Dr Exiled wrote:Res Ipsa wrote:Dr. Exiled, why do you continue to grossly understate what the Russian government did in 2016? You say you need more evidence while, at the same time, you ignore the evidence that exists.
Res, the allegations are that the IRA spent around $100,000 on Facebook ads, half of was spent after the election, and $4,000 on google. Over $1 Billion was spent by the campaigns, campaigns that spent money on Facebook, and hired popular posters to post on their behalf. Yet we are supposed to believe that the Russians had more effect than the mountains of ads the campaigns did. Also, conveniently, the Russia thing is and was used to benefit the candidate(s) the media and the donor class want (anyone except Sanders and Trump). The result the media like the New York Times wants is for the population to equate, conveniently, that a vote for Trump or Sanders is a vote for Putin. Our government is allowed to spread propaganda in the US now. Sanders and Trump are outsiders who want to upend the 1% apple cart. They didn't interview Assange who was saying immediately afterward that the Clinton emails didn't come from a state actor and former Intel analysts have said the information couldn't have come from Gusifer 2.0 as stated by Mueller, yet those guys weren't interviewed either. Now, conveniently again, Russiagate is somehow about chaos, like every election can be described.
So, we have a convenient conclusion to a dubious story and so I remain skeptical of Russiagate.
You’re still significantly understating what the Russian Government actually did in 2016. You keep pretending that all it did was buy some ads. Did you read the bi-partisan report of the Senate Intelligence Committee? Or even the indictments filed as a result of Mueller’s investigation? If you did, then you know you’re dissembling when you act as if the Russian interference was limited to buying Facebook ads. If you think you have a strong argument, why do you have to misrepresent the facts?
Assange has had plenty of time to offer any evidence he has. All we have is a statement he once made without offering a shred of evidence. If he does know something about the individual who transmitted the information to him, that says nothing about who hacked the DNC or who gave the stolen documents to Assange’s immediate source. Rohrbacker has now confirmed the claim made by Assange’s lawyer. Assange was offered a pardon in exchange for evidence that the Russians weren’t the source of his information. So where’s the evidence?
And the fact that a handful of outlier experts who weren’t involved in any investigation disagree with the entire intelligence community who actually investigated the hack and the transmission of the information from place to place is a very thin reed to hang an argument from — unless you think it’s reasonable to call global warming a hoax. There are a small handful of outlier climate scientists, too.
Do you not understand the nature and purpose of what the Russians did with respect to Clinton and Sanders in 2016? They drove a wedge between Sanders and Clinton supporters by pushing and amplifying the “Bernie was robbed” meme. Just like Trump is doing now. The purpose was to push Sanders supporters to stay home or vote third party. And that’s what Putin is doing by “helping” Sanders now —seeking to reignite the antagonism between the left and center in the Democratic Party. The point is to suppress the Democratic turnout.
The Washington Post isn’t trying to persuade Americans that Sanders is Putin’s puppet. It’s informing the American people that Russia is interfering again, which we have a right to know. But by pushing a narrative that the Post is part of the anti-Bernie conspiracy, you’re doing what the Russian Government wants you to do. You’re being their “useful idiot.”
Bernie has a good day today. Congratulations. He earned it. Enjoy the win instead of nursing that big chip on your shoulder.
“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.”
― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1951
