The Russian Connection

[GreyhoundFan]

There's so much flying around, I'm not sure if this has been shared yet (apologies if it has): "Ryan, Rubio may have been targets of damaging Russian social-media campaigns"

Quote

Two high-profile Republican members of Congress may have been targets of Russian social-media campaigns to discredit them as recently as this past week, an expert in Kremlin influence-peddling told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday.

“This past week we observed social-media accounts discrediting U.S. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan,” Clint Watts told the committee in a rare open hearing that leaders billed as a “primer” on Russian influence-peddling.

Watts, an expert in terrorism forecasting and Russian influence operations from the Foreign Policy Research Institute, also said he believes Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) “anecdotally suffered” from online Russian campaigns against him during his presidential bid.

Ryan’s office was not aware of an effort against him, according to a spokeswoman. Rubio said later Thursday that his campaign staff had been “targeted” twice “from an unknown location in Russia,” once in July 2016 and again at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday. Both attempts were unsuccessful, he added, without providing further details.

The revelations widen the scope of politicians who have become the subject of Russian-backed hacking operations and online smear campaigns, allegedly a central part of a Kremlin strategy to spread propaganda in the United States and undermine its democratic institutions.

Watts and others who spoke to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday are not involved in ongoing probes of Russia’s alleged efforts to sway the 2016 elections and possible campaign links to the Kremlin. They argued that such meddling is only one example of what Russia plans to do with the arsenal of hacking and influence tools it has been building for years.

“Russians could not do this if they started in 2016,” said Roy Godson, an expert in Soviet and Russian “active measures” — tools of political warfare used to influence world events — and emeritus professor of government at Georgetown University. “For many, many decades we did not take this stuff very seriously, and they were able to take enormous advantage.”

Experts noted several deficiencies in U.S. defenses against Russian cyberattacks, including the lack of a cybersecurity policy, poor defense coordination between the public and private sector, and almost no reliable government system to shoot down false propaganda when it arises.

They stressed that there was a false sense of complacency in government, with information technology expert Thomas Rid of King’s College London highlighting a close and surprising example: The security chips on congressional staffers’ identification badges, he said, are fake.

The badge “doesn’t actually have a proper chip. It has a picture of a chip,” Rid said. “It’s only to prevent chip envy. That tells you there’s a serious IT security problem.”

Experts stressed Russia has no political allies in the United States and will, as Watts put it, attack or discredit “people on both sides of the aisle . . . solely based on what they want to achieve in their own landscape, whatever the Russian foreign policy objectives are. They win because they play both sides.”

He also said that President Trump’s actions in particular — such as calling attention to conspiracy theories and tweeting about them — are helping Russian propaganda succeed in the United States.

“Part of the reason active measures have worked in this U.S. election is because the commander in chief has used Russian active measure at times against his opponents,” Watts said, citing the president’s history of making unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud, Barack Obama’s birthplace and a “rigged” election.

At peak times, he added, fake accountsswarm-tweet conspiracy theories at the president in the hope he will cite them, lending them credibility and strengthening Russia’s ability to sow more discord in the United States.

“Until we get a firm basis on fact and fiction in our own country . . . whether it be do I support the intelligence community or a story I read on my Twitter feed, we’re going to have a big problem,” Watts said.

...

Experts suggested that Congress has no time to sort out its political differences before addressing the Russian threat. They warned that Russia, having successfully deployed an Internet army to affect an American election, will probably look for future political targets and exploit new technologies to sow more discord in the electoral process and more distrust among citizens of the country’s democratic institutions.

“Somewhere in their cache right now there’s tremendous amounts of information laying around they can weaponize against other Americans,” Watts warned.

The witnesses said Russia’s “active measures” date at least to 2009, when fake, Russian-owned social-media accounts began popping up online. Those accounts — meant to look as if they belong to Americans, pictures and all — amount to an easily deployable influence army critical to spreading Russian propaganda, the witnesses argued.

