Boom. AP reports that the Russia-linked hacker Guccifer 2.0 edited leaked documents. https://t.co/jUWTrswjbf pic.twitter.com/B6832NoDc2
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) November 3, 2017
Waiting for this week’s Friday Doc Dump? I nominate this as a strong contender: The GOP used deceptively edited emails to help them steal the election.
… An Associated Press investigation into the digital break-ins that disrupted the U.S. presidential contest has sketched out an anatomy of the hack that led to months of damaging disclosures about the Democratic Party’s nominee. It wasn’t just a few aides that the hackers went after; it was an all-out blitz across the Democratic Party. They tried to compromise Clinton’s inner circle and more than 130 party employees, supporters and contractors.
While U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia was behind the email thefts, the AP drew on forensic data to report Thursday that the hackers known as Fancy Bear were closely aligned with the interests of the Russian government.
The AP’s reconstruction— based on a database of 19,000 malicious links recently shared by cybersecurity firm Secureworks — shows how the hackers worked their way around the Clinton campaign’s top-of-the-line digital security to steal chairman John Podesta’s emails in March 2016…
Guccifer 2.0 acted as a kind of master of ceremonies during the summer of leaks, proclaiming that the DNC’s stolen documents were in WikiLeaks’ hands, publishing a selection of the material himself and constantly chatting up journalists over Twitter in a bid to keep the story in the press.
He appeared particularly excited to hear on June 24 that his leaks had sparked a lawsuit against the DNC by disgruntled supporters of Clinton rival Bernie Sanders.
“Can it influence the election in any how?” he asked a journalist with Russia’s Sputnik News, in uneven English.
Later that month Guccifer 2.0 began directing reporters to the newly launched DCLeaks site, which was also dribbling out stolen material on Democrats. When WikiLeaks joined the fray on July 22 with its own disclosures the leaks metastasized into a crisis, triggering intraparty feuding that forced the resignation of the DNC’s chairwoman and drew angry protests at the Democratic National Convention…
Guccifer 2.0, WikiLeaks and DCLeaks ultimately published more than 150,000 emails stolen from more than a dozen Democrats, according to an AP count.
The AP has since found that each of one of those Democrats had previously been targeted by Fancy Bear, either at their personal Gmail addresses or via the DNC, a finding established by running targets’ emails against the Secureworks’ list.
All three leak-branded sites have distanced themselves from Moscow. DCLeaks claimed to be run by American hacktivists. WikiLeaks said Russia wasn’t its source. Guccifer 2.0 claimed to be Romanian.
But there were signs of dishonesty from the start. The first document Guccifer 2.0 published on June 15 came not from the DNC as advertised but from Podesta’s inbox, according to a former DNC official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
The official said the word “CONFIDENTIAL” was not in the original document.
Guccifer 2.0 had airbrushed it to catch reporters’ attention…
This should be a big honkin’ story… but I suspect it will get buried under a weekend’s worth of OMG WHAT TRUMP JUST SAID IN ASIA. Here’s hoping Mueller’s people are less distractible!
Reminder that this is all under FBI investigation. former DNC official told AP about this one document, but there are likely others like it.
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) November 3, 2017
Again, if you think what Russia did had no impact, you should publish your entire inbox to the internet & see if it changes your life.
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) November 3, 2017
And it wasn't a straight-up e-mail dump. It was a curated collection meant to highlight a very specific narrative.
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) November 3, 2017
RELATED: Russian hackers released info on Dem house candidates; Paul Ryan’s super PAC used it in ads. https://t.co/JaOg0NW4Uv
— Jamison Foser (@jamisonfoser) November 3, 2017
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
I commented here last year that it was very possible that the Russians were messing with those emails. I was also told it was not possible for this to be done. I will now pat myself on the back. I’ll leave now.
Roger Moore
The real scandal was the way the news organizations swallowed this stuff whole without asking any serious questions about its provenance.
TenguPhule
And now I’m trapped because SS just closed the freeway.
Please DIAF Trump, immediately if not sooner.
Baud
WaPo
HeleninEire
Mary update for all you BJ’ers who have been following. They put her back on the b/c pills and slightly adjusted her other pills ad she is back to being our lovely Mary. When my Dad walked into her house she yelled “Hi Daddy, let’s go to Friendly’s.” Friendly’s s her favourite place on earth (except for her house, that is). That’s a long sentence for her. So for now it’s back to normal. Her normal.
Thank you all for listening to my freak out a week or two ago. I love my sister. Of course I do. And I love all the people here who gave me advice and helped me along.
I can stay here in my lovely adopted city and country. Life is good.
Also too, COME VISIT!!.
Cheryl Rofer
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: I was saying it on Twitter, as others were. So yeah, no surprise for some of us.
Major Major Major Major
oh please oh please oh please…
Amaranthine RBG
I really wish I could give credit to whoever it was that first flagged this— but the most suspicious thing about the email release was the absence of Oppo research on Trump and other Rs.
A legit, unaltered dump of Democrat operatives’ emails would have been chock full of dirt and rumors.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: Congratulations; you’re more qualified to report on politics than virtually our entire press corpse (spelling intentional).
I recall making comments to this effect on LGM last year as well.
Baud
@Roger Moore: I’m surprised they didn’t enter into a deal with Russia like they did with Bannon.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@(((CassandraLeo))): Hey thanks ! I remember that !
Baud
@HeleninEire: I’m thrilled for you.
Major Major Major Major
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
Who the hell told you that?
