The Robert Mueller Investigation

[sheeeit 129]

3 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

What's even better is the "there is no explanation for such a meeting other than the Trump campaign had a severe case of the stupids."

Well . . . yeah.

You goofballs have the reading comprehension of an 8 year old.  Trump co may indeed be monumentally stupid but that is not the point I was making.  I was saying that if the plan to work a massive conspiracy between trump and russia was going to be hatched and there was going to be russian election help to Trump and then sanctions easing to russia that it is too stupid for any sane person to believe that Russia/Putin, who you guys have called the master minds of espionage, would kick off the plan in the manner that is being suggested.  I do not think russia is that stupid.

 

What a plan.  I can just see the russian spy chiefs deciding they are going to perpetrate one of the biggest espionage operations in modern history and their collective plan was to have some unknown British music manager with a connection to a russian pop star send an email to Trump Jr on an open server and ask for a meeting.  Then have that music manager (who has zero connection to the russian govt and zero connection to anything intelligence related) sit in on the meeting so he can hear the entire collusion plan and just hope he doesn't say anything.  Then they are going to have a relatively unknown russian lawyer with zero history of spying conduct the meeting.  Further, just to make it really spy like, they will have her invite another person to join the meeting the day of the meeting who has zero connection to any of this and hope he doesn't say anything.  Then make sure there is another person there acting as an interpreter and hope he doesn't say anything.   Then have them waltz right into Trump Tower with a horde of media and constant cameras present.  Then just hope that Trump Jr does not have anyone on his side (considering they had no idea who would be attending the meeting from the Trump side) that will hear the pitch and hope they don't say something.

Maybe triple is actually the head of the gru and came up with this plan.

[sheeeit 129]

2 hours ago, TornACL said:

What the dipshit trolls fail to understand is that once you've accepted and participated in a meeting with the Russians and don't notify the FBI, you've colluded. You've conspired. End of story.

Sweet.  Mueller gets a lay up.

[JimmyJames 12271]

I’ve always suspected the importance of “the meeting” was overblown. But I also used to believe Trump didn’t coordinate with the Russians on his campaign. I now believe that was naive and wishful thinking.

[Tuco 5076]

Cool. Now play the same game with Maria Butina, is currently being held in jail because the Feds were able to provide reasonable cause that she is Russian intelligence. She was talked out of going on talk shows. This shit was hiding in plain sight. This isn’t a spy movie.

[Dahobbs 17417]

20 minutes ago, sheeeit said:

What a plan.  I can just see the russian spy chiefs deciding they are going to perpetrate one of the biggest espionage operations in modern history and their collective plan was to have some unknown British music manager with a connection to a russian pop star send an email to Trump Jr on an open server and ask for a meeting.  Then have that music manager (who has zero connection to the russian govt and zero connection to anything intelligence related) sit in on the meeting so he can hear the entire collusion plan and just hope he doesn't say anything.  Then they are going to have a relatively unknown russian lawyer with zero history of spying conduct the meeting.  Further, just to make it really spy like, they will have her invite another person to join the meeting the day of the meeting who has zero connection to any of this and hope he doesn't say anything.  Then make sure there is another person there acting as an interpreter and hope he doesn't say anything.   Then have them waltz right into Trump Tower with a horde of media and constant cameras present.  Then just hope that Trump Jr does not have anyone on his side (considering they had no idea who would be attending the meeting from the Trump side) that will hear the pitch and hope they don't say something.

Maybe triple is actually the head of the gru and came up with this plan.

So wait, your suggestion is that the masters of espionage would/should use people who have an open and obvious connections to the Russian government and a known history of spying? I'm not sure you understand . . . ummm, anything. 

Edited August 6, 2018 by Dahobbs

[Brisketexan 104425]

8 minutes ago, Tuco said:

Cool. Now play the same game with Maria Butina, is currently being held in jail because the Feds were able to provide reasonable cause that she is Russian intelligence. She was talked out of going on talk shows. This shit was hiding in plain sight. This isn’t a spy movie.

