This level of plotting seems eerily familiar in tone, although obviously not yet deed, to the kind of thinking that leads Putin to punk Tucker Carlson for not asking tough questions, then just hours later, killing his arch rival Navalny in an arctic prison.
Again, you earn a purple heart for digging into the weeds of these awful people.
I am incredibly saddened to hear of Navalny's death, which I didn't know about until reading your comment. There's no doubt in my mind that he was killed by Putin somehow.
I read about it earlier today, and I am also incredibly saddened by Navalny's death. He was only 47. Did you see the documentary "Navalny"? What a brave man with such impeccable integrity and conviction to fight against Putin's authoritarian regime! I am so sorry for his wife, family and everyone who admired and loved him.
Agreed. While I loathe and despise TC, it was obvious to me that he does not want to end his life by defenestration or in a Russian prison by asking Putin critical questions like why no one is allowed to run against him. Wonder what will happen to opposition candidate Boris Nadezhdin. https://www.npr.org/2024/02/08/1230179972/russia-anti-war-candidate-rejected
As we struggle to hold onto our democracy I feel sorry for Russians, who may have their caviar and sable fur coats, but without freedom how much can one really enjoy those things?
“it was obvious to me that he does not want to end his life by defenestration or in a Russian prison by asking Putin critical questions”
Carlson‘s reasoning for not asking Putin critical questions isn’t that he’s in fear for his life. It’s that he’s a huge fan of Putin and wants to do whatever he can to make Putin look good (and hopes that then Putin will pet him and call him "good boy').
The Russian Empire has been reduced to Muscovy (an old historical reference). Maybe St. Petersburg and a few other major cities. The hinterlands are desperately hurting. The hinterlands are also from where Muscovy pulls out its young men to get slaughtered at the front. People forget that when the Wagner Group started its march towards Moscow, they were cheered by the people in the towns on the road to Moscow. Today there was an article in the NYTimes saying Russia is doing just fine under the sanctions. I don't believe it.
As for Nadezhdin, I'm afraid he's toast unless he lays low.
I read that NYT article, and I do not believe it either. However, the NYT needs some different people in charge of hiring and editorial policy or they are just speaking nonsense. Their election coverage at this point is less than I would expect of my fourth graders. But, perhaps like Tucker Carlson, they are afraid to speak truth to a bully who might have them killed. Isn't that how Trump is seen? As a mob boss? One who just was told he has to pay. around 355 mil, plus the 8 mil for his sons. Can he take that up to the Supreme Court? I am sure he will try to appeal it, but in the meantime they cannot run a business in NY. Does that mean his daughter takes over?
I was just reading in Euro News earlier that EU countries cannot recruit anyone, and the USA is having difficulties too, because too many of the people they would recruit are obese and not fit enough to be in the military. This allows for White Supremacists to more easily slip in. Spain is talking about recruiting immigrants with a fast path to citizenship, something I have been recommending to happen in Ukraine. It is a smart way to go.
Trump can appeal, but he has to either pay the amount first, or post a 10% bond. Getting the bond should be difficult, although I suppose some idiot will provide it. That's $35 million. He also owes E Jean Carroll $83 million. He can't wiggle out of that. He also has legal fees for four criminal cases against him. The walls are closing in all around him. He is human. He has to know this and feel it in his gut.
I believe the entire Trump family is barred from running the business in NY but I might be wrong. At a minimum, they have to run all business transactions through a state-appointed supervisor of some kind.
For the NY Times, I have an ongoing page on this called The Trump Headline Corrector:
Charles, I love that you are correcting the NYT headlines. It was my understanding that Trump gets a lot of money from Putin, or I should say Russian banks. I was just reading about this earlier as the writer was speculating that with that much money coming from Russia, it certainly looks like Trump is on the FSB pay roll.
Thanks. I just hope more people start seeing it, lol. I don't know anything about Trump's direct relationship to Russian banks either way but it wouldn't surprise me. There isn't any question that he's in bed with Russian oligarchs, however:
Reuters found that at least 63 Russians have bought $98.4 million worth of property in seven Trump-branded luxury towers in southern Florida.
