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Viper

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Posts posted by Viper

  1. 16 hours ago, Teryor said:

    But there are often incentives for players to raise their NIL payments based on how they play. Conversely, a few players mentioned their NIL payments could go down if they don’t perform well. Beyond cash, players often also receive additional incentives like a leased vehicle.

    “The way I have it, the first two years are 400 guaranteed, and after my sophomore year I can ask to renegotiate based on how I play,” Recruit 2 said.

    “If you produce, you get bonuses,” Recruit 12 said. “Some schools do it differently, but that’s how ours does it.”

    As for what players must do to earn the money, responses varied from appearing at charity events and social media posts to just being on the team.

    “It’s a collective thing,” Recruit 6 said. “Just be part of the team, everybody gets it.”

    Recruit 2 said that there were no off-field requirements tied to his pay.

    “I think it’s just from the collective,” he said.

     

    18 minutes ago, RGBIII said:

    BAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA IF A SINGLE WORD OF THIS IS TRUE I HAVE NEVER IN MY LIFE FELT BETTER ABOUT TOF STANDING WITH THE NCAA AND NIL RULES. LITERALLY THE SOLE DEFINITION OF WHAT YOU CANT DO....L O L

    Is this the kind of stuff the NCAA is going after Tennessee for? I assume based on these quotes that there will be more investigations. I guess it's just a question of if the govt allows the rules (and how soon the BIG10 and SEC leave the NCAA)

  2. 6 minutes ago, bolverk said:

    I'm not sure this type of post is helpful. I mean, I could respond by posting lots of other videos and stories of IDF soldiers and West Bank settlers killing innocent Palestinian women and children who did nothing wrong, but then we'd quickly get into a back-and-forth shitfest of finger-pointing and name-calling. 

    good point, but I would think it's important to counter misinformation that gets spread around so fast, especially given how uninformed people are on both sides.

     

    In actual news it sounds like Hamas is denying they've turned down the ceasefire deal and seem to still be negociating

    https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-785095

    Quote

    Hamas denies rejection of hostage, ceasefire deal, says will deliver answer soon

    According to the report, the terror organization is set to demand an increase in the number of Palestinian terrorists released from Israeli prisons.

     

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  3. 27 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

    Agreed, but as the posts @Viper mentioned pointed out (besides the “888” thing the bots were using to recognize each other), Americans don’t think in terms of warm water ports, we just think in terms of ports.  Even when we were just the thirteen colonies, we still had warm water ports.

    This is just the tip of the iceberg though - this kind of disinformation from Russian bots is ramping up big time, and right now it’s focused on reducing aid to Ukraine.

    It's just an anecdote, but I would be very interested in an actual study on this

     

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  4. Zaluzhnyi penned an essay for CNN about the war. Very interesting timing given the firing rumors

    https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/01/opinions/ukraine-army-chief-war-strategy-russia-valerii-zaluzhnyi/index.html

    Ukraine’s army chief: The design of war has changed
    Opinion by Valerii Zaluzhnyi
     5 minute read 
    Updated 3:51 PM EST, Thu February 1, 2024

    Quote

    Editor’s Note: Valerii Zaluzhnyi has been Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 2021. This article was written before an expected announcement of his dismissal. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. Read a detailed CNN analysis of this article here, and the full essay here.

    CNN
     — 
    The Second World War drew to a close almost 80 years ago, but its legacy in defining the strategic vision of war persists to this day.

    Whatever remarkable advances there have been in the fields of aviation, missile technology and space-based assets, for instance, the concept of victory remains unchanged: to destroy the enemy and to capture or liberate territory.


    And yet, each war is unique.


    And there is no greater challenge facing the military commander, in my opinion, than understanding – in good time – how each war is shaped differently.

    Firstly, by technological progress, which determines the development of weapons and equipment.

    And, secondly, by political conditions at home and abroad, and the economic environment.

    Victory needs a unique strategy and follows a unique logic.


    It is well known by now that a central driver of this war is the development of unmanned weapons systems.

    They are proliferating at a breathtaking pace and the scope of their applications grows ever wider.


    Zelensky set to announce dismissal of Ukraine’s top commander within days as rift grows over war, source says
    Crucially, it is these unmanned systems – such as drones –  along with other types of advanced weapons, that provide the best way for Ukraine to avoid being drawn into a positional war, where we do not possess the advantage.

    But while mastery of such technologies is key, it is not the only factor influencing current strategy.

    We must contend with a reduction in military support from key allies, grappling with their own political tensions. 


