July 25, 2017

We can't sustain this level of madness from Trump for the next 4 years. Dare I say it, but.....

...we can't even sustain it for the next 2 years.

I know everyone is saying we need to prepare for the 2018 midterms. And we absolutely need to prepare for the 2018 midterms. They are crucial. They are critical.

But even so, those are still over 15 months away at this point. Trump has been in office for just a little over 6 months.

And in those 6 months, Trump has proven himself to be far and away the most mentally unstable, mentally unhinged and entirely incompetent individual to ever hold the office of the US Presidency. No one, not even Nixon at his most paranoid, is even close to Trump's level.

It is a truly unprecedented situation.

This is at a point where it should transcend politics and partisanship at this point. As tough as it is, just for a short moment put aside things like the healthcare debate--Republicans will continue to threaten the ACA so long as they have a majority in Congress and an ally in the White House.

This goes beyond even that. This goes to bare bones matters of basic qualifications for office. It goes to matters of mental fitness for duty. We shouldn't be having that conversation about any President--Democrat, Republican, whatever. George W. Bush was lazy, unmotivated and not particularly bright, but it was never at this extreme crisis level. Not even then.

Yesterday truly brought it all home. The President of the United States goes to what should have been--and has always been--a light hearted, ceremonial photo-op: a Boy Scout jamboree. Something where you'd expect him to say a few clichéd words about the youth being the future of the country, reach for your dreams, you can do anything, yada yada yada. Standard fluff. Instead, this Madman who calls himself our President launches into a vitriolic attack yet again against political opponents and the media, goes off on wildly inappropriate tangents insinuating sexcapades on yachts, going on about his political victory. In front of Boy Scouts. Boy Scouts.

He's a lunatic. The President of the United States is a lunatic. And that is one hell of a problem that we cannot ignore.

And while we look to November 2018 as being the light at the end of the tunnel, there's just no telling what could happen that could close that tunnel shut. We have that bullshit "voter fraud" commission entirely in the hands of Trump. And if there is any sort of major crisis or terrorist attack that arises in the interim, God help us.

I'll never forget the feeling waking up on the morning of November 9, 2016 and a sense of extreme anxiety washing over me--there was a sense that this country could be headed towards a very dark place if left unchecked. It was a feeling of vulnerability that I had never, ever felt before as an American citizen. It left me--for the first time in my life--quite literally shaking.

As we stand now, we are still a Democracy, but we are a Democracy under extreme stress. I don't know what the breaking point is. I hope we will never see that breaking point, but that's going to require people to stand up and do the right thing. People who we normally wouldn't agree with. People who we probably won't agree with even after this trial of conscience is over.

In short, what needs to happen might seem like a miracle, but then a miracle is what we'll need. There needs to be just enough individuals who will place loyalty to country over party politics, even if just for this one limited and extreme and unprecedented circumstance.

This horror show needs to end, and it needs to end as soon as possible.

July 13, 2017

Okay, this is really weird. Nov. 2016 Facebook posts from Putin parliamentary ally Konstantin Rykov.

Here's his wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Rykov

Not only is he a Russian politician and ally to Putin, but he also deals heavily in internet product. Hmm.

And here's his posts, with an admittedly awful Google Translate version, but you can get the gist:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Part One: https://www.facebook.com/konstantin.rykov/posts/10210621124674610
Part Two: https://www.facebook.com/konstantin.rykov/posts/10210643558675446

It's time for great stories. I'm going to tell you about that, as Donald and I have decided to liberate America and make it great again. It took US 4 YEARS AND 2 more days.

It began at night from 6 TO 7 November 2012

It was the night of the presidential election. Sparring between Obama and Republican Romney. I was madly tweeting from Twitter, and I was entertaining myself with a live video and commented on the results.

It's no secret that I've always been sympathizer the Republicans (except Mccain) and drowning against the Democratic State Department. Professor Майкл Makfol this story is well remembered and to his role in it we'll be back.

Now! For all normal people then it was obvious that if Barack Obama had been re-elected for a second term, it would be a disaster for the world.

At that time, we were perfectly aware that the arab spring would not end and Ukraine, sanctions, Syria and so on. Obama's victory will be destructive to Russia, but also to the world.

Unfortunately, Romney was unable to take the victory of the dastardly liberals back then, and at 8:20 this morning acknowledged defeat. He's just a politician. Nothing personal.

