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Kid Berwyn
Kid Berwyn's Journal
Kid Berwyn's Journal
August 6, 2020
Questions raised over Trump appointee Wilbur Ross and his ties to politically connected Russian oligarchs
Stephanie Kirchgaessner
The Guardian, 23 March, 2017
Wilbur Ross, the Trump administration’s new commerce secretary, presided over a deal with a Russian businessman with ties to Vladimir Putin while serving in his previous role as vice-chairman of the Bank of Cyprus.
SNIP...
Ross was appointed vice-chairman at the bank after his investment in 2014, a post he shared with a deposit holder-turned-shareholder, Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, referred to in Russian media as a former KGB official and Putin ally. According to the bank’s annual reports, the two attended two board meetings together in 2014 and as many as five together in 2015 before Strzhalkovsky’s May 2015 resignation from the board. One of the questions that has been posed to Ross by Democratic senators is whether he ever had contact with Strzhalkovsky.
One of Ross’s first big decisions at the bank was the appointment of former Deutsche Bank chief executive Josef Ackermann as chairman, whom he chose in part because of Ackermann’s “huge Rolodex”, according to a 2014 Bloomberg interview.
Ackermann’s ties to Russia were especially strong, including a warm relationship with Putin and Herman Gref of Sberbank.
Peter Harrell, who served as the deputy assistant secretary for counter-threat finance and sanctions in the State Department at the time and is now an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, said Cyprus was “obviously” one of the places the Obama administration was worried about at the time because it was seen as a place that could help Russian entities evade sanctions, imposed as a result of the conflict over Crimea.
CONTINUES...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/23/wilbur-ross-russian-deal-bank-of-cyprus-donald-trump-commerce-secretary
Wilbur Ross at Commerce, Cyprus, Deutsche Bank and to the recuse...
Trump's commerce secretary oversaw Russia deal while at Bank of CyprusQuestions raised over Trump appointee Wilbur Ross and his ties to politically connected Russian oligarchs
Stephanie Kirchgaessner
The Guardian, 23 March, 2017
Wilbur Ross, the Trump administration’s new commerce secretary, presided over a deal with a Russian businessman with ties to Vladimir Putin while serving in his previous role as vice-chairman of the Bank of Cyprus.
SNIP...
Ross was appointed vice-chairman at the bank after his investment in 2014, a post he shared with a deposit holder-turned-shareholder, Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, referred to in Russian media as a former KGB official and Putin ally. According to the bank’s annual reports, the two attended two board meetings together in 2014 and as many as five together in 2015 before Strzhalkovsky’s May 2015 resignation from the board. One of the questions that has been posed to Ross by Democratic senators is whether he ever had contact with Strzhalkovsky.
One of Ross’s first big decisions at the bank was the appointment of former Deutsche Bank chief executive Josef Ackermann as chairman, whom he chose in part because of Ackermann’s “huge Rolodex”, according to a 2014 Bloomberg interview.
Ackermann’s ties to Russia were especially strong, including a warm relationship with Putin and Herman Gref of Sberbank.
Peter Harrell, who served as the deputy assistant secretary for counter-threat finance and sanctions in the State Department at the time and is now an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, said Cyprus was “obviously” one of the places the Obama administration was worried about at the time because it was seen as a place that could help Russian entities evade sanctions, imposed as a result of the conflict over Crimea.
CONTINUES...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/23/wilbur-ross-russian-deal-bank-of-cyprus-donald-trump-commerce-secretary
August 6, 2020
Donald Trump dumped $400 million into his clubs in Aberdeen and Turnberry. Now, lawmakers in Edinburgh want to investigate him for money laundering.
RUSS CHOMA
Mother Jones, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 ISSUE
EXCERPT...
Recently, a new—and perhaps bigger—threat to Trump has emerged in Scotland. Scottish lawmakers are pushing to peer into Trump’s finances using an anti-money-laundering statute typically employed against kleptocrats, oligarchs, and crime kingpins. Their question: Where did the hundreds of millions Trump poured into his Scottish courses actually come from?
