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Justice Department Charges Russian Woman With Interference in Midterm Elections (washingtonpost.com)
The Justice Department on Friday charged a Russian woman for her role in a conspiracy to interfere with the 2018 U.S. election, marking the first criminal case prosecutors have brought against a foreign national for interfering in the upcoming midterms. From a report: Elena Khusyaynova, 44, was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States. Prosecutors said she managed the finances of "Project Lakhta," a foreign influence operation they said was designed "to sow discord in the U.S. political system" by pushing arguments and misinformation online about a whole host of divisive political issues, including immigration, the Confederate flag, gun control, and the NFL national anthem protests. The charges against Khusyaynova came just as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence warned that it was concerned about "ongoing campaigns" by Russia, China and Iran to interfere with the upcoming Midterm elections and even the 2020 race -- an ominous warning that comes just weeks before voters head to the polls.
Aside from cultivating Donald Trump to launder Russian money and repeatedly betray his country, Russia's use of uneducated racists to accomplish their political goals is their most brilliant scheme.
Just look at how eager uneducated racists are to betray America to help Moscow Donald. At this point Republicans are now polling as supportive of Russia's continuing attack on America.
We need to "Lock Him Up!" with all of his treasonous co-conspirators with his campaign manager Paul Manafort who is already in prison.
It's like pissing in to an ocean of piss.
But I think it has shown that memes do affect people. Maybe the people spreading the memes already made up their minds, but maybe not.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
Clearly there's a 1st Amendment issue here, but only fascists want free speech now, right?
An interesting issue, however from the article she was charged not for her speech but for managing money of an organization, which intent was to meddle with US elections.
the most recent example is of the lady in St Louis who tried to prevent an unknown tailgater who tried to pass through a secure apartment entry - if not recognized, he should have let the door close, then buzz himself in - while she did what she was supposed to in order to protect her neighbors, the guy used it as a racial issue; the media outlets loved the race angle on this story but in my opinion didn't stop to ask if she blocks other tailgaters of other colors - she lost her job in this rush to judgement that is currently entertaining the masses
she failed to register with the DOJ as a foreign agent. she used foreign money to try and influence an election. those are both against federal law.
nothing to see here - move along
she failed to register and then used foreign money. both are against the law.
nothing to see here - move along
Free speech is not an absolute right. Among the many forms of speech not protected by the first amendment: perjury, libel, slander, false advertising, inciting violence, copyright infringement, obscenity and threats. For the record, freedom of religion doesn't mean you can perform human sacrifices or polygamy and the right to bear arms doesn't include nuclear weapons. All rights have limits.
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Will someone please inform this AC that it's the Trump Justice Department that brought these charges?
You are welcome on my lawn.
but there are laws about how you disclose that speech. Especially for non-citizens and people who work with and interact with non-citizens.
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Charged with "sowing discord"??! Should have tried sowing IRC instead
under Federal Election Commission (FEC) rules they have to register if they are advocating a vote. either way, they failed to register.
nothing to see here - move along
It's not the Trump Justice Department, damnit, it's The United States Department of Justice. Believe it or not, despite his best efforts to piss all over every part of the Federal government to make it smell like him, Trump has not managed to corrupt, subvert, and destroy every single part of our government, and in this case, our top-level law enforcement, Herr Sessions notwithstanding. At least at some level we still have the Rule of Law here, at least for the moment.
but they register. she didn't.
nothing to see here - move along
And the companies are American (incorporated in the US), and Citizens United is still precedent. So that's legal.
As long as their home country's government is not funding their efforts, they're legal.
Fixed that for you.
In reality, the Russians target people of any political persuasion. They are trying to cause partisan divides. Now, they have been most successful with the "uneducated racist" camp, but they've been about half to one fifth as successful with a bunch of liberal groups.
And it's a pretty Amercia-centric point of view. They successfully invaded Crimea. They got Britain to start the dissolution of the EU.. They're propping up fascist states in Eastern Europe. And it's unclear how far reaching their expansion of influence into the Middle East will be.
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she got charged with essentially the same thing as manafort - failing to register as a foreign agent. kinda like capone and taxes. as for the FEC that would be an organization with American money who has to register. she did not get charged with that. and the supreme court essentially made orgs individuals and allowed them to contribute. but yes, it would be the org not the person.
nothing to see here - move along
This seems very strange to me.
I agree and think this is not a good direction for the USA. Political speech is very subjective. Talk radio and other news outlets are spending a great deal of money influencing the election. Why is it ok for these organizations to spend money on political issues, but I am limited with my own money unless I am rich enough to buy my own radio or tv station?
It has been all the rage to support campaign finance reform (get money out of politics!), but it has always been a bad idea because adding complex laws just makes things more complex and unfair. We should repeal McCain - Feingold because did it really make politics better?
she failed to register and then used foreign money. both are against the law.
False.
Only agents of foreign governments have to register. Whatever "project lachta" was, it has not been proved that it's a front for a government. Nor was she charged with not registering. So your assertion that this is the crime at hand is unfounded.
Spending foreign money on advocating issues (rather than advocating for any candidate) is legal. This was decided by Bluman vs FEC. Specifically, the FEC website says
In a decision that was later affirmed by the Supreme Court, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the foreign national ban “does not restrain foreign nationals from speaking out about issues or spending money to advocate their views about issues. It restrains them only from a certain form of expressive activity closely tied to the voting process—providing money for a candidate or political party or spending money in order to expressly advocate for or against the election of a candidate.” Bluman v. FEC, 800 F. Supp. 2d 281, 290 (D.D.C. 2011), aff’d 132 S. Ct. 1087 (2012).
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.