Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

Joe Biden, in addition to calling out mango Mussolini's actions to provoke violence (see post below), also commented on the decision by the Trumpist Director of National Intelligence to end election interference briefings for Congress. Here's a snippet:

Nothing is more important than the security and integrity of our elections. And we know that President Trump is unwilling to take action to protect them. That leaves Congress as the best defender of our democracy. But now President Trump, through his hand-picked DNI — chosen for loyalty, not experience — is attempting to deprive Congress of the information they need to do their part.

There can be only one conclusion: President Trump is hoping Vladimir Putin will once more boost his candidacy and cover his horrific failures to lead our country through the multiple crises we are facing. And he does not want the American people to know the steps Vladimir Putin is taking to help Trump get re-elected or why Putin is eager to intervene, because Donald Trump’s foreign policy has been a gift to the Kremlin.

They're pulling out all the stops to steal this election, from the Low Barr Justice Department to Homeland (In)Security to the ODNI to Moscow.  That's why the vote must be as overwhelming a rejection of mango Mussolini and his fascist party as possible.  We can and we will do it.

Here's pollster/ forecaster Harry Enten --

Biden has a larger lead of any challenger at this point against an elected incumbent since... Well ever tbh. (Note: this includes Perot questions from 92.) Part of that is an unpopular incumbent, but it's plausible Biden's a better candidate than many here give him credit for.

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) August 30, 2020

And David Rothkopf --

Good morning. It's still 2020. This means that the "law and order" candidate in this year's presidential race is actually a career criminal running the most corrupt admin in history who feels his only path to victory is breaking more laws and promoting violence in US cities.

— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) August 30, 2020

Apparently another tell all book from a former insider is out.  Melon Trump's former senior advisor Stephanie Winston Wolkoff dishes largely confirmatory dirt about the First Crime Family, but this nugget about mango Mussolini's inaugural plans stands out:

Donald Trump wanted his inauguration to look like a North Korean military parade. When discussing the parade with Winston Wolkoff and Ivanka during the transition, Trump said: “I want tanks and choppers. Make it look like North Korea,” he told them. Winston Wolkoff wrote: “He really wanted goose-stepping troops and armored tanks? That would break tradition and terrify half the country.” [snip]

For the inauguration, Mark Burnett, creator of “The Apprentice,” the reality-TV show that cemented Trump’s popularity, also wanted to “light the sky with drones, and Donald and Melania loved the idea.” No drones ended up being used to spice up the inauguration — they could have posed a safety risk.  (our emphasis)

Following four years of anger and frustration that boiled over in an epic Twitter rant, comedian Jim Gaffigan talks about his decision to come out forcefully against malignant mango Mussolini, and what "undecideds" should consider:

“I didn’t want to explain to my grandchildren that I didn’t fight to stop Trump,” he wrote. “Maybe they will see that I stood up for decency, rule of law and equality.”

Gaffigan also urged Trump voters to apply that same test to their own actions ― specifically to who they vote for in the coming presidential election. 

“If you are still on the fence I encourage you to vote not for who I want you to vote for but for who your grandchildren would be proud you fucking voted for,” he wrote, followed by an apology to his wife, Jeannie Gaffigan, for his use of profanity.

Lee Drutman at fivethirtyeight.com has a good read about why there are so few "moderate Republicans." Here's his bottom line:

... American political parties are not top-down entities, capable of turning on a dime. They are loose networks and coalitions of many actors and groups. And because the Republican Party has been pulling in a more extreme direction for decades now, most Republican moderates have either quit the team or reoriented themselves in a more combative, Trumpian direction to stay alive. And these forces will most likely continue to tug at the party, leaving would-be moderates with the same choice they’ve faced for decades: Quit, or get on board.

Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein pegged it back in 2012 in their book "It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism,” and others long before that.

We close with our usual recommendation to check out Infidel 753's excellent link round- up for many more "points of light" (we found the Drutman article there).  Don't miss out!

