Thursday, December 15, 2016

Russia Didn't "Hack" Election

Thoughts on the fake news claim that Russia "meddled" in or "hacked"  the presidential election.  

Those who claim that Russia "meddled" in the recent presidential election have an even lower opinion of  President Barack Obama than the Republicans who call him the worst president in American history..  Countries can only "meddle" in countries that are weaker than they are, including countries that are weak because of  weak or inept leaders.    For example, President Barack Obama frequently meddled in middle eastern countries.   So far those alleging Russian meddling have not provided evidence that Russia tried to meddle by  influencing  election officials or providing financial assistance to candidates.   Spying on government officials or would be government officials is normal governmental action that governments do year round so they can be prepared for actions that might adversely impact them.   Attempting to influence public opinion in other countries is also normal action that is done year round and is not "meddling".   Governments are likely to try to discredit opinion makers who portray their country, or its leaders,  in a negative light  to prevent the development of sentiment for war or other adverse actions against  their country..     

The media are misrepresenting the hacking issue. Russia, China, Israel and North Korea and possibly others along with the NSA probably did hack into insecure email systems, but that does not mean they altered election results as media stories falsely imply. Foreign nations have often made significant efforts to influence American public opinion since WWI, but there is nothing illegal about that. Seeking to influence public opinion isn't "hacking" What would be improper would be if CIA employees are deliberately misrepresenting the situation in an attempt to overturn the election of Donald Trump. Such actions would subject individuals to impeachment and would indicate Congress should turn the agency's functions over to other departments


If Russians helped us learn Hillary's dirty secrets we should thank them just like many Americans thanked Daniel Ellsberg for revealing the Pentagon's secrets about Vietnam   During the Cold War the United States operated radio stations that broadcast news to communist countries that their governments didn't want them to know.    

Why don't you media children grow up?    If the Democrats, or Republicans, used insecure communications foreign governments would have spied on them.  Russia, Israel, China and North Korea would  certainly have led any "hacking", but others might also have participated.  Governments have to spy on each other, and on political candidates, so they can prepare for actions that might negatively impact them.   If the  Russians informed us of  Hillary's secrets the way Daniel Ellsberg did the Pentagon's secrets we should thank them rather than complain.    Foreign governments have been making significant efforts to affect voters' opinions since at least WWI so any Russian effort to affect the 2016 election wouldn't  be anything new. 

Democrats need to accept the fact that Hillary Clinton lost because she was a lousy candidate.   Party leaders had discouraged people from running against her for the nomination   because they knew she was a lousy candidate.