The radical provisions hidden in their tax-and-spend spree….Thank you Senator Hagerty. Have you called Washingon yet?
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Microsoft Reveals Continued Hacks of Technology Companies
The Russia-linked hackers behind last year’s compromise of a wide swath of the U.S. government and scores of private companies, including SolarWinds Corp. , have stepped up their attacks in recent months, breaking into technology companies in an effort to steal sensitive information, cybersecurity experts said.
In a campaign that dates back to May of this year, the hackers have targeted more than 140 technology companies including those that manage or resell cloud-computing services, according to new research from Microsoft Corp. The attack, which was successful with as many as 14 of these technology companies, involved unsophisticated techniques like phishing or simply guessing user passwords in hopes of gaining access to systems, Microsoft said.
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Source: In a recent blog post to the company’s website, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of customer security and trust, Tom Burt, wrote that “state actor Nobelium has been attempting to replicate the approach it has used in past attacks by targeting organizations integral to the global IT supply chain.”
Nobelium is “attacking a different part of the supply chain: resellers and other technology service providers that customize, deploy and manage cloud services and other technologies on behalf of their customers,” according to the company.
Burt wrote that 609 Microsoft customers had been informed that they’d been attacked between July and October of this year close to 23,000 times “with a success rate in the low single digits.”
The attacks, according to the executive, were not aimed at a specific flaw in any of the systems, rather, they were “password spray and phishing” attacks, which are aimed at stealing credentials that grant the attackers access to privileged information.
The Russian state-backed hacking group is, according to Burt, “trying to gain long-term, systematic access to a variety of points in the technology supply chain, and establish a mechanism for surveilling – now or in the future – targets of interest to the Russian government.”
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Over 600 Microsoft customers targeted since July
“Since May, we have notified more than 140 resellers and technology service providers that have been targeted by Nobelium,” said Tom Burt, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft.
“We continue to investigate, but to date we believe as many as 14 of these resellers and service providers have been compromised.”
As Burt added, in all, more than 600 Microsoft customers were attacked thousands of times, although with a very low rate of success between July and October.
“These attacks have been a part of a larger wave of Nobelium activities this summer. In fact, between July 1 and October 19 this year, we informed 609 customers that they had been attacked 22,868 times by Nobelium, with a success rate in the low single digits,” Burt said.
“By comparison, prior to July 1, 2021, we had notified customers about attacks from all nation-state actors 20,500 times over the past three years.”
This shows that Nobelium is still attempting to launch attacks similar to the one they pulled off after breaching SolarWinds’ systems to gain long-term access to the systems of targets of interest and establish espionage and exfiltration channels.
Microsoft also shared measures MSPs, cloud service providers, and other tech orgs can take to protect their networks and customers from these ongoing Nobelium attacks.
Nobelium’s high profile targets
Nobelium is the hacking division of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), also tracked as APT29, Cozy Bear, and The Dukes.
In April 2021, the U.S. government formally blamed the SVR division for coordinating the SolarWinds “broad-scope cyber espionage campaign” that led to the compromise of multiple U.S. government agencies.
At the end of July, the US Department of Justice was the last US govt entity to disclose that 27 US Attorneys’ offices were breached during the SolarWinds global hacking spree.
In May, the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) also reported a phishing campaign targeting government agencies from 24 countries.
Earlier this year, Microsoft detailed three Nobelium malware strains used for maintaining persistence on compromised networks: a command-and-control backdoor dubbed ‘GoldMax,’ an HTTP tracer tool tracked as ‘GoldFinder,’ a persistence tool and malware dropper named ‘Sibot.’
Two months later, they revealed four more malware families Nobelium used in their attacks: a malware downloader known as ‘BoomBox,’ a shellcode downloader and launcher known as ‘VaporRage,’ a malicious HTML attachment dubbed ‘EnvyScout,’ and a loader named ‘NativeZone.’
Biden’s Nominee for the Treasury Dept is Member of a Facebook Marxist Group
It used to be that anyone chosen to be in a presidential cabinet role experienced exceptional resume scrutiny before they were selected. It is likely that remains the case under the Biden administration and that should tell another part of the story….the Biden advisors are supporters themselves are Marxists. Further, the American people are forced to accept associated policies and legislation that is playing out today under this administration.
