Why is this the discussion? You know that this is exactly the goal of the DNC, right? Change the conversation. Everyone is already talking about the source of the email leak and not their content!
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Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo has made a few salient points regarding Trump’s apparent closeness with Russian interests that are hard to refute, and these aren’t outweighed by the possibility that Putin has something so damaging to Hillary that he wants her in the White House so he can blackmail her (even the idea of blackmail just seems like very simplistic thinking when we’re talking about geopolitics on such a grand scale-- for decades of the Cold War each side had plenty of dirt on each others diplomats, and were always stealing state secrets from each other, the internet is just a new way of doing it, but it’s not necessarily worse than microphones, cameras, and paying for info.)
It’s well known that Russia Today and most of the Russian media is very much under Putin’s thumb, and all the major outlets are pro-Trump.
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This sounds like a tactic to distract people from the contents of the leak. I don’t really have any reason to believe it was anyone but the Russians, but most of the statements about the Russians being the source are coming from the Clinton campaign. Like this quote from NBC-
“What’s disturbing to us is that experts are telling us Russian state
actors broke into the DNC, stole these emails, and other experts are now
saying that the Russians are releasing these emails for the purpose of
actually of helping Donald Trump,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook
said on CNN.
The actual statement from the FBI seems a little more ambiguous ( from CNN)
“The FBI is investigating a cyber intrusion involving the DNC and are
working to determine the nature and scope of the matter,” the agency
said in a statement. “A compromise of this nature is something we take
very seriously, and the FBI will continue to investigate and hold
accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace.”
From the Guardian-" Clinton campaign says ‘Experts are telling us’ Russia linked to hack"
The AP reported today that the FBI has started investigating the source of the hacks. Which is not the same as announcing the results of the investigation. Although it appears that private individuals and firms hired by the DNC have stated that the Russians are to blame, That does not seem to be a universally shared belief among security experts. I am not personally going to take anything that the DNC puts out in a press release at face value. Or the GOP, for that matter. And the statements about manipulating an election not being a crime is a vague and incomplete statement. Manipulating the election through clever advertising is quite different from suppressing votes or hacking voting machines to change the result. I don’t know where on that spectrum the DNC falls, but some methods of attempting to manipulate an election are, in fact, criminal.
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I’m sure that FBI Director Comey will recommend aggressive prosecution of the DNC leaker(s), and that the Attorney General will seek the maximum penalties.
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I don’t dispute that the hack was Russian, or even Putin’s motivations, but if you think the media emphasis on Putin is anything more than you being “managed” through old-fashioned PR spin, think again.
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It’s hardly Russia’s fault that the DNC lacks integrity, ran a nationwide primary with corrupted undercurrents, and also have poor operational security. They have nobody to blame but themselves and we have nobody to blame but the broken people and poisoned culture behind the DNC. We won’t find the solutions to any of these problems in Russia.
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Probably because these internal emails are used much like IMs, rattled off of iPhones and Blackberrys on he move. they don’t need to look pretty, just get the point across.
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i’m sure i don’t. this is a serious question – and I don’t care about the criminalty of it, really – is there any reasonable reason to thinkthat if the Russians knew about her server, they’d have not gotten to it?
I cannot fault people for spelling when using some mobile device. I have been reading the leaks, and what gets me is the amazing level of arrogance displayed. I hope there is a GOP leak, so we can see what they really say about us when they think nobody is listening. I always assume my comments, emails, and phone conversations are being read or listened to. It amazes me that people much closer to the government do not seem to worry about such things. Maybe that is part of the arrogance. They might really believe that once their candidate is elected, they will all share so much power that they will be immune to prosecution or even criticism.
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Pretty sure you take tens or hundreds of thousands of emails from any large institution and you’ll get more of the same - I mean the Sony hack shows that pretty clearly.
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It shouldn’t matter who hacked the DNC, whether it be Russia or Jesus, a shameful truth was revealed, and it’s best not to get caught up in the diversion from the bad things revealed from this event.
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Now that’s just a ridiculous assertion. Both matter, and neither should dismiss the other. In many ways I’m glad I am not living in Michigan anymore and my vote literally doesn’t matter this cycle.
If Russians are behind this to the level that is being cited, then that means Russia used a “neutral” agent to commit and act of cyber warfare against the US that irreparably effects the US election cycle. That’s about as far from not mattering as it gets.
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Yuuuuup.
When Bernie supporters asserted that the DNC had it in for their candidate, everyone else including the Clinton campaign rolled their eyes. When Bernie himself made the same charge, their eyes just rolled back even further.
The vindication of Sanders and his supporters is hardly comforting as the damage has already been done, both to the Sanders campaign and the reputation of the DNC. I no longer have any reason to trust the latter.
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Right. Why speculate about ever more complex ways that Putin might be secretly all over pushing for Hillary so he can manipulate her. When its already self evident that he’s doing that but for TRUMP.
Its also worth noting there is some one out there with a trove of internal documents from Clinton’s state department, internal not for the public communications, and attached documents. That someone is the fucking FBI and a shit ton of American news organizations. How much was in there that would be good blackmail fodder? Not much of anything, and its already out so it wouldn’t be much use for blackmail anyway. This sort of “well if x happens, and then if y exists, then it means z, and that confirms all our preconceived suspicions about Hillary” thinking seems embedded in nearly every scandal she’s involved in. But when you do get a look at all the bits in pieces for this horse shit there’s never much there beside shoot yourself in the foot numbskullery.
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Makes you wonder if Putin ordered any other emails hacked. I mean obviously Hillary’s as Secretary of State is a prime target, but why not Trump’s too? Or any other politician who has unsecure mail? Is state sponsored black mail a thing, you think?
“Lay off the NATO treaty, or we will publish the naked selfie.”
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I don’t see how this is an issue since meddling with the internal politics of sovereign nations has been part of US policy since at least the 19th century. Anyhow the assertion that Russia was behind it hasn’t been demonstrated, it’s nothing more than a rumor and I recommend a good dose of healthy skepticism in light of things like this. Are you not old enough to remember the yellowcake uranium and mobile biological weaponry labs?
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See through the chaff here everybody. It does not matter if Putin did it, or not, or just a show-off hacker. This is all just noise. What do we know.
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Released this info with very careful timing. Clearly interested in impacting outcome of our election.
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IF you had one load of emails to share, this would not be the time when you would drop it. If you were going to strike once, better in Sept, or Oct. for max damage for Nov. But a very good time to embarrass Clinton.
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So its likely we can expect more. In Sept. Or Oct. Or maybe they have enough to badger Clinton all the way home. But I’d more expect a deal killer in Sept - voter suppression evidence, or worse - digital voting machine tampering. We’ll see.
But yes, if you don’t see Clinton as a very vulnerable candidate at this point you are naive. She really needs to bow out unless she really wants Trump to win.
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From all sides.
One of the more disturbing implications of the NSA’s mass surveillance program is that the world’s intelligence agencies now have an extensive collection of blackmail material on every possible politician for the next fifty years.
The spooks run the world now.
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As has been obvious for some time, the Democratic establishment are perfectly willing to accept a Trump presidency as the cost of maintaining corporate plutocracy.
They’d prefer Clinton, but no price is too high for them to avoid returning control to the 99%.
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And Facebook has all the material for the politicians that come after that. 
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