Ilhan Omar could be third Squad member to lose.

Today is election day in CT, MN, VT and WI. 6 primaries to watch in Minnesota and Wisconsin

Rep. Ilhan Omar is the latest Squad member to face a serious challenger.

Geoffrey Skelley via five thirty eight logo

August 12, 2024, 2:42 PM

It's been a busy few days for politics in the Midwest. Last Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate on the Democratic ticket, the fourth time in the last 60 years that a Minnesotan will be the Democratic vice presidential nominee. And this week, Minnesota and Wisconsin will hold primaries for federal and state legislative offices, dominating the slate of primaries happening on Aug. 13 (Connecticut and Vermont also have primaries but don't have any major contests).

Paul Bunyan's Axe won't be on the menu,but six high-profile primaries for U.S. Senate and House in Minnesota and Wisconsin feature yet another progressive incumbent whose views on Israel have helped spark a primary challenge, intraparty conflicts between establishment-inclined and insurgent-minded Republicans and a smattering of controversy as a cherry on top.

Minnesota Races to watch: U.S. Senate; 2nd, 5th and 7th congressional districts Polls close: 9 p.m. Eastern

In the day's most-watched race, Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar faces a primary challenge from former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels in the solidly blue 5th District.Omar fended off Samuels by just 2 percentage points in 2022, and the rematch is also part of a larger intraparty conflict over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. As a member of The Squad, an informal group of progressive House Democrats, Omar has been a prominent critic of Israel's policies. Such views have already played a role in the primary defeats of two Squad members in 2024: Pro-Israel groups, particularly United Democracy Project — a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — spent heavily to oust New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman in June and Missouri Rep. Cori Bush last week.

However, Omar holds a stronger position than she did in 2022. For one thing, she's built up a much larger monetary edge by raising $6.8 million as of July 24 — almost three times as much as she'd raised in 2022 — which is far more than the $1.4 million Samuels has brought in. Samuels has also received almost no outside spending support, whereas a group partially funded by AIPAC's super PAC spent $625,000 to back him in 2022. By comparison, Omar has received about $517,000 in outside support, according to OpenSecrets. Additionally, AIPAC and other major pro-Israel groups haven't endorsed Samuels or served as conduits for individual contributors to donate to his campaign, as they did for the two challengers who defeated Bowman and Bush.

Omar has used her financial advantage to full effect, outspending Samuels nearly six-to-one, compared with around two-to-one last time. Whereas she didn't run any TV ads in 2022, Omar is taking Samuels much more seriously this time by spending $2.6 million on spots to just $32,000 by Samuels, according to AdImpact. The little polling we've seen also points to an Omar primary win: The only recent survey was a poll conducted on behalf of Omar's campaign in late July by Lake Research Partners that found her ahead of Samuels 60 percent to 33 percent. Still, Samuels did get a late surge in contributions to his campaign, a reminder of why we're keeping an eye on this contest.

In Minnesota's race for Senate, Republicans might go for a more controversial choice as the party's nominee, potentially curtailing their already-meager chances of defeatingDemocratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar. At the state party's convention in May, GOP delegates surprisingly endorsed Royce White, a former professional basketball player and onetime Black Lives Matter activist who has transformed into a populist, pro-Trump figure. White has embraced various conspiracy theories while using antisemitic, misogynistic and homophobic language. (Anons in MN vote for Royce White, backed by Republicans, Bannon and others, spread the word, get rid of Klobuchar)

Party activists preferred White over former U.S. Navy intelligence officer Joe Fraser, who looked like a potential favorite, but it remains to be seen whom the larger primary electorate will back. Fraser originally planned to "abide" by the party's endorsement — local parlance for a candidate withdrawing if someone else is endorsed — but he decided to run in the primary due to White's controversies and concerns among party leaders about White's ability to compete with Klobuchar.

(long article read the rest at link)

https://abcnews.go.com/538/6-primaries-watch-minnesota-wisconsin/story?id=112720356

New Jersey Rep. Bill Pascrell hospitalized again

The 87-year-old Democrat was discharged last week following a lengthy stay. Pascrell’s hospital stay was not widely known in political circles until early Monday. MATT FRIEDMAN 08/12/2024 11:45 AM EDT

New Jersey Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. is once again in the hospital, just days after being discharged following a lengthy stay and less than three months before Election Day. Pascrell, 87, was discharged from St. Joseph’s in Paterson Wednesday following a three-week stay for a respiratory infection and fever, at one point being placed on breathing assistance. He checked out and entered a rehabilitation facility but checked into St. Barnabas in Livingston on Sunday evening.

