Wednesday, May 16, 2018

LOL, Michael Cohen caused alarms at banks normally reserved for gangland and terrorists. Amazing.

May 16, 2018
By Karen DeYoung, Josh Dawsey and Rosalind Helderman

Michael Cohen, (click here) President Trump’s personal attorney, solicited a payment of at least $1 million from the government of Qatar in late 2016, in exchange for access to and advice about the then-incoming administration, according to several people with knowledge of the episode.

The offer, which Qatar declined, came on the margins of a Dec. 12 meeting that year at Trump Tower between the Persian Gulf state’s foreign minister and Michael Flynn, who became Trump’s first national security adviser. Stephen K. Bannon, who became chief White House strategist, also attended, the people said.

Cohen did not participate in the official meetings but spoke separately to a member of the Qatari delegation, Ahmed al-Rumaihi, who at the time was head of the investments division of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority....

Yes, there are laws. It is very sad the country has to realize far too late they have a gangland President besides his pedophilia. 

"Suspicious Activity Reporting" (click here)

Federal law (31 USC 5318(g)(3)) provides protection from civil liability for all reports of suspicious transactions made to appropriate authorities, including supporting documentation, regardless of whether such reports are filed pursuant to the SAR instructions. Specifically, the law provides that a bank and its directors, officers, employees, and agents that make a disclosure to the appropriate authorities of any possible violation of law or regulation, including a disclosure in connection with the preparation of SARs, "shall not be liable to any person under any law or regulation of the United States, any constitution, law, or regulation of any State or political subdivision of any State, or under any contract or other legally enforceable agreement (including any arbitration agreement), for such disclosure or for any failure to provide notice of such disclosure to the person who is the subject of such disclosure or any other person identified in the disclosure." The safe harbor applies to SARs filed within the required reporting thresholds as well as to SARs filed voluntarily on any activity below the threshold....

This is the kind of thing the FBI and CIA assess on a regular basis. It is not surprising to realize any articles under this authority was picked up by a federal agency.

If there are SARS missing, it most likely is a federal agency and/or USA attorney. I would be surprised and very disappointed if the US Treasury Secretary actually obstructed justice.

There is a reality I came to as a conservationist and environmentalist a long time ago; "The fines are simply a part of doing business." The petroleum industry has been so filthy rich it breaks the law all the time and simply pays the fines.

It is my estimation that is the case with Mr. Trump and all his associates.

There are prison terms for such lawbreakers, but, the government is more interested in getting the money than adding another person to the dependency rolls of any jail or prison. Most of the folks behind bars are poor. There are few wealthy folks there. I wish there were more old, white men behind bars for exactly these reasons.

When the government accepts fines rather than leverage jail or prison, the crimes will be committed over and over again.

This is very sad. Donald Trump and his associates are the kind of folks the FBI and CIA would normally be chasing down for breaking the law. There was absolutely no way for the American electorate to know this is what they were looking at. Trump would never reveal any records before the election.

Wow. I really want law enforcement to find the man that threatened Ms. Clifford and her daughter. He promised to make her daughter an orphan. It is time to close the loop and bring peace of mind to those brave enough to come forward. Any documents released to the public by a patriot is called a "Whistleblower" and there are laws to protect them. Most public employees have a union to represent them. I would seek out the union leadership to speak to their lawyer about such things. More than likely a federal employee cannot afford the price of DC lawyers.

I am grateful for Ms. Clifford. She is a good person. She is an adult entertainer, but, she is a good person. She values fidelity and especially the fidelity between the electorate and the people they elect. There is a certain understanding voters have about their candidates. When that understanding is violated it takes great people like Ms. Clifford to bravely come forward to set the record straight. I want her safe and her family safe. This is a huge contribution she made to the integrity of freedom in the USA. She is valuable to me.

Good night.

Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan has become a capitalist.

I am very happy for him. Bob Dylan's career sort of waxes and wanes. He composes and performs as he sees it. The truth as reflection in Dylan's work prove popularity is not substantive. In providing a product to consumers, he is providing for his income regardless of the moods of the public.

