At What Point Does This Become a Crime?
Over the weekend the NY Times published a piece entitled “Tracing Guccifer 2.0’s Many Tentacles in the 2016 Election” it is a sordid tale of how Roger Stone and others communicated directly with Russian intelligence officers posing as Romanian hacker Guccifer 2.0, aggressively seeking dirt on Hillary and other Democrats. The others communicating with Guccifer 2.0 included an unnamed Republican candidate for Congress in Florida, and Lee Stranahan, a right wing radio talker and all-round shitbag. At the time he was talking to the RUSSIANS, Stranahan was working for Steve Bannon at Breitbart and now works full-time for the RUSSIANS at Sputnik International, an online radio station run by Rossiya Segodnya, the RUSSIAN government controlled English language propaganda outlet in the US. How sweet.
Even though Mueller’s indictment says that idiots like Stone and others might not have known they were talking directly with RUSSIAN intelligence officers, they did know that the documents being released by WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 were stolen. Them using these resources is actually no better than buying watches off a thief on the street knowing that they had been stolen from the actual owner.
My question is, at which point did obtaining and using stolen goods become legal? To me, it makes zero difference whether Stone and others knew they were dealing with the Russians; what matters is that the KNEW they were obtaining stolen documents. Whether it was a Romanian hacker, Julian Assange, or the actual Russians, they were perfectly aware that they were receiving stolen goods. Isn’t that a crime in itself? Why are they not in jail rather than spewing their bile from Fox Noise, Breitbart, and other right wing hate outlets?
Each day of this slow motion train wreck I become more and more alarmed how ONE PERSON can destroy international trade, wreck centuries-long diplomatic ties, and virtually disassemble an entire government (ours) without so much as a whimper from those entrusted with protecting us. The speed of the destruction of the balance of power so carefully designed by the Founders is at once horrifying and breathtaking. At this point, I only understand one thing – once we rid ourselves of this cancer (either by impeachment, indictment for crimes, forced resignation, or just voting his ass out of office), we need to seriously rethink our system of governance and the tools of democracy that are supposed to protect our democracy. I know, I know, the invertebrates in Congress will never fix anything, but they certainly need to to be called to task by the American voter. I’m personally writing to all of my representatives today to DEMAND that they stand up on their hind legs and do their goddam jobs. If millions of Americans around the country would do that, it would cause a seismic shift in the behavior of the idiots sitting on Capitol Hill.
There is a place for anger, and THIS is it.
This is the end result of a process that’s gone on since the Second World War of steadily increasing the power and scope of the Presidency and massively accelerating after 9/11.
Even a “good, norm-respecting, rule-of-law respecting” President such as Obama was nonetheless carrying out hundreds of extra-judicial assassinations by drones and through other means across the greater Middle East and Africa. U.S. forces are committed to dozens of nations without any discussion or congressional actions. The fact that Trump has those same powers is even more terrifying.
It’s not just a matter of Congress not doing it’s job — although that certainly is one of the key problems — but it is also what we have allowed the Presidency to become. With the capture of the Supreme Court by the hard right it may well be too late to fix the system.
Wish I was more optimistic, but these aren’t those days any more.
1As a student of history, I have noticed that from the start of organized groups, so much is done sub rosa. Worse yet, all of that sub rosa activity gave rise to the “expert”, the “go to guy” who can openly exert some form of control because of what or who he/she knows. Its really an ego game. And can be totally cannibalistic. Frankly, catching out the pols and actually jailing them for instance regarding ethics violations might be worth doing. If enough of them suddenly go down on such charges, the air on The Hill might get a little more breathable. And could send reverberations through the entire three divisions. Yeah, I’m including the Court int his one.
2Remember, the Pentagon Papers were also stolen. It’s a murky area.
3@RepubAnon – No. Completely different. The Pentagon Papers were government papers that documented extreme corruption and criminality in using the war powers of the US government to keep a war going for profit. A patriot risked jail to expose this criminality. The Russian hacking of the DNC was stealing PRIVATE property to smear and discredit a political candidate. It’s apples and oranges.
4El Jefe, an enthusiastic YES, but horse-apples and oranges suits me better.
5Singing to the choir, but here goes anyway – what will really cause a seismic shift is a blue wave.
We need to go out and tell our friends and neighbors and remind our relatives and ourselves that when we go to the voting booth there is no lever to pool other than the Democratic lever. If every Republican goes down in flames in November a message will have been sent.
Do I think phone calls and letters and emails and tweets can and do make a difference. Yes, but not as big a difference as voting in November. If it is still possible for us to save our country, I promise you this is the only way to do it.
6My biggest source of frustration right now is the continuing support of Trumpolini by a significant number of the American population. Trumpolini is what he is, and was elected (by whatever means) by the American system, but the rise of the Trumpublican, and the support that the movement receives, both by the ignorant and the powerful, is a great source of grief for me.
7There is only one word for all of this. TREASON.
8Millions of Americans ARE doing that.
How can you still think it matters? There is no incentive for politicians to listen. Elections aren’t even credible solutions.
Our democracy is dead.
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