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[Iksenpets]

Yeah, The Intercept is not fake news, guys. They have a tone that can be similar to some of the faux-leftist alt-right sites, with their disdain for pretty much all non-Bernie Sanders Democrats (and occasional disdain for him, too), their "set the information free" ideology around stuff like Wikileaks, and their skepticism around a lot of anti-Trumpism, but they were doing all that stuff way before Trumpers adopted it all. They're the genuine leftists that alt-righters learned to imitate to try and win over Bernie supporters. And their reporting has never been seriously inaccurate.

And if anything, their various biases would generally lead towards them being extra skeptical of a story like this. A site that has painted a big chunk of reporting on Russia as nothing more than neoconservatives trying to drum up war with Russia reporting that's Russia did some serious shit is a pretty big deal.

 

[Sephzilla]

Only ways this can get worse

1) We find out Russia hacking actually did influence the election [AKA: Trump's win is invalid]
2) We find out the Trump administration was somehow connected to it directly

 

[Intheflorsh]

So there were attempts/efforts, but they didn't' accomplish anything?

Basically?

It's uncertain if they accomplished anything.

 

[Escape Goat]

Ok so.... now what?!

2 scoops of ice cream. Who's with me?

 

[The Technomancer]

I'm waiting on a more reputable source, but that's pretty damning

 

[PdotMichael]

How is it possible that the American intelligence service's getting played like little boys here?

 

[Alavard]

If this happened days before the 2016 election, I would suggest that the attack was not so much to directly affect the results of that election, but more likely to provide a staging ground / beachhead for the next one.

 

[jakonovski]

Doesn't look like anything to me.

 

[Intheflorsh]

I'm waiting on a more reputable source, but that's pretty damning

CBS has also confirmed it.

 

[Grym]

Ok so.... now what?!

 

[smokeymicpot]

I'm waiting on a more reputable source, but that's pretty damning

CBS confirmed it and others will too shortly most likely.

 

[Escape Goat]

How is it possible that the American intelligence service's getting played like little boys here?

What does that mean?

 

[theWB27]

I don't understand your point.

I explained it.

 

[Pandora012]

So if they did hack and influence votes enough for trump, can I have my Prez Clinton now?

 

[Gutek]

What does that mean?

Playing catch up after the fact.

 

[soul creator]

The Intercept is not really a conspiracy website. Its style is more: "Leaked NSA report details Russian hacking effort days before 2016 US, but don't forget that the CIA did the same thing in Latin America".

Haha, this is pretty accurate

Spoiler

and I agree with saying this, at least in response to certain people

 

[chadskin]

How is it possible that the American intelligence service's getting played like little boys here?

They were all looking for Hillary's emails.

 

[Xando]

So there were attempts/efforts, but they didn't' accomplish anything?

Basically?

They don't know if it was successful. Atleast that's what i got from reading the document.

 

[Aasir Osu]

The Intercept's reputation is fairly solid.

Greenwald is a bit of a right tit, but most of the "oh, so sketchy" bad mouthing his site gets is because he wasn't what you'd call a Hillary cheerleader and had the audacity of asking for proof of Russian intervention when the Dem leaks came out, but they are hardly in Putin's pocket. Now that they have solid info, they are releasing it. I'd say this kind of crushes any allegations of siding with either Russia or the GOP just because they were (yes) asking questions.

Just re-quoting this, as I'm surprised at the reactions to The Intercept in this thread. They happen to be a fantastic investigative website with some worthwhile reporting - on issues ranging from criminal justice to the national security state - that GAF at large should appreciate.

Though, I'm not sure I would agree with the characterization of Greenwald as a "right tit", unless that has a complimentary meaning I'm not aware of.

 

[Escape Goat]

Playing catch up after the fact.

5 months seems like a quick turn around time for a government investigation.

 

[Futurevoid]

Going by everything so far... I'm gonna go with nothing.

1. NSA Michael Flynn resigns/fired for lying to the VP. Since then we've had endless confirmations of side conversations with Russia about sanctions and his working as a foreign agent for Turkey during his time as NSA.

2. FBI director James Comey testifies in front of the House Intelligence Committee and confirms that there is an ongoing FBI Counter-Intelligence investigation into the Russian attempt to hack into the 2016 Election. This investigation includes probing into whether individuals in the Trump campaign actually colluded with the Russians.

