Washington Post has been particularly ridiculous this season

[tw]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

It turns out there was a lone laptop involved, quickly isolated, infected with what the community calls "commodity malware" - a virus developed and then sold and widely spread.

That is how most data breeches are done. When dealing with the grid, any breech by simplistic software is a major news story. Breeching (stealing) the payroll for a company is a problem - not anywhere as serious. Power grid utilities cannot accept such trivial software breeching on any of their computers. Since that is how passwords are stolen to, in one case, cause major machine to self-destruction.

If commodity malware can breech security, then how bad is their security? A threat even to power for The Cellar. Never forget a massive 2003 blackout created by operational mismanagement in only one company in Ohio - First Energy. A looming disaster fortunately and successfully stopped by PJM, New England Power Authority, and Quebec Electric.

[Undertoad]

A few really major lefty journalists have taken notice. Glenn Greenwald gave the WaPo a huge slap for it. Because it's like the WMD days:

This matters not only because one of the nation’s major newspapers once again published a wildly misleading, fearmongering story about Russia. It matters even more because it reflects the deeply irrational and ever-spiraling fever that is being cultivated in U.S. political discourse and culture about the threat posed by Moscow.

The Post has many excellent reporters and smart editors. They have produced many great stories this year. But this kind of blatantly irresponsible and sensationalist tabloid behavior — which tracks what they did when promoting that grotesque PropOrNot blacklist of U.S. news outlets accused of being Kremlin tools — is a byproduct of the Anything Goes mentality that now shapes mainstream discussion of Russia, Putin, and the Grave Threat to All Things Decent in America that they pose.

The level of groupthink, fearmongering, coercive peer pressure, and über-nationalism has not been seen since the halcyon days of 2002 and 2003. Indeed, the very same people who back then smeared anyone questioning official claims as Saddam sympathizers or stooges and left-wing un-American loons are back for their sequel, accusing anyone who expresses any skepticism toward claims about Russia of being Putin sympathizers and Kremlin operatives and stooges.

Matt Taibbi wrote two days ago (before the WaPo bogosity), "Something About This Russia Story Stinks: Nearly a decade and a half after the Iraq-WMD faceplant, the American press is again asked to co-sign a dubious intelligence assessment" and he had the same complaint about the administration's "I offer you no proof but obviously Russia did it":

Many reporters I know are quietly freaking out about having to go through that again. We all remember the WMD fiasco.

"It's déjà vu all over again" is how one friend put it.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I've always maintained this nation went to hell when the Commies quit the cold war.
Before that we had full employment, a chicken in every pot, two cars in every garage.

The Post is doing their part to make America great again.

[Pico and ME]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

A few really major lefty journalists have taken notice. Glenn Greenwald gave the WaPo a huge slap for it. Because it's like the WMD days:



Matt Taibbi wrote two days ago (before the WaPo bogosity), "Something About This Russia Story Stinks: Nearly a decade and a half after the Iraq-WMD faceplant, the American press is again asked to co-sign a dubious intelligence assessment" and he had the same complaint about the administration's "I offer you no proof but obviously Russia did it":

I read Taibbi's article. He is mostly clear-headed (in my opinion). He is the one, though, that sparked my 'puppet masters' conspiracy theory belief, with his 'vampire squid' characterization of Goldman Sachs. I believe he wrote honestly about his feelings on this matter.