Support NeoGAF

[JackDT]

CNN and every other respectable publication aren't saying the allegations are true. They are only claiming that talk of allegations of this sort made it's way into a high level intelligence briefing.

 

[RawNuts]

On my friends Facebook comments hahaha

It's like they're using all of the key words, but piecing them together in a hilariously stupid manner.

 

[thepotatoman]

It doesn't matter. If it's true trump commited a crime. The FBI will arrest him. He will be charged. At that point he can not serve as President.

If this is all true and becomes verified he and his entire campaign and cabinet are done. End of story

It's close to a constitutional crisis if the FBI arrests the president without congress impeaching him first. The constitution isn't exactly clear about what to do when a president should be arrested given he holds the power of pardoning, and setting precedent for it would really change the power dynamics of the checks and balances.

And it'll never be verified to the point that republicans will give in on it. They already don't trust US intelligence and media. Who else could verify it in a way to make it a non-partisan issue?

 

[Oersted]

Do you have any idea what that would look like on the world stage? To have the president elect dragged out of the white house in cuffs? When literally half of the population doesn't believe or doesn't care about the allegations?

There would be civil war. I don't think it's as easy as you make it sound.

Do you have any idea how Trump looks like on the world stage?

 

[antonz]

As a non-American, I'm curious how it must feel as an American to see your country so comprehensively tactically beaten by Putin. I mean he played you guys right in your most sacred institution... your democracy.

Right now its an embarrassment but its also something happening worldwide. Russia budgeted over 300 million dollars so they can setup and begin broadcasting RT in France just in time for Elections etc.

Its a global war on free countries

 

[Mawnster]

On my friends Facebook comments hahaha

Time to make new friends!

 

[Ac30]

Do you have any idea how Trump looks like on the world stage?

I think mass riots and civil unrest aren't exactly something to be taken lightly, though, as awful as Trump may be.

 

[TAJ]

It's close to a constitutional crisis if the FBI arrests the president without congress impeaching him first.

He's not the president.

 

[Chumley]

I think mass riots and civil unrest aren't exactly something to be taken lightly, though, as awful as Trump may be.

Mass riots by who? Middle aged white men in rural America?

 

[SomewhatGroovy]

It's like they're using all of the key words, but piecing them together in a hilariously stupid manner.

He got defensive. Doesn't understand CNN and BuzzFeed are two separate reports.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

The timeline for this doesn't match up. This information has been circulating around for months, with McCain getting ahold of these memos first. There's really no timing in which they could've "leaked" this just to spite the media.

I said this earlier in the thread, but is there any possibility that Russia and Trump could still be in cahoots but set up false flags to get attention to then go "gotcha" on the media and intelligence communities?

Because frankly while probably unlikely, that's a more scary thing, imaging a situation where Trump could start playing with the intelligence community and journalists and reshaping both how he saw fit.

It was broken by CNN, they didn't want to provide the full report because they had not yet verified by their standards what was in the document was 100% true. BF said fuck it, we're going to print it.

Then the guardian ran with it basically saying it's credible due to McCain sending people across the world to verify this report and then having a one on one with FBI director.

CNN decided to run with it when they found out that both Obama and trump was briefed on the report.

The report originally came out in October, but MSM didn't want to cover it due to their thought it not being credible

I don't want to play too many semantic games but this is kind of what worries me. Do we know what Obama and Trump were told about these allegations? Do we know what McCain's fact-finding crew found out?

At this point, I feel like we have to hope it's true because if it's not, we're in some deep-ass shit.

 

[innervision961]

So a whole country reliant on oil/gas export for survival and relevancy on the world stage and an orange business man who fills his cabinet with oil and gas people...

Is this big oil biting back at Obama's progressive energy policy? The writing is on the wall for these people, they can't compete with renewables and green energy once the cost/efficiency scale evens out (and that is happening rather quickly).

 

[NullPointer]

that conway lady

"...may have originated with a russian investigator"

Seth Myers

" it originated with a british MI6 investigator"

Conway

"right yes, one of those"

Seth Myers repeatedly corrects her and then she says "He has repeatedly said he's not aware of that"

this is the same guy that said 'I don't need all these intelligence briefings'.....