To say that I was really worried.. that means nothing. I was furious. He wrote angry tweets and sent curses.

The only person on the entire network who fought to the end didn't want to accept and accept the results, was Donald Fredovich.

He lifted his plane to the sky and flew between New York and DC, calling the world through his twitter to start a march on Washington!

Without a second, I wrote to him a replay that sounded in Russian like, " I'm ready. What do you have to do?"

But.. There was no response from trump.

I admit to being honest, I thought Donald was off topic. I was even more upset and decided to go to bed.

I couldn't sleep. Lying. I looked at the ceiling and I had the terrifying images of the future. Wars. Global terrorism. Coups D ' état.

All of a sudden! There was a thin alert in DM.

I opened my Ipad and I didn't believe my eyes.

It was a message from Donald Trump. A Picture. In the picture, he was sitting in his jet chair, smiling and showing me the thumb of his right hand.

To be continued...

______________


Part two.

What was our idea with Donald Trump?

In four years and two days.. It was necessary to get into the brain and capture all possible means of mass perception of reality. To Win Donald in the election of the president of the United States. After that, a political alliance between the United States, France, Russia (and other states) and a new world order will be established.

Four years and two days is a very big time and a very small one. Our idea was crazy, but feasible.

In order for this to be clear, all possible forms of modern man must have been ".

Donald has decided to invite the special science department at Cambridge University.

British scientists from Cambridge Analytica offered to make out of 5 thousand existing human psikhotipov - a "perfect image" of a possible supporter of trump. Then.. put this image back on all psikhotipy and thus find the universal key to each and every one.

The development ended up cost $ 5 million. But! He got his hands on a secret super weapon.

Who's doing a p.r. ad.. will know what that means.

Remember how much money Clinton and "their supporters" spent on a campaign around the world? 5 times more than trump.

But who put 5 times Hillary in the network and became president? Donald Trump too.

It was further to upload these data into information flows and social networks. And we started looking for someone who could do better than others.

At the very beginning of Braves and romantic there was not much. Couple hacker factions, civil journalists from wikileaks and political strategist Михаил Kovalev.

The next step was to develop a system for the transfer of tasks and information so that no gebukha and nsa could burn it.

How can even people do not speak the language of each other, could exchange information quickly, understand each other with wise, feel trends and influence their development?

This system has been programmed for about a year. Another year went for tests and refinement. In the end. In a year with little, we set up "Mediafilʹtr" to everyone who was able to pull up our plot and on August 18, 2015 opened the trump-2016. Portal.

August 19 In 9:00 I received a message from Vladimir Volfovich.

To be continued...

_____________________________________________________________

Unfortunately I can't find Part 3.

July 12, 2017

Okay, so I finally was able to get a hold of the yuge!!!! Ukraine-DNC story that was the basis...

....for Sean Hannity's whataboutism last night.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/07/11/exploring-sean-hannitys-defense-of-donald-trump-jr-clinton-and-ukraine-did-it-too/?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.fd42c3314967#comments

In short: A Ukrainian-American political consultant, who was contracted by the DNC for purposes of ethnic outreach, decided to do a little digging as to Paul Manafort's background in Ukrainian politics (remember that Manafort advised the former strongman Viktor Yanukovych prior to Yanukovych fleeing the country after having bloodily cracked down on mass protests against Yanukovych's pro-Russian policies and massive corruption.) The consultant, Alexandra Chalupa (yes, that's really her last name), contacted several Ukrainian government officials who voluntarily provided her with some notable information on Manafort. Armed with this information, Chalupa notified the DNC about her findings. So far, I've seen no indication that Chalupa told Ukrainian officials she was any sort of representative of either the DNC or the Hillary Clinton campaign.

That was it. The long and the short of it. An obscure figure (an American citizen, no less) doing some investigative work contacted the Ukrainian government about Paul Manafort, and then let the DNC know about what she found.

And somehow that is absolutely equivalent to a Russian oligarch--who was both a close political ally to Vladimir Putin as well as an acquaintance and business partner to Donald Trump, who actually acted as a messenger for Putin when Trump held his Miss Universe contest in Russia in 2013--sending a lawyer with Kremlin connections to meet with Trump's son, son-in-law and campaign manager after promising allegedly damaging information about Hillary Clinton, to which Trump's son exclaimed over email, "I love it!".

