1. #3101
    The Unstoppable Force Theodarzna's Avatar
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    RNC considers cutting cash to Trump
    Publicly, Republican Party officials continue to stand by Donald Trump. Privately, at the highest levels, party leaders have started talking about cutting off support to Trump in October and redirecting cash to save endangered congressional majorities.

    Since the Cleveland convention, top party officials have been quietly making the case to political journalists, donors and GOP operatives that the Republican National Committee has done more to help Trump than it did to support its 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, and that therefore Trump has only himself and his campaign to blame for his precipitous slide in the polls, according to people who have spoken with Republican leadership.

    Sean Spicer, the RNC’s top strategist, on Wednesday made that case to 14 political reporters he convened at the organization’s Capitol Hill headquarters for an off-the-record conversation about the election.

    Reporters from POLITICO and BuzzFeed were not invited.

    According to several people who attended, Spicer spent much of the session detailing all the RNC resources that have been deployed to swing states and how the party’s infrastructure is stronger than it has ever been.
    (Source)

    Will the Party completely cut this train wreck off finally?
    Quote Originally Posted by Crissi View Post
    i think I have my posse filled out now. Mars is Theo, Jupiter is Vanyali, Linadra is Venus, and Heather is Mercury. Dragon can be Pluto.
    On MMO-C we learn that Anti-Fascism is locking arms with corporations, the State Department and agreeing with the CIA, But opposing the CIA and corporate America, and thinking Jews have a right to buy land and can expect tenants to pay rent THAT is ultra-Fash Nazism. Bellingcat is an MI6/CIA cut out. Clyburn Truther.

  2. #3102
    I am Murloc! Pangean's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by akris15 View Post
    I can't wait to see in November how Utah is going to vote. Its no secret that Mormons hate Trump probably more than your typical liberal out there. I would love to see how many votes Johnson can steal from Trump especially if the Trump Trainwreck continues.
    I would expect to see Johnson as high as 15% in the election in Utah. Although I think the entry of McMullin, a Mormon may mess that prediction up.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Theodarzna View Post
    RNC considers cutting cash to Trump


    (Source)

    Will the Party completely cut this train wreck off finally?
    Yeah the article was already posted. And didn't you say: "if this isn't fun feel free to go back to the Trump thread and circle jerk about how terrible Trump is". And lo and behold you appear and are doing what exactly? Pathetic.
    What are we gonna do now? Taking off his turban, they said, is this man a Jew?
    'Cause they're working for the clampdown
    They put up a poster saying we earn more than you!
    When we're working for the clampdown
    We will teach our twisted speech To the young believers
    We will train our blue-eyed men To be young believers

  3. #3103
    Quote Originally Posted by Theodarzna View Post
    RNC considers cutting cash to Trump


    (Source)

    Will the Party completely cut this train wreck off finally?
    They need to the senate is looking to be a disaster from a GOP point of view if things don't get put on track. While there are some hope spots like Portman in Ohio polling well the fact that people like Toomey are in trouble means they need to divert all resources in salvaging what they can out of the senate.

  4. #3104
    The Unstoppable Force Theodarzna's Avatar
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    Donald Trump’s Poll Numbers Are Collapsing
    The bottom is dropping out for Donald Trump.

    While Trump was never popular outside of his loyal slice of GOP voters, a raft of new polls show his national position hitting new lows, including with groups that are supposed to form his base.

    A collection of recent surveys by Real Clear Politics finds, on average, 30 percent of respondents hold a favorable view of Trump versus 63 percent who hold a negative one. Those numbers are roughly parallel to former President George W. Bush’s approval ratings during his final months in office, which set the stage for President Barack Obama’s landslide victory.

    America’s widespread loathing for Trump puts further pressure on Republican delegates to deny him the nomination in July if he falls short of a majority, a move that would set off an ugly civil war — but one that some in the party believe would be necessary to stave off generational damage.

