Russian navy conducts major maneuvers near Alaska

MOSCOW — The Russian navy conducted major war games near Alaska involving dozens of ships and aircraft, the military said Friday, the biggest such drills in the area since Soviet times.

Russia’s navy chief, Adm. Nikolai Yevmenov, said that more than 50 warships and about 40 aircraft were taking part in the exercise in the Bering Sea, which involved multiple practice missile launches.

“We are holding such massive drills there for the first time ever,” Yevmenov said in a statement released by the Russian Defense Ministry.

It wasn’t immediately clear when the exercises began or if they had finished.

Yevmenov emphasized that the war games are part of Russia’s efforts to boost its presence in the Arctic region and protect its resources.

“We are building up our forces to ensure the economic development of the region,” he said. “We are getting used to the Arctic spaces.”

The Russian military has rebuilt and expanded numerous facilities across the polar region in recent years, revamping runways and deploying additional air defense assets.

Russia has prioritized boosting its military presence in the Arctic region, which is believed to hold up to one-quarter of the Earth’s undiscovered oil and gas. Russian President Vladimir Putin has cited estimates that put the value of Arctic mineral riches at $30 trillion.

Russia’s Pacific Fleet, whose assets were taking part in the maneuvers, said the Omsk nuclear submarine and the Varyag missile cruiser launched cruise missiles at a practice target in the Bering Sea as part of the exercise.

The maneuvers also saw Onyx cruise missiles being fired at a practice target in the Gulf of Anadyr from the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula, it added.

As the exercise was ongoing, U.S. military spotted a Russian submarine surfacing near Alaska on Thursday. U.S. Northern Command spokesman Bill Lewis noted that the Russian military exercise is taking place in international waters, well outside U.S. territory.

Lewis said the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command were closely monitoring the submarine. He added that they haven’t received any requests for assistance from the Russian navy but stand ready to assist those in distress.

Russian state RIA Novosti news agency quoted Russia’s Pacific Fleet sources as saying that the surfacing of the Omsk nuclear submarine was routine.

Also late Thursday, NORAD sent F-22 fighter jets to intercept three groups of two Tu-142 Russian maritime patrol aircraft that came close to Alaska.

The Russian aircraft remained in the area for about five hours and came within 50 nautical miles of Alaska. Officials said the Russian jets remained in international air space, and at no time entered United States or Canadian sovereign air space.

“Our northern approaches have had an increase in foreign military activity as our competitors continue to expand their military presence and probe our defenses,” Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, commander of NORAD, said in a statement. “This year, we’ve conducted more than a dozen intercepts, the most in recent years. The importance of our continued efforts to project air defense operations in and through the north has never been more apparent.”

It cited former Russian navy’s chief of staff, retired Adm. Viktor Kravchenko, as saying that by having the submarine surface in the area the navy may have wanted to send a deliberate signal.

“It’s a signal that we aren’t asleep and we are wherever we want,” RIA Novosti quoted Kravchenko as saying.

The presence of Russian military assets in the area caused a stir for U.S. commercial fishing vessels in the Bering Sea on Wednesday.

“We were notified by multiple fishing vessels that were operating out the Bering Sea that they had come across these vessels and were concerned,” U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Kip Wadlow said Thursday.

The Coast Guard contacted the Alaskan Command at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, which confirmed the ships were there as part of a pre-planned Russian military exercise that was known to some U.S. military officials, he said.

The Russian military has expanded the number and the scope of its war games in recent years as Russia-West relations have sunk to their lowest level since the Cold War after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, and other crises.

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-...rs-near-alaska/

And only silence from The White House.

Did they enter U.S. water?


Let's say you were president. What would your response have been, or would be?

I'm not the president. However, at the very least he could have made a statement regarding the issue. He could have publicly admonished Russia.

What we do see here is that with Trump as president they feel more emboldened in doing such things as any time since the cold war. Since they've never done anything like this since the cold war. And all we hear are crickets.

So does saying or doing nothing seem like the proper response to you?

Russia needs to move in close so they can disembark to vote.

Don't tell Mac, he thinks Trump and Putin are buds!

So yet another nothing burger from this White House.

The voice of being hard on Russia. “Russia if you’re listening?” the hardest on Russia than any president ever...Lol

Putin did make it clear who he wanted our president to be so at least you're man enough that you're willing to admit you want Russian help to re-elect Trump.

Still waiting for you to be man enough to realize Russia is just practicing in case of a Democrat victory, making Alaska ripe for the taking.

Once again you try to blame democrats for the weakness of Trump. Yet they never did any of this when Obama and Biden were running things.

As per usual, excuses for trump's weakness.

It's all yours LWL. I am outta time.

Well of course you are Karen.

Why would anyone admonish Russia? The article clearly states the actions are taking place in international waters. Last I checked, that means open seas.........ya know?

Just like the U.S. does.

You are talking to a guy who yells at his neighbor's kids for playing in their own yard!

IF the kids are in a park, ain't nothing he can do about it. International waters and airspace are a park - anyone is free to go there. Had trump even made a statement, the left would've blown a gasket stating exactly what I'm stating.

I mostly agree with what you are saying except I think the Left will blow a gasket whether Trump says something or nothing.

FYI You’re confusing “busting a gut” with “blowing a gasket.” again

I haven't worried about Russians since Sarah Palin informed me she was keeping an eye on them.

Countries like playing games of chicken all the time.

But it says something that Russia has been really threading the needle under trump. They absolutely behave as though they know there won’t be any consequences to their behavior.

Only you didn't bother to see where their fighter jets threatened one of our B-52 bombers. Or did you ignore that part? Let me show you the things you try to ignore when you don't care enough to seek the truth.

This Russian Russian fighter jet came so close to one of our B-52'a that it caused massive turbulence to the plane. But I guess this is no big deal to you either.



What this video does not show is the part where the Russian fighter jet flew so close across the nose of the B-52 they almost collided. But of course to those who make excuses for Trump's silence, that's no big deal.

Yet you'll never know because Trump will say nothing against Putin. Enjoy comrade.

Correct. I did not see that. In the article it looked like an ad. My bad.

I did notice it happened in the black sea - well, OVER the black sea.

The U.S. did the same near alaska. https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-...rs-near-alaska/

The same, minus the dangerous flying.

What MORE is the u.s. military to do? Start a war? Over something we also do, in international airspace?

As I said, I'm not the president. I don't have those answers. Here are couple of things I can say. Nothing isn't the answer. Being silent and refusing to even send a message to Putin isn't the answer. Speaking out against it would certainly be a logical response. And if we did the same thing when they were "close to Alaska" I wonder if that was in our air space or at least so close to Alaska it was deemed a threat?

I'm not for starting a war with Russia over something like this. But sometimes silence can be deafening. It's no response I find troubling.

From the article I posted:

The russian bommbers DID get within 32 nautical miles, and the second wave with in 20 nautical miles, but apparently that is still considered international airspace.

Again, what would YOU have done, as president? I know you aren't the president, yet you have no issue/problem blaming. What would YOU do as president when another country does exactly as we do, in international waters or airspace?

React? I promise, if Trump had said something, you would be the first saying he was escalating the thing. He says nothing, and you want to blame him as well.

This is just crap you make up. It's not unexpected yet it's nothing more than some supposition you try and use to discredit anyone who disagrees with Trump.

At the very least I would have made a public statement that Russia is trying to escalate tension between our countries. That they had conducted conducted major military maneuvers near Alaska the likes of which have not been seen since the cold war. That they have used moves that have threatened one of our bombers very close to Alaska which are very combative in nature. That we do not take these moves lightly and we will be watching closely to see how they proceed moving forward.

So far your answer is say nothing and do nothing. But then when our president tells Putin he takes his word over our own intelligence community, that's about all we can expect isn't it?

One of the biggest questions of this president has been his unwillingness to address Russia on basically anything. Here was the perfect opportunity to at least lessen that perception. And no, I have never spoke out against any president for standing strong against Russia. Whether that president has been Republican or Democrat. So your made up scenario only holds water with those who wish to believe it or it makes them feel better when making excuses for Trump.

Ive lived near Norfolk VA for most of my life. They'd cruise subs and ships up and down our coast all the time on their way to and from cuba. It would barely make the news. This is nothing new to those of us that remember the cold war. Our sub guys are probably happy they have their noisy subs to chase about the Atlantic again.

One problem. The cold war is over and this is unprecedented since anything since the cold war. These were war games they were conducting. Not just "cruising by" on their way somewhere.

Cool. But, the moves on our bomber were over the black sea. I'll have to check, but off the top of my head, the black sea isn't near alaska.

OH. Found it. https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=where+is+the+black+sea&fr=yfp-t&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F-UlcbuFjFjWg%2FTZijdusvPDI%2FAAAAAAAAAWU%2FaGIERIrxm98%2Fs1600%2FLaut-Hitam.png#id=0&iurl=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F-UlcbuFjFjWg%2FTZijdusvPDI%2FAAAAAAAAAWU%2FaGIERIrxm98%2Fs1600%2FLaut-Hitam.png&action=click



Look there's a lot you can fault trump for, but this issue? As Biden would say "C'mon man. It's, the black sea is, look, if you, c'mon man, God Bless ya, but, look, if you know the deal, I mean. Well, I've spoken too long. I was going to say something I didn't want to say."

Well we all know that the Revolutionary army stormed the airports, so...

You keep using that weak ass BS.

All while supporting a man that needs two hands to drink a glass of water and takes three minutes while holding the handrail to walk down a ramp.

So the location of the B-52 is why you feel it's fine for Russia to do what they did? Perfect!

here is Trump's response for what he would do in his second term...

"But so I think, I think it would be, I think it would be very, very, I think we'd have a very, very solid, we would continue what we're doing, we'd solidify what we've done, and we have other things on our plate that we want to get done," Trump told The New York Times' Peter Baker.

National Security
Silent Running
Russian attack submarine sailed in Gulf of Mexico undetected for weeks, U.S. officials say

Bill Gertz - August 14, 2012

A Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine armed with long-range cruise missiles operated undetected in the Gulf of Mexico for several weeks and its travel in strategic U.S. waters was only confirmed after it left the region, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

It is only the second time since 2009 that a Russian attack submarine has patrolled so close to U.S. shores.

The stealth underwater incursion in the Gulf took place at the same time Russian strategic bombers made incursions into restricted U.S. airspace near Alaska and California in June and July, and highlights a growing military assertiveness by Moscow.

The submarine patrol also exposed what U.S. officials said were deficiencies in U.S. anti-submarine warfare capabilities—forces that are facing cuts under the Obama administration’s plan to reduce defense spending by $487 billion over the next 10 years.

The Navy is in charge of detecting submarines, especially those that sail near U.S. nuclear missile submarines, and uses undersea sensors and satellites to locate and track them.

The fact that the Akula was not detected in the Gulf is cause for concern, U.S. officials said.

The officials who are familiar with reports of the submarine patrol in the Gulf of Mexico said the vessel was a nuclear-powered Akula-class attack submarine, one of Russia’s quietest submarines.

A Navy spokeswoman declined to comment.

One official said the Akula operated without being detected for a month.

"The Akula was built for one reason and one reason only: To kill U.S. Navy ballistic missile submarines and their crews," said a second U.S. official.

"It’s a very stealthy boat so it can sneak around and avoid detection and hope to get past any protective screen a boomer might have in place," the official said, referring to the Navy nickname for strategic missile submarines.

The U.S. Navy operates a strategic nuclear submarine base at Kings Bay, Georgia. The base is homeport to eight missile-firing submarines, six of them equipped with nuclear-tipped missiles, and two armed with conventional warhead missiles.

"Sending a nuclear-propelled submarine into the Gulf of Mexico-Caribbean region is another manifestation of President Putin demonstrating that Russia is still a player on the world's political-military stage," said naval analyst and submarine warfare specialist Norman Polmar.

"Like the recent deployment of a task force led by a nuclear cruiser into the Caribbean, the Russian Navy provides him with a means of ‘showing the flag’ that is not possible with Russian air and ground forces," Polmar said in an email.

The last time an Akula submarine was known to be close to U.S. shores was 2009, when two Akulas were spotted patrolling off the east coast of the United States.

Those submarine patrols raised concerns at the time about a new Russian military assertiveness toward the United States, according to the New York Times, which first reported the 2009 Akula submarine activity.

The latest submarine incursion in the Gulf further highlights the failure of the Obama administration’s "reset" policy of conciliatory actions designed to develop closer ties with Moscow.

Instead of closer ties, Russia under President Vladimir Putin, an ex-KGB intelligence officer who has said he wants to restore elements of Russia’s Soviet communist past, has adopted growing hardline policies against the United States.

Of the submarine activity, Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said, "It's a confounding situation arising from a lack of leadership in our dealings with Moscow. While the president is touting our supposed ‘reset' in relations with Russia, Vladimir Putin is actively working against American interests, whether it's in Syria or here in our own backyard."

The Navy is facing sharp cuts in forces needed to detect and counter such submarine activity.

The Obama administration’s defense budget proposal in February cut $1.3 billion from Navy shipbuilding projects, which will result in scrapping plans to build 16 new warships through 2017.

The budget also called for cutting plans to buy 10 advanced P-8 anti-submarine warfare jets needed for submarine detection.

In June, Russian strategic nuclear bombers and support aircraft conducted a large-scale nuclear bomber exercise in the arctic. The exercise included simulated strikes on "enemy" strategic sites that defense officials say likely included notional attacks on U.S. missile defenses in Alaska.

Under the terms of the 2010 New START arms accord, such exercises require 14-day advanced notice of strategic bomber drills, and notification after the drills end. No such notification was given.

A second, alarming air incursion took place July 4 on the West Coast when a Bear H strategic bomber flew into U.S. airspace near California and was met by U.S. interceptor jets.

That incursion was said to have been a bomber incursion that has not been seen since before the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

It could not be learned whether the submarine in the Gulf of Mexico was an Akula 1 type submarine or a more advanced Akula 2.

It is also not known why the submarine conducted the operation. Theories among U.S. analysts include the notion that submarine incursion was designed to further signal Russian displeasure at U.S. and NATO plans to deploy missile defenses in Europe.

Russia’s chief of the general staff, Gen. Nikolai Makarov, said in May that Russian forces would consider preemptive attacks on U.S. and allied missile defenses in Europe, and claimed the defenses are destabilizing in a crisis.

Makarov met with Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in July. Dempsey questioned him about the Russian strategic bomber flights near U.S. territory.

The voyage of the submarine also could be part of Russian efforts to export the Akula.

Russia delivered one of its Akula-2 submarines to India in 2009. The submarine is distinctive for its large tail fin.

Brazil’s O Estado de Sao Paoli reported Aug. 2 that Russia plans to sell Venezuela up to 11 new submarines, including one Akula.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow’s military is working to set up naval replenishment facilities in Vietnam and Cuba, but denied there were plans to base naval forces in those states.

Asked if Russia planned a naval base in Cuba, Lavrov said July 28: "We are not speaking of any bases. The Russian navy ships serve exercise cruises and training in the same regions. To harbor, resupply, and enable the crew to rest are absolutely natural needs. We have spoken of such opportunities with our Cuban friends." The comment was posted in the Russian Foreign Ministry website.

Russian warships and support vessels were sent to Venezuela in 2008 to take part in naval exercises in a show of Russian support for the leftist regime of Hugo Chavez. The ships also stopped in Cuba.

Russian Deputy Premier Dmitri Rogozin announced in February that Russia was working on a plan to build 10 new attack submarines and 10 new missile submarines through 2030, along with new aircraft carriers.

Submarine warfare specialists say the Akula remains the core of the Russian attack submarine force.

The submarines can fire both cruise missiles and torpedoes, and are equipped with the SSN-21 and SSN-27 submarine-launched cruise missiles, as well as SSN-15 anti-submarine-warfare missiles. The submarines also can lay mines.

The SSN-21 has a range of up to 1,860 miles.

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/silent-running/

Quote, from your post above:

Never happened bud.

Your failed attempt at making the U.S. look weak because of trump is troubling. The bomber you speak of was off the coast of Russia.

Our F-22's did the exact same thing off the coast of Alaska to their bombers, in international air space mind you. (minus the recklessness - which in the situation over the black sea, NATO even condemned).

So your excuse for Trump being weak against Russia is, "Well Obama was weak too".

So NATO condemned what we did but we should be silent about what Russia did?

Oh, and you think the location makes it different for them to threaten our bombers. Got it.

Nah dude. YOu follow along like a mutt. NATO condemned what the russian fighters did over the black sea.

Damn man, maybe you should go back to jr. high and take "understanding the written language"

Last word Larry.

Arch,

come on man. as i posted before, countries like playing chicken with each other, but even you need to admit that Trump allows russia to get away with a lot.

for god's sake, his response to reports of Russia paying bounties on US soldiers was to fight for them to get back into the G7.

thats not the actions of a guy who would punish russia IF they did do something reckless.

so to be clear: Trump should do absolutely nothing about dick measuring contest over international waters. but its the overall fact that he's overly friendly with russia and constantly trying to gain favor of Putin that is the larger concern.

Awe... Ran out of Trump excuses?

bro did you see the article about Trump yelling at Flynn about missing a call with Putin?

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-mike-flynn-vladimir-putin-nick-timothy-shouted-1528036

dude yelled at him in front of everybody over that. good lord, you'd think he'd missed a phone call with God or something.

Well, since when is it a big deal for a foreign nation to put a bounty on the heads of our soldiers? Oh that's right, Trump has ignored the intelligence about that too.

Ah, so now you twist and turn again into a different discussion?

Maybe Putin is supposed to hook him up with his next mail order bride? But want to be dictators put current dictators on a pedestal. I mean Trump said it himself. He said he's in love with the dictator of North Korea.

Can you imagine the stroke Republicans would be having if a Democrat president ever said something like that or that they believed Putin over our own intelligence community?

But all they have are cheap excuses and blame us for TDS. What a crock.

I'll reply to this later. Even though you have flat out called me a racist on many occasions, I still read your posts with an open mind. Unlike last word larry.

bro you've called me all kinds of crap on this board and we've still moved on.

tis the way of DT. look and Vers and I. trash each other constantly and still reply to one another.

i'm too old to be holding grudges. you're DEFINITELY too old to be doing that.

Which one would you like? The fact that Russia just conducted the biggest war games off the coast of Alaska since the cold war? Or that they threatened one of our bombers over open water?

In case you missed it, neither of those are good things no matter how much you protest. But you see, those aren't isolated incidents in regards to Russia no matter how much you would like to ignore the situation in its totality.

Or the one where you try to blame everyone else for it by using stupid BS like LWL? Unless you think a dumb comment like that was staying on topic?



Of course looking at only one aspect of it would be best for you.

Way to stay on topic!

thankfully the military personnel aren't supporting the clown anymore.

US bounties, Trump selling us off to the Saudis as if we're mercenaries, etc.

If obama stood side by side with putin and took his side over our own US intelligence agencies, the republicans would've had him impeached and removed from office before he even landed back in the states from Helsinki.

Trump? they completely ignored it.

No, no he's not.

j/c

World War 3 fears: US intercepts six Russian warplanes in furious Alaskan coast standoff
WORLD War 3 fears have been ignited once again after the US intercepted six Russian military warplanes near Alaska's coast.
By STEVEN BROWN
PUBLISHED: 16:17, Sun, Aug 30, 2020 | UPDATED: 16:17, Sun, Aug 30, 2020

According to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), launched a F-22 fighter aircraft to intercept three groups of two Tu-142 Russian maritime patrol aircraft which entered the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

The planes were believed to have loitered in the zone for around five hours and crept within 50 nautical miles of the shoreline.

However, the Russian aircrafts stayed in international airspace and did not enter US or Canadian airspace.

NORAD’s commander, Air Force General Glen VanHerck said: “Our northern approaches have had an increase in foreign military activity as our competitors continue to expand their military presence and probe our defences.

“This year, we’ve conducted more than a dozen intercepts, the most in recent years.

“The importance of our continued efforts to project air defence operations in and through the north has never been more apparent.”

Tensions between Washington and Moscow have escalated this week after US defences were alerted to a Russian submarine which surfaced near Alaska.

Northcom wrote on Twitter: “We closely track vessels of interest, including foreign military naval vessels, in our area of responsibility.

“The current Russian maritime activity is taking place in international waters well outside the US territorial sea.

“We have not received any requests for assistance from the Russian Navy or other mariners in the area.”

A senior Pentagon official said the submarine was unusual and could carry a message.

They told Newsweek: “A military submarine’s purpose is to operate undetected against adversary forces.

“To surface in a highly-populated fishing zone is either an indication of an emergency or to strategically broadcast its presence.

“It is highly unlikely that the Russians would risk detection unless that was their intent.”

On Friday, the US State Department issued a statement condemning the Russian activity and said they would be investigation the “unprofessional interactions” of the Russian military forces.

US officials have warned Russia’s military off the US coasts, especially submarines, poses a national security threat to the US.

Earlier in the week, a group of Alaskan fishing vessels raised alarms to Washington after Russian warships conducted nearby military exercises.

The US confirmed the Russian military were taking part in drills known to American officials and claimed to be tracking nearby activity.

APM report the drills are likely to continue into September.

Back in July, a Russian warship was spotted near the coast of Britain.

The Russian submarine was reportedly conducting a surfaced transit from the Eastern Mediterranean alongside its ocean-going tug Sergey Balk and passed through waters close to the UK.

The Royal Navy was deployed to intercept the submarine.

Lieutenant Justin Shirtcliff, HMS Tyne’s Operations Officer, said: “Tyne responded in a coordinated effort with allies to shadow the Russian submarine and her escort while transiting the English Channel.

“This routine undertaking is an enduring task for the Royal Navy, in which Tyne and her sister ships of the Royal Navy’s Overseas Patrol Squadron play a key role.”

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/132...ws-Alaska-coast

Last post till I take off. We've gone at it.

But dude, when you call me racist, repeatedly, because of who I voted for without really knowing me.....in the words of biden "c'mon man".

We had an uproarious laugh one time when a teen girl confused busting a gut with some other phrase,
(for nearly losing it in laughter)
and I don't mean blowing a gasket.

DHS withheld bulletin warning of Russian planned attack on Biden's mental health: report

The Department of Homeland Security in July withheld an analysis meant for its federal, state and local law enforcement partners that warned Russia would attempt to push “allegations about the poor mental health” of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

ABC reported that the analysis also touches on efforts by Iran and China to ream President Trump, but that the report mostly focuses on Russia's attacks on Biden's mental acuity.

Titled “Russia Likely to Denigrate Health of US Candidates to Influence 2020 Election,” the bulletin was submitted for review to DHS' legislative and public affairs office on July 7, with the intention of it being released to the appropriate parties on July 9.

However, shortly after it was submitted, a senior DHS officer intervened, emails obtained by ABC News show.

“Please hold on sending this one out until you have a chance to speak to [acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf]," agency chief of staff John Gountanis wrote.

Despite this happening in July, the memo has still never circulated, according to the network.

A DHS spokesperson told ABC that although the agency “generally does not comment on leaked documents, this particular draft product lacked the necessary context and evidence for broader dissemination outside of the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis.”

“After briefing the Acting Secretary and he asked questions,” the spokesperson told the network, “[Office of Intelligence and Analysis] career leadership decided to delay the product for further review.”

In the report, the agency reportedly says that it has “high confidence” that “Russian malign influence actors are likely to continue denigrating presidential candidates through allegations of poor mental or physical health to influence the outcome of the 2020 election.”

“High confidence means what it sounds like -- that they are highly confident that their assessment is accurate and they don’t use that language very often,” Elizabeth Neumann, a former assistant DHS secretary during the Trump administration, told ABC News.

John Cohen, former undersecretary for intelligence at DHS under President Obama, added: “We are hearing concerns being raised publicly that, in this administration, intelligence community reporting is being modified or blocked for political reasons — or to not anger the president. By blocking information from being released that describes threats facing the nation, it undermines the ability of the public and state and local authorities to work with the federal government to counteract the threat.”

Trump campaign spokesperson Tim Murtaugh told the network “We don’t need or want any foreign interference. ...President Trump will beat Joe Biden fair and square.”

The Hill has reached out to DHS and the White House for comment.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administrat...-on-bidens-poor

I agree with you here, Swish. I think I've made known before that I am not a fan of either side, so I have no political loyalty to either party.

With that being said, Russia has very methodically increased its ambition during this administration. I objectively do not understand how people do not find Trump's repeated silence on Russia, throughout the course of his presidency, to be concerning.

I think the whole impeachment debacle was a stupid swing-and-miss tactic, and I think trying to prove collusion was a never-achievable goal. However, I do feel there has been two things which are factual: 1) Russia wanted Trump to be president and 2) He has played awfully nice with them.

I abhor the backhanded aggression by Russia and China, and I actually appreciate some of the aggression Trump has toward China, because it seems to many in politics and society that China is untouchable. But when it comes to Russia, I find a lot of concerns with the whole dynamic.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-looks-alone-world-stage-122629311.html

Trump looks alone on the world stage as international leaders line up to condemn the poisoning of Russian dissident Alexey Navalny
Business Insider
tcolson@businessinsider.com (Thomas Colson,Adam Bienkov)
,Business Insider•September 3, 2020
Business Insider

Donald Trump remained silent on Wednesday as world leaders called on Russian president Vladimir Putin to explain the poisoning of Russian dissident Alexey Navalny.

Navalny was taken ill on a plane in August after drinking a cup of tea at an airport in Siberia and is now being treated at a hospital in Germany.

German chancellor on Wednesday said that Navalny had been poisoned by a Novichok nerve agent, similar to one which was previously used to poison a former Russian spy in England in 2018.

Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, said Trump's silence on the matter made him complicit.

World Leaders, including Angela Merkel and Boris Johnson offered vocal condemnation of Navalny's poisoning and said that the Russian government should explain its actions in relation to the incident.

But Trump did not yesterday mention the incident, either in Twitter or in a statement, despite tweeting dozens of times throughout the day, and nor did US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Donald Trump looks increasingly alone on the world stage, as he fails to join the growing international outrage over the poisoning of the Russian opposition leader, and leading critic of President Putin, Alexey Navalny.

German chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday said that Navalny, a politician and activist whose vocal criticism of Putin's government has made him a celebrity in Russia, had last week been poisoned in August with a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group.

Navalny was taken ill on a plane in August after drinking a cup of tea at an airport in Siberia and is now being treated at a hospital in Germany.

Speaking at a press conference, Merkel said Navalny had been the "victim of a crime" and said his attackers "wanted to silence him."

She added: "There are very serious questions now which only the Russian government can and must answer. The fate of Alexey Navalny has received a lot of attention worldwide. The world will wait for an answer."

The poison was from the same group of agents used to poison former KGB agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England in 2018, an attack for which the UK and other governments hold the Russian government responsible.

UK prime minister Boris Johnson joined Merkel in offering vocal condemnation of Navalny's poisoning.

"It's outrageous that a chemical weapon was used against Alexey Navalny," Johnson said on Wednesday.

"The Russian government must now explain what happened to Mr Navalny – we will work with international partners to ensure justice is done."

Johnson's spokesman called on other world leaders come together to act against those responsible.

"The international community must come together and use all the tools at our disposal to hold the perpetrators accountable," he said on Thursday.

Countries, including Canada, Italy and France also joined the condemnation, with French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian saying that he condemned, "in the strongest possible terms the shocking and irresponsible use of such an agent."

The European Union also issued a statement, with the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell saying in a statement that "The use of chemical weapons under any circumstances is completely unacceptable and a breach of international law."

Yet despite these growing calls, both in the US and abroad, to condemn the poisoning, Trump has yet to personally address it.

Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, on Wednesday said that Trump's silence amounted to "complicity" in the attack.

"Once again, the Kremlin has used a favorite weapon – an agent from the Novichok class of chemicals – in an effort to silence a political opponent," Biden said in a statement. "It is the mark of a Russian regime that is so paranoid that it is unwilling to tolerate any criticism or dissent."

"His silence is complicity," Biden said of Trump. "As president, I will do what Donald Trump refuses to do: work with our allies and partners to hold the Putin regime accountable for its crimes."

The administration did address the incident on Wednesday with a statement on Twitter by John Ullyot, the National Security Council spokesperson.

"The United States is deeply troubled by the results released today. Alexei Navalny's poisoning is completely reprehensible," Ullyot said.

"Russia has used the chemical nerve agent Novichok in the past. We will work with allies and the international community to hold those in Russia accountable, wherever the evidence leads, and restrict funds for their malign activities.

"The Russian people have a right to express their views peacefully without fear of retribution of any kind, and certainly not with chemical agents."

However, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who held a press conference after Merkel's announcement, didn't mention the poisoning, according to CNN.

John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, called on Trump to issue an "urgent statement ... demanding a full explanation from the Russians."

However, despite the growing pressure on Trump to speak out against the apparent poisoning of a Russian opposition figure, the president remains conspicuously silent on the issue.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Russia, China and Iran hackers target Trump and Biden, Microsoft says

Hackers with ties to Russia, China and Iran are attempting to snoop on people and groups involved with the US 2020 presidential election, Microsoft says.

The Russian hackers who breached the 2016 Democratic campaign are again involved, said the US tech firm.

Microsoft said it was "clear that foreign activity groups have stepped up their efforts" targeting the election.

Both President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden's campaigns are in the cyber-raiders' sights.

Russian hackers from the Strontium group have targeted more than 200 organisations, many of which are linked to US political parties - both Republicans and Democrats, Microsoft said in a statement.

The same attackers also targeted British political parties, said Microsoft, without specifying which ones.

Strontium is also known as Fancy Bear, a cyber-attack unit allegedly affiliated with Russia's GRU military intelligence service.

Russia and China have denied the reports. On Friday Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin, said the Kremlin had never tried to interfere in other countries' elections.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Microsoft "should not make accusations against China out of nothing".

What else did Microsoft say?

"Similar to what we observed in 2016, Strontium is launching campaigns to harvest people's log-in credentials or compromise their accounts, presumably to aid in intelligence gathering or disruption operations," said Tom Burt, a Microsoft vice-president in charge of customer security and trust.

Most of the cyber-attacks had not been successful, according to Microsoft.

"What we've seen is consistent with previous attack patterns that not only target candidates and campaign staffers but also those they consult on key issues," Mr Burt said.

"These activities highlight the need for people and organisations involved in the political process to take advantage of free and low-cost security tools to protect themselves."

Microsoft also reported that Chinese groups had launched attacks on the personal email accounts of people affiliated with the Biden campaign, as well as "at least one prominent individual formerly associated with the Trump Administration".

China, Russia and Iran 'undermining' US election

"Prominent individuals" in the international affairs community, academic institutions and policy organisations were also said to have been targeted by a Chinese hacking group known as Zirconium.

An Iranian group known as Phosphorus had unsuccessfully sought to access accounts of White House officials and Mr Trump's campaign staff between May and June of this year, Microsoft added.

The firm was unable to determine the aims of the Russian, Chinese and Iranian hackers. In June Google also said it had detected cyber-hack attempts by China and Iran.

Trump campaign deputy press secretary Thea McDonald said: "We are a large target, so it is not surprising to see malicious activity directed at the campaign or our staff."

A Biden campaign official said: "We have known from the beginning of our campaign that we would be subject to such attacks and we are prepared for them."

The report comes a day after a whistleblower at the US Department of Homeland Security alleged he was put under pressure to downplay the threat of Russian interference in the US as it "made the president look bad".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54110457

Sadly it's gotten to the point we have to depend on Microsoft to tell us when foreign governments are interfering in our election process.

Treasury Department says Ukrainian linked to Rudy Giuliani is 'Russian agent'

ABC News
JACK DATE and JOHN SANTUCCI
ABC NewsSeptember 11, 2020

The man the Treasury Department called "an active Russian agent for over a decade," met with President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden.

Andrii Derkach, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, and three other Russian-linked individuals were designated, Thursday, by Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, for attempting to influence the U.S. electoral process.

"Andrii Derkach and other Russian agents employ manipulation and deceit to attempt to influence elections in the United States and elsewhere around the world," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

Last November, Derkach appeared with Giuliani as part of a One America News (OAN) "investigation" that aired in December, the same week the House of Judiciary Committee approved articles of impeachment against the president.

Giuliani appears on-camera seated at a table with Derkach for an interview with OAN reporter Chanel Rion in what Giuliani calls their first meeting, which, according to OAN, lasted more than three hours.

"This interview is being conducted by OAN… an American network, journalistic organization," Giuliani explains in the OAN piece. "My role, you should understand, I don't represent the government, I am President Trump's private attorney, so my role throughout, going back over a year, before I had met you,(referring to Derkach), is to try to get the facts about Ukrainian collusion, Ukrainian corruption, that interfered in the 2017, um 2016 election."

Giuliani goes on to say, "My goal here is just one simple goal and that is to defend the President of the United States individually against the original false charges of Russian collusion and now the false charges with regards to his conversations with President Zelenskiy," referring to the call between Trump and the Ukrainian president, which by then had become the focus of the impeachment inquiry.

But, in his effort to defend Trump against allegations of Russian collusion in the 2016 election, Giuliani, wittingly or unwittingly, met with someone the Trump administration would later designate a Russian agent who was actively trying to influence the 2020 election.

The OAN documentary said that Derkach provided Giuliani and OAN with access to hundreds of pages of documents related to the former vice president, his son, Hunter Biden, and allegations about Burisma, the energy company that Hunter Biden served as a board member.

Giuliani, in a statement to ABC News, said Derkach did provide him with information about "unaccounted for foreign aid," but that "all the rest of the information he gave us we had already gotten months earlier from other witnesses and documents."

Giuliani said in a statement to the New York Times, and confirmed by ABC News, that he had "no reason to believe [Derkach] is a Russian agent. There is nothing I saw that said he was a Russian agent. There is nothing he gave me that seemed to come from Russia at all."

Authorities say this past spring, Derkach released a series of heavily edited audio recordings designed to interfere with the U.S. presidential race. Some of those recordings were an apparent attempt to smear the Bidens.

"Derkach has directly or indirectly engaged in, sponsored, concealed, or otherwise been complicit in foreign interference in an attempt to undermine the upcoming 2020 U.S. presidential election," a Treasury Department press release said.

Under the Treasury designation, Americans are prohibited from engaging in transactions with Derkach, and any property he has that is subject to U.S. jurisdiction is blocked.

The Justice Department, Thursday, also brought wire fraud and conspiracy charges against three Russian nationals allegedly involved in election interference operations connected to the Internet Research Agency (IRA). The IRA was previously charged in the Special Counsel investigation into Russian election interference led by Robert Mueller.


https://www.yahoo.com/gma/treasury-department-says-ukrainian-linked-043030662.html

j/c

Here's something that...you know...actually happened.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republicans-demand-answers-on-muellers-team-wiping-phones

More likely, wiping your phone is the best way to insure the information stored in the phone is protected.

Wiping your phone is not a bad thing!

If you are selling your phone or donating it, WIPING YOUR PHONE IS RECOMMENDED !

Sounds like someone got a-hold of a cell phone, thinking they could hack it to steal info stored in the phone and found that the individual(s) practiced safe and secure methods of protecting their sensitive info...and it pissed off the GOP.

How to wipe your phone or tablet before you sell it

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-wipe-your-phone-or-tablet-before-selling/

Here is how to wipe your personal data from a mobile device the right way before trading up to a new model.

Lexy Savvides
Dec. 4, 2017 5:00 a.m. PT
8
Trading in or selling your old mobile device? Wipe it the right way to reduce the risk of personal data falling into the wrong hands.

Remember that no method apart from physically destroying the device and its storage is 100 percent foolproof -- data may still be recoverable with the right tools.

These tips are for the three main mobile operating systems, but if you have an older phone or an alternate OS, check the manual for full details on how to wipe your device.

READ ON WILLIE...

"Wiping your phone"..IT IS A COMMON PRACTICE, recommended, instructions in your manual.

It's what criminals do when they have nothing else. They try to make accusations in the other direction for something that isn't criminal at all in order to distract away from criminal activity. "Yeah but this sounds suspicious so let's try and make it out to be something whether there's any evidence to support that or not."

On one hand we have Guliani working with a known active Russian agent.

On the flip side we have , "Yeah but some other people wiped their phones!"

You would think with all of the foreign election interference people might think wiping your data would be a good thing to keep from being hacked. But nah...

So what crime is it to wipe your phone? Do you think you should leave personal information on your phone for hackers? Once again, you're trying to throw darts at a dart board wearing a blindfold here. Anything other than accusations with no substance? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Trump's Rigged Election Cries Are Right Out Of Kremlin Playbook, Warns Ex-Intel Official

HuffPost
Mary Papenfuss
HuffPostSeptember 14, 2020

President Donald Trump’s repeated complaints that the presidential election is rigged dovetails perfectly with Russia’s strategy for creating chaos and voter confusion in the U.S., a former top intelligence official warned Sunday.

“That message that you can’t trust our system, that you can’t trust the vote, that you can’t trust the other party — that you can’t trust — is exactly what the Russians, particularly, hope to achieve,” said Sue Gordon, former deputy director of national intelligence.

“Their aim would be to sow the divisions and to get Americans to say, ‘You know what? It’s not worth it. I can’t trust it. We’re not going to vote,‘” Gordon noted on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Trump has a particular responsibility to instill trust in the election, Gordon said.

“I’m going to always hold the president more responsible than anybody else because he’s, well, the president, and his voice carries further, speaks louder,” Gordon said.

Despite Trump’s repeated cries of election fraud and U.S. intelligence showing that Russia, China, Iran and other foreign interests are working to influence the 2020 vote, Gordon declared that the nation’s election infrastructure is “as well protected as it’s ever been.”

Gordon said she believes that the “most significant strategic threat to America is if we end up not believing in ourselves — and I’ve shared this with the president.”

https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/trump-rigged-election-russia-sue-gordon-115211175.html

The rigged election is right out of the kleptocracy playbook ... it was mentioned in the podcast I mentioned. And as someone else quoted the other day - Trump and his machine is very Orwellian at the moment.

Exactly.

I wipe and/or factory restore broken/aged company devices before I dispose of them. In the case of PCs I remove and reformat the hard drives, then remove and destroy them.

We then offer the PC to employees for free, minus the hard drive. If they bring a hard drive in, I will even make time to install it and re-install the windows software for them.

I thought Trump was trying to hush this up so no-one knows how much effort is being made by Russia to re-elect Trump. I mean, a rationale person might wonder why, but probably better to sweep this under the rug right?

jc

U.S. Admits That Congressman Offered Pardon to Assange If He Covered Up Russia Links

The Daily Beast
Jamie Ross,The Daily Beast•September 18, 2020
Reuters/Henry Nicholls


LONDON—Lawyers representing the United States at Julian Assange’s extradition trial in Britain have accepted the claim that the WikiLeaks founder was offered a presidential pardon by a congressman on the condition that he would help cover up Russia’s involvement in hacking emails from the Democratic National Committee.

Jennifer Robinson, a lawyer, told the court that she had attended a meeting between Assange, then Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, and pro-Trump troll Charles Johnson at Assange’s hide-out, the Ecuadorian embassy in London, on August 15, 2017.

Robinson said the two Americans claimed to be emissaries from Washington and “wanted us to believe they were acting on behalf of the president.” The pair allegedly told Assange that they could help grant him a pardon in exchange for him revealing information about the source of the WikiLeaks information that proved it was not the Russians who hacked Democratic emails.

“They stated that President Trump was aware of and had approved of them coming to meet with Mr. Assange to discuss a proposal—and that they would have an audience with the president to discuss the matter on their return to Washington, D.C.,” Robinson said.

The White House has denied that Trump took part in any such plan.

The claim itself is not new—Assange’s lawyers previewed the allegation in a pre-trial hearing in February—but this is the first time Robinson’s testimony has been heard in full. The WikiLeaks lawyer said Rohrabacher offered Assange the deal a year after emails that damaged Hillary Clinton in the presidential race had been published, when the Russia investigation was gathering pace. The stolen DNC emails posted by WikiLeaks were hacked by Russian operatives.

After Robinson read her testimony in a London courtroom on Friday, lawyers representing the U.S. accepted the witness statement as accurate and confirmed they had no intention of cross-examining the claim. They did dispute, however, that President Donald Trump gave his blessing for the pardon offer.

James Lewis, who was representing the U.S. government, said, “The position of the government is we don't contest these things were said. We obviously do not accept the truth of what was said by others.”

Rohrabacher, who was known as Putin’s favorite congressman, partially corroborated the claim back in February, saying at the time, “I spoke to Julian Assange and told him if he would provide evidence about who gave WikiLeaks the emails I would petition the president to give him a pardon... He knew I could get to the president.”

Rohrabacher said he followed up the meeting by calling then White House chief of staff John Kelly to discuss the pardon. However, the ex-congressman said he never spoke to Trump about it.

Regardless, Assange turned the offer down, his lawyers said.

Assange has argued that he should not be extradited to the U.S. because the American case against him is politically motivated. He spent almost seven years hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in Central London, claiming that he would be jailed in the U.S. if he wasn’t granted asylum. He was kicked out of the embassy last year.

If Assange fails in his fight against extradition to the U.S., he will face 18 charges including conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, which, his defense argues, could result in a prison sentence of 175 years.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-admits-putin-favorite-congressman-121215555.html

j/c...

I wonder why we see these reports all the time and yet China, which has much more influence in America than Russia does, is allowed to pollute America w/out any resistance?

Let’s talk about China in a Russian collusion thread LOL. Typical voice of the GOP’ers.

Do you happen to have an example or report explaining what you mean? I mean the Chinese have their hands in everything around the world, so I am not denying it probably happened, but there are reports from our own government showing that the Russians activity are trying to influence the elections, and I have not seen the same for the Chinese, though it is probable.

I think in general their aims are different.

China Owns a Lot of US Debt - and makes a lot of money of money via trade surpluses with the USA. They want the USA to be very stable -- and they don't want to induce chaos in the US election system. They "win" via the competitive advantage of being table to treat 3/4 of their population like crap.

Russia - Mostly competes with the US for economic control of Eastern Europe. They feel more directly threatened by NATO activity, and would like to disrupt US/EU relations. They have a lot of incentive to sow disorder and induce chaos into the US election system.


I'm not saying that China doesn't exert influence in the US (including by manipulating social media etc.) But they are going to do so to their own ends (for example, fighting to prevent NBA players from speaking out about Chinese human rights abuses).

But China has a much smaller incentive to directly interfere in US elections.

China's goal is more to be an economic power by overwhelming us economically. They are investing in infrastructure all over Africa in exchange for trade and the opportunity to exploit their great wealth of resources. And they have been successful at it.

Russia by contrast knows that from a military standpoint they're too weak to confront us. So their method is to break America down from the inside. To create a situation where we're more divided than ever. To where Americans no longer trust our institutions and the democratic process. As such they have been supporting the very person they feel will help achieve such goals. And he has.

I think that was an accurate characterization of China up until very recently. I think they're moving in a direction where they won't be so dependent on the US, economically.

If you are going to plagiarize General McMaster, at least give him credit.

H.R. McMaster: It's tougher, you know. It's tougher because our economies are intertwined in a way that gives tremendous coercive power to the Chinese Communist Party. I describe their approach as co-option. Co-opt us in with the lure of access to their market and short-term profits. And then coerce us. Coerce us to adhere to their worldview and to make concessions that allow them to achieve competitive advantage against us.

Scott Pelley: What do we misunderstand about Russia?

H.R. McMaster: Whereas China wants to harness its strength and create exclusionary areas of primacy and challenge America, Russia knows it's too weak to do that. What Putin wants to do is, he wants to drag all of us down, right? He wants to polarize us, pit us against each other, reduce our confidence in our democratic principles and institutions and processes.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/h-r-mcmaste...tes-2020-09-20/

Gopers....Mission accomplished.

It’s all about China.

The fact that anyone with an ounce of common sense can see what's going on isn't that hard to comprehend. Some of us have been saying this for a very long time. If you had been willing to dig your head out of the sand you would have been saying it too.

Still, you should give credit to the person who did your common sense thinking for you.

People, including myself have been saying this for a long time. Just because you refused to listen doesn't mean it didn't happen. But you have a job to do. Being the neighborhood troll.

Or you should learn what plagiarism really is... Ask our mail order first lady.

They might be less dependent -- but they still win when the US economy does well...

I know it's not something people want to talk about - specially if you are a Trump fan ... and that's why every thread is being subverted to China, or Biden or whatever... anything but the thread topic it seems.

However .... did anyone else see this and find it interesting?

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/...have-done-more/

https://thehill.com/policy/national-secu...-more-in-russia

"This is the story of our investigation into how our democracy was attacked by Russia and how those who condoned and ignored that assault undermined our ability to uncover the truth," he continued. "My obligation as a prosecutor was to follow the facts where they led, using all available tools and undeterred by the onslaught of the president’s unique powers to undermine our work."

Unfortunately for your position, the NSA, FBI, Senate Intelligence Committee and Mueller himself found that not a single vote was changed by the Ruskies.

Did they say that a single vote was unchanged? Or did they say it was impossible to know or quantify. Those two things are not the same.

You know his post is a lie.

She's not a mail order bride. Are you assuming she's a mail order bride because she came from Eastern Europe? Tsk Tsk. And even if she is, who cares?

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/donald-trump-melania-trump-knauss-first-lady-erections

Ok, why would I actually care about that? Her past is none of my business, just like my past is none of hers. 16 year ago?!!

She was letting us know, way back then, her stance on the 2nd amendment.

??

Just a clue of what you help promote. Like the guy who went into Miss Teen U.S.A.'s dressing room with a bunch of young girls in various forms of had dressed to naked. You know, paying off the porn star.

I mean let's face it, that photo shoot is typical mail order bride conduct.

Mueller didn't investigate Trump's finances or question Ivanka Trump due to blowback fears, prosecutor recounts

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mueller-didnt-investigate-trumps-finances-110846598.html

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian election interference and President Trump's 2016 campaign treated Trump's family and personal finances with kid gloves, mostly out of concern that Trump would shut down the investigation, former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann writes in a new book, Where Law Ends.

At one critical juncture in 2017, the Mueller team issued a subpoena to Deutsch Bank for records about Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's Ukraine income, and even though the subpoenas were secret, the White House found out and demanded to know if Mueller was seeking financial information on Trump, Weissmann recounts, according to The New York Times.

Mueller authorized his cautious deputy, Aaron Zebley, to assure the White House they had not subpoenaed Trump's financial records, and "at that point, any financial investigation of Trump was put on hold," Weissmann writes. "That is, we backed down — the issue was simply too incendiary; the risk, too severe." He points to other dropped leads, like "payments linked to a Russian oligarch" turning up in the same account from which Trump paid two purported paramours, and Trump's active efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

Weissmann also reveals that even though Ivanka Trump spoke with a Russian delegation that met in Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr. and other campaign officials about handing over Russian dirt on Hillary Clinton, Mueller's investigators did not try to question her because they "feared that hauling her in for an interview would play badly to the already antagonistic right-wing press — look how they're roughing up the president's daughter — and risk enraging Trump."

Those fears might have been justified early on in the investigation, before they got up and running, Weissmann told the Times, but he and other team leaders believed they should have gotten more aggressive later on. "We would have subpoenaed the president after he refused our accommodations, even if that risked us being fired," he wrote. "It just didn't sit right. We were left feeling like we had let down the American public, who were counting on us to give it our all."

____________

so you didn't do your job because...you were scared of the blowblack?

i'm starting to have a real hard time telling the difference between the US and Russia.

Well Russia wants to divide us from the inside. Trump helps Putin do that. Russia wants Americans to lose faith in the democratic process, like elections. Trump helps Putin do that. Putin tells Trump something and Trump believes him over our entire intelligence community.

So how much different are the goals of Russia and the actions of trump? Not much. So I can see where it's getting harder to tell the difference.

.45

When did I ever promote anyone? Anyways, I don't care about what they did 16, 20, or 40 years ago. I guess you're just more judgemnental than I am.

Not really. I just know how to follow a trail no matter where it leads. There's really nothing any different about them today than back then. They are who they are. I mean poor Melania is so miserable she almost never smiles. That should give people a clue.

