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March 9, 2016
The Brazilian Earthquake
by Pepe Escobar March 8, 2016
Imagine one of the most admired global political leaders in modern history taken from his apartment at 6 am by armed Brazilian Federal Police agents and forced into an unmarked car to the Sao Paulo airport to be interrogated for almost four hours in connection with a billion dollar corruption scandal involving the giant state oil company Petrobras.
This is the stuff Hollywood is made of. And that was exactly the logic behind the elaborate production.
The public prosecutors of the two-year-old Car Wash investigation maintain there are “elements of proof” implicating Lula in receiving funds — at least 1.1 million euros — from the dodgy kickback scheme involving major Brazilian construction companies connected to Petrobras. Lula might — and the operative word is “might” — have personally profited from it mostly in the form of a ranch (which he does not own), a relatively modest seaside apartment, speaking fees in the global lecture circuit, and donations to his charity.
Lula is the ultimate political animal — on a Bill Clinton level. He had already telegraphed he was waiting for such a gambit, as the Car Wash machine had already arrested dozens of people suspected of embezzling contracts between their companies and Petrobras — to the tune of over $2 billion — to pay for politicians of the Workers’ Party (PT), of which Lula was leader.
Lula’s name surfaced via the proverbial rascal turned informer, eager to strike a plea bargain. The working hypothesis — there is no smoking gun — is that Lula, when he led Brazil between 2003 and 2010, personally benefited from the corruption scheme with Petrobras at the center, obtaining favors for himself, the PT and the government. Meanwhile, inefficient President Dilma Rousseff is herself under attack engineered via a plea bargain by the former government leader in the Senate.
Lula was questioned in connection to money laundering, corruption and suspected dissimulation of assets. The Hollywood blitz was cleared by federal judge Sergio Moro — who always insists he’s been inspired by the Italian judge Antonio di Pietro and the notorious 1990s Mani Pulite (“Clean Hands”) investigation.
And here, inevitably, the plot thickens.
Round up the usual media suspects
Moro and the Car Wash prosecutors justified the Hollywood blitz insisting Lula refused to be interrogated. Lula and the PT vehemently insist otherwise.
And yet Car Wash investigators had consistently leaked to mainstream media words to the effect, “We can’t just bite Lula. When we get to him, we will swallow him.” This would imply, at a minimum, a politicization of justice, the Federal Police and the Public Ministry. And would also imply that the Hollywood blitz may have been supported by a smoking gun. As perception is reality in the frenetic non-stop news cycle, the “news” — instantly global — was that Lula was arrested because he’s corrupt.
Continued...
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/03/08/the-brazilian-earthquake/
The Brazilian Earthquake--by Pepe Escobar
The Brazilian Earthquake
by Pepe Escobar March 8, 2016
Imagine one of the most admired global political leaders in modern history taken from his apartment at 6 am by armed Brazilian Federal Police agents and forced into an unmarked car to the Sao Paulo airport to be interrogated for almost four hours in connection with a billion dollar corruption scandal involving the giant state oil company Petrobras.
This is the stuff Hollywood is made of. And that was exactly the logic behind the elaborate production.
The public prosecutors of the two-year-old Car Wash investigation maintain there are “elements of proof” implicating Lula in receiving funds — at least 1.1 million euros — from the dodgy kickback scheme involving major Brazilian construction companies connected to Petrobras. Lula might — and the operative word is “might” — have personally profited from it mostly in the form of a ranch (which he does not own), a relatively modest seaside apartment, speaking fees in the global lecture circuit, and donations to his charity.
Lula is the ultimate political animal — on a Bill Clinton level. He had already telegraphed he was waiting for such a gambit, as the Car Wash machine had already arrested dozens of people suspected of embezzling contracts between their companies and Petrobras — to the tune of over $2 billion — to pay for politicians of the Workers’ Party (PT), of which Lula was leader.
Lula’s name surfaced via the proverbial rascal turned informer, eager to strike a plea bargain. The working hypothesis — there is no smoking gun — is that Lula, when he led Brazil between 2003 and 2010, personally benefited from the corruption scheme with Petrobras at the center, obtaining favors for himself, the PT and the government. Meanwhile, inefficient President Dilma Rousseff is herself under attack engineered via a plea bargain by the former government leader in the Senate.
