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On either side of a potentially violent conflict, an opportunity exists to exercise compassion and diminish fear based on recognition of each other's humanity. -- Aberjhani










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ISIS






HEALTHCARE






FROM THE PORCH






CYBERSECURITY



FIRST IN MC: CAMPAIGN FUNDS FOR PERSONAL CYBER? — Sen. Ron Wyden today is asking the FEC to issue an opinion on whether members of Congress can use excess campaign funds to protect their personal devices and accounts against cyber threats. The question stems from FEC's ruling last year that — seeing a spike in physical threats — determinedcampaign funds could be spent on home security.

"Some of the threats members face are physical, but many more are digital," Wyden wrote in his letter. "The 2016 election season highlighted the dangers elected officials face in the cyber realm, including attacks by sophisticated state-sponsored hackers and intelligence agencies against personal devices and accounts." Wyden cited a letter last month to his office from then-NSA Director Michael Rogers, who concurred with Wyden's opinion that government officials' personal devices "remain prime targets for exploration." [POLITICO's Morning Cybersecurity, May 16, 2018]




WITH THE OPENING of the United States embassy in Jerusalem, Monday was supposed to be a big media win for the Trump Administration. The networks were all primed to provide ample coverage, with Fox News sending host Harris Faulkner and Trump favorite Jeanine Pirro - who proclaimed that the president had done no less than fulfil biblical prophecy - to Israel. But as protesters in Gaza clashed with Israeli soldiers, and reports came in of thousands of protesters injured and more than 50 killed, an uncomfortable split screen played instead.
-- The smiling faces of dignitaries like Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu airing on one side contrasted jarringly with the scenes of violence and chaos playing on the other. All the networks covered the violence in Gaza, includingFox News.

-- Soon, the White House's line that Hamas was solely responsible for the violence also became part of the story. In Monday's White House press briefing, deputy press secretary Raj Shah was pressed on the issue, and asked by a reporter, "Is the White House in denial of the split-screen reality that's occurring?" Shah replied, "Again, we believe that Hamas is responsible for this." [Morning Media, May 15, 2018]


Alex Azar blames the media for tepid response. Appearing on conservative Hugh Hewitt's radio show, the HHS secretary on Monday suggested that the "mainstream media" unfairly criticized the plan because they want Trump's drug pricing efforts to fail.
"Why would an almost collective response of the mainstream media misrepresent what happened Friday?" Hewitt asked the HHS secretary.
"Do you think the mainstream media wants President Trump to be viewed as being successful and tough and bringing down drug prices for our citizens?" Azar responded. "Probably not, and so we're going to have to fight through and around them so people understand just how comprehensive, how bold and how much this is in keeping with his promise" to use Medicare to lower drug prices. See the show. [POLITICO Pulse, May 15, 2018]



LEAKS






White House leakers leak about leaking
This White House leaks like there’s no tomorrow.
  • The leaks come in all shapes and sizes: small leaks, real-time leaks, weaponized leaks, historical leaks. Sensitive Oval Office conversations have leaked, and so have talks in cabinet meetings and the Situation Room. You name it, they leak it.
  • My colleague Mike Allen, who has spent nearly 20 years covering the White House, says we learn more about what's going on inside the Trump White House in a week than we did in a year of the George W. Bush presidency.
  • This White House leaks so much that meetings called to bemoan leaks begin with acknowledgement the bemoaning will be leaked, which is promptly leaked...by several leakers in a smallish room.
Why does this White House leak like it’s going out of style? I reached out to some of the Trump administration’s most prolific leakers — people who have been wonderful sources to me (and, I assume, plenty of other reporters) — to get them to explain the draw.
  • "To be honest, it probably falls into a couple of categories,” one current White House official tells me. "The first is personal vendettas. And two is to make sure there's an accurate record of what's really going on in the White House."
  • "The most common substantive leaks are the result of someone losing an internal policy debate," a current senior administration official told me. "By leaking the decision, the loser gets one last chance to kill it with blowback from the public, Congress or even the President.
  • "Otherwise," the official added, "you have to realize that working here is kind of like being in a never-ending 'Mexican Standoff.' Everyone has guns (leaks) pointed at each other and it's only a matter of time before someone shoots. There's rarely a peaceful conclusion so you might as well shoot first."
A former senior White House official who turned leaking into an art form made a slightly more nuanced defense of the practice. "Leaking is information warfare; it's strategic and tactical — strategic to drive narrative, tactical to settle scores,” the source said.
  • Another former administration official said grudges have a lot to do with it. "Any time I leaked, it was out of frustration with incompetent or tone-deaf leadership,” the former official said.
  • “Bad managers almost always breed an unhappy workplace, which ultimately results in pervasive leaking," the former official added. "And there has been plenty of all those things inside this White House. Some people use leaking to settle personal scores, or even worse to attack the President, but for me it was always to make a point about something that I felt was being unjustly ignored by others."
Be smart: To any would-be leakers who are considering the practice, I'm also told leaking is pretty fun. Give me a call if you'd like to try it out. [Axios Sneak Peek, May 13, 2018]


NOTE: The news sources here vary.  Not all sources have the same credibility, but in an effort to share some different perspectives, they are included here.  This compendium itself cannot claim to be unbiased.  Please take into consideration where these different perspectives originate in assessing their value.  Thank you

NOTE: I have no official connection to any organization from which information is shared.. Occasionally, I post informational material and/or an opportunity to donate or join as  a "community service" announcement.  These again are shared for their varying perspectives.

Any commercial or business interest information shared is purely informational, not an endorsement.  I have no connection with any such commercial or business interest.

Any books listed are random or topic-related to something else in the post.  Think of these as a "library bookshelf" to browse.  They are shared for informational or entertainment value only, not as being recommended.
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