Besides the idiocy of the current admin in this debacle, I would note that Signal has been considered secure by the DoD for some time now. I went to Latvia on a training mission in 2022 (a couple months after Russia invaded Ukraine). Our OpSec brief explicitly told us that Signal was a secure and preferred method of communication for us to use - We just had to make sure we knew the people in the group chats 🤣
Signal can’t stop you from adding the wrong person to a group chat. If you want to mitigate that risk, get separate phones for national security/sensitive activities. With separate phones, you can’t accidently include your dentist (or Jeffrey Goldberg) in attack/war plan discussions.
1. Jeffery Goldberg IS a fucking scumbag and an untrustworthy weasel coward. Outside of Trump, solely based on his decision and handling of Kevin Williamson.
2. Goldberg DID sensationalize his story. Which he has done countless number of times, and (at least VERY initially) I could see why people responded terribly. Whether war plans or attack plans, it was neither. They didn’t give a departure area, arrival area, target/objective, country, etc. They gave the most general updates to an ongoing mission.
Confidential information? To me certainly.
Outrageously embarrassing? Absolutely.
In an ideal world, never should happen and if it did happen people would be held responsible? Yes.
However, the guy still did sensationalize the story to the degree that if I was on that chat and then later saw the headline, I would not have even thought the story could possibly reference me, as I would be thinking “I haven’t even seen attack/war plans today” let alone think that Goldberg was part of the group.
3. So again, (very) initially I can understand people’s response. After that, I am 100% with you, their response was completely an utterly incompetent. However again, I think you’re hammering people for not saying there was confidential information discussed. I think there was confidential information, you do, I think most sane people would agree; but, OF COURSE no one is going to say that. Pretty sure saying that openly is admitting to a crime. There are 1M things that could have been responded to better, but I am not going to hammer them on not saying that outright. That would be incredibly stupid if only on the basis of self preservation.
Now, why I do not give one shit: I do not consider myself a Trump guy, think he’s a dipshit, hate his demeanor, and think he’s doing tons of horrible things. I STILL think he/his admin is 100x better than Biden/Harris. You say they lie as a matter of course, yes, of course they do. They’re more blatant and in your face about it than any admin ever. But, the lies to me besides their presentation are no different in amount than Biden/Harris. Maybe you think Biden/Harris were more so in the Nixon vein. I do not. I woke up every day and listened to every single thing discussed about COVID and thought “that’s a lie or half truth” and it was. Every thing about our foreign policy, Gaza, Ukraine, Israel, Afghanistan, etc. and thought “that’s a lie or half truth” and they all were (I fully support Ukraine, that doesn’t mean they didn’t lie either every breath about it still). Listened to every single thing they said on race and the US society and thought “that’s a lie or half truth”. Every single thing they said on the economy, “that’s a lie or half truth”. The difference about Biden/Harris is they’d tie their insane lies to some strain of thought, that thought had some roots in an institution, and suddenly they could pitch the difference of opinion on differences in ideology. Personally (still love you guys) I think if that is your opinion on their extent of lying, you’re a fucking moron. The academic grounding and rationale of the Kendi’s, Crenshaws, hooks, Bells, Foucaults, Butlers, etc on society/race are as founded as the KKK member from West Virginia. The academic grounding of Elizabeth’s Warren’s (I can’t recall the actual academics who crafted the theory) Modern Monetary Theory are more fantastical than any debated by Marx and Engels, and is equally as insane as any Trump discussion on tariffs. Their outlook on foreign policy orchestrated initially by the Ben Rhodes’s of the world has less of a purchase on reality than fucking Tucker Carlson (a deplorable dipshit scumbag himself).
NO ONE believed this shit. Biden didn’t, Harris didn’t (as much as either of them even understood it), Blinken certainly didn’t (he’s too smart and would constantly say contradictory things in interviews). They all lied fucking constantly. With almost every breath that they took.
So no, I’m not going to get particularly frazzled when the Trump admin lies directly to my face. Still bad, but completely numb to it. And honestly, I appreciate how bad they or how open they are at it. I do not argue with anyone on Trump admin lies. They’re so blatant and obvious everyone knows their lies and I feel no need to defend them. Meanwhile, for Biden/Harris I’d have to spend fucking 3hrs walking people through how it is actually not reasonable to think you can print money indefinitely if you’re the number 1 market in the world and be fine. Meanwhile, they’d google the case and be like “well this Harvard article says you might be able to” like that even provided a shred of evidence/support. “The entire concept of implicit bias as it is applied is flawed and makes no sense”. NO! Look here, there are entire departments at colleges that study these topics!
