David Battistella:
Excuse me for wanting to point out the obvious, but sometimes the obvious gets very lost in the web of narratives spun by the master narrator inside the White House. Forgive me, but are we not losing the idea that the only narrative that really matters is that all of the information “LEAKED” was obtained through a simple fishing e-mail sent to John Podesta. See their own words here:
Somehow this has been converted into words like “HACKING” (ps it is not hacking when it involves your own ineptitude or stupidity) into “Russian actors”, “digital fingerprints” or any other slew of gobbledyspeak they can come up with for wanting desperately to hide a simple fact: the truth is in the e-mails.
Notice nobody is disputing the contents of the email leaks, they just want to complain about the fact that it was stolen by Russians, though if the passwords were freely given away it’s hard to call it hacking.
Just to be clear a hack is defined this way.
“Computer hacking refers to the practice of modifying or altering computer software and hardware to accomplish a goal that is considered to be outside of the creator’s original objective. Those individuals who engage in computer hacking activities are typically referred to as ‘hackers‘.”
That is completely different from entering an account to which a party freely gave away the password and downloading the data for say an “inbox”. So don’t confuse hacking with the granting of access through being ill informed.
The reason all of this becomes important is simple, it’s leading the world into potentially very dangerous conflict. This isn’t something that should be taken lightly and you have to go to the WHY? Why is it so important to divert people from the contents of the e-mails and point them instead to the way they were obtained. It’s for war mongering purposes.
The MSM is going right along with it too. Have we heard nearly as much about the theft and publication of Donald Trumps tax returns as published by the New York Times?
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/10/01/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html?_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html
Who is investigating the “hostile actors” from within the IRS who might have illegally stolen, copied and provided documents to the New York Times who then did barley more that what Wikileaks did with the Podesta e-mails.
At least Wikileaks published a pristine, searchable archive, the kind you could search in your local public library. In a crowdsourcing age, it is incredible what can be uncovered in a shot amount of time.
But it is different now. Wikileaks expects “professional” journalists to do their jobs, pour through the information and uncover everything from the salacious, the banal and the illegal. Why did this not happen with the wikileaks, but it was all hands on deck to pour over illegally obtained tax returns of a private citizen. Perhaps MSM credibility is at the heart of the issue? Not sure.
People consume information differently now and have many outlets to weigh before forming an opinion and that is a narrative busting option.
There remains only one defense, attack the messenger, lie and divert attention. So you can’t dismiss the contents of the wikileaks, you can only call Assange a pedophile, place him under house arrest, tell the world that Russia did the following (and I am following your logic here “intelligence” community/narrative spinners)
I keep hearing via television news and opinion, that seventeen intelligence agencies investigated the so-called “election hacking” and determined that the Russians did it to damage Hillary Clinton. To my understanding, the US intelligence community is composed of sixteen agencies, many of which are the services of the separate military branches and those of various government departments.
So why were the Coast Guard Intelligence agency, the Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence of the Energy Department, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the Office of Naval Intelligence, Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence of the Treasury Department, the National Reconnaissance Office of the Defense Department and the other miscellaneous agencies investigating email hacks of the DNC and John Podesta? Who assigned the Twenty-Fifth Air Force and the Marine Corps Intelligence Agency to drop what they were doing and take on the political “intrusion?”
Never mind that Julian Assmange claims emphatically that the DNC emails came from a pissed-off Bernie supporter within the DNC and the Podesta emails are from a “non-state” player.
Are the clues really just the Cyrillic writing in the spyware package comment sections? Those are commonly found in malware in wide distribution among the world-wide hacker community. Or are they drawing conclusions from intercepts of Russian communications revealing officials happy with the election outcome? I might expect Russian leadership to be joyous to get an American leader whose public face implies incompetence, ignorance and impulsivity.
Could it be that the leftist propaganda forces are just trying to imprint on their congregation that they are really in the majority and the election was stolen by foreign powers? That sure looks to be what they’re selling. An they’re selling it hard. They must be scared.
@DaNang67: To answer your question is that only 3, not 17, contributed to this narrative. But 17 (like 97% of climate scientists) sounds more impressive.
I’m sure, though, that’s the ONLY time they lied to us.
Yep. Wherever it takes us. This breaking story is from about an hour ago:
Intel chiefs presented Trump with claims of Russian efforts to compromise him
The claims, considered to be from highly credible Russian sources but still under investigation, are that the Russians have compromising information on Donald Trump that could be used against him as president.
This would not be surprising. Trump’s complex business structure would likely have provide many hundreds of target computers for Russian hackers to go after.
@Greg:
Of course, it would be very wrong for anyone to publish such information.
We also know that, no matter what the content, it doesn’t matter because the Russians did it. Right?
@Greg:
In a related story, Americans have told the pollsters that CNN is the least trusted of all news media outlets.
