OT: Twitter Thread on 3 Decades of Russian & Mafia Relationships with Trump

[Pointgod]

Whats crazy to me is that if any other president had this many scandals around him, people would be calling for his immediate resignation and/or impeachment... yet somehow this guy is STILL skating around with a pocket full of change on thin ice.. at this point he's skating in circles too.. how the **** is he still above water..

I don't understand why he's getting so much leeway... people were calling for Obama's head over his birth certificate even AFTER proving it.... yet Trump is allowed to do whatever/say he wants...

Two reasons. A white male politician is always going to get way more leeway than person of color or a white woman politician. Just look back at the criticism that Hillary Clinton got and it all seems just so quaint. Barack Obama is everything that either party would want a President to represent and his administration was scandal free yet members of his OWN party distanced themselves from him.

The second reason is that the Republican party has abdicated their responsibility to the country by holding Trump in check or speaking out against his behavior. They are moral cowards who will go down as failures in the history books.

There are other factors including the media, Americans own ignorance, cynicism etc but these are the main ones.

[Fat Kat]

Whats crazy to me is that if any other president had this many scandals around him, people would be calling for his immediate resignation and/or impeachment... yet somehow this guy is STILL skating around with a pocket full of change on thin ice.. at this point he's skating in circles too.. how the **** is he still above water..

I don't understand why he's getting so much leeway... people were calling for Obama's head over his birth certificate even AFTER proving it.... yet Trump is allowed to do whatever/say he wants...

Two reasons. A white male politician is always going to get way more leeway than person of color or a white woman politician. Just look back at the criticism that Hillary Clinton got and it all seems just so quaint. Barack Obama is everything that either party would want a President to represent and his administration was scandal free yet members of his OWN party distanced themselves from him.

The second reason is that the Republican party has abdicated their responsibility to the country by holding Trump in check or speaking out against his behavior. They are moral cowards who will go down as failures in the history books.

There are other factors including the media, Americans own ignorance, cynicism etc but these are the main ones.

[Clyde_Style]

Gee, why not just put a big picture of a filing cabinet on Kavanaugh's forehead that says "Don't Look Here"

White House Cites Executive Privilege to Withhold 100,000 Pages of Kavanaugh Records

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/01/us/politics/kavanaugh-records.html

[HarthorneWingo]

Gee, why not just put a big picture of a filing cabinet on Kavanaugh's forehead that says "Don't Look Here"

White House Cites Executive Privilege to Withhold 100,000 Pages of Kavanaugh Records

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/01/us/politics/kavanaugh-records.html

I know. Schumer better step up his fcking game. So far, I'm not impressed. He folded like a cheap suit with respect to those 100 or so other federal judgeships so that everyone could take off on their Labor Day vacations.

Chuck's got to go.

[Clyde_Style]

Gee, why not just put a big picture of a filing cabinet on Kavanaugh's forehead that says "Don't Look Here"

White House Cites Executive Privilege to Withhold 100,000 Pages of Kavanaugh Records

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/01/us/politics/kavanaugh-records.html

I know. Schumer better step up his fcking game. So far, I'm not impressed. He folded like a cheap suit with respect to those 100 or so other federal judgeships so that everyone could take off on their Labor Day vacations.

Chuck's got to go.

Unless New York has other plans, he'll probably be a fixture for a while longer. I lost respect for him and Pelosi when they sold out Al Franken who was one of the actual politicians with a voice the party needed. The guy volunteered to be investigated for behavior some may have found creepy, but he hardly sounded like a predator that needed to be put on trial. And they just cut him loose without an investigation. That was disloyal political expediency in action. Pathetic leadership, so I don't trust either of them, though Schumer is more liable for that as a fellow senator than Pelosi.

I do think Pelosi gets abused by our misogynistic society though and I do think she can be useful to the party in some capacity as she is a well-trained political animal, but I'd rather not have her in the leadership position as speaker of the house come November. But I don't loathe her like others because even if she's not always right or progressive enough, she can get some things done with a majority. Many Americans don't like powerful women. It is why I'm praying Warren can break through that barrier. I think she can because women like Clinton and Pelosi built tough skins to survive and Warren has the common touch and down to earth quality they both lack.

It is hard to know exactly how the Dem leadership will approach the court stacking situation when they regain the house. I'm praying for a miracle and they flip the Senate too, in which case not only will Trump and Pence be vanquished, but you may see some major action to roll back some of the patently illegal activities the GOP engaged in to steal court seats which I think are crimes that need to be put under investigation.

