#Patriot Computers

[y2k-internetexplorer]

1999 Hot Wheels Computer

[identifying-computers-in-posts]

Patriot Computers: Hot Wheels PC (1999)

Intel Celeron @ 333MHz, 3GB HDD, 32MB SDRAM

2020-09-29

[lillygooddae]

[retrocgads]

USA 1997

[seeingteacupsindragons]

Y'know.

"Ikiyou" is what Sherlock requested of William as they were falling into the river. He said "Ikiyou" and "Ikite, oretachi wa"

Or, "Live (volitional)" "Choose to live Liam." "Live, and we--"

And then it trails off and William watches him for a silent second that we can't hear, then closes his eyes. There's a silent moment there, where something passed between them. Maybe Sherlock said something private from the audience. Maybe not. Either way, there was an understanding and exchange between them of something that came after living.

But then after William wakes up, he looks at Sherlock and says, "Yes. Let's live. The two of us."

(and they can do whatever passed in that shared moment as they fell, and understanding between only the two of them)

I wonder if Sherlock wasn't only making a request, but an offer.

It’s kinda funny that in English “I want to live together with you” or “let’s live together” sounds like an invitation to move in together.

But “共に　悩み　共に　生きて欲しい” to me is an affirmation of William’s will to LIVE and of his desire for shared experiences and existence with Sherlock (and vice versa). That’s honestly a deeper commitment and a more profound message than expressing a desire for co-inhabiting a physical space. “I want to stay alive and struggle on and live this life together with you” is the most romantic shit ever, particularly when interpreted platonically.

To quote Sothis, “I'm glad that it was you to whom my fate was bound.”

And lady Gaga: “I've got a hundred million reasons to walk away. But baby I just need one good one to stay.”

死生契阔，与子成说。 执子之手，与子偕老。

Let’s live. Together.

(Now I just need him to express the same sentiment to his brothers because they deserve that from him.)

[supercap2319]

It's my birthday. So I wanted to ask for one of those NSFW imagines that you do...

Steve Rogers surprising y/n on his birthday (the newest member of the team) by letting him eat his cake (his ass).

Y/N's birthday wish had come true about six weeks before his actual birthday was due. It was like something out of a movie where the main character lands their dream job, or in Y/N's case, his dream team.

Ever since the Avengers first appeared together to save the world, Y/N wanted to be a part of the team. He studied hard in school, played sports, and even the occasional computer classes, but what got him the job was the powers he developed. The power to control the very weather all at his fingertips. Nick Fury was impressed, and after a trial run, Y/N was officially the newest member of the Avengers.

Everyone was welcoming. Sure, Tony liked to pick on Y/N because he was the rookie of the team, Steve, aka Captain America, always had his back. Y/N couldn't help but fall for the Captain. He was so nice and kind. He showed Y/N the ropes on missions, and he never lost his patience with Y/N. Even when the situation called for it.

Y/N and Steve were an inseparable team after the first few weeks. Steve would teach Y/N everything he knew from battle techniques to planning and strategizing. In return, Y/N had shown Steve how to work a phone and the internet. What memes were and social media. That's probably how Steve found out it was Y/N's birthday.

The young Avenger didn't want to make a spectacle of his birthday, so he didn't bother telling anyone about it. Y/N figured he could spend a quiet Friday night alone with some Netflix. He was wrong.

Y/N enters his room to find Steve waiting for him on his bed with a small smirk on his face. He wore a blue bathroom and fuzzy red slippers. This was so different from the "old man clothes" as Tony liked to call them that Steve usually wore. His blue eyes were shining with a hidden mischief. "Hey, Y/N."

"Hey, Cap. What's up? How did you get into my room?"

"J.A.R.V.I.S. let me in. Hope that's fine with you?"

"Of course. Did you need something?" Y/N asked, eyebrows raised at Steve's attire.

Steve stood up and walked towards him. Y/N frowns and gulps as Steve gets closer until he can see the flecks of black in baby blue eyes. His lips are pink and plump. So full and shining with some sort of coat. Probably, lip bomb. "It occurred to me that today was your birthday today, and you didn't tell anyone. Why?" Steve looks at Y/N.

Y/N blushed and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I didn't want to make a big deal about it."

"You should. We're a team now. We celebrate everyone's birthday together. But we can tell the others tomorrow. For now, I have a cake for you." Steve smiled, but he was also blushing very hard, which made him look even more adorable and innocent than he usually did.

"You baked me a cake? You didn't have to do that."

"It's a different kind of cake. And I need you to frost it for me. I can't reach back there."

Before Y/N could ask what that meant, Steve dropped his robe and revealed he was wearing a patriotic thong. Captain America turned around, and the floss of the fabric was so tight around Steve bare ass crack and made his white boy cheeks even bigger than they were and believe Y/N, he's seen Steve in his suit. He knew those glutes would be big.

"Steve, what are you doing?" Y/N blushed, but he couldn’t deny he's actually fantasized Steve doing this just for him. Showing him America's ass.

"I told you. I want you to frost my cake with your tongue. Maybe you'll give me your frosting?" Steve pulled the thong to the side of his cheeks and exposed his pinkish hole. It winked at him. "Please, Y/N?"

Y/N looks shocked. Was Steve really giving him his ass for his birthday? He must be dreaming, right? He pinched himself. He wasn't. This was real, and so was Steve. Steve wanted it. The pinnacle of American dreams was right in front of him, shaking his tight ass.

The young Avenger walked towards Steve and bent him forward against the bed as Y/N spread those golden boy ass cheeks and began to lick Captain America's ass like a dying man.

[amalgamasreal]

So I don't know how people on this app feel about the shit-house that is TikTok but in the US right now the ban they're trying to implement on it is a complete red herring and it needs to be stopped.

They are quite literally trying to implement Patriot Act 2.0 with the RESTRICT Act and using TikTok and China to scare the American public into buying into it wholesale when this shit will change the face of the internet. Here are some excerpts from what the bill would cover on the Infrastructure side:

SEC. 5. Considerations.

