Israel did what it had to do if it didn’t want to see repeats of this almost inhuman perversion—it went on the offensive, declared war, and took on the dark forces of Hamas. Civilians have died in the process, and that’s a sad reality of most warfare, but remember that none of them would have died had Hamas not savagely murdered over 1,200 Israelis. Remember also that many of the civilian casualties in Gaza—notoriously overstated by the utterly mendacious Gaza Health Ministry—would be alive today if the terrorist group didn’t use them as human shields and hide their military operations in hospitals and schools.

And yet, did we see worldwide protests decrying the sick actions of Hamas? Did campuses in the United States erupt in outrage over the barbaric carnage inflicted upon innocent Israelis (and some Americans)? Did thousands congregate In Manhattan’s Union Square Park, as they did Monday, to demand that Hamas embrace peace, lay down their arms, and release the remaining hostages—at least, the ones who they hadn’t murdered in cold blood?

No.

Instead, what we’ve seen is an almost universal response against Israel and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. How dare they prosecute a war against the forces that assaulted them so viciously? //

What is Netanyahu supposed to do? As we reported, Hamas executed six hostages, including Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, on Saturday, just as IDF forces were closing in and coming to rescue them.

Even more disgustingly, the terror group took videos of their victims before killing them, and are now threatening to send them to the families to further torture their souls. //

What kind of agreement could possibly be reached with people like this? //

anon-y9rt
6 hours ago
we are embedded in spiritual warfare across our planet

Three years ago I would have laughed at this explanation but not now. //

TexasVeteran
6 hours ago edited
The Jews may as well have tried to strike a "deal" with Hitler. I don’t think there’s any question how that would have turned out! The thing that disgusts me is how many Israeli "Quislings" Netanyahu has to deal with, pressing him to make a deal at any price.

The price to return the hostages is the survival of Hamas. That price will cost the future deaths of untold Israeli. It must not be paid. Hamas has publicly stated they intend to repeat the atrocities of 10/7 again and again until Israel is destroyed. To their credit, some of the hostage families realize that Hamas is an existential threat to Israel and despite their grief, stand with Netanyahu. Perhaps not intentionally, but the "Bring Them Home" (at any price) crowd are acting as Hamas collaborators.🤦‍♂️

Ed in North Texas TexasVeteran
5 hours ago
Various Jewish "councils" in cities in Poland and other countries (including Germany) actually tried negotiating with the SS local leadership. They turned over lists of Jews, encouraged Jews to submit to whatever demands from the SS, arranged for "governing" Ghettos and eventually did nothing more than make the SS "job" to get the Jews to the camps easier and give their people the illusion of survival for a little longer. //

anon-608f
6 hours ago
The question isn't "how" but "why". Why would one negotiate with evil?

I have to believe that so many Christians and Jews choose to believe they can negotiate with the Muslims because the other alternatives, subjugation or war, are simply inconceivable. Far too many of these kind-hearted empty heads want so badly to believe that the barbaric descendants of a thieving, murdering, pedophile want the same things in the same manner as those of the West.

They are wrong.

We share almost nothing in common. Nothing. What little we may share is skewed by their religion and worldview. We also have no need of negotiating with them. Were it not for oil they'd yet be riding camels and slitting each other's throats in the desert.

Well, we can't negotiate and I won't be subjugated. That doesn't leave many options. So be it.

KJSpeed anon-608f
5 hours ago
Many Westerners can’t comprehend the Moslem desire for worldwide conquest to bring about their caliphate. Sadly, many won’t concede that Islam is a threat until the knife is at their throat and then it will be too late for them. //

Just an old soldier...
3 hours ago
I don't get it either Bob. Clearly a significant portion of our population has given itself over to evil. Absolutely shocking to see people supporting a completely dedicated to evil terrorist organization.

These are the same people who demand unlimited abortion up to the moment of birth. The same people who want to groom children in elementary schools in deviant sexual lifestyles. Who want pornography in their small children's classrooms. These are the same people who push transgenders and men in women's sports. These same people support open borders. They support defunding the police and no cash bail.

I don't know how we reached such a place in America, but I suspect it has a lot to do with rejection of Christianity and Christian principles. Our education system has been weaponized against Christian principles and our wonderful western heritage is despised.

These are today's Democrats. To save America, they must be defeated.

ah252 Just an old soldier...
3 hours ago
The fool says in his heart, "there is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good. Psalm 14;1
These terrorists and protestors have turned to the father of lies. There is no negotiating with them.
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58.
To stand fast is to be faithful, devoted, and unmoving. Stand with Israel, pray for Bibi.

