Glad You Mentioned That!
I see that Dems are suddenly galvanized by the concept of Russian hackers intruding into the DNC servers and subsequently allowing the fruits of the hack to be published and disseminated among the great unwashed, whose unsophisticated naivety will naturally cause them misinterpret the day to day pragmatic business of auctioning off the boards and directorates of government institutions to the highest donor and see sinister manipulations in the Escherish financial structure of wiring money to state campaigns and then wiring it back to themselves in nano-seconds. As one of the rubes reading this stuff, yeah it looks pretty bad, but what do I know?
That's why I am always happy when someone who is used to dumpster diving in unsavory political debris like Matt Taibbi happens along to 'splain it to me:
DNC Leak Shows Mechanics of of a Slanted Campaign
By word of intro, Taibbi is discussing the ramifications of an article published in Politico by Vogel and Arnsdorf
But Vogel and Arnsdorf found that less than 1 percent of the $61 million raised by the Hillary Victory Fund went to the state committees.
Actually it's better to say that only 1 percent of the money "remained" with the committees. In talking to state sources, the Politico reporters found that large sums of money would sometimes appear briefly in state committee coffers, and disappear just as quickly, and then just as quickly be deposited into DNC accounts.
The money sometimes came and went before state officials even knew it was there. Politico noted that the Victory Fund treasurer, Beth Jones, is also the COO of the Clinton campaign.
Taibbi quotes the startling (to a rube like me) Vogel-Arnsdorf fact that "of the $23.3 million spent directly by the fund, most "had gone toward expenses that appear to have directly benefited Clinton's campaign, including $2.8 million for 'salary and overhead' and $8.6 million for web advertising that mostly looks indistinguishable from Clinton campaign ads."
Taibbi further goes on to point out that our insanely incompetent and incurious media in sussing out this story, instead of focusing on the legality or illegality of this maneuver or exposing how empty the Clinton claims of funding down-ballot candidates really were, (a major talking point), instead decides to focus on the internecine squabble between Democrats aspects of the story when the Sanders campaign basically asked "WTF?!!!. . ." and concludes there's basically nothing to see here as they throw a giant tarp over the story.
So that's an actual journalist focusing on the WHAT of the revelations of the DNC emails instead of running around writing "The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming." The substance of the emails, and any further emails to come, does not change, whether they are dropped as leaflets in the town square by black helicopters in the employ of Donald Trump or leaked by Wikileaks or tossed from station wagons driven by nuns. They are what they are.
BUT, since we do now have all this probably legitimate concern about the skill set of Russian hackers and a predilection towards electoral mischief making , I think that now would be an excellent time to discuss a return by our country to old-fashioned paper ballots counted in public, because we wouldn't want the Russians hacking our provably hackable electronic voting systems, would we? I mean if Republicans do it to help Bush or if Democrats want to squash Sanders, that's one thing - at least it's Muricans screwing other Muricans. But Russians? We have to draw the line somewhere.
Comments
Once again the real scandal is ignored
while the media focuses on the mundane.
I don't know how to find video of Robby Mook's
first explanation about the Russian hackers given to, I think, Chris Cuomo on CNN, but it's worth finding. It reminded me of some of the old sketches from the Carol Burnett Show, or something like that. Carefully chosen words, trying to imply something, some references to "experts" (in what, we know not). But basically trying awfully hard to draw attention away from the fact that the DNC did, in fact, screw over the Sanders campaign, and us along with it. And, to this minute, no one has spoken about why those people at the convention were crying. The DNC fucked up badly. And if they lose all that energy of our youth, they deserve to have lost it. These kids worked their asses off---and for many it was their first election. The Dems had a chance to get them and then hold them for life. The youth weren't so naive they didn't think there was a chance they could lose. But then to learn that they NEVER had a chance, because the system REALLY WAS RIGGED, probably lost them forever. The DNC needs to be totally turned over with new members. The old ones are stale and inbred. And they may have successfully destroyed to party----like it has no future.
Yes. The corrupt neoliberal wing
of the Democratic Party has to be destroyed, or we need to find or create another party. They've been dying since Obama took it over; losing state houses and representatives, unconcerned with voter disenfranchisement or recruitment, going full tilt neoliberal - only the oligarchs matter, basically becoming the Republican party of yester year, only that it is pro-choice and pro-gay (and if compared to Bernie, only lately and reluctantly.)
