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mdemone
Mar 14, 2001

All I want out of this is for Mitch McConnell to reap what he has sown.

Trump is a dumb gently caress and a pawn, but Turtleneck is the living avatar of the real cancer at the heart of American Everything.

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Martin BadClixx
Jul 14, 2012

dada stijl

:cumpolice:

Unperson_47 posted:

thank you mythbustin' jammin hymen

Idgi.

How is this an Ed balls reference?

UFOTacoMan
Sep 22, 2005

Thanks easter bunny!
bok bok!

Reality Winner posted:

zuck already announced via 50 state family dinner tour

Gonna be so awesome to see zuck try to own politicians in a debate.

Gringostar
Nov 12, 2016
Morbid Hound

Anime Schoolgirl posted:

RICO can be used against congressmen tho and that's where the wrinkle comes into play

i said this in the old thread but if we get a RICO out of mueller then i'm throwing a huge party on my dime for everyone*

*nite crew only, no succ zoners allowed

UFOTacoMan
Sep 22, 2005

Thanks easter bunny!
bok bok!

Fidel Castronaut
Dec 25, 2004

Houston, we're Havana problem.

mrbradlymrmartin posted:

"only" three weeks of shooting left? thats easily enough time for 2 movies, double if youre gonna do it all in post as seems to be so big for star wars these days

haha they sure do use a lot of cgi!

Gringostar
Nov 12, 2016
Morbid Hound
1000 more pages until it's hitler time

MadJackal
Apr 30, 2004

Gringostar posted:

can we make this a gang tag?

I'm in.

RealityWarCriminal
Aug 10, 2016

:o:
2020 is going to see a serious split between liberals on facebook and altright nazis on rebekah mercer's twitter

pathetic little tramp
Dec 12, 2005

by Hillary Clinton's assassins
Fallen Rib

The Nastier Nate posted:

Has anyone mentioned how off the rails our elections have become when house candidates are declaring a year and a half before the election?

I mean the current president declared his candidacy June 15th 2015.

Is the Zuck going to announce his run 2020 White House run by Christmas?

i'm declaring my 2044 presidential candidacy now, gotta get those cycles

RealityWarCriminal
Aug 10, 2016

:o:

Gringostar posted:

1000 more pages until it's hitler time

this is a weird thing to celebrate

Anime Schoolgirl
Nov 28, 2002

Gringostar posted:

i said this in the old thread but if we get a RICO out of mueller then i'm throwing a huge party on my dime for everyone*

*nite crew only, no succ zoners allowed
most of nite crew posts in suck zone so the only person you'll be partying with....

is baloogan

RealityWarCriminal
Aug 10, 2016

:o:

The Nastier Nate posted:

Has anyone mentioned how off the rails our elections have become when house candidates are declaring a year and a half before the election?

I mean the current president declared his candidacy June 15th 2015.

Is the Zuck going to announce his run 2020 White House run by Christmas?

https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/877617364480733184

triple sulk
Sep 17, 2014




TRUMP

UFOTacoMan
Sep 22, 2005

Thanks easter bunny!
bok bok!
Your future America:

Dapper_Swindler
Feb 14, 2012

Im glad my instant dislike in you has been validated again and again.

Lol, little early isn't it?

mdemone
Mar 14, 2001

Hey, can somebody with archives copy over my megapost? I usually just pull up the most recent post when I start making edits, but the last thread got archived before I could grab it.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3820719&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=3626#post473458829

I promise to make new updates if you do. :3:

Edit: put it straight into your post, no quotes. thanks!

Fidel Castronaut
Dec 25, 2004

Houston, we're Havana problem.

Dapper_Swindler posted:

Lol, little early isn't it?

campaigning is the only part of this that trump enjoys, which is why he's held like four rallies since becoming pres

Intel&Sebastian
Oct 20, 2002

colonel...
i'm trying to sneak around
but i'm dummy thicc
and the clap of my ass cheeks
keeps alerting the guards!
Sometimes I still laugh when I think about when Richard Spencer said Depeche Mode was the official band of the Alt-Right and the thread title got changed to "Reach out and punch face"

:laugh:

Ben Nerevarine
Apr 14, 2006

The Human Business-Casual Gradient

A Big Fuckin Hornet
Nov 1, 2016

by Nyc_Tattoo
zuck, like trump, is an obscene parody of their party, so im p sure hes gonna be our next president

Joementum
May 23, 2004

jesus christ
ahh, another CIA success story

Fidel Castronaut
Dec 25, 2004

Houston, we're Havana problem.

