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Florida GOP consultant admits he worked with Guccifer 2.0, analyzing hacked data

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Re: Florida GOP consultant admits he worked with Guccifer 2.0, analyzing hacked data

#71
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could if I was running for President. What a dumb thing to say.

No you couldn't?? That's now how the American presidency works at all. We don't even have access to Trump's tax returns or other basic financial information and he isn't legally obligated to release them.

I didn't say there was a legal obligation. Clearly we are in agreement that Trump is in the wrong here. We can say Trump should release his tax returns without requiring them or any other citizen to do so.

Re: Florida GOP consultant admits he worked with Guccifer 2.0, analyzing hacked data

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The intelligence agencies looked at the evidence and claim it was the Russians, and somehow tied it back to the Russian government. The NSA leak weeks later that confirmed sophisticated and documented techniques for making hacks appear to come from somewhere else (e.g. by using existing known-Russian C&C servers) is unrelated, and it's apparently unfathomable to think anyone else would be able to use the same techniq…

> They said it was the Russians trying to get Trump elected. Is that not good enough for you? Only if it made sense. At nearly every angle you look at, it doesn't. If the Russians wanted someone they could push around, then Clinton was their candidate. She's the one who signed off on the Uranium deal, and had several large donations she received as SCOTUS from the Russians. John Podesta (her campaign chair) had finan…

You might want to double-check your sources. Try to avoid news sources with a far-right or far-left slant. They can be entertaining, but they're generally not trust-worthy: http://www.snopes.com/hillary-clinton-uranium-russia-deal/

Re: Florida GOP consultant admits he worked with Guccifer 2.0, analyzing hacked data

#73
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Insofar as a political party is benefiting from the bad actions of members, I'm not going to feel bad about it at this point. If you look at individual actions only, it is easy to write things off. But I am not a prosecutor, and when we cross some critical mass of "isolated incidents", I start thinking the "bad apples" have spoiled the whole barrel, to actually use that cliche correctly for a change. I'm sure there's…

I'm not a fan of the bad apples argument. The same reasoning is used by some to defend attacks on Muslims.

I probably wasn't clear. I'm not either. What I was alluding to was how common we hear a corruption of the phrase as a defense. "Just a few bad apples." Somehow the cautionary part of the cliche is disappeared.

Re: Florida GOP consultant admits he worked with Guccifer 2.0, analyzing hacked data

#74
post #26
post #3

So the GOP is directly admitting to collusion with Russian agents in order to disrupt US elections. Are we OK with this as a country?

Has anyone publicly presented any concrete evidence whatsoever that the Russians were involved in any way in influencing the U.S. election as yet? Just asking, for a friend :)

Unfortunately no. All we have right now is the highest "levels of confidence" from our major intelligence agencies with their belief that Russian-promoted hacking agencies hacked the DNC, and released that information to wikileaks in order to make Hillary look worse.

The caveat is that they aren't disclosing the methods by which they came to this conclusion, so we can't know 100% for sure. It's dependent on our belief in our intelligence agencies to be acting independently and presenting true, unbiased information.

Full-disclosure, I voted for Johnson, and while I am sympathetic to the leaks, had the DNC not been doing shady stuff, there wouldn't have been anything to leak. That being said, I personally believe in our intelligence agencies, so I think it's reasonable to believe that Russians were involved in the U.S. elections. But I hold the DNC more accountable for their loss than the Russians.

For those interested: [0] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2016_United_States_elections

[1] Link to the actual report: apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/politics/the-intelligence-community-report-on-russian-activities-in-the-2016-election/2153/

[2] From DHS: dhs.gov/news/2016/10/07/joint-statement-department-homeland-security-and-office-director-national

Re: Florida GOP consultant admits he worked with Guccifer 2.0, analyzing hacked data

#75

1) Russia is not a "European" country. Though it does exert influence in that sphere and has a 'European Russia'. Anecdotally most Russians I've met would bristle at Russia being called a "European" territory. 2) If Manafort, Flynn, Sessions, etc had non-shady dealings with Russia you would think they wouldn't have to be so shady about how they present those dealings. Sessions wouldn't have to explicitly commit perju…

>1) Russia is not a "European" country. Though it does exert influence in that sphere and has a 'European Russia'. As previously mentioned, Russia is by far the world's largest state. Though their land area extends across Asia, Russian culture, customs, religion, and heritage are undoubtedly Euro-centric. Almost 80% of Russian citizens live in "European Russia" [0]. By every calculation except raw geography, Russia i…

He lied in his confirmation hearing after being pressed on an issue. Then admitted he was not truthful after it was publicized. Lots of people (especially in Gov) get away with that sort of stuff without conviction. That seems to have been a large point of the last election no? Different set of rules for everyone else and all that.

