If these photos are my only choice, it’s neither one. Thanks but no thanks.
I have long observed than men look at women differently than women look at other women. I think it’s, um, biological.
Perhaps some men here can tell me if men really like the collagen-injected lip look. Some women have the look naturally, but many more these days have “work” to achieve the look.
I’m not so sure they’re right about that. Kentucky is one weird state politically. I know it well.
I much prefer a good smile over the bitchy look that was so popular a while back. Warm vs cold, I’ll take warm.
1) Men and women aren’t looking for “attractive” for the same reasons. The nature of the “attraction” is very different.
2) What men collectively find attractive is a pretty broad distribution. Same for women. These broad distributions of attractiveness within each sex have substantial overlap between sexes. Individual tastes are highly variant. Charles II said of his royal brother James that his mistresses (who all had a distinctive look) must have been imposed by his confessor as a penance.
3) What men and women SAY they find to be “attractive” won’t necessarily BE what they find to be “attractive”, and the mismatch will be for different reasons.
4) Fashions in “attractive” change so much over time. One has only to look at images of famous beauties from other centuries to see this.
Re yesterday’s open thread:
I prefer David Clayton Thomas. I don’t read comments of trolls, or replies to their comments. Waste of time and energy!
Kate, no thank you on the lip thing. Gross, ugly.
Seems the Dems are winning some statehouse seats that maybe the Rep should have won. Dems aren’t dead yet.
I have been reading a lot about this “leak”. I really don’t know what to think. Things all over the place. Dems are trying to spread disarray in the WH and his cabinet. This whole thing is certainly something Trump does not need.
“Perhaps some men here can tell me if men really like the collagen-injected lip look.”
Speaking only for myself, no. Big lips used to be considered very unattractive, at least among white people.
I find the difference between my wife and I tends to be greater when evaluating men.
Almost every time I say that a guy is “handsome” she disagrees and vice versa. I think that’s because I view more feminine traits as attractive so the guys I’d evaluate as “good looking” she thinks are effeminate…which I understand completely given that neither of us are gay.
With that said, I think I have a different perspective than most men on attractiveness. I find “fake” extremely off-putting. Whether it’s fake blonde hair, fake boobs or heavy makeup, I can’t seem to see past the fake part and women with those things are instantly not attractive to me.
My wife has gotten used to me saying things like “yes, she’d be quite pretty if she’d scrape some of that crap off her face”.
The women that I find incredibly attractive tend to be more of the “girl next door” good looks rather than glamourous. Maybe that’s just the country boy in me? I was raised on a farm after all.
I don’t know, but I definitely have a “type” and most of the “beautiful people” in the media and entertainment ain’t it.
“Perhaps some men here can tell me if men really like the collagen-injected lip look. Some women have the look naturally, but many more these days have “work” to achieve the look.”
I, for one, hate that look.
Makes them look like a caricature.
But, then again, I refer back to my “I find ‘fake’ extremely off-putting”, so maybe I’m an outlier.
DAX, Blood, Sweat and Tears much better that reading what DC is putting out. I too just pass it by.
Fake is often off-putting. It speaks to bad character. Witness how blond hair goes from heroines to villainesses and back according to whether dye is presumed.
Shirehome, I also am concerned about state seats. The Wisconsin Supreme Court election is a big one. Early results show a huge turnout and the polls are tied. I don’t know whether the results will be available on April one or whether they have a California/Arizona vote counting system.
the UK stayed apart from Europe for a 1,000 years, rounding off from Hastings,
@miguel cervantes:the UK stayed apart from Europe for a 1,000 years, rounding off from Hastings
No. There is no sense in which that statement approaches reality. Every English king from William I to Edward IV fought wars in France and held large territories in France. Even Henry VII and Henry VIII fought wars in Europe. Mary I was co-regent with the king of Spain and tried to subordinate English interests to Spanish interests. Elizabeth had to deal with Spain. You might say that James I through James II were minimally engaged in Europe, though they were at least diplomatically active, but from William III on they were involved in European wars in most decades.
I really don’t know what to think [about signal].
The only thing I want to know is how Goldberg got the invitation. That said, the Democrats desperate attempt to make it a major scandal is pretty entertaining.
Lips on women.
Thin lips are less attractive then fuller lips…but that only goes so far. Once the lips start to become larger than “normal” it becomes unattractive.
to prevent Bourbon France Wilhemine Germany, and the Nazis from taking them over, but with the Common Market, they invited the scorpion onto their backs,
many many skirmishes, some with ridiculous names were fought in obscure places,
now almost a quarter century after 9/11, who can argue who really won,
when terrorists and rapists are given a pass, and those who pray publically are arrested,
– Democrats believe that the very foundations of their reality are under attack. They’re going to show up to vote in huge numbers.
– There is a significant chunk of Trump voters who don’t turn out unless Trump is on the ballot.
– Democrats’ brand is in the toilet.
Shake them up and roll. I suspect that the off year elections are going to go very poorly for the GOP, but I’d love to be proven wrong.
