248 Comments

Nothing like a knock on the door by FBI agents to inspire a bit of ratting- out and "reappraisals" of one's dirty work.

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“thoughts and prayers” lol

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I'm sorry but the quote from yesterday's article is still the best:

“these guys see made-up ‘psyops’ everywhere until a mysterious foreigner offers them fantastic amounts of money for practically nothing then they turn into Mr Magoo”

😂😂😂😂

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They have my thoughts and prayers that they wind up in prison. However we all know SCROTUS will protect them.

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SAME! Thoughts and Prison!

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Thoughts and Prison Tim!

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That’s what I came here to say. 😄✌🏻

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That’s what I came here to say. 😄✌🏻

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Nothing, nothing, nothing. Not one damn word about this on our corporate media Evening News. If it weren't for Substack, I wouldn't have a clue what the hell is happening.

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author

WaPo wrote a follow up story on it all at least today!

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When I tried to share this, FB blocked and removed it immediately. 🤔

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Ohh I see! So FB was like totally ok with their full embrace of Russian troll farms doing their psyops bullshit in previous election runups (but only for the $$, cuz ya know shareholder value blah blah) — but now they are aghast, AGHAST! at the prospect of allowing even the perception of allowing disinformation onto the site. Mmmmk

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FB also took removed this article when I shared. I asked for a review.

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Joy Reid covered it on MSNBC last night

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The major “ media” is part of the attack on our democracy.

It’s no accident that they report so little and so poorly. Then push ridiculous narratives to fill the void.

Look at who and how few own the major outlets and papers.

It’s been a corrosive destruction not just of our democracy but also our culture.

The dumbing- down of America.

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And been going on a long time, since the late 50's

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Every morning, I get the WaPo "Top 7 stories," and I was wondering if this would be one of the seven. Well, it sort of was, buried in a Hunter Biden headline under "In Other Legal News:" Well, at least it's something.

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Spy Talk has been discussing this too, as has Heather Cox Richardson and Robert Hubbell, and some other people. https://www.spytalk.co/p/new-in-spyweek-russia-russia-russiaand/comments?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&comments=true&utm_source=substack

My mom's Left party friend in Germany was also sending me an article from some horrid Libertarian publication about an African spy ring being prosecuted in Miami by the feds for working for Russia. This publication was treating the topic as if the US government is paranoid about people spying for Russia. Clearly I am too, or I would not be subscribing to Spy Talk, and other such sorts of publications. I live in the US and Germany and both countries are big targets of Russian interference from what I can figure out. I have read about Putin's behavior back in his East German Stasi days, and from what I can figure out, it seems like he played both sides against each other to get what he wanted. Typical spy. Russia is led by a spymaster. So, that is probably Putin's biggest contribution to governance of his country, is employing spies.

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Sep 6·edited Sep 6Liked by Jay Kuo

I am a former co-worker of Dan Bongino. I hope and pray he goes down in flames. He has brought shame upon law enforcement officers everywhere.

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author

So sorry you had that experience.

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He did not seem crazy back then (this was twenty-ish years ago). I was so surprised when he went down the MAGA rabbit hole.

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Follow the money .. your surprise should evaporate pronto 😎😎🥳

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Another victim of the QAnon brainwashing operation probably.

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Thanks for sharing Nancy, I can’t stand that guy!

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Well today, most of those “Law enforcement agencies” members, through their unions just announced they will be supporting Trump!

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The problem is they still believe the Rs are "The party of law & order."

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O! M! G! *shaking head wondering wtf is wrong with people!*

Oh, of course, the orange oompah loompah.

Silly me.

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I have a long time law enforcement friend who absolutely believes Trumps 34 felony convictions were not “legitimate” convictions.

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Ow!

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Somehow I HIGHLY doubt Pool was contacted by the FBI as a “victim of a crime”. More likely is he has been seen as one of the criminals!

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Commonly referred to as a suspect or person of interest.

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"Brought in for questioning" covers SO many options.

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More than likely tax evasion is on the menu.

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Maybe just a scammer trying to steal his identity. 🤣

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If I understand Ken White correctly this is SOP. He will be asked a bunch of questions they already know the answers to. If he lies, they have more to charge him with...

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Run the full FBI play book on the POI/suspect .

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Exactly

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Hoping some inter agency communication is occurring with the IRS, to determine if all had the same income reporting documents issued for this inflated income and if they all claimed it the same way...or at all? Ditto for the Thomas couple and their decades of luxury gifts from people with business interests in cases SCOTUS heard. Congress should be asking for those tax returns as they did tffg's.

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Spot on, Shire! Any investigator worth his/her hire would start here. Re Tenet: have the accused actually filed? Either way, they're all audit targets as end-beneficiaries of RT moneylaundering...which was inept in the extreme ;)

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here's a prediction from a guy who worked Russian moneylaundering schemes in the Balkans for Canada's flagship investigative documentary show: when Cypriot bankers and lawyers start falling out of windows and other lethal mishaps, the Russian oligarchs' 'laundromat' will have begun to collapse into flight capital for the principals...and meantime cannibalize Putin himself.