Bill Black writes "Hillary-Kaine: Back To The Center"
Hillary-Kaine:Back To The Center
Basically says Hillary is wasting no time to her predictable pivot back to centrism with her choice of Kaine, another former DLCer who is for the TPP, bank de-regulation, austerity, and is against re-instating Glass-Steagall. But, he speaks Spanish so it's all good.
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
But, but, but!
I just heard a replay of Thom Hartmann's Monday show stating all the fine points Tim Kaine possesses, mainly he's AGAINST the TPP!!! (snark)
Heh. I'm so over this fucking party and their media whores. I'm fucking done. If I didn't have to get our middle child to tennis camp, I'd share with you all how our church secretary was so happy to see HRC so happy when "she was introducing TK to the world last night!"
At least she agreed with me that the DNC messed up Bernie (and his supporters) big time. People are people-most with the wool STILL pulled over their peepers, ffs! She's got the fears, that's what she's got.
Well, I guess I got that off and I'll leave it at that. Off to the courts!
One of 13 Dem Senators to vote for "fast track".
And he was praising it right up to the day before he was selected.
Kaine praised TPP as recently as Thursday
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
I'm so over Thom Hartman.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
It's not the center
The center is where Bernie was.
She's further to the Right than Richard Nixon!
Bill Black is just being....understated
Seriously, she's trying to be more Nixonian than Nixon... n/t
'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member
Here's the video of Mook
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/24/politics/robby-mook-russia-dnc-emails-trum...
Thank you.
Now, will you come over to my house and teach me how you did that? Color me inept.
It was really easy
I went to my comments page since I posted the link when it happened a couple days ago.
That was as unconvincing as anything else they've said this
season.
'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member
Pathetic is the word I would use
Two Points
The first, I remember that Mook interview and what struck me was how fast he was talking and how many times he said the word "expert". It was an unconvincing "explanation" for anyone with a critical eye.
The second point: The camera shots of Bernie supporters. I actually did see Slate do a pictorial on those Bernie supporters you mention, complete with mocking editorials on each of the pictures.
My favs:
"What did she think was going to happen"
"Insert Celine Dion song here"
"Poor miserable souls"
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/07/26/photos_of_angry_sad_ho...
Nice, eh?
@JeremyStahl was the "writer" of that sensitive piece. You should send him a tweet. I know I did.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Even worse, Jeremy Stahl is a “senior editor” at Slate?
With instincts like that, Jeremy Stahl would be more in his element on an Alt-Right blog.
My condolences
To his poor miserable family.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Her crookedness is boundless n/t
Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.
An infinitely renewable resource
one might say.
Even the smallest person can change the course of the future
I have noted that since years
I have noted that since years ago, with Nader in particular, the Dems love playing the game of shifting blame on others rather than introspection as to why they screwed themselves. Time to switch my affiliation from Blue-to-Green.
So long, and thanks for all the fish
I'm right behind you.
Back to "unaffiliated" today. I will NOT wait until Demexit Day, whenever that's supposed to be.
At this point even if Hillary were to be frog marched off for a life sentence the Democratic Party would run Donald Duck before they agreed to run Bernie under their banner.
Time to apply the little enthusiasm and energy left in this lifetime to building a third party that may someday be able to offer future generations real hope and real change. That sure as hell is not going to be coming from Hillary and her minions.
“What the herd hates most is the one who thinks differently; it is not so much the opinion itself, but the audacity of wanting to think for themselves, something that they do not know how to do.”
-Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
Even this writer for the German left-alternative newspaper "taz"
has bought into the tiresome “it’s all Nader’s fault” lie, unfortunately:
http://www.taz.de/Kommentar-Konvent-der-US-Demokraten/!5327819/
As they say, a lie can travel twice around the world while the truth is still getting its pants on.
After the coronation ceremonies have ended
and the Queen has been crowned as the Democratic nominee, the leaks will begin, showing the Clinton Foundation for all it's always been purported to be...a faux charity built on corruption meant to enrich the Clintons and their descendants.
There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties.. This...is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.--John Adams
I think you're right.
Assange has stated there are more, worse leaks to come.