Re: Signal Chat
My current working theory is that:
(1) Signal was installed on official devices and supposed to be used for non-classified communications;
(2) Goldberg’s addition to the chat was a setup;
(3) Hegseth didn’t know what he was doing and over-shared the Houthi battle information on the Signal app instead of switching to the more secure channel for classified information; and
(4) This is nothing at all like Hillary’s e-mails.
I’m not sure how an imminent attack on the Houthi can possibly be meaningfully classified, when even THEY are going to know about it in within hours…
I recall the US Govt through a high official tipped off Pakistan, prior to the 98 missile strike and they tipped off Bin Laden (and lets not forget the triumphalism o the Bin Laden raid, that Obama used as his own goal, to ignore Al Queda’s subsequent regrouping and the rise of Islamic State, something that General Flynn
did note, and hence
was dismissed subsequently,
Niketas Choniates – If the attack was intended to be a surprise, then of course the existence of the attack could be classified. Also, apparently Hegseth was sending information about when US planes were going to take off and when they intended to be over the target. Pretty hard to claim that isn’t classified. I’m sure Houthi defenses would have loved to know exactly when to be ready for the US planes overhead.
Hegseth screwed up here, big time. (Maybe there’s a reason that we typically don’t pick TV news hosts to be cabinet secretaries?)
“Now I’m going to introduce you to a term of art in intelligence and counterintelligence. A “canary trap” is when you expose information in a channel that you suspect has been compromised. Canary traps originally came from the use of canaries as air quality detectors in coal mines. The canary singing was reassurance that the air was not being fouled in ways that humans wouldn’t notice. So, you put the information out, and you make sure the details are identifiable. Then, if the information shows up in an unexpected venue, you know how it got there.”
In other words, they were trolling for leakers. And now that the leak has occurred, they can identify the source. However, they can’t reveal that this was essentially a setup.
They may want to muse it again.
Makes sense to me. If true, this was not a mistake, but a cleverly executed trap.
***pardon me if I might use off-color language***
The BIG QUESTION I have over “The Signals scandal” is-
why didn’t the reporter, Jeffrey Goldberg, see that he was accidentally put into a Government, group…phone call/chat, + right-then say:
“Hey! You guys on this phone call! I’m on this call by accident! Block me from this call, just in case you discuss secret or military information in front of me!”
Oh right…I forgot…the goal of most of the Democrats in the Government, and the goal of most of the Democrat-leaning reporters is:
WRECK the Republicans whenever you can,
and,
WRECK President Trump whenever you can.
Oh heck. Pardon me.
I thought that reporters, and the leaders of the Democrats, were supposed to HELP people, and to HELP the United States, whenever they can.
The simple way that the reporter, Jeffrey Goldberg, could have solved this problem, was to: 1) say: [This phone call might include important information…that I shouldn’t see. Please be careful with this call], and then, 2) hang up.
Like all good citizens, you are [also] responsible for your own behavior, Mr. Jeffrey Goldberg.
Hegseth didn’t know what he was doing and over-shared the Houthi battle information
The contents of the chat have been released. Could you please point to the battle information?
@ Chuck – Will I point to the battle information? Certainly.
11:44 a.m. Eastern Time, Hegseth posted in the chat a “TEAM UPDATE.”
The text continued, “TIME NOW (1144et): Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch.”
[Centcom, or U.S. Central Command, oversees troops in the Middle East.]
The Hegseth text continued:
“1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)”
“1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s)”
[This was 31 minutes before Hegseth said the first U.S. jets would be launched and two hours and one minute before the window of time the attack would begin.]
The Hegseth text then continued:
“1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package)”
“1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets)”
“1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched.”
“MORE TO FOLLOW (per timeline)”
“We are currently clean on OPSEC”
Bauxite, seems just say the attacks are launching. Houthi’s knew bombs were coming, could figure themselves where.
To me, seems a nothing burger.
But, It should not have happened
SHIREHOME – You don’t think the Houthis would have liked to know when the bombs were going to fall in advance?
So, it should not have happened (agreed), but it’s a nothing burger? Would you say the same thing if the party labels were different?
Barry Meislin – That Brietbart article admits what Hegseth messaged. It actually gives a better summary than the Reuters article that I linked.
That David Corn pantomime isn’t working out quite so well it seems. But keep ‘er up, by all means! The laughs alone are worth yer effort.
Denise McAlester, a writer, says she likes to be around “strong” men because then she can relax into her femininity.
That would require an air of being able to Take Care of Business, one way or another.
Ev Psych tries to tie this to various physical traits including testosterone-heavy facial features, as clues to the physical strength, assertive attitude, so forth.
Crap. Wrong post.
@Bauxite: You don’t think the Houthis would have liked to know when the bombs were going to fall in advance?
LOL! If Goldberg had immediately called the Houthis as soon as he saw, they wouldn’t have had time to do anything!
They might have liked to know two weeks in advance, sure, but two hours doesn’t help.
