tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post6484251680648708236..comments2024-03-22T05:20:44.167-07:00Comments on The Disaffected Lib: This Might Go a Long Way to Explaining TrumpThe Mound of Soundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-88561649518350557572017-01-18T19:12:27.456-08:002017-01-18T19:12:27.456-08:00Looks like the intelligence community's doing ...Looks like the intelligence community's doing an <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article127231799.html" rel="nofollow">info dump</a> before Trump gets a chance to shut things down:<br /><br /><i>The FBI and five other law enforcement and intelligence agencies have collaborated for months in an investigation into Russian attempts to influence the November election, including whether money from the Kremlin covertly aided President-elect Donald Trump, two people familiar with the matter said.<br /><br />....<br /><br />Investigators are examining how money may have moved from the Kremlin to covertly help Trump win, the two sources said. One of the allegations involves whether a system for routinely paying thousands of Russian-American pensioners may have been used to pay some email hackers in the United States or to supply money to intermediaries who would then pay the hackers, the two sources said.</i><br /><br />But wait, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-domestic-conspiracy-that-gave-trump-the-election_us_587ed24fe4b0b110fe11dbf9" rel="nofollow">there's more</a>:<br /><br /><i>Information presently public and available confirms that Erik Prince, Rudy Giuliani, and Donald Trump conspired to intimidate FBI Director James Comey into interfering in, and thus directly affecting, the 2016 presidential election. This conspiracy was made possible with the assistance of officers in the New York Police Department and agents within the New York field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. All of the major actors in the conspiracy have already confessed to its particulars either in word or in deed; moreover, all of the major actors have publicly exhibited consciousness of guilt after the fact.</i><br /><br />Eric Prince is the brother of Trump's nominee for Education Secretary, Betsy Devos, and founder of the notorious Blackwater group of mercenaries. Their father was a co-founder of the right-wing evangelical hate group The Family Research Council. There's only one day left to appoint an independent prosecutor to look into things. By Friday afternoon, it'll be too late.<br /><br />Cap<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-26481926945023463342017-01-18T15:22:15.143-08:002017-01-18T15:22:15.143-08:00The police and prosecutors didn't have the tim...The police and prosecutors didn't have the time to deal with the bankers because they were too busy trying to get Sergey Aleynikov. When you're entrusted with preserving order it's first things first, you know.John B.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-4322459714547533512017-01-18T13:58:12.254-08:002017-01-18T13:58:12.254-08:00Anyong...11:46...Except for a small Bank owned by ...Anyong...11:46...Except for a small Bank owned by an American Chinese Family in the U.S.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-29664383396784437602017-01-18T13:24:27.869-08:002017-01-18T13:24:27.869-08:00Toby, as soon as I read "state sanctioned, in...Toby, as soon as I read "state sanctioned, in your face corruption" my mind automatically conjured up Christy Clark. Odd that, eh?<br /><br />As for Chayes suggestions, there's little to zero chance that one book, no matter how widely read, is going to change anything.<br /><br />ThanksThe Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-44142061993442941792017-01-18T13:22:24.201-08:002017-01-18T13:22:24.201-08:00Anon 2 - thanks for the link. That western made my...Anon 2 - thanks for the link. That western made my day.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-52942514177250272212017-01-18T13:21:47.777-08:002017-01-18T13:21:47.777-08:00NPoV, let's pray he's not immune. Odd thin...NPoV, let's pray he's not immune. Odd thing to hear from an atheist.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-37515026583930364682017-01-18T11:46:14.536-08:002017-01-18T11:46:14.536-08:00Another off topic: Mound, you asked about Sara Cha...Another off topic: Mound, you asked about Sara Chayes <i>Thieves of State</i>. The beginning of the book is about state sanctioned, in-your-face corruption. She has several chapters dedicated to individual countries such as Afghanistan. My favourite is the one on Tunisia which, for some reason I can't figure out, reminds me of BC. <br /><br />Curiously, when people don't notice corruption they are fine with it. When it gets in your face and humiliates people react with anger. When they can't fight it they turn toward religion. The angrier they get the more puritan the religion. Some will turn toward a religion with violent prescriptions. <br /><br />What bored me about the book was Chayes' chapter on remedies which reads like the phone book. Essentially, it means that those who could make changes have the tools if they want to but generally don't. She does have a point: much of Western contact with corrupt governments actually feeds those governments through bribes of one sort or another. Even charities often add to the problem by not understanding it. Did you ever give to disaster relief and later wonder where the money went? <br /><br />Chayes has an important idea. It should be of paramount interest to Western governments, companies that do business in foreign countries and NGO's. My guess is that they will continue to take the easy route and pay the bribes. They should consider that those bribes feed a system that makes people so angry that they plant roadside bombs. <br /><br />She also acknowledges that the crash of 2008 was caused by corruption and no one went to jail for it. Tobynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-50511827965459958902017-01-18T11:09:04.789-08:002017-01-18T11:09:04.789-08:00Somebody found the following and it's good.
O...Somebody found the following and it's good.<br /><br />Off topic but worth a watch....<br /><br />Trump Trackdown 'The End of the World'<br /><br /><br />Trackdown was a TV series that ran from 1957-59<br />and took place in the fictional town of Porter, Texas following the civil war.<br /><br />Robert Culp plays Ranger and de facto Sheriff Hoby Gilman.<br /><br />A 1958 episode (“The End of the World”) in which a con artist named<br />--wait for it---Trump rides into town and tries to---wait for it---bamboozle the citizens into buying into a---wait for it---big beautiful wall to protect them from---wait for it---non-existent threats.<br /><br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1D2ynASqe4<br /><br />Anon 2Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-47562310189337293432017-01-18T10:37:31.174-08:002017-01-18T10:37:31.174-08:00Years ago I read a piece on Ronald Reagan & Go...Years ago I read a piece on Ronald Reagan & Gorbachev to the effect that "eventually all Presidents feel the enormous responsibility for nuclear peace"<br /><br />tRump might be immune. <br /><br />A more nuanced view of the context & situation...<br />http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/01/18/the-extraordinary-array-of-those-questioning-trumps-legitimacy-and-their-various-reasons/<br />Northern PoVhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04670080478290108536noreply@blogger.com