I’m just shaking my head. So many felonies. And of course no one will be held accountable because that’s the government we have now. In addition to our national security, we are the world’s laughingstock now. Not my president!
Good blog today Clay. Just another day in the clown show, from the guy who incessantly talks about Hillary and her EMAIL!
I'm surprised that Putin wasn't on the chat. How did that happen, leaving his buddy out in the cold like that?
Little secret for you, all these guys have been issued (at least offered) GFE (government furnished equipment) that is secure and allows secure messaging AND doesn't PERMIT you to send messages off the government reservation, because it checks to see where it's going before it sends.
Another little item, somebody in that chat added Goldberg, and intended to. You can't do that by accident. Wonder who that was? Wonder if they were paid to do that? Or did some blob with a red tie tell them to do it?
Wonder what the distraction from this one will be, fifty Marines "invade" Canada? No doubt it will be that silly or worse.
Now we know what the distraction is, a mad attempt to cut the number of US voters in half. Weirdly, he's trying to force the use of ID that most poor rural folks do not have.
Are Republicans really that stupid? Or are they just so afraid of Trump that they refuse to block him, even though he's destroying them?
They found out better than that on the first go around.
On a different note, Fresno county is having a fit. All the stuff Musk is messing with is turning Fresno inside out. Farmers are going crazy with no money for planting, no crop insurance, delays on payments, etc.
I checked, Fresno voted for Trump. They asked for it they got it. Maybe this will teach them something about always believing Democrats can protect them from the jerks they vote for.
I've got a good deal of sympathy for them, but it is a massive case of schadenfreude. So many voted out of fear of trans kids in totally different school districts mostly over 1000 miles away. Now they get to find out what government REALLY does. And this time it won't be doing it FOR them it'll be doing it TO them.
And they made sure Democrats wouldn't be able to protect them from Trump and President Musk.
Like I said, FAFO. And they have. Some of them will never vote for a Republican again in their lives.
First recall that Goldberg doesn't exactly have a history of fawning over Trump in his published articles. Keep that in mind.
The three ways I could imagine that Goldberg would have been added to the chat attendee list are:
1. There was a random bug in the Signal software that somehow connected this discussion to this recipient.
2. Somehow, something in the system was hacked to add him in. It could've been at the phone level of the attendees or in Signal itself.
3. He was added to the friendly chat by one of the other attendees, either inadvertently or for some other reason.
Number 1 is such a long shot that it's probably not worth thinking about.
Number 2 is really interesting and the kind of thing you'd read in a novel or see in a movie. Or, as part of a hacker's scheme to screw somebody in the administration. Since the administration is composed of such honorable and forthright people, this maybe not worth thinking about either.
Number 3 is also really interesting. Given how Trump has publicly held Goldberg in such high esteem (!) for over a decade, you have to wonder why any of these attendees would have Goldberg's contact information close at hand to enter it by accident or even deliberately.
Too many questions!
I guess number 3 could also be a way to give the administration a reason to do away with Goldberg and send a message to other journalists. Based on what they've been using as reasons to deport foreign nationals, imagine what they could do with a journalist who manages to listen into a secure conversation having to do with war plans. The word rendition comes to mind.
It's most likely that Goldberg was inadvertently added to the chat by someone who had him in his contact list, like Pete Hegseth. But all of them should have been chatting from inside a SCIF. But even if you apply one of the conspiracy theories, it doesn't change the fact that nobody in the chat noticed Goldberg was included. They are all idiots, and not one of them should hold the positions they've been given.
I'd think that even having Goldberg on a contact list might be a serious offense for these guys, given how Trump has spoken of Goldberg. From what I can tell, that sort of thing on a phone would be enough for the owner to be tossed into the klink now if they were trying to enter the country. Or just happened to be here.
I'm wondering if someone just transposed a number and then didn't check the final list to see if the names all matched up with who the intended to invite to their little chat-fest.
That seems very likely, Mary. As much fun as it is to imagine a subversive secret agent in the ranks of Team Orange, the reality is probably a simple stupid error that they were too stupid to double check.
