Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

RIP Zandar. We are still here fighting the stupid, now in your honor.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Battle won, war still ongoing.

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

Israel, don’t be dumb like we were in the US after 9/11!

I was promised a recession.

There are no moderate Republican – only extremists, and cowards.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Issuance of Amended Executive Order 13694; Cyber-Related Sanctions Designations

Issuance of Amended Executive Order 13694; Cyber-Related Sanctions Designations

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Here’s the text of today’s sanctions’ Executive Order:
Issuance of Amended Executive Order 13694; Cyber-Related Sanctions Designations
12/29/2016

​

Today, the President issued an Executive Order Taking Additional Steps To Address The National Emergency With Respect To Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities.  This amends Executive Order 13694, “Blocking the Property of Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities.”  E.O. 13694 authorized the imposition of sanctions on individuals and entities determined to be responsible for or complicit in malicious cyber-enabled activities that result in enumerated harms that are reasonably likely to result in, or have materially contributed to, a significant threat to the national security, foreign policy, or economic health or financial stability of the United States.  The authority has been amended to also allow for the imposition of sanctions on individuals and entities determined to be responsible for tampering, altering, or causing the misappropriation of information with the purpose or effect of interfering with or undermining election processes or institutions.  Five entities and four individuals are identified in the Annex of the amended Executive Order and will be added to OFAC’s list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List).  OFAC today is designating an additional two individuals who also will be added to the SDN List.

Specially Designated Nationals List Update
The following individual has been added to OFAC’s SDN List:  
ALEXSEYEV, Vladimir Stepanovich; DOB 24 Apr 1961; Passport 100115154 (Russia); First Deputy Chief of GRU (individual) [CYBER2] (Linked To: MAIN INTELLIGENCE DIRECTORATE).
 
BELAN, Aleksey Alekseyevich (a.k.a. Abyr Valgov; a.k.a. BELAN, Aleksei; a.k.a. BELAN, Aleksey Alexseyevich; a.k.a. BELAN, Alexsei; a.k.a. BELAN, Alexsey; a.k.a. “Abyrvaig”; a.k.a. “Abyrvalg”; a.k.a. “Anthony Anthony”; a.k.a. “Fedyunya”; a.k.a. “M4G”; a.k.a. “Mag”; a.k.a. “Mage”; a.k.a. “Magg”; a.k.a. “Moy.Yawik”; a.k.a. “Mrmagister”), 21 Karyakina St., Apartment 205, Krasnodar, Russia; DOB 27 Jun 1987; POB Riga, Latvia; nationality Latvia; Passport RU0313455106 (Russia); alt. Passport 0307609477 (Russia) (individual) [CYBER2].
 
BOGACHEV, Evgeniy Mikhaylovich (a.k.a. BOGACHEV, Evgeniy Mikhailovich; a.k.a. “Lastik”; a.k.a. “lucky12345”; a.k.a. “Monstr”; a.k.a. “Pollingsoon”; a.k.a. “Slavik”), Lermontova Str., 120-101, Anapa, Russia; DOB 28 Oct 1983 (individual) [CYBER2].
 
GIZUNOV, Sergey (a.k.a. GIZUNOV, Sergey Aleksandrovich); DOB 18 Oct 1956; Passport 4501712967 (Russia); Deputy Chief of GRU (individual) [CYBER2] (Linked To: MAIN INTELLIGENCE DIRECTORATE).
 
KOROBOV, Igor (a.k.a. KOROBOV, Igor Valentinovich); DOB 03 Aug 1956; nationality Russia; Passport 100119726 (Russia); alt. Passport 100115101 (Russia); Chief of GRU (individual) [CYBER2] (Linked To: MAIN INTELLIGENCE DIRECTORATE).
 
KOSTYUKOV, Igor (a.k.a. KOSTYUKOV, Igor Olegovich); DOB 21 Feb 1961; Passport 100130896 (Russia); alt. Passport 100132253 (Russia); First Deputy Chief of GRU (individual) [CYBER2] (Linked To: MAIN INTELLIGENCE DIRECTORATE).
 
The following entities have been added to OFAC’s SDN List:
 
AUTONOMOUS NONCOMMERCIAL ORGANIZATION PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION OF DESIGNERS OF DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS (a.k.a. ANO PO KSI), Prospekt Mira D 68, Str 1A, Moscow 129110, Russia; Dom 3, Lazurnaya Ulitsa, Solnechnogorskiy Raion, Andreyevka, Moscow Region 141551, Russia; Registration ID 1027739734098 (Russia); Tax ID No. 7702285945 (Russia) [CYBER2].
 
