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14 Feb, 4 tweets, 2 min read
Aleksandr Torshin [who had long standing ties to the FSB] was picked by Putin to be the head of the Russian investigation into the Beslan school siege.

He cleared the Kremlin, blaming “local officials of incompetence and negligence.”

rferl.org/a/1064246.html
The Beslan school siege was a brutal affair that became a massacre, many of the victims being children (warning - not light reading here).

bbc.com/news/world-eur…
This is the same Torshin who was introduced to NRA leadership in 2011 by Marsha Blackburn’s friend Kline Preston.

Torshin was also introduced to Tennessee officials, and was allowed to inspect/monitor TN elections.
As Spanish police investigated the presence of a notorious Russian organized crime group on [...] Mallorca in 2012, they realized that a key figure described by some of the suspects as their “godfather” was a powerful Moscow politician: Alexander Torshin.

propublica.org/article/russia…

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More from @clearing_fog

ClearingTheFog Profile picture
15 Feb
The Republican Party is an authoritarian power structure.

For decades, it embraced greedy nihilists in order to win elections.

In the last 10+ years, a well-funded insurgency has infiltrated and captured it.

They are now threatening & purging any remaining opposition.
We can’t address the threat they pose to democracy without addressing the methods by which they maintain popular support.

This requires action across multiple fronts.
In terms of public policy, we are working on the right things:

-Bills to eliminate the GOP’s counter-majorian control (voting security, eliminating vote suppression)

-Exposing dark money networks who are funding them (forcing transparency for anonymous shell companies)
Read 18 tweets
ClearingTheFog Profile picture
13 Feb
Mitch McConnell admitted that Dems proved their case - that Trump is guilty.

They acquitted based on a sham constitutional argument, because that’s what they were going to do.

Blaming Dems for not calling witnesses is wrongheaded.

It wouldn’t have changed *anything.*
The only thing it would have accomplished is providing Republicans more air time to “flood the zone with sh*t” (in Bannon’s words), and delay the Senate confirmations that we need to move forward.

I didn’t like the witnesses call at first either, but this is the reality.
Don’t take my word for it - listen to Stacey Plaskett.
Read 5 tweets
ClearingTheFog Profile picture
13 Feb
So, after all the public statements, when it came down to it, the potential witnesses didn’t want to cooperate.

I understand the decision in this context.

We’d be relying on testimony from Trump allies who could potentially make things worse instead of better.

Too risky.
In that context, it makes sense to get this over with, get Merrick Garland confirmed, and allow criminal investigations to proceed. (And Biden can move forward with the agenda he needs to be working on).

Republicans will vote to acquit will be tied to it.

Best move for 2022.
Lindsey Graham voted in favor of calling witnesses.

Think about that - imagine all the ways they could have wrecked the trial.

We got Beutler’s statement about McCarthy on the record - which is damning - and the GOP didn’t get to play any more games.

Ugly, but strategic, win.
Read 4 tweets
ClearingTheFog Profile picture
12 Feb
There are many people on social media who, if their narratives are regularly consumed, will teach you a sort of learned pessimism - the art of despair.

There are others who will intrinsically teach you a learned optimism - the art of hope.

Learn how to tell the difference.
/1
Martin Seligman discusses this in his book Authentic Happiness

The book covers other things as well - like the benefit of virtues and strengths, and of pursuing gratification (long term & fulfilling), over fleeting pleasures.

But, a couple of notes on optimism and pessimism:
/2
There are two dimensions to optimism/pessimism:

Permanence - related to time
Pervasiveness - related to space

Do we see bad events as having permanent, pervasive causes?

Or do bad events have temporary, specific causes, while good events have permanent, pervasive causes?
/3 ImageImage
Read 9 tweets
ClearingTheFog Profile picture
28 Jan
What do I think about RobinHood?

I think it is being used to exploit people’s (justified) distrust of the stock market, to generate a crowd-sourced attack on our financial system while undermining faith in our economy.

Just like Facebook was used to attack our democracy.
In May 2009, Yuri Milner invested $200M in Facebook, at a time when Zuckerberg desperately needed an influx of cash.

We later learned that the money he invested came indirectly from the Russian government.

nytimes.com/2017/11/05/wor…
Since then, Facebook has been used as a tool to undermine democracies, from Africa and Myanmar, to the UK and the United States.

2014:

How Facebook’s Rise Fueled Chaos and Confusion in Myanmar

wired.com/story/how-face…
Read 15 tweets
ClearingTheFog Profile picture
27 Jan
Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys extremist group, has a past as an informer for federal and local law enforcement, repeatedly working undercover for investigators after he was arrested in 2012

reuters.com/article/us-usa…
In the Miami hearing, a federal prosecutor, a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent and Tarrio’s own lawyer described his undercover work and said he had helped authorities prosecute more than a dozen people in various cases involving drugs, gambling and human smuggling.
“he cooperated with local and federal law enforcement, to aid in the prosecution of those running other, separate criminal enterprises, ranging from running marijuana grow houses in Miami to operating pharmaceutical fraud schemes.”
Read 4 tweets

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