Edward R. Murrow Would Be Ashamed of the People at CBS.

Edward R.  Murrow used his position as a journalist to expose the anti-communist witch hunt in the 50's.

I remember seeing some of the television coverage of the Army-McCarthy hearings.   I was too young to fully understand what was going on, but I recognized that Murrow thought something was wrong.

If he were alive today, I'm sure he would recognize that the current anti-Russian crusade makes less sense than Sen. Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist crusade in the 50's.

There was a Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union in the 50's.  There is no good reason for the United States and Russia to be enemies today. 

The question Joe McCarthy asked in the 50's was:  "Are you now or have you ever been a member of the communist party?"  The question today is: "have you ever talked to a  Russian?"

 Supporters of the Russian meddling witch hunt claim that Russian hackers were spying on the Democratic Party's emails.  The fact is that the Russian government has arrested four of those hackers [ including  the deputy head of the FSB security agency’s Centre for Information Security, Col. Sergei Mikhailov and his deputy Maj.  Dmitry Dokuchayev].  and charged them with working for the CIA. 

Thus any inquisition on this issue should begin with Obama administration officials and seek answers to the following questions:  "What did President Obama know? When did he know it?  and What did he do about it?"

The witch hunters also charge the Russians with "planting fake news".   The traditional term  is "propaganda" and governments have been doing it for generations.   Great Britain started doing it to us during WWI.   After the 9/11 attack the British convinced our government that Iraq's WMD program was more extensive  than it was. 

Prior to the 2004 election, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam [DRV] released a story that insured that Gov. Bob Kerrey would not run against Sen John Kerry [whom the DRV was supporting] for the Democratic presidential nomination.   The DRV had previously provided "fake news"  to try to influence voters in the 1968 and 1972 elections.

It's increasingly obvious that it's the British, rather than the Russians, who are meddling in American politics.    The British are once again using "fake intelligence" to influence American politics.

After the 9/11  attack the British used fake intelligence about WMD in Iraq to get President George W. Bush to help them invade Iraq.   The British treated rumors about WMD as if they were proven facts.

Now they are using fake intelligence to undermine President Donald Trump.     Patrick Cockburn in the "London Independent"   says the charges about Trump's alleged association with the Russians are based on information that is at least as unreliable as the claims about Iraq's WMD.

Russia Sanctions Humiliate Hillary

I've been trying to find a logical reason for the Congressional vote for the extreme action of imposing sanctions on Russia.

Sanction supporters talk about what they call "fake news",but the term is just another word for propaganda which governments produce all  the time.  We didn't impose sanctions on the British government for its "fake news" stories about Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.

Russian spying on candidates cannot justify sanctions because spying on political figures is  a common  government activity.  Besides the CIA had already infiltrated the Russian hackers who were the alleged spies.

The only significant difference in the situation is that the person Congress is concerned about is a woman, Hillary Clinton.   I believe Congress  is upset because  members think the big old Russian bear was mean to poor little defenseless Goldilocks.

Does anyone believe Congress would have taken a similar action if Donald Trump had been the alleged victim?  Or, for that matter the previous losing Democratic candidate John Kerry?

Congress didn't impose sanctions when Vietnam meddled in the 2004 election by producing  story claiming that potential Democratic presidential aspirant Sen Bob Kerrey had participated in a war crime in Vietnam 50 years earlier.

Russia Didn't "Hack" Election

Thoughts on the fake news claim that Russia "meddled" in or "hacked"  the presidential election.  

Those who claim that Russia "meddled" in the recent presidential election have an even lower opinion of  President Barack Obama than the Republicans who call him the worst president in American history..  Countries can only "meddle" in countries that are weaker than they are, including countries that are weak because of  weak or inept leaders.    For example, President Barack Obama frequently meddled in middle eastern countries.   So far those alleging Russian meddling have not provided evidence that Russia tried to meddle by  influencing  election officials or providing financial assistance to candidates.   Spying on government officials or would be government officials is normal governmental action that governments do year round so they can be prepared for actions that might adversely impact them.   Attempting to influence public opinion in other countries is also normal action that is done year round and is not "meddling".   Governments are likely to try to discredit opinion makers who portray their country, or its leaders,  in a negative light  to prevent the development of sentiment for war or other adverse actions against  their country..     

The media are misrepresenting the hacking issue. Russia, China, Israel and North Korea and possibly others along with the NSA probably did hack into insecure email systems, but that does not mean they altered election results as media stories falsely imply. Foreign nations have often made significant efforts to influence American public opinion since WWI, but there is nothing illegal about that. Seeking to influence public opinion isn't "hacking" What would be improper would be if CIA employees are deliberately misrepresenting the situation in an attempt to overturn the election of Donald Trump. Such actions would subject individuals to impeachment and would indicate Congress should turn the agency's functions over to other departments


If Russians helped us learn Hillary's dirty secrets we should thank them just like many Americans thanked Daniel Ellsberg for revealing the Pentagon's secrets about Vietnam   During the Cold War the United States operated radio stations that broadcast news to communist countries that their governments didn't want them to know.    

Why don't you media children grow up?    If the Democrats, or Republicans, used insecure communications foreign governments would have spied on them.  Russia, Israel, China and North Korea would  certainly have led any "hacking", but others might also have participated.  Governments have to spy on each other, and on political candidates, so they can prepare for actions that might negatively impact them.   If the  Russians informed us of  Hillary's secrets the way Daniel Ellsberg did the Pentagon's secrets we should thank them rather than complain.    Foreign governments have been making significant efforts to affect voters' opinions since at least WWI so any Russian effort to affect the 2016 election wouldn't  be anything new. 

Democrats need to accept the fact that Hillary Clinton lost because she was a lousy candidate.   Party leaders had discouraged people from running against her for the nomination   because they knew she was a lousy candidate.