FEDERAL SECURITY SERVICE (a.k.a. FEDERALNAYA SLUZHBA BEZOPASNOSTI; a.k.a. FSB), Ulitsa Kuznetskiy Most, Dom 22, Moscow 107031, Russia; Lubyanskaya Ploschad, Dom 2, Moscow 107031, Russia [CYBER2].
 
MAIN INTELLIGENCE DIRECTORATE (a.k.a. GLAVNOE RAZVEDYVATEL’NOE UPRAVLENIE (Cyrillic: ГЛАВНОЕ РАЗВЕДЫВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УПРАВЛЕНИЕ); a.k.a. GRU; a.k.a. MAIN INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT), Khoroshevskoye Shosse 76, Khodinka, Moscow, Russia; Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, Frunzenskaya nab., 22/2, Moscow 119160, Russia [CYBER2].
 
SPECIAL TECHNOLOGY CENTER (a.k.a. STC, LTD), Gzhatskaya 21 k2, St. Petersburg, Russia; 21-2 Gzhatskaya Street, St. Petersburg, Russia; Website stc-spb.ru; Email Address [email protected]; Tax ID No. 7802170553 (Russia) [CYBER2].
 
ZORSECURITY (f.k.a. ESAGE LAB; a.k.a. TSOR SECURITY), Luzhnetskaya Embankment 2/4, Building 17, Office 444, Moscow 119270, Russia; Registration ID 1127746601817 (Russia); Tax ID No. 7704813260 (Russia); alt. Tax ID No. 7704010041 (Russia) [CYBER2].
Last Updated: 12/29/2016 1:48 PM
Here’s the link to the original executive order that the President amended today.
And here’s the link to the technical report on the Russian hacking operation.

Reader Interactions

217Comments

  3. 3.

    Elizabelle

    Good evening, Adam. Was just about to remind: it’s past mid-day, right into cocktail hour.

    Where is your rakish looking heron?

    Now to read the post. Lot of consonants and Zs, just saying …

  4. 4.

    JPL

    Adam, what do you think about the sanctions? Of course, we don’t know what other actions will occur, but this seems like a good start.

  5. 5.

    kindness

    Am I the only one who finds rock ribbed Republicans sticking up for the ex-KGB chief/Russian PM Putin completely insane? I remember, not too long ago, conservatives said not one kind word about Russia. Now they want Putin to run us here.

    My Gob has no smacking left to give.

  8. 8.

    Brachiator

    So, will a President Trump reverse these sanctions?

    The justification would be interesting to see.

  9. 9.

    Botsplainer

    My office conservatives are all in love with Putin.

    I’m intrigued as to the Comey 1/21 press conference, and am hoping he’ll do himself by gut shot.

  13. 13.

    Botsplainer

    @JPL:

    And an A rated charity. She didn’t have meetings with donors who called and asked for them, you know.

    That raises questions.

  17. 17.

    JPL

    @Botsplainer: Breitbart has been touting the shirtless Putin for years, without mentioning that it’s easy to ride a horse shirtless when you have the KGB behind you shooting anyone in your way.

  18. 18.

    Schlemazel

    Unlike the Mango Mussolini I do know about the cyber and about what we can know when hacked. I can say with 100% certainty that the hack was done by Russians an that the operation that did the hacking is VERY closely tied to many other attacks that have been run for the obvious benefit of the Putin government. It is not unreasonable to assume it was done with his personal approval. This is not like the bullshit cherry-picking Boy Blunder’s Super Friends did to justify Iraq. We simply cannot attribute any good intentions to anyone who pretends otherwise.

  19. 19.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Botsplainer:

    I’m intrigued as to the Comey 1/21 press conference, and am hoping he’ll do himself by gut shot.

    Am I the only one who thinks it’s a bit odd to announce press conferences weeks in advance? Trump does it, now Comey….

  20. 20.

    debbie

    @Waldo:

    His initials are D and T. He’s not the greatest at this stuff, which is why they’ve been able to figure out who was behind it.

    NPR said several Russian entertainment compounds would be closed. Any idea what they would be? I think I heard something insinuated about their being listening posts.

  21. 21.

    Adam L Silverman

    @JPL: I think they’re a necessary step. @Pogonip: And given that so many have been named as for cover or not for cover Russian Intelligence Officers will make it difficult for the President-elect to lift the sanctions after the inauguration. It will raise questions as to why you want to lift sanctions on known foreign intelligence assets.

  22. 22.

    MomSense

    @kindness

    I’m furious. As one of the children who grew up during the Cold War, we were traumatized repeatedly as young children at school with drills for how to survive thermonuclear war. I still remember the day I went home to ask my parents what it meant. They explained it calmly to me, probably trying to be reassuring, and I started sobbing and telling them that they were crazy. Every single adult that went along with this was crazy.

