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FBI Director James Comey Sacked
The Washington Post reports that:
FBI Director James B. Comey has been dismissed by the president [...] a startling move that officials said stemmed from a conclusion by Justice Department officials that he had mishandled the probe of Hillary Clinton's emails.
Previously:
Clinton Told FBI She Relied on Others' Judgment on Classified Material
FBI Recommends No Prosecution for Clinton
F.B.I. Director James Comey Is Fired by Trump
President Trump has fired FBI Director James Comey:
President Trump has fired the director of the F.B.I., James B. Comey, over his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails, the White House said Tuesday.
[...] Under the F.B.I.'s normal rules of succession, Mr. Comey's deputy, Andrew G. McCabe, a career F.B.I. officer, becomes acting director. The White House said the search for a new director will begin immediately.
I never liked Comey (see this cluster of stories), but I doubt there will ever be an FBI Director I like.
Related:
We're Stuck With Comey
Earlier in the day...
FBI Director Comey Misstated Huma Abedin Evidence at Last Week's Hearing
ProPublica reports that most of FBI Director James Comey's testimony to Congress last Wednesday related to Huma Abedin's mishandling of classified emails was inaccurate, and that FBI officials are privately acknowledging the mistake(s) but are still considering their next move:
FBI director James Comey generated national headlines last week with his dramatic testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, explaining his "incredibly painful" decision to go public about the Hillary Clinton emails found on Anthony Weiner's laptop.
Perhaps Comey's most surprising revelation was that Huma Abedin — Weiner's wife and a top Clinton deputy — had made "a regular practice" of forwarding "hundreds and thousands" of Clinton messages to her husband, "some of which contain classified information." Comey testified that Abedin had done this so that the disgraced former congressman could print them out for her boss. (Weiner's laptop was seized after he came under criminal investigation for sex crimes, following a media report about his online relationship with a teenager.)
The New York Post plastered its story on the front page with a photo of an underwear-clad Weiner and the headline: "HARD COPY: Huma sent Weiner classified Hillary emails to print out." The Daily News went with a similar front-page screamer: "HUMA ERROR: Sent classified emails to sext maniac Weiner."
The problem: Much of what Comey said about this was inaccurate. Now the FBI is trying to figure out what to do about it. FBI officials have privately acknowledged that Comey misstated what Abedin did and what the FBI investigators found. On Monday, the FBI was said to be preparing to correct the record by sending a letter to Congress later this week. But that plan now appears on hold, with the bureau undecided about what to do.
[...] According to two sources familiar with the matter — including one in law enforcement — Abedin forwarded only a handful of Clinton emails to her husband for printing — not the "hundreds and thousands" cited by Comey. It does not appear Abedin made "a regular practice" of doing so. Other officials said it was likely that most of the emails got onto the computer as a result of backups of her Blackberry.
Also at Washington Post (alternate analysis), The Hill, The New York Post, and USA Today.
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @12:16AM (56 children)
This is about Russia. Fucking up his testimony on Abedin's emails is just convenient cover.
Trump fired the guy in charge of the investigation that some believe will end with his impeachment.
That's not normal, though it's also not unprecedented. Another president fired the person in charge of investigating his administration: Richard Nixon. [mashable.com]
Just yesterday Trump changed his twitter banner [thehill.com] to one of his own tweets that said: "Director Clapper reiterated what everybody, including the fake media already knows- there is 'no evidence' of collusion w/ Russia and Trump." Which is textbook Shakespearean, "the lady doth protest too much."
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday May 10 2017, @12:23AM (17 children)
I doubt Trump can fire enough people to quash an unfavorable investigation. If he does, they will just leak the info.
Now Comey's deputy Andrew G. McCabe is in charge. Is he going to stop the investigation(s)?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @12:31AM
A cornered rat will attack anything within reach.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @12:48AM (14 children)
Now Comey's deputy Andrew G. McCabe is in charge.
Only until trump appoints his own man.
At which point he can shut down the investigation.
That traitor McConnell is already calling for a quick confirmation process [thehill.com] and trump hasn't even named anyone yet.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Wednesday May 10 2017, @01:09AM (13 children)
Only until trump appoints his own man.
Wanted: New FBI director. Primary qualification: Complete lack of interest in investigating Russia. Everything else negotiable.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday May 10 2017, @02:43AM (3 children)
So who will be the replacement? I nominate Stacey Koon or David Duke.
