How come these things to pass.
June 2, 2018 12:38 PM Subscribe
Internal Cambridge Analytica Documents Reveal Private Intelligence Web Behind Global Surveillance Program.
Pt I on behalf of Archimedes,” a US-based military contractor.
Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, SCL group, conducted a surveillance operation in Yemen, using psychological profiling, “strategic communications campaigns,” and infiltration of foreign operatives into indigenous communities through unwitting local partners whom they were instructed to deceive.
Pt. II The partnership between SCL and Archimedes highlights the seamless web of relationships between private intelligence firms and Western governments engaged in counter-intelligence activities in the Middle East. These large scale surveillance operations have been conducted without the knowledge of the Western public or input from elected officials, and would have remained mostly unknown had a series of leaks and hacking operations not placed them in the public domain.
Pt. II The partnership between SCL and Archimedes highlights the seamless web of relationships between private intelligence firms and Western governments engaged in counter-intelligence activities in the Middle East. These large scale surveillance operations have been conducted without the knowledge of the Western public or input from elected officials, and would have remained mostly unknown had a series of leaks and hacking operations not placed them in the public domain.
Yep, you can't just leave metadata out on the floor like that.
posted by deadaluspark at 1:30 PM on June 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by deadaluspark at 1:30 PM on June 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
Wait.
Wasn't the whole Cambridge Analytica scandal about the Russians?
Does this means that both the Americans and the Russians are hiring the same private surveillance firms?
posted by clawsoon at 1:43 PM on June 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
Wasn't the whole Cambridge Analytica scandal about the Russians?
Does this means that both the Americans and the Russians are hiring the same private surveillance firms?
posted by clawsoon at 1:43 PM on June 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
Does this means that both the Americans and the Russians are hiring the same private surveillance firms?
If you honestly believed all these groups weren't all in the same bed together, jerking each other off, you've gotta be pretty naive.
I mean, we literally are part of a group called The Five Eyes which only exists because all five of those countries have laws that they can't spy on their own citizens, so they get around it by data-sharing what they have on each other's citizens.
They're scum, and they don't care who they work with, what laws they break, or how fucked it will make society, to surveil everybody all the time. That's their goal and they don't give a fuck who they work with, because the goal is obviously fucking authoritarian. So no shit they'll work with people who work for authoritarian regimes.
It's kind of like those groups who sell surveillance software to despotic regimes. They claim it's the regimes responsibility to follow their own laws, and they have no responsibility of the people they sell the software to misuse it. It's all just smoke and mirrors to say "We honestly don't give a fuck who this hurts."
posted by deadaluspark at 1:48 PM on June 2, 2018 [20 favorites]
If you honestly believed all these groups weren't all in the same bed together, jerking each other off, you've gotta be pretty naive.
I mean, we literally are part of a group called The Five Eyes which only exists because all five of those countries have laws that they can't spy on their own citizens, so they get around it by data-sharing what they have on each other's citizens.
They're scum, and they don't care who they work with, what laws they break, or how fucked it will make society, to surveil everybody all the time. That's their goal and they don't give a fuck who they work with, because the goal is obviously fucking authoritarian. So no shit they'll work with people who work for authoritarian regimes.
It's kind of like those groups who sell surveillance software to despotic regimes. They claim it's the regimes responsibility to follow their own laws, and they have no responsibility of the people they sell the software to misuse it. It's all just smoke and mirrors to say "We honestly don't give a fuck who this hurts."
posted by deadaluspark at 1:48 PM on June 2, 2018 [20 favorites]
If you honestly believed all these groups weren't all in the same bed together, jerking each other off, you've gotta be pretty naive.
I mean it sounds an awful lot like “DEEP STATE! DEEP STATE!”
The mindfuck is that there actually does appear to be a global conspiracy, it’s just made up of Nazis and oligarchs.
posted by schadenfrau at 2:05 PM on June 2, 2018 [8 favorites]
I mean it sounds an awful lot like “DEEP STATE! DEEP STATE!”
The mindfuck is that there actually does appear to be a global conspiracy, it’s just made up of Nazis and oligarchs.
posted by schadenfrau at 2:05 PM on June 2, 2018 [8 favorites]
I mean, we literally are part of a group called The Five Eyes which only exists because all five of those countries have laws that they can't spy on their own citizens, so they get around it by data-sharing what they have on each other's citizens.
It seems to me that Five Eyes exists so the US could blanket as much of the world as possible with listening stations to keep an eye on the Soviets and communist China. It's way easier to do that if you can convince Australia and the UK to let you build your highly sensitive listening posts on their territory.
