Joe Biden’s poor showing in Iowa shakes establishment support
Some establishment Democrats are questioning whether Biden can reclaim front-runner status.
Blake Dowling: Wise Kim meets Leon County
The “Leon Consulate of Florida” was overthrown this week, thanks to the chumps at the Moroccan Islamic Union-Mail. I suppose they meant Leon County, since this hacking wing of ISIS hasn’t quite mastered English. What they refer to is the Leon County (North Florida) website; it was indeed hacked for a couple of minutes, replaced with this creepy message: County officials responded immediately that the attack was only “surface level” and all sensitive data was protected behind a firewall. Perhaps the county needed a little distraction from the FBI-fueled barrage of media coverage over the past couple of weeks. Good job Kim. If you check out the Facebook page — although I would not recommend it, as the National Security Agency and FBI might be tapping on your door, or you might make a list you would rather not be on — you will see a warning to all that this group is going to be attacking “the most important sites in the world” over the next few days. So look out Andrew Gillum, Chris Christie, John Morgan and Tmz.com — this means you. Tighten up those websites. Apply patches, run updates, don’t host sites in an unsecured location etc. Although it appears this particular hack did squat in our Capital City, what happens when one actually wreaks havoc? In last week’s Petya ransomware attack, a few firms got hit hard. Reckitt Benckiser (Britain), the maker of Norofen tablets, Durex condoms, and other quality products, are still partially down as of this writing. They got pummeled; manufacturing, shipping, ordering, all disrupted. The global tab for this attack could reach $100 million, the company estimates. Some firms pay ransom to try and get their data back, but the bitcoin payments were made and (poof) nada. So, unlike similar recent attacks, this one appears to have launched just to create chaos and digital destruction in a specific area. We will see a lot of this in the near future as nation-states wish to wage cyberwarfare with one another versus more traditional combat. Besides Wise Man Kim, no one else seems to want WW3, but if it came down to that, here are the current Top 5 militaries most likely to come out on top. A local CBS affiliate is about to enter my office for a quick segment about cybersecurity, so allow me to wrap this up with some ways to protect your business or organization from hackers and threats. Step 1: Strong password. Step 2: Antivirus and antispam solutions. Step 3: Firewall. Step 4: Robust backup. Step 4: Don’t piss off CNN. Step 5: Training. Steps 1 through 4 used to be enough, but people aren’t getting the message. Users are still clicking where they shouldn’t, so they must be trained, followed up by intrusion testing (try this test for your staff). Next, more training; even then, you won’t be 100 percent protected, but you will minimize risk. As far as best practices go, that is a good path. In closing, I hope Wise Kim gets back to his party island and stops with the missile shenanigans, that will only end badly for him and the world. I hope CNN gets back to broadcasting news, and that no one else gets subpoenaed in Tallahassee for CRA-Gate. We need some good news in our region (like local hero Walter, nice work sir: That’s it for today, have an awesome weekend. ___ Blake Dowling is CEO of Aegis Business Technologies, enjoys the Allman Brothers Band, the writings of Hemingway, and any movie with Pauly Shore. He can be reached at dowlingb@aegisbiztech.com.
Hillary Clinton aims to raise just-right amount for ’16 campaign
The stars are out to raise money for Hillary Rodham Clinton: Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett at the Plaza Hotel, Jon Bon Jovi at home in Jersey. So, too, are the Democratic Party’s wealthiest donors, from a Facebook co-founder to the heiress of a brewing fortune. Yet even as Clinton picks up the pace of fundraising this month, the front-runner for her party’s presidential nomination is holding back in some ways — a “just enough” strategy that her supporters say will pay off over time. The goal when she files her first fundraising report next month is to post a number that reassures Democrats she will have the resources to compete with the eventual Republican nominee, but doesn’t chase away the small-dollar donors who would make up her strongest base of support in the general election. “Her approach has been smart, disciplined and focused on the long-term,” said Chris Lehane, a Democratic strategist who worked with hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer on one of Clinton’s first fundraisers this year. Lehane said the 100-person reception sold out within 24 hours. “They easily could have put on a far bigger event of 1,000 people or more.” Clinton’s supporters have tried to tamp down the expectations for the fundraising totals her campaign will disclose next month, when she and the other declared candidates for president will report how much they have raised through the end of June. Unlike in 2008, Clinton is collecting money only for the primary contest, an amount capped at $2,700 per individual. If Clinton wins the Democratic nomination, she can return to her donors to ask for another $2,700 for the general election. Since announcing her candidacy in mid-April, Clinton has raised at least $17 million, based on the number of people her campaign says have attended 49 fundraising events through Tuesday night. She held fundraisers Tuesday in Chicago and in St. Louis, where she raised money at Grant’s Farm, a historic home owned by the Busch family, at an event hosted by beer heiress Trudy Busch Valentine. Clinton is focused primarily on raising money for her actual campaign. Others have emphasized super PACs, which can accept donations of unlimited size but are prohibited from coordinating directly with the candidates they support. Republican Jeb Bush spent six months raising money for a super PAC before beginning traditional campaign fundraising. That approach has helped him amass as much as $100 million already. Most of Clinton’s fundraisers have also been smaller events at private homes, with audiences of no more than 250 people each giving the maximum. While backers says she could draw much larger crowds, many of the events have been half that size, putting the former secretary of state into what supporters say is her comfort zone. “She was phenomenal,” said John Morgan, a Florida lawyer who held a 220-person reception last month at his home near Orlando. “She took a photo with every single guest.” Many of the biggest Democratic donors have already feted Clinton, or plan to in the next few weeks. Among them: billionaire Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes and Chicago media billionaire Fred Eychaner. And she’s relied upon celebrities, too. “Spiderman” star Tobey Maguire held a backyard event last week that raised $500,000. Next week, Bon Jovi will perform at his New Jersey home for Clinton and some of her donors. Among small donors — those who give $200 or less, usually online — Clinton has competition. The campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has suggested it has raised $8 million, with an average contribution amount of $40, through mid-June. Yet Clinton is also applying some of the best practices of President Barack Obama, who raised almost 65 percent of the $33.2 million he collected in the first three months of his re-election campaign from small-dollar donors. Her campaign this week has been promoting a raffle to attend dinner with Clinton. She is hawking cutesy souvenirs such as $30 red T-shirts that look like her go-to pantsuits. And the campaign has an array of $20 happy hours planned, including one Friday at Union Cafe in Columbus, Ohio. Kiki McLean, a former 2008 Clinton campaign adviser, headlined a happy hour Tuesday night in Washington. McLean said she has no official role with the campaign, but said small events such as hers encourage involvement. “I want to make sure they are up to speed on what they can do as volunteers,” McLean said, “just like me.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
