A senior counter intel FBI agent doesn’t go to work for a sanctioned Russian oligarch without political cover. He thought he was above the law, protected by powerful “friends”. I think we are going to see a lot more decoupling from Russian interests that are hobbling Western democracies. Erghhh
A senior counter intel FBI agent doesn’t go to work for a sanctioned Russian oligarch without political cover. He thought he was above the law, protected by powerful “friends”. I think we are going to see a lot more decoupling from Russian interests that are hobbling Western democracies. Erghhh
It appears to me that since Nixon's "pardon", the former "Party of Lincoln" has organized around racketeering-like corruption, using the law to defeat it's purposes. Republicans were positively gleeful in their refusal to even go through the motions of considering serious and documented charges against Trump. No wonder his followers felt entitled to invade the Capitol or excoriate (or attack) black people for just being in their vicinity.
They blather about 'freedom" and "patriotism" is just a distraction from their narcissistic claims of extreme entitlement; think of Cliven Bundy for example. They bellow, as Trump did, about supporting "law and order" yet their idea of law is autocratic. They scurry with excitement over regulating the behavior of anyone else outside of their cult, yet bristle and stonewall if asked to comply with law themselves.
And they talk out of both sides of their mouth to claim whatever is convenient to their agenda. That's corrupt as hell, and I hope we are really turning a corner here, rather than just another pothole filled on this highway to disaster. We the People need to up our game.
It goes way back. Stupid me thought that repubs had learned their lesson with Nixon. All they learned was to be more crooked and not get caught, AND never say anything bad about another Repub…NO MATTER WHAT. Cliven Bundy should have been in jail all this time…my heart sank when he was turned loose. An omen for our times…
I’m an old “folk song” guy, Jeri, and what keeps ringing in my ears (besides the tinnitus) when my brain tries to confront mass shootings (huge outbreak in CA lately) and suspected FBI and Presidential sons-in-laws (etc.) bad guys getting $500,000 personal recognizance bonds and huge “loans” is Woody Guthrie’s song “Pretty Boy Floyd.” Toward the end is this phrase: “Some will rob you with a six-gun and some with a fountain pen.” It is pretty apparent that one end of the wealth spectrum gets caught and “pays the price,” while the other end of the money trail simply rides off into the sunset - untouched!
I may attach too much significance to it, but it seemed to me that the the lesson that created the nominally "Republican" mob we see today came with Nixon's so-called pardon, that it was possible for a party to misapply the law to cheat due process of law, and get away with it. It's not that this concept is new, and there is a lot of corruption in in the back of the Democrat's resume, but it was a crucial moment that the Republican Party (Which still had a conscience in the run up and hearings of Watergate) decided to go for broke.
"Trump’s personal counterattack strategy to sexual misconduct allegations, as cited in Bob Woodward’s White House memoir. You’ve got to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women,” Trump said, according to Woodward. “If you admit to anything and any culpability, then you’re dead. That was a big mistake you made.” -https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-mocks-al-franken-resignation
As for the heavily armed and threatening Bundy gang, had they not been white and right wing...??
Ted, you might be correct! Trump had not won the election when Comey was worried about a 'leak' harmful to Hillary which was thus pretty aggressive (maybe paid for?) and I am sure got 'noticed' (rewarded-protected) by Trumpers once their fellow criminals moved into government. Law Enforcement guys are usually the first to cooperate 'flip' once the ca ca hits the fan, but in this case Russian death threats might leave him speechless. DOJ needs an insider to 'flip' and layout the roadmap to sink Trump criminal organization and take all fellow criminals down together.
