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SteveMDFP

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2250 on: January 03, 2018, 08:55:03 PM »
At least the Fusion GPS founders think that major portions of the Steele Dossier are credible:

Title: "Fusion GPS founders: The Steele Dossier is a lot more important than you may think"

https://www.salon.com/2018/01/03/fusion-gps-founders-the-steele-dossier-is-a-lot-more-important-than-you-may-think/

Extract: "The former journalists who founded the research firm Fusion GPS — which hired British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to investigate potential collusion between Donald Trump and the Russian government — are defending their work against Republican attacks."


If I should ever be fortunate enough to sell my $160K dossier to someone for $6M, I'd certainly be willing to vouch for it's veracity. 8)
Terry

I can't see that it makes one whit of difference who paid Christopher Steele to do this research.  Nobody has an incentive to purchase bad research.  No researcher has an interest in acquiring a reputation for shoddy work.

It's conceivable that a candidate might commission opposition research on himself -- to get a preview of what the opposition campaigns might uncover and present.  If Trump himself had commissioned Steele to do such research, Steele would have exactly the same incentive to do good quality research as if anyone else was paying the tab.  This whole line of doubt about Steele only makes any sense if you don't think about it from the perspectives of the various parties.

TerryM

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2251 on: January 03, 2018, 09:18:13 PM »
At least the Fusion GPS founders think that major portions of the Steele Dossier are credible:

Title: "Fusion GPS founders: The Steele Dossier is a lot more important than you may think"

https://www.salon.com/2018/01/03/fusion-gps-founders-the-steele-dossier-is-a-lot-more-important-than-you-may-think/

Extract: "The former journalists who founded the research firm Fusion GPS — which hired British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to investigate potential collusion between Donald Trump and the Russian government — are defending their work against Republican attacks."


If I should ever be fortunate enough to sell my $160K dossier to someone for $6M, I'd certainly be willing to vouch for it's veracity. 8)
Terry

I can't see that it makes one whit of difference who paid Christopher Steele to do this research.  Nobody has an incentive to purchase bad research.  No researcher has an interest in acquiring a reputation for shoddy work.

It's conceivable that a candidate might commission opposition research on himself -- to get a preview of what the opposition campaigns might uncover and present.  If Trump himself had commissioned Steele to do such research, Steele would have exactly the same incentive to do good quality research as if anyone else was paying the tab.  This whole line of doubt about Steele only makes any sense if you don't think about it from the perspectives of the various parties.
Steve, you've misread me.


As you say it makes no difference who paid the bill, what I'm saying is that it's natural for the ones who sold the item to insist that it was a good and valuable item.
Whether it's value is $6M, $160K, or perhaps considerably less, may be determined at some future date. It proved to be of little, or no value to the Hillary campaign during the election.


If the $6M might have been better spent getting another Democratic Senator elected we'll never know.
Terry

AbruptSLR

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2252 on: January 03, 2018, 10:50:45 PM »
This looks like an act of desperation by Manafort:

Title: "Trump ex-campaign chair Manafort sues Mueller, Rosenstein and Department of Justice"

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/03/trump-ex-campaign-chair-manafort-sues-mueller-rosenstein-and-department-of-justice.html

Extract: "Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has sued special counsel Robert Mueller, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and the Department of Justice in U.S. federal court, alleging that Mueller has strayed beyond the scope of the investigation he was authorized to pursue.

Manafort's suit also alleges the order appointing Mueller exceeds the deputy attorney general's authority. As a result, all actions taken by the special counsel "must be set aside," it argues."
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TerryM

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2253 on: January 03, 2018, 11:15:51 PM »
ASLR
Is it possible that this is intended to keep Mueller from playing close to the boundaries of the scope of his mandate, rather than being intended as a winning action?
If so it won't help Manafort, (unless Mueller actually has overstepped his bounds) but might curb whatever appetite Mueller may have for going after outliers.
Terry

AbruptSLR

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2254 on: January 03, 2018, 11:32:49 PM »
ASLR
Is it possible that this is intended to keep Mueller from playing close to the boundaries of the scope of his mandate, rather than being intended as a winning action?
If so it won't help Manafort, (unless Mueller actually has overstepped his bounds) but might curb whatever appetite Mueller may have for going after outliers.
Terry

That is always possible; but it is just as like that the GOP is taking a shotgun approach to shoot at anything the moves.
“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.”
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Rob Dekker

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2255 on: January 04, 2018, 07:32:33 AM »
These analysts use open source and social media investigation to investigate this really important subject. I think these are laudable efforts, much like what Bellingcat (that you mentioned in positive terms on this forum) is undertaking in other areas. Why are you against investigative, open source efforts when it comes to Russiagate?

