kpete
kpete's JournalNRA Was 'Foreign Asset' To Russia Ahead of 2016, New Senate Report Reveals
The National Rifle Association acted as a "foreign asset" for Russia in the period leading up to the 2016 election, according to a new investigation unveiled Friday by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon.
Drawing on contemporaneous emails and private interviews, an 18-month probe by the Senate Finance Committee's Democratic staff found that the NRA underwrote political access for Russian nationals Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin more than previously known — even though the two had declared their ties to the Kremlin.
The report, available here, also describes how closely the gun rights group was involved with organizing a 2015 visit by some of its leaders to Moscow.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-trump-ally-met-with-putins-deputy-in-moscow
Then-NRA vice president Pete Brownell, who would later become NRA president, was enticed to visit Russia with the promise of personal business opportunities — and the NRA covered a portion of the trip's costs.
MORE:
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/27/764879242/nra-was-foreign-asset-to-russia-ahead-of-2016-new-senate-report-reveals
🎵 These Loubout's are made for walkin'. 🎵
https://twitter.com/HoarseWisperer/status/1177584516942090247
David Corn: I think this would count as evidence in any competency hearing.
https://twitter.com/DavidCornDC/status/1177573923451494403
George Washington Warned Us About Saudi Arabia
It's haunting how accurately our first president predicted our "foreign entanglements" with Riyadh.
President Donald Trump wants to outsource U.S. policy to Riyadh. After the recent attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil fields, he tweeted that his administration was “locked and loaded,” but was “waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!” He later ordered American forces to Saudi Arabia to garrison the Middle East’s most brutally repressive and dangerously aggressive state.
(snip) Now he is acting as if American armed forces constitute the royals’ personal bodyguards, at the crown prince’s beck and call.
It was fear of precisely this kind of obsequious subservience to foreign nations and interests that prompted President George Washington to issue his famous 1796 Farewell Address. (snip)
Centuries later, however, Washington’s words still resonate. His message was clear: “Nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest.”
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/george-washington-warned-us-about-saudi-arabia/
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A letter to Sen. Rob Portman:
A friend wrote this letter to Sen. Rob Portman yesterday:
Bill Clinton had a fling with an intern and lied under oath, and you were in favor of impeachment because "truth must be the bedrock of our judicial system." Yet, in the Oval Office sits a man who has lied over 12,000 times since taking office not even 3 years ago and you say... nothing. And now, with our national security at stake, that same man is plotting with a foreign country to "get dirt" on a political opponent in the 2020 election, in violation of the Constitution, and you say... nothing. The President has said publicly that he would definitely talk to foreign countries about any information they have about his political opponents, and you said ... nothing. He has lifted the sanctions on Russia that were levied as punishment for the invasion and annexation of Crimea. This man has (allegedly) violated the Constitution multiple times and violated his pledge to protect and defend the United States and you think it is NOT important to investigate further? Yes, the American people want to get things done. But MOST importantly, the American people and in particular, YOUR constituents, want YOU to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against its enemies, both foreign and domestic. Unless this president is held accountable for his MANY high crimes and misdemeanors, America will no longer be the land which aspires to "liberty and justice for all." Instead, it will resemble a third-world country run by powerful and wealthy mob boss dictators--you know, like Russia. Stand up for our country and live up to the pledge you took to defend our Constitution! Impeachment proceedings are the only remedy. We MUST have sunlight on the actions of this president. Live up to your oath of office! In case you forgot it, here it is: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/9/27/1888256/-Abbreviated-pundit-roundup-Holding-the-administration-accountable#comment_75060990
Nancy Pelosi on Trump-Ukraine: "By the way, I think Russia has a hand in this, by the way."
It was soon after the July 25 Ukraine call -- and before military aid to Ukraine was restored -- that Trump started advocating for Russia to rejoin the G7.
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1177560334787371008
"The dead hooker that the GOP has chained itself to.... is starting to smell."
https://twitter.com/BayouOwl/status/1177089756691234817MADNESS AT FOX NEWS AS TRUMP FACES IMPEACHMENT
“IT’S MANAGEMENT BEDLAM”: MADNESS AT FOX NEWS AS TRUMP FACES IMPEACHMENTA Trump identity crisis at Fox as Hannity frets, Lachlan Murdoch prepares for a post-Trump future, Paul Ryan whispers in Rupert’s ear, and Shep Smith and Tucker Carlson trade blows.
In public, Donald Trump’s allies are putting on a brave face, repeating talking points, mostly staying on message. But in private, there are few who believe that the allegations leveled by an intelligence agency whistle-blower that Trump abused American foreign policy to leverage Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden won’t result in considerable damage—if not the complete unraveling of his presidency. “I don’t see how they don’t impeach,” a former West Wing official told me today. “This could unwind very fast, and I mean in days,” a prominent Republican said.
Trump’s final bulwark is liable to be his first one: Fox News. Fox controls the flow of information—what facts are, whether allegations are to be believed—to huge swaths of his base. And Republican senators, who will ultimately decide whether the president remains in office, are in turn exquisitely sensitive to the opinions of Trump’s base. But even before the whistle-blower’s revelations, Fox was having something of a Trump identity crisis, and that bulwark has been wavering. In recent weeks, Trump has bashed Fox News on Twitter, taking particular issue lately with its polling, which, like other reputable polls, has shown the president under significant water. Meanwhile, Trump’s biggest booster seems to be having doubts of his own. This morning, Sean Hannity told friends the whistle-blower’s allegations are “really bad,” a person briefed on Hannity’s conversations told me. (Hannity did not respond to a request for comment). And according to four sources, Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch is already thinking about how to position the network for a post-Trump future. A person close to Lachlan told me that Fox News has been the highest rated cable network for seventeen years, and “the success has never depended on any one administration.” (A Fox Corp spokesperson declined to comment.)
Inside Fox News, tensions over Trump are becoming harder to contain as a long-running cold war between the network’s news and opinion sides turns hot. Fox has often taken a nothing-to-see-here approach to Trump scandals, but impeachment is a different animal. “It’s management bedlam,” a Fox staffer told me. “This massive thing happened, and no one knows how to cover it.” The schism was evident this week as a feud erupted between afternoon anchor Shepard Smith and prime-time host Tucker Carlson. It started Tuesday when Fox legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano told Smith on-air that Trump committed a “crime” by pressuring Ukraine’s president to get dirt on Biden. That night, Carlson brought on former Trump lawyer Joe diGenova, who called Napolitano a “fool” for claiming Trump broke the law. Yesterday, Smith lashed back, calling Carlson “repugnant” for not defending Napolitano on air. (Trump himself is said to turn off Fox at 3 p.m., when Shep Smith airs.) Seeking to quell the internecine strife before it carried into a third day, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and president Jay Wallace communicated to Smith this morning to stop attacking Carlson, a person briefed on the conversation said. “They said if he does it again, he’s off the air,” the source said. (Fox News spokesperson Irena Briganti denied that management had any direct conversation with Smith).
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/09/madness-at-fox-news-as-trump-faces-impeachment-lachlan-murdoch
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