SocraticGadfly: Assange, Seth Rich, Russian election meddling and other whataboutism gap, part 2

August 09, 2019

Assange, Seth Rich, Russian election meddling
and other whataboutism gap, part 2

I'm sure that, even with the Mueller collapse before Congress, some of the usual whataboutism folks on Seth Rich in particular and Assange's connections with Russia, more broadly, and Russian general interference in 2016 elections, most broadly, will bray from the rooftops that this is all a fake.

That would be, per Jeff St. Clair of Counterpunch, the "more credulous precincts of the Left."
To which, I quoted from the Tweeting of Jeff St. Clair I had done earlier in the day, starting with the background of and link to what St. Clair said:
Followed by this quote, which I later sent to the "more credulous precincts of the Left":
Followed by the other half of the quote:
There you go.
 
(Sadly, St. Clair, along with managing editor Joshua Frank, have crappy editorial control in general over free[lance] submissions that they publish, as he's let his own site fuel this bullshit.)

The "more credulous precincts" of the left is delusional indeed if they're citing Ty Clevenger, and saying that Isikoff was trying to get out in front of him. But they are:
And, if just 1/10th of this CNN exclusive about Assange in the Ecuadorean embassy is true, even though it doesn't mention Seth Rich, the "more credulous precincts" will have to double or triple down on that.

First, the timetable issues. Assange receiving new computer equipment shortly before the original, early 2016 hacks from the DNC.

Second, the fact the embassy gave Assange power to censor names from visit logs would explain why at least one visitor wore a bag over his head.

I have noticed that more credulous precincts of the left haven't talked much about the CNN piece, at least not on my Twitter.

Is there anything illegal with wearing a bag over one's head to visit the embassy? Of course not. But in London, the world's capital of government surveillance video, it's surely being done for a reason.

And, as I have said before, the RNC reported a mix of successful and unsuccessful hacks against its computers in 2016. GOP Congresscritter Michael McCaul publicly admitted it until the RNC hauled him on the carpet. Comey publicly discussed it. The Seth Rich conspiracy theorists, and the Assange whatabouters who try to avoid going explicitly down that road, generally maintain tight radio silence on this issue. (And, by this point? Ignorance is no excuse. Others besides me have mentioned this, too.

IF (and this is a big if), Assange had ties to Russian intelligence, when did they start? IF 1/10th of the information at the CNN piece is true, how much did it connect to the Assange indictment? Was that behind the pending indictment six months ago on initial leak?

Removing 100 hard drives, with the help of persons who Assange had gotten the Embassy to guarantee could not be searched, doesn't look good either.

If 1/10th of this is true ...

As for claims (yes, affecting the case, but legally unsubstantiated one way or the other) that the Internet Research Agency isn't directly connected to Russia? Aaron Mate waved this like a flag.

And Big Fucking Deal. China's Red Army makes the same claim all the time about its hackers. Do you believe that, too, Aaron? If you really do, I've got beachfront property in Wyoming to sell you.

And, are you also pretending that Russia's extended cyberwar against Estonia a decade didn't happen? Or are you going to claim Russia didn't do that?

The one possible alternative that I would accept as credible is that the IRA is connected to Russian organized crime, not the government, per Sy Hersh's theory on the Skripal poisonings.

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Meanwhile, it appears that a high percentage of Seth Rich conspiracy theorists are also TulsiTwerkers.

Update, Dec. 9, 2020: The fact that RNC computers as well as DNC ones were hacked undercuts the Seth Rich leaker thing right there. Unfortunately, for a while, I listened too much to bullshit artists like Aaron Maté (you ARE, on this, Aaron, shut up!) who said "cloud computing" and "mirrors" etc. were no substitute for the real thing. Well, when you use cloud servers, Aaron, that IS the real thing. If you're that much of a gasligher, you too can go fuck yourself along with Clevenger. If you're that much of an idiot, again, shut up. Ditto for anybody else repeating that nonsense.

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