President Donald Trump's Final Days...

[crinolynne]

Originally Posted by Brian249x

History is filled with accounts of populations being overrun by larger, more warlike groups or those with superior weapons technology. My maternal ancestry is Irish, for example. Ireland does not have sources of copper, iron, and tin on the island. Thus, it was overrun and enslaved by those who were able to make weapons with those minerals, first by the Vikings, then by the British. You may notice that the northeastern quadrant of the country is still under British occupation. Other recent examples include Crimea, Palestine, and Tibet.

The councils of elders of the Five Civilized Tribes urged assimilation, which most tribal members did. However, groups of younger warriors refused to follow the counsel of traditional leaders and raided white settlements, slaughtering men, women, and children. Not much excuse was needed to grab off the already established farms of the settled Indians and forcibly relocate the tribes to what turned out to be oil rich lands in Oklahoma. It was violent and ugly. So was the war of 1861-1865 over slavery.

My paternal ancestors helped overrun upstate New York, Western Pennsylvania, Northern Ohio, and Michigan. Deal with it.

Ah, I see you take my point to which I offer the rejoinder about the poor enslaved Irish. They invaded Scotland and dealt a death blow to the Picts, in a curious preview of the massacre of Glencoe. We're all innocent, and we're all guilty and we should own that. That is dealing with it, most people just can't see and don't deal with it. Like the GOP in the case of Mr T.

[crinolynne]

Originally Posted by Brian249x

They say it's bank fraud,

During Mr T's tirade a the Syria photo-op, he made reference to Hillary's emails as being "acid-washed". Suggests an over familiarity with methods used to destroy evidence...

[Arturo2nd]

Originally Posted by crinolynne

Ah, I see you take my point to which I offer the rejoinder about the poor enslaved Irish. They invaded Scotland and dealt a death blow to the Picts, in a curious preview of the massacre of Glencoe. We're all innocent, and we're all guilty and we should own that. That is dealing with it, most people just can't see and don't deal with it. Like the GOP in the case of Mr T.

Much like African Americans tend to overlook that Africans were selling other Africans as slaves to the Romans, then the Arabs and Turks long before they sold them to Europeans for transport to the Americas. Eye witness accounts suggest that surplus captives were sacrificed to the gods. So, in a sense the slaves were the lucky ones. Admittedly they were better off with the Romans and Muslims who traditionally freed their slaves after a period of service, if they hadn't been worked to death beforehand.

As far as the Native peoples of the Americas, it is now believed that their populations were devastated by European diseases to which they lacked immunity upon first contact. Much of North America seemed sparsely inhabited because the populations had been greatly reduced by plagues before explorers began investigating. The rule has always been that the land was always yours if you were there first and could defend it. If you couldn't defend it, you were pushed to marginal lands, enslaved or exterminated. It is not nice, fair or just, but it is the way the game is played.

Now, if you manage to survive, re-infiltrate, and out breed the conquerors as the Latino population appears to be doing, the land can be yours again. Just ask the Iranians, Turks and Russians how they handled the Mongols. There is also some evidence that left to their own devices, the White folks will return title to the lands by gambling it away in Indian casinos.

Cannibalism is currently under a dark cloud, but in the event of massive crop failures and the collapse of the world's fisheries, that will change in a hurry.

[AmateurEmale]

@scoundrel: You seem to give Nixon a little credit, while recognizing his personal shortcomings. Most young people remember Nixon for ending the draft and Vietnam, but he also was racist and super-corrupt. In my opinion, Reagan and Bush Sr. were respectable men, but every Republican candidate since (Dole, Bush Jr., McCain, Romney) were totally devoid of charisma or the qualities of a statesman. After 20 years of such people, Donald Trump with his flamboyant personality and utterly opinionated attitude is their idea of change...

[HugoHackenbush]

Based on what I've read today (and it's early yet) this action against Cohen comes from the Justice Department itself based on a tip from Mueller, not from Mueller's office.

Since the documents seized could potentially implicate the attorney-client privilege, an awful lot of people had to sign off on the warrant, including a Federal Judge.

But it is Trump and Cohen themselves who have put themselves into this situation. Both Trump and Cohen have said Trump did not know about the payment to Stormy Daniels. This makes whatever Cohen did for Trump NOT attorney-client privileged. So either Trump has to come out and admit he did know about it after all (very embarrassing) and thus protect the evidence just seized or Cohen gets thrown under the bus and takes the fall. I am not well versed in the laws on money laundering, but Cohen taking out a personal loan, paying it to a newly created dummy company, who in turn pays it to Stormy Daniels lawyer, who in turn pays it to Stormy, kind of seems like money laundering to me. If it turns out Trump or the Trump campaign paid him back, then it seems to me to be very clear money laundering.

