Here's what Clinton's classified emails discussed


Hillary Clinton's classified emails contain discussions of conversations with foreign diplomats, issues with embassy security and relations with countries from Russia to China.

The broad range of information that was deemed classified by the State Department — just within the emails published by the agency to date —underscores concerns that sensitive material was routinely mishandled on Clinton's private email server.

For example, Huma Abedin, Clinton's former deputy chief of staff, forwarded a summary of a high-level Sept. 2009 meeting to Clinton in which she detailed the "embassy security issues" that were discussed.

The issues had been raised by Eric Boswell, a diplomatic security official who was later forced to resign in the wake of the 2012 terror attack in Benghazi.

Abedin was frequently involved in the transmission of classified information to Clinton, emails show.

Cheryl Mills, Clinton's former chief of staff, and Jake Sullivan, former director of policy planning, also routinely sent or received classified emails from the secretary of state.

Despite her campaign's claims that Clinton was simply a "passive recipient" of classified information, a review of her emails indicates she wrote messages that are now classified.

For example, in July 2009, she discussed relations with Russia and Afghanistan with then-Deputy Secretary William Burns in an email that has been partially classified. She also discussed her travel plans with Burns over the private network.

Other classified conversations involved one of Clinton's present Democratic challengers for president: then-Sen. Jim Webb.

As Webb traveled through southeast Asia in August 2009, Clinton and Sullivan sent each other a series of emails that are now classified before deciding they should contact the Virginia senator at Clinton's request.

Another chain indicates Mills forwarded to Clinton's private address a classified summary of Webb's meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, an opposition leader in Burma.

Some emails indicate foreign leaders may have been aware of the private email system Clinton had established.

In November 2009, an aide to David Miliband, Clinton's British counterpart, sent from his "home account" a classified note from Miliband to Abedin in the hopes of it reaching Clinton's eyes only.

Abedin later passed the note to Clinton and indicated it was information Miliband "doesn't want to send through the system."

Clinton has admitted Abedin had a private account on the server now in FBI custody. Abedin has yet to hand over most of her official communications from her time at the State Department.

Abedin, Mills and Sullivan are each slated to appear before the House Select Committee on Benghazi for their role in the agency's handling of the attack. Mills and Sullivan will meet with the committee Sept. 3 and 4.


http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2570763

Most of the example I bring are not people from other religions... I understand if you haven't been through all the posts. It is a big thread. One example is post #2, or post #2336...

 

I do not believe there is such a thing as a copyrighted thread...

August 25, 2015


Trump Way Ahead in New Hampshire; Sanders Leads Clinton


Raleigh, N.C. – PPP's new New Hampshire poll finds Donald Trump in the strongest
position of any poll we've done anywhere since he entered the race. Trump laps the
Republican field with 35% to 11% for John Kasich, 10% for Carly Fiorina, 7% each for
Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, 6% for Ben Carson, 4% each for Chris Christie, Ted Cruz,
and Marco Rubio, and 3% for Rand Paul. Candidates falling outside the top ten in the
state are Rick Perry at 2%, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki, and Rick Santorum at 1%,
and Jim Gilmore, Mike Huckabee, and Bobby Jindal all at less than 1%. Everyone does
have at least one supporter on this poll.

“This is by far the best we’ve found Donald Trump doing anywhere during his entire
surge,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “If anything he just seems
to be getting stronger as the campaign rolls on.”

The candidate who's made the most cataclysmic drop is Walker- he's gone from leading
at 24% all the way down to 7% in this newest poll. Three other candidates who've seen
dramatic decreases in their support are Cruz, Huckabee, and Paul. Cruz's 10 point drop
from 14% to 4% is a little bit misleading. When we last polled the state he was still
enjoying the bump he received following his candidacy announcement. It's worse news
for Paul- he's declined 8 points from 12% to 4% but more notably he's seen a major blow
to his image. In April he had a +29 net favorability rating at 54/25. That's now dropped a
remarkable 44 points to a -15 spread at 34/49. We've found Paul under water all four
places we've polled since the Republican debate. It's a similarly bad story for Huckabeehe's
dropped from 7% to less than 1% and he's also seen his favorability go from +16 at
48/32 to -7 at 34/41. For Paul and Huckabee it's not just that other candidates are passing
them by- they are becoming increasingly unpopular themselves.