So, who is Saule Omarova? Apparently she is a person that all democrats approve of since not one person on the Left has expressed worry or criticism.Saule Omarova specializes in regulation of financial institutions, banking law, international finance, and corporate finance. Before joining Cornell Law School in 2014, she was the George R. Ward Associate Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law.
She is also part of the Berggruen Institute. What is that?
Founded in 2010 by philanthropist and investor Nicolas Berggruen, the Berggruen Institute develops the foundational ideas and critical analysis needed to unlock enduring progress for political, economic, and social institutions in the 21st century. Since its inception, the Berggruen Institute has launched the 21st Century Council, the Council for the Future of Europe, the Berggruen China Center, the Think Long Committee for California, and the signature Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture.
In partnership with the University of Southern California Dornsife Center on Science, Technology and Public Life (STPL), Berggruen Fellowships offer scholars flexible periods of work and study in both the United States and China.
Saule Omarova, President Biden’s pick to be the comptroller of the currency within the Treasury Department, appears to have joined a Facebook group for Marxist and socialist discussion in 2019, according to a post in the group called “Marxist Analysis and Policy.”
This week, the right-leaning American Accountability Foundation first resurfaced a 2019 post from the public Facebook group. A member posted, “Let’s welcome our newest members: Saule Omarova.”
The post links to a Facebook account that’s been in operation since at least 2017 with a profile picture that appears to be of Omarova. The account’s profile picture has 85 visible likes and 14 visible comments, some of which appear to be from people who would reasonably run in the same social circles as Omarova. Those include a University of Minnesota law professor and a Cornell engineering professor.
The White House announced that it is nominating Omarova – a Cornell law professor – to run the key post that regulates national banks last month. Since then, Omarova has drawn harsh scrutiny for her past comments that were very hostile toward the financial services industry. She’s also been attacked over her Moscow State University thesis about Marxism, which Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., is demanding that she turn over to the Banking Committee.
FOX Business sent messages to both Omarova and the White House requesting confirmation that the Facebook account is authentic, and asking for comment. Neither responded.
The Facebook group’s description states that it is for socialism and against capitalism.
“This Marxist group is a platform for analysis, policy (sic) and polemics from the perspectives of a diverse range of Socialist and anti-capitalist views,” it says. “We are against exploitation, inequality, racial (sic) discrimination and ecological destruction at the core of Capitalist social relations. The working class has the potential and the ability to change Capitalism and in the process change itself. Only working people, by (sic) their own efforts, can free themselves from Capitalism. We stand for the self emancipation of the working class and Socialism.”
The group’s rules say, “No personal abuse will be allowed. Nor will racist or fascist comments be tolerated. Support for the Tory party is not acceptable. A culture of diverse Marxist, Socialist and radical views is the framework for the group.”
The posts in the group appear to indicate that it is a forum for serious ideological discussion, and not a parody forum. A post in the group from Oct. 19 promotes a lecture by a Dublin City University professor about “A Marxist Narrative, From Marx and Engels to COVID-19.”
Older posts include the “ACAB” (All Cops are Bastards) slogan, and celebrate the 2020 Seattle autonomous zone protest as at the center of the battle for socialism.
“Seattle emerged once again as the center of anti-capitalist mobilizations,” one poster wrote. “The protestors occupied 6 blocks, and declared them to be police-free areas. They operate like a ‘soviet’ with many radical anti-police, and anti-capitalist speeches.”
The poster added: “The radicalization of the youth and young workers in Seattle is very important. It shows a way for the protests in the rest of the country. This is one of these times that the masses radicalize very fast, and they are open for revolutionary socialist alternatives to the decaying capitalism.” More here
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Will anyone in the media ask Jen Psaki or ol Joe himself if they support Marxist’s ideology of if they themselves are Marxists?
Supply Chain Crisis and Where is the Defense Production Act?
What is the Defense Production Act?
