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Monthly Archives: May 2017

Newsweek’s Kurt Eichenwald Wishes GOP To Be Tortured By Slow Death Of Loved Ones

Senior Newsweek writer Kurt Eichenwald has a message for members of the GOP who voted for the American Health Care Act on Thursday; he hopes each one of them is ‘tortured’ by watching a family member come down with a long term illness, lose their health insurance, and die:

Eichenwald has a history of odd behavior and unconventional journalism, such as the time he paid an alleged child porn performer for ‘research’ purposes without telling his editors. Last December he had a now infamous exchange with Tucker Carlson, for which he prepared by bringing a literal binder full of ‘Tucker Carlson Falsehoods’ he bandied about during the interview Later that night, Eichenwald went home and browsed Twitter – only to be triggered into an epileptic seizure by a flashing picture sent by a man named John Rivello. Eichenwald was able to get the FBI to arrest Rivello, who was charged with a hate crime using a ‘deadly weapon.’ Kurt has reported that he may sue 90 other people for sending similar tweets.

Before that, Eichenwald used his bully pulpit to get a journalist fired for misattributing a quote from an article he wrote to Clinton advisor Sydney Blumenthal during the Wikileaks releases.

Jump back another month or so; Kurt tweeted an unsubstantiated allegation about Trump being institutionalized “in a mental hospital for a nervous breakdown in 1990,” which Eichenwald later said was a joke, and ‘a signal to a source to talk to me.’

 

And before that, Eichenwald said he ‘accidentally accessed a few illegal images’ while doing a month’s long reporting on internet child pornography. He also paid a suspected child porn performer named Justin Berry $2,000 after he says he stumbled upon a scoop while researching an unrelated story. Thinking Berry was underage, Eichenwald sent him the money, agreed to meet, and only upon learning that the young man wasn’t underage (and wanted to leave the industry) did Kurt tell his bosses. Not only that, he asked for the money back!

Needles to say, Kurt is a strange man who now wishes horrible suffering and death to befall the family members of the GOP.

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Ja Rule’s Partner Squandered Fyre Festival Cash – Kendall Jenner Paid $250K For Single Instagram Post

New information has emerged in the Fyre Festival debacle which left thousands of attendees stranded on a remote island in the Bahamas. According to sources close to the event, 26 year old co-organizer Billy McFarland squandered millions of dollars and on models, jets, yachts, advertising, guys-only “working vacations” to the Bahamas, and a sundry of paid “influencers” who received over $20,000 apiece for their endorsement – including Kendal Jenner, who was reportedly paid a quarter of a million dollars for a single Instagram post receiving over 6 million views:

He spent $250,000 on a single Instagram post from Kim Kardashian’s half-sister Kendall Jenner and laid out hundreds of thousands more on lesser-name “influencers,” none of whom were paid less than $20,000, one person familiar with the payments said. Vice

Models were reportedly offered $35,000, tickets to the festival, and a chartered flight to the event in exchange for promoting it.

Kendall Jenner was reportedly paid $250,000 for this Instagram post

 

Models sued

A new lawsuit (one of three to date, including a $100 million class action) claims that the models paid to promote Fyre failed to disclose that their endorsements were paid promotions, with the exception of “Gone Girl” actress Emily Ratajkowski – who was not included in litigation. These omissions, the suit claims, were Federal Trade Commission violations for not “disclosing material connections between advertisers and endorsers.”

Where is Ja Rule in all of this?

While co-founder Ja Rule initially received heat for his involvement in Fyre, and he gave an embarrassingly cliché kickoff toast, it appears that most of the blame lies with festival CEO Billy McFarland, who began planning the festival just six months ago in October of 2016. McFarland was previously known for his sketchy “Magnises,” social club – another Ja Rule collaboration which catered to millennials who could pony up $450 for a membership promiseing to grant it’s holder access to exclusive events, discounts on services, and reserved tables at nightclubs. Many have referred to the club as a scam.

Former employees speak out

During the planning phase of the event, McFarland reportedly flew down every other weekend to the Bahamas with male employees of the festival along with several models for “lavish vacations,” under the guise of work.

Billy would take all the boys down there, it would be boys only,” the employee said. “They talk about f—ing bitches and hoes in conference meetings.”

The employee said McFarland would often urinate in the office with the door open for employees to see. “It’s a boys club,” the employee said. “They laugh about it.” Another former contractor called the environment “low-key sexist and racist.”

“They were just stoked on getting vacation homes there. I didn’t feel like they were taking it seriously at all.” –Vice

While McFarland has shifted blame over the debacle onto “naiive and overwhelmed” staff, insiders told Variety magazine that event organizers were frequently warned that the Fyre Festival would be impossible to pull off in the necessary time frame.