    Trump’s worsening position comes after a tumultuous period in which he has faced widespread criticism within his party over his violent rhetoric and, more recently, his attack on Sen. Ted Cruz’s wife, Heidi Cruz. The news has not improved much in recent days, which featured the arrest of Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandoski and Trump’s flip flop over “punishment” for women who terminate their pregnancy.
    (Source)

    I wonder were the support went? I guess he has gone fully into the marina's trench with his polling.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by akris15 View Post
    They need to the senate is looking to be a disaster from a GOP point of view if things don't get put on track. While there are some hope spots like Portman in Ohio polling well the fact that people like Toomey are in trouble means they need to divert all resources in salvaging what they can out of the senate.
    I wonder how the GOP House races are doing? Is Trump the bomb the blows up the party?
    Quote Originally Posted by Crissi View Post
    i think I have my posse filled out now. Mars is Theo, Jupiter is Vanyali, Linadra is Venus, and Heather is Mercury. Dragon can be Pluto.
    On MMO-C we learn that Anti-Fascism is locking arms with corporations, the State Department and agreeing with the CIA, But opposing the CIA and corporate America, and thinking Jews have a right to buy land and can expect tenants to pay rent THAT is ultra-Fash Nazism. Bellingcat is an MI6/CIA cut out. Clyburn Truther.

  5. #3105
    I am Murloc! Pangean's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Theodarzna View Post
    Donald Trump’s Poll Numbers Are Collapsing


    (Source)

    I wonder were the support went? I guess he has gone fully into the marina's trench with his polling.
    Any reason you are posting an article from 03/31/16 02:41 PM—UPDATED 04/01/16 12:13 PM? Other than begging for attention?
    What are we gonna do now? Taking off his turban, they said, is this man a Jew?
    'Cause they're working for the clampdown
    They put up a poster saying we earn more than you!
    When we're working for the clampdown
    We will teach our twisted speech To the young believers
    We will train our blue-eyed men To be young believers

  6. #3106
    Quote Originally Posted by Theodarzna View Post
    Donald Trump’s Poll Numbers Are Collapsing


    (Source)

    I wonder were the support went? I guess he has gone fully into the marina's trench with his polling.

    - - - Updated - - -



    I wonder how the GOP House races are doing? Is Trump the bomb the blows up the party?
    It doesn't help but the house is so Gerrymandered in key states it wont change. It would have be a disaster of epic proportions for the GOP to lose control of the house. In 2018 though several states got their Gerrymandered districts broken up but its not in effect this election year.

  7. #3107
    Quote Originally Posted by Pangean View Post
    Any reason you are posting an article from 03/31/16 02:41 PM—UPDATED 04/01/16 12:13 PM? Other than begging for attention?
    She's in the Trump thread trying to convince everyone to vote third party because Trump "can't win" so pressure has to be put on Clinton for vague reasons so had to cross-post evidence here.

  8. #3108
    Quote Originally Posted by Theodarzna View Post
    Donald Trump’s Poll Numbers Are Collapsing


    (Source)

    I wonder were the support went? I guess he has gone fully into the marina's trench with his polling.
    If this ist rue, this is wonderful news.

    My problem is that the Clintons, for thirty years, have surrounded themselves with sycophants who tell them _exactly_ what they want to hear. They don't actively go out looking for these people - Bill Clinton personally tried to ward them off in the 2008 primary when those sycophants wrote Obama off, and did it again earlier this year with Sanders - but they have a habit of emerging.

    The Clinton Campaign better not start picking out the Oval Office rug yet (my advice, put the Bush's golden radiant one back in, get rid of Obama's cheap rag). They need to keep campaigning like they're 10 points down.

  9. #3109
    I am Murloc! Pangean's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by akris15 View Post
    It doesn't help but the house is so Gerrymandered in key states it wont change. It would have be a disaster of epic proportions for the GOP to lose control of the house. In 2018 though several states got their Gerrymandered districts broken up but its not in effect this election year.
    It raises an interesting point about the folks that only get interested in one election every four years without understanding if we want real changes it needs to be worked on consistently. State elections allow the Gerrymandered elections. Local elections allow for disenfranchising of voters. I get that a certain group of folks think they can have their revolution and it happen over night it's simply not reality.
    What are we gonna do now? Taking off his turban, they said, is this man a Jew?
    'Cause they're working for the clampdown
    They put up a poster saying we earn more than you!
    When we're working for the clampdown
    We will teach our twisted speech To the young believers
    We will train our blue-eyed men To be young believers

