As of 8:00 PM EST/3:00 AM local time in Ukraine, about 2/3rds of Ukraine is under air raid alert. And drone alerts are up for almost all of northern Ukraine.
Following on the beginning of last night’s update, it didn’t take long for another shoe to drop.
SCOOP: Kash Patel took $25,000 from a production company with ties to Russia propaganda activity to appear in an anti-FBI docuseries. He did not respond to questions about this.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202…
— David Corn (@davidcorn.bsky.social) February 7, 2025 at 4:36 PM
From Mother Jones:
Last year, Kash Patel, the MAGA provocateur whom Donald Trump has nominated to head the FBI, received $25,000 from a Russia-linked production company to participate in a documentary in which he assailed the FBI and called for closing its headquarters.
In November, Tucker Carlson’s online network released a six-part series called All the President’s Men: The Conspiracy Against Trump that purported to chronicle the familiar MAGA conspiracy theory that a Deep State plotted against Donald Trump while he was a presidential candidate in 2016 and when he was president. The fourth episode focused on Patel and his years-long crusade to depict the Trump-Russia scandal—Moscow’s attack on the 2016 election and Donald Trump’s efforts to cover up its existence—as nothing but a total hoax orchestrated by nefarious Democrats and rogue government operatives.
In this film—which credits Patel as an executive producer—he offers a blistering attack on the FBI. He calls it a “corrupt” enterprise and claims it has been on the Democratic Party’s “payroll.” He says, “I’m the guy that’s going to tell you they need major reforms. I’m going to tell you to shut down the FBI headquarters building and open it up as a museum of the Deep State the next day. Seriously, you need 50 guys in Washington running the FBI.” He pushes the false claim that the FBI launched its Russia investigation in 2016 on the basis of the infamous and unconfirmed Steele memos. And he insists that the FBI and the rest of the US intelligence community that investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election “knew it didn’t exist.” He also asserts that “globalists” have been working with Al Qaeda to make a profit.
The series was produced for Carlson, who is featured in the final episode, by Global Tree Pictures, a Los Angeles-based firm run by Ukrainian-American-Russian filmmaker Igor Lopatonok. He and Russian-born film director Vera Tomilova, the chief financial officer of Global Tree Pictures, who holds a US green card, are listed in the film’s credits as its producers. Global Tree raised the financing for the series, according to a contract filed in Rudy Giuliani’s bankruptcy proceedings. (Giuliani also starred in the documentary.)
Lopatonok has ties to Russian propaganda and disinformation efforts.
In recent years, he has helped lead a Kremlin-financed effort to persuade Westerners to move to Russia. In 2023, he chaired a competition dubbed “To Russia With Love” that invited bloggers to produce content that would show the “most appealing side of Russia” and encourage people to emigrate there. This project was funded by the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives, a state entity that Putin created in 2021 to “support projects in the field of culture, art and the creative industries.”
One of Lopatonok’s colleagues in this project was John Mark Dougan, a former deputy sheriff in Palm Beach County, Florida, who received political asylum in Russia and who has been a key player in Russia’s disinformation operations against the West. In May, the New York Times reported, “Dougan has built an ever-growing network of more than 160 fake websites that mimic news outlets in the United States, Britain and France.” Dougan was listed on material as a member of the “Expert Council” of the “To Russia with Love” project and as a “mentor” for the winners.
Much more at the link.
Remember: money, ideology, compromise, ego. We’ve got money, ideology, and ego at play here.
And here we have money, ideology, and ego:
The firm was part of “the com,” aka 764, aka a CSAM (and other assorted cybercrimes) network
— Meredith Rose (@mrose.ink) February 8, 2025 at 9:05 AM
From Krebs on Security:
Wired reported this week that a 19-year-old working for Elon Musk‘s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was given access to sensitive US government systems even though his past association with cybercrime communities should have precluded him from gaining the necessary security clearances to do so. As today’s story explores, the DOGE teen is a former denizen of ‘The Com,’ an archipelago of Discord and Telegram chat channels that function as a kind of distributed cybercriminal social network for facilitating instant collaboration.
Wired first reported on Feb. 2 that one of the technologists on Musk’s crew is a 19-year-old high school graduate named Edward Coristine, who reportedly goes by the nickname “Big Balls” online. One of the companies Coristine founded, Tesla.Sexy LLC, was set up in 2021, when he would have been around 16 years old.