Lula was questioned in connection to money laundering, corruption and suspected dissimulation of assets. The Hollywood blitz was cleared by federal judge Sergio Moro — who always insists he’s been inspired by the Italian judge Antonio di Pietro and the notorious 1990s Mani Pulite (“Clean Hands”) investigation.
And here, inevitably, the plot thickens.
Round up the usual media suspects
Moro and the Car Wash prosecutors justified the Hollywood blitz insisting Lula refused to be interrogated. Lula and the PT vehemently insist otherwise.
And yet Car Wash investigators had consistently leaked to mainstream media words to the effect, “We can’t just bite Lula. When we get to him, we will swallow him.” This would imply, at a minimum, a politicization of justice, the Federal Police and the Public Ministry. And would also imply that the Hollywood blitz may have been supported by a smoking gun. As perception is reality in the frenetic non-stop news cycle, the “news” — instantly global — was that Lula was arrested because he’s corrupt.
Continued...
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/03/08/the-brazilian-earthquake/
March 9, 2016
--------
Donald Trump and the Mob
Chris Frates, CNN Investigative Correspondent
----------------
"Donald Trump and the Mob," CNN--Plus: "21 Questions for Donald Trump"-- David Kay Johnson
The Republicans have sent Romney out there to "Stop Trump" and the Media now has misgivings over their Promotion of Trump...but, Look Here....They All Knew back in July of 2015! Good Reads.......--------
Donald Trump and the Mob
Chris Frates, CNN Investigative Correspondent
Reports going back decades tie Trump to NY, Philly mob families
"Little Nicky," "Chicken Man" and "Crazy Phil"
CNN)Donald Trump's glittering empire of New York skyscrapers and Atlantic City casinos have long had a darker side, allegations that the mob helped build them.
Trump's alleged ties to New York and Philadelphia crime families go back decades and have been recounted in a book, newspapers and government records.
"The mob connections of Donald are extraordinarily extensive," New York investigative journalist Wayne Barrett told CNN in an interview.
Barrett, the author of the 1992 unauthorized biography "Trump: The Deals and the Downfall," wrote that Trump's life "intertwines with the underworld."
The allegations are getting new scrutiny as Trump runs for president, largely on his record as a successful, and extraordinarily wealthy, businessman. As Trump cements his leads atop the polls, questions about how he made his billions, and who helped him make them, are starting to take center stage.
A Trump spokesperson did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.
To be sure, organized crime had ties to the New York and New Jersey construction industry in the 1980's and early 1990's, making contact between developers and mafia-controlled companies almost unavoidable at times.
"There was a certain amount of mob association during which the father and he were building, which was very difficult to avoid in the New York construction world," Barrett said, adding, "He went out of his way not to avoid them, but to increase them."
In a recent Federalist article, David Marcus writes that Trump bought the property that his Atlantic City casino Trump Plaza would one day occupy -- for twice market price -- from Salvatore Testa, a Philly mobster and son of one-time Philly mob boss Philip "Chicken Man" Testa. (Springsteen fans might recognize the elder Testa from the opening lines of the song, Atlantic City.)
In his book, Barrett writes that Testa and a partner, who together headed a Philly mafia hit-squad called the Young Executioners, bought the property for "a scant $195,000" in 1977. In 1982, Trump paid $1.1 million for it.
"The $220 per square foot that Trump paid for the Testa property was the second most expensive purchase he made on the block, even though it was one of the first parcels he bought," Barrett wrote.
The casino was built with the help oftwo construction companies controlled by Philly mobsters Nicademo "Little Nicky" Scarfo and his nephew Phillip "Crazy Phil" Leonetti, according to, as Marcus notes, a New Jersey state commission's 1986 report on organized crime.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/31/politics/trump-mob-mafia/index.html
Trump's alleged ties to New York and Philadelphia crime families go back decades and have been recounted in a book, newspapers and government records.
"The mob connections of Donald are extraordinarily extensive," New York investigative journalist Wayne Barrett told CNN in an interview.
