Enjoy President Trump, Courtesy of The Kremlin

[Forty Two]

As far as the Russians are concerned, 42 seems to think "they're going to fuck with us whatever we do, so we might as well lie back and think of America..."

No, regarding the Russians, I do not regard them as an enemy nation. We're not at war with them. Up until 2016, the Democrats agreed with me, and were pro-conciliation with Russia. Recall in the 2012 election the Democrats laughed heartily at Mitt Romney for calling Russia major threat. The president told Romney in a live debate that "the 1980s called, and they want their foreign policy back" in response to Romney suggesting Russia was a bad actor. Hillary Clinton met very smilingly with Putin and other Russians, often with a "reset button" to show that she was resetting the relationship with Russia. How "troubling" do you think CNN and the Democratic Party would find Russian "influence" if that influence was on behalf of Democrats, or Hillary? Not very, I submit.

And, you're just speaking too generally to even address the issue. Fuck with us? How? Sure, if there is evidence that they hacked voting booths, then PROCEED WITH INDICTMENTS please. Someone must have been involved, and if they have no idea who was involved, but they just think someone "might" have been involved from Russia because there are some suspicious acts which are "consistent with" Russian intelligence or something like that, well - don't you think we need more than that if we're going to start a diplomatic crisis with one of the more powerful countries on the planet?

Who did what and when?

And, since we're talking about this allegation that the Trump campaign people were in cahoots with these unknown and unspecified Russians who maybe did some unknown and unspecified things, some of which would be, if done, perfectly legal, then don't we need some evidence for it?

CNN laughed at Trump for saying Trump Tower was bugged. Then CNN just the other day confirmed that Trump Tower was, in fact, bugged, and that Paul Manafort was specifically targeted with FISA warrants. So, they've been listening to this fellow for a year, and they raided his house. Let's see if they found anything.

And, this idea of "collusion." What they're alleging is not even illegal. So, we have an FBI investigation of something that would not be illegal. That's a way to bootstrap a fishing expedition where they comb over everything they can and try to find something they can pin on Trump. Trump Jr met with a Russian lady lobbyist who used to be a prosecutor in Moscow! What a scandal? Well, it's not illegal or even improper for him to have done so, so what's the problem? They're Russians! And, the Russians wanted Trump to win! Well, so...yeah? Russians are allowed to want one candidate or another to win. What's the improper conduct? They met with Russians! RUSSIANS!

If there is something more than that -- state the allegation, and link to or specifically describe the shred of evidence on which the allegation is based.

If it's nothing, then it's nothing. An allegation does not gain credibility because it's being investigated. An investigation is an investigation, and when they announce something, we'll know what they know, if anything. It wouldn't be the first investigation of a sitting President to come up empty, would it?

[Forty Two]

Facebook to give Congress thousands of ads bought by Russians during election

Facebook will provide to Congress the contents of 3,000 advertisements purchased by Russians during the 2016 US presidential race, Mark Zuckerberg announced on Thursday following weeks of scrutiny surrounding the social network’s potential role in influencing elections.

The CEO said in a Facebook live video that the company would provide the controversial ads to government officials to support ongoing investigations in the US and as part of the social media company’s renewed efforts to protect the “integrity” of elections around the world.

“I wish I could tell you we’re going to be able to stop all interference, but that just wouldn’t be realistic,” Zuckerberg said. “There will always be bad actors.”

Facebook’s general counsel Colin Stretch said in a statement: “After an extensive legal and policy review, today we are announcing that we will also share these ads with congressional investigators. We believe it is vitally important that government authorities have the information they need to deliver to the public a full assessment of what happened in the 2016 election.”...

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... s-election

People sponsor political campaigns all the time and buying ad space on Facebook isn't illegal, so nothing to worry about here.

There is something to worry about - and that's Facebook sharing with the State the first amendment protected political messages of their customers when there is no allegation of a crime, and no subpoena. It's like if Facebook said they'd be sharing with a "Congressional Committee" the identities of all Communists or Anarchists buying advertising space on Facebook. Like like... the House Unamerican Activities Committee, or something.

Facebook is an international company, with members all over the world. What about Chinese buying ad space? Cubans? Venezuelans? North Koreans?

What's to worry about is not that Russians can buy ad space on Facebook unmolested by American authorities. What's to worry about is that who is buying ad space on Facebook and in support of what message is becoming fair game for Congressional investigations. What action will they take? Will they call people to testify for the House Russian Activities Committee and name names of people behind the advertisements?

There is nothing wrong with non-Americans expressing opinions, even by buying ad space, regarding American elections. If I have an interest in an upcoming European election, can't I buy an advertisement on Facebook telling people who I think they should vote for? What the fuck?

What are the political ideologies that tend to advocate shutting down political speech by foreign actors? Who really wants to be on that side?

