User-Supported News Commentary Hosted by Craig Crawford
SCIF-fing School
Attribution: National Security Group Chat Breach by R.J. Matson, Portland, ME
Author: patd
“But I don’t want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
View all posts by patd
75 thoughts on “SCIF-fing School”
Trump Administration officials exposed classified Yemen war plans via a Signal group chat in an unprecedented breach of national security, and spent Tuesday trying to downplay the incident while the President claimed to have no knowledge of the incident.
that signal chat needed the SCIF of yesteryear
Chief: “Max, how do expect to get five people into something that small?” Max: “Thinking like that would have put the Volkswagen people out of business a long time ago.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a sweeping executive order seeking to change how elections are administered across the country, especially rules related to citizenship and mail-in voting.
The order immediately sparked concern among voting rights experts, who said the president may not even legally have the authority to do some of the things he directed in the order. If allowed to go into effect, it could disrupt how Americans vote and have their ballots counted in ways that may disenfranchise many legitimate voters for every potential illegitimate voter it stops.
Trump’s order asserts that federal law requires all states to reject ballots not received by Election Day, directing the Justice Department to “take all necessary action to enforce” the requirement. The move seemed directly targeted at mail-in heavy states from California to Alaska.
[…]
The executive order also requires the Election Assistance Commission, an independent agency, to add proof of citizenship to the national voter registration form. States are required to accept that national form under federal law, but can still create their own voter registration forms.
Among some groups, including poor and low-income Americans, a proof of citizenship requirement can raise a substantial hurdle to voting. And because voter fraud is vanishingly rare, the order could result in far greater disenfranchisement of lawful voters than prosecution and deterrence of illegitimate ones.Another section empowers DOGE, with help from the Department of Homeland Security, to potentially subpoena states in order to review voter rolls for compliance with federal laws.
If states don’t comply with the new order, they will lose federal funding, it says.
[continues]
Soooo, under Dumbass’ latest cockamamie EO Louis DeJoy has the ability to deny voters their right to vote? I had work done on our house by a contractor who is out of town and doesn’t accept credit cards or ACH over the phone so I sent a check to him by mail. It was a big enough check that I wanted tracking, so I sent it Priority Mail with “guaranteed” 3 day delivery on Tuesday at noon for delivery Friday. It was going from East Bumfuck to Oakland MD – 70 miles away. I checked tracking Friday afternoon to see if it was delivered and USPS tracking said it was in a distribution center in Baltimore. I called the contractor and he confirmed that it had not been delivered. We said oh we’ll just give it until Monday and see if it comes. It did not. Tracking still said it was Baltimore. We gave it a couple more days. It was not delivered, and tracking said it was still in Baltimore. So now it’s at a week for guaranteed three day delivery. I sent him another check regular mail which was delivered to him on Friday. The following Monday, the priority mail envelope was delivered to his office. 13 days to deliver a guaranteed three day envelope. That’s Louis Dejoy’s USPS.
But wait, there’s more. Part of the job we had done involved getting countertops. Let’s just say rinse and repeat, but this time it only took eight days to have the priority mail envelope delivered.
But wait there’s more. Mrs. P likes to mix dealcoholized wine with her wine in the evening, and she likes a brand that’s not sold locally. Accordingly, I have to order it. I ordered a case of dealcoholized wine on February 23 from a vendor I have used beginning a year ago located in California. I had used them two or three times in the course of the last year with no problems, delivered a week to 10 days after it was ordered on each occasion. All of those orders were sent UPS. For the most recent order, they sent it USPS ground. After not receiving this one by an anticipated date one week after it was ordered, I checked USPS tracking. It had most recently been in Cincinnati and was “in transit to next facility“. OK, couple days later no wine, and I check tracking again. Tracking said it was sitting in Charleston West Virginia in the distribution center. Cool. Should get it the next day. Couple days later no wine. Well, after back-and-forth with the post office, online only mind you, the wine was delivered on March 20. It was in a plastic bag with a clearly crushed box that had a distinct odor of wine. Again, this is Louis Dejoy’s USPS.
And this is what dumbass wants us to rely on for delivery of mail-in ballots? Fuck him. Goddam Luddite.
Pogeaux, FDR put his campaign manager in charge of the mail, but don’t think any nefarious purpose was ever found. Here, it’s obvious on many fronts beyond mail-in ballots, Trump aims to disrupt, if not outright postpone or cancel elections. This object is way bigger than it appears.
Parts of this signal chat story that bug me most:
1) Why were there no top military brass in a discussion about military targets?
2) The depth of this administration’s hostility toward Europe is really alarming.
3) This group was not clear on what Trump really wanted to do and reached a consensus on their own.
“And this is what dumbass wants us to rely on for delivery of mail-in ballots? Fuck him. Goddam Luddite”
pogo, just wait ’til they privatize it and be charged even more in order to not only be on time but for the provider to make a profit.
The reason the Trump administration has so many incompetent opportunists who make bad choices is because the only criterion for getting any of these jobs is that you’ve shown loyalty to Donald Trump—and that’s a huge sign that you are an incompetent person who makes bad choices.
Now if they tried to prosecute, first defense is the government said it was not classified — Trump himself and the intel chief UNDER OATH to the U.S. Senate
Trump’s order asserts that federal law requires all states to reject ballots not received by Election Day, directing the Justice Department to “take all necessary action to enforce” the requirement. The move seemed directly targeted at mail-in heavy states from California to Alaska.
This will heavily impact military voters as well
Pete Hegseth: “Nobody texted war plans.”
The Atlantic just published Hegseth’s text of war plans. Here is a Free Link.
Jeffrey better stay away from windows. I’m sure krasnov has learned a thing or two from Putin.
You really can’t script this. The same week the Trump admin invokes the state secrets privilege to deny Boasberg info, he is assigned the lawsuit over the Trump administration’s apparent carelessness with state secrets.
Gabbard dodging questions now at this House hearing about Signal chat because they got sued yesterday. “While that’s pending I’m not at liberty to discuss”
Craig – The intel about Europe’s lack of military capability should’ve been classified, and it should’ve been shared privately with Europe. Maybe they are already aware of the weapons Houthis possess, but still. Anyway, we no longer share intel, and if we do, it can’t be trusted.