“He is now stable,” chief of staff Ben Rich said. “We will provide updates whenever possible and remain hopeful he will be able to resume his rehabilitation soon.”The congressmember — the second oldest current member of the House and set to be the oldest next session if he wins reelection— easily won the Democratic primary in June and is seeking a 15th term in the House. Pascrell also had heart surgery in 2020 to relieve blocked arteries.

Even before Pascrell’s recent health problems, his advanced age led to Democrats positioning themselves to run for his seat, though two high-profile potential Democratic contestants — state Assemblymember Shavonda Sumter and Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh — felt out runs this year before ultimately opting not to.

Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed Khairullah challenged Pascrell in the primary largely over the war in Gaza, but Pascrell won 77 percent of the vote.Pascrell in November faces his third straight challenge from Republican Billy Prempeh, whom he defeated by 12 points in 2022. Though Pascrell’s district is less Democratic-dominated than before boundaries were redrawn in redistricting, no major publications that rate House elections have flagged the race as competitive.

It’s not yet clear whether Pascrell’s continued health problems will lead to pressure for him to step aside. The deadline to replace Pascrell on the ballot is August 29. Pascrell’s hospital stay was not widely known in political circles until early Monday. Reached by phone on Monday morning, Passaic County Democratic Chair John Currie was shocked to hear the news.

Currie said he was relieved to hear he was in stable condition and expressed support for Pascrell so long as he chooses to seek reelection. “I am confident, and until I have a conversation with him, I am 100 percent supportive of his candidacy,” Currie said. “He’s a reasonable man. We’ve worked together for a long time. And yes, I’m going to support him. If he’s not able to run, he will say so.”

If Pascrell opted to drop his reelection bid, his party’s nominee would be selected by Democratic committee members from the district’s towns in Passaic, Bergen and Hudson counties. Sumter, in a brief interview Monday, said there was “no talk of any changes” to changing Pascrell as the nominee and said “right now we’re all just praying for his health and strength.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/12/bill-pascrell-hospitalized-again-00173624

Trump shooting task force requests first briefing with key agencies

The request is the first official step the newly minted House panel has taken since it was greenlit late last month.

JORDAIN CARNEY 08/12/2024, 8:45AM ET

The bipartisan House panel tasked with investigating the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump is taking its first official step: requesting a staff briefing with key agencies.

Reps. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and Jason Crow (D-Colo.) — the task force chair and top Democrat, respectively — sent a Monday letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr., as well as a separate letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray.They requested any documents or records that have already been handed over to the House and Senate.(What? Why not new ones? Pretty sure they are going to drag this out and never get to the bottom of anything, as usual)

Read the letters to Mayorkas and Rowe, and Garland and Wray.

Kelly and Crow are also requesting the FBI, DHS, Secret Service and DOJ provide a staff briefing to review their responses to Congress so far and to “discuss the Task Force’s priorities with respect to documents and information moving forward.” The briefing, they add, should be scheduled as soon as possible “but no later than August 16, 2024.”

The House voted late last month to establish the bipartisan task force as leadership sought to wrangle a potentially sprawling, multi-committee probe. Kelly and Crow note in their letters that the task force’s requests supersede any preexisting House requests for information related to the investigation into the July 13 shooting.

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/08/12/congress/preview-of-the-spending-fight-00173600

Quotes from the letters: Same wording in both letters

In accordance with that authority, this letter serves as notice of the following:

1. That the Task Force’s requests for documents and information henceforth supersede all other requests from House Committees and Members, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) should produce documents and information directly to the Task Force from this point forward, including any documents and information that are in process in response to pending requests;

2. The Task Force requests all documents and information that have been produced to date, to any committee of the House or Senate related to the attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump; and 1 H.R. 1367, Sec. 2 (a)(1). 2 Id. Sec. 4 (a).

3. The Task Force requests a briefing for staff to review DHS and USSS’ responses to Congress to date, and to discuss the Task Force’s priorities with respect to documents and information moving forward.The briefing shall be scheduled as soon as possible, but no later than August 16, 2024.

