The ЯUSSIAИS Are Яeturning!
They're back!!
Intelligence officials have warned lawmakers that Russia is interfering in the 2020 election campaign to help President Donald Trump get reelected, according to three officials familiar with the closed-door briefing.
The officials, who asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence, said Thursday that the briefing last week focused on Russia’s efforts to influence the 2020 election and sow discord in the American electorate. The intelligence warning was first reported by The New York Times and The Washington Post.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted that, “American voters should decide American elections — not Vladimir Putin.”
Shelby Pierson, the Intelligence Community Election Threats Executive (ETE),said it’s not just a Russia problem. “We’re still also concerned about China, Iran, non-state actors, hacktivists and frankly — certainly for DHS and FBI - even Americans that might be looking to undermine confidence in the elections.”
Naturally, I thought of c99 when I read the "even Americans that might be looking to undermine confidence in the elections". Many of us here think that elections are either rigged or don't matter. Which means the eyes of the spies are watching us.
Personally, I'm honored. When called before Adam Schiff's "House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)" to explain why I have no faith in the American election system, I'd like to be the one to say "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"
Finally, I'll point out that this latest bout of Russia Hysteria is a two-fer. If Trump wins, the Russians did it because they love dictators. If Bernie Sanders wins, the Russians did it because they love commies. Either outcome lets Democrats continue on their merry way as neoliberal corpocrats who love war and hate the little people.
Comments
Easy enough to find the culprits
All they need to do is look in the mirror. "They" being the intelligence community itself, as well as Dem Superdelegate Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the DNC, and their media enablers. (Yep, looking at you, Chris Matthews.)
"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi
"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone
My husband just came in to tell me the Russians
are the ones posing as evil BernieBros. He heard it on NPR. Yeah, right! It couldn’t possibly be DNC operatives.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
They never run out of "anonymous sources" to quote
" Vladimir Putin's spokesman says statements suggesting Russia plans to interfere in this year's US Presidential election "don't have anything in common with the truth."
Dmitry Peskov slammed the idea that Moscow will attempt to help President Donald Trump achieve re-election as being of "paranoid character."
He was responding to US media reports which claimed US intelligence has warned politicians that Moscow is already laying the groundwork to get behind the Republican Party incumbent.
CNN, quoting its usual anonymous sources, told of a briefing where Russian readiness to use hacking, the 'weaponisation' of social media, and attacks on election infrastructure was outlined. "
(emphasis mine)
https://www.rt.com/russia/481381-trump-us-russia-paranoia-elections/
yes, but it was the
NY/CIA times from which the story had sprung. that 'paper of record' loves quoting anonymous sources, especially military ones...to serve their purposes. 'anonymous pentagon officials say trump really does mean to exit nato!'
i got the story via the MSN rolling thunder (our email provider) so i could actually read it. given the short video was attributed to reuters, for my PSA on a Swiss media & propaganda multiplier study, i'd bingled and found the title at Reuters, but i wasn't able to boot it up.
No one is asking how exactly Russia is doing it
We just got words from a classified intelligence meeting that no one will get in trouble for leaking info from it and that's all. No mention of what they are doing to disrupt our voting process, but every person who believed in it the first time are right there buying into it again. No question asked.
But this doesn't help either
Russia Gate has had dire consequences for many people, websites and things are going to get worse and here's Bernie pushing this crap while watching the DNC screw him over again. Very disappointing.
BTW how many people who are pushing this nonsense are fully on board with interfering in Venezuela, Iran and every other damn country we are messing with? Pot kettle folks.
no one has ever seen a Russian ad from 2016
it's somehow accepted knowledge that they existed. They heard it from someone they trusted.
Yeah...
like the intelligence agencies that they once knew they lied to them. Of course the orange blob has swallowed it hook, line and sinker. "Proof? We don't need no stinking proof."
David Brooks asked that question last night on NPR...
He said that he is having trouble believing the Russia narrative because the intelligence agencies don't tell us what to look for online if we want to avoid being manipulated.
I thought it was the best point he ever made.
"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin
It's a mystery
It's a faith based thing. No rational being would ever accept that $100,000 (or even a million dollars) in social media ads -most of which ran after the election and few of which had any specific political content at all- had any power in a $2+ billion presidential election. So, it must be something invisible. Mind-meld tech that can't be seen or heard and totally beyond the tech capabilities of the US trillion dollar tech industries.
