What am I missing? Why can't Russia take adds out for their candidate?

They obviously wanted Trump. They wanted to promote discord in our country, they knew they could target knuckle dragging idiots, they legally paid for adds. America

The free market should correct it, right?

They happened to target MI and WI in October '16.

You might think they had access to polling showing how tight those races were getting.

Probably more Fake News.

Well, here again, I'm looking for a specific law that was broken as far as free market. Is it illegal to give out or leak data about a close race? Is that considered taking money from a foreign government in a campaign and is that illegal? Were they foreign governments that were taking the adds out and can that be proven? Vs. individuals in those foreign countries?

I think it's always been marketers ability to persuade the persuadable. If the elephant in the room is addressed it's pretty easy: Prey on peoples prejudices and fears, show them what it is they're afraid of, and bang, you have a customer.

Frankly, it was low hanging fruit in this election

DWags, if you think its simply business then you might as well get a made in China MAGA hat and start wearing it.

If Mueller finds the Trump Campaign or the analytics company they employed was feeding information to the Russian companies or individuals assisting them in placing their purchases would it make a difference?

The Russians got their dip shit in The White House. While he's in a pissing match with the Sec of State and Sec of Defense, Russia is meeting with the Saudis. Two major oil producing nations. What could go wrong?

Well it's not like they're looking to throw putin in jail for some specific law that's been broken. In this instance with the Facebook they are trying to figure out how and what Russia did to interfere in the election so we can stop them from doing so next time. Why? Because we don't want other countries being the deciding factor in our elections. I think it goes without saying why we wouldn't want that to happen. Now- if the trump campaign actively helped Russia to do interference stuff, that's different, as those are our citizens and we can do something about it. Those are different investigations though. I think.

Based on what I have read, Twitter, Facebook, et al, would have to show their buyer(s) were US based persons, companies, corporations.

Then they have cover of the Citizens United ruling.

There's been rumblings of having Facebook & Twitter held to the same standards as traditional media outlets. Good fucking luck wrangling that unwieldy beast.

GRR and Travis,

I completely get how Russian interference can fuck our country. Totally get it. I guess I was hoping somebody could tell me a specific law that will fuck these assholes up. It seems to me, no laws were broken by anyone yet. Ethically? Sure. They took advantage of our stupid. Is there a law that says Trump's campaign couldn't leak election research to Russian businesses? I also know that we syhoudl learn from this, as it's fucked us up for the next three years, and we need to do something about it. But again, I think like Trump taking advantage of tax laws and deductions, unethical does not mean illegal. I'm certainly no constitutional attorney, so I have no idea.

DWags wrote:GRR and Travis,

I completely get how Russian interference can fuck our country.  Totally get it.  I guess I was hoping somebody could tell me a specific law that will fuck these assholes up.   It seems to me, no laws were broken by anyone yet.  Ethically?  Sure.  They took advantage of our stupid.   Is there a law that says Trump's campaign couldn't leak election research to Russian businesses?  I also know that we syhoudl learn from this, as it's fucked us up for the next three years, and we need to do something about it.  But again, I think like Trump taking advantage of tax laws and deductions, unethical does not mean illegal.   I'm certainly no constitutional attorney, so I have no idea.  

I'm not sure what gave you the impression that there would be some legal recourse against Russia to be honest so I have no idea how to answer your question.

I want to know what legal recourse there would be against the Trump campaign.

DWags wrote:I want to know what legal recourse there would be against the Trump campaign.

What Is Collusion? Is It Even a Crime?

DWags wrote:I want to know what legal recourse there would be against the Trump campaign.  

If they gave a foreign power information to help them target those ads- in other words helped the foreign government be more effective at interfering in our election, then my understanding is that that isn't legal. Or, at least, casts a fairly large shadow over the administration and all that stuff.

But really, the investigations have to find out what happened first. Then lawyers can look into the legality of it.

From Nigels article:

Most were quick to note that collusion itself is not a specific federal crime—what matters is what kind of cooperation might have taken place and in what way. As to whether collusion did occur or a crime was committed, they said the jury is still out.

I don't really pretend to understand all of the legalities, etc..

ultimately, it's kinda funny, though, that the pro-America, flag-wavin' types who get upset when a colored boy peacefully protests during the National Anthem support a racist, sexist bigot who has colluded with a sworn enemy...

not shocking, at all - just funny. Ya know.. because he's a 'christian'.

oh - and the pee tapes are real.

Bob I also find it rich that pantry told me to go to “Commie Russia” because I questioned capitalism - meanwhile Pantry voted for trump.....

Guys, they voted republican, not Trump. I'm thinking many of them treat whoever is in office like they treat players on their favorite team. They might be assholes but they are our assholes

What I don't get is why people act so shocked and outraged that Russia attempted to interfere with our elections. They've attempted to do that for every election for nearly 70+ years, as we have to theirs (even when they didn't really have elections per se). And both of us have done a shit ton more to interfere in other countries' elections than anything Russia could have possibly done last summer.

Of course, if there was collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians, then yeah, string Trump and his cronies up by the balls. But the outrage, the sanctions, etc., because Russia attempted to influence the election, is just straight politicking, and the only shocking thing is that they can fake the outrage with a straight face.