In 2014, they began to work on “influence campaigns” more intently, and by 2015 they had “tied hacking and influence together at the same time,” Watts said, specifically referring to the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and the later release of that information publicly.

In just March and April of 2016, Rid added, Russians targeted at least 109 full-time Hillary Clinton campaign staffers, as well as several DNC staffers.

Experts said they have no way of knowing which attacks were carried out by automatic “bots” and which were not, imploring lawmakers to seek more detailed data from social-media companies.

They also urged lawmakers to think about ways Russia could exploit new technologies, drawing particular attention to virtual reality, the simulated worlds in which people can interact through a headset or helmet with people and places that seem real but aren’t.

“Anybody who could set up the reality is going to have a very decided advantage in politics and other areas,” Godson said.

The experts encouraged investigators to follow the trail of Russian money, through oligarchs, and to “follow the trail of dead Russians,” Watts said, referring to a string of prominent Russians who have recently died or been killed, to find clues about how Russian money is laundered.

Finally, they warned that the intelligence community has to change its way of thinking and focus on what is going on in public arenas such as social media as much as they do on closed secure transactions, since the spread of propaganda is such a critical part of Russia’s campaign.

...

 

[onekidanddone]

47 minutes ago, Childless said:

Hopefully Schiff tells the White House to kiss his ass.

If I read the WoPo article right Schiff and his Republican counter part in the Senate have been "invited" to the White House.  A few suggestions before they go. Don't eat or drink any food offered.  Don't be alone with President Bannon. If you can sneak in a mico recorder.

Why do I have this sickening feeling Schiff is going to be bullied and threatened.  Breath ..I need to breath ... 

Oh and every time I read Schiff's name I here the cluck-clunk of Law Order 

[Howl]

From TalkingPointsMemo: 

WSJ: Flynn Willing To Talk For Immunity

Spoiler

 

President Donald Trump's former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn on Thursday told the FBI and members of Congress that he is willing to be interviewed in exchange for a grant of immunity, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Flynn made the offer to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees and the FBI via his lawyer but has not succeeded in striking a bargain, according to the Wall Street Journal report, which cited unnamed officials with knowledge of the matter.

Robert Kelner, who is Flynn's attorney, declined to comment to the Wall Street Journal.

The House and Senate Intelligence Committees are in the midst of separate ongoing investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Flynn resigned as national security advisor in February after reports revealed that he spoke about Obama-era sanctions in a call with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak before President Donald Trump's inauguration. This contradicted members of Trump's administration, including Vice President Mike Pence, who previously denied that Flynn and Kislyak discussed sanctions.

According to a report by the Washington Post published later the same week, Flynn also denied in an interview with the FBI that he discussed sanctions with Kislyak.

Trump said at the time that he did not direct Flynn to discuss sanctions with Kislyak, but would have encouraged it.

In March, the White House confirmed that, in addition to that call, Flynn met with Kislyak for about 20 minutes at Trump Tower in December.

Less than a week later, Flynn registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent for $530,000 worth of lobbying work he did before the 2016 election that "could be construed to have principally benefited the Republic of Turkey."

 

 

[Audrey2]

1 hour ago, Childless said:

He's terrified of something.  I wonder how involved in this whole Russian thing he is.

If he does get busted, may we please have several Free Jinger choruses of "Lock him up"? I'd be happy to lead for others in Trump's government as well. 

[Childless]

2 hours ago, Howl said:

From TalkingPointsMemo: 

WSJ: Flynn Willing To Talk For Immunity

  Reveal hidden contents

 

President Donald Trump's former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn on Thursday told the FBI and members of Congress that he is willing to be interviewed in exchange for a grant of immunity, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Flynn made the offer to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees and the FBI via his lawyer but has not succeeded in striking a bargain, according to the Wall Street Journal report, which cited unnamed officials with knowledge of the matter.

Robert Kelner, who is Flynn's attorney, declined to comment to the Wall Street Journal.

The House and Senate Intelligence Committees are in the midst of separate ongoing investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Flynn resigned as national security advisor in February after reports revealed that he spoke about Obama-era sanctions in a call with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak before President Donald Trump's inauguration. This contradicted members of Trump's administration, including Vice President Mike Pence, who previously denied that Flynn and Kislyak discussed sanctions.

According to a report by the Washington Post published later the same week, Flynn also denied in an interview with the FBI that he discussed sanctions with Kislyak.

Trump said at the time that he did not direct Flynn to discuss sanctions with Kislyak, but would have encouraged it.

In March, the White House confirmed that, in addition to that call, Flynn met with Kislyak for about 20 minutes at Trump Tower in December.

Less than a week later, Flynn registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent for $530,000 worth of lobbying work he did before the 2016 election that "could be construed to have principally benefited the Republic of Turkey."

 

 

Unless he's got evidence that will lead directly to Cheeto von Tweeto's impeachment, I say no deal.

[RoseWilder]

This article is a few weeks old, but it never really got much traction in the press. I hope the Senate and FBI investigations are including this as part of their investigations: 

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/ex-nsa-analyst-intel-sources-say-white-house-targeting-journalists-with-help-from-russian-intel/

Quote

Former NSA analyst John Schindler, who now is a national security columnist for the Observer, reported on Tuesday that his sources in the intelligence community believe that President Donald Trump’s White House is colluding with Russian intelligence to “target journalists.”

In a tweet on Tuesday, Schindler revealed: “Learned fm very reliable IC sources that Trump WH, w/help fm Russian intel, is targeting US journalists.”

 

[Chickenbutt]

I never post in the politics threads, but my son sent me this,...thought you guys might like it

http://www.palmerreport.com/news/former-white-house-staffer-sources-say-donald-trump-is-now-considering-resigning-from-the-presidency/2117/

Claude Taylor, who worked on three presidential campaigns and served on President Bill Clinton’s White House staff, tweeted the following this evening: “An ind journalist I have worked with-who has been reliable-says they have 2 sources that say Trump is considering options-incl resignation.”

Sorry if this is the wrong thread. I don't follow these threads.

[fraurosena]

6 hours ago, Howl said:

Nunes appears to be in retrograde or just total disintegration.  WTF is going on with that guy?  

Guilty conscience.

[formergothardite]

8 hours ago, Childless said:

Unless he's got evidence that will lead directly to Cheeto von Tweeto's impeachment, I say no deal.

Impeached and in jail. Trump needs to be locked up after he was willing to sell our country to Russia. He doesn't need to have a chance to leave the White House and try to build up his image with his adoring fans. Jail with no Twitter. 

[Childless]

2 hours ago, formergothardite said:

Impeached and in jail. Trump needs to be locked up after he was willing to sell our country to Russia. He doesn't need to have a chance to leave the White House and try to build up his image with his adoring fans. Jail with no Twitter. 

If they can get someone unwilling to take the rap for him.  Why so many people are willing to fall on their swords for a person who treats them badly, shows them no respect, and will sell them out to save his own skin without a second thought is beyond me.  I just don't get this loyalty and admiration for Lord Dampnut.  He's either got dirt on these people or the lot of them are certifiably insane.  I wouldn't give the man the time of day.  I've disliked him and thought he was an asshole since the 80s.  And mind you, I was a child in the 80s.  Even kids know he's full of shit.

[formergothardite]

I think he has dirt on people, he does nothing to inspire true loyalty. If the feds get more dirt on the people he surrounds himself with,, then they will turn on him. Most of these guys look out for themselves and will stab Trump in the back the second it becomes beneficial. He has spent years getting away with doing whatever he wants, but he has never really had to deal with a lot of scrutiny, 

[Howl]

14 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

There's so much flying around, I'm not sure if this has been shared yet (apologies if it has): "Ryan, Rubio may have been targets of damaging Russian social-media campaigns"

I just re-read this.  Holy crap. The Russians have an extremely sophisticated weaponized social media operation going; they must have been perfecting this for years getting ready for the 2016 presidential election.  

