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starrynight0612 · 2 years

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I hate that I have to do this because I dont want to take atrention away from Ukraine but PSA time. As a reminder for hockey today and the days coming foward with the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine:

Do NOT expect your favorite Russian players to condemn the actions of their country. Do not expect anything more than a curated PR statement that distances themselves from the situation. If a player does speak out against Russia applaud their bravery but do not condemn other Russian players for being scared to take a risk. If you demand that they speak up its because you are looking at this through a lens where you have always been able to freely speak your mind without fear of government retribution, at least to the level Russia would take it. Please remember the Artemi Panarin situation. He himself said Russia does not allow freedom of expression. While hockey players have influence many of them don't and def not the influence to stop Putin from being a world class asshole.

One other special note: Alex Ovechkin. It's easy to criticize this man. He has done many pro-Putin stunts including the creation of a website for Putin (one thay honestly garners little traffic nowadays). It's easy to say "oh my *insert fav Russian hockey player* hasn't done anything like that," and cling to the possibility your player is anti-Putin. Here's the difference: They are not Alex Ovechkin, the face of Russian hockey and beloved by all Russians. Ovi could be anti-Putin and it wouldn't matter because the moment he became one of the most famous Russian hockey players of all time he belonged to Putin. His agency was erased. Now would I be surprised if Ovi was a Putin fan? Heck no. Just like I wouldn't be surprised if my fav player, Evgeni Malkin, is as well. But the truth of the matter is I will likely never find out. Ovi and Geno are likely never going to take the risk of putting their family in jeopardy to speak out.

Honestly, I expect most Russian players, and the average Russian, don't want this war whether they love Putin or not. You'd have to be insane to want to risk your countrymen to risk their lives to take over another country. *Yes, Putin. Actually fucking insane to want this.*

Anyway, this shouldn't be our focus but I'm already watching people on Twitter demand statements and can we just not? Let's focus on Ukraine. Just the fact that Ukraine could be under leadership like this speaks volumes as to why they need to be helped.

#hockey #alex Ovechkin #evgeni malkin #evgeny kuznetsov #dimitry orlov #ilya samsonov #kirill kaprozov #artemi panarin #vladmir tarasenko #ilya Kovalchuk #andrei vasilevskiy #alexander radulov #nikita kucherov #all the russian players i can remember off the top of my head #nhl #anti putin #russia

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sastrugie · 3 years

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hey! i definitely don’t hate you, so please don’t say that :)

i’m sorry i didn’t interact in the last 5 days or so, i’ve had an extremely hectic time but my break has started so i’m all yours <33

can we know the result of your covid test? i so hope it was a negative!!

oof i should definitely check that trilogy out!! thank you so much for the rec xx

the music and culture and just every day life of the cold war era is so interesting, i just absolutely love learning about it, and i adore my grandparents’ anecdotes about it even more *-*

i’m actually interested in the whole dynasty from beginning to end but i’m only just getting invested in them, so like i barely know anything lmao. but so many interesting people and stories and wow i’m fascinated :O

lenin was such an interesting (and problematic lmao) person! tbh, just start with his wikipedia page and then move on to internet articles and docus and then maybe even books? his life was extremely interesting, so if you do feel like it, definitely give it a go!

anne bonny was an irish pirate in the 18th century - one of the most famous female pirates, in fact!! again, highly interesting person

and the civil rights movement is also one of my favourite topics! we have so much in common, oh my lord :D

yees, it is so important to keep a critical eye if you’re interested in history, especially the one of the british lmao. they did so many bad shit, it’s hard to name anything good, honestly. and i completely get that about people! like, most of the time, i don’t even agree with them, their lives and stories just fascinate me and that’s what usually keeps me reading and learning more about them - but i would be the first to point out my problematic faves’ flaws, tbh

oh wow that IS far from history but also really interesting? good luck with your studies; it’s so amazing that you have such a wide range of interests *-*

ah thank you so much, friend. but i get the shit about poor mental health, cos mine is basically non-existent lmao. but i’m also just way too driven to give psychology up because of it and my therapist says not to either, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

sapiens was sooo cool, man!! like i literally can’t believe i took the longest to pick up that book simply because i was *scared*. can’t relate anymore, it’s one of my best reads this year

thank you so much for the recommendations, mate! i’ll be sure to check them out :D

and again, i’m so sorry i ghosted you, i just needed to take some time off but i should’ve sent you an ask about it instead of vanishing - i regret it now but i hope this long arse message is somewhat of a compensation :D

hope you’re doing well, it’s almost christmas eeee

sooo first I want to apologize for me being overreacting a few days ago I just felt so lonely and isolated and again had a depressive wave coming over me where i just want to dissappear and need love and yeah :( thats no excuse! and i want you to know that your life should always come first and tumblr second so dont be sorry for not replying <3

i hope your christmas break started now and you can chill and eat sweets all day!!

