I beg of everyone not to report rumors and claims as news.

[MineralMan]

There was far too much of that done last year before the election. If there are rumors from whatever sources, call them rumors. If there are claims from political bloggers and would-be pundits, call them claims. Please always Post links to your sources and let people decide for themselves how valid those rumors and claims might be.

But, please, I beg of you, do not post unsourced and unlinked statements as facts. It wastes everyone's time, since they have to go search for references for such things. If you do not have a source for something you think happened, then, perhaps, it did not actually happen. If you have a source where someone else claimed or surmised that something happened, please include a link to that source.

Please do not post things that send other DUers off on useless wild goose chases that lead nowhere. That's impolite and frustrating.

Thanks very much.

[GliderGuider]

1. Should we check with you first?

IOW, no.

[MineralMan]

2. Of course not. If you include links to where you saw something,

post away, with my blessing. Then, I can go look at the source and make up my own mind.

[GliderGuider]

3. Whew. That's good to know.

Here you go, then:

https://patribotics.blog/2017/01/17/dear-mr-putin-lets-play-chess-louise-mensch-trump-russia/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/02/07/jeff-sessions-attorney-general-suspect/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/02/14/the-carolina-conspiracy-putin-catfished-weiner-louise-mensch/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/02/26/planespotting-michael-cohens-amazing-journey-louise-mensch/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/03/12/wikileaks-is-connected-to-russia-despite-their-claimswikileaks-is-connected-to-russia-despite-their-claims/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/03/14/wikileaks-hands-keys-to-putins-russian-hacker-readers-leakers-tracked/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/03/27/boris-epshteyn-named-in-july-fisa-application-did-nunes-obstruct-justice/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/03/27/did-nunes-leak-fisa-warrant-info-via-white-house-lawyer-michael-ellis/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/03/28/kushner-and-trump-taped-at-secret-trump-tower-meetings-with-russians/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/04/01/alfa-bank-trump-tower-and-a-social-media-impeachment/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/04/04/putins-hacker-wikileaks-host-pyotr-chayanov-hacked-americas-vote-system-and-the-dnc/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/04/16/mike-flynns-treason-tour-global-russian-propaganda-coordinated-with-trump/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/04/16/carter-page-went-to-moscow-with-a-tape-of-donald-trump-offering-treason-for-hacking/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/04/23/did-donald-trump-commission-russias-hack-of-the-us-election-himself/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/04/29/sources-boris-epshteyn-paid-russian-hackers-for-both-team-trump-and-fsb/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/05/01/exclusive-sean-spicer-tweeted-a-bitcoin-address-not-his-password/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/05/06/exclusive-six-fisa-warrants-granted-in-trump-russia-cases/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/05/11/exclusive-comey-day-first-trump-russia-arrests-possible-thursday/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/05/11/sources-russia-probe-means-president-hatch-rico-case-against-gop/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/05/13/trumps-presidency-ended-may-9th-hatch-getting-security-briefings/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/05/14/exclusive-sealed-indictment-granted-against-donald-trump/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/05/15/exclusive-fbi-no-longer-glomar-ing-on-politicized-leaks-to-giuliani/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/05/16/exclusive-u-s-marshals-readying-plan-approved-by-justice-dept-official/
https://patribotics.blog/2017/05/17/comeys-fbi-computer-illegally-accessed-data-given-to-russian-diplomats/

I would be eternally grateful if you would debunk each of these articles in detail, citing mainstream sources to demonstrate with documented precision how they are incorrect. This would provide a great service to those DUers who have not yet heard of Louise Mensch, and might naively fall into the trap of believing that she tries to report the truth, as her sources tell it.

[MineralMan]

4. No, thanks.

It's not my job to debunk anything written by anyone but myself. But, thanks for taking the time to provide a list of links. I've read most of those before. I do not consider Louise Mensch to be a reliable source of information, though, so I'm no longer visiting her blog or Twitter feed. You will do as you think best, I'm sure.

Good day.

[Orrex]

5. It's not his responsibility to debunk your Gish Gallop

If those articles--all from the same site--are making factual assertions, it is up to those articles to demonstrate their veracity. And those who parrot those articles (or who dutifully regurgitate Mensch's every tweet) should be prepared to support the assertions of the articles. It is up to the claimant to support their claims.

At the very least, they have no basis to require skeptics to refute those assertions.

[MineralMan]

6. Thank you. Truly.

[Orrex]

7. :hi:

[GliderGuider]

8. Of course not.

I posted that list as a handy reference for those who might be interested in how much a citizen journalist with ADHD and good IC connections can accomplish in the course of four short months.

[Orrex]

13. Well, you did tell him to debunk all of them, so...

[cwydro]

12. Well said. nt

[frazzled]

11. Nice try, but not going to work

It is YOUR duty to prove that these whack-a-doodle posts are correct, with corroborating facts. You can't call on others to disprove what can't be proven.

It is a well-known principle of scientific method that a theory that can't be disproved is no theory at all. The very fact that no respectable, fact-based journalistic outlet has even mentioned any of these stories is not "proof" that they are true. Au contraire.

No high government official is going to leak news to a blogger as opposed to a serious journalist. Until I read something in the Washington Post or New York Times, tweets are unsubstantiated "fake news." These bogus stories are harming, not helping, our cause to get to the bottom of the Trump mess. It's mendacious and dangerous to repeat them here.

Now read this:

https://newrepublic.com/minutes/142650/stop-promoting-liberal-conspiracy-theories-twitter

[MineralMan]

15. Excellent link. Thanks!

[GliderGuider]

16. I don't neeed to disprove squat. I just read her.

Sometimes I post links to her articles, as we do with other bloggers. I just get a bit warm when people try telling what I should or shouldn't read or post.

BTW, is "whack-a-doodle" a scientific term? Perhaps a measure of the size of an error bar or something?

[frazzled]

18. I didn't ask you to disprove anything

I only suggested that it was up to you to prove their veracity, not for anyone else to disprove them.

Perhaps your faulty reading of my post is also a feature of your uncritical readings of Ms. Mensch's missives.

[niyad]

19. thanks for the laughs, we need them!! we understood exactly what was meant, so I am

wondering why you seem confused.

[Iggo]

9. Just check yourself.

[kentuck]

10. It would be terrible to see DU taken over by "fake news".

Which is what it is if it is not sourced.

[MineralMan]

14. Well, people have been posting on DU without links or

even identifying sources for as long as I've been here. I doubt that such posting will stop. I just had to say something, in hopes that some people would read it. I do go and search for links when a story seems plausible, but that wastes a lot of time, and often leads nowhere except to the original source of the rumor or claim.

It causes lots of confusion and actually makes some people think the information is accurate, which creates more confusion.

I know my request is in vain, but...

[kentuck]

17. I have always thought of GD as "general discussion"..

..and not subject to the same rules as LBN. And I have no problem with posting tweets from favorite sources but we should be aware that some of them may not be as credible as some might think?

[snot]

20. Thank you!

I have no problem with people expressing opinions; but if they're stating facts, I'd appreciate a source.

When I live up to that standard myself, I've found that sometimes I didn't have the facts quite straight, and rounding up sources enabled me to avoid misleading others.

(That said, re- this: https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=9071295 . . . see https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/14/the-shadow-brokers-april-exploits-swift-windows/ {i.e., Wikileaks had nothing to do with it}.)