April 24, 2019

NPR's "FACT CHECK: Russian Interference Went Far Beyond 'Facebook Ads' Kushner Described."

At a Time magazine event, Kushner got out an effective talking point.
The whole thing is just a big distraction for the country. You look at what Russia did — buying some Facebook ads to try and sow dissent. And it's a terrible thing, but I think the investigation and all the speculation that's happened over the past two years has had a much harsher impact on our democracy... They said they spent $160,000. I spent $160,000 on Facebook in three hours during the campaign. If you look at the magnitude of what they did and what they accomplished, I think the ensuing investigations have been way more harmful to our country.
Here's NPR's fact check:
The redacted version of Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller's report revealed a years-long plot by the Russian government to interfere in the U.S. that investigators called "sweeping and systemic."...
As to the amount of money expended on Facebook ads, the company said Russian operatives did spend less than $200,000 on advertising on the platform — but that doesn't account for the organic content the operatives created and shared. Not only were influence specialists within Russia's Internet Research Agency purchasing normal advertisements, they were authoring their own posts, memes and other content as they posed as American users.

They also reached out to politically active Americans, posing as like-minded supporters, and helped organize rallies and other events in the real world.... Cyberattackers also went after political victims in the United States — whose emails and other data were released publicly to embarrass them — and state elections officials and other targets. And there may have been other avenues of interference as well....

By September 2016, two months before the U.S. presidential election, the Internet Research Agency was working with an overall monthly budget that reached over $1.25 million. It employed hundreds of employees, a graphics department, a data analysis department, a search-engine optimization department, an IT department and a finance department, according to an indictment filed last year by Mueller's team....

The U.S. military reportedly blocked the Internet access of the IRA during last year's midterm elections to keep it from interfering with the midterm election. U.S. Cyber Command also targeted Russian cyber operatives, according to a report by The New York Times, with direct messages letting them know that American intelligence was tracking them.
Kushner didn't say the Facebook ads were all there was. His main point, it seems to me, is that what we did to ourselves was far out of proportion to what they did. If we credit the Russians with figuring out how actively and doggedly we'd damage ourselves and aggrandize them, they did amazingly well, but I don't see NPR making that argument. Indeed, I suspect that NPR folks think that everything that worked to hamstring and delegitimize our President wasn't damage at all, but damage control. In that view, the damage was that Trump was elected, and even though he wasn't elected because of Russian interference, it was worth using the Russian interference to distract, trouble, and limit him as much as possible.

And that is the harsh impact on our democracy.

94 comments:

hawkeyedjb said...

I have never heard what this Russian interference was supposed to accomplish, and for whom. Did they try to benefit or harm a candidate or group of candidates? A party? It all seems nebulous to me. Not that it would have had an effect on me; I've never seen (and never will see) a Facebook ad in my life. What nefarious means were used to reach grumps like me?

Birkel said...

Precisely right.
The insurance police Strzok discussed was about how to insure the illegal 4th Amendment violations could be hidden from public view. The last two years of Russian Conspiracy Theory Theater was to hide the illegal behavior of those who continued to pursue illegal ends.

But that's perfectly jake according to the Leftist Collectivists and their Smear Merchant allies.

rhhardin said...

Dem willful damage to the country in favor of gaining power started with Gore contesting the FL election. It hasn't stopped since.

Michael K said...

So, NPR confirmed Kushner's statement. Got it.

MadisonMan said...

The HiveMind of the Press was on display today, as both NPR and NBC used the "sweeping and systemic" Russian quote from Mueller's Dud of a Trump Condemnation Report. Nothing was noted on effectiveness of course.

Bill Peschel said...

Let's check the scorecard.

Obama campaign allows overseas donations that can't be traced: Good.

Russians buy Facebook ads: Bad

Birkel said...

rhhardin,
You'll have to go back about 150 years before that.

Fernandinande said...

"sweeping and systemic"

Those are scary sounding words, but what about "weaponized" and "even snarky"?

Wince said...