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Sounds really good to me. I hope they go after all the right wing operatives in the United States soon

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and in congress, in particular. Allegedly.

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(Rubs her hands in gleeful schadenfreudy anticipation!)

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Interesting.

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As Nicholas Grossman said, it’s funny (rhetorically) how the “just asking questions” crowd never asked the question “Who are these people giving me tremendous amounts of money and what do they want?”

And I’ll add that “do your own research” somehow didn’t extend to “type the name of the guy who is supposedly running this company into Google and wait 0.16 seconds.”

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It’s also funny that they claim we’re sheep, and that they’re the freethinkers. But they just admitted they regurgitated ideas and thoughts provided to them.

Of course, their followers will never connect the dots — because it could happen to anyone, including you!! (unless you think for two seconds)

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Self- serving traitor idiots I think sums up the “how?”

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¯\_(ツ)_/¯ They are marks, and SO easily conned. And of course, the mark never, never, never will admit to THAT. But there it is - taken. To the Cleaners. Since 2015.

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This really doesn't surprise me, it's these types of people that are most susceptible to manipulation by a foreign power. They probably thought they were getting all that money because they were independent critical thinkers.

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author

Lol!

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Bwahahahaha

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I came here to laugh that!

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That’s funny! 😂😂😂

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Same as it ever was.

You can't con an honest person. For a mark, greed, overweening self-importance, and an over-estimation of one's own intelligence will always overcome rational thought.

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😂😂😂

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Sep 6Liked by Jay Kuo

Memorial Day/Labor Day:

On a completely different, and completely more important topic - As you and Baby Riley adjust into each other's lives, you're for sure going to have some exhausting times.....I gift you with an Unlimited Ba-Brain Coupon, entitling you to a Free Pass whenever lack of sleep or Baby Adoration come between you & logical thought. Much Love. <3

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author

Best coupon ever!

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Sep 6·edited Sep 6

Every time you use this unlimited coupon, we should see a Riley photo, though :)

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Times two! 💙💙

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Totally agree!! Hope things are going well with your precious little family! ❤️

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I should expand on my comment upthread a tad, given the surprising (at least to me!) volume of responses: c1993/95, Milosevic offshored millions to Cyprus during his dictatorship of Serbia, using largely Russian mafia intermediaries, several of whom had sufficiently fat egos, they'd blab over 'rakia' about their exploits to me in Belgrade casinos and tavernas; they could afford to--they were the conduits in/out Serbia/Republika Srpska for Milosevic and his crew, moving everything from bumwipe to concrete to escape NATO sanctions. And cash. If you really want to understand what 45 has ensnared himself and his children in (I'm betting he flips against them to save himself), know this: the Russian mafia—'the union of thieves'—goes back to the Crimean war and blockade running in/out of Odessa.The 'mafia' families and clans go back that far; the Cheka/NKVD/KGB/FSB were constant partners 1917 onwards: they were amongst the only Russians who understood how to 'do business' (as that arch-idiot Margaret Thatcher said of Gorbachev) with foreigners. 45 doesn't stand a chance of saving himself, either. Jack Smith's sidekick just yesterday registered an in/camera secure meeting with judge alone re...NSA intercepts re 45's illegal classified documents holdings. This is barely end of act one of a five act Shakespearean black comedy that will be far bigger than the Rosenbergs, Aldritch and Hanssen, and Teapot Dome put together. America is going to see just how close 45 took the country not merely to a fascist dictatorshp but to a well-nigh complete moral inversion, starting with 'the truth' and culminating in the horrors of Dobbs, the immunity fuling (jesusgod), never mind school shootings and book bannings. Any bets this helps flip TX and FL blue? An interesting wager all of a sudden, isn't it?

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My mind is reeling! Very few of us in the general population have any idea of breadth and depth of the tentacles of evil twining around the globe. It is vitally important that we learn so we can rid ourselves of the offenders and the policies that cater to them! Thanks for your post.

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Hitler. “Evil twining around the globe.”

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It's a privilege ;)

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Brendan,

Holy Cow! Totally mind-boggling. Thank you for sharing this vital information. It sure would be great for TX and FL to flip blue. I will be thinking of you when they do.

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you're welcome...it's a privilege

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I'd feel more comfortable about that bet if they would effing HURRY UP!!! That'll need to get done by the 2nd week of October at the latest, or it'll be too late this cycle.

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hey Dave: As a data technologist, I acknowledge the election timeline but, mathematically speaking–the rigour of all reliable emotional intelligence data–we're in the midst of an emergent breaking up of orthodox media relationships/measurements, meaning: multidimensional context no one yet understands. This is kind of intelligence not even the best polling or focus group can unearth. Can't: was never designed to. Moreover, no one (least all of me) can 'predict' anything.