    Our partners’ stocks of missiles, air defense interceptors and ammunition for artillery is becoming exhausted, due to the intensity of hostilities in Ukraine, but also from a global shortage of propellant charges.

    Russia, taking note of how developments in the Middle East have distracted international attention, might seek to provoke further conflicts elsewhere.

    The weakness of the international sanctions’ regime means Russia, in partnership with certain others, is still able to deploy its military-industrial complex in pursuit of a war of attrition against us.

    We must acknowledge the significant advantage enjoyed by the enemy in mobilizing human resources and how that compares with the inability of state institutions in Ukraine to improve the manpower levels of our armed forces without the use of unpopular measures.

    We must contend with a reduction in military support from key allies.

    Finally, we remain hamstrung by the imperfections of the regulatory framework in our country, as well as the partial monopolization of the defense industry. These lead to production bottlenecks – in ammunition, for instance – which further deepen Ukraine’s dependence on its allies for supplies.


    Our combat experience, particularly since 2022, is unique – but in the interests of victory, we must constantly find new ways and new capabilities to help us gain an advantage over the enemy.

    Perhaps the number one priority here is mastery of an entire arsenal of (relatively) cheap, modern and highly effective, unmanned vehicles and other technological means.

    Already such assets allow commanders to monitor the situation on the battlefield in real time, day and night, and in all weather conditions.

    But not only that.

    They provide real-time intelligence allowing the adjustment of fire around the clock, without pause – giving us the ability to deliver high-precision strikes against enemy targets in forward positions and in depth.

    In short, this means nothing less than the wholesale redesign of battlefield operations – and the abandoning of outdated, stereotypical thinking.


    Russia’s frozen assets are generating billions. The EU is getting ready to send them to Ukraine
    New operations might include digital field creation, radio-electronic environment control, or a combined operation using attack drones and cyber assets.


    Such operations will be coordinated and conducted under a single concept and plan.

    Crucially, the aim will not always be solely combat in focus.

    It might seek to reduce the economic capabilities of the enemy, or to isolate, or wear him down.

    Attack operations can have psychological objectives.

    That said, for the time being, the priority remains improving the situation on the battlefield.

    And here, technology boasts an undoubted superiority over tradition.


    The remote control of these assets means fewer soldiers in harm’s way, thus reducing the level of human losses.

    It offers the opportunity to reduce (though certainly not eliminate) reliance on heavy materiel in combat missions and the overall conduct of hostilities.

    And it opens up the possibility of inflicting sudden massive strikes against critical infrastructure facilities and communications hubs without deploying expensive missiles or manned aircraft.

    Further advantages will become clear over time, though of course the enemy will all the time be looking for ways to defend against such operations and to seize or regain the initiative.

    So, defense systems too need constant improvement, as do countermeasures targeting the use of new technology by the enemy.

    The challenge for our armed forces cannot be underestimated.

    It is to create a completely new state system of technological rearmament.

    Taking everything into account at this moment, we think the creation of such a system could be achieved in five months.

    Our partners are of the same view.

    This time will be spent creating an appropriate organizational structure, filling and equipping positions, providing training and support, building out the supporting infrastructure and logistics, and developing a doctrinal framework.

    In conclusion, in 2024, we must focus our main efforts in three areas.


    Creating a system to provide our armed forces with high-tech assets.

    Introducing a new philosophy of training and warfare which takes account of restrictions in assets and how they can be deployed.

    And mastering new combat capabilities as soon as possible.

    We already possess capabilities to eliminate the enemy and ensure the existence of statehood.

    Our goal must be to seize the moment – to maximize our accumulation of the latest combat capabilities, which will allow us to commit fewer resources to inflicting maximum damage on the enemy, to end the aggression and protect Ukraine from it in the future.

     

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  5. UNWatch is enjoying their "I told you so" moment with the UNRWA firings and scandal. 

     

    Quote

    The Case Against UNRWA

    Testimony by UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer before the United States Congress, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Joint Hearing of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability and the Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, January 30, 2024

     

    Chairmen, Ranking Members, and Members of the Committee: Thank you for inviting me to testify today. For years, we have been told by UNRWA and its supporters that the agency performs “lifesaving work” and that its teachers offer Palestinian students an education that “promotes human rights, tolerance, equality, and non-discrimination.”

     

    Today, more than ever before — and I mean literally today, in light of the bombshell news reports in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and elsewhere — we now know this has been a lie.