There is no comparison, Hefaistos, between Bellingcat's work and the work of the so called 'open source' Russiagate investigators that you mention. With Bellingcat's work, anyone can verify every step in the argument based on open source evidence presented for every sentence of Bellingcat's reports.

The only 'open source' data available in the Russiagate case suggests that the DNC documents were copied on a computer before they were released to Wikileaks. It says nothing about how the original data was lifted from the DNC system, by hack or leak. Yet political forces framed the story and even sent a letter to the president about it. We talked about this before in this thread.

Now it gets worse : it seems that the 'open source' 'investigators' you mention appear to be the same people as the ClimateGate 'investigators' from 2009. From your link :

https://disobedientmedia.com/2017/12/fancy-frauds-bogus-bears-malware-mimicry/

Quote
It’s amazing what people retain and how they pick up on conflicts of information and inconsistencies. I’ve been impressed by a lot of people I’ve come to know through Twitter and one great example is Stephen McIntyre (of Climate Audit – a blog that has an interesting history of its own in relation to the ClimateGate hack of 2009).

Over recent months McIntyre has given some attention to the topic of the alleged hacking of the DNC in 2016 and his findings have been particularly interesting, at least, to anyone interested in unraveling digital deception.

Well, well, well. Interesting company you have, Hefaistos...
Stephen McIntyre himself, who attacked climate scientists in the most vicious ways, using false arguments, is now weighing in on this (RussiaGate) issue...

Tons of red flags should go up at this point with anyone who appreciates scientists and their work.

Should I even investigate further ?
« Last Edit: January 04, 2018, 08:21:49 AM by Rob Dekker »
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Alexander555

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2256 on: January 04, 2018, 11:48:54 AM »

I want take long anymore before you will swallow these words. It's the democrats and their globalist buddies that made  China big. 

Not at all.  The single biggest step to brining China into the global economy was courtesy of Richard Nixon.  He went to China, and initiated the first of the cultural and economic ties. 

Now China growing economically certainly hasn't been good for the environment.  But its been very good for the people there.  They have a budding middle class the size of the US population.  The Communist Party no longer launches purges like the Cultural Revolution.  They've become a one-party capitalist-technocratic system that takes great pains to deliver economic progress to the people, so that they can stay in power.  Genuine progress.

They're now delivering more solar panels to their own grid and to the rest of the world than anyone else.

Economic progress is not a zero-sum game.  Improvements there don't mean losses elsewhere.  Note, for example, the US is at close to full employment now, despite the economic growth of China.

And also note, the leadership of China is pursing a more steady hand, both domestically and internationally, than the current occupants at the head of US government.

P.S. Apologies to readers for enabling this off-topic post.

That's right, they created something like 18 million jobs in the last 9 years. But that comes at a price. Because it takes something like a 100 000 usd of new debt for every job, every year again. In times of strong growth it can be a little less. In times of low growth it will be a little more. So you have a guarantee that your debt is going to grow significantly in the future. And most of that new debt is flooding the world. Because it is used to pay for your imports. And to fund your immigration policy. While Americans are getting slaughtered by drug epidemics and drug related gun violence, and trown into jail for some pretty stupid things. But to come back to the imports, and the related flooding. What do you think will happen with them when the world is going to face a flood of yuans. That asian population is 4,5 billion people big.

That's what i mean with 100 000 usd for every job, and we are already at 21 trillion for the moment. And all that debt is related to immigration and globalisation. And what kind of number would we get if we count that number in emissions ? You had your last major hurricane making landfall in 2005. Last year you had 3, one of them destroyed Puerto Rico.  I understand very well why these democrats ( that are not much more than human trafficers) and globalists are looking for somebody to blame.

Buddy

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2257 on: January 04, 2018, 12:09:20 PM »
Pressure kills:

“He’s going to unravel.” Psychiatrist warns members of Congress about Trump in secret briefing.

https://shareblue.com/hes-going-unravel-psychiatrist-warns-members-congress-trump-secret-briefing/
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Alexander555

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2258 on: January 04, 2018, 12:29:01 PM »
And what can you do with these usd as soon as he is replaced as the world reserve currency ? Use it on the stock- or bondmarket ? The prices of these stocks are all manipulated by that printing spree, and that bondmarket is a worthless swamp. Use them for travellling to the us maybe. But you are at the cradle of the biggest future hurricans on this planet, your south-west will transform further into a desert, and your east and south coast will fall into pieces. That limits the use of these usd. So there is not much left. Besides wiping your ass, if you have the paper version. If you have the digital version,not even that.

AbruptSLR

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2259 on: January 04, 2018, 06:41:13 PM »
As Trump blasts Bannon regarding Bannon's book quotes, I suspect that Bannon cannot blast back at Trump because it is likely that since the time that the book quotes were made, Bannon has likely cut a plea deal with Mueller that prevents Bannon from making any more comments related to Russiagate.
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AbruptSLR

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2260 on: January 04, 2018, 06:52:10 PM »
What does Feinstein know that we don't?

