Political Randomness

[malchior]

I am ok that we have decided to institutionalize corruption instead of continuing to pretend we are above it. Might as well be honest. It has worked *splendidly* in NJ and RI for decades.

[Isgrimnur]

The Panama Papers

CTV

A Maltese investigative journalist who had exposed her island nation's links with the so-called Panama Papers document leak was killed on Monday when a bomb destroyed her car as she was driving near her home, Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said.

Daphne Caruana Galizia, 53, had just driven away from her home in Mosta, a town outside Malta's capital Valletta, when the bomb exploded, sending the vehicle's wreckage spiraling over a wall and into a field.

Muscat says her death resulted from a "barbaric attack" that also assaulted freedom of expression. He described the slain journalist as "was one of my harshest critics, on a political and personal level," as he denounced the attack as "unacceptable" violence.
...
Caruana Galizia had been sued for libel because of various articles she wrote on her blog "Running Commentary," and she had filed a report with the police two weeks ago that she was receiving threats.

[Isgrimnur]

NY Times

Standing in front of a giant American flag, Michael Grimm, the former congressman from Staten Island who was forced to resign for felony tax fraud, formally announced on Sunday his candidacy to recapture his old seat.
...
His second life as a candidate would seem to be a remarkable and unlikely turnaround for Mr. Grimm, a former Marine, a former F.B.I. agent, a former congressman and a former felon who served seven months in prison.
...
The brash Mr. Grimm is seeking to revive his political career with an unusual blend of patriotism and victimhood. While apologizing for his past crimes, he said he had faced “the entire Obama Justice Department weaponized against me” and vowed to return to public service.
...
There was no doubt that Mr. Grimm made an impression in his two terms, after winning in the Tea Party wave of 2010. In 2014, he beat back a Democratic challenger while under federal indictment, only to give up his seat when he pleaded guilty to tax fraud for underreporting wages at a restaurant he owned and filing false tax documents.

“I know what he did was wrong. He did his time,” said Cathy Reid, a Staten Island Republican who arrived to support Mr. Grimm’s comeback in a three-wheeled motorcycle, wearing a black helmet with an “If I’d shot you when I wanted, I’d be out by now” sticker on it.

“Every business does that,” she said. “He was made an example of.”

While Mr. Grimm said he was “truly sorry” for his transgressions, saying he wished he was “perfect but I am not,” he also made light of them. He said he first began working for his father at age 11. “Yeah, it was off the books,” he joked.
...
Mr. Grimm once famously threatened to throw a reporter who asked about the federal investigation off a balcony during a television interview. “I’ll break you in half,” Mr. Grimm said then. “Like a boy.”

He initially blamed the reporter for his question but later apologized.

[Moliere]

It's sounding less likely that Chris Christie will be able to appoint a replacement for Bob Menendez.

Corruption case against U.S. Senator Menendez may fall apart

Not so fast!

Judge's ruling deals blow to Menendez

Menendez’s attorneys had asked Walls to dismiss all 18 counts against New Jersey's senior senator. The judge had signaled before court broke last Wednesday that he was sympathetic to the defense’s argument that would have gutted most of those counts — the “stream of benefits” theory, in which a public official's actions can be defined as bribery if those actions can be linked to gifts received over a lengthy period of time.

Prosecutors say co-defendant Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye doctor, provided Menendez with private jet flights, hotel stays and about $750,000 in political contributions in exchange for official favors “as opportunities arose.”

The defense argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2016 decision overturning the corruption conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell invalidated the "stream of benefits" theory.

But after questioning on Wednesday whether the McDonnell decision did away with the theory, Walls — after reading dozens of pages of briefs by the prosecution and defense — decided on Monday it had not.

“This court concludes that a rational jury could determine that the defendants entered into a quid pro quo agreement,” Walls said.

As a result of Walls' ruling, all 18 counts will go before a jury.

[Holman]

link

[El Guapo]

Instead of repealing the estate tax, we could literally buy everyone a pony.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

[Kraken]

Screw ponies. (Not literally, you pervs.) For $1.5T we could have a moon base and a Mars landing.

