Because of the importance of the big-money backers of Resistance, Inc., the New York Times plugged the "march" on its Facebook page before giving the small-ball event some truly big league coverage in the A-section pages of its Sunday edition. For without relentless publicity, how are we, the rag-tag citizens of America, supposed to remember that Russian Meddling in Our Democracy™ is the crisis of the century?
And with the Times' cooperative failure to reveal the names of the big players behind the scenes, the Powers That Be can cling to the illusion that they still actually have the power to mold public opinion, redirecting our angst from quotidian economic concerns to ginning up a patriotic fever for war against Russia. It's not for nothing that the newspaper also unceremoniously dumped both the public editor and the whole public editor desk last week. Accountability is so yesterday.
So we never learn from reading the fawning Times piece by Nathalie Nieves that one of the main organizers of #March For Truth is a writer and "activist" named Andrea Chalupa, who recently Tweeted, with no proof, that "WikiLeaks is a proven front for the Russian government." Her sister, Alexandra, has been exposed as the probable developer of the discredited McCarthyite website PropOrNot, which published a blacklist of some 200 independent news organizations scurrilously accused of being "unwitting" agents for Vladimir Putin and stooges for Donald J. Trump.
Indeed, the Times has engaged in a virtual coverup of the #March for Truth astroturf group's provenance. Nieves' article mostly consists of interviews with a handful of "just plain folks" who were ostensibly demanding the truth about TrumPutin complicity. (Nieves has to grudgingly admit, however, that most of the couple-dozen participants had really shown to protest against other things, like Trump's war on the environment) Still, she valiantly offers that such cool celebrities as Debra Messing have given money to "the cause" - thereby tacitly legitimizing the effort with that all-important Hollywood gloss.
We must look to the#March For Truth website for supplemental facts. (To give Nieves credit, she provided a link) All you really need is a Google and a dream to figure out what the Times doesn't bother telling you.
Perhaps what is most revealing about this astroturf movement is the involvement of so many Hillary Clinton donors and operatives, including the Chalupa sisters just mentioned. This involvement gives further credence to the largely ignored tidbit in the book "Shattered" that #RussiaGate was, in fact, the brainchild of the failed Clinton campaign itself.
Some of the "partners" listed on the #March for Truth website:
Town Hall Project: founded by former Iowa Clinton campaign field organizer Jimmy Dahman. To its credit, this site and its app have enabled people to easily find the congressional town hall nearest them to agitate for all manner of progressive things, including single payer health insurance. To his own discredit, though, Dahman is choosing to emphasize Russophobia rather than the fact-based fear of getting sick while uninsured or underinsured.
"Across the country, constituents have flooded town halls to let their representatives know that they want impartial investigations into Russian interference in our elections," Dahman rather falsely brags on the March For Truth website.
Pantsuit Nation: a Hillary Clinton Facebook-originated fan group, whose founder, Libby Chamberlain, is now being harshly criticized for personally cashing in on the first person hard-luck stories of poor and minority women she collated. Therefore, Pantsuit Nation has expanded its tarnished brand into some lucrative Russia-blaming to help keep the dream alive.
Swing Left: founded by Ethan Todras-Whitehall (writer/teacher), Joshua Krafchin (marketer and entrepreneur) and Miriam Stone (brand strategist) They appear to be an honest trio of citizens just looking for congressional redistricting who now find themselves "veal-penned" into the RussiaGate franchise. This is ironic, given that the DNC had studiously ignored them, and the pro-Clinton Daily Kos had even once accused them of being Russian agents. The name Krafchin had apparently made the Russophobic hairs on the back of Democratic Party necks stand up. But now that Swing Left has been patriotically vetted, it's all good.
The Opposition - this is just another news aggregation site for anti-Trump stories. Since no actual names are listed on this blog, inquiring minds want to know: is it Hillary prop, or not?
Stand Up America - Founded and bankrolled by failed multimillionaire centrist carpetbagger Sean Eldridge and directed by Jessica Adair, who most recently served as Hillary Clinton's Women's Vote director in Nevada. DJ Koessler, head of Clinton's digital ops in Brooklyn HQ, is the digital director. Sean Quinn, digital strategist, formerly worked for Anne Lewis Strategies, a Democratic Party fundraising firm, whose own director previously worked in the Bill Clinton White House. This #March sponsor is so incestuous that it deserves its own diagram on Muckety.
Rise To Run: this is one of several mystery sponsors of March of Truthiness that are so dark and so shadowy that they don't even have anonymous websites, let alone listing any human beings on them. Somebody had better check to make sure this isn't a KGB plant.