Trump's advantage over the Republican field is thorough. He leads with Tea Party voters
(44%), men (39%), independents (36%), conservatives (36%), voters who are most
concerned about electability (35%), both younger voters and seniors (at 34% with each),
evangelicals (32%), women (30%), and moderates (29%). Trump has a 56/32 favorability
rating and he also leads when you match him with the other Republican hopefuls head to
head- it's 47/39 over Ben Carson, 53/35 over Scott Walker, 53/34 over Marco Rubio, and
56/33 over Jeb Bush.


http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2015/PPP_Release_NH_82515.pdf

How Trump plans to turn gawkers into hardcore supporters







DUBUQUE, Iowa

Thousands of people are expected to stream into an events center here on the banks of the Mississippi River on Tuesday to see Donald Trump. When they do, his presidential campaign will be waiting, looking to convert casual gawkers into hardcore supporters who will cast votes for the billionaire presidential candidate in the Iowa caucuses next year…

When those voters enter the Grand River Center on Tuesday evening, they will immediately be diverted to tables where Trump’s staff will recruit them to be county precinct captains, organizers, and volunteers. It’s a huge competitive advantage in a presidential race where other Republican candidates at times struggle to attract crowds in the hundreds.


It’s another reason, beyond strong poll numbers, why Trump’s candidacy is being viewed with increasing seriousness both inside and outside Iowa, which holds one of the earliest nominating contests in 2016.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Chuck Laudner, Trump’s top organizer in Iowa, as he walked the event space with Reuters days prior to the event. “He’s drawing crowds that most candidates only get in the weeks before the general election.”

Laudner talks like a man who, after years of fighting the political wars in Iowa with a cap gun, has been handed a shoulder-fired missile launcher.

In the 2012 election, Laudner drove his pickup truck to every county in the state on behalf of Republican candidate Rick Santorum, who was running a shoestring operation. Santorum ended up pulling off a shocking first-place finish in the caucuses.

Skeptics say Trump will fade once voters turn serious about choosing a president come autumn and doubt he has the patience and fortitude to build a grassroots machine not just here but across the country.

Celebrity hasn't translated into results in past campaigns here. In the 2008 race, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson, both of whom enjoyed high name recognition, were riding high in summer polls. By the time the caucuses rolled around in January, both had fizzled.

WARPING THE RULES

But Trump’s star power and personal fortune has warped the traditional rules that govern campaigning in the state, upending the retail politics that Iowa is known for. When Trump landed his helicopter earlier this month at the Iowa State Fair, he was mobbed by a crowd in the thousands. Last week, he almost filled a sports stadium in Mobile, Alabama.

“His reach is just so far beyond what the rest of these guys can do combined,” Laudner said, referring to Trump's opponents. “It’s all new territory.”

Recent winners of the Iowa caucuses have either been campaigns with large resources and strong organizations, such as George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, or conservatives who appeal to the evangelicals in the state, such as Santorum and Mike Huckabee, who won in 2008.

Trump, like Bush, could have the potential to outspend his rivals here while also appealing to the influential right-wing. His best-funded challenger here, Jeb Bush, is unpopular with those voters.

Other businessmen-turned-politicians such as Ross Perot were able to leverage their personas to develop cult followings but were largely disinterested in the dirty day-to-day work of modern campaigns. Trump, instead, appears poised to use his wealth to build a credible ground organization here, starting with the well-respected Laudner.

“Chuck Laudner is a deity among conservative activists," said an Iowa Republican consultant who asked not be named because he supports a rival candidate. "Chuck is somebody who values grassroots mobilization. This is a guy who eats and breathes organizational structure."

ALL ABOARD THE TRUMP BUS

Trump has 10 paid staff members in the state and likely will be adding more. One recent innovation has been to send a large tour bus emblazoned with the Trump logo from town to town. It has become its own curiosity, drawing crowds even though just a staffer or two, not Trump, are aboard. The bus even has its own Facebook page.

“It’s not the kind of vehicle Mr. Trump would ride through Iowa in, and these folks know that,” said John Hulsizer, Trump’s coordinator for the northeast part of the state. “But the Trump bus is now acting as a surrogate for Mr. Trump. It’s amazing to see 100 or 150 people come out."

The bus has become another surefire way to make contact with potential voters. “People are just handing over information left and right in order to get signed up so they can go to caucus for Mr. Trump,” Hulsizer said.