Whenever anyone who served with Vance is asked about his service, they are very complimentary. The former Marines who served with Vance liked him and still like him even though their politics differ; see A Tale of Two Veterans: What the Service of Walz and Vance Tells Us About the Men. //

When the brigade sergeant major, Walz's superior in the Noncommissioned Officer support channel, was interviewed, CNN abruptly terminated the damning testimony; see BOMBSHELL: Tim Walz's Former Superior Goes on CNN, Delivers Devastating Testimony.

GEN Jack Keene was in Fox this AM....stated that Ukraine is now occupying as much/more of Russia than Russia does Ukraine.

He then brought up "bargaining chip". //

The Russian reaction so far seems to have been a reluctance to react. There was probably a feeling that this incursion was just like the small-scale penetrations into Belgorod Oblast, particularly because the Russians hadn't received any backchannel warning from Jake Sullivan's National Security Council. When the scope became more apparent, some reaction was necessary, but the Russians were unwilling to commit the troops it would have taken to stop the Ukrainians because that would mean an end to their offensive in Donetsk. Finally, the political pressure to do something has kicked in, and we see 30,000 troops heading there. //

Learning fast streiff
2 days ago
“GEN Jack Keene was in Fox this AM....stated that Ukraine is now occupying as much/more of Russia than Russia does Ukraine.”
Gen Keene after …Ukraine….at 4:05 qualified his statement with “….in the last several months.”
The omitted qualification gives a completely different meaning to the statement.

The Swiss government said on Wednesday it plans to overturn a ban on building new power plants to strengthen local energy supply at a time of increased geopolitical tension.

Energy Minister Albert Roesti said the government would submit a proposal to amend nuclear legislation by the end of 2024 so it can be debated in parliament next year.

"Over the long term, new nuclear power plants are one possible way of making our supply more secure in a geopolitically uncertain time," Roesti told a press conference.

Failure to retain the option could be seen as a betrayal by future generations, Roesti argued.

Construction is underway on a new nuclear power plant in Tennessee – the first officially approved fourth-generation nuclear reactor in the U.S.

Kairos Power has begun building the Hermes Low-Power Demonstration Reactor in Oak Ridge, the first Gen IV reactor approved for construction by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Hermes reactor utilizes a fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor design, differing from conventional light-water reactors. //

The reactor is set to employ TRISO-coated particle fuel and high-purity fluoride salt coolant, known as FLiBe, a mixture of lithium fluoride and beryllium fluoride. This design is intended to produce affordable nuclear heat rather than electricity, showcasing the potential of a factory-built small modular reactor to revolutionize nuclear construction.

"Kairos will combine the molten salt coolant... with a novel form of nuclear fuel called TRISO, where the fuel is in tiny (<1 mm) particles coated in layers of graphite (both as a moderator and to give the fuel strength and structure)," said Peel.

Construction has started on the new facility in iconic Oak Ridge, Tennessee. //

According to Interesting Engineering, the new Hermes reactor will be the first one built in the United States in 50 years that won’t be cooled by light water. Instead, it will use a system of molten fluoride salt, and a TRISO (tri-structural isotropic particle) fuel pebble bed design will power the generator.

Molten fluoride salts have “excellent chemical stability and tremendous capacity for transferring heat,” per the report, meaning it stays cooler and dissipates heat much faster than the light water that has been used for so long in American reactors.

The fuel bed consists of hundreds of millimeter-sized particles of uranium encased in multiple layers of special ceramic, which allows each individual piece of fuel to have its own containment and pressure vessel, per Ultra Safe Nuclear. The ceramic casing is stronger and more resilient than the typical zirconium alloy, meaning it can withstand higher temperatures and neutron bombardment past the failure point of other types of fuel. //

To be classified as Generation IV, a system must meet, or at least have the ability to meet, the following criteria:

(1) it is much more fuel-efficient than current plants;

(2) it is designed in such a way that severe accidents are not possible, that is, plant failure or an external event (such as an earthquake) should not result in radioactive material release to the outside world;

[3] the fuel cycle is designed in such a way that uranium and plutonium are never separated (“diverged”) but only present in a mix and with other elements. This makes it more difficult to create nuclear weapons. //

The Swiss government said on Wednesday it plans to overturn a ban on building new power plants to strengthen local energy supply at a time of increased geopolitical tension.