Correct.  There's a reason this has had the nickname "Stupid Watergate" from the beginning.  Asking "where's the cloak and dagger" is the wrong question -- acts of espionage and such are more often exercises of bumbling idiots being played with surprisingly minimal effort.  It's like accusing someone of not being a master thief, and therefore no theft occurred, simply because they walked up to a moron, said "hey, can I see your watch?", he gives it to them, and they walk off with it.  it's still theft.  It's just that it's hard to believe anyone is so stupid.

Well, as our president says "it's true, believe me."

[Anastasis 23356]

The Trump Tower meeting was always a massive political miscalculation. This isn't rocket science.  You immediately inform the FBI that you have been contacted by agents claiming to represent the Russian government, and that they have told you that they have obtained compromising information on Hillary Clinton.  The next minute you leak to one of your media partners the situation.  You get an on the record response along the lines of "The Trump Campaign will not comment directly on matters that pertain to an ongoing investigation related to Secretary Clinton. We will confirm however that we are working in close cooperation with the FBI to ensure the this matter is resolved in expedited fashion and that Secretary Clinton's actions do not adversely impact national security."  The Russians don't even have to deliver the goods, you just create them out of thin air. And maybe avoid some light treason in the process. 
 

[sheeeit 129]

8 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

So wait, your suggestion is that the masters of espionage would/should use people who have an open and obvious connections to the Russian government and a history of spying? Because I'm not sure you understand . . . ummm, anything. 

No you moron.  I am suggesting that it is seriously ridiculous to think that the Russian spy team would try and start a massive conspiracy operation targeting the potential POTUS using random people that they have absolutely no idea how they would react or act or anything.  It is comical.

And lets be clear.  I am not saying that this meeting proves there was no collusion.  Mueller still has to say that.  I am saying that there is no way that this meeting was the work of Putin and his spy team.  

 

[Nivek 16796]

You don't coordinate with a guy like Trump on something important and actually clandestine.  You work with him knowing it will ultimately come out due to his incompetence.  When everyone observes the shitshow that undermines the credibility/legitimacy of the administration and really tests the country and displays the corruption as the republicans run cover for him.   

[sheeeit 129]

13 minutes ago, Nivek said:

You don't coordinate with a guy like Trump on something important and actually clandestine.  You work with him knowing it will ultimately come out due to his incompetence.  When everyone observes the shitshow that undermines the credibility/legitimacy of the administration and really tests the country and displays the corruption as the republicans run cover for him.   

I actually kind of like this.  So the russians help trump but do not actually let trump know that they are helping.  Then, after he wins, they let it be known that they helped which in turn  creates chaos and causes the country to implode.

I kind of like that angle.  I mean it completely removes any conspiracy angle but it actually would be a pretty sinister plan.

[jimmyjazz 45494]

You don't coordinate with a guy like Trump on something important and actually clandestine.  You work with him knowing it will ultimately come out due to his incompetence.  When everyone observes the shitshow that undermines the credibility/legitimacy of the administration and really tests the country and displays the corruption as the republicans run cover for him.   

Exactly.  Putin's goal has always been to undermine Democracy.  I certainly believe they skewed their efforts towards Trump, because they knew Hillary was far more adept at foreign policy, but in the end, discord was the main goal.

Edited August 6, 2018 by jimmyjazz

[Dahobbs 17417]

11 minutes ago, sheeeit said:

No you moron.  I am suggesting that it is seriously ridiculous to think that the Russian spy team would try and start a massive conspiracy operation targeting the potential POTUS using random people that they have absolutely no idea how they would react or act or anything.  It is comical.

And lets be clear.  I am not saying that this meeting proves there was no collusion.  Mueller still has to say that.  I am saying that there is no way that this meeting was the work of Putin and his spy team.  

 

Your intellect is dazzling. You specifically pointed out that none of these folks have any obvious connection to spying or the Russian the government. The implication was that we'd expect them to because that is who spys would want to use.  

