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Sandy, that waitress I was seeing lost her desire for me - (AP Photo / Mel Evans)
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Originally published at: https://eschergirls.com/photo/2022/12/06/holiday-caption-contest-2022-winners
It's the end of December which means it's time to announce the winners of the 2022 Holiday Caption Contest!
Here are the entries:
P J Evans: Her back must be killing her, the way she's bent.
Anna-neko: "I WILL NOT BE GIVING UP MY TITLE OF IMPROMPTU~TWISTER CHAMPION!" … they don't call her Glory for nothin
Kevin_Carson: "Shak"? What are you, a villain from the 60s Batman show?
Mel: In the top picture my head canon is that it's a wedding reception and she's drunk and trying to get everyone up to do strip Macarena. The ape-lion dude on the right is angry that she interrupted his Chicken Dance.
Joe Z: "Some prankster put a mannequin in the Neanderthal diorama."
@siklo: Every year, hundreds of Barbie dolls get tortured and twisted being recognition because Santa keeps pushing the idea of using feral apes for cheap labor. Just let your elves unionize and pay them decent wages, old man!
@differenttriumphdragon: (2nd Pic) Think I've seen that pose in a horror movie once. I bet she sounds like a wobbleboard when she moves.
@caliphos: It was then that Malibu Stacy realized she had not, in fact, made it to the talent portion of the Ms. Universe competition as she had previously thought; she'd be damned if she didn't use her gymnastics training to give one hell of a floor routine anyway!
@faunusroman: "I didn't expect to break my spine today by dodging the attacks of werewolves during my dancercize routine."
@griffon-gal: 2nd pic. Well didn't think that werewolves were going to be this kinky
@insanityisfine: Competitive Twister is a violent sport, even for people with detachable torsos
@bleeding-star-heart:
Panel One: Superheroine: “ And then we pop our hip to the left…”
Panel Two: Ape: “I’m tired of this dance class!”
Superheroine: “Take it up with the department head!”
So honorable mentions go to: @siklo and anna-neko!
Third place goes to: @bleeding-star-heart!
Second place goes to: @insanityisfine
And the winner of the holiday caption contest is ... @caliphos!
As usual, the winners get to pick from the prizes in reverse order (winner gets first pick, 2nd place gets 2nd pick, etc) and if any of the winners turn down the prizes, I'll contact the honorable mentions to collect a prize. :3
So if you're a winner, please message me with your choice of games from this list: Beholder 2, Severed Steel, We Were Here Together, Overgrowth, Syberia, Riot: Civil Unrest, Tokyo Xanadu EX+, Still Life, Castle Crashers, Hotel Giant 2, Not The Robots, Steel Storm: Burning Retribution, Velvet Assassin, Fury Unleashed, Main Assembly, Oddworld: New n' Tasty, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD, Rage in Peace, Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos, and The Big Con
If you won first place you only have to give me one game you want, if you're in 2nd give me 2 in order of preference, and if you're in 3rd give me 3 choices in order of preference, and I'll give you the most preferred game that hasn't been claimed.
Thank you everybody for participating and stay tuned next Saturday for the beginning of the January caption contest!
Have a great New Year's Eve and New Years everybody and I hope 2023 is a great one for everybody and their loved ones. <3
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Novo Nordisk will cut its U.S. insulin prices by up to 75% : NPR
This April 24, 2008, file photo shows the former North American headquarters of Novo Nordisk Inc., in Plainsboro, N.J. The Danish drugmaker will start slashing some U.S. insulin prices up to 75% next year, following a path set earlier this month by rival Eli Lilly.
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This April 24, 2008, file photo shows the former North American…
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The Worst U.S. Chemical Disasters Caused by Train Derailments
Officials examine a derailed car in Paulsboro on November 30, 2012.Photo: Mel Evans (AP)
The accident most similar to what’s happening now in Ohio occurred in November 2012, when a train owned by Conrail derailed over a bridge, causing four rail cars to fall into the Mantua Creek in Paulsboro, New Jersey. One of the cars contained some 23,000 gallons of vinyl chloride—the same chemical released…
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#Accident#Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry#California#CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY#Chemical warfare#Chemistry#Conrail#Disaster#Dunsmuir#environment#Gizmodo#Graniteville#Graniteville train crash#Health consequences of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill#Mark Stopher#Mike Elm#Minot#New Jersey#Norfolk Southern#North Dakota#Oil spill#Paulsboro#Physical sciences#Pollution#Scott Lyons#South Carolina#Vinyl chloride
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Some smokers credit e-cigarettes with saving their lives – does that matter?
by Allison Kurti
Smoking is the number one cause of preventable death in the U.S., and most smokers say they want to quit. Mel Evans/AP File Photo
In a major blow to the vaping industry, the American Medical Association has called for a ban on e-cigarettes and vaping products that the FDA doesn’t deem tobacco cessation devices.