The mutual spying bit is real but I don't think it is the only goal. I mean, the FBI was cheerfully spying on lots of people domestically throughout the 20th century, the government didn't need to ask GCHQ for help on it.
posted by BungaDunga at 2:09 PM on June 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
It seems to me that Five Eyes exists so the US could blanket as much of the world as possible with listening stations to keep an eye on the Soviets and communist China. It's way easier to do that if you can convince Australia and the UK to let you build your highly sensitive listening posts on their territory.
The mutual spying bit is real but I don't think it is the only goal. I mean, the FBI was cheerfully spying on lots of people domestically throughout the 20th century, the government didn't need to ask GCHQ for help on it.
posted by BungaDunga at 2:09 PM on June 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
The mutual spying bit is real but I don't think it is the only goal.
I'm sure that meant a lot to New Zealand, after years of people saying that the new police powers (to allow them to be part of the Five Eyes) would be used for mass spying on New Zealanders (as opposed to the targeted spying allowed in the bill), that the PM said he would step down if they were used for such purposes, less than a year later, it was proven without a shadow of a doubt it was being used to mass spy on NZ citizens, and the PM thumbed his fucking nose and was like (not verbatim) "too late, it's law, what are you gonna do about it, and like I give a fuck, I'm not stepping down."
posted by deadaluspark at 2:48 PM on June 2, 2018 [11 favorites]
I'm sure that meant a lot to New Zealand, after years of people saying that the new police powers (to allow them to be part of the Five Eyes) would be used for mass spying on New Zealanders (as opposed to the targeted spying allowed in the bill), that the PM said he would step down if they were used for such purposes, less than a year later, it was proven without a shadow of a doubt it was being used to mass spy on NZ citizens, and the PM thumbed his fucking nose and was like (not verbatim) "too late, it's law, what are you gonna do about it, and like I give a fuck, I'm not stepping down."
posted by deadaluspark at 2:48 PM on June 2, 2018 [11 favorites]
Wasn't the whole Cambridge Analytica scandal about the Russians?
The idea that scary, nasty Russia operates one iota differently than the glorious freedom loving beacon of light that is the United States is an idea a bunch of people really need to fucking get over.
I mean, the last half a century, or more, of the history of large parts of the world is defined by US electoral interference, for fucks sake.
posted by Jimbob at 3:11 PM on June 2, 2018 [18 favorites]
The idea that scary, nasty Russia operates one iota differently than the glorious freedom loving beacon of light that is the United States is an idea a bunch of people really need to fucking get over.
I mean, the last half a century, or more, of the history of large parts of the world is defined by US electoral interference, for fucks sake.
posted by Jimbob at 3:11 PM on June 2, 2018 [18 favorites]
I mean, the last half a century, or more, of the history of large parts of the world is defined by US electoral interference, for fucks sake.
I'm serious about that Glenn Greenwald question, BTW.
posted by clawsoon at 3:16 PM on June 2, 2018
The ethically dubious tactics that Cambridge Analytica rolled out during the 2016 campaign had been honed by its parent company, the London-based SCL Group, in an array of influence operations in conflict zones and Third World election contests.That's the first time I've heard of spooks using a graffiti campaign. Clever.
Founded in 2005, SCL specializes in what company literature has described as “influence operations” and “psychological warfare” around the globe. An SCL brochure leaked to the BBC revealed how the firm exacerbated ethnic tensions in Latvia to assist their client in 2006.
A year later, the firm orchestrated “anti-election” rallies to suppress the opposition vote in Nigeria’s 2007 presidential election. Then, in 2010, according to the BBC, SCL initiated an “ambitious campaign of political graffiti” that “ostensibly came from the youth,” enabling its client to “claim credit for listening to a ‘united youth.'”
SCL has also applied its influence in Ukraine, first as part of the broader public relations campaign during the country’s NATO-backed 2004 “Orange Revolution,” then in Ukraine’s contested Donbas region
I'm serious about that Glenn Greenwald question, BTW.
posted by clawsoon at 3:16 PM on June 2, 2018
schadenfrau: I mean it sounds an awful lot like “DEEP STATE! DEEP STATE!”
Everybody assumes that the Deep State is working for the other side. I assume that it works for whoever has power right now. They have their preferences, but they're always willing to work with power.