I also find it odd that you believe the plan absurd, presumably because you don't think it would ever work. The obvious retort: the evidence suggests that it did. You know, with the Russians now having a President who is baffling loyal to Putin. A President who held off implementing sanctions mandated by Congress for as long as possible. A President who believes Putin over his own intelligence agencies. I guess it is all just a coincidence, huh? 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

39 minutes ago, Nivek said:

You don't coordinate with a guy like Trump on something important and actually clandestine.  You work with him knowing it will ultimately come out due to his incompetence.  When everyone observes the shitshow that undermines the credibility/legitimacy of the administration and really tests the country and displays the corruption as the republicans run cover for him.   

[hobbes2702 12771]

Stop fucking quoting the troll.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

56 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Exactly.  Putin's goal has always been to undermine Democracy.  I certainly believe they skewed their efforts towards Trump, because they knew Hillary was far more adept at foreign policy, but in the end, discord was the main goal.

The end game is to exploit the population with leaders that have an ideology loyal and favorable to Putin’s worldview.  He needs to subvert democracy first, otherwise the success would only be short lived.  Of course all the disruption and chaos this causes is just an added bonus for Putin because a weaker America and West elevates his position. 

To understand this better you have to first know Putin’s personal political ideology.  Putin’s worldview very much mirrors what we call today the Alt-Right.  

Anti-globalism

Anti-immigrant

Anti-NATO

Anti-EU

Anti-establishment 

Homophobia 

Xenophobia 

Pro Neochristian fascism 

This is the way Putin governs in Russia.

The people in Russia do not have political opinions. If you ask any Russian what they think about a political topic, 9 out 10 of them would tell you the same thing which would be what they last heard on the television.

That’s how it works in totalitarian regimes.  The public opinion must mirror the state’s position coming from above.

In Russia, it comes through the television. 

This is what Trump wants for the United States.  He wants everyone to echo Fox News in their political speech and behavior.

It’s evil.

Edited August 7, 2018 by Hugo Stiglitz

[Nivek 16796]

Exactly.  Putin's goal has always been to undermine Democracy.  I certainly believe they skewed their efforts towards Trump, because they knew Hillary was far more adept at foreign policy, but in the end, discord was the main goal.

That and Putin could not have subverted an entire political party and a powerful lobbying organization on the left by sending only a 5 at best.

[Mdhorn 5908]

18 minutes ago, Nivek said:

That and Putin could not have subverted an entire political party and a powerful lobbying organization on the left by sending only a 5 at best.

Still think they hacked the votes.  When Trump said if Hillary won it was rigged, it was because he knew the votes were coming.  

 

[jimmyjazz 45494]

At this point I wouldn't be shocked by anything.  There is credible evidence that it is plenty easy to hack the machines that tally the vote totals.  Did it happen?  Beats me.  The standard view that such a possibility strains credibility is getting less and less defensible the more we learn about ties between Russia, the NRA, and dozens of Republican "leaders".  (And yes, it wouldn't shock me if some Dems were in the mix, too.)

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

Even if the Russians hacked votes, which I doubt, tens of millions of people wanted Trump to be the leader of the free world in this country.  

That’s a bigger problem.

[BurntOrange&White 39477]

Even if the Russians hacked votes, which I doubt, tens of millions of people wanted Trump to be the leader of the free world in this country.  
That’s a bigger problem.

Flawed opinion. Your opinion expects a huge demographic of Rs to just not vote for the party.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

8 minutes ago, Bevo VIII said:

Flawed opinion. Your opinion expects a huge demographic of Rs to just not vote for the party.

True.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

 

[Bozo_Casanova 26218]

As I’ve pointed out before, hacking voting machines and individually changing votes is the worst way to do this. The best way is targeted editing of the voter rolls.

[Tuco 5076]

Flawed opinion. Your opinion expects a huge demographic of Rs to just not vote for the party.

It also suggests that a plurality of Republicans wouldn’t vote for him in the primaries, against other Republicans.

[Bozo_Casanova 26218]

As I’ve pointed out before, hacking voting machines and individually changing votes is the worst way to do this*. The best way is targeted editing of the voter rolls.

* Wanted to add something to this. it’s the worst way to do it if the goal is to influence the outcome. It’s the best way to do it if the goal is to make the public feel unsure in Democratic institutions. Since both are in play a case can be made that both were at least attempted. But on the matter of whether hacking, specifically, impacted the outcome of the election the place to look is the voter rolls.

[Mojo Hand 4580]

18 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

* Wanted to add something to this. it’s the worst way to do it if the goal is to influence the outcome. It’s the best way to do it if the goal is to make the public feel unsure in Democratic institutions. Since both are in play a case can be made that both were at least attempted. But on the matter of whether hacking, specifically, impacted the outcome of the election the place to look is the voter rolls.

Wouldn't it be harder to detect changing the votes than changing the voter rolls?    There would be plenty of voters who know they are properly registered and would raise a red flag if they got bounced on election day.   There would be stories about thousands of voters wrongfully deleted from registration rolls.   But if you change the votes, nobody ever knows that his or her vote wasn't actually counted. 

[BrickHorn 18165]

19 minutes ago, Mojo Hand said:

Wouldn't it be harder to detect changing the votes than changing the voter rolls?    There would be plenty of voters who know they are properly registered and would raise a red flag if they got bounced on election day.   There would be stories about thousands of voters wrongfully deleted from registration rolls.   But if you change the votes, nobody ever knows that his or her vote wasn't actually counted. 

Exactly.  

 

 

[Lurch 5919]

[Anastasis 23356]

"I hereby submit, once again, for posterity, the single greatest exchange in the history of sworn testimony..."

 

Wrong.  We had better posted on shaggy.

[BurntOrange&White 39477]

Obviously never seen blacklabs

[Chad Fuck 17501]

9 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

"I hereby submit, once again, for posterity, the single greatest exchange in the history of sworn testimony..."

 

Wrong.  We had better posted on shaggy.

New motto?

[HenryJames 65865]

blacklab's real name is Donald Sterling?

[triplehorn 2664]

2 hours ago, Mojo Hand said:

Wouldn't it be harder to detect changing the votes than changing the voter rolls?    There would be plenty of voters who know they are properly registered and would raise a red flag if they got bounced on election day.   There would be stories about thousands of voters wrongfully deleted from registration rolls.   But if you change the votes, nobody ever knows that his or her vote wasn't actually counted. 

The Crosscheck system is where I’d look first.  It cancels out voters who appear to be registered to vote in more than one state at the time of the election.  So even if you appear properly registered on your state voter roll, your vote could be nullified ‘if you appear’ in another state’s voter roll participating in Crosscheck (pivotal  states did sign on to Crosscheck).

Now imagine if the goal of hacking was not to ‘erase’ registered voters from a state voter roll, but to ‘inject’ duplicate names in another state’s voter roll participating in Crosscheck.  Same result, but easy to miss if you are looking at it from the wrong direction.

As far as I know, Crosscheck is not a state voter roll, it’s a separate interstate software filter championed by kris kobach.  I don’t know what kind of records are kept about names and states of voters cancelled by Crosscheck.  I also assume that voters are not notified or are aware that their vote was cancelled by Crosscheck.

[babysdaddy 2711]

Has anyone met Sheeit in real life?

[jimmyjazz 45494]

3 hours ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

As I’ve pointed out before, hacking voting machines and individually changing votes is the worst way to do this. The best way is targeted editing of the voter rolls.

Two different "machines" -- those that individuals use to cast votes, and those that are used to tally those votes.  The latter have been shown to be ridiculously easy to hack.

