Signal!

 

‘Signal’. Know what it is? Not the common noun or the verb but the proper noun that signifies the communication app.
(FYI: Signal is a ‘cross-platform centralized encrypted instant messaging service’.) It’s like ‘Twitter’ but -  and here’s the Big But – but, it’s encrypted and private.

Interesting, you might say, but what has this to do with anything? 

One of the heretofore anonymous texters (Congressman Scott Perry) reached out to Mark Meadows on, January 6^th, 2021, and recommended that they use ‘Signal’ for further communication. Rep. Perry wanted to keep his texts to the Chief of Staff secret. You know, like a crook, or a spy or an insurrectionist might do.

In point of fact, Meadows used his own personal cell phone and email addresses, as well as Signal, for official government business. (This may trigger memories of the Republicans (e.g. Gym Jordon, Trey Gowdy, etc) screaming bloody murder for years when they accused Hillary Rodham Clinton of doing that very thing.)

Perry undoubtedly knew that Meadows used Signal, rather than another app, for secret messages and so made the recommendation to go ‘encrypted’.

Why the secrecy if you’ve got nothing to hide? Mr Perry can try to explain that when he testifies before the Jan.6 Select Committee.

This adage may be applied to Roger Stone’s recent use of the 5^th amendment to stone-wall the Committee and still give the appearance of not violating the subpoena to appear. Simply reciting a claim of 5^th Amendment protection when asked one’s name is not compliance or cooperation.   

An observer with a functional memory might recall, his Orange Eminence stated categorically that ‘taking the 5^th’ in and of itself was a tacit admission of guilt.

“If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear” is generally attributed to Joseph Goebbels. It’s undeniable that Pius Thicknesse uttered the sentence in ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’. It’s doubtful that either had ‘taking the 5^th’ in mind.