Intel&Sebastian posted:

Sometimes I still laugh when I think about when Richard Spencer said Depeche Mode was the official band of the Alt-Right and the thread title got changed to "Reach out and punch face"

:laugh:

my one good contribution to trump threads

MacheteZombie
Feb 4, 2007

mdemone posted:

Hey, can somebody with archives copy over my megapost? I usually just pull up the most recent post when I start making edits, but the last thread got archived before I could grab it.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3820719&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=3626#post473458829

I promise to make new updates if you do. :3:

Edit: put it straight into your post, no quotes. thanks!

I have archives but can't copy it over. says the thread is in a place i don't have permission to view.

Nichael
Mar 30, 2011


mdemone posted:

Hey, can somebody with archives copy over my megapost? I usually just pull up the most recent post when I start making edits, but the last thread got archived before I could grab it.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3820719&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=3626#post473458829

I promise to make new updates if you do. :3:

Edit: put it straight into your post, no quotes. thanks!

you mean this?

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3820719&pagenumber=3626&perpage=40#post473458829


Many new links added and a few additions to the timeline. As always, as-yet-unverified information now appears in italics, and please feel free to correct/clarify me on any details or dates, or suggest new pieces to add.

The Players

Leonard Blavatnik is a Ukraine-born American businessman. He made his fortune through diversified investments in myriad companies through his conglomerate company, Access Industries. In 2015, he was named Britain's richest man with an estimated net worth of £17.1 billion as of April 2015. He and a friend from university, Viktor Vekselberg, joined with Mikhail Fridman's Alfa Group to form the AAR venture, which in 2011 was responsible for stopping the BP merger with Rosneft Oil, the Russian state-owned petrocorp (1). In March 2013, at Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, there was a transfer of nearly $28 billion in U.S. currency from an account controlled by Rosneft, to one controlled by four Russian billionaires: Blavatnik, Vekselberg, Mikhail Fridman, and German Khan (2). Rosneft Chief Executive Igor Sechin, often described as Russia's second-most-powerful man, was the central figure behind the deal.

In addition to funding Trump's inauguration party, Blavatnik has long funded Mitch McConnell's super-PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund; see FEC filings showing donations of $1M in December 2015, $500k in April 2016, and $1M on October 25 2016; note that AI Altep is a shell company of Access Industries (3). Also notice that Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone shows up for more than $2M on the October 25 filing, having also given $370k just one week prior. In October 2016, the dark-money super-PAC One Nation donates $11M to the Senate Leadership Fund, with which they share an office.

Following his election, Trump appointed as Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao -- who is Mitch McConnell's wife and donated $42k to campaigns of Senators who would later vote on her confirmation, including her husband. During the Obama-Trump transition, McConnell had raised doubts about the CIA's report that Russian hacking affected the election, and made clear that "he would consider any effort by the Obama White House to challenge the Russians publicly an act of partisan politics" (4). In mid-2016, McConnell's brother-in-law Jim Breyer (husband of Chao's sister Angela, the CEO of the Bank of China, and a billionaire investor in his own right) joined the board of Schwarzman's Blackstone Group. Almost a year later, following a $110B+ arms deal brokered with Saudi Arabia by Jared Kushner, the Saudis subsequently announced a $20B+ investment into Blackstone Group for U.S. infrastructure. Blackstone, especially the real estate arm led by Jonathan Gray, has long been involved with Kushner's enterprises.

A handwritten ledger surfaced in Ukraine in 2016 with dollar amounts and dates next to the name of Paul Manafort, who was then Donald Trump’s campaign chairman. Ukrainian investigators called it evidence of off-the-books payments from a pro-Russian political party. Financial records confirmed that at least $1.2 million in payments listed in the ledger next to Manafort’s name were actually received by his consulting firm in the United States in 2007 and 2009 (5). Manafort's political ties to former Ukrainian PM Viktor Yanukovich have been well documented.

The Timeline

On June 14 2016, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Speaker Paul Ryan have separate meetings with Ukrainian Prime Minister Vladimir Groysman, in which Groysman talks about Russia's financial support of populist politicians and their efforts to undermine democratic governments in Eastern Europe. The next day, McCarthy joked to Ryan and other GOP leaders that he thinks "Putin pays…Trump", after which Ryan laughs and tells the group not to leak the conversation (read the transcript here).

In August 2016, CIA Director John Brennan informs Congressional leadership (the Gang of Eight, as well as Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan) that Russia is intervening in the American election on behalf of Trump. On August 4 2016, Brennan confronts the head of Russia's FSB about the matter.

