July 10, 2020

Washington Post Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) said that a lot of ISPs, "for whatever reason," claim they have service where they don't, something he said everyone knows "has Tech to contain been going on for years." Doyle, chairman of the House Communications coronavirus on Subcommittee, was being interviewed for C-SPAN's Communicators series college campuses about why the FCC's broadband maps, which rely on carrier data, have not yet sparks fresh privacy gotten fixed. He said that since Democrats and Republicans agree the maps concerns aren't good, the FCC would just be throwing $20 million out the window by starting to give out most of the Rural Development Opportunities Fund (RDOF) Fierce Video subsidy money. Sling TV is having a moment FCC chairman Ajit Pai argues that delaying those subsidies would mean taking longer to close the digital divide, and that the initial $16 billion is going to areas The Hill identified as unserved, while the issues with the maps are about failing to get Amazon removing money to unserved areas because they are identified as served. But Doyle Redskins said it was mind-boggling that "given the technology and abilities we have merchandise from today," he didn't know why the FCC did not have accurate maps" to direct the site "precious dollars that aren't growing on trees."

Deadline On closing the homework gap, Doyle pledged that any COVID-19 aid package NFL And Pluto TV that moves out of the House would include money for schools and libraries. He Reach Multi-Year said there is bipartisan support for boosting distance learning but that the issue Extension, Adding comes down to dollars and how to pay for it, which is usually where the 100th Anniversary bipartisanship breaks down. Democrats want to put $9 billion toward closing Highlight Shows To the homework gap. Programming Mix Doyle's Communicators interview airs on C-SPAN Saturday (July 11) at Politico 6:30 p.m. ET, and on C-SPAN2 Monday (July 13) at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. California ET. – Multichannel News investigating Google ______for potential antitrust violations The fight for roared back with new intensity Thursday as Vice President Mike Pence and former Vice President made New York Times simultaneous visits to the state, each trying to show who can best handle the Can Facebook Ever crises wracking the country and defining the 2020 election. In separate stops Stop the Drama? throughout the day, they clashed over who could revive the economy, President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and the TVTechnology searing debates over racism and policing playing out in streets across the Nation’s First 24/7 country. Sports Gambling Channel Launches The day included Biden speaking to a group of ironworkers while Pence met on Samsung TVs with business leaders, and Biden attacking Trump for defending the Confederate flag, while Pence accused the presumptive Democratic Pennlive presidential nominee and “the radical left” of “smearing” police. At a factory Gov. Tom Wolf says just outside his birthplace of Scranton, Biden laid out his $700 billion plan for he’ll veto GOP effort economic recovery in a speech that reached out to the working-class voters to end coronavirus vital to winning Pennsylvania and other swing states. And he accused Trump emergency, vows to of stoking the very racial divisions that need healing. “Everyone will be cut in continue reopening on the deal this time as we rebuild the middle class, this time bringing everyone along, everybody,” Biden said. Trump, he said, is “exactly the wrong person to lead at this moment. He’ll not bring this country together. He’s Inquirer determined to drive us apart to keep his base in place. He’ll not be president Biden promised to for all the American people.” build the ‘economy of the future’ and criticized Trump as Hours later, Pence addressed a crowd of about 300 in Northeast Philadelphia, ‘singularly focused’ where supporters at the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, the city’s police on the stock market union, wore few face masks but many “Back the Blue” and “Trump 2020″ in a Pa. visit shirts. In one of the rare Republican-friendly areas in a heavily Democratic city, small but heated groups of protesters exchanged words outside. “On behalf of President Trump,” Pence said, “I’ll make you a promise: We will always have Reuters your back.” Echoing Trump’s “law and order” message, he called police “the 'Epic failure': U.S. best of us.” election officials warn of November chaos due to budget Earlier in Chester County, Pence had touted a “great American comeback” and crunch praised Trump’s handling of the pandemic — despite millions of people still unemployed and daily coronavirus cases reaching new records. Meeting

with business leaders at the Rajant Corp. in Malvern, Pence said the is “coming back because of the solid foundation that was put in place” by Trump. The Trump campaign fired back, pointing to Biden’s support for NAFTA, the trade deal many blame for taking their jobs overseas.

