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> but they most certainly were not fabrications or lies. i'd strongly beg to differ. fake news was at its peak during the first two years of "Russia-gate" with

> but they most certainly were not fabrications or lies. i'd strongly beg to differ. fake news was at its peak during the first two years of "Russia-gate" with networks reporting on hearsay and drawing wild conclusions irrespective of hard evidence. journalistic integrity was thrown to the wind. it seemed as if every week a "we got him" story broke only to fizzle as it turned out to be false. the linked article below offers some examples of these fake news stories about Trump. and I do recognize that the second quote is written by Barr, not Mueller. https://taibbi.substack.com/p/russiagate-is-wmd-times-a-million https://taibbi.substack.com/p/russiagate-is-wmd-times-a-mill...

filoeleven 6y ago
I don’t think parent comment should be downvoted. I pushed back too in another comment above about the validation of evidence. IMO the evidence is mostly untested, and the_drunkard is correct about the media’s premature response. Also, given current events, here’s a fun quote from the linked article: > The Special Prosecutor literally became a religious figure during the last few years, with votive candles sold in his image and Saturday Night Live cast members singing “All I Want for Christmas is You” to him featuring the rhymey line: “Mueller please come through, because the only option is a coup.”
- cafard 6y ago
  Wow. How did the cast of Saturday Night Live make it through Senate confirmation?
ChrisLomont 6y ago
You present an opinion piece from Matt Taibbi on substack (where anyone can publish anything) as evidence of what mainstream news was writing? You might as well cite any fringe blogger. Your proof is like some idiot writing Trump is an Alien Unicorn on a personal wordpress site then claiming mainstream news was calling Trump an Alien Unicorn. No wonder you're convinced of wild things. I'm done with this level of dishonesty.
- tanseydavid 6y ago
  Taibbi is 'fringe' because Substack? Is that really what you are saying? Rolling Stone is not The Economist but I have a hard time understanding the way you seem to be trying to characterize Taibbi. Can you point to the specific 'wild things' and/or dishonesty in the Taibbi piece?
- the_drunkard 6y ago
  >You present an opinion piece from Matt Taibbi on substack (where anyone can publish anything) as evidence of what mainstream news was writing? > You might as well cite any fringe blogger. Your proof is like some idiot writing Trump is an Alien Unicorn on a personal wordpress site then claiming mainstream news was calling Trump an Alien Unicorn. > No wonder you're convinced of wild things. > I'm done with this level of dishonesty. woah. setting Taibbi aside, can you not see how news cycles were dominated by a "Russian collusion" narrative the first 3 years of Trump's presidency? a narrative that largely proved to be exaggerated, false, and self-serving (it was great for business). as recent as July of this year, the NYT published a story filled with anonymous sources and accusations of Russian bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan. within days, the media went into their typical "blitz" with this story and Joe Biden even had an ad ready to air in response to it. this story, like many others not only could not be corroborated by any mentioned parties, but proved to be "less than conclusive" and was later significantly walked back. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/politics/russia-afghanistan-bounties.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/politics/russia-afghan... https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/u-s-officials-say-intel-russian-bounties-was-less-conclusive-n1233199 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/u-s-offic... https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1282646230779285504 https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1282646230779285504

filoeleven 6y ago

I don’t think parent comment should be downvoted. I pushed back too in another comment above about the validation of evidence. IMO the evidence is mostly untested, and the_drunkard is correct about the media’s premature response. Also, given current events, here’s a fun quote from the linked article: > The Special Prosecutor literally became a religious figure during the last few years, with votive candles sold in his image and Saturday Night Live cast members singing “All I Want for Christmas is You” to him featuring the rhymey line: “Mueller please come through, because the only option is a coup.”

cafard 6y ago
Wow. How did the cast of Saturday Night Live make it through Senate confirmation?

ChrisLomont 6y ago

You present an opinion piece from Matt Taibbi on substack (where anyone can publish anything) as evidence of what mainstream news was writing? You might as well cite any fringe blogger. Your proof is like some idiot writing Trump is an Alien Unicorn on a personal wordpress site then claiming mainstream news was calling Trump an Alien Unicorn. No wonder you're convinced of wild things. I'm done with this level of dishonesty.

tanseydavid 6y ago
Taibbi is 'fringe' because Substack? Is that really what you are saying? Rolling Stone is not The Economist but I have a hard time understanding the way you seem to be trying to characterize Taibbi. Can you point to the specific 'wild things' and/or dishonesty in the Taibbi piece?
the_drunkard 6y ago
>You present an opinion piece from Matt Taibbi on substack (where anyone can publish anything) as evidence of what mainstream news was writing? > You might as well cite any fringe blogger. Your proof is like some idiot writing Trump is an Alien Unicorn on a personal wordpress site then claiming mainstream news was calling Trump an Alien Unicorn. > No wonder you're convinced of wild things. > I'm done with this level of dishonesty. woah. setting Taibbi aside, can you not see how news cycles were dominated by a "Russian collusion" narrative the first 3 years of Trump's presidency? a narrative that largely proved to be exaggerated, false, and self-serving (it was great for business). as recent as July of this year, the NYT published a story filled with anonymous sources and accusations of Russian bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan. within days, the media went into their typical "blitz" with this story and Joe Biden even had an ad ready to air in response to it. this story, like many others not only could not be corroborated by any mentioned parties, but proved to be "less than conclusive" and was later significantly walked back. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/politics/russia-afghanistan-bounties.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/politics/russia-afghan... https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/u-s-officials-say-intel-russian-bounties-was-less-conclusive-n1233199 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/u-s-offic... https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1282646230779285504 https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1282646230779285504