If we credit the Russians with figuring out how actively and doggedly we'd damage ourselves and aggrandize them, they did amazingly well, but I don't see NPR making that argument. Indeed, I suspect that NPR folks think that everything that worked to hamstring and delegitimize our President wasn't damage at all, but damage control.

NPR Collusion.

Henry said...

If you replaced "Russian" with "Republican National Committee" or "Hillary Victory Fund" you wouldn't have to change any of the following text. The dollar figure would go up, though.

This is good context.

Transparency about these efforts is a good thing. The breathless prose, though is comical. Russians may have funded their operation illegally, but the actual behavior sounds like boilerplate social media marketing.

Rory said...

I can imagine that the content of the Podesta emails would have caused a few Bernie bros to sit out the election rather than vote for Clinton. But that material didn't make its way into mainstream coverage and, you know, it was all true.

Fernandinande said...

In Trump's Russia NPR is colluding with weaponized moose and snarky squirrel.

Birches said...

Shorter NPR: Orange. Man. Bad.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Russia needed to help Hillary - then their interference would have been unobjectionable and 100% hidden *wink wink*

BTW - any thoughts from NPR on why Seth Rich ended up dead?

Shouting Thomas said...

In my FB timeline, Dems have morphed this trollery into “the most serious attack on the U.S. since Pearl Harbor!”

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Wiki wanted to help Bernie, not Trump.

Can NPR square that? nah - They won't even mention it.

Henry said...

U.S. Cyber Command also targeted Russian cyber operatives, according to a report by The New York Times, with direct messages letting them know that American intelligence was tracking them.

Good work, us!

"Dear Boris, We know what porn sites you visit. We have also hacked your phone and taken video of you watching the porn we know you visit. If you don't want us to reveal this to the world, please send us bitcoins."

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

If Hillary was so amazing, how come it was so easy for the Russians to hack American brains into not lining up for her like she demanded and expected? She was/is after all, entitled to her position of power. Ask John Brennan.

Fernandinande said...

Internet Research Agency can haz GoFundMe page?

Dave Begley said...

Althouse, per usual, is correct.

This silly Russian thing has consumed the MSM and Left for over two years.

Hillary could have won the election if she got off her fat ass and campaigned in Madison and Milwaukee. She's both an idiot and a criminal.

Yesterday HRC asserted that Trump should be indicted. This comes from the woman who ordered the deletion of 30,000 of her emails under subpoena. Emails that detailed her bribery scheme while at State. She then spoiled the evidence with BleachBit and hammers.

Barr is going to bring this whole thing crashing down on the Dems. Watch him indict the Platte River Networks people and lawyer David Kendall (and associates) for real obstruction of justice. Comey, Brennan et al. are all going to jail.

And defund NPR. We don't need state radio.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Considering the Democrat party is now the party of Stalin and Pravda, all that Russian meddling worked.

Otto said...

No collusion,no obstruction - that is the official final verdict by the DOJ. The DoJ sets fort the ruling, not the Mueller report, of the findings of the investigation. Remember Clinton was guilty of 4 counts, lying to the Grand Jury, Witness tampering,
obstruction of justice, and lying to the special counsel. Trump was found guilty on no accounts. Get over it.
'And that is the harsh impact on our democracy" - C'mon prof ,no we are not a democracy, we are a republic.

Bay Area Guy said...

NPR is lost, like most of the media.

Start simple:

1. Did Russia kill anyone? NO. We know someone killed Seth Rich, don't know who.

2. Did Russia steal military secrets or re-position its nuclear weapons against Europe or Finland or Lithuania or the US? NO

3. Does Russia have unending border problems with Ukraine and Georgia and Crimea? Yes. That's life.

4. Did Russia buy $200K of Facebook ads? Yes. Big fucking deal.

5. Did Russia buy lots of US uranium? Yes, See Uranium One deal.

6. Did Russia hack the DNC e-mails? Don't know. Someone did, or it was an inside job. Julian Assange says it wasn't the Russians, but maybe he is wrong.