  10. #3110
    The Unstoppable Force Theodarzna's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by akris15 View Post
    It doesn't help but the house is so Gerrymandered in key states it wont change. It would have be a disaster of epic proportions for the GOP to lose control of the house. In 2018 though several states got their Gerrymandered districts broken up but its not in effect this election year.
    I think its actually a, admittedly remote, possibility that Pelosi could regain control. Granted the hill is extremely steep to climb and they would have to win a near perfect score and suffer few if any losses. BUT I think its a dire sign for the republicans that the Democrats are even looking at the House as a maybe, though definitely a remote maybe. But still that does bode well for them.
    Quote Originally Posted by Crissi View Post
    i think I have my posse filled out now. Mars is Theo, Jupiter is Vanyali, Linadra is Venus, and Heather is Mercury. Dragon can be Pluto.
    On MMO-C we learn that Anti-Fascism is locking arms with corporations, the State Department and agreeing with the CIA, But opposing the CIA and corporate America, and thinking Jews have a right to buy land and can expect tenants to pay rent THAT is ultra-Fash Nazism. Bellingcat is an MI6/CIA cut out. Clyburn Truther.

  11. #3111
    I am Murloc! Pangean's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vanyali View Post
    She's in the Trump thread trying to convince everyone to vote third party because Trump "can't win" so pressure has to be put on Clinton for vague reasons so had to cross-post evidence here.
    Lol. Yeah I went and looked at it and as someone said it was a single person circle jerk.
    What are we gonna do now? Taking off his turban, they said, is this man a Jew?
    'Cause they're working for the clampdown
    They put up a poster saying we earn more than you!
    When we're working for the clampdown
    We will teach our twisted speech To the young believers
    We will train our blue-eyed men To be young believers

  12. #3112
    The Unstoppable Force Theodarzna's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Skroe View Post
    If this ist rue, this is wonderful news.

    My problem is that the Clintons, for thirty years, have surrounded themselves with sycophants who tell them _exactly_ what they want to hear. They don't actively go out looking for these people - Bill Clinton personally tried to ward them off in the 2008 primary when those sycophants wrote Obama off, and did it again earlier this year with Sanders - but they have a habit of emerging.

    The Clinton Campaign better not start picking out the Oval Office rug yet (my advice, put the Bush's golden radiant one back in, get rid of Obama's cheap rag). They need to keep campaigning like they're 10 points down.
    The working class may at last abandon Trump, Or enough voters, even myself however tepidly and rather skeptically, have decided a vote for Clinton.

    I think Hillary's campaign for now is playing very well, though I am obviously unlike you and fret that she may get wobbly and weak on core issues she has adopted, I think she can count on Trump just being, well, bad. After the convention I was fully prepared to believe maybe Trump had some plan, that he might have been some master manipulator to have gotten this far, yet, his last few weeks? Eh, if there is a method to what he is doing? Some grand strategy Its either so genius no mortal can grasp it or this is really just the most lucky idiot alive.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Vanyali View Post
    She's in the Trump thread trying to convince everyone to vote third party because Trump "can't win" so pressure has to be put on Clinton for vague reasons so had to cross-post evidence here.
    I am hoping the sincere Trump supporters give up on this guy before he ruins the futures of ..... well I guess his two daughters seem alright. I have no idea what sort of people his sons or other kids are. I've only ever heard of Ivanka and Tiffany.
    Quote Originally Posted by Crissi View Post
    i think I have my posse filled out now. Mars is Theo, Jupiter is Vanyali, Linadra is Venus, and Heather is Mercury. Dragon can be Pluto.
    On MMO-C we learn that Anti-Fascism is locking arms with corporations, the State Department and agreeing with the CIA, But opposing the CIA and corporate America, and thinking Jews have a right to buy land and can expect tenants to pay rent THAT is ultra-Fash Nazism. Bellingcat is an MI6/CIA cut out. Clyburn Truther.