When the rest of the world interacts with the US, they should treat us JUST LIKE RUSSIA.
I had read that Project 2025 recommended using Signal and the like, but I haven’t found it…yet.
Anti-MAGA Hat in Greenland Goes Viral: ‘Make America Go Away’
An anti-MAGA Hat made by a Greenlandic creator that reads: “Make America Go Away” has gone viral as Usha Vance‘s visit to the island approaches.
…the creator of the anti-MAGA hats, has said he believes her visit is a “charm offensive,” and that he wants people in Greenland to show that they do not want the U.S. to take over their nation.
The majority of Greenlandic people are indigenous Inuits. The majority appear to be rejecting Trump’s notion to take over their autonomous territory, as most parties in the recent election were pro-independence.
*JD is going, too, which was always the plan. So much for “charm.” JD is just “offensive.” ~I’m sure there’s nothing the Vances like more than a Greenlandic dog sled race~
It’s not just Adolf’s syphilitic yammering.
Ranking Dem Jim Himes at this House hearing just now — interesting word choice about Hegseth texting war plans: “This was not an act of sobriety. I don’t mean that literally”
Speaker Mike Johnson floats eliminating federal courts as GOP ramps up attacks on judges
“We do have the authority over the federal courts, as you know. We can eliminate an entire district court. We have power of funding over the courts and all these other things,” Johnson told reporters on Tuesday. “But desperate times call for desperate measures, and Congress is going to act.”
President Donald Trump Tuesday signed a sweeping executive order that overhauls the administration of U.S. elections, including requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.
It’s likely to face legal challenges from voting rights groups and Democratic state attorneys general.
Tuesday’s order aligns with a priority for House Republicans to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE, Act that would require proof of citizenship in federal elections. That bill, if signed into law, would codify parts of the executive order.
States are responsible for administering elections — even those at the federal level — but the order uses federal funding to compel states to follow it. Those that do not comply with the order will have federal funds revoked, according to the order.
Sturg – Is that good or bad? Are the RussoRepublicans lobbing softballs? It’ll show up on the interwebs, but not without going and looking for it.
#RFD” Rural Free Delivery has always been a right for mail sent to remotely located citizens in agricultural and distances such as Alaska or Hawaii for the same price as the house next door. It even gets a line in an old Bing Crosby song: San Fernando Valley …”you can forward my mail RFD”.
Everything You Say to Your Echo Will Soon Be Sent to Amazon, and You Can’t Opt Out
Amazon is killing its “Do Not Send Voice Recordings” privacy feature on March 28 as the company aims to bolster Alexa+, its new subscription assistant.
In an email sent to customers today, Amazon said that Echo users will no longer be able to set their devices to process Alexa requests locally and, therefore, avoid sending voice recordings to Amazon’s cloud. Amazon apparently sent the email to users with “Do Not Send Voice Recordings” enabled on their Echo.
Starting on March 28, recordings of every command spoken to the Alexa living in Echo speakers and smart displays will automatically be sent to Amazon and processed in the cloud.
*You have to turn off Siri in every, individual app, too…and I’d still power down a phone and leave it a drawer in a different room to have a private convo.
Seems to me that msnbc considers gop questioning to be, um….bullshit.
So operational details of a military attack are not classified? I never would have guessed that.
So Gabbard now has a “pending legal action” basis to avoid answering questions about the Houthi raid? Well, what about yesterday, when the information was not classified according to her?
Oh, and BiD, Europe knows the lack of capability of its navies. They don’t need Hegseth to tell them.
yeah your phone is obviously listening
Big Brother is incompetent
still watching tho
I am so happy I no longer live with a clearance of any type or kind right now. If you have a clearance it only covers what you need know. Say you know the frequencies and how to change them on some drone. Your co-workers are chatting in the break room and you overhear them talk about a new project unrelated to yours. It is classified. Your co-workers should not have been talking in a breakroom about something classified. Now you could ignore it all, or you could go to your security person and tell what you know. Do wrong and you could go to jail.
Plus, you will be debriefed on the new information you have. It goes into your clearance history.
For those wondering “if it was classified but the leader of super duper double secret stuff said it was not classified, and after everything is done was it really classified or not?” The answer is it was and probably is still classified. The sdds person could not declassify the material or meeting due to her not being the one to do that. It would be up to the WH krasnov most likely to do the classifying job. Yes to your next question you have not thought of, “can it be reclassified?”. All the WH has to do is make it classified.
younger me would have used the war plans texting scandal to make a “JD on Grindr” joke
i leave it to the next generation *passes torch*
The recurring question of what does krasnov actually know and was he told of the meetings and the attack is a very important one. It is looking like he may not have been in any loop regarding the military action. I put this in the same as would FDR have been involved in all battles? No. But, if it was going to be front page news he would be.
There is another concept floating around, sfb has no idea what Signal is let alone how it works. Based on his answers during a podcast it would seem like he is clueless. If true this also means he was not on or involved in the Signal group chat.
The importance of this may expand in the future as sfb waddles to protection of know nothing, he did it, the coffee boy.
They (the goons) seem to have solidified their “message” on the idiotic inclusion of Mr Goldberg on the air strike texts. They’ll dig in and won’t budge from that unless some gopers pitch in and lend a hand in excoriating the DoD incompetence.