Anyway, the Russia stuff is hooey. They are a fading power since the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Most of the Russian hysteria was designed by the Deep State to cover up their spying.

I don't worry about Russia or Putin, and neither should you.

Bob Boyd said...

Like calls for civility, media Fact Checks are always bullshit.

rhhardin said...

You could tell Gore wan't up for fair contests from the respective Al Smith dinner speeches before the 2000 election - Bush gracious and Gore campaigning.

Hagar said...

That kind of diddling is never going to be all that effective since the Russians understand even less about the Americans and their "system" than we do ourselves.

And anyway, the really unforgivable thing they did was to rat out Hillary! and the DNC to Wikileaks.
(Though there is no convincing evidence that "the Roosians" did that. The hackers say that the #1 tactic for anonymity on the web is to find a server in Russia or wherever to route your messages through.)

CWJ said...

Not to mention that the NPR fact check is, like so much that has gone before, a list of assertions and allegations, not evidence.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

The media white-wash of Hillary's Private Server continues.

MBunge said...

The long-term damage of all this is more fundamental. The brain is like the muscle you use to think. Like all muscles, it must be exercised to work properly. If you don't exercise it, it gets weak and flabby. I'm sure some people believe the willful stupidity and comfortable ignorance that animates the #Resistance is something they'll just be able to shake off when Trump is gone, but they will be like people coming out of an eight-year coma and trying to run a triathlon.

Mike

Bay Area Guy said...

Here's the famous Morgan Freeman video, paid stooge, er, I mean, spokesman, for the Committee to Investigate Russia.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

1. Did Russia kill anyone? NO. We know someone killed Seth Rich, don't know who.

**Media 100% incurious and 100% disinterested***

Bob Boyd said...

When America is united we can do anything. We won WW2. We put a man on the moon.
It's time this country came together to accomplish an even more daunting and improbable task. If each and every one us truly dedicate ourselves, I have to believe we can make Hillary Clinton feel happy and fulfilled, even if only for a day, for an hour. No! Do not laugh. It can be done. What nobler purpose?

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

I know a Russian-born American resident who uses a fake Facebook account, posing as an Austrian woman, to promote industrial music and the furry lifestyle. If we don't bomb Moscow now, when do we?

Carol said...

The Mueller report lays out all this Russian activity in vol 1, but it's one sided, just the prosecution's best case, backed by the evidence they used to indict the Russian hackers.

I wonder how much of it is true?

Kevin said...

Barr is going to bring this whole thing crashing down on the Dems. Watch him indict the Platte River Networks people and lawyer David Kendall (and associates) for real obstruction of justice. Comey, Brennan et al. are all going to jail.

And the same media demanding justice and transparency today will be aghast as the “politicization” of the DOJ.

This too will be grounds for impeachment.

Anonymous said...

Come on people, Putin is heir and master of the finest propaganda, subversion, misinformation, and disinformation apparatus the world has ever known. The Reds took everything related to these matters and became scientific practitioners on a huge scale.

Here's the irony: none of the stuff discussed in the NPR-spew had any provable effect on any voter, voting machine, or vote count. The most effective tactic Putin had was to set up some meetings between Russians and Trump-people, and normal American politics (i.e. Democrats hate Republicans far more than they can ever bring themselves to hate anyone else, and our media celebs are for the most part ignorant dullards) would take care of the rest.

Narr
Best bet Vlad ever placed

Kevin said...

Elizabeth Warren wants each member of Congress on record on impeachment.

I agree.

I don’t want them saying they never thought it should have gone that far 10 years from now.

narciso said...

One of the tabloids suggested the Russians did it not the in bruges Team though. They cant kill the target directly.

Swede said...

For some folks it'll always be rUsSiAn KaLoOsHiN.

And can you blame them?

They either pitched the stories or ate them daily for over 2 years.

It's a money pit they have too much invested in and can't give up now.

mccullough said...

“Sweeping and systemic”

So what were these “posts and memes” from those Russians “posing as Americans.”

Any interesting ones? Better than the tripe from NPR? Funny? Insightful?

