Mueller indicts Alex van der Zwaan: What it means and why it matters

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Europe,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Yanukovych was in the midst of a power struggle with another prominent Ukrainian politician, which he decided to solve by jailing her in the fall of 2011. Manafort and Gates’s job was to run cover for this clearly undemocratic prosecution. So they retained a team from Skadden Arps, which included van der Zwaan, to put together a “report” that conveniently concluded that there was no political motive for putting her in jail.

This was a big deal in Ukraine but a relatively obscure issue for most of the rest of the world.

…The key piece of information in all of this is the timing: Manafort resigned as Trump’s campaign manager on August 19, 2016 — weeks before the alleged conversations between Gates, Person A, and van der Zwaan. The resignation was the result of widespread reporting about Manafort’s shady ties to Yanukovych, particularly an allegedly off-the-books payment.

If Gates and van der Zwaan were talking about the Skadden report in September 2016, and van der Zwaan felt the need to lie to the FBI about it, it suggests that there may have been something criminal about the report’s production — or at least, something whose release would be politically damaging.

Mueller indicts Alex van der Zwaan: What it means and why it matters – Vox

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Manafort Charges Renew Questions About Skadden’s Work in Ukraine

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Europe,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

One of New York’s most prestigious law firms raised eyebrows five years ago when it produced a report for the pro-Russian government in Ukraine that largely defended the prosecution and conviction of Yulia Tymoshenko, the blond-braided former prime minister.

The report, by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLC, defied the view held by the U.S. and the European Union that the case against her was politically motivated. The firm’s $12,000 payment was modest, just below the amount that required public bidding.

The following year, however, with no further work done, Ukraine sent Skadden $1 million. After the pro-Russian government was run out of town in 2014, the new authorities began investigating.

…Manafort and his partner Richard Gates are accused of laundering millions of dollars from unreported work for Ukraine and its political parties, money that ran through offshore accounts.

…Manafort was a longtime political adviser to Tymoshenko’s rival, the pro-Russian politician Viktor Yanukovych, advising him on political strategy and sprucing up his image in Washington. After Yanukovych clinched the presidency in 2010, he ordered an investigation of Tymoshenko that resulted in a conviction and seven-year sentence, widely condemned abroad.

…Correspondence between Craig, Manafort and the Ukrainian government show Skadden agreeing to accept payment from a “third party,” Radionov, the prosecutor, said. What that means is unclear.

…The indictment provides fresh details about Manafort’s clandestine influence campaign on behalf of Yanukovych in the U.S. It alleges that offshore accounts associated with Manafort and Gates paid more than $2 million between 2012 and 2014 to two companies that lobbied members of Congress and their staffs about Ukraine sanctions and “the propriety of imprisoning his presidential rival.”

…Investigators in the U.S. and Ukraine have been looking into Manafort’s and Skadden’s work. But Serhiy Gorbatyuk, the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating Yanukovych-era crimes, says seven letters from the general prosecutor to the U.S. Justice Department have gone unanswered. This week, an FBI agent meeting with Ukrainian prosecutors in Kiev got an earful about lack of cooperation and failing to use proper procedures to collect documents in Ukraine, Radionov said.

Manafort Charges Renew Questions About Skadden’s Work in Ukraine – Bloomberg

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Attorney pleads guilty to lying to FBI in Mueller probe

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

Alex van der Zwaan admitted making false or misleading statements regarding email communications with Richard Gates.

His former employer, the renowned law firm Skadden, Arps, says they are cooperating with authorities.

Van der Zwaan is married to the daughter of German Khan, a Russian oligarch who is suing research firm Fusion GPS over a dossier alleging salacious and unverified ties between President Donald Trump and Russia.

…given van der Zwaan’s background and his cooperation with Mueller’s probe, he is more likely to be sentenced to six months or less, with possibly no jail time at all, and anywhere from a $500 to $9,500 fine.

The FBI is holding van der Zwaan’s passport. For now, he is barred from traveling outside of Washington, but he will be allowed to travel to New York on two days’ notice.

…The criminal information filed last week from the special counsel’s office accused van der Zwaan of “knowingly” making “materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements” regarding his work helping to prepare a report in 2012 for Skadden, Arps, on the trial of Ukrainian politician Yulia Tymoshenko. 

…The New York Times in September detailed how Manafort in 2011 had arranged for Skadden, Arps to prepare a report that was used by associates of Ukraine’s Yanukovych to defend the incarceration of Ukrainian nationalist Tymoshenko.

That story noted that Mueller’s office had asked the law firm for information and documents about its work for the pro-Russia Yanukovych.

Mueller charges attorney with lying to the FBI

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Momastery’s Glennon Doyle shares anti-bullying strategy

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,, Schools,Leave a comment

Every Friday afternoon Chase’s teacher asks her students to take out a piece of paper and write down the names of four children with whom they’d like to sit the following week. The children know that these requests may or may not be honored. She also asks the students to nominate one student whom they believe has been an exceptional classroom citizen that week. All ballots are privately submitted to her.