Doesn’t seem to be saying WHERE, either. So what do the Houthis do? OMG IMMEDIATELY FORTIFY EVERYTHING. Doesn’t work like that, sorry.
Niketas Choniates – The report says that Hegseth’s messages were two hours before the planes arrived at the target.
@Bauxite:The report says that Hegseth’s messages were two hours before the planes arrived at the target.
I know. I said that. What could they possibly do in two hours, even assuming it somehow leaked to them immediately? Nothing, that’s what.
To be a human imitating AI or an AI imitating human … that is the question.
Or at least it was on yesterday’s Open Thread, which is still on-going and I don’t wish to interrupt.
My point here is to mention Julia McCoy, an interesting AI podcaster/entrepreneur. She says that she has trained an AI on all her writings, so now she prompts her AI to write about some topic in her voice.
In fact she even teamed up with her AI to write a 42-page short story in a few hours. It’s now available on Amazon with a 4.4 star review average.
Granted, McCoy is an unabashed AI cheerleader. But damn if I can dismiss her claims easily. Here she makes the argument for a future in which we are all teamed up with an AI and multiplying our productivity 10x or more.
_____________________________
I was a writer.
Still am a writer.
But Claude writes better than me.
My Claude project—at any second—can spit out copy that’s better than anything I will write.
If I know that, I’m going to harness that.
I’m not going to sit here and go, “Oh no, the robots are coming for my job.”
Funniest thing about it all: Democrats are now talking about “conscience”!!!
…Jeffries wrote. “His behavior shocks the conscience, risked American lives and likely violated the law.”…. [Emphasis in original; Barry M.]
@huxkley:Granted, McCoy is an unabashed AI cheerleader. But damn if I can dismiss her claims easily.
LOL. She’s really dragging you into supporting AI unwillingly, ain’t she?
In case I buried the lede:
Julia McCoy has trained an AI to imitate herself.
And she doesn’t care who knows it.
She won’t be the only writer who does this. I am sure we will see more of it.
I’ve gotten at least a 10x speed improvement programming with ChatGPT 4.o.
It’s clear this is the future of programming. Already most professional programmers use AI for their code. And AI keeps getting better at coding.
I am a retired programmer, which obviously helps when I prompt Chat. Still I am quite impressed. This is game-changing stuff.
It’s hard to tell which forecasts are too optimistic these days.
My other recent thought is that AI won’t have to take over. Bit by bit we will give AI control willingly.
Niketas Choniates – Are you really applying the “no harm, no foul” rule to accidentally leaking operational details of a surprise attack to a journalist? Listen to yourself.
As to what the Houthis could have done, they’re supplied by Iran. Don’t they have ground to air defense? Knowing when the planes are arriving is a pretty useful piece of information if you’re trying to shoot them down.
Who will pick our crops? Tesla robots that is who and they won’t intentionally crap in the field either. Whole populations of unemployed, unemployable.
Iran and Houthi air defenses are near useless.
@Bauxite:leaking operational details
LOL!
Knowing when the planes are arriving is a pretty useful piece of information if you’re trying to shoot them down.
LOL, for the 4077th Keyboard Commando Air Defense of Fantasy Island maybe.
You’re just stringing words together here, I don’t think you’d know an “operational detail” if it bit your bum.
I don’t know what your day job is, but it probably isn’t air defense. Mine isn’t either, but I haven’t had the benefit of the Dunning-Krueger War Academy to give me the illusion that I know something about it.
But keep clicking refresh on the National Review website I’m sure they’ll give you some more milspeak to use.
“Knowing when the planes are arriving is a pretty useful piece of information if you’re trying to shoot them down.” – Bauxite
I thought that’s what radar was for. If they can’t see them on radar, they can’t shoot them down.
I can see plume from CC™’s formerly fulsome locks and smell the acrid odor over the Interwebs.
My smart phone is really that good.
It is a five alarm “hair on fire.”
Really too funny CC™. You ought to be embarrassed.
Niketas Choniates – Project much? My position is that leaking classified details of a surprise military operation is bad. Your position is that leaking classified details of a surprise military operation is a nothing burger because it wouldn’t have made a difference even if the information had made its way to the enemy.
I don’t think my position requires much, if any, expertise in military affairs. If the choice is between, (i) “the enemy knows we’re coming” and (ii) “the enemy doesn’t know we’re coming,” even as a layperson in military affairs, I’m pretty comfortable arguing that (ii) is better.
If you believe otherwise, prove it. Good luck.
It also sure looks to me as though you will take whatever position you need to support Trump or dismiss criticism against him or his staff.
For Cornhead, we’ve had another win stopping windfarms:
“SHASTA COUNTY DECLARES VICTORY”
“REDDING, Calif. – Shasta County officials said they have won a key victory in defeating the proposed Fountain Wind Project. In documents filed on Tuesday, the California Energy Commission (CEC) is recommending the denial of the wind turbine project proposed for Eastern Shasta County.