(Score: 5, Informative) by driverless on Wednesday May 10 2017, @03:02AM (1 child)
Big Al Brown. Works at Burger King in Billingsley, Alamaba. Thinks Russia is a city in upstate New York, pootin' is what you do after too many refried beans, and knows when to do what he's told. He's just what Trump wants for the role.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday May 11 2017, @04:49PM
However, that makes him still perfect for the job.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @03:29PM
Sally Yates.
(Score: 2, Troll) by hemocyanin on Wednesday May 10 2017, @04:00AM (8 children)
While Democrats are busy manufacturing consent for a nuclear war with Russia, rational people wish you fauxgressives would just take a long walk on a short pier.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @04:12AM (4 children)
???
Where did you get the idea that Dems are trying to blow everything up? Bush-2 & Cheney are the case study of making up "facts" to support his war against Saddam.
(Score: 2, Informative) by hemocyanin on Wednesday May 10 2017, @04:19AM (3 children)
Are you kidding? Democrats are practically orgasming every time they hear Rachel Maddow say RussiaRussiaRussia. And while GWB was an evil fuck, Obama just doubled down on everything he did. If you don't know this, you are paying attention only to hagiography and not to facts. The entire Democrat establishment is a bunch of pro-war, corporatist, bankster loving, surveillance creeping, prison building cretins. Literally the only difference between the DNC and GOP, is abortion and bathroom access. Other than that, they're the same lot of mother fucking assholes destroying the middle class and blowing up random people around the world for the profit of a few.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @01:08PM
Haha, wow. Are you trying to say that Trump doesn't want nuclear war with Russia?
Don't give me any horseshit about his campaign promises. He's been a politician since he descended the golden escalator, and he's been routinely demonstrating that our usual method of observing that a politician's lip motion is strongly correlated with his use of outright deceit remains accurate.
Wake me up when you Republicans have an actual plan that at least all of you can agree to for healthcare
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday May 10 2017, @05:47PM (1 child)
If there's no difference then why has Trump spent the first four months in office repealing stuff?
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Thursday May 11 2017, @03:09AM
The difference is simply which subset of the 0.1% each party caters to. Republicans push the agenda of old industries, plus war, surveillance, prisons, and unfair free trade. Democrats push the agenda of Banksters/tech venture capital mostly, plus war, surveillance, prisons, and unfair free trade. Republicans rely on gun lovers so they tend to (at least mouth) support for the 2nd Amendment. Democrats are a little smarter and fearing a new French Revolution, especially the red necklace part, are devising ever more clever ways to make the 2nd Amendment irrelevant. Both support policies to depress wages -- Republicans by crushing unions, Democrats by importing labor (though Democrats aren't all that union friendly either).
I hope that is nuanced enough for you. In either case however, their constituents are a subset of the ultra-wealthy and they couldn't care less about workers or the middle class.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Wednesday May 10 2017, @06:15AM
While Democrats are busy manufacturing consent for a nuclear war with Russia
Don't buy it. Nuclear war is beyond third rail for them. It's unthinkable. They're just using Putin as a bogeyman because he's not well liked by most of the US. This might work in the long run too, because well, there is something weird going on there.
As to Comey, he did indeed greatly mishandle the Clinton email investigation and I think he did so at the behest of Obama (and then did that October surprise in passive-aggressive protest). And of course, his opinions on privacy and similar issues are abominable. But I don't see that latter part improving under any new appointee to the position.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @06:51AM (1 child)
Democrats are busy manufacturing consent for a nuclear war with Russia,
More proof your grip on reality is no better than the AM talk radio crowd.
You make it sound like there is only one choice, nukes or nothing.
Which is ridiculous. There are a lot of possibilities for retaliation.
Nukes are a last resort and nobody is going to shoot them off over election meddling or even Ukraine.
We didn't nuke russia over south Ossetia, or even Crimea.
So chill out with the hysterics already.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @12:28PM
Because "conventional war with " is shorthand for nuclear war.
"War with Russia" IS "nuclear war".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 12 2017, @12:52AM
I doubt Trump can fire enough people to quash an unfavorable investigation.
Trump: "Ready, Fire, Aim!"
The guy just straight-up admitted it was because of Russia:
“In fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.’”
Trump said he was thinking of Russia controversy when he decided to fire Comey [washingtonpost.com]
He really is the idiot-in-chief.
I'm sure his handlers will come up with some non-explanation for how Turmp is the most trustworthy president in the history of all presidents but you shouldn't believe his own words.
(Score: 3, Funny) by BK on Wednesday May 10 2017, @12:33AM (12 children)
I'm going with dude just likes firing people. It's like his trademark move or something.
