blood pressure. Working with the David Lynch Foundation, Roth has sought to "normalize" and demystify the practice, which he believes is for everyone from a truck driver to a physicist to a CEO. In fact, he reported that some of the most successful individuals in America practice daily meditation.
The human mind is often in the "gotta do this, gotta do that mode," and meditation can present an opportunity to step away from that. He delineated three basic types of meditation: focus (placing attention on a single thing, like the breath or a mantra), open monitoring (watching the thoughts like waves), and self-transcending (the idea that within each of us is a completely calm and peaceful level). Each of these methods has value, and accesses different brain waves, he noted, adding that meditation clears out the stress and clutter from one's mind. Bob and George also talked about Detroit, a city they both lived in at different points in their lives.
News segment guests: Lauren Weinstein, Steve Kates