And Trump's staff is committed to traveling the state on behalf of the candidate, he said. "We want to make sure we hit every county in the state of Iowa."

Trump’s campaign hopes to do what has been a long-held goal of politicians in Iowa: bring new voters into the caucus process. Despite the relentless coverage the contest receives here, about only 120,000 Republicans participated in 2012, 20 percent of the registered Republicans in the state.

Laudner and Hulsizer believe Trump could be the candidate to convince so-called Reagan Democrats - blue-collar union voters - to register as Republicans just to vote for him. Trump has made the loss of manufacturing jobs overseas central to his campaign. “Union guys have a friend in Trump,” Laudner said.

Dubuque features a high concentration of those voters. It’s also seen as the base of support in the state for Scott Walker, the governor of nearby Wisconsin, whose presidential poll numbers in Iowa have been tumbling.

“This is not by accident,” said the Republican consultant. “Trump is smart to go in there.”



http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/25/us-usa-election-trump-idUSKCN0QU0CH20150825

Planned Parenthood Baby Parts Buyer StemExpress Wants "Another 50 Livers/Week"







PLANNED PARENTHOOD BABY PARTS BUYER STEMEXPRESS WANTS “ANOTHER 50 LIVERS/WEEK,” FINANCIAL BENEFITS FOR ABORTION CLINICS

Contact: Matille Thebolt, mthebolt@crcpublicrelations.com, 571.501.4067

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 25–The eighth video in the ongoing controversy over Planned Parenthood’s sale of aborted fetal body parts shows the CEO of StemExpress, LLC, a major buyer of fetal tissue from Planned Parenthood, admitting the company gets “a lot” of intact fetuses, suggesting “another 50 livers a week” would not be enough, and agreeing abortion clinics should profit from the sale: http://www.centerformedicalprogress.o...

StemExpress is a for-profit biotech supply company that has been partnered with Planned Parenthood clinics across the country to purchase human fetal parts since its founding in 2010. StemExpress’ Medical Director, Dr. Ronald Berman, is an abortion doctor for Planned Parenthood Mar Monte.

In the video, actors posing as another human biologics company meet with StemExpress CEO Cate Dyer, plus Vice President of Corporate Development and Legal Affairs Kevin Cooksy, and Procurement Manager Megan Barr. StemExpress and the actors are discussing a potential partnership to supply extra fetal body parts to each other.

“So many physicians are like, ‘Oh I can totally procure tissue,’ and they can’t,” expresses Dyer, seeming to indicate that abortion doctors must do the procedure in a special way to obtain useable fetal parts. Federal law requires that no alteration in the timing or method of abortion be done for the purposes of fetal tissue collection (42 U.S.C. 289g-1).

“What about intact specimens?” asks one of the actors. “Oh yeah, I mean if you have intact cases, which we’ve done a lot, we sometimes ship those back to our lab in its entirety,” replies Dyer. “Case” is the clinical term for an abortion procedure. An “intact case” refers to an intact abortion with a whole fetus. “The entire case?” asks an actor. “Yeah, yeah,” says Dyer. “The procurement for us, I mean it can go really sideways, depending on the facility, and then our samples are destroyed,” she explains past botched fetal dissections, “so we started bringing them back even to manage it from a procurement expert standpoint.”

Feticidal chemicals like digoxin cannot be used to kill the fetus in a tissue procurement case, so a fetus delivered intact for organ harvesting is likely to be a born-alive infant.

“What would make your lab happy?” asks one of the actors. “Another 50 livers a week,” says Dyer. “We’re working with almost like triple digit number clinics,” Dyer explains, “and we still need more.” She later notes, “Planned Parenthood has volume, because they are a volume institution.”

Dyer also agrees that payments to abortion clinics for fetal body parts should be financially beneficial to them. “Do you feel like there are clinics out there that have been burned, that feel like they’re doing all this work for research and it hasn’t been profitable for them?” she asks. “I haven’t seen that.” StemExpress publishes a flyer for Planned Parenthood clinics that promises “Financial Profits” and “fiscal rewards” for clinics that supply aborted fetal tissue. It is endorsed by Planned Parenthood Mar Monte Chief Medical Officer Dr. Dorothy Furgerson: http://www.centerformedicalprogress.o...