As a tobacco researcher and former smoker, I don’t care much about the health of the vaping and e-cigarette industry. But I do care about the health of smokers, and I wonder whether policymakers may now be reacting too strongly to e-cigarettes.
Although e-cigarettes in the U.S. are not regulated or approved by the FDA as smoking cessation devices, they may have helped thousands quit cigarettes.
I also wonder to what degree fear and hysteria, rather than evidence, might be informing this crucial public health topic. Smoking is the nation’s number one cause of preventable death, claiming close to half a million lives a year.
Info overlooked, left out?
When comparing the dangers of e-cigarettes to cigarettes, some experts believe the health risks of e-cigs are not as serious as those from cigarettes. Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock.com
As of Nov. 20, 42 people have died, and more than 2,000 have been sickened from vaping-related illnesses. The New York Times reported last month on the youngest person to die from vaping, a 17-year old boy from the Bronx.
If your reaction to this story is to call for comprehensive vaping bans, you are not alone. The outbreak of vaping-related pulmonary illnesses has generated substantial news coverage, with stories of vaping-related deaths emerging frequently, and likely contributing to several states implementing vaping bans.
Reporting and public discourse often leave important data out of conversations, however.
For example, the National Academies of Sciences’ report, published in January 2018, reviewed all of the evidence to date on e-cigarettes, and found that, except for nicotine, toxicant exposure from e-cigarettes is lower than from combustible cigarettes.
Although “less harmful” does not mean “harmless,” harm minimization is likely the most productive approach for persistent smokers. That is, although nicotine itself poses risks to some vulnerable groups, there is little evidence that nicotine alone causes cardiovascular disease, cancer and pulmonary diseases when decoupled from smoke.
The National Academies’ conclusion about e-cigarettes being less harmful than cigarettes presumes that vaping products are being used as intended. This is not always the case. In fact, recent findings indicate that most lung injury cases have involved vaping THC products, and/or products obtained from informal and poorly regulated markets, with as few as 10% of cases involving nicotine alone.
Although some evidence suggests that laws legalizing medical and recreational cannabis are associated with youth THC vaping, the potential relationship between vaping injuries and marijuana legalization is sparsely acknowledged.
An issue unique to the US?
Reports on vaping also tend to leave out that vaping illnesses are a uniquely American problem. In the U.K., where e-cigarettes are regulated as cessation devices, comparable lung illnesses are not occurring. In fact, clinical trials conducted outside the U.S. have found e-cigarettes to be as effective as, or more effective than, nicotine replacement therapy at promoting cessation.
In the U.S., where e-cigarettes are regulated as tobacco products rather than cessation devices, comparable trials are lacking.
However, recent findings from one nationally representative survey indicated that smokers who used e-cigarettes daily were significantly more likely to stop smoking for at least two years compared to non-e-cigarette users – 11% versus 6%.
These results were consistent with another national study of about 5,000 adults. In that study, 337 (6.90%) quit smoking cigarettes and 778 (16.69%) substantially reduced their smoking rate, with about 14% of quitters and 15% of reducers reporting e-cigarette use.
One caveat is that officials and scholars cannot determine whether using e-cigarettes specifically facilitated quitting smoking, as some may have quit over time anyway even without e-cigarettes.
Undermining gains?
A woman smokes a cigarette at a homeless encampment in Oakland, California, in May 2019. Ben Margot/AP Photo
One significant risk of vaping alarmism is undermining the gains the nation has made in reducing cigarette smoking, including youth smoking. National data among middle and high school students show that cigarette smoking has continued to decline even as vaping explodes.
Some studies have suggested that e-cigarettes serve as a gateway to cigarettes for some teens. However, the most recent study of the gateway question found that among 12,000 U.S. youth, those who vaped were more likely to try cigarettes, but not more likely to become regular smokers. In simpler terms, the relationship between vaping and smoking is likely explained by shared risk factors – that is, the same characteristics that predict teen vaping also predict teen smoking.
