Category: US Politics

Evidence of Russian malware found on Vermont utility computer

As if tension between the United States and Russia wasn’t already high enough , government officials recently disclosed that they’ve found evidence of Russian malware on a computer belonging to a Vermont utility company. Burlington Electric Department , an electric utility provider in Burlington, Vermont, said in a press release last Friday that the Department of Homeland Security alerted US-based utilities of a malware code used in a Russian hacking campaign dubbed Grizzly Steppe.

US states, leery of Russia malware, re-examine cybersecurity

Several states around the country on Saturday asked cybersecurity experts to re-examine state and utility networks after a Vermont utility’s laptop was found to contain malware U.S. officials say is linked to Russian hackers. The Burlington Electric Department, one of Vermont’s two largest electric utilities, confirmed Friday it had found on one of its laptops the malware code used in Grizzly Steppe, the name the U.S. government has given to malicious cyber activity by Russian civilian and military intelligence services.

Obama leaves Trump with difficult decision on Russian hacking sanctions

President Barack Obama is forcing his successor Donald Trump into a difficult choice: reverse the sanctions the departing president just imposed on Russia for hacking the U.S. election or put at risk his campaign vow to improve relations with Vladimir Putin. Hours after Obama imposed penalties on Russian agencies, individuals and companies and ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian operatives Thursday, Trump issued a terse statement far milder than his previous assertions that Democratic emails may well have been stolen and leaked by “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.”

GOP Joe Walsh Claims ‘Many’ Fox People Think Obama’s A Muslim

Deadbeat dad former Congressman Joe Walsh , who has denigrated double-amputee Tammy Duckworth’s war record despite never bothering to serve his country himself, went on quite the Twitter rant today accusing President Obama of being a Muslim.From Walsh’s Twitter feed : For the past week, everybody has been asking again why Obama hates Israel. The answer is simple really: I think Obama is Muslim.

U.S. Said to Plan Release of Evidence Showing Russian Hacking

The FBI and Homeland Security Department will release a report Thursday with technical evidence intended to prove Russia’s military and civilian intelligence services were behind hacking attacks during this year’s presidential campaign, according to a U.S. official. The documentation will be offered in tandem with sanctions that the Obama administration announced Thursday in retaliation for the breach of Democratic National Committee e-mails as Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump were campaigning for the White House.

Trump Says He’ll Weigh Intelligence Findings on Russian Hacking

President-elect Donald Trump said he’ll meet next week with U.S. intelligence officials to discuss their findings that Russia hacked Democratic Party e-mails to meddle in the 2016 election, signaling a possible shift from his previous dismissals of Russian involvement. In his first statement following President Barack Obama’s action on Thursday to sanction Russian intelligence officials and agencies for the hacking, Trump released a statement, saying, “It’s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things.

Trump Says He’ll Weigh Intelligence Findings on Russian Hacking

President-elect Donald Trump said he’ll meet next week with U.S. intelligence officials to discuss their findings that Russia hacked Democratic Party e-mails to meddle in the 2016 election, signaling a possible shift from his previous dismissals of Russian involvement. In his first statement following President Barack Obama’s action on Thursday to sanction Russian intelligence officials and agencies for the hacking, Trump released a statement, saying, “It’s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things.

The US just imposed sanctions on Russia over election hacks

President Barack Obama’s administration has imposed sanctions on Russia’s two top intelligence services and it’s ejected 35 Russian intelligence officials from the US. This is in response to Russia’s repeated , documented hacks of the US election system throughout 2016, and it marks the strongest-ever American response to a state-sponsored cyber attack, The New York Times reports.

2016: Top 26 photos that went viral on the Internet

The year 2016 has indeed proved to be a year in which what happened on social media dominated discussions in the public arena and vice-versa. It also emerged as the year when social media activism reached its highest point so far with innocent animals being rescued because of the good Samaritans present in the web space.

Planned Parenthood focus groups suggest that lack of…

Two weeks ago, Planned Parenthood convened six small focus groups, each in a swing state, and asked voters who had cast ballots for Donald Trump what they thought of abortion rights. The first half of the conversations found these voters reluctantly supportive of Trump, with some nagging worries about how he’d govern.

Planned Parenthood focus groups suggest that lack of…

Two weeks ago, Planned Parenthood convened six small focus groups, each in a swing state, and asked voters who had cast ballots for Donald Trump what they thought of abortion rights. The first half of the conversations found these voters reluctantly supportive of Trump, with some nagging worries about how he’d govern.

Donald Trump’s Misguided “Thank You Tour”

In this season of holiday giving, president-elect Donald Trump is apparently in the spirit and doing his part. Trump recently embarked on what he’s calling his “Thank You Tour,” which is intended to show his appreciation to voters in battleground states for helping to elect him president.

Donald Trump’s Misguided “Thank You Tour”

In this season of holiday giving, president-elect Donald Trump is apparently in the spirit and doing his part. Trump recently embarked on what he’s calling his “Thank You Tour,” which is intended to show his appreciation to voters in battleground states for helping to elect him president.

Putin congratulates Trump as he denies meddling in US election

Vladimir Putin has praised Donald Trump for “keenly” gauging public sentiment in order to win the US election, and denied White House claims that Russia had meddled with the vote. Speaking during a marathon end-of-year news conference, Russian president Mr Putin said he sees “nothing unusual” in Mr Trump’s pledge to strengthen the US nuclear forces, saying the statement was in line with the president-elect’s campaign promises.

