Heads its Russia! Tails its Russia!

Submitted by gjohnsit on Tue, 12/04/2018 - 8:39pm

The Deep State has gotten lazy and stupid.

I hadn't seen anyone cover this yet, but I may have missed it.

Since this fiasco there's been a more believable development.

In mid-May 2017, Paul Manafort, facing intensifying pressure to settle debts and pay mounting legal bills, flew to Ecuador to offer his services to a potentially lucrative new client — the country’s incoming president, Lenín Moreno.
Mr. Manafort made the trip mainly to see if he could broker a deal under which China would invest in Ecuador’s power system, possibly yielding a fat commission for Mr. Manafort.

But the talks turned to a diplomatic sticking point between the United States and Ecuador: the fate of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

In at least two meetings with Mr. Manafort, Mr. Moreno and his aides discussed their desire to rid themselves of Mr. Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since 2012, in exchange for concessions like debt relief from the United States, according to three people familiar with the talks, the details of which have not been previously reported.

They said Mr. Manafort suggested he could help negotiate a deal for the handover of Mr. Assange to the United States, which has long investigated Mr. Assange for the disclosure of secret documents and which later filed charges against him that have not yet been made public.

It's a far cry from this.

Meanwhile, Russiagate hysteria is cranked up again.
The Atlantic put out an article titled: Is WikiLeaks a Russian Front?
The WashPost put out clickbait with: The 4 ways Russian collusion might have occurred

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Russia

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Comments

Submitted by bobswern on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 2:42am

The reality here is, actually, far worse than meets the eye.

I'm not going to do this comment, nor your post, any justice, but here's a basic and truly ugly series of facts. (See my links for greater/extensive details. And, yes, Wendy Davis--see a few posts down, right here on the front page--and others have reported upon this story over the past few days; but, as far as I'm concerned, this story needs to be repeated 'til the cows come home. So, gjohnsit, thanks for your post!)

1.) When our government repealed ("modified," etc.) the Smith-Mundt Act in 2012/2013 [ a subject upon which I've written fairly extensively, "somewhere else online" ], the powers that be basically enabled the U.S. government, via its "affiliates and assignees" outside of our country's borders, to circumvent virtually all propaganda laws in our country, and flood the U.S. with false information. [Not exactly "new and different" from what's been occurring in this country for a very, very long time, but definitely a major upgrade/formalization of this effort, nonetheless. i.e.: Another way to think of it is that it's the diametric opposite of what our country's intelligence services/NSA, etc., etc. already do all over the globe when they're tracking domestic communications here at home: They circumvent our Constitutional rights to privacy by placing many thousands of their employees outside of our borders, where they may then "legally" suck up all of our communications here in the States. This has been very extensively documented--most notoriously at Great Britain's GCHQ, where at least 1500-2000 NSA employees are working, as you read this; and I've provided many links to these facts "elsewhere." Since the passage of the 2012 NDAA, however, our own government's intelligence/propaganda agencies "legally" disinform us, domestically, from beyond our nation's borders much like they've also been "legally" capturing our domestic communications from inside our borders (for many decades longer than that).]

2.) What I'm getting at is this: Very plain and simply, now our government--for the past six years, since the passage of those "modifications" to Smith-Mundt in 2012--may create stories outside of our country's borders and enable the U.S.-based press corps to report upon this "foreign journalism" as "news" here at home. (Because it's obediently picked-up by folks at places like WaPo and the NYT.) AND "IT'S ALL PERFECTLY LEGAL."

3.) Author and Guardian reporter Luke Harding, one of the lead shills/writers of this latest government-sponsored fiction regarding Manafort, Assange, et al, has been called out for this bullshit--the furtherance of U.S. propaganda--by folks such as Glenn Greenwald and Wikileaks for at least the past five years.

4.) Did folks all around Trump, and obviously the oberfuhrer, himself, participate in a myriad of illicit activities? Well, I don't have any doubts about that, quite frankly. But, why bother with getting to the bottom of this sh*t when one may just be spoonfed--and then, from the comfort of their cozy offices, "report" upon--crap from other "actors"?

5.) Anyone who's unaware of the basic reality that we live in the world's foremost Manipulation Nation just hasn't been keeping up!

6.) And now, with Facebook, Twitter and Google driving a very large share of the "news" disinformation stream, here in America and around the globe, propaganda is more rampant than ever.