You’re twisting the meaning of the numbers. This is what Rasmussen actually says:
What that actually means is that FOX News viewers are a more gullible lot. They’re simply more likely to believe what their favorite outlet tells them. MSNBC and CNN viewers question what they’re told with greater frequency. They don’t believe something so frequently just because some talking head on the television screen tells them it’s so.
This is basically a reflection of the right’s lower capacity for skepticism and critical thinking. No surprise there.
@Greg: Aren’t you the same Greg who told us that Hillary’s server was not hacked and now it has been revealed by the same intel agencies that only 3 countries hacked her server. I would think that since you always get things wrong you would just quit making an ass of yourself.
From Zero Hedge: Here Is The Full 35-Page Report Alleging Trump Was “Cultivated, Supported And Assisted” By Russia
So, a British spook was conducting a background investigation of Trump paid for by his republican enemies? This is starting to shape up like like a bad political novel. Zero Hedge says they’re posting it for their readers’ amusement only, but there’s really nothing amusing about it. Here’s a link to a better, full-size copy of the document.
A weird thing about this leak is the timing, which is as suspicious as it was for the destructive Clinton leaks—in this case, only 9 days before the inauguration, and the day before Jeff Session’s confirmation hearings will be turning to questions concerning Russian election meddling. It’s going to take a lot more than the observation that there’s a spelling error in the document to put the issues it raises down, particularly since the questions were on a lot of people’s minds long before Election Day. People were warning that proper vetting wasn’t being done.
That isn’t amusing either. Nothing about any of this is amusing.
James Comey refuses to tell Senate if FBI is investigating Trump-Russia links
We’ve already been there with the Clinton investigation, haven’t we? Afterward, it came out that there was no reopened investigation, nor any basis for having sealed the records that would have resolved that question on the spot.
Yeah. It’s pretty damn stunning, when you stop to think about it. If any of this is true, we’re going to be swearing in a president who’s subject to extortion by a foreign government.
Maybe the Russians have successfully poisoned our election process already—we just haven’t figured it all out yet.
@Greg: If I were you, Greg, I would take some advice from Hillary and not buy the fireworks just yet. Until this is confirmed, take a look back at the many false, phony, contrived, silly and weak attempts to make Republicans appear as bad as Democrats and use that as context.
@Bill… Deplorable Me:
Fake Intel….
go here:
and then enlarge with a click … check out the How it Happened … mid right side. McMullin was undercover CIA for 10 years.
@Greg: #6
Bullshit
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-10/4chan-claims-have-fabricated-anti-trump-report-hoax
Here is 4Chan’s explanation of how the story came to light:
>/pol/acks mailed fanfiction to anti-trump pundit Rick Wilson about trump making people piss on a bed obama slept in
>he [Rick Wilson] thought it was real and gave it to the CIA
>the central intelligence agency of the united states of america put this in their official classified intelligence report on russian involvement in the election
>donald trump and obama have both read this pol/acks fanfiction
>the cia has concluded that russia plans to blackmail trump with this story we made up
4chan trolled Rick Wilson with the Trump piss story back in November 2016. Media or CIA added Russian spies themselves.
It’s all fake. And not only fake; it’s a prank perpetuated by 4chan, on Rick Wilson himself. A post on 4chan on october 26 stated “mfw managed to convince CTR and certain (((journalists))) on Twitter there’ll be an October surprise on Trump this Friday” along with a picture of a smug face with a hash name. http://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/94704894/#94705224
on november 1, a person without a picture but is assumed to be the same person posted “So they took what I told Rick Wilson and added a Russian spy angle to it. They still believe it.
@Greg: Greg? Greg? Can you get a refund on those fireworks?
@July 4th American, #12:
How will anyone ever know that, if the claims are not investigated?
It’s not as if there have been no prior warnings that Trump might have undisclosed entanglements with Russia. There were multiple red flags and flashing red warning lights that began to turn up months before he was even nominated—from Paul Manafort, Richard Burt, and Carter Page, to his son’s statement that Russian investment money made up a disproportionate proportion of a lot of the Trump empire’s assets. Do you need a list to remind you? Every one of them was ignored. He even got a pass when he refused to make his tax returns public—the entire purpose of which is to reveal any compromising financial entanglements.
There’s stuff lurking out there that could blow up at any point. Financial Times, for example, ran several investigative articles concerning where this disproportionate portion of Russian money was coming from. Here’s a link to one such:
Dirty money: Trump and the Kazakh connection
It should have been looked into months ago. It wasn’t. Now the whole mess may be about to blow up in our faces. It won’t just go away. It’s far too serious for that.
Donald Trump Was Bailed Out of Bankruptcy by Russia Crime Bosses
@Greg:
The claims are fictitious
You are a brain dead moron to have believed them in the first place and then you posted them as if they had merit
My hope is you dumb ass liberals will not quit posting utter bullshit and lies told to you
Denial is not a river in Egypt.
If someone reported there was a bomb in a suitcase about to be loaded aboard an airplane, it would be totally insane not to open the suitcase and have a quick look. There have been multiple reports, but no one has bothered to look inside.
