Russia worked to beat Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump become President of the United States, says the CIA:
Intelligence agencies have identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided WikiLeaks with thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and others, including Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, according to U.S. officials. 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.
“It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia’s goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected,” said a senior U.S. official briefed on an intelligence presentation made to U.S. senators. “That’s the consensus view” [Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima, and Greg Miller, “Secret CIA Assessment Says Russia Was Trying to Help Trump Win White House,” Washington Post, 2016.12.09].
We can’t trust the CIA, says Trump:
“These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction,” the Trump transition team said in a statement late Friday. “The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It’s now time to move on and “Make America Great Again'” [Nahal Toosi, “Trump Team Rejects Intel Agencies’ Claims of Russian Meddling,” Politico, 2016.12.09].
First, it’s hard to take seriously an indictment of trustworthiness that the Russian candidate punctuates with a patently false claim. By the results of each state’s popular vote, Trump has won 306 of the Electoral College’s 538 votes. That’s 57%. 45 out of 56 Presidential elections have seen the winner claim a larger percentage of the Electoral College than Trump’s apparent take; the highest were George Washington’s 100% Electoral takes. Barack Obama’s Electoral win percentages were 68% in 2008 and 62% in 2012.
Donald Trump has 36 more Electoral College votes in his column than the 270 necessary to win. 36 Presidential elections have produced winners with larger raw numbers of electoral votes above the victory threshold; the highest raw margin was Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s in 1936, when he won 523 Electoral College votes, 257 more than necessary. George Washington’s unanimous win raw margins were 34 in 1789 and 65 in 1792. Barack Obama’s win cushions were 95 in 2008 and 62 in 2012.
So even as Trump claims the CIA is wrong, he’s lying about basic arithmetic and historical fact.
Second, the President-Elect is now delegitimizing the United States intelligence apparatus the same way he delegitimizes the press. But that apparatus is about to be his source of information to justify foreign policy. Two months from now, when President Trump says, “We need to invade/sanction/tariff/Tweet-bomb X,” and we ask “Why?” and he says, “Our intelligence shows…,” we can all say “Ha!” and Congress can refuse to authorize or fund an action built on lies. Delegitimize the intelligence services, the press, scientists, voters, the Cabinet (by selecting wealthy toadies even less qualified for their posts than Trump is for the Oval Office) and the only basis for Presidential action becomes the President’s will and whim… and that’s a scary recipe for failure.
Third—what are you thinking, America? In 1888, incumbent Democratic President Grover Cleveland won the popular vote but lost his home state and the Electoral College because of perceptions that President Cleveland was too palsy-walsy with our friendly rival Great Britain. Now, two weeks before the Electoral College votes, we have evidence that a far less friendly rival with the power to nuke us put its thumb on our electoral scale. Patriotic electors already had a plethora of reasons to do their duty and pick Clinton or Pence instead of Trump. Now they have an assault on our sovereignty by the nation that the Pentagon last February called the greatest threat to national security and that the GOP nominee before Trump called our biggest geopolitical foe. Do we shrug at a President picked by Putin instead of the popular vote?
This is how Red Dawn really happens. The Soviets, Cubans, and Nicaraguans don’t parachute in and shoot up Colorado. Instead, KGB alumnus Putin dispatches his arms-length hackers to get the President he wants. So much simpler and cost-effective.
Several Sinators were given closed door briefings about Russia’s involvement before the election and chose not to inform the voting populace. Nice guys, what?
One can’t help but wonder, did their guy win?
Republicans and the FBI knew in September that the RNC was also hacked http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/09/us/obama-russia-election-hack.html?emc=edit_na_20161209&nlid=60036400&ref=cta&_r=2
This means that the Russians also have the goods on them as well to blackmail and do whatever it is they wish to. People, this is what a hostile takeover is in big business. The one company leverages the one they are after. We just got purchased by Putin and part of the deal is going to be your Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Here is how it could work here like in Mother Russia https://www.towerswatson.com/en/Insights/Newsletters/Global/global-news-briefs/2015/03/russia-social-security-pension-system-revamped-beginning-in-2015
Trump says you can’t trust the CIA, but you can trust Russia.
GOP Party politicians are silent. Apparently they’re ALL for Russia and against the CIA these days. Loyalty to party first, country second.
Apparently there are one or two GOP Party politicians who aren’t for Russia and against the CIA. Lindsey Graham and John McCain want to look into things further.
Obama wanted a bi-Partisan effort to look into the CIA’s findings and here’s what he gets for reaching his hand out to near sighted, Russia approved McCTurtles- In mid-September, intelligence officials briefed congressional leaders in a secure room in the Capitol. The Democrats present unanimously supported a bipartisan effort to go public with an accusation against Russia for meddling in the election. As you would expect, the Republicans were split on the issue. In the end, McConnell vetoed the effort, obviously to protect his own damn job. As stated in the article:
According to several officials, McConnell raised doubts about the underlying intelligence and made clear to the administration that he would consider any effort by the White House to challenge the Russians publicly an act of partisan politics.
Who the hell is this guy working for???? I’m guessing it ain’t America the Beautiful.
A student of psychological human nature can easily conclude that Trump claimed the election was rigged against him to provide cover for the fact that he already knew the election was rigged in his favor. It’s a process of projecting guilt onto your opponent for a crime that you’re currently committing.
I wonder what the “Oath Keepers” think of this? Remember these guys that said defending the Constitution was their thing because of stuff. Maybe another toothless hound. Nope, turns out they are for protecting the Russian stooges who will vote for this illegal office holder. “OFFER OF PROTECTION TO ELECTORS: Oath Keepers is hereby issuing a standing offer of volunteer protection to any of the Electoral College Electors who may feel threatened or in danger from leftist radicals attempting to coerce them into changing their vote as Electors.”
Mitchie McCTurtle sure as shooting ain’t defending the constitution. He needs to be run out of office in disgrace and take the rest of the nut job traitors with him.
“Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the outgoing Senate Democratic leader, raised concerns publicly earlier this year that the FBI was withholding information about ties between Russia and Trump’s campaign. After the Post’s report on Friday, Reid took a parting shot at FBI Director James Comey in an interview with Bloomberg’s Steven Dennis.
“I was right. Comey was wrong. I hope he can look in the mirror and see what he did to this country,” he said.”
Yes, Senator Reid was right and the FBI director was in cahoots with the whole plot. Damnedest thing I have seen since the attempted coup involving Lincoln’s assassination.
Front page news about this from all newspapers in South Dakota…just joshing.
And why did Putin want Trump as President of the United States? HINT: Not because Trump was the strongest, smartest, canniest, most patriotic, and best candidate…
Russia hacked wingnuts party computers but didn’t release any info. Obviously they were trying to get HRC elected.
Good one, Jerry. It was the headline in the Star Tribune and the Denver Post, this morning.
Yes Porter, it is headline news in all places but this place. The last thing these “news guys” want to do is to report real news. It was cool to let on about emails and such, but now we know that the Republicans were hacked as well in a cyber war. Think of this, we spend trillions of dollars in defense of this country and a couple dozen hacks whose testicles have barely dropped, have brought us to our knees, while we watched them do it. They have done what no armies of the world have done in all the wars we have been in. A couple of days ago, we made notice of an attack in Pearl Harbor, at least then you could clearly see it was a fight. Now what?
No wonder Mr. Trump does not go to intelligence briefings, they will tell him that he is illegitimate due to election fraud. Show us the long form briefings Mr. Trump.
Trump just announced that he has picked Putin’s good friend, the CEO of Exxon Mobil, for SOS. I wonder if there is any connection?
Looks like Loserville is still having a hard time accepting reality.
Maybe you guys can go protest in Siberia or something like your ND brethren.
It’s like football, Greggie. We’ve been on offense for eight years. Scored eight touchdowns. And are way way ahead. Your side has the ball, now. ?
– Thing is, our defense is just as good as our offense. When you fumble, we’ll recover for a few more scores and have the ball back before you know it. GAME ON
Greg, I think I’m looking reality square in the face: the Russians interfered in the American election to help get the weak President and the pro-Putin/Exxon CEO Secretary of State they want and the Republican Party is doing nothing about it.
Wolverines!
Greg D sounds like one of them disenfranchised whitey wingnuts victims who is being victimized by the mangled apricot hellbeast and doesn’t realize it. He is still fixated on HRC’s emails. And Obama coming to take his guns. And on the abortions Libs are forcing him to have and how he could only pray in school in silence.And on and on and on……..
Wonder if Exxon will dredge a harbor to the reflecting pool, so they duplicate Exxon-Valdez for east coast liberals.
It is Deplorable Greg to think that democracy has just been hacked by a foreign enemy. It is Deplorable Greg that you seem to think this is okay and that having the Russians invade us without so much as a whimper from you, is how you roll. I guess that democracy thingy was just to much for you to bear.
Our new Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, is a Russian stooge and Trump wants us to “move on” and just forget about Russian intervention in our election cycle:
“He already has ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin as well, after representing the company’s interests in Russia during the Boris Yeltsin administration.
In 2013, the Kremlin bestowed the country’s Order of Friendship honor on Tillerson.”
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/rex-tillerson-exxon-mobile-expected-be-named-trump-s-secretary-n694371
The Manchurian candidate had nothing on this Siberian candidate.
And, as the Wall Street Journal said, “Friends and associates said few U.S. citizens are closer to Mr. Putin than Mr. Tillerson, who has known Mr. Putin since he represented Exxon’s interests in Russia during the regime of Boris Yeltsin.
“He has had more interactive time with Vladimir Putin than probably any other American with the exception of Henry Kissinger,” said John Hamre, a former deputy defense secretary during the Clinton administration and president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank where Mr. Tillerson is a board member.” 12/6/16
Seems to be a pattern, doesn’t there?
Bringing all the corporate alligators into the DC swamp is a start of corporate tyranny which may be known as fascism or share too many unfortunate features and effects. Those who voted for Trump thinking he would do a damn thing for the unfortunate, ignored, and unrespected are going to be mighty sad they ever voted for Trump and will wish they still had Obama as President and Democrats in control of Congress.
Tillerson’s foreign policy experience includes his employment at Exxon since 1975- 41 years of nothing remotely close to negotiating with foreign countries and globe hopping with a mission in mind.
You don’t suppose Putin is protecting or blackmailing Trump over his undisclosed tax returns that would show their cozy relationship with Trump loans and investments in Russia?
There has to be a purpose behind Putin’s support of Trump. What is it?
The coup d’ etat can only be successful when you have willing partners that get something out of the steal. Here is this guy “According to several officials, McConnell raised doubts about the underlying intelligence and made clear to the administration that he would consider any effort by the White House to challenge the Russians publicly an act of partisan politics.” So what did the Senate Majority Leader get out of this? His wife, the same Elaine Chao whose family brought drugs into the country on their ships, https://www.thenation.com/article/mitch-mcconnells-freighted-ties-shadowy-shipping-company/ gets her cushy job back into the mainstream. This mainstream also involves Taiwan, where her family comes from. Kind of all fits in the big picture of how this team will operate if this is successful.
Roger, Russia is broke and in real trouble of sliding into a complete failed state. The only thing they have that is bringing in cash is their oil and gas. In order to get Russia on the same page as the US regarding Syria, they were gonna be hit with the exports of US energy to Europe to give Russia a competitor for that European energy market.
With Trump, the oil continues to flow the way it has from Russia to Europe along with the profits and the threat to Europe that Russia can turn the spigot off if they want to either raise prices or get ambitious for territory. Wealthy Russians spend rubles at Trump resorts, that is how it all works.
Roger (thanks for your service in Peace Corps). I don’t think Putin cares either way about Trump. Like the whole damn election, it was anti-Hillary not pro Trump. Her husband was President and there are things only Presidents know. She probably knows more about Putin’s weaknesses than anyone alive. He was rightly scared to death of her being President. Trump’s probably never even been in a fist fight.
