Showing posts with label Jared Kushner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jared Kushner. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Will Deutsche Bank be Trump's nemesis?


The culprit
It is pathetic that a bank would have an "anti-money laundering" department but in my naive moment there is the realization that these are the times and all we can do is cope with it. Deutsche Bank employees in that section reportedly...
"recommended turning over information about transactions by entities owned by President Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to a government watchdog in 2016 and 2017, but the bank's executives apparently declined to do so."
It had to do with transactions connected to the now-dissolved Trump Foundation, discovered by the bank's computer system, designed to reveal illegal activity. Five current and former employees were involved, which led to a later report they thought should be sent to the Treasury Department for investigation. It wasn't. The transactions weren't spelled out...
"some of them involved money going between the entities and foreign companies or individuals."
The NYT says it ain't necessarily true because "sometimes complete large cash transactions that can cause a review to be triggered without any actual wrongdoing." Thus, the reason for no report. Apparently Deutsche Bank treads lightly on this kind of issue according to Tammy McFadden, a former Deutsche Bank employee who looked into some of the transactions. She continued, “It’s the D.B. way. They are prone to discounting everything.”

The Hill reported...
"McFadden told the Times that she was fired after she questioned the bank's practices and has since filed complaints to regulators about what she sees as its lack of enforcement."
Well now, that doesn't seem kosher, and is it just another example of the shady deals of the Trump family? The Hill also says...
"Deutsche Bank has loaned billions of dollars to the Trump and Kushner companies. Federal and state authorities are currently reviewing the bank's relationship with President Trump."
The NYT also revealed the...
"staff of Deutsche Bank were hired especially for their expertise of money-laundering."
Now doesn't that beat all. Trump biographer David Cay Johnston said...
“We know for a fact that Donald Trump has been involved in money laundering in the past, fined for it. We know that Deutsche Bank is fined over $600 million just for laundering money for Russian oligarchs and are nondenial denials. The Trump Organization said we never heard of this. Why would you? It was locked up in the bank. The bank said we didn’t stop anyone. The story makes it clear.”
Finally, from the Times...
“So, in addition, The Times has a pregnant line in it. It says that is there are other, ‘politically connected people’ who also were swept up,” Johnston said. 'It’s clear that David Enrich, a very good reporter at The New York Times has seen these documents and other people whose money laundering suspicion of money laundering activities were also apparently quashed by the people at the private banking unit of Deutsche Bank in New York. This is for Donald Trump a really serious problem.'”
We can only hope that David Cay Johnston's assessment is correct.

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Jared Kushner: The 2016 Russian interference "a couple of Facebook ads.”


Jared Kushner has finally made a statement since the release of the Mueller Report, and it is typically Trump-family stupid. He said the "Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election didn’t amount to more than a couple of ads on Facebook." Let's look at the facts...
"Russian agents actually purchased about 3,500 Facebook ads during the 2016 presidential campaign, spending more than $1 million a month to reach about 10 million users. Meanwhile, Russian agents also purchased ads on Instagram and created thousands of bot accounts on Twitter that almost exclusively spread propaganda aimed at helping Trump by damaging Hillary Clinton."
Kushner, who is repeatedly mentioned in the Mueller Report and is considered easier to indict after its release, according to an ex-Watergate lawyer, actually made the following statement...
“You look at what Russia did, buying some Facebook ads to try to sow dissent and do it, and it’s a terrible thing. But I think the investigations and all of the speculation that’s happened for the last two years has had a much harsher impact on our democracy than a couple of Facebook ads.”
This from a man who had questionable credentials for a White House security clearance, and still faces a potential indictment for his part in the Russian investigation. Vox explains his participation...
"He was in the room during the infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between a Russian lawyer who had promised dirt on Hillary Clinton as 'part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump' and suggested creating a secret back channel to communicate directly with the Kremlin, going around US intelligence. He’s mentioned many times in Mueller’s report for these and other activities that still have not been fully explained."
In addition, Kushner completely avoided talking about "the Kremlin-orchestrated hacking campaign against Democratic targets — hacks that resulted in WikiLeaks publishing tranches of emails online during key stretches of the 2016 campaign." In other words, it is all about selective editing of the truth and then modifying that into another Donald Trump lie. And the beat goes on.

