Current Events 3/17: good job cole

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Internet VFW > Current Events 3/17: good job cole

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psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Could all IEDs be considered artisanal and homemade?

# ¿ Mar 1, 2017 21:08

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 13:49

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Capn Beeb posted:

Edit so as not to be poo poo posting:

What's that phrase or phenomenon where you're not fully sure if this is real or not and the level of satire or ridiculousness, especially given the current state of things, loops it back around to being believable?

Poe's Law.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2017 21:56

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Finally signed up for the Times. I figured I could probably stomach $1.50 a week if it goes toward a good cause like trolling Trump.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2017 22:08

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

There's the hammer, here's the ~~sickle~~ anvil:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/01/...p-news&_r=1

Copying the full article for those behind the paywall:

quote:

Obama Administration Rushed to Preserve Intelligence of Russian Election Hacking

WASHINGTON � In the Obama administration�s last days, some White House officials scrambled to spread information about Russian efforts to undermine the presidential election � and about possible contacts between associates of President-elect Donald J. Trump and Russians � across the government. Former American officials say they had two aims: to ensure that such meddling isn�t duplicated in future American or European elections, and to leave a clear trail of intelligence for government investigators.

American allies, including the British and the Dutch, had provided information describing meetings in European cities between Russian officials � and others close to Russia�s president, Vladimir V. Putin � and associates of President-elect Trump, according to three former American officials who requested anonymity in discussing classified intelligence. Separately, American intelligence agencies had intercepted communications of Russian officials, some of them within the Kremlin, discussing contacts with Trump associates.

Then and now, Mr. Trump has denied that his campaign had any contact with Russian officials, and at one point he openly suggested that American spy agencies had cooked up intelligence suggesting that the Russian government had tried to meddle in the presidential election. Mr. Trump has accused the Obama administration of hyping the Russia story line as a way to discredit his new administration.

At the Obama White House, Mr. Trump�s statements stoked fears among some that intelligence could be covered up or destroyed � or its sources exposed � once power changed hands. What followed was a push to preserve the intelligence that underscored the deep anxiety with which the White House and American intelligence agencies had come to view the threat from Moscow.

It also reflected the suspicion among many in the Obama White House that the Trump campaign might have colluded with Russia on election email hacks � a suspicion that American officials say has not been confirmed. Former senior Obama administration officials said that none of the efforts were directed by Mr. Obama.

Sean Spicer, the Trump White House spokesman, said, �The only new piece of information that has come to light is that political appointees in the Obama administration have sought to create a false narrative to make an excuse for their own defeat in the election.� He added, �There continues to be no there, there.�

As Inauguration Day approached, Obama White House officials grew convinced that the intelligence was damning and that they needed to ensure that as many people as possible inside government could see it, even if people without security clearances could not. Some officials began asking specific questions at intelligence briefings, knowing the answers would be archived and could be easily unearthed by investigators � including the Senate Intelligence Committee, which in early January announced an inquiry into Russian efforts to influence the election.

At intelligence agencies, there was a push to process as much raw intelligence as possible into analyses, and to keep the reports at a relatively low classification level to ensure as wide a readership as possible across the government � and, in some cases, among European allies. This allowed the upload of as much intelligence as possible to Intellipedia, a secret wiki used by American analysts to share information.

There was also an effort to pass reports and other sensitive materials to Congress. In one instance, the State Department sent a cache of documents marked �secret� to Senator Benjamin Cardin of Maryland days before the Jan. 20 inauguration. The documents, detailing Russian efforts to intervene in elections worldwide, were sent in response to a request from Mr. Cardin, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee.

�This situation was serious, as is evident by President Obama�s call for a review � and as is evident by the United States response,� said Eric Schultz, a spokesman for Mr. Obama. �When the intelligence community does that type of comprehensive review, it is standard practice that a significant amount of information would be compiled and documented.�

The opposite happened with the most sensitive intelligence, including the names of sources and the identities of foreigners who were regularly monitored. Officials tightened the already small number of people who could access that information. They knew the information could not be kept from the new president or his top advisers, but wanted to narrow the number of people who might see the information, officials said.

More than a half-dozen current and former officials described various aspects of the effort to preserve and distribute the intelligence, and some said they were speaking to draw attention to the material and ensure proper investigation by Congress. All spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing classified information, nearly all of which remains secret, making an independent public assessment of the competing Obama and Trump administration claims impossible.

The F.B.I. is conducting a wide-ranging counterintelligence investigation into Russia�s meddling in the election, and is examining alleged links between Mr. Trump�s associates and the Russian government.

Separately, the House and Senate intelligence committees are conducting their own investigations, though they must rely on information collected by the F.B.I. and intelligence agencies.

At his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, former Senator Dan Coats, Mr. Trump�s nominee for director of national intelligence, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that �I think it�s our responsibility to provide you access to all that you need.�

Some Obama White House officials had little faith that a Trump administration would make good on such pledges, and the efforts to preserve the intelligence continued until the administration�s final hours. This was partly because intelligence was still being collected and analyzed, but it also reflected the sentiment among many administration officials that they had not recognized the scale of the Russian campaign until it was too late.

The warning signs had been building throughout the summer, but were far from clear. As WikiLeaks was pushing out emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee through online publication, American intelligence began picking up conversations in which Russian officials were discussing contacts with Trump associates, and European allies were starting to pass along information about people close to Mr. Trump meeting with Russians in the Netherlands, Britain and other countries.

But what was going on in the meetings was unclear to the officials, and the intercepted communications did little to clarify matters � the Russians, it appeared, were arguing about how far to go in interfering in the presidential election. What intensified the alarm at the Obama White House was a campaign of cyberattacks on state electoral systems in September, which led the administration to deliver a public accusation against the Russians in October.

But it wasn�t until after the election, and after more intelligence had come in, that the administration began to grasp the scope of the suspected tampering and concluded that one goal of the campaign was to help tip the election in Mr. Trump�s favor. In early December, Mr. Obama ordered the intelligence community to conduct a full assessment of the Russian campaign.

In the weeks before the assessment was released in January, the intelligence community combed through databases for an array of communications and other information � some of which was months old by then � and began producing reports that showed there were contacts during the campaign between Trump associates and Russian officials.

The nature of the contacts remains unknown. Several of Mr. Trump�s associates have done business in Russia, and it is unclear if any of the contacts were related to business dealings.

The New York Times, citing four current and former officials, reported last month that American authorities had obtained information of repeated contacts between Mr. Trump�s associates and senior Russian intelligence officials. The White House has dismissed the story as false.

Since the Feb. 14 article appeared, more than a half-dozen officials have confirmed contacts of various kinds between Russians and Trump associates. The label �intelligence official� is not always cleanly applied in Russia, where ex-spies, oligarchs and government officials often report back to the intelligence services and elsewhere in the Kremlin.

Steven L. Hall, the former head of Russia operations at the C.I.A., said that Mr. Putin was surrounded by a cast of characters, and that it was �fair to say that a good number of them come from an intelligence or security background. Once an intel guy, always an intel guy in Russia.�

The concerns about the contacts were cemented by a series of phone calls between Sergey I. Kislyak, Russia�s ambassador to the United States, and Michael T. Flynn, who had been poised to become Mr. Trump�s national security adviser. The calls began on Dec. 29, shortly after Mr. Kislyak was summoned to the State Department and informed that, in retaliation for Russian election meddling, the United States was expelling 35 suspected Russian intelligence operatives and imposing other sanctions. Mr. Kislyak was irate and threatened a forceful Russia response, according to people familiar with the exchange.

But a day later, Mr. Putin said his government would not retaliate, prompting a Twitter post from Mr. Trump praising the Russian president � and puzzling Obama White House officials.

On Jan. 2, administration officials learned that Mr. Kislyak � after leaving the State Department meeting � called Mr. Flynn, and that the two talked multiple times in the 36 hours that followed. American intelligence agencies routinely wiretap the phones of Russian diplomats, and transcripts of the calls showed that Mr. Flynn urged the Russians not to respond, saying relations would improve once Mr. Trump was in office, according to multiple current and former officials.

Beyond leaving a trail for investigators, the Obama administration also wanted to help European allies combat a threat that had caught the United States off guard. American intelligence agencies made it clear in the declassified version of the intelligence assessment released in January that they believed Russia intended to use its attacks on the United States as a template for more meddling. �We assess Moscow will apply lessons learned,� the report said, �to future influence efforts worldwide, including against U.S. allies.�

# ¿ Mar 2, 2017 03:59

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Zeris posted:

Not playing devil's advocate - actually wondering - what are the list of ways Russia interfered, with an outcome useful to Trump, in the election?

-Hack DNC emails and leak them
-???

They ran a botnet that was dedicated to retweeting anti-Clinton news stories, including fake news. Might seem trivial, but how many "That's Awful!" shares did you see on Facebook from 60 year old aunts and uncles who voted red.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2017 04:27

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Godholio posted:

From the folks that brought you Cards Against Humanity:

https://twitter.com/MaxTemkin/status/835186725592891392

Secret Hitler is fun as poo poo.

e: My friends and I recently changed it to Secret Trump whenever we play.

psydude fucked around with this message at 05:11 on Mar 2, 2017

# ¿ Mar 2, 2017 05:04

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

After Bannon, Sessions is by far the worst person in Trump's administration. Him resigning would make me feel a lot better about the world.

Of course, that still leaves Steve loving Bannon.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2017 05:45

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Zeris posted:

Russia undermining Clinton and Russia colluding with Trump staff are not the same thing. I'm not talking about objective reality, I'm talking about what's provable. They could have done everything in that IC report and not said a word to Trump or his cronies. Unless they were spelling it out to the GOP campaign and demanding favors in return -- unless that's what was in those conversations -- or whatever, then I don't get it.

It looks stupid -- Sessions lied, obviously, but until it's clear what he lied about, there's no saying whether this will last or snowball to something worth resigning over.

I think it comes back to what they knew and when. Roger Stone was all over Twitter bragging about impending leaks. Manafort and Page had the wherewithal to keep quiet, but were still ultimately outed.

It really depends on two things:

1) Did Trump's campaign know what information was going to be leaked by the Russians in advance

2) If they did, was Trump aware?

Remember, Trump knew for weeks that Flynn had discussed sanctions with the Russians before the Post article was published. And he only asked for Flynn to resign because he had lied to Pence. Trump is a micromanaging executive, and it's within his style to know what his subordinates are doing while giving his consent by omission.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2017 05:50

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Zeris posted:

No, that's exactly it. It's not a smoking gun (yet) but people, I guess in a few posts here and in implications from left-leaning media outlets, seem to assume it's a smoking gun. Maybe I'm reading too far into things. I already have outrage fatigue and I no longer understand the point of getting riled up over stupid poo poo until it's clearly smoking-gun-level stupid poo poo.

Not to nitpick, but I really wouldn't consider the WSJ left-leaning. In fact their editorial editor resigned because they kept pushing him to publish Trump-friendly poo poo.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2017 05:52

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

facialimpediment posted:

Here's how much that Sessions poo poo has shifted things.

https://twitter.com/jasoninthehouse/status/837290054385033218

Wow.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2017 14:49

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

The perjury thing is a long shot anyway. The important thing is him recusing himself from any investigations. Until now, the GOP has been dragging their feet on calling for it.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2017 15:10

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Sessions recused himself

# ¿ Mar 2, 2017 22:27

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

North Korea would be an immediate MASCAL event followed by an immediate humanitarian crisis. Like Pearl Harbor followed by Haiti.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2017 02:06

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Chichevache posted:

There's a proven link between autism and anti-virus opinions.

Antivirus is the third rail of SH/SC politics.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2017 04:04

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Donnie's using it to distract from the fact that Sessions lied under oath and had to recuse himself. Also probably Pence's and Pruitt's emails. That's it.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2017 19:16

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Genocide Tendency posted:

What do you call competing rallies/protests where its just autistic screeching at each other?

The Kashmir region.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2017 05:27

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

I hate to interrupt the Trump Hate, but this is absolutely massive:

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/04/world/asia/north-korea-missile-program-sabotage.html

Basically, the US has effectively penetrated and disrupted North Korea's missile program by hacking and sabotaging avionics and other components crucial to flight and navigation.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2017 18:39

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Hot Karl Marx posted:

Didn't that crash shortly after take off and was also though to be smaller missile as well?

# ¿ Mar 5, 2017 19:22

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

bird food bathtub posted:

That would take effort, planning and coordination. Much easier for the hate mango to just talk about how real it is and scream at anyone who gets in his way.

Not to mention a staff that doesn't leak like a Russian prostitute.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2017 22:04

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

I'll believe it when I see it.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2017 23:33

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Bernard McFacknutah posted:

Have you guys thought about just giving Donald J Trump a chance at being president? Maybe things will all work out fine.

Being president is like playing peewee baseball. It's not about how well you do, it's about how hard you try.

# ¿ Mar 6, 2017 15:53

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Best Friends posted:

I remember long, long ago, when it looked like Rex Tillerson wasn't going to be confirmed based on key GOP senator outrage. He got confirmed no problem. I'll believe that there will be actual GOP votes against this monstrosity when it actually happens.

Difference here is GOPers had nothing to lose by voting for Tilly. A lot of these senators are in purple states that took the Medicaid expansion or that have a lot of constituents on the ACA.

# ¿ Mar 7, 2017 18:57

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

The Iron Rose posted:

Everything in that Wikipedia press release shows only that the CIA has their own TAO program, which is... fine? The CIA is an intelligence agency. Their job is to collect intelligence and to spy on foreign powers.

I'm pissed that the leaks happened in the first place, not that they had a big hacking program.

Reminder that the CIA co-developed Stuxnet.

The NSA is only supposed to perform collection and analysis, not conduct offensive actions. It makes sense that the CIA has its own organization for that purpose.

# ¿ Mar 7, 2017 23:30

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

It's unlikely that the CIA is actively spying on Americans, at least domestically. The FBI and local/state police? Absolutely.

Now, overseas? Yeah, Americans probably routinely get caught up in their operations.

psydude fucked around with this message at 01:11 on Mar 8, 2017

# ¿ Mar 8, 2017 01:08

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

AreWeDrunkYet posted:

That's the issue though, there's not a good way to establish that illegal spying (or illegal information sharing where it's not outright spying) is not still going on and from the information that has gotten out there's good evidence that these agencies have regularly flouted the law. If there was legitimate oversight it would be a different conversation, but recent leaks have been very clear that intelligence agencies are outright lying to the people that are supposed to have the authority to reign them in - and this has not resulted in any consequences.

If you ignore everything else, then sure, the CIA should be developing these tools and we should not be hearing about it. But in the context of what we've learned about intelligence agencies in recent history .

I'm not going to defend the NSA's poo poo, but so far nothing in these leaks is any more "illegal" than normal covert espionage.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2017 01:37

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Don't they also have a massive tuberculosis epidemic among their prison population?

# ¿ Mar 8, 2017 04:34

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

The Iron Rose posted:

I've always been curious about the reason why it's that smilie in a yellow box in the first place.

I'm not USG though so I might be missing something obvious.

It was supposed to be a Post-It note.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2017 04:40

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

They want to connect the entire GCC. I give it a year before Houthis truck bomb it.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2017 02:45

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Dead Reckoning posted:

I'm not really cool with someone losing any enumerated right on the say-so of a VA doctor or their decision to appoint a fiduciary. The burden of proof should be on the people saying someone is crazy. Personally, I think if someone is determined to be too incompetent to be trusted with guns, they should lose their franchise as well.

