It was pure stupidity and false pride to leave Edward Snowden in Russia.

He exposed the wrongful accumulation of personal data of Americans by the USA cyber intelligence agencies after September 11, 2001.

SO WHAT!

Americans have a right to know who holds their private data.

HE WASN’T THE ONE WHO BROKE THE RULES IN THE FIRST PLACE!

October 29, 2020

The "Cyber Security Market - Forecast (2020 - 2025)" (click here) report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Cyber Security Market size is forecast to reach $174.09 billion in 2025, estimated to grow at a CAGR of 8% during 2020-2025. The increasing use of technology such as artificial intelligence, IoT, machine learning and so on are significantly driving the cybersecurity market. Furthermore, the increasing demand for cloud-based cybersecurity systems in order to reduce data loss are also enhancing the growth of the market. The rising demand for network and endpoint security, mobile security, behavioral detection are fueling the growth of the market during forecast period....

Hm. I guess Former FBI Mueller knew what he was talking about in his report about Russia attacks on the USA.

October 26, 2020

KrebsOnSecurity began following up on a tip (click here) from a reliable source that an aggressive Russian cybercriminal gang known for deploying ransomware was preparing to disrupt information technology systems at hundreds of hospitals, clinics and medical care facilities across the United States. Today, officials from the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security hastily assembled a conference call with healthcare industry executives warning about an “imminent cybercrime threat to U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers.”

The agencies on the conference call, which included the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), warned participants about “credible information of an increased and imminent cybercrime threat to US hospitals and healthcare providers.”

The agencies said they were sharing the information “to provide warning to healthcare providers to ensure that they take timely and reasonable precautions to protect their networks from these threats.”

The warning came less than two days after this author received a tip from Alex Holden, founder of Milwaukee-based cyber intelligence firm Hold Security. Holden said he saw online communications this week between cybercriminals affiliated with a Russian-speaking ransomware group known as Ryuk in which group members discussed plans to deploy ransomware at more than 400 healthcare facilities in the U.S....

It is impossible to fight crime such as this when agents have to learn the enemy over and over again with the purging of agents with inconvenient truths. Trump's leadership has left the USA vulnerable and this should not be a surprise to anyone.

August 13, 2019
By Bradley P. Moss

...With the firing of Peter Strzok (click here), the president’s purge of senior FBI leadership who helped launch that investigation is now complete. For those wondering whether Trump would allow the bureau to do its job without political interference from the White House, I think we have our answer.

This is from 2017. What is it with that stairstep costs of Burial caskets. It looks like a cartel issue.

I will never be cremated. I think it is horrible that people are forced into cremation because of the cost of burials. Turn some empty malls and warehouses into mausoleums. Sell accompanying places for a person's dog or cat (click here). 

October 31, 2020
By Akin Oyedele

The cost of burying a loved one (click here) in America has risen faster than virtually everything else over the last 30 years.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics just published a fascinating look at the cost of dying in the US... because it's Halloween. The chart below shows that the price index for funerals has risen almost twice as fast as consumer prices for all other items.

Producer prices for caskets rose 230% from December 1986 through September 2017, while prices for all commodities increased 95.1%. The data is not seasonally adjusted.

As casket costs surged, the rate of cremations surpassed burials in 2015 for a second straight year, according to the National Funeral Directors Association. Its data showed that the median cost of a funeral with viewing and burial in 2014 was $7,181, and $6078 for a funeral with viewing and cremation....

The financial markets know how it plays. So, there is no surprise and they should address their investments appropriately.

Human beings want to live through this terrible virus. So figure. I guess they aren't worried that much about stockholder returns. OMG, there are no pants on fire bailouts.

The strength of the USA economy is the consumer. This is not difficult. The markets need to stop gambling with their fancy inventive financial instruments. 

October 28, 2020
By Emily Graffeo

"The stock market is telling us that COVID-19 isn't going away anytime soon." (click here)

That's according to James McDonald, Hercules Investments CEO and investment chief, who said on Wednesday that the S&P 500 index could tumble an additional 20% before the presidential inauguration in January as cases of the coronavirus surge in the US and swaths of Europe begin to lock down again.