It is/was fucking infuriating. I like the blatant lies you can just say “yeah, that’s insane and wrong” and then everyone is back on the same page besides the crazy fucks.
Lastly, I do not know if you all are just holding the line at the ideal or what. But, this situation with the Signal chat shows a shocking level of incompetence, is incredibly embarrassing, in an ideal world people would be held responsible, and also, it is a complete non-story of the last decade at least.
(Yes I am going to bring it up) Clinton and her emails were to my math, appx >30,000x the fuck up. Emails leaked, proved hostile actors had access, confidential documents, on a private server. She now wears “What About Her Emails?” merchandise around in public and sells these items and half the country celebrates her for doing so. Faced absolutely zero repercussions, and the FBI director reinterpreted the stated wording of the law from “gross negligence” to “intent” to not charge her.
Meanwhile, Trump has apparently been keeping confidential documents in a closet while showing military information openly to I think Kid Rock in meetings. Nothing happened.
Biden has had confidential information in his garage for a decade. Been (to me almost certainly) giving classified information to his family. Nothing happened.
Obama had his “wing man” in Eric Holder as he was selling guns to Mexican cartels that ended up killing Americans. Nothing happened.
Maybe I am just tired of it all and can’t get outraged enough anymore. Maybe I am a partisan idiot and can’t hold all to the same standard. Maybe I just have a total difference of opinion on severity. But having a Signal (encrypted) chat where no identifying information was shared on a mission that went off 100% successfully and no hostile actors had access to, doesn’t crack my top 100 political scandals of the last 15 years. Barely comes up as a blip on my radar.
I still maintain it was utter incompetence adding Goldberg. Still think it is a total embarrassment. Still think in an ideal world people would be held accountable. However, I also just can’t get myself to give two shits.
My life is better in pretty much every way besides egg prices which are insane. 401k is slightly down, but we are <3 months in. My social life, conversations I have, relationships I have, discussions, debates, interactions, work environment (same job) are all drastically better.
Quite literally wrote I hate the man. Said it maybe 300x on this podcast over years. So no. My life got better because the majority of people in the country voted for a guy who is diametrically opposed to in pretty much every way the ideology that has subsumed a decent portion of my life over the past decade.
And every individual I interact with who has been an avatar of that ideology for years suddenly became less of an asshole over the last ~3months.
I imagine it is the opposite but same feeling every democrat in like panhandle Florida is feeling right now. With MAGA nutcases running around all full of themselves spouting nonsense, being confrontational for no reason, implementing policies at work that are annoying/insane, arguing over the dinner table about things they previously just stayed silent about.
Well I live in Chicago. I work for a pretty progressive company. I have a lot of acquaintances and colleagues and interactions with those types of people daily but on the left. The left is equally obnoxious as the right could ever be (I personally think more so). They just wrap their obnoxious loud mouth opinions in a patina of sophistication and couch that in faux-moralism. The right is a blunt/crude instrument with their obnoxiousness.
This last election (I particularly think because of the popular vote) finally got the message across that people think differently and finally seemed to quiet them down a little bit.
To be precise with an example of how mundane this could be, I was made to apologize to a coworker because they overheard me speaking to someone else in an office saying I thought the 2020 BLM movement was unproductive, would hurt the people they claim they were helping, and was infringing on many innocent people’s rights/sacrificing individuals to the mob. I clearly cannot remember verbatim what I said, but I can guarantee the main thrust was no more aggressive than that (again, I work at a pretty progressive company in Chicago. Anyone with non-progressive views would talk guarded like mice in corners of offices. I wouldn’t have dared to be more aggressive than that). I was made to apologies.
Meanwhile, at the beginning and end of meetings (I work for a real estate company, nothing to do with politics), people would openly discuss to the whole room with heads of departments, executive teams, full employee base of groups, why the Hamas attacks were justified because Israel is an apartheid state that has been committing genocide against the Palestinians for decades and violent resistance is ok in that situation. I knew a solid contingent of the people in the room disagreed vehemently. I work with Jewish coworkers and I know their views on the subject. Yet, everyone just nodded along, stayed silent and shut up, and no apology or reprimand in any way was required.
