Yesterday (Friday Jan. 6th 2017) around 1pm, the Department of National Intelligence released their declassified report (PDF) on the Russian hacking story or the Russian “influence” story that has been taking shape here in the States surrounding Hillary Clinton’s crash and burn presidential campaign of 2016.

At about the same time, a man got off a plane in Florida and took a gun from his checked bag and opened fire on people in the baggage claim area of an airport, emptying 3 clips before lying down on the ground and waiting to be arrested. That man claimed earlier that the CIA had been trying to force him to watch “ISIS” videos.

Each and every page of the declassified report contains in the top header an official disclaimer of sorts which reads:

“This report is a declassified version of a highly classified assessment; its conclusions are identical to those in the highly classified assessment but this version does not include the full supporting information on key elements of the influence campaign.”

Key here is the fact that the report contains no facts. None. Zip. Zilch. No evidence reported in the report whatsoever.

Also key is the word “assessment” and in the beginning of the declassified report, they take the time to explain that term:

“When Intelligence Community analysts use words such as “we assess” or “we judge,” they are conveying an analytic assessment or judgment. Some analytic judgments are based directly on collected information; others rest on previous judgments, which serve as building blocks in rigorous analysis“

“(O)thers rest on previous judgments”. Got that? No evidence reported in this report and they tell you right off the bat that in all likelihood, this “assessment” is based on “previous” assessment, which as we all know, were bullshit. “Grizzly steppe” anyone?

Buried deep in various articles about the release we find a little rational thought on this release. That of course is buried under tons of regurgitated, unsubstantiated accusations leveled at Vladamir Putin, Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks.

The report contains scant information on attribution
That may not be enough for some critics, who have been publicly calling on the intelligence community to release more information explaining how it linked hacking operations to Russia” The Verge

“Some critics” may not find their baseless accusations to be “enough” to jump on the New McCarthyism bandwagon. How unfortunate. But apparently the Verge doesn’t mind Megaphoning Mockingbird fake news:

“The report also publicly names Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks.com, two sources of stolen information released to the public, as Russian operatives working on behalf of the country’s military intelligence unit, the GRU.” The Verge

This “intelligence” report is not a report. If you produced something like this in high school for your final essay in your political science class, you would be given an “F” because it is baseless and throws around completely unsubstantiated, antagonist accusations without a single shred of evidence to support any of it.

Not only that, but it’s apparent foundation is the lies and deception that has come before it. Talk about building a castle in a swamp.

Yet, the media is out there right now, on both sides of the artificial divide, reporting on this bloated Red Scare propaganda effort as if it is the gold standard in U.S. intelligence efforts.

Unfortunately, it is. And that says a lot about our “intel” services today.

Hillary Clinton lost to the most unpopular presidential candidate in U.S. history because she was a corrupt war-mongering fake leftist running on a base of fear-mongering and lies. Her career of corruption lost her the election, not Vladamir Putin.

She stole the nomination from Bernie Sanders, a FACT that was exposed by the DNC LEAK (not “hack”)

She had the general election won after that ridiculous video of Trump talking about “grabbing women by the pussy” came out and yet she still managed to lose when the Director of the FBI announced they had found a laptop in the possession of Anthony Weiner that had all her erased emails still on it. That’s when she finally lost.

Are we to believe James Comey is also a Russian agent?

The reality is, this disinformation campaign is being run for two reasons: to keep the new cold war of the New McCarthyism alive and well and … to exonerate the establishment’s candidate, Hillary Clinton, of the crimes she committed which were exposed during her campaign.

In all likelihood, the original emails released by Guccifer and published by Wikileaks came from our own intelligence services. Wikileaks is, after all, a psyop conducted by them.

And in case anyone forgot, the slow drip, drip, drip of emails released during the entirety of the general election process were coming from the FBI… not Guccifer 2.0, not DCLeaks and not Vladamir Putin.

Are we to assume the FBI is also an agent for the Kremlin?

This is the most ridiculous historical rewrite I have witnessed from our government in quite sometime and I have to wonder about the shooting down here in Florida that just happened to take place an hour before the release of this baseless drivel being spoon fed to willing apologists in the corporate media.

