Wednesday, March 26, 2025

Flotsam and Jetsam - The 'Signal' Kerfuffle

This was barely mentioned in yesterday morning's round up, but it blew up in the news over the course of yesterday afternoon. The basic story line is that a number of high level national defense officials got together on an encrypted app called Signal for a meeting regarding actions against the Houthis. Somehow, as yet to be fully made public, Jeffrey Goldberg, a virulently anti-Republican writer for the Slantic was included in the contacts, and eavesdropped on the meeting, made it public, and claimed secret, presumably classified matters were being discussed. Mike Walz, the National Security Advisor, admitted the invitation came from his office. DNI Gabbard, and CIA Director Ratcliffe denied under oath that any classified material was discussed. The Trump administration line is that it was an accident, and Trump has publicly stoop by Walz. Democrats made a big issue of it, demand resignations, while Republicans admitted error, but claimed no harm, no foul.

The Signal app was pre-loaded on government phones, and its use was initiated and promulgated under the Harris/Biden regency. How Goldberg was added seems a mystery, but there are, of course, 3 leading theories. The first (and IMHO most likely) is that it was simple error. Goldberg was likely in the contact lists left over from the Biden era, and was added by mistake. Second, a little less likely, but plausible, is that a "Deep State" mole included him to lead to precisely this result, and third, he was added specifically because someone in the Trump orbit wanted him to leak specific information, in this case, comments by Pete Hegseth and JD Vance that they were tired of cleaning up for the Europeans. It takes the sort of demented CIA mindset to think that, so yeah, it's distinctly possible.

From Stacy McCain, ‘Signal-Gate’: CIA Sabotage? Or Another ‘Anonymous’ in the Trump White House? At Insty, I WAS TRAVELING YESTERDAY, AND FELL A BIT BEHIND, "but the Signal story seems like a nothingburger to me. In fact, I kind of wonder if Goldberg was deliberately included as part of an information op, allowing them to release stuff they didn’t want to be seen releasing openly. Anyway, “war plans?” Not so much, but it’s Jeffrey Goldberg so. . . " Driscoll at Insty, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT JEFFREY GOLDBERG ACCIDENTALLY BEING ADDED TO A NATIONAL SECURITY CHAT: Sundance at CTH, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz Invited Leftist Journ-o-Lister Jeff Goldberg to Group Chat on Signal Discussing Houthi Attacks and Signalgate: President Trump Stands by Mike Waltz – Attributing Signal App Issue to Waltz Staffer Who Accidentally Added Journalist. At NewsMax, Trump Stands By NSA Waltz: He 'Learned a Lesson'. At PJM, Matt Margolis wonders Has the Staffer Who Put Jeffrey Goldberg on the Signal Chat Been Exposed? and Is This Proof That the Signal Chat Kerfuffle Was a Setup?, Here's What the Media Won't Tell You About the Atlantic Hit Piece and Charlie Martin discusses Counterintelligence and Canary Traps. Austin Bay, Loose App Links to Security Lapse: Consequential Mistake? Liz Stauffer at LI, Use of Signal in the White House Originated in the Biden Administration, “It is my understanding that the Biden administration authorized Signal as a means of communication … and that continued into the Trump administration.” Cynical Publius @CynicalPublius "Re: the Signal chat and The Atlantic article. The minute I read the chat my very first thought was that Goldberg was specifically and deliberately included so that he would leak what he saw to the public. The idea was to let Europe know just how unhappy American leadership is with Europe's unwillingness to pull its weight militarily. The backchannel, seemingly accidental nature of that reveal was powerful and I believe intentional. Also, as someone who has read his fair share of Top Secret/SCI war plans, this ain't it." At Althouse, “I just hate bailing out the Europeans again"/"I fully share your loathing of European freeloading. It’s PATHETIC.” :Said JD Vance/Pete Hegseth, quoted in "Now Europe Knows What Trump’s Team Calls It Behind Its Back: 'Pathetic'/Trump officials have demanded more European military spending and questioned the continent’s values. Leaked messages show the depth of the rift" (NYT). Wouldn't want that to get out, now, would you?" And, "Bob Woodward has spent an entire career trying to infiltrate groups like this. So how could you possibly have just been added to a group chat?" "The NYT "Daily" podcast interviewer prompts Jeffrey Goldberg, in this morning's new episode, "Inside the Group Chat Planning to Bomb Yemen" (Podscribe)." Joy Pullman at Da Fed hears The Atlantic Admits The Deep State Is A ‘Regime Change.’

