The Outrage Is Just Too Funny.

The Russians tampered with the US elections! Apparently they did so by sending hacked Democratic Party emails back to their country of origin, despicable I say! Not only that is that everyone is believing every word from the worlds most nefarious and devious organisation, the CIA. Queue the "twilight zone" music. Funny nobody has questioned the contents of the emails, it seems to be just assumed that what was contained within them was not altered in any way. So really one question remains, who was actually undermining the Democratic Party? The Democratic Party itself?

Now if everyone played nicely in this world the outrage would be justified, shame the hacking hadn't been done by patriotic Americans I say. Then again, the way whistle-blowers have been treated recently would tend to be quite off putting if you resided within the US. Possibly the another question would be, how did they hack successfully, why didn't our counter espionage agencies stop the attacks? Is the Department of Homeland Security trying to cast a fog over its own shortcomings? Or was it just that the servers were badly protected, not registered and not considered all that important anyway. Did someone ignore protocol?

Let's interrupt the CIA from its usual work of installing dictators, regime change, extraordinary rendition, torture and black ops, have them work with the FBI to come up with a report confirming it was all ordered by Putin! Russians! Now if the Russians did indeed mess with the US elections would that be some sort of victory for the Russians? Especially if they got the result they desired?

How many people have died in the rest of the world due to falsified reports originating from the bowels of the CIA? How many people have died when plans were executed to install such luminaries as Pinochet and finance such loveable characters as the Taliban. Overthrowing socialists in Central America by funding right wing thugs? Never mind crackpot ideas like exploding cigars.

Be outraged by all means, I doubt you'll get a lot of sympathy mind you from much of the rest of the world. I would be more concerned how Democrats put themselves in a position where they could be so easily undermined and that the US is so fragile that a few hackers can mess it's democratic process with a few emails originating from within the US itself. They didn't even have to create the virtual equivalent of non existent yellow cake. Perhaps cyber-security protocols should just be followed in future?

Oh sorry, I forgot.

The US is exceptional, when we do it it is fine and dandy, it's just ensuring national security, but when someone does it to us it's outrageous, especially if it was successful.

Remember we always need a bogeyman, perhaps the terrorists aren't frightening us enough and we need another cold war to do the trick to properly assure excessive funding of the DHS and the MIC for ever.

Expect a new cyber-security bill to go through congress any day now. There is a buck to be made.

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Wink

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to preserve the corporate status quo. In the early days, in addition to their work on behalf of the corporatists, the FBI was big on stolen cars and denying that the Mafia existed in the USA. As Casey Stengal used to say, "You can look it up."

Just as the Washington Post was the "free press" voice for the CIA, the FBI's other main charge was to stifle dissent, from the left anyway, in the USA.

I like your point about our multiple intelligence agencies not catching and counteracting cyber attacks from overseas. Maybe the cyberwar was to ensure Hillary was the nominee(gasp!).

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

boriscleto's picture

Just read Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler's "Ware is Just a Racket" speech.

I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902–1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.

Then read up on his involvement in uncovering the "Business Plot" to overthrow FDR and install a fascist dictatorship...The New York Times of course ridiculed the whole thing...

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" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "

A spot-on comment from Way of the Bern:

If one takes the assumption that the Russians tampered in the general to help Trump, why not make the next logical assumption that they also tampered in the primary to provide Trump the weakest candidate?

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sojourns's picture

who of course if of Russian descent and now lives in Akron. He's 11 years old and goes by the codename Sputnik. So of course, the CIA had to dress it up a little bit.

" I would be more concerned how Democrats put themselves in a position where they could be so easily undermined"

From day one it has been known that they had no security certs on their servers. It is the height of arrogance to believe that somehow one is above being hacked just because one is so well loved.

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"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage

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Outsourcing Is Treason's picture

Got caught stealing primary elections? Look over there, Russians!

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"Please clap." -- Jeb Bush

Treat the symptoms (distract/divide) and ignore the disease

  • politcal malpractice (trampling populist positions and writing-off voters)
  • awful policy decisions: DAPL, TPP, NAFTA, AUMF, etc.
  • lack of appreciation for historical achivements and the need to protect those from attack: Freedoms, Bill of Rights, Social Security, Civil Rights, etc.

  • outside-the-bubble perspectives: How the 99% persevere and their worries
  • courage: DAPL, BLM, OWS, minimum wage, etc.
  • capitulation on all matters that affect the majority of the base (Ds have this near to a fine art)
  • ignoring the obvious results of neoliberal practices: weakened unions and increased anxiety, uncertainty, inequality, fracking, etc. Shifting the environmental costs of production from pollution mitigation efforts towards increased public health risks

Geez, why didn't enough people vote for more of the same?