The only way anyone would ever be fired from this regime is if they fucked up and accidentally did something decent.
i’m actually behind on keeping up with this scandal, don’t have time to read the details
i saw the headline the day it broke, (paraphrasing: “trumpco texted me it’s War Plans”) and just thought “well of course they did”
get these fucking traitors OUT pllllzzzzz thanks in advance you treasonous GOP hillbilly cowards
i’m sharing some of this stuff with young 20-somethings so keep it up ty
so many torches need to be passed, step out of your echo-chambers when possible, speaking as an echo-chamber enthusiast
bluesky is an echo-chamber
i support it but you’re not “in the mix” on bluesky, think of it as a homebase maybe
Bluesky is just Twitter without muks
Actually all I want is an echo chamber. There’s no point attempting to communicate with a bunch of brain dead loons and ghouls, and I damn sure don’t want them “communicating” to me. I totally block anyone who has so much as a whiff of right wing on them.
i just retweet stuff I like so that their numbers will go up……not much ado about much of anything but now and then I pick up some breaking bombshells and stuff.
your fascist friends and family and were always unpersuadable but now they are also self-enabling because we stopped talking to them, so high on their own bullshit right now
My daddy always told me “Never argue with a fool” so I don’t, because that’s pretty good advice.
I’m just hoping they fly too close to the sun. And hubris…..I still believe in hubris even though I know it never gets all of them.
hard to not suffer fools when THEY’RE EVERYWHERE
not a new phenomenon, i understand
All i know is that Mr. S rocks 🫡
not directed to you Mr. S but:
we can’t just let them lie in open space uncontested
Rocks…..in the head, of course…..🥸
I want my elected officials to fight them….thats what they’re there for, and they know what’s at stake so they damn well better fight. But the study of history shows that the good guys lose as often as they win (no matter what *I* do) and sometimes there’s just not much can be done about it.
look at my lifetime for example…..Eisenhower comes in, the liberator of Europe, then Kennedy and assassinated….LBJ and vietnam, nixon stretching out vietnam so he could win in 68……yay Jimmy, but then Reagan.
Clinton gets in by a fluke and then the 2nd Bush who caused me to have to sell everything I could lay my hands on and lucky to get a hot dog for 4 years.
Need I write it? Obama, Stump, Biden stump.
History…..Bah, Humbug.
Elias just said Trump is going to make sure votes against his MAGA master plan will not be counted next year. Hegseth should be detained in a jumpsuit by now. That young man who leaked info a short while back got 15 years for a MUCH less dangerous leak.
Sturg, my momma told me that same thing, but I became a lawyer anyway. (She also told me I should be a lawyer because I argued with her and dad all the time. Who’d she think I’d argue with if I became a lawyer anyway? Pick a horse, mom.)
Yep
National Review: “The whole story is a tale so clownish, so stunning, so outlandish that it would seem to better fit into a gonzo satire of government ineptitude such as Burn After Reading or Veep… President Trump should demand Pete Hegseth’s resignation. Today.”
Mass. _ Federal agents have detained an international graduate student studying at Tufts University in Massachusetts, prompting demonstrators to vow to fight back at a rally near campus on Wednesday.
***
I wish I lived in an echo chamber.
Watching the news, the MAGAt had so much sympathy for the US couple in a Mexican prison over a contract dispute with a timeshare.
They didn’t think there was anything wrong with strange men kidnapping a woman in MASS and sending her detention in Louisiana without due process.
I tried to explain that if it there is no due process, it could happen to anyone including them. They didn’t believe me. Anyone arrested must have done something.
That Masters in psychology didn’t keep them from getting entrenched in a cult, nor did their churchiness give them a sense of empathy nor basic justice.
Worst timeline, ever.
Just saw Jeffrey Goldberg got the chat messages while in the parking lot at the same Safeway where I shop. Wonder if he knows about their $2.99 rib sale.
The idiots have done so much damage in less than two months, think about what they can do in four years.
Have not heard much from ellen muskovite lately. Must be in the IVF room or something.
The star, T Coronae Borealis, is believed to erupt roughly every 80 years. After closely monitoring its activity, astronomer Jean Schneider at the Paris Observatory has calculated that it’ll erupt again this Thursday, March 27, according to a paper he published with the American Astronomical Society last year.
T Coronae Borealis, which is located just 3,000 light years away, is a binary star system comprising a white dwarf star and a red giant star. In the night sky, though, they appear as one.
Tragically, they make for a toxic pairing. White dwarfs are the dense remnants of a massive star, while red giants are the slowly bloating forms of a more average Sun-like star long past its prime, having burned through all its fuel.
Now, armed with more data, Schneider has narrowed the several-month window of previous predictions by others in the field down to a single day. If this week’s a no-show, the next possible date this year will be November 10, 2025.
In T Coronae Borealis’s case, the explosion will be powerful enough to elevate the star system from a measly magnitude +10 in brightness, at which it’s invisible to the naked eye, to magnitude +2, according to NASA. That’s bright enough to rival the North Star, Polaris.
If you want to actually watch this nova in action, here’s what you should know. After sunset, it’ll appear as a new star in the constellation Corona Borealis, wedged between the constellations Hercules and Boötes.
The outburst occurs once every 80 years. First noticed by astronomer John Birmingham in 1866, T Coronae Borealis last brightened in February 1946. That’s 80 years ago, this month.
*What was the world like in February, 1946?
Norwegian politician Trygve Lie elected the 1st Secretary General of the United Nations
World War II: Royal Navy’s Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 116 of 156 captured German U-boats
Filibuster in US Senate kills FEPC (Fair Employment Practices Committee) bill
The contact details for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, national security adviser Mike Waltz, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard were found online, with some of them still connected to services such as LinkedIn and WhatsApp.
German news outlet Der Spiegel reported Wednesday that it was able to find phone numbers, email addresses, and in some cases, passwords for top officials including Hegseth, national security adviser Mike Waltz and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Der Spiegel reported that many of the numbers and email addresses that were freely available on the internet still appear to be in use, and in some cases linked to social media accounts and LinkedIn profiles. The outlet found that some of the numbers are also linked to WhatsApp profiles and Signal accounts.
FFS! doesn’t begin to cover it! They should all get the boot! or court-martialed.
White Hat – Black Hat These are used to describe what a hacker is doing. White Hat is generally legal and somewhat ethical. Black Hat is your usual vision of a hacker, not legal, and not ethical. Sort of like a safe locksmith. Doing it to help open dead grandmas safe for the will is white hat. Doing it while grandma is asleep to take the jewelry is black hat.