NewsMax cites WH: No 'War Plans,' Classified Info Discussed During Group Chat. Jeff Charles at TownHall reports Tulsi Gabbard Just Denied Democrats the 'Signalgate' Narrative They So Desperately Wanted. Atop Da Hill, Gabbard, Ratcliffe contend Signal chat did not include classified information. Susie Moore at RedState, CIA Director John Ratcliffe Swats Down Signal Story in Senate Intel Hearing. Sundance, Colorado Senator Mike Bennet Goes Bananas Questioning CIA Director Ratcliffe. At Twitchy, 'CREDIT to the Trump Admin': Scott Jennings DISMANTLES The Atlantic's HIT Piece and It's GLORIOUS (Watch). Gunther Eagleman™ @GuntherEagleman, "@ScottJenningsKY just blew apart the narratives coming from the Atlantic hit piece published today and pointed out the facts . . ." Kurt Schlichter @KurtSchlichter, "The Signal chat thing is a gut check for alleged cons. Nothing significant was revealed. Worst case, it was a mistake that will never happen again. More likely, a proven liar has now lied about at least some of it. . . " A Larry video at Hat Hair, Democrats' Latest 'Signal Scandal' Is a Complete Hoax! NewsWeek, Pete Hegseth Denies Texting War Plans to Journalist "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied the texts to reporters: "You're talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who's made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again...This is a guy who peddles in garbage...Nobody was texting war plans and that's all I have to say." Richard Grenell @RichardGrenell "You write for the public. The public gets to criticize your activism. This isn’t China. Suck it up or don’t write for the public." Quote, "Anna Bross @AnnaCBross, "Attempts to disparage and discredit The Atlantic, our editor, and our reporting follow an obvious playbook by elected officials and others in power who are hostile to journalists and the First Amendment rights of all Americans." Cynical Publius @CynicalPublius, "Yesterday's kerfuffle over the latest Jeffrey Goldberg/Atlantic hit piece proves yet again to never react to leftist attack pieces unless and until the facts are known. It appears now that the following things are likely true. . . :" Kurt Schlichter @KurtSchlichter, "What if he pays a fine of $20 in beads and maybe some blankets?" Quote, Elizabeth Warren @SenWarren, "If Pete Hegseth had even a tiny bit of honor and sense of responsibility, then he would hand in his resignation this morning. x.com/factpostnews/s…" From the Babylon Bee, 4D Chess: Genius Trump Leaks War Plans To 'The Atlantic' Where No One Will Ever See Them.

Capt. Ed at Hat Hair, looks at a New YAF Poll: The Kids Are Alright "More young liberals voted for Donald Trump than young conservatives voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election." Chris Queen at PJM sees New Polling Reveals Some Surprising — and Encouraging — Trends Among Young Voters. From Da Caller, JD Vance Explains MAGA’s Appeal In A Way Liberals May Finally Understand. I doubt that. Street Insider, Investment commitments in U.S. nears $3 trillion since Trump took office. Ace, RFKJr. Rumored to Be on Verge of Blocking Big Pharma From Advertising on Television. PM, RFK Jr unveils transparency tool allowing Americans to search for contaminants in food. "HHS is committed to radical transparency to give Americans authentic, informed consent about what they are eating." End Wokeness@EndWokeness "4 years ago, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya was on a COVID blacklist on Twitter. Today, he was confirmed for Director of the NIH." Fox, Senate confirms Dr Marty Makary as Trump's FDA chief, "FDA chief pick Dr. Marty Makary was skeptical of COVID-19 policies." At LifeZette, FEMA is Being Eliminated—Kristi Noem Confirms During Trump Cabinet Meeting