[TitusB]

Didnt the Mafia control the whole cement industry in the 70´s and 80´s. So you basically had to deal with them if you wanted to build smth

[thebuzzardman]

Didnt the Mafia control the whole cement industry in the 70´s and 80´s. So you basically had to deal with them if you wanted to build smth

Is this excusing Trump's working with them?

In general, anyone who put up a building in NYC in the 70's and 80's had to deal with some shady Union/mob connected powers. My friends dad was pretty high up in the laborers union and my friend got to "work" with Gotti Jr, who he said was stupider than a sack of hammers.

On the other hand, Trump was close enough to the cement union "leaders" that when the union went on strike, they went on strike everywhere but Trump Tower. Oh, and that had a poured cement design - or used ready mix - something about the technique that was very cheap but which almost no one did, though it was cheaper, because of fears the timely delivery of and potential for cost to fluctuate, if a threat, happened

The article sums it up better, I was typing from the top of my head after reading the book a month ago

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/donald-trump-2016-mob-organized-crime-213910

David Cay Johnston. He's a Pulitzer prize winning investigative journalist. I'm just pulling up a handy article. I've read 2 of his books on Trump. Never read this article until right now, but of course, basically this is covered in a section of one of the two books - maybe both.

Here's a few others:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3716125/How-Trump-Mob-offer-not-refuse-killing-building-skyscraper-Donald-s-shrewdest-investment-MAFIA.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/trump-swam-in-mob-infested-waters-in-early-years-as-an-nyc-developer/2015/10/16/3c75b918-60a3-11e5-b38e-06883aacba64_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.373137e43b18

https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-dealt-with-a-series-of-people-who-had-mob-ties-1472736922

[HarthorneWingo]

Gee, why not just put a big picture of a filing cabinet on Kavanaugh's forehead that says "Don't Look Here"

White House Cites Executive Privilege to Withhold 100,000 Pages of Kavanaugh Records

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/01/us/politics/kavanaugh-records.html

I know. Schumer better step up his fcking game. So far, I'm not impressed. He folded like a cheap suit with respect to those 100 or so other federal judgeships so that everyone could take off on their Labor Day vacations.

Chuck's got to go.

Unless New York has other plans, he'll probably be a fixture for a while longer. I lost respect for him and Pelosi when they sold out Al Franken who was one of the actual politicians with a voice the party needed. The guy volunteered to be investigated for behavior some may have found creepy, but he hardly sounded like a predator that needed to be put on trial. And they just cut him loose without an investigation. That was disloyal political expediency in action. Pathetic leadership, so I don't trust either of them, though Schumer is more liable for that as a fellow senator than Pelosi.

I do think Pelosi gets abused by our misogynistic society though and I do think she can be useful to the party in some capacity as she is a well-trained political animal, but I'd rather not have her in the leadership position as speaker of the house come November. But I don't loathe her like others because even if she's not always right or progressive enough, she can get some things done with a majority. Many Americans don't like powerful women. It is why I'm praying Warren can break through that barrier. I think she can because women like Clinton and Pelosi built tough skins to survive and Warren has the common touch and down to earth quality they both lack.

It is hard to know exactly how the Dem leadership will approach the court stacking situation when they regain the house. I'm praying for a miracle and they flip the Senate too, in which case not only will Trump and Pence be vanquished, but you may see some major action to roll back some of the patently illegal activities the GOP engaged in to steal court seats which I think are crimes that need to be put under investigation.

Well, this New Yorker would welcome a challenge to Schumer from a Bernie-backed candidate. Then I'd love to be the proverbial fly on a wall when Bernie and Chuck bickered about it.

Chuck: Bernie, come on now. This isn't right. Did my wife not just make that brisket for you with the knishes? You said you loved it. This is how you repay me?

Bernie: Chuck, as you know, income inequality is greatah doday than at any other time in our nation's history.

Chuck: Income inequality? Who's talking "income inequality"? I'm talking about brisket, Bernie. Brisket!

Bernie: Listen to me, you fcking imbecile. If you don't step in line, what I'm going to do to you and family I will make Meyer Lanksy and Mo Green look like Howdy Doody and Micky fcking Moose. Got it?

[Clyde_Style]

Oh no, now you've got Bernie breaking legs?

Too many gangsters already

I do think however that all new projects Bernie launches should be called Knishiatives

[Clyde_Style]

Who says one person can't be both a great emancipator & a white supremacist?

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[Clyde_Style]

Read on Twitter

This shameless Kremlin flunkie who was used to siphon off votes really has it coming to her.