“The CEC is citing significant environmental impacts and conflicts with local land use laws. The recommendatoin was published Tuesday in the CEC’s staff assessment, a key in the step in the state’s environtmental review process.
“The proposed industrial wind farm, located on 2,855 acres of forested land near Burney, has faced opposition from residents, retired firefighters, tribal leaders, and elected officials.
“This is a victory for Shasta County and the communities who have stood together in defense of our land, safety, quality of life, and most importantly, local control” said Shasta County Board of Supervisors Chair, Kevin W. Crye. “The CEC staff’s recommendation validates what our residents and local officials have been saying for years: the Fountain Wind Project is simply the wrong project in the wrong place.”
The county and the Stop Fountain committee spent over $1,000,000 fighting the project in court. Cornhead did it with a fraction of that, I’m sure.
CC™ gets played over and over by the media and he seems to accept every Orange Man Bad outrage.
How many times does The Atlantic have to lie to you CC™ before you aren’t played for the fool?
It’s a good thing that The Atlantic hasn’t released the secret war plans about Canada and Greenland? Not yet anyway.
But keep clicking refresh on the National Review website I’m sure they’ll give you some more milspeak to use.
==
One of Jeffrey Blehar’s bits of wisdom a year and a half back was that Jack Smith had DJT ‘dead to rights’ on unauthorized possession of classified documents. Like Andrew McCarthy, he is a lapsed lawyer.
==
The judge assigned to a civil lawsuit regarding a Signal group chat among Trump cabinet members on Houthi strikes is the same judge who issued an order to block the administration’s deportation of suspected Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members.
James Boasberg, the Obama-appointed chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is assigned to the case that a group called American Oversight is bringing against five of the cabinet members, according to Politico’s Kyle Cheney.
I would like to see their argument for standing.
And it looks like the Babylon Bee has given up satire for straight news reporting.
(h/t miguel cervantes)
Bauxite, I would. Doubt you would believe me though.
I agree with Steve. Neither of those two rises above a generous “4” on the 1-10 scale.
JWM
@Bauxite:My position is that leaking classified details of a surprise military operation is bad.
Had that happened it would indeed have been bad. But that did not happen. There were no “details”, and nothing was “classified”.
Those are lies you have to chosen to listen to, amplify, and spread here. They’ve already been debunked.
That snippet you quoted shows very clearly that the mission had been planned for some time and that many people not in the meeting already knew about it. That’s why I said what I did about Fantasy Island; I think that’s where you’re living, where an air strike is planned, prepared. and executed all in two hours at a word from Hesgeth’s mouth.
When CENTCOM said it was ready, that meant ordnance was loaded, targets already selected and surveilled, pilots already briefed and ready to go, the planes to be used already running, etc. THOSE are the details.
And all the people on the ground in all those different places who got everything ready, they were the ones in possession of the “details”.
So let me get this straight.
The SAME PEOPLE who applauded enthusiastically when General Milley assured China—BEFOREHAND—that the US would NOT attack China regardless of what Trump decided to do or not to do; and the SAME PEOPLE who diligently leaked Israel’s potential plans to attack Iran in response to Iran’s (and friends’) bombardments of Israel, are NOW up in arms because the Trump administration, having informed the Houthis to desist or face pushback from the US, has “leaked” plans to attack the Houthis?
Senator Mark Warner, talking to MSNBC about the “military plans” leak to Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg:
“Rachel, I didn’t think this administration could still shock me, but today’s story, which I read about in the Atlantic, was beyond belief. It was like, “Holy crap on steroids!” This is another example of carelessness, sloppiness and a crowd that’s not ready for prime time… My God, if this had been the Democrats, there would be investigations, there would be hearings. We’re gonna have this tomorrow!”
This is the same Mark Warner who was Vice-Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee whose head of security, James A. Wolfe, was criminally convicted in 2018 of lying to the FBI about leaking the Carter Page FISA material to a pair of journalists. Warner didn’t invoke shock, crap or steroids in response to that leak, which led to stories calling a former Trump aide an “agent of a foreign power.” In fact, Warner wrote a letter to the judge in Wolfe’s case, Ketanji Brown Jackson, recommending leniency….
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If these photos are my only choice, it’s neither one. Thanks but no thanks.
I have long observed than men look at women differently than women look at other women. I think it’s, um, biological.
Perhaps some men here can tell me if men really like the collagen-injected lip look. Some women have the look naturally, but many more these days have “work” to achieve the look.
Sexual selection is a thing indeed, and Matt Ridley has a new book out on the subject: https://x.com/mattwridley/status/1904092454065782972
Ridley:
Beer goggles solve everything, in the short term.
Instapundit labels this story, “THIS SHOULD HELP MAKE KENTUCKY REPUBLICAN AGAIN:
https://www.campusreform.org/article/kentucky-governor-vetoes-bill-ending-dei-states-higher-ed-calls-veto-act-love/27723
I’m not so sure they’re right about that. Kentucky is one weird state politically. I know it well.