The sale or purchase of human fetal tissue is a federal felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison or a fine of up to $500,000 (42 U.S.C. 289g-2). The Sacramento Business Journal reported in June that StemExpress has an annual revenue of $4.5 million.

The video is the eighth released by The Center for Medical Progress in its investigative journalism study of Planned Parenthood’s sale of aborted baby parts. “StemExpress is the ‘weakest link’ that unravels Planned Parenthood’s baby parts chain–they readily admit the profit-motive that Planned Parenthood and their proxies have in supplying aborted baby parts,” notes David Daleiden, Project Lead for CMP. “Congress and law enforcement should immediately seize all fetal tissue files from StemExpress and all communications and contracts with Planned Parenthood. The evidence that Planned Parenthood profits from the sale of aborted baby parts is now overwhelming, and not one more dime of taxpayer money should go to their corrupt and fraudulent criminal enterprise.”

###

Tweet: #PPSellsBabyParts

For more information on the Human Capital project, visit centerformedicalprogress.org. The Center for Medical Progress is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to monitoring and reporting on medical ethics and advances.

HHmmmmmmm.......

We have seen multiple examples of socialism collapsing in the past. Even today. Venezuela (another thread of mine)

Hahaha! Fork My Thread©

Glad I am not the only one doing it.

 

How can someone in "piece" be full of hate?

"Better to die like a lion than to be slaughtered like a sheep"


Today Emanuel Skarlatos, father of US train hero Alek Skarlatos, went on MSNBC to talk about his son after the events in France on Friday. Alek, and his childhood friends, Spencer Stone and Anthony Sadler, beat an Islamic terrorist unconscious and then hogtied him on a train to Paris.

Today Emanual Skalatos called out the PC crowd:

“Could I say one last thing? It’s better to die like a lion than to be slaughtered like a sheep. And, this terrorist coward deserved what he got. And the PC crowd needs to recognize terrorism for what it is. I thank you very much for having me on.”


http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/08/father-of-us-train-hero-goes-on-msnbc-and-calls-out-the-far-left-pc-crowd-video/

‘Flakka,’ the new killer drug, is spreading across the country


It’s a new drug. And it’s a killer.

Known on the street as “flakka,” the synthetic concoction is hitting hard in Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and other parts of the country. It’s causing a rash of emergency room visits and overdose deaths.

In one highly publicized Florida case, a man reportedly high on flakka gnawed on and disfigured another man’s face before he was shot to death by police. Another user tried to break down the door of a police station in Fort Lauderdale, and a few weeks later, a man impaled himself while trying to climb a fence around the same station.

While police in the Kansas City area say they know of no cases involving flakka yet locally, they are aware that it could easily migrate here.

And if it does, said Johnny Bivens, sheriff of Lewis County, Ky., local officials are in for a rough ride.

“This is the worst drug I have ever seen in my 18 years of law enforcement across the board,” Bivens said. “Nothing compares to this.”

Also known as alpha-PVP, it has a similar chemical makeup to other drugs commonly known as “bath salts,” according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

It typically comes in a white or pink crystalline form and is foul-smelling. It can be eaten, snorted, injected, or vaporized in an electronic cigarette device, according to the national institute, which has included flakka on a list of emerging trends.

It is particularly potent when vaporized, sending the drug into the bloodstream quickly, and making the user particularly susceptible to overdose.

“Alpha-PVP can cause a condition called excited delirium that involves hyper-stimulation, paranoia and hallucinations that can lead to violent aggression and self-injury,” the institute warns. “The drug has been linked to deaths by suicide as well as heart attack. It can also dangerously raise body temperature and lead to kidney damage or kidney failure.”

Authorities say flakka is easily accessible. It can be purchased online from China and in some parts of the United States has replaced crack cocaine.

Officials in Broward County, Fla., say the drug has contributed to at least 29 deaths over the last year.

While police locally say flakka hasn’t been found here yet, they have dealt with other similar drugs that have led to hospitalizations and deaths.

“The dangerous thing about synthetic drugs is that the chemicals used to make them are always changing,” said Sgt. Chris Cesena of the Kansas City police drug enforcement unit. “The user doesn’t realize what they’re taking. These are harsh chemicals.”

Capt. Dan Cummings of the Jackson County Drug Task Force said synthetic drugs can vary widely in their potency from batch to batch.

