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Hysteria over Jade Helm exercise in Texas was fueled by Russians, former CIA director says

Gov. Greg Abbott's decision in 2015 to ask the Texas State Guard to monitor a federal military exercise prompted significant criticism. A former CIA director said Wednesday that the move emboldened Russians to next target elections.

 

https://www.texastribune.org/2018/05/03/hysteria-over-jade-helm-exercise-texas-was-fueled-russians-former-cia-/

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Navalny has some serious balls. Good for him. I'm really surprised Navalny is still alive. He's visible, but he's causing Putin a lot more grief than he'd actually get for killing him. The US wouldn't even bat an eye and we all know it. 

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26 minutes ago, Pods said:

he's causing Putin a lot more grief than he'd actually get for killing him.

I dunno, if Putin felt legitimately threatened by Navalny, he’d certainly get the Boris Nemtsov treatment.  And if that happens, Putin will just have to deal with more Nemtsovs and Navalnys.

There has to be some calculation there for Putin.

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Sweden, US and Finland agree to work more closely together on defence

(to counter the dirty Ruskies, presumably)

78ec15773d2f62f7bb6d2dd4e1420cd67f3767f4

 

https://www.thelocal.se/20180509/sweden-us-and-finland-agree-to-work-more-closely-together-on-defence

Spoiler

Defence ministers of the three countries – Peter Hultqvist of Sweden, James Mattis of the US and Jussi Niinistö of Finland – met on Tuesday to sign a so-called statement of intent.

"Sweden, Finland and the United States of America intend to complement and reinforce the defence relationships by formalizing and enhancing the defence relationship concerning issues such as exercise actitivies and increased interoperability," read a Swedish government statement.

More than 1,400 soldiers from the US came to Sweden last year to join some 20,000 military personnel taking part in the Aurora 17 defence drill, the biggest Swedish military exercise in over 20 years. Troops from Finland, Denmark, Norway, Lithuania and Estonia also participated.

Sweden is not a member of Nato, but has strengthened ties with the alliance in recent years in the face of Russian warnings that an expanding Nato would be seen as a "threat". The Nordic country has a Host Nation Support Agreement (HSNA) with Nato which means helicopters, aircraft and ships can be transported by members across Swedish territory upon Sweden's invitation.

Hultqvist said he hoped the new deal would increase stability in Scandinavia and the Baltics.

But the Swedish defence minister declined to discuss Russia when asked by news agency TT.

"We haven't singled out any particular country in that way. We're only noting that over time the security political situation in our part of Europe has deteriorated," he said.

"This prompts us to increase our own military capabilities and to deepen our cooperation with other countries. That is one part of the strategy."

Discuss

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1 hour ago, zork said:

(to counter the dirty Ruskies, presumably)

78ec15773d2f62f7bb6d2dd4e1420cd67f3767f4

 

https://www.thelocal.se/20180509/sweden-us-and-finland-agree-to-work-more-closely-together-on-defence

  Hide contents

Defence ministers of the three countries – Peter Hultqvist of Sweden, James Mattis of the US and Jussi Niinistö of Finland – met on Tuesday to sign a so-called statement of intent.

"Sweden, Finland and the United States of America intend to complement and reinforce the defence relationships by formalizing and enhancing the defence relationship concerning issues such as exercise actitivies and increased interoperability," read a Swedish government statement.

More than 1,400 soldiers from the US came to Sweden last year to join some 20,000 military personnel taking part in the Aurora 17 defence drill, the biggest Swedish military exercise in over 20 years. Troops from Finland, Denmark, Norway, Lithuania and Estonia also participated.

Sweden is not a member of Nato, but has strengthened ties with the alliance in recent years in the face of Russian warnings that an expanding Nato would be seen as a "threat". The Nordic country has a Host Nation Support Agreement (HSNA) with Nato which means helicopters, aircraft and ships can be transported by members across Swedish territory upon Sweden's invitation.

