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  • Congressman says he's worried "the Russians never left"

    As November looms and some pivotal midterm elections get underway, Illinois Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley, a longtime advocate for bolstering the integrity of the country's election infrastructure, says states are far from prepared to recognize, let alone fend off, foreign attempts to interfere in the voting process.

    Quigley, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, tells Intelligence Matters host and senior national security contributor Michael Morell, "I am concerned that the Russians never left."

    He summarizes some of the major interference efforts known to have been employed by Russia, at President Vladimir Putin's direction, in 2016. "First, they attacked our election infrastructure. They hacked into somewhere between 20 and 40 state board of elections, including, in August of 2016, my own state of Illinois. They hacked and dumped emails into political parties and individuals. They weaponized social media," Quigley says. "This is a great concern."

    He argues that even the House's recently appropriated $380 million in federal funding for new election equipment is inadequate – "the decimal was in the wrong spot," he says – and that the twelve states that currently lack an auditable paper trail on their voting machines are at the most risk. "Those states that don't have this ability frankly can't even tell us if we've been hacked and how to prepare for it," he says.

    Of the thousands of entities that are involved in running a federal election, Quigley tells Morell, and "very few of them have the kind of sophistication necessary – so we're not anywhere near where we need to be to protect them." America's election infrastructure is, on average, 10 to 12 years old, according to Quigley.

    Apart from improving and reinforcing voting systems, Quigley says, the failure toprotect the country falls on both the Obama administration and the Trump administration. He faults the Obama administration's reaction to Russia's meddling as "slow," but says the onus is on the Trump administration to impose real costs on Putin and deter future attempts to undermine America's democratic process.

    "I've come to the conclusion that what the Russians did was, as a wise man said, the political equivalent of 9/11. And our response to that is probably more important and will have more profound impacts on our country going forward," Quigley says.

    Morell and Quigley also discuss the value and challenges of congressional oversight, the House Intelligence Committee's year-long, often contentious investigation into Russian interference and how, now that it has concluded, the committee is rebuilding its relationship with the intelligence community.
    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/congres...ns-never-left/

    Comment


    • Trump Is Training His Base to Hate NATO and Like Putin

      President Trump tweeted today that America’s NATO allies have been “delinquent for many years in payments” and should “reimburse the U.S.” That is not how NATO works. It is not a protection scheme where the allies pay the United States. It is a collective defense organization in which members agree that an attack on one is an attack on all. NATO members have agreed to increase their defense spending levels, but the target date is 2024 — which is to say, they are not “delinquent” on anything.

      One cannot rule out the possibility that Trump lacks the mental capacity to understand the basic form of America’s most important alliance. But it is at least as likely that Trump is choosing not to understand this, so that he can precipitate a fissure within the alliance.

      Last week, Trump’s national security advisers, who have traditional Republican views toward NATO (good) and Russia (bad), and the allies both expressed their hope that Trump would use the NATO summit to declare victory. Trump has been calling for the allies to increase their defense spending, and indeed they have. The increase has been ongoing since 2014, when Russia invaded Crimea, but the allies signaled they would be happy to let Trump claim credit. “The European officials we’ve spoken to would love nothing more than for Trump to take a victory lap and claim credit for them boosting their defense spending,” reported Jonathan Swan last week.

      Oddly for Trump, he is not taking the opportunity to claim a win. Instead he appears to be defining the terms of the disagreement such that it cannot be resolved. NATO’s allies can always try to spend even more on defense, but asking them to pay the United States back dues that they never promised and do not owe is an impossible demand.

      Where Trump’s intent has grown abundantly clear is the manner in which he is speaking to his supporters. At his rally in North Dakota two weeks ago, he said, “Sometimes our worst enemies are our so-called friends or allies, right?” At a subsequent rally in Montana last week, the president declared, “Our allies in many cases were worse than our enemies.” Trump understands the power of repetition, and it is notable to see this allies, they’re the worst, amirite formulation becoming a staple of his rhetoric.

      More noticable still was a comment he made at the latter rally. Adopting his mocking pundit voice, he ridiculed the notion that “Putin is KGB.” (Putin did in fact work in the KGB.) “You know what,” he said, “Putin’s fine. He’s fine. We are all fine, we’re all people.”

