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n2doc's JournalPlanned Parenthood shuts down website after second hack
Source: the Hill
Planned Parenthood shut down its website Wednesday after it was hit by a second cyberattack within one week.
Officials confirmed Wednesday evening that the group was hit by a “denial of service attack” — a tactic that sends massive amounts of traffic to a site at one time to shut it down.
“We deeply regret that in order to more fully protect our websites from these extremist attacks, our full online content will be temporarily unavailable to people looking for good, accurate health information,” Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood’s political arm, said in a statement.
She added that the group is “taking every measure possible to mitigate any criminal efforts to undermine our mission and services.”
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/249728-planned-parenthood-shuts-down-website-after-second-hack
DoD Releases Report on Security Implications of Climate Change
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, July 29, 2015 – Global climate change will aggravate problems such as poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation, ineffectual leadership and weak political institutions that threaten stability in a number of countries, according to a report the Defense Department sent to Congress yesterday.
The Senate Appropriations Committee requested the report in conjunction with the Defense Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2015, asking that the undersecretary of defense for policy provide a report that identifies the most serious and likely climate-related security risks for each combatant command and the ways those commands integrate risk mitigation into their planning processes.
Fragile States Vulnerable to Disruption
The report finds that climate change is a security risk, Pentagon officials said, because it degrades living conditions, human security and the ability of governments to meet the basic needs of their populations. Communities and states that already are fragile and have limited resources are significantly more vulnerable to disruption and far less likely to respond effectively and be resilient to new challenges, they added.
“The Department of Defense's primary responsibility is to protect national security interests around the world,” officials said in a news release announcing the report’s submission. “This involves considering all aspects of the global security environment and planning appropriately for potential contingencies and the possibility of unexpected developments both in the near and the longer terms.
“It is in this context,” they continued, “that the department must consider the effects of climate change -- such as sea level rise, shifting climate zones and more frequent and intense severe weather events -- and how these effects could impact national security.”
more
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=129366
Group Seeks to Expose Cozy Ties Between US Trade Rep and Wall Street
Citing his cozy ties to Wall Street banks, a group dedicated to exposing corruption and corporate influence in Washington, D.C. has submitted an official Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for all correspondence between U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and the 10 largest U.S. financial institutions.
The FOIA request demands access to or copies of emails and other written communications between Froman, the country's top trade negotiator, and banks including JP Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup.
Froman is a former senior executive at Citigroup and received a "golden parachute" worth more than $4 million upon leaving the large financial institution to go into government.
Rootstrikers, the grassroots organization behind the FOIA request, has said that because corporate giveaways like the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) pose a threat to robust financial regulation in general—and the U.S. financial reforms implemented after the financial crisis in specific—"Americans deserve to know what Froman has been privately saying to these big banks."
more
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/07/29/group-seeks-expose-cozy-ties-between-us-trade-rep-and-wall-street
Watch what happens when regular people try to use handguns in self-defense
In the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting, the National Rifle Association proposed putting more guns in schools. After a racist shot up a Charleston prayer group, an NRA board member argued for more guns in church. And now predictably, politicians and gun rights advocates are calling for guns in movie theaters after a loner killed two people at a theater in Louisiana.
The notion that more guns are always the solution to gun crime is taken seriously in this country. But the research shows that more guns lead to more gun homicides -- not less. And that guns are rarely used in self-defense.
Now a new study from researchers at Mount St. Mary's University sheds some light on why people don't use guns in self-defense very often. As it turns out, knowing when and how to apply lethal force in a potentially life-or-death situation is really difficult.
The study was commissioned by the National Gun Victims Action Council, an advocacy group devoted to enacting "sensible gun laws" that "find common ground between legal gun owners and non-gun owners that minimizes gun violence in our culture." The study found that proper training and education are key to successfully using a firearm in self-defense: "carrying a gun in public does not provide self-defense unless the carrier is properly trained and maintains their skill level," the authors wrote in a statement.
video at link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/07/28/watch-what-happens-when-regular-people-try-to-use-handguns-in-self-defense/?postshare=671438212917712
Harley an awkward ride for 'union-busting' Republican Walker
For Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, there's something awkward about the Harley-Davidson motorcycles that he has been posing on at presidential campaign stops: each one bears a sticker on its frame that reads "Union made in the USA."
Walker has made the iconic American brand a centerpiece of his campaign kick-off tour this month, visiting four dealerships and sometimes showing off his own 2003 Harley Road King as he seeks to harness its appeal to older white male voters.
But there is another side to Harley that the Republican candidate has been less vocal about - it is a leading example of a successful company that has a strong relationship with labor unions.
Walker, by contrast, has made his union-busting credentials the foundation of his White House bid, touting it as the prime example of his leadership success and as evidence of how he can defeat powerful vested interests and even foreign enemies.
more
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/30/us-usa-election-walker-harley-idUSKCN0Q40CI20150730
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