I'd say my posts were drenched in bias from the very start. I'm amazed you missed it ;)

Re: Florida GOP consultant admits he worked with Guccifer 2.0, analyzing hacked data

#77
post #62

The Russia/"hacked election" meme is amazing. With very little actual evidence , careful use of linguistic framing, and a lot of angry rhetoric on all sides, the public was successfully scared into wasting their time and energy fighting among themselves over hearsay and rumor, instead of addressing any of the numerous actual, known problems that are already known and far more likely to impact the average citizen. If…

Your first paragraph sounds like it contains all the markings of a successful psyops campaign to be totally honest.

Whisper campaign to erode public trust and increase partisan divide while diverting attention from more important matters.

If it WAS interference by any nation state (Russia or not; uncovered or not) it seems to have been pretty successful right?

Re: Florida GOP consultant admits he worked with Guccifer 2.0, analyzing hacked data

#78
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has anyone publicly presented any concrete evidence whatsoever that the Russians were involved in any way in influencing the U.S. election as yet? Just asking, for a friend :)

The intelligence agencies looked at the evidence and claim it was the Russians, and somehow tied it back to the Russian government. The NSA leak weeks later that confirmed sophisticated and documented techniques for making hacks appear to come from somewhere else (e.g. by using existing known-Russian C&C servers) is unrelated, and it's apparently unfathomable to think anyone else would be able to use the same techniq…

Vault 7 proved that "signs of Russian hacking" mean nothing.

Re: Florida GOP consultant admits he worked with Guccifer 2.0, analyzing hacked data

#79
post #62

The Russia/"hacked election" meme is amazing. With very little actual evidence , careful use of linguistic framing, and a lot of angry rhetoric on all sides, the public was successfully scared into wasting their time and energy fighting among themselves over hearsay and rumor, instead of addressing any of the numerous actual, known problems that are already known and far more likely to impact the average citizen. If…

With all the stuff that's come out over the past six months, I don't see how you can dismiss it out of hand like this.

For anyone reading who is not super engaged with these matters, please know that this is a lot more than just a "meme".

Here's a comprehensive timeline if you want to take a deep dive: https://lawfareblog.com/realnews-trump-et-laffaire-russe-res...

But I'll just list a simple sequence of three verifiable events that should demonstrate clearly that there is at least something real here.

* On March 20, 2017 FBI Director James Comey testified before the House Intelligence Committee that the FBI was “investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia’s efforts.”" [0]

* On May 9, 2017 the President fired FBI Director Comey [1]

* On May 17, 2017 Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (acting in this matter as AG due to Sessions' recusal) appointed a Special Counsel to oversee the investigation, effectively removing the President from it's chain of command. [2]

I'm not saying this is proof-positive that collusion occurred, but it's sufficiently compelling.

[0]: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/20/us/politics/fbi-investiga... [1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/09/us/politics/james-comey-f... [2]: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/17/us/politics/robert-muelle...

Edited to remove insinuations of bad faith

Re: Florida GOP consultant admits he worked with Guccifer 2.0, analyzing hacked data

#80
post #62

The Russia/"hacked election" meme is amazing. With very little actual evidence , careful use of linguistic framing, and a lot of angry rhetoric on all sides, the public was successfully scared into wasting their time and energy fighting among themselves over hearsay and rumor, instead of addressing any of the numerous actual, known problems that are already known and far more likely to impact the average citizen. If…

Your first paragraph sounds like it contains all the markings of a successful psyops campaign to be totally honest. Whisper campaign to erode public trust and increase partisan divide while diverting attention from more important matters. If it WAS interference by any nation state (Russia or not; uncovered or not) it seems to have been pretty successful right?

> all the markings of a successful psyops campaign

Internet commenters are much too quick to sling such tropes at others whom they disagree with. Please don't do that here.

Insinuations of astroturfing or shillage are not allowed on HN without evidence, and this goes beyond even that.

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