I much prefer a good smile over the bitchy look that was so popular a while back. Warm vs cold, I’ll take warm.
1) Men and women aren’t looking for “attractive” for the same reasons. The nature of the “attraction” is very different.
2) What men collectively find attractive is a pretty broad distribution. Same for women. These broad distributions of attractiveness within each sex have substantial overlap between sexes. Individual tastes are highly variant. Charles II said of his royal brother James that his mistresses (who all had a distinctive look) must have been imposed by his confessor as a penance.
3) What men and women SAY they find to be “attractive” won’t necessarily BE what they find to be “attractive”, and the mismatch will be for different reasons.
4) Fashions in “attractive” change so much over time. One has only to look at images of famous beauties from other centuries to see this.
what I noted yesterday,
https://www.eugyppius.com/p/in-which-the-cartel-parties-of-germany
Re yesterday’s open thread:
I prefer David Clayton Thomas. I don’t read comments of trolls, or replies to their comments. Waste of time and energy!
Kate, no thank you on the lip thing. Gross, ugly.
Seems the Dems are winning some statehouse seats that maybe the Rep should have won. Dems aren’t dead yet.
I have been reading a lot about this “leak”. I really don’t know what to think. Things all over the place. Dems are trying to spread disarray in the WH and his cabinet. This whole thing is certainly something Trump does not need.
“Perhaps some men here can tell me if men really like the collagen-injected lip look.”
Speaking only for myself, no. Big lips used to be considered very unattractive, at least among white people.
I find the difference between my wife and I tends to be greater when evaluating men.
Almost every time I say that a guy is “handsome” she disagrees and vice versa. I think that’s because I view more feminine traits as attractive so the guys I’d evaluate as “good looking” she thinks are effeminate…which I understand completely given that neither of us are gay.
With that said, I think I have a different perspective than most men on attractiveness. I find “fake” extremely off-putting. Whether it’s fake blonde hair, fake boobs or heavy makeup, I can’t seem to see past the fake part and women with those things are instantly not attractive to me.
My wife has gotten used to me saying things like “yes, she’d be quite pretty if she’d scrape some of that crap off her face”.
The women that I find incredibly attractive tend to be more of the “girl next door” good looks rather than glamourous. Maybe that’s just the country boy in me? I was raised on a farm after all.
I don’t know, but I definitely have a “type” and most of the “beautiful people” in the media and entertainment ain’t it.
“Perhaps some men here can tell me if men really like the collagen-injected lip look. Some women have the look naturally, but many more these days have “work” to achieve the look.”
I, for one, hate that look.
Makes them look like a caricature.
But, then again, I refer back to my “I find ‘fake’ extremely off-putting”, so maybe I’m an outlier.
DAX, Blood, Sweat and Tears much better that reading what DC is putting out. I too just pass it by.
Fake is often off-putting. It speaks to bad character. Witness how blond hair goes from heroines to villainesses and back according to whether dye is presumed.
Shirehome, I also am concerned about state seats. The Wisconsin Supreme Court election is a big one. Early results show a huge turnout and the polls are tied. I don’t know whether the results will be available on April one or whether they have a California/Arizona vote counting system.
a more honest appraisal of the situation
https://substack.com/@mattgoodwin/note/c-103537495
the UK stayed apart from Europe for a 1,000 years, rounding off from Hastings,
@miguel cervantes:the UK stayed apart from Europe for a 1,000 years, rounding off from Hastings
No. There is no sense in which that statement approaches reality. Every English king from William I to Edward IV fought wars in France and held large territories in France. Even Henry VII and Henry VIII fought wars in Europe. Mary I was co-regent with the king of Spain and tried to subordinate English interests to Spanish interests. Elizabeth had to deal with Spain. You might say that James I through James II were minimally engaged in Europe, though they were at least diplomatically active, but from William III on they were involved in European wars in most decades.
I really don’t know what to think [about signal].
The only thing I want to know is how Goldberg got the invitation. That said, the Democrats desperate attempt to make it a major scandal is pretty entertaining.
Lips on women.
Thin lips are less attractive then fuller lips…but that only goes so far. Once the lips start to become larger than “normal” it becomes unattractive.
to prevent Bourbon France Wilhemine Germany, and the Nazis from taking them over, but with the Common Market, they invited the scorpion onto their backs,
many many skirmishes, some with ridiculous names were fought in obscure places,
now almost a quarter century after 9/11, who can argue who really won,
when terrorists and rapists are given a pass, and those who pray publically are arrested,
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2025/03/26/texas-man-says-he-vandalized-tesla-due-to-road-rage-not-hatred-of-elon-musk/
Re: State seats:
– Democrats believe that the very foundations of their reality are under attack. They’re going to show up to vote in huge numbers.
– There is a significant chunk of Trump voters who don’t turn out unless Trump is on the ballot.
– Democrats’ brand is in the toilet.
Shake them up and roll. I suspect that the off year elections are going to go very poorly for the GOP, but I’d love to be proven wrong.