Without tax returns we have no idea of how deeply in debt Trump is to Russia. That’s not a small national security issue.
Add Tillerson to this list of tight connections with Russia…you remember them, Ronald Reagan hated them. The GOP backing of Trump has got to put have Reagan turning over in his grave and that the GOP has turned its back on Saint Ronnie.
Here’s a list of other connections to the Russians and Putin besides Trumps man-crush on the dictator and his desire to stop supporting NATO.
http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-russia-hillary-clinton-united-states-europe-516895
A look back at history seems kind of appropriate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact
Finally on this subject I can give a stock tip—Mr. Trump has recently met in a closed door session with Japan’s PM Abe–no details could be given but Abe said he thought him and Mr. Trump could do business together. Yesterday on Friday Japan announced that for the first time in their history that they were going to legalize casinos in Japan and that their government had rammed that legislation through in less then 2 days after many years of saying no way to casinos. In the meantime our wonderful president to be plans on staying involved in his TV show this coming year. It seems that the MGM grand is making that happen. I guess that MGM has some kind of deal with the TV network that will broadcast this. Any bets that the MGM is one of the first casinos to come on line in Japan.—You heard that here first-
The pro-Commie party hacked by a bunch of other Commies…all for the benefit of private corporate interests. You guys really thought this through.
Its the content of the hack that lost her the election. Why aren’t you out trying to clean up the rot gut of your party instead of poking a bear?
Greg, Greg, Greg, we all know Putin and the Russians are not Communists any more. They are anarcho-capitalist oligarchists, just like Trump.
But let me check, Greg: you have no problem with foreign governments supplying material support to American Presidential campaigns? Would you like to repeal the FEC prohibition on campaign contributions from foreigners as well?
I see your problem, GD, you are blind as well and uninformed. Either that or there is a total disconnect between what you see and what whatever passes for your brain tells you you see.
Is there a crime of any kind a right wing nut job can commit that would cause other right wing nut jobs to call it a crime and investigate/prosecute it, GD? Why aren’t you barking at the moon that your party and Russia with help from the FBI stole an election? Mass murder, war crimes and now treason aren’t enough to get your side mad at your own, but HRC had emails-wtf? Despicably deplorable.
GregDeplorable- an original Maggot-Make America Great Again 4 Trump. MAGAT-maggot
Rather than going down another rabbit hole, why aren’t democrats demanding a purge of leadership and the incestuous relationship with the press? The collusion backfired big time, the distrust of the media was confirmed and cemented with the public through wiki-leaks.
Group think got you guys where you are at and now is putting you at odds with the Russian Government, so much for the flexibility Obama gained after defeating Romney.
Hind sight is 20/20, but maybe if we had an investigative press rather than sycophant press you guys would’ve been spared candidate Clinton?
As I’m trying to post this I see the website was having issues, must be the Russians as well?
Italy has appointed another prez. Another un-elected technocrat. This follows what Greece has done to their elected prez, along with where we are here, with an appointed one. Freedom is just another word for nothing left to loose. All in all, this is starting to look more and more like the road map to 1917 rather than 2017. We will have the czar of Russia, the money changers in Brussels, and the west here, that is involved like the Ottomans, with the corruption of the gilded age. Remember the disparity between the 1% and the rest? Me neither. Since the appointment of Trump, we all think we can not only crap in a gold commode, but have more than one to use.
The jobs plan, disband NATO, for starters, then occupy. I think we ought to raise another 400,000 to 1,000,000 active military to even make an even better argument to dissolve the Social nets we have for healthcare and for pension living. Meanwhile, there are still the human interest stories on the tee vee to keep us stupid. Yesterday was EBT day, or SNAP day which was changed from Food Stamps because of the marketing that makes it uncomfortable for the wealthy to even consider the name. Go see the masses that depend on these Food Stamps to survive and try to understand their plight. Here is a hint, the users are not all Indians, most are White. They are young mothers dragging along two or three under dressed children. Look into their eyes to see our future, they are the pathfinders for our brave new world. They know that they have been neglected and pushed aside like yesterdays trash to fend for themselves.
Nothing in South Dakota news that even hints at this headline. Why is that?
Kudos to Jill Stein for being the only Presidential candidate actually trying to do anything about this whole mess. She has taken a lot of heat for her recount efforts from both Republicans and Democrats, and yet she struggles on where she can. Her stance on principles of election integrity has really drawn the Michigan Trump supporters out to show their disdain for any type of election investigation as they squashed her efforts in their Supreme Court after severe anomalies were showing up. We all need to see the evidence and remain vigilant.
Greg-R U being held by Muslims in a Sharia compound outside Aberdeen? Is that where you are coming from?
Nelson, Clark, Hickey and any other devout right wingers out there: is there a crime a wingnut can commit that would be investigated/prosecuted by other wingnuts? War crimes by dumbass dubya didn’t do it. Outing a covert CIA agent didn’t do it. Now it appears treason ain’t enough to get you off your asses and demanding Messrs Drumpf, McConnell, Ryan and a multitude of other haunt companyeros answer for crimes against our nation. Disgustingly, deplorably, despicable!
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/fake-news-how-partying-macedonian-teen-earns-thousands-publishing-lies-n692451
Notice how wingnuts haven’t bothered to lay any blame on liberals for the propaganda.
In June, 2016 Trump knew about the email hack of Clinton before Clinton did http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-clinton-server-hack-claim-i-think-i-read-n597891 Trump just indicted himself to the crime of illegal hacking months before anyone else was aware of it. South Dakota newspapers are gearing up to let their readers know about this. Just wait and see. Nelson along with Daugaard and Jackley will call a news conference with Jello Land News, who is gonna deliver the warrant on live tee vee. Just you wait and see.
Trump is kind of God like in the mysterious ways of stuff. That is even better than a thermos bottle that somehow knows that it will keep soup hot or kool-aid cold. How do it know?
Its pretty much a foregone conclusion that it was the Russians, just like it was a foregone conclusion that Trump was going to lose in a landslide, Democrats will win the Senate, and probably take back the House, and Cory would win a senate seat. Blue wall would hold and you will never see a Republican win a national election again.
