Best Of

Re: Whatcha smokin this afternoon??

Smoking an old HC Maduro2 dog rocket while taking a break from tearing down, troubleshooting, and cleaning the washing machine and cutting the old tube off the umbrella stand and putting on a new tube and umbrella. Kinda reminds me of the joke about how to fix your car, take the gas cap off, drive up a new car, put the old gas cap on. Oh well, saves money over replacing the whole base and tube assembly. Good cigar.

Yakster

4

Re: THE NEWBIE WELCOMING THREAD

She used to be a Cigar.com business leader, and someone that has helped us out on the forum with occasional order issues and forum issues, but she has a new position within the parent company STG now. She's always been helpful. This is the last I heard about her new position. People were asking you if you were the new @TheCigarChick because they were wondering if you're an admin working for CCOM, I believe.

@TheCigarChick said:
Without divulging not-yet-public information, I have many tricks and ideas up my sleeve. Thrilled to be given the opportunity to do some really cool things with General Cigar both in-person and online, as well as actually orchestrate new blends for release.

Yakster

1

Re: Whatcha smokin this morning?

Vision

11

Re: Political Discussions

@silvermouse said:
not surprising:

The Trump administration is becoming even more secretive
Staff are being instructed to avoid leaving a paper trial at all costs

Yes, not surprising at all. When you have a lot of people lurking around in these federal agencies who are vehemently opposed to the administration. It seems necessary to be protective. So what if some long-term federal employees cannot be trusted due to their biases are crying "Boo Hoo! They don't trust us anymore!" Good!

I found that Washington Post article.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/06/29/first-rule-trumps-washington-dont-write-anything-down/
Hannah Natanson 27-28 yr old Washinton DC Prep School and Harvard educated journalist tried to present the secrecy as unprecedented and so so bad, but the article also allowed room for reasoning that the secrecy is necessary.

Across President Donald Trump’s administration, a creeping culture of secrecy is overtaking personnel and budget decisions, casual social interactions, and everything in between, according to interviews with more than 40 employees across two dozen agencies, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid reprisals. No one wants to put anything in writing anymore, federal workers said: Meetings are conducted in-person behind closed doors, even on anodyne topics. Workers prefer to talk outdoors, as long as the weather cooperates. And communication among colleagues — whether work-related or personal — has increasingly shifted to the encrypted messaging app Signal, with messages set to auto-delete.
Me: Good!
It’s not just career staffers who are clamming up, fearful they will be tagged as rebellious or resistant to Trump’s policies and dismissed amid the administration’s push to trim the workforce, fulfilling the president’s promise to eradicate waste, fraud and abuse. Trump’s own political appointees are also resistant to writing things down, worried that their agency’s deliberations will appear in news coverage and inspire a hunt for leakers, federal workers said.
Me: Good!
“I’ve never seen this much secrecy and lack of transparency from any leadership, including in the military,” said a nearly 10-year veteran of the General Services Administration. “We don’t know anything until it happens.”
Me: GOOD!

Also, between the lines of the article Hanna asks for federal employee snitches to come forward using that Signal messaging app that she wanted you to think was nefariously clandestine for Trump staffers to be using.

Help us report on the Trump administration

The Washington Post wants to hear from people with knowledge of how the Trump administration is reshaping government, including the activities of the U.S. DOGE Service. You can contact our reporters by email or Signal encrypted message.
Hannah Natanson: hannah.natanson@washpost.com or (202) 580-5477 on Signal.
Read more about how to use Signal and other ways to securely contact The Post.