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[luigimario]

“As numerous intelligence and national security officials in the Trump administration have since unanimously re-affirmed, the ICA findings were accurate and on point. The Russian effort was extensive and sophisticated, and its goals were to undermine public faith in the democratic process, to hurt Secretary Clinton and to help Donald Trump,” said Warner, adding that the investigation is still ongoing." "

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...ed-2016-election-preferred-trump-over-clinton

Stark contrast to the house intelligence report, which also concluded that Russia meddled in the election, but not to help any particular candidate. Let's see how this develops....

 

[Harksteed]

I think this was pretty obvious. Russia has made no secret of their desire to destabilize the west. The interesting question still remains whether or not the Trump campaign colluded with them of course.

 

[Forthefuture]

I am sure senate will get right on it.

 

[zelo-ca]

The Russians also prefered Bernie over Clinton as well. They were trying to cause conflict not side with one specific person.

 

[Harksteed]

The Russians also prefered Bernie over Clinton as well. They were trying to cause conflict not side with one specific person.

Why not both?

 

[luigimario]

Yeah they knew Hilary would be alot more aggressive against them than either Bernie or Trump, so they went after her hard. It paid off I guess. They were lucky that 2016 had the most unpopular presidential candidates in recent memory, which I'm sure also helped their efforts to undermine the election....

 

[HarryKS]

Do they also have to create a report about the media being against Trump? Because that was pretty over, and arguably, far more influential than anything the Russians could have done.

Again, they never forced people to vote for him. It's still a bunch of bullshit. Basically, a tremendous waste of time and taxpayer money.

 

[luigimario]

Do they also have to create a report about the media being against Trump? Because that was pretty over, and arguably, far more influential than anything the Russians could have done.

Again, they never forced people to vote for him. It's still a bunch of bullshit. Basically, a tremendous waste of time and taxpayer money.

Well the media is pro establishment, it's also why they treated Bernie like crap. And I feel like the media just reports on what Trump says, it's not like they make him say the dumb shit that comes out of his mouth. Trump : African countries are shit holes! CNN: President referred to countries in Africa in an insulting manner! Trump Supporters: How dare the media report on what the President said! Fake News! Deep State! Crisis Actors! etc.

 

[TheMikado]

Do they also have to create a report about the media being against Trump? Because that was pretty over, and arguably, far more influential than anything the Russians could have done.

Again, they never forced people to vote for him. It's still a bunch of bullshit. Basically, a tremendous waste of time and taxpayer money.

Report: Foriegn entity interfered and tampered with elections of a public official to the highest office in our Nation while same elected official seeks to have diplomatic summit with the foriegn entity that interfered with the election.

Some People: The bigger crime are the Americans who have the legal right to vote for any candidate they want and express any opinions in news outlets in a free society with freedom of press. That’s who should be investigated!! Protection against foriegn entities and national security are a waste of taxpayer dollars. We should be spending that money ensuring that we strip Americans of their rights.

 

[luigimario]

It should also be worrying that the President of the United States dismisses 16 US intelligence agencies that confirmed Russia's meddling in the election but believes Putin's denial of any involvement..... That should be keeping American's up at night.....

 

[klosos]

I don't wanna be a prick , but maybe this is a bit of karma hitting you yanks upside the head , i mean how many elections all over the world have branches of the Untied states government interfered with ?

so guess what no sympathy from me , as a Britain i love the entertainment you Americans have given the last 18 months. the crying on social media as been glorious

PS i know i am a prick

 

[Harksteed]

Do they also have to create a report about the media being against Trump? Because that was pretty over, and arguably, far more influential than anything the Russians could have done.

Again, they never forced people to vote for him. It's still a bunch of bullshit. Basically, a tremendous waste of time and taxpayer money.