“Once their fellow criminals moved into government.” Says it all and what made my blood run cold on Nov 9, 2016. That and having a known con man behind the Presidential podium with keys to the kingdom…
Comey’s mistake was not informing the public sooner and better of the scope and reach of Russian interference , Active Measures, and the seriousness of these effective tools of both influence and money. Russia attacked us with more than 1 type of Cyber Weapon, and they won, and are still winning today. This Former FBI agent is one example, Manafort, TFG, Kushner, Rudy & Steve Banon, Wilbur Ross, Eric Prince, are too stupid and greedy to realize how they are being used and manipulated. But I think it goes deeper than any of us realize. We are talking a trillion dollars of influence that Putin must launder around the world before he can repatriate that stolen/embezzled cash ( Bill Browder, Red Notice). This is why Nalvany is in the gulag. This is why so many Russian Journalist and dissidents have been killed. This is what the oligarchs are for Putin, and for 20+ years! Paying off Judges and buying political influence, favors, loans, is part of every organized crime/ money laundering scheme. You don’t start laundering hundreds of billions of dollars until you buy off law enforcement, pay off Judges, donate politically, and threaten violence as last resort insurance. Corruption is like a cancer. “How metastasized it is in America”, this is what AG Garland is working out. That is why J6 and other investigations are taking so long. The J6 violence it is intertwined with corruption and Russian Active measures.
I have long held that Russian manipulation of our social media platforms is at the root of the severity of the national divide that we are experiencing.
Not Social Media. That’s not really what it is. It is social manipulation. As a commercial application it’s the most effective advertising/marketing tool ever. As an influence and radicalization cyber weapon it is the equivalent of a nuclear weapon. Of all the books written about warfare, the most important is Carl Von Clausewitz. “Get your enemy to do what u want without him knowing it”. This sums up the GOP. It is high time we regulate mass communications that is the root manipulation of our discontent.
Freezing Order by Bill Browder is his newest book about Russian money laundering. Browder builds on the Panama and Paradise Papers, bank of Cyprus and Malta and how the embezzled oil money flows out of Russia through Ukraine to Bank of Cyprus ( Wilbur Ross chairman) , Malta, Austria, Panama, Bahamas, Grand Cayman, into shell corps in Nevada, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Delaware, where dark shell companies are legal, before it finds its ways into London, NYC, and Flordia real estate. Trump Properties have been vehicles for Russian money laundering for more than 25 years. The scope of these crimes can’t happen without payoffs, Bribes, violent intimidation and blackmail to law enforcement, judges, and politicians.
Despite your identification of systemic corruption by the repubs, they will now investigate H Biden’s laptop. Well known that there are porn files in the memory, perhaps gym Jordan hopes to find new ones picturing boys!
Now I’m curious about the Chinese connection to this FBI Agent. Could he have sold out CIA assets? Could the Chinese be using Pegasus software to root out dissidents like the Saudis and Orban/hungry, and the Mexico Cartels?Could the Russians be using Pegasus for both espionage, counter espionage, blackmail, as their newest active measure? Maybe it is as easy as offering money. What a mess the world is when dictators have such exorbitant oil and gas profits.
I find this appauling.i don't know how or where to escape to get away from this dilemma. I guess I'm glad I'm 75 and hopefully will not see the consequences.
Great podcast on this subject! It’s the cliff notes of the corruption that Russia has slipped in under our door. There are entire books on each person and events that tell a deeper story of how consistently effective the Russians are at turning Americans and other Westerners. When we say “Russians”, that should include: Russian Oligarchs, Putin’s Cronies, cyber and hacking experts, troll farms, propagandists, Political Technologists, Russian intel, soldiers, paramilitaries and police services, Russian Mafia, Russian money Launderers. These groups are not independent of each other. They are all working collectively with the same nefarious goal under Putin’s direction.
