CNN continues reeling from its propagandistic Russia coverage as the network plummets into international disgrace, losing three prominent journalists. Thomas Frank, Eric Lichtblau, and Lex Haris all resigned after the network was forced to retract and apologize for yet another baseless accusation of illegal Trump/Russia collusion. This comes as The New York Times simultaneously retracts their own ‘Russiagate’ canard, alleging “17 intelligence agencies” made US election hacking reports when only 3 did – and those conclusions were drawn not by the actual agencies in full, but by a mere two dozen loyalists within said agencies (NSA, CIA, FBI), hand-selected by Russophobic eugenicist Clapper himself. As investigative journalist Robert Parry observes, if you ‘hand-pick’ the analysts, you are really hand-picking the conclusion.

Embarrassments of this sort might be too numerous to count when it comes to viral media stories hyping dubious Russia threats over the last year, but most American’s are no more shocked by this than we were by the fact that pro wrestling represents little more than staged fiction. Incidentally, pro wrestling and CNN both share identical broadcasting territory since they both just happen to be in the entertainment business.

But CNN still revels in it’s reckless claims, as exemplified by a series of new reports compiled by James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas called American Pravda. O’Keefe has presented footage of CNN producer John Bonifield making shocking admissions about “ratings” acting as the primary driver behind a Russiagate story that he admits is “mostly BS.” Bonifield even suggests that Trump could be correct in his characterization of the story as a “witch hunt.”

O’Keefe’s revelations also include footage of CNN commentator Van Jones admitting the whole Russia story is “just a big nothing burger.”

Bonifield is right about the ratings though. Blatantly inane anti-Trump Russia conspiracies command a large audience because there is a voracious appetite among anti-Trump news viewers for stories, no matter how false, that they want to believe are true. Truth may be stranger than fiction, but it certainly doesn’t appear to be as lucrative. By Wikileaks’ count, there have been 3,490 fake news stories reciting the “17 agencies” lie. Ratings indeed.

In spite of this latest fiasco, the corporate media seems to be digging their heels in even further. Take, for example, CNN’s CEO Jeff Zucker, who insists that his network is “trusted now more than ever.” Unfortunately for Zucker, the battle for “most viewed” does not necessarily translate into “most trusted,” as recent poll numbers regarding viewer’s trust in the network’s integrity stand in stark contrast to his remarks. And the Times’ belated correction affirms the growing perception that corporate media has engaged in a political vendetta against Trump, casting aside professional standards to the point of repeating false claims simply to denigrate him.

The good news is that the corporate-Deep State’s ploy to scare us into compliance with this narrative has failed. Accusing anyone who dared express any skepticism about the Russiagate story of being a Kremlin sympathizer, one of Putin’s “useful idiots,” or even an outright agent for the Russian government, only emboldened researchers committed to authentic journalism. The false Russiagate narrative continues to persist solely due to the US Deep State’s regime change ambitions in Moscow and Damascus.

But at the end of the day, the American people really don’t seem to care about Russian hacking. They care about their ongoing struggle to make ends meet. They care about how they’re going to feed their children. They care about their vanishing job security, pensions, benefits and living wages. And it appears perfectly obvious that Russiagate served as yet another attempted distraction to draw attention away from crimes committed right in front of all of us, every single day, by the American ownership class.

So perhaps now we ask ourselves whether America’s masses will tolerate yet another involvement in yet another illegal war with yet another sovereign nation.

Gabrielle Lafayette is a journalist, writer, and executive producer for the Outer Limits Radio Show.