The media wasn't against Trump during the campaign in any significant way. They loved broadcasting his rallies and they also *loved* reporting on Clinton's email scandal. The media generally reports on what gets them the most views and money. A lot of the time it was the perceived train wreck that was Trump's campaign. They definitely didn't mind shitting on Clinton if it was juicy either, though.

On your second point; it's obviously not about literally forcing people to vote a certain way. Social media is massive these days and most certainly influences people's perception of the world. Seeing the same type of message repeated on Facebook is gonna stick for a significant amount of people. Maybe not enough to vote one way or another, but possibly enough to make them sit out on voting for instance. Also, there were ad campaigns specifically targeted to swing states as well where even having a relatively small amount of people being swayed can have large consequences. Handwaving stuff like this is not something I'm comfortable with.

 

[TheMikado]

I don't wanna be a prick , but maybe this is a bit of karma hitting you yanks upside the head , i mean how many elections all over the world have branches of the Untied states government interfered with ?

so guess what no sympathy from me , as a Britain i love the entertainment you Americans have given the last 18 months. the crying on social media as been glorious

PS i know i am a prick

No we definitely deserve to be honest, it’s really the world that doesn’t. As Americans we’ve had the luxury of being apolitical, and ignoring the actions of our government for too long.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Very interested to see what they find. This report -- so far -- is rather vague. Did they "interfere" using Facebook spam? Then I think we're okay. Did they're interfere with agents placed in presidential campaigns? Possibly, but I wanna see trials and convictions first.

Speaking of Russians, did we ever get to the bottom of the Uranium One thing? I heard a blip about that and then it seemed to get ignored.

 

[HarryKS]

The media wasn't against Trump during the campaign in any significant way. They loved broadcasting his rallies and they also *loved* reporting on Clinton's email scandal. The media generally reports on what gets them the most views and money. A lot of the time it was the perceived train wreck that was Trump's campaign. They definitely didn't mind shitting on Clinton if it was juicy either, though.

On your second point; it's obviously not about literally forcing people to vote a certain way. Social media is massive these days and most certainly influences people's perception of the world. Seeing the same type of message repeated on Facebook is gonna stick for a significant amount of people. Maybe not enough to vote one way or another, but possibly enough to make them sit out on voting for instance. Also, there were ad campaigns specifically targeted to swing states as well where even having a relatively small amount of people being swayed can have large consequences. Handwaving stuff like this is not something I'm comfortable with.

They were against him. Beside Fox News, which has issues of its own, every OP-ed, talk show, celebrity would mock and ridicule him. That carries far more weight in terms of influence than what the russians allegedly did. Unless they pirated the voting booths or sent in sleeper cells en masse to vote, there is zero, nada, zilch way of comparing those 2 elements in terms of influence.

As you say, the media, unwittingly gave him a platform because he's money. Love him or hate him, the guy's charismatic as hell and brought in the audiences and ran an excellent and quite smart campaign.

At the end of the day, Americans elected him fair and square and this whole Russian probe, as much as I agree with the principle of an investigation being carried out, is,at the end of the day, a pointless exercise.

In the history books, it'll be ranked alongside the dead peeps who woke up from the grave to vote for Kennedy.

 

[Forthefuture]

I don't wanna be a prick , but maybe this is a bit of karma hitting you yanks upside the head , i mean how many elections all over the world have branches of the Untied states government interfered with ?

so guess what no sympathy from me , as a Britain i love the entertainment you Americans have given the last 18 months. the crying on social media as been glorious

PS i know i am a prick

You are not being a prick. If anything, America is profiting from this particular exchange in terms of improving economy while we all know how successful puppet governments and coups performed by USA has been. They are getting off easy and we are not being harsh enough if you ask me

 

[diablos991]

At least we don’t have Hillary as a president though. Would have loved to see Bernie in there but this was a better outcome than Hillary.

If anything this whole mess helped highlight the flaws in our two party system.

 

[Scopa]

PS i know i am a prick

Nah, you’re just honest.