I think the FBI is learning this over the last 25 years. I don’t think we should think that all of the FBI is corrupted it’s not. It is made up of human beings with their own vulnerabilities and ideologies, the majority of which are Republican and therefore those vulnerabilities can be exploited just like in the general population. It is painful to watch and when someone so senior like Mcdongal falls so far, it is shocking, and it needs to get fixed. To me Comey ( like all directors a Republican) is one of the naive R’s in charge. He walked the middle ground, not wanting to rock the GOP boat. He should have sounded the public alarm in 2014 when the Russians began their Acive Measures campaign. Because he didn’t, a 1/3 of our population has been radicalized beyond recovery, including leadership at the FBI, almost the entire GOP, it’s billionaire donor class, and the ignorant everywhere. Ukraine and “Russia are ghosts of America’s future”- Fiona Hill
Have to say that "decoupling from Russian interests" seems like a quant euphemism for what used to be called corruption, and what might actually be closer to treason. Just how deep and how wide have the Putin crime family's tentacles slithered into our government? Seems pretty clear how far they've dug into one of our political parties. Though I know it's not nice to say such things out loud among polite company, it sure looks like there's a there there, and has for a while. BTW, on debt default: cui bono?
A senior counter intel FBI agent doesn’t go to work for a sanctioned Russian oligarch without political cover. He thought he was above the law, protected by powerful “friends”. I think we are going to see a lot more decoupling from Russian interests that are hobbling Western democracies. Erghhh
It appears to me that since Nixon's "pardon", the former "Party of Lincoln" has organized around racketeering-like corruption, using the law to defeat it's purposes. Republicans were positively gleeful in their refusal to even go through the motions of considering serious and documented charges against Trump. No wonder his followers felt entitled to invade the Capitol or excoriate (or attack) black people for just being in their vicinity.
They blather about 'freedom" and "patriotism" is just a distraction from their narcissistic claims of extreme entitlement; think of Cliven Bundy for example. They bellow, as Trump did, about supporting "law and order" yet their idea of law is autocratic. They scurry with excitement over regulating the behavior of anyone else outside of their cult, yet bristle and stonewall if asked to comply with law themselves.
And they talk out of both sides of their mouth to claim whatever is convenient to their agenda. That's corrupt as hell, and I hope we are really turning a corner here, rather than just another pothole filled on this highway to disaster. We the People need to up our game.
It goes way back. Stupid me thought that repubs had learned their lesson with Nixon. All they learned was to be more crooked and not get caught, AND never say anything bad about another Repub…NO MATTER WHAT. Cliven Bundy should have been in jail all this time…my heart sank when he was turned loose. An omen for our times…
I’m an old “folk song” guy, Jeri, and what keeps ringing in my ears (besides the tinnitus) when my brain tries to confront mass shootings (huge outbreak in CA lately) and suspected FBI and Presidential sons-in-laws (etc.) bad guys getting $500,000 personal recognizance bonds and huge “loans” is Woody Guthrie’s song “Pretty Boy Floyd.” Toward the end is this phrase: “Some will rob you with a six-gun and some with a fountain pen.” It is pretty apparent that one end of the wealth spectrum gets caught and “pays the price,” while the other end of the money trail simply rides off into the sunset - untouched!
I’m reminded of a phrase in a Dylan song…”. Steal a little they put you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king!”
Perfect, Martha! Perfect!
“Laws are spider webs through which the big flies pass and the little ones get caught.” - Balzac
As well as a line from an Eagles song: "A man with a briefcase can steal more money than any man with a gun."
And create far more misery. I imagine Putin has a fancy one.
Cliven Bundy was the beginning of publicly no responsibility for some people.
I may attach too much significance to it, but it seemed to me that the the lesson that created the nominally "Republican" mob we see today came with Nixon's so-called pardon, that it was possible for a party to misapply the law to cheat due process of law, and get away with it. It's not that this concept is new, and there is a lot of corruption in in the back of the Democrat's resume, but it was a crucial moment that the Republican Party (Which still had a conscience in the run up and hearings of Watergate) decided to go for broke.
"Trump’s personal counterattack strategy to sexual misconduct allegations, as cited in Bob Woodward’s White House memoir. You’ve got to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women,” Trump said, according to Woodward. “If you admit to anything and any culpability, then you’re dead. That was a big mistake you made.” -https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-mocks-al-franken-resignation
As for the heavily armed and threatening Bundy gang, had they not been white and right wing...??