Re: Signal Chat
My current working theory is that:
(1) Signal was installed on official devices and supposed to be used for non-classified communications;
(2) Goldberg’s addition to the chat was a setup;
(3) Hegseth didn’t know what he was doing and over-shared the Houthi battle information on the Signal app instead of switching to the more secure channel for classified information; and
(4) This is nothing at all like Hillary’s e-mails.
I’m not sure how an imminent attack on the Houthi can possibly be meaningfully classified, when even THEY are going to know about it in within hours…
The end of the beginning?
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2025-03-26/palestinians-protest-hamas-in-a-rare-public-show-of-dissent-in-gaza
I recall the US Govt through a high official tipped off Pakistan, prior to the 98 missile strike and they tipped off Bin Laden (and lets not forget the triumphalism o the Bin Laden raid, that Obama used as his own goal, to ignore Al Queda’s subsequent regrouping and the rise of Islamic State, something that General Flynn
did note, and hence
was dismissed subsequently,
Niketas Choniates – If the attack was intended to be a surprise, then of course the existence of the attack could be classified. Also, apparently Hegseth was sending information about when US planes were going to take off and when they intended to be over the target. Pretty hard to claim that isn’t classified. I’m sure Houthi defenses would have loved to know exactly when to be ready for the US planes overhead.
Hegseth screwed up here, big time. (Maybe there’s a reason that we typically don’t pick TV news hosts to be cabinet secretaries?)
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-last-defense-of-the-signal-scandal-died-this-morning/
About the signals kerfuffle. Charlie Martin has a theory about it.
https://pjmedia.com/charlie-martin/2025/03/25/counterintelligence-and-canary-traps-n4938265#google_vignette
“Now I’m going to introduce you to a term of art in intelligence and counterintelligence. A “canary trap” is when you expose information in a channel that you suspect has been compromised. Canary traps originally came from the use of canaries as air quality detectors in coal mines. The canary singing was reassurance that the air was not being fouled in ways that humans wouldn’t notice. So, you put the information out, and you make sure the details are identifiable. Then, if the information shows up in an unexpected venue, you know how it got there.”
In other words, they were trolling for leakers. And now that the leak has occurred, they can identify the source. However, they can’t reveal that this was essentially a setup.
They may want to muse it again.
Makes sense to me. If true, this was not a mistake, but a cleverly executed trap.
***pardon me if I might use off-color language***
The BIG QUESTION I have over “The Signals scandal” is-
why didn’t the reporter, Jeffrey Goldberg, see that he was accidentally put into a Government, group…phone call/chat, + right-then say:
“Hey! You guys on this phone call! I’m on this call by accident! Block me from this call, just in case you discuss secret or military information in front of me!”
Oh right…I forgot…the goal of most of the Democrats in the Government, and the goal of most of the Democrat-leaning reporters is:
WRECK the Republicans whenever you can,
and,
WRECK President Trump whenever you can.
Oh heck. Pardon me.
I thought that reporters, and the leaders of the Democrats, were supposed to HELP people, and to HELP the United States, whenever they can.
The simple way that the reporter, Jeffrey Goldberg, could have solved this problem, was to: 1) say: [This phone call might include important information…that I shouldn’t see. Please be careful with this call], and then, 2) hang up.
Like all good citizens, you are [also] responsible for your own behavior, Mr. Jeffrey Goldberg.
Hegseth didn’t know what he was doing and over-shared the Houthi battle information
The contents of the chat have been released. Could you please point to the battle information?
@ Chuck – Will I point to the battle information? Certainly.
11:44 a.m. Eastern Time, Hegseth posted in the chat a “TEAM UPDATE.”
The text continued, “TIME NOW (1144et): Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch.”
[Centcom, or U.S. Central Command, oversees troops in the Middle East.]
The Hegseth text continued:
“1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)”
“1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s)”
[This was 31 minutes before Hegseth said the first U.S. jets would be launched and two hours and one minute before the window of time the attack would begin.]
The Hegseth text then continued:
“1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package)”
“1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets)”
“1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched.”
“MORE TO FOLLOW (per timeline)”
“We are currently clean on OPSEC”
**END QUOTE**
There’s more at the link:
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/transcript-us-attack-plans-shared-with-journalist-2025-03-26/
Hegseth said WHAT??
Waltz did WHAT??
Hold yer horses!
“Leavitt: Goldberg Reveal Exposes His War Plans ‘Hoax'”—
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/karoline-leavitt-signal-chat/2025/03/26/id/1204396/
Bauxite, seems just say the attacks are launching. Houthi’s knew bombs were coming, could figure themselves where.
To me, seems a nothing burger.
But, It should not have happened
SHIREHOME – You don’t think the Houthis would have liked to know when the bombs were going to fall in advance?
So, it should not have happened (agreed), but it’s a nothing burger? Would you say the same thing if the party labels were different?
Barry Meislin – That Brietbart article admits what Hegseth messaged. It actually gives a better summary than the Reuters article that I linked.