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 1) by butthurt on Wednesday May 10 2017, @12:35AM
I wanted "You're fired!" to be the department line.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @12:36AM (6 children)
'You're *FIRED*!'
Like he used to do on the Apprentice/IRL?
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday May 10 2017, @02:25AM (5 children)
There are many videos:
* Anand, you're fired. Go! [youtube.com]
* Bredford, you're fired. [youtube.com] Jean, you're fired. [youtube.com]
Some notes. Anand obviously broke the rules badly. Almost felt like the rest of the group were going to do a facepalm.
What's up at 0:48 [youtube.com] with the welcome party? groupie sex as a reward?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @02:44AM (1 child)
Some notes. Anand obviously broke the rules badly.
Holy shit! You actually watched The Apprentice?
Explains so much.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Thursday May 11 2017, @08:44AM
Obviously you're an idiot for not paying attention to the contents in the links.
Nor can your explain what that "so much" is so your post just stinks of ad hominem and your opinions on that sole fact is just trash.
(Score: 2) by Soylentbob on Wednesday May 10 2017, @06:39AM
Du bist gefeuert! [youtube.com] ("You're fired!", German snippet from Drawn Together, "The one with the big twist" [wikia.com])
(Score: 3, Interesting) by lx on Wednesday May 10 2017, @02:59PM (1 child)
The great thing about al this is that the headlines after impeachment will write themselves.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Thursday May 11 2017, @08:46AM
How close is he really to be "relieved" of his position either by his own decision or by others?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @12:57AM (1 child)
I'm going with dude just likes firing people. It's like his trademark move or something.
That was an act for the tv show.
He's on the record saying he doesn't like firing people, multiple times.
Probably because its an admission that he failed to hire the best person in the first place.
http://lifebeyondsportmedia.com/Donald-Trump [lifebeyondsportmedia.com]
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/02/15/the-two-words-donald-trump-hates-most-you-re-fired.html [thedailybeast.com]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @02:53AM
> He's on the record saying he doesn't like firing people, multiple times.
"on the record" seems to have no matching record within Trump's memory. He could say the opposite on any given day.
Maybe gamma rays flip the bits?
(Score: 2) by arslan on Friday May 12 2017, @03:06AM (1 child)
Heh heh, I wonder if it played out like an episode of The Apprentice. Trump sitting in a room behind a menacing desk as Comey walks in, the slight breeze from the door causes the orange mane to flutter ever so slightly as the Don creases his lips to expose his signature pout. Slowly but surely a pair of tiny tiny hands reach out from under the desk to rest on top of it. A moment of silence cuts across the room before the right hand of the God Emperor lifts off the table, balled into a gun shape figure to point at Comey followed almost instantaneously by the apocalypse of a trillion bacteria in the vicinity of the black hole that spurts forth the words, "You're FIRED!!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 12 2017, @06:48AM
Heh heh, I wonder if it played out like an episode of The Apprentice.
The Apprentice was just a fantasy. In real life Don the Con is a coward.
He sent his former bodyguard to deliver a plain manila envelope containing the letter to the FBI offices in Langley while Comey was in California.
Yeah, that's right, he didn't even have the balls to tell Comey himself.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/reports-keith-schiller-hand-delivered-termination-letter-to-comey [talkingpointsmemo.com]
Reports are that sending minions to fire people rather than look them in the face himself is standard trump behavior.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @12:42AM (2 children)
Anyone interested in the AP feed on this topic? It's here (probably other places too):
https://start.localnet.com/article.php?category=topstories&article=33a167fff9884b7ea7e1afe074ca2295 [localnet.com]
Many small snippets/summaries, comments by pols and others.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday May 10 2017, @12:49AM
Thanks.
Gotta love the theatrics of it.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @12:49AM
No... Not really.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @03:11AM (2 children)
Even (republican) Representative Justin Amash thinks the firing is hinky. [twitter.com] He hasn't gone against trump in public before. Maybe now it won't just be McCain and Lindsey Graham who put country over party.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday May 10 2017, @03:37AM
Well, if all the liberals in this two-minutes' hate would stop for a second and quit behaving like hysterical Nancies, then maybe they'd figure that it would be a good idea to wait and see who takes over before resuming their chirping and squawking.
