Benjamin Cole Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 7 hours ago, Matthew Koch said: @Benjamin Cole Check out this thread from Aaron Maté, it goes into how the reality winner leak is a nothing burger that the Corporate MockingBird media ran with for clicks.. MW- You raise a forgotten point: Long before Russiagate hoax, intel agencies had a long, long, long track of vastly exaggerating perceived foreign threats. There are reasons big and small for this: Exaggerated threats make for larger budgets, and there is some CYA going on. If a rare true defense threat is dismissed or overlooked, then heads might roll. Safer to define everything as threat. In a larger picture, a bit of 1984: You should be fearful of domestic subversives and foreign threats (it is sad today's "left" now subscribes to fear-mongering they way the old right wing did). Aaron Mate does careful, detailed work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Cole Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 7 hours ago, W. Niederhut said: Ben, This quote is a good example of what is wrong with your ballyhooed CJR reference articles. Instead of focusing on the actual evidence in the Mueller Report, the authors focus on the media circus surrounding Mueller's bumbling comments to Congress, after Barr had shut down Mueller's investigation and lied about the Report. Also, notice that the author is joking with Dean Baquet about Mueller's bumbling Congressional testimony, while neglecting to cover the infamous story about Dean Baquet putting the kibosh on any 2016 pre-election NYT articles about Trump's involvement with Russia-- including decades of Trump Organization business deals with the Russian mafia and Putin's oligarchs. Baquet was a key player in sabotaging Hillary Clinton's 2016 candidacy. You, obviously, still need to learn the facts about Russiagate. Here are some questions for you to contemplate. Why did Flynn plead guilty to lying to the FBI about his December 2016 phone calls with Kisylak? Why did Trump fire James Comey and Andrew McCabe? Why did Trump repeatedly try to obstruct Mueller's investigation, and float pardons to Manafort, Gates, Flynn, Stone, and other 2016 campaign associates, during the Mueller investigation? Why did Trump's associates repeatedly lie about their 2016 Russian contacts? Why did Trump refuse to answer Mueller's questions-- repeatedly claiming that he "couldn't recall" any details? Why did Trump lie about his 2016 Moscow Trump Tower negotiations and plans? Why did Trump announce in Helsinki that Putin had not interfered in the 2016 U.S. election (before Reality Winner leaked an NSA document proving that Trump and Putin were lying?) Why did Bill Barr refuse to release the unredacted Mueller Report, and misrepresent Mueller's findings? Why did Brett Kavanaugh block the release of grand jury testimony from the Mueller investigation? W- If the case against Trump is solid, then we have a Donk AG Merrick Garland. Garland has done nothing. My take is the case against Trump is conjectural at best. If there is a there there, and Trump was colluding with Russians and was a Moscow stooge...then Garland should bring charges, and prove his case in open court of law, in which Trump has robust defense counsel, and can present exculpatory evidence and counter-narratives. Right now, all you have is an investigation run by the same guy who investigated 9/11---Robert Mueller. The House 'Phants are now running an investigation also, through the Oversight Committee. Let me guess--you are dismissing the 'Phant investigation out of hand even before it begins. In other words, you recognize government investigations can be TV shows. The CJR is a pretty good review of media complicity or abject docility in relation to intel agencies. You should read it, before dismissing it. In general, I am skeptical of intel agencies and government investigations. The WC for example, and 9/11 comes to mind. My stance of skepticism used to be one adopted by America's liberals and left-wing. Those days are long gone. Russiagate strikes me as a soft coup, or regime-change op. Like Schumer said, and Maddow chortled---- New Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that President-elect Donald Trump is “being really dumb” by taking on the intelligence community and its assessments on Russia’s cyber activities. “Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you,” Schumer told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. “So even for a practical, supposedly hard-nosed businessman, he’s being really dumb to do this.” ---30--- When NYT'er Bret Stephens says "Russiagate was an elaborate hoax," I think skepticism toward intel agencies is warranted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Allison Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 hahaha omg, at this rate, the Republicans aren't going to win a single election in 2024 lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Cole Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 Odd tid-bit about the Nord Strean gas ipeline between Rusia and Germany. From CJR: ?Trump insisted to me that while “I said nice things” about Putin, “I killed them with Nord Stream,” the German/Russian pipeline his administration sanctioned in 2019 until “Biden comes in and approves it.” (The Biden administration waived sanctions on the project in May 2021, and then, after Russia invaded Ukraine, reinstated the sanctions.)' I had forgotten that the Trump Administration had sanctioned the pipeline and the Biden Administration waived the sanction. Russia has strange friends and enemies.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bulman Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 19 hours ago, John Cotter said: I see your point, Ron. Deregulation exacerbates the worst effects of capitalism. My post was partly prompted by a WhatsApp message from a friend in Ireland yesterday complaining about her latest gas bill. Deregulation over 20 years ago was the primary factor in our freezeout two years ago. Poorly insulated and poorly regulated infrastructure would have prevented frozen gas lines and equipment. Our state legislature approved of the price gouging, which we will be paying for the next 20 years. I read a headline 2-3 weeks ago about natural gas prices falling 50%. I thought maybe my electric bill would go down 20-30 even 40%. I guess that hasn't gotten through the pipeline yet so to speak, given my new record Dec-Jan bill mentioned earlier. Here's hoping it does soon, I can't keep up with it, property taxes, gasoline, eggs. $9.70 per btu to 2.70? Come on. Give me a break. Natural gas prices drop. Will electric prices follow? - Poynter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Koch Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 2 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said: MW- You raise a forgotten point: Long before Russiagate hoax, intel agencies had a long, long, long track of vastly exaggerating perceived foreign threats. There are reasons big and small for this: Exaggerated threats make for larger budgets, and there is some CYA going on. If