The Defense Production Act is the primary source of presidential authorities to expedite and expand the supply of materials and services from the U.S. industrial base needed to promote the national defense. DPA authorities are available to support: emergency preparedness activities conducted pursuant to title VI of the Stafford Act; protection or restoration of critical infrastructure; and efforts to prevent, reduce vulnerability to, minimize damage from, and recover from acts of terrorism within the United States. DPA authorities may be used to:
- Require acceptance and preferential performance of contracts and orders under DPA Title I. (See Federal Priorities and Allocations System (FPAS).)
- Provide financial incentives and assistance (under DPA Title III) for U.S. industry to expand productive capacity and supply needed for national defense purposes;
- Provide antitrust protection (through DPA voluntary agreements in DPA Title VII) for businesses to cooperate in planning and operations for national defense purposes, including homeland security.
But national security? Yes. We remain the midst of the Covid 19 pandemic and those affected could and often are our protectors, not only medically but when it comes to legally or militarily.
While we are fretting over shortages and necessities in our daily lives there are two real areas of major concern, they are medicines and micro-chips (semiconductors) used for advanced technology of many varieties.
Basic medicines in use either by prescription or over the counter are manufactured in Asia, mostly China that is. It is a fact we learned in the early days of the pandemic. Imagine now that we are faced with a shortage of antibiotics, insulin, aspirin or Lasix and Dyazide. Could we once again face personal protection equipment shortages?
When it comes to semiconductors, the following is important to know:
In part from a senate committee: To mitigate supply chain risks and ensure that semiconductors used in sensitive military systems do not have malware embedded in them, in 2004 the Department of Defense established the “Trusted Foundry Program.” Under this program the government identifies companies deemed secure and trustworthy enough to produce chips exclusively for the military. Two facilities currently operate under this program, one in Vermont and one in New York.
The program only produces a small percentage of the nearly 2 billion semiconductors DOD acquires each year. Some observers have expressed concern that the trusted foundries are falling behind technologically compared to commercial fabrication facilities in East Asia. This could leave the U.S. military at a technological disadvantage to China and other countries that buy superior chips.
In 2017, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency launched the Electronics Resurgence Initiative, which seeks to address market and technological trends and challenges in the microelectronics sector.
Sounds shaky right? It is as we need results and we need them now. So where is that order by the Biden administration for the Defense Production Act which would jump start real action in all the various reasons for the log jam at ports around the United States? There is no one single reason for the cargo ships being stacked up in Long Beach, Los Angeles, Port Houston, Savannah to name a few.
The United States can relieve the cargo pressures immediately by deploying the National Guard, signing waivers on regulations and by stopping all the financial payments that encourage people to simply not go to work.
The shortages hitting countries around the world
A “perfect storm” in China is hitting shoppers and businesses at home and overseas.
It is affecting everything from paper, food, textiles and toys to iPhone chips, says Dr Michal Meidan from the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.
She says these items “may end up being in short supply this Christmas”.
Then there is the Department of Transportation and the Secretary has been absent….his involvement in this?
Maritime administration –>
U.S. maritime ports are critical links in the U.S. domestic and international trade supply-chain. Ports serve as centers of commerce where freight and commodities are transferred between cargo ships, barges, trucks, trains, and pipelines.
The Port Infrastructure Development Program supports the efficient movement of commerce upon which our economy relies through discretionary grant funding that helps strengthen, modernize, and improve our country’s maritime systems and gateway ports. Grants are awarded on a competitive basis and support the Nation’s long-term economic vitality.
Port Infrastructure Development grants provide planning, operational and capital financing, and project management assistance to improve port capacity and operations.
Authorization History
The Port Infrastructure and Development Program was authorized by Congress as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (Public Law 111-84). The legislation states that “The Secretary of Transportation, through the Maritime Administrator, shall establish a port infrastructure development program for the improvement of port facilities.”