The benchmark index lost as much as 3.6% during Wednesday trading and closed at 3,271 - its lowest level since late September. McDonald said the market turmoil isn't over just yet.

"Expectations that COVID-19 would be under control by now have vanished and we see stocks falling by another 10-20% from here," McDonald said. "We believe that if the S&P 500 breaks below 3,200 before the election, its next move may be down another 12% to 2,890."...

Apple is fine . That is obscene money and the internet companies are a wash of it.

A lot of their business requires liquidity. I am happy they are able to conduct their business, but, don't complain that one quarter is lower than another. No sympathy.

I think Apple's change in the 3rd quarter cash reflects what the economy was doing. The Northern Hemisphere was having fun in the sun and not necessarily at home purchasing online. 

October 29, 2020
By Michelle Gao

Graph (click here)

Apple (click here) now has $191.83 billion cash on hand, according to the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report released Thursday. 

That’s down from the company’s fiscal third quarter of 2020, when it reported $193.8 billion in cash. It’s also down from Apple’s fiscal fourth quarter 2019 earnings, however, when it reported $205.9 billion in cash.

Apple regularly has one of the largest cash piles among U.S. companies and hit a $2 trillion market cap in August, although it has fallen back below that number.

Erdogan needs to stop his verbal assault against the free world.

Erdogan is only fueling greater hatred and violence and not ending it. These are knife attacks within religious freedom. It cannot be tolerated. Boycotting is not a peaceful method of bringing about the differences in cultures. The Free World requires tolerance of differences. If Erdogan is going to assist the hatred rendered by extremists he can expect more adverse cartoons about him.

France did not change their alliance with Turkey through NATO, it only affirms there are differences in the freedom France enjoys. Erdogan backing terrorists and their violence is a worrying development.

Why is it places of worship are targeted by violent radicals?

29 October 2020

By Sinead Baker and Mitch Prothero

Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi gives a statement at the site of the knife attack in a church in Nice, France. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (click here) has called for a boycott of French goods and compared Europe's treatment of Muslims to the way Jews were treated before the Second World War.

Erdogan branded European leaders 'fascists' and 'links in the chain of Nazism' as he said Muslims on the continent 'are now subjected to a lynch campaign similar to that against Jews in Europe before World War II'.

It is just the latest attack from the Turkish strongman leader after he spent the weekend verbally lashing French President Emmanuel Macron, over his toughed stance on Islamic extremism....

Summertime. This was expected. It does not give permission for herd immunity.

We know where the USA economy lives and it is small businesses and a service economy.

SARS-CoV-2 is a disabling virus. It disables the economy and it disables survivors of it's attack on the human body. Nothing has changed with what works to avoid infection of this virus. Social distancing was in play this summer when restaurants moved to the street and provided an outdoor venue. This improved their income from the take out and delivery already at work.

This uptick in GDP is not growth, it is partial recovery from the fact SARS-CoV-2 was allowed to infiltrate throughout the USA.

The American people with their stimulus behind them found a return to a new form of business, one modified for social safety. The people and their love of life fueled the third quarter partial recovery.

GDP reflects many things. This partial recovery also includes increased spending for healthcare and funerals. Over 200,000 Americans are dead. That is greater than any war in US history. As morbid as it is to say, there is economic spending that goes along with that, too.

I remind during this same period of time there were airlines hurting from the lack of travel from abroad. So, while the summertime economy was good, it wasn't great.

October 20, 2020

By Ben Winck

Just as the coronavirus' toll drove a record plunge in economic output, (click here) the US's summer recovery fueled the largest-ever jump in gross domestic product.

US gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of 33.1% in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. The reading marks the largest output gain in recorded history, based on data going back to the 1940s. It came in roughly double the next-biggest jump seen in 1950. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected a 32% gain.

The reading represents how much the economy would've grown had the third-quarter rate lasted for a year. It's a sharp reversal from the second quarter, which saw a 31.4% annualized rate of contraction.

Thursday's figure is also the first of three estimates published by the Commerce Department, and could be revised in the coming months.