(a) Priority information and communications technology areas.—In carrying out sections 3 and 4, the Secretary shall prioritize evaluation of— (1) information and communications technology products or services used by a party to a covered transaction in a sector designated as critical infrastructure in Policy Directive 21 (February 12, 2013; relating to critical infrastructure security and resilience);

(2) software, hardware, or any other product or service integral to telecommunications products and services, including— (A) wireless local area networks;

(B) mobile networks;

(C) satellite payloads;

(D) satellite operations and control;

(E) cable access points;

(F) wireline access points;

(G) core networking systems;

(H) long-, short-, and back-haul networks; or

(I) edge computer platforms;

(3) any software, hardware, or any other product or service integral to data hosting or computing service that uses, processes, or retains, or is expected to use, process, or retain, sensitive personal data with respect to greater than 1,000,000 persons in the United States at any point during the year period preceding the date on which the covered transaction is referred to the Secretary for review or the Secretary initiates review of the covered transaction, including— (A) internet hosting services;

(B) cloud-based or distributed computing and data storage;

(C) machine learning, predictive analytics, and data science products and services, including those involving the provision of services to assist a party utilize, manage, or maintain open-source software;

(D) managed services; and

(E) content delivery services;

(4) internet- or network-enabled sensors, webcams, end-point surveillance or monitoring devices, modems and home networking devices if greater than 1,000,000 units have been sold to persons in the United States at any point during the year period preceding the date on which the covered transaction is referred to the Secretary for review or the Secretary initiates review of the covered transaction;

(5) unmanned vehicles, including drones and other aerials systems, autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles, or any other product or service integral to the provision, maintenance, or management of such products or services;

(6) software designed or used primarily for connecting with and communicating via the internet that is in use by greater than 1,000,000 persons in the United States at any point during the year period preceding the date on which the covered transaction is referred to the Secretary for review or the Secretary initiates review of the covered transaction, including— (A) desktop applications;

(B) mobile applications;

(C) gaming applications;

(D) payment applications; or

(E) web-based applications; or

(7) information and communications technology products and services integral to— (A) artificial intelligence and machine learning;

(B) quantum key distribution;

(C) quantum communications;

(D) quantum computing;

(E) post-quantum cryptography;

(F) autonomous systems;

(G) advanced robotics;

(H) biotechnology;

(I) synthetic biology;

(J) computational biology; and

(K) e-commerce technology and services, including any electronic techniques for accomplishing business transactions, online retail, internet-enabled logistics, internet-enabled payment technology, and online marketplaces.

(b) Considerations relating to undue and unacceptable risks.—In determining whether a covered transaction poses an undue or unacceptable risk under section 3(a) or 4(a), the Secretary— (1) shall, as the Secretary determines appropriate and in consultation with appropriate agency heads, consider, where available— (A) any removal or exclusion order issued by the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of Defense, or the Director of National Intelligence pursuant to recommendations of the Federal Acquisition Security Council pursuant to section 1323 of title 41, United States Code;

(B) any order or license revocation issued by the Federal Communications Commission with respect to a transacting party, or any consent decree imposed by the Federal Trade Commission with respect to a transacting party;

(C) any relevant provision of the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation and the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and the respective supplements to those regulations;

(D) any actual or potential threats to the execution of a national critical function identified by the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency;

(E) the nature, degree, and likelihood of consequence to the public and private sectors of the United States that would occur if vulnerabilities of the information and communications technologies services supply chain were to be exploited; and

(F) any other source of information that the Secretary determines appropriate; and

(2) may consider, where available, any relevant threat assessment or report prepared by the Director of National Intelligence completed or conducted at the request of the Secretary.

Look at that, does that look like it just covers the one app? NO! This would cover EVERYTHING that so much as LOOKS at the internet from the point this bill goes live.

It gets worse though, you wanna see what the penalties are?

(b) Civil penalties.—The Secretary may impose the following civil penalties on a person for each violation by that person of this Act or any regulation, order, direction, mitigation measure, prohibition, or other authorization issued under this Act: (1) A fine of not more than $250,000 or an amount that is twice the value of the transaction that is the basis of the violation with respect to which the penalty is imposed, whichever is greater. (2) Revocation of any mitigation measure or authorization issued under this Act to the person. (c) Criminal penalties.— (1) IN GENERAL.—A person who willfully commits, willfully attempts to commit, or willfully conspires to commit, or aids or abets in the commission of an unlawful act described in subsection (a) shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than $1,000,000, or if a natural person, may be imprisoned for not more than 20 years, or both. (2) CIVIL FORFEITURE.— (A) FORFEITURE.— (i) IN GENERAL.—Any property, real or personal, tangible or intangible, used or intended to be used, in any manner, to commit or facilitate a violation or attempted violation described in paragraph (1) shall be subject to forfeiture to the United States. (ii) PROCEEDS.—Any property, real or personal, tangible or intangible, constituting or traceable to the gross proceeds taken, obtained, or retained, in connection with or as a result of a violation or attempted violation described in paragraph (1) shall be subject to forfeiture to the United States. (B) PROCEDURE.—Seizures and forfeitures under this subsection shall be governed by the provisions of chapter 46 of title 18, United States Code, relating to civil forfeitures, except that such duties as are imposed on the Secretary of Treasury under the customs laws described in section 981(d) of title 18, United States Code, shall be performed by such officers, agents, and other persons as may be designated for that purpose by the Secretary of Homeland Security or the Attorney General. (3) CRIMINAL FORFEITURE.— (A) FORFEITURE.—Any person who is convicted under paragraph (1) shall, in addition to any other penalty, forfeit to the United States— (i) any property, real or personal, tangible or intangible, used or intended to be used, in any manner, to commit or facilitate the violation or attempted violation of paragraph (1); and (ii) any property, real or personal, tangible or intangible, constituting or traceable to the gross proceeds taken, obtained, or retained, in connection with or as a result of the violation. (B) PROCEDURE.—The criminal forfeiture of property under this paragraph, including any seizure and disposition of the property, and any related judicial proceeding, shall be governed by the provisions of section 413 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 853), except subsections (a) and (d) of that section.

You read that right, you could be fined up to A MILLION FUCKING DOLLARS for knowingly violating the restrict act, so all those people telling you to "just use a VPN" to keep using TikTok? Guess what? That falls under the criminal guidelines of this bill and they're giving you some horrible fucking advice.

Also, VPN's as a whole, if this bill passes, will take a goddamn nose dive in this country because they are another thing that will be covered in this bill.

They chose the perfect name for it, RESTRICT, because that's what it's going to do to our freedoms in this so called "land of the free".

Please, if you are a United States citizen of voting age reach out to your legislature and tell them you do not want this to pass and you will vote against them in the next primary if it does. This is a make or break moment for you if you're younger. Do not allow your generation to suffer a second Patriot Act like those of us that unfortunately allowed for the first one to happen.

And if you support this, I can only assume you're delusional or a paid shill, either way I hope you rot in whatever hell you believe in.

[sentientcave]

WAIT WAIT WAIT i need to hear about the 141 paranormal investigators omg???

