Jeffrey Goldberg has a truly staggering story up at The Atlantic (archive.is link – no paywall) about how he was accidentally included in a Signal chat with multiple Trump administration officials, including Vice President Vance. This chat was planning strikes against the Houthis. You’d think we’d be used to this sort of gold-plated dumbfuckery by now, but no. Here’s the moment when Goldberg realized he wasn’t being punked:
According to the lengthy Hegseth text, the first detonations in Yemen would be felt two hours hence, at 1:45 p.m. eastern time. So I waited in my car in a supermarket parking lot. If this Signal chat was real, I reasoned, Houthi targets would soon be bombed. At about 1:55, I checked X and searched Yemen. Explosions were then being heard across Sanaa, the capital city.
I went back to the Signal channel. At 1:48, “Michael Waltz” had provided the group an update. Again, I won’t quote from this text, except to note that he described the operation as an “amazing job.” A few minutes later, “John Ratcliffe” wrote, “A good start.” Not long after, Waltz responded with three emoji: a fist, an American flag, and fire. Others soon joined in, including “MAR,” who wrote, “Good Job Pete and your team!!,” and “Susie Wiles,” who texted, “Kudos to all – most particularly those in theater and CENTCOM! Really great. God bless.” “Steve Witkoff” responded with five emoji: two hands-praying, a flexed bicep, and two American flags. “TG” responded, “Great work and effects!”
I’m amazed that Witkoff restricted himself to a mere five emoji (and glad that he didn’t include the cry-laughing face). For what it’s worth — admittedly not much, other than that Trump might get to hear of it and be mad about it — Vance was not really on board with the whole plan:
At this point, a fascinating policy discussion commenced. The account labeled “JD Vance” responded at 8:16: “Team, I am out for the day doing an economic event in Michigan. But I think we are making a mistake.” (Vance was indeed in Michigan that day.) The Vance account goes on to state, “3 percent of US trade runs through the suez. 40 percent of European trade does. There is a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it’s necessary. The strongest reason to do this is, as POTUS said, to send a message.”
The Vance account then goes on to make a noteworthy statement, considering that the vice president has not deviated publicly from Trump’s position on virtually any issue. “I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now. There’s a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices. I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself. But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc.”
Everything they do is a shocking embarrassment. I can’t really bring myself to laugh at these people this time around — especially given the fact that Trump is apparently babbling about annexing Greenland as I type this. However, if this had happened to me, I’d have posted the most vile, haunting pornographic images I could find to that group chat. Missed opportunity to send some gaping assholes some gaping assholes, Mr. Goldberg.
Open thread for anything except your military strike plans, as I’m duly swamped.
Getting Voters to Notice: Crisis As Opportunity
Steve LaBonne
The most depressing part of this is that VD Jance is apparently the least stupid idiot among this crew of idiots.
MFA
“…if this had happened to me, I’d have posted the most vile, haunting pornographic images I could find to that group chat.”
Nah, just one of Melania’s nude lesbian fantasy pics.
Rose Judson
@MFA: there is a nonzero chance they’ve already had those from the president
Baud
No one besides us loyal Dems care because white identity and male dominance are too valuable for everyone else to give up, no matter what the cost to dignity or human life.
eclare
@Steve LaBonne:
I know!
MobiusKlein
WTF are they doing conducting national security operations, probably classified stuff, on a non-government secured communication channel?
Putting way, way too much trust in the OS, the network, the app creator, and who controls the devices on the other side.
Can we impeach the motherfuckers already?
Baud
Looks like it’s time for a long series of articles in the NYT discussing whether Schumer should step down as leader.
Old School
WaterGirl
I had just read that article. Amazingly careless stupid awful, and yet not at all surprising.
Betty Cracker
Just read that story and am duly gob-smacked. Was also struck by the ass-covering when they found out they’d accidentally included a journo on the list, which amounted to “see how thoughtful we were” (nope) and “of course Trump and Vance are on the same page.” I bet JD’s Lil’ Smokie retracted fully into the fuselage when he was clued in this was going public. (Forgive the horrid imagery and mixed metaphor, please and thank you.) LMAO! Clowns!
Baud
Via Reddit, a president who respected national security.
HopefullyNotcassandra
I think the buffoon squad did this on purpose for the publicity. If the editor of the Atlantic had outed the CIA agent or disclosed the plans in advance, the squad would ship him to Guantanamo.
It looks to me like this group of MAGA kneelers have been owned in their mid-East playdoh posturings (that killed real living people) by Quatari operatives. This changes that story just like Ron DeSantis’ absurd go-go boots changed the story that Governor DeSantis’ failure to say “get out” killed Floridians.
CaseyL
I remember reading somewhere that the German Nazis* also weren’t the brightest bulbs on the chandelier.
Seems to me that, essentially, being stupid is a prerequisite for being a fascist. It’s due to their inherent need for a Strong Authority Figure: left to themselves, they wouldn’t be able to find their way out of a wet paper bag. This goes double for their footsoldiers, who are really good at carrying out atrocities (which require only a low level skill set) but useless for anything else.
*We now must specify which group of Nazis we’re talking about. Oy.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
This is the sort of professionalism I’d expect from the Baud! administration’s plans for military action against Elbonia.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Vance sees himself as president in 2029 and trying to play both sides.
Betty
@Steve LaBonne: That is interesting because Vance has adopted this silly, hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil persona publicly to keep Trump happy. That he sent his wife to Greenland where she is anything but welcome is truly pathetic kowtowing. He clearly knows better, but ambition put him in this mess.
President Johnny Gentle (famous crooner)
@Steve LaBonne:
Actually, he’s the worst assuming you view striking the Houthis as a net positive. The rest of the group went ahead with it on the basis that, essentially, “this needs to be done but Europe is too weak to do it themselves.”
Even that was too much for Vance, who simply didn’t give a crap about what the Houthis were doing to international commerce because pwning Europe is more important. So although the rest of the group was blaming Biden for failing to deter the Houthis, at least they took action as opposed to reverting to the isolationist “let the rest of the world burn” mindset.
If there’s good reason to not strike the Houthis, I’d like to hear it. I don’t mean that judgmentally or sarcastically; I’m just not familiar with that side of the argument.
Betty Cracker
@HopefullyNotcassandra: How were they owned by Quatari operatives?
ssdd
Oh, and meanwhile the strike was so successful that the Houthis lobbed another missile at Israel today.
suzanne
LMAO.
I’m old enough to remember 20 minutes ago, when people were haughtily informing me that Biden was going to “send American boys to die in war”.
geg6
@Baud:
Well, AFAIC, stopped clocks and all that.
gratuitous
@Betty: I figure any minute now we’ll all get a scolding from the vice president of just how naughty it is to make something political out of his wife’s political visit to Greenland, and why don’t the media just leave her alone.