Barrett, the author of the 1992 unauthorized biography "Trump: The Deals and the Downfall," wrote that Trump's life "intertwines with the underworld."
The allegations are getting new scrutiny as Trump runs for president, largely on his record as a successful, and extraordinarily wealthy, businessman. As Trump cements his leads atop the polls, questions about how he made his billions, and who helped him make them, are starting to take center stage.
A Trump spokesperson did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.
To be sure, organized crime had ties to the New York and New Jersey construction industry in the 1980's and early 1990's, making contact between developers and mafia-controlled companies almost unavoidable at times.
"There was a certain amount of mob association during which the father and he were building, which was very difficult to avoid in the New York construction world," Barrett said, adding, "He went out of his way not to avoid them, but to increase them."
In a recent Federalist article, David Marcus writes that Trump bought the property that his Atlantic City casino Trump Plaza would one day occupy -- for twice market price -- from Salvatore Testa, a Philly mobster and son of one-time Philly mob boss Philip "Chicken Man" Testa. (Springsteen fans might recognize the elder Testa from the opening lines of the song, Atlantic City.)
In his book, Barrett writes that Testa and a partner, who together headed a Philly mafia hit-squad called the Young Executioners, bought the property for "a scant $195,000" in 1977. In 1982, Trump paid $1.1 million for it.
"The $220 per square foot that Trump paid for the Testa property was the second most expensive purchase he made on the block, even though it was one of the first parcels he bought," Barrett wrote.
The casino was built with the help oftwo construction companies controlled by Philly mobsters Nicademo "Little Nicky" Scarfo and his nephew Phillip "Crazy Phil" Leonetti, according to, as Marcus notes, a New Jersey state commission's 1986 report on organized crime.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/31/politics/trump-mob-mafia/index.html
----------------
21 Questions For Donald Trump
July 10, 2015 4:41 pm --Featured Post, Politics, Top News
David Cay Johnston
I have covered Donald Trump off and on for 27 years — including breaking the story that in 1990, when he claimed to be worth $3 billion but could not pay interest on loans coming due, his bankers put his net worth at minus $295 million. And so I have closely watched what Trump does and what government documents reveal about his conduct.
Reporters, competing Republican candidates, and voters would learn a lot about Trump if they asked for complete answers to these 21 questions.
Here are 21 Questions for Donald Trump:
So, Mr. Trump…
1. You call yourself an “ardent philanthropist,” but have not donated a dollar to The Donald J. Trump Foundation since 2006. You’re not even the biggest donor to the foundation, having given about $3.7 million in the previous two decades while businesses associated with Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment gave the Trump Foundation $5 million. All the money since 2006 has come from those doing business with you.
How does giving away other people’s money, in what could be seen as a kickback scheme, make you a philanthropist?
2. New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman successfully sued you, alleging your Trump University was an “illegal educational institution” that charged up to $35,000 for “Trump Elite” mentorships promising personal advice from you, but you never showed up and your “special” list of lenders was photocopied from Scotsman Guide, a magazine found at any bookstore.
Why did you not show up?
3. You claimed The Learning Annex paid you a $1 million speaking fee, but on Larry King Live, you acknowledged the fee was $400,000 and the rest was the promotional value.
Since you have testified under oath that your public statements inflate the value of your assets, can voters use this as a guide, so whenever you say $1, in reality it is only 40 cents?
4. The one-page financial statement handed out at Trump Tower when you announced your candidacy says you’ve given away $102 million worth of land.
Will you supply a list of each of these gifts, with the values you assigned to them?
Continued At:
http://www.nationalmemo.com/21-questions-for-donald-trump/
July 10, 2015 4:41 pm --Featured Post, Politics, Top News
David Cay Johnston
I have covered Donald Trump off and on for 27 years — including breaking the story that in 1990, when he claimed to be worth $3 billion but could not pay interest on loans coming due, his bankers put his net worth at minus $295 million. And so I have closely watched what Trump does and what government documents reveal about his conduct.
Reporters, competing Republican candidates, and voters would learn a lot about Trump if they asked for complete answers to these 21 questions.
