General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIf Anonymous has definitive proof that Rove tried to hack the vote, present it.
This isn't a movie. Rove isn't Lex Luthor. This is real life, and Rove needs to be investigated if he tried to tamper with the 2012 election.
Anonymous needs to provide the evidence so that a real life investigation can be launched.
The jumping for joy and elation about what at present can be dimissed as a conspiracy theory is elevating Rove to untouchable.
It needs to end.
One of the problems with the 2004 election theft was trying to convince people that Republicans were as despicable as we now know they are. With the media complicit in aiding the Swift Liars, it was too easy to write off the massive election tampering as whining. The 2000 Court selection was easier to understand, but 2004 was an all-out assault on the entire process of democracy.
Across the country there ws vote switching, tampering, long lines, intimidation at the polls, closings, blackouts, confusion reporting the results. A lot of people likely still don't know about these incidents, but the outrage and the commissions that looked into the vote were very real. There really isn't going to be anything like it again, and there has already been a relatively incident-free election (2008) since then.
Here is an excerpt from the 2004 commission.
http://www1.american.edu/ia/cfer/report/report.html
Robert Kennedy Jr. also explored the 2004 election theft:
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0601-34.htm
Unlike Mitt, Kerry ran a smart race focusing on an electoral path to victory. By so doing he came within one state (Ohio) of winning.
Bush got 286 to Kerry's 251. Flip Ohio and Kerry wins 271 to 266. That was a close race.
Republicans mounted an undercover and almost surreal assault on the 2004 election process. In 2012, they attempted to use their power brazenly and openly to suppress the vote.
Now, back to Anonymous: Where is the evidence? This is not a game.
Berlum
(7,044 posts)"We need data." - Upstanding American Citizens
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Coyotl
(15,262 posts)calimary
(80,693 posts)I would love to see more about this story, too. We need to!
AnnieK401
(541 posts)reusrename
(1,716 posts)Mike Collins has written several excellent articles on this subject, detailing how they got caught manipulating the Republican primaries:
http://www.opednews.com/populum/pagem.php?f=Part-II--Rigged-Elections-by-Michael-Collins-121031-324.html
The facts are what they are, there's no theory to it at all. It did really happen in the primaries:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1648236
In 2004, they set up a "man in the middle" using a SmartTech IT routing switch to intercept and alter the precinct data:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021835756
There's plenty of proof.
valerief
(53,235 posts)Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Once a false meme gets started, it becomes proof for the next one?
OldDem2012
(3,526 posts)Seriously???
ROFLMAO!!
reusrename
(1,716 posts)What, specifically, are you talking about?
Try to do the right thing here and make an intelligent response.
Folks have died for the right to vote, and your mockery is about as offensive as it gets.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)obnoxious?
calimary
(80,693 posts)I tend to suspect the worst of our "worthy opposition." Just what I've learned about them through years of observation. Anything that even remotely includes kkkarl rove - is not to be trusted. VERIFY. THEN trust. NOT the other way around. Glad you're here. We've ALWAYS got to be on our guard with these people. ALWAYS.
reusrename
(1,716 posts)Even absent evil intent, their stupidity and incompetance are plenty dangerous on their own.
Thanks for the warm welcome.
loudsue
(14,087 posts)And it makes me really angry that none of this has been taken care of by the justice department.
Phx_Dem
(11,198 posts)heaven05
(18,124 posts)He's occupying the WH at the moment. Anonymous, stay strong and competent.
Cha
(295,899 posts)attempt at humor per the anonymous op asking where's the beef. Very small attempt. dumb attempt probably, but I never said I was perfect.
SkyDaddy7
(6,045 posts)They have never really been anything other than MOUTH...Yes, they have been a small pain at times for corporations & one security firm but that is about it. They have less than a quarter of the power they claim to hold & 1000 times the MOUTH! LOL! Small time hackers.
pasto76
(1,589 posts)public hearings. CONGRESSSIONAL hearings. names and histories under scrutiny.
Maybe they did, maybe they didnt. If they did, thank all your gods that they did. We do not have a President Elect romney. IF they did, fucks like Rove now _know_ that someone is watching.
"this isnt a movie". Neither is invading two countries, but youve seen how little the country cares about that. Along with pollution in general, global warming, future water shortages, food shortages, the theft of american wealth by global corporations. Nobody cares.
Sure, members of DU would love to see Rove hang for shit like that. But hey, did you know there are only FOUR episodes of Jersey Shore left?
LIKE FOREVER?
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Certainly, the evidence can be delivered without compromising the group.
Yeah, let's just do the happy dance knowing that Rove, a criminal, was secretly foiled.
Good grief.
Sekhmets Daughter
(7,515 posts)You see no risk involved with sending such evidence, and sending it to whom? I am completely ignorant when it comes to anything technical, but wouldn't it be very difficult to produce creditable evidence without revealing just how they obtained it? And wouldn't that
risk crippling their ability?
Isn't what ANON does illegal, or perhaps just marginally legal? If, say, they sent their information to the Justice Department, wouldn't the Justice Dep't. spend more time, money and energy trying to uncover the ANON operation and very little real effort on investigating Rove? If you consider all of the secrets government keeps from the people, Military, NSA, CIA, FBI, Homeland Security, the WH ,
do you honestly think the focus would not be on trying to find a way to stop ANON rather than prosecution of Rove?
Personally, I would prefer ANON to just continue to do their thing.... Any administration unwilling to prosecute the previous regime of thugs, is not going to go after Rove... But I do understand your position.
TalkingDog
(9,001 posts)foreign and domestic.
Have you noticed... or maybe you don't read that much, that a lot of stories that get "big" in America are American stories leaked to the foreign press?
The people then put pressure on the government to deal with it and there is less chance for a cover up.
reusrename
(1,716 posts)Don't see any major US outlets going with the story. Why do you think that is?
Son of Gob
(1,502 posts)reusrename
(1,716 posts)The ukprogressive had a page up until a few days ago. I posted about the scrubbing a while back.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021664507
A month ago there were quite a few news articles about this.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)reusrename
(1,716 posts)AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)First off, it is predicated upon this sentence: "That reveals trends should remain statistically constant throughout an election."
Wrong.
This is ignorant of phone banking, sign waving, and other localized advertising (like road signs) that are leveraged at higher rates in high population density areas.
10% is a pretty easy signal to detect, and the election boards could catch it during machine evaluation.
10% doesn't necessarily win you an election. It didn't save McLame, and it didn't save RMoney. So it's a pretty risky venture to just do an across the board 10%, when the end result might be you lose the election anyway.
Also, it's not as hard to find that guy's claims as you seem to think. Pima County Election Board actually evaluated the claims, and basically told him to pound sand.
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/pima-commission-to-discuss-chance-of-election-fraud-in-larger/article_c2bb25a8-40d7-596d-a933-38bd767a6b87.html
(Obama won that county in Arizona by a 7% margin)
reusrename
(1,716 posts)I don't think I've made the issue clear enough, and for that I apologize. There is so much disinformation and confusion out there that it's hard to understand what people's specific objections are to the information.
First off, nothing that I'm talking about is predicated on the sentence: "That reveals trends should remain statistically constant throughout an election."
That sentence has absolutely nothing to do with anything, afaict. It is not part of any argument that I have made.
Your link to the Arizona Daily Star has also nothing at all informative to it. Basically some folks are crying that this can't be true because they would rather believe in miracles than believe that the votes were electronically flipped. I don't really think you share that belief, the belief that God created a miracle for Mitt here.
So please listen to your own argument for just a second. Follow it through completely for once. You are claiming that sign waving and phone banking could have caused the vote share in the precincts to arrange themselves in a manner from lowest to highest according to total number of votes in that precinct, in race after race, always favoring Mitt and detracting from the front-runner in each race.
My only question to you is this:
How do the flag wavers and and phone bankers know when to stop waving and banking in order to ensure that the total vote counts line up this way. I mean, how did they stop the wavers and bankers from waving and banking too hard in the smaller precincts?
I hope you can follow this, because it is the heart of the issue. How could they have possibly accomplished that, because that is what actually happened. Did God help them to create this miracle? Because, in my current understanding of the universe, any other explanation is impossible.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)I realize it is not your flag/hill to defend, but it sheds light on the credibility of *his* claims.
"How do the flag wavers and and phone bankers know when to stop waving and banking in order to ensure that the total vote counts line up this way."
They don't. The magical 10% is a pattern illusion. This is Mitt's first run. When the rubber met the road, Mitt lost. Funny, eh? Yet, the more credible/accurate surveys and exit polls didn't show Obama ahead by an additional 10% beyond the vote tabulation. Strange, yes?
"I mean, how did they stop the wavers and bankers from waving and banking too hard in the smaller precincts?"
Very simply, by not extending resources to smaller precincts. When people have to fight and claw and pay out of pocket with no campaign support whatsoever, they tend to be less effective. They didn't have to be 'stopped' because they didn't really exist in the first place.
Romney's campaign was a monumental failure in this department. I have co-workers still waiting on delivery of their hats, signs, bumper stickers etc. (And boy are they pissed!)
"I hope you can follow this, because it is the heart of the issue. How could they have possibly accomplished that, because that is what actually happened. Did God help them to create this miracle? Because, in my current understanding of the universe, any other explanation is impossible."
Nate Silver, and Intrade, two very different statistical analysis tools, one proprietary analytics, one a market, accurately predicted the outcome of the election by cutting through the noise and getting to the meat underneath. How is this possible with a 10% vote flip going on, or expected to be going on, even if it was foiled? Intrade is the sort of mechanism that reveals insider trading, because who wouldn't try to make a buck off it if they knew the fix was in? Right?
We're chasing smoke and mirrors here. There are reasons to adjust how we do procurement for the tabulation and voting machines, and who they are purchased from, etc. Was Rove's evil insider plot foiled by Anon? No facts in evidence at the moment. Just a claim.
That which can be asserted without evidence can be fairly dismissed without evidence.
reusrename
(1,716 posts)It still hasn't clicked into place for you.
What you just said about not extending resources to smaller precincts. Follow this explanation to the end.
How did they determine exactly how many resources to withold from the smaller precincts?
It would be impossible to create these results using your method of witholding resources from certain precincts. It would require knowing ahead of the election exactly how many resources to withhold from each specific precinct. How would you even begin to make that kind of assessment?
Perhaps you do believe that God figured this all out for them, and then they simply followed His plan.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)The money allocations for support occur before the day the votes are cast.
I will consider the '10%' when I see his methods and data peer reviewed. In fact, there are several publications that will take on such a topic.
Until then it is merely a claim.
One that didn't avail the Republicans in 2008 or 2012.
reusrename
(1,716 posts)But the 10%, it's documented history, recorded in the official certified vote totals.
The vote totals themselves are impossible. They cannot occur naturally. Only electronic vote flipping can produce such outcomes.
There is no smoke, no mirrors. The certified results themselves, are either a miracle, or they were flipped electronically.
Here's why.
1) In order to intentionally produce these results using your theory, each individual precinct would first have to be ordered by size. Not the size of the precinct, but the actual vote, which means that voter turnout for each precinct would have to be accurately determined in advance.
2) Then, the actual vote counts in each precinct would have to be accurately predicted.
3) Now the impossible part, expenditures would have to be assigned on a precinct-by-precinct basis in such a manner that it suppressed or enhanced the vote in each individual precinct such that it outperformed its next smaller neighbor while still managing to underperform its next larger neighbor.
How do you think that last part was done? Because it did happen in the certified vote. Fact.
I think a rational person would concede that it could only happen by electronic vote flipping. There is no other possible explanation.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)Things like Orca and Narwhal do precisely that, and they do it very well. Well, Narwhal did anyway. Houdini and Orca fell over.
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/11/when-the-nerds-go-marching-in/265325/
2) Then, the actual vote counts in each precinct would have to be accurately predicted.
Down to the last vote? I don't think so, but surprise, that can be done by certain characters like Nate Silver, obviously.
3) Now the impossible part, expenditures would have to be assigned on a precinct-by-precinct basis in such a manner that it suppressed or enhanced the vote in each individual precinct such that it outperformed its next smaller neighbor while still managing to underperform its next larger neighbor.
And that is where you see 'smoke and mirrors' or rather, you see a false signal in the data.
You are basically saying Obama needed a 17% actual lead, rather than the 7% he needed in 2008. And that's frankly bullshit, unsupported by independent exit polls, pre-election polls, you name it.
Same with 2012, unless you also believe Anonymous somehow repaired every single machine in every polling station, yadda yadda, whatever. I don't think so. If they did, they could prove it. They haven't thus far.
"Because it did happen in the certified vote. Fact.
I think a rational person would concede that it could only happen by electronic vote flipping. There is no other possible explanation."
Unless of course the whole analysis is bullshit. (highly likely)
reusrename
(1,716 posts)Romney defeated four front runners, one by one. None was Obama.
I'm sorry you can't follow the evidence, but to claim that it's smoke and mirrors just isn't true. There is no false signal in any data. It just isn' t the case.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)reusrename
(1,716 posts)That is very curious. I would think some publications would have been all over this by now.
reusrename
(1,716 posts)Sekhmets Daughter
(7,515 posts)I'm not really concerned with the "to whom" as much as the risk of uncovering ANON. I have yet to read anything on the 2 threads discussing them that gives ANON a good reason to come forward.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)a reasonable option. Yet the media information is corrupted once it crosses our border. So.....
heaven05
(18,124 posts)People are thinking. Right on to you SD.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)You could have just stopped typing right there.
Sekhmets Daughter
(7,515 posts)so you resort to snark? Brilliant.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)than there was about this 'press release' in the first place.
Nothing.
