Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 316: TGIF!

War for Ukraine Day 316: TGIF!

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It’s been a week… Before we start I’m asking for help from the collective brain trust. Back in October I changed my cell # over from the one I’d been using since before I went to work in national security back in 2007 to a new one local to where I’m at. This, of course, locked me out of my gmail accounts because the 2 factor authentification were linked to the old number and, as one does, I hadn’t given it a moment’s thought that I should log in before the number was changed, turn the 2FA off or set it to some other option, and then proceed. Anyhow, after several weeks of banging my head against the wall I was able to find a work around for my primary gmail account – put the Google app on my iphone, go to log in, and you can bypass the 2FA number the first time, get a 2FA code sent to your email address, then log in with that and change the number on the account. Which I did. Unfortunately this didn’t do it for the account I use for Balloon Juice email. No matter what I do it won’t let me do that trick again on my iphone or ipad with the app. And the problem is I’ve just gotten and set up a new MacBook. Which I waited to do until I could find a solution to the log into gmail problem. iCloud account set up, no issue. Primary gmail set up, no issue. Balloon Juice gmail account, round and round and round I go never able to get to anything that lets me solve the problem.

It’s still set up and running on my iPad, but that’s only going to last until I get a new iPad. So if anyone has any useful suggestions – and since this is Balloon Juice, the emphasis as useful – please let me know in the comments. Right now my Balloon Juice email account of the accounts that John set up for us so you could contact us is set to forward to that gmail account. Which is what I was using as my contact a front pager account until John set up the special ones for us. If necessary I’ll just have him stop the forwarding, then set up that account on my new MacBook and on my iPad and iPhone and let my Balloon Juice gmail account go. But if I don’t have to, I’d rather not have that happen. So any useful suggestions are most appreciated.

And since I’ve now spent the past three and half hours trying to figure out how to fix this meshugas, and even though the rest of the set up including moving all of my stuff from my old 2013 MacBook Pro went smoothly thanks to easy to follow instructions from our own IvanX – remember jackals, IvanX for all your personal and professional computing needs!!!! – I’m now pretty fried and a fairly easy Friday has ended in frustration despite how nice this new machine is, which IvanX patiently provided guidance on so I’d get exactly what I needed! So I’m going to keep this short tonight so I can go put my head through cinder blocks or something else less painful than going round and round with Google’s “try another way” tab!

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier this evening. Video below, English transcript after the jump:

Dear Ukrainians, I wish you health!

Finally, we can say that we have managed to bring Ukraine’s strength and defense cooperation with partners to a new level. The one we really need right now.

Now, our soldiers will have even more weapons, equipment, rounds, defense systems, which will make us much more prepared for any escalating plans of Russia and those strikes that the terrorist state inflicts, regardless of whether it is a holiday or a weekday.

I thank everyone who helps us protect our country and Ukrainians!

Since I visited the United States two weeks ago, there have already been more than 20 stages in our diplomatic marathon.

It’s my communication with the leaders of Germany, Sweden, Japan, Croatia, Spain, Latvia, Turkey, France, Denmark, Romania, Canada, Norway, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Israel, Greece and India. In addition, my first negotiations this year with the President of the European Commission. Also constant contact with US representatives. For example, today a delegation of the Senate was in Kyiv, and also a conversation between the defense minister of Ukraine and the secretary of defense of the United States was held.

And today, a new package of US defense assistance for our country was announced – and a very powerful one!

For the first time, we will get Bradley fighting vehicles – this is exactly what is needed. New guns and projectiles, including high-precision ones. New missiles. New drones. It’s timely and strong. The total amount of this support package from the United States is almost $3 billion.

I thank President Biden, I thank the congressmen and all Americans who value freedom, and who know that freedom is worth protecting, and who heard Ukraine during my visit to Washington. We see absolutely concrete results of this visit and our negotiations.

We now have a significant step forward by Germany to strengthen the security of not only Ukraine but also the whole of Europe, especially the entire region bordering Russia. Strengthening our air defenses is a direct de-escalation effort here and now. The fewer opportunities Russia has to terrorize peaceful cities, the less the overall potential of Russian aggression will be.

I thank Chancellor Scholz for the decision to provide Ukraine with the Patriot air defense system! Together with the brilliant German IRIS-T, the Patriot system will make Ukrainian and European skies much safer.

Also today, with Mr. Chancellor, we discussed other aspects of our defense cooperation, in particular, 40 Marder vehicles and other things that are necessary to stop Russian aggression.

A very important talk was held today with Prime Minister of Japan Kishida.

Last year, Japan became a leader among Asian countries in the protection of freedom and international law. I am sure that this year too – especially with Japan’s chairmanship of the Group of Seven, which began in January – we will be able to do even more together for our common security. Actually, today we agreed on priorities for cooperation this year.

And I thank Mr. Prime Minister for a very serious package of energy assistance – powerful generators for our country and people.