Yeah, but those intelligence briefers were so unfair - they put this information at the bottom of the report. There's no way anybody could expect Trump to pay attention long enough to get that far. The man obviously requires executive summaries of his executive summaries. And maybe bullet-points.

 

[Laughing Banana]

It's newsworthy if this third party intelligence report was included in the classified briefings. It's not rumor-like news if U.S. intelligence officials found the source credible enough to include the allegations. It may turn out to be inaccurate, but that does not mean it wasn't newsworthy given the context.

Disagree. Unverified information shouldn't be divulged. IMO, that is not how real journalism works. If news agencies are making a habit of doing it, it would be a very dangerous thing to do. Our world will be flooded with rumors, allegations, etc: "let the public decide" shouldn't become the norm, that is why we have many people make information verification as their way of living.

There's a reason why various news agencies like the Guardian--who, I assure you, hate Trump through the core of their being, hahaha--decided not to divulge the report to the general public even though they have obtained and read through it beforehand.

 

[Mariolee]

If this does turn out to be true, I think the appointment of Russian-order-of-friendship-winner Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State was the dead canary that people didn't notice.

People fucking noticed.

 

[CrimsonSquall]

Do you have any idea what that would look like on the world stage? To have the president elect dragged out of the white house in cuffs? When literally half of the population doesn't believe or doesn't care about the allegations?

There would be civil war. I don't think it's as easy as you make it sound.

You sound ridiculous. The American election is the most followed election in the world. This isn't about what somebody cares about, this is the law. If he is implicated in this, he deserves to get the boot plain & simple

 

[Boney]

I'm just waking up so I might have a few things mixed up but all of this was allegedly known by the CIA (or whatever other agency) back in October? How could they remain silent about something like that?

 

[Uhyve]

Do you have any idea what that would look like on the world stage? To have the president elect dragged out of the white house in cuffs? When literally half of the population doesn't believe or doesn't care about the allegations?

There would be civil war. I don't think it's as easy as you make it sound.

The "world stage" would be incredibly happy. Everyone but Russia obviously. But China would be happy. Probably publicly on Twitter aswell, because that's apparently how international politics work now.

I think mass riots and civil unrest aren't exactly something to be taken lightly, though, as awful as Trump may be.

I'm from the UK, we're all fine with it, I promise. Go for it. Please. We'll forgive you for all of that tea you ruined.

 

[ImpracticalPassword]

Huh? That wasnt a shit post. Like seriously, this is Buzzfeed. Nothing legitimate or meaningful has ever come out of Buzzfeed. Let's look at current Buzzfeed headlines.

"People are wondering where TF Kim Kardashian is taking all her new photos."

"27 Impossibly cute pets that will make you question what's real"

"26 Questions Southerners need to answer."

"24 Examples of Corinne Being the Greatest 'Bachelor' Villain Yet"

It's hardly a shitpost to question the substance of the source of this leak, which basically builds itself on sensationalist clickbaiting.

Can we have a real discussion about that without accusing people of shitposting? like geez man.

I don't use Buzzfeed as one of my primary news sources -- and would not currently recommend it as one to people who want to keep up with the news -- but it does take investigative and longform journalism seriously when it does it.

Longreads archive of Buzzfeed longform (not all are "hard-hitting" but they are thoroughly researched and well-written): https://longform.org/archive/publications/buzzfeed

Article on how Buzzfeed has been building its investigative journalism unit: http://www.poynter.org/2016/how-buzzfeed-built-an-investigative-team-from-the-ground-up/396656/

NYT and WaPo have long since embraced mixing in fluff into their serious news business. Buzzfeed is mixing serious news into their fluff business. These things can coexist.

That being said, I'm not necessarily approving of Buzzfeed's "well, let's put it out there" attitude. But they did hedge it and didn't pretend it had been independently verified.

 

[Kill Your Masters]

Mass riots from all the people that are only big online but act like pussies in real life? Nah Not happening.

 

[SomewhatGroovy]

Disagree. Unverified information shouldn't be divulged. IMO, that is not how real journalism works. If news agencies are making a habit of doing it, it would be a very dangerous thing to do. Our world will be flooded with rumors, allegations, etc: "let the public decide" shouldn't become the norm, that is why we have many people make information verification as their way of living.