If they had it, they could do it, and it wouldn't implicate them any more or less than just claiming to have done something in the first place without supplying the code changes. (One can assume the code is still ON the machines as well. Even if the 'code change' was a password reset, as some of the revised statements have alluded to)
Sekhmets Daughter
(7,515 posts)That is what I wanted to know.
So now it's better to assume this claim is bogus? Do you think it even came from ANON...or some imposter?
I am envious of people who understand the way this 'stuff' works.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)anonymous-wannabe making exaggerated claims, or some group that wants to discredit anonymous.
That's part of the fundamental problem of Anonymous, how do you know what claim is theirs or not? By definition, you really can't.
The only thing that sort of 'proves' to me when Anonymous is involved, is, the demonstration of capability, AND the claim of responsibility. Groups claiming to be Anonymous have at times demonstrated actual capability. With this claim, at this point, there has so far been no demonstration of the ability to do or record of having done what was claimed.
They could still do so, but it would make me wonder why they didn't demonstrate it up front.
Sekhmets Daughter
(7,515 posts)rely on your superior knowledge in these matters...particularly if you alert DU when you think any claim meets your standards.
I find it entirely plausible that Rove & co. would attempt to rig the voting machines, but then we've all come to distrust that man and probably wouldn't believe him if he told us the time while wearing 2 dozen watches. In your estimation, would it have been possible for some outside agent to mess up the transfer...or whatever it was?
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)That's kind of the beauty of the 'voter fraud' boogeyman. Every election, someone loses. Both sides lose from time to time, so both sides (two party system) are always looking to catch the other side cheating. There are a LOT of partisan eyeballs from both sides looking at the voting process from one end to the other.
All we seem to actually catch is onesies-twosies of people doing stupid things like trying to vote in two precincts or vote for a dead spouse, and the system does catch them. (And the news showed those instances to be often if not mostly Republicans, which is funny, because voter fraud is precisely the subject they howl about the most)
Unfortunately, I cannot state with any certainty how vulnerable or invulnerable the voting machines or tabulation machines are. They are not open source, so we can't code review them from the outside. Could the vote totals be altered in transit? I'd just about eat my hat if the data was sent unsigned, if not encrypted as well, BUT... Stranger things have happened. However, the total on the machine would have to be altered first, because there is a check performed when the results are certified, that the numbers match upstream.
I don't like how these machines are procured and implemented. It amounts to a method known as 'security through obscurity'. It's a bad practice. The machines could be just genuinely buggy, and outsiders would never know. They could be total vulnerable to outside tampering, and only black or white hat hackers would ever know.
so to resolve this going forward, we should be pushing election boards to move to open source voting machines that anyone can audit, and aren't protected by screams of IT'S PROPRIETARY YOU AREN'T ALLOWED TO LOOK like Diebold and co. like to do. Presumably, they use some patents somewhere in the process that derive from their cash machines, and those machines are stupendously robust and reliable, but this isn't an accounting thing. You can't insure an election result. You can't meaningfully sue the manufacturer once the vote is done, if the machines are defective. We have to look at open source machines from the election board level on up. Maybe get legislatures to pass laws preventing lobbying efforts with such boards.
In my state, we don't really have this particular issue, as we moved to all-mail voting in 2008. So we have a paper trail, and traditional optical scans, etc.
Is diebold and friends an actual threat, an actual problem? I tend to doubt it, but I will agree it has the appearance of potential impropriety, and should be eliminated as a threat. Especially with the partisan divide in the business world between left and right.
Sekhmets Daughter
(7,515 posts)I wish we could have had this exchange prior to the election. You have no idea how many hours I spent worrying about this.
I live in Palm Beach County, FL, the land of the hanging chad. My personal belief is that the whole thing was just a smoke screen for the real tampering that went on. While everyone in the nation was focused on hanging chads the mysteriously purged voter rolls were ignored. As were the polling precincts that were moved without prior notice and in many cases no information was provided as to where those registered in that precinct should go in order to vote. Complaints were filed, to no avail in a republican administration led by Jeb Bush. Because of that bit of misdirection, I was afraid that all the focus on the lines in FL would shift focus away from Ohio and its voting machines.
I have become so paranoid about politics here in FL I don't trust the mail-in approach. We do have a paper trail now which is good. However, during the Allen West v Patrick Murphy recount in St. Lucie County, a box containing 306 uncounted ballots showed up after the
initial totals had been sent to Tallahassee. The recount ended up giving Murphy an even wider margin of victory, which would seem to indicate sloppy procedure rather than an attempt to game the vote, but sloppy procedure is inexcusable IMHO.
Again, thanks for answering my questions. I really do appreciate that you took the time to do so.
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)All Anon would have to do is mail a flashdrive of the evidence to NYT, Reuters, BBC, and several other media. Anon would still be anonymous, and Rove and the GOP would have a lot of 'splaining to do.
Anyone can make an unsubstantiated claim. Every terrorist bombing has several groups claiming credit,. from al Qeada to Basque Separatists.
rainy
(6,083 posts)could wiki-leak some leads.
roguevalley
(40,656 posts)Rove had a fix in. He was dumbfounded that he lost... the kind of fear credo got when Michael figured it out. Adelson does biz with the Chinese mob. He was afraid. Good.
AgingAmerican
(12,958 posts)They don't have to testify in person.
pnwmom
(108,925 posts)glinda
(14,807 posts)pnwmom
(108,925 posts)as opposed to just wanting to take credit for having done this.
glinda
(14,807 posts)MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)Rove would be prosecuted. This wouldn't be a "look to the future" situation, right?
ProSense
(116,464 posts)MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)So, if Anonymous *is* telling the truth, why should they stick their neck(s) out? It might reveal info that could help prosecute Anonymous, who does not have untouchable-by-the-DOJ status.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)more faith in the justice system than a lot of people. They warned Rove and then they confirmed their warning. They arent out to convince the doubters.
I dont know whether they did anything or not. But they warned Rove and something did happen that clearly shocked Rove. I also believe Rove was involved in the 2000 and 2004 election theft's and tried again in 2012. I believe that the "masters" didnt try too hard to win in 2008. They knew the public was pissed at the Bush Republican admin so let the Dems have four years of non-cooperation and then come storming back. That would explain why the normally very outspoken Cheney said nothing as he limped out of Washington the DC.
Some wondered why the Republicans choose to run a bunch of idiots for the presidency. The masters thought the fix was in and would rather have a puppet than a real conservative.
This is certainly a conspiracy theory but I believe that those that want to run the country and have more money than God, conspire. In fact that is Rove's job, to conspire.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,146 posts)If the people claiming to have foiled an attempt to steal the election were honest, then they'd want to see the criminal punished. They'd want everyone to know how it could have been done, so that we could make sure it never happens again.
They are, at the moment, either lying, or complicit in Rove's attempt. I suspect it's the former (I also suspect they are not at all representative of 'Anonymous'), but, if it is the latter, they are enemies of democracy, almost as bad as Rove.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)The list of untouchables is long and included Reagan, Bush Sr., Oily North and the rest of the Iran/Contra criminals, plus those responsible for outing Agent Valarie Plame. In fact all of the Bush Jr. administration are war criminals that are apparently untouchable.
Just because someone isnt prosecuted doesnt mean they are innocent.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Because it damn sure ain't this one, Rove knows where entirely too many very important bodies are buried in DC to ever see a courtroom.
brush
(53,467 posts). . . he will get his comeuppance in some unrelated, maybe even "seemingly" unrelated, event along the way. We'll hear about it and some of us will smile and keep going about our business while chalking up one for karma. Others will wipe away the blood and re-sheath their long knives.
cascadiance
(19,537 posts)... before he had a chance to testify about earlier election thefts!
I wonder what planes KKKarl is flying at the moment!...
brush
(53,467 posts)Connell's death is a good example of a "seemingly" unrelated event. Things kind of take care of themselves when you go too, too far over the line.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)I'm sure you meant
MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)INdemo
(6,994 posts)Bush and Cheney were prosecuted for war crimes right?
treestar
(82,383 posts)Why wouldn't he be prosecuted if there is good evidence? People who think it is so slam-dunk a case that Bush and Cheney could be convicted of "war crimes" never will meet the challenge of stating exactly what international laws there are and what evidence there is. But this is a lot more specific - the Ohio and federal statutes could be identified and the evidence would be specific to that.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)it became vogue for them to break the law and violate the U.S. Constitution...'in order to save it'.
And I never expect such blatant criminal activity to be allowed to stand...boy what a stupid person I was back then.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)Our government refusing or being blocked from doing its job is not a problem, but ordinary people with a justified fear of having that government abuse its power to destroy them should ignore that and throw themselves over the cliff just because.
Dustlawyer
(10,493 posts)King Computer b/c the election was not close enough to switch the vote and hope to get away with it. I think they did it in the Repug primary if you look at how the numbers changed. Let me put it this way, unless they have emails talking about committing massive election fraud, (Rove is not that stupid), you won't have proof. But, they spent 1 billion plus to win and Rmoney was shameless in his desire for the Presidency, do you think he wouldn't spend a couple of million to rig the vote to win? If they can get away with it, of course they are going to do it!
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)How does all this bullshit float when the facts don't fit? Because people want to believe. It is a religion now.
Celebration
(15,812 posts)But we look to history,
And the facts are that Ohio was stolen in 2004.........
No reason to think that they wouldn't have tried again, given favorable circumstances.
reusrename
(1,716 posts)I have a hard time understanding how folks can deny science and mathematics so casually.
How do do you that? Seriously, how do you deny the science? I honestly don't understand.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)reusrename
(1,716 posts)Because I understand it.
It's no different than the earth being round. Honestly. You should look more closely at this.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)GeorgeGist
(25,294 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)The vast majority of people like evidence before they believe unprovable shit.
I mean, let's create a society the RW loves, one in which people can say whatever and it's fact.
We can all live in an America where President Obama is not a citizen, a Kenyan Muslim, and Rove secretly tried to steal the election!
Maybe I can come up with some tasty unprovable theories. We can replace facts with speculation. What a great world that would be.
sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)what you're saying. It wasn't really until the plane crash that killed Michael Connell that very many people were seriously willing to consider that the election in Ohio was stolen in 2004, even though the crash inferred plenty but proved nothing. Sometimes I think we're too far down the political rabbit hole to either know the facts or to interpret them intelligently if we do.
sofa king
(10,857 posts)Maybe the announcement is false, and there is no proof.
But what if the object is to invite the person looking for evidence to go looking for proof, and find that the answer is... unavailable.
Maybe they're inviting us to try to prove it, and to discover that we cannot, not because it did not happen, but because the information that would prove or disprove it is not available to voters?
pnwmom
(108,925 posts)anonymously.
Eyes of the World
(93 posts)"Evidence" and "Proof" are two different things.
There is "evidence" in the behavior of Rove on election night.
There is cryptic "evidence" planted in the letter to convince Rove.
But there will be no government investigation, and Rove isn't talking.
So you will get no proof.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Let's prosecute the asshole for acting strange!
BlueCaliDem
(15,438 posts)alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)If we are to believe this statement (supposedly from Anonymous), we would have to believe
1) There was code associated with the attempted "theft"
2) Anonymous wrote additional code that disabled that code
That's at a minimum.
So where's the code? This isn't a matter of interpreting Karl Rove's behavior. This is empirically verifiable: X code performs Y functions on Z machine. We stopped X code from working by deploying X' fix.
That's verifiable by any third party. That's what we call...."science." And any programmer with the slightest bit of self-respect would release just that with the claim to have developed a coding fix. You can't be about transparency and science one minute and about tea leaves reading the next. There's an easy way to verify the claim: release the code.
RomneyLies
(3,333 posts)It's difficult for somebody to produce something that does not exist.
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)of course, I am well within the bounds of scientific claim-making, since I refuse to put stock in a claim that comes with no evidence and no ability to verify. Whether or not the code exists or this supposed event happened is beside the point. We can't even get to that without the requisite evidence. Those promoting this story on this thread are coming up with a million and one reasons why we should not have the only kind of evidence that would verify the claim. That's just religion, faith, and mystery. It's not science.
RomneyLies
(3,333 posts)If there was code that I could look at, I could make a determination as to the veracity of the claims. Without the code, the claims must be assumed to be nothing but bullshit.
Too many people consider Rove to be an evil genius. He's a hack who got lucky in 2000 that Jeb and Katherine Harris was able to purge enough votes off the voter rolls and got lucky in 2004 that Ken Blackwell was able to suppress enough Democratic votes.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Someone's fantasy and way to get a good laugh at Rove. Sort of drew attention to Rove's bizarre response to the election outcome.
The problem with rich people and their friends is that they only take themselves and other rich people and friends of rich people seriously. Rove just did not come in contact with Obama voters. He lives in a Republican cocoon and has no respect for ordinary people who vote Democratic. So of course, Rove really believed Republicans would win. He is deaf to any information that would suggest otherwise.
reusrename
(1,716 posts)The vote totals are the evidence that electronic flipping occurred. You don't need to know the code that produced it, nor do you need to know the names of the individuals involved, in order to know that the electronic flipping did occur. That's just the way things are.
Now, if you were to argue that it was perhaps an accident due to poor programming or something like that, then you would be returning to the real world. But to argue that science isn't science, that math isn't math, well that' just ridiculous.
Riftaxe
(2,693 posts)I have read a few articles containing statistical speculation about the alleged vote flipping, but none have presented any evidence if they have indeed procured any in the first place.
reusrename
(1,716 posts)I'm talking specifically about the electronic vote flipping from this year's primary election. The fact that it did occur is not speculation. How it could have happened, by what method, is something I have not expressed an opinion about, other than to say I doubt you can find a programmer anywhere who thinks it could possibly be accidental or caused by sloppy programming.
randome
(34,845 posts)One of which was recalibrated and put back into service? The touch screen sensors malfunction as frequently as anything else. It was no mystery.