Democracy Destroyer: Moscow Mitch McConnell

As someone who ranks as the most unpopular Senator in his own state, it's shocking that somehow Sen. Mitch "Moscow Mitch" McConnell (Shitheel- KY) continues to get re- elected, until you realize it's a state that, according to 538, is 23 points more Republican than the rest of the country. The benighted voters of that state haven't sent a Democrat to the Senate in 20 years.  That's a main reason Moscow Mitch feels empowered to allow Russian meddling in our elections.

Maybe if it ever dawns on them that their senior Senator is a bought- and- paid- for Russian asset, that might, might change (once again, we believe Democrat Amy McGrath has the best chance against him in 2020).  But even if he continues to decompose in the Senate for another 6 years, history has already made it's judgement.  He's a firmly committed destroyer of American democracy.  Looking beyond his all- out obstruction and sabotage efforts during the Obama presidency, the outrageous blockade of Merrick Garland and his stuffing the judiciary with right- wing cranks, and his refusal to bring any legislation passed by the House to the floor for a vote, Moscow Mitch's lasting, most egregious stain will be his enabling Russian despot Vladimir Putin to meddle in our elections.

Dana Milbank briefly notes Moscow Mitch's recent history blocking legislation to protect our elections, such as:

A bipartisan bill requiring Facebook, Google and other Internet companies to disclose purchasers of political ads, to identify foreign influence.

A bipartisan bill to ease cooperation between state election officials and federal intelligence agencies.

A bipartisan bill imposing sanctions on any entity that attacks a U.S. election.

A bipartisan bill with severe new sanctions on Russia for its cybercrimes.

McConnell has prevented them all from being considered — over and over again. This is the same McConnell who, in the summer of 2016, when briefed by the CIA along with other congressional leaders on Russia’s electoral attacks, questioned the validity of the intelligence and forced a watering down of a warning letter to state officials about the threat, omitting any mention of Russia.

One measure Moscow Mitch objected to would have mandated use of paper ballots in state election systems for a voter- verified paper trail.  Moscow Mitch's response?

"This is partisan legislation from the Democratic House of Representatives... It's just a highly partisan bill from the same folks who spent two years hyping up a conspiracy theory about President Trump and Russia."

Yeah, that phony Trump- Russia hoax!  Moscow Mitch went on to say a reform like this would give Democrats the political upper hand in elections!  Funny how honesty, transparency and counting every vote advantages Democrats!

Well, let's not overlook another reason the ever- corrupt Moscow Mitch might be blocking plans to safeguard our elections:

The plans would likely burden the two largest electronic voting machine vendors in the United States, Election Systems & Software and Dominion Voting Systems, with new regulations and financial burdens. Together, the companies make up about 80 percent of all voting machines used in the country and both have far-reaching lobbying arms in Washington D.C. Many of those lobbyists have contributed to the McConnell campaign, reported Sludge last month, an investigative outlet that focuses on money in politics.  (our emphasis)

So, where venality intersects with protecting power and privilege, that's where you'll find the destroyer of our democracy, Moscow Mitch.

BONUS:  While he's busy helping himself and his friends in Russia, here's what's going on back home --

#Kentucky is ranked

44th Health Care
48th Healthcare Quality
38th Education
43rd Higher Education
39th Economy
44th Employment
44th Economic Opportunity
45th Fiscal Stability

Mitch McConnell has been in office for 35 years. Kentucky needs new leadership. Support @AmyMcGrathKY

— ♻️🇺🇸 Christopher Zullo (@ChrisJZullo) July 28, 2019

Monday Reading

Our standard request:  please go to the links to read the full articles.

Robert Kuttner has a good read about the noose closing around Putin asset Donald "Rump" Trump (and why all he can realistically do at this point is what he's doing:  tweeting misdirection and lies):

In this case, Trump and his family relied on massive bailouts of his failing business enterprises from Russian oligarchs close to the Kremlin. When he became a presidential candidate, the Russians treated him as an asset ― a useful idiot, as Stalinists used to put it. And when the campaign finalists turned out to be Trump versus the hard-line Clinton, the Russians sought to destroy her and elect Trump. Trump, meanwhile, became the most pro-Russia president in U.S. history, refusing to breathe a word of criticism of Putin, behaving like the head of a client state. This much of the story is hidden in plain view.