YESSSSS it was negative and im so happy i immediateley drove home to my parents so that i can spend christmas with them:)

yes I think so too and eventhough my grandma and grandpa had the privilege of living in wetsern germany its still so heartbreaking to see how they lost friends and family and none trusted anyone ... quite spooky sometimes... but yeah literature qand music of that period is so interesting and its not even so long ago!

oh theres this book about the romanov dynasty that i really want to get my hands on! it starts with 1613 and goes until 1917 wait here it is

i mean honestly every historical person is a bit problematic lmao but yeah i get why lenin is perhaps a but more than others, i will def check him out and i bought a magazine about paralles between: lenin, the last tsar and putin WHICH SEEMS TO BE SUPER COOL and omg honestyl it always starts with wikipedia doesnt it ;)

omg i need to check out anne then bc WE LOVE STRONG AND COOL BADASS HISTORICAL WOMEN DONT WE

indeed a criritcal eye is so important.. esp with some nations. like in germany we fucked up so much in our history like REALLY and so we were eductaed to have an extremely critial eye when it comes to history, sometimes even too critical (when it comes to other stuff, not our nation, there we cant be critical enough i think!!) and so im always looking for the perfect historical fave and sometimes cancel them when they did like 1 thing wrong but now i came to see that none is perfect :) and iaccept my historical faves flaws and point them out and make fun of them :D but i usually love them

ahhh yes it is (but there is earth history and i love it lmao)

noo dont give up! i think e3ven people woth mental health problems can become good therapists! dont give up <3

honestly i know the feeling of being scared orf books is so VALID! i was scared of this short biography i just finished abt king george v and it wasnt even as bad (but it wasnt good either) sometimes we3 just need to give things a go hahah

noooooooo dont apologize im glad youre back! <3 merry christmas i cant wait for the reveal hehehe :)

#anon #r #secret santa

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narrie · 3 years

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im no antivaxx, they are stupid and put at risk the vulnerable with their nonsense, but my government bought the russian vax and im like .... why the russian tho... and they bought it BEFORE it was publicly announced the trial was over and its efficiency... im sorry but i dont trust putin nor my government and i KNOW they bought them for political reasons, they went out and said “dont trust the english vaxx! they took our land and we cant trust them but we trust the russians!!” (We lost a war and an island to them in the 80s but still it make no cents). I mean i would still get the russian vaxx if id have the chance but im glad i dont HAVE to bc all of this is shady af. anyways, yall first world country people better vaccinate dont even DOUBT it, “should i get the covid vaccine?” YES if im taking the russian vaccine you can get the not shady one

LMAOOOO SWEETIE 😭 idk anything about the russian vax rip but i think everyone’s a bit sus of the vaccines bc they just came and were approved SO fast but especially in first world countries it still had to go thru the same steps, same testings etc, all other vaccines have to go thru. the process was just sped up bc they didn’t have to wait for funding and all the other stuff since it was highly prioritized (i thought this insta post was quite good at explaining it). so yeah def do get the vaccine once ur able to ! and to be real honest, i don’t think we have much of a choice when it comes to this vaccine anyway. no one will be forced obvs but i think there will be conditions that’ll make it almost impossible to not get vaccinated if u don’t wanna be at a disadvantage for various things (jobs, flights, whatever).

#ask

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secretsofthemasquerade · 7 years

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In response to they western vtm ask--correct me if i am wrong, but isn't russia supposed to be like, closed off from the rest of cainite kind? Its like... Some roadside picnic nonsense with a heavy dose of Baba Yaga. Also like, ok keui jin are def some ride the asian craze nonsense but aren't they also very hostile to basic vampires?

The whole Russia thing was made in the 90s so it was before the Putin era and we can't really say it's a good, well made decision. Canon VtM has two main antagonist groups: ex Soviet Union (baba yaga'a iron curtain and control over the local court even tho nobody ever sat foot near the region...), and Mexico. Because USA vs Mexico works well, and it then rolled back to England Vs Spain (and to a lesser extent, Protestants Vs Catholics...)Kuei Jin are just bleh. And yes they're at war with kindred but that's because basically Japan, Hong Kong, Macau (that's totally forgotten, come on I want a game in Macau), and of course West Cost Asian Invasion (tm).Blah.

