I'm more interested in real cause and effect, though amateur wannabe spinmeisters such as you describe are always good for a laugh, if a bitter one. I find we have to live with the underlying reality, whereas we need only pay attention in order to detect other people's amateur fiction. You paid attention; it worked for you.

Politics is frequently carried on by a group pretending to be in favor of a particular issue when their objective is something quite different.

I appreciate your ire at discovering that the people protesting were masqueraders exploiting an issue you hold dear. I have encountered that myself, also, like you, on the local level. The difference between the amateurs and the pros is, when the pros do it, you hardly know what's been done until something really big blows up.

Read any good articles on the California electricity crisis lately?

Regards--
Mary Anne