Friday Night. Time for the News Dump…
AP CONFIRMS THAT RUSSIANS TRIED TO HACK VOTING SYSTEMS
From the Associated Press, we get conclusive evidence that the Russians attempted to breach the voting systems of at least 21 states were targeted during the 2016 elections in attempts to change voter rolls, software on voting machines, and possibly even the totals themselves.
From @emptywheel, as of a few hours ago, the list of identified states were as follows:
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Maryland
- Minnesota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- Virginia
- Washington
- Wisconsin
That’s 13 identified so far. We’ve had reports in the past that Texas had some weirdness going on during the election in Dallas county where long lines were caused by people disappearing from voter rolls, or having their information changed. North Carolina had some funkiness with their exit polling, as did Florida. I also heard reports of Missouri and South Carolina, where HRC was trending high a couple weeks before election night. Let’s add them to the list…
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Florida
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Maryland
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- Virginia
- Washington
- Wisconsin
Take a look at those states listed, what’s missing? New York, California, Massachusetts, Idaho, Oregon, Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas.
The “safe” states. The states that were solidly Democratic or Republican. The states where there wasn’t a chance of voting for Hilary Clinton from a traditional Red state, or the Blue states where Trump didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in Hell.
Why? Because the Russians had finite resources, and Cambridge Analytica told them where to focus their attack.
This report from the AP helps back up the Reality Winner story from earlier this year. Hell, even James Clapper said that the USIC’s assessment of the election is that it was illegitimate. Rep. Mike Quiqley of the House Intel Committee said that if the public knew what he knew, they’d want him to go full throttle.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFERS PREPARING TO JUMP SHIP
From Vanity Fair, here comes a report out of Washington, D.C. where many lobbyist groups, think tanks, and other agencies are getting swamped with resumes from Trump Administration staffers looking to leave the White House.
While it’s not uncommon for staffers to cash in on their experience in the White House, it usually happens after 2 years or more, not less than 1. This is indicative of people getting out while the getting is good.
FROM THE RUMOR MILL…
An article on Patribotics by Louise Mensch reported that SVB Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, was under watch from the FISA Russian Bank money laundering warrant she discussed a few days ago.
Silicon Valley Bank, located in Silicon Valley, is owned by Sberbank, one of the Russian banks under sanctions. From this report, they’re tied up in the Cambridge Analytica scandal where the state voter rolls and DNC databases were hacked and data mined.
Since SVB is owned by Sberbank, and located in the heart of Silicon Valley, it makes the bank the perfect drop-off point for data to and from Russia. Since they’re a subsidiary, communication with the home base wouldn’t be too crazy. And with them being in Silicon Valley, any tech company making hits on their system could try to claim a legit reason for it.
Cambridge Analytica, Spectrum Health, Trump Organization, Alfa Bank. Now we can add Sberbank and SVB to the list.
This is worth keeping an eye on. Like always, take this with a grain of salt.. at least until it’s confirmed by the Washington Post in a couple months.
That’s it for today. I’ll see what I can get up this weekend.
“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”
– Katy Tur
Thank you, and have a good one.
None of this is Normal 