[JimC]

Forty Two wrote:

There is nothing wrong with non-Americans expressing opinions, even by buying ad space, regarding American elections. If I have an interest in an upcoming European election, can't I buy an advertisement on Facebook telling people who I think they should vote for? What the fuck?

We're not talking about individual Russians expressing a political opinions here; this is a self-interested action by a nation state, trying to control potential future policies of a rival (or possible enemy) for its own benefit. You can get into bed with the Russian oligarchs if you like, but you'll have a sore arse in the morning...

[pErvinalia]

Having a sore arse isn't illegal, Jim.

[Forty Two]

Forty Two wrote:

There is nothing wrong with non-Americans expressing opinions, even by buying ad space, regarding American elections. If I have an interest in an upcoming European election, can't I buy an advertisement on Facebook telling people who I think they should vote for? What the fuck?

We're not talking about individual Russians expressing a political opinions here; this is a self-interested action by a nation state, trying to control potential future policies of a rival (or possible enemy) for its own benefit. You can get into bed with the Russian oligarchs if you like, but you'll have a sore arse in the morning...

Once again... what actions, exactly? If a nation state, say Luxemburg, has an interest in the elections of, say, Canada, and the Luxemburger government buys ads in the Toronto news papers, on social media, on the googles and youtubes, and the like - a real media blitz -- and it's full of Luxemburger propaganda -- is this something that the Canadians should be able to do something about? What? Prevent Luxeburg from publishing its message in the free press?

And, "Russian oligarchs" is not the same thing as "Russian State" anyway. There is no law against doing business with Russian oligarchs, meeting with them, agree with their politics, or whatever. Not sure what can be done about that. What do you think?

[L'Emmerdeur]

One would have to be either blessedly naive or militantly ignorant to believe that Russian oligarchs aren't working hand in glove with the Russian government, and Putin in particular. The hint is in their designation. Anybody who's bothered to learn about how the Putin regime has co-opted the oligarchs (and destroyed those who dared oppose it) is well aware of this.

If the government of 'Luxembourg' buys ads in media, people are aware that the 'Luxembourger' government is expressing its opinions. It's a different story if 'Luxembourg' uses false identities to try to influence opinion and elections in another country.

[pErvinalia]

And, "Russian oligarchs" is not the same thing as "Russian State" anyway.

[Tero]

Russia
New Manafort emails offer stronger evidence of a quid pro quo with a Russian oligarch
http://www.businessinsider.com/manafort ... ka-2017-10

[Tero]

7 charts
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/ ... ons-214868

[Brian Peacock]

Yeah, but there's nothing illegal about producing charts.

[pErvinalia]

The only charts I want to see are those tracking Hillary's progress towards jail!

[L'Emmerdeur]

'4 key updates from Senate's Russian election interference investigation'

Leaders of the Senate’s intelligence committee held a press conference on Wednesday to confirm that, yes, Russia ran an “influence campaign” to undermine the 2016 election and yes, Russia did try to hack electoral systems.

They also warned of ongoing meddling, particularly ahead of upcoming U.S. elections.

“What I will confirm is that the Russian intelligence service is determined, clever, and I recommend that every campaign and every election official take this very seriously,” Sen. Richard Burr, R-North Carolina said.

...

1. The committee confirmed Russian interference

Since the U.S. intelligence community released a report confirming Russian interference in the 2016 election in January, the Senate intelligence committee has been tasked with reviewing the report.

It agrees that Russians indeed undertook an “influence campaign” to “undermine public faith in the US democratic process.”

You can read the January report here.

Burr said the committee talked with every person who was involved in putting the report together, and that it spent nine times the amount of time it took to make the report, reviewing it.

“There’s general consensus among (committee) members and staff that we trust the conclusions of the intelligence committee assessment,” Burr said. “But we don’t close our consideration of it.”

2. Russia did attempt to hack election systems

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) contacted election officials in 21 states notifying them that their election systems were targeted by Russian hackers.

Warner said his committee confirms this finding and is frustrated it took DHS this long to release the information to the states.

“Twenty-one states’ electoral systems were not all penetrated but there was at least trying to open the door in these 21 states, Warner said, adding that there “needs to be a more aggressive whole-of-government approach in terms of protecting our electoral system.”

3. The committee hasn’t closed the case on possible collusion

Burr and Warner were asked about Trump’s claim that talk of collusion is “a hoax.”

“The issue of collusion is still open,” Burr said. “We continue to investigate both intelligence and witnesses and we’re not in a position where we will come to any type of temporary finding on that until we’ve completed the process.”

Burr also said the committee has 25 related interviews scheduled this month alone.

“We have more work to do as it relates to collusion but were developing a clearer picture of what happened,” he said in the press conference.

