Wwcd
Wwcd's Journal..once called the Count of Monte Cristo, Today, Paul Manafort is more like The Invisible Man
https://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/paul-manafort-ukraine-104263Mystery man: Ukraine's U.S. fixer
By ALEXANDER BURNS and MAGGIE HABERMAN 03/05/2014 05:01 AM EST
His friends once called him the Count of Monte Cristo.
Today, Paul Manafort is more like The Invisible Man — a worldly political pro whose latest adventure, whispering in the ear of Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych, has handed him a supporting role in a bona fide international crisis.
Over three decades in Washington, Manafort built a storied career as a Beltway man of mystery: a famously discreet operative who worked for Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, steered the 1996 GOP convention and built not one but two white-shoe D.C. lobbying shops, a pair of firms that bore Manafort’s name and catered to an eclectic stable of clients including anti-communist Angolan rebels and Ferdinand Marcos, the dictator of the Philippines.
Then, Manafort all but vanished from the Washington scene.
INTERESTING READ..
https://twitter.com/PuestoLoco/status/966879113754521600?s=20
Did someone's cat go missing?
https://twitter.com/TonyLimaPOL/status/966729104769785856?s=20From Sen Whitehouse: "Trump is in the back pocket of billionaires"
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/02/21/opinions/trump-billionaire-influence-opinion-whitehouse/index.html?__twitter_impression=trueSen. Whitehouse: Trump is in the back pocket of billionaires
By Sheldon Whitehouse
Updated 5:08 PM EST, Wed February 21, 2018
SNIP
..behind the scenes, President Trump is not calling all of the shots.
While he golfs and tweets and watches cable news, several disturbingly powerful billionaires are pulling the levers and winning special treatment.
So, who is behind the curtain?
Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor, was brought in as "special adviser" to the President in order to cut regulations.
On the campaign trail, the President bragged of his relationship with Icahn, calling him one of "the great businessmen of the world."
Icahn, who bought one of Trump's Atlantic City casinos out of bankruptcy and contributed the maximum he legally could to the Trump campaign, said he would slash "crazy regulations" hindering American businesses.
It turned out Icahn had one particular regulation in mind. Skirting conflict of interest rules...
MORE...
Bob Murray, the billionaire coal baron who donated $300,000 to the President's inauguration and $1 million to his leading super PAC, while lobbying the Trump administration for actions favorable to his company. He has also given hundreds of thousands of dollars to political action committees affiliated with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.
Murray has boasted about his "action plan" for President Trump, a four-page wish list of policies to benefit him and his company:
MORE...
And then there are the most sophisticated puppet masters of all: the billionaire Koch brothers.
In July 2015, President Trump tweeted, "I really like the Koch Brothers (members of my [Palm Beach] Club), but I don't want their money or anything else from them. Cannot influence Trump!"
They don't influence Trump -- they man his administration.
According to a report by Public Citizen, a progressive advocacy group, 44 administration officials come from Koch-backed organizations or political groups. EPA Administrator Pruitt has been heavily supported by the Kochs (including $3 million spent to boost his confirmation), as has Energy Secretary Perry (including tens of thousands of dollars in donations to his campaigns).
And Vice President Mike Pence has long been intertwined with the Koch operation, through funding and staff.
Among his many ties to the Koch network, Pence's former chief of staff, Marc Short (now White House congressional liaison) is a top Koch operative who also served as president of the Koch's Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce.
They win huge paydays.
The Kochs spent $20 million to promote the unpopular Republican tax cuts, and now stand to see their tax bill slashed by as much as $1.4 billion a year.
They thanked Speaker Paul Ryan for pushing it through with a $500,000 donation to his political fundraising committee and a promise to spend $20 million more to tout the tax giveaway in upcoming elections.
When billionaires spend millions to convince Americans that the tax cuts are good, it might actually be a sign that for most people, they aren't.
MORE at LINK..
Good Read by Sen Whitehouse
https://twitter.com/SenWhitehouse/status/966698371275739136?s=20
Here is the Warning Hillary gave us all, about Russia 2016 influence.
Just to clear up any recent statements:
http://people.com/politics/hillary-clinton-wikileaks-hack-debate-russia/
October 19, 2016 10:21 PM
Hillary Clinton was ready when the WikiLeaks hack of her campaign chairman, John Podesta, came up during the third and final presidential debate on Wednesday night.
