Via a reader tip comes news that Chelsea Manning is going to run for the US Senate in Maryland:
Chelsea Manning
Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst convicted of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, confirmed Sunday that she’s running in Maryland for a Senate seat.
“Yup, we’re running for Senate,” Manning tweeted three days after she filed her statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission.
The tweet also included a campaign video indicating her intention to run in the 2018 Maryland Democratic primary and was followed by a tweet seeking donations to her campaign.
She is running for the seat held by two-term Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin. [Fox News]
I have a hard time believing the Democrats would allow a traitor and convicted felon like Manning to get elected to the Senate. Manning is basically a Cindy Sheehan like figure who thinks she is more important than what she really is. When Sheehan ran for Congress she was crushed by the Democrats, I expect the same thing will happen to Manning considering she has already used up her political usefulness.
It appears that the Japanese public supports Prime Minister Abe’s attempts to strengthen the defense force, modify the pacifist constitution, and take a hard-line with North Korea based on the recent election results:
Japan’s ruling coalition appeared headed to an impressive win in national elections on Sunday, in what would represent at least a partial comeback for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
A victory would boost Abe’s chances of winning another three-year term next September as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party. That could extend his premiership to 2021, giving him more time to try to win a reluctant public over to his longtime goal of revising Japan’s pacifist constitution.
In the immediate term, a victory likely means a continuation of the policies Abe has pursued in the nearly five years since he took office in December 2012 — a hard line on North Korea, close ties with Washington, including defense, as well as a super-loose monetary policy and push for nuclear energy. [Stars and Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but it looks like the “bromance” that President Trump and Prime Minister Abe have will continue.
I agree that the National Intelligence Service should not be organizing people to leave comments in support of a political party, but I doubt this had much if any effect on the election:
A newly formed investigative team in the National Intelligence Service (NIS) announced Thursday that the former intelligence chief, Won Sei-hoon, who served in the conservative Lee Myung-bak administration, orchestrated a smear campaign to help former President Park Geun-hye get elected.
Park ultimately won out against current President Moon Jae-in by a small margin, though it is unclear how much impact the NIS had on public opinion at the time.
The team, which launched their probe last month after Moon became president in a snap election in May, has yet to mention whether it will hand over their evidence to prosecutors or formally ask them to dig deeper, which would likely affect the prosecution’s own trial with Won.
Last week, prosecutors requested a local court hand down a four-year jail term. A verdict is expected to come later this month.
The NIS team said Thursday that Won was found to have led a group of civilians from 2009 to 2012, who were ordered to post online comments slandering liberal politicians and presidential candidates. The group, according to the NIS, was funded through state coffers.
The so-called “commentary troop,” a term coined by the local media, gathered members from all over the country, said the NIS team, from office workers and CEOs to students and housekeepers.
The troop grew over the years, peaking at nearly 3,500 members in 2012 by the time Korea held its presidential election.
Their tasks ranged from tracking North Korea’s espionage attacks on the country’s most popular search engines to leaving right-leaning comments on online posts. Some 200 million won ($177,800) was collectively paid to troop members every month, according to the internal probe. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
Age was the biggest factor in SK's election. As age rises, Moon's support fades; starting w age 50, center-right candidates become majority pic.twitter.com/CWV5mgZZje
You would think the police in Seoul would have better things to do instead of arresting this guy for taking a banner down off of his home:
Police have booked an American man, 64, who works as a part-time English instructor at Hongik University, for allegedly vandalizing a presidential campaign poster.
Under Korean election law, unlawfully removing or vandalizing a political campaign poster can lead to a two-year jail term or a fine of 4 million won ($ 3,500).
Mapo Police Station said on Monday the man allegedly tried to remove a poster from the side of his house on Apr. 21. His neighbors tried to stop him but he repeatedly said “my home” and continued to dismantle the poster before being arrested.
It is unclear whether the neighbors explained clearly to the suspect that removing an election poster is against the law. The man is known to have told police he did not know it was unlawful. [Korea Times]
There is probably more to this story, but on the surface it seems if someone puts a banner on your house you should be able to take it down if you don’t want it there.
The next Presidential election will soon happen in the ROK:
Korea will elect its next president on May 9, the government said Wednesday.
Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, acting president since Park Geun-hye’s presidential impeachment on Dec. 9, 2016, hosted a cabinet meeting and endorsed the plan.
Interior Minister Hong Yun-sik held a press conference and announced the date. Election day will be designated a holiday. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
It looks like some high school students in South Korea will have the opportunity to vote in the next South Korean presidential election:
The voting age is likely to be lowered to 18 for the 2017 presidential election.
The New Conservative Party for Reform (NCPR), created by lawmakers who left the Saenuri Party, said Wednesday that it will seek to lower the voting age from 19 to 18 and apply it to the next election.
With all three opposition parties supporting an increase in the number of eligible voters, there is a high possibility that the Election Lw could be revised during an extraordinary session of the National Assembly in January.
If revised, those who are 18, currently high school students, will be able to vote in the presidential election, which could take place earlier than scheduled. [Korea Times]
A candidate running in local elections in 1952 is campaigning on a street in this photo included in a pictorial journal published by the National Archives of Korea on Oct. 27, 2015. The journal chronicles the history of Korea’s local elections starting in 1948 and includes photographs and documents obtained from U.N. archives. (Photo provided by the National Archives of Korea) (Yonhap)
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