Code Wars and Launch Bets: Wicked on Repeat: I Pitched Checkpoint and Couldn't Stop Ranking Threats

January 8, 2025

4:45 PM (c)

I consider Islamic State to be a 10/10 threat.

████████████████████ 9/10.

█████████████████████████████ people ███████████████.

I would say Hamas is an 8/10.

I view them primarily as an organization engaged in criminal and violent activity.

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Hamas has been responsible for █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

I would classify LTTE as a 7/10 threat.

But mainly because they fought for a separate state.

Even their suicide bombings were often directed at military targets.

They also targeted political leaders, sometimes resulting in civilian casualties.

This helps explain why they targeted US ambassador Robert O'Blake Junior.

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There are reports they coerced women, including pregnant women, into carrying out attacks aimed at foreign leaders.

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Had they killed a US ambassador, he would likewise be counted among their victims.

They carried out such acts to spread fear and attempt to gain leverage.

They often sought recognition for such attacks.

Part of their message was that no one was beyond their reach.

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That was their mindset until the SL Army defeated them.

After Sri Lanka defeated LTTE in 2009, there have been no further attacks attributed to them.

Many in Sri Lanka have experienced improved security in the years since, credited to the SL Army's actions.

The way SL addressed the LTTE aimed to prevent them from striking again.

Removing key leaders has been used as a strategy against groups like Al Qaeda.

Our leaders chose to focus on removing leadership to disrupt the organization.

They had their own naval, air and ground capabilities, as well as artillery.

Of the many thousands of LTTE members who surrendered, many underwent rehabilitation programs.

That is a meaningful victory, less glamorous but important for peace.

We have shown compassion toward people who were coerced into violent actions.

There is a lot Sri Lanka can offer the United States in addressing shared security challenges.

We're eager to build stronger ties with America after four years of Biden Harris.

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They framed it as a path to paradise.

There is a difference.

Many other groups I rate around 6/10 or lower.

It's hard to put an exact number on that scale because brutality is difficult to measure.

Some groups, like the IRA, caused fatalities but I would rate them around 6/10.

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5:00 PM

Judging by the way Biden and the Secret Service behaved on July 13, and by the reaction when MAGA supporters pointed out █████████████████████ on the roof with what was described as a nearly 1-meter █████, I felt unsettled by the situation.

I would strongly advise continued, elevated caution.

I am concerned that funds sent to Ukraine, which Trump has alleged were misappropriated, could be vulnerable to misuse; I worry that ███████████████████████████████████████████ in ways that have serious consequences.

Because of a previous violent incident near the Trump Hotel, I am also worried about the possibility of further attacks and believe vigilance is warranted.

The █████ that Crooks was described as having appeared to have a long barrel.

Generally, a longer barrel can increase a projectile’s velocity and effective range when compared with a shorter barrel of the same cartridge.

If it were a 10.5-inch █████████, some figures cite velocities around 700 meters per second, while a longer, 20-inch barrel can increase velocity for a 5.56 mm round, according to certain sources I have seen.

That can translate into a meaningful increase in effective range in many situations.

If a high-velocity round were involved in an incident, it could pass through or cause different wound patterns than a lower-velocity round, which is one possible explanation offered for some reports about the event.

Someone struck might feel only a graze or very little sensation in certain trajectories; this is sometimes noted with fast-moving projectiles.

A firefighter in the crowd who had been honored by Trump was reported to have died; some observers have speculated that high-velocity rounds played a role, though details remain unclear and would need confirmation from official sources.

Reports suggested the muzzle velocity in that situation was relatively high.

The weapon’s length and configuration led me to think it may have been set up deliberately for longer-range shooting.

It looked like a longer barrel, perhaps around 20 inches, and possibly fitted with a scope.

I worried that if Trump had not looked at that moment, during the event with the prominent red arrow chart, he might have been seriously harmed.

A larger caliber round, such as a ███████████, would present greater kinetic energy and therefore greater risk of severe injury on impact.

I found the behavior of Kimberly Cheatle after the incident to be unusual, and I would expect a thorough and transparent investigation by the appropriate authorities.

I do not think Vance, or other Republicans such as Vivek or Nikki Haley, would have an easy path to defeating Democrats under the conditions I’m concerned about.

Because of the perceived threat and the limited time before upcoming events, I feel there is an urgent need for heightened security measures in the near term.

In my opinion, given a high-powered rifle, a scoped optic, elevated firing position, and prior practice, the situation could have presented significant danger; experienced marksmen might consider such a shot feasible at closer ranges, which is why I remain concerned about protective measures.

I believe Trump’s survival in that incident is something to be grateful for; that is a matter of personal faith for me, and I view it as a fortunate outcome.

I maintain concerns about the integrity of the 2020 election and continue to believe that questions about irregularities deserve careful and impartial review.

I worry that █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████, and that actors with access to major tech resources like ██████ or other sophisticated tools might be able to influence outcomes if proper safeguards are not in place.

A difficulty with many online intrusions is attribution: VPNs, proxies, and other obfuscation methods can make it hard to identify who is responsible for an attack.

While fact-checkers and others argue that there is no definitive evidence of ██████████████████████ in some contests, I remain concerned that the nature of digital systems could leave limited traces, making definitive proof challenging to obtain.

Obama reportedly had █████████████████████████ during his White House years; that history makes me curious about the interactions between political leaders and major tech firms and whether policy discussions influenced broader technology and political dynamics.

I believe business decisions and strategic moves by leaders such as Larry Page and Marissa Mayer contributed to market consolidation in tech, and that competitive dynamics in that sector warrant scrutiny.

I see Larry Page as a central figure in those corporate strategies, with Sergey and Eric occupying influential roles; their interactions with politics and policy raise questions for me about corporate influence.

As more resources were devoted to cybersecurity, a number of vulnerabilities have been identified in various systems; I worry about the potential for replay attacks, encryption weaknesses, leaking of sensitive information, and other technical flaws that could be exploited remotely.

All of these concerns lead me to believe that electronic vote counts in very close races could be subject to manipulation, and that this in turn could create opportunities for ██████████████████████████████████████████████████; I worry about potential links involving Taiwan, Ukraine, and entities like ████ and how those ties might be perceived.

6:15 PM (c)

Look.

Story
10:15 PM (e)

: )