And mind you, as big as the news was yesterday (thanks in good part to Trump Jr.'s face-palming idiocy), that episode is just a small piece of the Trump-Russian puzzle. Because you also have Jared Kushner meeting with the Russian ambassador on multiple occasions (once asking to set up a secure line of communication before Trump had even took office), Jeff Sessions meeting with the Russian ambassador on multiple occasions, both of them failing to disclose said meetings, Michael Flynn being wined and dined by Putin, Michael Flynn lobbying in Turkey for projects that would expressly benefit Russia, Flynn speaking to the Russian ambassador about sanctions prior to Trump's inauguration, Rex Tillerson having been wined and dined and awarded medals by Putin for securing an Russian-Exxon deal, Trump shooting off his mouth to Russian ambassadors about firing Comey and disclosing intel to them at the White House in a meeting closed to US press but open to Russian press, the suspicious change in the GOP platform about Ukraine policy against Russian aggression, absolutely everything that we read in the Steele Dossier, and so much more in terms of people and things that I could go on and on.

But because someone who consulted the DNC spoke to some Ukrainian government officials about Paul Manafort....yeah that's the big story.

And let me say this as a Ukrainian-American myself. I'm very proud of my Ukrainian heritage and culture. It's a very rich culture that has survived for centuries despite adversity after adversity. But if we are to believe that the Ukrainian government of today is some massive tour de force capable of influencing and interfering with the activities of superpowers....that's one of the most laughable things I've ever heard. The sad fact of the matter is, the Ukrainian government of today is woefully underequipped to handle the matters in its own country let alone the US or anywhere else. Much of that weakness is in fact in good part due to constant meddling and interference from none other than Russia. We saw that with Yanukovych, we see that with the Russian supported fighting in the eastern part of the country, and we saw that in Crimea, where Russia was able to seize a vast amount of Ukrainian territory without the Ukrainian military being able to fire a single shot in its defense. Ukraine is simply not in a position right now to be a major player in world affairs.

And Ukraine sure as fuck never hacked any of our computers, either.

So to claim that it is Ukraine who interfered in the US election to the apparent "benefit" of Hillary Clinton--who sadly is not the President right as much as she ought to be--is absolute absurdity. It's lunacy. And frankly I think Russia might be pushing this argument to numbskulls like Sean Hannity (who will blindly believe a convicted fugitive fraudster named Kim Dotcom as he exploits the tragic murder of a DNC staffer against the victim's family's own wishes) as just one more added Fuck You to Ukraine.

This is pathetic. Truly pathetic.

June 23, 2017

***EXCLUSIVE: White House releases written transcript of Trump-Comey conversation***

Statement from the White House is as follows:
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
**On June 22, 2017, President Trump admitted that as it pertains to his statement on Twitter on May 12, 2017--specifically implying that there might have been recordings of conversations he had with former FBI Director James Comey--he did not have possession of any actual taped conversations. However, in the interests of full disclosure, the White House wishes to qualify his statement in that there were at one point tapes of at least one conversation that the President had with Director Comey. Unfortunately, due to the tape being left in the President's pants during a recent laundry cycle, the physical tape was destroyed during a warm wash delicate rinsing. Fortunately, the contents of the tape had been previously transcribed prior to the tape's inadvertent destruction. The following is a read out of a conversation the President had with Director Comey on the evening of January 27, 2017: **

DONALD J. TRUMP, 45th PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (DJT): (On phone) Well, it sure is a pleasure to speak with both you gentlemen, the presidents of the Toyota Motor Corporation and the Honda Motor Company.....What's that? You say you want to close all your factories overseas and immediately move them to the United States? All because you want the pleasure of doing business with me? Why, that's terrific! I'll draw up the paperwork immediately...(Knocking on door)....Hold on, I have to go, someone's at my door.

(Director Comey enters the Oval Office)

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR (JC): Hello, Mr. Donald, it's me, Jimmy Comey! I'm a super tall goofball! A-duh!

DJT: Director Comey, you cannot keep on pestering me like this, day in and day out! I have too much important business that must be tended to instead of dealing with your insipid shenanigans!

JC: Rub-a-dub-dub, what's up for your grub? You got pop-tarts? I love pop-tarts! Oh! Oh! Confetti Cupcake, please! That's my favorite!

DJT: Well, I suppose I could spare a few minutes. But please, let's keep it brief. I've got a lot of things to do. Why, I'm afraid I'll hardly get any sleep tonight.

