5: Russia Hysteria Infects WashPost Again: False Story About Hacking U.S. Electric Grid
THE WASHINGTON POST on Friday reported a genuinely alarming event: Russian hackers have penetrated the U.S. power system through an electrical grid in Vermont. The Post headline conveyed the seriousness of the threat:
The first sentence of the article directly linked this cyberattack to alleged Russian hacking of the email accounts of the DNC and John Podesta — what is now routinely referred to as “Russian hacking of our election” — by referencing the code name revealed on Wednesday by the Obama administration when it announced sanctions on Russian officials: “A code associated with the Russian hacking operation dubbed Grizzly Steppe by the Obama administration has been detected within the system of a Vermont utility, according to U.S. officials.”
The Post article contained grave statements from Vermont officials of the type politicians love to issue after a terrorist attack to show they are tough and in control. The state’s Democratic governor, Peter Shumlin, said:
Vermonters and all Americans should be both alarmed and outraged that one of the world’s leading thugs, Vladimir Putin, has been attempting to hack our electric grid, which we rely upon to support our quality of life, economy, health, and safety. This episode should highlight the urgent need for our federal government to vigorously pursue and put an end to this sort of Russian meddling.
Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy issued a statement warning: “This is beyond hackers having electronic joy rides — this is now about trying to access utilities to potentially manipulate the grid and shut it down in the middle of winter. That is a direct threat to Vermont and we do not take it lightly.”
The article went on and on in that vein, with all the standard tactics used by the U.S. media for such stories: quoting anonymous national security officials, reviewing past acts of Russian treachery, and drawing the scariest possible conclusions (“‘The question remains: Are they in other systems and what was the intent?’ a U.S. official said”).
The media reactions, as Alex Pfeiffer documents, were exactly what one would expect: hysterical, alarmist proclamations of Putin’s menacing evil:
Our Russian “friend” Putin attacked the U.S. power grid. https://t.co/iAneRgbuhF
— Brent Staples (@BrentNYT) December 31, 2016
The Post’s story also predictably and very rapidly infected other large media outlets. Reuters thus told its readers around the world: “A malware code associated with Russian hackers has reportedly been detected within the system of a Vermont electric utility.”
WHAT’S THE PROBLEM here? It did not happen.
The Intercept
4: Ava DuVernay’s Documentary “13th” About Mass Incarceration Shortlisted for an Oscar
Ava DuVernay’s recent Netflix documentary, “13th,” just picked up three Critics’ Choice Awards and is on the Oscar shortlist for best documentary. The film chronicles how the U.S. criminal justice system has been driven by racism from the days of slavery to today’s era of mass incarceration. The film is named for the constitutional amendment that abolished slavery with the exception of punishment for crime. Ava DuVernay’s previous work includes the hit 2014 film “Selma,” which told the story of the campaign led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others to draw the nation’s attention to the struggle for equal voting rights by marching from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in March of 1965. With “Selma,” DuVernay became the first African-American female director to have a film nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards.
Democracy Now
3: Erdogan: Istanbul nightclub attack aims to create chaos
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the nightclub attack that left 39 people dead, saying Turkey will continue to fight against what he called terrorism and its backers “till the end”.
Erdogan issued a written message after the attack at Istanbul’s Reina club early on Sunday morning, as police searched for the gunman.
“They are working to destroy our country’s morale and create chaos by deliberately targeting our nation’s peace and targeting civilians with these heinous attacks,” Erdogan said in the statement.
Offering his condolences for those who lost their lives, including “foreign guests,” Erdogan said “Turkey continues its combat against terror and is absolutely determined to do whatever is necessary in the region to ensure its citizens safety and peace”.
Of the 21 dead identified so far, 15 were foreigners. Nationals of Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Lebanon and Libya were among those killed, Turkish Family Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya was quoted by the state-run Anadolu news agency as saying.
Another 69 people were injured in the attack.
Aljazeera
2: Texas looks set to follow North Carolina with push for ‘bathroom bill’
The passage of a “bathroom bill” last March sparked a maelstrom with severe political, economic and cultural consequences for North Carolina that continued through the end of 2016. Yet Texas is poised to propose a similar law in 2017.
In November, one of the state’s most senior politicians published his top 10 priorities for the next legislative session. A “Women’s Privacy Act” was at number six, right after banning immigration “sanctuary cities” and insisting on photo ID at the ballot box.
The act, said lieutenant governor Dan Patrick, is necessary so that “women and girls” can have “privacy and safety in their restrooms, showers and locker rooms”.
When filed, the bill is likely to turn national attention to Texas in the wake of North Carolina legislators’ failure to repeal their bill during a special session on 21 December. Patrick issued a statement the following day congratulating them.
The Guardian
1: The Polls Weren’t the Problem—We Were
“This article is so fucking idiotic and irresponsible.” That’s how polling guru Nate Silver began 14 tweets of math-based rage directed at Huffington Post journalist Ryan Grim in early November, on the weekend before That Election.
Hillary Clinton was leading by about 3 to 4 percentage points in the polls, and Grim had written a piece attacking Silver for his claim that Donald Trump still had a shot at victory. “It’s not easy to sit here and tell you that Clinton has a 98 percent chance of winning,” Grim wrote. “Everything inside us screams out that life is too full of uncertainty, that being so sure is just a fantasy. But that’s what the numbers say.”
Oh, Grim.
Vice News
