***** BREAKING***** President Obama drops the boom on pro Trump Russian hackers

[DemocratSinceBirth]

President Barack Obama took unprecedented steps Thursday retaliating against what the administration described as "Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities," including sanctioning six Russian individuals and five Russian entities as well as ordering Russian diplomats to leave the country.

This is the first time the names of Russian officials involved in the hacking have become public on the sanctions list.
Obama also said in a separate statement that 35 Russian diplomats have been ordered to leave the country, and two Russian compounds are being closed under Thursday's actions.

A White House statement described the consensus from the Intelligence Community that Russia's meddling in US elections via cyberhacking as "unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
"Russia's cyberactivities were intended to influence the election, erode faith in US democratic institutions, sow doubt about the integrity of our electoral process, and undermine confidence in the institutions of the US government," the statement said. "These actions are unacceptable and will not be tolerated."


http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/29/politics/russia-sanctions-announced-by-white-house/index.html

[redstatebluegirl]

1. I hope our diplomats in Russia are busy packing and shredding.

The response will clearly be swift. I don't disagree with President Obama, in fact I find it an interesting strategy to put Trump behind the 8 ball, but those diplomats in Russia are in danger no doubt.

[haele]

6. Our diplomats in Russia have already been encouraged to leave since Crimera.

That's "encouraged" - can't get the parentheses in the header.
The U.S. diplomatic staff has been reduced over this year via Russian "requests" for certain officials to leave. So there's already been shredding and packing going on for months.
It's an old game, their stooges, our stooges.
However, I suspect that at least one of their stooges pretended to be a disgruntled DNC staff worker earlier this year.

Haele

[awoke_in_2003]

36. I would almost guarantee

that they were given a heads up to start the process.

[Turbineguy]

2. The Russians didn't have to diddle the election results.

The repubs already did and did not need help.

[gordianot]

5. In public on the record Donald Trump asked Russia for this and he got what he asked for.

[gordianot]

3. We also need a list of domestic enemies who enabled this attack.

Beyond the obvious beneficiary.

[Generator]

4. Can't wait for the orange turd to show his treason

Just waiting for it. Pay attention McCain and Graham. This man is a traitor and will show it.

[SummerSnow]

25. He will tweet his support . wait for it......5 4 3 2 1

[Gothmog]

7. This is great news

[GoCubsGo]

8. I would not be surprised if this is just the beginning. n/t

[UTUSN]

9. But then, what - DRUMPF will decree a reversal on Jan 21?

[blm]

17. Then he'll explain why to a majority of GOP who saw evidence and believe the intel, too.

I don't think McCain and Graham are interested in being patsies for Trump.

[zonkers]

42. As nutty as they are they are not the new nutty and I doubt they want their legacies to be that of

enablers to a psychotic foreign operative.

[panader0]

10. What are these two compounds mentioned?

Compounds in addition to the Consulate?

[.99center]

11. Trump Tower and the RNC's headquarter.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. LOL

[UTUSN]

22. DUzy

[BumRushDaShow]

27. !!!!

[brer cat]

28. Thanks, I needed that.

[uponit7771]

33. +1

[Jamaal510]

13. Any minute now,

there will be yet another Twitter rant about this from you-know-who with misspellings aplenty.

[griloco]

14. equals

Crimea = Austria
Putin = Hitler
Trump = Neville Chamberlain

[vlyons]

20. more like

Putin = Stalin
Trump = Hitler

[VOX]

35. Got it right, thanks. n/t

[Scurrilous]

15. Good news!

K&R

[adigal]

16. Trump's supporters are STILL denying it happened

What are they so afraid of?

Oh, i get it. That he was involved.

[orangecrush]

18. OUTSTANDING!!!

This hopefully means that there is covert action being taken underneath the overt moves.

[Jacob Boehme]

19. In the words of Nelson Muntz

/revision/latest?cb=20121205194057

[NBachers]

21. Now on to the domestic saboteurs- James Comey, the FBI, Trump, and the Republican Party.

[ailsagirl]

23. But won't orange cheato just reverse it when he can?

Everything is so bizarre.