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Is someone in the White House selling security clearances?


Trump-Kushner
Here's the scenario. With the White House run by a maniac, everybody wants to get a front row seat for the performance. But government policy says you must have a security clearance which is: a determination by the United States Government that a person or company is eligible for access to classified information. No problem, the Trump family has used this administration to promote everything from beauty products to Trump Towers, why not security clearances? Let's see, they should go for at least 500 big ones.

OK, here's the real scenario...
"An 18-year White House employee told congressional investigators that she and other career staffers denied security clearances for 25 Trump administration officials, including three 'very senior' officials, only to see most of those recommendations overturned."
The employee was Tricia Newbold, and she was interviewed by the staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Here's a summary of her interview. The leading suspect seems to be Jared Kushner, and here is what Newbold said...
"in the case of one official, named only as Senior White House Official 1, staff denied the security clearance request after a background investigation revealed 'significant disqualifying factors, including foreign influence, outside activities ... and personal conduct.'"
And at that point, Ivanka said, 'Don't worry, hon, Daddy will fix it,' and he did.

Thursday, November 2, 2017

Jared Kushner on Trump's Shit list


Who is "The Hair" waving goodbye to?
Ruled by most in the administration and Congress as the worst adviser ever to hit the White House, Jared Kushner may be at the end of his rope. Trump blames him for the James Comey firing. He also thinks he is responsible for Mueller's expanding probe, with the special prosecutor indicating he is ready to move into White House interviews. Sam Nunberg says Trump is f**ked, near paralyzed with fear of impeachment only exhibited to insiders, and his popularity rating is an abysmal 33 percent. Should he decide to fire Mueller, will the house of cards fall? With this Republican Congress, it's questionable.

Jared Kushner on the ropes...

Robert Mueller wants to interview White House aides...

Steve Bannon advises Trump to confront Mueller...

Sam Nunberg says Trump is f**ked...

Friday, June 2, 2017

More heads should roll in the Trump administration


Call my headline in poor taste but still considering all the negative media Kathy Griffin is getting, what she did reflects the total disdain for the lunatic who currently sits in the Oval Office. Her act is distasteful because the person in question is the president of the United States and you do not disgrace that office. While in the Navy I complained because I had to salute an officer for which I had no respect. The officer I worked for told me to just keep in mind that you are saluting the rank, not the man. I choose to believe Griffin had contempt for the man, certainly not for the office.

So, to move on, and, by the way, how do those of you who denounce my headline, know I wasn't taking about the recent firing of Mike Dubke, Trump's communications director? I wasn't. Whatever, let's move on to the substance of my headline, those who should be next in line to go, starting with Jared Kushner. We know Donald Trump gloats over his overrated family, whose accomplishments all seem to stem from the Trump name. And there would be no Trump "name" if DT's father, Fred, hadn't given him $14 million to start his real estate enterprise, plus all Fred's business connections.

Now Jared Kushner's father took a different course to success than Trump's; he was convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering, and served time in federal prison on his way to his $1.8 billion fortune. And according to Sen. Al Franken, Jared "...may have broken the law with Russia communications." Franken said further...
"White House senior adviser Jared Kushner’s reported efforts to set up a back-channel line of communication between the transition team of President Donald Trump and the Russian government is a 'pretty bad breach,' one that could be against the law and should prompt consideration about a revocation of his security clearance."
Now this is the same thing we have been hearing about lately re. the fact that Kushner proposed a meeting with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. in order to establish a secret means of communications between the Kremlin and Trump’s transition team that would keep out the U.S. intelligence community. Apparently, Kushner failed to disclose his contacts with Russian officials. Franken commented, “This is a pretty bad breach. These guys, the administration, they're not acting like people who have nothing to hide.”