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
Have you been good enough this year?
Hunter Gathers
Yet another reminder that Wilmer and his Army were willing tools of the Russians. He woulda won ,though.
Corner Stone
If the media has their way it will be buried by OMG DONNA BRAZILE AND ELIZABETH WARREN, Y’ALL!!
MomSense
@HeleninEire:
Hooray! Wonderful news.
HeleninEire
@Baud: Thank you.
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore:
The Fourth Estate became the Fifth Column.
CaseyL
@HeleninEire: Very relieved to hear Mary is herself again, and you don’t have to stampede back to the States.
As for us visiting you…. Seriously? I mean, Ireland (along with the rest of the UK, for however long it is the “UK”) is on my bucket list.
MomSense
@Major Major Major Major:
Nothing would please me more than Paul Ryan implicated in the Russian mess.
Fair Economist
I thought this had been established back in 2016? There was Russian metadata in some of the released documents, showing they’d been edited by somebody Russian.
schrodingers_cat
@HeleninEire: Are you sure? I can stop by, next time on my way to India. Layover in Dublin instead of London.
ETA: Thanks for the update about your sister. I am so glad for you.
TenguPhule
@MomSense:
FTFY.
We know he’s implicated, we just need enough proof to make the case in court.
Baud
@Fair Economist: I recall some back and forth on it. Nothing was ever confirmed at the time.
Major Major Major Major
@HeleninEire: awesome.
Mnemosyne
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
You weren’t the only one, but the anti-Hillary brigade was insisting on PROOF that hackers who stole emails were dishonest people with a motive to lie. ?
CaseyL
When the MSM first reported on the emails, I wondered at the time why they did so, because EVEN BACK THEN reports were that the emails were not only stolen, but edited. Yet they repeated them and commented on them as if they were the most amazing scoop ever, with barely a mention or care that the emails had been stolen, and their content distorted. Villagers delenda est, indeed!
Kathleen
@Roger Moore: That story plus so many others.
Corner Stone
@Baud: It’s one of the reasons no one on the Clinton campaign would directly comment on it. They knew some portion had been phonied up. If they acknowledged any of it then all of it was genuine.
The media just swallowed it all, hook, line, etc.
Baud
Was any email actually bad, as opposed to being portrayed as bad?
HeleninEire
@MomSense: Thanks.
Mike in NC
We have friends making an extensive trip around the country: driving from here to NYC to catch a train to Chicago and then Seattle; cruise to Hawaii; back to L.A. and on to Phoenix, etc. Last Facebook post was from the memorial site of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. I had to make a comment: ‘Trump has never been to this place and will never see it. Those terrorists were “some very fine people, believe you me” ‘.
Corner Stone
@Baud: Yes! Are you fucking kidding me? The guy ordered “extra cheese”! Don’t you get it? “Extra Fucking Cheese!”
Baud
@Corner Stone: Those poor children.
Mnemosyne
I (and someone else) was saying in another thread that I bet the MSM was getting played as well. They were hearing that Hillary’s emails were a problem from multiple Republican contacts, plus there were probably contacts they didn’t know were Russian telling them the same story (like the guy from the London diplomacy school who has mysteriously vanished).
The Russians couldn’t find any incriminating emails because they never existed, so they made them up.
Mnemosyne
@HeleninEire:
Hooray! I’m glad it turned out to be something (relatively) simple to fix. Send her something pretty from a Dublin shop to celebrate.
HeleninEire
@schrodingers_cat: @CaseyL:
As long as you don’t mind sleeping on blow up bed on the floor, I don’t mind And i’m right in the city center, Access to everything.
different-church-lady
I’m not a big fan of Chris Hayes, but he ought to get a Pulizer for that tweet.
germy
Major Major Major Major
@Mnemosyne:
This of course did not stop them from asking foreign spy agencies for help securing the emails.Lol, never mind, I thought you said republican not russians
Roger Moore
@Amaranthine RBG:
The thing I notice about it is the dog that didn’t bark: there’s no sign of coordination between Hillary’s people and any pro-Hillary SuperPAC. If it were there, you know it would have been the #1 smoking gun showing how illegally she was acting. That there was no sign of anything like that in the emails is proof the Democrats were actually following the law. I have no question the RNC email dump- had the Russians made it- would have had plenty of evidence of illegal coordination with all the Republican SuperPACs.
HeleninEire
@Major Major Major Major: Thank you Major to the fourth.
jl
I don’t see what is ‘BOOM’ about the leaked DNC emails being falsified. Wasn’t that known early on?
One thing is very odd about this whole affair is that it seems like important news comes out and it is completely ignored, until some sort of mysterious CW decides to acknowledge it.
I guess for HRC and our miserably failed news media, it was that anything that got in the way of their predetermined HRC narrative was not important, even if it obviously was.
I’m not even sure that GOP using hacked emails in ads is a big ‘BOOM’. Why not? Is that even unexpected? Or even nefarious in any way? IF the GOP was not also actively trying to procure hacked emails and encouraging to hackers to steal them. But, wait a minute, that is exactly what they were doing, and we’ve known about that for months too.
Mnemosyne
And if you really want to travel down a paranoid road: given the massive amount of projection the Republicans engage in, I am now wondering anew exactly who killed Seth Rich and why. It wasn’t the DNC.
different-church-lady
Yeah, well it doesn’t matter if they were edited because THAT’S WHAT THEY WERE THINKING LOCK ‘EM UP!!!!!!
