Last Call For Our Little Domestic Terrorism Problem, Con't

So it turns out that the head honcho for America's Trump-era neo-Nazi terrorist group The Base is operating out of...you guessed it...Russia!

Rinaldo Nazzaro, 46, who uses the aliases "Norman Spear" and "Roman Wolf", left New York for St Petersburg less than two years ago.

The Base is a major counter terrorism focus for the FBI.

Seven alleged members were charged this month with various offences, including conspiracy to commit murder.

Court documents prepared by the FBI describe The Base as a "racially motivated violent extremist group" that "seeks to accelerate the downfall of the United States government, incite a race war, and establish a white ethno-state".

The group - founded around July 2018 - gains followers online, communicates using encrypted messaging applications, and encourages members to engage in paramilitary training.

The leader's real identity had long been a mystery.

However, multiple images and videos of Nazzaro - taken over several years in both the USA and Russia - show the man known to be The Base founder, who goes by the two aliases.

He has previously used photographs of himself when promoting the group online

Last year Nazzaro was listed as a guest at a Russian government security exhibition in Moscow, which "focused on the demonstration of the results of state policy and achievements".
A video posted online in March 2019 shows Nazzaro in Russia wearing a t-shirt bearing an image of President Vladimir Putin along with the words "Russia, absolute power".

We traced Nazzaro and his Russian wife to an upmarket property in central St Petersburg purchased in her name in July 2018 - the same month to which the FBI dates the creation of The Base.

Of course the number one white supremacist terrorist who wants to start a bloody race war that kills millions is a Putin fan and is operating safely out of St. Petersburg.

The BBC found him, no problem.  The FBI has known where he is for some time now, I guarantee.  And they know there's now way the Russians will hand him over, even if Trump himself wouldn't stop the FBI from pursuing that avenue.

To recap, Russia is openly harboring a white supremacist terrorist leader.  Trump's complete failure to act upon this is proof enough about where he stands and who his real boss is.

The plans were as sweeping as they were chilling: “Derail some trains, kill some people, and poison some water supplies.”

It was the blunt, bloody prescription for sparking a race war by a member of the Base, a white supremacist group that has come under intense scrutiny amid a series of stunning recent arrests.

Federal agents, who had secretly recorded those remarks in a bugged apartment during a domestic terrorism investigation, pounced on seven members of the group last week in advance of a rally on Monday by gun rights advocates in Richmond, Va. Three members of one cell in Maryland affiliated with the group plotted attacks at the rally, hoping to ignite wider violence that would lead to the creation of a white ethno-state, law enforcement officials said.

The “defendants did more than talk,” Robert K. Hur, the United States attorney for Maryland, said after a detention hearing on Wednesday in federal court in Greenbelt, Md. “They took steps to act and act violently on their racist views.”

The details that emerged in court and in documents from active cases in three other states — Georgia, Wisconsin and New Jersey — unveiled a disturbing new face of white supremacy.

The Base illustrates what law enforcement officials and extremism experts describe as an expanding threat, particularly from adherents who cluster in small cells organized under the auspices of a larger group that spreads violent ideology.

“We have a significant increase in racially motivated violent extremism in the United States and, I think, a growing increase in white nationalism and white supremacy extremist movements,” Jay Tabb, the head of national security for the F.B.I., said at an event in Washington last week.

Experts who have studied the Base say it seems to have followed the model of Al Qaeda and other violent Islamic groups in working to radicalize independent cells or even lone wolves who would be inspired to plot their own attacks.
They describe the Base as an “accelerationist” organization, seeking to speed the collapse of the country and give rise to a state of its own in the Pacific Northwest by killing minorities, particularly African-Americans and Jews.

Experts estimate that the Base, which was formed around July 2018, has dozens of hard-core members and tries to recruit many more online, although its approach is evolving.

No,  if anything,Trump needs Nazzaro and The Base, and Putin is happy to lend a base for The Base.  This guy, not anything Iran is up to, is the real threat to the US.

And they love Donald Trump because he's openly supporting them.

Ukraine In The Membrane, Con't

Earlier this month when the news broke that Giuliani associate Lev Parnas had tapes of his conversations with Trump regime folks about helping Rudy get rid of then US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovich, I figured he had tapes of Rudy blabbing, because Rudy Giuliani is incapable of shutting the hell up when the topic comes to himself.

Oh, oh no...he almost certainly has tapes of his conversations with Rudy, but that's not the story. The story is Parnas's partner-in-crime Igor Fruman has tapes of his conversations with Donald Trump.  And Donald Trump is the one who ordered Parnas and his sidekick Fruman to "take her out".

A recording reviewed by ABC News appears to capture President Donald Trump telling associates he wanted the then-U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch fired while speaking at a small gathering that included Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman -- two former business associates of Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani who have since been indicted in New York.

The recording appears to contradict statements by President Trump and support the narrative that has been offered by Parnas during broadcast interviews in recent days. Sources familiar with the recording said the recording was made during an intimate April 30, 2018, dinner at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Trump has said repeatedly he does not know Parnas, a Soviet-born American who has emerged as a wild card in Trump’s impeachment trial, especially in the days since Trump was impeached.

"Get rid of her!" is what the voice that appears to be President Trump’s is heard saying. "Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it."

Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Do it.

Like the mob boss he is.