Today’s conversation with the Prime Minister of Sweden can also be called strategic. The Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union has now begun, and we expect to begin negotiations on Ukraine’s membership in the European Union during the Swedish presidency. It’s an important motivational element for Ukraine and all Europeans. Despite any attempts by Russia to destabilize Europe, together we become even stronger in all aspects, including institutional ones.

So, as of now, for Ukraine, there is more air defense, more armored vehicles, for the first time – Western tanks, more guns and rounds, more energy and political opportunities. And all this means more protection for Ukrainians and all Europeans from any manifestations of Russian terror.

Ruscism must lose this war – in everything and everywhere. On land, in the sky, on the sea, in energy, in the economy, in politics, and finally – on the dock in the international tribunal for this aggression against Ukraine. Every day, together with our partners, we bring this sentence for terrorists closer. Peace is getting closer every day.

I will continue our diplomatic marathon next week. Let’s make Ukraine even stronger!

I thank everyone who defends our country! Thanks to everyone who keeps Bakhmut and Donetsk region! To everyone who is moving forward in Luhansk region! To all who hold the south! To all who defend our sky!

Dear Ukrainians!

Please remember what evil is at war against us. Pay attention to the air raid alerts, and especially during these holidays. Our air defense fighters will do everything possible. But please help them by taking care of your own safety.

Glory to Ukraine!

The US announced a new $3 billion aid package for Ukraine, which included the Bradley’s we mentioned yesterday.

RELEASE
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
More Than $3 Billion in Additional Security Assistance for Ukraine
Jan. 6, 2023 |

Today, the Department of Defense (DoD) announces the Biden Administration’s commitment of $3.075 billion in additional security assistance for Ukraine. This includes the authorization of a Presidential Drawdown of security assistance valued at up to $2.85 billion to meet Ukraine’s critical security and defense needs, as well as the Department of State’s announcement of $225 million in Foreign Military Financing to contribute to the long-term capacity and modernization of Ukraine’s military.

The Presidential Drawdown is the twenty-ninth such drawdown of equipment from DoD inventories for Ukraine that the Biden Administration has authorized since August 2021. Capabilities in this package include:

50 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles with 500 TOW anti-tank missiles and 250,000 rounds of 25mm ammunition;
100 M113 Armored Personnel Carriers;
55 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAPs);
138 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs);
18 155mm self-propelled Howitzers and 18 ammunition support vehicles;
70,000 155mm artillery rounds;
500 precision-guided 155mm artillery rounds;
1,200 155mm rounds of Remote Anti-Armor Mine (RAAM) Systems;
36 105mm towed Howitzers and 95,000 105mm artillery rounds;
10,000 120mm mortar rounds;
Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);
RIM-7 missiles for air defense;
4,000 Zuni aircraft rockets;
Approximately 2,000 anti-armor rockets;
Sniper rifles, machine guns, and ammunition for grenade launchers and small arms;
Claymore anti-personnel munitions;
Night vision devices and optics;
Spare parts and other field equipment.
The Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and other armored vehicles and artillery systems will complement the recent commitment of combat vehicles to Ukraine by Germany and France. DoD also welcomes Germany’s commitment to join the United States in supporting Ukraine’s urgent requirement for air defense capabilities by also supplying one Patriot air defense battery to Ukraine.

The Biden Administration will continue to encourage Allies and partners to make additional donations of air defense systems, artillery, combat vehicles, and other critical capabilities to support Ukraine in defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity for as long as it takes. Toward that end, the Department of State also announced today $682 million in additional Foreign Military Financing to incentivize and backfill donations of military equipment to Ukraine by Allies and partners.

In total, the United States has committed more than $24.9 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden Administration. Since 2014, the United States has committed more than $27 billion in security assistance to Ukraine and more than $24.2 billion since the beginning of Russia’s unprovoked and brutal invasion on February 24.

Here is former NAVDEVGRU Squadron Leader Chuck Pfarrer’s most recent assessment of the situation in Bakhmut:

If you’re wondering why there’s no real pressure from Russians on their government to put a stop to this stupidity, Max Seddon at The Financial Times provides some answers:

It’s the holiday season in Moscow, where the city has put up symbols of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine outside the entrance to Gorky Park: the Latin letters Z, V and O in throbbing neon, looming over slogans urging Russians to think of “victory” and their “valiant” soldiers as they head off to the park’s ice rink.

We’re almost a year into the war, and the Kremlin still has yet to explain what exactly the letters — first seen spray-painted on Russian tanks — are meant to signify. But set alongside the snow-capped firs and kitschy grottoes, their meaninglessness is their defining feature; they are just part of the fabric that lets Muscovites go about their lives as if nothing has happened.

Missiles rain down on Kyiv almost daily. Entire towns in eastern Ukraine have been razed to the ground. Villages in Russia’s far-flung backwaters have lost much of their male of-age population to the military draft. But if there’s one city that Putin’s war doesn’t seem to have changed much, it’s Moscow. Instead of a wartime imperial stronghold, the city has become the capital of Putin’s “special operation”, the euphemism that suggests far-off commando deployments in Idlib or Bangui rather than the carnage that Russia is wreaking in the “brotherly nation” next door.

