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By Lauren Hepler | CalMatters Kim Tanner didn’t expect to become a fraud detective when she filed for disability with the California Employment Development Department. But in mid-July, $3,161 vanished from her online account with the state’s new debit card contractor, Money Network, according to Tanner’s complaints to government regulators. Someone had gotten access to her online debit card account, added a new bank account and transferred out her money, all without any notifications, she wrote in the complaints. Tanner told Money Network told her it could take 90 days to investigate, and that she may or may not get a full refund, leaving her short on rent money. She turned to social media and saw similar horror stories on Reddit and Facebook. “My head exploded,” Tanner said. “This was happening to tons of people.” So she started filing complaints. First with Money Network, its parent company Fiserv and the EDD. Then with a state senator and a half-dozen financial regulators. “It just went on and on and on,” said Tanner, who got her money back via paper check about a month and a half later, after a federal agency intervened. “This needs to be investigated.” A CalMatters investigation a year ago exposed how the EDD’s unemployment system crashed during the pandemic, the result of historic job losses, years of missed warning signs and poor contractor performance. As a result, the system at first failed to stop widespread fraud, then cut off access to millions of real people who used it as a crucial lifeline. Now, even with a new payment contractor in place, concerns about fraud linger for people who rely on unemployment and disability programs run by the EDD. Multiple lawsuits and 74 federal consumer complaints about government debit cards have been filed by Californians against Money Network this year alone. The EDD and the company say the debit card fraud is smaller scale than the varied forms of fraud during the pandemic. On top of the fraud complaints, a report released Monday by the Legislative Analyst’s Office warns that lawmakers are failing to address a bigger unemployment problem: a “broken” financial model, one that threatens the whole system. California’s unemployment fund is still $20 billion in debt to the federal government after the state took out loans to cover pandemic benefits, costing taxpayers $1 billion in annual interest — more than the state spends on child welfare. Now, after years of ignoring calls to modernize the state’s 1980s-era unemployment tax code, the system is on track to lose $2 billion a year as it fails to bring in enough revenue to cover unemployment expenses, according to the report. The Legislative Analyst’s Office, which provides fiscal and policy advice to state lawmakers, says the state needs to bring unemployment taxes in line with other states to cover the deficit. “This is entirely avoidable,” said LAO policy analyst Chas Alamo. A person with blonde hair and wearing a black and white flower pattern blouse stands in the living room of their home while looking towards their left. A computer screen showing a subreddit with various posts by users asking questions or sharing their experiences with money fraud and identity theft. A person with blond hair can be seen in the foreground looking towards the screen. The recommendations could force a reckoning for lawmakers caught between business and labor advocates. Business groups have fought tax increases, favoring California’s current lowest-in-the-nation unemployment tax base. Labor groups argue that taxes must go up to stabilize the system. Then, they say, lawmakers should evaluate measures to expand which workers are eligible for unemployment or raise California’s $450-a-week maximum payment, which is also lower than many other states . What happens next will be one test of how legislative leaders respond to voters’ rebuke of Democratic leadership nationwide, with the Legislature’s Democratic leadership pledging to do more to make California a less expensive place to live. Meanwhile, the EDD has already secured funding for an unprecedented five-year, $1.2 billion effort called EDDNext to finally modernize the call centers, software and websites that power the state’s job safety net — a more ambitious version of past modernization efforts that crumbled during the pandemic. Whether or not history will repeat itself is complicated by unanswered questions about what went wrong at the EDD during the pandemic and how the state scrambled to recover. Former California labor chief Julie Su went on to become acting U.S. labor secretary and one of the longest-unconfirmed presidential nominees in history, thanks in part to criticism over unemployment fraud. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has denied CalMatters’ repeated requests for internal records from this period, citing an exemption that allows the governor to keep his communications secret if he chooses. During the pandemic, a wide range of fraud schemes hit the unemployment system at once. Global hackers used large-scale identity theft. Low-level social media scammers and prison inmates adopted fake names to file for benefits under emergency federal programs that waived normal identity checks. Debit card scammers cloned insecure EDD cards then run by Bank of America and drained the accounts. Millions of real California workers got caught up in the mess, state audits found. Some saw their EDD accounts flagged as suspicious due to clerical errors, communication failures or faulty fraud software. Laid-off workers saw EDD debit cards overdrawn by thousands of dollars or cut off as the bank and the state scrambled to rein in fraud. California and other states were partially let off the hook when the federal government agreed to absorb the bulk of the billions lost to fraud in emergency programs. After Bank of America pulled out of the unemployment business last year, the EDD tried to turn the page on debit card fraud by hiring Georgia finance tech company Money Network to take over. The scope and details of the current fraud that workers allege isn’t clear. State auditors and financial regulators haven’t analyzed it; lawsuits and regulatory complaints only show that money disappeared from workers’ accounts, not how it was taken. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which previously fined Bank of America $100 million over what it called “botched” pandemic unemployment payments, declined to answer questions about new complaints. The bureau’s public records show that Californians have filed 149 complaints against Money Network since 2022, when the company first started running a different state debit card program, with 101 complaints mentioning government cards. Money Network said in a statement that “only a small percentage of EDD recipients have reported suspected fraud,” and that anyone concerned should “call the number listed on the back of their card.” The EDD and Money Network also now allow direct deposit, giving people the option of skipping debit cards altogether. Since direct deposit launched in June, about 15% of new applicants have opted for debit cards, the EDD said in a statement. The agency could not immediately say how many of its hundreds of thousands of existing customers still use debit cards. “Anyone who suspects they are a victim of fraud should take steps to protect themselves and file a fraud report ,” the EDD said in a statement. A close-up view of a flyer for identity theft resources and information that sits on top on other various documentation on a desk. Lea Bitton was still reeling from a high-risk pregnancy when it happened to her. One evening in June, the Orange County resident logged into her Money Network disability account and realized that $4,000 was missing. She relied on the EDD money to cover her family’s costs during parental leave. Someone Bitton didn’t know had hacked into her account, according to a lawsuit she filed against Money Network. Similar to Tanner’s case in Carlsbad, a new electronic transfer was set up for someone with a different name and bank account, and Bitton was never asked to authorize the change before the money disappeared. Matthew Loker, Bitton’s attorney, said the fraud appears similar to some EDD debit card fraud cases that he handled during the pandemic. “It’s deja vu a little bit,” Loker said. “It’s a difficult problem, but it shouldn’t be the consumers who are left holding the bag.” If fraud occurs once unemployment or disability money has already been transferred from the EDD to Money Network, the state’s contract says that Money Network is responsible for investigating and reimbursing clients if necessary. But some people with EDD Money Network debit cards say that it isn’t always easy to figure out how to start that process. In Los Angeles, Greg Zekowski filed for unemployment while in between film projects. He hadn’t even used his EDD Money Network debit card yet, he said, when he logged into the online account and saw several unfamiliar charges to Uber and other retailers. He called Money Network. “Their response was, ‘The problem is EDD,’” Zekowski said. So he called the EDD: “Their response was, ‘It’s all them.’” The EDD and its contractors aren’t alone. The state’s food assistance and college financial aid programs are also among the many financial systems facing mounting fraud risks. One broader challenge is how few financial institutions bid on government benefit projects. The lack of options puts more pressure on agencies working to secure debit cards and other payments, according to a 2023 report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau . “Providers may face minimal competitive pressure from program innovation, new entrants, or customer choice,” the report authors wrote, “which may exacerbate or cause the issues with fees and customer service that benefits recipients face.” While the EDD and the people who rely on it play whack-a-mole with fraud, California has big decisions to make about the future of the state’s job safety net. If the state continues to do nothing, the LAO projected this week, it will have no unemployment reserves and become even more reliant on loans from the federal government to weather future recessions, likely costing taxpayers billions more in interest. Or the state can bite the bullet, as many others have, and change the way it pays for unemployment. First, the LAO recommends that businesses pay a flat 1.9% unemployment tax while digging out of debt. California companies also