iNow

Followed by the Big Crunch… of Doritos.

I recall seeing numbers around 16M deaths

You’ve sort of hit the nail on the head here regarding why use of faith to accept something as true is so terribly and childishly misguided

I call it unconvincing.

Faith is the ONLY thing people have for belief in god(s) and is perhaps the single worst reason to accept something as valid.

Agreed. In this particular case, despite intentional misdirection being a nonzero possibility, it’s almost certainly best to conclude this quoted bit is the most correct. From my perspective, you absolutely are. There’s an old saying I learned an eternity ago when studying statistics that I feel likely applies here: When you hear whinnying and the sound of hooves out in the street, it’s generally better to think horses rather than zebra. 🦓

The phrases “internment” and “disappear someone” come to mind

Step 1: Define god in a falsifiable way and in a manner which enjoys shared consensus so the test becomes valid. Go ahead. I’ll wait. <finds cozy spot for a centuries long nap> Have you considered perhaps making better arguments in a more logical, structured, articulate and coherent way? Not perfect, but certainly not impossible. Give it a try sometime! If only someone would invent something like a “search engine” or “library” to help illuminate the dark corners of our ignorance. https://www.idioms.online/jump-the-shark/ Have a happy day, Fonz.

I find myself feeling extra safe and protected knowing folks like these are at the helm of our national security in this chaotic world everyday displaying such numerous threat landscapes: https://www.wired.com/story/michael-waltz-left-his-venmo-public/ This was AFTER the story in The Atlantic under discussion here. Laugh. Cry. Rage. I don’t even know anymore.

Optics, specifically with internal polling and politics directly inside the US. From what I can tell, he was primarily concerned that their MAGA base wouldn’t support the action (any action) in a foreign country and that it would divide an otherwise compliant and unified group of zombie sycophants. He was mostly proposing a delay of a month to whip support and deploy a narrative across the right wing media ecosystem that would get his voters on board THEN launch.

It was in his article, too. When NSA chief Mike Waltz initiated the thread with the other Principals, he asked for each of them to reply with the name a primary point of contact from their offices to help with coordination during the operation. They all named their primary point person, including (among others like the VP and DNI and SecDef) also John Radcliffe who is the current head of the CIA under Trump and he named this particular covert operative as his point of contact in response. Doesn’t make it better and not defending it just adding context.

Of course they do. They also look at and borrow from the playbooks of Viktor Orban, and KJU, and Recep Erdogan, and Nayib Bukele, and Jair Bolsonaro, and Javier Milei and others still, such as those used by tin pot dictators across Africa for decades. https://afrikanza.com/blogs/culture-history/worst-african-dictators

Technically, it’s a mind virus

And yet totally unsurprising and on brand

We should just let Darwin sort this one out, folks.

Well, unless of course they can lambaste Hillary Clinton with them bc she had a private email server that didn't leak. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/24/trump-advisers-war-plans-democrats-classified-information-00246432 Another element of this story which stands out to me is: 1. The Signal app auto deletes conversations within a few days or weeks based on OP settings. This is often one of the main reasons for using it 2. Communications of all administration officials are required to be archived as required by multiple federal laws 3. Both 1 & 2 cannot both occur

Exactly. It was encrypted, but that's about all. Signal is a public company operating on cloud based servers and the principals on this chain were all on personal cell phones via public networks. The number of entry points and security gaps across that chain makes the encryption itself nearly meaningless in this context (made even worse per Toucana's post above suggesting this chain was flowing openly also over Russian networks which are all monitored by Kremlin and related actors).

It’s a shame the OP has turned this into yet another thread about Trump, but this last part here is very much in question right now. SCOTUS has ruled POTUS has nearly unlimited authority, and while that’s contrary to historical norms it’s not necessarily untrue. And even if they hadn’t ruled in that manner, it is the executive branch which would be needed to enforce any rulings from the Court and that enforcement too is squarely under POTUS authority.

They do have tools for this and special computers called high sides, but these DUI hires simply chose not to use them. https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD1005160.pdf

Which planet were you on 5 years ago when all that went down, and do you have an extra ticket so I may visit there myself? Maybe he meant that lots of people thought it would be bad for us to try working against it. Lol “there was universal agreement that it was a bad thing to work against”

They do have that right and also that’s not what they did, so here in this tiny shirt set of words you exercises your right to be wrong twice! Well done! Give that man two medals. One for making a ridiculous post yet again, and another for when he loses the first one

What makes you think you mind is any different and that you have control over that?