Hiding in plain sight is an observation and a question. (1) The observation: In a police state, everybody (on BOTH sides of the “aisle) is investigated in case blackmail is needed to gain political advantage! (2) The question: How many of the bowing and scrapping Republicans in Congress are compromised in ways that we are not yet aware of?
Hiding in plain sight is an observation and a question. (1) The observation: In a police state, everybody (on BOTH sides of the “aisle) is investigated in case blackmail is needed to gain political advantage! (2) The question: How many of the bowing and scrapping Republicans in Congress are compromised in ways that we are not yet aware of?
I was going to make a similar comment, Belvie. A DOJ that is subservient to an autocratic president could also be commissioned to investigate members of that president's own party. This would explain, for one example, Mitch McConnell's initial reaction to January 6th (he called it a "failed insurrection" and seemed, for once, to be showing integrity:
You just have to look how Stalin "explained" the failure of his farm collectivisation policy amongst his other efforts. The starving were hoarding food and starving themselves to make him look bad AND the local Communist Party officials were complicit and to blame for not exposing and stopping them. The starving were already dying so for his collaborators....Off with their Head! Fear does horrible things to people and pushes them to the same to others.
Back in Kentucky he’s being called Moscow Mitch for a reason. There was an aluminum factory built in Kentucky financed by one of Putin‘s buddies. So guess who has leverage on Mitch. Another weakling. The Republicans are saturated with them. I think Putin has a majority of the Republican House and the Republican Senate in his back pocket. When you’re the richest man in the world, that can buy a lot of leverage.
All you have to do is look up his biography on Wikipedia to find his home town, then google the town/scandals. Same for his school and church and university. The first ten Senators i search (in alphabetical order) coughed up a lot of dirt.
Wikipedia is not an authoritative source. Anyone can write a Wikipedia article. NYT is called the newspaper of record for a reason. Sure, it's not perfect but at least it corrects an error.
That's right. It was also called the lying New York Times and fake news by our former would-be dictator. It's mind boggling how our country is experiencing an ongoing(!) assault on truth, facts, and science. If I weren't living through this moment I wouldn't believe it could happen.
Nicely said. Remember also the other side of the equation of a police state:
(1) Blackmail and
(2) BRIBERY
Over on Greg Olear, you can find articles (and his book) which do a thorough study on the U.S. Republican officials who have been either bribed, or blackmailed, or both, by Putin. Trump was obviously one of those officials, the hideous spectacle of Helsinki should’ve told anybody that.
Now blackmail takes a lot of different forms. Lindsey Graham, according to one of Greg’s articles, switched from being critical of Trump to being a sycophant after speaking with Trump while he was playing golf. The turnaround happened after one brief conversation. Maybe the conversation went something like this: “I have a resource that will give you 5 million bucks if you join our side.“ or perhaps something like “ I have a copy of that specific document of yours, or I have photos of you doing X, that I will reveal to the world unless you play for me.“
Jeffrey Epstein, I am convinced, was killed because he held secrets that people did not want revealed. As long as he was in jail and getting squeezed by the American justice system, there was a risk that some vulnerable secret would be exposed. Jeffrey knew billionaires. He had dirt on billionaires. Billionaires can buy anything they want, if they are unscrupulous. The fact that the cameras outside Epstein‘s cell had been turned around told me everything I needed to know. The guards were either bribed, or they were slovenly and somebody paid attention and took advantage.
In the USA we have a tremendous number of highly placed Republican politicians who have been compromised, corrupted. Whether it’s blackmail or bribery or both doesn’t really matter, but as vigilant citizens, we should be acutely aware of this dynamic.
Recently I believe it was TC who brought up the Greens, and I had totally forgotten that Jill Stein met with Putin. Putin is carrying a grudge against the USA, I believe, due to something that happened with Hillary. Curiously, he is also fascinated with the culture and admires the USA greatly because this country and culture carries so much influence in the world. If you were paying attention to “Peter Burnett“ you would have seen him mention that, his wording was words to the effect that much of the world is downstream of America. That was not a typo, that was not a misstatement. Putin admires the USA. We need to bring his family to Disneyland, that will be an experience they never forget, that would probably be helpful in changing the dynamic. Disneyland is America’s secret weapon for charming foreign dignitaries and their families. We should be using it.
I’m currently reading “Stalin’s Daughter” by Rosemary Sullivan. The layers of manipulation and espionage, and the proficiency with which Russian intelligence has (is) operated is astounding. Regarding Butina, she seems to join a long list of “hits” that have just kept coming over the past several years. Let’s not forget Byrne was one of those closeted with TFG post defeat.
