NYT charts a trump-Russia connection

Here's how key Trump associates cretins have been linked to Russia and how they misled officials

Russian Cyber Hacks on our Electoral System is Deeper than You think

For those who think the Russia investigation is a waste of time...

Bloomberg reports

Russia’s cyberattack on the U.S. electoral system before Donald Trump’s election was far more widespread than has been publicly revealed, including incursions into voter databases and software systems in almost twice as many states as previously reported.

In Illinois, investigators found evidence that cyber intruders tried to delete or alter voter data. The hackers accessed software designed to be used by poll workers on Election Day, and in at least one state accessed a campaign finance database. Details of the wave of attacks, in the summer and fall of 2016, were provided by three people with direct knowledge of the U.S. investigation into the matter. In all, the Russian hackers hit systems in a total of 39 states, one of them said.

The scope and sophistication so concerned Obama administration officials that they took an unprecedented step -- complaining directly to Moscow over a modern-day “red phone.” In October, two of the people said, the White House contacted the Kremlin on the back channel to offer detailed documents of what it said was Russia’s role in election meddling and to warn that the attacks risked setting off a broader conflict.

Please check out the rest of the story, it's a good read

WATCH LIVE FBI director Comey to testify on Russia, Trump wiretap probes

Paul Ryan: "Nobody disputes Russia hack"

CNN Releases Statement of Full Confidence on PissGate/Russia story

After that messy tiff between CNN and trump, CNN released a statement

New Hillary Ad: What is going on with Trump and Russia?

Seriously, what is going on with Trump and Russia? https://t.co/N6ySNILYMx

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 6, 2016

A Hate Group featuring Brian Brown are speaking at a Family Values Conference in Moscow

Looks like Brian Brown is causing international drama.

Check this out

A planned conference at the Kremlin organized by the Illinois-based World Congress of Families, which was supposedly cancelled after Russia’s incursion into Ukraine, is in fact going ahead this week with only nominal changes to its sponsorship line-up.

In fact, World Congress of Families officials Don Feder and Larry Jacobs were on hand at the event’s opening today to take questions from reporters…being careful to give their affiliations as their personal consulting operations rather than WCF.

Also planning to attend and scheduled to speak tomorrow, according to organizers: National Organization for Marriage President Brian Brown.

Last year, Brown travelled to Moscow with a group of French anti-gay activists to speak to members of the Russian Parliament in support of a spate of anti-gay laws. He then travelled back to Moscow to help organize what was then supposed to be the World Congress of Families summit. Brown is scheduled to be in France this weekend to lead a training for activists with the anti-gay group Manif Pour Tous. We'll keep an eye on news reports to see if Brown does in fact speak at the Kremlin conference tomorrow.

If this meeting actually happens, Brian could be in trouble. Here's why.

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Malaysian Passenger Plane Crashes in Ukraine, Reportedly Shot Down

This just in

A Malaysian airliner was shot down over eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian militants on Thursday, killing all 295 people aboard, a Ukrainian interior ministry official said.

Raising the stakes in the East-West showdown between Kiev and Moscow, the official blamed "terrorists" using a ground-to-air missile and Ukraine's prime minister called the downing of the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur a "catastrophe".

A Reuters correspondent saw burning wreckage and bodies on the ground at the village of Grabovo, about 40 km (25 miles) from the Russian border in an area where pro-Russian rebels have been active and have claimed to have shot down other aircraft.

The Boeing 777 came down near the city of Donetsk, stronghold of pro-Russian rebels, interior ministry official Anton Gerashchenko said on Facebook, adding it was "shot down with a Buk anti-aircraft system by terrorists" - the term the Kiev government uses for militants seeking to unite eastern Ukraine with Russia. The dead were 280 passengers and 15 crew.

Malaysia Airlines said on its Twitter feed it had lost contact with its flight MH-17 from Amsterdam. "The last known position was over Ukrainian air space," it said.