Turning Point Action Launches ‘Commit 100’ Ballot-Chasing Operation, Urges Volunteers to Sign Up

(They need volunteers, pass the word anons) Aug. 12, 2024

Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point Action (TPAction) has launched “Commit 100,” which the organization calls“the largest and most sophisticated ballot-chasing operation in the conservative movement,” and is urging activists tosign up and “commit to chasing 100 early ballots and 100 election-day ballots.”

“The most common question I get is ‘Charlie what can I do to help?’ Well, nowyou can travel to Arizona or Wisconsinand join Commit 100 to chase 100 early ballots and 100 Election Day ballots. We’ll pay for your accommodations,” Kirk announced in a Monday X post.

“Doing nothing is a ticket to tyranny,” the Turning Point Action founder added. “Bodies = ballots in boxes.”

Kirk went on to explain that his organization “has officially launched COMMIT 100, an extension of Chase the Vote – the largest ballot chasing operation in the movement,” and he informed activists thatthey can sign up by visiting TPAction.com/COMMIT100orTPAction.com/commit100.

“Activists can sign up to commit to chasing 100 early ballots and 100 Election Day ballots, using the TPAction mobile app,” Kirk said.

“Volunteers can COMMIT 100 and helpchase at home using the TPAction AppOR they can travel to Arizona or Wisconsin and help chase votes in person, with lodging provided by TPAction,” he added.

“There’s only 84 days until Election Day, the final day of voting. Do the work. Help us win,” Kirk asserted.

TPAction explained in a press release that once volunteers sign up for Commit 100, the organization will contact them “with the best ballots to chase using the TPAction Mobile App.”

“Volunteers will be assigned custom lists and can chase these votes at home using the App OR schedule travel to Arizona or Wisconsin and help chase votes in person,” TPAction said.

“TPAction will be covering lodging accommodations for activists who sign up and commit to helping chase 100 low propensity voters while staying in Arizona or Wisconsin after each states’ respective early balloting begins,” the organization added.

TPAction COO Tyler Bowyer shared a message to activists, telling Breitbart News, “The most common question we get from the grassroots is ‘How can I get involved?’ Well, now you can move to Arizona or Wisconsin and commit to your country, your family, and your fellow Americans to chase 100 low propensity early ballots and 100 Election Day ballots.”

“We’ll show you how to do it,” Bowyer said. “We’ll give you the app and the data and the team. And we’ll even provide accommodations if you need them. We’re asking you to Commit 100 for 30 days to help save America. This is our moment.”

https://12ft.io/proxy

Trump Regales Elon Musk With Familiar Falsehoods

Fact-checking Donald Trump’s claims about immigration, Vice President Kamala Harris, President Biden and more.

(NYT’s desperate to defeat Trump with Chinese spy fact checker KEK) Linda Qiu Aug. 13, 2024

Former President Donald J. Trump repeated a number of inaccurate claims that have become campaign staples in a conversation on Monday night with the billionaire Elon Musk on X, his social media platform.

After describing at length the attempted assassination against him at a rally in Pennsylvania in July, Mr. Trump ran through familiar complaints about immigration — echoed by Mr. Musk — and attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris.

Here’s a fact check (She doesn’t bother to correct them because they are all sweeping generalizations, that’s not fact checking, it picky and petty.She didn’t bother to check if they were facts, she just labeled them):

• He inaccurately claimed that a chart he showed at the Pennsylvania rally, which he has repeatedly credited with saving his life, showed that “my last week, we had the best illegal immigration numbers.” (The chart was highly misleading, and unauthorized border crossings were not the lowest when he left office.)

• He misleadingly described Ms. Harris as “the border czar.” (She was responsible for addressing the root causes of migration in Central America, not border security.)

• He said that 20 million people had illegally crossed the southern border under President Biden. (The number is overstated.)

• He claimed, with no evidence, that other countries take unauthorized immigrants “out of jails, prisons” and “bring them to the United States.” (Prison populations are increasing across the world.)

• He claimed that crime in Venezuela had declined 72 percent because of an exodus of criminals into the United States. (The decrease is overstated, and there is no evidence that Venezuela had “gotten rid” of criminals.)

• He asserted that Mr. Biden “shut down Keystone XL pipeline, which is our pipeline that would have employed 48,000 people.” (Mr. Biden did rescind a permit for the pipeline, which had a projected employment of 35 permanent jobs.)