“They did know,” one said. “It’s so gross to me that [McFarland] says they were naïve — they had been told at every point that it was impossible and they ignored it.” Variety

And according to a former Fyre staffer, “the infrastructure just wasn’t there.”

“It had to be built. [Fyre] hired a bunch of professionals and the professionals told them it was impossible — and they couldn’t handle that, so they fired everyone. I think the statement they released is a slap in the face to the people on the island and the production company that did end up working with them. They just didn’t want to hear it.

As cash dwindled the event was lacking critical infrastructure, then there were problems with customs…

By March, McFarland’s magnum opus was in serious trouble. Having wasted millions of dollars on celebrity endorsements and other ‘marketing’ expenses, the festival needed cash to pay it’s vendors. In a desperate attempt to salvage the impending train wreck, the Fyre CEO and his team approached a second round of investors armed with a laughable yet slick pitch deck seeking $25 million in funding.

It appears that despite the late attempt to raise capital, in which one investor said he was “sold a story,” Fyre was unable to pay it’s staff – asking event employees to use their own credit cards for hotel rooms in Miami and the Bahamas. Restaurateur Stephen Starr, lined up to serve the festival, allegedly pulled out of their agreement on April 2nd – which explains the sad cheese and bread sandwiches served to attendees.

And according to late-hired production staff, an alarming lack of infrastructure was going to lead to disaster. There were no lights, no water supply, and things like toilets and showers would be impossible to arrange in time. In perhaps the nail in the supply chain coffin, right after event organizer Billy McFarland told last-minute suppliers “you don’t have to worry about customs,” Bahamian officials shut down the event site for failure to pay Customs duty taxes on items already imported for the festival.

On Sunday, the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism told ABC News, “Customs has the area on lockdown because [festival organizer] Billy [McFarland] has not paid customs duty taxes on the items that he imported” for the event. “He and his staff have left the items with a security company guarding it.” ABC News

Despite the fact that Fyre was very obviously doomed, organizers decided to push on and ‘become legends’

And on that count, McFarland’s Fyre Festival debacle has become a legendary lesson in overambitious, materialistic, abject failure.

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After Spending Months Claiming Putin Interfered With US Election, Obama Endorses Macron

Former President Obama went on camera this week to endorse the second loser in 12 months; French Presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron – leading some to wonder if ol’ Barry isn’t interfering in a foreign election! Considering that the US congress is currently holding hearings in both the house and the senate revolving around the notion that election interference is a bad thing, Obama’s attempt to influence French voters to vote for a man married to a pedophile is astounding.

While not quite on par with allegations of hacking and running disinformation campaigns, and Obama is now a private citizen – he is still considered highly influential in cuck circles. I could be wrong, but I don’t recall any recent former heads of state endorsing another country’s candidate for President. Given the moralizing the left has done over “influencing an election” until a few short weeks ago, it seems a bit hypocritical for the globalists to send in agent Barry Sotero to stage a last minute charm offensive on the French.

In regards to the US investigation into Russian election interference which has seemingly gone cold; it’s funny how dropping a few dozen Tomahawks on a Russian ally turned a Russophobic witch hunt into a dog and pony show. Of course, that whole “Obama spied on Trump’s team to help Hillary win the election” story went away right around the time the Susan Rice ‘unmasking’ scandal was breaking – so maybe it was a mutual détente.

Watch:

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Apple Announces $1 Billion Fund For U.S. Manufacturing Jobs – Is $230 Billion Repatriation Deal Next?

Yesterday in an interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer, Apple ($AAPL) CEO Tim Cook said the tech giant would be devoting $1 billion to promote “advanced manufacturing” jobs in the United States.

“We’re announcing it today. So you’re the first person I’m telling,” Cook told “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer on Wednesday. “Well, not the first person because we’ve talked to a company that we’re going to invest in already,” he said, adding that Apple will announce the first investment later in May. CNBC

Cook did not elaborate on what kind of “advanced manufacturing” jobs would be brought to the U.S., however Apple unveiled a webpage focused on job creation in conjunction with the CNBC announcement. This is not the first we’ve heard of Apple considering manufacturing in the U.S.; rumors were swirling late last year in The Nikkei, owner of the Financial Times, that in July of 2016, Apple had asked it’s Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn to estimate the cost of relocating iPhone assembly back to America in the event that Donald Trump won the US election – a move which could lead to nearly 700,000 jobs.