OKAY SO

Basically it's like, a non-military AU where they have a youtube channel and investigate haunted places and look for cryptids and junk. Ghost is the camera/editing guy, Gaz and Johnny handle social media and are the primary faces, and John is a professor of Mythology and Folklore on extended leave that became a permanent fixture after they interviewed him too many times. They're on an American road trip, and they chance upon a hidden town full of actual supernatural people and creatures. Cue shenanigans while the townspeople try not to get caught on camera. Also they meet a hot witch who runs the B&B (the only place to stay in town).

Here's some of all this silliness:

“Relax, Soap.” Price used his stern teaching voice, the one that could command a rowdy hall of college students (most of whom were only taking his class because they thought it would be an easy credit) to be quiet and pay attention. “If we get lost you’ll get to gloat about bein’ right, how about that?”

“Rather no’ get lost, but Ah suppose it’ll do.”

Simon and Gaz exchanged a look, both of them trying not to laugh. They were an odd bunch, by any metric. Gaz had started a youtube channel reviewing local businesses around Manchester while he was attending university, which is where he had met Simon (Or Ghost, as he had introduced himself back then), who had been the butcher at a shop Gaz wanted to review. Ghost had been told to give Gaz a tour, so he had, reluctantly, and Gaz had gone home later that week to find Ghost sitting in front of his computer, editing the video.

“You do shite work,” he’d said, the only explanation he had offered for his presence in Ga’s apartment. “Fine substance, but terrible camera an’ editin’.”

And well, Ghost’s video had done a lot better than any of Gaz’s previous ones, so he’d asked him to continue. Ghost suggested moving on to different content as well, to exploring some of the spookier sites around Manchester (Of which Ghost seemed to be intimately familiar, unnervingly enough), and they had interviewed Price a few times to give the videos an air of legitimacy, since he was a professor of mythology and folklore at Gaz’s university.

Johnny had been their missing link, however. They’d gone to do a video in Glasgow, and kept running into him everywhere they went. He’d provided some useful local knowledge, and had a channel of his own, where he mostly blew stuff up and did parkour around the city. The Glasgow videos all went viral, and the channel suddenly became something they could potentially throw themselves into doing on a more full time basis.

Price, chafing at the routine of teaching, asked to join them on a more permanent basis as well. And since he had the two things that the rest of them lacked (A car and a savings account), they agreed. That had been four years ago. And somehow, it was working. They weren’t exactly making a lot of money, but they were getting by, and Price had written and published two new books, using their travel and research to pad out what might have otherwise been dry, academic work.

Simon flicked the radio back on, the van filling with the sharp sound of static. They’d lost their last station somewhere along the drive. He fiddled with the tuner until an upbeat, overly patriotic country song came in clear.

Gaz made a disgruntled sound in the backseat. He’d made his disdain for country music clear somewhere back in California.

“Just tryin’ to get a traffic report. Untwist your knickers, Gaz.”

“If we’d stayed on the main road we’d no’ need a report.” Johnny could never stop himself from throwing in his two pence. “We’d be in it.”

Price reached over for the volume, and turned up the music, drowning them out as one song switched to the next.

[fitsofdespair]

If you heard about the TikTok ban act, don't think it's a big deal or will impact you at all, you are absolutely wrong.

Tik Tok is the red herring and not much is being said about the legislation that will be used to enforce this ban. Neither TikTok, nor ByteDance are mentioned once in the bill.

Congress introduced the RESTRICT act (S.686 2023-2024) and it is the internet version of the Patriot Act on steroids.

The RESTRICT act grants government authority to monitor and police any internet connected devices including:

Home WiFi & Internet (includes wired)

Your personal Phone, Computer, Smart Devices, Security Cameras, Game Consoles ..ANYTHING that connects to the internet.

Social Media Platforms & Websites with 1 Million users

Your payments on internet banking. PayPal, Cash App, etc.

Your Small business website, Etsy Store, TeeSpring store etc

Spreading of any information the Government deems as false.

Can ban TV Shows, Music, Games anything deemed unfit by the Government

And much more, basically anything that is "on the grid" will be monitored. (Apps, Texts, Videos, ect)

If you use a VPN to use a banned app, they can hold you, your ISP and the VPN liable and take legal enforcement action with a $250K fine and up to ten years in jail.

The enforcement clause states that it's enforceable against individuals as well as businesses. They can seize any devices and indefinitely detain individuals they suspect were used in commission of the violation. It also gives the program unlimited funding and the ability to operate without having to obey FOIA requests.

This bill has bipartisan support and every single one of the senators who sponsored this bill own stock in Meta and google.

(via PorkVacuums on reddit)

[spade-riddles]

Spade!! Please tell us what is happening behind the scenes with Trump and Kamala. I would love to have some hope for the new year!! 🥂

I have been doing a LOT of research. There is too much to write in a Tumblr post. But, there has been so much happening all over the world in the past couple of months. Our election is not the only one Putin has interfered with. Several countries are now uniting very publicly behind Ukraine to bring him down.

Also, Kamala is a prosecutor. Biden is a very bright man. They knew Trump was going to try to rig the election years ago. In fact, Kamala wrote a book "The Truth's We Hold", and talked about election security. They were prepared well in advance. Do you really think these two patriots would hand us and our country over to organized crime and Putin, with a smile on their face? Let's be honest, Kamala and Joe Biden look much more relaxed right now than Trump.

Remember this post of mine on November 12th:

Biden and Harris are playing chess, while the criminals have been playing checkers. I was sick to my stomach for 48 hours after the election. But I quickly realized there was more to this than meets the eye. What Trump pulled off (winning every swing state and just enough votes to get the house and senate) would have been unbelievable for a normal candidate, let alone a 34 x convicted felon. This is the same clown that lost the popular vote in the previous two elections.

The first big tell for me was how quickly the race was called, and how quickly Kamala conceded. It made no sense. THEN, 36 hours after the election, law enforcement conducted a raid on Alfie Oakes' home and business (he is a huge Trumper and pals with criminal and fellow Trumper Mike Flynn). Both were involved in the January 6, 2020 storming of the capital. Flynn was at Oakes home on election night 2024. When Oakes home was raided 36 hours later, a notorious Russian crook was with him.

Federal agents from the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the IRS, and the Secret Service were seen at the packing plant. The DCIS investigates cases of fraud, bribery, and corruption, including cyber crimes and computer intrusions.  At Oakes' Florida home, multiple law enforcement officers were seen coming and going in unmarked cars this morning and afternoon. They were going in and out of his home through the garage, carrying boxes, including a man wearing an IRS shirt carrying out a computer.

Almost a week later, Polymarket’s CEO, Shayne Coplan's home was raided in New York. He is backed by another Trumper, billionaire Peter Thiel. The company is an election prediction market.

Trump also told his supporters before the election that he did not need their votes. He said he already had the votes that he needed. Elon Musk said prior to the election that he would be going to prison if Trump did not win. He is as involved as anyone in all of this. Joe Rogan (conservative podcaster) also said that Elon Musk knew the election results 4 hours ahead of time.

Merrick Garland hired Jack Smith from The Hague to take down Trump. It looks like The Hague is where Trump and his minions will be tried. Elon Musk, and many others, will go down with Trump.

This looks like it could be a December to remember. Again, this is based on my observations and research of domestic and international happenings. But what I posted above regarding specific events are factual and available on the internet.

[patriottruth]

The tulsi gabbard Appointment and The 2024 U.S. Elections Aren't The Only Times donald j. trump and his Russian Asset Republicans Worked With Russians Against United States' Interests: COVID-19, USA Patriot Act/USA Freedom Act Sabotage, The Massive Russian SolarWinds Hack of 33,000 U.S. Government and Private Sector Computer Networks, and Russian 2024 Election Day Interference (compiled from Wikipedia):

In November 2019, a security researcher notified SolarWinds that credentials to a third party FTP server had a weak password of "solarwinds123", warning that "any hacker could upload malicious [code]" that would then be distributed to SolarWinds customers. The New York Times reported SolarWinds did not employ a chief information security officer and that employee passwords had been posted on GitHub in 2019.

December 1, 2019: COVID-19 pandemic: First known human case of Coronavirus disease 2019, in Wuhan, Hubei, China.

December 5, 2019: Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi asks the House Judiciary Committee to begin drafting the articles of impeachment against U.S. President Donald Trump.

December 9, 2019: The World Anti-Doping Agency votes unanimously to ban Russia from international sport for four years for doping offences, meaning it will be excluded from the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

December 10, 2019: Democrats in the United States House of Representatives announce formal charges against President Donald Trump, accusing him of abusing power and "obstructing Congress"; he becomes the third U.S. president in history to face impeachment.

December 18, 2019: The U.S. House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment against President donald trump, making him the third president to be impeached in the nation's history.

December 29, 2019: The Taliban's ruling council agrees to a temporary cease-fire in Afghanistan, opening a door to a peace agreement with the United States.

In January and February 2020, U.S. intelligence agencies delivered over a dozen classified warnings in the President's Daily Brief about COVID-19, including its potential to inflict severe political and economic damage. President Donald Trump typically did not read daily briefs and often has "little patience" for oral summaries, The Washington Post reported. Each brief was also shared with other officials in the administration. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which produces the President's Daily Brief, denied that there were repeated mentions of COVID-19.

On January 8, 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a health advisory regarding an outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, which was being caused by a yet-unidentified virus.

January 16, 2020: The first impeachment trial of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, begins in the U.S. Senate.

On January 27, 2020, Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, predicted that "things are going to get worse before they get better". Three days later, Fauci stated that the COVID-19 outbreak "could turn into a global pandemic".

On February 10, 2020, Trump stated that "a lot of people think that [COVID-19] goes away in April with the heat … Typically, that will go away in April" (later, on April 3, he denied ever having given "a date" for the departure of the virus)

On February 13, 2020, CDC director Robert Redfield contradicted Trump, saying that the "virus is probably with us beyond this season, beyond this year". Redfield also predicted that it "will become a community virus at some point in time, this year or next year".

On February 16, 2020, Anthony Fauci warned that it was not necessarily true that COVID-19 would "disappear with the warm weather."

February 25, 2020, was the day that the CDC first warned the American public to prepare for a local outbreak. That day, Nancy Messonnier, head of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said that "We are asking the American public to work with us to prepare for the expectation that this is going to be bad." Messonnier predicted that "we will see community spread in this country", and it was only a matter of time. As a result, "disruption to everyday life might be severe". Messonnier stated that the CDC is preparing, and "now is the time for hospitals, schools and everyday people to begin preparing as well."

On February 25, 2020, Anthony Fauci declared that given how COVID-19 was spreading in other nations, it was "inevitable that this will come to the United States" as well. On February 26, CDC Director Robert Redfield said it would be "prudent to assume this pathogen will be with us for some time to come".

On February 26, 2020, Trump contradicted Messonnier, stating: "I don't think it's inevitable" that a U.S. outbreak would occur, "It probably will, it possibly will … Whatever happens, we're totally prepared." Trump additionally declared that the number of infected was "going very substantially down, not up".

On February 27, 2020, The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr, who helped to write the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA), which forms the framework for the federal response, warned a private group of his constituents that COVID-19 is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history, and is probably more akin to the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. "There will be, I'm sure, times that communities, probably some in North Carolina, have a transmission rate where they say, 'Let's close schools for two weeks. Everybody stay home,' We're going to send a military hospital there; it's going to be in tents and going to be set up on the ground somewhere, It's going to be a decision the president and DOD make."

On February 27, 2020, Trump said of the virus: "It's going to disappear. One day it's like a miracle, it will disappear. And from our shores, you know, it could get worse before it gets better. Could maybe go away. We'll see what happens. Nobody really knows." Also on February 27, Trump declared that the risk to the American public from COVID-19 "remains very low".

February 27, 2020 stock market crash: Triggered by fears of the spreading of COVID-19, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) plunges by 1,190.95 points, or 4.4%, to close at 25,766.64, its largest one-day point decline at the time. This follows several days of large falls, marking the worst week for the index since the 2007–2008 financial crisis.

On February 29, 2020, Trump said that "additional cases in the United States are likely", but "there's no reason to panic at all." When a reporter asked Trump: "How should Americans prepare for this virus?" Trump answered: "I hope they don't change their routine".

February 29, 2020: A conditional peace agreement is signed between the United States and the Taliban. The U.S. begins gradually withdrawing combat troops from Afghanistan on March 10.

On March 4, 2020, donald trump appeared on Fox News's Hannity by phone, where he claimed a 3.4% mortality rate projected by the World Health Organization (WHO) was a "false number", and stated his "hunch" that the true figure would be "way under 1%". Trump also predicted that many people infected with COVID-19 would experience "very mild" symptoms, "get better very rapidly" and thus they "don't even call a doctor". Thus, there may be "hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work—some of them go to work, but they get better."

From March 6 to March 12, 2020, donald trump stated on four occasions that the coronavirus would "go away". On March 10, Surgeon General Jerome Adams stated that "this is likely going to get worse before it gets better."

March 2020: The nightmare of empty grocery shelves begins. Stores capping/limiting purchases.