Next up: Fox says sending incredibly sensitive national security texts over an unsecured, privately owned messaging service is another stroke of genius by the felon’s administration.
lamh47
Hey BJ just an update on the latest as a terminated/”reinstated” fed probie worker.
got a text this AM from my former fed mgr telling me “You will remain on administrative leave until we hear more on return date. Feel free to reach out at any time.”
Ya’ll…I still have not received any OFFICIAL notice that I was being reinstated from my former agency. And guess what…I verified this morning that my health insurance coverage (which was auto-extended 31 days from termination) ends tomorrow.
I got approved for some state health coverage…but only contingent on my being terminated.
So guess what…if I haven’t received any official notice of reinstatement…I don’t consider it official, ya know.
SMH…this entire thing is a clusterfuq and federal workers are stuck in the middle of it…smh
So I’m supposed to wait for them to either get me out of admin leave or for chump appeals to go through and get back terminated AGAIN…or waiting for the RIF procedures where I get let go AGAIN, but at leas this time NOT for “performance reasons”.
Oh and here we go with the latest from the chump admin..
So terminated/”reinstated” fed workers are supposed to trust this SCOTUS to rule in the favor or fed workers vs their “president” if it goes before them??
NotMax
@Betty
Couching it in mealy-mouthed arglebargle.
trollhattan
Screenshot I saw shows them all attaboying one another and peppering the joint with emojis.
Yes, our nation is being run by middleschoolers.
eclare
Hahaha
https://x.com/Schneider_CM/status/1904232372444295281
MazeDancer
The stunning stupidity is so overwhelming that it does feel like some kind of Goldberg entrapment. But what kind?
Not one of these idiots said: “Let’s get off Signal and go secure.”
They just like the easy whip the phone out of the pocket simplicity?
Can’t imagine there is any aspect of American Government that the Chinese don’t have now.
The Russians get all the info handed to them. But others might have to do some light hacking.
gvg
@suzanne: Er which group was spouting THAT? I didn’t hear that one.
Biden was rational. I don’t think he would have approved a silly war especially after the price he paid for getting us out of Afghanistan. That doesn’t mean something couldn’t have happened to make it necesary, but I don’t think there was anything on the horizon…except Trump and the idiots.
trollhattan
@lamh47:
Lord that stinks. Didn’t you move here for the gig just last year?
I work next to Reclamation, who have all gotten “the letter” and some have already taken the buyout. These are the folks who run Central Valley Project, so no biggie. “Shasta Dam? Never heard of the joint.”
WaterGirl
@lamh47: I’m so sorry. Fuck them all.
trollhattan
@eclare: [golfclap]
Deputinize America
This is a lapdog cabinet doing some goofy Dear Leader nonsense.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/03/24/trump-presidency-news/#link-GRCNJ7ODY5BMZCQW4I36DULL2Y
Geminid
Yemen is 4/5ths the size of Texas, and the area the Houthis control, a quarter of the whole, is about the size of New York state. It will take a lot of bombs and cruise missiles to make a dent in Houthi control. Suppressing their attacks on shipping will likely require attacking Iran eventually. That is where tthe US’s bombing campaign may be heading because no one is going to try uprooting Houthi control on the ground.
The Houthis have their sympathizers though. This weekend the obnoxious Jackson Hinkle visited Sanaa, formerly Yemen’s capital and currently the Houthis’ capital. Hinkle posted pics of himself with three different Houthi leaders. They were all smiling but I’m not sure they know that Hinkle titles his internet show, “Legitimate Targets.”
comrade scotts agenda of rage
This kind of communication breach, back in my day, would have resulted in yanked clearances, etc.
It’s another sad indication of how far we’ve fallen. If I’d taken home the gobs of classified material Hair Furor did in Term 1, and I could have easily walked out with stuff over time, I’d still be in jail. I watched the trials of two people that had been in my early offices (Sam Morrison who gave satellite photos to Janes and Jay Pollard) because they were intended to send a message.
Now we’re sending the exact opposite message.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@Betty Cracker: I think right now there are only 2 Qatargates. There may be more. There is one involving European corruption and one involving Bibi Netanyahu. There may be more.
Ha’aretz has the most exhaustive coverage on the Qatargate involving Mr. Netanyahu and alas, without paying, I cannot read it anymore.
Here is a relevant Wikipedia entry
Mr Netanyahu fired the head of Shin Bet who was investigating this and broke the ceasefire in Gaza (to divert attention?)
https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/qatar-gate-netanyahus-decision-to-dismiss-shin-bet-head-sparks-political-uproar
This is an enormous scandal and since our president follows Mr Netanyahu’s every request, his administration is covered in the same morass I would think.
This FUBAR story will likely divert our MSM
eclare
@lamh47:
It’s like the govt is playing cat and mouse with your life, and of course you’re the mouse. They don’t realize that there are real people behind the numbers. It’s evil.
Baud
@geg6:
It’s not a question of right or wrong, but about priorities and distractions IMHO. If not that, it’ll be something else.
Avalune
I like to occasionally drop an emoji in my comments here because I find it amusing and know some folks are very anti emojis but man, after reading about all the stupid emoji use when talking about this kind of thing… kind of gross (do not use disgusted emoji, do not use disgusted emoji, do not)
@lamh47: This shit here deserves 100 disgusted emojis though.
(not REALLY trying to get myself banned from here just looking a lot like it lol)
HopefullyNotcassandra
@lamh47: That is horrible. Have you legal representation?
HopefullyNotcassandra
@Betty Cracker: I answered you. I think it disappeared?
trollhattan
Oh goodie, Mother II is going to Greenland to do culture stuff.
lamh47
@trollhattan: yes. I was able to move to Cali thx to fed work, but I was planning on going to Cali anyway. I had already gotten my Cali license by the time I got the fed job.
Belafon
@eclare: There are articles about the stress Trump’s people are putting government workers under to get them to quit.
lamh47
@HopefullyNotcassandra: I reached out to multiple employment lawyers but all were not willing to represent me as an individual case.
I have done my appeal via the appeal board on my own though and so far it hasnt’ been dismissed, but has been consolidated with other pending appeals filed during the same time and with same agencies with the MSPB appeals board. So we’ll see how that eventually gets resolved or dismsssed.
NotMax
@trollhattan
“If you knew Thule like I know Thule.”
//
The Pale Scot
I hope so, The oil industry is saying that drilling in the Permian Basin is prohibitive unless the price is over 80 $AB. No SS checks, gas over $4, Tourist, hospitality in a decaying orbit, overseas markets closing. Trump is finally going to be hurting the “right people”
* Yes I know there’s collateral damage, but it’s out of our hands, there no way to do it
I will not link to Goat.sx I will not link to Goat.sx I will not link to Goat.sx
Juju
@lamh47: Wrap yourself in bubble wrap until you find out your employment status?
rikyrah
Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal break Broadway box office records with ‘Othello’
Story by Lisa Respers France, CNN • 5h • 1 min read
An “Othello” revival, starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, has made history.