The details ― of Russian financing of Trump’s businesses, and of more campaign contacts ― are likely to be spelled out in further indictments, almost surely including members of Trump’s family, and in Mueller’s final report, which will look very much like a bill of impeachment. (our emphasis)

What do the Russians have on Rump that makes him their stooge?  Follow the money.

On Friday, Facebook vice president of ads Rob Goldman made this extraordinary, and extraordinarily ignorant, claim:

Most of the coverage of Russian meddling involves their attempt to effect the outcome of the 2016 US election.  I have seen all of the Russian ads and I can say very definitively that swaying the election was *NOT* the main goal.

— Rob Goldman (@robjective) February 17, 2018

This "don't blame us for Trump, please!" self- serving nonsense was, of course, picked up by the Master of Self- Serving Nonsense:

“I have seen all of the Russian ads and I can say very definitively that swaying the election was *NOT* the main goal.”
Rob Goldman
Vice President of Facebook Ads https://t.co/A5ft7cGJkE

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2018

Both Rump and the Facebook suits have a common interest, as Anne Applebaum notes:

Facebook executives and Pro-Trump Republicans now have a shared interest: both groups are desperate to prove that Russian computational propaganda did not impact the election https://t.co/3TCKfqWUMz

— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) February 18, 2018

On CNN, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper addressed Goldman's breezy denial of the obvious (via Vox):

In an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union with Dana Bash on Saturday, the general hit back at Goldman’s assertion. “Well, it’s false, as far as I’m concerned, because there’s no question what the Russians were trying to do,” Clapper said, noting that all evidence points to that being the case, whether you want to acknowledge it or not. “Clearly, the Russians were trying to affect the election.” (our emphasis)

We'll take Clapper's assessment over dudebro's. All the platforms, including Facebook, that were tools of the Russian effort need to step up and acknowledge their role and stop deflection, denial and delay in responding to the continuing attacks on our democracy. Facebook's Goldman, in his particular position, seems to be a weak link at best and an obstructor at worst.

As far as looking ahead, The Atlantic's David Frum (we know, we know) wonders how far Rump would go to foil Democrats in 2018 and beyond, given his blatant lack of interest in securing our election systems and his silent partner in Moscow:

Trump’s own tweets reveal that among the things he most fears is the prospect of Representative Adam Schiff gaining the gavel of the House Intelligence Committee from the clownish present chairman, Devin Nunes. How far would Trump go to stop a dreaded political opponent, inside the law and outside? How far has Donald Trump gone in the past? 

Trump continues to insist that he and his campaign team did not collude with Russia in the 2016 election. We know that they were ready and eager to collude—that’s on the public record. (“If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.”) The public does not yet know whether the collusion actually occurred, and if so, in what form and to what extent. But in front of our very eyes we can observe that they are leaving the door open to Russian intervention on their behalf in the next election. You might call it collusion in advance—a dereliction of duty as grave as any since President Buchanan looked the other way as Southern state governments pillaged federal arsenals on the eve of the Civil War.  (our emphasis)

Holding onto power is all Rump and his fellow thugs, crooks and malefactors (i.e., the Republican Party and their plutocrat sponsors) are interested in, to hell with the United States.  None so far have shown that they have a patriotic bone in their bodies and don't seem likely to grow any.

Finally, we also recommend taking a look at the link round- up at Infidel 753 for the most comprehensive collection of news, thought pieces, oddities and fun stuff.

Saturday Shorts

Too soon? Nah!

Noted without further comment:

Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock was quite the fan of President Donald Trump before he killed 58 people and left another 500 injured—the worst mass shooting in recent U.S. history.  