After the moderator Chris Wallace quoted a line from a speech Clinton gave to a Brazilian bank – revealed in the hacked emails – the Democratic nominee took it as an opportunity to point out what she sees as the biggest takeaway from the WikiLeaks hack – the Russian government’s alleged involvement.
“You are very clearly quoting from WikiLeaks and what’s really important about WikiLeaks is that the Russian government has engaged in espionage against Americans,” Clinton told Wallace.
“They have hacked American websites, American accounts of private people, of institutions, then they have given that information to WikiLeaks for the purpose of putting it on the Internet,” she added.
“This has come from the highest levels of the Russian government, clearly from [Vladimir] Putin himself, in an effort – as 17 of our intelligence agencies have confirmed – to influence our election.
“So I actually think the most important question of this evening, Chris, is finally will Donald Trump admit that the Russians are doing this and that he rejects Russian espionage?”
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Hillary Clinton knew of the Russian influence, warned us, & publicly stated it with Sen Sanders, Chris Wallace & the world listening to her words.
Everybody did know. Hillary warned us all.
Thank you.
AP report shows Trump's cliff notes for today's meeting
https://mobile.twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/966482719692685312https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/966482719692685312?s=20
https://twitter.com/HCPRpro3/status/966515481963352065?s=20
https://twitter.com/AlanWessman/status/966516421793538049?s=20
https://twitter.com/FridaValme/status/966513170205626368?s=20
https://twitter.com/ZTromblay/status/966515672724398081?s=20
https://twitter.com/AmazonianGal127/status/966512580213854208?s=20
The media today: Are Russian trolls behind everything?
From THE COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW
https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/russian-trolls.php
The media today: Are Russian trolls behind everything?
By Mathew Ingram
FEBRUARY 21, 2018
1321 WORDS
NOW THAT SPECIAL COUNSEL ROBERT MUELLER has indicted a dozen Russian agents and several Russian corporations as part of his investigation into interference in the 2016 US election, the troll problem must be solved, right?
Not quite. In fact, Russian trolls seem to be popping up almost everywhere:
A New York Times report, for example, said that a number of Twitter accounts with links to Russia moved quickly to take advantage of the attention focused on the mass shooting at a school in Parkland, Florida, by posting hundreds of updates related to the event and using popular hashtags.
How extensive or influential this was, however, is unclear.
The Times relied in part on data from Hamilton68, a site that tracks the behavior of a range of Russian accounts, but the site’s conclusions have been questioned.
It was created by The Alliance For Securing Democracy, which is in turn associated with the nonprofit German Marshall Fund.
According to The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald, the Alliance and the Fund are backed by notorious right-wing warmongers such as Bill Kristol and Mike Chertoff, and therefore their conclusions should be taken with a grain of salt.
Others have also raised concerns:
The Russia-focused news site Meduza notes Hamilton68 won’t disclose which accounts it follows, and in some cases, they appear to just be accounts set up by actual Russian entities such as the broadcaster Russia Today.
MORE...
https://twitter.com/counterchekist/status/966311248693551104?s=20
https://twitter.com/counterchekist/status/966312526035193858?s=20
Haahaa..From Tea Pain
https://twitter.com/TeaPainUSA/status/965990296994672640?s=20https://twitter.com/debstalking/status/966015406665338880?s=20
https://twitter.com/gdalton64/status/965990761253629952?s=20
https://twitter.com/TioBWife/status/966006113354289158?s=20
https://twitter.com/Santiagojjjr/status/965991147343523840?s=20
https://twitter.com/AdrianWapcapIet/status/965990441005953024?s=20
https://twitter.com/Chetlsmith/status/965999973337845760?s=20
https://twitter.com/keeper_of_inns/status/965991130750963714?s=20
Fascinating Read: Bill Browder, " Australia should pass Magnitsky Act"
http://amp.abc.net.au/article/9464060?__twitter_impression=trueThere are now Magnitsky Acts in six countries and Mr Browder has launched his campaign for Australia to introduce its own version of the law.
"I would like to find a multi-party group of advocates to join me in Australia, in the way I have done it in the US, UK and Canada, to put a Magnitsky Act to the Australian parliament," he told 7.30.
Magnitsky Acts work on the principle that Russian fraudsters make their money at home and then spend and invest their ill-gotten gains in Western countries.
The acts aim to deliver justice where the Russian courts have failed, through visa bans and the freezing of assets, preventing criminals from investing in safe havens.
