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Tuco

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Everything posted by Tuco

  1. I saw it more of a message to Trump and Trumpsters. Trump occasionally gets cranky on the shitter and tweets out complaints that the Republican Senate is being stupid and weak about fighting the Democrats. McConnell has to publicly pledge his allegiance to the King, to help quiet his terrors, and to make sure the Trumpsters show up to the polls.
  2. I'm trying to track it down, but I am almost positive that Rudy texted Parnas that he was going to contact "Jay" about Shokin not getting a travel visa. It's not surprising at all, as Sekulow has been pushing anti-Dem conspiracy through his ACLJ for ~15 years. The difference now is that he has been elevated to the position of being one of the President's personal attorneys. ... Found it: "Gave Jay your number" January 11, 2019. (In the next post, Rudy sends Parnas Jay Sekulow's contact information.)
  3. This is just the evidence from the House investigation. Previously, it would have been allowed for admittance based on a successful motion, and vote. It would have been silly to refuse to admit the House evidence, as it is already out in the public. This just protects Republican Senators from taking a wedge-issue vote on whether to admit the House evidence, because you know there are some Trumpsters who are going to be pissed about any vote that appears pro-impeachment, and most sane people realize that House evidence should be admitted.
  4. The logic here - that Sweden still has crimes and murders despite gun control - would be similar to suggesting that easier access to fully auto, explosives, and RPGs makes sense, because Americans continue to kill each other even without that easy access.
  5. Vacuum flasks actually have a legitimate purpose, outside of trying to killing people. The police, supported by the Swedish society, did say they were taking steps to reduce access to guns and explosives after a teenager was killed in gun violence. You only think that extreme because you are using America as a baseline. In America, we watch a gunman use assault weapons to gun down dozens of kindergartners, and we accepted it without any additional restrictions on the access to these weapons. That's our baseline, so everything else appears extreme. People will use the most effective tools available to do a job. If they don't have access to fully automatic weapons, they will use semi-automatic assault weapons. But it will be less effective. If they don't have access to semi-automatic assault weapons, they will use semi-auto weapons without some of those defining characteristics assault weapon characteristics. But it will be less effective. If they don't have access to semi-auto long guns, they will use other guns. But it will be less effective. If they don't have access to any guns, they will use vacuum canisters with explosives, knives, cars, baseball bats, etc.. But it will be less effective. No one thinks reducing access to more effective weapons will eliminate murder or make people get along. It will just make their ability to kill others less effective. That's the goal. We are tired of incompetent virgins having the ability to murder dozens of innocent people without much effort. And that trend (the effectiveness of weapons) will get worse as technology improves without any new regulations. There is a reason that bombing is not the preferred means in the US - because it's not very effective. Consequently, the Swedish murder rate is about a fourth of the US rate. So it does make a difference. Better is not perfect, but is still worthwhile.
  6. Parnas is asking Barr to recuse himself, on the basis that there would be a conflict of interest, and specifically that Barr slowed down the release of documents and has blocked US attorneys of the SDNY from meeting with Parnas, because if he was able to make a deal, it would hurt the President. We live in interesting, albeit shitty, times. (Disclaimer: there have been plenty of other times prior shittier than ours, I just thought we had evolved.) CNN
  7. When considering the fucked up situation in Ukraine, with the President’s men working against an appointed ambassador for corrupt ends, remember that we had no ambassador in Saudi Arabia and Kushner was representing then President’s interests there. During that time, we supported them in Yemen, supported an embargo of Qatar, and had a US resident beheaded in their embassy. We are only focused on Ukraine because of a whistleblower.
  8. Ukraine has a jungle primary ahead of the final vote. Zelensky was considerably ahead of Poroshenko in that vote, and he was splitting with other reform candidates.
  9. I think Hyde was either fucking with Lev, possibly trying to scam him, or just crazy. There is a lot of weirdness overall, but I would be surprised if that angle has legs. I think Hyde’s main involvement is either in the PR side (which also seems like a scam) or possibly as a straw donor. There is an article out there about how Lev made the LBG pitch to Sargeant in early 2019. It implied they didn’t know each other previously, but who knows.
  10. Nope. Firtash ---($1M documented)--> Lev/Igor--($500k documented)--> Guilliani --(Burisma investigation)--> Trump --> Yovanovich removal Along the way, the picked up Sargeant, who wanted her removal to open LNG markets and Lutshenko who wanted it to take pressure off the Prosecutor General's office, but I think that structure is above is roughly correct. Trump really had no reason to want her removal. It was just his payment for something he wanted.
