Russian Interference in the 2016 Election

Three new developments in this simmering story.

1. On Friday, the CIA officially announced that not only had the hackers of the DNC been definitively traced back to Russia, but also their intent was clear to sway the election to Donald Trump
   
2. Also on Friday, several Democratic Senators sent a public letter to POTUS requesting that classified intelligence on Russia's interference -- which they had seen -- be declassified and made public before December 19
   
3. Today, ten electors from the Electoral College sent a letter to POTUS requesting to be briefed on this intelligence before they have to cast their votes on the 19th
   

Interesting times...

Another 19 electors have joined in the call to be briefed.  You can weigh in on their side too:

Quote :

Dec 13, 2016 — With just six days until the Electors choose our President, it's crucial that everyone who signed this petition takes action every day to STOP TRUMP.

Today, we're calling on Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to provide intelligence briefings to the Electors.

Call Director Clapper at (703) 733-8600. You may have to wait on hold for a minute.

Trump's ties to Russia and Russia's meddling in the election are urgent national security issues. Please ask Director Clapper to brief the Electors so that they can fulfill their Constitutional duty to investigate and deliberate.

In answer to Howard's earlier questions on what good is the Electoral College, and why it is still necessary in today's democracy, it's interesting to note that foreign intervention in a US presidential election is EXACTLY what the framers were worried about when drafting this clause.

Foreign intervention was only one of the reasons. If we dod not have the EC today, we wouldn't have the problem.

An alternative view.

Chilling...

The Perfect Weapon: How Russian Cyberpower Invaded the US

I do not believe it myself, but I'm rather surprised nobody has wondered aloud if one of America's most infamous hackers, Edward Snowden, now living in Russia, was involved.

Snowden is hardly a hacker. He borrowed another person's login info to copy the files he took. A three-year-old could have done it.

Here's what I would LIKE to see happen.  Kinda doubt it will.

1. Clapper briefs the electors on Russian interference with the election
   
2. Enough electors (36 or more) feel uncomfortable enough to not submit their vote for Trump.  Move-On is encouraging them to vote for Clinton instead, but I think doing so would cause a huge rift in the country, even though she won the popular vote by 2.7 million votes.  It just seems really dangerous to openly reverse the election at this point
   
3. However, electors have the OPTION to withhold their vote, thus denying Trump the 270 votes needed to win outright.
   
4. If this happens, selection of the president rolls to the House of Representatives
   
5. Paul Ryan is no fan of Trump's, but I suspect even he would allow the House to vote Trump in as president
   
6. Thus chastised, Trump would be "on notice" that his administration is on thin ice, and every decision will be scrutinized for possible Russian benefit
   
7. It would show Trump that Congress is his master, not his slave
   
8. It would embolden the Democratic minority, in both houses, to reach bipartisan compromise and limit the imperial power of the presidency as it has been defined in the past two administrations
   

NoCoPilot wrote:

1. Paul Ryan is no fan of Trump's, but I suspect even he would allow the House to vote Trump in as president
      
   
2. Thus chastised, Trump would be "on notice" that his administration is on thin ice, and every decision will be scrutinized for possible Russian benefit
      
   
3. It would show Trump that Congress is his master, not his slave
      
   
4. It would embolden the Democratic minority, in both houses, to reach bipartisan compromise and limit the imperial power of the presidency as it has been defined in the past two administrations    
   

You're dreaming. Trump "chastised"? Democrats with a backbone? You're living in America, remember.

NoCoPilot wrote:

It just seems really dangerous to openly reverse the election at this point.

I think it is more dangerous to allow Russia to publicly get away with their actions.

NoCoPilot wrote:

However, electors have the OPTION to withhold their vote,

Where did you get this? In most states, an elector is required by law to cast his vote for the candidate who won the popular vote. However, there is typically just a small penalty for changing the vote. But in some states, if an elector switches his vote, then the elector is removed, the vote is not counted, and another elector replaces him and votes as mommy said.

_Howard wrote:

NoCoPilot wrote:

It just seems really dangerous to openly reverse the election at this point.

I think it is more dangerous to allow Russia to publicly get away with their actions.

And yet that is EXACTLY what's happening.  Why isn't THIS front page news, why aren't there riots in the streets, why aren't voters calling for the head of DNI director James Clapper?

Quote :

No Briefing for Electors
A fair number of presidential electors—the majority of them pledged to Hillary Clinton, it should be noted—have asked that they be provided with an intelligence briefing prior to casting their votes on December 19. They want to know exactly how and why the Russians interfered with the presidential election.

On Friday, they learned that no briefing is forthcoming, with the request being turned down by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The DNI said that their review is underway, that Congress will eventually get a briefing, and that the results of the review will also be made publicly available. The implication is that the information simply won't be available in time, though this is likely also a graceful way of avoiding charges that the intelligence community tried to interfere with the election. Well, avoiding charges that they tried to interfere again.

Why did I have to FUCKING DIG to find this information???

NoCoPilot wrote:

Why isn't THIS front page news,

I don't know about the front page, but I have heard hours of new broadcasts reporting on this.

NoCoPilot wrote:

Why did I have to FUCKING DIG to find this information???

When I looked for reports on the EC's request, one of the first things I ran across was the report that they would not get a briefing. No digging at all.

If you expect to find extensive reporting on these matters - or any matters - you can't do it by watching broadcast network news.

Trump finally admits what the intelligence community has been saying all along, but refuses to do anything about it.

Will his administration be known as "The Teflon Don" where he benefits from others' illegal deeds but never takes the blame himself?

This would be fun. I doubt anyone will have enough testosterone to make it happen.

Trump’s Secretary of State Pick Just Lied Under Oath, And It Backfired Beautifully

Quote :

At this point it is not a question if Tillerson lied, but when he will be prosecuted for his lies. Under the law, Tillerson should be tried, and with the evidence presented, convicted for perjury. Trump ran his campaign with a main pillar being the rule of law and it is time he actually practices what he preached.

richard09 wrote:

I doubt anyone will have enough testosterone to make it happen.

Fuck the testosterone, none of the Democrats even have testicles.

NoCoPilot wrote:

Will his administration be known as "The Teflon Don" where he benefits from others' illegal deeds but never takes the blame himself?

It's becoming apparent that Teflon Don does not feel constrained by reality. Anything he says, or anyone in his administration says, is the truth -- regardless of contravening facts.

It's good when the American president is well-respected abroad.

https://imgur.com/FZBbHkU

Donald Trump puts himself forward as an expert on election fraud. I STILL think the 2016 election must have been tampered with:


Trump refuses to accept his loss in 2020 because he paid good money to the Russians to swing the election again.

Russian-supported Trump financiers are paying teen boys to promote MAGA-garbage and vaccine misinformation on social media.

Seriously, there have to be repercussions.

Troll farms reached 140 million Americans a month on Facebook before 2020 election, internal report shows

Looking at the top christian pages on Facebook, the top sixteen were all Russian troll farms. Some of them are still in action.