Two malfunctioning machines out of thousands mean...two malfunctioning machines and nothing else, absent evidence to the contrary.
reusrename
(1,716 posts)Mike Collins has written several good articles on the subject:
http://www.opednews.com/populum/pagem.php?f=Part-II--Rigged-Elections-by-Michael-Collins-121031-324.html
The proof is the official vote totals. They were electronically flipped and there's no denying that fact. You can download the official vote totals and check for yourself, as many have done already. It'll be nice when they start teaching this stuff in high school.
The particular technique that is being used to flip votes leaves leaves a specific linear slope as an artifact in the vote counts. It is a very straightforward routine to calculate what this slope is, then reverse the formula to restore the original data. This can be done with 100% accuracy and to within a precision (margin of error) that can also be easily determined.
They show how to do this in Figure 7, Page 9, of the September 2012 PDF below.
Evidence of Algorithm Vote Flipping in GOP Primary Elections Layman's Executive Summary
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByJAC-sfXwumZzI2bVlON2VTMnFyYVZZSnpDYnNyQQ/edit?pli=1
Significant Evidence of Algorithmic Vote Flipping in the 2012 GOP Primary
http://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByJAC-sfXwumdkE4d0Y2eWtURTZ2eDM5RmlLc3ZhQQ/edit?pli=1
Republican Primary Election 2012 Results: Amazing Statistical Anomalies August 13, 2012
http://www.themoneyparty.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Republican-Primary-Election-Results-Amazing-Statistical-Anomalies_V2.0.pdf
2008/2012 Election Anomalies, Results, Analysis and Concerns September 2012
http://www.themoneyparty.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/2008_2012_ElectionsResultsAnomaliesAndAnalysis_V1.51.pdf
Here's the image from the paper telling how to determine the original, unflipped, vote count:
[img][/img]
jeff47
(26,549 posts)Is you don't show results from any previous election.
Show that this didn't happen in, say, 2000 when these districts were not using these machines. And back that up with results from, say, 1992 and 1984.
reusrename
(1,716 posts)The fact that similar results are not naturally possible is somehow lost on you. Only electronic flipping can produce this result. If you are not capable of that basic understanding, then you just don't get it yet.
The vote totals themselves, from the primaries, are impossible. They cannot occur naturally. Only electronic vote flipping can produce such outcomes.
There is no smoke, no mirrors. The certified results themselves, are either a miracle, or they were flipped electronically. Here's why:
1) In order for the Romney campaign to intentionally produce these results naturally, each individual precinct would first have to be ordered by size. Not the size of the precinct, but by the size of the actual vote, which means that voter turnout for each precinct would have to be accurately determined far in advance.
2) Then, the actual vote counts in each precinct would have to be accurately predicted, I guess using traditional methods such as polling and demographic data.
3) Now the impossible part, expenditures would have to be assigned on a precinct-by-precinct basis in a manner that suppressed or enhanced the vote in each individual precinct such that it produced a very specific outcome. Each precinct must outperformed its next smaller neighbor while still managing to underperform its next larger neighbor.
How do you think that last part was done? Because it did happen in the certified vote. Fact. I think a rational person would concede that it could only happen by electronic vote flipping. There is no other possible explanation.
jeff47
(26,549 posts)Sure it is. There's nothing in the laws of physics that requires it to not happen.
So show it never happened before, and you'll have a point. But all this article says is "I don't think that could happen". There's lots and lots of things in history where people were absolutely sure something couldn't happen, and then it did. For example, heavier-than-air flying machines were thought utterly impossible. We now have 747s.
So show that this never happened before, and you'll have shown that there is an actual anomaly.
Only because you're starting with the assumption that there was manipulation. You haven't proven that yet, so you can't start with that assumption.
This is a terrible idea - polling requires educated guesses about what electorate actually shows up. That's why Gallup was so wrong this election - they made a different guess about electorate composition.
Which is why you'd be much better served by showing this didn't happen in previous elections. That doesn't require guessing what electorate will show up - it uses the electorate that actually did show up. And by going back to earlier elections, you eliminate the possibility of these voting machines being manipulated - the machines were not in use.
So you're surprised that precincts with a lower population produced less votes than precincts with a higher population?
Only because we do such a terrible job teaching science. A properly educated rational person would decide "that looks odd. I wonder if it happened before?" and start digging into the stats to see if this is unique, or if it's not all that unusual. Frankly, I have no idea if it is unusual or not.
Instead, you're leaping to vote flipping, which has one major problem - Romney lost. If vote flipping was taking place, then they'd flip enough votes to win. The idea that you'd break the law to flip votes, but not enough to win the state is just dumb. There's no particular reason to limit your flips.
reusrename
(1,716 posts)Imagine rounding up the last ten powerball winners and finding that they all had exactly the same fingerprints. There is nothing in the laws of physics that prevents this from being possible, is there? I would be correct to say that this could not happen naturally. There could be two possibilities; either some miracle has occurred or someone messed up the fingerprint files. Personally, my first reaction to this situation would not be to go round up the fingerprints of other powerball winners in order to see if this kind of thing ever happened before.
But getting back to the electronic vote flipping, many folks have verified exactly what you have suggested. They have gone back and looked at the historical data. And there were no surprises, everything looked exactly like what they would naturally expect.
Yes, this is the unusual thing. It doesn't happen naturally. It might be much more likely that a particular candidate would do better or worse in larger or smaller precincts, but there is nothing that could make it a certainty. And that's what were dealing with in these particular returns. None of the precincts break this pattern. It just isn't possible for this to happen naturally.
I was trying to explain how difficult it is to come up with an alternative explanation to electronic flipping. It had been suggested that differing GOTV efforts in different precincts might account for the artifacts in the certified vote counts. Since that is a very reasonable suggestion I was trying to explore that line of inquiry. That's all that was. An effort to show exactly what was necessary to occur, either by human intent or by God's hand, in order to obtain these results without any electronic flipping.
jeff47
(26,549 posts)Polling, by it's very nature, is inaccurate. So you use the actual election results. Which means you have to go back to another election.
Since the questionable machines were in service in 2004 and later, you go back to 2000 or earlier and see what happened. If it looks different, then there's something to dig into.
Link?
The story you linked doesn't provide such evidence.
More populous precincts do not naturally have more votes. Really.
You can flip a coin 5 times and get heads 5 times. Doesn't mean it the coin is fixed. Which is why you pull in more data to figure out the actual probability. More flips. (Or in the subject at hand, previous years)
The rural-vs-urban nature of a precinct influences the political beliefs of that precinct. That is not only plausible, but it's a big part of why campaigns target certain places.
Again, find evidence showing this hasn't happened before, and you'll have an anomaly. Which admittedly is only the first step in proving fraud - you can do 100 coin flips and get 100 heads. You then have to show the anomaly is extremely unlikely. In most scientific disciplines, that means a probability of 0.05 or less. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-value
You haven't shown there is an anomaly yet. You've found something interesting. But interesting things happen all the time. Keep digging, and you may find an anomaly.
reusrename
(1,716 posts)Really. The percentage of the vote going to a particular candidate is not naturally determined by precinct size. That's the heart of the matter.
There are many factors that can greatly affect the percentage of vote that a candidate gets in a particular precinct, especially gerrymandering.
But that still doesn't explain things.
An investigator recently claimed to have calculated the liklihood of this particular data set to be less than 1 in a google. It is probably significantly more likely to find the ten powerball winners with the same fingerprints than it is to have this data alignment occur by chance.
http://coto2.wordpress.com/2012/11/01/part-ii-rigged-elections-for-romney/
jeff47
(26,549 posts)No, that's their supposition. He believes that it shouldn't happen. He's claiming to have done some math based on what he believes the electorate should do.....just like Gallup did with their polling.
Was Gallup accurate? No. Why just assume this guy is accurate when we have actual data he could use to confirm his theory? Why guess that the electorate behaves the way he thinks when he could show the way the electorate actually behaved?
reusrename
(1,716 posts)But that doesn't change the certified vote.
The certified vote is the data. It's the only data.
jeff47
(26,549 posts)reusrename
(1,716 posts)It probably isn't as simple or obvious as it seems to me. My third grade teacher used to ask me how I was able to solve trinomial equations without knowing how to do algebra. To this day I don't understand algebra, I just try and memorize it.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)about that vid showing the voter voting for Obama and the vote tabulating for mittshit? If I have to provide a link I don't have it. I saw the report here. I-phone vid and everything.
randome
(34,845 posts)One of those machines was recalibrated and put back into service.
It was not some sort of coordinated fraud. Touch sensors behind the screen malfunction frequently.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)if that's all there was to it.
reusrename
(1,716 posts)Or it could have been intentional to create a false narrative to add to the confusion.
We know that kind of thing has worked well in the past.
reusrename
(1,716 posts)I don't honestly know if that was a key element of the electronic vote flipping that shows up in the vote totals.
I've read some explanations that say the votes were electronically flipped much later on in the process, during the communications with the central tabulators. I ddn't really know how it was achieved, only that it left unique artifacts in the final results.
It is possible that the vote flipping that occurred on the touchscreens was only a smokescreen to provide cover for the more massive changes that were to occur later down the pipeline. Just done as something to add more confusion, which there seems to be plenty of.
D23MIURG23
(2,832 posts)so they don't point unequivocally at fraudulent activity.
I understand that there is some reason to believe in vote flipping, but you are overstating your case IMO. If this is really going on direct evidence of it should come to light. Someone will leak documents or code, and the game will be up. If that doesn't happen then no one will talk about this in 10 years, for good reason.
reusrename
(1,716 posts)The first folks to look at this tried to calculate probability of this being a statistical abnormality but it was beyond the range of their software. I believe that was the Princeton team. More recently, others have claimed to have calculated the probability to beyond 1 in a google.
That's a one with a hundred zeros.
You would be more likely to find that the latest ten powerball winners all have identical fingerprints.
It's an algorithm; it's not a statistical abnormality.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)within the system itself? Could an IT security group detect something out of the ordinary? Can they detect such an intrusion? Could they distinguish between Rove's fixes and Anonymous's fixes? Surely the code exists somewhere--can it be traced?
(Obviously my questions are those of a non-tech head).
In other words, is this kind of fixing easily detected if the voting system is transparent and auditable?
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)could be the scene for such faith-based nonsense as we see in this thread. It really is a testament to the power of faith to envelop and possess any practice whatsoever. In this case, the faith-reasoning is easy: because the unseen force (God, Anonymous, etc.) acts in unseen ways and is all-powerful, it can both interfere and hide its own interference - it can both act and erase all evidence of its own action (other than the results, which prove the action regardless of the presence of evidence).
That the reasoning for believing this claim is God-reasoning is clear enough. We even get the "God doesn't have to answer to (mere mortals like) YOU" statements that are part and parcel of half-assed theology. That such God-reasoning should attach itself to one of the most verifiable and scientifically-geared practices in modern culture (programming) is what's really remarkable here.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)Yes 0
No 1
treestar
(82,383 posts)The only thing approximating evidence is Rove's meltdown on election night. That could be for dozens of reasons - Rove was looking to throw some cold water on Obama's victory - Rove was looking to get attention for himself with an outrageous statement - standard right wing method - Rove really is in a cocoon and was so certain R$ would get Ohio that he couldn't believe it could be true, and all he had to do in his position was blab his disappointment - it certainly does not prove any real fiddling with the voting system.
Rove did not even need to do that - the right thought with all of their money and with their false statements and their obvious contempt of most of the electorate, that they couldn't lose.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)As someone who operates web domains and has access to web servers, I can read the computer address of every single DU user who posts on a thread I start. I know who you all are and where you are sitting if I want. I even scored George W. Bush's computer IP once.
This whole story is built on nothing but someone's imagination and a cheap video imitation of Anon.
But Thom Hartmann got sucked in and now has to try to recuperated his credibility.
He fell hook, line, and sinker LOL
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)---
AikidoSoul
(2,150 posts)method used. The forensics' experts would have to know what computer the code was entered into and where it was directed. Trouble is, that software can be very much like a virus that morphs into different forms over time. It can even delete all traces of itself, and then...even reappear at a designated time, like two years from now during the next election cycle.
edited to add the word "next".
NYC Liberal
(20,132 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)They can claim whatever they want and some people will believe them. But the real world demands proof of accusations. I don't like Rove and don't doubt he would try such a thing, but that's not enough for the real world.
pnwmom
(108,925 posts)That's why they put out the letter. Because whether they actually did what they say, or not -- they want to get credit for Romney's loss. They want to impress us.
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)Indeed, ProSense.
If there was actually a programming event that happened on election night, there would be code to demonstrate it.
The code for the planned theft (supposedly linked to the laughable ORCA program)
The code that prevented the theft
How both those pieces of code interacted with the voting machine code
Any programmer worth his or her salt would release all this WITH the statement. the fact that it wasn't released is the clearest indication of all that the statement is bullshit.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)--should be up to the State BOE and State govt. in a transparent system.
oh yeah that's right--they don't work for the people of Ohio. They work for Rove.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)These perps are probably starting to believe their own fraud by now
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)pnwmom
(108,925 posts)and trying to get undeserved credit for Romney's loss.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)Doesn't seem likely nor any kind of rational goal.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)A sound principle for ALL human interactions, regardless of the topic.
99Forever
(14,524 posts)... Anonymous doesn't give a flying fuck what you want or demand.
Nor do many other people.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"I'm fairly certain...Anonymous doesn't give a flying fuck what you want or demand. "
...I don't give "a flying fuck" about your comment.
Funny how that works.
99Forever
(14,524 posts)Then why do you feel compelled to respond?
Oh to be so self-important.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Because I didn't want you to be the only one who felt "self-important" in the world of not giving a "flying fuck."