^that type of shit is absolutely EVERYWHERE in liberal areas. From the coffee shop I go to (love the people, just insane), to theaters I.e. iO and the productions they put together, to interactions with a bartender, to coworkers, to acquaintances, to friends OF friends you hang out with once and don’t know you. Unless you’re a democrat in fucking Alabama dealing with the MAGA nut jobs all the time, you have no idea how fucking frustrating it is and how insane the people truly are, and how prevalent it is.
Second example that came to mind writing this. I went to a bar with friends to watch the Indiana OSU football game. Just after the election. A friends friend from college was there. Never met her before but sat across from her. We talked for 3.5hrs. Had a great time. In the last 30mins (I just googled, this was November 24th just after the election), politics was brought up, whole table is talking about it and how big of bullshit it was for 30mins. I didn’t say a word. Ends with this girl asking me certain she already thought she knew the answer (I don’t present publicly as anything I guess), “you voted for Harris, right?”. Almost like a statement for the sake of bringing me back into the conversation than a genuine question. I said “no, I voted for Trump”. I kid you not, she stood up, walked to the other end of the table, sat down, didn’t say a single word to me for the rest of the day. Not one word. After just talking for 3+hrs.
Meanwhile my friend’s reactions are “Jesus Christ, why did you tell her that? Just lie. She hates all republicans and now is in a shit mood”. They acknowledged the girl was acting like a child. If they weren’t that sort of people they wouldn’t be my friends most likely because they’d be insane people. But the general sentiment was just lie to get along, why even tell the truth, it’s just going to cause problems and I should have known that. This again is after the table had a political conversation for 30mins on wide ranging topics about the election and Trump and Harris and everything else. Me just saying I voted for Trump was not allowed even though to a person they all either said they voted for Harris or didn’t vote (the didn’t vote people also got sideways looks).
Yes I live in Chicago, but I don’t hang out in a community of blue haired Marxist psycho leftist weird progressive nut jobs. Everyone if anything is an overly middle of the road Chicago person. That was/is just the atmosphere of the city.
That atmosphere since the election has dramatically changed. In the most subtle of ways, by dramatic none the less. The people in the office who said crazy shit as everyone just sat there and took it, no longer say the crazy shit. Or, if they do, someone now speaks up and says “let’s not talk about this” or “let’s get back on track”. People at the coffee shop don’t just assume you agree with every left wing nostrum they can think of. Acquaintances stay away from dragging you into a political discussion, because people are a little more wary of what they might find. If you get dragged into a political discussion a great capper if someone still gets raging mad is “well, majority of the country doesn’t agree with you, so you should at least fix your messaging”. (Not even positing they would agree with me, just pointing out they don’t agree with them).
Honest question, because I was never in the military. How would you characterize the info that Hegseth shared?
True, it did not contain details like "departure area, arrival area, target/objective" but it said when the aircraft would launch and reach their targets, and what those aircraft would be. Locations of US air bases and aircraft carriers are known. I assume the cruising speeds of the aircraft are known with decent accuracy.
From the above one could at least infer a target annulus and use other knowledge to make a reasonable guess about the actual targets. And even if you couldn't do that, knowing that an attack was coming *somewhere* at those times would give Houthi leaders time to scramble and be someplace other than where they were planning.
If this info had made its way to the Houthis it seems to me like it would have jeopardized the mission.
The way I look at it is, if the roles were flipped and there was a foreign power planning an attack on the US, would we want the info that Hegseth shared in advance?
Alternative way to look at it -- would the people who planned the mission in detail and executed it want this info leaking to the targets?
You’re right on all points. I believe I said I think it was classified information. I have heard arguments that there was no specific detail given and Trump has already announced his intent to hit Houthi targets. So basically, they could have already guessed they’d be hit, now they have maybe a slightly better guess… but that’s not classified information.
I do not find that convincing. Again I think it is classified. However, as I mentioned. Although it is very embarrassing, shows massive incompetence and in an ideal world people would be held to account. I do not think as a scandal it cracks a top 100 list in the last 10 years even (think I said 15 to include Obama), and I cannot remember one person being held accountable for scandals I find many multiples more egregious and impactful. So, I do not have it in me to care about this.
