Hope springs from the strangest places.
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I foresee a polonium sandwich in somebody’s Christmas stocking…
I guess time will tell.
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But if they didn’t actually have sex at all… Anyway, just another inaccurate bb story potentially, nothing new there.
Playing chess is a big part of Russian culture (which should be obvious) and similarly Putin knows what he’s doing, and played Trump like the toddler he is. But at the same time, Mueller is playing his own game, one he’s spent his entire life doing. He knows the law, he knows the legal process, and he knows what avenues Trump could use to wiggle out of harm. So far everything I’ve seen Mueller do fits that mold exactly. I don’t want to butter him up as some kind of saint or hero, he’s a professional, lifetime law enforcement officer, and Trump is a life long half-assed con artist who’s gotten by with the help of lawyers and lots of money. But there’s only so far that can get you.
In Butina’s case she was a tiny part of a large espionage effort, and I’m sure Putin was always willing to give up some of his own people for the larger cause (look at Russian history.) But she may not be killed. She may not even be deported-- part of her cooperation might entail asylum and a new identity in Montana or Alabama or someplace ignominious and out of the way.
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From her wiki:
In 2013 she met Republican political operative Paul Erickson in Russia. The two became close, started dating, and eventually moved in together. In 2015 she emailed him a description of her plan to help the Republicans win the 2016 elections through the National Rifle Association (NRA).[22]
Though maybe dating meant holding hands while slurping ice cream sodas.
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Not only that, but he understands how critical it is for the nation that he does this right. He has only one shot and the consequences of blowing it could be the end of the republic.
Putin will be satisfied as long as she (and the American prosecutors) think there’s a good chance she’ll be killed in a horrible and painful way. The point is, if she’s not asking for witness protection as part of her deal she’s taking a big risk.
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If I were ambitious, I’d create a diagram/graphic of a “nothingburger” and name all the layers cleverly after the people flipping on trumo. If I were really ambitious, I’d start a burger chain called Nothingburger with big, fat juicy burgers, and half my proceeds would go to campaign finance reform.
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On a scale from 1 being generous to a fault to 10 owning multiple private jets, this is about a 15 on the televangelist scale.
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Yeah, but the thing is… they did. That’s already a done deal and denying it impacted us as a nation is like Rudy Giuliani going on Fox News and saying that the Flynn filings exonerate tRump. No one believes it, it’s absurd on its face and, most importantly, it doesn’t even remotely accomplish the goal of settling the argument and sweeping it under the rug.
The USA got took, and hard. Our racism and xenophobia elected a troglodyte that has and will do more to erode our “standing” in the world than any bOing bOing post could ever hope to. We need to stare deep into the mirror and confront this moment with clear and direct language. Our salvation will come from within, but only once we gather our courage to oust and prosecute as many of these monsters as the evidence will allow.
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Denying the problem doesn’t make us look strong, it just makes us look like rubes who will just sit back and take it as Russia continues to undermine our democratic institutions.
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If you are talking about how the rest or the world views you, it would be exploit the corrupt and undemocratic features or your system, like lobby groups that are such a de facto part of the government that “infiltrating” them is considered “espionage” and astroturf campaigns funded by dark money.
And of course, the rest of the world thinks it a bit rich for the US to be complaining about foreign interference. The “interference” is rather mild compared to what the US has done in many other countries, including Russia a few years ago.
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I think you are right. She does seem smart enough to not have learned anything that might damage Putin, so she can now spill the beans with the full knowledge that the only ones who will be hurt are only worthless Yankees. Even if she is deported, she probably will be rewarded in a quiet way, because rewarding is good for morale, lets trainees feel they won’t be hung out to dry when it’s their time.
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This isn’t about seeking sympathy from the international community. This is really about holding Americans who actively conspire to undermine their own country’s interests accountable for their actions. It’s also about bringing attempts by hostile nations to influence our election to light of day so we can prevent them from happening again.
If you want to expose similar examples of election meddling perpetrated by the U.S. government you’ll hear no complaint from me, but that’s really a separate discussion.
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With Maria out of it, the Trump boys spring into action!
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A foreign agent is not a spy, just saying. She wasn’t charged with being a spy.
From wikipedia:
A foreign agent is anyone who actively carries out the interests of a foreign country while located in another host country, generally outside the protections offered to those working in their official capacity for a diplomatic mission. Foreign agents may be citizens of the host country. In contemporary English, the term has a generally pejorativeconnotation.
A covert foreign agent, also known as a secret agent of a foreign government, may in some countries be presumed to be engaging in espionage. Some countries have formal procedures to legalize the activities of foreign agents acting overtly. An example is the 1938 United States law, the Foreign Agents Registration Act(FARA), the governing statute of which contains a wide-ranging and detailed definition of “foreign agent.”[1]
Laws covering foreign agents vary widely from country to country, and selective enforcement may prevail within countries, based on perceived national interest. For example, FARA is sometimes accused of being used to target countries out of favor with an administration.[2]
Under the 2012 Russian foreign agent law, nongovernmental organizations have to designate themselves “foreign agents” in all external communication if they engage in “political activity” and receive any foreign funding.
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The OP didn’t call her a “spy,” it called her a “secret agent.” Which is another way of saying she was an agent of a foreign government who did not disclose or register as such in accordance with Federal law.
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I didn’t say that the OP did say that.
Merely pointing out that this isn’t such a big deal or any sort of smoking gun, pun not originally intended.
