Last Chance to Save Your PFD in 2017!

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ACTION ALERT!!

Final budget vote this week,Thurs. 7/27. Last chance in 2017 to restore the PFD with public pressure. Legislators have made a deal on the Capital Budget so they will vote soon…they can restore the PFD to the full amount in the final vote.

Please contact your Senator and Representative by phone and email to let them know that you want the full PFD to be restored in this Capital Budget. If you are a registered voter you can send a message to all legislators at once at www.akleg.gov/poms. Call the LIO for information on contacting legislators if you need it at 269-0111.

If the full calculation for the PFD is not put into the Capital Budget, once again, the PFD will be reduced by $1,000 as it was last year. Ask your legislators to request full funding for the dividend according to the law that established the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend in “Alaska Statute 37.13.145. Disposition of Income”.

Visit www.pfdak.com to learn about the Permanent Fund and thank you for doing your part to defend the People’s money now and for the future. Tell your friends to join with you to help, too, there is strength in numbers.

Drone Carrying Cell Phone, Marijuana Crashes in Prison Yard

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A drone carrying cell phones, tobacco and marijuana crashed into the yard at Washington State Prison, according to the Department of Corrections.

A growing problem, drones have become the newest way inmates have used to get contraband that can be sold to other prisoners for a significant profit.

Corrections spokeswoman Joan Heath said Tuesday a drone crashed to the ground at the prison near Davisboro around 10:45 p.m. Monday. She could not say how many cell phones or how much tobacco and marijuana was recovered. No one inside or outside the prison has been connected to the drone, she said.

The state prison system has struggled for decades to stop contraband from getting to inmates but, they admit, prisoners are constantly finding ways to skirt any systems put in place to thwart them. Read more from “Drone Carrying Cell Phone, Marijuana Crashes in Prison Yard” HERE)

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State Actors Are Likely Behind Recent Ransomware Attacks

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Ransomware is a type of malware that locks computers until a ransom is paid.

This form of cyberattack has become the weapon of choice for cybercriminals, and presumably nation-states.

Whereas cybercriminals use ransomware to extract money, nation-states may be using ransomware as a means to test the United States’ cyber resiliency.

In late June, Ukraine—along with at least 64 other countries, including the United States—was the victim of a ransomware attack from an unknown source.

Experts originally noticed this new malware acted in a way similar to the malware known as Petya, but in a more advanced form. This advanced manifestation was soon creatively given the name “NotPetya.”

While Petya used phishing techniques to access victims’ networks, NotPetya used worm capabilities similar to a ransomware attack seen earlier this year known as WannaCry. This means NotPetya and WannaCry were able to “self-propagate” over multiple networks within a closed system.

NotPetya would build a list of IP addresses within the local area network that enabled its automated expansion.

As written previously in The Daily Signal, NotPetya seemed to focus its attack against those within Ukraine, as it embedded itself in software used primarily in Ukraine.

NotPetya targeted similar infrastructure, such as energy infrastructure, to that of a cyberattack on Ukraine in 2016. The sources of either attack have not yet been identified, but seem to fit quite well into Russian cyberstrategy.

Although NotPetya is considered ransomware, it lacks an important aspect: the incentive to pay the ransom. This is lacking because NotPetya and its developers lack the capability to remove the encryption off files after payment.

NotPetya presents itself less like ransomware and more like a cyberattack disguised as ransomware.

Even so, over $13,000 in bitcoin was paid in ransom from the initial attack.

WannaCry, a virus associated with North Korea-associated hacker group Lazarus, affected over 300,000 people in Europe—including the United Kingdom’s National Health Service—to the United States.

The WannaCry virus displayed similarities linked to the hacking group Lazarus, which attacked Sony in 2014.

There were also other causes to suspect these were not average ransomware hackers: WannaCry and NotPetya sought only $300 to unlock computers, while the average ransom is over $1,000.

It makes sense for a nation-state to use ransomware as a façade. Per the Version cybersecurity report, ransomware is continuing to become one of the most common forms of crimeware.

Ransomware attacks are now appearing paired with other forms of cyberattacks. They may simply be, at this point, the easiest way for nation-states to test or gather information from our networked systems.

There are seldom few actions the U.S. can take to respond to ransomware attacks. For now, emphasis should be placed on maintaining updated operating systems and a backup of networked data.

The U.S. should continue to work with international partners to help locate the origin of these cyberattacks when possible, and use both traditional law enforcement mechanisms along with cyber capabilities to fight cybercrime. (For more from the author of “State Actors Are Likely Behind Recent Ransomware Attacks” please click HERE)

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New Report Shows Increase in ‘Religious Freedom Violations’ in Recent Years

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Hostility toward religion is on the rise in the United States, according to a new report.

The report, which was recently released by the Family Research Council, shows an increase in the number of incidents involving “religious freedom violations” since the first report was released in July 2014. The original report spanned over a decade and contained 90 incidents. In the last three years, 69 new incidents have been added.

