Just Another Junkie For Fame

Get rich get high get drunk on your desire/
Stand back relax now watch me start a fire/
I don't think they take me serious/
Normal life makes me delirious - "Junkies for Fame" Shinedown

So what exactly does the recent declassified report on the possible involvement of Russian hackers and other agents on the United States 2016 General Election mean?

Russia carried out a comprehensive cyber campaign to sabotage the U.S. presidential election, an operation that was ordered by Russian President Vladi­mir Putin and ultimately sought to help elect Donald Trump, U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in a remarkably blunt assessment released Friday.

The report depicts Russian interference as unprecedented in scale, saying that Moscow’s role represented “a significant escalation in directness, level of activity, and scope of effort” beyond previous election-related espionage.

And we're talking going well back before the Cold War of the 1950s, when the spy stuff was edge-of-war serious.

The campaign initially sought to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, “denigrate” Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and damage her expected presidency. But in time, Russia “developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump” and repeatedly sought to artificially boost his election chances.

It means Trump, the incoming President-Elect, is in debt to a foreign power in more ways than one.

The 14-page document made public also serves as an explicit rebuttal to Trump’s repeated assertions that U.S. spy agencies cannot determine who was responsible for a hacking operation that extracted thousands of emails from Democratic Party computer networks and dumped them into public view via the WikiLeaks website.

Trump's been spending far too much time on Twitter - so so eager for the views, don't you know - trying to downplay the story, trying to claim it's just the Democrats being sore losers, but it's not the Dems, it's our own federal government saying this shit is real:

In the report, the CIA, FBI and Office of the Director of National Intelligence concluded with “high confidence” that Russian intelligence services penetrated numerous computer systems tied to U.S. political parties and then “relayed” the email troves to WikiLeaks.

So one thing that has to happen is, you gotta make up your mind: can you trust the CIA and the FBI and the Director of National Intelligence of being correct on this? There's always been the skepticism with those agencies, questionable intel, the possibility of partisanship (esp. with the FBI), all that. Thing is, for the most part these agencies try to do their jobs the best they can. There may be a conservative bent to those intel offices (and rogue agents - "cowboys" - running their own agendas), but those agencies have to exist in a world where they have to answer to either political party at any given time. That means they don't try to play favorites or pick a side (usually). What they try to focus on - and what you can at least trust them on - is being as accurate and informed on national security issues that are a direct threat to our nation's borders and its citizenry.

If each of these agencies - and the FBI and CIA have a history of being at odds over jurisdiction - are saying there's a "high confidence" that Russia was meddling in our elections, and if they're publishing this much information in a declassified report within MONTHS of it happening, then there is something serious and legit about these allegations.

This brings up troubling issues. Trump profited from Russia's involvement. Considering the number of people on Trump's payroll with connections to Russia, and considering Trump's own public stances on Putin, is there a possibility Trump was involved in tampering with the elections? Because if there is...

That is, of course, speculation. But the question, and the trouble behind it, needs asking.

But Trump doesn't want to answer that question. He's acting as though these reports are meaningless. Even though as President one of the things he's got to learn is that he DARE NOT ignore these reports. The intelligence agencies exist for a reason, and are actually trying to do their jobs.

And the more these reports get out, the more Trump defends his BFF Putin, and the more Trump tries to underplay the seriousness, and the more Trump makes it clear he's hostile to our own intelligence agencies. He's pretty much down to his only defense being "Trust me on this."

But we can't trust you on your word, Trump. You lie far too often to ever be trusted.

And we've seen your act for the last 40 years, Trump. You've never been about public service, or the civic good. You've always been about YOURSELF and your goddamn Brand Name Trump (tm), hogging the spotlight and desperate for love and respect you've NEVER earned.

I doubt Trump openly worked with Russia to upend our elections. But I'm certain he knows he benefited from it, and he views Putin and Russia as more his friends and allies than his own nation. It's all about getting his ego stroked, never mind how he gets it done. He's getting hooked on Love From Russia, and the risk becomes how much he'll give away to keep it coming.

You're betraying your nation for an attention addict's fix, Trump, with Putin as your dealer and narcissism as the high.

You damn junkie, selling out the USA for an arm's worth of Ego.

Gods help us.