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Obama Authorized a Secret Cyber Operation Against Russia, Says Report (engadget.com)
Jessica Conditt reports via Engadget: President Barack Obama learned of Russia's attempts to hack U.S. election systems in early August 2016, and as intelligence mounted over the following months, the White House deployed secrecy protocols it hadn't used since the 2011 raid on Osama bin Laden's compound, according to a report by The Washington Post. Apparently, one of the covert programs Obama, the CIA, NSA and other intelligence groups eventually put together was a new kind of cyber operation that places remotely triggered "implants" in critical Russian networks, ready for the U.S. to deploy in the event of a pre-emptive attack. The downed Russian networks "would cause them pain and discomfort," a former U.S. official told The Post. The report says CIA director John Brennan, Obama and other officials had at least four "blunt" conversations with Russian officials about its cyber intrusions beginning August 4th. Obama confronted Vladimir Putin in person during a meeting of world leaders in China this past September, the report says, and his administration even sent Russia a warning through a secure channel originally designed to help the two countries avoid a nuclear strike. Moscow apparently responded one week later -- after the U.S. election -- denying the accusation.
Or phishing the Putin?
Seems like Obama tried to start an incident with Russia. Naturally, the Russians aren't too fond of Democrats, so it's entirely possible that this spurred them on to try to ensure Trump won. Seems like Obama may be responsible for the Russians meddling in the election. Obama appears to have sabotaged the Democrats' chances of winning.
our elections could be hacked which is what he said. Was he lying?
NT
Switch to paper ballots.
But really, the only people proven to attempt to hack the election was the DNC, but we don't talk about the content of the emails, do we?
If these sources really knew something, they wouldn't blabbing because they'd be tracked down and jailed.
Maybe 60 years from now, it'll be made public, but I am very skeptical to the accuracy of this report.
There was just an article about Russia now requiring major US companies to be vetted. Russia now has access to these companies "secrets" as the articles suggested. Nice going, dumbo!
I guess it goes to the same garbage pile with "Russian economy is in tatters" and "Russia is isolated" that Obama claimed.
Justices swear to uphold the Constitution. The Supreme Court does not have the authority to dismiss the Presidential Succession Act, which was lawfully passed by Congress and signed into law by President Truman. It would completely violate the Constitution for Congress to ignore the law and install a President of their choosing. The President is immune from prosecution while in office, so Congress would to have to impeach and convict Trump before he could be charged with treason. The Constitution then dictates that Pence would become President. However, if he were also impeached, the President would be Paul Ryan, not Hillary Clinton. The Supreme Court cannot overrule the Constitution, and if they tried, Congress would rightly impeach and probably convict the justices.
ROFL
Why should I believe any of this crap?
Obama had shown himself to be a lying weasel.
Trump isn't afraid to tell the truth.
So, why didn't we hear about this months ago, before Trump asked?
I heard from anonymous former top Obama officials and intelligence officers that they faked the whole thing. Who are any of you to question US intelligence?
cloudfront is hosting a tor server, is it?
Right, but why not Impeach Ryan, and carry on down the line until you land on a Democrat? Remember, in this fantasy, Trump is provably guilty of a crime, so is Pence, why not Ryan, etc etc etc? Since the whole thing is just some left wing conspiracy anyway.
“They are a smaller country. They are a weaker country. Their economy doesn’t produce anything that anybody wants to buy, except oil and gas and arms.”
Yet they successfully complete a beheading strike against the USA. Using the same divide and conquer they used against Ukraine and Georgia.
At the end of the day, the Republicans will rally around Trump, because he'll sign all their bills no matter what crap they write in them. And they'll do deals with him, to get their bills signed.
Look at the new package of Russian sanctions agreed in the Senate. They want to defend USA elections from further Russian attack in future elections. That package will never get signed as is, because they also want their health care bill signed. He'll trade with them, so it will be modified.
And they'll do that trade. Party before country.
Trump reopened those two spy bases in the USA, and there was no a whisper of objection from the RNC.