• He falsely described climate change as “where the ocean is going to rise one eighth of an inch over the next 400 years.” (Under a worst-case scenario, sea levels could rise by as much as 10 meters by 2300, or nearly 33 feet, more than 3,100 times what Mr. Trump said.)

• He exaggerated grocery price inflation as high as “50, 60, even 100 percent in some cases.” (The index that tracks grocery prices is up by about 20 percent since early 2021.)

• He falsely claimed that inflation was the “worst inflation we’ve had in 100 years.” (Inflation reached 8 percent in 2022, the highest since 1981.)

• He falsely claimed that bacon now cost “four or five times more than it did a few years ago.” (The average price of sliced bacon was $5.83 per pound in January 2021 and $6.83 per pound in June 2024.)

• He falsely claimed that the 2017 tax cut was the “largest” in history. (At least half a dozen others are bigger.)

• He claimed, with no evidence, that the Biden administration orchestrated the criminal cases against him because it “went after their political opponent.” (At least two were brought by state or local prosecutors, meaning the Justice Department has no connection to the cases. Two others are overseen by a special counsel, specifically to avoid the perception of politicization.)

https://archive.is/4ZGKd#selection-4503.0-4888.0

(Someone should fact check her, this is bullshit, if you fact check, you then provide the correct fact, she just denounces it with generalities)

>>21405946

The NYTs is lying, Linda Qiu has not been a fact checking for nearly 10 years, she only graduated from University in 2017, so it's only 6 years since graduation, and guess what she wanted to be when she graduated?

From the University:

"Linda Qiu is a rising fourth-year at the University of Chicago,majoring in environmental studies and minoring in creative writing. She is a former news editor for The Chicago Maroon, the university's newspaper, and a former new media editor for U of C's website.Linda would like to pursue environmental journalism, specifically natural resource access and consumption. She spent four months studying and traveling in Botswana and southern Africa before beginning her Pulitzer Center project."

(I guess the "creative writing" minor became a fact checker…KEKIsn't creative writing more for fiction books? What happened to her dream of environmental journalism?)

https://pulitzercenter.org/people/linda-qiu

"Linda Qiu is a reporter who specializes in fact-checking statements made by politicians and public figures. She has been reporting and fact-checking public figures for nearly a decade. Linda Qiu.Linda Qiu is a fact-check reporterfor The New York Times, based in Washington. She came to the Times in 2017 from PolitiFact, a fact-checking service of the Tampa Bay Times. She is a graduate of the University of Chicago."

https://archive.is/4ZGKd#selection-4503.0-4888.0

Linda Qiu

REPORTING FELLOW

>>21406014

Here's her University photo, looks like all CCP girls look, flirty

https://pulitzercenter.org/people/linda-qiu

George

@BehizyTweets

BREAKING:A Washington Post reporter attempted to get the White House to step in and block Elon Musk's upcoming interview Trump. Meet Wash Post reporter Cleve Wootson, disgrace to journalism.

"I think that misinformation on Twitter is not just a campaign issue…it's an America issue…What role does the President have? Any sort of stopping that, or stopping the spread of that or intervening?”

HT: @nicksortor

These people are some SICKOS. Before anyone can be admitted into the White House press room, they should understand what the first amendment actually means

6:50 PM · Aug 12, 2024

·369.2K Views

(I like the way they reveal themselves, seemingly believing that no one would have a problem with it.)

https://x.com/BehizyTweets/status/1823129984577503416

(((Harry Enten))) @ForecasterEnten CNN

3 caution points for Democrats…kek

1. Trump wins if the difference between the polls at this point & the result matches what we saw in 2016 or 2020.

2.Trump's more popular now than at this pt in 2016 or 2020.

1. Dems don't say they're more likely to vote now than in May

10:50 AM · Aug 13, 2024

·417.9K Views

https://x.com/ForecasterEnten/status/1823371599153594823

I'm not posting this because it's the same shit from Politico and media opinions. It's all bad according to them.

Playbook: What Musk revealed about Trump

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://www.politico.com/playbook

Turning Point Action Launches ‘Commit 100’ Ballot-Chasing Operation, Urges Volunteers to Sign Up(Pass the word to volunteers)

Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point Action (TPAction) has launched “Commit 100,” which the organization calls “the largest and most sophisticated ballot-chasing operation in the conservative movement,” and is urging activists to sign up and “commit to chasing 100 early ballots and 100 election-day ballots.”