     

    From these and other revelations of the past few days, we know that in Gaza, at least 12 UNRWA employees personally participated in the massacre of October 7th, which involved the murder of 1,200 Israelis along with mass rape, torture, and mutilation. Secretary of State Blinken said yesterday, “These intelligence reports are highly, highly credible.” 

     

    The world also learned yesterday that 1,200 UNRWA employees in Gaza are part of Hamas or Islamic Jihad, meaning actual operatives within the political and military organizations. 

     

    Finally, an estimated 6,000 UNRWA employees, being half of the UNRWA workforce in Gaza, have close family members in these terrorist organizations.

     

    Now, UNRWA’s top donors, the United States, Germany, Britain, Canada, and many others have just announced they’re freezing funds. 

     

    Accordingly, I have come here from Geneva today to bring before the Congress our case against UNRWA. 

     

    I have come here to ask the Congress of the United States, which is the largest donor to UNRWA at over $300 million a year, to not just suspend, but to end the funding for good — and to take the lead in dissolving an organization that is riddled with incitement to hate, involvement in terrorism, and the perpetuation of war. 

     

    Members of the committee will find all of the evidence that I present here on our website under “The Case Against UNRWA”: unwatch.org/unrwa-obstacle…

     

    Now, on Friday, Secretary-General Guterres announced that he was “horrified” to learn that members of his UNRWA staff were implicated in terrorism. 

     

    Members of the Committee: I am here to bear witness and testify that Secretary-General Guterres, the head of UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini, their predecessors, and their senior colleagues, could not possibly have been shocked that UNRWA employees are implicated in terrorism. 

     

    Because for the past nine years, and Chairman Smith knows this very well, we’ve been uncovering, publishing, and submitting to the UN, to UNRWA, evidence of widespread and systematic incitement to jihadi terrorism, the praise of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, calls to slaughter Jews on the part of UNRWA teachers, school principals, and other employees.

     

    These reports range from 10 to 200 pages. For example, just in November, we sent a report on 20 teachers who celebrated the October 7th massacre. unwatch.org/report-u-n-tea…

     

    In March, together with IMPACT-se, we identified 133 UNRWA teachers and staff who promoted hate and violence in social media. unwatch.org/un-teachers-ca…

     

    In June 2022, we released a report called “UNRWA’s Teachers of Hate.” unwatch.org/exposed-un-tea…

     

    It included the following Facebook post by Elham Mansour, an UNRWA teacher: “By Allah, anyone who can kill and slaughter any Zionist and Israeli criminal and doesn’t do so, doesn’t deserve to live. Kill them and pursue them everywhere. They are the greatest enemy. All Israel deserves is death.” unwatch.org/elham-mansour-…

     

    This is an UNRWA teacher’s statement on Facebook. We sent it to the UN. They did nothing.

     

    We sent them reports in 2021: unwatch.org/report-un-teac…

     

    In 2019: unwatch.org/exposed-unrwa-…

     

    In 2017: unwatch.org/130-page-repor…

     

    And in 2015, numerous reports: 

    • Nov. 30, 2015: unwatch.org/report-despite…

    • Oct. 19, 2015: unwatch.org/issue-551-unrw…

    • Sept. 1, 2015: unwatch.org/images-of-unrw…

    * Aug. 23, 2015: unwatch.org/unrwa-posts-an…

     

    They never contacted us for information. They refused our repeated written requests to meet to discuss the problem. 

     

    They cannot say they didn’t know. Mr. Guterres knew. The head of UNRWA knew. The United Nations knew. They simply chose not to act.

     

    But it’s much worse than that. From the beginning, their response to our reports was to attack us for doing the work they failed to do. 

     

    If we look at Chris Gunness, the longtime UNRWA spokesman — he’s now come back as a surrogate, giving interviews on Al Jazeera — he said on Twitter the following, in response to our reports: 

    • “Appeal to journalists: please don’t turn UN Watch’s baseless allegations about antisemitism into a he-said-she-said story. It’s a non-story.” 

    • “UN Watch makes a fool of itself again. Credibility dead in the water. Will anyone believe them again?” 

    • “Interested to find out more about UN Watch’s political and financial affiliations since its establishment. Can anyone advise?”  

    unwatch.org/unrwas-chris-g…

     

    This was their response — to smear the messenger. They are not interested in finding out the root problem of incitement to terrorism.

     

    In June 2022, when under pressure from the U.S. they had to suspend six out of 10 of their employees whom we had exposed, UNRWA Deputy Commissioner-General Leni Stenseth — who’s now the Director General of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry — informed donor states, and put it on her website, that “the real intent of UN Watch, is to destroy and not build and to invite conflict, not build a lasting peace.” unrwa.org/newsroom/press…

     

    Now, the U.S. and other donors have asked UNRWA to investigate and to ensure accountability. I can tell you, for a decade, UNRWA has shown itself to be unwilling, unable, and unfit.

     

    Today I wish to present our new report, called “UNRWA’s Terrorgram” which I’ve handed to each of the members and it’s on our website: unwatch.org/unrwa-terrorgr…

     

    In this report, we document a telegram chat group of over 3,000 UNRWA teachers in Gaza that is replete with messages, photos, and videos cheering and celebrating the massacre of October 7th. 

     

    It includes, for example, Safaa Mohammed Al-Najjar, on the morning of October 7th — she’s an UNRWA teacher of computers in Gaza, an administrator of this Telegram group — she celebrated the massacre, posting videos. She praised the Hamas “mujahideen,” the holy warriors, as they massacred, mutilated, and raped Israelis. unwatch.org/safaa-mohammad…

     

    UNRWA English teacher Abdallah Mehjaz shared a message from Hamas urging Gazans to stay put, to ignore Israeli messages asking them to evacuate for their safety, effectively doing the work of Hamas, to ask Gazans to be human shields. This is an UNRWA teacher.

    unwatch.org/abdallah-mehja…

     

    Israa Abdul Kareem Mezher, an elementary school teacher, celebrated the Hamas terrorists saying: “May Allah keep their feet steady and guide their aim.” When a group member wondered what these “heroes,” the terrorists, as they were perpetrating the massacre, were brought up on, Mezher replied, “They imbibed jihad and resistance with their mother’s milk.” And a few days later, this UNRWA teacher asked Hamas to execute their Israeli hostages. unwatch.org/israa-abdul-ka…

     

    When Stéphane Dujarric, the UN spokesman, was asked about our information, he replied on January 11th: “I mean, UN Watch, they have a track record. And I think from our end it speaks for itself.” He tried to disparage us. twitter.com/HillelNeuer/st…

     

    Just to conclude: We have massive incitement to terrorism. 

     

    Prominent people have said, “Well, bad apples... It’s just a few bad apples.” No. We’re talking about 1,200 UNRWA staff who actually belong to the terrorist organizations; 3,000 UNRWA teachers in this Telegram group; 6,000 UNRWA employees whose family members belong to Hamas or Islamic Jihad. This is not a problem of “bad apples”; UNRWA is rotten to the core.

     

    So we’ve talked about incitement; we’ve talked about acts of actual violence; finally, let’s get to the core problem, and with that I conclude. 

     

    The core problem of UNRWA, the very purpose of the agency, is to perpetuate the war of 1948, to send the message to Palestinians that the war of 1948 is not over. Don’t use cement to build homes, hospitals, and schools here in Gaza. Use it to build hundreds of miles of terror tunnels, to tunnel into Israel, to invade Israel, to go back to where your true homes are. That is the message of UNRWA.

     

    So we should not be surprised by what happened on October 7th because that is the message that these Palestinians got for more than 70 years in UNRWA schools.

     

    UNRWA is a failure. We have to recognize what the Swiss Foreign Minister Ignacio Cassis said. And Switzerland is a country that historically supports the UN. He said the following: “UNRWA has become part of the problem. It supplies the ammunition to continue the conflict. By supporting UNRWA, we keep the conflict alive. It’s a perverse logic.” twitter.com/HillelNeuer/st…

     

    And I’m here to say: If the United States and other governments that fund UNRWA truly care about helping Palestinians and Israelis, it’s time to put an end to this perverse logic.

     

    We are asking Congress to take the lead in dissolving this agency.

     

    Thank you very much.

     

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  6. 8 hours ago, closetojumping said:

    They were steered to him by a very friendly $9.95er and a Houston trainer. They only took him reluctantly after missing on others. I have a hard time giving Herman and crew credit, but I understand how it looks from a distance. 

    Guess we all owe EJ an apology 

    • Haha 3
  7. 51 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

    Fellas, how many murdering, rapine terrorists is too many for an international agency to employ?  lol at “we fired them though!”

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68119268

    I've seen halts on UNRWA funding announced by US, UK, Germany, Australia, Canada, Finland, and Italy so far. That accounts for over $420 MILLION in funding to UNRWA in 2022 .

     

    Also looks like Israel is getting ready to cut off the Egyptian border

     

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