On the recording, it appears the two Giuliani associates are telling President Trump that the U.S. ambassador has been bad-mouthing him, which leads directly to the apparent remarks by the President. The recording was made by Fruman, according to sources familiar with the tape. The White House did not respond to an ABC News request for comment.

During the conversation, several of the participants can be heard laughing with the president. At another point, the recording appears to capture Trump praising his new choice of secretary of state, saying emphatically: “[Mike] Pompeo is the best.” But the most striking moment comes when Parnas and the president discuss the dismissal of his ambassador to Ukraine.

Parnas appears to say: "The biggest problem there, I think where we need to start is we gotta get rid of the ambassador. She's still left over from the Clinton administration," Parnas can be heard telling Trump. "She's basically walking around telling everybody 'Wait, he's gonna get impeached, just wait." (Yovanovitch actually had served in the State Department since the Reagan administration.)
It was not until a year later that Yovanovitch was recalled from her position -- in April 2019. She said the decision was based on “unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives” that she was disloyal to Trump.

And remember:

CBS News reports that GOP Senators have been warned by Trump team: "Vote against the president, and your head will be on a pike." How is this acceptable? pic.twitter.com/19TKOn4kSq

— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) January 24, 2020

This was always a mob operation.  Well, a really bad one, anyway.

Remember, Trump could have fired her at any time, according to his GOP supporters.  He didn't fire her until a year later.  No, he wanted Parnas and Fruman to "take her out".

Impeachment Reached, Con't

Democrats will need four GOP senators to side with them in order to win any vote on witnesses, so if there's going to be a fourth who breaks ranks in Trump's impeachment trial besides Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Mitt Romney, the smart money is on that Republican being Tennessee's Lamar Alexandar.

Three GOP senators have expressed some level of support for calling witnesses, and if they joined all Democrats, it would result in a 50-50 tie and likely be defeated. Unless Chief Justice John Roberts shocked Washington by wading in with a tie-break, Democrats need one more Republican to break ranks and upend GOP plans for a swift Trump acquittal.

That’s got both parties eagerly eyeing Alexander. He's a retiring defender of the Senate as an institution who's occasionally bucked his party, but he also counts Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as a longtime ally. He's more hesitant to criticize Trump than are some other Republicans, but he also has said it was "inappropriate" for Trump to ask foreign governments to investigate his political opponents. 

A former presidential candidate, governor, Education secretary and current three-term senator and committee chairman, Alexander was a key advocate of McConnell’s proposal to wait to hold a vote on new evidence until the initial stages of the trial are done. But unlike Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah, who are open to hearing from witnesses, Alexander has expressed no indication of how he will vote next week on the most critical roll call vote yet. 

“He is very well-respected by the entire conference and is close to Mitch McConnell. I’ve found Lamar to be one of the most effective members of the entire Senate,” Collins said of Alexander. “I don’t know what his position will be. I suspect that he’s waiting until he’s heard the case presented, and the questions answered for the senators. And that’s a very logical position to take.”

Democrats, meanwhile, are holding out hope that Alexander will be their hero in the mold of the late Sen. John McCain, whose extraordinary vote derailed the GOP’s effort to repeal Obamacare. Though Alexander would never blindside McConnell the way McCain did, he is widely believed to be a Republican who could be receptive to Democrats’ message that the Senate needs to hear more evidence.

“There is an opportunity here for Sen. Alexander, who has long been a leader in crafting bipartisan resolutions to impasses, to play a significant, even a historic role,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), who has spoken with Alexander about witness testimony. “He is so well-respected in his caucus that there are a number of other senators that are also looking to him.” 

Alexander is unlikely to be the 51st vote for witnesses and throw momentary control of the Senate to the Democrats. More likely, if he’s feeling the need to hear new evidence in the trial, other Republicans would join him and scramble plans on how to handle witnesses and documents. 

Yet at the moment, GOP leaders are not worried about Alexander, according to a Republican senator and aides privy to party strategy. They believe Alexander is likely to side with McConnell and help wrap up the trial. 

But publicly, Republicans are giving him plenty of leeway and refusing to predict where he will end up. And if he is signaling how he will vote, it’s likely directly to McConnell and to no one else.

The notion that Alexandar might be the key to witnesses has the White House openly issuing threats.

In opening statements, House managers examined the debunked conspiracy theories invoked by Pres. Trump.

A @POTUS confidant tells CBS News that GOP senators were warned: “vote against the president and your head will be on a pike.”

Here's @nancycordes https://t.co/LV1Y6QveIh pic.twitter.com/tLB9EpoWr8

— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) January 23, 2020

Head on a pike seems right.  I can't see any Republican risking not only their Senate career and party membership but their valuable lobbyist and media sinecures as well.  Nobody would dare stand up to Trump in this party of cowards. 

So no, I don't see Alexandar's vote somehow being the magical logjam breaker any more than I see Trump being found guilty.

StupidiNews!

• Donald Trump is now saying he is open to earned benefit program cuts like Social Security and Medicare.
• A Saudi comedian and dissident says that the FBI stopped a plot to kidnap him on US soil by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
• Multiple US states are suing the Trump regime over blocking 3-D printing of firearms, saying it violates the Second Amendment.
• The Trump regime says it will unveil its latest Mideast peace plan next week as embattled Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu plans to visit the US.
• The latest yearly move by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved the Doomsday Clock to just 100 seconds before midnight, symbolizing global nuclear war.