[LordMortis]

Follow the money....

https://news.vice.com/story/indonesia-d ... seso#Malta

Daphne Caruana Galizia, a journalist who relentlessly investigated corruption in her home country of Malta, was killed Monday afternoon in a car bomb outside her home. One of Malta’s leading politicians has called it “political murder” motivated by her reporting.

“What happened today is not an ordinary killing,” said Adrian Delia, a leader of Malta’s political opposition.

Galizia was perhaps most famous for her reporting linking Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, his wife, and several associates to the Panama Papers, a trove of documents detailing several heads of states’ connections to secret offshore shell companies in Panama. Galizia alleged that Muscat’s wife, Michelle, owned one of these companies, and that the company had received a series of payments from an account linked to the government of Azerbaijan.

[Moliere]

Follow the money....

https://news.vice.com/story/indonesia-d ... seso#Malta

Daphne Caruana Galizia, a journalist who relentlessly investigated corruption in her home country of Malta, was killed Monday afternoon in a car bomb outside her home. One of Malta’s leading politicians has called it “political murder” motivated by her reporting.

“What happened today is not an ordinary killing,” said Adrian Delia, a leader of Malta’s political opposition.

Galizia was perhaps most famous for her reporting linking Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, his wife, and several associates to the Panama Papers, a trove of documents detailing several heads of states’ connections to secret offshore shell companies in Panama. Galizia alleged that Muscat’s wife, Michelle, owned one of these companies, and that the company had received a series of payments from an account linked to the government of Azerbaijan.

Come on now, Isg beat you by 22 hours. It's like you're not even trying.

[LordMortis]

BAM?

On the same page even. I am shamed.

[Isgrimnur]

[Pyperkub]

Instead of repealing the estate tax, we could literally buy everyone a pony.

Where's Mr Fed when you truly need him

[Rip]

Before the Obama administration approved a controversial deal in 2010 giving Moscow control of a large swath of American uranium, the FBI had gathered substantial evidence that Russian nuclear industry officials were engaged in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering designed to grow Vladimir Putin’s atomic energy business inside the United States, according to government documents and interviews.

Federal agents used a confidential U.S. witness working inside the Russian nuclear industry to gather extensive financial records, make secret recordings and intercept emails as early as 2009 that showed Moscow had compromised an American uranium trucking firm with bribes and kickbacks in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, FBI and court documents show.

They also obtained an eyewitness account — backed by documents — indicating Russian nuclear officials had routed millions of dollars to the U.S. designed to benefit former President Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation during the time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton served on a government body that provided a favorable decision to Moscow, sources told The Hill.

The racketeering scheme was conducted “with the consent of higher level officials” in Russia who “shared the proceeds” from the kickbacks, one agent declared in an affidavit years later.

Rather than bring immediate charges in 2010, however, the Department of Justice (DOJ) continued investigating the matter for nearly four more years, essentially leaving the American public and Congress in the dark about Russian nuclear corruption on U.S. soil during a period when the Obama administration made two major decisions benefiting Putin’s commercial nuclear ambitions.
The first decision occurred in October 2010, when the State Department and government agencies on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States unanimously approved the partial sale of Canadian mining company Uranium One to the Russian nuclear giant Rosatom, giving Moscow control of more than 20 percent of America’s uranium supply.

When this sale was used by Trump on the campaign trail last year, Hillary Clinton’s spokesman said she was not involved in the committee review and noted the State Department official who handled it said she “never intervened ... on any [Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States] matter.”

http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... nistration

[GreenGoo]

I look forward to you posting Meuller's results when he finishes. Your concern about russian involved corruption is heartwarming.

[Rip]

I look forward to you posting Meuller's results when he finishes. Your concern about russian involved corruption is heartwarming.

I look forward to Mueller being as interested in burying any Trump wrongdoing as he obviously was in covering for the Clintons.

[hepcat]

It always comes back to the Clintons with you.