Much more difficult to work on the causes (pissing into the tent), than to express outrage at the outsiders (while pissing on everyone else stuck in the tent and pretending to be aiming outside).

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Fighting for democratic principles,... well, since forever

k9disc's picture

How about that? Does it make more sense if the DNC and the Democratic Party is a business, and is being run as a business? Do their actions make more sense? Does the strategy? Results?

I've never looked at it like that, fight2bfree's comment here triggered the idea just a moment ago.

Seems to me I have to revisit the Party via that business lens. I'm inclined to believe it is going to make all the sense in the world...

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Alligator Ed's picture

They completely fucked over their stakeholders and did not perform fiduciary duty to the donors who coughed up > 1$B. They were trying to sell defective merchandise and the market's been a little soft lately.

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Phoebe Loosinhouse's picture

of our political systems ever since Citizens United enabled US subsidiaries of foreign multinational corporations and governments to flood as much money as they choose to to fund particular candidates and to encourage them to write tailored legislation.

I'm also dismayed that the trade pacts that have been pushed by both parties in the past subvert our legal and regulatory processes and circumvent consumer and environmental protections by allowing international tribunals to usurp, override or prevent legislation/regulation. This is a more dangerous and constant and ongoing onslaught eroding US sovereignty, IMO. Basically, it makes elections moot in the first place.

Once again, it's the hypocrisy that gets me. If TPTB are concerned about interference, they should be concerned about the issues I raise as well.

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" “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 "

Then China/HK with 11 followed by the UK with 8 then Germany 6. I would say our main worry comes from our own Russia? 0.

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He fell for a phishing scheme. Democrats need to stop pretending that a large cadre of Russian agents working in the basement of the Kremlin worked day and night to "break into" his email account. He gave them his password because he fell for a phishing scam. Somebody that stupid has no place in a position of power an influence.

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k9disc's picture

I've made this point many times. It wasn't sophisticated. It was a phishing scam.

Even if it were hacked it need not have been sophisticated with passwords like: p@ssw0rd and runner4567. And his email addy was first.lastname@gmail.com -- seriously.

The "email" argument pissed me off all election season, drew. Not many people knew there were two sets and two completely different issues.

Thanks for bringing it up.

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Imagine Podesta at Treasury: replying to the Nigerian prince with the account number of the US Treasury.

Actually they wouldn't have been that different from the east things have been done on the past: we've been writing blank checks to Saudi Princess and other despite for decades.

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Apparently, the Russians are the only ones to use this technique. Phishing is one of thee most common techniques used by hackers--my last company required everybody to take cyber-security course, and phishing is always taught as a hacking technique to avoid.

I remember when the first of the private cyber security firms came out and emphatically blamed Putin/Russians. The first link I followed on this was essentially a marketing page advertising the company's products and expertise--no real proof--just accusations and speculation. Since then when I have followed links to company websites, pretty much the same. The Russian threat is used to gin up fear and potential business.

Just for grins, I did a search on the Podesta email break in. And found this as my first search item.

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2016/10/25/how-hackers-broke-into-john-...
How hackers broke into John Podesta, DNC Gmail accounts

The page blames Russians of course, and last line:

"Consider using Sophos Home. Our free security software for Mac and Windows blocks malware and keeps you away from risky web links and phishing sites."

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Bollox Ref's picture

More fake news.

Who believes anything the CIA comes up with?

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

You would think that after all the revelations of faked, phony, and distorted intelligence reports, especially by the Bush administration to justify the invasion of Iraq, that liberals in particular would have developed a healthy sense of skepticism and incredulity. And this includes the lies and phony revelations of intelligence agencies under Obama.

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Bollox Ref's picture

This time, it's all true, honest guv.

Riiight!!!

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

k9disc's picture

Seems to me that this is not only going to affect net neutrality and the internet in general, but it has affected news as well.

Fake News is going to be news that comes without a subscription based firewall. Fake and free will become synonymous. Because sharing shit over corporate bandwidth is akin to stealing.

Sharing shit over corporate bandwidth is akin to stealing because it doesn't make any money and doesn't allow for corporate advertising and the 'respectable' filter it provides. So if you don't pay to play, you're stealing their bandwidth, their power and profits, or their control.

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

I don't give a crap about emails. I care about the use of machines with secret coding to "count" the votes. I care about voter suppression. I care about gerrymandering. Those things are right out in plain view, and they constitute a traitorous destruction of our democracy. Yes, traitorous. The Republicans are traitors and where the Democrats aren't traitors, they're quislings.

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Back in the day, I worked many an election day in and around polling places. The only people who could cheat and defraud, etc, were the people within the system and processes. That is, when the cheating happened, it was Americans cheating Americans. I have read how the Russians might hack the machines and count on election day, and one pundit rightly pointed out the Russians would have to send out tens of thousands of agents out into election polling areas.