Capt. Ed, NEW: Russia, Ukraine Agree to Partial Cease-Fire. At Fox, Russia, Ukraine agree to Black Sea ceasefire following US talks "Kremlin suggests it may not implement Black Sea ceasefire until Russia is admitted back into SWIFT." From the Brussel's Signal, Are Europe and the US headed for a divorce? Or would that be folly? Maybe just a trial separation. Common Defense reports Hegseth Sends Two Carriers to Middle East in Escalating Campaign Against Houthis. NewsMax hears Trump: Greenland 'Maybe' in US Future. Politico whines Greenland to Trump: No, we didn’t invite you, "A delegation that includes second lady Usha Vance is slated to arrive on the island on Thursday."

From ET, Musk Says DOGE Team Faces Daily Death Threats. At Twitchy, Cybersecurity Firm Has Been 'Made Aware' of an Employee Keying a Tesla Cybertruck. NewsMax, FBI Launches Terrorism Task Force Into Tesla Attacks. Tom Knighton at BA, This Is What I Meant When I Said Things Were Getting Ugly. Dave Strom at Hat Hair see Democrats Let the Hate Flow Through Them. Jeff Crouere at TownHall asserts The Democrats Are the Party of Violence. Chase Geiser @realchasegeiser, "If you have to explain to members of your political party why they shouldn’t vandalize your property then you are in the wrong political party." Sawyer Merritt@SawyerMerritt, NEWS: The Financial Times has issued an apology after suggesting that @Tesla had shady accounting with $1.4 billion "missing." In reality, the Financial Times just didn't understand the accounting, and an expert reached out to them to explain it to them. FT: "One unavoidable conclusion is that at a certain point it’s necessary to trust the auditor’s judgment.""

At Breitbart, Elon Musk Claims DOGE Discovered $330 Million in SBA Loans Given to Kids. Some are, no doubt, typos, but there are likely a lot of "straw" loans to ineligible people. Dave Strom, Trump and Elon Want to Take Money From Babies and Grade Schoolers! At Da Wire, ‘The Country Was Riddled With Fat’: Trump Team Details Biden Waste In Cabinet Meeting. 'I'm not even sure what that means, but apparently the last administration wanted to put our taxpayer dollars towards that.' Fox, Pam Bondi threatens prosecution amid DOGE's findings about fraud: 'We're coming after you'. NewsMax, Trump Pauses Federal Funds for Planned Parenthood. Insty, YEAH, BUT IT WAS OKAY WHEN OBAMA SAID IT BECAUSE EVERYONE KNEW HE DIDN’T MEAN IT. Wall Street Apes @WallStreetApes, "Is this not literally word for word what Elon Musk’s DOGE mission is? Barack Obama “Everyone knows that getting rid of the deficit will require some tough decisions, and that includes cutting back on billions of dollars in programs that a lot of people care about. What should be easy is getting rid of the pointless waste and stupid spending that doesn't benefit anybody. Waste we should be getting rid of, even if we didn't have a deficit. . . ."

Wall Street Mav@WallStreetMav, "The DOGE Act isn’t a bill (yet), but the GOP is preparing one. •73% approval for the hunt to remove waste and fraud from our spending. Also, we need to put into law a way to stop these federal judges from waging lawfare against legitimate Presidential actions." Politico whines about Sen. Kennedy, GOP senator: Trump ‘interested in’ seeing Congress codify DOGE cuts. "The White House still hasn’t said whether it will ask lawmakers to ratify Elon Musk’s government-slashing efforts." 'Becca Downs at TownHall, Rand Paul to Introduce Bill to Get Rid of Department of Education. Center Square IL, Republicans defend, Democrats decry changes at the U.S. Postal Service. Misty Severi at JTN, USPS leader Louis DeJoy resigns as Postmaster General.