If you are wondering why all sorts of fun things are showing up about the faux snooze personalities playing cabinet you can thank those who hack computer systems. Right now media around the world is looking for, and probably paying, for information about the idiots. Some of it is easy to get, just do a search using google machine or other search program. Some is less easy, go to the “dark web”, but be careful to not get infected. And, some is such you do not ask about how it came to your hands.
krasnov has denigrated the media for a long time. Never get in a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel, a famous line some politicians never learn. It is loking like the media finally has something to nail sfb to the wall with, and they are going for it.
“Wonder if he knows about their $2.99 rib sale.”
-CC
if you tell him you might get wrapped-up in international scandal 😆
I’m not sure how much longer Mike Waltz is going to be able to fool Trump into believing he wasn’t a regular source for Goldberg.
Mueller she Wrote
Leavitt: Do you trust the secretary of defense or Jeffrey Goldberg?
lol
Katherine Levitt gave, as one source for the chat not being classified as, essentially, because Hegseth said so. Lordy, she makes me miss Sean Spicer.
BB – So, these “anonymous” groups can wear a black or white hat, or is their headware never interchangeable? I’d like to know what app Elon said he was using to get the vote count before the officials had it; I’d like to know if all of the referenced Adolf made about not needing the votes/already having the votes/a surprise he and Elon had…I get the feeling he wants to tell all, because he thinks presidential immunity means personal invincibility. If white hats could help, yee & haw!
Jeffrey Goldberg could probably sue Hegseth and a bunch of folks at Faux News for defamation of character.
When do tRUMPsky, Kristi Noem, and Homan get charged as war criminals, or something?
They sent a guy with an autism awareness tattoo to El Salvador. They sent a make-up artist to El Salvador because they didn’t like his ink. This is nuts!
Folks are just being KIDNAPPED off of the streets by unidentified men with no arrest warrants.
“Immigrant deaths in ICE detention in South Florida demand action”
“Now, the thousands surviving in ICE detention are experiencing daily conditions eroding their health and human dignity.”
“…the overcrowding at Krome is so severe that legal visitation rooms have been turned into holding cells without water or toilets: Krome, an “all-male” facility, forces transgender women into packed cells with men. ICE has even started to transport women into Krome, who are crammed into small rooms without beds, water or toilets and most recently moved to buses where they sleep without access to showers or necessary amenities for days at a time. Medical care is rare.”
EU urges citizens to stockpile 72 hours’ worth of supplies amid war risk
The 18-page document warns that Europe is facing a new reality marred with risk and uncertainty, citing Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine, rising geopolitical tensions, sabotage of critical infrastructure, and electronic warfare as prominent factors.
The Commission’s European Preparedness Union Strategy says citizens across the continent should adopt practical measures to ensure they are ready in case of an emergency. This includes having enough essential supplies to last them for a minimum of three days, the document says. “In the case of extreme disruptions, the initial period is the most critical,” it says.
Overall, civilians should be encouraged to foster self-reliance and psychological resilience, the document states.
NATO on Wednesday clarified comments that Secretary-General Mark Rutte made earlier in the day, when he suggested that four U.S. soldiers who went missing while training in Lithuania had died, even though the U.S. Army said their fate was not yet confirmed.
“The search is ongoing,” NATO said in a statement posted on X. “We regret any confusion about remarks @SecGenNATO delivered on this today. He was referring to emerging news reports & was not confirming the fate of the missing, which is still unknown.”
Asked Wednesday evening by reporters if he had been briefed about the missing soldiers, President Donald Trump said, “No, I haven’t.”
During a trip to Warsaw, Rutte told reporters that he had received word of the deaths of the four soldiers while he was delivering a lecture, and that his thoughts were with their families and with the United States.
*Four soldiers died, but we don’t want to say it out loud, and Adolf knows zilch.
With regard to the Signal texting operational-security violations, the Tampa Bay Times newspaper published my letter to the editor 2 April. I describe why the texts relating to the Navy’s airstrike against Yemen should have been classified Top Secret. Politics did not motivate me to write. The safety of our men and women in the armed forces did. Text of letter follows:
Tampa Bay Times, April 2, 2025
Speaking as a former naval aviator (515 missions during the Vietnam War), the content of the Signal texts that the Atlantic published categorically refutes Secretary of Defense Hegseth’s assertion that no classified information was discussed. Here’s why the texts’ references to the attack were Top Secret:
1. CENTCOM (U.S. Central Command) is cited … therefore the mission will be conducted in the Middle East, Central Asia or South Asia … CENTCOM’s AOR (area of operational responsibility).
2. U.S. Navy F-18s are cited, so a U.S. aircraft carrier is participating in the attack. The times stated for the first and second strikes’ launch and commencement of their attacks allow a rough calculation to determine the approximate distance from the carrier to the target.
3. The only aircraft carrier operating in CENTCOM’s AOR is the USS Harry S. Truman … and it was well known that the carrier was operating in the Red Sea.
4. The texts cite the MQ-9 “strike drones launch” … the Navy UAVs used in past airstrikes in Yemen. The Houthis have shot down more than 10.
5. The time for the second F-18 airstrike also states “first sea-based Tomahawks launched.” Again, a dead give-away the attack will originate from the sea and include missile launches from surface combatants in the aircraft carrier’s task force.
Department of Defense policy mandates classifying information relating to combat operational planning. If the Houthis knew the information in the texts, they would likely have had time to prepare. Given the explicit operational description of an imminent attack, the text’s content should have been classified Top Secret.
Trump Administration officials exposed classified Yemen war plans via a Signal group chat in an unprecedented breach of national security, and spent Tuesday trying to downplay the incident while the President claimed to have no knowledge of the incident.
that signal chat needed the SCIF of yesteryear
Chief: “Max, how do expect to get five people into something that small?”
Max: “Thinking like that would have put the Volkswagen people out of business a long time ago.
https://lightwavereports.com/media/pages/political-cartoons-the-latest-editorial-cartoons-from-the-tca-32625/e676941caa-1742980566/20250324ednac-a.jpg
About Nick Anderson – Pulitzer Prize winner Nick Anderson is an independent-minded liberal who covers politics and contemporary cultural issues in a way that connects with readers. His loose, idiosyncratic style carries with it an unconventional message with appeal.
LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS
https://image.caglecartoons.com/294108/600/loose-lips-sink-ships.png
Attribution: Loose lips sink ships by John Darkow, Columbia Missourian
meanwhile (and thanks to BiD for the alert in the wee hours of last thread) something else to worry about on our way to Dodo’s dictatorship
Trump signs sweeping executive order targeting election rules – POLITICO
Soooo, under Dumbass’ latest cockamamie EO Louis DeJoy has the ability to deny voters their right to vote? I had work done on our house by a contractor who is out of town and doesn’t accept credit cards or ACH over the phone so I sent a check to him by mail. It was a big enough check that I wanted tracking, so I sent it Priority Mail with “guaranteed” 3 day delivery on Tuesday at noon for delivery Friday. It was going from East Bumfuck to Oakland MD – 70 miles away. I checked tracking Friday afternoon to see if it was delivered and USPS tracking said it was in a distribution center in Baltimore. I called the contractor and he confirmed that it had not been delivered. We said oh we’ll just give it until Monday and see if it comes. It did not. Tracking still said it was Baltimore. We gave it a couple more days. It was not delivered, and tracking said it was still in Baltimore. So now it’s at a week for guaranteed three day delivery. I sent him another check regular mail which was delivered to him on Friday. The following Monday, the priority mail envelope was delivered to his office. 13 days to deliver a guaranteed three day envelope. That’s Louis Dejoy’s USPS.
But wait, there’s more. Part of the job we had done involved getting countertops. Let’s just say rinse and repeat, but this time it only took eight days to have the priority mail envelope delivered.
But wait there’s more. Mrs. P likes to mix dealcoholized wine with her wine in the evening, and she likes a brand that’s not sold locally. Accordingly, I have to order it. I ordered a case of dealcoholized wine on February 23 from a vendor I have used beginning a year ago located in California. I had used them two or three times in the course of the last year with no problems, delivered a week to 10 days after it was ordered on each occasion. All of those orders were sent UPS. For the most recent order, they sent it USPS ground. After not receiving this one by an anticipated date one week after it was ordered, I checked USPS tracking. It had most recently been in Cincinnati and was “in transit to next facility“. OK, couple days later no wine, and I check tracking again. Tracking said it was sitting in Charleston West Virginia in the distribution center. Cool. Should get it the next day. Couple days later no wine. Well, after back-and-forth with the post office, online only mind you, the wine was delivered on March 20. It was in a plastic bag with a clearly crushed box that had a distinct odor of wine. Again, this is Louis Dejoy’s USPS.
And this is what dumbass wants us to rely on for delivery of mail-in ballots? Fuck him. Goddam Luddite.
Pogeaux, FDR put his campaign manager in charge of the mail, but don’t think any nefarious purpose was ever found. Here, it’s obvious on many fronts beyond mail-in ballots, Trump aims to disrupt, if not outright postpone or cancel elections. This object is way bigger than it appears.
Parts of this signal chat story that bug me most:
1) Why were there no top military brass in a discussion about military targets?
2) The depth of this administration’s hostility toward Europe is really alarming.
3) This group was not clear on what Trump really wanted to do and reached a consensus on their own.
“And this is what dumbass wants us to rely on for delivery of mail-in ballots? Fuck him. Goddam Luddite”
pogo, just wait ’til they privatize it and be charged even more in order to not only be on time but for the provider to make a profit.
https://i.imgflip.com/1e4nr3.jpg
Love this quote from America’s most Christian woman
Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social
·
Biggest First-100-Days polling disaster ever.
Idiot Trump and his clowns greenlighted this by claiming nothing was classified.
Gift link.. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/signal-group-chat-attack-plans-hegseth-goldberg/682176/?gift=NRiHslr75Dl8nzQxUmBxSqJ9ly4mL0DCuLW0DABLjKo&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
Now if they tried to prosecute, first defense is the government said it was not classified — Trump himself and the intel chief UNDER OATH to the U.S. Senate
This will heavily impact military voters as well
Pete Hegseth: “Nobody texted war plans.”
The Atlantic just published Hegseth’s text of war plans. Here is a Free Link.
Jeffrey better stay away from windows. I’m sure krasnov has learned a thing or two from Putin.
No drinks?
— NSA Adviser Michael Waltz in Signal chat
SHOULDN’T THIS BE CLASSIFIED???
— The Atlantic
You really can’t script this. The same week the Trump admin invokes the state secrets privilege to deny Boasberg info, he is assigned the lawsuit over the Trump administration’s apparent carelessness with state secrets.
Gabbard dodging questions now at this House hearing about Signal chat because they got sued yesterday. “While that’s pending I’m not at liberty to discuss”
Craig – The intel about Europe’s lack of military capability should’ve been classified, and it should’ve been shared privately with Europe. Maybe they are already aware of the weapons Houthis possess, but still. Anyway, we no longer share intel, and if we do, it can’t be trusted.
When the rest of the world interacts with the US, they should treat us JUST LIKE RUSSIA.
I had read that Project 2025 recommended using Signal and the like, but I haven’t found it…yet.
https://www.newsweek.com/anti-maga-hat-greenland-goes-viral-make-america-go-away-2049529
Anti-MAGA Hat in Greenland Goes Viral: ‘Make America Go Away’
An anti-MAGA Hat made by a Greenlandic creator that reads: “Make America Go Away” has gone viral as Usha Vance‘s visit to the island approaches.
…the creator of the anti-MAGA hats, has said he believes her visit is a “charm offensive,” and that he wants people in Greenland to show that they do not want the U.S. to take over their nation.
But Greenland’s elections on March 11 were won by the island’s center-right Demokraatit party, which campaigned on gradual independence from Denmark and a refusal to join the U.S. After being elected Demokraatit leader Jens-Friederik Nielsen, told Sky News: “We don’t want to be Americans.”
The majority of Greenlandic people are indigenous Inuits. The majority appear to be rejecting Trump’s notion to take over their autonomous territory, as most parties in the recent election were pro-independence.