3. AG Jeff Sessions is forced to recuse himself after being caught perjuring himself during his Senate confirmation hearing. He states without hesitation he had no contacts with any Russians during the campaign. We're now 2-3 confirmed contacts later.

4. Devin Nunes is forced to step aside/recuse himself from the House Intelligence Committee's investigation into the Russian Election issue after putting in a ridiculous show about "unmasking" American citizens names to try and prop up Trump's ridiculous claim that the Obama administration had Trump Tower "wiretapped".

3. James Comey is fired as director of the FBI. The White House completely lies about the reason for his firing citing his handling of the Clinton email scandal. Trump goes on television and outright says he was going to fire him regardless because of the "Russia thing".

4. Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein is forced to appoint a special prosecutor for the Russia investigation after the fallout of the Comey firing.

This all within 5 months of Donald Trump's presidency. I didn't even include the Comey memos, the revelation that Trump pushed him to drop the investigation and the up and coming testimony on Thursday. Now we have a classified NSA document that details Russia's attempt to hack into the US voting infrastructure.

By any measure, this entire thing is moving at light speed. People like to joke that Trump is speed running the Nixon presidency but it's not really far off when you consider Watergate took two years to break wide open.

 

[jimmypython]

Only ways this can get worse

1) We find out Russia hacking actually did influence the election [AKA: Trump's win is invalid]
2) We find out the Trump administration was somehow connected to it directly

yeah....also if these were true then Cold War II might happen lol

 

[Sephzilla]

So if they did hack and influence votes enough for trump, can I have my Prez Clinton now?

If we'd get undisputable evidence that Russia hacked and altered votes, I imagine what would happen is that the fate of the election (and thus the presidency) would go to the supreme court.

yeah....also if these were true then Cold War II might happen lol

If we found out Russia actually altered the election I don't think there would be any cold war.

 

[Abinash117]

With the amount of money the US spends on defense it is pretty sad that a foreign power is very capable penetrating our voting systems.

I know a lot of people on the right will spin this to prove that the Russians didn't influence our elections because they they didn't hack the vote, which no intelligence official ever claimed I think. The report is confirming what they said in that regard.

 

[Pandora012]

If we'd get undisputable evidence that Russia hacked and altered votes, I imagine what would happen is that the fate of the election (and thus the presidency) would go to the supreme court.

Hmmm I guess, because I'm not sure if Congress could handle this.

 

[Splash Wave]

Just re-quoting this, as I'm surprised at the reactions to The Intercept in this thread. They happen to be a fantastic investigative website with some worthwhile reporting - on issues ranging from criminal justice to the national security state - that GAF at large should appreciate.

Though, I'm not sure I would agree with the characterization of Greenwald as a "right tit", unless that has a complimentary meaning I'm not aware of.

The common reactions shown to The Intercept in various GAF threads is absolutely infuriating, and most people can never point to an actual, concrete reason as to why they don't like it.

 

[Sephzilla]

Hmmm I guess, because I'm not sure if Congress could handle this.

The last time a presidential election result was up for debate was Bush vs Gore, and that went to the supreme court

 

[Ziltoidia 9]

Well I did hear of rumors that the russians got voter roles and targeted people on them.

 

[Tamanon]

I've just never liked Greenwald. Intercept reporting is generally solid, it's the opinion stuff I'm not a fan of.

And the real story here is the leaking, obviously.

 

[alternade]

I just finished House of Cards so this seems plausible.

If its found to be that the voting machines/systems were compromised what happens?

 

[Grym]

If we'd get undisputable evidence that Russia hacked and altered votes, I imagine what would happen is that the fate of the election (and thus the presidency) would go to the supreme court.

Which Supreme Court? The 4-4 one? Or the 5-4 one with a Trump appointee?

 

[Byakuya769]

The last time a presidential election result was up for debate was Bush vs Gore, and that went to the supreme court

Before the oath of office was given. I guess this a constitutional question, but there's not clear mechanism for getting it to SCOTUS that I know of.

 

[Xando]

With the amount of money the US spends on defense it is pretty sad that a foreign power is very capable penetrating our voting systems.

I know a lot of people on the right will spin this to prove that the Russians didn't influence our elections because they they didn't hack the vote, which no intelligence official ever claimed I think. The report is confirming what they said in that regard.

