Open Thread 23 - 29 Oct | 54 comments (54 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Open Thread 23 - 29 Oct (none / 1)

I don't see the Republicans getting rid of Trump, unless he gets bored and quits. But he can't resign if that would put him in prison, so he will probably stay.

Then again, the case of Russia being involved in the leaks is still as weak as it ever was. The guy with the Greek name that has made a plea met with a professor who claimed to have contacts in Russia, but looks more like someone who wanted to be more important than he is.

Lies gets you perjury and Manafort and Gates may go down on corruption, but if all Mueller digs up is lies and corruption, is there a point where the media and Democrats will accept that Russia didn't have anything to do with the election?

I suspect the answer there is also no. So neither side accepts Mueller's investigation as a fact finding mission. The epistemic crisis is already in place.

by fjallstrom on Fri Nov 3rd, 2017 at 11:38:35 AM EST
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Re: Open Thread 23 - 29 Oct (none / 0)

I wonder how much evidence of Russian involvement an investigation would have to find before the Russians-didn't-do-anything brigade could be convinced?

[I'm neutral here: neither Trump nor Brexit have single causes but it seems to me that opinions about Russian psyops have more to do with political positions than facts. Of which there are few.]

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Fri Nov 3rd, 2017 at 11:49:20 AM EST
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Re: Open Thread 23 - 29 Oct (none / 1)

I can't speak for the whole brigade, but I find the lack of technical evidence suspicious. And I don't limit myself to technical evidence I get to see, but when FBI doesn't get access to the servers I find that suspicious, even though I wouldn't have access to their findings until it had been used in legal proceedings.

Since we have general surveillance on the Internet, NSA should have a decent amount of evidence, proving at least that there was an intrusion and a copying of emails. If NSA published findings that Snowden and VIPS accepts as evidence, I would tentatively accept it. Still possible that it is forged evidence of course, but forgeries bring their own risks of exposure down the line.

And while my general trust in Assange is pretty low, Wikileaks has so far held a high standard in what they publish, and from what I've seen of Craig Murray (who is supposed to have received at least the DNC leak), he appears trustworthy enough.

So for now, I think leak is more likely than hack.

by fjallstrom on Fri Nov 3rd, 2017 at 12:12:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open Thread 23 - 29 Oct (none / 0)

I posted the link to the indictment and the criminal statute cited. You might want to read the charges (12 in all) in the indictment before commenting further. Conspiracy to commit tax evasion by mail and wire fraud (commonly known as "laundering").

The brief includes a table of domestic and international banking transactions. Apart from this there is undoubtedly a roomful of enumerated documentary evidence of the crime in commission that has been submitted with the indictment but which is not published --email communication between the indicted conspirators included.

Do not rely on purported "leaks" in press to evaluate merits of the case. That Mueller is still searching for witnesses to roll is actually kind of sad.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Fri Nov 3rd, 2017 at 01:35:22 PM EST
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Re: Open Thread 23 - 29 Oct (none / 1)

Yes, I have read the indictment of Manafort and Gates as well as the plea bargain for George Papadopoulos.

And unless I missed something, there is little connection to the now established narrative of the Russian government (not just random Russians), tipping the election in favour of Trump through hacking DNC and spreading the emails by way of Wikileaks. Which is what I understand Colman was asking about.

Manafort and Gates are charged with illegally receiving money (and hiding, and lying about it) from Yanukovych, his party and various organisations. The party is described as pro-Russian, but otherwise Russia isn't mentioned there as far as I saw.

George Papadopoulos had contacts primarily with a professor, identified by media as Joseph Mifsud, who promised him contacts with the Russian Ambassador in London (but that didn't happen) and introduced him to a woman Papadopoulos understood to be Putin's niece (but who wasn't). The only solid connection to Russia is an unnamed person that Papadopoulos understood to be working for the Russian Foreign ministry.

Mifsud has in newspapers claimed it was a Russian academic, not a Russian Foreign ministry official.

So what we are left with is a chain of persons that might connect to the Russian Foreign ministry, but a chain that has proven less than trustworthy in the past. Don't really see how that would affect my answer to Colman.

by fjallstrom on Fri Nov 3rd, 2017 at 04:24:02 PM EST
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Re: Open Thread 23 - 29 Oct (none / 1)

I feel frustrated by expectation --ginned up by the press-- that this investigation or any indictments obtained by Mueller will result int Trump's indictment. Those expectation gainsay Mueller's main predicament which is to foster an appearance of justice and impartiality, The American Way, while hiding or withholding the very evidence collected, "unmasked" moths ago, by NSA that would incriminate Trump racketeering. Because that's all the prosecution's strategy has going for it that the IRS has clearly been unable to substantiate.

Sordid is an inadequate description of these proceedings which in themselves I had hoped would galvanize public opposition to deep-seated corruption in Congress.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Fri Nov 3rd, 2017 at 07:22:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Open Thread 23 - 29 Oct | 54 comments (54 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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