  11. A couple of bits from the Parnas texts, which are mostly in Ukrainian. Igor Kolomoysky - he's the mobster-oligarch who owns the media outlet that Zelensky made his name one. He is considered a backer of Zelenksy. Parnas and Fruman previously had tried to recruit him for help, and he gave them an emphatic refusal. On 9/21/19, Igor texts Parnas a wikipedia page for John Durham, with a text that says "who this" (I think). Durham is the US attorney that Barr assigned to investigate the origins of the FBI investigation. If that investigation is putting a US attorney in Kolo's sphere, that could irritate him a bit. This might explain why Lev is going state's evidence. He might be caught between Firtash and Kolomysky. The texts between Harry Sargeant and Parnas are revealing, and surprising to me. At the beginning of each conversation, there is a count of messages. For most of the conversations, it's maybe 200-500. For Sargeant, it's 2745 messages. There is a lot in that conversation which they haven't released. And, one for the "only the best people" file: Parnas communicated with Andriy Yermak, one of Zelensky's close advisers, presumably to work out the responses as the shit was hitting the fan. On 10/3, I think Yermak was having Parnas proof a message he was going to send to Rudy:
  12. He's dumped ~400 pages of documents, much of it is in Ukrainian. To me, the biggest revelations have been: - the level of involvement Parnas had with the Republican money machine. He was texting regularly Ahearn (America First Action PAC) and Tom Hicks (previously America First Action, now RNC co-chair). - there was very obvious quid pro quo with Lutshenko - investigating Burisma in exchange for Yovanovich's firing. - Hyde indicated he had people trailing Yovanovich. But it's possible Hyde is just a nutcase. The responses from Parnas seem fairly uninterested with Hyde's comments, as he just spammed back with news articles. Parnas could have been covering his ass, or that he had no interest in what Hyde was selling. It doesn't make much sense Parnas would need Hyde to trail Yovanovich, considering some of the players involved. But he opened a PR firm in 2018, and it's possible Parnas hired him, or was going to hire him, to push help Yovanovich out.
  13. More on Sargeant. I can't tell if this is a separate scandal from Ali, or the same thing in which Ali eventually was the only one indicted. Otto was mentioned in the texts. Could be Otto Reich, or it could just some random Otto. And he gets help from the Embassy in the DR:
  14. Sargeant gets off because he's wealthy and well connected. Turns out he resigned from the Florida GOP finance chair (money raiser) because one of his employees, Ala'a al-Ali, was indicted for making illegal contributions to McCain and Crist (Florida governor).
  15. A couple of things on the Sargeant communications: - Lev indicated that Sargeant paying the bills was a loan. So, my guess is that Sargeant was paying the bills because it was less conspicuous than Firtash sending bundles of money every few months. The blacked out sections may have to do with guarantees on those loans, which would could be part of the money laundering/campaign donation violations, particularly if Sargeant was also directing payments to candidates based on Firtash guarantees. Keep in mind, Firtash and Parnas were alerted to the complaint on the campaign finance compliant several months ago (as part of the process), so they couldn't continue to follow that path. Funneling donations through Sargeant would make sense, as he has acted as a "bundler" previously. (Harry Sargeant listed as a bundler for McCain in 2008, for 500k.) - The messages around Sept 10 are interesting: 9/10 Lev: Bolton is out Lev: Pompeo is next Harry: Awesome!!!! Harry:(Missed call) 9/11 Lev: Now we know who fucked everything up Harry: Fucking idiot Bolton Lev: Yep
  16. Nevermind. Sargeant was all in on this shit.
  17. On the Parnas file dump, there should be two possible reasons for the courts to redact it: personal information, national security, or evidence of the crime. There really shouldn't be any national security issues, and i doubt that Ahearn and Parnas had much of a personal relationship. Parnas was arrested for funneling illegal contributions to America First Action, which Ahearn works for. I'm betting there is considerable evidence of a crime being redacted.
  18. I'm not up to speed on all of the document dump, but Sargeant wouldn't necessarily know much about some of the seedier shit. Maybe he knew there was an effort to remove Yovanovich. I'm not sure there would any reason to read him in on the effort to get dirt on Biden, unless he was being asked to finance something. You asked about translations. This site has some good ones. One in particular is pretty explicit from Lutshenko about trading the investigation for the removal of Yanovich. (I do wish they just had the translations, instead of summaries.)
  19. I hadn't actually heard that one. Certainly it was something that seemed likely, but I would hope Lev has some documentation on it. Because I certainly don't trust him, even when he is saying something I like. Putin. What he wants: Nordstream 2 (which puts him at odds with the oilmen), dropping of anti-Russian sanctions (which is helped by undermining the conclusion that Russian interfered in 2016 election), and more corruption in Ukraine (which provides ways to buy off officials.) I don't know how directly involved he is. If he is, I would think it's through Firtash, who made his fortune from a sweetheart deal with Putin.