Trump, in day of tweets, suggests major changes on…

President-elect Donald Trump takes a question from a member of the media at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Fla., on Dec. 21, 2016. Trump on Thursday abruptly called for the United States to “greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability” until the rest of the world “comes to its senses” regarding nuclear weapons.

Marco Rubio wants CRTC Super Bowl ad decision reversed by BJ Siekierski

Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson have written a letter to Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. David MacNaughton asking the Canadian government to reverse the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s 2015 decision to ban the simultaneous substitution of the 2017 Super Bowl broadcast. “The NFL and its Canadian broadcast partner have a business relationship that is based upon the ability to sell Canadian ads in the Canadian market.

Trump Transition Team: Russia Hacks And Wikileaks Had No Effect On Election

Rep. Chris Collins, the first House member who backed Donald Trump and now a member of his transition team told CNN that he believes Russia was behind the hacks, but they had no bearing on the outcome of the general election. The proof is that during the election season, Donald Trump and his surrogates relentlessly and breathlessly repeated every hacked email and unconfirmed rumor that emanated from these leaks, including many from the New York FBI field office, and never stopped hammering away at them.

Trump Transition Team: Russia Hacks And Wikileaks Had No Effect On Election

Rep. Chris Collins, the first House member who backed Donald Trump and now a member of his transition team told CNN that he believes Russia was behind the hacks, but they had no bearing on the outcome of the general election. The proof is that during the election season, Donald Trump and his surrogates relentlessly and breathlessly repeated every hacked email and unconfirmed rumor that emanated from these leaks, including many from the New York FBI field office, and never stopped hammering away at them.

Trudeau Joins Obama in Freezing Arctic Offshore Oil Drilling

President Barack Obama banned new offshore oil and gas drilling in more than 100 million acres of the U.S. Arctic and undersea canyons in the Atlantic Ocean, a move certain to provoke a fight with the Republican-led Congress and his successor in the White House. In an announcement coordinated between two of the world’s biggest oil producers, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also committed to freeze new offshore leasing in his nation’s Arctic waters and review the matter every five years.

Obama Said to Use 1953 Law to Restrict Offshore Oil Drilling

President Barack Obama is preparing to block the sale of new offshore drilling rights in most of the U.S. Arctic and parts of the Atlantic, a move that could indefinitely restrict oil production there, according to people familiar with the decision. Obama will invoke a provision in a 1953 law that gives him wide latitude to withdraw U.S. waters from future oil and gas leasing, said the people who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been announced.

Kellyanne Conway questions Obama’s motives on response to Russia hack

Kellyanne Conway, a top adviser to Donald Trump, questioned Sunday President Obama’s motives for choosing to respond against Russia over cyber attacks into Democratic party systems. Asked on CBS’ “Face the Nation” whether the president-elect approved of Mr. Obama’s call to take action against Russia because of the Kremlin-directed hacked, Conway said Mr. Trump “respects” the decision.

A cabal of elites elects the president. But our founders preferred…

This Oct. 28, 2008, file photo from Glenburn, Maine, shows sportswear bearing the name of a college that doesn’t exist: the Electoral College This Oct. 28, 2008, file photo from Glenburn, Maine, shows sportswear bearing the name of a college that doesn’t exist: the Electoral College American presidential elections are generally orderly affairs. People vote, somebody wins and life goes on.

An Empire Unrealized for Want of a Spam Filter

The Wall Street Journal has an apparently interesting report today about Russian attempts to hack the Republican National Committee, at the same time that they were successfully hacking the DNC. I write “apparently” because I’m too cheap to have a WSJ online subscription, so I’ll share the summary from New York magazine : Russian hackers tried and failed to infiltrate the Republican National Committee earlier this year by sending a series of phishing emails to a single employee, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Mourners remember life, career of US astronaut John Glenn

Mourners marked a final day of remembrances for groundbreaking astronaut John Glenn on Saturday , as the body of the first American to orbit Earth set out for a memorial service expected to be packed to capacity. The casket of John Glenn is carried out of the Ohio Statehouse by Marines during his funeral procession on Dec 17, 2016, in Columbus, Ohio.

Trump has been lying about the Russian hack. He just accidentally admitted it himself.

In recent days, Donald Trump has been spinning a new narrative about CIA charges of Russian interference in our election: The administration did not leak the news of this finding until after Trump won, which shows this is just an after-the-fact effort to undercut the significance of his victory over Hillary Clinton. As Trump tweeted Thursday : “If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?” This is not some small offhand remark.

Trump is delivering on his promise to be unpredictable on foreign…

President-elect Donald Trump’s telephone call with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen was a prime example of his unpredictability, a strategy that carries a lot of risk, foreign policy experts say. President-elect Donald Trump’s telephone call with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen was a prime example of his unpredictability, a strategy that carries a lot of risk, foreign policy experts say.

Hero-astronaut John Glenn to lie in state in Ohio

John Glenn’s original jumpsuit he wore during his orbit around the earth aboard the Friendship 7 scapecraft is displayed alongside a photograph of the astronaut at the John & Annie Glenn Museum, Friday, Dec. 9, 2016, in New Concord, Ohio. Glenn, whose 1962 flight as the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth made him an all-American hero and propelled him to a long career in the U.S. Senate, died Thursday.