Here are 21 Questions for Donald Trump:
So, Mr. Trump…
1. You call yourself an “ardent philanthropist,” but have not donated a dollar to The Donald J. Trump Foundation since 2006. You’re not even the biggest donor to the foundation, having given about $3.7 million in the previous two decades while businesses associated with Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment gave the Trump Foundation $5 million. All the money since 2006 has come from those doing business with you.
How does giving away other people’s money, in what could be seen as a kickback scheme, make you a philanthropist?
2. New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman successfully sued you, alleging your Trump University was an “illegal educational institution” that charged up to $35,000 for “Trump Elite” mentorships promising personal advice from you, but you never showed up and your “special” list of lenders was photocopied from Scotsman Guide, a magazine found at any bookstore.
Why did you not show up?
3. You claimed The Learning Annex paid you a $1 million speaking fee, but on Larry King Live, you acknowledged the fee was $400,000 and the rest was the promotional value.
Since you have testified under oath that your public statements inflate the value of your assets, can voters use this as a guide, so whenever you say $1, in reality it is only 40 cents?
4. The one-page financial statement handed out at Trump Tower when you announced your candidacy says you’ve given away $102 million worth of land.
Will you supply a list of each of these gifts, with the values you assigned to them?
Continued At:
http://www.nationalmemo.com/21-questions-for-donald-trump/
March 7, 2016
Lets go with our Dems...I think Bernie is Better for Change...but, lets give our Dems Applause for "Talking about Issues" and not Penis Size!
Bernie and Hillary Fighting for Flint, Michigan. Why would anyone want the Democratic Debates to just be all about Hillary when Two Dems are FIGHTING FOR US!
Keep BOTH IN to the END...to fight against Trump/Cruz/Rubio!
We Dems shouldn't be a One Candidate Party when there are So Many Issues that Need to be Addressed.
Bernie Bern's Is Up Kick Starting the CNN Debate! He's On Fire!
Applause, Reality..............Lets go with our Dems...I think Bernie is Better for Change...but, lets give our Dems Applause for "Talking about Issues" and not Penis Size!
Bernie and Hillary Fighting for Flint, Michigan. Why would anyone want the Democratic Debates to just be all about Hillary when Two Dems are FIGHTING FOR US!
Keep BOTH IN to the END...to fight against Trump/Cruz/Rubio!
We Dems shouldn't be a One Candidate Party when there are So Many Issues that Need to be Addressed.
March 6, 2016
Andrea Mitchell Inteviewed Jane Sanders, 3/3/16 and it's a Great Watch
As much as I dislike Andrea, I thought that Jane did a very good job handling her questions. What a wonderful First Lady she would be. Soft spoken but with integrity and determination. 
's
Andrea Mitchell Reports 3/3/16
Jane Sanders: He has moved the agenda of Dem party.
Senator Bernie Sanders’ wife and closest advisor Jane Sanders joins Andrea Mitchell to discuss the new developments in Hillary Clinton’s email scandal and how Bernie Sanders is continuing the race regardless of the number of delegates. Duration: 5:34
It won't embed on DU but here is the link:
http://on.msnbc.com/1QuPIzI
March 3, 2016
Bill Clinton "Bull Horn" Appearance Outside New Bedford Polling Place Raises Questions
(There were Bernie Supporters there who filmed it...Video is a "Must Watch" to see what actually went on)
Bill Clinton Appearance Outside New Bedford Polling Place Raises Questions
The former president’s megaphone speech happened just hours after a controversial West Roxbury visit.
By Kyle Clauss | Boston Daily | March 1, 2016, 6:04 p.m.
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2016/03/01/bill-clinton-new-bedford-video/
via YouTube
Former President Bill Clinton’s public appearances this Super Tuesday have some crying foul over potential violations of Massachusetts election law.
Hours after he went inside polling locations in Newton and West Roxbury and was photographed posing with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and a Democratic ballot, Clinton visited a polling place in New Bedford and was filmed nearby stumping for Hillary Clinton with a megaphone-wielding Mayor Jon Mitchell.
