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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#255276: Sep 21st 2018 at 7:51:26 PM

Yeah, earlier today the page number and post count of this thread didn't update.

But the night vision theme works again, so there's that.

MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#255277: Sep 21st 2018 at 8:01:51 PM
Thumped: This post was thumped by moderation to preserve the dignity of the author.
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#255278: Sep 21st 2018 at 8:02:30 PM

That's probably not super healthy.

Oh really when?
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#255279: Sep 21st 2018 at 8:02:53 PM

Oh, Cruz claimed that he's a Republican because that's the better party for civil rights.

Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#255280: Sep 21st 2018 at 8:07:49 PM

Unless he time travelled to 150 years ago, and was a senator from some state north of the Mason-Dixon Line then he's smoking something fierce.

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#255281: Sep 21st 2018 at 8:10:27 PM

That seems to be a pretty common line from Republicans. A lot of them (probably intentional) don't get that the parties aren't static and change can happen.

Well, the ones that aren't just doing it for lipservice.

RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#255282: Sep 21st 2018 at 8:14:50 PM

The most impressive thing is that 20 minutes into this, Cruz hasn't been punched in the face for repeatedly lying for the sake of making O'Rourke look bad (to the audience). I don't think I'd have that restraint.

Oh, Cruz has also blamed mass shootings on removing god from public life. And claims that a bunch of students who'd just been shot said, in a hospital, "gun control's not the answer". I don't believe that for a second.

Ah, and there's the "the cost for minimum insurance for a healthy young man has gone up tenfold therefore all insurance has skyrocketed" logic.

(Also what is with the moving backgrounds every time the speaker changes in that debate?)

Edited by RainehDaze on Sep 21st 2018 at 4:36:05 PM

CookingCat Since: Jul, 2018
#255283: Sep 21st 2018 at 9:15:23 PM

[up]x6 (Replying to the quote box) I've been ignoring US Politics for the past few days and focusing on clearing up my backlog of video games.

Edited by CookingCat on Sep 21st 2018 at 9:15:50 AM

Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#255284: Sep 21st 2018 at 11:20:17 PM

@danime91: Actually, I was talking about trackable RFID chips, not just serial-number chips.

Deadbeatloser22 from Disappeared by Space Magic (Great Old One) Relationship Status: Tsundere'ing
#255285: Sep 21st 2018 at 11:39:09 PM

Active trackers need a power source. How are you going to make it fit? What happens when the battery goes flat and the user "forgets" to recharge it?

"Yup. That tasted purple."
PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#255286: Sep 21st 2018 at 11:49:21 PM

Well, just like with ankle monitors I would assume. A loud alarm goes off if it's low on power, and breaking it is a criminal offense. Not sure what happens if you just let it run out of power, maybe you get fined?

Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#255287: Sep 21st 2018 at 11:55:55 PM

More to the point, if a gun stops transmitting, the cops know that the gun's gone off the grid and they know who's responsible for it. And if you're carrying a gun that's not transmitting, that's at the least grounds for arrest.

CookingCat Since: Jul, 2018
#255288: Sep 22nd 2018 at 2:25:35 AM
Thumped: This post was thumped by moderation to preserve the dignity of the author.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#255289: Sep 22nd 2018 at 2:33:10 AM

NVM

Edited by M84 on Sep 22nd 2018 at 5:34:30 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised
PhysicalStamina i'm tired, my friend (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Coming soon to theaters
i'm tired, my friend
#255290: Sep 22nd 2018 at 3:27:35 AM

I'm watching the Cruz-O'Rourke debate and I swear Cruz is spending half his time just shitting on O-Rourke.

Edited by PhysicalStamina on Sep 22nd 2018 at 9:09:21 AM

i'm tired, my friend
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#255291: Sep 22nd 2018 at 5:09:11 AM

That basically summed it up. Cruz wasn't making much of an attempt to debate anything, just spending his whole time trying to cast O'Rourke as not-Texan.