[Bozo_Casanova 26218]

3 hours ago, Mojo Hand said:

Wouldn't it be harder to detect changing the votes than changing the voter rolls?    There would be plenty of voters who know they are properly registered and would raise a red flag if they got bounced on election day.   There would be stories about thousands of voters wrongfully deleted from registration rolls.  

But you don't need thousands, at least not in one place. You need a small random tranche in low number of specific precincts in key states. Some of the people will just walk away in disgust, and some who know they are properly registered will do what they always do and cast provisional ballots, which wind up counting. That's the small impact. But the larger impact is make the line to vote longer, which in turn supresses the vote in those locations. 

[yaqdum 182]

regarding the obvious and thorough lack of caution and judgment of the various perps, realize that they fully believed they were taking over the country and that by now the law would be what they wanted it to be whenever they wanted it.  their plan didn't go as intended, so the stupidity of believing that bologna is real, but their covering their tracks, etc, was thought to not be necessary.

flash forward to today and that carelessness has them in deep guacamole with beans.

bologna . . . guacamole . . . beans?  what time is lunch?

[Nivek 16796]

1 hour ago, babysdaddy said:

Has anyone met Sheeit in real life?

Putin

[Biff Tannen 45470]

21 minutes ago, yaqdum said:

regarding the obvious and thorough lack of caution and judgment of the various perps, realize that they fully believed they were taking over the country and that by now the law would be what they wanted it to be whenever they wanted it.  their plan didn't go as intended, so the stupidity of believing that bologna is real, but their covering their tracks, etc, was thought to not be necessary.

flash forward to today and that carelessness has them in deep guacamole with beans.

bologna . . . guacamole . . . beans?  what time is lunch?

[triplehorn 2664]

They all knew in advance.  And of course there were multiple different hacks for stolen information.

 

 

Edited August 7, 2018 by triplehorn

[yaqdum 182]

42 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

cheese and bacon.

[Chooky 13292]

3 hours ago, babysdaddy said:

Has anyone met Sheeit in real life?

It's hard to say because he usually introduces himself and then introduces three other people who aren't even there and says "it's good to meet you" each time he mentions the other names.  Then Sheeeit interrupts the person talking by answering a question he himself just asked.  People get fatigued and creeped out when they shake hands with a guy who they just met four times in a row.  Then they feel bad for being annoyed by someone with schizophrenia and they eventually completely forget who they just met.  Most people just remember saying "see you guys later" as he walks away alone.  

[Mdhorn 5908]

3 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Two different "machines" -- those that individuals use to cast votes, and those that are used to tally those votes.  The latter have been shown to be ridiculously easy to hack.

Also remember that the Russians wanted to observe the elections in person but were denied (supposedly). 

[Chad Fuck 17501]

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/07/politics/michael-cohen-tax-fraud/index.html

 

Quote

Wall Street Journal: Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen under investigation for possible tax fraud

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

8 minutes ago, Chad Fuck said:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/07/politics/michael-cohen-tax-fraud/index.html

 

 

I’m reading this as being what he might plea guilty to.

There is little doubt in my mind Cohen is under investigation for at least a dozen crimes.

Cohen is going to have to take a hit with any plea deal and tax fraud would be a good one that doesn’t run the risk of compromising any other investigations.

[NameAlreadyInUse 5104]

47 minutes ago, Chad Fuck said:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/07/politics/michael-cohen-tax-fraud/index.html

 

 

His offices were raided weeks ago, is this really breaking news?

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

10 minutes ago, NameAlreadyInUse said:

His offices were raided weeks ago, is this really breaking news?

It's a signal. 

Someone on Trump's team needed to see this or perhaps it's Trump driving a new narrative on Cohen.

"Cohen's tax fraud has NOTHING to do with Trump! I should have known he was a lying cheating attorney! Very dishonest, can't be trusted! I did nothing wrong! Witch HUNT! MAGA!"

[Tuco 5076]

25 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

It's a signal. 

Someone on Trump's team needed to see this or perhaps it's Trump driving a new narrative on Cohen.

