[pdkl95]

The Russia/"hacked election" meme is amazing. With very little actual evidence, careful use of linguistic framing, and a lot of angry rhetoric on all sides, the public was successfully scared into wasting their time and energy fighting among themselves over hearsay and rumor, instead of addressing any of the numerous actual, known problems that are already known and far more likely to impact the average citizen.

If there's actual evidence of an actual crime, then present it to the public and the court. In the meantime, healthcare is still a huge mess, regulatory capture is keeps getting worse (an isn't limited to the FCC), systemic corruption continues to erode the public sector as politicians - regardless of party affiliation - spend increasing amounts of time "dialing for dollars"[1], wealth inequality continues to get worse, and the military-industrial complex is still a money pump that starts the occasional war.

There is a lot of important work to do, but this denial of service attack against everyone's political time and energy has been a very successful distraction.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ylomy1Aw9Hk

[hsod]

With all the stuff that's come out over the past six months, I don't see how you can dismiss it out of hand like this.

For anyone reading who is not super engaged with these matters, please know that this is a lot more than just a "meme".

Here's a comprehensive timeline if you want to take a deep dive: https://lawfareblog.com/realnews-trump-et-laffaire-russe-res...

But I'll just list a simple sequence of three verifiable events that should demonstrate clearly that there is at least something real here.

* On March 20, 2017 FBI Director James Comey testified before the House Intelligence Committee that the FBI was “investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia’s efforts.”" [0]

* On May 9, 2017 the President fired FBI Director Comey [1]

* On May 17, 2017 Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (acting in this matter as AG due to Sessions' recusal) appointed a Special Counsel to oversee the investigation, effectively removing the President from it's chain of command. [2]

I'm not saying this is proof-positive that collusion occurred, but it's sufficiently compelling.

[0]: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/20/us/politics/fbi-investiga... [1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/09/us/politics/james-comey-f... [2]: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/17/us/politics/robert-muelle...

Edited to remove insinuations of bad faith

[dang]

> It almost feels like a kind of gaslighting, like you're trying to confuse people and muddy the waters.

Please don't let such insinuations of bad faith creep into your comments on HN.

There is widespread disagreement about this matter (e.g. the GP comment was both upvoted and downvoted, obviously not all by trolls) and those who disagree need to remain civil on HN. That includes (a) responding to the argument and (b) assuming good faith.

[hsod]

sorry, edited

[ItendToDisagree]

Your first paragraph sounds like it contains all the markings of a successful psyops campaign to be totally honest.

Whisper campaign to erode public trust and increase partisan divide while diverting attention from more important matters.

If it WAS interference by any nation state (Russia or not; uncovered or not) it seems to have been pretty successful right?

[dang]

> all the markings of a successful psyops campaign

Internet commenters are much too quick to sling such tropes at others whom they disagree with. Please don't do that here.

Insinuations of astroturfing or shillage are not allowed on HN without evidence, and this goes beyond even that.

[pdkl95]

I could easily be mistaken, but I think that wasn't intended to be an accusation/insinuation?

> ... sounds like it contains ...

I interpreted that as referring to the "Russia/'hacked election' meme" having psyops-ish markings, not my paragraph. That seems to fit with the final comment about it appearing to be "pretty successful".