Just seems odd the Russians would turn on Hillary, wasn’t she the one who pressed the Reset button?
Maybe she should’ve lowered her rates to the Foundation and game them a special deal? I mean the Uranium deal was ok, but they probably wanted a bit more.
Interesting that you are so much like Trump. He publicly states that he is to smart to listen to intel reports and you are to smart to believe that the CIA is actually good at intelligence gathering. Your boy Reince and repeat, states that the RNC was never hacked. This is another interesting bit as those intelligence departments are claiming otherwise. Well, there is going to be a congressional look see into this that we all know happened, so there is that. In the meantime, you and Trump are right and the whole intelligence community is wrong.
HRC won the popular vote in a landslide and if broken machines (several hundred in Detroit alone) are ever opened up and the votes counted it might be a totally new result.
Fake Noise and Breitbart and other rw sites are claiming the CIA reports are fake news items. Komrat Drumptin has hiz own Pravda.
First of all, I want to be very clear – I am not defending or supporting ANYONE or purporting to know the facts of this whole mess and meme because I want a full investigation. That being said, I share this link to the statements of a primary source of information, i.e. Craig Murray. You decide whether it can be trusted, but it is the only primary source counterpoint to the MSM narrative that I have stumbled across all day. https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/12/cias-absence-conviction/
First, like many, I’m extremely disappointed about the elections. This latest news really doesn’t change much for me, just more of the same.
You can set around and bitch and moan all you want, and nothing will change. Trump would have won regardless of who the dems ran. Dont say Sanders would have done better because thats bullpucky. Sanders economic policy looked like Santa’s wish list that never had a chance of success. Remember the same people would have voted in that election to. Those people sent a strong message to the rest of us that they were in no mood for what either Sanders or Clinton were pushing. Nothing would have changed, Trump would have still won the red nanny states, and whoever the dems ran would still win the blue producing states. Russia didnt vote,the people voted. The demacrats just plain didnt read the tea leaves right.
Nationally, the dems lost because of the message, or lack of. I guess you could say their message was lost in the confusion that is the “Crotch Grabber.” The demacrats lost because they thought they knew what the parameters of the election where, and in this election there were none. And finally, the dems lost because of political correctness. Now you know that what passes as political correctness in one part of the country, isnt taken the same as in another part of the country. The country just told you that you should be responsible for what comes out of your mouth, and leave your word police outlook at home.
You and I lost, and they won, and for all those reasons, but not because of Russia.
And in the state of good old South Dakota, the dems lost because, well because they are demacrats. Missouri is also a red state, but ive had no problems talking to leaders in either party. The difference is that while Missouri is red, it leans blue. On the other hand, SD doesnt just have a red majority, they have the whole thing. You dems are still running like it is a two party state, and it clearly isnt. The people in SD have spoken and they just told you they didnt like the policies you pushed. If you keep pushing to the left, the results will be the same in 2, 4, and even 8 years.
While you have no problem telling people what they shouldnt do or say, you hate it when the right makes the same moves. That would be ok in Mo, but wont even start the engine in South Dakota. You are beating yourselves. You wont win until your ready to tell people, in a way thats palatable to them how you can make life easier for them and their families. Ya cant call them stupid and redneck and then ask for their vote.
Russia didnt give Trump a win you demacrats did that all on your own. Here we are a month after the election, and I’m not hearing anything about change, only more of the same. How’s that been working for ya?
The Blindman
I found this dated 10/27/2016 about what you say Greg. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/huffpost-hill-team-trump-looking-to-cuck-the-vote_us_581273b3e4b0990edc302826 A week before the election, Trump’s team was saying the same thing, interesting.
Something is clearly wrong with the whole election business. A good thorough investigation on this needs to be done.
There may be another connection as well, that of revenge. Remember the Panama Papers? Putin does and he made a promise http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/04/putin-to-declassify-documents-that-bear.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FortRuss+%28Fort+Russ%29
Putin may well have poked the US in the eye for the disclosure of that information about him. I think he has the goods on Trump as well as others in the RNC hack.
Romney in 2012 got some lol’s by stating that Russia was our biggest geopolitical adversary. Funny how things change.
Jerry, hardly anyone even knows what the Panama Papers are, despite their importance. Have not heard any word on that investigation from DOJ since the announcement that they are investigating it, nor from US MSM. Ironically, in the rest of the world, the case is still live and being prosecuted. Most recently in Pakistan.
http://crooksandliars.com/2016/12/trump-says-democrats-made-russian-hacking
Blindman-the knock on Dems for years was they gave everyone everything for free. Tell me how losing our retirement, our health insurance, our civil rights makes life easier for us. Tell us how paying more in taxes while the wealthy skate some more is good for us. Tell us how allowing foreign nations to decide our elections is good for us. How about relaxing environmental regs, allowing more heavy metals and all kinds of chemicals in our air and water is good for us. Clinton won the popular vote in a lanslide. We have a right to know if the election was rigged. Drumpf admitted it was rigged until shortly before November when he said he knew he would win. How could he know he’d win if he didn’t know the election was riggedf. Sometimes you don’t make sense, friend.
If Russia doesn’t hack the DNC and Podesta and the state department, we don’t have the stream of WikiLeaks constantly dominating the news cycle. Take a look at all the negative press that came out of the leaks and try to tell me that the election would have been the same without the hacked emails. With the extremely thin margins in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, not to mention Florida, the fix was in by the Russians.
Could HRC have run a better campaign and overcome the Russian interference? Sure. Was her campaign poorly run? Not by a long shot. Other factors, like Comey’s last minute inexcusable information disclosures along with his unprecedented public shaming of HRC, got Trump close enough for the Russian interference to put Trump over the top. The Siberian candidate will now be in control. And the Russians have all the secrets on Trump and they will not be afraid to use them if Trump doesn’t play ball. “Yes, comrade Putin, right away comrade Putin.”
Jerry, The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists @ICIJorg recently published this about the #PanamaPapers: https://panamapapers.icij.org/20161201-global-impact.html
Still waiting to hear any big US news about it. I wonder why.