The twin visits created one of the first days of split-screen campaigning anywhere since the coronavirus curtailed public events. Pennsylvania’s narrow 2016 margin — when Trump won by less than 1 percentage point — loomed as a backdrop, with both sides looking for anything that could make the difference in a state that could decide the presidential race.

At McGregor Industries in Dunmore, in northeastern Pennsylvania, Biden visited a region that delivered a shocking blow to Democrats. The area helped deliver Pennsylvania to Trump in a political shift that mirrored postindustrial regions across the upper Midwest, many hit hard by economic change and won over by Trump’s promise of renewal. But Biden said Trump was “singularly focused” on the stock market and he promised to be a true champion of the working class as he unveiled a recovery plan aimed at boosting investments in American workers, businesses, and infrastructure.

Biden sharply contrasted his approach — and upbringing — with Trump’s, frequently mentioning his ties to Scranton. “You see, growing up rich and looking down on people is a bit different than how I grew up here,” Biden said. While Trump has touted a nostalgic vision of values and jobs, Biden said his emphasis on clean energy, technology, and research and development is “focused on building an economy for the future, not for the past.”

In a clear sign of where his policy pitch is aimed, top Biden surrogates will follow his Pennsylvania speech with virtual events Friday touting the plan in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio, similarly situated swing states that could also play a pivotal role in the election. Pence began his visit in an area that delivered one of Trump’s largest 2016 vote hauls, attending a campaign fund- raiser at a sprawling Lancaster County farm for an event that brought in more than $1 million. He then touted the president’s economic record, and the country’s future, while meeting with business leaders in Chester County, one of the many affluent suburbs that once supported the GOP but have broken sharply from Trump.

In Northeast Philadelphia, Pence spoke to a largely white crowd where the Trump campaign believes it can make inroads. Philadelphia police union president John McNesby said Pence had long wanted to come speak to officers involved in last year’s Tioga shooting, when six cops were shot in a standoff. But the visit arrived at a moment of extreme tension around policing. “Right now, folks, there is no support for police. ... Nobody’s out there giving our guys and girls that are on the street for the last two months ... any help whatsoever,” McNesby said.

The national FOP president, Patrick Yoes, flew in for the event and said that police have become “political footballs” and that “this social experiment is going to cost people’s lives. It’s doing irreparable harm to law enforcement.” Also there were U.S. Attorney William McSwain and Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, who each forcefully backed the police. So was Philadelphia Police Inspector Joseph Bologna, who was suspended last month after being charged with assaulting a protester during protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. ”A dark cloud of irrational sentiment has descended over much of the country and Philadelphia,” Toomey said. “There is a loud, angry, I think small but very vocal segment of our society, amplified by the mainstream media, propagating a false narrative.”

Eddie Lopez Sr., vice president of the National Coalition of Latino Officers, voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, but as a 30-year Philadelphia police veteran, he welcomed support from the White House. ”I’ve never been a Trump supporter, but he’s probably the only one right now supporting police, so that’s something I have to look at,” Lopez said. He wasn’t sure what he thought of Biden. “Right now I don’t know who I will support. But I’ll tell you this: You must support police. If you don’t, it’s not going to be a hard decision.” He was one of fewer than a dozen people of color who attended the event.

Pence argued that the Trump administration has supported Black families — pointing to job gains before the pandemic. But Biden hammered the president’s defense of the Confederate flag. “You think Donald Trump has any idea that 360,000 Pennsylvanians fought on the side of the Union to defeat the flag, that Confederate flag, including more black soldiers coming from Pennsylvania than any other state in the nation?” Biden said in his Dunmore speech.