I'm pretty sure there's a lot more than that. Obviously, these all will involve Russian banks at least indirectly.
Way back in 2002 one of his major loan sources was a shady outfit called Axox, an online-only bank, because regular banks wouldn't touch him. Whether or not they have Russian connections I have no idea.
At the end of the day, I think people tend to forget the whole Cambridge Analytica / Steve Bannon thing where Facebook and other social media accounts were manipulated by hackers. They even did things like pump up Bernie (who I liked) to mess up Hillary. There was a lot of evidence that CA was tied to Putin's Russian Internet Research Agency, which is still manipulating American social media today.
Thank you for helping us understand this deeply disturbing and convoluted mess. Although Bill Barr has made attempts to rehabilitate his reputation, I have never trusted him for one minute, and this substantiates that feeling. James Comer and his team of nitwits are so in over their heads that it’s become comical. I wish they would put as much energy into actually doing something for their constituents as they put into their wild goose chase to hurt President Biden and his son. It sickens me that our tax dollars go to paying the salaries of these hopeless losers.
A lot of these people trying to rehabilitate their reputation would queue up at the Oval Office doors if Trump found a way to weasel back in, which he won't.
I would experience great joy if Bill Barr was somehow indicted because he was part of this disgusting scheme. That probably won’t happen, but I think Barr is way more corrupt than most people realize.
Barr deserves whatever he gets, even if ONLY for the “spin” he did for Trump in regards to the Mueller report. MAGA still likes to say that there was a “Russia hoax” but that “Hunter Biden’s laptop is REAL!” (Saw precisely that said on Facebook by a center-right friend’s wacky MAGA “friends”).
And after over a year of Fox, Hannity, et al drumming home the “Biden Crime Family” meme, they’ll literally NEVER believe anything you try to tell them. And the fact that this indictment comes from a Trump-appointed DOJ staff member that’s been trying to find partisan dirt on Hunter as the Special Council, it seems like it will be pretty hard to spin this as “the Biden DOJ being weaponized” against MAGA.
They really never give up making fools out of themselves. They can’t win elections, and they see the walls closing in on them, so instead of doing something that might attract voters, they continue to chase after pointless accusations to distract people. It’s a nonstop vicious cycle of stupidity.
And been so since GHW Bush days. He helped Reagan and GHW Bush to hide the evidence of their participation in Iran-Contra and Iraqgate. Then his next crooked boss, Donald J. Trump, had Barr once again doing his "General Cover-Up" job. Barr is every bit as corrupt as Trump, Comer, Reagan and both Bush I and II.
I forgot about Barr’s involvement in the Iran contra thing, which should’ve been enough to impeach Reagan. I was never for one moment persuaded by his J6 testimony, saying that he explained to his former boss that these election fraud theories were bullshit. How nice of him to do that, but it doesn’t make up for everything else he’s caused and done.
It's been a revolving door with those swamp-dwelling scumwads. Three of the right-wing fanatics on the Robert's Kangaroo court (including the head partisan hack, Roberts) were involved in preventing the votes in Florida from being counted so the election could be handed to Shrub (Bush Jr.). . .
Barr is also up to his neck in the Epstein death business and I suspect he riffled the files to eliminate anything about Trump & possibly get him blackmail material.
"Representative James Comer (R-KY) and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) repeatedly cited Smirnov’s false claims as evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Joe Biden. Yet they had been told numerous times by the Justice Department, that the information was untrustworthy."
Because Comer and Grassley repeatedly publicly shared this information despite being told numerous times it wasn't trustworthy isn't that grounds for a lawsuit by Hunter claiming defamation?
Yet most of these elected officials claim to be Christians but have no problems breaking the 9th Commandment, the one that says you “shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” And the hypocrisy keeps flowing.
I find it so confusing that Smirnov will face up to 25 years in prison for 2 counts of false statements and obstruction, when the Republican politicians and propaganda media face virtually no repercussions. This needs to change, with tougher penalties for the latter, before there is any hope for democracy.