NOTE: Less than a year after the NYT article was published (see link in the previous paragraph, "#6") the NDAA was changed (to formally modify Smith-Mundt), so that foreign-based "reporting"/propaganda ("news") could be disseminated to U.S. citizens, domestically. So here's a key quote from that 2011 NYT article that was, for all intents and purposes, just a year later, no longer accurate:

...The United States government may be the largest broadcaster that few Americans know about. Although its networks reach 100 countries in 59 languages, they are banned from distribution in the United States by a 1948 law devised to prevent the government from turning its propaganda machine on its own citizens. Mr. Issacson wants to rewrite that law, saying it is obsolete in the Internet age...

It's not just "obsolete" in "the Internet age," it's obsolete when it comes to most media here in the U.S. Why? Because this U.S. government disinformation campaign, which is now perfectly legal, is frequently based outside of our nation's borders (never mind the daily disinformation we already receive from our own government and political class, domestically).

( RANT OFF! P.S.: My own signature tagline, about a "free press," is now more of a sarcastic comment than the heartfelt sentiment I sincerely thought it once conveyed, decades ago! )

—

"Freedom is something that dies unless it's used." --Hunter S. Thompson

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 9:09am

Outstanding comment!

@bobswern It is truly shocking how the Smith-Mundt Act was repealed with very little outcry or even coverage by the main stream media. And few, if any, Americans even know what it was or how greatly its repeal is affecting what they see, hear, and read.

Your comment is an excellent summary of how difficult it is for the average citizen to get valid information in order to better educate themselves on the issues that most affect them.

As our populace has become more and more dumbed down and there is a de-emphasis on teaching critical thinking skills, it is becoming much easier to control the people through government propaganda with absolutely zero checks and balances provided by the mainstream media.

I'm not going to do this comment, nor your post, any justice, but here's a basic and truly ugly series of facts. (See my links for greater/extensive details. And, yes, Wendy Davis--see a few posts down, right here on the front page--and others have reported upon this story over the past few days; but, as far as I'm concerned, this story needs to be repeated 'til the cows come home. So, gjohnsit, thanks for your post!)

1.) When our government repealed ("modified," etc.) the Smith-Mundt Act in 2012/2013 [ a subject upon which I've written fairly extensively, "somewhere else online" ], the powers that be basically enabled the U.S. government, via its "affiliates and assignees" outside of our country's borders, to circumvent virtually all propaganda laws in our country, and flood the U.S. with false information. [Not exactly "new and different" from what's been occurring in this country for a very, very long time, but definitely a major upgrade/formalization of this effort, nonetheless. i.e.: Another way to think of it is that it's the diametric opposite of what our country's intelligence services/NSA, etc., etc. already do all over the globe when they're tracking domestic communications here at home: They circumvent our Constitutional rights to privacy by placing many thousands of their employees outside of our borders, where they may then "legally" suck up all of our communications here in the States. This has been very extensively documented--most notoriously at Great Britain's GCHQ, where at least 1500-2000 NSA employees are working, as you read this; and I've provided many links to these facts "elsewhere." Since the passage of the 2012 NDAA, however, our own government's intelligence/propaganda agencies "legally" disinform us, domestically, from beyond our nation's borders much like they've also been "legally" capturing our domestic communications from inside our borders (for many decades longer than that).]

2.) What I'm getting at is this: Very plain and simply, now our government--for the past six years, since the passage of those "modifications" to Smith-Mundt in 2012--may create stories outside of our country's borders and enable the U.S.-based press corps to report upon this "foreign journalism" as "news" here at home. (Because it's obediently picked-up by folks at places like WaPo and the NYT.) AND "IT'S ALL PERFECTLY LEGAL."

3.) Author and Guardian reporter Luke Harding, one of the lead shills/writers of this latest government-sponsored fiction regarding Manafort, Assange, et al, has been called out for this bullshit--the furtherance of U.S. propaganda--by folks such as Glenn Greenwald and Wikileaks for at least the past five years.

4.) Did folks all around Trump, and obviously the oberfuhrer, himself, participate in a myriad of illicit activities? Well, I don't have any doubts about that, quite frankly. But, why bother with getting to the bottom of this sh*t when one may just be spoonfed--and then, from the comfort of their cozy offices, "report" upon--crap from other "actors"?

5.) Anyone who's unaware of the basic reality that we live in the world's foremost Manipulation Nation just hasn't been keeping up!

6.) And now, with Facebook, Twitter and Google driving a very large share of the "news" disinformation stream, here in America and around the globe, propaganda is more rampant than ever.

