Posted on 01/08/2017 11:24:10 AM PST by Kaslin
Vladimir Putin is a de facto authoritarian, head of Russia’s struggling democracy and economy, 12 years a president, 16 years a KGB agent, and author of both Crimea’s annexation and Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine. This does not make him all-powerful, or decider of anything in America. Whatever Russia’s motivations, the whole “Russia threw our election” by hacking narrative seems more and more like political gamesmanship.
For starters, the Obama team knows well that there was no hacking of any voting machines. They also know our adversaries incessantly probe – and voraciously hack – whatever they can. They know Russia, China, Iran and North Korea try all the time – and China managed to steal sensitive information on 18 million Americans from the Obama Administration’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
But frankly, this “Russia did it” story is wearing thin. So thin, that even the New York Times wrote this weekend: “What is missing from the public report is what many Americans most eagerly anticipated: Hard evidence to back up the [intelligence] agencies’ claims that the Russian government engineered the election attack,” adding: “That is a significant omission.”
Obama’s team knows other things. They know the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Clinton Campaign servers (not to mention former Secretary of State’s “home brew server”) were left wide open, vulnerable. They know the better-protected Republican National Committee (RNC) server was probed, but apparently not penetrated. They know the media want this narrative, since it explains their flat-footedness, undermines President-elect Trump, and offers a way to delegitimize America’s election of a conservative president – a decisive, humiliating defeat for the Obama team.
So, what should Americans note? Hard proof is still missing. The otherwise agitating New York Times admits this public report just combines old news with weak inferences: “The absence of any proof is especially surprising in light of promises … from the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), James R. Clapper Jr., that he would ‘push the envelope’ to try to make more information public.” Nada.
Moreover, the National Security Agency (NSA), the obvious “go-to” on any foreign intrusion of an American email server, states it has less confidence in the public report’s conclusions than does CIA. That is curious. It almost seems a negative proof. If NSA cannot be “highly confident,” what right do others have to evince such high confidence?
Who is driving this train, anyway? Apparently DNI’s James Clapper and CIA’s John Brennan. Why, and where is this train going? Let’s start with basics. Are foreign attempts regularly made on US servers and databases? Almost certainly, that is public record. Do foreign countries try to sow discontent in our political process? Of course, always have. Are they after information to compromise, embarrass, and gain negotiating leverage over American law makers? Of course, nothing new.
So, what is going on here, with release of this thin, political, accusatory report? Russia seems to be up to no good, as they seldom are. Okay, we can accept that. But why all the hype? Could this be a political jab by Obama loyalists? Have these two intelligence voices ever blurred facts in the past? Ever been overtly political, disingenuous with Congress and the American People? Interesting you should ask …
Director Clapper, when confronted in 2013, testified first that information was not being collected on millions of Americans, then reversed himself to say he had given the “least untruthful” answer. Congress was, for good reason, furious. Democrat Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), accused him of not giving a “straight answer.” Twenty-six US Senators filed a formal complaint against Clapper. Seven US Senators sought a Justice Department investigation of Clapper. Clapper contradicted his own contradiction, calling it a “mistake.” Obama kept him. Interesting, indeed.
When the Obama White House allowed China to breach OPM, Clapper reportedly quipped: “You have to kind of salute the Chinese for what they did." Beyond weak credibility, this political appointee offered an approving nod to an adversary for a devastating hack. That is good judgment? Hardly.
Meantime, Brennan – appointed to head CIA in 2013 – was President Obama’s deputy national security advisor. Former analyst, Brennan also has political allegiances. Ironically, the American Civil Liberties Union called for an investigation into whether “all of his conduct was within the law.” During his tenure, CIA hacked US Senate computers, triggering bipartisan outrage. Doesn’t that sound like the pot calling the kettle black? Now the out-going political appointee blames Russia for the defeated Administration’s election loss. Hmmm.
Epiphany: We know certain facts based on what was NOT said, as the New York Times points out. We know the Obama team has not released “hard evidence.” We know the DNI and CIA leadership are political appointees. We know they have a poor record for truth before Congress. We know they are close to President Obama, and part of his defeated administration. Despite having no certainty, they project high confidence – an assessment curiously not joined by the highly relevant NSA. All this is unfortunate. It appears – at the end of day – someone is pushing a foil, engaged in political sleight-of-hand, more inept gamesmanship.
Foreign adversaries commonly promote chaos, often hacking. China hacked sensitive data from OPM. North Korea from Sony. Russia is always probing, and wanted to stir trouble in this cycle. So what? The latest Obama-appointee narrative – this pin-the-election-on-Russia gambit – is just a step too far. It reeks of politics. The story is overblown, full of half-starts, embroidered with reservations, hedged by unsupported inferences. It is also – notice? –transparently self-serving.
Here is truth: Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and other adversaries are always trying to compromise America. That is their aim, against which we defend. Obama knows this. He also knows the election was not thrown by Russia. It was free, fair and dominated by outraged Americans – outraged, you might say, for the very reasons that they should be outraged by this latest political charade. Whatever Russia’s motivations, this is just another ploy – and we should stop fanning it. I do not often quote Vice President Biden, for fear that I am quoting someone else, but he got it right: “It is over.” Thank you, Vice President Biden.
