June 4, 2019

Nigel Farage has arrived at the US ambassador's residence

https://twitter.com/ReutersLobby/status/1135929453668917248

BREXIT PARTY LEADER FARAGE ARRIVES AT U.S. AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE IN LONDON - REUTERS PHOTOGRAPHER






I guess so they can talk about Brexit and dismantling the NHS. Is he still living in France?

June 4, 2019

Ex-Business Partner Alleges Trump Organization Evaded Taxes in Panama By Matt Stieb

Panama is a small, Central American isthmus where two million tourists visit annually; where an outsized number of merchant ships call home to avoid more stringent marine and labor regulations; where the global elite go to burrow away their money; and where the United States might invade if the president doesn’t like the military dictatorship in power. And according to a new legal filing in Manhattan federal court, Panama is another country where President Trump has tax problems In the filing, a former business partner, Orestes Fintiklis, alleges that the Trump Organization evaded taxes on the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Panama City.

The filing alleges that the Trump Organization “used its control over the hotel bank accounts to make payments to itself and affiliates without withholding the 12.5 percent tax on its management fees, thus intentionally evading taxes.” According to ProPublica:

The Trump entities were allegedly supposed to withhold those [management] fees in advance and pay them to the government regardless of whether the property was profitable or not. Instead, the Trump companies simply kept the money, the suit claims, “thus intentionally evading taxes.” That and other financial irregularities exposed Fintiklis and the companies he represents “to millions of dollars in liability,” according to the suit, which also claims Trump companies sought to cover up their actions. The filing does not say whether a tax penalty has been levied by Panamanian authorities.

The president’s financial disclosure statements show that the Trump Organization received hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in management fees related to the property. In addition to the allegation, Fintiklis is seeking around $35 million in damages. Though the Trump Organization called Fintiklis’s claims “completely false,” the legal filings do bring unwanted attention to the president’s taxes, as congressional and state lawmakers pursue multiple avenues to obtain Trump’s IRS filings from the past six years.

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/06/ex-business-partner-alleges-trumps-evaded-taxes-in-panama.html?utm_source=tw&utm_campaign=di&utm_medium=s1

June 4, 2019

Children of the Corn. The whole family looked dreadful for the banquet.

:large

June 3, 2019

The Friends of Jeffrey Epstein reunion at Westminster

Trump and Prince Andrew at Westminster

June 3, 2019

Another billboard in London

put up by Led By Donkeys


https://twitter.com/ByDonkeys/status/1135650744152014850


Hey @realDonaldTrump, we've put up billboards across London to let you know what people in your own party REALLY think of you. People like @MarcoRubio #TrumpUKvisit

:large



https://twitter.com/ByDonkeys/status/1132226451653242881



This is a great idea for the RNC in Charlotte. Cover the city with quotes by Republicans on Trump.

June 3, 2019

Spot the difference

https://twitter.com/Weinsteinlaw/status/1135639148705042432

June 3, 2019

From the State Banquet attendee list. US/UK taxpayers treating Trump's friends and relatives

https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1135631677517180928



From the state banquet attendee list, via pool - the president's four adult children, Mulvaney, Mnuchin, his wife Louise Linton, Chris Ruddy



Isn't Chris Ruddy the Newsmax guy? Trump's treating all his friends, relatives and administration to a vacation on the public dime.

June 1, 2019

Britain is in crisis. So why is President Trump coming to visit?

By Anne Applebaum


Clearly, he’s not coming to town to conduct any important business, to do any deals or negotiate any treaties: There isn’t anybody to negotiate with. He might issue some threats — he reportedly plans to say he will cut off intelligence cooperation with Britain if it continues to do business with the Chinese company Huawei — but the British cabinet isn’t in a position to coordinate a response, so it hardly matters. Nor will his presence enhance the fabled, albeit somewhat shopworn, Anglo-American relationship. His last visit to Britain was a PR catastrophe. He insulted the prime minister, he embarrassed Queen Elizabeth II, and he even managed to annoy the Sun newspaper, a Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid that attacked him as “Fake Schmooze.” At the time of his last visit, 77 percent of Britons disapproved of the U.S. president, and there is no reason to think those numbers have improved.