It’s an illusion strictly upheld by the Kremlin — questioning it can land you 15 years in prison for “discrediting the armed forces”. But that illusion couldn’t exist if Muscovites didn’t want to believe in it. “Nobody is doing any self-reflection. What’s the point? If you pause to stop and think about it, things just get worse,” one Kremlin-connected businessman grumbles to me.

One friend likened the experience of living in Moscow to the classic 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, where fear and paranoia grip the human protagonists as they struggle to work out which of their friends have been replaced by monsters. It could be the mother hauled in for a parents’ evening at her daughter’s dance school, where teachers put on a conspiracy-laden video warning of western plots to destroy Russia. It could be the Skabeyeva viewers in the family of a senior Russian businessman who educates his children in Europe. “They say, ‘Fuck everyone! Let’s nuke Holland! Let’s bomb London and Washington! Send the missiles!’ I say, What about your nephew, my son? He lives there! And they say, ‘Let them live in their own country.’”

The antiwar Russians who have not left the country have opted for a Soviet tactic, “internal emigration”, whereby the kitchen table has once again become the only arena for civic discourse. “There’s no way to organise anything,” my friend Sergei*, a biologist, says of protests he attended. “Even all the third-rate opposition leaders have fled or been jailed or been killed.”

While they wait for their European visas and Israeli passports to come through, my friends are finding new ways to cope. One finds solace in days-long meditation retreats. Others have turned to various forms of casual debauchery — drugs, alcohol, sex. After the protests failed, these were the only transgressive acts they felt they had left to them. “I just felt like I had to do something bad,” says Anya*, an artist.

“I’m against the war, but . . . ” is the refrain I must commonly hear. “People are biological creatures and have to adapt,” a sanctioned oligarch says. Another laments: “The sanctions against me are like the yellow star the Nazis had for the Jews.” The heavily documented atrocities in Bucha, a town near Kyiv where Russian occupying forces allegedly raped, tortured, and murdered hundreds of civilians, “are fake”, one senior state banker argues, without evidence. “It was all staged. Just look at the camera angles.”

Much, much more at the link.

Boizhe moi!

Awkward!

This was linked to in the comments last night, but it deserves its own spot in the update:

Look at that butt wiggle with joy!!!!!

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

And a new video from Patron’s official TikTok!

@patron__dsns

💙💛 #славаукраїні #песпатрон

♬ original sound – IDiOtE😝😜❤️

I think by now we can all read the Ukrainian caption, but just in case the first hashtag is SlavaUkraini and the second is PatrontheDog.

Also, look at them pupper paws!!!!!

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

108Comments

  2. 2.

    WaterGirl

    @Adam

    I have 2-factor authentication turned off for the email addresses at balloon-juice.com.

    I am not exactly following what’s going on with your email, but I can turn off the email forwarding to the old account you used for BJ.  Or I can change the forwarding to a different email account, if you want.

    Just let me know if there’s something I can do to help.

  3. 3.

    MomSense

    After work I decided to go to the store and get a bunch of food for youngest (he and his girlfriend are holed up on his room with COVID) and I saw a small group of about 10 people protesting / holding a visibility event  at a busy intersection.  Their signs were all about negotiation not nuclear weapons, compromise not war, etc.  They had Russian and Ukrainian flags.  It made me so angry.  I didn’t stop because the wire was a lot of traffic and wet snow.  I decided to see if I can find out more about them and maybe try and engage with them next week.

  4. 4.

    Ivan X

    @WaterGirl: are they Google Workspace? If so, it might still be bugging him even without 2FA enabled. You could sign into admin.google.com, click on his user, then his security options, and then there’s an option to turn off his security challenges for ten minutes. Of course you’d need to coordinate with Adam so he can jump in that window.

  5. 5.

    Adam L Silverman

    @WaterGirl: No, I have it turned on on the gmail account Alain set up for me that the Balloon Juice account forwards too. This is not the Balloon Juice domain account John set up.

  6. 6.

    PatrickG

    Totally OT but if you bought that MacBook I’m sad you didn’t hear about the Balloon Juice Apple discount before buying. Consider me in future for 15% off on all Apple products!

    ETA my customer service for WaterGirl must have been really bad!

  7. 7.

    UncleEbeneezer

    I’ll check with Mrs. Ebeneezer about your phone situation in a bit.  – Mrs. Ebeneezer here with 20 questions: “No matter what I do it won’t let me do that trick again on my iphone or ipad with the app”, why?  What does it say when you try?  Is the 2FA for the Balloon Juice account the same old phone number that you were able to update on your personal account?  Is there a recovery account setup in Gmail for the BJ account?

  8. 8.

    Adam L Silverman

    @WaterGirl: If I can’t find a way to get into the gmail account I have the Balloon Juice account forwarding too, I may need you to turn off the forwarding and then actually send me the info I need so I can set the Balloon Juice domain account John set up for me up on my devices so I can still receive emails from the folks here. And the lovely folks trying to market stuff to Balloon Juice.