*JD is going, too, which was always the plan. So much for “charm.” JD is just “offensive.” ~I’m sure there’s nothing the Vances like more than a Greenlandic dog sled race~
It’s not just Adolf’s syphilitic yammering.
Ranking Dem Jim Himes at this House hearing just now — interesting word choice about Hegseth texting war plans: “This was not an act of sobriety. I don’t mean that literally”
A New BBQ sauce that’ll make you look for your blender. https://youtu.be/ksCRNTHmP1E?si=jJ1Qi6FKYy1_igiL
MSNBC taking their breaks during gop questioning
As Trump Dodges Court Orders, Samuel Alito Suggests Obeying Judges Can Be Optional
***
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/speaker-mike-johnson-floats-eliminating-federal-courts-rcna197986
Speaker Mike Johnson floats eliminating federal courts as GOP ramps up attacks on judges
“We do have the authority over the federal courts, as you know. We can eliminate an entire district court. We have power of funding over the courts and all these other things,” Johnson told reporters on Tuesday. “But desperate times call for desperate measures, and Congress is going to act.”
***
https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-signs-broad-elections-order-requiring-proof-citizenship
President Donald Trump Tuesday signed a sweeping executive order that overhauls the administration of U.S. elections, including requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.
It’s likely to face legal challenges from voting rights groups and Democratic state attorneys general.
Tuesday’s order aligns with a priority for House Republicans to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE, Act that would require proof of citizenship in federal elections. That bill, if signed into law, would codify parts of the executive order.
States are responsible for administering elections — even those at the federal level — but the order uses federal funding to compel states to follow it. Those that do not comply with the order will have federal funds revoked, according to the order.
Sturg – Is that good or bad? Are the RussoRepublicans lobbing softballs? It’ll show up on the interwebs, but not without going and looking for it.
Dictatorship is here https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/speaker-mike-johnson-floats-eliminating-federal-courts-rcna197986
#RFD” Rural Free Delivery has always been a right for mail sent to remotely located citizens in agricultural and distances such as Alaska or Hawaii for the same price as the house next door. It even gets a line in an old Bing Crosby song: San Fernando Valley …”you can forward my mail RFD”.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/everything-you-say-to-your-echo-will-be-sent-to-amazon-starting-on-march-28/
Everything You Say to Your Echo Will Soon Be Sent to Amazon, and You Can’t Opt Out
Amazon is killing its “Do Not Send Voice Recordings” privacy feature on March 28 as the company aims to bolster Alexa+, its new subscription assistant.
In an email sent to customers today, Amazon said that Echo users will no longer be able to set their devices to process Alexa requests locally and, therefore, avoid sending voice recordings to Amazon’s cloud. Amazon apparently sent the email to users with “Do Not Send Voice Recordings” enabled on their Echo.
Starting on March 28, recordings of every command spoken to the Alexa living in Echo speakers and smart displays will automatically be sent to Amazon and processed in the cloud.
*You have to turn off Siri in every, individual app, too…and I’d still power down a phone and leave it a drawer in a different room to have a private convo.
Seems to me that msnbc considers gop questioning to be, um….bullshit.
So operational details of a military attack are not classified? I never would have guessed that.
So Gabbard now has a “pending legal action” basis to avoid answering questions about the Houthi raid? Well, what about yesterday, when the information was not classified according to her?
Oh, and BiD, Europe knows the lack of capability of its navies. They don’t need Hegseth to tell them.
yeah your phone is obviously listening
Big Brother is incompetent
still watching tho
I am so happy I no longer live with a clearance of any type or kind right now. If you have a clearance it only covers what you need know. Say you know the frequencies and how to change them on some drone. Your co-workers are chatting in the break room and you overhear them talk about a new project unrelated to yours. It is classified. Your co-workers should not have been talking in a breakroom about something classified. Now you could ignore it all, or you could go to your security person and tell what you know. Do wrong and you could go to jail.
Plus, you will be debriefed on the new information you have. It goes into your clearance history.
For those wondering “if it was classified but the leader of super duper double secret stuff said it was not classified, and after everything is done was it really classified or not?” The answer is it was and probably is still classified. The sdds person could not declassify the material or meeting due to her not being the one to do that. It would be up to the WH krasnov most likely to do the classifying job. Yes to your next question you have not thought of, “can it be reclassified?”. All the WH has to do is make it classified.
younger me would have used the war plans texting scandal to make a “JD on Grindr” joke
i leave it to the next generation *passes torch*
The recurring question of what does krasnov actually know and was he told of the meetings and the attack is a very important one. It is looking like he may not have been in any loop regarding the military action. I put this in the same as would FDR have been involved in all battles? No. But, if it was going to be front page news he would be.
There is another concept floating around, sfb has no idea what Signal is let alone how it works. Based on his answers during a podcast it would seem like he is clueless. If true this also means he was not on or involved in the Signal group chat.
The importance of this may expand in the future as sfb waddles to protection of know nothing, he did it, the coffee boy.
They (the goons) seem to have solidified their “message” on the idiotic inclusion of Mr Goldberg on the air strike texts. They’ll dig in and won’t budge from that unless some gopers pitch in and lend a hand in excoriating the DoD incompetence.
The only way anyone would ever be fired from this regime is if they fucked up and accidentally did something decent.
i’m actually behind on keeping up with this scandal, don’t have time to read the details
i saw the headline the day it broke, (paraphrasing: “trumpco texted me it’s War Plans”) and just thought “well of course they did”
get these fucking traitors OUT pllllzzzzz thanks in advance you treasonous GOP hillbilly cowards
i’m sharing some of this stuff with young 20-somethings so keep it up ty
so many torches need to be passed, step out of your echo-chambers when possible, speaking as an echo-chamber enthusiast
bluesky is an echo-chamber
i support it but you’re not “in the mix” on bluesky, think of it as a homebase maybe
Bluesky is just Twitter without muks
Actually all I want is an echo chamber. There’s no point attempting to communicate with a bunch of brain dead loons and ghouls, and I damn sure don’t want them “communicating” to me. I totally block anyone who has so much as a whiff of right wing on them.
i just retweet stuff I like so that their numbers will go up……not much ado about much of anything but now and then I pick up some breaking bombshells and stuff.
your fascist friends and family and were always unpersuadable but now they are also self-enabling because we stopped talking to them, so high on their own bullshit right now
My daddy always told me “Never argue with a fool” so I don’t, because that’s pretty good advice.
