322 Comments

Two points.

First. “Today all three issued statements claiming to be victims of the Russian scheme and that they have always maintained editorial control of their content.” Of course they did and were PAID HANDSOMELY FOR IT. The influencers were clearly influenced by MONEY.

Second. Let’s not forget that the REPUBLICAN LED SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE issued a report called “Russian Active Measures and Election Interference, Volume 5” which very clearly stated that there was evidence of collusion between Russia, Trump and his associates (Page 948).

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Hillary was right. About everything!

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Alice, True, too late and SAD

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Great points. I believe that committee approved the report unanimously.

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Thank you for the info

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Sep 5
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IMO, colluding with a foreign government to sway an election is an act of treason. One of many Trump has committed over the years. Trump should be in jail right now, not running for president.

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Absolutely. This would never happen in (most) civilized countries. Just imagine someone running for political office in the U.K. or Canada who was also a convicted felon - I don't think so . People may not like them - that's par for the course.

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But we have also suffered from Russian interference in the UK both in our elections and generally in our political life. We also had a “Russia report” which was suppressed by Russia loving Boris Johnson when he was PM, as the Tories were heavily reliant on Russian donors to whom they happily handed out golden passports.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine put paid to that as did their subsequent loss in our recent GE and they are now said to be very short of cash.

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It seems like too many of our politicians are buyable. They will screw our countries for a piece of the pie.

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Sad, but true in many cases.

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My point was about a convicted felon running for office, Johnson made a lot of mistakes (!) as did others, which were reprehensible to say the least. Being short of cash is the price they've had to pay, but what they did was their own faults. I don't think that makes the, convicted criminals, unlike the orange menace in the U,S.A.

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Yes, as with many things you Americans have taken this to the next level.

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No surprises here, but glad that Garland has announced what is being done.

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Yes, it's nice to know that so much is going on behind the scenes, where it appropriately belongs lest leaks should cause these operations to fail. I hope people who scream for "more action" bear this in mind.

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Yes, it also means he has the receipts.

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Sep 5
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There she goes again. Seek help.

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Sep 6Edited
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That's just rich! How the hell can he be casting "aspersion" about your character unless you're saying your legal name is "Blueberry Muffin"?

You may very well be a Bran Muffin for all i know!

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Sep 6Edited
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That was not an attack, ad hominem or anyway you want to spin it.....It was a fact.

Dear God, I'm arguing with a Bot! I'm out

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Honey. Sweetie. Baby. Any legitimate legal professional would tell you that 1) opinion is constitutionally protected and that 2) you would have to be identifiable to have standing to sue for defamation. Now run along; the grownups are talking.

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Sep 6
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Dear, you're obviously a paid troll because no normal person reacts to this much negativity by blaming EVERY SINGLE PERSON CRITICIZING THEM. Blocking you now.

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Then just go away

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Sep 6
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Too bad. You really don’t have better things to do than troll? I suspect you just like the attention.

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Trollette?

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Or possibly worse... interfering

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Sep 6
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It sure seems like you like the Fox News echo chambers. Just sayin'... #Nyet

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Sep 6
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I’m not a liberal. I am a centrist. My mind is open, but I am fairly adept at spotting “talking points” from the radical right wing. Why are you here? To spread false information? Or just to annoy those of us who follow Dan Rather for his wisdom?

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So explain 2016 and 2020.....Only thing that brought Garland to the frontline was his nomination being blocked by the GOP, specifically by Mitch McConnell and he bragged about it:

In a speech that August in Kentucky, McConnell would say: "One of my proudest moments was when I looked Barack Obama in the eye and I said, 'Mr. President, you will not fill the Supreme Court vacancy.' "

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Sep 6Edited
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I believe that McConnell is a terrible man, any GOP member that outwardly supports Trump is not to be trusted and should excuse himself from his place in the senate. I will never forgive him for denying Obama's to appoint Garland to the USSC. That was an ass*&le move.

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Thank you, Donna, for saying that because I want Mitch to freeze up permanently and soon!

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McConnell is a spineless, bottom feeder

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Sep 6
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Yeah, sure. He doesn’t interact with constituents except ones politically & financially important to him. No public events. Responses - if any - to concerns sent to the Senator are form letters that often do not include the topic of the concerns. When the heat from constituents is too hot, his office phones are not answered & you cannot leave a message.

He got away with this because of the control he had over the GOP - both in the state & the Senate. The state GOP local and party officials need him to bring $$ to their areas to keep them in office. Major donors need the favors he can provide. It’s no coincidence his wife has been in every recent GOP president’s cabinet.