(Phone rings, the President answers)

DJT: Hello, who is this?....CNN?.....What?....No, you cannot run a story claiming my father was Batboy! I simply won't stand for it! The line must be drawn HERE! This far, and no further!*

(The President slams down the phone)

JC: Mr. Donald, who's the picture of the purty lady over there? She's purty!

DJT: Who, her? That's supermodel Kate Upton. She sent that picture to me, claiming she's absolutely taken by my chiseled, muscular good looks, my charming personality and my super large hands. Why, I'm quite flattered. Really, I am. However, I am but a married man, and I wouldn't dream of disrespecting my beloved wife Melania like that. In no way would I ever take advantage of a tender young woman besmitten by me like that.

JC: I should know that. I'm the dictator of the BFI. That means Butt Fart Inspector! Hyuck! Hyuck! Hyuck!

DJT: Director Comey, please! If you have something important to talk about, let me know now. Otherwise, let me be! (Phone rings) Hold on....

(The President answers)

DJT: Hello?....Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto?....What's that you say? You want to pay for a border wall?....And to personally fund the healthcare for over 300 million Americans? That's excellent, mi amigo. Please, this Cinco De Mayo, come over to the White House. I will serve you the best Taco Bowl you've ever tasted. You won't regret it!

(The President hangs up the phone)

DJT: I'm sorry, what where you going to say?

JC: A-duh! My wife left me for our plumber and my kids refuse to acknowledge who I am! I'm a sad, pathetic failure, Mr. Donald!

DJT: Well, that's quite unfortunate but sadly not of my concern. Might I suggest family counseling? Anyways, there actually is one thing I did want to speak with you about.

JC: What's that, Mr. Donald?

DJT: It's about Russia.

JC: Russia? Where's that? Oh, wait, that's in Iowa, right? Oh goodie, I love corn!

DJT: That's...never mind. I know from our prior conversations you had mentioned there was a counter-intelligence investigation regarding my National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn. There apparently are concerns that he may have had some improper dealings with various Russian officials. That's quite a serious matter and one that deserves the utmost attention of the intelligence and law enforcement communities. However, the situation has continued to eat at me to no end! I fear the perception might be that I myself had something to do with such a sordid affair! That the people of this country could be swayed by random, wild-eyed notions that I owe large sums of money to shady Russian figures or that I paid Russian prostitutes to pee on a bed that President Obama once slept on! Stories that could never, ever possibly be true because there's absolutely no evidence that will ever show them to be true, ever!

JC: You said pee! Haw-haw!

DJT: Anyways, you must look me in the eye. Do it! Look me straight in the eye as I ask you this very important query: Am I......(the President sniffles).....Am I under investigation? Lay it to me straight, Director Comey!

JC: Uh, what's an investigation? Wait, is that like a...vest?

DJT: I shall take your response as a no! Vindication!

JC: I have a vest. It's cool looking. It's green, with patches. I got it from the Boy Scouts. They still let me go to meetings, even though I'm 56 years old now. Camping is fun.

DJT: And another thing. This investigation of yours, you must follow it through all on your own. You must bring it to a conclusion whenever you yourself feel you have reached all the facts. You should never feel forced by anyone to alter the course of your investigation because of political pressure. Not even from me, the President of the United States of America! For I myself am not above the law! I am but a humble servant of the American people!

(At this point, a bald eagle swoops in through an open window and perches itself on the President's left shoulder, while two American flags flap in the breeze behind him and "The Star Spangled Banner" begins to play over the intercom.)

JC: You sure do love America, Mr. Donald. I myself like to watch Spongebob in my jammies while I eat cereal with cheap bourbon instead of milk.

DJT: I must show you out now, Director Comey. I'm afraid I have some very important business to deal with soon. I'm expecting a phone call. It's from the President of ISIS. He says he wants to immediately renounce all violence and lay down all arms, and instead focus on partnering with me to build a chain of luxury hotels and golf resorts worldwide. Oh, it will truly be a great day for the entire world!

JC: That's okay, Mr. Donald. I have to go meet Hillary Clinton now. She says she wants to go around and murder rogue DNC staffers and then sacrifice their bodies up to her dark lord Satan. We do that every Friday night. Afterwards, she takes me to Jamba Juice.

DJT: Fare thee well, Director Comey! Safe travels, and never forget the duty that both you and I have pledged to this great country.

JC: Ha-ha, you said doodie, Mr. Donald! Tootles!