Paddock, a millionaire who reportedly would gamble up to $1 million a night in casinos, was attracted to the president's politics because of the boost the stock market has enjoyed since Trump took office, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo told KLAS, a local CBS affiliate in Las Vegas, during a two-hour interview. 

Paddock said "he was happy with Trump because the stock market was doing well," Lombardo said.

And, on the Russian meddling front:

This shit-talkin’, gun-lovin’, Trump votin’ all American (racist) gal was actually...a Russian propaganda account.https://t.co/OuQigkbzD1

— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) November 3, 2017

The Associated Press reports on how Russians hacked the emails at the Democratic National Committee, and on the timing of the release of those (edited) emails on a critical date - October 7:

The same afternoon, just as the American electorate was digesting a lewd audio tape of Trump boasting about sexually assaulting women, WikiLeaks began publishing the emails stolen from Podesta. 

The publications sparked a media stampede as they were doled out one batch at a time, with many news organizations tasking reporters with scrolling through the thousands of emails being released in tranches. At the AP alone, as many as 30 journalists were assigned, at various times, to go through the material. 

Guccifer 2.0 told one reporter he was thrilled that WikiLeaks had finally followed through. 

“Together with Assange we’ll make america great again,” he wrote.

Guccifer - Assange - and Trump.

Who Are You Going To Believe - Trump Or Your Own Eyes?

Here's your Saturday morning treason/ coverup reading (as always, there's much more at the links). Our emphasis throughout.

Senate Intelligence Committee bipartisan investigation expands scope.

Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said late Friday that his committee will investigate possible contacts between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia, reversing himself one day after telling reporters that the issue would be outside of his panel’s ongoing probe into Moscow’s election-disruption efforts. 

Burr and the intelligence panel’s top Democrat, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, said in a joint statement that the committee's probe would touch on "intelligence regarding links between Russia and individuals associated with political campaigns" as well as Russian cyberattacks and other election meddling outlined in an intelligence report released last week. 

The committee will use “subpoenas if necessary” to secure testimony from Obama administration officials as well as Trump’s team, Burr and Warner said. 

The bipartisan Senate announcement came hours after several House Democrats aired their frustrations with FBI Director James Comey following a classified briefing on Russian election disruption. The Democrats were livid that Comey refused to confirm whether he is conducting an inquiry into potential Trump ties to Russia — a question that he publicly declined to answer earlier this week.

FBI failed to take action on intelligence provided by former British agent.

Christopher Steele, the former MI6 agent who investigated Donald Trump’s alleged Kremlin links, was so worried by what he was discovering that at the end he was working without pay, The Independent has learned. 

Mr Steele also decided to pass on information to both British and American intelligence officials after concluding that such material should not just be in the hands of political opponents of Mr Trump, who had hired his services, but was a matter of national security for both countries. 

However, say security sources, Mr Steele became increasingly frustrated that the FBI was failing to take action on the intelligence from others as well as him. He came to believe there was a cover-up, that a cabal within the Bureau blocked a thorough inquiry into Mr Trump, focusing instead on the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. 

Foreign intelligence services are investigating on their own.

The dossier alleging that the Russian government has compromised President-elect Donald Trump has not only been circulating at the highest levels of the the US government, but also among the intelligence agencies of other countries, two Israeli intelligence officers told BuzzFeed News. And while the dossier’s claims haven’t been verified, the officers said that intelligence services from other countries have been doing their own digging into Trump’s connections to Moscow. 

“You can trust me that many intelligence agencies are trying to evaluate the extent to which Trump might have ties, or a weakness of some type, to Russia,” one of the intelligence officers said. 

Do we need more proof than what's already right in front of our eyes? 

Information doesn’t have to be secret to be shocking. Trump doesn’t have to be a Manchurian candidate who has been hypnotized or recruited by foreign intelligence. It’s enough that he has direct and indirect links to a profoundly corrupt and violent foreign dictator, whose policies he admires, whose advisers he shares and whose slogans he uses. That’s kompromat enough for me. 