    I also remember the “Domino Theory”, MAD, Soheres of Influence, Containment and all the other reasons. We had to fight the evil Soviets anywhere and everywhere in the world. And now this?!

    The Republicans are ok with the Russians interfering in our election to facilitate their power grab and undoing of safety net?

    Unforgivable.

  26. 26.

    Adam L Silverman

    I’ve added a link at the bottom of the original post to the DHS report on the Russian hacking.

  28. 28.

    Botsplainer

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Liz Spayd is probably hiding in her office closet, guzzling cheap rye and chewing off the last of her ragged fingernails, trying to figure how to blame this on Hillary. Dean Baquet is sitting and eating alone at the bar at Guy Fieri’s American Bar and Kitchen, counting on nobody of importance being there and recognizing him. Through the doorway in the kitchen, he becomes envious of the solitary rat he sees – it carries a chunk of moldy burger, oblivious to responsibility about anything.

  33. 33.

    Botsplainer

    @MomSense:

    Trillions of dollars thrown down a toilet, a few remnants gathering dust at Davis-Monthan AFB, other hulks afloat at various Navy yards, others sunk for target practice.

    Imagine what those trillions would have accomplished domestically.

  34. 34.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    Excellent. I’m especially pleased that the executive action cited the grotesque level of state-orchestrated thuggery to which our diplomats are subjected. My sister and brother have both been FSOs posted to Russia at different times – and both described appalling levels of daily harassment and intrusion. My sister in Moscow had to put up with near-daily searches of and thefts from her apartment, was constantly followed and harassed, and was subjected to treatment and comments from the Russian thugs “guarding” her building that made it clear they could routinely watch her every move, including in her bathroom and bedroom. That has become normal for American diplomats in Russia and the harassment has reached a level our people do not suffer anywhere else in the world. (And no – we don’t do the same to them.) It’s about damned time.

  37. 37.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Major Major Major Major: Not usually. Its sometimes done, but this was done to specifically 1) burn a bunch of intel assets and 2) make clear the links between the FSB/GRU intel folks doing the hacks and the organized crime folks involved with helping them.

  38. 38.

    debbie

    @MomSense:

    I’m from the same era. More frightening than the duck and cover drills was the sight of my younger brother catching what were purported to be radioactive snowflakes on his tongue.

  41. 41.

    MomSense

    @Botsplainer:

    To take just one example, what about all the people who lived near the Hanford plant who died from cancers or who were maimed and were sacrificed for the arms race.

    Part of me always knew it was a fucking excuse to enrich the MIC and now it has been confirmed.

    I’m thoroughly disgusted.

  45. 45.

    Suffragete City elftx

    And Wikileaks tweets a link to the RU Embassy response. They are happy to inform all of their alliance.

  46. 46.

    EBT

    @Waldo: The guy who is 29 and has the alias “mage”

    BELAN, Aleksey Alekseyevich (a.k.a. Abyr Valgov; a.k.a. BELAN, Aleksei; a.k.a. BELAN, Aleksey Alexseyevich; a.k.a. BELAN, Alexsei; a.k.a. BELAN, Alexsey; a.k.a. “Abyrvaig”; a.k.a. “Abyrvalg”; a.k.a. “Anthony Anthony”; a.k.a. “Fedyunya”; a.k.a. “M4G”; a.k.a. “Mag”; a.k.a. “Mage”; a.k.a. “Magg”; a.k.a. “Moy.Yawik”; a.k.a. “Mrmagister”), 21 Karyakina St., Apartment 205, Krasnodar, Russia; DOB 27 Jun 1987; POB Riga, Latvia; nationality Latvia; Passport RU0313455106 (Russia); alt. Passport 0307609477 (Russia) (individual) [CYBER2].

  47. 47.

    Miss Bianca

    @pat:

    And don’t forget, that server was never hacked.

    And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the problem with it all along. Now it can be revealed!

  48. 48.

    hovercraft

    @Adam L Silverman:

    named as for cover or not for cover Russian Intelligence Officers will make it difficult for the President-elect to lift the sanctions after the inauguration.

    That was my question, how easy would it be for Putin’s new BFF to reverse these actions. Glad to hear that you think it will be difficult. I’m still concerned that since so far he’s shown almost no concern about the entire issue of Russian interference he might go ahead and lift them anyway. My hope is that once he actually becomes president, the blowback from the intelligence community would be son bad that even he wouldn’t do it.

  51. 51.

    Botsplainer

    @JPL:

    Trump’s statement.. They have been working hard to craft it

    Written by the finest speech writers in Moskva.

  54. 54.

    Yutsano

    @MomSense: They. Want. Their. Tax. Cuts.

    That’s their only focus. Undo the New Deal/Great Society then The Yam is no longer of use to them. Anything that lets them achieve that objective is perfectly fine.

