US Politics Thread 2021-24

[Dargo]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

Tucker Carlson goes to Moscow and is converted. Jeesh, what a bonehead.

https://twitter.com/CatchUpFeed/stat...63758899159371

[Dargo]

Alexander Smirnov: FBI source accused of Biden lies 'linked to Russian intelligence'

An ex-FBI informant accused of lying about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter has high-level ties with Russian intelligence, US prosecutors say. The allegations against Alexander Smirnov, 43, were outlined in new Department of Justice filings in the case on Tuesday. Mr Smirnov is accused of lying when he claimed bribes were paid to the Bidens via a Ukrainian energy firm, Burisma. He was charged last week with giving false statements to the FBI. Mr Smirnov's claims were part of an ongoing effort by Republicans to impeach President Biden. He was arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Thursday after returning from an overseas flight, the justice department said. Prosecutors had asked for Mr Smirnov, a dual US-Israeli citizen, to be held without bail, arguing that he has no ties to Las Vegas, but does have contacts with Russian intelligence agencies.

But on Tuesday US Magistrate judge Daniel Albregts allowed the defendant to be released from custody and be monitored by GPS until his trial. He must remain in Nevada's Clarke County and is banned from applying for a new passport. Mr Smirnov - who had been held at a jail in Pahrump, about an hour from Las Vegas, since his arrest - did not speak to journalists as he left court. The justice department says that he disclosed his intelligence contacts to his FBI handler, saying he could use those connections - which prosecutors described as " extensive and extremely recent" - to leave the US. In court documents filed Tuesday, prosecutors also alleged that Mr Smirnov told authorities he had only $1,500 in cash and $5,000 in a bank account, when in reality he had access to about $6m in "liquid funds". "The fact that Smirnov misrepresented his assets alone should cause Smirnov to be detained because it shows that, at the first opportunity, he did not provide true and complete information to pretrial services," the filing says. In December 2023, the legal filing says, Mr Smirnov attended an overseas meeting with "a high-ranking member of a specific Russian foreign intelligence service".

Mr Smirnov told his FBI handler that he learned Russian intelligence had intercepted "several" phone calls made at a certain hotel by prominent US people, according to the justice department. Neither the hotel nor its location is specified. Mr Smirnov allegedly said the eavesdropped recordings could be used as "kompromat" (compromising material) during the 2024 election campaign. He was charged by Special Counsel David Weiss - who has overseen the investigation of Hunter Biden - with providing "false derogatory information" to the FBI about the president and his son in June 2020. Prosecutors allege that Mr Smirnov was motivated by his dislike of the president. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 25 years in prison. In a separate court filing on Tuesday, Hunter Biden's attorneys sought to have federal tax charges dismissed, arguing that he was the victim of politically motivated "selective and vindictive prosecution". Additionally, the filings argue that the prosecutors' assertions that the younger Mr Biden lived a "lavish" and "extravagant" lifestyle were "irrelevant and prejudicial" to the case. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68353303.amp

[Jimbuna]

Trump says his $355m fraud penalty is ‘a form of Navalny’

Donald Trump has said that being hit with a $350m judgement following his recent high profile fraud case was “a form of Navalny,” in reference to the jailing and apparent murder of the late Russian dissident.

The former president said that the ruling by New York judge Arthur Engoron – who he described as a “nut job” – was “a form of communism or fascism”.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...832c61d3&ei=13

[Dargo]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Trump says his $355m fraud penalty is ‘a form of Navalny’

Wow how egocentric to use a true leader and fighter not even in his grave for his own gain.

[Dargo]

[Reece]

Nothing like a good laugh!!

Thanks Dargo

[August]

Originally Posted by Dargo

Wow how egocentric to use a true leader and fighter not even in his grave for his own gain.

That is true but he's kind of right. Both actions were designed to eliminate a political opponent. The only real difference is the Democrats haven't resorted to assassination yet. They are trying to send Trump to the gulag though. Once he is there who is to say they won't try to Epstein him?

[Dargo]

Originally Posted by August

That is true but he's kind of right. Both actions were designed to eliminate a political opponent. The only real difference is the Democrats haven't resorted to assassination yet. They are trying to send Trump to the gulag though. Once he is there who is to say they won't try to Epstein him?

Oh come on, you do not know the gulag system in Russia or Russia authoritarian repression. Your lot are being fed by that same Russia to cause America in chaos Putin succeeded in this you are at each other throats. The American people are being played ossified systems of governance lured by the intoxication of violence to build their warped ideology around conspiracy theorists, there are no assassination attempts if they were, Trump already would be dead. In Putin's Russia, laying flowers is certain dead (sent to the front and if you are not sent to Ukraine you are on the list for one trip gulag in the future) do not come whining if your corrupt leader goes into his cosy cell love it you talk about Epstein was he not buddy of the ruling cabal including Trump. You think you are driving the bus, and yet it’s driving you and suddenly other hands than yours are on the wheel,

[Buddahaid]

Well said.

[August]

Originally Posted by Dargo

Oh come on, you do not know the gulag system in Russia or Russia authoritarian repression. Your lot are being fed by that same Russia to cause America in chaos Putin succeeded in this you are at each other throats. The American people are being played ossified systems of governance lured by the intoxication of violence to build their warped ideology around conspiracy theorists, there are no assassination attempts if they were, Trump already would be dead. In Putin's Russia, laying flowers is certain dead (sent to the front and if you are not sent to Ukraine you are on the list for one trip gulag in the future) do not come whining if your corrupt leader goes into his cosy cell love it you talk about Epstein was he not buddy of the ruling cabal including Trump. You think you are driving the bus, and yet it’s driving you and suddenly other hands than yours are on the wheel,

Is there a point hidden somewhere in this unhinged rant?

[em2nought]

Only eleven states out of fifty have a larger population than the number of illegal aliens who have walked across our border since sleepy joe was installed.

I'm assuming nine million and climbing based on the numbers I've seen for encounters and "gotaways". That's more than the population of Virginia.

Compare that to Germany with 1.5 million Turks within their population of 80 million Huns.

[Skybird]

Could have posted this in the Ukraine or China or Russia or a new Europe thread as well, but I had to make a choice.


Why is it that the US and the whole West get militarily outproduced by China and Russia? The DoD recently gave hints and clues. They are worrying.

[em2nought]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Could have posted this in the Ukraine or China or Russia or a new Europe thread as well, but I had to make a choice.


Why is it that the US and the whole West get militarily outproduced by China and Russia?

Russia uses a grease pencil to write in space, we spend millions to develop a ballpoint pen to do the same job less reliably.

China just steals our pens, and probably keeps a grease pencil around just in case.

[Ostfriese]

Originally Posted by em2nought

Russia uses a grease pencil to write in space, we spend millions to develop a ballpoint pen to do the same job less reliably.

Funny, but not true. Urban legend.

[em2nought]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

Funny, but not true. Urban legend.

Sort of true, it's just the degree of obscene spending that's in question.

In fact, NASA ordered 34 mechanical pencils from Houston's Tycam Engineering Manufacturing, Inc., in 1965. They paid $4,382.50 or $128.89 per pencil. When these prices became public, there was an outcry and NASA scrambled to find something cheaper for the astronauts to use.

Meanwhile Massachusetts is spending $64 per day to feed each illegal alien in it's care. https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/new...ls/ss-BB1ixf1k I've never in my life spent $64 for one day's worth of food to feed myself. Not even when I visited socialist countries like France in Europe. I do remember thinking $2 for a coke was crazy at the time. LOL Shoot, I could eat Mountain House freeze dried prepper meals for cheaper. LOL