Deadbeatloser22 from Disappeared by Space Magic (Great Old One) Relationship Status: Tsundere'ing
#255292: Sep 22nd 2018 at 5:36:24 AM

When what you think is your best hot take is HE WANTS TO BAN BARBECUE you might have problems given that you're stereotyping your own voter base to hell and back.

"Yup. That tasted purple."
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#255293: Sep 22nd 2018 at 5:54:12 AM

Rather technical money laundering piece, but worth a read if you are trying to keep up with the investigation.

On June 3, 2016, Donald Trump Jr. received one of the most striking emails of the presidential campaign, offering dirt on Hillary Clinton as part of the Russian government’s “support for Mr. Trump.”

Trump Jr. responded 17 minutes later: “if it’s what you say I love it.”

That email led to a meeting at Trump Tower that has become a central focus of the investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

But the very day that email was sent, another exchange was taking place behind the scenes.

Documents reviewed by Buzz Feed News show that $3.3 million began moving on June 3 between two of the men who orchestrated the meeting: Aras Agalarov, a billionaire real estate developer close to both Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump, and Irakly “Ike” Kaveladze, a longtime Agalarov employee once investigated for money laundering.

That money is on top of the more than $20 million that was flagged as suspicious, Buzz Feed News revealed earlier this month, after the money ricocheted among the planners and participants of the Trump Tower meeting. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, which has been investigating whether any individuals colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election, is examining the suspicious transactions, four federal law enforcement officials said. A spokesperson for Mueller’s office declined to comment.

Although the documents do not directly link the $3.3 million to the meeting, they show that officials at three separate banks raised red flags about the funds. Many of the transfers seemed to have no legitimate purpose, bankers noted. Kaveladze quickly moved money to other accounts he controlled, and appeared to use some of it to make payments on Agalarov’s behalf — including more than $700,000 to pay off American Express charges.

Scott Balber, an attorney for Agalarov and Kaveladze, said each of these transactions was legitimate and there is nothing improper with their financial activity. Balber explained that Agalarov sent funds to Kaveladze, an employee, to pay various business or personal expenses in the US.

“What is suspicious, or insidious, about a billionaire who pays his employee in the US to pay his business or domestic bills?” Balber said. “This looks like complete nonsense.”

“It’s obvious the events of June 2016 have been a focal point of the special counsel’s investigation, various congressional inquiries, tremendous media attention and the like,” Balber said. “We are in the lens of that reality, so it doesn’t surprise me that there’s been some flyspecking, some gross overreporting by a number of financial institutions. They won’t be criticized for overreporting suspicious activity.”

None of these transactions was discovered until 2017, after the New York Times revealed the Trump Tower meeting. Shortly after that report, investigators asked financial institutions to look back at their accounts to learn how money flowed among the people who planned and attended the meeting: Agalarov; Kaveladze; Agalarov’s pop star son, Emin; their employee, Rob Goldstone, who sent the original email to Trump Jr.; and others.

To unearth connections between some of their accounts, banks took an extraordinary step: They invoked a provision of the Patriot Act — a post-9/11 law that included new tools to track money laundering and terrorist financing. That provision, rarely used in the Trump-Russia investigation, allowed the banks to share information about customers with one another.

Three financial institutions — Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley — discovered the $3.3 million that flowed from Agalarov to Kaveladze.

They also learned that Kaveladze had given different banks radically different descriptions of one of his main companies, Corsy International. To JP Morgan Chase, Kaveladze said Corsy was a “transportation equipment and supplies merchant wholesaler.” He told Citibank it was a “music promotion company.” Agalarov gave yet another description to Morgan Stanley, calling the firm a “service provider” for his vast real estate company, Crocus Group.

Balber, the attorney, said that there are two separate businesses, both named “Corsy International,” that Kaveladze controlled. One is based in California and is involved in “procurement” issues related to Agalarov’s business empire. The other is based in New York and is largely involved with the music career of Emin Agalarov.