There's a reason why various news agencies like the Guardian--who, I assure you, hate Trump through the core of their being, hahaha--decided not to divulge the report to the general public even though they have obtained and read through it beforehand.

Correction: there's THE reason they didn't, but there may be ample reasons as to why they didn't. We can't draw a straight line and conclude because the information was unverifiable

 

[always crazy bacon]

The only way this works, is if the so called "credible" MI6 agent is one of theirs. All of this info is apparently coming by way of him and his agency.

Credible MI6 agent to have a terrible and unrelated accident soon? It's happened before.

 

[Ziltoidia 9]

Would they really brief trump on this, either directly or indirectly? I mean, if he is being investigated, seems like they wouldn't?

 

[Killer Queen]

I don't see a revolution happening over this no matter the result. People are too complacent and the average person really doesn't give enough of a shit to do anything about it as long as they have internet and Netflix.

 

[Deaf Spacker]

Would they really brief trump on this, either directly or indirectly? I mean, if he is being investigated, seems like they wouldn't?

Yeah I wondered this too.

 

[CrimsonSquall]

Credible MI6 agent to have a terrible and unrelated accident soon? It's happened before.

Too often, honestly

 

[Chumley]

I don't see a revolution happening over this no matter the result. People are too complacent and the average person really doesn't give enough of a shit to do anything about it as long as they have internet and Netflix.

Bingo

Throw Trump in jail and all you'll see is a bunch of hot air on the internet. That's it.

 

[Mawnster]

Do you have any idea what that would look like on the world stage? To have the president elect dragged out of the white house in cuffs? When literally half of the population doesn't believe or doesn't care about the allegations?

There would be civil war. I don't think it's as easy as you make it sound.

What? You say that as if he doesn't already look like a clown. In fact, do you have any idea how electing him made all of America look like? You could hear the echoes of people facepalming, all around the globe.

Well, except for Russia. They were having golden shower parties there.

 

[DieNgamers]

I don't see a revolution happening over this no matter the result. People are too complacent and the average person really doesn't give enough of a shit to do anything about it as long as they have internet and Netflix.

That's what I think. I wonder what comes of all this.

 

[TissueBox]

Wonder what WikiLeaks' planned end-game was.

 

[Protome]

Would they really brief trump on this, either directly or indirectly? I mean, if he is being investigated, seems like they wouldn't?

He's going to be president by the time anything of note comes from the investigation, be it confirmation or not. So yes, they need to brief him on it.

 

[syllogism]

Disagree. Unverified information shouldn't be divulged. IMO, that is not how real journalism works. If news agencies are making a habit of doing it, it would be a very dangerous thing to do. Our world will be flooded with rumors, allegations, etc: "let the public decide" shouldn't become the norm, that is why we have many people make information verification as their way of living.

There's a reason why various news agencies like the Guardian--who, I assure you, hate Trump through the core of their being, hahaha--decided not to divulge the report to the general public even though they have obtained and read through it beforehand.

The story is the U.S. intelligence finding these allegations or the source of the allegations credible enough to brief the president and the president-elect regarding them. If you find that story newsworthy, the content of the allegations is certainly also. The only vetting that needs to be done is whether the memo was the basis of the synopsis.

 

[Kathian]

Credible MI6 agent to have a terrible and unrelated accident soon? It's happened before.

International governments are aware of this report and pretty clear the British Government have been informing those that may not be.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

Yo, this is some crazy ass shit. I can't believe what the hell I'm reading. Trump is clearly guilty of a Federal crime and I pray to god some technicality doesn't allow him to get away with this.

Also he and his people should be given polygraph tests at the very least.

 

[Chumley]

Wonder what WikiLeaks' planned end-game was.

Getting cash from Trump voters for as long as possible. That's all Assange cares about now. He's not dumb enough to think he still has any credibility left on the international stage.

 

[Crosseyes]

Mass riots from all the people that are only big online but act like pussies in real life? Nah Not happening.

Trump's base wasn't just the online troll community he had big rallies that brought out the 'deplorable' crowd in the flesh. There would certainly be protests but it's impossible to say how far it would go past that.