Yes, people in rural KY could vote him out. Would they get $$ for their roads and all those other benefits? He may also have attended or perhaps taught at Roger Stone’s school of dirty tricks. He was a lowly County Judge Executive. The ‘hound dog’ lying ad about his predecessor is legendary. That got him elected.

At the end of last year Americans awarded him a 6% approval rating. Of course most of the country never had an opportunity to vote him out of office.

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McConnell will always have blood on his hands for all the murdered school children as he looked the other way.

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What makes you think he is? Evidence?

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It a waste of energy to engage with entities that obstruct democracy. I can't wait until Kamamla& Tim get the win🇺🇸💙💙

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Hey Dan, can you block blueberry muffin? She doesn’t say anything of any validity or any value ….she just fills up the space with a lot of words.

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Sep 6
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My critical thinking skills are working just fine. There is absolutely no evidence of the Garland lead DOJ is doing anything nefarious. If it were the Republican lead House would be on it. Of course maybe you believe they’re simply too incompetent.

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Not to mention it has been no secret that RT was broadcasting for year. Keeping some rural stations afloat. BUT the listeners were not told that the info was from Russia. Eventually the Feds made them register as foreign agents. It was sporadically in the news. (I’ve commented on it months before. Wikipedia has an overview. It lists some of the reporting from 2017.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT_America

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Sep 6
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Says the “person” that wants me to “prove” a false straw man. 🤣🤣🤣

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Go away! I am sick of the corruption you MAGAts sow in the name of Christianity. Trump has you brainwashed into thinking he’s a Christian 🤪. He’s disgusting and so is his master Putin!

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I dunno...you seem to be the one liking to cast aspersions on others characters.

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Sep 6
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Sure Natasha.

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Blueberry, Looks like your comment is the description of of your own persona

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Whack job, get therapy.

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Huh??? you live in some kind of alternative reality I think

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Hi, Maria Butinha!

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How can anyone with a functioning, discerning brain believe anything the Democrats have said in the past 3 years. Their lies and cover-ups are way beyond egregious.

While we are at it, let's take a look in the mirror. How many assassinations and coups in countries whose governments we don't like have been perpetrated by the CIA? Look it up, Mr. Rather. The list is long and easy to find. But, again you need that discerning brain.

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Shaddup Troll. The only ones orchestrating illegal activities are the fascist ReTHUGs & MAGAt lemmings. You wouldn't have the stomach to see the receipts going back 40 years of their corrupt dealings, so don't project it onto Dems.

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Lola…., nicely said!

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Can you explain why those 2 things are related?

Especially why Dems or the GOP would need “legal cover” for filing a lawsuit requesting candidates be removed from the ballot? Filing such lawsuits is not illegal.

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Blueberry, Sounds like you belong on Fox or x

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Really? Give me a break.

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Wow!

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Bill Barr minimized the significance of the Mueller Report, which I read three times. I will not forget that. Nor will I forget Jim Jordan braying over Mueller’s testimony. I hope both those cocky, self-serving SOB’s get their comeuppance. What a bunch of traitors masquerading as patriots. Give us all a break.

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Barr not only minimized Mueller's report, he claimed the exact opposite of what Mueller found in his investigation. It was appalling.

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Thank goodness Eugene V heard the phone call & testified @ the impeachment of mr Bone Spurs!

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Absolutely agree 💯 I'll have the popcorn ready

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👏👏👏

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Russia has been engaged in election interference since 2015/2016. It’s never stopped.

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I wonder why no one in the GOP is upset? Is the RNC complicit too?

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I am sure the GOP is certainly okay with receiving help from Putin & others from Russia. The Republican’s with take help from any source for demented Trump to win.

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The GOP is absolutely complicit. They tried to prevent Biden from taking office. They're Putin's puppets.

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They've been dirty since Nixon & have gotten worse with each successive year to the point of now being common criminals, chronic liars, election thieves, & using any means necessary illegal or otherwise to power grab & keep power they didn't legitimately earn. There is no equality or comparison between the two parties. It isn't going to change after Trump either, unless they're willing to stop being a party for 2% & stealing tax dollars paid by 98% of our citizens. It simply makes no sense. They need to walk away from the proven failure that trickle down economics has proven to be. It's irresponsible madness that has afflicted congress for too long.

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Absolutely 👍

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JAIL THEM FOR LIFE

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Sep 6
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Jailing any political opponent or just the ones who commit crimes?

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Sep 6
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Sep 6
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The difference is that this time we have evidence.

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Sep 6
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If you really have to ask what type of evidence we have of Russian interference in U.S. elections, I would refer you to special prosecutor Robert Mueller's final report as well as to the Senate Intelligence Committee's report, published when Republicans controlled the committee and the Senate.