Gravenstone
In addition to Trump and every member of his administration (and likely 90% of the sitting members of the Republican congressional caucus) being charged as at least accessory to treason, can we please disband the GOP via RICO as well? Thanks
Mnemosyne
@jl:
Nope. There are people who insist to this day that the emails were 100 percent true and proved that the DNC was biased against Sanders. In fact, when the whole Brazile thing happened, I saw those people citing the hacked emails as supporting evidence for what Brazile was claiming.
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne:
I have been reliably told by BJ that Republicans are not up to actually murdering members of the opposition yet.
ETA: On a more serious note, perhaps the Russians did do it?
Gin & Tonic
Serhiy Leschenko just Tweeted that he shared documents with the FBI back in February of this year.
Karma is working out pretty nicely for Paulie.
different-church-lady
@Gravenstone: Oh sure, just as soon as we’re done jailing all the banksters.
Baud
@different-church-lady: Trump will get that done. He’s not the Goldman Sachs candidate.
realbtl
@Mnemosyne: OT- If you haven’t read Cal Hiassen’s Disney book (non-fiction) I highly recommend it.
Major Major Major Major
@Mnemosyne: I mean, I remember the Russian OS metadata and track changes records from last year. Perhaps the people you’re talking about are simply idiots.
germy
I read the AP article Natasha linked in her tweet.
From what I can see, the only editing was adding the word “confidential” to an email (that word wasn’t there before) to catch reporters’ attention. What am I missing?
TenguPhule
@Baud:
Only because his credit rating is so bad that they refuse to loan him any money.
Roger Moore
@Baud:
Are you kidding? They had risotto recipes in there! How much worse do you need?
Cheryl Rofer
@Roger Moore: No fair using the headline I picked out for my next post!
jl
@Mnemosyne: I remember reading a news article about one to the DNC emails being entirely fabricated. And then the same circus act continued the very next day as if nothing had happened that would give a self-respecting reporter, talking head or dumbass pundit a second thought.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: Say no more.
Anne Laurie
@Fair Economist:
There’s a public-perception difference between ‘look at the metadata’ and ‘big red fake CONFIDENTIAL airbrushed across not-secret email’.
Actually, the AP article is IMO very comprehensive, and I hope there’s attention-space to cover it on another day, when more people will be paying attention. But this tidbit was so glaring!
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore:
And who could forget the peas in the guacamole.
Baud
@germy: I’m not sure that was meant to be the only change found.
HeleninEire
@Mnemosyne: Yeah. Good answer. The simplicity of it was extraordinary. Nothing is simple with Mary. Thank you for recognizing that.
debbie
@HeleninEire:
Nice!
germy
@Baud: From what I see in the AP article, it’s the only change they mention.
I’ve believed for a long time they edited and falsified lots of the stuff they hacked, but I don’t see this proved in the AP article.
Roger Moore
@TenguPhule:
That was the Vichy Times. FTFNYT!
Baud
@germy: We probably won’t know for sure until the investigation is complete.
Major Major Major Major
@Anne Laurie:
So like how all the NSA shit wasn’t interesting until Snowden leaked its name in ALL CAPS?
jl
@HeleninEire: In fact more is coming to mind now. One group released what they said were exact reproductions, only to be caught publishing edited transcripts. And they said it was ‘bad faith’ or some such crap to even question what they were doing, or that it was dishonest to claim there was any difference between the two. And the circus carried on.
It’s like a zombie world. What does the world look like to zombies?. Maybe this is it.
debbie
@Mnemosyne:
What’s nonsensical is the assumption that there aren’t GOP emails from early in the campaign about how to get rid of Trump.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Baud: They were actually devastating.
They revealed that Hillary always took up two parking spaces. Furthermore, she once borrowed a pen and didn’t give back. Just awful stuff.
TenguPhule
Speaking of saying what people want to hear
I hate these fucking Republicans and their donors so fucking much.
debbie
@jl:
Two words: James. O’Keefe.
Baud
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: That’s probably the pen she used to change who won the primary.
Anne Laurie
@Mnemosyne: Don’t go there. Remember the old saw about mud-wrestling with a pig?
ETA: The poor man’s family has suffered enough already; we have plenty of ways to fight back without sinking to the Repub level.
Mnemosyne
@Major Major Major Major:
I think the correct word for this situation is “dupes.” They desperately wanted to believe that Hillary was the unscrupulous monster they’d built up in their heads, so they ignored any evidence to the contrary.
germy
I joked in an earlier thread about him being forced to “get a job” and it looks like he has.
Omnes Omnibus
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Hey, I really liked that pen. It was a fucking gift for fuck’s sake.
Major Major Major Major
Moderates!
Mnemosyne
@Anne Laurie:
I know. I’ll save it for my novel.
jl
@debbie: His bunch pulled that stunt? Thanks.
schrodingers_cat
What about the connections between the media and Russians. Pravda on the Hudson seems like a prime candidate with their longstanding HRC hate.
Anne Laurie
@germy:
AP promised more (and now that it’s ‘conventional wisdom’ I’m sure others are combing thru all those dumped docs).
delk
Airbrush? Out of all the tools to alter a digital document, the airbrush tool would not be my choice.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major: Republicans rejecting disaster aid money? Truly the world has now gone mad.
Shana
@HeleninEire: What a relief that must be to everyone, including Mary. So happy this worked out for Mary and everyone who cares about her.
germy
@Anne Laurie: good.