“Tesla.Sexy LLC controls dozens of web domains, including at least two Russian-registered domains,” Wired reported. “One of those domains, which is still active, offers a service called Helfie, which is an AI bot for Discord servers targeting the Russian market. While the operation of a Russian website would not violate US sanctions preventing Americans doing business with Russian companies, it could potentially be a factor in a security clearance review.”
On May 11, 2024, Rivage posted on a Discord channel for a DDoS protection service that is chiefly marketed to members of The Com. Rivage expressed frustration with his time spent on Com-based communities, suggesting that its profitability had been oversold.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of money to be made in the com,” Rivage lamented. “I’m not buying Heztner [servers] to set up some com VPN.”
Rivage largely stopped posting messages on Com channels after that. Wired reports that Coristine subsequently spent three months last summer working at Neuralink, Elon Musk’s brain implant startup.
The trouble with all this is that even if someone sincerely intends to exit The Com after years of consorting with cybercriminals, they are often still subject to personal attacks, harassment and hacking long after they have left the scene.
That’s because a huge part of Com culture involves harassing, swatting and hacking other members of the community. These internecine attacks are often for financial gain, but just as frequently they are perpetrated by cybercrime groups to exact retribution from or assert dominance over rival gangs.
Experts say it is extremely difficult for former members of violent street gangs to gain a security clearance needed to view sensitive or classified information held by the U.S. government. That’s because ex-gang members are highly susceptible to extortion and coercion from current members of the same gang, and that alone presents an unacceptable security risk for intelligence agencies.
And make no mistake: The Com is the English-language cybercriminal hacking equivalent of a violent street gang. KrebsOnSecurity has published numerous stories detailing how feuds within the community periodically spill over into real-world violence.
When Coristine’s name surfaced in Wired‘s report this week, members of The Com immediately took notice. In the following segment from a February 5, 2025 chat in a Com-affiliated hosting provider, members criticized Rivage’s skills, and discussed harassing his family and notifying authorities about incriminating accusations that may or may not be true.
Much, much, much more after the link.
764 (previously CVLT and a subgroup of “the com“)[1][2][3][4] is a decentralized and transnational sextortion network with alleged ideological ties to the Order of Nine Angles, a right-wing Satanist terror network.[5] It is classified as a terror network by the U.S. Department of Justice, and is considered by the FBI as a “tier one” terrorist threat.[6] The RCMP also classifies 764 as an “ideological violent extremist network”, and it has been characterized as a “satanic neo-nazi cult” by multiple sources.[7][8][9][10] The network is most present on Discord and Telegram and usually targets children ages 8 to 17, particularly marginalized children or those suffering from mental health challenges.[11][12][13] 764 was founded in 2021 by Bradley Cadenhead, a teenager from Stephenville, Texas; the group derives its name from the town’s ZIP code.[14][1][15]
Victims are forced to commit recorded acts of self-harm to disseminate internally or share on social media platforms.[16][5] They are often asked to carve names on their skin as “cutsigns”, a form of branding to show their subjugation to the group.[10][17][12] They are given the end goal of committing suicide on livestream for the network’s entertainment or for the perpetrator’s own sense of fame within the network.[18][19]
Europol is chasing them. So is Canada. The US is, how long that lasts is anybody’s guess. This makes what Musk and his minions radically worse.
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.
It Is Not Negotiations or Peace That Putin Is Preparing For, but Rather the Continuation of the War, and Not Just Against Ukraine – Address by the President
8 February 2025 – 16:46
I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!
Today, the new Chair of the NATO Military Committee is in Ukraine. He is making his first visit specifically to our state to show support for Ukrainians. We appreciate it.
Today we discussed preparations for Ramstein and our defense needs – of our shared defense.
We now know – as our intelligence reports – that the Russians are creating new divisions and developing new military production facilities. It is clear that their cooperation with North Korea will be expanding. Unfortunately, Moscow is spreading modern technologies – war technologies – to that region, including drone technology.
And this means one simple thing: it is not negotiations or peace that Putin is preparing for, but rather the continuation of the war, and not just against us, against Ukraine. They are now increasing their army by more than a hundred thousand soldiers. All partners should know and should see it. We are ready to share the relevant information, and the respective communication is already underway through the intelligence channels.
We must see together what the threats are and what countermeasures we have. We need a clear understanding: here in Europe, every country will have to strengthen its defense, and the target of 5% of GDP for defense will not disappear from the agenda.
This week, I would also like to thank the United Kingdom for the funds announced to support our resilience, and not only defense resilience, but also energy resilience, as well as economic and social one.
An important step in the development of our military aviation – the Mirage fighter jets from France, as we agreed with President Macron. Thank you, Emmanuel! They are already working for our defense. This capability will be expanded. We are also receiving additional F16s – new aircraft from the Netherlands. Thank you very much!
