Pinback
Pinback's JournalTulsi Gabbard Reused the Same Weak Password on Multiple Accounts for Years
Tulsi Gabbard Reused the Same Weak Password on Multiple Accounts for Years- Wired, May 6, 2025
https://www.wired.com/story/tulsi-gabbard-dni-weak-password/
Now the US director of national intelligence, Gabbard failed to follow basic cybersecurity practices on several of her personal accounts, leaked records reviewed by WIRED reveal.
WIRED reviewed Gabbard's passwords using databases of material leaked online created by the open-source intelligence firms District 4 Labs and Constella Intelligence. Gabbard served in Congress from 2013 to 2021, during which time she sat on the Armed Services Committee, its Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations, and the Foreign Affairs Committee, giving her access to sensitive information. Material from breaches shows that during a portion of this period, she used the same password across multiple email addresses and online accounts, in contravention of well-established best practices for online security. (There is no indication that she used the password on government accounts.)
Two collections of breached records published in 2017 (but breached at some previous unknown date), known as “combolists,” reveal a password that was used for an email account associated with her personal website; that same password, according to a combolist published in 2019, was used with her Gmail account. That same password was used, according to records dating to 2012, for Dropbox and LinkedIn accounts associated with the email address tied to her personal website. According to records dating to 2018 breaches, she also used it on a MyFitnessPal account associated with a me.com email address and an account at HauteLook, a now-defunct ecommerce site then owned by Nordstrom.
Records of these breaches have been available online for years and are accessible in commercial databases.
The password associated with all of the accounts in question includes the word “shraddha,” which appears to have personal significance to Gabbard: Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported that she had been initiated into the Science of Identity Foundation, an offshoot of the Hare Krishna movement into which she was reportedly born and which former members have accused of being a cult. Several former adherents told The Journal that they believe Gabbard received the name “Shraddha Dasi” when she was allegedly received into the group. Gabbard’s deputy chief of staff, Alexa Henning, responded to questions from The Journal at the time by posting them on X and accusing the news media of publicizing “Hinduphobic smears and other lies.”
More at link: https://www.wired.com/story/tulsi-gabbard-dni-weak-password/
Perfect choice for Director of National Intelligence!
A thought for today (Wordsmith.org)
When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus. -Turkish Proverb
- Wordsmith.org, May 5, 2025: https://wordsmith.org/words/elucidatory.html
To paraphrase Goldwater --
Extremism in the defense of vice is no liberty. And moderation in the face of extreme vice is no virtue.
Blue Line Jumps 11 Percent
An oldie but goodie -Published: June 7, 2000
“Even if you extend the blue line’s big white box back many vertical lines, you won’t find a comparably large jump,” said Milton Vogel, a senior analyst with Merrill Lynch. “That line just kept going up, up, up.”
“Given this line’s long history of jaggedness, we really should take a wait-and-see approach,” Fortune magazine associate editor Charles Reames said. “And even if this important line continues its upward pointiness, we must remember that there are other shapes, colors, numbers, and lines to consider when judging the health of the economy.”
More at link: https://theonion.com/blue-line-jumps-11-percent-1819565647/
I remember thinking we were headed for a permanent liberal majority
because of the huge number of progressive youth during the Nixon era.
What I learned later is that the battle against right-wing ideology is never finished. As people age and start to benefit more from the status quo, many choose comfort and the illusion of personal security over progress and inclusivity.
That’s why those of us who want justice and equality have to do this over and over.
I'm very good at tallying my regrets
— especially at 4 a.m.
Over the years I’ve tried to focus on gratitude for my many instances of good luck (including narrowly avoiding certain death at least four times that I can remember).
I am also grateful for all the times I dodged the temptation to do something wrong, stupid, or destructive and instead practiced restraint.
I don’t mean to hijack your thread, and I hope this response doesn’t come across as sanctimonious, but this is the way I see it.
Even the things I strongly regret missing out on could well have been disasters if I’d gotten what I wanted at the time. Not getting the girl(s) of my dreams to fall for me? Failing to pursue the hot job or go to the right school? Not traveling here or there, not learning this or that language? Sure.
But I think I agree with the writer George Saunders, who said his greatest regrets are about times he failed to be as kind as he could have been. This blog post by James Clear includes a transcript of his remarkable 2013 Syracuse University commencement speech elaborating on this thought:
https://jamesclear.com/great-speeches/failures-of-kindness-by-george-saunders
Salvadoran President Claims He Lacks Humanity To Return Wrongly Deported Man (The Onion)
Salvadoran President Claims He Lacks Humanity To Return Wrongly Deported ManApril 14, 2025
- https://theonion.com/salvadoran-president-claims-he-lacks-humanity-to-return-wrongly-deported-man/
"Use of cruelty to project a facade of strength" pretty much sums up the entire Mump administration.
Limehouse Blues - Feigenwinter-Oester-Pfammatter
Trying to time the market is always a total crapshoot
and almost always a bad idea (unless you have access to a crystal ball or a reliable fortune-teller, of course).
I agree with Post #3 in this thread by marble falls — be very cautious about realizing your losses by selling equities or exchanging funds right now. Assuming your diversification strategy is sound, it makes more sense to do very little or nothing with existing allocations in a time of extreme volatility.
But if you don’t need all your cash savings for contingencies, using at least some of the $ to buy CDs is an excellent idea, especially with interest rates still quite high. Investopedia lists several CDs with various terms yielding 4.5% or more:
https://www.investopedia.com/best-cd-rates-4770214
I like the perspective of Morningstar’s Christine Benz, always a voice of sanity and an analyst who not only is brilliant but seems like a kind person (I regularly listen to her on the Morningstar podcast The Long View):
First, what not to do: Dramatic market losses can spark real emotions (anxiety, powerlessness), and it can be tempting to take dramatic portfolio measures in response. With cash yields decent relative to recent history, the stability of money market funds or CDs might look like a tempting and reasonably profitable way to escape the cacophony of the market. You do need some liquid reserves in your portfolio (more on this in a minute), but resist the urge to shift out of stocks entirely. Such a move could buy you some short-term relief, but it will soon be replaced by another nagging worry: Is it time to get back in?
Moreover, retreating to cash only protects you from one risk—further equity losses—but it doesn’t safeguard you against other key trouble spots—specifically, inflation risk or the chance that you’ll outlive your money because your portfolio didn’t grow as much as it needed to. A better plan is to maintain a stock/bond mix that makes sense relative to your goals, life stage, and proximity to needing your money, then rebalance back to your targets periodically. A balanced asset allocation will make sense for most people approaching or in retirement, whereas a more equity-heavy mix will suit investors under 50.
- Source: What Now? An Investor’s To-Do List for Chaotic Markets, Apr 4, 2025
Much more at link: https://www.morningstar.com/portfolios/what-now-an-investors-to-do-list-chaotic-markets
April 5 posters
Hey, everybody —
I came up with a few poster ideas for Saturday. Feel free to steal and share these!
- https://ibb.co/FbfMnSZG
- https://ibb.co/39S4260F
- https://ibb.co/5WB3RqMs
- https://ibb.co/8gg0jmHH
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: GA
Home country: USA
Member since: 2002
Number of posts: 13,215