Slashdot Mirror
Did Russians Really Penetrate Florida's Election Systems? Maybe (nbcnews.com)
Anonymous readers share a report: Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, has reaped the political whirlwind in the 10 days since he proclaimed that Russian hackers had "penetrated" some of his state's county voting systems. The governor of Florida, Rick Scott, a Republican who is running against Nelson for his U.S. Senate seat this fall, has blasted his claim as irresponsible. The top Florida elections official, also a Republican, said he had seen no indication it's true. And The Washington Post weighed in Friday with a 2,717-word fact check that all but accused Nelson -- without evidence -- of making it up. However, three people familiar with the intelligence tell NBC News that there is a classified basis for Nelson's assertion, which he made at a public event after being given information from the leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The extent and seriousness of the threat remains unclear, shrouded for reasons of national security.
[...] Through a spokesman, Nelson declined to comment. At a, Aug. 7 campaign event in Florida's capital, Nelson said Intelligence Committee leaders asked that he "let supervisors of elections in Florida know that Russians are inside our records." He added that Russian hackers "have already penetrated certain counties in the state and they now have free rein to move about." "Either Bill Nelson knows of crucial information the federal government is withholding from Florida election officials, or he is simply making things up," said Scott, who is seeking to take Nelson's Senate seat, which the senator has held since 2001. But Scott, who as governor has a security clearance, has not actually disputed Nelson's assertion. His spokesman said the governor had not personally called anyone at the Department of Homeland Security to seek a classified briefing to get to the bottom of the matter.
[...] Through a spokesman, Nelson declined to comment. At a, Aug. 7 campaign event in Florida's capital, Nelson said Intelligence Committee leaders asked that he "let supervisors of elections in Florida know that Russians are inside our records." He added that Russian hackers "have already penetrated certain counties in the state and they now have free rein to move about." "Either Bill Nelson knows of crucial information the federal government is withholding from Florida election officials, or he is simply making things up," said Scott, who is seeking to take Nelson's Senate seat, which the senator has held since 2001. But Scott, who as governor has a security clearance, has not actually disputed Nelson's assertion. His spokesman said the governor had not personally called anyone at the Department of Homeland Security to seek a classified briefing to get to the bottom of the matter.
Anonymous sources said that there's a basis that can't be disclosed or discussed or refuted. Sounds legit.
This site sucks now. Bring back CmdrTaco and the old OpenSource Tech Slashdot days. Endless political drivel now.
It's the only way to be sure.
Weird that Russians are suddenly the boogie man again after Romney was lambasted for asserting the Russians were a threat.
Blue team people (including the news media) will repeat it if it's useful to advance blue team political goals. Red team people will disbelieve it and ridicule it if it's harmful to red team political goals. What really happened is not relevant to the response; this is America.
They openly bragged about it in the Washington Post:
How they funnelled $500 million in campaign money to Yeltsin. The fat alcoholic dancing bear that NOBODY liked. Via the IMF. Versus the opponent's $3 million. Using propaganda like "If Zyuganov comes back, the gulag comes back". And whenever he wanted to go to bed in his hotel, "somebody" had cancelled his hotel room. (Very ... mature. --.--)
Yeltsin later appointed a somebody as the new head of government... What was his name again? ... Aah, yes... VLADIMIR PUTIN!
So if the USA thinks that Putin manipulated their elections, then ... I'll just leave you alone with that thought. :)
The "Russians are in our systems" is a nice misdirect that hides what's really going on.
There's no evidence any votes were changed in the last election, but by making unsubstantiated claims and going from hackers to Russian hackers to state-sponsored Russian hackers they can gin up enough fear and outrage to justify censorship aimed at affecting the midterms.
For example, Facebook recently banned [conservative blogger and political candidate] Avi Yemini for ‘Hate Speech’, won't tell him why he was banned, and denied his appeal. (You can view the banned page here.)
Lots and lots and lots of conservative viewpoints are being purged online in the runup to the midterm elections, and really scary things are coming up in the news every day.
Two terms that frequently come up in discussion are "midterm meddling" and "street fight". The first refers to all the suppression of conservative viewpoints, the second refers to the mob-mentality of striking back at people who don't toe the Liberal line.
(For example, the judge in the Manafort case has received threats, and because the jury hasn't reached a verdict yet the MSM filed a motion to reveal the identities and home addresses of the jury members. Yikes!)
We live in a scary time, reminiscent of the run-up to nazi Germany.
Dissenting opinion is being suppressed, sometimes violently.
This has been brought up for decades.
But say there is an issue with registration fraud, voter fraud, polling station security, vote counting systems, etc and suddenly you get some very suspicious push back.
Say you want ID to make sure people aren't running around to different polling stations and pretending to be people they aren't... and you get accused of racism.
Why? Because black people can't get ID cards apparently.
Say you want to secure polling station security, and you'll get the assertion that polling stations where operate under very lax oversight are beyond repute... even though stories of bags full of pre-filled out voter cards exist everywhere.
You say that vote counting systems that often use something like Microsoft Access to tabulate the votes of an entire state are perhaps not the best options... and that the digital security of the records has issues... that the underlying digital voting systems themselves in some states are open to abuse... prove it with an 11 year old busting the system... well, no action.
Frankly, at this point, anyone arguing against this thing can't be doing it in good faith anymore. The overwhelming evidence is that we need reform.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
Trump has put more pressure on the Russians than any President
Trump has refused to implement sanctions, has personally praised Russia and just this week recognized Russia's seizure of Crimea despite Congressional instructions to the contrary. Oh, and he met with KGB agents for intelligence on his opponent.
Oh, and Trump has attacked the EU, Japan, and Australia, tariffs on Mexico and Canada and blamed DC for his costly military parade being cancelled. Good show. I think it is obvious. Trump would side with Cobra, Megatron and Emperor Palpatine.
Maybe you should leave your alternate reality.