It's still all speculation now, let alone about speculation about what happens if the current speculation is true but if the protests do turn ugly we must be prepared to suppress and quell any unrest that comes from it and pay the human cost in people killed to do that.

You know Russia will be working the strings it's been using to make the transition as rough as possible if it came to pass, encouraging and riling up people to take that step into violent retaliation.

 

[Laughing Banana]

Correction: there's THE reason they didn't, but there may be ample reasons as to why they didn't. We can't draw a straight line and conclude because the information was unverifiable

Well, it's strongly implied--to the point of obviousness, imo--that why they chose not to release the document is because the allegations contained in the report cannot be independently verified.

Buzzfeed even admitted as much. They just didn't care and said fuck it, we'll release it.

The story is the U.S. intelligence finding these allegations or the source of the allegations credible enough to brief the president and the president-elect regarding them. If you find that story newsworthy, the content of the allegations is certainly also. The only vetting that needs to be done is whether the memo was the basis of the synopsis.

To my understanding, that is not necessarily so. The media like Guardian and the CNN has no qualms about publishing stories regarding the existence of the report, but they didn't publish the content of the report, because as "proper" news agencies they couldn't independently verify the information in the reports.

Anyways, it's already out there, so talking about the ethics of the whole matter is probably just a waste of time. I should probably stop before I am getting accused of defending Trump or something by pursuing this topic, hahah.

 

[Uhyve]

Credible MI6 agent to have a terrible and unrelated accident soon? It's happened before.

If anything happens to him, it was "probably an accident". Ahem.

 

[Always-honest]

Pffff.... that would be insane if true.

 

[Sidewinder]

Man if this shit turns out to be wrong or without a hint of proof it'll just solidify Trumps reign of stupidity and his followers will trust the crooked media even less (if that's even possible anymore).

 

[superdeluxe]

I don't see a revolution happening over this no matter the result. People are too complacent and the average person really doesn't give enough of a shit to do anything about it as long as they have internet and Netflix.

Doesn't need a revolution, all it needs is a grand jury

 

[Protome]

Yo, this is some crazy ass shit. I can't believe what the hell I'm reading. Trump is clearly guilty of a Federal crime and I pray to god some technicality doesn't allow him to get away with this.

Also he and his people should be given polygraph tests at the very least.

He'll probably get away with it because it's really difficult to verify things like that report and you can't arrest/impeach a president with that.

Also polygraph tests are bullshit, come on.

 

[DrBo42]

Man if this shit turns out to be wrong or without a hint of proof it'll just solidify Trumps reign of stupidity and his followers will trust the crooked media even less (if that's even possible anymore).

His supporters wouldn't care either way.

 

[Sidewinder]

His supporters wouldn't care either way.

I mean if it were true he would not stay president for long and he'd end in jail.

 

[Killer Queen]

Doesn't need a revolution, all it needs is a grand jury

My comment is purely in response that think this will spark some kind of revolution.
There are way too many things to keep people busy, entertained and happy and unless it's affecting a vast swath of people directly(I.e they're quite literally pulled out of their homes or something) most people just won't care and anything that does arise will likely fall apart as people lose interest and realize they have more pressing matters in their daily lives.

 

[chillybright]

At last, I could source Buzzfeed on GAF after today.

 

[crazy monkey]

Nothing will change. Buzzfeed will be sued. They should have waited for the claims to be substantiated.

 

[TissueBox]

Getting cash from Trump voters for as long as possible. That's all Assange cares about now. He's not dumb enough to think he still has any credibility left on the international stage.

Yeah that's likely enough. Just sucks to see 'im stoop this low. Irony has died indeed if so...>_<

 

[Laughing Banana]

At last, I could source Buzzfeed on GAF after today.

Don't know why but I just find this as funny, hah.

Nothing will change. Buzzfeed will be sued. They should have waited for the claims to be substantiated.

Yeah, this is my opinion as well.

It'd be interesting to see how this story develops in the future.

 

[Zushin]

Fuck me swinging, why do I read comment sections of things. Doesn't matter what it is, today I've seen nothing but misinformation and hand waiving of things Trump related and disgusting racist comments towards Obama. I go in to try and have discussion but there really isn't a point. Just overwhelming shit posting ensues.

Edit: GAF is the only online haven of proper discussion I have