  13. #3113
    I am Murloc! Pangean's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Theodarzna View Post
    I am hoping the sincere Trump supporters give up on this guy before he ruins the futures of ..... well I guess his two daughters seem alright. I have no idea what sort of people his sons or other kids are. I've only ever heard of Ivanka and Tiffany.
    The concern displayed by you for Trump's kids who you really don't know almost brought one small tear to me eye..almost. And amusingly your response didn't even address Vanyali's point.
    What are we gonna do now? Taking off his turban, they said, is this man a Jew?
    'Cause they're working for the clampdown
    They put up a poster saying we earn more than you!
    When we're working for the clampdown
    We will teach our twisted speech To the young believers
    We will train our blue-eyed men To be young believers

  14. #3114
    Elemental Lord callipygoustp's Avatar
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    This election is the best ever.

    The latest entertaining piece that I've seen : Hezbollah leader echoes Trump's claim that Obama and Clinton founded ISIS.

    Trump starting to develop a winning alliance : Trump + Hezbollah 2016!!!!

    The two items that had me laughing:
    "This is not simple speech,” Nasrallah said of Trump's remarks. “This is an American presidential candidate. This was spoken on behalf of the American Republican Party. He has data and documents.”
    Trump said on Wednesday that Obama was "the founder of ISIS" and later expanded the claim to include Clinton. Trump repeated his accusation throughout the next day. He said Friday morning the comment was meant as sarcasm, but later that day qualified that by saying his initial claim was "not that sarcastic."
    "I was being sarcastic... but not really."

    I feel like I am reading something from The Onion - America's Greatest News Source when I see articles like this. Can't be real can it? Oh yes, yes it is!

  15. #3115
    I am Murloc! Pangean's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by callipygoustp View Post
    This election is the best ever.

    The latest entertaining piece that I've seen : Hezbollah leader echoes Trump's claim that Obama and Clinton founded ISIS.

    Trump starting to develop a winning alliance : Trump + Hezbollah 2016!!!!

    The two items that had me laughing:



    "I was being sarcastic... but not really."

    I feel like I am reading something from The Onion - America's Greatest News Source when I see articles like this. Can't be real can it? Oh yes, yes it is!
    For some reason I don't see Trump bragging about the Hezbollah endorsement. But just in case here's a bumper sticker for it.



    - - - Updated - - -

    An editorial from the Wall Street Journal, home of the liberalist of liberals. They aren't happy campers.

    " As for Mr. Trump, he needs to stop blaming everyone else and decide if he wants to behave like someone who wants to be President—or turn the nomination over to Mike Pence."
    Trump’s Self-Reckoning
    The GOP nominee and his supporters face a moment of truth.

    Donald Trump lashed out at the media on Sunday after more stories describing dysfunction inside his presidential campaign. “If the disgusting and corrupt media covered me honestly and didn’t put false meaning into the words I say, I would be beating Hillary by 20%,” Mr. Trump averred on Twitter.
    Mr. Trump is right that most of the media want him to lose, but then that was also true of George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. It’s true of every Republican presidential nominee. The difference is that Mr. Trump has made it so easy for the media and his opponents.

    The latest stories comport with what we also hear from sources close to the Trump campaign. Mr. Trump’s advisers and his family want the candidate to deliver a consistent message making the case for change. They’d like him to be disciplined. They want him to focus on growing the economy and raising incomes and fighting terrorism.

    They think he should make the election a referendum on Hillary Clinton, not on himself. And they’d like him to spend a little time each day—a half hour even—studying the issues he’ll need to understand if he becomes President.

    Is that so hard? Apparently so. Mr. Trump prefers to watch the cable shows rather than read a briefing paper. He thinks the same shoot-from-the-lip style that won over a plurality of GOP primary voters can persuade other Republicans and independents who worry if he has the temperament to be Commander in Chief.

    He also thinks the crowds at his campaign rallies are a substitute for the lack of a field organization and digital turnout strategy. And he thinks that Twitter and social media can make up for being outspent $100 million to zero in battleground states.