Within Our Lifetime once again calling for everyone to globalize the intifada. //

Israel War Room
@IsraelWarRoom
·
Follow
Spotted at the "Within Our Lifetime" rally in NYC - "Intifada" threats to terrorize Jews around the world, as well as the logos of these terrorist groups:

• Hezbollah
• Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
• Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (HAMAS)
• Palestinian Islamic… Show more
  4:49 PM · Sep 2, 2024 //

Thousands met up at Union Square in Manhattan and marched to Washington Square Park.

They had flares and smoke bombs as some assaulted cops who tried to halt the march.

They also carried Hezbollah, Iranian, Palestinian, and Syrian flags. I’m shocked no one brought a Hamas or ISIS flag.

He went on to remind the world that the Hamas murderers executed the hostages in the midst of negotiation talks, and pressure needs to be put on them, not Israel:

"These murderers executed 6 of our hostages. They shot them in the back of the head. That's what's changed. And now after this, we're asked to show seriousness. We're asked to make concessions.What message does this send Hamas? It says, kill more hostages, murder more hostages. You'll get more concessions. The pressure internationally must be directed at these killers, at Hamas, not at Israel. We say yes. They say no all the time, but they also murdered these people. And now we need maximum pressure on Hamas."

The barbarians known as Hamas are not only killing hostages, but they are now taunting the families of those hostages by releasing videos of the slain taken prior to their deaths. The terror organization is also promising more to come.

Israel recently went into Rafah and recovered the bodies of several hostages. If you'll recall, the Democrats were furious that Israel was planning to launch strikes into the region. As it turns out, Israel was right to focus on the area and the Democrats were wrong to push the Biden administration to withhold armaments.

Biden's response to the situation has been nothing short of incompetent, demanding that Benjamin Netanyahu do more to get to an agreement with Hamas.

But demanding Israel cut a deal with Hamas only rewards Hamas for its behavior, as Netanyahu rightly noted.

Matt Whitlock @mattdizwhitlock
·
I had completely forgotten about the “I’ve studied the maps” line from Kamala Harris demanding Israel not go into Rafah - which is where these latest murdered hostages were found.

She has been dangerously wrong about every aspect of this conflict.

8:54 PM · Sep 1, 2024 //

"What the Biden-Harris administration should have done from the beginning is not pressure Israel to restrain its response, but let Israel win from the very outset," Cotton said, saying Biden and Harris put more pressure on Israel than on Hamas, Iran, or the other Iranian proxies. They've tried to hamstring them at every turn. A lot of the problem is that Hamas has known they can keep holding out because of such actions and comments by the Biden-Harris team. You can't keep handing them leverage and hope like that. But that's what Biden and Harris did.

Hamas Atrocities @HamasAtrocities
·
It's worth remembering that in March Kamala Harris pressured Israel to not enter Rafah after she "studied the maps"!
Could more hostages, some of them Americans, have been saved if the USA hadn't blocked Israel?

5:46 AM · Sep 2, 2024 //

Even now, their first response to the murders isn't "we need to wipe out Hamas," it's that we have to "focus on a deal." So Hamas knows they can ask for anything at this point and probably get it, at least from Biden and Harris.

games

Some ideas are like horror movie villains. They’re dangerous, and no matter how many times they’re defeated, they never seem to die.

The misguided idea of taxing unrealized capital gains is back on the scene. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., floated a proposal to tax unrealized capital gains in 2021.

It was widely debated in 2022, when Congress was considering a multitrillion-dollar tax and spending package.

Opposition from Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to taxing income before it’s earned helped defeat the idea then.

But the idea was far from dead. President Joe Biden included a version of the tax in his latest budget.

Vice President Kamala Harris also has endorsed the idea.

The first step in killing a bad idea is to recognize it for the scourge it is.

A realized capital gain—which we currently tax—is the difference between the price you sold an asset for and the price you paid for it. An unrealized gain, on the other hand, is an estimate of what that difference would be if you had sold an asset that you still hold.

The difference between taxing realized capital gains and unrealized gains is the difference between the government taxing people on income they’ve actually received versus the government taxing them on income they might receive later.

It would give the government the first claim on income, taking a big slice before the supposed owner of the asset ever sees a penny.

In effect, it would turn property owners into property renters, with Uncle Sam as their landlord. //

If you bought a house for $300,000, and the value rose to $500,000 a couple years later, you could be stuck paying tax on the $200,000 of gain even as you’re struggling to make mortgage payments. At a 25% tax rate, it would cost you $50,000 in federal taxes.

It would be like having a second mortgage, but in some ways worse.

At least mortgage payments end after 30 years. But you would never finish paying off your unrealized capital gains tax payments, as long as you owned the asset and its value was increasing—even if that increase was only from inflation.

And unlike mortgages, which give homeowners clearly defined payment terms, unrealized capital gains tax payments would be unpredictable, rising or falling depending on the housing market, inflation, and subjective assessments of a house’s value. //

Those in Washington who propose taxing unrealized capital gains generally include broad exemptions for certain asset classes and based on income or asset thresholds. These exceptions would give investors a path to escape from the tax, which is better than the alternative. The tax would have fewer direct victims as a result.

But the tax-induced capital flows still would wreak economic havoc—and without managing to raise much government revenue. So, the new tax would do little to satiate lawmakers’ appetite for more tax dollars.

And once a horror movie villain—or a bad idea—gets a foot in the door, it quickly can swing the door open wide and claim more victims. When the income tax was first implemented in 1913, it applied to less than 1% of the population, and most of those who paid it paid only a 1% rate. That small initial income tax spawned something far worse and more widespread over time.

Allowing the government to tax income that doesn’t exist sets an even more dangerous precedent.

# let days=$(date --date=yesterday +%s)/86400 "even = days % 2" && [ $even -gt 0 ] && echo $days
19967

# let days=$(date --date=today +%s)/86400 "even = days % 2" && [ $even -gt 0 ] && echo $days || echo NOT
NOT

"Que Mala!" means "How Bad!" 

Then they tried to translate the MALA to "Make America Love Again," which is basically trying to rip off former President Donald Trump's MAGA structure.

Password security and a comparison of Password Managers

There are two general approaches to password generation and management:

Password Managers which store passwords and have the flexibility to apply different complexity rules to each password or to store a pre-existing password - often required when a password needs to be shared between a team of people. The downside of the storage approach is that the password storage (file/database) needs to be managed carefully - secured, backed up and synchronised to all the devices where you will need to use the passwords. If the password store is lost or corrupted you will lose all the passwords! Destructive viruses such as CryptoLocker can also make a password store unreadable.

Password Generators which use a hash function, like the SS64 password generator, are easy to use and will repeatedly regenerate the same password when given the same inputs but they do have some limitations, the only way to change a password is to enter a different main password or a different salt value. All the generated passwords are the same length. //

NIST recommend 80 bits for the most secure passwords to resist a brute force attack. There is no definitive answer to the question of the minimum password strength required to avoid all types of attack; it is a moving target; over time we all need to use longer passwords.

Entropy Maximum Time to crack at 350 billion guesses/Sec
59 bits 457.50 Hours
65 bits 3.342 Years
71 bits 213.92 Years
77 bits 13,690 Years
80 bits 109,527.95 Years
89 bits 56078315.93 Years.

GPU computer clusters can cycle through as many as 350 billion guesses per second. [offline guesses against a stolen password database/file]

Kerckhoffs’s principle - A cryptosystem should be secure even if everything about the system, except the key, is public knowledge

Syntax diagrams - Backus Normal Form (BNF)
The syntax definitions on this site use a variant of Backus Normal Form (BNF) that includes the following:

What is TightVNC?
TightVNC is a free and Open Source remote desktop software that lets you access and control a computer over the network. With its intuitive interface, you can interact with the remote screen as if you were sitting in front of it. You can open files, launch applications, and perform other actions on the remote desktop almost as if you were physically there.

Lamps made from analog electric meters

Effective July 2025, teacher licensing rules passed last year in Minnesota under Democrat Gov. Tim Walz will ban practicing Christians, Jews, and Muslims from teaching in public schools. Walz is now the presidential running mate of current U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. His resume includes a stint as a high school social studies teacher who sponsored a student queer sex club in 1999.

Starting next July, Minnesota agencies controlled by Walz appointees will require teacher license applicants to affirm transgenderism and race Marxism. Without a teaching license, individuals cannot work in Minnesota public schools, nor in the private schools that require such licenses.

The latest version of the regulations requires teachers to “affirm” students’ “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” to receive a Minnesota teaching license:

The teacher fosters an environment that ensures student identities such as race/ethnicity, national origin, language, sex and gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical/developmental/emotional ability, socioeconomic class, and religious beliefs are historically and socially contextualized, affirmed, and incorporated into a learning environment where students are empowered to learn and contribute as their whole selves.

“Then you admit confirming not denying you ever said that?"
"NO! ... I mean Yes! WHAT?"
I’ll put 'maybe.' ~ Bloom County