But your point is critical. After the 2000 debacle in FL, instead of blaming a flawed and rigged system (through voter suppression), the democrats blamed Nader instead. And did nothing about electoral integrity while the gop went onto to develop better methods to maintain control and power. So in 2000 democrats blame Nader and did nothing. In 2016 democrats blame Putin and will do nothing while the gop will go its merry way figuring bigger and better ways to game the system.

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30 years ago**, snotty arrogant "educated" liberals would have sneered at the fear mongering about Russians from that right wing asshole RayGun - these "educated" liberals would have made all kinds of condescending comments about the easily manipulated flag waving droolers looking for commies under their beds ... 30 years later ...

Democrats who are pissed that HIllary was too incompetent to beat Heil Herr Trump are blaming the f'king Russians!!! ha ha ha.

[** I was 26 and cooking in Boston - I was trying really hard to hang out with my betters, the well "educated" liberal - so, I remember these times quite well! ]

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But then I sigh; and, with a piece of scripture,
Tell them that God bids us do good for evil:
And thus I clothe my naked villany
With old odd ends stolen out of holy writ;

Oldest Son Of A Sailor's picture

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"Do you realize the responsibility I carry?
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."

~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,

Sat, 12/10/2016 - 10:19am — Oldest Son Of A...

Good News! The Fake News Is Going To Stop...

Because Hillary Said So...

Yup, only corporate/billionaire-approved Truthiness will be permitted by their government representatives, and all of this will be Real News, that on the internet consisting of many cute videos of kittens which almost nobody will be able to afford to have themselves, probably for Russian-squirrel-related reasons, and so the grateful population will appreciate the videos all the more.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

meant by "ad hominem argument": attacking the argument (i.e., "HRC, DLC, DNC are a pack of corrupt evil gangsters, as evidenced by these emails we hacked"), not by disputing the evidence, or the logical argument that derives from that evidence, but by attacking the source of the argument. "Notwithstanding your evidence or your logic, your argument sucks and is evil because you are an evil and sucky Russian!" (Note that in general, that clause beginning with "Notwithstanding" is, umm, implied, not stated.)

on the other hand, calling someone an evil demon-fucking corporate shill-pig for supporting HRC is not an ad hominem argument, it's just an argument: "Your support of HRC is strong evidence that you are an evil demon-fucking corporate shill-pig"; it may or may not have technical merit, but we discourage it because we prefer to maintain a certain minimum level of courtesy in our discourse, not least because arguing about who is evil and who is not is not a terribly productive sort of discourse, logically valid though it may be. if one wants to say "stop with the insults," for heaven's sake, one should say, "stop with the insults." One doesn't need to apply Latin technical jargon to make the point, and in particular, one doesn't need to incorrectly apply Latin technical jargon.

not, mind you, that i personally put much weight on the whole, "The Russians did it" meme.

class dismissed.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

ggersh's picture

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Not Henry Kissinger's picture

"Hillary never gives up."

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The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

For a long time, the question I had about the email leaks was why didn't Assange/Putin publish the emails that directly implicated the DNC as favoring Hillary during critical parts of the primary. Those revelations could have possibly cost Hillary the nomination if revealed in a timely way. If Putin wanted Trump to win, and he wanted Trump to run against the weakest candidate, then it makes sense not to help Bernie, but rather help Clinton. Oh my gosh. Putin must have felt the Bern and realized he better make sure Hillary was the democratic party candidate.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

within itself. That's what I think.

Hillary and Bill are not exactly popular with some of those military intelligence types.

Is there proof the hack didn't come from within the U.S.? Because that would be my first assumption.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Hawkfish's picture

That's how bad their security was.

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We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

Hawkfish's picture

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We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

Hawkfish's picture

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We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

Hawkfish's picture

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We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

Dupe d-dupe, d-dupe, dupe d-dupe, dupe d-dupe...

LOL!

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Wikileaks certainly deals with leaks, not hacks - or are you referring to something else?

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

Guccifer 2.0 hacked into the DNC's information. Also, somebody tricked John Podesta with a phishing scam and got his emails. I'm sorry I wasn't more careful in my language--I used the word "hack" loosely, meaning "getting into somebody's information without their knowledge and consent and retrieving it for some use," when actually I should have said "phishing."

Then all that information was passed on to Wikileaks, who are, or were, basically the 21st-century version of the 1970's NYT. They didn't hack anything or anyone, nor did they phish. They are the people who publish such information to the public, because the press can no longer be trusted to do so. Therefore, the establishment has absolutely no right to fuck with Wikileaks, unless the establishment wants to admit it is a police state full of tyrants. And yes, Wikileaks itself has nothing to do with hacking, phishing, or leaking anything. They receive information, verify it, and publish it. Like a press would, if we had one.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0NV_0aLmiA]

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

[deleted]

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