That David Corn pantomime isn’t working out quite so well it seems. But keep ‘er up, by all means! The laughs alone are worth yer effort.
Denise McAlester, a writer, says she likes to be around “strong” men because then she can relax into her femininity.
That would require an air of being able to Take Care of Business, one way or another.
Ev Psych tries to tie this to various physical traits including testosterone-heavy facial features, as clues to the physical strength, assertive attitude, so forth.
Crap. Wrong post.
@Bauxite: You don’t think the Houthis would have liked to know when the bombs were going to fall in advance?
LOL! If Goldberg had immediately called the Houthis as soon as he saw, they wouldn’t have had time to do anything!
They might have liked to know two weeks in advance, sure, but two hours doesn’t help.
Doesn’t seem to be saying WHERE, either. So what do the Houthis do? OMG IMMEDIATELY FORTIFY EVERYTHING. Doesn’t work like that, sorry.
Niketas Choniates – The report says that Hegseth’s messages were two hours before the planes arrived at the target.
@Bauxite:The report says that Hegseth’s messages were two hours before the planes arrived at the target.
I know. I said that. What could they possibly do in two hours, even assuming it somehow leaked to them immediately? Nothing, that’s what.
To be a human imitating AI or an AI imitating human … that is the question.
Or at least it was on yesterday’s Open Thread, which is still on-going and I don’t wish to interrupt.
My point here is to mention Julia McCoy, an interesting AI podcaster/entrepreneur. She says that she has trained an AI on all her writings, so now she prompts her AI to write about some topic in her voice.
In fact she even teamed up with her AI to write a 42-page short story in a few hours. It’s now available on Amazon with a 4.4 star review average.
https://www.amazon.com/Liberation-Through-Machines-Short-Story/dp/B0DR7B173N/
Granted, McCoy is an unabashed AI cheerleader. But damn if I can dismiss her claims easily. Here she makes the argument for a future in which we are all teamed up with an AI and multiplying our productivity 10x or more.
_____________________________
I was a writer.
Still am a writer.
But Claude writes better than me.
My Claude project—at any second—can spit out copy that’s better than anything I will write.
If I know that, I’m going to harness that.
I’m not going to sit here and go, “Oh no, the robots are coming for my job.”
–Julia McCoy, “‘We Made Sand Think’ – The AI Keynote That Silenced 500 Marketing Leaders”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBnOHpS6AyI
_____________________________
We made sand think.
Shu’ah…whatever you say…
‘“Those Are Some Really Sh*tty War Plans”: Hegseth Ridicules Atlantic ‘Bombshell’ After Signal Chats Released’—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fuller-transcript-signal-chat-published-dems-call-hegseth-waltz-resign
Funniest thing about it all: Democrats are now talking about “conscience”!!!
@huxkley:Granted, McCoy is an unabashed AI cheerleader. But damn if I can dismiss her claims easily.
LOL. She’s really dragging you into supporting AI unwillingly, ain’t she?
In case I buried the lede:
Julia McCoy has trained an AI to imitate herself.
And she doesn’t care who knows it.
She won’t be the only writer who does this. I am sure we will see more of it.
I’ve gotten at least a 10x speed improvement programming with ChatGPT 4.o.
It’s clear this is the future of programming. Already most professional programmers use AI for their code. And AI keeps getting better at coding.
I am a retired programmer, which obviously helps when I prompt Chat. Still I am quite impressed. This is game-changing stuff.
It’s hard to tell which forecasts are too optimistic these days.
My other recent thought is that AI won’t have to take over. Bit by bit we will give AI control willingly.
Niketas Choniates – Are you really applying the “no harm, no foul” rule to accidentally leaking operational details of a surprise attack to a journalist? Listen to yourself.
As to what the Houthis could have done, they’re supplied by Iran. Don’t they have ground to air defense? Knowing when the planes are arriving is a pretty useful piece of information if you’re trying to shoot them down.
Who will pick our crops? Tesla robots that is who and they won’t intentionally crap in the field either. Whole populations of unemployed, unemployable.
Iran and Houthi air defenses are near useless.
@Bauxite:leaking operational details
LOL!
Knowing when the planes are arriving is a pretty useful piece of information if you’re trying to shoot them down.
LOL, for the 4077th Keyboard Commando Air Defense of Fantasy Island maybe.
You’re just stringing words together here, I don’t think you’d know an “operational detail” if it bit your bum.
I don’t know what your day job is, but it probably isn’t air defense. Mine isn’t either, but I haven’t had the benefit of the Dunning-Krueger War Academy to give me the illusion that I know something about it.
But keep clicking refresh on the National Review website I’m sure they’ll give you some more milspeak to use.
“Knowing when the planes are arriving is a pretty useful piece of information if you’re trying to shoot them down.” – Bauxite
I thought that’s what radar was for. If they can’t see them on radar, they can’t shoot them down.
I can see plume from CC™’s formerly fulsome locks and smell the acrid odor over the Interwebs.
My smart phone is really that good.