From London’s point of view, the visit makes no sense, either. British attempts to humor Trump, to engage him, have all failed. The soon-to-be-ex-prime minister Theresa May’s efforts to forge a relationship with Trump backfired, adding to her widespread unpopularity. Aware of his toxicity, the leaders of the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties have said they will not attend a state banquet in his honor. The duchess of Sussex — the British royal family member formerly known as the American actress Meghan Markle — has also indicated that she will not meet the president of the United States.


But other members of the royal family have, it seems, no choice. A state visit, as opposed to a working visit, implies extensive time spent with the queen, who is head of state, up to and including that Buckingham Palace banquet. And this, it seems, is the point. Trump will not accomplish anything, either for the United States or for Britain. But he will achieve something that is, for him, actually more important. He will be photographed with some uniquely recognizable, world-class celebrities: the queen, Prince Charles, Prince William, Prince Harry. They will all be there, doing their duty, because they have to. And Trump’s compulsive, narcissistic need to be the center of attention will be serviced.

Everywhere he goes, Trump is bored by working meetings and rude to those who attend them. He can’t make deals or negotiate because he doesn’t know enough about the issues. But where there is empty pomp and circumstance — a French Bastille Day parade, or the Queens’ Guard standing at attention outside Windsor Castle — he is impressed and pleased. The logistics of this visit, like any presidential visit, are immense. The British state will spend 18 million pounds (about $22 million) on his security; the U.S. taxpayer will spend many multiples of that sum; hundreds of hours will have been wasted on planning. And all so that one man’s fragile ego can be boosted for another day.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/britain-is-in-crisis-so-why-is-president-trump-coming-to-visit/2019/05/31/e4eab7da-83ca-11e9-933d-7501070ee669_story.html?utm_term=.4d72b20122c5



Apparently ,he's bringing all five of his grifter children at taxpayer expense. Even Tiffany, who he barely acknowledges.

May 29, 2019

Israel will hold unprecedented second election after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fails to form

BREAKING: Israel’s parliament voted to dissolve itself early Thursday after Netanyahu failed to form a government ahead of a midnight deadline, despite his Likud party winning the largest number of seats in April 9 elections. The move prevents Israel’s president from being able to call on an alternative candidate to attempt to form a government.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/prospect-of-new-israeli-vote-looms-as-netanyahu-struggles-with-coalition/2019/05/29/9155b71a-8171-11e9-b585-e36b16a531aa_story.html?utm_term=.31f04ea24735

May 29, 2019

Bannon described Trump Organization as 'criminal enterprise', Michael Wolff book claims

The former White House adviser Steve Bannon has described the Trump Organization as a criminal entity and predicted that investigations into the president’s finances will lead to his political downfall, when he is revealed to be “not the billionaire he said he was, just another scumbag”.



The startling remarks are contained in Siege: Trump Under Fire, the author Michael Wolff’s forthcoming account of the second year of the Trump administration. The book, published on 4 June, is a sequel to Fire and Fury: Trump in the White House, which was a bestseller in 2018. The Guardian obtained a copy.

In a key passage, Bannon is reported as saying he believes investigations of Donald Trump’s financial history will provide proof of the underlying criminality of his eponymous company.Assessing the president’s exposure to various investigations, many seeded by the special counsel Robert Mueller during his investigation of Russian election interference, Wolff writes: “Trump was vulnerable because for 40 years he had run what increasingly seemed to resemble a semi-criminal enterprise.”He then quotes Bannon as saying: “I think we can drop the ‘semi’ part.”

In Siege, Wolff quotes Bannon saying investigations into Trump’s finances will cut adrift even his most ardent supporters: “This is where it isn’t a witch hunt – even for the hard core, this is where he turns into just a crooked business guy, and one worth $50m instead of $10bn.

“Not the billionaire he said he was, just another scumbag.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/28/bannon-trump-organization-criminal-enterprise-comments-michael-wolff-book


Trump's hardcore supporters will still be singing his praises . They're completely deluded.