Ulti

Israel Aims to Be the World’s Arms Dealer As Europe boosts defense spending, Israeli producers see an opportunity for arms sales—and a chance to become more self-sufficient. Galit AltsteinMarch 27, 2025 at 1:01 AM EDT Illustration: Deena So Oteh for Bloomberg Businessweek After Israel launched its war in Gaza, arms suppliers such as the US, the UK and Italy restricted military exports to the country in hopes of pushing the government of Benjamin Netanyahu toward a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. The result? Israel’s homegrown defense industry went into overdrive, and today it’s producing more than ever. Now manufacturers aim to increase exports—including embargoed weaponry—and some potential buyers are the same countries that had imposed restrictions. Israel’s dozens of arms producers have been ramping up production. Elbit Systems Ltd., traded in Tel Aviv and New York, is setting up manufacturing lines for 1-ton aerial bombs known as MK84s as well as smaller versions of the same series, according to Israeli officials who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive matters. And since August, Elbit and the Defense Ministry have signed contracts valued at some 2.5 billion shekels ($700 million) to boost production of weapons and various chemical compounds needed for munitions. “Israel has to be more independent in armaments production,” says Bezhalel Machlis, Elbit’s chief executive officer.

I’m all for the concept of Doge… as most people I talk with are. But a scalpel does a much better job than the private equity “ slash and burn” method

I just wonder how they are going to keep up with all the cuts in the education dept

https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-educations-office-civil-rights-sends-letters-60-universities-under-investigation-antisemitic-discrimination-and-harassment interesting list of college and university

https://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Ukraine-Rare-Earths-Deal-Is-Nonsense-To-Mining-Experts.html