    By now it should be obvious that none of this is working. It’s obvious to many of his advisers, who are the sources for the news stories about dysfunction. They may be covering for themselves, but this is what happens in failing campaigns. The difference is that the recriminations typically start in October, not mid-August.

    These stories are appearing now because the polls show that Mr. Trump is on the path to losing a winnable race. He is now losing in every key battleground state, some like New Hampshire by double digits. The Midwest industrial states he claimed he would put into play—Wisconsin, Pennsylvania—have turned sharply toward Mrs. Clinton.

    More ominously, states won by John McCain and Mitt Romney are much closer than they should be. If Mr. Trump is fighting to hold Georgia, Arizona and even Utah by September, a landslide defeat becomes all too possible.

    The tragedy is that this is happening in a year when Republicans should win. The political scientist Alan Abramowitz has spent years developing his “time for a change” forecasting model. The model looks at the rate of GDP growth in the second quarter of an election year (1.2% this year), the incumbent President’s approval rating, and the electorate’s desire for change after one party has held the White House for eight years.

    No model is perfect, but Mr. Abramowitz’s has predicted the winner of the major-party popular vote in every presidential election since 1988. His model predicts that Mr. Trump should win a narrow victory with 51.4%. A mainstream GOP candidate who runs a reasonably competent campaign would have about a 66% chance of victory.

    Mr. Trump has alienated his party and he isn’t running a competent campaign. Mrs. Clinton is the second most unpopular presidential nominee in history—after Mr. Trump. But rather than reassure voters and try to repair his image, the New Yorker has spent the last three weeks giving his critics more ammunition.

    Even with more than 80 days left, Mr. Trump’s window for a turnaround is closing. The “Trump pivot” always seemed implausible given his lifelong instincts and habits, but Mr. Trump promised Republicans. “At some point I’ll be so presidential that you people will be so bored, and I’ll come back as a presidential person, and instead of 10,000 people I’ll have about 150 people and they’ll say, boy, he really looks presidential,” he said in April.

    Those who sold Mr. Trump to GOP voters as the man who could defeat Hillary Clinton now face a moment of truth. Chris Christie, Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, Paul Manafort and the talk-radio right told Republicans their man could rise to the occasion.

    If they can’t get Mr. Trump to change his act by Labor Day, the GOP will have no choice but to write off the nominee as hopeless and focus on salvaging the Senate and House and other down-ballot races. As for Mr. Trump, he needs to stop blaming everyone else and decide if he wants to behave like someone who wants to be President—or turn the nomination over to Mike Pence.

    http://www.wsj.com/article_email/tru...NTEyNDYxMjQzWj
    What are we gonna do now? Taking off his turban, they said, is this man a Jew?
    'Cause they're working for the clampdown
    They put up a poster saying we earn more than you!
    When we're working for the clampdown
    We will teach our twisted speech To the young believers
    We will train our blue-eyed men To be young believers

  16. #3116
    Dreadlord Seiklis's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Theodarzna View Post

    I wonder how the GOP House races are doing? Is Trump the bomb the blows up the party?
    Still Gerrymandered enough the 15 seats that'll probably be lost won't be enough of a difference

    First day I was in Cleveland for the Convention, Michael Steele was at the Atlantic event really bragging about this fact. This could be the biggest problem the Republican Party has with a court flip. Racial Gerrymandering has been the only thing the court has previous cared about, if that were to stretch into partisan gerrymandering, The House could flip in 2022 for years or at minimum to whatever party wins the Presidency election

    Darrell Issa's California district is one of the seats that is most vulnerable for the Incumbent I can think of off the top of my head
    Last edited by Seiklis; 2016-08-15 at 12:39 AM.

  17. #3117
    I am Murloc! Pangean's Avatar
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    Oh Oh Corey is taking revenge on Paul Manafort tweeting the existence of this article.

    Secret Ledger in Ukraine Lists Cash for Donald Trump’s Campaign Chief

    KIEV, Ukraine — On a leafy side street off Independence Square in Kiev is an office used for years by Donald J. Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, when he consulted for Ukraine’s ruling political party. His furniture and personal items were still there as recently as May.