  9. 9.

    Another Scott

    Adam – You may have seen this thread already. If not, there may be a timer that expires in a week that lets you try again via receiving a code to not-your-old-phone.

    HTH a little. Good luck!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  11. 11.

    Alison Rose

    “The sanctions against me are like the yellow star the Nazis had for the Jews.”

    Oh, blow it out your ass. God damn, why does everyone always reach for the Holocaust as their go-to comparison to “a thing I don’t like”?

    I don’t know what their letters mean either, but it always throws me for a bit of a loop seeing them listed, since they’re Zelenskyy’s initials. I know (or at least assume) that has nothing to do with it, but even still, it just jars me for a hot second each time.

    I was really glad to see this new aid package, but…once the Repubs finally manage to beat a few more Never Kevins into submission and he gets elected Speaker, does that mean the aid is about to dry up? I know there was a massive amount included in the omnibus, so would that still be able to be delivered? Or can the GQP yank it away somehow?

    This photo of a proposal on the front lines was very touching. She’s even got flowers :)

    Thank you as always, Adam, and I hope your email woes get sorted out!

  12. 12.

    Roger Moore

    It’s still set up and running on my iPad, but that’s only going to last until I get a new iPad. So if anyone has any useful suggestions – and since this is Balloon Juice, the emphasis as useful – please let me know in the comments.

    One thing you could try is switching to something like the Google Authenticator App.  It generates the same kind of 6 digit code as you get through SMS, but it does it using the time and a shared secret rather than a direct channel from Google to you.  It’s pretty simple to transfer the app from one phone to another, and you can back it up so you’re protected in case your phone (or whatever device you keep Authenticator on) is lost or stolen.  It’s also resistant to attacks that depend on cloning your phone and intercepting SMS messages, which is apparently a thing that can happen.

  13. 13.

    Alison Rose

    (Also, IvanX, I may be upgrading to a new MacBook sometime this year and might come pleading for a little guidance. I know it’s generally a simple process to transfer from one Mac to another, but I am always afraid I’m gonna fuck something up permanently.)

  15. 15.

    Jerzy Russian

    That story about how the citizens of Moscow cope was deeply weird.  I am not sure I would do any better myself.

     

    I would say 9 years between laptop changes is pretty good.  I assume you got the model with the M1 chip?  Those chips are perfect when you really need to go balls-to-the-wall.

    All of my work accounts use this duo mobile app for the two-factor authentication.  My private gmail has the 2FA turned off.

    Should we take a bet on who wins the upcoming battle (Mr. Silverman’s head or the bricks)?

  17. 17.

    Adam L Silverman

    @UncleEbeneezer: It tells me to hit the try another way button, which when I do just routes me back to entering the gmail address, the password, both of which are correct, and then it wants to send the 2FA code to my old cell phone #.

    Yes, the 2FA for the dedicated Balloon Juice gmail account set up before John got us all Balloon Juice domain accounts is the same old phone # that I was able to update to the new and current number on my personal account. Additionally, I thought when I fixed it for the personal account it would fix it for the Balloon Juice gmail account as well. It did not.

    I have my personal gmail account set up to recover to my Balloon Juice email account and, I thought, I have my Balloon Juice email account set up to recover to my personal/primary gmail account. However, it is not giving me the option of sending a recovery email, just round and round to and from sending a 2FA text to my old and no longer in existence cell #.

  19. 19.

    WaterGirl

    @PatrickG:

    ETA my customer service for WaterGirl must have been really bad!

    Ha!  No, your customer service was excellent.

    Except for the part where you gave your 25% discount to your Dad – instead of me.  I mean really, what were you thinking?!

  20. 20.

    Anoniminous

    NATO seems to be upping the game. The US is sending enough Bradleys for a 3 battalion mechanized infantry brigade, Germany is sending 40 Marder IFV plus a Patriot battery, France AMX-10 RC light support tanks* and Bastion APCs, UK tanks and “weapons to hit targets at distance” — artillery or rockets I suppose, trebuchets haven’t been deployed since the1600s.

    Now if the West would get off their asses and send a couple of hundred MQ-1 Predator (or better) drones and the bits & bobs that go *boom* we’d start getting somewhere.

  21. 21.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Another Scott: I’ve seen it. There is no wait a week thing. It won’t even let me have the option of requesting a reset for the account. I can do that with my primary/personal, but it won’t give me that option for the Balloon Juice gmail account.

  23. 23.

    BruceFromOhio

    And since I’ve now spent the past three and half hours trying to figure out how to fix this meshugas, and even though the rest of the set up including moving all of my stuff from my old 2013 MacBook Pro went smoothly thanks to easy to follow instructions from our own IvanX – remember jackals, IvanX for all your personal and professional computing needs!!!! – I’m now pretty fried and a fairly easy Friday has ended in frustration despite how nice this new machine is, which IvanX patiently provided guidance on so I’d get exactly what I needed! So I’m going to keep this short tonight so I can go put my head through cinder blocks or something else less painful than going round and round with Google’s “try another way” tab!