In theology, what you are seeking is called Systematic Theology—consistency across the playing field.
What do they call what the Christian right is seeking, in theology and all?
One of Dante's inner rings of Hell.
It's more likely the Christian right is a pawn for some oligarchs of various mobsters, competing for Catholic clients.
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9nYXNsaXRuYXRpb24ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M/episode/YzNhYzE5ODQtMmQ3ZS00YzBhLTk0MGEtNzNiM2M1NjFmNWIx?ep=14
Ted, you might be correct! Trump had not won the election when Comey was worried about a 'leak' harmful to Hillary which was thus pretty aggressive (maybe paid for?) and I am sure got 'noticed' (rewarded-protected) by Trumpers once their fellow criminals moved into government. Law Enforcement guys are usually the first to cooperate 'flip' once the ca ca hits the fan, but in this case Russian death threats might leave him speechless. DOJ needs an insider to 'flip' and layout the roadmap to sink Trump criminal organization and take all fellow criminals down together.
“Once their fellow criminals moved into government.” Says it all and what made my blood run cold on Nov 9, 2016. That and having a known con man behind the Presidential podium with keys to the kingdom…
Comey’s mistake was not informing the public sooner and better of the scope and reach of Russian interference , Active Measures, and the seriousness of these effective tools of both influence and money. Russia attacked us with more than 1 type of Cyber Weapon, and they won, and are still winning today. This Former FBI agent is one example, Manafort, TFG, Kushner, Rudy & Steve Banon, Wilbur Ross, Eric Prince, are too stupid and greedy to realize how they are being used and manipulated. But I think it goes deeper than any of us realize. We are talking a trillion dollars of influence that Putin must launder around the world before he can repatriate that stolen/embezzled cash ( Bill Browder, Red Notice). This is why Nalvany is in the gulag. This is why so many Russian Journalist and dissidents have been killed. This is what the oligarchs are for Putin, and for 20+ years! Paying off Judges and buying political influence, favors, loans, is part of every organized crime/ money laundering scheme. You don’t start laundering hundreds of billions of dollars until you buy off law enforcement, pay off Judges, donate politically, and threaten violence as last resort insurance. Corruption is like a cancer. “How metastasized it is in America”, this is what AG Garland is working out. That is why J6 and other investigations are taking so long. The J6 violence it is intertwined with corruption and Russian Active measures.
Interesting take on that. Must ponder.
I have long held that Russian manipulation of our social media platforms is at the root of the severity of the national divide that we are experiencing.
Not Social Media. That’s not really what it is. It is social manipulation. As a commercial application it’s the most effective advertising/marketing tool ever. As an influence and radicalization cyber weapon it is the equivalent of a nuclear weapon. Of all the books written about warfare, the most important is Carl Von Clausewitz. “Get your enemy to do what u want without him knowing it”. This sums up the GOP. It is high time we regulate mass communications that is the root manipulation of our discontent.
Ah, yep. Take the $$$ out of it. NPR on steroids?? A thought.
Charlie, it’s like we have opened Pandora’s Box.
Freezing Order by Bill Browder is his newest book about Russian money laundering. Browder builds on the Panama and Paradise Papers, bank of Cyprus and Malta and how the embezzled oil money flows out of Russia through Ukraine to Bank of Cyprus ( Wilbur Ross chairman) , Malta, Austria, Panama, Bahamas, Grand Cayman, into shell corps in Nevada, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Delaware, where dark shell companies are legal, before it finds its ways into London, NYC, and Flordia real estate. Trump Properties have been vehicles for Russian money laundering for more than 25 years. The scope of these crimes can’t happen without payoffs, Bribes, violent intimidation and blackmail to law enforcement, judges, and politicians.
Despite your identification of systemic corruption by the repubs, they will now investigate H Biden’s laptop. Well known that there are porn files in the memory, perhaps gym Jordan hopes to find new ones picturing boys!