Mook responded by saying he's "not losing any sleep over it."
Hello, President Trump.
He left off the word "yet" don't you think?
I'm sure there's lots of embarrassing stuff just in the new emails turned over by the FBI to State that were determined to be "work-related" yet deleted despite Hillary saying she had turned over all work-related emails. Who knows what will be revealed in them? Having a personal server would give one a false sense of confidence, I would imagine, causing one to chortle as they hit "delete". Imagine the shock and horror when - "They backed up to the cloud?!" and then explaining it to Hillary who responds - "You mean like in a hot air balloon?"
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
When you're running Hillary's campaign
there are 99 other things to be losing your sleep over already that are even worse to contemplate than more Wikileaks.
Honestly. She's a trainwreck. Always was, always will be.
Even the smallest person can change the course of the future
So true.
The wrong problem
Why is the fact that the Russians "did it" more important than the fact that there was something to "do" in the first place. If the Hellery gang wants us to believe that she is some sort of national security goddess, why do they create a weapon like that and then let a hostile foreign power have access to it?
As for paper ballots, the weirdest thing I saw in the latest fraud analysis was that multiple entities appear to be doing this. The researchers observed both Chinese and Iranian teams trying to hack into the machine they had broken into. The Russians are probably just not awake yet or something.
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
Just did two minutes at TOP.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
There is a diary on the wreck list that says the Russians altered the emails before releasing them. They probably didn't know that yesterday when they ran little debbie off. I wonder if they know that Donna Brazile said there's more shit to be revealed.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Russians must be stoopid.
Because altering the emails would have to be the dumbest thing possible to do if they were really behind this and interested in swaying the election. A changed or missing word or two would be enough to discredit the entire batch of 20,000 emails.
I don't think Russians are stoopid. People on TOP? Well, that's another matter.
then DWS would have had no reason to resign
my other half seems less concerned about the content of the emails than the fact that "the Russians" hacked the DNC server. granted, hacking is a serious concern but so is putting your thumb on the scales of what is supposed to be a fair and democratic process.
Well, like I said
it seems like no one cares about hackability of voting machines even though there are reams of stories about how easy they are to access. It's also said you don't need a widespread hack, just one big enough to turn a state or a district - a few well-chosen votes in the right place thrown to the favored contender.
It's possible that an appeal to our innate xenophobia about Furners could be a vehicle which could lead us away from the unreliable machines.
(This was meant as a reply to Hawkfish. Guess I hit new comment instead of reply.)
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
Depending on your sense of humor,
this could turn out to be very funny. It seems our voting machines without a trail have been messed with since right after the HAVA was passed (sometime between 2000 and 2004). So, the honest Americans go into the machines and set them up to count votes the way they want. And then the dishonest furners swoop down and change them again. Will there be a rash of mysteriously dead bodies found all over the country? Democracy!! Yay!!
Phoebe, is this what Big Al
means when he says don't bother voting? If they can change our vote....
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Raggedy Ann, sorry for the slow response
somehow I missed your question to me. And my answer is, I don't know if that's what Big Al means, we'd have to ask him. But, the idea that your vote can be switched , is distressing to anyone who participates in an election.
I've often thought how a candidate and their voters could thwart that and the best idea I've had would be almost impossibly cumbersome -
I thought perhaps at every polling station (outside of the distance limits) a booth could be set up with a notary and maybe a lawyer, where a person could go immediately after voting and sign a notarized statement swearing that they had cast their votes for Candidate X. These affidavits would simply be held aside and only deployed if some election result was published that conflicted with the statements. If everything was kosher, they would be destroyed, but if something stank, they could be used as evidence for a recall or investigation of that poll tabulator.
Hopefully all the actual names on the statements could be redacted to the public, but the candidate or party in question could check them against the voting rolls of who in fact did show up to vote with the permission of the affidavit provider.
The problems with my plan are obvious: manpower, the lack of privacy regarding your vote and the fact that many people wouldn't bother with this second step since they are unaware for the need of it. And it is pathetic that our vote is not verified in any serious way - all we get is an "I voted" sticker and our name checked off on the voting rolls.
A return to paper ballots counted in public would solve many of the problems.
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
Election Integrity - some references
Phoebe
Election integrity is an important issue.