    And Mr. Manafort’s presence remains elsewhere here in the capital, where government investigators examining secret records have found his name, as well as companies he sought business with, as they try to untangle a corrupt network they say was used to loot Ukrainian assets and influence elections during the administration of Mr. Manafort’s main client, former President Viktor F. Yanukovych.

    Handwritten ledgers show $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments designated for Mr. Manafort from Mr. Yanukovych’s pro-Russian political party from 2007 to 2012, according to Ukraine’s newly formed National Anti-Corruption Bureau. Investigators assert that the disbursements were part of an illegal off-the-books system whose recipients also included election officials.

    In addition, criminal prosecutors are investigating a group of offshore shell companies that helped members of Mr. Yanukovych’s inner circle finance their lavish lifestyles, including a palatial presidential residence with a private zoo, golf course and tennis court. Among the hundreds of murky transactions these companies engaged in was an $18 million deal to sell Ukrainian cable television assets to a partnership put together by Mr. Manafort and a Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin.

    Mr. Manafort’s involvement with moneyed interests in Russia and Ukraine had previously come to light. But as American relationships there become a rising issue in the presidential campaign — from Mr. Trump’s favorable statements about Mr. Putin and his annexation of Crimea to the suspected Russian hacking of Democrats’ emails — an examination of Mr. Manafort’s activities offers new details of how he mixed politics and business out of public view and benefited from powerful interests now under scrutiny by the new government in Kiev.

    Anti-corruption officials there say the payments earmarked for Mr. Manafort, previously unreported, are a focus of their investigation, though they have yet to determine if he actually received the cash. While Mr. Manafort is not a target in the separate inquiry of offshore activities, prosecutors say he must have realized the implications of his financial dealings.

    “He understood what was happening in Ukraine,” said Vitaliy Kasko, a former senior official with the general prosecutor’s office in Kiev. “It would have to be clear to any reasonable person that the Yanukovych clan, when it came to power, was engaged in corruption.”

    Mr. Kasko added, “It’s impossible to imagine a person would look at this and think, ‘Everything is all right.’”

    Mr. Manafort did not respond to interview requests or written questions from The New York Times. But his lawyer, Richard A. Hibey, said Mr. Manafort had not received “any such cash payments” described by the anti-corruption officials.

    Mr. Hibey also disputed Mr. Kasko’s suggestion that Mr. Manafort might have countenanced corruption or been involved with people who took part in illegal activities.

    “These are suspicions, and probably heavily politically tinged ones,” said Mr. Hibey, a member of the Washington law firm Miller & Chevalier. “It is difficult to respect any kind of allegation of the sort being made here to smear someone when there is no proof and we deny there ever could be such proof.”

    Mysterious Payments

    The developments in Ukraine underscore the risky nature of the international consulting that has been a staple of Mr. Manafort’s business since the 1980s, when he went to work for the Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Before joining Mr. Trump’s campaign this spring, Mr. Manafort’s most prominent recent client was Mr. Yanukovych, who — like Mr. Marcos — was deposed in a popular uprising.

    Before he fled to Russia two years ago, Mr. Yanukovych and his Party of Regions relied heavily on the advice of Mr. Manafort and his firm, who helped them win several elections. During that period, Mr. Manafort never registered as a foreign agent with the United States Justice Department — as required of those seeking to influence American policy on behalf of foreign clients — although one of his subcontractors did.

    It is unclear if Mr. Manafort’s activities necessitated registering. If they were limited to advising the Party of Regions in Ukraine, he probably would not have had to. But he also worked to burnish his client’s image in the West and helped Mr. Yanukovych’s administration draft a report defending its prosecution of his chief rival, Yulia V. Tymoshenko, in 2012.

    Whatever the case, absent a registration — which requires disclosure of how much the registrant is being paid and by whom — Mr. Manafort’s compensation has remained a mystery. However, a cache of documents discovered after the fall of Mr. Yanukovych’s government may provide some answers.

    The papers, known in Ukraine as the “black ledger,” are a chicken-scratch of Cyrillic covering about 400 pages taken from books once kept in a third-floor room in the former Party of Regions headquarters on Lipskaya Street in Kiev. The room held two safes stuffed with $100 bills, said Taras V. Chornovil, a former party leader who was also a recipient of the money at times. He said in an interview that he had once received $10,000 in a “wad of cash” for a trip to Europe.