currently only pay unemployment taxes on the first $7,000 a worker earns each year. Instead, the LAO recommends taxing employers on workers’ first $46,800 in earnings — higher than some neighbors like Nevada, but lower than Washington, Idaho and Oregon. “We understand that the scope of the recommendations that we’re putting forward in this report are significant,” said LAO analyst Ann Hollingshead. “This is just an honest reflection of the severity of the underlying problems in the system.” State legislatures last revamped unemployment taxes in 1984. And businesses are already voicing opposition to temporary tax hikes to pay down California’s deep federal debt. One bill to recalibrate how the system is paid for — raising unemployment taxes to eventually increase weekly benefits — died in committee this year. Robert Moutrie, a policy advocate for the California Chamber of Commerce, said that the business group is still reviewing the details of the LAO proposal. In the past, the Chamber has favored tightening unemployment eligibility to reduce benefit payments, labeling any form of tax increases and proposals to expand the unemployment system “ job killers .” Daniela Urban, executive director of the Sacramento Center for Workers’ Rights, said there is broad agreement on how unstable the current situation is but disagreement on where to go from here. She and other labor advocates say that unemployment is one area where California businesses have long underpaid compared to other states, and that the system has not kept up with non-traditional jobs and increasing costs of living. “We’re in a huge hole, and that’s not financially acceptable,” Urban said. “But how and when to make those changes I think is what the contention is.” In addition to the funding hole, the pandemic revealed other problems at EDD. Tech systems buckled : jammed call centers, spotty online accounts and a patchwork behind-the-scenes process for tracking unemployment claims. The agency is currently overhauling these systems with EDDNext. Last year, the agency hired Salesforce to remake the MyEDD online system that workers use to manage their accounts. It brought in Amazon Web Services to update and integrate EDD phone systems that left as many as 40 million calls a month unanswered during the pandemic. Early next year, the state will award a contract for the biggest chunk of the project — a new central system for EDD personnel to manage claims, which comes with more than 600 pages of specifications. “We are making tremendous investments in modernizing EDD and the work is going well,” the agency said in a statement.
JERUSALEM — Israel approved a United States-brokered ceasefire agreement with Lebanon's Hezbollah on Tuesday, setting the stage for an end to nearly 14 months of fighting linked to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. In the hours leading up to the Cabinet meeting, Israel carried out its most intense wave of strikes in Beirut and its southern suburbs and issued a record number of evacuation warnings. At least 24 people were killed in strikes across the country, according to local authorities, as Israel signaled it aims to keep pummeling Hezbollah in the final hours before any ceasefire takes hold. Israel's security Cabinet approved the ceasefire agreement late Tuesday after it was presented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his office said. U.S. President Joe Biden, speaking in Washington, called the agreement “good news” and said his administration would make a renewed push for a ceasefire in Gaza. People are also reading... An Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire would mark the first major step toward ending the regionwide unrest triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But it does not address the devastating war in Gaza. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to bring peace to the Middle East, but neither he nor Netanyahu have proposed a postwar solution for the Palestinian territory, where Hamas is still holding dozens of hostages and the conflict is more intractable. Still, any halt to the fighting in Lebanon is expected to reduce the likelihood of war between Israel and Iran, which backs both Hezbollah and Hamas and exchanged direct fire with Israel on two occasions earlier this year. Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. Bilal Hussein - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS Israel says it will ‘attack with might’ if Hezbollah breaks truce Netanyahu presented the ceasefire proposal to Cabinet ministers after a televised address in which he listed a series of accomplishments against Israel’s enemies across the region. He said a ceasefire with Hezbollah would further isolate Hamas in Gaza and allow Israel to focus on its main enemy, Iran, which backs both groups. “If Hezbollah breaks the agreement and tries to rearm, we will attack,” he said. “For every violation, we will attack with might.” Netanyahu's office later said Israel appreciated the U.S. efforts in securing the deal but "reserves the right to act against every threat to its security.” It was not immediately clear when the ceasefire would go into effect, and the exact terms of the deal were not released. The deal calls for a two-month initial halt in