    And his core supporters do not care because fuck libtards. That’s their ENTIRE rationale. Cleek’s Law really won this election.

  58. 58.

    Adam L Silverman

    @hovercraft: Technically can be done with an amending EO and a signature. So technically easy. Politically it may be difficult. And by that I don’t mean in terms of how its covered in the media or how voters think about it. Rather in terms of how it will further set conditions for the Trump Administration to be at odds with the Intelligence Community.

  61. 61.

    Mike in DC

    “And here’s a photo of General Flynn, Paul Manafort and Carter Page fist-bumping President Putin…”

    “Because he’s a great guy, okay? Let’s move on to bigger and better things”

  64. 64.

    Another Scott

    It strikes me as kinda weird that the FSB wasn’t on some sort of sanctions list earlier. I mean, I know there are levels of permissions and levels of sanctions, but the idea that the FSB has, say, access to the US banking system, etc., (or at least did until today) seems weird.

    Good for Obama. If Donnie wants to try to reverse these actions, make him own it.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  65. 65.

    Elizabelle

    This feels like so little for a stolen election.

    Despair that Trump on track to take the oath of office. That’s p o r n o graphic.

  67. 67.

    Pogonip

    @Adam L Silverman: $5 of Cole’s money, which is about all he has left after buying that dollar-sucking monstrosity, says you’re wrong!

    How did you and Cole get acquainted so that you ended up on his blog? Were you in the same unit?

  71. 71.

    Miss Bianca

    @JPL: Oh, sweet little baby Jesus…he’s decided that maybe this issue requires that he meet with the intelligence community after all?

    “Such affability! Such condescension!”

  72. 72.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cacti: Yes:
    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/12/glenn-greenwald-tucker-carlson-unite-to-dismiss-russian-hacking-allegations.html

    One of the great meetings of journalistic minds took place last week, when left-wing journalist Glenn Greenwald appeared on Fox News with Tucker Carlson. The segment was devoted to their purportedly strange agreement over the Russian hacking story (which is not actually strange at all, given their mutual antipathy for the center-left). Greenwald has long dismissed the charge that Russia manipulated WikiLeaks’ publication of Democratic party emails as a “smear,” mocking suspicions of misbehavior by what he referred to in sarcastic capitalized words as “The Russians”; he called it typical of the Democrats’ alleged tendency to use false attacks against Russia to discredit its adversaries (“So WikiLeaks has become an enemy of the Democratic Party, and they seem to have one tactic with their adversaries and enemies, which is to accuse them of being Russian agents”). On Carlson’s program, Greenwald attacked the Washington Post for reporting that the CIA and the FBI believed Russia’s hacking was intended to help Trump win. It is a remarkable segment that merits close reading.

    “Should we believe that assessment?” asked Carlson. “We should be extremely skeptical of it for multiple reasons,” replied Greenwald. “These are assertions that are being made unaccompanied by any evidence whatsoever.”

    Much more at the link.

  77. 77.

    zhena gogolia

    @Yutsano:

    Every time I go into a snit asking how could anyone vote for this guy, why does the NYT cover for him, my husband just says, “Tax cuts.”

    What good will a tax cut do you in the smoking ruins of civilization?

  78. 78.

    hovercraft

    @Felonius Monk:
    Remember this is just the public stuff, Obambi said there would be some things that are done that we will never know about. So who knows what has happened to Putin’s person in the last few days.

  85. 85.

    NotMax

    @Botsplainer

    In an earlier thread today you suggested we “revel” in someone’s death and are now “hoping” for that of another.

    Bluntly put, find such clarion calls for demise both sick and sickening, and such relish of violent demise all the more so.

  86. 86.

    zhena gogolia

    @scottinnj:

    Don’t you have just a visceral reaction when you see one? The smell of cheap beer and other unsavory substances in your nostrils?

  87. 87.

    hovercraft

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    Perhaps he will be taking a victory lap. Look America, I have restored integrity to the White House, instead of having a woman with a private server and e-mails, we now have an orange faced kleptocrat and his family running the country. Aren’t you proud?
    USA, USA, USA!

  88. 88.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Pogonip: Says I’m wrong in what way?

    As for Cole, he helped me, from WV and a post on this blog, ensure the safety of a Soldier in my BCT while I was deployed in Iraq after a journalist put that Soldier’s life in danger.

  90. 90.

    debbie

    @Schlemazel:

    It’s the best sobriquet I’ve heard so far. I’m picturing some sort of Mr. Potato Head-like construction, maybe with a miniature diorama of the Inaugural podium. Betty would be ace at this.

  96. 96.

    Elizabelle

    @Adam L Silverman: True.