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)If Anonymous did what the statement claims, there is no reason on Earth that they wouldn't be able to release the code proving it. The code and its functions could be objectively replicated and verified by disinterested third parties.
That's not a partisan or individual "request" or "demand" by ProSense. That's the minimum condition for believing the stated claim according to basic standards of scientific claim-making.
99Forever
(14,524 posts)... answer to you either.
Get over it. Neither of you are that important.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)You're condescending, and you are not that important. Did you know?
99Forever
(14,524 posts)Also I understand the meaning of ANONYMOUS and what it signifies. Sorry to have to explain to you that not everyone is an attention whore.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Did you know that was a demand?
My bad, maybe it's an order!
99Forever
(14,524 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)Speaking of "tilting at windmills," fortunately, I don't need the idea of evil Rove to make my day.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)99Forever
(14,524 posts)AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)so extraordinary, it beggars belief, but oh no, you don't want any evidence to back that claim up.
Okie-dokie.
99Forever
(14,524 posts)Okie-dokie.
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)As much as you'd like to make this about personalities.
This "Anonymous" made a claim about the world. The claim is either true or false. We know how to demonstrate its truth or falsity: with the code in question.
Now, it's fine to play games, and it's fine to say "We did X" as some kind of ploy, or whatever. But as to whether that really happened, it's easily demonstrable: release the code and let disinterested third parties test it. This isn't even complicated, nor is it something that's foreign to programming culture. Indeed, it's central to programming cultures to "show your work," as it were, especially lefty programming cultures, in a free and open source sense.
You want to make this about people - precisely because you cannot make it about evidence.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)You should go down to the elections office and tell them to release the code on the machines.
I'll wait right here til you get back.
Warning: They will tell you to go fuck yourself. They will not release the code to you or anyone.
Hurry back now.
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)09F9-style.
If they hacked it, they should know it. if it's anti-democratic that it is not released, Anonymous should release it. Why wouldn't they?
Simple: the story is a nice story, but never happened.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)If it is used to count your vote, why do they keep it a secret from you?
How is it that you can just sit there and let them keep secrets from you?
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)I fervently disagree with secret software tabulating votes.
That doesn't mean that I now agree to claims that are put forward without any evidence.
Your logic box is broken. You think because I request evidence from Anonymous for the claims they make, that I'm suddenly a representative of secret software counting votes? Au contraire. I believe in transparency and verification all around.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)"I believe in transparency and verification all around."
If you did you would be going after the officials. Yes, ask the officials who count your vote, to release the code so it can be transparent.
I know you have done no such thing. Instead you complain about me.
I asked my election officials to release the code and they told me no. When will you go ask your officials?
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)I never complained about you once. I have no idea what you mean by "Instead you complain about me."
I am absolutely opposed to secret tabulation. I'm telling you I oppose non-transparent voting processes. I also oppose claims with no evidence. So there it is. If you have some reason to disbelieve my straightforward agreement that non-transparent voting processes are bad, please let me know.
The basic fact is, however, that you are unable to defend the complete non-use of evidence to support Anonymous' claim.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)Why is it a secret?
Why can't you tell me of anybody in the public who has read the code? If you are opposed to secret tabulations why don't you profess to do anything about secret tabulations?
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)Yes, that's a big problem.
That doesn't mean I accept Anonymous claims without evidence. Indeed, what I have said throughout this thread - you can check if you'd like, if you haven't already - is that Anonymous should release all the code.
Why won't they? Because this event never happened. Lacking evidence, we cannot accept their claim.
You can try to turn this into some weird Statement of My Activist Bona Fides, or whatever it is you're trying to do to avoid the subject of the discussion, but the subject is very simple: should we believe Anonymous' claims to have stopped the theft of the election in Ohio. My answer is "Without code as evidence, of course not."
Everything else is beside the point.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)No. Your claim is the point. With a secret code no one should believe what you are being told. You dance around and let the officials keep a secret from you and all you do is ask Anonymous to pony up.
You let the officials slide and make demands of Anonymous instead. That's crazy, and you know it.
D23MIURG23
(2,832 posts)is not grounds for attacking anyone who asks for evidence in response to new assertions of malfeasance. Maybe you should learn how to make a cogent argument before you go accusing more people of being shills for the government.
thesquanderer
(11,953 posts)re: "it's easily demonstrable: release the code"
That wouldn't really prove anything. Anyone who could hack into a computer to "fix" malicious code could also hack into it to put the malicious code there in the first place. So even if Anon produced the vote-theft code and the way they disabled it, Rove et al could easily claim that all the code came from Anon, that the bad code was never there in the first place. and that Anon was trying to frame them.
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)to first establish that what's being described is even possible. of course evidence will be disputed. Most evidence for controversial claims is, in fact, disputed. but that's not sufficient grounds not to produce any. The first step here is to show code and describe its functioning such that it is capable of doing what Anonymous claims. After that, we can deal with provenance. There's no good reason not to do so.
That some people will dispute the authenticity of a piece of evidence is not a good reason to refuse to release that evidence.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)To test it, make sure it actually works, and then get it onto the hardware?
Do you honestly believe these people hacked into, examined, found a weakness, patched, tested, and installed a code change without fucking up the machines, in a limited timeframe between when the machines were plugged in, and when the election began?
And you don't want to see the code edits they made, to prove it? And you don't find it highly suspicious they haven't published the code?
Uh-huh.
randome
(34,845 posts)If Doctor Who can hack a phone app...never mind.
thesquanderer
(11,953 posts)I was only pointing out that having Anon release code would not, itself, prove that the Republicans/Rove had done anything wrong. The topic of the thread is, "If Anonymous has definitive proof that Rove tried to hack the vote, present it" -- people were saying it would be easy for them to provide definite proof that Rove had done this by simply releasing code, I was saying that I don't think that's the case.
Regardless of whether they release the code or not, there will be people who believe them and people who don't. I'm not sure releasing the code would change anything, actually.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)and the nature of the exploit they were patching, and the code itself, that would lead me to give them the benefit of the doubt.
I agree, it wouldn't prove who created or initially exploited the vulnerability. So yes, rove might get away with it. But it would at least prove Anonymous or whoever this is that claims to be speaking for Anonymous, is credible.
It would also be something that we could start congressional hearings on.
Cha
(295,899 posts)I am just very glad that Obama, with all our help, anonymous included, won. If that other one had won, man the threads would be 20 pages long. This a very long thread about anonymous. This individual has caused quite a ruckus. Good for you anonymous. Okay moving on to this Benghazi thing that seems to be erupting because of talking points.
pocoloco
(3,180 posts)They will be all day getting their panties out of a wad!
treestar
(82,383 posts)Please explain.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)Sorry dude, your mythical tech wizards are little more than that: Myth.
But good PR though.
99Forever
(14,524 posts)You have no fucking clue about what you are spouting off about.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)No fucking idea at all what I am talking about. I don't even know why my employer keeps me in scotch and scones. Apparently all I do is post on the internet all day, eat lunch, and maybe take a shit about 3pm.
99Forever
(14,524 posts)... you really are so very, totally awesome! You're prolly the smartest high techie on the planet. Nobody could possibly know more than you.
Golly gee.
Stevepol
(4,234 posts)that could handle this?
I think I like it the way it is. If Anonymous was truly able to disable Rove's system with a firewall, he can do it again.
If he's just lying, so what?
Nobody knows who he (they) is/are so nothing is gained by lying.
I like it the way it is.
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)Again, that's science.
Stevepol
(4,234 posts)Evolution is science. How many politicians support it?
Keynesian economics is science. How many politicians support it, and stand by it in times like these?
Global warming is science. How many politicians stand by it?
It would have been quite easy scientifically to verify that there were no WMDs in Iraq pre-2003. Who did it? Who believed the scientific estimates that were given.
To me it's elementary logic that when the vote is counted in total secrecy using electronic voting machines and no audits are done where the vote is counted by hand openly and transparently, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE A DEMOCRACY. The German court that handles constitutional questions outlawed voting machines for Germany (in 09) for that very reason. How many politicians would even hint that they agree with this logic?
I could go on indefinitely. For now I'm glad Anon is remaining anon. I wish them well if they indeed are able to do what they claim to be able to do.
argiel1234
(390 posts)funny you could not bring yourself to post about unverified electronic voting machines..
but now that anon has made sure to stop voting fraud...you are ALL!!11111!!!!!! concerned
oh and
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)I laid out what would be the minimum conditions for believing the claims. That's a dispassionate assessment.
Weird that you would think otherwise.
On edit: By the way, welcome to DU. I must have missed your arrival here a little over three weeks ago.
argiel1234
(390 posts)the deed has been done whether you like it or not.
rove was shown live and in full color to be jaw dropping surprised about his failed attempt to program the election..
it seems you are mad that rove and his incompetent IT team suck at rigging elections
ahahaha
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)You sound like a medieval theologian declaring that God does not have to prove himself to mere mortals. Since your faith in Anonymous goes without any evidence, it really is a God-argument. You're pre-Enlightenment in your standard of proof. This is really dark Ages stuff you're doing, right up to your weird finger-pointing accusation of heresy. I guess religious fanaticism never goes away - it just changes shape.
In any case, for a poster who has only been here three weeks plus a few hours, you seem quick to accuse others of siding with Karl Rove. I've been fighting Rove and his cohort for plenty of years. Not sure about you, though, since you have no background here, and who knows where you came from or why.
Either way, whatever you think about me has no bearing on your weird capacity to believe outlandish claims without evidence. You should just admit a religious attitude toward the matter in question. You certainly don't care about facts or science.
argiel1234
(390 posts)doesnt it?
visit bradblog for examples.
Its too bad because the elections are over and going forward anon will make sure that repukes and right wingers will be exposed in elections, local, state and countrywide
That must scare you to the core
Its too bad for you.
randome
(34,845 posts)When the reality is that those who ask questions are the ones standing up to entrenched beliefs.
I hardly think that qualifies people as 'scared'.
All these threads are pointless since we're arguing about something for which there is no proof.
argiel1234
(390 posts)whether you believe or like it or not
The proof is in the pudding. Obama won. We gained more Senate seats. We also gained more House seats. And the icing is the centrists were kicked to the curb in the House, in particular.
The Senate is now more Democratic and more liberal as well as the House.
CT?
ahahaha
randome
(34,845 posts)That's a result, not a proof. Anyone can claim to be Anonymous. And anyone can claim that they won the election for us.
We won because Obama and the Democrats did it right this time.
argiel1234
(390 posts)which allowed Obama to win by a landslide, as that is how the people actually voted.
I still see you ignore the 800 pound gorilla in the room called electronic voting fraud.
randome
(34,845 posts)You're believing what you WANT to believe. I refuse to do that. Facts and evidence are more important to me and I will go wherever they lead, no matter if it proves I'm right or wrong.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)I'm glad there is a secret counterbalance to snakes like rove or at least the threat. Anon DO NOT because of ego, pride or whatever give in to these demands for exposure. NO!!!! NEVER!!!!!
RomneyLies
(3,333 posts)The entire story is a made up fairy tale.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)It all begins with the Ohio 2004 cover-up. This is part of the 2004 cover-up, designed to keep people from the truth.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)If one refuses to believe in the unexplainable, one is a heretic to the new religion. Those who ask for proof of the goodness of the unknown are abused. The new cults work just like the old ones. And if one questions cult members, all hell breaks loose, since that's offensive to the faithful. Meh.
RomneyLies
(3,333 posts)I notice a lot of them have been responding to my posts questioning the cult of BBV.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)And if you dare to not believe, it won't happen, so it'll be your fault. Don't spoil the magic!
Easier than hard facts like 63 million votes for Obama, not produced by faith in the invisible hand and media, but real hands working together.
Another day, another media phenomenon funded by TPTB to entertain us. Meh.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)They are just hot air until backed up with real proof.
Evasporque
(2,133 posts)Thus it is inadmissible ...
ProSense
(116,464 posts)What a wonderful world!
If the code is provided, it doesn't matter how Anonymous obtained it. There is such a thing called whistleblowing, and Rove can be prosecuted on tangible evidence. No other party need be involved...the code please.
JimDandy
(7,318 posts)Info acquired illegally by private citizens/companies and provided in a court case is admissible. They open themselves up to criminal and civil prosecution for the theft though, sometimes even if they are whistleblowers, unfortunately. We really need stronger whistleblower protection laws.
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)As long as it can be verified.
If Anon's claim is true, they provide proof, media reports it, Dems and AGs are on lookout for future attempted hackings...which accomplishes the purpose of cleansing the democratic process. Evidence admissable in court isn't necessary.
Making an unsubstantiated claim is just a publicity stunt intended to sucker in true believers of the Conspiracy Religion. Hell, why not just claim Batman saved democracy from the evil Rove? Same thing...
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)is that they would be vulnerable to persecution prosecution.
Atman
(31,464 posts)I believe it was Husted who was defending his last-minute "software patches" as not being about the voting, merely the tabulating, as if the two are unrelated. He crowed about how everybody would be able to go the SoC web site and see the votes tabulated in real time, and therefore there was nothing to fear.
ORCA was about GOTV and demographic targeting. These Ohio "software patches" we're about taking the votes after they're cast, and flipping after they've been sent on to the SoC. Husted also bragged about how his new system would allow everyone to know the winner virtually as the polls closed. This goes a long way toward explaining Rove's reaction, and actually lends plausibility to Anon's claim.
ORCA is a red herring.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"These Ohio 'software patches' we're about taking the votes after they're cast, and flipping after they've been sent on to the SoC."
...should be easy to find.
Atman
(31,464 posts)If everyone is focused on ORCA, why would they be looking at Husted software patches?
I'm not saying I necessarily believe Anon's claim, especially since they claimed ORCA in the letter. I'm saying that I the focus should not be on ORCA, since the SoC expressly stated his patches were about tabulating the votes.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)If that was the mechanism, how hard can it be to find?