[Clyde_Style]

Read on Twitter

[Clyde_Style]

Russian Mob ‘Made its Move’ on Trump in 2002 When He Was In the Hole After a 'Series of Bankruptcies': Documentary Filmmaker

https://www.alternet.org/russian-mob-made-its-move-trump-2002-when-he-was-hole-after-series-bankruptcies-documentary#.W2NjJPijYFs.twitter

Watch on YouTube

ARTICLE:

Spoiler:

A documentary filmmaker appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Thursday to talk about what he’s found while researching “Active Measures,” his new movie about Russian connections with President Donald Trump.

Specifically, filmmaker Jack Bryan told the program that Trump didn’t really start getting involved with members of the Russian mob until around 2002, when he claims they started “entering the Trump Organization.”

Bryan then claimed that Trump had to resort to taking Russian money after a “series of bankruptcies” at Trump properties throughout the 1990s that made it harder for him to raise capital from large American banks.
SPONSORED

The Russian mob saw this, Bryan said, and “made their move.”

When MSNBC’s Willie Geist asked Bryan to clarify what he meant by the mob “making its move” on Trump, the filmmaker elaborated about all the shady money that started pouring into Trump properties after Trump had been cut off by major banks.

“Starting in 2002, whereas before you’re seeing incidents of money laundering… you’re seeing particularly in buildings like the Trump Soho, the Toronto tower, the Panama tower to an extent, as well, and several others in development where the there is… what certainly appears to be Russian or post-Soviet mafia money going into it,” he explained.

Bryan went on to say that the money was coming “particularly from the Ukraine-Russia gas trade, which is an incredibly mobbed up operation” and that “it’s been going in there to basically start the building process.”

[Clyde_Style]

Watch on YouTube

An oldie, but goodie by the BBC from the campaign period.

The world wasn't ready to listen then. Is it ready now?

[Clyde_Style]

The Hidden Russian Hand Behind Germany’s Violent Right-Wing Riots

http://observer.com/2018/08/is-vladimir-putin-behind-right-wing-riots-in-chemnitz-germany/

QUOTE:

Germany today offers an ideal playing field for the Kremlin to execute its customary provocative spy games. There, the Left and Right are riddled with friends of Moscow, and this week’s unpleasant events in Chemnitz indicate that the country may be entering a new, dangerous phase of political polarization and violence. Since some European security officials believe that Russian intelligence clandestinely aided the flow of migrants into the EU in 2015, as I’ve previously reported, Germany’s present turmoil looks like the Kremlin’s dream come true. Putin’s agents have abetted the EU’s left-right divide and possess the ability to stoke riots in Germany’s streets.

Since Germany’s political divisions over migration and national identity show no signs of abating, Moscow has plenty of fodder to work with. Covert action cannot create political conditions, but it can certainly shape them, as President Putin, who knows Germany well from his KGB service in East Germany, is fully aware. Until Berlin starts taking these matters more seriously, this week’s riots in Saxony should be considered the harbinger of a new, ugly age in Central Europe.

============

perhaps the rest of the world is now ready to come to grips with the TRUTH that Putin has infiltrated every damn part of Western democratic systems.

Russian Night Wolves have been making forays into Germany for several years now. They are spreading into Europe.

These Russian-led agitations like we're now seeing in the streets of Germny happen because Putin wants them there to stir up trouble and inspire the ascendancy of German racist alt-right political factions whose primary function for Putin is to sow division and to break apart countries far more than his innately personal alliance with racist ideologies. Yes, Putin is a homophobic, white supemacist, but mostly it is a matter of expediency for him. It works.

Russiagate is not a meme. They are the enemy and they are making a mockery of the Western alliance every step of the way and our citizenry is still completely asleep at the wheel


Night Wolves set up base in Europe: Alarm as biker gang linked to Putin and led by activist known as The Surgeon who helped Russia annex Crimea moves to Slovakia

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6015749/Night-Wolves-set-base-Europe-Alarm-biker-gang-linked-Putin.html

[Clyde_Style]

Wow, just wow. The plot keeps thickening

Butina, the NRA, Washington lobbyists, illegal deal making, this is juicy stuff.

Wife of Former N.R.A. President Tapped Accused Russian Agent in Pursuit of Jet Fuel Payday

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/02/us/politics/maria-butina-russian-spy.html

QUOTED FOR LITERARY FLOURISH:

The dealings also involved a pair of Pakistani-American businessmen, an Israeli-American salesman for a Virginia-based lawn care and sprinkler equipment company and a purported international fuel broker with no record of successful deals. Mr. Erickson described this person in an email as a “tough, crotchety, sixty-ish divorcee who has spent his life in various energy transactions but now seems intent on using his small wealth to pursue age-appropriate women of a certain flair.”

[thebuzzardman]

Reading this - it's relevant to the articles you've posted.

It's good, but not great. The information is good; it covers a lot of history, in part to give historical context, in part it feels like padding out the book. Also, Nance is "ok" as a writer. Still worth it.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37506133-the-plot-to-destroy-democracy

Covers some of the same ground of hacking, social network manipulation, funding alt right groups in Europe and here, disinformation, etc etc

[Clyde_Style]

Reading this - it's relevant to the articles you've posted.

It's good, but not great. The information is good; it covers a lot of history, in part to give historical context, in part it feels like padding out the book. Also, Nance is "ok" as a writer. Still worth it.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37506133-the-plot-to-destroy-democracy

Covers some of the same ground of hacking, social network manipulation, funding alt right groups in Europe and here, disinformation, etc etc

I'm sure you're familiar with the sniping about Nance on the Twittersphere, i.e. he's mostly self-invented as an expert with marginal relevant experience. Schindler doesn't think much of him. Personally, I had a strong negative reaction to him the first time I saw him on MSNBC where he became a go-to commentator. My gut reaction was "this guy has an inferiority complex and is overcompensating".

Anyway, that doesn't mean the book is actually not worth reading or that most of the things Nance may say are still mostly true and based on actual facts. He was at least one of the first talking heads to really hone in on the true nature of the conspiracy and I can't fault him for that.

Not sure if you think I'm being unnecessarily harsh, I just never had a good feeling about Nance even though he is ostensibly part of the opposition to Trump. The one thing I can say about Nance that is fishy is he went out of his way to discredit certain people as Russian disinfo agents which was actually very false AFAIK and it reeked of either (a) professional insecurity or (b) him actually being some form of disinfo agent himself.

[Clyde_Style]

But back on topic, yes, the scope of the GRU's activities are breathtaking.

The problem for the average person is Putin's infiltration of Western Democracies is so pervasive and invasive that it reads like fiction, thus leading many people to assume that Russian influence on our political system is at best overstated and at worst a fantasy.

But its all completely true and something I've understood since the Spring of 2016 and why I've been so consistent in my insights into the nature of this situation.

I can clear up a lot of misconceptions about Putin and Russia with the following statement:

WE ARE AT WAR

This is warfare. A modern form of warfare. Putin thus far only uses military actions on weakened borders and it is unlikely to change.

But if he can flip whole nations to work in his interests, that's better than bombs and guns any day of the week.

Russia has always had quite a strong source of intelligent people in the sciences. Now they're hackers and instead of working for Stalin, they're hacking for Putin. They are smart and the disinfo tactics show it, over and over again.

So if you can buy out a corrupt majority party like the GOP while simultaneously seeding the brains of the gullible with disnfo, you can win a war without firing a single bullet (assassinations and poisonings excluded).

That's what this is: WAR

Sadly, many Americans became enemy combatants against their own country. That's how this has played out.

[thebuzzardman]

Reading this - it's relevant to the articles you've posted.

It's good, but not great. The information is good; it covers a lot of history, in part to give historical context, in part it feels like padding out the book. Also, Nance is "ok" as a writer. Still worth it.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37506133-the-plot-to-destroy-democracy

Covers some of the same ground of hacking, social network manipulation, funding alt right groups in Europe and here, disinformation, etc etc

I'm sure you're familiar with the sniping about Nance on the Twittersphere, i.e. he's mostly self-invented as an expert with marginal relevant experience. Schindler doesn't think much of him. Personally, I had a strong negative reaction to him the first time I saw him on MSNBC where he became a go-to commentator. My gut reaction was "this guy has an inferiority complex and is overcompensating".

Anyway, that doesn't mean the book is actually not worth reading or that most of the things Nance may say are still mostly true and based on actual facts. He was at least one of the first talking heads to really hone in on the true nature of the conspiracy and I can't fault him for that.

Not sure if you think I'm being unnecessarily harsh, I just never had a good feeling about Nance even though he is ostensibly part of the opposition to Trump. The one thing I can say about Nance that is fishy is he went out of his way to discredit certain people as Russian disinfo agents which was actually very false AFAIK and it reeked of either (a) professional insecurity or (b) him actually being some form of disinfo agent himself.

I'm not affected one way or the other of your opinion of him. I just thought the book is an interesting addition to the (bunch of) others kicking around. Also, I've liked it the least of anything I've read, though it would be a decent primer for anyone in the dark about Russian disinformation over the years, which he presents to build out the case, but honestly also feels like "I need 400 pages"

Also, the bolded - it's was my first and has been my ongoing gut reaction about him. I think he's a sheep dipped CIA guy in Naval Intel.