    But we still end up with the Trump Kleptocracy straight ahead, and wondering if that or the ascension of Mike Pence would be worse.

    I am so disgusted.

  97. 97.

    kindness

    Sadly Trump is going to reverse everything right away. Trump doesn’t give a shit. In fact Trump will do it because it will make Democrats scream. That is all he really needs. And Republicans? They’ll hide, not allow it on Congressional records, ignore it all and steal everything that isn’t nailed down because that is all they care about.

    Acting like a Trump Administration and the Republican Congressional leaders will act/react in a manner in which we are used to is not going to happen. Expecting normal isn’t going happen. We are so screwed.

  98. 98.

    hovercraft

    @JPL:

    Trump is eerily quiet about the latest development though.

    As long as no one says that the Russian interference was a major factor in his “victory”, he will pretend that it never happened. If they correctly point out that Putin got the result he wanted, then the cheeto will leap into action, accuse the media and the Obama administration are colluding to tarnish his glorious victory.

  99. 99.

    Kay

    @Botsplainer:

    I’m intrigued as to the Comey 1/21 press conference

    He should just go away. He talks too much. He said too much at the first press conference and it got worse every time he opened his mouth after that. Some blunders are too big to be forgiven.

  102. 102.

    zhena gogolia

    I’d love to see the entire Trump family ensconced in some grandiose dacha a few miles northwest of Moscow. Snowden can come visit them there.

  104. 104.

    Corner Stone

    @Kay:

    He said too much at the first press conference and it got worse every time he opened his mouth after that.

    He ran his mouth when he had no business, or precedent, for doing so. Then he oh so conveniently got himself called before an R Congress who told him they were about to pour honey all over his naked ass and stake him to an anthill if he didn’t do what they wanted.
    That motherfucker. He’s going to go on to work at a yooge lobbying law firm and make a fortune over the next twenty years.

  105. 105.

    hovercraft

    @debbie: @Schlemazel:

    Mango Mussolini

    First time I’ve seen this. Well done!

    I second the well done, but I’d also recommend you change the ‘a’ to a ‘u’. His IQ is a lot closer to Mungo’s than a Mangos, after all for all we know, fruit may be able to reason and think. Mungo, not so much.

  108. 108.

    Miss Bianca

    @zhena gogolia: God, I hope so! We’ve got to get *something* good out of this shit-show!: )

    ETA: And yep, Mr. Collins on Lady Catherine. Seemed appropriate in this context somehow.

  109. 109.

    Schlemazel

    @Jay S:
    I think it could be very interesting to see the asshole tried to dismantle NSA, DIA, CIA, DHS and 13 other agencies that have evidence it was our man in Moscow. I almost wish he actually would try.

  110. 110.

    Corner Stone

    @Jay S: That incomprehensible word salad he spit out about “computers” was terrifying as a primer for what he is going to say in three weeks on this as justification.

  111. 111.

    Kay

    @Botsplainer:

    Comey actually has more to explain than his multiple infractions interfering with an election. On October 31st the NYTimes printed a bizarre story denying that the Russian government intended to help Trump. It came from FBI sources. WTF was that all about, 2 weeks before the election? Can Comey explain that? Did he authorize it? Did he plant it himself?

  117. 117.

    Jay S

    @Schlemazel: He has already tried to discredit them. If they tell him inconvenient truths he will shut them out. If they leak to the press, he will attack.

  118. 118.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    One of the great meetings of journalistic minds took place last week, when left-wing journalist Glenn Greenwald appeared on Fox News with Tucker Carlson.

    That right there is some fine comedy writing.

  119. 119.

    Kay

    @Corner Stone:

    I said it the day of the first press conference. He was way out of line right from the start. He isn’t supposed to opine on management of the State Department. That is in no way his job. He’s supposed to go out, say they didn’t find evidence that would warrant further investigation and shut up.

    People like him are why being investigated or accused of something is the same as being charged or convicted. It’s not supposed to be the same. Investigations reach conclusions and that’s it. No more talking. No hinting or smearing or any of what he did. One sentence and walk off.

  122. 122.

    gratuitous

    A few days ago, Putin was telling Obama to shit or get off the pot. What’s Trump’s pal Putin saying now?

  129. 129.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    As for Cole, he helped me, from WV and a post on this blog, ensure the safety of a Soldier in my BCT while I was deployed in Iraq after a journalist put that Soldier’s life in danger.

    If you’re ever at liberty to tell that story, I hope you will!

  130. 130.

    hovercraft

    @Adam L Silverman:
    FFS, they should both just get gigs on Russia Today.
    Does Russia Today broadcast here? Maybe they along with Breitbart can be the basis of a new media empire. We’ve established that there is no such thing as a conflict of interest when it comes to our incoming first family, why not just go all in and establish a direct line for them to communicate with their supporters?