"The most important thing is all legitimate rule-of-law countries sign up," Mr Browder said.
"The Russians are not going to keep all their money in Dubai or China, they're going to keep their money in the US, Canada, and Australia, in safe countries.
"So, if we can disrupt the safety of their money it really does have a profound impact on their psychology."
'The bravest man I have ever known'
PHOTO: Sergei Magnitsky's investigations uncovered massive fraud.
The world's first Magnitsky Act was passed by the US in 2012 after Mr Browder successfully lobbied Republican senator John McCain and Democrat senator Ben Cardin to co-sponsor a bill.
The laws are named in honour of former tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in custody in 2009 after he had been hired by Mr Browder to investigate one of the biggest cases of fraud in Russian history.
"Sergei Magnitsky was the bravest man I have ever known," Mr Browder said.
"He took on the Russian Government and exposed a massive crime committed by officials and ultimately paid for it with his life."
Mr Browder was once Russia's biggest foreign investor through his hedge fund Hermitage Capital.
He made his clients a stack of money at the turn of the century as the former communist country sold off state assets.
But after exposing the flow of dirty money to bureaucrats and cronies, Mr Browder was expelled from Russia.
He says his office was raided and officials seized his papers, which were then used to steal a number of his companies.
He hired Mr Magnitsky to get bottom of what was going on and the unassuming tax lawyer soon uncovered a much bigger fraud.
"He discovered that in addition to stealing our investment holding companies, the perpetrators used the stolen companies to steal $US230 million of taxes we paid to the Russian Government," Mr Browder said.
Mr Magnitsky alleged the perpetrators were police, organised crime figures, members of the Interior Ministry and tax officials.
Tortured and killed while awaiting trial
PHOTO: Russian tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky died in custody
SNIP
Mr Browder said Mr Magnitsky never got justice because the crimes he exposed go all the way to the top echelons of power in Russia.
"This fraud goes straight up to Vladimir Putin," he said.
"We've traced money from the fraud going to his nominee, a man named Sergei Roldugin, who happens to be the godfather of Putin's children, his oldest friend from childhood, who has been exposed through the Panama Papers as a cellist who is worth $US2 billion.
"Which means, for all intents and purposes, Putin got the money."
Mr Putin in turn has accused Mr Browder of criminal behaviour.
He has tried to have Interpol place Mr Browder on the Red Notice list to prevent him travelling internationally.
At a press conference in October last year the President (Putin) attacked both Mr Browder and Mr Magnitsky.
"What lies underneath these events?
Underneath are the criminal activities of an entire gang led by one particular man, I believe Browder is his name," Mr Putin said.
Mr Browder said he knows Magnitsky Acts are effective because he sees how enraged they make the Russian President.
"Putin has made this his single-largest foreign policy priority, to stop the Magnitsky Act," he said.
Russians lobby Trump campaign team
The importance Mr Putin places on stopping Magnitsky Acts was on display at the now infamous meeting in Trump Tower in June 2016, that is now a part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the US election.
MORE at LINK...
Bill Browder is then, the second bravest man.
FromGlobal Witness: "UK government to Team Treason: Prepare to have your assets seized!"
https://twitter.com/ericgarland/status/965636131722285056?s=20https://twitter.com/jzikah/status/965673886204522498?s=20
From Global Witness
https://twitter.com/Global_Witness/status/965634998903738368?s=20
https://twitter.com/SynceritasPaul/status/965694031283085313?s=20
From the article:
https://www.globalwitness.org/en-gb/blog/spring-here-time-uk-clean-its-backyard/
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"Aggressively marketed orphan structures" ???!!
ORPHAN. There's that word again. Hmmm
Maddog Pac's latest Billboard is drafted. NRA Money - Barbara Comstock
https://twitter.com/TrueFactsStated/status/965672541800075271?s=20Comstock Blames the FBI for Parkland Shooting
Comstock claiming to be a champion of keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill is even more outrageous than blaming the FBI for the shootings.
Comstock voted to repeal the Obama administration rule prohibiting sale of firearms to mentally ill social security beneficiaries.
Comstock voted to allow gun purchases by individuals deemed so mentally incompetent that they are not allowed to manage their own finances. The bill was signed by Trump on the same day she skipped work to get her picture taken with him.
Comstock voted to repeal a law blocking mentally ill veterans from purchasing firearms.
Comstock has to go.
Barbara Comstock - Representative (R-VA 10th District) since 2015
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