a rare true defense threat is dismissed or overlooked, then heads might roll. Safer to define everything as threat. In a larger picture, a bit of 1984: You should be fearful of domestic subversives and foreign threats (it is sad today's "left" now subscribes to fear-mongering they way the old right wing did). Aaron Mate does careful, detailed work. That was nice of someone to link the 2018 article after the Maté thread so they could see for themselves that the article was click bait and that Reality Winner clearly is not a mentally stable person who made a sound judgement given what Maté reported. Here's another one for our Russian Colluder Myth believers to dismiss because of the source: Bob Woodward condemns media's Russiagate coverage, reveals reporters ignored his warnings about Steele dossier Woodward says Post reporters had 'lack of curiosity' about criticism of Steele dossier "Bob Woodward, of the Post, told me that news coverage of the Russia inquiry ‘wasn’t handled well’ and that he thought viewers and readers had been 'cheated.' He urged newsrooms to 'walk down the painful road of introspection,'" Gerth wrote. https://www.foxnews.com/media/bob-woodward-condemns-medias-russiagate-coverage-reveals-reporters-ignored-his-warnings-about-steele-dossier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Allison Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 20 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said: Explain the Carter Page debacle. That poor guy was guilty of nothing, and yet was defined in the M$M as a Moscow stooge. On bogus FISA submissions to the FISA court. Hey, if they can do that to Carter Page, they can do it to anybody. Yep, that was wrong. Doesn't negate everything else. 20 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said: The Alfa Bank "link" turns out to been some sort of automatic pinging software impulse. Sorry, but that's still unresolved. https://www.businessinsider.com/alfa-bank-trump-organization-link-remains-mystery-after-durham-indictment-2021-10 Nobody anywhere took the Steele dossier seriously, so whatever on that. So is that it for the hoaxes? Carter Page? 20 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said: Manafort evidently gave Trump campaign polling data to Deripaska---Manafort says limited basic info, but who knows? And? So what? An oligarch knows what polling data says? LOL Maybe you're ok with a Presidential campaign passing info to the KGB to assist them in their influence operations against American elections, but most real Americans, real patriots, are not. No way in hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Allison Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 Here ya go! It's all here. Wrapped up with a ribbon and a bow. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Cole Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 2 hours ago, Matt Allison said: Yep, that was wrong. Doesn't negate everything else. Sorry, but that's still unresolved. https://www.businessinsider.com/alfa-bank-trump-organization-link-remains-mystery-after-durham-indictment-2021-10 Nobody anywhere took the Steele dossier seriously, so whatever on that. So is that it for the hoaxes? Carter Page? LOL Maybe you're ok with a Presidential campaign passing info to the KGB to assist them in their influence operations against American elections, but most real Americans, real patriots, are not. No way in hell. Matt: The Steele Dossier was at the heart of what instigated the Russiagate Hoax. Commissioned by the Donks, passed to intel, and then presented to media as as something intel had. Hardball, DC-style. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Cole Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 1 hour ago, Matt Allison said: Here ya go! It's all here. Wrapped up with a ribbon and a bow. Enjoy! Matt: It appears the 'Phant-led House Oversight Committee will be examining the political weaponization of federal prosecutorial and investigative agencies. I assume the committee will conduct an investigation and then issue a report. Will this pending report be a document you can treat as solid and true? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Allison Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 Oh my Steel yourself, Ben You've been led astray, yet again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Cole Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 1 hour ago, Matt Allison said: Oh my Steel yourself, Ben You've been led astray, yet again Matt: But why did Kyle Pope block publication? What if Pope had good reason to block more Russiagate hoax-ery? CJR'er Pope is a long-time news veteran, as is Jeff Gerth, and neither has ever been said to be Moscow stooges. The CJR is usually a big-lib publication. Maybe Pope had legitimate concerns regarding M$M coverage of Russiagate, which even by mid-2020 was beginning to fall into disrepute. Can you find out if Pope was wrong to block coverage, or if not "wrong" or "right" why he blocked the story? Who is Duncan Campbell? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Koch Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 6 hours ago, Matt Allison said: Here ya go! It's all here. Wrapped up with a ribbon and a bow. Enjoy! Thanks for highlighting how people with TDS get their "News" through daily show type comedy shows.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W. Niederhut Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 On 2/2/2023 at 4:59 AM, Sandy Larsen said: Russiagate is not a man or woman. It cannot be tried in a court of law. Russiagate is an incident, which can be discovered or verified with an investigation. Mueller investigated Russiagate and concluded that it indeed did happen. Of course, you don't need to believe what Mueller reported. But if you want to have any credibility you should at least show flaws in Mueller's report. Otherwise it is all just speculation on your part. And you shouldn't make false claims, like saying that a Columbia Journalism Review article is more or less saying Russiagate was a hoax. Sandy, I noticed this morning that Ben and Mathew completely ducked the series of questions I posted for them about Trump's Russiagate scandal, while repeating the false Trumplicon trope that Russiagate was based on the Steele Dossier. So much for meaningful dialogue. In reality, the Russiagate scandal began in earnest after Michael Flynn lied to the FBI about his December 2016 phone calls to Kisylak-- which prompted Trump to fire James Comey and Andrew McCabe in an effort to obstruct the FBI investigation of Michael Flynn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W. Niederhut Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 Columbia Journalism Review’s Big Fail: It Published 24,000 Words on Russiagate and Missed the Point The magazine’s attempted takedown of the media’s coverage bolsters Trump’s phony narrative. Columbia Journalism Review’s Big Fail: It Published 24,000 Words on Russiagate and Missed the Point – Mother Jones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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