Healthcare hacking endangers lives

November 3, 2020

At least the Russian and Iranian operatives attempting to influence public opinion in advance of the election have ideological goals. Not so with a more dangerous class of hackers — freelancers willing to kill for money. Federal officials warned last week of a new wave of online extortion attempts directed at hospitals and other health care facilities. Their technique is simplicity itself: Hack into a hospital’s main computer, take control of it, then inform management that unless a “ransom” fee is paid, the computer will be shut down or crippled. Because we use ...

Ryder church adapts to pandemic changes in unique way

November 2, 2020

Amidst the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing an area community's pastor, church and parishioners are continuing to hold drive-in worship services. Since Easter Sunday Calvary Church in Ryder has been holding the services. For past weeks Pastor Jonathan Starks held the services on a flatbed trailer. With service is broadcast by short-range FM transmitter to people who listen on their vehicles' radio. But when the weather got cooler Starks began looking for a way to continue services. The outcome of that search was a deer stand provided by Rod Johansen of the local ...

Getting out the vote vital

October 30, 2020

Leaders of both major political parties agree on one thing: The presidential election scheduled for Tuesday is among the most important in American history. Its outcome will shape our government, economy, even our society for many years to come. Your life and that of your children and grandchildren will be affected profoundly. Don’t you want to have a say in the matter? To judge by voter turnouts in previous elections, many of your friends, family members, co-workers and neighbors simply don’t care about how we are governed. They do not bother to vote. Despite the COVID-19 ...

Some last-minute hints for undecided voters

October 29, 2020

With the much anticipated 2020 general election coming to a close soon, some people might still be wondering which candidates to vote for. That is understandable; there are ample qualified candidates in most of the races that area residents have a say in. To those who are still undecided we recommend that Gov. Doug Burgum be given another term to show what he can do for North Dakota. Like President Donald Trump, who was dogged by enemies even before he was inaugurated, Burgum has been preoccupied this year with COVID-19. Both deserve another shot at governing. Burgum. What can we say ...

Congress needs to investigate the Census process

October 28, 2020

By March or April, it was clear the 2020 Census would be much more of a guessing game than in decennial population counts. COVID-19 has seen to that. Our whole society has been disrupted in multiple ways. Responding to Census questionnaires has been the last thing on the minds of millions of Americans. Doing all that is possible to obtain an accurate count of the people living in our country clearly has not been uppermost on the minds of many federal officials, either. The decision to stop information collecting a month early makes that plain. Evidence is mounting that this ...

Just how gullible are we?

October 27, 2020

If last week’s announcement that Russian and Iranian operatives are using technology once again to influence U.S. politics came as a surprise, you clearly have not been paying attention. That makes you preferred prey, by the way. We were warned in advance of the 2016 election of how the internet was being used against us by mischief-makers in Moscow. Attempts to hack into states’ election computers were almost always unsuccessful — but that was not their only strategy. They used “social media” to pit Americans against one another, even employing operatives here in this ...