By March 11, 2020, the virus had spread to 110 countries, and the WHO officially declared a pandemic. The CDC had already warned that large numbers of people needing hospital care could overload the healthcare system, which would lead to otherwise preventable deaths. Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci said the mortality from COVID-19 was ten times higher than the common flu. By March 12, diagnosed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. exceeded a thousand. Trump declared a national emergency on March 13. On March 16, the White House advised against any gatherings of more than ten people. Three days later, the United States Department of State advised U.S. citizens to avoid all international travel.

The USA Freedom Act, which became law on June 2, 2015, reenacted the expired USA Patriot Act sections through 2019. However, Section 215 of the law was amended to disallow the National Security Agency (NSA) to continue its mass phone data collection program. Instead, phone companies will retain the data and the NSA can obtain information about targeted individuals with a federal search warrant.

On August 14, 2019, the outgoing Director of National Intelligence sent a letter to Congress stating the Trump Administration's intention to seek permanent extension of the provisions of FISA that under the terms of the USA FREEDOM Act are scheduled to expire on December 15, 2019, namely the "lone wolf" authority allowing surveillance of a suspected terrorist who is inspired by foreign ideology but is not acting at the direction of a foreign party, the roving wiretap authority regarding surveillance of a terrorist who enters the United States and the authority to allow the Federal Bureau of Investigation to obtain certain business records in a national security investigation, as well as the call detail records program undertaken by the NSA. In reference to the latter authority, the letter announced that "The National Security Agency has suspended the call detail records program that uses this authority and deleted the call detail records acquired under this authority."

Jurisdiction over the reauthorization of the expiring FISA provisions is shared by the Judiciary and Intelligence committees in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives; the House Committee on the Judiciary and the Senate Committee on the Judiciary held separate public hearings on the reauthorization in September 2019 and November 2019, respectively. Opposition to the call detail records program has led to some Congressional demands that the authority for the program not be renewed. Additional complications hindering reauthorization arose from a report of the US Department of Justice Inspector General finding fault with certain FISA applications in connection with the 2016 presidential campaign, which led some members of Congress to insist on reforms to FISA as a condition of reauthorizing the expiring USA FREEDOM Act provisions.With Congressional attention focused on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States in 2020, the House of Representatives passed a long-term extension of the USA FREEDOM Act on March 11, 2020, just four days before the scheduled expiration of the Act on March 15, 2020, by a wide, bipartisan margin that kept the protections of the Act largely the same. Two months later, in May of 2020, the Senate passed an extension of the Act by an 80-16 vote that expanded some privacy protections, but the Senate version did not include protection of Americans’ internet browsing and search histories from warrantless surveillance, which was proposed by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and failed by one vote.

According to former KGB major Yuri Shvets, donald trump became the target of a joint Czech intelligence services and KGB spying operation after he married Czech model Ivana Zelnickova and was cultivated as an "asset" by Russian intelligence since 1977: "Russian intelligence gained an interest in Trump as far back as 1977, viewing Trump as an exploitable target." Luke Harding writes that documents show Czechoslovakia spied on donald trump during the 1970s and 1980s, when he was married to Ivana Trump, his Czechoslovakia-born first wife. Harding writes that the Czechoslovakian government spied on donald trump because of his political ambitions and notability as a businessman. It is known that there were close ties between Czechoslovakia's StB and the USSR's KGB. Harding also describes how, already since 1987, the Soviet Union was interested in Trump. In his book Collusion, Harding asserts that the "top level of the Soviet diplomatic service arranged his 1987 Moscow visit. With assistance from the KGB." Then-KGB head Vladimir Kryuchkov "wanted KGB staff abroad to recruit more Americans". Harding proceeds to describe the KGB's cultivation process, and posits that they may have opened a file on Trump as early as 1977, when he married Ivana. "According to files in Prague, declassified in 2016, Czech spies kept a close eye on the couple in Manhattan, … [with] periodic surveillance of the trump family in the United States."

donald j. trump and His Republican Allies Allowed the USA PATRIOT ACT/FREEDOM ACT to Expire on March 15, 2020 and They Didn't Reinstate It until May of 2020.

March 2020: SolarWinds's Orion software hotfixes were released to 33,000 Orion customers.Hackers acquired superuser access to SAML token-signing certificates. This SAML certificate was then used to forge new tokens to allow hackers trusted and highly privileged access to networks. The attack used a backdoor in a SolarWinds library; when an update to SolarWinds occurred, the malicious attack would go unnoticed due to the trusted certificate. APT29, aka Cozy Bear, working for the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), was reported to be behind the 2020 attack. Victims of this attack include the cybersecurity firm FireEye, the US Treasury Department, the US Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, as well as the US Department of Homeland Security. Prominent international SolarWinds customers investigating whether they were impacted include the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Parliament, UK Government Communications Headquarters, the UK Ministry of Defence, the UK National Health Service (NHS), the UK Home Office, and AstraZeneca.

December 13, 2020: SolarWinds begins notifying customers, including a post on its Twitter account, “SolarWinds asks all customers to upgrade immediately to Orion Platform version 2020.2.1 HF 1 to address a security vulnerability.”

December 15, 2020 SolarWinds Victims named and timeline moves back — Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Commerce and Treasury Departments, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the National Institutes of Health, and the State Department were all affected. Various security officials and vendors expressed serious dismay that the attack was more widespread and began much earlier than expected. The initial attack date was now pegged to sometime in March 2020, which meant the attack had been underway for months before its detection.

December 17, 2020: New SolarWinds victims revealed — The Energy Department (DOE) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, were publicly named as victims of the attack.

On December 21, 2020, Attorney General William Barr, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence all agreed that Russia was engaged in “a significant and ongoing cybersecurity campaign” against the United States. Russian asset, donald j. trump, immediately replied: “The Cyber Hack is far greater in the Fake News Media than in actuality,” Trump wrote. “I have been fully briefed and everything is well under control. Russia, Russia, Russia is the priority chant when anything happens because Lamestream is, for mostly financial reasons, petrified of discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!).”

March 16, 2020: stock market crash: The the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) falls by 2,997.10, the single largest point drop in history and the second-largest percentage drop ever at 12.93%, an even greater crash than Black Monday (1929). This follows the U.S. Federal Reserve announcing that it will cut its target interest rate to 0–0.25%.

On March 19, 2020, donald trump told journalist Bob Woodward that he was deliberately downplaying the risk when communicating with the public. "I wanted to always play it down," Trump said. "I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic."

On March 24, 2020, donald trump argued that: "We lose thousands and thousands of people a year to the flu … But we've never closed down the country for the flu." On March 27, he stated: "You can call it a flu. You can call it a virus. You know you can call it many different names. I'm not sure anybody even knows what it is."

On March 24, 2020, donald trump declared that "we begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel"; a day later the U.S. surpassed 1,000 COVID-19 deaths.

Throughout March and early April, several state, city, and county governments imposed "stay at home" quarantines on their populations to stem the spread of the virus. By March 26, The New York Times data showed the United States to have the highest number of known cases of any country. By March 27, the country had reported over 100,000 cases.

From March 30 to April 7, 2020, Trump stated on four occasions that COVID-19 would "go away".

On March 31, 2020, contradicting his many previous comparisons of COVID-19 to the flu, Trump said: "It's not the flu … It's vicious". When reporters asked him if his initial dismissive comments on the virus had misled Americans, he replied: "I want to give people a feeling of hope. I could be very negative … You know, I'm a cheerleader for the country." Asked further if he had known—despite his claims that the outbreak was under control—that the situation would turn out so severe, Trump replied: "I thought it could be. I knew everything. I knew it could be horrible, and I knew it could be maybe good."

On November 5, 2024, during the official Election Day, several non-credible bomb threats that originated from Russia briefly disrupted voting in two polling places in Fulton County, Georgia. Both re-opened after about 30 minutes. Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Russian interference was behind the Election Day bomb hoaxes. In a statement, the FBI said it was aware of non-credible bomb threats to polling locations in several states, with many of them originating from Russian email domains. The bomb threats were solely made against Democratic-leaning areas. On the same day, U.S. federal officials again reported that Russian sources were actively engaged in "influence operations", citing disinformation in specific videos that falsely claimed Kamala Harris had taken a bribe and false news stories about the Democratic Party and election fraud in Georgia.

On November 8, 2024 it was reported that one of the Russian email addresses behind Election Day bomb threats was used in June 2024 bomb threats targeting LGBTQ+ events in Massachusetts, Minnesota and Texas.

If you're an American who wants this matter and the anti-American traitors responsible investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice, please contact Democratic Leaders Schumer and Jeffries, Marc Elias and Democracy Docket, and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington regarding enforcing donald j. trump's insurrectionist disqualification and electing Kamala Harris as the 47th President of the United States. If you want this matter investigated and prosecuted, the best person to do it is an experienced criminal prosecutor sitting as the U.S. President.

[magentagalaxies]

"tour of duty" (the filmed version of their 2002 tour) in general is just kind of a bizarre point for kids in the hall that i haven't really talked to any of them about but is hard not to notice when you look at their entire canon. like it's certainly good - there are some tour-original sketches that i highly enjoy and some live versions of filmed sketches that take a fun creative spin on it, but in general things just feel noticeably strange.

buddy cole specifically tells the fur trappers to "fuck off" (buddy very rarely swears and across all the buddy material i've watched for the documentary he's only said "fuck" 3 times across forty years). danny husk wins an award for being a high school vice principal and at&love isn't acknowledged in the bit. the "is he?" sketch has been revised to pack in as many euphemisms for gay as possible, putting the bit on top of another bit. and of course i have my chicken lady thoughts but i don't want to bias anyone else bc i genuinely want to know what your takes are before i share mine.

and again these aren't all bad choices - i think the danny husk vice principal monologue works really well and may not work as well as a different character despite contradicting the Husk Lore™️. but they're all very distinctive choices

idk there's two reasons i personally give for why tour of duty is so strange (to me at least, maybe other people don't notice). the first is that it comes less than 3 years after their other tour-film, the 1999/2000 tour "same guys new dresses" (also available on youtube!) i fucking love SGND and i'll be up front that it's my preferred kith tour video. but part of what makes SGND so special is that it's not just a recording of the live show, it's a full tour documentary following the guys traveling across the country performing together, occasionally showing full sketches but also delving into the stories behind why the sketches played out the way they did. and, sure, sometimes that means cutting out a sketch that i wish i could've seen in full (rip power of the suburbs) but my life is so much better for having seen the "laser eye surgery gossip" or knowing how much drama that goddamn robot-dog-prop caused.

so to then see tour of duty as a straight-up recording of the live show leaves that element of mystery, that we don't get to know why choices were made because we only see the end result. there was a conscious decision not to shoot tour of duty like SGND - the tour doc didn't do well financially, and they also had more of a reason to document that tour since it was their first time working together since the disastrous fallout of "brain candy," and first big national tour since the show ended. the circumstances were just very different

and that's true both personally and politically bc the second suspected reason for tour of duty's weird tone is you can obviously tell 9/11 just happened. two sketches directly reference it - bruce and mark's businessman characters sell scam patriotic products that are all just a rubber band, and buddy cole visits the middle east and ends up having sex with saddam hussein (tho fun fact this concept was written BEFORE 9/11). but the event casts an obvious shadow, especially since both the buddy cole bit and the danny husk monologue were recycled pieces from scott's cancelled one-man-show which was set to debut in new york city on september 19th 2001.

it's also interesting comparing this to SGND. the late 90s are often remembered through rose-tinted glasses due to a generally good economy in the united states and a lot of the social tensions with disenfranchised groups still bubbling under the surface rather than being talked about openly. SGND doesn't reference contemporary events much, but the closure of AT&Love from the KITH finale is undone since the economy has re-entered "rock-on fashion," and buddy cole comments on the Y2K computer bug being underwhelming. (i also went on a super long tangent on how the original show reflected the socioeconomic climate of the 90s but that's a whole other topic i need to go to bed)

i don't know how the KITH feel about "tour of duty." i can't know how much this strangeness was felt for them backstage, and i think in some regards it can only be picked up on as an outsider, albeit an outsider who has watched so much KITH content to know how their work evolved even when not on television. all in all, i'm glad "tour of duty" exists and even the swings that didn't really land for me are still admirable as creative choices.

it's also cool to analyze as someone who has now been to a KITH live show over 2 decades later and got to see those behind-the-scenes conversations play out. the bellini benefit also featured a lot of strangeness, caused by a limited rehearsal schedule and one of the cast members being unable to attend due to illness, but they absolutely exceeded these limitations to put on a very fun show. we did film the performance and rehearsals and that show is going to be released eventually (i'm not in charge of it but the person who is also works on the buddy cole doc so i'm involved). i don't know if it's going to be presented more like SGND or tour of duty or something completely different, but it'll be cool to be part of KITH live show canon

[lillygooddae]

[siconetribal]

Beyond the Bookshelves (5)

Pairing: Loki x Reader

Warnings: Anger, Tension, Somebody's in big trouble

Summary: You’re a Resource Management Specialist at S.H.I.E.L.D. normally referred to as “The Librarian”. You’ve been assigned the nightmarish task of digitizing all the physical resources currently owned by the agency, with a few new computers and one extra helper.

A/N: Sorry this took too long. I had a lot of work to catch up on post Covid-19. I hope you enjoy!

Please comment/like/reblog. If you’d like to be tagged moving forward, please let me know! (If I missed ant tags, please let me know, I'll add you right away!)

The lovely banners used in this fic are from @cafekitsune.

If you’re new to the story, please check out the master post for the rest of the chapters.

The golden sun gave way to evening shadows as time ticked onwards. Loki sat crouched in the bushes, breath heavy, sweat dripping down the sides of his face, and blue eyes scanning the dark dense foliage surrounding him, looking for any signs of his opponent. His heart was pounding against his chest in a rhythm that seemed far too loud in the silence. Seconds felt like hours as he waited. The distant rustle of branches had him holding his breath. They were close.

“You search East, I’ll go West, and you go North.” The voice was just loud enough to make out the instructions. “They have to be in here somewhere.”

“He’s a lot harder to find than I thought.” The other grumbled. The heavy weight of reluctance was music to Loki’s ears.

“I told you he was not someone to take lightly. He was trained in warfare and is a master strategist, quick on his feet.”

“Yeah, yeah, I heard you, Goldilocks! You sing his praises to the high heavens every time you get.”

“Tony,” the leader, Captain America, hissed loudly. “Lower your voice, or you’ll end up giving us away.” The silence that followed was enough to let Loki know that the method of communication had changed.

I must get in touch with the Snowflake and hawk. He quietly slipped through the trees until he was able to see at least one of them. The tin man. Loki eyed the bright red and gold suit as it moved forward. He could easily take him down now, proving he was able to handle it on his own. But that would lead to failure in this practice. A frown tugged at his lips as he continued to the meeting point.

“Were you able to find them?” Clint’s voice came from above. The younger prince looked up to see him perched on a tree branch.

“Yes, they’ve spread out to find us to the North of us. The overly patriotic leader is heading West, my brother to the East, and the Tin Man further North.” 

“The element of surprise is ours if we work together. Who is the closest?” Bucky stood up from the rock he was sitting on.

“The Tin Man relies heavily on his suit to scan the surrounding area, we can use that as a means to lure him into a trap. The next best target would be the Star Soldier, leaving Thor for last if we wish to go with the quickest route. It would be unwise to prolong any fights to preserve our strength.”

“They’ve got strength and firepower, but they don’t take terrain into account. We can use that to our advantage.” Clint hopped down to join them. “Tony first?” The other two nodded their heads.

The blaring sound of an alarm echoed through the room as the forest that once surrounded time vanished, revealing the large empty hanger where the training session took place. The computer voice announced the winning team of the exercise, much to the chagrin of Tony Stark.

“Beginner’s luck,” he grumbled as Captain America and Thor openly congratulated Loki, Clint, and Bucky for a job well done. 

“If that’s the case, I’m on his ‘beginner’ team from now on. I’ll never have to worry about losing.” Clint snickered. “That can’t have been just an hour, though. How long did that run?” He frowned, looking up at the holographic screen that displayed the details.

“Four hours?” Thor raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“That took a lot longer than we anticipated, but it was a good session.” Steve let out a slow whistle. “I’ll need to read through the notes for the meetings I’ve missed.”

“Anyone who had a meeting will be stuck reading.” Bucky heaved out a heavy sigh at the boring task. As Clint and Tony contributed to the conversation, Loki silently stared at the times listed. Something about it bothered him, like a constant nudge at the back of his mind begging to be identified. 

What’s wrong with any of it? The start time is correct, and the duration adds up to the end time. I don't have as many meetings for the next couple of days due to the changes in mission plans. What could I possibly be missing? The small dips at the corners of his lips grew into a proper frown, his eyebrows knitting together. There was something he was missing.

“Well done everyone, that was an excellent session. I’ll send out the details for reviewing the footage with the rest of the Avengers on a later date.” The lead trainer’s voice came over the speakers.

“Sounds good, looking forward to it.” Steve waved to the control window before leading them all out.

“Loki, aren’t you coming?” He nearly snapped at Thor for breaking his thoughts. He was moments away from realizing what was nagging at him, but it was lost to now.

“Coming,” he followed the rest of them out. What could I have possibly forgotten?

Y/N glanced at the clock for the umpteenth time. According to the schedule she had, Loki was supposed to be here over two hours ago. It was nearing three, and she was growing more and more irritated with the lack of respect.

If there was some kind of emergency, they would’ve announced it right away. Sure, training can run over by a couple of minutes or even an hour, but three? Is this his way of telling me to eff off? That he hates me for whatever reason? Which I don’t even know why he would! He's the one that's been ignoring me! I thought being raised as a prince comes with etiquette training, was common decency removed from that curriculum or was he trained to be a prickly porcupine? There has to be something, Thor didn't ignore me, he even admitted that Loki was better at devising a plan! But I highly doubt that claim right now.

She hit the refresh button on her email for the hundredth time, another desperate attempt to give him a chance to explain, only to find no response waiting to be read. She would give him a piece of her mind the next time she saw him. That handsome face grew more devilish with each passing minute of no response.

“I get that the task isn't a top priority, but a sliver of decency and respect for your coworker would be nice! I rank above him for crying out loud!” She forced her hand to let go of the computer mouse or else it would have been the victim of her frustration, smashed into the desk or thrown at the closest wall. “Deep breaths, Y/LN, deep breaths. There is clearly a logical explanation, and he will tell you all about it the next time he is available. Things happen, not everyone checks their emails all the time. After he explains himself, I'll ask for his and Thor’s numbers for future contact.” 

The ring of the door was music to her ears. A much-needed distraction was here, and she could now avoid self-imploding and over thinking.

“I'll be right there!” She put on her best smile and shoved everything else into the chest at the back of her mind. There was nothing she could do except wait. Putting her best foot forward, she stepped out of her office to greet the patron. 

“Librarian.” Her smile nearly dropped through the floor at the smooth, accented voice. There was only one person she knew with that voice, and he was at the top of her hit list right now. 

“Loki, how nice of you to finally arrive.” She tried to sound as pleasant as possible. She would finally know what happened. Yes, any minute now I’ll know it all. Any second, he's going to just open up. Floodgates bursting open, telling me exactly why he came so late, which’ll explain the lack of notifying me sooner.  She silently stared at him, expecting him to respond. Nothing came. When he turned away, she quickly spoke up. “Well?”

“Well what?”

“Don’t you have something to say to me?”

“No, why would I have something to say to you?” The raising of one eyebrow and the slight scoff she heard in his tone was the last straw.

“The library is closed, leave.” She pulled the last bit of her calmness to avoid trouble.

“No it isn’t, it’s open until,” she cut him off at his haughty tone.

“Until I say it is. This library runs on my command. I say it’s closed, now get out.” She forcibly turned him around and pushed him towards the doors.

“That is arbitrary and,”

“Oh, now you have plenty to say? Maybe you can take this time to think about what you should be saying to me. Breathe some air and touch some grass, or smack your head against a wall, I don’t care what you do! Whatever it is, it can’t be here. End of discussion.” She gave one last shove to force him to step over the threshold. “Oh, and don't bother coming back until you’ve finally remembered. You’re hereby banned until further notice. Good day, sir.” She slammed the door shut in his face and sharply turned on her heel, stomping back to her desk. “Jarvis, you heard me. Loki is banned from the library until I say so. I don’t care if he’s poofing in or climbing through a duct, you alert me right away and tell him to leave or else he will be forcibly removed.” The nerve of him to just blatantly disregard my time and forget his promise! I may have asked for his assistance, but he agreed on his own accord!

“Understood,” the computer voice responded. “Loki, the second prince of Asgard and Avenger, are forbidden from entering the library until cleared by Director Y/LN, the Librarian.”

Tags: @vbecker10 @huntress-artemiss @softestqueeen @thegodofnotknowing @princess-ofthe-pages @firedrakegirl @rcailleachcola @cabingrlandrandomcrap @lotrefcp @lwtannie @jainaeatsstars @msdjsg7 @tom-hlover @kneelingformyloki @gruftiela @gigglingtiggerv2 @kats72 @mischief2sarawr

[humanityissstrange]

When the aliens found earth, there were several factions, but it took decades to realize the heads of every faction were puppets, propped up to give the illusion of choice.

Pick your factions, pick your puppeteers, pick your driving motivations as you please, but there's only one group of puppeteers, regardless of how diametrically opposed the factions appear to be.

The Religious, supposedly many groups, supposedly holding no lands, but holding majority sway in many of the most violent and impoverished countries, with their congregations just doing what they were told in the name of God/the gods/ancestors/karma or whatever the local group espoused, and their leaders answering to a hierarchy that was either secretly supplanted by or outright created by one institution in particular, founded by an emperor from the butchered corpses of the religions of his day, and predating most forms of technology beyond basic metallurgy. Violent extremists ready to die for their cause embedded in nearly every nation ensure that none move against their interests too strongly.

The Structured, who have rigid societal systems that may or may not allow transitions between castes, and pursue efficiency and predictability. Those in the upper tiers fight amongst themselves viciously while their lessers cling doggedly to patriotic purpose, medicate themselves into a non-sapient haze, or kill themselves. Often all three, in that order. Their soldiers are generally brainwashed and their leaders are entirely unconcerned with collateral. After all, what use is the machine they have mounted with such effort, if not to build what they wish, and destroy what opposes them?

The Free, a rabid mob led by feelings and a constant stream of peer pressure from their omnipresent technology, that spends their time decrying the latest in the chain of liars to lead them and violently attacking one another over their perceived differences rather than questioning why their ballots only ever feature liars, or finding ways to do better. While it is near impossible to prevent the transmission of information in a technological society, it is incredibly easy to drown it in refuse and ridicule anyone who dares look at it. It is hard to stop the river of human consciousness, but shockingly easy to dye and divert it as one pleases, so long as you don't need precision.

The Profiteers, an alliance of less ignorant and more amoral members of most nations, and owners of a few. They ask one question in response to any and every thing to ail their fellows. "Now how can this be used to benefit me?" Bankers, corporate shareholders, political leaders, media personalities and mid-level religious figures all fall within this category, none hold to the ideals of their place, but are allowed to go on because they smooth logistics and are very effective saboteurs if ousted. They play symbiont to the upper echelons and parasite to the lower, which positions them as easy scapegoats should any of the chattel ever decide that enough is enough, and resort to violence.

The Equals, only ever scavengers feeding on the carrion of profiteers who overstayed their welcome, they rapidly self-destruct or transition to Structured or Free as soon as their twice-stolen wealth runs low, while their leaders abscond with whatever remained to join the Profiteers instead.

Three billion people, divided amongst these groups, according to our analytical algorithms connected to their Internet.

The "reset" a cyclic purge of population prevented them from growing too numerous, and after we saw the results, we asked the computer who or what ensured the reset would happen.

Twelve hundred people not in any category was the answer. Not mentioned on the Internet, no papers of identification, just inferred from holes in the information.

They did not rule anywhere, nor were they known to the public. But the ones who did rule, the ones at the head of every faction, answered to them.

Bored monsters, selectively bred for intelligence, not empathy, and trained from birth to see themselves as superior. The world as their sandbox, wargaming against one another to keep themselves sharp.

[darkmaga-returns]

By Madge Waggy MadgeWaggy.blogspot.com

December 30, 2024

According to Steven Overly From: www.politico.com The freakout moment that set journalist Byron Tau on a five-year quest to expose the sprawling U.S. data surveillance state occurred over a “wine-soaked dinner” back in 2018 with a source he cannot name.

The tipster told Tau the government was buying up reams of consumer data — information scraped from cellphones, social media profiles, internet ad exchanges and other open sources — and deploying it for often-clandestine purposes like law enforcement and national security in the U.S. and abroad. The places you go, the websites you visit, the opinions you post — all collected and legally sold to federal agencies.

I’m going to alert you to what many are considering to be on of the worst doomsday scenarios for free American patriots. One that apparently not many are prepping for, or even seem to care about.

By now everybody knows that the government ‘alphabet agencies’ including mainly the NSA have been methodically collecting data on us. Everything we do, say, buy and search on the internet will be on permanent data base file by next year. All phone calls now are computer monitored, automatically recorded and stored with certain flag/trigger words (in all languages).

As technology improves, every single phone call will be entirely recorded at meta-data bases in government computer cloud storage, when ‘They’ finish the huge NSA super spy center in Utah. Which means they will be available anytime authorities want to look them up and personally listen for any information reference to any future investigation. Super computer algorithms will pin point search extrapolations of ANY relationship to the target point.

You can rest uneasily, but assured, that in the very near future when a cop stops you and scans your driver license into his computer, he will know anything even remotely ’suspicious’ or ’questionable’ about ALL the recent activities and behavior in your life he chooses to focus upon!

This is the ‘privacy apocalypse’ coming upon us. And you need to know these five devices that you can run to protect your privacy, but you can’t hide from.

When Security Overlaps Freedom