Congressional Testimonies About Russian Media Much Ado About Nothing
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
Months of House and Senate investigations into alleged Russian interference in America’s electoral process laid an egg, discovering no incriminating evidence because none exists.
Claims otherwise are a colossal hoax. Brainwashed by fake mainstream news, most Americans were manipulated to believe otherwise – a Big Lie.
No Russian meddling occurred – NONE! Yet the charade goes on interminably, wasting time and money, Congress proving its a malevolent force.
Its leadership and at least most members are fully aware no Russian interference occurred in last year’s presidential election or any others.
Yet they pretend otherwise, part of longstanding Russia bashing, today at a fever pitch.
Both houses are a national disgrace, infested with bipartisan extremists, serving monied interests exclusively, betraying the public trust.
It’s longstanding congressional practice through legislation and notorious investigations.
Notable examples were Teapot Dome during the Harding administration, House Un-American Activities Committee investigations beginning in the late 1930s, the infamous Hollywood blacklist in the 1940s and 50s, Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954, Watergate ones in the early 1970s, and Iran-Contra in the 1980s, among others.
Yesterday was the latest example. Facebook, Google and Twitter testified before Senate Judiciary subcommittee members on the first day of two-day hearings on alleged Russian US election influence and meddling.
As expected, testimony failed to produce what Congress seeks. Google’s information security and law enforcement director Richard Salgado said no evidence revealed manipulation or violations of its YouTube platform by RT or any other Russian media.
Ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, Google issued a statement, saying:
“Some have raised questions about the use of YouTube by RT, a media service funded by the Russian government.”
“Our investigation found no evidence of manipulation of our platform or policy violations; RT – and all other state-sponsored media outlets – remains subject to our standard rules.”
Commenting on Google’s statement, RT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan quoted Sergey Lavrov, saying “accusations against Russia were put forward so that Google would either confirm or deny the information, and the company denied it.”
Google found no troll bots linked to the Kremlin, no advertising by RT, Sputnik or other Russian media aimed at influencing or manipulating America’s political process.
Further Google, Facebook and Twitter testimony will be heard on Wednesday. More witch-hunt hearings are scheduled before other House and Senate committees.
Before banning RT advertising on its platform, Twitter sought its ad money, using a “multi-million dollar US election pitch,” RT published in full on its web site, saying:
“After RT published excerpts from Twitter’s ‘limited offer’ to spend millions on US election marketing, the company abruptly banned all advertising from the news network. This makes full disclosure and transparency imperative…”
“(I)n order to set the record straight, we are publishing Twitter’s presentation and details of the offer in full.”
During Tuesday’s congressional testimony, the sound heard round the world was clear proof of no Russian interference in America’s political process.
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