Tuesday, February 25, 2025

ZERO DAY

ding bat

 


Above is Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS   "White House Service: Donald Tries To Please His Man" and I love it.  I also love Ava and C.I.'s "Media: Musk a purveyor preying on children:"


Some things seem obvious to us.  For example, ZERO DAY -- the new Robert De Niro mini-series on NETFLIX.  Like Meryl Streep, we've never really been impressed with De Niro's acting (creepy and odd like in too many films including STANLEY & IRIS and FALLING IN LOVE).   By contrast, we love the work of Al Pacino and find him exciting and experimental even in bad project.  AMAZON's HUNTERS lasted two seasons and we don't think it should have lasted even one episode -- it certainly wasn't worthy of Al.  So when we heard The Water Cooler Set was hissing and sputtering about ZERO DAY, we couldn't wait to watch and to call out De Niro.


The mistake we made was in watching because there went all our plans of going to town on Robert.  ZERO DAY is a tense thriller and melodrama.  We hate binge watching but we got pulled in on that first episode and watched it all the way through.  Not only was it worthy of praise but so was De Niro, some of the finest acting he's done in years.  And as producer, he also deserves some of the credit for the outstanding performances of Angela Bassett,  Mozhan Navabi, Joan Allen and Clark Gregg who all demonstrate shadings and levels that you just don't see from a TV cast that often.  


Some things seem obvious to us like the fact that ZERO DAY is quality television that captures the viewer.  


I was going to skip ZERO DAY until they praised it.  I only had time for three episodes this evening but this really can't-miss-TV.  So if you haven't checked it out yet, go over to NETFLIX and stream it. 

Along with Robert De Niro delivering a great performance, you also have Joan Allen as his wife and it's been awhile since I've seen her given this much of a role -- this complex -- to run with.  Connie Britton also delivers as does Angela Bassett.  I'm hoping they get some scenes together.  I miss Connie on 911.  Clark Gregg has been great (THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE and the MARVEL movies) and he's been bad (MARVEL AGENTS OF SHIELD).  He's really good in this.  Gaby Hoffman is chillingly good playing her Musk-like character.  But my biggest thrill is Mozhan Navabi because (a) she's so great in the role and (b) I've missed her since she left THE BLACKLIST.


 It's a sic episode mini-series, so check it out.


Going out with C.I.'s "The snapshot:"


Tuesday, February 25, 2025.  Musk has put the nation at risk and it's a story the country is interested in but Democrats are silent when they should be speaking about this to the media.  Our focus today is on how Musk has put undercover CIA agents at risk through his incompetence.



You may be the stupidest person on the face of the planet.  Yes, you may be Convicted Felon Donald Chump.  But even your stupidity does not act as an excuse for the outing of CIA agents.  

We've been here before.  Valerie Plame was outed by the Bully Boy Bus administration.  Some didn't get the point then.  Some pretended they did.  (Glenneth Greenwald was a great pretender and a strong poser who made an idiot of himself when he went on to out a CIA agent -- and got called out for it by THE NEW YORK POST during Barack Obama's second term as president.)

Stupidity isn't an excuse for Chump.

He put an idiot with no experience in place and that idiot has exposed undercover CIA agents.




The Central Intelligence Agency is conducting an assessment of their own security after a White House email about civil service layoffs appeared to compromise the names of certain undercover officers, reported CNN on Monday.

This damage control, reported CNN, is "just one of multiple aftershocks from President Donald Trump’s push to take a jackhammer to the federal government — including the CIA. The administration’s efforts to cut the workforce and audit spending at the CIA and elsewhere threaten to jeopardize some of the government’s most sensitive work, current and former U.S. officials familiar with internal deliberations say."


The CIA first began discussing layoffs amid tech billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force and its rampage through agencies across the executive branch, originally billed as a mass buyout that would infuse "renewed energy" into intelligence operations.

However, chaos erupted after the White House sent an email over an unclassified server suggesting the layoffs of a number of CIA employees who were on probationary status due to being recent hires — which may have included the first and last names of some undercover agents.
Making matters worse, said the report, "some U.S. embassy positions that are actually filled by CIA officers under cover may now be at risk of being revealed — potentially angering the host nation and exposing companies or endangering CIA assets who are known to have met with past occupants of the role."