[frank07]

Originally Posted by crinolynne

During Mr T's tirade a the Syria photo-op, he made reference to Hillary's emails as being "acid-washed". Suggests an over familiarity with methods used to destroy evidence...

Sure he wasn't thinking about the jeans he used to wear in the 80s?

[frank07]

Originally Posted by HugoHackenbush

Based on what I've read today (and it's early yet) this action against Cohen comes from the Justice Department itself based on a tip from Mueller, not from Mueller's office.

Since the documents seized could potentially implicate the attorney-client privilege, an awful lot of people had to sign off on the warrant, including a Federal Judge.

But it is Trump and Cohen themselves who have put themselves into this situation. Both Trump and Cohen have said Trump did not know about the payment to Stormy Daniels. This makes whatever Cohen did for Trump NOT attorney-client privileged. So either Trump has to come out and admit he did know about it after all (very embarrassing) and thus protect the evidence just seized or Cohen gets thrown under the bus and takes the fall. I am not well versed in the laws on money laundering, but Cohen taking out a personal loan, paying it to a newly created dummy company, who in turn pays it to Stormy Daniels lawyer, who in turn pays it to Stormy, kind of seems like money laundering to me. If it turns out Trump or the Trump campaign paid him back, then it seems to me to be very clear money laundering.

Cohen also made money out of New York Taxi medallions. The FBI are also investigating that. Cohen owes $37,000 in back taxes to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in connection with the medallions.

Taxi medallions used to be a good investment before uber came on the scene. They were also an ideal front for money laundering.

Methinks Cohen is fucked.

As the great Rick Wilson so succinctly puts it:

"Everything Trump touches dies".

[scoundrel]

Money laundering is being mentioned quite a bit in connection with the Stormy Daniels pay-off and all that; but for clarity I think it is worth pointing out that money laundering is about disguising the proceeds of crime and making it appear to be a legitimate cash flow arising from lawful income or capital gains. No matter how nefarious the pay-off from an ethical or "moral" point of view, for the money-laundering aspect to hold water you would need to demonstrate that the source of the funds was the proceeds of crime. Unless new facts are publicised, I think that one is a non-runner.

[Arturo2nd]

Originally Posted by AmateurEmale

@scoundrel: You seem to give Nixon a little credit, while recognizing his personal shortcomings. Most young people remember Nixon for ending the draft and Vietnam, but he also was racist and super-corrupt. In my opinion, Reagan and Bush Sr. were respectable men, but every Republican candidate since (Dole, Bush Jr., McCain, Romney) were totally devoid of charisma or the qualities of a statesman. After 20 years of such people, Donald Trump with his flamboyant personality and utterly opinionated attitude is their idea of change...

Actually, Ronald Reagan was up to his armpits in mob ties, too. Check out what happened with MCA while Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild and supposedly taking care of his fellow actors. Sidney Korshak is a person of particular interest in Mr. Reagan's rise to prominence. Korshak also had ties to Jerry Brown and his father, as well as former Governor Gray Davis. So, he had both parties covered in California.

Bush Sr may have overseen the CIA & Columbian drug cartel arrangement to raise funds for programs that Congress would not approve. The banking was done in Panama; Noriega was a key part of the network. It is believed Noriega was threatening to blow the cover in response to Congressional Republican threats to repudiate the treaty passing control of the Panama Canal to Panama, which was why he was overthrown and stuffed away in a U.S. federal prison.

Sometimes finding out more about connections and relationships between various people in government and industry in the United States can be a disillusioning experience. Donald Trump is kind of chump change in these circles.

[frank07]

Originally Posted by Brian249x

Actually, Ronald Reagan was up to his armpits in mob ties, too. Check out what happened with MCA while Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild and supposedly taking care of his fellow actors. Sidney Korshak is a person of particular interest in Mr. Reagan's rise to prominence. Korshak also had ties to Jerry Brown and his father, as well as former Governor Gray Davis. So, he had both parties covered in California.

Bush Sr may have overseen the CIA & Columbian drug cartel arrangement to raise funds for programs that Congress would not approve. The banking was done in Panama; Noriega was a key part of the network. It is believed Noriega was threatening to blow the cover in response to Congressional Republican threats to repudiate the treaty passing control of the Panama Canal to Panama, which was why he was overthrown and stuffed away in a U.S. federal prison.

Sometimes finding out more about connections and relationships between various people in government and industry in the United States can be a disillusioning experience. Donald Trump is kind of chump change in these circles.

And the Kennedys, of course ...