I guess I'm not sure what you found so sensational about Goldberg's piece, then. But I'll admit that I seem to be coming at this with a different bias than you.
Unrelated observation that many have made. The truly courageous people in Gaza who are protesting Hamas rule (and make no mistake they are not pro-Israel, but they do recognize the dynamics of the situation) do not wear masks in the presence of a murderous ruling party. The cowardly Jew hating protestors on Western campuses and in Western streets who are supporting Hamas wear masks, with little to fear (despite what Trump is so clumsily trying to do).
The incompetence of this administration is mind boggling. Its almost as if they didn't invite the competent ones from his first administration. BTW, has anyone heard from Suzy Wiles lately?
Wiles was on the Houthi group chat ("Kudos to all..."), so she or someone claiming to be her still exists. First I've heard of her since her 'no clown car' coming-out.
They do a good job generally on the titles. This one was particularly good. I’ve seen this scandal referred to as “Whiskey Leaks”, which is also solid gold.
I don’t think the issue is so much about NPR’s coverage, but rather that the government provided “seed money” for public radio and TV more than 40 years ago in a totally different media landscape. Since then they’ve become the epitome of Reagan’s classic saying that the quickest way to immortality is a government program. If their listeners want public radio and TV, they will support or at least should support them without taxpayer funding.
Not to sound like a Tesla booster (I do own a bunch of stock), but 6% daily swings are kind of the norm for this stock. The volatility is wild but not at all shocking for any long-term investors. The fall from Mid-December certainly burns, but the stock is still up 50% in the past year.
Trump's a bully and tariffs are a demonstrably stupid idea but does anyone actually think Canada is being cool about this whole thing? You should laugh at bullies. Swapping the becostumed middle school teacher for Adam Schiff with an accent is playing right into Trump's hands.
I have several Canadian friends and colleagues. I just had dinner with one last night. The reason they aren't laughing is because they don't think it's funny. They are legitimately spooked and worried that Trump is trying to undermine their sovereignty. And I don't blame them. Even if the chances are slim that Trump is serious about redrawing the border, the consequences are severe. For the people facing those consequences the threat is not so easily dismissed.
I have a client in Canada and just asked her if people up there are taking Trump seriously and she said, "Just the libs" which makes me laugh bcs before Biden/Trudeau/COVID she was a lib.
That may be fair. The people I know definitely don't support the Conservatives.
But the Liberals went from being 24 points behind the Conservatives and barely ahead of the NDP on Jan 6, to first place with a 3 point lead over the Conservatives and a good chance at winning a majority, leaving all other parties in far, far behind. Meanwhile, the Conservatives have lost 7 points from their high point.
So either a lot of disaffected Liberals got more engaged, or it's not *just* the Liberals who are reacting negatively to Trump.
I've been watching Poilievre for a few years and I really like him. Trump has done him no favors, of course, but Canada may just have a polling problem like the US. I hope they give him a shot. It sure would be fun to watch.
I really wish Trump wasn't doing this stuff. If I had my druthers we'd never hear the words Canada, Panama, or Greenland out of his mouth ever again.
That doesn't mean the behavior is rational. And I don't know what good is done by humoring it. In fact, I think their behavior is weakening their hand.
Fifth Chat > Signal chat
When the story broke, I remember mis-hearing that it was Jeff Goldblum that had gotten on the chat.
Would've been much more entertaining.
I confused him with Jeffrey Toobin 😂
I was thinking Jonah Goldberg
Earth Politician Chats are Easy...to read.
Besides the idiocy of the current admin in this debacle, I would note that Signal has been considered secure by the DoD for some time now. I went to Latvia on a training mission in 2022 (a couple months after Russia invaded Ukraine). Our OpSec brief explicitly told us that Signal was a secure and preferred method of communication for us to use - We just had to make sure we knew the people in the group chats 🤣
Signal can’t stop you from adding the wrong person to a group chat. If you want to mitigate that risk, get separate phones for national security/sensitive activities. With separate phones, you can’t accidently include your dentist (or Jeffrey Goldberg) in attack/war plan discussions.
Speak for your self, my dentist is named Jeffrey goldberg
Lol. Also, I assume no classified or CUI, right?
So my defense of the indefensible.