Not on topic but very concerning, I called the SOS election division in my State and was told ballot placement of candidates was done at random, so my warning is not intended as a slight to this person but a heads up to please pay attention when completing your Primary ballot. Vote 💙 but do watch for WHO, a candidate with the name President R. Boddie is on the ballot (placed right above Joseph R. Biden on the ballot I received) as a Democrat. Be careful!
That's what Floriduh did in a previous election, two candidates with the same last name with one being non- existing! I wouldn't trust anyone who has an "R" next to their name !
That is what makes this so disturbing to me, this is supposedly a Democrat and if, as I was told, ballot placement is random then why could they not have placed such a confusing similarity elsewhere on the ballot?! CA usually does a really good job in providing a voter guide but this edition didn't contain the Presidential candidates, you had to go online to see their statements...and now I'll be a bit snarky and say that the guy with the name President R. Boddie seems very interested in the Treasury and inheriting blessings and I don't like that.
The irony that the same party that created the Select Subcommittee on Weaponization of Government has been weaponizing the government is not lost on us.
I read the Denver Gazette every day. It's a right-wing online new source. I pay particular attention to the comments posted by readers. This morning the comments on this story were a combination of "I'll never trust the FBI again" and "more evidence that the Biden Administration has weaponized the U.S. justice system, this time to shut down a witness who was going to nail Joe Biden." In other words, they are in complete denial. They find a way to write off every fact presented to them. Typical behavior of members of a cult.
I have friends in the cult and it makes so sad that they believe all the lies with absolutely no proof. These are otherwise intelligent people, except when it comes to 45.
I just KNEW the rightwingnutters would decide that Smirnov's indictment was done by the "gummint" to 'protect Joe'. Unbelievable that the cultists can simply, blithely ignore all the warnings this info had long since been deemed "unreliable", they just spin their own narratives. Idiots.
I expected them to say , they'll claim interference from President Biden. He's hiding things, etc. They really need to learn that just because they're getting away with this crap doesn't mean everyone does that.
Wow. Also curious if Director Wray, when he released this to Grassley, also added information about it being known to be false because that can be used to get over the high hurdle of defamation against a public figure.
Thank you for this post. I had a hunch there was a bad actor involved. Now let me ask what may be an obvious question: To what degree is Mr Smirnov 'affiliated' with Mr Putin?
Are you thinking this might involve Carlson and Putin? Because that's what I'm thinking. Could the reason they omitted these names be that the investigation is still ongoing?
Alexander Smirnov has been indicted on 2 counts of false statements and obstruction. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
Alex, look in the mirror and repeat, over and over, “Everything Trump Touches Dies” until you finally understand that this statement applies to you. You are not special enough to avoid the law of ETTD. Like so many before you who have been sucked into Trump’s orbit, you too will crash and burn into the black hole that is Trump.
Along the lines of troubling interference, below is about another report that didn't follow the law in the previous administration DOJ and also happens to contain precedent on a personal relationship during a case, nothing happened to either party so leave Fani in place please!
This level of plotting seems eerily familiar in tone, although obviously not yet deed, to the kind of thinking that leads Putin to punk Tucker Carlson for not asking tough questions, then just hours later, killing his arch rival Navalny in an arctic prison.
Again, you earn a purple heart for digging into the weeds of these awful people.
I am incredibly saddened to hear of Navalny's death, which I didn't know about until reading your comment. There's no doubt in my mind that he was killed by Putin somehow.
I read about it earlier today, and I am also incredibly saddened by Navalny's death. He was only 47. Did you see the documentary "Navalny"? What a brave man with such impeccable integrity and conviction to fight against Putin's authoritarian regime! I am so sorry for his wife, family and everyone who admired and loved him.
If that was the one on Frontline, I saw it. He was pretty amazing.
At a minimum, indirectly, seeing as he was poisoned, then sent to a prison in the arctic.
Maybe this will free up some Ukraine money, though.