Elizabelle
@HeleninEire: I am so glad to hear that. Hope Mary has lots of Friendly’s visits in her future.
Best to you.
Mnemosyne
@schrodingers_cat:
We already know from the whole “Curveball” thing with Iraq that the NYT is very susceptible to con men and people telling them what they already want to hear.
Steeplejack
@Baud:
Podesta’s risotto recipe is not very good, to be honest.
@Roger Moore:
Semi-damn you!
HeleninEire
@jl: You are talking to someone else. Not me. Don’t matter. All the times you post I don’t have a fucking clue what the fuck you are trying to say. HI DONALD!
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: these are the same ones some are hoping will vote against Ryan’s tax bill on account of it would be terrible for Californians.
ETA rejecting their own disaster aid money though!
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Steeplejack: True. That’s exactly why PBS kicked him off “America’s Test Kitchen”.
debbie
@jl:
No, sorry. They’re two birds of a feather. They share a penchant for clumsy amateurism.
jl
@HeleninEire: Sorry. I must have clicked on the wrong comment. Or, being half Irish, I was drawn to ‘Eire’.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
You mean those reassurances about all those House Republicans were wrong?!
Say it ain’t so!
HeleninEire
@Shana: Thank you.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: don’t get too far ahead of yourself here mister Obamacare repeal is a sure thing and the Russia sanctions bill will never be law.
Feathers
@HeleninEire: So glad to hear this. Meds issues are horrible. It’s not really your fault, but it affects you and those around you.
Friendly’s is the best. OK, not really, but there are times when it is just perfect. I’m worried, because each time I went to one of the locals, it was desperately short staffed, the kind of thing the bean counters do to cut costs, but it just creates a death spiral. A pox on all the venture capitalists who buy up these chains and run them into the ground.
jl
@debbie: I’ll try to remember which group was falsely publishing edited transcripts, passing them off as facsimiles. And they did this knowingly, since they were the ones who drew them up and did the editing. And even brazenly admitted it while they attacked anyone who called them out on it.
Aleta
@HeleninEire: That’s such good news; I’m so glad for her and you.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
Point of order, it may have passed but its effectively nonexistent due to lack of enforcement.
schrodingers_cat
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: You mean Christopher Kimball is a Russkie spy. Never did like Mr Pompous bowt-tie
Baud
@TenguPhule: They are slow walking it, but they’ll eventually cave.
Roger Moore
@jl:
The media has forgotten about the idea of credibility. They’re constantly repeating stuff from people who have lied again and again, and without any indication those people might possibly be less worth listening to than people who have always been honest. Until the new media can call liars liars, or even better refuse to repeat their nonsense even with disclaimers, they’re going to be very hard to trust.
Roger Moore
@TenguPhule:
They’re rejecting disaster aid money for other parts of the state. The parts that got burned are awfully blue.
Jeffro
I’ll have to remember to ask my favorite RWNJs what they think about Wikileaks and Guccifer 2.0 and Fancy Bear only hacking & disclosing Democrats…odd, that…
(note: I said ‘hacking & disclosing’ – yes, the Repubs were hacked too)
Jeffro
Hey btw folks go see THOR : RAGNAROK when you get a chance. Lots of action and pretty funny as well!
Roger Moore
@jl:
ISTR Jason Chaffetz was doing that with documents from one or another of the House’s investigations into Hillary.
Sam
The IC would have assumed the dump was altered unless they could prove otherwise. It is the obvious play. I remember Znigniew Brzezhinski mentioning this possibility in an interview a long time ago.
Kayla Rudbek
@HeleninEire: so would you have any ideas about where would the best parts of Ireland to go bicycle touring?
jl
@Roger Moore: I’m more pessimistic. I think a big part of the problem is systemic institutional corruption that comes from major news organizations being small adjuncts of large conglomerates. They don’t report news, they churn out ‘information product’ that is expected to produce a very reliable, nearly riskless, rate of return. The personnel are corporate hacks who will think up endless rationalizations to play along, and for whom the perception of being a big important fearless intrepid reporter is far more important that actually finding the truth and reporting it out.
So, they had reliable formulas for getting ratings with potted HRC and Trump stories. And could not believe that their BS could have real consequences in the real world. Which is the same thing as saying that the vast majority of these famous news people are corrupt nincompoops. But I think that is a big part of it.
Mike in DC
@TenguPhule:
The grand slam home run is Trump, Pence, Priebus, Ryan and McConnell. That’s basically the entire national leadership of the Republican party. In a sane and rational universe where political gravity still exists, that’s an extinction level event for them.
rikyrah
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
Bravo ???
msdc
@Corner Stone: I mean, it already has been, right?
HeleninEire
@Kayla Rudbek: There are lots of them. They range from Pussy to Ouch to Holy shit. Ireland is very hilly. What are you looking for?
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore: But aren’t they also the parts which make all the wine?
Corner Stone
Damn. Carter Page dropping it like it’s hot. According to NYT and MSNBC.
Trump Campaign Adviser Met With Russian Officials in 2016
mai naem mobile
I hate these mofuckers. I hope they all get fucked real hard at some point in their lives. I mean something obviously unfair happens to them and nobody listens to them.