Thanks for the book tip, Gail. I well remember when Svetlana Alliluyeva defected from the USSR, but know little otherwise. It's time to reduce my ignorance!
re: Epstein. I know that his death was an intentional death, orchestrated by someone in power. All of my "conservative" friends think it was the Clintons. (see my shocked face.) I believe that the corrections staff was told to let his death happen by someone who had the power to do that. I strongly suspect it was the former guy, or one of his cabel, that made that happen.
That scenario is one that I hope Garland's DOJ can reveal.
Roland...with pleasure. If Putin starts doing the tourist in the west without having taken over the joint then the oligarchs will assume he's neglected their interests and is no longer covering their backs. This represents both an opportunity and a danger to them. They could take the chance to replace him for "legitimate" ideological reasons or punish him for dereliction of duty. Either way he is dead. Putin needs the "slow burning" conflict with the West to legitamize his autocratic rule. Absence of external enemies would be the end of him and the Russian people would throw the first stone.
The first Tsar of Russia, Vlad 1, reigned 1000 years ago and died without an agreed succession process and 17 pretenders to the throne were assassinated before someone finally won.
What? All. This perseveration on Russia!, Keep at it everyone. So what that Julian Assange rots because of truth telling and that the US likely had a hand in fixing his British trial. Following the US red herring propaganda on Russia is perfecto! Just that much more citizenry energy diverted away from matters of our own governmental and judicial corruption over which we potentially could do something about. How would the USA respond were Russia to perform military exercises as close to our Mexican or Canadian border as the USA troops near the Russian border in May? All the corruption rising to citizen consciousness - corporate, mega rich not paying taxes, juicing the insurrections, legislators refusing to accept the people’s’ presidential choice, governor pushing his legislature to grant corporate immunity from liability lawsuits to nursing home CEOs, dark money allowed, biggest Pentagon budget a la Biden, militarization of police who get away with murder, funding behind 100s of State bills to disenfranchise our people, Exxon hiding research and going full throttle dis and mis information campaign about fossil fuel destruction of Earth (Earth!), consolidation of media into a handful of corporations whose motto is money over truth and sentient beings, unilateral invasion of a foreign country without a declaration of war, FBIand CIA surveillance of us-computers, cell phones, bought legislators (Manchin and Koch money), obscene allowance of mega rich monopolistic operations, children in cages, Earth home suffering mega flooding when it’s not drying up or burning to the ground and the people tolerate not even half measures to deal with it, relentless corporate swallowing of the Commons….if we were a human body showing analogous symptoms, what would we and our families and friends be doing? Sitting around accepting bipartisan aspirin as cures for our beloveds? Would we remain cowered and acquiescent when the insurance company always for profit, refuses to pay the bill? Would we collapse before the magnitude of the diseases afflicting our beloved? Or would we break down into manageable pieces the solutions and actions ?
That's okay...don't feel badly...like someone famous once said...let those with the capacity to see ...see, and those with the capacity to digest word salads....chew and absorb....and for those without capacities...take the dog out for a walk....
Well the question is... do you have the capacity to write clearly and succinctly? I'd love to hear what you have to say, though I can't read the forest for all the trees.
Gee, I can't help you there...I found this on google "Can Myopia be Cured? As of 2020, there is no cure for myopia. However, some treatments and management strategies can help restore distance vision." Good luck with that....that's your 3rd helplessness.. Ding Dong take your contribution to humanity elsewhere, my door is now closed.....to you ......yours truly, Ballard girl
I think we still cling to the idea that politicians (and their acolytes) behave "properly". Blackmail (otherwise known "as I've/we've got the goods on you, mate") is a well entrenched behaviour - we've seen enough of it in Oz.
Yes, I read a tweet where somone said if the Trump DOJ got records of Democrats, did they also get Republican's? Is that another way to get blackmail info?
Hiding in plain sight is an observation and a question. (1) The observation: In a police state, everybody (on BOTH sides of the “aisle) is investigated in case blackmail is needed to gain political advantage! (2) The question: How many of the bowing and scrapping Republicans in Congress are compromised in ways that we are not yet aware of?
I was going to make a similar comment, Belvie. A DOJ that is subservient to an autocratic president could also be commissioned to investigate members of that president's own party. This would explain, for one example, Mitch McConnell's initial reaction to January 6th (he called it a "failed insurrection" and seemed, for once, to be showing integrity:
https://www.usnews.com/news/elections/articles/2021-01-06/read-mitch-mcconnells-statement-to-the-senate-on-the-storming-of-the-capitol ), but soon after, he spun his view a 180° and refused to investigate the incident. Can't help but wonder what skeletons Trump's DOJ dug out of MM's closet...