Now I’m curious about the Chinese connection to this FBI Agent. Could he have sold out CIA assets? Could the Chinese be using Pegasus software to root out dissidents like the Saudis and Orban/hungry, and the Mexico Cartels?Could the Russians be using Pegasus for both espionage, counter espionage, blackmail, as their newest active measure? Maybe it is as easy as offering money. What a mess the world is when dictators have such exorbitant oil and gas profits.
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9nYXNsaXRuYXRpb24ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M/episode/?ep=14
I find this appauling.i don't know how or where to escape to get away from this dilemma. I guess I'm glad I'm 75 and hopefully will not see the consequences.
How to two former FBI directors when to work as attorneys representing the Russian Mafia:
( a similar thing is happening today with former Generals and Admirals going to work as consultants and lobbyist for authoritarian regimes)
Former FBI Director Louis Freeh
https://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-director-louis-freeh-russia-prevezon-money-laundering-2017-11
Former Director Sessions
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB117674837248471543
Great podcast on this subject! It’s the cliff notes of the corruption that Russia has slipped in under our door. There are entire books on each person and events that tell a deeper story of how consistently effective the Russians are at turning Americans and other Westerners. When we say “Russians”, that should include: Russian Oligarchs, Putin’s Cronies, cyber and hacking experts, troll farms, propagandists, Political Technologists, Russian intel, soldiers, paramilitaries and police services, Russian Mafia, Russian money Launderers. These groups are not independent of each other. They are all working collectively with the same nefarious goal under Putin’s direction.
I think the FBI is learning this over the last 25 years. I don’t think we should think that all of the FBI is corrupted it’s not. It is made up of human beings with their own vulnerabilities and ideologies, the majority of which are Republican and therefore those vulnerabilities can be exploited just like in the general population. It is painful to watch and when someone so senior like Mcdongal falls so far, it is shocking, and it needs to get fixed. To me Comey ( like all directors a Republican) is one of the naive R’s in charge. He walked the middle ground, not wanting to rock the GOP boat. He should have sounded the public alarm in 2014 when the Russians began their Acive Measures campaign. Because he didn’t, a 1/3 of our population has been radicalized beyond recovery, including leadership at the FBI, almost the entire GOP, it’s billionaire donor class, and the ignorant everywhere. Ukraine and “Russia are ghosts of America’s future”- Fiona Hill
Wow...ghosts of America's future.Thstscreakkybstretching my imagination to a place I don't want to be.😔
Have to say that "decoupling from Russian interests" seems like a quant euphemism for what used to be called corruption, and what might actually be closer to treason. Just how deep and how wide have the Putin crime family's tentacles slithered into our government? Seems pretty clear how far they've dug into one of our political parties. Though I know it's not nice to say such things out loud among polite company, it sure looks like there's a there there, and has for a while. BTW, on debt default: cui bono?
Citizens United makes bribery legal from all quarters, foreign and domestic, at least according to Chief Justice Roberts.
Red Notice Bill Browder. Warning, this is the red pill to Wonderland Alice, all the way down the rabbit hole to Citizens United, then keep going.
Speaking of ethics and lack of….
Here is Leigh McGown, Politics Girl. Spot on as usual and reminding us what we are to be really concerned about. To put it mildly.
https://youtu.be/tZ0kSN1sCnk
Salud, Ted
🗽
“Ill fares the land,
To hastening ills of prey.
Where wealth accumulates,
And men decay” - Oliver Goldsmith
Nothing has accumulated wealth for the GOP like Citizens United. Thanks Justice Roberts. Thanks a lot.
Exactamundo. And/or directed by said politcio's to run the operation.
As a former conterintell guy I find tis absolutely incredible. Film at 11 folks.
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9nYXNsaXRuYXRpb24ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M/episode/YzNhYzE5ODQtMmQ3ZS00YzBhLTk0MGEtNzNiM2M1NjFmNWIx?ep=14