The production at the Barrymore Theatre is now Broadway’s top-grossing play of all time, generating $2.8 million with eight preview performances. It exceeded a record held by“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” which pulled in more than $2.7 million in December 2023, according to Deadline.
Washington and Gyllenhaal recently spoke with “CBS News Sunday Morning” about the project.
“It’s the most excited I’ve been this century,” Washington said. “Seriously. I haven’t been this excited about anything I’ve done as I am about this.”
He plays the title role, while Gyllenhaal is cast as Iago. The Shakespearian plot revolves around Othello as a military commander who is convinced that his wife has been unfaithful by his ensign, Iago.
Now 70, Washington first starred as Othello while in college at Fordham University and reflected on how different playing the role is now versus when he was 22.
“I know a lot less now. I thought I knew everything then!” he said. “I didn’t really like the part, ‘cause I wasn’t wise enough to understand it. Now I understand it’s really about a bond, you know, that these characters have. He loves not wisely, but too well.”
Both he and his costar are thrilled about the play’s success.
“You get to a point where you’re like, ‘Oh, I’ve worked my whole career for this, for this moment,’” Gyllenhaal said.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/denzel-washington-and-jake-gyllenhaal-break-broadway-box-office-records-with-othello/ar-AA1By7a7?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=5e6fa9f0f37845998c3ca7bc8680ee47&ei=9
lamh47
@eclare: Right.
Like I said with no offiical notice, I’m considering myself still terminated.
I mean I certainly can’t send text messages to the unemployment boards or other aid agencies…smh.
But at this point all this is truly indicative of this admin and it’s unprofessionalism and pettiness
lamh47
@Juju: nah…I can’t send text message as “official” documentation so unless I receive official notices from the fed agency I consider myself still a terminated employee, and I will conduct myself as such.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@Betty Cracker: trying again. This time without an unknown Indian newspaper as a source.
Here is the gist of the Qatargate in Israel right now from the Jerusalem Post
https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/qatar-gate-netanyahus-decision-to-dismiss-shin-bet-head-sparks-political-uproar
It is a doozy of a scandal. There is more than one Qatargate. The other one involves Europe and I don’t think it has anything to do with this.
This FUBAR story distracts from all of that corruption that looks to be going on in Israel. It looks like Bibi Netanyahu broke the Gaza ceasefire to distract from this scandal too.
lowtechcyclist
@Belafon:
That was what Russell Vought said his plan was: traumatize Federal workers to the point where they don’t want to get out of bed and come in to work.
Looks like it’s moving forward as planned.
lamh47
@Belafon: It’s 100% the entire plan and exactly the psych bullshit musky pulled on his tech employees before…
Dorothy A. Winsor
@trollhattan: I trust Greenland has handed Usha Vance off to the spouse of their VP. Or, even better, ignored her.
I’d dump Habba, too. Poor NJ.
WaterGirl
@eclare: I suspect they do know there are real people being hurt, but they just don’t care.
They are not the “right” people to be cared about. Alternatively, they may be hurting exactly the people they want to hurt.
Doc Sardonic
@Betty Cracker: I will never be able to look at a bowl of bbq sauce soaked cocktail weenies the same way again……
tam1MI
@Baud:
Via Reddit, a president who respected national security.
It’s so heartening to see the commenters there and elsewhere talk warmly about Joe Biden and remind people, over and over, of the good things he did for this country and how much better off we were when he was President. You keep living your best life, Mr. Biden. You earned it.
WaterGirl
@Avalune: You are totally free to drop an emoji here or there. It’s the just an emoji response that really dilutes the conversation.
WaterGirl
@HopefullyNotcassandra: It went into moderation, but I freed it a few minutes ago.
Parfigliano
@trollhattan: Couldn’t Greenland deny them permission to land or something along those lines.
NotMax
@The Pale Scot
Topped off the tank this month (even though it was more than half full) because gas here had plummeted down to $4.43.
lamh47
@lamh47: Just like I can’t use text messages as “offiical” documentation, I do not consider myself a “reinstated” employee until/unless I receive an offiical notification. Even then, I’m working under the assumption that I am still a terminated employee. Maybe if I receive an actual paycheck from this reinstatement, I “might” change that assumption but until then…nah.
tam1MI
“But her emails.”
Baud
@lamh47:
Not unless a journalist without clearance is included in the group chat.
Eunicecycle
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I understand Vance was not invited so I guess she can go like any other tourist. I don’t believe you can just “drop in” for an official visit so I hope she is ignored by everyone. I hope her son isn’t treated badly, but if he is, it’s all on his parents for putting him in this position. They have to know they aren’t welcome.
Baud
@tam1MI:
100%
frog
First time in 10 years I’m gonna watch over-the-air TV news tonight … or ANY TV news.
Juju
@lamh47: So you’re off to buy some bubble wrap today? I’m so sorry you’re going through this. I hope it all works out to your benefit sooner rather than later. I cringe at the thought that you and everyone else in your situation have to depend on the kindness of the US Supreme Court.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@lamh47: You likely know this, but there are class action lawsuits of which you may already be a part.
https://federalworkerrights.com/2025/03/06/class-actions-challenge-mass-terminations-of-probationary-employees-at-the-merit-systems-protection-board/
The link includes the agencies included in the lawsuits.
Geminid
@Geminid: Military news site Task and Purpose reports that the Carl Vinson carrier strike group is being diverted from the Pacific Ocean to the Middle East. The Vinson was recently cruising off the Korean Peninsula and is expected to take a couple weeks to reach the Gulf of Aden.
When it does there will be two US carrier groups operating against the Houthis, since the Norfolk-based Harry S. Truman’s deployment has been extended. That’s a lot of firepower, which raises the question: what will Trump’s goons do if it doesn’t work. The Houthis maintain they won’t stop attacks on shipping until Israel stops attacking Gaza and recommences humanitarian aid, and they pretty clearly mean it.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@WaterGirl: maybe you should not have
I linked to an Indian newspaper that might be questionable. I know better and I am sorry.
Juju
@Dorothy A. Winsor: If there are parking garage issues I’m sure she will be right on top of things.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Also I see 23 and Me has gone bankrupt and people are being advised to delete their DNA data.
Kristine
@Betty Cracker:
Oh, Betty, you are a treasure.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
{rimshot} Hey-ooh!
I cannot love the name Mute Egede enough. If only we happened to have a President Mute.
lamh47
@HopefullyNotcassandra: yes. I’ve supplied data to the class actions lawyers including for the first MD case, but was also informed by them that they were collecting datat and appreciated my submission, but at this time they are not considered “representating” me individualy, but they right now just collecting data.
TBH, I suspect that the the more “buzzworthy” larger agency divisions are being fought first and then hopefully trickle down to other agencies.
