Homeland Security's Ron Johnson in Russia on 4th of July? Can Trump Party do anything now?

Only a few days ago...

...and just yesterday, despite the Senates own findings, Wisconsin's own Sen. Dumb Ron Johnson made a courtesy call to Russia anyway as a reward for...meddling?

ArabNews: “I am here not to accuse Russia of anything, I am here to try to find ways to improve relations,” Sen. Shelby told Russian lawmakers, according to a transcript published on the Duma website. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin was “very satisfied” that the senators were visiting Russia.

Nothing seemed more tone deaf and outright bizarre than a Russian trip by Johnson and the gang of 8 other senators...

Predictably, a Twitter storm justifiably followed...

Washington Post's Dana Milbank pretty much summed it up for me:

For the Wisconsin Republican, it meant, specifically, the freedom to spend July 4 in Moscow with seven other Republican lawmakers posing for propaganda photos with Russian officials. On the same day it was reported in Britain that two more people had been poisoned by a Russian nerve agent ... the day after the Senate Intelligence Committee affirmed the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the election to help Donald Trump. Johnson and his colleagues ... also exercised their freedom to soft-pedal their criticism of the Russian government, leading Russian politicians and state media to mock them as supplicants.

“I’m not here today to accuse Russia of this or that or so forth,” Shelby told Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin. “I’m saying that we should all strive for a better relationship.”

Yes, let us strive for camaraderie with a government that attacks us with cyberwarfare, meddles in our elections, denies entry to American officials who are critical of Moscow, destabilizes Europe and the Middle East, kills critics at home and abroad, occupies its neighbors’ land and shoots down the occasional passenger jet. Or, as Shelby put it, “this, that or so forth.”

One can hardly wait to see the lawmakers’ next codel: meeting with wounded Taliban fighters on Veterans Day? A Memorial Day wreath-laying for fallen members of Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard? Flag Day at a street protest in Tehran?

Putin control of US Elections response..."Hillary lost!! Trump Winning the Election was an act of God!"

Republicans know how to appeal to what I call, "low expectation voters." You might hear them say, "Yea, things are bad, but at least Republicans are still in charge." And why are things bad? They don't want to know.

So here's my story; I simply emailed to my conservative friend in Milwaukee the Reuters story about Putin's control over Russian meddling in our presidential election that resulted in exactly what he wanted, a Trump win.



You'd think Putin's meddling in our elections to the point of getting his candidate to win would be troubling enough to any American, even if their candidate won. In fact, the Trump talking points about voter fraud coincided with Putin's plan too, despite no indication is this report that there was collusion.

In the past, my friend has never really held any Republicans feet to the fire, because by default, there was always a Democrat to blame for something. Get over it, Trump won, Hillary lost. It's now just a reflex action of his to not have to deal with reality. But still, I'm always surprised by his responses...

Anyone else getting this kind of response, for almost everything?

Russia "California Secessionist Dreaming!"

Look, I know this is crazy, but....I've had this odd feeling for awhile now that Republicans were either knowingly or unintentionally moving toward a complete breakup of the United States. Weird conspiratorial stuff.

But when Gov. Scott Walker ran for president, his big idea was to do away with many of our federal agencies and shift them to the states. That would create a nation of little republics, similar to the Soviet Union. Of course, they eventually broke up into individual countries...so could that happen here? If you're a Republican, sure, who cares, and anyway this is something very very long term...and crazy.

But still, we've already seen many GOP state's tinker with the idea of seceding. What I didn't see coming was this Politico story tweet by GOP pollster and propagandist Frank Luntz :

More outrageous still? This is all coming out of Trump's favorite best friend, Russia:

The Dialogue of Nations Conference, which attracted separatist-minded contingents from Ireland, Spain and Italy, was hosted by a man named Alexander Ionov, whose group had used money from the Kremlin to pay the travel expenses of Russian Louis Marinelli’s pals from Red Square: Nate Smith. Smith is one of the leaders of Texas Nationalist Movement that’s pushing to—you guessed it—break away from the United States.

Jed Wheeler, the general secretary of the California National Party. “YesCalifornia is a movement whose optics are all designed for a Russian audience to reinforce [Vladimir] Putin, by talking about…how terrible America is, and reinforcing [the idea that] Putin is this great guy who is admired all over the world.” 

It would be easy to dismiss all this as nonsense driven by publicity-hungry amateurs, but people who know the Russian political playbook say winking at these fringe movements—and even giving them a boost—is a part of a very real strategy. Not only is this a way of puffing Russia’s domestic claims at turmoil in the U.S., but it fits firmly within the Kremlin’s modus operandi of cultivating fringe groups in the West—including, most especially, those who would fracture the United States in a reprise of the Soviet Union’s demise, over a quarter-century later.