...if Russia hacked the election and they knew about it more than 6 months prior...
WHY DID THEY NOT TELL THE PUBLIC?
Think about that. If it was such a threat to our elections, why wouldn't you let us know? If this was Trump, the media would be ripping their hearts out and slapping them on the table while screaming "COLLUSION!" for not telling us.
How many fucking Russian trolls are working this site?! 24 troll posts from anons before anyone gets a word in edgewise has to be a new record.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Hacked how AC?
Lots of new staff drive out all over the USA and apply for election work?
The FBI would have noticed all the new people of interest.
Strangers counting votes next to existing workers and observers?
In the USA AC votes still get added up with some oversight before they get presented all over the USA.
Hacking an election from outside the USA is not going to work AC.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
A nice pair of 380cc silicon overfilled. He's so sexy now.
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
Newt enjoys 5 year old boys!
So the news media gives away the goods and the Russians look for malware in their systems, find it, and return it with value added.
Real intelligent of the media.
OTH, it returns the Russian matter back to the Democrats.
I don't know if this story is true or if it's fake news, but just because a newspaper prints it doesn't mean it's definitely true. In Comey's testimony under oath, he said "There have been many, many stories purportedly based on classified information about — well, about lots of stuff, but especially about Russia, that are just dead wrong."
The all-Democratic city council in suburban White Plains, N.Y., gave its party chairperson a six-figure judicial seat despite the fact that she is too obese to climb the three steps to the bench.
City judge Elizabeth Shollenberger, who suffers from a digestive disorder and obesity, was appointed to the $175,500-a-year job in December and has since disgusted her colleagues with gastrointestinal issues.
“She would come in and we would see the diarrhea running down her leg and to the floor,” one court worker told the NY Post. “She would soil the chair and then ask for a new one.”
Shollenberger further dismayed her colleagues by displaying “complete arrogance” following the embarrassing incidents.
“She would just say, ‘There is a mess over there. I think someone should clean it up,'” a court source told the NY Post.
Diarrhea Judge
More fake news from the anti-American financialist puppets.
From the story presented in the links. ... specific instructions on the operation’s audacious objectives" .... intelligence services"? ..." ... was working to elect ... " ... through cyber-forensics"
"The intelligence captured
Why would anyone interesting risk talking over any insecure network?
Who talks on the phone or sends interesting orders down a network the USA sold another nation? Or any network that is at risk by the GCHQ, NSA or CIA?
"Hackers with ties to
What ties? The data walked out thanks to a domestic staff member.
"To guard against leaks, subsequent meetings in the Situation Room followed the same protocols as planning sessions for the
We are really reading about this secret online so soon?
"that
People all over the USA went to free elections and voted for a candidate they wanted and who could give great speeches in their states.
Want to win a US election? Find a presentable candidate who has the energy and charm to win in more states.
Re ' It was a case that took almost no time to solve, traced to the
Nations that have such easy to find malware code litter issues don't hack.
An ip range, time of day, malware thats been in the wild for years and is in use by many people is not "cyber-forensics".
Any language use can be left as a fake trail for private sector "cyber-forensics" to find.
The US efforts showed "Marble" libraries include code used to obfuscate " with the add foreign languages option(4/3/2017)
https://arstechnica.com/securi...
Re "... is a remarkably elusive target." "extreme precautions to guard against surveillance" but we just had " specific instructions on the operation’s audacious objectives"?
Funny how the story has the order that really needed to be kept more secret been transmitted down the not very secure US export grade hardware network?
Someone in the USA walked out with some documents and gave it to the waiting media.
The US saw another Pentagon Papers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
"Julian Assange: 'A lot more material' coming on US elections" (July 27, 2016)
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07...
""Perhaps one day the source or sources will step forward and that might be an interesting moment some people may have egg on their faces."
" a clandestine hand-off in a wooded area near American University with one of the email sources "
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...
"The leakers' motivation was 'disgust at the corruption..."