"Cohen's tax fraud has NOTHING to do with Trump! I should have known he was a lying cheating attorney! Very dishonest, can't be trusted! I did nothing wrong! Witch HUNT! MAGA!"

I think it's the latter - someone on the Trump team driving the narrative away from Trump.  (Or someone in the GOP team driving it away from the GOP.) "People familiar with the investigation" is about as broad as you can get as far as sources.  It's in a Trump/GOP friendly source, the WSJ.  The Feds have been good about leaks, and I can't imagine any reason why it would come out of Cohen's camp. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

https://www.bayoubrief.com/2018/07/30/the-red-pelican/

The Louisiana Connection

In June of 2014, as a part of their fact-finding tour of America and after coordinating with a political operative from Texas, Aleksandra Krylova and Anna Bogacheva, both Russian nationals, made a stop in Louisiana, according to the allegations listed in an indictment handed down by Special Counsel Robert Mueller this February.

Mueller hasn’t yet specified where or with whom the women visited while in the Bayou State, but clearly, they weren’t here to party on Bourbon Street. They were allegedly in Louisiana to collect “intelligence” in advance of the 2016 presidential election.

A month after Mueller issued the indictments against Krylova and Bogacheva(along with eleven other Russians and three affiliated Russian companies), Rep. Steve Scalise, the House Majority Whip and a Republican from Louisiana’s first district, called for the appointment of a second special counsel tasked with investigating the FBI.

Two months later, Eric Dubelier, an attorney originally from New Orleans (with three degrees from Tulane and a notorious record in the 1980s as a prosecutor under former Orleans Parish District Attorney Harry Connick, Sr.), plunged headfirst into the footnotes of American history: He decided to represent Concord Management and Consulting LLC, one of the three Russian-linked companies charged in Mueller’s indictment (and the only company with American legal counsel).

Two days after Dubelier’s involvement made news, Sen. John Neely Kennedy, also a Republican from Louisiana, demanded that Mueller end his investigation completely because it “distracts in time, energy and taxpayer money.” (This year, by the way, Sen. Kennedy spent the Fourth of July in Russia, ostensibly to help lay the diplomatic groundwork for what ended up being a disastrous meeting in Helsinki between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump).

Six Degrees of Louisiana is a game I play on practically every story, and I also know that practically every story about a conspiracy between Russia and President Trump carries with it a stocked arsenal of ancillary conspiracies.

Still, it’s impossible to ignore the multiple connections between Louisiana, a state of only 4.7 million people, and the elaborate infrastructure allegedly established by the Russian government to help elect Donald Trump as President. The real question is: Why Louisiana?

During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and in the heyday of disaster capitalism, the Republican Party effectively controlled Louisiana, and at the time, it appeared they would remain in control for a least a generation.

The turnaround was astonishing: The GOP had resurrected itself from obscurity in the 1970s to complete dominance in the state only thirty years later, despite the fact that the majority of voters in Louisiana remained registered Democrats.

Historians may note that in 1979 Dave Treen became the first Republican governor of Louisiana since Reconstruction and that governors Buddy Roemer and Mike Foster also defected to the Republican Party. But Roemer was never elected as a Republican, and Foster switched parties shortly before qualifying as a candidate. It’s also worth noting that Dave Treen’s brother, John, lost the most consequential election in modern Louisiana history when a fellow Republican defeated him for a seat in the state house, despite entreaties from both Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.

John Treen is now 92, and when I spoke with him a couple of years ago, the only word I knew to use to describe him was “gentleman.” He should have won that election in 1989, but instead, David Duke won. And, as a result and despite the fact that he ultimately proved himself to be an unrelenting bigot and unapologetic criminal, David Duke has remained at the epicenter of Louisiana politics ever since.

Consider this: Eight days after Donald Trump announced his candidacy for President, a bizarre spectacle that involved paid actors and a theatrical ride down an escalator, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal launched his campaign. Jindal, of course, never broke through as a candidate and dropped out of the race only seven months later, but David Duke, the former klansman who had cultivated a following among the far-right in Russia- of all places, somehow became relevant again.