Also Dumb Dumb Dolt45 is in Hawaii. I hope a bunch of Hawaiians showed up at the airport and flipped him off. Asshole. Maybe Joe Arpaio anf he can go hunt for Obamas fake birth certificate.
rikyrah
Maddow tonight: Proof Carter Page went to Russia and the campaign knew
TenguPhule
@mai naem mobile: No chance, they locked down his entire route. He’s as popular as chicken pox here. And since he’s screwing up thousands of people’s drive home from work today, tempers are guaranteed to be running hot.
rikyrah
@HeleninEire:
Glad to hear positive news ?
jl
@TenguPhule: I thought Trump made a point to keep Tillerson on the trip long enough for State Dept to help him navigate proper local etiquette on a trip to foreign lands.
Felony Govt (formerly Old Broad in California)
Reports are Trump will be meeting with Putin during this Asia trip. Surprise surprise.
TenguPhule
@jl: We have one major freeway from downtown to the residential areas. Guess where Trump has to go to get to Waikiki? And to make things even worse, he’s traveling back along it because he can’t plan a route worth shit. Traffic is going to be snarled for hours at the worst possible time.
Starfish
@germy: A lot of people are missing context.
Numerous people have asked why the reporters ran with it. First, we had a bunch of right wing news sites running with it. The normal news was losing traffic to that so they had to address it in some way. “This is not a big deal” is not a clickbait story.
Adding the word “confidential” is a big deal because a lot of the stories were about how Hillary Clinton was not handling classified email appropriately.
Mnemosyne
@TenguPhule:
When Obama used to visit Southern California as president, they would try to land at LAX and then fly him in Marine One as close as possible to his destination. Because Obama was not an inconsiderate asshole.
Gin & Tonic
@Corner Stone: For the life of me, I cannot figure that dude out.
Cheryl Rofer
@rikyrah: The New York Times is on it.
It seems to me that this confirms some parts of the Steele dossier, but I am going to wait until tomorrow morning to figure that out. I don’t work well at this time of night.
Mnemosyne
First World Problem of the Day:
We ordered pizza for dinner, but it’s going to take an hour to get here and I’m hungry NOW.
Adria McDowell
@Feathers: “Friendly’s is the best. OK, not really, but there are times when it is just perfect.”
Back in high school, whenever I had a field hockey game or track meet in Kingston, NY, I’d go to Friendly’s with teammates. Good times. I miss their ice cream. That and Stewart’s!
@HeleninEire: Glad that your sister is doing well. May she continue to do so!
Gin & Tonic
@Kayla Rudbek: A friend visited Ireland and said “You know how in all the pictures you see, it’s green everywhere? There’s a reason for that.” My daughter and SIL were in Dublin for a wedding last summer, so they added on a week-long bicycle tour (no, I don’t know where exactly.) The days that it didn’t rain, the fog was so thick you could barely see. I think they dried out when they came home.
Cheryl Rofer
Also, Trump’s bodyguard is being called to testify to the House Intelligence Committee about Trump’s trip to Russia in 2013. The Steele Dossier has something about that too.
schrodingers_cat
@Felony Govt (formerly Old Broad in California): Demanding boss is demanding.
Corner Stone
@Gin & Tonic: I think he’s a member of the WWE Tag Team Wrestling Champ Duo of Page & Papa Doc. Together they are going to win the Ladder Match against Team Trump.
mike in dc
@Cheryl Rofer:
It would be helpful to have a bullet-point style list of the specific allegations in the dossier, and which have been substantially corroborated, and which remain to be corroborated.
Millard Filmore
@Jeffro:
And, as Amaranthine RBG said way up top, no disclosure of any emails that slagged the GOP.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@rikyrah: Whoopsie !
debit
@Kayla Rudbek: You might want to shoot velouria at Lovely Bicycle an email. She’s been living in Ireland (northern, IIRC) for a few years now and is an avid cyclist and seems pretty nice.
Major Major Major Major
@Millard Filmore: I have ARBG as saying “I am confined only by the pies I bake myself.” Don’t really see the connection.
J R in WV
@HeleninEire:
So glad to hear the good news.
My wife was hospitalized some years back. She is on some medications that require careful monitoring, and in order to safely stop them, she would need to taper off or crazy and dangerous side effects could occur.
So she was in ICU on a vent, with septic shock, and I had a print out of all her meds… it was pure bloody hell getting all those meds finally administered to her. The nurses (all former combat medics) crushed the tablets, dissolved them in warm water and injected them into her feeding tube, which dropped them into her stomach, as if she had swallowed them normally.
I shudder to think what may have happened without me battering them to get her regular daily medication regimen back in effect.
We’re in the hands of the medical establishment, and if they fuq up by the numbers they will not accept responsibility!
So glad you sister’s meds were re-established and that that did the trick for her.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Mnemosyne: Do you have wine? If so, you’re set.
Cheryl Rofer
@mike in dc: I broke down the dossier into its separate allegations here with the hope of filling in the confirmations as they came. The reporting was so bad that it looked like that would be a full-time job, but maybe it would be good to go back to it and see what I can fill in.
dogwood
Troll farms, hackers, bots. I’m curious to know how many real live Russian operatives are working within all the protest groups on both sides that have little or no central authority, national leaders or SOPs. Theyare prime targets for Russian mischief and mayhem.
Corner Stone
“Ooh I love to dance a little sidestep, now they see me now they don’t-. I’ve come and gone and, ooh I love to sweep around the wide step”
Davebo
@Major Major Major Major: And your life is better for it.
Shouldn’t there be a Nobel Prize in Cleek’s future?
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: Do you have any snacks in the freezer or your pantry? Or fruit?
Millard Filmore
@Major Major Major Major: ARBG said:
I do not pie anyone, and ARGB has been sane these last few weeks.