The law specifically authorizes the Administrator to:
- Receive funds provided for the project from Federal, non-Federal, and private entities that have a specific agreement or contract with the Administrator to further the purposes of this subsection;
- Coordinate with other Federal agencies to expedite the process established under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) for the improvement of port facilities to improve the efficiency of the transportation system, to increase port security, or to provide greater access to port facilities;
- Seek to coordinate all reviews or requirements with appropriate local, State, and Federal agencies; and
- Provide such technical assistance and financial assistance, including grants, to port authorities or commissions or their subdivisions and agents as needed for project planning, design, and construction.
The authorizing legislation also established a Port Infrastructure Development Fund for use by the Administrator in carrying out projects under the program. The fund is available for the Administrator to:
- Administer and carry out projects under the program;
- Receive Federal, non-Federal, and private funds from entities which have specific agreements or contracts with the Administrator; and
- Make refunds for projects that will not be completed.
There are also additional legislative provisions for the crediting and transfer of monies into the fund.
42 Reasons the $3.5 Trillion Spending Bill will Wreck America
Hat tip to Congressman Jim Banks and his colleagues:
TO: Republican Study Committee members
FROM: Chairman Jim Banks
DATE: October 12, 2021
RE: Reconciliation Roundup
RECONCILIATION ROUNDUP: Policies to Wreck America
TOPLINE: We as congressional Republicans have an urgent duty to tell the truth about what’s REALLY in the Democrats’ $3.5T big government socialist takeover and warn the American people what’s coming.
This bill is a disaster and should be polling at 20%. We all know it.
So, how can we explain the 52–55% approval its garnered in the polls? The chief reason that it keeps polling favorably is because we haven’t done a good enough job letting the American people know what’s in it.
Here’s what happens to public opinion when the public learns what’s in these Democrat bills. In March, before Democrats’ $1.9 trillion package passed, 70% of Americans said they favored it. Polled again in August—five months after the bill was enacted, only 35% of Americans said the bill was helping improve the economy or will do so in the future.
To be fair, this is the Democrats’ strategy. They’ve played ‘hide the ball’ with the bill text so as not to tip off the public as to what they’re putting in their bills. Then, they bring it to the floor and tout some poll numbers and scare their members into voting for it.
Luckily, due to Democrats’ stalled legislative agenda, we have bill text and a window into their plan. If we effectively communicate about this bill, we’ll see those poll numbers drop.
I’ve directed staff at the Republican Study Committee to pore over the bill’s pages and produce for you a summary of the worst parts of the bill. Please read and share these points on social media, newsletters, opinion-editorials, and whatever other format you use to get your message out.
- Perpetuates labor shortage: Continues welfare benefits without work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents at a time where there are 10.1 million job openings—more openings than there are people looking for work.
- Commissions a climate police: Democrats stuffed $8 billion into the bill to commission a cabal of federally funded climate police called the Civilian Climate Corps (CCC) who will conduct progressive activism on taxpayers’ dime (pages 8, 21, and 926).
- Pushes Green New Deal in our public schools: Requires funding for school construction be used largely on enrollment diversity and Green New Deal agenda items (page 55).
- Pushes Green New Deal in our universities: Democrats include a $10 billion “environmental justice” higher education slush fund to indoctrinate college students and advance Green New Deal policies (page 1,935).
- Forces faith-based child care providers out: The bill blocks the ability of many faith-based providers from participating in the childcare system and will lead to many of their closures (page 280).
- Hurts small and in-home daycares: Requires pre-K staff to have a college degree. (page 303)
- Includes new incentives for illegal immigration: Illegal immigrants will be eligible to take advantage of Democrats’ new ‘free’ college entitlement (page 92) as well be eligible for additional student aid (page 147) and the enhanced child tax credit (page 1,946).
- Includes legislative hull for Biden’s vaccine mandate: Increases OSHA penalties on businesses that fail to implement the mandate up to $700,000 per violation and includes $2.6 billion in funding for the Department of Labor to increase enforcement of these penalties (page 168).
- Gives unions near-total control: The bill includes insane prohibitions that would bind employers’ hands in union disputes and dangerously tilt the balance of power, subjecting employers to penalties that exempt union bosses and officials… among other things this bill would prevent employers from permanently replacing striking workers (page 175). It coerces businesses to meet union boss demands by increasing Fair Labor Standards Act penalties by an astronomical 900% (page 168).