Sorry, but that’s unacceptable.
@Greg:
Get over it, moron
Nope. Can’t do it. It’s far too serious.
Putin has successfully torpedoed Clinton already. Much as I deplore what happened, it’s a done deal. If Trump is seriously compromised—and it absolutely must be determined whether or not his is—there’s only one route to a rescue of the democratic process. I deplore it, but it is what it is.
Say hello to President Pence. Better a strongly right-leaning conservative than a president subject to extortion by Vladimir Putin.
@Greg:
Knock your self out, zipperhead
@Greg:
Wrong. The purpose of which is to give you liberals something to bitch about. You don’t care about when the Clinton’s make a million dollar deductible donation TO THEMSELVES or the Clinton Foundation “forgetting” to claim millions in foreign donations they weren’t supposed to be receiving, but you are frothing at the mouth to see Trump’s records.
That is simply nothing but hypocrisy and I see no reason for any Republican to ever subject themselves to that kind of one sided scrutiny ever again.
Back in 2008, I remember seeing a story written by Obama’s gay lover. I have also seen stories that he murdered his gay lover. Did the FBI and CIA investigate those reports? I wonder why not? Perhaps because, to an intelligent mind, the stories were simply TOO ridiculous to take seriously (unless, of course, you REALLY, REALLY WANT TO).
THAT is the difference, Greg. You liberals WANT to believe this crap so badly you wind up looking like idiots.
What I want is for it to be looked into and either confirmed or ruled out. Because I am not crazy.
@DaNang67:
Body language expert on Julian Assange finds him to be a credible (if cautious) open, and refreshingly honest interviewee.
Perhaps you should call in a phrenologist for a second opinion.
@Greg: #22
You are crazy, it is democrat DNA…
Crazy is refusing to look to see if there’s really a bomb in the suitcase.
@Greg: Crazy is telling someone there’s a bomb in the suitcase when there isn’t just because you’re a sore loser.
The report didn’t originate with democrats.
The problem is people who refused to take any legitimate concerns about Trump’s background and qualifications seriously. Every damn red flag issue has been ignored, so now they mark the possible locations of unexploded bombs. They all should have been examined before he was even nominated.
Don’t blame democrats. They didn’t nominate him, nor did they elect him. Nor did they hire a former British intelligence operative to do the background investigation that has evidently been knocking around for months. Apparently the Clinton campaign had a copy, but didn’t use it.
@Greg:
Why don’t you solve it Greggie and get back to us with a full report in say, oh 8 years or so….
FAKE NEWS: BuzzFeed and CNN fall for Trump P-ss Story That was 4Chan Prank
@Greg:
@July 4th American, #29:
International Business Times has already discredited the claim that the story was a 4Chan prank:
Golden Shower Gate: 4chan Falsely Takes Credit For Trump News
As the article points out, the memo in question was already in circulation before any 4Chan posts on the topic were ever made. You people are so unbelievably gullible.
4Chan Claim About Inventing Trump Pissgate Report Is Complete Bullshit [Update]
@Greg:
Well that is a relief. We really need to get to the bottom of this. We have to know who are president is and is not. Do you think it will be necessary to introduce articles of impeachment against Trump?
Christopher Steele, Ex-British Intelligence Officer, Said to Have Prepared Dossier on Trump
This guy is not some 4Chan social media Trump troll.
@Greg:
Are you aware that there is a soon to be released report about the goings on in the basement of Trump Tower. It seems in addition to selling Trump pizza at a below ground drive up window, there is also a child prostitution ring operating as well. The report does not confirm however if the kiddies are available at the drive up window.
@July 4th American, #32:
I don’t know if allegations in the memo are true or false; only that there are far too many serious questions that need to be answered. The election is over. Nothing will change the fact that republicans will retain control of the government. Partisan control isn’t the point.
@Greg: I am wondering, Greg, since this is a legitimate report which was commissioned by the Republicans, why they did not take it to Trump, sit down with him and tell him this would destroy his campaign and family and he should drop out… or else they would be forced to release it? After all, wasn’t that the purported purpose of it in the first place?
There are no “serious questions” in that report. It is only a wish list of things liberals wish to be.
They’ve got Pence, whom they may greatly prefer, but who couldn’t have won the election. Trump might have been seen as the only means of putting such a person in the White House.
Perhaps Trump will step down after the inauguration. He would then have achieved his goal of becoming president, but would never be tested in the job and be found wanting. He could avoid any investigation. He could play it as a sacrifice made for the good of the nation. The fact that he has just announced that he won’t divest from his business while president suggests something might be up. That’s all pure speculation, of course.
I think the questions about Russian problems and entanglements are entirely real. There are just too many arrows pointing in that direction to be ignored.
@Greg: Ah, dreams. It’s what takes the place of reality.
@Greg: #37
Utter lunacy from the thoughts of a lunatic….