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The Republicans have proven over and over again that they side with Russians and the Reds. What planet are you living on?!

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The Blueberry Planet.

I’ll point out the commenter also engages in what DJT has called “brilliant”. A style of communication he now calls “the weave.” Other people have more accurate names for it. Perhaps he’s has hair on his brain.

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I believe I read where more charges may be forthcoming. If so I hope there a lot of sweaty palms trying to hold their phones tonight.

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Looking for former clerks to Thomas to plead their best intentions.

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Did the New York Times make that complicit list of media outlets?

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If not, they should have!

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Agree 100%!

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You can add WaPo to that list.

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What do you think????

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I'd go back further Bush/Gore

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Sep 5
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Okay Natasha. Whatever.

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Sep 6Edited
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Hey, Blueberry who will you be voting for?

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Sep 6
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Rather's audience is 90% blind and deaf and "party programed".

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You're telling me it's been 70 years since Republicans red-baited? Thanks for demonstrating that you slept through the '60s, '70s, and '80s. Or, more likely, hadn't been born yet.

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Sep 6
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When you're that wrong on the facts, open contempt is all you deserve, because you sure as hell aren't engaging in critical thinking. Trump dismissed all his opponents as Communists just this week, speaking of red-baiting; why aren't you complaining about THAT?

As for "blindly following political party doctrines while marching in lock STEP (not stop) with rigid political ideologies," I walked away from the Republican Party in January 2016 after almost 40 years of membership because I saw that the party was dead set on nominating a rapist, traitor, and grifter to the highest office in the land and I didn't want my grandkids asking me, "Pop, what's a 'good German'?"

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You get lots of fact-less trash talk back for your comments, Blueberry. The FACT-LESS DEMOCRATS have no idea what is going on in the US beyond the lies fed to them by their Party.

Our very own CIA has numerous coups and assassinations under its belt. Yet, we continually blame others for interfering in our government. What a sad joke.

My grandmother called that, "The pot calling the kettle black!"

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Thank you, Dan and Team Steady.

“Vigilance is essential, as are credible news organizations publishing and airing the truth.”

Amen.

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I’m so totally done with all Trump supporters, which sadly includes family & friends.

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I am right there with you. I knew my mother and brother were MAGA. Just learned that my niece is also. I feel sick. And angry!

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OMG me too!

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Yes...same here.....

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Not only noting your main point, but also the comment about Harris' smile. Another page from, to quote her, "the same old playbook" of commenting on women's looks rather than the substance of their words and actions. Let's see how that turns out when he is face to face with her.

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Thank you Dan for your very timely reporting. Putin's supposed "endorsement" of Vice President Harris is nothing more than a red herring and head fake, as he he believes that most Americans aren't smart enough to recognize what he is doing is really a continued support of "his" president trump. And these 'influencers' - Johnson, Rubin and Pool - are just as crooked as they former guy they support - making hundreds of thousands of dollars but complaining that they are the "victims" instead of the young audiences that lap up their crazy ideology. This is not the first time we have seen America become targets of our enemies through our own "valued" citizens that support the mis- and dis-information that is in our faces everyday. During the 1930's we were inundated with supporters and believers of Hitler and the Nazi's policies: the 'Friends of the New Germany'; the 'German American Bund' and the 'Hitler Youth Groups' all over the United States, with famous American spokespersons such as Charles "Father" Coughlin and Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh and Henry Ford, just to name a few. Dan, in your last paragraph you state that the "Department of Justice has learned from previous elections and is trying to combat the sophisticated disinformation machine honed by the Kremlin over decades." But I have heard on several news shows today that our Intelligence and Security professionals fear that because of the sophistication of the Doppelgänger campaign that we are actually a step behind and playing catch-up. As you state, vigilance IS essential, not only for our news on tv and cable and our newspapers but we, ourselves, all must be vigilant as well.

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Thanks for bringing up those complicit Americans who were paid to spread Nazi propaganda in the 1930s, Susan. The "America First" folks - so Orwellian. I was thinking of them after reading Dan's post, too. Yet look what happened when they were finally charged with their crimes... unbelievable! (EDIT: Listen to the first season of Rachel Maddow's podcast "Ultra" if you'd like to learn more.)

It would not surprise me one bit if the MAGAs in Congress were colluding with the Russians.

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How were they able to suck the brains from that 50% of America’s citizens who still support trump and the trump fellating Republican Party?

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Psyops. They know exactly how to play on the fears of white supremacists misogynists and homophobes who fear they are losing power in our multicultural society.