“The most common question I get is‘Charlie what can I do to help?’ Well, now you can travel to Arizona or Wisconsin and join Commit 100 to chase 100 early ballots and 100 Election Day ballots. We’ll pay for your accommodations,” Kirk announced in a Monday X post.

“Doing nothing is a ticket to tyranny,” the Turning Point Action founder added. “Bodies = ballots in boxes.”

Kirk went on to explain that his organization “has officially launched COMMIT 100, an extension of Chase the Vote – the largest ballot chasing operation in the movement,” and he informedactivists that they can sign up by visiting TPAction.com/COMMIT100 or TPAction.com/commit100.(Anons pass the word)

“Activists can sign up to commit to chasing 100 early ballots and 100 Election Day ballots, using the TPAction mobile app,” Kirk said.

“Volunteers can COMMIT 100 and help chase at home using the TPAction App OR they can travel to Arizona or Wisconsin and help chase votes in person, with lodging provided by TPAction,”he added.

“There’s only 84 days until Election Day, the final day of voting. Do the work. Help us win,” Kirk asserted.

TPAction explained in a press release that once volunteers sign up for Commit 100, the organization will contact them “with the best ballots to chase using the TPAction Mobile App.”

“Volunteers will beassigned custom lists and can chase these votes at home using the App OR schedule travel to Arizona or Wisconsin and help chase votes in person,” TPAction said.

“TPAction will be covering lodging accommodations for activists who sign up and commit to helping chase 100 low propensity voters while staying in Arizona or Wisconsin after each states’ respective early balloting begins,” the organization added.

TPAction COO Tyler Bowyer shared a message to activists, telling Breitbart News, “The most common question we get from the grassroots is ‘How can I get involved?’ Well, nowyou can move to Arizona or Wisconsin and commit to your country, your family, and your fellow Americans to chase 100 low propensity early ballots and 100 Election Day ballots.”

“We’ll show you how to do it,” Bowyer said. “We’ll give you the app and the data and the team. And we’ll even provide accommodations if you need them.We’re asking you to Commit 100 for 30 days to help save America. This is our moment.”

2024 ElectionPoliticsArizonaCharlie KirkTurning Point ActionWisconsin

https://12ft.io/proxy

Charlie Kirk and TPAction asking for vote chasers, I posted an article on it earlier and I thought it got highlighted.

https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1823055116733407298

Nautilus Aviation say pilot of helicopter that flew into Cairns hotel was member of its ground crew

ABC Far North / By Kristy Sexton-McGrath, Christopher Testa, and Sarah Richards Aug. 12, 2024 (Weird the day of Sky King?)

The pilot killed when a helicopter crashed into a Cairns hotel roof has been identified as 23-year-old Blake Wilson of New Zealand, who had been working as a ground crew employee with the company for four months.

Nautilus Aviation CEO Aaron Finn confirmed late Tuesday afternoon that a member of the company's ground staff "gained unauthorised access to [the] helicopter hangar and misappropriated one of [the] helicopters".

He said the employee held a New Zealand pilot's licence but had never flown in Australia. Mr Finn said there was a gathering of company employees on Sunday night,including off-duty-pilots, celebrating a promotion of the man who flew the helicopter.(He was drunk?)

"This was a privately organised send-off for the individual involved in Monday morning's incident, who was recently promoted to a ground crew position at another one of our bases," Mr Finn said. "This was not a work event and had been coordinated by friends."

Mr Finn said the company had undergone interviews with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) and Queensland Police Service. Recording devices from the helicopter have been sent for analysis as the investigation shifts to the pilot.

ATSB chief Angus Mitchell confirmed earlier on Tuesday, the helicopter's evidence, including technical instruments, had been sent to Canberra to be examined. "We'll start analysing that to get a better idea of the flight plan, and indeed, oncewe get that confirmation of who was the occupant at the time and who was the pilot at the time," Mr Mitchell said. "Yesterday was very much focused on accessing the site itself." (Was there another person in there with the pilot)

Nearly 400 people were evacuated from the Double Tree Hilton after the helicopter hit the hotel shortly before 2am on Monday. Investigators believe the helicopter was taken from the Cairns Airport before flying into the no-fly zone over the CBD. The probe will also involve the Department of Home Affairs, which oversees airport security.

"There are other aspects of this particular investigation that probably fall a little bit outside transport safety," Mr Mitchell said."This is going to be an interesting one, a little bit different to what we would normally investigate."