It was Sanders public acceptance of this delusion, and which predated his 2020 campaign, that precluded me from joining his 'revolution.' Tulsi was like the little kid yelling that the emperor was naked. Except few heard her. And unlike the WMDs, the beauty of this delusion is that a negative can't be proven.
Yesterday:
Today:
So, Trump denies and then promulgates Russiagate. More evidence that the delusion infection continues to spread? Or Trump is attempting to walk back his support for SC GOP voters to rat-f**k the SC primary by voting for "the weakest Democratic candidate" but he didn't intend for those voters to coclude that Sanders was the weakest. Or Trump deludes himself that Nevada Democratic voters pay any attention to what he recommends for them.
DJT scared?
WaPo reports Russians are helping Bernie
Well, of course the Russia, Russia, Russia narrative has to continue... to screw Bernie. Let's not play into the hands of TPTB.
See: https://www.breitbart.com/2020-election/2020/02/21/report-bernie-sanders...
I notice that Breitbart is also starting to pile up on Bernie: https://www.breitbart.com/tag/bernie-sanders/
Don't the neolibcons want us to believe that Breitbart is in league with Putin and Trump? If so, they should be helping Bernie instead of smacking him at every opportunity, no?
“American voters should decide American elections...
— not Vladimir Putin or the DNC Superdelegates.”
“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024
Sent that quip over to David Sirota
I think he'd love to use it and make sure Bernie uses it.
Wait there's more.
This was the front page of NYT: Russia Is Said to Be Interfering to Aid Sanders in Democratic Primaries
Yes, that's right, the Russians are also interfering in favor of Bernie.
It's an all purpose thing, this New Red Scare.
You can smear anybody with it.
The theory is that since Putin favors Trump, he would naturally want to back the weakest candidate against Trump in a general election.
Putin must be a dumb-ass. Bernie is actually the strongest Democratic candidate against Trump and may be the only one capable of beating him.
What a load of shit.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
@Azazello "Bernie is actually the
"Bernie is actually the strongest Democratic candidate against Trump and may be the only one capable of beating him."
Yup. I would elaborate on your thought, though, if I may. The Reuters article (which also wants us to believe that the Russkies are supporting Sanders) mentions Trump recently firing the head of his intelligence operation. Why does such an event occur now?
OK, so the WaPo "leak" clearly emanates from Bloomberg, who would have no trouble paying for the leak and sees Bernie as the only real obstacle to a Bloomberg nomination. Sanders was briefed on the alleged Russian interference a month ago but the briefing was confidential (until leaked).
I think that Trump fired his intelligence guy (and replaced him with a Trump loyalist) because that guy refused to leak the intel. It follows that Trump wanted the intel to be leaked, which would make sense because Trump knows that he will lose if he has to run against Bernie.
Bernie is p.o.ed because the leak is deliberately timed to come the day before the Nevada vote. It's probably not going to harm Bernie in NV, but the gesture is pretty outrageous. But he's also p.o.'ed because it's Bloomberg and I'm guessing Bernie's sentiments toward Bloomberg run a close second to his sentiments toward Trump.
Bloomberg knows this, and he's trying to use Bernie's "sentiments" against Bernie (who needs to be on his guard against this). It's potentially a very effective way to wrong-foot Bernie and Bloomberg is enough of a lizard to be good at the technique.
The gesture (WaPo leak) is, IMO, a pretty obvious collaboration between Trump and Bloomberg. Two oligarchs playing against a common enemy, Bernie. The two oligarchs happen to be in different political parties, but that's not what's important in their world.
Add a third oligarch to that mix
Bezos, the owner of WaPo.
"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi
"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone
A different take.
Rather than coming from billionaire oligarch plots, the vast majority of national security leaks to WaPo come from the intelligence community itself. Imagine the IC as being like a horse with blinders. They only see a very, very narrow view of the world. They only see and relate to neolib/neocon personages like Hillary Clinton and John Bolton, both of whom have warped and twisted foreign policy beliefs. (Remember "we came, we saw, he died"?)