fighting and would require Hezbollah to end its armed presence in a broad swath of southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops would return to their side of the border. Thousands of additional Lebanese troopsand U.N. peacekeepers would deploy in the south, and an international panel headed by the United States would monitor all sides’ compliance. But implementation remains a major question mark. Israel has demanded the right to act should Hezbollah violate its obligations. Lebanese officials have rejected writing that into the proposal. Biden said Israel reserved the right to quickly resume operations in Lebanon if Hezbollah breaks the terms of the truce, but that the deal "was designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities.” Hezbollah has said it accepts the proposal, but a senior official with the group said Tuesday that it had not seen the agreement in its final form. “After reviewing the agreement signed by the enemy government, we will see if there is a match between what we stated and what was agreed upon by the Lebanese officials,” Mahmoud Qamati, deputy chair of Hezbollah’s political council, told the Al Jazeera news network. “We want an end to the aggression, of course, but not at the expense of the sovereignty of the state” of Lebanon, he said. “Any violation of sovereignty is refused.” In this screen grab image from video provide by the Israeli Government Press Office, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes a televised statement Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024, in Jerusalem, Israel. Uncredited - hogp, ASSOCIATED PRESS Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS Feed | SoundStack | All Of Our Podcasts Warplanes bombard Beirut and its southern suburbs Even as Israeli, U.S, Lebanese and international officials have expressed growing optimism over a ceasefire, Israel has continued its campaign in Lebanon, which it says aims to cripple Hezbollah’s military capabilities. An Israeli strike on Tuesday leveled a residential building in the central Beirut district of Basta — the second time in recent days warplanes have hit the crowded area near the city’s downtown. At least seven people were killed and 37 wounded, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs killed at least one person and wounded 13, it said. Three people were killed in a separate strike in Beirut and three in a strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon. Lebanese state media said another 10 people were killed in the eastern Baalbek province. Israel says it targets Hezbollah fighters and their infrastructure. Israel also struck a building in Beirut's bustling commercial district of Hamra for the first time, hitting a site that is around 400 meters (yards) from Lebanon’s Central Bank. There were no reports of casualties. The Israeli military said it struck targets in Beirut and other areas linked to Hezbollah's financial arm. The evacuation warnings covered many areas, including parts of Beirut that previously have not been targeted. The warnings, coupled with fear that Israel was ratcheting up attacks before a ceasefire, sent residents fleeing. Traffic was gridlocked, and some cars had mattresses tied to them. Dozens of people, some wearing their pajamas, gathered in a central square, huddling under blankets or standing around fires as Israeli drones buzzed loudly overhead. Hezbollah, meanwhile, kept up its rocket fire, triggering air raid sirens across northern Israel. Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued evacuation warnings for 20 buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a major presence, as well as a warning for the southern town of Naqoura where the U.N. peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, is headquartered. UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told The Associated Press that peacekeepers will not evacuate. A police bomb squad officer inspects the site where a rocket fired from Lebanon landed in a backyard in Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel, Tuesday Nov. 26, 2024. Leo Correa - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS Israeli forces reach Litani River in southern Lebanon The Israeli military also said its ground troops clashed with Hezbollah forces and destroyed rocket launchers in the Slouqi area on the eastern end of the Litani River, a few kilometers (miles) from the Israeli border. Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah would be required to move its forces north of the Litani, which in some places is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border. Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel, saying it was showing support for the Palestinians, a day after Hamas carried out its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, triggering the Gaza war. Israel returned fire on Hezbollah, and the two sides have been exchanging barrages ever since. Israel escalated its campaign of bombardment in mid-September and later sent troops into Lebanon, vowing to put an end to Hezbollah fire so tens of thousands of evacuated Israelis could return to their homes. More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon the past 13 months, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The bombardment has driven 1.2 million people from their homes. Israel says it has killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members. Hezbollah fire has forced some 50,000 Israelis to evacuate in the country’s north, and its rockets have reached as far south in Israel as Tel Aviv. At least 75 people have been killed, more than half of them civilians. More than 50 Israeli soldiers have died in the ground offensive in Lebanon. Chehayeb and Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press reporters Lujain Jo and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox!Mumbai: Central Railway Renumbers Platforms At Dadar Station To Streamline Operations
