steve2470
steve2470's JournalThe Plot to Subvert an Election: Unraveling the Russia Story So Far
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/09/20/us/politics/russia-interference-election-trump-clinton.htmlON AN OCTOBER AFTERNOON BEFORE THE 2016 ELECTION, a huge banner was unfurled from the Manhattan Bridge in New York City: Vladimir V. Putin against a Russian-flag background, and the unlikely word “Peacemaker” below. It was a daredevil happy birthday to the Russian president, who was turning 64.
In November, shortly after Donald J. Trump eked out a victory that Moscow had worked to assist, an even bigger banner appeared, this time on the Arlington Memorial Bridge in Washington: the face of President Barack Obama and “Goodbye Murderer” in big red letters.
Police never identified who had hung the banners, but there were clues. The earliest promoters of the images on Twitter were American-sounding accounts, including @LeroyLovesUSA, later exposed as Russian fakes operated from St. Petersburg to influence American voters.
The Kremlin, it appeared, had reached onto United States soil in New York and Washington. The banners may well have been intended as visual victory laps for the most effective foreign interference in an American election in history.
much more at link
Funny animal videos, in case you need to laugh or smile 😀🐱🏍🐱👓🐱👤😹🐵🐶🐹🐰
Senator Claire McCaskill, D-MO: "I will vote no on Judge Kavanaugh."
https://twitter.com/clairecmc/status/1042548533952430081Debunking 5 Viral Rumors About Christine Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh's Accuser
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/19/us/politics/christine-blasey-ford-kavanaughs-fact-check.htmlTo obey DU copyright rules, I'm just going to give the BS RUMORS with no text. All the RUMORS are false or misleading.
1- Claim: Dr. Blasey’s students left negative reviews on her RateMyProfessors.com profile, calling her “unprofessional” and citing her “dark” personality.
2- Claim: Judge Kavanaugh’s mother once ruled against Dr. Blasey’s parents in a foreclosure case.
3- Claim: Dr. Blasey made similar sexual assault accusations against Justice Neil Gorsuch during his nomination process.
4- Claim: Dr. Blasey is a major Democratic donor with a long history of left-wing activism.
5- Claim: Dr. Blasey’s brother worked at a law firm with ties to the Russia investigation.
So now when you get a nutty email or see a strange Facebook post, you're prepared for it.
NewEgg cracked in breach, hosted card-stealing code within its own checkout
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/09/newegg-hit-by-credit-card-stealing-code-injected-into-shopping-code/The popular computer and electronics Web retailer NewEgg has apparently been hit by the same payment-data-stealing attackers who targeted TicketMaster UK and British Airways. The attackers, referred to by researchers as Magecart, managed to inject 15 lines of JavaScript into NewEgg's webstore checkout that forwarded credit card and other data to a server with a domain name that made it look like part of NewEgg's Web infrastructure. It appears that all Web transactions over the past month were affected by the breach.
Details of the breach were reported by the security research firms RiskIQ (which exposed the code behind the British Airways attack) and Volexity Threat Research today. The attack was shut down by NewEgg on September 18, but it appears to have been actively siphoning off payment data since August 16, according to reports from the security researchers. Yonathan Klijnsma, head researcher at RiskIQ, said that the methods and code used are virtually identical to the attack on British Airways—while the Ticketmaster breach was caused by code injected from a third-party service provider, both the BA breach and the NewEgg attack were the result of a compromise of JavaScript libraries hosted by the companies themselves.
The domain used by the attack, neweggstats.com, was hosted on a server at the Dutch hosting provider WorldStream and had a certificate. The domain was registered through Namecheap on August 13, using a registration privacy protection company in Panama. The domain's TLS certificate was purchased through Comodo on the same day. The Comodo certificate was likely the most expensive part of the attackers' infrastructure.
Starting on August 16, code on NewEgg's checkout page—specifically "CheckoutStep2.aspx," the ASP.NET-based payment page served up by NewEgg's shopping cart system—included 15 lines of JavaScript that watched for a click on the payment button and submitted the entire form to the remote server. "The initial event methods binded to the button btnCreditCard allow for all data captured to be submitted to the attacker-specified destination when a mouse button is released, as well as when a touch screen has been pressed and released," the researchers from Volexity noted—meaning that the code allowed the attack to work both for computers and mobile devices.
*end of excerpt*
Oh God....I hope I hope I wasn't affected. Off to newegg.com I go.
eta: Phew I'm safe, my last order was ONE day before the attack.
So much respect for Charles Blow
He spoke very openly and passionately about his own childhood sexual abuse. That took guts. He also talked about it in his book, he said. This was on Cuomo's CNN show.
His overarching point was that the Republicans need to slow down and consider Dr. Ford's needs carefully.