Stand Up Republic - Founded by Evan McMullin, former clandestine ops officer at the CIA and later a Goldman Sachs banker before he ran for president as an independent conservative. Co-director is Mindy Kaling (nee Finn), who worked on the Bush and Romney campaigns. Their fervid, jingoistic statement on joining the Russophobic Resistance Fighters is a real keeper:
"Evan McMullin and Mindy Finn founded Stand Up Republic to help Americans stand up in defense of the fundamental principles that have made this country the true home of liberty and a source of hope for many around the world. Stand Up Republic will build and organize a grassroots movement in defense of liberty, equality, and truth in America. Our priorities will be to uphold the Constitution and defend the democratic norms and institutions upon which the protection of our basic rights depend.
We invite all Americans committed to these timeless truths to join us today in this hallowed cause."Party Majority - This sponsor of #March for Truth is definitely not interested in campaign finance reform. We must, they say, take full advantage of campaign finance law as it exists, not as "we" might hope it to be. Grassroots SuperPac ia not an oxymoron! But even so, this sponsor of Truthiness lies by omission in refusing to list even one single name of a person or an address on its website. Dark is Light. Ignorance is Strength. Money is money.
Rock the Vote -- "We're smart. We're passionate. We're badass. We get the job done."
This group says its duty to democracy is to line up "cultural leaders," celebrity endorsements and fundraising concerts. Look how well that worked out for Clinton in Cleveland at the Beyoncé gala.
Rock the Vote is run by former Chicago Democratic ward heeler Carolyn DeWitt, who has previously arranged DNC convention entertainment, groomed Democratic surrogates for media appearances, and coordinated messaging between the Democratic Party and Barack Obama's Organizing for America staffers. It was founded and bankrolled by Virgin Records mogul Jeff Ayeroff.
Oppstn.Org: Cool, edgy cyperspeak for "The Opposition," this is just another mainstream media aggregation site which "curates" anti-Trump articles and then rather dishonestly bylines them all with "By The Opposition." It thus turns out that linked corporate monstrosities like NBC-Comcast magically morph into The Opposition.
Although he doesn't list his own name on his Oppstn site, Executive Director Jason Uhl does out himself on the #March for Truth sponsor page. A search reveals 16 different Jason Uhls on LinkedIn, none of whom appear to have a journalism background, nor even minimal stenographic credentials.
Meanwhile, Truth March fans are urged to Tweet and Facebook all their friends with quotes from such paragons of democracy as Obama Kill List creator and Bush torture-defender John Brennan:
12 comments:
Hell hath no fury like a[n]: [Select any/all that apply: (a) Plutocrat; (b) Oligarch; (c) Disaffected/out-of-power “agent of the deep state;” (d) Scorned intelligence analyst; (e) Out-of-work Hillary-devotéé desperately in need of a paying job; (f) Castrated (figuratively-speaking, of course!) legacy media “journalist” who was “in the tank” for Hillary; (g) Anyone else who still can’t believe that Hillary actually LOST to the likes of Donald Trump even though she was actually a sh***y candidate].
So we will, alas, be hearing fairy tales about how the Rooshians “stole” the 2016 election from Hillary for years to come. Even if they didn’t “rig” a single ballot or ballot-box anywhere in this country, it will still be the “gospel-truth” to a significant segment of the population.
That’s what this “March for Truth” is all about, to perpetuate that myth for years to come.
As I mentioned in my last remark—and as I am sure all Sardonickistas are already aware—we will be hearing this “Big Lie” over and over, FOREVER (or, at least, through the 2020 presidential election).
The sad truth though, is that the “Big Lie” works as a propaganda technique.
All of us—Karen’s followers, regardless of our different political persuasions—will have to work overtime in the years to come to do our very best to counter Hillary’s “Big Lie,” lest she come back to bite us in the ass in 2020.
And maybe, just maybe, we can settle on a Bernie Sanders-like (Note: I didn’t say “Bernie Sanders!”) candidate upon whom the rest of us can agree. (Never thought I would be saying that!)
It will not be an easy task, countering the “Big Lie.” They seem to be pretty well organized at the moment.
What's really being suppressed is that the March for Truth is the kickoff event of Hillary's 'Onward Together'. She announced last month that she was going to fund all these same activist groups that were involved in this March for Truth.
With the launch of her political slush fund, Onward Together, Generalissima Clinton will have her own army of activist platoons which she can order into battle because she will hold their purse strings. Onward Together is the latest iteration of the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Slush Fund-ation only controlled by Hillary but of course buckraked by Bill. Who would have thunk they'd legitimize their corrupt family foundation by morphing into this. I'm sure Hillary will turn it into a corrupt mess soon enough. That's just how she rolls.