While Congress is on "vacation"? Yeah, maybe. /s
I saw it on the BBC page earlier. Hope it’s not a glimpse of our future!
I didn't hear about it either.
Agreed. While I loathe and despise TC, it was obvious to me that he does not want to end his life by defenestration or in a Russian prison by asking Putin critical questions like why no one is allowed to run against him. Wonder what will happen to opposition candidate Boris Nadezhdin. https://www.npr.org/2024/02/08/1230179972/russia-anti-war-candidate-rejected
As we struggle to hold onto our democracy I feel sorry for Russians, who may have their caviar and sable fur coats, but without freedom how much can one really enjoy those things?
“it was obvious to me that he does not want to end his life by defenestration or in a Russian prison by asking Putin critical questions”
Carlson‘s reasoning for not asking Putin critical questions isn’t that he’s in fear for his life. It’s that he’s a huge fan of Putin and wants to do whatever he can to make Putin look good (and hopes that then Putin will pet him and call him "good boy').
Yup. Clueless fanboy . . .
Also, defenestration is one of my favorite words.
The Russian Empire has been reduced to Muscovy (an old historical reference). Maybe St. Petersburg and a few other major cities. The hinterlands are desperately hurting. The hinterlands are also from where Muscovy pulls out its young men to get slaughtered at the front. People forget that when the Wagner Group started its march towards Moscow, they were cheered by the people in the towns on the road to Moscow. Today there was an article in the NYTimes saying Russia is doing just fine under the sanctions. I don't believe it.
As for Nadezhdin, I'm afraid he's toast unless he lays low.
I read that NYT article, and I do not believe it either. However, the NYT needs some different people in charge of hiring and editorial policy or they are just speaking nonsense. Their election coverage at this point is less than I would expect of my fourth graders. But, perhaps like Tucker Carlson, they are afraid to speak truth to a bully who might have them killed. Isn't that how Trump is seen? As a mob boss? One who just was told he has to pay. around 355 mil, plus the 8 mil for his sons. Can he take that up to the Supreme Court? I am sure he will try to appeal it, but in the meantime they cannot run a business in NY. Does that mean his daughter takes over?
I was just reading in Euro News earlier that EU countries cannot recruit anyone, and the USA is having difficulties too, because too many of the people they would recruit are obese and not fit enough to be in the military. This allows for White Supremacists to more easily slip in. Spain is talking about recruiting immigrants with a fast path to citizenship, something I have been recommending to happen in Ukraine. It is a smart way to go.
Trump can appeal, but he has to either pay the amount first, or post a 10% bond. Getting the bond should be difficult, although I suppose some idiot will provide it. That's $35 million. He also owes E Jean Carroll $83 million. He can't wiggle out of that. He also has legal fees for four criminal cases against him. The walls are closing in all around him. He is human. He has to know this and feel it in his gut.
I believe the entire Trump family is barred from running the business in NY but I might be wrong. At a minimum, they have to run all business transactions through a state-appointed supervisor of some kind.
For the NY Times, I have an ongoing page on this called The Trump Headline Corrector:
https://ruminato.substack.com/p/trump-headline-corrector-february
I try to update it every few days. Not a lot of readers yet, but it will eventually because I'm very tenacious. :-)
Charles, I love that you are correcting the NYT headlines. It was my understanding that Trump gets a lot of money from Putin, or I should say Russian banks. I was just reading about this earlier as the writer was speculating that with that much money coming from Russia, it certainly looks like Trump is on the FSB pay roll.
Thanks. I just hope more people start seeing it, lol. I don't know anything about Trump's direct relationship to Russian banks either way but it wouldn't surprise me. There isn't any question that he's in bed with Russian oligarchs, however:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/12/21/how-russian-money-helped-save-trumps-business/
Reuters found that at least 63 Russians have bought $98.4 million worth of property in seven Trump-branded luxury towers in southern Florida.
I'm pretty sure there's a lot more than that. Obviously, these all will involve Russian banks at least indirectly.
Way back in 2002 one of his major loan sources was a shady outfit called Axox, an online-only bank, because regular banks wouldn't touch him. Whether or not they have Russian connections I have no idea.