    Welcome to Technical Support, enjoy your visit.

    The reunited doggo is something else!

  25. 25.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Roger Moore: I have the authenticator. It won’t let me attach the accounts because it wants a QR code for set up. I can’t get that because I can’t get into the account to get it and then use it for set up!

  29. 29.

    Adam L Silverman

    @PatrickG: I appreciate that offer very much. Sadly, because of the work I do, even if I’d known about it I couldn’t take you up on that gracious offer as I cannot receive any gift valued at more than $20.

  32. 32.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jerzy Russian: When I was able to reset the personal/primary gmail account I made sure to add it to my authenticator app. So I’ve got a back up there too.

  35. 35.

    Anoniminous

    @BruceFromOhio: ​
     
    Despite the Nietzschean ever-reoccurring claim from the Air Heads “THIS time it WILL work!! that kind of thing is militarily useless. What the Ukrainians need now – IMNSHO – is a way to kill artillery. Russian artillery is the only militarily capable and useful weapons system they have left.

  36. 36.

    HumboldtBlue

    Adam, I was just reading comments on the Ukraine sub on Reddit about this package and someone mentioned Biden has lend-lease authority that can be used to counter any obstruction for house GOPers.

    Is there anything to that before I turn from the Sixers game and go googling?

  38. 38.

    Anoniminous

     @HumboldtBlue: ​ Biden Signs Lend-Lease Act to Supply More Security Assistance to Ukraine
    “The act authorizes the administration, through fiscal year 2023, to lend or lease military equipment to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries. The act would exempt the administration from certain provisions of law that govern the loan or lease of military equipment to foreign countries, such as the five-year limit on the duration of the loan or the requirement that receiving countries pay all costs incurred by the United States in leasing the defense equipment.”​​

  40. 40.

    Omnes Omnibus

    A battalion of self-propelled howitzers. That can do a lot of damage even if it’s not as sexy as HIMARs.

  41. 41.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jerzy Russian: I’ve got it set up for the primary, but to set it up for the Balloon Juice gmail account I’m locked out of I would have to log into that account, then go to security, then bring up the page with the QR code. And I’m sure you can see where the problem is here.

  42. 42.

    Adam L Silverman

    @HumboldtBlue: A Lend-Lease authorization was past in the last Congress. Which, the way things are going in the House right now, may actually be LAST Congress ever.

  46. 46.

    Alison Rose

    @Anoniminous: Unfortunately, for now and the foreseeable future, I’m not able to get out and about. I’d have to order it and do it myself at home. I’ve thought about having my mom come get my old one and go to the Apple store, but she wouldn’t know how to answer any questions they might have.

  47. 47.

    Burnspbesq

    The new MacBook Air is pretty sweet—but something ALWAYS goes wrong in migration. I’m feelin’ ya.

    Try having to rebuild a > 1Tb playlist from scratch—at the same time you’re manually creating a > 3 Tb music library backup on Amazon S3, because Amazon is shutting down Amazon Drive and didn’t bother to build a migration utility.

  48. 48.

    Ksmiami

    @Adam L Silverman: Question for you… if you / you probably have studied Roman political and military history and since our Congress looks to cease being a functioning institution, doesn’t this kind of pave the way for even more executive authority on behalf of the president?  I mean pretty soon, things could devolve to a point where Biden can just ignore the Robert’s bs court and not really listen to anything the monkey Congress says.

  53. 53.

    CaseyL

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    @Burnspbesq:

    If Biden has that kind of power, we might not have to worry about a President DeSantis.

    (And, yes, it is an attractive thought.  With SCOTUS in enemy hands, and now the House, I do often think that insisting on being “better than that” will be the death of us all.)

  55. 55.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Burnspbesq: Everything went fine in terms of migration. The accounts, as well as all my files and apps, came over quickly. Unfortunately, you have to go through Google to sign into your Gmail accounts if you’re setting them up in the mail app that Apple provides.

  56. 56.

    UncleEbeneezer

    We are going to have to tap out.  Mrs. Ebeneezer says this looks like something she’d need to see what you’re actually doing in order to troubleshoot it.  But we also have to get back to packing and final preps for our flight to Mexico mañana for la mañana.

    But complete tangent question: have you listened to the American Psyop podcast centered around the story of Gen. Wesley Clark’s son?  I just started it and have heard really good things about it from others.  Obviously the subject is in your wheelhouse so I’d be curious to know your thoughts if you have checked it out already.

  59. 59.

    trollhattan

    Gosh, that soldier-doggie reunion has to the the best thing ever.

    Am so grateful we have Biden and a Democratic congress at the time Russia decided “nothing matters.” Not looking forward to the many ways the Republican house will throw sand in the gears, but because they did not grab the senate they do not have unfettered power to constrain POTUS.

    Come spring, perhaps Ukraine can end this.

  63. 63.

    Chetan Murthy

    Folks, another question from someone who never deals with this sort of stuff: is there some way for Adam to recover his old phone number, if only temporarily?  Perhaps he could borrow somebody else’s old phone and get the old ph# assigned to it, then recover his Gmail account, then release the ph# ?