Title: "Sen. Feinstein Says Trump’s Social-Media Guru “May Have Corresponded With Russian Nationals”"

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/01/sen-feinstein-says-trumps-social-media-guru-may-have-corresponded-with-russian-nationals/#

Extract: "President Donald Trump’s social-media manager, Dan Scavino, “may have corresponded with Russian nationals regarding Trump campaign social media efforts,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) wrote Wednesday in a letter asking Scavino to agree to an interview this month with the Senate Judiciary Committee."
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Buddy

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2261 on: January 04, 2018, 11:01:58 PM »
Just as a reminder....don't forget about Schneiderman.....AG from New York.  He is waiting in the weeds (along with other state AG's)....

https://lawandcrime.com/opinion/ny-ag-schneiderman-pretty-much-confirms-that-he-plans-to-become-trumps-biggest-nightmare/
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Rob Dekker

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2262 on: January 05, 2018, 05:19:12 AM »
And what can you do with these usd as soon as he is replaced as the world reserve currency ? Use it on the stock- or bondmarket ? The prices of these stocks are all manipulated by that printing spree, and that bondmarket is a worthless swamp. Use them for travellling to the us maybe. But you are at the cradle of the biggest future hurricans on this planet, your south-west will transform further into a desert, and your east and south coast will fall into pieces. That limits the use of these usd. So there is not much left. Besides wiping your ass, if you have the paper version. If you have the digital version,not even that.

Alex, you are venturing off-topic. This is the RussiaGate thread, not the Trump administration thread.
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Alexander555

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2263 on: January 05, 2018, 11:40:56 AM »
And what can you do with these usd as soon as he is replaced as the world reserve currency ? Use it on the stock- or bondmarket ? The prices of these stocks are all manipulated by that printing spree, and that bondmarket is a worthless swamp. Use them for travellling to the us maybe. But you are at the cradle of the biggest future hurricans on this planet, your south-west will transform further into a desert, and your east and south coast will fall into pieces. That limits the use of these usd. So there is not much left. Besides wiping your ass, if you have the paper version. If you have the digital version,not even that.

The USD is like the joker, you  can trow him on the table whenever you want. Because he's related to almost everything.
Alex, you are venturing off-topic. This is the RussiaGate thread, not the Trump administration thread.

Buddy

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2264 on: January 05, 2018, 12:43:21 PM »
Richard Nixon:  "Hey....I have a good idea.  Alexander Butterfield, I want you to set me up so that all my conversations are recorded...OK?  What could possibly go wrong."

Moron Don:  "Hey.....I have a good idea.  Let's give Michael Wolff from the "fake news" free reign in the White House for a year.....OK?  What could possibly go wrong."

 :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
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Buddy

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2265 on: January 05, 2018, 12:49:53 PM »
When pressure is applied.....mistakes happen.  Expect them to keep happening in Donnies world:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-lawsuit-over-white-house-book-nonstarter-legal-222728828.html
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Alexander555

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2266 on: January 05, 2018, 01:03:07 PM »
When pressure is applied.....mistakes happen.  Expect them to keep happening in Donnies world:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-lawsuit-over-white-house-book-nonstarter-legal-222728828.html

The only person you can place on top of a bunch of criminals, is a bigger criminal. What about el chapo for president ? He would drain the swamp in no time.

AbruptSLR

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2267 on: January 05, 2018, 04:15:12 PM »
It's going to be difficult/impossible for the WH to deny Wolff's quotes of ex-WH officials, when Wolff has tapes of the interviews:

Title: "Scoop: Wolff taped interviews with Bannon, top officials"

https://www.axios.com/how-michael-wolff-did-it-2522360813.html

Extract: "Michael Wolff has tapes to back up quotes in his incendiary book — dozens of hours of them.

Among the sources he taped, I'm told, are Steve Bannon and former White House deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh."
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AbruptSLR

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2268 on: January 05, 2018, 04:34:37 PM »
As Don McGahn's client is legally the American people, Mueller may have flipped McGahn and left him in office as the WH counsel to spy on Trump, without violating attorney-client privilege:

Title: " ‘Following orders didn’t work at Nuremberg either’: Former ethics chief compares White House counsel McGahn to Nazis"

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/following-orders-didnt-work-at-nuremberg-either-former-ethics-chief-compares-white-house-counsel-mcgahn-to-nazis/

Extract: "“As an attorney, the president is not his client,” Shaub continued. “The office of the president is his client and he’s ultimately answerable to the American people. I don’t have words I can use on TV this morning to describe how angry I am to learn this.”"
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sidd

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2269 on: January 05, 2018, 11:52:20 PM »

Buddy

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2270 on: January 06, 2018, 03:28:38 AM »
Could be a crazy weekend.  Will Sessions finally be pushed out by Donnie?  Jeff is the only major player not invited to Donnie's shindig this weekend.