A lot of people are not focused on ORCA.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)doesn't matter. This organization, whether true or not, whether claims of defeating rovian machiavellian schemes can be proven or not is irrelevant. This a secret weapon that will keep thieves like rove and future roves looking over their shoulder. Come on people. All I need to know is that it's a possibility that rove's machine tried to steal the election again. Duh! Do you doubt that? Why can't people demanding proof on this site of anonymous just fucking chill. Whether this is someone full of shit or not DOES NOT MATTER. If just the threat of someone smarter than rove being out there keeps things on the up and up. I don't need a face or concrete proof of claims. YOU GO ANONYMOUS!!!!!
ProSense
(116,464 posts)I prefer the idea of Rove being investigated and indicted.
CanSocDem
(3,286 posts)"I prefer the idea of Rove being investigated and indicted."
NYC Liberal
(20,132 posts)"Why can't people demanding proof on this site of birthers just fucking chill"
"Birtherism, whether true or not, whether claims of Obama being a secret Kenyan Mulsim or not can be proven or not is irrelevant"
heaven05
(18,124 posts)is a terrible thing to waste on me, because it makes the person using it, irrelevant.
NYC Liberal
(20,132 posts)heaven05
(18,124 posts)need for facts, yes.
NYC Liberal
(20,132 posts)Birthers, creationists, flat-earthers -- those are the types of people that don't need evidence or proof for their theories.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)any non thinking person can demand something that is by and large irrelevant to the ultimate outcome of the election.. Anonymous is one of my heroes. Keep em looking over their shoulders anonymous.
NYC Liberal
(20,132 posts)without the help of some bunch of anonymous hackers. Keep spreading the meme that Rove and the Republicans are all-powerful super geniuses who are capable of doing anything they want. Democrats have no chance against those brilliant Republicans!
Me? I'll focus on real-world problems like voter suppression and voter ID laws that do far more damage.
Obama won fair and square. Rove is not a genius. Romney and the Republicans are incompentent idiots.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)geez. We won. Your point on outside help is moot. Voter suppression and I.D. laws must be addressed also. No problem from me. Rove STOLE two elections. He is smart. Just a gut reaction. Mittshit and rethugs, incompetent idiots? +1000. No argument from me.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Rove is ROFLHAO at this silliness and the way he has everyone so conned, they are furthering his con job.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)(forgive the inside baseball, but it fits here, and you are DEAD ON!)
heaven05
(18,124 posts)Get your ego out of it.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)provides proof, or their story is as believable as an Orly Taitz filing.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Orly Taitz says there is no birth certificate when there really is one.
This claim begins with there is something that does not exist.
Who is going to believe there is something that never existed?
It is easier to believe something that exists doesn't
am glad that anonymous, real or not, rovian false flag or not, is ignoring a questionable call to expose themselves. I repeat, if there.
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)It's beginning to look a lot like Anony-mas?
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)Don't rest ye merry Democrats
Although they booked DeLay
Remember that indictments
Will come on Fitzmas Day
To save us all from Bush's hacks
Who led us all astray
O charges of treason and more
Treason and more
O charges of treason and more
From Karl Rove and Libby too
The name of Plame did slip
Once Wilson proved the liars wrong
Back from his Niger trip
Behold the rot that caused the leak
On Bush's sinking ship
O charges of treason and more
Treason and more
O charges of treason and more
To Rove the Great Deceiver
And Libby, Cheney's bitch
The plan to sell their pointless war
Went off without a hitch
But Karl's just a conjurer
And Scooters just a snitch
O charges of treason and more
Treason and more
O charges of treason and more
Patriots can speak freely now
That Rove is behind bars
And Cheney's booked, and Libby's done
For starting groundless wars
Our press will come alive again
But not without its scars
O charges of treason and more
Treason and more
O charges of treason and more
Good Fitz will throw the book at them
Or so my sources say
Hark! The time has come at last
To make these traitors pay
Our flag will stand for freedom now
On glorious Fitzmas Day!
O charges of treason and more
Treason and more
O charges of treason and more
RomneyLies
(3,333 posts)Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK.
There is no alien spaceship in Area 51.
The US landed 12 men on the moon and returned them safely to the earth.
Barack Obama was born in Hawaii.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)vote tampering. That is a fact.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)Anybody who can state "there was no vote hacking in 2004"...has gotta be a stolen election denier.
You sound so 2005.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)and how difficult is was to hack e-voting in 2012
You don't hack punch cards, you move them to the next precinct to change the votes.
Don't people remember how to fix elections the old way anymore?
boston bean
(36,186 posts)Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)Provide the evidence to send "poor put upon Karl Rove who has been accused of evildoing" to jail.
He really doesn't care that you're laughing at him.
I'll join you in laughing when he is under investigation. I'd roflmao if he ended up indicted.
RomneyLies
(3,333 posts)You restore.my faith in the capability of people to think rationally.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)If he is actually indicted he'll never make it to the courtroom and everyone involved knows it, particularly him.
I don't see Rove as being a stand up guy in the original sense.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)When he steals the next election, we just have to live with it.
"If he is actually indicted he'll never make it to the courtroom and everyone involved knows it, particularly him."
And this is a reason not to investigate him?
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)What I think should happen is neither here nor there, of no consequence.
What I think is *going* to happen is that Rove won't see the witness stand.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)+he got away with it.
Funny shit!
aandegoons
(473 posts)And there is a ton of evidence and even confessions.
How many times do people have to stick their fingers in the light socket to know it's bad?
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Nail his ass instead of holding him up as untouchable.
aandegoons
(473 posts)I am pretty sure it won't happen. No matter how little or much the evidence.
bahrbearian
(13,466 posts)Coyotl
(15,262 posts)ProSense is standing up for facts and the truth. You sir are falling for Rove's lies.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)I just think it's funny that now the election is over ProSense has switched from standing up for Obama to standing up for Rove.
Not surprised but it is amusing.
bahrbearian
(13,466 posts)Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Rove did not need a fake Anon to fail. He did just fine on his own
treestar
(82,383 posts)I would believe Rove did whatever he could, but that's just belief - I can tell the difference between that and the real world.
boilerbabe
(2,214 posts)quinnox
(20,600 posts)Like a shadowy group of super villians, asking to know their secrets is futile. You may as well ask for a tour of the secret military bases located deep underground, where the top secret projects are worked on and the mind blowing classified archives are kept.
IdaBriggs
(10,559 posts)The people in charge are NOT interested in prosecuting Rove.
When evidence is presented, it is dismissed. The concern is more that voters have faith in "the system" regardless of what happens behind the scenes.
I will join your call for prosecution. I sincerely doubt EVEN WITH OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE that anything would happen.
bahrbearian
(13,466 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)As the poster states: "I will join your call for prosecution. I sincerely doubt EVEN WITH OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE that anything would happen."
That cannot happen without evidence. Regardless of where it leads, evidence removes the uncertainty. It will empower people to demand accountability.
MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)Really, now.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)You appear to have a thing against evidence. Regardless of where it leads, evidence is a good thing.
In the case of the banks, evidence at least exposed what they did, and some people were actually prosecuted.
Former BofA Exec Indicted For Fraud
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002990749
Three former UBS execs convicted of fraud involving contracts for muni bond proceeds investment
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021250815
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021841131
bahrbearian
(13,466 posts)Cha
(295,899 posts)proof is needed.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)The people in charge WERE interested in my evidence.
When my evidence was presented, it was considered.
The concern was election integrity.
You say "I sincerely doubt EVEN WITH OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE that anything would happen" but you do not have "OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE" of anything at all.
Show us your " OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE" please or please shut up about it.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Their concern was election integrity. Ok and what happened?
"Show us your " OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE" please or please shut up about it." It's not necessary to get nasty.
Fence rider
(48 posts)Nothing will ever come from this now that Karl's dirty tricks didn't work. Even if they did try to do something electronically and you can or can not prove, they still tried blatantly to steal the election by doing everything they could from redistricting, ALL of the shit the Florida and Ohio republicans did to try to keep people out of the polls, making sure that lines were long and not enough time was given. They were willing to take the media heat for their blatant obvious attempt to suppress voting. You know if they are willing to do this they are willing to do anything it takes to get themselves in power so they can loosen restrictions on their theft and perpetuate the lie machine so they can continue the fleecing of the American people.
My question is
"How long is the populace of this country going to sit by and let a small group of rich white guys do anything they have to legal, illegal,moral, immoral to steal everything they have before they wake up?"
patricia92243
(12,590 posts)that is fine. Just keep their mouth shut. The only thing printing unproven data does is promote conspiracy theories and make Democrats look as nutty as Republicans.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)This is a new form of election fraud, use the election to do a fraud and get donations.
KharmaTrain
(31,706 posts)Election fraud is to be a real issue...not one shrouded in tin foil...it's time to prove it. If someone is manipulating the machines, come out with names, push for an indictment, have a trial and lets see what shakes out. This issue needs to have a name and face attached with it...someone who actually was caught tampering with the machines and then lets learn how it was done.
The problem with this issue is that its easy to claim fraud when your candidate loses or, in this case, blindly believe that some great plot was scuttled (with no proof other than someone's "word" . We've been dealing with electronic voting since the middle 80s and one would think that if the systems were that easy to hack or that it was a common occurrence, someone would have come forward by now.
So...if turdblossom or anyone attempted to manipulate the votes, time to put up or shut up. This is the perfect time to do it...nothing like hitting an asshole like Rover when he's down...and to start the process of electoral reform in time for the 2014 and 2016 elections.
If "annonymous" has information or proof of election fraud, bring it forward! If not, it's just more blowing smoke...and more tin foil hats...
tammywammy
(26,582 posts)starroute
(12,977 posts)That is, a message from Anonymous to Rove saying, "We can get to you any time. We have the keys to all your locks. Let us make you an offer you can't refuse."
There is enough cryptic language in that letter to suggest that Anonymous is furnishing proof to Rove and his buddies that they really can penetrate their system -- mixed in with obfuscating claims about Orca to confuse the message for outsiders.
"Real" and "hoax" aren't the only alternatives, and many Anons operate in a territory where real events can masquerade as hoaxes. They're not just computer hackers -- they aspire to be reality hackers as well.
I believe that something definitely happened in Ohio on Election Night. Exactly what that something was -- and how it relates to this Anonymous message -- are yet to be determined.
NorthCarolina
(11,197 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)Melinda
(5,465 posts)Eugene Stanley, the incorruptible district attorney for Orleans Parish, presented evidence of fraud to a grand jury. Louisianas attorney general, the less morally encumbered Gaston Porterie, stepped in to sabotage the case for Long. Nonetheless, two judges demanded a recount, at which point Governor O. K. Allen obliged Long by declaring martial law. Intimidated jurors found themselves sorting ballots under the supervision of National Guardsmen, who stood by to protect them with machine guns.
When this effort failed, another grand jury was convened. Their eventual finding of a massive conspiracy led to the indictment of 513 New Orleans election officials. Once again, Long used his famous powers of persuasion. At his behest, the Louisiana legislature modified the states election law, giving ex post facto protection to the defendants. Election rigging, Long might have quipped, had become downright exhausting. But it worked.
-snip-
Johnstons group also breached a system made by another industry giant, Sequoia, using the same man in the middle hacka tiny wireless component that is inserted between the display screen and the main circuit boardwhich requires no knowledge of the actual voting software. The Sequoia machine will be used in four states by nearly 9 million voters in 2012.
This comprehensive article is very very long, but provides historical perspective and details in re the GOP and their long history of manipulating the vote, along with reference to 'she who shall remain nameless'. From the 11/12 edition of Harpers, it predates the election by a few weeks.
Harpers
There is no more exquisite method of silencing dissent, or shutting down inconvenient inquiry, than to charge someone with conspiracy theory. - Mark Crispin Miller
*On Edit: Added 2 paragraphs
NorthCarolina
(11,197 posts)to define the threat of GOP vote stealing and the claims being made by Anonymous in foiling GOP plans this election cycle as nothing more than "tinfoil hat conspiracy" stuff, and attempting to shut down any such discussions with endlessly repeated mantras of "Bullshit", "Nonsense", "It's a crock", "Utter crap"? It is obviously a coordinated effort, but to what end or for what purpose?
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)How do you explain a mega-church full of idiots believing the same "Bullshit", "Nonsense", "It's a crock", "Utter crap"?
Use that explanation here
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)to discredit something it makes me think there's MORE to it--
There are a LOT of people who have a vested interest in keeping the US voting system in RethugliCon hands.
D23MIURG23
(2,832 posts)do you feel that creationism has "more to it"?
I think sometimes there are massive pushes to discredit things simply because a lack of evidence alone is often not enough to stop people from wasting their effort and resources on a catchy idea.
NorthCarolina
(11,197 posts)may be justification for a single post in response to the OP expressing your opposing view, but not antagonistic responses to those responding in a positive light to the OP which is generally how the coordinated efforts work here. The goal is not to add your 2 cents to the discussion, rather it is to harass responders and attempt to shut any further discussions down. Big difference.
D23MIURG23
(2,832 posts)1) you don't get to tell me how to post.
2) It was a legitimate counter example IMO. I can be as contrarian as the next person, but that often doesn't lead to well thought out positions.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)There's no massive push to discredit creationism that I can see. Creationists have made great strides in America, considering the stupidity of it all.
HOWEVER since 2000-04 I have seen a massive push to discredit ANYONE who suggests that American elections can be stolen, manipulated and compromised.
This is really the RepubliCon Modus Operandi = control the 47% at the ballot box. And they have been very successful in doing that.