The problem is that we have had a coup and systems are failing all over the place and the establishment democratic party is holding onto the power that they have had for so long and hoping that the status quo will hold in the face of necessary changes.
I do not spend enough time on the issue, and I don't think that there is a single place to track the issues.
One place is trustvote.org
Another is CA Democrat who has published several long articles on The Progressive Wing. Here are a couple of links.
http://theprogressivewing.com/?p=6254
http://theprogressivewing.com/?p=6248
I see people here in Columbus OH once per month and they have some suits in process about election integrity. I will let you know if there is any breaking news. Once into the legal system, it takes a while for things to surface.
What is clear from what I have read is that the democrats stole the primary election from Bernie
And if there are not changes, the Republicans can steal the presidential election in Nov, unless there are competing frauds where both parties duke it out by trying ever better methods to steal the election. A sight for "sore eyes", but in this case, for a "corrupted 'democracy'"
There was a time when this was front and center in the list
of major concerns - election fraud. After Kerry lost to Bush and the Ohio shenanigans were on the radar about something very very strange having gone on. I remember lots and lots of articles about "Black Box Voting" etc. and then somehow all the interest just dribbled away. The Republicans refocused onto the bogus topic of "voter fraud" and the Democrats, predictably, had no apparent interest at all in following up with election integrity.
I always mention Brad Blog whenever this subject surfaces because that guy has never ever ever given up on writing about and exposing and educating people about this topic.
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
somehow the interest dribbled away
the republican tech guy who knew about the Ohio shenanigans was supposed to be deposed by investigatory lawyers but his plane unaccountably and fatally for him crashed a little short of the Ohio airport. I can't remember the details. Brad blog covered it but the news cycled on.
bygorry
somehow the interest dribbled away
the republican tech guy who knew about the Ohio shenanigans was supposed to be deposed by investigatory lawyers but his plane unaccountably and fatally for him crashed a little short of the Ohio airport. I can't remember the details. Brad blog covered it but the news cycled on.
bygorry
Yeah-- Bizzare blame shifting time
And suddenly if by magic, because the information was hacked, it somehow renders the telling contents moot!
And the dingbats will swallow it hole.
I have to ask myself. Since there are so many stupid people in America, the how is it that I am not 'fabulously well to do'?
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage
Donald Trump may be the perfect example
to show that there isn't necessarily a correlation between intelligence and collection of wealth.
I appreciate
your vote of confidence. : )
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage
Hillary, if you want my vote
you will have to give me an Ambassador position, Switzerland would be fine.
Thank you.
P.s. Trump has already offered a cabinet position, so don't take to long deciding. Ok?
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
I’m willing to settle for Germany, since I already live here.
Let’s save taxpayers some trans-Atlantic moving expenses, Madame Secretary.
Good post
But I still think it was those damned Albanian Zoguists wot did it.
Which totally undermines the content, obviously.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
I don't give a fuck who hacked the DNC
The story is the fixing of the primaries by HRC and the DNC. When is someone going to highlight the extremely unethical and likely illegal nature of the behavior. The who is just a side story but not The Story!
Clinton supporters were happy to throw CT claims at us...
There is something just a little bit satisfying at watching the DNC and Hillary supporters lash out at "Russian Hackers" after a primary where Bernie supporters were blamed for countless conspiracies.
The latest, of course, is the claim that the e-mails were
modified and edited by the Russkies before being released. Naturally, these allegations come to us not from those who ostensibly sent or recieved the e-mails, but only from assorted "experts" and "journalists"
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
That would be called level #1
on public mental erasure of "the problem". So easy. What you read was written by the evil Russians, except no on is saying that but by spinner implication.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
I love how the media completely ignores the fact that
HRH's defense is "The Russians did it!" but it never occurs to any of them to say, "You are admitting Putin is in control of this information. What other information of yours does he control and what's to stop him from using it to blackmail a sitting President?".
Do they really want to use the Russians as a defense? Because what you're saying is they hacked the DNC servers, so what's to say they didn't hack yours, too?
"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained." - Mark Twain
Bingo...