**END OF RECORDING**

*These were the President's very exact words, and the White House vehemently rejects any sort of contention from Patrick Stewart and/or Captain Jean Luc Picard that such a statement actually came from the 1996 movie Star Trek: First Contact, co-starring Mr. James Cromwell and Ms. Alfre Woodard.

June 14, 2017

As always in the immediate hours after one of these events, this is a vital read:

June 13, 2017

Tom Cotton is grandstanding and being just a douchebag in general right now. nt

June 9, 2017

Okay, Trump. You're really going to go with the "vindication" thing? Really? Honestly?

The former director of the FBI called you a "liar" under oath. He didn't say you "misspoke". He didn't say you "misrepresented". He didn't say you "weren't truthful." He didn't say you "deceived."

He actually said that you "lied." His words. Not mine.

Ouch.

He also said you "directed" him to drop the investigation, and I know you're going to try to spin by claiming that he didn't say you "ordered" him to drop the investigation, but stop bullshitting us around as if "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go"--right after you had cleared the room--wasn't anything but an instruction.

He also said that you fired him because he wouldn't drop the investigation, not for any internal problems in the FBI or for the bullshit excuse you forced your Assistant AG claim was the supposed reason. But hey, we already know that. Just ask Lester Holt. Or the Russian ambassadors.

And yet you claim he vindicated you, totally and completely. You also accuse him of being a "leaker". You like the word "leak" a lot, but honestly whenever you say it, it just makes us think of other things--you know, "that thing"--and we just can't help but giggle. So keep at it, why don't you?

So you feel "totally and completely vindicated" over someone you also claimed lied and was a "leaker".

You're even a bigger moron than I had previously thought.

But in the words of a great man who actually deserved the title of office of President, a man you will never, ever, ever equal in greatness or legacy or simple basic common sense humanity:

Please, proceed.

June 7, 2017

Richard Nixon spoke a brief, yet absolute and undeniable truth to the country.

Unfortunately, this tidbit frequently gets overlooked by what he said in his very next breath, which was probably the defining quote of his legacy: "Well, I am not a crook."

The words "I am not a crook" has been repeated, analyzed, dramatized, parodied, etc. ad nauseum. Notably, when he said them at the 1973 Annual Convention of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association in Orlando, he was not directly addressing the Watergate scandal (although he did address that scandal at other points during his question and answer session.) He was actually addressing a question concerning whether or not he improperly profited off of some real estate dealings. But ultimately, the quote has been attributed to his role in Watergate and I'm certain Watergate was on his mind when he said it.

But too often we forget what Nixon said immediately preceding "I am not a crook." And it epitomized Nixon's legacy, which was that throughout the corruption and paranoia and personality flaws were mixed in surprising--if fleeting--moments of introspection, self-reflection and honest wisdom. But what else could you expect from someone who brought us the EPA and normalized relations with China and yet also brought us Watergate and an escalation of the Vietnam War?

But Richard Nixon, in those 13 words, spoke something that should be recognized as universally true. The American people are owed a duty to see for themselves whether or not the person leading them is honest or corrupt.

And it's something we need to keep in mind today in 2017 as we analyze and consider the man who legally (if not morally) holds the title as the 45th President of the United States. A man whose sins might very well eclipse those of Nixon and Watergate, and yet someone who absolutely does not possess Nixon's ability of occasional honest introspection, nor any of his intelligence.

The bottom line--as I sit here at this moment watching several officials duck and dance around questions concerning their dealings with Donald Trump without providing any real straight answers--is this:

The American people have got to know whether or not Donald J. Trump is a crook.

May 30, 2017

Over a year ago, I reported on a Trump social media booster who went by the name "Gary Forbes".

You can read it here:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10027708476

This was back during the Republican primaries before Trump had clinched the nomination, let alone the Presidency.

Basically, "Gary Forbes" had a heavy presence on Twitter and other forms of social media. He produced various slides promoting Donald Trump that were easy to share with other people. The slides typically contained information that was either highly dubious or out-and-out false. For example, there was the claim that Donald Trump had an IQ in the 99.9904590555 percentile (he doesn't). There was the claim that aviation legend Chuck Yeager had endorsed Trump (he didn't). And then there were the various conspiracy allegations regarding George Soros and everything else.