Comey's a partisan crook and even though he made those comments about Hillary, he did so because the true patriots forced his hand. He was totally in on the Chicago Politics lawlessness of the Clinton/Obama crime syndicate with the HSBC nonsense and whatnot. We shouldn't be surprised if they find him dead of suicide by 3 shots to the head with a bolt-action rifle.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @03:45AM
Another republican representative, Carlos Curbelo, stands up:
“Today’s extraordinary decision raises many questions all of which must be answered. Congress and the American people need a transparent explanation as to how this decision was reached and why it was executed at this time. It is critical that the FBI can continue all of its pending work with independence and integrity – especially the investigation into the Russian government’s efforts to influence our last election and undermine American democracy. Today I reiterate the need for Congress to establish a Select Committee with full investigatory powers to thoroughly examine this matter.”
http://curbelo.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1457 [house.gov]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @07:11AM (2 children)
The whitehouse just announced that tomorrow turmp is meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. [reuters.com]
Say what you will about the guy, but he's got giant balls.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @08:00AM
Not so much "giant balls" as "memory of a goldfish" with a dash of "self-awareness of a toddler" :/
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday May 10 2017, @07:00PM
Trump luxury is to have a gift to welcome a guest ...
Or was he afraid that Lavrov would come with a gift for his host?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by VLM on Wednesday May 10 2017, @11:42AM (12 children)
Could someone explain the Russia conspiracy theory?
It seems to be anointed queen in waiting lost because she sucked and the electorate hates her although the elites love her, therefore someone is to blame, and it can't be her and it can't be the D party leadership, so obviously it was gremlins or space aliens or ... I know, Russians!
Is there anything to it beyond "argh matey here be tinfoil internet pirate hats"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday May 10 2017, @06:17PM (10 children)
Not so much a conspiracy theory as what should be a non-partisan opinion: Foreign Governments Shouldn't Fuck With Our Electoral Process
Hacking only one political party is clear interference.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @07:05PM (2 children)
That famous photo of Flynn at the same table with Putin [dailykos.com] had another famous face too -- Jill Stein. Anyone who thinks Putin did the US a favor by hacking the democrats can't see beyond their own dick - the republican party could be the target in the next election cycle if it suits Putin's objectives.
(Score: 3, Informative) by hemocyanin on Thursday May 11 2017, @03:33AM (1 child)
Bullshit: https://theintercept.com/2016/08/08/dems-tactic-of-accusing-adversaries-of-kremlin-ties-and-russia-sympathies-has-long-history-in-us/ [theintercept.com]
Let us not forget, it was HRC that sold out US uranium supplies for multi-millions in donations. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/04/23/us/clinton-foundation-donations-uranium-investors.html?_r=0 [nytimes.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 12 2017, @02:22AM
Let us not forget, it was HRC that sold out US uranium supplies for multi-millions in donations.
Yes. Let us not forget that baseless accusation and let us not forget how it reflects on your objectivity.
A key fact ignored in criticisms of Clinton’s supposed involvement in the deal is that the uranium was not — nor could it be — exported, and remained under the control of U.S.-based subsidiaries of Uranium One, according to a statement by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission:
http://www.snopes.com/hillary-clinton-uranium-russia-deal/ [snopes.com]
Hemo, stop being a fucking tool. Your hate for hillary is based on lies and conspiracy theories.
It is hard as fuck to admit that someone tricked you, but you've been tricked.
Please, be an adult and stop letting people with a political agenda manipulate you into believing obvious falsehoods.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Wednesday May 10 2017, @08:26PM (6 children)
Well, that's kinda my point, first of all we as a nation never, ever follow that guideline so IF THEY DID, which I'm not agreeing with, why should the Russians, and secondly what did they actually do other than Hillary lost and the only possible reason could be hacking?
Its a weird definition of hacking. I don't like it that its cloudy outside right now, must be Russian Hackers. The neighbors cow died, must be Salem style witchcraft, err I mean Russian Hackers!
I'm just asking for an explanation deeper than "Hillary lost therefore Russian Hackers". Thats asking for a heck of leap of faith. Why isn't the mantra "Hillary lost therefore Salem style witchcraft". Maybe because Hillary was a witch; OK then substitute in any of the historical inquisitions in Europe, it don't matter much which (oh the pun)
(Score: 3, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday May 10 2017, @09:22PM (5 children)
Its a weird definition of hacking.
Breaking into multiple email servers and stealing all their data is not a weird definition of hacking.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Wednesday May 10 2017, @09:51PM (4 children)
Then you end up with "why Russians" why not Chinese or Canadians or whatnot. This isn't an episode of CSI you can't just click the "trace" button.
