The Russians have landed! The Russians have landed!

[Hawkmoon]

In the Internet!

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/16/russians-indicted-in-special-counsel-robert-muellers-probe.html

Interesting take-away here:

Rosenstein said there is no allegation in the indictment that any American was a knowing participant in the scheme — nor is there any allegation that the scheme affected the outcome of the election.

That's going to upset a lot of people who were hoping to see Trump impeached and Hillary installed as Queen.

[RoadKingLarry]

I'm betting this is just another warm up for the big headliner.
Pretty damned embarrassing if this is the biggest thing to come from the Mueller probe.

[Hawkmoon]

I don't want to bet. That said, I confess to hoping the whole Trump-Russia collusion thing turns out to be a huge nothingburger. Mostly just because that would cause liberals' heads to explode all across the country.

[DittoHead]

I thought Trump asked Putin about this and he pinky swore that they didn't do anything 

[MikeB]

How is this any different than what Obama did trying to influence elections in the Ukraine, on Brexit, etc.?

Or are we not supposed to ask those questions?

[Hawkmoon]

We're not supposed to ask those questions. The official attitude is "Do as I say, not as I do."

[TommyGunn]

In the Internet!

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/16/russians-indicted-in-special-counsel-robert-muellers-probe.html

Interesting take-away here:

That's going to upset a lot of people who were hoping to see Trump impeached and Hillary installed as Queen.

The libs are hoping that he said there were no accusations in this indictment  of any Americans being knowingly involved,  there WILL BE  in future indictments.  Here's to hoping!

[Fly320s]

I never understood why the Russians would want Trump to win.  Between him and Mrs Clinton, Trump is the one more likely to cause problems for Russia.

[Ben]

Well, it appears the ruskies were behinf anti-trump stuff too, so that should be interesting.  If any of this is in fact real.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/02/16/indictment-reveals-russians-also-organized-anti-trump-rallies-after-election.html

[MikeB]

Well, it appears the ruskies were behinf anti-trump stuff too, so that should be interesting.  If any of this is in fact real.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/02/16/indictment-reveals-russians-also-organized-anti-trump-rallies-after-election.html

They were probably more instereted in sowing dissension than anything else. Assuming any of this is really real so to speak. I think they are reaching personally. I’m not sure there is actually a real crime here that can legitimately prosecuted. We do the same to other countries and good luck extraditing the perpetrators from Russia.

[lee n. field]

That's going to upset a lot of people who were hoping to see Trump impeached and Hillary installed as Queen.

"It was the Russians!  The Russians!" is turning into the lefty/D. version of the 0bama birthers.

[French G.]

So, if this is the standard when do we arrest Soros?

[Perd Hapley]

"It was the Russians!  The Russians!" is turning into the lefty/D. version of the 0bama birthers.

It went way past that a while back.

[Pb]

So, if this is the standard when do we arrest Soros?

Soon, I hope.

[DittoHead]

How is this any different than what Obama did trying to influence elections in the Ukraine, on Brexit, etc.?

Well the charges in the indictment include conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft. I don't have the best memory but I don't recall Obama doing anything that would fall under those when he commented on Brexit.

[Hawkmoon]

Well the charges in the indictment include conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft. I don't have the best memory but I don't recall Obama doing anything that would fall under those when he commented on Brexit.

Not personally, but we have no idea what the CIA was up to in Ukraine.

[Ben]

Well the charges in the indictment include conspiracy to defraud the United States, [Your country here]  conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft. I don't have the best memory but I don't recall Obama doing anything that would fall under those when he commented on Brexit.

With the above edit,I can about guarantee that every presidential administration since Washington's has done that stuff to other countries (maybe the president in office at the time knew about it, maybe they didn't).

It's always funny how upset we get when other countries do to us what we do to them. We practically wrote the book on interfering in the elections of other countries. You know, for democracy and all.

[DittoHead]

It's always funny how upset we get when other countries do to us what we do to them. We practically wrote the book on interfering in the elections of other countries. You know, for democracy and all.

So what's you're point? Should we just let it slide? Just because the US has interfered in other elections before doesn't mean I want Putin screwing with ours.

Not personally, but we have no idea what the CIA was up to in Ukraine.

Sure and if law enforcement in Ukraine knows who they are and exactly what they were up to then I would expect them to be charged for breaking whatever laws are on the books in the Ukraine. These Russians got caught breaking our laws and are facing charges here because of it. That seems like the way it should work to me.