NOTE: Less than a year after the NYT article was published (see link in the previous paragraph, "#6") the NDAA was changed (to formally modify Smith-Mundt), so that foreign-based "reporting"/propaganda ("news") could be disseminated to U.S. citizens, domestically. So here's a key quote from that 2011 NYT article that was, for all intents and purposes, just a year later, no longer accurate:

...The United States government may be the largest broadcaster that few Americans know about. Although its networks reach 100 countries in 59 languages, they are banned from distribution in the United States by a 1948 law devised to prevent the government from turning its propaganda machine on its own citizens. Mr. Issacson wants to rewrite that law, saying it is obsolete in the Internet age...

It's not just "obsolete" in "the Internet age," it's obsolete when it comes to most media here in the U.S. Why? Because this U.S. government disinformation campaign, which is now perfectly legal, is frequently based outside of our nation's borders (never mind the daily disinformation we already receive from our own government and political class, domestically).

( RANT OFF! P.S.: My own signature tagline, about a "free press," is now more of a sarcastic comment than the heartfelt sentiment I sincerely thought it once conveyed, decades ago! )

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 6:45pm

Following the links in the your yesteryear's diary

@bobswern

to Jesselyn Radack's on Obama's war on whistleblowers I found this comment you made in it.

"Authorized" and funded propaganda by the state...
...also rips away any pretense with regard to the legitimacy of our judicial branch, and the concept of a right to a fair trial, IMHO. Essentially, it enables/authorizes the government to taint the entire "jury pool."

Brilliant point. It's too bad that people ran Jesselyn off the site. I've found her on Twitter though.

ETA

I'm thinking that her diary on Hillary's emails might have had something to do with that.

I am baffled how this could have occurred in the midst the most draconian crackdown in U.S history on low-level government employees accused of mishandling classified information. The Obama administration has used the antiquated Espionage Act more than all previous presidents combined to go after employees, including NSA whistleblowers Edward Snowden and Thomas Drake; CIA whistleblowers John Kiriakou and Jeffrey Sterling; State Department whistleblowers Stephen Kim and Peter Van Buren; and Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning. (I represent Snowden, Drake, Kiriakou, and Van Buren.) While these whistleblower cases concern far less sensitive information, sometimes even unclassified information, the defendants have faced much stiffer punishment than those in the rarefied atmosphere of government elites.

Boy. Armando was very busy in this diary defending Herheinous.

So I was right and the diarist was wrong

I'm not going to do this comment, nor your post, any justice, but here's a basic and truly ugly series of facts. (See my links for greater/extensive details. And, yes, Wendy Davis--see a few posts down, right here on the front page--and others have reported upon this story over the past few days; but, as far as I'm concerned, this story needs to be repeated 'til the cows come home. So, gjohnsit, thanks for your post!)

1.) When our government repealed ("modified," etc.) the Smith-Mundt Act in 2012/2013 [ a subject upon which I've written fairly extensively, "somewhere else online" ], the powers that be basically enabled the U.S. government, via its "affiliates and assignees" outside of our country's borders, to circumvent virtually all propaganda laws in our country, and flood the U.S. with false information. [Not exactly "new and different" from what's been occurring in this country for a very, very long time, but definitely a major upgrade/formalization of this effort, nonetheless. i.e.: Another way to think of it is that it's the diametric opposite of what our country's intelligence services/NSA, etc., etc. already do all over the globe when they're tracking domestic communications here at home: They circumvent our Constitutional rights to privacy by placing many thousands of their employees outside of our borders, where they may then "legally" suck up all of our communications here in the States. This has been very extensively documented--most notoriously at Great Britain's GCHQ, where at least 1500-2000 NSA employees are working, as you read this; and I've provided many links to these facts "elsewhere." Since the passage of the 2012 NDAA, however, our own government's intelligence/propaganda agencies "legally" disinform us, domestically, from beyond our nation's borders much like they've also been "legally" capturing our domestic communications from inside our borders (for many decades longer than that).]

2.) What I'm getting at is this: Very plain and simply, now our government--for the past six years, since the passage of those "modifications" to Smith-Mundt in 2012--may create stories outside of our country's borders and enable the U.S.-based press corps to report upon this "foreign journalism" as "news" here at home. (Because it's obediently picked-up by folks at places like WaPo and the NYT.) AND "IT'S ALL PERFECTLY LEGAL."

3.) Author and Guardian reporter Luke Harding, one of the lead shills/writers of this latest government-sponsored fiction regarding Manafort, Assange, et al, has been called out for this bullshit--the furtherance of U.S. propaganda--by folks such as Glenn Greenwald and Wikileaks for at least the past five years.

