We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, August 30, 2018

How the Department of Homeland Security Created a Deceptive Tale of Russia Hacking US Voter Sites

Click here to access article by Gareth Porter from ConsortiumNews.

The evidence uncovered by Porter strongly suggests that an effort was initiated and coordinated by powerful figures among the ruling class to inculcate the belief among ordinary Americans that Russia interfered with our elections. This theme has been disseminated throughout corporate media and is still being used--apparently in the conviction that a lie repeated often enough becomes a fact--much like the false belief that lemmings often commit mass suicide
The narrative of Russian intelligence attacking state and local election boards and threatening the integrity of U.S. elections has achieved near-universal acceptance by media and political elites.  And now it has been accepted by the Trump administration’s intelligence chief, Dan Coats, as well.

But the real story behind that narrative, recounted here for the first time, reveals that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) created and nurtured an account that was grossly and deliberately deceptive.