And after a BAD first week for Moron Don in the new year.... he may be reaching a breaking point of sorts.  I KNOW that the FBI are getting too close to Donnie.  So I would NOT be surprised to see Donnie's next move, like a bull in a China shop.

Will Rosenstein be out as well?  Possible.

As I have said from DAY 1.....Donnie can NOT have the FBI investigation finish.  Too many people will take a fall if it goes through to its conclusion.  Get out your marching shoes...you may need them.

So we're getting close to the first constitutional crisis in this journey.

Keep your eyes wide open.  Donnie will do anything to save his fat ass.  We are definitely heading towards some MUCH more serious shit hitting the fan.

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TerryM

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2271 on: January 06, 2018, 03:50:02 AM »

Rob Dekker

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2272 on: January 06, 2018, 08:07:30 AM »
It looks like that WaPo article mostly traces the purchased ads on Facebook.
We already knew that that was only a minor effort.
After all, why buy ads when Facebook and Twitter provide a platform for free distribution of information ?

From a previous WaPo article :

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/10/05/russian-propaganda-may-have-been-shared-hundreds-of-millions-of-times-new-research-says/?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.56c72963cffe

Quote
Facebook has said ads bought by Russian operatives reached 10 million of its users.

But does that include everyone reached by the information operation? Couldn’t the Russians also have created simple — and free — Facebook posts and hoped they went viral? And if so, how many times were these messages seen by Facebook’s massive user base?

The answers to those questions, which social media analyst Jonathan Albright studied for a research document he posted online Thursday, are: No. Yes. And hundreds of millions — perhaps many billions — of times.

“The primary push to influence wasn’t necessarily through paid advertising,” said Albright, research director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University. “The best way to to understand this from a strategic perspective is organic reach.”

And that does not even count what I believe were the biggest contributors of fake news during the election cycle (and before and after) : bots, dark posts, and trolls posting in comments of news articles.

The latter one was the most noticeable to me.
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Hefaistos

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2273 on: January 06, 2018, 09:27:15 AM »
Bezos actually let this russian propaganda through !

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/12/28/theres-still-little-evidence-that-russias-2016-social-media-efforts-did-much-of-anything/

sidd


An eye opener from an unexpected source.


Thanks
Terry

Concluding words: "...the public evidence doesn’t support the idea that the Russians executed a savvy electoral strategy on social media to ensure Trump’s victory."
Also noticed that author refrained from blaming the Kremlin/Putin, he only talks about "Russians", not venturing into the issue who actually ordered and paid for these campaigns.

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2274 on: January 06, 2018, 07:16:59 PM »
The Democratic opposition seem far more fixated on finding an external cause for their defeat than in looking into the self inflicted blows they suffered.
There is less than a year before the next election, and I haven't heard much of the new Democratic initiatives, those that will motivate their base and swing the swing voters.


I'm not Trump isn't enough to campaign on. It didn't work in the last cycle, and there is little to indicate it will win in 2018. Romney ran an, I'm not Obama campaign. How did that work out?


Negative campaigning is only effective until the voters see it as picking on your opposition, from there on in every blow you land rebounds, hurting your candidate much more than the intended opposition.


Find one of your weaker donor groups, one you can afford to ditch. Ditch them then run a positive campaign on whatever legislation it is that this donor group was opposed to.
If you can do without the dentists, run on a platform of "socialized" dentistry for everyone. If the private schools lobbyists aren't coming through with much money, run on funding the best public schools in the nation.
The above are probably bad examples, but the idea is to toss off some portion of the corporate funding/control, and try for one election cycle to run as the party that will actually make a change that the people want. I'd prefer to toss all the corporate funding, but that isn't going to happen, at least not by 2018.


Terry

Rob Dekker

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2275 on: January 07, 2018, 06:48:51 AM »
Terry, apart from the question of who would have enough charisma to become the next Obama, and apart from the question if reducing corporate money to Democrats would help, you are venturing off topic. This is the RussiaGate thread, not the Trump administration thread.
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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2276 on: January 08, 2018, 04:32:25 AM »
The linked article has an embedded video in which Tapper asks Miller whether Donald Trump was in Trump Tower on the day when Don Jr., Jared and Paul M. meet with the Russians, and Miller does not answer the question.  Is this because Miller knows that knows that Donald Trump was indeed in Trump Tower on that date (& so it would be possible that Don Jr. did take the Russians up to see Donald Trump, just as Bannon implies in the Wolff book).