    Again, just asking the question: I sure don’t know enough about these sorts of things to know the answer.

  64. 64.

    Ivan X

    @Chetan Murthy: I suggested this to him — it’s a good idea, if a difficult one. Go back to his carrier, and if it’s unassigned, get the cheapest pay as you go plan you can for this single temporary purpose.

  65. 65.

    Feathers

    Realized while reading the replies that you have a Google problem rather than an Apple problem, however I have had problems which are not strictly Apple problems solved by going to the Apple Store, having them verify my identity via a government issued ID, being patched through to Apple people who were able to then untangle the security mess I had made. Don’t know if this is helpful, but there is a lot they can work around once you are there with all your physical equipment and proof that you are you.

  68. 68.

    CaseyL

    @Omnes Omnibus: The better angels of my nature agree with you.

    I’ll find it a lot easier to listen to them if Justice (i.e., DOJ/Jack Smith) rains down a mighty river against the financiers and backers of the insurrection.  It would be better all round if the seditionists were sent to prison (preferably at Gitmo) instead of continuing to be free to attack the country.

  70. 70.

    Adam L Silverman

    I finally got it to send me an authentication code to my primary gmail.

    I entered it in and was informed that they will send me a link to sign in after 30 days. So I guess we sit tight for 30 days.

    Fortunately I can still access it on my iPad.

    This was after having TaMara try to add it on her Android phone and see if we could work around the 2FA that way having it grab her cell# as the new 2FA, then we could go in and change it to my new cell once logged in. That didn’t work, but it generated an email to my primary gmail indicating it had blocked the attempt and that my primary gmail is the recovery email for the balloon juice gmail.

    I do not know why they make this so hard.

  71. 71.

    livewyre

    @CaseyL: Let me put it this way: the point is for law to win, because it’s both safer for us less normative folk and (this part is in testing) actually stronger than the alternative.

    If we go back to warlords, no matter how seemingly pleasant at first, everybody loses. That’s why Biden and company will refuse. I admit, it’s scary, it’s not guaranteed, and it’s historically novel. I support it regardless. The rule of law, that is.

  72. 72.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @CaseyL: Better angels have nothing to do with it.  Dictatorships end in tyranny no matter how well-intentioned their beginnings.

  75. 75.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Chetan Murthy: @Ivan X: My understanding is the old number is basically taken out of service for a period of one to two years and then it will be made available to be assigned to a new subscriber. As far as I know there’s no way to access it.

  77. 77.

    mvr

    I’m too late to this party to skim all the comments, and you’ve probably already thought of this.  But can you get your old # back, do what you need to do and then let it go?  (Or if your old number is already being used, but this would be trickier and rely on some trust, call your old number and ask the current owner to  help you put in the code?)​

  78. 78.

    Carlo Graziani

    I would suggest that Adam, WaterGirl, IvanX, and others here possessing some knowledge of the intricacies of Google authentication (I wish I could help) convene a Zoom Tech Support call in the AM, after coffee, when everyone is bright and full of fresh energy and ready to cope with the kind of dreary bullshit snipe-hunt troubleshooting expedition that it is already clear this thing is.

    The only other thing that I can suggest that is orthogonal to what’s been suggested already is that perhaps some local browser state on your Mac is being preserved through a set of cookies, and that state is interfering with the changes that you believe that you are making. Not a high-percentage shot, really, but you could try clearing cookies, or more aggressive history cleaning. Or you could install a whole new browser, such as Firefox or Chrome, and try the 2FA reset attempts from there.

    I feel bad for you. Recently, I thought I’d lost access to my TSA Global Entry account because of a 2FA-related fuckup involving multiple device loss/breakage—recoverable, fortunately, but the panic was quite the cardio event…

  79. 79.

    Ksmiami

    @Burnspbesq: I’m not saying it’s ideal, just that in the course of history, weak, chaotic and failing institutions give rise to more singular power structures. Ie the Roman Senate.

  80. 80.

    CaseyL

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    …and the ones that start with malign intent? Like the one the RW/GOP is cooking up?

    How do those end up?

    I want the law to deal with them.  I can’t be clearer about that.

    But what if the law doesn’t?

    I repeat: They already have SCOTUS, and they have the House.

  81. 81.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @CaseyL: They had the presidency, both houses of Congress, and the Supreme Court just a little while ago.  Prenez un grip.

  82. 82.

    livewyre

    @CaseyL: If we set conditions for when we will give up fighting for it, then we’ve already given up and are just negotiating the price. For me that’s not an option. No matter how battered and torn our ship of law, we keep pulling on the rudder and sails until there’s literally nothing left to pull. It’s for all the marbles.

    I mean, look to Ukraine, if nothing else – even in war, they prepare for peace. There’s always work left to do. As long as they haven’t given up on repelling the invaders and prosecuting their crimes, we certainly have no excuse.

  84. 84.