Hultqvist said he hoped the new deal would increase stability in Scandinavia and the Baltics.

But the Swedish defence minister declined to discuss Russia when asked by news agency TT.

"We haven't singled out any particular country in that way. We're only noting that over time the security political situation in our part of Europe has deteriorated," he said.

"This prompts us to increase our own military capabilities and to deepen our cooperation with other countries. That is one part of the strategy."

Discuss

Sweden and Finland have been among the best at combating Russian aggression/subversion/active measures.

This is great news that Mattis is working more closely with them. The US can learn a lot from what Sweden and Finland are doing.

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Is there a Dead Pool for the first American involved in the Trump mess yet?  Manafort seems like the obvious choice, but I'm going with Papadopolous.  He seems to "pop" up at strange times and places during this whole ordeal.  Plus I doubt he's getting the security that Gates, Flynn, et al. are receiving.  

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On 5/16/2018 at 9:46 AM, Dertyberd said:

Is there a Dead Pool for the first American involved in the Trump mess yet?  Manafort seems like the obvious choice, but I'm going with Papadopolous.  He seems to "pop" up at strange times and places during this whole ordeal.  Plus I doubt he's getting the security that Gates, Flynn, et al. are receiving.  

Manafort is safe from Russian assassination unless he flips on Russia which means he’s not going to flip on Russia.

An unwritten KGB rule is they only assassinate other Russians. 

 

Edited by Hugo Stiglitz
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  • 2 weeks later...

 

16 minutes ago, pyrohornIII said:

It's funny that links to a russian article.   And since I can't read russian, did the ruse work at all?   Did they flush anyone out?

 

yes they have one person under custody. they suspect the hit came from mother russia.

 

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17 minutes ago, pyrohornIII said:

It's funny that links to a russian article.   And since I can't read russian, did the ruse work at all?   Did they flush anyone out?

 

The operation took two months to plan, they said, adding that they had two suspects in custody, the person who ordered the killing and the one who was supposed to have carried it out.

They accused the Russian security services of ordering the assassination of Mr. Babchenko, who fled Russia last year after he faced a harsh campaign of intimidation over his criticism of the Kremlin.

The police had said that Mr. Babchenko died while being taken to the hospital. The elaborate ruse included staged pictures of Mr. Babchenko’s corpse.

The faked killing had immediately soured the already grim relations between Kiev and Moscow, with both sides accusing the other of carrying it out.

 

Moscow immediately cranked up its propoganda machine on Wednesday, with talk show guests on state-run television accusing Ukraine of carrying out the killing to make Russia look bad and spoil the World Cup soccer tournament

 

 

Edited by Hugo Stiglitz
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  • 1 month later...

Two people poisoned by same nerve agent used on ex-spy, police say

 

London (CNN)Two people found unconscious in southern England on Saturday were exposed to the same nerve agent used to attack an ex-Russian spy in March, London Metropolitan Police said Wednesday.

The pair remain in critical condition in Salisbury District Hospital, the same hospital where former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were treated after they were exposed to Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent. The UK government suspects the Skripals were victims of a Russian attack.

The UK's National Counter Terrorism Policing Network is leading the investigation. Officers are investigating the possibility of a connection between the two attacks, said Neil Basu, Assistant Commissioner for Counter Terrorism at London Metropolitan Police. But no evidence so far suggests the couple was specifically targeted, he said.

"I don't have any intelligence or evidence that they were targeted in any way. There is nothing in their background to suggest that at all," Basu said.

"We are not in a position to say whether the nerve agent was from the same batch that the Skripals were exposed to. The possibility that these two investigations might be linked is clearly a line of inquiry for us." 

What we know about the victims

Paramedics were called to an address on Muggleton Road in Amesbury the morning of June 30 after a woman collapsed at the property, Wiltshire Police Deputy Chief Constable Paul Mills told reporters earlier Wednesday. They were called back later the same day after reports that a man became ill in the same location, he said. 