Those who want to Indoctrinate with Propaganda like NPR are mad at the Russians?

And as for fact checking. The Election started with early voting. Let’s not pretend Election Day is when people start voting. It’s when voting ends.

Kushner is a douchebag. Like NPR

gilbar said...

MadisonMan said... The HiveMind of the Press was on display today,

what gets me is, they don't even seem to realize that they'd be MUCH MORE effective if they didn't all parrot the exact same phrases. I know that they're not the sharpest tools in the box; but how hard would it be to RE-phrase the talking points assigned.
I understand that they are assigned;
I also understand that repeating the points word for word makes it obvious that they are assigned.
Why don't They see that?
Igna; could you fill us in?

Anonymous said...

"sweeping and systemic," and Obama didn't stop it. It was his responsibility, he was President.

Howard said...

Nice meta analysis. Professor edititorializes the editorials yet still avoids to dissect the actual Mueller Report. Perhaps at a minimum, give it the Gatsby or Barbarian treatment: you will be able to make soothing comfort food for your deplorable patrons.

MBunge said...

"the actual Mueller Report."

The actual Mueller Report says there was no collusion and that the President did not interfere with the investigation. It also says he did some things which, if you assign criminal intent to them, might possibly be considered efforts to TRY and interfere with the investigation.

Apply the same standard to Hillary that you do to Trump, then we can talk.

Mike

Seeing Red said...

They’re on the other side.

Ken B said...

BAG
About the emails. I keep seeing bald assertions it was Russia, but I have not seen proof. Mueller does not prove it. The Russians did hack, but to what effect we do not know. As you say, Assange denies it. Maybe he was fooled by the Russians but I believe he means it. Assange has more credibility than NPR, or the rest of the Hoax Industrial Complex.
Not distinguishing what we think,what we know, and what we can prove is precisely what the hoax peddlers count on.

Seeing Red said...

Or he tried to stop a bogus multi-million dollar investigation because it was a hit job.

Caligula said...

It's pretty much gotten to the point that when you see the phrase "Fact check" (or PolitCheck, etc.) in the media you can be pretty sure what you're going to get will be anything but actual facts.

Would it be so hard to label this phony "fact checking" as "Our opinion, presented as indisputable Fact"? It might not sell as well, but it would be infinitely more honest.



chuck said...

I can't tell you how disgusted I am that any of my taxes go to support the dysfunctional propaganda organ that is NPR. Defund them now!

h said...

As a non-lawyer, I continue to be puzzled about what is legal and illegal regarding political speech. If a non-citizen spends money to advocate for a particular candidate, is that illegal? If a non-citizen posts a comment on the Althouse blog for or against a candidate, is that illegal? Was it illegal for Russians to create a facebook page that argues for or against a candidate, if it doesn't cost them any money? Does it matter whether or not the Russians were private individuals or government employees? Was it illegal for a UK citizen (Steele) to collect and publish (or sell) derogatory information about a candidate?

I don't mean these as rhetorical questions, I am truly confused about this.

PM said...

SF lefties still think the Russians changed votes as noted in letters printed by the 'editors' of the SF Chronicle, the stupidest paper in paperdom.

William said...

Does anyone know of anyone who voted for Trump as a result of Russian propaganda?.......On the other hand, I get the sense that there are lots of young people who will vote against Trump because of SNL skits.......,We get exposed to an awful lot of propaganda, but most of it is produced by Democratic sympathizers. Unlike the Russians, they're really good at it.

Anonymous said...

That could reduce Democratic representation when congressional districts are allocated in 2021 and affect how hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending are distributed. Courts have also found that Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas could risk losing seats in the House, and that several states could lose federal money....

Given that many Federal programs prevent states from providing benefits to Illegals, lack of the question is to the advantage to Sanctuary States.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

"We get exposed to an awful lot of propaganda, but most of it is produced by Democratic sympathizers. Unlike the Russians, they're really good at it."

Some are good at it, some are excellent, most are simply ham-handed, but often still effective. The advantage play the Left has is in deplatforming their opposition.