Until Trump shuts it down, the State Department Inspector General is investigating Comey's pre- election actions. And, of course, you have Rump's incoming National Security Advisor Gen. Michael "Jack D. Ripper" Flynn burning up the phone lines to Moscow, in likely violation of the Logan Act. That's a whole lot of kompromat going on here right under our noses.

BONUS:


(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

New National Security Advisor Russia's Man?

In another sign that Russian autocrat and war criminal Vladimir "Vlad the Invader" Putin has his hooks into neo-fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump and his staff, incoming National Security Advisor and loose cannon Russophile  Michael "Jack D. Ripper" Flynn is reported to have had multiple conversations with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. on the day 35 Russian intelligence operatives were expelled from the U.S. by the Obama Administration. The Russians were expelled in retaliation for Russia's hacking of Democratic National Committee files in order to damage Secretary Clinton's election prospects while boosting Rump's. The December 29 conversations between Flynn and the Russian ambassador raise serious questions as to whether he was "negotiating" with a foreign government as a private citizen, since the following day, Putin declared he didn't plan to retaliate for the expulsions, earning Rump's fawning approval.

1 Stat. 613, 18 U.S. Code Section 953, commonly known as the Logan Act, specifically prohibits 

Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States...

Sadly, Flynn is not subject to Senate confirmation, but he should (but likely won't) be investigated for violations of the Logan Act, and if found to be in violation, prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

BONUS:  Frank Rich on the big story (h/t Mock Paper Scissors):

Let’s not pretend we don’t know what is happening here. There is evidence that Donald Trump and his administration-in-formation are partially, perhaps wholly, beholden to the Kremlin and/or those Russian oligarchs in its thrall. This is why Trump refused to answer that question about contacts with Russia during the campaign — and why he’ll lie about it when he finally feels he must muster some kind of answer. His symbiosis with Russia is also why he will never release his tax returns, for what other reason could there be at this point except that they reveal the Russian financial ties he denies? After all, we already know the other embarrassments contained in those returns — that he hasn’t paid taxes for years, that he practices no actual philanthropy, and that his businesses are in a perennial waltz with bankruptcy, fraud, and failure. 

No, Russia is the big story here. The elephant in the room is a bear. Trump has made no bones about repeatedly hiring fellow Putin sycophants, whether his former campaign chief Paul Manafort, the incoming National Security Adviser, Mike Flynn, or the secretary of State nominee, Rex Tillerson. When the heroic aviator Charles Lindbergh was awarded a medal, the Service Cross of the German Eagle, by Hermann Goering “by order of der Führer” before World War II, it helped make him persona non grata in the FDR White House. When Tillerson received a Russian Order of Friendship Award from Putin, Trump regarded it as an incentive to hire him.

Too:

This sure looks like a violation of the Logan Act https://t.co/hxtue5i8CR

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) January 13, 2017

Sunday Reading - Putin's Republican Marks

James Kirchick has an interesting article about "How Trump Got His Party To Love Vladimir Putin," in today's once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle. In it, he divides Republicans who have fallen in line/ love with TrumPutin's Russia into two types:  opportunists and ideologues.

Pro-Russian converts on the American right appear to take two forms. The opportunists simply want power and are willing to sacrifice principles in pursuit of it. The ideologues, meanwhile, see Russia as nothing worse than an occasional nuisance, if not a potential ally in the fight against Islamic extremism.

The prototype opportunists suggested by Kirchick are the loathesome Newt "Poot" Gingrich, Sean "Heil" Hannity, and Sarah "Mooselini" Palin;  the ideologues are the likes of American Conservative Union chairman David Keene (who's been a raving jackass since his days at the =sigh= University of Wisconsin) and white nationalists like Richard Spencer, who are attracted to the notion of a "white world" united against the rest.

