larry johnson joins ray mcgovern and judge nap in a video discussion among other items in this post;

I will start by redirecting you to Mark Wauck’s latest post on the Scott Ritter affair and Gilbert Doctorow’s screwy analysis. Mark writes:

Please note that it is NOT illegal to write articles for foreign news outlets and receive payment for your work. The fact that RT paid Ritter for his articles proves nothing—except that RT thought his articles were worth the money. A US citizen has the 1A right to express his views, including in foreign news outlets, and to receive payment for his work. This only becomes an issue if the person in question acts as an “agent” of a foreign government, working under the “direction and control” of that government to influence US policy in the interest of the foreign government. It’s still NOT illegal to do that—but if you do you must register with DoJ as a foreign agent.

So, Ritter’s acceptance of payment is—or should be—from a legal standpoint of little or no relevance in and of themselves. The question is, what proof does the US government have that Ritter was acting under the “direction and control” of the Russian government? If I were a judge presiding over a trial of Ritter in this case and the only evidence offered was that Ritter had criticized US policy and been paid for his articles, I would toss the case. That is, unless the government could offer evidence that Ritter was criticizing the US government for the express purpose of furthering the interests of a foreign government, which was paying him to do so.

We got some other details from Scott today, who appeared on Garland Nixon’s radio show on Sputnik. I will leave you to savor the irony. Scott reports that he was “SWATTED” last night, i.e., the local SWAT team showed up at his residence following a report from the FBI that someone in his household was planning a mass shooting. Fortunately, Scott has a good relationship with the local cops and the event ended with no physical harm, but the cops inflicted psychological injury on Scott and his family. This is appalling. I hope Scott sets up a Give-Send-Go account to collect funds to defray legal expenses. I will donate..............more......