Does anyone bother to read beyond the headline anymore?

Consider what Russia is actually being accused of.



Russia for years has conducted information warfare in Europe, running cyber operations, supporting fringe political parties and targeting disaffected populations to sow discord, the House committee said.

Or as the official report put it: "Russia will continue to undermine western democracies by stoking social strife, political unrest, and division."

So how did they do that?



So what were Russia's objectives?



improve bilateral relations; and strengthen economic ties.

Gawd forbid! Improved political and economic relations with Russia? Where is my fainting couch?

Seriously, that is one of the objectives listed behind this Russian konspiracy. This is somehow a bad thing.

The most interesting part is where it talks about RT.



During the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, RT ran stories consistent with its past editorial bias against the West and suggested that the U.S. electoral process had been corrupted.

U.S. elections have been corrupted?!? I really need my fainting couch.

Next thing you know RT will suggest that there is racism and inequality in the U.S.

As for Russian bots, consider what the official report says.

Russian malign influence activities on Facebook were significant but they were not well-funded or large-scale operations relative to the overall scope of election-related

activity on these platforms: 56% of the 11.4 million impressions associated with Russian Facebook advertising occurred after the election 99% of Russian Facebook ads were funded with less than $1,000 and 25% were never seen. Google also was used as a media platform for Russia's malign influence campaign. The company's investigation revealed that $4,700 was spent promoting 18 channels and 1,100 Youtube videos In total, 0.0002 percent of 2016 U.S. election advertising was found to be associated with Russian malign actors.

0.0002 percent. That's an ant under a boot size of effort.

Yet we are supposed to take this seriously.

Unfortunately, this is what much of the report looks like.



Almost everything about RT was redacted. So I went back to look at the January 2017 report.



RT’s most popular video on Secretary Clinton, “How 100% of the Clintons’ ‘Charity’ Went to...Themselves,” had more than 9 million views on social media platforms.

Yeh, and then it turned out that this was based on fact.

In the 1970s, the KGB recruited a Democratic Party activist who reported information about then-presidential hopeful Jimmy Carter’s campaign and foreign policy plans, according to a former KGB archivist.

That's interesting, but why is it here and not part of the History Channel?



From August to November 2012, RT ran

numerous reports on alleged US election fraud and voting machine vulnerabilities, contending that US election results cannot be trusted and do not reflect the popular will.

Ah yes. You mean the truth. Provable facts and stuff.

And four years old.

It's important that this stuff doesn't get out.



In an effort to highlight the alleged "lack of democracy" in the United States, RT broadcast, hosted, and advertised third-party candidate debates and ran reporting supportive of the political agenda of these candidates.

The RT hosts asserted that the US two-party system does not represent the views of at least one-third of the population and is a "sham."

How horrible! RT helped 3rd party candidates debate issue on the air, like a real democracy!

What's more, they correctly identified that the major parties don't represent at least one-third of the population, like virtually any recent poll will show.

I can certainly see the problem.



RT aired a documentary about the Occupy Wall Street movement on 1, 2, and 4 November. RT framed the movement as a fight against "the ruling class" and described the current US political system as corrupt and dominated by corporations. RT advertising for the documentary featured Occupy movement calls to "take back" the government.

Now I'm getting confused. Is this report supposed to give me reasons to watch RT?



RT's reports often characterize the United States as a "surveillance state" and allege widespread infringements of civil liberties, police brutality, and drone use RT has also focused on criticism of the US economic system, US currency policy, alleged

Wall Street greed, and the US national debt. Some of RT's hosts have compared the United States to Imperial Rome and have predicted that government corruption and "corporate greed" will lead to US financial collapse RT runs anti-fracking programming, highlighting environmental issues and the impacts on public health.

It makes me wonder: if they are pointing out RT for covering this stuff, what in the Hell is the rest of the news media doing? Obviously not their jobs as journalists.

