Senate committee unanimously agrees there was massive Russian interference in the 2016 election

[hurtinbuckaroo]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...5ca51a-83d2-11ea-ae26-989cfce1c7c7_story.html

Every single member of the Senate Intelligence Committee has "endorsed the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia conducted a sweeping and unprecedented campaign to interfere in the 2016 presidential election."

In other words, all those R's finally admitted what anyone with a brain has known for four years.

No doubt SCROTUS will claim the Russians were trying to get Hillary elected.

 

[Elixir]

No doubt SCROTUS will claim the Russians were trying to get Hillary elected.

He already did that. The crafty Russians were working their magic for Hillary through the Ukraine. Oh - and Joe Biden, of course.

 

[Trausti]

The Soviet Union and now Russia has been doing this for years. Why anyone would think it just started in 2016 is bizarre.

 

[ZiprHead]

The Soviet Union and now Russia has been doing this for years. Why anyone would think it just started in 2016 is bizarre.

Russia's "Internet Research Agency" was created in mid 2013.

 

[Trausti]

The Soviet Union and now Russia has been doing this for years. Why anyone would think it just started in 2016 is bizarre.

Russia's "Internet Research Agency" was created in mid 2013.

Sure. But that didn’t stop the Soviet Union from engaging in misinformation campaigns and spreading civil strife in the US. There’s a long history of this.

 

[ideologyhunter]

I have in my hand a list of 205 names that are known to the Secretary of State who are Soviet collaborators and who nonetheless are still working and setting policy in our federal government. The leader is a heavy-set fella who looks sorta like Andy Devine, if he were a ginger. Full list available at White House dot gov, under personnel.

 

[Trausti]

Here's one.

Soviet Bloc Intelligence and Its AIDS Disinformation Campaign

Active measures specialists used newspapers, radio sta-tions, embassies, and other offi-cial institutions for implementation and diffusion. Services allied to the Soviets, such as East Germany’s Minis-try for State Security (MfS), were frequently enlisted as well. In 1980, a conservative CIA estimate put the annual cost of Soviet active measures at $3 billion.

For example, the KGB began spreading rumors about FBI and CIA involvement in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy because the Soviets earnestly believed the US mili-tary-industrial complex was involved in Kennedy’s murder. Likewise, East German intelli-gence routinely floated disinfor-mation depicting West German politicians as former Nazis, because, from East Berlin’s per-spective, the Federal Republic of Germany was merely an incarnation of the Third Reich.

 

[Trausti]

I have in my hand a list of 205 names that are known to the Secretary of State who are Soviet collaborators and who nonetheless are still working and setting policy in our federal government. The leader is a heavy-set fella who looks sorta like Andy Devine, if he were a ginger. Full list available at White House dot gov, under personnel.

It may be the reason the Soviet Union and now Russia likes to troll the US is because there are useful idiots on the other side.

Footnotes in watchdog report indicate FBI knew of risk of Russian disinformation in Steele dossier

Footnote 350 in the IG report addresses the FBI's knowledge of Russian contacts with Steele and the potential for disinformation. Steele had "frequent contacts with representatives for multiple Russian oligarchs, we identified reporting the Crossfire Hurricane team received from (redacted) indicating the potential for Russian disinformation influencing Steele's election reporting."

The footnote also indicates that warnings to the FBI's Russia probe became more pronounced over time.

"The (redacted) stated that it did not have high confidence in this subset of Steele's reporting and assessed that the referenced subset was part of a Russian disinformation campaign to denigrate US foreign relations."

 

[Angry Floof]

Now the question is what do they plan to do about it? Probably the same old nothing, which isn't really an improvement on the you-just-hate-our-sacred-authority-figure denials.

 

[Elixir]

It may be the reason the Soviet Union and now Russia likes to troll the US is because there are useful idiots on the other side.

Oh? A partisan hack wrote a skeptical footnote to discredit the FBI based on nothing, you swallowed it and "the other side" are the useful idiots?

 

[TSwizzle]

Good grief. All this time (three years or so) and money spent because someone in Russia ran a few Facebook ads ? Where is the evidence that any of this had a tangible impact on the outcome of the election ? What is the purpose of these reports ?

