Sifting through Maria Butina’s extensive trail of online commentary, Rolling Stone finds the accused Russian spy deeming her dupes at the National Rifle Association problematically undemocratic and undiverse:
In one post, Butina criticized the way the NRA governs itself. “The organization is not very democratic,” she wrote. “Not a single vote has been observed,” she added, criticizing the group’s leadership — in particular the power of its 75-member board: “The president of the organization is appointed from among the board by its internal decision,” she wrote. “In comparison with these structural features, our [Russian] NGO sector … is much more democratic.”
…Butina was not just bothered by the NRA’s organizational divides. She also criticized the gun lobby’s racial makeup and lack of diversity: “In addition to problems with democracy, there are obvious problems with the proportionality of representation,” Butina wrote, “because for all time, from among the guests and participants in the congress and exhibition, I met only two blacks” [Tim Dickinson, “Making Sense of Maria Butina’s Curious Blog Posts About the NRA,” Rolling Stone, 2018.07.25].
When one of Vladimir Putin’s agents notices that a group is too authoritarian and too white, that group must really be bad at democracy and diversity.
Butina had another court appearance today. Her attorney asked for her computer and phone back. The feds are like, no way, and so am I—we don’t want Butina deleting all of her instructive blog posts! Next court hearing is September 10.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/pro-confederate-birther-introduced-maria-butinas-handler-to-nra-chief?ref=home
Tennessee lawyer who wants Putin to run America?
Kudos to Seth Tupper. He was just given a shout out on the Rachel Maddow show on Erickson
A Dem Tweeted Rachel yesterday w one of Cory’s links. The EB5 thread! Same way she may have run w/ Rounds/Tidemann 2014 election cover-up.
A white supremacist org like the NRA is never going to have more than 2 POC. That’s who they want to kill for Living While Black.
Has SPLC categorized the NRA as a hate group yet? They certainly should.
The NRA is now and has been, an agent for Putin. They should be classified as anti democracy agents of a hostile government. Here is a speech by their president in Mother Russia.
“One NRA leader with whom the pair of Russians developed long-term ties was David Keene, an NRA board member who served as president of the organization from 2011 to 2013. In fall 2013, Keene traveled to Moscow at their invitation for a meeting of about 200 gun-rights advocates hosted by The Right to Bear Arms, a fledgling group Butina had set up in 2011.”
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/07/nra-russia-maria-butina-alexander-torshin-republicans-trump/?utm_source=mj-newsletters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-russian-connection-2018-07-26
You all can keep your guns to protect yourself from a hostile government, but what one? What will you do when Russia brings down the power grid they have already hacked? Gonna head for the hills with your guns and ammo, should work really well. How ya gonna run your CPAP machines and your scooters? There is a solution, vote Democratic to rid this great country of the Comrades that are chewing at its foundation.
The tangled web of billionaires. Russians supporting Trump, Koch organizations…. Butina’s billionaire funder invested in the new Russian sniper rifle Maria adds her sexual sizzle in promotion. His wife is president of the company. He exports fossil fuels from TX to China. Koch refined, I wonder?
NRA’s answer about Butina was to proudly remind everyone about Jane Fonda’s visit to Hanoi in 1972, video included.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-promised-clinton-dirt-before-trump-tower-meeting_us_5b5be524e4b0de86f4974fa3
Drumpf promised dirt on Clintons 2 days before Drumpf tower meeting that was supposed to deliver the dirt and didn’t. So Drumpf knew about the meeting before it happened. Time for the firing squad.