No one wants to hear about the Panama Papers because they were linked to every country in the world with one exception, the good ol US of A, indeed, why is that. Putin got embarrassed big time on this exposure and at a most inopportune time for him as well. As noted, he promised revenge and what sweeter way to to it than to purge the American election complete with RNC and DNC hacks. The most important one though is the one on Podesta, a private citizen. I am not a Clinton fan by any means, but to publish private emails from a private citizen is an unlawful breach of privacy that should be prosecuted. I do hope that ASSange gets his assange tossed in the jail for the unwanted sexual advances on a sleeping woman as he will not get the needed justice here. Go Swedes go!
Jerry, you must have missed this part in that ICIJ article:
“In Nevada, officials fined the law firm’s Las Vegas branch $10,000 for failing to maintain adequate paperwork. In Wyoming, state officials fined Mossack Fonseca’s branch in Cheyenne $9,600, charging that the office had shown an “obvious disregard for the law” and “completely failed to perform” its duty to keep records on the people behind any of the Wyoming companies that it represented.”
Leo, yes, that is clear on this firm. I speak of the rest of the vipers den of tax dodgers that used Panama to launder their cash and hide it from US taxes. Putin had billions put there for safekeeping. His cover was blown and made him out for what he is, a robber baron that has sucked the life blood from Russia with his pals.
Nate Silver ✔ @NateSilver538
Clinton lost 4 states (FL, MI, WI, PA) by ~1 point. If not for Comey/Russia, she probably wins them all by ~2 points & strategy looks great.
11:38 AM – 10 Dec 2016
Just thinking as an IT guy, if you have a serious data breach the last thing you want to do is start a bleach bit process or physically destroy the devices. Unplug it and turn it all over in whole, but we all know why that didn’t happen.
Indeed, but if Trump did not win be what is claimed, he above everyone else, should be demanding that there be an investigation into what he called “voter fraud”. If you remember Mr. Greg, that was started by him long before the email thingy came out. The most patriotic thing to do would be to make sure we were not infiltrated by an enemy of the state.
Some people’s minds will always be able to be bent to some degree, whether it be by newspaper media, the TV talkers, fellows down at Talley’s eating breakfast, bloggers posting bloggings, or rumors from even other countries.
Russia saying mean things about Hillary is no different that Mike, who is from Iowa, saying mean things about Mr. Rounds. Neither of them can vote but they just try and sway people’s minds.
Ignorant Grudz. I voted just fine and legal like-something right wing nut jobs don’t know how to do. Just like with women and reproductive rights, when it comes to voting, wingnuts clearly feel the need to decide for voters of color where to vote, when to vote or even if they can vote. They toss out all kinds of hoops to protect against imaginary voter fraud that happens only because wingnuts are the guilty party. Then they lie about it. Over and over and over and over…….
Jerry, Putin is a friend of the red menace of murica. Drumpf is the enemy of the state. The mangled apricot pathologically lying hellbeast who gropes his daughter and assaults women because he is king.
As you say, Greasy Gravy … sway people’s minds. Brings up the newest right wing talking point, surely to be parroted by Sen. No Facts Nelson. It’s being said, in an attempt to deflect and project another of their faults, that “FAKE NEWS” was invented by Democrats. First, Democrats are the party of racism (yeah yeah, right) and now the fake news stories from the last two weeks of the election, demeaning candidate Clinton were from the left. The penultimate being Hillary abused children in a pizza parlor and finally, the day before voting, that The Pope endorsed Trump. When your party is so dirty it resorts to sleaze to win, your only salvation is to blame it on your opponent. Preach on Hannity, Limbaugh and Beck. Your legions are listening.
Mike, you are from Iowa. You can vote for Hillary or Trump all you want, but you cannot vote for Rounds, Thune, Mr. H, or any other South Dakotan. However, just like the Russians, you whine and whine and whine and spread misinformation against those people.
Same thing.
Princess Grudz, you’re like a little girl that’s afraid of anything outside of her bedroom. We’re laughing. Big deep belly laughing. ?
Indeed, Mr. Lansing. But I am like a fat little girl.
Seems all want to debate the vector rather than the content of the leaks and form a conclusion on that alone. (for all purposes it hasn’t been ruled out that the IP was being spoofed)
If we examine the content of the leaks we find that the intention of HRC/DNC was to deceive the public.
Greg, you are a master of false analogy. I’m not just making stuff up or playing the optimistic candidate visualizing success. I’m citing actual intelligence assessments from the CIA, backed up by Republicans and Democrats. You can’t dismiss every objectionable fact as some partisan’s wishful thinking.
I’m quite deliberately not debating content. It doesn’t matter what form the foreign interference takes; the foreign interference in an American election is newsworthy in and of itself, independent of any conclusion we may draw about the trustworthiness of either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump from their own statements during the campaign. Greg, you’re trying to rehash a campaign-season argument that you already lost with 65.7 million Clinton voters (compared to 62.9 Trump voters).
As you wish Mr. Greg, as you wish. Now what do you think about why the CIA would make such a declaration? Trump said the election was rigged. Trump said that Clinton had her server hacked before anyone knew about it. Trump said much, now why would he not demand an investigation?
Senator John McCain, a ranking Republican says this today “It’s clear the Russians interfered,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “Now whether they intended to interfere to the degree that they were trying to elect a certain candidate, I think that’s the subject of investigation. But the facts are stubborn things: they did hack into this campaign.”
McCain said the hacks had some effect on the election. “Every week or so there was new information,” McCain said, referring to the publication of stolen DNC and Clinton campaign emails.”
So then, do you think that McCain is right when he says that there needs to be an investigation? You can either answer yes or nyet..
Greg says: “Just thinking as an IT guy, if you have a serious data breach the last thing you want to do is start a bleach bit process or physically destroy the devices. Unplug it and turn it all over in whole, but we all know why that didn’t happen.”