    Chetan Murthy

    @livewyre: My conditions were that a *clear and decisive* [not *bare*] majority of American voters sided with Teh Fash.  I expected that to happen in November; it did not.  Most decidedly did not.

    So we fight on.

  85. 85.

    Carlo Graziani

    @Adam L Silverman: That’s a win, however it came about.

    2FA is a colossal pain in the ass, but I guess one only gets to complain if one pays, and Gmail is free.

    For what it’s worth, I’ve now had enough of a scare, and have enough critical stuff that’s gone and hid behind 2FA, that I’ve gotten serious about redundant authentication. I would advise everyone here who is encountering 2FA to do the same—you are otherwise one bricked or lost or stolen phone away from being locked away from your bank, your work, your email, your travel docs, etc.

    The principle is to install a 2FA client on every device that you own, e.g. phone, tablet, laptop, spouse’s phone, etc., and on each one, when a suitable occasion arises, establish an authentication with each of your 2FA-protected accounts. Good examples of such clients include Authy, Duo Mobile (Google), Microsoft Authenticator (default for Outlook).

    Some authentication services (such as the US Federal Government’s Login.gov) offer multiple options, such as both an app and an SMS code to a phone. This isn’t independent if the phone is the same for the app and the SMS, but it’s not a terrible idea to enable both, in case of phone data connectivity issues. If there’s a voice message option that’s also not a terrible last line of defense.

    The whole point of 2FA is to make it hard to impersonate you, which is why it’s hard to reset—otherwise an impersonator could just reset your credentials to attack your account. Unfortunately it’s typically not deployed very gracefully, or with a lot of nuance with respect to whether what is being protected is valuable enough to justify the irritation of 2FA. Google pretty much gets an F on “security versus aggravation cost-benefit analysis”, based on tonight’s thread.

  86. 86.

    bookworm1398

    Good luck Adam. For anyone else looking to change their phone number I would suggest porting your old one to Google Voice for a time. It costs almost nothing and gives you access to your number if anything comes up.

  87. 87.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Carlo Graziani: One of several reasons I have for many years used a paid e-mail provider. Gmail is for stuff I don’t care about. “If you are not paying you are not the customer, you are the product.”

  88. 88.

    Carlo Graziani

    The particulars of the “Additional Security Assistance for Ukraine” list (that must have been quite the letter to Santa Claus!) look quite a bit different to me from previous such lists. There’s a very definite tint of infantry kit, above and beyond the Bradleys, that may be telling some kind of Intentions story. Lots of protected mobility, lots of landmines, rifles, night vision goggles. Plus, shit-tons of artillery tubes, rounds, and rockets, just as the Russians are sucking the dregs of their artillery ammo supply.

    I bet the Russians read that list and promptly shit themselves.

  89. 89.

    Feathers

    @Adam L Silverman: Glad to hear you found a solution. My problem wasn’t an Apple problem, but it was solved through a deep reset that triggered a reset through the apps involved.

    Using your phone number for identification verification seems like a great solution, but phone numbers do change.

  93. 93.

    Torrey

    @Alison Rose:

    I don’t know what their letters mean either, but it always throws me for a bit of a loop seeing them listed, since they’re Zelenskyy’s initials.

    I’m glad someone else noticed that. It seemed obvious to me, particularly in the order in which they showed up  (Z, V, O). I don’t for a moment think it’s a coincidence.

  94. 94.

    Ivan X

    @Carlo Graziani: Yeah. 2FA is necessary but dangerous. I recommend using a password manager, such as 1Password or Apple Passwords (aka Keychain) and storing the 2FA code in there rather than in an authenticator app, so that way it’s at least in an account. In fact, if you reveal the original 2FA “seed”, you can put the rotating code into more than one password manager/authenticator app. I also know someone who printed his QR setup codes for 2FA and kept them in a safe so that they could always be re-scanned into an authenticator app.

    A good use of the notes field in a password manager is to store emergency one-time-use backup codes, which some 2FA systems, like Google, give you the option of setting up. I always do this when enabling 2FA for someone.

    Text messages for 2FA are convenient but problematic for several reasons, such as the one Adam is facing, or the fact that a good social engineer can steal a phone number by convincing a mobile carrier that they are you and they have a new phone and they need the number transferred to a new SIM card. I have a good friend who was spearfished (targeted) because he had a two-letter Instagram name, which are extremely valuable on dark web markets and whatnot. He had his number involuntarily transferred to someone else’s SIM, and within minutes he was locked out of everything. This is why we can’t have nice things.

    Apple and others are working on a new passwordless future, in which accounts are secured by hidden keys; we’ll see when and if that comes to fruition, and whether or not it manages to keep bad actors out without making your life miserable.

    I’m personally of the opinion that large communications platforms like Gmail, Facebook, etc, should be required to have paid human support for account recovery. It’s simply not sufficient for a computer to tell someone they’re fucked and they have to start their life over.