That lack of transparency made it difficult for bankers to know the true purpose of the funds into the company’s accounts. Examiners also became concerned with how Kaveladze handled the money.

On June 3, the day of the email exchange with Donald Trump Jr., Kaveladze began depositing checks into his JP Morgan Chase Platinum business checking account in California. He used three different branches in Huntington Beach, California, and the five checks totaled about $397,000. Each originated with Agalarov and referred to “compensation Amex expenses.”

Then on June 6, Agalarov started sending checks through an account at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management to Kaveladze’s company. Those funds totaled about $971,000.

When they reviewed these accounts, bank examiners became suspicious because it was unclear exactly how the money was supposed to be used.

For instance, at JP Morgan Chase, Kaveladze transferred money from one of his companies’ accounts to another and ultimately sent 24 payments over 15 months to American Express for a total of $725,000 — a red flag to bankers because they said it appeared Kaveladze was making the payments for Agalarov. The documents do not say what expenses were charged to American Express, and three federal law enforcement agents said investigators are still trying to figure it out. Balber said these transactions were legitimate personal and business expenses for Agalarov.

The details unearthed by bankers were compiled in “suspicious activity reports” sent to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which shared them with other law enforcement agencies investigating Russian interference.

Suspicious activity reports are not evidence of wrongdoing, but they can provide valuable information to investigators looking into possible money laundering, fraud, tax evasion, or other financial misconduct.

During their reviews in 2017, some banks noticed behavior that they had not previously flagged. Bank of America, for example, noted about $7.8 million that was sent from Corsy International to another of Kaveladze’s businesses, Promomed, between 2012 and 2014. Bankers said they were concerned that by transferring funds from one company to another, Kaveladze was trying to obscure the original source of the money.

Citibank went far back into its accounts to search for suspicious activity by Kaveladze and the Agalarov family. Examiners “elevated” about $11.9 million in transactions that began in 2015, largely because the transactions originated in “high-risk jurisdictions,” or locations that are known as havens for money laundering, and because the funds were sent for “unknown purposes.”

Kaveladze had popped up on Citibank’s radar in September 2015, when he applied for a $100,000 line of credit for Corsy International. At that time, he told bankers that the company had $8 million in sales the previous year and that it had about $240,000 in available funds — but when Citibank investigated further, examiners learned that Corsy International’s account was actually overdrawn.

Citibank denied the loan.

Balber, Kaveladze’s attorney, said that his client did nothing improper, and that he doesn’t recall telling the bank about Corsy International’s available funds.

All three banks cited a 2000 report by the Government Accountability Office, in which Kaveladze was investigated as part of a Russian money laundering scheme. Kaveladze, that report found, established more than 2,000 corporations in Delaware for Russian real estate brokers, then set up US bank accounts for them. The brokers used these accounts to transfer about $1.4 billion, the report found.

Kaveladze was never charged with a crime and called the GAO’s inquiry a “witch hunt.” ●

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#255294: Sep 22nd 2018 at 6:28:41 AM

Cruz is trying to Trumpify himself.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#255295: Sep 22nd 2018 at 6:32:02 AM

We can only hope it's too little too late.

ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#255297: Sep 22nd 2018 at 7:18:54 AM

One thing that should be noted with McConnell's promise to push Kavanaugh's nomination through - he delivered this promise at the Values Voter Summit.

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
Bur from Flyover Country (Living Relic) Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
#255298: Sep 22nd 2018 at 7:59:36 AM

Goodness knows we can't leave the Legion of Doom disappointed.

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#255299: Sep 22nd 2018 at 8:08:08 AM

I think I have yet to see a picture of Ted Cruz where he doesn't look to be frowning.

Yeah he as the unfortunate combination of resting bitch face and being a giant slimy shit weasel, hence why literally everyone who professionally interacts with him hates the guy.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#255300: Sep 22nd 2018 at 8:16:45 AM

It's sort if like how Paul Ryan's sole two expressions seem to be insufferable smarm and Sad Clown.


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