That's not all:

Trump booster and Silicon Valley mogul Peter Thiel told the New York Times last week he is a proponent of secession. (“I think it would be good for California, good for the rest of the country,” Thiel said. “It would help Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign.”) And thanks to the efforts of both Marinelli and Ionov, California now has its first, if unofficial, “embassy” abroad—located in, of all places, Moscow.

Backed by photos of Putin, Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro and Muammar Qadhafi, Marinelli and Ionov officially unveiled the “embassy” in mid-December, pitching it as “bridge between California and Russia” and a way to “gain Russian support for California independence.”

Thanks to Trump, Russia's Putin is riding high. WaPo:

Putin heads into 2017 on a strong note, having brokered a cease-fire in Syria that sidelined the United States and having won the praise of President-elect ­Donald Trump by declining to retaliate in response to the Obama administration’s decision to punish Moscow over its alleged interference in the U.S. election.

“We are working, and working successfully, and we are achieving much,” Putin said in the nationally broadcast address. “I would like to thank you for the victories and achievements, for your understanding and trust, and for your true, sincere care for Russia.”

Cowardly Republicans Run from Trump's Russian Connections, not so concerned about Election Integrity after all.

It almost seemed surreal seeing the media turn away from the obvious Trump/Russian connection. Not only were a few of his closest aides connected in some way, but Trump would always defend Russia/Putin by saying how nice it would be if we all got along.

Now we're finding out the CIA knows for sure it was Russian hacking that swayed the election for Trump, and traitorous Republicans who are willing to turn a blind eye to the hacking. They won't even allow any possible investigation. Trump Republicans can now dismantle government for Russia, who wouldn't mind a completely destabilized and corrupt U.S. economy teetering on the brink destruction. Check out the Trump Russia ties.

Scott Walker chimed in with this bizarre and obtuse position over Russian hacking released through Wikileaks, which Walker describes as "information-no matter what form," and Russia's electoral efforts to get Trump elected:

Scott Walker: "If you've got foreign leaders trying to influence by their statement or endorsement in the same way that a foreign leader is trying to provide information - no matter what the form, whether it's outwardly or with an outright endorsement or otherwise - I think people believer decisions should be made by voters her in this country."

...or the sudden change aversion to a congressional investigation into Russian hacking to, as Paul Ryan put it..."exploit the work of our intelligence community for partisan purposes (which) does a grave disservice to those professionals..."

Now this, just before the Electoral College vote....Politico:

An open letter from 10 presidential electors — including Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s daughter Christine — requested an intelligence briefing ahead of the Dec. 19 vote of the Electoral College. Hillary Clinton’s top political adviser John Podesta said, 

“The bipartisan electors' letter raises very grave issues involving our national security. Each day that month, our campaign decried the interference of Russia in our campaign and its evident goal of hurting our campaign to aid Donald Trump. Despite our protestations, this matter did not receive the attention it deserved by the media in the campaign. We now know that the CIA has determined Russia's interference in our elections was for the purpose of electing Donald Trump. This should distress every American.”

Check out Esquire Magazines proof of hacking. Of course all of this is news to Trump, who smartly asked why the sudden interest:

Oh, here's why...

For Screaming out Loud: Or this specific outright Russian endorsement made to Reuters News Service,  that was completely ignored by all other media outlets:



I've been collecting screen captures since the beginning:

Trump Tower's Secret Servers to Russia no Big Deal for Trump Mob.

UPDATE: After Trump won the election, this appeared in The Guardian:

Republican voters are easily swayed by conspiracy theories, like the emails, Benghazi, the Clinton Foundation...but Democratic voters have never sucked into that fear mongering political tactic. 

FBI Director James Comey's ridiculous irresponsible announcement may have changed all that. Hillary Clinton just released this interesting tweet:

The Hill: According to a new report from Slate, a computer scientist tracking malware and going by the name “Tea Leaves” has discovered a pattern of conversation that appears to tie a server registered to the Donald Trump organization to two Russian servers registered to something called Alfa Bank. Further research of the pattern of conversations revealed they would occur during office hours in both New York and Moscow

Computer scientists began looking into GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s servers in the wake of the hack into the Democratic National Committee (DNC) that U.S. intelligence has blamed on Russian actors. “We wanted to help defend both campaigns, because we wanted to preserve the integrity of the election,” one of the unnamed academics involved said. 

NBC reported that the FBI is looking into former Trump campaign manager Paul

Manafort’s foreign business and political dealings … reports of his involvement with a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine.

The group forwarded their findings to computer science expert Paul Vixie, who concluded, “The parties were communicating in a secretive fashion. The operative word is secretive. This is more akin to what criminal syndicates do if they are putting together a project” … the Trump and Alfa servers had something like a digital hotline connecting the two and hiding their existence.