Trump is out of the picture because he won't sign onto the Russia narrative and is unpredictable. Although Sanders buys into the Russia meme, he's out of the picture for other reasons, such as wanting to shift some military spending into domestic programs.
Joe Lauria:
Apparent US Intel Meddling in US Election With 'Report' Russia is Aiding Sanders
[Suggest reading the whole piece.]
When did it become okay for US intel agencies to interfere in US elections? Really rotten and despicable that they've been interfering in elections around the world since WWII, but we didn't want these rotten and despicable people and agencies plying their rotten and despicable craft at home.
Always apparently
A dude from the FBI said it was their job to keep progressives out of the White House and then of course after Russia interfered with the election that cost Herheinous her lifetime dream the department of homeland security said its taking over the elections. Now it's not just them, but Microsoft is going to be involved as well as Israel, but shh don't tell anyone that.
Mintpress did a great series on which companies get to make sure that only approved campaigns can win. Why the hell we should be ascared of Russia interfering when we have the DNC and their super delegates to do the same job. Hey have the hackable voting machines been fixed yet? I think not. But Russia....who needs proof anymore?
The biggest thing to look at when you read the stories is what is actually said. Russia might be. We think they are doing it and other words that give it away.
From the New York Slimes:
Want proof? Here it is:
Oops looks like they left the proof out. No one explained just how Russia is doing the deed, but just take some anonymous source's word for it. But what does that even mean? Nothing.
Here's more.
Even the republicans are in on the scam.
How? Don't worry your pretty little head over no facts and just take their word for it that it's happening.
Groan.
Gestures of peace is pretty vague don't you think? I do.
Awe yes those Russian intelligence backed trolls were indicted by Mueller, but let's not tell people that he never showed evidence that connected them to Russian intelligence and the judge told him to quit saying that they were. In fact when the attorneys for the troll farm showed up Mueller didn't want to give them his evidence and tried to hide it behind national security. lol...
Oh Bernie. Please!
So there you have it. Absolute proof of nonsense about more nonsense. But people will read it and skip over the words I highlighted.
I specifically said intel agencies,
(all twenty or however many there are now) because I'm well aware that on the domestic front the FBI has long been in the lead of going after those that speak out against the war machine and the oligarchs and in favor of peace and workers. That has often resulted in changing the outcomes of elections, but the actions taken by the FBI fall short on direct interference in elections. Important not to overlook the fact that crackdowns on peace and worker protests predated the existence of the FBI. (Pullman Strike, Ludlow Massacre, etc.)
The Overman Committee in 1918 initiated the US propaganda link between protests and communism and the USSR while the US military was covertly fighting them over there.) So, this domestic war is now over a hundred years old. It allowed them to finally convict and incarcerate Eugene Debs in 1918.
Intel did the foreign Soviet witch hunts and what became HUAC and the FBI did the domestic commie witch hunts. Both found and acted on imaginary threats and disposed of them by any means possible.
So, to maintain perspective, we must remember that this is old rancid wine in a new bottle. Capturing most of Congress and the media is also probably not new; except today the public can more easily see their paranoia and craziness and the Trumpsters have so far not succumbed to it, but not for informed and rational reasons. Sanders appears to me to be trying to keep his head down and not ruffle any feathers unless he honestly doesn't see this for what it is. If he doesn't, he's not half the leader we need.
Umm....
The FBI is part of the intelligence agencies is it not? So is the department of homeland security.
Uh, no.
Intel is the Intelligence Community. Only the CIA is a stand-alone lntel agency. The others are branches of other departments and not a leading branch. The DNI only has direct control of the CIA.
FBI is on the list you linked to
Specifically, the Intelligence Branch of the FBI. It's one of the 17 official members ("Intel agencies") of the Intelligence Community (IC).
"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi
"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone
Six US Departments
have agencies have "intel" branches, but they are only one of many agencies and branches within each of those departments. It's not legally permissible for any of those Departments to interfere in elections. (Whether Comey and his boss Lynch crossed that line in 2016 remains a matter of conjecture and opinion.) Only the stand alone CIA is legally prohibited from interfering in domestic affairs; so, CIA election interference would cross two lines.
