
The Endgame 12/4
Never take democracy for granted! This week we discuss the last two weeks of impeachment hearings and the witnesses, among them several immigrant Americans who are experts on the former USSR and know all too well how fragile our freedom really is. We discuss the GOP’s desire to turn the hearings into a show trial and have it star Andrea’s sister, Alexandra Chalupa, the whistleblower who alerted the public to the danger of Paul Manafort and whose name was bleated out daily by Kremlin puppet and Giuliani goon squad accomplice Devin Nunes. (You can listen to an interview with Alexandra here.)
We also discuss the BREAKING NEWS that Alexandra and Andrea are not the same person and argue that the insipid bro journalists who continually make this error, and refuse to correct it (!), are not equipped to cover complicated government conspiracies. These meritless men of Twitter are no longer merely annoying, but actively endangering people, and they need to shape up or shut up. We discuss the role of journalism and documentation in the digital age, the importance of accuracy and context, and how even simple mistakes can be weaponized and transformed into propaganda.
Other topics include Lisa Page’s revelatory interview in the Daily Beast, the need for the House to broaden the scope of the impeachment hearings to include other crimes, the ongoing Kremlin infiltration of governments in Europe, and more!
For our weekly bonus episode, available to listeners at the Truth-Teller tier or higher, we do a run-down of the remaining 2020 presidential candidates. In the middle of our recording, Kamala Harris unexpectedly dropped out of the race, so our initial reactions are caught on tape! We discuss the grossness of a primary in which skilled public servants drop out or fly under the radar while billionaires pay their way into an indefinite stay. Sign up to hear this bonus episode on our Patreon, and help keep Gaslit Nation going!
“For anyone who was following along with news of Trump’s business practices and Paul Manafort’s history with Russian oligarchs, it was pretty clear that there was reason for concern, which made the yawns of cable news and mainstream media all the more infuriating. If you were one of the people following along, this podcast might not make you feel better about our current predicament, but it will make you feel heard.”
–Dennis DiClaudio, AV Club
Show Notes:
First on CNN: Former DNC contractor denies working with Ukrainian officials on anti-Trump research https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/12/alexandra-chalupa-testify-impeachment-069817
‘I’m on a mission to testify’: Dem Ukraine activist eager for impeachment cameo https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/12/alexandra-chalupa-testify-impeachment-069817
Thread on the exchange between Seth Abramson, Andrea, and Andrea’s sister Alexandra Chalupa: https://twitter.com/palimondo/status/1199136796707315714
Lisa Page Speaks: https://www.thedailybeast.com/lisa-page-speaks-theres-no-fathomable-way-i-have-committed-any-crime-at-all
Senate panel look into Ukraine interference comes up short https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/02/senate-panel-ukraine-election-interference-074796
Seth Abramson’s HuffPost Essay on Experimental Journalism: https://twitter.com/ObsoleteDogma/status/735144686000713729
Another Russian “humanitarian” convoy crosses into occupied Donbas: https://www.unian.info/war/10771823-another-russian-humanitarian-convoy-crosses-into-occupied-donbas.html
Russia sends 92nd illegal ‘humanitarian convoy’ of 23 trucks to occupied Donbas https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/russia-sends-92nd-illegal-humanitarian-convoy-of-23-trucks-to-occupied-donbas.html
Apple and Google Maps Accommodate Russia’s Annexation of Crimea https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/27/apple-and-google-maps-accommodate-russias-annexation-of-crimea/
Expansion of Nato is no joke to survivors of iron curtain era https://www.irishtimes.com/news/expansion-of-nato-is-no-joke-to-survivors-of-iron-curtain-era-1.38700
Russia used a network of 150,000 Twitter accounts to meddle in Brexit https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-used-twitter-accounts-to-meddle-in-brexit-investigation-shows-2017-11
Trump froze military aid — as Ukrainian soldiers perished in battle https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-10-16/as-ukraine-waited-for-u-s-assistance-death-toll-on-eastern-front-line-grew
The Betrayal of Volodymyr Zelensky https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/russia-sends-92nd-illegal-humanitarian-convoy-of-23-trucks-to-occupied-donbas.htmla
Ukrainian President Zelensky promises to fight for ‘lost Donbas residents’ http://uawire.org/ukrainian-president-zelensky-promises-to-fight-for-lost-donbas-residents?fbclid=IwAR11glVfMXhHVDOGkmfDj1i0w4-zPgMyGaSXu93b_lRlmF7y8St19sPR7YY
Divide and rule: ten lessons about Russian political influence activities in Europe https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-019-0227-8