- Makes unions bigger and more powerful: The bill would subsidize union dues that would only serve to strengthen the influence of union bosses and not American workers (page 2323).
- Pushes Democrats’ wasteful and confusing school lunch agenda: $643 million for, among other things, “procuring…culturally appropriate foods” (page 333).
- Furthers radical abortion agenda: Does not include the Hyde amendment and would mandate taxpayers pay for abortions (page 198) & (page 336).
- Drives up costs on Americans’ utility bills: Issues a punitive methane tax (page 367) and includes a tax on natural gas up to $1,500 per ton that could cost the American economy up to $9.1 billion and cost 90,000 Americans their jobs (page 368).
- Includes dangerous & deadly green energy mandate: Effectively forces Americans to get 40% of their energy from wind, solar and other unreliable forms of energy within 8 years (page 392). Reliance on these energy sources has proven deadly.
- Includes kickbacks for the Left’s green energy special interest network: $5 billion for “environmental and climate justice block grants” (page 377) and another $100 billion in green energy special interest subsidies, loans and other carve outs.
- Gives wealthy Americans tax credits: $222 billion in “green energy” tax credits will be given to those who can afford expensive electric vehicles and other “green” innovative products (page 1832).
- Furthers Democrats’ social justice agenda: Includes “equity” initiatives throughout the bill and, in one instance, Democrats inserted “equity” language into a title which should have been focusing on the maintenance of the United States’ cyber security efforts (page 897).
- Grants amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants: House Democrats have included in their reconciliation bill a plan to grant amnesty to around 8 million illegal immigrants at a cost of around $100 billion over ten years that would largely be spent on welfare and other entitlements (page 901). Trillions more would be spent long term on their Social Security and Medicare.
- Opens border even wider: The bill would waive many grounds for immigration inadmissibility, including infection or lack of vaccination status during a Pandemic, failure to attend removal proceedings in previous immigration cases, and the previous renouncement of American citizenship. DHS may also waive previous convictions for human trafficking, narcotics violations, and illegal voting (page 903).
- Increases visa limit: At least 226,000 family-preference visas would be administered each year (page 905).
- Grants fast-tracked green cards for those seeking middle-class careers in America: Language included in the bill exempts certain aliens from the annual green card statutory limits and has been described as a “hidden pipeline for U.S. employers to flood more cheap foreign graduates into millions of middle-class careers needed by American graduates” (page 910).
- Includes pork for Nancy Pelosi: $200 million is earmarked for the Presidio Trust in Speaker Pelosi’s congressional district (page 933).
- Increases energy dependence on OPEC, Russia and China: The bill prohibits several mineral and energy withdrawals (page 979). It overturns provisions included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that authorized energy production in the Arctic that will result in 130,000 Americans losing their jobs and $440 billion in lost federal revenue (page 983) and the mineral withdrawals it prohibits would, ironically, include minerals necessary for renewable energy sources (pages 934, 940, 943).
- Exacerbates the chip shortage: The bill would mandate the conversion of the entire federal vehicle fleet from internal combustion engines to electric engines at a time when there is a global microchip shortage and crippled supply chains (page 1,043).
- Democrats’ feckless China bill is included: Concepts from the insanely weak Endless Frontier Act included, including $11 billion in research funding that will likely result in American intellectual property going to China (page 1079 – 1081).
- Chases green energy pipe dreams: $264 million to the EPA to conduct research with left-wing environmental justice groups on how to transition away from fossil fuels (page 1063).
- Fixes “racist” roads and bridges: Adds a nearly $4 billion slush fund that would help left-wing grassroots organizations that, among other things, want to tear down and rebuild or otherwise alter infrastructure deemed “racist” (page 1183).
- Punishes red states for failing to adopt Green New Deal provisions: Mandates “consequences” for conservative states that don’t meet the radical Left’s “green” climate standards while at the same time adding nearly $4 billion for “Community Climate Incentive Grants” for cooperating states (page 1179).