That said, the Russians are using the openings and alt-reality created by Fox and Breitbart and the like. 

Basically, can we ever get our elections back from Fox and Russia and Breitbart? With no agreement on what is reality and what are real facts vs alt-facts.....it's up in the air.  

[GreyhoundFan]

1 hour ago, formergothardite said:

I think he has dirt on people, he does nothing to inspire true loyalty. If the feds get more dirt on the people he surrounds himself with,, then they will turn on him. Most of these guys look out for themselves and will stab Trump in the back the second it becomes beneficial. He has spent years getting away with doing whatever he wants, but he has never really had to deal with a lot of scrutiny, 

I have thought all along that he has dirt on pretty much everyone in his circle. For example, look at Spicey. I've never been a fan, but before Agent Orange hired him, he was a reasonably sane person. Now he's a caricature and getting stranger by the day. He lies with impunity, because Agent Orange told him to do so. If Agent Orange is somehow either working with, or being pressured by, the Russian mafia, he'd be passing that pressure on. That could be why some of the formerly sane people are now crazy.

 

48 minutes ago, Howl said:

I just re-read this.  Holy crap. The Russians have an extremely sophisticated weaponized social media operation going; they must have been perfecting this for years getting ready for the 2016 presidential election.  

That said, the Russians are using the openings and alt-reality created by Fox and Breitbart and the like. 

Basically, can we ever get our elections back from Fox and Russia and Breitbart? With no agreement on what is reality and what are real facts vs alt-facts.....it's up in the air.  

Not just our elections. They are interfering with European elections.

[RoseWilder]

I just read an article that recaps the 5 biggest revelations from yesterday's Russia hearings. It's a great article (and it has video clips to go with each item on the list. I highly recommend reading it: 

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/5-important-revelations-from-the-senate-intel-hearing-on-russias-meddling-in-the-2016-elections/

Here's one of the revelations: 

Quote

2. Russian “active measures” have been in play for nearly a century.

Roy Godson, Professor of Government Emeritus at Georgetown University, spoke of the overt and covert methods used by Russian officials since the 1920s and 1930s. “[They] created an enormous apparatus in the world,” he said. “They used this apparatus to be able to influence the politics of Europe after the war.”

The methods were used to “help Europe and sometimes [the U.S.] in fighting the Nazis and the Italian fascists,” Godson noted. “But they were also preparing for being able… to undermine democratic and liberal parties, including in the United States.”

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I don't think this has been posted. The WaPo has done a good article with each Trumpster and his ties to Russia. Lots of graphics and good timelines.

[RoseWilder]

Devin Nunes admits he lied: 

 

[RoseWilder]

I love this. Someone is crowd-funding money for a billboard to shame Rep. Jason Chaffetz about his unwillingness to investigate the Trump-Russia scandal. 

https://www.crowdpac.com/campaigns/197956/billboards-shaming-chaffetz

The only problem with this plan is that in order to shame someone they have to have a conscience and I'm not sure Chaffetz has one. 

[GreyhoundFan]

14 minutes ago, RoseWilder said:

I love this. Someone is crowd-funding money for a billboard to shame Rep. Jason Chaffetz about his unwillingness to investigate the Trump-Russia scandal. 

https://www.crowdpac.com/campaigns/197956/billboards-shaming-chaffetz

The only problem with this plan is that in order to shame someone they have to have a conscience and I'm not sure Chaffetz has one. 

He'd probably post a billboard on the opposite side of the road that reads something like: "...But her emails..."

 

Here are a couple of interesting articles about Agent Orange and the Russia controversy: "Trump’s White House struggles to get out from under Russia controversy"

"The most suspicious part of Trump’s presidency"

 

Each report I hear or read just makes me sicker.

[RoseWilder]

The FBI's investigation appears to be very thorough. Good. I can't wait until the indictments start. 

 

[fraurosena]

Here's a contumelious little op-ed by the Independant about the Flynn debacle.

Mike Flynn could finally end the Tangerine Toddler's lucky streak

Quote

Donald Trump is lot like a cockroach – and not just because he’s generally chalk full of horse excrement. You can step on the guy all you want, but he always seems to scuttle away completely unscathed. And he’s survived more nuclear fallouts in the past 70 days than any other so-called politician would ever hope to see in ten lifetimes.   

Cabinet resignations, court defeats, legislative setbacks, thousands of lawsuits, allegations of rape, mass protests and the lowest approval rating for a generation are just a “no, never mind” to him. Up until recently, it seemed like Trump’s ego, shameless ambitions and grip on power simply could not be killed.

But Michael Flynn might just be the industrial-grade pesticide the world has been desperately praying for. [...]

Within 24 days of [his national security advisor] appointment, Trump fed his friend to the crocodiles and kicked him out of the White House after it leaked Flynn had some alleged dodgy dealings with the Kremlin. Apparently Flynn met with a Russian ambassador to chat about the possibility of removing US sanctions after Trump came to power, and then lied to everybody about it.

Bad call. Critics scoffed at the early face plant, but everybody seemed to move on just fine. 

But fast forward two months, and Russia has become Washington’s favourite buzzword. A few days ago, FBI Director James Comey announced that he was finally going to take action, and that he was formally investigating the Trump administration to see if the President’s team may have actually been working alongside Russia to cheat Hillary Clinton out of last year’s election.

And guess which disgraced former general with a huge chip on his shoulder immediately stepped out of the shadows offering to dish the dirt?

That’s right. Michael Flynn and his new, aggressively anti-Trump lawyer have volunteered to tell members of congress and the FBI everything there is to say about America’s greasy new president and his supposed links with Moscow – but only under the sole condition that Flynn is guaranteed total immunity from being prosecuted for what it is he has to say.

Senate insiders have already dismissed Flynn’s immunity offer as “wildly preliminary”, but members of the House Intelligence Committee sound quite keen. And unless this is all just some sort of pathetic Hail Mary to get his job back, Donald Trump should be pretty damn worried about this guy.

After all, as Michael Flynn himself so gingerly pointed out while campaigning for Trump in last year’s election: “When you are given immunity, that means you’ve probably committed a crime.” [...]

Donald Trump has completely and utterly desecrated the integrity of his office. He bathed the American people in snake oil in a desperate bid to reach what he perceived to be the top, and he stepped on a whole lot of friends along the way.

Well, Mr President, karma sure is a bitch – because it looks like Michael Flynn might have been the wrong friend to step on.

 

[fraurosena]

I don't know if anybody has posted this yet, but here's a wonderful op-ed by Maxine Waters on the whole debacle.

From the article:

Quote

[...] As I have maintained for many months, I believe credible investigations will reveal the truth about Donald Trump and his "Kremlin Klan". [...] While Republicans, primarily in the House, have tried to ignore everything I have conveyed about the Kremlin Klan - a group that includes Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Carter Page, Rex Tillerson and Wilbur Ross - they cannot deny the new and stunning revelations following last weeks testimony in the House Intelligence Committee, during which the FBI director confirmed that the United States President's campaign is the subject of an FBI counterintelligence investigation for possible collusion with a foreign adversary to undermine our democracy. [...]

The "Kremlin Klan". Oooh, be still my alliteration adoring heart! 

[Cartmann99]

4 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Donald Trump is lot like a cockroach – and not just because he’s generally chalk full of horse excrement. You can step on the guy all you want, but he always seems to scuttle away completely unscathed. And he’s survived more nuclear fallouts in the past 70 days than any other so-called politician would ever hope to see in ten lifetimes.

If only we could get Black Flag to build us a mock up of the first few feet of the White House, and slip it in front of the real deal...

... then we just have the Trump Roach Motel dropped off on a deserted desert isle.

[RoseWilder]

Good news: 

I'm glad the investigations into the Trump-Russia appear to be very thorough. 

[RoseWilder]

The plot thickens: 

 

[RoseWilder]