SNIP...
The size of Trump’s wealth is a source of great debate, but two things are fairly well known—the period between 2006 and 2014 included some of his lowest points, financially speaking, and even in the best of times, the amount he splurged in Scotland would be a ton of cash for him to have on hand, let alone spend so freely. And Trump made these Scottish investments amid a $400 million cash spending spree, documented by the Washington Post, in which he also purchased a golf club in Ireland, five courses in the United States, and several pricy homes.
The New Yorker estimated that Trump would have spent half his available cash on the purchase of Turnberry alone, concluding there wasn’t “enough money coming into Trump’s known business to cover the massive outlay he spent” renovating the property.
And the mystery deepens. Martyn McLaughlin, a Glasgow-based reporter for the Scotsman newspaper, discovered that in 2008 Trump approached a Scottish bank asking for a $63 million loan to buy and renovate a historic hotel near Edinburgh, overlooking the final hole of St. Andrews, the most famous golf course in the world. The terms he proposed were so ludicrously favorable to him that bank executives concluded Trump was asking for a “free loan,” and doing business with the developer was “too risky.” Meanwhile, Trump was touting his “very strong” cash position and his representatives were telling the Scottish public that he had more than $1 billion available to spend in their country. (The Trump Organization did not respond to questions from Mother Jones.)
CONTINUES...
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/08/the-biggest-trump-financial-mystery-where-he-came-up-with-the-cash-for-his-scottish-resorts/
Scottish RICO: Mystery Millions for Loser Golf Resorts
The Biggest Trump Financial Mystery? Where He Came Up With the Cash for His Scottish Resorts.Donald Trump dumped $400 million into his clubs in Aberdeen and Turnberry. Now, lawmakers in Edinburgh want to investigate him for money laundering.
RUSS CHOMA
Mother Jones, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 ISSUE
EXCERPT...
Recently, a new—and perhaps bigger—threat to Trump has emerged in Scotland. Scottish lawmakers are pushing to peer into Trump’s finances using an anti-money-laundering statute typically employed against kleptocrats, oligarchs, and crime kingpins. Their question: Where did the hundreds of millions Trump poured into his Scottish courses actually come from?
SNIP...
The size of Trump’s wealth is a source of great debate, but two things are fairly well known—the period between 2006 and 2014 included some of his lowest points, financially speaking, and even in the best of times, the amount he splurged in Scotland would be a ton of cash for him to have on hand, let alone spend so freely. And Trump made these Scottish investments amid a $400 million cash spending spree, documented by the Washington Post, in which he also purchased a golf club in Ireland, five courses in the United States, and several pricy homes.
The New Yorker estimated that Trump would have spent half his available cash on the purchase of Turnberry alone, concluding there wasn’t “enough money coming into Trump’s known business to cover the massive outlay he spent” renovating the property.
And the mystery deepens. Martyn McLaughlin, a Glasgow-based reporter for the Scotsman newspaper, discovered that in 2008 Trump approached a Scottish bank asking for a $63 million loan to buy and renovate a historic hotel near Edinburgh, overlooking the final hole of St. Andrews, the most famous golf course in the world. The terms he proposed were so ludicrously favorable to him that bank executives concluded Trump was asking for a “free loan,” and doing business with the developer was “too risky.” Meanwhile, Trump was touting his “very strong” cash position and his representatives were telling the Scottish public that he had more than $1 billion available to spend in their country. (The Trump Organization did not respond to questions from Mother Jones.)
CONTINUES...
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/08/the-biggest-trump-financial-mystery-where-he-came-up-with-the-cash-for-his-scottish-resorts/
August 4, 2020
Trump is such a germaphobe that aides aren't allowed to cough in his presence and visitors must wash their hands before entering the Oval Office, report says
Tom Porter
Business Insider, Jul 8, 2019, 6:14 AM
Aides to President Trump have told Politico that he hates it when staff cough or sneeze in his presence because of his longstanding germaphobia.