Michael K said...

I have to give Howard credit.

Even when Inga has fled to wherever Garage Mahal went, and even when Ritmo is down to a few rants, he soldiers on, swallowing and loving it. Good boy, Howard !

The Skeptic said...

Just in case anyone's interested, according to Bloomberg (https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/graphics/2016-presidential-campaign-fundraising/), 2016 presidential election spending:

Clinton: $1,184.1 million
Trump: $616.5 million

The Russians must have Don Draper class advertising skills! The Russians $0.2 million spending on Facebook ads was a game changer!

iowan2 said...

This is like the LLR that does drive by posting here.
So the fact is Russia instituted a program of social media propaganda.
Keep hammering that fact. over and over and over. Fact,Fact,Fact,Fact,Fact,Fact,Fact,Fact.
Now what?
$1.5 billion spent by the 2 major candidates. Probably again that much by outside groups in the US. Obama refused to do anything. Susan Rice ordered her department to stand down.
What is the US govt going to do about this? 10,000 people a day can set up a lot of account. FB Instagram, twitter, etc. The Platforms are banning conservatives with 5 years of history filing reports with the FEC. Are we going to allow silicone valley to censure their political enemies? They already are.
I need solutions, or all the hand wringing is nothing but a political cudgle

Shouting Thomas said...

I have to give Howard credit.


I'd like to, but Howard never says anything substantive. Even Inga manages to actually say something, admittedly an incredibly stupid something, but something substantive nonetheless.

With Howard, it's just that sinister, sneering tone that suggests that he's in on the dirty secret nobody else knows, but he never gets around to telling us the secret.

All hat and no cattle.

Sam L. said...

NPR: NOT a reliable source, nor truthful, except occasionally.

Jupiter said...

"Indeed, I suspect that NPR folks think that everything that worked to hamstring and delegitimize our President wasn't damage at all, but damage control. In that view, the damage was that Trump was elected,"

In short, the folks at NPR think that democracy is the problem, and they are the solution.

Big Mike said...

So what were these “posts and memes” from those Russians “posing as Americans.”

It’s been right here on the Althouse blog comment threads. Look for comments by “Chuck,” with a capital ‘C’

narciso said...

the collusion cabal is practically air tight:


https://www.conservativereview.com/news/hillary-clinton-spawned-russia-hoax-christopher-steele-merely-front-man/

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Birkel said...

Game plan the thing if you are AG Barr. Which group of people or entities would you think most likely to break? Which people or entities have the greatest exposure - and thus least willingness to cooperate - versus the people with limited exposure who might easily cooperate. Then cross those people with the associated resources available to mount respective defenses. Then, assign values to the same players across a multi-front propaganda campaign to undermine AG Barr's own credibility.

Therefore, I would think the reporters who bribed federal officials would be the first set of targets. They have felony exposure that could be bargained away to secure more important targets. They could be ruined professionally but are unlikely to receive institutional support (in my opinion) from the news sources they represent because that implicates the source itself. Therefore funds will be limited against a active DOJ. Finally, ruining the credibility of the MSM would advance the cause of justice by removing the "air cover and artillery support" the MSM normally provides to ideological fellow travelers on the Left.

Finally, bribery cases are not complicated as a matter of law. The evidence is almost undoubtedly easy to obtain. And the defenses will be few.

If I'm correct, then AG Barr is serious about excising corruption from the federal government.

narciso said...

they leave out they fund aqap and nusra front directly,


https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/report-saudi-uae-coalition-cut-deals-al-qaeda-yemen-180806074659521.html

Skippy Tisdale said...

NPR -- National Propaganda Radio.

stlcdr said...

Still, the only Russian 'systemic' interference is the Facebook meddling, which no-one seems to offer any specifics on (what were these ads that were supposed to sway people toward voting for trump?).

Facebook, posts on facebook, by Russians posing as Americans. This is absolutely laughable, if not downright insulting.

Henry said...

but that doesn't account for the organic content the operatives created and shared

Sounds like a bake sale.