Title: "Trump aide Stephen Miller’s tactical CNN appearance is the new political theater"

https://qz.com/1173830/donald-trump-aide-stephen-miller-spars-with-jake-tapper-on-cnn/
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Martin Gisser

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2277 on: January 08, 2018, 05:49:06 AM »
And that does not even count what I believe were the biggest contributors of fake news during the election cycle (and before and after) : bots, dark posts, and trolls posting in comments of news articles.

The latter one was the most noticeable to me.
What I noticed on Facebook was a deluge of bizarre apeshit thrown at Hillary. I've befriended a bunch of mostly left and radical green Americans to observe the election, in addition to my real American FB friends.

Alas I haven't documented anything. There certainly was a Russian troll amoungst them, but most were real. Many were happily playing Republican/Russian asset. Those folks weren't stupid, I would have thought, actually more intellectual elite. But they happily shared and spread stuff like Killary's death list, the cannibal dinner, Pizzagate etc.

It is unsurprising that the Russians didn't spend much Rubel for Fakebook ads. They are not that stupid, I believe. The ads could either be a distraction ("see, we didn't do much"). Or they were analytical trial balloons to check out the target group.

Anything new about Cambridge Analytica?
Anything new about that Trump Tower server communicating with Alfa bank in Russia?
https://patribotics.blog/2017/09/22/exclusive-fisa-target-svb-bank-server-sent-cambridge-analytica-data-to-trump/

Buddy

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2278 on: January 08, 2018, 03:23:30 PM »
Here's the 60 Minutes segment on "Russia Today" (RT) last night.  On the one hand...it is EXTREMELY dangerous...much like FOX News.  Full of lies and propaganda.  On the other hand....its pretty amazing that people fall for that crap (much like FOX News).

I think Sean Hannity would make a great pundit on Russia Today.  He would fit right in....and he could keep lying without skipping a beat.

Sean Hannity.....making Russia Great Again....

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rt-editor-in-chief-on-election-meddling-russian-propaganda-label/

And here's an article and clip about some American journalists that had ventured over to work on the American version of Russia Today.  Again....RT and FOX are two peas in pod....and right now they are both working for Russia....

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-26585033
« Last Edit: January 08, 2018, 03:33:41 PM by Buddy »
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crandles

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2279 on: January 08, 2018, 09:44:00 PM »
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mueller-indicates-he-will-likely-seek-interview-with-trump/2018/01/08/86100bb2-f473-11e7-beb6-c8d48830c54d_story.html?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.631e370081e2

Quote
Mueller indicates he will likely seek interview with Trump

The special counsel’s team could interview Trump very soon on some limited portion of questions — possibly within the next several weeks, according to a person close to the president who was granted anonymity to describe internal conversations.

“This is moving faster than anyone really realizes,” the person said. Trump is comfortable participating in an interview and believes it would put to rest questions about whether his campaign coordinated with Russia in the 2016 election, the person added.


However, the president’s attorneys are reluctant to allow him to sit down for open-ended, face-to-face questioning without clear parameters, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

AbruptSLR

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2280 on: January 08, 2018, 10:23:09 PM »

Mueller indicates he will likely seek interview with Trump

The special counsel’s team could interview Trump very soon on some limited portion of questions — possibly within the next several weeks, according to a person close to the president who was granted anonymity to describe internal conversations.

“This is moving faster than anyone really realizes,” the person said. Trump is comfortable participating in an interview and believes it would put to rest questions about whether his campaign coordinated with Russia in the 2016 election, the person added.

However, the president’s attorneys are reluctant to allow him to sit down for open-ended, face-to-face questioning without clear parameters, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

It will be interesting to see (eventually) whether Mueller can catch Trump lying in response to written questions.  As we all know, it is a federal crime to lie to a Special Counsel.
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SteveMDFP

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2281 on: January 09, 2018, 03:17:06 AM »
It looks like that WaPo article mostly traces the purchased ads on Facebook.
We already knew that that was only a minor effort.
After all, why buy ads when Facebook and Twitter provide a platform for free distribution of information ?
 

Interesting personal observation.  Some of the non-US members here may not be familiar with Craigslist.  It's an internet bulletin board system for, essentially, classified ads.  Lots of personal ads, for sale, wanted, apartments for rent, pets given away, etc.  Quite useful, and while rather popular, quite low-profile.

In the weeks leading up to the election, I saw *lots* of ads in my local Baltimore-area Craigslist, seeking to purchase temporary use of Facebook accounts.  I figured it must have something to do with a marketing plan for some new product. 

Right after the election, all these ads to purchase use of Facebook accounts vanished.  I suspect the new product was pro-Trump/anti-Hillary propaganda.

Martin Gisser

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2282 on: January 09, 2018, 03:39:39 AM »
In the weeks leading up to the election, I saw *lots* of ads in my local Baltimore-area Craigslist, seeking to purchase temporary use of Facebook accounts.  I figured it must have something to do with a marketing plan for some new product. 