1. Jeffery Goldberg IS a fucking scumbag and an untrustworthy weasel coward. Outside of Trump, solely based on his decision and handling of Kevin Williamson.
2. Goldberg DID sensationalize his story. Which he has done countless number of times, and (at least VERY initially) I could see why people responded terribly. Whether war plans or attack plans, it was neither. They didn’t give a departure area, arrival area, target/objective, country, etc. They gave the most general updates to an ongoing mission.
Confidential information? To me certainly.
Outrageously embarrassing? Absolutely.
In an ideal world, never should happen and if it did happen people would be held responsible? Yes.
However, the guy still did sensationalize the story to the degree that if I was on that chat and then later saw the headline, I would not have even thought the story could possibly reference me, as I would be thinking “I haven’t even seen attack/war plans today” let alone think that Goldberg was part of the group.
3. So again, (very) initially I can understand people’s response. After that, I am 100% with you, their response was completely an utterly incompetent. However again, I think you’re hammering people for not saying there was confidential information discussed. I think there was confidential information, you do, I think most sane people would agree; but, OF COURSE no one is going to say that. Pretty sure saying that openly is admitting to a crime. There are 1M things that could have been responded to better, but I am not going to hammer them on not saying that outright. That would be incredibly stupid if only on the basis of self preservation.
Now, why I do not give one shit: I do not consider myself a Trump guy, think he’s a dipshit, hate his demeanor, and think he’s doing tons of horrible things. I STILL think he/his admin is 100x better than Biden/Harris. You say they lie as a matter of course, yes, of course they do. They’re more blatant and in your face about it than any admin ever. But, the lies to me besides their presentation are no different in amount than Biden/Harris. Maybe you think Biden/Harris were more so in the Nixon vein. I do not. I woke up every day and listened to every single thing discussed about COVID and thought “that’s a lie or half truth” and it was. Every thing about our foreign policy, Gaza, Ukraine, Israel, Afghanistan, etc. and thought “that’s a lie or half truth” and they all were (I fully support Ukraine, that doesn’t mean they didn’t lie either every breath about it still). Listened to every single thing they said on race and the US society and thought “that’s a lie or half truth”. Every single thing they said on the economy, “that’s a lie or half truth”. The difference about Biden/Harris is they’d tie their insane lies to some strain of thought, that thought had some roots in an institution, and suddenly they could pitch the difference of opinion on differences in ideology. Personally (still love you guys) I think if that is your opinion on their extent of lying, you’re a fucking moron. The academic grounding and rationale of the Kendi’s, Crenshaws, hooks, Bells, Foucaults, Butlers, etc on society/race are as founded as the KKK member from West Virginia. The academic grounding of Elizabeth’s Warren’s (I can’t recall the actual academics who crafted the theory) Modern Monetary Theory are more fantastical than any debated by Marx and Engels, and is equally as insane as any Trump discussion on tariffs. Their outlook on foreign policy orchestrated initially by the Ben Rhodes’s of the world has less of a purchase on reality than fucking Tucker Carlson (a deplorable dipshit scumbag himself).
NO ONE believed this shit. Biden didn’t, Harris didn’t (as much as either of them even understood it), Blinken certainly didn’t (he’s too smart and would constantly say contradictory things in interviews). They all lied fucking constantly. With almost every breath that they took.
So no, I’m not going to get particularly frazzled when the Trump admin lies directly to my face. Still bad, but completely numb to it. And honestly, I appreciate how bad they or how open they are at it. I do not argue with anyone on Trump admin lies. They’re so blatant and obvious everyone knows their lies and I feel no need to defend them. Meanwhile, for Biden/Harris I’d have to spend fucking 3hrs walking people through how it is actually not reasonable to think you can print money indefinitely if you’re the number 1 market in the world and be fine. Meanwhile, they’d google the case and be like “well this Harvard article says you might be able to” like that even provided a shred of evidence/support. “The entire concept of implicit bias as it is applied is flawed and makes no sense”. NO! Look here, there are entire departments at colleges that study these topics!
It is/was fucking infuriating. I like the blatant lies you can just say “yeah, that’s insane and wrong” and then everyone is back on the same page besides the crazy fucks.
Lastly, I do not know if you all are just holding the line at the ideal or what. But, this situation with the Signal chat shows a shocking level of incompetence, is incredibly embarrassing, in an ideal world people would be held responsible, and also, it is a complete non-story of the last decade at least.