There was no evidence of a data breach of HRC’s private email server so why wouldn’t they wipe the drives. If they didn’t wipe the drives and then the server gets thrown out or replaced and some kid accesses the hard drive, you would be calling for HRC’s head on a stick. So, if HRC doesn’t wipe the drive, she gets blamed for mishandling information and if she does wipe the drive, she is blamed for mishandling information. I love the catch 22 that you have invented. HRC was damned if she did and damned if she didn’t.
The ironic thing is that the State Department’s server was hacked and had HRC’s private emails been on the State Department server they would have been hacked as well. Instead, he private emails may have not have been hacked. The best evidence of this is that even after Trump called for their disclosure by the Russians, they did not show up on WikiLeaks. Maybe they were saving them to blackmail her after the election if she won, but I doubt it.
While I am upset about the Russians involving themselves in our electoral process and think sanctions should be swift and nasty, let us not forget the information they released that did such damage was absolutely true and nobody has said otherwise. That stuff actually happened, folks.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-defends-exxons-tillerson-as-world-class-player-1481469868
Bi-partisan groups are opposing Drumpf’s cabal of Putin lovers. All is not well in mangled apricot hellbeast land.
Dicta-you know fer a fact HRC ran a child prostitution ring out of a DC pizzaria basement that has no basement? Color me hornswoggled by gawd as ever was.
The Pizzagate stuff was the tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theory offered up by people who read the Podesta emails. The release of that information said no such thing. That was mouth breathers coming up with BS. But the DNC informal coalition against Sanders? The leaking of debate questions by CNN to the Clinton campaign beforehand? Yeah. That happened.
Dicta, the Russians almost certainly swayed a Presidential election the way they wanted and your takeaway is don’t forget that the DNC was unfair to Bernie Sanders?
I was pretty clear that sanctions against the Russians should be swift and harsh. But, again, this isn’t misinformation, Darin. So, to return your sarcasm with a bit of my own: the Russians released factual information and you’re pissed because the truth hurt your candidate?
Dicta. Is privacy a foreign concept to you? Should everything about you, your business, your tax returns, your e-mails, your kids, your pillow talk be available to the public? Privacy is vital in a working society and especially in politics … no matter of its truth.
Just to make sure I understand your viewpoint here, Porter: CNN and the Clinton campaign had a reasonable expectation of privacy in their passing of information about questions to be asked in the PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE, questions which were not shared to the other candidate. Also, the DNC had a reasonable expectation of privacy in its communications surrounding the collusion against another party candidate. I may be swayed on the second part, after all, the party apparatus can do what it likes even if it undermines many of their own voters. But the CNN part? Get the hell out of here. CNN was supposed to be an unbiased arbiter and they attempted to sway the results of a debate.
You don’t want to understand my viewpoint. You want to destroy a tenet of civilization. Because someone steals but the stolen item was tarnished, that’s reason to deny the eighth commandment? Because a murder took place but the victim was a bad citizen, that’s reason to deny the sixth commandment? My viewpoint is that privacy is sacred, no matter the information released.
The leaking of debate questions by CNN to the Clinton campaign beforehand? Yeah. That happened.
Certain Fake Noize employees said Drumpf was getting debate questions in advance from Fake Noize. IOKIYAR,right? The pizzaria lie was a part of the hacked email release.
The media reporting that the Russians basically did what the media should’ve done and its a crime because it exposed how they were both working together to shield the truth from the public. Priceless.
That is a great position they have put themselves in. “Damn Russians exposed our lies, people found out and voted against us”.
What did that judge in Pennsylvania say today? Suspicion of a hacked Pennsylvania election “borders on the irrational”. Most importantly, there is no credible evidence that any ‘hack’ occurred, and compelling evidence that Pennsylvania’s voting system was not in any way compromised,” Diamond wrote.
Funny how liars (MSM) make up even bigger lies to keep their charade going.
We must protect the privacy interests of corporate media conglomerates attempting to influence elections through underhanded means- Porter Lansing, 2016
Mike- the lines about the pizzeria were in the email, yes. There was no conspiracy theory about their meaning in the email release. Only an information dump. The conspiracies came after from idiots trying to read tea leaves. You know this, though. You’re throwing out a red herring.
Oh, and just so everyone knows: I am not with this Greg Deplorable guy.
The Russians would not have hacked the systems if not for CNN leaking debate questions, sounds plausible to me, not. So Clinton is a louse for participating in a scam, yeah, we knew she was crooked. Does that give carte blanche to Russian tipping of the election because they were pissed at Donna Brazille? This is all about national security. Do we allow the knowledge and full support of the Republican party to participate in full fledged espionage by a foreign enemy of the state? Remember, the Senate Majority Leader of this country, was fully informed of what was going on and choose to do nothing. This is called treason or does that have a meaning in the United States anymore? Are we all just in it for ourselves? Looks like it.
No, we don’t. Again, because I apparently have to keep saying this, we should sanction Russia and punish their BS and I support Obama’s push to determine what exactly went down and how it did. Out of curiosity, what do you mean, Jerry, when you write:
“Do we allow the knowledge and full support of the Republican party to participate in full fledged espionage by a foreign enemy of the state?”
Do you think the GOP assisted Russia in hacking? What do you mean when you say full support?
Ten Reasons Why Privacy Matters:
From Daniel J. Solove, the John Marshall Harlan Research Professor of Law at George Washington University Law School, the founder of TeachPrivacy, a privacy/data security training company, and a Senior Policy Advisor at Hogan Lovells.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140113044954-2259773-10-reasons-why-privacy-matters
Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader along with others in leadership positions, were briefed on the Russian infiltration weeks before the election, and choose to do nothing. So yeah, they gave full support to the hacking of private citizens as well as the espionage political parties within the borders of the United States. Thune was no doubt in those meetings as well, geesh, what a patriot.
Along with others in leadership positions, including the President of the United States. Is he in on it too?
“There is not just smoke here. There is a blazing 10-alarm fire, the sirens are wailing, the Russians provided the lighter fluid, and Trump is standing half-burnt and holding a match.
Glenn Carle, retired CIA officer and interrogator.
Of course Judge Diamond’s decision was regarding Jill Stein’s attempt at a recount. This is much different than a full investigation by federal authorities.