- Includes new massive, bankrupting entitlement: The new paid leave entitlement would mandate workers get 12 weeks of paid leave and would cost $500 billion over ten years according to the CBO (page 1245). It would apply to those making up to half a million dollars a year (page 1254).
- Advances a totalitarian and paternalistic view of the federal government: Includes grants for organizations to treat individuals suffering from “loneliness” and “social isolation.”
- Further detaches individuals from employment and more reliant on government handouts: The bill spends $835 billion on welfare through manipulating the tax code [not including the expansions of Obamacare subsidies] (page 1943).
- Tax benefits for the top 1%: The bill will possibly lift the SALT deduction cap meaning many of the top 1% wealthiest Americans would pay less in taxes.
- Tax credit for wealthy donors who give to woke universities: The bill creates a new tax credit program that gives tax credits worth 40% of cash contribution that are made to university research programs (page 2094).
- Expands worst parts of Obamacare: Obamacare’s job-killing employer mandate will become more severe by adjusting the definition of “affordable coverage” to mean coverage that costs no more than 8.5 percent of income rather than current law’s 9.5 percent of income (page 2041).
- Increases taxes on Americans at every income level: $2 trillion in tax hikes will fall on those making under $400,000 per year, contrary to what the White House says. Individuals at all income levels will be affected (Ways and Means GOP).
- Lowers wages for working families: The corporate tax rate will increase by 5.5%, meaning American companies will face one of the highest tax burdens in the world. According to analysis, two-thirds of this tax hike will fall on lower- and middle-income taxpayers (page 2110).
- Penalizes marriage: The bill would permanently double the EITC’s marriage penalty on childless worker benefits (page 2036).
- Imposes crushing taxes on small business: Guts the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act small business deductions that reduced pass-through entity taxes to keep them comparable to taxes imposed on corporations (page 2235) as well as hammer small businesses that file as individual tax earners with the 39.6% rate (page 2221) and Obamacare’s 3.8% tax on net investment income.
- Crushes family businesses and farms: The bill would impose a 25% capital gains rate (page 2226) and makes alterations to the Death Tax including cutting the Death Tax exemption in half (page 2240).
- Violates Americans’ financial privacy: $80 billion slush fund to hire an 87,000-IRS-agent army to carry out the Biden administration’s plan to review every account above a $600 balance or with more than $600 of transactions in a year. (page 2283).
- Increases out of pocket costs for those who rely on prescription drugs: The bill repeals the Trump-era Rebate Rule which passes through rebates directly to consumers at the point of sale (page 2465).
- Imports policies from countries with socialized medicine: The bill includes healthcare policies imported from systems in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom—all countries that have government-run healthcare systems (page 2349).
Conclusion: Each of these 42 bullets is enough to vote against the bill. Taken together—it’s mind-blowingly corrupt. We need to loudly oppose it.
Democrats are scattered. The Biden agenda is in question. It’s the perfect opportunity to build public sentiment against this bill. The American people need us to be the vanguard against the Left’s radical plans.
It’s not an understatement to say this bill, if passed, will fundamentally change our country forever—Americans will wake up in a few years and wonder what happened to their freedom. We can’t let that happen.
Media Mentions
Washington Examiner- GOP list: 42 ways Pelosi-Biden $3.5 trillion bill will ‘wreck America’
Here’s one thing that GOP leaders and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi agree on when it comes to the nation’s unenthusiastic reaction to President Joe Biden’s massive $3.5 trillion spend-and-tax plan. Both sides think their messaging stinks.
NY Post- ‘Mind-blowingly corrupt’: GOP congressman outlines ‘worst’ parts of $3.5T spending bill
Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks laid out his case against President Biden and the House Democrats’ sweeping social spending bill in a memo sent to members of the largest conservative caucus in Congress on Tuesday.
Breitbart- Jim Banks Reveals the ‘Mind-Blowingly Corrupt’ Carveouts in $3.5 Trillion Infrastructure Bill
Rep. Jim Banks (R-SC), the chairman of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), detailed many of the most radical aspects of the $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill.
Townhall- 40+ Radical Programs Democrats Don’t Want You to Notice in Biden’s Budget