I think the latest National Enquirer claims that the CIA is full of ISIS agents. Funny how that kind of fake news happens…
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They literally hacked the Democratic National Committee’s server to put Trump’s campaign at an advantage. That alone was more than likely enough to swing the electoral college Trump’s way.
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Sorry, ‘hacking the election’ would surely mean interfering with who gets to vote (Republicans did that!) or with the vote count (also the GOP! Possibly Dems too!)? Not doing a little bit of motivated hacktivism.
Americans screwed this election up. GOP for vote-supressing and the Dems for running a crappy campaign and bent primaries.
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I think they’re less cool with it than you might think. Like, Mitch McConnel seems to be in on the deal, but then Lydnsay Graham isn’t. Seems like not everyone was invited to Putin’s buffet.
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Well, as a foreign national, it’s probably worth noting that the US pulls this kind of shit. All. The. Fucking. Time.
So, it that regard, this makes it Scootinfruity Saturday.
I am not, however, even remotely happy about you folks choosing Drumpf. This - Russia hacking US elections - is a wake up call that the NSA, for example, has completely fucked up the balance between their dual missions of offence and defence. Secure systems for everyone, everywhere should be the default setting. And yes; that explicitly means ensuring that the systems that criminals and pedophiles and terrorists use are secure. Because they’re part of “everyone.”
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No, it was Russian hacks to create intelligence leaks, Kremin sourced propaganda/fake news, and Russian controlled sockpuppets on Facebook (manipulating anti-Clinton stories to get them to trend), and sockpuppets on Twitter, and various forum commenters, all tailored to send one message, that Clinton was a corrupt, dishonest, NAFTA/TTP/Wall Street booster, and to erode confidence in the DNC and Democratic leadership. Without Wikileaks posting Russian propaganda, the hatred of the DNC that tarred Clinton by association wouldn’t have been dominating social media throughout the election. Some would have still come to the same conclusions, but the one-sided bullhorn was an issue. Every single Green I interacted with save one cited Wikileaks as a primary motivation for voting third party, and those Green votes along with demotivated Dems. made a difference.
Russia wasn’t the sole factor, but they were without a doubt a sufficient variable to swing this squeaker of an election given the scope of influence and number of people repeating information Russia introduced.
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I mean, your nihilism is understandable, and yes, Russia just manipulated, without determining. If we had a stronger Republic, a less divided populace, if HRC hadn’t been tarred with two decades’ worth of shit-slinging, if Tromp wasn’t a creature of the void, we would’ve weathered the storm.
This is part of why the situation is fucked. Trump has secured the electoral votes - presuming the EC doesn’t rebel for the first time ever in its history. In the eyes of most of the nation, he’s the next president. But, in probably about as many eyes, he’s actually colluding with an enemy nation in our goddamn DEMOCRACY, and that is not shit to be tolerated.
Americans are so used to not talking to each other that we can’t all be on the same page about this. Our national identity is subservient to our political identity, thanks to…well…two decades of Fox News.
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Lots of ways to hack an election. Republicans used some techniques, Russia used others. It was a team effort.
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Does it not feel that way?
They interfered and manipulated our media.
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The WaPo did not at any point make that claim. Greenwald started that lie, and it propagated from there, but the article’s content is quite different than the misrepresentation by some of the far-left propaganda machines. Greenwald’s incredible dismissiveness to any claim of any kind of Russian involvement in attempting to swing the election, and the histrionics with which he attacks anyone who suggests it make him look like a pathetic dupe of the foreign intelligence agencies he once distrusted.
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You speak of the before time, when America’s purification was still in question. We no longer speak of such things. (Glances furtively toward shuttered windows.)
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12,500 Comments on the WaPo article!!!
" Russia intervened in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to help Donald Trump win, rather than just to undermine confidence in the political system"
How better to undermine confidence than to get a buffoon elected?
The whole article is secret stuff the gubmint tells WaPo reporters that they won’t openly tell the public.
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Hey it’s my response to the initial intelligence reports from months ago. Of course, I’m also the one claiming Syria was the catalyst for a true WW3 - but I couldn’t expect Hitler 2: Orange Boogaloo.
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I guess this is why he is avoiding intelligence briefings.
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OK, but is it too much to ask who “the actors” with connections to the Russian government actually are?
Also “Those officials described the individuals as actors known to the intelligence community and part of a wider Russian operation to boost Trump and hurt Clinton’s chances. " wider Russian operation” I would be interested in hearing what that factually includes.
Meanwhile the UK has sanctioned its ability to hack anyone, the US approved Rule 41, and today the Counter Propaganda bill was signed. It seems like we don’t even care about our own right to privacy and free speech. Of course I could be completely wrong.
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Russia’s claim of the US interfering in Ukraine’s election was among their justifications for their invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea. Horrifyingly, Trump will not only treat the attack as unacceptable aggression and interference, but will certainly reward Putin for his help.
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Every analysis has pointed to the GRU and FSB since the initial investigations of the DNC attack (some of which mirrored other known GRU attacks). We don’t know the internal details because this is not something anyone outside the GRU and FSB can know, though there’s much one could assume about who’s giving the orders when both a military cyberwarfare division and a separate intelligence agency jump into action to achieve a goal.
There’s a widespread disinfo operation running from Russia that involves a mix of tailored fake news propaganda sites, and sockpuppet Facebook, Twitter, and internet commenters all working to mislead/misinform target audiences. Some of this has been reported on since the Ukraine invasion, but it’s been ramping up. It’s not unique to the US, but seems to have grown out of Russia justifying their invasion and occupation of Ukraine. The BvF recently released a warning that discribed the developments of Russian online propaganda, misinformation, and hacks to leak sensitive information to the public about political enemies:
https://twitter.com/RidT/status/806958107167518720
These offer a description with various details of Russia’s involvement in the US beyond the leaks:
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In the USSA we calls that sort of thing the “mainstream media”.
Trump campaign changed GOP platform to soften pro-Ukraine language?
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My take on the Comey letter isn’t that he was going to reveal actual, relevant, probative information. It’s that he was trafficking in pure innuendo.
“Just wanted to let you know we found some emails that might end up proving that Hillary Clinton is a criminal. We don’t know, but, well… I guess we’ll just wait and see.”
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