“I haven’t seen one person be able to come in and be able to vote in here,” says one woman narrating a video of the scene, posted Tuesday afternoon. “It’s completely blocked off. No cars can park here. They are affecting the voting at this poll. It’s ridiculous. This should be fraud, and illegal.”
Hours after he went inside polling locations in Newton and West Roxbury and was photographed posing with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and a Democratic ballot, Clinton visited a polling place in New Bedford and was filmed nearby stumping for Hillary Clinton with a megaphone-wielding Mayor Jon Mitchell.
“I haven’t seen one person be able to come in and be able to vote in here,” says one woman narrating a video of the scene, posted Tuesday afternoon. “It’s completely blocked off. No cars can park here. They are affecting the voting at this poll. It’s ridiculous. This should be fraud, and illegal.”
March 2, 2016
CNN anchor Jake Tapper asked Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta if having a fundraiser with lobbyists from Goldman Sachs “undermines” Clinton’s message and drive “supporters to Bernie Sanders.”
During “The Lead” on Tuesday, Podesta downplayed the possible conflict of interest and said “we’re going to raise money that we need to compete.”
Tapper said, “John, according to the Sunlight Foundation and The Intercept, you’re hosting a fundraiser for Secretary Clinton in Washington, along with several lobbyists who work for firms that lobby on behalf of Goldman Sachs, the NRA. Isn’t this the fundraiser exactly the kind thing that drives supporters to Bernie Sanders?”
“Well look, I think we’re trying to raise the resources that are necessary with respect to her positions,” Podesta said. “For example, there’s no one who’s been stronger, louder, in taking on the gun lobby than Hillary Clinton. She has a record in sharp contrast to Senator Sanders who’s voted five times against the Brady Bill. Voted to provide immunity to gun owners. He’s shifted, to some extent, we welcome that, in the course of this campaign. But she’s going to take on the gun lobby, take on Wall Street with comprehensive plan.”
Tapper interjected, “But aren’t you afraid that it undermines her pitch on Wall Street and the gun lobby when she takes money from federal lobbyists who lobby on behalf of Wall street and the gun lobby?”
“Well, as I understand your reference to the gun lobbies, the person no longer does that, that’s a good thing for the country because we need to beat back the gun lobby. And I think what’s important is that she can stand up, as she always has to special interests, to the people who are taking our country in the wrong direction, and she’ll do that,” Podesta claimed.
“But as you know, there’s a lot of money coming at us from the other side and we’re going to raise resources that we need to raise to compete both in these primaries and then if we become the nominee, as I think we will, in the general election. Super PACs are already advertising against her and they have been since Iowa. And we’re going to raise money that we need to compete.”
TAPPER's Comment at the very end of Video:
http://dailycaller.com/2016/03/01/cnns-tapper-asks-podesta-if-hillary-attending-lobbyist-fundraiser-undermines-her-message-video/
CNN's Jake Tapper: This Week Hillary is Fundraising from NRA Lobbyists and Goldman Sachs in DC
Elections
CNN’s Tapper Asks Podesta If Hillary Attending Lobbyist Fundraiser Undermines Her Message [VIDEO]
by Steve Guest
CNN anchor Jake Tapper asked Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta if having a fundraiser with lobbyists from Goldman Sachs “undermines” Clinton’s message and drive “supporters to Bernie Sanders.”
During “The Lead” on Tuesday, Podesta downplayed the possible conflict of interest and said “we’re going to raise money that we need to compete.”
Tapper said, “John, according to the Sunlight Foundation and The Intercept, you’re hosting a fundraiser for Secretary Clinton in Washington, along with several lobbyists who work for firms that lobby on behalf of Goldman Sachs, the NRA. Isn’t this the fundraiser exactly the kind thing that drives supporters to Bernie Sanders?”
“Well look, I think we’re trying to raise the resources that are necessary with respect to her positions,” Podesta said. “For example, there’s no one who’s been stronger, louder, in taking on the gun lobby than Hillary Clinton. She has a record in sharp contrast to Senator Sanders who’s voted five times against the Brady Bill. Voted to provide immunity to gun owners. He’s shifted, to some extent, we welcome that, in the course of this campaign. But she’s going to take on the gun lobby, take on Wall Street with comprehensive plan.”