Onward Together is almost a private club or political party. You must become a member to learn anything about it, and that requires a donation and your personal information. I clicked on the 'Mission' link on their website but it won't go anywhere unless you first give them your email address and consent to become a member which I'm sure they'll sell at some point, probably to certain candidates she supports. When Hillary bitterly said recently that she didn't inherit anything from the DNC, I think she meant she didn't get Obama's or Bernie's lists and she's going to rectify that, bigtime.
The website is like a fly trap and is soooo Hillary - sneaky and secretive. The only other tab besides 'Mission' is 'Donate' of course. Given the Russia hysteria that Hillary has personally promoted since the election, I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't try to tap into some government money (like the Clinton Foundation also did). I can imagine that the National Endowment for Democracy might have some money to help her propagandize democracy here since ours is supposedly under such vicious attack by the Russians. Obama's new Ministry of Truth, the Global Engagement Center operating out of her old haunts at the State Dept, might also have some money for her to ostensibly combat Russian propaganda.
Hillary's been on a Russian kick for years, frothing at the mouth over the RT channel, so she has a proven track record of seeing Russians hiding under every bed. Even John McCain would support giving her money for propaganda, providing she played her cards right. Of course Hillary can't play anything without cheating.
Things should get very interesting, if not obvious, as Big Brother's Ministry of Truth/GEC gets into gear this June 21st. It will "provide grants or contracts of financial support to civil society groups, media content providers, nongovernmental organizations, federally funded research and development centers, private companies, or academic institutions…"
Our news could become curiouser and curiouser.
Onward Together for democracy, truth, justice, and the American Way!
https://www.onwardtogether.org/
Thanks for the link to Hillary's slush fund, Anne. I "signed up" without giving. It's been my experience with these start-up fundraising scams that despite your initial stinginess, you will soon get regular email updates on their "activities" whether you give or you don't. Their main thing is to first compile a list of Possibles and Marks. Pretty soon you'll be getting past-due dunning notices reminding you of your gift of exactly Zero Dollars to Clinton, Inc. This is what happened when I signed up for the Obama Foundation and Trump's Store. At first they send you right to a page with boxes for amounts and credit card info. But before long, you'll get informational follow-ups and discover all that you've been missing out on.
This is called the incremental approach you can believe in. A/k/a the Big Tease.
That Brennan quote reads like it was pulled from an internal meeting, with the "our" and the "we" referring to the CIA, not We the People.
On the national level US politics is a hopeless seesaw going nowhere. The more we put Trump down, the more we help Clinton; the more we knock Clinton, Trump becomes the beneficiary. It's a closed system, power oscillating between to rotten nodes.
Spare me with the hope that old man Bernie is going to take over the Democratic Party and set it on the right path.
The problem of course is the two-party system, not just the characters at the top. No matter what we say about national politics this year or next, and for a long time to come, we're only promoting, indirectly of course, a greater or lesser evil, take your pick––until other parties get around to muscle their way into the game.
Sure, let's continue to help the Democratic Party to self-destruct. Not to worry about the Republican Party, which is doing fine by itself at roaring off the cliff.
Was there ever a better moment in American history since Lincoln for the rise of a Third Party? But where are the leaders of such a party? Which of the current leaders in the Duopoly is resigning––as Sanders should have!––to join or lead a Third Party out from under its bushel basket? Lincoln went from an old party to a new one. Who is about to do something similar in the 21st Century? Until a big name leaves the Dems, or until an outsider with name recognition, like Trump, drops his or her career elsewhere and throws herself or himself into politics (for the greater good), it'll be the endless seesaw of Dems and Reps forever.
Karen's report, for good reason, makes me more suspicious of every source I might come across on the net and elsewhere, good, bad, and indifferent. As we hippies used to say in the Sixties, "Even Mickey Mouse is political."
If you enjoy getting lost even more deeply in a hall of mirrors, check out the report (by 4 journalists, yet) over at The Intercept, which is all about leaked Top Secret documents that may or may not be spurious related to RussiaGate. Is the leak real, is it true, did TI stupidly reveal the source of the leak to the CIA, is the leaker (now said to be under arrest) a make-believe person with an unbelievable name or real patsy within the Intelligence Community? Read the comments and you'll get more deeply lost among the maybes.
https://theintercept.com/2017/06/05/top-secret-nsa-report-details-russian-hacking-effort-days-before-2016-election/
Years ago I gave up TV for several good reasons. Some of you did too. Should we now be toying with the idea of giving up the internet for the same reasons?
Jay,
Good reason to be suspicious, especially since the NYT has this oh-so-convenient leak/arrest as its main front page article. It fits the RussiaGate agenda so perfectly... too perfectly.
This whole thing has a very Alice in Wonderland smell to it. You can't make this stuff up... or can you? See Moon of Alabama on the Blogroll for a very incisive analysis. He is not too impressed with The Intercept, to put it mildly.