A rebel leader said Ukrainian forces shot the airliner down. Ukrainian official said their military was not involved.

Interfax-Ukraine quoted another Ukrainian official as saying the plane disappeared from radar when it was flying at 10,000 meters (33,000 feet), a typical cruising altitude for airliners.

Ukraine has accused Russia of taking an active role in the four-month-old conflict in recent days and accused it earlier on Thursday of shooting down a Ukrainian Sukhoi Su-25 fighter jet - an accusation that Moscow denied.

The military commander of the rebels, a Russian named Igor Strelkov, had written on his social media page shortly before the report of the airliner being downed that his forces had brought down an Antonov An-26 in the same area. It is a turboprop transport plane of a type used by Ukraine's forces. (Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Peter Millership)

More here 

HRC calls out American Hate Leaders in their role in Russia's Anti-Gay Law - VIDEO

President Obama definetly Sent a Message to Russia about their Anti-Gay Law - WATCH

WATCH An Anti-Gay Demonstration in Sochi

Haters are going to Hate
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Interesting Facebook Quote: Stephen Amell

That's cool

Russia Declares Discrimination Newest Olympic Sport - WATCH

The video is brought to you by the Russia Freedom Fund, the Fair Games Project and Athlete Ally

UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon condemns Attacks on the LGBT Community in Russia - WATCH

AT&T speaks out against Russia's Anti-LGBT Law

From their site

The Olympic Games in Sochi also allow us to shine a light on a subject that’s important to all Americans: equality. As you may know, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community around the world is protesting a Russian anti-LGBT law that bans “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations.” To raise awareness of the issue, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has called on International Olympic Committee (IOC) sponsors to take action and stand up for LGBT equality. AT&T is not an IOC sponsor, so we did not receive the HRC request. However, we are a long-standing sponsor of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), we support HRC’s principles and we stand against Russia’s anti-LGBT law. AT&T has a long and proud history of support for the LGBT community in the United States and everywhere around the world where we do business. We support LGBT equality globally and we condemn violence, discrimination and harassment targeted against LGBT individuals everywhere. Russia’s law is harmful to LGBT individuals and families, and it’s harmful to a diverse society. We celebrate the diversity of all Olympic athletes, their fans, Russian residents and all people the world over – including and, especially, our employees and their loved ones.

In Russia: Gay Men being Attacked and Beaten by Hate Group - VIDEO

Human Rights Watch has released a video showing a hate group known as Occupy Paedophilia attacking gay men.

Randall Terry Says "The Russians Have It Right" On Banning Gay "Recruitment"

The First Publication falls Victim to the Russian Anti-Gay Law

Queer Russia reports that the first media outlet has been fined due to the Anti-gay propaganda law.

Editor-in-Chief of the Molodoi Dalnevostochnik newspaper, Alexander Suturin, was fined 50,000 rubles ($1,400 in US money). He wrote an article about a teacher being fired because he was gay. Also, the paper was targeted because of their website's warning label. They allow people above the age of 16 to visit its website. The age of majority in Russia is 18.

Alexander said he would appeal. However, I'm surprised this is the first one. You would think there would be multiple ones... Interesting.

Russian Prime Minister says No One really complains about the Anti-Gay Propaganda Law - WATCH

Interesting Quote: Elton John

The people I met in Moscow – gay men and lesbians in their 20′s, 30′s and 40′s - told me stories about receiving threats from vigilante groups who would ‘cure’ them of homosexuality by dousing them with urine or beating them up. One young man was stalked outside a gay club by someone posing as a taxi driver who tried to garrotte him with a guitar string because he was a “sodomite”. Everyone shared stories of verbal and physical abuse – at work, in bars and restaurants or in the street – since the legislation came into force last June. And, some of the vital work providing HIV prevention information to the gay community has been labelled “homosexual propaganda” and shut down.

It was very clear to me that, although foreigners like myself who are visiting Russia are not affected by this new law (and President Putin has recently confirmed this), it is a very different story for those living inside the country. 

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