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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Pastor Andrew Brunson, a fine gentleman and Christian leader in the United States, is on trial and being persecuted in Turkey for no reason. They call him a Spy, but I am more a Spy than he is. Hopefully he will be allowed to come home to his beautiful family where he belongs!
I read a brief synopsis about a radio show
detailing a town in Michigan where it is literally against the law for a non-Christian to own property. Honestly surprised Pence or Trump himself haven't tweeted in support of the town or bashed the ACLU for challenging it. Full article text
So Russian crime bosses ran operations from Cohen's uncle's club for decades
I came across this in a January AP article about Boris Nayfeld, one-time organized crime boss in Brooklyn who now wants to go home to Russia to start a new life. Nayfeld is 70 and he just finished his latest prison sentence. The whole story is a bit low energy and a sad sack in a nonetheless menacing and predatory way.
According to published reports, in the 70s and early 80s, the boss of the Russian mob in New York (and for practical purposes the whole U.S) was a man named Evsei Agron. Things ended badly for Agron when was gunned down in a mob hit in 1985. After Agron was assassinated, his organization was taken over by under-boss Marat Balagula. Authorities believed Balagula was behind Agron’s killing. But he was never charged with the crime. Balagula ran things until 1991 when he was convicted of gasoline bootlegging. Nayfeld had been the bodyguard and enforcer for both Agron and Balagula, one would say more successfully in the latter case than the former. He took over the organization when Balagula went to prison.
What I didn’t realize until now is that both Agron and his successor Balagula ran their operations out of an office in the El Caribe social club. So the El Caribe wasn’t just a mob hangout. From the 70s through the 90s at least, the bosses of the Russian mafia in the U.S. literally ran their crime organization out of the El Caribe.
So Michael Cohen’s uncle Morton Levine’s social club was the headquarters of Russian organized crime in the U.S.
We've discussed it before, but the GOP is trying harder to get coal baron Blankenship
to drop out of the West Virginia primary. Full article text
And I don't remember how much we discussed the sudden resignation of Farenthold (R-Texas) but apparently he did it just to make sure the House Ethics Committee investigation
into his sexual harrassment would be sealed. Full article text
edited 18th Apr '18 5:24:00 AM by BlueNinja0
That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - SilaswOn California and his wall;
On a police Sketch of the man who allegedly threatened Stormy Daniels:
On North Korea (and may I remind you that Pompeo has not been confirmed as Secretary of State yet, and may not be.).
And Comey:
edited 18th Apr '18 7:04:55 AM by megaeliz
"Crooked" is probably reserved for Hillary in his mind.
Also, California's "breeding concept"?
What, is this self-claimed pussy grabber also panicking about the purity of white women who have non-white male partners? Granted, he claimed that Mexico produces rapists and exports them to the US, but now he's really fellating the white supremacist victim hood talking points.
edited 18th Apr '18 8:38:54 AM by FluffyMcChicken
https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/04/18/day-454/
Day 454: This Russia thing.
1/ Defense Secretary James Mattis wanted to seek Congressional approval before bombing Syria last week but Trump overruled him. Trump wanted his tweets to be supported by action, despite warnings that an overly aggressive strike could spark a larger dispute with Russia. A limited airstrike on three targets was the compromise. (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/17/us/politics/jim-mattis-trump-syria-attack.html
2/ Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un over Easter weekend for a top-secret visit to lay the groundwork for direct talks between Trump and the North Korean leader. Pompeo was nominated as secretary of state shortly after the meeting. Trump is expected to meet with Kim by June. While meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, Trump said his administration has "had direct talks at very high levels, extremely high levels with North Korea." (Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ Sarah Huckabee Sanders said "the administration does not comment on the CIA director's travel." Hours later, Trump tweeted that "Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea last week. Meeting went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed." (Reuters)
4/ Nikki Haley: "I don't get confused." The comment by the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations comes in response to a White House official blaming her statement that Trump would impose sanctions on Russia as "momentary confusion." Larry Kudlow, the president's national economics adviser, said Haley "got ahead of the curve." Later, Kudlow called Haley to apologize, saying "she was certainly not confused." He added: "She was basically following what she thought was policy. The policy was changed and she wasn't told about it, so she was in a box." The White House sent out a document – titled "White House talking points" – to surrogates on Saturday letting them know that Trump had decided to take punitive action against Moscow. (New York Times / Politico / CNN)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/17/haley-sanctions-confused-trump-531517
5/ Trump denied that he fired James Comey because of the Russia investigation, directly contradicting his own comments on Comey's dismissal. In May 2017, Trump told NBC's Lester Holt that his decision to fire Comey was "this Russia thing" that he called "a made up story" and "an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.'" Today, Trump tweeted that "Slippery James Comey, the worst FBI Director in history, was not fired because of the phony Russia investigation," adding the requisite all-caps "NO COLLUSION (except by the Dems)!" (CNN / Washington Post / Axios)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/18/politics/trump-comey-russia-investigation/index.html
6/ Trump dismissed the sketch of the person that Stormy Daniels claims threatened her years ago on Trump's behalf, calling the person a "nonexistent man" and said the sketch was a "total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!" (ABC News / New York Times)
7/ Trump is still "apoplectic" about the FBI raids on Michael Cohen's hotel room, office and home, a source close said. Trump's concerned that the FBI has everything, including everything he's told Cohen, and doesn't feel protected by the FBI "taint team" that's supposed to separate information subject to attorney client-privilege. (CNN)
Notables.
Barbara Bush died at the age of 92 after a series of recent hospitalizations. Bush had recently refused to seek any further medical treatment. (NBC News)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/barbara-bush-wife-mother-presidents-dies-92-n699106
Bob Corker said Trump governs in a state of "constant chaos" and denounced the attacks on the FBI and the media. The Senate Republican who once described the White House as an "adult day-care center." (Washington Post)
Trump's trade representative Robert Lighthizer is spending nearly $1 million on new furniture. He blamed the Obama administration for the costs. (New York Post)
https://nypost.com/2018/04/17/trumps-trade-rep-spends-1m-on-new-furniture-blames-obama/
Madeleine Albright: Trump is "the least democratic president of modern history." The former secretary of state said the modern world provides a "petri dish" for fascism. (The Atlantic)
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/04/madeleine-albright-conversation-fascism/558254/
@fyodor
So you question it when its about unregistered immigrants but you'd be totally okay when its about your guns. Priorities I guess?
Also, even if the 2nd Amendment got repealed it would only mean State level gun laws would be the law of the land, which would mean every state (and its voters) could decide on what amounts to 'gun rights'
That'd be totally horrifying, yeah. Not having ready and easy access to a firearm, this must be a truly terrifying prospect.
edited 18th Apr '18 10:40:11 AM by 3of4
"You can reply to this Message!"
Quite right.
The funny thing is that growing up I've been rather pro-gun but because of the mindless extremism of the pro-gun side my support for gun-control is much less moderate then it might've been otherwise.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang![]()
And it's not like the police would lose their authorisation to own a gun, that's unthinkable even in countries with the strictest gun laws, same goes for professional hunters.
Yeah, the lack of second amendment wouldn't practically change things too much from how they are now.
Even if say, Illinois banned all firearms there really isn't anything stopping someone from going to say, Kentucky where firearm sales are still legal and loading up on rifles and ammo. This is pretty much what already happens and one of the reasons why Illinois/Chicago's attempts and gun-control haven't really panned out.

IIRC, Putin found a loophole in the constitution and runs for his alloted term, swaps out with a stooge who he rules through, and then runs again and wins.