Israel stocks higher at close of trade; TA 35 up 0.95%Researchers have discovered seven new Pegasus spyware infections targeting journalists, government officials, and corporate executives that started several years ago and span both iPhone and Android devices, demonstrating that the range of the notorious spyware may be even greater than once thought. Researchers from iVerify discovered multiple devices compromised by Israeli company NSO Group's spyware via attacks initiated between 2021 and 2023 that affect Apple iPhone iOS versions 14, 15, and 16.6, as well as Android, they revealed in a blog post published on Dec. 4. The infections were discovered in May during a threat-hunting scan of 3,500 devices from iVerify users who opted in to the checks. Specifically, the investigation uncovered multiple Pegasus variants in five unique malware types across iOS and Android. The researchers detected forensic artifacts in diagnostic data, shutdown logs, and crash logs found on the devices. "Our investigation detected 2.5 infected devices per 1,000 scans — a rate significantly higher than any previously published reports," Matthias Frielingsdorf, Verify co-founder and iOS security researcher, wrote in the post. Each of the infections "represented a device that could have been silently monitored, its data compromised without the owner's knowledge," he wrote. Related: Name That Edge Toon: Shackled! "The discovery supported our thesis about the prevalence of spyware on mobile devices — it was hiding in plain sight, undetected by traditional endpoint security measures." The findings also demonstrate that security researchers, in general, may have underestimated the reach of mobile spyware, particularly Pegasus, Rocky Cole, co-founder and COO of iVerify, tells Dark Reading. Pegasus, developed by NSO Group — an adversary that iVerify tracks as "Rainbow Ronin" — is a particularly nasty piece of spyware that allows the controller to exploit OS vulnerabilities and leverage zero-click attacks to access and extract whatever they want from an exploited mobile device. Attackers can intercept and transmit messages, emails, media files, passwords, and detailed location information without a user's knowledge or interaction. Pegasus gained initial notoriety in 2021 when security researchers found that it was being used by state-sponsored actors in illegal surveillance against journalists, politicians, human rights advocates, and other persons of interest to government intelligence agencies. Since then, numerous other infections have surfaced that show how governments have wielded the spyware, with journalists in particular in the crosshairs. Related: Microsoft Boosts Device Security With Windows Resiliency Initiative Now iVerify's discovery suggests that state-sponsored actors not only are using mobile spyware in a narrow way to surveil the most high-profile of targets, but also could be spying on people within typically targeted populations who wouldn’t seem likely to be on their radar, Cole says. "Previously considered a rare and highly targeted threat, Pegasus was found to be more prevalent and capable of infecting a wider range of devices, not just those belonging to high-risk users," he says. Moreover, as iVerify’s investigation uncovered multiple Pegasus infections across several iOS versions, some dating back years, it's clear that traditional security measures often fail to detect such threats. This suggests that mobile device users themselves must be included in the detection of malware so they have "the power to understand and defend against threats that were previously invisible," Frielingsdorf wrote. Cole says that best practices for preventing spyware infections before they occur include regularly updating devices to the latest OS as soon as possible, as spyware often exploits unpatched vulnerabilities. And though EDR may not pick up every infection, it can be a useful tool for organizations to use alongside more proactive device-specific threat-hunting to "help detect and respond to threats in real time," he says. Related: Microsoft Finally Releases Recall as Part of Windows Insider Preview Organizations also should educate employees, Cole adds, especially those in high-risk roles, about the risks and best practices for mobile security as an essential protection against spyware infections. Elizabeth Montalbano is a freelance writer, journalist, and therapeutic writing mentor with more than 25 years of professional experience. Her areas of expertise include technology, business, and culture. Elizabeth previously lived and worked as a full-time journalist in Phoenix, San Francisco, and New York City; she currently resides in a village on the southwest coast of Portugal. In her free time, she enjoys surfing, hiking with her dogs, traveling, playing music, yoga, and cooking.
