Thanks, folks! This is the nicest comments section on the internet!
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Great movie.
Iād question itās bravery. It appeared at a convenient time and will probably shift the eyes of investigators getting close to what Putin does not want seen. It difficult to accept this as real. You die for stuff like this in Russia. And these guys are still alive.
The Russians knew how ignorant many Americans are these days. When I first heard about it, I was shocked that people got their news from social media and believed it. I would never have imagined it. If a well-informed citizenry is crucial to the continued existence of the republic, we are doomed.
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āā¦ Putin is in effect pulling all the strings of the Republican Partyā¦ā
You said it: Heās effectively a Russian agent. He made a Faustian bargain with Putin and heāll go down in disgrace for it. Just hope I live long enough to see it.
Ya know, my daughter just happened to be taking two Russian history courses when the Soviet Union collapsed. I recall her tell us that the professors were so stunned they could hardly talk. They read 2 Russian newspapers daily, spoke Russian fluently. They expected the collapse of the USSR, but saw it a few more years down the road.
For what itās worth. And my coming of age as a cold warrior occurred in the early 60ās. Russian was up to all kinds of mischief around the world, had a lot of control over China and N Korea.
I was a poli sci major in the early eighties. I remember reading a little blurb in the NYT about that withdrawalthe Soviet troops stationed in Czechoslovakia, and I was floored. The gist of the article was that they just couldnāt afford it anymore. But obviously, Czechoslovakia wasnāt just any Warsaw Pact country. Those troops werenāt just pointed at NATO. I thought it was just a huge deal. Wasnāt clear if he was saying āweāre going to trust you,ā āweāre so broke we have to trust you,ā or āwe just no longer give a shit.ā
And other poli sci types were likewise floored and we all had that kind of frustrated feeling you have when you have expertise that lets you see that a thing is a much bigger deal than lay people grasp. Like how psychologists and climate scientists feel these days.
And obviously, in far less time than I could have imagined, the definition of what a ābig dealā was underwent a radical revision.
Fast forward to the late 90ās. A newly minted attorney who had also been a poli sci major was interviewing with my firm. And as I was talking to her, it suddenly hit me that sheād gotten a political science degree in a world without a Soviet Union in it. Indeed, sheād been a 'tween when the USSR disintegrated and had no adult memories of that world. And Iām like āso, what the hell do political science majors even study in a world without a Soviet Union in it?ā
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Yep, the Cold War was one hellava reality show. We knew the Russians were behind all sorts of mischief in the world during that period. They graciously confirmed most of it as they opened their archives.
Now, Putin has effectively rekindled the Cold War. La plus ca changeā¦
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āUseful idiotsā, 21st-century edition.
thereās an historic chasm weāll suffer for
Iām sort of cuirous about these āActivistsā are they fools, scoundrels, confused , or just seeing it as a job ?
āNaive to the point of stubbornly and willfully obtuseā is my guess. Iāll bet every last one of them either rejects the truth or just rationalizes it away.
But are they āBlacks for Trumpā-weirdoes with some Cherokee (?) -conspiracy-complex ? They are usually not the most reliable partners, those types.
This report from Russia + the Buzzfeed report on the specific Trump campaign folks who retweeted the fake TN GOP twitter handle to spread RU active measures nationwide are another building block to break the dam wide open.
It seems to me that if you piece together all the different threads of communication between Russia and the Trump campaign or pro-Trump intermediaries, Russia offered a catalog of services from which Team Trump could pick and choose. Social media services were clearly one of the key offerings. Hacking services, campaign finance services also seem to be among the offerings. In signing up for the social media service offering, the Trump team arranged to have data provided to the RU troll farms and had some ability to customize it for the campaign. Itās very similar to a software as a service deal where there is a standard platform which is customized for a particular client.
It is inconceivable to me that Kushner and Parscale did not know the origin of these handles or the extent of Russian activity within the US. Their digital operation was nothing more than a front for a Russian intelligence operation against the United States. Kushner, Parscale, Conway, Flynn, Trump and Bannon have acted against the interests of the US.
Does this meet the legal definition of treason? Letās see:
18 USC 2381 āWhoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.ā
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Is Russia an āenemyā? There is no question in my mind that Russia violated US sovereignty in a deeply affecting way. They interfered in the basic process of how our Republic functions. They interfered in how we pick a President. Under international law, a violation of sovereignty justified actions against the offender state. A violation of sovereignty can equate to an act of war. I think Russia meets the definition of āenemyā. Virtual bombs do more damage than actual ones.
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Did the Trump campaign adhere to our enemies, giving Russia aid and comfort within the US or elsewhere? I think we know that they did. There was a basic agreement between the two where Trump sold out his country to make a buck and to get campaign help and in exchange, Russia would get its policy agenda enacted. We need more open proof of the conspiracy, but weāve all seen the threads. We know itās there. Itās inconceivable that Russia couldāve targeted voters and key states without US help. Those Vichy Americans who worked with, conspired or aided or abetted Russia in this intel operation adhered to the enemies in the US and gave them aid and comfort.
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Hereās a key: there is no knowledge qualifier in this crime. Once one establishes that Russia is an enemy and US persons aided them, you technically have come within the scope of the treason definition.
I know the legal community is very reticent to āgo thereā, but I think we need to take a hard look at what happened here. This is treason in the lay personās sense of the term. But it could be treason in the legal sense. This needs to be explored. If prominent legal folks were to debate and explore this openly, it would be like shaking the trees in the forest. Everyone would rat out Team Trump and run for cover. I think we need to be aggressive with the legal front in order to get Trump to quit. This is one way to do it.
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You mean the TV series?
That is a very informative and interesting series!