Tapper interjected, “But aren’t you afraid that it undermines her pitch on Wall Street and the gun lobby when she takes money from federal lobbyists who lobby on behalf of Wall street and the gun lobby?”
“Well, as I understand your reference to the gun lobbies, the person no longer does that, that’s a good thing for the country because we need to beat back the gun lobby. And I think what’s important is that she can stand up, as she always has to special interests, to the people who are taking our country in the wrong direction, and she’ll do that,” Podesta claimed.
“But as you know, there’s a lot of money coming at us from the other side and we’re going to raise resources that we need to raise to compete both in these primaries and then if we become the nominee, as I think we will, in the general election. Super PACs are already advertising against her and they have been since Iowa. And we’re going to raise money that we need to compete.”
TAPPER's Comment at the very end of Video:
http://dailycaller.com/2016/03/01/cnns-tapper-asks-podesta-if-hillary-attending-lobbyist-fundraiser-undermines-her-message-video/
March 1, 2016
"How America Made Donald Trump Unstoppable"--Matti Taibbi's Opus on Election 2016
Taibbi at his best! Warning...it's a long read and maybe better to scroll for the many great bitsHow America Made Donald Trump Unstoppable
He's no ordinary con man. He's way above average — and the American political system is his easiest mark ever
By Matt Taibbi February 24, 2016
---snip
President Donald Trump.
A thousand ridiculous accidents needed to happen in the unlikeliest of sequences for it to be possible, but absent a dramatic turn of events – an early primary catastrophe, Mike Bloomberg ego-crashing the race, etc. – this boorish, monosyllabic TV tyrant with the attention span of an Xbox-playing 11-year-old really is set to lay waste to the most impenetrable oligarchy the Western world ever devised.
It turns out we let our electoral process devolve into something so fake and dysfunctional that any half-bright con man with the stones to try it could walk right through the front door and tear it to shreds on the first go.
And Trump is no half-bright con man, either. He's way better than average.
It's been well-documented that Trump surged last summer when he openly embraced the ugly race politics that, according to the Beltway custom of 50-plus years, is supposed to stay at the dog-whistle level. No doubt, that's been a huge factor in his rise. But racism isn't the only ugly thing he's dragged out into the open.
Trump is no intellectual. He's not bringing Middlemarch to the toilet. If he had to jail with Stephen Hawking for a year, he wouldn't learn a thing about physics. Hawking would come out on Day 365 talking about models and football.
But, in an insane twist of fate, this bloated billionaire scion has hobbies that have given him insight into the presidential electoral process. He likes women, which got him into beauty pageants. And he likes being famous, which got him into reality TV. He knows show business.
That put him in position to understand that the presidential election campaign is really just a badly acted, billion-dollar TV show whose production costs ludicrously include the political disenfranchisement of its audience. Trump is making a mockery of the show, and the Wolf Blitzers and Anderson Coopers of the world seem appalled. How dare he demean the presidency with his antics?
But they've all got it backward. The presidency is serious. The presidential electoral process, however, is a sick joke, in which everyone loses except the people behind the rope line. And every time some pundit or party spokesman tries to deny it, Trump picks up another vote.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-america-made-donald-trump-unstoppable-20160224
He's no ordinary con man. He's way above average — and the American political system is his easiest mark ever
By Matt Taibbi February 24, 2016
---snip
President Donald Trump.
A thousand ridiculous accidents needed to happen in the unlikeliest of sequences for it to be possible, but absent a dramatic turn of events – an early primary catastrophe, Mike Bloomberg ego-crashing the race, etc. – this boorish, monosyllabic TV tyrant with the attention span of an Xbox-playing 11-year-old really is set to lay waste to the most impenetrable oligarchy the Western world ever devised.
It turns out we let our electoral process devolve into something so fake and dysfunctional that any half-bright con man with the stones to try it could walk right through the front door and tear it to shreds on the first go.
And Trump is no half-bright con man, either. He's way better than average.
It's been well-documented that Trump surged last summer when he openly embraced the ugly race politics that, according to the Beltway custom of 50-plus years, is supposed to stay at the dog-whistle level. No doubt, that's been a huge factor in his rise. But racism isn't the only ugly thing he's dragged out into the open.
