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US Treasury Sanctions 16 Russians For Hacking, Election Meddling (engadget.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Engadget: The Treasury Department has leveled sanctions against 16 current and former GRU intelligence officers (some of whom were targeted in earlier indictments) for their involvement in multiple campaigns against the U.S., including the Democratic National Committee hacks, World Anti-Doping Agency hacks and election meddling efforts. The targets include Elena Khusyaynova, the primary accountant for the Project Lakhta influence campaign that included the Internet Research Agency. The sanctions also target associated entities like the Federal News Agency.
As with the indictments, the sanctions will only have a limited effect. The measure blocks all property and interests from these people that might be in U.S. jurisdictions, and Americans are "generally prohibited" from conducting transactions with them. The targets live in Russia, though, and it's doubtful that they'll travel to countries where the sanctions will hit them. This is more a symbolic gesture than one intended to curb Russian hacks and manipulation attempts.
As with the indictments, the sanctions will only have a limited effect. The measure blocks all property and interests from these people that might be in U.S. jurisdictions, and Americans are "generally prohibited" from conducting transactions with them. The targets live in Russia, though, and it's doubtful that they'll travel to countries where the sanctions will hit them. This is more a symbolic gesture than one intended to curb Russian hacks and manipulation attempts.
Actually, deliberately spreading false statements in an effort to sway voters one way or another sounds like election meddling to me -- trying to add votes is called fraud, not meddling.
And who is the anointed judge of which statements are true, and which are false?
You, presumably.
Truth exists. You can ignore it or call it lies, but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring it. Many things were said by Trump and the Russian aids that were trivially proven untrue, usually with a 30 second Google search.
The fact that Trump defends this behaviour after the fact by minimizing it and ignoring it, or flat out lying, is extremely shameful and a complete and total violation of his oath of office. He swore to protect the country against ALL enemies foreign and domestic. Any entity that promotes propaganda and lies is an enemy, for a democratic society depends on truth for its proper functioning.