Russian interference with the 2016 election

[rogue06]

I'm not following this. Is there something that has recently displeased the left that has some connection to the Times event in the o/p? I've found that right wing, well, "known propaganda websites," like to search out left wing fringe sites for outlandish nuggets, but life's too short for me to spend quality time with either of them.

"Fringe sites" like ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, Washington Post, and New York Times?

[Mountain Man]

You think! If the Russians are so bad then why has Trump failed to meet a deadline to impose sanctions on individuals who do business with Russian military or intelligence entities? And why has he not directed his intelligence agencies to crack down on Russia given that the senior US intel chiefs unanimously warn that Russian meddling threatens 2018 vote. Doesn't Trump care or does he fear repercussions from Putin?

[Juvenal]

Apparently it also salted with a few rumors and innuendos that the Hillary campaign fed to the author so they could be included as well.

If you're speaking of the information from Blumenthal, it wasn't in the dossier, and the rumors and innuendos begin with Nunes, whose tight-knit relationship with the White House he's in charge of investigating is frankly scandalous.

Winer has responded.



The timeline presented by Winer is in conflict with this conspiracy theory.

By now you should realize that the most convincing lies, the best con jobs, are concocted using as much truth as possible and then twisting it.

That's precisely Chris Wray's allegation against the Nunes memo.

[Juvenal]

"Fringe sites" like ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, Washington Post, and New York Times?

Is there something that has recently displeased the left that has some connection to the Times event in the o/p? In particular, is there something published recently, or even broadcasted, that suggests this?

[Mountain Man]

There's a lot more to Nunes' investigation than meets the eye. It seems he has some very big fish caught in his net, and they're thrashing wildly in their attempts to escape. Everything I've read suggests that Nunes is certain of his information. There's a reason he's acting with such methodical confidence.

[One Bad Pig]

This NYT article seems material:



So does this one from WaPo:



Upshot: Fake news from Russian bots played a minor part in something that probably didn't have much effect anyway.

MM may or may not appreciate Breitbart being characterized as 'mainstream'.

[Mountain Man]

So when are we going to bring indictments against members of the liberal media for their undisguised attempts to influence voters against Trump?

[Sparko]

My thinking is that most of this fake news crap might be coming from Russia, but not from hackers, but just Russian scammers, regular citizens that want to make money by creating sensationalist stories that people pass along on facebook and twitter and contain tons of ads that they get paid for. It isn't some nefarious KGB plot. And there are such scammers in many countries, including the USA. Heck, half of facebook is people sharing such garbage about any number of topics, from politics to stories about aliens or the dangers of eating meat, to quizzes about what your favorite food is. It's all about numbers of views and numbers of ads served. Advertisers not only pay so much per click-thru but just for displaying the ads.

[carpedm9587]

Apparently, Mueller's investigation has now handed down indictments against 13 Russian individuals and three Russian companies for interfering in the 2016 election, beginning as early as 2014. They were apparently funded to the tune of $1m/month to target swing districts, and emphasize support for Sanders/Trump and against Rubio/Cruz/Clinton. More details here.

[Sparko]

Apparently, Mueller's investigation has now handed down indictments against 13 Russian individuals and three Russian companies for interfering in the 2016 election, beginning as early as 2014. They were apparently funded to the tune of $1m/month to target swing districts, and emphasize support for Sanders/Trump and against Rubio/Cruz/Clinton. More details here.

Thread here:

http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/sh...ts-16-russians

[Juvenal]

This NYT article seems material:

Readers should note this story was included in the list cited in post #2:

Alternatively, current and historical reporting is available at:

Russian Hacking and Influence in the U.S. Election

Upshot: Fake news from Russian bots played a minor part in something that probably didn't have much effect anyway.

Probably.

MM may or may not appreciate Breitbart being characterized as 'mainstream'.

Not precisely true. "Russia used mainstream media to manipulate American voters" doesn't imply all of the outlets cited were mainstream.

[Juvenal]

Thread here:

http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/sh...ts-16-russians

Hmm ... I'd prefer the threads were merged, but I don't want to relax my civility rules, so I'll be posting my comments on this issue here.

[Juvenal]

Russian troll farm, 13 suspects indicted for interference in U.S. election

Independent of the success of their efforts, the indictments against them are useful in pushing back against the suggestion we should not be concerned. Foreign actors actively engaged in undermining our elections need to be held to account.

Notably, the troll farm, run out of St. Petersburg, was financed by ...

I think it's fair to say this effort could not have been undertaken without Putin's agreement, even without further evidence that it was undertaken at his direction.

In the TimesEvent cited in the o/p, there was a reference by a panelist to over a 100 million impressions, which I recall from testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, but was loathe to look up for reference due to time constraints.

While we still don't know how many votes were changed, or perhaps more importantly, how many voters leaning toward Trump were induced to show up at the polls, the reach was sufficient to make a difference in an election that hinged on 70,000 votes. Whether it made a difference is a different question.

[Juvenal]

My thinking is that most of this fake news crap might be coming from Russia, but not from hackers, but just Russian scammers, regular citizens that want to make money by creating sensationalist stories that people pass along on facebook and twitter and contain tons of ads that they get paid for. It isn't some nefarious KGB plot. And there are such scammers in many countries, including the USA. Heck, half of facebook is people sharing such garbage about any number of topics, from politics to stories about aliens or the dangers of eating meat, to quizzes about what your favorite food is. It's all about numbers of views and numbers of ads served. Advertisers not only pay so much per click-thru but just for displaying the ads.

Today's news contradicts this thesis.

[One Bad Pig]

While we still don't know how many votes were changed, or perhaps more importantly, how many voters leaning toward Trump were induced to show up at the polls, the reach was sufficient to make a difference in an election that hinged on 70,000 votes. Whether it made a difference is a different question.

Your concluding assertions would appear to be directly at odds with the NYT article I posted earlier. Another tidbit which may be pertinent from the articles in my earlier post is that efforts were made to boost both Sanders and Trump. This may have been more an anti-Hillary push than anything pro-Trump per se, which would make sense in light of the fact that Putin didn't much appreciate the Hillary State Department attempting to help push him out of office.