Why did Sheriff Clarke, of all people, go to Russia in December 2015?

[pnwmom]

Last edited Sat May 20, 2017, 05:58 AM - Edit history (1)

Are there any people among DT's appointments who haven't gone to Russia?

The RT dinner that Michael Flynn and Jill Stein attended was on December 10, 2015 -- the same date as this photo.

https://www.rt.com/about-us/press-releases/conference-rt-10-years/

Among the speakers and panelists will be Ken Livingstone, mayor of London during the 2005 terrorist attacks and recently appointed co-chair for the UK’s opposition defense review; Cyril Svoboda, former- deputy prime minister, minister of foreign affairs, and interior minister of the Czech Republic, who led the negotiations on Czech accession to the EU; Jill Stein, a US politician and the Green Party’s 2012 presidential candidate; Willy Wimmer, German statesman and ex-VP of the OSCE; Patricia Villegas, president of pan-Latin American news network teleSUR; Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, former head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency, the country’s main foreign military espionage organization; noted CIA whistleblower Raymond McGovern, and RT’s own editor in chief, Margarita Simonyan.

SNIP

The conference will take place at Moscow’s historic Metropol Hotel from 9:30 to 16:30 on Thursday, December 10, 2015. To find out more about the event, press accreditation, and how to attend, please go to http://conference.rt.com/.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/05/how-david-clarke-bridges-donald-trump-s-gun-nuts-and-vladimir-putin-s-kleptocrats

How David Clarke Bridges Donald Trump’s Gun Nuts and Vladimir Putin’s Kleptocrats

Could our next secretary of homeland security really be a gun-loving, Russia-visiting jails boss who’s left a trail of dead inmates behind him?

https://thinkprogress.org/nra-and-russian-cousin-18f607d40240

But the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Daniel Bice noticed that Clarke’s January 2016 ethics disclosure filing shed some light on the trip. Part one was $20,155 trip to Israel, paid for by the NRA Ring of Freedom. During his week-plus of travel there, he did a remote interview from Jerusalem for Fox Business Network. The remaining days were spent in Russia. His airfare to Moscow and visas, totaling $13,785.10, were paid for by Brownell; his $6000 worth of meals, hotel, transportation, and excursions were provided by the “All-Russia Public Organization ‘The Right to Bear Arms.’”

Link to tweet

[eShirl]

1. It must be a prerequisite.

[ATL Ebony]

2. I seriously doubt it -- I'm beginning to wonder if DT isn't Russian.

[Achilleaze]

3. Basic Training for republican fascists?

[Vinca]

4. To buy more souvenir pins for his sheriff's jacket???

[brettdale]

5. So hes the policeman who wears a lot badges

All over his uniform, but the badges arent actual medals, and he is also the policeman who appears
on Faux News a lot to say how much he hated President Obama?

[yardwork]

13. Yes.

[Wounded Bear]

18. And, of course, he's a "Democrat"...

[sharedvalues]

6. Kremlin courts American right wing

And European right wing (Le Pen)

Russia and Putin are trying to divide the US and Europe. So they recruit the American right wing and tell them how great Russian autocracy is. It's an easy sell. Let me see if I can find an article.

[sharedvalues]

7. Found: Putin courting evangelicals, white nationalists

http://time.com/4696424/moscow-right-kremlin-republicans/


In 2015 Graham met privately with Putin, who has supported Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, while visiting Moscow at the Russian Orthodox Church’s invitation. They planned a conference on persecuted Christians, which will be held in Washington in May. “He was very supportive,” says Graham. “He said he would do all he could from his office to help.”

Catholic leaders like Brian Brown have been impressed by the Russian Orthodox Church’s decision to tighten policies on abortion and uphold traditional marriage. Since 2014, Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, has worked closely with the church and with Russian anti-abortion and antigay marriage activists like FamilyPolicy.ru. In late January, Brown visited Moscow to seek the Duma’s support for his group’s new manifesto on those issues. These new bonds with Russia have “been a sea change, both in my own view and also, I think, for many conservatives,” Brown says. “Wherever there are folks standing up for marriage, we will meet with them.”

While some activists bonded over faith, others found shared purpose in guns.

Also:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/12/the-conservative-split-on-russia/510317/
And
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/12/why-the-christian-right-shares-trumps-affection-for-putin.html
In almost every case it has been his distinctive combination of homophobia and Islamophobia that has made Putin one of the Christian right’s favorite international figures.


Putin’s attacks on “gay propaganda” have been particularly heartwarming to Christian-right folk, probably because of echoes they hear of their own longtime warnings about a sinister “homosexual agenda” pervading U.S. politics and culture. Here’s Franklin Graham gushing about this during a trip to Russia:

I very much appreciate that President Putin is protecting Russian young people against homosexual propaganda. ...

[Ligyron]

10. I saw a special on the TV machine

how American Evangelicals were running "turn to Jesus" drug rehabilitation clinics in some Russian cities. Bad Heroin problem there but I was surprised the Orthodox Church let them do this.

[HAB911]

8. NRA

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029083890

[Generic Brad]

12. New Russian Army

Yes. They pose as gun advocates. It is amazing how the Russians completely co-opted an American institution as a test run for taking over the Republican party and ultimately the country and we were all oblivious to what was happening because it was so fantastic as to be believed.

[yardwork]

14. People become their enemies.

[UltravioletDingo]

9. To hunt bears (with his bare hands), of course.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. WTF is

“All-Russia Public Organization ‘The Right to Bear Arms.’” ???

Is there some citizen's "right to bear arms" provision anywhere in Russia?

As a note, I had to look up what the heck this organization is and found this -

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-gun-laws-newtown-massacre/24804185.html

Looks like they are playing the "long game" and cultivating assets wherever they can in RW world.

[pnwmom]

16. Right. A country with a dictatorial govt. is pretending

to support the right to self defense against a dictatorial govt.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. And the RW nuts here actually believe that

Putin would allow such a thing to even legitimately exist.

[SonofDonald]

15. To pick up his check? n/t

[anneboleyn]

19. WTF! Every single fucking day it gets worse. These assholes are just punking the country at this

Point. Trump with the Russians in the Oval Office ffs?! This loser having his trip and meals and who knows what else paid for to qualify for the Trump team apparently...