  20. From Private Ryan to MASH...I remember there was this one episode that tracked a series of trades and deals. I think Radar was trying to get Potter some tomato juice, or something like that, and Klinger gave up some stockings for a weekend pass...I don't know; it's been a while. But I think the plot of this fuckery resembles that episode a lot more than any grand scheme with evil geniuses operating behind the scenes. Different assholes with different motivations, with Lev in the middle of it trying to deal out favors and money to make it happen. Look at the different characters on what they want, and what they can provide. Lev/Igor: One of the big mischaracterizations is that they were working for Rudy, that they were his henchmen. They weren't. They were getting paid by Firtash, and they were paying Rudy, not the other way around. Henchmen don't pay their masters. I think they were basically small time grifters, who Firtash used because they had US citizenship. As the story continued, they may have cut side deals for their own profit, but their main loyalty was (and probably still is) to Firtash. They want cash, and they do the work to put deals together. Rudy: You all remember Cohen. In addition to the stuff that got him sent to prison, he was also getting paid by various corporations - domestic and foreign - to influence Trump. In another era, this would have been a scandal in and of itself. When Cohen went to prison, I think Rudy saw a business opportunity, and that is how I see his role in this -working Trump for his clients' advantage. He's rich, but he's not Firtash/oligarch/oilman rich. He is working for a fee, not a grand investment opportunity this corruption will allow. He wants cash, and can provide influence in the White House. Firtash: Currently waiting extradition to the US for unrelated corruption in an Indian deal. Obviously, he wants some influence in the DOJ to slow that down. Less obviously...in January 2019, Poroshenko's government was moving to make changes to the Naftogaz board and to forgive 100s of millions of dollars that Firtash owed. Can you guess who squashed it? Marie Yovanovitch, carrying out the official US policy and seeing these moves as backsliding towards corruption. Yovanovitch had previously worked against such moves that she (...we...the US) believed would result in more corruption. As early as 2016, she countered a move to turn over the state owned pipeline to Ukrtransgaz. Part of her work was fighting corruption in the energy sector. Firtash was a corrupt guy in the energy sector. Firtash wanted her gone, and he can provide cash and connections in Ukraine. Trump: This is the part that everyone is focused on. Trump wanted a politically damaging investigation of Burisma and Bidens publicly announced, and he wanted to undermine the conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. He also wanted payback for Ukrainians who provided evidence against Manafort. He can provide control of the US Embassy in Ukraine, funding to Ukraine, weapons, control of the DOJ, sanctions on Nordstream II, etc...I get heartburn just typing that all out. Perry, and the oilmen behind Perry: They want to export liquified natural gas. There are few things that will help that, including changes in the Naftogaz board and blocking Nordstream 2. They can provide money to the campaign of anyone that helps with that. Prosecutor General Lutshenko. The PG's office was under scrutiny for a long time, even prior to Lutshenko. Under US pressure, Ukraine started the NABU (National Anti-Corruption Bureau) which was a rival group that focused on corruption. Yovanovitch, continuing with the US policy on anti-corruption, continued to criticize the PG's office, including specific officers under Lutshenko. When Zelensky won, he was asked who would be his PG, and he quipped something like "I don't know, but it won't start with L and rhyme with utshenko." Lutshenko wanted Yovanovitch fired, and could provide a public announcement of a Burisma/Biden investigation. He did, in fact, announce they were reopening the investigation into Burisma in March of 2019. This was the same time that Solomon ran the hit pieces on Yovanovitch, quoting Lutshenko. Yovanovitch was fired on 4/24, about a month later. But Zelensky was elected on 4/21, which meant Lutshenko wasn't going to be in position to do much about an investigation. So, I think Trump traded the removal of Yovanovitch for the investigation of Burisma. But he didn't really get paid in full. Lutshenko's later backed off his statements, and Zelensky was now in control of the government anyway. So, on the Art of the Deal Part 2, he didn't want some Prosecutor General working with The Hill, he wanted the President of Ukraine to "get in front of a microphone" to announce the investigations. The removal of Yovanovitch opens the way for the oilmen and Ukrainian oligarchs working with Lev/Parnas and Perry to try to restructure the Ukrainian energy sector to allows for easier access to markets (for the oilmen) and easier ability to skim the profits (for the oligarchs.) It's just a collection of greedy fucking morons.
  21. They have Protestants AND Catholics.
  22. Not true. Somebody else made it up before him. He just repeated it.
  23. Considering the main justification at this point is how many Americans Solemani* killed, I assume the next target should be al-Sadr. Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army certainly was responsible for more deaths than Iran was. Sure, he's an Iraqi and his political party is now the major faction of the majority coalition in their Parliament. But, if revenge killings are now more important than trying to reach stability, he'd be next. *the great thing about Iranian names are there are no misspellings, as long as it is close phonetically.
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