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." It's the 800 lb. gorilla in the room. Hey, Hilbots - if Putin has ready access to the DNC e-mails, doesn't that mean he probably has ready access to the CLASSIFIED e-mails on $Hillary's e-mail server in her basement? Do you really want to bring up the fact that the Prussians can hack computers so easily? Of course the gorilla is pretty safely hidden with our gold-fish memory and dog-seeing-squirrel attention spanned media.
Democrats, we tried to warn you. How is that guilt and shame working out?
It's interesting that the FBI
is interested in finding out if the DNC was hacked by Russia, but wasn't so interested in finding out if Hillary's server was. Did congress send them a referral? Lol.
It's interesting that the FBI
is interested in finding out if the DNC was hacked by Russia, but wasn't so interested in finding out if Hillary's server was. Congress must have sent them a referral. Lol.
Well that was predictable.
I guess the DNC could prove that by allowing neutral third party investigators to access their server and examine the original emails in situ. Think they're going to do that? I highly doubt it, because I doubt they were modified. Ask yourself - How would Russian hackers know what to modify a message into? This reminds me of Weiner saying his Twitter had been hacked when he was caught sexting.
Plus, you would think that would have been the first response raised if it were true.
This is simply laying the groundwork for HRC and others when the really bad stuff hits, IMO.
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
Very Interesting
While all these theories and hypotheses are running rampant, the DNC has yet to deny they actually wrote and did what they did.
LOOK! Squirrel!!
Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!
Firesign Theater
Stop the War!
Snowden tweeted a
good point. If the Russain's were behind the leak the NSA would be the first to know. I believe him as he is an 'expert' on what the NSA knows about.
Even if
Even if the Russians are behind it and attempting to manipulate American politics... Isn't that what the US does every day all around the globe? Use our military and economic might to manipulate the entire world? And isn't that what the Clintons are all about? Manipulating everything at all times?
The hypocrisy is stunning.
It’s like accusing the Chinese of “manipulating their currency”
when the U.S. manipulates currencies throughout the world via the petro-dollar agreement (in whose defense the U.S. has invaded and wrecked entire countries) and the opaque operations of the Federal Reserve Bank.
It strikes me that...
Clinton, at this point HAS to be elected President or else face a barrage of investigations and possibly jail time. Ask yourself - why didn't Obama bother to even look into the criminal misdeeds of the Bush administration? Besides the obvious - he wanted to reserve those deeds potentially for himself - there is another more subtle and important reason: precedence. If every administration has to fear the possible prosecution by the next administration, then we are no longer going to have a peaceful transformation of power. It make sense from that perspective. However, Trump doesn't have any shits to give about precedence. On January 21, 2017 - he is going to appoint a prosecutor to go after Clinton with the full force of the Justice Department. Obama probably knows this and will probably have to pardon Clinton on his way out - and all members of the DNC. Which means his legacy will be worse than Gerald Ford's and it may very well destroy the Democratic Party. Interesting times indeed.
Democrats, we tried to warn you. How is that guilt and shame working out?
i can't believe my partner is buying into....
...some something about Putin working in favor of Trump to get him in power because Trump wants to dissolve our participation in NATO? if that happens then Russia will take over the Baltic states by next summer? i don't know what sources he's reading but it seems to amount to spreading more fear of Trump and he's pretty peeved that i'm not voting for Clinton because i'm "wasting" my vote if i don't.
anyone care to comment on any political reality of this?
I will
that's just a ridiculous fear talking point from the psych-ops who rigged the primary. Be afraid the Russians are coming is pathetic. If i had to guess I'd say the Hillary people who are ginning up Cold War11 decided it would kill to birds with one stone get people all tweaked and riled up about the next biggest enemy evil Goldstein Putin and as a bonus distract from the DNC's rigging the primary. Fear seems to do the trick in this country time after time again. Maybe look up a reliable source and read about SoS Clinton's role in the Ukraine debacle. Perhaps your partner need some fact's instead of believing the propaganda the in collusion establishment media cranks out. Everyone seems to have lost their minds and are chicken little'ing all over the place.
The Red Scare
Telling everyone to fear the "commies" was a right wing tactic designed to frighten eveyrone into voting for them. It's interesting to see that now the Democrats are employing the exact same rhetoric in an attempt to keep the voters inline.
Agree
with this take
I've seen in the emails journalists asking if the HVF ads
count as electioneering and asking whether that's legal.
'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member