Kristine
@rikyrah: That’s a play I would love to see.
catclub
remember how quaint it was to object to the Secretary of State not discussing anything actually classified on her non-US Government email?
Also the Bush 2001 admin wiped whole email servers that had been used for official information.
The Pale Scot
Sorry mam’, you visa is not in order, we can’t let u i
Or more subtlety, “we cannot guarantee your safety, the Inuits are getting restless”
A Good Woman
@Betty Cracker:
OMFG!!!! Smokie and the retraction into the fuselage!! Priceless imagery! I have so needed a good laugh. TY 😂😂😂
Betty Cracker
@HopefullyNotcassandra: Got it — thanks!
chemiclord
@Betty Cracker:
Maybe this is why that one reporter was grumpy that the Biden Administration kept them out of email listings.
I can only imagine this is a lot easier for reporters.
Miss Bianca
@tam1MI: Are we going to start seeing eleventy-million “But their texts!11!!” articles from the NYT for months now? Magic 8-ball sez…”LOL, who you kiddin’?”
lamh47
@Kristine: I def looked into it as well, but for $276 a pop, I was like…nah.
lamh47
@lamh47: Also too, I couldn’t get a reinstatement notice, but I sure did get those dang “return our shit” emails…smh. even before I sent back my equipment, I made sure to check for the reinstatement of my access and never got it…so yeah…
eclare
@Parfigliano:
That is my question. Just deny them permission to land. It astounds me how no one says NO! to this administration.
The Pale Scot
We’ll dirty her up and in multiple scandals zippity quick
Geminid
@HopefullyNotcassandra: Some Israeli commentators say that reopening the Gaza war was intended to bring convicted criminal Itamar Ben-Gvir and his 5 followers back into Netanyahu’s wobbly coalition. It worked, so now Netanyahu will try to pass his government’s smash-and-grab budget. He has to in order to avoid early elections.
Reichman University just released its latest poll on trust in governmental institutions, with the variance from the same poll taken one month before. The figures for trust:
IDF– 65% (+3)
Supreme Court– 44% (+1)
Judiciary– 43% (+2)
President of the State– 42% (+1)
State Attorney’s Office 32% (+2)
Police– 27% (+1)
[“Bibi’s”] Government– 17% (-1)
Knesset– 11% (-1)
Reporter Gil Feldman commented:
AxelFoley
@eclare:
No, they DO realize that there are real people behind the numbers. They just don’t fucking care.
THAT’S what makes it evil.
ArchTeryx
@lamh47: And that’s for all the marbles. The Supremes can permanently break public sector unions with that ruling, and I wouldn’t give odds that they’re not going to take the opportunity to essentially nullify any contract signed with a PSU.
Treating it as a termination is the right thing. Too bad you can’t get the Department of Labor to help out. Chris Van Hollen’s office, back when he was a House rep, helped me wrench unemployment out of the feds when I was laid off as a postdoc. They claimed because I was not an employee, I wasn’t eligible. His office begged to differ, and within about 4 weeks I had my UI.
Dangerman
Is it safe to assume the Trump Tower in Greenland will have an indoor pool?
eclare
@AxelFoley:
You’re right, unfortunately.
Professor Bigfoot
@CaseyL: I use NAZIs for the OG Nazis. It was, after all, originally a German acronym for members of the NSDAP.
These latter day shiteweasels are lower case “nazis.”
ArchTeryx
@Professor Bigfoot: Not true. “Nazi” was an invented term by the Allies, and the Germans HATED it – which is exactly why we used it. It was Backronymed later. To them it was always NSDAP, and whatever arm of it you were a part of – party member, party officer or military. Wehrmacht or Schutzstaffel-Waffen, branch, etc.
Being raised by a WWII fighter pilot did have a few advantages. I wish he was still alive, because he knew precisely what to do with nazis.
Gretchen
@gratuitous: They’re sending his kid along to so that if they get a poor reception he can whine about an innocent child being attacked, like he did when met with protesters in DC.
lamh47
@ArchTeryx: Oh I started my unempolyment claim almost as soon as my termination date came up a month ago. I’ve been going back and forward with Cali unemployment claims now (in fact before receiving the text fro my former mgr, I had just faxed in W-2 wage information).
Applying for other state aid was easier and done pretty quickl and all online. Unemployment still does things via mail or fax and only few things online which is frustrating of course, but I have savings enough to get me through for now so if/when UEI is granted hopefully I get back support for the weeks inbetween?
I say all that to say, I could ONLY use official documentation to prove my unemployment which is another reason why I consider it’s non-existent until official notice…ya know
lamh47
@ArchTeryx: Oh I started my unempolyment claim almost as soon as my termination date came up a month ago. I’ve been going back and forward with Cali unemployment claims now (in fact before receiving the text fro my former mgr, I had just faxed in W-2 wage information).
Applying for other state aid was easier and done pretty quickl and all online. Unemployment still does things via mail or fax and only few things online which is frustrating of course, but I have savings enough to get me through for now so if/when UEI is granted hopefully I get back support for the weeks inbetween?
I say all that to say, I could ONLY use official documentation to prove my unemployment which is another reason why I consider it’s non-existent until official notice…ya know
Geminid
@HopefullyNotcassandra: The other QatarGate blew up in Brussels a couple years ago, and involved Qatar paying European Parliament members under the table to further its interests.
The material in that Haaretz report is just the tip of a large, rotten iceberg. Israel’s QatarGate implicates the PM’s longstanding symbiotic relationship with the Qataris and Hamas that blew up in his face October 7, 2023. Among others, reporter Barak Ravid has been reporting on the sprawling scandal for Axios.
Ravid was unusually blunt in a social media post last Thursday:
Last Friday, Shin Bet arrested two members of Netanyahu’s staff in connection to payments by Qatar. As one observer put it, every tug on a strand in this relationship unravels more of the whole. It also adds to Netanyahu’s desperation.
hells littlest angel
A nation run by fucking simpletons.
Doug R
@President Johnny Gentle (famous crooner):
Well, all the news stories are about all the women and children killed-which would fit with the “genocide joe” bullshit that we got just before the election.
ArchTeryx
@lamh47: Some state DOLs will grant you a hearing if you lack a termination letter, because failing to provide one is one of a hundred tricks toxic employers use to try to deny you your UI. They look at it as: If you are not getting paid, you are effectively terminated or laid off, and automatically eligible. Southern labor courts certainly don’t look at it that way, but a Cali court might.
It’s near impossible to prove a negative (“I have no income”), but if you have a friendly court on your side, it’s possible they will accept a bank statement or some such as proof you are no longer getting paid. It’s part of how I won my UI case, and I didn’t have a lawyer either.
