Snowden Believes that Russian Hackers Could be Behind Cyberattack on NSA Website

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A statement on his official Twitter page stated that former US intelligence agent Edward Snowden said that Russian hackers could be behind the cyberattack on the US National Security Agency (NSA) website. Earlier reports said that the NSA website was down for almost a day after a hacker attack, but it was back up and running by Tuesday evening. Media sources noted that the DDOS attack occurred “a few hours after the mysterious Shadow Brokers Group announced the theft of cyberweapons from Equation Group… an extensive group of hackers, presumably related to the NSA”. Stolen Shadow Brokers data already is appearing on the internet. Snowden tweeted:

Why did they do it? No one knows, but I suspect this is more diplomacy than intelligence, related to the escalation around the DNC hack. Circumstantial evidence and conventional wisdom indicates Russian responsibility.

Snowden thinks that the hackers went to an unusual step to demonstrate that they have at their disposal tools and programs used by NSA employees to break into computers. This may be a signal that they’re ready to prove American responsibility for a series of cyberattacks. The consequences of such applications will be particularly noticeable if they can show American involvement in cyberactions against their own allies and cyberactions connected with the current election. Snowden believes that the hackers acted for diplomatic purposes and not for intelligence, and that the attack could have links to the scandal over the leak of US Democratic Party emails.

17 August 2016

RIA Novosti

http://ria.ru/world/20160817/1474539463.html

Editor:

The meaning of this is clear. “We know what you’re doing, how you’re doing it, and why you’re doing it”. In short, if Washington doesn’t fly right, Moscow will expose how the Yanks are messing with their own allies and how certain elements in the USA are messing with the election. Common wisdom has it that there’s a cyberwar going on now… the Russian geeks are winning it. For the Yanks, it’s just a game… for the Russians, it’s sheer survival… such tends to concentrate the mind wonderfully and buck up one’s motivation and resolve.

By the way, as a condition of his staying in Russia, Snowden has to promise to do nothing to harm the USA… the Corporate Media didn’t tell you that, did they? My sources tell me that he’s hanging out with Russian geeks and doing all sorts of neat cyberstuff. In short, he’s in Geek Heaven…

BMD

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17 August 2016. When Can One Preach “Purity” to Others?

I’m too busy cleaning up my own sins to be going about and reading this one or that one out of the Church. Have a care with those who do so. I’d call them phonies and “loud clashing cymbals” (as the Apostle put it)… I’m not alone in thinking that way…

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One wonders why so many Christians feel that they have a right, nay a duty, to regulate and legislate everyone else’s life, when they so obviously have so much trouble regulating their own? Of course, once we exhaust so much energy telling everyone else how they should live and how they should think, it’s hardly surprising that we have so little energy left to set our own lives in order.

Archbishop Lazar Puhalo

Hear, hear! You set your own house in order… only when you’re done, can you go forth and preach to others how “imperfect” they are and how they fall short of the Church’s standard. I confide that I’m still cleaning up my mess… what does tell you about loud moralists like Dreher and Whiteford (and those akin to them)? Nothing good, I’d warrant…

BMD

Could Deep Dissatisfaction Within the US Political System Lead to a Trump Victory?

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A series of opinion polls released last week show Donald Trump losing to Hillary Clinton in several key swing states, and nearly one-fifth of registered Republicans say that they want him to drop out of the presidential race. According to Dr Jack Rasmus, professor of political economy at St Mary’s College (author of Systemic Fragility in the Global Economy):

The primary reason behind Trump’s evident decline in popularity is that the corporate media deliberately attacks him. They take things out of context, they interpret them in their articles, and then, their talking heads try to make them sound more dramatic and extreme than they may be. Of course, Trump plays into that. He doesn’t anticipate that that’s what’s going to happen, so he contributes to that to some extent, but the media is on a full-court press to show that Trump is incompetent. You shouldn’t trust polls, as they don’t accurately predict actual voting results. As for the rivalry between Trump and Clinton, much will depend on public TV debates in the key swing states, where many voters have discontent over economic issues. What happens on economic issues, which the debates in the swing states will determine, is really what it’s all about.

Loud & Clear producer Walter Smolarek agreed:

The situation may change, as many in the USA aren’t falling for the media’s attempts to demonise Trump; they’re aware that many of those prominent public voices are in the pocket of the pro-corporate wing of the Democratic Party. Yet, Clinton’s current polling numbers are so high now that we do have to conclude that Hillary Clinton has a very sizable lead over Donald Trump.

Rasmus suggested:

The Republican Party’s split could play into the hands of Trump, as his message that the two-party system is corrupt has been a part of his appeal from the beginning.

According to Anoa Changa, part-time volunteer staff with Brand New Congress and host of the weekly progressive talk show The Way with Anoa:

The Democratic Party base is rising up because it feels that it’s imperative to make sure that this country digs in and holds to progressive values. However, discontent among Democrats has grown, as people are tired of the lesser of two evils” argument.

Rasmus concluded:

I don’t think the leads in either party really understand how deep and how significant the disaffection is in large groups within the American electorate. I think they’re underestimating it… I don’t think the polls are picking this up.

17 August 2016

Sputnik International

http://sputniknews.com/us/20160817/1044340849/two-party-system-trump.html