Now I understand why people go "off the grid" because I'd like to.

[Chemisse]

24. He can, but it will be a move that would look very bad for him.

Whereas he could've gotten away with just never doing anything about it.

Good work, Obama!

[ailsagirl]

31. I hope you're right

Last edited Thu Dec 29, 2016, 11:02 PM - Edit history (1)

But now that the russians are the repuke's good friends, who knows what ramifications there might be?

Also, he seems to get away with murder-- that is, all the ugly, racist, hateful rhetoric he spouted in the run-up to the sElection didn't hurt him a bit. Apparently.

Whoever wanted him to be the most powerful man on earth (it's so devastating to write that) had to be immensely rich, powerful, and downright hateful.

I'm absolutely dreading the next few years-- drumpf seems like a kid in a candy store when, in reality, he's more like a bull in a china shop.

So disheartening.

[AgadorSparticus]

34. He won't have support from Republicans or Democrats. He can't do it alone.

Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell are on board. Trumputin just got slammed.

[amuse bouche]

26. A boom? More like a BooHoo

He needs to take much stronger steps

[brer cat]

29. Great news! nt

[Joe Turner]

30. I can't wait to see the evidence of Russia's hacking

into our election. It will help reveal the real story of this conflict between the U.S. and Russia.

[ailsagirl]

32. I don't understand why the election outcome is allowed to stand

Why isn't the fact that the russians successfully interfered with our democratic process reason enough to void the election results? What would have to happen for this to occur? If the current situation STILL isn't reason enough to take some serious-- and even drastic-- steps... what is?

It's comforting to discover all our democratic safeguards are so strong and impenetrable.

[TheFrenchRazor]

38. there is essentially no penalty for election hacking, as long as you get caught AFTER the election.

it's like a thief being caught, but allowed to keep the stuff he stole.

[ailsagirl]

41. But this is so serious-- so many will be impacted...

At any rate, I think it would be an excellent idea if stringent laws were passed with some sort of severe penalty-- like election results being rendered NULL AND VOID (as they should have done in this case), as well as unlimited incarceration for the perpetrators. Sometimes I'm certain our electronic age has caused more harm than good. Just think of the far-reaching ramifications of that clod being "rPresident."
And once again, the perps have gotten away with it. (This makes it the third effing time)

[eleny]

37. It feels like I can finally have a decent night's sleep for a change

Dems better find a spine after this gift from the Executive branch.

Rec'd with many thanks, DSB. I've been so busy elsewhere tonight that I didn't see or hear about this news until I was ready to shut down for the night. But I took one last peek at DU and there it was.

[Tatiana]

39. Now this is actual three-dimensional chess!

It will be very difficult for Don the Con to walk this back, given the fact that his Republican enablers are actually happy about Obama's stance:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) blamed Obama’s foreign policy for allowing Russia to expand its influence around the world, but said the sanctions imposed Thursday were a good first step.

“The Russians are not our friends. And clearly the Obama administration has not yet dissuaded them from attempting to breach our cybersecurity systems, or harass our diplomats in Moscow,” McConnell said in a statement. “Sanctions against the Russian intelligence services are a good initial step, however late in coming. As the next Congress reviews Russian actions against networks associated with the U.S. election, we must also work to ensure that any attack against the United States is met with an overwhelming response.”

Meanwhile, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who have been calling for congressional investigation into Russia’s involvement in the election, praised the sanctions and said that they would push for even stronger retaliatory measures in the next Congress.

<snip>

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, also praised the sanctions.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-russia-sanctions-gop_us_58657996e4b0de3a08f7c19e?f0gnknfspehr529

I would give anything to have had the President Obama we've seen the last two months the previous 6 or 7 years.

[Cha]

40. Obama also said in a separate statement that 35 Russian diplomats have been ordered to leave the

country, and two Russian compounds are being closed under Thursday's actions."