And yes, if you fight and win an appeal and get your UI, the court will determine the date you lost your job, and you get back benefits up to that day. It’s why you can often find labor lawyers who specialize in UI working for contingency: To get a portion of those back payments
Non-contingent labor lawyers won’t touch most unlawful termination cases unless it’s part of a class action, because employers come with big guns (especially multinational corporations) and they don’t want to put in the time for the peanuts a single back UI case will award you. Class actions are also more likely to succeed. Patterns stick out in court, and it narrows the range of lies they can tell about you.
hells littlest angel
In happier news, Kat Abughazaleh is running for Congress!
Betty
@trollhattan: I am picturing the conversation.
Usha: Why do I have to go? I won’t be welcome. Why can’t Melania go?
Vance: You know why. She told the boss to get lost.
Usha: I just hope I don’t get spit on. You’ll pay for this, J. D.
Vance: (sigh).
lamh47
@ArchTeryx: Right. I have no real complaints about the aid application process here in Cali. I understand all the delays and documentation requirements. IMHO the Cali state aid departments are def better than my old home states (TX and LA)
Princess
We need to demand resignation and impeachment. Regardless of whether we think it will succeed. Not to do so normalizes this. If you want to ask what would McConnell do, that’s what he’d do. The very fact they are using Signal is against national security regulations.
There are GOP who dislike Hegseth. Let’s help them tank him.
Betty
@Geminid: BibI is desperate and the Gazans are paying the price to keep him out of jail.
ArchTeryx
@lamh47: Yeah. It’s s-l-o-w. Always the perfect news when you’re desperately trying to keep your head above water. Your urgent problem is not their urgent problem.
But at least in CA you have good odds it eventually ends in victory. TX and LA? They’d rule it for cause on the Muskrats’ word alone and laugh you right out of court.
Betty
@Princess: They all need to be mocked mercilessly.
gene108
@WaterGirl:
The only people this administration cares about are billionaires.
They are making working conditions deliberately difficult by making federal employees uncertain about their chances for continued employment.
hells littlest angel
JD: Because, as a fellow dark-skinned subhuman, the Eskimos, or whatever they’re called, will like you.
Baud
Via reddit
Harrison Wesley
@trollhattan: A cultural visit? All I know about Greenland is from my late brother, who was an RCA contract employee in Thule for a couple years. He never mentioned opera or art exhibits or any of that shit.
Ohio Mom
@lamh47: So you don’t have health coverage starting tomorrow? Not good.
When I was a confused, directionless college sohmore, my favorite aunt told me, “It doesn’t matter what you do, just get a job with health insurance.”
A Ghost to Most
Their incompetence is among our chief assets.
WaterGirl
@HopefullyNotcassandra: If you tell me the comment # and which link, I can remove it.
Harrison Wesley
@rikyrah: I wish I could hit the lottery and go see this!
Jay
@MazeDancer:
Signal is very secure, if your cell phone has not been infected with malware, if you haven’t been phished, if you didn’t added add somebody to the group text that should not have been there.
Federally Secure phones use Federally secure servers that contain a copy of the messaging, (text, emails, voice).
Signal uses Signal servers that are automatically wiped 30 seconds after the message is sent. So the only records of the messages is on the device used, which is easily wiped, so it is easy to ensure that “this conversation, never happened”. It is a means of skirting Federal Record Protection laws, or FBI and other subpoenas.
While a lot of shady people use Telegram to conduct their crimes, (because Telegram is non responsive to almost all subpoenas, it can still be hacked), the smarter ones use Signal.
Belafon
@Baud: Yes, by the government.
Old School
rikyrah
Farnaz Fassihi
@farnazfassihi
NEWS: The U.N. tells all its staff members in NY in an email to carry UN ID cards & copies of their passports showing their visas at all times in case ICE agents stop them. First time UN has ever done this, spox says.
1:58 PM · Mar 24, 2025
https://x.com/farnazfassihi/status/1904246430518091918
Cheryl from Maryland
@lamh47: You are in health care/science, yes? I’m taking your reference to MD as Maryland, home of NIH, the FDA, NOAA, etc. So the MD Senators are obviously focusing on Maryland Federal Employees. That being said, I think you should consider sending a letter to Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland as he sees these institutions and Public Heath in General to be a precious jewel for US society.
They Call Me Noni
@MobiusKlein:
Hillary Clinton would like a word….
trollhattan
@Baud:
A big Texas “welcome” for Elmo.
California’s still glad you left, dude.
lamh47
@Ohio Mom: Right. I won’t have employer-based insurance, but I have already been approved for state insurance aid based on my termination.
I actively applying and interviewing for positions currently, so I hoping to be enrolling in a new employer based insurance once I do get a new position.
So yeah, I might or might not get a paycheck from feds, but what that will mean for my healthcare, who knows. Again, it’s why I’m working under the assumption that I’m terminated and applying and using whatever state aid I am eligible for
Betty
@Harrison Wesley: Big attraction is a dog sled race. It appears to be a big event there.
Ohio Mom
@lamh47: Whew! As long as the state believes you are terminated even though you have no official documentation. Being without health coverage is too big a risk.
ETA I don’t have a single doubt you will land on your feet. You are totally resourceful, resilient and strategic.
TONYG
@Baud: Dignity??? Human Life??? More of that woke nonsense.
cmorenc
@gvg: what is especially annoying about “the price Biden paid to get out of Afghanistan” was that it was the plan Trump and then-SOS Pompeo negotiated with the Taliban without participation by the Afghan government, and forced Biden to choose between going with it or face an endlessly continued war with a Taliban thus disinclined for quite awhile from negotiating to help facilitate an American withdrawal.
geg6
@Baud:
Well, I personally think we should prioritize good leadership. It’s one of the few things we actually have some power to change. What would you prioritize that would have an almost immediate effect?
Geminid
@Betty: Right now I think Netanyahu is desperate to avoid two things: an official state inquiry into the October 7 catastrophe, and the collapse of his coalition and new elections. The latter would mean his political demise and the former the destruction of his reputation.
But you could say this all stems from Netanyahu’s need to fix his corruption case that has been in trial since April of 2021. That is why he formed this rotten government in December of 2022 and it has driven his decision making ever since. Even if he’s convicted this year Netanyahu wouldn’t go to prison until 2027 because of appeals, but at this point staying in power has become an end in itself.
Bill Arnold
@Princess:
Signal isn’t particularly insecure. It is the best of the common public e2e communications apps.
Its main weakness is that it is only as strong as the union of the endpoints involved in a group, both devices and humans, and devices can be targeted with a zero day attack, at the risk of losing that attack in the future. There is also an attack involving enrollment of a secondary device, but it is not easy to pull off. And as group size increases, the odds of compromise increase.
In this case, the United States National Security Advisor added the journalist to the group, presumably by accident.
“Mike Waltz, who’s the security advisor, is the one who apparently added Jeffrey Goldberg onto the thread, or someone using the Mike Waltz account,” Zeleny reported Monday from the White House. “That is certainly going to be something for him to respond and answer to.”