#2 is interesting, I hadn't thought of that. Given there are a number of black hat hackers (Muskrats) working there already, it's certainly possible that Musk had it done to discredit someone who has been warning DJT that Musk is making him as popular as a skunk at a church picnic.
Not that I am much for conspiracy theories, but it does fit with this gang of incompetent cutthroats.
That also seems more up their alley... More so than analyzing some ancient database written in COBOL to find 150 year old people collecting Social Security. Millions of them, no less.
But, conspiracies are usually too hard to keep up or execute. Just for TV or the movies.
The way the Muskrats got all those weird numbers is fairly well known, at least among folks in my field who've been around for a while. COBOL has some "odd" defaults for unfilled fields when it's doing reports. Almost certainly, the Muskrats dumped the SS database into MySQL or MariaDB, and started doing amateurish scans of the data, with no sanity checks. And they had no idea what those defaults for a blank field would be. As it happens, one of the most common defaults would have a blank birth date field reaching 150 years come this May. (26th, IIRC) A couple of other defaults have popped up in their weird claims.
The "birth date" is unknown to many people, mostly from tragic circumstances (orphans, destruction of county seat, etc) but their age can be figured well enough for government work, and that's what is done. SSA doesn't just deal with the average citizen, it deals with ALL of them. And they certainly don't rely on a "birth date" that many don't know.
I believe there is a misstatement in today's blog. To whit, not all the members of the chain were "outraged" by HRC's use of an unsecure server - a technique recommended to her by Colin Powell- because, at the time, Tulsi Gabbard was a member of the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives and because, at the time, JD Vance was making comparisons of Agent Orange to Hitler and was not in government at all. Certainly, Vance made no claims about Sec. Clinton. Even so, I think all members of the text chain (with the exception of Goldberg) committed criminal offenses by exchanging government information from their personal phones, leaving no paperwork, a breach of laws requiring that they do so, for inclusion in the national archives, whether or not it was classified. As long as they were "functioning" (sic) as employees of the federal government, such documentation is REQUIRED. BY LAW! They should all, including the Veep, the Directors of the CIA, FBI, NSA be forced to resign or face prosecution. Moreover, they had all been informed that the app they were using was particularly susceptible to hacking, specifically by Russian intelligence. The Mango Mussolini's Special Envoy to Ukraine and Russia was among them and, at the time of this specific chat was in direct meetings with Putin - his controller. They were incredibly inept at their jobs and indications are that they have been using the Signal app for more than just this one exchange. While at it, I would insist on investigation of the Senators who approved them for their positions and hope that several would be so discredited by their ultra-partisanship during the advise and consent phase of their responsibilities. Including Fetterman, who found several of them suitable for approval. The Senate should not be a rubber stamp. On the GCoupP side, only Senator Murkowski of Alaska has been sufficiently critical and responsible to her oath of office. (It's a shame RFK Jr. wasn't included in the circle jerk?)
I would only add that today's cartoon is excellent: of the first water, as it were.
So endeth my rant and I'm off to bed.
I've been listening to The Black Keys and the White Stripes today. Keeps the blood flowing.
Colin Powell criticized Hillary Clinton for using a private server. I don't think he recommended that she use her private server. I knew I remembered this.
Implausible deniability on the part of Powell. I found him unconvincing in the 2000s and continue to decry his apotheosis. Adult in the room? Nope. HE was an enabler of the Cheney/Rumsfeld cabal. He wagered (and lost) his credibility and gravitas when he announced that Sadam Hussein was in possession of WMD. Didn't work out too well, either. "You break it, you own it" said Colin.
I’m just shaking my head. So many felonies. And of course no one will be held accountable because that’s the government we have now. In addition to our national security, we are the world’s laughingstock now. Not my president!
Just the national idiot squad, doing what they do best.
Good blog today Clay. Just another day in the clown show, from the guy who incessantly talks about Hillary and her EMAIL!
I'm surprised that Putin wasn't on the chat. How did that happen, leaving his buddy out in the cold like that?
Little secret for you, all these guys have been issued (at least offered) GFE (government furnished equipment) that is secure and allows secure messaging AND doesn't PERMIT you to send messages off the government reservation, because it checks to see where it's going before it sends.