      Needless to say, “we’re all fine, we’re all people” is not Trump’s customary approach to the question of locating the shared humanity of all God’s creatures. But his efforts to train the Republican base to reverse its long-standing views on the relative merits of NATO and Russia have borne fruit. According to a recent poll, just 40 percent of Republicans think the U.S. should should stay in NATO, while 56 percent of Republicans consider Trump’s relationship with Vladimir Putin good for the United States.

      Meanwhile, the Trump-Putin relationship is blossoming (or perhaps just coming out into the open). Putin reportedly has been telling Trump that “fake news” and the “deep state” are conspiring against them. (“It’s not us,” Putin has told Trump, according to an American source, summarizing his message, “it’s the subordinates fighting against our friendship.”) Trump has also reportedly expressed to Putin his desire for better relations, and called the advisers who tried to prevent him from congratulating the strongman on his reelection “stupid people.”

      Compared to a week ago, it is now harder to imagine Trump will use the summit to leverage concessions that will make him appear like a strong negotiator, and much easier to imagine that he will use it to instigate a diplomatic crisis with NATO. By the time this is over, he may well have reoriented American foreign policy completely. It may seem bizarre that one man could do this, especially given that almost nobody in Trump’s administration or the ranks of the party’s political professionals share his goal of jettisoning NATO or closely courting Russia. Yet Trump has shown the ability to lead his base wherever he wants to take it. And where the base has gone, the party has eventually followed.
      http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer...collusion.html

      Comment


      • Originally posted by frank ryan View Post
        Trump Is Training His Base to Hate NATO and Like Putin



        http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer...collusion.html

        IMG_0958.jpg
        "If there is one thing I am, it's always right." -Ted Nugent.
        "I honestly believe saying someone is a smart lawyer is damning with faint praise. The smartest people become engineers and scientists." -SU.
        "Yet I still see wisdom in that which Uncle Ted posts." -creek.
        GIVE 'EM HELL, BRIGHAM!

        Comment


        • Andy Borowitz reports that Chancellor Merkel has offered to help Mueller.


          BRUSSELS (The Borowitz Report)—The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, took a break from the nato summit in Brussels on Wednesday to ask the independent counsel, Robert Mueller, if there is anything she can do to help.

          According to those familiar with the phone conversation, Merkel told Mueller that she would take a leave of absence as leader of the German government and move to Washington to work full-time for Mueller “if that would be of assistance.”

          Touting her credentials, Merkel told Mueller that she as fluent in Russian and could be helpful in translating the thousands of Russian-language documents that the special counsel has in his collection of evidence.

          “I will work for free and pay my for my own food,” Merkel said. “I just want to make this stop.”

          Mueller reportedly thanked Merkel for her offer but told her he had to wrap up their conversation because he had “Emmanuel Macron on the other line.”

          Comment


          • Originally posted by Uncle Ted View Post
            [ATTACH]8910[/ATTACH]
            I think one time Obama made fun of Romney being concerned about Russia. That says all you ever need to know, worlds without end. We can never, ever, ever, ever worry about Russia again. This meme makes the same point. Naturally anyone who isn't a weird socialist from Vermont can either. Thanks for everything Ted.
            Last edited by BlueK; 07-12-2018, 12:36 PM.

            Comment


            • Originally posted by PaloAltoCougar View Post
              Andy Borowitz reports that Chancellor Merkel has offered to help Mueller.
              I think it's been a bit underreported, but at one time Ukraine was allowing Mueller's team to investigate some issues over there related to Manafort and the former Russian aligned president who was pushed out. The current government doesn't like the former president (or Manafort) in any way, and he was up to his eyeballs in corruption.

              Well, strangely the cooperation stopped when the Trump administration suddenly completely reversed previous policy and decided to give them military aid when they were completely against it during the campaign and for a while after the election. They now will cite giving aid to Ukraine as "proof" of how tough they've been with Russia.
              Last edited by BlueK; 07-12-2018, 12:45 PM.

              Comment


              • Originally posted by PaloAltoCougar View Post
                Andy Borowitz reports that Chancellor Merkel has offered to help Mueller.
                Sounds like an Onion article.
                One of the grandest benefits of the enlightenment was the realization that our moral sense must be based on the welfare of living individuals, not on their immortal souls. Honest and passionate folks can strongly disagree regarding spiritual matters, so it's imperative that we not allow such considerations to infringe on the real happiness of real people.