Trump is no intellectual. He's not bringing Middlemarch to the toilet. If he had to jail with Stephen Hawking for a year, he wouldn't learn a thing about physics. Hawking would come out on Day 365 talking about models and football.
But, in an insane twist of fate, this bloated billionaire scion has hobbies that have given him insight into the presidential electoral process. He likes women, which got him into beauty pageants. And he likes being famous, which got him into reality TV. He knows show business.
That put him in position to understand that the presidential election campaign is really just a badly acted, billion-dollar TV show whose production costs ludicrously include the political disenfranchisement of its audience. Trump is making a mockery of the show, and the Wolf Blitzers and Anderson Coopers of the world seem appalled. How dare he demean the presidency with his antics?
But they've all got it backward. The presidency is serious. The presidential electoral process, however, is a sick joke, in which everyone loses except the people behind the rope line. And every time some pundit or party spokesman tries to deny it, Trump picks up another vote.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-america-made-donald-trump-unstoppable-20160224
February 29, 2016
Political Operatives Abandon Koch Network For Donald Trump/Do they Run Trump?
Political Operatives Abandon Koch Network For Donald Trump
Lee Fang
Aug. 27 2015, 10:44 a.m.
After investing a sizable fortune into building a political machine that now rivals the size and budgets of both major political parties, the conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch are seeing some of their top operatives take jobs with the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.
The fact that many of Trump’s political positions are at odds with those of the Koch brothers does not seem to be a factor.
Take Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager, who spent many years of his career working for the Koch political network, first as an assistant at the Koch-led group Citizens for a Sound Economy in 1997 and from 2008 through earlier this year as a senior staff member to the Koch’s primary grassroots group, Americans for Prosperity. Over the last seven years, Lewandowski helped the Koch network organize Tea Party events and get-out-the-vote efforts for Republican candidates for office.
Alan Cobb, a strategic consultant for Trump, is the former director of Kansas public affairs for Koch Industries and also worked for years as a vice president at Americans for Prosperity.
Trump is being counseled by lawyer Donald F. McGahn, the former Federal Election Commission chair who just months ago represented the Koch political network during hearings with the FEC. McGahn is listed as affiliated with Freedom Partners Action Fund, the Super PAC set up by the Koch brothers and their lobbyists.
In New Hampshire, Trump’s state director is Matt Ciepielowski, the former New Hampshire state field director for Americans for Prosperity. As National Journal reported, as Trump works to develop a team to win the New Hampshire primary, he has hired multiple AFP staff, and even leased a campaign headquarters in the same office building as AFP’s office in Manchester.
Some have suggested that Koch operatives have abandoned the industrialist billionaires simply for a higher paycheck. As the director of voter registration with Americans for Prosperity, Lewandowski made $153,162, according to the last available nonprofit disclosure made public, for 2013. Now as a Trump staffer, Lewandowski is making $20,000 a month — or $240,000 a year. As the Wall Street Journal reported, that is “about 45% more than 2012 GOP nominee and multimillionaire Mitt Romney paid his senior staffers.”
Not long ago, Trump maintained friendly relations with the Koch network. He was an invited speaker at the Americans for Prosperity “Freedom Summit” in April 2014. But as Trump began outpolling his Republican rivals, many of whom enjoy support from the Koch brothers, the real estate mogul appears to have fallen out of favor with the Koch brothers.
Trump was not invited to the private fundraiser hosted by the Koch brothers last month at a retreat in Southern California, nor was he invited to the Americans for Prosperity “Defending the Dream” summit last weekend in Ohio. As many of Trump’s rivals headed to the California fundraiser, Trump tweeted: “I wish good luck to all of the Republican candidates that traveled to California to beg for money etc. from the Koch Brothers. Puppets?”
https://theintercept.com/2015/08/27/koch-operatives-trump/
Lee Fang
Aug. 27 2015, 10:44 a.m.
After investing a sizable fortune into building a political machine that now rivals the size and budgets of both major political parties, the conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch are seeing some of their top operatives take jobs with the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.