4.) Did folks all around Trump, and obviously the oberfuhrer, himself, participate in a myriad of illicit activities? Well, I don't have any doubts about that, quite frankly. But, why bother with getting to the bottom of this sh*t when one may just be spoonfed--and then, from the comfort of their cozy offices, "report" upon--crap from other "actors"?

5.) Anyone who's unaware of the basic reality that we live in the world's foremost Manipulation Nation just hasn't been keeping up!

6.) And now, with Facebook, Twitter and Google driving a very large share of the "news" disinformation stream, here in America and around the globe, propaganda is more rampant than ever.

NOTE: Less than a year after the NYT article was published (see link in the previous paragraph, "#6") the NDAA was changed (to formally modify Smith-Mundt), so that foreign-based "reporting"/propaganda ("news") could be disseminated to U.S. citizens, domestically. So here's a key quote from that 2011 NYT article that was, for all intents and purposes, just a year later, no longer accurate:

...The United States government may be the largest broadcaster that few Americans know about. Although its networks reach 100 countries in 59 languages, they are banned from distribution in the United States by a 1948 law devised to prevent the government from turning its propaganda machine on its own citizens. Mr. Issacson wants to rewrite that law, saying it is obsolete in the Internet age...

It's not just "obsolete" in "the Internet age," it's obsolete when it comes to most media here in the U.S. Why? Because this U.S. government disinformation campaign, which is now perfectly legal, is frequently based outside of our nation's borders (never mind the daily disinformation we already receive from our own government and political class, domestically).

( RANT OFF! P.S.: My own signature tagline, about a "free press," is now more of a sarcastic comment than the heartfelt sentiment I sincerely thought it once conveyed, decades ago! )

—

There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

Submitted by dkmich on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 1:35pm

Wow

I don’t know where to start. I meant to read that article on Politico and lost track of it so thanks for bringing it here and reminding me. I also missed that Cenk's video. Wow again and yet, the Clinton Foundation and all that corruption never got the coverage or investigation it deserved. Which brings me to Bob’s comment. It spells out and reminds us just how corrupt our press is. Corporate profits and ratings are just too easy an excuse as to why Americans get endless coverage of missing white chicks, endless speculation, and fake news.

—

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 1:06pm

We did cover it here

@dkmich

it kinda got off track and became a Marmoset Markos ~~love~~ fest.

gulfgal posted this interview of Luke Harding in it. Another great vid

—

There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

Submitted by dkmich on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 1:37pm

Not just the Politico story itself, but

@snoopydawg @snoopydawg

did you click on gjohnsit's link and listen to the Cenk video?

—

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Submitted by bobswern on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 1:52pm

Yup, you most certainly did do a great job on that!

@dkmich My bad, Snoopydawg, 'specially since I actually copied your post/link and put it in my "digital/blogging political reference library," no less! My bad for not mentioning you in my original comment. Please forgive. (Sincerely!)

—

"Freedom is something that dies unless it's used." --Hunter S. Thompson

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 4:28pm

Nope forgiveness necessary, Bob

@bobswern

I didn't mean to toot my own horn, just a reminder that we never really discussed the topic because we had so much fun making fun of moosetits as some call markos.

Excellent comment. It's really great to see you here again.

—

There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

Submitted by wendy davis on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 8:16pm

silly mon;

@bobswern

i'd linked to snoopydawg's coverage as background for my 'the plot thickens' compilation. and it was one of the two link that came through! : )

Submitted by Amanda Matthews on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 4:06pm

Ha!

@snoopydawg

—

I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

Submitted by bobswern on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 2:34pm

@dkmich and gulfgal...

@dkmich and gulfgal...

This ongoing ~~clusterf*ck~~ "working relationship" between our government, our intelligence agencies and our media (both domestically and also extensively at the international level), has been a reality since the late 1940's, at the very least! But, don't tell anyone, because "it's a just a false, left-wing conspiracy theory"!!! NOT!)

But, nowadays, (at least since 2012, anyway; if you go back to the Spanish-American War, back in 1898, the U.S. media was playing along with our government's imperialist/Orwellian charade, even then: "Back in the 1890's, fake news helped start a war," Public Radio International, Christopher Woolf, 12/8/16) it's baked-in to our legal system!

Just a few of the many, many tens of thousands of links...