  131. 131.

    JMG

    My guess is as soon as the tax cuts and social spending cuts go down and the rubes realize Trump played them, Ryan and Co. will cut him loose. They will be shocked to learn that grifting has been going on in this establishment. It is amazing to me how open Trump leaves himself to blackmail, but then narcissists never think anything can go wrong for them.

  132. 132.

    Kay

    @Corner Stone:

    I also noticed how Comey put GOP Americans ahead of other Americans. He was worried that Republican voters would be outraged if he kept his mouth shut until after the election, so he decided to throw everyone who didn’t vote for Donald Trump under the bus. Nice priorities there. Glad to be the sacrificial lamb to placate wingnuts and conspiracy theorists.

  133. 133.

    Patricia Kayden

    Thanks Obama. I wish Trump’s election could be deemed null and void given the obvious interference of Russia in our election. Sigh.

  134. 134.

    hovercraft

    @Adam L Silverman:
    We are all grateful to our blog master for his personal ‘anecdotes’, and for whatever he did for you that brought you and your expertise to all of us. Thanks JC and Adam.

  138. 138.

    Kay

    Context for all this Trump/Sprint nonsense is they are seeking regulatory approval from the FCC to buy T-Mobile and reduce competition.

    Trump is “doing deals”, just like he promised. Unfortunately the deals will only benefit Donald Trump and his corporate partners.

    That Sprint shit show was something. Every time I think these people can’t get any more gross and venal and corrupt they surprise me with some new horror.

  139. 139.

    ruemara

    @hovercraft: Russia Today is on constant broadcast on my cable and has many lefty stalwarts like Thom Hartmann, Democracy Now, Ed Schultz, Breaking the Set on. Which is why you may have noticed many lefties have a near Faux News devotion to What They Believe Is True.

  141. 141.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Adam L Silverman: Waiting breathlessly for Greenwald to admit that he was wrong about Russian hacking….

    He has become such a hack which is a shame because I used to enjoy him on Salon.com many moons ago.

  142. 142.

    Adam L Silverman

    @SiubhanDuinne: I’ve told it about a 1/2 dozen times in various comment threads since I’ve come on board here as a front pager.

    This just confirms no one actually pays attention to what I’m writing…//

  146. 146.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Well, I’m sorry. A lot of your most active time is after I’ve gone to bed, and I tend just to skim a lot of the overnight threads. Plus, I’m not as young as I once was and my memory of things I may have read briefly, months earlier, is not always reliable. . . //

  147. 147.

    hovercraft

    @Another Scott:
    I stopped watching him after the 2010 midterms when he urged progressives to stay home because Obamacare did not include the public option. That was before he became obsessed with Obama’s betrayal of America by promoting the TPP. He was a Bernie Bro way before Bernie decided to run, EW was not pure enough for him, he was a draft Bernie guy.

    Fun fact, he started out as a right wing sports guy, he only became a democrat when he met and married his second wife who as a registered nurse, was a union member and a democrat.

  148. 148.

    Schlemazel

    @Jay S:
    Those are not people to screw with, they can out do any bullshit spreader Trump can manage. They know all his secrets and can leak them in ways that will maximize the damage to him.

  150. 150.

    Mike in DC

    @Patricia Kayden:
    They should bring him on a panel with Kurt Eichenwald, the Crowdstrike guy, and Malcolm Nance, right after the CIA report is released. It’d be fun seeing him get ripped to pieces on live tv.

  151. 151.

    Baud

    @hovercraft:

    he urged progressives to stay home because Obamacare did not include the public option

    Ha. Some idiot on reddit was complaining about that today.

  152. 152.

    hovercraft

    @ruemara:
    Ugh.

    I guess I should be happy that even back when I watched cable “news”, I never stumbled across it, my blood pressure was high enough just watching lefty guests like Katerina and Glen spout their bullshit.

  155. 155.

    hovercraft

    @Baud:
    Probably the same type of moron who then turned around and bitched about the compromises that Obama had to make with Boehner when we lost the majority.

  160. 160.

    Adam L Silverman

    @SiubhanDuinne: I was teasing.