Hegseth, Waltz, Gabbard Private Data and Passwords of Senior U.S. Security Officials Found Online Donald Trump's most important security advisers used Signal to discuss an imminent military strike. Now, reporting by DER SPIEGEL has found that the contact data of some of those officials, including mobile phone numbers, is freely accessible on the internet. 26.03.2025, 21.20 Uhr U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth: His contact info could be found using a commercial people finder. Foto: Annabelle Gordon / AFP Private contact details of the most important security advisers to U.S. President Donald Trump can be found on the internet. DER SPIEGEL reporters were able to find mobile phone numbers, email addresses and even some passwords belonging to the top officials. To do so, the reporters used commercial people search engines along with hacked customer data that has been published on the web. Those affected by the leaks include National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Most of these numbers and email addresses are apparently still in use, with some of them linked to profiles on social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn. They were used to create Dropbox accounts and profiles in apps that track running data. There are also WhatsApp profiles for the respective phone numbers and even Signal accounts in some cases. As such, the reporting has revealed an additional grave, previously unknown security breach at the highest levels in Washington. Hostile intelligence services could use this publicly available data to hack the communications of those affected by installing spyware on their devices. It is thus conceivable that foreign agents were privy to the Signal chat group in which Gabbard, Waltz and Hegseth discussed a military strike. Numbers Linked to Signal Accounts It remains unclear, however, whether this extremely problematic chat was conducted using Signal accounts linked to the private telephone numbers of the officials involved. Tulsi Gabbard has declined to comment. DER SPIEGEL reporting has demonstrated, though, that privately used and publicly accessible telephone numbers belonging to her and Waltz are, in fact, linked to Signal accounts. The U.S. newsmagazine The Atlantic revealed on Monday that Gabbard, Waltz and Hegseth, along with CIA Director John Ratcliffe and additional officials, discussed an imminent military strike against the Houthi militia in Yemen in a Signal chat. The information shared among the participants included intelligence information and precise attack plans. According to the Atlantic, Waltz added the editor-in-chief of the magazine, Jeffrey Goldberg, to the chat group. Precisely why he did so remains unclear. The White House confirmed the scandal after the fact. Trump insisted that it did not include classified content, a question that is of particular relevance since members of the U.S. government are not permitted to share such information over Signal. The U.S. special envoy for Ukraine and the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, was even in Russia while participating in the chat group. Pete Hegseth's WhatsApp profile photo Foto: Screenshot / DER SPIEGEL DER SPIEGEL was able to find some of the contact information for Gabbard, Hegseth and Waltz in commercial databases, while other information was in so-called password leaks, which are hardly a rarity on the internet. One example is the 2019 discovery by Troy Hunt, who found 773 million email addresses and more than 21 million passwords in a hacker forum. Since then, there have been numerous additional leaks. Criminals are constantly compiling new collections from hacks, usually to sell them on forums. It was particularly easy for DER SPIEGEL reporters to discover Hegseth’s mobile number and email address. They turned to a commercial provider of contact information that is primarily used by companies for sales, marketing and recruitment. DER SPIEGEL sent the provider a link to Hegseth’s LinkedIn profile and received a Gmail address and a mobile phone number in return, in addition to other information. A search of leaked user data revealed that the email address and, in some cases, even the password associated with it, could be found in over 20 publicly accessible leaks. Using publicly available information, it was possible to verify that the email address was used just a few days ago. The mobile number provided, meanwhile, led to a WhatsApp account that Hegseth apparently only recently deleted. The profile photo showed a shirtless Hegseth in a baseball cap and necklace. Comparisons with other photos of the U.S. secretary of defense using facial recognition software were able to confirm that the photo on the WhatsApp profile was indeed Hegseth. Several Passwords in Leaked Database U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz: Mobile number and email address found using a commercial people finder. Foto: Mandel Ngan / AFP Waltz’s mobile number and email address could be found using the same service provider. The mobile phone number could even be found using a people search engine popular in the U.S. DER SPIEGEL reporters were also able to find several passwords for Waltz’s email address in leaked databases. The information also led to Waltz’s profiles for Microsoft Teams, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and Signal. National Intelligence Director Gabbard was seemingly more careful with her data than her two male colleagues. She apparently had her own data blocked in the commercial contact search engines that contained the data of Hegseth and Waltz. But her email address was to be found on WikiLeaks and Reddit. Gabbard’s email address is available in more than 10 leaks. One of those also contains a partial telephone number, which, when completed, leads to an active WhatsApp account and a Signal profile. "Exposed data from top politicians can be used by hackers to launch convincing phishing attacks and gain access to devices and various services such as email, chat tools and PayPal,” says Donald Ortmann, a specialist in information security, information procurement and social engineering. He supports companies and authorities following cyberattacks. "In addition, deepfake attacks using images and sound available online can be launched to participate in virtual meetings,” says Ortmann. Compromised accounts also enable hackers to "install malware, monitor communications and attempt political blackmail.” No Response To protect the private contact information of the U.S. politicians, DER SPIEGEL is not publishing the telephone numbers, email addresses and passwords it found. Furthermore, no tests were performed to determine if the passwords for the email addresses are still active. DER SPIEGEL informed Gabbard, Hegseth and Waltz of its findings. DER SPIEGEL also sought comment from the Defense Department, the National Security Council and the office of the national intelligence director. Thus far, no response has been received. Personal inquiries sent to Tulsi Gabbard and Michael Waltz via WhatsApp and Signal were delivered, according to the confirmation function. But they have thus far remained unanswered.

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/worthwhile-canadian-observations excellent read what do my blog friends up in Canada think

https://www.npr.org/2025/03/25/nx-s1-5339801/pentagon-email-signal-vulnerability Several days after top national security officials accidentally included a reporter in a Signal chat about bombing Houthi sites in Yemen, a Pentagon-wide advisory warned against using the messaging app, even for unclassified information. F9T53 OPSEC SPECIAL BULLETIN Signal Vulnerability (U) A vulnerability has been identified in the Signal Messenger Application. The use of Signal by common targets of surueillance and espionage activiry has made the application a high value target to intercept sensitive information. (U) Russian professional hacking groups are employing the "Tirked devices" feature to spy on encrypted conversations. The feature allows the chat and soice messenger appliection to be utilized on multiple devices concurrentiy. The hacking groups embed malicious QR codes in phishing pages or conceal then in group invite links. After gaining access via the malicious code, the groups add their own derices as a linked devire, This allows the group to view every messoge sent by the unvitting user in real time, bypassing the end-to-end encryption. (U//FOUO) Steps to safeguand your Signal application are on the following pages. The pages are unclassified and con be printed for use outside of SCIF spaces. (U//FODO) Pleuse note: third party messaging apps (e.g. Signal) are permitted by polley for unclassified accountability/recull exercises but are NOT approved to process or store nonpublic unclassified information (eg. Protected, FOOJO, CUI, etc.). Ay use or application must abide by DoD and NSA/CSS

