USB is totally broken from a security perspective. Computer OS, software, VMs, its firmware, antivirus, none of it can protect your system. USB has built in mandatory handshakes and operations which can be used to pwn your system without the USB device even showing up as a plugged in device, well below the level where any antivirus can work. It’s not fixable.
No knowledgeable security professional would allow any unknown USB device near a computer which is used for any secure purpose or ever taken into a secure environment. It could be like the border control people who have sacrificial computers they use for mandatory checks of travelers’ systems and data, but the more likely option is they just did a dumb.
[edit] maybe
Miramon
4242
The protective branch of the secret service have been notoriously incompetent and mismanaged over recent years. No idea about the anticounterfeiting and other law enforcement people, or even if they are still part of the SS – never made much sense really, and less now that they’re in DHS.
Over/under on Nielsen releasing a behind-the-scenes tell-all in 6-12 months and appearing on Fresh Air, Bill Maher, yada yada?
Yes, but I don’t think the Nielsen ratings will be that great.
Menzo
4245
100%. Now that she’s been kicked out, she’ll be able to tell us all about how much she hated working for Trump and how many times she saved us from something worse.
Same ole’ song and dance.
Grima Wormtongue will be the Ultima Hombre of this shit administration.
I honestly figured her Nordic good looks, and ability to lie with a straight face would have spared her from Trump’s wrath. I think her ratings will be just fine for those reasons. She’ll do fine on CNN, Fox, or MSNBC as long as she sticks to the appropriate script for the network.
I would have thought that her “cage the children” history would have poisoned her post-Trump career, but a lot of former soul-stained staffers wind up as talking heads, I guess.
(I also wanted to play off her last name. Nielsen ratings!)
In other news, NPR had a good round up of acting heads in the executive branch:
Anthem showed us what can happen to a project when there’s nobody in charge for years on end. But I’m sure none of these positions are as complex or crucial as a Bioware project manager.
Timex
4252
The problem is that any sort of effective leadership in any department will, by its very nature, conflict with Trump’s own ideas. Because Trump literally does not understand how anything works, and has no interest in learning how anything works.
Trump has been documented, numerous times, as being the very worst kind of manager. He ignores important parts, and micromanages low level crap inconsistently, while not possessing the knowledge to perform that management effectively.
He basically injects himself into the critical decision making process, in order to make poor decisions, and when any competent personnel point out why those decisions are bad, he gets mad at them.
They’re left with a decision:
- Fight Trump on his bad decisions, and get fired.
-or-
- Go along with his bad decisions, have them lead to (predictably) bad outcomes, and then have Trump throw you under the bus, and blame YOU for those outcomes, making you look like an immoral/unethical/incompetent imbecile.
Both choices are, clearly, bad…but when faced with those choices, the obviously correct one is the first. A bunch of folks have eventually made it, but only have tainting themselves by making the second choice numerous times.
Menzo
4253
To be fair, most of the people in Trump’s orbit are immoral/unethical/incompetent all by themselves, without Trump’s help. But yeah.
Anyone who works for DJT knows exactly what’s coming…their career will be destroyed, their reputation will be ruined, DJT will take a massive shit on their face as he fires them, and he will attack them on Twitter. Fuck them.
KevinC
4255
I appreciated it! But alas for the dearth of Likes on the forum.
rowe33
4256
But they’ll likely get rich in the process, so…
Either they grift along with everyone else, they get big money from their ‘tell all’ book, make big bucks on appearances/etc, or get a job with a lobbying firm or some other connected employment.
Yep. All for “a little bit of money”, as Marge Gunderson would say. Fuck them.
Standard ‘fuck John Cornyn’ disclaimer. Oh, and prepare to be embarrassed bigly, John.
That’s actually a fairly good sign. At least some of the Republican leadership is willing to admit that the loons that Trump will initially put up can’t be confirmed.
KevinC
4260
Oh, they’ll confirm them. Just like Kavanaugh.