From the Pop Times, Activist Judge Boasberg Allows Tren de Aragua Gang Members to Challenge Alien Enemies Act Deportations. Ace, Activist Judge Boasberg: Tren de Aragua Prison Gang Members Have Right to Appeal Their Deportations (and Must Be Allowed to Remain in the US During Their Appeals). "Incredible." Da Caller, ‘No Way To Run A Government’: Trump Admin Asks SCOTUS To Block Order Reinstating Fired Federal Workers. Chris Queen at PJM reports Big Legal Victories for Trump Administration on USAID, Refugee Admissions. NewsMax, Transgender Military Members Ask for Court Protection. Margot Cleveland at Da Fed says Plaintiffs Challenging Trump’s DEI Order Are Trying To Game The Judicial System. Dan Chaitin at Da Wire writes House To Vote On Restraining Nationwide Injunctions, Stop ‘Judicial Overreach’ Against Trump, "Majority Leader Steve Scalise announced the plan for next week." 'Becca Downs at TownHall, Ted Cruz Shares His 'Remedies' on What to Do About Judicial Overreach From District Judges. Tar and feathers and run out of town on a rail? (If it wasn't for the honor of it, I'd just as soon walk.) Da Hill whines that Republicans target two judges for impeachment. Sure, they'll never be removed, but let the process be the punishment, just like they do. At Da Fed, Beth Brelje points out A Third Of All DC District Judges Were Not Born In United States.

Courtroom weirdness. Volokh at the Volokh Conspiracy notes 11 Court Opinions in the Last 30 Days Mention AI-Hallucinated Material, and … "that's likely just the tip of the iceberg." Well, there goes my plan to have unbiased AI's acting as judges. Vicky Taft at PJM sends 9th Circuit Leftists Triggered When Judge Uses Gun to Show How Clueless They Are. Parts is parts. Also at the Volokh Report Josh Blackmun reports Nearly Five Years Later, Justice Barrett's Memoir Has A Publication Date. "Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution" and he's not a fan.

Misty Severi reports Trump signs executive order declassifying records related to Russia collusion hoax. "The declassification order comes after an investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller “did not establish” any criminal Trump-Russia collusion." NewsMax, Trump Declassifies FBI's Russia Investigation. This should be fun. And infuriating. Also, Trump Revokes Mayorkas' Secret Service Detail. Hire some of your Tren de Aragua buddies. Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson, "FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL: "There's 38,000 employees at the FBI... In the 50 mile radius around D.C., we have 11,000 employees... A third of the crime doesn’t happen in this region... We're going to send our agents into the field to take on this violent crime explosion"" Charles Glasser at Insy, THIS MIGHT LEAVE A MARK: I’m not privy to all the facts here, so I won’t pre-judge it. But I’ll tell you this: Former RNC Chief of Staff Chris LaCivita is suing The Daily Beast for defamation, and he is being represented by Harmeet Dhillon’s firm.

The Divine Ms. Devine at NPo reports Trump to grant ‘full pardon’ to Hunter Biden whistleblower Devon Archer: ‘He was screwed’ Ace, Hunter Biden's Business Partner: Joe Biden Came In to Close Deals for Hunter Biden, Telling His Foreign Gangster "Business Partners" "If You Do a Favor for My Son, You're a Friend for Life" "Trump just pardoned Archer. You're not going to believe this, but the Biden DOJ prosecuted this guy -- but not Hunter or James Biden or Ashley Biden or Joe Biden -- for corruption." Da Hill, Trump pardons Devon Archer. Miranda Devine @mirandadevine, "My favorite: “It's Totally Normal That Joe Biden's Son Works for a Ukrainian Energy Company”. Uncanny how the Atlantic and the Atlantic Council serve the same spooky masters." TechnoFog, on Biden's Perjury "Biden's Written Answers to Special Counsel Hur". 

