Month: August 2022

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Quote of the Day

The dumbing-down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance…" ~ Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

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Training

The boss's boss (whom I not-so-affectionately refer to as Ephalba) has a lady boner for Professional Development and ongoing training. When she first came on board a year ago she made it quite clear that our department had been very lax in that regard and that things were going to change. So, within a matter of weeks, a new edict was handed down that we were to all sign up for training (of some kind) at least twice a year going forward to "grow our careers."

I think I let out an audible groan.  Bitch, I am 28 months from retirement.

The more I thought about it, however, the more I thought I could definitely use some improvement with my Adobe Photoshop skills, as well as learning Illustrator (I've always been fascinated by it but never had the time or—to be completely honest—the level of concentrated interest to actually sit down and learn it. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to do both.

I presented my proposal, and while my immediate boss was all for it, the Wicked Witch shot it down. "These classes need to be job-related."

(a) You said any training, and (b) what about this whole "grow your careers" bullshit?

My boss argued that this was a skillset that could be used across the organization and—should I choose to move to a different department at some point—they would come in handy.

Ephalba was having none of it.

It's no wonder that before she took over the department I actually looked forward to going to work (albeit from home, but that's another story), and now I dread it.

So I looked through the offered Microsoft classes and thought, "What can I skate through and get that bitch off my back?"

And it screamed out at me: MD-100 Windows Client

Yeah, software I've been using since version 2.1 on a IBM XT clone running DOS.

While I"m sure she would've preferred I take something like Sharepoint or Powershell classes, she didn't balk at this. After all, I am Desktop Support.

The class (all online, thankfully) was two weeks ago. It lasted 5 days. And I hate to admit it, but I actually enjoyed myself. Did I learn anything I didn't know before? Actually yes—because while the class ostensibly was for Windows 10, most everything was done in the Windows 11 environment, of which I'm only just now becoming familiar, having loaded it on my work laptop a couple months ago. (Something by the way, I'm shocked as hell that main ITS hasn't chastised me for.)

The instructor was good. He was funny. He was engaging. And while a lot of what I learned couldn't be used—either because we aren't officially on Windows 11 yet, or because main ITS has our environment so locked down that all the cool stuff can't even be accessed—it was a worthwhile experience. And it kept me home for the entire week and suspended all my usual work tasks.

In fact, I enjoyed this instructor so much I signed up for his next online class, MD-101 Managing Modern Desktops, in December, which will be another week-long reprieve from my usual crap…and fulfill Ephalba's "two classes per year" requirement.

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? ? ?

After a tiring day, a commuter settled down in his seat and closed his eyes.

As the train rolled out of the station, a woman sitting next to him pulled out her cell phone and started talking in a loud voice.

"Hi sweetheart. It's Sue. I'm on the train. Yes, I know it's six thirty and not four thirty, but I had a long meeting. No honey, I'm not with that Kevin from the accounting office. It was with the boss. No sweetheart, you're the only one in my life. Yes, I'm sure. Cross my heart!"

Fifteen minutes later she was still talking loudly. When the man sitting next to her had enough, he leaned over and said into the phone, "Sue, hang up the phone and come back to bed."

Sue doesn't use her cell phone in public any longer.

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Yeah, He'll Be Indicted

From Greg Fallis:

First, a disclaimer. I want this motherfucker to be indicted, tried, convicted, and imprisoned. It's my opinion he deserves to be indicted, tried, convicted, and imprisoned. It's my opinion that he's deserved it for a long time, long before he was POTUS.

Oh, right. Yes, I'm talking about Comrade Trump. It's important that I include that disclaimer so that you realized I'm biased. I don't think that bias affects my reasoning about Trump's criminal liability; most of the jobs I've had in my long, semi-wicked life have trained me to evaluate facts and information as objectively as possible. Even when I don't want to.

So. Trump. I can imagine that he'll dodge responsibility again. But I think it's unlikely. Really unlikely. There's so much evidence that he's committed multiple felonies — and I'm just talking about the evidence that we know about, not the evidence that almost certainly exists inside the FBI and the DOJ — that I can't see any way Trump can escape indictment. He may not be tried, convicted, and imprisoned, but he's got to be indicted.

This is what we KNOW:

        • When he left the White House, Trump took classified material he wasn't authorized to take (in other words, he stole it).
        • He moved that stuff to Mar-a-Lago and stored it in areas that were unsuitable for storing classified materials.
        • He (or his staff) 'unfoldered' some of the classified material (in other words, they removed the cover sheets detailing the level of classification — secret, top secret, ts/sci, etc.) and mixed those documents in with unclassified 'innocent' documents (which is a well-known white collar crime tactic designed to muddy the concept of criminal intent).
        • He initially refused to return the classified material to the National Archives when requested.
        • After months of negotiations, he allowed the Archives to collect some of that material.
        • He (and his lawyers) lied and claimed they'd returned ALL the classified material.
        • The FBI got a search warrant and found lots more classified material scattered in various parts of Mar-a-Lago.

That's what we KNOW. There are three or four felonies in what we KNOW. Even worse, though, is what we can reasonable infer from circumstantial evidence. Given the relatively lax security at Mar-a-Lago AND given Comrade Trump's well-known disregard for security protocols AND given Trump's peculiar (and suspicious) affinity for Russia and Vlad Putin AND given Trump's willingness to put his interests above everything else, we can with some degree of confidence posit that the motherfucker has committed treason — either passively or actively.

We can with some degree of confidence posit that the motherfucker has committed treason.

The most egregious possibility is this unsettling set of facts:

        1. Among the classified material Trump illegally took to Mar-a-Lago were documents regarding HUMINT Control Systems (HCS). That's clandestine human intelligence — serious spy stuff. We're talking about activities, capabilities, techniques, processes, and procedures spies use.
        2. A few months after Trump took that material to Mar-a-Lago, there was a 'covcom' breach. Covcom refers to the classified covert communications systems used by the CIA. The breach exposed a number of agency assets, especially in China and Iran. A number of informants had to be extracted; others were reportedly captured and executed. US counterintelligence officials warned every CIA station about the breach. Back in October of 2021, the London Times reported the suspicion that there was a 'super mole' in the US government betraying CIA assets.

This, of course, is circumstantial evidence. But lawdy, there's a LOT of circumstances involved, and a long history of those circumstances. Back in January of 2019 I suggested Trump was a Russian intelligence asset. And in July of 2018 I figured Putin had kompromat on Trump. I'm not saying where there's smoke there's always fire. But when the smoke has been visible for years, the probability of fire is pretty fucking high.

It bothers me — it offends me — to to even suggest a US president might have knowingly put US intelligence assets at risk. But with Trump, I can't dismiss the possibility. Let's not forget that in June of 2020, when we learned Russia had paid a bounty to the Taliban for killing US Marines, Trump responded by…well, ignoring it. It seems clear, he's not really concerned with the well-being or safety of the people who are putting their lives on the line for the US. So it's not unthinkable that he could be responsible — knowingly or through gross incompetence — for the 'covcom' breach.

So yeah, I want the motherfucker indicted, tried, convicted, and imprisoned. I'm pretty confident he'll be indicted. As for the rest…I won't take any bets. That in itself demonstrates how badly Trump has corrupted the US.