    The short version is that my higher headquarters/the program office back at US Army Training and Doctrine Command requested we facilitate a journalistic embed. The program was looking for good press, I had the only built to spec team, our brigade was very pleased with the work we were doing, and the journalist was a friend of the Director of Social Science, so everyone thought this would be an easy win for everyone. We worked with the Public Affairs folks to get him in country and embedded. We set up a bunch of joint humanitarian assistance ops and Engagements with the Civil Affairs folks because he indicated he was interested in them too. He showed up, found out a named, lethal operation was about to start, and decided to latch on to that. That op turned out to be pretty boring, but since he had to file something to justify the Wall Street Journal spending all the money to embed him, he decided to do a profile on one of the NCOs at one of the companies in our Armor Battalion who was the pay master on the contracts with the local Iraqis we were partnering with on construction and development and security projects. Because this young Soldier handled lots of money, he always operated in a sterile uniform (no rank insignia or name tape) and wore a mask at all times. This was to avoid making him, or his family back home, a target by making him known – SOP. The reporter’s profile included a picture of him, including his face, his name, a mention of his home town. Complete operational security disaster.

    I happened to be doing Engagements with local sheikhs and imams from Combat Outpost (COP) Cashe South (formerly the Tuwaitha Nuclear Facility and the site of the Ossirak Reactor). Cashe South was where this Soldier’s company and the Armor Battalion were located. So I rolled back onto post, did a quick report or two, met with the XO real quick, checked my work email, got cleaned up, grabbed chow, and headed back to my quarters and settled in for the night. Turn on my laptop, checked my personal email, and then decide to browse the sites I read. Started with Balloon Juice. On the front page is a screen grab of the WSJ article with the pic of the Soldier and whatever Cole had written about it. I screen grabbed the Balloon Juice page, changed and put on my boots, and took my laptop to the XO. Showed him what was up and we then began working comms with the brigade HQ back at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Hammer (where my office was and where my full time quarters were when I wasn’t working from one of the combat outposts or patrol bases – I spent over 1/2 my time off the FOB during my deployment at meetings, engagements, site assessments, including of heritage sites, doing humanitarian assistance ops, assisting down at Battalion and company levels as necessary. Some of this was from Hammer. Some I’d go down to where the Battalions or companies were and work from there). Basically we had to get the Soldier secured – he was up on the named, lethal op. Then the reported needed to have the rest of his trip cancelled – still not sure all the details in that, just that the request was put in to end the embed. Then extra precautions had to be put in place for the remainder of the Soldier’s deployment.

    Some time after I got back from Iraq I had a reason to email Cole about something and told him the above. Every so often we’d correspond. He eventually asked me to do a guest post or two, which turned into the front page offer.

  162. 162.

    Jay S

    @Schlemazel: I don’t believe Donald has any real concept of consequences. I do believe he could do a great deal of damage to the agencies even if they can retaliate or defend. I’m not sure they have the right Kompromat to use as a preventive strike.

  165. 165.

    Adam L Silverman

    @efgoldman: I believe there are economic sanctions on the 35 named individuals. This will allow our allies and partners to limit their economic activities where they have jurisdiction.

  168. 168.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud:

    Somebody today asked me if he was dead, and I said I thought he was on Russia Today. Ruemara confirms it.

  169. 169.

    Adam L Silverman

    @zhena gogolia: The best comment I ever saw about Larry King and his manner of conducting an interview was someone stating, it may have been Jon Stewart, that had King interviewed Hitler he’d have started the interview with: “so Mein Fuhrer, how was the flight across the Atlantic?”

  175. 175.

    Cacti

    @zhena gogolia:

    Isn’t Larry King on there now?

    Ed Schultz too.

    They also carry Thom Hartman’s program.

    Seems alleged lefties have a soft spot for Kremlin loot too.

    ETA: I see someone beat me to it.

  181. 181.

    Captain C

    @Cacti: I think some people are only concerned with sticking it to the man, and have decided that there’s only one man at a time worth sticking it to (in this case, America in general, or the nearest political faction to them in particular). They forget that sometimes the enemy of your enemy is even worse than your enemy.

  182. 182.

    Adam L Silverman

    @schrodingers_cat: Yes Senators McCain and Graham issued the following statement:
    http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/29/mccain-graham-say-they-will-seek-stronger-sanctions-on-russia.html

    “The retaliatory measures announced by the Obama administration today are long overdue. But ultimately, they are a small price for Russia to pay for its brazen attack on American democracy. We intend to lead the effort in the new Congress to impose stronger sanctions on Russia,” the senators said in a joint statement Thursday.

  184. 184.

    ThresherK

    @hovercraft: Is Schulz a “primary Elizabeth Warren” guy, because she did Democratic things for Democrats during the campaign?

    Asking for an acquaintance.

  185. 185.

    Cacti

    @Captain C:

    I think some people are only concerned with sticking it to the man, and have decided that there’s only one man at a time worth sticking it to (in this case, America in general, or the nearest political faction to them in particular). They forget that sometimes the enemy of your enemy is even worse than your enemy.

    Yes, America has double standards.

    No, that doesn’t make it the moral equivalent of countries with no standards.