Adding new members to a group has to be done with care; typically it should be done with cryptographic linking (verifying) of devices in person.
Ruckus
@MobiusKlein:
WTF are they doing?
Do you actually think they have a concept of anything but them being the top of humanity? The rightful owners of everything? The smartest humans (You know the ones that would go to the moon to walk around and show how great they are, wearing their pin stripe suits?) And broadcast live……
KenK
@Baud: I bet General Austin didn’t do such tomfoolery…
Baud
@geg6:
I would prioritize anything Trump or Musk over anything so internal as who the Senate majority leader is, which I see as a long battle with uncertain outcomes and vague benefits, and which will be a shiny object for the media. YMMV.
trollhattan
Must see this at some point.
Opens this weekend, at a mall near you?
Bill Arnold
@Baud:
FWIW, molotov cocktails are (or at least can be) legally treated as weapons of mass destruction in the USA. They are “incendiary devices”.
FBI
MazeDancer
@lamh47: There is a thing called “Short Term Health Insurance”, kind of like what travelers to foreign countries get.
Do not know the cost, but has to be cheaper than, heaven forbid, you fall down some stairs or something.
Also, heaven forbid, car accidents usually have some auto insurance coverage.
But look into “Short Term Health Insurance”.
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
Clowns are funny. At least my neighbor (a few decades ago…) who actually was a circus clown for a living was. Whenever I want to put someone who can’t find their way out of a wet paper bag into the clown category I capitalize the entire word. Because they are CLOWNS.
Deputinize America
@Princess: You act as though holding highly sensitive conversations about the details of military operations where people will die using an application created by a nameless hacker is a bad thing.
Jay
Jeffro
Glad to see Hakeem Jeffries up there demanding that Hegseth resign…ALL Dems should
Absolutely ZERO downside
Club them with this forever and a day!
Baud
@Bill Arnold:
Assuming they have the right people, they got caught and they’ll stand trial. Maybe they get pardoned later if we get back to the presidency.
Gloria DryGarden
@Avalune: crochet up some emoji dolls, perhaps?
(Imagine cranky face emoji, about all the things)
lamh47
@MazeDancer: Appreciate the info…thx to me being eligible for other aid, I’ve got approval for state health services…just waiting on paperwork for now.
lamh47
On a lighter note, if you have the netflix…check out the latest series from Shonda Rhimes called The Residence. It’s a quick short 8 ep series and it was very good. I literally binged the entire series yesterday and loved it.
Jay
https://nitter.poast.org/bneeditor/status/1904104859546091617#m
There is a graphic at the link.
MazeDancer
The co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land” has been beaten, tortured, and captured out of the ambulance by Israeli settlers.
He is feared dead or worse.
me
@Jay: I’m skeptical that Trump can find Greenland on a map.
Baud
@Bill Arnold:
Is that kind of mistake possible with secure government systems? I would think they have built in safeguards but maybe not.
Harrison Wesley
@Ruckus: Cash Loving Oligarchs With No Scruples?
Jackie
Interesting. The Manbaby FFOTUS continues his pettiness:
eclare
@MazeDancer:
Oh how awful.
WTFGhost
@Steve LaBonne: he did go to an Ivy League law school. You don’t get through that by being stupid. That said: I’ve heard, from lawyers, that really, really, smart people don’t tend to go into the law. The law doesn’t require a lot of raw intellect, not in the way, e.g., physics does.
@MobiusKlein: Not while Republicans march in goosestep, I mean lock step, stupidity.
(Love the nym – you do/did topology, or just found something *really* cool? I’m a math geek, is why I’m asking.)
@Betty Cracker: Oh, my – are you southern born and bred? Southern ladies often have the most genteel way of saying things we guy would be too embarrassed to point out. In any event, you have my open admiration.
@gratuitous: I’ve seen the plans for that travel, and it sounds like the plan of a really stupid person, to make Greenland think America celebrates its unique culture, so
conquestacquisition will be easier.Jay
@Baud:
No, you need to have a secure phone first, then be added to the list, second.
With Signal, anybody who has the app on their phone, laptop or PC can be added by just adding their address or phone number.
What Bill is pointing out is that proper security over Signal, is using one time encryption, to send an invite, (which will confirm that the person you are contacting, is the person you want to contact) and only after the person responds in the affirmative, do you add them to the contacts list.
Jay
@me:
Somebody showed it to him, during his first term, probably to distract him from a “weave” during some “important” presentation, and he has been obsessed ever since.
Or maybe Putin did in Helsinki.
Shana
@Kristine: Got a spare $900 hanging around that you can drop on a ticket?
trollhattan
@me: “It’s big, it’s green, it’s a land, how hard can that be? I’ll draw it [squeak-squeak-squeak Sharpie sounds] here.”
Jay
https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/vancouver-car-show-sets-attendance-records-after-tesla-ban-defying-boycott-calls/
Citizen Alan
@Steve LaBonne: As much as I loathe the repulsive little creep, Couch Fucker is not stupid. On the contrary, I think he has a dangerous cunning, having parlayed a manipulative tell-all book about how he overcame a “poor white trash” upbringing and a drug-addicted mother to get a Harvard degree to being a (78yo) heartbeat away from the Presidency in less that 5 years.
prostratedragon
@CaseyL: Oh, myyyyy yes! Could try some prolix corollary, but hard to improve on the sage “Stupid is as stupid does.”
Bill Arnold
@Jay:
Also, group members in a Signal group can see the list of group members. That nobody noticed is telling.
Incompetent clowns. (A bit disturbing that JD Vance is the smart one, sigh. )
Another Scott
@Citizen Alan: Nit:
THE OSU to Yale Law.
Yale’s law school has a lot to answer for…
Best wishes,
Scott.
Jay
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/u-s-canada-library-fundraiser-u-s-limits-access-1.7491824
scav
@Jay: Really. Do not piss off Canadians.
Ha!
Citizen Alan
@Baud: I think the biggest reason I’m sad about not getting the Newark job (and I do love my Fresno job) is that I cannot take in Broadway shows on a regular basis (or, more accurately, ever). While I was in Queens, I got to see The Play that Goes Wrong and The Music Man, the latter of which I regret wasting my limited time in NYC to see as, Hugh Jackman aside, it was not a very good show and I missed out on Company and Six to see it. And since leaving, I missed out on Daniel Radcliffe and Jonathan Groff in Merrily We Roll Along, Adam Lambert in Cabaret, and now this.
West of the Rockies
@Doug R:
Maybe we oughta make Donald Death a thing.
WTFGhost
@me: I’m sure he can. He looks down at the top of the globe, someone hints to him “next to Canada”, so he looks for the big white mass to the right, and bam, there it is, just like Putin said it would be. Putin is a student of history!
Now, before he talked to Putin, I wouldn’t take your money on a bet, unless you offered me 4-1 or better, and it’s only 4-1, because Greenland is *big*.