Not only was it released on a Friday afternoon in order to kill it in the news cycle… but it also just HAPPENED to coincide with YET ANOTHER mass casualty event featuring a guy with ABSOLUTELY NO MOTIVE and one this time who says he had been receiving messages from the CIA to watch “ISIS” propaganda videos.

CIA? Mentioned in his story? And the CIA “intelligence” report… all on the same day?

Makes you think, doesn’t it? Or… does it? It’s pretty damn obvious and takes a highly “educated” form of journalist to miss it.

Desembarco del Granma National Park, with its uplifted marine terraces and associated ongoing development of karst topography and features, represents a globally significant example of geomorphologic and physiographic features and ongoing geological processes. The area, which is situated in and around Cabo Cruz in south-east Cuba, includes spectacular terraces and cliffs, as well as some of the most pristine and impressive coastal cliffs bordering the western Atlantic.

Brief Synthesis

Desembarco del Granma National Park (DGNP) is situated in the Southwestern tip of Cuba, and more specifically in the municipalities of Niquero and Pilon in Granma Province. The property lies within the tectonically active zone between the Caribbean and the North American Plate and conserves the limestone terraces of Cabo Cruz at the western end of the Sierra Maestra Mountains. A series of these elevated terraces extends from 180 meters below to 360 meters above sea level. The total surface area is 32,576 ha, of which 26,180 ha are terrestrial and 6,396 ha marine area, respectively, with a terrestrial buffer zone of 9,287 ha.

The marine limestone terraces were formed by tectonic uplift and sea level fluctuations triggered by past climate change. Their number and height is as remarkable as their good conservation status. The little-disturbed landscape – and seascape – offers a wide spectrum of karst phenomena, such as giant sinkholes, cliffs, canyons and caves.

Criterion (vii): The terraces of Cabo Cruz form a singular coastal landscape in Cuba and are the world’s largest and best preserved coastal limestone terrace system. The imposing and nearly pristine coastal cliffs bordering the Western Atlantic are both a remarkable natural phenomenon and a stunningly beautiful sight. Jointly with the diverse, mostly native vegetation, the cliffs form an extraordinary visual ensemble of forms, contours, color and texture within a spectacular coastal setting.

Criterion (viii): The uplifted marine terraces of DGNP, and the continuing development of karst topography and features, are a globally significant illustration of geomorphologic and physiographic features and ongoing geological processes. DGNP displays a rare relief formed by the combination of tectonic movements in the still active contact zone between two tectonic plates and the effects of past sea level change in response to climate fluctuations. The karst forms include escarpments, cliffs, cave systems, river canyons and large sinkholes known as dolines in most diverse sizes and shapes.

Integrity

The boundaries of DGNP encompass the intact limestone terraces system both on land and in the sea. The property thereby contains a full array of associated geological phenomena and features. It also provides for the conservation of valuable plant and animal species, both terrestrial and marine, some of which are restricted to the property in their global distribution. The design of the marine and coastal portion comprises the coral reef of Cabo Cruz, as well as sea grass beds and mangroves. The legislative framework assures a prominent position for national parks in Cuba and a high degree of protection.

Despite the overall naturalness of the property there are localized impacts of past logging in the semi-deciduous forests north of the highest terraces, which occurred between around 1940 and 1980. These areas have since left to recover naturally. An old forest road, quarries used prior to inscription and small abandoned agricultural plots are all likewise in the process of recovery.

While recognized on the World Heritage List primarily for its landscape beauty and geology, DGNP also hosts noteworthy biodiversity values. More than 500 plant species have been recorded in what may still be an incomplete inventory. Around sixty percent of the known plants are endemic. Twelve species are only to be found within the DGNP making the property one of the centres of floral endemism within Cuba. The documentation of terrestrial fauna includes 13 mammals, 110 birds, 44 reptiles and seven amphibians. The degree of endemism for reptiles and amphibians is in the range of a remarkable 90 %. The marine areas are home to coral formations while mangrove stands are found along the shores.