In a recent investigation involving the sale of K2, commonly known as synthetic marijuana, Cummings said, confiscated samples tested in a laboratory ranged from 3 to 4 percent pure to as high as 80 to 90 percent.

Someone used to the weaker form is at a higher risk of overdose if they unknowingly ingest a purer form, he said.

Bivens said his office in Kentucky became aware of the drug around last Thanksgiving when reports of people acting strangely, sweating profusely and displaying intense paranoia started coming in.

“They always constantly think that someone is after them,” he said. “One of the main things we have seen was people experiencing rapid weight loss, about 40 pounds a month. People don’t eat. They are up for 10 to 12 days at a time. Their body becomes covered in abscesses.”

Users report that the drug is highly addictive, he said.

And it was highly profitable for the people selling it. Dealers were able to obtain the drug online and were selling it for $250 a gram, he said.

The problem peaked this spring when Bivens said they were responding to two or three flakka-related calls a day.

And more often than not, when his deputies encountered users, they were involved in intense physical encounters to control them.

“Foot chases were going up,” he said. “The use of force was going up because when you encounter these individuals they think you are trying to kill them and they would react and we would have to upgrade the use of force.”

Flakka started appearing in the United States in a handful of cases in late 2012, said Rusty Payne, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington, D.C.

By last year, a “tremendous” number of cases were being reported, he said.

In the last seven or eight years, officials have identified 400 different varieties of synthetic drugs.

“Alpha-PVP or flakka is just another one that has emerged unfortunately and it is causing a lot of problems in a lot of places,” Payne said.

The area hit hardest by the drug is Broward County, Fla. It first surfaced there last year, said Lt. Ozzy Tianga of the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.

At first, because users displayed many of the same symptoms and behaviors seen with cocaine or other synthetic drugs, officials did not realize they were seeing something new, he said.

The level of “excited delirium” experienced by flakka users tended to be much worse, and laboratory testing confirmed the presence of something new, according to Tianga.

“They were acting psychotic, very similar to acting as if they were mentally ill,” he said.

Based on calls from other parts of the country, Tianga said he expects the drug to continue spreading.

“I have received calls from Kentucky, all of the northeast quadrant of the United States, from Texas all the way up to California,” he said.

And because what he calls an “epidemic” is so new, he said, there are no proven rehabilitation methods.

“We have had some individuals who have experienced excited delirium up to five months after they use the drug,” he said. “It is almost like the old-school LSD that could create a delayed response to the drug.”

Payne of the DEA said that despite the claims of those who sell it online, it is illegal in the United States.

“A lot of people like to think legal means safe; therefore I can do this and be safe,” Payne said. “There have been a lot of funerals unfortunately that have operated under that assumption.”



http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article31130234.html

IRS finds yet another Lois Lerner email account


‘Toby Miles’ account linked to government business



Lois Lerner had yet another personal email account used to conduct some IRS business, the tax agency confirmed in a new court filing late Monday that further complicates the administration’s efforts to be transparent about Ms. Lerner’s actions during the tea party targeting scandal.

The admission came in an open-records lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch, a conservative public interest law firm that has sued to get a look at emails Ms. Lerner sent during the targeting.

IRS lawyer Geoffrey J. Klimas told the court that as the agency was putting together a set of documents to turn over to Judicial Watch, it realized Ms. Lerner had used yet another email account, in addition to her official one and another personal one already known to the agency.

“In addition to emails to or from an email account denominated ‘Lois G. Lerner‘ or ‘Lois Home,’ some emails responsive to Judicial Watch’s request may have been sent to or received from a personal email account denominated ‘Toby Miles,’” Mr. Klimas told Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, who is hearing the case.

It is unclear who Toby Miles is, but Mr. Klimas said the IRS has concluded that was “a personal email account used by Lerner.”

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said it was stunning the agency was just now admitting the existence of the address.

“It is simply astonishing that years after this scandal erupted we are learning about an account Lois Lerner used that evidently hadn’t been searched,” he said, accusing the IRS of hiding Lerner-related information throughout — including the existence of the backup tapes of her official email account, which the agency’s inspector general easily found once it went looking for them.


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3328774/posts?page=2

Obama gives Joe Biden 'blessing' for 2016 bid






Vice President Joe Biden received President Barack Obama's "blessing" to make a 2016 bid for the White House, according to a senior Democrat.