At the end of the day, I think people tend to forget the whole Cambridge Analytica / Steve Bannon thing where Facebook and other social media accounts were manipulated by hackers. They even did things like pump up Bernie (who I liked) to mess up Hillary. There was a lot of evidence that CA was tied to Putin's Russian Internet Research Agency, which is still manipulating American social media today.
Thank you for helping us understand this deeply disturbing and convoluted mess. Although Bill Barr has made attempts to rehabilitate his reputation, I have never trusted him for one minute, and this substantiates that feeling. James Comer and his team of nitwits are so in over their heads that it’s become comical. I wish they would put as much energy into actually doing something for their constituents as they put into their wild goose chase to hurt President Biden and his son. It sickens me that our tax dollars go to paying the salaries of these hopeless losers.
A lot of these people trying to rehabilitate their reputation would queue up at the Oval Office doors if Trump found a way to weasel back in, which he won't.
I would experience great joy if Bill Barr was somehow indicted because he was part of this disgusting scheme. That probably won’t happen, but I think Barr is way more corrupt than most people realize.
Me too.
Barr deserves whatever he gets, even if ONLY for the “spin” he did for Trump in regards to the Mueller report. MAGA still likes to say that there was a “Russia hoax” but that “Hunter Biden’s laptop is REAL!” (Saw precisely that said on Facebook by a center-right friend’s wacky MAGA “friends”).
And after over a year of Fox, Hannity, et al drumming home the “Biden Crime Family” meme, they’ll literally NEVER believe anything you try to tell them. And the fact that this indictment comes from a Trump-appointed DOJ staff member that’s been trying to find partisan dirt on Hunter as the Special Council, it seems like it will be pretty hard to spin this as “the Biden DOJ being weaponized” against MAGA.
But, of course, they’ll certainly TRY!
They really never give up making fools out of themselves. They can’t win elections, and they see the walls closing in on them, so instead of doing something that might attract voters, they continue to chase after pointless accusations to distract people. It’s a nonstop vicious cycle of stupidity.
And been so since GHW Bush days. He helped Reagan and GHW Bush to hide the evidence of their participation in Iran-Contra and Iraqgate. Then his next crooked boss, Donald J. Trump, had Barr once again doing his "General Cover-Up" job. Barr is every bit as corrupt as Trump, Comer, Reagan and both Bush I and II.
I forgot about Barr’s involvement in the Iran contra thing, which should’ve been enough to impeach Reagan. I was never for one moment persuaded by his J6 testimony, saying that he explained to his former boss that these election fraud theories were bullshit. How nice of him to do that, but it doesn’t make up for everything else he’s caused and done.
It's been a revolving door with those swamp-dwelling scumwads. Three of the right-wing fanatics on the Robert's Kangaroo court (including the head partisan hack, Roberts) were involved in preventing the votes in Florida from being counted so the election could be handed to Shrub (Bush Jr.). . .
Contrary to Donald Trump‘s delusion, that was the biggest stolen election in US history.
Barr is also up to his neck in the Epstein death business and I suspect he riffled the files to eliminate anything about Trump & possibly get him blackmail material.
Exactly!!
🎯
"Representative James Comer (R-KY) and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) repeatedly cited Smirnov’s false claims as evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Joe Biden. Yet they had been told numerous times by the Justice Department, that the information was untrustworthy."
Because Comer and Grassley repeatedly publicly shared this information despite being told numerous times it wasn't trustworthy isn't that grounds for a lawsuit by Hunter claiming defamation?
Very hard to sue congressmembers, who enjoy a broad speech and debate clause privilege, even to lie.
Yet most of these elected officials claim to be Christians but have no problems breaking the 9th Commandment, the one that says you “shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” And the hypocrisy keeps flowing.
I need an angry button for this
😣😓
I think it should qualify as treason, too.
I find it so confusing that Smirnov will face up to 25 years in prison for 2 counts of false statements and obstruction, when the Republican politicians and propaganda media face virtually no repercussions. This needs to change, with tougher penalties for the latter, before there is any hope for democracy.