Peter St Onge, Ph.D. @profstonge "Now that Biden's gone, revise all the numbers down", Quote zerohedge @zerohedge, "Huge downward revisions to median new home sale prices: Nov, Dec and Jan all revised dramatically lower." It's amazing to me how flexible the economic numbers can be. 

NewsMax reports a Sweeping Trump Order Overhauls US Elections, Including Citizenship Requirement. From NYPo, Trump mandates proof of citizenship in order to vote in new executive order — and cuts funds if states don’t comply You can't fix it if you don't dispute it. MD Kittle at Da Fed sees Trump Endorses Conservative In ‘Very Important’ WI Supreme Court Election. At Liberty Nation News Supreme Court Tackles Complex Gerrymandering Case, "Louisiana appeal reveals tension between fair voting rights and racial representation." At Althouse, "The Supreme Court appeared split along partisan lines Monday over the creation of a second Black-majority congressional district in Louisiana...." "Writes Justin Jouvenal, in "Supreme Court seems split on Louisiana voting map, majority-Black districts Several conservative justices were skeptical that the Voting Rights Act’s attempts to redress past discrimination can coexist with the Equal Protection Clause" (WaPo)."

Misty Severi, doing all the heavy lifting at JTN yesterday, reports Hegseth orders troops at southern border to start conducting patrols ""Conducting patrols, either on foot or mounted, creates a more proactive and adaptable posture compared to static posts," Army Maj. Jennifer L. Staton, a Defense Department spokesperson, said in a statement." Sarah Anderson at PJM has Deja Vu: Georgia Woman Murdered. Guess Who Did It, David Hector Rivas-Sagastume.

Dave Catron at Am Spec tells of The Global Censorship Cancer , "While the US attempts to stop it from spreading, the EU enters stage 4 metastasis." Dave Strom says The Battle Over Censorship Is Not Over By a Long Shot. At Insty, WELL, FAIR: TheFOO@PolitiBunny, "Because we weren’t wrong, Sparky." Quote Jonathan Chait @jonathanchait, "Five years after covid struck, liberals have reconsidered their mistakes, while conservatives have done the opposite."

Teri Christoph at RedState says Megyn Kelly Just Shook Up the Media World With Blockbuster Announcement The Megyn Kelly Show @MegynKellyShow, "@MegynKelly announces "MK Media" - a new podcast network of video and audio shows. The first three shows launching in April and May will be: "Next Up with @MarkHalperin" "The Nerve with @DM_Maureen_ Callahan" "Spot On with @itslinklauren" And much more to come..." I remain unshaken. She's good, but not that good.

LifeZette, Columbia Protest Leader Hit With Explosive New Allegations By Feds. Capt. Ed makes us aware of a Lawsuit: Columbia's Pro-Hamas Groups Had Advance Knowledge of October 7 Atrocities. Ace, Lawsuit Claims That Left-Wing Pro-Terror Campus Groups, Including One Headed by Khalil Mahmoud, Were Given a Heads-Up About the Coming Slaughter of October 7, and Told to Prep the Informational Battlespace, "Coincidence? Or conspiracy? While I find it hard to believe that Hamas would risk spoiling its sneak attack by giving its overseas embedded terror propaganda agents an explicit advanced notice of a coming slaughter, I can believe that they would tell their operatives "Something big is coming, start the propaganda machine up." I think Al Qaeda chatter spoke of a coming "birthday cake" just before the 9/11 attack." 


From the College Fix, Some San Diego parents balk as tampon machines installed in 3rd-5th grade boys’ bathrooms. Da Caller, ‘Fauci’ Filmmaker Brags About Raising Transgender 11-Year-Old Under ‘Threat’ Of Trump’s Policies. At Hat Hair John Sexton, World Athletics Mandates Cheek Swabs to Protect Female Sports and Dave Strom, LGBT Group to Self-Harming Kids: Don't Stop, Just Use Clean Razor Blades

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