Trump also reportedly asks visitors to wash their hands in a bathroom off the Oval Office, and uses hand sanitizer after shaking hands at campaign events.
In an interview, Trump described shaking hands as "barbaric" because it spreads germs.
In June, Trump ordered acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney from his office after he coughed during a TV interview.
https://www.businessinsider.com/germaphobe-trump-hates-people-coughing-and-sneezing-in-his-presence-2019-7
So, as long as germs don’t get him, all is fine and dandy. No wonder he couldn’t give two cents when warned about COVID-19 in January! He knows how to protect himself.
"I'm a germaphobe." -- Dumpy the Hypocrite
Remember how the heinous anus kicked Mick Mulvaney out of the room when the then-chief of stuff coughed during a TV interview with George Stephanopoulos?
“Let’s do that over, he’s coughing in the middle of my answer,” said Trump, who then paused to glare in the direction of the offender, who Stephanopoulos identified as “your chief of staff.”
Source with video: https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article231637868.html#storylink=cpy
Dumpler has a problem with germs...
Trump is such a germaphobe that aides aren't allowed to cough in his presence and visitors must wash their hands before entering the Oval Office, report says
Tom Porter
Business Insider, Jul 8, 2019, 6:14 AM
Aides to President Trump have told Politico that he hates it when staff cough or sneeze in his presence because of his longstanding germaphobia.
Trump also reportedly asks visitors to wash their hands in a bathroom off the Oval Office, and uses hand sanitizer after shaking hands at campaign events.
In an interview, Trump described shaking hands as "barbaric" because it spreads germs.
In June, Trump ordered acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney from his office after he coughed during a TV interview.
https://www.businessinsider.com/germaphobe-trump-hates-people-coughing-and-sneezing-in-his-presence-2019-7
So, as long as germs don’t get him, all is fine and dandy. No wonder he couldn’t give two cents when warned about COVID-19 in January! He knows how to protect himself.
August 4, 2020
How the World Sees America's Response to COVID-19
August 3, 2020
USPS Delivered 4 Election Relocation Notices Today.
The election is TOMORROW, Tuesday, Aug. 4.
The school where our Michigan precinct normally votes is closed due to COVID-19, so the City Clerk sent out the new location to the four voters who live here. Our Detroit suburb is about 25,000 people total.
The notices are postmarked Thursday, July 30. Normally, they’d have arrived Friday — next day at the latest. The delay reveals Dumpy n DeJoy’s Operation SNAILMAN for November.
August 3, 2020
Is she an adult?
Paging Ms. Maxwell! Even if she’s 40, the demented stare in Jr’s eyes show she’s in danger.
Another treasured image, his old man and the Rev. Sun Myung Moneybag er Moon.
August 3, 2020
How many needless Covid-19 deaths were caused by delays in responding?
Most of them
By ISAAC SEBENIUS and JAMES K. SEBENIUS
StatNews, JUNE 19, 202
EXCERPT...
To compare each country’s responses to the pandemic on a consistent basis, we turned to the work of an Oxford University team that has constructed a stringency index based on 13 policy responses (lockdowns, border closings, tests, etc.) to measure how strongly each country responded over time. The Oxford index shows that 14 days from the date of the 15th confirmed case in each country — a vital early window for action — the U.S. response to the outbreak lagged behind the others by miles. The U.S. stringency score of 5.7 at that point was 25% of Australia’s (23), 23% of Germany’s (25), 18% of Singapore’s (32), and only 15% of South Korea’s (38).
Related: Rising Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations underscore the long road ahead
Due to exponential viral spread, our delay in action was devastating. In the wake of the U.S. response, 117,858 Americans died in the four months following the first 15 confirmed cases. After an equivalent period, Germany suffered only 8,863 casualties. Scaling up the German population of 83.7 million to America’s 331 million, a U.S.-sized Germany would have suffered 35,049 Covid-19 deaths. So if the U.S. had acted as effectively as Germany, 70% of U.S. coronavirus deaths might have been prevented.