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

The Soviet Union and now Russia has been doing this for years. Why anyone would think it just started in 2016 is bizarre.

Russia's "Internet Research Agency" was created in mid 2013.

Sure. But that didn’t stop the Soviet Union from engaging in misinformation campaigns and spreading civil strife in the US.

That's not what the report is talking about and you know it. It's not a question of "civil strife"; it was a successful, concentrated and deliberate effort to place a particular person who was, at the very least, someone "friendly" toward Putin in the office, not some general attempt at fomenting civil strife.

I hope you're being paid well.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Sure. But that didn’t stop the Soviet Union from engaging in misinformation campaigns and spreading civil strife in the US.

That's not what the report is talking about and you know it. It's not a question of "civil strife"; it was a successful, concentrated and deliberate effort to place a particular person who was, at the very least, someone "friendly" toward Putin in the office, not some general attempt at fomenting civil strife.

I hope you're being paid well.

Isn't it both? Play the right and left against each other. Mango Unchained was an unexpected win, like Greece in Euro 2004.

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Where is the evidence that any of this had a tangible impact on the outcome of the election ?

Most of it is detailed here: Russian Influence Measured.

What is the purpose of these reports ?

The more relevant question is what is the purpose of your vapid histrionics?

Here's a clue in regard to the purpose of the reports for anyone too full of Trump cum to comprehend at a fifth grade level:

For years, President Trump has derided the assessment by American intelligence officials that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to assist his candidacy, dismissing it without evidence as the work of a “deep state” out to undermine his victory.

But on Tuesday, a long-awaited Senate review led by members of Mr. Trump’s own party effectively undercut those allegations. A three-year review by the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee unanimously found that the intelligence community assessment, pinning blame on Russia and outlining its goals to undercut American democracy, was fundamentally sound and untainted by politics.

“The I.C.A. reflects strong tradecraft, sound analytical reasoning and proper justification of disagreement in the one analytical line where it occurred,” said Senator Richard M. Burr, Republican of North Carolina and the panel’s chairman. “The committee found no reason to dispute the intelligence community’s conclusions.”

The endorsement by Mr. Burr’s committee comes at a key moment for the intelligence agencies. Not only has Mr. Trump moved in recent months to install a loyalist in the top spy position, but Attorney General William P. Barr has also blessed a broad review of possible misconduct by investigators examining the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia, apparently including work by intelligence officials.
...
“The case is closed,” said Senator Angus King, independent of Maine. “I don’t know how you could have a much more credible source than a three-year study by a bipartisan committee that came to a unanimous conclusion.”

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Sure. But that didn’t stop the Soviet Union from engaging in misinformation campaigns and spreading civil strife in the US.

That's not what the report is talking about and you know it. It's not a question of "civil strife"; it was a successful, concentrated and deliberate effort to place a particular person who was, at the very least, someone "friendly" toward Putin in the office, not some general attempt at fomenting civil strife.

I hope you're being paid well.

Isn't it both?

No.

Play the right and left against each other.

They didn't do that. In the primaries, they attacked all other Republican candidates while bolstering Trump on the GOP side to help ensure he was the nominee and then on the DNC side they weaponized Sanders against Clinton to help ensure she was not the nominee. Then in the general, they primarily targeted black Democrats to suppress their vote and white under-educated right-wing males to increase their turnout.

Push Trump; destroy Clinton. Suppress Democrats; incite Republicans/right-leaning Independents.

That is a deliberate and concentrated effort to put their asset (Trump) into the WH, not an attempt to sow general chaos among both parties.

 

[Ford]

In the primaries, they attacked all other Republican candidates while bolstering Trump on the GOP side to help ensure he was the nominee and then on the DNC side they weaponized Sanders against Clinton to help ensure she was not the nominee. Then in the general, they primarily targeted black Democrats to suppress their vote and white under-educated right-wing males to increase their turnout.

That is a deliberate and concentrated effort to put their asset (Trump) into the WH, not an attempt to sow general chaos among both parties.

And for our friends here who continue to insist "this is no big deal, they've been doing it since the Soviet days," the point is that as of now, literally everyone with any shred of authority on the subject says "yes, the Russians have been and will continue to interfere in our elections.": Everyone. Republicans. Democrats. Every single US intelligence agency.