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Sep 6Edited
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“What’s really going on here is that the Russians have identified two major weaknesses in their American adversaries. The first is that a big slice of the American public, especially since the ascent of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, has an almost limitless appetite for stories that jack up their adrenaline: They will embrace wild conspiracies and “news” meant to generate social conflict so long as the stories are exciting, validate their preexisting worldviews, and give them some escape from life’s daily doldrums.

The other is that more than a few Americans have the combination of immense greed and ego-driven grievances that make them easy targets either for recruitment or to be used as clueless dupes. The Russians, along with every other intelligence service in the world, count on finding such people and exploiting their avarice and insecurity. This is not new. (The United States does it too. Money is almost always the easiest inducement to treason.) But the widespread influence of social media has opened a new front in the intelligence battle.”

Tom Nichols

The Atlantic

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Sep 6
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Typical Magat, can’t stay on point.

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Who will you be voting for?

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Evidence is mounting that the GOP itself is having less influence, and therefore, so are Trump and Putin. There is panic setting in in the MAGA camp.

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The evidence is right before our eyes. We see the Christian Nationalists and the Trump campaign literally melting down more each day. Currently, they are throwing everything at the wall to see what will stick. Very little of it is.

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Sep 6
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Blueberry Muffin, you are silly in what write as well as mis-guided. Question: Are YOU Russian?

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I call BS

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The fear mongering is coming from the likes of trump, stone , bannon et al

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By gutting education everywhere they could.

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Sep 5
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So called reality TV hasn't helped and face it the instant gratification of the internet has changed us as a nation.

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“Reality TV”, especially The Apprentice, helped to get us into this mess!

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Hmm, Putin's puppet. Where have we heard that? Hillary Clinton was right on everything, a vast right wing conspiracy. The Republican Party is a criminal cult, led by an ignorant, malignant, narcissistic psychopath.

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Sep 5Edited

Jeeez....You think James Comer or Gym Jordan cares about the Russians trying to influence our elections? I don't think so. Makes me wonder if those two have been receiving help from just this side of the Volga?

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Maybe. Or they don’t have the combined intelligence of a gnat. They only know RED is good, BLUE is bad. Anything more complex befuddles them.

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I hate to ask....but is that why they do so well in Fox interviews?

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Yes. That’s FAUX notnews specialty.

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I am utterly astonished that rethuglicans are so deeply in bed with Russia. It just demonstrates the lengths they will go to regain power. A large part of the American polity will conspire with an avowed enemy of the Country to regain control of the government. At what point will we start to call this what it is - treason?

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I call it treason everyday! The House and many Senate Republicans are traitors to our nation. They need to be held accountable.

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A convicted felon, twice impeached, bone spur chickenshet demented traitor should be in Russia or prison

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DEFEAT TREASONOUS, TERRORISTS, NAZIS, FELONS, AND CON RTRUMP & REPUBLICONS EVERYWERE. THE EMEMY & NAZI INSURRECTIONISTS ARE AT THE GATE. RTRUMP AND CROOKED CRONIES FOR JAIL 2024. VOTE FOR DEMOCRACY & FREEDOM.

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💙💙💙💙🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

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Putin never stopped helping TRump. He knows TRump is easily manipulated. I want to know which top secret documents have been either sold or given to Putin by TRump. It's a legitimate concern. Putin is spending a lot of money to try and get TRump elected again. We simply can not let it happen.

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Thank you Dan for reminding us again that we have to be vigilant of Russian interference in our electoral process by a campaign of repeated disinformation. Before his demise, Prigozhin admitted that they will continue to engage in this tactic. Repeated lies via sometimes unwitting hosts may find the vulnerable voters.

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Some of them are posting on substack , social media just like they did the last 8 years.

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Sep 6
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You're repeating yourself. Who will you be voting for.

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Muffin is having some cognitive trump decline. Repeating oneself is an early sign. Sad.

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Israel owns America. It always has and always will unfortunately. They stole the land from Palestinians 75 years ago and they won't stop until they take everything.

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Really.... Is anyone surprised.. I'm not. djt is and always will be the biggest cheater,......liar.... And scoundrel of all time. When he is finally.... Finally held accountable. That is the day that will finally HEAL OUR GREAT COUNTRY 🇱🇷🌊

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I fear the rot goes well beyond the orange criminal. There is a large percentage of Republican voters that believe the propaganda Russia has fed them for decades. Somehow we have to find a way to educate them. At a minimum, we have to remain engaged, aware and vigilant forever. If we let our guard down, these people will happily put 2025 into effect and there will be no coming back.

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They already started . Project 2025 , was initiated long before we heard about it. Their goal is to ENFORCE it in 2025. The heritage foundation and others designed it with their comrade's.

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I told totally agree with you.

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🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸💙💙💙💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼

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