Steve Bannon
Another one who should go who seems to be holding on by only his relationship with Trump, is Steve Bannon, who hasn't been in the news lately. Until yesterday, when Trump announced the United States will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, a decision most likely provoked by his chief strategist, Steve Bannon. The nationalist won, the U.S. and the world lost. Some say the Paris deal would have hurt the U.S. economy, but Dozens of CEOs have been lobbying President Donald Trump to stay in the deal. China, world's largest carbons polluter stayed in the Paris agreement.

The U.S., second largest carbons polluter, exited the agreement. There were 197 participants, 147 ratifying the agreement. But apparently Steve Bannon's whiteboard explains Donald Trump's climate decision, plus a number of other priorities on the nationalist's agenda that we can look forward to in the future. That is, if he isn't dumped with Kushner. Even the Southern Poverty Law Center says that Bannon has no business in the White House. "We're the platform for the alt-right," Bannon said in July, using a term that is really just a rebranding of traditional white nationalism.
Kellyanne Conway and friend
And then there's Kellyanne Conway...what can one say. Here's what Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC said, "White House counselor Kellyanne Conway is not credible anymore, and won't be booked in the future on “Morning Joe.”  The woman can't help lying...look who she works for. If Trump should dump her, there is the possibility that she could replace Kathy Griffin on CNN's New Year's Eve show. Anderson Cooper is going to be desperately in need of someone who can make him laugh as much as Griffin. Conway's stupefaction is classic on all fronts.

If my headline has offended anyone, well, that's life under the Donald Trump administration.

Friday, April 7, 2017

Friday T-rump STUPID Roundup


After campaigning as the champion of the working class, Donald Trump has carefully organized an enclave of only the rich to advise him. "...disclosures showed that Trump’s top aides have generated millions of dollars from Wall Street, Hollywood, real estate and the media, holding a slew of investments that intensify the administration’s challenge in navigating potential intersections between officials’ personal finances and their policymaking roles." It all adds up to $2.3 billion. Being the Democratic Socialist I am, can you imagine breaking that up among the U.S. homeless?

Donald John's head of the Federal Communications Commission wants to halt small and rural Internet providers from offering subsidized broadband connections to low-income Americans nationwide. The reason given has to do with a Reagan era act called Lifeline, that provided subsidies for seniors, veterans and rural Americans that is more state run than federal. "Opponents of the decision said the move will limit struggling Americans' ability to choose a good provider, particularly in rural or low-income areas." Anyway you cut it, they're telling business what they can do.

The Daily Beast makes the statement that Jared Kushner is perhaps the only Donald Trump adviser that cannot be fired. Even if he starts WW III? And with the stupidity that surrounds this clan, and the fact that Kushner appears to be circumventing State department power, with absolutely no experience in foreign policy, I personally think it's possible. This all comes from the fact that former adviser, Roger Stone, claimed to host Alex Jones that Trump’s own son-in-law Jared Kushner was leaking information to MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough. Want to reconsider DJ?

What does Donald Trump do when his top adviser resorts to juvenile behavior, and it is with his second top adviser? But wait, there's another factor here; number one is his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Number two is Steve Bannon, the trusted white nationalist aide who Trump has placed a lot of trust in for advice. But now Bannon has been removed from the National Security Table, as Ivanks joins her husband in complaining about Stevo's ideologies and their negative effects on daddy's issues. Like Stan Freberg said: High School Ooh Ooh.

ISIS just described Donald Trump in Arabic terms as an "idiot," which is close enough to stupid to be included in this post. And there is a reason for this they use, saying he doesn't know anything about Islam. I doubt seriously if he is well versed on the faith, but this would explain his stupidity for banning entry to the U.S. of some predominantly Muslim nations by lumping all Islamists into one group of terrorists. "Trump has pledged to 'totally obliterate ISIS,'" according to a piece in NBC News. This bit of strategy no doubt compliments of Steve Bannon.