If there's one thing that spooks have gotten good at, it's whispering in the ears of newly-elected officials, telling them what a scary place the world is, telling them how essential covert operations are for keeping the world free and safe. Compare 2004 Obama to 2012 Obama, for example. As they put it in their own words:
Most Americans are willing to support the Deep State as long as it's their president getting the briefings.
posted by clawsoon at 3:54 PM on June 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
Everybody assumes that the Deep State is working for the other side. I assume that it works for whoever has power right now. They have their preferences, but they're always willing to work with power.
If there's one thing that spooks have gotten good at, it's whispering in the ears of newly-elected officials, telling them what a scary place the world is, telling them how essential covert operations are for keeping the world free and safe. Compare 2004 Obama to 2012 Obama, for example. As they put it in their own words:
In his book, Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror, he describes what the intelligence community crudely refers to as the "aw, s---" moment.There's your Deep State right there. They have a straight line to the president in daily briefings, telling the president things that they strongly imply will cause everything to come tumbling down if the president reveals even a hint of to the public without asking them first.
It's attempt by intelligence officials to challenge the worldview of the president-elect's political advisers with a dose of reality. Hayden calls it "phenomenon of the unpleasant fact."
"That's when the intelligence guys give the president information and analysis that cuts across the policy or politics grain of the administration. You're telling them something they don’t want to hear and don’t want to believe," he said.
Most Americans are willing to support the Deep State as long as it's their president getting the briefings.
posted by clawsoon at 3:54 PM on June 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
I used to think our world was a mix or Jean Baudrillard and Guy DeBord with a smattering of Deleuze & Guattari. Now I think its just JG Ballard and Phillip K Dick. Not reassuring either way.
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 3:55 PM on June 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 3:55 PM on June 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
Clawsoon, as an addendum to your point, some words from Seymour Hersh (the man who revealed the Mai Lai Massacre and Abu Ghraib abuses) on American media:
Hersh is writing a book about national security and has devoted a chapter to the bin Laden killing. He says a recent report put out by an "independent" Pakistani commission about life in the Abottabad compound in which Bin Laden was holed up would not stand up to scrutiny. "The Pakistanis put out a report, don't get me going on it. Let's put it this way, it was done with considerable American input. It's a bullshit report," he says hinting of revelations to come in his book.
The Obama administration lies systematically, he claims, yet none of the leviathans of American media, the TV networks or big print titles, challenge him.
"It's pathetic, they are more than obsequious, they are afraid to pick on this guy [Obama]," he declares in an interview with the Guardian.
If anyone cares to remember, he was also recently recorded (without his consent, and he refuses to comment on) saying that Seth Rich was the person who leaked all the DNC emails to Wikileaks, that his murder was unfortunate and unrelated, because he had already told the DNC he had given the information to plenty of other people.
But I'm sure it's just all those pesky Russians, and we shouldn't pay attention to the words of a Pulitzer prize winning journalist.
Yeah, the deep state exists, and they lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie....
posted by deadaluspark at 4:06 PM on June 2, 2018
Hersh is writing a book about national security and has devoted a chapter to the bin Laden killing. He says a recent report put out by an "independent" Pakistani commission about life in the Abottabad compound in which Bin Laden was holed up would not stand up to scrutiny. "The Pakistanis put out a report, don't get me going on it. Let's put it this way, it was done with considerable American input. It's a bullshit report," he says hinting of revelations to come in his book.
The Obama administration lies systematically, he claims, yet none of the leviathans of American media, the TV networks or big print titles, challenge him.
"It's pathetic, they are more than obsequious, they are afraid to pick on this guy [Obama]," he declares in an interview with the Guardian.
If anyone cares to remember, he was also recently recorded (without his consent, and he refuses to comment on) saying that Seth Rich was the person who leaked all the DNC emails to Wikileaks, that his murder was unfortunate and unrelated, because he had already told the DNC he had given the information to plenty of other people.
But I'm sure it's just all those pesky Russians, and we shouldn't pay attention to the words of a Pulitzer prize winning journalist.