  95. 95.

    dr. luba

    We had out family Sviat Vechir (Xmas Eve) supper tonight.  As per ancient tradition, it was vegan with fish. And as per ancient tradition, we had a stranger at our table–Ivanka, a Lviv university student/refugee from the war. She’s been staying with a local non-Ukrainian family nearby, working as an au pair.  Her mother and grandmother left Ukraine, too, but are in Canada, and she can’t visit (visa isuses).  It was nice to have her, and she enjoyed being able to celebrate the holiday with fellow Ukrainian speakers.

    We drank to the holiday, to Ukrainian victory, and to the death of Putin.  May it be so.

  96. 96.

    Carlo Graziani

    @Ivan X:

    I recommend using a password manager, such as 1Password or Apple Passwords (aka Keychain) and storing the 2FA code in there rather than in an authenticator app, so that way it’s at least in an account. In fact, if you reveal the original 2FA “seed”, you can put the rotating code into more than one password manager/authenticator app.

    This sounds intriguing, but I don’t understand 2FA protocols, so I can’t really parse what you’re writing here. I do use KeePassX/KeePassDroid across Linux/Android platforms, sharing the database. I don’t know, based on what I’ve witnessed in various 2FA setups, how I would extract the kind of primitive information (“the 2FA code”) that I think you are implying underpins the authentication, or, with that data in hand, how a working authentication process would be restored if it were disrupted. A pointer to some kind of explained, or perhaps a summary, would be very helpful.

  97. 97.

    Ivan X

    @bookworm1398: agreed that this good advice, but the one kicker with Google Voice is that if you don’t send a message or make a call once every couple of months, they can pull the number.

  98. 98.

    Jinchi

    @Another Scott: That’s what happened to me. Somehow got locked out of my Gmail account because of 2fa and thought it was gone for good. Tried again about 10 days later and was able to reset the account with the new phone number.

     

    Hope that ends up working for you Adam.

  100. 100.

    Carlo Graziani

    An interesting take from ISW, for those with an infowarrior obsession:

    Russian officials and milbloggers largely did not react to the US announcement of more than $3.75 billion in new military assistance to Ukraine, further highlighting that the Kremlin and the Russian information space selectively choose when to portray Western military assistance as an escalation. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on January 6 that the assistance would provide Ukraine with Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, artillery systems, armored personnel carriers, surface-to-air missiles, and ammunition.[1] Russian officials and milbloggers scarcely reacted to the latest announcement of military assistance,  even though the Kremlin most recently portrayed the transfer of purely defensive Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine as an escalation.[2]

    The lack of Russian reaction to the US announcement of military assistance that Ukrainian forces could use to support counteroffensive operations supports ISW’s previous assessment that the Kremlin is more concerned with its information operations and the effect that Western military aid can have on specific Russian military operations in Ukraine than with any particular weapons systems, red lines, or the supposed Russian fears of putative Ukrainian offensive actions against the Russian Federation itself using Western systems.[3] The Kremlin selectively responds to Western military shipments and assistance to Ukraine to support information operations that aim to frame Ukraine as lacking sovereignty and to weaken Western willingness to provide further military assistance by stoking fears of Russian escalation.[4] The Kremlin and the Russian information space will likely seize upon future Western military aid that they believe can support these information operations rather than as a reflection of any actual Kremin red lines or specific concerns about the potential threat Western weapons systems may pose. ISW has previously noted that these observations are worth considering in the context of the Western discussion of providing Ukraine with Western tanks, long-range attack systems, and other capabilities.

  102. 102.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Adam L Silverman:

    American Psyop takes the audience through the amazing and inexplicable life of Wes Clark jr, the son of a NATO General and presidential candidate. After leaving the military for Hollywood, Wes finds himself subject to foreign intelligence operations. Soon, Wes is surrounded by a religious cult, loses his grasp on reality and descends into a world of dirty politics, mercenary organizations and possible threats to American Democracy. Now, with the help of journalist Emily Bicks, Wes tries to make sense of his messy life.

  103. 103.

    eachother

    Dumbest question I have asked since yesterday.
    Is there a communication option between BJ members other than through reply in comments?

    Are there communications I may have missed by not knowing how or where to look?

    Also, how would an enlist like me know about such a generous Apple discount (if so favored) or possibly other such offers?

    Is there a fuller BJ experience out there I have not accessed?

    I have been shy/embarrassed to ask sooner but this seems to be the porthole I have waited for.

  104. 104.

    Chetan Murthy

    @eachother: The only other comms options is to ask one of the FPers to forward an email.  But …. one could also just create a burner  email address (I have one at gmail) that one is willing to share in public.  The idea being, if it’s an email that you never use for anything other than “first contact”, you can share that email,  and the other person can email you there right away; you can watch for it, reply to them from your regular email address, and then iignore that burner account until the next time you need it for this purpose again.

    I didn’t know we had an Apple employee in the commentariat either.  B-J commenters come from so many interesting walks of life!

  106. 106.

    NutmegAgain

    @HumboldtBlue: I just love that little girl! A future on the stage for her, if she wants it. Also glad to know somebody else besides me checks on the Georgian Legion twitter–they have some wonderful bits and snippets.

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