WTF Community

Day 951

General Discussion
#1

1/ Deutsche Bank told a federal appeals court that is has some Trump-related tax returns. In a letter to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Deutsche wrote that it "has in its possession tax returns (in either draft or as-filed form) responsive to the Subpoenas" from the House Financial Services and Intelligence committees seeking financial records for Trump, Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, the Trump Organization, and other Trump-family-controlled entities. Deutsche redacted the names of individuals from the public filing due to privacy concerns about its relationship with clients and wouldn't publicly confirm whether it specifically had Trump's tax returns, but added it also has tax records "related to parties not named in the subpoenas but who may constitute 'immediate family'" of individuals named in the document request. Capital One was also subpoenaed by the House committees in April, but said it "does not possess any tax returns responsive to the Capital One subpoena." Trump is currently suing to prevent Deutsche Bank and other banks from complying with the subpoenas. Deutsche Bank has been Trump's primary lender for years when other banks wouldn't lend to the Trump Organization. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Reuters / Politico / Associated Press)

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/08/28/day-951/
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The Impeachment of President Donald J. Trump
#2

More diversions…all day long. Since when are kids of US CItizens who are not born in US, not considered Americans. T’ 'n Co are milking this to get the Dems riled up about it.

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#3

And that is a lot of information…now how will the Judge rule?

Here’s a follow-up in NYT’s about what these documents MIGHT include. Huge amount of speculation and conjecture.

Mr. Trump has a history in Russia. He once staged the Miss Universe pageant there, and he also sold a mansion to a Russian billionaire for $95 million. During the 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump’s company was looking to build a tower in Moscow — with the help of a Russian bank, VTB, that has long-running ties to Deutsche Bank.

And, of course, Russia interfered in the presidential election, seeking to tilt it in Mr. Trump’s favor.

So far, though, no evidence has emerged that shows Deutsche Bank’s extensive lending to Mr. Trump — a total of well over $2.5 billion worth since 1998 — was connected to the Russian government, companies or individuals.

Numerous current and former Deutsche Bank executives, including those with direct knowledge of the loans, have said the loans made since 2011 were financially attractive to the bank because Mr. Trump agreed to personally guarantee much of them — in other words, if he were to default, Deutsche Bank would be able to seize his personal assets, including tens of millions of dollars that he kept in accounts at the bank.

Still, Deutsche Bank’s internal files will most likely contain additional information about at least some dealings with Russia — although not necessarily involving Mr. Trump himself.

Congressional investigators subpoenaed any materials about suspicious activity that the bank detected in the accounts of Mr. Trump, his company or his family members, including Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and adviser. In 2016, Tammy McFadden, a former anti-money-laundering compliance officer at the bank, flagged transactions connected to Mr. Kushner as potentially suspicious.

Those transactions involved money flowing to Russian individuals, and Deutsche Bank’s files almost certainly include more information.

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#4

A little refresher on T and his investors for his various properties.

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#5

:eyes::eyes: cross-posting

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#7

This action also appears to be illegal, going against U.S. Code 1401 on Nationals and citizens of United States at birth. Note section D, where if at least one parent is a c

(d) a person born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is a citizen of the United States who has been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for a continuous period of one year prior to the birth of such person, and the other of whom is a national, but not a citizen of the United States;
This action also appears to be illegal, going against U.S. Code 1401 on Nationals and citizens of United States at birth. Note section D, where if at least one parent is a citizen who spent at least one year in the U.S. or a territory, they are a citizen.

UPDATE: The Trump regime has hastily backpedaled and clarified it would only affect “some” born, without… really clarifying.

UPDATE: USCIS wisely issued some clarification.

Essentially many, possibly most military kids would not lose citizenship when born, b/c they qualify otherwise (both parents are citizens).

It would affect some, not clear how many.

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#8

More pulling of the strings as an overt nod to helping Russia…hard not to see that.

:weary:

The Trump administration is slow-walking $250 million in military assistance to Ukraine, annoying lawmakers and advocates who argue the funding is critical to keeping Russia at bay.

President Donald Trump asked his national security team to review the funding program, known as the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, in order to ensure the money is being used in the best interest of the United States, a senior administration official told POLITICO on Wednesday.