Right after the election, all these ads to purchase use of Facebook accounts vanished.  I suspect the new product was pro-Trump/anti-Hillary propaganda.

Wow! Anybody else aware of this? If not, contact some journalist asap.

---------------
P.S.: On second googling I found the following. So sure at least Mueller is aware...

https://researchbuzz.me/2016/03/26/whats-with-this-rent-out-your-facebook-account-craigslist-ad/
« Last Edit: January 09, 2018, 03:45:46 AM by Martin Gisser »

AbruptSLR

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2283 on: January 09, 2018, 04:08:28 AM »
According to the linked article, the fact that Mueller has the legal right to interview Trump before a live grand jury, gives Mueller a lot of leverage in the negotiation of terms for an interview away from a grand jury.  Trump's lawyers clearly do not want Trump to appear before a jury.

Title: "Alan Dershowitz: Mueller Has 'Leverage' in Any Trump Interview"

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/alan-dershowitz-robert-mueller-investigation-interview/2018/01/08/id/835908/
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Buddy

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AbruptSLR

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2285 on: January 09, 2018, 08:53:16 PM »
Fusion GPS testimony.....release by Feinstein (unilaterally) today....

The linked article indicates that the FBI had an informant within the Trump campaign, at least during the summer of 2016:

Title: "Fusion co-founder: Dossier author feared Trump was being blackmailed"

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/09/politics/feinstein-releases-glenn-simpson-transcript/index.html

Extract: "Simpson also testified that Steele told him the FBI had similar intelligence from "an internal Trump campaign source" and that the FBI "believed Chris' information might be credible because they had other intelligence that indicated the same thing and one of those pieces of intelligence was a human source from inside the Trump organization.""

Edit, see also:

Title: "Source inside Trump campaign reported concerns to FBI, new transcript reveals"

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/09/trump-russia-dossier-senator-dianne-feinstein-glenn-simpson

Extract: "According to the transcript, Simpson told the senators that “an internal Trump campaign source” or “a human source from inside the Trump organization” reported his or her concerns to the FBI. Simpson said that this information was drawn from Christopher Steele, the former British spy who compiled the dossier during the 2016 presidential campaign, after the FBI “had debriefed him” that fall.

“I think it was a voluntary source, someone who was concerned about the same concerns we had,” Simpson said. “It was someone who decided to pick up the phone and report something.”

He said that Steele did not rely on this source for his work with the firm."
« Last Edit: January 09, 2018, 09:01:05 PM by AbruptSLR »
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AbruptSLR

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2286 on: January 09, 2018, 11:03:26 PM »
Fusion GPS testimony.....release by Feinstein (unilaterally) today....

Testimony is HERE:  https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/3/9/3974a291-ddbe-4525-9ed1-22bab43c05ae/934A3562824CACA7BB4D915E97709D2F.simpson-transcript-redacted.pdf

On page 279 of the transcript Simpson’s attorney explained why Simpson didn’t want to answer a particular question about sourcing by stating: “It’s a voluntary interview, and in addition to that he wants to be very careful to protect his sources. Somebody’s already been killed as a result of the publication of this dossier and no harm should come to anybody related to this honest work.”

So it appears that the Russiagate cover-up activities in Russia include murder.
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AbruptSLR

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2287 on: January 09, 2018, 11:52:01 PM »
The linked December 2017 Russian media article indicates that Russia's GRU was behind the hack of the DNC in 2016 (and possibly also in 2015):

Title: "What the Arrest of the Russian Intel top Cyber-Crime Expert Has to Do With American elections"

https://thebell.io/en/arrest-russian-intel-top-cyber-crime-expert-american-elections/

Extract: "Until now, U.S. authorities have appeared to base their conviction that the Russian government directed hacker attacks against Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign on technical research alone. Reporting by The Bell reveals that Russian authorities believe four men betrayed their country by confirming the U.S. findings.

Sergei Mikhailov  was arrested one year ago, on Dec. 5, 2016. Officers of the agency’s internal security division seized him at his office and led him away with a sack over his head. Mikhailov is a black belt in karate and the officers feared that he might resist, explained one of the colonel’s acquaintances.

Prior to his arrest, Mikhailov was head of the 2nd Directorate of the FSB’s Information Security Center (TsIB) and within Russian intelligence circles he was considered the main authority on cybercrime.

Now he and three other men —  Dmitry Dokuchayev, an FSB major and former criminal hacker, accused in the U.S. of hacking 500 million Yahoo! accounts in 2014;  Ruslan Stoyanov, a former Kaspersky Lab employee; and  Georgy Fomchenkov, a little-known internet entrepreneur — are suspected of state treason. The four are being held in Moscow’s high-security Lefortovo Prison, in cells measuring nine square meters and without hot water, sources close to them say.