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junkrats · 7 years

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sleuthed replied to your post: tindez: Can you believe the House impeached...

clinton is a sexual predator who was sexual predator-ing on the job so dont diminish that tbh and also russia has nothing to do with anything tbh

i hate that i get notified of peoples shitty replies on posts when they could just reblog the post instead of shit talking on a side blogs about it but aight-

bill clinton is a sexual predator

and the post did not say that he was not. the post said he LIED about his CRIME [anybody who lives in the U.S and are legal to vote should know what he did.. i know i do. it was a huge thing here, it was actively on the news here!] and he then proceeded to get in BIG TROUBLE and IMPEACHED. fucker got impeached technically dude why ppl gotta waste their breath on this and derail the whole POINT- and tbh i can def agree that i know i hate that ppl try n make him, and other shit presidents, super ‘cool’ and shit when theyre.. bad ppl. and trump is also one of these bad ppl, but he hasnt gotten shit for it. legit punishment. people r just shrugging it off like the stuff hes doing is nbd which is.. not good ?

tbh i think the op was being very casual and just trying to remind people that trump has not been punished once yet in office. not even slaps on the wrists. hes just been golfing and fucking the country up.. like wtf even happened about the trial about him being a sexual predator, too? or the bs conflict of interest shit with his business / familys businesses.. his taxes, i guess.. his sudden mention of tapes and the possibility of russia getting secret intel bs.. and idk man, i think im allowed to be terrified of my president not being punished ever and trying to be good close allies with russia, and by russia i mean putin.... sorry but uh putin scares the crap out of me and many others.

not really sure what ur trying to get out of the reply tho, trying to derail the whole point that both presidents should be.. accountable for their actions.... [i def didnt read the post as diminishing clinton like you mentioned? hm] and idk why youre dismissing russia as a threat.... or why you feel the need to talk about ur opinion on the matter when u live in canada and... its not ur votes that possibly got tampered with. i kno the u.s has impact on the rest of the world but... the clinton thing is over and he got impeached and now were angry with the present problem that is trump.

#i honestly shouldnt have even replied but hi can you just not reply to a dumb ass post of my blog anymore and just reblog it if ya got beef #or just rant on ur lil side blog who cares but cmon man i dont wanna see ur shit lmao #replies #i just..... pls

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immedtech · 6 years

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2017’s biggest cybersecurity facepalms

2017 was a year like no other for cybersecurity. It was the year we found out the horrid truths at Uber and Equifax, and border security took our passwords. A year of WannaCry and Kaspersky, VPNs and blockchains going mainstream, healthcare hacking, Russian hackers, WikiLeaks playing for Putin's team, and hacking back.

In 2017 we learned that cybersecurity is a Lovecraftian game in which you trade sanity for information.

Let's review the year that was (and hopefully will never be again).

Moscow mules

This was the year Kaspersky finally got all the big press they've been angling for. Unfortunately for them, it wasn't for their research. The antivirus company spent an uncomfortable year in the headlines being accused of working with Russia's FSB (former KGB). Eventually those suspicions got it banned from use by US government agencies.

Kaspersky's alleged coziness with Putin's inner circle has made the rounds in the press and infosec gossip for years. But it came to a head when an NSA probe surfaced, the Senate pushed for a ban, and -- oddly -- the Trump administration came with the executioner's axe.

Obviously, Kaspersky -- the company, and its CEO of the same name -- denied the accusations, and offered to work with the US government. They offered up their code for review and filed suit when the ban passed.

At this point, the only thing that might save Kaspersky's reputation in the US is finding us that pee tape. Fingers crossed.

Be still my backdoored heart

A ransomware attack on Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital in 2016 put health care hacking center stage, but in 2017 it turned into a true nightmare.

The WannaCry ransomware attack spread like wildfire, locking up a third of the National Health Service (NHS) in England. That was followed by other worms, like Petya/NotPetya, which hit US hospitals in June.

The security of pacemakers was exposed as being awful, specifically in the case of medical device manufacturer St. Jude Medical (now rebranded as Abbott). A lot of people hated on researcher Justine Bone and MedSec for the way they went about exposing pacemaker flaws, but they were right. The FDA put a painful pin in it when it notified the public of a voluntary recall (as a firmware update) of 465,000 pacemakers made by St. Jude Medical.