“The recent spike in government driven religious hostility is sadly not surprising, especially considering the Obama administration’s antagonism toward biblical Christianity,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, in a statement. “The report underscores the legitimacy of the actions taken by the Trump administration to end the policies and practices in federal agencies that fan the flames of this religious intolerance.”

Perkins added the report’s findings also show “ the growing courage of Christians, especially young Christians, to defend both their faith and their freedoms.”

The report found that antagonism toward religious beliefs on sexuality was fueling much of the increase:

Hostility to religious beliefs on natural marriage and human sexuality … [included] 42 incidents in the report’s first edition. In the time since then, 48 new incidents have been added to these sections. Thus, the number of these religious freedom violations more than doubled …

In the introduction to the report, the Family Research Council writes that the attacks on religious teaching on marriage and sexuality “is the product of more insidious forces which ultimately will erode civil liberties for all Americans, even if they hold a different viewpoint than our own.”

Included in the religious liberty violations listed in the report was one about a survey distributed by a major financial firm.

In 2014, JPMorgan Chase, a vocal advocate of LGBT rights, sent out a survey to its employees asking a number of questions. The survey asked if the employee was “disabled, had family members that were disabled, if they were LGBT, or if they were allies of the LGBT movement.” Employees that answered negatively the final question could be interpreted as being at odds with the beliefs of the firm.

In February 2016, Edie and David Delorme received death threats after declining to make a cake for a same-sex wedding. The Delormes, who are devout Baptists, have previously refused to create cakes that go against their religious convictions, including those “that support alcohol, tobacco, gambling, or convey sexually inappropriate images,” according to the report.

Rather than accepting a list of nearby bakeries that would create the same-sex wedding cake instead, the couple complained to the media, bringing on harsh attacks against the Delormes.

“The bakery received threats of violence on social media and Yelp,” the Family Research Council wrote. “Though the bakery was never threatened with a lawsuit, they remain a target of criticism by LGBT activists.”

Another area of extreme hostility concerns Catholic churches, schools, and hospitals who have been operating in accordance with the Catholic Church’s teaching.

One example occurred in September 2016 when Kate Drumgoole, a guidance counselor and coach at a Catholic high school in New Jersey, was fired when the administration learned that she was in a same-sex relationship.

Drumgoole, citing discrimination, sued the archdiocese and Paramus Catholic High School despite having previously signed the archdiocese’s “Policies on Professional and Ministerial Conduct.” By signing it, teachers acknowledge the requirement that they “act in accordance with the ‘discipline, norms and teachings of the Catholic Church.’”

“Religious liberty is the exercise of our inherent, natural rights. It is not limited to freedom to worship, rather, it means that we are free to live consistently with our beliefs in the public square,” says Melanie Israel, a research associate in the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation.

“Individuals and organizations should be able to maintain their ability to abide by their religious convictions when they carry out their work, including serving the poor, educating the next generation, or running a business.” (For more from the author of “New Report Shows Increase in ‘Religious Freedom Violations’ in Recent Years” please click HERE)

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Still Don’t Believe Your Reality Is Completely Staged?

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Your reality is theater created by writers, producers and played out by actual actors. In this video, Melissa Dykes of TruthstreamMedia.com exposes how our reality has been manipulated for a long time and how it is much more sophisticated today. Paid actors are employed as agitators, provocateurs, protesters and shills. They infect everything. Don’t believe it? Watch the video.

(For more from the author of “Still Don’t Believe Your Reality Is Completely Staged?” please click HERE)

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It Sure Looks Like Politico Already Thinks Kushner Is Guilty

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Politico reporter Annie Karni cast objectivity aside Monday in her report on Jared Kushner’s 11-pages of prepared remarks for the Senate Intelligence Committee. In Kushner’s first public explanation of contacts he made with Russian government officials, Karni’s commentary treats Kushner’s guilt as a forgone conclusion and frames his remarks as an endeavor to “downplay” or acquit himself of collusion.

Karni describes Kushner as President Donald Trump’s “powerful son-in-law,” who in his public remarks “attempt[s] to exonerate himself” and “blames” his assistant for the “glaring omissions” on his security clearance forms.

The prepared remarks were framed as Kushner “paint[ing] a picture of himself as a loyal, overworked, under-experienced senior adviser to his father-in-law during a novice campaign that was never staffed up to win.”

Just in case it wasn’t clear for the reader, several paragraphs later Karni reiterates Kushner’s presumed intention to blame his assistant: “As for the confusion about his security clearance forms, he blames the omissions on an assistant.”

“In his opening testimony, he walks through each of his four meetings with the Russians, downplaying all of them to brief, pro forma interactions that lead to no follow-ups” writes Karni. (Read more from “It Sure Looks Like Politico Already Thinks Kushner Is Guilty” HERE)

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Fox News Reporter Assaulted at Campaign Event

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If there’s one thing I’ve learned from living in 2017 America, it’s that anything you do or say to a woman that she doesn’t like is misogyny. It’s sexism. It’s rape culture. Unless, of course, you really disagree with that woman politically. Then it’s justifiable. She should’ve thought about that before she pissed you off, right?