Classified as a “state secret”, the entire affair has been kept out of the public eye. “The four men have been hidden away from everyone, to make sure they don’t give away any sensitive information”, says Ivan Pavlov, a lawyer for one of the defendants.

The Bell has spoken to three people who are very familiar with the accused and their plight to discover why, in their opinion, the men are being prosecuted.

Two of the three people say the men passed the information about last year’s Russian attacks on the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Two sources also say that Russian military intelligence (GRU) was behind the arrest of Mikhailov and his companions. US Intelligence agencies are confident that GRU is behind the attacks on the DNC. The administration of Barack Obama imposed sanctions on the head of GRU Igor Korobov and three of his deputies, but not on any individuals in the competing Russian intelligence service, FSB.

One of the sources claims the defendants helped the Americans identify the hackers who broke into the DNC’s servers. The Bell was unable to confirm the claim. But the New York Times last January reported that the detention of Mikhailov and Stoyanov could be connected with hacker attacks on the DNC. It cited two U.S. officials as telling the paper that some Russian sources had played “a crucial role” in helping U.S. intelligence identify the culprits."
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AbruptSLR

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2288 on: January 10, 2018, 02:53:30 AM »
While not adopted as official policy, the linked article discusses a proposal from a National Security Council official to withdraw U.S. troops from Eastern Europe to please Putin, smells like quid pro quo for Russian assistance in getting The Donald elected:

Title: "White House Official Floated Withdrawing U.S. Forces to Please Putin"

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/white-house-official-floated-withdrawing-us-forces-to-please-putin/ar-BBIbdtE?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp
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TerryM

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2289 on: January 10, 2018, 06:36:54 AM »
While not adopted as official policy, the linked article discusses a proposal from a National Security Council official to withdraw U.S. troops from Eastern Europe to please Putin, smells like quid pro quo for Russian assistance in getting The Donald elected:

Title: "White House Official Floated Withdrawing U.S. Forces to Please Putin"

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/white-house-official-floated-withdrawing-us-forces-to-please-putin/ar-BBIbdtE?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp


Perhaps they're proposing withdrawing troops from Eastern Europe to please me, and all the rest of us that don't want WWIII to end this, and all future eras?
Terry

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2290 on: January 10, 2018, 08:23:06 AM »
Simpson transcript released by DiFi is interesting. Some points that jumped at me:

1) If Simpson's account of Steele's account of Steele's Rome interview with the FBI is close to reality, there was an FBI source within trump campaign or organization. I speculate that was Page or Sater. Both those have been flipped in previous Fed investigations.

2) Simpson throws Browder (of Magnitsky act fame) under the bus. Apparently Simpson tried to serve him with a subpoena three times, whereupon Browder scampered like a bunny. Simpson seems bitter about it, and details evidence about Browder's connection with Putin,  Russian tax evasion and the like.

3) Akhmentshin shows up in many places. That guy knows more than he's telling.

There are other interesting bits, too, not least in the questions themselves, which indicate where the Senators were going then. And the questions which Simpson and counsel refused to answer, showing what they considered sensitive then.

Warning: Long read, will suck up some time.

sidd


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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2291 on: January 10, 2018, 02:03:07 PM »
Quote
So it appears that the Russiagate cover-up activities in Russia include murder.

Not surprising.  I'm sure there are several deaths along the way.  Any prostitutes involved have long been "put away."  That's just the way that little Vladi rolls.....

We're in for an exciting year for sure......
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Martin Gisser

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2292 on: January 10, 2018, 02:20:12 PM »
So, the transcript contains nothing seriously new regarding Trump.
It's perhaps more interesting regarding Browder (responsible for the Magnitsky act).
The only effect is that now suddenly everybody takes The Dossier seriously.
Good.

AbruptSLR

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2293 on: January 11, 2018, 12:27:27 AM »
I read that in November 2017, Mueller hired a prosecutor that specializes in cyber crime.  Maybe Mueller now has evidence that some in the Trump campaign illegally combined voter data from the GOP with Russian cyber attacks in order to sway the election.
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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2294 on: January 11, 2018, 03:11:26 AM »
So, the transcript contains nothing seriously new regarding Trump.
It's perhaps more interesting regarding Browder (responsible for the Magnitsky act).
The only effect is that now suddenly everybody takes The Dossier seriously.
Good.
Well, perhaps not quite everybody.


I thought we were all supposed to pay attention to the Greek Geek, the Maltese Professor and Olga, Putin's Seductive, but Secretive Supposed Niece.


The Pay 4 Pee Dossier didn't have anything to do with anything according to the NYT.
The Maltese Professor and Seductive Olga, who had plied poor Papadopoulos with Uzo in a darkened London Lounge, they were responsible for Mueller's Mulish insistence on investigating these inebriated instances of treasonous treachery!