Now, it only took about a half hour's worth of amateur online investigating using publicly available information to determine that the person claiming to be "Gary Forbes" was actually someone named Gary Pasquariello, who lived in New York state. There was no evidence that his purported company "The Forbes Group" (not to be confused with Forbes magazine or anyone within the Forbes family) actually existed as a legal entity, nor that any of the 5 or 6 people he claimed to be staff of the Forbes Group were actual live human beings.

What we did know is that long before the 2016 election, Gary Pasquariello had created the "Gary Forbes" persona to peddle various services and products. First, he used it to co-author a little known/little sold business self-help book called "Take This Job and Love It." When that didn't pan out, he advertised himself as an inspirational speaker. And when that didn't work, he attempted selling new age piano compositions he claimed he wrote and that he was available to perform.

Forbes' Amazon profile is still available here:

https://www.amazon.com/Gary-Forbes/e/B0041KTIUI

And his music can still be found on his Youtube page here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpyvaE9zG4uk8IVn5MfQM8Q

Back in Spring 2016, the fact that some failed author and musician going by the alias "Gary Forbes" was now peddling blatantly false propaganda for Donald Trump was enough of a WTF headscratcher. Subsequently, Forbes/Pasquariello got some attention when he apparently advocated threatening Republican convention delegates who might decline to nominate Trump:

https://wonkette.com/600818/trump-guy-has-this-one-weird-trick-to-ratfck-all-the-republican-delegates

On another front, Twitter eventually suspended the original Gary Forbes account--@gqforbes--for reasons unknown in the Summer of 2016. An alternate account--@gqforbes4--has popped up to replace it and continues to spread Trump propaganda to this day, albeit without nearly as many followers.

But at its heyday, Forbes was being rapidly retweeted over and over, including by the likes of people like Ann Coulter. And not to mention a couple of times by this guy:

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/628019666506645505

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/625123443118358528

Now, there are a couple of ways to view the curious case of Gary Pasquariello/Gary Forbes and his peak of glory during the Republican primaries.

The first is that Gary Pasquariello/Gary Forbes just so happened to be a really, really, really, really enthusiastic fan of Donald Trump, and that he spent his own time and capital creating various websites and slides in support of Trump (without any respect to the actual truth, mind you), and that over the Twittersphere people like Ann Coulter and Donald Trump himself picked up on this enthusiasm and threw him some love out of a mere sense of appreciation.

The second possibility, however, is that Gary Pasquariello/Gary Forbes was being paid to churn out enormous amounts of Donald Trump propaganda by someone else. The question in that situation is....who?

Was it the Trump campaign itself?

A Trump surrogate?

Someone with money in the US?

Someone with money outside the US, like say, a large certain Eurasian country ruled over by a shirtless autocrat?

So much attention has been paid to the efforts for Donald Trump to beat Hillary Clinton in the general election, and potential collusion by the Trump campaign with Russia to make that happen.

But far less attention has been paid to how Trump got to the nomination in the first place, because without that, we wouldn't have gotten to the efforts to derail Hillary at the end. And there was a full court social media press by shady sources like "Gary Forbes"--as well as dozens of others--to sway opinion in favor of Trump and against other potential GOP nominees.

What's fascinating about this is that there's a real person behind this effort--Gary Pasquariello aka "Gary Forbes". As far as I know, there's been no efforts by either the media or any type of investigating agencies to interview or speak to Mr. Pasquariello. But I wonder if he might offer some sort of insight into the online campaign to prop up Donald Trump from the moment he descended the escalator and announced his candidacy for Presidency.

And if so, how and why would someone with such an innocuous--and almost comical--background be recruited into being an influential Donald Trump social media booster?

It might just be the tip of the iceberg, but it could possibly reveal a whole lot more.

Any thoughts?

May 24, 2017

Kim Dotcom: The absolutely bizarre man Sean Hannity claims is his Seth Rich bombshell evidence.

This is Kim Dotcom's former house:



This is Kim Dotcom's former wife:




And *this* (drumroll, please)....is Kim Dotcom:



No. Really. That's Kim Dotcom.

Actually, it's not. It's actually Kim Schmitz, who was born in Germany in 1974. So just in case you were wondering, "Dotcom" was not actually his birth name.

Until yesterday and Sean Hannity going full Alex Jones on the Seth Rich story, I had never heard of Kim Dotcom. I still wish that I hadn't. But I'm a little surprised that I hadn't, because old Kimmy appears to have made quite a name for himself over the years.

