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from the only-the-shadow-knows...-and-has-head-up-its-ass dept.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) used a quick and dirty web-based system to communicate with its agents around the world. Easy-to-use but not sophisticated. Iran and China used this system to find U.S. spies and convert or kill many agents, including entire national spy networks, starting around 2008.
Once you recognized the system, counter-spies could simply use Google to find the CIA's communication sites. They could then use standard traffic analysis to find out who visited the sites, identifying the spy networks.
Iran found spies using the system, converted some to double agents, while killing dozens of others. Iran may have passed the info to China, who wiped out the CIA network there, turning and killing 30+ agents. Iran then went spy hunting across the Middle East, too.
The absolute kicker: a CIA tech contractor identified the problem, that the network was compromised and spies were disappearing due to it, and reported it up the chain in 2008. He was ignored, punished and fired. Part of the reason we know this all happened is because he filed a federal whistleblower protection lawsuit.
So many/most of these U.S. agents would not be dead if CIA management AND the CIA inspector general had listened and acted on the report of a technical/security problem. Instead they denied they had a problem, burying their heads and their agents in the sand. Not only is the CIA riddled with terrible torture monkeys, but also deadly, incompetent, and inept management.
Article: The CIA's communications suffered a catastrophic compromise. It started in Iran.
Previously: CIA Informants Imprisoned and Killed in China From 2010 to 2012
Ex-CIA Officer Arrested, Suspected of Compromising Chinese Informants
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 05 2018, @06:22PM (9 children)
No.
It is now pretty clear that there is massive fraud going on with election machines and voter suppression, thus throwing into doubt Bush's win over Gore and Trump's win over Clinton. We are getting a corrupt government supported by a very rabid minority.
1. Campaign finance reform, repeal Citizens United
2. Voting reform, get rid of the shitty machines and get back to systems with some accountability
3. Imprison politicians for voter fraud / suppression, we have quite enough audio/video evidence showing that these tactics are deliberate and in bad faith
Notice the lack of partisan identification here, if you feel attacked by the above then you are part of the problem.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 05 2018, @09:07PM (6 children)
If voter fraud was so widespread, Trump would never have made it through the primaries.
NOBODY in the establishments, of any party, wanted him as presidential candidate. Not the democrats (even if he could in theory have represented an advantage for Clinton, the risk was just too great), and especially not the republicans.
But I guess it's easier to adhere to some conspiracy theory about election fraud than to accept the cruel reality that people, in general, really ARE that clueless.
"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." -- Winston Churchill
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 05 2018, @09:53PM
Because the DNC and RNC are booth tools of the MIC. Looks like the DOD likes Trump plenty.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Gaaark on Monday November 05 2018, @10:53PM
But it seems nobody wanted Clinton either.
Wish they'd dumped her ass and gone with Sanders after they discovered her team stole from Bernie.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Insightful) by dry on Tuesday November 06 2018, @06:25AM (3 children)
The media wanted Trump. CNN by itself gave how many billions in free advertising? If Trump was unwanted, the same thing would have been done to him as to Ron Paul, silence. Trump is great for the media companies.
(Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Wednesday November 07 2018, @09:16PM (2 children)
The media wanted money. Any candidate except Trump had people changing the channel or switching to another Youtube video or flipping back to their Facebook feed. Ron Paul had equal charisma to Hillary Clinton and less controversy, so he got even less coverage.
He didn't win because they wanted him. He won because their revenue model is inherently broken, and his personality fit the breaks in the system.
(Score: 2) by dry on Thursday November 08 2018, @12:57AM (1 child)
Exactly, they don't give a shit about anything but eyeballs to sell ads and create revenue and that's why they wanted him. Even now they're likely happy to have him to draw eyeballs.
(Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Saturday November 17 2018, @02:15PM
Well, as much as I hate it that's human nature. People will conveniently ignore the impact of the way they earn their living.
DEA: "Marijuana is pure evil! The devil in chemical form! The destruction of America!" Nope, it's less harmful than alcohol. You just don't want a funding cut.
Coal industry: "Coal is a safe domestic energy source! Climate change doesn't exist! Deaths from asthma and lung disease don't exist!" Nope. I was all for renewable energy thirty years ago, because I have siblings and cousins hospitalized with asthma problems and I grew up a mile from an active coal mine.
American South: "Servitude is the natural state of the negro race!" Nope, it just lines your pockets for you to believe that.
21st century media: "We take no responsibility for Trump's political victories! But you're not going to believe what he said this morning!" Nope, Trump took PT Barnum's statement "There's no such thing as bad publicity" and rode it right into the White House, and you were the ones that carried him there.
Obviously DEA employees, coal industry workers and owners, and modern media employees and executives aren't as immoral as slave owners and wannabe slave owners. But the same logic applies in all cases. And to repeat, I don't blame them - if someone presented an argument that my career path and lifestyle choices are immoral and correct action will remove my own ability to put food on the table, I probably wouldn't listen either. I'm not more moral than these people, I'm just luckier.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 06 2018, @01:34AM
Assuming for a second this is true... then why is it true? I mean both the Democrats as well as the Republicans have significant levers of power. They've each controlled at least one of the houses of congress, if not the presidency as well. If there was systemic rigging in favor of one party over the other, I'd expect official inquiries and reforms.
I'm ideologically agreed about campaign finance reform, and I've heard enough anecdotal evidence that I can believe voter suppression (although honestly I'm not sure why there haven't been national inquiries about that if it is true). I'm curious to hear your explanation about how electronic voting and voting manipulation could have survived unacknowledged for over 20 years, though.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 06 2018, @03:34AM
Ahahahahahahaha
"It's not rigged, you are just losing." Get fucked Democrats.
Tomorrow will be one hellova salt mine