The group most often neglected in our conversations about vaping is current cigarette smokers. Although smoking prevalence today is at an all-time low of 13.7%, smoking is increasingly concentrated among the most vulnerable – those with mental illness, substance use disorders or living in poverty.
It is exceedingly difficult to promote cessation among these “hardened” smokers. That’s why health professionals and policy makers should be open to allowing, or even encouraging, these smokers to manage their nicotine addiction by transitioning from combusted to non-combusted sources of nicotine.
Just as opioid maintenance therapy is the standard of care for individuals with opioid use disorder, long-term nicotine maintenance should be an option for those addicted to nicotine. I have been “nicotine-maintained” for about five years, primarily with nicotine replacement therapy, but at one point with a “cig-a-like” vaping product. Five years is longer than the recommended 8-12 weeks of nicotine replacement therapy, but the prolonged therapy has allowed me to function effectively as a nonsmoker.
Today’s often economically disadvantaged smokers likely cannot afford five years of nicotine replacement therapy. Although Medicaid recipients smoke at higher rates than those with private health insurance, most states have limited coverage for tobacco cessation treatment. Until nicotine replacement therapy is more affordable, we ought to consider the implications of decisions that dramatically limit smokers’ access to alternative, less harmful sources of nicotine, such as comprehensive vaping bans.
In fact, one effect of Massachusetts’ statewide vaping ban is a rise in cigarettes sales as former smokers reliant on e-cigarettes return to the most toxic, dependence-producing tobacco product available.
To be clear: The scientific evidence to date does not suggest that we should all be advocates for vaping. However, I believe we should have more reasoned conversations about vaping that are grounded in science, and acknowledge that while 39 deaths is 39 too many, there are half a million smoking-associated deaths each year in the U.S. Advocating for these smokers having easy and affordable access to less harmful sources of nicotine is imperative to improving U.S. public health.
About The Author:
Allison Kurti is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Vermont
This article is republished from our content partners over at The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.
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Journalist Will Hunt talked to Fresh Air about exploring the secret tunnels and portals under New York City. His book is Underground.
On dodging trains in New York City's subway tunnels
You register it at first as this subsonic rumble at your feet, and then you hear — or rather you feel — wind and suddenly there's this blast of of light coming behind you. What you have to do is jump up on the catwalk and run down the catwalk and find an emergency alcove where you can hide yourself while the train rushes past.
The truth is, you sort of plan for trains passing. What I would do is I would enter the subway tracks and run down the catwalk and kind of hover around the emergency exit alcove and wait for a train to come, and the train would come and I would still be hidden. Then once the train was gone I would be able to safely continue down the tracks. ...
Most people don't really have the experience of being near a train when it's moving at full speed. A train slows down to a platform usually so when you're in the tracks and you're kind of crouched in an emergency exit alcove the train is hurdling through the dark so you're getting this really intense sound and wind and this kind of rush of metal. Your heart is pounding. It's very intense.
Photo: Mel Evans/AP
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Chris Christie: Biden is lying to the American people
Chris Christie: Biden is lying to the American people
File – Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) gestures as he speaks during a news conference at the Statehouse in Trenton. (Mel Evans/AP Photo)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 7:38 AM PT – Monday, April 5, 2021
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has accused Joe Biden of lying to the American people.
In an interview Sunday, the Republican said Biden was lying about the new election bill in Georgia.…
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New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/02/22/gov-phil-murphy-officially-legalizes-weed-in-new-jersey/
Gov. Phil Murphy officially legalizes weed in New Jersey
Marijuana is officially legal in New Jersey.
Following three years of failed legislative attempts, tax negotiations and protracted legal battles, Gov. Phil Murphy signed three bills Monday that legalize up to six ounces of recreational pot in the Garden State, NJ.com reported.
“As of this moment, New Jersey’s broken and indefensible marijuana laws, which permanently stained the records of many residents and short-circuited their futures, and which disproportionately hurt communities of color and failed the meaning of justice at every level, social or otherwise — are no more,” Murphy said during an afternoon briefing in Trenton before signing the bills.
Murphy, who promised to legalize weed in his first 100 days as governor three years ago, finally saw his campaign promises realized when residents voted to amend the state constitution and legalize recreational grass in November.
Still, even after the vote, the legislature spent months duking it out over tax revenue, licensing rules and what the penalties would be for people under 21 caught with marijuana. All the while, New Jersey police racked up 2,000 charges for minor pot possession, the outlet reported.
