An essay

with respectful h/t to David Foster Wallace and wendy davis

Mueller indicted the Russian military intelligence service but the indictment doesn't allege any actual harm. That is significant, as will be explained below.

Growing up in the 70's I used to hear things on the news, and from conversations by adults, that I don't hear anymore. Here's a partial list.

1) We don't want to be the World Police.

I remember hearing that everyone agreed, Democrat and Republican, that we didn't want to stick our noses into everyone's business.
And then 9/11 happened, and this was forgotten.

2) We have a mixed economy.

Anyone who thinks the internet is going to allow non-approved actors to organize opposition to our increasingly dysfunctional Deep State is completely unaware of the history of mass media in wartime, specifically in WW2. I'm going to first review that history, and then talk about the Internet.

Radio in WW2

So, I got this email last night:

(Subject: Update on Russian-linked activity on Tumblr)

Dear (my Tumblr name),

As part of our commitment to transparency, we want you to know that we uncovered and terminated 84 accounts linked to Internet Research Agency or IRA (a group closely tied to the the Russian government) posing as members of the Tumblr community.

March 16 (alternately 18^th, according to some) marked the four-year anniversary of the 2014 referendum in Crimea that resulted in reuniting with Russia.

Yes, this is longish, but I believe that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.

Moon of Alabama has the latest, very thorough debunking of this steaming pile of nonsense.

I think StevenD has given the main story. I just want to add a few more details.

Not since the Nazi era have we seen a state-sponsored campaign of murderous hatred and warmongering to match the one being whipped up against Russia. Even more ominously, never before in America have government agencies (CIA, NSA, FBI, DOJ - and the overt censorship/propaganda of the "Countering Information Warfare Act of 2016") directly spread fascistic propaganda.

In the high-profile pages of Rolling Stone, Matt Taibbi just did what has been on every sane person in this country's mind: a respected journalist letting loose with what needs to be said about this upside down, embarrassing epoch.

The lovely tree-studded Bolshoy Devyatinsky Lane in Moscow is getting a new name. In a ceremony in early March it will be renamed Seth Rich Boulevard in Honor of Seth Conrad Rich, the slain activist who leaked the derogatory emails of the Democratic National Committee that proved election rigging against Hillary Clinton's presidential opponent, Bernie Sanders.

Rich was killed near the White House a year and a half ago. He was not robbed. He was conscious and speaking when the police arrived, but it is unknown what he said. The Democratic Committee worker was shot by an unknown assailant(s) just days before he was to testify in a lawsuit brought against the DNC for election rigging during the Democratic Primaries — and twenty days after it was learned that the downloaded emails were in the hands of Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange. The DNC has denied any involvement in his murder, which has never been solved by the police or the FBI, who are still in possession of Rich's personal computer..