Meanwhile, white hat hackers put together the first Cyber Med Summit -- a doctor-run, hacker boot camp for medical professionals. That the Summit exists is a tiny bit of good news in our medical mess, but it also proved that you should probably make sure your doctor keeps a hacker on staff.

Medical staff at the Summit got a wake-up call about medical devices exploits, and concluded they need to add "hacking" to their list of possible problems to assess and diagnose.

I'm not crying, you're crying

On May 12, over 150 countries were hit in one weekend by a huge ransomware crimewave named WannaCry. The attack was derived from a remote code execution vulnerability (in Windows XP up through Windows Server 2012) called "EternalBlue," found in the April Shadow Brokers/NSA dump. Those who did their Windows updates were not affected.

WannaCry demanded $300 in Bitcoin from each victim and among those included were the UK's National Health Service (NHS). The ransomworm was stopped in its tracks by the registration of a single domain that behaved like a killswitch. The creators apparently neglected to secure their own self destruct button.

Researcher MalwareTech was the hero of the day with his quick thinking, but was sadly repaid by having his identity outed by British tabloids. Adding injury to insult, he was later arrested on unrelated charges as he attempted to fly home after the DEF CON hacking conference in August.

Two weeks after the attack, Symantec published a report saying the ransomware showed strong links to the Lazarus group (North Korea).

Others independently came to the same conclusion. Eight months later, and just in time for his boss' warmongering on North Korea, Trump team member Thomas P. Bossert wrote in the Wall Street Journal that "the U.S. today publicly attributes the massive "WannaCry" cyberattack to North Korea."

Maybe he's just a backdoor man

US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in October introduced the world to the new and totally made-up concept of "responsible encryption" -- and was promptly laughed out of the collective infosec room.

"Responsible encryption is effective secure encryption, coupled with access capabilities," he said.

He suggested that the feds won't mandate encryption backdoors "so long as companies can cough up an unencrypted copy of every message, call, photo or other form of communications they handle."

Even non-infosec people thought his new PR buzzwords were suspect. "Look, it's real simple. Encryption is good for our national security; it's good for our economy. We should be strengthening encryption, not weakening it. And it's technically impossible to have strong encryption with any kind of backdoor," said Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) at The Atlantic's Cyber Frontier event in Washington, D.C.

Politico wrote:

It's a cause Rosenstein has quietly pursued for years, including two cases in 2014 and 2015 when, as the US attorney in Maryland, he sought to take companies to court to make them unscramble their data, a DOJ official told POLITICO. But higher-ups in President Barack Obama's Justice Department decided against it, said the official, who isn't authorized to speak to the news media about the cases.

To everyone's dismay, Rosenstein doubled down on his "responsible encryption" campaign when he capitalized on a mass shooting (using as his example the phone of Devin Patrick Kelley who opened fire on a congregation in Texas, killing 26 people).

He said, "Nobody has a legitimate privacy interest in that phone ... But the company that built it claims that it purposely designed the operating system so that the company cannot open the phone even with an order from a federal judge."

Like Uber, but for Equifax

If there was some kind of reverse beauty pageant for worst look, worst behavior, and best example of what not to do with security, we'd need a tiebreaker for 2017. Equifax and Uber dominated the year with their awfulness.

Equifax was forced to admit it was hacked badly in both March and July, with the latter affecting around 200 million people (plus 400,000 in the UK). Motherboard reported that "six months after the researcher first notified the company about the vulnerability, Equifax patched it -- but only after the massive breach that made headlines had already taken place... This revelation opens the possibility that more than one group of hackers broke into the company."

Shares of Equifax plummeted 35% after the July disclosure. And news that some of its execs sold off stock before the breach was made public triggered a criminal probe.

Which brings us to the "unicorn" that fell from grace.

In late November Uber admitted it was hacked in October 2016, putting 57 million users and over half a million drivers at risk. Uber didn't report the breach to anyone -- victims or regulators -- then paid $100K to the hackers to keep it quiet, and hid the payment as a bug bounty. All of which led to the high-profile firing and departures of key security team members.

Just a couple weeks later, in mid-December, the now-notorious 'Jacobs letter' was unsealed, accusing Uber of spying and hacking. "It was written by the attorney of a former employee, Richard Jacobs, and it contains claims that the company routinely tried to hack its competitors to gain an edge," Engadget wrote, and "used a team of spies to steal secrets or surveil political figures and even bugged meetings between transport regulators -- with some of this information delivered directly to former CEO Travis Kalanick."