Then there's six layers of "Russian".
1) Seth Rich stole the emails and was execute by ... someone. He wanted to frame the Russians and stuffed the logs with Russian IP addresses but being a kid he Fed it up and paid the ultimate price.
2) Some North Korean was told to frame the Russians or his family will be executed by anti-aircraft gun so the logs are full of Russian addresses and being a semi-pro he didn't F it up as much as Seth Rich. Or maybe he did F it up, and nobody's talking about it.
3) Some Chinese dude cracked a server physically located in Russia and used it
4) Some Chinese dude sorta kinda had the cooperation of a server in Russia, or willful lack of interference lets say, and used it
5) Some private citizen in Russia broke a variety of Russian laws by doing it as a private citizen.
6) Some Russian agent operating under orders from the Russian government did it.
I'm mystified how some private citizen here on SN can figure out which of the six it is.
Finally there's the fascinating issue of "does any of this matter". You have to be realistic. I wasn't voting for Hillary until suddenly I saw some emails. Its kinda a reefer madness claim that everything was going perfectly and then the truth about Hillary came out and suddenly everyone stopped loving her. She was always hated by most of the population. And the great injustice, assuming any of the narrative is true, is that once people really know Hillary, really know who a candidate is, they hate her and won't vote for her, so again, IF the Russians hacked, or more likely the Chinese or our own NSA or wtf, whoever did it DOES deserve a Nobel Peace Prize... don't they?
Think this thru very carefully in the propaganda plan... the end result of Putin personally showed the world what kind of woman Hillary is, and she's not liked... wouldn't the vast majority of the american public high five that bro and say thanks and share shots of vodka with him, if he did it?
I mean he didn't "steal an election" in the sense of stealing gold bricks out of a bank "Oceans Eleven" style. He saved us from a madwoman for which he's a bro and we owe him one. And the key insight, the most important fact of all... this is the absolute worst possible case, if I fall for every ridiculous narrative and gullible believe the craziest most ridiculous conspiracy theory. The absolute worst case outcome for the Trump / Republicans / Right is Putin is a bro and our nation owes him one. Think about that when you push the narrative, if the right collapses and you "win" what you "win" is a majority of Americans think Putin is a hero. Has the D party sunk so low thats considered a "win"?
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday May 10 2017, @09:53PM (2 children)
This isn't an episode of CSI you can't just click the "trace" button.
Edward Snowden thinks the they can do exactly that.... [salon.com]
(Score: 2) by gottabeme on Thursday May 11 2017, @12:08AM (1 child)
Salon is a heavily left-leaning outlet (and therefore anti-Trump), and Snowden is a Russian puppet (and therefore untrustworthy).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 11 2017, @02:31AM
I can tell if you are pulling a Poe's Law or not.
But if you are not, how do you square that circle of snowden being a russian puppet who is pushing the trumputin 'conspiracy theory?'
(Score: 2) by gottabeme on Thursday May 11 2017, @12:06AM
Make no mistake about it: Putin is a nasty, ruthless guy. Anything he does is because he thinks it's ultimately in his own interest. And sometimes that includes merely causing chaos, not necessarily anything more targeted than that. If (and it's a big if) he was behind the leaked DNC emails, that doesn't mean we should be grateful to him. He's playing a long game, and focusing on this small stuff is missing the big picture and playing into his hands.
It seems bizarre to me that anyone would claim Trump is more favorable to the Russians than Clinton. Clinton is the one who approved the sale of 20% of American uranium (!) interests to Russia. What has Trump ever done for Russia or Putin? I've never seen anyone explain this. Claims that former members of his campaign team and advisors had Russian business connections are not damning, as 1) many people had business interests in Russia after the collapse of the USSR, and 2) Democrats are just as guilty of this as anyone else. That this is unique to Trump or his team is a lie perpetrated by the media. And, in fact, Democrats are historically (and currently) the party with ties to Russia, Communists, etc. (Don't believe it? Look up Ted Kennedy for one very prominent example.)
I think you're right about the attribution issue. I remember seeing supposed screenshots (of Windows machines) of files left behind as evidence, which had names in Cyrillic characters. That anyone would think that proves anything is nuts to me; anyone could use Google to find Russian names and copy-paste them into anything. And IP addresses don't prove anything either; any attacker worth his salt could (and would) hide his tracks and misdirect his victims by launching the attacks from machines in whatever nation he wanted. Supposedly the FBI, NSA, etc. have more evidence than IP addresses and Cyrillic filenames, but I guess that evidence will never see the light of day (if it exists), and even if it did, how could we verify it? There's no way to verify the provenance of digital information. It can be manufactured at the click of a button.