Trump just ate a baby on live TV!

Rip: Yeah... but that Hillary.

[GreenGoo]

I look forward to Mueller being as interested in burying any Trump wrongdoing as he obviously was in covering for the Clintons.

Why would you think that? Drumpf has maybe 3 friends in the entire world. You think Mueller is one of them?

[Max Peck]

I look forward to Mueller being as interested in burying any Trump wrongdoing as he obviously was in covering for the Clintons.

Why would you think that? Drumpf has maybe 3 friends in the entire world. You think Mueller is one of them?

Since Mueller didn't cover up anything for the Clintons, it seems Rip doesn't want him to cover up anything for Trump. Quite sporting of him, all things considered.

[Rip]

I look forward to Mueller being as interested in burying any Trump wrongdoing as he obviously was in covering for the Clintons.

Why would you think that? Drumpf has maybe 3 friends in the entire world. You think Mueller is one of them?

Since Mueller didn't cover up anything for the Clintons, it seems Rip doesn't want him to cover up anything for Trump. Quite sporting of him, all things considered.

We shall see.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has launched a full-scale probe into a Russian nuclear bribery case, demanding several federal agencies disclose whether they knew the FBI had uncovered the corruption before the Obama administration in 2010 approved a controversial uranium deal with Moscow.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the committee chairman, gets his first chance to raise the issue in public on Wednesday when he questions Attorney General Jeff Sessions during an oversight hearing.

Though the hearing was scheduled for other purposes, aides said they expected Grassley to ask Sessions questions about a story published in The Hill on Tuesday that disclosed the FBI had uncovered evidence showing Russian nuclear officials were engaged in a racketeering scheme involving bribes, kickbacks and money laundering designed to expand Russian President Vladimir Putin's atomic energy business on U.S. soil.

The evidence was first gathered in 2009 and 2010 but Department of Justice officials waited until 2014 to bring any charges. In between that time, President Obama's multi-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) gave approval to Russia's Rosatom to buy a Canadian mining company called Uranium One that controlled 20 percent of America's uranium deposits.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... ar-bribery

A confidential U.S. witness working in the Russian nuclear industry helped federal agents gather financial records, make secret recordings, and intercept email starting in 2009 that showed Moscow had compromised U.S. trucking company Transport Logistics International, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Officials also acquired documents and an eyewitness account corroborating earlier reports that Russian officials had routed million of dollars into the U.S. to benefit the Clinton Foundation just as Hillary Clinton served on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which endorsed the Uranium One deal.

This racketeering scheme was allegedly conducted "with the consent of higher level officials" in Russia who "shared the proceeds," The Hill reported.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) did not bring immediate charges upon learning of the corruption in 2010, but kept investigating the matter for nearly four more years, leaving the American public and Congress in the dark.

https://pjmedia.com/trending/mueller-kn ... umps-side/

[hepcat]

You're missing the point. Trump is such a goddamn awful human being and such a piss poor president that a lot of folks would actually welcome an intelligent criminal as their leader at this point. Nothing you dig up on Breitbarts or Fox News about how horrible the Clintons are or how devastatingly handsome I am is going to change the fact that Trump is a piece of shit.

[Freyland]

You're missing the point. Trump is such a goddamn awful human being and such a piss poor president that a lot of folks would actually welcome an intelligent criminal as their leader at this point. Nothing you dig up on Breitbarts or Fox News about how horrible the Clintons are or how devastatingly handsome I am is going to change the fact that Trump is a piece of shit.

Clever trap. You get him to dig so deeply that the walls collapse on top of him. Well-played!

[malchior]

https://pjmedia.com/trending/mueller-kn ... umps-side/

Jesus christ on a pogo stick -- this piece is ridiculous.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) did not bring immediate charges upon learning of the corruption in 2010, but kept investigating the matter for nearly four more years, leaving the American public and Congress in the dark.

Knowledge of Russian nuclear corruption on U.S. soil would have been vital to preventing the disastrous 2010 Uranium One deal, but it also might have prevented a lesser known approval in 2011. That year, the Obama administration approved a request from Rosatom's subsidiary Tenex, allowing it to sell commercial uranium to U.S. nuclear power plants (in addition to reprocessed uranium from dismantled Soviet nuclear weapons sold under the Megatons to Megawatts program).

Yes because unlike this imbecile's Law and Order level of knowledge...real world investigations sometimes take a long time. And are usually secret. You don't bring "immediate charges" on basically anything.

Plus how has the Uranium One deal been "disastrous"? As far as I know they simply profit from running the mining operation. Like any other business would. Is that illegal? I have my doubts. The Uranium is still export controlled...so as usual...this sounds like a whole lot of bullshit that seems entirely designed to dirty up Mueller.

[Isgrimnur]

And we know the FBI is all about sharing information freely with other agencies.

[tjg_marantz]

Roy Moore thinks standing up for the anthem is the law

You know what's worse, Trump supports will guzzle this shit up. Who cares about truth.

[hepcat]

For some reason, every time I see Roy Moore I immediately think of Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet.

[Holman]

Why does Moore keep going around in a ten-gallon hat? Alabama isn't cowboy country and never has been.

An Alabama candidate dressing up like a cowboy is every bit as weird as a New Jersey or New York candidate dressing up like a cowboy.

[Smoove_B]

Holy shit, what the hell is happening in Georgia?

Georgia Republican state Representative Betty Price — wife of disgraced former Health and Human Services Sec. Tom Price — has called for HIV-positive people to be quarantined and for their sexual partners to be logged and tracked by the government, according to David Badash at The New Civil Rights Movement.

Price — a physician — made the comments at a Georgia House commission meeting about improving state residents’ access to healthcare. She directed her question to Dr. Pascale Wortley, the director of the HIV Epidemiology Section for Georgia Department of Health.

“(B)efore you proceed if you wouldn’t mind commenting on the surveillance of partners, tracking of contacts, that sort of thing. What are we legally able to do?” asked Price.

“And I don’t want to say the quarantine word,” she went on, “but I guess I just said it. Is there an ability, since I would guess that public dollars are expended heavily in prophylaxis and treatment of this condition, so we have a public interest in curtailing the spread. What would you advise or are there any methods legally that we could do that would curtail the spread?”

In other words, in order for the state save money on HIV prevention and treatment, Georgia should lock up HIV-positive people and subject their sexual partners to government tracking.

[Moliere]

response in 3...2...

1) I was taken out of context
2) I'm sorry (but not really)
3) #FAKENEWS!

[Isgrimnur]

Why do you hate Georgia for trying to create entry-level healthcare and prison quarantine jobs?

[Holman]

response in 3...2...

1) I was taken out of context
2) I'm sorry (but not really)
3) #FAKENEWS!

In Georgia she'll do better by claiming Jesus told her so.

[Smoove_B]

And the same day, Indiana NEP was shut down.

“It was a moral issue with me. I had severe reservations that were going to keep me from approving that motion,” County Commissioner Rodney Fish, who voted against the program, told NBC News. “I did not approach this decision lightly. I gave it a great deal of thought and prayer. My conclusion was that I could not support this program and be true to my principles and my beliefs.”

Before he cast his vote, Fish quoted the Bible — specifically, 2 Chronicles 7. It says, “If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Remember, this was the same NEP that Governor Mike Pence had to be strong-armed into approving, despite the overwhelming evidence that it was the best way to deal with the opioid-driven HIV outbreak occurring in his state. Really, between these two stories, I'm fucking done for tonight.

[Defiant]

The billionaire Andrej Babis is set to be the Czech Republic's next prime minister after his centrist ANO party won 31 percent of the vote in two-day elections that ended Saturday, according to initial poll results. The country's second-richest man and former finance minister has been dubbed the "Czech Trump" for his populist anti-establishment rhetoric — including lambasting the press as morons.

link

[Holman]

In better news, at least some polling shows Jones (Dem) tied with Moore (ISIS) in the Alabama senate race. This is astonishing.

I fully expect the people of Alabama to continue producing the most awful result possible, but close margins give some hope for the future. (Other polls show a wider gap.)

As an off-off-year race, this could come down to turnout, and unfortunately the AL Dems are probably pretty weak organizationally. Parachuting in national staff often doesn't do that much good.

[Pyperkub]

I look forward to Mueller being as interested in burying any Trump wrongdoing as he obviously was in covering for the Clintons.

Why would you think that? Drumpf has maybe 3 friends in the entire world. You think Mueller is one of them?

Since Mueller didn't cover up anything for the Clintons, it seems Rip doesn't want him to cover up anything for Trump. Quite sporting of him, all things considered.

We shall see.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has launched a full-scale probe into a Russian nuclear bribery case, demanding several federal agencies disclose whether they knew the FBI had uncovered the corruption before the Obama administration in 2010 approved a controversial uranium deal with Moscow.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the committee chairman, gets his first chance to raise the issue in public on Wednesday when he questions Attorney General Jeff Sessions during an oversight hearing.

Though the hearing was scheduled for other purposes, aides said they expected Grassley to ask Sessions questions about a story published in The Hill on Tuesday that disclosed the FBI had uncovered evidence showing Russian nuclear officials were engaged in a racketeering scheme involving bribes, kickbacks and money laundering designed to expand Russian President Vladimir Putin's atomic energy business on U.S. soil.

The evidence was first gathered in 2009 and 2010 but Department of Justice officials waited until 2014 to bring any charges. In between that time, President Obama's multi-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) gave approval to Russia's Rosatom to buy a Canadian mining company called Uranium One that controlled 20 percent of America's uranium deposits.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... ar-bribery

A confidential U.S. witness working in the Russian nuclear industry helped federal agents gather financial records, make secret recordings, and intercept email starting in 2009 that showed Moscow had compromised U.S. trucking company Transport Logistics International, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Officials also acquired documents and an eyewitness account corroborating earlier reports that Russian officials had routed million of dollars into the U.S. to benefit the Clinton Foundation just as Hillary Clinton served on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which endorsed the Uranium One deal.

This racketeering scheme was allegedly conducted "with the consent of higher level officials" in Russia who "shared the proceeds," The Hill reported.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) did not bring immediate charges upon learning of the corruption in 2010, but kept investigating the matter for nearly four more years, leaving the American public and Congress in the dark.

https://pjmedia.com/trending/mueller-kn ... umps-side/

Here you go Rip:

On the facts of this particular story, here are a few bullet points:

Hillary Clinton did not approve the sale of controlling interests in Uranium One to Russia in 2010. The State Department was one of nine government agencies and two independent federal nuclear regulators that had to sign off on the deal.
Of the $145 million in donations to the Clinton Foundation, $131 million was from Frank Giustra, founder of UrAsia Energy—the company in which Russia bought controlling interests in 2010. His donation was made in 2007, two years before Clinton became Secretary of State and three years before the 2010 transaction with Russia. Also, Guistra sold his stake in the company in 2007, so he would not have been involved in the uranium deal.
Solomon’s first story last week was about an FBI investigation that began in 2009 and ended in 2015 with plea agreements that Russian nuclear industry officials engaged in a “racketeering scheme” while doing business in the U.S. He reports that these Russians were involved in “extortion, bribery, money laundering and kickbacks that were both directed by and provided benefit to more senior officials back in Russia.” He provides zero evidence that they engaged in kickbacks to any American, much less the Clintons.
Solomon’s latest entry focuses on the fact that the FBI uncovered a scheme early on in the Obama administration in which Russian intelligence operatives attempted to get information about U.S. foreign policy by cozying up to figures involved with the Secretary of State. It is hard to read his account and not think of the recent TV series titled The Americans. At any rate, the idea that the Russians attempted to spy on a member of Obama’s national security team is hardly a surprise.

Anyone wondering why major media outlets are ignoring this latest attempt to dig up old lies about Hillary Clinton need only look at the facts. But as much as Trump and right wing media outlets complain about the lack of coverage, I don’t think they are even attempting to reach a mainstream audience with this story. Instead, it is designed to prep Trump’s supporters for coming news from the investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election

[Rip]

Not over yet, things that get buried have a way of getting dug up.

http://www.newsweek.com/obama-and-clint ... ans-688758

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday night requested permission to interview an undercover informant who helped FBI agents compile evidence of Russia racketeering before the 2010 deal approved by President Barack Obama’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which included then-Secretary of State Clinton.

Department of Justice officials threatened the informant in a lawsuit litigated during November’s presidential election when he attempted to disclose some of the findings, forcing him to step back from taking legal action, his lawyer Victoria Toensing told The Hill. The informant, whose identity has not been made public, could not disclose information he gathered over a nearly five-year period because he signed a nondisclosure agreement with the FBI, according to Toensing.

Like the Obama administration, Clinton ... the CFIUS.

[Pyperkub]

Not over yet, things that get buried have a way of getting dug up.

http://www.newsweek.com/obama-and-clint ... ans-688758

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday night requested permission to interview an undercover informant who helped FBI agents compile evidence of Russia racketeering before the 2010 deal approved by President Barack Obama’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which included then-Secretary of State Clinton.

Department of Justice officials threatened the informant in a lawsuit litigated during November’s presidential election when he attempted to disclose some of the findings, forcing him to step back from taking legal action, his lawyer Victoria Toensing told The Hill. The informant, whose identity has not been made public, could not disclose information he gathered over a nearly five-year period because he signed a nondisclosure agreement with the FBI, according to Toensing.

Like the Obama administration, Clinton ... the CFIUS.

The actual committee consists of:

The members of CFIUS include the heads of the following departments and offices:

Department of the Treasury (chair)
Department of Justice
Department of Homeland Security
Department of Commerce
Department of Defense
Department of State
Department of Energy
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
Office of Science & Technology Policy

The following offices also observe and, as appropriate, participate in CFIUS’s activities:

Office of Management & Budget
Council of Economic Advisors
National Security Council
National Economic Council
Homeland Security Council

so you are basically saying they were all bought and paid for... mostly by a guy who didn't have an interest in the company at the time of the deal and donated all his money to Clinton even before most of them were even on the Committee.

[Zarathud]

The Trump administration is going to argue a non-disclosure agreement is non-binding? Make my day.

[Rip]

https://www.salon.com/2017/10/23/robert ... y-podesta/

Much like the mid-90s saw story after story showing how extensive Chinese government operations within U.S. politics were, the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election is demonstrating the size of Russia's.

That's the overall takeaway from a series of news reports, including one from NBC that indicated that special prosecutor Robert Mueller has been investigating the business dealings of Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta. His firm, the Podesta Group, is one of several that did work on behalf of Paul Manafort, the former campaign chair of President Donald Trump's campaign.

Manafort, who has told friends that he expects to be indicted by Mueller, has been under investigation for his work on behalf of a number of Russian billionaires with interests in Ukraine and elsewhere — all of whom are closely connected to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Podesta's firm was hired to do lobbying by Manafort on behalf of an outfit called the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine (ECMU), which itself was hired to burnish the image of Ukraine's then-president, who was closely tied to Moscow.

According to NBC's sources, Mueller's inquiry into the Podesta Group has expanded into whether it violated U.S. legal requirements that American individuals and corporations formally disclose their work on behalf of foreign governments. The failure to file under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) is a felony and can result in up to five years' imprisonment. Prosecutions of FARA violations are rare and are often used as leverage in larger cases.

Neither the Podesta Group nor Manafort made their FARA disclosures until their work was exposed by media reports.

[hepcat]

I love Rip’s coffee cup posts. He usually doesn’t realize he’s also proving many of us right about this administration. Just because someone else did something wrong doesn’t mean you’re vindicated in any way.