The Russians, playing their usual long game, identified and zeroed in on a vulnerability:

In an interview recorded more than 30 years ago, Russian defector Yuri Bezmenov revealed the KGB’s counterintuitive approach to recruiting. “This was my instruction: Try to get into large-circulation, established conservative media. Reach . . . cynical, egocentric people who can look into your eyes with angelic expression and tell you a lie. These are the most recruit-able people, people who lack moral principles, who are either too greedy or suffer from self-importance.” Say this for Bezmenov: He knew his mark.  (our emphasis)

That's the profile of the Trump Republican Party and its propaganda arm right there, folks. Easy marks for Putin.

Putin's Poodle Already Discounting Intelligence Briefing

Neo- fascist Putin poodle Donald "Rump" Trump continues to show all the signs of a guilty man fearful of what the American intelligence community has found out about Russian efforts to install him in the White House.  Consider the latest in a pattern of surpassingly odd eruptions from Cheeto Benito:

The "Intelligence" briefing on so-called "Russian hacking" was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017

Note the quote marks around Intelligence, and his snark about "more time needed to build a case," to denote he's already prepared to discount whatever findings the intelligence community present.  Has there ever been someone in Rump's position who has publicly and continuously chosen to accept the Russian line over facts presented by American intelligence professionals?  "Very strange!" indeed. There's so much smoke here, the fire must be particularly hot under Rump's rump.

Also, as is being pointed out, the scheduling dis is typical Rump bullshit:

"... [A] senior U.S. intelligence official with direct knowledge of the situation told NBC News Tuesday night that the heads of the NSA, CIA, FBI and the director of national intelligence were always scheduled to meet with Trump on Friday. Another official had previously told NBC News that the briefing was scheduled for Wednesday, but that was apparently wrong."

The American people need to get a "briefing" more than Rump, who likely already knows the extent of Russian sabotage on his behalf.  Keep in mind all you know about this sociopathic villain:  his utter lack of scruples, his monumental narcissism, his brazen flouting of norms of behavior, his breathtaking ignorance, his consorting with the lowest elements in society.  Then imagine the worst has happened, because given who we're dealing with, it probably has.

"High Level Of Confidence" Trump Pal Putin Was Personally Involved In Campaign Skulduggery

The latest in the unfolding saga of the unholy alliance between Russian autocrat Vladimir "Vlad the Invader" Putin and neo- fascist useful idiot Donald "Rump" Trump:

U.S. intelligence officials now believe with "a high level of confidence" that Russian President Vladimir Putin became personally involved in the covert Russian campaign to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News. 

Two senior officials with direct access to the information say new intelligence shows that Putin personally directed how hacked material from Democrats was leaked and otherwise used. The intelligence came from diplomatic sources and spies working for U.S. allies, the officials said. 

Putin's objectives were multifaceted, a high-level intelligence source told NBC News. What began as a "vendetta" against Hillary Clinton morphed into an effort to show corruption in American politics and to "split off key American allies by creating the image that [other countries] couldn't depend on the U.S. to be a credible global leader anymore," the official said.

Ultimately, the CIA has assessed, the Russian government wanted to elect Donald Trump. The FBI [a.k.a., Trumpland] and other agencies don't fully endorse that view, but few officials would dispute that the Russian operation was intended to harm Clinton's candidacy by leaking embarrassing emails about Democrats.  (our emphasis)

That there was Russian interference wasn't a state secret (lowly bloggers knew about it long ago and right up to the election). Unfortunately for our democracy, this was largely ignored by the cretinous, credulous media, which was too busy lapping up Wikileaks' Russian- provided agitprop on Clinton non- scandals and the FBI's Trumpland's diversionary leaks to bother focusing on the biggest story of this or any other election of our time.

Tweet Of The Day

TRUMP: I wish Russia would hack us!
CIA: Looks like Russia did hack us.
TRUMP: Don't believe our CIA!
TROLLS: FINALLY A REAL LEADER

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) December 12, 2016

Neo- fascist narcissist and pathological liar Donald "Rump" Trump continues his strategy of lies, misdirection and "firehoses of falsehood."  See below.

BONUS:  Don't feel helpless!  Mock Paper Scissors provides an action template.