                Woot

                I believe religion has much inherent good and has born many good fruits.
                SU

                Comment


                • Originally posted by BlueK View Post
                  I think one time Obama made fun of Romney being concerned about Russia. That says all you ever need to know, worlds without end. We can never, ever, ever, ever worry about Russia again. This meme makes the same point. Naturally anyone who isn't a weird socialist from Vermont can either. Thanks for everything Ted.
                  The dumb dems are only selectively worried about the Russians when it fits their narrative, it seems.

                  Yeah, Obama made fun of RMoney for worrying about the Russians. And don't forget that all this terrible Russian hacking of our election happened under Obama's watch. It seems that the FBI should be investigating him for collusion with Putin.

                  Here is a new avatar pic for Frank...

                  "If there is one thing I am, it's always right." -Ted Nugent.
                  "I honestly believe saying someone is a smart lawyer is damning with faint praise. The smartest people become engineers and scientists." -SU.
                  "Yet I still see wisdom in that which Uncle Ted posts." -creek.
                  GIVE 'EM HELL, BRIGHAM!

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by Uncle Ted View Post
                    The dumb dems are only selectively worried about the Russians when it fits their narrative, it seems.

                    Yeah, Obama made fun of RMoney for worrying about the Russians. And don't forget that all this terrible Russian hacking of our election happened under Obama's watch. It seems that the FBI should be investigating him for collusion with Putin.

                    Here is a new avatar pic for Frank...

                    this topic isnt on obama dude

                    Comment


                    • I don't even want to know where UT finds his cartoons.
                      "...you pointy-headed autopsy nerd. Do you think it's possible for you to post without using words like "hilarious," "absurd," "canard," and "truther"? Your bare assertions do not make it so. Maybe your reasoning is too stunted and your vocabulary is too limited to go without these epithets."
                      "You are an intemperate, unscientific poster who makes light of very serious matters.”
                      - SeattleUte

                      Comment


                      • breaking news on CNN now: another Mueller indictment coming at 12:30 ET today. It would suck for Trump if it's Cohen and he's ready to make a deal.

                        Comment


                        • Originally posted by BlueK View Post
                          breaking news on CNN now: another Mueller indictment coming at 12:30 ET today. It would suck for Trump if it's Cohen and he's ready to make a deal.
                          Bring on President Pence! He will get that wall built.

                          Edit: Damnit... just more stoopid russian hackers.
                          Last edited by Uncle Ted; 07-13-2018, 09:18 AM.
                          "If there is one thing I am, it's always right." -Ted Nugent.
                          "I honestly believe saying someone is a smart lawyer is damning with faint praise. The smartest people become engineers and scientists." -SU.
                          "Yet I still see wisdom in that which Uncle Ted posts." -creek.
                          GIVE 'EM HELL, BRIGHAM!

                          Comment


                          • Originally posted by Uncle Ted View Post
                            Bring on President Pence! He will get that wall built.

                            Edit: Damnit... just more stoopid russian hackers.
                            stupid russian hackers? Feels like you're minimizing here. They are 12 GRU intelligence and military officers.
                            Ain't it like most people, I'm no different. We love to talk on things we don't know about.

                            "The only one of us who is so significant that Jeff owes us something simply because he decided to grace us with his presence is falafel." -- All-American

                            GIVE 'EM HELL, BRIGHAM!

                            Comment


                            • I like the timing of the indictments of twelve Putin henchmen coming shortly before Putin will be meeting with an unwitting thirteenth.

                              Comment


                              • Originally posted by falafel View Post
                                stupid russian hackers? Feels like you're minimizing here. They are 12 GRU intelligence and military officers.
                                Shocker!
                                "...you pointy-headed autopsy nerd. Do you think it's possible for you to post without using words like "hilarious," "absurd," "canard," and "truther"? Your bare assertions do not make it so. Maybe your reasoning is too stunted and your vocabulary is too limited to go without these epithets."
                                "You are an intemperate, unscientific poster who makes light of very serious matters.”
                                - SeattleUte

                                Comment

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