British news agencies identified the two people as Charlie Rowley, 45, and Dawn Sturgess, 44. Sam Hobson, a friend of the pair, confirmed their names in an interview with Agence France-Presse. The two victims are British nationals local to the area, according to police in Wiltshire, the county in which Amesbury is located.

Wiltshire Police said they were initially believed to have fallen ill after using crack cocaine or heroin from a contaminated batch. On Monday, due to concerns over their symptoms, samples from both patients were sent to a laboratory for analysis. 

"Following the detailed analysis of these samples, we can confirm that the man and woman have been exposed to the nerve agent Novichok, which has been identified as the same nerve agent that contaminated both Yulia and Sergei Skripal," Basu said.

"I do want to reassure the public, however, that there is no evidence that either the man or woman recently visited any of the sites that were decontaminated following the attempted murders of Sergei and Yulia Skripal," he said.

Authorities have cordoned off several sites in Amesbury and Salisbury that the couple is believed to have visited before they fell ill, Basu said. He warned of an increased police presence in the area, which will include officers wearing protective equipment, similar to the activity earlier this year in the Skripal investigation.

Wiltshire Police Chief Constable Kier Pritchard called the increased police presence a "proportionate response to an investigation of this nature and scale." 

"I fully appreciate the effect the cordons will have on local people and businesses," he said in a statement. "Please let me reassure you that my officers and staff, partner agencies and our colleagues at the Counter Terrorism Policing network will do all we can to progress this investigation and help return the communities of Amesbury and Salisbury back to normality."

Affected sites include Amesbury Baptist Church, which had police standing guard at the entrance on Tuesday. Church secretary Ray Collins told CNN he believed the victims attended a family fun day at the church on Saturday, though he did not know who the pair were. A Boots pharmacy in Amesbury was cordoned off, along with the Queen Elizabeth Gardens, the John Baker House in Salisbury, a supported living facility, and the Muggleton Road property in Amesbury, according to Wilshire Police.

As a "highly precautionary measure," Public Health England South West advised anyone who had visited those sites from 10 p.m. on June 29th to 6:30 p.m. on June 30 to do the following:

- Wash the clothing they were wearing in an ordinary washing machine just as they would any other items.

- Wipe personal items such as phones, handbags and other electronic items with cleansing or baby wipes and dispose of the wipes in an ordinary domestic waste disposal.

- Hand wash with warm water and detergent any items that cannot go in the washing machine or be cleaned with wipes, such as jewelery and accessories, and rinse with clean cold water.

Salisbury District Hospital is open as usual and is advising people still to attend routine appointments unless they are contacted to state otherwise.

"Our current advice, based on the small number of casualties affected, is that there is no significant health risk to the wider public. We will keep this assessment under constant review as further information becomes known," said Mike Wade, Deputy Director of Health Protection for PHE South West.

 

Fallout from Skripal attack

 

Authorities believe that Sergei and Yulia Skripal first came into contact with Novichok at Sergei's home. They were later found slumped over on a bench at an outdoor shopping complex in Salisbury.

The incident in Salisbury sparked a diplomatic dispute between the UK and Russia after British investigators blamed Moscow for the attack.

Russia has denied the allegations, but more than 20 other countries kicked Russian diplomats out of their countries in a show of support for the UK.

The two have since been discharged from the hospital.

CNN's Samantha Beech reported from Atlanta. Laura Smith-Spark and Sheena McKenzie wrote from London and Emanuella Grinberg wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Lindsay Isaac, Seb Shukla, Hilary McGann, Simon Cullen and Joshua Berlinger contributed to this report.