Continues...
https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/19/faster-response-prevented-most-us-covid-19-deaths/
Precisely as you noted, crickets: Not incompetence, it is intentional — and it is global.
We had a plan. Dump did the opposite.
At every turn, he not only did the wrong thing, he has elected to do the worst thing possible. Take having no plan to deal with the outbreak since he first heard about it.
How many needless Covid-19 deaths were caused by delays in responding?
Most of them
By ISAAC SEBENIUS and JAMES K. SEBENIUS
StatNews, JUNE 19, 202
EXCERPT...
To compare each country’s responses to the pandemic on a consistent basis, we turned to the work of an Oxford University team that has constructed a stringency index based on 13 policy responses (lockdowns, border closings, tests, etc.) to measure how strongly each country responded over time. The Oxford index shows that 14 days from the date of the 15th confirmed case in each country — a vital early window for action — the U.S. response to the outbreak lagged behind the others by miles. The U.S. stringency score of 5.7 at that point was 25% of Australia’s (23), 23% of Germany’s (25), 18% of Singapore’s (32), and only 15% of South Korea’s (38).
Related: Rising Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations underscore the long road ahead
Due to exponential viral spread, our delay in action was devastating. In the wake of the U.S. response, 117,858 Americans died in the four months following the first 15 confirmed cases. After an equivalent period, Germany suffered only 8,863 casualties. Scaling up the German population of 83.7 million to America’s 331 million, a U.S.-sized Germany would have suffered 35,049 Covid-19 deaths. So if the U.S. had acted as effectively as Germany, 70% of U.S. coronavirus deaths might have been prevented.
Continues...
https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/19/faster-response-prevented-most-us-covid-19-deaths/
Precisely as you noted, crickets: Not incompetence, it is intentional — and it is global.
August 1, 2020
‘I was asked by Jared through my son-in-law for recommendations;’ says Kurt Kloss, whose daughter is married to Kushner’s brother; Kushner is ‘directly involved’ in virus response
By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
Times of Israel, March 13, 2020
JTA — A physician with family ties to senior White House adviser Jared Kushner said he solicited advice on Facebook for Kushner on how to deal with the coronavirus.
Kurt Kloss, whose daughter is married to Kushner’s brother, on Wednesday asked a group of fellow emergency room physicians on the social network for the advice on Kushner’s behalf, Politico reported Friday, in turn quoting The Spectator.
“I have direct channel to person now in charge at White House,” Kloss wrote in his post.
Hundreds of doctors responded and Kloss explained that Kushner, who is US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, had asked him for recommendations, according to Politico. Kloss sent Kushner 12 recommendations Thursday morning, according to the article.
Continues...
https://www.timesofisrael.com/jared-kushner-relative-says-he-solicited-coronavirus-tips-for-him-on-facebook/
More...
Jared Kushner relative says he solicited coronavirus tips for him on Facebook‘I was asked by Jared through my son-in-law for recommendations;’ says Kurt Kloss, whose daughter is married to Kushner’s brother; Kushner is ‘directly involved’ in virus response
By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
Times of Israel, March 13, 2020
JTA — A physician with family ties to senior White House adviser Jared Kushner said he solicited advice on Facebook for Kushner on how to deal with the coronavirus.
Kurt Kloss, whose daughter is married to Kushner’s brother, on Wednesday asked a group of fellow emergency room physicians on the social network for the advice on Kushner’s behalf, Politico reported Friday, in turn quoting The Spectator.
“I have direct channel to person now in charge at White House,” Kloss wrote in his post.
Hundreds of doctors responded and Kloss explained that Kushner, who is US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, had asked him for recommendations, according to Politico. Kloss sent Kushner 12 recommendations Thursday morning, according to the article.
Continues...
https://www.timesofisrael.com/jared-kushner-relative-says-he-solicited-coronavirus-tips-for-him-on-facebook/
August 1, 2020
There is no word to describe Trump and Jared’s murderous criminality. Their willfull actions have resulted in the deaths of more than 150,000 US citizens they swore to protect.