But Biden’s main emphasis was on how he would lead an economic recovery, as he attempted to eat into Trump’s advantage on one of the few major issues on which polling shows more voters still trust the president. Biden said he would reverse the economic crash with investments including $400 billion in government purchases of American products such as clean vehicles, building materials, and medical supplies, and $300 billion for research and development. His proposal would also strengthen labor unions and tighten the government’s “buy American” provisions. – Philadelphia Inquirer ______

President Trump’s re-election campaign is advertising in three states he easily won in 2016, as well as two others that appear tougher for him to capture, as polls suggest he may have a narrower path to the White House than four years ago. Ad dollars are flowing into Iowa, Ohio and Georgia—states he won by 5 percentage points or more—as Mr. Trump trails presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in most battleground-state and national polling and navigates a pandemic and race-relations debate.

Trump campaign aides said they remain optimistic, but privately acknowledge they are dealing with a tougher path to re-election than they anticipated six months ago, as some states they knew would be battlegrounds, such as Michigan, appear hard to hold, and others, like Iowa, are more competitive than expected. Still, an incumbent president spending in states he easily won isn’t a new strategy—President Obama did the same in 2012. A campaign official said the advertising moves shouldn’t be viewed as signs of weakness, saying the Trump team has ample resources to make all the ad buys needed and isn’t taking states for granted.

The official also highlighted nationwide cable and network-TV buys, as well as spending “on Joe Biden’s turf.” The campaign is also spending in Nevada and Minnesota, both states narrowly won by Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016. Nevada is classified in the presidential race as “likely Democrat” and Minnesota as “lean Democrat” by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. “We have enough money and will continue to defend the states the president won the last time and the states where he was close,” the Trump campaign official said.

Mr. Trump and the top super political-action committee backing him spent an estimated $31.5 million on broadcast TV ads nationally in June, while Mr. Biden’s campaign and the top super PAC backing him spent a combined $8.8 million, data from ad-tracking company Kantar/CMAG shows. The Phoenix TV market received the most advertising from the Trump campaign during that month, seeing roughly 1 in 15 spots aired nationwide. Mr. Trump won Arizona by 3.5 percentage points in 2016, but Democrats are aggressively competing there in hopes of winning a state that hasn’t backed a Democrat for president since 1996.

Mr. Trump is trailing Mr. Biden in most polls in the states where both sides are paying the closest attention: Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. All are considered able to swing toward either candidate and are rich in Electoral College votes. “Frantically defending states he comfortably won four years ago isn’t a sign of strength for Donald Trump, it’s the result of a campaign that is only speaking to its base, isn’t expanding their support and continues to hemorrhage votes,” Biden spokesman T.J. Ducklo said. “The Biden campaign is on offense. We’re running ads in six states that went red in 2016.”

Although Mr. Trump won Iowa by 9.4 percentage points in 2016, the Des Moines area ranked in the top half for the number of spots aired among the 43 markets where his campaign spent on broadcast TV in June, the Kantar/CMAG data shows. Mr. Trump registered a lead in Iowa of just 1 percentage point in a June survey conducted by the state’s top pollster. Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, who has closely aligned herself with the president, trailed Democratic challenger Theresa Greenfield by 3 percentage points in that poll, published by the Des Moines Register.

While large national Democratic groups haven’t advertised in the presidential race in Iowa for the general election, a competitive Senate race there may give them more incentive to do so. Longtime Iowa Republican operative Doug Gross said he thinks the incumbent is the favorite there, but predicted it would be close. “I think you’d have to say he’s favored in Iowa given that he won it by a bigger margin than he won Texas last time. But it’s much more competitive than it was last time,” Mr. Gross said. “I think the president is spending money because he knows he needs to hold it.”

A campaign official projected optimism that Mr. Trump would win Iowa but acknowledged more work was under way in the state than was expected earlier this year. A recent Fox News poll in Georgia, which hasn’t backed a Democrat for president since Bill Clinton’s first win in 1992, had Mr. Biden with a two-percentage-point advantage in a state Mr. Trump won by 5.1 points. The Cook Political Report this week moved Georgia from “lean Republican” to “toss up” in its battleground-state categorization.

