As part of an effort to deliver content and keep my writing wits sharp, I’m going to post a daily series of Quick Takes. Some may carry more weight and be more serious than others. Let’s sift through the week’s loose items while we steel ourselves for the week ahead.
The political fallout from Signal has metastasized into “gate” status with everyone calling it Signalgate. This is amusing to me because for half a century we’ve been told “it’s not the crime, it’s the coverup” when there has been no coverup whatsoever. Let’s break down a few facts to help us separate the serious from the unserious. What we’re are seeing from the Democrats is the latest flaming empty bag of performative outrage. It’s an empty bag because dog crap has more value.
1. Signal is not an “unsecure’ or “unencrypted” app. Signal is, in fact, recommended by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in its best practice guidance for end to end encrypted communications. Here’s a screencap of the relevant section.
2. Pete Hegseth appears to have committed the crime of using the recommended app to securely discuss with members of the National Security Council an operation carried out against the Houthis.
3. NSA Michael Waltz has admitted and President Trump has confirmed that he inadvertently added “JG” to the group chat. They said they are investigating how that came to happen and whether Signal would be an appropriate app to use going forward.
4. If I’m right that Goldberg was the recipient of the chat screenshots and was not in the Signal group chat as a primary source, then the primary source is a smart cookie indeed.
5. Jeffrey Goldberg is at risk of substantial criminal liability for publishing information that he thought to be classified.
6. Serious people will focus on how “JG” was added to the chat and why “JG” was in the contacts of someone in the National Security Council.
7. Further, they will most interested in confirming the identity of “JG” because at this time we have zero evidence that it was Goldberg.
8. Confirming the identification of “JG” will help establish the motive for adding them to the chat and whether it was truly a mistake or whether it was intentional.
The Rangers finished a series win this weekend over the Boston Red Sox. Rangers reliever Shawn Armstrong pulled off the infamous blown save-win by entering the ballgame with a lead, surrendering the lead, and being the pitcher of record when the Rangers came back to win. This is why it’s a fools errand to evaluate a relief pitcher based on his W-L record, especially since there was an unearned run charged to Armstrong due to an error made by Ezequiel Duran that allowed a run to score. On to Cincinnati for a three game set to begin the week and the month of April.