And while yesterday’s $1b announcement doesn’t necessarily mean iPhone manufacturing will to move the US, it does add Apple to a long list of U.S. companies focused on jobs in the United States. In the weeks after the November 8th election, companies including Ford, Carrier, General Motors, and Wal Mart made commitments to increasing or keeping jobs in the United States, in an effort to avoid a 35% tariff Trump had threatened on imports.

Repatriation

Possibly related to Apple’s decision to invest $1 billion in advanced U.S. manufacturing jobs is increasing talk of a deal between the U.S. government and corporations to repatriate income currently held overseas – a move which would currently cost Apple nearly 40% on more than $230 billion in cash outside the United States. In January, both Donald Trump and Tim Cook were talking about a repatriation “holiday,” with Trump proposing a one-time 10% tax rate on cash brought into the United States, and Apple’s Cook saying such a move would be “very good for the country, and good for Apple.”

For Apple, the largest company in the world which employs over 80,000 employees in the United States alone, repatriation would mean savings of around $50 billion in taxes. For other tech giants such as Microsoft, it would amount to roughly $28 billion on it’s $124 billion cash hoard. Other industry titans would save massive amounts on their tax bill as well; Oracle would stand to avoid $9.5 billion in taxes, and Citigroup ($C), Amgen ($AMGN), Qualcomm ($QCOM), Gilead Sciences ($GILD) and many others would benefit to the tune of $5 to $10 billion in tax savings. Overall, Fortune 500 companies stand to reap over $500 billion in tax savings from Trump’s 10% “repatriation holiday.”

The notion of repatriation is not a new idea. Former President Barack Obama proposed a similar tax deal, and when his predecessor George W. Bush announced a one-time repatriation rate of 5.25%, corporations brought back over $300 billion into the United States – though it failed to translate to job growth per a 2011 Senate investigation of the Jobs Creation Act. In stark contrast, however, U.S. companies appear to be committing to job growth before any announced ‘repatriation holiday,’ which may bode well if in fact one is announced.

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Leaked Documents Reveal Emmanuel Macron May Be Engaging In Tax Evasion

Documents have surfaced on 4chan which purport to be show French Presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron using an offshore tax haven in the Caribbean island of Nevis. The documents, dated May 4th, 2012, consist of an ‘Operating Agreement’ to form an offshore limited liability company called ‘La Providence,’ as well as what appears to be correspondence between banker Brian Hydes at FirstCaribbean International Bank and Macron’s corporation.

Of note, Macron has previously denied owning any offshore assets.

Below are screenshots of portions of the document, the fax, and a bit of investigation into the parties involved. The full docs are linked at the bottom.

Page 1

 Signature Page:

Macron’s signature from a book he signed (note the arched “M”):

Next we have a fax from FirstCaribbean bank to Richard Palmer at Macron’s ‘La Providence’:

Brian Hydes is in fact a banker at FirstCaribbean:

And a close-up of Richard Palmer’s info:

Palmer’s number leads us to Dixcart Management Nevis, Ltd. 

Where Richard Palmer works!

So, while this information has not been verified beyond what you see here as well as the 4chan post – if true, it means that Macron set up an offshore company / bank account.

Full docs:

Operating Agreement

Fax

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BREAKING BAD IN REAL LIFE: New Mexico Teacher Pleads Guilty to Cooking Meth

A former high school science teacher in Las Cruces, New Mexico has pleaded guilty to manufacturing and possessing methamphetamine, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

John W. Gose, 56, of San Miguel was arrested October 2, 2016 during a traffic stop in which officers became suspicious after noticing a styrofoam ice chest containing glassware, chemicals, and rubber tubing – all items which can be used to manufacture meth.

During a subsequent search of Gose’s property, more laboratory equipment and chemicals indicating illegal activity was turned up. Investigators determined that Gose was in possession of enough ingredients to manufacture at least a pound of methamphetamine, with an estimated street value of over $44,000.

Gose pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking methamphetamine by manufacturing, one count of possession of a controlled substance, as well as and possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to the District Attorney’s office, Gose taught science for over eight years in El Paso, TX until 2008, after which he moved to Las Cruces, NM to teach at Oñate High School and then Camino Real Middle School until February of 2016.

After pleading guilty, Gose – who faces over 20 years in prison, was ordered into a 60-day diagnostic evaluation by the New Mexico Department of Corrections prior to sentencing.

District attorney Mark D’Antonio issued a statement:

That the defendant in this case chose to plead guilty to all of the charges is a testament to the strength of the investigation.