According to the famous "Steele Dossier" that comes to light in December 2016, one of Steele's inside sources describes the July 2016 meeting between Igor Sechin and Carter Page, Trump policy adviser from his campaign and foreign policy team. (In October, Russian experts would conclude that the inside source was probably a former KGB general, Oleg Erovinkin. In late December 2016, Erovinkin is found dead in his car.) According to the dossier, Sechin offers to broker a 19% sale of Rosneft to Trump's associates in return for the lifting of economic sanctions on Russia (image). Page has an audio recording of Trump promising to fulfill his end of the bargain. During the months of the general election, Trump's campaign has at least 18 undisclosed meetings/contacts with Russian officials.

On Election Day 2016, Stephen Schwarzman's housekeeper is pushed under a subway train (image, bottom]).

Following Trump's victory in November, the transition team quickly began moving to develop sanction relief for Russia, causing alarmed State Dept. officials to urge legislation codifying the sanctions. In early December, Kushner has a meeting with the Russian ambassador/spymaster Sergey Kislyak at Trump Tower, in which the men discuss the possibility of a secret back-channel for communications between the Trump team and the Kremlin.

In January 2017, 19.5% of Rosneft Oil is sold to a shell-of-shell-of-shell holding owned by (at the end of the chain) the trust company Intertrust [see the middle of image for holdings flowchart from Reuters, and tracing through shells from QHG to Intertrust]. Intertrust's major shareholder is Blackstone Group and therefore Stephen Schwarzman, who had been named chairman of the strategic and policy forum by Trump in December (he was offered a full-time role in the administration, but declined). Schwarzman now controls around 19% of Rosneft, as promised by Sechin, and has been seen with Trump at Mar-a-lago and many public events (image, bottom]). He remains a constant advisor to Trump.

On January 10 2017, Susan Rice, (Obama’s NSA), consults Michael Flynn about a plan to retake Raqqa from ISIS with the help of Syrian Kurdish forces. (The plan would have been executed under Trump, so Obama’s team wanted Flynn’s approval.) Flynn’s decision is to forestall the attack, an answer that happens to conform to the wishes of the Turkish government, which was benefiting from his lobbying work for which Flynn was paid at least $500,000. While Trump would eventually approve the military plan, Flynn’s decision 10 days before Trump took office delays the operation by several months. Flynn informs the Trump transition team that he is under investigation by the FBI for having been a foreign agent.

On January 27 2017, Donald Trump invites FBI Director James Comey to the White House for a private dinner, in which he asks for Comey's loyalty and assurances that there is no Russia investigation. The memos written by Comey regarding this and other conversations with Trump substantially corroborate his testimony before Congress.

In February, Trump asks Pence and Sessions to leave the Oval Office before pressuring Comey again to drop the Flynn investigation; Comey writes a detailed memo about this conversation. In March, Trump asked the director of national intelligence and the director of the National Security Agency to make statements confirming that the investigation had cleared him.

In late March, Flynn requests immunity from the Senate Intelligence Committee and the FBI in return for his testimony; his lawyer claims he has "a story to tell". On April 1 2017, this request is denied.

On April 27 2017, the "Mayflower Meeting" is held, shortly before Trump's first foreign policy speech, having been organized by his campaign chair Paul Manafort and Kremlin-think-tank coordinator Jacob Heilbrunn. In the room are Jeff Sessions (photo), Jared Kushner, and Manafort, along with ambassadors from Russia, Singapore, and the Philippines, and unidentified representatives from Rosneft. Trump's Secretary of Commerce is Wilbur Ross. He is the former vice-chair of the Bank of Cyprus, of which Vekselberg is the major shareholder. Ross, Schwarzman, Blavatnik, and McConnell/Chao would put together an $1T infrastructure plan that would depend on foreign money, as Chao admitted to Sean Hannity on Fox News on March 1 2017.

On May 9 2017, James Comey is fired as FBI Director, the week after he visited the "rocket docket" in federal court for the Eastern District of Virginia, and just days after he requested more resources for the Trump/Russia investigation. On May 10 2017, Trump meets with Russian FM Sergey Lavrov and Russian ambassador/spymaster Sergey Kislyak, in the Oval Office, without American press allowed but in the presence of Russian state media. At this meeting, Trump divulges code-word classified information from an Israeli intelligence source regarding the ISIS laptop-bomb plot; this source is said to be the most important double agent now working in ISIS, according to the Israeli Directorate of Military Intelligence (Aman). Trump also refers to Comey as a "nut job", and claims to the Russians that the investigation will be over now that Comey is gone (6). The same day of the Oval Office meeting with Russian diplomats, a federal grand jury in EDVA hands down multiple subpoenas for business/lobbying associates of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, regarding his foreign contacts in Turkey (Ekim Alptekin) and Russia (David Zaikin).

