US investigators corroborate some aspects of the Russia dossier | Hacker News Reader

US investigators corroborate some aspects of the Russia dossier

cnn.com

48 pointsdoctorshady8 comments

It's interesting that the whole article is based on "someone said something" w/o a single named source. Basically, this is "unconfirmed rumors" at best or "fake news" at worst.

P.S. No, I didn't vote for Trump. P.P.S. No, I didn't vote for Putin either.

For a story like this, the risk is so high that anyone speaking on the record could really be in mortal danger. If Putin is truly behind this, well, we've already seen how he handles detractors in his own country.

This is why you need to trust your news sources. Maybe you don't trust CNN, and think they're "fake news", but if that's the case then you've already lost any hope of objectivity. There are many news stories that are provably false, and CNN is not one of the major news outlets that continuously reports those kinds of things.

I don't implicitly trust the news since the time I was a kid: I grew up in USSR and there was a saying that the only truth in the Soviet newspapers is the typos.

Anyway, there are many good articles on the art of reading news in the time of news wars. The better ones I like:

https://news.vice.com/article/how-to-cut-through-the-bullshi...

http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/the-art-of-close-readi... (and then other parts)

That's... kinda how leaks work.

Or would you have denounced the Deep Throat leaks that lead to Nixon's downfall as just "unconfirmed rumours"?

From the very beginning and during the investigation, the FBI information was matching really well with the Deep Throat leaks. The leaks were not speculation but provided detailed factual information and actually helping the FBI. I highly recommend the book "The Secret Man" about this. Very interesting reading.

If the events in the dossier turns out to be true, will the intelligence agencies protect their president or do they protect the country. Will they go public? What is their duty at that point? How much influence does an external country exert over your presidency? That will be an interesting call.

They claim to corroborate some aspects. Too bad it's nothing related to the salacious bits about Trump or anything that can be easily independently verified by anyone in the U.S.

I am sure all the details will eventually trickle out... Gee Wiz, what a mess :)

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