Yeah, the deep state exists, and they lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie....
posted by deadaluspark at 4:06 PM on June 2, 2018
I think this article should be taken with a grain of salt. Blumenthal has a long record of tendentious claims and this website, Grayzone, featured heavily in an article by the SPLC describing how Russia operationalises people like him. The apparently well-sourced article was taken down, reportedly after the SPLC was sued by Blumenthal, but you can fund a copy - with links - here:
[Max Blumenthal] appeared at the same RT gala as disgraced former National Security advisor Michael Flynn and the Green Party’s Jill Stein in December 2015. During that occasion, he joined a panel called “Infowar: Will there be a winner” alongside Alt Right anti-Semite Charles Bausman of Russia Insider. A month later, Blumenthal’s pro-Kremlin position crystalized with the founding of the Grayzone Project.posted by Joe in Australia at 4:07 PM on June 2, 2018 [9 favorites]
Grayzone is a collaborative project also featuring journalist Benjamin Norton, who cosigned the Hands Off Syria Coalition’s points of unity statement along with Beeley and others. After going on “Loud & Clear” with Duginist Mark Sleboda and Infowars regular, Ray McGovern, Norton plugged the Party for Socialism and Liberation on a podcast episode titled “Hands off Syria.” With other Grayzone contributors, Norton has been criticized for downplaying war crimes and helping publicize false theories about rebels contaminating Damascus’s water supply.
When reached for comment by email, Norton retorted, “I know your goal is to outlandishly smear anyone who opposes US imperialism and is to the left of the Clintons as a ‘crypto-fascist,’ while NATO supports actual fascists whom you care little about.”
Grayzone is perhaps best known for Blumenthal’s controversial two-part article attacking the White Helmets [...]
I used to think our world was a mix or Jean Baudrillard and Guy DeBord with a smattering of Deleuze & Guattari. Now I think its just JG Ballard and Phillip K Dick. Not reassuring either way.
Nope. We're now living in a Christopher Buckley novel.
posted by Altomentis at 4:36 PM on June 2, 2018
Nope. We're now living in a Christopher Buckley novel.
posted by Altomentis at 4:36 PM on June 2, 2018
Joe in Australia: featured heavily in an article by the SPLC describing how Russia operationalises people like him.
Interesting article, thanks for that. My impression - and correct me if I'm wrong on this - is that the Russians have recently tried to promote as much tendentious material as they could on all sides of American debates. If some Americans have a strong negative reaction to something - Black Lives Matter, or Blue Lives Matter, or migrant rights, or violations of those rights, or Democrats, or Republicans, or women's rights, or the oppression of women - the Russian state has been glad to stoke those negative emotions. Putin seems to have the impression that if he can give his own population a monolithic opinion (his), and divide Americans as much as possible, it will give him some sort of advantage in the world.
I've wondered whether strong negative opinions I've seen expressed on Metafilter about Glenn Greenwald and Wikileaks - and maybe strong positive opinions about them, too? - have been a distant result of this manipulation. According to the FPP articles, it was primarily American intelligence firms who were responsible for
posted by clawsoon at 5:12 PM on June 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
Interesting article, thanks for that. My impression - and correct me if I'm wrong on this - is that the Russians have recently tried to promote as much tendentious material as they could on all sides of American debates. If some Americans have a strong negative reaction to something - Black Lives Matter, or Blue Lives Matter, or migrant rights, or violations of those rights, or Democrats, or Republicans, or women's rights, or the oppression of women - the Russian state has been glad to stoke those negative emotions. Putin seems to have the impression that if he can give his own population a monolithic opinion (his), and divide Americans as much as possible, it will give him some sort of advantage in the world.
I've wondered whether strong negative opinions I've seen expressed on Metafilter about Glenn Greenwald and Wikileaks - and maybe strong positive opinions about them, too? - have been a distant result of this manipulation. According to the FPP articles, it was primarily American intelligence firms who were responsible for
planning to carry out a full-scale attack on American social justice activists and journalists....though maybe that was just as useful for the Russian state as it was for the American state?
The firms homed in on journalist Glenn Greenwald and Wikileaks, plotting to undermine both through a campaign of “disinformation,” spawning internal rifts and “creating messages around actions to sabotage or discredit the opposing organization.”
posted by clawsoon at 5:12 PM on June 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
Interesting article Joe. Interesting too that it was removed.
Blumenthal has some pretty nasty chums but I cannot do anything but applaud any investigative journalism that exposed the shit which is going on with Yemen for instance where there have been over 10,000 deaths
When you are an activist against the fascistic mechinations of the country you live in you may well find some unsavoury bedfellows.
The deep state is the military industrial complex that seems to run the USA either covertly or openly or as is becoming apparant; blatently. The 1% seeking total control and economic slavery for the 99%.
I'm not sure where the blow back predicted from the likes of Barret Brown is going to come from; probably many directions.
The death of the American empire will be very messy probably more so for non americans.
I remember my parents talking about the strange summer of 1939 as everyone in Britain waited for the inevitable cataclysm to come. We seem to be in some sort of repeat and it will be very ugly.