  189. 189.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Wow! That’s quite a story, and I appreciate your sharing it — even if it was for the seventh or so time :-)

    I am quite certain I’ve never read it previously, so double thanks for the encore.

  191. 191.

    Enzymer

    @Botsplainer: Dean Baquet ought to return to New Orleans & wash dishes in one of his family’s restaurants. At least then he’d be contributing to making this a better world

  194. 194.

    LAC

    @efgoldman: I love how those two assclowns get the benefit of the doubt but we are soooooooooooooo disappointed with the president and oh siiiiiigh….

  196. 196.

    Jilli Brown

    This is one of those gw albatross era American patriotism tests, no?

    “You’re either with us or against us.”

    Why wouldn’t they support and defend the United States?

  197. 197.

    Gin & Tonic

    Coming in late, but somebody upthread asked about Katrina vanden Heuvel’s husband, Stephen Cohen. He has been a Soviet/Russian apologist since the Brezhnev era. A good friend of mine took a course from him when he was junior faculty at Princeton in the early 1970’s, and he was shilling for the USSR even then. So he’s made a lifetime of it.

  199. 199.

    J R in WV

    @NotMax:

    There are people worthy of being called out for death.

    Don’t you think evil people of the recent past should have died?

    They hung Eichmann, didn’t they?

    Was that wrong?

    I doubt it.

    You’re wrong to criticize anyone calling for the death of traitors – the penalty is in the founding document of the nation. If we had hung more traitors in the ashes of the Civil War we would have fewer traitors working for our demise today.

  200. 200.

    J R in WV

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Goos job, man. Took quick decisive action to save a life. Thanks.

    I confess I have read this in the long ago, but needed the refresher to recall the details. Hard to believe the reporter was so careless, thoughtless,oh, wait, WSJ…. never mind.

  203. 203.

    NotMax

    @J R in WV

    1) I oppose and abhor the death penalty in all cases. Period.

    2) There’s a vast difference between someone being sentenced to death judicially and calling for the death of people without due process.

    3) The Constitution is silent on the death penalty, for treason or otherwise, neither specifically permitting nor prohibiting. There is mention of capital crimes, but legally that term is not limited to crimes subject to the death penalty.

  204. 204.

    Seth Owen

    Good quick thinking Adam.

    Some big-time journalistic fail (retired journalist here) not just on the reporter’s part. That is something that should have been caught by editors before publication. Dumb.

  208. 208.

    Chris T.

    @Botsplainer:

    My office conservatives are all in love with Putin.

    Crank them up to 11: agree with them how you’re glad he’ll soon be taking over the world, soon to be followed by making Russian the official language of the new USSR: the United Satellite States of Russia.

  209. 209.

    Chris T.

    BTW, the key to annoying them is to be cheerfully in agreement with everything they say, while at the same time taking it to its logical conclusion. For instance, if they’re anti-abortion and racist, say “I sure am glad we won’t be having abortions anymore, instead we’ll have a bunch of starving minority kids, just like you wanted!”

  210. 210.

    dww44

    @Kay: Thanks for saying this. Comey was wrong from the get go and the removal of his actions alone probably changes the outcome of the election.
    For him to announce a PC on January 21 can only mean that he’s resigning cause he has obviously lost control of the FBI. Then not only does Trump get to fill a SC seat (unless Dems show some spine and execute a bit of parliamentary witchery on the morning of January 3) he gets to nominate another ideologue/extremist as FBI director along the lines of his NSA appointee.

    I think I just might head up to DC for that Million Woman’s March and hang around for that Presser.

  211. 211.

    Calming Influence

    HA! I just used this information to make a bunch of counterfeit Russian passports. Then I realized “why the hell would I need a bunch of Russian passports?”So never mind.

  213. 213.

    opiejeanne

    @NotMax: I thought you meant the other cheap joke, the one where people thought it was a reference to what people with Down’s Syndrome used to be called.

  216. 216.

    WaterGirl

    My eyes are glazing over; I have no idea who any of these people are or what the impact of this would be. Can someone please explain this to me as if I am in kindergarten?

  217. 217.

    Another Scott

    @WaterGirl: Basically, Obama kicked out nearly 3 dozen Russian spies, and in the process published their names and the details of their employment. So they will be useless as spies in the US or any Western country ever again – their careers as spies are over. It costs lots of time and money to cultivate good spies, so that hurts Russia’s intelligence-gathering efforts. He also closed a couple of facilities in the US that Russia had that they may have been using for spying. He also tightened the financial sanctions on various Russian companies/agencies so that they can’t gain access to the international financial system (which uses dollars) any more. That will increase their costs and make it more difficult for them to do their jobs.

    They’re relatively small things, but they do have a real effect on the FSB and other Russian spying agencies.

    At least that’s my take – I’m no expert.

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

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