The Age Of "Firehoses Of Falsehood"

A fair amount of attention has been paid, far too belatedly, to the issue of right- wing "fake news" corrupting social media platforms like Facebook, Google and YouTube.  Now, two teams of researchers have concluded that a main generator of "fake news" was the vicious anti- democratic regime of Russian President Vladimir "Vlad the Invader" Putin, and the intent was to undermine American democracy:

The flood of “fake news” this election season got support from a sophisticated Russian propaganda campaign that created and spread misleading articles online with the goal of punishing Democrat Hillary Clinton, helping Republican Donald Trump and undermining faith in American democracy, say independent researchers who tracked the operation. 

Russia’s increasingly sophisticated propaganda machinery — including thousands of botnets, teams of paid human “trolls,” and networks of websites and social-media accounts — echoed and amplified right-wing sites across the Internet as they portrayed Clinton as a criminal hiding potentially fatal health problems and preparing to hand control of the nation to a shadowy cabal of global financiers. The effort also sought to heighten the appearance of international tensions and promote fear of looming hostilities with nuclear-armed Russia. 

Two teams of independent researchers found that the Russians exploited American-made technology platforms to attack U.S. democracy at a particularly vulnerable moment, as an insurgent candidate harnessed a wide range of grievances to claim the White House. [snip]

There is no way to know whether the Russian campaign proved decisive in electing Trump, but researchers portray it as part of a broadly effective strategy of sowing distrust in U.S. democracy and its leaders. The tactics included penetrating the computers of election officials in several states and releasing troves of hacked emails that embarrassed Clinton in the final months of her campaign. 

The Russians have become increasingly sophisticated in sowing disinformation throughout Western democracies using Western technology and platforms. As one of the research groups noted, the interference in our recent election is by no means an anomaly:

The Rand report — which dubbed Russian propaganda efforts a “firehose of falsehood” because of their speed, power and relentlessness — traced the country’s current generation of online propaganda work to the 2008 incursion into neighboring Georgia, when Russia sought to blunt international criticism of its aggression by pushing alternative explanations online.

The same tactics, researchers said, helped Russia shape international opinions about its 2014 annexation of Crimea and its military intervention in Syria, which started last year. Russian propaganda operations also worked to promote the “Brexit” departure of Britain from the European Union.  (our emphasis)

Now Putin's dreams have been realized. An autocratic demagogue in the form of neo- fascist and Putin useful idiot Donald "Rump" Trump has become president- elect (thanks to an archaic, anti- democratic mechanism), after a vicious, post- truth campaign that left America more divided and cynical than perhaps ever before. Furthermore, the concept of a "firehose of falsehood" can be seen to have been successfully deployed not only by the Russian propaganda machine but by their favored candidate himself and his hordes of knuckle- draggers in the wingnut Wurlitzer.

The "firehose of falsehood" that Rump employed during the campaign has been amply documented by PolitiFact, the WaPo fact checker, Politico, and others.  No presidential candidate in modern history has been the source of such outlandish, demonstrably false and inflammatory nonsense as Rump.  No candidate in modern history relied on this deluge of lies, innuendo, and deception more than Rump did, in order to divert attention from that other "firehose":  his encyclopedic range of chicanery, scandals and offenses against decency that overwhelmed the senses on a daily basis. An overwhelmed corporate media whose business models dictated that they gave as much uncritical attention to the demagogue as possible was thus largely precluded from telling the truth about what was plain for all to see. They found it easier to harp on a few Clinton nothingburgers day after day than to deal with the avalanche of evidence that Rump was a fatal bacteria being inserted into the political bloodstream of the country.

As was once said in a different time, a lie will travel around the world while the truth is still getting its boots on. Today we're in a new age -- when you have firehoses of modern technology, combined with a sinister foreign government, a supine media, and a sociopathic demagogue for whom no lie is too outrageous or malicious if it advances him, all working in concert -- and we're not sure the truth has a chance at all anymore.

BONUS:  Another piece of the Putin/ Rump/ neo- Nazi picture emerges.