Young Ms. Reality Winner is already being treated as a heroine; the story reminds me of the Jessica Lynch head-fake.
Maybe Hillary can act as Reality's pro bono attorney so that we can all Stand Together against the world's biggest Fantasy Loser.
Michael Moore is also picking a most opportune time to start his own Whistleblower Franchise. To paraphrase I.F. Stone, seems like the media-political complex "folks" are smoking the same hashish they're so busily dealing to the news-consuming public.
@Jay-Ottawa--
Point of clarification. From your comment: "did TI stupidly reveal the source of the leak to the CIA," (emphasis added).
Who or what is "TI?" It's probably obvious and I just missed it, but sometimes it's just easier to ask.
@Jay--Ottawa--
Sorry, just realized that "TI" is "The Intercept." Vision and thought processes just aren't so good these days.
In these sad and troubling times we should always look forward.
The TI leaker, Reality Winner, is young, smart, bold and, by admission on her FaceBook page, 100% against Trump and at least 80% with the Democratic Party, which knew all the time that the Russians stole the election from Hillary.
The Democrats are, as we know, well connected to the Deep State; therefore, Winner, will be gifted with the best Washington lawyers to beat the charges of treason now put against her by the FBI, which itself is very much in transition currently. Because Winner, by revealing the NSA report providing the long-sought evidence (well, kinda) that the Russians did in fact steal the election for Trump, was merely supporting the irrefutable truth advanced by Democratic Party stalwarts.
Winner will come out of this as the new Bernie Sanders. She will, because of her youth and intelligence and clear interest in partisan politics, not only be embraced by the Democrats but put forward as their replacement for Hillary in 2020. Hillary, if she enters the Democratic primaries, will suffer one curious defeat after another, just as Bernie did. In the end, Hillary will be content to serve once again as the Secretary of State in Winner's cabinet where HRC will be able to pump new life into the Clinton Foundation.
Because Reality is bright, having learned three Middle Eastern languages on her own WITHOUT having attended college, she is clearly a champion of the common man, one of them, I mean those middle and lower class unemployed who are either get bored by college or just can't afford it.
She will also pick up the women's vote because––well, I think you know why. Just think of it, our first woman president following on the heels (no pun intended) of our first black president and then our first orange president.
And, most important, she's a quick thinker and a Democrat who can back up the party's excuses like a pro, based on Top Secret documents ginned up by the NSA, which agency can connect dots anyway you please. (You can do that once you have all the dots.)
What's more, unlike so many presidential candidates lately, she is a military veteran (Air Force), and thus in a class with Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Jack Kennedy.
Last but not least, she speaks Farsi, Pashto and Dari (English too) and so can talk the talk needed to deal directly with Afghan and Iranian leaders. How do you say 'nukes' and 'glow' in Farsi? Expect peace in no time on that front.
In summary, you heard it first here. Winner is the long-sought deus ex machina to descend upon the Washington scene and will be the unbeatable candidate for the Dems in 2020.
As for The Intercept, which outed their source as the leaker––and themselves as incompetent––they will survive. Because Omidyar is a Democrat. Because TI made mistakes in support of the good cause, having advocated for Hillary all through the 2016 campaign and then helping along the RussiaGate story. Now they will be able to drop their implausible front as an independent news source in order to support the Democratic Party openly and proudly, like the NY Times.
Glenn Greenwald, who is busy distancing himself from the TI mess and who lately has been putting out dynamite essays only once in a great while, will go back to his old niche at Slate.
Fortunately for Hillary, Ms. Winner will still be about 7-8 years shy of meeting the minimum age requirement (35 yrs) for President of these United States come 2020:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_eligibility_legislation
So, barring a quick constitutional amendment, we can STILL look forward to Hillary shamelessly making yet ANOTHER run at the office 3 years hence.
In the spirit of the march for truth, I will post for truth:
Hillary Clinton Gulf States Shakedown (While in the Cabinet):
Saudi Arabia: $25,000,000 - State Dept. approval for U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia
Prince of Abu Dhabi: $5,000,000 - Muted criticism by State of Bahrain’s abysmal human rights practices.
Brunei: $5,000,000 - State Dept. clearance for U.S. weapons sales to Brunei.
GEMS Education, Dubai: $5,600,000 - Bill Clinton made honorary chairman.
Kuwait: $10,000,000 - State Dept. clearance for U.S. weapons sales to Kuwait.
Sheikh Mohammed H. Al Amoudi: $10,000,000 - Influence-buying within the Clinton State Dept.
Qatar: $5,000,000 - State Dept. approval for U.S. arms sales to Qatar.
United Arab Emirates: $5,000,000 - State Dept. approval for U.S. weapons sales to the UAE.
Oman: $5,000,000 - State clearance for U.S. weapons sales to Oman.
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