The Shaky Case That Russia Manipulated Social Media to Tip the 2016 Election

 
It has been 14 months since Patrick Lawrence, citing VIPS findings based on independent forensic investigation, put the lie to what all NY Times readers already “knew” — namely, that Russia hacked into the DNC.
 
Now Gareth Porter exposes NYT malpractice on Russia’s “social media threat.”

The word on the street is that Robert Mueller is about to indict 12 known Russian arsonists for the forest fires in the West; and 12 known Russian oceanographers for stirring up hurricanes in the East.  In the current political climate, Mueller has found such an approach actually easier than indicting the proverbial ham sandwich. Since, unlike the ham sandwich, the indicted Russians are not expected to appear, there will be no “discovery” and thus no exposure of the legerdemain.

 
Morever, Mueller, it is said, has “handpicked” the same “handpicked” intelligence analysts, who wrote the evidence-free January 6, 2017 “Intelligence Community Assessment,” indicting Russia and Putin personally for election meddling.  This time, these crackerjack analysts have reportedly been enlisted to “assess” how to connect the fire and storm disasters to Russian “meddling” in the 2016 election avec Trump campaign collusion.  “Handpicked” once again to come up the desired result, they can be expected to deliver — just as surely as the NYT’s Shane and Mazzetti can be depended up to regurgitate their drivel.
The above “word on the street” is imagined but, sadly, not far off the mark, given the penchant on the part of so many to believe , still, what is in the NY Times.  Gullibility is not limited to Americans, of course.  Here’s an observation from Leo Tolstoy:
 
The most complicated issue can be explained to the most slow-witted man IF he has not formed any idea of the issue already.  But the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man, if he is firmly persuaded that he already knows, without a shadow of a doubt, what has already been laid before him.
 
THIS is a key part of the challenge before us.
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