Julie Hyland – Anti-Russia “fake news” campaign rolled out across Europe

In the aftermath of the November 8 US presidential election, sections of the Democratic Party, the intelligence services and the media have intensified unsubstantiated pre-election claims that the Russian government hacked into Democratic Party email servers to undermine the campaign of Hillary Clinton. The immediate purpose was to distract from the content of the leaked emails, which exposed a conspiracy …

Will Oremus – The Real Problem Behind the Fake News

In the wake of Donald Trump’s election as president, Facebook has taken justifiable heat for its role in spreading misinformation and propaganda about the candidates. In particular, its news feed algorithm fueled a cottage industry of fake and intentionally misleading “news” that skewed heavily anti–Hillary Clinton and pro-Trump, according to a BuzzFeed analysis. These falsehoods attracted far more user engagement, …

Dave Johnson – “Corruption” Then And Now

Remember how the “news” media was going on and on about the Clinton Foundation — at least when they weren’t going on and on abut Hillary Clinton’s emails, or airing entire Trump rallies for free? Media “coverage” of the 2016 campaign was almost entirely devoid of discussion of the important issues. Climate change? Housing policy? Instead it consisted of media …

Leid Stories—The Electoral College Vote: Trump’s Last Hurdle to the White House; Hillary’s Hack-neyed Comeback Strategy Falls Apart—12.19.16

Five hundred and thirty-eight electors—100 from the U.S. Senate, 435 from the House of Representatives, and three representing the District of Columbia—will be meeting all over the country today to perform a quadrennial duty: selecting the next president and vice president of the United States. The rancor of the presidential election between main combatants Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is expected to spill over to the Electoral College vote, with two sore points at the root—Clinton won the popular vote while Trump won the more significant electoral vote, and Clinton has charged that Russian cyberattacks and a smear campaign against her caused her loss.

Bernard Starr – Political Polling Is A Flawed Science That Leads To Fatally Flawed Reporting

When I taught research methods and statistics to graduate students at Brooklyn College, if a student submitted a project like the daily and weekly political polls featured during the recent presidential campaign, the student would receive a low grade or fail the course. I would explain to the student that at best his or her poll was what is called …

Harvey Wasserman – What Would Constitute an Electoral College “December Surprise”?

As millions of Americans desperately seek an alternative to Donald Trump ( http://pac.petitions.moveon.org/sign/ask-electoral-college-1?source=c.em&r_by=1398470 ),  the 2016 presidential election now faces the volatile possibility of a “December Surprise”. Here are some Constitutional realities: The Electoral College is set to vote Monday, December 19. Of 538 electors, Donald Trump apparently has 306 committed to him.  Exactly 270 are needed to win.  Hillary …

Leid Stories—Election Certification Day Sees Trump with Most Electors, the Green Party Recasting Its Failed Recount Effort, and Hillary Clinton Hell-Bent on A Comeback—12.14.16

Yesterday was the day that all 50 states and the District of Columbia must confirm the presidential election vote in their respective jurisdictions and the names of electors for each candidate who will be participating in the Electoral College on Dec. 19 that officially will select the president and vice president of the United States.

Mark Hosenball and Jonathan Landay – Exclusive: Top U.S. spy agency has not embraced CIA assessment on Russia hacking – sources

The overseers of the U.S. intelligence community have not embraced a CIA assessment that Russian cyber attacks were aimed at helping Republican President-elect Donald Trump win the 2016 election, three American officials said on Monday. While the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) does not dispute the CIA’s analysis of Russian hacking operations, it has not endorsed their …

Steven Singer – Democrats Need to Embrace Progressivism or Else Move Out of the Way

Democrats, liberals and progressives of every stripe – you’re not going to want to hear this, but hear it you must. We’ve gone around for too long thinking we’ve got all the answers, but obviously we don’t. Hillary Clinton lost. Donald Trump won. There’s something seriously wrongwith what we’ve been doing to get that kind of result. There are some …