Witnesses reported seeing the helicopter flying at high speed and low to the ground along the foreshore before crashing into the building.

Cairns Airport chief executive Richard Barker said airport security had not been compromised. "Cairns Airport operates under an approved multi-layered transport security program," Mr Barker said. "We have conducted a review this morning and initial findings show there has been no compromise of the airport security program or processes."

Doug Drury, head of aviation at CQUniversity, said aviation companies typically used keypads with codes for security. "I've used them in airports all over the world but it's a common code and if you've ever worked at this location, then you would know where to go and how to get in," he said.

"They do change the codes and I imagine every facility at Cairns Airport now has a new code in their door and in their gate locks." Professor Drury said Cairns Airport security was "right up there with everybody else's" but it was "a given that the security presence will increase". "They'll go through footage from all the security cameras to see how this person got in and how they were able to start the aircraft," he said.

The Australian Federal Police said it was assisting the Queensland Police Service with inquiries related to the events at the airport and its surrounds. It did not confirm whether an aviation security identification card (ASIC) was used to access the airside area.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-13/cairns-fatal-helicopter-crash-at-doubletree-by-hilton-hotel/104214840

This AM: Tina Peters Calls Out Colorado AG For "Withholding Exculpatory Evidence" In Elections Case

15:32

https://rumble.com/embed/v58gwnp/?pub=4

Hackers may have stolen the Social Security numbers of every American. How to protect yourself Jon Healey 1/2

Tue, August 13, 2024 at 6:00 AM EDT·8 min read

The breach, which includes Social Security numbers and other sensitive data, could power a raft of identity theft, one expert says. About four months after a notorious hacking group claimed to have stolen an extraordinary amount of sensitive personal information from a major data broker, a member of the group has reportedly released most of it for free on an online marketplace for stolen personal data.

The breach, which includes Social Security numbers and other sensitive data, could power a raft of identity theft, fraud and other crimes, said Teresa Murray, consumer watchdog director for the U.S. Public Information Research Group.

"If this in fact is pretty much the whole dossier on all of us, it certainly is much more concerning" than prior breaches, Murray said in an interview. "And if people weren’t taking precautions in the past, which they should have been doing, this should be a five-alarm wake-up call for them."

According to a class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the hacking group USDoD claimed in April to have stolen personal records of 2.9 billion people from National Public Data, which offers personal information to employers, private investigators, staffing agencies and others doing background checks. The group offered in a forum for hackers to sell the data, which included records from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, for $3.5 million, a cybersecurity expert said in a post on X.

The lawsuit was reported by Bloomberg Law.

Last week, a purported member of USDoD identified only as Felice told the hacking forum that they were offering "the full NPD database," according to a screenshot taken by BleepingComputer. The information consists of about 2.7 billion records, each of which includes a person's full name, address, date of birth, Social Security number and phone number, along with alternate names and birth dates, Felice claimed.

National Public Data didn't respond to a request for comment, nor has it formally notified people about the alleged breach. It has, however, been telling people who contacted it via email that "we are aware of certain third-party claims about consumer data and are investigating these issues."

In that email, the company also said that it had "purged the entire database, as a whole, of any and all entries, essentially opting everyone out." As a result, it said, it has deleted any "non-public personal information" about people, although it added, "We may be required to retain certain records to comply with legal obligations."

Several news outlets that focus on cybersecurity have looked at portions of the data Felice offered and said they appear to be real people's actual information. If the leaked material is it what it's claimed to be, here are some of the risks posed and the steps you can take to protect yourself.

The threat of ID theft: The leak purports to provide much of the information that banks, insurance companies and service providers seek when creating accounts — and when granting a request to change the password on an existing account.

A few key pieces appeared to be missing from the hackers' haul. One is email addresses, which many people use to log on to services. Another is driver's license or passport photos, which some governmental agencies rely on to verify identities.

Still, Murray of PIRG said that bad actors could do "all kinds of things" with the leaked information, the most worrisome probably being to try to take over someone's accounts — including those associated with their bank, investments, insurance policies and email. With your name, Social Security number, date of birth and mailing address, a fraudster could create fake accounts in your name or try to talk someone into resetting the password on one of your existing accounts. "For somebody who’s really suave at it," Murray said, "the possibilities are really endless."