Within DGNP there are noteworthy archaeological sites, including ceremonial caves and squares of the original indigenous inhabitants. Numerous sites containing petroglyphs, pictographs and artifacts left by Taina potters, and even pre-agrarian, pre-pottery making cultures, are spread across the property. In the more recent history, in 1956, the ship “Granma” embarked here after its journey from Mexico, starting a chain of events which changed the history of the country. The ship gave the province, the property and the national park its name.

The very existence of the national park, explicitly designed to exclude any man-made changes to the terraces and the landscape, is a sound basis for the maintenance of the geological and aesthetic values of DGNP. The biodiversity values, however, require active attention in the face of anticipated climate change, existing and possible further introductions of alien invasive species, feral animals and possible future pressure from visitation. In the case of the relatively small marine area it is clear that the integrity of the reefs and seegrass beds and its associated species will also depend on the management of fisheries and waste management outside of the property.

Protection and management requirements

DGNP is a unit of the National Protected Areas System of the Republic of Cuba. Building upon much earlier conservation efforts going back at least into the 1970s, DGNP was granted the status of National Park in 1986 by Ministerial Resolution. It became the first national park in Cuba’s conservation history. Originally covering a smaller area, it was later extended to encompass what is today the World Heritage property. For as long as the strong conservation status remains in place the most significant threats to the site, including inhabitants and staff, may well be natural disasters, such as hurricanes and sea floods.

The entire property is owned by the government, represented by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA). DGNP is managed by the National Enterprise for Flora and Fauna Protection (ENPFF), which operates under the auspices of the CITMA and is administered by the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI). Besides applicable protected areas legislation, the Law on Environment, the Decree-Law on Forest Heritage and Wild Fauna and specific stipulations related to Environmental Impact Assessments form the crucial legislative framework.

Since the establishment of the national park management is based on periodic five-year plans, which are implemented through annual operating plans. The latter define operational programmes and projects. The main objectives are the conservation of the maintenance of the integrity of DGNP, cooperation with communities adjacent to and within the property, and the promotion of responsible forms of tourism allowing visitation, recreation and education without compromising the conservation values.

In order to enforce applicable legislation and to achieve the conservation objectives, DGNP has trained technical, administrative and ranger staff. There is one head office located in Belic and four secondary centres distributed across the park, as well as a boat for marine patrolling. Funding needs to be ensured permanently to secure positions and to cover operational costs.

The focus of management is put on conservation, public use and ecosystem restoration in forested areas which have been affected by past logging and agriculture. Local resource use within the property occurs mostly in the marine areas, in particular by residents of the fishing community of Cabo Cruz, which is situated within DGNP. Fishing and extraction of other marine resources by local and external users requires monitoring to keep harvesting levels in line with productivity.

Alien invasive species pose a particular threat, as is well-known from island settings. Some woody species are reported to be an obstacle to natural regeneration of degraded forest areas. While management addresses this through an active nursery and reforestation program, eventually the reduction and, if possible, eradication should be sought. In terms of invasive animal species, including specimen of feral livestock, the situation appears to be manageable due to the extreme environmental conditions, the rugged relief and the property’s and naturalness all of which jointly discourage colonization by invasives. Still, invasive species require monitoring and, if needed, management responses.

There is little doubt that the tourism potential of DGNP exceeds the current use. While this constitutes an opportunity for future funding it also implies very real risks to DGNP, for example in terms of infrastructure, disturbance and waste management. 

I love this moment! 🤣 In fact, this was from around 6 months BEFORE the film came out, but the reaction of Rich Evans is very telling! particularly given how the film turned out. I’ve not even seen Batman Versus Superman: Dawn of Justice, nor The Justice League, but obviously the prior works of Chris Terrio sent shock waves through the Red Letter Media camp! 🙃

‘It’ tells a story of seven eleven-year-olds who face an ancient evil entity they call ‘It.’ Along with their daily social and family problems, the Losers club defeats It sending him to sleep. Twenty-seven years later, It awakens, and the group of once children fight the monster in one last attempt to kill it for good. Stephen King’s ‘It’ showed that there is always a triumph of good over evil.

In my view, many parts of Stephen King’s ‘It’ showed the transcendence of each member of the Losers as they left childhood into adulthood. For most people, the depiction of the members of the Losers club having an orgy marked the point they lost their innocence.