The fact that many of Trump’s political positions are at odds with those of the Koch brothers does not seem to be a factor.
Take Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager, who spent many years of his career working for the Koch political network, first as an assistant at the Koch-led group Citizens for a Sound Economy in 1997 and from 2008 through earlier this year as a senior staff member to the Koch’s primary grassroots group, Americans for Prosperity. Over the last seven years, Lewandowski helped the Koch network organize Tea Party events and get-out-the-vote efforts for Republican candidates for office.
Alan Cobb, a strategic consultant for Trump, is the former director of Kansas public affairs for Koch Industries and also worked for years as a vice president at Americans for Prosperity.
Trump is being counseled by lawyer Donald F. McGahn, the former Federal Election Commission chair who just months ago represented the Koch political network during hearings with the FEC. McGahn is listed as affiliated with Freedom Partners Action Fund, the Super PAC set up by the Koch brothers and their lobbyists.
In New Hampshire, Trump’s state director is Matt Ciepielowski, the former New Hampshire state field director for Americans for Prosperity. As National Journal reported, as Trump works to develop a team to win the New Hampshire primary, he has hired multiple AFP staff, and even leased a campaign headquarters in the same office building as AFP’s office in Manchester.
Some have suggested that Koch operatives have abandoned the industrialist billionaires simply for a higher paycheck. As the director of voter registration with Americans for Prosperity, Lewandowski made $153,162, according to the last available nonprofit disclosure made public, for 2013. Now as a Trump staffer, Lewandowski is making $20,000 a month — or $240,000 a year. As the Wall Street Journal reported, that is “about 45% more than 2012 GOP nominee and multimillionaire Mitt Romney paid his senior staffers.”
Not long ago, Trump maintained friendly relations with the Koch network. He was an invited speaker at the Americans for Prosperity “Freedom Summit” in April 2014. But as Trump began outpolling his Republican rivals, many of whom enjoy support from the Koch brothers, the real estate mogul appears to have fallen out of favor with the Koch brothers.
Trump was not invited to the private fundraiser hosted by the Koch brothers last month at a retreat in Southern California, nor was he invited to the Americans for Prosperity “Defending the Dream” summit last weekend in Ohio. As many of Trump’s rivals headed to the California fundraiser, Trump tweeted: “I wish good luck to all of the Republican candidates that traveled to California to beg for money etc. from the Koch Brothers. Puppets?”
https://theintercept.com/2015/08/27/koch-operatives-trump/
February 28, 2016
Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions Supports Trump:And, He's Against the TPP!
This sounds like "Weird News"...but, he announced it at his Alabama Rally and Jeff Sessions gave a rousing speech against the TPP.
This should set some Repub's (and sadly some Dems who support TPP) Hair on Fire!
Mitch McConnell is going to have a rough time with that!
February 28, 2016
Hillary Clinton,‘Smart Power’and a Dictator’s Fall--NYT Investigative Report: Parts 1 & 2
The Libya Gamble: An examination of the American intervention in Libya and Hillary Clinton’s role in it.
Hillary Clinton,‘Smart Power’and a Dictator’s Fall
By JO BECKER and SCOTT SHANE
FEB. 27, 2016
The president was wary. The secretary of state was persuasive. But the ouster of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi left Libya a failed state and a terrorist haven.
Part 1
Hillary Clinton, ‘Smart Power’ and a Dictator’s Fall
Part 2
A New Libya, With ‘Very Little Time Left’
(This is a very long investigative read with video, photos--but, well worth it)
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/us/politics/hillary-clinton-libya.html?_r=0
Hillary Clinton,‘Smart Power’and a Dictator’s Fall
By JO BECKER and SCOTT SHANE
FEB. 27, 2016
The president was wary. The secretary of state was persuasive. But the ouster of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi left Libya a failed state and a terrorist haven.
Part 1
Hillary Clinton, ‘Smart Power’ and a Dictator’s Fall
Part 2
A New Libya, With ‘Very Little Time Left’
(This is a very long investigative read with video, photos--but, well worth it)
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/us/politics/hillary-clinton-libya.html?_r=0
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