But that's if Biden chooses to run -- the decision is his. While he doesn't need the President's permission, of course, a potential presidential candidacy was among the topics of their lunch Monday at the White House. The President made clear he would not stand in his way or counsel him against a run, the senior Democrat said.

The Vice President was expected to huddle at his residence Monday night with Anita Dunn and Bob Bauer, the husband-and-wife team who have been at Obama's side for much of the last decade, two people familiar with the meeting told CNN. Steve Ricchetti, the Vice President's chief of staff, was also expected to attend.

"As a general rule, we are not going to confirm the Vice President's private meetings or provide a readout of them," an aide to the Vice President told CNN on Monday.

Dunn, a former White House communications director, and Bauer, a longtime lawyer to Obama, were among those invited to a meeting at the Naval Observatory in Washington. Ted Kaufman, a loyal Biden confidant who briefly occupied his Senate seat from Delaware, was also among those gathering to discuss how -- not whether -- Biden could run, if he decides to do so.

Biden is leaning toward running, several people involved in discussions tell CNN, but they stress that he has not yet firmly made up his mind to launch a candidacy.

The meeting on Monday night, along with his private session on Saturday with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, underscores the length he is going to explore a run.

While many top Democrats have already signed onto Hillary Clinton's candidacy, several former Obama advisers tell CNN they would work for Biden if he jumps into the race. Dunn and Bauer would be a high-profile addition to any potential campaign, and could send a signal to other Democrats that they should join Biden's effort. It is not known if they would ultimately work for Biden if he does enter the race.

Bauer is one of the top Democratic election lawyers in Washington, who helped guide Obama's presidential campaign eight years ago. Dunn, a veteran of presidential campaigns, served as a communications director during Obama's first term. She was also an adviser to former Sen. Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader.

Key Democratic fundraisers have been invited to a meeting with Biden after Labor Day, a source close to Biden confirmed to CNN.

The meeting, first reported by The Washington Post, is scheduled to be held at the Naval Observatory and is expected to occur the week after Labor Day.

The source characterizes the session as "one of several logical and necessary steps" the Vice President needs to take to get the best sense of the terrain. The source also says outreach to other party leaders is also planned.

The source says nothing is decided or firm about the Vice President's intentions but conversations are ongoing and deliberations could take most of September as Biden decides whether to enter the presidential race.



http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/24/politics/joe-biden-obama-blessing-2016/index.html


---------------------------------------------------------
The kiss of death for...

Ashley Madison: 'Suicides' over website hack


Two individuals associated with the leak of Ashley Madison customer details are reported to have taken their lives, according to police in Canada.

The police in Toronto gave no further information about the deaths.



Ashley Madison's Canadian parent company Avid Life Media is offering a C$500,000 (£240,000) reward for information on the hackers, they added.

Details of more than 33m accounts were stolen from the website, which offers users the chance to have an affair.

Addressing the hackers, known as The Impact Team, acting staff superintendent Bryce Evans of the Toronto police said: "I want to make it very clear to you your actions are illegal and we will not be tolerating them. This is your wake-up call."
Police are seeking information from members of the wider hacker community that might aid their investigation.

The breach was "very sophisticated", said Detective Menard from the technological crime unit of Toronto Police.

Cash reward

Mr Evans confirmed that credit card data was included in the original data dump released by The Impact Team.

He said that investigators believed this was limited to the last four digits of the main card number.

Consequently, police are advising victims of the hack to review their accounts.

He also explained that the hack had already led to a series of "spin-offs of crimes and further victimisation".

"Criminals have already engaged in online scams by claiming to provide access to the leaked websites," he said.

"The public needs to be aware that by clicking on these links you are exposing your computers to malware, spyware, adware and viruses."

'Thunderstruck'

The unfolding of the hack was also detailed at the conference - from the moment on 12 July when several Avid Life Media employees logged in to their computers and were confronted by a message from the hackers.

This message was accompanied by music - AC/DC's "Thunderstruck", said Mr Evans.

"This hack is one of the largest data breaches in the world and is very unique on its own in that it exposed tens of millions of people's personal information," he added.

