Smoke and mirrors!
A glib young man I knew, back in the days when we were attempting to
"sell" the NFB to every blind man, woman and child, saw himself
climbing over the backs of the membership, to his "proper" place in
the leadership. He believed himself so gifted, verbally, that his
favorite slogan was, "If I can't dazzle them with my brilliance, I'll
baffle them with my bull shit!" I'm sure you can accurately guess
which of those he had the most of.
But over the years I've seen far too many of his clones lying and
smirking their way to the top. And the worst of it is, a large number
of folks buy into the lies, defending this broken system and believing
that this is truly the Greatest Nation on Earth. I tuned into NPR
News on my radio, this Sunday morning. The hour began with an
interview with two Trump voters, explaining why they believe that the
President has carried out some of his basic promises, and how we
should all support "our" president in order to help him reach all his
goals and return our Great Nation to its Former Greatness! From
there, in order to regain my sanity, I tuned to a breath of fresh air,
Richard D. Wolff.
Carl Jarvis
On 5/14/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
It truly amazes me that of all the people who commented on Shattered, the
book about Hillary's campaign, only one, Norman Solomon, pointed out the
passage toward the end of the book which describes how John Podesta decides
to concoct a story about how Russia's interference with the campaign is the
reason for Hillary's loss. Everyone else either writes about, or talks about
what they think they read, that she couldn't express the reason for running.
She clearly knew why she was running. She thought it was her turn to become
President. What they are referring to is the fact that she couldn't come up
with a clear message that people would accept. But the fact that the
campaign made up a story about Russia's being responsible for her loss, goes
unreported. Apparently, only Norman Solomon and I noticed that piece of
information.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, May 14, 2017 1:24 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian
Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the
Netherlands
What was it Will Rogers said? "Everything I know,I read in the paper." The
updated version would say, "Everything I know I read in the papers or heard
on radio, TV or on the Internet".
My mother would listen to my sisters and me spin a tale of some event we'd
heard during the day. "Don't believe everything you hear," she would
counsel us. Today's grown up children seem to have forgotten that
warning...or perhaps their mothers never gave them that piece of wise
advice. But whatever the case, and whatever the reason, far too many of us
forget how to activate our brains and put it in the "investigate" mode.
Sometimes we go about confusing ourselves. As a small boy, I liked to
believe that every tomorrow was Saturday. Some of us are confused by
deliberate lies from people who should not be lying. When I lied as a boy,
out came the bar of soap and mother's strong hand on the back of my neck.
"Wash those lies out of your mouth," she would scold. Some of us, like
Chicken Little, go flapping about spreading fear to the entire chicken yard
without so much of an understanding of what we are doing. Which brings me
to the wonderful tales being spread about...no, gossiped to one and all who
will listen, as if it were the Gospel Truth.
Over the years, both in my work as a Washington State Employee, and as a
Political Activist, I've been witness to the smearing of more than a few of
my friends. Good people who dared to swim upstream against the current of
current opinion. As a blind man, actively fighting for equal rights for the
blind, I've had my reputation smeared by the very president of the very
organization in which I believed I was assisting in our battle for First
Class Citizenship. Several of my closest friends had their careers ruined
by investigative news paper and TV reporters, who cared not at all if they
destroyed someone, just so long as it sold advertising. Once shock gossip
is set loose, it always leaves a stain on the integrity of the victim.
So before I buy into just whose mobsters are strong arming whom, and which
corrupt officials trump(no pun intended) whose, I want to check the facts.
Too many people who are fighting for our Rights, are being dragged through
the mud.
Carl Jarvis
On 5/13/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
That's certainly not my intention. Look, Putin is an authoritarian
leader of a country that doesn't have any real experience with
democracy. However, it is a country of people, real people just like
us. And it has a complicated history, particularly in relation to the
US government. Since Americans have been bombarded with anti-Russian
propaganda from the beginning of the Russian revolution with only a
short respite during the time that Russia was considered an ally
during World War 2, Americans are easy to convince that the Russian
government is the villain in any scenario. And, of course, people
choose which stories to read and which facts to believe. So I don't
expect to convince you to think differently than you do. However, from
all of the articles I've read and all of the people I've heard
discussing Russia over the past 3 years, and from all the books and
articles I've read about Donald Trump, I think what he is trying to
hide is all of the debts he owes to foreign businessmen.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Frank
Ventura
Sent: Saturday, May 13, 2017 5:47 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Donald Trump's Financial Ties to
Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary
from the Netherlands
When you talk about Russian mobsters and the Russian government I
think you are talking one in the same.