It is a five alarm “hair on fire.”
Really too funny CC™. You ought to be embarrassed.
Niketas Choniates – Project much? My position is that leaking classified details of a surprise military operation is bad. Your position is that leaking classified details of a surprise military operation is a nothing burger because it wouldn’t have made a difference even if the information had made its way to the enemy.
I don’t think my position requires much, if any, expertise in military affairs. If the choice is between, (i) “the enemy knows we’re coming” and (ii) “the enemy doesn’t know we’re coming,” even as a layperson in military affairs, I’m pretty comfortable arguing that (ii) is better.
If you believe otherwise, prove it. Good luck.
It also sure looks to me as though you will take whatever position you need to support Trump or dismiss criticism against him or his staff.
For Cornhead, we’ve had another win stopping windfarms:
“SHASTA COUNTY DECLARES VICTORY”
“REDDING, Calif. – Shasta County officials said they have won a key victory in defeating the proposed Fountain Wind Project. In documents filed on Tuesday, the California Energy Commission (CEC) is recommending the denial of the wind turbine project proposed for Eastern Shasta County.
“The CEC is citing significant environmental impacts and conflicts with local land use laws. The recommendatoin was published Tuesday in the CEC’s staff assessment, a key in the step in the state’s environtmental review process.
“The proposed industrial wind farm, located on 2,855 acres of forested land near Burney, has faced opposition from residents, retired firefighters, tribal leaders, and elected officials.
“This is a victory for Shasta County and the communities who have stood together in defense of our land, safety, quality of life, and most importantly, local control” said Shasta County Board of Supervisors Chair, Kevin W. Crye. “The CEC staff’s recommendation validates what our residents and local officials have been saying for years: the Fountain Wind Project is simply the wrong project in the wrong place.”
The county and the Stop Fountain committee spent over $1,000,000 fighting the project in court. Cornhead did it with a fraction of that, I’m sure.
CC™ gets played over and over by the media and he seems to accept every Orange Man Bad outrage.
How many times does The Atlantic have to lie to you CC™ before you aren’t played for the fool?
It’s a good thing that The Atlantic hasn’t released the secret war plans about Canada and Greenland? Not yet anyway.
Some common sense vs the rest of the circus
https://x.com/julie_kelly2/status/1905007179905589655
But keep clicking refresh on the National Review website I’m sure they’ll give you some more milspeak to use.
==
One of Jeffrey Blehar’s bits of wisdom a year and a half back was that Jack Smith had DJT ‘dead to rights’ on unauthorized possession of classified documents. Like Andrew McCarthy, he is a lapsed lawyer.
==
https://babylonbee.com/news/hegseth-kicking-himself-for-not-just-getting-13-soldiers-killed-and-giving-80-billion-in-weapons-to-terrorists
I don’t know what your day job is,
==
Perhaps he’s Miles Taylor, the perpetual staff aide now employed as ???
Jazz hands handlers
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/03/26/details-revealed-inside-the-ccps-united-front-work-in-minnesota/
That didn’t take long.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/03/26/d-c-judge-assigned-to-signal-lawsuit-ruled-to-block-trumps-tda-deportations/
I would like to see their argument for standing.
And it looks like the Babylon Bee has given up satire for straight news reporting.
(h/t miguel cervantes)
Bauxite, I would. Doubt you would believe me though.
I agree with Steve. Neither of those two rises above a generous “4” on the 1-10 scale.
JWM
@Bauxite:My position is that leaking classified details of a surprise military operation is bad.
Had that happened it would indeed have been bad. But that did not happen. There were no “details”, and nothing was “classified”.
Those are lies you have to chosen to listen to, amplify, and spread here. They’ve already been debunked.
That snippet you quoted shows very clearly that the mission had been planned for some time and that many people not in the meeting already knew about it. That’s why I said what I did about Fantasy Island; I think that’s where you’re living, where an air strike is planned, prepared. and executed all in two hours at a word from Hesgeth’s mouth.
When CENTCOM said it was ready, that meant ordnance was loaded, targets already selected and surveilled, pilots already briefed and ready to go, the planes to be used already running, etc. THOSE are the details.
And all the people on the ground in all those different places who got everything ready, they were the ones in possession of the “details”.
So let me get this straight.
The SAME PEOPLE who applauded enthusiastically when General Milley assured China—BEFOREHAND—that the US would NOT attack China regardless of what Trump decided to do or not to do; and the SAME PEOPLE who diligently leaked Israel’s potential plans to attack Iran in response to Iran’s (and friends’) bombardments of Israel, are NOW up in arms because the Trump administration, having informed the Houthis to desist or face pushback from the US, has “leaked” plans to attack the Houthis?
BTW, since when is there only ONE WAY to attack Houthis?
– – – – – – – – –
+ Related (Matt Taibbi)
“Chatgate: Senator Mark Warner’s Shifting Stance on Leaks”—
https://www.racket.news/p/chatgate-senator-mark-warners-shifting
H/T Powerline blog.
Opening grafs: