I needed that this afternoon.

It's funny because it's true

and this is no joke. jk

it's a little like sessions. he's a terrible AG, but if he gets fired, i'll have to march in protest. aargh

I'm in the same boat -- thinking to myself over the last several days how odd it feels to be rooting for the FBI.

Donald Trump has made me do several things I don't like:

* learn a lot of Russian names
* get more interested in foreign affairs, incl N. Korea
* root for the FBI
* learn a lot more geography

I know for a fact the FBI at least used to have a folder on me.

I was going to take that distinction, and my distrust of the FBI, to my grave. That was to be my crowning achievement.

Now............all I have left are the memories. I've become what I used to despise. I'm singing the praises of the FBI.

I don't know if you intended that to be funny or not, but it tickled my funny bone. I'm still chuckling. "Now............all I have left are the memories." Priceless.

it doesn't really mean that much to me. I have to bring a little humor into things these days or I'll go stark, raving mad.

of Russia.

When you hear about Active Measures, they've been SERIOUSLY working on this for years now. They've made great inroads with Christian conservative evangelicals, and they've funneled money to the NRA (who may have funneled it to Trump in his campaign -- which would be illegal, I'm pretty sure) --


SHORT THREAD re: RELIGIOUS RIGHT'S longstanding courtship of Russia. Sources.

Link to tweet

17:04 11/22/2017
The emerging alliance between Putin and Trump’s God squad; The unlikely partnership is years in the making.
https://thinkprogress.org/religious-right-russia-3e80e2ea2e4a/


Reverence for Putin on the Right Buys Trump Cover
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/14/us/politics/putin-trump-conservatives.html?_r=0
The veneration of Mr. Putin helps explain why revelations about Russia’s involvement in the election — including recent reports that members of Mr. Trump’s inner circle set up a meeting at which they expected a representative of the Russian government to give them incriminating information about Hillary Clinton — and Mr. Trump’s reluctance to acknowledge it, have barely penetrated the consciousness of the president’s conservative base.


Guns and religion: How American conservatives grew closer to Putin’s Russia
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-the-republican-right-found-allies-in-russia/2017/04/30/e2d83ff6-29d3-11e7-a616-d7c8a68c1a66_story.html
Growing up in the 1980s, Brian Brown was taught to think of the communist Soviet Union as a dark and evil place.
But Brown, a leading opponent of same-sex marriage, said that in the past few years he has started meeting Russians at conferences on family issues and finding many kindred spirits.
Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, has visited Moscow four times in four years, including a 2013 trip during which he testified before the Duma as Russia adopted a series of anti-gay laws.
“What I realized was that there was a great change happening in the former Soviet Union,” he said. “There was a real push to re-instill Christian values in the public square.”

How Russia Became the Leader of the Global Christian Right
While the U.S. passed gay-rights laws, Moscow moved hard the other way.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/02/how-russia-became-a-leader-of-the-worldwide-christian-right-214755


RACHEL MADDOW: Russia makes inroads with American right via guns, religion DURATION 6:10
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/russia-makes-inroads-with-american-right-via-guns-religion-986677827557
Richard Engel, NBC News chief foreign correspondent, and NBC's Kelly Cobiella look at how members of the American political right are building an appreciation for Vladimir Putin through guns and Evangelical Christianity.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NRA:

The NRA Placed Big Bets on the 2016 Election, and Won Almost All of Them
https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/11/the-nra-placed-big-bets-on-the-2016-election-and-won-almost-all-of-them/


Ted Lieu: Story of Link Between Kremlin And NRA Could ‘Get Bigger’
“Follow the money,” Rep. Ted Lieu said of the National Rifle Association’s pro-Trump efforts.
Last Thursday, investigative reporters Peter Stone and Greg Gordon of McClatchy DC Bureau reported what could be another bombshell in the Russia probe: that the FBI is investigating whether a Kremlin-linked banker illegally channeled funds to the National Rifle Association to aid Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
On Friday, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, told me on SiriusXM Progress that the word on Capitol Hill is that the story of a Russia-NRA-Trump link is going to grow.
“FBI counterintelligence investigators have focused on the activities of Alexander Torshin, the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank who is known for his close relationships with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the NRA,” Stone and Gordon reported being told by two sources familiar with the matter.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ted-lieu-russia-nra_us_5a64f350e4b0dc592a09dfab


Muellers Probe Is Dangerously Close to a Republican Red Line https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/01/donald-trump-robert-mueller-nra
According to McClatchy D.C., the F.B.I. is investigating whether a top Russian banker with close ties to President Vladimir Putin illegally channeled money through the N.R.A. to bolster Trump’s bid for the White House. The revelation that the special prosecutor might target the gun lobby, arguably the most influential and sacrosanct faction of the Republican Party, could embolden G.O.P. lawmakers to bring a swift end to the Trump-Russia probe and hasten a Mueller ouster. (The N.R.A. did not immediately respond to the outlet’s request for comment.)
... It is unclear when Mueller’s team opened its inquiry, what stage the investigation has reached, or to what extent the F.B.I. can substantiate the money trail. But of the $55 million the N.R.A. spent on the 2016 election, a staggering $30 million was shelled out to the Trump campaign—three times the amount it spent on Mitt Romney in 2012, McClatchy reports.
... As The New York Times reported in December, Erickson sent a May 2016 e-mail to Trump campaign adviser Rick Dearborn with the subject line “Kremlin Connection.” In the e-mail, Erickson reportedly asked Dearborn, and then Senator Jeff Sessions, for advice in setting up a meeting between Trump and Putin and sought to use the annual N.R.A. convention in Kentucky that year to make “first contact.” (Erickson could not be reached by the Times for comment.) While Erickson did not explicitly name Torshin, sources familiar with the situation who spoke to the Times said that the message appeared to refer to the Russian banker.


NRA's Ties To Putin Allies Go Back Years
By Sam Thielman at Talking Points Memo
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/nras-ties-to-putin-allies-go-back-years
Here, in chronological order, is what we know on the NRA’s Russian ties:
2011: According to the Washington Post, G. Kline Preston, a lawyer in Nashville, Tenn. with a specialty in Russian affairs, introduces Torshin to David Keene, at the time the president of the NRA and a former head of the American Conservative Union. Torshin,then a senator in the Duma from Putin’s United Russia party, was friends with Mikhail Kalashnikov, the revered inventor of the AK-47. Preston, who did not return TPM’s request for comment, told the Post that “the value system of Southern Christians and the value system of Russians are very much in line.”
November 2012: At Preston’s invitation, Torshin observes the 2012 U.S. elections. Preston told the Post the two men saw violations of U.S. law in the form of Obama signs too close to a polling place. Preston had served as an international observer of the 2011 legislative elections in Russia, and reported that they were fair — a conclusion at odds with that of many international observers.
May 2013: Torshin attends the NRA convention in Houston, where conservative players Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, John Bolton, Rick Santorum, Ted Cruz, and Rick Perry address one of the most important blocs in the Republican base.
Summer 2013: According to Spanish newspaper El Pais, Torshin is set to attend a birthday party on the Spanish island of Mallorca for Alexander Romanov, a member of the Moscow-based Taganskaya gang. Torshin, El Pais reported, is believed to be the Taganskaya boss. Twelve Spanish police officers wait for him at the airport and the hotel where he would have stayed, ready to arrest him in connection with money allegedly laundered to buy a hotel in the Spanish vacation spot. But, the newspaper reported, a Russian prosecutor tips Torshin off at the last moment, and he never shows up.
(really long)


The Trump-Russia-NRA Connection: Here's What You Need to Know
Did a shadowy Russian banker close to Vladimir Putin illegally give money to the National Rifle Association to support the presidential campaign of Donald Trump? That's the subject of an active FBI investigation, according to an explosive report by McClatchy.
Here's what you need to know:
Unprecedented Trump Support
The National Rifle Association spent tens of millions of dollars backing Trump's presidential bid in 2016. The NRA endorsed Trump in May 2016. And the NRA disclosed it spent at least $30 million on Trump's behalf and attacking Hillary Clinton. That level of support is unprecedented – more than twice what the NRA disclosed it spent on Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential run.
The true sum the NRA spent to install Trump in the White House may be far higher. Campaign finance disclosures do not cover spending on unregulated Internet advertising or voter mobilization; citing two sources close to the gun group, McClatchy suggests the NRA may have spent upwards of $70 million on Trump's presidential bid.
President Trump is clearly indebted: "You came through for me, and I am going to come through for you," Trump promised the NRA at its 2017 convention. "I will never, ever let you down."
Dark Money
In the age of Citizens United and unlimited campaign donations, the NRA has emerged as an important "dark money" hub in Republican politics. Under its tax code designation, the NRA is a "social welfare" organization, largely exempt from disclosing its donors. To skirt disclosure, other big-dollar political players – including a SuperPAC linked to Karl Rove and a "chamber of commerce" controlled by the Koch Brothers – have routinely steered money into the NRA, confident that the gun group's spending will advance the GOP cause.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-trump-russia-nra-connection-heres-what-you-need-to-know-w515615


20:24 1/18/2018
FBI investigating whether Russian money went to NRA to help Trump
The FBI is investigating whether a top Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin illegally funneled money to the National Rifle Association to help Donald Trump win the presidency, two sources familiar with the matter have told McClatchy.
FBI counterintelligence investigators have focused on the activities of Alexander Torshin, the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank who is known for his close relationships with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the NRA, the sources said.
It is illegal to use foreign money to influence federal elections.
.... Disclosure of the Torshin investigation signals a new dimension in the 18-month-old FBI probe of Russia’s interference. McClatchy reported a year ago that a multi-agency U.S. law enforcement and counterintelligence investigation into Russia’s intervention, begun even before the start of the 2016 general election campaign, initially included a focus on whether the Kremlin secretly helped fund efforts to boost Trump, but little has been said about that possibility in recent months.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article195231139.html
31. Well, Senator Ben Cardin's been making news.
He is our ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and will become its chair if we get a majority in November. So, obviously, one of the Americans Putin is most afraid of.
Cardin and other committee Democrats just issued an important call for protecting our democracy that's been taken note of by many, “Putin’s Asymmetrical Assault on Democracy in Russia and Europe: Implications for U.S. National Security.”
If you can't read this article, try opening it in a Chrome incognito window. Or read about it in many other journals.
Senate Report Outlines Playbook to Prevent Future Russian Election Meddling
Conspicuously absent from the report, however, is Republican buy-in.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/01/10/senate-report-outlines-playbook-to-prevent-future-russian-election-meddling-trump-elections-congress-europe-putin-senator-cardin-democrats-nato-european-union/
Btw, this is also a big, aggressive political move against the Republicans as more and more of their entanglements with Russia are being uncovered.

when I stated "I stand with the fucking FBI"

And, "Kick for the FBI"

Thanks Yo

ol world.

Never really got into the hippie lifestyle, wasn't super big where I grew up in the 60's.

Borowitz is the bomb! (to resurrect another anachornism )

who are the real criminals. It just took the FBI awhile to catch on.

Hubby and I were just talking about this last night -- you don't have to have been a hippie to mostly distrust the FBI and hope to hell your paths never cross. Do we remember COINTELPRO? Yes we do.

Yet the agency is also full of straight arrows doing their job, which is to defend this nation. And now they need us to defend them.

What strange times we live in.

I have investments that are probably affected, but I want Trump to be hurt. Yes, I know he will blame someone else.

So instead of blaming someone else, he'll take credit for it.

It is now 665.75

(CNN headline). It's the Number of the Bear!

As the previous poster said, my finances are hurt by the slump, but -- as in Sept. 2008 -- I secretly cheer because I know it's bad for Republicans.

Under Obama we gained back what we lost under bush and called it good.

No telling when this idiot is going to crash the system we figured.

This is weird.

coffee...

"Hello J. Edgar" as we knew our phones were being tapped. Though this is Borowitz, I have been choking on this a little.

J. Edgar Hoover sucks!
That was in full belief that my phone was being tapped.



That was in the late 60’s.

Sort of a political Tourette syndrome. (In the middle of a sentence I might blurt out "Jihad!&quot

the dirty fucking hippies were right!
(I'd post a link to the song if this wasn't an iPhone)

even this old anti-establishment momma supports and understands that the FBI is largely honest, brave, intelligent people trying to protect us.

is facing another unbearable situation.
Since my retirement is largely based on my 401-k, which has been skyrocketing in recent years, I still see a huge silver lining in a market correction. While it will cost me money, it will take away the stupid Trump stock market boast and peel off some of his supporters.
As I have argued against various Repub friends for years: people tend to vote R because they think that is best for them, while people vote D because they think that is best for society.

(And I do realize that religious fundie and racist reasons motivate probably a majority of the R vote, but most of the people I would argue with were more interested in economic reasons, which causes them to inexplicably vote Republican despite the evidence of the past half dozen or so Administrations.)

...I have read anywhere - well said!

"...people tend to vote R because they think that is best for them, while people vote D because they think that is best for society."

n/t

When I realized that The Man was all that stood between us and the abyss. It's a weird spacey feeling, man.

for eloquently putting into words what I am feeling.

Look like dog shit?
...
Good thing we didn't step in it.


Go Feds!
Hey Mueller. Stop Bogartin' and pass that thing.

I said to my husband, now that fucking asshole has made me defend the FBI.
He answered, I don't care, I'll never defend that fucker Hoover.

Not so much of a joke.

(We have confirmed that my father, and an organization for which we both served on the national governing board, both have FBI files from the vietnam era. Didn't bother to check specifically about me - but I can't imagine that they would not routinely have started tracking me when all 3 of us were participating in the same "radical/terrorist" events - and given that they continue to periodically surveil the organization.)

60's and done the whole Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, Haight Ashbury, India, Morocco, Nepal thingys, etc., we never thought we'd find ourselves defending the FBI. But here we are.

but trust the FBI before any elected repub

was buried in October 1967. The funeral was held in Golden Gate park.

but only if it is at tasks which are fun or absolutely necessary." Excellent philosophy!

Thank you for posting this link.

A few weeks after the "funeral" I headed to boot camp and 3 tours of Vietnam. Despite the uniform, I remained a Hippie on the inside. Still got my freak flag flying.

I was like oh what the fuck what now I have to be standing up for the FBI ?? 360 and all that
What a long strange trip it's been!!

Seriously, I think most former hippies do want some sort of "rule of law" in the country.
Only a few a true anarchists.

R.I.P. Fred Hampton, August 30, 1948 - December 4, 1969.

He would NOT have put up with this crap!

It just boggles my mind.

But I still can't miss Hoover (or Jedgar as Lily Tomlin's Earnestine called him).

They will probably do a good job on this one because the FBI itself is under attack. I can never forget their history of supressing labor, minorities and political dissidents. Even as recently as 2008 I watched them go over harmless lefties and antiwar activist. They usually did not have a legal case to make, but conducted raids and searches to intimidate. On the other hand, you have to be a special kind of stupid to antagonize them. The FBI already had the evidence on Nixon and if it hadn't been leaked by an FBI man he would have got away with it, maybe.

I remember too much!

Is NOT always my friend. Hell, they weren’t just going after “anti war activists” in 2008, they were sending in undercover agents to infiltrate the Quakers of all people, lol. Morality aside, the sheer ignorance and waste of public money... It’s mind boggling.

It’s like the people saying “Trump makes me wish Bush was still President.” The only way I’d wish that was if Bush was being tried in The Hague for war crimes.

Being jailed for smoking pot. Prejudice against minorities. Suppression of women's rights.

Basically, we wanted freedom and honesty. I was and still am a hippy. We were fighting for Christian and American Values.

this is too true to even be satire.

That hasn't changed.

Sometimes I hate Trump just for the times I've had to agree with something some right wing fool from the Bush administration has said about him or his administration.

I comfort myself by saying it just proves that politics does make strange bedfellows.

THIS TIME the FBI is, or appears to be doing the right thing. I will judge by the results and am waiting (im)patiently to to see how it turns out.

That does NOT mean we should rewrite history regarding the role of the FBI in American politics, which, as is noted in the current "Pic of the Day," has been "famously conservative," and that itself is a bit of a euphemism.

Remember, the FBI building is named after Hoover, one of America's biggest political criminals. For those too young to remember or those who have forgotten, check your history.

I swear the world is in opposite mode.

That the fbi was after.
They told them I SAID THEY DID IT.
They never talked to me.
I trust them as far as I can sling a piano.

The last I heard, it was passed on to the Heritage Foundation for safe-keeping.

Lifelong Republicans put in the horrible position of having to root for the Russkies..

That's the repug party, when the chips are down and Feds are under attack by nazis or Putin, they'll throw the Feds under the bus, every time. They're the 'law and order' party. Just ask Mousse-O-Lini, that leader of theirs with all those mob connections.