In the Frog prince story, the frog’s spell is broken when the princess kisses the frog, and he transforms back into a prince. I have a theory about Republican voters. Many Republican voters are seeking a better life. And many of them get fooled by the lies of the GOP. They think they have found in people like Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, and Ron DeSantis — their protectors — riding in on golden horses to change their lives and magically make them better.

Only it’s the frog prince in reverse. Because what many of these voters find out is that once elected, instead of protectors, they get — horror. They hold in their arms not solutions but nightmares. Their lives get worse, not better. And off in the distance, the wicked cackles of the grotesque can often be heard: “Fooled you.”

Luckily, some learn their lesson and become swing voters. Others do not. And that leads me to what is going on as we speak. As we speak, a republican lunatic is running around the (world?) making all sorts of promises. I speak of Kevin McCarthy.

Every day now, McCarthy is lying — lying and talking nonsense in his insane quest to become House speaker. On Tuesday, McCarthy went to the border and ordered Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas to step down.

The photos were almost comical. There was Kevin, standing in El Paso, Texas, trying his best to look tough and — sane. “I am calling on the secretary to resign,” an insane Kevin thundered. He looked SO out of place and SO uncomfortable it was almost funny in a dark and bleak sort of way.

Now, readers and friends, I ask you this. Do YOU think this is what the American people voted for? Do you think this is what they want? I’d venture to guess many do not even know who Mayorkus is.

That does not matter to McCarthy. He is promising and promising while literally threatening to impeach — everyone — everyone the alt-right doesn’t like. The American people want politicians in office who HELP them. That is what they vote on. And with every move he makes, Kevin shows no interest in helping the American people with jack shit.

I know you ask — then why do they keep voting for republicans. I say that’s in part because they forget. And the GOP is great at fake news and fake scare tactics.so it’s up to us to make sure they remember.

The post Kevin McCarthy tries to pull a fast one appeared first on Palmer Report.

(NewsNation) — Black Friday is here once again, with retailers offering discounts on items ranging from toys to TVs.

Though many stores have shifted to offering deals throughout November, those seeking a thrill will still be able to when brick and mortar locations open their doors Friday.

The National Retail Federation expects it will be a record-breaking year for weekend shopping; the group projects an estimated 166.3 million people are planning to shop from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday.

Here is when retailers will open (check local locations to confirm):

General Retail

• Walmart
  • Opens 6 a.m.
• Target
  • Opens 7 a.m.
• Kohls
  • Opens 5 a.m.
• Costco
  • Opens 9 a.m.
• Sam’s Club
  • Normal hours (10 a.m. to 8 p.m.)
• Dollar General
  • Open Thanksgiving Day 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
  • Normal hours Black Friday
• Big Lots
  • Open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thanksgiving Day
  • Open normal hours Black Friday

Sporting Goods

• Dick’s Sporting Goods
  • Opens 6 a.m.
• Academy Sports and Outdoors
  • Opens 5 a.m.
• Big 5 Sporting Goods
  • Opens 6 a.m.
• Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s
  • Opens 5 a.m.

Home Goods, Office and Appliances

• Home Depot
  • Opens 6 a.m.
• Lowe’s
  • Opens 6 a.m.
• HomeGoods
  • Opens 7 a.m.
• Menards
  • Opens 6 a.m.
• Staples
  • Opens 9 a.m.
• Office Depot
  • Regular store hours, varies
• Hobby Lobby
  • Open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• IKEA
  • Regular store hours (10 a.m. to 9 p.m.)
• Bed Bath & Beyond
  • Opens 6 a.m.
• Bath & Body Works
  • Opens 6 a.m.

Electronics and Gaming

• Best Buy
  • Opens 5 a.m.
• Microcenter
  • Opens 8 a.m.
• GameStop
  • Opens 5 a.m.

Department, Clothing and Footwear

• Macy’s
  • Opens 6 a.m.
• J.C. Penney
  • Opens 5 a.m.
• Ross
  • Opens 7 a.m. at most stores
• Shoe Carnival
  • Opens 7 a.m.
• Famous Footwear
  • Regular store hours, varies
• Dillard’s
  • Regular store hours, varies
• Foot Locker
  • Regular store hours, varies

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The post Russian propaganda spreading fake allegation of Ukraine staging NPP shutdown to secure financial aid appeared first on Ukraine Intelligence.

Elon Musk said on Thursday that Twitter will provide a “general amnesty” to suspended accounts starting next week after running a poll on whether to do so for users who had not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam.

In a poll Musk posted on Twitter on Wednesday, 72.4% of the more than 3.16 million users who took part voted in favor of bringing back those who had been suspended by the social media platform.