4. The investigation has expanded

As previously reported in recent weeks, the Russia investigation has now expanded to look at how Russians used social media to run an influence campaign. Burr and Warner confirmed that executives for internet giants like Google, Twitter and Facebook will be invited to testify in public.

Facebook in particular has faced pressure to explain how and why it sold $100,000 worth of political ads to a Kremlin-linked “troll farm” out of Russia during the 2016 election cycle. On Monday, Facebook turned over data from ads to the Senate committee.

“We think it’s important that the companies that we’ve invited — Google, Twitter and Facebook — appear in a public hearing,” Warner said.

The committees has invited the companies to testify on Nov. 1.

[Tero]

Russia meddled, arrest somebody!!
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/04/politics/ ... ndex.htmlP

[pErvinalia]

'4 key updates from Senate's Russian election interference investigation'

Leaders of the Senate’s intelligence committee held a press conference on Wednesday to confirm that, yes, Russia ran an “influence campaign” to undermine the 2016 election and yes, Russia did try to hack electoral systems.

They also warned of ongoing meddling, particularly ahead of upcoming U.S. elections.

“What I will confirm is that the Russian intelligence service is determined, clever, and I recommend that every campaign and every election official take this very seriously,” Sen. Richard Burr, R-North Carolina said.

...

1. The committee confirmed Russian interference

Since the U.S. intelligence community released a report confirming Russian interference in the 2016 election in January, the Senate intelligence committee has been tasked with reviewing the report.

It agrees that Russians indeed undertook an “influence campaign” to “undermine public faith in the US democratic process.”

You can read the January report here.

Burr said the committee talked with every person who was involved in putting the report together, and that it spent nine times the amount of time it took to make the report, reviewing it.

“There’s general consensus among (committee) members and staff that we trust the conclusions of the intelligence committee assessment,” Burr said. “But we don’t close our consideration of it.”

2. Russia did attempt to hack election systems

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) contacted election officials in 21 states notifying them that their election systems were targeted by Russian hackers.

Warner said his committee confirms this finding and is frustrated it took DHS this long to release the information to the states.

“Twenty-one states’ electoral systems were not all penetrated but there was at least trying to open the door in these 21 states, Warner said, adding that there “needs to be a more aggressive whole-of-government approach in terms of protecting our electoral system.”

3. The committee hasn’t closed the case on possible collusion

Burr and Warner were asked about Trump’s claim that talk of collusion is “a hoax.”

“The issue of collusion is still open,” Burr said. “We continue to investigate both intelligence and witnesses and we’re not in a position where we will come to any type of temporary finding on that until we’ve completed the process.”

Burr also said the committee has 25 related interviews scheduled this month alone.

“We have more work to do as it relates to collusion but were developing a clearer picture of what happened,” he said in the press conference.

4. The investigation has expanded

As previously reported in recent weeks, the Russia investigation has now expanded to look at how Russians used social media to run an influence campaign. Burr and Warner confirmed that executives for internet giants like Google, Twitter and Facebook will be invited to testify in public.

Facebook in particular has faced pressure to explain how and why it sold $100,000 worth of political ads to a Kremlin-linked “troll farm” out of Russia during the 2016 election cycle. On Monday, Facebook turned over data from ads to the Senate committee.

“We think it’s important that the companies that we’ve invited — Google, Twitter and Facebook — appear in a public hearing,” Warner said.

The committees has invited the companies to testify on Nov. 1.

Can't wait to see 42 claim that there's nothing to see here and how it's all a lefty media beat up.

[Forty Two]

Clinton and the DNC paid Fusion for Steele Dossier - https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-wor ... and-trump/

Now we learn that, before and during these transactions, the FBI had uncovered a bribery and kickback scheme involving Russia’s U.S. nuclear business, and also received reports of Russian officials seeking to curry favor through donations to the Clinton Foundation.

This criminal activity was apparently not disclosed to agencies vetting the 2010 transfer of U.S. commercial nuclear assets to Russia. The FBI made no move to break up the scheme until long after the transaction closed. Only five years later, the Justice Department, in 2015, disclosed a plea deal with the Russian perpetrator so quietly that its significance was missed until The Hill reported on the FBI investigation last week.

For anyone who cares to look, the real problem here is that the FBI itself is so thoroughly implicated in the Russia meddling story.

The agency, when Mr. Mueller headed it, soft-pedaled an investigation highly embarrassing to Mrs. Clinton as well as the Obama Russia reset policy. More recently, if just one of two things is true—Russia sponsored the Trump Dossier, or Russian fake intelligence prompted Mr. Comey’s email intervention—then Russian operations, via their impact on the FBI, influenced and continue to influence our politics in a way far more consequential than any Facebook ad,

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-fbis-p ... 1508883468