@Bill Arnold: They are, or can be, explosive, as well. Still, “mass destruction” strikes me as being like calling methamphetamine a narcotic, from narcos, meaning sleep, which… meth doesn’t exactly help with. It’s a legal term, and has a use, but, I’d treat ten people trying to burn down a block of houses as “weapons of mass destruction,” not some criminal throwing one at a single Tesla, or three at three separate Teslas.
Note that I’m not saying this isn’t hideous, objectively criminal, behavior, just… “weapons of mass destruction” seems to be abuse of the legal system, given the circumstances.
Princess
@Bill Arnold: I’m sorry — the United States government should not be outsourcing their communications security to an outside private firm over which they have no control or oversight. If you think that’s isn’t a big fucking deal, I don’t know what to say.
Jay
@Bill Arnold:
I would not say “smart”, low cunning maybe.
After all, he sent his multi-millionaire DEI Hire Trad wife and their little human shield off to Greenland, where it will be spring in 3 1/2 more months, to further stoke tensions.
Things can go very, very wrong, quickly there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Franklin_Bay_Expedition
Comrade Scrutinizer
@ssdd:
OT: I’m old enough that when I see “ssdd” the first thing I think of is “single-sided double-density”.
Citizen Alan
I am, all modesty aside, really really smart according to most metrics. I gravitated towards English classes over physics and math because my teachers in the latter two classes (in a small town Mississippi school) were completely unengaging . If you are very smart on the verbal/linguistic side of things, then the law is a wonderful racket because good writing and researching skills can take you incredibly far if you find the right approach.
That said, after getting a law degree and especially getting my first bankruptcy clerkship, I was shocked at how dumb a significant portion of the regular practitioners o come before my judges were. Like genuinely shocked. To the point that it went a long way towards curing me of my life long Imposter Syndrome.
Dr Daniel Price (Saint Vincent)
“Maybe this is why that one reporter was grumpy that the Biden Administration kept them out of email listings.”
@chemiclord: I did read this as “…email fistings.”
Citizen Alan
@Another Scott: My bad. I went back to check on the date Hillbilly Elegy was published and was so shocked at how recent it was that I didn’t even bother to double check the rest of my post. It’s astonishing to me that five years ago, JD Vance was an absolute nobody.
Jay
@Princess:
Bill is not saying that their use of Signal was not illegal, in violation of at least 3 different statutes.
Bill is saying that they were too stupid to even do illegal right.
The Feds have not outsourced Signal, these morons decided to use Signal instead of secure Government phones, to avoid having a FOIA or other records search on Government servers be possible.
Instead, they wound up broadcasting it to the entire world, because they are,……………..morons.
Jackie
@Bill Arnold:
So perfectly valid for our military top secret missions to be discussed on?
Maaaybeee for the FFOTUS administration, but not so much for our military sons and daughters performing these missions whose lives depend on their CIC protecting them from harm.
Jay
@Jackie:
Look one comment above yours, #174.
Geminid
A reporter asked Trump about the Signal story this afternoon. From Ankara-based Clash Report:
Clash Report summarized the story:
WTFGhost
Okay, so, we want high ground, with minimal visibility, and that’s where we’ll set the artillery, with the tanks and infantry ready to engage, okay, and…
Oh, damn, you said *not* to text war plans. Sorry.
Jay
prostratedragon
@tam1MI:
She takes note.
WTFGhost
@Citizen Alan: I’m very glad I used appropriate language, because I know there are some brilliant lawyers out there :-). And you’re right – I confess, to me, while I know reading and writing skill is enormously important, because both activities cause me actual pain, I tend to overlook them.
Someone said “you can never see your weaknesses directly; you’ve trained yourself to hide them. You have to find them indirectly,” and they were right.
That’s a long winded way of saying “thanks for sharing your story. It helped more deeply than you might have realized.”
eclare
@Citizen Alan:
One of my cousins is a litigator, and he says he went into law because he wanted to be a writer, but it was too hard to make a living at it.
trollhattan
We need more Mayor Pete. Not this other Pete.
trollhattan
@Geminid:
Atlantic Ocean new name: America Ocean.
Atlantic Magazine becomes America, Fuck Yeah! Magazine.
Baud
@trollhattan:
Perfectly said.
Sure Lurkalot
@lamh47:
And it’s purposeful to boot. I wish all the angst and lost time they are inflicting on you and others circles back on them as some terrible karmic never ending punishment.
Fingers crossed you get a terrific offer soonest!
eclare
@trollhattan:
I saw a comment by one person who said that they hoped every D used that exact language.
Steve in the ATL
@eclare: he’s not alone in that
Jay
https://dailyhodl.com/2025/02/21/china-japan-and-uk-dump-81000000000-in-us-treasuries-in-just-one-month-as-china-pours-capital-into-gold/
Craig
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: haven’t read this whole thread, but knowing these clowns they are probably on Signal to avoid a paper trail and FOIA requests.
Ruckus
@me:
You think he can find a map, ANY MAP?
He is not the most stable individual and hasn’t been for a while and 3/4 and now he’s running – OK crawling towards 80 yrs old, is about as ignorant as possible to be and still stand up. And his side of the aisle thinks he’s the greatest whatever the hell he is, I mean it’s possible it’s human but only at the very, very minimal level. He thinks he’s the smartest and richest ever, but just a guess his IQ is nowhere near what he “thinks” it is. Likely 1/8-1/4 of what I think it is, which is just above his age. What I wonder is – “Is he actually acting like anything resembling an actual president? You know the person in charge of anything more than their bladder…. Because I don’t think he’s in charge of that either.
PatD
@Baud: He probably should though considering he pissed away the only leverage Dems had and is politically incompetent.
I’m guessing it will take a few days for the consultants and polling to tell Schumer how to message this.
Baud
@PatD:
Not my fight. I just hope it doesn’t become too big of a distraction.
sab
@MazeDancer: Car accidents don’t have health insurance for the driver, only the passengers, unless you but it as a not very useful extra.
Jay
@PatD:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/03/24/talking-about-chuck-schumer-will-no-more-save-democracy-than-chuck-schumer-will/
Lyrebird
@gvg: where I heard that used was in MAGA-friendly places to undermine support for Ukraine and for Biden
Avalune
@Gloria DryGarden: How dare you ma’am! I do not crochet (because I am middling at best when it comes to crochet). Up until very recently I was shackled to the craft room making emotional support chickens. Now I’m back to hopefully finishing up this danged spring sweater before I die of old age. Knitted emoji might be amusing to work on when I’ve finished up a few things in the backlog though.
sab
@me: I am sure Trump can find Greenland on a map because beimg in a very northern latitude it looks really really big. Almost as big as southern Canada.