[Scout26]

Okay so Russians setup fake social media accounts, (both individuals and groups), created fake stories, and probably bought fake followers (mostly).  

I'm not seeing how any of this rises to the level of a crime.  

Do we ban foreign media from publishing stories about our elections, especially if they tend to favor one candidate/party over the other ??

Doesn't caveat emptor apply ??  We don't punish the Weekly Word News or National Enquirer for the fake stories they run.

I see nothing in the indictments about changes to votes or voting machines.  So how did this "change" the election, other then perhaps a few people got fooled about fake rallies, that apparently never happened.

And if these 13 people are all that Mueller has...then this has been a complete waste of time and money.


And will Mueller hand down indictments against Obama and his group Organizing for America due to our interference in Israel's elections in 2015??

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/marc-thiessen-obamas-offensive-against-netanyahu-backfires/2015/02/02/5f800ab2-aae1-11e4-ad71-7b9eba0f87d6_story.html?utm_term=.9bbda316eeb5

[brimic]

Okay so Russians setup fake social media accounts, (both individuals and groups), created fake stories, and probably bought fake followers (mostly). 

I'm not seeing how any of this rises to the level of a crime. 

Do we ban foreign media from publishing stories about our elections, especially if they tend to favor one candidate/party over the other ??

Doesn't caveat emptor apply ??  We don't punish the Weekly Word News or National Enquirer for the fake stories they run.

I see nothing in the indictments about changes to votes or voting machines.  So how did this "change" the election, other then perhaps a few people got fooled about fake rallies, that apparently never happened.

And if these 13 people are all that Mueller has...then this has been a complete waste of time and money.


And will Mueller hand sown indictments against Obama and is group Organizing for America doe our interference in Israel's elections in 2015??

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/marc-thiessen-obamas-offensive-against-netanyahu-backfires/2015/02/02/5f800ab2-aae1-11e4-ad71-7b9eba0f87d6_story.html?utm_term=.9bbda316eeb5

I’m not seeing the crime either... fake stories is what CNN does all the time.

[Scout26]

I guess I fail to understand how a newspaper like say The Guardian or the The Daily Telegraph publishing an editorial that says "We support Candidate X in the upcoming American election" is not a crime and a Russian sitting in St. Petersburg writing the same thing on Facebook is a crime.

[Ben]

I guess I fail to understand how a newspaper like say The Guardian or the The Daily Telegraph publishing an editorial that says "We support Candidate X in the upcoming American election" is not a crime and a Russian sitting in St. Petersburg writing the same thing on Facebook is a crime.

Also lots of US celebrities with Canadian or other citizenship manipulate their fans on social media all the time regarding elections. Look at how many of them fly from Hollywood to some other state to push for candidates completely out of their district (or state) of representation.

It's telling that the Dems have warned Mueller not to release investigation information prior to the 2018 mid-terms.

[TommyGunn]

Okay so Russians setup fake social media accounts, (both individuals and groups), created fake stories, and probably bought fake followers (mostly). 

I'm not seeing how any of this rises to the level of a crime. 

Do we ban foreign media from publishing stories about our elections, especially if they tend to favor one candidate/party over the other ??

Doesn't caveat emptor apply ??  We don't punish the Weekly Word News or National Enquirer for the fake stories they run.

I see nothing in the indictments about changes to votes or voting machines.  So how did this "change" the election, other then perhaps a few people got fooled about fake rallies, that apparently never happened.

And if these 13 people are all that Mueller has...then this has been a complete waste of time and money.


And will Mueller hand sown indictments against Obama and is group Organizing for America doe our interference in Israel's elections in 2015??

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/marc-thiessen-obamas-offensive-against-netanyahu-backfires/2015/02/02/5f800ab2-aae1-11e4-ad71-7b9eba0f87d6_story.html?utm_term=.9bbda316eeb5

It's illegal for foreign entities to interfere with U. S.  elections this way,  THAT'S  the crime.   It's not illegal  for Americans.  Why do you think the Russkies were posing as Americans?

[HankB]

Are the indicted Russian nationals resident here in the USA or are they in Russia right now?

If the latter . . . good luck getting Putin to extradite them.

[TommyGunn]

Are the indicted Russian nationals resident here in the USA or are they in Russia right now?

If the latter . . . good luck getting Putin to extradite them.

They're in Russia,  and we don't have an extradition treaty with Russia,  so yeah,  they will never see the inside of an American courtroom.