In Ohio—which Mr. Trump won by 8.1 percentage points, the widest margin there for a Republican nominee in three decades—a Quinnipiac University survey during the second half of June had Mr. Biden up by 1 percentage point. So far, neither Mr. Biden’s campaign nor the top super PAC backing him, Priorities USA, has run general-election broadcast TV ads in Iowa, Georgia or Ohio. “These are places where Democrats haven’t really spent anything,” said Guy Cecil, chairman of Priorities USA. “They [the Republicans] are being forced to defend a lot more territory than Joe Biden will.”

For most of the election cycle, Iowa has been on the watch list for Priorities USA, which has a $200 million budget planned for the election. “We look at how these states look, one compared to another,” Mr. Cecil said. “Iowa has pretty consistently been that next state, after the six states that get the most attention.” The Des Moines area accounted for 2.6% of the almost 40,000 local broadcast TV spots aired by the Trump campaign during June. Ads in the Ohio markets of Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati combined accounted for 2.3% of the total, while those in the Georgia markets of Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta, Albany and Macon combined represented about 1%.

The Trump campaign appears poised to continue spending on broadcast TV in Ohio. Ad buys already in place for after Labor Day show it plans to spend $18.4 million in the state, second only to the $37.8 million booked so far for Florida. Scott Jennings, who was Republican Mitt Romney’s Ohio state director for the 2012 presidential campaign, played down the significance of Mr. Trump running ads in the state. “Did Barack Obama in 2012 not run ads in states he won in 2008? Of course he did,” Mr. Jennings said. “As an incumbent president, you have the money to play everywhere.”

Mr. Trump’s re-election effort ended May with $265 million in the bank. Mr. Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee had less than half as much cash on hand at the end of the month, but the presumptive nominee has been recording strong fundraising recently. Mr. Jennings, who periodically talks to Trump campaign representatives, said the incumbent’s operation feels comfortable about Ohio. “They feel like his issue set and general disposition plays well here,” he said. “They feel pretty confident about the ground game and have had people on the ground for a year.” – Wall Street Journal ______

123456.

It may be the simplest — and easiest to guess — string of characters. And yet, one out of every 142 passwords uses this exact sequence, a careless and unnecessary mistake that people should take the time to avoid. Every time a company is hacked, troves of information are inevitably leaked online. Billions of login credentials to a wide variety of websites — banks, medical services, social networks — are currently available in varying corners of the web.

Ata Hakcil, a Turkish computer engineer and researcher, took 1 billion of the logins leaked online and analyzed the near 170 million passwords included to study password security. The results were disheartening. More than 7 million people used “123456,” while the equally lazy “123456789” and “password” were not far behind. These predictable patterns appear frequently throughout the 100 most common passwords compiled by Mr. Hakcil. The research identified a number of other patterns that make guessing passwords a breeze for determined hackers.

For instance, the average password is far too short. While cybersecurity experts recommend at least 16 characters, but preferably 24 or more characters, the average password contains just nine characters. What’s more, those characters are extremely predictable. Twenty-nine percent of passwords use only letters and 13% use only numbers, meaning 42% of passwords use characters susceptible to a “dictionary attack” — a rudimentary hacking technique that pulls possible passwords from dictionaries or previous data breaches.

Fortunately, beefing up one’s password security requires just a little effort and can have a profound impact on personal security. There are a wealth of tools — paid or free — that will generate lengthy passwords, using special characters and other unusual strings to reduce the risk of the password being sniffed out by a hacking program. Many of these programs will store the passwords for you or, for additional security, old-fashioned pen-and-paper can do the trick.

People should also refrain from using the same password on multiple sites whenever possible. Using one password makes it easy for a bad actor to gain access to a person’s entire life. Passwords should also be changed frequently. Cybersecurity expert recommendations range from every 30 days to every 90 days. This may seem like a hassle — most people would prefer to set a password and forget about it. But financial and medical companies are often targeted by hackers, meaning that people’s most sensitive information could be at risk. Taking a few minutes every few months to change a password is a small price to pay for some security.

People are justifiably concerned about data collection and privacy invasions by corporations or governments. But before even concerning one’s self with those complex and multilayered issues, setting a sensible password is the most direct and personally impactful way to secure a measure of digital security and privacy. – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial