Oh yeah, we're supposed to believe that there were rogue actors -- in a Consulate?
We're also suppose to believe those "rogue actors" were present and did their thing while in the presence of people known to be connected at a high level to MbS? Because, you see, there were such people there.
I'm sure the nice private plane bringing some of them in -- and then back out -- was just a coincidence too. Tail numbers aren't exactly secret, nor where they go.
Or the latest horsecrap run late yesterday -- that he was "accidentally" killed in a "fight"?
Let me guess -- the presence of a bone saw and him being cut up and disposed of instead of the death during the fight being reported was also an accident? Or maybe we're supposed to believe that if someone decides to try cutting off your fingers you would not fight -- right?
Now we're adding lying to the mix I see.
Of course the screamfest about our "national interest" has been loud and long. Meh. **** that, **** Iran, and **** the Sauds.
Where is the "concern" for our national interest caused by the Sauds spreading their Wahhabi bull**** all over the world for the last 30+ years? Anyone remember that little problem and what it's done to Americans -- over 3,000 dead, I do believe, and that's not counting the faux wars we got involved in as a result of the lies out of the so-called "great religion of pieces."
Fox has an interesting article up on the so-called "balances" involved here. Again, I say meh.
This is what happens when you coddle jackasses over decades and let them get away with both spreading Wahhabi bull**** and promoting Sharia in all its forms. Let's cut the crap on this eh -- anyone who ascribes "greatness" to someone who thinks marrying six year olds and screwing them when they're nine or ten -- when the chief pedophile was 53 is a sick **** -- period.
Oh by the way the very same people claim that this child******victim then went on to tell other people how to behave and we should take her word for it too -- she's credited with, allegedly, something like 2,000 hadiths.
Incidentally it was she that started the veiling, that is, the taking of women as effective slaves of men -- if you believe the so-called "scriptures" of the faith. For those who argue that we should all "coexist" if you're a woman I assert that you're certifiably psychotic.
So here we are with a group of barbarians -- which (big ****ing shock) has a monarch and a son who thinks he can do whatever the hell he wants. Up to and including, it appears, cutting off people's fingers, murdering them with a saw and disposing of the pieces to try to prevent anyone from figuring it out.
Too bad some people figured it out, eh? I guess blowing up 3,000 people and getting away with that tends to embolden.
And by the way, there is one solid point in all of these articles written on this over the last week or so -- don't point fingers at Republicans if you're a Demoncrap. Syria is the direct result of Obama's bull**** which has led to a half-million deaths, mostly civilians, and all of them are on your bloody ****ing fingers Demoncraps.
Screw them all, says I. Embargo Saudi oil and bar them from all FedWire/Dollar transactions. At the same time, no parts or service assistance for you on all those nice weapons -- for openers. The so-called "kingdom" would last all about a month was that to be done and we should do it -- here and now.
Do I personally give a **** if Iran "fills the gap"? Not a bit. These savages want to fight, let 'em fight. Make damn clear, however, that one American that gets shot, blasted, nuked or otherwise beyond their borders and we're not going to talk, we're not going to sanction we're going to flatten a city of our choice per American harmed.
Make it explicit, clear, and yes, odds are high you won't be able to walk on that land for a thousand years.
We should have done exactly that the day after 9/11.
Enough from the camel-****ers.
And by the way we'll be just fine oil-wise. We have fracking now and if we get off our ass we can completely replace all existing oil resource requirements (and no, not with electric or any other such pie-in-the-sky nonsense either) before the fracking runs out. We can solve the problem for the next 500 years. I've written on this before in terms of energy policy -- years before. Go look it up.
Thermostats know the temperature of your house, and smart cameras and sensors know when someone’s walking around your home. Smart assistants know what you’re asking for, and smart doorbells know who’s coming and going. And thanks to the cloud, that data is available to you from anywhere — you can check in on your pets from your phone or make sure your robot vacuum cleaned the house.
Because the data is stored or accessible by the smart home tech makers, law enforcement and government agencies have increasingly sought data from the companies to solve crimes.
And device makers won’t say if your smart home gadgets have been used to spy on you.
So why do you buy them when there is an alternative?
Because there is.
Let's say you as an entrepreneur (or larger firm) acquire HomeDaemon-MCP and retail it, either directly or via distributors and installers -- or both.
Then let's say for the sake of argument the government comes banging on your door with a subpoena for one of your customers and wants to know when people came and went to and from their house.
Tough ****.
Why?
Because you don't and never did have the data.
You can't provide what you don't have.
The state of the user's house, what happens in the house, when motion was last seen in the living room, when the thermostat was last changed, what it was set to, why it was set there, who did it, when the garage was last opened and closed, what video was seen by the camera(s) in the house at whatever time, when the smart front door was opened and with what (key, code, etc) -- none of that data ever goes anywhere except to the user's handheld device or PC signed in via the web interface.
There is no notification channel through the cloud, so there's nothing to intercept.
There is no data stored in the cloud or on the company's devices, and thus nothing can be subpoenaed.
The only thing present is the client's license certificate data. Ok, so the government can learn you bought a copy of the software and it's on a subscription model that runs for the next year. Whoopie-de-doo-dah.
Oh, one of the devices noted in the referenced article, August, is a smart-lock that HomeDaemon will talk to. I strongly recommend that once you set it up you delete the app from your phone, because the unit needs the phone to talk to the cloud since it has Bluetooth in it but not WiFi and thus can't "get out" to tattle on you once you kill the app. Nevermind that I specifically don't recommend the unit in the first place for other reasons, including most-seriously crappy supervision of manual operations compared against even the lowliest Kwikset comparable deadbolt. Yeah, in my view you're better off with the Kwikset (never mind it has no built-in spying capabilities.)
Two years ago, former U.S. director of national intelligence James Clapper said the government was looking at smart home devices as a new foothold for intelligence agencies to conduct surveillance. And it’s only going to become more common as the number of internet-connected devices spread. Gartner said more than 20 billion devices will be connected to the internet by 2020.
That which is not collected can't be subpoenaed and I built HomeDaemon-MCP specifically to not need or use, ever, any sort of cloud or other outside resource. It runs entirely autonomously and communicates over SSL using PFS when possible on the user's device, encrypting all data flows using high-security public keying. All data flows only to and from the owner of the installation in question and never to anyone else except as he or she directs. The only data the company would ever have on its customers is who licensed the software from them and whether it's operational because it's checking renewal of its license -- and that's the beginning and end of it. Further if there is reason to suspect the keying has been compromised the customer (or firm) can request that the certificate be revoked and reissued and thus rekeying can be done in minutes if not seconds on demand.
So who wants to make a billion dollars disrupting this industry by being the company that CANNOT comply with such a demand for perfectly-legal reasons whether the government likes it or not because you don't have the data being demanded!
Look to the right and email me.
Come and get it! Nice poured-media piece ready to hang and enjoy -- email kairia.rocks@gmail.com now to put this on your wall tomorrow.
It's happening again.
The MegaMillions jackpot has reached nearly a billion dollars. Well, sort of.
Of course the real figure isn't the published one, because that's the "25 year annuity" value -- not the cash price. Like virtually everything these days fraud is part of the model and since it's government committing the fraud nobody cares. Neither you or I would get away with claiming $600 million was nearly a billion, but government will -- and does.
Yes, the real cash amount is still a hell of a lot of money -- don't get me wrong.
But the odds of winning are roughly 1 in 300 million, and what's worse is that with taxes out the game just became more-positive on an investment basis in the last few days. Not positive mind you, since the ticket is $2 instead of $1.
Or did it?
No, because the odds of multiple winners go up too and without knowing how many tickets have been sold, which is not disclosed before you buy a ticket you cannot quantify that risk.
In fact the game is designed to never become cash-investment positive as half the money received goes to the states participating and not into the pot; ergo you would have to have an extraordinarily improbable run of no-winners beyond where the cumulative odds of a sold winning ticket are well beyond 1.0 in order for that to happen -- a set of improbabilities that exceed that of you being personally hit by an asteroid in your lifetime.
The Lottery is often called a "stupidity tax" but that's really a misnomer. Instead it's just another example of people selling hope to those who have none.
There are rational people who do occasionally (or even regularly) play with money they can afford to lose. They recognize that the odds suck, they're almost-certain not to win and indeed even when it looks like the money odds are ok they're in fact not and yet they don't care. That's fine.
But for those of less means it's a different story. Many of them play with money they cannot afford to lose and they are suckered into the game by a dream and the lack of full, fair disclosure.
In a rational world we would call this what it is -- fraud -- and jail the people involved.