One of the worst weasel progs known to man somehow, someway, winds up in a chat with the President's security gurus - all of them, mind you - literally as the first strike on a noxious band of outlaws in ages is happening.

What are the odds?

My questions about the propriety (and legality) of everyone and their mother being in a back-and-forth, doing this on Signal, were answered pretty quickly when it was confirmed that Signal was [Beege: lemme rephrase] authorized for use during the Biden administration and that the phones everyone was using came from the government with the app already preloaded.

Ratcliffe explained to Sen Warner that Signal was authorized for 'permissable work use.'

CIA Director John Ratcliffe says that the Biden administration authorized the use of Signal for communications

He says that he put no classified information was in the Signal group that was revealed this week in The Atlantic report pic.twitter.com/Vhx6anvTuX

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) March 25, 2025

And all through the day, even as howls for (especially) Hegseth's, Waltz's, and the others' heads were rolling across the media landscape for every sin from exposing classified information to breathing, Jeffrey Goldberg the inadvertent (?) guest who told tales was quietly backing away from the most sensational claims in his story.

Not that you'd notice the rearward motion, though, as it was more that he simply wasn't emphasizing the sturm und drang he had been earlier.

The bloom was off the war plans rose.

Bingo. Goldberg realized it a little later and tried to recover by saying he might come out with a plan for this “after other discussions.” 🤣🤣🤣

— JKash 🍊MAGA Queen (@JKash000) March 25, 2025

I guess Goldberg finally gave up the classified pretext because he's released the chat transcripts.

Narrator: It was indeed Goldberg trying to walk back.

Deep secret information was "F-18s bomb things. Then F-18s bomb things. Then Drone strike. Also it's a beautiful sunny day, light traffic on I-95, winds out of the southwest, you're listening to 97.3 HEGSETH-FM." https://t.co/Qu96ITDf6m pic.twitter.com/r7gOId6RuS

— Tony Kinnett (@TheTonus) March 26, 2025

So, this may come as a surprise, but I'm not going to crack on Goldberg for being in the chat unless we find out he KNEW his contact info was preloaded for just such an occasion - which I absolutely will not discount.

What I will despise him and his rag for are the hyperbolic 'war plans' headlines. You can debate whether he should have sent a 'Yo, dudes - I don't belong here' message, but being who he is, that sort of honest nicety is a bridge too far.

And, again, it hasn't been settled yet that he wasn't 'supposed' to be there, if you get my drift.

I do think Hegseth and Waltz muffed their initial handling of this. I realize they were blindsided, but hello- they were on an authorized platform for precisely the kind of discussions they were having. They should have been full-on offense outrage about how tf Goldberg slipped in vice trying to make Goldberg's slimy character the center of the story.

Hegseth had that whole plane ride to figure out answers to questions he knew were coming and, frankly, he looked bad on the tarmac. The young man needs to take a deep breath and focus. The last thing the labyrinthine DoD needs is a headshed with a scattershot reputation, and it's already having a hard enough time as it is adjusting.

It’s terrible and all over the amn/nco/snco page. Somebody has to get this on Hegseth’s radar asap

— ja (@jaa17us) March 19, 2025

Don't give them the ammo to make a rough job worse on yourself.

 All this had Congressional Dems foaming at the mouth in glee, even ones who've conveniently forgotten they have had their own spectacular and arguably worse security lapses.

Will Cain's interview with Democrat Rep Jim Hines went off the rails FAST after Hines claimed American soldiers could have died over Signal chat.

"It is really hard to take you seriously after watching the way you guys handled Afghanistan" pic.twitter.com/maxatG4Qhc

— Thomas Hern (@ThomasMHern) March 25, 2025

What-aboutism is a weak game to play, but holy crap. It has been fun going down memory lane with scuzzy spy nuzzlers like Swalwell.

Eric Swalwell’s case should be revisited by @FBIDirectorKash pic.twitter.com/mhUWUEf8BE

— FO𝕏 YOU (@F0XYOU) March 25, 2025

Sen Warner and the Russians.

Oh, this is rich. SSCI Vice-Chair Mark Warner begins by blasting the panel about the Jeffrey Goldberg story of administration officials using the Signal app.

SSCI Vice-Chair Mark Warner previously used unencrypted text messages to discuss the SSCI investigation of Trump-Russia… pic.twitter.com/lIfIswdDu5

— TheLastRefuge (@TheLastRefuge2) March 25, 2025

Etc., etc., etc. 

What's been refreshing has been watching the Trump national security team fire back at Democrats yesterday and today. They're not taking any inference lying down about anything.

Based

And true!

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) March 26, 2025

As Sen Lee Xweeted, 'I voted for this.'

Yes, siree, Bob. A lot of us did.

Ratcliffe unloaded on a CA congressman who kept insisting that Hegseth was drunk on the chat and had a cocktail in his hand while standing at a podium in Europe.

Hegseth had a glass of water in his hand.@JimmyGomezCA is a sleazeball performance artist https://t.co/oJdylF7Ehb

— tree hugging s*ster 🎃 (@WelbornBeege) March 26, 2025

And Tulsi blowing global climate change out of the critical threat assessment.

Best part of this hearing…

Tulsi: “We’re focused on the most direct threats to Americans’ safety, well-being, and security.”

pic.twitter.com/cK4Otkwvbu

— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) March 25, 2025

There most assuredly needs to be some serious tightening up done, but I'm also waiting to see how Goldberg got into that chat.

In the meantime, it's good to know that no one is cowering in a corner when it comes to their own department and congressional hearings.

It's a good start.