 

[Harksteed]

At least we don’t have Hillary as a president though. Would have loved to see Bernie in there but this was a better outcome than Hillary.

If anything this whole mess helped highlight the flaws in our two party system.

Eh, I doubt Hillary would've done much with a Republican House and Senate. I think Trump's win is possibly better for the Democrats in the long run. 2018 and 2020 could've been a bloodbath with a Democrat as president.

 

[Corderlain]

The examiner is a tabloid. How about an actual source?

 

[Harksteed]

The examiner is a tabloid. How about an actual source?

They're just reporting on the released Senate Intel report. It's on basically every news network with similar headlines.

 

[Corderlain]

They're just reporting on the released Senate Intel report. It's on basically every news network with similar headlines.

It's not on google news.

 

[King of Foxes]

Not surprising but its not like they hacked the electoral college or anything

did Hilldawg win the public vote also, so Russia did a bad job there

 

[Corderlain]

They purchased ads and said Hillary was a warmongering monster. Not like any other govt hasnt done that in the past. No votes were changed. Of course the Russians preferred someone who didn't want to go back to the cold war. Doesn't really seem like meddling to me.

 

[Harksteed]

It's not on google news.

I dunno about that. I just googled "Senate Intel" and saw a bunch of similar headlines from big news networks.

 

[TheMikado]

They purchased ads and said Hillary was a warmongering monster. Not like any other govt hasnt done that in the past. No votes were changed. Of course the Russians preferred someone who didn't want to go back to the cold war. Doesn't really seem like meddling to me.

They got involved in a foriegn powers election process especially where they would be against the same.
That’s literally the definition of meddling...

meddled; meddling play \ˈmed-liŋ, ˈme-dᵊl-iŋ\
intransitive verb
: to interest oneself in what is not one's concern : interfere without right or propriety (see propriety 3)

• I never meddle in other people's private affairs
• —G. B. Shaw

 

[Corderlain]

How did they get involved? What votes were changed?

 

[Deleted member 12837]

They purchased ads and said Hillary was a warmongering monster.

It's been repeatedly shown through extensive studies that Facebook's news feed can influence behavior, emotions and decision-making. That's what their entire business model is based on. Additionally, studies have shown that people generally have difficulty distinguishing between real and fake news. So to downplay this as "lol just memes and ads" is a bit disingenuous.

Not like any other govt hasnt done that in the past.

And that makes it fine?

No votes were changed.

That's impossible to prove one way or the other. People aren't aware of the multitude of conscious and unconscious factors that go into their decision-making.

Doesn't really seem like meddling to me.

It does to our entire intelligence community, so...hmm, who to take more seriously?

 

[infinitys_7th]

I don't wanna be a prick , but maybe this is a bit of karma hitting you yanks upside the head , i mean how many elections all over the world have branches of the Untied states government interfered with ?

so guess what no sympathy from me , as a Britain i love the entertainment you Americans have given the last 18 months. the crying on social media as been glorious

PS i know i am a prick

I mean, it's not really the same thing. Russians spearphished braindead Podesta to get access and spent a trifle on Facebook ads. A 14-year old 4channer could have done it, and there is no real evidence that it was more "sophisticated" than that despite overdramaticized propaganda diagrams.

The US, meanwhile, funded and supported the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to install Morsi. We sent in provacateurs to Libya to stir up rebellion so ISIS could take over. We tried to interfere with Brexit diplomatically. Russian did nothing to us in comparison to the shot we do on a daily basis.

 

[Phoenix RISING]

I can't even roll out of bed at 10 EST on a holiday and folks in here already trying to spin.

- what about the media?
- what Russia did wasn't so bad
-what channel is this news on cuz I don't see.any reports (hint: not fox news, so change the channel)
-FAKE NEWS!!!