(Yes I am going to bring it up) Clinton and her emails were to my math, appx >30,000x the fuck up. Emails leaked, proved hostile actors had access, confidential documents, on a private server. She now wears “What About Her Emails?” merchandise around in public and sells these items and half the country celebrates her for doing so. Faced absolutely zero repercussions, and the FBI director reinterpreted the stated wording of the law from “gross negligence” to “intent” to not charge her.
Meanwhile, Trump has apparently been keeping confidential documents in a closet while showing military information openly to I think Kid Rock in meetings. Nothing happened.
Biden has had confidential information in his garage for a decade. Been (to me almost certainly) giving classified information to his family. Nothing happened.
Obama had his “wing man” in Eric Holder as he was selling guns to Mexican cartels that ended up killing Americans. Nothing happened.
Maybe I am just tired of it all and can’t get outraged enough anymore. Maybe I am a partisan idiot and can’t hold all to the same standard. Maybe I just have a total difference of opinion on severity. But having a Signal (encrypted) chat where no identifying information was shared on a mission that went off 100% successfully and no hostile actors had access to, doesn’t crack my top 100 political scandals of the last 15 years. Barely comes up as a blip on my radar.
I still maintain it was utter incompetence adding Goldberg. Still think it is a total embarrassment. Still think in an ideal world people would be held accountable. However, I also just can’t get myself to give two shits.
Yes the Trump admin being 100x better than Biden admin is 100% sign of your partisan hackery lmao. We got it dude.
My life is better in pretty much every way besides egg prices which are insane. 401k is slightly down, but we are <3 months in. My social life, conversations I have, relationships I have, discussions, debates, interactions, work environment (same job) are all drastically better.
And this is due to the Trump admin? lol
Seriously? Your life is better because your favorite politician got elected? That's some fucked up shit dude
Quite literally wrote I hate the man. Said it maybe 300x on this podcast over years. So no. My life got better because the majority of people in the country voted for a guy who is diametrically opposed to in pretty much every way the ideology that has subsumed a decent portion of my life over the past decade.
And every individual I interact with who has been an avatar of that ideology for years suddenly became less of an asshole over the last ~3months.
I imagine it is the opposite but same feeling every democrat in like panhandle Florida is feeling right now. With MAGA nutcases running around all full of themselves spouting nonsense, being confrontational for no reason, implementing policies at work that are annoying/insane, arguing over the dinner table about things they previously just stayed silent about.
Well I live in Chicago. I work for a pretty progressive company. I have a lot of acquaintances and colleagues and interactions with those types of people daily but on the left. The left is equally obnoxious as the right could ever be (I personally think more so). They just wrap their obnoxious loud mouth opinions in a patina of sophistication and couch that in faux-moralism. The right is a blunt/crude instrument with their obnoxiousness.
This last election (I particularly think because of the popular vote) finally got the message across that people think differently and finally seemed to quiet them down a little bit.
To be precise with an example of how mundane this could be, I was made to apologize to a coworker because they overheard me speaking to someone else in an office saying I thought the 2020 BLM movement was unproductive, would hurt the people they claim they were helping, and was infringing on many innocent people’s rights/sacrificing individuals to the mob. I clearly cannot remember verbatim what I said, but I can guarantee the main thrust was no more aggressive than that (again, I work at a pretty progressive company in Chicago. Anyone with non-progressive views would talk guarded like mice in corners of offices. I wouldn’t have dared to be more aggressive than that). I was made to apologies.
Meanwhile, at the beginning and end of meetings (I work for a real estate company, nothing to do with politics), people would openly discuss to the whole room with heads of departments, executive teams, full employee base of groups, why the Hamas attacks were justified because Israel is an apartheid state that has been committing genocide against the Palestinians for decades and violent resistance is ok in that situation. I knew a solid contingent of the people in the room disagreed vehemently. I work with Jewish coworkers and I know their views on the subject. Yet, everyone just nodded along, stayed silent and shut up, and no apology or reprimand in any way was required.
^that type of shit is absolutely EVERYWHERE in liberal areas. From the coffee shop I go to (love the people, just insane), to theaters I.e. iO and the productions they put together, to interactions with a bartender, to coworkers, to acquaintances, to friends OF friends you hang out with once and don’t know you. Unless you’re a democrat in fucking Alabama dealing with the MAGA nut jobs all the time, you have no idea how fucking frustrating it is and how insane the people truly are, and how prevalent it is.