I don’t know Kat Timpf from The Specialists on Fox News very well, and I don’t always agree with her. But she seems like an honest, thoughtful person. Her sense of humor isn’t for everybody, but I like it. She’s a good TV host and a great writer. So I’m pissed off about what just happened to her. Last night she was scheduled to speak at a campaign event for Ben Kissel, who’s running for Brooklyn borough president. But then this happened:

(Read more from “Fox News Reporter Assaulted at Campaign Event” HERE)

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Crazy Talk: Psychs Crack up Over ‘Psychotic’, ‘Paranoid’ Trump

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It’s a “gag rule” that mental-health professionals have followed for 44 years: It’s unethical for psychiatrists to “diagnose” politicians or public figures based solely on that person’s public actions or statements, without conducting an actual in-person examination.

But now that Donald Trump is president, a national psychology organization has given psychoanalysts the green light to publicly comment on Trump’s mental health. And the move could usher in a flood of mental-health “experts” on TV news programs claiming the president is unstable or even unfit to serve in the White House.

Without ever having examined Trump, psychological professionals already have called the president “psychotic,” “narcissistic,” “paranoid,” “hypomanic,” “emotionally unstable,” “delusional” and “psychologically isolated” and claimed he has a “dangerous mental illness.” One physician suggested Trump could be suffering from an untreated sexually transmitted disease known as neurosyphilis.

Some mental health “experts” have even gone so far as to call conservatism a mental illness, claiming prominent Republicans have shown signs of denial, delusion, hallucination, disordered thinking, anger, anti-social behavior, sexual preoccupation, grandiosity, general oddness and paranoia.

And in what appears to be one of the left’s latest lines of attack against the president, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have already proposed creation of an 11-member panel that could oust Trump for being mentally or physically unfit for office. (Read more from “Crazy Talk: Psychs Crack up Over ‘Psychotic’, ‘Paranoid’ Trump” HERE)

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Female Senator Rips ‘Fat’ Male Colleague

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Following a Senate Committee of Appropriations Meeting Tuesday, Senator Susan Collins was caught talking with Senator Jack Reed about Rep. Blake Farenthold, calling him “so unattractive.”

Senator Collins delivered a statement in the hearing before sitting down next Reed, where they start talking to each other about budget and healthcare. The conversation turns towards Farenthold when Collins says, “Did you see the one that challenged me to a duel?”

The senator responded, “Trust me, do you know why he challenged you to a duel? Because you could beat the sh*t out of him.”

The audio gets fuzzy here, but Collins is heard saying “fat guy,” “he’s huge,” and “he is so unattractive it’s unbelievable.” (Read more from “Female Senator Rips ‘Fat’ Male Colleague” HERE)

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Senate Votes Down Broad Obamacare Repeal

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By Thomas Kaplan and Robert Pear. The Senate voted narrowly on Tuesday to begin debate on a bill to repeal major provisions of the Affordable Care Act, but hours later, Republican leaders suffered a setback when their most comprehensive plan to replace President Barack Obama’s health law fell far short of the votes it needed.

The Tuesday night tally needed to reach 60 votes to overcome a parliamentary objection. Instead, it fell 43-57. The fact that the comprehensive replacement plan came up well short of even 50 votes was an ominous sign for Republican leaders still grappling with a formula to pass final health care legislation this week.

For Republicans, the failure ended the day on a sour note, hours after a more triumphant scene in the well of the Senate. Lawmakers from both parties had risen to their feet in the afternoon and applauded when Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, showed up in the chamber despite his diagnosis of brain cancer. He cast a crucial vote in favor of opening what promises to be a freewheeling, hard-fought debate over the future of the Affordable Care Act. (Read more from “Senate Votes Down Broad Obamacare Repeal” HERE)

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Trump Celebrates ObamaCare Vote, but Avoids Criticizing Jeff Sessions at Ohio Rally

By Alex Pappas. President Trump celebrated the Senate’s procedural vote earlier in the day on repealing ObamaCare but avoided discussing his frustration with Attorney General Jeff Sessions during a rally in Ohio on Tuesday night.

Though it still remains unclear whether the Senate will ultimately have the votes to pass health care legislation, Trump portrayed Tuesday’s vote as an important step.

The Senate voted 51-50 on Tuesday to start debate on legislation repealing former President Obama’s health care law.

“Only a few hours ago, the Senate approved a vote to begin debating the repealing and replacing the ObamaCare disaster,” Trump said at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown. “Finally. You think that’s easy? That’s not easy.”

He added, “We’re now one step closer to liberating citizens from this ObamaCare nightmare and delivering great health care for the American people.” (Read more from “Trump Celebrates ObamaCare Vote, but Avoids Criticizing Jeff Sessions at Ohio Rally” HERE)

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