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Miriam
Vieni
Sent: Saturday, May 13, 2017 3:34 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian
Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the
Netherlands
And this is what I think the Russian connection is, not Putin's
official government, but all these dubious business connections.
Miriam
Alternet
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters
Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands
Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters
Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands
By Steven Rosenfeld [1] / AlterNet [2]
May 12, 2017
Donald Trump's business partners have included Russian oligarchs and
convicted mobsters, which could make the president guilty of criminal
racketeering charges.
That's one of the eyebrow-raising takeaways from a 45-minute Dutch
documentary that aired last week, titled The Dubious Friends of Donald
Trump, Part 1: The Russians. The first installment of the
investigative reporting series, produced by Zembla [3], does what no
American TV network has yet dared to do-take a deep look at the
organized crime links and corrupt international business strategies
used by Trump and his partners in his properties.
It starts with Trump's luxury tower in the lower Manhattan
neighborhood of Soho, where his partner in building that highrise was
Bayrock LLC, whose primary investor was a Russian mining oligarch and
another major investor was a convicted Russian mobster named Felix Sater.
"Why did 60 Minutes pass on the Bayrock story in 2016? Why did ABC News'
Brian Ross pass on the Trump Soho [Tower] story in 2015? Why has no
major network done any kind of documentary on what the Dutch just
did?" asks James Henry, a corporate lawyer-turned-financial
investigative reporter who writes for DCReport.org. Henry is one of
several investigative reporters whose work on Trump's shady business
empire is profiled in the film.
The documentary shows how Trump not only helped hide the identity of
his mobster business partner, prompting an ongoing lawsuit accusing
Trump of criminal racketeering, but also how Trump used that internal
company crisis to demand more money. It goes on to show how Russian
oligarchs saw Trump's properties as a way to get their money out of
Russia, and describes the international financial networks that are
akin to a pyramid scheme for money laundering. It also notes how the
law firm of Trump's political adviser, former New York City mayor Rudy
Guiliani, helped set up a money-laundering account in the Netherlands
used by Bayrock.
The exposed financial trail raises questions about whether Trump fired
FBI director James Comey because the FBI investigation of his
campaign's collusion with Russia was encroaching into Trump's world of
dark money and dubious business partners.
"Although still in its early days, Donald Trump's presidency is coming
under fire. The Russians are alleged to be in possession of sensitive
information about Trump. And that exposes Trump to blackmail. Fake
news, tweets Trump:
'I have nothing to do with Russia-no deals, no loans, no nothing!'
Trump swears he has no ties with the Russians. But is that actually the
case?"
the
filmmakers describe the first installment of the series.
They go on to show that while Trump denies his ties with Russia, many
Russians have deep financial ties to him.
"For months, the FBI has been investigating Russian interference in
the American presidential elections," the fimmakers continue. "Zembla
is investigating another explosive dossier concerning Trump's
involvement with the Russians: Trump's business and personal ties to
oligarchs from the former Soviet Union. Powerful billionaires
suspected of money laundering and fraud, and of having contacts in
Moscow and with the mafia. What do these relationships say about Trump
and why does he deny them? How compromising are these dubious business
relationships for the 45th president of the United States? And are
there connections with the Netherlands? Zembla meets with one of
Trump's controversial cronies and speaks with a former CIA agent,
fraud investigators, attorneys, and an American senator, among
others."
The documentary's YouTube description barely does justice to the
film's investigative reporting. While American journalists are
following Trump's tweets and tantrums, they followed the money into a
world where the lines between outright profiteering and organized
crime are blurred. What they found on a fact-based money trail reveals
much about who the real Trump is and how he operates.
Steven Rosenfeld covers national political issues for AlterNet,
including America's democracy and voting rights. He is the author of
several books on elections and the co-author of Who Controls Our
Schools: How Billionaire-Sponsored Privatization Is Destroying
Democracy and the Charter School Industry [4] (AlterNet eBook, 2016).
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Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/video/donald-trumps-financial-ties-russian-oli
garchs -and-mobsters-detailed-new-documentary
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/steven-rosenfeld
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] https://zembla.vara.nl/
[4]
http://www.alternet.org/education/who-controls-our-schools-how-billion
aire-s ponsored-privatization-destroying-democracy-and
[5] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Donald
Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed
In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands [6]
http://www.alternet.org/ [7] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