“There is not just smoke here. There is a blazing 10-alarm fire, the sirens are wailing, the Russians provided the lighter fluid, and Trump is standing half-burnt and holding a match.”
Hey, I don’t disagree with this. I voted for Clinton and still consider her the less of two evils than the imbecilic narcissist we currently have as President-Elect. But damn if I can’t get any of you other than Jerry to acknowledge that she and the DNC did some messed up stuff.
Obama explained his part. He wanted a bi-partisan agreement so he would not be accused of being partisan releasing info from one side and McConnell proved him 110% correct by threatening to smear him as being partisan. So the blame goes squarely on partisan wingnuts who have proven they will commit treason to obstruct Obama. Apparently there is not a crime a wingnut can commit that will get an investigation of wrongdoing by other wingnuts who control the investigative processes and block Dems investigations by denying Dems rooms to meet and times to use those rooms.
Mitch McConnell threatened to rebuke the president of the United States if he went further with the information of espionage. So of course President Obama knew of this, he actually reads the intelligence briefings, what a concept. http://www.businessinsider.com/mitch-mcconnell-cia-russia-trump-election-2016-12 Mr. Dicta, you clearly do not believe that the Russians were hacking and spying because of our intelligence agencies. Yet you disregard what these same intelligence agencies are saying about the facts in this case. Most interesting.
Who is really out to influence elections?
I dare say it is the people who brought us some of these classic examples of fake news:
GWB National Guard story
Hands up don’t shoot
NBC editing the Zimmerman 911 call
Brian Williams
NBC and exploding GM trucks
Jayson Blair
Rolling Stone gang rape claim
Very good comrade Greg. Keep up the protection of your boy Vlad and you vell get a reward. Maybe a some nice caviar from the cold waters of the Caspian Sea.
Now McConnell steps up for investigation, hmmmm. Then this now https://medium.com/@electoralcollege16/bipartisan-electors-ask-james-clapper-release-facts-on-outside-interference-in-u-s-election-c1a3d11d5b7b#.eb6x64pvr
The Speaker of the House may be in the bullpen warming up.
http://crooksandliars.com/2016/12/john-bolton-russia-hack-could-be-false
Ever re-lie-able John Bolton thinks Obama hacked the DNC for political gain.
Bolton is such an idiot. I hope his and Tillerson’s appointments are fought tooth and nail.
wo Congressmen And Ex-Benghazi Committee Staffer Admit Partisan Nature Of The Committee. Since September 29, three credible Republicans have admitted to the partisan nature of the House Select Committee on Benghazi and its primary goal of tarnishing Hillary Clinton. While the first admission may have been inadvertent — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) boasted that the committee had achieved its goal of damaging Clinton’s poll numbers during an interview with Fox News about his candidacy for House Speaker — since then, former Benghazi committee staffer Bradley F. Podliska and a second Republican congressman, Rep. Richard Hanna (R-NY), have come forward and admitted the committee was “designed to go after” Clinton. [Media Matters, 9/29/15; 10/11/15, 10/14/15]
Wingnuts aren’t nice people and have no business being in politics, let alone in total charge of the United States.
How about instead of all the conjecture and third party reports there is some credible evidence shown on this matter? It’s all hearsay, and claims that RNC was hacked but not released is spin put forth that the Russians aren’t fair.
Lay the cards down Obama admin, Russia has no constitutional rights to protect. Prove us all wrong.
Dicta, I’m going to maintain the position that this scandal is completely independent of the content of the material leaked. I don’t want to relitigate the election, and neither should you… although I am open to the argument that the intelligence demonstrates the effort of a foreign power to influence our election, which could justify a response by the Electoral College.
Think of it as a family squabble: if my wife had some faults (she doesn’t, so don’t push me), it still wouldn’t be your place to invite yourself over to dinner to talk about those faults at our dinner table. “But it’s true!” wouldn’t stop me from kicking you out the front door and looking into a better lock to keep you out.
I mean, Obama has called for that as well as a bipartisan push from the Senate, Greg. But let’s look at what we do know:
May ’16: DNC learned that hackers had breached their servers and hired cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike to investigate.
June: CrowdStrike identified two adversaries – Cozy Bear/Fancy Bear (aka APT 28/APT 29) – that are “Russian-intelligence” affiliated. Other firms like SecureWorks have independently corroborated CrowdStrike’s attribution with “moderate confidence”. Cybersecurity consultant Jeffrey Carr disputed the strength of their evidence.
June: Guccifer 2.0, claiming to be a lone Romanian hacker, took credit and leaked certain alleged DNC documents to media outlets. Researchers like ThreatConnect and investigators have tied Guccifer 2.0 to Russia and believe it is a group acting for Russian intelligence.
June 22nd: Wikileaks released 20,000 DNC emails. Guccifer 2.0 claimed he is WL’s source. Assange invoked source-protection, but later denied the Russian gov as WL’s source.
July: US intelligence, including the FBI, appeared to have reached a consensus, though not unanimous, that the Russian govt was involved in the hacks. However, cybersecurity experts were divided over Russia’s motivations. Intelligence officials and Pres. Obama did not publicly accuse Russia of trying to influence the election results.
September: according to WaPo (which should be taken with a large grain of salt), Obama sent counterterrorism advisor Monaco, FBI head Comey, and DHS Secretary Johsnson to lay out evidence of Russian cyber-intrusions in two states and the DNC/Podesta hacks to a Gang of 12, seeking “a show of bipartisan support” against “unprecedented” foreign influence in the election. Ds were unanimously in support, Rs were divided. (Gang of 12 is likely: Pelosi, Reid, Ryan, McConnell, Nunes, Burr, Feinstein, Schiff, McCaul, Thompson, Johnson, and Carper).
October 7: the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence issued a joint statement assessing it would be difficult for a single actor to alter election results and implicated Moscow in the email hacks, quoting:
“The U.S. Intelligence Community [includes 16 agencies] is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations…intended to interfere with the US election process…based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts…only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities.” The White House followed-up on 10/11 that the response to Russia would be “proportional”.