And every single Friday afternoon, after the students go home, Chase’s teacher takes out those slips of paper, places them in front of her and studies them. She looks for patterns.

Who is not getting requested by anyone else?

Who doesn’t even know who to request?

Who never gets noticed enough to be nominated?

Who had a million friends last week and none this week?

You see, Chase’s teacher is not looking for a new seating chart or “exceptional citizens.” Chase’s teacher is looking for lonely children. She’s looking for children who are struggling to connect with other children. She’s identifying the little ones who are falling through the cracks of the class’s social life. She is discovering whose gifts are going unnoticed by their peers. And she’s pinning down — right away — who’s being bullied and who is doing the bullying.

Momastery’s Glennon Doyle shares anti-bullying strategy – TODAY.com

brilliant!

Mueller’s interest in Kushner grows to include foreign financing efforts

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s interest in Jared Kushner has expanded beyond his contacts with Russia and now includes his efforts to secure financing for his company from foreign investors during the presidential transition, according to people familiar with the inquiry.

…Mueller’s investigators have been asking questions, including during interviews in January and February, about Kushner’s conversations during the transition to shore up financing for 666 Fifth Avenue, a Kushner Companies-backed New York City office building reeling from financial troubles, according to people familiar with the special counsel investigation.

…One line of questioning from Mueller’s team involves discussions Kushner had with Chinese investors during the transition, according to the sources familiar with the inquiry.

…Mueller’s team has also asked about Kushner’s dealings with a Qatari investor regarding the same property, according to one of the sources. Kushner and his company were negotiating for financing from a prominent Qatari investor, former prime minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, according to The Intercept. But as with Anbang, these efforts stalled.

…Also during the transition, Kushner met with Sergey Gorkov, chairman of Russian state-run Vnesheconombank. Kushner testified on Capitol Hill that the meeting was for official US government purposes. But the Russian bank maintains that the sit-down in New York was part of their “roadshow of business meetings” and that Gorkov met Kushner because he ran Kushner Companies.

…Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is cooperating with the investigation, attended some of Kushner’s meetings with foreign nationals. Under his plea deal, Flynn is obligated to tell Mueller’s investigators everything he knows about these meetings.

Mueller’s interest in Kushner grows to include foreign financing efforts – CNNPolitics

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Porter’s ex-wives receive apology letter from Hatch

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

The ex-wives of Rob Porter, a White House aide who recently resigned over domestic abuse allegations, say they have received letters of apology from Porter’s old boss, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who previously defended his former staffer as a “decent man.”

Porter’s ex-wives receive apology letter from Hatch – CNNPolitics

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Former Trump aide Gates to testify against Man

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Former Trump presidential campaign aide Rick Gates has agreed to testify against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and will plead guilty to fraud related charges, according to the Los Angeles Times.

…Gates can expect “a substantial reduction in his sentence,” to likely about 18 months in prison if he cooperates with the investigation, according to the LA Times report. He is also likely going to have to forfeit any cash or valuables obtained through his alleged illegal activity.

LA Times: Former Trump aide Gates to testify against Man – CNNPolitics

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Paul Manafort Accused Of Bank Fraud In New Mueller Court Documents

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

The alleged fraud came to light in an attempt by Manafort to swap out real estate securing his $10 million bail, said the redacted documents, which were released Friday.

…Manafort allegedly submitted “doctored profit and loss statements” to Federal Savings Bank — overstating “by millions of dollars” income for his consulting company — in order to obtain a $9 million mortgage on a property in Virginia that Manafort had hoped to pledge as security for his bail, according to the court filing.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Manfort could now face new charges, or if the alleged criminal conduct only scuttled Manafort’s bail request.

Paul Manafort Accused Of Bank Fraud In New Mueller Court Documents | HuffPost

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Russian nationals indicted by Robert Mueller for election interference

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

The indictment charges 13 Russian nationals and three businesses – including an internet firm tied to the Kremlin – with conspiracy, identity theft, failing to register as foreign agents, and violating laws that limit the use of foreign money in U.S. elections. Prosecutors said officials at that firm, the Internet Research Agency, described their work as “information warfare against the United States” and their goal as “spreading distrust toward the candidates and the political system.” 

…In the indictment, Mueller charged that some of the Russians, posing as Americans, “communicated with unwitting individuals” associated with Trump’s 2016 campaign “to seek to coordinate political activities.” It does not allege that the campaign knowingly participated in those efforts, nor did it offer an assessment of whether the scheme delivered on its political goals.

 

Russian nationals indicted by Robert Mueller for election interference

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Banning plastic bags: State, local officials often clash

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Granite State,Leave a comment

Republican lawmakers typically tout the benefits of local control. But in states across the country, they have taken action to rein in cities that want to enact progressive measures such as gun control laws and minimum wage hikes. Now plastic bags have become an unlikely flashpoint in the conflict between blue cities and their red state legislatures.