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Owner Of Russian Import/Export Company Charged With Evading U.S. Export Controls By Smuggling Sensitive Electronics To Russian Military And Intelligence Agencies

NEWARK, N.J. – A resident and citizen of Russia was indicted by a federal grand jury today for his alleged role in an international procurement network that smuggled over $65 million worth of electronics from the United States to Russia in violation of export control laws, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Alexander Brazhnikov Sr., 72, of Moscow, is charged by indictment with one count each of conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to smuggle goods from the United States, and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Brazhnikov Sr. is currently at large.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Brazhnikov Sr. was the owner, chief executive officer, and principal operator of ABN Universal, a privately held Russian microelectronics import/export company in Moscow. His son, Alexander Brazhnikov Jr., 39, of Mountainside, owned and operated four New Jersey-based microelectronics export companies in Carteret, Mountainside, Union, and Manalapan.

Brazhnikov Sr. and Brazhnikov Jr. participated in a sophisticated procurement network that secretly acquired large quantities of electronic components from U.S. manufacturers and vendors and exported those parts to Russia on behalf of Russian business entities authorized to supply those parts to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) and Russian entities involved in the design of nuclear warheads and other weapons.

As part of the scheme, Brazhnikov Sr., through his Moscow business, obtained initial requests for quotes for the U.S.-based electronics components from various Russian entities and sent these requests directly to U.S.-based vendors electronically or to his son for implementation. Brazhnikov Sr., Brazhnikov Jr., and others then used Brazhnikov Jr.’s New Jersey export companies to purchase the electronic components from the U.S.-based distributors and re-package them for shipment to Moscow.

In order to obscure the extent of the network’s procurement activities and avoid filing the necessary export control forms, Brazhnikov Sr., Brazhnikov Jr., and others routinely falsified the true end-users and value of the components they exported. Each shipment from the United States was sent to one of 12 false addresses or shell locations in Moscow established at Brazhnikov Sr.’s direction, re-directed to a central warehouse he and others controlled, and ultimately shipped to the end-users in Russia, including the Russian defense contracting firms.

The funds for these illicit transactions were obtained from various Russian purchasers and initially deposited into one of Brazhnikov Sr.’s primary accounts in Russia. In order to further conceal the actual customers and the source of the funds, disbursements for purchases were then made through one or more foreign accounts held by shell corporations in the British Virgin Islands, Latvia, Marshall Islands, Panama, Ireland, England, United Arab Emirates, and Belize, and ultimately into one of Brazhnikov Jr.’s U.S.-based accounts.

The money laundering conspiracy charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. The conspiracy to violate the IEEPA carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison. The charge of conspiracy to smuggle goods carries a potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Brazhnikov Jr. previously pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme and was sentenced June 30, 2016, to 70 months in prison.

U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Gregory W. Ehrie in Newark; the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Export Enforcement, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Carson in New York; and the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Brian Michael in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s charges.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dean C. Sovolos of the U.S. Attorney’s Office National Security Unit in Newark, with assistance from Trial Attorney David Recker of the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.

The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and Brazhnikov Sr. is considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/owner-russian-importexport-company-charged-evading-us-export-controls-smuggling-sensitive

 

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15 minutes ago, Grandioso said:

 

Browder is the anti-Trump. A real billionaire out to put his own mouth and money behind American values.

 

He’s reminds me of Oscar Schindler in a few ways.  Started out as a shady cut throat capitalist and wound up a noble humanitarian due to his up close and personal experiences with a brutal and corrupt regime.

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News out of Central African Republic. Could be dirty. Could just be Africa

Three journalists, believed to be Russians, have been killed in an ambush in the Central African Republic (CAR).

The Russian foreign ministry said it was in contact with local authorities to establish their identities.

The bodies were reportedly found on a road near the central town of Sibut. 

It is unclear who was behind the attack, but many militia groups are active in the CAR. The country has witnessed ethnic and religious conflict since a rebel uprising in 2013.

The mayor of Sibut was quoted by AFP news agency as saying that the three were killed at about 22:00 local time on Monday (21:00 GMT). Their driver survived the incident.