And finally, John Oliver, host of the HBO political talk-show Last Week Tonight, has dubbed Donald Trump's Russian connection as "Stupid Watergate." Oliver says it is, “a potential scandal with all of the intrigue of Watergate except everyone involved is really bad at everything.” If Donald John is really trying to cover up something, he's doing a worse job than Richard Nixon. Devin Nunes, is out, Mike Conaway is in, wearing a Trump "Make America Great Again" cap. Odds are he could be worse than Nunes but there's no doubt who he favors from the get go.






Friday, March 24, 2017

Weekend wrap-up of T-rump STUPIDS



It doesn't take much to collect a full body of stupid acts on the part of the Trump administration, but in many cases they are too little for a full-coverage post so I decided to wrap a bunch into a neat bundle and present it to you today. Here they are.

7 of 10 Americans disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling the healthcare situation. The Quinnipiac poll also found that DT, the man, is viewed poorly. He even fares worse on a Fox poll than he does on CNN re. healthcare. Donald John, in taking over the GOP's new healthcare bill, has managed to alienate the Freedom Caucus and other conservatives as well, to the extent that a vote on Thursday, March 23, had to be reschedule for today. There simply weren't enough votes on Thursday. IS OBAMACARE INVINCIBLE?

Sean Spicer doesn't like the press and so far they are returning the favor. That is the worst possible position a President's White House Press Secretary could be in, but, then, it reflects the exact position of the President he works for. In this kind of situation the President loses, but more important, the American people lose. Trump ran his 2016 campaign like a war room, and he and his administration are doing the same with the U.S. government. Following a conglomeration of muddled references to Trump's sources on the wiretaps, Spicer ends by saying Obama was helped in the wiretapping by the GCHQ, initials for the British intelligence finding agency. WHEN CONTACTED, THE BRITS SAID NO FREAKING WAY.

Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos allow student loan companies to gouge students again due to a high rise of defaults. Rather than find the cause of the unpaid loans, Trump/DeVos decided to do away with Obama's Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program, forbidding agencies from charging fees for up to 16 percent of the principal and accrued interest owed on the loans, if the borrower entered the government’s loan rehabilitation program within 60 days of default. But in one case in particular, a loan company had assessed an exorbitant amount for defaulting, after agreeing to work with the student on a reduced payment schedule. PROVING...YOU CAN'T TRUST BUSINESS.

Nepotism is alive and thriving in Donald Trump's White House. Okay, the latest is that Kellyanne Conway's husband will be given a job in the Justice Department. "If confirmed by the Senate, George Conway would lead an office that would handle legal challenges to major Trump administration initiatives, such as the controversial travel ban." It started out with Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump's husband who was made a senior adviser to the President. His first diplomatic venture ended in failure as Great Britain rebuffed his efforts to push back votes on Israeli settlements until after the inauguration, supposedly as a favor to Netanyahu. Then, big daddy's daughter, Ivanka, is set to join daddy's administration as an unspecified, but reportedly influential policy role, and with that comes an office in the West Wing and top secret security clearance. Just what we need, a gang of Trumps out there running around with secrets about this country with no idea whatsoever the importance of what they hold. IN THIS CASE, NEPOTISM SHOULD BE ILLEGAL.

Even the Germans laugh at America's White House buffoon. The Daily Beast reports, "Trump Meets the German Press, and They Laugh At Him," their headline, followed by, "The American President, meeting his German counterpart, keeps taking victory laps, ripping reporters and ignoring the substance of tough questions." You would think the world's top narcissist would back off when going to visit one of the best allies the U.S. has had for years. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel was reserved and it would appear that she might just have been willing to let Donald John hang himself. He did, even appearing "impatient and restless as he stood at the podium." He continued by mocking a German reporter and later put down the U.S. in a statement about this county's trade failures, particularly NAFTA. BETTER KEEP DT HOME CUTTING THE WHITE HOUSE LAWN.