Trump's attorney Sekulow trying to say that Sessions' recusal was improper
Chris Cuomo pulled up the relevant CFR and Sekulow still claims it was improper, saying the timing was wrong.
Fucking liar. He knows the recusal was proper.
eta: 28 CFR 45.2
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/28/45.2
(a) Unless authorized under paragraph (b) of this section, no employee shall participate in a criminal investigation or prosecution if he has a personal or political relationship with:
(1) Any person or organization substantially involved in the conduct that is the subject of the investigation or prosecution; or
(2) Any person or organization which he knows has a specific and substantial interest that would be directly affected by the outcome of the investigation or prosecution.
(b) An employee assigned to or otherwise participating in a criminal investigation or prosecution who believes that his participation may be prohibited by paragraph (a) of this section shall report the matter and all attendant facts and circumstances to his supervisor at the level of section chief or the equivalent or higher. If the supervisor determines that a personal or political relationship exists between the employee and a person or organization described in paragraph (a) of this section, he shall relieve the employee from participation unless he determines further, in writing, after full consideration of all the facts and circumstances, that:
(1) The relationship will not have the effect of rendering the employee's service less than fully impartial and professional; and
(2) The employee's participation would not create an appearance of a conflict of interest likely to affect the public perception of the integrity of the investigation or prosecution.
(c) For the purposes of this section:
(1)Political relationship means a close identification with an elected official, a candidate (whether or not successful) for elective, public office, a political party, or a campaign organization, arising from service as a principal adviser thereto or a principal official thereof; and
(2)Personal relationship means a close and substantial connection of the type normally viewed as likely to induce partiality. An employee is presumed to have a personal relationship with his father, mother, brother, sister, child and spouse. Whether relationships (including friendships) of an employee to other persons or organizations are “personal” must be judged on an individual basis with due regard given to the subjective opinion of the employee.
(d) This section pertains to agency management and is not intended to create rights enforceable by private individuals or organizations.
[Order No. 993-83, 48 FR 2319, Jan. 19, 1983. Redesignated at 61 FR 59815, Nov. 25, 1996]
Lawmaker says U.S. Senate staff targeted by state-backed hackers
Source: AP
Foreign government hackers continue to target the personal accounts of U.S. senators and their aides — and the Senate's security office has refused to defend them, a lawmaker says.
Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, said in a Wednesday letter to Senate leaders that his office discovered that "at least one major technology company" has warned an unspecified number of senators and aides that their personal accounts were "targeted by foreign government hackers." Similar methods were employed by Russian military agents who used them to influence the 2016 elections.
Wyden did not specify the timing of the notifications, but a Senate staffer said they occurred "in the last few weeks or months." The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.
But the senator said the Office of the Sergeant at Arms , which oversees Senate security, informed legislators and staffers that it has no authority to help secure personal, rather than official, accounts. A spokeswoman for the office said it would have no comment.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/lawmaker-says-u-s-senate-staff-targeted-state-backed-hackers-n911256
Brennan: FBI Has "Obligation" To Circumvent Trump, Took Constitutional Oath To United States
Source: Real Clear Politics
Former CIA director and MSNBC contributor John Brennan called on FBI director Christopher Wray, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to "push back" on any directive from the White House that may have a "negative impact" on the Mueller investigation.
Brennan called on "individuals of conscience" in the administration to remember that they took an oath of office not an oath to Donald Trump. Moments prior Brennan admonished people who are abusing their powers to "protect" Trump.
"I think that they should continue to push, push, push, and if Mr. Trump and the White House does not relent, then they have some decisions to make, and whether or not they are going to the just not follow that direction and be fired or to resign," Brennan said of the trio.
"A number of individuals are trying to protect Mr. Trump and abusing their authorities and their powers, whether it be in Congress or within the executive branch," Brennan said on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports. "And this is something that I am hoping that individuals of conscience are going to stop and prevent because I am concerned that this is just one indication that Mr. Trump is going to increasingly look for steps to take in order to further to try to subvert the Mueller investigation."
Read more: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/09/19/brennan_fbi_has_obligation_to_circumvent_trump_constitutional_oath_to_united_states.html
Flake Rebukes Trump Jr. for Mocking Kavanaugh's Accuser
Source: Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) -- Senator Jeff Flake called out Donald Trump Jr. for making fun of the sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh by comparing it to a grade-school crush.
“This is sickening. No one should make light of this situation,” the Arizona Republican tweeted on Wednesday, including a photo from Trump Jr.’s earlier Instagram post, which is a note in childlike handwriting that says: “Will you be my girlfriend, Love Bret.” The note includes boxes to check for “yes” or “no.”
This is sickening. No one should make light of this situation. pic.twitter.com/G7rlT3IKTQ
— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) September 19, 2018
Read more: https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Flake-Rebukes-Trump-Jr-for-Mocking-Kavanaugh-s-13242334.php
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