You just have to look how Stalin "explained" the failure of his farm collectivisation policy amongst his other efforts. The starving were hoarding food and starving themselves to make him look bad AND the local Communist Party officials were complicit and to blame for not exposing and stopping them. The starving were already dying so for his collaborators....Off with their Head! Fear does horrible things to people and pushes them to the same to others.
Back in Kentucky he’s being called Moscow Mitch for a reason. There was an aluminum factory built in Kentucky financed by one of Putin‘s buddies. So guess who has leverage on Mitch. Another weakling. The Republicans are saturated with them. I think Putin has a majority of the Republican House and the Republican Senate in his back pocket. When you’re the richest man in the world, that can buy a lot of leverage.
I seem to remember reading that he and Elaine will receive major stock options in that company.
Whoa!
I read a few years ago that Mitch and Elaine are both worth about 25 million. How much more do they need? When is enough enough?
The Koch family made a lot of real estate investments, though none have paid off quite so well as the Manchin in West Virginia.
All you have to do is look up his biography on Wikipedia to find his home town, then google the town/scandals. Same for his school and church and university. The first ten Senators i search (in alphabetical order) coughed up a lot of dirt.
Wikipedia is not an authoritative source. Anyone can write a Wikipedia article. NYT is called the newspaper of record for a reason. Sure, it's not perfect but at least it corrects an error.
That's right. It was also called the lying New York Times and fake news by our former would-be dictator. It's mind boggling how our country is experiencing an ongoing(!) assault on truth, facts, and science. If I weren't living through this moment I wouldn't believe it could happen.
Hmmm.... Makes one wonder why (or how?) they are being reelected.
Nicely said. Remember also the other side of the equation of a police state:
(1) Blackmail and
(2) BRIBERY
Over on Greg Olear, you can find articles (and his book) which do a thorough study on the U.S. Republican officials who have been either bribed, or blackmailed, or both, by Putin. Trump was obviously one of those officials, the hideous spectacle of Helsinki should’ve told anybody that.
Now blackmail takes a lot of different forms. Lindsey Graham, according to one of Greg’s articles, switched from being critical of Trump to being a sycophant after speaking with Trump while he was playing golf. The turnaround happened after one brief conversation. Maybe the conversation went something like this: “I have a resource that will give you 5 million bucks if you join our side.“ or perhaps something like “ I have a copy of that specific document of yours, or I have photos of you doing X, that I will reveal to the world unless you play for me.“
Jeffrey Epstein, I am convinced, was killed because he held secrets that people did not want revealed. As long as he was in jail and getting squeezed by the American justice system, there was a risk that some vulnerable secret would be exposed. Jeffrey knew billionaires. He had dirt on billionaires. Billionaires can buy anything they want, if they are unscrupulous. The fact that the cameras outside Epstein‘s cell had been turned around told me everything I needed to know. The guards were either bribed, or they were slovenly and somebody paid attention and took advantage.
In the USA we have a tremendous number of highly placed Republican politicians who have been compromised, corrupted. Whether it’s blackmail or bribery or both doesn’t really matter, but as vigilant citizens, we should be acutely aware of this dynamic.
Recently I believe it was TC who brought up the Greens, and I had totally forgotten that Jill Stein met with Putin. Putin is carrying a grudge against the USA, I believe, due to something that happened with Hillary. Curiously, he is also fascinated with the culture and admires the USA greatly because this country and culture carries so much influence in the world. If you were paying attention to “Peter Burnett“ you would have seen him mention that, his wording was words to the effect that much of the world is downstream of America. That was not a typo, that was not a misstatement. Putin admires the USA. We need to bring his family to Disneyland, that will be an experience they never forget, that would probably be helpful in changing the dynamic. Disneyland is America’s secret weapon for charming foreign dignitaries and their families. We should be using it.
Speak of the devil, and he appears. Here’s Greg’s post for today, an article and podcast about Maria Butina
https://gregolear.substack.com/p/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-maria
I’m currently reading “Stalin’s Daughter” by Rosemary Sullivan. The layers of manipulation and espionage, and the proficiency with which Russian intelligence has (is) operated is astounding. Regarding Butina, she seems to join a long list of “hits” that have just kept coming over the past several years. Let’s not forget Byrne was one of those closeted with TFG post defeat.
Thanks for the book tip, Gail. I well remember when Svetlana Alliluyeva defected from the USSR, but know little otherwise. It's time to reduce my ignorance!
I have the book and guess I best read it.
I was wondering if you were alluding to that. Olear has some amazing insight about Putin's/Russia's activities in our world.
