When the taps run dry and the hackers show up anyway

When the taps run dry and the hackers show up anyway

The FBI has opened an investigation into cyberattacks on dozens of municipal water systems across multiple states — attacks similar to ones Iranians have carried out in the past. The timing is brutal: Lake Mead and Lake Powell are already at their lowest levels since the 1930s, threatening drinking water, agriculture, electricity generation, and economic stability across the Southwest United States and Mexico. Hoover Dam and Glen Canyon Dam are both under operational strain, and Hoover Dam's generating capacity can drop significantly when Lake Mead falls too low. CISA and the Dams Sector maintain cybersecurity guidance, but CISA has lost more than a third of its workforce to layoffs and buyouts, with staffing turbulence that has disrupted its service delivery and operations.

Gobble's Take: A cyberattack on a half-empty reservoir isn't kicking someone while they're down. It's kicking the bucket while it's already cracked. Source: Substack

Questions raised over Kash Patel's reported Moscow trip

A Russian outlet with a long history of publishing information and propaganda from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), Moskovsky Komsomolets, ran an article speculating about Kash Patel's reported upcoming trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg. The article discussed topics including Russia providing kompromat on Democrats, Patel serving as a backchannel to Putin, and secret FBI-FSB contacts allegedly already taking place in third countries.

Last week, Patel told Reuters that the FBI has spent the past 15 months building "new and dynamic relationships" with Russian and Chinese security and law enforcement agencies. He described the cooperation as limited to specific transnational crime concerns. Moscow responded within days.

A Russian political analyst cited in the article suggested that contacts between the FBI and FSB "most likely already exist and are ongoing" and may be occurring in Turkey, the Balkans, or Switzerland.

Gobble's Take: A Kremlin-linked outlet publicly discussed kompromat, backchannels, and secret meeting locations in connection with Patel's reported Moscow trip — raising questions the source says have received little scrutiny from media or Congress.

Source: Substack

The bench, the bone spurs, and the catering cart

A commenter lays out a consistent portrait: Donald likely made sports teams through his father's influence, spent most of his time on the bench, used a "bone spurs" excuse to avoid the military draft — five times — and now cheats at golf because it requires no rough physical contact. The same thread notes he recently fled by crawling into a catering cart to an unidentified aircraft, leaving his own cabinet members and press corps behind as live decoys.

Gobble's Take: Bench. Bone spurs. Catering cart. The costume changes; the exit strategy doesn't. Source: Substack

In Case You Missed It

Yesterday's top stories:

• West Asia’s security map just got redrawn, while India feels the sanctions squeeze
• Taiwan, Scarborough Shoal, and the Indo-Pacific’s sharp edges
• Beijing’s diplomacy line: less shrinking, more world-facing
• The anti-West adaptation machine is getting more coordinated