But the delays come amid questions over Trump’s approach to Russia, after a weekend in which the president repeatedly seemed to downplay Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine and pushed for Russia to be reinstated into the Group of Seven, an annual gathering of the world’s largest advanced economies. The review is also occurring amid a broader internal debate over whether to try and halt or cut billions of dollars in foreign aid.

United States military aid to Ukraine has long been seen as a litmus test for how strongly the American government is pushing back against Moscow.

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#10

Monsanto used former top DOJ official involved in Epstein case to quash felony charges

https://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-monsanto-used-former-doj-lawyer-involved-in-epstein-case-to-quash-felony-charges-090028623.html

#11

Another slap in the face for environmental issues, climate crises…and pro oil/gas industry.

Trump administration to reverse limits on methane, a powerful greenhouse gas

The Environmental Protection Agency is set to announce Thursday that it will loosen federal rules on methane, a powerful greenhouse gas linked to climate change, according to two officials briefed on the decision.

The proposed rule will reverse standards enacted under President Barack Obama that require oil and gas operations to install controls on their operations to curb the release of methane at the well head and in their transmission equipment, including pipelines and storage facilities.

Several of the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies, including Exxon, Shell and BP, have opposed the rollback and urged the Trump administration to keep the current standards in place. Collectively, these firms account for 11 percent of America’s natural gas output.

The Wall Street Journal first reported news of the rollback.

Methane is a significant contributor to the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, though it is shorter lived than carbon dioxide and is not emitted in as large amounts. It is 80 times more powerful than CO2 and often leaked as companies drill for gas and transport it across the country.

But a senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the announcement was not yet public, said Trump officials were confident the oil and gas industry had an economic incentive to limit methane because capturing it allows companies to sell more gas.

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#12

And, of course, Trump offers zero data to back up this claim. It does not necessarily follow that stopping leaks enhances profit. In most cases, it is more expensive to stop a leak than to simply let it slide. Take this, for example:

There are places on Earth that are a little creepy, places that feel a little haunted and places that are downright hellish. The Darvaza gas crater, nicknamed by locals “The Door to Hell,” or “The Gates of Hell,” definitely falls into the latter category—and its sinister burning flames are just the half of it. Located in the Karakum Desert of central Turkmenistan (a little over 150 miles from the country’s capital) the pit attracts hundreds of tourists each year. It also attracts nearby desert wildlife—reportedly, from time to time local spiders are seen plunging into the pit by the thousands, lured to their deaths by the glowing flames.

And here’s the simple reason the pit has been burning for decades:

Unlike oil, which can be stored in tanks indefinitely after drilling, natural gas needs to be immediately processed—if there’s an excess of natural gas that can’t be piped to a processing facility, drillers often burn the natural gas to get rid of it. It’s a process called “flaring,” and it wastes almost a million dollars of worth of natural gas each day in North Dakota alone.

The same economics apply to all natural gas leaks, large or small. It’s almost always cheaper to just let the gas leak.

Here’s a good article from 2015 about the strides forward that were championed by Obama – now being rolled back by Trump. What a tragic shame.

This article also explains the economics behind why oil and gas companies actually make more profit by ignoring leaks. They have a strong incentive to take the money they might spend fixing leaks and instead put it towards drilling their next big well.

[Researchers] suggest that the leakage reductions are not happening quickly enough — a fact that may be due in part to the huge amounts of natural gas unleashed by the advent of fracking technology, and the correspondingly low prices for the commodity. As things stand, “drilling the next well provides more of a return on investment than fixing leaks,” said Nelson. “Even though the paybacks are high for fixing leaks, without a regulatory incentive to do so, many companies will not fix the leaks in order to make greater profits elsewhere.”

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#13

Outrageous…and dangerous, air polluting and careless.:tired_face:

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#14

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#9

They finally clarified this. And of course it’s horrifically racist. It specifically targets the children of naturalized citizens,.

For perspective, two old articles:

Donald Trump’s denaturalization task force is a new way to threaten the American Dream

60-year-old Guadalupe R. Plascencia was a naturalized U.S. Citizen for 3 decades before being Detained by ICE Is for no apparent reason - she was awarded a $55,000 settlement, but the trauma remains

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#6

Here is the release itself.

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