Defense spending has nothing to do with private companies providing voting registration software.

Also they didn't magically hack the systems. If this is true they send a bunch of phishing emails to people and may or may not got access to accounts of people working for these private companies.

 

[smokeymicpot]

CBS once again saying this is real.

My colleague @jeffpeguescbs confirms the @NSAGov report in this very interesting read is very real.

https://twitter.com/MajorCBS/status/871830052446638081

 

[Sephzilla]

Which Supreme Court? The 4-4 one? Or the 5-4 one with a Trump appointee?

Yeah, this is where shit would get extremely crazy. If the Trump appointed judge had any dignity he'd probably excuse himself from the case.

 

[Cagey]

I just finished House of Cards so this seems plausible.

If its found to be that the voting machines/systems were compromised what happens?

I'm not a religious man.

I pray to God we don't find this out. I'd much rather truck through with the current idea of social media blitzkrieg and misinformation campaigns to try and sway voters.

Not that we're not arguably in this territory already, but the bold is an undeniable act of war.

We're not ready for the bold to be true.

 

[Ziltoidia 9]

Which Supreme Court? The 4-4 one? Or the 5-4 one with a Trump appointee?

Neil Gorsuch is already on the court now so it would be the 5-4 version. That is, depending on the swing voter. Though a lot of time people can surprise on specific issues. Thomas just did this when it came to redistricting.

 

[Gutek]

So if they did hack and influence votes enough for trump, can I have my Prez Clinton now?

And people saying "nothing will come of this" are getting called out for their "fear mongering".

You guys are way ahead of yourselves.

 

[excelsiorlef]

Neil Gorsuch is already on the court now so it would be the 5-4 version. That is, depending on the swing voter. Though a lot of time people can surprise on specific issues. Thomas just did this when it came to redistricting.

Theoretically Gorsuch could be asked to recuse himself but of course nothing could force him.

 

[LegendofJoe]

Y'all ain't reading the article correctly. They aren't even talking about attacks on voting machines or vote tabulation.

It's reporting on a spear-phishing campaign against election officials who maintained voter registration systems and voter rolls.



In short, this article doesn't purport proof of direct tampering with voting results or vote tabulation.

It does, however, expose attempts at voter disenfranchisement by targeting voter registration systems.

Voter registrations were tampered with in Arizona. I know someone who has lived and voted there for years but in the past election their ballot was made provisional. I absolutely believe this was done.

 

[-Plasma Reus-]

So actual machines were hacked.
When will this election be nullified.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

So there were attempts/efforts, but they didn't' accomplish anything?

Basically?

More important than the actual election results (which are never going to be reconsidered), it calls into question why Trump would ever consider removing the Obama-placed sanctions, which he implemented over nonsense like this.

If we have our top agencies reporting that they tried to fuck with our elections, they deserve sanctions at the very least, to show that we will not tolerate such interference.

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

I just finished House of Cards so this seems plausible.

If its found to be that the voting machines/systems were compromised what happens?

Technically? Nothing. We don't have mechanisms for that.

 

[Graphics Horse]

I might remember wrong but I thought the intelligence guys said there was no evidence of this kind of thing in the House hearings?

 

[Splash Wave]

So actual machines were hacked.
When will this election be nullified.

You should actually read the article.

 

[Xando]

So actual machines were hacked.

They weren't. Read the article or even better the report.

 

[Sephzilla]

So actual machines were hacked.
When will this election be nullified.

They were not. Russia attempted it.

But honestly, in my opinion, the way thing are going I wouldn't be surprised if we end up finding out they successfully hacked things.

 

[-Plasma Reus-]

You should actually read the article.

Does it matter.
It will end up being successful hacks a few days from now.
Attempted is just as bad.

 

[BoogieWoogie]

They were not. Russia attempted it.

But the article also says:

The NSA analysis does not draw conclusions about whether the interference had any effect on the election’s outcome and concedes that much remains unknown about the extent of the hackers’ accomplishments. However, the report raises the possibility that Russian hacking may have breached at least some elements of the voting system, with disconcertingly uncertain results.

So it is in fact possible that they did.

 

[LegendofJoe]

So actual machines were hacked.
When will this election be nullified.

Voter registration rolls may have been hacked, not the tabulation of votes.