A grow employee at Compassionate Care Foundation’s medical marijuana dispensary, trims leaves off marijuana plants in the company’s grow house in Egg Harbor Township, N.J.
AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File
The New Jersey state Senate and Assembly held a last-minute vote Monday morning on a bill that would replace arrests and fines for young pot smokers with verbal warnings and referrals to community programs, like drug education or treatment, the outlet reported.
Murphy acknowledged the fight took longer than anticipated.
“This process may have had its fits and starts, but it is ending in the right place. And, I firmly believe, this process has ended in laws that will serve as a national model,” the gov said.
A man seen rolling a marijuana joint.
AP Photo/Mel Evans, File
Still, there a few other hurdles to cross before the high times can begin.
The Garden State still needs to license new dispensaries to meet the needs for the 100,000 medical marijuana patients that are already allowed to legally partake.
The medical dispensaries have had trouble supplying to those patients and they need to prove they can produce enough grass to them first before their doors can open to the public.
Experts told NJ.com recreational sales could start in late 2021 but those predictions came before the drawn-out debates on civil penalties — Murphy said the marketplace will begin taking shape in the coming months.
A processing supervisor at Compassionate Care Foundation’s medical marijuana dispensary in Egg Harbor Township, N.J., clips leaves off marijuana buds.
AP Photo/Julio Cortez
The Cannabis Regulatory Commission, which will oversee the industry, has six months to enact their rules and regulations before it’ll start accepting new licensees for recreational businesses.
In the meantime, the public shouldn’t be facing any repercussions if they’re caught with pot they purchased from the neighborhood dope slinger.
“Starting immediately, those who had been subject to an arrest for petty marijuana possession — an arrest that may have kept them from a job or the opportunity to further their education — will be able to get relief and move forward,” Murphy said.
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✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽 #Repost @buzzfeednews with @make_repost ・・・ The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs will now be known as The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, and Wilson College will be renamed as First College. The board had previously considered whether to remove Wilson’s name in 2015 after student activists demanded its removal because of his segregationist policies, but decided to leave his name in in 2016. However, the board has now reconsidered in light of the killings of several Black men and women, Princeton’s president said in a statement. Read more at the link in our bio. (📸: Mel Evans / AP; AP Photo) https://www.instagram.com/p/CB85xGRgQ7thArz_D_gHaX-OND7i4bjk-Wqs7s0/?igshid=1gltp34ttjoux
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Trump supporters have little trust in societal institutions
Trump supporters have little trust in societal institutions
President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally on Jan. 28 in Wildwood, New Jersey. AP Photo/Mel Evans
President Donald Trump has a history of disregarding advice from experts, including diplomats, military leaders, trade experts and scientists.
Trump is not alone in his distrust. Our unpublished researchshows that people who support Trump have lower trust in societal institutions, when…
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Trump supporters have little trust in societal institutions
Trump supporters have little trust in societal institutions
President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally on Jan. 28 in Wildwood, New Jersey.
AP Photo/Mel Evans
Miriam Boon, University of Amsterdam; Andreu Casas Salleras, University of Amsterdam; Ericka Menchen-Trevino, American University School of Communication, and Magdalena Wojcieszak, University of California, Davis
President Donald Trump has a history of disregarding advice from experts,…
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On the scene: Rihanna Holds Court, Eats Chinese Food at Her Celebrity-Studded Met Gala After-Party
If the Met Gala is a sort of prom for celebrities—dress for the theme, prepare to have your picture taken again and again—Rihanna’s after-party at 1 Oak late Monday night was, well, the prom after-party. Formal dresses could be traded out for T-shirts; good behavior could be traded out for . . . less good behavior.
Rihanna made her arrival at the soiree at about 1 A.M. to The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Big Poppa,” wearing oversize sunglasses and a white jacket cinched with a green belt (definitely a more club-friendly look than the ornate Comme de Garcons work of art she had worn to the gala itself). She was promptly escorted to a private seating area, where she stationed herself and remained for the rest of the night. When you’re Rihanna, you can station yourself: everyone else comes to you. Fashion icon and pop supernova that she is, Rihanna has become a Met Gala focal point in recent years—often one of the last to arrive on the red carpet, and sure to dominate the conversation whenever she does. Over the course of the few hours she held court at the party, she engaged in the sort of activity you would hope a Rihanna would: she sipped shots, she smoked, she ate what appeared to be Chinese food out of a carton. Everyone from Tracee Ellis Ross to Jaden Smith to Nick Jonas made their way over to pay their respects. For the most part—though she was seen solemnly texting at a few points (Rihannas can get lonely too)—she seemed to thoroughly be enjoying herself.
Madonna arrived shortly after the hostess and said hello—the two posed for a photo—and then sidled up next to designer Jeremy Scott, one banquette away. Following their photo op, there was about 30 minutes during which Madonna and Rihanna were seated about 20 feet away from each other, back to back, in separate seating areas. It was decidedly odd—wouldn’t they have a million things to talk about?—but perhaps the joint force of two stars of that magnitude in conversation would have caused the room to short circuit, Stallone sisters and Snapchat stars fried to a crisp by the voltage. (Rihanna’s stylist, Mel Ottenberg, told Vanity Fair that Rihanna’s Met Ball look had been selected in January, very shortly after the theme was announced. “We wanted something that fit the theme but that was also totally her,” he said.)
One banquette away from Madonna, two apart from Rihanna, a cluster of young stars danced in a large group, tiered in levels on top of each other like a wedding cake. A$AP Rocky (in a puffy orange vest) and Zoe Kravitz stood up against the wall, while Kendall Jenner (rumored A$AP Rocky girlfriend) danced in front of him, next to Luka Sabbat and Alexander Wang. In front of the elder Jenner sister stood Bella Hadid, whom she leaned on occasionally for support (the younger Jenner—Kylie—and the elder Hadid—Gigi—were not present at the party). Kendall—in large hoop earrings—appeared in great spirits, handing out shots and visibly whooping at the beginning of each new song. Across the way from Rihanna’s home base, Diddy reigned, at a banquette with a group including Kerry Washington, Pharrell Williams, and Girls star Jemima Kirke. (Ah, the Met Ball! A night which provides you the visual of Jessa from Girls dancing to Migos, feet from Diddy.)
Snaking around the club were all sorts of celebrity “Oh, right, those two!” pairings. Ah, there’s Victoria’s Secret model Adriana Lima leading Patriot Julian Edelman by the hand. Oh, there’s Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner and former boy bander Joe Jonas enjoying the scenery, somewhat sedately, next to brother Nick. Is that model Hailey Baldwin leaning in close to whisper to rumored boyfriend and fellow young millennial Cameron Dallas? Yes, yes, it is.
As in a high-school cafeteria, various factions congregated under the watch of the queen bee (in this case, Rihanna). Comedians—Aziz Ansari, Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Donald Glover—huddled around each other in one spot. Models—Lily Aldridge, Joan Smalls—gravitated toward the Jenner-Hadid section. A group of hip British actors—Felicity Jones and Riz Ahmed among them—caught up near the bar. Ansel Elgorts and Alexander Skarsgards popped out of pockets of party-goers like pieces of gum pushed out of a packet. John Legend and Chrissy Teigen—who would have been the main event at such a club on a different night—sat in a completely different section of the venue, far from the dance floor. And, as seems to be the case at any scene-y New York event, the Winklevoss twins always seemed to be within eyesight. At one point, we asked The Crown star Claire Foy, staying near her co-star Matt Smith, what she made of the night’s events. “It’s a bit weird, isn’t it?” she said as she assessed the room, looking up at Rihanna, who was swaying to “Wanna Be a Baller” alongside Mary J. Blige and Cara Delevingne. Indeed, it was.
Hours earlier, at the National Academy Museum, a few blocks from the Met, the evening’s center of attention (other than Rihanna, that is), designer and Met Gala honoree Rei Kawakubo, greeted well-wishers at the official Comme de Garcons after-party (many of them were wearing her Comme de Garcons creations themselves). If the more raucous, downtown scene was the high school caf, this was reminiscent of a college art school party—there were far fewer cell phones foisted in the air, and the music played on the dance floor has not been heard on the radio in the past decade. The notables in the crowd—Evan Rachel Wood with Joseph Altuzarra, Jack Schlossberg with mother Caroline Kennedy—were appropriately chic. One common link between the Comme de Garcons after-party (which was sponsored by Fiji Water and Dom Perignon) and Rihanna’s event, though: Met Gala co-host Pharrell Williams. He was seen winding around the museum’s grandiose staircase shortly before midnight. Several hours later, there he was, downtown, dancing to “Sex with Me,” Rihanna right there.
At about 3 A.M., at 1 Oak, Rihanna was ready to leave, but the party was, improbably, still raging on. Lupita Nyong'o danced with Moonlight’s Ashton Sanders. Zoe Kravitz and Felicity Jones whispered a few feet from Halle Berry. The Olsen twins had just arrived and made their way to a spot toward the back of the room, where they parked themselves with a group of friends and enough cigarettes to last a year on a desert island. At 3:30 A.M., as “Wonderwall” blared throughout the club, both Olsens screamed the lyrics, hands in the air, and it was impossible not to feel nostalgic—you can’t watch the Olsens smoke cigarettes and dance to “Wonderwall” and feel nothing.
At about 3:40 A.M., in what almost seemed like a mirage, Katy Perry arrived, with a few friends. Rihanna had left. Diddy was gone. Kendall and Bella and their crew were off—to a hotel room or smaller venue, no doubt. Katy looked around the thinned-out room briefly and then, expressionless, promptly turned right back around and left. -Vanity Fair
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Camden city EMS reports more calls, quicker response times in 2018
Camden city EMS reports more calls, quicker response times in 2018
Jon Hurdle, NJ Spotlight
University Hospital, Camden Division, ambulances and emergency trucks rush to the emergency room at Cooper University Hospital Tuesday, July 7, 2015, in Camden, N.J. (Mel Evans/AP Photo)
This story originally appeared on NJ Spotlight.
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It’s been three years since Cooper University Health Care took over emergency medical service response in the City…
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UAE calls Post’s news report on Qatar as ‘false’
UAE calls Post’s news report on Qatar as ‘false’
UAE ambassador in Washington, Yousef Al Otaiba said what is true is Qatar’s behavior
:: The UAE Embassy in Washington has released a statement calling a Washington Post report related to Qatar as “false.”
The report had claimed that the UAE orchestrated a hacking operation against a Qatari government website in May. The report also claimed that UAE’s purpose was to use it as “a pretext” for the…
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Column: Behind science of DeChambeau is a tireless worker
Column: Behind science of DeChambeau is a tireless worker
AP
Published 4:38 p.m. ET Aug. 28, 2018
Bryson DeChambeau looks down the fairway on the 17th hole during the third round of the Northern Trust golf tournament, Saturday, Aug. 25, 2018, in Paramus, N.J. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)(Photo: The Associated Press)
PARAMUS, N.J. (AP) — The description of Bryson DeChambeau as a “mad scientist” is appropriate as long as this much is…
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Michigan Democratic Party 'misstep' sparked DNC hack fears
https://uniteddemocrats.net/?p=8376
Michigan Democratic Party 'misstep' sparked DNC hack fears
Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Brandon Dillon was re-elected to his post during the party’s state convention Saturday, Feb. 11, 2017, at Cobo Center in Detroit. The event drew a crowd of about 5,000, a turnout Dillon called “unbelievable.”(Photo: Rachel Woolf, Special to The Detroit News)
Lansing — The Michigan Democratic Party on Thursday acknowledged it enlisted friendly hackers for a simulated phishing test that had prompted the Democratic National Committee to alert the FBI to a suspected attempt to infiltrate the party’s voter file.
The DNC said earlier this week it had thwarted what it to believed to be a hacking attempt two years after Russian operatives sent the party into disarray by hacking into its computers and facilitating the release of tens of thousands of emails amid the presidential election.
But Chief Security Officer Bob Lord said Thursday the suspected cyber attack that sparked fears actually appeared to be part of a test created by a third party that “mimicked several attributes of actual attacks on the Democratic Party’s voter file” without national party authorization.
The third-party was enlisted by the Michigan Democratic Party, whose involvement was first reported by The Washington Post. A source familiar with the matter told The Detroit News the state party gave the “green light” for a group called DigiDems to conduct the phishing test without authorization from the DNC or its vendors.
“In an abundance of caution, our digital partners ran tests that followed extensive training,” Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Brandon Dillon said later Thursday. “Despite our misstep and the alarms that were set off, it’s most important that all of the security systems in place worked.”
Dillon said Democrats have “taken heightened steps to fortify our cyber-security — especially as the Trump administration refuses to crack down on foreign interference in our elections.”
The Michigan Democratic Party was behind fake log-in page that raised alarms from the Democratic National Committee over a suspected hack. (Photo: Mel Evans / AP)
The party’s voter file contains information on tens of millions of voters.
A web security firm using artificial intelligence first uncovered the unusual activity, and the DNC said it was notified Tuesday. The attempt was quickly thwarted by suspending the attacker’s account, and no information was compromised, a party official had said.
GOP jabs Democrats
Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, former head of the Michigan GOP, jabbed the state party for failing to warn the DNC about its phishing test.
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Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel (Photo: Max Ortiz / The Detroit News)
“I guess the Democrats still haven’t figured out how to talk to people in Michigan,” McDaniel said on Twitter.
The Michigan Republican Party also ribbed Democrats over the false alarm. Spokeswoman Sarah Anderson said that while MDP “hacked the ‘mother ship,'” Republicans were focused on continuing the state’s economic recovery and promoting “common-sense plans for Michigan’s future.”
“Instead of hacking into our voter database, we are reaching out to voters directly and have already contacted over 1.5 million voters using the RNC’s data, no hacking required,” Anderson said.
While he acknowledged a communication misstep with the national party, Dillon defended the underlying goal that led to testing by Michigan Democrats.
“Cybersecurity experts agree this kind of testing is critical to protecting an organization’s infrastructure, and we will continue to work with our partners, including the DNC, to protect our systems and our democracy,” he said.
The party’s cyber security has been an issue since the 2016 presidential election, when Russian hackers compromised DNC servers and publicly revealed internal communications that exploited divisions between Bernie Sanders’ and Hillary Clinton’s campaigns as the two candidates vied for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Hackers also accessed the email accounts of Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, and systematically released the contents throughout the fall campaign.
“There are constant attempts to hack the DNC and our Democratic infrastructure, and while we are extremely relieved that this wasn’t an attempted intrusion by a foreign adversary, this incident is further proof that we need to continue to be vigilant in light of potential attacks,” Lord said Thursday.
“False alarm’ shows system worked
Mike Murray, vice president of the Lookout cybersecurity firm that first uncovered the phishing attempt, said early Thursday “the thing about ‘false alarms’ is that you don’t know that they’re false until you’ve showed up to investigate.”
“All the folks who pulled together on this were amazing, and had this been a real attack, would have stopped something terrible,” Murray wrote on Twitter.
At a previously scheduled election security briefing Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the quick response to the attempted DNC hack showed that the system was working “and that different entities understand who to reach out to,” she said.
“Any attack on a political party or a campaign is important for us all to take seriously,” Nielsen said, emphasizing the government was doing all it could to help protect election systems ahead of the midterm elections. At stake is control of Congress, which could potentially switch from Republican to Democrat.
The DNC committee attempt wasn’t mentioned at a Senate hearing on election security Wednesday, according to senators who were present.
States have been scrambling to secure their election systems since it was revealed that Russian hackers targeted election systems in at least 21 states in 2016, though the number is likely greater. There has been no indication any vote tallies were changed.
Michigan’s election security
Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson’s office has repeatedly said it has no indication that hackers tried to target its election system. State officials have said Michigan’s paper ballots, which are scanned by optical machines, make the state safer than most from manipulation and hacking.
Nielsen said at the briefing that states should have auditing systems in part as a safeguard so the public knows the vote tallies can be trusted.
In this November’s post-election audit, Michigan officials for the first time plan to do a hand recount of ballots for all precincts selected in the audit to ensure more confidence in the system. Past election audits required reviewing voting machine equipment, among other things.
In Tuesday’s incident, a scanning tool deployed by the San Francisco security company Lookout detected a masquerading website designed to harvest the passwords of users of the login page of NGP VAN, a technology provider used by the Democrats and other liberal-leaning political organizations, said Mike Murray, the company’s vice president of security intelligence. He said he contacted the DNC.
The tool, which leverages artificial intelligence, has been in development for a year and wasn’t tasked to scan any sites in particular but instead to identify phishing sites based on typical attributes, Murray said.
“This is the beauty of AI: It finds things that humans don’t know to look for,” he said.
He said the tool notified Lookout before the impostor page had even been populated with content. “As soon as we realized how fast it was developing, I decided to reach out to contacts that I know at the DNC.” Murray also contacted the website hosting company, Digital Ocean.
Ross Rustici, senior director for intelligence services at Cybereason in Boston, said a voter database is a juicy target for anyone trying to exacerbate political divisions in the U.S. or gain insight on political opponents.
“The data housed in these types of databases would be incredibly useful both for domestic opposition research as well as for foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed
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