Greg Q said...

I ran across this BNPR "Fact Check" earlier today:

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/27/597436512/fact-check-has-citizenship-been-a-standard-census-question

This statement is inaccurate, incomplete and misleading. A quick history of the decennial survey makes that clear.

The claim
"This is a question that's been included in every census since 1965," Sanders said Tuesday, "with the exception of 2010, when it was removed."

The short answer
This statement is inaccurate, incomplete and misleading. A quick history of the decennial survey makes that clear.


Then they go to the "long answer", where they admit it was asked in 1950 (don't it was asked on every from from 1830 - 1950, other than 1840), and on every Census long form after that.

Which means their "Short answer" is entirely false.

So I no longer trust NPR "fact checks", or, for that matter, NPR.

False in one thing, false in all things.

Jim at said...

Funny. For all this talk about Russian Facebook ads impacting the election, I cannot recall seeing any. Not even one.

buwaya said...

NPR is part of the propaganda system, but it is to a degree unique as it is the only state-owned (actually a Quango - a Quasi-non governmental organization) propaganda entity, or the only one that is subsidized through tax treatment as a charity.

It is a state sanctioned and state-supported partisan political tool devoted to political propaganda. Indeed, in practice it is explicitly hostile to the majority of the American people. From a certain distance, a certain perspective, its existence is remarkable, and difficult to explain.

Other such government supported, sanctioned entities (Planned Parenthood for one) also engage in political propaganda of course, but they at least have the excuse that these activities are incidental to their charter.

buwaya said...

NPR is not remarkable for its service as a propaganda tool, or its lack of "balance" or veracity.

It is very much like other national broadcasters in this. All were modeled on the BBC.

The BBC had a great reputation in its time, and retains some of that to this day, but it was always a tool of the British government and could not be relied on if ones interests were divergent from the UK "deep state". Orwell got most of his experience of propaganda from working at the BBC. In "1984" it is a dystopian version of the BBC that he is playing against.

Matt Sablan said...

He should have said some Russians did some thing.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

PBS is also a Quango, but Buwaya probably meant to include it along with NPR as a propaganda organ. They're both public broadcasting, and both also broadcast BBC material.

I listen to NPR and watch PBS, and in the days right after the Mueller report was released, both emphasized that it did not exonerate Trump for obstruction of justice, despite it not inculpating him of that charge. Both of these media had "balance" in the form of guest pundit panels comprised of liberal democrats, those of a more leftward bent, and the weakest RINOs they could assemble.

narciso said...

How about this:

https://mobile.twitter.com/kevind1973/status/1121096674301104128

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

So what were these “posts and memes” from those Russians “posing as Americans.”(?)

Jesus' arm-wrestling victory over Satan was 'sweeping and systemic',
as one would expect.

(and He didnt even need help from the Russians!)

Static Ping said...

The thing is if it was $200K in ads or a $2 million budget of a intelligence ops, that's still basically nothing compared to the money spent in the election. If $2 million is sufficient to upend our republic, outside of maybe a single house seat, then our republic is basically doomed anyway.

What journalists also do not seem to comprehend is the Russians have been interfering in our elections since Lenin, at minimum, and probably before that as well. During the Cold War there was plenty of efforts to mess with our elections and our country in general. The fact that they are only catching on now when it suits their purposes is damning and not in the way they think.

These people are morons. Why do we get our news from morons?

Unknown said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91TbwAmsIfU> - Joker - Harvey Dent Hospital Scene

I just did what I do best. I took your little plan and I turned it on itself. Look what I did to this city with a few drums of gas and a couple of bullets.

You know what I noticed? Nobody panics when things go according to plan. Even when the plan is horrifying. If tomorrow I told the press that, like, a gang-banger would get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics. Because it's all part of the plan. But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everybody loses their minds!

Yancey Ward said...

Ken B wrote:

"About the emails. I keep seeing bald assertions it was Russia, but I have not seen proof. Mueller does not prove it."