There are LOTSA people invested in this system, from the top down. Whenever I see these complaints, I know somebody doesn't want a transparent election system in America. Because--why would there be such a big push back against addressing major voting reforms and bringing America up to world standards? (Duh)
D23MIURG23
(2,832 posts)We have had major court cases, such as Kitzmiller vs. Dover area school district dedicated to keeping creationism out of schools. Additionally there are national organizations like the NCSE with this focus. Even beyond that, fighting creationism is a major focus of prominent members of the atheist movement such as Richard Dawkins.
I personally haven't seen as big of a push to discredit election fraud reporting. Fraud tactics that are well documented get national media attention. I heard about the ID laws and the Rick Scott voter purges on Rachel Maddow. By contrast I don't hear much about electronic voter fraud outside of DU, and I think the main reason is that a lot of what is said about electronic voter fraud doesn't stand on very good evidence.
Finally, when you imply that I don't want a transparent electoral system, you are basing it on a non-sequitur. I don't have to let poorly founded arguments in favor of electoral reform slide, in order to be in favor of it. I happen to think that we would advance our cause more effectively by focusing on the places where there are clearly problems i.e. voter suppression, than by going out on a limb and focusing on problems which are poorly demonstrated at best. Advocating for electoral reform on the basis of screwy arguments is also not likely to help us be taken seriously.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)Comfortable truth, and uncomfortable truth alike.
In this case, it would be trivially easy for the claimants to prove their claim. They have offered no such evidence.
That which can be asserted without evidence can be fairly dismissed without evidence.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)THIS IS THE BEST most comprehensive article to date on the subject--just came out in Harper's.
READ IT.
edhopper
(33,164 posts)I don't buy the explanations for the exit polling discrepancies I've seen.
Why not do it again?
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)edhopper
(33,164 posts)this Anon stuff is BS? Just not clear.
grantcart
(53,061 posts)that the Republicans had some sort of sophisticated software fix that altered the results of both touch screen computers and the easy to verify paper ballot tabulators, something that didn't hold much logic anyway.
Moreover the rather significant effort at voter suppression also raised the question "why bother" if the 'fix' was already in.
Anonymous can't offer proof because it doesn't exist.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)there or not. The IDEA of our own watchdog is GREAT!!!!
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)Some anonymous group claims to protect the vote, without providing proof, so no need to worry. No need to hold govt and elections officials accountable. We can all go back to watching DWTS and Jersey Shore.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)don't watch much regular entertainment dumb down television and no accountability is not the case here. Of course they must be held accountable. I gave up on 'blind faith' and blind trust when I left american christianity. too narrow minded and racist/sexist/homophobic. Someone like anonymous keeps the rethugs and others wondering, that's all. Blind faith is one thing, trust is another. and my trust MAY be misplaced, but I trust anonymous before I trust that rove wasn't trying to steal another election. He was way too twitchy election night not to have had an expectation of a sure win. I watched the idiot meltdown, he was serious. If anonymous is a fraud, one day it will come out, one way or another. I choose to accept him at face value. Just like I choose to accept Barack H. Obama at face value as being a better man than mittshit, lyinaynryan, rove and the rest of that cabal. If that means I am blind in my faith, so be it. I am not asking anything from you or all the rest of Barack's disparagers on this site. I will never accept that I have to answer to any of you.
JimDandy
(7,318 posts)That's why they go in tandem. Doesn't make it plausible, just possible.
Are_grits_groceries
(17,111 posts)it will be over some pedestrian crime such as tax fraud or perjury. That is the only way many people ever see the inside of a jail. I wouldn't count on that.
In addition, a prosecution based on Anon's proof would be questionable. Somebody could claim to be Anon and post something tomorrow and how would you know who really did it? That's the beauty of Anon. It keeps people guessing and wondering as they go about their mischief.
If you think the Dems are lily white in the area of voter fraud, I have a bridge to sell you. Somebody is researching it and messing about as we post. It isn't a one way street. The GOP has just been more ruthless and open about it to an extent.
Nobody will be prosecuted except for low-level dabbling. Any trial about a large effort will never happen. Rove will be protected by powerful people or die in a plane crash.
Just the fact that Anon can get into people's heads is enough for me. They don't have to provide you, me or anybody else anything. You may have your knickers in a twist to prosecute Rove. They don't.
Lastly, if Anon can do this, the government has to have somebody who can ferret it out too. They aren't acting on it if they do because they aren't going to expose what probably would be a nest of snakes.
Does Anon exist and do everything claimed in their announcements? Who cares. It keeps the PTB on their toes. If they treat it as a real threat it is effective and part of the mission is accomplished.
Demand away. Chase Rove. That will keep you busy and that's a mission accomplished too, eh?
heaven05
(18,124 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)You're not selling a bridge, you're selling a bogus false equivalency.
"Voter fraud"? Tampering is election fraud. There is no such thing as massive "voter fraud."
Are_grits_groceries
(17,111 posts)Election fraud then. Whatever.
Anon sent me an email that they are monitoring you. An announcement will be made shortly so that gawd and everybody knows they are after an important person.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)there are a lot of purposely contrarian individuals who, I feel, are drama queens/divas/kings on this site who like nothing better than to add baseless, useless arguments to a definitive statement such as yours. I basically had to learn to ignore a lot of immature people on this site.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)software is something that I have believed to be just rye humor, a joke, from the beginning. I think that Pro Sense's challenge is great, but I don't believe that Anonymous actually did what is claimed here.
The polls stayed open. Democrats voted early. We got the vote out. Democrats supported Obama.
The real question is will we support Obama and get out the vote in 2014. We need to regain the House and keep our lead in the Senate -- at least until the Republican Party becomes somewhat relevant.
And Obama needs to hold tight. Cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will negatively and very negatively affect every American, every man, woman and child. Those programs have to be shielded from Republican greed at all costs. Same for medical care for wounded veterans. The rest of it -- up for grabs. Especially farm subsidies to large farm corporations. Totally unnecessary except in years of severe flooding or drought.
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)very well said
Eyes of the World
(93 posts)I would support that use of taxpayer money.
longship
(40,416 posts)Or, at least some of it.
I am highly skeptical that anybody hacked like is portrayed in the alleged Anonymous "transmissions". This has scam written all over it.
It may be real, but let's get real here folks. This is most likely Bullshista.
Unless you just like fictional grand conspiracies.
Meh! Indeed, present evidence!
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)...
OldDem2012
(3,526 posts)...of revealing the true identity of any of their members to you or anyone else because of your rather petulant request to do so on DU. Why? Because what they do is "not a game" and can result in arrests, fines, and prison time.
Have you done any research on Anonymous and what they've been able to do since 2003? Do you remember the attempt to pass SOPA and the response by Anonymous? Why is it such a stretch of your imagination to accept their claim that they were able to keep the 2012 elections from being stolen by Rove's operatives?
Where's your evidence Anonymous was not able to do what they claimed to have done?
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Why do you need evidence?
I mean, you want me to present evidence that Anonymous hasn't presented evidence of what they "claimed" (operative word) to have done?
OldDem2012
(3,526 posts)Wait Wut
(8,492 posts)...to release the information without exposing themselves. That's why most of us don't believe them. If you're going to advertise yourself as a big anarchist hacking organization and can't figure out a way to leak info without signing your name, you have zero credibility.
Go to Walmart, buy a cheap thumb drive, load info, insert thumb drive into unmarked envelope, seal (with water...no DNA), stick stamp on envelope, drive to some rural area, find mailbox, stick envelope in mailbox and send off to authorities. Oh, be sure to put one of those little Anonymous logos on the envelope to advertise your omnipotence and stealthiness.
aandegoons
(473 posts)Anon?
RomneyLies
(3,333 posts)Anonymous will claim they chose NOT to stop the vote hacking to "teach the Democrats a lesson".
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)it justifies retaliation computer attacks on Democratic GOTV efforts.
This may work just fine to get 1.) a few more donations down that Velvet rabbit hole, but the net effect is 2.) a lot more disinformation and misinformation is promulgated.
If those are the two objectives, all is flowing smoothly according to plan.
toddaa
(2,518 posts)Let's remember that "Anonymous" isn't a traditional hacker group like the Legion of Doom or the Computer Chaos Club. Anonymous is anyone claiming to be a member of anonymous. The only "official" Anonymous group with any credibility is the one that goes after Co$ and that group is largely street theater. They have only one cause that they truly care about and that is completely unfettered free speech.
Once they started spinning off Antisec and Lulzsec in the wake of Wikileaks takedown and OWS, all sorts of individuals jumped on the bandwagon calling themselves "Anonymous", many of whom never hacked a line of code in their life. The arrest of Sabu and Topiary pretty much put an end to the whole "We are Legion" technical threat and you now have a shell of whatever quasi hacker organization actually existed in 2008. What was posted to Pastebin is likely nothing more than act of one of the new breed "hacktivists" who are pretty good at PR stunts, but have no real hacking skills. If Anonymous really did participate in an election day hack against the Romney campaign or Rove's Crossroads GPS, we'd see a lot more dox on pastebin than a single post.
In short, not only is there no evidence Anonymous hacked the election, there's no evidence Anonymous even claims to have hacked the election. Everyone is here and elsewhere is likely being trolled for lulz.
Dark n Stormy Knight
(9,760 posts)although you don't seem to claim to be.
geckosfeet
(9,644 posts)to pick up the trail if it exists.
treestar
(82,383 posts)They can stop taking credit for something they may not have had anything to do with unless they come up with proof.
And the point about Rove is even better. He and his cohorts would get away with it if Anonymous does not prove it and if they have that information they have a duty to share it with the DOJ and state DOJs.
pipewrench
(194 posts)"We watched as Karls speared ORCA whale was beached, rotting with a strong stench across his American plalyground, unable to be resuscitated."
ProSense
(116,464 posts)This is why there needs to be clarity. There are two claims floating: One implicating ORCA and the other dimissing it.
DirtyDawg
(802 posts)...before 2004. The State of Georgia converted to the Diebold voting machines for the '02 mid terms and we lost both a Senate and Governor's seat due to it...and the evidence has long since been revealed. Only nobody's believed it. By the way, the Diebold folks referred to the 'last-minute' patch - similar to the one they were to install in Ohio - RobGeorgia. And the arrogant smucks got away with it...and still are.
Cirque du So-What
(25,808 posts)After all, the 'proof' or 'evidence' would just give the crooks a blueprint for avoiding the computer sleuths next time around. Better IMO to keep the crooks guessing and looking over their shoulders.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)meanit
(455 posts)Who would ANON give their information to anyway? The "good guys"? Clearly they do not have much trust in any political party. They also would not be stupid enough to reveal any of their methods or tactics, so any proof will be elusive at best.
Hutzpa
(11,461 posts)Last edited Sun Nov 18, 2012, 01:43 PM - Edit history (1)
those that are determined to destroy America.
I SAY RELEASE EVIDENCE!
lalalu
(1,663 posts)thought they had something that could work. This reminded me too much of what they pulled with Bush.
The problem is republicans thought their narrative in black communities was working. Their storyline that President Obama didn't do anything for black people and having some ministers suggest his support of gay marriage would turn off black voters. Then there was the whole attempt to divide with voter suppression by claiming they were only after illegals.
They underestimated the backlash from black voters offended by their behavior. Record turnout by black voters put a halt to whatever dirty deeds they had planned. They were betting on the election being close enough to steal and I do believe Rove was up to some rotten stuff. They didn't plan on a landslide going to President Obama.
Now whether Anonymous has actual proof is debatable but I have zero doubts about Rove.
HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)He just fucked it up.
sofa king
(10,857 posts)In that statement that "someone" released, it said that they considered catching Karl in the act, but decided instead to make it impossible for him to steal it in the first place. So there should be little or no evidence that Karl tried, because he was prevented from getting close enough to do it.
Even if it is a substance-less propaganda piece, it is a thoughtful one. The letter is pretty careful to note that the infiltrators did not interfere with Republican get-out-the-vote efforts, but instead disabled that software after the polls closed on the West Coast.
If other accounts that claim ORCA had access to read/write result pages are true, the intent of disabling ORCA after the polls closed is clear: Republicans wouldn't be able to use the monitoring software to change the results...
... so aside from the circumstantial evidence of hundreds of attempts to access the software after its use was purportedly at an end, there should be no direct evidence of a theft.
The backdoor allowing Rove to change the results in three states was unexpectedly protected with some sort of a firewall; that was not the ORCA/GOTV software. The writer made certain to distinguish between the two. Those backdoors were shut with a separate operation.
And if Karl couldn't get through his rat-holes, there would be no direct evidence of a theft there, either. But producing the code would be direct evidence that Anonymous was breaking the law.
Producing code that exposes the existence of a backdoor does nothing to implicate Rove or anyone else. It would have been dismissed as a harmless and unknown backdoor left behind by a software engineer--as intended, no doubt. The press would have immediately been directed to ask whether or not Anonymous stole the election, not Karl.
Furthermore, if Anonymous really did interfere with Rove's plans, they would be suicidal to present actual evidence against Rove instead of using it to protect themselves.
There is no rule of law in the United States and there hasn't been in a decade, at least. These people are going up against the person who invented that state of affairs--the very guy who destroyed American justice, possibly forever. These kids have no real protection, legal or otherwise. It's all about the muscle you bring to the fight, and once they're caught, these kids have none.
Karl Rove has a dozen US Attorneys in his pocket, the state of Texas, hundreds of millions in pocketed campaign cash, and one dead IT guru notched on his belt already. One or more of these script kiddies always gets busted, eventually, unless....
...Unless Karl stands to lose more than he gains by pursuing vengeance. Then nobody gets busted, and this remains a conspiracy theory. The people who did it--if they did it--are only safe as long as the action remains in doubt, and if they can hold something over the GOP's head to make it stay in doubt, they might live to see another election.