Since you know them so well, tell them I said "howdy" next time you have dinner with them. Thanks

Satire will get you nowhere. That's all you have left when you know what I said is true.

I wouldn’t sit at a table with donny and Mailordia if they paid me.

Since Trump calls Warren "Pocahontas" should we call Trump "Pokapornstar"?

I don't know Donald and Melania as well as you do, so I don't know about their current personal lives, nor do I know their hearts, thank you.

Call him whatever you want, I don't care. It don't affect me any.

Yes, because you are the epitome of virtue. You're my hero.

That post wasn't directed to you. It was directed to Portland. Someone who thinks they're as smart as you do should have been able to figure that out.

I'm willing to bet he didn't have to pay off a porn star for having had sex with her when his wife just had a baby. That's a low level of disgusting.

Of course, because people like you never make mistakes. You're my hero. Should I bow down and worship you now?

I guess you also can't tell when a person does or doesn't smile either.

It is. But like I said, I don't care what he did 16 years ago. So you're not going to get anywhere with this.

Just don't accuse me of trolling this thread later. you guys are the ones who brought this pitiful conversation up. Looks like you are the one who is spamming. I'm not interested in smears. I don't like gossip columns or tabloids.

I see what your problem is here. You have me confused with someone who gives a damn about what you think.

What does this have to do with Russia?!!!

The thread is about Russia, Russia, Russia, not Melania...

Isn't profanity against the rules, btw? I hope no one accuses me of changing the subject, because that wasn't me, oh no child it wasn't me.

Let's try this.....

Putin wants to see the American people divided. Trump constantly works to divide Americans.

Putin wants to see Americans question the democratic process, like our elections. Trump works overtime to cast doubt on our election process.

Comrade Trump and comrade Putin seem like they're trying to achieve the same goals.

How does Trump work to divide Americans? Give me an example or two...not to mention that America was divided long before Trump was elected, but I'd like to hear how you think he's dividing America.

And do the Democrats ever cast doubt on the election process? YES, YES, YES. And do the Democrats divide Americans? YES, YES, YES.

How has Trump tried to divide the Nation ? ?

You aren't paying attention or you are trolling. Either way ...

You are very good at gaslighting and strawman arguments ... you'll be right at home here.

Can you give me one example of gaslighting or a straw man arguments?

Give one example of how Trump works to divide the nation. I bet you can't. Not a valid one, anyways. The nation is divided because of a cultural conflict that is decades old. The Democrats just decided to get violent about it the last four years. America has been deeply divided for decades.

What does that have to do with Russia?

Buddy, if you've been deaf since he started running for president in 2016 until today, that's not my problem. He does it at every rally he holds.

If you need someone to show you examples, you obviously haven't been listening.

One example. Should be easy.

I hate to do this, but I have to pull the Gramsci card. The Left runs in part on a form of Gramscian Marxism, which is highly divisive by it's very nature.

Or did you not know that Marxism is DIVISIVE by it's very nature?

BTW, when it comes to politics, I haven't had a dog in the race for years. But I sure ain't going to vote for the Gramscicratic party. PS don't blame me, fellas. I'm not the one that brought this subject (of division) up.

yes he does.

He didn't ignore it. He evaluated it, and it was found by himself and others to be UNVERIFIED. SO what you do in that situation, is you investigate further and seek more details.

"You see a lot of indicators. Many of them are troubling; many of them you act on. But in this case, there just wasn't enough there. I sent the intelligence guys back to continue to dig on it. And I believe they're continuing to dig right now," he added.

General Frank Mckenzie on whether the report of bounties on US soldiers was verified. Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Yes, some real estate speculator evaluated our intelligence community. Just like he did when he said that he believed Putin over our intelligence community. Great point you made there.

But then how could Trump have evaluated it when he claimed he never saw it?

Your quote, not mine.

yes, after the article by the NY times, he evaluated it.

What bout General Mckenzie? What did he say? Or do you not know.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-russian-bounties-briefing-cia-officials-decided-against/

So your assertion is a quote from one general is the consensus? Get real.

Is this the same divide and conquer Trump you claim is listening to our military generals?

Trump attacks Pentagon leaders, says soldiers love him

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/trump-attacks-pentagon-leaders-says-soldiers-love-him/1966063

Those are some very fine people on both sides...

They are drug dealers and rapists

They live in shi#hole countries

They will be coming to the suburbs.

Too many examples to list.

Just my 2 cents ... but save your typing. Troll alert.

Your list is short and sweet and there are SO many other things to add.

There are a couple posters who post crazy stuff (some football related some political viewpoints). There is one poster who I cannot follow half of what he says (And no not Bard. I can actually follow most of his flowery speech) and I haven't placed them on ignore because while I might disagree with what they say, I know they love the Browns and that for the most part are trying to have a decent meaningful conversation.

Biscuit on the other hand I put on ignore. Congrats, you are my 1st! He (she?) is trying stir up trouble rather than have a meaningful conversation. Problem is, the rest of you guys keep replying. Bu what is worse, you quote his post in your reply so I end up seeing the drivel that he continues to post.

I doubt you hate to do this at all. It's your favorite topic-of-the-day. You must play some sort of game where you try to reference it as much as possible each day. What's your record?

I think they stumbled into the word and then made a new profile on the board just to use it... over and over and over and over again.

Jc

https://www.yahoo.com/news/justice-department-must-release-redacted-065514501.html

Business Insider

Justice Department must release redacted portions of Mueller report dealing with criminal charges before Election Day, judge rules

cdavis@insider.com (Charles Davis)
Thu, October 1, 2020, 2:55 AM EDT

The Department of Justice improperly redacted portions of the Mueller report, a US federal judge ruled Wednesday.

The censored parts of the report dealt with potential criminal charges, Russia's hack of the Democratic National Committee, and the Trump campaign's interest in stolen DNC emails, BuzzFeed reported.

US District Court Judge Reggie Walton said those segments of the report must be unredacted by November 2.

The US Department of Justice improperly censored portions of the Mueller report dealing with potential criminal charges and Russia's hacking of the Democratic National Committee, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

In response to a complaint brought by BuzzFeed reporter Jason Leopold, US District Judge Reggie Walton ruled that Attorney General William Barr's department must release the redacted segments — including portions related to the 2016 Trump campaign's interest in DNC emails stolen by Russia — by November 2, a day before the US election.

According to BuzzFeed, the ruling means the Justice Department "will be obliged to unveil at least 15 previously blacked-out pages from volume one of special counsel Robert Mueller's 448-page report" on Russian electoral interference.

In March 2020, the same judge, appointed to the bench by former President George W. Bush, chastised Attorney General Barr for having issued a "distorted" and "misleading" summary of the Mueller report.

In March 2019, Barr falsely claimed that the report had exonerated Donald Trump, asserting that Mueller had found no evidence of coordination between the president's 2016 campaign and Russia. In fact, the report detailed many contacts between the Trump camp and Russian government assets, though the special counsel said those contacts were not enough to demonstrate, beyond a reasonable doubt, that crimes had occurred.

They'll just take it to a higher court to keep us from knowing the truth.