US Politics Mega-thread - Page 4780

In an effort to collect previously undisclosed millions of dollars he’s owed by an oligarch-backed Ukrainian political party, Donald Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been relying on a trusted protégé whose links to Russia and its Ukrainian allies have prompted concerns among Manafort associates, according to people who worked with both men.

The protégé, Konstantin Kilimnik, has had conversations with fellow operatives in Kiev about collecting unpaid fees owed to Manafort’s company by a Russia-friendly political party called Opposition Bloc, according to operatives who work in Ukraine.

A Russian Army-trained linguist who has told a previous employer of a background with Russian intelligence, Kilimnik started working for Manafort in 2005 when Manafort was representing Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, a gig that morphed into a long-term contract with Viktor Yanukovych, the Kremlin-aligned hard-liner who became president of Ukraine.

Kilimnik eventually became “Manafort’s Manafort” in Kiev, and he continued to lead Manafort’s office there after Yanukovych fled the country for Russia in 2014, according to Ukrainian business records and interviews with several political operatives who have worked in Ukraine’s capital. Kilimnik and Manafort then teamed up to help promote Opposition Bloc, which rose from the ashes of Yanukovych’s regime. The party is funded by oligarchs who previously backed Yanukovych, including at least one who the Ukrainian operatives say is close to both Kilimnik and Manafort.

Kilimnik has continued advising Opposition Bloc, which opposes Ukraine’s teetering pro-Western government, even as the party stopped fully paying Manafort’s firm, leaving it unable to pay some of its employees and rent, according to people familiar with the firm and its relationship to Opposition Bloc.

All the while, Kilimnik has told people that he remains in touch with his old mentor. He told several people that he traveled to the United States and met with Manafort this spring. The trip and alleged meeting came at a time when Manafort was immersed in helping guide Trump’s campaign through the bitter Republican presidential primaries, and was trying to distance himself from his work in Ukraine.

On August 19 2016 14:10 Doodsmack wrote:
Let's hear for a moment from the Yahoo commenting base.

Personality, like IQ, is largely stable throughout one's life. What you've seen early on is his true self. If one wants to vote Republican, they should not delude themselves into thinking Trump will change or has changed, or that somehow he will be better than he really is. People should not be stupid and hopeful. People should not engage in any rationalizations, justifications. He will do and say things to get more votes. If you want to vote for him, vote for him, but don't think to yourself he is really better than what he has portrayed himself to be. Personally, change would be desirable, but I don't think Trump is the one to be in that office. He would be change for the worse. I don't see why people don't see that. Even maintaining the status quo, while not optimal, is better than change for the worse. I don't see how people could even entertain the idea of Trump being president. People wouldn't want him to be in charge of anything else, given what we've seen so far.

On August 19 2016 15:55 NukeD wrote:

So that could mean that he may have some reasonable points rather than being anti-whatever becuase its cool.

Liberals are amping up their opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on and off of Capitol Hill, amid escalating concerns that the package will get an 11th hour vote after the November elections.

Republican leaders in both chambers have said it's unlikely the mammoth Pacific Rim trade deal will reach the floor this year. But the accord remains a top priority for President Obama in the twilight of his final term, and the critics — leery of pro-TPP members in both parties — aren't taking anything for granted.


Liberal TPP opponents this month have launched a new wave of petition campaigns and fundraising drives; a free concert series is touring the country through the summer; and lawmakers on Capitol Hill are vowing to do "everything we possibly can," in the words of Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), to block a vote this year.
“Make no mistake about it, Speaker [Paul] Ryan and the administration are working hand-in-hand to plot a path for the TPP in a lame duck session of Congress," DeLauro, who's among the loudest TPP critics, said this week in an email. "They will do everything possible to try to pass the TPP after the election."

Fueling those concerns, Obama on Friday sent notice to Congress that he intends to deliver TPP implementing legislation to Capitol Hill later in the year — a maneuver dictated by the fast-track trade resolution Congress passed in 2015.

On August 19 2016 20:41 ragz_gt wrote:


Or it means people have trouble consolidate the idea of individual and group of people. I've know a lot of people (I imagine you'd too) who are very friendly and cool to African Americans they know, but still pretty racist against them as a group.

On August 19 2016 15:55 NukeD wrote:

So that could mean that he may have some reasonable points rather than being anti-whatever becuase its cool.

As southern Louisiana sheds the last of the week’s historic floodwater, the region faces significant challenges: how to handle resulting disease, how to pay for the damage and how to prevent it all from happening again.

But as the nation becomes aware of the extent of the damage – 40,000 homes affected and at least 13 people killed – politics have begun to creep into play. Some people have criticized Barack Obama for continuing his golfing vacation as the flood unfolded, while Donald Trump plans to visit the region on Friday, to the consternation of Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards.

Many residents are only dimly aware, if at all, of those larger tableaux. Most remain focused on immediate matters like finding loved ones, burying pets and shoveling river silt from their living rooms.

Or even more immediately, they search for food for themselves and their children in places where relief agencies have not yet arrived. “Our daily bread,” some people have taken to calling it.

“They took those brown bags with such gratitude,” said Julie Ralph, who spent Thursday handing out lunches at Amite Baptist church in Denham Springs. The church itself was flooded and contaminated, so the food was prepared at the few dry homes in the area, then gathered at the church and distributed to anyone who could come. Several men with high-clearance trucks drove food to people who had no means of transportation. “One lady broke down crying,” Ralph said.

The rivers and rainwater have receded, but the region is now haunted by small olive-drab patches of water here and there; puddled in a child’s splash pool, trapped in a trash can, or cupped in fallen magnolia leaves. All of it will offer a breeding ground to mosquitoes in a region where they are, even in the best circumstances, a plague.

Locals fear the Zika virus and mosquito repellents long ago disappeared from supermarket shelves. So far those fears may be unfounded. According to the Louisiana department of health, four new cases of Zika were reported this week, but all were contracted during travel to affected areas.

On August 19 2016 21:37 Plansix wrote:

Having black/jewish/gay friends does not inoculate someone from racism/bigotry. I don’t know why people seem to believe it would.

On August 19 2016 22:50 xDaunt wrote:
Or, you know, we could wait and see whether there's any truth to the allegations in the Complaint before concluding that the guy actually did those things....

On August 19 2016 22:52 Plansix wrote:
How long do I need to wait until I can form an opinion on the subject? If I start every sentence with “If the allegation are true,” is it ok to speculate?

On August 19 2016 11:10 xDaunt wrote:

I'm just tired and cranky from not getting enough sleep last night and having to deal with some needless bullshit at work.

This Trump speech is good. He's very strong when he stays on point with his core issues and avoids his shitty detouring. I also find his speeches fascinating from a technical standpoint because he incorporates a lot of the terminology and techniques that top trial attorneys use.