And one more thing. We are preparing a clear schedule of meetings with our key partners: America, Europe, the Islamic world. We have specific dates. We will continue our work. I thank everyone who is helping us!
Glory to Ukraine!
Georgia:
Masked police officers were mobilized on Rustaveli Avenue to prevent protesters from blocking the road. Despite this, the RusTaveli was blocked due to the large number of protesters.
#GeorgiaProtests
Day 73— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 12:52 PM
A photo from tonight, day 73 non-stop. We want free and fair elections for four reasons: electoral fraud, a U-turn in foreign policy, systemic torture of protesters, and endless crisis that will only deepen. And the release of the political prisoners. #GeorgiaProtests
— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Illegally and unjustly imprisoned journalist Mzia Amaglobeli has been on a hunger strike for 28 days. She has now been taken to the hospital.
#TerrorinGeorgia
— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 7:21 AM
The regime is rapidly deploying the tactic of personal humiliation and the physiological breaking of opponents.
One of such cases is that the illegitimate PM demands hunger-striking jailed journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli to “show remorse” (for slapping a policeman).
#terrorinGeorgia— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Due to a 30-minute protest near a judge’s house in support Mzia Amaghlobeli, the MIA drew up administrative offense reports against 9 rally participants.
They face a fine or up to 15 days in prison.
The hearing will take place on Monday, Feb 10, at 12:00.
#TerrorinGeorgia
— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Temur Katamadze, unjustly arrested in Batumi, has been on a hunger strike for 23 days. He has lost 15 kilos and is struggling to move.
#GeorgiaProtests
#TerrorinGeorgia— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Georgians now by early-to-mid February see the need for at least some centralization of the very grassroots protests for its efficient channeling much more sharply than before. It can’t always be chaotic random protest location cards disseminated that leads to victory, 1/
— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 1:29 PM
especially that essentially all protests and all forms of dissemination are now outlawed through the speed of light establishment of the dictatorship (unless the regime just gets fully unhinged with street violence, but nobody wants that and nobody wants to count on that as the strategy either). 2/
— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Fingers crossed, the democratic forces and the President will forge something more visible and tangible both for the public and for our partners to see. I’ve always been for one big unity against the dictator. The process has been debilitating and excruciating but it’s not all hopeless and 3/
— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 1:29 PM
at least we have some skeleton outlined such as the four parties/coalitions and the President, who already have much better coordination and cooperation than a year ago.
In addition, people are creating some process of their own. I have seen thousands of unfinished initiatives in Georgia, 4/— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 1:29 PM
but hopefully now things are different for everyone since it’s an existential battle for physical survival of each one of us and the very independence of Georgia as a state. So, I am rooting for Georgia’s Civil Assembly that was founded by various prominent persons in the society today. 5/
— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 1:29 PM
The photo is from the foundational gathering of the Assembly. Fingers crossed it can play a big role in the liberation.
Georgians have never faced the reality that we are facing now. We never had to bring down an occupation regime with all its propaganda and oppressive apparatus with bare hands. 6/— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 1:29 PM
All predecessor authorities had some red lines or something to be leveraged with.
#terrorinGeorgia #GeorgiaProtests 7/7.— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Back to Ukraine.
The free world is very seriously underestimating the moral degradation of the Russian society under the Putin regime after decades of hateful propaganda and the glorification of aggression, and this is going to have dire consequences.
— Illia Ponomarenko (@ioponomarenko.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 4:48 AM
Ukrainian-made missile drone “Peklo” (Hell) can fly 700 km deep into Russia. Shown off today to the Chair of NATO Military Committee, its slogan reads: “Death to enemies begins with us.” Nice.
— Maria Avdeeva (@mariainkharkiv.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 4:38 PM
The Azov Brigade repels an attack of a Russian assault column of three light unarmored civilian vehicles. With a rather predictable result for the Russian assault group.
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Toretsk:
Long time no see. Russian Su-25’s downed near Toretsk
— Maria Avdeeva (@mariainkharkiv.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Russian Su-25 was downed from MANPADS. There also were attempts to attack Russian evacuation Mi-8 helicopter with FPV but unfortunately it managed to escape. t.me/ombr_28/1797
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Kharkiv:
Air raid alert in Kharkiv ‼️ russian drones again
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Huliaipole, Zaporizhzhia Oblast:
4 people, including 2 children, were injured in a russian shelling of Huliaipole. The attack, carried out with guided aerial bombs on February 8th, also damaged a residential building, causing a 10-square-meter fire that was extinguished by firefighters.
