Phred wrote:

drsmooth wrote:

06hawkalum wrote:
The large HRC had to climb were four fold:

1. Approximately half the country has hated her guts for 25 years

2. She lacked charisma

3. She failed to mobilize the base

4. Russian interference

you left off that despite being a dreadful candidate almost 3 million more votes - over 2% of the vote total more - were bestowed on her, than on the "winner".

I can't believe that nobody mentioned that she also had the audacity to be female.

pacino wrote:fair assessment of the report, its follies and its final findings:

But unlike the Bush administration’s ruse leading up to the invasion of Iraq, it’s unlikely the Obama administration is manufacturing a case against Russia out of thin air. I know no one in the cyber security community who does not actually believe that cyber espionage operators involved in the hack of the DNC are indeed connected in some way to Russian intelligence.

In this case, rather than manufacture evidence, the U.S. government couldn’t organize itself to present it convincingly. The real problem here is not political subterfuge. It is, rather, symptomatic of a larger syndrome of how we as a society deal with cyber security issues today.

The NSA and other intelligence agencies have extraordinary capabilities that provide unparalleled visibility into digital networks, and especially the networks of their adversaries like Russia. Having spent many months closely examining the Snowden disclosures I can at least partially attest to their prowess in this regard. The data to which they have access would undoubtedly show precisely who did what, when, and how.

we'll simply never be privy to this data due to secrecy with info for the govt and proprietary reasons with places like Crowdstrike and Fidelis. This allows Trump, greenwald, et al to continue to posit that 'we dont know who it was'. Trust in institutions is simply at all-time lows right now due to previous administrations manhandling information for political reasons (the now much decried War in Iraq, for example) edit: and people feeling govt isn't working for them.

So, because previous data and analysis was used for political purposes, this analysis has been deemed political and has become an issue of faith. most people no longer have faith. But, that's part of what one side has been trying to do for an entire generation now, whittle down faith in government.

JUburton wrote:The hacking helped Trump. Trump can't admit that the hacking helped him. Obama and the left say it was definitely Russia. If Trump agrees it's the Russians then the public can connect the dots that the Russians helped Trump whether or not he acknowledges either of the facts (that it was the Russians and that it aided his election). If he opens that door then his future dealings with Russia probably get even more scrutiny from the public. By saying 'it might not be them, who knows! i know things you dont!' he allows his base and most of the GOP faithful to get in line and put their Russian blinders on.

CalvinBall wrote:

JUburton wrote:The hacking helped Trump. Trump can't admit that the hacking helped him. Obama and the left say it was definitely Russia. If Trump agrees it's the Russians then the public can connect the dots that the Russians helped Trump whether or not he acknowledges either of the facts (that it was the Russians and that it aided his election). If he opens that door then his future dealings with Russia probably get even more scrutiny from the public. By saying 'it might not be them, who knows! i know things you dont!' he allows his base and most of the GOP faithful to get in line and put their Russian blinders on.

tbf a lot of republicans do not agree with him here. they are on the it was russia train.

Mr Barrow won 43.3% of the vote on 1 December, beating President Jammeh's 39.6%. A third-party candidate, Mama Kandeh, won 17.1%.
Those figures were revised from earlier totals, after the electoral commission discovered a tallying error affecting all candidates. The revised results did not alter the outcome of the election.
However, Mr Jammeh declared that he would no longer respect the result and has launched a court action to annul the result.
His security forces have seized control of the commission's headquarters in the capital, Banjul, and the head of the election commission has fled the country over fears for his security.

Three private radio stations were also taken off air, in an apparent media crackdown. One has since resumed broadcasting music and advertisements only, with no on-air presenters or DJs.
Despite the threat of military intervention and President Jammeh's protests, Mr Barrow's team said they plan to declare him as president on 18 December.

pacino wrote:Gambia election results in crisis
the duly elected leader (who got the most votes) isn't being seated as president because the current president is citing electoral 'abnormalities' but won't say what they are. The military has now publicly backed the guy who got less votes:

Mr Barrow won 43.3% of the vote on 1 December, beating President Jammeh's 39.6%. A third-party candidate, Mama Kandeh, won 17.1%.
Those figures were revised from earlier totals, after the electoral commission discovered a tallying error affecting all candidates. The revised results did not alter the outcome of the election.
However, Mr Jammeh declared that he would no longer respect the result and has launched a court action to annul the result.
His security forces have seized control of the commission's headquarters in the capital, Banjul, and the head of the election commission has fled the country over fears for his security.

Three private radio stations were also taken off air, in an apparent media crackdown. One has since resumed broadcasting music and advertisements only, with no on-air presenters or DJs.
Despite the threat of military intervention and President Jammeh's protests, Mr Barrow's team said they plan to declare him as president on 18 December.

This isn't going to be good.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for a pardon for a soldier convicted of manslaughter for killing a wounded Palestinian attacker.
Elor Azaria, 19 at the time, shot Abdul Fatah al-Sharif, 21, in the head while he was lying immobile on a road.
A military court convicted the soldier after dismissing his assertion that the Palestinian still posed a dange

Footage of the scene several minutes later, filmed by a Palestinian and released by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, shows Sharif alive, wounded and now unarmed.
A soldier, identified as Azaria, is then seen cocking his rifle and fatally shooting Sharif in the head from several metres away.

In their indictment, prosecutors said Azaria "violated the rules of engagement without operational justification as the terrorist was lying on the ground wounded and represented no immediate threat for the accused or others who were present".
Delivering the verdict on Wednesday, the panel of three military judges rejected Azaria's defence that he shot Sharif because he continued to pose a threat.
He had told the court that he believed there might be a suicide belt under the Palestinian's jacket.

The judges, who took two-and-a-half hours to deliver their verdict, noted that Azaria's commanders had testified that he did not mention the same concerns when they questioned him immediately after the shooting incident.

“The point of this hearing is to have the intelligence community reinforce, from their point of view, that the Russians did this,” Graham said. “You seem to have two choices now — some guy living in an embassy, on the run from the law for rape, who has a history of undermining American democracy and releasing classified information to put our troops at risk, or the 17 intelligence agencies sworn to defend us. I’m going with them.”

JUburton wrote:is anyone watching this committee hearing or have a good twitter follow for updates? never thought i'd be cheering on mccain and lindsay graham but here we are.

“The point of this hearing is to have the intelligence community reinforce, from their point of view, that the Russians did this,” Graham said. “You seem to have two choices now — some guy living in an embassy, on the run from the law for rape, who has a history of undermining American democracy and releasing classified information to put our troops at risk, or the 17 intelligence agencies sworn to defend us. I’m going with them.”

damn lindsay, dont hurt 'em

"The Democrats, lead by head clown Chuck Schumer, know how bad ObamaCare is and what a mess they are in. Instead of working to fix it they ... do the typical political thing and BLAME. The fact is ObamaCare was a lie from the beginning. 'Keep you doctor, keep your plan!'" Trump wrote.

He continued: "It is ... time for Republicans & Democrats to get together and come up with a healthcare plan that really works - much less expensive & FAR BETTER!"

thephan wrote:Next I though 'what is the Lt. Gov's name, and why do I care about him.