Grasp what the South African born Alien Musk has now done.  Valerie Plame?  Robert Novack and others outing her in the press -- or Glenneth outing a CIA agents?  That's the media.  Freedom of speech protects that and should.  But before Bully Boy Bush went into the White House, his father was already there.  And it was under his father that the only real law on outing CIA agents came into place.  Government employees and officials -- that would be Musk -- can be prosecuted.  



 The agency launched an assessment to determine just how much damage was done by the email, which was sent in early February amid President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s efforts to slash the federal workforce via the Department of Government Efficiency.

DOGE’s breakneck speed in firing tens of thousands workers has officials fearing harsh consequences. U.S. officials told CNN that Musk’s minions may “jeopardize some of the government’s most sensitive work” if the alleged recklessness keeps up.

Perhaps the most chilling of those fears, some in the CIA’s leadership told CNN, is the possibility that a “group” of disgruntled CIA agents swept up in a mass layoff—or pressured into taking a buyout—may take their sensitive knowledge to a foreign intelligence agency.


Edward Coristine, a protege of Elon Musk’s at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), who has already gained notoriety for his checkered early tech career and for glorying in the nickname “Big Balls”, is the grandson of a KGB spy, according to a new report.

Coristine, 19, dropped out of Northeastern University to find work in Silicon Valley, only to be fired from a cybersecurity internship last year for allegedly leaking insider information to a rival company and accused of frequenting Telegram and Discord communities linked to cybercrime.


Donald Chump put Musk in charge.  There was no reason to do so.  He'd already been assessed as a security threat by the US government.  But Donald gave him unfiltered and unlimited access to US data -- confidential data.


The CIA is conducting an internal formal review to assess any potential damage caused by an unclassified email sent to the White House that discussed possible layoffs, using names and initials that had the potential to expose undercover officers, a source familiar with the matter told CNN on Monday.

The email, sent in early February, was part of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) plan to cut the workforce and spending of the federal government.

The Trump administration’s continuous efforts to audit federal organizations threaten to jeopardize the government’s most sensitive work, CNN reported, citing current and former US officials familiar with internal deliberations.


Alien Musk has clearly broken the law -- I'm sure Steve Bannon will be all of this, covering it from the right.  

Musk was never fit for this job and should never have access to the American people's data.

He should be in prison right now for his 'mistake' -- if it was a mistake.  Considering his history, his actions seem intentional.

Here's the good news for our government -- Chump created this post.  Therefore, it did not require Senate confirmation.

This isn't Pete Hegseth, fresh off a Senate confirmation, making a fool of everyone who voted to confirm him by outing undercover CIA agents.

Right now, a normal follow up would be the appointment of a special counsel but, as we all know, Chump doesn't believe in that.

He's the man who put Musk in charge, he's the one who gave him access to our secrets.  And Musk outing CIA agents?

That falls on Convicted Felon Donald Chump.

Cleary, Chump is not up to the job.  Clearly, Chump would be impeached for this did MAGA idiots not control the House (for now). 

Chump has yet again demonstrated that he does not have the knowledge or the character to be president of the United States.

Let's talk about some more idiots.  Senator Ron Wyden 's office issued the following:

WATCH: Wyden’s Exchange with University of Oregon’s Presidential Chair in Science, Dr. Richmond Here 

Washington, D.C. — During a hearing held in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., underscored that Elon Musk’s business dealings in China pose a serious threat to national security. 

According to public reporting, Elon Musk is running the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as a federal employee while remaining Tesla’s largest shareholder. Public filings indicate Tesla invested billions of dollars in China and annually produces nearly 1 million cars at a factory in Shanghai on land owned by the Chinese government.

“According to public reporting, Tesla’s contract allows the Chinese government to revoke Tesla’s lease on the land at any time if it determines doing so is in the public interest,” Wyden said. “Now, on this committee, every one of us works for the AMERICAN public interest. And given that is our highest priority, I intend to come back and ask further questions about this in the days ahead.”

Senator Wyden also questioned Dr. Geraldine Richmond, Presidential Chair in Science at the University of Oregon and former Under Secretary for Science and Innovation at the Department of Energy, on the national security consequences of Musk’s decision to make drastic and abrupt workforce cuts at the Bonneville Power Administration. Dr. Richmond emphasized that these cuts would undermine the grid’s safety and drive up energy prices for working families across America. 

Last week, Senator Wyden demanded answers from the Trump administration in a letter regarding Musk’s workforce cuts at the Bonneville Power Administration. 

###

Oh.

So, Ron, you do get the importance of national security and the threat to it that Musk can be.  

