Free Republic

In the ebullience that surrounded the supposed end of the Cold War, few analysts worried about the nuggets of communist opposition that the tide of freedom had failed to sweep away. Cuba was harmless. China was capitalizing. Those weird little statelets left in the USSR’s wake? Whatever, bro. ........................................................ In fact, Hollywood has amassed so much undisclosed TMZ fodder that it’s willing to do whatever the North says. There is no margin for error, and no taking of chances. Spend enough time in the right/wrong circles here in L.A., and you’ll pick up a tabloid’s worth of sordid stories. Sometimes...

The FBI is attempting to persuade an obscure regulatory body in Washington to change its rules of engagement in order to seize significant new powers to hack into and carry out surveillance of computers throughout the US and around the world. Civil liberties groups warn that the proposed rule change amounts to a power grab by the agency that would ride roughshod over strict limits to searches and seizures laid out under the fourth amendment of the US constitution, as well as violate first amendment privacy rights. They have protested that the FBI is seeking to transform its cyber capabilities...

Ron Klain, the newly-appointed "Ebola Czar" for Barack Obama's administration, did not attend a White House meeting Friday discussing the federal response to the domestic threat of the deadly Ebola virus.

President Obama on Friday named Ron Klain, a seasoned Democratic crisis-response operative and White House veteran, to manage the government’s response to the deadly virus as public anxiety grows over its possible spread. Mr. Klain, a former chief of staff for Vice Presidents Al Gore and Joseph R. Biden Jr., is known for his ability to handle high-stakes and fast-moving political challenges. He was the lead Democratic lawyer for Mr. Gore during the 2000 election recount, and was later played by Kevin Spacey in the HBO drama “Recount” about the disputed contest. Mr. Klain’s appointment, announced by a White House...

Forget medical experience, what the USA needs to combat the worst Ebola pandemic ever is "an American lawyer and political operative best known for serving as Chief of Staff to two Vice Presidents - Al Gore (1995–1999) and Joseph Biden (2009–2011)." Ronald A. "Ron" Klain is an American lawyer and political operative best known for serving as Chief of Staff to two Vice Presidents - Al Gore (1995–1999) and Joseph Biden (2009–2011). He is an influential Democratic Party insider. Earlier in his career, he was a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Byron White during the Court's 1987 and 1988...

This should fix it and calm the panic: •*OBAMA SAID TO APPOINT RON KLAIN AS EBOLA CZAR, CNN TWEETS Forget medical experience, what the USA needs to combat the worst Ebola pandemic ever is "an American lawyer and political operative best known for serving as Chief of Staff to two Vice Presidents - Al Gore (1995–1999) and Joseph Biden (2009–2011)." Gotta wonder how Tom Frieden feels about this... Via Wikipedia, Ronald A. "Ron" Klain is an American lawyer and political operative best known for serving as Chief of Staff to two Vice Presidents - Al Gore (1995–1999) and Joseph Biden...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Ron Klain, the former chief of staff to Vice Presidents Al Gore and Joe Biden, will be named Ebola czar, according to a report on CNN.

Remember Heartbleed? Well, this is probably worse. Here's a (somewhat simplified) explanation of what Shellshock actually is. Don't worry: I haven't included instructions on how to actually exploit it. The moral of the story is: keep your security patches up to date!

Vice President Biden told Vladimir Putin that he did not believe the Russian leader had “a soul” during a visit to the Kremlin in 2011, the vice president said in a New Yorker magazine interview published Monday. Biden said the incident occurred while he was touring Putin’s office in the Kremlin. “I had an interpreter, and when he was showing me his office I said, ‘It’s amazing what capitalism will do, won’t it? A magnificent office!’ And he laughed. As I turned, I was this close to him,” Biden said, signaling that the two leaders were standing just inches apart....

The great writer Harlan Ellison turns 80 today. Ellison has won eight Hugo Awards, a shared award for the screenplay of A Boy and his Dog that he counts as "half an Hugo" and two special awards from annual World SF Conventions; four Nebula Awards of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA); five Bram Stoker Awards of the Horror Writers Association (HWA); two Edgar Awards of the Mystery Writers of America; two World Fantasy Award from annual conventions; and two Georges Méliès fantasy film awards. -- Wikipedia Ellison is known primarily to television viewers as the author...