Or, it could all be crap. But it's clever crap, one way or the other. Whoever wrote that letter (it looks like more than one person wrote it, to me--watch how the "kingmaker" paragraph changes its voice) thought carefully about what was said and how.
go west young man
(4,856 posts)Gregorian
(23,867 posts)I didn't take the Anonymous comments as being truth. But I didn't take the next step that asked for evidence.
I don't know either way. I do know the system has failed. It failed in 2004.
Even if no one "stole" anything, it failed. Voter's intentions were not fulfilled.
The Traveler
(5,632 posts)There are several possibilities, including
1) Anonymous has been known to use disinformation in the past. A surprising number of these guise have read the "The Art of War". This may have been a spoof, intended to deter action by Rove's group or (as likely) cause them to react so that the reaction itself could be monitored and a vulnerability identified thereby.
2) If there is truth in this, then it is likely the case that a leaker contacted Anonymous and gave them the information. In that case, divulging the details could expose the leaker. This could be very bad for the leaker. (Didn't a 2004 Republican operative mysteriously run out of fuel while flying a small aircraft ... just days before he was to testify under oath?) Anonymous does take the anonymity of its sources very, very seriously. Almost religiously.
3) If Anons had detected a security vulnerability, and had exploited that to get inside the infrastructure of a vote rigging operation, releasing the details might well divulge the vulnerability, effectively closing the door. They might be reluctant to allow that at this point.
Anonymous operates by its own rules, and not necessarily in accordance with our opinions or desires. The hive mind does not particularly support either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, and a person of the mask and hood is just as likely to be a conservative as a liberal. (Though by "conservative" one should, I think, largely rule out social conservatism ... Anons tend to be rigidly supportive of human rights and solicitous of the "different". But that is just a pronounced tendency, and not a universal rule.) It should be noted that Obama is not particularly popular in Anon circles due to the indefinite detention provisions of the NDAA, the over use of drones, a perception that he has let the bankers off the hook, SOPA, CISPA, etc.
The motivation behind the announcement (whatever it actually represents) was simply to help protect the right of people to vote, a right which is held dear in those circles. I'm not sure the hive mind (or this particular crew) cared about the outcome. I think it perceives that its work would remain much the same regardless of who won the election. Both political parties are seen as instruments of a corrupt system, a system they intend to transform. And there is no detectable consensus as to what the "end state" of such a transformation would actually look like. Anons tend to like to argue about that a lot.
And so, ProSense, while I agree with you ("this is not a game" and would like very much for such evidence to be divulged, we must accept that the objectives of Anonymous are not the objectives of Democratic Underground or Democratic Party supporters. You are of course free to suggest, encourage, and even demand such disclosures ... but the crew involved is unlikely to consider those expressions in its decision making process.
Trav
Skraxx
(2,964 posts)Seriously, there's really nothing they could present to prove their claims. Anything they present as evidence could be dismissed as forgeries, fake and phony and in addition, in order to determine authenticity one would need full cooperation from the GOP and Romney, because any investigation would need to dig into the guts of ORCA and the entire GOP/Romney operation.
What you ask is not possible, not feasible and also not in anons best interest.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Not in Anon's best interest.
The other two are just icing on that oh so delicious cake.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Yeah, anyone can say anthing and not have to prove it, right?
"Anything they present as evidence could be dismissed as forgeries, fake and phony and in addition, in order to determine authenticity one would need full cooperation from the GOP and Romney, because any investigation would need to dig into the guts of ORCA and the entire GOP/Romney operation."
Are you seriously arguing that even if they present evidence, there is no way to verify it as credible? Investigations are never easy.
Skraxx
(2,964 posts)How could they convince you? Show the logs ? How would you know its legit? Code? How could they prove it was implemented? Nothing would suffice to those who wish to dismiss.
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)That's not a good reason not to present it.
The code would have to exist. They would have to know it. At the very least, if they presented the complete code in question, a third party could verify that it could have happened like that. Instead, they present nothing. It's all very faith-based. From a scientific point of view, it is disturbing to see how many people believe this unsupported claim simply because they desire to believe it and without any evidence to support it. Not only that, many people are twisting themselves into knots coming up with reasons why the claim cannot, in principle, be supported by evidence! It's not even post-Enlightenment theology. This is Dark Ages stuff.
Skraxx
(2,964 posts)There is certainly circumstantial evidence to support it, this is not a scientific hypotheses, but a claim of a possible criminal conspiracy and an attempt to thwart it. I would draw no conclusions at this point, but to have suspicions and to discuss speculations on the internet is hardly out of bounds. It's not disturbing in the least and hardly faith based to ask questions and speculate about the veracity of the claim and in fact discuss what circumstantial evidence we do have at this point in what would seem to be a developing story.
You sure are getting your panties into a twist about it. I mean the dark ages cuz we're speculating about a juicy story on the internet? You give the word hyperbole a new meaning.
randome
(34,845 posts)You make the assumption that an attempt was made to rig the voting.
Then you make the assumption that an anonymous email from a group calling itself Anonymous is legit.
Those are assumptions, not circumstantial evidence.
Are you counting Rove's meltdown on TV as evidence? I'd say it's not. If Rove truly had the vote rigged, he wouldn't give a shit what Fox News said. He'd just smile, secure in the fact that everything was going his way.
Skraxx
(2,964 posts)Rove's meltdown is absolutely circumstantial evidence, among other things. There's no harm in speculating, I have no idea if this is true or not, but it is absolutely within the realm of possibility, we're not talking aliens or ghosts here, we're talking about criminals being criminals and hackers being hackers. Hardly the thing of fantasy.
randome
(34,845 posts)But like I said, I don't see Rove's meltdown as anything, circumstantial or otherwise.
I just think the whole idea of an email being proof that some shadowy cyber agency saved us is ludicrous.
Absent evidence to the contrary, let's just assume we won the election because of who we are. That's my takeaway from Nov. 6th.
Skraxx
(2,964 posts)But you gotta admit, it's a juicy friggin' story either way and worthy of discussion. Inquiring minds want to know, I mean after all, I'm just some schmuck with wireless, why the hell shouldn't I get my jollies kibbitzing?
Cleita
(75,480 posts)It's up to the Justice Department to start an investigation or the very least the Ohio Attorney General should do so. Once an investigation is started then the authorities can dangle some carrots or wield a stick to get Anonymous to comply but not before.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)There are a ton of loony suspicision posted on the Internets every day.
Anyone making a claim would be subject to questioning. No one goes off and investigates a claim without talking to the source or at least getting some evidence: a dead body, a smoking gun, etc.
Cleita
(75,480 posts)Ohio State Department's handling of this and past elections would provide enough evidence to start an investigation. I'm not a lawyer nor an Ohioan, so I can only speculate, but the whole Ken Starr investigation of the Clintons was started with flimsy suspicions that were less viable than we have here. All it took was convincing a judge to issue a warrant to start looking into dealings at the bank and law firm the Clintons were associated with in the past. All it takes is the will for those officials to do it but I doubt if they will. They are afraid of the whole Karl Rove/Bush family machine or they would have nailed him years ago. Anonymous would just be shut down if they came forward first.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)a lot of people forget our past 'scandals'. They are just interested in casting dispersions on our POTUS and his leadership and integrity within the limitations of this very flawed democracy. Anonymous keep them all guessing.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"Ohio State Department's handling of this and past elections would provide enough evidence to start an investigation."
...to do with Anonymous' claim. They can investigate voter suppression and any number of activities that are evident, but these have nothing to do with the claim being discussed.
No one is going to investigate a claim where no evidence exists.
Cleita
(75,480 posts)Forget all I said before because there really will be no investigations any way, not of Karl Rove or anyone associated with him and election tampering or fraud. Anonymous has no reason to come forward. To do so would be fool hardy of them and frankly they are better where they are being anonymous.
flamingdem
(39,303 posts)I put this together from the posts by a person from Columbus Free Press who answered my question regarding how they knew about the experimental patches.
They came from Wikileaks, somehow hacked is what I understand. Excuse me for not knowing the exact relationship to Anonymous but there are surely connections.
The timing is what is telling. It was the same time that the warning to Rove came out regarding the elections - the we have an eye on you - post/video.
I think Fitrakis and freepress.org had something but we still don't know what, thus Anonymous made a claim, but the jury is still out on what the patches really do. Fitrakis of the freepress.org tried to have an injunction put on the machines Nov. 6th it was rejected, not enough time was one reason.
summary:
Fitrakis seeks information about the voting machines, not sure what he knew that started this
Fitrakis is unable to get the info from FOIA
Fitrakis gets help from Wikileaks and the person posting on DU mentioned also a person in Husted's office
Anonymous posts that it knows something about what Rove is up to and they're watching him
Fitrakis gets the leaked/hacked document that is a contract about the experimental patches 2 weeks before election
Fitrakis tries to get an injunction
Colombus Freepress.org related person posts on DU about wikileaks connection in answer to a question about source
Fitrakis writes a lot of articles for freepress that manage also to bring attention to his own Green Party campaign
Fitrakis gets the word out about the patches but there is no more information after the election.
I think that there are multiple motives, most of them well meant but there was some overreaction and a tad of self serving regarding Fitrakis and his campaign being pushed simultaneously. The admirable attempt here was to control the machinations of Husted. Luckily we didn't have to really find out more since Ohio wasn't needed. However, after making claims about the patches we need follow up. I think we're not hearing more because it wasn't much more than this and there were no definitive results regarding the use of the patches.
Matariki
(18,775 posts)I had no idea that the fact those patches became public knowledge was via Wikileaks.
I wish everyone on DU would read your post.
robinlynne
(15,481 posts)subject. Dan Rather did a documentary. Proof is everywhere. Not from Anonymous. From election protection advocates all over the country!
Just watch Dan rather Reports. Watch CLint Curtis testify before the Congressional COmmittee investigating the 2004 election. You can see your proof easily in both. . (The Terri Schiavo case conveniently took center stage on the same day as the Congressional investigation. that is probably the only reason why not every DUer here has seen it.)
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)Sid
Rex
(65,616 posts)and is the scorn of the 1%ers now. How again is that a bad thing? I think you are so wrong in that Rove is untouchable and place way to much importance on some hacking group knowing if he cheated or not. Are you really going to take the word (ie proof) of someone that spends their time sending out computer viruses and hacking into law enforcement mainframes?
Not I.
Karl Rove is already 'Total Dogshit' publicly and that seems to have some people really besides themselves right now. How funny is that?
Zorra
(27,670 posts)Just a coincidence right?
No. People really need to start waking up. Too many are still living in the blissful, uncomfortable woo of the la la Leave It to Beaver matrix.
But the fatal accident is also raising questions about Connell and his work for key political figures and lobbyists, which has targeted him in investigations over missing White House e-mails and a lawsuit alleging electronic voting fraud.
Following Last Friday's fatal accident, CBS Affiliate WOIO reported that Connell, who had recently been subpoenaed to testify in relation to a lawsuit alleging vote rigging in the 2004 Ohio election, was warned at least twice about flying his plane because his plane might be sabotaged.
snip---
Much has been written about problems at the polls in Ohio that year, where voters in many (predominantly Democratic) precincts were forced to wait hours because of a shortage of working voting machines. A lawsuit being pursued by attorney Clifford Arneback seeks to answer questions about this and other ballot problems. [For example, in Franklin County Mr. Bush received 4,258 votes in a precinct where only 638 voters cast ballots.]
snip----
It was later learned that Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell's office had routed Internet traffic from county election offices through out-of-state servers based at SMARTech in Chattanooga, Tenn. SMARTech hosts dozens of GOP Web domains.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Zorra
(27,670 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)InsultComicDog
(1,209 posts)I'd want to be very careful as to who I'm revealing the information to. I would be in danger of arrest and conviction myself, and would certainly not rule out other reprisals, if I were outed as the guy who did it. Whoever received the info would probably use it more to go after me and to prevent future such incursions by people like me, had I done this, than to go after Rove and to prevent future tampering by people like Rove.
The challenge would be what to reveal and who to reveal it to in order to get the right parties to take it seriously and direct their attention to what Rove was doing rather than to what I was doing, if I were in that position.
rzemanfl
(29,540 posts)namely the very specific 105 tries language, to know they were found out and blocked (if they were).
allrevvedup
(408 posts)I take a dim view of wikileaks, Assange, and Anonymous, also Occupy as long as we're on the subject, which seem like so many intel-originated distractions, limited hangouts, and honeypots (send us your whistle-blowing dirt and we promise to keep your identity a secret, lol), and I don't see how this one does anything but give tea-party types another reason to disbelieve the results of the Nov. 6 election. So demanding evidence, which I very much doubt will be forthcoming, seems entirely appropriate.
coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)theorists that vote fraud did NOT occur? By the same token, what evidence would satisfy vote fraud doubters (myself among them) that vote fraud actually DID occur?
The mere discrepancy between exit polling data and actual vote tabulations (2004) IS NOT SUFFICIENT PROOF, imho, and can be more readily explained without resort to occult theories of vote fraud. To wit, right wing pundits like Rush and Hannity were telling Rape-publi-scum voters to lie to exit polls about whom they voted for in 2004. So the exit polls probably had a pro-Kerry bias not reflected in actual ballots cast and tabulated. (This is what the exit polling firms themselves say to explain the discrepancy.)
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)There it's easy: code and functioning of that code...how the hack was supposed to work, and how the counter-hack worked. If I saw these things, I'd be at least satisfied that it might have happened the way it's been described. Barring these things, I'm shocked that anyone who has completed high school could believe any of this. There is simple no evidence to support the claim. None.
flamingdem
(39,303 posts)that this was the smoking gun. We can see that Fitrakis put some of his reputation on the line. He needs to come up with some kind of follow up -- so what about those patches?
