Briefly Noted: Another Black Eye For FBI, Macgregor On The Russian Offensive

I don’t want to write much about the latest black eye for the FBI. As corruption goes, the story about the former top CI official in NY is fairly run of the mill—except that it further tarnishes an organization that, for most of its existence, was held in high esteem by the American public. That a high official of the FBI should engage in such corruption probably should not surprise anyone who has followed the news and seen the repeated willingness—even eagerness—of today’s FBI officials to misuse their powers and authority for pretty blatantly political and woke social purposes. Just now I responded at some length to an inquiry from Stephen McIntyre, and that response sums up my views in general:

No. I was in NYO in Russian CI in mid 80s. Pretty sleazy, but this illustrates the real crisis in the FBI faces, which is one of personnel. There was a retired official (name eludes me right now) who has a book out and did an interview with, I believe, John Solomon. He makes the similar point, although I think he misses the bigger picture in partially defending what Mueller did as director. The bottom line is that federal agencies, including intel agencies, no longer have any means of protecting themselves against LCD types rising through the ranks. Moreover, as a result of legal challenges the entire HR ops have been subordinated to Woke agendas. Of course there were problems before, but the degree of systemic dysfunction seems much broader now.

Re McGonigal's involvement in the Russia Hoax, I would expect that to have been relatively minimal from 2016 on simply because it was largely run out of HQ. He would know about investigations being conducted in NY--Alfa Bank, for example--but in a supervisory role. He would be very knowledgeable about Carter Page's dealings with the NYO, because the prosecution of the Russians in NY was a very big deal. I assume that the contacts with Deripaska would be so sensitive that that would explain the personal involvement of someone at his level.

"Cash in the back of a car from Albanians."

That doesn't seem real bright.

The story itself is all over the news. Here’s the Zerohedge version:

Top FBI 'Russiagate' Official Took Secret Payments From Russian Oligarch: DOJ

I assume this guy is gonna get hammered.

In bigger news, I’ve been listening to Doug Macgregor talking to Michael Savage: Everything about Russia's Massive Winter Offensive in Ukraine. The interview is an hour long, is a bit rambling—but very informative taken as a whole—and took place on 1/18/23.

Macgregor stated at that time that ground conditions in southern Ukraine were now conducive to offensive operations, and he expected the Russian offensive to begin in earnest sometime after 1/21/23—during the dark phase of the moon, when conditions are favorable for an offensive breakthrough. We’re seeing that happen now.

He also expects the Russians to unveil, for the first time, much of their integrated arms capability. That will include heavy jamming of our intel gathering activities on behalf of Ukraine, whether through aircraft or by satellites. That’s Macgregor’s view. The news today suggests relatively rapid advances by the Russians, including the use of tactics like crossing rivers to bypass built up areas—normally a somewhat risky move. Remember, this is the regular Russian army, a professional force, and utilizing the full range of equipment. If you have the time, it’s worth a listen. Now doubt we’ll be seeing much more commentary soon.