Major Major Major Major
@Davebo: Nobel Prize for Peace of Mind?
Mnemosyne
@schrodingers_cat:
I now have a kitteh laying on my chest. And she’s the bitey-est one.
Davebo
@Major Major Major Major: That’s Dynamite!
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: Ask G to get it for you. You serve kitteh, he serves you, circle of life.
Major Major Major Major
@Millard Filmore: If I wanted to read what ARBG said I would have clicked the button that shows you what the pied person really said.
WTF is up with “Democrat operative”? Is ARBG Rush Limbaugh?
Redshift
@Baud:
If they’d known what we know now, they probably wouldn’t have bothered to edit any of them. From what I’ve read, the “DNC members talking about how they could help Hillary” emails were from the period when Wilmer had zero realistic chance of winning, but refused to concede. The Wilmerites were told to be outraged and didn’t even think about the dates.
Major Major Major Major
Speaking of people who don’t know that ‘Democrat’ is a childish insult and not the name of the party, the comment section on the Democratic Party’s FB posts about Virginia are infested with them, and also people who can’t spell and don’t seem to speak-a the english too good.
ETA: So I assume a combustible mixture of ratfuckers, Russian trolls, and homegrown assholes and idiots. They’re getting a lot of likes. Good job, Internet!
Emma
@HeleninEire: Helen that is wonderful. Good news to end a lousy week.
Corner Stone
Kim is a complete asshole. Do not kid yourself. That house she just shit on would make Tiger Woods on Jupiter Island blush.
Corner Stone
L O’D is having wwwaaayyyy too much fun repeatedly saying “Pu$$y Riot” on his show.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: I tend to hate watch that show. Esp. the international version.
mike in dc
@Cheryl Rofer:
That looks perfect, thanks!. Looks like 44 or 45 distinct allegations, several of which have been corroborated. Maybe you could revisit and add a column indicating whether there’s a corroborating news item for any particular allegation.
Mnemosyne
@schrodingers_cat:
It’s okay, the pizza is here. I have been saved. ?
Gin & Tonic
@Corner Stone: Are you watching two shows at the same time?
Cheryl Rofer
@mike in dc: That’s precisely what I planned.
Someone in an earlier thread today noted in reference to the news about emails being altered that it seems like the news comes out once, but nobody pays attention to it until there is some sort of congealing of conventional wisdom. The reporting has been incredibly duplicative, partly because the story is so complex that reporters and editors justifiably feel that they must explain great chunks of it every time they acquire another tidbit. That makes untangling what is really news extremely time-consuming. I didn’t want to devote my life to the project and kind of walked away from it. But now might be a good time to revisit.
If you want to fill in some of the blanks, I’m fine with that! Any number can play!
KS in MA
@HeleninEire: That’s excellent news! For your sister, of course, but also for you!
Corner Stone
@Gin & Tonic: I flipped over because of Cole’s feed. Because I stopped watching that show a long time ago because i also hated all the couples they picked to feature. He was trying to say the protagonist was a decent human. but she just fucking isn’t. As usual Cole is an idiot.
I am watching LOD because I want to see him take down the whole Trump / DoJ. Before I go get Chinese take out.
Corner Stone
Anyone who looks at Kim for two seconds wants to punch her square in the face.
Gvg
@germy: Adam Silverman explained it to us awhile back so we already sort of know but if you missed the post you won’t. Russia has a long history of misinformation. Starts with almost all truth but selects the most interesting. Builds trust or complacency. Starts inserting total fabrications. A flood of info to swamp us. So basically wiki leaks and the other sources at first were truthful if sensationalistic like adding confidential. Later on they could fake whole messages. Remember at first wiki leaks andSnowden seemed believable by many. It was only gradually people started catching the lies.
Redshift
@Major Major Major Major: One positive aspect of that is that pretty much everyone now knows that any public comment section is a cesspool, so if Republicans are wasting their time there (and ‘like’-ing fellow travelers), it’s time spent not doing something more effective.
Kayla Rudbek
@HeleninEire: We’re looking for a road biking tour (probably more flat) hopefully B&B (we do have camping gear but camping in the rain for a week is not my favorite activity). Yarn stores on route would be a plus.
Mnemosyne
@Major Major Major Major:
It is a bit of a tell, innit?
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: He is usually better than that. In a technical sense, I mean.
Redshift
@Corner Stone:
The Borowitz Report
Poll: Americans Were Sort of Hoping Mueller Would Arrest Someone New Every Day
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
He tried to lecture me about movies earlier today. Hilarity ensued.
Kayla Rudbek
@Gin & Tonic: yes, we would bring our Gore-Tex and wool clothes. Maybe even the Gore-Tex socks/foot coverings.
mike in dc
@Cheryl Rofer:
Well, Page 1 of that summary, I’d say the first 3 are established(Trump has connections to Russia going back several years and visited in 2013; Putin’s intentions have been corroborated by the entire western intel community; Trump Tower Moscow was being discussed while the campaign was ongoing, before being shelved) and the third one has been partially corroborated–there clearly was an offer of intel on Clinton at the June meeting, and GP(George Papadopoulos) referred to the Russians having “dirt” on Clinton, and members of the Trump camp showed interest–it has not yet been corroborated publicly that intel was exchanged directly, though.
Major Major Major Major
@Redshift: I like this comment section ?