On May 11 2017, the Strategic Campaign Group's office is raided in Annapolis by the FBI and U.S. Marshals following the warrants handed down by EDVA from two separate grand juries, corresponding to ~25 indictments regarding money-laundering and many other charges. Less than a week later, former FBI Director Robert Mueller is appointed by the Deputy Attorney General to oversee the Russia investigation. In testimony before the House Intelligence Committee on May 23 2017, former CIA Director John Brennan verified that in August 2016 he had informed the Gang of Eight and others (including Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan) that Russia was intervening in the election on Trump's behalf. In late May, Jared Kushner is revealed to be among the targets of the FBI's Russia probe.

On June 2 2017, Mueller assumes control over the federal grand jury criminal investigations of Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn. James Comey testifies before the Senate Intel Committee on June 8 2017. The following week, Mueller's team confirms that they are investigating the president in part for obstruction of justice with respect to Comey and the Russia probe; as a result, Senate Intel agrees to avoid pursuing that aspect.


References:
1. Yenikeyeff, Shamil, "BP, Russian billionaires, and the Kremlin: a Power Triangle that never was", Oxford Energy Comment, November 23, 2011
2. Vardi, Nathan, "The Four Horsemen of Russia's Economic Apocalypse", Forbes, February 9, 2015
3. SEC statement identifying Al Altep as a shell of Access Industries
4. Entous et al. "Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House", Washington Post, December 9 2016
5. AP Exclusive: Manafort firm received Ukraine ledger payout
6. Apuzzo et al. "NYTimes, May 19 2017




I save good posts to Notepad, so I don't actually have the embedded links. I just have the text.

sandoz
Jan 29, 2009


Intel&Sebastian posted:

Sometimes I still laugh when I think about when Richard Spencer said Depeche Mode was the official band of the Alt-Right and the thread title got changed to "Reach out and punch face"

:laugh:

i have lived and died a thousand times since that day

The Nastier Nate
May 22, 2005

All aboard the corona bus!

HONK! HONK!


Yams Fan

Fidel Castronaut posted:

campaigning is the only part of this that trump enjoys, which is why he's held like four rallies since becoming pres

Trumpiness aside, keeping his base engaged for 4 years is now Trumps gonna get re-elected assuming his heart doesn't give out.

tacodaemon
Nov 27, 2006



I just discovered that there is an alt-right/neo-nazi website called "Anime Right News" and I need to lie down for a while

Joementum
May 23, 2004

jesus christ
is today my birthday or something?

https://twitter.com/internetofshit/status/877609892248408064

TheBigAristotle
Feb 8, 2007

I'm tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money.
I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok.

Grimey Drawer

Thom and the Heads posted:

john cornyn looks identical to a boneless, skinless chicken breast

You are what you eat is the lazy joke here

I'm gonna go with "Cornyn's ideal meal is probably identical to Mac's proposed dinner party menu from Always Sunny"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvartmgpV2c

Bert Roberge
Nov 28, 2003

Nichael posted:

you mean this?

I save good posts to Notepad, so I don't actually have the embedded links. I just have the text.

Use the kiosk to order your pink slime burger, sir.

Admiral Ray
May 17, 2014

Proud Musk and Dogecoin fanboy

mdemone posted:

Hey, can somebody with archives copy over my megapost? I usually just pull up the most recent post when I start making edits, but the last thread got archived before I could grab it.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3820719&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=3626#post473458829

I promise to make new updates if you do. :3:

Edit: put it straight into your post, no quotes. thanks!

that thread is hidden in the admin place or whatever, not archives.

Bert Roberge
Nov 28, 2003

tacodaemon posted:

I just discovered that there is an alt-right/neo-nazi website called "Anime Right News" and I need to lie down for a while

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tj-Hp7AYlk&t=24s

TheBigAristotle
Feb 8, 2007

I'm tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money.
I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok.

Grimey Drawer

Looking forward to people smashing the kiosks in protest. Hopefully one day I can do the same

Gringostar
Nov 12, 2016
Morbid Hound

Reality Winner posted:

this is a weird thing to celebrate

say what you will about all the bad things hitler did, the man did kill hitler which owns

Matoi Ryuko
Jan 6, 2004


tacodaemon posted:

I just discovered that there is an alt-right/neo-nazi website called "Anime Right News" and I need to lie down for a while

Lol

Nichael
Mar 30, 2011


Bert Roberge posted:

Use the kiosk to order your pink slime burger, sir.

pink slime is murder

MadJackal
Apr 30, 2004


Why didn't these guys get bonuses?

Al!
Apr 2, 2010

:coolspot::coolspot::coolspot::coolspot::coolspot:

UFOTofuTacoCat posted:

Your future America:


zuckerberg winning the democratic nomination, and then the presidency is the stupidest most impossible thing so its a lock

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Solarin
Nov 15, 2007

MadJackal posted:

Why didn't these guys get bonuses?

turns out the CIA is dumb

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