Second example that came to mind writing this. I went to a bar with friends to watch the Indiana OSU football game. Just after the election. A friends friend from college was there. Never met her before but sat across from her. We talked for 3.5hrs. Had a great time. In the last 30mins (I just googled, this was November 24th just after the election), politics was brought up, whole table is talking about it and how big of bullshit it was for 30mins. I didn’t say a word. Ends with this girl asking me certain she already thought she knew the answer (I don’t present publicly as anything I guess), “you voted for Harris, right?”. Almost like a statement for the sake of bringing me back into the conversation than a genuine question. I said “no, I voted for Trump”. I kid you not, she stood up, walked to the other end of the table, sat down, didn’t say a single word to me for the rest of the day. Not one word. After just talking for 3+hrs.
Meanwhile my friend’s reactions are “Jesus Christ, why did you tell her that? Just lie. She hates all republicans and now is in a shit mood”. They acknowledged the girl was acting like a child. If they weren’t that sort of people they wouldn’t be my friends most likely because they’d be insane people. But the general sentiment was just lie to get along, why even tell the truth, it’s just going to cause problems and I should have known that. This again is after the table had a political conversation for 30mins on wide ranging topics about the election and Trump and Harris and everything else. Me just saying I voted for Trump was not allowed even though to a person they all either said they voted for Harris or didn’t vote (the didn’t vote people also got sideways looks).
Yes I live in Chicago, but I don’t hang out in a community of blue haired Marxist psycho leftist weird progressive nut jobs. Everyone if anything is an overly middle of the road Chicago person. That was/is just the atmosphere of the city.
That atmosphere since the election has dramatically changed. In the most subtle of ways, by dramatic none the less. The people in the office who said crazy shit as everyone just sat there and took it, no longer say the crazy shit. Or, if they do, someone now speaks up and says “let’s not talk about this” or “let’s get back on track”. People at the coffee shop don’t just assume you agree with every left wing nostrum they can think of. Acquaintances stay away from dragging you into a political discussion, because people are a little more wary of what they might find. If you get dragged into a political discussion a great capper if someone still gets raging mad is “well, majority of the country doesn’t agree with you, so you should at least fix your messaging”. (Not even positing they would agree with me, just pointing out they don’t agree with them).
All in all, it has made life much better.
As we all know, the more words you need the defend something, the more ok it is.
It's infinitely easier to make a false accusation than it is to disprove it. Pithiness shouldn't be confused with truth or insight.
I thought there was a ten thousand word limit on the comments. Guess not. Man, your fingers must be sore.
Hahaha fair
Jesus bro, take a walk. Call an old friend. Have a beer, do anything but this.
Honest question, because I was never in the military. How would you characterize the info that Hegseth shared?
True, it did not contain details like "departure area, arrival area, target/objective" but it said when the aircraft would launch and reach their targets, and what those aircraft would be. Locations of US air bases and aircraft carriers are known. I assume the cruising speeds of the aircraft are known with decent accuracy.
From the above one could at least infer a target annulus and use other knowledge to make a reasonable guess about the actual targets. And even if you couldn't do that, knowing that an attack was coming *somewhere* at those times would give Houthi leaders time to scramble and be someplace other than where they were planning.
If this info had made its way to the Houthis it seems to me like it would have jeopardized the mission.
The way I look at it is, if the roles were flipped and there was a foreign power planning an attack on the US, would we want the info that Hegseth shared in advance?
Alternative way to look at it -- would the people who planned the mission in detail and executed it want this info leaking to the targets?
You’re right on all points. I believe I said I think it was classified information. I have heard arguments that there was no specific detail given and Trump has already announced his intent to hit Houthi targets. So basically, they could have already guessed they’d be hit, now they have maybe a slightly better guess… but that’s not classified information.
I do not find that convincing. Again I think it is classified. However, as I mentioned. Although it is very embarrassing, shows massive incompetence and in an ideal world people would be held to account. I do not think as a scandal it cracks a top 100 list in the last 10 years even (think I said 15 to include Obama), and I cannot remember one person being held accountable for scandals I find many multiples more egregious and impactful. So, I do not have it in me to care about this.