OMG stop with playing into their narrative
Forget it, it wasn’t that big of a deal
What was a Big Deal were the contents of the emails et al, but even those were played down by the MSM
Trump’s dirty talk to Access Hollywood was FAR more important
Hillary did it and Weiner—She is the cause she lost—And Obama, telling illegals to vote is also a cause—he should be locked up for that!
I get it. We are supposed to believe that the Russians planted fake news to sway the opinion of the voters against Hillary. But they are fine with the MSM planting fake news to sway the opinion of the voters against Trump.
Do I have it right?
When it comes to propaganda, the MSM doesn’t like competition.
You know what really gets my goat? The more people respond to these ridiculous stories, the more legitimacy the criticism gets. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE who supports the President Elect needs to just claim up and let the libs run out of steam with this BS.
CLAM UP! Stupid autocorrect
No one is upset that misinformation was spread. They are upset that truth was exposed.
The press, the party, the Justice Department, the Clinton Foundation, the Clintons themselves, just about everyone surrounding them, exposed as corrupt and colluding to hide their corruption.
What was exposed wasn’t really secret, but it forced the press, for a nanosecond, to talk about the kind of corruption they normally close their eyes to. It took them a bit to find a way to spin it away... but now they have seized on the “Russian hacking” story and they are beating that drum for all its worth. If they beat the drum loudly enough, maybe no one will remember what was exposed.
The Clintons sold America’s uranium to the Russians and collected over a hundred million for doing it. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Justice colluded with FBI to protect the Clintons. The press colluded with the Clintons to keep all their scandals out of the papers while savaging their opponents. Podesta, the center of the email storm, is in bed financially with Putin. When does that make the papers?
People forget to mention if the Russians interfered with our elections it was by revealing that the DNC interfered with our elections by the dirty tricks they pulled on Bernie and his supporters.
If that had not happened then the Russians wouldn’t have found anything. Fake news? Ha! We have been dealing with fake news for years. The American people have a healthy skepticism of all news (thanks NYT, CNN, MSNBC, et al).
So media, if we are not all up in arms over this, take a long look in the mirror.
We need better defenses. I’m sure President Trump will take care of that and still manage to be friendly with Russia. We need each other in the war on terror.
I am tired of autocorrects bull shirt myself.
An op-ed from CNN by Scott Piro on December 15:
“There is still one idea with the power not only to end a Trump administration, but also to eradicate democracy's ugliest anachronism — the Electoral College. Thirty-eight faithless electors from states Trump won switching their votes to Clinton would do it. Regardless of your political affiliation, it would be the best possible thing for America in the long run. . .
“Swing voters, centrists and moderate Republicans, you have less than a week to join fed-up Democrats in raising hell to persuade 38 Trump electors to vote for Clinton, putting enough pressure on them that they risk whatever fallout may come from their actions. In the short term, it would elect Hillary Clinton, whom you may not support. But in the long run, it's the only way to take our democracy back. Make the federal government acknowledge we are smart enough to elect our own president.”
Of course this idiocy didn't work when electors voted on December 19. But the notion that the Russians elected Trump remained in the headlines. Now John Brennan and James Clapper have had to cobble together an official estimate that is akin to Barack Obama’s long form birth certificate.
“Oh! what a tangled web we weave/When first we practice to deceive!”
The article is very, very good and puts into full context the motivations of the major players in pushing this latest political gambit.
You don’t beat the propaganda by allowing it to stand. You counter it with the facts here.
Let’s assume that Putin’s IT crews did everything that the MSM says they did. So what? Blaming the Russians for Clinton’s loss is like blaming Toto for pulling back the curtain to reveal the Wizard’s fraudulence.
NOBODY is alleging that the DNC and Podesta emails were either fabricated or altered. What the Dems’ argument comes down to is this: “Damn it! If only we’d been able to keep those stupid voters in the dark for just a few more months, we would have won this thing….”
This Bombshell From Release #4 Was Ignored By MSM:
Shortly thereafter [redacted] received a call from [redacted] of the INTERNAL OPERATIONS DIVISION [IOD] of the FBI who “PRESSURED” him to change the classified email to unclassified. [Redacted] indicated he had been contacted by PATRICK KENNEDY, Undersecretary of State, who had asked for his assistance in altering the emails classification in exchange for a “QUID PRO QUO.” [Redacted] advised that, in exchange for marking the email unclassified, STATE would reciprocate by allowing the FBI AGENTS to place more Agents in countries where they are presently forbidden.
1) Not only did the State Department, the undersecretary himself no less, make an attempt to bribe the FBI
2) They did it by trying to by giving them permission and tempting them into acting in sovereign nations where they are presently not allowed to operate.
This isn’t a smoking gun. This is a smoking cannon. How does this not bring the State Department to a screeching halt? This isn’t from wikileaks. This isn’t from a hacked email. This is from the official FBI reports
This level of corruption needs a new word.
Source:
https://vault.fbi.gov/hillary-r.-clinton/hillary-r.-clinton-part-04-of-04/view page 26
From Reddit
FBI Releases Unusual Sunday Document Dump RE: “Clinton Investigation – Mishandling Classified Information”…
How about parroting the truth that John Brennan reportedly converted to Islam while station chief in the ME. In 1976 he told a reporter he voted for the communist party Presidential candidate. Now tell me how much credibility does this man have in warning American voters about a conspiracy to destroy our election process?
John Brennan, couild not possibly pass a background check, what is he doing in such a high position?
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