ETA I forgot to mention that everybody on those FB posts are saying they’re OUTRAGED over the Brazile/Warren revelations and will never again support a member of the corrupt Democrat party.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Omnes Omnibus: I heard someone on the radio or a podcast the other day talking about how smarter twitter trolls would post a lot of stuff that fit in with their target audience to give credibility to their attacks. Made think of our own Amaranthine Steve
mike in dc
@Corner Stone:
Can we sponsor a coup to overthrow Putin and put Nadya in his place?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: How’s the pizza? We had ramen here.
Cheryl Rofer
@Cheryl Rofer: Ryan Goodman is doing some of my work for me in this thread.
Major Major Major Major
@Mnemosyne: have you heard of this newish one Moana?
realbtl
@Kayla Rudbek: REI has a bicycle trip at their site, might get an idea of where they think is good cycling. You have to dig a bit, start with “more.”
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: He is correct enough about legal shit that I believe he is a lawyer and he knows his guns. He still uses all of that knowledge to knock liberal ideas.
Edited for greater coherence.
Mnemosyne
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
We went with a Burbank classic — Dino’s. It was good, as usual.
@Major Major Major Major:
No, I haven’t! ? What’s it about?
jl
@Cheryl Rofer: I was the one that complained about news being ignored. Burt I think what you are talking about is different. Lots of people amongst the Trumpsters lie, and can be difficult to untangle all the lies and to suss out the truth of what is going on underneath the lies and misdirection.
With the emails, there were, early on, multiple very reliable reports of alteration and fabrication of documents, and misleading claims about how the material was handled prior to publication. And that the supposed document dumps were not that, but rather carefully curated selections. For me, doesn’t take much to understand that and no complicated threads to untangle. Any reporter or talking head or pissant pundit should immediately be on alert that the material was not reliable, and the documents, individually, or as a collection, should not be taken at face value. Full stop, period, end of story. But the media continued to do just exactly that, take them as some kind of gospel, and breathlessly run and write sensational stories claiming that some BS dishonest and often doctored document dump was God’s own truth.
So, you and your fellow detectives are excused. The media are not excused on the emails.
Major Major Major Major
@Mnemosyne: a crab!
Mike in DC
Essentially what the prosecutor needs to prove:
1. Formation of a quid pro quo agreement, whether explicit or implicit
2. Steps in furtherance of the agreed conspiracy
Omnes Omnibus
@Mike in DC: Step, not steps.
GregB
The wingnut and far left apologists and Trump confederates gave already changed ther entire cover narrative from “the idea of Russian interference is a fabrication” to “look at the silly pictures of photo shopped Hillary as Satan-who would change their vote because of that”.
Also Griftwald attacked Malcom Nance when he indicated some of the emails may have been altered.
jl
BJ commenter spellcheck does not recognize ‘pissant’ as a word. Seems like that is essential, basic, vocabulary for BJ blog.
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: Fucknob is not recognized either.
Mnemosyne
@Major Major Major Major:
One of my friends made a Tamatoa costume for her toddler. It was pretty awesome, especially the glow-in-the-dark face paint.
jl
@Omnes Omnibus: Pissant Fucknob would be a good name for Trump’s next personal lawyer, after Ty Cobb (I think?) burns out, or strokes out.
Mike J
@Omnes Omnibus: Not even spunkweasel.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mike J: FYWP should include Scottish insults.
Mike J
@jl: Don’t say “strokes out” along with “Trump” and “fucknob”.
Amir Khalid
@Mike J:
If you stick “fuck” and “knob” together, shouldn’t you end up with “fuckknob”? Or maybe “fuck-knob”?
Steeplejack (phone)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Fuckknob?
Regnad Kcin
@Major Major Major Major: Excellent semantics strategy. Let us replace all references to “Republican” with “Russian” — viz, the Rusian tax plan, the Russian budget, the Russian Supreme Court nominee(s)
Omnes Omnibus
@Amir Khalid: FYWP does not approve of fuckknob either. Also, it just looks wrong. Further to the point, it isn’t fuck + knob; it is fucknob.
Gravenstone
@Major Major Major Major: Did you tell them that’s cool, and that they should switch to get behind the Democratic Party?
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack (phone): See above.
LanceThruster
Glob less Cindy Sheehan.
Major Major Major Major
@jl: there is no such thing as BJ commenter spellcheck.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
It’s like Betelgeuse. Three or four people type fuckknob, and a fuckknob appears!
Mnemosyne
@LanceThruster:
Wow. Your links are becoming truly desperate, Misha. Or is it Aleksy using the nym tonight?
jl
@Major Major Major Major: Well, whatever the pissant fuckknob spell check in the comment box is, that’s what I am talking about.
Omnes Omnibus
@LanceThruster: Aside from being a vampire on her grief still – you should be ashamed of yourself – what is your point?
Mnemosyne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
In your honor. ?
And now I should probably go work on my NaNo words for tonight.
No Drought No More
“Halt! What city do the Cubs play in”?
“The Cubs? The Cubs are little bears”.
“They’re Russkies, boys! Open Fire”!
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Wow. This poor woman needs mental health assistance, or at least someone who cares enough to stop her from talking to Russian propaganda outfits.
Aleta
@J R in WV: Have come to the conclusion that if a patient doesn’t have an advocate with them to amplify their voice or run interference or sometimes say stop, mistakes will happen. Mentally it can even be traumatic. B/c of management pressures on overworked staff, a patient can get traumatized by power difference–not respected when they say no or ask questions. This truly bothers me.
jl
@Mnemosyne: US and Soviet deaths in WWII are all very relevant to Trump and Putin, I guess. In her confused mind.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: I won’t criticize her. Her grief over her son led her to activism, but at some point I think that she got the wrong end of the stick.