Clinton’s campaign senior policy adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement, "This line of communication may help explain Trump's bizarre adoration of Vladimir Putin and endorsement of so many pro-Kremlin positions throughout this campaign. It raises even more troubling questions in light of Russia's masterminding of hacking efforts that are clearly intended to hurt Hillary Clinton's campaign. We can only assume that federal authorities will now explore this direct connection between Trump and Russia as part of their existing probe into Russia's meddling in our elections."

Trump's not so secret Russian Partner Emerged, but no one cared: After confirming Russian involvement in the hacked DNC and Clinton campaign emails, it was a little unsettling to see Russian Nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky's video below touting a Trump presidency and threatening nuclear war if Clinton is elected.



And Trump's fascination with dictatorial strong men is just as crazy....



Trump's now famous "puppet" tantrum obscured the even more troubling back hand he gave to the 17 intelligence agencies that warned of Russia's involvement. US Navy Intelligence officer Malcolm Nance detailed Trump's connection, saying Russia would call a guy like Trump a useful idiot:



This Russian connection won't go anywhere for two reasons; it's too new - nothing like the familiar email fear fantasy; and the media that has never held Trump's feet to the fire for anything. If Clinton committed any of the Trump missteps, this would have been all over. If not for the fire breathing mob of Trump supporters and the media attempts to create a "false equivalence," this wouldn't even be close. Media Matters explains this false equivalence below:

Putin unleashes Russia's own "Trump," ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinnovsky, who warns of Nuclear War under Clinton.

While Trump solicits female volunteers to erroneously accuse Obama of groping them, other forces are at work via Clinton's hacked emails. From Russia with love so to speak. 

Today's news bolsters a recent and completely ignored video by a Putin surrogate who some there call the Russian Trump. Call me conspiratorial, but somethings wrong with this picture. Here's today's most recent clue:

Chicago Tribune: Trump's refusal to accept intelligence briefing on Russia stuns experts: Former senior U.S. national security officials are dismayed at Trump's repeated refusal to accept the judgment of intelligence professionals that Russia stole files from the Democratic National Committee computers in an effort to influence the U.S. election. 

The former officials, who have served presidents in both parties, say they were bewildered when Trump cast doubt on Russia's role after receiving a classified briefing on the subject and again after an unusually blunt statement from U.S. agencies saying they were "confident" that Moscow had orchestrated the attacks. "It defies logic," retired Gen. Michael Hayden, former director of the CIA and the National Security Agency, said.

Trump's not so secret Russian Partner Emerges: After confirming Russian involvement in the hacked DNC and Clinton campaign emails, it's a little unsettling to see Russian Nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky's video below touting a Trump presidency and threatening nuclear war if Clinton is elected.

Reuters: Americans should vote for Donald Trump as president next month or risk being dragged into a nuclear war, according to a Russian ultra-nationalist ally of President Vladimir Putin who likes to compare himself to the U.S. Republican candidate. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a flamboyant veteran lawmaker known for his fiery rhetoric, told Reuters in an interview that Trump was the only person able to de-escalate dangerous tensions between Moscow and Washington.

By contrast, Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton could spark World War Three, said Zhirinovsky, who received a top state award from Putin after his pro-Kremlin Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) came third in Russia's parliamentary election last month.

Many Russians regard Zhirinovsky as a clownish figure who makes outspoken statements to grab attention but he is also widely viewed as a faithful servant of Kremlin policy, sometimes used to float radical opinions to test public reaction.

"Americans voting for a president on Nov. 8 must realise that they are voting for peace on Planet Earth if they vote for Trump. But if they vote for Hillary it's war. It will be a short movie. There will be Hiroshimas and Nagasakis everywhere."

Zhirinovsky combative style, reminiscent of Trump's, ensures him plenty of television air time and millions of votes in Russian elections, often from the kind of blue-collar workers who are the bedrock of the U.S. Republican candidate's support.

Check out these bizarre and completely coincidental similarities:

Zhirinovsky once proposed blocking off mostly Muslim southern Russia with a barbed wire fence, echoing Trump's call for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. In typically chauvinistic remarks, Zhirinovsky said Clinton's gender should also bar her from the presidency. "Most Americans should choose Trump because men have been leading for millions of year. You can't take the risk of having one of the richest, most powerful countries led by a woman president," he said.

Zhirinovsky, who said he met Trump in New York in 2002, revels in his similarities - they are the same age, favour coarse, sometimes misogynistic language and boast about putting their own country first. Zhirinovsky has even said he wants a DNA test to see if he is related to Trump.

Putin has also praised Trump as "very talented", while the Republican candidate has said the Kremlin boss is a better leader than U.S. President Barack Obama.