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Jesus Christ. How many times does the WaPo have to put up some breathless "Anonymous sources say that Trump is secretly Putin's bitch, we got him this time guys really!" story before we stop believing this crap?
Podesta. Works. For. The. WaPo. You know, this Podesta? Hillary's Campaign Chair?
These articles are DNC Cointelpro. The Liberal version of Fox News and Breitbart. Nothing more, nothing less. Stop giving them attention.
Wait, so are you implying that it's the Russians who hate systemd?
See, you're not failing at this because the overblown sarcasm is missed on us. It's not the outrageous opinions that give it away either. The real reason it's obvious to all the regulars that you're a paid Russian shill is that backwoods rednecks with these types of outrageously overblown misunderstandings about reality DON'T HANG OUT ON SLASHDOT you pathetic barbarian.
When the fifth, tenth, fifteenth, and ... columns have been present, they're not really hacking an election. They're exercising their adopted and inalienable rights, odious or not. Capitalism and democracy alike fail when acts of depletion are held in higher esteem than acts of amplification, regardless of the State's roots. A society, east or west, that simultaneously glorifies and hangs crooks, deserves every cent due on their ledger. Those of such accords will feel the heat, where all the winds blow. They will run in the cardinal directions, then seek shelter in the ordinal. They will shake and tremble, suddenly seeking relief. And they will find it, being counted, one by one, without the option of deferring of responsibility.
How many fucking Russian trolls are working this site?! 24 troll posts from anons before anyone gets a word in edgewise has to be a new record.
A lot. I assume some are paid for it. I've noticed it for some time.
Trump has a special card imparting him the passive ability to cause C grade intellects to spontaneously dribble hyperbolic inanities about how stupid he and Americans are.
Or are Russians being coy? Not responding to a secure channel meant to prevent a nuclear war for months? And then responding with a denial? This is the kind of thing you do if want to do something that no one would believe you did. Reminds me of the episode of "The Practice" where a drug dealer who was certain he'd get caught came up to a cop and said "officer, I have drugs on me, please, arrest me." The judge didn't believe the cop when he used this as a justification for a search without a warrant. Except the drug dealer really did it. This is so absurd, I can't believe it happened and I can't believe WaPo would be dumb enough to make it up.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
(she won the popular vote, so most people agree she deserves it)
As much as I detest Trump this shows a clear lack of understanding of how are government works. We are a union of States, not a people's republic.
Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
The nomination process was certainly hacked. But then again, it's a private political party and they can do whatever they like. They don't actually need to respect the will of the voters. It might be in some charter but the DNC could just change the party rules. Same applies to the RNC. You need to respect the RNC for that at least. The voters handed them a loose cannon and they said OK.
OF course buried at the end of all that cheerleading is
"There were no meltdowns in the United States’ voting infrastructure on Nov. 8, no evidence of hacking-related fraud, crashing of electronic ballots or manipulation of vote counts."
Here are your palm-palms.
Putin and Russia didn't do shit. It's all a hoax to make Russia the enemy since they're running out of Middle Eastern countries to bomb, and also can't find any more friends in Europe to turn NATO into their little "everyone vs Russia" paradise. Crimea being invaded was also a hoax, they chose to leave Ukraine and return to the motherland.
This. And I bet he's an anti-EU jewish terrorist too!
The headline is a lie. The article is a careful manipulation of the truth.
It specifically contradicts the headline, but you have to read it.
Nothing more than propaganda.
Back to 7th grade Civics for you. You can *indict* Ryan. (For what, I don't know. Being an asshole isn't an indictable offense.) The only person who is *impeachable* is the POTUS.
The dailymail had a Human interest story about a cyclist who travelled the world recently. It 'reported' he only had serious concerns in Iran and Russia. What an astonishing coincidence. The two nations the Deep State (and slashdot) wants to demonise, 1984 style, and our poor cyclist had a bad time in both.
50% of the fake news stories on slashdot are either bigging up Israel or slagging off Iran or Russia. You don't have to ask what it was like living in nazi Germany in 1935- you are living it in America today. However the election of Trump and the collapse of the Conservative vote in the UK show that even the sheeple aren't fooled anymore.