NonePamela Anderson's bare-faced shtick is an ugly lie... I know this desperate Double D-lister's real beauty secrets, writes PAULA FROELICH Paula Froelich is a NewsNation senior story editor, entertainment columnist and New York Times best-selling author By PAULA FROELICH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM Published: 20:48 GMT, 4 December 2024 | Updated: 21:30 GMT, 4 December 2024 e-mail 29 shares 237 View comments A cooing chorus of oohs and ahhs wafted up from a gawking crowd outside Cipriani Wall Street in lower Manhattan on Monday, as former Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson strutted onto the red carpet. Anderson – of bouncing bosom and sex-tape fame – has been out promoting her new movie The Last Showgirl . It's about an aged-out Vegas dancer who puts her blush on with a mop and is now coming to grips with the end of her career. It's already earning this Double D-lister some Oscar-buzz. But it also cuts close to the bone. For much of the fawning adoration that Anderson is receiving is not for her acting (say what you will about her exuberant amateur film performance) but for her fresh-faced look. When Pammy steps out these days, she's usually not wearing any (obvious) makeup: no foundation, no lipstick, no rouge. The bottle-blonde warrior told People Magazine this week that, to her, 'beauty' really means 'being brave and living your dreams. It's never too late.' A cooing chorus of oohs and ahhs wafted up from a gawking crowd outside Cipriani Wall Street in lower Manhattan on Monday as former Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson strutted onto the red carpet. Much of the fawning adoration that Anderson is receiving is not for her acting (say what you will about her exuberant amateur film performance) but for her fresh-faced look. Brave? Sorry, Pam. You're not saving the Amazon. Let's apply a bit of cleanser, shall we? This 'natural beauty revolution' is about as organic as 34DDs. (Pam downsized to her original 34Cs in the late 90s but still looks suspiciously perky for a 57-year-old woman with two children.) Nor is her bare-faced posturing all that trailblazing: Alicia Keys stopped painting her face in 2016. Where are her hosannas? It's also a darn sight easier to love your naked skin when you have all the time and money to perfect your canvas. Pam's forehead is as tight as a snare drum and there isn't a hint of that dreaded crepey neck skin that Nora Ephron once wrote so eloquently about in her book, 'I Feel Bad About My Neck'. Her pencil-thin brows look almost tattooed on, her cheekbones are perfect, her jawline mysteriously firm. 'I'm not trying to be the prettiest girl in the room,' she whined in October. Perhaps not the prettiest, but certainly still the most attention hungry. And I have an idea of what's really going on here. Anderson, like almost every other fading Hollywood hottie from perpetually puffy-faced Nicole Kidman to belly-button scandal-scarred Cindy Crawford, has a skincare line to flog. The tagline of Pammy's 'mindful, minimal' brand Sonsie is straight from Meghan Markle's Montecito mumbo-jumbo handbook: 'Be Sonsie, Be You!' Mindful and meaningless. When Pammy steps out these days, she's usually not wearing any (obvious) makeup: no foundation, no lipstick, no rouge. (She is pictured here in 2006). It's a darn sight easier to love your naked skin when you have all the time and money to perfect your canvas. Her social media is full of this new age LA babble: all-natural, emerging, vegan, cruelty-free. 'The goal is to realize our own purpose on earth... It goes beyond healthy skin,' Pam tweets. Translation: Spend your hard-earned paychecks on my gunks and junk and you too will soon look like the kind of gal Tommy Lee would whip the home video camera out for. To be fair, Anderson is not the only voracious capitalist in the beauty-industrial complex spouting 'body positivity' inanity. Remember when nearly every female fitness apparel brand claimed that fat was the new skinny black dress and sent rotund models stomping down their runways? Well, guess what? Fat isn't fabulous. That's why every larger lady celeb is now secretly shooting up enough Ozempic to inoculate a rhinoceros. And the same is true of Anderson's bare-faced 'bravery' – it's built on a pack of lies. The worst part is that she and all the other shameless elixir shills make the rest of us ordinary women, who work 60 hours a week and put on a bit of mascara and a lip so as not to resemble an extra in 'The Walking Dead', feel inferior. There's nothing wrong with glamming up to go out. And perhaps if everyone had access to the best plastic surgeons and dermatologists in the world, they too could feel free to go fresh-faced. Anderson is not a plain-faced Joan of Arc. And fakery isn't empowerment. It's faux feminism. So, slap on some lipstick – and spare me the shlock, Pam. Share or comment on this article: Pamela Anderson's bare-faced shtick is an ugly lie... I know this desperate Double D-lister's real beauty secrets, writes PAULA FROELICH e-mail 29 shares Add comment