Kim fashions himself something of a computer hacking whiz, dating all the way back to the wee days of the internet in the 1990s, hacking into entities like NASA, the Pentagon, and PBX. He was arrested and jailed in Germany for trafficking in stolen credit cards.

He then made himself a fortune on a not-yet bankrupt dotcom company right before it went bust, in what amounted to insider trading. Hence, that's how he gave himself his new last name.

He fled to Thailand, faked his death, but was arrested again by German authorities on embezzlement charges, to which he pleaded guilty and received a two year suspended sentence.

He then left for Hong Kong where he set up a bunch of shell companies claiming they were an AI driven hedge fund. After the Hong Kong authorities got hip to him, he then left for New Zealand.

Getting New Zealand to waive its "good character" residency requirements, he settled into his new country and started throwing his money around at politicians and various other entities, as well as amassing the aforementioned mansion, and a fleet of exotic sports cars and helicopters.

He also set up an illegal file sharing company called Megaupload in 2003. This of course raised the ire of the FBI for copyright infringement of various US films and music. In 2012, he was indicted by the United States, and a raid was conducted on his mansion and his assets were frozen. However, he fought off extradition to the US in the New Zealand courts claiming the FBI overstepped its authority in the raid, and he remains in New Zealand to date despite the outstanding charges. Recently, New Zealand courts have ruled he is eligible for extradition but the process has been held up in appeals.

Meanwhile, his extracurricular activities include at one point being the number one rated Call of Duty video game player in the world. And releasing his own EDM DJ music album. And if you thought EDM DJs were obnoxious and shallow and vapid, well.....Kim pretty much confirms that fact. Here's one of his videos, and as you can see, he's a humble, low key kind of guy:

It sort of makes you yearn for the simple, older days of Chuggo.

He also attempted to start his own political party in New Zealand called "the Internet Party". It participated in New Zealand's elections and won zero seats in parliament, on account that unlike in the United States, shady funny looking rich guys with trophy wives and a background wrought with financial fraud are written off as jokes and not to be taken seriously.

Anywho, throughout all of this, somehow Kim became the go-to guy of Sean Hannity regarding Seth Rich. How did this happen, and what rock solid evidence formed the basis for the claims that a low level DNC staffer was snuffed out by Hillary Clinton and the corrupt DNC?

Well, in May of 2017, Kim ran to old man Hannity and told him he had unequivocal proof that Seth Rich was murdered for the sins of Hillary and the Democratic Party. And this proof was......(another drum roll, please)....that in 2014, someone named "Panda" contacted him and asked him about starting his own "Internet Party" for the US. And Panda was an expert in voter analytic tools. And of course "Panda" was undoubtedly Seth Rich because apparently one time Seth Rich dressed up as a panda at an office costume party. And somehow, something Wikileaks and Julian Assange and boom, Hillary Clinton goes all Frank Underwood on Seth Rich.

I'm not making any of that up. I promise you. I'm not.

And Kim said he'd be happy to share this email correspondence with newly appointed Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, so long as he's guaranteed "safe passage" both to and from the US without threat of arrest on his pending criminal charges. I've been assured Mueller's office is taking this proposition with all the seriousness it deserves.

That anyone could possibly think a guy with the name of Kim Dotcom, let alone his actual reputation and persona, could be in any way, shape or form a reliable source of information is laughable beyond belief. But this is Sean Hannity, so it makes absolute sense that he'd be the only person dumb enough to take this bait.

And you can see the appeal of Kim Dotcom to the folks on the alt-right. Frankly, he's far more of a believable patron saint and champion for their cause than Milo Yiannoppolis. He's essentially their wish fulfillment embodied in lumpy, sweaty flesh: he's the epitome of everything you'd expect of a computer hacking nerd, but instead of the proverbial basement dwelling, he's living in a mansion with sick cars and a supermodel (ex)wife who's sticking it to the establishment with his wizardry, all while dropping sick beats and kicking ass at Call of Duty. He's basically the Jordan "Wolf of Wall Street" Belfort for the alt-right neckbeard crowd.

I mean, what else would explain the love from the alt-right's favorite not-a-parody-although-he-should-be cartoonist, Ben Garrison:



So that's the guy. That's the guy who we can only hope will bring down the righteous hammer of karma upon Sean Hannity. Because only someone as utterly stupid and completely incapable of complex thought would choose to take someone named "Kim Dotcom" at his word.

Oh, and also....this is Kim Dotcom's current girlfriend:



Let me introduce you to the Good Life.