Why, you might ask?
Because it might finally force us all to start talking about issues and policies, instead of Russian red herrings.
Instead of getting bogged down in process, intellectual progressives like myself should be more invested in substance. Not how Trump won, but why.
Except see...the Russians DID try to influence our election and all our intelligence agencies reported this and our President just says it didn’t happen because Putin told him so.
So even if there’s no collusion there’s willful ...idiocy that puts our democracy at risk because our President is enamored with stronger despots.
Our intelligence agencies said Iraq had WMDs.
shareThink about it further. The reason you were lied to about WMDs is because our government wanted an excuse to engage in regime change in the Middle East. So explain to us what benefits we get by denying Russia their pipeline.
shareDeep state wanted Hillary to take down Syria just like Libya.
I didn't believe the WMD lie. You did, and you continue to perpetuate it every time you criticize alternative media and prop up mainstream media.
Trump traded Syria for Yemen because it helps Russia. The deep state doesn't care about taking down Syria. They just want to fight because fighting equals money. Trump IS the deep state which is why we are selling weapons to the Saudis like never before to have their little regime change in Yemen.
My god you are so stupid when it comes to this stuff. But thats the Trump cult for ya.
And you are probably saying I was fooled by WMDs because you were and don't want to admit it. Lol. You can't find anywhere on this board where I ever agreed Iraq had nuclear weapons. When Iraq kicked out the weapons inspectors I was on the fence. I'll bet you were too busy worshiping Bush and the red team to speak a word about it.
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Bush / Cheney said Iraq had WMDs. I guess all republicans are liars who can't be trusted and should never be in office, correct?
shareYou don't care about securing and reforming America's election systems and sanctioning Russia's global election interference? (and getting the US to stop its own foreign electioneering?)
The Russian government really instructed official and non-official entities to launch a wide-scale US-election interference campaign, going as far as to hack into local and state voter databases and election software, and they employed disinformation campaigns and cyberware and wikileakes; the Russian government has done the same to other countries (Countries the alliance said have been targeted are: Belarus, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine and the United States.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2016_United_States_elections
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/09/07/alleged-russian-political-meddling-documented-27-countries-since-2004/619056001/
People who think "RussiaGate" is a "Russian red herring" (see above link) are not progressive and care nothing about substance, and I certainly feel that you are progressive and care deeply about substance so you might want to skim the "Contents" of the wikipedia entry for a refresher and evolve your phrase of "Russia red herring" to "Russia's global election interference is an example of why election security, cyber security, and cyberwarfare bills that have already been introduced in the House need to be passed by Congress and signed into law and fully funded. The threat of cyberattacks, both domestic and abroad, pose a serious risk to the United States. Cyberattacks have already cost the U.S. government significantly, and American businesses suffer billions more in losses every year. Cyberattacks may also be the greatest threat to U.S. national security, as America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to attack. Some cybersecurity legislation has been passed. More must be done." (part of this is paraphrased from Bernie Sanders' website).
Trump Derangement Syndrome. Everything you accuse Russia of doing, Facebook and Google did on a mass scale. And what's this about allowing illegal aliens to vote?
shareLe em ha atsabim. Everything you accuse everybody of doing, you do on a mass scale. And what's this derelict structure filled with elegant sand dunes where a bird dips its wing and up whirls sand that scrolls the name "McCrae Dowless"?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCrae_Dowless
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_North_Carolina%27s_9th_congressional_district_election
I couldn't agree more. It's discouraging when I see progressives ostensibly on the left speak so dismissively of Russiagate, but especially when they resort to using ignorantly sourced right wing propaganda to justify it. Not that Malko went that far, but it is something I see too much of from the Glenn Greenwald-Michael Tracy fringe.
shareNot how Trump won, but why.
It's time to start investigating Democrat Collusion in our elections which the list of offenses are as long as a night sky and as transparent as the moon.
shareBernie Sanders on Russian interference in US elections:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1902/25/se.01.html
QUESTION: Thank you. Thank you, Senator, for being here. The intelligence community all agree that Russia tampered with the 2016 election and used information warfare to sow further division and mistrust among Americans. It's likely that they will interfere with the 2020 election, as well. So as a candidate, how will you ensure your campaign will not be infiltrated by Russia? And, secondly, as president, how will you eliminate this threat once and for all to restore confidence to our electoral process?
SANDERS: Thank you very much for that question. Unlike Donald Trump, I have no doubt that what you said is true. And clearly, we have got to make it clear to Russia that they cannot sabotage elections -- not only in the United States, by the way, but in countries around the world. Specifically we are -- and I know other campaigns are doing it, as well -- hiring, spending a lot of money trying to protect our computers, et cetera.
But ultimately, the word has got to go out to Putin and others around the world that cyber warfare, the attempt to destroy American democracy, is a very, very serious offense which will not be taken lightly.
______________________________
On Russia:
https://feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-russia/
--- Economic and Diplomatic Pressure: To temper Russian aggression, we must freeze Russian government assets all over the world, and encourage international corporations with huge investments in Russia to divest from that nation’s increasingly hostile political aims.
https://feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-russia/#economic-and-diplomatic-pressure
--- Work with the International Community: The United States must collaborate to create a unified stance with our international allies in order to effectively address Russian aggression.
https://feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-russia/#work-with-the-international-community
https://feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-russia/
Bernie believes the United States should isolate Putin politically and economically. In March 2014, Bernie commended President Obama on sanctions levied against Russian leaders after voters in the Crimea region supported a Russian-backed referendum to secede from Ukraine. At the time, Bernie said:
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/recent-business/sanctions-on-russia
http://news.yahoo.com/us-rejects-crimea-vote-cites-russian-intimidation-182209667--politics.html
“The entire world has got to stand up to Putin. We’ve got to deal with sanctions. There are a number of things that you could do. But this is what you don’t do: You don’t go to war. You don’t sacrifice lives of young people in this country as we did in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
What else has Bernie said about the use of military force against Russia?
For Bernie, the situation with Russia is a complex one, “as is often the case with foreign policy.” In an interview with Ed Schultz, he stated that Republicans are blind to any solution to geo-political problems other than the use of military force, adding that the United States has to be tough with Russia, but there is no reason, as of yet, to resort to war. Bernie summarized his position by stating:
https://youtu.be/z9YDgoOYj6Q?t=4m11s
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/54574433/ns/msnbc-the_ed_show/t/ed-show-monday-march/#.VbmbfflVhBc
“I would prefer to deal with a complicated issue in a measured way: serious international discussions about how we proceed, but force, force should be the last option we use.”
Instead of rushing in and making the same mistakes we’ve made in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bernie recommends making informed decisions and working with ally nations to isolate Russia economically and politically. He believes that only after all peaceful and diplomatic efforts have been exhausted should we consider war.