Video link: https://xcancel.com/CalltoActivism/status/2023802826007474354

The prospect of chaos and war excited Jeffrey Epstein. The late New York financier and child abuser kept a keen eye on news about foreign conflicts that could be exploited for commercial gain. On February 21, 2014, Epstein sent an e-mail to Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister, with whom he would partner the following year as investors in a security tech firm Reporty Homeland Security (later renamed Carbyne). Epstein wrote, “with civil unrest exploding in ukraine syria, somolia [sic], libya, and the desperation of those in power, isn’t this perfect for you.” Barak tried to tamp down his friend’s enthusiasm, noting, “You’re right [in] a way. But not simple to transform it into a cash flow.”

This exchange, which was reported by Drop Site News, gets at the heart of one of the more hidden aspects of the Epstein scandal. Epstein’s name is inextricably linked with sexual predation, as it should be. But it should just as readily be linked to global militarism and authoritarianism. Epstein trafficked not just in the bodies of the children he abused but also in social connections that could bring elites together. He well understood that the “desperation of those in power” could make them eager to buy what he was selling: connections with other powerful figures and security systems to clamp down on dissent.

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza on Sunday night and Monday morning, which killed at least 12 Palestinians on the eve of the first meeting of Trump’s so‑called “Board of Peace,” confirm once again that the US‑backed “ceasefire” is a cover for the continuation and escalation of genocide against the Palestinian people.

Could someone who has served or something please enlighten me?Just scratching my head wondering what about that process is keeping people from actually doing it. Beyond just saying "No," is there grievance paperwork? A petition? Witness statements? Is it as simple as having the balls to tell your CO no to their face and being open to consequences?

It seems like at very least there's a culture of "the people above me probably know better" and/or "don't be the squeaky wheel" but it doesn't seem to me that that should be enough for the level of inaction we seem to be seeing here. What gives?

A 21-page slideshow from the Epstein files summarizing the government’s long-running probe into Epstein and his girlfriend-slash-accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell included two allegations against Trump, whose years-long friendship with the disgraced New York financier was well documented. It remains unclear what became of the investigation into the accusations.

Under a slide titled “Prominent Names,” the slideshow read: “[Redacted] stated Epstein introduced her to Trump who subsequently forced her head down to his exposed penis which she subsequently bit. In response, Trump punched her in the head and kicked her out. (date range 1983-1985, [redacted] would have been 13-15).”

The libertarian Republican from rural Kentucky has long been a headache for party leaders, but he’s taken it to another level by co-authoring bipartisan legislation that compelled the Justice Department to release vast troves of documents related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In an interview with POLITICO Magazine in his Capitol Hill office, Massie boasted that some 3 million files have already been released, even as he said he’d continue to bring pressure on the DOJ to reverse redactions in the documents.

Massie was the sole Republican to spar with Attorney General Pam Bondi at a combative congressional hearing last week, but he said for now, he won’t pursue efforts to hold her in contempt for not fully releasing the files.

Microsoft, the tool of tyrants.

1. Insecure super admin APIs on Dava India Pharmacy’s website made it possible to create a high-privileged super admin account.
2. Super admins had complete control over the entire website and pharmacy backend, including access to:

• 883 stores
• Nearly 17,000 orders (customer information included)
• Edit more than 1,500 products, including the ability to change price and remove prescription requirements
• Create coupons, such as 100% off
• Change aspects of the website, like the YouTube videos displayed

Thinking about self-hosting an ebook library? Here are the open source software you can consider.

While we don’t know whether Trump will decide to attack Iran, these are exactly the movements we’ve been expecting, but so far not seeing, in advance of a sustained operation, both defensive and offensive.

Hacker News.

Late-night host Stephen Colbert accused his network, CBS, of refusing to broadcast his interview with Texas Rep. James Talarico, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, during Monday night’s airing of “The Late Show” for fear of running afoul of the Trump administration.

Colbert said CBS canceled Talarico’s appearance on air in light of guidance issued Jan. 21 by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, which directed daytime and late-night TV talk show hosts to offer equal airtime to all political candidates running for a given office. Talk shows have long been exempted from these “equal time” rules when conducting “bona fide news interviews,” allowing them to book political candidates without bringing on their opponents.

Talarico “was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast,” Colbert said in a segment explaining the cancelation. “Then I was told in some uncertain terms that not only could I not have him on, I could not mention me not having him on. And because my network clearly doesn’t want us to talk about this, let’s talk about this.”

The interview was set to air on Monday night’s show the day before the start of early voting for Texas’ March 3 primaries. Talarico is vying for the Senate Democratic nomination against U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas.

Hillary Clinton meme saying “Pokémon Go scan the world for the NSA”

Now i have hot poop what am i supposed to do with this?

The question of whether we'll be uploading our consciousness to a computer is no longer if. It's probably when. That's because these digital consciousnesses – our essences – will likely be the product of an AI's interpretation of ourselves. The breadcrumbs we'll leave across digital files, images, videos, audio recordings, and, of course, all that social media will be an ample resource to reconstruct you.

Hi! I've never had a server, except for a raspberry that I use as a DNS (pi-hole), but I've been wanting it for a long time. The other day I found something that is kinda old, but very cheap, and I've been thinking about buying it since then.

It's an IBM System x3500 M4. It has an E5-2620, 32 GB of DDR3, and 7 wonderful 900 GB SAS hard drives (don't know if actual hard disk or solid state), which would fulfill all of my linux ISOs needs for at least the next year (probably a bit more), and a RAID controller ServeRAID M5110. All for 210 euros, which I think is very cheap.

From what I know, the E5 is power hungry for modern standards, and the SAS drives are not exactly friendly for replacement parts. How much would that (mostly the SAS part) be a problem?

Also, what can I expect concerning RAID? That is definitely the most concerning thing for me, as I've never worked with it.

Another huge part is, I do not care about accessing it from the outside, but I'd be sharing this system with my brother, in another city, so we would have to figure out a way of doing it. Normally I'd use port forwarding, but we're both behind CG-NAT. Is there any way of not using a third party server as a proxy/VPN/whatever? If not, what service would you recommend for this purpose?

Another thing, my brother just happens to have a probably working, 16 GB ECC DDR3 stick laying around, except that it's 1600MHz, and the CPU only supports up to 1333MHz. I'm pretty sure that if I'd put two sticks with different frequencies, the CPU would use the lower one, but is that the case even if the CPU does not support the frequency of one of the stick? (in short, would putting the other stick work?)

If you have any other pointers or anything, let me know. Thank you :)

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/43305171

Feb. 17, 2026

US President Donald Trump’s latest comments on his government’s blockade on Cuba Monday evening amounted to “boasting of a war crime,” one journalist said after the president told the press that the Caribbean island is a “failed nation” weeks after Trump himself cut off Cuba’s main source of energy and threatened countries with tariffs if they provided the government with oil.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump listed some of the impacts of the blockade the White House imposed after invading Venezuela last month and pushing for control of its oil supply.

“They don’t even have jet fuel to get their airplanes to take off. They’re clogging up their runway. We’re talking to Cuba right now... and they should absolutely make a deal, because it’s really a humanitarian threat,” said the president. “There’s an embargo, there’s no oil, there’s no money, there’s no anything.”