LAS VEGAS — Concerning as it was for the Denver defense to play without standout lineman Zach Allen, it could have been worse. Broncos' safety Brandon Jones fell ill Saturday and was downgraded to "questionable" for the game here Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders. Jones not only played, his interception off a Gardner Minshew II pass that sailed an open receiver, and 37-yard return, set up the Broncos' offense on the Raiders' 18 yard line. The pick was a game changer. Two plays later, Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix threw a 50-50 ball to the deep right corner of the end zone. When receiver Courtland Sutton is on the other end of such a pass, the odds are far better than 50-50. Sutton reached up to snag the ball with his two strong hands for the touchdown. Along with four Wil Lutz field goals -- from 38, 53, 54 and 45 yards out -- the Broncos led the determined Raiders, 19-13 early in the fourth quarter in this AFC West rivalry game. A strong Bronco fan presence at roof-covered, grass-grounded Allegiant Stadium roared its approval. Special teams are largely ignored unless something big happens good or bad, one way or the other. The first-half spotlight shined a harsh light on Broncos’ special teams here Sunday at Allegiant Stadium as the home-team Las Vegas Raiders used a 59-yard kickoff return to set up a touchdown and a 34-yard faked punt pass completion to set up a field goal. The Raiders held a surprising, but explainable, 13-9 lead on the Broncos at halftime. Just past one minute into the second quarter, the Raiders went up 7-3. The Broncos scored late in the first quarter on a Wil Lutz 38-yard field goal, but the Raiders answered with a 59-yard kickoff return by Dylan Luebe, giving Las Vegas quarterback Gardner Minshew II starting field position at the Denver 40. Eventually Minshew caught Broncos outside linebacker Jonah Elliss dropping back into coverage on two plays in the red zone. Minshew hit Michael Mayer for 9 yards on one play and Ameer Abdullah for a 6-yard touchdown on the other. Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix answered nicely with a couple completions to fellow rookie Devaughn Vele but the drive stalled with a sack and Lutz came through with a 53-yard field goal, narrowing the score to 7-6. The Denver defense seemed to answer with a three-and-out, but the rules give a team four downs to move the chains. The Raiders used it by having punter AJ Cole shotput a pass to Divine Deablo, who rumbled 34 yards for a first down at the Broncos’ 30. Colorado Springs-raised Daniel Carlson nailed a 34-yard field goal with 3:48 remaining in the first half to give the Raiders a 10-6 lead. Broncos’ special teams did come through with their field goal unit as Lutz connected from 54 yards with 53 seconds left in the half. Lutz is 11 of 11 on kicks since the dreaded block in Kansas City – 5 of 5 in field goals; 6 of 6 in extra points. Nix was 21 of 33 for 218 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter while Minshew was 18 of 30 for 151 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Las Vegas entered play Sunday with a six-game losing streak and 2-8 record. The Broncos were 6-5 and in prime position to secure the No. 7 AFC playoff seed. With the Indianapolis Colts dropping to 5-7 after losing Sunday to Detroit, the Broncos top competitor for the No. 7 playoff seed is now the Miami Dolphins, who won their third in a row to move to 5-6. Credit: AP Photo/Rick Scuteri Las Vegas Raiders running back Ameer Abdullah makes a touchdown catch as Denver Broncos LB Jonah Elliss defends during an NFL game, Nov. 24, 2024. Zach Allen inactive There are injuries and there are late-in-the-week injuries. Denver defensive end Zach Allen, arguably the most impactful player this season on the league’s No. 3-ranked unit, suffered a heel injury Friday, presumably in practice. Allen was held out of the game Sunday against the Raiders. Malcolm Roach, who is normally a backup nose tackle, started in Allen’s place at defensive end while another defensive end, Eyioma Uwazurike, was active for just his third game this season. It could have been worse for the Broncos. Starting safety Brandon Jones fell ill Saturday and his game status was downgraded to questionable, but he was able to play.. Bronco Bits The Broncos had two players – running back Jaleel McLaughlin, who had two carries for 29 yards -- and cornerback Riley Moss -- go down for extended periods because of injury. Both walked off the field under their own power. McLaughlin returned in the second half while veteran Levi Wallace filled in for Moss at left cornerback. ... Broncos’ seventh-round rookie guard-center Nick Gargiulo was elevated from the practice squad Saturday, but then was among the inactives for the game. PHOTOS | Broncos at Raiders 1/31 AP Photo/Rick Scuteri Las Vegas Raiders cheerleaders perform prior to an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 2/31 AP Photo/John Locher Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton (14) stretches prior to an NFL football game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 3/31 AP Photo/Rick Scuteri Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew (15) warms up prior to