 

[TheMikado]

They were against him. Beside Fox News, which has issues of its own, every OP-ed, talk show, celebrity would mock and ridicule him. That carries far more weight in terms of influence than what the russians allegedly did. Unless they pirated the voting booths or sent in sleeper cells en masse to vote, there is zero, nada, zilch way of comparing those 2 elements in terms of influence.

As you say, the media, unwittingly gave him a platform because he's money. Love him or hate him, the guy's charismatic as hell and brought in the audiences and ran an excellent and quite smart campaign.

At the end of the day, Americans elected him fair and square and this whole Russian probe, as much as I agree with the principle of an investigation being carried out, is,at the end of the day, a pointless exercise.

In the history books, it'll be ranked alongside the dead peeps who woke up from the grave to vote for Kennedy.

No, the issue with any foriegn interest interference especially to help an official get elected is that possibility of being compromised or granting favors. Basically having foriegn lobbyists and that illegal for a reason.

Especially when we have or entire intelligence community, the senate, and Trump own national security team saying Russia interfered when you have the President who got elected through this process saying that the entity that got him elected says they didn’t interfere and he believes the entity over multiple domestic agencies... I hope the potential conflict interest or at least potential for compromise isn’t lost on anyone.

 

[Deleted member 12837]

I can't even roll out of bed at 10 EST on a holiday and folks in here already trying to spin.

- what about the media?
- what Russia did wasn't so bad
-what channel is this news on cuz I don't see.any reports (hint: not fox news, so change the channel)
-FAKE NEWS!!!

• "lol memes and ads won't change my vote"
• "Why didn't Obama stop this? It's really his fault"
• "The US does this all the time to other countries, what's the big deal?"

Did I miss any others?

 

[Scopa]

They should have just done it American-style wherein they use clandestine practises to incite the populace against their own leader to the point of civil war and then they roll in with their military to “stabalise”.

Hang on...

 

[Forthefuture]

• "lol memes and ads won't change my vote"
• "Why didn't Obama stop this? It's really his fault"
• "The US does this all the time to other countries, what's the big deal?"

Did I miss any others?

- It was an Obama era policy that enabled this.
- If it was Hillary we would have been up to World War 6
- They were just trolling libs bro.

 

[infinitys_7th]

• "lol memes and ads won't change my vote"
• "Why didn't Obama stop this? It's really his fault"
• "The US does this all the time to other countries, what's the big deal?"

Did I miss any others?

KSA gave orders of magnitude more financial support to Hillary than Russia spent on Facebook ads.

Obviously KSA "hacked the election". Why is tha not being investigated?

Oh, right. That interference helped the right person and is okay because reasons.

 

[Deleted member 12837]

KSA gave orders of magnitude more financial support to Hillary than Russia spent on Facebook ads.

I'm interested in reading more if you have some links. If what you say is true, can we not be concerned and call for investigations about both? Why do we have to choose one or the other?

I have to ask, though. Did they also hack into the servers of either one of our major political parties' governing bodies? What about launching targeted phishing attacks against the high-ranking officials of those parties? Or maybe break into state voter registration databases? Those make these Russian investigations a more pressing concern, IMO.

 

[TheMikado]

I mean, it's not really the same thing. Russians spearphished braindead Podesta to get access and spent a trifle on Facebook ads. A 14-year old 4channer could have done it, and there is no real evidence that it was more "sophisticated" than that despite overdramaticized propaganda diagrams.

The US, meanwhile, funded and supported the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to install Morsi. We sent in provacateurs to Libya to stir up rebellion so ISIS could take over. We tried to interfere with Brexit diplomatically. Russian did nothing to us in comparison to the shot we do on a daily basis.

