OMG Wikileaks has really hit this one out of the ballpark! The collusion! The corruption! This is seriously a game changer, which is going to affect the outcome of the election. Assange is l’enfant terrible, fearlessly changing the political landscape of the ENTIRE HISTORY of HUMANKIND!
HOLY FUCKING SHIT!
THE CONTROVERSY!!!
He can’t lose.
But he can be surprised by comments on the internet!
I loved that show.
and imagine what it’s going to be like when state actors can doctor video with the same ease as they can edit a few word documents… hopefully the analysis tools will be able to keep up with the production side.
thankfully they’re still working out the kinks of the tech, so we have a while yet to prepare:
He actually looks better bald.
I guess my major point, though (in agreement with @nemomen’s point), was that if information is power, that allowing access that seems “leaked” can function as a means of distorting facts and simply reinforce those already in power.
I don’t know… it’s not really a point I considered before, but it is in lock step with the evolving idea about capitalism and stability, that the two aren’t necessarily mutually constitutive and that chaos can also be an effective tool for shoring up particular kinds of power.
In real life, though, he doesn’t have that much forehead/crown.
The only real improvement would be a Cousin It wig.
Look, the relentlessly self-serving nature of the “changing attitudes” that have been displayed here is what’s stunning, and the RedState-esque unwillingness to admit to it. If all I wanted in a website was the moronic, self-pleasuring drivel that pours out of RedState, I’d go there.
It’s not OK for those who are broadly on the left to indulge in the same hive-minded jackassery that typifies RedState. There are many legitimate critiques of Assange & Co., particularly their disregard for the well-being of those whom they may expose – those who are not powerful and who may pay the ultimate price if exposed. But… the impetus behind most of the venom here recently has been all about Hillary Clinton, unspoken fears about her ability to win the Presidency, and “creative” class-based contempt for The Donald. A contempt which neatly encompasses the few good thing the oaf had championed - like questioning elite-favoring trade agreements, or slick hand-offs of public programs to the private financial sector.
Clinton is very unlikely to lose at this point. If anything the naked manipulations coming from Wikileaks work in her favor. Her campaign has been astute about using the obvious dirty tactics of the Russians to her advantage in U.S. public opinion.
She has to keep fighting to the end, obviously. I have to vote for her, obviously. I do not have to be coerced into pretending that The Donald is evil incarnate, that his every position is contemptible, and that her every policy position is admirable. Those are lies. Lies that are being persistently favored by cutsey, hive-minded anti-Trump fervor at sites like this one.
If you need an in-group thrill, find a sports team fan club.
The Panama Papers are not WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks claimed they were a George Soros conspiracy to get Putin (even though they implicated more Putin enemies than friends).
Then there is Assange pulling a Mel Gibson and saying all his critics are Jews. WikiLeaks have certainly taken a turn for the douche.
I’ve been thinking about this a little more. We know there are fake Russian internet accounts on political comment threads on many news sites. They’re usually easy to spot, just look for the guy saying Russia saved Ukraine from the Nazis that were running it.
We also know there are a number of Twitter accounts these same sorts operate. Kurt Eichenwald just wrote a long article about them, though they were obvious before.
And we know Russian intelligence is attempting to use Wikileaks for their own political purposes, since the forensics from the DNC attack and the Podesta attack both found a lot of evidence behind of the source.
Finally there’s been widespread penetration tests on various voting systems in the US, which investigators believe originated from Russia (though this hasn’t been proved, the DHS under Obama wouldn’t be stating that there are ongoing attempts to interfere with voting systems unless they had a good reason).
If it wasn’t for the evidence I would think it was all paranoid cold war conspiracy theories. Happily their attempts to this point were mostly ham-fisted self-marginalizing efforts, but it’s still surreal to see this happening.
Not cool, man.
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