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It is sickening how inaccurate and manipulated almost everything published by United States media is, especially given its posture in the case of Julian Assange. Its hypocrisy knows no bounds and we need to always keep that in mind. It's favorites (the Clintons, the Obamas, the Bidens) receive free passes while its enemies are regularly calumnied, as this article from a well-respected source, Scott Ritter, makes clear.

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Thanks for addressing the outrageous hypocrisy of the corporate propaganda outlets for getting on their high horses about a journalist who may be working in the shadows while at the same time standing on Julian Assange's neck. Some people here seem to be more interested in what people do with their gonads.

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Trans....

Is Gessen using it as a cover?

I swear the head of the Democratic LGBTQ caucus in my state is a fascist. His family is "connected". Is he really gay or is he using it as a cover to promote Fascism? He was instrumental in overturning the overwhelming 2016 Primary vote for Sanders and getting the delegates to the convention to vote for Hillary. I quit the party after that (although it still took 2 years)

Why is it the Bud Light "Trans Cans" seem like yet another distraction?

If you want to "trans", go ahead. It may be what you need. I'm not stopping you. But, I'm sorry but guys can't pretend to be girls to participate in women's sports. If you want a "Trans" category, go for it!

Folks should listen to Brian Berletic and how the NED is working against the best interests of Thailand. No, there's no "trans" involved, but the playbook is exactly the same. Promotion of Fascists.

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Excellent piece. Masha was never a journalist other than in the sense of the second oldest profession. In Russia, she'd been a part of the tribe Russians call "grantososy" (Western grants suckers) and at one point she realized or was helped to realize by her Soros handlers that Putin demonizing together with the LGBT revolution in making would make her highly competitive in the "land of the free."

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Pretty good chance Gessen is cia now also, one agent covering for another...?

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Thank you Scott. Excellent piece.

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Thank you Scott. You’ve always been the man right there to point out exactly who it is that has no clothes. Now, can you do anything to promote the exchange of this CIA asset for Assange? Not a fair deal but a good one.

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Rabio (mad, raving) Liberty is an accurate name even if it was an unintended typo.

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That the US government is acting "outraged" by Evan Gershkovich being in jail actually gives his true profession away. The US government has nothing good to say about journalists in general--just look at how it's treating Julian Assange. Therefore, it doesn't take a very large leap of logic to assume that the US government is only "outraged" by the fact that one of its own (a spy) was caught and compromised. Now, if the US government dropped all charges against Julian tomorrow, I might think differently, but somehow I doubt that's going to happen. You pegged it, Scott. Sometimes a spy is just a spy.

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I so wish that Russia would trade Gershkovich for Assange. I understand that that there are no political grounds on Russia's part for such an exchange; and that Assange, even in his present state, might not accept such an offer. But desperate times call for desperate wishes. It would be a great win for real journalism, and another feather in Putin's cap. And no one else (i.e., UK or Australia) is stepping up to the plate.

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Like any other commercial publication, The New Yorker is a business. As such, they tailor their pieces to their audience. Their readership was always skewed toward the New England liberal elite, which in modern times falls under the perpetual spells of Trump Derangement Syndrome and Putin Derangement Syndrome. As such, Gessen's piece seems quite appropriate and expected to resonate in their echo chamber.

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Really excellent Scott! x

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Apr 9, 2023·edited Apr 9, 2023

In my opinion if anyone works for any Govt it's Gessen to overthrow Putin! Otherwise it's just ridiculous. But I don't think so, she has to know who finances Radio Free Europe! Navalny team in the CIA's pocket! And propagandist. Early on SMO wrote raving slapstick about Putin's isolation in the pandemic, typically MSM lies!

As for Gershkovich traveling from NY to Yekaterinburg to gather military intelligence when Russia is at war with the US he is either a spy or a stupid! Biden propagandist is. Just read the latest articles. So he's not a journalist! Just MSM garbage that was probably used! And now he can cry like Gessen. They might even cry together.

Both are not worthy of kissing Assange's boots! Dying in England just for spreading the truth! Who are the real criminals muzzling free journalism by Assange and Sy Hersh? Free Assange!

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The CIA and MSM should never be trusted , the CIA began a secret project called Operation Mockingbird

Church Committee's Reports 94-755, it has been said to constitute the most extensive review of intelligence activities ever made available to the public. Much of the contents were classified, but over 50,000 pages were declassified in 1975. Not much has changed since then., if anything it has gotten worse over time.

The CIA began a secret project called Operation Mockingbird, with the intent of buying influence behind the scenes at major media outlets and putting reporters on the CIA payroll, which has proven to be a stunning ongoing success. The CIA effort to recruit American news organizations and journalists to become spies and disseminators of propaganda, was headed up by Frank Wisner, Allen Dulles, Richard Helms, and Philip Graham (publisher of The Washington Post). Wisner had taken Graham under his wing to direct the program code-named Operation Mockingbird and both have presumably committed suicide.

Media assets will eventually include ABC, NBC, CBS, Time, Newsweek, Associated Press, United Press International (UPI), Reuters, Hearst Newspapers, Scripps-Howard, Copley News Service, etc. and 400 journalists, who have secretly carried out assignments according to documents on file at CIA headquarters, from intelligence-gathering to serving as go-betweens. The CIA had infiltrated the nation's businesses, media, and universities with tens of thousands of on-call operatives by the 1950's. CIA Director Dulles had staffed the CIA almost exclusively with Ivy League graduates, especially from Yale with figures like George Herbert Walker Bush from the "Skull and Crossbones" Society.

See original sources: Senate Report 94-755 - Operation Mockingbird

The Church Committee was the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, a U.S. Senate committee chaired by Idaho Senator Frank Church (D-ID) in 1975. A precursor to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the committee investigated intelligence gathering for illegality by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), National Security Agency (NSA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Senate Report 94-755 - Operation Mockingbird : This is why PBS and the MSM are not trusted, they are influenced by the deep state.

Source links:

https://archive.org/details/finalreportofsel03unit/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater

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Evan Gershkovich and I share the same alma mater, Bowdoin College, a traditional CIA recruiting ground and oligarch-friendly institution. Last fall I had an LTE published in their legacy student newspaper The Orient objecting to the college's one-sided series of guest speakers promoting the war in Ukraine. This week I tried a few times to comment on their hagiography of Gershkovich but none of my comments were acceptable to the moderators -- despite the fact that I followed all their guidelines. One sentence from their article jumps out: "In the years following his graduation, he has guided numerous students in their professional pursuits." Hmm...

https://bowdoinorient.com/2023/03/31/evan-gershkovich-14-detained-in-russia-on-espionage-charges/

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I think Masha Gessen has big problems with who she is. Her first Revolution is with herself and her thoughts. LGBT is a political movement artificially created to use people with identity issues and create social unrest. In reality, no one persecutes anyone for their private life, as long as people behave normally in society. This last point applies to everyone.

My second thought: free Julian Assange. He is another victim of this double standard society.

My third thought: there is no ideal society. American society is not perfect, Russian the same. For people like Masha Gessen it's just a fight for lost privileges. She was once the chief editor of a prestigious publishing house, after which she lost this privilege. Moment when she became a "dissident".

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