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 7:20 AM
The injured, a 51-year-old man, a 47-year-old woman, a 16-year-old boy, and a 15-year-old girl, were hospitalized.
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Kherson:
🇺🇦Kherson region is under drone and artillery attacks round the clock.
Feb 7, Russian drones dropped explosives:
🔴on a public bus stop; a man, 55 injured.
🔴on a technician, 37, repairing a gas pipeline damaged by Russian fire, killing him.
🔴on civilian men, 19, 48
— Zarina Zabrisky (@zarinazabrisky.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 2:45 AM
🇺🇦Kherson: Russian shelled residential area at 6:30 am today
💔2 women, 32 and 57
💔A boy, 11
🔴Several houses damaged
🔴A fire startedYesterday, in Kherson region
💔1 killed, 3 injured
🔴37 settlements shelled
2 apartment buildings
7 private houses
1 gas pipeline damaged— Zarina Zabrisky (@zarinazabrisky.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 2:47 AM
The Kursk cross border offensive:
/1. 47th Brigade of Ukraine repels new ways of North Korean attacks on the Kursk front.
“The attacks were carried out by a large number of infantry groups in several directions at once. The assault began at midnight, lasted all night in several waves and lasted more than 16 hours…
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 1:46 PM
/2. …They marched across fields and open areas. Enemy infantrymen were also transported on buggies and unloaded into narrow landings where the enemy was hiding under trees.
The losses in this assault – at least a company of manpower.”t.me/brygada47/1228
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Selidove, Pokrovsk Raion, Donetsk Oblast:
/1. Air-strike on the Russian underground bunker of the 35th Russian Brigade in Selidove. As stated by source associated with Ukrainian military aviation, the strike was carried out with the help of 2000lbs (~900kg) bombs.
If so, this will be the first publicly known case. t.me/soniah_hub/9099
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 7:52 AM
/2. Just several days ago it became known that 1000lbs JDAM-ER are also actively used by Ukrainian aviation. When the video of the air-strike by Ukrainian Su-27 was released.
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 7:53 AM
/3. Air-strike on the Russian underground bunker of the 35th Russian Brigade in Selidove. Photo from the ground.
The first to report about the attack on headquarters of the 35th Brigade were the Russians themselves yesterday. Only they assumed that the attack was carried out with the help of HIMARS
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Rostov and Volgograd Oblasts:
Last night, a Ukrainian drone conducted another strike on Russian territory. The Russians report that an oil pumping station in the Rostov region and an oil refinery in the Volgograd region were hit. They claim to have shot down 36 drones.
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 4:06 AM
That’s enough for tonight.
Your daily Patron!
There are no new Patron skeets or videos today. Here is some adjacent material.
💙💛 A mega badass AFU warrior!
Behind him you always feel like behind a stone wall! 😻💪— Vitalis Viva (@vitalisviva.bsky.social) February 3, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Open thread!
Peke Daddy
Patel couldn’t be more of a Russian fifth columnist if he had been a KGB/FSB graduate. There is compromise there out the wazoo.
Jay
Thank you, Adam.
Jay
https://vatniksoup.com/en/soups/157/
AlaskaReader
Thanks Adam
Gin & Tonic
Dougan, again? Jesus H Christ!
Jim Appleton
For how long?
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: He’s been plying his trade from Russia for a while now.
Adam L Silverman
@Jim Appleton: Here’s the pull quote from the NOV 2024 article that’s being cited:
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: I know.
Raoul Paste
I will have trouble sleeping tonight.
Goddamn monsters
Ohio Mom
Adam, did you see my comment last night, if not here it is again:
Adam, Congrats on finishing that big project. Now I know why you asked me to wait to remind you about my request.
You know those kid’s books,”So you want to be an airplane pilot” Or nurse, or whatever. The books explain what a typical work day is like, what education and training you’ll need, and so on.
This is what I’d like to see a post about: “So you’re living through a coup” or “So the empire you call home is entering its final days.”
Something along the lines of your oft-quoted post about how to stay safe at a protest march.
Or whatever it is you think we need to know as we enter this new era.
Rest up and thanks!
K-Mo
Call me old fashioned but I think we should not give cyber terrorists access to our systems.
Also, call me conspiratorial but rehiring the racist poster smacks of worries about a leak.
Jim Appleton
@Adam L Silverman: And under Bondi and Patel, how long will Olsen have his job, and how long will anything he says stand?
Hopefully civil servants and their impartiality prove more durable than current apparent prospects.