“The people have spoken,” Musk, who acquired Twitter last month, tweeted on Thursday. “Amnesty begins next week.”

Last week, Musk, the world’s richest person, reinstated some previously suspended accounts, including former U.S. President Donald Trump, satirical website Babylon Bee and comedian Kathy Griffin.

He tweeted in October that Twitter would form a content moderation council “with widely diverse viewpoints.” Musk said no major content decisions or account reinstatements would happen before the council convened.

Change and chaos have marked the billionaire’s first few weeks as Twitter’s owner. He has fired top managers, including former Chief Executive Parag Agarwal, and it was announced that senior officials in charge of security and privacy had quit.

Those resignations drew scrutiny from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, whose mandate includes protecting consumers and which said it was watching Twitter with “deep concern.”

Earlier Thursday, Musktweeted that Twitter users might notice small, sometimes major improvements in the platform’s speed, which would be significant in countries far away from the United States.

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Brazil outclassed Serbia 2-0 in their World Cup opener on Thursday as Richarlison’s second-half goals, including a spectacular overhead kick, propelled the five-times champions to the top of Group G.

The Tottenham Hotspur forward has been in fine form when wearing the golden yellow kit of Brazil this year and he opened the scoring with an easy tap-in before doubling the lead with his acrobatic effort.

It was his ninth goal for Brazil in seven games in 2022 as Brazil leapfrogged Switzerland, who are second in the group after they beat Cameroon 1-0. Serbia are bottom.

Tite’s decision to go with four forwards – Neymar, Vinicius Jr., Raphinha and Richarlison – in his attacking lineup paid off handsomely as the South Americans dominated the match and made Serbia work hard every time they went forward.

Vinicius used his flair and acceleration to good effect to constantly beat his man while Neymar, playing in a free role, often found pockets of space, but a well-drilled Serbian defence kept Brazil at bay in the first half.

Brazil’s best chance of the half, however, came when Neymar tried to catch goalkeeper Milinkovic-Savic off guard from a corner, whipping in an inswinger that was on target before the Torino player punched it clear.

Serbia had been sweating over the fitness of their all-time top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic but coach Dragan Stojkovic named him in the starting lineup.

Unlike Brazil’s forward line, however, which threatened from all sides, the Fulham striker found himself isolated up front with little service as skipper and playmaker Dusan Tadic struggled to influence proceedings.

The second half was one-way traffic as Brazil shifted through the gears, Richarlison and Neymar wasting gilt-edged chances inside the box and Alex Sandro and Casemiro sending long-range efforts against the woodwork.

The breakthrough came just after the hour from brilliant work by Neymar to find Vinicius, whose initial shot was saved by Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, but Richarlison was in the right place to tap in the rebound for his first World Cup goal.

Serbia had been playing conservatively up to that point and had no choice but to pour forward, which gave Brazil more space and the second goal from Richarlison brought the biggest roar of the night from the Brazilian contingent.

As Richarlison attempted to control a cross from Vinicius, the ball popped up over his head and he leapt up in the air to volley home a bicycle kick and seal the win for Brazil.

An almost perfect night for Brazil was, however, soured when Neymar came off in the 80th minute with what looked like an ankle injury after a crunching tackle from Nikola Milenkovic.

It was the same right foot Neymar has had problems with before and the Paris St Germain forward sat on the bench with his face covered while he received treatment as Brazil saw out the match.

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Much of Ukraine on Thursday remained without heat or power after the most devastating Russian air strikes on its energy grid so far, and in Kyiv residents were warned to brace for further attacks and stock up on water, food and warm clothing.

Thursday marked nine months to the day since Moscow launched what it called a “special military operation” to protect Russian-speakers. Ukraine and the West say the invasion is an unprovoked war of aggression.

Since early October, Russia has launched missiles roughly once a week in a bid to destroy the Ukrainian power grid.

Moscow acknowledges attacking basic infrastructure, saying it aims to reduce Ukraine’s ability to fight and push it to negotiate. Kyiv says such attacks are a war crime.

“Together we endured nine months of full-scale war and Russia has not found a way to break us, and will not find one,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a nightly video address.

Zelenskiy also accused Russia of incessantly shelling Kherson, the southern Ukrainian city that it abandoned earlier this month. Seven people were killed and 21 wounded in a Russian attack on Thursday, local authorities said.

Viewed from space, Ukraine has become a dark patch on the globe at night, NASA satellite images showed.

Zelenskiy said that while power, heat, communications and water were being restored gradually, problems still existed with water supplies in 15 regions.

Ukrenergo, which oversees Ukraine’s national power grid, said 50% of demand was not being met as of 7 p.m. Kyiv time (1700 GMT).

In the capital Kyiv, a city of three million, 60% of residents were without power amid temperatures well below freezing, mayor Vitaly Klitschko said.

“We understand that missile strikes like this could happen again. We have to be ready for any developments,” he added, according to Kyiv city council.

Authorities have set up “invincibility centres”, where people can charge phones, warm up and get hot drinks.

“It is the second day we are without power and food. More than 60 children are waiting for food and we cannot prepare anything unless power gets fixed,” said a woman at one such centre in Kyiv.

Russia’s latest barrage killed 11 people and shut down all of Ukraine’s nuclear plants for the first time in 40 years.

Zelenskiy told the Financial Times that this week’s strikes had created a situation not seen for 80 or 90 years – “a country on the European continent where there was totally no light.”

By early evening, officials said a reactor at one nuclear plant, Khmelnytskyi, had been reconnected to the grid.

The vast Zaporizhzhia plant in Russian-held territory was reconnected on Thursday, Ukrainian nuclear power company Energoatom said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was Kyiv’s fault Ukrainians were suffering because it refused to yield to Moscow’s demands, which he did not spell out. Ukraine says it will only stop fighting when all Russian forces have left.

Nuclear officials say interruptions in power can disrupt cooling systems and cause an atomic disaster.

More than 15,000 people have gone missing during the war in Ukraine, an official in the Kyiv office of the Hague-based International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) said.

The ICMP’s programme director for Europe, Matthew Holliday, said it was unclear how many people had been forcibly transferred, were being held in detention in Russia, were alive and separated from family members, or had died and been buried in makeshift graves.

In Kyiv members of the Kyiv National Academic Operetta Theater tearfully bid farewell to 26-year-old ballet dancer Vadym Khlupianets who was killed fighting Russian troops.

Moscow shifted to the tactic of striking Ukraine’s infrastructure even as Kyiv has inflicted battlefield defeats on Russian forces since September.

The war’s first winter will now test whether Ukraine can press on with its campaign to recapture territory, or whether Russia’s commanders can halt Kyiv’s momentum.

Zelenskiy said that in some areas Ukrainian troops were preparing to advance but gave no details.

Having retreated, Russia has a far shorter line to defend to hold on to seized lands, with more than a third of the front now blocked off by the Dnipro River.

Russia has pursued an offensive of its own along the front line west of the city of Donetsk, held by Moscow’s proxies since 2014. Ukraine said Russian forces tried again to advance on their main targets, Bakhmut and Avdiivka, with limited success.

Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield accounts.

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The post Russians hit three communities of Sumy region in one day appeared first on Ukraine Intelligence.

RansomExx ransomware is the last ransomware in order of time to have a version totally written in the Rust programming language.

The operators of the RansomExx ransomware (aka Defray777 and Ransom X) have developed a new variant of their malware, tracked as RansomExx2, that was ported into the Rust programming language.

The move follows the decision of other ransomware gangs, like Hive, Blackcat, and Luna, of rewriting their ransomware into Rust programming language.

The main reason to rewrite malware in Rust is to have lower AV detection rates, compared to malware written in more common languages.

RansomExx2 was developed to target Linux operating system, but experts believe that ransomware operators are already working on a Windows version.

RansomExx operation has been active since 2018, the list of its victims includes government agencies, the computer manufacturer and distributor GIGABYTE, and the Italian luxury brand Zegna. RansomExx is operated by the DefrayX threat actor group (Hive0091), the group also developed the PyXie RAT, Vatet loader, and Defray ransomware strains.

The functionality implemented in RansomExx2 is very similar to previous RansomExx Linux variants.

“RansomExx2 has been completely rewritten using Rust, but otherwise, its functionality is similar to its C++ predecessor. It requires a list of target directories to encrypt to be passed as command line parameters and then encrypts files using AES-256, with RSA used to protect the encryption keys.” reads the analysis published by IBM Security X-Force.

The ransomware iterates through the specified directories, enumerating and encrypting files. The malware encrypts any file greater than or equal to 40 bytes and gives a new file extension to each file.

The RansomExx2 encrypts files using the AES-256 algorithm, it drops a ransom note in each encrypted directory.

“RansomExx is yet another major ransomware family to switch to Rust in 2022 (following similar efforts with Hive and Blackcat).” concludes the report. “While these latest changes by RansomExx may not represent a significant upgrade in functionality, the switch to Rust suggests a continued focus on the development and innovation of the ransomware by the group,  and continued attempts to evade detection.”

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, RansomExx ransomware)

The post RansomExx Ransomware upgrades to Rust programming language appeared first on Security Affairs.