Another little item, somebody in that chat added Goldberg, and intended to. You can't do that by accident. Wonder who that was? Wonder if they were paid to do that? Or did some blob with a red tie tell them to do it?
Wonder what the distraction from this one will be, fifty Marines "invade" Canada? No doubt it will be that silly or worse.
Putin could have been. One of the people on that "unclassified" talk was in Moscow at that time.
I have more to write about that. Someone remind me.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-envoy-steve-witkoff-signal-text-group-chat-russia-putin/
Now we know what the distraction is, a mad attempt to cut the number of US voters in half. Weirdly, he's trying to force the use of ID that most poor rural folks do not have.
Are Republicans really that stupid? Or are they just so afraid of Trump that they refuse to block him, even though he's destroying them?
Betcha our former allies are going to think twice (or more) before they share any intelligence with these bozoes.
They found out better than that on the first go around.
On a different note, Fresno county is having a fit. All the stuff Musk is messing with is turning Fresno inside out. Farmers are going crazy with no money for planting, no crop insurance, delays on payments, etc.
I checked, Fresno voted for Trump. They asked for it they got it. Maybe this will teach them something about always believing Democrats can protect them from the jerks they vote for.
They say FAFO, well they FA'd and now they FO.
I've got a good deal of sympathy for them, but it is a massive case of schadenfreude. So many voted out of fear of trans kids in totally different school districts mostly over 1000 miles away. Now they get to find out what government REALLY does. And this time it won't be doing it FOR them it'll be doing it TO them.
And they made sure Democrats wouldn't be able to protect them from Trump and President Musk.
Like I said, FAFO. And they have. Some of them will never vote for a Republican again in their lives.
I dunno, but I find it all fascinating.
First recall that Goldberg doesn't exactly have a history of fawning over Trump in his published articles. Keep that in mind.
The three ways I could imagine that Goldberg would have been added to the chat attendee list are:
1. There was a random bug in the Signal software that somehow connected this discussion to this recipient.
2. Somehow, something in the system was hacked to add him in. It could've been at the phone level of the attendees or in Signal itself.
3. He was added to the friendly chat by one of the other attendees, either inadvertently or for some other reason.
Number 1 is such a long shot that it's probably not worth thinking about.
Number 2 is really interesting and the kind of thing you'd read in a novel or see in a movie. Or, as part of a hacker's scheme to screw somebody in the administration. Since the administration is composed of such honorable and forthright people, this maybe not worth thinking about either.
Number 3 is also really interesting. Given how Trump has publicly held Goldberg in such high esteem (!) for over a decade, you have to wonder why any of these attendees would have Goldberg's contact information close at hand to enter it by accident or even deliberately.
Too many questions!
I guess number 3 could also be a way to give the administration a reason to do away with Goldberg and send a message to other journalists. Based on what they've been using as reasons to deport foreign nationals, imagine what they could do with a journalist who manages to listen into a secure conversation having to do with war plans. The word rendition comes to mind.
It's most likely that Goldberg was inadvertently added to the chat by someone who had him in his contact list, like Pete Hegseth. But all of them should have been chatting from inside a SCIF. But even if you apply one of the conspiracy theories, it doesn't change the fact that nobody in the chat noticed Goldberg was included. They are all idiots, and not one of them should hold the positions they've been given.
The obvious is, well, too obvious!
I'd think that even having Goldberg on a contact list might be a serious offense for these guys, given how Trump has spoken of Goldberg. From what I can tell, that sort of thing on a phone would be enough for the owner to be tossed into the klink now if they were trying to enter the country. Or just happened to be here.
I bet every one of them has Goldberg on their contact list.
“I bet every one of them has Goldberg on their contact list.”
Not any more!!!!!😉
BTW…
🥳 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! 🥳
#🏴 #🏴
I'm wondering if someone just transposed a number and then didn't check the final list to see if the names all matched up with who the intended to invite to their little chat-fest.
That seems very likely, Mary. As much fun as it is to imagine a subversive secret agent in the ranks of Team Orange, the reality is probably a simple stupid error that they were too stupid to double check.