But those of you idiots who voted for Clinton swallow ever lie hook, line and sinker. Your heroes are failed entertainers repurposed as front men for political propaganda shows dressed as 'satire'. Your equivalents in the 1970s would have been rock solid liberal anti-war types. But to your eternal shame you are pro-war neo-liberals of the same type that were the bedrock of the nazi party in pre-war Germany.
It's a practical duopoly on political power in this country. If you want them to be able to "do whatever they like," that needs to be fixed, most likely through RCV. Otherwise, they need to be kept on a tight leash, and held accountable to the people as if they were a part of the government.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Also, flats and tenants aren't really a thing in rural America either. Fails all around
Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. -- Susan Ertz
So Obama did nothing and its the Republican's fault?
Nice... Was the GOP's fault that the DNC did questionable fund-raising taking money from down ticket candidates to give it to Hillary?
Did the GOP force the WaPo and NYT to run stories by Hillary's campaign manager before printing them?
Did the GOP tell Boston Herald what days to run anti-Sanders stories so Hillary had a better chance of winning a primary?
Did the GOP feed Hillary debate questions before the debate?
We have ACTUAL evidence of election fraud, and its all from the DNC. Funny how there was "no evidence" of Russia interfering until AFTER Hillary lost. Just like there was "no evidence" of obstruction of justice until Comey was fired (he even said so under oath before).
I find it AMAZING at how bad Trump is AFTER he does something they don't like. Its almost as if they tell him what he needs to be doing or else, he ignores them, then they refute everything they had been saying before to make him look bad. The only person I see being honest and consistant at this point is Trump. Comey turned 180 degrees after he was fired, Obama went back on everything he said after Trump won, and still you won't admit the ONLY evidence of election rigging we have is from the DNC.
There is certainly enough evidence out now to conclude that the Russians made a coordinated attempt to influence the outcome of a US election. That included a massive disinformation campaign, that may have involved coordination with one or more right wing news outlets, and infiltration of at least some state, county and local voting systems. There is growing evidence that the Russians may have moved, or at least attempted to move, ground operatives into the country under temporary tech visas. There is a growing body of evidence that one or more members of the Trump campaign knew about the Russian involvement and may have assisted in coordinating the response. There is substantial suspicion that senior members of the Republican party knew about Russian intervention and either ignored the interference, discouraged investigations or actively assisted the Russians.
The very least of those should invalidate the entire election. Combined with voter suppression and gerrymandering, we have one party cheating and benefiting from that cheating and assistance from the Russian government. Anyone...a-n-y-o-n-e...okay with taking material support from a hostile foreign nation in an attempt to influence a US election is a traitor and should be treated as such.
We can't continue as a united nation with a party or group of people that cheats continuously. That's not taking the high road, that's codependency.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
He's the biggest pussy that's ever walked the earth. He just sucked his dick.
You realize the Clinton Email server was 2 years prior, right? And that was when she was Sec. of State, not running for office. I am almost betting that it was more than Russia that has those email. It is probably every country who has an intelligence agency has them. Stop trolling.
-6 Troll
The US had two choices for President. One of those with the D in front of their name was propped up by a corrupt Democratic party, and media outlets like the biased gossip rag sourced in TFA. WaPo, as with NYT, NBC, CNN, and countless other media outlets (sorry, I refuse to call them "news" since they aren't) stated flat out that they were going to "destroy Trump". That campaign started right after he was announced as the R candidate. Now source all of the "leaks", media coverage, and talking points of the DNC and it becomes clear that those same media outlets are simply a mouthpiece for the entrenched elitists in the D party.
The candidate that the D party put up was a corrupt politician, and we have known about their corruption since the 90s (if not sooner). Unless you want to say that she was a puppet for Russia since then, any claim of Russian meddling in her loss fails basic scrutiny.