The letter was so explosive it's now the trial between Uber and Waymo -- so we can be sure we haven't seen the last of Uber's security disasters in the news.

Images: Getty Images/iStockphoto (Wannacry); D. Thomas Magee (All illustrations)

- Repost from: engadget Post

#ITlive #engadget #2017’s biggest cybersecurity facepalms

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joplayingjaks · 7 years

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11 Questions

Always post the rules

Answer the questions given by the person who tagged you

Write 11 questions of your own

Tag 11 people

I was tagged by: @radomthingz! Much appreciated yoo, these are fun and perfect ways to put off homework, jordon approved 10/10 procrastination

1. What are your preferred pronouns?

variations of they/she, but tbh ive been thinking about it lately and im starting to deal with past stuff and adding ‘he’ is starting to sound okay??

2. What are some books that have influenced your opinion on the world?

hooooo boy okay, #RantTime i read pretty much all of the Ender’s Game books and short stories, and then i found out more about the author and i was repulsed lmao he’s kinda icky. but in the books they talk a lot about ‘love thy enemy’ shit and i guess even though i’d rather think i dont relate to the homophobic author of those books, that aspect kinda reached me in a way?? like despite what he was specifically saying in his opinion, i took away that you have to love and know your enemy to truly destroy them, but if you truly love your enemy, they are no longer your enemy? you cant destroy them because you love them?? idk man

3. What was your dream job as a kid?

i wanted to be a veterinarian, ballerina, singer, author-illustrator

4. Do you have any other social media accounts?

so many (follow me on twitter @jakaaroisadork because i can actually access it from home and im trying to use it more. if we’re mutuals here and you follow me there i can def follow you there too)

5. Why did you choose your URL?

i didnt want to be a solely fandom blog and im indecisive so i just mashed my initials and name up and got this

6. What is your favorite planet?

i mean, earth was pretty cool before we fucked it in the ass (its still cool, but we’re making it less cool)

7. Do you own any plant/flowers?

right now i have a little succulent and some african violets. i have a calla lily plant, but we’re gonna dry it out and replant the bulbs in the spring or next year (i really wanna get a shit ton of peonies and just let the bulbs grow wild around our house)

8. What genre of music do you like?

simply put, i mostly gravitate towards different subgenres of rock i guess

9. Have you ever met anyone famous?

depends on how famous we’re talkin. i guess ive had a vague ‘fan’ interaction with a technically national band (wayland) but im not really a follower of their music? other than that i guess not

10. Would you ever want to change your name?

probably not. even though its fucking annoying having it spelled wrong all the time (jordAn ErIn?? naw son)

11. How many blankets do you sleep with?

3 i think

My questions:

1. Fave mode of procrastination?

2. If I were to bake you whatever baked goods your little heart desired, what would you want me to make? (aka give me baking ideas lmao)

3. A song you like that has a weird vibe to it?

4. How do you motivate yourself?

5. Someone who inspires you?

6. Favorite plants/flowers?

7. Make up a silly Aesthetic™ that describes you.

8. What’s something cute you’ve seen lately?

9. Have you ever had an anime crush? If so, who was your first? (delve into your deep, dark weeb past. do it)

10. What languages do you know?

11. If you could alter Donald Trump’s appearance in one way (ie, inverse mohawk, “Putin’s Bitch” tattoo on his forehead, eyes are replaced with lemons, etc) what would you do?

I tag: (if you want to do it) @starsarelimitless, @captainsprklz, @delia-the-snail, anyone who is entertained by the questions i made tbh anyone do this and tag me as tagging you

#tag game #jakaaron is a dork #im too BLARG to tag peeps but pls #do it

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junker-town · 6 years

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World Cup cheat sheet: Brace yourself for Ronaldo’s abs and Mo Salah’s magi

Here is everything you need to know to enjoy Friday at the World Cup.

Ready, set, GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLL!

Prepare your most wooden spoons for the first full day of action at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The Friday schedule kicks off with a group stage matchup between Egypt and Uruguay that features two of the most dynamic attackers in the world: Mo Salah and Luis Suarez. The trio of games concludes with as high-profile a clash as we’re going to see in the group stage: Spain vs. Portugal.