Olear is the shizzit. I've been enjoying his podcasts and blogs every week.
re: Epstein. I know that his death was an intentional death, orchestrated by someone in power. All of my "conservative" friends think it was the Clintons. (see my shocked face.) I believe that the corrections staff was told to let his death happen by someone who had the power to do that. I strongly suspect it was the former guy, or one of his cabel, that made that happen.
That scenario is one that I hope Garland's DOJ can reveal.
I’ll send an invitation right away ...maybe...
please Susan....to stuartattewell@gmail.com.....thanks.
😂
Thanks for the Olear reference, Roland. Can't wait to read him!
He's great. You might also want to check out Lucian Truscott. Another good one with an entirely different style.
And Timothy Snyder. https://snyder.substack.com/
"It's a small, small world..."
Oh no! Now I have the worst ear worm that exists 😂
Putin's only problem with going to Disney, other than as its conquering hero is how to avoid assassination by his "friends" when he gets home!
Stuart would you mind spelling this out in different words? I’m not following you. Conquering hero? Assassination by “friends“ back home? You lost me
Roland...with pleasure. If Putin starts doing the tourist in the west without having taken over the joint then the oligarchs will assume he's neglected their interests and is no longer covering their backs. This represents both an opportunity and a danger to them. They could take the chance to replace him for "legitimate" ideological reasons or punish him for dereliction of duty. Either way he is dead. Putin needs the "slow burning" conflict with the West to legitamize his autocratic rule. Absence of external enemies would be the end of him and the Russian people would throw the first stone.
The first Tsar of Russia, Vlad 1, reigned 1000 years ago and died without an agreed succession process and 17 pretenders to the throne were assassinated before someone finally won.
What? All. This perseveration on Russia!, Keep at it everyone. So what that Julian Assange rots because of truth telling and that the US likely had a hand in fixing his British trial. Following the US red herring propaganda on Russia is perfecto! Just that much more citizenry energy diverted away from matters of our own governmental and judicial corruption over which we potentially could do something about. How would the USA respond were Russia to perform military exercises as close to our Mexican or Canadian border as the USA troops near the Russian border in May? All the corruption rising to citizen consciousness - corporate, mega rich not paying taxes, juicing the insurrections, legislators refusing to accept the people’s’ presidential choice, governor pushing his legislature to grant corporate immunity from liability lawsuits to nursing home CEOs, dark money allowed, biggest Pentagon budget a la Biden, militarization of police who get away with murder, funding behind 100s of State bills to disenfranchise our people, Exxon hiding research and going full throttle dis and mis information campaign about fossil fuel destruction of Earth (Earth!), consolidation of media into a handful of corporations whose motto is money over truth and sentient beings, unilateral invasion of a foreign country without a declaration of war, FBIand CIA surveillance of us-computers, cell phones, bought legislators (Manchin and Koch money), obscene allowance of mega rich monopolistic operations, children in cages, Earth home suffering mega flooding when it’s not drying up or burning to the ground and the people tolerate not even half measures to deal with it, relentless corporate swallowing of the Commons….if we were a human body showing analogous symptoms, what would we and our families and friends be doing? Sitting around accepting bipartisan aspirin as cures for our beloveds? Would we remain cowered and acquiescent when the insurance company always for profit, refuses to pay the bill? Would we collapse before the magnitude of the diseases afflicting our beloved? Or would we break down into manageable pieces the solutions and actions ?
Now there's a word salad that I don't have the capacity to parse...
That's okay...don't feel badly...like someone famous once said...let those with the capacity to see ...see, and those with the capacity to digest word salads....chew and absorb....and for those without capacities...take the dog out for a walk....
Well the question is... do you have the capacity to write clearly and succinctly? I'd love to hear what you have to say, though I can't read the forest for all the trees.
Gee, I can't help you there...I found this on google "Can Myopia be Cured? As of 2020, there is no cure for myopia. However, some treatments and management strategies can help restore distance vision." Good luck with that....that's your 3rd helplessness.. Ding Dong take your contribution to humanity elsewhere, my door is now closed.....to you ......yours truly, Ballard girl
Roland, how about Disneyworld? We could throw in a side trip to the Space Center and Alligator Land!!
I think we'll find that this is the tip of the iceberg.....Edgar Hoover has reincarnated!
I think we still cling to the idea that politicians (and their acolytes) behave "properly". Blackmail (otherwise known "as I've/we've got the goods on you, mate") is a well entrenched behaviour - we've seen enough of it in Oz.
Maybe we can now start to know rather than wonder... Right?
Yes, I read a tweet where somone said if the Trump DOJ got records of Democrats, did they also get Republican's? Is that another way to get blackmail info?
The question of the day!