I’m just hoping they fly too close to the sun. And hubris…..I still believe in hubris even though I know it never gets all of them.
hard to not suffer fools when THEY’RE EVERYWHERE
not a new phenomenon, i understand
All i know is that Mr. S rocks 🫡
not directed to you Mr. S but:
we can’t just let them lie in open space uncontested
Rocks…..in the head, of course…..🥸
I want my elected officials to fight them….thats what they’re there for, and they know what’s at stake so they damn well better fight. But the study of history shows that the good guys lose as often as they win (no matter what *I* do) and sometimes there’s just not much can be done about it.
look at my lifetime for example…..Eisenhower comes in, the liberator of Europe, then Kennedy and assassinated….LBJ and vietnam, nixon stretching out vietnam so he could win in 68……yay Jimmy, but then Reagan.
Clinton gets in by a fluke and then the 2nd Bush who caused me to have to sell everything I could lay my hands on and lucky to get a hot dog for 4 years.
Need I write it? Obama, Stump, Biden stump.
History…..Bah, Humbug.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi829EsJvVo&pp=ygUJT2hpbyBjZG55
Elias just said Trump is going to make sure votes against his MAGA master plan will not be counted next year. Hegseth should be detained in a jumpsuit by now. That young man who leaked info a short while back got 15 years for a MUCH less dangerous leak.
Sturg, my momma told me that same thing, but I became a lawyer anyway. (She also told me I should be a lawyer because I argued with her and dad all the time. Who’d she think I’d argue with if I became a lawyer anyway? Pick a horse, mom.)
Yep
National Review: “The whole story is a tale so clownish, so stunning, so outlandish that it would seem to better fit into a gonzo satire of government ineptitude such as Burn After Reading or Veep… President Trump should demand Pete Hegseth’s resignation. Today.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/03/26/federal-agents-detain-tufts-university-student-turkey/82674919007/
Mass. _ Federal agents have detained an international graduate student studying at Tufts University in Massachusetts, prompting demonstrators to vow to fight back at a rally near campus on Wednesday.
***
I wish I lived in an echo chamber.
Watching the news, the MAGAt had so much sympathy for the US couple in a Mexican prison over a contract dispute with a timeshare.
They didn’t think there was anything wrong with strange men kidnapping a woman in MASS and sending her detention in Louisiana without due process.
I tried to explain that if it there is no due process, it could happen to anyone including them. They didn’t believe me. Anyone arrested must have done something.
That Masters in psychology didn’t keep them from getting entrenched in a cult, nor did their churchiness give them a sense of empathy nor basic justice.
Worst timeline, ever.
Just saw Jeffrey Goldberg got the chat messages while in the parking lot at the same Safeway where I shop. Wonder if he knows about their $2.99 rib sale.
The idiots have done so much damage in less than two months, think about what they can do in four years.
Have not heard much from ellen muskovite lately. Must be in the IVF room or something.
https://futurism.com/watch-star-explode
The star, T Coronae Borealis, is believed to erupt roughly every 80 years. After closely monitoring its activity, astronomer Jean Schneider at the Paris Observatory has calculated that it’ll erupt again this Thursday, March 27, according to a paper he published with the American Astronomical Society last year.
T Coronae Borealis, which is located just 3,000 light years away, is a binary star system comprising a white dwarf star and a red giant star. In the night sky, though, they appear as one.
Tragically, they make for a toxic pairing. White dwarfs are the dense remnants of a massive star, while red giants are the slowly bloating forms of a more average Sun-like star long past its prime, having burned through all its fuel.
Now, armed with more data, Schneider has narrowed the several-month window of previous predictions by others in the field down to a single day. If this week’s a no-show, the next possible date this year will be November 10, 2025.
In T Coronae Borealis’s case, the explosion will be powerful enough to elevate the star system from a measly magnitude +10 in brightness, at which it’s invisible to the naked eye, to magnitude +2, according to NASA. That’s bright enough to rival the North Star, Polaris.
If you want to actually watch this nova in action, here’s what you should know. After sunset, it’ll appear as a new star in the constellation Corona Borealis, wedged between the constellations Hercules and Boötes.
***
https://www.sciencealert.com/this-star-goes-nova-every-80-years-heres-where-to-look-for-it-in-2025
The outburst occurs once every 80 years. First noticed by astronomer John Birmingham in 1866, T Coronae Borealis last brightened in February 1946. That’s 80 years ago, this month.
*What was the world like in February, 1946?
Norwegian politician Trygve Lie elected the 1st Secretary General of the United Nations
World War II: Royal Navy’s Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 116 of 156 captured German U-boats
Filibuster in US Senate kills FEPC (Fair Employment Practices Committee) bill
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/national-security/3360368/private-data-us-officials-hegseth-gabbard-waltz-online/?utm_source=msn&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=msn_feed
The contact details for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, national security adviser Mike Waltz, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard were found online, with some of them still connected to services such as LinkedIn and WhatsApp.
***
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-officials-emails-passwords-numbers-signal-reports-2051136
German news outlet Der Spiegel reported Wednesday that it was able to find phone numbers, email addresses, and in some cases, passwords for top officials including Hegseth, national security adviser Mike Waltz and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Der Spiegel reported that many of the numbers and email addresses that were freely available on the internet still appear to be in use, and in some cases linked to social media accounts and LinkedIn profiles. The outlet found that some of the numbers are also linked to WhatsApp profiles and Signal accounts.
FFS! doesn’t begin to cover it! They should all get the boot! or court-martialed.