Great work, Jay. We just can’t trust a damn one of those trump/MAGA republicans.
Not on topic but very concerning, I called the SOS election division in my State and was told ballot placement of candidates was done at random, so my warning is not intended as a slight to this person but a heads up to please pay attention when completing your Primary ballot. Vote 💙 but do watch for WHO, a candidate with the name President R. Boddie is on the ballot (placed right above Joseph R. Biden on the ballot I received) as a Democrat. Be careful!
That's what Floriduh did in a previous election, two candidates with the same last name with one being non- existing! I wouldn't trust anyone who has an "R" next to their name !
That is what makes this so disturbing to me, this is supposedly a Democrat and if, as I was told, ballot placement is random then why could they not have placed such a confusing similarity elsewhere on the ballot?! CA usually does a really good job in providing a voter guide but this edition didn't contain the Presidential candidates, you had to go online to see their statements...and now I'll be a bit snarky and say that the guy with the name President R. Boddie seems very interested in the Treasury and inheriting blessings and I don't like that.
The irony that the same party that created the Select Subcommittee on Weaponization of Government has been weaponizing the government is not lost on us.
Their every accusation is actually a confession.
The lies just keep coming. I anxiously await the days these despicable traitors are in prison.
Or under it.
Agreed!
I read the Denver Gazette every day. It's a right-wing online new source. I pay particular attention to the comments posted by readers. This morning the comments on this story were a combination of "I'll never trust the FBI again" and "more evidence that the Biden Administration has weaponized the U.S. justice system, this time to shut down a witness who was going to nail Joe Biden." In other words, they are in complete denial. They find a way to write off every fact presented to them. Typical behavior of members of a cult.
I have friends in the cult and it makes so sad that they believe all the lies with absolutely no proof. These are otherwise intelligent people, except when it comes to 45.
I just KNEW the rightwingnutters would decide that Smirnov's indictment was done by the "gummint" to 'protect Joe'. Unbelievable that the cultists can simply, blithely ignore all the warnings this info had long since been deemed "unreliable", they just spin their own narratives. Idiots.
I expected them to say , they'll claim interference from President Biden. He's hiding things, etc. They really need to learn that just because they're getting away with this crap doesn't mean everyone does that.
Wow. Also curious if Director Wray, when he released this to Grassley, also added information about it being known to be false because that can be used to get over the high hurdle of defamation against a public figure.
Hard to get past the Speech and Debate clause privilege tho
Damn it, you’re correct of course - good thing I’m a cancer researcher and not a lawyer
Thank you for this post. I had a hunch there was a bad actor involved. Now let me ask what may be an obvious question: To what degree is Mr Smirnov 'affiliated' with Mr Putin?
Thanks Jay, invaluable insight, as always.
Remember when the promise was made to “drain the swamp”?? 🤣
Trump drained the Swamp right into the White House while he was there 😄
The overflow went into Congress.
True dat!
Are you thinking this might involve Carlson and Putin? Because that's what I'm thinking. Could the reason they omitted these names be that the investigation is still ongoing?
Same thoughts here. I don’t think this investigation is completed.
Excavating this deep was never supposed to happen. Barr wriggled away from something very illegal, or tried to after the fact, I'm willing to bet.
Alexander Smirnov has been indicted on 2 counts of false statements and obstruction. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
Alex, look in the mirror and repeat, over and over, “Everything Trump Touches Dies” until you finally understand that this statement applies to you. You are not special enough to avoid the law of ETTD. Like so many before you who have been sucked into Trump’s orbit, you too will crash and burn into the black hole that is Trump.
Have a nice day.
Along the lines of troubling interference, below is about another report that didn't follow the law in the previous administration DOJ and also happens to contain precedent on a personal relationship during a case, nothing happened to either party so leave Fani in place please!
https://abcnews.go.com/US/key-takeaways-justice-department-review-jeffrey-epstein-sweetheart/story?id=74222922
Her dad's testimony so far has been gold.