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Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un Makes Opening Speech at 8th WPK Congress
Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un made an opening speech at the 8th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).
The full text of the speech is as follows:
Dear delegates,
The Eighth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, for which millions of our Party members have made preparations with sincerity and to which they have so looked forward with their hearts burning with patriotism and loyalty, has been convened at an important and crucial time in the development of our revolution.
First, in reflection of the boundless loyalty of you, dear delegates, and all other Party members, people and service personnel across the country, I pay the noblest respect and greatest glory to the great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the founder and builder of the Workers' Party of Korea and the eternal leaders of our Party, state and people.
Five years have passed since our Party and all our people started a new advance to attain the immediate goals and tasks the Seventh Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea set forth for socialist construction.
In this period the unprecedented, worst-ever trials put great obstacles on the road of advance of our revolution, but our Party achieved great successes through tenacious and accurate practical activities aimed at implementing its fighting programmes.
During the period under review our internal force further expanded and strengthened, and the external prestige of the country was raised remarkably. This is a clear signal that a period of a new upsurge, a period of gigantic transformation, has arrived for socialist construction.
The Sixth Plenary Meeting of the Seventh Central Committee of the WPK held in August last year made an in-depth analysis and judgment of the new trend of our developing revolution and the demands of the prevailing objective and subjective situations, and decided to convene the current congress of the WPK.
The convocation of the congress in the present-day arduous circumstances is a noteworthy political event of great significance in view of the influence it would exert on the change and development of the internal and external situations and of the future struggle of our Party, a socialist ruling party.
When the decision on holding this congress was made public, all the people across the country, engulfed by a great emotion, warmly supported it, and it dealt a telling blow to the reactionary forces of all hues, who were hostile to our cause and attempted to check its advance.
It was because the convocation of the highest-level meeting of the WPK was an expression of its definite self-confidence in its capability for leading the revolution to another stage of victory, and constituted demonstration of its ardent will and solemn pledge to live up to the people's great trust and expectations by shouldering the future of the state and fully discharging its responsibilities and duties.
The Central Committee of our Party made it clear at home and abroad that it would make this congress a congress for work, struggle and progress.
This was a promise to the Party members and other people that it would strictly review its work in the period under review, explicitly decide once again the correct orientation and tasks of struggle for achieving fresh victories in building our style of socialism and take substantial measures to this end.
Never little are the successes our Party achieved in the revolutionary struggle and construction work over the last five years of arduous, yet glorious struggle.
By achieving miraculous victories and events noteworthy in the 5 000-year history of our nation after its Seventh Congress, the WPK provided a sure guarantee for reliably defending the destiny of the country and the people generation after generation and simultaneously achieved some meaningful and precious successes and foundations on which to promote economic construction and improve the people's standard of living.
However, though the period of implementing the Five-Year Strategy for the National Economic Development ended last year, almost all sectors fell a long way short of the set objectives.
Still existing are the various external and internal challenges that hamper and hinder our efforts and advance for fresh and continuous victories in socialist construction.
The key to breaking through the existing manifold difficulties with utmost certainty and speed lies in consolidating our own strength, our internal force, in all respects.
Proceeding from the principle of finding the cause of mistakes not in the objective conditions, but in the subjective conditions, and resolving all problems by enhancing the role of our motive force, the current congress is going to make a comprehensive and profound analysis and judgement of the experiences, lessons and mistakes we have made during the period under review and, on this basis, define the scientific goals and tasks of struggle, which we can and must accomplish without fail.
The successes we have already achieved are priceless for us, and so are the bitter lessons that have been accumulated.
All these are things that cannot be bartered even for gold, and constitute valuable assets for achieving fresh victories in the future.
We should further promote and expand the victories and successes we have gained at the cost of sweat and blood, and prevent the painful lessons from being repeated.
In particular, we should be bold enough to recognize the mistakes which, if left unaddressed, will grow into bigger obstacles and stumbling blocks, and take resolute measures against their repetition.
This congress has been convened on the basis of this pluck and commitment.
If the Eighth Party Congress, a congress for struggle, carries out its work in a substantial manner and puts forth a correct line and strategic and tactical policies, the Korean revolution will greet an era of a new leap forward and upswing.
Also, the WPK's struggle for achieving national prosperity and people's happiness will switch over to a new stage with the congress as a watershed.
To make this congress a substantial congress for work, struggle and progress, the WPK Central Committee focused on the following issues over the past four months.
First, it conducted the work of making a comprehensive, three-dimensional and detailed analysis and review of how the decisions of the Seventh Party Congress were implemented and drawing experiences and lessons for future progress and development.
To this end, the Party Central Committee formed a non-permanent central inspection committee and sent it to lower units on a mission to learn about the actual situations there and carefully listen to the opinions of workers, farmers and intellectuals who are Party members and work in the field.
The non-permanent central inspection committee conducted the work in the way of dispatching its teams to provinces and, after grasping the actual situations there, dispatching them to ministries and central institutions by direction and sector to make brisk, comprehensive and detailed inspections.
The teams thoroughly examined all aspects of the actual situation including what was wrong, what was neglected among what could be carried out and what was implemented in a profitable way or formalistic way in executing the decisions of the Seventh Party Congress, and if there were shortcomings, what were their causes and what were the defects in Party guidance.
During the days when the Party congress was prepared, departments of the Party Central Committee and other Party organizations across the country submitted to the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee and the preparatory committee of the congress reports of their work over the last five years and innovative and detailed opinions on the goals and plans of struggle in the future.
In the course of this, we confirmed once again the priceless truth that the masses are excellent teachers, and were convinced that it was right indeed that we had decided to take heed of the opinions of Party organizations and its members for the preparation of the congress.
What we did is of great significance in making this congress a revolutionary and militant one, both in name and reality, in which the general will of all the Party members will be embodied, and the decisions to be adopted by it become an organizational will of the entire Party.
As part of the preparations for the Party congress, we analyzed and reviewed the finances of the Party over the last five years and studied the measures for improving them.
And we made a profound study aimed at putting to rights the problems in Party Rules, which were a mechanical repetition of the outdated of the past or of others' and did not suit the present reality, in conformity with the requirements of the developing revolution and the principles of building a Juche-oriented party.
We also comprehensively appraised the work of the members of the leadership body of the Seventh Central Committee of the WPK, and evaluated how much contribution they made to strengthening and developing the Party and the revolution.
In the lead-up to this Party congress, the basic Party organizations, provincial, city and county Party committees and the Party committees performing the same functions as the latter reviewed the work of their leadership bodies in an effective way and held successful meetings for electing delegates to the Party congress with the main emphasis on selecting the Party members who could play core roles in implementing the decisions of the Party congress in the future.
For the Eighth Party Congress, which would illuminate the road ahead of a new struggle for the Korean revolution, all the Party members and all other people across the country achieved brilliant successes by turning out as one in the 80-day campaign of loyalty after glorifying the 75th anniversary of the Party founding as a great auspicious event through a frontal attack for achieving a breakthrough, thus ensuring its successful opening.
The high political zeal of our Party members and other people, who made sincere efforts to add glory and strength to their dignified Party before its congress, is an eruption of their extraordinary revolutionary spirit which can never be found elsewhere in the present world.
Last year was a quite difficult year; in the circumstances of the world public health crisis that lasted unprecedentedly long in history, they consistently ensured a thoroughgoing stable situation in infectious disease prevention by stubbornly overcoming the difficulties, maintaining the conscious unity of all the people in the effort and regarding it as a patriotic duty devolving on them; they also rose up in the struggle for recovering from the natural disasters and built more than 20 000 new splendid houses in different parts of the country. This great achievement left another proud page in our Party's record of struggle.
In addition, our Party members and other working people from all walks of life sent to the Party Central Committee the reports full of valuable successes they made at many theatres of struggle across the country.
I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks and militant greetings to all the Party members and other people and service personnel across the country, who firmly defended the Eighth Congress of the Party with burning patriotic devotion and great victory by demonstrating on a higher level the might of their firm unity around the Party in the flames of arduous struggle for overcoming manifold difficulties.
And as I stand on this glorious podium, I would like to extend warm greetings to the organizations of our overseas compatriots, including the General Association of the Korean Residents in Japan, and all other overseas compatriots.
On behalf of the Eighth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, I extend a noble tribute to all the patriotic martyrs, recollecting with deep reverence the revolutionary comrades who devoted their precious lives to the development of the Party, the prosperity of the country, the happiness of the people and the future of posterity, the unforgettable comrades-in-arms who failed to be present here.
Now we have gathered at this significant venue at a quite important and crucial moment with a very honourable and sacred mission.
We stand at a great turning point of leading the revolutionary cause of Juche pioneered in Mt Paektu to another fresh victory and at a decisive moment of firmly linking the 75 years of ruling history of the glorious Workers' Party of Korea to its 80 years; we are here representing the destiny, future, resourcefulness and wisdom of millions of members of the Workers' Party of Korea and tens of millions of the Korean people.
We are all entrusted with an important mission to make our country more powerful and wealthy and indicate to our people a shortcut to happiness in this world full of severe challenges and instability.
At this moment, the interest, expectations and hope of all the Party members and other people across the country are very great and high for this congress which will review the revolutionary work of the last five years and decide the lines of struggle and strategic and tactical policies for opening up a new road.
We should display the highest sense of responsibility and passion in the work of the congress in order to live up to the great trust and expectations of the people who have always shared their destiny with the Party, absolutely trusted and supported the Party and defended the Eighth Congress with unsparing, devoted efforts.
Attending this congress are 250 members of the leadership body of the Seventh Party Central Committee and 4 750 delegates elected by organizations at all levels throughout the Party.
Among them, 1 959 are delegates of Party and political workers, 801 delegates of state administrative and economic officials, 408 delegates of service personnel, 44 delegates of officials of the working people's organizations, 333 delegates of officials in the sectors of science, education, public health, art, literature and the mass media and 1 455 delegates of hardcore Party members involved in field labour.
Of them, women delegates number 501 and account for ten per cent.
Present at the congress are 2 000 observers.
Solemnly pledging, on behalf of all the participants in this congress, which constitutes the eighth one in the sacred history of the Workers' Party of Korea, that the current congress will remain thoroughly faithful to the revolutionary ideas and cause of the great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il,
Fully convinced that this congress will serve as a stepping stone and a historic milestone in making a radical leap forward in the struggle for strengthening and developing our Party, accomplishing the socialist cause, building up the national strength and improving the people's living standards, and
Hoping that all the delegates will participate in the congress with sincere, responsible and proactive attitude,
I declare the Eighth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea


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N1.4b Union Bank hacking: Court denies Kogi Assembly candidate, two others bail
Robert Egbe
The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Tuesday denied bail to a Kogi Assembly candidate Ismaila Yousuf Atumeyi, a former employee of Union Bank Abdulmalik Salau and one Ngene Joshua accused of hacking the computer network of Union Bank and stealing N1,403,343,400 billion.
The trio was on Monday,# arraigned by the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on an 18-count charge before Justice Tijjani Ringim.
They pleaded not guilty and applied for bail through their counsel Mr. Bolaji Ayorinde, SAN.
But EFCC counsel, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, opposed the application and prayed for an accelerated hearing of the matter.
Ruling on the application and counter-application on Tuesday, Justice Tijjani Ringim upheld Oyedepo's arguments that the defendants were a flight risk and the probability of them jumping bail is high.
The court noted that the magnitude of the offence is such the defendants can interfere with the law enforcement procedure and run away.
It noted further that extradition procedures from anywhere are such a cumbersome process.
"In all, I hold that the bail application filed and argued by Chief Bolaji Ayorinde, SAN, lacks merit and it is accordingly dismissed," Justice Ringim held.
He remanded the defendants in the Ikoyi Correctional facility and adjourned till January 24, 2023, for trial.
The first defendant Atumeyi is the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) candidate for the Ankpa 11 Constituency for next year's House of Assembly election in Kogi.
The EFCC preferred an 18-count charge bordering on concealment of proceeds of fraud, money laundering and cybercrime against the defendants before Justice Tijjani Ringim.
The defendants were alleged to have hacked into the system of the commercial bank and defrauded the institution of over N1.4billion.
The court heard that they carried out a "modification of data held in the network of the bank, leading to the fraudulent transfer of the total sum of N1,403,343,400 to the account of FAV OIL AND GAS LIMITED."
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The agency allegedly recovered N326million and $140,500 from the black Escalade Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) of one of the defendants during an operation at his hideout in Queens Estate, Gwarinpa.
Oyedepo told the court in a charge numbered FHC/L/651C/2022, that the defendants committed the alleged offences between August and October 2022 in Lagos.
He said they conspired to "directly conceal" the N1.4billion in the account of Fav Oil and Gas Limited, "which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of the proceeds of your unlawful activity and you thereby committed an offence contrary to sections 18 (a), 15 (2) (a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011 as amended and punishable under section 15 (3) of the same Act.
The defendants were accused of laundering the sum in tranches of N100million, $480,000, N12.5million, N7million, N9million, N7m, N12m, N8m, $140,000 and N326,400,000.
Specifically, they were alleged to have acquired a N12.5m black Mercedes Benz C300, N7m BMW 3 Series, N9million Black Range Rover, N7m Toyota Hilux 2014 upgraded to 2021, N12m Black BMW SURXI 2016, a N8m White Toyota Hilux 2010 and a N10million White Toyota Hilux.
The court also heard that they allegedly directly transferred N80million to Frank Maya Intergrated Ventures, acquired a property known as No.8, Grace Crescent, EFAB Queens Estate, Gwarimpa, Abuja, concealed $140,000 and N326,400,000 in a Black Escalade SUV.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


© UNICEF/Bangladesh/2018/Chakma Halima Khatum holds up Whocef the cat inside her family's dwelling in the Kutapalong refugee camp, Bangladesh.
He belongs to the family of Imam Hussain who lost his leg, his wife Halima Khatum and their five children, who live in Kutapalong Rohingya refugee camp in south-eastern Bangladesh.
Pets in the vast camps are a rarity – hardly any of about one million Rohingyas have them — which makes Whocef all the more loved.
About 750,000 Rohingyas were forced out of Myanmar at the end of last year by the Burmese military, including Imam, Halima and their family.
©UNICEF/Bangladesh/2018/ChakmaHalima Khatum with her husband Imam Hussain, who lost his leg, play with Whocef who lives with them and their five children in Kutapalong Rohingya refugee camp in south-eastern Bangladesh.
"The cat brings joy to our lives," says Halima. "My husband lost his leg after he was shot by the army when we fled Burma a year ago, and it is a struggle to survive here.
"But we love Whocef because he is adored by my children and catches rats which are a big problem in our shelter at nighttime.
Whocef got the first part of his name from the World Health Organization and the second part from UNICEF.
© UNICEF/Bangladesh/2018/Chakma"We love Whocef because he is adored by my children and catches rats" says Halima.
The family asked WHO and UNICEF Communications Officers Kate Marshall and Alastair Lawson Tancred to think of the best name for him, and their suggestion was accepted.
Halima says the cat is about two months old and was found a week ago, near a tube well used by the family to collect fresh water.
Getting enough food in the camps is always a problem for many refugee families but Imam and Halima always put a little aside for Whocef, who survives on a diet of rice and vegetables in the family's bamboo and tarpaulin shelter.
Every night the cat sleeps alongside the couple's seven-year-old son Ridwan, who attends a UNICEF-supported Learning Centre for six days a week.
"Whocef likes to roam around the camps during the day and we are worried he won't return at night time," said Halima. "But he always does.
You can follow Whocef on Facebook and Instagram.
Alastair Lawson-Tancred is a UNICEF Communications Officer. He is currently in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.


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Until We End (review)
I'm always pleasantly surprised when I read a dystopian/post-apocalyptic type book that's still good. It's a genre that feels full and it's been so well-done in some series, that it's hard to compete with what has come before. Until We End (Goodreads | Amazon) is a solidly good book. I had one major problem with it (and I feel like a broken record because once again my problem was the romantic relationship) but that does not detract from most of the book.
Seventeen-year-old Cora was raised by her father to be a survivor. He was one of those crazies, stockpiling food, building a self-sustaining greenhouse, keeping a cabinet full of guns, that the neighbors gossiped about. Until the world really did end, a highly contagious virus sweeping the country, and the neighbors all died. Six months have passed since Cora's father disappeared, leaving her alone taking care of her eight-year-old brother.
The book begins with a drought forcing Cora to leave the safe confines of her home, venturing to the local spring in an attempt to keep their greenhouse functioning. At the spring, she is ambushed by an army-deserter named Brooks who carjacks her at gun-point and forces her to take him back to her house to claim her stash of food. But when Cora returns to her house it's been ransacked and her brother Coby is gone.
Family relationships are typically the best drivers of dystopian/post-apocalyptic books. That's a connection that's solid and strong, something worth tearing the world apart for. Like Katniss with Prim, Cora's devotion to her brother is what forces the plot forward in this book. I believe in her relationship with Coby. I believe that she wants to save him, protect him and give him what childhood she can salvage.
I also like that Cora's survival makes sense. Cora was literally raised from her childhood to deal with this exact situation. Even though she doesn't always handle it well (who would?), she has the skill-set to survive. She's not just lucky. She's trained. Too often books are dependent upon coincidences to cobble together a plot that makes sense. But this book actually calls out coincidences and the main characters question them.
As I already said, I didn't believe in the romantic relationship that developed in this book. I could give you a whole list of reasons (how it started, who the main characters were before the apocalypse, etc) but I'll let you be your own judge of that. Overall this book is still worth reading, well-plotted, compulsively readable with twists that you won't see coming.
I received an advance reading e-book in exchange for an honest review.
Best Books I read in 2013
Being Sloane Jacobs (review)
Follow Friday - Christmas Book Haul
Roomies (review)
Follow Friday - Reluctant Reader Recommendation
Poor Little Dead Girls (review)
Follow Friday - My best sales pitch
Rebel McKenzie (review)
These Broken Stars (review)
Follow Friday - New in 2013


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We live and work in a cold, cruel world where our laptops can take a lot of abuse. Regardless of how gentle we try to be, our notebooks will probably be dropped, spilled upon or worse—sooner, if not later.
Fair warning: Your system might be a little different, require special parts, or need a slightly different approach. YouTube is your friend.
One additional note: While we generally applaud improvisation and recycling old parts (especially AC adapters), there's nothing like having the precisely correct part to do the repair. In fact, while fans and notebook keyboards may look similar, they can be very different. Each repair features links to where you can get the right parts, but they are just a sample of what's available. If all else fails, try eBay, Newegg, Amazon, or CDW to get what you need.
Fortunately, many laptop power adapters have removable AC power cords, which cost a few dollars and are available online or at electronics stores. On the other hand, if the connector that plugs into the computer is the problem, it can cost $50 to $75 to replace if you opt for the exact AC adapter for your laptop from your notebook manufacturer, Amazon, or eBay (search for your make and model name followed by "AC adapter").
Or you can just fix it yourself.
A frayed power cord can be dangerous. Apply silicone sealant to the frayed cord.
The quick-and-dirty repair for a frayed cord is to wrap electrical or duct tape over the damage. This prevents further damage, but over time will come loose—not to mention leaving that sticky gunk all over the cable when it does.
Next, squeeze out a gob of sealant onto the area that needs fixing. Work the gooey sealant into place, covering the damage with a liberal coating. If you have sensitive skin, it's a good idea to wear thin protective gloves for this part.
Let the sealant cure for an hour or two until it is firm. Gently remove the cord from the tape (and the tape from the table), and you have the equivalent of a new power cord that's flexible and ready for years of road work.
It happened in an airport holding pen some time ago, when I sneezed while typing an email. The system went flying and smacked into the floor. Before I got home, I put a bandage over the damaged area to keep the elements out. Now it's time to fix it for real.
The secret is to use epoxy putty to fill in the broken part of the case. Epoxy putty is available online or at any hardware store for around $4 to $6 a tube, so you can even do this repair on the road. The brand of putty you choose doesn't matter, but avoid the quick-setting variety because it might harden before you're done.
First, make sure the damaged area is clean and free of dirt and loose pieces.
Putty, sanding, and trimming can fix a hole in a laptop case.
The key to a smooth case repair is to mix the two components together thoroughly in your hands. Because the putty hardens as the result of a chemical reaction between the two parts, it's important that they are completely blended together. You might want to use gloves for this part, because some people are sensitive to the chemicals in the putty.
You'll feel like a kid working with Play-Doh, and in fact, the putty should be the consistency of Play-Doh, which is perfect for working it into the damaged area. Press it firmly into the hole in the case and use your finger or a razor blade to shape it to follow the contour of the case. When it covers the area, take the flat side of a razor blade or back of a ruler and compress the outer surface to flatten it. Any excess putty can be wiped off the case with paper towel before it dries.
When you like the way it looks, go do something else for an hour or two until the epoxy is cured. When it has hardened, the epoxy patch is just as strong as the plastic case.
Many DIYers stop here, and use the obvious repair as a road warrior's badge of honor or conversation starter on road trips. I prefer a little more finishing, so I smooth the epoxy with 150- and then 220-grit sandpaper. Then I give it a final sanding with 2,000-grit paper that is slightly wet to remove any surface scratches.
Naturally, the color doesn't match. If it's a small repair, try using a Sharpie marker to cover it up. For this repair, I used model airplane enamel paint, which costs about $5 for a small bottle (a full set of colors with brushes is $10). When it's dry, the repair is done and visible only if you look closely.
My laptop has a single cooling fan, although many systems, particularly larger gaming and entertainment systems, have two or more fans to circulate air over the processor, graphics hardware and hard drive. More often than not, the fans get clogged with dust, debris and dirt, which can make them noisy and lower their efficiency. If your system is making a whirring or grinding noise or is overheating, this repair is for you.
Before you do anything else, find the place(s) where fresh air comes in and hot air escapes—usually one or more slotted grilles on the side or bottom of the system. There could be two or three vents, so search thoroughly. Insert the plastic straw from a can of compressed air into each vent and blow out all the dust that you can. You might want to put on a dust mask or have a vacuum cleaner running, because there can be a disgusting amount of dust. Optionally, or additionally, you can try sucking things out with a canister vacuum cleaner.
Blow compressed air into the slotted grilles. Open the case and remove any dust or detritus that impedes the fan. Carefully remove the old fan.
After carefully opening the case, find the fan and blow away any additional dust or detritus.
While you're there, take a good look for anything stuck in the fan's blades that might be impeding it. Twirl the blade with your finger. If it makes noise or doesn't spin freely—as was the case with my laptop—it needs to be replaced.
Before going further, write down the model number of the fan and go online to find a replacement fan. Use your favorite search engine and type in the model number and "cooling fan." Chances are that even for a five- or six-year-old computer, there will be fans available from eBay or the odd vendor. The replacement should cost anywhere from $5 to $20.
Once you have the new fan in hand (and are sure it's the right one), you can take out the old fan. First, unplug the fan's power connector. Each system is different, but you'll probably need to unscrew a frame that holds the fan in place, and then undo some screws holding the fan to the frame. Again, the user's guide or online videos are a great help.
Now you can gently remove the fan. It might take a little finesse to work the fan loose, because it's generally a tight fit in there. Many notebook fans are connected to the heat pipe, a thin silver- or copper-colored tube that draws heat off of the processor or graphics chip. The heat pipe usually snaps or screws into the fan assembly. Try not to bend the heat pipe when you're removing the fan, because that will reduce its efficiency at cooling the processor.
If for some reason, you go too far and can see the bare top of the CPU, make sure there's adequate thermal paste. This is required to transfer heat from the CPU to the heat sink, and the lack of paste can also cause overheating issues. A tube costs a couple of bucks.
With the new fan ready to go, slip it in and carefully screw everything back in place. Before you screw the bottom of the case back on, plug in the power connector and fire up the machine. Don't worry if the fan doesn't start right away, because it may turn on only after the system heats up. Once you've verified that it's working, close up the machine and get to work.


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The Trouble Is Not in Your Set
Posted by Keystone Jack May 29, 2015
She had become so engrossed in the story that she no longer knew the difference between her real life and what she was watching on TV.
There was an episode of the TV show Night Court where Marion Ross comes in to the courtroom and pulls out a hand grenade. She was demanding that her husband be released from prison. In the course of the half hour of hijinks, the courtroom regulars figure out that she is talking about a character in a daytime soap opera. She had become so engrossed in the story that she no longer knew the difference between her real life and what she was watching on TV. Conveniently, during that same episode, there happened to be a TV crew recording the proceedings in the courtroom. Harry wisely set up a tape of himself talking to the confused woman. While she was engaged in a conversation with the pre-recorded judge he walked in the door shattering her fantasy world. (Leave a comment if you remember the hilarious interaction between her and Bull when she realizes her confusion.)
Recently, several people became very upset about an episode of "Game of Thrones." In this episode there was a brutal rape. Several people took to social media to declare that they were so outraged about this gratuitous scene that they would never watch the show again. How dare the producers of this show degrade women so much by depicting this terrible scene. One person that joined the outrage machine was Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO). She tweeted her disgust and declared herself "Game of Thrones" free from that day forward. OK, that's all well and good. If a rape scene makes people want to abandon their TV show fandom, that's great.
Here's the thing that seems odd. On the same day Senator McCaskill tweeted her outrage about the fictional rape of a fictional character the New York Times ran a story about the systematic rapes of real women by Boko Haram. These women are rounded up, threatened, degraded, repeatedly raped, and purposely impregnated by these monsters. Why did the Senator go full outrage on the fictional rape, but ignore the real thing? Maybe she didn't see the New York Times article. After all, she's a busy US Senator. Why would she see a news article from the nation's largest newspaper about a major international crisis? Right?
In 2006 James Bond was issued a personalized weapon in the movie "Casino Royale." This was one cool gadget. Q explained to him that the grip of the pistol had been programmed with Bond's palm print. It would not fire unless it was his hand pulling the trigger. Incredibly, the technology paid off! Imagine the viewer's surprise when during a fight scene James found himself staring the wrong way down his own gun's sights! Thank goodness Q had foreseen this! That "smart gun" saved his life!
Soon after the release of "Casino Royale" the extremely Liberal state of New Jersey passed a law that essentially said that once "smart gun" technology was available for sale in the United States a timer would start ticking. That timer was set for 2 years. Once the timer went off, "smart guns" would be the only guns available for sale in the state of New Jersey. Now, where do you suppose they got that idea? Someone watches a movie where a fictional "smart gun" saves a fictional spy's life and suddenly it becomes a real law! It's interesting to note that when the police in New Jersey heard about this they immediately declared that they needed to be exempt from this law. In the movie, the gun worked perfectly! James Bond (who is licensed to kill people) was able to fire the gun, but the bad guy was not. In reality, there is one "smart gun" on the market. It's a .22. It requires the shooter to wear a watch with a chip in it. It is 95% reliable. So the state of New Jersey wants the only gun available for sale to be the caliber least likely to stop a threat, dependent on the owner wearing a watch at the right time, and be only 95% reliable. No thanks.
Ted Danson plays the wise leader of a group of crime scene investigators on the hit TV show CSI. I don't watch the show, but saw a re-run when flipping around the other day. Ted's character was talking in very judgmental tones about the AR-15 rifle. He said that the AR-15 was capable of spraying 30 bullets per second. This has been the mantra of the Liberal gun haters since the tragedy at Sandy Hook. They started calling them "Assault Weapons" until they were told that Assault Weapons were fully automatic weapons legal only for military use. They then made a slight correction to their fictional name and called them "Assault Rifles." They went to Congress and demanded that they be banned…again. They proclaimed that these horrible weapons could "spray bullets at a rate of 30 per second!" They want to ban a gun that technically doesn't exist, a gun that a fictional character made a fictional statement about. In reality, the AR-15 (AR does not stand for Assault Rifle) is simply a semi-automatic rifle. One bullet for each time you pull the trigger. Try that yourself. Count how many times you can make the trigger-pulling motion in a second.
Almost every channel has a cop show each weeknight. There are good cops. There are bad cops. One thing these cops have in common is an uncanny accuracy with their handguns. Using a 5" barrel and metal sites, they can drop a "perp" at 50 yards with a single shot! In their more compassionate moments faced with a bad guy with a gun, they will simply shoot the gun out of their hands or shoot them in the leg so they drop the gun and lay on the ground crying over their GSW. Anti-gun Libs complain about real life cops shooting to kill. They wonder why they don't "shoot to wound" like the cops on TV. They complain that real life cops are too quick to kill a guy who is trying to kill the cop. I talked to a friend of mine about this. He is an officer in Florida. He also trains officers and civilians in the defensive use of firearms. He told me about a stop he made. As he steps out of his cruiser, the guy bursts out of his car pointing a gun at him. He's charging. My friend drew his service weapon and fired. Typically, a trained officer fires around 3 shots at a time because a real handgun has a low accuracy rate. Fire 3 times and reassess. He did that. Three shots, but the guy was still rushing him with a gun. Three more shots, but he's still coming. The officer ended up emptying his magazine before the charging man fell to the ground. The reality is that an officer that shoots to wound has a very short life.
We live in a media-rich environment. Everywhere we look there are LCD screens. Every one of them can deliver fictional content for our entertainment. What we need to remember is that those same screens can also deliver truth, but we have to search for it. When we get the fiction confused for the truth we end up feeling like a goose.
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Guccifer 2.0 Game Over – Year End Review
December 25, 2018 December 25, 2018 Adam Carter
It's almost two years since I started investigating Guccifer 2.0.
Since then, largely thanks to several other independent researchers and their contributions, much has been discovered. The purpose of this article is to go back over all of the discoveries made during the last two years, as well as the various challenges received, and to provide an up-to-date status on the validity of different areas of research into Guccifer 2.0. The articles and findings at issue are as follows:
Guccifer 2.0's First Documents
NGP-VAN Archive Study
CF.7z Archive Study
Language Analysis
Blogging & Social Media Activity
Potential Ties To DCLeaks
E-Mail Suggesting Operations In Us Time Zone
Loaded For Guccifer – UCT +3
West Coast Fingerprints
Impact Of Documents Released
Guccifer 2.0's Russian Fingerprints
Determination To Attribute Self To WikiLeaks, DCLeaks, etc.
CrowdStrike's Absence Of Evidence
Mueller's Indictment
GRU Frames Russia & Manufactures Evidence To Support CrowdStrike?
The files that Guccifer 2.0 initially pushed to reporters appear to have been constructed through a process that involved them being deliberately tainted with Russian metadata, a Russian stylesheet entry and in some cases embedded Russian error messages.
In February 2017, the first major discovery relating to this (that several of Guccifer 2.0's documents contained identical RSIDs) was made and reported on by u/tvor_22 in the article "Russia and WikiLeaks: The Case of the Gilded Guccifer."
The Nation, while facing pressure to retract their article referencing Forensicator's NGP-VAN research called in an independent expert whom, while technically competent, did make some claims about RSIDs in relation to observations made on Guccifer 2.0's early RTF file releases. The challenge here though was based on inaccurate assumptions. (We know this because we actually tested the assumptions and ultimately showed that objections raised here were unsubstantive.)
In 2017, Warren Flood's name came up (as it was the name of the author on several of Guccifer 2.0's documents). As this writer knew Flood didn't fit the profile for Guccifer 2.0 and his departure from the DNC made him an unlikely candidate for being Guccifer 2.0, this author suggested that Guccifer 2.0 may have used a copy of Word previously registered to Flood to create some of his documents. This was reported on (and corrections were made on my articles) earlier this year when the actual origin of Flood's name was discovered.
We now know that Guccifer 2.0 used a process which initially started off with a document authored by Flood in 2008, attached to one of Podesta's emails. This is the true source of the "Confidential" watermark (which was originally "Confidential Draft") that appears in the background of Guccifer 2.0's version of the Trump Opposition research. Forensicator has posted full details of his discovery to his site.
Forensicator has analyzed different versions of Guccifer 2.0's Trump opposition research documents (including those that were provided to the press) and found that the presence of embedded Russian error messages was more likely to have been due to a deliberate process rather than an accident.
Forensicator has also found that every document released on the day Guccifer 2.0 emerged was needlessly edited.
While this writer was incorrect in my earliest reasoning on the presence of Flood's name, we can now fully account for it with 100% certainty. Additionally, conclusions regarding deliberate Russification of Guccifer 2.0's documents have been reinforced thanks to the Forensicator's consideration of the error messages therein.
If anyone has tangibly debunked anything this author has claimed in any significant way, it's the Forensicator who has done so, thanks to the above. Forensicator was even kind enough to give me the opportunity to figure out which of the two shortlisted documents was the original source so I could contribute something towards it.
In other words, this author has not simply run with any single narrative based on a first-glance take, or from a political standpoint. Instead, I and others have actively worked to report on the truth of the matter as factually as possible, updating my understanding as additional material comes to light.
NGP-VAN Study
Approximately fifteen months ago, the Forensicator published a study of an archive Guccifer 2.0 had released in September 2016, which contained a collection of old files mostly related to NGP-VAN, voters, and donors. Key findings included the revelation that the earliest transfers recorded were in July 2016, that a USB device had been used to transfer files and that a number of archives were moved to a USB device (or archived directly to it) on September 1, 2016, before being archived again in another format prior to publication on September 13, 2016.
Due to the difference in timestamp storage conventions between the different archive formats, Forensicator found that the archives compiled in September were, according to the evidence available, most likely to have been compiled where Eastern (EDT) time zone settings were in effect.
That study has been the subject of some controversy, although the controversy that exists is mostly built on conflating the findings with various interpretations of them, and with reporting on the study conducted by third parties. We've seen a few journalists misconstruing one of Forensicator's conclusions as being some sort of bandwidth challenge when the reality is that the major conclusion relates to how the speeds observed in testing managed to fit well with USB transfers (which reinforced other indicators of USB usage such as identifying files being stored on a FAT-32 file system).
Again: Whether people could or couldn't obtain the speeds observed via Internet transfer is really an argument against a comment made in passing by Forensicator about it being improbable to obtain those speeds for the files that were analyzed under the circumstances Guccifer 2.0 was thought to be operating in (i.e., a foreign hacker remotely hacking the DNC).
However, this was not the point actually being made in the respective conclusion in Forensicator's study, as the original study shows and the Forensicator's follow-up article clarified. This is also an argument this writer addressed in an article published last year, titled "Distortions and Missing The Point."
Since the publication of Forensicator's initial analysis, we've also seen a journalist from TechDirt attempt to argue that there was some sort of "conversion error" and suggested that expressing transfer rates in MB/s rather than Mbps somehow delegitimizes something or someone. It was silly, and their readers were calling out the nonsense in comments before I'd even considered writing a rebuttal.
By the end of July 2018, as part of a hit-piece against myself and associates, Duncan Campbell presented an argument against Forensicator's study based on speculation, manipulation of Forensicator's report, and the misconstruing of statements from former NSA Technical Director, Bill Binney. Putting Campbell's smears and debunked conspiracy theory aside, we're left with two primary objections to the meat of Campbell's allegations:
WinRar and 7-zip were chosen deliberately in order to leave a false EDT time zone breadcrumb to fool digital forensics investigators.
The July 5th transfer date was arbitrarily set for the purpose of the NGP-VAN release in to deceive people into thinking Guccifer 2.0 had something to do with Seth Rich (the DNC staffer murdered five days after that date).
However, there's no evidence suggesting timestamps were manipulated in the way that was suggested (it's an entirely speculative theory, and the NGP-VAN archive isn't the only place we've seen the July 5th date).
Whether Guccifer 2.0 did or didn't deliberately try to leave an EDT time zone breadcrumb by choosing archiving applications specifically for that purpose is, again, difficult to prove but it seems quite an obscure place to try to leave a false trail – especially just to leave evidence that contradicts what Guccifer 2.0 claimed about himself. Certainly, one can argue that the evidence may have been cooked up just to fool digital forensic investigations: it's a possibility, for sure, but that conclusion is not supported by evidence, and there's nothing in such arguments that can be tested.
Of course, as this article hopefully makes clear, you could completely disregard the NGP-VAN archive study if you wanted to, but you would still be left with a plethora of evidence that suggests Guccifer 2.0 operated from within in the United States.
Duncan further claimed that Bill Binney had changed his mind and was running in the opposite direction since Binney had clarified that we cannot be sure that the transfers scrutinized were necessarily a transfer from the DNC. In the real world, this is a position Forensicator has long held and provided clarification on back in August 2017 so trying to frame this as some sort of defection, disagreement or division is simply deceitful.
CF.7z Archive
In September 2017, Stephen McIntyre analyzed the "cf.7z" archive that Guccifer 2.0 had released on October 4, 2016, and discovered indication of US central time zone. Forensicator followed this up with additional observations, pointing out how files in the cf.7z archive filled in gaps that were identified in the NGP-VAN archive.
In October 2017, McIntyre published an article titled "Guccifer 2: From January to May 2016," which made a case for Guccifer 2.0 genuinely hacking to access files that appear in that archive. McIntyre stated:
"To my eye, there is convincing evidence that G2 actually hacked Democrat Party computers from at least January 2016 on," noting that the dates of transfers would have been in the timeframe that APT29/Cozy Bear were thought to have infiltrated the DNC.
McIntyre also observed very low transfer rates and noted that this is far more in line with what is expected from hackers when transferring files. Of course, dates going back that far could also occur if files were archived directly from a mounted image (e.g., such as those made of DNC servers by CrowdStrike). ThreatConnect did highlight the implausibility of Guccifer 2.0's claims concerning using NGP-VAN as a vector, but this doesn't mean I disagree with McIntyre's assessment.
Based on the CF.7z file, I agree that it does seem, from transfer dates, rates, and other factors, that Guccifer 2.0 could have hacked and/or had access to files before June. It's what the evidence suggests more strongly in the case of this particular archive.
In 2016, Professor Michael J. Connolly was cited by Vice/Motherboard's Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchirai, stating that Guccifer 2.0 seemed to lack traits that would suggest he was Russian. Connolly was the only language expert willing to be named in all of the reporting I could find, so this author sought to understand what traits he may have been referring to.
After reading several articles, it seemed clear that key difficulties for Russians communicating in English include: definite and indefinite articles, the use of presuppositions and correct usage of say/tell and said/told. Throughout 2017, I constructed a corpus of Guccifer 2.0's communications and analyzed the frequency of different types of mistakes. The results of this work corroborate Professor Connolly's assessment.
Overall, it appears Guccifer 2.0 could communicate in English quite well but chose to use inconsistently broken English at times in order to give the impression that it wasn't his primary language. The manner in which Guccifer 2.0's English was broken, did not follow the typical errors one would expect if Guccifer 2.0's first language was Russian.
To date, Connolly's language study has not drawn any significant objections or criticism.
In September 2017, this writer collected and analyzed data relating to Guccifer 2.0's social media and blogging activity, finding that both appeared to fit in with what would be expected if Guccifer 2.0 was operating within the US Central time zone. While it is possible the persona could have done this deliberately, it wouldn't make much sense for the Guccifer 2.0 persona to claim to be Romanian, while tweeting and blogging at times that would suggest they were in US time zones. Perhaps Guccifer 2.0 wanted to catch Americans at times of peak activity?! (This wouldn't explain the dip in activity at lunchtime being there too, though!)
While these activity levels were independently recorded and suggest a US origin for Guccifer 2.0 (which corroborates other indications found), it is, of course, just circumstantial and people can dismiss this on the basis of the arguments mentioned above.
Another discovery made as part of this was the fact Guccifer 2.0 engaged in very little activity on Saturdays. This observation comes simply from the evidence of the persona's activity, as charted below.
DCLeaks appeared in June 2016, publishing various leaks from political figures. Among the numerous files published, they released emails of William Rinehart as well as some files relating to the DNC that would later show up as attachments on John Podesta's emails. Stephen McIntyre noted that the phishing emails for Podesta and Rinehart also shared identical syntax and that this may indicate DCLeaks sources were connected to the phishing efforts.
Shortly after he emerged, Guccifer 2.0 pushed batches of emails from a few DNC-connected individuals such as Sarah Hamilton to DCLeaks.
Some in the press and the cybersecurity industry have speculated that Guccifer 2.0 could have been connected to DCLeaks management. I have tried to quantify the degree of association demonstrated and found nothing to show he was any more than a source for DCLeaks with access to an area to upload his content.
The overlap of activities and Podesta attachments does serve as circumstantial evidence that could indicate there was more to the relationship. That said, the only things I have found substantiating any closer association between the two was an apparent hoax in 2016, followed by another occurring earlier this year.
At this time, there is no definitive evidence that substantiates or discounts a possible relationship between Guccifer 2.0 and DC Leaks.
In September 2017, Stephen McIntyre posted an article on his site regarding an email communication made by Guccifer 2.0 in which it seems to reveal Guccifer 2.0's local time zone being set to US central time. This also fell in line with what Stephen McIntyre identified in an analysis of the "cf.7z" archive, in addition to the social media activity analysis detailed in the previous section above.
Again, this was independently recorded and suggest a US origin for Guccifer 2.0. To date, there has been no counter to McIntyre's finding.
Loaded For Guccifer – GMT +3 Time Zone Indications
At the beginning of 2018, David Jonathan Blake created a blog called Loaded For Guccifer, looking at various pieces of evidence relating to Guccifer 2.0 (as well as DCLeaks and other similar topics).
One of his articles, titled "Doc 1: Part 3 … Back to Romania!" looks at datastores embedded within Guccifer 2.0's files and reveals that there are indications of GMT +3 time zone present in some of Guccifer 2.0's first documents as a result of these being present. However, the Forensicator would soon challenge the assumption that this serves as evidence for a Romanian Guccifer 2.0
West Coast Fingerprints & Tracking Changes
In May 2018, Forensicator published a report titled "Guccifer 2's West Coast Fingerprint," detailing a discovery revealing that one of the files that had the +3/+4 timestamps embedded in the manner revealed by Blake's research had been saved on a machine that had PDT time zone settings in effect, which was revealed as tracking changes had been left on for that document). This raises the prospect that the +3/+4 timestamps inferred from the datastore objects may have been deliberate.
Impact of Documents Released – Cui Bono?
It is a severely under-appreciated point that, despite having access to John Podesta's attachments and other documents (and releasing thousands of files), Guccifer 2.0 somehow managed to avoid releasing anything that was damaging to the reputations of Podesta, Hillary Clinton or the Democratic party's leadership. None of the material Guccifer 2.0 published had a negative impact on Clinton's campaign, (though the persona's access to documents suggests its operator would have had the capability to do so). Even the documents given to Aaron Nevins made zero impact on the General Election in relevant states.
On the other hand, Guccifer 2.0 did manage to very effectively smear the public perception of the DNC leaks and Podesta emails as published by WikiLeaks, and to generate headlines expressing outrage that funneled attention away from their contents. Without arguing attribution at all, one could draw the conclusion the party which most benefitted from the actions of Guccifer 2.0 – even a Russian Guccifer 2.0 – was, in fact, the Hillary Clinton campaign.
At the end of November 2018, Forensicator published a report titled "Guccifer 2.0's Russian Breadcrumbs," covering all of the individual files that Guccifer 2.0 published via his blog, which exhaustively detailed the various breadcrumbs left behind by Guccifer 2.0.
As part of the report, Forensicator presented the following metadata mosaic, showing the many unnecessary edits carried out by Guccifer 2.0 and that in most batches of modified documents Russian breadcrumbs of some sort were being left behind.
source: https://theforensicator.wordpress.com/guccifer-2s-russian-breadcrumbs/
The report covers document tweaking times versus independently recorded activity (e.g., social media and blogging activity times, previously discussed above), sources of documents (in terms of where else they appeared), attribution of documents to their relevant organizations and various other anomalies in evidence that seem to contradict the Russian attribution.
The analysis comes with a new revelation of activity on the East coast of the US, from a file that was edited and published on July 6, 2016 (one day after the July 5 transfer date observed in the NGP-VAN archive study).
To quote a follow-up article Forensicator published on this topic (titled "Guccifer 2 Returns To The East Coast"):
Now, we have this additional East Coast indication, which appears just one day after the ngpvan.7z files were collected. This new East Coast indication is found in a completely different group of files that Guccifer 2 published on his blog site. Further, this East Coast finding has its own unique and equally unlikely method of derivation.
From the day he emerged, Guccifer 2.0 was keen to attribute himself to the alleged DNC hack and attribute himself to WikiLeaks. Although he had claimed on day one that he'd sent files to WikiLeaks, the first time Guccifer 2.0 sent anything was in July (based on Mueller's indictment).
Guccifer 2.0 also made a false claim about DCLeaks (and possibly not the only one), stating it was a sub-project of WikiLeaks. It is evident, then, that Guccifer 2.0 wanted to be perceived as having ties to DCLeaks management.
In addition to this, Guccifer 2.0 tried to attribute himself to Seth Rich on August 25, 2016, in a Twitter DM conversation he had with actress Robbin Young.
What's interesting about this is that on August 9, 2016, WikiLeaks offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Rich's murderer. On August 25, 2016, Assange was due to be interviewed by Fox News and by then many had got their hopes up about Assange and were hoping that he would reveal the source of the DNC leaks (under the assumption that Rich was involved and that his death would make it somehow permissible for WikiLeaks to divulge such information).
An important question: Was the Guccifer 2.0 persona trying to "poison the well" by attributing himself to Rich just in case it did turn out there was any substance to rumors)? Or was he just trying to prop up a conspiracy theory and throw people off the Russian trail?
Interpretations of these acts vary considerably depending on the source, but the first of these hypotheses is more coherent with what other evidence in the public domain has revealed about Guccifer 2.0's efforts and apparent objectives.
CrowdStrike & Coincidence
Around March 26, 2016, approximately five days after John Podesta's email was phished, CrowdStrike coincidentally started working with the DNC on investigating the NGP-VAN breach that had occurred three months earlier, an arrangement that would persist for five weeks.
It appears that the first mention of the purpose of this visit was made retroactively, at the very end of those five weeks. Guccifer 2.0's first follower and the first piece of APT-28 malware was constructed just prior to the end of those five weeks.
As soon as they had finished that investigation, Crowdstrike was called back in to investigate a breach. CrowdStrike subsequently visited the DNC around May 5, 2016. Coincidentally, this was the same day on which the second piece of APT-28 malware was compiled.
Crowdstrike then installed Falcon across the network and judging on FEC records, CrowdStrike remained active at the DNC for about 5-6 days, until around the 10th/11th. As it happens, the third piece of APT-28 malware was compiled on May 10, 2016.
Between May 19-25, 2016, a number of DNC emails were acquired (it seems most likely from an internal SMTP server). According to statements retroactively made by CrowdStrike long after the event, they didn't have Falcon running as per the product's advertisements at the time (i.e., designed to keep hackers out) and were just "monitoring."
The company never published incident specific evidence (e.g., logs showing how/when emails were acquired). Half the malware that they published IOCs for was compiled while CrowdStrike were working at/with the DNC.
Additionally, within two days of Assange announcing that WikiLeaks possessed leaks, CrowdStrike executives were retroactively claiming that they'd just eliminated hackers from the DNC.
The day after those executive's claims were published, Guccifer 2.0 appeared, fabricated evidence that seemed (initially) to corroborate what they had claimed about Trump opposition research being targeted with the documents tainted in a manner that supported the specific attribution they had stated.
Mueller's indictment is detailed, contains a lot of facts, and much of it is consistent with the evidence I've seen. There is a high level of specificity to it too. However, there are some inaccuracies, some of which conflict with evidence in the public domain. A report citing evidence that I know was sent to Mueller's office seems to have been selectively disregarded, and when it comes to the topic of Guccifer 2.0, there are very good reasons to have doubts about attribution to a GRU officer.
Putting those issues aside though, the indictment did cite some new details in relation to Guccifer 2.0 and what the persona had apparently done, some of which were completely new revelations to the public. Among the newer details:
This is an interesting correlation, although one would think that they would use a translation site to get the phrases needed and just use them. What would be served by searching for some very specific phrases that they were going to use, but hadn't yet published? As one Twitter user explains it, this correlation would necessitate supposed GRU officers intentionally creating a clear footprint of their connection to the persona:
It's difficult to assess Mueller's claim here, as we have no information from the indictment about the identity of the server that Unit 74455 is alleged to have used, or whether it is or isn't a part of Elite-VPN infrastructure that we already know Guccifer 2.0 had used.
Unfortunately, it's difficult to know from the above statement exactly which VPN service is being referenced. We know Guccifer 2.0 used a free, publicly accessible VPN node owned by Elite VPN, but would an overlap of VPN service usage necessarily demonstrate they used the same account there? Is that even the VPN service being referenced here?
It would help a lot if both Twitter and WordPress could release a report on Guccifer 2.0's usage of Internet infrastructure so that everyone has the full context here.
The indictment also cites Twitter DM communications between Guccifer 2.0 and WikiLeaks, but we don't get the full context and sentences are cited selectively. Even so, what we do see is interesting.
On June 15, 2016, when Guccifer 2.0 suddenly appeared, he stated: "The main part of the papers, thousands of files and mails, I gave to Wikileaks. They will publish them soon." implying he'd not only sent leaks but received confirmation they'd be published
However, the indictment cites evidence of communications in which WikiLeaks asks Guccifer 2.0 to send him what he had as it would have a much higher impact than what's he was doing, something they do on June 22nd, a week after he claimed to have already sent all the files.
The obvious question that no one in the legacy press bothered to ask: Why would WikiLeaks say this if the Guccifer 2.0 persona had already sent WikiLeaks what he had?
The indictment also asserts that Guccifer 2.0 only started trying to send content to WikiLeaks towards the end of June and that this failed initially, after which he got some files through to them six days before the DNC leaks were published. Without full context for this allegation, we also can't be sure whether WikiLeaks was referring to what they already had ready to publish "this week" or whether they were referencing what Guccifer 2.0 had sent them.
The reasons I still struggle with the indictment arise due to Mueller's individual attributions to GRU officers, without supporting evidence for said attribution. When combined with evidence that researchers have brought to the surface over the past two years, we are left with a highly improbable scenario regarding Guccifer 2.0's appearance, at least, under the premise of being a GRU officer:
The GRU attribution, combined with evidence in the public domain, means we are to believe that the GRU essentially tried to frame Russians for hacking the DNC, and even fabricated evidence specifically supporting two critical claims made by CrowdStrike in an article that was published just one day earlier in the Washington Post.
Year-End Conclusion
In summary, evidence indicated that the Guccifer 2.0 persona was operated by someone that wanted to prop up the claims being made by CrowdStrike to the extent that they fabricated evidence and falsified claims in support of statements that had been made by CrowdStrike executives. They wanted to be perceived as Russian and wanted to be attributed to WikiLeaks from the day they emerged.
Guccifer 2.0's now-exposed objectives do not correlate with the motives of the GRU: they do correlate with the motives that other groups and individuals (based in the United States) would have had at the precise moment in time he appeared.
While I may suspect certain individuals of involvement in this, what I suspect doesn't matter much. What matters is that the evidence uncovered shows that there is justification for an independent and impartial investigation into the many anomalies of Guccifer 2.0. It also suggests we may not be getting entirely accurate information from the Mueller probe regarding who was really behind the persona.
Clarification on Personal Perspective And Positions Held
I would like to clarify my own position on a few key points, as this writer's perspective has been relentlessly distorted by others, and I feel it's important to correct the record on these misconceptions:
I have not claimed that the DNC was "not hacked at all." I have explained this and demonstrated a far more nuanced position rather than outright denying any hacking had occurred (I've cited FBI agent Adrian Hawkins contacting the DNC about the "Dukes" malware and the discovery of APT-29 malware approximately 6 months later) but am skeptical of the APT-28 malware that appeared while CrowdStrike was at the DNC and contend that the preponderance of evidence in the public domain contradicts the premise of Guccifer 2.0 being a GRU agent.
I have not claimed that an insider had hacked the DNC, I have merely pointed out that I've seen no conclusive evidence that Guccifer 2.0 hacked anything, that his claims have been discredited by ThreatConnect and others and that this may hint at him having obtained the content he released through means other than hacking.
I have not claimed that the DNC was entirely unhurt by Guccifer 2.0's actions but have pointed out that Hillary, Podesta, the HRC campaign and the DNC leadership did not have their reputations or credibility damaged by what Guccifer 2.0 released (even though having access to Podesta's email attachments suggested he had the capacity to do this, he avoided it) and that all the data he shared with GOP aligned individuals related to house races rather than the general election.I've demonstrated that this didn't flip or appear to affect general election voting in those states either!
I have not claimed that Guccifer 2.0 (or any evidence analyzed in relation to the persona) proves or disproves anything with regards to Seth Rich. Elizabeth Vos and this writer have both repeatedly cautioned from the outset against unduly conflating the two topics, in articles and even an interview. I've stated outright that I believe Guccifer 2.0 was lying about Seth Rich and that in making these claims he somewhat contradicts himself.
Wrapping Up 2018
It seems we may now be approaching a point where additional evidence on this topic will only really become available if a formal and impartial investigation into the many anomalies surrounding Guccifer 2.0 is carried out. Besides dragging evidence to the surface, as we have done, there's not much more we can do to compel such an investigation. Should new developments arise in the form of evidence or establishment media distortions, this author will not hesitate to report on, and where necessary, correct them.
Global Chess, Leaks, Main Stream Media, Media & Tech, US Politics Adam Carter, Crowdstrike, Forensicator, Guccifer 2.0, NGP-VAN, RussiaGate, Russian Hacking
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De gens Mucia was een van oorsprong plebeïsche, oude en beroemde gens uit het oude Rome, die vele uitstekende rechtsgeleerden opleverde. Het nomen gentile van deze gens was Mucius voor mannen en Mucia voor vrouwen.

De meest gebruikte praenomina binnen deze gens waren Publius en Quintus, alsook Gaius. De gens voerde haar cognomen Scaevola ("de linkse", "de linkshandige") terug op een (semi-)legendarische voorouder: Gaius Mucius Scaevola.

Bekende leden van de gens Mucia
 Gaius Mucius Scaevola, pleegde een mislukte moordaanslag op Lars Porsena (ca. 508 v.Chr.);
 Publius Mucius Scaevola, vader van de praetor in 215 v.Chr.
 Quintus Mucius P. f. Scaevola, praetor in 215 v.Chr., ontving Sardinia als zijn provincia. Zijn imperiums daar werd voor drie jaar verlengd;
 Quintus Mucius Q. f. P. n. Scaevola, consul in 174 v.Chr.;
 Publius Mucius Q. f. P. n. Scaevola, consul in 175 v.Chr., mocht een triomftocht houden voor zijn overwinning op de Ligures;
 Publius Mucius (P. f. Q. n.) Scaevola, consul in 133 v.Chr.; twee jaar later volgde hij zijn broer, Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus, op als pontifex maximus. Hij werd beschouwd als een van de grondleggers van het ius civile;
 Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus, pontifex maximus, en consul in 131 v.Chr.; hij werd verslagen en gedood door Aristonicus;
 Quintus Mucius Q. f. Q. n. Scaevola, called the augur, consul in 117 v.Chr.
 Mucia Q. f. Q. n., de oudste dochter van Quintus Mucius Scaevola, de augur, huwde met Lucius Licinius Crassus, de redenaar, die consul was in 95 v.Chr. samen met haar neef, Quintus Mucius Scaevola;
 Tertia Mucia Q. f. Q. n., beter bekend als Mucia Tertia, de jongere dochter van de augur, huwde Gnaius Pompeius Magnus maior;
 Quintus Mucius P. f. (P. n.) Scaevola, zoon van de pontifex maximus, was consul in 95 v.Chr. en werd later zelf pontifex maximus. Hij werd vermoord onder de proscripties van Gaius Marius minor.
 Gaius Licinius Mucianus, consul in 52, 70 en 75 n.Chr.; een door Publius Cornelius Tacitus geprezen generaal, staatsman, redenaar en historicus, een sterke aanhanger van Vespasianus.

Noten

Referenties

 art. Mucia gens, in  - trad. ed. , Classisch Woordenboek van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, Rotterdam, 1857, p. 620.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Thu 31 Jan 2019 – The UK government will press for a long-term goal on international aviation climate emissions to be negotiated and ideally agreed by ICAO's 41st Assembly in 2022 that is consistent with the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement. In line with the goal, the government says it will work to strengthen the ICAO CORSIA global carbon offsetting scheme through its review mechanism from 2022 and negotiate for the scheme to continue after its proposed end date in 2035. While CORSIA demonstrated international ambition for aviation to play its part in tackling climate change, there must be continued efforts to reduce the sector's share of global CO2 emissions, it says in its Aviation 2050 strategy green paper. In the wake of Brexit, the government says it is considering a range of options to manage flights currently covered by the EU ETS.
The green paper published last month covers a wide range of proposed policies that address all aspects of the aviation sector and its future long-term development. The 16-week consultation runs until April 11 and the white paper setting out final policies is expected to be published in the summer.
The 200-page document proposes a framework for future sustainable growth of the UK aviation sector, which the government says faces many challenges, including meeting rising passenger demand while addressing environmental impacts and making the most of new technologies. Effective international environmental technology and operational performance standards are essential to ensuring air travel becomes increasingly sustainable, says the introduction to its initial chapter 'The role of aviation in a changing world'.
"The government supports the growth of aviation, provided this is done in a sustainable way," it says, and calls on the sector to do its fair share to tackle the problem of climate change, both domestically and internationally.
UK aviation accounts for around 7% of the UK's total greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), but its share of emissions is likely to continue to increase as other sectors decarbonise more quickly. Aviation could represent a 25% share of the total, forecasts the government's advisory Committee on Climate Change (CCC). Demand for aviation has grown significantly since 2010, with passenger numbers increasing by 35%. The growth in numbers during the period at the six London airports alone is the equivalent of a new airport the size of Gatwick, points out the government. However, aircraft movements have only increased by 13% as a result of better utilisation and larger aircraft.
However, it commends the aviation industry's "positive progress" in addressing its impact on climate change and its success in decoupling growth in emissions from continued air traffic demand, noting that between 2010 and 2016, international air transport movements within the UK grew by 20% but international GHGs increased by only 7%.
The government says is backing the CCC's recommendation that aviation emissions from UK departing flights should be at or below 2005 levels – around 37.5 Mt – in 2050. It also agrees with CCC advice that international aviation emissions should for now continue to be formally excluded from national legally-binding carbon targets but leave "headroom" for international aviation when setting carbon budgets so that the economy as a whole is on a trajectory to meeting the UK's 2050 Climate Change Act target. The government says it will review revised advice due this spring from the CCC on the implications of the Paris Agreement for the UK's long-term emissions reductions. "Regular reviews thereafter will broadly align with the setting of carbon budgets," it adds.
The government wants to continue working closely with industry to maximise opportunities for developing sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and says it will work in ICAO towards a global target and market for SAF that are accompanied by robust sustainability criteria covering environmental, social and economic issues.
It also wants to negotiate in ICAO for a strengthened aircraft CO2 standard and a long-term goal that considers aviation's non-CO2 climate effects, with reviews of the goal as scientific understanding improves. The government proposes to keep non-CO2 emissions under review and reassess the UK's policy position as more evidence becomes available.
The Aviation Strategy 2050 consultation comes with a number of accompanying documents, including a report by Prof David Lee of Manchester Metropolitan University that was commissioned by the UK Department for Transport. The report, 'International aviation and the Paris Agreement temperature goals', looks at ICAO's long-term emissions projections, existing ICAO policies and measures on aviation CO2 emissions (including the ICAO CO2 emissions standard; the CORSIA scheme; and the impact of carbon-neutral growth from 2020 (CNG2020) on international emissions). It also considers how ICAO's goals fit with temperature scenarios of less than 2 degrees C by 2100; the timescales and the role of negative emissions technologies in aviation development; and whether the CNG2020 goal is consistent with the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement.


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Type locality: Rottnest Island, Western Australia.
Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 2018. Callophycus costatus. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. Accessed 3 September 2018.
This page was last edited on 3 September 2018, at 21:43.


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Why Sapporo
Association Meetings
Incentive & Business Events
The capital of the northern island and prefecture of Hokkaido and the fifth-largest city in Japan, Sapporo gained international prominence when it was chosen as the host to the Winter Olympic Games in 1972. Since then, it has gone from strength to strength, and not only in the field of sports or because of its breweries. When it comes to business events indeed, Sapporo has many assets up its sleeves, starting with a wealth of knowledge in many areas of endeavors, as well as all the facilities you can expect in a fast-growing environment.
It helps, of course, that the Sapporo New Chitose Airport is connected by a number of international routes, while it is only a 1.5 hour flight away from Tokyo - one of the world's busiest air routes with over 70 flights per day. The most special of Japanese cities maybe, over 60% of the city is covered by greenery and 6 meters of snow for the period of 130 days a year, Sapporo's diverse natural surroundings and unforgettable outdoor adventures in both the green and white seasons is another specialty that puts Sapporo on the map as a premier destination in the Asia Pacific.
INCENTIVE &
Largest Conference
14,000pax
Largest Incentive
6,500pax
Visitors / Year
International Routes
Flights / Day
Food Sufficiency Rate
& BUSINESS EVENTS
MN Bldg. 3F, Kita 1 Nishi 3,
Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido
©2020 Sapporo Convention Bureau


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