Are you a Comcast customer? Please change your password. On February 6, NullCrew FTS hacked into at least 34 of Comcast's servers and published a list of the company's mail servers and a link to the root file with the vulnerability it used to penetrate the system on Pastebin.

Last weekend, Target finally disclosed at least one cause of the massive data breach that exposed personal and financial information on more than 110 million customers: Malicious software that infected point-of-sale systems at Target checkout counters. Today’s post includes new information about the malware apparently used in the attack, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.

(CNN) - Rep. Peter King said fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul owes the nation’s top intelligence official an apology after saying he should resign for “lying” to a Senate committee about a controversial surveillance program. The New York congressman also said that Paul's comparison of National Intelligence Director James Clapper to NSA leaker Edward Snowden is "absolutely disgraceful." "For Senator Paul to compare that patriot, General Clapper, with someone like Snowden, who is a traitor, who has put American lives at risk - Senator Paul should be ashamed of himself," King said Thursday on CNN’s “The Situation Room.” "It's an...

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) Thursday (Nov. 21) will introduce the Cybersecurity Act of 2013. The act passed out of the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously in July and will now be attached as an amendment to the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act--the Defense Department's budget bill--with the blessing of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). The bill is supported by a number of industry groups, including the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, CTIA, and US Telecom. When the bill was introduced, NCTA praised that fact that while putting the National Institute of Standards and Technology's in charge of developing cybersecurity standards...

Congresswoman and Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz challenges the nation to resolve tough issues for future generations. America has witnessed the dangers that come with shortsightedness, writes Debbie Wasserman Schultz in For the Next Generation. If we want to ensure prosperity for ourselves and an improved way of life for young Americans, we have to change, starting now.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew plans to warn lawmakers Thursday that he will be unable to guarantee payments to any group — whether Social Security recipients or U.S. bondholders — unless Congress approves an increase in the federal debt limit. With Washington in gridlock and a key deadline in the debt-limit debate just one week off, Lew plans to tell a Senate panel that he would do all he can to minimize the pain of breaching the $16.7 trillion debt limit, according to Treasury officials briefed on the testimony. But Lew will also note that in an unprecedented situation in which...

It took only days for the hackers of Germany’s Chaos Computer Club to claim victory in the challenge to break Apple’s vaunted new security feature in the iPhone 5s. The CCC “biometrics hacking team” used a photo of a fingerprint from a glass surface to fashion a fake finger that they then used to fool the newest iPhone into unlocking. “This demonstrates—again,” the group said in a statement, “that fingerprint biometrics is unsuitable as access control method and should be avoided.” Actually, it demonstrates no such thing. The new iPhone debuted on Friday, September 20. The CCC team announced their...

Security experts are warning us all over the place. The digital life used to be a cubicle and workstation. Now it's well, life. Everything is connected, and Internet is everywhere. That means criminal intruders along with pranksters can also broaden their reach from computer malware to home connections such as smart appliances and meters. Last week, there was one more proof that this was so: According to a warning by the information security firm Trustwave, a Satis-brand toilet by the Japan-based company Lixil can be controlled remotely by an Android app. According to Daniel Crowley a managing consultant with information...

A luxury toilet controlled by a smartphone app is vulnerable to attack, according to security experts... the Pin code for every model is hardwired to be four zeros (0000), meaning that it cannot be reset... An attacker could ... cause the unit to unexpectedly open/close the lid, activate bidet or air-dry functions, causing discomfort or distress to [the] user."

Fast food is all about convenience and affordability. But there are ways you can make a trip to the local McDonald’s or Burger King feel like a VIP experience. Two Reddit forums revealed tips from fast food employees and savvy customers. We pulled out the best tricks that could enhance your next dining experience. From customizing your Taco Bell order to getting a cheaper “Big Mac,” these tips could change your fast food orders forever...