More useful, I think, is to consider the general evidence that Wikileaks is a front for Russian intelligence. If that's true, then it's more likely that Russia was involved in leaking the emails, but even that is not conclusive, as Wikileaks has published leaks from non-Russian sources. And even if they did, that doesn't make Trump guilty of anything, except perhaps being lucky enough to run for president against Clinton, coming off 8 years of Obama, with rising efforts to push globalism everywhere. It was like a perfect storm.
Regardless of what actually happened, the media will keep pushing their anti-Trump, Russia-did-it narrative, virtually no-matter-what. Their sole objective is to get Trump impeached, and they will do whatever they can get away with, including lying through their teeth. That might be the worst thing about this whole mess, that it's very difficult to know which sources can be trusted (if any can be).
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Wednesday May 10 2017, @10:19PM
Could someone explain the Russia conspiracy theory?
It seems to be anointed queen in waiting lost because she sucked and the electorate hates her although the elites love her, therefore someone is to blame, and it can't be her and it can't be the D party leadership, so obviously it was gremlins or space aliens or ... I know, Russians!
Is there anything to it beyond "argh matey here be tinfoil internet pirate hats"
Regardless of whether the outcome would have been the same, the Russians continue to use active measures [wikipedia.org] (as they have for decades) to influence public opinion in countries of interest for them. This includes the US, UK, France, much of the former Soviet bloc and FSM knows where else.
The rise of social media and the ridiculous conspiracy theories* of the right in the US have primed the public to accept fake news (that is, lies intended to pollute public discourse) as long as it comports with their existing biases. That, and demonizing political opponents has weakened our political system and allowed folks like the Russians to muddy the waters and make it more difficult for us to work together to address the issues we all face.
It's appropriate that we all stand together to identify and understand how our public discourse and political system are being affected by those who wish to weaken, destabilize and/or harm the US.
*Partial list of right-wing conspiracy theories. Feel free to add any left-wing ones you think appropriate.
Pizzagate [wikipedia.org]
Birtherism [wikipedia.org]
Jade Helm [wikipedia.org]
Common Core will turn your kids gay [msnbc.com]
Agenda 21 [newsweek.com]
Sharia Law coming to your town [snopes.com]
Plans for firearms confiscation [adl.org]
FEMA Concentration Camps [wikipedia.org]
Clinton death squads [snopes.com]
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @04:08PM (1 child)
you democrats are pitiful. all you're going to get is a civil war with you dead. i've seen no evidence of any illegal collusion with russia. just a bunch of socialist scum running their mouths. i want the government cooperating and improving relations with russia. there's no good reason to be trying to start a fight with them. there's no win for anyone.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday May 10 2017, @08:34PM
i want the government cooperating and improving relations with russia.
IF, for the sake of argument, the Russians thought Hillary was going to start a nuclear war with 30% probability, and they figured they could use Salem style witchcraft, or voodoo, or "hacking" to prevent her election at a cost of less than 10% chance of nuclear war if discovered (and good luck explaining why our guy on the button would launch, LOL) then even if all the insane witchcraft rumors or hacking rumors were true, then the Russians saved planet earth and we should take Obummer's peace prize away from him and give it to Putin or split it 50:50 with him and Trump or WTF.
So lets play the extend and amplify game. Fine the Russians "hacked" the election. You make that sound like a problem, or that they did something wrong?
Don't we hack elections all the time using CIA death squads and coups? We're a hell of a lot worse and the Russians don't punish us and we don't punish the CIA. So a fair punishment against Trump or the Russians would be a nice wrist slap?
We'll play the extend and amplify game some more. OK the Russians hacked the election, whatever the F that means, now what do we do? Nuke them? I'm sure mutually assured destruction will really teach the entire northern hemisphere a lesson, considering that 99.9999% of the victims were completely innocent of any decision. So we... hack the Russian election? Seriously, you think we haven't before? They don't have candidates as insane as Hillary so they don't care?
The whole topic is just bizarre.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 11 2017, @02:02PM
http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/12/politics/harry-reid-james-comey-election/ [cnn.com]
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Monday FBI Director James Comey was "heavily involved as a partisan" in the weeks leading up to the election and that Comey's actions handed the presidency to Donald Trump.
The retiring Nevada Democrat said Democrats "would have won the majority in the Senate and would have won the presidency but for Comey."