However, other events come to life that showed each member losing the elements of childhood in a specific way. For one, each member had a different fear as an adult. This, in itself, showed that they had gone beyond the point of being scared as little children. Another worthy event that marked members of the Losers club losing their innocence was their thinking. Bill felt the selfish thoughts of him using the rest of the club to get revenge was something only adults thought. One could say Bill had lost his innocence at that point.

Another feature noticed in the book is the victory of good over evil. One may think that the only problems the Losers club faced were ‘It’ and the Bowers gang, but the fact stands that the members of the Losers club had family and personal problems.

Throughout the story, each member of the Losers club faced hardship, and those hardships made them stronger. For Bill, him having to watch his parents become a shadow of themselves after they lost George was a cross he had to bear. For Beverly, it was having to withstand being abused by her father and husband. For Ben, being mocked for his obesity was a burden on him. For Eddie, it was facing his controlling mother, who didn’t want him to have anything to do with his friends. In the end, the suffering and hardships each member of the Losers club faced gave them the strength to triumph over evil.

‘It’ is a book that has a heavy impact on its reader. The book shows a town in a post-WWII era where bleakness and death reign. The horror of Derry is synonymous with the problems of society today. According to Christopher Lehman-Haupt of The New York Times.

It concerns the evil that has haunted America from time to time in the forms of crime, racial and religious bigotry, economic hardship, labor strife, and industrial pollution.

Though ‘It’ is a lengthy book with over a thousand pages, reading the book ignites curiosity to know what happens next. Stephen King’s innate detailed writing and events expression makes a reader engrossed in the book. It becomes as if one were in the same place at the same time with each character, one can feel the fear of the characters as each action is detailed. In my opinion ‘It’ is an excellent book worth the time.

Constants and variables – a high-brow theme of Bioshock Infinite, but one that’s just as appropriate for The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. In the land of Hyrule there’s always a princess, always a boyish hero, always dungeons to explore, gadgets to explore them with and always an overworld, full of monsters, magic and surprises, linking the whole shebang together.

In this, the latest Zelda is no different from any other. But then those variables come into play. On one level, like the New Super Mario Bros. games, A Link Between Worlds uses 3D graphics and recent technology to return to the 2D roots of a series. On another, it’s surprisingly innovative, taking risks with the established Zelda structure and finding out what happens when you do. Put it all together and you have one of the strongest games on the 3DS, or on any other handheld platform you could mention.

A Link Between Worlds has one specific vintage Zelda in its sights, and that’s the 1992 SNES classic A Link to the Past. It has the same top-down view, a broadly similar game world and is explicitly set up as a successor, though the hero, Link, and the princess, Zelda, are – as usual – not exactly the same people they were before.

It’s also styled in much the same way, with similar scenery, architecture and monsters, and a look that’s effectively what A Link to the Past might have resembled if it was being rendered in 3D on reasonably modern hardware. The aesthetic doesn’t have the charm and grace of the cartoon visuals of the Wind Waker HD, as used in The Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks on the old DS, and we can’t really say that we’re fond of Link’s latest look. Yet this style turns out to have some major plus points, which we’ll come to later.

The tale begins in the way so many Zeldas start; with an urgent summons and a critical event that drags Link into contact with an evil power: this time an art-obsessed sorcerer named Yuga. Yuga is busy transforming the Sages that defend Hyrule into feeble paintings, and is only too happy to do the same for Link should he get in the way. Luckily, his plan backfires, giving Link the ability to transform at will into a 2D drawing that can wander along walls and past 3D obstacles. Armed with this power and every tool at his disposal, Link must find three magic pendants and then claim the ultimate weapon – the Master Sword.

So far, so standard Zelda, albeit with a unique twist. Yet right from the start A Link Between Worlds starts to mix things up. Most Zelda games have a strict structure, where you journey through Hyrule to a dungeon, find a new piece of equipment, use the new kit to reach and then defeat the dungeon boss, and then use it to explore new areas and reach the next dungeon. Not so A Link Between Worlds. Now nearly all the equipment you need is available at the start, and you just need to rent or buy it from a mysterious bunny-eared merchant.