Thanks to the hard work of the Las Cruces Police Department, the New Mexico State Police and the prosecutors in this office, we are able to close the books on this case of life imitating art while saving the taxpayers of New Mexico the cost of a jury trial.

Gose’s case bears a resemblance to the AMC hit show Breaking Bad, which follows the exploits of an Albuquerque high school science teacher Walter White, played by Bryan Cranston. After being diagnosed with terminal cancer, White teams up with high school student Jesse Pinkman to manufacture methamphetamine, becoming a drug kingpin in the process. Fortunately or unfortunately for Gose, his meth manufacturing days have come to an abrupt end.

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Family Matters: News Of Jared Kushner Soros Ties Comes Weeks After Ivanka’s Line Scores Chinese Trademark Deal

The Wall St. Journal reported yesterday that Top white house advisor and son-in-law of President Trump, Jared Kushner, failed to disclose business ties to Billionaires George Soros, Peter Thiel, and Goldman Sachs. Kushner also failed to mention his stake in Cadre, a real estate company he co-founded in 2014 with his brother Joshua and friend Ryan Williams. What’s more, Kushner has loans totaling over $1 billion with over 20 lenders – $300 million of which he has personally guaranteed.

Kushner’s lawyer Jamie Gorlick – former deputy Attorney General to Bill Clinton, told the Wall St. Journal that Kushner would revise his government financial-disclosure forms to include Cadre once ethics officials have reviewed them.

Ms. Gorelick also said that Kushner has “resigned from Cadre’s board, assigned his voting rights, and reduced his ownership share. Ms. Gorelick characterized the update to Kushner’s form as “very normal,” however questions remain over whether or not one of the President’s top advisors should have disclosed his ownership of Cadre in the first place:

Trevor Potter, a Republican former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, and other ethics experts said investments such as Mr. Kushner’s ownership of Cadre typically need to be disclosed.

They said Mr. Kushner didn’t appear to violate disclosure rules by not publicly reporting his business-related debts and guarantees. But they said such arrangements ideally should be disclosed, in part because they could force Mr. Kushner to recuse himself from certain issues involving the lenders.

“Anything that presents a potential for the conflict of interest should be disclosed so that the public and the press can monitor this,” Mr. Potter said. –WSJ

The news of Kushner’s undisclosed ties to George Soros and his outstanding loans comes less than a month after eyebrows were raised when Ivanka Trump’s company won three new trademarks from China, the same day Chinese President Xi Jinping dined with the Trumps at Mar-a-lago, stoking concerns over conflicts of interest and pay-to-play politics within the White House. Moreover, Trump has decided not to label China a “currency manipulator,” after spending much of the 2016 Presidential campaign promising to do so. Mr. Trump’s reasoning is that China is cooperating in regards to North Korea.

Reuters/Carlos Barria

While Ivanka Trump has stepped away from her fashion line since becoming “assistant to the President,” she will remain the sole beneficiary to a trust holding all assets of the company bearing her name, as will Jared Kushner with his prior holdings. Jamie Gorlick, who also represents Ivanka Trump, stated that Ms. Trump will no longer appear in advertisements for her company, and she has separated her business and personal social media accounts – replacing photos of herself with her products with those of official business.

“Ivanka created the trust to separate herself from the business and implement controls and processes that facilitate compliance with ethical requirements,” –NYT

While it appears that the creation of trusts and stepping away from their businesses may legally shield Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s from prosecution, they are skating a fine line with Title 18 section 208 of the Code of Federal Regulations, which states “an officer or employee of the executive branch of the United States Government” may not have a financial interest which may directly benefit from their activities while employed by the Federal government. It is unclear at this time if Ivanka violated Federal law or the terms of her trust by having dinner with Chinese President Xi while her company was granted Chinese trademarks – however she is required to recuse herself from official business or veto business deals which may conflict with each other. It should also be noted that Ivanka Trump will still retain her stake in the Trump International Hotel.

Between Jared Kushner’s undisclosed debts, ownership in Cadre, and business ties with George Soros – the man who spent much of 2016 allegedly hiring agitators to protest and disrupt Trump events, and Ivanka’s fashion line receiving curiously timed trademarks from China, questions over nepotism, conflicts of interest, and pay-for-play may haunt the Trump White House for years to come.

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McDonald’s Introduces French-Fry Holding Utensil To Sop Up Drippings, Self Respect

McDonald’s is helping consumers maximize caloric intake of their brand new sandwiches with the ‘Frork,’ a three pronged French fry holding quasi-utensil that’s sure to be a hit with those who just can’t bear the thought of leaving hamburger drippings behind after a feeding. The Frork resembles a fork – except there are fries where you might expect to find metal prongs!