And finally, this huge Trump billboard that was recently erected in Phoenix of a "...menacing Donald Trump... flanked by mushroom clouds and swastikas configured like dollar signs." It is the blog picture today and, surprisingly, the Trump good-ole-boys haven't gone after it. Yet. It's owner, Karen Fiorito, a California resident, says, "I think a lot of people are feeling this way and I'm just trying to express what I think is on a lot of people's minds these days," followed by, "Something that really concerned us was this idea of a dictatorship where things were going in a certain direction." And if you look very closely at Donald John, you'll see a Russian flag on his lapel. She did the same thing for George W. Bush in 2004. By the way, she says the Donald Trump billboard will stay there as long as he is in the White House. UMMM...MAYBE ENOUGH OF THESE AROUND THE COUNTRY?

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!








Friday, February 17, 2017

Political Satire: Running from the Oval Office Trump screams FIRE...FIRE



It was 2AM in the White House when Donald Trump emerged from the Oval Office, smartphone held high, screaming that there was a fire, when he ran into Kellyanne Conway stalking Steve Bannon. She thought he was NBC's Chuck Todd. KC said, "What the hell are you talking about? Where?"

"Right here on my phone you idiot, and you are one of the main reasons."

"If you keep hurting my feelings, I'll go on TV and tell everyone your gardener does your hair."

He thought about that for a minute and decided to change the subject. "KC, they're getting way too close to the truth about my connections to Russia, and you know how much I hate the truth. By the way, have you ever told the truth?"

She thought so long that Donald John went on. "When I told my campaign to get in touch with Russian officials about Hillary and the Democratic National Committee, they told me no one would ever know. The question now is how to hang them out to dry and get me off the hook. If you can ace that, I'll put you in charge of Steve Bannon."

"Goody, goody," was the reply, and she immediately tweeted, 'White House learns that it was Jared Kushner who set up contacts with Russia to do the hacking and is the close friend of Vladimir Putin.' She looked at her phone satisfied that she was still able to lie like the pro she was. 'Two birds with one stone." Then, "That'll teach him to try and keep me out of the White House.

The real story...

Political Satire: White House renamed Looney Bin



The transition from a perfectly normal White House, with a normal President and his normal family, to this...
We have a President who wasn't elected by the popular vote, who is a tweet mongering lunatic and pathological liar. If that weren't enough, he brings along a family, not just to join him occasionally in the White House, but to help him run the government. Without the slightest idea of what they are doing. Of course, neither does Donald Trump as President.
 E.J. Dionne sums it up best in his Washington Post headline: "Admit it: Trump is unfit to serve"

I could stop right now, having made my case for ridding this country of a demagogue who will surely, if given the time, bring the United States down to its knees. But unfortunately there is more...
Donald John sends his son in law, Jared Kushner, Ivanka's husband, to the middle-east for peace negotiations because 1)he s a real estate salesman, 2) he's Ivanka's husband, 3) he's a Jew. As a comparison, a recent negotiator was former Senator and presidential candidate, John Kerry.
Donald John goes wacko when Nordstrom drops his daughter, Ivanks's, clothes line spending a couple days tweeting nonsensical tirades against the company--prompting two other retailers to do the same--mostly ignoring the job he was elected to do,. 
Donald John names Steve Bannon his chief strategist. For what, to promote an administration of white nationalists that is already lopsided with racists like Jeff Sessions, the new Attorney General, and Donald Trump himself, with his first Executive Order to ban immigrants from the country. 
And, of course, the continued cultivation of his twin pathological liar and all around ringmaster of the White House lunatics, Kellyanne Conway. If there is anyone in the lineup of Trump flunkeys that should be kept out of the public eye and cutting the White House lawn, it is KC. 
In closing, Dionne's concerns over Trump's loyalties bother me most and should matter to the wingnuts that elected him. I'm thinking, as we can hold someone accountable legally for libel, there should be a way to make Trump supporters accountable for what this maniac is doing to our country.

The real story...

Donald Trump Says He Will Be Indicted On Tuesday

  THAT'S TODAY... Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has brought the case to this point, now looking at a possible indictment. Trum...