In recent years a handful of states – Arizona and Missouri in 2015, Idaho, Michigan and Wisconsin in 2016, Minnesota in 2017 – have enacted “bans on bans,” joining a group that already included Florida, Indiana and Iowa.

…New Hampshire is not among the 32 states with home rule that, through their state constitutions, allows cities and towns to adopt policies on their own initiative.

Instead, this state and seven others permit cities and towns to take these local actions, but only if the Legislature passes an enabling law.

State Sen. Martha Fuller Clark, D-Portsmouth, championed that bill (SB 410) in 2016, which the state Senate rejected by a 12-8 margin.

Banning plastic bags: State, local officials often clash | New Hampshire

Ahhh, the GOP: 100% against large government making decisions for local municipalities… …Until it might put them at odds with big business, that is.

It’s Mueller Time, folks!

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

COUNT ONE (Conspiracy to Defraud the United States)

…Actions Targeting the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election

[After committing identity theft/fraud]
42. By approximately May 2014, Defendants and their co-conspirators discussed efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Defendants and their co-conspirators began to monitor U.S. social media accounts and other sources of information about the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

43. By 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators used their fictitious online person to interfere with the 2016 presidential elections. They engaged in operations primarily intended to communicate derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, to denigrate other candidates such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and to support Bernie Sanders and then candidate Donald Trump.

             a. On or about February 10, 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators internally circulated an outline of themes for future content to be post to ORGANIZATION-controlled social media accounts. Specialists were instructed to post content that focused on “politics in the USA” and to “use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump-we support them).” [emphasis: mine]

46. In or around the latter half of 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators, through their ORGANIZATION-controlled personas, began to encourage U.S. minority groups not to vote in the 2016 U.S. presidential election or to vote for a third-party U.S. presidential candidate.

For the full text of today’s indictments CLICK HERE

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An insider explains how rural Christian white America has a dark and terrifying underbelly

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,, Race,, Religion,Leave a comment

…I dated their calico-skirted daughters. I camped, hunted and fished with their sons. I listened to their political rants at the local diner and truck stop. I winced at their racist/bigoted jokes and epithets that were said more out of ignorance than animosity. I have watched the town I grew up in go from a robust economy with well-kept homes and infrastructure to a struggling economy with shuttered businesses, dilapidated homes and a broken-down infrastructure over the past 30 years. The problem isn’t that I don’t understand these people. The problem is they don’t understand themselves or the reasons for their anger and frustration.

…Systems built on a fundamentalist framework are not conducive to introspection, questioning, learning, or change. When you have a belief system built on fundamentalism, it isn’t open to outside criticism, especially by anyone not a member of your tribe and in a position of power.

… It doesn’t matter how “understanding” you are, how well you listen, what language you use…if you are viewed as an outsider, your views will be automatically discounted.

…Their refusal is a result of the nature of their fundamentalist belief system and the fact that I’m the enemy because I’m an educated liberal.

…Education is the enemy of fundamentalism because fundamentalism, by its very nature, is not built on facts. The fundamentalists I grew up around aren’t anti-education. They want their kids to know how to read and write. They are against quality, in-depth, broad, specialized education. Learning is only valued up to a certain point. Once it reaches the level where what you learn contradicts doctrine and fundamentalist arguments, it becomes dangerous. 

…The religion in which I was raised taught this. Non-whites are the color they are because of their sins, or at least the sins of their ancestors. Blacks don’t have dark skin because of where they lived and evolution; they have dark skin because they are cursed. God cursed them for a reason. If god cursed them, treating them as equals would be going against god’s will. It is really easy to justify treating people differently if they are cursed by god and will never be as good as you no matter what they do because of some predetermined status.

Once you have this view, it is easy to lower the outside group’s standing and acceptable level of treatment. 

…Another major problem with closed-off fundamentalist belief systems is they are very susceptible to propaganda. All belief systems are to some extent, but fundamentalist systems even more so because there are no checks and balances. If bad information gets in, it doesn’t get out and because there are no internal mechanisms to guard against it, it usually ends up very damaging to the whole.

…What has happened to too many fundamentalist belief systems is damaging information has been allowed in from people who have been granted “expert status.” If someone is allowed into a closed-off system and their information is deemed acceptable, anything they say will be readily accepted and become gospel.

…Everyone who isn’t just like them has been sold to them as a threat and they’ve bought it hook, line and grifting sinker. Since there are no self-regulating mechanisms in their belief systems, these threats only grow over time. Since facts and reality don’t matter, nothing you say to them will alter their beliefs. “President Obama was born in Kenya, is a secret member of the Muslim Brotherhood who hates white Americans and is going to take away their guns.” I feel ridiculous even writing this, it is so absurd, but it is gospel across large swaths of rural America. Are rural Christian white Americans scared? Damn right they are. Are their fears rational and justified? Hell no. The problem isn’t understanding their fears. The problem is how to assuage fears based on lies in closed-off fundamentalist belief systems that don’t have the necessary tools for properly evaluating the fears.

An insider explains how rural Christian white America has a dark and terrifying underbelly

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