If not for the bravery of a slightly intoxicated Australian Ambassador, their plan would have seen fruition. Fortunately this bright, if rheumy eyed, stumbling Statesman spilled the beans, or the borscht, to a minion in his security staff, who quickly alerted his superiors in the American FBI.
Within a year Papadopoulos had been charged with getting his facts wrong, and the rest, as they say, is history.


NYT said it. I believe it. That settles it.  ::)
Terry

Rob Dekker

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2295 on: January 11, 2018, 10:08:33 AM »
So, the transcript contains nothing seriously new regarding Trump.
It's perhaps more interesting regarding Browder (responsible for the Magnitsky act).
The only effect is that now suddenly everybody takes The Dossier seriously.
Good.
Well, perhaps not quite everybody.

Why am I not surprised that Terry keeps on holding the Kremlin line ?
Terry, you previously stated that you admire Putin.
Where does this bizarre opinion come from ?
This is our planet. This is our time.
Let's not waste either.

Buddy

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2296 on: January 11, 2018, 12:56:36 PM »
Quote
I read that in November 2017, Mueller hired a prosecutor that specializes in cyber crime.  Maybe Mueller now has evidence that some in the Trump campaign illegally combined voter data from the GOP with Russian cyber attacks in order to sway the election.

Rachel Maddow covered the same thing on her show as Palmer covered in his article.  Certainly looks like they are FINALLY covering that road.

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Buddy

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2297 on: January 11, 2018, 01:20:11 PM »
Donnie certainly looks to be getting nervous as he is being pushed back into the corner.  And he's "moving the goalposts" on meeting with Mueller.

As I have stated from day 1.....Donnie can NOT have the investigation go through to its completion.  And I do NOT believe that Donnie can sit down with Mueller UNDER OATH.  Mueller's guys have TOO MUCH EVIDENCE on Donnie and company, and HIS ATTORNEYS KNOW THAT HE WOULD HAVE TO LIE.

Also...as I stated about 10 months ago or so.....Deutche Bank is at the heart of the money laundering with Donnie and Company.  There ARE other banks (right Wilbur...).  But Deutche Bank is certainly involved in a big way.

As Palmer has reported on.....Grassley and Lindsay Graham are NOT making sense.  I have NEVER trusted Grassley.  But Graham....really has done a 180 degree turn.  One thing I continue to see in business is this:  If things don't make sense....THERE IS ALWAYS A REASON BEHIND IT.  And it is usually NOT A GOOD REASON.

What caused Lindsay Graham to do a 180?  Is it....as Palmer suggests....that he might be getting blackmailed by Donnie for something he has done?  Does Donnie "have something on him".

I'll be watching the outcome of WHO is going to be the US Attorney in the Manhattan district.  Donnie is trying to stack it with a law partner of Rudy Guiliani.  It is amazing to me that his nomination has gotten this far.  Both Senator Gillibrand and Senator Schumer (both from New York) have spoken out strongly about the potential appointment.....and Grassley has SUPPOSEDLY SAID that he will go along with Gillibrand's opposition to the appointment...and supposedly NOT bring up his nomination in committee....which would kill his appointment.
 
And why does Donnie CONTINUE TO IGNORE THE RUSSISAN INVOLVMENT IN ELECTIONS WITH THE NEXT ELECTION ONLY 10 MONTHS AWAY?

WHY DOES DONNIE CONTINUE TO KOWTOW TO RUSSIA AND PUTIN?
 
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Martin Gisser

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2298 on: January 11, 2018, 01:38:14 PM »
So, the transcript contains nothing seriously new regarding Trump.
It's perhaps more interesting regarding Browder (responsible for the Magnitsky act).
The only effect is that now suddenly everybody takes The Dossier seriously.
Good.
Well, perhaps not quite everybody.

Why am I not surprised that Terry keeps on holding the Kremlin line ?
Terry, you previously stated that you admire Putin.
Where does this bizarre opinion come from ?
Logic: U.S.A. is evil, ergo Putin is good.
That's how elderly conservatives here in Germany tend to think. The conclusion then gets reinforced by the Palmström effect: "That which must not, can not be." (http://www.alb-neckar-schwarzwald.de/morgenstern/morgenstern_poems.html )

Hefaistos

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Re: Russiagate
« Reply #2299 on: January 11, 2018, 05:26:32 PM »
...
Terry, you previously stated that you admire Putin.
Where does this bizarre opinion come from ?

I can't/won't talk for Terry, but the following observations might explain one aspect of this:
Putin is admired by some 85% of Russians, - he has had this uniquely high (among politicians) approval ratio for several years now. He is a strong, good president for his people, - so they believe. Yes, there are many things you can criticize Putin for, but you have to understand that Russia has its own history and specific culture, and Russians like the nationalistic and traditionalistic agenda that is Russia's policy.
Putin makes Russia Great Again, and that's what Russians want.