Police have set up a Twitter account, @AMCaseTPS, and hashtag, #AMCaseTPS, in a bid to gather information about the hack from members of the public.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34044506

Draft Biden group circulates pro-Joe memo to DNC members



Ahead of the Democratic National Committee summer meeting in Minneapolis later this week, the Draft Biden campaign is circulating a memo to DNC members and party leaders, asking them to keep an open mind about a possible presidential run for Joe Biden.

In the two-page memo, titled, “The Case for Joe Biden,” a senior adviser to the group, Josh Alcorn, writes, “Our ask for you today is not financial: we are asking you to keep an open mind and consider a Biden candidacy. Our country, the Democratic Party, and yes, the Vice President deserves nothing less. The more you consider it, the more sense it makes.”

The letter was sent five days before all five declared Democratic presidential candidates are set to make their case to party leaders and superdelegates at the DNC gathering. Hillary Clinton is speaking at the meeting on Friday before heading back to the Hamptons, where she has been vacationing and attending fundraisers. Biden is not scheduled to attend the meeting.

Clinton supporters stressed the importance of the audience for the Democratic front-runner, who in 2008 won the popular vote but did not win enough delegates to win her party’s nomination.

The memo from the Draft Biden group to DNC members makes no explicit reference to the email controversy that is dogging Clinton and helping to create an opening for a Biden run. But it warns them that it is too early to get behind a presumed nominee.

“It’s important to remind ourselves of how conventional wisdom and early polling leaders in past primaries have fallen short,” the Draft Biden memo states. “It is way too early to bet on 2016 polls. In the late summer/early fall of 2003 and 2007, party activists were still being courted and the eventual nominee was not leading in the polls.”

The letter also argues that Biden shares the same characteristics that have helped to rally huge crowds and support for Republican front-runner Donald Trump and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. “Americans are looking for a president who tells it like it is,” the memo states. “Everyone knows Joe Biden’s straightforward style and authentic approach to politics. But combine those likable qualities with a heavyweight resume – decades in the United States Senate and six and a half years executive experience in the White House – and the case for Joe Biden is clear as day.”

Alcorn, the former chief of staff to Joe Biden’s late son Beau, notes in the memo that since 2000, caucus and primary-goers have never coronated an “inevitable nominee in the year before those contests take place.” And it points to the fact that in 2007, the polls “made then-Senator Hillary Clinton look like a sure thing for the 2008 Democratic nomination.”

The memo also attempts to address questions of how Biden would build the campaign infrastructure necessary for a serious run.

“Draft Biden 2016 has already assembled a who’s who of staff talent focusing on deft media strategy, aggressive fundraising, innovative digital outreach, and a dynamic field operation that aims to be up and running in all 50 states by September,” the memo says.

In reality, the Draft Biden movement began as a ragtag group of junior operatives working out of a collective office space in downtown Chicago. But in the past 10 days, it has begun to attract some seasoned political operatives to its cause. When Alcorn signed on, it also lent the group the patina of a Biden-family blessed enterprise.

To some recipients, it showed “a lot of assertions without anything backing them up,” said one DNC meeting attendee after reading the letter. “If this is the way his campaign would be run, then he shouldn’t enter the race.”

A Draft Biden spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.


http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/draft-biden-group-pro-joe-memo-dnc-members-121682.html

EXCLUSIVE: NASA employees caught buying child porn from site which showed three-year-olds being abused - but they escape prosecution and now their names are being kept secret






Sixteen current and past staff were found to have purchased illegal images
Were bought from Belarus and Ukraine using credit cards and PayPal
FBI uncovered the illicit transactions in 2010 as part of a government probe
They were identified by authorities, but their names have been redacted
Raises fears some of the perpetrators could still be working for the agency


NASA employees were caught buying child pornography from a criminal ring in Eastern Europe that distributed images of minors as young as three, it can be revealed.

An investigation by Daily Mail Online found 16 staff members from the space agency paid for pictures and videos of children in sexual situations, but were never prosecuted.

Their names have never been released because of government guidelines which protect their privacy – prompting fears some of the culprits are still employed by NASA.

The probe found that in 2010, the employees paid for the pornography using personal credit cards or PayPal while working for the government.
Their actions were uncovered during Project Flicker – an investigation by the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) into American citizens buying child pornography from Belarus and Ukraine.



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3184951/NASA-employees-caught-buying-child-porn-site-showed-three-year-olds-abused-escape-prosecution-names-kept-secret.html


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WTF.........