Daily Archives: July 29, 2019

07/29/19

Some in Congress Want You to Subsidize Their DC Housing

By: Frank Salvato

It was only a matter of time I suppose. Some Progressive-Democrats in Congress are floating a bill to make the taxpayers pay for their housing in Washington, DC, even as they receive over $170,000 a year in salary. Keep in mind this excludes what they get to spend on travel and expenses related to their campaigns.

In a measure that would ban members of Congress from sleeping in their offices, Rep. Bennie Thompson (P-MS) has introduced legislation that we should all hope fails miserably. In addition to the ban, HR5845 proposes to allow Congress creatures to write-off up to $3,000 on their taxes toward their Washington, DC living expenses, even as it calls for taxpayer-subsidized housing – dormitory-style (actually it would be closer to condominium-style) for all members of the US House of Representatives.

Citizens Against Government Waste, a taxpayer watchdog group, points out that the average cost of a studio apartment in Washington, DC clocks in at about $1,602, which would be roughly 10 percent of any member of Congress’s taxpayer-funded salary. The common percentage the average American plays out of his or her salary for housing is closer to 30 percent.

Where to begin.

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07/29/19

Is the U.S. Prepared for Foreign Interference In the 2020 Elections?

By: Denise Simon | Founders Code

The Democrats continue to declare the Russians helped Donald Trump win the presidency and that now President Trump has done nothing to prevent Russian interference in the 2020 elections.

DHS is worried about our elections, and it's asking ...

But we need to look at some real facts:

  1. DHS launched several programs to aid the U.S. security of the nation’s elections systems. Beginning in 2017, a National Infrastructure Protection Plan was launched which began the real partnership with federal, state and local governments including private sector entities. The sharing of timely and actionable threats is now in place utilizing cybersecurity assistance including sensors all at no charge to election officials. Scanning, risk assessment, and analysis along with training are all part of the Protection Plan, including conference calls scheduled as needed. What is most interesting is this program was initiated by a Presidential Policy Directive #21 signed by then-President Obama in 2013.
  2. As ODNI Dan Coats has tendered his resignation effective in mid-August, many have said he has no accomplishments. This agency is merely an intelligence coordinator of many agencies and is bureaucratic… but Coats did create a position that is dedicated to election security efforts and is headed by Shelby Pierson who has a deep resume in intelligence and was a crisis manager for election security in the 2018 elections. He has briefed the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee several times, so for any Democrat to declare that the Trump administration has done nothing is false.
  3. DHS has a resource library, including a checklist that is available for free for any election official, that can be accessed as new threats or conditions arise. This library includes HTTPS encryption techniques, incident response, ransomware best practices and securing voter registration data. Additionally, email authentication techniques are available, layering credentialed access logins, security baselines, monitoring intrusions, and brute force attack attempts are shared with all participating partners.

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