We do not yet know why, exactly, Aleksandra Krylova and Anna Bogacheva decided to make a pit stop in Louisiana.

The state’s media largely ignored this detail from the Mueller indictment, though at least one reporter speculated that there could be a connection between their visit in June of 2014 and the false story, apparently peddled by one of their Russian associates, of a chemical plant explosion in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana three months later.

That’s a tidy explanation, but I seriously doubt the disinformation campaign about a phony chemical plant explosion had anything to do with the reason the two Russian women tied to the Kremlin visited Louisiana.

According to the indictment, they were on a mission to collect intelligence on how to manipulate the 2016 elections, not on how to scare up people in rural Cajun Country about a disaster that almost instantly proved to have never occurred, and it is much more responsible to take the indictment at face value than to wildly speculate about alternative explanations.

The indictment strongly suggests these two women deliberately traveled here to meet with like-minded political operatives, and in my opinion, the most fascinating question in Louisiana politics is: Who were those operatives?

The second most fascinating question is: What relationships do those operatives have with elected officials in Louisiana?

It is a small state, and the universe of conservative political operatives is even smaller. But rest assured, no one mined David Duke for “intelligence” in 2014, and even though the alleged Russian spy and so-called Red Sparrow Maria Butina tried to troll Bobby Jindal, no one from Russia flew to Louisiana to meet with any of his team.

More likely than not, the people from Louisiana who met with Krylova and Bogacheva had no idea what they were doing at the time, though the picture has since probably come into full view.

When conservative Rob Maness ran for U.S. Senate in 2016, Warrior PAC, which was affiliated with members of his campaign, spent $480,000 with Cambridge Analytica to support Maness and to also support fellow Republicans Clay Higgins and Mike Johnson.

Cambridge Analytica is the firm accused of exploiting the personal data of millions of Facebook users in order to target them with disinformation.

“It might be the worst half-million dollars ever spent on a Louisiana campaign,” said John Mathis, Maness’s former campaign manager. Maness, of course, lost his race, but Higgins and Johnson are now both members of Congress.

In November of 2017, three months prior to Mueller’s indictment, Elizabeth Crisp of The Advocate dug through the more than 2,500 phony Twitter accounts that had been identified by Congress as the creation of the Russian company Internet Research Agency and found two accounts that specifically and prolifically targeted Louisiana voters during the 2016 elections. Both accounts were uniquely supportive of candidate Clay Higgins.

Later, one of the accounts even favorably shared Higgins’ offensive video tour of Auschwitz.

Perhaps all of this was ultimately inconsequential, nothing more than white noise. As someone who dealt directly with the Higgins campaign during the 2016 election, I would find it absolutely astonishing if they were even remotely aware that resources were being spent by the Russian government to support the candidacy of a viral video star who still refers to himself as “captain.”

But in this case, regardless of the intentionality, ignorance cannot be conflated with bliss, nor can it be used as an excuse for commonsense.

Two things should be certain: First, when any politician benefits at all from investments made by a foreign government (whether one wants to call it “collusion” or “meddling” or “treason” or just plain dumb luck), voters should be suspicious of any effort to shut down an investigation into those benefits.

And second, when Aleksandra Krylova and Anna Bogacheva landed at Louis Armstrong International Airport in late June of 2014, they likely didn’t rent a car and drive 100 miles to surveil a chemical plant.

More than likely, they never had to leave the confines of Jefferson Parish.

[TwiceHorn 31169]

23 hours ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

The people in Russia do not have political opinions. If you ask any Russian what they think about a political topic, 9 out 10 of them would tell you the same thing which would be what they last heard on the television.

 

Kind of off-topic, but I think the Russian people just tend to be this way.  They aren't far removed (100 years?) from basically serfdom and third or fourth world-ism.  It's why they're susceptible to totalitarian regimes.  It's a bit of chicken or egg.