Even Nature magazine rejects Russiagate!

A team of researchers has a piece there that looked in minute detail at the Internet Research Agency's activities on Twitter in the 2016 election campaign and says it was next to a nothingburger. (It's a long read, because it's detailed social science and social media research. But, #BlueAnon claims to be the "reality based party.")

The only limitation on the research is that it's only about Twitter, not the broader-reaching Facebook.

But, here's the bottom line:

We demonstrate, first, that exposure to Russian disinformation accounts was heavily concentrated: only 1% of users accounted for 70% of exposures. Second, exposure was concentrated among users who strongly identified as Republicans. Third, exposure to the Russian influence campaign was eclipsed by content from domestic news media and politicians. Finally, we find no evidence of a meaningful relationship between exposure to the Russian foreign influence campaign and changes in attitudes, polarization, or voting behavior.

But wait, that's not all.

One of the researchers, speaking of Twitter, has a Twitter thread that goes into yet more detail.

I know this will do nothing to deter #BlueMAGA, whether the likes of Mueller She Wrote on Twitter, Emptyhead I mean Emptywheel on her blog (along with other ex-Kossacks, or the exorcised Nancy Pelosi, from spouting bullshit, but, it's actual facts.

The callout above goes to the mainstream media, too, like the New York Slimes that tried to revive Russiagate just before midterms. As for them? I saw this piece linked and mentioned at Nieman Lab, in a Joshua Benton piece about how the power of both misinformation and information is overrated.

As for collusion claims? 

I've said it before and will say it again: Vladimir Putin is way too smart to have entangled himself with a flighty weathervane like Donald Trump. And, if it WERE true? Trump didn't stay bought. Proof? He sold arms to Ukraine that Obama wouldn't, something that the BlueMAGA Twitter rank and file appear clueless about but that the leadership class knows full well. The non-elected leadership class, like the bloggers and Twitterati I've called out above, know there's plenty of good grifting happening here.

As for other collusion? Well, Flynn may have done that — with Turkey. The ultimate end object of that, though, was Israel, proving that both duopoly parties think Tel Aviv is located in the United States. Related? Has Joe Biden moved our embassy back out of Jerusalem? And, that's yet another reason I'm not a Democrat.