This has two effects. First, you need to keep bringing in the wonga if you want to get the gear you need. In fact, dying means you lose rented equipment, forcing you to return to your home and cough up more of your precious dosh. Zelda’s Rupees have never seemed so valuable or so much worth collecting.

Secondly, you have a lot more freedom in how you explore the dungeons. In the game’s first section you can opt to tackle dungeons two and three in either order. Once the action really kicks off you have even more dungeons in need of attention, and while you’re subtly encouraged to deal with some before others, it all really comes down to what you can afford, and whether you’re willing to rent or buy it.

It’s at this point that A Link Between Worlds throws in its second big mechanic. The first few hours have their share of tricky dungeons, asking you to make full use of two great gadgets – the Link lifting Tornado Rod and the always handy Hammer – not to mention Link’s new 2D form. Get beyond this, however, and the game opens up a whole new world, Lorule: a dark mirror image of Hyrule where a different princess, Hilda, is only just holding out against the forces of evil. Link can move between the two worlds by transforming into 2D form then creeping through psychedelic cracks in the walls, and the puzzles become as much about exploiting the constants and variables between the two worlds as using new equipment, solving puzzles and defeating all the monsters.

Together, this handful of new ideas freshens up the Zelda gameplay, even as the presentation is raising nostalgic memories of Zeldas past. One of A Link Between Worlds’ key strengths is that it doesn’t tell you where to go or what to do, but leaves the situations lying within its two landscapes and giving (or at least renting) you the tools to do the job. There are hint and help systems built-in, like a handy fortune-teller, some helpful specs and a broomstick-based fast-travel system, but it’s great to see a game that makes you work out what you should do, even if it’s going to drag a few players towards the inevitable FAQs.

The best Zelda games are all-absorbing, dragging you from dungeon to dungeon with a mixture of sheer charm and the thrill of discovery. This is unquestionably one of the good ones. Along the way you’ll find the usual side-quests and eccentric characters plus some enjoyable mini-games, while collecting a range of gruesome ingredients for life-saving, damage-dealing potions. For a game with a reasonably small game world and a limited cast, there’s an awful lot of stuff here to get lost in.

That matters. A Link Between Worlds is on balance the best Zelda we’ve yet seen on a handheld, and one that can keep you sucked in for hours on end. It kept your writer going for two lengthy train journeys within hours of each other, where the time flew by like it was nothing. And while we usually poo-poo the 3DS’s 3D capabilities, they also count here.

The world and the dungeons are rendered with a palpable impression of depth that actually makes them easier to navigate with the 3D effect switched on, and that’s helped by the clean style of the graphics. There aren’t many 3DS games where the 3D actively encourages immersion, but here it does, adding a vertiginous edge to some of the environments, and making some of the boss battles genuinely spectacular.

The downside of some of the changes is that it can be frustrating. The help systems are unobtrusive and do nothing to break the magic of the world, but we can guarantee you’ll get stuck somewhere along the way, particularly once you have to switch from Hyrule to Lorule and back again. The routine of having to return home to re-rent equipment every time you die can spoil the flow, though being able to buy equipment later takes most of the pain away. And while we’re grumbling, the new systems for managing inventory and choosing items isn’t bad, but you can only use one piece of equipment at a time, and switching quickly from, say, the bombs to the typhoon rod is a pain.

Well, more of a niggling ache, really. A Link Between Worlds is sometimes a little too easy, and sometimes a little too tough, but it’s always utterly beguiling. It says something that with a new generation of super consoles just around the corner, some small part of us would rather find a desert island (with a plentiful supply of power) and settle down to make the very most of this pocket-sized marvel.

A Link Between Worlds has one foot embedded in the series’ past and one foot firmly in its future, and the result is another classic Legend of Zelda. It doesn’t have the visual flair of The Wind Waker and its DS progeny, but it makes up for it with fresher gameplay, some brilliant new ideas and a more freewheeling style of epic adventure. Handheld games don’t get any better.

Jim Mattis tells Firing Line that “Mad Dog” came from the press and that Trump’s “appeared to be quite fond of the nickname.”