As an aside https://www.reuters.com/world/china/secretive-chinese-network-tries-lure-fired-federal-workers-research-shows-2025-03-25/

I look at it from the prism of all power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely… ( and this is true of both political parties and why checks and balances initiated by the founding fathers are so important)… when you do things as haphazardly and secretly …think signal app( hopefully it is at least secure) it looks simply a power and money / money control play… I think Tom Friedman’s analogy of the USA is “broadway “ and Israel is “ off broadway “… and I’m talking about the current political powers in office in both countries ….. is pretty appropriate. I’m sure the MAGA’ s both here on this board as well as many of my good friends will and do disagree ….just as many of my progressive friends disagreed with me in the Obama / Biden years… if all 3 branches were progressive/ democratic ( and I’m not talking about centrist) we would still be talking about power and corruption with a progressive twist

https://ritholtz.com/2025/03/government-spending-lol/ interesting take on “ out of control “ government spending

I think, and I could be wrong, that tariffs and their economic impact should be looked at thru a domestic lense.. which i think the current administration is doing… How do we get our debt/debt service to a manageable level.. And keep the tax cuts getting ready to expire…And we have less than 2 years to do it ( put the mechanism in place before midterms).. Tariffs are just one component .. Reducing SS benefits as well as Medicare/ Medicaid is another… Barrons mentions a 3rd….( synopsis from another blog) “Pg 28, INCOME. The House Budget Committee is considering many proposals to raise federal revenues to extend TCJA 2017 and eliminating the tax-exempt status of MUNIS is among them. Although a full retroactive repeal of muni tax-exemption is unlikely, the muni market has reacted negatively (MUB -0.5% YTD vs AGG +2.6%). A concern is that budgets are approved in the last hours of deadlines and bad things may slip in intentionally or unintentionally. Anyway, a full repeal will be very expensive for state and local governments, muni investors and general public (due to pass-through of costs). Of course, a floor to muni selloff would be when muni yields and comparable taxable yields equalize. There may also be various scenarios in between the status quo and full repeal of muni tax exemption.” I think with states rights will come with more state responsibility ie.. State EMA’s instead of FEMA just to name one… The fed and this administration will put as much of the expenses onto state , local governments and individuals in order to reduce the deficit going forward.. kinda similar to the Europeans/ Canadians need to pik up the slack ; federal gov. has been taken advantage of for too long by the states local government private sector ( universities) and individuals. The big question is where the expenditures are going… If N Fer. the historian is right( he’s awesome ) , then a military expansion of epic proportions might be in the works to combat the 4 horsemen ( Russ China NK and Iran). But who knows ( just green tea leaf reading on my part haha)

Hell by your logic old slick Willie should have been eligible for a 3rd term …. I mean it was only oral sex haha https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Bill_Clinton