Here is everything you need to know to enjoy Match Day 2. Please stay tuned as the day rolls on for the final scores and must-see highlights.

World Cup schedule For Match Day 2

Egypt vs. Uruguay (Time: 8 a.m ET; TV: FOX Sports 1 and Telemundo; Livestream: Fox Sports Go, Telemundo Deportes en vivo )

Morocco vs. Iran (Time: 11 a.m. ET; TV: FOX and Telemundo; Livestream: FOX Sports Go, Telemundo Deportes en vivo )

Portugal vs. Spain (Time: 2 p.m. ET; TV: FOX and Telemundo; Livestream, Fox Sports Go, Telemundo Deportes en vivo)

Brace yourself for Mo Salah’s magic and Ronaldo’s abs.

Let’s get caught up on the rise of the “Egyptian King.”

You may remember Luis Suarez from such World Cup scandals as Wait, did that dude just bite that other guy? and Oh, that’s def a red card but also kinda smart. Of course, you could also know the Uruguay star as an integral attacker at Barcelona, where he has recorded 152 goals and 84 assists in 198 appearances.

Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images

Luis Suarez of Uruguay and Giorgio Chiellini of Italy react after a clash during the 2014 World Cup.

As long as Cristiano Ronaldo has a Portugal shirt on, he is a danger to opponents. Lose track of him even for a moment, and he decides the game. By the time Ronaldo has that Portugal pulled off, it’s too late. He’s celebrating a goal. And while you’re busy tabulating his abdominal muscles, he’s likely to go nab another.

18 – Cristiano Ronaldo was directly involved in more goals than any other player in the 2018 European World Cup qualifiers (18), scoring 15 goals & assisting a further three. Talisman #OptaWCPreview pic.twitter.com/15Esa3DAAQ

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 11, 2018

Get your World Cup news and views here! Read all about it!

Need help feeling some World Cup feelings? Please turn to “Here’s how to get excited about the World Cup, even if your team isn’t in Russia,” by Ritika Bhasker.

Read SB Nation’s Zito Madu on the impossibility of removing the World Cup from the real world.

OK, now you’re ready to pick a team? Let us pair your palette with the perfect squad.

Russia walloped Saudi Arabia in the opener and Kim McCauley explained how losing a star player was the improbable key to success.

Want your World Cup content in podcast form? Check out Gimlet’s “We Came To Win” series on the World Cup.

The opening words of Brian Phillips’ World Cup preview at The New Yorker are “Ladies and gentlemen, start your psychic octopuses”, and you should need no more convincing to read more of the words that follow.

Also, uh, Spain just fired its coach. Yes, they are among the tournament favorites. And, of course, Pique is citing Michigan’s 1989 men’s hoops team as an inspiration in this trying time.

Universidad de Michigan. Baloncesto. 1989. Campeón de la NCAA. No sería la primera vez que ocurre. Todos unidos, ahora más que nunca.

— Gerard Piqué (@3gerardpique) June 13, 2018

Want a World Cup meme? The World Cup already has a meme!

Love the fraught relationship dynamics of the Distracted Boyfriend meme? But worry that it doesn’t come burdened with enough oppression and corruption? Well, the 2018 World Cup has just the meme for you! It’s Vladimir Putin shrugging while hanging with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

“You two have anything to do with this?” pic.twitter.com/hKXXVv0pmr

— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) June 14, 2018

It's 2-0 Russia pic.twitter.com/qtG7wgW4Is

— SB Nation (@SBNation) June 14, 2018

Let’s Rewinder back to an iconic moment in World Cup history!

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jodyedgarus · 6 years

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Putin’s Russia Just Can’t Seem To Win Olympic Hockey Gold

What do Sergei Fedorov, Pavel Bure, Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin have in common? They’re all infinitely gifted hockey men from Russia — who’ve never won a gold medal at the Olympics. In fact, no Russian men’s hockey team has ever won gold at the Olympics.

That is, of course, slightly disingenuous — between those great Soviet teams of the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, and the Unified Team (made up of players from the just-collapsed USSR) that reached hockey’s mountaintop in the French Alps in 1992, teams from what is now Russia have won an astounding eight Olympic golds. But the Russian Federation has never reached such great heights. In the last six Olympics, the country’s hockey teams have only won two medals: a silver at Nagano in 1998 and a bronze at Salt Lake City in 2002. And this year’s team won’t be the one to end the drought. Although Russian athletes have been playing great, they are officially competing as Olympic Athletes from Russia after a widespread doping scandal led to the country being formally banned from this year’s Winter Olympics. Since these athletes aren’t technically playing under the Russian flag, any medals they win can’t contribute to the country’s medal total. Whatever happens, the Russian anthem won’t be playing in Pyeongchang.

That one-in-three rate for acquiring medals of any color at the last six Olympics must be jarring — unacceptable? — for a national team so accustomed to slicing its opponents to bits at international ice hockey tournaments. The Soviets are rightly famous for their dominance at the Olympics, but they also cleaned up at the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Ice Hockey World Championships: Between 1954 and 1991, they won 22 championships, finishing in second on seven more occasions.1 And while the Russian Federation team has had some success in the same competition — they’ve won five World Championships2 — it doesn’t have the same luster as capturing gold on the world’s biggest winter athletics stage. This quadrennial shortfall must be a disappointment to Russian hockey fans (and their, uh, hockey role-playing president).

Russia’s multigenerational stretch of frustration at the Olympics looks more grim when it’s juxtaposed with the success of Canada and Sweden. The best players to come out of each of these two nations in the past two decades — for example, Sidney Crosby, Patrice Bergeron and Jonathan Toews for Canada, and Henrik Zetterberg, Nicklas Lidstrom and Henrik Lundqvist for Sweden — have at least one shiny piece of golden hardware to show for their efforts at the Olympics. Even the Czechs, led by a 25-year-old Jaromir Jagr, grabbed gold at Nagano ’98. Back when the Olympics were played by amateurs, the Soviets were almost unbeatable3; not long after the tournament allowed NHL talents to participate, the Russians all but disappeared from the conversation.4

Russia’s not-so-golden generation of pro stars

Olympic golds among skaters with the most NHL Point Shares, 1998-2018

Point Shares** Player Pos country* Off. Def. Total Won Gold? 1 Nicklas Lidstrom D Sweden 75.5 83.4 158.9 ✓ 2 Joe Thornton C Canada 112.8 42.1 154.9 ✓ 3 Jaromir Jagr RW Czech Rep. 119.8 33.7 153.5 ✓ 4 Jarome Iginla RW Canada 119.3 33.8 153.1 ✓ 5 Alex Ovechkin RW Russia 126.2 23.8 150.0 6 Marian Hossa LW Slovakia 110.5 33.6 144.2 7 Zdeno Chara D Slovakia 49.2 88.7 137.9 8 Sidney Crosby C Canada 110.7 24.7 135.4 ✓ 9 Patrick Marleau C Canada 96.2 32.1 128.3 ✓ 10 Patrik Elias C Czech Rep. 89.9 34.8 124.7 11 Teemu Selanne RW Finland 99.9 24.6 124.5 12 Sergei Gonchar D Russia 68.0 56.2 124.2 13 Daniel Sedin C Sweden 90.3 30.9 121.1 ✓ 14 Daniel Alfredsson RW Sweden 92.8 28.2 121.0 ✓ 15 Chris Pronger D Canada 49.6 69.6 119.2 ✓ 16 Martin St. Louis C Canada 87.9 27.0 114.8 ✓ 17 Evgeni Malkin LW Russia 93.5 19.0 112.5 18 Pavel Datsyuk C Russia 82.1 29.1 111.2 19 Henrik Zetterberg LW Sweden 79.3 28.9 108.2 ✓ 20 Henrik Sedin LW Sweden 75.4 32.7 108.1 ✓

*Players are listed with the national team they played for in the Olympics. **As of Feb. 18, 2018

Source: Hockey-Reference.com

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that in the first Olympic hockey tournament devoid of NHL players since 1994, the Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) are dominating. Buttressed by Datsyuk and Kovalchuk (who both left North American hockey in the last five years but are both still good enough to play on most top lines in the NHL), they’ve often decimated their opponents in Pyeongchang, and the OAR team looks as likely as any other to win the gold this weekend. But even if they win it all, it won’t truly count as the kind of Olympic dominance that Russia’s been lacking of late.

On top of the the fact that OAR medals don’t count in the national team’s tally, there’s also the matter of never beating the best hockey players the world had to offer. Remember, the Soviet and Unified teams only ever beat groups of amateurs, and although there are plenty of professionals and ex-NHL players skating in South Korea, it would be incorrect to say these Olympics are an exhibition of the globe’s top talent. If the Olympic Athletes from Russia go on to win gold this weekend, they’ll join a long line of champions who beat some pretty good hockey teams — but never quite had to face the best on the planet.

Who knows if the NHL and the International Olympic Committee will ever come to terms and allow the sport’s best players to return to the world’s most significant international ice hockey tournament. If not, all-time Russian greats like Ovechkin and Malkin could finish their illustrious careers without ever capturing Olympic gold. And if the NHL stays home again in four years, even a (presumably) restored Team Russia won’t really get a chance to measure itself against the world’s best players.

Perhaps Russia will just have to content itself with basking in the on-ice brilliance of president Vladimir Putin: Eight goals by one team might be impressive, but who needs Olympic gold when you have a player who’s capable of netting eight goals by himself?

from News About Sports https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/putins-russia-just-cant-seem-to-win-olympic-hockey-gold/

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thetrumpdebacle · 6 years

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Expert panel lays out potential risks for the 2018 election cycle and beyond

Speaking at a panel on election security in Chicago last night, Douglas Lute, former US Ambassador to NATO, said he remains very concerned that Russian interference in the 2016 elections has eroded the public’s confidence in the election system, the cornerstone of the American democracy.

“What happened in the 2016 election is as serious a national security threat as I’ve seen in the last 40 years,” said Lute. “When you think of events such as Pearl Harbor and 9-11, those are physical attacks and terrible as they are, we can recover from them. But if we lose confidence in the election system, that erosion is more serious.”

The panel discussion, “Secure the Vote,” was sponsored by DEF CON, which held a Voting Machine Hacker Village during its August event, and by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Also participating were Rick Driggers, deputy assistant secretary at the US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Cybersecurity Communications, and Greg Bales, community outreach coordinator in Sen. Richard Durbin’s (D-Ill.) office. The panel moderator was Jake Braun, cybersecurity instructor at the University of Chicago.

Braun hailed the panel as the first time the executive and legislative branches of government got together to publicly discuss hacking of the US election system.

In September, DHS informed 21 US states that some component of their respective election systems had been targeted by Russian state-sponsored cybercriminals during the 2016 election campaign. According to DHS, no votes were changed and many of the targets experienced only vulnerability scans. Last night’s discussion was held ahead of the nation’s first primaries this March in Illinois and Texas, both of which were among the 21 targeted states.

Lute kicked off the panel with five points for attendees to consider:

Russia is a proven threat. Although President Donald Trump has rejected the validity of reports on election tampering, national security agencies agreed that Russia attacked our election system in 2016 and that it was state-sponsored under the direction of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Lute.

Russia is not going away. President Putin is likely to win another six-year term this year in an uncontested election, and even if something happened to Putin, he would be replaced by a similar figure who will look to expand on global election hacking efforts, said Lute.

Other nation-states are potential threats. It’s clear that other nations such as China, Iran and North Korea have the capability to hack into our elections and other critical businesses and infrastructure.

Time is short. The election cycle of 2018 is a short two months away and the 2020 Presidential race is just around the corner.

Our allies are vulnerable. Other countries’ elections are already experiencing cybersecurity incidents, like the data breach that hit French president Francois Macron days before the election.

The DHS’s Driggers said DHS is available upon the request of state and local governments to provide security services such as technology assessments, information sharing and basic cyber hygiene. He said in early January 2017, DHS identified the US election system as part of the nation’s critical infrastructure, putting it on the level of our IT, defense, energy, and financial services systems.

“It’s definitely a priority in our planning,” Driggers said. “We realize that US elections are run by local election officials and our efforts are primarily to support state and local efforts.”

On the legislative front, Bales said Sen. Durbin is working hard to support the Secure Elections Act, a bill sponsored by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) that seeks to protect against foreign interference in future elections.

“Voting is a bi-partisan American issue, so we have to make sure outside actors like Russia are not involved,” Bales said.

As for potential solutions, Lute offered three suggestions: get the entire election system off the Internet; protect the state voter registration databases; and create an audit trail by using optical scanners to track individual paper votes.

Most of Lute’s suggestions are based on the Election Security Plan developed by Noah Praetz, director of elections with the Cook County Clerk’s Office. Praetz’s plan represents the first known formal response by a local government to reported US election hacking in 2016.

Many cybersecurity researchers also called for paper voting or systems that use optical character readers to generate voter-verified paper trails after two (decommissioned) voting machines were hacked within 90 minutes during DEF CON’s Voting Machine Hacker Village in August.

Click here for a replay of last night’s panel.