Trump and Kushner must be prosecuted for crimes against humanity
Written by David Atkins / Washington Monthly August 1, 2020 Commentary
EXCERPT...
But the latest report from Vanity Fair implicates both Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner of an unspeakable horror orders of magnitude greater. Instead of implementing a comprehensive and aggressive national testing plan the pandemic team originally recommended, Kushner scuttled it. The president and his son-in-law were instead content to allow tens of thousands of Americans die as long as they were mostly people of color, and hailing from Democratic states and counties. Not only that, they saw it as a political opportunity to both cull the numbers of opposing voters and lay blame on Democratic governors at the same time:
Against that background, the prospect of launching a large-scale national plan was losing favor, said one public health expert in frequent contact with the White House’s official coronavirus task force.
Most troubling of all, perhaps, was a sentiment the expert said a member of Kushner’s team expressed: that because the virus had hit blue states hardest, a national plan was unnecessary and would not make sense politically. “The political folks believed that because it was going to be relegated to Democratic states, that they could blame those governors, and that would be an effective political strategy,” said the expert.
That logic may have swayed Kushner. “It was very clear that Jared was ultimately the decision maker as to what [plan] was going to come out,” the expert said.
SNIP...
We even lack the vocabulary to even describe it. “Gross negligence” doesn’t reach the level of the crime. “Murder” is lurid, but frankly not a comprehensive enough word to describe the death of 140,000. “Treason” comes to mind when considering that the President of the United States knowingly allowed 140,000 Americans to die because they were mostly his political opponents–but despite his Russia entanglements, there is no direct evidence he did so on behalf of a foreign power.
CONTINUES...
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/08/01/trump-and-kushner-must-be-prosecuted-for-crimes-against-humanity/
The US needs to reckon with these two mass murdering traitors, immediately. Otherwise, until Jan. 20, 2021 they will have enormous power at their disposal to avoid that reckoning.
Trump and Kushner must be prosecuted for crimes against humanity
There is no word to describe Trump and Jared’s murderous criminality. Their willfull actions have resulted in the deaths of more than 150,000 US citizens they swore to protect.
Trump and Kushner must be prosecuted for crimes against humanity
Written by David Atkins / Washington Monthly August 1, 2020 Commentary
EXCERPT...
But the latest report from Vanity Fair implicates both Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner of an unspeakable horror orders of magnitude greater. Instead of implementing a comprehensive and aggressive national testing plan the pandemic team originally recommended, Kushner scuttled it. The president and his son-in-law were instead content to allow tens of thousands of Americans die as long as they were mostly people of color, and hailing from Democratic states and counties. Not only that, they saw it as a political opportunity to both cull the numbers of opposing voters and lay blame on Democratic governors at the same time:
Against that background, the prospect of launching a large-scale national plan was losing favor, said one public health expert in frequent contact with the White House’s official coronavirus task force.
Most troubling of all, perhaps, was a sentiment the expert said a member of Kushner’s team expressed: that because the virus had hit blue states hardest, a national plan was unnecessary and would not make sense politically. “The political folks believed that because it was going to be relegated to Democratic states, that they could blame those governors, and that would be an effective political strategy,” said the expert.
That logic may have swayed Kushner. “It was very clear that Jared was ultimately the decision maker as to what [plan] was going to come out,” the expert said.
SNIP...
We even lack the vocabulary to even describe it. “Gross negligence” doesn’t reach the level of the crime. “Murder” is lurid, but frankly not a comprehensive enough word to describe the death of 140,000. “Treason” comes to mind when considering that the President of the United States knowingly allowed 140,000 Americans to die because they were mostly his political opponents–but despite his Russia entanglements, there is no direct evidence he did so on behalf of a foreign power.
CONTINUES...
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/08/01/trump-and-kushner-must-be-prosecuted-for-crimes-against-humanity/
The US needs to reckon with these two mass murdering traitors, immediately. Otherwise, until Jan. 20, 2021 they will have enormous power at their disposal to avoid that reckoning.
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