On the upside the slaughter of millions will probably ease the pressure on the planet but I expect I will be gone by then.
posted by adamvasco at 6:36 PM on June 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
Blumenthal has some pretty nasty chums but I cannot do anything but applaud any investigative journalism that exposed the shit which is going on with Yemen for instance where there have been over 10,000 deaths
When you are an activist against the fascistic mechinations of the country you live in you may well find some unsavoury bedfellows.
The deep state is the military industrial complex that seems to run the USA either covertly or openly or as is becoming apparant; blatently. The 1% seeking total control and economic slavery for the 99%.
I'm not sure where the blow back predicted from the likes of Barret Brown is going to come from; probably many directions.
The death of the American empire will be very messy probably more so for non americans.
I remember my parents talking about the strange summer of 1939 as everyone in Britain waited for the inevitable cataclysm to come. We seem to be in some sort of repeat and it will be very ugly.
On the upside the slaughter of millions will probably ease the pressure on the planet but I expect I will be gone by then.
posted by adamvasco at 6:36 PM on June 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
"less than a year later, it was proven without a shadow of a doubt it was being used to mass spy on NZ citizens, and the PM thumbed his fucking nose and was like (not verbatim) "too late, it's law, what are you gonna do about it, and like I give a fuck, I'm not stepping down." '
well now he's gone let's repeal the law, and make it 4 eyes (then we can make fun of them after school) - after all the US govt is making noises about how we're so scary compromised by the Chinese let's call their bluff and tell them where to shove it.
posted by mbo at 10:46 PM on June 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
But I'm sure it's just all those pesky Russians, and we shouldn't pay attention to the words of a Pulitzer prize winning journalist.
I mean, interfering with elections is bad, all around. Wanting Putin's regime to stop doing it doesn't interfere with me also wanting the US government to stop doing it to other countries, and not wanting oligarchs to stop doing it to all of us (domestically or internationally). This is a case of "yes, and", not a zero sum competition for our concern or attention
posted by eviemath at 10:41 AM on June 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
I mean, interfering with elections is bad, all around. Wanting Putin's regime to stop doing it doesn't interfere with me also wanting the US government to stop doing it to other countries, and not wanting oligarchs to stop doing it to all of us (domestically or internationally). This is a case of "yes, and", not a zero sum competition for our concern or attention
posted by eviemath at 10:41 AM on June 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
Also, as a practical matter, the American government has relentlessly developed a world-destroying military capability over the last 70 years. If election interference that installs a fascist genocidal shithead is normally a tragic crime, wherever it happens, then given the amount of fucking havoc the American government can wreak worldwide, when it happens here it’s an existential threat. America is actually exceptional is this particular, horrifying, way.
posted by schadenfrau at 11:36 AM on June 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by schadenfrau at 11:36 AM on June 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
schadenfrau: ...the American government has relentlessly developed a world-destroying military capability over the last 70 years... then given the amount of fucking havoc the American government can wreak worldwide, when it happens here it’s an existential threat. America is actually exceptional is this particular, horrifying, way.
Well... America and, as it happens, Russia.
posted by clawsoon at 2:16 PM on June 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Well... America and, as it happens, Russia.
posted by clawsoon at 2:16 PM on June 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Well... America and, as it happens, Russia.
I mean except for that pesky fact that America's "Defense" budget is literally ten times the size of Russia's, but sure Russia represents the exact same kind of existential crisis.
I love that I pointed to a Pulitzer prize winning journalist who was promoting the idea that no Russians hacked the DNC to begin with, which, if anyone were to fucking remember, was where all this Russia hysteria began.
But no, fucking CRICKETS.
Also, in respect to what you were saying clawsoon, is it a little too soon to say "Yeah, no shit, people in power love to shut down people who hold power accountable." when it comes to how Wikileaks being discredited and ignored is a positive thing for both American and Russian governments. Because that line of thought strikes me as "yeah, no shit sherlock" kind of thought.
Yeah, Russia does evil shit, but our country is tearing apart at the seams not because of them, but because of shit at home, shit like "looking forward, not backward", not prosecuting war criminals, WHICH IN TURN has allowed more international war criminals to get away with horrible shit, because the "policeman" of the world is doing the same horrible shit. Let's stop acting like we have so little influence on the fucking world or what we did in the early 2000's somehow is unrelated to any of this or doesn't matter.
I mean, we have entire swaths of our government that think torture is totes okay, and yet we're supposed to fucking trust these guys?