Hmm.

Well where the hell is your press release on that?

Same goes for Mark Warner.  Both Democrats are on the Senate intelligence committee.

They are saying nothing.  Not one word.

The media is actually paying attention to this moment, to the outing of CIA agents.  And yet the Democrats are AWOL.

They're not feeding the news cycle at all.

There are some non-MAGA Republicans who supported Chump.

And they can be peeled off via this issue just as the outing of Valerie Plame hurt Bully Boy Bush wihtin his own party.

But people have to know what went down.

It feeds into the perception that Musk is not to be trusted.

This is not a story you have to try to get the press interested in.

Later today, Dems will hold a press conference and, sadly, they'll probably continue to ignore this topic.  It's an important one.

It's an indictment of Chump's stupidity and an example of why a foreign-born non-elected person is not put in charge of America's data.


Even on BLUESKY, people don't seem to realize what's gone down.  Here are two who do grasp it.




David Corn led on covering the outing of Valerie Plame.  Where's David now?

The American people don't want Musk to have their data.  His actions now demonstrate why he shouldn't.  They also call into question Chump's ability to do the job.


You don't get stories like this that queue themselves up so well.  

When you do get one, though, you need to make the most out of it.

Elected Democrats are doing nothing with this.  Even though it backs up everything that they've said about Chump and bout Musk, they're doing nothing with it.

At THIRD, Ava and I wrote "Media: Musk a purveyor preying on children" about how Musk is praised by conservatives -- as he serves up porn on Twitter.  The same porn that Musk-praiser Greg Abbott (governor of Texas) has gone out of his way to block on PORN HUB and other sites to 'save the children.'  But when it comes to billionaire Musk, those 'family balues' GOPers don't give a damn.  

They're okay with Musk putting porn out there.

I'm not a prude.  

But I do find it so interesting that Musk, who profits from the porn on Twitter, is behind haled by 'family values' types across the country.

It's the height of hypocrisy.

This is who Chump chose to go through the american people's date --  a porn king.

There are no standards in the Chump administration.


Last night, Rachel Maddow had an important segment on the rule of law and how Chump's destroying it. 



Last night, Rachel Maddow did more in one segment than elected Dems combined did all day Monday.


I don't hate Ron Wyden -- he's one of our country's best senators.  

But he can be better and this is the perfect example of that.

The party needs to be out front calling out Musk's exposure of under cover CIA agents.  They need to lead on this.  

Yet they're nowhere to be found.

Again, right now, the media is interested.  Right now, this is an issue that needs to be addressed.  But it's not being addressed. 


We'll wind don with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:


Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement on the Trump administration taking action Sunday to permanently eliminate 1,600 USAID employees’ positions and put nearly every other agency employee on administrative leave—in flagrant violation of the law.

“Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s efforts to unilaterally shutter USAID—with their latest announcement of permanent reductions in force for 1,600 positions—are a dangerous concession to our adversaries who will fill the void we leave behind. It is a slap in the face to the dedicated Americans who have honorably chosen to serve their country and help keep us all safe.

“Trump and Musk’s reckless actions are also illegal. USAID’s existence as an independent agency has long been enshrined in law and affirmed by bipartisan majorities year after year in annual appropriations. Our appropriations law also requires the administration to notify and consult with Congress before undertaking any efforts to reorganize, realign, or downsize USAID—as the sweeping reductions in force issued Sunday and all the other brazen actions we’ve seen clearly seek to do. These actions make waste and fraud more likely, will prevent even foreign assistance programs supported by the administration from being effectively implemented, and will illegally block hundreds of millions of dollars for other programs enacted into law by bipartisan majorities.

“Needless to say: the Trump administration has not consulted Congress on these changes—in flagrant violation of the law—and the reckless, indiscriminate gutting of the agency seriously weakens America’s credibility and our ability to advance our national security interests across the globe.”

Section 7063 of Division F of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law 118-47) prohibits funds from the Act and prior Acts from being used to implement a reorganization without prior consultation with, and a detailed and justified notification to, the appropriate congressional committees. A reorganization, redesign, or other such plan is further defined in the Act and includes any activity to expand, eliminate, consolidate, or downsize covered departments or agencies, the United States official presence overseas, or the size of the permanent Civil Service, Foreign Service, eligible family member, and locally employed staff workforce from staffing levels previously justified to the Committee on Appropriations for fiscal year 2024.

###




New content at THID:



The following sites updated:


Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)