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Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Trump comes through again




President Trump Has Signed a Law to Reduce Robocalls. What Does It Mean For Your Phone?


(NEW YORK) — An anti-robocalls measure signed into law Monday by President Donald Trump should help reduce the torrent of unwanted calls promising lower interest rates or pretending to be the IRS, though it won’t make all such calls disappear.







The new law gives authorities more enforcement powers and could speed up measures the industry is already taking to identify robocalls. And when phone companies block robocalls, they must do so without charging consumers. This should help Americans dodge many of these annoying calls.

“American families deserve control over their communications, and this legislation will update our laws and regulations to stiffen penalties, increase transparency, and enhance government collaboration to stop unwanted solicitation,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said.

The law is a “big victory,” said Consumer Reports’ Maureen Mahoney. “The key is requiring these phone companies to help stop the calls before they reach the consumer and do it at no additional charge.”

The robocall problem has exploded because cheap software makes it easy to make mass calls. Americans collectively get billions of robocalls each month. Such calls have disrupted operations at hospitals by diverting staff time to deal with calls faked to look as though they are coming from inside the hospital. Scams conducted through such calls have also defrauded people out of millions of dollars. Many people now avoid answering calls altogether if they come from unknown numbers.

Under federal law, it’s already illegal to fake numbers on Caller ID to defraud or cause harm. Scams are also prohibited, as are automated telemarketing calls from legitimate companies that don’t already have written permission. YouMail’s robocall index says that half of all robocalls today are fraudulent.

But enforcement has been tough. Federal agencies have fined scammers hundreds of millions of dollars, but it’s been difficult to collect. Many of the callers are overseas. It’s hard to throw the fraudsters in jail.

The new law builds on steps taken by the country’s communications regulator, the Federal Communications Commission, as well as state attorneys general and industry groups.

The FCC has clarified that phone companies can block unwanted calls without first asking customers, paving the way to broaden the rollout of call-blocking services. The law says phone companies cannot charge for these services.

Another important step is getting rid of “spoofed” numbers, or when a scammer fakes Caller ID to look like it’s coming from the same area code or an important government agency like the IRS. The industry is developing a system to tell people when the Caller ID number is real.

The new law requires all phone companies to put this system in place, which Mahoney said will mean phone companies have to try to stop these calls before they reach the consumer. This technology doesn’t work for home phones connected to an old-school copper landline; the law calls on the FCC and phone companies to come up with an alternative for those customers.

The FCC also gets more time to fine robocallers and do so without warning them first. The bill also calls for tougher fines when individuals intentionally violate the law and pushes the agency to work with the Justice Department to go after criminals. Over the long term, that could act as a deterrent.

Nonetheless, determined scammers and telemarketers will likely find ways to get through, given the availability of cheap dialing technology and the big potential payoff from victims. Think of how malware on personal computers is still a problem despite antivirus software. Automated callers could circumvent new safety measures by buying or hijacking real numbers to make calls.

“They’ll always find ways around this,” said Paul Florack, vice president of product management for Transaction Network Services, which runs robocall analytics for Verizon, Sprint and other phone companies.

And not every robocall is considered illegal. Some robocalls are helpful reminders from pharmacies that a prescription is ready, or schools advising a snow day. If you’ve given written permission, a cable company or cruise line can pitch you with marketing calls that consist of prerecorded messages. While a House version of the measure would have made it harder for legitimate companies to make such calls, that measure was dropped in the version that became law.

The law says phone companies can’t charge extra for blocking robocalls, though it doesn’t require that such services or apps be made available to everyone. AT&T’s version, for instance, isn’t rolled out yet to its 18 million customers on lower-income-skewing prepaid plans.

The law also does nothing about telemarketing calls that aren’t automated. A human can still pester you unless you sign up for the Do Not Call registry, which scammers often ignore anyway.

But ideally, Mahoney said, a consumer wouldn’t have to take any action by downloading an app — as the carrier would be able to block calls automatically.





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Serial killer Philip Jablonski dies on death row age 73 after murdering five women including his third wife who married him while he did time for killing his second spouse



One can only conclude his 3rd wife must have been a Democrat.



A serial killer whose five victims included two wives and a mother-in-law has died while on California's death row, authorities said yesterday.

Phillip Carl Jablonski, 73, was found unresponsive in his San Quentin State Prison cell on Friday and pronounced dead within minutes.

His cause of death is awaiting an autopsy, but he had been assigned a single cell, said corrections department spokeswoman Terri Hardy.

A San Mateo County jury sentenced him to death in 1994 for the first-degree murders of his third wife, Carol Spadoni, 46, and her mother, Eva Petersen, 72.

Spadoni had married him while he was in prison for murdering a his second wife in 1978.

She met and married Jablonski in 1982 while he was serving 12 years in prison murdering the mother of his child, Melinda Kimball, in 1978. 



Phillip Jablonski was found unresponsive in his cell at San Quentin State Prison on Friday. He was sentenced to death in 1994 for the murders of Carol Spadoni and her mother, Eva Petersen


A year after he was released from prison in 1990 he murdered Spadoni and Petersen by shooting, stabbing and mutilating them before raping the 72-year-old woman after she was dead.




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Saturday, December 28, 2019

Biden Says Media's Handling of Trump Is Why He Wouldn't Comply With Potential Senate Subpoena




Funny, is this brain dead imbecile trying to imply the media is on Trump's side if they focus on him (Biden)? This article states he's not going to cooperate with a subpoena from the Senate should he receive one because it would be 'distracting from the process'. Really...Biden is the process! He and his crackhead son are the EPICENTER of this entire impeachment! Furthermore, it goes on calling the Biden's dealings with Ukraine "An accusation that has not been proven". Well, unless you want to discount Biden bragging about it on national television as proof.


The two guys next to Biden pay him a fake smile while thinking...This asshole just shot himself in the foot.

Wonder if the FBI is planning to raid Biden like they did Cohen and Roger Stone?


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During an interview with The Des Moines Register, former Vice President Joe Biden reiterated that he would not cooperate with a subpoena from the Senate should he receive one.

Biden said his testimony would divert attention from Trump and that any summons he received would be on "specious" grounds. He said that no one had dared say he hadn't done his job—including "that thug" Rudolph Giuliani.

He added that his testimony would create a narrative within the media coverage which would take attention off of President Trump.

"What are you going to cover?" Biden said to Des Moines Register Executive Editor Carol Hunter at one juncture of the interview. "You guys are going to cover for three weeks anything that I said. And [Trump's] going to get away. You guys buy into it all the time. Not a joke… Think what it's about. It's all about what he does all the time, his entire career. Take the focus off. This guy violated the Constitution. He said it in the driveway of the White House. He acknowledged he asked for help."

[So in other words he says... Don't cover me cover Trump impeachment trial in the senate. But leaves out... he got impeached for something I did.]

Biden added that beating Trump at the polls is a "precondition to any progress being made."



Former Vice President Joe Biden has said he will not cooperate with a senate summons to testify at the impeachment of President Donald Trump to avoid distracting from the process. Scott Olson/Getty


President Trump remains under fire for allegedly asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to commit to a "quid pro quo" trade with America during a July telephone call. Trump is said to have threatened to withhold military aid that had already been approved by Congress, unless Zelenskiy provided the president with information on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter involving their alleged dealings with the Ukrainian gas company Burisma. Trump claims Biden used his power as vice president to have an investigation into Burisma killed, an accusation that has not been proven. Trump also wanted a theory that Kiev interfered in the 2016 election on the behalf of Hillary Clinton investigated.

On December 18, President Trump became the third American president be impeached in the country's history. Last Monday, an email from White House official Michael Duffy requesting aid be withheld from the Ukraine was made public. The request from Duffy came 91 minutes after the quid pro quo request was allegedly made from Trump to Zelenskiy. The White House says the timing of the call and email is a coincidence. Trump continues to deny any wrongdoing in the matter.

[91 minutes in 'Washington time' is tantamount to the speed of light] 


Newsweek reached out to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic National Committee, and Rep. Adam Schiff for comment, but did not hear back at press time.







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Friday, December 27, 2019

You Can't Judge A Book By Its Cover







But... I bet my 401k I can tell you who 'he' voted for.






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The Nasdaq soars past 9,000 for the first time ever










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