ETA: People like LT who act like vampires over her grief are despicable.
Villago Delenda Est
@Roger Moore: Hillary Derangement Syndrome is a hell of a drug.
Major Major Major Major
@jl: take it up with your browser.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Flynn-mas? Flynn-stivus?
Jeffro
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: All I know is, any other president with a Russian-owned-and-operated NSA…or a president who fired the FBI director for letting an investigation into that NSA continue (and rightly so)…much less both…that WH would get burned down to the ground, and not by the British, either…
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
I think her natural and understandable grief has been exploited by unscrupulous people with their own agenda, so we’re on the same page.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: Yep. Exactly.
mike in dc
@Omnes Omnibus:
True. Plural is better, as it likely extends the number involved in the conspiracy. The larger the number, the more likely Trump is to be directly involved at some level. His comments and actions from August forward at least indicate some knowledge after the fact–multiple denials, refusal to criticize Putin, trying to lift sanctions early on, not acting on Flynn until forced to, and then pressuring and ultimately firing Comey.
Redshift
@Major Major Major Major: I wisely chose not to engage yesterday with a Berner (or Russian troll) on Twitter who was certain that the Democrats were insulting independents by having closed primaries that he deserved to have a voice in. When challenged about what was so difficult about saying you are a Dem to vote in the primary, he sneered that he would never call himself a Democrat because they’re corporate sellouts, and how dare you call yourself as progressive if you do!
It was a great temptation to follow the next twist in that pretzel logic, but as I said, a maintained my willpower and did not.
Aleta
@mike in dc: Thanks for laying it out that way, so clearly. Helpful.
Redshift
@Redshift: I did actually engage with a climate change denier peddling a phony “letter from NASA scientists.” But I consider that a victory because I stopped after citing the rule of “if you start off with a lie, I can fairly assume that you’ll continue to lie and not bother to debunk your statements,” whereas he wanted his time on at least sixteen replies that I didn’t read.
(Well, actually, I did read the headline of one, purporting to prove that the greenhouse effect can’t possibly happen in a moving atmosphere. Yeah… I’m guessing it was written by an engineer and not a scientist.)
Ruckus
@Redshift:
Did you think there is any possibility for him to learn on his own?
Aleta
@Villago Delenda Est: So widely available. Large groups encourage its members to consume it socially, no stigma attached, and they find it pleasurable.
hedgehog mobile
@HeleninEire: Yay!
Shalimar
@Mike in DC: One of those five is currently an unemployed tool that may be useful to get to the other four, actual Republican leaders.
Amir Khalid
@Shalimar:
I have to disagree on this. None of those five is a leader of the Republican party. There is currently no leader of the party, it seems to me; the party itself is so riven by factions that sometimes it’s hard to say it is even a party.
Ruckus
@Amir Khalid:
In the traditional sense of leader you are correct. But, as wondering groups of assholes go, these 5 are at the head of the pack.
Cheryl Rofer
@Redshift: I have objected to many depictions of the greenhouse effect because they show it as a layer in the atmosphere. Your associate confirms my concerns.
Craig
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
The WikiLeaks emails are not fake no matter how badly you want them to be. For instance the following link allows you to download the raw source file from one of Podesta’s emails. In the header of that email is a DKIM-Signature. If you take that digital signature and run it through some cryptographic tools you can verify that yes, this email was sent by this person and it contained this message body. That is the purpose of DKIM.
Anyone who tells you they are fake either doesn’t know what s/he’s talking about or is a liar.
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/59211
Matt McIrvin
@Mnemosyne: I saw (and quoted) people citing the hacked emails as refuting what Brazile was saying. That’s one of the weaknesses of that argument–it depends on the reliability of that archive.
Matt McIrvin
@Feathers: I had to establish a rule that no matter how much my daughter begged, we’d never go to Friendly’s again (except on truly extraordinary occasions). The place is so short-staffed that service was always agonizingly slow, even when the restaurant was three-quarters empty. After about 30 or 40 minutes of waiting, we’d always have the same exchange: “When will our food get here? I’M HUNGRY and BORED.” “It was your idea to come here, and I warned you…”
Matt McIrvin
@Cheryl Rofer: I once got into an argument with someone who insisted that atmospheric ozone couldn’t possibly be stopping ultraviolet radiation because it’s only like 2% of the atmosphere, and 2% of something can’t stop anything (that’s actually far higher than the real fraction, which is something like 10 ppm in the ozone layer, but never mind). He wrote a computer program to light up 2% of the pixels on his screen and asked if that could work as any kind of filter. I tried explaining that the atmosphere is not two-dimensional, but he just got madder.
LanceThruster
@Omnes Omnibus:
She has the courage of her convictions to be staunchly anti-war despite the pressures around her. The vampires, as you put it, are the ones justifying the continued murder of other people’s kids.
LanceThruster
@Mnemosyne:
Wasn’t there an agreement with the DNC to install a light in any venue where Commissar Hillary was speaking so that party officials would know when it was OK to stop clapping?
Captain C
@Mnemosyne: Maggie Haberman is a direct journalistic descendant of Judith Miller.
Miller is the journalistic descendant of whoever at the Times was humping Whitewater the hardest.
Boatboy_srq
@HeleninEire: YAY!
And Dublin (and Cork) has been on the short list for a while.