Also, does anyone else remember Bruce Ivins? The US government scientist that was railroaded on the Anthrax case by Comey and Mueller despite there being almost zero evidence he was involved? Bruce Ives eventually killed himself over it, he was Aaron Schwartz before Aaron Schwartz. Why am I supposed to trust Mueller when he was SUPER ready to nail a random person to the wall just so he could prosecute? Criticism of that case was rampant at the time, because it was so obviously just them looking for someone to fucking pin it on.
Fuck Trump to hell and back, Fuck Putin to hell and back, but endlessly writing off legitimate criticism makes people like me want to jump and scream bloody murder about shit like this, which in turn sends MOST people going "oh, so you support TRUMP" then, which makes us want to tear our fucking hair, because no we don't, we just want to see some fucking clarity and fucking sanity and people not endlessly swallowing America's big fucking lie.
posted by deadaluspark at 8:25 AM on June 4, 2018
I mean except for that pesky fact that America's "Defense" budget is literally ten times the size of Russia's, but sure Russia represents the exact same kind of existential crisis.
I love that I pointed to a Pulitzer prize winning journalist who was promoting the idea that no Russians hacked the DNC to begin with, which, if anyone were to fucking remember, was where all this Russia hysteria began.
But no, fucking CRICKETS.
Also, in respect to what you were saying clawsoon, is it a little too soon to say "Yeah, no shit, people in power love to shut down people who hold power accountable." when it comes to how Wikileaks being discredited and ignored is a positive thing for both American and Russian governments. Because that line of thought strikes me as "yeah, no shit sherlock" kind of thought.
Yeah, Russia does evil shit, but our country is tearing apart at the seams not because of them, but because of shit at home, shit like "looking forward, not backward", not prosecuting war criminals, WHICH IN TURN has allowed more international war criminals to get away with horrible shit, because the "policeman" of the world is doing the same horrible shit. Let's stop acting like we have so little influence on the fucking world or what we did in the early 2000's somehow is unrelated to any of this or doesn't matter.
I mean, we have entire swaths of our government that think torture is totes okay, and yet we're supposed to fucking trust these guys?
Also, does anyone else remember Bruce Ivins? The US government scientist that was railroaded on the Anthrax case by Comey and Mueller despite there being almost zero evidence he was involved? Bruce Ives eventually killed himself over it, he was Aaron Schwartz before Aaron Schwartz. Why am I supposed to trust Mueller when he was SUPER ready to nail a random person to the wall just so he could prosecute? Criticism of that case was rampant at the time, because it was so obviously just them looking for someone to fucking pin it on.
Fuck Trump to hell and back, Fuck Putin to hell and back, but endlessly writing off legitimate criticism makes people like me want to jump and scream bloody murder about shit like this, which in turn sends MOST people going "oh, so you support TRUMP" then, which makes us want to tear our fucking hair, because no we don't, we just want to see some fucking clarity and fucking sanity and people not endlessly swallowing America's big fucking lie.
posted by deadaluspark at 8:25 AM on June 4, 2018
I mean, or was the fact that John Podesta went on Ancient Aliens to promote the idea that people who "didn't want the UFO truth out there" were part of why Hillary Clinton somehow didn't get elected was not enough to clue you the fuck in that ANYTHING that fucking dipshit fuckstick says is nothing but propaganda aimed at minimizing anyone talking about the real flaws of the candidate or campaign, up to and including blaming it all on Russia. (Because once again, Podesta was the first person pushing this fucking narrative.)
Don't forget that the DNC is now suing Wikileaks for it, risking press freedom, because why? Especially if Seth Rich was the leaker, as A RESPECTED JOURNALIST SEEMS TO BELIEVE IS TRUE BASED ON HIS SOURCES, it's the ultimate fuck-you to press freedom, from the very party who claims that that matters SO MUCH to them.
For fucks sake.
posted by deadaluspark at 8:35 AM on June 4, 2018
Don't forget that the DNC is now suing Wikileaks for it, risking press freedom, because why? Especially if Seth Rich was the leaker, as A RESPECTED JOURNALIST SEEMS TO BELIEVE IS TRUE BASED ON HIS SOURCES, it's the ultimate fuck-you to press freedom, from the very party who claims that that matters SO MUCH to them.
For fucks sake.
posted by deadaluspark at 8:35 AM on June 4, 2018
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antsan unaccountable shadow government.posted by duffell at 1:06 PM on June 2, 2018 [6 favorites]