Trump engages in treason with our nation’s chief enemy to get “elected” in 2016 and got caught red-handed doing it again in real time in 2019 and people wonder?

Revealed: the $2bn offshore trail that leads to Vladimir Putin

A massive leak of documents shines new light on the fabulous fortunes of the Russian president’s inner circle

Putin’s best friend: the cellist who holds the key to his fortune

Iceland’s PM faces snap election over revelations

What are the Panama Papers?

Panama Papers: global reaction – live

by Luke Harding
The Guardian, April 3, 2016

A network of secret offshore deals and vast loans worth $2bn has laid a trail to Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin.

An unprecedented leak of documents shows how this money has made members of Putin’s close circle fabulously wealthy.

Though the president’s name does not appear in any of the records, the data reveals a pattern – his friends have earned millions from deals that seemingly could not have been secured without his patronage.

The documents suggest Putin’s family has benefited from this money – his friends’ fortunes appear his to spend.

The files are part of an unprecedented leak of millions of papers from the database of Mossack Fonseca, the world’s fourth biggest offshore law firm. They show how the rich and powerful are able to exploit secret offshore tax regimes in myriad ways.

The offshore trail starts in Panama, darts through Russia, Switzerland and Cyprus – and includes a private ski resort where Putin’s younger daughter, Katerina, got married in 2013.

Continues...

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/03/panama-papers-money-hidden-offshore

Let’s see. Rembrandt’s depiction of Aristotle contemplating upon a bust of Homer or...



The highest virtue, according to Aristotle, was Intellectual Contemplation (Fabric Swatches). In addition, the following 12 virtues also can be attributed to Aristotle:

1) Courage – bravery and valor vs Bone Spurs

2) Temperance – self-control and restraint vs Stormy Daniels

3) Liberality – bigheartness, charity and generosity vs Tax Jamboree for Billionaires

4) Magnificence – radiance, joie de vivre vs Mocking the Disabled

5) Pride – self-satisfaction vs Bragging about Bankrupting a Casino

6) Honor – respect, reverence, admiration vs Inviting Our Nation’s Enemies to Settle Elections

7) Good Temper – equanimity, level headedness vs Calling for Violence and Incarceration toward Journalists

8) Friendliness – conviviality and sociability vs No One Volunteered to Mention Pee-resident Had Toilet Paper Stuck to Shoe as He Climbed Stairs to Air Force One

9) Truthfulness – straightforwardness, frankness and candor vs LOLOL

10) Wit – sense of humor – meaninglessness and absurdity vs Military School of the Catskills 2nd Class

11) Friendship – camaraderie and companionship vs Putin, Muhammad Bin Salman, Netanyahu, Kim, Duterte, Bolsonaro, etc etc etc.

12) Justice – impartiality, evenhandedness and fairness vs Witch Hunting with Barr and Rudy

No wonder comparisons are odious, thy name is Trump.

You don’t need an Article II to recognize characteristics We the People now miss in the Chief Executive.



The highest virtue, according to Aristotle, was Intellectual Contemplation. In addition, the following 12 virtues also can be attributed to Aristotle:

1) Courage – bravery and valor

2) Temperance – self-control and restraint

3) Liberality – bigheartness, charity and generosity

4) Magnificence – radiance, joie de vivre

5) Pride – self-satisfaction

6) Honor – respect, reverence, admiration

7) Good Temper – equanimity, level headedness

8) Friendliness – conviviality and sociability

9) Truthfulness – straightforwardness, frankness and candor

10) Wit – sense of humor – meaninglessness and absurdity

11) Friendship – camaraderie and companionship

12) Justice – impartiality, evenhandedness and fairness

Source: Victoria Rayner

https://aesthetichealingmindset.wordpress.com/2011/06/12/4706/

Gosh that PutinPAC has a lot of money.

It’s the traitor who thinks he is above the law and can chose them he thinks fit to join him there.

The last graf:

(NYT reporter Michael) Schmidt’s acceptance of the GOP talking point — that what happened with Ukraine never actually happened — should remind us all once again of Orwell: “And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed — if all records told the same tale — then the lie passed into history became truth.”

Here is why the Russiapublicans are FIRST TO LIE —IT STICKS.



It's the Republicans' biggest impeachment lie, and Americans could fall for it

Trump did not fail to extort the Ukrainians — he got caught in the act. This distinction is incredibly important

DALEY GRUEN
Salon.com, NOVEMBER 23, 2019

“Forthe millions of Americans viewing today, the two most important facts are the following,” Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said on the first day of public impeachment hearings. “No. 1: Ukraine received the aid. No. 2: There was, in fact, no investigation into Biden.”

Stefanik’s side wants this to be the central point that sticks in our heads: The alleged quid pro quo, where Ukraine would receive military aid appropriated by Congress on the condition that it cooked up an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, did not actually occur because Ukraine received the aid — the quid — and never publicly announced an investigation into Biden — the quo.

Snip...

What is most alarming is not that the GOP is promoting this talking point, but that it appears to be working. Following the impeachment proceedings, The New York Times podcast The Daily concluded with an assessment by top national security reporter Michael Schmidt:

“It’s a reoccurring theme in the Trump story: The president tries to do something but ultimately is not effective enough to actually get it done. So, should we penalize him for those attempts? Does the attempt . . . reach that bar for Congress to remove the president?

Snip...

Trump did not fail to extort the Ukrainians. He got caught in the act. Only after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the launch of an official investigation into his scheme did the aid flow.

Continues...

https://www.salon.com/2019/11/23/its-the-republican-partys-biggest-impeachment-lie-and-americans-could-fall-for-it/

https://www.rev.com/blog/donald-trump-fox-and-friends-interview-transcript-trump-interviewed-after-impeachment-hearings

CIA's top lawyer made 'criminal referral' on complaint about Trump Ukraine call

Experts are raising questions about why the Justice Department did not open an investigation

NBC News, Oct. 4, 2019
By Ken Dilanian and Julia Ainsley

WASHINGTON — Weeks before the whistleblower's complaint became public, the CIA's top lawyer made what she considered to be a criminal referral to the Justice Department about the whistleblower's allegations that President Donald Trump abused his office in pressuring the Ukrainian president, U.S. officials familiar with the matter tell NBC News.

The move by the CIA's general counsel, Trump appointee Courtney Simmons Elwood, meant she and other senior officials had concluded a potential crime had been committed, raising more questions about why the Justice Department later declined to open an investigation.

The phone call that Elwood considered to be a criminal referral is in addition to the referral later received as a letter from the Inspector General for the Intelligence Community regarding the whistleblower complaint.

SNIP...

But a timeline provided by U.S. officials familiar with the matter shows that multiple senior government officials appointed by Trump found the whistleblower's complaints credible, troubling and worthy of further inquiry starting soon after the president's July phone call.

CONTINUES...

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/cia-s-top-lawyer-made-criminal-referral-whistleblower-s-complaint-n1062481

Barr is in the Russia Thing up to his chins.