    “This was our cash,” he said, adding that he had left the party in part over concerns about off-the-books activity. “They had it on the table, stacks of money, and they had lists of who to pay.”

    The National Anti-Corruption Bureau, which obtained the ledger, said in a statement that Mr. Manafort’s name appeared 22 times in the documents over five years, with payments totaling $12.7 million. The purpose of the payments is not clear. Nor is the outcome, since the handwritten entries cannot be cross-referenced against banking records, and the signatures for receipt have not yet been verified.

    “Paul Manafort is among those names on the list of so-called ‘black accounts of the Party of Regions,’ which the detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine are investigating,” the statement said. “We emphasize that the presence of P. Manafort’s name in the list does not mean that he actually got the money, because the signatures that appear in the column of recipients could belong to other people.”

    The accounting records surfaced this year, when Serhiy A. Leshchenko, a member of Parliament who said he had received a partial copy from a source he did not identify, published line items covering six months of outlays in 2012 totaling $66 million. In an interview, Mr. Leshchenko said another source had provided the entire multiyear ledger to Viktor M. Trepak, a former deputy director of the domestic intelligence agency of Ukraine, the S.B.U., who passed it to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.

    The bureau, whose government funding is mandated under American and European Union aid programs and which has an evidence-sharing agreement with the F.B.I., has investigatory powers but cannot indict suspects. Only if it passes its findings to prosecutors — which has not happened with Mr. Manafort — does a subject of its inquiry become part of a criminal case.

    Individual disbursements reflected in the ledgers ranged from a few hundred dollars to millions of dollars. Of the records released from 2012, one shows a payment of $67,000 for a watch and another of $8.4 million to the owner of an advertising agency for campaign work for the party before elections that year.

    “It’s a very vivid example of how political parties are financed in Ukraine,” said Daria N. Kaleniuk, the executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center in Kiev. “It represents the very dirty cash economy in Ukraine.”

    Offshore Companies

    While working in Ukraine, Mr. Manafort had also positioned himself to profit from business deals that benefited from connections he had gained through his political consulting. One of them, according to court filings, involved a network of offshore companies that government investigators and independent journalists in Ukraine have said was used to launder public money and assets purportedly stolen by cronies of the government.

    The network comprised shell companies whose ultimate owners were shielded by the secrecy laws of the offshore jurisdictions where they were registered, including the British Virgin Islands, Belize and the Seychelles.

    In a recent interview, Serhiy V. Gorbatyuk, Ukraine’s special prosecutor for high-level corruption cases, pointed to an open file on his desk containing paperwork for one of the shell companies, Milltown Corporate Services Ltd., which played a central role in the state’s purchase of two oil derricks for $785 million, or about double what they were said to be worth.

    “This,” he said, “was an offshore used often by Mr. Yanukovych’s entourage.”

    The role of the offshore companies in business dealings involving Mr. Manafort came to light because of court filings in the Cayman Islands and in a federal court in Virginia related to an investment fund, Pericles Emerging Markets. Mr. Manafort and several partners started the fund in 2007, and its major backer was Mr. Deripaska, the Russian mogul, to whom the State Department has refused to issue a visa, apparently because of allegations linking him to Russian organized crime, a charge he has denied.

    Mr. Deripaska agreed to commit as much as $100 million to Pericles so it could buy assets in Ukraine and Eastern Europe, including a regional cable television and communications company called Black Sea Cable. But corporate records and court filings show that it was hardly a straightforward transaction.

    The Black Sea Cable assets were controlled by a rotating cast of offshore companies that led back to the Yanukovych network, including, at various times, Milltown Corporate Services and two other companies well known to law enforcement officials, Monohold A.G. and Intrahold A.G. Those two companies won inflated contracts with a state-run agricultural company, and also acquired a business center in Kiev with a helicopter pad on the roof that would ease Mr. Yanukovych’s commute from his country estate to the presidential offices.
    Mr. Deripaska would later say he invested $18.9 million in Pericles in 2008 to complete the acquisition of Black Sea Cable. But the planned purchase — including the question of who ended up with the Black Sea assets — has since become the subject of a dispute between Mr. Deripaska and Mr. Manafort.

