Although politicians and the news media here in the USA have gone out of their way to demonize Vladimir Putin, all it takes is a little basic fact-checking to realize that all the claims they make against him are blatantly false. When it comes to fact-checking the principle of parsimony is key to identifying which representations of issues or events are the most reasonable and likely to be based on fact. The fewer assumptions required, the better. So, after listening to multiple perspectives regarding an issue or event and distancing oneself emotionally from the subject matter, it is usually easy to determine what is true, what is false, and what, as of yet, can not be reasonably determined. It is my contention at this time, based on the information I have sifted through, that our politicians and news media have either deliberately sought to deceive the American people regarding Putin or that they are horribly ignorant and have failed to correct their lack of understanding of the man and the country he represents.