The lone dissenter? The guy who says "no, I believe Putin because he says he didn't"?

Donald J. Trump.

Not only has he flatly denied Russian interference, his White House (and the man personally) attempted to shut down investigations into said interference. He publicly trashed "this Rusher thing" and privately tried to fire the person in charge of the investigation. His lap-dog AG swept the report under the rug, and is now (by order of Trump) investigating the investigation! Furthermore, Trump has stymied multiple attempts to sanction or put pressure on Russia over their meddling. Mueller indicted over a dozen Russian companies and individuals for attacking the United States. Yet the President - the person who is in charge of defending the nation - didn't lift a finger against those individuals, companies, or their country.

The inescapable conclusion is that while Trump did not actively collaborate with the Russians, he welcomed their interference, did nothing to stop it, and will continue to stymie any efforts to stop these attacks on the United States. He has betrayed the country he swore to defend.

 

[TSwizzle]

And for our friends here who continue to insist "this is no big deal, they've been doing it since the Soviet days," the point is that as of now, literally everyone with any shred of authority on the subject says "yes, the Russians have been and will continue to interfere in our elections.": Everyone. Republicans. Democrats. Every single US intelligence agency.

Can you explain how ? How do you measure this "interference" had any effect what so ever other than your guy didn't win ?

The inescapable conclusion is that while Trump did not actively collaborate with the Russians, he welcomed their interference, did nothing to stop it, and will continue to stymie any efforts to stop these attacks on the United States. He has betrayed the country he swore to defend.

How could he have stopped this "interference" ? How could anyone stop any stuff they didn't like appearing on Facebook/social media or where ever this "interference" manifests itself ?

 

[ZiprHead]

then on the DNC side they weaponized Sanders against Clinton to help ensure she was not the nominee.

They also weaponized the Bernie supporters by convincing many of them that the DNC stole the nomination from Bernie for Hillary, so they too would stay away from the polls, or worse yet, vote for Bonespurs.

There are still many people that are convinced the DNC stole the election from Bernie and did it again in 2020.

 

[Ford]

And for our friends here who continue to insist "this is no big deal, they've been doing it since the Soviet days," the point is that as of now, literally everyone with any shred of authority on the subject says "yes, the Russians have been and will continue to interfere in our elections.": Everyone. Republicans. Democrats. Every single US intelligence agency.

Can you explain how ?

I suggest you start here:

https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Report_Volume1.pdf

And here:

https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Report_Volume2.pdf

It is (of course) heavily redacted to protect sources and methods, but the conclusion is clear: They attacked our election infrastructure.

By the way, you can't sell this as a partisan hit job, as the report was prepared by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committed under the auspices of Republican leadership, and backs up the intelligence communities' assessment of the threat. This has been in the works for three years, and I suspect you'll hand-wave the whole thing away without reading any of it, as it reaffirms something you insist is not a real problem.

 

[TSwizzle]

And for our friends here who continue to insist "this is no big deal, they've been doing it since the Soviet days," the point is that as of now, literally everyone with any shred of authority on the subject says "yes, the Russians have been and will continue to interfere in our elections.": Everyone. Republicans. Democrats. Every single US intelligence agency.

Can you explain how ?

I suggest you start here:

https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Report_Volume1.pdf

And here:

https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Report_Volume2.pdf

It is (of course) heavily redacted to protect sources and methods, but the conclusion is clear: They attacked our election infrastructure.

By the way, you can't sell this as a partisan hit job, as the report was prepared by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committed under the auspices of Republican leadership, and backs up the intelligence communities' assessment of the threat. This has been in the works for three years, and I suspect you'll hand-wave the whole thing away without reading any of it, as it reaffirms something you insist is not a real problem.

From an cursory skim through the second one I see terms like "Russia's Weaponization of Social Media". So yeah, I'm going to have to hand wave that sort of thing because it's a bullshit term. This weaponizing of things is a bit silly. But in any event, is there anything new, i.e. I was well aware that Facebook was a well of garbage and nonsense. What "election infrastructure" was actually attacked ? Voting machines ? Ballot papers ? What exactly.