October 30th: Sen. Harry Reid accused Comey of withholding “explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisors, and the Russian government” from the public in a demonstration of a “double standard” with regards to sensitive information.
October 31: A former FBI official told CNBC that “Comey agreed that…A foreign power was trying to undermine the election…but was against putting it out before the election.” Mother Jones cites evidence from an ex-spy connecting Trump’s campaign and advisors to the Russian gov. FBI officials spoke anonymously to the NYT stating that none of the investigations into Trump and his advisors hadn’t “found any conclusive or direct link between Mr. Trump and the Russian government” and that based on investigations into the hack, they were “increasingly confident” that:
Russia’s direct goal is not to support the election of Mr. Trump, as many Democrats have asserted, but rather to disrupt the integrity of the political system and undermine America’s standing in the world more broadly.
December 9: Obama ordered intelligence officials to conduct a “deep dive” review of election-season cyber-attacks, including the email hacks, to report before he leaves office on January 20th. This report may not be disclosed to the public.
Anonymous officials disclosed to WaPo that the CIA’s latest briefing to key senators made it “quite clear” [with high confidence] that Russia’s goal in intervening in the election was to help Donald Trump win. However, according to one senior U.S. official, “there were minor disagreements among intelligence officials about the agency’s assessment” and “the hackers were ‘one step’ removed from the Russian government.” However, Moscow has previously conducted espionage using middlemen. An FBI official before the House Intelligence Committee did not concur with the CIA assessment re: Russia’s intent. Additionally, an official familiar with the latest CIA assessment said it does not mean that “Moscow’s efforts altered or significantly affected the outcome of the election.”
The NYT reported that intelligence officials found that Russia had, in the spring, successfully:
hacked the Republican National Committee’s computer systems in addition to their attacks on Democratic organizations, but did not release whatever information they gleaned from the Republican networks. CIA and NSA officials have also identified individual Russian state officials they believe to be responsible for the hacks.
You are being disingenuous, dude. This isn’t just some pipe dream.
“But it’s true!” wouldn’t stop me from kicking you out the front door and looking into a better lock to keep you out.
That’s a fair point, Cory, and one I have conceded repeatedly. But some of your posters have argued for a privacy interest for the media trying to give one candidate a leg up in the debates. What makes this argument even more bizarre is that it is coming from dems, who typically are not the friendliest to corporate interests. But all of a sudden when it hurts the democratic nominee, there is gnashing of teeth and cries of “Won’t someone think of the multi-billion dollar media conglomerate!?!?!?!?!”
McConnell finds questions of Russia hacks disturbing. No S### Sherlock. But he doesn’t want a select committee to investigate. He thinks the intelligence committee led by partisan Richard Burr of North Carolina can do the job. They need a special group with more power and latitude to issue subpoenas and they had no trouble getting them when the subject of investigation was the woman who should be our next Potus.
I can see Drumpf calling a new election, and then arresting all libs that vote for voter fraud. It could happen.
http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2016/12/what-we-gleaned-from-voter-recount.html
WaPo (which should be taken with a large grain of salt),…really??
and… “FBI officials … hadn’t “found any conclusive or direct link between Mr. Trump and the Russian government” and that … Russia’s direct goal is not to support the election of Mr. Trump, as many Democrats have asserted….” says Comey[‘s people], who torpedoed HRC. hmmmm
I know Huffpo is a questionable citation in the world of the denier,conspiracy theory right, but re: recounts:
Trump won Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan by more than 27,000, 68,000 and 11,000 votes, respectively.
Despite winning the national popular vote by more than 2 percent, Clinton would have had to sweep those states to win the presidency under the U.S. Electoral College….
A U.S. judge in Pennsylvania rejected Stein’s request for a recount and an examination of that state’s voting machines for evidence of hacking in the Nov. 8 election….
Meanwhile, Wisconsin election officials said on Monday they had completed their recount….Michigan…state’s top court on Friday denied Stein’s last-ditch appeal to keep a recount going. (reuters:)
I note out tres amigos, john (numba 3 in the world), Christie and mikey are not getting much airplay. cat gotch yer tongue?
btw, I love trump’s art of vaugue language-he always leaves himself an out (“This is just an excuse . I don’t believe it [the CIA]. I don’t know whyyyy?”) sue out or be sued thousands of times, and you learn evasiveness. what a “loser”.
sorry. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/judge-rejects-jill-stein-bid-for-pennsylvania-recount_us_584f0ea9e4b0bd9c3dfe21be
pavlovian trump: “fog socked in an Italian air force base outside Milan, delaying for hours the takeoff of the F-35s on the last leg of their journey from Texas to Israel….out of nowhere, President-elect Donald Trump decided to strafe the F-35 in a tweet.
‘The F-35 program and cost is out of control,’ Trump wrote Monday. [12.12.16] Finally, the two F-35s landed at 8:16 p.m. It was dark.
The two aircraft were flown by U.S. pilots, and they were greeted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter [who said] there was no better symbol of the relationship between the United States and Israel than the F-35.”
wanna bet if benny complained to the don about the price of the planes? great minds, eh?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/israel-waited-a-long-time-for-its-f-35-jets-then-it-waited-some-more/2016/12/12/2590ab1c-c089-11e6-a52b-a0a126eaf9f7_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-cards_hp-card-world%3Ahomepage%2Fcard&utm_term=.13e13fa436ad
Israel needs it budget cut by several billion US dollars until there is a solid peace proposal and they get the flock out of Palestinian and other disputed lands. Israel has ignored far more than the 14 UN resolutions dumbass dubya used as the threshhold to start his unnecessary, illegal war. When do we “shock and awe” Israel into compliance?
as of 12.29.16, trump’s cabinet:
his nominees include five billionaires and six multimillionaires. This is what is known as oligarchy: direct control of the state by people with substantial private economic power. Given that the Republicans also control both houses of Congress – and will soon make many judicial appointments – there is virtually no effective constraint on the executive branch. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trump-extreme-oligarchy-by-simon-johnson-2016-12