This is not the Orca story, I will have to read up more on that to see where it overlaps, if it does.
This one though caught the media's attention, Big Ed featured this info as did Don Lemon on CNN and many others, Husted appeared on camera defending himself about the patches among other things.
I agree there is no evidence.
The fact that FOIA wouldn't get freepress.org the contract for the machines made them suspect the worst I think.
Plus the timing of the placement of the patches.
If they want to redeem themselves it's tricky simply because as you say they need the code.
coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)of evidence to the contrary, will always choose the simplest explanation for any phenomenon.
Rove's discomfiture can be readily explained by the well-documented manifest failures of Romney's GOTV effort. Rove would have had good reason to doubt the calling of Ohio so early, HAD ROMNEY's GOTV EFFORTS BEEN UP TO SNUFF. But that was the fatally flawed assumption Rove made, that GOP voters were turning out at levels he expected. They were not and did not.
There, Rove's reaction explained without recourse to occult theories of superhuman programming legerdemain secretly discovered and countered by anonyomous shadowy figures. Yipes, even typing it the whole thing is so laughable as to beggar description.
sofa king
(10,857 posts)Because we are forbidden from seeing it.
Maybe it's a little bit like Harry Reid's gambit with Mitt Romney's taxes: He knows Mitt is hiding something, and the damage he was willing to take by continuing to hide it had to be less than the damage he would take if he released the documents. So Harry can make shit up if he wants, or tell what he heard, and Mitt is free to prove him wrong, but he won't dare.
In this case, the writers claiming to be Anonymous are working inside of the same logical box. They're claiming they prevented an election theft, but I'm willing to bet that nobody is going to be allowed to take a close look, either way, for proprietary and legal reasons.
Maybe that's the point. That we aren't allowed to know.
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)deploying this argument as a kind of attack on non-transparency in general.
My point is that the claim shouldn't be accepted as an empirical description of an actual event without the evidence. That it might be some manner of agitprop designed to get people questioning the non-transparency of the voting system is fine with me. I have no problem with rhetorical provocations, so long as we can separate them from statements of fact.
sofa king
(10,857 posts)I used to be young, arrogant, self important, and mischievous (but not very technically adept, as these folks are).
I would have left a signature behind at the scene, some Errol Flynn flourish for everyone to see.
If they really did what they said, at least one of them would have cut his "Z" into the curtains, somehow.
The real question is whether or not anyone will be permitted to go look for such a thing, and my guess is still, "no."
reusrename
(1,716 posts)The proof is in the vote totals themselves. You need lookkno further.
Electronic vote flipping won the primary for Romney, eliminating the front-runners, one-by-one, along the way.
I believe the order was something like Huckabee, then Paul, Gingrich, and Santorum, but you can check on that yourself by looking at nothing more than the electronically flipped vote results.
We KNOW these facts did happen. We don't know who made it happen, or why. Could it hsve been a hapless accident? Let someone make that argument, sure. But don't keep on denying that what really happened never took place. It happened. The vote counts are published. It's real!
judesedit
(4,437 posts)secret because they don't want to be killed before they can testify for one reason. Wake up. Big Money will do anything to make more and to keep the poor poor. Thank you Anon and friends whoever and wherever you are. You saved our country from these lying, cheating, murdering thieves. The 1% are 99% bullshit and pond scum
James48
(4,416 posts)that Anon was able to stop Rove.
I don't need to know anything more, other that to ask the question- Anon, do you need anything else to prevent another "flip" in 2016?
How can I support you?
eyewall
(674 posts)He wasn't able to get any interest for an investigation from the Bush DOJ. Is it too late to present his information for a current investigation? I get the impression that Democrats are reluctant to pursue prosecution of republicans because it would look too much like what republicans do, a partisan attack.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)argiel1234
(390 posts)They dont answer to anybody and the fact that Rove was completely off his rocker and jaw dropping surprised that he didnt steal the election is more than enough evidence.
Besides. Rove and company would NEVER face any prosecution(see Cheney Bush etc) anyway, so why would anonymous show their hand as the game continues. Unfortunately for the house, anonymous has figured out how the house cheats.
Too bad for them
maindawg
(1,151 posts)that this will be the story of the century so far. We all know that KKKarl is a criminal. Everyone knows that. We need proof. I just think rigging America's election is about the biggest crime of all time. This will be the end of the Republican party as the word 'Republican' will become slang for filthy criminal. People will refer to prisoners as 'republicans' It will become an insult to accuse a person of being a republican.\
On the other hand, we have seen them look the other way for 12 years at least. We have seen turdblossom ignore congressional subpoena's. Dubya and dick are free, hiding out somewhere. rumsy and the wolfawitz are lurking in the shadows.
I think Reagon had like 235 indictments on his watch in his admin. Prior to him we had Nixon.
do you see the pattern?
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)Do you people think that if the code was released, that the person who released it wouldn't have a target on their back?
If you REALLY want code to be released, how about having the companies that own the voting machines release their code to prove that there's no funny business coming from them? This code is proprietary, and if anyone decompiled it, and looked at it, it would be a crime. Not saying that Anonymous modified this code, but if they did, someone in their organization would go to jail, even if they did find something at fault with the code.
That's why I believe that they don't have to release their code. They said that it was a firewall that was password protected. They could have used any of a number of freely available firewalls out there, and simply installed it, and password protected it, and the folks who were going to modify the counts on the tabulators would be locked out.
I also find it interesting that people who don't have a clue when it comes to technology asking for this. If they were given code, what would they do with it? Would they understand it? How would they know if it was the real code? How would they analyze it? Could they analyze it? If they couldn't analyze it, how would they form an opinion as to how it was successful?
No, Anonymous does not have to release any code. It would open up too big a can of worms. This way, it's kept simple, and Anonymous does not tie themselves up with hearings and such, so that they can do more in the future.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"Do you people think that if the code was released, that the person who released it wouldn't have a target on their back?"
...give me a break. This constant harping on fear is ridiculous. Shouting that people are coward and afraid to stand up, and then presenting cowardice as a reason for not doing everything to hold someone accountable is pathetic hypocrisy.
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)would paint a target on someone's back? Or are you just saying that they aren't brave enough to release the code?
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)aletier_v
(1,773 posts)That "technical description" was a joke.
I mean, really, it was a joke.
Somebody is having a big laugh right now.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)aletier_v
(1,773 posts)If somebody has a real description of hacking the voting system,
I'd like to see it. That thing is not it.
FYI, I have thirty years of hardware/software experience, hacked two major electronics companies in the early 90s, and done a few presentations at Defcon.
randome
(34,845 posts)argiel1234
(390 posts)bucolic_frolic
(42,651 posts)if they're subpoenaed.
If they try to offer up evidence anonymously,
it will be like a murder trial without a corpse.
TrollBuster9090
(5,953 posts)There is testimonial PROOF that Republicans have asked software engineers to write programs to hack and/or rig voting machines for the purpose of stealing elections.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clint_Curtis
If THIS kind of thing doesn't spark Justice Department investigations, I don't know what on earth WILL.
I, too, am utterly SICK of the "Boys will be boys" reaction you get to voter suppression attempts and election stealing attempts.
Eric Holder showed a HINT of a spine in investigating and prosecuting voter suppression efforts before the election. He (or whomever replaces him) should grow a COMPLETE spine after the election, and investigate some of this stuff.
There is nothing we can do to stop the House from jerking off in all directions with 'Fast and Furious' and 'Benghazi talking point' investigations....but we don't really expect anything from them beyond political circuses. The DEPARTMENT OF 'JUSTICE' is different, and we have the right to demand and expect action from them on the things that matter.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)He evidently wasn't afraid to come forward, and he's still alive.
How does Clint Curtis support the notion that the evidence of possible vote hacking in 2012 should be withheld?
Where is the 2012 version of Curtis? In fact, the disclosure of the evidence doesn't have to be done publicly by a single person.
Let's have it.
TrollBuster9090
(5,953 posts)All the Anonymous hacktivists have to do is supply IP Addresses etc. to the DoJ, and that can be done (ironically) 'anonymously.'
Probably my biggest fear regarding that would be that they submit IP address and server information to the DoJ and A) The DoJ does NOTHING, and B) as a result of disclosing the information to DoJ, the culprits just erase the evidence, and plan a more fool proof hack attack for the NEXT election. After all, we're talking about Rove organizations that have a history of erasing servers, erasing emails, and (to avoid forensic disc recovery) removing disc drives and destroying them.
(Mind you, having said that, if there was any evidence that could be destroyed, they would have done it already. The best thing the DoJ and FBI could do is subpoena witnesses to go on record, and risk jail time if perjury can be proved. Any or all of the physical evidence must be gone by now.)
William769
(55,124 posts)NightOwwl
(5,453 posts)A whole lotta hot air about a whole lotta nothing.
I said it once and I'll say it before:
We are the reason we won the election.
Anonymous can claim anything they want because, guess what? They are anonymous.
It's an incredible insult to everyone who stood in line for hours to vote, and for those who put time and effort into the re-election effort.
PATRICK
(12,227 posts)from the first questionable machines. Some Georgia machines mothballed I think. In looking for a smoking gun what was mostly revealed is the overall surmised strategy of how the whole industry was built in the first place. ES&S using embezzlers and optical scanners to first render the votes invisible then 'glitched" in every way virtual and mechanical and even procedural. The overall inefficient cover mess complete with internal reviews and other sorry flimflams on top of actually unverifiable accounting and proprietary software. The only actual involvement of the FBI I think was to go after the violation of proprietary rights.
You can only guess in this shell game of convenient secrecy, open "glitches", porous security and non transparent code where the theft MIGHT come from- and then the exit poll gaming dispute comes well after.
My guess is that ALL methods were used to lesser extents but that the thumb on the final scales is in the final tabulation. The two pronged fraud of the GOP(aside from the general abuse of money and media) is first vote suppression and then every trick in the book with important upgrades each cycle(as if the Dems ever wise up sufficiently to any possibility- there's a real disputable secret!). 2000 was instructive. Every trick in the traditional book was used. While doubling down on fake success they delivered less and less traditional political meat and potatoes to the defrauded. This makes the Dems the default only genuine majority party. Apparently they do not want to mess with passive success, nor take too unseemly advantage of it. Nor deliver too much either.
Now the new tech, even if designed by geniuses for criminals, is not really understood or mastered by those who want to push the buttons. They are more comfortable with simple stuff, big picture certainty. The final tweaking needs the success of getting things close. In ALL things the GOP is losing control and their boy wonder is no Mark Hanna basking in the Gilded Age but a dirty trick hack in over his head with every particular element of politics and technology. In reality, Rove shares the same quality as the GOP pols themselves. Pathetic. Needs to be put under the wheels of a moving airplane this time.
We have the means motive and opportunity and highly dedicated desperate crooks. What we don't have is surety of the crime. The technical "evidence" might just be written off as glitchy possibility or openness like the Georgia Diebold machine code able to be gamed simply(so that the idiot GOP gamesters can understand by ordinary crooks. Having results open to tampering has also been proved but maybe not the actual crime.
Just as certainly we have the opposite mystery that the Democrats in power do nothing about this junk, settling for dangerously tilting against the big picture- which is rigged dishonestly enough to warrant less generous deference.
It would be nice if the much more probable narratives surrounding the GOP possibilities, the really apparent criminal bent would spawn more distrust than the Absurd Lie whining that instead consume their corporate media timespace discontinuum. Every person I have five minutes with is easily shown how the vote is threatened currently whether it has even happened or not. More than enough for people to immediately assume that it has without benefit of lurid fiction or in depth revelations of some possible examples. Every aspect of the system is open now to so much cheating, largely invisible as far as the politician spawned law system is concerned that even finding one Aha! I gotcha moment is probably pretty insufficient.
Most everything has glitchy deniability punting back to unaccountability. No single thing has the stamp of actual election theft written on it. It is broader and deliberately dumber than that.
For the Dems wisdom resides in the big picture which they handle about as well considering the GOP is actually defaulting on earning ANY support by the majority of the voting citizenry. Getting rid of the money influence in elections is the single easiest step to cleaning up if only they weren't already enthusiastically corrupted by the same.
MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)Anonymous just sent me a message, which I've managed to read, since it was not encrypted ...
"We are anonymous... We are legend... We do not forgive... We do not forget.... This is not a game where you get to have something because it's you."
Thank you for playing!
rightsideout
(978 posts)[link:http://anonnews.org/|
merrily
(45,251 posts)he tried to tamper with the 2012 election."
During the 2012 campaign, we heard that Romney was either lying to American voters about when his involvement with Bain ended, or he had committed a felony by falsifying a report to the SEC.
Inasmuch as Romney is a real live human as well, is he being investigated to see if he committed a felony or not?
Was Bushco ever investigated for lying America into a war or war crimes?
Seems as though politicians apply different rules to their fellow politicians.
Why single out Anonymous before holding accountable people whose compensation we pay, people whom our votes put in positions of honor?
muriel_volestrangler
(101,146 posts)We know he lied on many topics, and that he lied to voters about his involvement in Bain Capital seems extremely likely. Say "Romney lied" on DU, and the reaction will be "duh, we've all said that for months, or even years".
However, there are many DUers who can't accept that the people who claim to be part of 'Anonymous', and who claim to have foiled Rove's plot, are actually lying about one or both of those points.
merrily
(45,251 posts)My post went to the fact that Romney was not being investigated for a possible felony.
Whether people accept something as true or not sometimes has very little to do with truth.
Everyone in the Western world once accepted that the world was flat.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,146 posts)It's a call for Anonymous, or the people claiming to be them, to put up or shut up. The point is that their claim of having stopped the theft of the election is probably baloney; either they made it up, or they're complicit in it. Either Romney lied to the voters, or he commited a felony. The Democrats were pointing that out about him.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)K&R