Gloria DryGarden
@rikyrah: “I know a lot less now. I thought I knew everything then!”
wisdom for aging and middle aged politicians, and for many kinds of men, especially white ones. Not just for cocky teenagers and twenty-something’s.
there is grace and wisdom in knowing how much you DON’T know. And thus valuing the expertise and collaboration of others
Gloria DryGarden
@Avalune: I’ll knit me a mask to hide my face in shame.
then I’ll knit me some spare time, and get cracking on the promised poem about the textures of grief…
poetry is on hiatus lately..
eclare
@Craig:
Yep. I use Signal because it doesn’t retain records.
Avalune
@Gloria DryGarden: It do be like that sometimes (re the poetry).
Poetry is also something I do rather poorly. Although I did write an epic poem about respecting your elders because they are oooold for Leto when he got himself in trouble at tech school which I hear lives on with the instructor we wrote it for… counts for something I’m sure. Wrote some other astoundingly terrible poetry in my mid 20’s – was having an early midlife crisis of some sort I guess.
Hopefully it returns to you soon.
Goes off to see if anyone has thought to make a knitted paper bag…(apparently there is a hat type called a paper bag but I was more thinking paper bag over your head in shame kind of situation…)
Additional addendum: do not google knitted paper bag over your head 😳
Geminid
The Atlantic/Signal/Yemen story led the CBS Radio hourly news at 7pm.
Ed. DC’s all-news WTOP Radio is following up with a report by national security reporter J. J. Green.
Baud
@Geminid:
That’s good. All one can ask for.
Bill Arnold
@Princess:
Oh, I agree with that.
I just don’t want people discouraged from using encrypted messaging apps (especially Signal) if they are chatting about sensitive things. (Telegram is not very good, though.) E.g. the USA Right Wing has been using Signal for a decade to hide their conspiracies, mostly successfully.
Jay
@Bill Arnold:
And Discord. Discord relies on the mass of millions of MPG gamers all texting and yacking at each other 24/7, hiding the conspiracies in a mass volume of nothing, and because it’s gamers, key word searches are worthless.
Bill Arnold
@Jackie:
No, and the people involved are incompetent.
Many/most politicians and political types suck at OPSEC/COMSEC, because the rules are annoying and inconvenient, and they are arrogant.
PatD
@Jay: oh, I think we can survive a couple minutes spent on Chuck.
YY_Sima Qian
Only the “best, most beautiful” interagency process under Trump!
I mean, even the best interagency process has resulted in disastrous FP for the U.S., but this is just a clown show.
cain
@Bill Arnold: I think they fired all the people who know how to do those things.
cain
@Princess:
Don’t worry, we’ll forget about it when the NYT does a retrospective on the email server that Hillary did as they talk about previous mistakes over national security.
scav
Now we are fools.
To go for the obvious.
geg6
@Baud:
Why not both? The whole point of getting rid of assholes like Schumer being the face of the party is to prioritize fighting Cheetolini and Scum. It’s because those people cannot rally even their own minions to fight, let alone the rest of us, by capitulating with everything they do and then offering up milquetoast mewling about how they’re saving us all by doing so. The base is furious and want a fight and they want fighters. You seem to think that inspiration plays no part in resisting. That’s not what all evidence of history shows.
geg6
@MazeDancer:
Fucking monsters running Israel. Just like here.
YY_Sima Qian
@Jay: All three are still holding lots of USD denominated assets, but reducing their exposure to U.S. treasury. The PRC had even issued USD denominated debt in the KSA a few months ago as a trial.
Baud
@geg6:
Because in my experience we can’t do both. We’ll get bogged down in Schumer and it’ll distract people from Republicans.
I just saw a Reddit thread where Schumer was talking about the Signal fuck up and all the commenters wanted to talk about was Schumer.
And once we get rid of Schumer, if we do, we’ll move onto the next flaw that we need to take care of first before we can deal with Republicans. It’s a never ending cycle.
Jay
@geg6: Schumer isn’t going anywhere.
He’s not up for reelection until 2028.
His Senate Leadership is due to long established Democratic Party norms and rules about seniority that the Party will not abandon.
So anti Schumer ranting is basically “Old Man Yelling at Clouds”.
In any dysfunctional Org, or Org in crisis, there are appointed leaders, and people stepping up to actual leadership. Highlight them and show them support.
Skippy-san
This is about avoiding FOIA. And if they do it for these, rest assured they are doing it for everything else.
Jackie
Probably dead thread, but I didn’t want to post on WaterGirl’s positive thread:
If anyone should be ousted, it should be Hegseth, as well as Waltz.
But knowing FFOTUS, it’s all Jeffrey Goldberg, of the Atlantic’s fault, and he’ll be demanding Goldberg’s termination.
Ruckus
@trollhattan:
Yes, our nation is being run by middleschoolers.
Nope.
They tied up mom and dad in the dinner table chairs and are running around giggling like the kindergartners they actually are.
sab
@Jackie: Goldberg has always been politically on the right but he has never been nutz or unpatriotic, or not-a-reporter.
How could these idiots believe that he would just sit on this like a maggie haberman.
RaflW
“Trump is apparently babbling about annexing Greenland as I type this.”
If he & these dangerous clowns really try to do this, I’m wondering what the Nordics do. Or NATO?
I’ll be purely selfish for a few moments (while of course being very angry on behalf of the Kalaallit people as well as Danes and, frankly, anyone under threat from these hegemons).
I really want to have a 60th birthday party in Sweden. My 50th almost 10 years ago became a large, fun and rare family reunion among a bunch of my cousins there. Since then my family connections have grown (marriages and kids by some cousins, and other cousins finding me via geaneology).
If Greenland becomes some contested or invaded land, I’m thinking the Nordics might just cut off all or most non-essential travel privileges for Americans. Again, not a crisis like what’s happening in El Salvador to Venezuelans, etc. But the Greenland shit could throw geopolitical waves.
Ruckus
@eclare:
It’s not that they don’t realize, they do not give a flying, blankety, blank, blank about anyone but themselves. And they have so little actual intelligence about what it takes to do anything on the order of the federal government – or even one office of it, and I’m talking of a field office, not DC. These are all people who play being smart and knowing their ass from a crater (their asses are that big) and they aren’t actually smart enough to do doodly squat.
RaflW
@Skippy-san: I’ve long believed that Elaine Chao was a non-FOIAble conduit between the Trump I admin and Leader McConnell.
The Pale Scot
Well we had a chance, and it slipped thru our fingers
Why ‘Idiocracy’ President Camacho Is Running Again in 2024
So many candidates for Ow my balls! in the GOP
Parfigliano
@RaflW: Mrs Chao is more likely a conduit for a foreign power.
YY_Sima Qian
Kayla Rudbek
@lamh47: California unemployment was easier to deal with in 2008 than Virginia unemployment was to deal with in 2023. And that was back when the internet wasn’t used as much as today.
YY_Sima Qian
Then there is the fact that Witkoff was in Moscow while he was chatting away in the Signal group.