"The CIA and the Press: When the Washington Post Ran the CIA’s Propaganda Network," Counterpunch.org, Jeffrey St. Clair, Alexander Cockburn 11/30/16

"The CIA and the Media," Rolling Stone, Carl Bernstein, 10/20/77

"Operation Mockingbird," Wikipedia

"C.I.A. Ties to Journalists," NY Times, Nicholas Horrock, 1/28/76

—

"Freedom is something that dies unless it's used." --Hunter S. Thompson

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 11:41am

The Jimmy Dore segment is one of his best

Jimmy nails it! And I always love Ron Placone's comments.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by dkmich on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 1:38pm

Is there a link to that somewhere?

@gulfgal98 @gulfgal98

I'm missing it.

—

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 4:31pm

It is the first link

@dkmich in gjohnsit's essay.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by MrWebster on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 1:26pm

No consequences for any Ru$$iagate lie.

Going back what 2 years now, there was the story from anon sources that the Russians hacked the Vermont power grid. Totally bogus story, and the consequences? Nada. Zilch. So fast forward to the Guardian article. The expectation seemed that no matter what was claimed, history had shown that the lies would be believed, and even when exposed, no consequences--and the lie would also live on. But man, we can get pics of Russian "assassins", but not pics of Manafort coming and going into the embassy?

Will the lies continue? Sure they will. Other than ideologically mindless people driving stories, there is a huge financial reward in pushing Russiagate no matter how many times one is proven wrong.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 4:56pm

Nope. None at all, but wasn't that the point?

@MrWebster

Just like the guardian article and the politico one, the point is to get people to think what's written is true. I'm still seeing people saying that about the Vermont power grid. And what else came out during this time was that Russia hacked into 21 state's voting rolls, but every state said that no they didn't. Still reading about this too. And then there's the biggest one still being repeated.
All 17 intelligence agencies agree that Russia interfered with the election.

This shows how strong the propaganda is on people who should be at least questioning what their government tells them. Should, but they don't.

I'm still wondering why so many of us here have been able to see it for what it is?

—

There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

Submitted by Wink on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 8:50pm

We all likely have

@snoopydawg
a better bull$h!t detector gene.

—

the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

Submitted by SnappleBC on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 10:57pm

Hey hey now... don't forget the Europeans

@snoopydawg

Wasn't it the French and German elections that the Russians also interfered with (hotly denied by the French and German intelligence agencies).

I think I just gave up when I was walking to my brother about the New York Times and Russia. He showed me an article. I pointed out the glaring deficiencies in it. He wrote off most of them and went as far as "mistake" for a few. I then pointed out the ONE HUNDRED YEAR LONG HISTORY of NYT making mistakes in that very same direction about Russia. Yet I'm still the one who believes loonies in his mind.

—

A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

Submitted by HenryAWallace on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 1:29pm

Heh. I've posted about my "diner rule" for a decade or more.

If I go to a diner and my bill often is wrong, it may be that the diner employees are bad at math (or too rushed or tired) or because they are dishonest. The way I know is if all the mistakes are overcharges.

Submitted by lotlizard on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 4:15pm

Udo Ulfkotte, journalist, exposes huge CIA role in German media,

and “dies of a heart attack” soon after at age 56.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Udo+Ulfkotte+CIA

@bobswern

Submitted by Wink on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 8:52pm

hmmm... no radioactive

poison??
@lotlizard

—

the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

Submitted by Mickt on Wed, 12/05/2018 - 8:37pm

It's always Russia

This is from today in the Washington Post:

(Some of the disinformation efforts aren’t so subtle. In their essay published on Lawfare, Spaulding and Rishikof said Russian media outlets RT and Sputnik also “routinely produce content that alleges corruption, partisanship, and fundamental unfairness of the justice system.”)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-cybersecurity-2...

This is from yesterday in the Washington Post:

(Evidently, it pays to be rich.

The outlines of this story have been known for years: Jeffrey Epstein, a fantastically wealthy creep, ran afoul of the Palm Beach police in 2005 after the parents of a 14-year-old girl reported that he paid their daughter to strip and massage his naked body while he pleasured himself. Investigators soon found evidence — eyewitness testimony and documents — indicating that troubled girls by the dozens were recruited for molestation and rape. The Herald series illuminates the perversion of justice that allowed the perversion of Epstein to go so lightly punished.)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/it-pays-to-be-rich-just-look-at-...

So when the Washington Post bring ups the blatant fact that our justice system sucks, it is ok. But if they find some obscure post that has some digital link to Russia, it is Russia undermining our society.