This isn’t true:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2016_United_States_elections

On October 7, 2016, the ODNI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) jointly stated that the U.S. Intelligence Community was confident that the Russian Government directed recent hacking of e-mails with the intention of interfering with the U.S. election process.[4] According to the ODNI′s January 6, 2017 report, the Russian military intelligence service (GRU) had hacked the servers of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the personal Google email account of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and forwarded their contents to WikiLeaks.[3]:ii-iii,2[5][6][7] Although Russian officials have repeatedly denied involvement in any DNC hacks or leaks,[8][9][10] there is strong forensic evidence linking the DNC breach to known Russian operations.[11] In January 2017, Director of National Intelligence James Clappertestified that Russia also interfered in the elections by disseminating fake news that was promoted on social media.[12]


Anyway I guess if we want to hand wave things because something worse was done once I guess it’s open session on murders and rapes and thefts due to the atrocities committed around the world throughout history.

I was under the impression we were a country of laws, but whatever.

 

[dolabla]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/obama-cy...ssian-cyberattacks-summer-2016-204935758.html

WASHINGTON — The Obama White House’s chief cyber official testified Wednesday that proposals he was developing to counter Russia’s attack on the U.S. presidential election were put on a “back burner” after he was ordered to “stand down” his efforts in the summer of 2016.

The comments by Michael Daniel, who served as White House “cyber security coordinator” between 2012 and January of last year, provided his first public confirmation of a much-discussed passage in the book, “Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump,” co-written by this reporter and David Corn, that detailed his thwarted efforts to respond to the Russian attack.

They came during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing into how the Obama administration dealt with Russian cyber and information warfare attacks in 2016, an issue that has become one of the more politically sensitive subjects in the panel’s ongoing investigation into Russia’s interference in the U.S. election and any links to the Trump campaign.

The view that the Obama administration failed to adequately piece together intelligence about the Russian campaign and develop a forceful response has clearly gained traction with the intelligence committee. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the ranking Democrat on the panel, said in an opening statement that “we were caught flat-footed at the outset and our collective response was inadequate to meet Russia’s escalation.”

That conclusion was reinforced Wednesday by another witness, Victoria Nuland, who served as assistant secretary of state for Europe during the Obama administration. She told the panel that she had been briefed as early as December 2015 about the hacking of the Democratic National Committee — long before senior DNC officials were aware of it — and that the intrusion had all the hallmarks of a Russian operation.

 

[infinitys_7th]

This isn’t true:

Yeah, it is. The Russian "hack" was not sophisticated by any measure. The DNC is just staffed by imbeciles. Reading through the propaganda the IC put out to make spearphishing look like something from James Bond was one of the funniest reads ever.

I love how everything the IC does leans towards the masturbatory, but then they are just bunch of clannish desk jockeys with God complexes.

 

[Deleted member 12837]

Yeah, it is. The Russian "hack" was not sophisticated by any measure. The DNC is just staffed by imbeciles. Reading through the propaganda the IC put out to make spearphishing look like something from James Bond was one of the funniest reads ever.

I'm sure a 14-year old would have no trouble hacking into state voter registration systems and DNC servers either. It's all just kids stuff and clearly all of our intelligence committees are exaggerating *eyeroll*

Keep ignoring those and only focusing on the phishing, though.

 

[Dunki]

I mean Germany did basically the same thing without the hacking. That was the first Time I have seen politicians going against a candidate. They did not even do this with Erdogan who is by far worse than Trump could ever be.

 

[infinitys_7th]

I'm sure a 14-year old would have no trouble hacking into state voter registration systems and DNC servers either. It's all just kids stuff and clearly all of our intelligence committees are exaggerating *eyeroll*

Keep ignoring those and only focusing on the phishing, though.

Depends what "hacking" means in this context.

Considering the software they used was years-old malware of the type that script kiddies get ahold of all the tie, it is definitely at that level.

 

[Phoenix RISING]

I think this was pretty obvious. Russia has made no secret of their desire to destabilize the west. The interesting question still remains whether or not the Trump campaign colluded with them of course.

Manafort, #45's campaign manager, is currently in prison, and the money has a Moscow zip code.

 

[infinitys_7th]

Manafort, #45's campaign manager, is currently in prison, and the money has a Moscow zip code.