It's important to note that in security indoctrination you are told not to "talk around" classified information on an insecure line.
I guess I'm not sure what you found so sensational about Goldberg's piece, then. But I'll admit that I seem to be coming at this with a different bias than you.
Not gonna lie. I do look like a wizard
Do you have the infamous, Moynihan-coined "pewter dragon?"
Unrelated observation that many have made. The truly courageous people in Gaza who are protesting Hamas rule (and make no mistake they are not pro-Israel, but they do recognize the dynamics of the situation) do not wear masks in the presence of a murderous ruling party. The cowardly Jew hating protestors on Western campuses and in Western streets who are supporting Hamas wear masks, with little to fear (despite what Trump is so clumsily trying to do).
The incompetence of this administration is mind boggling. Its almost as if they didn't invite the competent ones from his first administration. BTW, has anyone heard from Suzy Wiles lately?
Wiles was on the Houthi group chat ("Kudos to all..."), so she or someone claiming to be her still exists. First I've heard of her since her 'no clown car' coming-out.
I am so tempted to look in the chat again over this Signal stuff. I bet the cope is unprincipled and farcical as ever.
Hegseth should be an intern grabbing coffee at Fox News after this.
Podcast naming CAN be an art form. I think the Red Scare girls are quite good at it. TFC has their moments as well.
This is all to say that “The Signal and the Boys” should be hung in the fucking louvre 🤟🫡
They do a good job generally on the titles. This one was particularly good. I’ve seen this scandal referred to as “Whiskey Leaks”, which is also solid gold.
Never knew I needed Bossa Nova Dylan
I don’t think the issue is so much about NPR’s coverage, but rather that the government provided “seed money” for public radio and TV more than 40 years ago in a totally different media landscape. Since then they’ve become the epitome of Reagan’s classic saying that the quickest way to immortality is a government program. If their listeners want public radio and TV, they will support or at least should support them without taxpayer funding.
Not to sound like a Tesla booster (I do own a bunch of stock), but 6% daily swings are kind of the norm for this stock. The volatility is wild but not at all shocking for any long-term investors. The fall from Mid-December certainly burns, but the stock is still up 50% in the past year.
Correct. TSLA is not Proctor & Gamble.
Trump's a bully and tariffs are a demonstrably stupid idea but does anyone actually think Canada is being cool about this whole thing? You should laugh at bullies. Swapping the becostumed middle school teacher for Adam Schiff with an accent is playing right into Trump's hands.
I have several Canadian friends and colleagues. I just had dinner with one last night. The reason they aren't laughing is because they don't think it's funny. They are legitimately spooked and worried that Trump is trying to undermine their sovereignty. And I don't blame them. Even if the chances are slim that Trump is serious about redrawing the border, the consequences are severe. For the people facing those consequences the threat is not so easily dismissed.
I have a client in Canada and just asked her if people up there are taking Trump seriously and she said, "Just the libs" which makes me laugh bcs before Biden/Trudeau/COVID she was a lib.
That may be fair. The people I know definitely don't support the Conservatives.
But the Liberals went from being 24 points behind the Conservatives and barely ahead of the NDP on Jan 6, to first place with a 3 point lead over the Conservatives and a good chance at winning a majority, leaving all other parties in far, far behind. Meanwhile, the Conservatives have lost 7 points from their high point.
So either a lot of disaffected Liberals got more engaged, or it's not *just* the Liberals who are reacting negatively to Trump.
I've been watching Poilievre for a few years and I really like him. Trump has done him no favors, of course, but Canada may just have a polling problem like the US. I hope they give him a shot. It sure would be fun to watch.
I almost feel bad for Pierre. Talk about unlucky. He's going to lose and it's entirely out of his control.
I really wish Trump wasn't doing this stuff. If I had my druthers we'd never hear the words Canada, Panama, or Greenland out of his mouth ever again.
That doesn't mean the behavior is rational. And I don't know what good is done by humoring it. In fact, I think their behavior is weakening their hand.
“The Jeffrey Epstein of birds” 😂
Should have been the show title
I haven't listened yet, but I guess I have to take back everything I ever said about Pete's competency and intelligence.
What happened to episode 497?
It was a hoax.
What happened to the last members only?
As a Canadian accountant it made very happy to hear Matt talk about goodwill as an asset.