We don't know which "intel" agency (or a cabal within one of the agencies) or a coordinated cabal among several member agencies of the IC is driving this latest sequel of Russiagate. As Brennan, DCI, was up to his eyeballs in the 2016, we know that he crossed two red lines. But being an institutional survivor, he roped in Justice, including its FBI agency, and State and possibly the DOD was well. Had this coordination been done formally, the buck would stop with DNI and POTUS. Perhaps it was and Clapper faked being sort of out of the loop. Both he and Brennan would have taken steps to insure plausible deniability for Obama if they had brought him into the operation. Still, with Brennan a major player in this in 2016, no question that he crossed two red lines -- ethically, morally three because there was no "intel," only more paranoid imaginary threats, a long-standing feature of all "intel" operations.
This matter is further complicated by a need among individuals and some agencies to cover up their past failures, some of which were undoubtedly criminal. A big fear for them is a whistleblower, but this effort is so dispersed that it's improbable that all communications on this exist in one big fat file. The DoD and CIA participants are united in their desire for a splendid little war with Russia, and the FBI from its inception has been a hotbed of anti-communism and has never had any problem painting any inconvenient USian with that brush. Dr. Strangelove on steroids.
FBI Intelligence
"The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency."
Your point?
Last time I checked, Russia is a foreign power. The FBI is totally within its jurisdiction to investigate and act on any person on US soil engaged in criminal activity, including election interference, and that would include agents of foreign governments engaged in such activity. Other than the hapless -- not a Russian agent and not engaged in election interference -- Maria Butina, why after nearly four years has the FBI come up with nobody?
The FBI -- with the concurrence and approval of the federal government - has been posting agents abroad for a long time. In foreign FBI field offices and covertly in US Embassies. Rats nests that produce no security value. However, one aspect of Russiagate, the original, clearly demonstrates that the FBI remains mindful of that domestic and foreign legal separation.
The CIA is not supposed to operate here
nor is the FBI supposed to operate on foreign soil and yet the CIA through Brennan was involved in the attempt to keep Trump from winning the election and the FBI was in Ukraine gathering info on Trump to boost Hellary with help from people in the Ukraine government. I don't think any of the IC have any boundaries and just do whatever the hell they want.
Correct --
turf wars. They all want in on "intel" because of the big pot of money Presidents and Congress are willing to throw at it and it absorbs all those "highly educated" elite university grads that have no real job skills. (Ike pulled educational from the MIC.) Simply imagine threats and go find anything that could remotely look like evidence to support it. Then wrap it up with a lot of big words and gobbledygook that nobody understands (because it's incomprehensible, irrational, and illogical) but sounds very scary.
For all the "intel" make believe, it's fascinating that the one time in the prior fifty-six years when imagination supported by limited but solid real evidence eluded all those high priced paranoiacs. Ha! -- the postmortem on that had the audacity to label it "failure of imagination." The whole damn lot of them should have been fired for being useless.
(For the above comment, I'm assuming that 9/11 was crafted and perpetrated by foreign enemies and US "intel" was too incompetent to thwart it. That's the most generous take on US "intel" and 9/11. All the other possibilities should lead to those people facing firing squads.)
Here some proof of Russian interference
LMAO
Russia interfering is a done deal
DCOTN # 6
Runner up.
It's amazing how some xenophobs don't know what the hell they are talking about, but here you go.
Russia decreased the amount for military spending so they could bring more people out of poverty. This is something our government won't do for our poor. They increase it yearly and then they go after our social programs so even more people risk going into poverty.
The outrage over Russia is off the charts, but some people don't know who to hate more. Bernie or Vlad. Don a wetsuit and wade into the swamp if you dare. Lmao..no wonder the PTB keep pushing propaganda. It works with little effort.
But, but, but
we might lose our democracy! My God what a moronic joke. As if.
As for their ignorance of Russia and just what it is today, par for the course in Idiot America. Arrogant, idiotic Americans think they know all about the world when they know absolutely NOTHING about much of anything except what they are told to believe.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
So true
US "intel" and its like-minded outside Russian experts (ie Condi Rice) never saw the internal crumbling of the USSR. Significantly due to the unsustainable cost of its defense operations which were necessitated by the US driven Cold War. It wasn't that hard to perceive; with my lowly business/finance perspective it was clear to me. And it was hobbling the US economy as well; so, DC simply exploded the national debt and ran effective propaganda that the national debt no longer matters and individuals can run their households the same way because increases in income weren't keeping pace with defense spending driven inflation.