A campaign manager. One of many.

BTW, if you take that standard, Clinton's campaign manager's company was the one Manafort used to commit the crimes he was charged with, and it is under investigations

 

[luigimario]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/obama-cy...ssian-cyberattacks-summer-2016-204935758.html

Erm.....So Obama underestimated it....? Ergo.....Trump innocent.....? Everything is.......awesome?

 

[Deleted member 12837]

Erm.....So Obama underestimated it....? Ergo.....Trump innocent.....? Everything is.......awesome?

He also wanted to put out a bipartisan warning before the election, but couldn't get McConnell's support. Obama was concerned it would look like he was interfering in the election against Trump (and we all know it would've been spun that way).

I'm definitely disappointed he couldn't and wouldn't do more, though. I imagine that's a huge regret of his too.

Depends what "hacking" means in this context.

Considering the software they used was years-old malware of the type that script kiddies get ahold of all the tie, it is definitely at that level.

lol, just because the malware is readily available doesn't mean just anyone can use it to effectively launch an attack, especially on systems as protected as our government's. This isn't some plug-and-play "type in the IP address you want to hack and press 'Enter'" type of deal. You can't hand over a complicated toolkit or set of libraries and just expect anyone to be able to use it at all, let alone effectively.

Anyway, the people in here who are still in denial or continue to want to downplay things certainly aren't going to change their minds with this news. I need to stop getting sucked into these threads. Not worth it. Happy 4th, everyone!

 

[TheMikado]

Erm.....So Obama underestimated it....? Ergo.....Trump innocent.....? Everything is.......awesome?

Yes this is actually Obama’s fault that we have a traitor and buffoon in the Oval Office. This is something Romney even said in their debate and Obama laughed him off. Yes Obama is why we have the current dumpster fire of a president. Just because Obama messed up big time doesn’t absolve Trump of being “innocent”.

This isn’t a football game so it’s not either/or.

 

[TheMikado]

Yeah, it is. The Russian "hack" was not sophisticated by any measure. The DNC is just staffed by imbeciles. Reading through the propaganda the IC put out to make spearphishing look like something from James Bond was one of the funniest reads ever.

I love how everything the IC does leans towards the masturbatory, but then they are just bunch of clannish desk jockeys with God complexes.

I mean you’re attacking the plurality of thousands of Americans who have dedicated much of their lives and careers to keeping America safe. In favor of downplaying a cyber attack by a foriegn government.

Yet our country has a problem with people not standing for the national anthem because it’s “disrespectful” to Americans who serve this country and protect our freedoms...

 

[luigimario]

Yes this is actually Obama’s fault that we have a traitor and buffoon in the Oval Office. This is something Romney even said in their debate and Obama laughed him off. Yes Obama is why we have the current dumpster fire of a president. Just because Obama messed up big time doesn’t absolve Trump of being “innocent”.

This isn’t a football game so it’s not either/or.

Oh so you can be both disappointed in Obama's handling of the situation AND still want an investigation into Russia's election meddling? This will be news to certain Trumpsters.

 

[dolabla]

Erm.....So Obama underestimated it....? Ergo.....Trump innocent.....? Everything is.......awesome?

Everything is awesome. Trump was able to elude the NSA, FBI and CIA on his way to victory. Even you have to give him his props for pulling off such a feat.

Yes this is actually Obama’s fault that we have a traitor and buffoon in the Oval Office. This is something Romney even said in their debate and Obama laughed him off. Yes Obama is why we have the current dumpster fire of a president. Just because Obama messed up big time doesn’t absolve Trump of being “innocent”.

This isn’t a football game so it’s not either/or.

Don't get mad at Trump because of the Obama administrations failures. They knew what was going on and did absolutely nothing. It is their fault for doing nothing. I guess they were so confident (along with the media) it was going to be her turn and they figured they didn't have to do anything? Hell if I know why you ignore something like that.