May 2, 2018
By Jahla Seppananen

You may have (click here) been excited about Wu-Tang Clan’s new vodka , but if your spirits and Spotify preferences lean toward the acoustic end of the spectrum, Bob Dylan’s new whiskey might be more your pace.

Don’t think twice — just accept that Bob freakin’ Dylan is now in the whiskey business.

In partnership with Spirits Investment Partnership (SIP), the iconic singer-songwriter has created Heaven’s Door Spirits. This won’t look like your standard whiskey line, though. Indeed, times they are a changin’, because instead of creating one type of whiskey with one master distiller, Heaven’s Door Spirits is set up to be an evolving portfolio of small-batch whiskeys in collaboration with multiple renowned distillers....

Trump, Jr. is 40 years old, leads the family's company and he can't remember a meeting.

There is no one within the circle of characters involved with Trump's campaign willing to point a finger at the boss. Why? Because, the Boss or Dear Old Dad, holds the pardon pen.

This is the perfect picture as to why the Emoluments Clause is excellent law. The Trump administration is carrying out some very dangerous agendas. The issues with Israel and Palestine could be carried out in the name of peace and justice or simply because "...they are part of the problem, not the solution...." The current self-righteous actions of the Israeli leadership resulting in deaths, maiming and wounding of unarmed Palestinians; is backed by (Part of the Problem) Jared by his words. He doesn't care about the lives of Palestinians that are part of the problem. Jared can assist in genocide without worry so long as his father-in-law holds the "Pardon Pen."

The power of the "Pardon Pen" is so important to the Trump family and associates that they will not implicate him, regardless of the truth. Given Trump's diet, the Trump family and associates should weigh a heartache of Trump when deciding not to testify against him.

Basically, the Trump bunch are stonewalling the Congress and the Special Investigation into the Russian hacking and sought influence in the 2016 election.

Case in point; Jared's peer in Israel:

May 16, 2018

Yair Netanyahu, (click here) son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, posted a controversial image saying "Fuck Turkey" on his Instagram account on Wednesday. This follows a diplomatic row between Israel and Turkey which began Tuesday, when Ankara expelled Israel's ambassador over the number of Palestinians killed during protests in the Gaza border on Monday....

This level of ENTITLEMENT is contagious. If Jared can be pardoned to carry out the will of Israel so Yair can through his father.

What these people don't realize is that there is a World Court that would welcome trials in the act of genocide. Yair Netanyahu doesn't even care Turkey is a member of NATO. Whatever the tension is between Israel and Turkey needs to end. With the attitude alone by Yair it brings a decision by the USA as to whom we have as an ally, Israel or Turkey. With Yair's attitude and words, it seems perfectly obvious that there is to be no alliance except with Israel. So, Turkey is one of those entities that are part of the problem and not the solution.

I am relieved the US Senate Judiciary Committee has found the US House finding is not legitimate in the case of Russian interference in the 2016 elections. Perhaps those on the US House Judiciary Committee are illiterate and have no capacity for anything except simpleton conclusions. 

May 16, 2018

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, (click here) R-Iowa, has released congressional testimony transcripts and other material related to the committee's inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the June 9, 2016, meeting in Trump Tower between Trump campaign officials and a Russian lawyer....

...In addition to Trump Jr., the committee interviewed four other people who attended the Trump Tower meeting in New York — publicist Rob Goldstone, who set up the meeting with the promise of dirt on Clinton; Rinat Akhmetshin, a prominent Russian-American lobbyist; Ike Kaveladze, a business associate of a Moscow-based developer, and a translator.


The committee did not interview Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer at the center of the meeting. But the panel released her written responses to a letter that Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, sent her last year.
The panel was also not able to interview Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, or Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign manager, even though both attended.
The committee also released one page of notes that Manafort took during the meeting...
...Trump Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he couldn't remember whether he had discussed the Russia investigation with his father, according to transcripts released Wednesday of his interview with the panel.

Trump Jr. deflected multiple questions during the interview, saying he couldn't recall whether he discussed the Russia probe with his father and whether he spoke with his dad on the day the meeting was arranged.

Asked if he thought it would be a problem to take a meeting billed to him as part of a Russian government effort to aid his father, Trump Jr. said no.

"I didn't think that listening to someone with information relevant to the fitness and character of a presidential candidate would be an issue, no."...