An independent Russian TV station has said the group were making a documentary about the Russian mercenary group, Wagner, which is said to be active in the CAR.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-45025601

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Putin’s Secret Police Prevent 2 Million From Leaving Russia

https://www.thedailybeast.com/putins-secret-police-prevent-2-million-from-leaving-russia

 

MOSCOW — Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, is preventing millions of Russians from going abroad. Its own officers have been told “nevyezdnye” (no foreign travel), and earlier this year it announced stricter border controls for those who want to leave the country, citing the “changed geopolitical situation.” 

Several million Russians currently are banned, specifically, from travel to the United States, and more than two million cannot leave the country at all. The number of Russian citizens on so-called “stop lists” and state employees obliged to stay put after signing secrecy agreements ia growing rapidly.

So is concern among Russian elite that a new Iron Curtain, reminiscent of travel restrictions during Soviet times, has begun to descend.

Gennady Gudkov, a former officer with the Soviet KGB, predecessor of Russia’s FSB, blames a combination of wildly overblown security concerns and worries about the massive, ongoing brain drain. That the Kremlin would ban travel for millions of personnel from the army, the police, and anyone who might have access to secret information “is a sign of increasingly extreme paranoia,” Gudkov told The Daily Beast on Monday. 

“I realize that a huge number of countries want to recruit Russian specialists today, but I am sure that nobody wants to recruit some little police sergeant or some worker, like one of my relatives, who is working at an aviation enterprise producing small insignificant parts. He recently was banned from traveling.” 

Gudkov spent his youth behind the post-war Iron Curtain, which Communist leaders created to block citizens of Soviet republics and the USSR’s satellite states from any direct contact with the West. Mikhail Gorbachev destroyed the Iron Curtain, Gudkov noted, “to change the nature of international relations, to end the ideological confrontation, and particularly to end the arms race.” But three decades later the Kremlin is reconstructing this new version of the Iron Curtain while its agents working all over Europe speak about ideological confrontations with the West.

In 1987 the KGB assigned the then 31-year-old sergeant-major Gudkov to collect intelligence in the United States. Gudkov spent more than two months in Washington D.C., New York, Florida and other American states collecting information about American engineering and cultural progress. 

“I performed so well, that they even offered me [a promotion] when I got back to Moscow,” Gudkov said. “But by then, I already felt uncertain about the regime, the corrupt party that dragged my country down the hill.” 

In April, the FSB presented to President Vladimir Putin new regulations, describing threats for Russia’s national interests, sovereignty, natural resources. Since the beginning of the conflict with Ukraine in 2014, authorities have banned more than three million state employees from traveling to the United States and other NATO countries.

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Federal prosecutors on Wednesday announced the arrest of three high-ranking members of a criminal hacking gang known as Carbanak. 

Prosecutors in Seattle unveiled the indictments against Ukrainian nationals Dmytro Fedorov, Fedir Hladyr and Andrii Kopakov. 

The individuals allegedly orchestrated a sophisticated hacking campaign targeting over 100 U.S. companies, breaking into computers at more than 3,600 business organizations across the United States.

The Ukrainians are accused of using phishing attacks and malware to harvest information on over 15 million payment cards from thousands of business locations across the U.S., which they then sold for profit.

The Ukrainians each face 26 felony counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, computer hacking, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

The individuals were apprehended as a result of a long-term investigation led by an FBI cyber task force in Seattle. Federal officials collaborated with officials in Poland, Spain and Germany in order to secure the individuals' arrests.

"Because hackers are committed to finding new ways to harm the American public and our economy, the Department of Justice remains steadfast in its commitment to working with our law enforcement partners to identify, interdict, and prosecute those responsible for these threats," said Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski, who oversees the Department of Justice's criminal division.

