An explosive article in Politico yesterday revealed that Donald Trump cronies Stephen Bannon and Roger Stone helped Roger Ailes smear his adversaries. We have to wonder if and where NewsHounds fits into the picture.

The gist of the excellent reporting, by Politico’s Ben Schreckinger, is about how Fox News lawsuits and scandals are “increasingly spilling outside its walls and creating ramifications for local and national political figures.” For example: the revelations that private investigator and former Fox contributor Bo Dietl was paid to discredit Gretchen Carlson and others who had accused Ailes of sexual harassment has impacted Dietl’s run for mayor of New York.

Much of the article focuses on how Ailes operatives smeared reporter Gabriel Sherman and Newxmax CEO Chris Ruddy:

The network of operatives allegedly used by Ailes and other Fox executives to monitor and demean perceived threats also extends to Trump’s inner circle, according to several people with knowledge of those relationships. Trump’s longtime confidant Stone, a veteran practitioner of political dark arts, was paid for off-air work that included keeping tabs on Sherman and publicly criticizing Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, according to three people familiar with the arrangement.

But here’s what especially caught my eye (my emphases added):

Bannon has also collaborated with Jim Pinkerton, a former Fox News contributor who for years authored the anonymous blog “The Cable Game” to tout Fox and attack its rivals on behalf of Ailes.

Pinkerton, who did not respond to requests for comment, has written for Breitbart under his own byline since 2014. According to four people with knowledge of the arrangement, Pinkerton has also written for Breitbart under the pseudonym Virgil, an homage to the ancient poet whose work was commissioned by Caesar Augustus, the first Roman emperor, to help legitimize his reign. Marlow declined to comment on the pseudonym.

The Cable Game, along with its pal, the Johnny Dollar site, has long had a peculiar fixation on NewsHounds both in blog posts and on Twitter. No, I won’t link to their sites but here are some tweets to prove my point:

How long before the hacks at @Salon @newshounds etc start creating fake news about Shep's "sudden" "unplanned" vacation? https://t.co/lVUsztOPDV

— The Cable Gamer (@TheCableGame) May 3, 2017

Apparently, someone doesn’t know the meaning of “almost”:

.@newshounds lie about Bill O'Reilly:#FactCheckingTheFactCheckers pic.twitter.com/pcPjzbyMHO

— The Cable Gamer (@TheCableGame) April 12, 2017

Here’s more on Johnny Dollar’s creepy obsession with us.

(Steve Bannon caricature by DonkeyHotey via Creative Commons license)