That said, the R party has some similar problems with entrenched and questionable office holders. Trumps biggest selling points are A) he's not a well known connected (re. corrupted) politician. B) he talked about some well known problems and said he would fix them. One of which is exactly political corruption. (so did Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush, but they _were_ politicians and demonstrated dishonesty).
Enough people in enough areas voted Trump for him to win. Look at the map for pity sake! I have yet to see anything that demonstrates Trump as a bad President, I hear hyperbole and fabricated narratives by the same corrupt media I mentioned at the start. I see biased opinion polls about his approval ratings, which amazingly seem to match the "Hillary is gonna win" polls which showed how great she was and how bad he was.
Long story short, I don't believe the majority of media any longer. WaPo has less credibility than CNN who has less credibility than the Pravda at this point.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
I suppose this means what we all have known or at least suspected already - all parties do it.
It also means that instead of trying to prevent further damage by technical and organisational measures we invest in revenge. The fact that leaks for instance would not be so damaging for Clinton if she were honest and less corrupt is just another thing that is being missed.
This is OT but if main powers have not been engaged in acts of sabotage or at least espionage yet then the current authorization to do so against Russia combined with the hostile atmosphere will ensure the conflict in interwebs will continue and possibly escalate. I wonder where does that ends. It may be that we come to the point that not pressing big red button by Trump will be considered a treason.
It's ironic that you criticize his knowledge of civics while making egregious errors of your own.
It's not entirely clear whether Ryan could be impeached. The Constitution says that the President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States can be impeached for treason, bribery, and other high crimes and misdemeanors. This is vague, both in regard to who actually can be impeached and especially as to what are grounds for impeachment. However, impeachment is most definitely not limited to the President.
Back to the question of Ryan can be impeached, that's unclear. The first person ever impeached by the House was William Blount, a Senator. The Senate, however, rejected that Blount could be impeached, and chose instead to expel Blount. The House has the ability to expel any of its members, which is simpler than impeachment in that it doesn't require a trial. However, expulsion doesn't give the option to disqualify someone from holding a federal public office again. If the House can impeach a Senator, they can certainly try to impeach one of their own members. Congress and possibly the Supreme Court would decide whether such an impeachment was valid or not. In practice, though, Ryan would simply be expelled, because there's no question of whether the Constitution allows for it.
Most of the people who have been impeached were judges. Most recently, Thomas Porteous, a judge, was impeached and convicted by the Senate less than a decade ago. In the 19th century, William Belknap, a Secretary of War (the position is now the Secretary of Defense) was impeached. Virtually anyone in the list of succession to be President can be impeached, with the possible exception of Ryan.
As for what counts as high crimes and misdemeanors, that's largely left to Congress to decide. Mark Delahay was impeached for intoxication on and off the bench, resulting in his resignation. John Pickering was impeached for unlawful rulings and intoxication on the bench. The Senate convicted him of both charges. Samuel Chase, a Supreme Court Justice, was impeached for political bias, questionable rulings, and promoting partisanship in the court. He was acquitted by the Senate. While impeachment has often focused on treason, corruption, abuse of power, and obstruction of justice, the Constitution is vague about what is an impeachable offense. Furthermore, obstruction of justice is quite vague leading to more ambiguity about what is an impeachable offense.
I don't know what articles of impeachment could be brought against Ryan, nor is it clear that Representatives can be impeached. The answer is definitely not an absolute no, contrary to what you said. However, unlike impeaching a Senator because the House can't directly remove him, there is less reason for the House to impeach one of their own. If the House wanted to remove Ryan from office, he would probably be expelled rather than impeached.
You red sob's are screwed because its been going on since 1996! Just try alaunch, 60 of your cities will go up in smoke!
Another round of Fake News clickbait.
Seriously?
Then why didn't it happen when she was Secretary of State?
Almost did. To name just two:
Funding for the Arab Spring and Ukraine (AKA Russian "reset")
Syria can't be blamed directly on her, but she sure as shit started it (see e.g. Libya/Egypt)
How?
A time machine?