It's also possible that criminals could use information from previous data breaches to add email addresses to the data from the reported National Public Data leak. Armed with all that, Murray said, "you can cause all kinds of chaos, commit all kinds of crimes, steal all kinds of money."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/hackers-may-stolen-social-security-100000278.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9jaXRpemVuZnJlZXByZXNzLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAE9KszOkEpk8eThASBKvNnVETrSxF7roQPDTBPpJOqb5BFipUFeLmTR1H17YgLzLdhbeca-nNcSo4_tDIzqJbjpxhnSRhwQtodAv45TfcNOl2AgwSTiTaCOO_mp9xHV2sHI6B7FKhK9xTBztBag0BohTM6O8CxbiSXVkjwZA5NZ6

>>21406633

2/2

How to protect yourself

Data breaches have been so common over the years, some security experts say sensitive information about you is almost certainly available in the dark corners of the internet. And there are a lot of people capable of finding it; VPNRanks, a website that rates virtual private network services, estimates that 5 million people a day will access the dark web through the anonymizing TOR browser, although only a portion of them will be up to no good.

If you suspect that your Social Security number or other important identifying information about you has been leaked, experts say you should put a freeze on your credit files at the three major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. You can do so for free, and it will prevent criminals from taking out loans, signing up for credit cards and opening financial accounts under your name. The catch is that you'll need to remember to lift the freeze temporarily if you are obtaining or applying for something that requires a credit check.

Placing a freeze can be done online or by phone, working with each credit bureau individually. PIRG cautions never to do so in response to an unsolicited email or text purporting to be from one of the credit agencies — such a message is probably the work of a scammer trying to dupe you into revealing sensitive personal information.

For more details, check out PIRG's step-by-step guide to credit freezes.

You can also sign up for a service that monitors your accounts and the dark web to guard against identity theft, typically for a fee. If your data is exposed in a breach, the company whose network was breached will often provide one of these services for free for a year or more.

As important as these steps are to stop people from opening new accounts in your name, they aren't much help protecting your existing accounts. Oddly enough, those accounts are especially vulnerable to identity thieves if you haven't signed up for online access to them, Murray said — that's because it's easier for thieves to create a login and password while pretending to be you than it is for them to crack your existing login and password.

Of course, having strong passwords that are different for every service and changed periodically helps. Password manager apps offer a simple way to create and keep track of passwords by storing them in the cloud, essentially requiring you to remember one master password instead of dozens of long and unpronounceable ones. These are available both for free (such as Apple's iCloud Keychain) and for a fee.

Beyond that, experts say it's extremely important to sign up for two-factor authentication. That adds another layer of security on top of your login and password. The second factor is usually something sent or linked to your phone, such as a text message; a more secure approach is to use an authenticator app, which will keep you secure even if your phone number is hijacked by scammers.

Yes, scammers can hijack your phone number through techniques called SIM swaps and port-out fraud, causing more identity-theft nightmares. To protect you on that front, AT&T allows you to create a passcode restricting access to your account; T-Mobile offers optional protection against your phone number being switched to a new device, and Verizon automatically blocks SIM swaps by shutting down both the new device and the existing one until the account holder weighs in with the existing device.

Your worst enemy may be youAs much or more than hacked data, scammers also rely on people to reveal sensitive information about themselves. One common tactic is to pose as your bank, employer, phone company or other service provider with whom you've done business and then try to hook you with a text or email message.

Banks, for example, routinely tell customers that they will not ask for their account information by phone. Nevertheless, scammers have coaxed victims into providing their account numbers, logins and passwords by posing as bank security officers trying to stop an unauthorized withdrawal or some other supposedly urgent threat.

People may even get an official-looking email purportedly from National Public Data, offering to help them deal with the reported leak, Murray said. "It’s not going to be NPD trying to help. It’s going to be some bad guy overseas" trying to con them out of sensitive information, she said.

It's a good rule of thumb never to click on a link or call a phone number in an unsolicited text or email. If the message warns about fraud on your account and you don't want to simply ignore it, look up the phone number for that company's fraud department (it's on the back of your debit and credit cards) and call for guidance.

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"These bad guys, this is what they do for a living," Murray said. They might send out tens of thousands of queries and get only one response, but that response could net them $10,000 from an unwitting victim. "Ten thousand dollars in one day for having one hit with one victim, that's a pretty good return on investment," she said. "That's what motivates them."