I read the entire report- there isn't one shred of evidence that Wikileaks got the e-mails from the Russian Government. Mueller asserted that Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks were set up by FSB agents, and that Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks sent "files" to Wikileaks, and yet Mueller basically admits that he can't prove the sent "files" were the e-mails. Indeed, near the end of this section, Mueller throws up his hands and starts waving about how they couldn't prove this because Wikileaks and the two supposed FSB constructs hid it too well, and that maybe the files were transferred physically via a courier- maybe, it couldn't be ruled out.

I mean, this was some high powered detective work. It makes me think Mueller's team couldn't find their own asses with a map and two years to do it.

Yancey Ward said...

Barr is going to have to do something, or be seen by history as a complete failure. The DoJ and the FBI were deeply corrupted. Sure, some bad apples were fired, but if that is all that happens, you can count on this sort of corruption to get worse and worse. There have to be criminal consequences.

buwaya said...

To clarify, because I left the matter rather murky -

Yes, NPR and PBS are just two parts of the same thing.

NPR/PBS are unique in the US as the "state" broadcaster, with an internal focus.

They are not unique outside the US, as most nations have a state broadcaster, or sometimes more than one, generally a much larger player in their internal media market than NPR/PBS.

narciso said...

who doesn't catch nearly as much scrutiny:


https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/04/24/former-state-department-employee-pleads-guilty-to-spying-for-chinese-agents/

narciso said...

and they know foolish:https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2019/04/24/even-morning-joe-talking-dems-down-impeachment

funsize said...

if buying ads and doing data analysis about elections is an attempt to interfere, doesn't that damn every politician and interest group in our current era? Every one of them buys ads and does research. Are they interfering?

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Leftwing media "fact check" = Leftwing narrative.

Sebastian said...

"what we did to ourselves was far out of proportion to what they did"

Of course, progs don't believe their own BS. They are perfectly fine with causing division and tearing down the system while blaming the Russians for creating division and tearing down the system.

"Indeed, I suspect that NPR folks think that everything that worked to hamstring and delegitimize our President wasn't damage at all, but damage control."

Exactly. Trump is the damage. The deplorables are the harm.

"In that view, the damage was that Trump was elected, and even though he wasn't elected because of Russian interference, it was worth using the Russian interference to distract, trouble, and limit him as much as possible."

Exactly. Russia is just a prog tool. To be used and discarded as needed. Nothing matters to progs except their own power.

"And that is the harsh impact on our democracy."

But harsh enough to make the Althouses despise them and refuse to vote for them? That's all that matters.

They thought they could get away with it. Cuz, you see, nice liberal midwestern women might tire of Trump and image what law is like and prefer a more liberal Supreme Court. Damage to democracy be damned.

narciso said...

Isnt it curious that we aren't made aware of real threats, like the fact it's the Tamil affiliate of a worldwide organization:

http://asianmirror.lk/news/item/14750-ccd-seeks-ag-s-advise-on-radical-muslim-group-over-derogatory-comments-on-buddha

narciso said...

Well that's interesting and frightening

https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/04/article/mother-of-satan-explosive-used-in-sri-lanka-bombings/

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Yancey @ 5:02 and 5:04

Yes and Yes.

Gospace said...

Another FARA guilty plea, under the radar, just announced.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1121198878378819584.html

There's things going on. Investigations and apparently prosecutions and prosecution deals by people WHO DON'T LEAK. Washington DC isn't used to that kind of behavior.

narciso said...

Here's another example:

https://news.sky.com/story/sri-lanka-attacks-hate-preacher-zahran-hashims-videos-did-not-violate-youtube-policies-11702203

Drago said...

BleachBit-and-Hammers: "Leftwing media "fact check" = Leftwing narrative"

Leftwing media "fact check" = Leftwing/LLR narrative

libertariansafetyguy said...

The Russians were largely ineffective in interfering in our election but the Marxists almost pulled off a steal.

Drago said...

libertariansafetyguy: "The Russians were largely ineffective in interfering in our election but the Marxists almost pulled off a steal."

Marxists and LLR's.