The hackers allegedly crafted phishing emails to businesses representatives that appeared legitimate but contained malware. The businesses targeted were primarily in the hospitality, restaurant and gaming industries. Some of the companies targeted in the attack include Chipotle, Arby's, Sonic, Red Robin, and Jason's Deli.

Prosecutors said that the conspirators often followed up  the emails with phone calls to the companies, encouraging them to open the messages -- which would allow the malware to infiltrate the computers. The hackers allegedly stole over 15 million credit and debit cards from the businesses they targeted, which they then tried to sell on the dark marketplace.

One of the conspirators, Fedorov, remains detained in Poland pending his extradition to the United States. Officials said that Hladyr was arrested in Dresden, Germany, and is currently detained in Seattle pending trial. Kopakov was arrested in Lepe, Spain, where he remains detained pending the U.S. government's request for extradition.

The infamous Carbanak hacking group, also known as FIN7, is based in Eastern Europe and believed to have stolen over $1 billion from financial institutions across the globe.

"From the FBI's perspective, this is the largest, certainly among the top three, criminal computer intrusion cases that the FBI is working right now in terms of loss, number of victims, the global reach, and the size of the organization, the organized crime syndicate doing this," FBI Special Agent in Charge Jay Tabb of the Seattle Field Office said in part.

"It is pretty significant if you think about it in those terms. Yes, this is only three of the subjects. There are many more subjects charged and not charged that we are investigating. Again, it is an ongoing investigation."

The case is being prosecuted by U.S. attorneys in the Western District of Washington, with help from the Justice Department's computer crime and intellectual property division.  

http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/399895-federal-prosecutors-announce-arrest-of-three-ukrainians-for-allegedly

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interesting stuff.  keep up the good work hugo.  i listened to testimony on cspan last night, they had 4 cyber experts in front of the senate, and it was scary as shit.  instead of the billions trump wants to throw at the wall, he ought to give every penny of that money to building a cyber wall.  we are severely under-funded there, and that's where our greatest security threats lie.

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8 hours ago, thrillhammer said:

interesting stuff.  keep up the good work hugo.  i listened to testimony on cspan last night, they had 4 cyber experts in front of the senate, and it was scary as shit.  instead of the billions trump wants to throw at the wall, he ought to give every penny of that money to building a cyber wall.  we are severely under-funded there, and that's where our greatest security threats lie.

I don't think funding is an issue. The government tosses out a lot of money at the problem. The biggest problem seems to be government inefficiency and incompetence.

 

 

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38 minutes ago, F250 said:

I don't think funding is an issue. The government tosses out a lot of money at the problem. The biggest problem seems to be government inefficiency and incompetence.

 

 

Nailed it. 

Much of these issues can be tackled in the private sector but the problems are:

1. not a lot of financial incentive for the social media platforms to crackdown because no one will hold them accountable if they don’t.

2. the people that run these platforms are willfully ignorant of the consequences and will never take any responsibility.  They think “Whatever, Russia is not a threat to us.  I’m not going to take this seriously.”

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30 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

1. not a lot of financial incentive

This is the biggest problem in the private sector across the board. If there isn't a financial incentive a minimal amount of effort will be put into it. Still, the private sector is light years ahead of the public sector.

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14 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

3.  When the platforms do crackdown, this shit happens.

 

This is what happens when something gets politicized. You've been wanting something like this to happen it's just not how you wanted it to happen. Government intervention is a double edged sword.

 

 

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14 minutes ago, F250 said:

This is what happens when something gets politicized. You've been wanting something like this to happen it's just not how you wanted it to happen. Government intervention is a double edged sword.

 

 

This is the GOP’s “we’re the victims” approach to everything when they get checked by anyone that holds them accountable for overt malfeasance.

Jack should tell them to get fucked and go start your own platform. 

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6 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

This is the GOP’s “we’re the victims” approach to everything when they get checked by anyone that holds them accountable for overt malfeasance.

Jack should tell them to get fucked and go start your own platform. 

PassTheBuck.com? 

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