If open and fair elections are integral to a democracy, then we've never had one. Only a few brief points in time where their was less electoral lying and cheating or the two major parties were evenly matched on their lying and cheating and equally effective. I'd like to think that a majority of the US electorate isn't so naive to believe that we have a democracy to lose.
Steaming bovine fecal matter alert!
"The officials, who asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence". Mmm-hmm.
Such an obvious tell
that it might be getting harder and harder for US media (and The Guardian) to sell it.
Years ago I read a book titled "Perilous Times" by
Geoffrey R. Stone, professor of law at the University of Chicago.
The book outlines in detail all the historical eras in the US, beginning with the Alien and Sedition Acts, where the US curtailed free speech by essentially making up enemies for the people to fear.
James Madison said...
"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."
"It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad."
Stone takes the reader through events like Lincoln jailing newspaper editors who criticized his handling of the Civil War, Roosevelt putting Japanese american citizens in camps, the McCarthy Era, The Patriot Act and much more. After watching the movie "Trumbo" on HBO last night, we were reminded of how much all this Fear Russia crap is another manipulation of our people by our own government. Make the people very afraid, and you can take more and more of their liberties from them.
I can't tell if Bernie sees through it all, or is afraid to speak out about it.
"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin
How many times have we seen this act?
I add to your list Eugene Debs who Wilson charged with the espionage act because he was speaking out against the war. Couldn't have the truth get to people so off he had to go.
BTW we were sleeper agents apparently over at the orange blob. Why? Because we pushed for Bernie and posted truthful comment about Her. Then we squired off to here and got people to not vote for her... vote for Stein... or just stayed home. By golly they got me. Russia paid me in 2005 to join the site and wait patiently to be activated and go against HER. Yeppers I sure made lots of money not doing that.
But hey...
Hmm this seems to be exactly what is happening don't you think? With no proof whatsoever people are once again believing that Russia is interfering again. Slow to verify? Hell they don't verify at all.
David Brooks, of all people, said he needed concrete
information on exactly what the Russians are doing so that he could look for it online.
Nobody ventured an answer for that.
"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin
Sounds as if it's
a good and comprehensive reference book.
It is. I have come back to it many times to look things up.
"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin
We should root for Putin to be successful
Kidding, but...
When I look at aggregators like Google News
...and scan the headlines, I'm sort of shocked at the display of extreme freakiness, much or it in reaction to the Democratic Primary results. The most damaging insanity of all is coming from the Intelligence community and anonymous Insiders who are pushing preposterous propaganda that leads to headlines that warn: "The United States is under attack by the Communist Party." Hmmm.... It's been 30 years since the Russians traded communism for predatory capitalism, billionaire oligarchs, and Western democracy. Putin is certainly not a communist. Is this a desperate attempt to smear Bernie Sanders and scare Americans? I think it may be a cry for help, Poor things.
What this tells us, though, is that there are festering pockets of mental illness in the Federal Government, and the afflicted don't know where the boundaries are. The media monopolies package these paranoid delusions and push it into the homes of the American people. This can't be a good thing. I checked with all of my technology 'assets' and discovered that there is no evidence, anywhere, that can confirm what the deep state is squealing about: "The Russians have already ruined the 2020 elections. There is no way to get an accurate count. Americans voters have been tampered with."
I stumbled across an opinion piece today in a familiar magazine. The author wanted to know, rhetorically, if a "Jewish Communist" is more dangerous to the nation that a regular Communist. I closed the page and tried to guess which side of the US political polarity was oozing this poison — the Democrats or the Republicans. I'm still not sure. Both Parties dwell in evil and lies. I'm just going to let the mystery dangle for awhile.
Crazy people have a alien smell, did you ever notice? I forgot all about that until this afternoon. Now I catch a faint whiff every once in awhile. Or, maybe it's the smell of "Democracy." I wouldn't know.
Great comment, Pluto
I'll probably have more to say about this tomorrow. My brain is fried tonight. Or this morning..
And, in conclusion....
Putin's response to Trump's 2020 State of the Union Address: