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Home Front: Politix
[CNN] Mueller tells a compelling story of Russian intrigue that was designed to elect Trump
2018-02-18

Opens to Video narrated by British correspondent for CNN Moscow bureau.

[CNN] As both a prosecutor and defense attorney, I have written and reviewed many indictments. Though often brimming with legalese, they are designed by prosecutors to tell a compelling and detailed crime story. The indictment announced Friday in the Mueller investigation told just such a story -- of Russian attempts to sabotage the American presidential election.

If the allegations of the indictment prove true, it seems probable that the Russians were successful in their multimillion-dollar effort to influence the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States. Of course the answer to this complex question will never be definitively known. Polling cannot tell us whether voters might have chosen differently if the Russian influence operation hadn't happened.

What is known, however, is that the election was close and voter shifts in just a few significant states could have changed the Electoral College vote count in a presidential election in which Hillary Clinton won the popular vote.
Posted by:Besoeker

#13  Russian intrigue was NOT designed to elect Trump, it was designed to damage the effectiveness of whoever was elected.
Posted by: Glenmore   2018-02-18 16:38  

#12  For loyalty, not competence - he's a regular little Stalin.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2018-02-18 11:41  

#11  And Mueller chose his investigative staff....? I reckon there's no need to discuss this aspect.
Posted by: Besoeker   2018-02-18 11:32  

#10  I think Tyrannosaurus Don outmaneuvered "the resistance" on Mueller: they chose Mueller for his doglike devotion to the goals of the ruling "elites", and Trump chose him for being a dumb pooch.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2018-02-18 11:24  

#9   "Lipstick on a turd" - rather a good metaphor for the current Deep State shenanigans.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2018-02-18 11:05  

#8  Balls. The Russians were rooting for Trump in the primary, same as the MSM was on instructions from the DNC to support Carson and Trump in the primary, because they were most likely to lose in the general.

The Russians also supported Sanders in the primary, because they wanted the socialist to win. And he might have, except for the duplicity of Hillary and the DNC.

Once Trump and Hillary won the primary, the Russians thought (like most everyone) that Hillary would win the general, so they switched to fomenting chaos, as usual.
Posted by: KBK   2018-02-18 10:28  

#7  Number of times I was influenced by an ad on Facebook = Zero

Idiots desperately seeking a reason for their loss
Posted by: Frank G   2018-02-18 09:19  

#6  That's "lipstick on a pig" boys. "Pick up a turd by the clean end." "Lipstick on a turd," you are mixing your aphorisms, and not to any good effect.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2018-02-18 09:05  

#5  So Trump colluded with Russians to kill Russian contractors? Yeah, I know, this sounds absolutely nuts but then this is CNN. The MSM still hangs on to its meme despite all.

There might be a spot for Mueller with some book company after the Special Counsel writing fiction or spy novels. Maybe a spot on CNN? That is, if he isn't beleaguered by his own legal problems.
Posted by: JohnQC   2018-02-18 08:41  

#4  How about a compelling story about Russian "contractors" attempting to kill or capture some US Special Forces in Syria, and getting their arses handed to them ?
Posted by: Besoeker   2018-02-18 08:21  

#3  
Facebook VP: "The Majority Of Russian Ad Spend Happened AFTER The Election"
https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2017/10/hard-questions-russian-ads-delivered-to-congress/

"many of these ads did not violate our content policies. That means that for most of them, if they had been run by authentic individuals, anywhere, they could have remained on the platform."

Shouldn’t you stop foreigners from meddling in US social issues?
The right to speak out on global issues that cross borders is an important principle. Organizations such as UNICEF, Oxfam or religious organizations depend on the ability to communicate — and advertise — their views in a wide range of countries. While we may not always agree with the positions of those who would speak on issues here, we believe in their right to do so — just as we believe in the right of Americans to express opinions on issues in other countries.


- the ads were non-political in nature, and didn't feature or favour a political candidate
- 56% of the ads were run AFTER the 2016 US federal election
- 25% of the ads were never displayed to anyone due to Facebook's algorithms not finding them relevant to trending interests
- only 25% of the ads were geographically-targeted
- Facebook is not sure that the ads were part of an organized campaign
- Facebook is not sure that the accounts the ads were purchased with are associated with each other
- Facebook is not certain that the ads were purchased by Russians
- many of the ads were not purchased using Russia's currency
- huge numbers of actual political ads are bought and run on Facebook from all countries around the world, and that is normal and OK
- the "overwhelming majority" of ad-space purchases from Russia by Russians are normal and not suspicious in any way

So, after a year of investigations and debunked conspiracy / false claim after debunked conspiracy / false claim, the strongest argument for alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US federal election is $100K of non-political or partisan Facebook ads - more than half of which ran after the election, and a quarter of which were never ran at all. That's telling.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309   2018-02-18 07:37  

#2  Communist pieces of shit always double down on lies, because they would have no power without Culmany.
Posted by: newc   2018-02-18 05:40  

#1  I agree. FAKE.
Posted by: Dale   2018-02-18 05:27  

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