That’s hilarious and so true

Trump ends program millions in China use for internet, worrying Congress The demise of the Open Technology Fund could put millions at risk of being targeted by authoritarian governments for their internet activity. Pranshu Verma March 20, 2025 at 6:00 a.m. EDTToday at 6:00 a.m. EDT The Trump administration’s move to shut down an internet freedom project that helped millions of people in China access the open web has stirred concern from lawmakers, including Republicans, who argue the nonprofit is a crucial tool to counter the rise of Beijing. The Open Technology Fund (OTF), launched in 2012, was intended to allow people who live under repressive regimes to circumvent restrictions and access the internet. An early backer of the encrypted messaging app Signal and the anonymous internet browser Tor, the OTF became the world’s largest funder of products that allow people to freely access the web. As of February, OTF funding provided tools to more than 6 million people in China and 18 million individuals in Iran, giving them the ability to circumvent government restrictions on the internet to access news sites, secure messaging services and social media platforms such as Reddit, the messaging app Telegram and X, according to private data reviewed by The Washington Post. But President Donald Trump’s executive order Friday stripping independent agencies, including the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) — where nearly all of the OTF’s $43.5 million annual funding comes from — to the “maximum extent” possible essentially terminated the group’s budget. The OTF has long received support from several Republican lawmakers who have argued the group is crucial to Washington’s national security interests. “The Open Technology Fund provides a lifeline for people living under oppressive regimes, including citizens of China, Hong Kong, and Iran, by allowing them to safely communicate with the outside world and each other,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said in a 2020 statement. “Every once in a while a government program acts exactly as intended,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) said in a 2021 video post on X, referring to the OTF’s internet security tools that helped Cubans access the internet amid government-sanctioned shutdowns. The OTF’s grant termination has prompted members of Congress from both parties to contact the Trump administration to support the program, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues. Officials are trying to find ways to preserve the organization’s work, but it is unclear whether efforts will be successful, the person added. Now, millions of people — ranging from ordinary citizens to dissidents — who rely on the tools funded by the OTF to access the internet in China, Russia, Iran, Myanmar and Cuba may find those services go dark by the end of the month. They could permanently lose access to unrestricted internet and secure messaging platforms, potentially putting citizens at risk if they use less-secure technology. “There are real humans we are abandoning in China and beyond,” said Laura Cunningham, president of the Open Technology Fund. “Without our technologies, we are leaving them vulnerable to surveillance, persecution or worse.” The USAGM did not return a request for comment. Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, said the Trump administration is “confident our reorganization efforts will strengthen American diplomatic efforts abroad.” The Open Technology Fund started as a pilot program in 2012 under Radio Free Asia. In 2019, Congress authorized it to become an independent nonprofit grantee of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. The OTF has worked to allow people to break through China’s censorship project, often called the “Great Firewall.” The organization’s “Surge and Sustain” program funds tools, called virtual private networks (VPNs), that allow people to freely access the internet. During Trump’s first administration, then-USAGM head Michael Pack sought to defund the program. These efforts were unsuccessful after Democratic and Republican lawmakers urged officials to keep it funded. In a 2020 congressional hearing, many lawmakers said that the OTF had proved essential to stemming the advance of Chinese and Russian surveillance technology and was crucial for human rights activists and journalists across the world. Concerns rose that the USAGM would lose funding after the president appointed Kari Lake, who ran unsuccessfully for governor and Senate in Arizona, to serve as a special adviser at the agency, with a goal to “streamline” the agency and its grantees, according to Voice of America. “While at USAGM, I vow to fully implement President Trump’s executive orders in his mission to reduce the size and scope of the federal government,” Lake said in a statement on Saturday. “The U.S. Agency for Global media will continue to deliver on all statutory programs that fall under the agency’s purview and shed everything that is not statutorily required.” With the OTF’s funding essentially canceled, lawmakers have weighed in. McCaul, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the OTF’s technology aided efforts to publicize his report related to the pandemic’s origins. “USAGM programs including the Open Technology Fund played a critical role in translating it into Mandarin, penetrating the CCP’s firewall, and disseminating it throughout mainland China,” McCaul said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party. “We are certain that the White House is working to ensure that individuals living under oppressive and authoritarian regimes will continue to have access to a free internet,” Audrey Cook, a spokesperson for Blackburn, wrote in a statement. Internet freedom experts said they are particularly worried about the impact it will have on people using its tools in China. “Once we lose a user from one of our VPNs, particularly in China, it is almost impossible to get them back,” Cunningham said. “This has clear consequences for any future U.S. government effort to reach people behind authoritarian fire walls.”

https://blogs.cfainstitute.org/investor/2025/03/20/book-review-buffetts-early-investments/

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/arc-energy-ideas/id1438664577?i=1000699697018 interview with CEO of TC Energy about pipelines and the interdependency of the N American continent

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/smears-sadism-and-social-security

While we are all focused on Ukraine… https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Middle-East/Is-the-Endgame-with-Iran-About-to-Begin.html

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/odd-lots/id1056200096?i=1000699466923 excellent podcast with new FTC head Andrew Ferguson

Again , I have a great distain for both political parties… corruption and greed knows no political affiliation, it affects them all… That’s why checks and balances in the democratic system are so important… However, to be fair, let’s look at Trump 1st … There is some history there with Putin and Zel. https://apnews.com/article/trump-russia-ukraine-fbi-mueller-ff6d60923de68632f2671e275083b54b

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/03/19/trump-musk-government-borrowing-spending/ good piped by George Will

1st accurate thing you’ve posted in awhile

https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/02/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-imposes-tariffs-on-imports-from-canada-mexico-and-china/ I’m a little confused ; I thought that the tariffs were done because of illegal immigration’ and fentanyl.

https://www.politicaljack.com/threads/why-does-maga-hate-fact-checking.161191/ some pretty funny comments