White Hat – Black Hat These are used to describe what a hacker is doing. White Hat is generally legal and somewhat ethical. Black Hat is your usual vision of a hacker, not legal, and not ethical. Sort of like a safe locksmith. Doing it to help open dead grandmas safe for the will is white hat. Doing it while grandma is asleep to take the jewelry is black hat.
If you are wondering why all sorts of fun things are showing up about the faux snooze personalities playing cabinet you can thank those who hack computer systems. Right now media around the world is looking for, and probably paying, for information about the idiots. Some of it is easy to get, just do a search using google machine or other search program. Some is less easy, go to the “dark web”, but be careful to not get infected. And, some is such you do not ask about how it came to your hands.
krasnov has denigrated the media for a long time. Never get in a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel, a famous line some politicians never learn. It is loking like the media finally has something to nail sfb to the wall with, and they are going for it.
“Wonder if he knows about their $2.99 rib sale.”
-CC
if you tell him you might get wrapped-up in international scandal 😆
I’m not sure how much longer Mike Waltz is going to be able to fool Trump into believing he wasn’t a regular source for Goldberg.
Mueller she Wrote
Leavitt: Do you trust the secretary of defense or Jeffrey Goldberg?
lol
Katherine Levitt gave, as one source for the chat not being classified as, essentially, because Hegseth said so. Lordy, she makes me miss Sean Spicer.
BB – So, these “anonymous” groups can wear a black or white hat, or is their headware never interchangeable? I’d like to know what app Elon said he was using to get the vote count before the officials had it; I’d like to know if all of the referenced Adolf made about not needing the votes/already having the votes/a surprise he and Elon had…I get the feeling he wants to tell all, because he thinks presidential immunity means personal invincibility. If white hats could help, yee & haw!
Jeffrey Goldberg could probably sue Hegseth and a bunch of folks at Faux News for defamation of character.
When do tRUMPsky, Kristi Noem, and Homan get charged as war criminals, or something?
They sent a guy with an autism awareness tattoo to El Salvador. They sent a make-up artist to El Salvador because they didn’t like his ink. This is nuts!
Folks are just being KIDNAPPED off of the streets by unidentified men with no arrest warrants.
https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article302035954.html
“Immigrant deaths in ICE detention in South Florida demand action”
“Now, the thousands surviving in ICE detention are experiencing daily conditions eroding their health and human dignity.”
“…the overcrowding at Krome is so severe that legal visitation rooms have been turned into holding cells without water or toilets: Krome, an “all-male” facility, forces transgender women into packed cells with men. ICE has even started to transport women into Krome, who are crammed into small rooms without beds, water or toilets and most recently moved to buses where they sleep without access to showers or necessary amenities for days at a time. Medical care is rare.”
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article302035954.html#storylink=cpy
Somewhere in America Geraldo Rivera is laughing and slapping his knee.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/26/europe/european-union-stockpile-member-states-intl-latam/index.html
EU urges citizens to stockpile 72 hours’ worth of supplies amid war risk
The 18-page document warns that Europe is facing a new reality marred with risk and uncertainty, citing Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine, rising geopolitical tensions, sabotage of critical infrastructure, and electronic warfare as prominent factors.
The Commission’s European Preparedness Union Strategy says citizens across the continent should adopt practical measures to ensure they are ready in case of an emergency. This includes having enough essential supplies to last them for a minimum of three days, the document says. “In the case of extreme disruptions, the initial period is the most critical,” it says.
Overall, civilians should be encouraged to foster self-reliance and psychological resilience, the document states.
https://apnews.com/article/lithuania-pabrade-us-soldiers-military-training-c89957fc6a62da8624202095920630e1
NATO on Wednesday clarified comments that Secretary-General Mark Rutte made earlier in the day, when he suggested that four U.S. soldiers who went missing while training in Lithuania had died, even though the U.S. Army said their fate was not yet confirmed.
“The search is ongoing,” NATO said in a statement posted on X. “We regret any confusion about remarks @SecGenNATO delivered on this today. He was referring to emerging news reports & was not confirming the fate of the missing, which is still unknown.”
Asked Wednesday evening by reporters if he had been briefed about the missing soldiers, President Donald Trump said, “No, I haven’t.”
During a trip to Warsaw, Rutte told reporters that he had received word of the deaths of the four soldiers while he was delivering a lecture, and that his thoughts were with their families and with the United States.
*Four soldiers died, but we don’t want to say it out loud, and Adolf knows zilch.
NEW THREAD
http://hotelcaliforniabaja.com/press/index.html
With regard to the Signal texting operational-security violations, the Tampa Bay Times newspaper published my letter to the editor 2 April. I describe why the texts relating to the Navy’s airstrike against Yemen should have been classified Top Secret. Politics did not motivate me to write. The safety of our men and women in the armed forces did. Text of letter follows:
Tampa Bay Times, April 2, 2025
Speaking as a former naval aviator (515 missions during the Vietnam War), the content of the Signal texts that the Atlantic published categorically refutes Secretary of Defense Hegseth’s assertion that no classified information was discussed. Here’s why the texts’ references to the attack were Top Secret:
1. CENTCOM (U.S. Central Command) is cited … therefore the mission will be conducted in the Middle East, Central Asia or South Asia … CENTCOM’s AOR (area of operational responsibility).
2. U.S. Navy F-18s are cited, so a U.S. aircraft carrier is participating in the attack. The times stated for the first and second strikes’ launch and commencement of their attacks allow a rough calculation to determine the approximate distance from the carrier to the target.
3. The only aircraft carrier operating in CENTCOM’s AOR is the USS Harry S. Truman … and it was well known that the carrier was operating in the Red Sea.
4. The texts cite the MQ-9 “strike drones launch” … the Navy UAVs used in past airstrikes in Yemen. The Houthis have shot down more than 10.
5. The time for the second F-18 airstrike also states “first sea-based Tomahawks launched.” Again, a dead give-away the attack will originate from the sea and include missile launches from surface combatants in the aircraft carrier’s task force.
Department of Defense policy mandates classifying information relating to combat operational planning. If the Houthis knew the information in the texts, they would likely have had time to prepare. Given the explicit operational description of an imminent attack, the text’s content should have been classified Top Secret.