To use, simply insert three hand crafted artisan French fries into the expertly molded Frork, and go to town…

McDonald’s has released an infomercial-esque video to help guide your purchasing decision:

“Will the Frork change your life? Probably not.”

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Ja Rule And Fyre Festival Slapped With $100 Million Lawsuit For Multiple Counts Of Fraud

Well, it’s been a little over four days since thousands of attendees at an ill fated music festival in the Bahamas were left to fend for themselves in a Millennial’s worst nightmare of dying cell phonescardboard sandwiches, burning tents, roving bands of thievesferal dogs, and worst of all – anarchy at the bar.  Advertised as having “first-class culinary experiences and a luxury atmosphere,” things like the “Private Luxury Villas” turned out to be nothing more than USAID disaster relief tents:

The festival was quickly canceled after the story broke, with event organizers Ja Rule (real name Jeffrey Atkins) and Billy McFarland sort of apologizing:

And hours ago, a class-action lawsuit was filed against event organizers Ja Rule, Billy McFarland, and their company, Fyre Media, Inc. A copy of the filing was provided to iBankCoin.com by Geragos & Geragos – the high profile law firm which has represented such clients as Michael Jackson, Chris Brown, Winona Ryder, Ke$ha, and former Bill Clinton business partner Sousan McDougal.

Filed in a California Court, Plaintiff Daniel Jung asserts:

The festival’s lack of adequate food, water, shelter, and medical care created a dangerous and panicked situation among attendees—suddenly finding themselves stranded on a remote island without basic provisions—that was closer to ‘The Hunger Games’ or ‘Lord of the Flies’ than Coachella.

Damages in excess of $100 million:

Plaintiff brings this class action on behalf of all ticket buyers and festival attendees defrauded and wronged by Defendants, and seeks damages in excess of $100,000,000.00 on behalf of himself and the Class.

Here’s where the fraud comes in:

Shockingly, Defendants had been aware for months that their festival was dangerously under-equipped and posed a serious danger to anyone in attendance…  …the few contractors who had been retained by Defendants were refusing to work because they had not been paid.

At the same time, however, Defendants were knowingly lying about the festival’s accommodations and safety, and continued to promote the event and sell ticket packages. The festival was even promoted as being on a “private island” once owned by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar—the island isn’t private, as there is a “Sandals” resort down the road, and Pablo Escobar never owned the island.

The suit describes the harrowing conditions:

Festival-goers survived on bare rations, little more than bread and a slice of cheese, and tried to escape the elements in the only shelter provided by Defendants: small clusters of ‘FEMA tents,’ exposed on a sand bar, that were soaked and battered by wind and rain.

“With only unsecured tents as accommodations, rather than the promised villas, attendees had no secure area to store valuables and other personal items. Similarly, the ‘world-class cuisine’ was nowhere to be found, replaced by meager rations that were in dangerously short supply. Even more troublingly, festival staff were nowhere to be found to address attendees’ concerns, and the medical staff was similarly absent.

As the weekend turned to chaos, attendees found themselves trapped at the ‘cashless’ event:

not actual event picture

Faced with the complete lack of even the most basic amenities, as well as no assistance from Defendants, festival attendees began to panic. Predictably, Attendees began attempting to leave the island en masse, but found themselves trapped—even locked inside an airport awaiting delayed flights.

Attendees’ efforts to escape the unfolding disaster were hamstrung by their reliance upon Defendants for transportation, as well as by the fact that Defendants promoted the festival as a ‘cashless’ eventDefendants instructed attendees to upload funds to a wristband for use at the festival rather than bringing any cash. As such, Attendees were unable to purchase basic transportation on local taxis or busses, which accept only cash. As a result … at least one attendee suffered a medical emergency and lost consciousness after being locked inside a nearby building with other concert-goers waiting to be airlifted from the island.

Ja Rule and McFarland even warned performers not to attend!

Mr. McFarland and Mr. Atkins began personally reaching out to performers and celebrities in advance of the festival and warned them not to attend—acknowledging the fact that the festival was outrageously underequipped and potentially dangerous for anyone in attendance.

Meanwhile, this was what people thought they were getting:

Ja Rule’s pre-festival toast:  

A statement from Jung’s attorney:

While we don’t know how solvent Fyre Media, Inc. is at this point, event organizer Ja Rule (Jeffrey Atkins), a rapper and actor who spent two years in federal prison on gun and tax evasion charges, is estimated to be worth at least $8 million dollars.

Maybe it’s time to give Mariah a call? Then again…

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