    In 2014, Mr. Deripaska filed a legal action in a Cayman Islands court seeking to recover his investment in Pericles, which is now defunct. He also said he had paid about $7.3 million in management fees to the fund over two years. Mr. Deripaska did not respond to requests for comment.

    Mr. Manafort’s lawyer, Mr. Hibey, disputed the account of the Black Sea Cable deal contained in Mr. Deripaska’s Cayman filings, and said the Russian oligarch had overseen details of the final transaction involving the acquisition. He denied that Mr. Manafort had received management fees from Pericles during its operation, but said that one of Mr. Manafort’s partners, Rick Gates, who is also working on the Trump campaign, had received a “nominal” sum.

    Court papers indicate that Pericles’ only deal involved Black Sea Cable.

    Mr. Manafort continued working in Ukraine after the demise of Mr. Yanukovych’s government, helping allies of the ousted president and others form a political bloc that opposed the new pro-Western administration. Some of his aides were in Ukraine as recently as this year, and Ukrainian company records give no indication that Mr. Manafort has formally dissolved the local branch of his company, Davis Manafort International, directed by a longtime assistant, Konstantin V. Kilimnik.

    At Mr. Manafort’s old office on Sofiivska Street, new tenants said they had discovered several curiosities apparently left behind, including a knee X-ray signed by Mr. Yanukovych, possibly referring to tennis matches played between Mr. Manafort and Mr. Yanukovych, who had spoken publicly of a knee ailment affecting his game.

    There was another item with Mr. Yanukovych’s autograph: a piece of white paper bearing a rough sketch of Independence Square, the site of the 2014 uprising that drove him from power.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/us...ald-trump.html
    What are we gonna do now? Taking off his turban, they said, is this man a Jew?
    'Cause they're working for the clampdown
    They put up a poster saying we earn more than you!
    When we're working for the clampdown
    We will teach our twisted speech To the young believers
    We will train our blue-eyed men To be young believers

  18. #3118
    This was the funniest part of the parts that I read:

    The developments in Ukraine underscore the risky nature of the international consulting that has been a staple of Mr. Manafort’s business since the 1980s, when he went to work for the Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Before joining Mr. Trump’s campaign this spring, Mr. Manafort’s most prominent recent client was Mr. Yanukovych, who — like Mr. Marcos — was deposed in a popular uprising.
    Quote Originally Posted by Rudol Von Stroheim View Post
    I do not need to play the role of "holier than thou". I'm above that..

  19. #3119
    Herald of the Titans Putin-Chan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Theodarzna View Post
    I am hoping the sincere Trump supporters give up on this guy before he ruins the futures of ..... well I guess his two daughters seem alright. I have no idea what sort of people his sons or other kids are. I've only ever heard of Ivanka and Tiffany.
    I know that he has a son named Donald (because an egotistical cunt like him would obviously have a kid named after himself) A 10-year old son named Baron (WTF, did Melania come up with that name?) And he has another son, I think.
    You could have the world in the palm of your hands
    You still might drop it

  20. #3120
    The Unstoppable Force Theodarzna's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MurlocDemonHunter View Post
    I know that he has a son named Donald (because an egotistical cunt like him would obviously have a kid named after himself) A 10-year old son named Baron (WTF, did Melania come up with that name?) And he has another son, I think.
    I just know of Ivanka and Tiffany, I know they are "normal," and I use that in the most liberal of fashions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Crissi View Post
    i think I have my posse filled out now. Mars is Theo, Jupiter is Vanyali, Linadra is Venus, and Heather is Mercury. Dragon can be Pluto.
    On MMO-C we learn that Anti-Fascism is locking arms with corporations, the State Department and agreeing with the CIA, But opposing the CIA and corporate America, and thinking Jews have a right to buy land and can expect tenants to pay rent THAT is ultra-Fash Nazism. Bellingcat is an MI6/CIA cut out. Clyburn Truther.

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