5 thoughts on “Friday Open Thread”

1. We are SOOOO F_CKED. Knowing that these NaziTechBros just jumped in and did WTFTW with Government systems, there could be thousands and thousands of lines of code added to the Treasury payment system that would be able to siphon off billions of dollars at any time. 

   This means the entire Treasury payment systems has to be replaced from the ground up, or some poor set of souls is going thru millions of lines of code by hand. 
    

   The US Treasury Claimed DOGE Technologist Didn’t Have ‘Write Access’ When He Actually Did

   Sources tell WIRED that the ability of DOGE’s Marko Elez to alter code controlling trillions in federal spending was rescinded days after US Treasury and White House officials said it didn’t exist

   As WIRED has reported, Elez was granted privileges including the ability to not just read but write code on two of the most sensitive systems in the US government: the Payment Automation Manager (PAM) and Secure Payment System (SPS) at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS), an agency that according to Treasury records paid out $5.45 trillion in fiscal year 2024. Reporting from Talking Points Memo confirmed that Treasury employees were concerned that Elez had already made “extensive changes” to code within the Treasury system. The payments processed by BFS include federal tax returns, Social Security benefits, Supplemental Security Income benefits, and veteran’s pay.

   https://www.wired.com/story/treasury-department-doge-marko-elez-access/

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   1. And Marko's resigned from DOGE, after his racist comments on social media were brought to light. Not a fan of racism, but obviously the coding is a bigly bigger concern.

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   2. I hope there is a full program back-up available.  Restore point to 1/20/2025 might be advisable.

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2. Bloomberg News is reporting on the following general topic at this link, if you have access:

   Musk’s DOGE Teen Was Fired By Cybersecurity Firm for Leaking Company Secrets… Edward Coristine posted online that he had retained access to the firm’s servers. Now he has access to sensitive government information.

   So, considering the DOGE Youth news about Marko, Coristine, and Gavin who's reportedly been online in the white supremacy sphere, maybe we shouldn't have worried so much about the Watergate Plumbers. Can the UN help?

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3. Just what we need, an FBI Director beholden to the Kremlin.  Between Trump, Gabbard and now Patel, Putin has the perfect trifecta of quality intelligence sources!

   Kash Patel was paid by Russian filmmaker with Kremlin ties, documents show

   Patel, Trump’s nominee to be FBI director, was paid $25,000 last year by a film company that has promoted anti-Western views advanced by the Kremlin, documents show.

    

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