Monday, October 30, 2017

SWAMP KEEPER TWITTER TRUMPER'S FAVE RICH CROOK PAUL MANAFORT...... Living the life of the super rich just like the rest of them!

Antique rugs worth $934,000, $650,000 for gardening, New York homes and a Hamptons retreat: How Paul Manafort spent, spent and spent before being brought down by Mueller - and now he faces losing it all


  • The feds unsealed an indictment of former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort 
  • He and business partner Rick Gates are being charged on 12 criminal counts
  • He relied on hidden offshore accounts to live a 'lavish lifestyle'

  • Funds 'laundered' through foreign corporations, partnerships, and accounts
  • Manafort faces a maximum of 80 years in prison if found guilty on all charges
  • He used the cash to buy multi-million properties and has homes in Mount Vernon, Va., and New York, as well as Florida

  • Used Cyprus firm to buy $3 million Brooklyn home then used a construction loan to pay off a mortgage to pay off another loan and buy a California property
  • Used $18 million in laundered cash to buy property, pay personal expenses, college tuition, and redecorate his Virginia home

Former Donald Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort relied on $18 million in 'laundered' funds to live a 'lavish lifestyle,' according to special counsel Robert Mueller's indictment unsealed Monday.
The indictment charges Manafort stashed millions in foreign tax havens including Cyprus, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, and the Seychelles.
Then, Manafort relied on those hidden offshore to purchase properties, and borrowed on the the properties 'to enjoy a lavish lifestyle in the United States, without paying taxes on that income.'
He 'spent millions of dollars on luxury goods and services for himself and his extended family through payments wired from offshore nominee accounts to United States vendors,' according to the indictment, which only lays out some of the loot.
Now he faces losing it all as his assets are seized and a maximum potential sentence of 80 years in prison if he is found guilty. 
Paul Manafort 'spent millions of dollars on luxury goods and services for himself and his extended family' according to prosecutors.  Manafort, then-Donald Trump's campaign chairman and chief strategist, leaves the Four Seasons Hotel after a meeting with Trump and Republican donors, June 9, 2016 in New York City
Paul Manafort 'spent millions of dollars on luxury goods and services for himself and his extended family' according to prosecutors.  Manafort, then-Donald Trump's campaign chairman and chief strategist, leaves the Four Seasons Hotel after a meeting with Trump and Republican donors, June 9, 2016 in New York City
Team: Paul Manafort took his wife Kathleen to the Republican National Convention in Ohio when he was still the Trump campaign chairman
Team: Paul Manafort took his wife Kathleen to the Republican National Convention in Ohio when he was still the Trump campaign chairman
Family: Manafort has two daughters, Andrea (pictured, with her husband Christopher) and Jess,a filmmaker. One of his LLCs is called Jesand Investment Corporation
Family: Manafort has two daughters, Andrea and (pictured) Jess,a filmmaker. One of his LLCs is called Jesand Investment Corporation
Family: Manafort has two daughters, Andrea (left, with her husband Christopher) and (right) Jess,a filmmaker. One of his LLCs is called Jesand Investment Corporation and it was used to jointly buy a property in Soho 
Prosecutors list page after page of wire transfers from companies in Cyprus and other tax havens for purchases. Transfers to an antique rug store totaled $934,000. A Hamptons landscaper got transfers totaling $656,000. Other transfers funded antiques purchases, clothing in Beverly Hills, payments for three Range Rovers, and a purchase of another Rover. 
Among the most significant transfers from the offshore accounts are purchases of three multi-million dollar properties. 
Manafort then used these homes to take out big loans – and didn't always use the loans for the terms spelled out in them. 
A total of $75 million flowed through the offshore accounts, according to the feds. 
Prosecutors state that if Manafort is convicted, he will have to forfeit property in Brooklyn, Arlington Virginia, and two other New York properties, as well as his life insurance policy. 
The Brooklyn property came in for particular scrutiny. 
In 2012, Manafort purchased a brownstone for $3 million using an LLC called MC Brookly Holdings. All funding came from a Manafort entity in Cyprus, according to the government.
Manafort, then used the property to borrow cash in 2015 and 2016. One vehicle was a 'construction loan' for the property, which is located in Carroll Gardens with a value that rose to $8 million. 
Headed to a judge: Paul Manafort was driven by his lawyer on Monday morning to turn himself in to Mueller
Headed to a judge: Paul Manafort was driven by his lawyer on Monday morning to turn himself in to Mueller
But according to prosecutors, Manafort 'never intended' to adhere to the contract and limit funds to construction. He wrote his accountant saying the loan 'will allow me to pay back the [another Manafort apartment] mortgage in full,' according to the indictment. He also used hundreds of thousands from the construction loan to make a downpayment on yet another property, in California.
Manafort purchased properties worth $15 million since 2006 - the year he signed a $10 million-a-year contract with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska - the Associated Press reported earlier this year.
The indictment does not mention a Trump Tower apartment Manafort and his wife Kathleen purchased for $3.675 million using another LLC called John Hannah LLC.
 The indictment also spells out a Soho condo for which an LLC paid $2.85 million from Manafort entities in Cyprus. He rented the well-located unit for 'thousands of dollars a week' on Airbnb and other sites. He took advantage of 'beneficial tax consequences' of owning it, a possible reference to the homestead exemption.
He wrote his son-in-aw telling him that when a bank appraiser arrived at the property, '[r]emember, he believes that you and [Manafort's daughter] are living there.' As a result of 'misrepresentations,' the bank gave Manafort a $3.185 million loan. 
He even paid for housekeeping in New York through Cyprus and Grenadines entities. 
Manafort sold his Mount Vernon, Virginia home for $1.4 million. 
Manafort also has owned homes in Bridghampton and Palm Beach Gardens.   
WHAT HE MIGHT LOSE 
NEAR TO THE SEAT OF POWER: BOUGHT FOR $2.75 MILLION

Manafort, who was educated in Washington D.C., has been a long-time resident on the other side of the Potomac, having previously lived in Mount Vernon.
He now owns a large condo in Alexandria, overlooking the river.
In January 2015 he and his wife bought the three-bedroom, 2.5 bathroom unit in this large condo block for $2.75million, through 601 NF Associates LLC.
The 2,779 square foot property is now estimated to be worth $2.9 million. 
LOFT IN NEW YORK'S TRENDY SOHO: PAID $2.85 MILLION

As well as a place in the Trump Tower on 5th Avenue, the Manaforts own the entire floor of a SoHo building.
Public records show they bought it through one of Manafort's LLCs, MC Soho Holdings, for $2.85 million in February 2012, with a mortgage for $1.5 million.
The two-bed, two bath property enjoys a huge living area, and sunny views in an area known for its designer clothes outlets and celebrity-friendly restaurants. 
In March 2016, the couple became the formal owners of the property in their own name.
They have two mortgages outstanding on it now, both loans from Citizens Bank, totaling $2.042 million. 
The court papers filed Monday show that he was renting it out on AirBnB and alleged that he told his son-in-law to mislead a mortgage appraiser that it was his second home. 
BROWNSTONE IN BROOKLYN: $3 MILLION FIXER-UPPER 

The Manaforts appear to be as much property investors as owners. 
In 2012 one of his LLCs, MC Brooklyn Holdings LLC, paid $2.995 million for this four-story unit on Union Street in Carroll Gardens, one of Brookyln's most prestigious areas. His investment was revealed by local blog, Pardon Me For Asking
There are permits to turn it into a single-family house and work has been under way for some time although city authorities ordered work to be stopped in January this year, apparently because the applicant for permission to work had 'withdrawn'.
This is likely to be linked to the change of ownership that month from Manafort's LLC to him and his wife. 
The property now has $6.8 million of mortgages taken out on it, made up of three separate loans all in the couple's names.
Manafort told the New York Post that he plans to finish renovations by the end of the year, after neighbors complained about the state of the 22-foot wide brownstone.
LONGTIME HAMPTONS RETREAT: UNKNOWN MILLIONS

The Manaforts have owned this large detached property in Bridgehampton, on Long Island, since at least 1984.
It is an estimated 5,600 square feet, set far back from a quiet country road. 
It puts the couple in walking distance of the beach and allows them access to the Hamptons social scene - although it is unclear how much the couple participate; the Hamptons can offer a very discreet summer retreat to those who do not wish to be widely seen.
An estimate for its value was not immediately  available but a nearby 9,000 square ft property on a similar amount of land sold in 2014 for $11 million, suggesting that a price tag of $5m to $6m could be realistic as a starting point - but the huge investment in the home detailed in the Mueller indictment would have to be taken into account too. 
THE PROPERTIES WHICH ARE SAFE... SO FAR 
 NEIGHBOR TO THE PRESIDENT: PAID $3.6 MILLION

Manafort bought his upper-floor apartment in Trump Tower in November 2006, using an LLC he controlled called John Hannah LLC.
Public records show a purchase price of $3.675 million. The condo is thought to be around 1,500 square feet, and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms is unclear.
Its estimated current value would be likely to be significantly higher. 
It was only in January 2015 that the property was transferred from the LLC to direct ownership by the Manaforts. 
But in April that year, the Manaforts took out a $3 million mortgage on the property with UBS.
CHINATOWN HOME FOR HIS DAUGHTER: PAID $2.5 MILLION

Manafort and his daughter Andrea bought a three-bedroom, three-bathroom condo apartment in a desirable part of Manhattan's Chinatown in 2007 for $2.54 million.
Public records suggest that it was jointly purchased by Andrea, now 31, and Jesand Investment Corporation LLC, which is controlled  by her father.
The 2,100 square foot home has three outdoor terraces, a built-in wine cooler, and is in a doorman building with its own gym and parking.
Andrea is no longer thought to live in New York but public records do not suggest the Manaforts have yet sold the property.
It was listed for sale in 2013 for $4.85 million and put on the market again for $2.6 million in 2014 but no sale appears to have resulted. 
She married her husband Christopher Shand, an HR manager for a restaurant chain, in their native Washington D.C.'s St Regis hotel in May 2015.
FLORIDA HOME HANDY FOR MAR-A-LAGO: BOUGHT FOR $1.5 M
The Manaforts enjoy a waterside 4,000 square foot property in Palm Beach Gardens for a sunshine getaway.
They purchased it in September 2007 for $1.5 million and it is thought to have four bedrooms and four bathrooms. 
The address is the one which appears to be most commonly used on company registrations for the Manaforts' network of LLCs, suggesting it may be their most common place of residence.
It is in easy reach of Mar-a-Lago, the president's 'Winter White House', which is around 20 minutes drive away.  
$2.7 MILLION LOAN TO HELP SON-IN-LAW BUY BEL-AIR MANSION


The complexities of Manafort's property deals involve his son-in-law Jeffrey Yohai, 35.
Public records show that Manafort loaned $2.71million to help yet another LLC buy a Bel-Air property with a 3,746 square feet two-story home set on 1.26 acres of land. It has views over the ocean, making it a prestigious property in one of Los Angeles' most desirable areas.
The  five bed, five bath house appears to have been bought by the LLC, which is one of house developer Yohai's vehicles, for $8.5 million, public records suggest.
However Yohai went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy late in 2016, The Real Deal reported, and Manafort is now a creditor to his son-in-law, who had three other properties under development which are part of the bankruptcy petition.
DailyMail.com is not adding his $2.7 interest to the estimate value of his property portfolio. 
Separately Yohai was involved in a legal case alleging that he was running a Ponzi scheme in New York.
THE D.C. POWER MANSION: SOLD FOR $1.4 MILLION 

The Manaforts sold their long-time Mount Vernon mansion in June 2015 for $1.425 million.
The five-bed, 7.5 bathroom property had one of the area's largest outdoor swimming pools and was where both their daughters were brought up.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5031755/Manafort-used-laundered-cash-live-lavish-lifestyle.html#ixzz4x1y8shbC
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THE BANKSTERS DESTROYED A TRILLION IN AMERICAN HOME EQUITY AND WERE REWARDED WITH NO-STRINGS, NO INTEREST LOANS TO BUY THEIR COMPETITORS. THEY’VE BEEN A CRIME WAVE SINCE.

Senate Votes To Nullify Rule Allowing Class Action Suits Against Banks



As the AP notes, the rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau “exposed banks to large class-action lawsuits. Supporters say that possibility would help ensure banks, credit card companies and other lenders treat consumers appropriately. The vote comes months after House action and reflects the effort of the Trump administration and congressional Republicans to undo regulations that the GOP argues harm the free market.”

"The Trump tax measure, however, will raise to a new level the plundering of society’s resources by the ruling class."


"Its provisions read like a Christmas wish list for the rich: slashing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent, generating additional corporate revenues of $6.7 trillion by 2037; reducing the top personal income tax rate from 39.6 percent to 35 percent; abolishing the alternative minimum tax, which applies only to the wealthy; and slashing to 25 percent the rate at which business owners are taxed on money recorded as “pass through” income."

The American oligarchy prepares a new tax windfall for the rich

25 October 2017
The drive to enact the most massive tax cut for the rich in US history accelerated Tuesday as Donald Trump met behind closed doors with Senate Republicans to finalize the plan.
The House of Representatives is set to approve Thursday the Senate budget resolution passed last week, a parliamentary maneuver that will allow the Republicans, under expedited rules, to pass the tax plan by a simple majority in the Senate rather than a filibuster-proof three-fifths vote. The actual proposal will be released on November 1, setting the stage for the final push to secure passage by the end of the year.
Wall Street celebrated the stepped-up push for the plan with a 167-point surge in the Dow, bringing the index closer to 24,000. Since Trump was elected last November, the Dow has risen by more than 25 percent. It has quadrupled since 2009, thanks to the multitrillion-dollar bank bailout and other handouts to the corporations and banks under Obama.
The Trump tax measure, however, will raise to a new level the plundering of society’s resources by the ruling class.
Its provisions read like a Christmas wish list for the rich: slashing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent, generating additional corporate revenues of $6.7 trillion by 2037; reducing the top personal income tax rate from 39.6 percent to 35 percent; abolishing the alternative minimum tax, which applies only to the wealthy; and slashing to 25 percent the rate at which business owners are taxed on money recorded as “pass through” income.
It also abolishes the estate tax, which affects those worth over $5 million, just 0.02 percent of the population. This measure has long been desired by the corporate oligarchy, allowing its members to pass on to their children all the wealth accumulated through fraud and speculation, effectively establishing a form of dynastic rule.
The top 1 percent will see their after-tax income rise by 8.5 percent if all these measures are adopted. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that half of the tax cuts will go to the top 1 percent of households, those making more than $700,000 per year. Within this group, the top 0.1 percent will receive 30 percent of the tax cuts, for an average cut of $800,000 a year.
The bottom 90 percent of the population, the working class and lower-middle class, will get little or nothing. A married couple with one child that earns less than $24,850 a year will receive no tax cut, while a similar family earning $48,700 will see a cut of just $180. At the same time, the budget deficits produced by the tax cuts will be used by both parties to demand massive cuts in social programs, including Social Security and Medicare.
As is to be expected, Trump and the Republicans are promoting the plan with shameless lying, denying that their plan is designed to benefit the rich and insisting it is aimed at cutting taxes for “hard-working Americans” and creating jobs.
The Democrats, for their part, support a huge cut in corporate taxes and are offering only token opposition to the other handouts to the rich. Following the Republican meeting on Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and other Democratic senators held a press conference. Schumer, the senator from Wall Street, accused Trump of lying about the plan but said nothing about corporate taxes. Other Democrats attacked the plan for being fiscally irresponsible.
As always, the Republicans set the reactionary framework for policy and the Democrats ensure that it is enacted virtually intact. The Democrats’ main function is to disarm the working class by creating an illusory smokescreen of democratic debate and opposition.
The Trump tax plan is the outcome of a decades-long social counterrevolution that has produced a colossal transfer of wealth from the working class to the rich and the super-rich, creating levels of social inequality unseen since the 1920s and transforming the United States into an oligarchy.
The Sixteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, granting Congress the power to tax people’s income, was passed in 1913, as part of the progressive movement’s efforts to rein in the robber barons. The estate tax was enacted at the same time.
During the Great Depression, the Roosevelt administration raised the top rate from 25 percent to 63 percent as part of the New Deal reforms aimed at heading off a socialist revolution. During World War II, the top rate peaked at 94 percent. Over the next three decades, the top rate never fell below 70 percent.
The first postwar reduction was carried out by John F. Kennedy, but this was only a foretaste of what was to come, as the ruling class adopted a policy of social counterrevolution under Ronald Reagan. The Democrats, who controlled Congress, capitulated to Reagan in 1981 and slashed the top rate from 70 percent first to 50 percent and then to 28 percent. This gradually rose back to the current rate of 39.6 percent.
At the same time, taxes on capital gains from stock and bond speculation were slashed to 25 percent as part of the inflation of the stock market that has proceeded since the 1980s. Tax cuts for the wealthy have been an essential part of the mechanism by which the stock market and other forms of financial speculation have been used as the primary mechanism for wealth accumulation by the financial aristocracy.
The consequences are clear. Since the 1980s, the share of national income going to the top 1 percent has risen from 12 percent to 20 percent, while that of the bottom 50 percent has fallen from 20 percent to 12 percent.
The most recent Survey of Consumer Finances from the US Federal Reserve shows that the top 10 percent of Americans now own 77 percent of all wealth. The top 1 percent owns 38.5 percent, an increase even since 2013. The share of the bottom 90 percent has declined by more than two percentage points to 22.9 percent.
The impact of these shifts in wealth and income on the conditions of life of millions of people can be seen in myriad forms: declining life expectancy, rising infant and maternal mortality, rampant drug addiction and a rising suicide rate.
This growth of parasitism has coincided with the destruction of large swathes of industry, the devastation of former industrial centers all over the country, and the impoverishment of broad sections of the working class. Now, with the Trump tax cut—authored by the Goldman Sachs alumni Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (net worth $500 million) and economic adviser Gary Cohn (net worth $610 million)—a new level of enrichment of the oligarchy is being launched that will make current levels of inequality seem quaint by comparison.
The conditions are being created for a social upheaval. The emerging working-class opposition must take up the demand for a massive revision of tax policy to break the stranglehold of the financial oligarchy and radically redistribute the wealth in favor of the working people. The top rate for both personal income and corporate wealth must be raised once again to what it was in the 1940s and 1950s, to end the theft of social resources and provide for the social needs of the broad masses of people.
These are in themselves democratic demands. They cannot be achieved, however, without a frontal assault on the source of the power of the corporate and financial elite: its control of economic life, and with that, the entire political system. The redistribution of wealth to the working class must be connected to the fight for workers’ power, the transformation of the giant corporations and banks into publicly owned utilities, and the socialist reorganization of economic life.
Barry Grey


THE GOAL OF ALL BILLIONAIRES IS OPEN BORDERS, AMNESTY, NO WALL, NO E-VERIFY AND NO LEGAL NEED APPLY.... It's all about keeping wages depressed!




For the last few decades, regardless of the political party in control of American governance, mainstream America remained frustrated by a lack of representation.  The more things changed, the more they remained the same.  A year after the ...

October 25, 2017

An American Oligarchy vs. We the People


For the last few decades, regardless of the political party in control of American governance, mainstream America remained frustrated by a lack of representation.  The more things changed, the more they remained the same.  A year after the election of President Trump, we have yet to see a Republican Congress make good on its promise to repeal Obamacare and institute tax reform.  The election of Donald Trump held hope for millions of Americans who believed they now had a voice in our halls of governance, but that voice is continuously trampled on as the puppet-masters behind the scenes succeed at stifling the will of the American people.
The greatness of America was a government for the people and by the people, but that ideal has been eroded in favor of a new American oligarchy led by billionaires such as George Soros, Tom Steyer, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Mark Zuckerberg, to name a few.  They are men of the left and unlike prior rich men in American history, they can now control our election process, both halls of Congress, our courts, our schools, the press, and media outlets.  Yes, there are conservative billionaires, but they are not nearly as influential as today's globalists.  It has been reported that 39% of the wealthiest donors back Democrats and that number will only increase with the new young card-carrying liberal titans from the Silicon Valley.  After all, Google, Facebook and most Internet titans are fueled by government projects; thus, their interest lies with big government favored by Democrats.
Frustrated by the presidential election of Donald Trump, George Soros has doubled down and recently pledged to contribute $18 billion to his Open Society Foundations for an overall total of $32 billion.  Contrary to its mission claim, "to built vibrant and tolerant democracies," Soros seeks to subvert and suppress the will of the people by using his billions to control America's agenda towards a One World Government without borders, and with him at the helm.
Beginning in 1994 with the defeat of Hillary Clinton's nationalized health care bill, Soros' groups and a few other leftist organizations began to bankroll front groups whose aim was to persuade Congress that Americans were clamoring for "campaign finance reform."  In a ten year period, they spent $140 million dollars to promote it, and the result was the McCain-Feingold Act signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002.  The new law placed restrictions on political donations.  It prevented citizen-activist groups and corporations from advertising on T.V. for 60 days prior to elections and 30 days prior to primaries while exempting media networks; thus, giving Democrats an automatic advantage since they enjoy the near universal support of America's leading media outlets.  
As a result, a network of "527 Committees," named after code 527 of the IRS code, were set up, and unlike PACS, were not required to register with the FEC; nor were they bound by any legal limits to raise soft money.  While steering clear of "express advocacy" as prohibited under the McCain-Feingold bill, they were permitted to steer their funds to issue-oriented ads, voter education initiatives, and get-out-the-vote drives to favor one party or candidate over another.  By giving directly to independent groups rather than to the party itself, big ticket donors could influence campaign strategy and tactics more directly than they had previously.   Thus, Soros gained control of an alternative network of soft money supply and power.....all absent prior to the passage of McCain-Feingold .  In 2010, the Supreme Court overturned much of the McCain-Feingold Act, but kept in place the ban on soft money donations to political parties.  This ban has permitted Soros to continue to use his billions to influence our election process and thwart the will of the people.
Another billionaire with a globalist agenda is Bill Gates who has used his millions to fund Planned Parenthood and U.N. agencies. He is responsible for the creation, implementation, and promotion of Common Core state standards, and he was pivotal in advancing Barack Obama's educational agenda.  Aside from rewriting history with a biased curriculum in disfavor of Western Civilization, Common Core eliminated local school governance and placed it under the control of an ever-growing federal bureaucracy.  As Karl Marx noted in his Communist Manifesto, "government-controlled schooling is essential to achieving the goals of Socialism."  In that effort, texts and analysis are used to guide students thinking towards a predetermined outcome.  
A free press is essential to a free society, but with the development of the Internet and the handful of leftist billionaires who now control it, conservatives are finding it difficult to get their message out without being threatened with sanctions and exclusion under the guise of "hate speech."  Google and Apple control 98% of the market share in mobile phone operating systems; thus, they are erasing the First Amendment rights of conservatives on the information highway.  Although they are private companies, the information highway is a public utility and as such all are entitled to equal access.  Facebook is an important distributor of news and Mark Zuckerberg, its founder and a globalist, is notorious for muting conservatives while amplifying progressives.  Along with Saudi Arabia, a state known for silencing free press and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who has invested $300 million in Twitter, conservative Americans are at a loss as we watch our First Amendment rights guaranteed by our Constitution being eroded by American and foreign billionaires.
While the oligarchs have used their billions to influence both sides of the aisle within our halls of Congress, George Soros in particular has financed a $45 million scheme to reshape state supreme courts.  His mission with the aid of state trial lawyers associations is to replace conservative rule of law judges with leftist men in black robes who will apply foreign law (Sharia) and theories into their decision making process.  In effect, Soros is creating a judicial oligarchy as well as a judicial supremacy.  The left now controls more than half the district courts and more then half the circuits.  By placing nationwide injunctions against President Trump's executive orders, a handful of district lower court judges are illegally dictating our immigration policies reserved for Congress and the Executive Branch.
Then there is Tom Steyer, an environmentalist hedge fund billionaire from California who has spent $90 million to back Democratic candidates.  Currently he has spent $10 million on a campaign to impeach our current president by running fraudulent television informercials calling for President Trump's impeachment.   With an utter disregard and disrespect for the 64 million Americans who voted to elect President Trump, Steyer, the self-righteous globalist, knows better then working class Americans what is in their best interest; thus, he too uses his millions to erase our voice and right to self-governance.
Many Americans are waking up to the reality that American politics is no longer about Republicans and Democrats.  Now more than ever, it is a war between the elite established American oligarchy and the American people.  If Americans seek to regain control of self- governance, then the oligarchy whose allegiance is not to America, but to a global community governed by globalist billionaires, must have their power removed.  We have fought for our self- preservation for over 200 years, and we are not about to quietly yield it over to a handful of globalists without a fight.  It will take Americans from all walks of life to come together to oppose this un-American oligarchy and nothing will facilitate that more than the removal of a duly elected president.
Shari Goodman is an educator, activist, public speaker, and journalist. 

65.5 Million in U.S. Speak Foreign Language at Home
New report shows number has doubled since 1990, nearly tripled since 1980


Washington, D.C. (October 25, 2017) – An analysis of newly released 2016 Census Bureau data by the Center for Immigration Studies shows that a record 65.5 million U.S. residents five years of age and older speak a language other than English at home. As a share of the population, more than one in five U.S. residents now speaks a foreign language at home – including residents like Jovita Mendez, who has lived in the California for over 20 years and recently became a U.S. citizen, despite being unable to speak, read, or write in English.

The largest percentage increases since 2010 among languages with more than 400,000 speakers were for Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, Chinese, Persian, Haitian, and Gujarati. (Hindi and Gujarati are spoken in India; Urdu is spoken in Pakistan.)

"The English language has always been part of the glue that holds our country together," said Steven Camarota, co-author of the report and Director of Research at the Center. "But the number of immigrants allowed into the country is now so large that it may be overwhelming the assimilation process, including learning English."

View the entire report at 
https://cis.org/Report/655-Million-US-Residents-Spoke-Foreign-Language-Home-2016

Among the findings:
  • Of those who speak a foreign language at home, 26.1 million (39.8 percent) told the Census Bureau that they speak English less than very well. This figure is based entirely on the subjective opinion of the respondents. 

  • On an objective test of English literacy, prior CIS research showed that even among immigrants who have lived in the country for more than 15 years, 43 percent score at the "below basic" level, which is sometimes equated to functional illiteracy. 

  • CIS has also estimated in prior research that roughly one out of three immigrants who are naturalized citizens has below basic English literacy.

  • The new Census Bureau data show that many Americans who speak a foreign language at home are not immigrants. In fact, half of the growth in foreign language speakers since 2010 is among those born in the United States. Overall, 44 percent (29 million) of those who speak a language other than English at home are U.S.-born.

  • Of foreign languages with more than 400,000 speakers, the largest percentage increases since 2010 were among speakers of Arabic (up 42 percent), Hindi (up 33 percent), Urdu (up 22 percent), Chinese (up 20 percent), Persian and Haitian (each up 15 percent), and Gujarati (up 14 percent). Hindi is a national language of India, Urdu is the national language of Pakistan, Persian is the national language of Iran, and Gujarati is spoken in India.

  • States with the largest share of their populations speaking a foreign language at home in 2016 were California (45 percent), Texas (36 percent), New Mexico (34 percent), New Jersey (32 percent), New York and Nevada (each 31 percent), Florida (29 percent), Arizona and Hawaii (each 27 percent).

  • States with the largest percentage increases in the number of foreign-language speakers 2010 to 2016 were: Wyoming (up 25 percent), Utah (up 20 percent), Maryland (up 19 percent), Nevada (up 18 percent), Oklahoma (up 17 percent), Nebraska and North Dakota (each up 16 percent), and Virginia, Florida, and Minnesota (each up 15 percent).

  • Taking the longer view, states with the largest percentage increases in foreign-language speakers 1980 to 2016 were: Nevada (up 1,040 percent), Georgia (up 926 percent), North Carolina (up 744 percent), Virginia (up 475 percent), Tennessee (up 425 percent), Arkansas (up 412 percent), Washington (up 395 percent), Florida (up 361 percent), South Carolina and Utah (each up 349 percent), Oregon (up 346 percent), and Maryland (up 345 percent).



More from Steven A. Camarota: 


U.S. Immigrant Population Hit Record 43.7 Million in 2016
By Steven A. Camarota and Karen Zeigler on October 16, 2017
The Declining Fertility of Immigrants and Natives
By Steven A. Camarota and Karen Zeigler on October 2, 2017
Deportation vs. the Cost of Letting Illegal Immigrants Stay
By Steven A. Camarota on August 3, 2017


WALL STREET TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE: DIE YOUNG… your company pension dies with you!


OPIOID AND ALCOHOL ADDICTION KILLS OF MIDDLE AMERICA

SOARING POVERTY AND DRUG ADDICTION UNDER OBAMA
"These figures present a scathing indictment of the social order that prevails in America, the world’s wealthiest country, whose government proclaims itself to be the globe’s leading democracy. They are just one manifestation of the human toll taken by the vast and all-pervasive inequality and mass poverty. 

AMERICA UNRAVELS:

Millions of children go hungry as the super- rich gorge themselves and ILLEGALS SUCK IN BILLIONS IN WELFARE!


"The top 10 percent of Americans now own roughly three-quarters of all household wealth."

http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2017/08/america-unravels-millions-of-children.html

"While telling workers there is “not enough money” for wage increases, or to fund social programs, both parties hailed the recent construction of the U.S.S. Gerald Ford, a massive aircraft carrier that cost $13 billion to build, stuffing the pockets of numerous contractors and war profiteers."

TWITTER TRUMPER’S PROMISE TO DEMS & MEXICO: NO (real) WALL, NO E-VERIFY and NO ENFORCEMENT of DACA
WHILE THE SWAMP KEEPER TWITTER TRUMPER SERVES THE SUPER RICH…. The wall remains a joke on Legals and HUNDREDS OF STORES across America’s OPEN BORDERS are being shuttered by the hundreds!
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-real-american-economy-stores.html



'I had sewage in the sink and maggots in the carpet': Maryland AG probes Kushner real estate company over 'terrible' state of properties and 'aggressive debt collection'

  • Kushner Companies owns almost 20,000 low-income housing units in 3 states 

  • But earlier this year, some Baltimore tenants complained about the condition of their homes, and the aggressive way the firm chased outstanding debt

  • Stories include collapsed ceilings, holes in walls and mouse infestations

  • One woman's sink oozed raw sewage while her carpet crawled with maggots 
  • Another woman was hounded for rent while dying of  cancer in a hospice
  • Kushner Companies says that it sticks to industry standards for maintenance

  • But Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh is now investigating the claims


Maryland's AG is investigating the property company run by Jared Kushner's family over claims by tenants that its properties have been left to fall into disrepair, and that the firm uses aggressive debt collection practices against vulnerable residents.
Attorney General Brian Frosh has launched a probe into JK2 Westminster LLC properties, a subsidiary of Kushner Companies, which was owned by Jared until he quit to take a role in the White House in January. However, he still retains an estimated $600 million stake in Kushner Companies, which is now run by his family.
The investigations comes after numerous Baltimore residents blasted conditions at the properties earlier this year.
Maryland's AG is investigating the property company run by Jared Kushner's (pictured outside his home on Monday morning) family over claims by tenants that it allowed some properties to fall into disrepair and used aggressive debt collection practices
Maryland's AG is investigating the property company run by Jared Kushner's (pictured outside his home on Monday morning) family over claims by tenants that it allowed some properties to fall into disrepair and used aggressive debt collection practices
Attorney General Brian Frosh (pictured) has launched the probe into JK2 Westminster LLC properties after the claims emerged earlier this year 
Attorney General Brian Frosh (pictured) has launched the probe into JK2 Westminster LLC properties after the claims emerged earlier this year 
In one stomach-churning story, Jasmine Cox of the Cove Village complex complained of maggots emerging from her carpet and raw sewage flowing out of her kitchen sink.
'It sounded like someone turned a pool upside down,' Cox told Pro Publica. 'I got out of bed and the sink is black and gray, it's pooling out of the sink and the house smells terrible.'
When she moved out, the company invoiced her $600 for a new carpet and other repairs.
Mike McHargue, a private investigator who lives at a Carroll Park complex with his girlfriend, told Pro Publica that JK' were 'nothing but slumlords.'
'They take everyone's money,' he added. 
When told that Kushner's name was behind the company, he responded: 'Oh, really? Oh, really. And I'm a Trump supporter.'
Alishia Jamesson, 30, who pays $842 per month to live in the Highland Village complex with her fiancee and two children, had a litany of problems. Among them were a gap in the bathroom skylight that let in rain and snow; black mold around the bathtub and three holes in the wall of her living room.  