an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 4/31 AP Photo/John Locher Denver Broncos Head Coach Sean Payton walks along the sidelines prior to an NFL football game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 5/31 AP Photo/John Locher Denver Broncos running back Jaleel McLaughlin warms up prior to an NFL football game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 6/31 AP Photo/John Locher Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) warms prior to an an NFL football game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 7/31 AP Photo/Rick Scuteri Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce and owner Mark Davis talk prior to an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 8/31 AP Photo/John Locher Denver Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II warms prior to an an NFL football game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 9/31 AP Photo/Rick Scuteri Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby (98) takes the field prior to an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 10/31 AP Photo/John Locher Denver Broncos safety JL Skinner warms up prior to an NFL football game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 11/31 AP Photo/John Locher Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew bobbles the snap during an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 12/31 AP Photo/Rick Scuteri Las Vegas Raiders running back Ameer Abdullah makes a touchdown catch as Denver Broncos LB Jonah Elliss defends during an NFL game, Nov. 24, 2024. 13/31 AP Photo/John Locher Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix throws under pressure from Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Robert Spillane during an NFL game, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 14/31 AP Photo/John Locher Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew (15) bobbles the snap during an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 15/31 AP Photo/Rick Scuteri Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) throws against the Las Vegas Raiders during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 16/31 AP Photo/Rick Scuteri Las Vegas Raiders receiver Jakobi Meyers tries to elude Denver Broncos cornerback Ja'Quan McMillian during an NFL game, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 17/31 AP Photo/Rick Scuteri Denver Broncos receiver Courtland Sutton makes a catch as Las Vegas Raiders cornerback Decamerion Richardson defends during an NFL game, Nov. 24, 2024 18/31 AP Photo/John Locher Denver Broncos receiver Courtland Sutton makes a catch as Las Vegas Raiders cornerback Decamerion Richardson defends during an NFL game, Nov. 24, 2024 19/31 AP Photo/Rick Scuteri Las Vegas Raiders QB Gardner Minshew runs as Denver Broncos defensive end John Franklin-Myers pursues during an NFL game, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 20/31 AP Photo/Rick Scuteri Las Vegas Raiders running back Ameer Abdulla celebrates his touchdown catch against the Denver Broncos during an NFL game, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 21/31 AP Photo/John Locher Denver Broncos wide receiver Troy Franklin celebrates a first down against the Las Vegas Raiders during an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 22/31 AP Photo/Rick Scuteri Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix makes a call during the first half of an NFL football game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 23/31 AP Photo/John Locher Las Vegas Raiders running back Ameer Abdulla makes a touchdown catch as Denver Broncos LB Jonah Elliss defends during an NFL game, Nov. 24, 2024. 24/31 AP Photo/Rick Scuteri Denver Broncos Head Coach Sean Payton watches play during an NFL football game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 25/31 AP Photo/Rick Scuteri Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby reacts to a call during an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 26/31 AP Photo/Rick Scuteri Las Vegas Raiders running back Ameer Abdullah tries to elude Denver Broncos linebacker Jonathon Cooper during an NFL game, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 27/31 AP Photo/Rick Scuteri Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) scrambles against the Las Vegas Raiders during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 28/31 AP Photo/Rick Scuteri Denver Broncos wide receiver Devaughn Vele makes a catch again the Las Vegas Raiders during an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 29/31 AP Photo/John Locher Las Vegas Raiders cornerback Decamerion Richardson interferes with Denver Broncos receiver Courtland Sutton during an NFL game, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 30/31 AP Photo/John Locher Las Vegas Raiders running back Ameer Abdullah runs the ball against the Denver Broncos during an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 31/31 AP Photo/Rick Scuteri Las Vegas Raiders Head Coach Antonio Pierce makes a call against the Denver Broncos during an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 1 / 31 × AP Photo/Rick Scuteri Las Vegas Raiders cheerleaders perform prior to an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. 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