#2 is interesting, I hadn't thought of that. Given there are a number of black hat hackers (Muskrats) working there already, it's certainly possible that Musk had it done to discredit someone who has been warning DJT that Musk is making him as popular as a skunk at a church picnic.
Not that I am much for conspiracy theories, but it does fit with this gang of incompetent cutthroats.
That also seems more up their alley... More so than analyzing some ancient database written in COBOL to find 150 year old people collecting Social Security. Millions of them, no less.
But, conspiracies are usually too hard to keep up or execute. Just for TV or the movies.
The way the Muskrats got all those weird numbers is fairly well known, at least among folks in my field who've been around for a while. COBOL has some "odd" defaults for unfilled fields when it's doing reports. Almost certainly, the Muskrats dumped the SS database into MySQL or MariaDB, and started doing amateurish scans of the data, with no sanity checks. And they had no idea what those defaults for a blank field would be. As it happens, one of the most common defaults would have a blank birth date field reaching 150 years come this May. (26th, IIRC) A couple of other defaults have popped up in their weird claims.
The "birth date" is unknown to many people, mostly from tragic circumstances (orphans, destruction of county seat, etc) but their age can be figured well enough for government work, and that's what is done. SSA doesn't just deal with the average citizen, it deals with ALL of them. And they certainly don't rely on a "birth date" that many don't know.
Shocking but not. We should expect more from this group of incompetents. Spot on toon and blog. Love the Petey Leaks.
The clown car just keeps getting fuller. They'll need to add on another clown car very soon.
It boggles the mind. What next? They get the coordinates wrong and instead of bombing Yemen they target San Francisco?
Yeah, but that could be intentional.
Yup. And so much more.
Oh my gosh, we got a lot of comments on this one. Thank you.
Clay, brilliantly written. You did the story justice.
LOL
I believe there is a misstatement in today's blog. To whit, not all the members of the chain were "outraged" by HRC's use of an unsecure server - a technique recommended to her by Colin Powell- because, at the time, Tulsi Gabbard was a member of the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives and because, at the time, JD Vance was making comparisons of Agent Orange to Hitler and was not in government at all. Certainly, Vance made no claims about Sec. Clinton. Even so, I think all members of the text chain (with the exception of Goldberg) committed criminal offenses by exchanging government information from their personal phones, leaving no paperwork, a breach of laws requiring that they do so, for inclusion in the national archives, whether or not it was classified. As long as they were "functioning" (sic) as employees of the federal government, such documentation is REQUIRED. BY LAW! They should all, including the Veep, the Directors of the CIA, FBI, NSA be forced to resign or face prosecution. Moreover, they had all been informed that the app they were using was particularly susceptible to hacking, specifically by Russian intelligence. The Mango Mussolini's Special Envoy to Ukraine and Russia was among them and, at the time of this specific chat was in direct meetings with Putin - his controller. They were incredibly inept at their jobs and indications are that they have been using the Signal app for more than just this one exchange. While at it, I would insist on investigation of the Senators who approved them for their positions and hope that several would be so discredited by their ultra-partisanship during the advise and consent phase of their responsibilities. Including Fetterman, who found several of them suitable for approval. The Senate should not be a rubber stamp. On the GCoupP side, only Senator Murkowski of Alaska has been sufficiently critical and responsible to her oath of office. (It's a shame RFK Jr. wasn't included in the circle jerk?)
I would only add that today's cartoon is excellent: of the first water, as it were.
So endeth my rant and I'm off to bed.
I've been listening to The Black Keys and the White Stripes today. Keeps the blood flowing.
Colin Powell criticized Hillary Clinton for using a private server. I don't think he recommended that she use her private server. I knew I remembered this.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/colin-powell-told-hillary-clinton-bypassed-state-dept/story?id=41937570
Implausible deniability on the part of Powell. I found him unconvincing in the 2000s and continue to decry his apotheosis. Adult in the room? Nope. HE was an enabler of the Cheney/Rumsfeld cabal. He wagered (and lost) his credibility and gravitas when he announced that Sadam Hussein was in possession of WMD. Didn't work out too well, either. "You break it, you own it" said Colin.