Poor residents of homes belonging to the Kushner Companies (such as the Carroll Park complex in Baltimore) say their homes are crumbling and maintenance is delayed
The homes (pictured is Cove Village, Baltimore) are largely rented by poor people in Baltimore - some of whom are pursued aggressively for late rent, including one woman who was hounded on her death bed
She paid $150 to have the holes fixed in October and is still waiting, she said: 'Every time I ask about drywall they say, 'Oh, well, we only have one drywall person.'' 
Elsewhere in Highland Village, the walls of a unit that had burned down months ago were still left standing, covered in tarp.
Marquita Parmely, a truck driver who lives in Essex Park, said that her daughter, 12, had woken up to find a mouse in her bed: One of many from a nasty infestation. 
Parmely has to vacuum twice a day to clean up the droppings, as they trigger her two-year-old's asthma.
Meanwhile, the company was criticized for their aggressive debt collection tactics against some of its most vulnerable tenants.
One such individual was cancer patient Joan Beverly who signed a lease for her daughter, Lennettea, for a unit at the Dutch Village complex in 2009. Leannettea moved out a year later, several months before her lease was to finish - and more than two years before Kushner Companies bought up the property.
In December 2012, JK2 Westminster Beverly filed a suit against Beverly, seeking $3,810.16 in missed rent and around $1,000 in repairs. 
Charles Kushner (center, in 2005), Jared's father, sold off the low-income properties that made his dad's company, but Jared started buying them up again in the 2010s.
Charles Kushner (center, in 2005), Jared's father, sold off the low-income properties that made his dad's company, but Jared started buying them up again in the 2010s.
Kushner's sister Nicole Kushner Meyer (right with her brother) visited Beijing and Shanghai this year, soliciting $150million in financing for One Journal Square
Kushner's sister Nicole Kushner Meyer (right with her brother) visited Beijing and Shanghai this year, soliciting $150million in financing for One Journal Square
Two months later Leannettea presented a document in court that proved her mom was dying of pancreatic cancer in a hospice and was unable to work.
JK2 pressed on with court hearings anyway. A district judge found in favor of the company to the tune of $5,500. 
Joan died two weeks later. A court denied her husband's request to dismiss the judgement.
'This tenant owned the landlord $3,819.16,' a Kushner Companies spokeswoman said. 'As property manager, it's our job to collect rent payments.'
In another case, Kamiia Warren left Cove Village before her contract was up too, after a neighbor began behaving disruptively. She was using a Section 8 subsidy to help pay the rent.
She gave two months' notice and obtained a note from the on-site manager that read 'The tenant gave notice in accordance with the lease.'
Nevertheless, three years later JK2 came after her for not paying the remaining rent, and because she couldn't find the note, the judge demanded she pay the money, as well as court costs, attorney's fees and interest. 
That left Warren, who has three children and was working as a home health aide after putting herself through college, with a $4,984.37 to pay.
Jared Kushner, who just recently returned from an unannounced trip to Saudi Arabia along with a security adviser and Middle East envoy (pictured) quit Kushner Companies in January to take a role in the White House 
Jared Kushner, who just recently returned from an unannounced trip to Saudi Arabia along with a security adviser and Middle East envoy (pictured) quit Kushner Companies in January to take a role in the White House 
She found the note and filed a motion to dismiss, but didn't attach proof of the note to the motion - something she didn't know she had to do - and lost.
JK2 then began to take money directly from her wages and, later, her bank account. 
Her account dropped from $900 to zero. She had to borrow money from family just to support her kids.  A return to court with the note and a plea to stop them taking her money was dismissed without explanation. 
Kushner Companies said it is complying with Frosh's investigation.
'We have been working with the Maryland Attorney General's Office to provide information in response to its request,' the company told The Hill in a statement, adding, 'We are in compliance with all state and local laws.' 
Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law who is married to Ivanka Trump, quit as chief executive of Kushner Companies to enter the White House, but retains an estimated $600 million stake in it. Subsidiary Westminster runs 17 properties throughout Maryland. 
The probe does not automatically mean that charges will be filed. 
Kushner Companies said it follows industry standards for maintenance staffing and exterminator visits. It said $10 million had been invested in upgrades across the complexes, but that 'Despite those improvements, issues still arise, given the age of the properties.'
The Kushner Companies says it has an obligation to pursue all the money owed to it - even when that debt is years old and was accrued under the properties' original owners. Pictured is the outside of another JK2 owned complex, Highland Village
The Kushner Companies says it has an obligation to pursue all the money owed to it - even when that debt is years old and was accrued under the properties' original owners. Pictured is the outside of another JK2 owned complex, Highland Village
But many of these older properties were never built by the Kushner Companies in the first place: They were bought up, from 2011 onward, by Jared Kushner precisely because they were old and cheap.
Called 'distress-ridden, Class B' housing, they are typically older, worn and populated by residents who are struggling to get by. 
Ironically, the Kushner Companies - founded by Kushner's grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, was built on small, low-income properties.
But his father, Charles, sold most of them off in the mid-2000s. Jared Kushner reversed that after taking over, starting in 2011. 
Kushner - whose company was, and is, best known for its high-profile New York skyscrapers - said he saw them not as investments, but as a consistent flow of cash.
'Our goal is to keep buying and incrementally growing - they're good markets where you can get yield,' he said in October 2011.
One of the ways the company gets its money's worth is by pursuing its tenants through courts for overdue rent, even when they are desperate. 
JK2 Westminster has 548 cases in which it is the plaintiff, Pro Publica reported, not including hundreds more filed in the names of its complexes.
It has won nine out of every ten judgements - some for just a couple of thousand dollars.
Matthew Hertz, a lawyer whose company represents both landlords and tenants in these cases, said the cheap cost of finding someone makes it worth pursuing for companies.
Just a phone number and a name is all it takes sometimes, he said - and a social security number makes it easier.
'If you buy someone's properties, you're buying their debts, not just their assets,' he said. 'You take the good with the bad, and try to collect on the bad.
Jared Kushner is President Trump's son-in-law and is married to Ivanka Trump (pictured together in 2016)
Jared Kushner is President Trump's son-in-law and is married to Ivanka Trump (pictured together in 2016)
'Even if you only get back five per cent, you're making something,' he added. 'It's, 'I'm buying up this property and if I can collect anything, it's gravy on top.''
And he said aggressively pursuing money owed - even when it's owed by a poor mother with three children, or a dying woman - is used to instill 'fear' in other tenants.
'They know tenants are going to talk to each other. If they say, 'He's going to come after you,' it's deterrence.''
Kushner Companies' chief financial officer, Jennifer McLean, said that the company has a 'fiduciary obligation' to its ownership partners to take in as much money as it can.
'Westminster Management only takes legal action against a tenant when absolutely necessary,' she added. 
'If legal action is pursued, however, the company follows guidelines consistent with industry standards.
'While taking a tenant to court is far from an ideal outcome, that option - and clear rules governing it - must exist as a last resort.'
Yet, this is not the first time Kushner Companies has been in trouble. Around three months ago, the FBI subpoenaed the company over its 'golden visas' program that reportedly offered green cards to wealthy foreign investors.
The company also faced scrutiny in May when Kushner's sister, Nicole Meyer, a principal at the company, mentioned her brother's service in the Trump administration during a pitch to investors in Beijing.
Kushner's sister Nicole Kushner Meyer visited Beijing and Shanghai this year, soliciting $150million in financing for One Journal Square with the lure of green cards for investors who put down $500,000 through the EB-5 government program. 
Mouse walks on baby's crib in Kushner-owned Brooklyn home


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