Okay, so what's your proposed solution? Mental health courts? That sounds like an even easier way for the South to disenfranchise everyone they don't like.

I understand the legal argument you're making, but at the same time it seeks to establish the false equivalency that a mentally unstable person voting and a mentally unstable person owning firearms carry the same risks to society. To that end, the only way to reconcile that would be to repeal the 2nd Amendment, which solves the problem entirely.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2017 04:05

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Yeah if anyone's likely to face jail time for the DNC hacks, it's Stone. You know, until he has his sentence commuted by Trump Scooter Libby style.

e: BTW as everyone in here pines for W, I just want to remind y'all that he commuted the sentence of his friend that intentionally outed a CIA officer as an act of political revenge on her husband.
e2: And apparently he was readmitted to the loving DC Bar in November of last year? What the poo poo?

psydude fucked around with this message at 05:45 on Mar 9, 2017

# ¿ Mar 9, 2017 05:42

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

AreWeDrunkYet posted:

Getting death threats from the military is very

TBH death threats from military people is far less scary than getting death threats from anyone else since 75% of the military is just sperg lords who played too much CoD when they were 15.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2017 00:52

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

I just realized that Tom Cotton looks like a mix between Tom Green and Justin Long.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2017 02:55

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Planes seriously use water extinguishers? I would have thought they'd use powder or foam given all of the electronic.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2017 05:46

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Hot Karl Marx posted:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/alimwatkins/the-people-investigating-russias-role-in-the-election-worry?utm_term=.jgN904nK6#.biaaKzA68

All that talk of trump collusion with 0 evidence is starting to bite Dems in the rear end

It got rid of Michael Flynn, so as far as I'm concerned it's working as intended.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2017 14:16

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

facialimpediment posted:

I should've read the article better.

https://twitter.com/NickKristof/status/840624870430035969

Seems like lying under oath is a real problem for anyone even close to Donnie.

Oh hey, Boris has a mugshot!

https://twitter.com/tsgnews/status/840268581925457920

Wouldn't that open him up to prosecution by the state of CA and the District of Columbia?

# ¿ Mar 11, 2017 23:13

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

You all remember that story from a couple of years ago when they found the remains of a couple hundred kids buried beneath an old Catholic home for unwed mothers in Ireland?

Yeah, well it turns out that it was more like a concentration camp for unwed mothers and their children:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...omepage%2Fstory

# ¿ Mar 13, 2017 13:39

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Missionary Positron posted:

Maybe I'm turning into a luddite who doesn't get It Anymore, but I really don't understand why poo poo like vibrators, beds, and lamps need internet connectivity.

Lamps I can understand so you can set them to timers and poo poo or turn the on/off remotely. But what possible use would anyone have for an internet connected vibrator?

# ¿ Mar 14, 2017 15:58

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Smiling Jack posted:

Training is really expensive. Not only do you have to pay for the training, pay the cop at training, you also need to pay someone to cover the shift of the cop who is at training.

Plus, you know, most cities have dedicated EMS services so it would be kinda redundant.

I'd settle for a limited "how to treat a gunshot / heavy bleeder" course which we are starting to get on a random and arbitrary basis.

No you're right. I mean it's not like every person in the US military undergoes basic yearly training on how to provide first aid to someone who's been shot.

Oh wait.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2017 23:21

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

I knew something important was happening when I hadn't checked the forum in a couple of hours and there were 100 new replies to this thread.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2017 01:55

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 13:49

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

The Justice department unsealed charges against 2 members of the FSB and 2 Russian criminals contracted to hack Yahoo in 2014.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...m=.08a81e1a9b48

# ¿ Mar 15, 2017 15:12

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Internet VFW > Current Events 3/17: good job cole

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