But I would offer two contextual 'metrics' that point to near-landslide dynamics boiling away: rate of voter registration *increase* and rate of small donation *increase*...both of which have network effects. In other words, things are accelerating for Harris, and the rate of increase is accelerating...and the network effects are accelerating both.

That spontaneous 'golf cart rally' @The Villages retirement community (yesterday? I can't keep track!) is a clear barometer something unprecedented is happening to the tectonic plates in the US electorate. Likewise NC. TX is also nearing the tipping point of mass GOP defections. Single women of all stripes are driving this, and not just Dobbs: daycare, education, healthcare, unionization....you name it.

Biden's astonishing achievements set the table. But Harris hasn't put a foot wrong in accelerating **everything**—it's the Hemingway bankruptcy notion: a little at first, then all at once, daily first, now hourly. My 21 year-old daughter (way smarter than I in the ways of the web) said something magical after the debate: 'Woke woke up.' And without corporate media.

This is a new New Deal in all but name, deploying socialist 'direct action' activation tactics (again, in all but name)...for my money, the biggest 'unlearning' in US politics sincce 1932. Bye bye Reaganism. You watch. I'm a Canadian who grew up an IBM brat of Brit parents and put myself through Vassar decades before student debt. Our media ain't yours: we see stuff reported here (incl THE GUARDIAN ICYMI) and the spillover effect of Harris on our politics is not to be underestimated.

The US, when it moves, is a sight to see. Suggest you take a look at George Friedman's THE STORM BEFORE THE CALM; Friedman founded Stratfor, a global commercial intelligence agency. Friedman predicted the broad outlines of all this (as did Peter Turchin, more or less). There are emergent patterns. And when they move...get your surfboard out. The generational waves are building.

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Thanks Brendan. Love to see Texas and Fla flip blue 💙.

My mind is reeling as well, how long before tRump falls out a window 🪟 or the media boys and girls? tRump will be a liability in the end.

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Wow! Thank you for this post.

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you're welcome...it's a privilege ;)

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Sep 6Liked by Jay Kuo

FB restored my post of this link after my explanation that this is important information! Yay.

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author

Ah, good. I have no idea why they were taking it down when folks shared it.

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Because Zuckerberg and FB have totally abdicated any sense of moral responsibility and just want to pull down “political speech”, whether completely accurate or Russian disinformation alike…

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Did they give any remotely plausible legitimate reason why it was taken down in the first place? It's just an article about a true thing that happened regarding recent FBI indictments and right-wingers being paid by Russia. I can't think of a reason it would be taken down other than that they don't want people to know about it.

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Thanks for writing this post. I have no idea you could request a revision of a Facebook post, since I’ve had very few taken down. Having said that, posted this on my Facebook page and it was immediately taken down, so I requested a review. Thank you so much, Toni. I hope it gets put back up.

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Zuck the - - - - (rhymes) has the RW The Dispatch "fact-checking" posts.

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I requested a review and they still took it down! Should we compare facebook "records?"

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I shared it to my personal page and to a group I belong to - both were taken down.

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Soooo happy I have NO social media!! Other than the newsletters I subscribe to.

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Yeah me too, face book and the first amendment part ways when it is convenient .

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DOJ, digging out the rot

that's infested our country.

Dig deeper!

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Nope. Not even thoughts and prayers. How about, “Get over it,” or “You can’t get upset every time something like this happens.” Scum of the earth.

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author

As Trump would say, “Get over it.”

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These right wing media people need to hire some lawyers or face the wrath of the federal government for treason in support of Russia. Probably this company is just the beginning for the investigation.

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Sep 6·edited Sep 6

Isn't there some technicality to trying someone for treason, like we have to actually have declared an enemy first? I don't think we've officially identified Russia as an enemy, have we? Maybe the most they could be charged with is acting as an undeclared agent for a foreign country....? I'm just asking because I'm not clear on this at all.

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Not a lawyer, but I think for treason we technically have to be at war with the country. However, they are under US sanctions so maybe there is something there?

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"Failure to register as a foreign agent" would be the relevant crime in this case.

"Butbutbut - I HAD NO IDEA."

So - you are an idiot? Just for the record, you understand.

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It’s got to be War O’Clock somewhere...

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Well, yeah - PRACTICALLY. Just not legally; can't reach "treason" from here, unfortunately.

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I hope so!

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We created this relationship map to trace how Putin's 'useful idiots' spreading Russian propaganda to are connected (using data from Status Kuo, Lucian Truscott and Heather Richardson). The map is online and easily updated with new developments and characters. Checkout the interactive map.

https://thedemlabs.org/2024/09/05/putin-paid-puppets-spread-russian-propaganda-follow-the-money/

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